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diff --git a/old/1185-h.zip b/old/1185-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c4cee7c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1185-h.zip diff --git a/old/1185-h/1185-h.htm b/old/1185-h/1185-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c63c4c1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1185-h/1185-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,12262 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science, by John William + Draper, M. D., LL. D. + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of History of the Conflict Between Religion +and Science, by John William Draper + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science + +Author: John William Draper + + +Release Date: February, 1998 [EBook #1185] +Last Updated: January 25, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Keller, and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT BETWEEN RELIGION AND SCIENCE + </h1> + <h2> + By John William Draper, M. D., LL. D. + </h2> + <h4> + PROFESSOR IN THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK, + </h4> + <h5> + AUTHOR OF A TREATISE ON HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY, HISTORY OF THE INTELLECTUAL + DEVELOPMENT OF EUROPE, HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, AND OF MANY + EXPERIMENTAL MEMOIRS ON CHEMICAL AND OTHER SCIENTIFIC SUBJECTS + </h5> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_PREF"> PREFACE. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> <b>HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT BETWEEN RELIGION + AND SCIENCE.</b> </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linktwelve"> CHAPTER XII. </a> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_PREF" id="link2H_PREF"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + PREFACE. + </h2> + <p> + WHOEVER has had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the mental + condition of the intelligent classes in Europe and America, must have + perceived that there is a great and rapidly-increasing departure from the + public religious faith, and that, while among the more frank this + divergence is not concealed, there is a far more extensive and far more + dangerous secession, private and unacknowledged. + </p> + <p> + So wide-spread and so powerful is this secession, that it can neither be + treated with contempt nor with punishment. It cannot be extinguished by + derision, by vituperation, or by force. The time is rapidly approaching + when it will give rise to serious political results. + </p> + <p> + Ecclesiastical spirit no longer inspires the policy of the world. Military + fervor in behalf of faith has disappeared. Its only souvenirs are the + marble effigies of crusading knights, reposing in the silent crypts of + churches on their tombs. + </p> + <p> + That a crisis is impending is shown by the attitude of the great powers + toward the papacy. The papacy represents the ideas and aspirations of + two-thirds of the population of Europe. It insists on a political + supremacy in accordance with its claims to a divine origin and mission, + and a restoration of the mediaeval order of things, loudly declaring that + it will accept no reconciliation with modern civilization. + </p> + <p> + The antagonism we thus witness between Religion and Science is the + continuation of a struggle that commenced when Christianity began to + attain political power. A divine revelation must necessarily be intolerant + of contradiction; it must repudiate all improvement in itself, and view + with disdain that arising from the progressive intellectual development of + man. But our opinions on every subject are continually liable to + modification, from the irresistible advance of human knowledge. + </p> + <p> + Can we exaggerate the importance of a contention in which every thoughtful + person must take part whether he will or not? In a matter so solemn as + that of religion, all men, whose temporal interests are not involved in + existing institutions, earnestly desire to find the truth. They seek + information as to the subjects in dispute, and as to the conduct of the + disputants. + </p> + <p> + The history of Science is not a mere record of isolated discoveries; it is + a narrative of the conflict of two contending powers, the expansive force + of the human intellect on one side, and the compression arising from + traditionary faith and human interests on the other. + </p> + <p> + No one has hitherto treated the subject from this point of view. Yet from + this point it presents itself to us as a living issue—in fact, as + the most important of all living issues. + </p> + <p> + A few years ago, it was the politic and therefore the proper course to + abstain from all allusion to this controversy, and to keep it as far as + possible in the background. The tranquillity of society depends so much on + the stability of its religious convictions, that no one can be justified + in wantonly disturbing them. But faith is in its nature unchangeable, + stationary; Science is in its nature progressive; and eventually a + divergence between them, impossible to conceal, must take place. It then + becomes the duty of those whose lives have made them familiar with both + modes of thought, to present modestly, but firmly, their views; to compare + the antagonistic pretensions calmly, impartially, philosophically. History + shows that, if this be not done, social misfortunes, disastrous and + enduring, will ensue. When the old mythological religion of Europe broke + down under the weight of its own inconsistencies, neither the Roman + emperors nor the philosophers of those times did any thing adequate for + the guidance of public opinion. They left religious affairs to take their + chance, and accordingly those affairs fell into the hands of ignorant and + infuriated ecclesiastics, parasites, eunuchs, and slaves. + </p> + <p> + The intellectual night which settled on Europe, in consequence of that + great neglect of duty, is passing away; we live in the daybreak of better + things. Society is anxiously expecting light, to see in what direction it + is drifting. It plainly discerns that the track along which the voyage of + civilization has thus far been made, has been left; and that a new + departure, on all unknown sea, has been taken. + </p> + <p> + Though deeply impressed with such thoughts, I should not have presumed to + write this book, or to intrude on the public the ideas it presents, had I + not made the facts with which it deals a subject of long and earnest + meditation. And I have gathered a strong incentive to undertake this duty + from the circumstance that a "History of the Intellectual Development of + Europe," published by me several years ago, which has passed through many + editions in America, and has been reprinted in numerous European + languages, English, French, German, Russian, Polish, Servian, etc., is + everywhere received with favor. + </p> + <p> + In collecting and arranging the materials for the volumes I published + under the title of "A History of the American Civil War," a work of very + great labor, I had become accustomed to the comparison of conflicting + statements, the adjustment of conflicting claims. The approval with which + that book has been received by the American public, a critical judge of + the events considered, has inspired me with additional confidence. I had + also devoted much attention to the experimental investigation of natural + phenomena, and had published many well-known memoirs on such subjects. And + perhaps no one can give himself to these pursuits, and spend a large part + of his life in the public teaching of science, without partaking of that + love of impartiality and truth which Philosophy incites. She inspires us + with a desire to dedicate our days to the good of our race, so that in the + fading light of life's evening we may not, on looking back, be forced to + acknowledge how unsubstantial and useless are the objects that we have + pursued. + </p> + <p> + Though I have spared no pains in the composition of this book, I am very + sensible how unequal it is to the subject, to do justice to which a + knowledge of science, history, theology, politics, is required; every page + should be alive with intelligence and glistening with facts. But then I + have remembered that this is only as it were the preface, or forerunner, + of a body of literature, which the events and wants of our times will call + forth. We have come to the brink of a great intellectual change. Much of + the frivolous reading of the present will be supplanted by a thoughtful + and austere literature, vivified by endangered interests, and made fervid + by ecclesiastical passion. + </p> + <p> + What I have sought to do is, to present a clear and impartial statement of + the views and acts of the two contending parties. In one sense I have + tried to identify myself with each, so as to comprehend thoroughly their + motives; but in another and higher sense I have endeavored to stand aloof, + and relate with impartiality their actions. + </p> + <p> + I therefore trust that those, who may be disposed to criticise this book, + will bear in mind that its object is not to advocate the views and + pretensions of either party, but to explain clearly, and without shrinking + those of both. In the management of each chapter I have usually set forth + the orthodox view first, and then followed it with that of its opponents. + </p> + <p> + In thus treating the subject it has not been necessary to pay much regard + to more moderate or intermediate opinions, for, though they may be + intrinsically of great value, in conflicts of this kind it is not with the + moderates but with the extremists that the impartial reader is mainly + concerned. Their movements determine the issue. + </p> + <p> + For this reason I have had little to say respecting the two great + Christian confessions, the Protestant and Greek Churches. As to the + latter, it has never, since the restoration of science, arrayed itself in + opposition to the advancement of knowledge. On the contrary, it has always + met it with welcome. It has observed a reverential attitude to truth, from + whatever quarter it might come. Recognizing the apparent discrepancies + between its interpretations of revealed truth and the discoveries of + science, it has always expected that satisfactory explanations and + reconciliations would ensue, and in this it has not been disappointed. It + would have been well for modern civilization if the Roman Church had done + the same. + </p> + <p> + In speaking of Christianity, reference is generally made to the Roman + Church, partly because its adherents compose the majority of Christendom, + partly because its demands are the most pretentious, and partly because it + has commonly sought to enforce those demands by the civil power. None of + the Protestant Churches has ever occupied a position so imperious—none + has ever had such wide-spread political influence. For the most part they + have been averse to constraint, and except in very few instances their + opposition has not passed beyond the exciting of theological odium. + </p> + <p> + As to Science, she has never sought to ally herself to civil power. She + has never attempted to throw odium or inflict social ruin on any human + being. She has never subjected any one to mental torment, physical + torture, least of all to death, for the purpose of upholding or promoting + her ideas. She presents herself unstained by cruelties and crimes. But in + the Vatican—we have only to recall the Inquisition—the hands + that are now raised in appeals to the Most Merciful are crimsoned. They + have been steeped in blood! + </p> + <p> + There are two modes of historical composition, the artistic and the + scientific. The former implies that men give origin to events; it + therefore selects some prominent individual, pictures him under a fanciful + form, and makes him the hero of a romance. The latter, insisting that + human affairs present an unbroken chain, in which each fact is the + offspring of some preceding fact, and the parent of some subsequent fact, + declares that men do not control events, but that events control men. The + former gives origin to compositions, which, however much they may interest + or delight us, are but a grade above novels; the latter is austere, + perhaps even repulsive, for it sternly impresses us with a conviction of + the irresistible dominion of law, and the insignificance of human + exertions. In a subject so solemn as that to which this book is devoted, + the romantic and the popular are altogether out of place. He who presumes + to treat of it must fix his eyes steadfastly on that chain of destiny + which universal history displays; he must turn with disdain from the + phantom impostures of pontiffs and statesmen and kings. + </p> + <p> + If any thing were needed to show us the untrustworthiness of artistic + historical compositions, our personal experience would furnish it. How + often do our most intimate friends fail to perceive the real motives of + our every-day actions; how frequently they misinterpret our intentions! If + this be the case in what is passing before our eyes, may we not be + satisfied that it is impossible to comprehend justly the doings of persons + who lived many years ago, and whom we have never seen. + </p> + <p> + In selecting and arranging the topics now to be presented, I have been + guided in part by "the Confession" of the late Vatican Council, and in + part by the order of events in history. Not without interest will the + reader remark that the subjects offer themselves to us now as they did to + the old philosophers of Greece. We still deal with the same questions + about which they disputed. What is God? What is the soul? What is the + world? How is it governed? Have we any standard or criterion of truth? And + the thoughtful reader will earnestly ask, "Are our solutions of these + problems any better than theirs?" + </p> + <p> + The general argument of this book, then, is as follows: + </p> + <p> + I first direct attention to the origin of modern science as distinguished + from ancient, by depending on observation, experiment, and mathematical + discussion, instead of mere speculation, and shall show that it was a + consequence of the Macedonian campaigns, which brought Asia and Europe + into contact. A brief sketch of those campaigns, and of the Museum of + Alexandria, illustrates its character. + </p> + <p> + Then with brevity I recall the well-known origin of Christianity, and show + its advance to the attainment of imperial power, the transformation it + underwent by its incorporation with paganism, the existing religion of the + Roman Empire. A clear conception of its incompatibility with science + caused it to suppress forcibly the Schools of Alexandria. It was + constrained to this by the political necessities of its position. + </p> + <p> + The parties to the conflict thus placed, I next relate the story of their + first open struggle; it is the first or Southern Reformation. The point in + dispute had respect to the nature of God. It involved the rise of + Mohammedanism. Its result was, that much of Asia and Africa, with the + historic cities Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Carthage, were wrenched from + Christendom, and the doctrine of the Unity of God established in the + larger portion of what had been the Roman Empire. + </p> + <p> + This political event was followed by the restoration of science, the + establishment of colleges, schools, libraries, throughout the dominions of + the Arabians. Those conquerors, pressing forward rapidly in their + intellectual development, rejected the anthropomorphic ideas of the nature + of God remaining in their popular belief, and accepted other more + philosophical ones, akin to those that had long previously been attained + to in India. The result of this was a second conflict, that respecting the + nature of the soul. Under the designation of Averroism, there came into + prominence the theories of Emanation and Absorption. At the close of the + middle ages the Inquisition succeeded in excluding those doctrines from + Europe, and now the Vatican Council has formally and solemnly + anathematized them. + </p> + <p> + Meantime, through the cultivation of astronomy, geography, and other + sciences, correct views had been gained as to the position and relations + of the earth, and as to the structure of the world; and since Religion, + resting itself on what was assumed to be the proper interpretation of the + Scriptures, insisted that the earth is the central and most important part + of the universe, a third conflict broke out. In this Galileo led the way + on the part of Science. Its issue was the overthrow of the Church on the + question in dispute. Subsequently a subordinate controversy arose + respecting the age of the world, the Church insisting that it is only + about six thousand years old. In this she was again overthrown The light + of history and of science had been gradually spreading over Europe. In the + sixteenth century the prestige of Roman Christianity was greatly + diminished by the intellectual reverses it had experienced, and also by + its political and moral condition. It was clearly seen by many pious men + that Religion was not accountable for the false position in which she was + found, but that the misfortune was directly traceable to the alliance she + had of old contracted with Roman paganism. The obvious remedy, therefore, + was a return to primitive purity. Thus arose the fourth conflict, known to + us as the Reformation—the second or Northern Reformation. The + special form it assumed was a contest respecting the standard or criterion + of truth, whether it is to be found in the Church or in the Bible. The + determination of this involved a settlement of the rights of reason, or + intellectual freedom. Luther, who is the conspicuous man of the epoch, + carried into effect his intention with no inconsiderable success; and at + the close of the struggle it was found that Northern Europe was lost to + Roman Christianity. + </p> + <p> + We are now in the midst of a controversy respecting the mode of government + of the world, whether it be by incessant divine intervention, or by the + operation of primordial and unchangeable law. The intellectual movement of + Christendom has reached that point which Arabism had attained to in the + tenth and eleventh centuries; and doctrines which were then discussed are + presenting themselves again for review; such are those of Evolution, + Creation, Development. + </p> + <p> + Offered under these general titles, I think it will be found that all the + essential points of this great controversy are included. By grouping under + these comprehensive heads the facts to be considered, and dealing with + each group separately, we shall doubtless acquire clear views of their + inter-connection and their historical succession. + </p> + <p> + I have treated of these conflicts as nearly as I conveniently could in + their proper chronological order, and, for the sake of completeness, have + added chapters on— + </p> + <p> + An examination of what Latin Christianity has done for modern + civilization. + </p> + <p> + A corresponding examination of what Science has done. + </p> + <p> + The attitude of Roman Christianity in the impending conflict, as defined + by the Vatican Council. + </p> + <p> + The attention of many truth-seeking persons has been so exclusively given + to the details of sectarian dissensions, that the long strife, to the + history of which these pages are devoted, is popularly but little known. + Having tried to keep steadfastly in view the determination to write this + work in an impartial spirit, to speak with respect of the contending + parties, but never to conceal the truth, I commit it to the considerate + judgment of the thoughtful reader. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + JOHN WILLIAM DRAPER +</pre> + <p> + UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK, December, 1873. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT BETWEEN RELIGION AND SCIENCE. + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I. + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + THE ORIGIN OF SCIENCE. + + Religious condition of the Greeks in the fourth century + before Christ.—Their invasion of the Persian Empire brings + them in contact with new aspects of Nature, and familiarizes + them with new religious systems.—The military, + engineering, and scientific activity, stimulated by the + Macedonian campaigns, leads to the establishment in + Alexandria of an institute, the Museum, for the cultivation + of knowledge by experiment, observation, and mathematical + discussion.—It is the origin of Science. +</pre> + <p> + GREEK MYTHOLOGY. No spectacle can be presented to the thoughtful mind more + solemn, more mournful, than that of the dying of an ancient religion, + which in its day has given consolation to many generations of men. + </p> + <p> + Four centuries before the birth of Christ, Greece was fast outgrowing her + ancient faith. Her philosophers, in their studies of the world, had been + profoundly impressed with the contrast between the majesty of the + operations of Nature and the worthlessness of the divinities of Olympus. + Her historians, considering the orderly course of political affairs, the + manifest uniformity in the acts of men, and that there was no event + occurring before their eyes for which they could not find an obvious cause + in some preceding event, began to suspect that the miracles and celestial + interventions, with which the old annals were filled, were only fictions. + They demanded, when the age of the supernatural had ceased, why oracles + had become mute, and why there were now no more prodigies in the world. + </p> + <p> + Traditions, descending from immemorial antiquity, and formerly accepted by + pious men as unquestionable truths, had filled the islands of the + Mediterranean and the conterminous countries with supernatural wonders—enchantresses, + sorcerers, giants, ogres, harpies, gorgons, centaurs, cyclops. The azure + vault was the floor of heaven; there Zeus, surrounded by the gods with + their wives and mistresses, held his court, engaged in pursuits like those + of men, and not refraining from acts of human passion and crime. + </p> + <p> + A sea-coast broken by numerous indentations, an archipelago with some of + the most lovely islands in the world, inspired the Greeks with a taste for + maritime life, for geographical discovery, and colonization. Their ships + wandered all over the Black and Mediterranean Seas. The time-honored + wonders that had been glorified in the "Odyssey," and sacred in public + faith, were found to have no existence. As a better knowledge of Nature + was obtained, the sky was shown to be an illusion; it was discovered that + there is no Olympus, nothing above but space and stars. With the vanishing + of their habitation, the gods disappeared, both those of the Ionian type + of Homer and those of the Doric of Hesiod. + </p> + <p> + EFFECTS OF DISCOVERY AND CRITICISM. But this did not take place without + resistance. At first, the public, and particularly its religious portion, + denounced the rising doubts as atheism. They despoiled some of the + offenders of their goods, exiled others; some they put to death. They + asserted that what had been believed by pious men in the old times, and + had stood the test of ages, must necessarily be true. Then, as the + opposing evidence became irresistible, they were content to admit that + these marvels were allegories under which the wisdom of the ancients had + concealed many sacred and mysterious things. They tried to reconcile, what + now in their misgivings they feared might be myths, with their advancing + intellectual state. But their efforts were in vain, for there are + predestined phases through which on such an occasion public opinion must + pass. What it has received with veneration it begins to doubt, then it + offers new interpretations, then subsides into dissent, and ends with a + rejection of the whole as a mere fable. + </p> + <p> + In their secession the philosophers and historians were followed by the + poets. Euripides incurred the odium of heresy. Aeschylus narrowly escaped + being stoned to death for blasphemy. But the frantic efforts of those who + are interested in supporting delusions must always end in defeat. The + demoralization resistlessly extended through every branch of literature, + until at length it reached the common people. + </p> + <p> + THE PERSIAN EMPIRE. Greek philosophical criticism had lent its aid to + Greek philosophical discovery in this destruction of the national faith. + It sustained by many arguments the wide-spreading unbelief. It compared + the doctrines of the different schools with each other, and showed from + their contradictions that man has no criterion of truth; that, since his + ideas of what is good and what is evil differ according to the country in + which he lives, they can have no foundation in Nature, but must be + altogether the result of education; that right and wrong are nothing more + than fictions created by society for its own purposes. In Athens, some of + the more advanced classes had reached such a pass that they not only + denied the unseen, the supernatural, they even affirmed that the world is + only a day-dream, a phantasm, and that nothing at all exists. + </p> + <p> + The topographical configuration of Greece gave an impress to her political + condition. It divided her people into distinct communities having + conflicting interests, and made them incapable of centralization. + Incessant domestic wars between the rival states checked her advancement. + She was poor, her leading men had become corrupt. They were ever ready to + barter patriotic considerations for foreign gold, to sell themselves for + Persian bribes. Possessing a perception of the beautiful as manifested in + sculpture and architecture to a degree never attained elsewhere either + before or since, Greece had lost a practical appreciation of the Good and + the True. + </p> + <p> + While European Greece, full of ideas of liberty and independence, rejected + the sovereignty of Persia, Asiatic Greece acknowledged it without + reluctance. At that time the Persian Empire in territorial extent was + equal to half of modern Europe. It touched the waters of the + Mediterranean, the Aegean, the Black, the Caspian, the Indian, the + Persian, the Red Seas. Through its territories there flowed six of the + grandest rivers in the world—the Euphrates, the Tigris, the Indus, + the Jaxartes, the Oxus, the Nile, each more than a thousand miles in + length. Its surface reached from thirteen hundred feet below the sea-level + to twenty thousand feet above. It yielded, therefore, every agricultural + product. Its mineral wealth was boundless. It inherited the prestige of + the Median, the Babylonian, the Assyrian, the Chaldean Empires, whose + annals reached back through more than twenty centuries. + </p> + <p> + THE PERSIAN EMPIRE. Persia had always looked upon European Greece as + politically insignificant, for it had scarcely half the territorial extent + of one of her satrapies. Her expeditions for compelling its obedience had, + however, taught her the military qualities of its people. In her forces + were incorporated Greek mercenaries, esteemed the very best of her troops. + She did not hesitate sometimes to give the command of her armies to Greek + generals, of her fleets to Greek captains. In the political convulsions + through which she had passed, Greek soldiers had often been used by her + contending chiefs. These military operations were attended by a momentous + result. They revealed, to the quick eye of these warlike mercenaries, the + political weakness of the empire and the possibility of reaching its + centre. After the death of Cyrus on the battle-field of Cunaxa, it was + demonstrated, by the immortal retreat of the ten thousand under Xenophon, + that a Greek army could force its way to and from the heart of Persia. + </p> + <p> + That reverence for the military abilities of Asiatic generals, so + profoundly impressed on the Greeks by such engineering exploits as the + bridging of the Hellespont, and the cutting of the isthmus at Mount Athos + by Xerxes, had been obliterated at Salamis, Platea, Mycale. To plunder + rich Persian provinces had become an irresistible temptation. Such was the + expedition of Agesilaus, the Spartan king, whose brilliant successes were, + however, checked by the Persian government resorting to its time-proved + policy of bribing the neighbors of Sparta to attack her. "I have been + conquered by thirty thousand Persian archers," bitterly exclaimed + Agesilaus, as he re-embarked, alluding to the Persian coin, the Daric, + which was stamped with the image of an archer. + </p> + <p> + THE INVASION OF PERSIA BY GREECE. At length Philip, the King of Macedon, + projected a renewal of these attempts, under a far more formidable + organization, and with a grander object. He managed to have himself + appointed captain-general of all Greece not for the purpose of a mere + foray into the Asiatic satrapies, but for the overthrow of the Persian + dynasty in the very centre of its power. Assassinated while his + preparations were incomplete, he was succeeded by his son Alexander, then + a youth. A general assembly of Greeks at Corinth had unanimously elected + him in his father's stead. There were some disturbances in Illyria; + Alexander had to march his army as far north as the Danube to quell them. + During his absence the Thebans with some others conspired against him. On + his return he took Thebes by assault. He massacred six thousand of its + inhabitants, sold thirty thousand for slaves, and utterly demolished the + city. The military wisdom of this severity was apparent in his Asiatic + campaign. He was not troubled by any revolt in his rear. + </p> + <p> + THE MACEDONIAN CAMPAIGN. In the spring B.C. 334 Alexander crossed the + Hellespont into Asia. His army consisted of thirty-four thousand foot and + four thousand horse. He had with him only seventy talents in money. He + marched directly on the Persian army, which, vastly exceeding him in + strength, was holding the line of the Granicus. He forced the passage of + the river, routed the enemy, and the possession of all Asia Minor, with + its treasures, was the fruit of the victory. The remainder of that year he + spent in the military organization of the conquered provinces. Meantime + Darius, the Persian king, had advanced an army of six hundred thousand men + to prevent the passage of the Macedonians into Syria. In a battle that + ensued among the mountain-defiles at Issus, the Persians were again + overthrown. So great was the slaughter that Alexander, and Ptolemy, one of + his generals, crossed over a ravine choked with dead bodies. It was + estimated that the Persian loss was not less than ninety thousand foot and + ten thousand horse. The royal pavilion fell into the conqueror's hands, + and with it the wife and several of the children of Darius. Syria was thus + added to the Greek conquests. In Damascus were found many of the + concubines of Darius and his chief officers, together with a vast + treasure. + </p> + <p> + Before venturing into the plains of Mesopotamia for the final struggle, + Alexander, to secure his rear and preserve his communications with the + sea, marched southward down the Mediterranean coast, reducing the cities + in his way. In his speech before the council of war after Issus, he told + his generals that they must not pursue Darius with Tyre unsubdued, and + Persia in possession of Egypt and Cyprus, for, if Persia should regain her + seaports, she would transfer the war into Greece, and that it was + absolutely necessary for him to be sovereign at sea. With Cyprus and Egypt + in his possession he felt no solicitude about Greece. The siege of Tyre + cost him more than half a year. In revenge for this delay, he crucified, + it is said, two thousand of his prisoners. Jerusalem voluntarily + surrendered, and therefore was treated leniently: but the passage of the + Macedonian army into Egypt being obstructed at Gaza, the Persian governor + of which, Betis, made a most obstinate defense, that place, after a siege + of two months, was carried by assault, ten thousand of its men were + massacred, and the rest, with their wives and children, sold into slavery. + Betis himself was dragged alive round the city at the chariot-wheels of + the conqueror. There was now no further obstacle. The Egyptians, who + detested the Persian rule, received their invader with open arms. He + organized the country in his own interest, intrusting all its military + commands to Macedonian officers, and leaving the civil government in the + hands of native Egyptians. + </p> + <p> + CONQUEST OF EGYPT. While preparations for the final campaign were being + made, he undertook a journey to the temple of Jupiter Ammon, which was + situated in an oasis of the Libyan Desert, at a distance of two hundred + miles. The oracle declared him to be a son of that god who, under the form + of a serpent, had beguiled Olympias, his mother. Immaculate conceptions + and celestial descents were so currently received in those days, that + whoever had greatly distinguished himself in the affairs of men was + thought to be of supernatural lineage. Even in Rome, centuries later, no + one could with safety have denied that the city owed its founder, Romulus, + to an accidental meeting of the god Mars with the virgin Rhea Sylvia, as + she went with her pitcher for water to the spring. The Egyptian disciples + of Plato would have looked with anger on those who rejected the legend + that Perictione, the mother of that great philosopher, a pure virgin, had + suffered an immaculate conception through the influences of Apollo, and + that the god had declared to Ariston, to whom she was betrothed, the + parentage of the child. When Alexander issued his letters, orders, and + decrees, styling himself "King Alexander, the son of Jupiter Ammon," they + came to the inhabitants of Egypt and Syria with an authority that now can + hardly be realized. The free-thinking Greeks, however, put on such a + supernatural pedigree its proper value. Olympias, who, of course, better + than all others knew the facts of the case, used jestingly to say, that + "she wished Alexander would cease from incessantly embroiling her with + Jupiter's wife." Arrian, the historian of the Macedonian expedition, + observes, "I cannot condemn him for endeavoring to draw his subjects into + the belief of his divine origin, nor can I be induced to think it any + great crime, for it is very reasonable to imagine that he intended no more + by it than merely to procure the greater authority among his soldiers." + </p> + <p> + GREEK CONQUEST OF PERSIA. All things being thus secured in his rear, + Alexander, having returned into Syria, directed the march of his army, now + consisting of fifty thousand veterans, eastward. After crossing the + Euphrates, he kept close to the Masian hills, to avoid the intense heat of + the more southerly Mesopotamian plains; more abundant forage could also + thus be procured for the cavalry. On the left bank of the Tigris, near + Arbela, he encountered the great army of eleven hundred thousand men + brought up by Darius from Babylon. The death of the Persian monarch, which + soon followed the defeat he suffered, left the Macedonian general master + of all the countries from the Danube to the Indus. Eventually he extended + his conquest to the Ganges. The treasures he seized are almost beyond + belief. At Susa alone he found—so Arrian says—fifty thousand + talents in money. + </p> + <p> + EVENTS OF THE CAMPAIGNS. The modern military student cannot look upon + these wonderful campaigns without admiration. The passage of the + Hellespont; the forcing of the Granicus; the winter spent in a political + organization of conquered Asia Minor; the march of the right wing and + centre of the army along the Syrian Mediterranean coast; the engineering + difficulties overcome at the siege of Tyre; the storming of Gaza; the + isolation of Persia from Greece; the absolute exclusion of her navy from + the Mediterranean; the check on all her attempts at intriguing with or + bribing Athenians or Spartans, heretofore so often resorted to with + success; the submission of Egypt; another winter spent in the political + organization of that venerable country; the convergence of the whole army + from the Black and Red Seas toward the nitre-covered plains of Mesopotamia + in the ensuing spring; the passage of the Euphrates fringed with its + weeping-willows at the broken bridge of Thapsacus; the crossing of the + Tigris; the nocturnal reconnaissance before the great and memorable battle + of Arbela; the oblique movement on the field; the piercing of the enemy's + centre—a manoeuvre destined to be repeated many centuries + subsequently at Austerlitz; the energetic pursuit of the Persian monarch; + these are exploits not surpassed by any soldier of later times. + </p> + <p> + A prodigious stimulus was thus given to Greek intellectual activity. There + were men who had marched with the Macedonian army from the Danube to the + Nile, from the Nile to the Ganges. They had felt the hyperborean blasts of + the countries beyond the Black Sea, the simooms and sand-tempests of the + Egyptian deserts. They had seen the Pyramids which had already stood for + twenty centuries, the hieroglyph-covered obelisks of Luxor, avenues of + silent and mysterious sphinxes, colossi of monarchs who reigned in the + morning of the world. In the halls of Esar-haddon they had stood before + the thrones of grim old Assyrian kings, guarded by winged bulls. In + Babylon there still remained its walls, once more than sixty miles in + compass, and, after the ravages of three centuries and three conquerors, + still more than eighty feet in height; there were still the ruins of the + temple of cloud encompassed Bel, on its top was planted the observatory + wherein the weird Chaldean astronomers had held nocturnal communion with + the stars; still there were vestiges of the two palaces with their hanging + gardens in which were great trees growing in mid-air, and the wreck of the + hydraulic machinery that had supplied them with water from the river. Into + the artificial lake with its vast apparatus of aqueducts and sluices the + melted snows of the Armenian mountains found their way, and were confined + in their course through the city by the embankments of the Euphrates. Most + wonderful of all, perhaps, was the tunnel under the river-bed. + </p> + <p> + EFFECT ON THE GREEK ARMY. If Chaldea, Assyria, Babylon, presented + stupendous and venerable antiquities reaching far back into the night of + time, Persia was not without her wonders of a later date. The pillared + halls of Persepolis were filled with miracles of art—carvings, + sculptures, enamels, alabaster libraries, obelisks, sphinxes, colossal + bulls. Ecbatana, the cool summer retreat of the Persian kings, was + defended by seven encircling walls of hewn and polished blocks, the + interior ones in succession of increasing height, and of different colors, + in astrological accordance with the seven planets. The palace was roofed + with silver tiles, its beams were plated with gold. At midnight, in its + halls the sunlight was rivaled by many a row of naphtha cressets. A + paradise—that luxury of the monarchs of the East—was planted + in the midst of the city. The Persian Empire, from the Hellespont to the + Indus, was truly the garden of the world. + </p> + <p> + EFFECTS ON THE GREEK ARMY. I have devoted a few pages to the story of + these marvelous campaigns, for the military talent they fostered led to + the establishment of the mathematical and practical schools of Alexandria, + the true origin of science. We trace back all our exact knowledge to the + Macedonian campaigns. Humboldt has well observed that an introduction to + new and grand objects of Nature enlarges the human mind. The soldiers of + Alexander and the hosts of his camp-followers encountered at every march + unexpected and picturesque scenery. Of all men, the Greeks were the most + observant, the most readily and profoundly impressed. Here there were + interminable sandy plains, there mountains whose peaks were lost above the + clouds. In the deserts were mirages, on the hill-sides shadows of fleeting + clouds sweeping over the forests. They were in a land of amber-colored + date-palms and cypresses, of tamarisks, green myrtles, and oleanders. At + Arbela they had fought against Indian elephants; in the thickets of the + Caspian they had roused from his lair the lurking royal tiger. They had + seen animals which, compared with those of Europe, were not only strange, + but colossal—the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, the camel, the + crocodiles of the Nile and the Ganges. They had encountered men of many + complexions and many costumes: the swarthy Syrian, the olive-colored + Persian, the black African. Even of Alexander himself it is related that + on his death-bed he caused his admiral, Nearchus, to sit by his side, and + found consolation in listening to the adventures of that sailor—the + story of his voyage from the Indus up the Persian Gulf. The conqueror had + seen with astonishment the ebbing and flowing of the tides. He had built + ships for the exploration of the Caspian, supposing that it and the Black + Sea might be gulfs of a great ocean, such as Nearchus had discovered the + Persian and Red Seas to be. He had formed a resolution that his fleet + should attempt the circumnavigation of Africa, and come into the + Mediterranean through the Pillars of Hercules—a feat which, it was + affirmed, had once been accomplished by the Pharaohs. + </p> + <p> + INTELLECTUAL CONDITION OF PERSIA. Not only her greatest soldiers, but also + her greatest philosophers, found in the conquered empire much that might + excite the admiration of Greece. Callisthenes obtained in Babylon a series + of Chaldean astronomical observations ranging back through 1,903 years; + these he sent to Aristotle. Perhaps, since they were on burnt bricks, + duplicates of them may be recovered by modern research in the clay + libraries of the Assyrian kings. Ptolemy, the Egyptian astronomer, + possessed a Babylonian record of eclipses, going back 747 years before our + era. Long-continued and close observations were necessary, before some of + these astronomical results that have reached our times could have been + ascertained. Thus the Babylonians had fixed the length of a tropical year + within twenty-five seconds of the truth; their estimate of the sidereal + year was barely two minutes in excess. They had detected the precession of + the equinoxes. They knew the causes of eclipses, and, by the aid of their + cycle called Saros, could predict them. Their estimate of the value of + that cycle, which is more than 6,585 days, was within nineteen and a half + minutes of the truth. + </p> + <p> + INTELLECTUAL CONDITION OF PERSIA. Such facts furnish incontrovertible + proof of the patience and skill with which astronomy had been cultivated + in Mesopotamia, and that, with very inadequate instrumental means, it had + reached no inconsiderable perfection. These old observers had made a + catalogue of the stars, had divided the zodiac into twelve signs; they had + parted the day into twelve hours, the night into twelve. They had, as + Aristotle says, for a long time devoted themselves to observations of + star-occultations by the moon. They had correct views of the structure of + the solar system, and knew the order of the emplacement of the planets. + They constructed sundials, clepsydras, astrolabes, gnomons. + </p> + <p> + Not without interest do we still look on specimens of their method of + printing. Upon a revolving roller they engraved, in cuneiform letters, + their records, and, running this over plastic clay formed into blocks, + produced ineffaceable proofs. From their tile-libraries we are still to + reap a literary and historical harvest. They were not without some + knowledge of optics. The convex lens found at Nimroud shows that they were + not unacquainted with magnifying instruments. In arithmetic they had + detected the value of position in the digits, though they missed the grand + Indian invention of the cipher. + </p> + <p> + What a spectacle for the conquering Greeks, who, up to this time, had + neither experimented nor observed! They had contented themselves with mere + meditation and useless speculation. + </p> + <p> + ITS RELIGIOUS CONDITION. But Greek intellectual development, due thus in + part to a more extended view of Nature, was powerfully aided by the + knowledge then acquired of the religion of the conquered country. The + idolatry of Greece had always been a horror to Persia, who, in her + invasions, had never failed to destroy the temples and insult the fanes of + the bestial gods. The impunity with which these sacrileges had been + perpetrated had made a profound impression, and did no little to undermine + Hellenic faith. But now the worshiper of the vile Olympian divinities, + whose obscene lives must have been shocking to every pious man, was + brought in contact with a grand, a solemn, a consistent religious system + having its foundation on a philosophical basis. Persia, as is the case + with all empires of long duration, had passed through many changes of + religion. She had followed the Monotheism of Zoroaster; had then accepted + Dualism, and exchanged that for Magianism. At the time of the Macedonian + expedition, she recognized one universal Intelligence, the Creator, + Preserver, and Governor of all things, the most holy essence of truth, the + giver of all good. He was not to be represented by any image, or any + graven form. And, since, in every thing here below, we see the resultant + of two opposing forces, under him were two coequal and coeternal + principles, represented by the imagery of Light and Darkness. These + principles are in never-ending conflict. The world is their battle-ground, + man is their prize. + </p> + <p> + In the old legends of Dualism, the Evil Spirit was said to have sent a + serpent to ruin the paradise which the Good Spirit had made. These legends + became known to the Jews during their Babylonian captivity. + </p> + <p> + The existence of a principle of evil is the necessary incident of the + existence of a principle of good, as a shadow is the necessary incident of + the presence of light. In this manner could be explained the occurrence of + evil in a world, the maker and ruler of which is supremely good. Each of + the personified principles of light and darkness, Ormuzd and Ahriman, had + his subordinate angels, his counselors, his armies. It is the duty of a + good man to cultivate truth, purity, and industry. He may look forward, + when this life is over, to a life in another world, and trust to a + resurrection of the body, the immortality of the soul, and a conscious + future existence. + </p> + <p> + In the later years of the empire, the principles of Magianism had + gradually prevailed more and more over those of Zoroaster. Magianism was + essentially a worship of the elements. Of these, fire was considered as + the most worthy representative of the Supreme Being. On altars erected, + not in temples, but under the blue canopy of the sky, perpetual fires were + kept burning, and the rising sun was regarded as the noblest object of + human adoration. In the society of Asia, nothing is visible but the + monarch; in the expanse of heaven, all objects vanish in presence of the + sun. + </p> + <p> + DEATH OF ALEXANDER. Prematurely cut off in the midst of many great + projects Alexander died at Babylon before he had completed his + thirty-third year (B.C. 323). There was a suspicion that he had been + poisoned. His temper had become so unbridled, his passion so ferocious, + that his generals and even his intimate friends lived in continual dread. + Clitus, one of the latter, he in a moment of fury had stabbed to the + heart. Callisthenes, the intermedium between himself and Aristotle, he had + caused to be hanged, or, as was positively asserted by some who knew the + facts, had had him put upon the rack and then crucified. It may have been + in self-defense that the conspirators resolved on his assassination. But + surely it was a calumny to associate the name of Aristotle with this + transaction. He would have rather borne the worst that Alexander could + inflict, than have joined in the perpetration of so great a crime. + </p> + <p> + A scene of confusion and bloodshed lasting many years ensued, nor did it + cease even after the Macedonian generals had divided the empire. Among its + vicissitudes one incident mainly claims our attention. Ptolemy, who was a + son of King Philip by Arsinoe, a beautiful concubine, and who in his + boyhood had been driven into exile with Alexander, when they incurred + their father's displeasure, who had been Alexander's comrade in many of + his battles and all his campaigns, became governor and eventually king of + Egypt. + </p> + <p> + FOUNDATION OF ALEXANDER. At the siege of Rhodes, Ptolemy had been of such + signal service to its citizens that in gratitude they paid divine honors + to him, and saluted him with the title of Soter (the Savior). By that + designation—Ptolemy Soter—he is distinguished from succeeding + kings of the Macedonian dynasty in Egypt. + </p> + <p> + He established his seat of government not in any of the old capitals of + the country, but in Alexandria. At the time of the expedition to the + temple of Jupiter Ammon, the Macedonian conqueror had caused the + foundations of that city to be laid, foreseeing that it might be made the + commercial entrepot between Asia and Europe. It is to be particularly + remarked that not only did Alexander himself deport many Jews from + Palestine to people the city, and not only did Ptolemy Soter bring one + hundred thousand more after his siege of Jerusalem, but Philadelphus, his + successor, redeemed from slavery one hundred and ninety-eight thousand of + that people, paying their Egyptian owners a just money equivalent for + each. To all these Jews the same privileges were accorded as to the + Macedonians. In consequence of this considerate treatment, vast numbers of + their compatriots and many Syrians voluntarily came into Egypt. To them + the designation of Hellenistical Jews was given. In like manner, tempted + by the benign government of Soter, multitudes of Greeks sought refuge in + the country, and the invasions of Perdiccas and Antigonus showed that + Greek soldiers would desert from other Macedonian generals to join is + armies. + </p> + <p> + The population of Alexandria was therefore of three distinct + nationalities: 1. Native Egyptians 2. Greeks; 3. Jews—a fact that + has left an impress on the religious faith of modern Europe. + </p> + <p> + Greek architects and Greek engineers had made Alexandria the most + beautiful city of the ancient world. They had filled it with magnificent + palaces, temples, theatres. In its centre, at the intersection of its two + grand avenues, which crossed each other at right angles, and in the midst + of gardens, fountains, obelisks, stood the mausoleum, in which, embalmed + after the manner of the Egyptians, rested the body of Alexander. In a + funereal journey of two years it had been brought with great pomp from + Babylon. At first the coffin was of pure gold, but this having led to a + violation of the tomb, it was replaced by one of alabaster. But not these, + not even the great light-house, Pharos, built of blocks of white marble + and so high that the fire continually burning on its top could be seen + many miles off at sea—the Pharos counted as one of the seven wonders + of the world—it is not these magnificent achievements of + architecture that arrest our attention; the true, the most glorious + monument of the Macedonian kings of Egypt is the Museum. Its influences + will last when even the Pyramids have passed away. + </p> + <p> + THE ALEXANDRIAN MUSEUM. The Alexandrian Museum was commenced by Ptolemy + Soter, and was completed by his son Ptolemy Philadelphus. It was situated + in the Bruchion, the aristocratic quarter of the city, adjoining the + king's palace. Built of marble, it was surrounded with a piazza, in which + the residents might walk and converse together. Its sculptured apartments + contained the Philadelphian library, and were crowded with the choicest + statues and pictures. This library eventually comprised four hundred + thousand volumes. In the course of time, probably on account of inadequate + accommodation for so many books, an additional library was established in + the adjacent quarter Rhacotis, and placed in the Serapion or temple of + Serapis. The number of volumes in this library, which was called the + Daughter of that in the Museum, was eventually three hundred thousand. + There were, therefore, seven hundred thousand volumes in these royal + collections. + </p> + <p> + Alexandria was not merely the capital of Egypt, it was the intellectual + metropolis of the world. Here it was truly said the Genius of the East met + the Genius of the West, and this Paris of antiquity became a focus of + fashionable dissipation and universal skepticism. In the allurements of + its bewitching society even the Jews forgot their patriotism. They + abandoned the language of their forefathers, and adopted Greek. + </p> + <p> + In the establishment of the Museum, Ptolemy Soter and his son Philadelphus + had three objects in view: 1. The perpetuation of such knowledge as was + then in the world; 2. Its increase; 3. Its diffusion. + </p> + <p> + 1. For the perpetuation of knowledge. Orders were given to the chief + librarian to buy at the king's expense whatever books he could. A body of + transcribers was maintained in the Museum, whose duty it was to make + correct copies of such works as their owners were not disposed to sell. + Any books brought by foreigners into Egypt were taken at once to the + Museum, and, when correct copies had been made, the transcript was given + to the owner, and the original placed in the library. Often a very large + pecuniary indemnity was paid. Thus it is said of Ptolemy Euergetes that, + having obtained from Athens the works of Euripides, Sophocles, and + Aeschylus, he sent to their owners transcripts, together with about + fifteen thousand dollars, as an indemnity. On his return from the Syrian + expedition he carried back in triumph all the Egyptian monuments from + Ecbatana and Susa, which Cambyses and other invaders had removed from + Egypt. These he replaced in their original seats, or added as adornments + to his museums. When works were translated as well as transcribed, sums + which we should consider as almost incredible were paid, as was the case + with the Septuagint translation of the Bible, ordered by Ptolemy + Philadelphus. + </p> + <p> + 2. For the increase of knowledge. One of the chief objects of the Museum + was that of serving as the home of a body of men who devoted themselves to + study, and were lodged and maintained at the king's expense. Occasionally + he himself sat at their table. Anecdotes connected with those festive + occasions have descended to our times. In the original organization of the + Museum the residents were divided into four faculties—literature; + mathematics, astronomy, medicine. Minor branches were appropriately + classified under one of these general heads; thus natural history was + considered to be a branch of medicine. An officer of very great + distinction presided over the establishment, and had general charge of its + interests. Demetrius Phalareus, perhaps the most learned man of his age, + who had been governor of Athens for many years, was the first so + appointed. Under him was the librarian, an office sometimes held by men + whose names have descended to our times, as Eratosthenes, and Apollonius + Rhodius. + </p> + <p> + ORGANIZATION OF THE MUSEUM. In connection with the Museum were a botanical + and a zoological garden. These gardens, as their names import, were for + the purpose of facilitating the study of plants and animals. There was + also an astronomical observatory containing armillary spheres, globes, + solstitial and equatorial armils, astrolabes, parallactic rules, and other + apparatus then in use, the graduation on the divided instruments being + into degrees and sixths. On the floor of this observatory a meridian line + was drawn. The want of correct means of measuring time and temperature was + severely felt; the clepsydra of Ctesibius answered very imperfectly for + the former, the hydrometer floating in a cup of water for the latter; it + measured variations of temperature by variations of density. Philadelphus, + who toward the close of his life was haunted with an intolerable dread of + death, devoted much of his time to the discovery of an elixir. For such + pursuits the Museum was provided with a chemical laboratory. In spite of + the prejudices of the age, and especially in spite of Egyptian prejudices, + there was in connection with the medical department an anatomical room for + the dissection, not only of the dead, but actually of the living, who for + crimes had been condemned. + </p> + <p> + 3. For the diffusion of knowledge. In the Museum was given, by lectures, + conversation, or other appropriate methods instruction in all the various + departments of human knowledge. There flocked to this great intellectual + centre, students from all countries. It is said that at one time not fewer + than fourteen thousand were in attendance. Subsequently even the Christian + church received from it some of the most eminent of its Fathers, as + Clemens Alexandrinus, Origen, Athanasius. + </p> + <p> + The library in the Museum was burnt during the siege of Alexandria by + Julius Caesar. To make amends for this great loss, that collected by + Eumenes, King of Pergamus, was presented by Mark Antony to Queen + Cleopatra. Originally it was founded as a rival to that of the Ptolemies. + It was added to the collection in the Serapion. + </p> + <p> + SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL OF THE MUSEUM. It remains now to describe briefly the + philosophical basis of the Museum, and some of its contributions to the + stock of human knowledge. + </p> + <p> + In memory of the illustrious founder of this most noble institution—an + institution which antiquity delighted to call "The divine school of + Alexandria"—we must mention in the first rank his "History of the + Campaigns of Alexander." Great as a soldier and as a sovereign, Ptolemy + Soter added to his glory by being an author. Time, which has not been able + to destroy the memory of our obligations to him, has dealt unjustly by his + work. It is not now extant. + </p> + <p> + As might be expected from the friendship that existed between Alexander, + Ptolemy, and Aristotle, the Aristotelian philosophy was the intellectual + corner-stone on which the Museum rested. King Philip had committed the + education of Alexander to Aristotle, and during the Persian campaigns the + conqueror contributed materially, not only in money, but otherwise, toward + the "Natural History" then in preparation. + </p> + <p> + The essential principle of the Aristotelian philosophy was, to rise from + the study of particulars to a knowledge of general principles or + universals, advancing to them by induction. The induction is the more + certain as the facts on which it is based are more numerous; its + correctness is established if it should enable us to predict other facts + until then unknown. This system implies endless toil in the collection of + facts, both by experiment and observation; it implies also a close + meditation on them. It is, therefore, essentially a method of labor and of + reason, not a method of imagination. The failures that Aristotle himself + so often exhibits are no proof of its unreliability, but rather of its + trustworthiness. They are failures arising from want of a sufficiency of + facts. + </p> + <p> + ETHICAL SCHOOL OF THE MUSEUM. Some of the general results at which + Aristotle arrived are very grand. Thus, he concluded that every thing is + ready to burst into life, and that the various organic forms presented to + us by Nature are those which existing conditions permit. Should the + conditions change, the forms will also change. Hence there is an unbroken + chain from the simple element through plants and animals up to man, the + different groups merging by insensible shades into each other. + </p> + <p> + The inductive philosophy thus established by Aristotle is a method of + great power. To it all the modern advances in science are due. In its most + improved form it rises by inductions from phenomena to their causes, and + then, imitating the method of the Academy, it descends by deductions from + those causes to the detail of phenomena. + </p> + <p> + While thus the Scientific School of Alexandria was founded on the maxims + of one great Athenian philosopher, the Ethical School was founded on the + maxims of another, for Zeno, though a Cypriote or Phoenician, had for many + years been established at Athens. His disciples took the name of Stoics. + His doctrines long survived him, and, in times when there was no other + consolation for man, offered a support in the hour of trial, and an + unwavering guide in the vicissitudes of life, not only to illustrious + Greeks, but also to many of the great philosophers, statesmen, generals, + and emperors of Rome. + </p> + <p> + THE PRINCIPLES OF STOICISM. The aim of Zeno was, to furnish a guide for + the daily practice of life, to make men virtuous. He insisted that + education is the true foundation of virtue, for, if we know what is good, + we shall incline to do it. We must trust to sense, to furnish the data of + knowledge, and reason will suitably combine them. In this the affinity of + Zeno to Aristotle is plainly seen. Every appetite, lust, desire, springs + from imperfect knowledge. Our nature is imposed upon us by Fate, but we + must learn to control our passions, and live free, intelligent, virtuous, + in all things in accordance with reason. Our existence should be + intellectual, we should survey with equanimity all pleasures and all + pains. We should never forget that we are freemen, not the slaves of + society. "I possess," said the Stoic, "a treasure which not all the world + can rob me of—no one can deprive me of death." We should remember + that Nature in her operations aims at the universal, and never spares + individuals, but uses them as means for the accomplishment of her ends. It + is, therefore, for us to submit to Destiny, cultivating, as the things + necessary to virtue, knowledge, temperance, fortitude, justice. We must + remember that every thing around us is in mutation; decay follows + reproduction, and reproduction decay, and that it is useless to repine at + death in a world where every thing is dying. As a cataract shows from year + to year an invariable shape, though the water composing it is perpetually + changing, so the aspect of Nature is nothing more than a flow of matter + presenting an impermanent form. The universe, considered as a whole, is + unchangeable. Nothing is eternal but space, atoms, force. The forms of + Nature that we see are essentially transitory, they must all pass away. + </p> + <p> + STOICISM IN THE MUSEUM. We must bear in mind that the majority of men are + imperfectly educated, and hence we must not needlessly offend the + religious ideas of our age. It is enough for us ourselves to know that, + though there is a Supreme Power, there is no Supreme Being. There is an + invisible principle, but not a personal God, to whom it would be not so + much blasphemy as absurdity to impute the form, the sentiments, the + passions of man. All revelation is, necessarily, a mere fiction. That + which men call chance is only the effect of an unknown cause. Even of + chances there is a law. There is no such thing as Providence, for Nature + proceeds under irresistible laws, and in this respect the universe is only + a vast automatic engine. The vital force which pervades the world is what + the illiterate call God. The modifications through which all things are + running take place in an irresistible way, and hence it may be said that + the progress of the world is, under Destiny, like a seed, it can evolve + only in a predetermined mode. + </p> + <p> + The soul of man is a spark of the vital flame, the general vital + principle. Like heat, it passes from one to another, and is finally + reabsorbed or reunited in the universal principle from which it came. + Hence we must not expect annihilation, but reunion; and, as the tired man + looks forward to the insensibility of sleep, so the philosopher, weary of + the world, should look forward to the tranquillity of extinction. Of these + things, however, we should think doubtingly, since the mind can produce no + certain knowledge from its internal resources alone. It is unphilosophical + to inquire into first causes; we must deal only with phenomena. Above all, + we must never forget that man cannot ascertain absolute truth, and that + the final result of human inquiry into the matter is, that we are + incapable of perfect knowledge; that, even if the truth be in our + possession, we cannot be sure of it. + </p> + <p> + What, then, remains for us? Is it not this—the acquisition of + knowledge, the cultivation of virtue and of friendship, the observance of + faith and truth, an unrepining submission to whatever befalls us, a life + led in accordance with reason? + </p> + <p> + PLATONISM IN THE MUSEUM. But, though the Alexandrian Museum was especially + intended for the cultivation of the Aristotelian philosophy, it must not + be supposed that other systems were excluded. Platonism was not only + carried to its full development, but in the end it supplanted + Peripateticism, and through the New Academy left a permanent impress on + Christianity. The philosophical method of Plato was the inverse of that of + Aristotle. Its starting-point was universals, the very existence of which + was a matter of faith, and from these it descended to particulars, or + details. Aristotle, on the contrary, rose from particulars to universals, + advancing to them by inductions. + </p> + <p> + Plato, therefore, trusted to the imagination, Aristotle to reason. The + former descended from the decomposition of a primitive idea into + particulars, the latter united particulars into a general conception. + Hence the method of Plato was capable of quickly producing what seemed to + be splendid, though in reality unsubstantial results; that of Aristotle + was more tardy in its operation, but much more solid. It implied endless + labor in the collection of facts, a tedious resort to experiment and + observation, the application of demonstration. The philosophy of Plato is + a gorgeous castle in the air; that of Aristotle a solid structure, + laboriously, and with many failures, founded on the solid rock. + </p> + <p> + An appeal to the imagination is much more alluring than the employment of + reason. In the intellectual decline of Alexandria, indolent methods were + preferred to laborious observation and severe mental exercise. The schools + of Neo-Platonism were crowded with speculative mystics, such as Ammonius + Saccas and Plotinus. These took the place of the severe geometers of the + old Museum. + </p> + <p> + PHYSICAL SCIENCE IN THE MUSEUM. The Alexandrian school offers the first + example of that system which, in the hands of modern physicists, has led + to such wonderful results. It rejected imagination, and made its theories + the expression of facts obtained by experiment and observation, aided by + mathematical discussion. It enforced the principle that the true method of + studying Nature is by experimental interrogation. The researches of + Archimedes in specific gravity, and the works of Ptolemy on optics, + resemble our present investigations in experimental philosophy, and stand + in striking contrast with the speculative vagaries of the older writers. + Laplace says that the only observation which the history of astronomy + offers us, made by the Greeks before the school of Alexandria, is that of + the summer solstice of the year B.C. 432. by Meton and Euctemon. We have, + for the first time, in that school, a combined system of observations made + with instruments for the measurement of angles, and calculated by + trigonometrical methods. Astronomy then took a form which subsequent ages + could only perfect. + </p> + <p> + It does not accord with the compass or the intention of this work to give + a detailed account of the contributions of the Alexandrian Museum to the + stock of human knowledge. It is sufficient that the reader should obtain a + general impression of their character. For particulars, I may refer him to + the sixth chapter of my "History of the Intellectual Development of + Europe." + </p> + <p> + EUCLID—ARCHIMEDES. It has just been remarked that the Stoical + philosophy doubted whether the mind can ascertain absolute truth. While + Zeno was indulging in such doubts, Euclid was preparing his great work, + destined to challenge contradiction from the whole human race. After more + than twenty-two centuries it still survives, a model of accuracy, + perspicuity, and a standard of exact demonstration. This great geometer + not only wrote on other mathematical topics, such as Conic Sections and + Prisms, but there are imputed to him treatises on Harmonics and Optics, + the latter subject being discussed on the hypothesis of rays issuing from + the eye to the object. + </p> + <p> + With the Alexandrian mathematicians and physicists must be classed + Archimedes, though he eventually resided in Sicily. Among his mathematical + works were two books on the Sphere and Cylinder, in which he gave the + demonstration that the solid content of a sphere is two-thirds that of its + circumscribing cylinder. So highly did he esteem this, that he directed + the diagram to be engraved on his tombstone. He also treated of the + quadrature of the circle and of the parabola; he wrote on Conoids and + Spheroids, and on the spiral that bears his name, the genesis of which was + suggested to him by his friend Conon the Alexandrian. As a mathematician, + Europe produced no equal to him for nearly two thousand years. In physical + science he laid the foundation of hydrostatics; invented a method for the + determination of specific gravities; discussed the equilibrium of floating + bodies; discovered the true theory of the lever, and invented a screw, + which still bears his name, for raising the water of the Nile. To him also + are to be attributed the endless screw, and a peculiar form of + burning-mirror, by which, at the siege of Syracuse, it is said that he set + the Roman fleet on fire. + </p> + <p> + ERATOSTHENES—APOLLONIUS—HIPPARCHUS. Eratosthenes, who at one + time had charge of the library, was the author of many important works. + Among them may be mentioned his determination of the interval between the + tropics, and an attempt to ascertain the size of the earth. He considered + the articulation and expansion of continents, the position of + mountain-chains, the action of clouds, the geological submersion of lands, + the elevation of ancient sea-beds, the opening of the Dardanelles and the + straits of Gibraltar, and the relations of the Euxine Sea. He composed a + complete system of the earth, in three books—physical, mathematical, + historical—accompanied by a map of all the parts then known. It is + only of late years that the fragments remaining of his "Chronicles of the + Theban Kings" have been justly appreciated. For many centuries they were + thrown into discredit by the authority of our existing absurd theological + chronology. + </p> + <p> + It is unnecessary to adduce the arguments relied upon by the Alexandrians + to prove the globular form of the earth. They had correct ideas respecting + the doctrine of the sphere, its poles, axis, equator, arctic and antarctic + circles, equinoctial points, solstices, the distribution of climates, etc. + I cannot do more than merely allude to the treatises on Conic Sections and + on Maxima and Minima by Apollonius, who is said to have been the first to + introduce the words ellipse and hyperbola. In like manner I must pass the + astronomical observations of Alistyllus and Timocharis. It was to those of + the latter on Spica Virginis that Hipparchus was indebted for his great + discovery of the precession of the eqninoxes. Hipparchus also determined + the first inequality of the moon, the equation of the centre. He adopted + the theory of epicycles and eccentrics, a geometrical conception for the + purpose of resolving the apparent motions of the heavenly bodies on the + principle of circular movement. He also undertook to make a catalogue of + the stars by the method of alineations—that is, by indicating those + that are in the same apparent straight line. The number of stars so + catalogued was 1,080. If he thus attempted to depict the aspect of the + sky, he endeavored to do the same for the surface of the earth, by marking + the position of towns and other places by lines of latitude and longitude. + He was the first to construct tables of the sun and moon. + </p> + <p> + THE SYNTAXIS OF PTOLEMY. In the midst of such a brilliant constellation of + geometers, astronomers, physicists, conspicuously shines forth Ptolemy, + the author of the great work, "Syntaxis," "a Treatise on the Mathematical + Construction of the Heavens." It maintained its ground for nearly fifteen + hundred years, and indeed was only displaced by the immortal "Principia" + of Newton. It commences with the doctrine that the earth is globular and + fixed in space, it describes the construction of a table of chords, and + instruments for observing the solstices, it deduces the obliquity of the + ecliptic, it finds terrestrial latitudes by the gnomon, describes + climates, shows how ordinary may be converted into sidereal time, gives + reasons for preferring the tropical to the sidereal year, furnishes the + solar theory on the principle of the sun's orbit being a simple eccentric, + explains the equation of time, advances to the discussion of the motions + of the moon, treats of the first inequality, of her eclipses, and the + motion of her nodes. It then gives Ptolemy's own great discovery—that + which has made his name immortal—the discovery of the moon's + evection or second inequality, reducing it to the epicyclic theory. It + attempts the determination of the distances of the sun and moon from the + earth—with, however, only partial success. It considers the + precession of the equinoxes, the discovery of Hipparchus, the full period + of which is twenty-five thousand years. It gives a catalogue of 1,022 + stars, treats of the nature of the milky-way, and discusses in the most + masterly manner the motions of the planets. This point constitutes another + of Ptolemy's claims to scientific fame. His determination of the planetary + orbits was accomplished by comparing his own observations with those of + former astronomers, among them the observations of Timocharis on the + planet Venus. + </p> + <p> + INVENTION OF THE STEAM-ENGINE. In the Museum of Alexandria, Ctesibius + invented the fire-engine. His pupil, Hero, improved it by giving it two + cylinders. There, too, the first steam-engine worked. This also was the + invention of Hero, and was a reaction engine, on the principle of the + eolipile. The silence of the halls of Serapis was broken by the + water-clocks of Ctesibius and Apollonius, which drop by drop measured + time. When the Roman calendar had fallen into such confusion that it had + become absolutely necessary to rectify it, Julius Caesar brought Sosigenes + the astronomer from Alexandria. By his advice the lunar year was + abolished, the civil year regulated entirely by the sun, and the Julian + calendar introduced. + </p> + <p> + The Macedonian rulers of Egypt have been blamed for the manner in which + they dealt with the religious sentiment of their time. They prostituted it + to the purpose of state-craft, finding in it a means of governing their + lower classes. To the intelligent they gave philosophy. + </p> + <p> + POLICY OF THE PTOLEMIES. But doubtless they defended this policy by the + experience gathered in those great campaigns which had made the Greeks the + foremost nation of the world. They had seen the mythological conceptions + of their ancestral country dwindle into fables; the wonders with which the + old poets adorned the Mediterranean had been discovered to be baseless + illusions. From Olympus its divinities had disappeared; indeed, Olympus + itself had proved to be a phantom of the imagination. Hades had lost its + terrors; no place could be found for it. + </p> + <p> + From the woods and grottoes and rivers of Asia Minor the local gods and + goddesses had departed; even their devotees began to doubt whether they + had ever been there. If still the Syrian damsels lamented, in their + amorous ditties, the fate of Adonis, it was only as a recollection, not as + a reality. Again and again had Persia changed her national faith. For the + revelation of Zoroaster she had substituted Dualism; then under new + political influences she had adopted Magianism. She had worshiped fire, + and kept her altars burning on mountain-tops. She had adored the sun. When + Alexander came, she was fast falling into pantheism. + </p> + <p> + On a country to which in its political extremity the indigenous gods have + been found unable to give any protection, a change of faith is impending. + The venerable divinities of Egypt, to whose glory obelisks had been raised + and temples dedicated, had again and again submitted to the sword of a + foreign conqueror. In the land of the Pyramids, the Colossi, the Sphinx, + the images of the gods had ceased to represent living realities. They had + ceased to be objects of faith. Others of more recent birth were needful, + and Serapis confronted Osiris. In the shops and streets of Alexandria + there were thousands of Jews who had forgotten the God that had made his + habitation behind the veil of the temple. + </p> + <p> + Tradition, revelation, time, all had lost their influence. The traditions + of European mythology, the revelations of Asia, the time-consecrated + dogmas of Egypt, all had passed or were fast passing away. And the + Ptolemies recognized how ephemeral are forms of faith. + </p> + <p> + But the Ptolemies also recognized that there is something more durable + than forms of faith, which, like the organic forms of geological ages, + once gone, are clean gone forever, and have no restoration, no return. + They recognized that within this world of transient delusions and + unrealities there is a world of eternal truth. + </p> + <p> + That world is not to be discovered through the vain traditions that have + brought down to us the opinions of men who lived in the morning of + civilization, nor in the dreams of mystics who thought that they were + inspired. It is to be discovered by the investigations of geometry, and by + the practical interrogation of Nature. These confer on humanity solid, and + innumerable, and inestimable blessings. + </p> + <p> + The day will never come when any one of the propositions of Euclid will be + denied; no one henceforth will call in question the globular shape of the + earth, as recognized by Eratosthenes; the world will not permit the great + physical inventions and discoveries made in Alexandria and Syracuse to be + forgotten. The names of Hipparchus, of Apollonius, of Ptolemy, of + Archimedes, will be mentioned with reverence by men of every religious + profession, as long as there are men to speak. + </p> + <p> + THE MUSEUM AND MODERN SCIENCE. The Museum of Alexandria was thus the + birthplace of modern science. It is true that, long before its + establishment, astronomical observations had been made in China and + Mesopotamia; the mathematics also had been cultivated with a certain + degree of success in India. But in none of these countries had + investigation assumed a connected and consistent form; in none was + physical experimentation resorted to. The characteristic feature of + Alexandrian, as of modern science, is, that it did not restrict itself to + observation, but relied on a practical interrogation of Nature. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II. + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIANITY.—ITS TRANSFORMATION ON ATTAINING + IMPERIAL POWER.—ITS RELATIONS TO SCIENCE. + + Religious condition of the Roman Republic.—The adoption of + imperialism leads to monotheism.—Christianity spreads over + the Roman Empire.—The circumstances under which it + attained imperial power make its union with Paganism a + political necessity.—Tertullian's description of its + doctrines and practices.—Debasing effect of the policy of + Constantine on it.—Its alliance with the civil power.—Its + incompatibility with science.—Destruction of the + Alexandrian Library and prohibition of philosophy.— + Exposition of the Augustinian philosophy and Patristic + science generally.—The Scriptures made the standard of + science. +</pre> + <p> + IN a political sense, Christianity is the bequest of the Roman Empire to + the world. + </p> + <p> + At the epoch of the transition of Rome from the republican to the imperial + form of government, all the independent nationalities around the + Mediterranean Sea had been brought under the control of that central + power. The conquest that had befallen them in succession had been by no + means a disaster. The perpetual wars they had maintained with each other + came to an end; the miseries their conflicts had engendered were exchanged + for universal peace. + </p> + <p> + Not only as a token of the conquest she had made but also as a + gratification to her pride, the conquering republic brought the gods of + the vanquished peoples to Rome. With disdainful toleration, she permitted + the worship of them all. That paramount authority exercised by each + divinity in his original seat disappeared at once in the crowd of gods and + goddesses among whom he had been brought. Already, as we have seen, + through geographical discoveries and philosophical criticism, faith in the + religion of the old days had been profoundly shaken. It was, by this + policy of Rome, brought to an end. + </p> + <p> + MONOTHEISM IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. The kings of all the conquered provinces + had vanished; in their stead one emperor had come. The gods also had + disappeared. Considering the connection which in all ages has existed + between political and religious ideas, it was then not at all strange that + polytheism should manifest a tendency to pass into monotheism. + Accordingly, divine honors were paid at first to the deceased and at + length to the living emperor. + </p> + <p> + The facility with which gods were thus called into existence had a + powerful moral effect. The manufacture of a new one cast ridicule on the + origin of the old Incarnation in the East and apotheosis in the West were + fast filling Olympus with divinities. In the East, gods descended from + heaven, and were made incarnate in men; in the West, men ascended from + earth, and took their seat among the gods. It was not the importation of + Greek skepticism that made Rome skeptical. The excesses of religion itself + sapped the foundations of faith. + </p> + <p> + Not with equal rapidity did all classes of the population adopt + monotheistic views. The merchants and lawyers and soldiers, who by the + nature of their pursuits are more familiar with the vicissitudes of life, + and have larger intellectual views, were the first to be affected, the + land laborers and farmers the last. + </p> + <p> + THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY When the empire in a military and political sense + had reached its culmination, in a religious and social aspect it had + attained its height of immorality. It had become thoroughly epicurean; its + maxim was, that life should be made a feast, that virtue is only the + seasoning of pleasure, and temperance the means of prolonging it. + Dining-rooms glittering with gold and incrusted with gems, slaves in + superb apparel, the fascinations of female society where all the women + were dissolute, magnificent baths, theatres, gladiators, such were the + objects of Roman desire. The conquerors of the world had discovered that + the only thing worth worshiping is Force. By it all things might be + secured, all that toil and trade had laboriously obtained. The + confiscation of goods and lands, the taxation of provinces, were the + reward of successful warfare; and the emperor was the symbol of force. + There was a social splendor, but it was the phosphorescent corruption of + the ancient Mediterranean world. + </p> + <p> + In one of the Eastern provinces, Syria, some persons in very humble life + had associated themselves together for benevolent and religious purposes. + The doctrines they held were in harmony with that sentiment of universal + brotherhood arising from the coalescence of the conquered kingdoms. They + were doctrines inculcated by Jesus. + </p> + <p> + The Jewish people at that time entertained a belief, founded on old + traditions, that a deliverer would arise among them, who would restore + them to their ancient splendor. The disciples of Jesus regarded him as + this long-expected Messiah. But the priesthood, believing that the + doctrines he taught were prejudicial to their interests, denounced him to + the Roman governor, who, to satisfy their clamors, reluctantly delivered + him over to death. + </p> + <p> + His doctrines of benevolence and human brotherhood outlasted that event. + The disciples, instead of scattering, organized. They associated + themselves on a principle of communism, each throwing into the common + stock whatever property he possessed, and all his gains. The widows and + orphans of the community were thus supported, the poor and the sick + sustained. From this germ was developed a new, and as the events proved, + all-powerful society—the Church; new, for nothing of the kind had + existed in antiquity; powerful, for the local churches, at first isolated, + soon began to confederate for their common interest. Through this + organization Christianity achieved all her political triumphs. + </p> + <p> + As we have said, the military domination of Rome had brought about + universal peace, and had generated a sentiment of brotherhood among the + vanquished nations. Things were, therefore, propitious for the rapid + diffusion of the newly-established—the Christian—principle + throughout the empire. It spread from Syria through all Asia Minor, and + successively reached Cyprus, Greece, Italy, eventually extending westward + as far as Gaul and Britain. + </p> + <p> + Its propagation was hastened by missionaries who made it known in all + directions. None of the ancient classical philosophies had ever taken + advantage of such a means. + </p> + <p> + Political conditions determined the boundaries of the new religion. Its + limits were eventually those of the Roman Empire; Rome, doubtfully the + place of death of Peter, not Jerusalem, indisputably the place of the + death of our Savior, became the religious capital. It was better to have + possession of the imperial seven hilled city, than of Gethsemane and + Calvary with all their holy souvenirs. + </p> + <p> + IT GATHERS POLITICAL POWER. For many years Christianity manifested itself + as a system enjoining three things—toward God veneration, in + personal life purity, in social life benevolence. In its early days of + feebleness it made proselytes only by persuasion, but, as it increased in + numbers and influence, it began to exhibit political tendencies, a + disposition to form a government within the government, an empire within + the empire. These tendencies it has never since lost. They are, in truth, + the logical result of its development. The Roman emperors, discovering + that it was absolutely incompatible with the imperial system, tried to put + it down by force. This was in accordance with the spirit of their military + maxims, which had no other means but force for the establishment of + conformity. + </p> + <p> + In the winter A.D. 302-'3, the Christian soldiers in some of the legions + refused to join in the time-honored solemnities for propitiating the gods. + The mutiny spread so quickly, the emergency became so pressing, that the + Emperor Diocletian was compelled to hold a council for the purpose of + determining what should be done. The difficulty of the position may + perhaps be appreciated when it is understood that the wife and the + daughter of Diocletian himself were Christians. He was a man of great + capacity and large political views; he recognized in the opposition that + must be made to the new party a political necessity, yet he expressly + enjoined that there should be no bloodshed. But who can control an + infuriated civil commotion? The church of Nicomedia was razed to the + ground; in retaliation the imperial palace was set on fire, an edict was + openly insulted and torn down. The Christian officers in the army were + cashiered; in all directions, martyrdoms and massacres were taking place. + So resistless was the march of events, that not even the emperor himself + could stop the persecution. + </p> + <p> + THE FIRST CHRISTIAN EMPEROR. It had now become evident that the Christians + constituted a powerful party in the state, animated with indignation at + the atrocities they had suffered, and determined to endure them no longer. + After the abdication of Diocletian (A.D. 305), Constantine, one of the + competitors for the purple, perceiving the advantages that would accrue to + him from such a policy, put himself forth as the head of the Christian + party. This gave him, in every part of the empire, men and women ready to + encounter fire and sword in his behalf; it gave him unwavering adherents + in every legion of the armies. In a decisive battle, near the Milvian + bridge, victory crowned his schemes. The death of Maximin, and + subsequently that of Licinius, removed all obstacles. He ascended the + throne of the Caesars—the first Christian emperor. + </p> + <p> + Place, profit, power—these were in view of whoever now joined the + conquering sect. Crowds of worldly persons, who cared nothing about its + religious ideas, became its warmest supporters. Pagans at heart, their + influence was soon manifested in the paganization of Christianity that + forthwith ensued. The emperor, no better than they, did nothing to check + their proceedings. But he did not personally conform to the ceremonial + requirements of the Church until the close of his evil life, A.D. 337. + </p> + <p> + TERTULLIAN'S EXPOSITION OF CHRISTIANITY. That we may clearly appreciate + the modifications now impressed on Christianity—modifications which + eventually brought it in conflict with science—we must have, as a + means of comparison, a statement of what it was in its purer days. Such, + fortunately, we find in the "Apology or Defense of the Christians against + the Accusations of the Gentiles," written by Tertullian, at Rome, during + the persecution of Severus. He addressed it, not to the emperor, but to + the magistrates who sat in judgment on the accused. It is a solemn and + most earnest expostulation, setting forth all that could be said in + explanation of the subject, a representation of the belief and cause of + the Christians made in the imperial city in the face of the whole world, + not a querulous or passionate ecclesiastical appeal, but a grave + historical document. It has ever been looked upon as one of the ablest of + the early Christian works. Its date is about A.D. 200. + </p> + <p> + With no inconsiderable skill Tertullian opens his argument. He tells the + magistrates that Christianity is a stranger upon earth, and that she + expects to meet with enemies in a country which is not her own. She only + asks that she may not be condemned unheard, and that Roman magistrates + will permit her to defend herself; that the laws of the empire will gather + lustre, if judgment be passed upon her after she has been tried but not if + she is sentenced without a hearing of her cause; that it is unjust to hate + a thing of which we are ignorant, even though it may be a thing worthy of + hate; that the laws of Rome deal with actions, not with mere names; but + that, notwithstanding this, persons have been punished because they were + called Christians, and that without any accusation of crime. + </p> + <p> + He then advances to an exposition of the origin, the nature, and the + effects of Christianity, stating that it is founded on the Hebrew + Scriptures, which are the most venerable of all books. He says to the + magistrates: "The books of Moses, in which God has inclosed, as in a + treasure, all the religion of the Jews, and consequently all the Christian + religion, reach far beyond the oldest you have, even beyond all your + public monuments, the establishment of your state, the foundation of many + great cities—all that is most advanced by you in all ages of + history, and memory of times; the invention of letters, which are the + interpreters of sciences and the guardians of all excellent things. I + think I may say more—beyond your gods, your temples, your oracles + and sacrifices. The author of those books lived a thousand years before + the siege of Troy, and more than fifteen hundred before Homer." Time is + the ally of truth, and wise men believe nothing but what is certain, and + what has been verified by time. The principal authority of these + Scriptures is derived from their venerable antiquity. The most learned of + the Ptolemies, who was surnamed Philadelphus, an accomplished prince, by + the advice of Demetrius Phalareus, obtained a copy of these holy books. It + may be found at this day in his library. The divinity of these Scriptures + is proved by this, that all that is done in our days may be found + predicted in them; they contain all that has since passed in the view of + men. + </p> + <p> + Is not the accomplishment of a prophecy a testimony to its truth? Seeing + that events which are past have vindicated these prophecies, shall we be + blamed for trusting them in events that are to come? Now, as we believe + things that have been prophesied and have come to pass, so we believe + things that have been told us, but not yet come to pass, because they have + all been foretold by the same Scriptures, as well those that are verified + every day as those that still remain to be fulfilled. + </p> + <p> + These Holy Scriptures teach us that there is one God, who made the world + out of nothing, who, though daily seen, is invisible; his infiniteness is + known only to himself; his immensity conceals, but at the same time + discovers him. He has ordained for men, according to their lives, rewards + and punishments; he will raise all the dead that have ever lived from the + creation of the world, will command them to reassume their bodies, and + thereupon adjudge them to felicity that has so end, or to eternal flames. + The fires of hell are those hidden flames which the earth shuts up in her + bosom. He has in past times sent into the world preachers or prophets. The + prophets of those old times were Jews; they addressed their oracles, for + such they were, to the Jews, who have stored them up in the Scriptures. On + them, as has been said, Christianity is founded, though the Christian + differs in his ceremonies from the Jew. We are accused of worshiping a + man, and not the God of the Jews. Not so. The honor we bear to Christ does + not derogate from the honor we bear to God. + </p> + <p> + On account of the merit of these ancient patriarchs, the Jews were the + only beloved people of God; he delighted to be in communication with them + by his own mouth. By him they were raised to admirable greatness. But with + perversity they wickedly ceased to regard him; they changed his laws into + a profane worship. He warned them that he would take to himself servants + more faithful than they, and, for their crime, punished them by driving + them forth from their country. They are now spread all over the world; + they wander in all parts; they cannot enjoy the air they breathed at their + birth; they have neither man nor God for their king. As he threatened + them, so he has done. He has taken, in all nations and countries of the + earth, people more faithful than they. Through his prophets he had + declared that these should have greater favors, and that a Messiah should + come, to publish a new law among them. This Messiah was Jesus, who is also + God. For God may be derived from God, as the light of a candle may be + derived from the light of another candle. God and his Son are the + self-same God—a light is the same light as that from which it was + taken. + </p> + <p> + The Scriptures make known two comings of the Son of God; the first in + humility, the second at the day of judgment, in power. The Jews might have + known all this from the prophets, but their sins have so blinded them that + they did not recognize him at his first coming, and are still vainly + expecting him. They believed that all the miracles wrought by him were the + work of magic. The doctors of the law and the chief priests were envious + of him; they denounced him to Pilate. He was crucified, died, was buried, + and after three days rose again. For forty days he remained among his + disciples. Then he was environed in a cloud, and rose up to heaven—a + truth far more certain than any human testimonies touching the ascension + of Romulus or of any other Roman prince mounting up to the same place. + </p> + <p> + Tertullian then describes the origin and nature of devils, who, under + Satan, their prince, produce diseases, irregularities of the air, plagues, + and the blighting of the blossoms of the earth, who seduce men to offer + sacrifices, that they may have the blood of the victims, which is their + food. They are as nimble as the birds, and hence know every thing that is + passing upon earth; they live in the air, and hence can spy what is going + on in heaven; for this reason they can impose on men reigned prophecies, + and deliver oracles. Thus they announced in Rome that a victory would be + obtained over King Perseus, when in truth they knew that the battle was + already won. They falsely cure diseases; for, taking possession of the + body of a man, they produce in him a distemper, and then ordaining some + remedy to be used, they cease to afflict him, and men think that a cure + has taken place. + </p> + <p> + Though Christians deny that the emperor is a god, they nevertheless pray + for his prosperity, because the general dissolution that threatens the + universe, the conflagration of the world, is retarded so long as the + glorious majesty of the triumphant Roman Empire shall last. They desire + not to be present at the subversion of all Nature. They acknowledge only + one republic, but it is the whole world; they constitute one body, worship + one God, and all look forward to eternal happiness. Not only do they pray + for the emperor and the magistrates, but also for peace. They read the + Scriptures to nourish their faith, lift up their hope, and strengthen the + confidence they have in God. They assemble to exhort one another; they + remove sinners from their societies; they have bishops who preside over + them, approved by the suffrages of those whom they are to conduct. At the + end of each month every one contributes if he will, but no one is + constrained to give; the money gathered in this manner is the pledge of + piety; it is not consumed in eating and drinking, but in feeding the poor, + and burying them, in comforting children that are destitute of parents and + goods, in helping old men who have spent the best of their days in the + service of the faithful, in assisting those who have lost by shipwreck + what they had, and those who are condemned to the mines, or have been + banished to islands, or shut up in prisons, because they professed the + religion of the true God. There is but one thing that Christians have not + in common, and that one thing is their wives. They do not feast as if they + should die to-morrow, nor build as if they should never die. The objects + of their life are innocence, justice, patience, temperance, chastity. + </p> + <p> + To this noble exposition of Christian belief and life in his day, + Tertullian does not hesitate to add an ominous warning to the magistrates + he is addressing—ominous, for it was a forecast of a great event + soon to come to pass: "Our origin is but recent, yet already we fill all + that your power acknowledges—cities, fortresses, islands, provinces, + the assemblies of the people, the wards of Rome, the palace, the senate, + the public places, and especially the armies. We have left you nothing but + your temples. Reflect what wars we are able to undertake! With what + promptitude might we not arm ourselves were we not restrained by our + religion, which teaches us that it is better to be killed than to kill!" + </p> + <p> + Before he closes his defense, Tertullian renews an assertion which, + carried into practice, as it subsequently was, affected the intellectual + development of all Europe. He declares that the Holy Scriptures are a + treasure from which all the true wisdom in the world has been drawn; that + every philosopher and every poet is indebted to them. He labors to show + that they are the standard and measure of all truth, and that whatever is + inconsistent with them must necessarily be false. + </p> + <p> + From Tertullian's able work we see what Christianity was while it was + suffering persecution and struggling for existence. We have now to see + what it became when in possession of imperial power. Great is the + difference between Christianity under Severus and Christianity after + Constantine. Many of the doctrines which at the latter period were + preeminent, in the former were unknown. + </p> + <p> + PAGANIZATION OF CHRISTIANITY. Two causes led to the amalgamation of + Christianity with paganism: 1. The political necessities of the new + dynasty; 2. The policy adopted by the new religion to insure its spread. + </p> + <p> + 1. Though the Christian party had proved itself sufficiently strong to + give a master to the empire, it was never sufficiently strong to destroy + its antagonist, paganism. The issue of the struggle between them was an + amalgamation of the principles of both. In this, Christianity differed + from Mohammedanism, which absolutely annihilated its antagonist, and + spread its own doctrines without adulteration. + </p> + <p> + Constantine continually showed by his acts that he felt he must be the + impartial sovereign of all his people, not merely the representative of a + successful faction. Hence, if he built Christian churches, he also + restored pagan temples; if he listened to the clergy, he also consulted + the haruspices; if he summoned the Council of Nicea, he also honored the + statue of Fortune; if he accepted the rite of baptism, he also struck a + medal bearing his title of "God." His statue, on the top of the great + porphyry pillar at Constantinople, consisted of an ancient image of + Apollo, whose features were replaced by those of the emperor, and its head + surrounded by the nails feigned to have been used at the crucifixion of + Christ, arranged so as to form a crown of glory. + </p> + <p> + Feeling that there must be concessions to the defeated pagan party, in + accordance with its ideas, he looked with favor on the idolatrous + movements of his court. In fact, the leaders of these movements were + persons of his own family. + </p> + <p> + CHRISTIANITY UNDER CONSTANTINE. 2. To the emperor—a mere worldling—a + man without any religious convictions, doubtless it appeared best for + himself, best for the empire, and best for the contending parties, + Christian and pagan, to promote their union or amalgamation as much as + possible. Even sincere Christians do not seem to have been averse to this; + perhaps they believed that the new doctrines would diffuse most thoroughly + by incorporating in themselves ideas borrowed from the old, that Truth + would assert her self in the end, and the impurity be cast off. In + accomplishing this amalgamation, Helena, the empress-mother, aided by the + court ladies, led the way. For her gratification there were discovered, in + a cavern at Jerusalem, wherein they had lain buried for more than three + centuries, the Savior's cross, and those of the two thieves, the + inscription, and the nails that had been used. They were identified by + miracle. A true relic-worship set in. The superstition of the old Greek + times reappeared; the times when the tools with which the Trojan horse was + made might still be seen at Metapontum, the sceptre of Pelops at + Chaeroneia, the spear of Achilles at Phaselis, the sword of Memnon at + Nicomedia, when the Tegeates could show the hide of the Calydonian boar + and very many cities boasted their possession of the true palladium of + Troy; when there were statues of Minerva that could brandish spears, + paintings that could blush, images that could sweat, and endless shrines + and sanctuaries at which miracle-cures could be performed. + </p> + <p> + As years passed on, the faith described by Tertullian was transmuted into + one more fashionable and more debased. It was incorporated with the old + Greek mythology. Olympus was restored, but the divinities passed under + other names. The more powerful provinces insisted on the adoption of their + time-honored conceptions. Views of the Trinity, in accordance with + Egyptian traditions, were established. Not only was the adoration of Isis + under a new name restored, but even her image, standing on the crescent + moon, reappeared. The well-known effigy of that goddess, with the infant + Horus in her arms, has descended to our days in the beautiful, artistic + creations of the Madonna and Child. Such restorations of old conceptions + under novel forms were everywhere received with delight. When it was + announced to the Ephesians that the Council of that place, headed by + Cyril, had decreed that the Virgin should be called "the Mother of God," + with tears of joy they embraced the knees of their bishop; it was the old + instinct peeping out; their ancestors would have done the same for Diana. + </p> + <p> + This attempt to conciliate worldly converts, by adopting their ideas and + practices, did not pass without remonstrance from those whose intelligence + discerned the motive. "You have," says Faustus to Augustine, "substituted + your agapae for the sacrifices of the pagans; for their idols your + martyrs, whom you serve with the very same honors. You appease the shades + of the dead with wine and feasts; you celebrate the solemn festivities of + the Gentiles, their calends, and their solstices; and, as to their + manners, those you have retained without any alteration. Nothing + distinguishes you from the pagans, except that you hold your assemblies + apart from them." Pagan observances were everywhere introduced. At + weddings it was the custom to sing hymns to Venus. + </p> + <p> + INTRODUCTION OF ROMAN RITES. Let us pause here a moment, and see, in + anticipation, to what a depth of intellectual degradation this policy of + paganization eventually led. Heathen rites were adopted, a pompous and + splendid ritual, gorgeous robes, mitres, tiaras, wax-tapers, processional + services, lustrations, gold and silver vases, were introduced. The Roman + lituus, the chief ensign of the augurs, became the crozier. Churches were + built over the tombs of martyrs, and consecrated with rites borrowed from + the ancient laws of the Roman pontiffs. Festivals and commemorations of + martyrs multiplied with the numberless fictitious discoveries of their + remains. Fasting became the grand means of repelling the devil and + appeasing God; celibacy the greatest of the virtues. Pilgrimages were made + to Palestine and the tombs of the martyrs. Quantities of dust and earth + were brought from the Holy Land and sold at enormous prices, as antidotes + against devils. The virtues of consecrated water were upheld. Images and + relics were introduced into the churches, and worshiped after the fashion + of the heathen gods. It was given out that prodigies and miracles were to + be seen in certain places, as in the heathen times. The happy souls of + departed Christians were invoked; it was believed that they were wandering + about the world, or haunting their graves. There was a multiplication of + temples, altars, and penitential garments. The festival of the + purification of the Virgin was invented to remove the uneasiness of + heathen converts on account of the loss of their Lupercalia, or feasts of + Pan. The worship of images, of fragments of the cross, or bones, nails, + and other relics, a true fetich worship, was cultivated. Two arguments + were relied on for the authenticity of these objects—the authority + of the Church, and the working of miracles. Even the worn-out clothing of + the saints and the earth of their graves were venerated. From Palestine + were brought what were affirmed to be the skeletons of St. Mark and St. + James, and other ancient worthies. The apotheosis of the old Roman times + was replaced by canonization; tutelary saints succeed to local + mythological divinities. Then came the mystery of transubstantiation, or + the conversion of bread and wine by the priest into the flesh and blood of + Christ. As centuries passed, the paganization became more and more + complete. Festivals sacred to the memory of the lance with which the + Savior's side was pierced, the nails that fastened him to the cross, and + the crown of thorns, were instituted. Though there were several abbeys + that possessed this last peerless relic, no one dared to say that it was + impossible they could all be authentic. + </p> + <p> + We may read with advantage the remarks made by Bishop Newton on this + paganization of Christianity. He asks: "Is not the worship of saints and + angels now in all respects the same that the worship of demons was in + former times? The name only is different, the thing is identically the + same,... the deified men of the Christians are substituted for the deified + men of the heathens. The promoters of this worship were sensible that it + was the same, and that the one succeeded to the other; and, as the worship + is the same, so likewise it is performed with the same ceremonies. The + burning of incense or perfumes on several altars at one and the same time; + the sprinkling of holy water, or a mixture of salt and common water, at + going into and coming out of places of public worship; the lighting up of + a great number of lamps and wax-candles in broad daylight before altars + and statues of these deities; the hanging up of votive offerings and rich + presents as attestations of so many miraculous cures and deliverances from + diseases and dangers; the canonization or deification of deceased + worthies; the assigning of distinct provinces or prefectures to departed + heroes and saints; the worshiping and adoring of the dead in their + sepulchres, shrines, and relics; the consecrating and bowing down to + images; the attributing of miraculous powers and virtues to idols; the + setting up of little oratories, altars, and statues in the streets and + highways, and on the tops of mountains; the carrying of images and relics + in pompous procession, with numerous lights and with music and singing; + flagellations at solemn seasons under the notion of penance; a great + variety of religious orders and fraternities of priests; the shaving of + priests, or the tonsure as it is called, on the crown of their heads; the + imposing of celibacy and vows of chastity on the religious of both sexes—all + these and many more rites and ceremonies are equally parts of pagan and + popish superstition. Nay, the very same temples, the very same images, + which were once consecrated to Jupiter and the other demons, are now + consecrated to the Virgin Mary and the other saints. The very same rites + and inscriptions are ascribed to both, the very same prodigies and + miracles are related of these as of those. In short, almost the whole of + paganism is converted and applied to popery; the one is manifestly formed + upon the same plan and principles as the other; so that there is not only + a conformity, but even a uniformity, in the worship of ancient and modern, + of heathen and Christian Rome." + </p> + <p> + DEBASEMENT OF CHRISTIANITY. Thus far Bishop Newton; but to return to the + times of Constantine: though these concessions to old and popular ideas + were permitted and even encouraged, the dominant religious party never for + a moment hesitated to enforce its decisions by the aid of the civil power—an + aid which was freely given. Constantine thus carried into effect the acts + of the Council of Nicea. In the affair of Arius, he even ordered that + whoever should find a book of that heretic, and not burn it, should be put + to death. In like manner Nestor was by Theodosius the Younger banished to + an Egyptian oasis. + </p> + <p> + The pagan party included many of the old aristocratic families of the + empire; it counted among its adherents all the disciples of the old + philosophical schools. It looked down on its antagonist with contempt. It + asserted that knowledge is to be obtained only by the laborious exercise + of human observation and human reason. + </p> + <p> + The Christian party asserted that all knowledge is to be found in the + Scriptures and in the traditions of the Church; that, in the written + revelation, God had not only given a criterion of truth, but had furnished + us all that he intended us to know. The Scriptures, therefore, contain the + sum, the end of all knowledge. The clergy, with the emperor at their back, + would endure no intellectual competition. + </p> + <p> + Thus came into prominence what were termed sacred and profane knowledge; + thus came into presence of each other two opposing parties, one relying on + human reason as its guide, the other on revelation. Paganism leaned for + support on the learning of its philosophers, Christianity on the + inspiration of its Fathers. + </p> + <p> + The Church thus set herself forth as the depository and arbiter of + knowledge; she was ever ready to resort to the civil power to compel + obedience to her decisions. She thus took a course which determined her + whole future career: she became a stumbling-block in the intellectual + advancement of Europe for more than a thousand years. + </p> + <p> + The reign of Constantine marks the epoch of the transformation of + Christianity from a religion into a political system; and though, in one + sense, that system was degraded into an idolatry, in another it had risen + into a development of the old Greek mythology. The maxim holds good in the + social as well as in the mechanical world, that, when two bodies strike, + the form of both is changed. Paganism was modified by Christianity; + Christianity by Paganism. + </p> + <p> + THE TRINITARIAN DISPUTE. In the Trinitarian controversy, which first broke + out in Egypt—Egypt, the land of Trinities—the chief point in + discussion was to define the position of "the Son." There lived in + Alexandria a presbyter of the name of Arius, a disappointed candidate for + the office of bishop. He took the ground that there was a time when, from + the very nature of sonship, the Son did not exist, and a time at which he + commenced to be, asserting that it is the necessary condition of the + filial relation that a father must be older than his son. But this + assertion evidently denied the coeternity of the three persons of the + Trinity; it suggested a subordination or inequality among them, and indeed + implied a time when the Trinity did not exist. Hereupon, the bishop, who + had been the successful competitor against Arius, displayed his rhetorical + powers in public debates on the question, and, the strife spreading, the + Jews and pagans, who formed a very large portion of the population of + Alexandria, amused themselves with theatrical representations of the + contest on the stage—the point of their burlesques being the + equality of age of the Father and his Son. + </p> + <p> + Such was the violence the controversy at length assumed, that the matter + had to be referred to the emperor. At first he looked upon the dispute as + altogether frivolous, and perhaps in truth inclined to the assertion of + Arius, that in the very nature of the thing a father must be older than + his son. So great, however, was the pressure laid upon him, that he was + eventually compelled to summon the Council of Nicea, which, to dispose of + the conflict, set forth a formulary or creed, and attached to it this + anathema: "The Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church anathematizes those who + say that there was a time when the Son of God was not, and that, before he + was begotten, he was not, and that he was made out of nothing, or out of + another substance or essence, and is created, or changeable, or + alterable." Constantine at once enforced the decision of the council by + the civil power. + </p> + <p> + A few years subsequently the Emperor Theodosius prohibited sacrifices, + made the inspection of the entrails of animals a capital offense, and + forbade any one entering a temple. He instituted Inquisitors of Faith, and + ordained that all who did not accord with the belief of Damasus, the + Bishop of Rome, and Peter, the Bishop of Alexandria, should be driven into + exile, and deprived of civil rights. Those who presumed to celebrate + Easter on the same day as the Jews, he condemned to death. The Greek + language was now ceasing to be known in the West, and true learning was + becoming extinct. + </p> + <p> + At this time the bishopric of Alexandria was held by one Theophilus. An + ancient temple of Osiris having been given to the Christians of the city + for the site of a church, it happened that, in digging the foundation for + the new edifice, the obscene symbols of the former worship chanced to be + found. These, with more zeal than modesty, Theophilus exhibited in the + market-place to public derision. With less forbearance than the Christian + party showed when it was insulted in the theatre during the Trinitarian + dispute, the pagans resorted to violence, and a riot ensued. They held the + Serapion as their headquarters. Such were the disorder and bloodshed that + the emperor had to interfere. He dispatched a rescript to Alexandria, + enjoining the bishop, Theophilus, to destroy the Serapion; and the great + library, which had been collected by the Ptolemies, and had escaped the + fire of Julius Caesar, was by that fanatic dispersed. + </p> + <p> + THE MURDER OF HYPATIA. The bishopric thus held by Theophilus was in due + time occupied by his nephew St. Cyril, who had commended himself to the + approval of the Alexandrian congregations as a successful and fashionable + preacher. It was he who had so much to do with the introduction of the + worship of the Virgin Mary. His hold upon the audiences of the giddy city + was, however, much weakened by Hypatia, the daughter of Theon, the + mathematician, who not only distinguished herself by her expositions of + the doctrines of Plato and Aristotle, but also by her comments on the + writings of Apollonius and other geometers. Each day before her academy + stood a long train of chariots; her lecture-room was crowded with the + wealth and fashion of Alexandria. They came to listen to her discourses on + those questions which man in all ages has asked, but which never yet have + been answered: "What am I? Where am I? What can I know?" + </p> + <p> + Hypatia and Cyril! Philosophy and bigotry. They cannot exist together. So + Cyril felt, and on that feeling he acted. As Hypatia repaired to her + academy, she was assaulted by Cyril's mob—a mob of many monks. + Stripped naked in the street, she was dragged into a church, and there + killed by the club of Peter the Reader. The corpse was cut to pieces, the + flesh was scraped from the bones with shells, and the remnants cast into a + fire. For this frightful crime Cyril was never called to account. It + seemed to be admitted that the end sanctified the means. + </p> + <p> + So ended Greek philosophy in Alexandria, so came to an untimely close the + learning that the Ptolemies had done so much to promote. The "Daughter + Library," that of the Serapion, had been dispersed. The fate of Hypatia + was a warning to all who would cultivate profane knowledge. Henceforth + there was to be no freedom for human thought. Every one must think as the + ecclesiastical authority ordered him, A.D. 414. In Athens itself + philosophy awaited its doom. Justinian at length prohibited its teaching, + and caused all its schools in that city to be closed. + </p> + <p> + PELAGIUS. While these events were transpiring in the Eastern provinces of + the Roman Empire, the spirit that had produced them was displaying itself + in the West. A British monk, who had assumed the name of Pelagius, passed + through Western Europe and Northern Africa, teaching that death was not + introduced into the world by the sin of Adam; that on the contrary he was + necessarily and by nature mortal, and had he not sinned he would + nevertheless have died; that the consequences of his sins were confined to + himself, and did not affect his posterity. From these premises Pelagius + drew certain important theological conclusions. + </p> + <p> + At Rome, Pelagius had been received with favor; at Carthage, at the + instigation of St. Augustine, he was denounced. By a synod, held at + Diospolis, he was acquitted of heresy, but, on referring the matter to the + Bishop of Rome, Innocent I., he was, on the contrary, condemned. It + happened that at this moment Innocent died, and his successor, Zosimus, + annulled his judgment and declared the opinions of Pelagius to be + orthodox. These contradictory decisions are still often referred to by the + opponents of papal infallibility. Things were in this state of confusion, + when the wily African bishops, through the influence of Count Valerius, + procured from the emperor an edict denouncing Pelagins as a heretic; he + and his accomplices were condemned to exile and the forfeiture of their + goods. To affirm that death was in the world before the fall of Adam, was + a state crime. + </p> + <p> + CONDEMNATION OF PELAGIUS. It is very instructive to consider the + principles on which this strange decision was founded. Since the question + was purely philosophical, one might suppose that it would have been + discussed on natural principles; instead of that, theological + considerations alone were adduced. The attentive reader will have + remarked, in Tertullian's statement of the principles of Christianity, a + complete absence of the doctrines of original sin, total depravity, + predestination, grace, and atonement. The intention of Christianity, as + set forth by him, has nothing in common with the plan of salvation upheld + two centuries subsequently. It is to St. Augustine, a Carthaginian, that + we are indebted for the precision of our views on these important points. + </p> + <p> + In deciding whether death had been in the world before the fall of Adam, + or whether it was the penalty inflicted on the world for his sin, the + course taken was to ascertain whether the views of Pelagius were accordant + or discordant not with Nature but with the theological doctrines of St. + Augustine. And the result has been such as might be expected. The doctrine + declared to be orthodox by ecclesiastical authority is overthrown by the + unquestionable discoveries of modern science. Long before a human being + had appeared upon earth, millions of individuals—nay, more, + thousands of species and even genera—had died; those which remain + with us are an insignificant fraction of the vast hosts that have passed + away. + </p> + <p> + A consequence of great importance issued from the decision of the Pelagian + controversy. The book of Genesis had been made the basis of Christianity. + If, in a theological point of view, to its account of the sin in the + garden of Eden, and the transgression and punishment of Adam, so much + weight had been attached, it also in a philosophical point of view became + the grand authority of Patristic science. Astronomy, geology, geography, + anthropology, chronology, and indeed all the various departments of human + knowledge, were made to conform to it. + </p> + <p> + ST. AUGUSTINE. As the doctrines of St. Augustine have had the effect of + thus placing theology in antagonism with science, it may be interesting to + examine briefly some of the more purely philosophical views of that great + man. For this purpose, we may appropriately select portions of his study + of the first chapter of Genesis, as contained in the eleventh, twelfth, + and thirteenth books of his "Confessions." + </p> + <p> + These consist of philosophical discussions, largely interspersed with + rhapsodies. He prays that God will give him to understand the Scriptures, + and will open their meaning to him; he declares that in them there is + nothing superfluous, but that the words have a manifold meaning. + </p> + <p> + The face of creation testifies that there has been a Creator; but at once + arises the question, "How and when did he make heaven and earth? They + could not have been made IN heaven and earth, the world could not have + been made IN the world, nor could they have been made when there was + nothing to make them of." The solution of this fundamental inquiry St. + Augustine finds in saying, "Thou spakest, and they were made." + </p> + <p> + But the difficulty does not end here. St. Augustine goes on to remark that + the syllables thus uttered by God came forth in succession, and there must + have been some created thing to express the words. This created thing + must, therefore, have existed before heaven and earth, and yet there could + have been no corporeal thing before heaven and earth. It must have been a + creature, because the words passed away and came to an end but we know + that "the word of the Lord endureth forever." + </p> + <p> + Moreover, it is plain that the words thus spoken could not have been + spoken successively, but simultaneously, else there would have been time + and change—succession in its nature implying time; whereas there was + then nothing but eternity and immortality. God knows and says eternally + what takes place in time. + </p> + <p> + CRITICISM OF ST. AUGUSTINE. St. Augustine then defines, not without much + mysticism, what is meant by the opening words of Genesis: "In the + beginning." He is guided to his conclusion by another scriptural passage: + "How wonderful are thy works, O Lord! in wisdom hast thou made them all." + This "wisdom" is "the beginning," and in that beginning the Lord created + the heaven and the earth. + </p> + <p> + "But," he adds, "some one may ask, 'What was God doing before he made the + heaven and the earth? for, if at any particular moment he began to employ + himself, that means time, not eternity. In eternity nothing transpires—the + whole is present.'" In answering this question, he cannot forbear one of + those touches of rhetoric for which he was so celebrated: "I will not + answer this question by saying that he was preparing hell for priers into + his mysteries. I say that, before God made heaven and earth, he did not + make any thing, for no creature could be made before any creature was + made. Time itself is a creature, and hence it could not possibly exist + before creation. + </p> + <p> + "What, then, is time? The past is not, the future is not, the present—who + can tell what it is, unless it be that which has no duration between two + nonentities? There is no such thing as 'a long time,' or 'a short time,' + for there are no such things as the past and the future. They have no + existence, except in the soul." + </p> + <p> + The style in which St. Augustine conveyed his ideas is that of a + rhapsodical conversation with God. His works are an incoherent dream. That + the reader may appreciate this remark, I might copy almost at random any + of his paragraphs. The following is from the twelfth book: + </p> + <p> + "This then, is what I conceive, O my God, when I hear thy Scripture + saying, In the beginning God made heaven and earth: and the earth was + invisible and without form, and darkness was upon the deep, and not + mentioning what day thou createdst them; this is what I conceive, that + because of the heaven of heavens—that intellectual heaven, whose + intelligences know all at once, not in part, not darkly, not through a + glass, but as a whole, in manifestation, face to face; not this thing now, + and that thing anon; but (as I said) know all at once, without any + succession of times; and because of the earth, invisible and without form, + without any succession of times, which succession presents 'this thing + now, that thing anon;' because, where there is no form, there is no + distinction of things; it is, then, on account of these two, a primitive + formed, and a primitive formless; the one, heaven, but the heaven of + heavens; the other, earth, but the earth movable and without form; because + of these two do I conceive, did thy Scripture say without mention of days, + In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. For, forthwith it + subjoined what earth it spake of; and also in that the firmament is + recorded to be created the second day, and called heaven, it conveys to us + of which heaven he before spake, without mention of days. + </p> + <p> + "Wondrous depth of thy words! whose surface behold! is before us, inviting + to little ones; yet are they a wondrous depth, O my God, a wondrous depth! + It is awful to look therein; an awfulness of honor, and a trembling of + love. The enemies thereof I hate vehemently; O that thou wouldst slay them + with thy two-edged sword, that they might no longer be enemies to it: for + so do I love to have them slain unto themselves, that they may live unto + thee." + </p> + <p> + As an example of the hermeneutical manner in which St. Augustine unfolded + the concealed facts of the Scriptures, I may cite the following from the + thirteenth book of the "Confessions;" his object is to show that the + doctrine of the Trinity is contained in the Mosaic narrative of the + creation: + </p> + <p> + "Lo, now the Trinity appears unto me in a glass darkly, which is thou my + God, because thou, O Father, in him who is the beginning of our wisdom, + which is thy wisdom, born of thyself, equal unto thee and coeternal, that + is, in thy Son, createdst heaven and earth. Much now have we said of the + heaven of heavens, and of the earth invisible and without form, and of the + darksome deep, in reference to the wandering instability of its spiritual + deformity, unless it had been converted unto him, from whom it had its + then degree of life, and by his enlightening became a beauteous life, and + the heaven of that heaven, which was afterward set between water and + water. And under the name of God, I now held the Father, who made these + things; and under the name of the beginning, the Son, in whom he made + these things; and believing, as I did, my God as the Trinity, I searched + further in his holy words, and lo! thy Spirit moved upon the waters. + Behold the Trinity, my God!—Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost Creator + of all creation." + </p> + <p> + That I might convey to my reader a just impression of the character of St. + Augustine's philosophical writings, I have, in the two quotations here + given, substituted for my own translation that of the Rev. Dr. Pusey, as + contained in Vol. I. of the "Library of Fathers of the Holy Catholic + Church," published at Oxford, 1840. + </p> + <p> + Considering the eminent authority which has been attributed to the + writings of St. Augustine by the religious world for nearly fifteen + centuries, it is proper to speak of them with respect. And indeed it is + not necessary to do otherwise. The paragraphs here quoted criticise + themselves. No one did more than this Father to bring science and religion + into antagonism; it was mainly he who diverted the Bible from its true + office—a guide to purity of life—and placed it in the perilous + position of being the arbiter of human knowledge, an audacious tyranny + over the mind of man. The example once set, there was no want of + followers; the works of the great Greek philosophers were stigmatized as + profane; the transcendently glorious achievements of the Museum of + Alexandria were hidden from sight by a cloud of ignorance, mysticism, and + unintelligible jargon, out of which there too often flashed the destroying + lightnings of ecclesiastical vengeance. + </p> + <p> + A divine revelation of science admits of no improvement, no change, no + advance. It discourages as needless, and indeed as presumptuous, all new + discovery, considering it as an unlawful prying into things which it was + the intention of God to conceal. + </p> + <p> + What, then, is that sacred, that revealed science, declared by the Fathers + to be the sum of all knowledge? + </p> + <p> + It likened all phenomena, natural and spiritual, to human acts. It saw in + the Almighty, the Eternal, only a gigantic man. + </p> + <p> + THE PATRISTIC PHILOSOPHY. As to the earth, it affirmed that it is a flat + surface, over which the sky is spread like a dome, or, as St. Augustine + tells us, is stretched like a skin. In this the sun and moon and stars + move, so that they may give light by day and by night to man. The earth + was made of matter created by God out of nothing, and, with all the tribes + of animals and plants inhabiting it, was finished in six days. Above the + sky or firmament is heaven; in the dark and fiery space beneath the earth + is hell. The earth is the central and most important body of the universe, + all other things being intended for and subservient to it. + </p> + <p> + As to man, he was made out of the dust of the earth. At first he was + alone, but subsequently woman was formed from one of his ribs. He is the + greatest and choicest of the works of God. He was placed in a paradise + near the banks of the Euphrates, and was very wise and very pure; but, + having tasted of the forbidden fruit, and thereby broken the commandment + given to him, he was condemned to labor and to death. + </p> + <p> + The descendants of the first man, undeterred by his punishment, pursued + such a career of wickedness that it became necessary to destroy them. A + deluge, therefore, flooded the face of the earth, and rose over the tops + of the mountains. Having accomplished its purpose, the water was dried up + by a wind. + </p> + <p> + From this catastrophe Noah and his three sons, with their wives, were + saved in an ark. Of these sons, Shem remained in Asia and repeopled it. + Ham peopled Africa; Japhet, Europe. As the Fathers were not acquainted + with the existence of America, they did not provide an ancestor for its + people. + </p> + <p> + Let us listen to what some of these authorities say in support of their + assertions. Thus Lactantius, referring to the heretical doctrine of the + globular form of the earth, remarks: "Is it possible that men can be so + absurd as to believe that the crops and the trees on the other side of the + earth hang downward, and that men have their feet higher than their heads? + If you ask them how they defend these monstrosities, how things do not + fall away from the earth on that side, they reply that the nature of + things is such that heavy bodies tend toward the centre, like the spokes + of a wheel, while light bodies, as clouds, smoke, fire, tend from the + centre to the heavens on all sides. Now, I am really at a loss what to say + of those who, when they have once gone wrong, steadily persevere in their + folly, and defend one absurd opinion by another." On the question of the + antipodes, St. Augustine asserts that "it is impossible there should be + inhabitants on the opposite side of the earth, since no such race is + recorded by Scripture among the descendants of Adam." Perhaps, however, + the most unanswerable argument against the sphericity of the earth was + this, that "in the day of judgment, men on the other side of a globe could + not see the Lord descending through the air." + </p> + <p> + It is unnecessary for me to say any thing respecting the introduction of + death into the world, the continual interventions of spiritual agencies in + the course of events, the offices of angels and devils, the expected + conflagration of the earth, the tower of Babel, the confusion of tongues, + the dispersion of mankind, the interpretation of natural phenomena, as + eclipses, the rainbow, etc. Above all, I abstain from commenting on the + Patristic conceptions of the Almighty; they are too anthropomorphic, and + wanting in sublimity. + </p> + <p> + Perhaps, however, I may quote from Cosmas Indicopleustes the views that + were entertained in the sixth century. He wrote a work entitled "Christian + Topography," the chief intent of which was to confute the heretical + opinion of the globular form of the earth, and the pagan assertion that + there is a temperate zone on the southern side of the torrid. He affirms + that, according to the true orthodox system of geography, the earth is a + quadrangular plane, extending four hundred days' journey east and west, + and exactly half as much north and south; that it is inclosed by + mountains, on which the sky rests; that one on the north side, huger than + the others, by intercepting the rays of the sun, produces night; and that + the plane of the earth is not set exactly horizontally, but with a little + inclination from the north: hence the Euphrates, Tigris, and other rivers, + running southward, are rapid; but the Nile, having to run up-hill, has + necessarily a very slow current. + </p> + <p> + The Venerable Bede, writing in the seventh century, tells us that "the + creation was accomplished in six days, and that the earth is its centre + and its primary object. The heaven is of a fiery and subtile nature, + round, and equidistant in every part, as a canopy from the centre of the + earth. It turns round every day with ineffable rapidity, only moderated by + the resistance of the seven planets, three above the sun—Saturn, + Jupiter, Mars—then the sun; three below—Venus, Mercury, the + moon. The stars go round in their fixed courses, the northern perform the + shortest circle. The highest heaven has its proper limit; it contains the + angelic virtues who descend upon earth, assume ethereal bodies, perform + human functions, and return. The heaven is tempered with glacial waters, + lest it should be set on fire. The inferior heaven is called the + firmament, because it separates the superincumbent waters from the waters + below. The firmamental waters are lower than the spiritual heaven, higher + than all corporeal beings, reserved, some say, for a second deluge; + others, more truly, to temper the fire of the fixed stars." + </p> + <p> + Was it for this preposterous scheme—this product of ignorance and + audacity—that the works of the Greek philosophers were to be given + up? It was none too soon that the great critics who appeared at the + Reformation, by comparing the works of these writers with one another, + brought them to their proper level, and taught us to look upon them all + with contempt. + </p> + <p> + Of this presumptuous system, the strangest part was its logic, the nature + of its proofs. It relied upon miracle-evidence. A fact was supposed to be + demonstrated by an astounding illustration of something else! An Arabian + writer, referring to this, says: "If a conjurer should say to me, 'Three + are more than ten, and in proof of it I will change this stick into a + serpent,' I might be surprised at his legerdemain, but I certainly should + not admit his assertion." Yet, for more than a thousand years, such was + the accepted logic, and all over Europe propositions equally absurd were + accepted on equally ridiculous proof. + </p> + <p> + Since the party that had become dominant in the empire could not furnish + works capable of intellectual competition with those of the great pagan + authors, and since it was impossible for it to accept a position of + inferiority, there arose a political necessity for the discouragement, and + even persecution, of profane learning. The persecution of the Platonists + under Valentinian was due to that necessity. They were accused of magic, + and many of them were put to death. The profession of philosophy had + become dangerous—it was a state crime. In its stead there arose a + passion for the marvelous, a spirit of superstition. Egypt exchanged the + great men, who had made her Museum immortal, for bands of solitary monks + and sequestered virgins, with which she was overrun. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III. + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + CONFLICT RESPECTING THE DOCTRINE OF THE UNITY OF GOD.—THE + FIRST OR SOUTHERN REFORMATION. + + The Egyptians insist on the introduction of the worship of + the Virgin Mary—They are resisted by Nestor, the Patriarch + of Constantinople, but eventually, through their influence + with the emperor, cause Nestor's exile and the dispersion of + his followers. + + Prelude to the Southern Reformation—The Persian attack; its + moral effects. + + The Arabian Reformation.—Mohammed is brought in contact + with the Nestorians—He adopts and extends their principles, + rejecting the worship of the Virgin, the doctrine of the + Trinity, and every thing in opposition to the unity of God.— + He extinguishes idolatry in Arabia, by force, and prepares + to make war on the Roman Empire.—His successors conquer + Syria, Egypt, Asia Minor, North Africa, Spain, and invade + France. + + As the result of this conflict, the doctrine of the unity of + God was established in the greater part of the Roman Empire— + The cultivation of science was restored, and Christendom + lost many of her most illustrious capitals, as Alexandria, + Carthage, and, above all, Jerusalem. +</pre> + <p> + THE policy of the Byzantine court had given to primitive Christianity a + paganized form, which it had spread over all the idolatrous populations + constituting the empire. There had been an amalgamation of the two + parties. Christianity had modified paganism, paganism had modified + Christianity. The limits of this adulterated religion were the confines of + the Roman Empire. With this great extension there had come to the + Christian party political influence and wealth. No insignificant portion + of the vast public revenues found their way into the treasuries of the + Church. As under such circumstances must ever be the case, there were many + competitors for the spoils—men who, under the mask of zeal for the + predominant faith, sought only the enjoyment of its emoluments. + </p> + <p> + ECCLESIASTICAL DISPUTES. Under the early emperors, conquest had reached + its culmination; the empire was completed; there remained no adequate + objects for military life; the days of war-peculation, and the plundering + of provinces, were over. For the ambitious, however, another path was + open; other objects presented. A successful career in the Church led to + results not unworthy of comparison with those that in former days had been + attained by a successful career in the army. + </p> + <p> + The ecclesiastical, and indeed, it may be said, much of the political + history of that time, turns on the struggles of the bishops of the three + great metropolitan cities—Constantinople, Alexandria, Rome—for + supremacy: Constantinople based her claims on the fact that she was the + existing imperial city; Alexandria pointed to her commercial and literary + position; Rome, to her souvenirs. But the Patriarch of Constantinople + labored under the disadvantage that he was too closely under the eye, and, + as he found to his cost, too often under the hand, of the emperor. + Distance gave security to the episcopates of Alexandria and Rome. + </p> + <p> + ECCLESIASTICAL DISPUTES. Religious disputations in the East have generally + turned on diversities of opinion respecting the nature and attributes of + God; in the West, on the relations and life of man. This peculiarity has + been strikingly manifested in the transformations that Christianity has + undergone in Asia and Europe respectively. Accordingly, at the time of + which we are speaking, all the Eastern provinces of the Roman Empire + exhibited an intellectual anarchy. There were fierce quarrels respecting + the Trinity, the essence of God, the position of the Son, the nature of + the Holy Spirit, the influences of the Virgin Mary. The triumphant clamor + first of one then of another sect was confirmed, sometimes by + miracle-proof, sometimes by bloodshed. No attempt was ever made to submit + the rival opinions to logical examination. All parties, however, agreed in + this, that the imposture of the old classical pagan forms of faith was + demonstrated by the facility with which they had been overthrown. The + triumphant ecclesiastics proclaimed that the images of the gods had failed + to defend themselves when the time of trial came. + </p> + <p> + Polytheistic ideas have always been held in repute by the southern + European races, the Semitic have maintained the unity of God. Perhaps this + is due to the fact, as a recent author has suggested, that a diversified + landscape of mountains and valleys, islands, and rivers, and gulfs, + predisposes man to a belief in a multitude of divinities. A vast sandy + desert, the illimitable ocean, impresses him with an idea of the oneness + of God. + </p> + <p> + Political reasons had led the emperors to look with favor on the admixture + of Christianity and paganism, and doubtless by this means the bitterness + of the rivalry between those antagonists was somewhat abated. The heaven + of the popular, the fashionable Christianity was the old Olympus, from + which the venerable Greek divinities had been removed. There, on a great + white throne, sat God the Father, on his right the Son, and then the + blessed Virgin, clad in a golden robe, and "covered with various female + adornments;" on the left sat God the Holy Ghost. Surrounding these thrones + were hosts of angels with their harps. The vast expanse beyond was filled + with tables, seated at which the happy spirits of the just enjoyed a + perpetual banquet. + </p> + <p> + If, satisfied with this picture of happiness, illiterate persons never + inquired how the details of such a heaven were carried out, or how much + pleasure there could be in the ennui of such an eternally unchanging, + unmoving scene, it was not so with the intelligent. As we are soon to see, + there were among the higher ecclesiastics those who rejected with + sentiments of horror these carnal, these materialistic conceptions, and + raised their protesting voices in vindication of the attributes of the + Omnipresent, the Almighty God. + </p> + <p> + EGYPTIAN DOCTRINES. In the paganization of religion, now in all directions + taking place, it became the interest of every bishop to procure an + adoption of the ideas which, time out of mind, had been current in the + community under his charge. The Egyptians had already thus forced on the + Church their peculiar Trinitarian views; and now they were resolved that, + under the form of the adoration of the Virgin Mary, the worship of Isis + should be restored. + </p> + <p> + THE NESTORIANS. It so happened that Nestor, the Bishop of Antioch, who + entertained the philosophical views of Theodore of Mopsuestia, had been + called by the Emperor Theodosius the Younger to the Episcopate of + Constantinople (A.D. 427). Nestor rejected the base popular + anthropomorphism, looking upon it as little better than blasphemous, and + pictured to himself an awful eternal Divinity, who pervaded the universe, + and had none of the aspects or attributes of man. Nestor was deeply imbued + with the doctrines of Aristotle, and attempted to coordinate them with + what he considered to be orthodox Christian tenets. Between him and Cyril, + the Bishop or Patriarch of Alexandria, a quarrel accordingly arose. Cyril + represented the paganizing, Nestor the philosophizing party of the Church. + This was that Cyril who had murdered Hypatia. Cyril was determined that + the worship of the Virgin as the Mother of God should be recognized, + Nestor was determined that it should not. In a sermon delivered in the + metropolitan church at Constantinople, he vindicated the attributes of the + Eternal, the Almighty God. "And can this God have a mother?" he exclaimed. + In other sermons and writings, he set forth with more precision his ideas + that the Virgin should be considered not as the Mother of God, but as the + mother of the human portion of Christ, that portion being as essentially + distinct from the divine as is a temple from its contained deity. + </p> + <p> + PERSECUTION AND DEATH OF NESTOR. Instigated by the monks of Alexandria, + the monks of Constantinople took up arms in behalf of "the Mother of God." + The quarrel rose to such a pitch that the emperor was constrained to + summon a council to meet at Ephesus. In the mean time Cyril had given a + bribe of many pounds of gold to the chief eunuch of the imperial court, + and had thereby obtained the influence of the emperor's sister. "The holy + virgin of the court of heaven thus found an ally of her own sex in the + holy virgin of the emperor's court." Cyril hastened to the council, + attended by a mob of men and women of the baser sort. He at once assumed + the presidency, and in the midst of a tumult had the emperor's rescript + read before the Syrian bishops could arrive. A single day served to + complete his triumph. All offers of accommodation on the part of Nestor + were refused, his explanations were not read, he was condemned unheard. On + the arrival of the Syrian ecclesiastics, a meeting of protest was held by + them. A riot, with much bloodshed, ensued in the cathedral of St. John. + Nestor was abandoned by the court, and eventually exiled to an Egyptian + oasis. His persecutors tormented him as long as he lived, by every means + in their power, and at his death gave out that "his blasphemous tongue had + been devoured by worms, and that from the heats of an Egyptian desert he + had escaped only into the hotter torments of hell!" + </p> + <p> + The overthrow and punishment of Nestor, however, by no means destroyed his + opinions. He and his followers, insisting on the plain inference of the + last verse of the first chapter of St. Matthew, together with the + fifty-fifth and fifty-sixth verses of the thirteenth of the same gospel, + could never be brought to an acknowledgment of the perpetual virginity of + the new queen of heaven. Their philosophical tendencies were soon + indicated by their actions. While their leader was tormented in an African + oasis, many of them emigrated to the Euphrates, and established the + Chaldean Church. Under their auspices the college of Edessa was founded. + From the college of Nisibis issued those doctors who spread Nestor's + tenets through Syria, Arabia, India, Tartary, China, Egypt. The + Nestorians, of course, adopted the philosophy of Aristotle, and translated + the works of that great writer into Syriac and Persian. They also made + similar translations of later works, such as those of Pliny. In connection + with the Jews they founded the medical college of Djondesabour. Their + missionaries disseminated the Nestorian form of Christianity to such an + extent over Asia, that its worshipers eventually outnumbered all the + European Christians of the Greek and Roman Churches combined. It may be + particularly remarked that in Arabia they had a bishop. + </p> + <p> + THE PERSIAN CAMPAIGN. The dissensions between Constantinople and + Alexandria had thus filled all Western Asia with sectaries, ferocious in + their contests with each other, and many of them burning with hatred + against the imperial power for the persecutions it had inflicted on them. + A religious revolution, the consequences of which are felt in our own + times, was the result. It affected the whole world. + </p> + <p> + We shall gain a clear view of this great event, if we consider separately + the two acts into which it may be decomposed: 1. The temporary overthrow + of Asiatic Christianity by the Persians; 2. The decisive and final + reformation under the Arabians. + </p> + <p> + 1. It happened (A.D. 590) that, by one of those revolutions so frequent in + Oriental courts, Chosroes, the lawful heir to the Persian throne, was + compelled to seek refuge in the Byzantine Empire, and implore the aid of + the Emperor Maurice. That aid was cheerfully given. A brief and successful + campaign restored Chosroes to the throne of his ancestors. + </p> + <p> + But the glories of this generous campaign could not preserve Maurice + himself. A mutiny broke out in the Roman army, headed by Phocas, a + centurion. The statues of the emperor were overthrown. The Patriarch of + Constantinople, having declared that he had assured himself of the + orthodoxy of Phocas, consecrated him emperor. The unfortunate Maurice was + dragged from a sanctuary, in which he had sought refuge; his five sons + were beheaded before his eyes, and then he was put to death. His empress + was inveigled from the church of St. Sophia, tortured, and with her three + young daughters beheaded. The adherents of the massacred family were + pursued with ferocious vindictiveness; of some the eyes were blinded, of + others the tongues were torn out, or the feet and hands cut off, some were + whipped to death, others were burnt. + </p> + <p> + When the news reached Rome, Pope Gregory received it with exultation, + praying that the hands of Phocas might be strengthened against all his + enemies. As an equivalent for this subserviency, he was greeted with the + title of "Universal Bishop." The cause of his action, as well as of that + of the Patriarch of Constantinople, was doubtless the fact that Maurice + was suspected of Magrian tendencies, into which he had been lured by the + Persians. The mob of Constantinople had hooted after him in the streets, + branding him as a Marcionite, a sect which believed in the Magian doctrine + of two conflicting principles. + </p> + <p> + With very different sentiments Chosroes heard of the murder of his friend. + Phocas had sent him the heads of Maurice and his sons. The Persian king + turned from the ghastly spectacle with horror, and at once made ready to + avenge the wrongs of his benefactor by war. + </p> + <p> + THE EXPEDITION OF HERACLIUS. The Exarch of Africa, Heraclius, one of the + chief officers of the state, also received the shocking tidings with + indignation. He was determined that the imperial purple should not be + usurped by an obscure centurion of disgusting aspect. "The person of this + Phocas was diminutive and deformed; the closeness of his shaggy eyebrows, + his red hair, his beardless chin, were in keeping with his cheek, + disfigured and discolored by a formidable scar. Ignorant of letters, of + laws, and even of arms, he indulged in an ample privilege of lust and + drunkenness." At first Heraclius refused tribute and obedience to him; + then, admonished by age and infirmities, he committed the dangerous + enterprise of resistance to his son of the same name. A prosperous voyage + from Carthage soon brought the younger Heraclius in front of + Constantinople. The inconstant clergy, senate, and people of the city + joined him, the usurper was seized in his palace and beheaded. + </p> + <p> + INVASION OF CHOSROES. But the revolution that had taken place in + Constantinople did not arrest the movements of the Persian king. His + Magian priests had warned him to act independently of the Greeks, whose + superstition, they declared, was devoid of all truth and justice. + Chosroes, therefore, crossed the Euphrates; his army was received with + transport by the Syrian sectaries, insurrections in his favor everywhere + breaking out. In succession, Antioch, Caesarea, Damascus fell; Jerusalem + itself was taken by storm; the sepulchre of Christ, the churches of + Constantine and of Helena were given to the flames; the Savior's cross was + sent as a trophy to Persia; the churches were rifled of their riches; the + sacred relics, collected by superstition, were dispersed. Egypt was + invaded, conquered, and annexed to the Persian Empire; the Patriarch of + Alexandria escaped by flight to Cyprus; the African coast to Tripoli was + seized. On the north, Asia Minor was subdued, and for ten years the + Persian forces encamped on the shores of the Bosporus, in front of + Constantinople. + </p> + <p> + In his extremity Heraclius begged for peace. "I will never give peace to + the Emperor of Rome," replied the proud Persian, "till he has abjured his + crucified God, and embraced the worship of the sun." After a long delay + terms were, however, secured, and the Roman Empire was ransomed at the + price of "a thousand talents of gold, a thousand talents of silver, a + thousand silk robes, a thousand horses, and a thousand virgins." + </p> + <p> + But Heraclius submitted only for a moment. He found means not only to + restore his affairs but to retaliate on the Persian Empire. The operations + by which he achieved this result were worthy of the most brilliant days of + Rome. + </p> + <p> + INVASION OF CHOSROES Though her military renown was thus recovered, though + her territory was regained, there was something that the Roman Empire had + irrecoverably lost. Religious faith could never be restored. In face of + the world Magianism had insulted Christianity, by profaning her most + sacred places—Bethlehem, Gethsemane, Calvary—by burning the + sepulchre of Christ, by rifling and destroying the churches, by scattering + to the winds priceless relics, by carrying off, with shouts of laughter, + the cross. + </p> + <p> + Miracles had once abounded in Syria, in Egypt, in Asia Minor; there was + not a church which had not its long catalogue of them. Very often they + were displayed on unimportant occasions and in insignificant cases. In + this supreme moment, when such aid was most urgently demanded, not a + miracle was worked. + </p> + <p> + Amazement filled the Christian populations of the East when they witnessed + these Persian sacrileges perpetrated with impunity. The heavens should + have rolled asunder, the earth should have opened her abysses, the sword + of the Almighty should have flashed in the sky, the fate of Sennacherib + should have been repeated. But it was not so. In the land of miracles, + amazement was followed by consternation—consternation died out in + disbelief. + </p> + <p> + 2. But, dreadful as it was, the Persian conquest was but a prelude to the + great event, the story of which we have now to relate—the Southern + revolt against Christianity. Its issue was the loss of nine-tenths of her + geographical possessions—Asia, Africa, and part of Europe. + </p> + <p> + MOHAMMED. In the summer of 581 of the Christian era, there came to Bozrah, + a town on the confines of Syria, south of Damascus, a caravan of camels. + It was from Mecca, and was laden with the costly products of South Arabia—Arabia + the Happy. The conductor of the caravan, one Abou Taleb, and his nephew, a + lad of twelve years, were hospitably received and entertained at the + Nestorian convent of the town. + </p> + <p> + The monks of this convent soon found that their young visitor, Halibi or + Mohammed, was the nephew of the guardian of the Caaba, the sacred temple + of the Arabs. One of them, by name Bahira, spared no pains to secure his + conversion from the idolatry in which he had been brought up. He found the + boy not only precociously intelligent, but eagerly desirous of + information, especially on matters relating to religion. + </p> + <p> + In Mohammed's own country the chief object of Meccan worship was a black + meteoric stone, kept in the Caaba, with three hundred and sixty + subordinate idols, representing the days of the year, as the year was then + counted. + </p> + <p> + At this time, as we have seen, the Christian Church, through the ambition + and wickedness of its clergy, had been brought into a condition of + anarchy. Councils had been held on various pretenses, while the real + motives were concealed. Too often they were scenes of violence, bribery, + corruption. In the West, such were the temptations of riches, luxury, and + power, presented by the episcopates, that the election of a bishop was + often disgraced by frightful murders. In the East, in consequence of the + policy of the court of Constantinople, the Church had been torn in pieces + by contentions and schisms. Among a countless host of disputants may be + mentioned Arians, Basilidians, Carpocratians, Collyridians, Eutychians, + Gnostics, Jacobites, Marcionites, Marionites, Nestorians, Sabellians, + Valentinians. Of these, the Marionites regarded the Trinity as consisting + of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Virgin Mary; the Collyridians + worshiped the Virgin as a divinity, offering her sacrifices of cakes; the + Nestorians, as we have seen, denied that God had "a mother." They prided + themselves on being the inheritors, the possessors of the science of old + Greece. + </p> + <p> + But, though they were irreconcilable in matters of faith, there was one + point in which all these sects agreed—ferocious hatred and + persecution of each other. Arabia, an unconquered land of liberty, + stretching from the Indian Ocean to the Desert of Syria, gave them all, as + the tide of fortune successively turned, a refuge. It had been so from the + old times. Thither, after the Roman conquest of Palestine, vast numbers of + Jews escaped; thither, immediately after his conversion, St. Paul tells + the Galatians that he retired. The deserts were now filled with Christian + anchorites, and among the chief tribes of the Arabs many proselytes had + been made. Here and there churches had been built. The Christian princes + of Abyssinia, who were Nestorians, held the southern province of Arabia—Yemen—in + possession. + </p> + <p> + By the monk Bahira, in the convent at Bozrah, Mohammed was taught the + tenets of the Nestorians; from them the young Arab learned the story of + their persecutions. It was these interviews which engendered in him a + hatred of the idolatrous practices of the Eastern Church, and indeed of + all idolatry; that taught him, in his wonderful career, never to speak of + Jesus as the Son of God, but always as "Jesus, the son of Mary." His + untutored but active mind could not fail to be profoundly impressed not + only with the religious but also with the philosophical ideas of his + instructors, who gloried in being the living representatives of + Aristotelian science. His subsequent career shows how completely their + religious thoughts had taken possession of him, and repeated acts manifest + his affectionate regard for them. His own life was devoted to the + expansion and extension of their theological doctrine, and, that once + effectually established, his successors energetically adopted and diffused + their scientific, their Aristotelian opinions. + </p> + <p> + As Mohammed grew to manhood, he made other expeditions to Syria. Perhaps, + we may suppose, that on these occasions the convent and its hospitable in + mates were not forgotten. He had a mysterious reverence for that country. + A wealthy Meccan widow Chadizah, had intrusted him with the care of her + Syrian trade. She was charmed with his capacity and fidelity, and (since + he is said to have been characterized by the possession of singular manly + beauty and a most courteous demeanor) charmed with his person. The female + heart in all ages and countries is the same. She caused a slave to + intimate to him what was passing in her mind, and, for the remaining + twenty-four years of her life, Mohammed was her faithful husband. In a + land of polygamy, he never insulted her by the presence of a rival. Many + years subsequently, in the height of his power, Ayesha, who was one of the + most beautiful women in Arabia, said to him: "Was she not old? Did not God + give you in me a better wife in her place?" "No, by God!" exclaimed + Mohammed, and with a burst of honest gratitude, "there never can be a + better. She believed in me when men despised me, she relieved me when I + was poor and persecuted by the world." + </p> + <p> + His marriage with Chadizah placed him in circumstances of ease, and gave + him an opportunity of indulging his inclination to religious meditation. + It so happened that her cousin Waraka, who was a Jew, had turned + Christian. He was the first to translate the Bible into Arabic. By his + conversation Mohammed's detestation of idolatry was confirmed. + </p> + <p> + After the example of the Christian anchorites in their hermitages in the + desert, Mohammed retired to a grotto in Mount Hera, a few miles from + Mecca, giving himself up to meditation and prayer. In this seclusion, + contemplating the awful attributes of the Omnipotent and Eternal God, he + addressed to his conscience the solemn inquiry, whether he could adopt the + dogmas then held in Asiatic Christendom respecting the Trinity, the + sonship of Jesus as begotten by the Almighty, the character of Mary as at + once a virgin, a mother, and the queen of heaven, without incurring the + guilt and the peril of blasphemy. + </p> + <p> + By his solitary meditations in the grotto Mohammed was drawn to the + conclusion that, through the cloud of dogmas and disputations around him, + one great truth might be discerned—the unity of God. Leaning against + the stem of a palm-tree, he unfolded his views on this subject to his + neighbors and friends, and announced to them that he should dedicate his + life to the preaching of that truth. Again and again, in his sermons and + in the Koran, he declared: "I am nothing but a public preacher.... I + preach the oneness of God." Such was his own conception of his so-called + apostleship. Henceforth, to the day of his death, he wore on his finger a + seal-ring on which was engraved, "Mohammed, the messenger of God." + </p> + <p> + VICTORIES OF MOHAMMED. It is well known among physicians that prolonged + fasting and mental anxiety inevitably give rise to hallucination. Perhaps + there never has been any religious system introduced by self-denying, + earnest men that did not offer examples of supernatural temptations and + supernatural commands. Mysterious voices encouraged the Arabian preacher + to persist in his determination; shadows of strange forms passed before + him. He heard sounds in the air like those of a distant bell. In a + nocturnal dream he was carried by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem, and + thence in succession through the six heavens. Into the seventh the angel + feared to intrude and Mohammed alone passed into the dread cloud that + forever enshrouds the Almighty. "A shiver thrilled his heart as he felt + upon his shoulder the touch of the cold hand of God." + </p> + <p> + His public ministrations met with much resistance and little success at + first. Expelled from Mecca by the upholders of the prevalent idolatry, he + sought refuge in Medina, a town in which there were many Jews and + Nestorians; the latter at once became proselytes to his faith. He had + already been compelled to send his daughter and others of his disciples to + Abyssinia, the king of which was a Nestorian Christian. At the end of six + years he had made only fifteen hundred converts. But in three little + skirmishes, magnified in subsequent times by the designation of the + battles of Beder, of Ohud, and of the Nations, Mohammed discovered that + his most convincing argument was his sword. Afterward, with Oriental + eloquence, he said, "Paradise will be found in the shadow of the crossing + of swords." By a series of well-conducted military operations, his enemies + were completely overthrown. Arabian idolatry was absolutely exterminated; + the doctrine he proclaimed, that "there is but one God," was universally + adopted by his countrymen, and his own apostleship accepted. + </p> + <p> + DEATH OF MOHAMMED. Let us pass over his stormy life, and hear what he says + when, on the pinnacle of earthly power and glory, he was approaching its + close. + </p> + <p> + Steadfast in his declaration of the unity of God, he departed from Medina + on his last pilgrimage to Mecca, at the head of one hundred and fourteen + thousand devotees, with camels decorated with garlands of flowers and + fluttering streamers. When he approached the holy city, he uttered the + solemn invocation: "Here am I in thy service, O God! Thou hast no + companion. To thee alone belongeth worship. Thine alone is the kingdom. + There is none to share it with thee." + </p> + <p> + With his own hand he offered up the camels in sacrifice. He considered + that primeval institution to be equally sacred as prayer, and that no + reason can be alleged in support of the one which is not equally strong in + support of the other. + </p> + <p> + From the pulpit of the Caaba he reiterated, "O my hearers, I am only a man + like yourselves." They remembered that he had once said to one who + approached him with timid steps: "Of what dost thou stand in awe? I am no + king. I am nothing but the son of an Arab woman, who ate flesh dried in + the sun." + </p> + <p> + He returned to Medina to die. In his farewell to his congregation, he + said: "Every thing happens according to the will of God, and has its + appointed time, which can neither be hastened nor avoided. I return to him + who sent me, and my last command to you is, that ye love, honor, and + uphold each other, that ye exhort each other to faith and constancy in + belief, and to the performance of pious deeds. My life has been for your + good, and so will be my death." + </p> + <p> + In his dying agony, his head was reclined on the lap of Ayesha. From time + to time he had dipped his hand in a vase of water, and moistened his face. + At last he ceased, and, gazing steadfastly upward, said, in broken + accents: "O God—forgive my sins—be it so. I come." + </p> + <p> + Shall we speak of this man with disrespect? His precepts are, at this day, + the religious guide of one-third of the human race. + </p> + <p> + DOCTRINES OF MOHAMMED. In Mohammed, who had already broken away from the + ancient idolatrous worship of his native country, preparation had been + made for the rejection of those tenets which his Nestorian teachers had + communicated to him, inconsistent with reason and conscience. And, though, + in the first pages of the Koran, he declares his belief in what was + delivered to Moses and Jesus, and his reverence for them personally, his + veneration for the Almighty is perpetually displayed. He is + horror-stricken at the doctrine of the divinity of Jesus, the Worship of + Mary as the mother of God, the adoration of images and paintings, in his + eyes a base idolatry. He absolutely rejects the Trinity, of which he seems + to have entertained the idea that it could not be interpreted otherwise + than as presenting three distinct Gods. + </p> + <p> + His first and ruling idea was simply religious reform—to overthrow + Arabian idolatry, and put an end to the wild sectarianism of Christianity. + That he proposed to set up a new religion was a calumny invented against + him in Constantinople, where he was looked upon with detestation, like + that with which in after ages Luther was regarded in Rome. + </p> + <p> + But, though he rejected with indignation whatever might seem to disparage + the doctrine of the unity of God, he was not able to emancipate himself + from anthropomorphic conceptions. The God of the Koran is altogether + human, both corporeally and mentally, if such expressions may with + propriety be used. Very soon, however, the followers of Mohammed divested + themselves of these base ideas and rose to nobler ones. + </p> + <p> + The view here presented of the primitive character of Mohammedanism has + long been adopted by many competent authorities. Sir William Jones, + following Locke, regards the main point in the divergence of Mohammedanism + from Christianity to consist "in denying vehemently the character of our + Savior as the Son, and his equality as God with the Father, of whose unity + and attributes the Mohammedans entertain and express the most awful + ideas." This opinion has been largely entertained in Italy. Dante regarded + Mohammed only as the author of a schism, and saw in Islamism only an Arian + sect. In England, Whately views it as a corruption of Christianity. It was + an offshoot of Nestorianism, and not until it had overthrown Greek + Christianity in many great battles, was spreading rapidly over Asia and + Africa, and had become intoxicated with its wonderful successes, did it + repudiate its primitive limited intentions, and assert itself to be + founded on a separate and distinct revelation. + </p> + <p> + THE FIRST KHALIF. Mohammed's life had been almost entirely consumed in the + conversion or conquest of his native country. Toward its close, however, + he felt himself strong enough to threaten the invasion of Syria and + Persia. He had made no provision for the perpetuation of his own dominion, + and hence it was not without a struggle that a successor was appointed. At + length Abubeker, the father of Ayesha, was selected. He was proclaimed the + first khalif, or successor of the Prophet. + </p> + <p> + There is a very important difference between the spread of Mohammedanism + and the spread of Christianity. The latter was never sufficiently strong + to over throw and extirpate idolatry in the Roman Empire. As it advanced, + there was an amalgamation, a union. The old forms of the one were vivified + by the new spirit of the other, and that paganization to which reference + has already been made was the result. + </p> + <p> + THE MOHAMMEDAN HEAVEN. But, in Arabia, Mohammed overthrew and absolutely + annihilated the old idolatry. No trace of it is found in the doctrines + preached by him and his successors. The black stone that had fallen from + heaven—the meteorite of the Caaba—and its encircling idols, + passed totally out of view. The essential dogma of the new faith—"There + is but one God"—spread without any adulteration. Military successes + had, in a worldly sense made the religion of the Koran profitable; and, no + matter what dogmas may be, when that is the case, there will be plenty of + converts. + </p> + <p> + As to the popular doctrines of Mohammedanism, I shall here have nothing to + say. The reader who is interested in that matter will find an account of + them in a review of the Koran in the eleventh chapter of my "History of + the Intellectual Development of Europe." It is enough now to remark that + their heaven was arranged in seven stories, and was only a palace of + Oriental carnal delight. It was filled with black-eyed concubines and + servants. The form of God was, perhaps, more awful than that of paganized + Christianity. Anthropomorphism will, however, never be obliterated from + the ideas of the unintellectual. Their God, at the best, will never be any + thing more than the gigantic shadow of a man—a vast phantom of + humanity—like one of those Alpine spectres seen in the midst of the + clouds by him who turns his back on the sun. + </p> + <p> + Abubeker had scarcely seated himself in the khalifate, when he put forth + the following proclamation: + </p> + <p> + In the name of the most merciful God! Abubeker to the rest of the true + believers, health and happiness. The mercy and blessing of God be upon + you. I praise the most high God. I pray for his prophet Mohammed. + </p> + <p> + INVASION OF SYRIA. "This is to inform you that I intend to send the true + believers into Syria, to take it out of the hands of the infidels. And I + would have you know that the fighting for religion is an act of obedience + to God." + </p> + <p> + On the first encounter, Khaled, the Saracen general, hard pressed, lifted + up his hands in the midst of his army and said: "O God! these vile + wretches pray with idolatrous expressions and take to themselves another + God besides thee, but we acknowledge thy unity and affirm that there is no + other God but thee alone. Help us, we beseech thee, for the sake of thy + prophet Mohammed, against these idolaters." On the part of the Saracens + the conquest of Syria was conducted with ferocious piety. The belief of + the Syrian Christians aroused in their antagonists sentiments of horror + and indignation. "I will cleave the skull of any blaspheming idolater who + says that the Most Holy God, the Almighty and Eternal, has begotten a + son." The Khalif Omar, who took Jerusalem, commences a letter to + Heraclius, the Roman emperor: "In the name of the most merciful God! + Praise be to God, the Lord of this and of the other world, who has neither + female consort nor son." The Saracens nicknamed the Christians + "Associators," because they joined Mary and Jesus as partners with the + Almighty and Most Holy God. + </p> + <p> + It was not the intention of the khalif to command his army; that duty was + devolved on Abou Obeidah nominally, on Khaled in reality. In a parting + review the khalif enjoined on his troops justice, mercy, and the + observance of fidelity in their engagements he commanded them to abstain + from all frivolous conversation and from wine, and rigorously to observe + the hours of prayer; to be kind to the common people among whom they + passed, but to show no mercy to their priests. + </p> + <p> + FALL OF BOZRAH. Eastward of the river Jordan is Bozrah, a strong town + where Mohammed had first met his Nestorian Christian instructors. It was + one of the Roman forts with which the country was dotted over. Before this + place the Saracen army encamped. The garrison was strong, the ramparts + were covered with holy crosses and consecrated banners. It might have made + a long defense. But its governor, Romanus, betrayed his trust, and + stealthily opened its gates to the besiegers. His conduct shows to what a + deplorable condition the population of Syria had come. After the + surrender, in a speech he made to the people he had betrayed, he said: "I + renounce your society, both in this world and that to come. And I deny him + that was crucified, and whosoever worships him. And I choose God for my + Lord, Islam for my faith, Mecca for my temple, the Moslems for my + brethren, Mohammed for my prophet, who was sent to lead us in the right + way, and to exalt the true religion in spite of those who join partners + with God." Since the Persian invasion, Asia Minor, Syria, and even + Palestine, were full of traitors and apostates, ready to join the + Saracens. Romanus was but one of many thousands who had fallen into + disbelief through the victories of the Persians. + </p> + <p> + FALL OF DAMASCUS. From Bozrah it was only seventy miles northward to + Damascus, the capital of Syria. Thither, without delay, the Saracen army + marched. The city was at once summoned to take its option—conversion, + tribute, or the sword. In his palace at Antioch, barely one hundred and + fifty miles still farther north, the Emperor Heraclius received tidings of + the alarming advance of his assailants. He at once dispatched an army of + seventy thousand men. The Saracens were compelled to raise the siege. A + battle took place in the plains of Aiznadin, the Roman army was overthrown + and dispersed. Khaled reappeared before Damascus with his standard of the + black eagle, and after a renewed investment of seventy days Damascus + surrendered. + </p> + <p> + From the Arabian historians of these events we may gather that thus far + the Saracen armies were little better than a fanatic mob. Many of the men + fought naked. It was not unusual for a warrior to stand forth in front and + challenge an antagonist to mortal duel. Nay, more, even the women engaged + in the combats. Picturesque narratives have been handed down to us + relating the gallant manner in which they acquitted themselves. + </p> + <p> + FALL OF JERUSALEM. From Damascus the Saracen army advanced northward, + guided by the snow-clad peaks of Libanus and the beautiful river Orontes. + It captured on its way Baalbec, the capital of the Syrian valley, and + Emesa, the chief city of the eastern plain. To resist its further + progress, Heraclius collected an army of one hundred and forty thousand + men. A battle took place at Yermuck; the right wing of the Saracens was + broken, but the soldiers were driven back to the field by the fanatic + expostulations of their women. The conflict ended in the complete + overthrow of the Roman army. Forty thousand were taken prisoners, and a + vast number killed. The whole country now lay open to the victors. The + advance of their army had been east of the Jordan. It was clear that, + before Asia Minor could be touched, the strong and important cities of + Palestine, which was now in their rear, must be secured. There was a + difference of opinion among the generals in the field as to whether + Caesarea or Jerusalem should be assailed first. The matter was referred to + the khalif, who, rightly preferring the moral advantages of the capture of + Jerusalem to the military advantages of the capture of Caesarea, ordered + the Holy City to be taken, and that at any cost. Close siege was therefore + laid to it. The inhabitants, remembering the atrocities inflicted by the + Persians, and the indignities that had been offered to the Savior's + sepulchre, prepared now for a vigorous defense. But, after an investment + of four months, the Patriarch Sophronius appeared on the wall, asking + terms of capitulation. There had been misunderstandings among the generals + at the capture of Damascus, followed by a massacre of the fleeing + inhabitants. Sophronius, therefore, stipulated that the surrender of + Jerusalem should take place in presence of the khalif himself Accordingly, + Omar, the khalif, came from Medina for that purpose. He journeyed on a red + camel, carrying a bag of corn and one of dates, a wooden dish, and a + leathern water-bottle. The Arab conqueror entered the Holy City riding by + the side of the Christian patriarch and the transference of the capital of + Christianity to the representative of Mohammedanism was effected without + tumult or outrage. Having ordered that a mosque should be built on the + site of the temple of Solomon, the khalif returned to the tomb of the + Prophet at Medina. + </p> + <p> + Heraclius saw plainly that the disasters which were fast settling on + Christianity were due to the dissensions of its conflicting sects; and + hence, while he endeavored to defend the empire with his armies, he + sedulously tried to compose those differences. With this view he pressed + for acceptance the Monothelite doctrine of the nature of Christ. But it + was now too late. Aleppo and Antioch were taken. Nothing could prevent the + Saracens from overrunning Asia Minor. Heraclius himself had to seek safety + in flight. Syria, which had been added by Pompey the Great, the rival of + Caesar, to the provinces of Rome, seven hundred years previously—Syria, + the birthplace of Christianity, the scene of its most sacred and precious + souvenirs, the land from which Heraclius himself had once expelled the + Persian intruder—was irretrievably lost. Apostates and traitors had + wrought this calamity. We are told that, as the ship which bore him to + Constantinople parted from the shore, Heraclius gazed intently on the + receding hills, and in the bitterness of anguish exclaimed, "Farewell, + Syria, forever farewell!" + </p> + <p> + It is needless to dwell on the remaining details of the Saracen conquest: + how Tripoli and Tyre were betrayed; how Caesarea was captured; how with + the trees of Libanus and the sailors of Phoenicia a Saracen fleet was + equipped, which drove the Roman navy into the Hellespont; how Cyprus, + Rhodes, and the Cyclades, were ravaged, and the Colossus, which was + counted as one of the wonders of the world, sold to a Jew, who loaded nine + hundred camels with its brass; how the armies of the khalif advanced to + the Black Sea, and even lay in front of Constantinople—all this was + as nothing after the fall of Jerusalem. + </p> + <p> + OVERTHROW OF THE PERSIANS. The fall of Jerusalem! the loss of the + metropolis of Christianity! In the ideas of that age the two antagonistic + forms of faith had submitted themselves to the ordeal of the judgment of + God. Victory had awarded the prize of battle, Jerusalem, to the + Mohammedan; and, notwithstanding the temporary successes of the Crusaders, + after much more than a thousand years in his hands it remains to this day. + The Byzantine historians are not without excuse for the course they are + condemned for taking: "They have wholly neglected the great topic of the + ruin of the Eastern Church." And as for the Western Church, even the + debased popes of the middle ages—the ages of the Crusades—could + not see without indignation that they were compelled to rest the claims of + Rome as the metropolis of Christendom on a false legendary story of a + visit of St. Peter to that city; while the true metropolis, the grand, the + sacred place of the birth, the life, the death of Christ himself, was in + the hands of the infidels! It has not been the Byzantine historians alone + who have tried to conceal this great catastrophe. The Christian writers of + Europe on all manner of subjects, whether of history, religion, or + science, have followed a similar course against their conquering + antagonists. It has been their constant practice to hide what they could + not depreciate, and depreciate what they could not hide. + </p> + <p> + INVASION OF EGYPT. I have not space, nor indeed does it comport with the + intention of this work, to relate, in such detail as I have given to the + fall of Jerusalem, other conquests of the Saracens—conquests which + eventually established a Mohammedan empire far exceeding in geographical + extent that of Alexander, and even that of Rome. But, devoting a few words + to this subject, it may be said that Magianism received a worse blow than + that which had been inflicted on Christianity; The fate of Persia was + settled at the battle of Cadesia. At the sack of Ctesiphon, the treasury, + the royal arms, and an unlimited spoil, fell into the hands of the + Saracens. Not without reason do they call the battle of Nehavend the + "victory of victories." In one direction they advanced to the Caspian, in + the other southward along the Tigris to Persepolis. The Persian king fled + for his life over the great Salt Desert, from the columns and statues of + that city which had lain in ruins since the night of the riotous banquet + of Alexander. One division of the Arabian army forced the Persian monarch + over the Oxus. He was assassinated by the Turks. His son was driven into + China, and became a captain in the Chinese emperor's guards. The country + beyond the Oxus was reduced. It paid a tribute of two million pieces of + gold. While the emperor at Peking was demanding the friendship of the + khalif at Medina, the standard of the Prophet was displayed on the banks + of the Indus. + </p> + <p> + Among the generals who had greatly distinguished themselves in the Syrian + wars was Amrou, destined to be the conqueror of Egypt; for the khalifs, + not content with their victories on the North and East, now turned their + eyes to the West, and prepared for the annexation of Africa. As in the + former cases, so in this, sectarian treason assisted them. The Saracen + army was hailed as the deliverer of the Jacobite Church; the Monophysite + Christians of Egypt, that is, they who, in the language of the Athanasian + Creed, confounded the substance of the Son, proclaimed, through their + leader, Mokaukas, that they desired no communion with the Greeks, either + in this world or the next, that they abjured forever the Byzantine tyrant + and his synod of Chalcedon. They hastened to pay tribute to the khalif, to + repair the roads and bridges, and to supply provisions and intelligence to + the invading army. + </p> + <p> + FALL OF ALEXANDRIA. Memphis, one of the old Pharaonic capitals, soon fell, + and Alexandria was invested. The open sea behind gave opportunity to + Heraclius to reenforce the garrison continually. On his part, Omar, who + was now khalif sent to the succor of the besieging army the veteran troops + of Syria. There were many assaults and many sallies. In one Amrou himself + was taken prisoner by the besieged, but, through the dexterity of a slave, + made his escape. After a siege of fourteen months, and a loss of + twenty-three thousand men, the Saracens captured the city. In his dispatch + to the Khalif, Amrou enumerated the splendors of the great city of the + West "its four thousand palaces, four thousand baths, four hundred + theatres, twelve thousand shops for the sale of vegetable food, and forty + thousand tributary Jews." + </p> + <p> + So fell the second great city of Christendom—the fate of Jerusalem + had fallen on Alexandria, the city of Athanasius, and Arius, and Cyril; + the city that had imposed Trinitarian ideas and Mariolatry on the Church. + In his palace at Constantinople Heraclius received the fatal tidings. He + was overwhelmed with grief. It seemed as if his reign was to be disgraced + by the downfall of Christianity. He lived scarcely a month after the loss + of the town. + </p> + <p> + But if Alexandria had been essential to Constantinople in the supply of + orthodox faith, she was also essential in the supply of daily food. Egypt + was the granary of the Byzantines. For this reason two attempts were made + by powerful fleets and armies for the recovery of the place, and twice had + Amrou to renew his conquest. He saw with what facility these attacks could + be made, the place being open to the sea; he saw that there was but one + and that a fatal remedy. "By the living God, if this thing be repeated a + third time I will make Alexandria as open to anybody as is the house of a + prostitute!" He was better than his word, for he forthwith dismantled its + fortifications, and made it an untenable place. + </p> + <p> + FALL OF CARTHAGE. It was not the intention of the khalifs to limit their + conquest to Egypt. Othman contemplated the annexation of the entire + North-African coast. His general, Abdallah, set out from Memphis with + forty thousand men, passed through the desert of Barca, and besieged + Tripoli. But, the plague breaking out in his army, he was compelled to + retreat to Egypt. + </p> + <p> + All attempts were now suspended for more than twenty years. Then Akbah + forced his way from the Nile to the Atlantic Ocean. In front of the Canary + Islands he rode his horse into the sea, exclaiming: "Great God! if my + course were not stopped by this sea, I would still go on to the unknown + kingdoms of the West, preaching the unity of thy holy name, and putting to + the sword the rebellious nations who worship any other gods than thee." + </p> + <p> + These Saracen expeditions had been through the interior of the country, + for the Byzantine emperors, controlling for the time the Mediterranean, + had retained possession of the cities on the coast. The Khalif Abdalmalek + at length resolved on the reduction of Carthage, the most important of + those cities, and indeed the capital of North Africa. His general, Hassan, + carried it by escalade; but reenforcements from Constantinople, aided by + some Sicilian and Gothic troops, compelled him to retreat. The relief was, + however, only temporary. Hassan, in the course of a few months renewed his + attack. It proved successful, and he delivered Carthage to the flames. + </p> + <p> + Jerusalem, Alexandria, Carthage, three out of the five great Christian + capitals, were lost. The fall of Constantinople was only a question of + time. After its fall, Rome alone remained. + </p> + <p> + In the development of Christianity, Carthage had played no insignificant + part. It had given to Europe its Latin form of faith, and some of its + greatest theologians. It was the home of St. Augustine. + </p> + <p> + Never in the history of the world had there been so rapid and extensive a + propagation of any religion as Mohammedanism. It was now dominating from + the Altai Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean, from the centre of Asia to the + western verge of Africa. + </p> + <p> + CONQUEST OF SPAIN. The Khalif Alwalid next authorized the invasion of + Europe, the conquest of Andalusia, or the Region of the Evening. Musa, his + general, found, as had so often been the case elsewhere, two effective + allies sectarianism and treason—the Archbishop of Toledo and Count + Julian the Gothic general. Under their lead, in the very crisis of the + battle of Xeres, a large portion of the army went over to the invaders; + the Spanish king was compelled to flee from the field, and in the pursuit + he was drowned in the waters of the Guadalquivir. + </p> + <p> + With great rapidity Tarik, the lieutenant of Musa, pushed forward from the + battle-field to Toledo, and thence northward. On the arrival of Musa the + reduction of the Spanish peninsula was completed, and the wreck of the + Gothic army driven beyond the Pyrenees into France. Considering the + conquest of Spain as only the first step in his victories, he announced + his intention of forcing his way into Italy, and preaching the unity of + God in the Vatican. Thence he would march to Constantinople, and, having + put all end to the Roman Empire and Christianity, would pass into Asia and + lay his victorious sword on the footstool of the khalif at Damascus. + </p> + <p> + But this was not to be. Musa, envious of his lieutenant, Tarik, had + treated him with great indignity. The friends of Tarik at the court of the + khalif found means of retaliation. An envoy from Damascus arrested Musa in + his camp; he was carried before his sovereign, disgraced by a public + whipping, and died of a broken heart. + </p> + <p> + INVASION OF FRANCE. Under other leaders, however, the Saracen conquest of + France was attempted. In a preliminary campaign the country from the mouth + of the Garonne to that of the Loire was secured. Then Abderahman, the + Saracen commander, dividing his forces into two columns, with one on the + east passed the Rhone, and laid siege to Arles. A Christian army, + attempting the relief of the place, was defeated with heavy loss. His + western column, equally successful, passed the Dordogne, defeated another + Christian army, inflicting on it such dreadful loss that, according to its + own fugitives, "God alone could number the slain." All Central France was + now overrun; the banks of the Loire were reached; the churches and + monasteries were despoiled of their treasures; and the tutelar saints, who + had worked so many miracles when there was no necessity, were found to + want the requisite power when it was so greatly needed. + </p> + <p> + The progress of the invaders was at length stopped by Charles Martel (A.D. + 732). Between Tours and Poictiers, a great battle, which lasted seven + days, was fought. Abderahman was killed, the Saracens retreated, and soon + afterward were compelled to recross the Pyrenees. + </p> + <p> + The banks of the Loire, therefore, mark the boundary of the Mohammedan + advance in Western Europe. Gibbon, in his narrative of these great events, + makes this remark: "A victorious line of march had been prolonged above a + thousand miles from the rock of Gibraltar to the banks of the Loire—a + repetition of an equal space would have carried the Saracens to the + confines of Poland and the Highlands of Scotland." + </p> + <p> + INSULT TO ROME. It is not necessary for me to add to this sketch of the + military diffusion of Mohammedanism, the operations of the Saracens on the + Mediterranean Sea, their conquest of Crete and Sicily, their insult to + Rome. It will be found, however, that their presence in Sicily and the + south of Italy exerted a marked influence on the intellectual development + of Europe. + </p> + <p> + Their insult to Rome! What could be more humiliating than the + circumstances under which it took place (A.D. 846)? An insignificant + Saracen expedition entered the Tiber and appeared before the walls of the + city. Too weak to force an entrance, it insulted and plundered the + precincts, sacrilegiously violating the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul. + Had the city itself been sacked, the moral effect could not have been + greater. From the church of St. Peter its altar of silver was torn away + and sent to Africa—St. Peter's altar, the very emblem of Roman + Christianity! + </p> + <p> + Constantinople had already been besieged by the Saracens more than once; + its fall was predestined, and only postponed. Rome had received the direst + insult, the greatest loss that could be inflicted upon it; the venerable + churches of Asia Minor had passed out of existence; no Christian could set + his foot in Jerusalem without permission; the Mosque of Omar stood on the + site of the Temple of Solomon. Among the ruins of Alexandria the Mosque of + Mercy marked the spot where a Saracen general, satiated with massacre, + had, in contemptuous compassion, spared the fugitive relics of the enemies + of Mohammed; nothing remained of Carthage but her blackened ruins. The + most powerful religious empire that the world had ever seen had suddenly + come into existence. It stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Chinese + Wall, from the shores of the Caspian to those of the Indian Ocean, and + yet, in one sense, it had not reached its culmination. The day was to come + when it was to expel the successors of the Caesars from their capital, and + hold the peninsula of Greece in subjection, to dispute with Christianity + the empire of Europe in the very centre of that continent, and in Africa + to extend its dogmas and faith across burning deserts and through + pestilential forests from the Mediterranean to regions southward far + beyond the equinoctial line. + </p> + <p> + DISSENSIONS OF THE ARABS. But, though Mohammedanism had not reached its + culmination, the dominion of the khalifs had. Not the sword of Charles + Martel, but the internal dissension of the vast Arabian Empire, was the + salvation of Europe. Though the Ommiade Khalifs were popular in Syria, + elsewhere they were looked upon as intruders or usurpers; the kindred of + the apostle was considered to be the rightful representative of his faith. + Three parties, distinguished by their colors, tore the khalifate asunder + with their disputes, and disgraced it by their atrocities. The color of + the Ommiades was white, that of the Fatimites green, that of the Abassides + black; the last represented the party of Abbas, the uncle of Mohammed. The + result of these discords was a tripartite division of the Mohammedan + Empire in the tenth century into the khalifates of Bagdad, of Cairoan, and + of Cordova. Unity in Mohammedan political action was at an end, and + Christendom found its safeguard, not in supernatural help, but in the + quarrels of the rival potentates. To internal animosities foreign + pressures were eventually added and Arabism, which had done so much for + the intellectual advancement of the world, came to an end when the Turks + and the Berbers attained to power. + </p> + <p> + The Saracens had become totally regardless of European opposition—they + were wholly taken up with their domestic quarrels. Ockley says with truth, + in his history: "The Saracens had scarce a deputy lieutenant or general + that would not have thought it the greatest affront, and such as ought to + stigmatize him with indelible disgrace, if he should have suffered himself + to have been insulted by the united forces of all Europe. And if any one + asks why the Greeks did not exert themselves more, in order to the + extirpation of these insolent invaders, it is a sufficient answer to any + person that is acquainted with the characters of those men to say that + Amrou kept his residence at Alexandria, and Moawyah at Damascus." + </p> + <p> + As to their contempt, this instance may suffice: Nicephorus, the Roman + emperor, had sent to the Khalif Haroun-al-Raschid a threatening letter, + and this was the reply: "In the name of the most merciful God, + Haroun-al-Raschid, commander of the faithful, to Nicephorus, the Roman + dog! I have read thy letter, O thou son of an unbelieving mother. Thou + shalt not hear, thou shalt behold my reply!" It was written in letters of + blood and fire on the plains of Phrygia. + </p> + <p> + POLITICAL EFFECT OF POLYGAMY. A nation may recover the confiscation of its + provinces, the confiscation of its wealth; it may survive the imposition + of enormous war-fines; but it never can recover from that most frightful + of all war-acts, the confiscation of its women. When Abou Obeidah sent to + Omar news of his capture of Antioch, Omar gently upbraided him that he had + not let the troops have the women. "If they want to marry in Syria, let + them; and let them have as many female slaves as they have occasion for." + It was the institution of polygamy, based upon the confiscation of the + women in the vanquished countries, that secured forever the Mohammedan + rule. The children of these unions gloried in their descent from their + conquering fathers. No better proof can be given of the efficacy of this + policy than that which is furnished by North Africa. The irresistible + effect of polygamy in consolidating the new order of things was very + striking. In little more than a single generation, the Khalif was informed + by his officers that the tribute must cease, for all the children born in + that region were Mohammedans, and all spoke Arabic. + </p> + <p> + MOHAMMEDANISM. Mohammedanism, as left by its founder, was an + anthropomorphic religion. Its God was only a gigantic man, its heaven a + mansion of carnal pleasures. From these imperfect ideas its more + intelligent classes very soon freed themselves, substituting for them + others more philosophical, more correct. Eventually they attained to an + accordance with those that have been pronounced in our own times by the + Vatican Council as orthodox. Thus Al-Gazzali says: "A knowledge of God + cannot be obtained by means of the knowledge a man has of himself, or of + his own soul. The attributes of God cannot be determined from the + attributes of man. His sovereignty and government can neither be compared + nor measured." + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV. + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + THE RESTORATION OF SCIENCE IN THE SOUTH. + + By the influence of the Nestorians and Jews, the Arabians + are turned to the cultivation of Science.—They modify + their views as to the destiny of man, and obtain true + conceptions respecting the structure of the world.—They + ascertain the size of the earth, and determine its shape.— + Their khalifs collect great libraries, patronize every + department of science and literature, establish astronomical + observatories.—They develop the mathematical sciences, + invent algebra, and improve geometry and trigonometry.—They + collect and translate the old Greek mathematical and + astronomical works, and adopt the inductive method of + Aristotle.—They establish many colleges, and, with the aid + of the Nestorians, organize a public-school system.—They + introduce the Arabic numerals and arithmetic, and catalogue + and give names to the stars.—They lay the foundation of + modern astronomy, chemistry, and physics, and introduce + great improvements in agriculture and manufactures. +</pre> + <p> + "IN the course of my long life," said the Khalif Ali, "I have often + observed that men are more like the times they live in than they are like + their fathers." This profoundly philosophical remark of the son-in-law of + Mohammed is strictly true; for, though the personal, the bodily lineaments + of a man may indicate his parentage, the constitution of his mind, and + therefore the direction of his thoughts, is determined by the environment + in which he lives. + </p> + <p> + When Amrou, the lieutenant of the Khalif Omar, conquered Egypt, and + annexed it to the Saracenic Empire, he found in Alexandria a Greek + grammarian, John surnamed Philoponus, or the Labor-lover. Presuming on the + friendship which had arisen between them, the Greek solicited as a gift + the remnant of the great library—a remnant which war and time and + bigotry had spared. Amrou, therefore, sent to the khalif to ascertain his + pleasure. "If," replied the khalif, "the books agree with the Koran, the + Word of God, they are useless, and need not be preserved; if they disagree + with it, they are pernicious. Let them be destroyed." Accordingly, they + were distributed among the baths of Alexandria, and it is said that six + months were barely sufficient to consume them. + </p> + <p> + Although the fact has been denied, there can be little doubt that Omar + gave this order. The khalif was an illiterate man; his environment was an + environment of fanaticism and ignorance. Omar's act was an illustration of + Ali's remark. + </p> + <p> + THE ALEXANDRIAN LIBRARY BURNT. But it must not be supposed that the books + which John the Labor-lover coveted were those which constituted the great + library of the Ptolemies, and that of Eumenes, King of Pergamus. Nearly a + thousand years had elapsed since Philadelphus began his collection. Julius + Caesar had burnt more than half; the Patriarchs of Alexandria had not only + permitted but superintended the dispersion of almost all the rest. Orosius + expressly states that he saw the empty cases or shelves of the library + twenty years after Theophilus, the uncle of St. Cyril, had procured from + the Emperor Theodosius a rescript for its destruction. Even had this once + noble collection never endured such acts of violence, the mere wear and + tear, and perhaps, I may add, the pilfering of a thousand years, would + have diminished it sadly. Though John, as the surname he received + indicates, might rejoice in a superfluity of occupation, we may be certain + that the care of a library of half a million books would transcend even + his well-tried powers; and the cost of preserving and supporting it, that + had demanded the ample resources of the Ptolemies and the Caesars, was + beyond the means of a grammarian. Nor is the time required for its + combustion or destruction any indication of the extent of the collection. + Of all articles of fuel, parchment is, perhaps, the most wretched. Paper + and papyrus do excellently well as kindling-materials, but we may be sure + that the bath-men of Alexandria did not resort to parchment so long as + they could find any thing else, and of parchment a very large portion of + these books was composed. + </p> + <p> + There can, then, be no more doubt that Omar did order the destruction of + this library, under an impression of its uselessness or its irreligious + tendency, than that the Crusaders burnt the library of Tripoli, fancifully + said to have consisted of three million volumes. The first apartment + entered being found to contain nothing but the Koran, all the other books + were supposed to be the works of the Arabian impostor, and were + consequently committed to the flames. In both cases the story contains + some truth and much exaggeration. Bigotry, however, has often + distinguished itself by such exploits. The Spaniards burnt in Mexico vast + piles of American picture-writings, an irretrievable loss; and Cardinal + Ximenes delivered to the flames, in the squares of Granada, eighty + thousand Arabic manuscripts, many of them translations of classical + authors. + </p> + <p> + We have seen how engineering talent, stimulated by Alexander's Persian + campaign, led to a wonderful development of pure science under the + Ptolemies; a similar effect may be noted as the result of the Saracenic + military operations. + </p> + <p> + The friendship contracted by Amrou, the conqueror of Egypt, with John the + Grammarian, indicates how much the Arabian mind was predisposed to liberal + ideas. Its step from the idolatry of the Caaba to the monotheism of + Mohammed prepared it to expatiate in the wide and pleasing fields of + literature and philosophy. There were two influences to which it was + continually exposed. They conspired in determining its path. These were—1. + That of the Nestorians in Syria; 2. That of the Jews in Egypt. + </p> + <p> + INFLUENCE OF THE NESTORIANS AND JEWS. In the last chapter I have briefly + related the persecution of Nestor and his disciples. They bore testimony + to the oneness of God, through many sufferings and martyrdoms. They + utterly repudiated an Olympus filled with gods and goddesses. "Away from + us a queen of heaven!" + </p> + <p> + Such being their special views, the Nestorians found no difficulty in + affiliating with their Saracen conquerors, by whom they were treated not + only with the highest respect, but intrusted with some of the most + important offices of the state. Mohammed, in the strongest manner, + prohibited his followers from committing any injuries against them. + Jesuiabbas, their pontiff, concluded treaties both with the Prophet and + with Omar, and subsequently the Khalif Haroun-al-Raschid placed all his + public schools under the superintendence of John Masue, a Nestorian. + </p> + <p> + To the influence of the Nestorians that of the Jews was added. When + Christianity displayed a tendency to unite itself with paganism, the + conversion of the Jews was arrested; it totally ceased when Trinitarian + ideas were introduced. The cities of Syria and Egypt were full of Jews. In + Alexandria alone, at the time of its capture by Amrou, there were forty + thousand who paid tribute. Centuries of misfortune and persecution had + served only to confirm them in their monotheism, and to strengthen that + implacable hatred of idolatry which they had cherished ever since the + Babylonian captivity. Associated with the Nestorians, they translated into + Syriac many Greek and Latin philosophical works, which were retranslated + into Arabic. While the Nestorian was occupied with the education of the + children of the great Mohammedan families, the Jew found his way into them + in the character of a physician. + </p> + <p> + FATALISM OF THE ARABIANS. Under these influences the ferocious fanaticism + of the Saracens abated, their manners were polished, their thoughts + elevated. They overran the realms of Philosophy and Science as quickly as + they had overrun the provinces of the Roman Empire. They abandoned the + fallacies of vulgar Mohammedanism, accepting in their stead scientific + truth. + </p> + <p> + In a world devoted to idolatry, the sword of the Saracen had vindicated + the majesty of God. The doctrine of fatalism, inculcated by the Koran, had + powerfully contributed to that result. "No man can anticipate or postpone + his predetermined end. Death will overtake us even in lofty towers. From + the beginning God hath settled the place in which each man shall die." In + his figurative language the Arab said: "No man can by flight escape his + fate. The Destinies ride their horses by night.... Whether asleep in bed + or in the storm of battle, the angel of death will find thee." "I am + convinced," said Ali, to whose wisdom we have already referred—"I am + convinced that the affairs of men go by divine decree, and not by our + administration." The Mussulmen are those who submissively resign + themselves to the will of God. They reconciled fate and free-will by + saying, "The outline is given us, we color the picture of life as we + will." They said that, if we would overcome the laws of Nature, we must + not resist, we must balance them against each other. + </p> + <p> + This dark doctrine prepared its devotees for the accomplishment of great + things—things such as the Saracens did accomplish. It converted + despair into resignation, and taught men to disdain hope. There was a + proverb among them that "Despair is a freeman, Hope is a slave." + </p> + <p> + But many of the incidents of war showed plainly that medicines may assuage + pain, that skill may close wounds, that those who are incontestably dying + may be snatched from the grave. The Jewish physician became a living, an + accepted protest against the fatalism of the Koran. By degrees the + sternness of predestination was mitigated, and it was admitted that in + individual life there is an effect due to free-will; that by his voluntary + acts man may within certain limits determine his own course. But, so far + as nations are concerned, since they can yield no personal accountability + to God, they are placed under the control of immutable law. + </p> + <p> + In this respect the contrast between the Christian and the Mohammedan + nations was very striking: The Christian was convinced of incessant + providential interventions; he believed that there was no such thing as + law in the government of the world. By prayers and entreaties he might + prevail with God to change the current of affairs, or, if that failed, he + might succeed with Christ, or perhaps with the Virgin Mary, or through the + intercession of the saints, or by the influence of their relics or bones. + If his own supplications were unavailing, he might obtain his desire + through the intervention of his priest, or through that of the holy men of + the Church, and especially if oblations or gifts of money were added. + Christendom believed that she could change the course of affairs by + influencing the conduct of superior beings. Islam rested in a pious + resignation to the unchangeable will of God. The prayer of the Christian + was mainly an earnest intercession for benefits hoped for, that of the + Saracen a devout expression of gratitude for the past. Both substituted + prayer for the ecstatic meditation of India. To the Christian the progress + of the world was an exhibition of disconnected impulses, of sudden + surprises. To the Mohammedan that progress presented a very different + aspect. Every corporeal motion was due to some preceding motion; every + thought to some preceding thought; every historical event was the + offspring of some preceding event; every human action was the result of + some foregone and accomplished action. In the long annals of our race, + nothing has ever been abruptly introduced. There has been an orderly, an + inevitable sequence from event to event. There is an iron chain of + destiny, of which the links are facts; each stands in its preordained + place—not one has ever been disturbed, not one has ever been + removed. Every man came into the world without his own knowledge, he is to + depart from it perhaps against his own wishes. Then let him calmly fold + his hands, and expect the issues of fate. + </p> + <p> + Coincidently with this change of opinion as to the government of + individual life, there came a change as respects the mechanical + construction of the world. According to the Koran, the earth is a square + plane, edged with vast mountains, which serve the double purpose of + balancing it in its seat, and of sustaining the dome of the sky. Our + devout admiration of the power and wisdom of God should be excited by the + spectacle of this vast crystalline brittle expanse, which has been safely + set in its position without so much as a crack or any other injury. Above + the sky, and resting on it, is heaven, built in seven stories, the + uppermost being the habitation of God, who, under the form of a gigantic + man, sits on a throne, having on either side winged bulls, like those in + the palaces of old Assyrian kings. + </p> + <p> + THEY MEASURE THE EARTH. These ideas, which indeed are not peculiar to + Mohammedanism, but are entertained by all men in a certain stage of their + intellectual development as religious revelations, were very quickly + exchanged by the more advanced Mohammedans for others scientifically + correct. Yet, as has been the case in Christian countries, the advance was + not made without resistance on the part of the defenders of revealed + truth. Thus when Al-Mamun, having become acquainted with the globular form + of the earth, gave orders to his mathematicians and astronomers to measure + a degree of a great circle upon it, Takyuddin, one of the most celebrated + doctors of divinity of that time, denounced the wicked khalif, declaring + that God would assuredly punish him for presumptuously interrupting the + devotions of the faithful by encouraging and diffusing a false and + atheistical philosophy among them. Al-Mamun, however, persisted. On the + shores of the Red Sea, in the plains of Shinar, by the aid of an + astrolabe, the elevation of the pole above the horizon was determined at + two stations on the same meridian, exactly one degree apart. The distance + between the two stations was then measured, and found to be two hundred + thousand Hashemite cubits; this gave for the entire circumference of the + earth about twenty-four thousand of our miles, a determination not far + from the truth. But, since the spherical form could not be positively + asserted from one such measurement, the khalif caused another to be made + near Cufa in Mesopotamia. His astronomers divided themselves into two + parties, and, starting from a given point, each party measured an arc of + one degree, the one northward, the other southward. Their result is given + in cubits. If the cubit employed was that known as the royal cubit, the + length of a degree was ascertained within one-third of a mile of its true + value. From these measures the khalif concluded that the globular form was + established. + </p> + <p> + THEIR PASSION FOR SCIENCE. It is remarkable how quickly the ferocious + fanaticism of the Saracens was transformed into a passion for intellectual + pursuits. At first the Koran was an obstacle to literature and science. + Mohammed had extolled it as the grandest of all compositions, and had + adduced its unapproachable excellence as a proof of his divine mission. + But, in little more than twenty years after his death, the experience that + had been acquired in Syria, Persia, Asia Minor, Egypt, had produced a + striking effect, and Ali the khalif reigning at that time, avowedly + encouraged all kinds of literary pursuits. Moawyah, the founder of the + Ommiade dynasty, who followed in 661, revolutionized the government. It + had been elective, he made it hereditary. He removed its seat from Medina + to a more central position at Damascus, and entered on a career of luxury + and magnificence. He broke the bonds of a stern fanaticism, and put + himself forth as a cultivator and patron of letters. Thirty years had + wrought a wonderful change. A Persian satrap who had occasion to pay + homage to Omar, the second khalif, found him asleep among the beggars on + the steps of the Mosque of Medina; but foreign envoys who had occasion to + seek Moawyah, the sixth khalif, were presented to him in a magnificent + palace, decorated with exquisite arabesques, and adorned with + flower-gardens and fountains. + </p> + <p> + THEIR LITERATURE. In less than a century after the death of Mohammed, + translations of the chief Greek philosophical authors had been made into + Arabic; poems such as the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey," being considered to + have an irreligious tendency from their mythological allusions, were + rendered into Syriac, to gratify the curiosity of the learned. Almansor, + during his khalifate (A.D. 753-775), transferred the seat of government to + Bagdad, which he converted into a splendid metropolis; he gave much of his + time to the study and promotion of astronomy, and established schools of + medicine and law. His grandson, Haroun-al-Raschid (A.D. 786), followed his + example, and ordered that to every mosque in his dominions a school should + be attached. But the Augustan age of Asiatic learning was during the + khalifate of Al-Mamun (A.D. 813-832). He made Bagdad the centre of + science, collected great libraries, and surrounded himself with learned + men. + </p> + <p> + The elevated taste thus cultivated continued after the division of the + Saracen Empire by internal dissensions into three parts. The Abasside + dynasty in Asia, the Fatimite in Egypt, and the Ommiade in Spain, became + rivals not merely in politics, but also in letters and science. + </p> + <p> + THEY ORIGINATE CHEMISTRY. In letters the Saracens embraced every topic + that can amuse or edify the mind. In later times, it was their boast that + they had produced more poets than all other nations combined. In science + their great merit consists in this, that they cultivated it after the + manner of the Alexandrian Greeks, not after the manner of the European + Greeks. They perceived that it can never be advanced by mere speculation; + its only sure progress is by the practical interrogation of Nature. The + essential characteristics of their method are experiment and observation. + Geometry and the mathematical sciences they looked upon as instruments of + reasoning. In their numerous writings on mechanics, hydrostatics, optics, + it is interesting to remark that the solution of a problem is always + obtained by performing an experiment, or by an instrumental observation. + It was this that made them the originators of chemistry, that led them to + the invention of all kinds of apparatus for distillation, sublimation, + fusion, filtration, etc.; that in astronomy caused them to appeal to + divided instruments, as quadrants and astrolabes; in chemistry, to employ + the balance, the theory of which they were perfectly familiar with; to + construct tables of specific gravities and astronomical tables, as those + of Bagdad, Spain, Samarcand; that produced their great improvements in + geometry, trigonometry, the invention of algebra, and the adoption of the + Indian numeration in arithmetic. Such were the results of their preference + of the inductive method of Aristotle, their declining the reveries of + Plato. + </p> + <p> + THEIR GREAT LIBRARIES. For the establishment and extension of the public + libraries, books were sedulously collected. Thus the khalif Al-Mamun is + reported to have brought into Bagdad hundreds of camel-loads of + manuscripts. In a treaty he made with the Greek emperor, Michael III., he + stipulated that one of the Constantinople libraries should be given up to + him. Among the treasures he thus acquired was the treatise of Ptolemy on + the mathematical construction of the heavens. He had it forthwith + translated into Arabic, under the title of "Al-magest." The collections + thus acquired sometimes became very large; thus the Fatimite Library at + Cairo contained one hundred thousand volumes, elegantly transcribed and + bound. Among these, there were six thousand five hundred manuscripts on + astronomy and medicine alone. The rules of this library permitted the + lending out of books to students resident at Cairo. It also contained two + globes, one of massive silver and one of brass; the latter was said to + have been constructed by Ptolemy, the former cost three thousand golden + crowns. The great library of the Spanish khalifs eventually numbered six + hundred thousand volumes; its catalogue alone occupied forty-four. Besides + this, there were seventy public libraries in Andalusia. The collections in + the possession of individuals were sometimes very extensive. A private + doctor refused the invitation of a Sultan of Bokhara because the carriage + of his books would have required four hundred camels. + </p> + <p> + There was in every great library a department for the copying or + manufacture of translations. Such manufactures were also often an affair + of private enterprise. Honian, a Nestorian physician, had an establishment + of the kind at Bagdad (A.D. 850). He issued versions of Aristotle, Plato, + Hippocrates, Galen, etc. As to original works, it was the custom of the + authorities of colleges to require their professors to prepare treatises + on prescribed topics. Every khalif had his own historian. Books of + romances and tales, such as "The Thousand and One Arabian Nights' + Entertainments," bear testimony to the creative fancy of the Saracens. + Besides these, there were works on all kinds of subjects—history, + jurisprudence, politics, philosophy, biographies not only of illustrious + men, but also of celebrated horses and camels. These were issued without + any censorship or restraint, though, in later times, works on theology + required a license for publication. Books of reference abounded, + geographical, statistical, medical, historical dictionaries, and even + abridgments or condensations of them, as the "Encyclopedic Dictionary of + all the Sciences," by Mohammed Abu Abdallah. Much pride was taken in the + purity and whiteness of the paper, in the skillful intermixture of + variously-colored inks, and in the illumination of titles by gilding and + other adornments. + </p> + <p> + The Saracen Empire was dotted all over with colleges. They were + established in Mongolia, Tartary, Persia, Mesopotamia, Syria, Egypt, North + Africa, Morocco, Fez, Spain. At one extremity of this vast region, which + far exceeded the Roman Empire in geographical extent, were the college and + astronomical observatory of Samarcand, at the other the Giralda in Spain. + Gibbon, referring to this patronage of learning, says: "The same royal + prerogative was claimed by the independent emirs of the provinces, and + their emulation diffused the taste and the rewards of science from + Samarcand and Bokhara to Fez and Cordova. The vizier of a sultan + consecrated a sum of two hundred thousand pieces of gold to the foundation + of a college at Bagdad, which he endowed with an annual revenue of fifteen + thousand dinars. The fruits of instruction were communicated, perhaps, at + different times, to six thousand disciples of every degree, from the son + of the noble to that of the mechanic; a sufficient allowance was provided + for the indigent scholars, and the merit or industry of the professors was + repaid with adequate stipends. In every city the productions of Arabic + literature were copied and collected, by the curiosity of the studious and + the vanity of the rich." The superintendence of these schools was + committed with noble liberality sometimes to Nestorians, sometimes to + Jews. It mattered not in what country a man was born, nor what were his + religious opinions; his attainment in learning was the only thing to be + considered. The great Khalif Al-Mamun had declared that "they are the + elect of God, his best and most useful servants, whose lives are devoted + to the improvement of their rational faculties; that the teachers of + wisdom are the true luminaries and legislators of this world, which, + without their aid, would again sink into ignorance and barbarism." + </p> + <p> + After the example of the medical college of Cairo, other medical colleges + required their students to pass a rigid examination. The candidate then + received authority to enter on the practice of his profession. The first + medical college established in Europe was that founded by the Saracens at + Salerno, in Italy. The first astronomical observatory was that erected by + them at Seville, in Spain. + </p> + <p> + THE ARABIAN SCIENTIFIC MOVEMENT. It would far transcend the limits of this + book to give an adequate statement of the results of this imposing + scientific movement. The ancient sciences were greatly extended—new + ones were brought into existence. The Indian method of arithmetic was + introduced, a beautiful invention, which expresses all numbers by ten + characters, giving them an absolute value, and a value by position, and + furnishing simple rules for the easy performance of all kinds of + calculations. Algebra, or universal arithmetic—the method of + calculating indeterminate quantities, or investigating the relations that + subsist among quantities of all kinds, whether arithmetical or geometrical—was + developed from the germ that Diophantus had left. Mohammed Ben Musa + furnished the solution of quadratic equations, Omar Ben Ibra him that of + cubic equations. The Saracens also gave to trigonometry its modern form, + substituting sines for chords, which had been previously used; they + elevated it into a separate science. Musa, above mentioned, was the author + of a "Treatise on Spherical Trigonometry." Al-Baghadadi left one on + land-surveying, so excellent, that by some it has been declared to be a + copy of Euclid's lost work on that subject. + </p> + <p> + ARABIAN ASTRONOMY. In astronomy, they not only made catalogues, but maps + of the stars visible in their skies, giving to those of the larger + magnitudes the Arabic names they still bear on our celestial globes. They + ascertained, as we have seen, the size of the earth by the measurement of + a degree on her surface, determined the obliquity of the ecliptic, + published corrected tables of the sun and moon fixed the length of the + year, verified the precession of the equinoxes. The treatise of + Albategnius on "The Science of the Stars" is spoken of by Laplace with + respect; he also draws attention to an important fragment of Ibn-Junis, + the astronomer of Hakem, the Khalif of Egypt, A.D. 1000, as containing a + long series of observations from the time of Almansor, of eclipses, + equinoxes, solstices, conjunctions of planets, occultations of stars—observations + which have cast much light on the great variations of the system of the + world. The Arabian astronomers also devoted themselves to the construction + and perfection of astronomical instruments, to the measurement of time by + clocks of various kinds, by clepsydras and sun-dials. They were the first + to introduce, for this purpose, the use of the pendulum. + </p> + <p> + In the experimental sciences, they originated chemistry; they discovered + some of its most important reagents—sulphuric acid, nitric acid, + alcohol. They applied that science in the practice of medicine, being the + first to publish pharmacopoeias or dispensatories, and to include in them + mineral preparations. In mechanics, they had determined the laws of + falling bodies, had ideas, by no means indistinct, of the nature of + gravity; they were familiar with the theory of the mechanical powers. In + hydrostatics they constructed the first tables of the specific gravities + of bodies, and wrote treatises on the flotation and sinking of bodies in + water. In optics, they corrected the Greek misconception, that a ray + proceeds from the eye, and touches the object seen, introducing the + hypothesis that the ray passes from the object to the eye. They understood + the phenomena of the reflection and refraction of light. Alhazen made the + great discovery of the curvilinear path of a ray of light through the + atmosphere, and proved that we see the sun and moon before they have + risen, and after they have set. + </p> + <p> + AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. The effects of this scientific activity are + plainly perceived in the great improvements that took place in many of the + industrial arts. Agriculture shows it in better methods of irrigation, the + skillful employment of manures, the raising of improved breeds of cattle, + the enactment of wise codes of rural laws, the introduction of the culture + of rice, and that of sugar and coffee. The manufactures show it in the + great extension of the industries of silk, cotton, wool; in the + fabrication of cordova and morocco leather, and paper; in mining, casting, + and various metallurgic operations; in the making of Toledo blades. + </p> + <p> + Passionate lovers of poetry and music, they dedicated much of their + leisure time to those elegant pursuits. They taught Europe the game of + chess; they gave it its taste for works of fiction—romances and + novels. In the graver domains of literature they took delight: they had + many admirable compositions on such subjects as the instability of human + greatness; the consequences of irreligion; the reverses of fortune; the + origin, duration, and end of the world. Sometimes, not without surprise, + we meet with ideas which we flatter ourselves have originated in our own + times. Thus our modern doctrines of evolution and development were taught + in their schools. In fact, they carried them much farther than we are + disposed to do, extending them even to inorganic or mineral things. The + fundamental principle of alchemy was the natural process of development of + metalline bodies. "When common people," says Al-Khazini, writing in the + twelfth century, "hear from natural philosophers that gold is a body which + has attained to perfection of maturity, to the goal of completeness, they + firmly believe that it is something which has gradually come to that + perfection by passing through the forms of all other metallic bodies, so + that its gold nature was originally lead, afterward it became tin, then + brass, then silver, and finally reached the development of gold; not + knowing that the natural philosophers mean, in saying this, only something + like what they mean when they speak of man, and attribute to him a + completeness and equilibrium in nature and constitution—not that man + was once a bull, and was changed into an ass, and afterward into a horse, + and after that into an ape, and finally became a man." + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V. + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + CONFLICT RESPECTING THE NATURE OF THE SOUL.—DOCTRINE OF + EMANATION AND ABSORPTION. + + European ideas respecting the soul.—It resembles the form + of the body. + + Philosophical views of the Orientals.—The Vedic theology + and Buddhism assert the doctrine of emanation and + absorption.—It is advocated by Aristotle, who is followed + by the Alexandrian school, and subsequently by the Jews and + Arabians.—It is found in the writings of Erigena. + + Connection of this doctrine with the theory of conservation + and correlation of force.—Parallel between the origin and + destiny of the body and the soul.—The necessity of founding + human on comparative psychology. + + Averroism, which is based on these facts, is brought into + Christendom through Spain and Sicily. + + History of the repression of Averroism.—Revolt of Islam + against it.—Antagonism of the Jewish synagogues.—Its + destruction undertaken by the papacy.—Institution of the + Inquisition in Spain.—Frightful persecutions and their + results.—Expulsion of the Jews and Moors.—Overthrow of + Averroism in Europe.—Decisive action of the late Vatican + Council. +</pre> + <p> + THE pagan Greeks and Romans believed that the spirit of man resembles his + bodily form, varying its appearance with his variations, and growing with + his growth. Heroes, to whom it had been permitted to descend into Hades, + had therefore without difficulty recognized their former friends. Not only + had the corporeal aspect been retained, but even the customary raiment. + </p> + <p> + THE SOUL. The primitive Christians, whose conceptions of a future life and + of heaven and hell, the abodes of the blessed and the sinful, were far + more vivid than those of their pagan predecessors, accepted and + intensified these ancient ideas. They did not doubt that in the world to + come they should meet their friends, and hold converse with them, as they + had done here upon earth—an expectation that gives consolation to + the human heart, reconciling it to the most sorrowful bereavements, and + restoring to it its dead. + </p> + <p> + In the uncertainty as to what becomes of the soul in the interval between + its separation from the body and the judgment-day, many different opinions + were held. Some thought that it hovered over the grave, some that it + wandered disconsolate through the air. In the popular belief, St. Peter + sat as a door-keeper at the gate of heaven. To him it had been given to + bind or to loose. He admitted or excluded the Spirits of men at his + pleasure. Many persons, however, were disposed to deny him this power, + since his decisions would be anticipatory of the judgment-day, which would + thus be rendered needless. After the time of Gregory the Great, the + doctrine of purgatory met with general acceptance. A resting-place was + provided for departed spirits. + </p> + <p> + That the spirits of the dead occasionally revisit the living, or haunt + their former abodes, has been in all ages, in all European countries, a + fixed belief, not confined to rustics, but participated in by the + intelligent. A pleasing terror gathers round the winter's-evening fireside + at the stories of apparitions, goblins, ghosts. In the old times the + Romans had their lares, or spirits of those who had led virtuous lives; + their larvae or lemures, the spirits of the wicked; their manes, the + spirits of those of whom the merits were doubtful. If human testimony on + such subjects can be of any value, there is a body of evidence reaching + from the remotest ages to the present time, as extensive and unimpeachable + as is to be found in support of any thing whatever, that these shades of + the dead congregate near tombstones, or take up their secret abode in the + gloomy chambers of dilapidated castles, or walk by moonlight in moody + solitude. + </p> + <p> + ASIATIC PSYCHOLOGICAL VIEWS. While these opinions have universally found + popular acceptance in Europe, others of a very different nature have + prevailed extensively in Asia, and indeed very generally in the higher + regions of thought. Ecclesiastical authority succeeded in repressing them + in the sixteenth century, but they never altogether disappeared. In our + own times so silently and extensively have they been diffused in Europe, + that it was found expedient in the papal Syllabus to draw them in a very + conspicuous manner into the open light; and the Vatican Council, agreeing + in that view of their obnoxious tendency and secret spread, has in an + equally prominent and signal manner among its first canons anathematized + all persons who hold them. "Let him be anathema who says that spiritual + things are emanations of the divine substance, or that the divine essence + by manifestation or development becomes all things." In view of this + authoritative action, it is necessary now to consider the character and + history of these opinions. + </p> + <p> + Ideas respecting the nature of God necessarily influence ideas respecting + the nature of the soul. The eastern Asiatics had adopted the conception of + an impersonal God, and, as regards the soul, its necessary consequence, + the doctrine of emanation and absorption. + </p> + <p> + EMANATION AND ABSORPTION. Thus the Vedic theology is based on the + acknowledgment of a universal spirit pervading all things. "There is in + truth but one Deity, the supreme Spirit; he is of the same nature as the + soul of man." Both the Vedas and the Institutes of Menu affirm that the + soul is an emanation of the all-pervading Intellect, and that it is + necessarily destined to be reabsorbed. They consider it to be without + form, and that visible Nature, with all its beauties and harmonies, is + only the shadow of God. + </p> + <p> + Vedaism developed itself into Buddhism, which has become the faith of a + majority of the human race. This system acknowledges that there is a + supreme Power, but denies that there is a supreme Being. It contemplates + the existence of Force, giving rise as its manifestation to matter. It + adopts the theory of emanation and absorption. In a burning taper it sees + an effigy of man—an embodiment of matter, and an evolution of force. + If we interrogate it respecting the destiny of the soul, it demands of us + what has become of the flame when it is blown out, and in what condition + it was before the taper was lighted. Was it a nonentity? Has it been + annihilated? It admits that the idea of personality which has deluded us + through life may not be instantaneously extinguished at death, but may be + lost by slow degrees. On this is founded the doctrine of transmigration. + But at length reunion with the universal Intellect takes place, Nirwana is + reached, oblivion is attained, a state that has no relation to matter, + space, or time, the state into which the departed flame of the + extinguished taper has gone, the state in which we were before we were + born. This is the end that we ought to hope for; it is reabsorption in the + universal Force—supreme bliss, eternal rest. + </p> + <p> + Through Aristotle these doctrines were first introduced into Eastern + Europe; indeed, eventually, as we shall see, he was regarded as the author + of them. They exerted a dominating influence in the later period of the + Alexandrian school. Philo, the Jew, who lived in the time of Caligula, + based his philosophy on the theory of emanation. Plotinus not only + accepted that theory as applicable to the soul of man, but as affording an + illustration of the nature of the Trinity. For, as a beam of light + emanates from the sun, and as warmth emanates from the beam when it + touches material bodies, so from the Father the Son emanates, and thence + the Holy Ghost. From these views Plotinus derived a practical religious + system, teaching the devout how to pass into a condition of ecstasy, a + foretaste of absorption into the universal mundane soul. In that condition + the soul loses its individual consciousness. In like manner Porphyry + sought absorption in or union with God. He was a Tyrian by birth, + established a school at Rome, and wrote against Christianity; his treatise + on that subject was answered by Eusebius and St. Jerome, but the Emperor + Theodosius silenced it more effectually by causing all the copies to be + burnt. Porphyry bewails his own unworthiness, saying that he had been + united to God in ecstasy but once in eighty-six years, whereas his master + Plotinus had been so united six times in sixty years. A complete system of + theology, based on the theory of emanation, was constructed by Proclus, + who speculated on the manner in which absorption takes place: whether the + soul is instantly reabsorbed and reunited in the moment of death, or + whether it retains the sentiment of personality for a time, and subsides + into complete reunion by successive steps. + </p> + <p> + ARABIC PSYCHOLOGY. From the Alexandrian Greeks these ideas passed to the + Saracen philosophers, who very soon after the capture of the great + Egyptian city abandoned to the lower orders their anthropomorphic notions + of the nature of God and the simulachral form of the spirit of man. As + Arabism developed itself into a distinct scientific system, the theories + of emanation and absorption were among its characteristic features. In + this abandonment of vulgar Mohammedanism, the example of the Jews greatly + assisted. They, too, had given up the anthropomorphism of their ancestors; + they had exchanged the God who of old lived behind the veil of the temple + for an infinite Intelligence pervading the universe, and, avowing their + inability to conceive that any thing which had on a sudden been called + into existence should be capable of immortality, they affirmed that the + soul of man is connected with a past of which there was no beginning, and + with a future to which there is no end. + </p> + <p> + In the intellectual history of Arabism the Jew and the Saracen are + continually seen together. It was the same in their political history, + whether we consider it in Syria, in Egypt, or in Spain. From them + conjointly Western Europe derived its philosophical ideas, which in the + course of time culminated in Averroism; Averroism is philosophical + Islamism. Europeans generally regarded Averroes as the author of these + heresies, and the orthodox branded him accordingly, but he was nothing + more than their collector and commentator. His works invaded Christendom + by two routes: from Spain through Southern France they reached Upper + Italy, engendering numerous heresies on their way; from Sicily they passed + to Naples and South Italy, under the auspices of Frederick II. + </p> + <p> + But, long before Europe suffered this great intellectual invasion, there + were what might, perhaps, be termed sporadic instances of Orientalism. As + an example I may quote the views of John Erigena (A.D. 800) He had adopted + and taught the philosophy of Aristotle had made a pilgrimage to the + birthplace of that philosopher, and indulged a hope of uniting philosophy + and religion in the manner proposed by the Christian ecclesiastics who + were then studying in the Mohammedan universities of Spain. He was a + native of Britain. + </p> + <p> + In a letter to Charles the Bald, Anastasius expresses his astonishment + "how such a barbarian man, coming from the very ends of the earth, and + remote from human conversation, could comprehend things so clearly, and + transfer them into another language so well." The general intention of his + writings was, as we have said, to unite philosophy with religion, but his + treatment of these subjects brought him under ecclesiastical censure, and + some of his works were adjudged to the flames. His most important book is + entitled "De Divisione Nature." + </p> + <p> + Erigena's philosophy rests upon the observed and admitted fact that every + living thing comes from something that had previously lived. The visible + world, being a world of life, has therefore emanated necessarily from some + primordial existence, and that existence is God, who is thus the + originator and conservator of all. Whatever we see maintains itself as a + visible thing through force derived from him, and, were that force + withdrawn, it must necessarily disappear. Erigena thus conceives of the + Deity as an unceasing participator in Nature, being its preserver, + maintainer, upholder, and in that respect answering to the soul of the + world of the Greeks. The particular life of individuals is therefore a + part of general existence, that is, of the mundane soul. + </p> + <p> + If ever there were a withdrawal of the maintaining power, all things must + return to the source from which they issued—that is, they must + return to God, and be absorbed in him. All visible Nature must thus pass + back into "the Intellect" at last. "The death of the flesh is the auspices + of the restitution of things, and of a return to their ancient + conservation. So sounds revert back to the air in which they were born, + and by which they were maintained, and they are heard no more; no man + knows what has become of them. In that final absorption which, after a + lapse of time, must necessarily come, God will be all in all, and nothing + exist but him alone." "I contemplate him as the beginning and cause of all + things; all things that are and those that have been, but now are not, + were created from him, and by him, and in him. I also view him as the end + and intransgressible term of all things.... There is a fourfold conception + of universal Nature—two views of divine Nature, as origin and end; + two also of framed Nature, causes and effects. There is nothing eternal + but God." + </p> + <p> + The return of the soul to the universal Intellect is designated by Erigena + as Theosis, or Deification. In that final absorption all remembrance of + its past experiences is lost. The soul reverts to the condition in which + it was before it animated the body. Necessarily, therefore, Erigena fell + under the displeasure of the Church. + </p> + <p> + It was in India that men first recognized the fact that force is + indestructible and eternal. This implies ideas more or less distinct of + that which we now term its "correlation and conservation." Considerations + connected with the stability of the universe give strength to this view, + since it is clear that, were there either an increase or a diminution, the + order of the world must cease. The definite and invariable amount of + energy in the universe must therefore be accepted as a scientific fact. + The changes we witness are in its distribution. + </p> + <p> + But, since the soul must be regarded as an active principle, to call a new + one into existence out of nothing is necessarily to add to the force + previously in the world. And, if this has been done in the case of every + individual who has been born, and is to be repeated for every individual + hereafter, the totality of force must be continually increasing. + </p> + <p> + Moreover, to many devout persons there is something very revolting in the + suggestion that the Almighty is a servitor to the caprices and lusts of + man, and that, at a certain term after its origin, it is necessary for him + to create for the embryo a soul. + </p> + <p> + Considering man as composed of two portions, a soul and a body, the + obvious relations of the latter may cast much light on the mysterious, the + obscure relations of the former. Now, the substance of which the body + consists is obtained from the general mass of matter around us, and after + death to that general mass it is restored. Has Nature, then, displayed + before our eyes in the origin, mutations, and destiny of the material + part, the body, a revelation that may guide us to a knowledge of the + origin and destiny of the companion, the spiritual part, the soul? + </p> + <p> + Let us listen for a moment to one of the most powerful of Mohammedan + writers: + </p> + <p> + "God has created the spirit of man out of a drop of his own light; its + destiny is to return to him. Do not deceive yourself with the vain + imagination that it will die when the body dies. The form you had on your + entrance into this world, and your present form, are not the same; hence + there is no necessity of your perishing, on account of the perishing of + your body. Your spirit came into this world a stranger, it is only + sojourning, in a temporary home. From the trials and tempests of this + troublesome life, our refuge is in God. In reunion with him we shall find + eternal rest—a rest without sorrow, a joy without pain, a strength + without infirmity, a knowledge without doubt, a tranquil and yet an + ecstatic vision of the source of life and light and glory, the source from + which we came." So says the Saracen philosopher, Al-Gazzali (A.D. 1010). + </p> + <p> + In a stone the material particles are in a state of stable equilibrium; it + may, therefore, endure forever. An animal is in reality only a form + through which a stream of matter is incessantly flowing. It receives its + supplies, and dismisses its wastes. In this it resembles a cataract, a + river, a flame. The particles that compose it at one instant have departed + from it the next. It depends for its continuance on exterior supplies. It + has a definite duration in time, and an inevitable moment comes in which + it must die. + </p> + <p> + In the great problem of psychology we cannot expect to reach a scientific + result, if we persist in restricting ourselves to the contemplation of one + fact. We must avail ourselves of all accessible facts. Human psychology + can never be completely resolved except through comparative psychology. + With Descartes, we must inquire whether the souls of animals be relations + of the human soul, less perfect members in the same series of development. + We must take account of what we discover in the intelligent principle of + the ant, as well as what we discern in the intelligent principle of man. + Where would human physiology be, if it were not illuminated by the bright + irradiations of comparative physiology? + </p> + <p> + Brodie, after an exhaustive consideration of the facts, affirms that the + mind of animals is essentially the same as that of man. Every one familiar + with the dog will admit that that creature knows right from wrong, and is + conscious when he has committed a fault. Many domestic animals have + reasoning powers, and employ proper means for the attainment of ends. How + numerous are the anecdotes related of the intentional actions of the + elephant and the ape! Nor is this apparent intelligence due to imitation, + to their association with man, for wild animals that have no such relation + exhibit similar properties. In different species, the capacity and + character greatly vary. Thus the dog is not only more intelligent, but has + social and moral qualities that the cat does not possess; the former loves + his master, the latter her home. + </p> + <p> + Du Bois-Reymond makes this striking remark: "With awe and wonder must the + student of Nature regard that microscopic molecule of nervous substance + which is the seat of the laborious, constructive, orderly, loyal, + dauntless soul of the ant. It has developed itself to its present state + through a countless series of generations." What an impressive inference + we may draw from the statement of Huber, who has written so well on this + subject: "If you will watch a single ant at work, you can tell what he + will next do!" He is considering the matter, and reasoning as you are + doing. Listen to one of the many anecdotes which Huber, at once truthful + and artless, relates: "On the visit of an overseer ant to the works, when + the laborers had begun the roof too soon, he examined it and had it taken + down, the wall raised to the proper height, and a new ceiling constructed + with the fragments of the old one." Surely these insects are not automata, + they show intention. They recognize their old companions, who have been + shut up from them for many months, and exhibit sentiments of joy at their + return. Their antennal language is capable of manifold expression; it + suits the interior of the nest, where all is dark. + </p> + <p> + While solitary insects do not live to raise their young, social insects + have a longer term, they exhibit moral affections and educate their + offspring. Patterns of patience and industry, some of these insignificant + creatures will work sixteen or eighteen hours a day. Few men are capable + of sustained mental application more than four or five hours. + </p> + <p> + Similarity of effects indicates similarity of causes; similarity of + actions demands similarity of organs. I would ask the reader of these + paragraphs, who is familiar with the habits of animals, and especially + with the social relations of that wonderful insect to which reference has + been made, to turn to the nineteenth chapter of my work on the + "Intellectual Development of Europe," in which he will find a description + of the social system of the Incas of Peru. Perhaps, then, in view of the + similarity of the social institutions and personal conduct of the insect, + and the social institutions and personal conduct of the civilized Indian—the + one an insignificant speck, the other a man—he will not be disposed + to disagree with me in the opinion that "from bees, and wasps, and ants, + and birds, from all that low animal life on which he looks with + supercilious contempt, man is destined one day to learn what in truth he + really is." + </p> + <p> + The views of Descartes, who regarded all insects as automata, can scarcely + be accepted without modification. Insects are automata only so far as the + action of their ventral cord, and that portion of their cephalic ganglia + which deals with contemporaneous impressions, is concerned. + </p> + <p> + It is one of the functions of vesicular-nervous material to retain traces + or relics of impressions brought to it by the organs of sense; hence, + nervous ganglia, being composed of that material, may be considered as + registering apparatus. They also introduce the element of time into the + action of the nervous mechanism. An impression, which without them might + have forthwith ended in reflex action, is delayed, and with this duration + come all those important effects arising through the interaction of many + impressions, old and new, upon each other. + </p> + <p> + There is no such thing as a spontaneous, or self-originated, thought. + Every intellectual act is the consequence of some preceding act. It comes + into existence in virtue of something that has gone before. Two minds + constituted precisely alike, and placed under the influence of precisely + the same environment, must give rise to precisely the same thought. To + such sameness of action we allude in the popular expression "common-sense"—a + term full of meaning. In the origination of a thought there are two + distinct conditions: the state of the organism as dependent on antecedent + impressions, and on the existing physical circumstances. + </p> + <p> + In the cephalic ganglia of insects are stored up the relics of impressions + that have been made upon the common peripheral nerves, and in them are + kept those which are brought in by the organs of special sense—the + visual, olfactive, auditory. The interaction of these raises insects above + mere mechanical automata, in which the reaction instantly follows the + impression. + </p> + <p> + In all cases the action of every nerve-centre, no matter what its stage of + development may be, high or low, depends upon an essential chemical + condition—oxidation. Even in man, if the supply of arterial blood be + stopped but for a moment, the nerve-mechanism loses its power; if + diminished, it correspondingly declines; if, on the contrary, it be + increased—as when nitrogen monoxide is breathed—there is more + energetic action. Hence there arises a need of repair, a necessity for + rest and sleep. + </p> + <p> + Two fundamental ideas are essentially attached to all our perceptions of + external things: they are SPACE and TIME, and for these provision is made + in the nervous mechanism while it is yet in an almost rudimentary state. + The eye is the organ of space, the ear of time; the perceptions of which + by the elaborate mechanism of these structures become infinitely more + precise than would be possible if the sense of touch alone were resorted + to. + </p> + <p> + There are some simple experiments which illustrate the vestiges of + ganglionic impressions. If on a cold, polished metal, as a new razor, any + object, such as a wafer, be laid, and the metal be then breathed upon, + and, when the moisture has had time to disappear, the wafer be thrown off, + though now the most critical inspection of the polished surface can + discover no trace of any form, if we breathe once more upon it, a spectral + image of the wafer comes plainly into view; and this may be done again and + again. Nay, more, if the polished metal be carefully put aside where + nothing can deteriorate its surface, and be so kept for many months, on + breathing again upon it the shadowy form emerges. + </p> + <p> + Such an illustration shows how trivial an impression may be thus + registered and preserved. But, if, on such an inorganic surface, an + impression may thus be indelibly marked, how much more likely in the + purposely-constructed ganglion! A shadow never falls upon a wall without + leaving thereupon a permanent trace, a trace which might be made visible + by resorting to proper processes. Photographic operations are cases in + point. The portraits of our friends, or landscape views, may be hidden on + the sensitive surface from the eye, but they are ready to make their + appearance as soon as proper developers are resorted to. A spectre is + concealed on a silver or glassy surface until, by our necromancy, we make + it come forth into the visible world. Upon the walls of our most private + apartments, where we think the eye of intrusion is altogether shut out and + our retirement can never be profaned, there exist the vestiges of all our + acts, silhouettes of whatever we have done. + </p> + <p> + If, after the eyelids have been closed for some time, as when we first + awake in the morning, we suddenly and steadfastly gaze at a + brightly-illuminated object and then quickly close the lids again, a + phantom image is perceived in the indefinite darkness beyond us. We may + satisfy ourselves that this is not a fiction, but a reality, for many + details that we had not time to identify in the momentary glance may be + contemplated at our leisure in the phantom. We may thus make out the + pattern of such an object as a lace curtain hanging in the window, or the + branches of a tree beyond. By degrees the image becomes less and less + distinct; in a minute or two it has disappeared. It seems to have a + tendency to float away in the vacancy before us. If we attempt to follow + it by moving the eyeball, it suddenly vanishes. + </p> + <p> + Such a duration of impressions on the retina proves that the effect of + external influences on nerve-vesicles is not necessarily transitory. In + this there is a correspondence to the duration, the emergence, the + extinction, of impressions on photographic preparations. Thus, I have seen + landscapes and architectural views taken in Mexico developed, as artists + say, months subsequently in New York—the images coming out, after + the long voyage, in all their proper forms and in all their proper + contrast of light and shade. The photograph had forgotten nothing. It had + equally preserved the contour of the everlasting mountains and the passing + smoke of a bandit-fire. + </p> + <p> + Are there, then, contained in the brain more permanently, as in the retina + more transiently, the vestiges of impressions that have been gathered by + the sensory organs? Is this the explanation of memory—the Mind + contemplating such pictures of past things and events as have been + committed to her custody. In her silent galleries are there hung + micrographs of the living and the dead, of scenes that we have visited, of + incidents in which we have borne a part? Are these abiding impressions + mere signal-marks, like the letters of a book, which impart ideas to the + mind? or are they actual picture-images, inconceivably smaller than those + made for us by artists, in which, by the aid of a microscope, we can see, + in a space not bigger than a pinhole, a whole family group at a glance? + </p> + <p> + The phantom images of the retina are not perceptible in the light of the + day. Those that exist in the sensorium in like manner do not attract our + attention so long as the sensory organs are in vigorous operation, and + occupied in bringing new impressions in. But, when those organs become + weary or dull, or when we experience hours of great anxiety, or are in + twilight reveries, or are asleep, the latent apparitions have their + vividness increased by the contrast, and obtrude themselves on the mind. + For the same reason they occupy us in the delirium of fevers, and + doubtless also in the solemn moments of death. During a third part of our + life, in sleep, we are withdrawn from external influences; hearing and + sight and the other senses are inactive, but the never-sleeping Mind, that + pensive, that veiled enchantress, in her mysterious retirement, looks over + the ambrotypes she has collected—ambrotypes, for they are truly + unfading impressions—and, combining them together, as they chance to + occur, constructs from them the panorama of a dream. + </p> + <p> + Nature has thus implanted in the organization of every man means which + impressively suggest to him the immortality of the soul and a future life. + Even the benighted savage thus sees in his visions the fading forms of + landscapes, which are, perhaps, connected with some of his most pleasant + recollections; and what other conclusion can be possibly extract from + those unreal pictures than that they are the foreshadowings of another + land beyond that in which his lot is cast? At intervals he is visited in + his dreams by the resemblances of those whom he has loved or hated while + they were alive; and these manifestations are to him incontrovertible + proofs of the existence and immortality of the soul. In our most refined + social conditions we are never able to shake off the impressions of these + occurrences, and are perpetually drawing from them the same conclusions + that our uncivilized ancestors did. Our more elevated condition of life in + no respect relieves us from the inevitable operation of our own + organization, any more than it relieves us from infirmities and disease. + In these respects, all over the globe men are on an equality. Savage or + civilized, we carry within us a mechanism which presents us with mementoes + of the most solemn facts with which we can be concerned. It wants only + moments of repose or sickness, when the influence of external things is + diminished, to come into full play, and these are precisely the moments + when we are best prepared for the truths it is going to suggest. That + mechanism is no respecter of persons. It neither permits the haughtiest to + be free from the monitions, nor leaves the humblest without the + consolation of a knowledge of another life. Open to no opportunities of + being tampered with by the designing or interested, requiring no + extraneous human agency for its effect, out always present with every man + wherever he may go, it marvelously extracts from vestiges of the + impressions of the past overwhelming proofs of the realities of the + future, and, gathering its power from what would seem to be a most + unlikely source, it insensibly leads us, no matter who or where we may be, + to a profound belief in the immortal and imperishable, from phantoms which + have scarcely made their appearance before they are ready to vanish away. + </p> + <p> + The insect differs from a mere automaton in this, that it is influenced by + old, by registered impressions. In the higher forms of animated life that + registration becomes more and more complete, memory becomes more perfect. + There is not any necessary resemblance between an external form and its + ganglionic impression, any more than there is between the words of a + message delivered in a telegraphic office and the signals which the + telegraph may give to the distant station; any more than there is between + the letters of a printed page and the acts or scenes they describe, but + the letters call up with clearness to the mind of the reader the events + and scenes. + </p> + <p> + An animal without any apparatus for the retention of impressions must be a + pure automaton—it cannot have memory. From insignificant and + uncertain beginnings, such an apparatus is gradually evolved, and, as its + development advances, the intellectual capacity increases. In man, this + retention or registration reaches perfection; he guides, himself by past + as well as by present impressions; he is influenced by experience; his + conduct is determined by reason. + </p> + <p> + A most important advance is made when the capability is acquired by any + animal of imparting a knowledge of the impressions stored up in its own + nerve-centres to another of the same kind. This marks the extension of + individual into social life, and indeed is essential thereto. In the + higher insects it is accomplished by antennal contacts, in man by speech. + Humanity, in its earlier, its savage stages, was limited to this: the + knowledge of one person could be transmitted to another by conversation. + The acts and thoughts of one generation could be imparted to another, and + influence its acts and thoughts. + </p> + <p> + But tradition has its limit. The faculty of speech makes society possible—nothing + more. + </p> + <p> + Not without interest do we remark the progress of development of this + function. The invention of the art of writing gave extension and + durability to the registration or record of impressions. These, which had + hitherto been stored up in the brain of one man, might now be imparted to + the whole human race, and be made to endure forever. Civilization became + possible—for civilization cannot exist without writing, or the means + of record in some shape. + </p> + <p> + From this psychological point of view we perceive the real significance of + the invention of printing—a development of writing which, by + increasing the rapidity of the diffusion of ideas, and insuring their + permanence, tends to promote civilization and to unify the human race. + </p> + <p> + In the foregoing paragraphs, relating to nervous impressions, their + registry, and the consequences, that spring from them, I have given an + abstract of views presented in my work on "Human Physiology," published in + 1856, and may, therefore, refer the reader to the chapter on "Inverse + Vision, or Cerebral Sight;" to Chapter XIV., Book I.; and to Chapter + VIII., Book II.; of that work, for other particulars. + </p> + <p> + The only path to scientific human psychology is through comparative + psychology. It is a long and wearisome path, but it leads to truth. + </p> + <p> + Is there, then, a vast spiritual existence pervading the universe, even as + there is a vast existence of matter pervading it—a spirit which, as + a great German author tells us, "sleeps in the stone, dreams in the + animal, awakes in man?" Does the soul arise from the one as the body + arises from the other? Do they in like manner return, each to the source + from which it has come? If so, we can interpret human existence, and our + ideas may still be in unison with scientific truth, and in accord with our + conception of the stability, the unchangeability of the universe. + </p> + <p> + To this spiritual existence the Saracens, following Eastern nations, gave + the designation "the Active Intellect." They believed that the soul of man + emanated from it, as a rain-drop comes from the sea, and, after a season, + returns. So arose among them the imposing doctrines of emanation and + absorption. The active intellect is God. + </p> + <p> + In one of its forms, as we have seen, this idea was developed by Chakia + Mouni, in India, in a most masterly manner, and embodied in the vast + practical system of Buddhism; in another, it was with less power presented + among the Saracens by Averroes. + </p> + <p> + But, perhaps we ought rather to say that Europeans hold Averroes as the + author of this doctrine, because they saw him isolated from his + antecedents. But Mohammedans gave him little credit for originality. He + stood to them in the light of a commentator on Aristotle, and as + presenting the opinions of the Alexandrian and other philosophical schools + up to his time. The following excerpts from the "Historical Essay on + Averroism," by M. Renan, will show how closely the Sarscenic ideas + approached those presented above: + </p> + <p> + This system supposes that, at the death of an individual, his intelligent + principle or soul no longer possesses a separate existence, but returns to + or is absorbed in the universal mind, the active intelligence, the mundane + soul, which is God; from whom, indeed, it had originally emanated or + issued forth. + </p> + <p> + The universal, or active, or objective intellect, is uncreated, + impassible, incorruptible, has neither beginning nor end; nor does it + increase as the number of individual souls increases. It is altogether + separate from matter. It is, as it were, a cosmic principle. This oneness + of the active intellect, or reason, is the essential principle of the + Averroistic theory, and is in harmony with the cardinal doctrine of + Mohammedanism—the unity of God. + </p> + <p> + The individual, or passive, or subjective intellect, is an emanation from + the universal, and constitutes what is termed the soul of man. In one + sense it is perishable and ends with the body, but in a higher sense it + endures; for, after death, it returns to or is absorbed in the universal + soul, and thus of all human souls there remains at last but one—the + aggregate of them all, life is not the property of the individual, it + belongs to Nature. The end of, man is to enter into union more and more + complete with the active intellect—reason. In that the happiness of + the soul consists. Our destiny is quietude. It was the opinion of Averroes + that the transition from the individual to the universal is instantaneous + at death, but the Buddhists maintain that human personality continues in a + declining manner for a certain term before nonentity, or Nirwana, is + attained. + </p> + <p> + Philosophy has never proposed but two hypotheses to explain the system of + the world: first, a personal God existing apart, and a human soul called + into existence or created, and thenceforth immortal; second, an impersonal + intelligence, or indeterminate God, and a soul emerging from and returning + to him. As to the origin of beings, there are two opposite opinions: + first, that they are created from nothing; second, that they come by + development from pre-existing forms. The theory of creation belongs to the + first of the above hypotheses, that of evolution to the last. + </p> + <p> + Philosophy among the Arabs thus took the same direction that it had taken + in China, in India, and indeed throughout the East. Its whole spirit + depended on the admission of the indestructibility of matter and force. It + saw an analogy between the gathering of the material of which the body of + man consists from the vast store of matter in Nature, and its final + restoration to that store, and the emanation of the spirit of man from the + universal Intellect, the Divinity, and its final reabsorption. + </p> + <p> + Having thus indicated in sufficient detail the philosophical + characteristics of the doctrine of emanation and absorption, I have in the + next place to relate its history. It was introduced into Europe by the + Spanish Arabs. Spain was the focal point from which, issuing forth, it + affected the ranks of intelligence and fashion all over Europe, and in + Spain it had a melancholy end. + </p> + <p> + The Spanish khalifs had surrounded themselves with all the luxuries of + Oriental life. They had magnificent palaces, enchanting gardens, seraglios + filled with beautiful women. Europe at the present day does not offer more + taste, more refinement, more elegance, than might have been seen, at the + epoch of which we are speaking, in the capitals of the Spanish Arabs. + Their streets were lighted and solidly paved. The houses were frescoed and + carpeted; they were warmed in winter by furnaces, and cooled in summer + with perfumed air brought by underground pipes from flower-beds. They had + baths, and libraries, and dining-halls, fountains of quicksilver and + water. City and country were full of conviviality, and of dancing to the + lute and mandolin. Instead of the drunken and gluttonous wassail orgies of + their Northern neighbors, the feasts of the Saracens were marked by + sobriety. Wine was prohibited. The enchanting moonlight evenings of + Andalusia were spent by the Moors in sequestered, fairy-like gardens or in + orange-groves, listening to the romances of the story-teller, or engaged + in philosophical discourse; consoling themselves for the disappointments + of this life by such reflections as that, if virtue were rewarded in this + world, we should be without expectations in the life to come; and + reconciling themselves to their daily toil by the expectation that rest + will be found after death—a rest never to be succeeded by labor. + </p> + <p> + In the tenth century the Khalif Hakein II. had made beautiful Andalusia + the paradise of the world. Christians, Mussulmen, Jews, mixed together + without restraint. There, among many celebrated names that have descended + to our times, was Gerbert, destined subsequently to become pope. There, + too, was Peter the Venerable, and many Christian ecclesiastics. Peter says + that he found learned men even from Britain pursuing astronomy. All + learned men, no matter from what country they came, or what their + religious views, were welcomed. The khalif had in his palace a manufactory + of books, and copyists, binders, illuminators. He kept book-buyers in all + the great cities of Asia and Africa. His library contained four hundred + thousand volumes, superbly bound and illuminated. + </p> + <p> + Throughout the Mohammedan dominions in Asia, in Africa, and in Spain, the + lower order of Mussulmen entertained a fanatical hatred against learning. + Among the more devout—those who claimed to be orthodox—there + were painful doubts as to the salvation of the great Khalif Al-Mamun—the + wicked khalif, as they called him—for he had not only disturbed the + people by introducing the writings of Aristotle and other Greek heathens, + but had even struck at the existence of heaven and hell by saying that the + earth is a globe, and pretending that he could measure its size. These + persons, from their numbers, constituted a political power. + </p> + <p> + Almansor, who usurped the khalifate to the prejudice of Hakem's son, + thought that his usurpation would be sustained if he put himself at the + head of the orthodox party. He therefore had the library of Hakem + searched, and all works of a scientific or philosophical nature carried + into the public places and burnt, or thrown into the cisterns of the + palace. By a similar court revolution Averroes, in his old age—he + died A.D. 1193—was expelled from Spain; the religious party had + triumphed over the philosophical. He was denounced as a traitor to + religion. An opposition to philosophy had been organized all over the + Mussulman world. There was hardly a philosopher who was not punished. Some + were put to death, and the consequence was, that Islam was full of + hypocrites. + </p> + <p> + Into Italy, Germany, England, Averroism had silently made its way. It + found favor in the eyes of the Franciscans, and a focus in the University + of Paris. By very many of the leading minds it had been accepted. But at + length the Dominicans, the rivals of the Franciscans, sounded an alarm. + They said it destroys all personality, conducts to fatalism, and renders + inexplicable the difference and progress of individual intelligences. The + declaration that there is but one intellect is an error subversive of the + merits of the saints, it is an assertion that there is no difference among + men. What! is there no difference between the holy soul of Peter and the + damned soul of Judas? are they identical? Averroes in this his blasphemous + doctrine denies creation, providence, revelation, the Trinity, the + efficacy of prayers, of alms, and of litanies; he disbelieves in the + resurrection and immortality; he places the summum bonum in mere pleasure. + </p> + <p> + So, too, among the Jews who were then the leading intellects of the world, + Averroism had been largely propagated. Their great writer Maimonides had + thoroughly accepted it; his school was spreading it in all directions. A + furious persecution arose on the part of the orthodox Jews. Of Maimonides + it had been formerly their delight to declare that he was "the Eagle of + the Doctors, the Great Sage, the Glory of the West, the Light of the East, + second only to Moses." Now, they proclaimed that he had abandoned the + faith of Abraham; had denied the possibility of creation, believed in the + eternity of the world; had given himself up to the manufacture of + atheists; had deprived God of his attributes; made a vacuum of him; had + declared him inaccessible to prayer, and a stranger to the government of + the world. The works of Maimonides were committed to the flames by the + synagogues of Montpellier, Barcelona, and Toledo. + </p> + <p> + Scarcely had the conquering arms of Ferdinand and Isabella overthrown the + Arabian dominion in Spain, when measures were taken by the papacy to + extinguish these opinions, which, it was believed, were undermining + European Christianity. + </p> + <p> + Until Innocent IV. (1243), there was no special tribunal against heretics, + distinct from those of the bishops. The Inquisition, then introduced, in + accordance with the centralization of the times, was a general and papal + tribunal, which displaced the old local ones. The bishops, therefore, + viewed the innovation with great dislike, considering it as an intrusion + on their rights. It was established in Italy, Spain, Germany, and the + southern provinces of France. + </p> + <p> + The temporal sovereigns were only too desirous to make use of this + powerful engine for their own political purposes. Against this the popes + strongly protested. They were not willing that its use should pass out of + the ecclesiastical hand. + </p> + <p> + The Inquisition, having already been tried in the south of France, had + there proved to be very effective for the suppression of heresy. It had + been introduced into Aragon. Now was assigned to it the duty of dealing + with the Jews. + </p> + <p> + In the old times under Visigothic rule these people had greatly prospered, + but the leniency that had been shown to them was succeeded by atrocious + persecution, when the Visigoths abandoned their Arianism and became + orthodox. The most inhuman ordinances were issued against them—a law + was enacted condemning them all to be slaves. It was not to be wondered at + that, when the Saracen invasion took place, the Jews did whatever they + could to promote its success. They, like the Arabs, were an Oriental + people, both traced their lineage to Abraham, their common ancestor; both + were believers in the unity of God. It was their defense of that doctrine + that had brought upon them the hatred of their Visigothic masters. + </p> + <p> + Under the Saracen rule they were treated with the highest consideration. + They became distinguished for their wealth and their learning. For the + most part they were Aristotelians. They founded many schools and colleges. + Their mercantile interests led them to travel all over the world. They + particularly studied the science of medicine. Throughout the middle ages + they were the physicians and bankers of Europe. Of all men they saw the + course of human affairs from the most elevated point of view. Among the + special sciences they became proficient in mathematics and astronomy; they + composed the tables of Alfonso, and were the cause of the voyage of De + Gama. They distinguished themselves greatly in light literature. From the + tenth to the fourteenth century their literature was the first in Europe. + They were to be found in the courts of princes as physicians, or as + treasurers managing the public finances. + </p> + <p> + The orthodox clergy in Navarre had excited popular prejudices against + them. To escape the persecutions that arose, many of them feigned to turn + Christians, and of these many apostatized to their former faith. The papal + nuncio at the court of Castile raised a cry for the establishment of the + Inquisition. The poorer Jews were accused of sacrificing Christian + children at the Passover, in mockery of the crucifixion; the richer were + denounced as Averroists. Under the influence of Torquemada, a Dominican + monk, the confessor of Queen Isabella, that princess solicited a bull from + the pope for the establishment of the Holy Office. A bull was accordingly + issued in November, 1478, for the detection and suppression of heresy. In + the first year of the operation of the Inquisition, 1481, two thousand + victims were burnt in Andalusia; besides these, many thousands were dug up + from their graves and burnt; seventeen thousand were fined or imprisoned + for life. Whoever of the persecuted race could flee, escaped for his life. + Torquemada, now appointed inquisitor-general for Castile and Leon, + illustrated his office by his ferocity. Anonymous accusations were + received, the accused was not confronted by witnesses, torture was relied + upon for conviction; it was inflicted in vaults where no one could hear + the cries of the tormented. As, in pretended mercy, it was forbidden to + inflict torture a second time, with horrible duplicity it was affirmed + that the torment had not been completed at first, but had only been + suspended out of charity until the following day! The families of the + convicted were plunged into irretrievable ruin. Llorente, the historian of + the Inquisition, computes that Torquemada and his collaborators, in the + course of eighteen years, burnt at the stake ten thousand two hundred and + twenty persons, six thousand eight hundred and sixty in effigy, and + otherwise punished ninety-seven thousand three hundred and twenty-one. + This frantic priest destroyed Hebrew Bibles wherever he could find them, + And burnt six thousand volumes of Oriental literature at Salamanca, under + an imputation that they inculcated Judaism. With unutterable disgust and + indignation, we learn that the papal government realized much money by + selling to the rich dispensations to secure them from the Inquisition. + </p> + <p> + But all these frightful atrocities proved failures. The conversions were + few. Torquemada, therefore, insisted on the immediate banishment of every + unbaptized Jew. On March 30, 1492, the edict of expulsion was signed. All + unbaptized Jews, of whatever age, sex, or condition, were ordered to leave + the realm by the end of the following July. If they revisited it, they + should suffer death. They might sell their effects and take the proceeds + in merchandise or bills of exchange, but not in gold or silver. Exiled + thus suddenly from the land of their birth, the land of their ancestors + for hundreds of years, they could not in the glutted market that arose + sell what they possessed. Nobody would purchase what could be got for + nothing after July. The Spanish clergy occupied themselves by preaching in + the public squares sermons filled with denunciations against their + victims, who, when the time for expatriation came, swarmed in the roads + and filled the air with their cries of despair. Even the Spanish onlookers + wept at the scene of agony. Torquemada, however, enforced the ordinance + that no one should afford them any help. + </p> + <p> + Of the banished persons some made their way into Africa, some into Italy; + the latter carried with them to Naples ship-fever, which destroyed not + fewer than twenty thousand in that city, and devastated that peninsula; + some reached Turkey, a few England. Thousands, especially mothers with + nursing children, infants, and old people, died by the way; many of them + in the agonies of thirst. + </p> + <p> + This action against the Jews was soon followed by one against the Moors. A + pragmatica was issued at Seville, February, 1502, setting forth the + obligations of the Castilians to drive the enemies of God from the land, + and ordering that all unbaptized Moors in the kingdoms of Castile and Leon + above the age of infancy should leave the country by the end of April. + They might sell their property, but not take away any gold or silver; they + were forbidden to emigrate to the Mohammedan dominions; the penalty of + disobedience was death. Their condition was thus worse than that of the + Jews, who had been permitted to go where they chose. Such was the fiendish + intolerance of the Spaniards, that they asserted the government would be + justified in taking the lives of all the Moors for their shameless + infidelity. + </p> + <p> + What an ungrateful return for the toleration that the Moors in their day + of power had given to the Christians! No faith was kept with the victims. + Granada had surrendered under the solemn guarantee of the full enjoyment + of civil and religious liberty. At the instigation of Cardinal Ximenes + that pledge was broken, and, after a residence of eight centuries, the + Mohammedans were driven out of the land. + </p> + <p> + The coexistence of three religions in Andalusia—the Christian, the + Mohammedan, the Mosaic—had given opportunity for the development of + Averroism or philosophical Arabism. This was a repetition of what had + occurred at Rome, when the gods of all the conquered countries were + confronted in that capital, and universal disbelief in them all ensued. + Averroes himself was accused of having been first a Mussulman, then a + Christian, then a Jew, and finally a misbeliever. It was affirmed that he + was the author of the mysterious book "De Tribus Impostoribus." + </p> + <p> + In the middle ages there were two celebrated heretical books, "The + Everlasting Gospel," and the "De Tribus Impostoribus." The latter was + variously imputed to Pope Gerbert, to Frederick II., and to Averroes. In + their unrelenting hatred the Dominicans fastened all the blasphemies + current in those times on Averroes; they never tired of recalling the + celebrated and outrageous one respecting the eucharist. His writings had + first been generally made known to Christian Europe by the translation of + Michael Scot in the beginning of the thirteenth century, but long before + his time the literature of the West, like that of Asia, was full of these + ideas. We have seen how broadly they were set forth by Erigena. The + Arabians, from their first cultivation of philosophy, had been infected by + them; they were current in all the colleges of the three khalifates. + Considered not as a mode of thought, that will spontaneously occur to all + men at a certain stage of intellectual development, but as having + originated with Aristotle, they continually found favor with men of the + highest culture. We see them in Robert Grostete, in Roger Bacon, and + eventually in Spinoza. Averroes was not their inventor, he merely gave + them clearness and expression. Among the Jews of the thirteenth century, + he had completely supplanted his imputed master. Aristotle had passed away + from their eyes; his great commentator, Averroes, stood in his place. So + numerous were the converts to the doctrine of emanation in Christendom, + that Pope Alexander IV. (1255) found it necessary to interfere. By his + order, Albertus Magnus composed a work against the "Unity of the + Intellect." Treating of the origin and nature of the soul, he attempted to + prove that the theory of "a separate intellect, enlightening man by + irradiation anterior to the individual and surviving the individual, is a + detestable error." But the most illustrious antagonist of the great + commentator was St. Thomas Aquinas, the destroyer of all such heresies as + the unity of the intellect, the denial of Providence, the impossibility of + creation; the victories of "the Angelic Doctor" were celebrated not only + in the disputations of the Dominicans, but also in the works of art of the + painters of Florence and Pisa. The indignation of that saint knew no + bounds when Christians became the disciples of an infidel, who was worse + than a Mohammedan. The wrath of the Dominicans, the order to which St. + Thomas belonged, was sharpened by the fact that their rivals, the + Franciscans, inclined to Averroistic views; and Dante, who leaned to the + Dominicans, denounced Averroes as the author of a most dangerous system. + The theological odium of all three dominant religions was put upon him; he + was pointed out as the originator of the atrocious maxim that "all + religions are false, although all are probably useful." An attempt was + made at the Council of Vienne to have his writings absolutely suppressed, + and to forbid all Christians reading them. The Dominicans, armed with the + weapons of the Inquisition, terrified Christian Europe with their + unrelenting persecutions. They imputed all the infidelity of the times to + the Arabian philosopher. But he was not without support. In Paris and in + the cities of Northern Italy the Franciscans sustained his views, and all + Christendom was agitated with these disputes. + </p> + <p> + Under the inspiration of the Dominicans, Averroes became to the Italian + painters the emblem of unbelief. Many of the Italian towns had pictures or + frescoes of the Day of Judgment and of Hell. In these Averroes not + unfrequently appears. Thus, in one at Pisa, he figures with Arius, + Mohammed, and Antichrist. In another he is represented as overthrown by + St. Thomas. He had become an essential element in the triumphs of the + great Dominican doctor. He continued thus to be familiar to the Italian + painters until the sixteenth century. His doctrines were maintained in the + University of Padua until the seventeenth. + </p> + <p> + Such is, in brief, the history of Averroism as it invaded Europe from + Spain. Under the auspices of Frederick II., it, in a less imposing manner, + issued from Sicily. That sovereign bad adopted it fully. In his "Sicilian + Questions" he had demanded light on the eternity of the world, and on the + nature of the soul, and supposed he had found it in the replies of Ibn + Sabin, an upholder of these doctrines. But in his conflict with the papacy + be was overthrown, and with him these heresies were destroyed. + </p> + <p> + In Upper Italy, Averroism long maintained its ground. It was so + fashionable in high Venetian society that every gentleman felt constrained + to profess it. At length the Church took decisive action against it. The + Lateran Council, A.D. 1512, condemned the abettors of these detestable + doctrines to be held as heretics and infidels. As we have seen, the late + Vatican Council has anathematized them. Notwithstanding that stigma, it is + to be borne in mind that these opinions are held to be true by a majority + of the human race. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI. + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + CONFLICT RESPECTING THE NATURE OF THE WORLD. + + Scriptural view of the world: the earth a flat surface; + location of heaven and hell. + + Scientific view: the earth a globe; its size determined; its + position in and relations to the solar system.—The three + great voyages.—Columbus, De Gama, Magellan.— + Circumnavigation of the earth.—Determination of its + curvature by the measurement of a degree and by the + pendulum. + + The discoveries of Copernicus.—Invention of the telescope.— + Galileo brought before the Inquisition.—His punishment.— + Victory over the Church. + + Attempts to ascertain the dimensions of the solar system.— + Determination of the sun's parallax by the transits of + Venus.—Insignificance, of the earth and man. + + Ideas respecting the dimensions of the universe.—Parallax + of the stars.—The plurality of worlds asserted by Bruno.— + He is seized and murdered by the Inquisition. +</pre> + <p> + I HAVE now to present the discussions that arose respecting the third + great philosophical problem—the nature of the world. + </p> + <p> + An uncritical observation of the aspect of Nature persuades us that the + earth is an extended level surface which sustains the dome of the sky, a + firmament dividing the waters above from the waters beneath; that the + heavenly bodies—the sun, the moon, the stars—pursue their way, + moving from east to west, their insignificant size and motion round the + motionless earth proclaiming their inferiority. Of the various organic + forms surrounding man none rival him in dignity, and hence he seems + justified in concluding that every thing has been created for his use—the + sun for the purpose of giving him light by day, the moon and stars by + night. + </p> + <p> + Comparative theology shows us that this is the conception of Nature + universally adopted in the early phase of intellectual life. It is the + belief of all nations in all parts of the world in the beginning of their + civilization: geocentric, for it makes the earth the centre of the + universe; anthropocentric, for it makes man the central object of the + earth. And not only is this the conclusion spontaneously come to from + inconsiderate glimpses of the world, it is also the philosophical basis of + various religious revelations, vouchsafed to man from time to time. These + revelations, moreover, declare to him that above the crystalline dome of + the sky is a region of eternal light and happiness—heaven—the + abode of God and the angelic hosts, perhaps also his own abode after + death; and beneath the earth a region of eternal darkness and misery, the + habitation of those that are evil. In the visible world is thus seen a + picture of the invisible. + </p> + <p> + On the basis of this view of the structure of the world great religious + systems have been founded, and hence powerful material interests have been + engaged in its support. These have resisted, sometimes by resorting to + bloodshed, attempts that have been made to correct its incontestable + errors—a resistance grounded on the suspicion that the localization + of heaven and hell and the supreme value of man in the universe might be + affected. + </p> + <p> + That such attempts would be made was inevitable. As soon as men began to + reason on the subject at all, they could not fail to discredit the + assertion that the earth is an indefinite plane. No one can doubt that the + sun we see to-day is the self-same sun that we saw yesterday. His + reappearance each morning irresistibly suggests that he has passed on the + underside of the earth. But this is incompatible with the reign of night + in those regions. It presents more or less distinctly the idea of the + globular form of the earth. + </p> + <p> + The earth cannot extend indefinitely downward; for the sun cannot go + through it, nor through any crevice or passage in it, Since he rises and + sets in different positions at different seasons of the year. The stars + also move under it in countless courses. There must, therefore, be a clear + way beneath. + </p> + <p> + To reconcile revelation with these innovating facts, schemes, such as that + of Cosmas Indicopleustes in his Christian Topography, were doubtless often + adopted. To this in particular we have had occasion on a former page to + refer. It asserted that in the northern parts of the flat earth there is + an immense mountain, behind which the sun passes, and thus produces night. + </p> + <p> + At a very remote historical period the mechanism of eclipses had been + discovered. Those of the moon demonstrated that the shadow of the earth is + always circular. The form of the earth must therefore be globular. A body + which in all positions casts a circular shadow must itself be spherical. + Other considerations, with which every one is now familiar, could not fail + to establish that such is her figure. + </p> + <p> + But the determination of the shape of the earth by no means deposed her + from her position of superiority. Apparently vastly larger than all other + things, it was fitting that she should be considered not merely as the + centre of the world, but, in truth, as—the world. All other objects + in their aggregate seemed utterly unimportant in comparison with her. + </p> + <p> + Though the consequences flowing from an admission of the globular figure + of the earth affected very profoundly existing theological ideas, they + were of much less moment than those depending on a determination of her + size. It needed but an elementary knowledge of geometry to perceive that + correct ideas on this point could be readily obtained by measuring a + degree on her surface. Probably there were early attempts to accomplish + this object, the results of which have been lost. But Eratosthenes + executed one between Syene and Alexandria, in Egypt, Syene being supposed + to be exactly under the tropic of Cancer. The two places are, however, not + on the same meridian, and the distance between them was estimated, not + measured. Two centuries later, Posidonius made another attempt between + Alexandria and Rhodes; the bright star Canopus just grazed the horizon at + the latter place, at Alexandria it rose 7 1/2 degrees. In this instance, + also, since the direction lay across the sea, the distance was estimated, + not measured. Finally, as we have already related, the Khalif Al-Mamun + made two sets of measures, one on the shore of the Red Sea, the other near + Cufa, in Mesopotamia. The general result of these various observations + gave for the earth's diameter between seven and eight thousand miles. + </p> + <p> + This approximate determination of the size of the earth tended to depose + her from her dominating position, and gave rise to very serious + theological results. In this the ancient investigations of Aristarchus of + Samos, one of the Alexandrian school, 280 B.C., powerfully aided. In his + treatise on the magnitudes and distances of the sun and moon, he explains + the ingenious though imperfect method to which he had resorted for the + solution of that problem. Many ages previously a speculation had been + brought from India to Europe by Pythagoras. It presented the sun as the + centre of the system. Around him the planets revolved in circular orbits, + their order of position being Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, + Saturn, each of them being supposed to rotate on its axis as it revolved + round the sun. According to Cicero, Nicetas suggested that, if it were + admitted that the earth revolves on her axis, the difficulty presented by + the inconceivable velocity of the heavens would be avoided. + </p> + <p> + There is reason to believe that the works of Aristarchus, in the + Alexandrian Library, were burnt at the time of the fire of Caesar. The + only treatise of his that has come down to us is that above mentioned, on + the size and distance of the sun and moon. + </p> + <p> + Aristarchus adopted the Pythagorean system as representing the actual + facts. This was the result of a recognition of the sun's amazing distance, + and therefore of his enormous size. The heliocentric system, thus + regarding the sun as the central orb, degraded the earth to a very + subordinate rank, making her only one of a company of six revolving + bodies. + </p> + <p> + But this is not the only contribution conferred on astronomy by + Aristarchus, for, considering that the movement of the earth does not + sensibly affect the apparent position of the stars, he inferred that they + are incomparably more distant from us than the sun. He, therefore, of all + the ancients, as Laplace remarks, had the most correct ideas of the + grandeur of the universe. He saw that the earth is of absolutely + insignificant size, when compared with the stellar distances. He saw, too, + that there is nothing above us but space and stars. + </p> + <p> + But the views of Aristarchus, as respects the emplacement of the planetary + bodies, were not accepted by antiquity; the system proposed by Ptolemy, + and incorporated in his "Syntaxis," was universally preferred. The + physical philosophy of those times was very imperfect—one of + Ptolemy's objections to the Pythagorean system being that, if the earth + were in motion, it would leave the air and other light bodies behind it. + He therefore placed the earth in the central position, and in succession + revolved round her the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, + Saturn; beyond the orbit of Saturn came the firmament of the fixed stars. + As to the solid crystalline spheres, one moving from east to west, the + other from north to south, these were a fancy of Eudoxus, to which Ptolemy + does not allude. + </p> + <p> + The Ptolemaic system is, therefore, essentially a geocentric system. It + left the earth in her position of superiority, and hence gave no cause of + umbrage to religious opinions, Christian or Mohammedan. The immense + reputation of its author, the signal ability of his great work on the + mechanism of the heavens, sustained it for almost fourteen hundred years—that + is, from the second to the sixteenth century. + </p> + <p> + In Christendom, the greater part of this long period was consumed in + disputes respecting the nature of God, and in struggles for ecclesiastical + power. The authority of the Fathers, and the prevailing belief that the + Scriptures contain the sum, of all knowledge, discouraged any + investigation of Nature. If by chance a passing interest was taken in some + astronomical question, it was at once settled by a reference to such + authorities as the writings of Augustine or Lactantius, not by an appeal + to the phenomena of the heavens. So great was the preference given to + sacred over profane learning that Christianity had been in existence + fifteen hundred years, and had not produced a single astronomer. + </p> + <p> + The Mohammedan nations did much better. Their cultivation of science dates + from the capture of Alexandria, A.D. 638. This was only six years after + the death of the Prophet. In less than two centuries they had not only + become acquainted with, but correctly appreciated, the Greek scientific + writers. As we have already mentioned, by his treaty with Michael III., + the khalif Al-Mamun had obtained a copy of the "Syntaxis" of Ptolemy. He + had it forthwith translated into Arabic. It became at once the great + authority of Saracen astronomy. From this basis the Saracens had advanced + to the solution of some of the most important scientific problems. They + had ascertained the dimensions of the earth; they had registered or + catalogued all the stars visible in their heavens, giving to those of the + larger magnitudes the names they still bear on our maps and globes; they + determined the true length of the year, discovered astronomical + refraction, invented the pendulum-clock, improved the photometry of the + stars, ascertained the curvilinear path of a ray of light through the air, + explained the phenomena of the horizontal sun and moon, and why we see + those bodies before they have risen and after they have set; measured the + height of the atmosphere, determining it to be fifty-eight miles; given + the true theory of the twilight, and of the twinkling of the stars. They + had built the first observatory in Europe. So accurate were they in their + observations, that the ablest modern mathematicians have made use of their + results. Thus Laplace, in his "Systeme du Monde," adduces the observations + of Al-Batagni as affording incontestable proof of the diminution of the + eccentricity of the earth's orbit. He uses those of Ibn-Junis in his + discussion of the obliquity of the ecliptic, and also in the case of the + problems of the greater inequalities of Jupiter and Saturn. + </p> + <p> + These represent but a part, and indeed but a small part, of the services + rendered by the Arabian astronomers, in the solution of the problem of the + nature of the world. Meanwhile, such was the benighted condition of + Christendom, such its deplorable ignorance, that it cared nothing about + the matter. Its attention was engrossed by image-worship, + transubstantiation, the merits of the saints, miracles, shrine-cures. + </p> + <p> + This indifference continued until the close of the fifteenth century. Even + then there was no scientific inducement. The inciting motives were + altogether of a different kind. They originated in commercial rivalries, + and the question of the shape of the earth was finally settled by three + sailors, Columbus, De Gama, and, above all, by Ferdinand Magellan. + </p> + <p> + The trade of Eastern Asia has always been a source of immense wealth to + the Western nations who in succession have obtained it. In the middle ages + it had centred in Upper Italy. It was conducted along two lines—a + northern, by way of the Black and Caspian Seas, and camel-caravans beyond—the + headquarters of this were at Genoa; and a southern, through the Syrian and + Egyptian ports, and by the Arabian Sea, the headquarters of this being at + Venice. The merchants engaged in the latter traffic had also made great + gains in the transport service of the Crusade-wars. + </p> + <p> + The Venetians had managed to maintain amicable relations with the + Mohammedan powers of Syria and Egypt; they were permitted to have + consulates at Alexandria and Damascus, and, notwithstanding the military + commotions of which those countries had been the scene, the trade was + still maintained in a comparatively flourishing condition. But the + northern or Genoese line had been completely broken up by the irruptions + of the Tartars and the Turks, and the military and political disturbances + of the countries through which it passed. The Eastern trade of Genoa was + not merely in a precarious condition—it was on the brink of + destruction. + </p> + <p> + The circular visible horizon and its dip at sea, the gradual appearance + and disappearance of ships in the offing, cannot fail to incline + intelligent sailors to a belief in the globular figure of the earth. The + writings of the Mohammedan astronomers and philosophers had given currency + to that doctrine throughout Western Europe, but, as might be expected, it + was received with disfavor by theologians. When Genoa was thus on the very + brink of ruin, it occurred to some of her mariners that, if this view were + correct, her affairs might be re-established. A ship sailing through the + straits of Gibraltar westward, across the Atlantic, would not fail to + reach the East Indies. There were apparently other great advantages. Heavy + cargoes might be transported without tedious and expensive land-carriage, + and without breaking bulk. + </p> + <p> + Among the Genoese sailors who entertained these views was Christopher + Columbus. + </p> + <p> + He tells us that his attention was drawn to this subject by the writings + of Averroes, but among his friends he numbered Toscanelli, a Florentine, + who had turned his attention to astronomy, and had become a strong + advocate of the globular form. In Genoa itself Columbus met with but + little encouragement. He then spent many years in trying to interest + different princes in his proposed attempt. Its irreligious tendency was + pointed out by the Spanish ecclesiastics, and condemned by the Council of + Salamanca; its orthodoxy was confuted from the Pentateuch, the Psalms, the + Prophecies, the Gospels, the Epistles, and the writings of the Fathers—St. + Chrysostom, St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. Gregory, St. Basil, St Ambrose. + </p> + <p> + At length, however, encouraged by the Spanish Queen Isabella, and + substantially aided by a wealthy seafaring family, the Pinzons of Palos, + some of whom joined him personally, he sailed on August 3, 1492, with + three small ships, from Palos, carrying with him a letter from King + Ferdinand to the Grand-Khan of Tartary, and also a chart, or map, + constructed on the basis of that of Toscanelli. A little before midnight, + October 11, 1492, he saw from the forecastle of his ship a moving light at + a distance. Two hours subsequently a signal-gun from another of the ships + announced that they had descried land. At sunrise Columbus landed in the + New World. + </p> + <p> + On his return to Europe it was universally supposed that he had reached + the eastern parts of Asia, and that therefore his voyage had been + theoretically successful. Columbus himself died in that belief. But + numerous voyages which were soon undertaken made known the general contour + of the American coast-line, and the discovery of the Great South Sea by + Balboa revealed at length the true facts of the case, and the mistake into + which both Toscanelli and Columbus had fallen, that in a voyage to the + West the distance from Europe to Asia could not exceed the distance passed + over in a voyage from Italy to the Gulf of Guinea—a voyage that + Columbus had repeatedly made. + </p> + <p> + In his first voyage, at nightfall on September 13, 1492, being then two + and a half degrees east of Corvo, one of the Azores, Columbus observed + that the compass needles of the ships no longer pointed a little to the + east of north, but were varying to the west. The deviation became more and + more marked as the expedition advanced. He was not the first to detect the + fact of variation, but he was incontestably the first to discover the line + of no variation. On the return-voyage the reverse was observed; the + variation westward diminished until the meridian in question was reached, + when the needles again pointed due north. Thence, as the coast of Europe + was approached, the variation was to the east. Columbus, therefore, came + to the conclusion that the line of no variation was a fixed geographical + line, or boundary, between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. In the + bull of May, 1493, Pope Alexander VI. accordingly adopted this line as the + perpetual boundary between the possessions of Spain and Portugal, in his + settlement of the disputes of those nations. Subsequently, however, it was + discovered that the line was moving eastward. It coincided with the + meridian of London in 1662. + </p> + <p> + By the papal bull the Portuguese possessions were limited to the east of + the line of no variation. Information derived from certain Egyptian Jews + had reached that government, that it was possible to sail round the + continent of Africa, there being at its extreme south a cape which could + be easily doubled. An expedition of three ships under Vasco de Gama set + sail, July 9, 1497; it doubled the cape on November 20th, and reached + Calicut, on the coast of India, May 19, 1498. Under the bull, this voyage + to the East gave to the Portuguese the right to the India trade. + </p> + <p> + Until the cape was doubled, the course of De Gama's ships was in a general + manner southward. Very soon, it was noticed that the elevation of the + pole-star above the horizon was diminishing, and, soon after the equator + was reached, that star had ceased to be visible. Meantime other stars, + some of them forming magnificent constellations, had come into view—the + stars of the Southern Hemisphere. All this was in conformity to + theoretical expectations founded on the admission of the globular form of + the earth. + </p> + <p> + The political consequences that at once ensued placed the Papal Government + in a position of great embarrassment. Its traditions and policy forbade it + to admit any other than the flat figure of the earth, as revealed in the + Scriptures. Concealment of the facts was impossible, sophistry was + unavailing. Commercial prosperity now left Venice as well as Genoa. The + front of Europe was changed. Maritime power had departed from the + Mediterranean countries, and passed to those upon the Atlantic coast. + </p> + <p> + But the Spanish Government did not submit to the advantage thus gained by + its commercial rival without an effort. It listened to the representations + of one Ferdinand Magellan, that India and the Spice Islands could be + reached by sailing to the west, if only a strait or passage through what + had now been recognized as "the American Continent" could be discovered; + and, if this should be accomplished, Spain, under the papal bull, would + have as good a right to the India trade as Portugal. Under the command of + Magellan, an expedition of five ships, carrying two hundred and + thirty-seven men, was dispatched from Seville, August 10, 1519. + </p> + <p> + Magellan at once struck boldly for the South American coast, hoping to + find some cleft or passage through the continent by which he might reach + the great South Sea. For seventy days he was becalmed on the line; his + sailors were appalled by the apprehension that they had drifted into a + region where the winds never blew, and that it was impossible for them to + escape. Calms, tempests, mutiny, desertion, could not shake his + resolution. After more than a year he discovered the strait which now + bears his name, and, as Pigafetti, an Italian, who was with him, relates, + he shed fears of joy when he found that it had pleased God at length to + bring him where he might grapple with the unknown dangers of the South + Sea, "the Great and Pacific Ocean." + </p> + <p> + Driven by famine to eat scraps of skin and leather with which his rigging + was here and there bound, to drink water that had gone putrid, his crew + dying of hunger and scurvy, this man, firm in his belief of the globular + figure of the earth, steered steadily to the northwest, and for nearly + four months never saw inhabited land. He estimated that he had sailed over + the Pacific not less than twelve thousand miles. He crossed the equator, + saw once more the pole-star, and at length made land—the Ladrones. + Here he met with adventurers from Sumatra. Among these islands he was + killed, either by the savages or by his own men. His lieutenant, Sebastian + d'Elcano, now took command of the ship, directing her course for the Cape + of Good Hope, and encountering frightful hardships. He doubled the cape at + last, and then for the fourth time crossed the equator. On September 7, + 1522, after a voyage of more than three years, he brought his ship, the + San Vittoria, to anchor in the port of St. Lucar, near Seville. She had + accomplished the greatest achievement in the history of the human race. + She had circumnavigated the earth. + </p> + <p> + The San Vittoria, sailing westward, had come back to her starting-point. + Henceforth the theological doctrine of the flatness of the earth was + irretrievably overthrown. + </p> + <p> + Five years after the completion of the voyage of Magellan, was made the + first attempt in Christendom to ascertain the size of the earth. This was + by Fernel, a French physician, who, having observed the height of the pole + at Paris, went thence northward until he came to a place where the height + of the pole was exactly one degree more than at that city. He measured the + distance between the two stations by the number of revolutions of one of + the wheels of his carriage, to which a proper indicator bad been attached, + and came to the conclusion that the earth's circumference is about + twenty-four thousand four hundred and eighty Italian miles. + </p> + <p> + Measures executed more and more carefully were made in many countries: by + Snell in Holland; by Norwood between London and York in England; by + Picard, under the auspices of the French Academy of Sciences, in France. + Picard's plan was to connect two points by a series of triangles, and, + thus ascertaining the length of the arc of a meridian intercepted between + them, to compare it with the difference of latitudes found from celestial + observations. The stations were Malvoisine in the vicinity of Paris, and + Sourdon near Amiens. The difference of latitudes was determined by + observing the zenith-distances, of delta Cassiopeia. There are two points + of interest connected with Picard's operation: it was the first in which + instruments furnished with telescopes were employed; and its result, as we + shall shortly see, was to Newton the first confirmation of the theory of + universal gravitation. + </p> + <p> + At this time it had become clear from mechanical considerations, more + especially such as had been deduced by Newton, that, since the earth is a + rotating body, her form cannot be that of a perfect sphere, but must be + that of a spheroid, oblate or flattened at the poles. It would follow, + from this, that the length of a degree must be greater near the poles than + at the equator. + </p> + <p> + The French Academy resolved to extend Picard's operation, by prolonging + the measures in each direction, and making the result the basis of a more + accurate map of France. Delays, however, took place, and it was not until + 1718 that the measures, from Dunkirk on the north to the southern + extremity of France, were completed. A discussion arose as to the + interpretation of these measures, some affirming that they indicated a + prolate, others an oblate spheroid; the former figure may be popularly + represented by a lemon, the latter by an orange. To settle this, the + French Government, aided by the Academy, sent out two expeditions to + measure degrees of the meridian—one under the equator, the other as + far north as possible; the former went to Peru, the latter to Swedish + Lapland. Very great difficulties were encountered by both parties. The + Lapland commission, however, completed its observations long before the + Peruvian, which consumed not less than nine years. The results of the + measures thus obtained confirmed the theoretical expectation of the oblate + form. Since that time many extensive and exact repetitions of the + observation have been made, among which may be mentioned those of the + English in England and in India, and particularly that of the French on + the occasion of the introduction of the metric system of weights and + measures. It was begun by Delambre and Mechain, from Dunkirk to Barcelona, + and thence extended, by Biot and Arago, to the island of Formentera near + Minorea. Its length was nearly twelve and a half degrees. + </p> + <p> + Besides this method of direct measurement, the figure of the earth may be + determined from the observed number of oscillations made by a pendulum of + invariable length in different latitudes. These, though they confirm the + foregoing results, give a somewhat greater ellipticity to the earth than + that found by the measurement of degrees. Pendulums vibrate more slowly + the nearer they are to the equator. It follows, therefore, that they are + there farther from the centre of the earth. + </p> + <p> + From the most reliable measures that have been made, the dimensions of the + earth may be thus stated: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + Greater or equatorial diameter..............7,925 miles. + Less or polar diameter......................7,899 " + Difference or polar compression............. 26 " +</pre> + <p> + Such was the result of the discussion respecting the figure and size of + the earth. While it was yet undetermined, another controversy arose, + fraught with even more serious consequences. This was the conflict + respecting the earth's position with regard to the sun and the planetary + bodies. + </p> + <p> + Copernicus, a Prussian, about the year 1507, had completed a book "On the + Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies." He had journeyed to Italy in his + youth, had devoted his attention to astronomy, and had taught mathematics + at Rome. From a profound study of the Ptolemaic and Pythagorean systems, + he had come to a conclusion in favor of the latter, the object of his book + being to sustain it. Aware that his doctrines were totally opposed to + revealed truth, and foreseeing that they would bring upon him the + punishments of the Church, he expressed himself in a cautious and + apologetic manner, saying that he had only taken the liberty of trying + whether, on the supposition of the earth's motion, it was possible to find + better explanations than the ancient ones of the revolutions of the + celestial orbs; that in doing this he had only taken the privilege that + had been allowed to others, of feigning what hypothesis they chose. The + preface was addressed to Pope Paul III. + </p> + <p> + Full of misgivings as to what might be the result, he refrained from + publishing his book for thirty-six years, thinking that "perhaps it might + be better to follow the examples of the Pythagoreans and others, who + delivered their doctrine only by tradition and to friends." At the + entreaty of Cardinal Schomberg he at length published it in 1543. A copy + of it was brought to him on his death-bed. Its fate was such as he had + anticipated. The Inquisition condemned it as heretical. In their decree, + prohibiting it, the Congregation of the Index denounced his system as + "that false Pythagorean doctrine utterly contrary to the Holy Scriptures." + </p> + <p> + Astronomers justly affirm that the book of Copernicus, "De + Revolutionibus," changed the face of their science. It incontestably + established the heliocentric theory. It showed that the distance of the + fixed stars is infinitely great, and that the earth is a mere point in the + heavens. Anticipating Newton, Copernicus imputed gravity to the sun, the + moon, and heavenly bodies, but he was led astray by assuming that the + celestial motions must be circular. Observations on the orbit of Mars, and + his different diameters at different times, had led Copernicus to his + theory. + </p> + <p> + In thus denouncing the Copernican system as being in contradiction to + revelation, the ecclesiastical authorities were doubtless deeply moved by + inferential considerations. To dethrone the earth from her central + dominating position, to give her many equals and not a few superiors, + seemed to diminish her claims upon the Divine regard. If each of the + countless myriads of stars was a sun, surrounded by revolving globes, + peopled with responsible beings like ourselves, if we had fallen so easily + and had been redeemed at so stupendous a price as the death of the Son of + God, how was it with them? Of them were there none who had fallen or might + fall like us? Where, then, for them could a Savior be found? + </p> + <p> + During the year 1608 one Lippershey, a Hollander, discovered that, by + looking through two glass lenses, combined in a certain manner together, + distant objects were magnified and rendered very plain. He had invented + the telescope. In the following year Galileo, a Florentine, greatly + distinguished by his mathematical and scientific writings, hearing of the + circumstance, but without knowing the particulars of the construction, + invented a form of the instrument for himself. Improving it gradually, he + succeeded in making one that could magnify thirty times. Examining the + moon, he found that she had valleys like those of the earth, and mountains + casting shadows. It had been said in the old times that in the Pleiades + there were formerly seven stars, but a legend related that one of them had + mysteriously disappeared. On turning his telescope toward them, Galileo + found that he could easily count not fewer than forty. In whatever + direction he looked, he discovered stars that were totally invisible to + the naked eye. + </p> + <p> + On the night of January 7, 1610, he perceived three small stars in a + straight line, adjacent to the planet Jupiter, and, a few evenings later, + a fourth. He found that these were revolving in orbits round the body of + the planet, and, with transport, recognized that they presented a + miniature representation of the Copernican system. + </p> + <p> + The announcement of these wonders at once attracted universal attention. + The spiritual authorities were not slow to detect their tendency, as + endangering the doctrine that the universe was made for man. In the + creation of myriads of stars, hitherto invisible, there must surely have + been some other motive than that of illuminating the nights for him. + </p> + <p> + It had been objected to the Copernican theory that, if the planets Mercury + and Venus move round the sun in orbits interior to that of the earth, they + ought to show phases like those of the moon; and that in the case of + Venus, which is so brilliant and conspicuous, these phases should be very + obvious. Copernicus himself had admitted the force of the objection, and + had vainly tried to find an explanation. Galileo, on turning his telescope + to the planet, discovered that the expected phases actually exist; now she + was a crescent, then half-moon, then gibbous, then full. Previously to + Copernicus, it was supposed that the planets shine by their own light, but + the phases of Venus and Mars proved that their light is reflected. The + Aristotelian notion, that celestial differ from terrestrial bodies in + being incorruptible, received a rude shock from the discoveries of + Galileo, that there are mountains and valleys in the moon like those of + the earth, that the sun is not perfect, but has spots on his face, and + that he turns on his axis instead of being in a state of majestic rest. + The apparition of new stars had already thrown serious doubts on this + theory of incorruptibility. + </p> + <p> + These and many other beautiful telescopic discoveries tended to the + establishment of the truth of the Copernican theory and gave unbounded + alarm to the Church. By the low and ignorant ecclesiastics they were + denounced as deceptions or frauds. Some affirmed that the telescope might + be relied on well enough for terrestrial objects, but with the heavenly + bodies it was altogether a different affair. Others declared that its + invention was a mere application of Aristotle's remark that stars could be + seen in the daytime from the bottom of a deep well. Galileo was accused of + imposture, heresy, blasphemy, atheism. With a view of defending himself, + he addressed a letter to the Abbe Castelli, suggesting that the Scriptures + were never intended to be a scientific authority, but only a moral guide. + This made matters worse. He was summoned before the Holy Inquisition, + under an accusation of having taught that the earth moves round the sun, a + doctrine "utterly contrary to the Scriptures." He was ordered to renounce + that heresy, on pain of being imprisoned. He was directed to desist from + teaching and advocating the Copernican theory, and pledge himself that he + would neither publish nor defend it for the future. Knowing well that + Truth has no need of martyrs, he assented to the required recantation, and + gave the promise demanded. + </p> + <p> + For sixteen years the Church had rest. But in 1632 Galileo ventured on the + publication of his work entitled "The System of the World," its object + being the vindication of the Copernican doctrine. He was again summoned + before the Inquisition at Rome, accused of having asserted that the earth + moves round the sun. He was declared to have brought upon himself the + penalties of heresy. On his knees, with his hand on the Bible, he was + compelled to abjure and curse the doctrine of the movement of the earth. + What a spectacle! This venerable man, the most illustrious of his age, + forced by the threat of death to deny facts which his judges as well as + himself knew to be true! He was then committed to prison, treated with + remorseless severity during the remaining ten years of his life, and was + denied burial in consecrated ground. Must not that be false which requires + for its support so much imposture, so much barbarity? The opinions thus + defended by the Inquisition are now objects of derision to the whole + civilized world. + </p> + <p> + One of the greatest of modern mathematicians, referring to this subject, + says that the point here contested was one which is for mankind of the + highest interest, because of the rank it assigns to the globe that we + inhabit. If the earth be immovable in the midst of the universe, man has a + right to regard himself as the principal object of the care of Nature. But + if the earth be only one of the planets revolving round the sun, an + insignificant body in the solar system, she will disappear entirely in the + immensity of the heavens, in which this system, vast as it may appear to + us, is nothing but an insensible point. + </p> + <p> + The triumphant establishment of the Copernican doctrine dates from the + invention of the telescope. Soon there was not to be found in all Europe + an astronomer who had not accepted the heliocentric theory with its + essential postulate, the double motion of the earth—movement of + rotation on her axis, and a movement of revolution round the sun. If + additional proof of the latter were needed, it was furnished by Bradley's + great discovery of the aberration of the fixed stars, an aberration + depending partly on the progressive motion of light, and partly on the + revolution of the earth. Bradley's discovery ranked in importance with + that of the precession of the equinoxes. Roemer's discovery of the + progressive motion of light, though denounced by Fontenelle as a seductive + error, and not admitted by Cassini, at length forced its way to universal + acceptance. + </p> + <p> + Next it was necessary to obtain correct ideas of the dimensions of the + solar system, or, putting the problem under a more limited form, to + determine the distance of the earth from the sun. + </p> + <p> + In the time of Copernicus it was supposed that the sun's distance could + not exceed five million miles, and indeed there were many who thought that + estimate very extravagant. From a review of the observations of Tycho + Brahe, Kepler, however, concluded that the error was actually in the + opposite direction, and that the estimate must be raised to at least + thirteen million. In 1670 Cassini showed that these numbers were + altogether inconsistent with the facts, and gave as his conclusion + eighty-five million. + </p> + <p> + The transit of Venus over the face of the sun, June 3, 1769, had been + foreseen, and its great value in the solution of this fundamental problem + in astronomy appreciated. With commendable alacrity various governments + contributed their assistance in making observations, so that in Europe + there were fifty stations, in Asia six, in America seventeen. It was for + this purpose that the English Government dispatched Captain Cook on his + celebrated first voyage. He went to Otaheite. His voyage was crowned with + success. The sun rose without a cloud, and the sky continued equally clear + throughout the day. The transit at Cook's station lasted from about + half-past nine in the morning until about half-past three in the + afternoon, and all the observations were made in a satisfactory manner. + </p> + <p> + But, on the discussion of the observations made at the different stations, + it was found that there was not the accordance that could have been + desired—the result varying from eighty-eight to one hundred and nine + million. The celebrated mathematician, Encke, therefore reviewed them in + 1822-'24, and came to the conclusion that the sun's horizontal parallax, + that is, the angle under which the semi-diameter of the earth is seen from + the sun, is 8 576/1000 seconds; this gave as the distance 95,274,000 + miles. Subsequently the observations were reconsidered by Hansen, who gave + as their result 91,659,000 miles. Still later, Leverrier made it + 91,759,000. Airy and Stone, by another method, made it 91,400,000; Stone + alone, by a revision of the old observations, 91,730,000; and finally, + Foucault and Fizeau, from physical experiments, determining the velocity + of light, and therefore in their nature altogether differing from transit + observations, 91,400,000. Until the results of the transit of next year + (1874) are ascertained, it must therefore be admitted that the distance of + the earth from the sun is somewhat less than ninety-two million miles. + </p> + <p> + This distance once determined, the dimensions of the solar system may be + ascertained with ease and precision. It is enough to mention that the + distance of Neptune from the sun, the most remote of the planets at + present known, is about thirty times that of the earth. + </p> + <p> + By the aid of these numbers we may begin to gain a just appreciation of + the doctrine of the human destiny of the universe—the doctrine that + all things were made for man. Seen from the sun, the earth dwindles away + to a mere speck, a mere dust-mote glistening in his beams. If the reader + wishes a more precise valuation, let him hold a page of this book a couple + of feet from his eye; then let him consider one of its dots or full stops; + that dot is several hundred times larger in surface than is the earth as + seen from the sun! + </p> + <p> + Of what consequence, then, can such an almost imperceptible particle be? + One might think that it could be removed or even annihilated, and yet + never be missed. Of what consequence is one of those human monads, of whom + more than a thousand millions swarm on the surface of this all but + invisible speck, and of a million of whom scarcely one will leave a trace + that he has ever existed? Of what consequence is man, his pleasures or his + pains? + </p> + <p> + Among the arguments brought forward against the Copernican system at the + time of its promulgation, was one by the great Danish astronomer, Tycho + Brahe, originally urged by Aristarchus against the Pythagorean system, to + the effect that, if, as was alleged, the earth moves round the sun, there + ought to be a change of the direction in which the fixed stars appear. At + one time we are nearer to a particular region of the heavens by a distance + equal to the whole diameter of the earth's orbit than we were six months + previously, and hence there ought to be a change in the relative position + of the stars; they should seem to separate as we approach them, and to + close together as we recede from them; or, to use the astronomical + expression, these stars should have a yearly parallax. + </p> + <p> + The parallax of a star is the angle contained between two lines drawn from + it—one to the sun, the other to the earth. + </p> + <p> + At that time, the earth's distance from the sun was greatly + under-estimated. Had it been known, as it is now, that that distance + exceeds ninety million miles, or that the diameter of the orbit is more + than one hundred and eighty million, that argument would doubtless have + had very great weight. + </p> + <p> + In reply to Tycho, it was said that, since the parallax of a body + diminishes as its distance increases, a star may be so far off that its + parallax may be imperceptible. This answer proved to be correct. The + detection of the parallax of the stars depended on the improvement of + instruments for the measurement of angles. + </p> + <p> + The parallax of alpha Centauri, a fine double star of the Southern + Hemisphere, at present considered to be the nearest of the fixed stars, + was first determined by Henderson and Maclear at the Cape of Good Hope in + 1832-'33. It is about nine-tenths of a second. Hence this star is almost + two hundred and thirty thousand times as far from us as the sun. Seen from + it, if the sun were even large enough to fill the whole orbit of the + earth, or one hundred and eighty million miles in diameter, he would be a + mere point. With its companion, it revolves round their common centre of + gravity in eighty-one years, and hence it would seem that their conjoint + mass is less than that of the sun. + </p> + <p> + The star 61 Cygni is of the sixth magnitude. Its parallax was first found + by Bessel in 1838, and is about one-third of a second. The distance from + us is, therefore, much more than five hundred thousand times that of the + sun. With its companion, it revolves round their common centre of gravity + in five hundred and twenty years. Their conjoint weight is about one-third + that of the sun. + </p> + <p> + There is reason to believe that the great star Sirius, the brightest in + the heavens, is about six times as far off as alpha Centauri. His probable + diameter is twelve million miles, and the light he emits two hundred times + more brilliant than that of the sun. Yet, even through the telescope, he + has no measurable diameter; he looks merely like a very bright spark. + </p> + <p> + The stars, then, differ not merely in visible magnitude, but also in + actual size. As the spectroscope shows, they differ greatly in chemical + and physical constitution. That instrument is also revealing to us the + duration of the life of a star, through changes in the refrangibility of + the emitted light. Though, as we have seen, the nearest to us is at an + enormous and all but immeasurable distance, this is but the first step—there + are others the rays of which have taken thousands, perhaps millions, of + years to reach us! The limits of our own system are far beyond the range + of our greatest telescopes; what, then, shall we say of other systems + beyond? Worlds are scattered like dust in the abysses in space. + </p> + <p> + Have these gigantic bodies—myriads of which are placed at so vast a + distance that our unassisted eyes cannot perceive them—have these no + other purpose than that assigned by theologians, to give light to us? Does + not their enormous size demonstrate that, as they are centres of force, so + they must be centres of motion—suns for other systems of worlds? + </p> + <p> + While yet these facts were very imperfectly known—indeed, were + rather speculations than facts—Giordano Bruno, an Italian, born + seven years after the death of Copernicus, published a work on the + "Infinity of the Universe and of Worlds;" he was also the author of + "Evening Conversations on Ash-Wednesday," an apology for the Copernican + system, and of "The One Sole Cause of Things." To these may be added an + allegory published in 1584, "The Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast." He + had also collected, for the use of future astronomers, all the + observations he could find respecting the new star that suddenly appeared + in Cassiopeia, A.D. 1572, and increased in brilliancy, until it surpassed + all the other stars. It could be plainly seen in the daytime. On a sudden, + November 11th, it was as bright as Venus at her brightest. In the + following March it was of the first magnitude. It exhibited various hues + of color in a few months, and disappeared in March, 1574. + </p> + <p> + The star that suddenly appeared in Serpentarius, in Kepler's time (1604), + was at first brighter than Venus. It lasted more than a year, and, passing + through various tints of purple, yellow, red, became extinguished. + </p> + <p> + Originally, Bruno was intended for the Church. He had become a Dominican, + but was led into doubt by his meditations on the subjects of + transubstantiation and the immaculate conception. Not caring to conceal + his opinions, he soon fell under the censure of the spiritual authorities, + and found it necessary to seek refuge successively in Switzerland, France, + England, Germany. The cold-scented sleuth-hounds of the Inquisition + followed his track remorselessly, and eventually hunted him back to Italy. + He was arrested in Venice, and confined in the Piombi for six years, + without books, or paper, or friends. + </p> + <p> + In England he had given lectures on the plurality of worlds, and in that + country had written, in Italian, his most important works. It added not a + little to the exasperation against him, that he was perpetually declaiming + against the insincerity; the impostures, of his persecutors—that + wherever he went he found skepticism varnished over and concealed by + hypocrisy; and that it was not against the belief of men, but against + their pretended belief, that he was fighting; that he was struggling with + an orthodoxy that had neither morality nor faith. + </p> + <p> + In his "Evening Conversations" he had insisted that the Scriptures were + never intended to teach science, but morals only; and that they cannot be + received as of any authority on astronomical and physical subjects. + Especially must we reject the view they reveal to us of the constitution + of the world, that the earth is a flat surface, supported on pillars; that + the sky is a firmament—the floor of heaven. On the contrary, we must + believe that the universe is infinite, and that it is filled with + self-luminous and opaque worlds, many of them inhabited; that there is + nothing above and around us but space and stars. His meditations on these + subjects had brought him to the conclusion that the views of Averroes are + not far from the truth—that there is an Intellect which animates the + universe, and of this Intellect the visible world is only an emanation or + manifestation, originated and sustained by force derived from it, and, + were that force withdrawn, all things would disappear. This ever-present, + all-pervading Intellect is God, who lives in all things, even such as seem + not to live; that every thing is ready to become organized, to burst into + life. God is, therefore, "the One Sole Cause of Things," "the All in All." + </p> + <p> + Bruno may hence be considered among philosophical writers as intermediate + between Averroes and Spinoza. The latter held that God and the Universe + are the same, that all events happen by an immutable law of Nature, by an + unconquerable necessity; that God is the Universe, producing a series of + necessary movements or acts, in consequence of intrinsic, unchangeable, + and irresistible energy. + </p> + <p> + On the demand of the spiritual authorities, Bruno was removed from Venice + to Rome, and confined in the prison of the Inquisition, accused not only + of being a heretic, but also a heresiarch, who had written things unseemly + concerning religion; the special charge against him being that he had + taught the plurality of worlds, a doctrine repugnant to the whole tenor of + Scripture and inimical to revealed religion, especially as regards the + plan of salvation. After an imprisonment of two years he was brought + before his judges, declared guilty of the acts alleged, excommunicated, + and, on his nobly refusing to recant, was delivered over to the secular + authorities to be punished "as mercifully as possible, and without the + shedding of his blood," the horrible formula for burning a prisoner at the + stake. Knowing well that though his tormentors might destroy his body, his + thoughts would still live among men, he said to his judges, "Perhaps it is + with greater fear that you pass the sentence upon me than I receive it." + The sentence was carried into effect, and he was burnt at Rome, February + 16th, A.D. 1600. + </p> + <p> + No one can recall without sentiments of pity the sufferings of those + countless martyrs, who first by one party, and then by another, have been + brought for their religious opinions to the stake. But each of these had + in his supreme moment a powerful and unfailing support. The passage from + this life to the next, though through a hard trial, was the passage from a + transient trouble to eternal happiness, an escape from the cruelty of + earth to the charity of heaven. On his way through the dark valley the + martyr believed that there was an invisible hand that would lead him, a + friend that would guide him all the more gently and firmly because of the + terrors of the flames. For Bruno there was no such support. The + philosophical opinions, for the sake of which he surrendered his life, + could give him no consolation. He must fight the last fight alone. Is + there not something very grand in the attitude of this solitary man, + something which human nature cannot help admiring, as he stands in the + gloomy hall before his inexorable judges? No accuser, no witness, no + advocate is present, but the familiars of the Holy Office, clad in black, + are stealthily moving about. The tormentors and the rack are in the vaults + below. He is simply told that he has brought upon himself strong + suspicions of heresy, since he has said that there are other worlds than + ours. He is asked if he will recant and abjure his error. He cannot and + will not deny what he knows to be true, and perhaps—for he had often + done so before—he tells his judges that they, too, in their hearts + are of the same belief. What a contrast between this scene of manly honor, + of unshaken firmness, of inflexible adherence to the truth, and that other + scene which took place more than fifteen centuries previously by the + fireside in the hall of Caiaphas the high-priest, when the cock crew, and + "the Lord turned and looked upon Peter" (Luke xxii. 61)! And yet it is + upon Peter that the Church has grounded her right to act as she did to + Bruno. But perhaps the day approaches when posterity will offer an + expiation for this great ecclesiastical crime, and a statue of Bruno be + unveiled under the dome of St. Peter's at Rome. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VII. + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + CONTROVERSY RESPECTING THE AGE OF THE EARTH. + + Scriptural view that the Earth is only six thousand years + old, and that it was made in a week.—Patristic chronology + founded on the ages of the patriarchs.—Difficulties arising + from different estimates in different versions of the Bible. + + Legend of the Deluge.—The repeopling.—The Tower of Babel; + the confusion of tongues.—The primitive language. + + Discovery by Cassini of the oblateness of the planet + Jupiter.—Discovery by Newton of the oblateness of the + Earth.—Deduction that she has been modeled by mechanical + causes.—Confirmation of this by geological discoveries + respecting aqueous rocks; corroboration by organic remains.— + The necessity of admitting enormously long periods of + time.—Displacement of the doctrine of Creation by that of + Evolution—Discoveries respecting the Antiquity of Man. + + The time-scale and space-scale of the world are infinite.— + Moderation with which the discussion of the Age of the World + has been conducted. +</pre> + <p> + THE true position of the earth in the universe was established only after + a long and severe conflict. The Church used whatever power she had, even + to the infliction of death, for sustaining her ideas. But it was in vain. + The evidence in behalf of the Copernican theory became irresistible. It + was at length universally admitted that the sun is the central, the ruling + body of our system; the earth only one, and by no means the largest, of a + family of encircling planets. Taught by the issue of that dispute, when + the question of the age of the world presented itself for consideration, + the Church did not exhibit the active resistance she had displayed on the + former occasion. For, though her traditions were again put in jeopardy, + they were not, in her judgment, so vitally assailed. To dethrone the Earth + from her dominating position was, so the spiritual authorities declared, + to undermine the very foundation of revealed truth; but discussions + respecting the date of creation might within certain limits be permitted. + Those limits were, however, very quickly overpassed, and thus the + controversy became as dangerous as the former one had been. + </p> + <p> + It was not possible to adopt the advice given by Plato in his "Timaeus," + when treating of this subject—the origin of the universe: "It is + proper that both I who speak and you who judge should remember that we are + but men, and therefore, receiving the probable mythological tradition, it + is meet that we inquire no further into it." Since the time of St. + Augustine the Scriptures had been made the great and final authority in + all matters of science, and theologians had deduced from them schemes of + chronology and cosmogony which had proved to be stumbling-blocks to the + advance of real knowledge. + </p> + <p> + It is not necessary for us to do more than to allude to some of the + leading features of these schemes; their peculiarities will be easily + discerned with sufficient clearness. Thus, from the six days of creation + and the Sabbath-day of rest, since we are told that a day is with the Lord + as a thousand years, it was inferred that the duration of the world will + be through six thousand years of suffering, and an additional thousand, a + millennium of rest. It was generally admitted that the earth was about + four thousand years old at the birth of Christ, but, so careless had + Europe been in the study of its annals, that not Until A.D. 627 had it a + proper chronology of its own. A Roman abbot, Dionysius Exiguus, or Dennis + the Less, then fixed the vulgar era, and gave Europe its present Christian + chronology. + </p> + <p> + The method followed in obtaining the earliest chronological dates was by + computations, mainly founded on the lives of the patriarchs. Much + difficulty was encountered in reconciling numerical discrepancies. Even + if, as was taken for granted in those uncritical ages, Moses was the + author of the books imputed to him, due weight was not given to the fact + that he related events, many of which took place more than two thousand + years before he was born. It scarcely seemed necessary to regard the + Pentateuch as of plenary inspiration, since no means had been provided to + perpetuate its correctness. The different copies which had escaped the + chances of time varied very much; thus the Samaritan made thirteen hundred + and seven years from the Creation to the Deluge, the Hebrew sixteen + hundred and fifty-six, the Septuagint twenty-two hundred and sixty-three. + The Septuagint counted fifteen hundred years more from the Creation to + Abraham than the Hebrew. In general, however, there was an inclination to + the supposition that the Deluge took place about two thousand years after + the Creation, and, after another interval of two thousand years, Christ + was born. Persons who had given much attention to the subject affirmed + that there were not less than one hundred and thirty-two different + opinions as to the year in which the Messiah appeared, and hence they + declared that it was inexpedient to press for acceptance the Scriptural + numbers too closely, since it was plain, from the great differences in + different copies, that there had been no providential intervention to + perpetuate a correct reading, nor was there any mark by which men could be + guided to the only authentic version. Even those held in the highest + esteem contained undeniable errors. Thus the Septuagint made Methuselah + live until after the Deluge. + </p> + <p> + It was thought that, in the antediluvian world, the year consisted of + three hundred and sixty days. Some even affirmed that this was the origin + of the division of the circle into three hundred and sixty degrees. At the + time of the Deluge, so many theologians declared, the motion of the sun + was altered, and the year became five days and six hours longer. There was + a prevalent opinion that that stupendous event occurred on November 2d, in + the year of the world 1656. Dr. Whiston, however, disposed to greater + precision, inclined to postpone it to November 28th. Some thought that the + rainbow was not seen until after the flood; others, apparently with better + reason, inferred that it was then first established as a sign. On coming + forth from the ark, men received permission to use flesh as food, the + antediluvians having been herbivorous! It would seem that the Deluge had + not occasioned any great geographical changes, for Noah, relying on his + antediluvian knowledge, proceeded to divide the earth among his three + sons, giving to Japhet Europe, to Shem Asia, to Ham Africa. No provision + was made for America, as he did not know of its existence. These + patriarchs, undeterred by the terrible solitudes to which they were going, + by the undrained swamps and untracked forests, journeyed to their allotted + possessions, and commenced the settlement of the continents. + </p> + <p> + In seventy years the Asiatic family had increased to several hundred. They + had found their way to the plains of Mesopotamia, and there, for some + motive that we cannot divine, began building a tower "whose top might + reach to heaven." Eusebius informs us that the work continued for forty + years. They did not abandon it until a miraculous confusion of their + language took place and dispersed them all over the earth. St. Ambrose + shows that this confusion could not have been brought about by men. Origen + believes that not even the angels accomplished it. + </p> + <p> + The confusion of tongues has given rise to many curious speculations among + divines as to the primitive speech of man. Some have thought that the + language of Adam consisted altogether of nouns, that they were + monosyllables, and that the confusion was occasioned by the introduction + of polysyllables. But these learned men must surely have overlooked the + numerous conversations reported in Genesis, such as those between the + Almighty and Adam, the serpent and Eve, etc. In these all the various + parts of speech occur. There was, however, a coincidence of opinion that + the primitive language was Hebrew. On the general principles of + patristicism, it was fitting that this should be the case. + </p> + <p> + The Greek Fathers computed that, at the time of the dispersion, + seventy-two nations were formed, and in this conclusion St. Augustine + coincides. But difficulties seem to have been recognized in these + computations; thus the learned Dr. Shuckford, who has treated very + elaborately on all the foregoing points in his excellent work "On the + Sacred and Profane History of the World connected," demonstrates that + there could not have been more than twenty-one or twenty-two men, women, + and children, in each of those kingdoms. + </p> + <p> + A very vital point in this system of chronological computation, based upon + the ages of the patriarchs, was the great length of life to which those + worthies attained. It was generally supposed that before the Flood "there + was a perpetual equinox," and no vicissitudes in Nature. After that event + the standard of life diminished one-half, and in the time of the Psalmist + it had sunk to seventy years, at which it still remains. Austerities of + climate were affirmed to have arisen through the shifting of the earth's + axis at the Flood, and to this ill effect were added the noxious + influences of that universal catastrophe, which, "converting the surface + of the earth into a vast swamp, gave rise to fermentations of the blood + and a weakening of the fibres." + </p> + <p> + With a view of avoiding difficulties arising from the extraordinary length + of the patriarchal lives, certain divines suggested that the years spoken + of by the sacred penman were not ordinary but lunar years. This, though it + might bring the age of those venerable men within the recent term of life, + introduced, however, another insuperable difficulty, since it made them + have children when only five or six years old. + </p> + <p> + Sacred science, as interpreted by the Fathers of the Church, demonstrated + these facts: 1. That the date of Creation was comparatively recent, not + more than four or five thousand years before Christ; 2. That the act of + Creation occupied the space of six ordinary days; 3. That the Deluge was + universal, and that the animals which survived it were preserved in an + ark; 4. That Adam was created perfect in morality and intelligence, that + he fell, and that his descendants have shared in his sin and his fall. + </p> + <p> + Of these points and others that might be mentioned there were two on which + ecclesiastical authority felt that it must insist. These were: 1. The + recent date of Creation; for, the remoter that event, the more urgent the + necessity of vindicating the justice of God, who apparently had left the + majority of our race to its fate, and had reserved salvation for the few + who were living in the closing ages of the world; 2. The perfect condition + of Adam at his creation, since this was necessary to the theory of the + fall, and the plan of salvation. + </p> + <p> + Theological authorities were therefore constrained to look with disfavor + on any attempt to carry back the origin of the earth, to an epoch + indefinitely remote, and on the Mohammedan theory of the evolution of man + from lower forms, or his gradual development to his present condition in + the long lapse of time. + </p> + <p> + From the puerilities, absurdities, and contradictions of the foregoing + statement, we may gather how very unsatisfactory this so-called sacred + science was. And perhaps we may be brought to the conclusion to which Dr. + Shuckford, above quoted, was constrained to come, after his wearisome and + unavailing attempt to coordinate its various parts: "As to the Fathers of + the first ages of the Church, they were good men, but not men of universal + learning." + </p> + <p> + Sacred cosmogony regards the formation and modeling of the earth as the + direct act of God; it rejects the intervention of secondary causes in + those events. + </p> + <p> + Scientific cosmogony dates from the telescopic discovery made by Cassini—an + Italian astronomer, under whose care Louis XIV. placed the Observatory of + Paris—that the planet Jupiter is not a sphere, but an oblate + spheroid, flattened at the poles. Mechanical philosophy demonstrated that + such a figure is the necessary result of the rotation of a yielding mass, + and that the more rapid the rotation the greater the flattening, or, what + comes to the same thing, the greater the equatorial bulging must be. + </p> + <p> + From considerations—purely of a mechanical kind—Newton had + foreseen that such likewise, though to a less striking extent, must be the + figure of the earth. To the protuberant mass is due the precession of the + equinoxes, which requires twenty-five thousand eight hundred and + sixty-eight years for its completion, and also the nutation of the earth's + axis, discovered by Bradley. We have already had occasion to remark that + the earth's equatorial diameter exceeds the polar by about twenty-six + miles. + </p> + <p> + Two facts are revealed by the oblateness of the earth: 1. That she has + formerly been in a yielding or plastic condition; 2. That she has been + modeled by a mechanical and therefore a secondary cause. + </p> + <p> + But this influence of mechanical causes is manifested not only in the + exterior configuration of the globe of the earth as a spheroid of + revolution, it also plainly appears on an examination of the arrangement + of her substance. + </p> + <p> + If we consider the aqueous rocks, their aggregate is many miles in + thickness; yet they undeniably have been of slow deposit. The material of + which they consist has been obtained by the disintegration of ancient + lands; it has found its way into the water-courses, and by them been + distributed anew. Effects of this kind, taking place before our eyes, + require a very considerable lapse of time to produce a well-marked result—a + water deposit may in this manner measure in thickness a few inches in a + century—what, then, shall we say as to the time consumed in the + formation of deposits of many thousand yards? + </p> + <p> + The position of the coast-line of Egypt has been known for much more than + two thousand years. In that time it has made, by reason of the detritus + brought down by the Nile, a distinctly-marked encroachment on the + Mediterranean. But all Lower Egypt has had a similar origin. The + coast-line near the mouth of the Mississippi has been well known for three + hundred years, and during that time has scarcely made a perceptible + advance on the Gulf of Mexico; but there was a time when the delta of that + river was at St. Louis, more than seven hundred miles from its present + position. In Egypt and in America—in fact, in all countries—the + rivers have been inch by inch prolonging the land into the sea; the + slowness of their work and the vastness of its extent satisfy us that we + must concede for the operation enormous periods of time. + </p> + <p> + To the same conclusion we are brought if we consider the filling of lakes, + the deposit of travertines, the denudation of hills, the cutting action of + the sea on its shores, the undermining of cliffs, the weathering of rocks + by atmospheric water and carbonic acid. + </p> + <p> + Sedimentary strata must have been originally deposited in planes nearly + horizontal. Vast numbers of them have been forced, either by paroxysms at + intervals or by gradual movement, into all manner of angular inclinations. + Whatever explanations we may offer of these innumerable and immense tilts + and fractures, they would seem to demand for their completion an + inconceivable length of time. + </p> + <p> + The coal-bearing strata in Wales, by their gradual submergence, have + attained a thickness of 12,000 feet; in Nova Scotia of 14,570 feet. So + slow and so steady was this submergence, that erect trees stand one above + another on successive levels; seventeen such repetitions may be counted in + a thickness of 4,515 feet. The age of the trees is proved by their size, + some being four feet in diameter. Round them, as they gradually went down + with the subsiding soil, calamites grew, at one level after another. In + the Sydney coal-field fifty-nine fossil forests occur in superposition. + </p> + <p> + Marine shells, found on mountain-tops far in the interior of continents, + were regarded by theological writers as an indisputable illustration of + the Deluge. But when, as geological studies became more exact, it was + proved that in the crust of the earth vast fresh-water formations are + repeatedly intercalated with vast marine ones, like the leaves of a book, + it became evident that no single cataclysm was sufficient to account for + such results; that the same region, through gradual variations of its + level and changes in its topographical surroundings, had sometimes been + dry land, sometimes covered with fresh and sometimes with sea water. It + became evident also that, for the completion of these changes, tens of + thousands of years were required. + </p> + <p> + To this evidence of a remote origin of the earth, derived from the vast + superficial extent, the enormous thickness, and the varied characters of + its strata, was added an imposing body of proof depending on its fossil + remains. The relative ages of formations having been ascertained, it was + shown that there has been an advancing physiological progression of + organic forms, both vegetable and animal, from the oldest to the most + recent; that those which inhabit the surface in our times are but an + insignificant fraction of the prodigious multitude that have inhabited it + heretofore; that for each species now living there are thousands that have + become extinct. Though special formations are so strikingly characterized + by some predominating type of life as to justify such expressions as the + age of mollusks, the age of reptiles, the age of mammals, the introduction + of the new-comers did not take place abruptly. as by sudden creation. They + gradually emerged in an antecedent age, reached their culmination in the + one which they characterize, and then gradually died out in a succeeding. + There is no such thing as a sudden creation, a sudden strange appearance—but + there is a slow metamorphosis, a slow development from a preexisting form. + Here again we encounter the necessity of admitting for such results long + periods of time. Within the range of history no well-marked instance of + such development has been witnessed, and we speak with hesitation of + doubtful instances of extinction. Yet in geological times myriads of + evolutions and extinctions have occurred. + </p> + <p> + Since thus, within the experience of man, no case of metamorphosis or + development has been observed, some have been disposed to deny its + possibility altogether, affirming that all the different species have come + into existence by separate creative acts. But surely it is less + unphilosophical to suppose that each species has been evolved from a + predecessor by a modification of its parts, than that it has suddenly + started into existence out of nothing. Nor is there much weight in the + remark that no man has ever witnessed such a transformation taking place. + Let it be remembered that no man has ever witnessed an act of creation, + the sudden appearance of an organic form, without any progenitor. + </p> + <p> + Abrupt, arbitrary, disconnected creative acts may serve to illustrate the + Divine power; but that continuous unbroken chain of organisms which + extends from palaeozoic formations to the formations of recent times, a + chain in which each link hangs on a preceding and sustains a succeeding + one, demonstrates to us not only that the production of animated beings is + governed by law, but that it is by law that has undergone no change. In + its operation, through myriads of ages, there has been no variation, no + suspension. + </p> + <p> + The foregoing paragraphs may serve to indicate the character of a portion + of the evidence with which we must deal in considering the problem of the + age of the earth. Through the unintermitting labors of geologists, so + immense a mass has been accumulated, that many volumes would be required + to contain the details. It is drawn from the phenomena presented by all + kinds of rocks, aqueous, igneous, metamorphic. Of aqueous rocks it + investigates the thickness, the inclined positions, and how they rest + unconformably on one another; how those that are of fresh-water origin are + intercalated with those that are marine; how vast masses of material have + been removed by slow-acting causes of denudation, and extensive + geographical surfaces have been remodeled; how continents have undergone + movements of elevation and depression, their shores sunk under the ocean, + or sea-beaches and sea-cliffs carried far into the interior. It considers + the zoological and botanical facts, the fauna and flora of the successive + ages, and how in an orderly manner the chain of organic forms, plants, and + animals, has been extended, from its dim and doubtful beginnings to our + own times. From facts presented by the deposits of coal-coal which, in all + its varieties, has originated from the decay of plants—it not only + demon strates the changes that have taken place in the earth's atmosphere, + but also universal changes of climate. From other facts it proves that + there have been oscillations of temperature, periods in which the mean + heat has risen, and periods in which the polar ices and snows have covered + large portions of the existing continents—glacial periods, as they + are termed. + </p> + <p> + One school of geologists, resting its argument on very imposing evidence, + teaches that the whole mass of the earth, from being in a molten, or + perhaps a vaporous condition, has cooled by radiation in the lapse of + millions of ages, until it has reached its present equilibrium of + temperature. Astronomical observations give great weight to this + interpretation, especially so far as the planetary bodies of the solar + system are concerned. It is also supported by such facts as the small mean + density of the earth, the increasing temperature at increasing depths, the + phenomena of volcanoes and injected veins, and those of igneous and + metamorphic rocks. To satisfy the physical changes which this school of + geologists contemplates, myriads of centuries are required. + </p> + <p> + But, with the views that the adoption of the Copernican system has given + us, it is plain that we cannot consider the origin and biography of the + earth in an isolated way; we must include with her all the other members + of the system or family to which she belongs. Nay, more, we cannot + restrict ourselves to the solar system; we must embrace in our discussions + the starry worlds. And, since we have become familiarized with their + almost immeasurable distances from one another, we are prepared to accept + for their origin an immeasurably remote time. There are stars so far off + that their light, fast as it travels, has taken thousands of years to + reach us, and hence they must have been in existence many thousands of + years ago. + </p> + <p> + Geologists having unanimously agreed—for perhaps there is not a + single dissenting voice—that the chronology of the earth must be + greatly extended, attempts have been made to give precision to it. Some of + these have been based on astronomical, some on physical principles. Thus + calculations founded on the known changes of the eccentricity of the + earth's orbit, with a view of determining the lapse of time since the + beginning of the last glacial period, have given two hundred and forty + thousand years. Though the general postulate of the immensity of + geological times may be conceded, such calculations are on too uncertain a + theoretical basis to furnish incontestable results. + </p> + <p> + But, considering the whole subject from the present scientific + stand-point, it is very clear that the views presented by theological + writers, as derived from the Mosaic record, cannot be admitted. Attempts + have been repeatedly made to reconcile the revealed with the discovered + facts, but they have proved to be unsatisfactory. The Mosaic time is too + short, the order of creation incorrect, the divine interventions too + anthropomorphic; and, though the presentment of the subject is in harmony + with the ideas that men have entertained, when first their minds were + turned to the acquisition of natural knowledge, it is not in accordance + with their present conceptions of the insignificance of the earth and the + grandeur of the universe. + </p> + <p> + Among late geological discoveries is one of special interest; it is the + detection of human remains and human works in formations which, though + geologically recent, are historically very remote. + </p> + <p> + The fossil remains of men, with rude implements of rough or chipped flint, + of polished stone, of bone, of bronze, are found in Europe in caves, in + drifts, in peat-beds. They indicate a savage life, spent in hunting and + fishing. Recent researches give reason to believe that, under low and base + grades, the existence of man can be traced back into the tertiary times. + He was contemporary with the southern elephant, the rhinoceros + leptorhinus, the great hippopotamus, perhaps even in the miocene + contemporary with the mastodon. + </p> + <p> + At the close of the Tertiary period, from causes not yet determined, the + Northern Hemisphere underwent a great depression of temperature. From a + torrid it passed to a glacial condition. After a period of prodigious + length, the temperature again rose, and the glaciers that had so + extensively covered the surface receded. Once more there was a decline in + the heat, and the glaciers again advanced, but this time not so far as + formerly. This ushered in the Quaternary period, during which very slowly + the temperature came to its present degree. The water deposits that were + being made required thousands of centuries for their completion. At the + beginning of the Quaternary period there were alive the cave-bear, the + cave-lion, the amphibious hippopotamus, the rhinoceros with chambered + nostrils, the mammoth. In fact, the mammoth swarmed. He delighted in a + boreal climate. By degrees the reindeer, the horse, the ox, the bison, + multiplied, and disputed with him his food. Partly for this reason, and + partly because of the increasing heat, he became extinct. From middle + Europe, also, the reindeer retired. His departure marks the end of the + Quaternary period. + </p> + <p> + Since the advent of man on the earth, we have, therefore, to deal with + periods of incalculable length. Vast changes in the climate and fauna were + produced by the slow operation of causes such as are in action at the + present day. Figures cannot enable us to appreciate these enormous lapses + of time. + </p> + <p> + It seems to be satisfactorily established, that a race allied to the + Basques may be traced back to the Neolithic age. At that time the British + Islands were undergoing a change of level, like that at present occurring + in the Scandinavian Peninsula. Scotland was rising, England was sinking. + In the Pleistocene age there existed in Central Europe a rude race of + hunters and fishers closely allied to the Esquimaux. + </p> + <p> + In the old glacial drift of Scotland the relics of man are found along + with those of the fossil elephant. This carries us back to that time above + referred to, when a large portion of Europe was covered with ice, which + had edged down from the polar regions to southerly latitudes, and, as + glaciers, descended from the summits of the mountain-chains into the + plains. Countless species of animals perished in this cataclysm of ice and + snow, but man survived. + </p> + <p> + In his primitive savage condition, living for the most part on fruits, + roots, shell-fish, man was in possession of a fact which was certain + eventually to insure his civilization. He knew how to make a fire. In + peat-beds, under the remains of trees that in those localities have long + ago become extinct, his relics are still found, the implements that + accompany him indicating a distinct chronological order. Near the surface + are those of bronze, lower down those of bone or horn, still lower those + of polished stone, and beneath all those of chipped or rough stone. The + date of the origin of some of these beds cannot be estimated at less than + forty or fifty thousand years. + </p> + <p> + The caves that have been examined in France and elsewhere have furnished + for the Stone age axes, knives, lance and arrow points, scrapers, hammers. + The change from what may be termed the chipped to the polished stone + period is very gradual. It coincides with the domestication of the dog, an + epoch in hunting-life. It embraces thousands of centuries. The appearance + of arrow-heads indicates the invention of the bow, and the rise of man + from a defensive to an offensive mode of life. The introduction of barbed + arrows shows how inventive talent was displaying itself; bone and horn + tips, that the huntsman was including smaller animals, and perhaps birds, + in his chase; bone whistles, his companionship with other huntsmen or with + his dog. The scraping-knives of flint indicate the use of skin for + clothing, and rude bodkins and needles its manufacture. Shells perforated + for bracelets and necklaces prove how soon a taste for personal adornment + was acquired; the implements necessary for the preparation of pigments + suggest the painting of the body, and perhaps tattooing; and batons of + rank bear witness to the beginning of a social organization. + </p> + <p> + With the utmost interest we look upon the first germs of art among these + primitive men. They have left its rude sketches on pieces of ivory and + flakes of bone, and carvings, of the animals contemporary with them. In + these prehistoric delineations, sometimes not without spirit, we have + mammoths, combats of reindeer. One presents us with a man harpooning a + fish, another a hunting-scene of naked men armed with the dart. Man is the + only animal who has the propensity of depicting external forms, and of + availing himself of the use of fire. + </p> + <p> + Shell-mounds, consisting of bones and shells, some of which may be justly + described as of vast extent, and of a date anterior to the Bronze age, and + full of stone implements, bear in all their parts indications of the use + of fire. These are often adjacent to the existing coasts sometimes, + however, they are far inland, in certain instances as far as fifty miles. + Their contents and position indicate for them a date posterior to that of + the great extinct mammals, but prior to the domesticated. Some of these, + it is said, cannot be less than one hundred thousand years old. + </p> + <p> + The lake-dwellings in Switzerland—huts built on piles or logs, + wattled with boughs—were, as may be inferred from the accompanying + implements, begun in the Stone age, and continued into that of Bronze. In + the latter period the evidences become numerous of the adoption of an + agricultural life. + </p> + <p> + It must not be supposed that the periods into which geologists have found + it convenient to divide the progress of man in civilization are abrupt + epochs, which hold good simultaneously for the whole human race. Thus the + wandering Indians of America are only at the present moment emerging from + the Stone age. They are still to be seen in many places armed with arrows, + tipped with flakes of flint. It is but as yesterday that some have + obtained, from the white man, iron, fire-arms, and the horse. + </p> + <p> + So far as investigations have gone, they indisputably refer the existence + of man to a date remote from us by many hundreds of thousands of years. It + must be borne in mind that these investigations are quite recent, and + confined to a very limited geographical space. No researches have yet been + made in those regions which might reasonably be regarded as the primitive + habitat of man. + </p> + <p> + We are thus carried back immeasurably beyond the six thousand years of + Patristic chronology. It is difficult to assign a shorter date for the + last glaciation of Europe than a quarter of a million of years, and human + existence antedates that. But not only is it this grand fact that + confronts us, we have to admit also a primitive animalized state, and a + slow, a gradual development. But this forlorn, this savage condition of + humanity is in strong contrast to the paradisiacal happiness of the garden + of Eden, and, what is far more serious, it is inconsistent with the theory + of the Fall. + </p> + <p> + I have been induced to place the subject of this chapter out of its proper + chronological order, for the sake of presenting what I had to say + respecting the nature of the world more completely by itself. The + discussions that arose as to the age of the earth were long after the + conflict as to the criterion of truth—that is, after the + Reformation; indeed, they were substantially included in the present + century. They have been conducted with so much moderation as to justify + the term I have used in the title of this chapter, "Controversy," rather + than "Conflict." Geology has not had to encounter the vindictive + opposition with which astronomy was assailed, and, though, on her part, + she has insisted on a concession of great antiquity for the earth, she has + herself pointed out the unreliability of all numerical estimates thus far + offered. The attentive reader of this chapter cannot have failed to + observe inconsistencies in the numbers quoted. Though wanting the merit of + exactness, those numbers, however, justify the claim of vast antiquity, + and draw us to the conclusion that the time-scale of the world answers to + the space-scale in magnitude. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VIII. + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + CONFLICT RESPECTING THE CRITERION OF TRUTH. + + Ancient philosophy declares that man has no means of + ascertaining the truth. + + Differences of belief arise among the early Christians—An + ineffectual attempt is made to remedy them by Councils.— + Miracle and ordeal proof introduced. + + The papacy resorts to auricular confession and the + Inquisition.—It perpetrates frightful atrocities for the + suppression of differences of opinion. + + Effect of the discovery of the Pandects of Justinian and + development of the canon law on the nature of evidence.—It + becomes more scientific. + + The Reformation establishes the rights of individual + reason.—Catholicism asserts that the criterion of truth is + in the Church. It restrains the reading of books by the + Index Expurgatorius, and combats dissent by such means as + the massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve. + + Examination of the authenticity of the Pentateuch as the + Protestant criterion.—Spurious character of those books. + + For Science the criterion of truth is to be found in the + revelations of Nature: for the Protestant, it is in the + Scriptures; for the Catholic, in an infallible Pope. +</pre> + <p> + "WHAT is truth?" was the passionate demand of a Roman procurator on one of + the most momentous occasions in history. And the Divine Person who stood + before him, to whom the interrogation was addressed, made no reply—unless, + indeed, silence contained the reply. + </p> + <p> + Often and vainly had that demand been made before—often and vainly + has it been made since. No one has yet given a satisfactory answer. + </p> + <p> + When, at the dawn of science in Greece, the ancient religion was + disappearing like a mist at sunrise, the pious and thoughtful men of that + country were thrown into a condition of intellectual despair. Anaxagoras + plaintively exclaims, "Nothing can be known, nothing can be learned, + nothing can be certain, sense is limited, intellect is weak, life is + short." Xenophanes tells us that it is impossible for us to be certain + even when we utter the truth. Parmenides declares that the very + constitution of man prevents him from ascertaining absolute truth. + Empedocles affirms that all philosophical and religious systems must be + unreliable, because we have no criterion by which to test them. Democritus + asserts that even things that are true cannot impart certainty to us; that + the final result of human inquiry is the discovery that man is incapable + of absolute knowledge; that, even if the truth be in his possession, he + cannot be certain of it. Pyrrho bids us reflect on the necessity of + suspending our judgment of things, since we have no criterion of truth; so + deep a distrust did he impart to his followers, that they were in the + habit of saying, "We assert nothing; no, not even that we assert nothing." + Epicurus taught his disciples that truth can never be determined by + reason. Arcesilaus, denying both intellectual and sensuous knowledge, + publicly avowed that he knew nothing, not even his own ignorance! The + general conclusion to which Greek philosophy came was this—that, in + view of the contradiction of the evidence of the senses, we cannot + distinguish the true from the false; and such is the imperfection of + reason, that we cannot affirm the correctness of any philosophical + deduction. + </p> + <p> + It might be supposed that a revelation from God to man would come with + such force and clearness as to settle all uncertainties and overwhelm all + opposition. A Greek philosopher, less despairing than others, had ventured + to affirm that the coexistence of two forms of faith, both claiming to be + revealed by the omnipotent God, proves that neither of them is true. But + let us remember that it is difficult for men to come to the same + conclusion as regards even material and visible things, unless they stand + at the same point of view. If discord and distrust were the condition of + philosophy three hundred years before the birth of Christ, discord and + distrust were the condition of religion three hundred years after his + death. This is what Hilary, the Bishop of Poictiers, in his well-known + passage written about the time of the Nicene Council, says: + </p> + <p> + "It is a thing equally deplorable and dangerous that there are, as many + creeds as opinions among men, as many doctrines as inclinations, and as + many sources of blasphemy as there are faults among us, because we make + creeds arbitrarily and explain them as arbitrarily. Every year, nay, every + moon, we make new creeds to describe invisible mysteries; we repent of + what we have done; we defend those who repent; we anathematize those whom + we defend; we condemn either the doctrines of others in ourselves, or our + own in that of others; and, reciprocally tearing each other to pieces, we + have been the cause of each other's ruin." + </p> + <p> + These are not mere words; but the import of this self-accusation can be + realized fully only by such as are familiar with the ecclesiastical + history of those times. As soon as the first fervor of Christianity as a + system of benevolence had declined, dissensions appeared. Ecclesiastical + historians assert that "as early as the second century began the contest + between faith and reason, religion and philosophy, piety and genius." To + compose these dissensions, to obtain some authoritative expression, some + criterion of truth, assemblies for consultation were resorted to, which + eventually took the form of councils. For a long time they had nothing + more than an advisory authority; but, when, in the fourth century, + Christianity had attained to imperial rule, their dictates became + compulsory, being enforced by the civil power. By this the whole face of + the Church was changed. Oecumenical councils—parliaments of + Christianity—consisting of delegates from all the churches in the + world, were summoned by the authority of the emperor; he presided either + personally or nominally in them—composed all differences, and was, + in fact, the Pope of Christendom. Mosheim, the historian, to whom I have + more particularly referred above, speaking of these times, remarks that + "there was nothing to exclude the ignorant from ecclesiastical preferment; + the savage and illiterate party, who looked on all kinds of learning, + particularly philosophy, as pernicious to piety, was increasing;" and, + accordingly, "the disputes carried on in the Council of Nicea offered a + remarkable example of the greatest ignorance and utter confusion of ideas, + particularly in the language and explanations of those who approved of the + decisions of that council." Vast as its influence has been, "the ancient + critics are neither agreed concerning the time nor place in which it was + assembled, the number of those who sat in it, nor the bishop who presided. + No authentic acts of its famous sentence have been committed to writing, + or, at least, none have been transmitted to our times." The Church had now + become what, in the language of modern politicians, would be called "a + confederated republic." The will of the council was determined by a + majority vote, and, to secure that, all manner of intrigues and + impositions were resorted to; the influence of court females, bribery, and + violence, were not spared. The Council of Nicea had scarcely adjourned,—when + it was plain to all impartial men that, as a method of establishing a + criterion of truth in religious matters, such councils were a total + failure. The minority had no rights which the majority need respect. The + protest of many good men, that a mere majority vote given by delegates, + whose right to vote had never been examined and authorized, could not be + received as ascertaining absolute truth, was passed over with contempt, + and the consequence was, that council was assembled against council, and + their jarring and contradictory decrees spread perplexity and confusion + throughout the Christian world. In the fourth century alone there were + thirteen councils adverse to Arius, fifteen in his favor, and seventeen + for the semi-Arians—in all, forty-five. Minorities were perpetually + attempting to use the weapon which majorities had abused. + </p> + <p> + The impartial ecclesiastical historian above quoted, moreover, says that + "two monstrous and calamitous errors were adopted in this fourth century: + 1. That it was an act of virtue to deceive and lie when, by that means, + the interests of the Church might be promoted. 2. That errors in religion, + when maintained and adhered to after proper admonition, were punishable + with civil penalties and corporal tortures." + </p> + <p> + Not without astonishment can we look back at what, in those times, were + popularly regarded as criteria of truth. Doctrines were considered as + established by the number of martyrs who had professed them, by miracles, + by the confession of demons, of lunatics, or of persons possessed of evil + spirits: thus, St. Ambrose, in his disputes with the Arians, produced men + possessed by devils, who, on the approach of the relics of certain + martyrs, acknowledged, with loud cries, that the Nicean doctrine of the + three persons of the Godhead was true. But the Arians charged him with + suborning these infernal witnesses with a weighty bribe. Already, ordeal + tribunals were making their appearance. During the following six centuries + they were held as a final resort for establishing guilt or innocence, + under the forms of trial by cold water, by duel, by the fire, by the + cross. + </p> + <p> + What an utter ignorance of the nature of evidence and its laws have we + here! An accused man sinks or swims when thrown into a pond of water; he + is burnt or escapes unharmed when he holds a piece of red-hot iron in his + hand; a champion whom he has hired is vanquished or vanquishes in single + fight; he can keep his arms outstretched like a cross, or fails to do so + longer than his accuser, and his innocence or guilt of some imputed crime + is established! Are these criteria of truth? + </p> + <p> + Is it surprising that all Europe was filled with imposture miracles during + those ages?—miracles that are a disgrace to the common-sense of man! + </p> + <p> + But the inevitable day came at length. Assertions and doctrines based upon + such preposterous evidence were involved in the discredit that fell upon + the evidence itself. As the thirteenth century is approached, we find + unbelief in all directions setting in. First, it is plainly seen among the + monastic orders, then it spreads rapidly among the common people. Books, + such as "The Everlasting Gospel," appear among the former; sects, such as + the Catharists, Waldenses, Petrobrussians, arise among the latter. They + agreed in this, "that the public and established religion was a motley + system of errors and superstitions, and that the dominion which the pope + had usurped over Christians was unlawful and tyrannical; that the claim + put forth by Rome, that the Bishop of Rome is the supreme lord of the + universe, and that neither princes nor bishops, civil governors nor + ecclesiastical rulers, have any lawful power in church or state but what + they receive from him, is utterly without foundation, and a usurpation of + the rights of man." + </p> + <p> + To withstand this flood of impiety, the papal government established two + institutions: 1. The Inquisition; 2. Auricular confession—the latter + as a means of detection, the former as a tribunal for punishment. + </p> + <p> + In general terms, the commission of the Inquisition was, to extirpate + religious dissent by terrorism, and surround heresy with the most horrible + associations; this necessarily implied the power of determining what + constitutes heresy. The criterion of truth was thus in possession of this + tribunal, which was charged "to discover and bring to judgment heretics + lurking in towns, houses, cellars, woods, caves, and fields." With such + savage alacrity did it carry out its object of protecting the interests of + religion, that between 1481 and 1808 it had punished three hundred and + forty thousand persons, and of these nearly thirty-two thousand had been + burnt! In its earlier days, when public opinion could find no means of + protesting against its atrocities, "it often put to death, without appeal, + on the very day that they were accused, nobles, clerks, monks, hermits, + and lay persons of every rank." In whatever direction thoughtful men + looked, the air was full of fearful shadows. No one could indulge in + freedom of thought without expecting punishment. So dreadful were the + proceedings of the Inquisition, that the exclamation of Pagliarici was the + exclamation of thousands: "It is hardly possible for a man to be a + Christian, and die in his bed." + </p> + <p> + The Inquisition destroyed the sectaries of Southern France in the + thirteenth century. Its unscrupulous atrocities extirpated Protestantism + in Italy and Spain. Nor did it confine itself to religious affairs; it + engaged in the suppression of political discontent. Nicolas Eymeric, who + was inquisitor-general of the kingdom of Aragon for nearly fifty years, + and who died in 1399, has left a frightful statement of its conduct and + appalling cruelties in his "Directorium Inquisitorum." + </p> + <p> + This disgrace of Christianity, and indeed of the human race, had different + constitutions in different countries. The papal Inquisition continued the + tyranny, and eventually superseded the old episcopal inquisitions. The + authority of the bishops was unceremoniously put aside by the officers of + the pope. + </p> + <p> + By the action of the fourth Lateran Council, A.D. 1215, the power of the + Inquisition was frightfully increased, the necessity of private confession + to a priest—auricular confession—being at that time formally + established. This, so far as domestic life was concerned, gave + omnipresence and omniscience to the Inquisition. Not a man was safe. In + the hands of the priest, who, at the confessional, could extract or extort + from them their most secret thoughts, his wife and his servants were + turned into spies. Summoned before the dread tribunal, he was simply + informed that he lay under strong suspicions of heresy. No accuser was + named; but the thumb-screw, the stretching-rope, the boot and wedge, or + other enginery of torture, soon supplied that defect, and, innocent or + guilty, he accused himself! + </p> + <p> + Notwithstanding all this power, the Inquisition failed of its purpose. + When the heretic could no longer confront it, he evaded it. A dismal + disbelief stealthily pervaded all Europe,—a denial of Providence, of + the immortality of the soul, of human free-will, and that man can possibly + resist the absolute necessity, the destiny which envelops him. Ideas such + as these were cherished in silence by multitudes of persons driven to them + by the tyrannical acts of ecclesiasticism. In spite of persecution, the + Waldenses still survived to propagate their declaration that the Roman + Church, since Constantine, had degenerated from its purity and sanctity; + to protest against the sale of indulgences, which they said had nearly + abolished prayer, fasting, alms; to affirm that it was utterly useless to + pray for the souls of the dead, since they must already have gone either + to heaven or hell. Though it was generally believed that philosophy or + science was pernicious to the interests of Christianity or true piety, the + Mohammedan literature then prevailing in Spain was making converts among + all classes of society. We see very plainly its influence in many of the + sects that then arose; thus, "the Brethren and Sisters of the Free. + Spirit" held that "the universe came by emanation from God, and would + finally return to him by absorption; that rational souls are so many + portions of the Supreme Deity; and that the universe, considered as one + great whole, is God." These are ideas that can only be entertained in an + advanced intellectual condition. Of this sect it is said that many + suffered burning with unclouded serenity, with triumphant feelings of + cheerfulness and joy. Their orthodox enemies accused them of gratifying + their passions at midnight assemblages in darkened rooms, to which both + sexes in a condition of nudity repaired. A similar accusation, as is well + known, was brought against the primitive Christians by the fashionable + society of Rome. + </p> + <p> + The influences of the Averroistic philosophy were apparent in many of + these sects. That Mohammedan system, considered from a Christian point of + view, led to the heretical belief that the end of the precepts of + Christianity is the union of the soul with the Supreme Being; that God and + Nature have the same relations to each other as the soul and the body; + that there is but one individual intelligence; and that one soul performs + all the spiritual and rational functions in all the human race. When, + subsequently, toward the time of the Reformation, the Italian Averroists + were required by the Inquisition to give an account of themselves, they + attempted to show that there is a wide distinction between philosophical + and religious truth; that things may be philosophically true, and yet + theologically false—an exculpatory device condemned at length by the + Lateran Council in the time of Leo X. + </p> + <p> + But, in spite of auricular confession, and the Inquisition, these + heretical tendencies survived. It has been truly said that, at the epoch + of the Reformation, there lay concealed, in many parts of Europe, persons + who entertained the most virulent enmity against Christianity. In this + pernicious class were many Aristotelians, such as Pomponatius; many + philosophers and wits, such as Bodin, Rabelais, Montaigne; many Italians, + as Leo X., Bembo, Bruno. + </p> + <p> + Miracle-evidence began to fall into discredit during the eleventh and + twelfth centuries. The sarcasms of the Hispano-Moorish philosophers had + forcibly drawn the attention of many of the more enlightened ecclesiastics + to its illusory nature. The discovery of the Pandects of Justinian, at + Amalfi, in 1130, doubtless exerted a very powerful influence in promoting + the study of Roman jurisprudence, and disseminating better notions as to + the character of legal or philosophical evidence. Hallam has cast some + doubt on the well-known story of this discovery, but he admits that the + celebrated copy in the Laurentian library, at Florence, is the only one + containing the entire fifty books. Twenty years subsequently, the monk + Gratian collected together the various papal edicts, the canons of + councils, the declarations of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, in a + volume called "The Decretum," considered as the earliest authority in + canon law. In the next century Gregory IX. published five books of + Decretals, and Boniface VIII. subsequently added a sixth. To these + followed the Clementine Constitutions, a seventh book of Decretals, and "A + Book of Institutes," published together, by Gregory XIII., in 1580, under + the title of "Corpus Juris Canonici." The canon law had gradually gained + enormous power through the control it had obtained over wills, the + guardianship of orphans, marriages, and divorces. + </p> + <p> + The rejection of miracle-evidence, and the substitution of legal evidence + in its stead, accelerated the approach of the Reformation. No longer was + it possible to admit the requirement which, in former days, Anselm, the + Archbishop of Canterbury, in his treatise, "Cur Deus Homo," had enforced, + that we must first believe without examination, and may afterward endeavor + to understand what we have thus believed. When Cajetan said to Luther, + "Thou must believe that one single drop of Christ's blood is sufficient to + redeem the whole human race, and the remaining quantity that was shed in + the garden and on the cross was left as a legacy to the pope, to be a + treasure from which indulgences were to be drawn," the soul of the sturdy + German monk revolted against such a monstrous assertion, nor would he have + believed it though a thousand miracles had been worked in its support. + This shameful practice of selling indulgences for the commission of sin + originated among the bishops, who, when they had need of money for their + private pleasures, obtained it in that way. Abbots and monks, to whom this + gainful commerce was denied, raised funds by carrying about relics in + solemn procession, and charging a fee for touching them. The popes, in + their pecuniary straits, perceiving how lucrative the practice might + become, deprived the bishops of the right of making such sales, and + appropriated it to themselves, establishing agencies, chiefly among the + mendicant orders, for the traffic. Among these orders there was a sharp + competition, each boasting of the superior value of its indulgences + through its greater influence at the court of heaven, its familiar + connection with the Virgin Mary and the saints in glory. Even against + Luther himself, who had been an Augustinian monk, a calumny was circulated + that he was first alienated from the Church by a traffic of this kind + having been conferred on the Dominicans, instead of on his own order, at + the time when Leo X. was raising funds by this means for building St. + Peter's, at Rome, A.D. 1517. and there is reason to think that Leo + himself, in the earlier stages of the Reformation, attached weight to that + allegation. + </p> + <p> + Indulgences were thus the immediate inciting cause of the Reformation, but + very soon there came into light the real principle that was animating the + controversy. It lay in the question, Does the Bible owe its authenticity + to the Church? or does the Church owe her authenticity to the Bible? Where + is the criterion of truth? + </p> + <p> + It is not necessary for me here to relate the well known particulars of + that controversy, the desolating wars and scenes of blood to which it gave + rise: how Luther posted on the door of the cathedral of Wittemberg + ninety-five theses, and was summoned to Rome to answer for his offense; + how he appealed from the pope, ill-informed at the time, to the pope when + he should have been better instructed; how he was condemned as a heretic, + and thereupon appealed to a general council; how, through the disputes + about purgatory, transubstantiation, auricular confession, absolution, the + fundamental idea which lay at the bottom of the whole movement came into + relief, the right of individual judgment; how Luther was now + excommunicated, A.D. 1520, and in defiance burnt the bull of + excommunication and the volumes of the canon law, which he denounced as + aiming at the subversion of all civil government, and the exaltation of + the papacy; how by this skillful manoeuvre he brought over many of the + German princes to his views; how, summoned before the Imperial Diet at + Worms, he refused to retract, and, while he was bidden in the castle of + Wartburg, his doctrines were spreading, and a reformation under Zwingli + broke out in Switzerland; how the principle of sectarian decomposition + embedded in the movement gave rise to rivalries and dissensions between + the Germans and the Swiss, and even divided the latter among themselves + under the leadership of Zwingli and of Calvin; how the Conference of + Marburg, the Diet of Spires, and that at Augsburg, failed to compose the + troubles, and eventually the German Reformation assumed a political + organization at Smalcalde. The quarrels between the Lutherans and the + Calvinists gave hopes to Rome that she might recover her losses. + </p> + <p> + Leo was not slow to discern that the Lutheran Reformation was something + more serious than a squabble among some monks about the profits of + indulgence-sales, and the papacy set itself seriously at work to overcome + the revolters. It instigated the frightful wars that for so many years + desolated Europe, and left animosities which neither the Treaty of + Westphalia, nor the Council of Trent after eighteen years of debate, could + compose. No one can read without a shudder the attempts that were made to + extend the Inquisition in foreign countries. All Europe, Catholic and + Protestant, was horror-stricken at the Huguenot massacre of St. + Bartholomew's Eve (A.D. 1572). For perfidy and atrocity it has no equal in + the annals of the world. + </p> + <p> + The desperate attempt in which the papacy had been engaged to put down its + opponents by instigating civil wars, massacres, and assassinations, proved + to be altogether abortive. Nor had the Council of Trent any better result. + Ostensibly summoned to correct, illustrate, and fix with perspicacity the + doctrine of the Church, to restore the vigor of its discipline, and to + reform the lives of its ministers, it was so manipulated that a large + majority of its members were Italians, and under the influence of the + pope. Hence the Protestants could not possibly accept its decisions. + </p> + <p> + The issue of the Reformation was the acceptance by all the Protestant + Churches of the dogma that the Bible is a sufficient guide for every + Christian man. Tradition was rejected, and the right of private + interpretation assured. It was thought that the criterion of truth had at + length been obtained. + </p> + <p> + The authority thus imputed to the Scriptures was not restricted to matters + of a purely religious or moral kind; it extended over philosophical facts + and to the interpretation of Nature. Many went as far as in the old times + Epiphanius had done: he believed that the Bible contained a complete + system of mineralogy! The Reformers would tolerate no science that was not + in accordance with Genesis. Among them there were many who maintained that + religion and piety could never flourish unless separated from learning and + science. The fatal maxim that the Bible contained the sum and substance of + all knowledge, useful or possible to man—a maxim employed with such + pernicious effect of old by Tertullian and by St. Augustine, and which had + so often been enforced by papal authority—was still strictly + insisted upon. The leaders of the Reformation, Luther and Melanchthon, + were determined to banish philosophy from the Church. Luther declared that + the study of Aristotle is wholly useless; his vilification of that Greek + philosopher knew no bounds. He is, says Luther, "truly a devil, a horrid + calumniator, a wicked sycophant, a prince of darkness, a real Apollyon, a + beast, a most horrid impostor on mankind, one in whom there is scarcely + any philosophy, a public and professed liar, a goat, a complete epicure, + this twice execrable Aristotle." The schoolmen were, so Luther said, + "locusts, caterpillars, frogs, lice." He entertained an abhorrence for + them. These opinions, though not so emphatically expressed, were + entertained by Calvin. So far as science is concerned, nothing is owed to + the Reformation. The Procrustean bed of the Pentateuch was still before + her. + </p> + <p> + In the annals of Christianity the most ill-omened day is that in which she + separated herself from science. She compelled Origen, at that time (A.D. + 231) its chief representative and supporter in the Church, to abandon his + charge in Alexandria, and retire to Caesarea. In vain through many + subsequent centuries did her leading men spend themselves in—as the + phrase then went—"drawing forth the internal juice and marrow of the + Scriptures for the explaining of things." Universal history from the third + to the sixteenth century shows with what result. The dark ages owe their + darkness to this fatal policy. Here and there, it is true, there were + great men, such as Frederick II. and Alphonso X., who, standing at a very + elevated and general point of view, had detected the value of learning to + civilization, and, in the midst of the dreary prospect that + ecclesiasticism had created around them, had recognized that science alone + can improve the social condition of man. + </p> + <p> + The infliction of the death-punishment for difference of opinion was still + resorted to. When Calvin caused Servetus to be burnt at Geneva, it was + obvious to every one that the spirit of persecution was unimpaired. The + offense of that philosopher lay in his belief. This was, that the genuine + doctrines of Christianity had been lost even before the time of the + Council of Nicea; that the Holy Ghost animates the whole system of Nature, + like a soul of the world, and that, with the Christ, it will be absorbed, + at the end of all things, into the substance of the Deity, from which they + had emanated. For this he was roasted to death over a slow fire. Was there + any distinction between this Protestant auto-da-fe and the Catholic one of + Vanini, who was burnt at Toulouse, by the Inquisition, in 1629, for his + "Dialogues concerning Nature?" + </p> + <p> + The invention of printing, the dissemination of books, had introduced a + class of dangers which the persecution of the Inquisition could not reach. + In 1559, Pope Paul IV. instituted the Congregation of the Index + Expurgatorius. "Its duty is to examine books and manuscripts intended for + publication, and to decide whether the people may be permitted to read + them; to correct those books of which the errors are not numerous, and + which contain certain useful and salutary truths, so as to bring them into + harmony with the doctrines of the Church; to condemn those of which the + principles are heretical and pernicious; and to grant the peculiar + privilege of perusing heretical books to certain persons. This + congregation, which is sometimes held in presence of the pope, but + generally in the palace of the Cardinal-president, has a more extensive + jurisdiction than that of the Inquisition, as it not only takes cognizance + of those books that contain doctrines contrary to the Roman Catholic + faith, but of those that concern the duties of morality, the discipline of + the Church, the interests of society. Its name is derived from the + alphabetical tables or indexes of heretical books and authors composed by + its appointment." + </p> + <p> + The Index Expurgatorius of prohibited books at first indicated those works + which it was unlawful to read; but, on this being found insufficient, + whatever was not permitted was prohibited—an audacious attempt to + prevent all knowledge, except such as suited the purposes of the Church, + from reaching the people. + </p> + <p> + The two rival divisions of the Christian Church—Protestant and + Catholic—were thus in accord on one point: to tolerate no science + except such as they considered to be agreeable to the Scriptures. The + Catholic, being in possession of centralized power, could make its + decisions respected wherever its sway was acknowledged, and enforce the + monitions of the Index Expurgatorius; the Protestant, whose influence was + diffused among many foci in different nations, could not act in such a + direct and resolute manner. Its mode of procedure was, by raising a + theological odium against an offender, to put him under a social ban—a + course perhaps not less effectual than the other. + </p> + <p> + As we have seen in former chapters, an antagonism between religion and + science had existed from the earliest days of Christianity. On every + occasion permitting its display it may be detected through successive + centuries. We witness it in the downfall of the Alexandrian Museum, in the + cases of Erigena and Wiclif, in the contemptuous rejection by the heretics + of the thirteenth century of the Scriptural account of the Creation; but + it was not until the epoch of Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo, that the + efforts of Science to burst from the thraldom in which she was fettered + became uncontrollable. In all countries the political power of the Church + had greatly declined; her leading men perceived that the cloudy foundation + on which she had stood was dissolving away. Repressive measures against + her antagonists, in old times resorted to with effect, could be no longer + advantageously employed. To her interests the burning of a philosopher + here and there did more harm than good. In her great conflict with + astronomy, a conflict in which Galileo stands as the central figure, she + received an utter overthrow; and, as we have seen, when the immortal work + of Newton was printed, she could offer no resistance, though Leibnitz + affirmed, in the face of Europe, that "Newton had robbed the Deity of some + of his most excellent attributes, and had sapped the foundation of natural + religion." + </p> + <p> + From the time of Newton to our own time, the divergence of science from + the dogmas of the Church has continually increased. The Church declared + that the earth is the central and most important body in the universe; + that the sun and moon and stars are tributary to it. On these points she + was worsted by astronomy. She affirmed that a universal deluge had covered + the earth; that the only surviving animals were such as had been saved in + an ark. In this her error was established by geology. She taught that + there was a first man, who, some six or eight thousand years ago, was + suddenly created or called into existence in a condition of physical and + moral perfection, and from that condition he fell. But anthropology has + shown that human beings existed far back in geological time, and in a + savage state but little better than that of the brute. + </p> + <p> + Many good and well-meaning men have attempted to reconcile the statements + of Genesis with the discoveries of science, but it is in vain. The + divergence has increased so much, that it has become an absolute + opposition. One of the antagonists must give way. + </p> + <p> + May we not, then, be permitted to examine the authenticity of this book, + which, since the second century, has been put forth as the criterion of + scientific truth? To maintain itself in a position so exalted, it must + challenge human criticism. + </p> + <p> + In the early Christian ages, many of the most eminent Fathers of the + Church had serious doubts respecting the authorship of the entire + Pentateuch. I have not space, in the limited compass of these pages, to + present in detail the facts and arguments that were then and have since + been adduced. The literature of the subject is now very extensive. I may, + however, refer the reader to the work of the pious and learned Dean + Prideaux, on "The Old and New Testament connected," a work which is one of + the literary ornaments of the last century. He will also find the subject + more recently and exhaustively discussed by Bishop Colenso. The following + paragraphs will convey a sufficiently distinct impression of the present + state of the controversy: + </p> + <p> + The Pentateuch is affirmed to have been written by Moses, under the + influence of divine inspiration. Considered thus, as a record vouchsafed + and dictated by the Almighty, it commands not only scientific but + universal consent. + </p> + <p> + But here, in the first place, it may be demanded, Who or what is it that + has put forth this great claim in its behalf? + </p> + <p> + Not the work itself. It nowhere claims the authorship of one man, or makes + the impious declaration that it is the writing of Almighty God. + </p> + <p> + Not until after the second century was there any such extravagant demand + on human credulity. It originated, not among the higher ranks of Christian + philosophers, but among the more fervid Fathers of the Church, whose own + writings prove them to have been unlearned and uncritical persons. + </p> + <p> + Every age, from the second century to our times, has offered men of great + ability, both Christian and Jewish, who have altogether repudiated these + claims. Their decision has been founded upon the intrinsic evidence of the + books themselves. These furnish plain indications of at least two distinct + authors, who have been respectively termed Elohistic and Jehovistic. + Hupfeld maintains that the Jehovistic narrative bears marks of having been + a second original record, wholly independent of the Elohistic. The two + sources from which the narratives have been derived are, in many respects, + contradictory of each other. Moreover, it is asserted that the books of + the Pentateuch are never ascribed to Moses in the inscriptions of Hebrew + manuscripts, or in printed copies of the Hebrew Bible, nor are they styled + "Books of Moses" in the Septuagint or Vulgate, but only in modern + translations. + </p> + <p> + It is clear that they cannot be imputed to the sole authorship of Moses, + since they record his death. It is clear that they were not written until + many hundred years after that event, since they contain references to + facts which did not occur until after the establishment of the government + of kings among the Jews. + </p> + <p> + No man may dare to impute them to the inspiration of Almighty God—their + inconsistencies, incongruities, contradictions, and impossibilities, as + exposed by many learned and pious moderns, both German and English, are so + great. It is the decision of these critics that Genesis is a narrative + based upon legends; that Exodus is not historically true; that the whole + Pentateuch is unhistoric and non-Mosaic; it contains the most + extraordinary contradictions and impossibilities, sufficient to involve + the credibility of the whole—imperfections so many and so + conspicuous that they would destroy the authenticity of any modern + historical work. + </p> + <p> + Hengstenberg, in his "Dissertations on the Genuineness of the Pentateuch," + says: "It is the unavoidable fate of a spurious historical work of any + length to be involved in contradictions. This must be the case to a very + great extent with the Pentateuch, if it be not genuine. If the Pentateuch + is spurious, its histories and laws have been fabricated in successive + portions, and were committed to writing in the course of many centuries by + different individuals. From such a mode of origination, a mass of + contradictions is inseparable, and the improving hand of a later editor + could never be capable of entirely obliterating them." + </p> + <p> + To the above conclusions I may add that we are expressly told by Ezra + (Esdras ii. 14) that he himself, aided by five other persons, wrote these + books in the space of forty days. He says that at the time of the + Babylonian captivity the ancient sacred writings of the Jews were burnt, + and gives a particular detail of the circumstances under which these were + composed. He sets forth that he undertook to write all that had been done + in the world since the beginning. It may be said that the books of Esdras + are apocryphal, but in return it may be demanded, Has that conclusion been + reached on evidence that will withstand modern criticism? In the early + ages of Christianity, when the story of the fall of man was not considered + as essential to the Christian system, and the doctrine of the atonement + had not attained that precision which Anselm eventually gave it, it was + very generally admitted by the Fathers of the Church that Ezra probably + did so compose the Pentateuch. Thus St. Jerome says, "Sive Mosem dicere + volueris auctorem Pentateuchi, sive Esdram ejusdem instauratorem operis, + non recuso." Clemens Alexandrinus says that when these books had been + destroyed in the captivity of Nebuchadnezzar, Esdras, having become + inspired prophetically, reproduced them. Irenaeus says the same. + </p> + <p> + The incidents contained in Genesis, from the first to the tenth chapters + inclusive (chapters which, in their bearing upon science, are of more + importance than other portions of the Pentateuch), have been obviously + compiled from short, fragmentary legends of various authorship. To the + critical eye they all, however, present peculiarities which demonstrate + that they were written on the banks of the Euphrates, and not in the + Desert of Arabia. They contain many Chaldaisms. An Egyptian would not + speak of the Mediterranean Sea as being west of him, an Assyrian would. + Their scenery and machinery, if such expressions may with propriety be + used, are altogether Assyrian, not Egyptian. They were such records as one + might expect to meet with in the cuneiform impressions of the tile + libraries of the Mesopotamian kings. It is affirmed that one such legend, + that of the Deluge, has already been exhumed, and it is not beyond the + bounds of probability that the remainder may in like manner be obtained. + </p> + <p> + From such Assyrian sources, the legends of the creation of the earth and + heaven, the garden of Eden, the making of man from clay, and of woman from + one of his ribs, the temptation by the serpent, the naming of animals, the + cherubim and flaming sword, the Deluge and the ark, the drying up of the + waters by the wind, the building of the Tower of Babel, and the confusion + of tongues, were obtained by Ezra. He commences abruptly the proper + history of the Jews in the eleventh chapter. At that point his universal + history ceases; he occupies himself with the story of one family, the + descendants of Shem. + </p> + <p> + It is of this restriction that the Duke of Argyll, in his book on + "Primeval Man," very graphically says: + </p> + <p> + In the genealogy of the family of Shem we have a list of names which are + names, and nothing more to us. It is a genealogy which neither does, nor + pretends to do, more than to trace the order of succession among a few + families only, out of the millions then already existing in the world. + Nothing but this order of succession is given, nor is it at all certain + that this order is consecutive or complete. Nothing is told us of all that + lay behind that curtain of thick darkness, in front of which these names + are made to pass; and yet there are, as it were, momentary liftings, + through which we have glimpses of great movements which were going on, and + had been long going on beyond. No shapes are distinctly seen. Even the + direction of those movements can only be guessed. But voices are heard + which are "as the voices of many waters." I agree in the opinion of + Hupfeld, that "the discovery that the Pentateuch is put together out of + various sources, or original documents, is beyond all doubt not only one + of the most important and most pregnant with consequences for the + interpretation of the historical books of the Old Testament, or rather for + the whole of theology and history, but it is also one of the most certain + discoveries which have been made in the domain of criticism and the + history of literature. Whatever the anticritical party may bring forward + to the contrary, it will maintain itself, and not retrograde again through + any thing, so long as there exists such a thing as criticism; and it will + not be easy for a reader upon the stage of culture on which we stand in + the present day, if he goes to the examination unprejudiced, and with an + uncorrupted power of appreciating the truth, to be able to ward off its + influence." + </p> + <p> + What then? shall we give up these books? Does not the admission that the + narrative of the fall in Eden is legendary carry with it the surrender of + that most solemn and sacred of Christian doctrines, the atonement? + </p> + <p> + Let us reflect on this! Christianity, in its earliest days, when it was + converting and conquering the world, knew little or nothing about that + doctrine. We have seen that, in his "Apology," Tertullian did not think it + worth his while to mention it. It originated among the Gnostic heretics. + It was not admitted by the Alexandrian theological school. It was never + prominently advanced by the Fathers. It was not brought into its present + commanding position until the time of Anselm Philo Judaeus speaks of the + story of the fall as symbolical; Origen regarded it as an allegory. + Perhaps some of the Protestant churches may, with reason, be accused of + inconsistency, since in part they consider it as mythical, in part real. + But, if, with them, we admit that the serpent is symbolical of Satan, does + not that cast an air of allegory over the whole narrative? + </p> + <p> + It is to be regretted that the Christian Church has burdened itself with + the defense of these books, and voluntarily made itself answerable for + their manifest contradictions and errors. Their vindication, if it were + possible, should have been resigned to the Jews, among whom they + originated, and by whom they have been transmitted to us. Still more, it + is to be deeply regretted that the Pentateuch, a production so imperfect + as to be unable to stand the touch of modern criticism, should be put + forth as the arbiter of science. Let it be remembered that the exposure of + the true character of these books has been made, not by captious enemies, + but by pious and learned churchmen, some of them of the highest dignity. + </p> + <p> + While thus the Protestant churches have insisted on the acknowledgment of + the Scriptures as the criterion of truth, the Catholic has, in our own + times, declared the infallibility of the pope. It may be said that this + infallibility applies only to moral or religious things; but where shall + the line of separation be drawn? Onmiscience cannot be limited to a + restricted group of questions; in its very nature it implies the knowledge + of all, and infallibility means omniscience. + </p> + <p> + Doubtless, if the fundamental principles of Italian Christianity be + admitted, their logical issue is an infallible pope. There is no need to + dwell on the unphilosophical nature of this conception; it is destroyed by + an examination of the political history of the papacy, and the biography + of the popes. The former exhibits all the errors and mistakes to which + institutions of a confessedly human character have been found liable; the + latter is only too frequently a story of sin and shame. + </p> + <p> + It was not possible that the authoritative promulgation of the dogma of + papal infallibility should meet among enlightened Catholics universal + acceptance. Serious and wide-spread dissent has been produced. A doctrine + so revolting to common-sense could not find any other result. There are + many who affirm that, if infallibility exists anywhere, it is in + oecumenical councils, and yet such councils have not always agreed with + each other. There are also many who remember that councils have deposed + popes, and have passed judgment on their clamors and contentions. Not + without reason do Protestants demand, What proof can be given that + infallibility exists in the Church at all? what proof is there that the + Church has ever been fairly or justly represented in any council? and why + should the truth be ascertained by the vote of a majority rather than by + that of a minority? How often it has happened that one man, standing at + the right point of view, has descried the truth, and, after having been + denounced and persecuted by all others, they have eventually been + constrained to adopt his declarations! Of many great discoveries, has not + this been the history? + </p> + <p> + It is not for Science to compose these contesting claims; it is not for + her to determine whether the criterion of truth for the religious man + shall be found in the Bible, or in the oecumenical council, or in the + pope. She only asks the right, which she so willingly accords to others, + of adopting a criterion of her own. If she regards unhistorical legends + with disdain; if she considers the vote of a majority in the ascertainment + of truth with supreme indifference; if she leaves the claim of + infallibility in any human being to be vindicated by the stern logic of + coming events—the cold impassiveness which in these matters she + maintains is what she displays toward her own doctrines. Without + hesitation she would give up the theories of gravitation or undulations, + if she found that they were irreconcilable with facts. For her the volume + of inspiration is the book of Nature, of which the open scroll is ever + spread forth before the eyes of every man. Confronting all, it needs no + societies for its dissemination. Infinite in extent, eternal in duration, + human ambition and human fanaticism have never been able to tamper with + it. On the earth it is illustrated by all that is magnificent and + beautiful, on the heavens its letters are suns and worlds. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IX. + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + CONTROVERSY RESPECTING THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNIVERSE. + + There are two conceptions of the government of the world: 1. + By Providence; 2. By Law.—The former maintained by the + priesthood.—Sketch of the introduction of the latter. + + Kepler discovers the laws that preside over the solar + system.—His works are denounced by papal authority.—The + foundations of mechanical philosophy are laid by Da Vinci.— + Galileo discovers the fundamental laws of Dynamics.—Newton + applies them to the movements of the celestial bodies, and + shows that the solar system is governed by mathematical + necessity.—Herschel extends that conclusion to the + universe.—The nebular hypothesis.—Theological exceptions + to it. + + Evidences of the control of law in the construction of the + earth, and in the development of the animal and plant + series.—They arose by Evolution, not by Creation. + + The reign of law is exhibited by the historic career of + human societies, and in the case of individual man. + + Partial adoption of this view by some of the Reformed + Churches. +</pre> + <p> + Two interpretations may be given of the mode of government of the world. + It may be by incessant divine interventions, or by the operation of + unvarying law. + </p> + <p> + To the adoption of the former a priesthood will always incline, since it + must desire to be considered as standing between the prayer of the votary + and the providential act. Its importance is magnified by the power it + claims of determining what that act shall be. In the pre Christian (Roman) + religion, the grand office of the priesthood was the discovery of future + events by oracles, omens, or an inspection of the entrails of animals, and + by the offering of sacrifices to propitiate the gods. In the later, the + Christian times, a higher power was claimed; the clergy asserting that, by + their intercessions, they could regulate the course of affairs, avert + dangers, secure benefits, work miracles, and even change the order of + Nature. + </p> + <p> + Not without reason, therefore, did they look upon the doctrine of + government by unvarying law with disfavor. It seemed to depreciate their + dignity, to lessen their importance. To them there was something shocking + in a God who cannot be swayed by human entreaty, a cold, passionless + divinity—something frightful in fatalism, destiny. + </p> + <p> + But the orderly movement of the heavens could not fail in all ages to make + a deep impression on thoughtful observers—the rising and setting of + the sun; the increasing or diminishing light of the day; the waxing and + waning of the moon; the return of the seasons in their proper courses; the + measured march of the wandering planets in the sky—what are all + these, and a thousand such, but manifestations of an orderly and + unchanging procession of events? The faith of early observers in this + interpretation may perhaps have been shaken by the occurrence of such a + phenomenon as an eclipse, a sudden and mysterious breach of the ordinary + course of natural events; but it would be resumed in tenfold strength as + soon as the discovery was made that eclipses themselves recur, and may be + predicted. + </p> + <p> + Astronomical predictions of all kinds depend upon the admission of this + fact—that there never has been and never will be any intervention in + the operation of natural laws. The scientific philosopher affirms that the + condition of the world at any given moment is the direct result of its + condition in the preceding moment, and the direct cause of its condition + in the subsequent moment. Law and chance are only different names for + mechanical necessity. + </p> + <p> + About fifty years after the death of Copernicus, John Kepler, a native of + Wurtemberg, who had adopted the heliocentric theory, and who was deeply + impressed with the belief that relationships exist in the revolutions of + the planetary bodies round the sun, and that these if correctly examined + would reveal the laws under which those movements take place, devoted + himself to the study of the distances, times, and velocities of the + planets, and the form of their orbits. His method was, to submit the + observations to which he had access, such as those of Tycho Brahe, to + computations based first on one and then on another hypothesis, rejecting + the hypothesis if he found that the calculations did not accord with the + observations. The incredible labor he had undergone (he says, "I + considered, and I computed, until I almost went mad") was at length + rewarded, and in 1609 he published his book, "On the Motions of the Planet + Mars." In this he had attempted to reconcile the movements of that planet + to the hypothesis of eccentrics and epicycles, but eventually discovered + that the orbit of a planet is not a circle but an ellipse, the sun being + in one of the foci, and that the areas swept over by a line drawn from the + planet to the sun are proportional to the times. These constitute what are + now known as the first and second laws of Kepler. Eight years + subsequently, he was rewarded by the discovery of a third law, defining + the relation between the mean distances of the planets from the sun and + the times of their revolutions; "the squares of the periodic times are + proportional to the cubes of the distances." In "An Epitome of the + Copernican System," published in 1618, he announced this law, and showed + that it holds good for the satellites of Jupiter as regards their primary. + Hence it was inferred that the laws which preside over the grand movements + of the solar system preside also over the less movements of its + constituent parts. + </p> + <p> + The conception of law which is unmistakably conveyed by Kepler's + discoveries, and the evidence they gave in support of the heliocentric as + against the geocentric theory, could not fail to incur the reprehension of + the Roman authorities. The congregation of the Index, therefore, when they + denounced the Copernican system as utterly contrary to the Holy + Scriptures, prohibited Kepler's "Epitome" of that system. It was on this + occasion that Kepler submitted his celebrated remonstrance: "Eighty years + have elapsed during which the doctrines of Copernicus regarding the + movement of the earth and the immobility of the sun have been promulgated + without hinderance, because it was deemed allowable to dispute concerning + natural things, and to elucidate the works of God, and now that new + testimony is discovered in proof of the truth of those doctrines—testimony + which was not known to the spiritual judges—ye would prohibit the + promulgation of the true system of the structure of the universe." + </p> + <p> + None of Kepler's contemporaries believed the law of the areas, nor was it + accepted until the publication of the "Principia" of Newton. In fact, no + one in those times understood the philosophical meaning of Kepler's laws. + He himself did not foresee what they must inevitably lead to. His mistakes + showed how far he was from perceiving their result. Thus he thought that + each planet is the seat of an intelligent principle, and that there is a + relation between the magnitudes of the orbits of the five principal + planets and the five regular solids of geometry. At first he inclined to + believe that the orbit of Mars is oval, nor was it until after a wearisome + study that he detected the grand truth, its elliptical form. An idea of + the incorruptibility of the celestial objects had led to the adoption of + the Aristotelian doctrine of the perfection of circular motions, and to + the belief that there were none but circular motions in the heavens. He + bitterly complains of this as having been a fatal "thief of his time." His + philosophical daring is illustrated in his breaking through this + time-honored tradition. + </p> + <p> + In some most important particulars Kepler anticipated Newton. He was the + first to give clear ideas respecting gravity. He says every particle of + matter will rest until it is disturbed by some other particle—that + the earth attracts a stone more than the stone attracts the earth, and + that bodies move to each other in proportion to their masses; that the + earth would ascend to the moon one-fifty-fourth of the distance, and the + moon would move toward the earth the other fifty-three. He affirms that + the moon's attraction causes the tides, and that the planets must impress + irregularities on the moon's motions. + </p> + <p> + The progress of astronomy is obviously divisible into three periods: + </p> + <p> + 1. The period of observation of the apparent motions of the heavenly + bodies. + </p> + <p> + 2. The period of discovery of their real motions, and particularly of the + laws of the planetary revolutions; this was signally illustrated by + Copernicus and Kepler. + </p> + <p> + 3. The period of the ascertainment of the causes of those laws. It was the + epoch of Newton. + </p> + <p> + The passage of the second into the third period depended on the + development of the Dynamical branch of mechanics, which had been in a + stagnant condition from the time of Archimedes or the Alexandrian School. + </p> + <p> + In Christian Europe there had not been a cultivator of mechanical + philosophy until Leonardo da Vinci, who was born A.D. 1452. To him, and + not to Lord Bacon, must be attributed the renaissance of science. Bacon + was not only ignorant of mathematics, but depreciated its application to + physical inquiries. He contemptuously rejected the Copernican system, + alleging absurd objections to it. While Galileo was on the brink of his + great telescopic discoveries, Bacon was publishing doubts as to the + utility of instruments in scientific investigations. To ascribe the + inductive method to him is to ignore history. His fanciful philosophical + suggestions have never been of the slightest practical use. No one has + ever thought of employing them. Except among English readers, his name is + almost unknown. + </p> + <p> + To Da Vinci I shall have occasion to allude more particularly on a + subsequent page. Of his works still remaining in manuscript, two volumes + are at Milan, and one in Paris, carried there by Napoleon. After an + interval of about seventy years, Da Vinci was followed by the Dutch + engineer, Stevinus, whose work on the principles of equilibrium was + published in 1586. Six years afterward appeared Galileo's treatise on + mechanics. + </p> + <p> + To this great Italian is due the establishment of the three fundamental + laws of dynamics, known as the Laws of Motion. + </p> + <p> + The consequences of the establishment of these laws were very important. + </p> + <p> + It had been supposed that continuous movements, such, for instance, as + those of the celestial bodies, could only be maintained by a perpetual + consumption and perpetual application of force, but the first of Galileo's + laws declared that every body will persevere in its state of rest, or of + uniform motion in a right line, until it is compelled to change that state + by disturbing forces. A clear perception of this fundamental principle is + essential to a comprehension of the elementary facts of physical + astronomy. Since all the motions that we witness taking place on the + surface of the earth soon come to an end, we are led to infer that rest is + the natural condition of things. We have made, then, a very great advance + when we have become satisfied that a body is equally indifferent to rest + as to motion, and that it equally perseveres in either state until + disturbing forces are applied. Such disturbing forces in the case of + common movements are friction and the resistance of the air. When no such + resistances exist, movement must be perpetual, as is the case with the + heavenly bodies, which are moving in a void. + </p> + <p> + Forces, no matter what their difference of magnitude may be, will exert + their full influence conjointly, each as though the other did not exist. + Thus, when a ball is suffered to drop from the mouth of a cannon, it falls + to the ground in a certain interval of time through the influence of + gravity upon it. If, then, it be fired from the cannon, though now it may + be projected some thousands of feet in a second, the effect of gravity + upon it will be precisely the same as before. In the intermingling of + forces there is no deterioration; each produces its own specific effect. + </p> + <p> + In the latter half of the seventeenth century, through the works of + Borelli, Hooke, and Huyghens, it had become plain that circular motions + could be accounted for by the laws of Galileo. Borelli, treating of the + motions of Jupiter's satellites, shows how a circular movement may arise + under the influence of a central force. Hooke exhibited the inflection of + a direct motion into a circular by a supervening central attraction. + </p> + <p> + The year 1687 presents, not only an epoch in European science, but also in + the intellectual development of man. It is marked by the publication of + the "Principia" of Newton, an incomparable, an immortal work. + </p> + <p> + On the principle that all bodies attract each other with forces directly + as their masses, and inversely as the squares of their distances, Newton + showed that all the movements of the celestial bodies may be accounted + for, and that Kepler's laws might all have been predicted—the + elliptic motions—the described areas the relation of the times and + distances. As we have seen, Newton's contemporaries had perceived how + circular motions could be explained; that was a special case, but Newton + furnished the solution of the general problem, containing all special + cases of motion in circles, ellipses, parabolas, hyperbolas—that is, + in all the conic sections. + </p> + <p> + The Alexandrian mathematicians had shown that the direction of movement of + falling bodies is toward the centre of the earth. Newton proved that this + must necessarily be the case, the general effect of the attraction of all + the particles of a sphere being the same as if they were all concentrated + in its centre. To this central force, thus determining the fall of bodies, + the designation of gravity was given. Up to this time, no one, except + Kepler, had considered how far its influence reached. It seemed to Newton + possible that it might extend as far as the moon, and be the force that + deflects her from a rectilinear path, and makes her revolve in her orbit + round the earth. It was easy to compute, on the principle of the law of + inverse squares, whether the earth's attraction was sufficient to produce + the observed effect. Employing the measures of the size of the earth + accessible at the time, Newton found that the moon's deflection was only + thirteen feet in a minute; whereas, if his hypothesis of gravitation were + true, it should be fifteen feet. But in 1669 Picard, as we have seen, + executed the measurement of a degree more carefully than had previously + been done; this changed the estimate of the magnitude of the earth, and, + therefore, of the distance of the moon; and, Newton's attention having + been directed to it by some discussions that took place at the Royal + Society in 1679, he obtained Picard's results, went home, took out his old + papers, and resumed his calculations. As they drew to a close, he became + so much agitated that he was obliged to desire a friend to finish them. + The expected coincidence was established. It was proved that the moon is + retained in her orbit and made to revolve round the earth by the force of + terrestrial gravity. The genii of Kepler had given place to the vortices + of Descartes, and these in their turn to the central force of Newton. + </p> + <p> + In like manner the earth, and each of the planets, are made to move in an + elliptic orbit round the sun by his attractive force, and perturbations + arise by reason of the disturbing action of the planetary masses on one + another. Knowing the masses and the distances, these disturbances may be + computed. Later astronomers have even succeeded with the inverse problem, + that is, knowing the perturbations or disturbances, to find the place and + the mass of the disturbing body. Thus, from the deviations of Uranus from + his theoretical position, the discovery of Neptune was accomplished. + </p> + <p> + Newton's merit consisted in this, that he applied the laws of dynamics to + the movements of the celestial bodies, and insisted that scientific + theories must be substantiated by the agreement of observations with + calculations. + </p> + <p> + When Kepler announced his three laws, they were received with condemnation + by the spiritual authorities, not because of any error they were supposed + to present or to contain, but partly because they gave support to the + Copernican system, and partly because it was judged inexpedient to admit + the prevalence of law of any kind as opposed to providential intervention. + The world was regarded as the theatre in which the divine will was daily + displayed; it was considered derogatory to the majesty of God that that + will should be fettered in any way. The power of the clergy was chiefly + manifested in the influence the were alleged to possess in changing his + arbitrary determinations. It was thus that they could abate the baleful + action of comets, secure fine weather or rain, prevent eclipses, and, + arresting the course of Nature, work all manner of miracles; it was thus + that the shadow had been made to go back on the dial, and the sun and the + moon stopped in mid-career. + </p> + <p> + In the century preceding the epoch of Newton, a great religious and + political revolution had taken place—the Reformation. Though its + effect had not been the securing of complete liberty for thought, it had + weakened many of the old ecclesiastical bonds. In the reformed countries + there was no power to express a condemnation of Newton's works, and among + the clergy there was no disposition to give themselves any concern about + the matter. At first the attention of the Protestant was engrossed by the + movements of his great enemy the Catholic, and when that source of + disquietude ceased, and the inevitable partitions of the Reformation + arose, that attention was fastened upon the rival and antagonistic + Churches. The Lutheran, the Calvinist, the Episcopalian, the Presbyterian, + had something more urgent on hand than Newton's mathematical + demonstrations. + </p> + <p> + So, uncondemned, and indeed unobserved, in this clamor of fighting sects, + Newton's grand theory solidly established itself. Its philosophical + significance was infinitely more momentous than the dogmas that these + persons were quarreling about. It not only accepted the heliocentric + theory and the laws discovered by Kepler, but it proved that, no matter + what might be the weight of opposing ecclesiastical authority, the sun + MUST be the centre of our system, and that Kepler's laws are the result of + a mathematical necessity. It is impossible that they should be other than + they are. + </p> + <p> + But what is the meaning of all this? Plainly that the solar system is not + interrupted by providential interventions, but is under the government of + irreversible law—law that is itself the issue of mathematical + necessity. + </p> + <p> + The telescopic observations of Herschel I. satisfied him that there are + very many double stars—double not merely because they are + accidentally in the same line of view, but because they are connected + physically, revolving round each other. These observations were continued + and greatly extended by Herschel II. The elements of the elliptic orbit of + the double star zeta of the Great Bear were determined by Savary, its + period being fifty-eight and one-quarter years; those of another, sigma + Coronae, were determined by Hind, its period being more than seven hundred + and thirty-six years. The orbital movement of these double suns in + ellipses compels us to admit that the law of gravitation holds good far + beyond the boundaries of the solar system; indeed, as far as the telescope + can reach, it demonstrates the reign of law. D'Alembert, in the + Introduction to the Encyclopaedia, says: "The universe is but a single + fact; it is only one great truth." + </p> + <p> + Shall we, then, conclude that the solar and the starry systems have been + called into existence by God, and that he has then imposed upon them by + his arbitrary will laws under the control of which it was his pleasure + that their movements should be made? + </p> + <p> + Or are there reasons for believing that these several systems came into + existence not by such an arbitrary fiat, but through the operation of law? + </p> + <p> + The following are some peculiarities displayed by the solar system as + enumerated by Laplace. All the planets and their satellites move in + ellipses of such small eccentricity that they are nearly circles. All the + planets move in the same direction and nearly in the same plane. The + movements of the satellites are in the same direction as those of the + planets. The movements of rotation of the sun, of the planets, and the + satellites, are in the same direction as their orbital motions, and in + planes little different. + </p> + <p> + It is impossible that so many coincidences could be the result of chance! + Is it not plain that there must have been a common tie among all these + bodies, that they are only parts of what must once have been a single + mass? + </p> + <p> + But if we admit that the substance of which the solar system consists once + existed in a nebulous condition, and was in rotation, all the above + peculiarities follow as necessary mechanical consequences. Nay, more, the + formation of planets, the formation of satellites and of asteroids, is + accounted for. We see why the outer planets and satellites are larger than + the interior ones; why the larger planets rotate rapidly, and the small + ones slowly; why of the satellites the outer planets have more, the inner + fewer. We are furnished with indications of the time of revolution of the + planets in their orbits, and of the satellites in theirs; we perceive the + mode of formation of Saturn's rings. We find an explanation of the + physical condition of the sun, and the transitions of condition through + which the earth and moon have passed, as indicated by their geology. + </p> + <p> + But two exceptions to the above peculiarities have been noted; they are in + the cases of Uranus and Neptune. + </p> + <p> + The existence of such a nebulous mass once admitted, all the rest follows + as a matter of necessity. Is there not, however, a most serious objection + in the way? Is not this to exclude Almighty God from the worlds he has + made? + </p> + <p> + First, we must be satisfied whether there is any solid evidence for + admitting the existence of such a nebulous mass. + </p> + <p> + The nebular hypothesis rests primarily on the telescopic discovery made by + Herschel I., that there are scattered here and there in the heavens pale, + gleaming patches of light, a few of which are large enough to be visible + to the naked eye. Of these, many may be resolved by a sufficient + telescopic power into a congeries of stars, but some, such as the great + nebula in Orion, have resisted the best instruments hitherto made. + </p> + <p> + It was asserted by those who were indisposed to accept the nebular + hypothesis, that the non-resolution was due to imperfection in the + telescopes used. In these instruments two distinct functions may be + observed: their light-gathering power depends on the diameter of their + object mirror or lens, their defining power depends on the exquisite + correctness of their optical surfaces. Grand instruments may possess the + former quality in perfection by reason of their size, but the latter very + imperfectly, either through want of original configuration, or distortion + arising from flexure through their own weight. But, unless an instrument + be perfect in this respect, as well as adequate in the other, it may fail + to decompose a nebula into discrete points. + </p> + <p> + Fortunately, however, other means for the settlement of this question are + available. In 1846, it was discovered by the author of this book that the + spectrum of an ignited solid is continuous—that is, has neither dark + nor bright lines. Fraunhofer had previously made known that the spectrum + of ignited gases is discontinuous. Here, then, is the means of determining + whether the light emitted by a given nebula comes from an incandescent + gas, or from a congeries of ignited solids, stars, or suns. If its + spectrum be discontinuous, it is a true nebula or gas; if continuous, a + congeries of stars. + </p> + <p> + In 1864, Mr. Huggins made this examination in the case of a nebula in the + constellation Draco. It proved to be gaseous. + </p> + <p> + Subsequent observations have shown that, of sixty nebulae examined, + nineteen give discontinuous or gaseous spectra—the remainder + continuous ones. + </p> + <p> + It may, therefore, be admitted that physical evidence has at length been + obtained, demonstrating the existence of vast masses of matter in a + gaseous condition, and at a temperature of incandescence. The hypothesis + of Laplace has thus a firm basis. In such a nebular mass, cooling by + radiation is a necessary incident, and condensation and rotation the + inevitable results. There must be a separation of rings all lying in one + plane, a generation of planets and satellites all rotating alike, a + central sun and engirdling globes. From a chaotic mass, through the + operation of natural laws, an organized system has been produced. An + integration of matter into worlds has taken place through a decline of + heat. + </p> + <p> + If such be the cosmogony of the solar system, such the genesis of the + planetary worlds, we are constrained to extend our views of the dominion + of law, and to recognize its agency in the creation as well as in the + conservation of the innumerable orbs that throng the universe. + </p> + <p> + But, again, it may be asked: "Is there not something profoundly impious in + this? Are we not excluding Almighty God from the world he has made?" + </p> + <p> + We have often witnessed the formation of a cloud in a serene sky. A hazy + point, barely perceptible—a little wreath of mist—increases in + volume, and becomes darker and denser, until it obscures a large portion + of the heavens. It throws itself into fantastic shapes, it gathers a glory + from the sun, is borne onward by the wind, and, perhaps, as it gradually + came, so it gradually disappears, melting away in the untroubled air. + </p> + <p> + Now, we say that the little vesicles of which this cloud was composed + arose from the condensation of water-vapor preexisting in the atmosphere, + through reduction of temperature; we show how they assumed the form they + present. We assign optical reasons for the brightness or blackness of the + cloud; we explain, on mechanical principles, its drifting before the wind; + for its disappearance we account on the principles of chemistry. It never + occurs to us to invoke the interposition of the Almighty in the production + and fashioning of this fugitive form. We explain all the facts connected + with it by physical laws, and perhaps should reverentially hesitate to + call into operation the finger of God. + </p> + <p> + But the universe is nothing more than such a cloud—a cloud of suns + and worlds. Supremely grand though it may seem to us, to the Infinite and + Eternal Intellect it is no more than a fleeting mist. If there be a + multiplicity of worlds in infinite space, there is also a succession of + worlds in infinite time. As one after another cloud replaces cloud in the + skies, so this starry system, the universe, is the successor of countless + others that have preceded it—the predecessor of countless others + that will follow. There is an unceasing metamorphosis, a sequence of + events, without beginning or end. + </p> + <p> + If, on physical principles, we account for minor meteorological incidents, + mists and clouds, is it not permissible for us to appeal to the same + principle in the origin of world-systems and universes, which are only + clouds on a space-scale somewhat larger, mists on a time-scale somewhat + less transient? Can any man place the line which bounds the physical on + one side, the supernatural on the other? Do not our estimates of the + extent and the duration of things depend altogether on our point of view? + Were we set in the midst of the great nebula of Orion, how transcendently + magnificent the scene! The vast transformations, the condensations of a + fiery mist into worlds, might seem worthy of the immediate presence, the + supervision of God; here, at our distant station, where millions of miles + are inappreciable to our eyes, and suns seem no bigger than motes in the + air, that nebula is more insignificant than the faintest cloud. Galileo, + in his description of the constellation of Orion, did not think it worth + while so much as to mention it. The most rigorous theologian of those days + would have seen nothing to blame in imputing its origin to secondary + causes, nothing irreligious in failing to invoke the arbitrary + interference of God in its metamorphoses. If such be the conclusion to + which we come respecting it, what would be the conclusion to which an + Intelligence seated in it might come respecting us? It occupies an extent + of space millions of times greater than that of our solar system; we are + invisible from it, and therefore absolutely insignificant. Would such an + Intelligence think it necessary to require for our origin and maintenance + the immediate intervention of God? + </p> + <p> + From the solar system let us descend to what is still more insignificant—a + little portion of it; let us descend to our own earth. In the lapse of + time it has experienced great changes. Have these been due to incessant + divine interventions, or to the continuous operation of unfailing law? The + aspect of Nature perpetually varies under our eyes, still more grandly and + strikingly has it altered in geological times. But the laws guiding those + changes never exhibit the slightest variation. In the midst of immense + vicissitudes they are immutable. The present order of things is only a + link in a vast connected chain reaching back to an incalculable past, and + forward to an infinite future. + </p> + <p> + There is evidence, geological and astronomical, that the temperature of + the earth and her satellite was in the remote past very much higher than + it is now. A decline so slow as to be imperceptible at short intervals, + but manifest enough in the course of many ages, has occurred. The heat has + been lost by radiation into space. + </p> + <p> + The cooling of a mass of any kind, no matter whether large or small, is + not discontinuous; it does not go on by fits and starts; it takes place + under the operation of a mathematical law, though for such mighty changes + as are here contemplated neither the formula of Newton, nor that of Dulong + and Petit, may apply. It signifies nothing that periods of partial + decline, glacial periods, or others of temporary elevation, have been + intercalated; it signifies nothing whether these variations may have + arisen from topographical variations, as those of level, or from + periodicities in the radiation of the sun. A periodical sun would act as a + mere perturbation in the gradual decline of heat. The perturbations of the + planetary motions are a confirmation, not a disproof, of gravity. + </p> + <p> + Now, such a decline of temperature must have been attended by innumerable + changes of a physical character in our globe. Her dimensions must have + diminished through contraction, the length of her day must have lessened, + her surface must have collapsed, and fractures taken place along the lines + of least resistance; the density of the sea must have increased, its + volume must have become less; the constitution of the atmosphere must have + varied, especially in the amount of water-vapor and carbonic acid that it + contained; the barometric pressure must have declined. + </p> + <p> + These changes, and very many more that might be mentioned, must have taken + place not in a discontinuous but in an orderly manner, since the + master-fact, the decline of heat, that was causing them, was itself + following a mathematical law. + </p> + <p> + But not alone did lifeless Nature submit to these inevitable mutations; + living Nature was also simultaneously affected. + </p> + <p> + An organic form of any kind, vegetable or animal, will remain unchanged + only so long as the environment in which it is placed remains unchanged. + Should an alteration in the environment occur, the organism will either be + modified or destroyed. + </p> + <p> + Destruction is more likely to happen as the change in the environment is + more sudden; modification or transformation is more possible as that + change is more gradual. + </p> + <p> + Since it is demonstrably certain that lifeless Nature has in the lapse of + ages undergone vast modifications; since the crust of the earth, and the + sea, and the atmosphere, are no longer such as they once were; since the + distribution of the land and the ocean and all manner of physical + conditions have varied; since there have been such grand changes in the + environment of living things on the surface of our planet—it + necessarily follows that organic Nature must have passed through + destructions and transformations in correspondence thereto. + </p> + <p> + That such extinctions, such modifications, have taken place, how copious, + how convincing, is the evidence! + </p> + <p> + Here, again, we must observe that, since the disturbing agency was itself + following a mathematical law, these its results must be considered as + following that law too. + </p> + <p> + Such considerations, then, plainly force upon us the conclusion that the + organic progress of the world has been guided by the operation of + immutable law—not determined by discontinuous, disconnected, + arbitrary interventions of God. They incline us to view favorably the idea + of transmutations of one form into another, rather than that of sudden + creations. + </p> + <p> + Creation implies an abrupt appearance, transformation a gradual change. + </p> + <p> + In this manner is presented to our contemplation the great theory of + Evolution. Every organic being has a place in a chain of events. It is not + an isolated, a capricious fact, but an unavoidable phenomenon. It has its + place in that vast, orderly concourse which has successively risen in the + past, has introduced the present, and is preparing the way for a + predestined future. From point to point in this vast progression there has + been a gradual, a definite, a continuous unfolding, a resistless order of + evolution. But in the midst of these mighty changes stand forth immutable + the laws that are dominating over all. + </p> + <p> + If we examine the introduction of any type of life in the animal series, + we find that it is in accordance with transformation, not with creation. + Its beginning is under an imperfect form in the midst of other forms, of + which the time is nearly complete, and which are passing into extinction. + By degrees, one species after another in succession more and more perfect + arises, until, after many ages, a culmination is reached. From that there + is, in like manner, a long, a gradual decline. + </p> + <p> + Thus, though the mammal type of life is the characteristic of the Tertiary + and post-Tertiary periods, it does not suddenly make its appearance + without premonition in those periods. Far back, in the Secondary, we find + it under imperfect forms, struggling, as it were, to make good a foothold. + At length it gains a predominance under higher and better models. + </p> + <p> + So, too, of reptiles, the characteristic type of life of the Secondary + period. As we see in a dissolving view, out of the fading outlines of a + scene that is passing away, the dim form of a new one emerging, which + gradually gains strength, reaches its culmination, and then melts away in + some other that is displacing it, so reptile-life doubtfully, appears, + reaches its culmination, and gradually declines. In all this there is + nothing abrupt; the changes shade into each other by insensible degrees. + </p> + <p> + How could it be otherwise? The hot-blooded animals could not exist in an + atmosphere so laden with carbonic acid as was that of the primitive times. + But the removal of that noxious ingredient from the air by the leaves of + plants under the influence of sunlight, the enveloping of its carbon in + the earth under the form of coal, the disengagement of its oxygen, + permitted their life. As the atmosphere was thus modified, the sea was + involved in the change; it surrendered a large part of its carbonic acid, + and the limestone hitherto held in solution by it was deposited in the + solid form. For every equivalent of carbon buried in the earth, there was + an equivalent of carbonate of lime separated from the sea—not + necessarily in an amorphous condition, most frequently under an organic + form. The sunshine kept up its work day by day, but there were demanded + myriads of days for the work to be completed. It was a slow passage from a + noxious to a purified atmosphere, and an equally slow passage from a + cold-blooded to a hot-blooded type of life. But the physical changes were + taking place under the control of law, and the organic transformations + were not sudden or arbitrary providential acts. They were the immediate, + the inevitable consequences of the physical changes, and therefore, like + them, the necessary issue of law. + </p> + <p> + For a more detailed consideration of this subject, I may refer the reader + to Chapters I, II., VII, of the second book of my "Treatise on Human + Physiology," published in 1856. + </p> + <p> + Is the world, then, governed by law or by providential interventions, + abruptly breaking the proper sequence of events? + </p> + <p> + To complete our view of this question, we turn finally to what, in one + sense, is the most insignificant, in another the most important, case that + can be considered. Do human societies, in their historic career, exhibit + the marks of a predetermined progress in an unavoidable track? Is there + any evidence that the life of nations is under the control of immutable + law? + </p> + <p> + May we conclude that, in society, as in the individual man, parts never + spring from nothing, but are evolved or developed from parts that are + already in existence? + </p> + <p> + If any one should object to or deride the doctrine of the evolution or + successive development of the animated forms which constitute that + unbroken organic chain reaching from the beginning of life on the globe to + the present times, let him reflect that he has himself passed through + modifications the counterpart of those he disputes. For nine months his + type of life was aquatic, and during that time he assumed, in succession, + many distinct but correlated forms. At birth his type of life became + aerial; he began respiring the atmospheric air; new elements of food were + supplied to him; the mode of his nutrition changed; but as yet he could + see nothing, hear nothing, notice nothing. By degrees conscious existence + was assumed; he became aware that there is an external world. In due time + organs adapted to another change of food, the teeth, appeared, and a + change of food ensued. He then passed through the stages of childhood and + youth, his bodily form developing, and with it his intellectual powers. At + about fifteen years, in consequence of the evolution which special parts + of his system had attained, his moral character changed. New ideas, new + passions, influenced him. And that that was the cause, and this the + effect, is demonstrated when, by the skill of the surgeon, those parts + have been interfered with. Nor does the development, the metamorphosis, + end here; it requires many years for the body to reach its full + perfection, many years for the mind. A culmination is at length reached, + and then there is a decline. I need not picture its mournful incidents—the + corporeal, the intellectual enfeeblement. Perhaps there is little + exaggeration in saying that in less than a century every human being on + the face of the globe, if not cut off in an untimely manner, has passed + through all these changes. + </p> + <p> + Is there for each of us a providential intervention as we thus pass from + stage to stage of life? or shall we not rather believe that the countless + myriads of human beings who have peopled the earth have been under the + guidance of an unchanging, a universal law? + </p> + <p> + But individuals are the elementary constituents of communities—nations. + They maintain therein a relation like that which the particles of the body + maintain to the body itself. These, introduced into it, commence and + complete their function; they die, and are dismissed. + </p> + <p> + Like the individual, the nation comes into existence without its own + knowledge, and dies without its own consent, often against its own will. + National life differs in no particular from individual, except in this, + that it is spread over a longer span, but no nation can escape its + inevitable term. Each, if its history be well considered, shows its time + of infancy, its time of youth, its time of maturity, its time of decline, + if its phases of life be completed. + </p> + <p> + In the phases of existence of all, so far as those phases are completed, + there are common characteristics, and, as like accordances in individuals + point out that all are living under a reign of law, we are justified in + inferring that the course of nations, and indeed the progress of humanity, + does not take place in a chance or random way, that supernatural + interventions never break the chain of historic acts, that every historic + event has its warrant in some preceding event, and gives warrant to others + that are to follow.. + </p> + <p> + But this conclusion is the essential principle of Stoicism—that + Grecian philosophical system which, as I have already said, offered a + support in their hour of trial and an unwavering guide in the vicissitudes + of life, not only to many illustrious Greeks, but also to some of the + great philosophers, statesmen, generals, and emperors of Rome; a system + which excluded chance from every thing, and asserted the direction of all + events by irresistible necessity, to the promotion of perfect good; a + system of earnestness, sternness, austerity, virtue—a protest in + favor of the common-sense of mankind. And perhaps we shall not dissent + from the remark of Montesquieu, who affirms that the destruction of the + Stoics was a great calamity to the human race; for they alone made great + citizens, great men. + </p> + <p> + To the principle of government by law, Latin Christianity, in its papal + form, is in absolute contradiction. The history of this branch of the + Christian Church is almost a diary of miracles and supernatural + interventions. These show that the supplications of holy men have often + arrested the course of Nature—if, indeed, there be any such course; + that images and pictures have worked wonders; that bones, hairs, and other + sacred relics, have wrought miracles. The criterion or proof of the + authenticity of many of these objects is, not an unchallengeable record of + their origin and history, but an exhibition of their miracle-working + powers. + </p> + <p> + Is not that a strange logic which finds proof of an asserted fact in an + inexplicable illustration of something else? + </p> + <p> + Even in the darkest ages intelligent Christian men must have had + misgivings as to these alleged providential or miraculous interventions. + There is a solemn grandeur in the orderly progress of Nature which + profoundly impresses us; and such is the character of continuity in the + events of our individual life that we instinctively doubt the occurrence + of the supernatural in that of our neighbor. The intelligent man knows + well that, for his personal behoof, the course of Nature has never been + checked; for him no miracle has ever been worked; he attributes justly + every event of his life to some antecedent event; this he looks upon as + the cause, that as the consequence. When it is affirmed that, in his + neighbor's behalf, such grand interventions have been vouchsafed, he + cannot do otherwise than believe that his neighbor is either deceived, or + practising deception. + </p> + <p> + As might, then, have been anticipated, the Catholic doctrine of miraculous + intervention received a rude shock at the time of the Reformation, when + predestination and election were upheld by some of the greatest + theologians, and accepted by some of the greatest Protestant Churches. + With stoical austerity Calvin declares: "We were elected from eternity, + before the foundation of the world, from no merit of our own, but + according to the purpose of the divine pleasure." In affirming this, + Calvin was resting on the belief that God has from all eternity decreed + whatever comes to pass. Thus, after the lapse of many ages, were again + emerging into prominence the ideas of the Basilidians wad Valentinians, + Christian sects of the second century, whose Gnostical views led to the + engraftment of the great doctrine of the Trinity upon Christianity. They + asserted that all the actions of men are necessary, that even faith is a + natural gift, to which men are forcibly determined, and must therefore be + saved, though their lives be ever so irregular. From the Supreme God all + things proceeded. Thus, also, came into prominence the views which were + developed by Augustine in his work, "De dono perseverantiae." These were: + that God, by his arbitrary will, has selected certain persons without + respect to foreseen faith or good works, and has infallibly ordained to + bestow upon them eternal happiness; other persons, in like manner, he has + condemned to eternal reprobation. The Sublapsarians believed that "God + permitted the fall of Adam;" the Supralapsarians that "he predestinated + it, with all its pernicious consequences, from all eternity, and that our + first parents had no liberty from the beginning." In this, these + sectarians disregarded the remark of St. Augustine: "Nefas est dicere Deum + aliquid nisi bonum predestinare." + </p> + <p> + Is it true, then, that "predestination to eternal happiness is the + everlasting purpose of God, whereby, before the foundations of the world + were laid, he hath constantly decreed by his council, secret to us, to + deliver from curse and damnation those whom he hath chosen out of + mankind?" Is it true that of the human family there are some who, in view + of no fault of their own, Almighty God has condemned to unending torture, + eternal misery? + </p> + <p> + In 1595 the Lambeth Articles asserted that "God from eternity hath + predestinated certain men unto life; certain he hath reprobated." In 1618 + the Synod of Dort decided in favor of this view. It condemned the + remonstrants against it, and treated them with such severity, that many of + them had to flee to foreign countries. Even in the Church of England, as + is manifested by its seventeenth Article of Faith, these doctrines have + found favor. + </p> + <p> + Probably there was no point which brought down from the Catholics on the + Protestants severer condemnation than this, their partial acceptance of + the government of the world by law. In all Reformed Europe miracles + ceased. But, with the cessation of shrine-cure, relic-cure, great + pecuniary profits ended. Indeed, as is well known, it was the sale of + indulgences that provoked the Reformation—indulgences which are + essentially a permit from God for the practice of sin, conditioned on the + payment of a certain sum of money to the priest. + </p> + <p> + Philosophically, the Reformation implied a protest against the Catholic + doctrine of incessant divine intervention in human affairs, invoked by + sacerdotal agency; but this protest was far from being fully made by all + the Reforming Churches. The evidence in behalf of government by law, which + has of late years been offered by science, is received by many of them + with suspicion, perhaps with dislike; sentiments which, however, must + eventually give way before the hourly-increasing weight of evidence. + </p> + <p> + Shall we not, then, conclude with Cicero, who, quoted by Lactantius, says: + "One eternal and immutable law embraces all things and all times?" + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER X. + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + LATIN CHRISTIANITY IN RELATION TO MODERN CIVILIZATION. + + For more than a thousand years Latin Christianity controlled + the intelligence of Europe, and is responsible for the + result. + + That result is manifested by the condition of the city of + Rome at the Reformation, and by the condition of the + Continent of Europe in domestic and social life.—European + nations suffered under the coexistence of a dual government, + a spiritual and a temporal.—They were immersed in + ignorance, superstition, discomfort.—Explanation of the + failure of Catholicism—Political history of the papacy: it + was transmuted from a spiritual confederacy into an absolute + monarchy.—Action of the College of Cardinals and the Curia— + Demoralization that ensued from the necessity of raising + large revenues. + + The advantages accruing to Europe during the Catholic rule + arose not from direct intention, but were incidental. + + The general result is, that the political influence of + Catholicism was prejudicial to modern civilization. +</pre> + <p> + LATIN Christianity is responsible for the condition and progress of Europe + from the fourth to the sixteenth century. We have now to examine how it + discharged its trust. + </p> + <p> + It will be convenient to limit to the case of Europe what has here to be + presented, though, from the claim of the papacy to superhuman origin, and + its demand for universal obedience, it should strictly be held to account + for the condition of all mankind. Its inefficacy against the great and + venerable religions of Southern and Eastern Asia would furnish an + important and instructive theme for consideration, and lead us to the + conclusion that it has impressed itself only where Roman imperial + influences have prevailed; a political conclusion which, however, it + contemptuously rejects. + </p> + <p> + Doubtless at the inception of the Reformation there were many persons who + compared the existing social condition with what it had been in ancient + times. Morals had not changed, intelligence had not advanced, society had + little improved. From the Eternal City itself its splendors had vanished. + The marble streets, of which Augustus had once boasted, had disappeared. + Temples, broken columns, and the long, arcaded vistas of gigantic + aqueducts bestriding the desolate Campagna, presented a mournful scene. + From the uses to which they had been respectively put, the Capitol had + been known as Goats' Hill, and the site of the Roman Forum, whence laws + had been issued to the world, as Cows' Field. The palace of the Caesars + was hidden by mounds of earth, crested with flowering shrubs. The baths of + Caracalla, with their porticoes, gardens, reservoirs, had long ago become + useless through the destruction of their supplying aqueducts. On the ruins + of that grand edifice, "flowery glades and thickets of odoriferous trees + extended in ever-winding labyrinths upon immense platforms, and dizzy + arches suspended in the air." Of the Coliseum, the most colossal of Roman + ruins, only about one-third remained. Once capable of accommodating nearly + ninety thousand spectators, it had, in succession, been turned into a + fortress in the middle ages, and then into a stone-quarry to furnish + material for the palaces of degenerate Roman princes. Some of the popes + had occupied it as a woollen-mill, some as a saltpetre factory; some had + planned the conversion of its magnificent arcades into shops for + tradesmen. The iron clamps which bound its stones together had been + stolen. The walls were fissured and falling. Even in our own times + botanical works have been composed on the plants which have made this + noble wreck their home. "The Flora of the Coliseum" contains four hundred + and twenty species. Among the ruins of classical buildings might be seen + broken columns, cypresses, and mouldy frescoes, dropping from the walls. + Even the vegetable world participated in the melancholy change: the + myrtle, which once flourished on the Aventine, had nearly become extinct; + the laurel, which once gave its leaves to encircle the brows of emperors, + had been replaced by ivy—the companion of death. + </p> + <p> + But perhaps it may be said the popes were not responsible for all this. + Let it be remembered that in less than one hundred and forty years the + city had been successively taken by Alaric, Genseric, Rieimer, Vitiges, + Totila; that many of its great edifices had been converted into defensive + works. The aqueducts were destroyed by Vitiges, who ruined the Campagna; + the palace of the Caesars was ravaged by Totila; then there had been the + Lombard sieges; then Robert Guiscard and his Normans had burnt the city + from the Antonine Column to the Flaminian Gate, from the Lateran to the + Capitol; then it was sacked and mutilated by the Constable Bourbon; again + and again it was flooded by inundations of the Tiber and shattered by + earthquakes. We must, however, bear in mind the accusation of Machiavelli, + who says, in his "History of Florence," that nearly all the barbarian + invasions of Italy were by the invitations of the pontiffs, who called in + those hordes! It was not the Goth, nor the Vandal, nor the Norman, nor the + Saracen, but the popes and their nephews, who produced the dilapidation of + Rome! Lime-kilns had been fed from the ruins, classical buildings had + become stone-quarries for the palaces of Italian princes, and churches + were decorated from the old temples. + </p> + <p> + Churches decorated from the temples! It is for this and such as this that + the popes must be held responsible. Superb Corinthian columns bad been + chiseled into images of the saints. Magnificent Egyptian obelisks had been + dishonored by papal inscriptions. The Septizonium of Severus had been + demolished to furnish materials for the building of St. Peter's; the + bronze roof of the Pantheon had been melted into columns to ornament the + apostle's tomb. + </p> + <p> + The great bell of Viterbo, in the tower of the Capitol, had announced the + death of many a pope, and still desecration of the buildings and + demoralization of the people went on. Papal Rome manifested no + consideration, but rather hatred, for classical Rome, The pontiffs had + been subordinates of the Byzantine sovereigns, then lieutenants of the + Frankish kings, then arbiters of Europe; their government had changed as + much as those of any of the surrounding nations; there had been complete + metamorphoses in its maxims, objects, claims. In one point only it had + never changed—intolerance. Claiming to be the centre of the + religious life of Europe, it steadfastly refused to recognize any + religious existence outside of itself, yet both in a political and + theological sense it was rotten to the core. Erasmus and Luther heard with + amazement the blasphemies and witnessed with a shudder the atheism of the + city. + </p> + <p> + The historian Ranke, to whom I am indebted for many of these facts, has + depicted in a very graphic manner the demoralization of the great + metropolis. The popes were, for the most part, at their election, aged + men. Power was, therefore, incessantly passing into new hands. Every + election was a revolution in prospects and expectations. In a community + where all might rise, where all might aspire to all, it necessarily + followed that every man was occupied in thrusting some other into the + background. Though the population of the city at the inception of the + Reformation had sunk to eighty thousand, there were vast crowds of + placemen, and still greater ones of aspirants for place. The successful + occupant of the pontificate had thousands of offices to give away—offices + from many of which the incumbents had been remorselessly ejected; many had + been created for the purpose of sale. The integrity and capacity of an + applicant were never inquired into; the points considered were, what + services has he rendered or can he render to the party? how much can he + pay for the preferment? An American reader can thoroughly realize this + state of things. At every presidential election he witnesses similar acts. + The election of a pope by the Conclave is not unlike the nomination of an + American president by a convention. In both cases there are many offices + to give away. + </p> + <p> + William of Malmesbury says that in his day the Romans made a sale of + whatever was righteous and sacred for gold. After his time there was no + improvement; the Church degenerated into an instrument for the + exploitation of money. Vast sums were collected in Italy; vast sums were + drawn under all manner of pretenses from surrounding and reluctant + countries. Of these the most nefarious was the sale of indulgences for the + perpetration of sin. Italian religion had become the art of plundering the + people. + </p> + <p> + For more than a thousand years the sovereign pontiffs had been rulers of + the city. True, it had witnessed many scenes of devastation for which they + were not responsible; but they were responsible for this, that they had + never made any vigorous, any persistent effort for its material, its moral + improvement. Instead of being in these respects an exemplar for the + imitation of the world, it became an exemplar of a condition that ought to + be shunned. Things steadily went on from bad to worse, until at the epoch + of the Reformation no pious stranger could visit it without being shocked. + </p> + <p> + The papacy, repudiating science as absolutely incompatible with its + pretensions, had in later years addressed itself to the encouragement of + art. But music and painting, though they may be exquisite adornments of + life, contain no living force that can develop a weak nation into a strong + one; nothing that can permanently assure the material well-being or + happiness of communities; and hence at the time of the Reformation, to one + who thoughtfully considered her condition, Rome had lost all living + energy. She was no longer the arbiter of the physical or the religious + progress of the world. For the progressive maxims of the republic and the + empire, she had substituted the stationary maxims of the papacy. She had + the appearance of piety and the possession of art. In this she resembled + one of those friar-corpses which we still see in their brown cowls in the + vaults of the Cappuccini, with a breviary or some withered flowers in its + hands. + </p> + <p> + From this view of the Eternal City, this survey of what Latin Christianity + had done for Rome itself, let us turn to the whole European Continent. Let + us try to determine the true value of the system that was guiding society; + let us judge it by its fruits. + </p> + <p> + The condition of nations as to their well-being is most precisely + represented by the variations of their population. Forms of government + have very little influence on population, but policy may control it + completely. + </p> + <p> + It has been very satisfactorily shown by authors who have given attention + to the subject, that the variations of population depend upon the + interbalancing of the generative force of society and the resistances to + life. + </p> + <p> + By the generative force of society is meant that instinct which manifests + itself in the multiplication of the race. To some extent it depends on + climate; but, since the climate of Europe did not sensibly change between + the fourth and the sixteenth centuries, we may regard this force as having + been, on that continent, during the period under consideration, + invariable. + </p> + <p> + By the resistances to life is meant whatever tends to make individual + existence more difficult of support. Among such may be enumerated + insufficient food, inadequate clothing, imperfect shelter. + </p> + <p> + It is also known that, if the resistances become inappreciable, the + generative force will double a population in twenty-five years. + </p> + <p> + The resistances operate in two modes: 1. Physically; since they diminish + the number of births, and shorten the term of the life of all. 2. + Intellectually; since, in a moral, and particularly in a religious + community, they postpone marriage, by causing individuals to decline its + responsibilities until they feel that they are competent to meet the + charges and cares of a family. Hence the explanation of a long-recognized + fact, that the number of marriages during a given period has a connection + with the price of food. + </p> + <p> + The increase of population keeps pace with the increase of food; and, + indeed, such being the power of the generative force, it overpasses the + means of subsistence, establishing a constant pressure upon them. Under + these circumstances, it necessarily happens that a certain amount of + destitution must occur. Individuals have come into existence who must be + starved. + </p> + <p> + As illustrations of the variations that have occurred in the population of + different countries, may be mentioned the immense diminution of that of + Italy in consequence of the wars of Justinian; the depopulation of North + Africa in consequence of theological quarrels; its restoration through the + establishment of Mohammedanism; the increase of that of all Europe through + the feudal system, when estates became more valuable in proportion to the + number of retainers they could supply. The crusades caused a sensible + diminution, not only through the enormous army losses, but also by reason + of the withdrawal of so many able-bodied men from marriage-life. Similar + variations have occurred on the American Continent. The population of + Mexico was very quickly diminished by two million through the rapacity and + atrocious cruelty of the Spaniards, who drove the civilized Indians to + despair. The same happened in Peru. + </p> + <p> + The population of England at the Norman conquest was about two million. In + five hundred years it had scarcely doubled. It may be supposed that this + stationary condition was to some extent induced by the papal policy of the + enforcement of celibacy in the clergy. The "legal generative force" was + doubtless affected by that policy, the "actual generative force" was not. + For those who have made this subject their study have long ago been + satisfied that public celibacy is private wickedness. This mainly + determined the laity, as well as the government in England, to suppress + the monasteries. It was openly asserted that there were one hundred + thousand women in England made dissolute by the clergy. + </p> + <p> + In my history of the "American Civil War," I have presented some + reflections on this point, which I will take the liberty of quoting here: + "What, then, does this stationary condition of the population mean? It + means, food obtained with hardship, insufficient clothing, personal + uncleanness, cabins that could not keep out the weather, the destructive + effects of cold and heat, miasm, want of sanitary provisions, absence of + physicians, uselessness of shrine-cure, the deceptiveness of miracles, in + which society was putting its trust; or, to sum up a long catalogue of + sorrows, wants, and sufferings, in one term—it means a high + death-rate. + </p> + <p> + "But more; it means deficient births. And what does that point out? + Marriage postponed, licentious life, private wickedness, demoralized + society. + </p> + <p> + "To an American, who lives in a country that was yesterday an interminable + and impenetrable desert, but which to-day is filling with a population + doubling itself every twenty-five years at the prescribed rate, this awful + waste of actual and contingent life cannot but be a most surprising fact. + His curiosity will lead him to inquire what kind of system that could have + been which was pretending to guide and develop society, but which must be + held responsible for this prodigious destruction, excelling, in its + insidious result, war, pestilence, and famine combined; insidious, for men + were actually believing that it secured their highest temporal interests. + How different now! In England, the same geographical surface is sustaining + ten times the population of that day, and sending forth its emigrating + swarms. Let him, who looks back, with veneration on the past, settle in + his own mind what such a system could have been worth." + </p> + <p> + These variations in the population of Europe have been attended with + changes in distribution. The centre of population has passed northward + since the establishment of Christianity in the Roman Empire. It has since + passed westward, in consequence of the development of manufacturing + industry. + </p> + <p> + We may now examine somewhat more minutely the character of the resistances + which thus, for a thousand years, kept the population of Europe + stationary. The surface of the Continent was for the most part covered + with pathless forests; here and there it was dotted with monasteries and + towns. In the lowlands and along the river-courses were fens, sometimes + hundreds of miles in extent, exhaling their pestiferous miasms, and + spreading agues far and wide. In Paris and London, the houses were of wood + daubed with clay, and thatched with straw or reeds. They had no windows, + and, until the invention of the saw-mill, very few had wooden floors. The + luxury of a carpet was unknown; some straw, scattered in the room, + supplied its place. There were no chimneys; the smoke of the ill-fed, + cheerless fire escaped through a hole in the roof. In such habitations + there was scarcely any protection from the weather. No attempt was made at + drainage, but the putrefying garbage and rubbish were simply thrown out of + the door. Men, women, and children, slept in the same apartment; not + unfrequently, domestic animals were their companions; in such a confusion + of the family, it was impossible that modesty or morality could be + maintained. The bed was usually a bag of straw, a wooden log served as a + pillow. Personal cleanliness was utterly unknown; great officers of state, + even dignitaries so high as the Archbishop of Canterbury, swarmed with + vermin; such, it is related, was the condition of Thomas a Becket, the + antagonist of an English king. To conceal personal impurity, perfumes were + necessarily and profusely used. The citizen clothed himself in leather, a + garment which, with its ever-accumulating impurity, might last for many + years. He was considered to be in circumstances of ease, if he could + procure fresh meat once a week for his dinner. The streets had no sewers; + they were without pavement or lamps. After nightfall, the chamber-shatters + were thrown open, and slops unceremoniously emptied down, to the + discomfiture of the wayfarer tracking his path through the narrow streets, + with his dismal lantern in his hand. + </p> + <p> + Aeneas Sylvius, who afterward became Pope Pius II., and was therefore a + very competent and impartial writer, has left us a graphic account of a + journey he made to the British Islands, about 1430. He describes the + houses of the peasantry as constructed of stones put together without + mortar; the roofs were of turf, a stiffened bull's-hide served for a door. + The food consisted of coarse vegetable products, such as peas, and even + the bark of trees. In some places they were unacquainted with bread. + </p> + <p> + Cabins of reeds plastered with mud, houses of wattled stakes, chimneyless + peat-fires from which there was scarcely an escape for the smoke, dens of + physical and moral pollution swarming with vermin, wisps of straw twisted + round the limbs to keep off the cold, the ague-stricken peasant, with no + help except shrine-cure! How was it possible that the population could + increase? Shall we, then, wonder that, in the famine of 1030, human flesh + was cooked and sold; or that, in that of 1258, fifteen thousand persons + died of hunger in London? Shall we wonder that, in some of the invasions + of the plague, the deaths were so frightfully numerous that the living + could hardly bury the dead? By that of 1348, which came from the East + along the lines of commercial travel, and spread all over Europe, + one-third of the population of France was destroyed. + </p> + <p> + Such was the condition of the peasantry, and of the common inhabitants of + cities. Not much better was that of the nobles. William of Malmesbury, + speaking of the degraded manners of the Anglo-Saxons, says: "Their nobles, + devoted to gluttony and voluptuousness, never visited the church, but the + matins and the mass were read over to them by a hurrying priest in their + bedchambers, before they rose, themselves not listening. The common people + were a prey to the more powerful; their property was seized, their bodies + dragged away to distant countries; their maidens were either thrown into a + brothel, or sold for slaves. Drinking day and night was the general + pursuit; vices, the companions of inebriety, followed, effeminating the + manly mind." The baronial castles were dens of robbers. The Saxon + chronicler records how men and women were caught and dragged into those + strongholds, hung up by their thumbs or feet, fire applied to them, + knotted strings twisted round their heads, and many other torments + inflicted to extort ransom. + </p> + <p> + All over Europe, the great and profitable political offices were filled by + ecclesiastics. In every country there was a dual government: 1. That of a + local kind, represented by a temporal sovereign; 2. That of a foreign + kind, acknowledging the authority of the pope, This Roman influence was, + in the nature of things, superior to the local; it expressed the sovereign + will of one man over all the nations of the continent conjointly, and + gathered overwhelming power from its compactness and unity. The local + influence was necessarily of a feeble nature, since it was commonly + weakened by the rivalries of conterminous states, and the dissensions + dexterously provoked by its competitor. On not a single occasion could the + various European states form a coalition against their common antagonist. + Whenever a question arose, they were skillfully taken in detail, and + commonly mastered. The ostensible object of papal intrusion was to secure + for the different peoples moral well-being; the real object was to obtain + large revenues, and give support to vast bodies of ecclesiastics. The + revenues thus abstracted were not infrequently many times greater than + those passing into the treasury of the local power. Thus, on the occasion + of Innocent IV. demanding provision to be made for three hundred + additional Italian clergy by the Church of England, and that one of his + nephews—a mere boy—should have a stall in Lincoln Cathedral, + it was found that the sum already annually abstracted by foreign + ecclesiastics from England was thrice that which went into the coffers of + the king. + </p> + <p> + While thus the higher clergy secured every political appointment worth + having, and abbots vied with counts in the herds of slaves they possessed—some, + it is said, owned not fewer than twenty thousand—begging friars + pervaded society in all directions, picking up a share of what still + remained to the poor. There was a vast body of non-producers, living in + idleness and owning a foreign allegiance, who were subsisting on the + fruits of the toil of the laborers. It could not be otherwise than that + small farms should be unceasingly merged into the larger estates; that the + poor should steadily become poorer; that society, far from improving, + should exhibit a continually increasing demoralization. Outside the + monastic institutions no attempt at intellectual advancement was made; + indeed, so far as the laity were concerned, the influence of the Church + was directed to an opposite result, for the maxim universally received + was, that "ignorance is the mother of devotion." + </p> + <p> + The settled practice of republican and imperial Rome was to have swift + communication with all her outlying provinces, by means of substantial + bridges and roads. One of the prime duties of the legions was to construct + them and keep them in repair. By this, her military authority was assured. + But the dominion of papal Rome, depending upon a different principle, had + no exigencies of that kind, and this duty accordingly was left for the + local powers to neglect. And so, in all directions, the roads were almost + impassable for a large part of the year. A common means of transportation + was in clumsy carts drawn by oxen, going at the most but three or four + miles an hour. Where boat-conveyance along rivers could not be had, + pack-horses and mules were resorted to for the transportation of + merchandise, an adequate means for the slender commerce of the times. When + large bodies of men had to be moved, the difficulties became almost + insuperable. Of this, perhaps, one of the best illustrations may be found + in the story of the march of the first Crusaders. These restraints upon + intercommunication tended powerfully to promote the general benighted + condition. Journeys by individuals could not be undertaken without much + risk, for there was scarcely a moor or a forest that had not its + highwaymen. + </p> + <p> + An illiterate condition everywhere prevailing, gave opportunity for the + development of superstition. Europe was full of disgraceful miracles. On + all the roads pilgrims were wending their way to the shrines of saints, + renowned for the cures they had wrought. It had always been the policy of + the Church to discourage the physician and his art; he interfered too much + with the gifts and profits of the shrines. Time has brought this once + lucrative imposture to its proper value. How many shrines are there now in + successful operation in Europe? + </p> + <p> + For patients too sick to move or be moved, there were no remedies except + those of a ghostly kind—the Pater-noster or the Ave. For the + prevention of diseases, prayers were put up in the churches, but no + sanitary measures were resorted to. From cities reeking with putrefying + filth it was thought that the plague might be stayed by the prayers of the + priests, by them rain and dry weather might be secured, and deliverance + obtained from the baleful influences of eclipses and comets. But when + Halley's comet came, in 1456, so tremendous was its apparition that it was + necessary for the pope himself to interfere. He exorcised and expelled it + from the skies. It slunk away into the abysses of space, terror-stricken + by the maledictions of Calixtus III., and did not venture back for + seventy-five years! + </p> + <p> + The physical value of shrine-cures and ghostly remedies is measured by the + death-rate. In those days it was, probably, about one in twenty-three, + under the present more material practice it is about one in forty. + </p> + <p> + The moral condition of Europe was signally illustrated when syphilis was + introduced from the West Indies by the companions of Columbus. It spread + with wonderful rapidity; all ranks of persons, from the Holy Father Leo X. + to the beggar by the wayside, contracting the shameful disease. Many + excused their misfortune by declaring that it was an epidemic proceeding + from a certain malignity in the constitution of the air, but in truth its + spread was due to a certain infirmity in the constitution of man—an + infirmity which had not been removed by the spiritual guidance under which + he had been living. + </p> + <p> + To the medical efficacy of shrines must be added that of special relics. + These were sometimes of the most extraordinary kind. There were several + abbeys that possessed our Savior's crown of thorns. Eleven had the lance + that had pierced his side. If any person was adventurous enough to suggest + that these could not all be authentic, he would have been denounced as an + atheist. During the holy wars the Templar-Knights had driven a profitable + commerce by bringing from Jerusalem to the Crusading armies bottles of the + milk of the Blessed Virgin, which they sold for enormous sums; these + bottles were preserved with pious care in many of the great religious + establishments. But perhaps none of these impostures surpassed in audacity + that offered by a monastery in Jerusalem, which presented to the beholder + one of the fingers of the Holy Ghost! Modern society has silently rendered + its verdict on these scandalous objects. Though they once nourished the + piety of thousands of earnest people, they are now considered too vile to + have a place in any public museum. + </p> + <p> + How shall we account for the great failure we thus detect in the + guardianship of the Church over Europe? This is not the result that must + have occurred had there been in Rome an unremitting care for the spiritual + and material prosperity of the continent, had the universal pastor, the + successor of Peter, occupied himself with singleness of purpose for the + holiness and happiness of his flock. + </p> + <p> + The explanation is not difficult to find. It is contained in a story of + sin and shame. I prefer, therefore, in the following paragraphs, to offer + explanatory facts derived from Catholic authors, and, indeed, to present + them as nearly as I can in the words of those writers. + </p> + <p> + The story I am about to relate is a narrative of the transformation of a + confederacy into an absolute monarchy. + </p> + <p> + In the early times every church, without prejudice to its agreement with + the Church universal in all essential points, managed its own affairs with + perfect freedom and independence, maintaining its own traditional usages + and discipline, all questions not concerning the whole Church, or of + primary importance, being settled on the spot. + </p> + <p> + Until the beginning of the ninth century, there was no change in the + constitution of the Roman Church. But about 845 the Isidorian Decretals + were fabricated in the west of Gaul—a forgery containing about one + hundred pretended decrees of the early popes, together with certain + spurious writings of other church dignitaries and acts of synods. This + forgery produced an immense extension of the papal power, it displaced the + old system of church government, divesting it of the republican attributes + it had possessed, and transforming it into an absolute monarchy. It + brought the bishops into subjection to Rome, and made the pontiff the + supreme judge of the clergy of the whole Christian world. It prepared the + way for the great attempt, subsequently made by Hildebrand, to convert the + states of Europe into a theocratic priest-kingdom, with the pope at its + head. + </p> + <p> + Gregory VII., the author of this great attempt, saw that his plans would + be best carried out through the agency of synods. He, therefore, + restricted the right of holding them to the popes and their legates. To + aid in the matter, a new system of church law was devised by Anselm of + Lucca, partly from the old Isidorian forgeries, and partly from new + inventions. To establish the supremacy of Rome, not only had a new civil + and a new canon law to be produced, a new history had also to be invented. + This furnished needful instances of the deposition and excommunication of + kings, and proved that they had always been subordinate to the popes. The + decretal letters of the popes were put on a par with Scripture. At length + it came to be received, throughout the West, that the popes had been, from + the beginning of Christianity, legislators for the whole Church. As + absolute sovereigns in later times cannot endure representative + assemblies, so the papacy, when it wished to become absolute, found that + the synods of particular national churches must be put an end to, and + those only under the immediate control of the pontiff permitted. This, in + itself, constituted a great revolution. + </p> + <p> + Another fiction concocted in Rome in the eighth century led to important + consequences. It feigned that the Emperor Constantine, in gratitude for + his cure from leprosy, and baptism by Pope Sylvester, had bestowed Italy + and the Western provinces on the pope, and that, in token of his + subordination, he had served the pope as his groom, and led his horse some + distance. This forgery was intended to work on the Frankish kings, to + impress them with a correct idea of their inferiority, and to show that, + in the territorial concessions they made to the Church, they were not + giving but only restoring what rightfully belonged to it. + </p> + <p> + The most potent instrument of the new papal system was Gratian's Decretum, + which was issued about the middle of the twelfth century. It was a mass of + fabrications. It made the whole Christian world, through the papacy, the + domain of the Italian clergy. It inculcated that it is lawful to constrain + men to goodness, to torture and execute heretics, and to confiscate their + property; that to kill an excommunicated person is not murder; that the + pope, in his unlimited superiority to all law, stands on an equality with + the Son of God! + </p> + <p> + As the new system of centralization developed, maxims, that in the olden + times would have been held to be shocking, were boldly avowed—the + whole Church is the property of the pope to do with as he will; what is + simony in others is not simony in him; he is above all law, and can be + called to account by none; whoever disobeys him must be put to death; + every baptized man is his subject, and must for life remain so, whether he + will or not. Up to the end of the twelfth century, the popes were the + vicars of Peter; after Innocent III. they were the vicars of Christ. + </p> + <p> + But an absolute sovereign has need of revenues, and to this the popes were + no exception. The institution of legates was brought in from Hildebrand's + time. Sometimes their duty was to visit churches, sometimes they were sent + on special business, but always invested with unlimited powers to bring + back money over the Alps. And since the pope could not only make laws, but + could suspend their operation, a legislation was introduced in view to the + purchase of dispensations. Monasteries were exempted from episcopal + jurisdiction on payment of a tribute to Rome. The pope had now become "the + universal bishop;" he had a concurrent jurisdiction in all the dioceses, + and could bring any cases before his own courts. His relation to the + bishops was that of an absolute sovereign to his officials. A bishop could + resign only by his permission, and sees vacated by resignation lapsed to + him. Appeals to him were encouraged in every way for the sake of the + dispensations; thousands of processes came before the Curia, bringing a + rich harvest to Rome. Often when there were disputing claimants to + benefices, the pope would oust them all, and appoint a creature of his + own. Often the candidates had to waste years in Rome, and either died + there, or carried back a vivid impression of the dominant corruption. + Germany suffered more than other countries from these appeals and + processes, and hence of all countries was best prepared for the + Reformation. During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the popes made + gigantic strides in the acquisition of power. Instead of recommending + their favorites for benefices, now they issued mandates. Their Italian + partisans must be rewarded; nothing could be done to satisfy their + clamors, but to provide for them in foreign countries. Shoals of + contesting claimants died in Rome; and, when death took place in that + city, the Pope claimed the right of giving away the benefices. At length + it was affirmed that he had the right of disposing of all church-offices + without distinction, and that the oath of obedience of a bishop to him + implied political as well as ecclesiastical subjection. In countries + having a dual government this increased the power of the spiritual element + prodigiously. + </p> + <p> + Rights of every kind were remorselessly overthrown to complete this + centralization. In this the mendicant orders were most efficient aids. It + was the pope and those orders on one side, the bishops and the parochial + clergy on the other. The Roman court had seized the rights of synods, + metropolitans, bishops, national churches. Incessantly interfered with by + the legates, the bishops lost all desire to discipline their dioceses; + incessantly interfered with by the begging monks, the parish priest had + become powerless in his own village; his pastoral influence was utterly + destroyed by the papal indulgences and absolutions they sold. The money + was carried off to Rome. + </p> + <p> + Pecuniary necessities urged many of the popes to resort to such petty + expedients as to require from a prince, a bishop, or a grand-master, who + had a cause pending in the court, a present of a golden cup filled with + ducats. Such necessities also gave origin to jubilees. Sixtus IV. + established whole colleges, and sold the places at three or four hundred + ducats. Innocent VIII. pawned the papal tiara. Of Leo X. it was said that + he squandered the revenues of three popes, he wasted the savings of his + predecessor, he spent his own income, he anticipated that of his + successor, he created twenty-one hundred and fifty new offices and sold + them; they were considered to be a good investment, as they produced + twelve per cent. The interest was extorted from Catholic countries. + Nowhere in Europe could capital be so well invested as at Rome. Large sums + were raised by the foreclosing of mortgages, and not only by the sale but + the resale of offices. Men were promoted, for the purpose of selling their + offices again. + </p> + <p> + Though against the papal theory, which denounced usurious practices, an + immense papal banking system had sprung up, in connection with the Curia, + and sums at usurious interest were advanced to prelates, place-hunters, + and litigants. The papal bankers were privileged; all others were under + the ban. The Curia had discovered that it was for their interest to have + ecclesiastics all over Europe in their debt. They could make them pliant, + and excommunicate them for non-payment of interest. In 1327 it was + reckoned that half the Christian world was under excommunication: bishops + were excommunicated because they could not meet the extortions of legates; + and persons were excommunicated, under various pretenses, to compel them + to purchase absolution at an exorbitant price. The ecclesiastical revenues + of all Europe were flowing into Rome, a sink of corruption, simony, usury, + bribery, extortion. The popes, since 1066, when the great centralizing + movement began, had no time to pay attention to the internal affairs of + their own special flock in the city of Rome. There were thousands of + foreign cases, each bringing in money. "Whenever," says the Bishop Alvaro + Pelayo, "I entered the apartments of the Roman court clergy, I found them + occupied in counting up the gold-coin, which lay about the rooms in + heaps." Every opportunity of extending the jurisdiction of the Curia was + welcome. Exemptions were so managed that fresh grants were constantly + necessary. Bishops were privileged against cathedral chapters, chapters + against their bishops; bishops, convents, and individuals, against the + extortions of legates. + </p> + <p> + The two pillars on which the papal system now rested were the College of + Cardinals and the Curia. The cardinals, in 1059, had become electors of + the popes. Up to that time elections were made by the whole body of the + Roman clergy, and the concurrence of the magistrates and citizens was + necessary. But Nicolas II. restricted elections to the College of + Cardinals by a two-thirds vote, and gave to the German emperor the right + of confirmation. For almost two centuries there was a struggle for mastery + between the cardinal oligarchy and papal absolutism. The cardinals were + willing enough that the pope should be absolute in his foreign rule, but + they never failed to attempt, before giving him their votes, to bind him + to accord to them a recognized share in the government. After his + election, and before his consecration, he swore to observe certain + capitulations, such as a participation of revenues between himself and the + cardinals; an obligation that he would not remove them, but would permit + them to assemble twice a year to discuss whether he had kept his oath. + Repeatedly the popes broke their oath. On one side, the cardinals wanted a + larger share in the church government and emoluments; on the other, the + popes refused to surrender revenues or power. The cardinals wanted to be + conspicuous in pomp and extravagance, and for this vast sums were + requisite. In one instance, not fewer than five hundred benefices were + held by one of them; their friends and retainers must be supplied, their + families enriched. It was affirmed that the whole revenues of France were + insufficient to meet their expenditures. In their rivalries it sometimes + happened that no pope was elected for several years. It seemed as if they + wanted to show how easily the Church could get on without the Vicar of + Christ. + </p> + <p> + Toward the close of the eleventh century the Roman Church became the Roman + court. In place of the Christian sheep gently following their shepherd in + the holy precincts of the city, there had arisen a chancery of writers, + notaries, tax-gatherers, where transactions about privileges, + dispensations, exemptions, were carried on; and suitors went with + petitions from door to door. Rome was a rallying-point for place-hunters + of every nation. In presence of the enormous mass of business-processes, + graces, indulgences, absolutions, commands, and decisions, addressed to + all parts of Europe and Asia, the functions of the local church sank into + insignificance. Several hundred persons, whose home was the Curia, were + required. Their aim was to rise in it by enlarging the profits of the + papal treasury. The whole Christian world had become tributary to it. Here + every vestige of religion had disappeared; its members were busy with + politics, litigations, and processes; not a word could be heard about + spiritual concerns. Every stroke of the pen had its price. Benefices, + dispensations, licenses, absolutions, indulgences, privileges, were bought + and sold like merchandise. The suitor had to bribe every one, from the + doorkeeper to the pope, or his case was lost. Poor men could neither + attain preferment, nor hope for it; and the result was, that every cleric + felt he had a right to follow the example he had seen at Rome, and that he + might make profits out of his spiritual ministries and sacraments, having + bought the right to do so at Rome, and having no other way to pay off his + debt. The transference of power from Italians to Frenchmen, through the + removal of the Curia to Avignon, produced no change—only the + Italians felt that the enrichment of Italian families had slipped out of + their grasp. They had learned to consider the papacy as their appanage, + and that they, under the Christian dispensation, were God's chosen people, + as the Jews had been under the Mosaic. + </p> + <p> + At the end of the thirteenth century a new kingdom was discovered, capable + of yielding immense revenues. This was Purgatory. It was shown that the + pope could empty it by his indulgences. In this there was no need of + hypocrisy. Things were done openly. The original germ of the apostolic + primacy had now expanded into a colossal monarchy. + </p> + <p> + NEED OF A GENERAL COUNCIL. The Inquisition had made the papal system + irresistible. All opposition must be punished with death by fire. A mere + thought, without having betrayed itself by outward sign, was considered as + guilt. As time went on, this practice of the Inquisition became more and + more atrocious. Torture was resorted to on mere suspicion. The accused was + not allowed to know the name of his accuser. He was not permitted to have + any legal adviser. There was no appeal. The Inquisition was ordered not to + lean to pity. No recantation was of avail. The innocent family of the + accused was deprived of its property by confiscation; half went to the + papal treasury, half to the inquisitors. Life only, said Innocent III., + was to be left to the sons of misbelievers, and that merely as an act of + mercy. The consequence was, that popes, such as Nicolas III., enriched + their families through plunder acquired by this tribunal. Inquisitors did + the same habitually. + </p> + <p> + The struggle between the French and Italians for the possession of the + papacy inevitably led to the schism of the fourteenth century. For more + than forty years two rival popes were now anathematizing each other, two + rival Curias were squeezing the nations for money. Eventually, there were + three obediences, and triple revenues to be extorted. Nobody, now, could + guarantee the validity of the sacraments, for nobody could be sure which + was the true pope. Men were thus compelled to think for themselves. They + could not find who was the legitimate thinker for them. They began to see + that the Church must rid herself of the curialistic chains, and resort to + a General Council. That attempt was again and again made, the intention + being to raise the Council into a Parliament of Christendom, and make the + pope its chief executive officer. But the vast interests that had grown + out of the corruption of ages could not so easily be overcome; the Curia + again recovered its ascendency, and ecclesiastical trading was resumed. + The Germans, who had never been permitted to share in the Curia, took the + leading part in these attempts at reform. As things went on from bad to + worse, even they at last found out that all hope of reforming the Church + by means of councils was delusive. Erasmus exclaimed, "If Christ does not + deliver his people from this multiform ecclesiastical tyranny, the tyranny + of the Turk will become less intolerable." Cardinals' hats were now sold, + and under Leo X. ecclesiastical and religious offices were actually put up + to auction. The maxim of life had become, interest first, honor afterward. + Among the officials, there was not one who could be honest in the dark, + and virtuous without a witness. The violet-colored velvet cloaks and white + ermine capes of the cardinals were truly a cover for wickedness. + </p> + <p> + The unity of the Church, and therefore its power, required the use of + Latin as a sacred language. Through this, Rome had stood in an attitude + strictly European, and was enabled to maintain a general international + relation. It gave her far more power than her asserted celestial + authority, and, much as she claims to have done, she is open to + condemnation that, with such a signal advantage in her hands, never again + to be enjoyed by any successor, she did not accomplish much more. Had not + the sovereign pontiffs been so completely occupied with maintaining their + emoluments and temporalities in Italy, they might have made the whole + continent advance like one man. Their officials could pass without + difficulty into every nation, and communicate without embarrassment with + each other, from Ireland to Bohemia, from Italy to Scotland. The + possession of a common tongue gave them the administration of + international affairs with intelligent allies everywhere, speaking the + same language. + </p> + <p> + Not without cause was the hatred manifested by Rome to the restoration of + Greek and introduction of Hebrew, and the alarm with which she perceived + the modern languages forming out of the vulgar dialects. Not without + reason did the Faculty of Theology in Paris re-echo the sentiment that, + was prevalent in the time of Ximenes, "What will become of religion if the + study of Greek and Hebrew be permitted?" The prevalence of Latin was the + condition of her power; its deterioration, the measure of her decay; its + disuse, the signal of her limitation to a little principality in Italy. In + fact, the development of European languages was the instrument of her + overthrow. They formed an effectual communication between the mendicant + friars and the illiterate populace, and there was not one of them that did + not display in its earliest productions a sovereign contempt for her. + </p> + <p> + The rise of the many-tongued European literature was therefore coincident + with the decline of papal Christianity; European literature was impossible + under Catholic rule. A grand, a solemn, an imposing religious unity + enforced the literary unity which is implied in the use of a single + tongue. + </p> + <p> + While thus the possession of a universal language so signally secured her + power, the real secret of much of the influence of the Church lay in the + control she had so skillfully obtained over domestic life. Her influence + diminished as that declined. Coincident with this was her displacement in + the guidance of international relations by diplomacy. + </p> + <p> + CATHOLICITY AND CIVILIZATION. In the old times of Roman domination the + encampments of the legions in the provinces had always proved to be foci + of civilization. The industry and order exhibited in them presented an + example not lost on the surrounding barbarians of Britain, Gaul, and + Germany. And, though it was no part of their duty to occupy themselves + actively in the betterment of the conquered tribes, but rather to keep + them in a depressed condition that aided in maintaining subjection, a + steady improvement both in the individual and social condition took place. + </p> + <p> + Under the ecclesiastical domination of Rome similar effects occurred. In + the open country the monastery replaced the legionary encampment; in the + village or town, the church was a centre of light. A powerful effect was + produced by the elegant luxury of the former, and by the sacred and solemn + monitions of the latter. + </p> + <p> + In extolling the papal system for what it did in the organization of the + family, the definition of civil policy, the construction of the states of + Europe, our praise must be limited by the recollection that the chief + object of ecclesiastical policy was the aggrandizement of the Church, not + the promotion of civilization. The benefit obtained by the laity was not + through any special intention, but incidental or collateral. + </p> + <p> + There was no far-reaching, no persistent plan to ameliorate the physical + condition of the nations. Nothing was done to favor their intellectual + development; indeed, on the contrary, it was the settled policy to keep + them not merely illiterate, but ignorant. Century after century passed + away, and left the peasantry but little better than the cattle in the + fields. Intercommunication and locomotion, which tend so powerfully to + expand the ideas, received no encouragement; the majority of men died + without ever having ventured out of the neighborhood in which they were + born. For them there was no hope of personal improvement, none of the + bettering of their lot; there were no comprehensive schemes for the + avoidance of individual want, none for the resistance of famines. + Pestilences were permitted to stalk forth unchecked, or at best opposed + only by mummeries. Bad food, wretched clothing, inadequate shelter, were + suffered to produce their result, and at the end of a thousand years the + population of Europe had not doubled. + </p> + <p> + If policy may be held accountable as much for the births it prevents as + for the deaths it occasions, what a great responsibility there is here! + </p> + <p> + In this investigation of the influence of Catholicism, we must carefully + keep separate what it did for the people and what it did for itself. When + we think of the stately monastery, an embodiment of luxury, with its + closely-mown lawns, its gardens and bowers, its fountains and many + murmuring streams, we must connect it not with the ague-stricken peasant + dying without help in the fens, but with the abbot, his ambling palfrey, + his hawk and hounds, his well-stocked cellar and larder. He is part of a + system that has its centre of authority in Italy.. To that his allegiance + is due. For its behoof are all his acts. When we survey, as still we may, + the magnificent churches and cathedrals of those times, miracles of + architectural skill—the only real miracles of Catholicism—when + in imagination we restore the transcendently imposing, the noble services + of which they were once the scene, the dim, religious-light streaming in + through the many-colored windows, the sounds of voices not inferior in + their melody to those of heaven, the priests in their sacred vestments, + and above all the prostrate worshipers listening to litanies and prayers + in a foreign and unknown tongue, shall we not ask ourselves, Was all this + for the sake of those worshipers, or for the glory of the great, the + overshadowing authority at Rome? + </p> + <p> + But perhaps some one may say, Are there not limits to human exertion—things + which no political system, no human power, no matter how excellent its + intention, can accomplish? Men cannot be raised from barbarism, a + continent cannot be civilized, in a day! + </p> + <p> + The Catholic power is not, however, to be tried by any such standard. It + scornfully rejected and still rejects a human origin. It claims to be + accredited supernaturally. The sovereign pontiff is the Vicar of God upon + earth. Infallible in judgment, it is given to him to accomplish all things + by miracle if need be. He had exercised an autocratic tyranny over the + intellect of Europe for more than a thousand years; and, though on some + occasions he had encountered the resistances of disobedient princes, + these, in the aggregate, were of so little moment, that the physical, the + political power of the continent may be affirmed to have been at his + disposal. + </p> + <p> + Such facts as have been presented in this chapter were, doubtless, well + weighed by the Protestant Reformers of the sixteenth century, and brought + them to the conclusion that Catholicism had altogether failed in its + mission; that it had become a vast system of delusion and imposture, and + that a restoration of true Christianity could only be accomplished by + returning to the faith and practices of the primitive times. This was no + decision suddenly arrived at; it had long been the opinion of many + religious and learned men. The pious Fratricelli in the middle ages had + loudly expressed their belief that the fatal gift of a Roman emperor had + been the doom of true religion. It wanted nothing more than the voice of + Luther to bring men throughout the north of Europe to the determination + that the worship of the Virgin Mary, the invocation of saints, the working + of miracles, supernatural cures of the sick, the purchase of indulgences + for the perpetration of sin, and all other evil practices, lucrative to + their abettors, which had been fastened on Christianity, but which were no + part of it, should come to an end. Catholicism, as a system for promoting + the well-being of man, had plainly failed in justifying its alleged + origin; its performance had not corresponded to its great pretensions; + and, after an opportunity of more than a thousand years' duration, it had + left the masses of men submitted to its influences, both as regards + physical well-being and intellectual culture, in a condition far lower + than what it ought to have been. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XI. + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + SCIENCE IN RELATION TO MODERN CIVILIZATION. + + Illustration of the general influences of Science from the + history of America. + + THE INTRODUCTION OF SCIENCE INTO EUROPE.—It passed from + Moorish Spain to Upper Italy, and was favored by the absence + of the popes at Avignon.—The effects of printing, of + maritime adventure, and of the Reformation—Establishment of + the Italian scientific societies. + + THE INTELLECTUAL INFLUENCE OF SCIENCE.—It changed the mode + and the direction of thought in Europe.—The transactions of + the Royal Society of London, and other scientific societies, + furnish an illustration of this. + + THE ECONOMICAL INFLUENCE OF SCIENCE is illustrated by the + numerous mechanical and physical inventions, made since the + fourteenth century.—Their influence on health and domestic + life, on the arts of peace and of war. + + Answer to the question, What has Science done for humanity? +</pre> + <p> + EUROPE, at the epoch of the Reformation, furnishes us with the result of + the influences of Roman Christianity in the promotion of civilization. + America, examined in like manner at the present time, furnishes us with an + illustration of the influences of science. + </p> + <p> + SCIENCE AND CIVILIZATION. In the course of the seventeenth century a + sparse European population had settled along the western Atlantic coast. + Attracted by the cod-fishery of Newfoundland, the French had a little + colony north of the St. Lawrence; the English, Dutch, and Swedes, occupied + the shore of New England and the Middle States; some Huguenots were living + in the Carolinas. Rumors of a spring that could confer perpetual youth—a + fountain of life—had brought a few Spaniards into Florida. Behind + the fringe of villages which these adventurers had built, lay a vast and + unknown country, inhabited by wandering Indians, whose numbers from the + Gulf of Mexico to the St. Lawrence did not exceed one hundred and eighty + thousand. From them the European strangers had learned that in those + solitary regions there were fresh-water seas, and a great river which they + called the Mississippi. Some said that it flowed through Virginia into the + Atlantic, some that it passed through Florida, some that it emptied into + the Pacific, and some that it reached the Gulf of Mexico. Parted from + their native countries by the stormy Atlantic, to cross which implied a + voyage of many months, these refugees seemed lost to the world. + </p> + <p> + But before the close of the nineteenth century the descendants of this + feeble people had become one of the great powers of the earth. They had + established a republic whose sway extended from the Atlantic to the + Pacific. With an army of more than a million men, not on paper, but + actually in the field, they had overthrown a domestic assailant. They had + maintained at sea a war-fleet of nearly seven hundred ships, carrying five + thousand guns, some of them the heaviest in the world. The tonnage of this + navy amounted to half a million. In the defense of their national life + they had expended in less than five years more than four thousand million + dollars. Their census, periodically taken, showed that the population was + doubling itself every twenty-five years; it justified the expectation that + at the close of that century it would number nearly one hundred million + souls. + </p> + <p> + KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. A silent continent had been changed into a scene of + industry; it was full of the din of machinery and the restless moving of + men. Where there had been an unbroken forest, there were hundreds of + cities and towns. To commerce were furnished in profusion some of the most + important staples, as cotton, tobacco, breadstuffs. The mines yielded + incredible quantities of gold, iron, coal. Countless churches, colleges, + and public schools, testified that a moral influence vivified this + material activity. Locomotion was effectually provided for. The railways + exceeded in aggregate length those of all Europe combined. In 1873 the + aggregate length of the European railways was sixty-three thousand three + hundred and sixty miles, that of the American was seventy thousand six + hundred and fifty miles. One of them, built across the continent, + connected the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. + </p> + <p> + But not alone are these material results worthy of notice. Others of a + moral and social kind force themselves on our attention. Four million + negro slaves had been set free. Legislation, if it inclined to the + advantage of any class, inclined to that of the poor. Its intention was to + raise them from poverty, and better their lot. A career was open to + talent, and that without any restraint. Every thing was possible to + intelligence and industry. Many of the most important public offices were + filled by men who had risen from the humblest walks of life. If there was + not social equality, as there never can be in rich and prosperous + communities, there was civil equality, rigorously maintained. + </p> + <p> + It may perhaps be said that much of this material prosperity arose from + special conditions, such as had never occurred in the case of any people + before, There was a vast, an open theatre of action, a whole continent + ready for any who chose to take possession of it. Nothing more than + courage and industry was needed to overcome Nature, and to seize the + abounding advantages she offered. + </p> + <p> + === + </p> + <p> + ILLUSTRATIONS FROM AMERICAN HISTORY. But must not men be animated by a + great principle who successfully transform the primeval solitudes into an + abode of civilization, who are not dismayed by gloomy forests, or rivers, + mountains, or frightful deserts, who push their conquering way in the + course of a century across a continent, and hold it in subjection? Let us + contrast with this the results of the invasion of Mexico and Peru by the + Spaniards, who in those countries overthrew a wonderful civilization, in + many respects superior to their own—a civilization that had been + accomplished without iron and gunpowder—a civilization resting on an + agriculture that had neither horse, nor ox, nor plough. The Spaniards had + a clear base to start from, and no obstruction whatever in their advance. + They ruined all that the aboriginal children of America had accomplished. + Millions of those unfortunates were destroyed by their cruelty. Nations + that for many centuries had been living in contentment and prosperity, + under institutions shown by their history to be suitable to them, were + plunged into anarchy; the people fell into a baneful superstition, and a + greater part of their landed and other property found its way into the + possession of the Roman Church. + </p> + <p> + I have selected the foregoing illustration, drawn from American history, + in preference to many others that might have been taken from European, + because it furnishes an instance of the operation of the acting principle + least interfered with by extraneous conditions. European political + progress is less simple than American. + </p> + <p> + QUARREL BETWEEN FRANCE AND THE PAPACY. Before considering its manner of + action, and its results, I will briefly relate how the scientific + principle found an introduction into Europe. + </p> + <p> + INTRODUCTION OF SCIENCE INTO EUROPE. Not only had the Crusades, for many + years, brought vast sums to Rome, extorted from the fears or the piety of + every Christian nation; they had also increased the papal power to a most + dangerous extent. In the dual governments everywhere prevailing in Europe, + the spiritual had obtained the mastery; the temporal was little better + than its servant. + </p> + <p> + From all quarters, and under all kinds of pretenses, streams of money were + steadily flowing into Italy. The temporal princes found that there were + left for them inadequate and impoverished revenues. Philip the Fair, King + of France (A.D. 1300), not only determined to check this drain from his + dominions, by prohibiting the export of gold and silver without his + license; he also resolved that the clergy and the ecclesiastical estates + should pay their share of taxes to him. This brought on a mortal contest + with the papacy. The king was excommunicated, and, in retaliation, he + accused the pope, Boniface VIII., of atheism; demanding that he should be + tried by a general council. He sent some trusty persons into Italy, who + seized Boniface in his palace at Anagni, and treated him with so much + severity, that in a few days he died. The succeeding pontiff, Benedict + XI., was poisoned. + </p> + <p> + The French king was determined that the papacy should be purified and + reformed; that it should no longer be the appanage of a few Italian + families, who were dexterously transmuting the credulity of Europe into + coin—that French influence should prevail in it. He Therefore came + to an understanding with the cardinals; a French archbishop was elevated + to the pontificate; he took the name of Clement V. The papal court was + removed to Avignon, in France, and Rome was abandoned as the metropolis of + Christianity. + </p> + <p> + MOORISH SCIENCE INTRODUCED THROUGH FRANCE. Seventy years elapsed before + the papacy was restored to the Eternal City (A.D. 1376). The diminution of + its influence in the peninsula, that had thus occurred, gave opportunity + for the memorable intellectual movement which soon manifested itself in + the great commercial cities of Upper Italy. Contemporaneously, also, there + were other propitious events. The result of the Crusades had shaken the + faith of all Christendom. In an age when the test of the ordeal of battle + was universally accepted, those wars had ended in leaving the Holy Land in + the hands of the Saracens; the many thousand Christian warriors who had + returned from them did not hesitate to declare that they had found their + antagonists not such as had been pictured by the Church, but valiant, + courteous, just. Through the gay cities of the South of France a love of + romantic literature had been spreading; the wandering troubadours had been + singing their songs—songs far from being restricted to ladye-love + and feats of war; often their burden was the awful atrocities that had + been perpetrated by papal authority—the religious massacres of + Languedoc; often their burden was the illicit amours of the clergy. From + Moorish Spain the gentle and gallant idea of chivalry had been brought, + and with it the noble sentiment of "personal honor," destined in the + course of time to give a code of its own to Europe. + </p> + <p> + EFFECT OF THE GREAT SCHISM. The return of the papacy to Rome was far from + restoring the influence of the popes over the Italian Peninsula. More than + two generations had passed away since their departure, and, had they come + back even in their original strength, they could not have resisted the + intellectual progress that had been made during their absence. The papacy, + however, came back not to rule, but to be divided against itself, to + encounter the Great Schism. Out of its dissensions emerged two rival + popes; eventually there were three, each pressing his claims upon the + religious, each cursing his rival. A sentiment of indignation soon spread + all over Europe, a determination that the shameful scenes which were then + enacting should be ended. How could the dogma of a Vicar of God upon + earth, the dogma of an infallible pope, be sustained in presence of such + scandals? Herein lay the cause of that resolution of the ablest + ecclesiastics of those times (which, alas for Europe! could not be carried + into effect), that a general council should be made the permanent + religious parliament of the whole continent, with the pope as its chief + executive officer. Had that intention been accomplished, there would have + been at this day no conflict between science and religion; the convulsion + of the Reformation would have been avoided; there would have been no + jarring Protestant sects. But the Councils of Constance and Basle failed + to shake off the Italian yoke, failed to attain that noble result. + </p> + <p> + Catholicism was thus weakening; as its leaden pressure lifted, the + intellect of man expanded. The Saracens had invented the method of making + paper from linen rags and from cotton. The Venetians had brought from + China to Europe the art of printing. The former of these inventions was + essential to the latter. Hence forth, without the possibility of a check, + there was intellectual intercommunication among all men. + </p> + <p> + INVENTION OF PRINTING. The invention of printing was a severe blow to + Catholicism, which had, previously, enjoyed the inappreciable advantage of + a monopoly of intercommunication. From its central seat, orders could be + disseminated through all the ecclesiastical ranks, and fulminated through + the pulpits. This monopoly and the amazing power it conferred were + destroyed by the press. In modern times, the influence of the pulpit has + become insignificant. The pulpit has been thoroughly supplanted by the + newspaper. + </p> + <p> + Yet, Catholicism did not yield its ancient advantage without a struggle. + As soon as the inevitable tendency of the new art was detected, a + restraint upon it, under the form of a censorship, was attempted. It was + made necessary to have a permit, in order to print a book. For this, it + was needful that the work should have been read, examined, and approved by + the clergy. There must be a certificate that it was a godly and orthodox + book. A bull of excommunication was issued in 1501, by Alexander VI., + against printers who should publish pernicious doctrines. In 1515 the + Lateran Council ordered that no books should be printed but such as had + been inspected by the ecclesiastical censors, under pain of + excommunication and fine; the censors being directed "to take the utmost + care that nothing should be printed contrary to the orthodox faith." There + was thus a dread of religious discussion; a terror lest truth should + emerge. + </p> + <p> + But these frantic struggles of the powers of ignorance were unavailing. + Intellectual intercommunication among men was secured. It culminated in + the modern newspaper, which daily gives its contemporaneous intelligence + from all parts of the world. Reading became a common occupation. In + ancient society that art was possessed by comparatively few persons. + Modern society owes some of its most striking characteristics to this + change. + </p> + <p> + EFFECTS OF MARITIME ENTERPRISE. Such was the result of bringing into + Europe the manufacture of paper and the printing-press. In like manner the + introduction of the mariner's compass was followed by imposing material + and moral effects. These were—the discovery of America in + consequence of the rivalry of the Venetians and Genoese about the India + trade; the doubling of Africa by De Gama; and the circumnavigation of the + earth by Magellan. With respect to the last, the grandest of all human + undertakings, it is to be remembered that Catholicism had irrevocably + committed itself to the dogma of a flat earth, with the sky as the floor + of heaven, and hell in the under-world. Some of the Fathers, whose + authority was held to be paramount, had, as we have previously said, + furnished philosophical and religious arguments against the globular form. + The controversy had now suddenly come to an end—the Church was found + to be in error. + </p> + <p> + The correction of that geographical error was by no means the only + important result that followed the three great voyages. The spirit of + Columbus, De Gama, Magellan, diffused itself among all the enterprising + men of Western Europe. Society had been hitherto living under the dogma of + "loyalty to the king, obedience to the Church." It had therefore been + living for others, not for itself. The political effect of that dogma had + culminated in the Crusades. Countless thousands had perished in wars that + could bring them no reward, and of which the result had been conspicuous + failure. Experience had revealed the fact that the only gainers were the + pontiffs, cardinals, and other ecclesiastics in Rome, and the shipmasters + of Venice. But, when it became known that the wealth of Mexico, Peru, and + India, might be shared by any one who had enterprise and courage, the + motives that had animated the restless populations of Europe suddenly + changed. The story of Cortez and Pizarro found enthusiastic listeners + everywhere. Maritime adventure supplanted religious enthusiasm. + </p> + <p> + If we attempt to isolate the principle that lay at the basis of the + wonderful social changes that now took place, we may recognize it without + difficulty. Heretofore each man had dedicated his services to his superior—feudal + or ecclesiastical; now he had resolved to gather the fruits of his + exertions himself. Individualism was becoming predominant, loyalty was + declining into a sentiment. We shall now see how it was with the Church. + </p> + <p> + INDIVIDUALISM. Individualism rests on the principle that a man shall be + his own master, that he shall have liberty to form his own opinions, + freedom to carry into effect his resolves. He is, therefore, ever brought + into competition with his fellow-men. His life is a display of energy. + </p> + <p> + To remove the stagnation of centuries front European life, to vivify + suddenly what had hitherto been an inert mass, to impart to it + individualism, was to bring it into conflict with the influences that had + been oppressing it. All through the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries + uneasy strugglings gave a premonition of what was coming. In the early + part of the sixteenth (1517), the battle was joined. Individualism found + its embodiment in a sturdy German monk, and therefore, perhaps + necessarily, asserted its rights under theological forms. There were some + preliminary skirmishes about indulgences and other minor matters, but very + soon the real cause of dispute came plainly into view. Martin Luther + refused to think as he was ordered to do by his ecclesiastical superiors + at Rome; he asserted that he had an inalienable right to interpret the + Bible for himself. + </p> + <p> + At her first glance, Rome saw nothing in Martin Luther but a vulgar, + insubordinate, quarrelsome monk. Could the Inquisition have laid hold of + him, it would have speedily disposed of his affair; but, as the conflict + went on, it was discovered that Martin was not standing alone. Many + thousands of men, as resolute as himself, were coming up to his support; + and, while he carried on the combat with writings and words, they made + good his propositions with the sword. + </p> + <p> + THE REFORMATION. The vilification which was poured on Luther and his + doings was so bitter as to be ludicrous. It was declared that his father + was not his mother's husband, but an impish incubus, who had deluded her; + that, after ten years' struggling with his conscience, he had become an + atheist; that he denied the immortality of the soul; that he had composed + hymns in honor of drunkenness, a vice to which he was unceasingly + addicted; that he blasphemed the Holy Scriptures, and particularly Moses; + that he did not believe a word of what he preached; that he had called the + Epistle of St. James a thing of straw; and, above all, that the + Reformation was no work of his, but, in reality, was due to a certain + astrological position of the stars. It was, however, a vulgar saying among + the Roman ecclesiastics that Erasmus laid the egg of the Reformation, and + Luther hatched it. + </p> + <p> + Rome at first made the mistake of supposing that this was nothing more + than a casual outbreak; she failed to discern that it was, in fact, the + culmination of an internal movement which for two centuries had been going + on in Europe, and which had been hourly gathering force; that, had there + been nothing else, the existence of three popes—three obediences—would + have compelled men to think, to deliberate, to conclude for themselves. + The Councils of Constance and Basle taught them that there was a higher + power than the popes. The long and bloody wars that ensued were closed by + the Peace of Westphalia; and then it was found that Central and Northern + Europe had cast off the intellectual tyranny of Rome, that individualism + had carried its point, and had established the right of every man to think + for himself. + </p> + <p> + DECOMPOSITION OF PROTESTANTISM. But it was impossible that the + establishment of this right of private judgment should end with the + rejection of Catholicism. Early in the movement some of the most + distinguished men, such as Erasmus, who had been among its first + promoters, abandoned it. They perceived that many of the Reformers + entertained a bitter dislike of learning, and they were afraid of being + brought under bigoted caprice. The Protestant party, having thus + established its existence by dissent and separation, must, in its turn, + submit to the operation of the same principles. A decomposition into many + subordinate sects was inevitable. And these, now that they had no longer + any thing to fear from their great Italian adversary, commenced partisan + warfares on each other. As, in different countries, first one and then + another sect rose to power, it stained itself with cruelties perpetrated + upon its competitors. The mortal retaliations that had ensued, when, in + the chances of the times, the oppressed got the better of their + oppressors, convinced the contending sectarians that they must concede to + their competitors what they claimed for themselves; and thus, from their + broils and their crimes, the great principle of toleration extricated + itself. But toleration is only an intermediate stage; and, as the + intellectual decomposition of Protestantism keeps going on, that + transitional condition will lead to a higher and nobler state—the + hope of philosophy in all past ages of the world—a social state in + which there shall be unfettered freedom for thought. Toleration, except + when extorted by fear, can only come from those who are capable of + entertaining and respecting other opinions than their own. It can + therefore only come from philosophy. History teaches us only too plainly + that fanaticism is stimulated by religion, and neutralized or eradicated + by philosophy. + </p> + <p> + TOLERATION. The avowed object of the Reformation was, to remove from + Christianity the pagan ideas and pagan rites engrafted upon it by + Constantine and his successors, in their attempt to reconcile the Roman + Empire to it. The Protestants designed to bring it back to its primitive + purity; and hence, while restoring the ancient doctrines, they cast out of + it all such practices as the adoration of the Virgin Mary and the + invocation of saints. The Virgin Mary, we are assured by the Evangelists, + had accepted the duties of married life, and borne to her husband several + children. In the prevailing idolatry, she had ceased to be regarded as the + carpenter's wife; she had become the queen of heaven, and the mother of + God. + </p> + <p> + DA VINCI. The science of the Arabians followed the invading track of their + literature, which had come into Christendom by two routes—the south + of France, and Sicily. Favored by the exile of the popes to Avignon, and + by the Great Schism, it made good its foothold in Upper Italy. The + Aristotelian or Inductive philosophy, clad in the Saracenic costume that + Averroes had given it, made many secret and not a few open friends. It + found many minds eager to receive and able to appreciate it. Among these + were Leonardo da Vinci, who proclaimed the fundamental principle that + experiment and observation are the only reliable foundations of reasoning + in science, that experiment is the only trustworthy interpreter of Nature, + and is essential to the ascertainment of laws. He showed that the action + of two perpendicular forces upon a point is the same as that denoted by + the diagonal of a rectangle, of which they represent the sides. From this + the passage to the proposition of oblique forces was very easy. This + proposition was rediscovered by Stevinus, a century later, and applied by + him to the explanation of the mechanical powers. Da Vinci gave a clear + exposition of the theory of forces applied obliquely on a lever, + discovered the laws of friction subsequently demonstrated by Amontons, and + understood the principle of virtual velocities. He treated of the + conditions of descent of bodies along inclined planes and circular arcs, + invented the camera-obscura, discussed correctly several physiological + problems, and foreshadowed some of the great conclusions of modern + geology, such as the nature of fossil remains, and the elevation of + continents. He explained the earth-light reflected by the moon. With + surprising versatility of genius he excelled as a sculptor, architect, + engineer; was thoroughly versed in the astronomy, anatomy, and chemistry + of his times. In painting, he was the rival of Michel Angelo; in a + competition between them, he was considered to have established his + superiority. His "Last Supper," on the wall of the refectory of the + Dominican convent of Sta. Maria delle Grazie, is well known, from the + numerous engravings and copies that have been made of it. + </p> + <p> + ITALIAN SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. Once firmly established in the north of + Italy, Science soon extended her sway over the entire peninsula. The + increasing number of her devotees is indicated by the rise and rapid + multiplication of learned societies. These were reproductions of the + Moorish ones that had formerly existed in Granada and Cordova. As if to + mark by a monument the track through which civilizing influences had come, + the Academy of Toulouse, founded in 1345, has survived to our own times. + It represented, however, the gay literature of the south of France, and + was known under the fanciful title of "the Academy of Floral Games." The + first society for the promotion of physical science, the Academia + Secretorum Naturae, was founded at Naples, by Baptista Porta. It was, as + Tiraboschi relates, dissolved by the ecclesiastical authorities. The + Lyncean was founded by Prince Frederic Cesi at Rome; its device plainly + indicated its intention: a lynx, with its eyes turned upward toward + heaven, tearing a triple-headed Cerberus with its claws. The Accademia del + Cimento, established at Florence, 1657, held its meetings in the ducal + palace. It lasted ten years, and was then suppressed at the instance of + the papal government; as an equivalent, the brother of the grand-duke was + made a cardinal. It numbered many great men, such as Torricelli and + Castelli, among its members. The condition of admission into it was an + abjuration of all faith, and a resolution to inquire into the truth. These + societies extricated the cultivators of science from the isolation in + which they had hitherto lived, and, by promoting their intercommunication + and union, imparted activity and strength to them all. + </p> + <p> + Returning now from this digression, this historical sketch of the + circumstances under which science was introduced into Europe, I pass to + the consideration of its manner of action and its results. + </p> + <p> + INTELLECTUAL INFLUENCE OF SCIENCE. The influence of science on modern + civilization has been twofold: 1. Intellectual; 2. Economical. Under these + titles we may conveniently consider it. + </p> + <p> + Intellectually it overthrew the authority of tradition. It refused to + accept, unless accompanied by proof, the dicta of any master, no matter + how eminent or honored his name. The conditions of admission into the + Italian Accademia del Cimento, and the motto adopted by the Royal Society + of London, illustrate the position it took in this respect. + </p> + <p> + It rejected the supernatural and miraculous as evidence in physical + discussions. It abandoned sign-proof such as the Jews in old days + required, and denied that a demonstration can be given through an + illustration of something else, thus casting aside the logic that had been + in vogue for many centuries. + </p> + <p> + In physical inquiries, its mode of procedure was, to test the value of any + proposed hypothesis, by executing computations in any special case on the + basis or principle of that hypothesis, and then, by performing an + experiment or making an observation, to ascertain whether the result of + these agreed with the result of the computation. If it did not, the + hypothesis was to be rejected. + </p> + <p> + We may here introduce an illustration or two of this mode of procedure: + </p> + <p> + THEORIES OF GRAVITATION AND PHLOGISTON. Newton, suspecting that the + influence of the earth's attraction, gravity, may extend as far as the + moon, and be the force that causes her to revolve in her orbit round the + earth, calculated that, by her motion in her orbit, she was deflected from + the tangent thirteen feet every minute; but, by ascertaining the space + through which bodies would fall in one minute at the earth's surface, and + supposing it to be diminished in the ratio of the inverse square, it + appeared that the attraction at the moon's orbit would draw a body through + more than fifteen feet. He, therefore, for the time, considered his + hypothesis as unsustained. But it so happened that Picard shortly + afterward executed more correctly a new measurement of a degree; this + changed the estimated magnitude of the earth, and the distance of the + moon, which was measured in earth-semidiameters. Newton now renewed his + computation, and, as I have related on a previous page, as it drew to a + close, foreseeing that a coincidence was about to be established, was so + much agitated that he was obliged to ask a friend to complete it. The + hypothesis was sustained. + </p> + <p> + A second instance will sufficiently illustrate the method under + consideration. It is presented by the chemical theory of phlogiston. + Stahl, the author of this theory, asserted that there is a principle of + inflammability, to which he gave the name phlogiston, having the quality + of uniting with substances. Thus, when what we now term a metallic oxide + was united to it, a metal was produced; and, if the phlogiston were + withdrawn, the metal passed back into its earthy or oxidized state. On + this principle, then, the metals were compound bodies, earths combined + with phlogiston. + </p> + <p> + SCIENCE AND ECCLESIASTICISM. But during the eighteenth century the balance + was introduced as an instrument of chemical research. Now, if the + phlogistic hypothesis be true, it would follow that a metal should be the + heavier, its oxide the lighter body, for the former contains something—phlogiston—that + has been added to the latter. But, on weighing a portion of any metal, and + also the oxide producible from it, the latter proves to be the heavier, + and here the phlogistic hypothesis fails. Still further, on continuing the + investigation, it may be shown that the oxide or calx, as it used to be + called, has become heavier by combining with one of the ingredients of the + air. + </p> + <p> + To Lavoisier is usually attributed this test experiment; but the fact that + the weight of a metal increases by calcination was established by earlier + European experimenters, and, indeed, was well known to the Arabian + chemists. Lavoisier, however, was the first to recognize its great + importance. In his hands it produced a revolution in chemistry. + </p> + <p> + The abandonment of the phlogistic theory is an illustration of the + readiness with which scientific hypotheses are surrendered, when found to + be wanting in accordance with facts. Authority and tradition pass for + nothing. Every thing is settled by an appeal to Nature. It is assumed that + the answers she gives to a practical interrogation will ever be true. + </p> + <p> + Comparing now the philosophical principles on which science was + proceeding, with the principles on which ecclesiasticism rested, we see + that, while the former repudiated tradition, to the latter it was the main + support while the former insisted on the agreement of calculation and + observation, or the correspondence of reasoning and fact, the latter + leaned upon mysteries; while the former summarily rejected its own + theories, if it saw that they could not be coordinated with Nature, the + latter found merit in a faith that blindly accepted the inexplicable, a + satisfied contemplation of "things above reason." The alienation between + the two continually increased. On one side there was a sentiment of + disdain, on the other a sentiment of hatred. Impartial witnesses on all + hands perceived that science was rapidly undermining ecclesiasticism. + </p> + <p> + MATHEMATICS. Mathematics had thus become the great instrument of + scientific research, it had become the instrument of scientific reasoning. + In one respect it may be said that it reduced the operations of the mind + to a mechanical process, for its symbols often saved the labor of + thinking. The habit of mental exactness it encouraged extended to other + branches of thought, and produced an intellectual revolution. No longer + was it possible to be satisfied with miracle-proof, or the logic that had + been relied upon throughout the middle ages. Not only did it thus + influence the manner of thinking, it also changed the direction of + thought. Of this we may be satisfied by comparing the subjects considered + in the transactions of the various learned societies with the discussions + that had occupied the attention of the middle ages. + </p> + <p> + But the use of mathematics was not limited to the verification of + theories; as above indicated, it also furnished a means of predicting what + had hitherto been unobserved. In this it offered a counterpart to the + prophecies of ecclesiasticism. The discovery of Neptune is an instance of + the kind furnished by astronomy, and that of conical refraction by the + optical theory of undulations. + </p> + <p> + But, while this great instrument led to such a wonderful development in + natural science, it was itself undergoing development—improvement. + Let us in a few lines recall its progress. + </p> + <p> + The germ of algebra may be discerned in the works of Diophantus of + Alexandria, who is supposed to have lived in the second century of our + era. In that Egyptian school Euclid had formerly collected the great + truths of geometry, and arranged them in logical sequence. Archimedes, in + Syracuse, had attempted the solution of the higher problems by the method + of exhaustions. Such was the tendency of things that, had the patronage of + science been continued, algebra would inevitably have been invented. + </p> + <p> + To the Arabians we owe our knowledge of the rudiments of algebra; we owe + to them the very name under which this branch of mathematics passes. They + had carefully added, to the remains of the Alexandrian School, + improvements obtained in India, and had communicated to the subject a + certain consistency and form. The knowledge of algebra, as they possessed + it, was first brought into Italy about the beginning of the thirteenth + century. It attracted so little attention, that nearly three hundred years + elapsed before any European work on the subject appeared. In 1496 Paccioli + published his book entitled "Arte Maggiore," or "Alghebra." In 1501, + Cardan, of Milan, gave a method for the solution of cubic equations; other + improvements were contributed by Scipio Ferreo, 1508, by Tartalea, by + Vieta. The Germans now took up the subject. At this time the notation was + in an imperfect state. + </p> + <p> + The publication of the Geometry of Descartes, which contains the + application of algebra to the definition and investigation of curve lines + (1637), constitutes an epoch in the history of the mathematical sciences. + Two years previously, Cavalieri's work on Indivisibles had appeared. This + method was improved by Torricelli and others. The way was now open, for + the development of the Infinitesimal Calculus, the method of Fluxions of + Newton, and the Differential and Integral Calculus of Leibnitz. Though in + his possession many years previously, Newton published nothing on Fluxions + until 1704; the imperfect notation he employed retarded very much the + application of his method. Meantime, on the Continent, very largely + through the brilliant solutions of some of the higher problems, + accomplished by the Bernouillis, the Calculus of Leibnitz was universally + accepted, and improved by many mathematicians. An extraordinary + development of the science now took place, and continued throughout the + century. To the Binomial theorem, previously discovered by Newton, Taylor + now added, in his "Method of Increments," the celebrated theorem that + bears his name. This was in 1715. The Calculus of Partial Differences was + introduced by Euler in 1734. It was extended by D'Alembert, and was + followed by that of Variations, by Euler and Lagrange, and by the method + of Derivative Functions, by Lagrange, in 1772. + </p> + <p> + But it was not only in Italy, in Germany, in England, in France, that this + great movement in mathematics was witnessed; Scotland had added a new gem + to the intellectual diadem with which her brow is encircled, by the grand + invention of Logarithms, by Napier of Merchiston. It is impossible to give + any adequate conception of the scientific importance of this incomparable + invention. The modern physicist and astronomer will most cordially agree + with Briggs, the Professor of Mathematics in Gresham College, in his + exclamation: "I never saw a book that pleased me better, and that made I + me more wonder!" Not without reason did the immortal Kepler regard Napier + "to be the greatest man of his age, in the department to which he had + applied his abilities." Napier died in 1617. It is no exaggeration to say + that this invention, by shortening the labors, doubled the life of the + astronomer. + </p> + <p> + But here I must check myself. I must remember that my present purpose is + not to give the history of mathematics, but to consider what science has + done for the advancement of human civilization. And now, at once, recurs + the question, How is it that the Church produced no geometer in her + autocratic reign of twelve hundred years? + </p> + <p> + With respect to pure mathematics this remark may be made: Its cultivation + does not demand appliances that are beyond the reach of most individuals. + Astronomy must have its observatory, chemistry its laboratory; but + mathematics asks only personal disposition and a few books. No great + expenditures are called for, nor the services of assistants. One would + think that nothing could be more congenial, nothing more delightful, even + in the retirement of monastic life. + </p> + <p> + Shall we answer with Eusebius, "It is through contempt of such useless + labor that we think so little of these matters; we turn our souls to the + exercise of better things?" Better things! What can be better than + absolute truth? Are mysteries, miracles, lying impostures, better? It was + these that stood in the way! + </p> + <p> + The ecclesiastical authorities had recognized, from the outset of this + scientific invasion, that the principles it was disseminating were + absolutely irreconcilable with the current theology. Directly and + indirectly, they struggled against it. So great was their detestation of + experimental science, that they thought they had gained a great advantage + when the Accademia del Cimento was suppressed. Nor was the sentiment + restricted to Catholicism. When the Royal Society of London was founded, + theological odium was directed against it with so much rancor that, + doubtless, it would have been extinguished, had not King Charles II. given + it his open and avowed support. It was accused of an intention of + "destroying the established religion, of injuring the universities, and of + upsetting ancient and solid learning." + </p> + <p> + THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. We have only to turn over the pages of its + Transactions to discern how much this society has done for the progress of + humanity. It was incorporated in 1662, and has interested itself in all + the great scientific movements and discoveries that have since been made. + It published Newton's "Principia;" it promoted Halley's voyage, the first + scientific expedition undertaken by any government; it made experiments on + the transfusion of blood, and accepted Harvey's discovery of the + circulation. The encouragement it gave to inoculation led Queen Caroline + to beg six condemned criminals for experiment, and then to submit her own + children to that operation. Through its encouragement Bradley accomplished + his great discovery, the aberration of the fixed stars, and that of the + nutation of the earth's axis; to these two discoveries, Delambre says, we + owe the exactness of modern astronomy. It promoted the improvement of the + thermometer, the measure of temperature, and in Harrison's watch, the + chronometer, the measure of time. Through it the Gregorian Calendar was + introduced into England, in 1752, against a violent religious opposition. + Some of its Fellows were pursued through the streets by an ignorant and + infuriated mob, who believed it had robbed them of eleven days of their + lives; it was found necessary to conceal the name of Father Walmesley, a + learned Jesuit, who had taken deep interest in the matter; and, Bradley + happening to die during the commotion, it was declared that he had + suffered a judgment from Heaven for his crime! + </p> + <p> + THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. If I were to attempt to do justice to the + merits of this great society, I should have to devote many pages, to such + subjects as the achromatic telescope of Dollond; the dividing engine of + Ramsden, which first gave precision to astronomical observations, the + measurement of a degree on the earth's surface by Mason and Dixon; the + expeditions of Cook in connection with the transit of Venus; his + circumnavigation of the earth; his proof that scurvy, the curse of long + sea-voyages, may be avoided by the use of vegetable substances; the polar + expeditions; the determination of the density of the earth by Maskelyne's + experiments at Scheliallion, and by those of Cavendish; the discovery of + the planet Uranus by Herschel; the composition of water by Cavendish and + Watt; the determination of the difference of longitude between London and + Paris; the invention of the voltaic pile; the surveys of the heavens by + the Herschels; the development of the principle of interference by Young, + and his establishment of the undulatory theory of light; the ventilation + of jails and other buildings; the introduction of gas for city + illumination; the ascertainment of the length of the seconds-pendulum; the + measurement of the variations of gravity in different latitudes; the + operations to ascertain the curvature of the earth; the polar expedition + of Ross; the invention of the safety-lamp by Davy, and his decomposition + of the alkalies and earths; the electro-magnetic discoveries of Oersted + and Faraday; the calculating-engines of Babbage; the measures taken at the + instance of Humboldt for the establishment of many magnetic observatories; + the verification of contemporaneous magnetic disturbances over the earth's + surface. But it is impossible, in the limited space at my disposal, to + give even so little as a catalogue of its Transactions. Its spirit was + identical with that which animated the Accademia del Cimento, and its + motto accordingly was "Nullius in Verba." It proscribed superstition, and + permitted only calculation, observation, and experiment. + </p> + <p> + INFLUENCE OF SCIENCE. Not for a moment must it be supposed that in these + great attempts, these great Successes, the Royal Society stood alone. In + all the capitals of Europe there were Academies, Institutes, or Societies, + equal in distinction, and equally successful in promoting human knowledge + and modern civilization. + </p> + <p> + THE ECONOMICAL INFLUENCES OF SCIENCE. + </p> + <p> + The scientific study of Nature tends not only to correct and ennoble the + intellectual conceptions of man; it serves also to ameliorate his physical + condition. It perpetually suggests to him the inquiry, how he may make, by + their economical application, ascertained facts subservient to his use. + </p> + <p> + The investigation of principles is quickly followed by practical + inventions. This, indeed, is the characteristic feature of our times. It + has produced a great revolution in national policy. + </p> + <p> + In former ages wars were made for the procuring of slaves. A conqueror + transported entire populations, and extorted from them forced labor, for + it was only by human labor that human labor could be relieved. But when it + was discovered that physical agents and mechanical combinations could be + employed to incomparably greater advantage, public policy underwent a + change; when it was recognized that the application of a new principle, or + the invention of a new machine, was better than the acquisition of an + additional slave, peace became preferable to war. And not only so, but + nations possessing great slave or serf populations, as was the care in + America and Russia, found that considerations of humanity were supported + by considerations of interest, and set their bondmen free. + </p> + <p> + SCIENTIFIC INVENTIONS. Thus we live in a period of which a characteristic + is the supplanting of human and animal labor by machines. Its mechanical + inventions have wrought a social revolution. We appeal to the natural, not + to the supernatural, for the accomplishment of our ends. It is with the + "modern civilization" thus arising that Catholicism refuses to be + reconciled. The papacy loudly proclaims its inflexible repudiation of this + state of affairs, and insists on a restoration of the medieval condition + of things. + </p> + <p> + That a piece of amber, when rubbed, will attract and then repel light + bodies, was a fact known six hundred years before Christ. It remained an + isolated, uncultivated fact, a mere trifle, until sixteen hundred years + after Christ. Then dealt with by the scientific methods of mathematical + discussion and experiment, and practical application made of the result, + it has permitted men to communicate instantaneously with each other across + continents and under oceans. It has centralized the world. By enabling the + sovereign authority to transmit its mandates without regard to distance or + to time, it has revolutionized statesmanship and condensed political + power. + </p> + <p> + In the Museum of Alexandria there was a machine invented by Hero, the + mathematician, a little more than one hundred years before Christ. It + revolved by the agency of steam, and was of the form that we should now + call a reaction-engine. This, the germ of one of the most important + inventions ever made, was remembered as a mere curiosity for seventeen + hundred years. + </p> + <p> + Chance had nothing to do with the invention of the modern steam-engine. It + was the product of meditation and experiment. In the middle of the + seventeenth century several mechanical engineers attempted to utilize the + properties of steam; their labors were brought to perfection by Watt in + the middle of the eighteenth. + </p> + <p> + The steam-engine quickly became the drudge of civilization. It performed + the work of many millions of men. It gave, to those who would have been + condemned to a life of brutal toil, the opportunity of better pursuits. He + who formerly labored might now think. + </p> + <p> + Its earliest application was in such operations as pumping, wherein mere + force is required. Soon, however, it vindicated its delicacy of touch in + the industrial arts of spinning and weaving. It created vast manufacturing + establishments, and supplied clothing for the world. It changed the + industry of nations. + </p> + <p> + In its application, first to the navigation of rivers, and then to the + navigation of the ocean, it more than quadrupled the speed that had + heretofore been attained. Instead of forty days being requisite for the + passage, the Atlantic might now be crossed in eight. But, in land + transportation, its power was most strikingly displayed. The admirable + invention of the locomotive enabled men to travel farther in less than an + hour than they formerly could have done in more than a day. + </p> + <p> + The locomotive has not only enlarged the field of human activity, but, by + diminishing space, it has increased the capabilities of human life. In the + swift transportation of manufactured goods and agricultural products, it + has become a most efficient incentive to human industry + </p> + <p> + The perfection of ocean steam-navigation was greatly promoted by the + invention of the chronometer, which rendered it possible to find with + accuracy the place of a ship at sea. The great drawback on the advancement + of science in the Alexandrian School was the want of an instrument for the + measurement of time, and one for the measurement of temperature—the + chronometer and the thermometer; indeed, the invention of the latter is + essential to that of the former. Clepsydras, or water-clocks, had been + tried, but they were deficient in accuracy. Of one of them, ornamented + with the signs of the zodiac, and destroyed by certain primitive + Christians, St. Polycarp significantly remarked, "In all these monstrous + demons is seen an art hostile to God." Not until about 1680 did the + chronometer begin to approach accuracy. Hooke, the contemporary of Newton, + gave it the balance-wheel, with the spiral spring, and various escapements + in succession were devised, such as the anchor, the dead-beat, the duplex, + the remontoir. Provisions for the variation of temperature were + introduced. It was brought to perfection eventually by Harrison and + Arnold, in their hands becoming an accurate measure of the flight of time. + To the invention of the chronometer must be added that of the reflecting + sextant by Godfrey. This permitted astronomical observations to be made, + notwithstanding the motion of a ship. + </p> + <p> + Improvements in ocean navigation are exercising a powerful influence on + the distribution of mankind. They are increasing the amount and altering + the character of colonization. + </p> + <p> + DOMESTIC IMPROVEMENT. But not alone have these great discoveries and + inventions, the offspring of scientific investigation, changed the lot of + the human race; very many minor ones, perhaps individually insignificant, + have in their aggregate accomplished surprising effects. The commencing + cultivation of science in the fourteenth century gave a wonderful stimulus + to inventive talent, directed mainly to useful practical results; and + this, subsequently, was greatly encouraged by the system of patents, which + secure to the originator a reasonable portion of the benefits of his + skill. It is sufficient to refer in the most cursory manner to a few of + these improvements; we appreciate at once how much they have done. The + introduction of the saw-mill gave wooden floors to houses, banishing those + of gypsum, tile, or stone; improvements cheapening the manufacture of + glass gave windows, making possible the warming of apartments. However, it + was not until the sixteenth century that glazing could be well done. The + cutting of glass by the diamond was then introduced. The addition of + chimneys purified the atmosphere of dwellings, smoky and sooty as the huts + of savages; it gave that indescribable blessing of northern homes—a + cheerful fireside. Hitherto a hole in the roof for the escape of the + smoke, a pit in the midst of the floor to contain the fuel, and to be + covered with a lid when the curfew-bell sounded or night came, such had + been the cheerless and inadequate means of warming. + </p> + <p> + MUNICIPAL IMPROVEMENTS. Though not without a bitter resistance on the part + of the clergy, men began to think that pestilences are not punishments + inflicted by God on society for its religious shortcomings, but the + physical consequences of filth and wretchedness; that the proper mode of + avoiding them is not by praying to the saints, but by insuring personal + and municipal cleanliness. In the twelfth century it was found necessary + to pave the streets of Paris, the stench in them was so dreadful At once + dysenteries and spotted fever diminished; a sanitary condition approaching + that of the Moorish cities of Spain, which had been paved for centuries, + was attained. In that now beautiful metropolis it was forbidden to keep + swine, an ordinance resented by the monks of the abbey of St. Anthony, who + demanded that the pigs of that saint should go where they chose; the + government was obliged to compromise the matter by requiring that bells + should be fastened to the animals' necks. King Philip, the son of Louis + the Fat, had been killed by his horse stumbling over a sow. Prohibitions + were published against throwing slops out of the windows. In 1870 an + eye-witness, the author of this book, at the close of the pontifical rule + in Rome, found that, in walking the ordure-defiled streets of that city, + it was more necessary to inspect the earth than to contemplate the + heavens, in order to preserve personal purity. Until the beginning of the + seventeenth century, the streets of Berlin were never swept. There was a + law that every countryman, who came to market with a cart, should carry + back a load of dirt! + </p> + <p> + Paving was followed by attempts, often of an imperfect kind, at the + construction of drains and sewers. It had become obvious to all reflecting + men that these were necessary to the preservation of health, not only in + towns, but in isolated houses. Then followed the lighting of the public + thoroughfares. At first houses facing the streets were compelled to have + candles or lamps in their windows; next the system that had been followed + with so much advantage in Cordova and Granada—of having public lamps—was + tried, but this was not brought to perfection until the present century, + when lighting by gas was invented. Contemporaneously with public lamps + were improved organizations for night-watchmen and police. + </p> + <p> + By the sixteenth century, mechanical inventions and manufacturing + improvements were exercising a conspicuous influence on domestic and + social life. There were looking-glasses and clocks on the walls, mantels + over the fireplaces. Though in many districts the kitchen-fire was still + supplied with turf, the use of coal began to prevail. The table in the + dining-room offered new delicacies; commerce was bringing to it foreign + products; the coarse drinks of the North were supplanted by the delicate + wines of the South. Ice-houses were constructed. The bolting of flour, + introduced at the windmills, had given whiter and finer bread. By degrees + things that had been rarities became common—Indian-corn, the potato, + the turkey, and, conspicuous in the long list, tobacco. Forks, an Italian + invention, displaced the filthy use of the fingers. It may be said that + the diet of civilized men now underwent a radical change. Tea came from + China, coffee from Arabia, the use of sugar from India, and these to no + insignificant degree supplanted fermented liquors. Carpets replaced on the + floors the layer of straw; in the chambers there appeared better beds, in + the wardrobes cleaner and more frequently-changed clothing. In many towns + the aqueduct was substituted for the public fountain and the street-pump. + Ceilings which in the old days would have been dingy with soot and dirt, + were now decorated with ornamental frescoes. Baths were more commonly + resorted to; there was less need to use perfumery for the concealment of + personal odors. An increasing taste for the innocent pleasures of + horticulture was manifested, by the introduction of many foreign flowers + in the gardens—the tuberose, the auricula, the crown imperial, the + Persian lily, the ranunculus, and African marigolds. In the streets there + appeared sedans, then close carriages, and at length hackney-coaches. + </p> + <p> + Among the dull rustics mechanical improvements forced their way, and + gradually attained, in the implements for ploughing, sowing, mowing, + reaping, thrashing, the perfection of our own times. + </p> + <p> + MERCANTILE INVENTIONS. It began to be recognized, in spite of the + preaching of the mendicant orders, that poverty is the source of crime, + the obstruction to knowledge; that the pursuit of riches by commerce is + far better than the acquisition of power by war. For, though it may be + true, as Montesquieu says, that, while commerce unites nations, it + antagonizes individuals, and makes a traffic of morality, it alone can + give unity to the world; its dream, its hope, is universal peace. + </p> + <p> + MEDICAL IMPROVEMENTS. Though, instead of a few pages, it would require + volumes to record adequately the ameliorations that took place in domestic + and social life after science began to exert its beneficent influences, + and inventive talent came to the aid of industry, there are some things + which cannot be passed in silence. From the port of Barcelona the Spanish + khalifs had carried on an enormous commerce, and they with their + coadjutors—Jewish merchants—had adopted or originated many + commercial inventions, which, with matters of pure science, they had + transmitted to the trading communities of Europe. The art of book-keeping + by double entry was thus brought into Upper Italy. The different kinds of + insurance were adopted, though strenuously resisted by the clergy. They + opposed fire and marine insurance, on the ground that it is a tempting of + Providence. Life insurance was regarded as an act of interference with the + consequences of God's will. Houses for lending money on interest and on + pledges, that is, banking and pawnbroking establishments, were bitterly + denounced, and especially was indignation excited against the taking of + high rates of interest, which was stigmatized as usury—a feeling + existing in some backward communities up to the present day. Bills of + exchange in the present form and terms were adopted, the office of the + public notary established, and protests for dishonored obligations + resorted to. Indeed, it may be said, with but little exaggeration, that + the commercial machinery now used was thus introduced. I have already + remarked that, in consequence of the discovery of America, the front of + Europe had been changed. Many rich Italian merchants and many enterprising + Jews, had settled in Holland England, France, and brought into those + countries various mercantile devices. The Jews, who cared nothing about + papal maledictions, were enriched by the pontifical action in relation to + the lending of money at high interest; but Pius II., perceiving the + mistake that had been made, withdrew his opposition. Pawnbroking + establishments were finally authorized by Leo X., who threatened + excommunication of those who wrote against them. In their turn the + Protestants now exhibited a dislike against establishments thus authorized + by Rome. As the theological dogma, that the plague, like the earthquake, + is an unavoidable visitation from God for the sins of men, began to be + doubted, attempts were made to resist its progress by the establishment of + quarantines. When the Mohammedan discovery of inoculation was brought from + Constantinople in 1721, by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, it was so + strenuously resisted by the clergy, that nothing short of its adoption by + the royal family of England brought it into use. A similar resistance was + exhibited when Jenner introduced his great improvement, vaccination; yet a + century ago it was the exception to see a face unpitted by smallpox—now + it is the exception to see one so disfigured. In like manner, when the + great American discovery of anaesthetics was applied in obstetrical cases, + it was discouraged, not so much for physiological reasons, as under the + pretense that it was an impious attempt to escape from the curse denounced + against all women in Genesis iii. 16. + </p> + <p> + MAGIC AND MIRACLES. Inventive ingenuity did not restrict itself to the + production of useful contrivances, it added amusing ones. Soon after the + introduction of science into Italy, the houses of the virtuosi began to + abound in all kinds of curious mechanical surprises, and, as they were + termed, magical effects. In the latter the invention of the magic-lantern + greatly assisted. Not without reason did the ecclesiastics detest + experimental philosophy, for a result of no little importance ensued—the + juggler became a successful rival to the miracle-worker. The pious frauds + enacted in the churches lost their wonder when brought into competition + with the tricks of the conjurer in the market-place: he breathed flame, + walked on burning coals, held red-hot iron in his teeth, drew basketfuls + of eggs out of his mouth, worked miracles by marionettes. Yet the old idea + of the supernatural was with difficulty destroyed. A horse, whose master + had taught him many tricks, was tried at Lisbon in 1601, found guilty of + being, possessed by the devil, and was burnt. Still later than that many + witches were brought to the stake. + </p> + <p> + DISCOVERIES IN ASTRONOMY AND CHEMISTRY. Once fairly introduced, discovery + and invention have unceasingly advanced at an accelerated pace. Each + continually reacted on the other, continually they sapped supernaturalism. + De Dominis commenced, and Newton completed, the explanation of the + rainbow; they showed that it was not the weapon of warfare of God, but the + accident of rays of light in drops of water. De Dominis was decoyed to + Rome through the promise of an archbishopric, and the hope of a cardinal's + hat. He was lodged in a fine residence, but carefully watched. Accused of + having suggested a concord between Rome and England, he was imprisoned in + the castle of St Angelo, and there died. He was brought in his coffin + before an ecclesiastical tribunal, adjudged guilty of heresy, and his + body, with a heap of heretical books, was cast into the flames. Franklin, + by demonstrating the identity of lightning and electricity, deprived + Jupiter of his thunder-bolt. The marvels of superstition were displaced by + the wonders of truth. The two telescopes, the reflector and the + achromatic, inventions of the last century, permitted man to penetrate + into the infinite grandeurs of the universe, to recognize, as far as such + a thing is possible, its illimitable spaces, its measureless times; and a + little later the achromatic microscope placed before his eyes the world of + the infinitely small. The air-balloon carried him above the clouds, the + diving-bell to the bottom of the sea. The thermometer gave him true + measures of the variations of heat; the barometer, of the pressure of the + air. The introduction of the balance imparted exactness to chemistry, it + proved the indestructibility of matter. The discovery of oxygen, hydrogen, + and many other gases, the isolation of aluminum, calcium, and other + metals, showed that earth and air and water are not elements. With an + enterprise that can never be too much commended, advantage was taken of + the transits of Venus, and, by sending expeditions to different regions, + the distance of the earth from the sun was determined. The step that + European intellect had made between 1456 and 1759 was illustrated by + Halley's comet. When it appeared in the former year, it was considered as + the harbinger of the vengeance of God, the dispenser of the most dreadful + of his retributions, war, pestilence, famine. By order of the pope, all + the church-bells in Europe were rung to scare it away, the faithful were + commanded to add each day another prayer; and, as their prayers had often + in so marked a manner been answered in eclipses and droughts and rains, so + on this occasion it was declared that a victory over the comet had been + vouchsafed to the pope. But, in the mean time, Halley, guided by the + revelations of Kepler and Newton, had discovered that its motions, so far + from being controlled by the supplications of Christendom, were guided in + an elliptic orbit by destiny. Knowing that Nature bad denied to him an + opportunity of witnessing the fulfillment of his daring prophecy, he + besought the astronomers of the succeeding generation to watch for its + return in 1759, and in that year it came. + </p> + <p> + INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES. Whoever will in a spirit of impartiality + examine what had been done by Catholicism for the intellectual and + material advancement of Europe, during her long reign, and what has been + done by science in its brief period of action, can, I am persuaded, come + to no other conclusion than this, that, in instituting a comparison, he + has established a contrast. And yet, how imperfect, how inadequate is the + catalogue of facts I have furnished in the foregoing pages! I have said + nothing of the spread of instruction by the diffusion of the arts of + reading and writing, through public schools, and the consequent creation + of a reading community; the modes of manufacturing public opinion by + newspapers and reviews, the power of journalism, the diffusion of + information public and private by the post-office and cheap mails, the + individual and social advantages of newspaper advertisements. I have said + nothing of the establishment of hospitals, the first exemplar of which was + the Invalides of Paris; nothing of the improved prisons, reformatories, + penitentiaries, asylums, the treatment of lunatics, paupers, criminals; + nothing of the construction of canals, of sanitary engineering, or of + census reports; nothing of the invention of stereotyping, bleaching by + chlorine, the cotton-gin, or of the marvelous contrivances with which + cotton-mills are filled—contrivances which have given us cheap + clothing, and therefore added to cleanliness, comfort, health; nothing of + the grand advancement of medicine and surgery, or of the discoveries in + physiology, the cultivation of the fine arts, the improvement of + agriculture and rural economy, the introduction of chemical manures and + farm-machinery. I have not referred to the manufacture of iron and its + vast affiliated industries; to those of textile fabrics; to the collection + of museums of natural history, antiquities, curiosities. I have passed + unnoticed the great subject of the manufacture of machinery by itself—the + invention of the slide-rest, the planing-machine, and many other + contrivances by which engines can be constructed with almost mathematical + correctness. I have said nothing adequate about the railway system, or the + electric telegraph, nor about the calculus, or lithography, the airpump, + or the voltaic battery; the discovery of Uranus or Neptune, and more than + a hundred asteroids; the relation of meteoric streams to comets; nothing + of the expeditions by land and sea that have been sent forth by various + governments for the determination of important astronomical or + geographical questions; nothing of the costly and accurate experiments + they have caused to be made for the ascertainment of fundamental physical + data. I have been so unjust to our own century that I have made no + allusion to some of its greatest scientific triumphs: its grand + conceptions in natural history; its discoveries in magnetism and + electricity; its invention of the beautiful art of photography; its + applications of spectrum analysis; its attempts to bring chemistry under + the three laws of Avogadro, of Boyle and Mariotte, and of Charles; its + artificial production of organic substances from inorganic material, of + which the philosophical consequences are of the utmost importance; its + reconstruction of physiology by laying the foundation of that science on + chemistry; its improvements and advances in topographical surveying and in + the correct representation of the surface of the globe. I have said + nothing about rifled-guns and armored ships, nor of the revolution that + has been made in the art of war; nothing of that gift to women, the + sewing-machine; nothing of the noble contentions and triumphs of the arts + of peace—the industrial exhibitions and world's fairs. + </p> + <p> + What a catalogue have we here, and yet how imperfect! It gives merely a + random glimpse at an ever-increasing intellectual commotion—a + mention of things as they casually present themselves to view. How + striking the contrast between this literary, this scientific activity, and + the stagnation of the middle ages! + </p> + <p> + The intellectual enlightenment that surrounds this activity has imparted + unnumbered blessings to the human race. In Russia it has emancipated a + vast serf-population; in America it has given freedom to four million + negro slaves. In place of the sparse dole of the monastery-gate, it has + organized charity and directed legislation to the poor. It has shown + medicine its true function, to prevent rather than to cure disease. In + statesmanship it has introduced scientific methods, displacing random and + empirical legislation by a laborious ascertainment of social facts + previous to the application of legal remedies. So conspicuous, so + impressive is the manner in which it is elevating men, that the hoary + nations of Asia seek to participate in the boon. Let us not forget that + our action on them must be attended by their reaction on us. If the + destruction of paganism was completed when all the gods were brought to + Rome and confronted there, now, when by our wonderful facilities of + locomotion strange nations and conflicting religions are brought into + common presence—the Mohammedan, the Buddhist, the + Brahman-modifications of them all must ensue. In that conflict science + alone will stand secure; for it has given us grander views of the + universe, more awful views of God. + </p> + <p> + AMERICAN AND FRENCH REVOLUTIONS. The spirit that has imparted life to this + movement, that has animated these discoveries and inventions, is + Individualism; in some minds the hope of gain, in other and nobler ones + the expectation of honor. It is, then, not to be wondered at that this + principle found a political embodiment, and that, during the last century, + on two occasions, it gave rise to social convulsions—the American + and the French Revolutions. The former has ended in the dedication of a + continent to Individualism—there, under republican forms, before the + close of the present century, one hundred million people, with no more + restraint than their common security requires, will be pursuing an + unfettered career. The latter, though it has modified the political aspect + of all Europe, and though illustrated by surprising military successes, + has, thus far, not consummated its intentions; again and again it has + brought upon France fearful disasters. Her dual form of government—her + allegiance to her two sovereigns, the political and the spiritual—has + made her at once the leader and the antagonist of modern progress. With + one hand she has enthroned Reason, with the other she has re-established + and sustained the pope. Nor will this anomaly in her conduct cease until + she bestows a true education on all her children, even on those of the + humblest rustic. + </p> + <p> + SCIENCE AND CIVILIZATION. The intellectual attack made on existing + opinions by the French Revolution was not of a scientific, but of a + literary character; it was critical and aggressive. But Science has never + been an aggressor. She has always acted on the defensive, and left to her + antagonist the making of wanton attacks. Nevertheless, literary dissent is + not of such ominous import as scientific; for literature is, in its + nature, local—science is cosmopolitan. + </p> + <p> + If, now, we demand, What has science done for the promotion of modern + civilization; what has it done for the happiness, the well-being of + society? we shall find our answer in the same manner that we reached a + just estimate of what Latin Christianity had done. The reader of the + foregoing paragraphs would undoubtedly infer that there must have been an + amelioration in the lot of our race; but, when we apply the touchstone of + statistics, that inference gathers precision. Systems of philosophy and + forms of religion find a measure of their influence on humanity in + census-returns. Latin Christianity, in a thousand years, could not double + the population of Europe; it did not add perceptibly to the term of + individual life. But, as Dr. Jarvis, in his report to the Massachusetts + Board of Health, has stated, at the epoch of the Reformation "the average + longevity in Geneva was 21.21 years, between 1814 and 1833 it was 40.68; + as large a number of persons now live to seventy years as lived to forty, + three hundred years ago. In 1693 the British Government borrowed money by + selling annuities on lives from infancy upward, on the basis of the + average longevity. The contract was profitable. Ninety-seven years later + another tontine, or scale of annuities, on the basis of the same + expectation of life as in the previous century, was issued. These latter + annuitants, however, lived so much longer than their predecessors, that it + proved to be a very costly loan for the government. It was found that, + while ten thousand of each sex in the first tontine died under the age of + twenty-eight, only five thousand seven hundred and seventy-two males and + six thousand four hundred and sixteen females in the second tontine died + at the same age, one hundred years later." + </p> + <p> + We have been comparing the spiritual with the practical, the imaginary + with the real. The maxims that have been followed in the earlier and the + later period produced their inevitable result. In the former that maxim + was, "Ignorance is the mother of Devotion in the latter, Knowledge is + Power." + </p> + <p> + <br /><a name="linktwelve" id="linktwelve"></a> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + CHAPTER XII. + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + THE IMPENDING CRISIS. INDICATIONS OF THE APPROACH OF A + RELIGIOUS CRISIS.—THE PREDOMINATING CHRISTIAN CHURCH, THE + ROMAN, PERCEIVES THIS, AND MAKES PREPARATION FOR IT.—PIUS + IX CONVOKES AN OECUMENICAL COUNCIL—RELATIONS OF THE + DIFFERENT EUROPEAN GOVERNMENTS TO THE PAPACY.—RELATIONS OF + THE CHURCH TO SCIENCE, AS INDICATED BY THE ENCYCLICAL LETTER + AND THE SYLLABUS. + + Acts of the Vatican Council in relation to the infallibility + of the pope, and to Science.—Abstract of decisions arrived + at. + + Controversy between the Prussian Government and the papacy.— + It is a contest between the State and the Church for + supremacy—Effect of dual government in Europe—Declaration + by the Vatican Council of its position as to Science—The + dogmatic constitution of the Catholic faith.—Its + definitions respecting God, Revelation, Faith, Reason.—The + anathemas it pronounces.—Its denunciation of modern + civilization. + + The Protestant Evangelical Alliance and its acts. + + General review of the foregoing definitions, and acts.— + Present condition of the controversy, and its future + prospects. +</pre> + <p> + PREDOMINANCE OF CATHOLICITY. No one who is acquainted with the present + tone of thought in Christendom can hide from himself the fact that an + intellectual, a religious crisis is impending. + </p> + <p> + In all directions we see the lowering skies, we hear the mutterings of the + coming storm. In Germany, the national party is arraying itself against + the ultramontane; in France, the men of progress are struggling against + the unprogressive, and in their contest the political supremacy of that + great country is wellnigh neutralized or lost. In Italy, Rome has passed + into the hands of an excommunicated king. The sovereign pontiff, feigning + that he is a prisoner, is fulminating from the Vatican his anathemas, and, + in the midst of the most convincing proofs of his manifold errors, + asserting his own infallibility. A Catholic archbishop with truth declares + that the whole civil society of Europe seems to be withdrawing itself in + its public life from Christianity. In England and America, religious + persons perceive with dismay that the intellectual basis of faith has been + undermined by the spirit of the age. They prepare for the approaching + disaster in the best manner they can. + </p> + <p> + The most serious trial through which society can pass is encountered in + the exuviation of its religious restraints. The history of Greece and the + history of Rome exhibit to us in an impressive manner how great are the + perils. But it is not given to religions to endure forever. They + necessarily undergo transformation with the intellectual development of + man. How many countries are there professing the same religion now that + they did at the birth of Christ? + </p> + <p> + It is estimated that the entire population of Europe is about three + hundred and one million. Of these, one hundred and eighty-five million are + Roman Catholics, thirty-three million are Greek Catholics. Of Protestants + there are seventy-one million, separated into many sects. Of Jews, five + million; of Mohammedans, seven million. + </p> + <p> + Of the religious subdivisions of America an accurate numerical statement + cannot be given. The whole of Christian South America is Roman Catholic, + the same may be said of Central America and of Mexico, as also of the + Spanish and French West India possessions. In the United States and Canada + the Protestant population predominates. To Australia the same remark + applies. In India the sparse Christian population sinks into + insignificance in presence of two hundred million Mohammedans and other + Oriental denominations. The Roman Catholic Church is the most widely + diffused and the most powerfully organized of all modern societies. It is + far more a political than a religious combination. Its principle is that + all power is in the clergy, and that for laymen there is only the + privilege of obedience. The republican forms under which the Churches + existed in primitive Christianity have gradually merged into an absolute + centralization, with a man as vice-God at its head. This Church asserts + that the divine commission under which it acts comprises civil government; + that it has a right to use the state for its own purposes, but that the + state has no right to intermeddle with it; that even in Protestant + countries it is not merely a coordinate government, but the sovereign + power. It insists that the state has no rights over any thing which it + declares to be in its domain, and that Protestantism, being a mere + rebellion, has no rights at all; that even in Protestant communities the + Catholic bishop is the only lawful spiritual pastor. + </p> + <p> + It is plain, therefore, that of professing Christians the vast majority + are Catholic; and such is the authoritative demand of the papacy for + supremacy, that, in any survey of the present religious condition of + Christendom, regard must be mainly had to its acts. Its movements are + guided by the highest intelligence and skill. Catholicism obeys the orders + of one man, and has therefore a unity, a compactness, a power, which + Protestant denominations do not possess. Moreover, it derives inestimable + strength from the souvenirs of the great name of Rome. + </p> + <p> + Unembarrassed by any hesitating sentiment, the papacy has contemplated the + coming intellectual crisis. It has pronounced its decision, and occupied + what seems to it to be the most advantageous ground. + </p> + <p> + This definition of position we find in the acts of the late Vatican + Council. + </p> + <p> + THE OECUMENICAL COUNCIL. Pius IX., by a bull dated June 29, 1868, convoked + an Oecumenical Council, to meet in Rome, on December 8, 1869. Its sessions + ended in July, 1870. Among other matters submitted to its consideration, + two stand forth in conspicuous prominence—they are the assertion of + the infallibility of the Roman pontiff, and the definition of the + relations of religion to science. + </p> + <p> + But the convocation of the Council was far from meeting with general + approval. + </p> + <p> + The views of the Oriental Churches were, for the most part, unfavorable. + They affirmed that they saw a desire in the Roman pontiff to set himself + up as the head of Christianity, whereas they recognized the Lord Jesus + Christ alone as the head of the Church. They believed that the Council + would only lead to new quarrels and scandals. The sentiment of these + venerable Churches is well shown by the incident that, when, in 1867, the + Nestorian Patriarch Simeon had been invited by the Chaldean Patriarch to + return to Roman Catholic unity, he, in his reply, showed that there was no + prospect for harmonious action between the East and the West: "You invite + me to kiss humbly the slipper of the Bishop of Rome; but is he not, in + every respect, a man like yourself—is his dignity superior to yours? + We will never permit to be introduced into our holy temples of worship + images and statues, which are nothing but abominable and impure idols. + What! shall we attribute to Almighty God a mother, as you dare to do? Away + from us, such blasphemy!" + </p> + <p> + EXPECTATIONS OF THE PAPACY. Eventually, the patriarchs, archbishops, and + bishops, from all regions of the world, who took part in this Council, + were seven hundred and four. + </p> + <p> + Rome had seen very plainly that Science was not only rapidly undermining + the dogmas of the papacy, but was gathering great political power. She + recognized that all over Europe there was a fast-spreading secession among + persons of education, and that its true focus was North Germany. + </p> + <p> + She looked, therefore, with deep interest on the Prusso-Austrian War, + giving to Austria whatever encouragement she could. The battle of Sadowa + was a bitter disappointment to her. + </p> + <p> + With satisfaction again she looked upon the breaking out of the + Franco-Prussian War, not doubting that its issue would be favorable to + France, and therefore favorable to her. Here, again, she was doomed to + disappointment at Sedan. + </p> + <p> + Having now no further hope, for many years to come, from external war, she + resolved to see what could be done by internal insurrection, and the + present movement in the German Empire is the result of her machinations. + </p> + <p> + Had Austria or had France succeeded, Protestantism would have been + overthrown along with Prussia. + </p> + <p> + But, while these military movements were being carried on, a movement of a + different, an intellectual kind, was engaged in. Its principle was, to + restore the worn-out mediaeval doctrines and practices, carrying them to + an extreme, no matter what the consequences might be. + </p> + <p> + ENCYCLICAL LETTER AND SYLLABUS. Not only was it asserted that the papacy + has a divine right to participate in the government of all countries, + coordinately with their temporal authorities, but that the supremacy of + Rome in this matter must be recognized; and that in any question between + them the temporal authority must conform itself to her order. + </p> + <p> + And, since the endangering of her position had been mainly brought about + by the progress of science, she presumed to define its boundaries, and + prescribe limits to its authority. Still more, she undertook to denounce + modern civilization. + </p> + <p> + These measures were contemplated soon after the return of his Holiness + from Gaeta in 1848, and were undertaken by the advice of the Jesuits, who, + lingering in the hope that God would work the impossible, supposed that + the papacy, in its old age, might be reinvigorated. The organ of the Curia + proclaimed the absolute independence of the Church as regards the state; + the dependence of the bishops on the pope; of the diocesan clergy on the + bishops; the obligation of the Protestants to abandon their atheism, and + return to the fold; the absolute condemnation of all kinds of toleration. + In December, 1854, in an assembly of bishops, the pope had proclaimed the + dogma of the immaculate conception. Ten years subsequently he put forth + the celebrated Encyclical Letter and the Syllabus. + </p> + <p> + The Encyclical Letter is dated December 8, 1864. It was drawn up by + learned ecclesiastics, and subsequently debated at the Congregation of the + Holy Office, then forwarded to prelates, and finally gone over by the pope + and cardinals. + </p> + <p> + ENCYCLICAL LETTER AND SYLLABUS. Many of the clergy objected to its + condemnation of modern civilization. Some of the cardinals were reluctant + to concur in it. The Catholic press accepted it, not, however, without + misgivings and regrets. The Protestant governments put no obstacle in its + way; the Catholic were embarrassed by it. France allowed the publication + only of that portion proclaiming the jubilee; Austria and Italy permitted + its introduction, but withheld their approval. The political press and + legislatures of Catholic countries gave it an unfavorable reception. Many + deplored it as likely to widen the breach between the Church and modern + society. The Italian press regarded it as determining a war, without truce + or armistice, between the papacy and modern civilization. Even in Spain + there were journals that regretted "the obstinacy and blindness of the + court of Rome, in branding and condemning modern civilization." + </p> + <p> + It denounces that "most pernicious and insane opinion, that liberty of + conscience and of worship is the right of every man, and that this right + ought, in every well-governed state, to be proclaimed and asserted by law; + and that the will of the people, manifested by public opinion (as it is + called), or by other means, constitutes a supreme law, independent of all + divine and human rights." It denies the right of parents to educate their + children outside the Catholic Church. It denounces "the impudence" of + those who presume to subordinate the authority of the Church and of the + Apostolic See, "conferred upon it by Christ our Lord, to the judgment of + the civil authority." His Holiness commends, to the venerable brothers to + whom the Encyclical is addressed, incessant prayer, and, "in order that + God may accede the more easily to our and your prayers, let us employ in + all confidence, as our mediatrix with him, the Virgin Mary, mother of God, + who sits as a queen upon the right hand of her only-begotten Son, our Lord + Jesus Christ, in a golden vestment, clothed around with various + adornments. There is nothing she cannot obtain from him." + </p> + <p> + CONVOCATION OF THE COUNCIL. Plainly, the principle now avowed by the + papacy must bring it into collision even with governments which had + heretofore maintained amicable relations with it. Great dissatisfaction + was manifested by Russia, and the incidents that ensued drew forth from + his Holiness an allocution (November, 1866) condemnatory of the course of + that government. To this, Russia replied, by declaring the Concordat of + 1867 abrogated. + </p> + <p> + Undeterred by the result of the battle of Sadowa (July, 1866), though it + was plain that the political condition of Europe was now profoundly + affected, and especially the relations of the papacy, the pope delivered + an allocution (June 27, 1867), confirming the Encyclical and Syllabus. He + announced his intention of convoking an Oecumenical Council. + </p> + <p> + Accordingly, as we have already mentioned, in the following year (June 29, + 1868), a bull was issued convoking that Council. Misunderstandings, + however, had now sprung up with Austria. The Austrian Reichsrath had + adopted laws introducing equality of civil rights for all the inhabitants + of the empire, and restricting the influence of the Church. This produced + on the part of the papal government an expostulation. Acting as Russia had + done, the Austrian Government found it necessary to abrogate the Concordat + of 1855. + </p> + <p> + In France, as above stated, the publication of the entire Syllabus was not + permitted; but Prussia, desirous of keeping on good terms with the papacy, + did not disallow it. The exacting disposition of the papacy increased. It + was openly declared that the faithful must now sacrifice to the Church, + property, life, and even their intellectual convictions. The Protestants + and the Greeks were invited to tender their submission. + </p> + <p> + THE VATICAN COUNCIL. On the appointed day, the Council opened. Its objects + were, to translate the Syllabus into practice, to establish the dogma of + papal infallibility, and define the relations of religion to science. + Every preparation had been made that the points determined on should be + carried. The bishops were informed that they were coming to Rome not to + deliberate, but to sanction decrees previously made by an infallible pope. + No idea was entertained of any such thing as free discussion. The minutes + of the meetings were not permitted to be inspected; the prelates of the + opposition were hardly allowed to speak. On January 22, 1870, a petition, + requesting that the infallibility of the pope should be defined, was + presented; an opposition petition of the minority was offered. Hereupon, + the deliberations of the minority were forbidden, and their publications + prohibited. And, though the Curia had provided a compact majority, it was + found expedient to issue an order that to carry any proposition it was not + necessary that the vote should be near unanimity, a simple majority + sufficed. The remonstrances of the minority were altogether unheeded. + </p> + <p> + As the Council pressed forward to its object, foreign authorities became + alarmed at its reckless determination. A petition drawn up by the + Archbishop of Vienna, and signed by several cardinals and archbishops, + entreated his Holiness not to submit the dogma of infallibility for + consideration, "because the Church has to sustain at present a struggle + unknown in former times, against men who oppose religion itself as an + institution baneful to human nature, and that it is inopportune to impose + upon Catholic nations, led into temptation by so many machinations, more + dogmas than the Council of Trent proclaimed." It added that "the + definition demanded would furnish fresh arms to the enemies of religion, + to excite against the Catholic Church the resentment of men avowedly the + best." The Austrian prime-minister addressed a protest to the papal + government, warning it against any steps that might lead to encroachments + on the rights of Austria. The French Government also addressed a note, + suggesting that a French bishop should explain to the Council the + condition and the rights of France. To this the papal government replied + that a bishop could not reconcile the double duties of an ambassador and a + Father of the Council. Hereupon, the French Government, in a very + respectful note, remarked that, to prevent ultra opinions from becoming + dogmas, it reckoned on the moderation of the bishops, and the prudence of + the Holy Father; and, to defend its civil and political laws against the + encroachments of the theocracy, it had counted on public reason and the + patriotism of French Catholics. In these remonstrances the North-German + Confederation joined, seriously pressing them on the consideration of the + papal government. + </p> + <p> + On April 23d, Von Arnim, the Prussian embassador, united with Daru, the + French minister, in suggesting to the Curia the inexpediency of reviving + mediaeval ideas. The minority bishops, thus encouraged, demanded now that + the relations of the spiritual to the secular power should be determined + before the pope's infallibility was discussed, and that it should be + settled whether Christ had conferred on St. Peter and his successors a + power over kings and emperors. + </p> + <p> + INFALLIBILITY OF THE POPE. No regard was paid to this, not even delay was + consented to. The Jesuits, who were at the bottom of the movement, carried + their measures through the packed assembly with a high hand. The Council + omitted no device to screen itself from popular criticism. Its proceedings + were conducted with the utmost secrecy; all who took part in them were + bound by a solemn oath to observe silence. + </p> + <p> + On July 13th, the votes were taken. Of 601 votes, 451 were affirmative. + Under the majority rule, the measure was pronounced carried, and, five + days subsequently, the pope proclaimed the dogma of his infallibility. It + has often been remarked that this was the day on which the French declared + war against Prussia. Eight days afterward the French troops were withdrawn + from Rome. Perhaps both the statesman and the philosopher will admit that + an infallible pope would be a great harmonizing element, if only + common-sense could acknowledge him. + </p> + <p> + Hereupon, the King of Italy addressed an autograph letter to the pope, + setting forth in very respectful terms the necessity that his troops + should advance and occupy positions "indispensable to the security of his + Holiness, and the maintenance of order;" that, while satisfying the + national aspirations, the chief of Catholicity, surrounded by the devotion + of the Italian populations, "might preserve on the banks of the Tiber a + glorious seat, independent of all human sovereignty." + </p> + <p> + To this his Holiness replied in a brief and caustic letter: "I give thanks + to God, who has permitted your majesty to fill the last days of my life + with bitterness. For the rest, I cannot grant certain requests, nor + conform with certain principles contained in your letter. Again, I call + upon God, and into his hands commit my cause, which is his cause. I pray + God to grant your majesty many graces, to free you from dangers, and to + dispense to you his mercy which you so much need." + </p> + <p> + THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT. The Italian troops met with but little resistance. + They occupied Rome on September 20, 1870. A manifesto was issued, setting + forth the details of a plebiscitum, the vote to be by ballot, the + question, "the unification of Italy." Its result showed how completely the + popular mind in Italy is emancipated from theology. In the Roman provinces + the number of votes on the lists was 167,548; the number who voted, + 135,291; the number who voted for annexation, 133,681; the number who + voted against it, 1,507; votes annulled, 103. The Parliament of Italy + ratified the vote of the Roman people for annexation by a vote of 239 to + 20. A royal decree now announced the annexation of the Papal States to the + kingdom of Italy, and a manifesto was issued indicating the details of the + arrangement. It declared that "by these concessions the Italian Government + seeks to prove to Europe that Italy respects the sovereignty of the pope + in conformity with the principle of a free Church in a free state." + </p> + <p> + AFFAIRS IN PRUSSIA. In the Prusso-Austrian War it had been the hope of the + papacy, to restore the German Empire under Austria, and make Germany a + Catholic nation. In the Franco-German War the French expected ultramontane + sympathies in Germany. No means were spared to excite Catholic sentiment + against the Protestants. No vilification was spared. They were spoken of + as atheists; they were declared incapable of being honest men; their sects + were pointed out as indicating that their secession was in a state of + dissolution. "The followers of Luther are the most abandoned men in all + Europe." Even the pope himself, presuming that the whole world had + forgotten all history, did not hesitate to say, "Let the German people + understand that no other Church but that of Rome is the Church of freedom + and progress." + </p> + <p> + Meantime, among the clergy of Germany a party was organized to remonstrate + against, and even resist, the papal usurpation. It protested against "a + man being placed on the throne of God," against a vice-God of any kind, + nor would it yield its scientific convictions to ecclesiastical authority. + Some did not hesitate to accuse the pope himself of being a heretic. + Against these insubordinates excommunications began to be fulminated, and + at length it was demanded that certain professors and teachers should be + removed from their offices, and infallibilists substituted. With this + demand the Prussian Government declined to comply. + </p> + <p> + The Prussian Government had earnestly desired to remain on amicable terms + with the papacy; it had no wish to enter on a theological quarrel; but + gradually the conviction was forced upon it that the question was not a + religious but a political one—whether the power of the state should + be used against the state. A teacher in a gymnasium had been + excommunicated; the government, on being required to dismiss him, refused. + The Church authorities denounced this as an attack upon faith. The emperor + sustained his minister. The organ of the infallible party threatened the + emperor with the opposition of all good Catholics, and told him that, in a + contention with the pope, systems of government can and must change. It + was now plain to every one that the question had become, "Who is to be + master in the state, the government or the Roman Church? It is plainly + impossible for men to live under two governments, one of which declares to + be wrong what the other commands. If the government will not submit to the + Roman Church, the two are enemies." A conflict was thus forced upon + Prussia by Rome—a conflict in which the latter, impelled by her + antagonism to modern civilization, is clearly the aggressor. + </p> + <p> + ACTION OF THE PRUSSIAN GOVERNMENT. The government, now recognizing its + antagonist, defended itself by abolishing the Catholic department in the + ministry of Public Worship. This was about midsummer, 1871. In the + following November the Imperial Parliament passed a law that ecclesiastics + abusing their office, to the disturbance of the public peace, should be + criminally punished. And, guided by the principle that the future belongs + to him to whom the school belongs, a movement arose for the purpose of + separating the schools from the Church. + </p> + <p> + THE CHURCH A POLITICAL POWER. The Jesuit party was extending and + strengthening an organization all over Germany, based on the principle + that state legislation in ecclesiastical matters is not binding. Here was + an act of open insurrection. Could the government allow itself to be + intimidated? The Bishop of Ermeland declared that he would not obey the + laws of the state if they touched the Church. The government stopped the + payment of his salary; and, perceiving that there could be no peace so + long as the Jesuits were permitted to remain in the country, their + expulsion was resolved on, and carried into effect. At the close of 1872 + his Holiness delivered an allocution, in which he touched on the + "persecution of the Church in the German Empire," and asserted that the + Church alone has a right to fix the limits between its domain and that of + the state—a dangerous and inadmissible principle, since under the + term morals the Church comprises all the relations of men to each other, + and asserts that whatever does not assist her oppresses her. Hereupon, a + few days subsequently (January 9, 1873), four laws were brought forward by + the government: 1. Regulating the means by which a person might sever his + connection with the Church; 2. Restricting the Church in the exercise of + ecclesiastical punishments; 3. Regulating the ecclesiastical power of + discipline, forbidding bodily chastisement, regulating fines and + banishments granting the privilege of an appeal to the Royal Court of + Justice for Ecclesiastical Affairs, the decision of which is final; 4. + Ordaining the preliminary education and appointment of priests. They must + have had a satisfactory education, passed a public examination conducted + by the state, and have a knowledge of philosophy, history, and German + literature. Institutions refusing to be superintended by the state are to + be closed. + </p> + <p> + These laws demonstrate that Germany is resolved that she will no longer be + dictated to nor embarrassed by a few Italian noble families; that she will + be master of her own house. She sees in the conflict, not an affair of + religion or of conscience, but a struggle between the sovereignty of state + legislation and the sovereignty of the Church. She treats the papacy not + in the aspect of a religious, but of a political power, and is resolved + that the declaration of the Prussian Constitution shall be maintained, + that "the exercise of religious freedom must not interfere with the duties + of a citizen toward the community and the state." + </p> + <p> + DUAL GOVERNMENT IN EUROPE. With truth it is affirmed that the papacy is + administered not oecumenically, not as a universal Church, for all the + nations, but for the benefit of some Italian families. Look at its + composition! It consists of pope, cardinal bishops, cardinal deacons, who + at the present moment are all Italians; cardinal priests, nearly all + Italians; ministers and secretaries of the Sacred Congregation in Rome, + all Italians. France has not given a pope since the middle ages. It is the + same with Austria, Portugal, Spain. In spite of all attempts to change + this system of exclusion, to open the dignities of the Church to all + Catholicism, no foreigner can reach the holy chair. It is recognized that + the Church is a domain given by God to the princely Italian families. Of + fifty-five members of the present College of Cardinals, forty are Italians—that + is, thirty-two beyond their proper share. + </p> + <p> + The stumbling-block to the progress of Europe has been its dual system of + government. So long as every nation had two sovereigns, a temporal one at + home and a spiritual one in a foreign land—there being different + temporal masters in different nations, but only one foreign master for + all, the pontiff at Rome—how was it possible that history should + present us with any thing more than a narrative of the strifes of these + rival powers? Whoever will reflect on this state of things will see how it + is that those nations which have shaken off the dual form of government + are those which have made the greatest advance. He will discern what is + the cause of the paralysis which has befallen France. On one hand she + wishes to be the leader of Europe, on the other she clings to a dead past. + For the sake of propitiating her ignorant classes, she enters upon lines + of policy which her intelligence must condemn. So evenly balanced are the + two sovereignties under which she lives, that sometimes one, sometimes the + other, prevails; and not unfrequently the one uses the other as an engine + for the accomplishment of its ends. + </p> + <p> + INTENTIONS OF THE POPE. But this dual system approaches its close. To the + northern nations, less imaginative and less superstitious, it had long ago + become intolerable; they rejected it summarily at the epoch of the + Reformation, notwithstanding the protestations and pretensions of Rome, + Russia, happier than the rest, has never acknowledged the influence of any + foreign spiritual power. She gloried in her attachment to the ancient + Greek rite, and saw in the papacy nothing more than a troublesome + dissenter from the primitive faith. In America the temporal and the + spiritual have been absolutely divorced—the latter is not permitted + to have any thing to do with affairs of state, though in all other + respects liberty is conceded to it. The condition of the New World also + satisfies us that both forms of Christianity, Catholic and Protestant, + have lost their expansive power; neither can pass beyond its + long-established boundary-line—the Catholic republics remain + Catholic, the Protestant Protestant. And among the latter the disposition + to sectarian isolation is disappearing; persons of different denominations + consort without hesitation together. They gather their current opinions + from newspapers, not from the Church. + </p> + <p> + Pius IX., in the movements we have been considering, has had two objects + in view: 1. The more thorough centralization of the papacy, with a + spiritual autocrat assuming the prerogatives of God at its head; 2. + Control over the intellectual development of the nations professing + Christianity. + </p> + <p> + The logical consequence of the former of these is political intervention. + He insists that in all cases the temporal must subordinate itself to the + spiritual power; all laws inconsistent with the interests of the Church + must be repealed. They are not binding on the faithful. In the preceding + pages I have briefly related some of the complications that have already + occurred in the attempt to maintain this policy. + </p> + <p> + THE SYLLABUS. I now come to the consideration of the manner in which the + papacy proposes to establish its intellectual control; how it defines its + relation to its antagonist, Science, and, seeking a restoration of the + mediaeval condition, opposes modern civilization, and denounces modern + society. + </p> + <p> + The Encyclical and Syllabus present the principles which it was the object + of the Vatican Council to carry into practical effect. The Syllabus + stigmatizes pantheism, naturalism, and absolute rationalism, denouncing + such opinions as that God is the world; that there is no God other than + Nature; that theological matters must be treated in the same manner as + philosophical ones, that the methods and principles by which the old + scholastic doctors cultivated theology are no longer suitable to the + demands of the age and the progress of science; that every man is free to + embrace and profess the religion he may believe to be true, guided by the + light of his reason; that it appertains to the civil power to define what + are the rights and limits in which the Church may exercise authority; that + the Church has not the right of availing herself of force or any direct or + indirect temporal power; that the Church ought to be separated from the + state and the state from the Church; that it is no longer expedient that + the Catholic religion shall be held as the only religion of the state, to + the exclusion of all other modes of worship; that persons coming to reside + in Catholic countries have a right to the public exercise of their own + worship; that the Roman pontiff can and ought to reconcile himself to, and + agree with, the progress of modern civilization. The Syllabus claims the + right of the Church to control public schools, and denies the right of the + state in that respect; it claims the control over marriage and divorce. + </p> + <p> + Such of these principles as the Council found expedient at present to + formularize, were set forth by it in "The Dogmatic Constitution of the + Catholic Faith." The essential points of this constitution, more + especially as regards the relations of religion to science, we have now to + examine. It will be understood that the following does not present the + entire document, but only an abstract of what appear to be its more + important parts. + </p> + <p> + CONSTITUTION OF CATHOLIC FAITH. This definition opens with a severe review + of the principles and consequences of the Protestant Reformation: + </p> + <p> + "The rejection of the divine authority of the Church to teach, and the + subjection of all things belonging to religion to the judgment of each + individual, have led to the production of many sects, and, as these + differed and disputed with each other, all belief in Christ was overthrown + in the minds of not a few, and the Holy Scriptures began to be counted as + myths and fables. Christianity has been rejected, and the reign of mere + Reason as they call it, or Nature, substituted; many falling into the + abyss of pantheism, materialism, and atheism, and, repudiating the + reasoning nature of man, and every rule of right and wrong, they are + laboring to overthrow the very foundations of human society. As this + impious heresy is spreading everywhere, not a few Catholics have been + inveigled by it. They have confounded human science and divine faith. + </p> + <p> + "But the Church, the Mother and Mistress of nations, is ever ready to + strengthen the weak, to take to her bosom those that return, and carry + them on to better things. And, now the bishops of the whole world being + gathered together in this Oecumenical Council, and the Holy Ghost sitting + therein, and judging with us, we have determined to declare from this + chair of St. Peter the saving doctrine of Christ, and proscribe and + condemn the opposing errors. + </p> + <p> + "OF GOD, THE CREATOR OF ALL THINGS.—The Holy Catholic Apostolic + Roman Church believes that there is one true and living God, Creator and + Lord of Heaven and Earth, Almighty, Eternal, Immense, Incomprehensible, + Infinite in understanding and will, and in all perfection. He is distinct + from the world. Of his own most free counsel he made alike out of nothing + two created creatures, a spiritual and a temporal, angelic and earthly. + Afterward he made the human nature, composed of both. Moreover, God by his + providence protects and governs all things, reaching from end to end + mightily, and ordering all things harmoniously. Every thing is open to his + eyes, even things that come to pass by the free action of his creatures." + </p> + <p> + "OF REVELATION.—The Holy Mother Church holds that God can be known + with certainty by the natural light of human reason, but that it has also + pleased him to reveal himself and the eternal decrees of his will in a + supernatural way. This supernatural revelation, as declared by the Holy + Council of Trent, is contained in the books of the Old and New Testament, + as enumerated in the decrees of that Council, and as are to be had in the + old Vulgate Latin edition. These are sacred because they were written + under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. They have God for their author, + and as such have been delivered to the Church. + </p> + <p> + "And, in order to restrain restless spirits, who may give erroneous + explanations, it is decreed—renewing the decision of the Council of + Trent—that no one may interpret the sacred Scriptures contrary to + the sense in which they are interpreted by Holy Mother Church, to whom + such interpretation belongs." + </p> + <p> + "OF FAITH.—Inasmuch as man depends on God as his Lord, and created + reason is wholly subject to uncreated truth, he is bound when God makes a + revelation to obey it by faith. This faith is a supernatural virtue, and + the beginning of man's salvation who believes revealed things to be true, + not for their intrinsic truth as seen by the natural light of reason, but + for the authority of God in revealing them. But, nevertheless that faith + might be agreeable to reason, God willed to join miracles and prophecies, + which, showing forth his omnipotence and knowledge, are proofs suited to + the understanding of all. Such we have in Moses and the prophets, and + above all in Christ. Now, all those things are to be believed which are + written in the word of God, or handed down by tradition, which the Church + by her teaching has proposed for belief. + </p> + <p> + "No one can be justified without this faith, nor shall any one, unless he + persevere therein to the end, attain everlasting life. Hence God, through + his only-begotten Son, has established the Church as the guardian and + teacher of his revealed word. For only to the Catholic Church do all those + signs belong which make evident the credibility of the Christian faith. + Nay, more, the very Church herself, in view of her wonderful propagation, + her eminent holiness, her exhaustless fruitfulness in all that is good, + her Catholic unity, her unshaken stability, offers a great and evident + claim to belief, and an undeniable proof of her divine mission. Thus the + Church shows to her children that the faith they hold rests on a most + solid foundation. Wherefore, totally unlike is the condition of those who, + by the heavenly gift of faith, have embraced the Catholic truth, and of + those who, led by human opinions, are following, a false religion." + </p> + <p> + "OF FAITH AND REASON.—Moreover, the Catholic Church has ever held + and now holds that there exists a twofold order of knowledge, each of + which is distinct from the other, both as to its principle and its object. + As to its principle, because in the one we know by natural reason, in the + other by divine faith; as to the object, because, besides those things + which our natural reason can attain, there are proposed to our belief + mysteries hidden in God, which, unless by him revealed, cannot come to our + knowledge. + </p> + <p> + "Reason, indeed, enlightened by faith, and seeking, with diligence and + godly sobriety, may, by God's gift, come to some understanding, limited in + degree, but most wholesome in its effects, of mysteries, both from the + analogy of things which are naturally known and from the connection of the + mysteries themselves with one another and with man's last end. But never + can reason be rendered capable of thoroughly understanding mysteries as it + does those truths which form its proper object. For God's mysteries, in + their very nature, so far surpass the reach of created intellect, that, + even when taught by revelation and received by faith, they remain covered + by faith itself, as by a veil, and shrouded, as it were, in darkness as + long as in this mortal life. + </p> + <p> + "But, although faith be above reason, there never can be a real + disagreement between them, since the same God who reveals mysteries and + infuses faith has given man's soul the light of reason, and God cannot + deny himself, nor can one truth ever contradict another. Wherefore the + empty shadow of such contradiction arises chiefly from this, that either + the doctrines of faith are not understood and set forth as the Church + really holds them, or that the vain devices and opinions of men are + mistaken for the dictates of reason. We therefore pronounce false every + assertion which is contrary to the enlightened truth of faith. Moreover, + the Church, which, together with her apostolic office of teaching, is + charged also with the guardianship of the deposits of faith, holds + likewise from God the right and the duty to condemn 'knowledge, falsely so + called,' 'lest any man be cheated by philosophy and vain deceit.' Hence + all the Christian faithful are not only forbidden to defend, as legitimate + conclusions of science, those opinions which are known to be contrary to + the doctrine of faith, especially when condemned by the Church, but are + rather absolutely bound to hold them for errors wearing the deceitful + appearance of truth." + </p> + <p> + THE VATICAN ANATHEMAS. "Not only is it impossible for faith and reason + ever to contradict each other, but they rather afford each other mutual + assistance. For right reason establishes the foundation of faith, and, by + the aid of its light, cultivates the science of divine things; and faith, + on the other hand, frees and preserves reason from errors, and enriches it + with knowledge of many kinds. So far, then, is the Church from opposing + the culture of human arts and sciences, that she rather aids and promotes + it in many ways. For she is not ignorant of nor does she despise the + advantages which flow from them to the life of man; on the contrary, she + acknowledges that, as they sprang from God, the Lord of knowledge, so, if + they be rightly pursued, they will, through the aid of his grace, lead to + God. Nor does she forbid any of those sciences the use of its own + principles and its own method within its own proper sphere; but, + recognizing this reasonable freedom, she takes care that they may not, by + contradicting God's teaching, fall into errors, or, overstepping the due + limits, invade or throw into confusion the domain of faith. + </p> + <p> + "For the doctrine of faith revealed by God has not been proposed, like + some philosophical discovery, to be made perfect by human ingenuity, but + it has been delivered to the spouse of Christ as a divine deposit, to be + faithfully guarded and unerringly set forth. Hence, all tenets of holy + faith are to be explained always according to the sense and meaning of the + Church; nor is it ever lawful to depart therefrom under pretense or color + of a more enlightened explanation. Therefore, as generations and centuries + roll on, let the understanding, knowledge, and wisdom of each and every + one, of individuals and of the whole Church, grow apace and increase + exceedingly, yet only in its kind; that is to say retaining pure and + inviolate the sense and meaning and belief of the same doctrine." + </p> + <p> + Among other canons the following were promulgated. + </p> + <p> + "Let him be anathema— + </p> + <p> + "Who denies the one true God, Creator and Lord of all things, visible and + invisible. + </p> + <p> + "Who unblushingly affirms that, besides matter, nothing else exists. + </p> + <p> + "Who says that the substance or essence of God, and of all things, is one + and the same. + </p> + <p> + "Who says that finite things, both corporeal and spiritual, or at least + spiritual things, are emanations of the divine substance; or that the + divine essence, by manifestation or development of itself, becomes all + things. + </p> + <p> + "Who does not acknowledge that the world and all things which it contains + were produced by God out of nothing. + </p> + <p> + "Who shall say that man can and ought to, of his own efforts, by means of, + constant progress, arrive, at last, at the possession of all truth and + goodness. + </p> + <p> + "Who shall refuse to receive, for sacred and canonical, the books of Holy + Scripture in their integrity, with all their parts, according as they were + enumerated by the holy Council of Trent, or shall deny that they are + Inspired by God. + </p> + <p> + "Who shall say that human reason is in such wise independent, that faith + cannot be demanded of it by God. + </p> + <p> + "Who shall say that divine revelation cannot be rendered credible by + external evidences. + </p> + <p> + "Who shall say that no miracles can be wrought, or that they can never be + known with certainty, and that the divine origin of Christianity cannot be + proved by them. + </p> + <p> + "Who shall say that divine revelation includes no mysteries, but that all + the dogmas of faith may be understood and demonstrated by reason duly + cultivated. + </p> + <p> + "Who shall say that human sciences ought to be pursued in such a spirit of + freedom that one may be allowed to hold as true their assertions, even + when opposed to revealed doctrine. + </p> + <p> + "Who shall say that it may at any time come to pass, in the progress of + science, that the doctrines set forth by the Church must be taken in + another sense than that in which the Church has ever received and yet + receives them." + </p> + <p> + THE EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE. The extraordinary and, indeed, it may be said, + arrogant assumptions contained in these decisions were far from being + received with satisfaction by educated Catholics. On the part of the + German universities there was resistance; and, when, at the close of the + year, the decrees of the Vatican Council were generally acquiesced in, it + was not through conviction of their truth, but through a disciplinary + sense of obedience. + </p> + <p> + By many of the most pious Catholics the entire movement and the results to + which it had led were looked upon with the sincerest sorrow. Pere + Hyacinthe, in a letter to the superior of his order, says: "I protest + against the divorce, as impious as it is insensate, sought to be effected + between the Church, which is our eternal mother, and the society of the + nineteenth century, of which we are the temporal children, and toward + which we have also duties and regards. It is my most profound conviction + that, if France in particular, and the Latin race in general, are given up + to social, moral, and religious anarchy, the principal cause undoubtedly + is not Catholicism itself, but the manner in which Catholicism has for a + long time been understood and practised." + </p> + <p> + Notwithstanding his infallibility, which implies omniscience, his Holiness + did not foresee the issue of the Franco-Prussian War. Had the prophetical + talent been vouchsafed to him, he would have detected the inopportuneness + of the acts of his Council. His request to the King of Prussia for + military aid to support his temporal power was denied. The excommunicated + King of Italy, as we have seen, took possession of Rome. A bitter papal + encyclical, strangely contrasting with the courteous politeness of modern + state-papers, was issued, November 1, 1870, denouncing the acts of the + Piedmontese court, "which had followed the counsel of the sects of + perdition." In this his Holiness declares that he is in captivity, and + that he will have no agreement with Belial. He pronounces the greater + excommunication, with censures and penalties, against his antagonists, and + prays for "the intercession of the immaculate Virgin Mary, mother of God, + and that of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul." + </p> + <p> + Of the various Protestant denominations, several had associated + themselves, for the purposes of consultation, under the designation of the + Evangelical Alliance. Their last meeting was held in New York, in the + autumn of 1873. Though, in this meeting, were gathered together many pious + representatives of the Reformed Churches, European and American, it had + not the prestige nor the authority of the Great Council that had just + previously closed its sessions in St. Peters, at Rome. It could not appeal + to an unbroken ancestry of far more than a thousand years; it could not + speak with the authority of an equal and, indeed, of a superior to + emperors and kings. While profound intelligence and a statesmanlike, + worldly wisdom gleamed in every thing that the Vatican Council had done, + the Evangelical Alliance met without a clear and precise view of its + objects, without any definitely-marked intentions. Its wish was to draw + into closer union the various Protestant Churches, but it had no + well-grounded hope of accomplishing that desirable result. It illustrated + the necessary working, of the principle on which those Churches + originated. They were founded on dissent and exist by separation. + </p> + <p> + Yet in the action of the Evangelical Alliance may be discerned certain + very impressive facts. It averted its eyes from its ancient antagonist—that + antagonist which had so recently loaded the Reformation with contumely and + denunciation—it fastened them, as the Vatican Council had done, on + Science. Under that dreaded name there stood before it what seemed to be a + spectre of uncertain form, of hourly-dilating proportions, of threatening + aspect. Sometimes the Alliance addressed this stupendous apparition in + words of courtesy, sometimes in tones of denunciation. + </p> + <p> + THE VATICAN CONSTITUTION CRITICISED. The Alliance failed to perceive that + modern Science is the legitimate sister—indeed, it is the + twin-sister—of the Reformation. They were begotten together and were + born together. It failed to perceive that, though there is an + impossibility of bringing into coalition the many conflicting sects, they + may all find in science a point of connection; and that, not a distrustful + attitude toward it, but a cordial union with it, is their true policy. + </p> + <p> + It remains now to offer some reflections on this "Constitution of the + Catholic Faith," as defined by the Vatican Council. + </p> + <p> + For objects to present themselves under identical relations to different + persons, they must be seen from the same point of view. In the instance we + are now considering, the religious man has his own especial station; the + scientific man another, a very different one. It is not for either to + demand that his co-observer shall admit that the panorama of facts spread + before them is actually such as it appears to him to be. + </p> + <p> + The Dogmatic Constitution insists on the admission of this postulate, that + the Roman Church acts under a divine commission, specially and exclusively + delivered to it. In virtue of that great authority, it requires of all men + the surrender of their intellectual convictions, and of all nations the + subordination of their civil power. + </p> + <p> + But a claim so imposing must be substantiated by the most decisive and + unimpeachable credentials; proofs, not only of an implied and indirect + kind, but clear, emphatic, and to the point; proofs that it would be + impossible to call in question. + </p> + <p> + The Church, however, declares, that she will not submit her claim to the + arbitrament of human reason; she demands that it shall be at once conceded + as an article of faith. + </p> + <p> + If this be admitted, all bar requirements must necessarily be assented to, + no matter how exorbitant they may be. + </p> + <p> + With strange inconsistency the Dogmatic Constitution deprecates reason, + affirming that it cannot determine the points under consideration, and yet + submits to it arguments for adjudication. In truth, it might be said that + the whole composition is a passionate plea to Reason to stultify itself in + favor of Roman Christianity. + </p> + <p> + With points of view so widely asunder, it is impossible that Religion and + Science should accord in their representation of things. Nor can any + conclusion in common be reached, except by an appeal to Reason as a + supreme and final judge. + </p> + <p> + There are many religions in the world, some of them of more venerable + antiquity, some having far more numerous adherents, than the Roman. How + can a selection be made among them, except by such an appeal to Reason? + Religion and Science must both submit their claims and their dissensions + to its arbitrament. + </p> + <p> + Against this the Vatican Council protests. It exalts faith to a + superiority over reason; it says that they constitute two separate orders + of knowledge, having respectively for their objects mysteries and facts. + Faith deals with mysteries, reason with facts. Asserting the dominating + superiority of faith, it tries to satisfy the reluctant mind with miracles + and prophecies. + </p> + <p> + On the other hand, Science turns away from the incomprehensible, and rests + herself on the maxim of Wiclif: "God forceth not a man to believe that + which he cannot understand." In the absence of an exhibition of + satisfactory credentials on the part of her opponent, she considers + whether there be in the history of the papacy, and in the biography of the + popes, any thing that can adequately sustain a divine commission, any + thing that can justify pontifical infallibility, or extort that + unhesitating obedience which is due to the vice-God. + </p> + <p> + One of the most striking and yet contradictory features of the Dogmatic + Constitution is, the reluctant homage it pays to the intelligence of man. + It presents a definition of the philosophical basis of Catholicism, but it + veils from view the repulsive features of the vulgar faith. It sets forth + the attributes of God, the Creator of all things, in words fitly + designating its sublime conception, but it abstains from affirming that + this most awful and eternal Being was born of an earthly mother, the wife + of a Jewish carpenter, who has since become the queen of heaven. The God + it depicts is not the God of the middle ages, seated on his golden throne, + surrounded by choirs of angels, but the God of Philosophy. The + Constitution has nothing to say about the Trinity, nothing of the worship + due to the Virgin—on the contrary, that is by implication sternly + condemned; nothing about transubstantiation, or the making of the flesh + and blood of God by the priest; nothing of the invocation of the saints. + It bears on its face subordination to the thought of the age, the impress + of the intellectual progress of man. + </p> + <p> + THE PASSAGE OF EUROPE TO LLAMAISM. Such being the exposition rendered to + us respecting the attributes of God, it next instructs us as to his mode + of government of the world. The Church asserts that she possesses a + supernatural control over all material and moral events. The priesthood, + in its various grades, can determine issues of the future, either by the + exercise of its inherent attributes, or by its influential invocation of + the celestial powers. To the sovereign pontiff it has been given to bind + or loose at his pleasure. It is unlawful to appeal from his judgments to + an Oecumenical Council, as if to an earthly arbiter superior to him. + Powers such as these are consistent with arbitrary rule, but they are + inconsistent with the government of the world by immutable law. Hence the + Dogmatic Constitution plants itself firmly in behalf of incessant + providential interventions; it will not for a moment admit that in natural + things there is an irresistible sequence of events, or in the affairs of + men an unavoidable course of acts. + </p> + <p> + But has not the order of civilization in all parts of the world been the + same? Does not the growth of society resemble individual growth? Do not + both exhibit to us phases of youth, of maturity, of decrepitude? To a + person who has carefully considered the progressive civilization of groups + of men in regions of the earth far apart, who has observed the identical + forms under which that advancing civilization has manifested itself, is it + not clear that the procedure is determined by law? The religious ideas of + the Incas of Peru and the emperors of Mexico, and the ceremonials of their + court-life, were the same as those in Europe—the same as those in + Asia. The current of thought had been the same. A swarm of bees carried to + some distant land will build its combs and regulate its social + institutions as other unknown swarms would do, and so with separated and + disconnected swarms of men. So invariable is this sequence of thought and + act, that there are philosophers who, transferring the past example + offered by Asiatic history to the case of Europe, would not hesitate to + sustain the proposition—given a bishop of Rome and some centuries, + and you will have an infallible pope: given an infallible pope and a + little more time, and you will have Llamaism—Llamaism to which Asia + has long, ago attained. + </p> + <p> + As to the origin of corporeal and spiritual things, the Dogmatic + Constitution adds a solemn emphasis to its declarations, by anathematizing + all those who hold the doctrine of emanation, or who believe that visible + Nature is only a manifestation of the Divine Essence. In this its authors + had a task of no ordinary difficulty before them. They must encounter + those formidable ideas, whether old or new, which in our times are so + strongly forcing themselves on thoughtful men. The doctrine of the + conservation and correlation of Force yields as its logical issue the + time-worn Oriental emanation theory; the doctrines of Evolution and + Development strike at that of successive creative acts. The former rests + on the fundamental principle that the quantity of force in the universe is + invariable. Though that quantity can neither be increased nor diminished, + the forms under which Force expresses itself may be transmuted into each + other. As yet this doctrine has not received complete scientific + demonstration, but so numerous and so cogent are the arguments adduced in + its behalf, that it stands in an imposing, almost in an authoritative + attitude. Now, the Asiatic theory of emanation and absorption is seen to + be in harmony with this grand idea. It does not hold that, at the + conception of a human being, a soul is created by God out of nothing and + given to it, but that a portion of the already existing, the divine, the + universal intelligence, is imparted, and, when life is over, this returns + to and is absorbed in the general source from which it originally came. + The authors of the Constitution forbid these ideas to be held, under pain + of eternal punishment. + </p> + <p> + In like manner they dispose of the doctrines of Evolution and Development, + bluntly insisting that the Church believes in distinct creative acts. The + doctrine that every living form is derived from some preceding form is + scientifically in a much more advanced position than that concerning + Force, and probably may be considered as established, whatever may become + of the additions with which it has recently been overlaid. + </p> + <p> + In her condemnation of the Reformation, the Church carries into effect her + ideas of the subordination of reason to faith. In her eyes the Reformation + is an impious heresy, leading to the abyss of pantheism, materialism, and + atheism, and tending to overthrow the very foundations of human society. + She therefore would restrain those "restless spirits" who, following + Luther, have upheld the "right of every man to interpret the Scriptures + for himself." She asserts that it is a wicked error to admit Protestants + to equal political privileges with Catholics, and that to coerce them and + suppress them is a sacred duty; that it is abominable to permit them to + establish educational institutions. Gregory XVI. denounced freedom of + conscience as an insane folly, and the freedom of the press a pestilent + error, which cannot be sufficiently detested. + </p> + <p> + But how is it possible to recognize an inspired and infallible oracle on + the Tiber, when it is remembered that again and again successive popes + have contradicted each other; that popes have denounced councils, and + councils have denounced popes; that the Bible of Sixtus V. had so many + admitted errors—nearly two thousand—that its own authors had + to recall it? How is it possible for the children of the Church to regard + as "delusive errors" the globular form of the earth, her position as a + planet in the solar system, her rotation on her axis, her movement round + the sun? How can they deny that there are antipodes, and other worlds than + ours? How can they believe that the world was made out of nothing, + completed in a week, finished just as we see it now; that it has undergone + no change, but that its parts have worked so indifferently as to require + incessant interventions? + </p> + <p> + THE ERRORS OF ECCLESIASTICISM. When Science is thus commanded to surrender + her intellectual convictions, may she not ask the ecclesiastic to remember + the past? The contest respecting the figure of the earth, and the location + of heaven and hell, ended adversely to him. He affirmed that the earth is + an extended plane, and that the sky is a firmament, the floor of heaven, + through which again and again persons have been seen to ascend. The + globular form demonstrated beyond any possibility of contradiction by + astronomical facts, and by the voyage of Magellan's ship, he then + maintained that it is the central body of the universe, all others being + in subordination to it, and it the grand object of God's regard. Forced + from this position, he next affirmed that it is motionless, the sun and + the stars actually revolving, as they apparently do, around it. The + invention of the telescope proved that here again he was in error. Then he + maintained that all the motions of the solar system are regulated by + providential intervention; the "Principia" of Newton demonstrated that + they are due to irresistible law. He then affirmed that the earth and all + the celestial bodies were created about six thousand years ago, and that + in six days the order of Nature was settled, and plants and animals in + their various tribes introduced. Constrained by the accumulating mass of + adverse evidence, he enlarged his days into periods of indefinite length—only, + however, to find that even this device was inadequate. The six ages, with + their six special creations, could no longer be maintained, when it was + discovered that species, slowly emerged in one age, reached a culmination + in a second, and gradually died out in a third: this overlapping from age + to age would not only have demanded creations, but re-creations also. He + affirmed that there had been a deluge, which covered the whole earth above + the tops of the highest mountains, and that the waters of this flood were + removed by a wind. Correct ideas respecting the dimensions of the + atmosphere, and of the sea, and of the operation of evaporation, proved + how untenable these statements are. Of the progenitors of the human race, + he declared that they had come from their Maker's hand perfect, both in + body and mind, and had subsequently experienced a fall. He is now + considering how best to dispose of the evidence continually accumulating + respecting the savage condition of prehistoric man. + </p> + <p> + Is it at all surprising that the number of those who hold the opinions of + the Church in light esteem should so rapidly increase? How can that be + received as a trustworthy guide in the invisible, which falls into so many + errors in the visible? How can that give confidence in the moral, the + spiritual, which has so signally failed in the physical? It is not + possible to dispose of these conflicting facts as "empty shadows," "vain + devices," "fictions coming from knowledge falsely so called," "errors + wearing the deceitful appearance of truth," as the Church stigmatizes + them. On the contrary, they are stern witnesses, bearing emphatic and + unimpeachable testimony against the ecclesiastical claim to infallibility, + and fastening a conviction of ignorance and blindness upon her. + </p> + <p> + Convicted of so many errors, the papacy makes no attempt at explanation. + It ignores the whole matter Nay, more, relying on the efficacy of + audacity, though confronted by these facts, it lays claim to + infallibility. + </p> + <p> + SEPARATION OF CATHOLICISM AND CIVILIZATION. But, to the pontiff, no other + rights can be conceded than those he can establish at the bar of Reason. + He cannot claim infallibility in religious affairs, and decline it in + scientific. Infallibility embraces all things. It implies omniscience. If + it holds good for theology, it necessarily holds good for science. How is + it possible to coordinate the infallibility of the papacy with the + well-known errors into which it has fallen? + </p> + <p> + Does it not, then, become needful to reject the claim of the papacy to the + employment of coercion in the maintenance of its opinions; to repudiate + utterly the declaration that "the Inquisition is an urgent necessity in + view of the unbelief of the present age," and in the name of human nature + to protest loudly against the ferocity and terrorism of that institution? + Has not conscience inalienable rights? + </p> + <p> + An impassable and hourly-widening gulf intervenes between Catholicism and + the spirit of the age. Catholicism insists that blind faith is superior to + reason; that mysteries are of more importance than facts. She claims to be + the sole interpreter of Nature and revelation, the supreme arbiter of + knowledge; she summarily rejects all modern criticism of the Scriptures, + and orders the Bible to be accepted in accordance with the views of the + theologians of Trent; she openly avows her hatred of free institutions and + constitutional systems, and declares that those are in damnable error who + regard the reconciliation of the pope with modern civilization as either + possible or desirable. + </p> + <p> + SCIENCE AND PROTESTANTISM. But the spirit of the age demands—is the + human intellect to be subordinated to the Tridentine Fathers, or to the + fancy of illiterate and uncritical persons who wrote in the earlier ages + of the Church? It sees no merit in blind faith, but rather distrusts it. + It looks forward to an improvement in the popular canon of credibility for + a decision between fact and fiction. It does not consider itself bound to + believe fables and falsehoods that have been invented for ecclesiastical + ends. It finds no argument in behalf of their truth, that traditions and + legends have been long-lived; in this respect, those of the Church are + greatly inferior to the fables of paganism. The longevity of the Church + itself is not due to divine protection or intervention, but to the skill + with which it has adapted its policy to existing circumstances. If + antiquity be the criterion of authenticity, the claims of Buddhism must be + respected; it has the superior warrant of many centuries. There can be no + defense of those deliberate falsifications of history, that concealment of + historical facts, of which the Church has so often taken advantage. In + these things the end does not justify the means. + </p> + <p> + Then has it in truth come to this, that Roman Christianity and Science are + recognized by their respective adherents as being absolutely incompatible; + they cannot exist together; one must yield to the other; mankind must make + its choice—it cannot have both. + </p> + <p> + SCIENCE AND FAITH. While such is, perhaps, the issue as regards + Catholicism, a reconciliation of the Reformation with Science is not only + possible, but would easily take place, if the Protestant Churches would + only live up to the maxim taught by Luther, and established by so many + years of war. That maxim is, the right of private interpretation of the + Scriptures. It was the foundation of intellectual liberty. But, if a + personal interpretation of the book of Revelation is permissible, how can + it be denied in the case of the book of Nature? In the misunderstandings + that have taken place, we must ever bear in mind the infirmities of men. + The generations that immediately followed the Reformation may perhaps be + excused for not comprehending the full significance of their cardinal + principle, and for not on all occasions carrying it into effect. When + Calvin caused Servetus, to be burnt, he was animated, not by the + principles of the Reformation, but by those of Catholicism, from which he + had not been able to emancipate himself completely. And when the clergy of + influential Protestant confessions have stigmatized the investigators of + Nature as infidels and atheists, the same may be said. For Catholicism to + reconcile itself to Science, there are formidable, perhaps insuperable + obstacles in the way. For Protestantism to achieve that great result there + are not. In the one case there is a bitter, a mortal animosity to be + overcome; in the other, a friendship, that misunderstandings have + alienated, to be restored. + </p> + <p> + CIVILIZATION AND RELIGION. But, whatever may be the preparatory incidents + of that great impending intellectual crisis which Christendom must soon + inevitably witness, of this we may rest assured, that the silent secession + from the public faith, which in so ominous a manner characterizes the + present generation, will find at length political expression. It is not + without significance that France reenforces the ultramontane tendencies of + her lower population, by the promotion of pilgrimages, the perpetration of + miracles, the exhibition of celestial apparitions. Constrained to do this + by her destiny, she does it with a blush. It is not without significance + that Germany resolves to rid herself of the incubus of a dual government, + by the exclusion of the Italian element, and to carry to its completion + that Reformation which three centuries ago she left unfinished. The time + approaches when men must take their choice between quiescent, immobile + faith and ever-advancing Science—faith, with its mediaeval + consolations, Science, which is incessantly scattering its material + blessings in the pathway of life, elevating the lot of man in this world, + and unifying the human race. Its triumphs are solid and enduring. But the + glory which Catholicism might gain from a conflict with material ideas is + at the best only like that of other celestial meteors when they touch the + atmosphere of the earth—transitory and useless. + </p> + <p> + Though Guizot's affirmation that the Church has always sided with + despotism is only too true, it must be remembered that in the policy she + follows there is much of political necessity. She is urged on by the + pressure of nineteen centuries. But, if the irresistible indicates itself + in her action, the inevitable manifests itself in her life. For it is with + the papacy as with a man. It has passed through the struggles of infancy, + it has displayed the energies of maturity, and, its work completed, it + must sink into the feebleness and querulousness of old age. Its youth can + never be renewed. The influence of its souvenirs alone will remain. As + pagan Rome threw her departing shadow over the empire and tinctured all + its thoughts, so Christian Rome casts her parting shadow over Europe. + </p> + <p> + INADMISSIBLE CLAIMS OF CATHOLICISM. Will modern civilization consent to + abandon the career of advancement which has given it so much power and + happiness? Will it consent to retrace its steps to the semi-barbarian + ignorance and superstition of the middle ages? Will it submit to the + dictation of a power, which, claiming divine authority, can present no + adequate credentials of its office; a power which kept Europe in a + stagnant condition for many centuries, ferociously suppressing by the + stake and the sword every attempt at progress; a power that is founded in + a cloud of mysteries; that sets itself above reason and common-sense; that + loudly proclaims the hatred it entertains against liberty of thought and + freedom in civil institutions; that professes its intention of repressing + the one and destroying the other whenever it can find the opportunity; + that denounces as most pernicious and insane the opinion that liberty of + conscience and of worship is the right of every man; that protests against + that right being proclaimed and asserted by law in every well-governed + state; that contemptuously repudiates the principle that the will of the + people, manifested by public opinion (as it is called) or by other means, + shall constitute law; that refuses to every man any title to opinion in + matters of religion, but holds that it is simply his duty to believe what + he is told by the Church, and to obey her commands; that will not permit + any temporal government to define the rights and prescribe limits to the + authority of the Church; that declares it not only may but will resort to + force to discipline disobedient individuals; that invades the sanctify of + private life, by making, at the confessional, the wife and daughters and + servants of one suspected, spies and informers against him; that tries him + without an accuser, and by torture makes him bear witness against himself; + that denies the right of parents to educate their children outside of its + own Church, and insists that to it alone belongs the supervision of + domestic life and the control of marriages and divorces; that denounces + "the impudence" of those who presume to subordinate the authority of the + Church to the civil authority, or who advocate the separation of the + Church from the state; that absolutely repudiates all toleration, and + affirms that the Catholic religion is entitled to be held as the only + religion in every country, to the exclusion of all other modes of worship; + that requires all laws standing in the way of its interests to be + repealed, and, if that be refused, orders all its followers to disobey + them? + </p> + <p> + ISSUE OF THE CONFLICT. This power, conscious that it can work no miracle + to serve itself, does not hesitate to disturb society by its intrigues + against governments, and seeks to accomplish its ends by alliances with + despotism. + </p> + <p> + Claims such as these mean a revolt against modern civilization, an + intention of destroying it, no matter at what social cost. To submit to + them without resistance, men must be slaves indeed! + </p> + <p> + As to the issue of the coming conflict, can any one doubt? Whatever is + resting on fiction and fraud will be overthrown. Institutions that + organize impostures and spread delusions must show what right they have to + exist. Faith must render an account of herself to Reason. Mysteries must + give place to facts. Religion must relinquish that imperious, that + domineering position which she has so long maintained against Science. + There must be absolute freedom for thought. The ecclesiastic must learn to + keep himself within the domain he has chosen, and cease to tyrannize over + the philosopher, who, conscious of his own strength and the purity of his + motives, will bear such interference no longer. What was written by Esdras + near the willow-fringed rivers of Babylon, more than twenty-three + centuries ago, still holds good: "As for Truth it endureth and is always + strong; it liveth and conquereth for evermore." + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History of the Conflict Between +Religion and Science, by John William Draper + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT *** + +***** This file should be named 1185-h.htm or 1185-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/8/1185/ + +Produced by Charles Keller, and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science + +Author: John William Draper + +Posting Date: August 21, 2008 [EBook #1185] +Release Date: February, 1998 +Last updated: March 27, 2012 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Keller + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT BETWEEN RELIGION AND SCIENCE + +By John William Draper, M. D., LL. D. + +PROFESSOR IN THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK, + + AUTHOR OF A TREATISE ON HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY, HISTORY OF THE + INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT OF EUROPE, HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN + CIVIL WAR, AND OF MANY EXPERIMENTAL MEMOIRS ON CHEMICAL AND + OTHER SCIENTIFIC SUBJECTS + + + + +PREFACE. + +WHOEVER has had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the mental +condition of the intelligent classes in Europe and America, must have +perceived that there is a great and rapidly-increasing departure from +the public religious faith, and that, while among the more frank this +divergence is not concealed, there is a far more extensive and far more +dangerous secession, private and unacknowledged. + +So wide-spread and so powerful is this secession, that it can neither be +treated with contempt nor with punishment. It cannot be extinguished by +derision, by vituperation, or by force. The time is rapidly approaching +when it will give rise to serious political results. + +Ecclesiastical spirit no longer inspires the policy of the world. +Military fervor in behalf of faith has disappeared. Its only souvenirs +are the marble effigies of crusading knights, reposing in the silent +crypts of churches on their tombs. + +That a crisis is impending is shown by the attitude of the great powers +toward the papacy. The papacy represents the ideas and aspirations +of two-thirds of the population of Europe. It insists on a political +supremacy in accordance with its claims to a divine origin and mission, +and a restoration of the mediaeval order of things, loudly declaring +that it will accept no reconciliation with modern civilization. + +The antagonism we thus witness between Religion and Science is the +continuation of a struggle that commenced when Christianity began +to attain political power. A divine revelation must necessarily be +intolerant of contradiction; it must repudiate all improvement in +itself, and view with disdain that arising from the progressive +intellectual development of man. But our opinions on every subject are +continually liable to modification, from the irresistible advance of +human knowledge. + +Can we exaggerate the importance of a contention in which every +thoughtful person must take part whether he will or not? In a matter so +solemn as that of religion, all men, whose temporal interests are not +involved in existing institutions, earnestly desire to find the truth. +They seek information as to the subjects in dispute, and as to the +conduct of the disputants. + +The history of Science is not a mere record of isolated discoveries; it +is a narrative of the conflict of two contending powers, the expansive +force of the human intellect on one side, and the compression arising +from traditionary faith and human interests on the other. + +No one has hitherto treated the subject from this point of view. Yet +from this point it presents itself to us as a living issue--in fact, as +the most important of all living issues. + +A few years ago, it was the politic and therefore the proper course to +abstain from all allusion to this controversy, and to keep it as far as +possible in the background. The tranquillity of society depends so +much on the stability of its religious convictions, that no one can +be justified in wantonly disturbing them. But faith is in its nature +unchangeable, stationary; Science is in its nature progressive; and +eventually a divergence between them, impossible to conceal, must take +place. It then becomes the duty of those whose lives have made them +familiar with both modes of thought, to present modestly, but +firmly, their views; to compare the antagonistic pretensions calmly, +impartially, philosophically. History shows that, if this be not done, +social misfortunes, disastrous and enduring, will ensue. When the old +mythological religion of Europe broke down under the weight of its own +inconsistencies, neither the Roman emperors nor the philosophers of +those times did any thing adequate for the guidance of public opinion. +They left religious affairs to take their chance, and accordingly those +affairs fell into the hands of ignorant and infuriated ecclesiastics, +parasites, eunuchs, and slaves. + +The intellectual night which settled on Europe, in consequence of that +great neglect of duty, is passing away; we live in the daybreak of +better things. Society is anxiously expecting light, to see in what +direction it is drifting. It plainly discerns that the track along which +the voyage of civilization has thus far been made, has been left; and +that a new departure, on all unknown sea, has been taken. + +Though deeply impressed with such thoughts, I should not have presumed +to write this book, or to intrude on the public the ideas it presents, +had I not made the facts with which it deals a subject of long and +earnest meditation. And I have gathered a strong incentive to undertake +this duty from the circumstance that a "History of the Intellectual +Development of Europe," published by me several years ago, which has +passed through many editions in America, and has been reprinted in +numerous European languages, English, French, German, Russian, Polish, +Servian, etc., is everywhere received with favor. + +In collecting and arranging the materials for the volumes I published +under the title of "A History of the American Civil War," a work of very +great labor, I had become accustomed to the comparison of conflicting +statements, the adjustment of conflicting claims. The approval with +which that book has been received by the American public, a critical +judge of the events considered, has inspired me with additional +confidence. I had also devoted much attention to the experimental +investigation of natural phenomena, and had published many well-known +memoirs on such subjects. And perhaps no one can give himself to these +pursuits, and spend a large part of his life in the public teaching of +science, without partaking of that love of impartiality and truth which +Philosophy incites. She inspires us with a desire to dedicate our days +to the good of our race, so that in the fading light of life's evening +we may not, on looking back, be forced to acknowledge how unsubstantial +and useless are the objects that we have pursued. + +Though I have spared no pains in the composition of this book, I am +very sensible how unequal it is to the subject, to do justice to which +a knowledge of science, history, theology, politics, is required; every +page should be alive with intelligence and glistening with facts. But +then I have remembered that this is only as it were the preface, or +forerunner, of a body of literature, which the events and wants of our +times will call forth. We have come to the brink of a great intellectual +change. Much of the frivolous reading of the present will be supplanted +by a thoughtful and austere literature, vivified by endangered +interests, and made fervid by ecclesiastical passion. + +What I have sought to do is, to present a clear and impartial statement +of the views and acts of the two contending parties. In one sense I have +tried to identify myself with each, so as to comprehend thoroughly their +motives; but in another and higher sense I have endeavored to stand +aloof, and relate with impartiality their actions. + +I therefore trust that those, who may be disposed to criticise this +book, will bear in mind that its object is not to advocate the views +and pretensions of either party, but to explain clearly, and without +shrinking those of both. In the management of each chapter I have +usually set forth the orthodox view first, and then followed it with +that of its opponents. + +In thus treating the subject it has not been necessary to pay much +regard to more moderate or intermediate opinions, for, though they may +be intrinsically of great value, in conflicts of this kind it is not +with the moderates but with the extremists that the impartial reader is +mainly concerned. Their movements determine the issue. + +For this reason I have had little to say respecting the two great +Christian confessions, the Protestant and Greek Churches. As to the +latter, it has never, since the restoration of science, arrayed itself +in opposition to the advancement of knowledge. On the contrary, it has +always met it with welcome. It has observed a reverential attitude to +truth, from whatever quarter it might come. Recognizing the apparent +discrepancies between its interpretations of revealed truth and the +discoveries of science, it has always expected that satisfactory +explanations and reconciliations would ensue, and in this it has not +been disappointed. It would have been well for modern civilization if +the Roman Church had done the same. + +In speaking of Christianity, reference is generally made to the +Roman Church, partly because its adherents compose the majority of +Christendom, partly because its demands are the most pretentious, and +partly because it has commonly sought to enforce those demands by +the civil power. None of the Protestant Churches has ever occupied a +position so imperious--none has ever had such wide-spread political +influence. For the most part they have been averse to constraint, and +except in very few instances their opposition has not passed beyond the +exciting of theological odium. + +As to Science, she has never sought to ally herself to civil power. She +has never attempted to throw odium or inflict social ruin on any human +being. She has never subjected any one to mental torment, physical +torture, least of all to death, for the purpose of upholding or +promoting her ideas. She presents herself unstained by cruelties and +crimes. But in the Vatican--we have only to recall the Inquisition--the +hands that are now raised in appeals to the Most Merciful are crimsoned. +They have been steeped in blood! + +There are two modes of historical composition, the artistic and the +scientific. The former implies that men give origin to events; it +therefore selects some prominent individual, pictures him under +a fanciful form, and makes him the hero of a romance. The latter, +insisting that human affairs present an unbroken chain, in which each +fact is the offspring of some preceding fact, and the parent of some +subsequent fact, declares that men do not control events, but that +events control men. The former gives origin to compositions, which, +however much they may interest or delight us, are but a grade above +novels; the latter is austere, perhaps even repulsive, for it sternly +impresses us with a conviction of the irresistible dominion of law, and +the insignificance of human exertions. In a subject so solemn as that to +which this book is devoted, the romantic and the popular are altogether +out of place. He who presumes to treat of it must fix his eyes +steadfastly on that chain of destiny which universal history displays; +he must turn with disdain from the phantom impostures of pontiffs and +statesmen and kings. + +If any thing were needed to show us the untrustworthiness of artistic +historical compositions, our personal experience would furnish it. How +often do our most intimate friends fail to perceive the real motives of +our every-day actions; how frequently they misinterpret our intentions! +If this be the case in what is passing before our eyes, may we not +be satisfied that it is impossible to comprehend justly the doings of +persons who lived many years ago, and whom we have never seen. + +In selecting and arranging the topics now to be presented, I have been +guided in part by "the Confession" of the late Vatican Council, and in +part by the order of events in history. Not without interest will the +reader remark that the subjects offer themselves to us now as they did +to the old philosophers of Greece. We still deal with the same questions +about which they disputed. What is God? What is the soul? What is the +world? How is it governed? Have we any standard or criterion of truth? +And the thoughtful reader will earnestly ask, "Are our solutions of +these problems any better than theirs?" + +The general argument of this book, then, is as follows: + +I first direct attention to the origin of modern science as +distinguished from ancient, by depending on observation, experiment, +and mathematical discussion, instead of mere speculation, and shall show +that it was a consequence of the Macedonian campaigns, which brought +Asia and Europe into contact. A brief sketch of those campaigns, and of +the Museum of Alexandria, illustrates its character. + +Then with brevity I recall the well-known origin of Christianity, and +show its advance to the attainment of imperial power, the transformation +it underwent by its incorporation with paganism, the existing religion +of the Roman Empire. A clear conception of its incompatibility with +science caused it to suppress forcibly the Schools of Alexandria. It was +constrained to this by the political necessities of its position. + +The parties to the conflict thus placed, I next relate the story of +their first open struggle; it is the first or Southern Reformation. The +point in dispute had respect to the nature of God. It involved the rise +of Mohammedanism. Its result was, that much of Asia and Africa, with the +historic cities Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Carthage, were wrenched from +Christendom, and the doctrine of the Unity of God established in the +larger portion of what had been the Roman Empire. + +This political event was followed by the restoration of science, the +establishment of colleges, schools, libraries, throughout the dominions +of the Arabians. Those conquerors, pressing forward rapidly in their +intellectual development, rejected the anthropomorphic ideas of the +nature of God remaining in their popular belief, and accepted other more +philosophical ones, akin to those that had long previously been attained +to in India. The result of this was a second conflict, that respecting +the nature of the soul. Under the designation of Averroism, there came +into prominence the theories of Emanation and Absorption. At the +close of the middle ages the Inquisition succeeded in excluding those +doctrines from Europe, and now the Vatican Council has formally and +solemnly anathematized them. + +Meantime, through the cultivation of astronomy, geography, and other +sciences, correct views had been gained as to the position and relations +of the earth, and as to the structure of the world; and since Religion, +resting itself on what was assumed to be the proper interpretation +of the Scriptures, insisted that the earth is the central and most +important part of the universe, a third conflict broke out. In this +Galileo led the way on the part of Science. Its issue was the overthrow +of the Church on the question in dispute. Subsequently a subordinate +controversy arose respecting the age of the world, the Church insisting +that it is only about six thousand years old. In this she was again +overthrown The light of history and of science had been gradually +spreading over Europe. In the sixteenth century the prestige of Roman +Christianity was greatly diminished by the intellectual reverses it +had experienced, and also by its political and moral condition. It was +clearly seen by many pious men that Religion was not accountable for +the false position in which she was found, but that the misfortune was +directly traceable to the alliance she had of old contracted with Roman +paganism. The obvious remedy, therefore, was a return to primitive +purity. Thus arose the fourth conflict, known to us as the +Reformation--the second or Northern Reformation. The special form it +assumed was a contest respecting the standard or criterion of +truth, whether it is to be found in the Church or in the Bible. The +determination of this involved a settlement of the rights of reason, or +intellectual freedom. Luther, who is the conspicuous man of the epoch, +carried into effect his intention with no inconsiderable success; and at +the close of the struggle it was found that Northern Europe was lost to +Roman Christianity. + +We are now in the midst of a controversy respecting the mode of +government of the world, whether it be by incessant divine intervention, +or by the operation of primordial and unchangeable law. The intellectual +movement of Christendom has reached that point which Arabism had +attained to in the tenth and eleventh centuries; and doctrines which +were then discussed are presenting themselves again for review; such are +those of Evolution, Creation, Development. + +Offered under these general titles, I think it will be found that all +the essential points of this great controversy are included. By grouping +under these comprehensive heads the facts to be considered, and dealing +with each group separately, we shall doubtless acquire clear views of +their inter-connection and their historical succession. + +I have treated of these conflicts as nearly as I conveniently could in +their proper chronological order, and, for the sake of completeness, +have added chapters on-- + +An examination of what Latin Christianity has done for modern +civilization. + +A corresponding examination of what Science has done. + +The attitude of Roman Christianity in the impending conflict, as defined +by the Vatican Council. + +The attention of many truth-seeking persons has been so exclusively +given to the details of sectarian dissensions, that the long strife, to +the history of which these pages are devoted, is popularly but little +known. Having tried to keep steadfastly in view the determination to +write this work in an impartial spirit, to speak with respect of the +contending parties, but never to conceal the truth, I commit it to the +considerate judgment of the thoughtful reader. + + JOHN WILLIAM DRAPER + +UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK, December, 1873. + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT BETWEEN RELIGION AND SCIENCE. + + + +CHAPTER I. + + THE ORIGIN OF SCIENCE. + + Religious condition of the Greeks in the fourth century + before Christ.--Their invasion of the Persian Empire brings + them in contact with new aspects of Nature, and familiarizes + them with new religious systems.--The military, + engineering, and scientific activity, stimulated by the + Macedonian campaigns, leads to the establishment in + Alexandria of an institute, the Museum, for the cultivation + of knowledge by experiment, observation, and mathematical + discussion.--It is the origin of Science. + +GREEK MYTHOLOGY. No spectacle can be presented to the thoughtful +mind more solemn, more mournful, than that of the dying of an ancient +religion, which in its day has given consolation to many generations of +men. + +Four centuries before the birth of Christ, Greece was fast outgrowing +her ancient faith. Her philosophers, in their studies of the world, had +been profoundly impressed with the contrast between the majesty of the +operations of Nature and the worthlessness of the divinities of Olympus. +Her historians, considering the orderly course of political affairs, +the manifest uniformity in the acts of men, and that there was no event +occurring before their eyes for which they could not find an obvious +cause in some preceding event, began to suspect that the miracles and +celestial interventions, with which the old annals were filled, were +only fictions. They demanded, when the age of the supernatural had +ceased, why oracles had become mute, and why there were now no more +prodigies in the world. + +Traditions, descending from immemorial antiquity, and formerly accepted +by pious men as unquestionable truths, had filled the islands of +the Mediterranean and the conterminous countries with supernatural +wonders--enchantresses, sorcerers, giants, ogres, harpies, gorgons, +centaurs, cyclops. The azure vault was the floor of heaven; there Zeus, +surrounded by the gods with their wives and mistresses, held his court, +engaged in pursuits like those of men, and not refraining from acts of +human passion and crime. + +A sea-coast broken by numerous indentations, an archipelago with some of +the most lovely islands in the world, inspired the Greeks with a taste +for maritime life, for geographical discovery, and colonization. +Their ships wandered all over the Black and Mediterranean Seas. The +time-honored wonders that had been glorified in the "Odyssey," and +sacred in public faith, were found to have no existence. As a better +knowledge of Nature was obtained, the sky was shown to be an illusion; +it was discovered that there is no Olympus, nothing above but space and +stars. With the vanishing of their habitation, the gods disappeared, +both those of the Ionian type of Homer and those of the Doric of Hesiod. + +EFFECTS OF DISCOVERY AND CRITICISM. But this did not take place without +resistance. At first, the public, and particularly its religious +portion, denounced the rising doubts as atheism. They despoiled some +of the offenders of their goods, exiled others; some they put to death. +They asserted that what had been believed by pious men in the old times, +and had stood the test of ages, must necessarily be true. Then, as the +opposing evidence became irresistible, they were content to admit that +these marvels were allegories under which the wisdom of the ancients had +concealed many sacred and mysterious things. They tried to reconcile, +what now in their misgivings they feared might be myths, with their +advancing intellectual state. But their efforts were in vain, for there +are predestined phases through which on such an occasion public opinion +must pass. What it has received with veneration it begins to doubt, then +it offers new interpretations, then subsides into dissent, and ends with +a rejection of the whole as a mere fable. + +In their secession the philosophers and historians were followed by +the poets. Euripides incurred the odium of heresy. Aeschylus narrowly +escaped being stoned to death for blasphemy. But the frantic efforts +of those who are interested in supporting delusions must always end in +defeat. The demoralization resistlessly extended through every branch of +literature, until at length it reached the common people. + +THE PERSIAN EMPIRE. Greek philosophical criticism had lent its aid to +Greek philosophical discovery in this destruction of the national faith. +It sustained by many arguments the wide-spreading unbelief. It compared +the doctrines of the different schools with each other, and showed from +their contradictions that man has no criterion of truth; that, since his +ideas of what is good and what is evil differ according to the country +in which he lives, they can have no foundation in Nature, but must be +altogether the result of education; that right and wrong are nothing +more than fictions created by society for its own purposes. In Athens, +some of the more advanced classes had reached such a pass that they not +only denied the unseen, the supernatural, they even affirmed that the +world is only a day-dream, a phantasm, and that nothing at all exists. + +The topographical configuration of Greece gave an impress to her +political condition. It divided her people into distinct communities +having conflicting interests, and made them incapable of centralization. +Incessant domestic wars between the rival states checked her +advancement. She was poor, her leading men had become corrupt. They were +ever ready to barter patriotic considerations for foreign gold, to sell +themselves for Persian bribes. Possessing a perception of the beautiful +as manifested in sculpture and architecture to a degree never +attained elsewhere either before or since, Greece had lost a practical +appreciation of the Good and the True. + +While European Greece, full of ideas of liberty and independence, +rejected the sovereignty of Persia, Asiatic Greece acknowledged it +without reluctance. At that time the Persian Empire in territorial +extent was equal to half of modern Europe. It touched the waters of +the Mediterranean, the Aegean, the Black, the Caspian, the Indian, the +Persian, the Red Seas. Through its territories there flowed six of the +grandest rivers in the world--the Euphrates, the Tigris, the Indus, the +Jaxartes, the Oxus, the Nile, each more than a thousand miles in length. +Its surface reached from thirteen hundred feet below the sea-level to +twenty thousand feet above. It yielded, therefore, every agricultural +product. Its mineral wealth was boundless. It inherited the prestige of +the Median, the Babylonian, the Assyrian, the Chaldean Empires, whose +annals reached back through more than twenty centuries. + +THE PERSIAN EMPIRE. Persia had always looked upon European Greece as +politically insignificant, for it had scarcely half the territorial +extent of one of her satrapies. Her expeditions for compelling its +obedience had, however, taught her the military qualities of its people. +In her forces were incorporated Greek mercenaries, esteemed the very +best of her troops. She did not hesitate sometimes to give the command +of her armies to Greek generals, of her fleets to Greek captains. In the +political convulsions through which she had passed, Greek soldiers had +often been used by her contending chiefs. These military operations were +attended by a momentous result. They revealed, to the quick eye of +these warlike mercenaries, the political weakness of the empire and +the possibility of reaching its centre. After the death of Cyrus on the +battle-field of Cunaxa, it was demonstrated, by the immortal retreat of +the ten thousand under Xenophon, that a Greek army could force its way +to and from the heart of Persia. + +That reverence for the military abilities of Asiatic generals, so +profoundly impressed on the Greeks by such engineering exploits as the +bridging of the Hellespont, and the cutting of the isthmus at Mount +Athos by Xerxes, had been obliterated at Salamis, Platea, Mycale. To +plunder rich Persian provinces had become an irresistible temptation. +Such was the expedition of Agesilaus, the Spartan king, whose brilliant +successes were, however, checked by the Persian government resorting to +its time-proved policy of bribing the neighbors of Sparta to attack her. +"I have been conquered by thirty thousand Persian archers," bitterly +exclaimed Agesilaus, as he re-embarked, alluding to the Persian coin, +the Daric, which was stamped with the image of an archer. + +THE INVASION OF PERSIA BY GREECE. At length Philip, the King of Macedon, +projected a renewal of these attempts, under a far more formidable +organization, and with a grander object. He managed to have himself +appointed captain-general of all Greece not for the purpose of a mere +foray into the Asiatic satrapies, but for the overthrow of the Persian +dynasty in the very centre of its power. Assassinated while his +preparations were incomplete, he was succeeded by his son Alexander, +then a youth. A general assembly of Greeks at Corinth had unanimously +elected him in his father's stead. There were some disturbances in +Illyria; Alexander had to march his army as far north as the Danube to +quell them. During his absence the Thebans with some others conspired +against him. On his return he took Thebes by assault. He massacred +six thousand of its inhabitants, sold thirty thousand for slaves, and +utterly demolished the city. The military wisdom of this severity was +apparent in his Asiatic campaign. He was not troubled by any revolt in +his rear. + +THE MACEDONIAN CAMPAIGN. In the spring B.C. 334 Alexander crossed the +Hellespont into Asia. His army consisted of thirty-four thousand foot +and four thousand horse. He had with him only seventy talents in money. +He marched directly on the Persian army, which, vastly exceeding him in +strength, was holding the line of the Granicus. He forced the passage of +the river, routed the enemy, and the possession of all Asia Minor, with +its treasures, was the fruit of the victory. The remainder of that +year he spent in the military organization of the conquered provinces. +Meantime Darius, the Persian king, had advanced an army of six hundred +thousand men to prevent the passage of the Macedonians into Syria. In +a battle that ensued among the mountain-defiles at Issus, the Persians +were again overthrown. So great was the slaughter that Alexander, and +Ptolemy, one of his generals, crossed over a ravine choked with dead +bodies. It was estimated that the Persian loss was not less than ninety +thousand foot and ten thousand horse. The royal pavilion fell into the +conqueror's hands, and with it the wife and several of the children of +Darius. Syria was thus added to the Greek conquests. In Damascus were +found many of the concubines of Darius and his chief officers, together +with a vast treasure. + +Before venturing into the plains of Mesopotamia for the final struggle, +Alexander, to secure his rear and preserve his communications with the +sea, marched southward down the Mediterranean coast, reducing the cities +in his way. In his speech before the council of war after Issus, he told +his generals that they must not pursue Darius with Tyre unsubdued, and +Persia in possession of Egypt and Cyprus, for, if Persia should regain +her seaports, she would transfer the war into Greece, and that it was +absolutely necessary for him to be sovereign at sea. With Cyprus and +Egypt in his possession he felt no solicitude about Greece. The siege +of Tyre cost him more than half a year. In revenge for this delay, +he crucified, it is said, two thousand of his prisoners. Jerusalem +voluntarily surrendered, and therefore was treated leniently: but the +passage of the Macedonian army into Egypt being obstructed at Gaza, the +Persian governor of which, Betis, made a most obstinate defense, that +place, after a siege of two months, was carried by assault, ten thousand +of its men were massacred, and the rest, with their wives and children, +sold into slavery. Betis himself was dragged alive round the city at the +chariot-wheels of the conqueror. There was now no further obstacle. The +Egyptians, who detested the Persian rule, received their invader with +open arms. He organized the country in his own interest, intrusting +all its military commands to Macedonian officers, and leaving the civil +government in the hands of native Egyptians. + +CONQUEST OF EGYPT. While preparations for the final campaign were being +made, he undertook a journey to the temple of Jupiter Ammon, which was +situated in an oasis of the Libyan Desert, at a distance of two hundred +miles. The oracle declared him to be a son of that god who, under +the form of a serpent, had beguiled Olympias, his mother. Immaculate +conceptions and celestial descents were so currently received in those +days, that whoever had greatly distinguished himself in the affairs of +men was thought to be of supernatural lineage. Even in Rome, centuries +later, no one could with safety have denied that the city owed its +founder, Romulus, to an accidental meeting of the god Mars with the +virgin Rhea Sylvia, as she went with her pitcher for water to the +spring. The Egyptian disciples of Plato would have looked with anger on +those who rejected the legend that Perictione, the mother of that +great philosopher, a pure virgin, had suffered an immaculate conception +through the influences of Apollo, and that the god had declared to +Ariston, to whom she was betrothed, the parentage of the child. When +Alexander issued his letters, orders, and decrees, styling himself "King +Alexander, the son of Jupiter Ammon," they came to the inhabitants of +Egypt and Syria with an authority that now can hardly be realized. The +free-thinking Greeks, however, put on such a supernatural pedigree its +proper value. Olympias, who, of course, better than all others knew the +facts of the case, used jestingly to say, that "she wished Alexander +would cease from incessantly embroiling her with Jupiter's wife." +Arrian, the historian of the Macedonian expedition, observes, "I cannot +condemn him for endeavoring to draw his subjects into the belief of his +divine origin, nor can I be induced to think it any great crime, for it +is very reasonable to imagine that he intended no more by it than merely +to procure the greater authority among his soldiers." + +GREEK CONQUEST OF PERSIA. All things being thus secured in his rear, +Alexander, having returned into Syria, directed the march of his army, +now consisting of fifty thousand veterans, eastward. After crossing the +Euphrates, he kept close to the Masian hills, to avoid the intense heat +of the more southerly Mesopotamian plains; more abundant forage could +also thus be procured for the cavalry. On the left bank of the Tigris, +near Arbela, he encountered the great army of eleven hundred thousand +men brought up by Darius from Babylon. The death of the Persian monarch, +which soon followed the defeat he suffered, left the Macedonian general +master of all the countries from the Danube to the Indus. Eventually he +extended his conquest to the Ganges. The treasures he seized are almost +beyond belief. At Susa alone he found--so Arrian says--fifty thousand +talents in money. + +EVENTS OF THE CAMPAIGNS. The modern military student cannot look +upon these wonderful campaigns without admiration. The passage of the +Hellespont; the forcing of the Granicus; the winter spent in a political +organization of conquered Asia Minor; the march of the right wing and +centre of the army along the Syrian Mediterranean coast; the engineering +difficulties overcome at the siege of Tyre; the storming of Gaza; the +isolation of Persia from Greece; the absolute exclusion of her navy from +the Mediterranean; the check on all her attempts at intriguing with +or bribing Athenians or Spartans, heretofore so often resorted to with +success; the submission of Egypt; another winter spent in the political +organization of that venerable country; the convergence of the whole +army from the Black and Red Seas toward the nitre-covered plains of +Mesopotamia in the ensuing spring; the passage of the Euphrates fringed +with its weeping-willows at the broken bridge of Thapsacus; the crossing +of the Tigris; the nocturnal reconnaissance before the great and +memorable battle of Arbela; the oblique movement on the field; the +piercing of the enemy's centre--a manoeuvre destined to be repeated +many centuries subsequently at Austerlitz; the energetic pursuit of +the Persian monarch; these are exploits not surpassed by any soldier of +later times. + +A prodigious stimulus was thus given to Greek intellectual activity. +There were men who had marched with the Macedonian army from the Danube +to the Nile, from the Nile to the Ganges. They had felt the hyperborean +blasts of the countries beyond the Black Sea, the simooms and +sand-tempests of the Egyptian deserts. They had seen the Pyramids which +had already stood for twenty centuries, the hieroglyph-covered obelisks +of Luxor, avenues of silent and mysterious sphinxes, colossi of monarchs +who reigned in the morning of the world. In the halls of Esar-haddon +they had stood before the thrones of grim old Assyrian kings, guarded by +winged bulls. In Babylon there still remained its walls, once more than +sixty miles in compass, and, after the ravages of three centuries and +three conquerors, still more than eighty feet in height; there were +still the ruins of the temple of cloud encompassed Bel, on its top was +planted the observatory wherein the weird Chaldean astronomers had held +nocturnal communion with the stars; still there were vestiges of the two +palaces with their hanging gardens in which were great trees growing in +mid-air, and the wreck of the hydraulic machinery that had supplied +them with water from the river. Into the artificial lake with its vast +apparatus of aqueducts and sluices the melted snows of the Armenian +mountains found their way, and were confined in their course through +the city by the embankments of the Euphrates. Most wonderful of all, +perhaps, was the tunnel under the river-bed. + +EFFECT ON THE GREEK ARMY. If Chaldea, Assyria, Babylon, presented +stupendous and venerable antiquities reaching far back into the night of +time, Persia was not without her wonders of a later date. The pillared +halls of Persepolis were filled with miracles of art--carvings, +sculptures, enamels, alabaster libraries, obelisks, sphinxes, colossal +bulls. Ecbatana, the cool summer retreat of the Persian kings, was +defended by seven encircling walls of hewn and polished blocks, the +interior ones in succession of increasing height, and of different +colors, in astrological accordance with the seven planets. The palace +was roofed with silver tiles, its beams were plated with gold. At +midnight, in its halls the sunlight was rivaled by many a row of naphtha +cressets. A paradise--that luxury of the monarchs of the East--was +planted in the midst of the city. The Persian Empire, from the +Hellespont to the Indus, was truly the garden of the world. + +EFFECTS ON THE GREEK ARMY. I have devoted a few pages to the story of +these marvelous campaigns, for the military talent they fostered led +to the establishment of the mathematical and practical schools of +Alexandria, the true origin of science. We trace back all our exact +knowledge to the Macedonian campaigns. Humboldt has well observed that +an introduction to new and grand objects of Nature enlarges the human +mind. The soldiers of Alexander and the hosts of his camp-followers +encountered at every march unexpected and picturesque scenery. Of all +men, the Greeks were the most observant, the most readily and profoundly +impressed. Here there were interminable sandy plains, there mountains +whose peaks were lost above the clouds. In the deserts were mirages, +on the hill-sides shadows of fleeting clouds sweeping over the forests. +They were in a land of amber-colored date-palms and cypresses, of +tamarisks, green myrtles, and oleanders. At Arbela they had fought +against Indian elephants; in the thickets of the Caspian they had roused +from his lair the lurking royal tiger. They had seen animals which, +compared with those of Europe, were not only strange, but colossal--the +rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, the camel, the crocodiles of the Nile +and the Ganges. They had encountered men of many complexions and many +costumes: the swarthy Syrian, the olive-colored Persian, the black +African. Even of Alexander himself it is related that on his death-bed +he caused his admiral, Nearchus, to sit by his side, and found +consolation in listening to the adventures of that sailor--the story of +his voyage from the Indus up the Persian Gulf. The conqueror had seen +with astonishment the ebbing and flowing of the tides. He had built +ships for the exploration of the Caspian, supposing that it and +the Black Sea might be gulfs of a great ocean, such as Nearchus had +discovered the Persian and Red Seas to be. He had formed a resolution +that his fleet should attempt the circumnavigation of Africa, and come +into the Mediterranean through the Pillars of Hercules--a feat which, it +was affirmed, had once been accomplished by the Pharaohs. + +INTELLECTUAL CONDITION OF PERSIA. Not only her greatest soldiers, but +also her greatest philosophers, found in the conquered empire much that +might excite the admiration of Greece. Callisthenes obtained in Babylon +a series of Chaldean astronomical observations ranging back through +1,903 years; these he sent to Aristotle. Perhaps, since they were on +burnt bricks, duplicates of them may be recovered by modern research +in the clay libraries of the Assyrian kings. Ptolemy, the Egyptian +astronomer, possessed a Babylonian record of eclipses, going back +747 years before our era. Long-continued and close observations were +necessary, before some of these astronomical results that have reached +our times could have been ascertained. Thus the Babylonians had fixed +the length of a tropical year within twenty-five seconds of the truth; +their estimate of the sidereal year was barely two minutes in excess. +They had detected the precession of the equinoxes. They knew the causes +of eclipses, and, by the aid of their cycle called Saros, could predict +them. Their estimate of the value of that cycle, which is more than +6,585 days, was within nineteen and a half minutes of the truth. + +INTELLECTUAL CONDITION OF PERSIA. Such facts furnish incontrovertible +proof of the patience and skill with which astronomy had been cultivated +in Mesopotamia, and that, with very inadequate instrumental means, it +had reached no inconsiderable perfection. These old observers had made +a catalogue of the stars, had divided the zodiac into twelve signs; they +had parted the day into twelve hours, the night into twelve. They had, +as Aristotle says, for a long time devoted themselves to observations of +star-occultations by the moon. They had correct views of the structure +of the solar system, and knew the order of the emplacement of the +planets. They constructed sundials, clepsydras, astrolabes, gnomons. + +Not without interest do we still look on specimens of their method of +printing. Upon a revolving roller they engraved, in cuneiform letters, +their records, and, running this over plastic clay formed into blocks, +produced ineffaceable proofs. From their tile-libraries we are still +to reap a literary and historical harvest. They were not without some +knowledge of optics. The convex lens found at Nimroud shows that they +were not unacquainted with magnifying instruments. In arithmetic they +had detected the value of position in the digits, though they missed the +grand Indian invention of the cipher. + +What a spectacle for the conquering Greeks, who, up to this time, had +neither experimented nor observed! They had contented themselves with +mere meditation and useless speculation. + +ITS RELIGIOUS CONDITION. But Greek intellectual development, due thus +in part to a more extended view of Nature, was powerfully aided by the +knowledge then acquired of the religion of the conquered country. The +idolatry of Greece had always been a horror to Persia, who, in her +invasions, had never failed to destroy the temples and insult the fanes +of the bestial gods. The impunity with which these sacrileges had +been perpetrated had made a profound impression, and did no little to +undermine Hellenic faith. But now the worshiper of the vile Olympian +divinities, whose obscene lives must have been shocking to every +pious man, was brought in contact with a grand, a solemn, a consistent +religious system having its foundation on a philosophical basis. Persia, +as is the case with all empires of long duration, had passed through +many changes of religion. She had followed the Monotheism of Zoroaster; +had then accepted Dualism, and exchanged that for Magianism. At the time +of the Macedonian expedition, she recognized one universal Intelligence, +the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of all things, the most holy +essence of truth, the giver of all good. He was not to be represented by +any image, or any graven form. And, since, in every thing here below, we +see the resultant of two opposing forces, under him were two coequal and +coeternal principles, represented by the imagery of Light and Darkness. +These principles are in never-ending conflict. The world is their +battle-ground, man is their prize. + +In the old legends of Dualism, the Evil Spirit was said to have sent +a serpent to ruin the paradise which the Good Spirit had made. These +legends became known to the Jews during their Babylonian captivity. + +The existence of a principle of evil is the necessary incident of the +existence of a principle of good, as a shadow is the necessary incident +of the presence of light. In this manner could be explained the +occurrence of evil in a world, the maker and ruler of which is supremely +good. Each of the personified principles of light and darkness, Ormuzd +and Ahriman, had his subordinate angels, his counselors, his armies. It +is the duty of a good man to cultivate truth, purity, and industry. He +may look forward, when this life is over, to a life in another world, +and trust to a resurrection of the body, the immortality of the soul, +and a conscious future existence. + +In the later years of the empire, the principles of Magianism had +gradually prevailed more and more over those of Zoroaster. Magianism was +essentially a worship of the elements. Of these, fire was considered as +the most worthy representative of the Supreme Being. On altars erected, +not in temples, but under the blue canopy of the sky, perpetual fires +were kept burning, and the rising sun was regarded as the noblest object +of human adoration. In the society of Asia, nothing is visible but the +monarch; in the expanse of heaven, all objects vanish in presence of the +sun. + +DEATH OF ALEXANDER. Prematurely cut off in the midst of many great +projects Alexander died at Babylon before he had completed his +thirty-third year (B.C. 323). There was a suspicion that he had been +poisoned. His temper had become so unbridled, his passion so ferocious, +that his generals and even his intimate friends lived in continual +dread. Clitus, one of the latter, he in a moment of fury had stabbed to +the heart. Callisthenes, the intermedium between himself and Aristotle, +he had caused to be hanged, or, as was positively asserted by some who +knew the facts, had had him put upon the rack and then crucified. It +may have been in self-defense that the conspirators resolved on his +assassination. But surely it was a calumny to associate the name of +Aristotle with this transaction. He would have rather borne the worst +that Alexander could inflict, than have joined in the perpetration of so +great a crime. + +A scene of confusion and bloodshed lasting many years ensued, nor did it +cease even after the Macedonian generals had divided the empire. Among +its vicissitudes one incident mainly claims our attention. Ptolemy, who +was a son of King Philip by Arsinoe, a beautiful concubine, and who +in his boyhood had been driven into exile with Alexander, when they +incurred their father's displeasure, who had been Alexander's comrade +in many of his battles and all his campaigns, became governor and +eventually king of Egypt. + +FOUNDATION OF ALEXANDER. At the siege of Rhodes, Ptolemy had been of +such signal service to its citizens that in gratitude they paid divine +honors to him, and saluted him with the title of Soter (the Savior). +By that designation--Ptolemy Soter--he is distinguished from succeeding +kings of the Macedonian dynasty in Egypt. + +He established his seat of government not in any of the old capitals +of the country, but in Alexandria. At the time of the expedition to +the temple of Jupiter Ammon, the Macedonian conqueror had caused the +foundations of that city to be laid, foreseeing that it might be +made the commercial entrepot between Asia and Europe. It is to be +particularly remarked that not only did Alexander himself deport many +Jews from Palestine to people the city, and not only did Ptolemy Soter +bring one hundred thousand more after his siege of Jerusalem, but +Philadelphus, his successor, redeemed from slavery one hundred and +ninety-eight thousand of that people, paying their Egyptian owners a +just money equivalent for each. To all these Jews the same privileges +were accorded as to the Macedonians. In consequence of this considerate +treatment, vast numbers of their compatriots and many Syrians +voluntarily came into Egypt. To them the designation of Hellenistical +Jews was given. In like manner, tempted by the benign government of +Soter, multitudes of Greeks sought refuge in the country, and the +invasions of Perdiccas and Antigonus showed that Greek soldiers would +desert from other Macedonian generals to join is armies. + +The population of Alexandria was therefore of three distinct +nationalities: 1. Native Egyptians 2. Greeks; 3. Jews--a fact that has +left an impress on the religious faith of modern Europe. + +Greek architects and Greek engineers had made Alexandria the most +beautiful city of the ancient world. They had filled it with magnificent +palaces, temples, theatres. In its centre, at the intersection of its +two grand avenues, which crossed each other at right angles, and in the +midst of gardens, fountains, obelisks, stood the mausoleum, in +which, embalmed after the manner of the Egyptians, rested the body of +Alexander. In a funereal journey of two years it had been brought with +great pomp from Babylon. At first the coffin was of pure gold, but +this having led to a violation of the tomb, it was replaced by one of +alabaster. But not these, not even the great light-house, Pharos, built +of blocks of white marble and so high that the fire continually burning +on its top could be seen many miles off at sea--the Pharos counted +as one of the seven wonders of the world--it is not these magnificent +achievements of architecture that arrest our attention; the true, the +most glorious monument of the Macedonian kings of Egypt is the Museum. +Its influences will last when even the Pyramids have passed away. + +THE ALEXANDRIAN MUSEUM. The Alexandrian Museum was commenced by Ptolemy +Soter, and was completed by his son Ptolemy Philadelphus. It was +situated in the Bruchion, the aristocratic quarter of the city, +adjoining the king's palace. Built of marble, it was surrounded with +a piazza, in which the residents might walk and converse together. Its +sculptured apartments contained the Philadelphian library, and were +crowded with the choicest statues and pictures. This library eventually +comprised four hundred thousand volumes. In the course of time, probably +on account of inadequate accommodation for so many books, an additional +library was established in the adjacent quarter Rhacotis, and placed +in the Serapion or temple of Serapis. The number of volumes in this +library, which was called the Daughter of that in the Museum, was +eventually three hundred thousand. There were, therefore, seven hundred +thousand volumes in these royal collections. + +Alexandria was not merely the capital of Egypt, it was the intellectual +metropolis of the world. Here it was truly said the Genius of the East +met the Genius of the West, and this Paris of antiquity became a focus +of fashionable dissipation and universal skepticism. In the allurements +of its bewitching society even the Jews forgot their patriotism. They +abandoned the language of their forefathers, and adopted Greek. + +In the establishment of the Museum, Ptolemy Soter and his son +Philadelphus had three objects in view: 1. The perpetuation of such +knowledge as was then in the world; 2. Its increase; 3. Its diffusion. + +1. For the perpetuation of knowledge. Orders were given to the chief +librarian to buy at the king's expense whatever books he could. A body +of transcribers was maintained in the Museum, whose duty it was to make +correct copies of such works as their owners were not disposed to sell. +Any books brought by foreigners into Egypt were taken at once to the +Museum, and, when correct copies had been made, the transcript was given +to the owner, and the original placed in the library. Often a very large +pecuniary indemnity was paid. Thus it is said of Ptolemy Euergetes +that, having obtained from Athens the works of Euripides, Sophocles, +and Aeschylus, he sent to their owners transcripts, together with about +fifteen thousand dollars, as an indemnity. On his return from the Syrian +expedition he carried back in triumph all the Egyptian monuments from +Ecbatana and Susa, which Cambyses and other invaders had removed from +Egypt. These he replaced in their original seats, or added as adornments +to his museums. When works were translated as well as transcribed, sums +which we should consider as almost incredible were paid, as was the +case with the Septuagint translation of the Bible, ordered by Ptolemy +Philadelphus. + +2. For the increase of knowledge. One of the chief objects of the Museum +was that of serving as the home of a body of men who devoted themselves +to study, and were lodged and maintained at the king's expense. +Occasionally he himself sat at their table. Anecdotes connected with +those festive occasions have descended to our times. In the original +organization of the Museum the residents were divided into four +faculties--literature; mathematics, astronomy, medicine. Minor branches +were appropriately classified under one of these general heads; thus +natural history was considered to be a branch of medicine. An officer of +very great distinction presided over the establishment, and had general +charge of its interests. Demetrius Phalareus, perhaps the most learned +man of his age, who had been governor of Athens for many years, was the +first so appointed. Under him was the librarian, an office sometimes +held by men whose names have descended to our times, as Eratosthenes, +and Apollonius Rhodius. + +ORGANIZATION OF THE MUSEUM. In connection with the Museum were a +botanical and a zoological garden. These gardens, as their names import, +were for the purpose of facilitating the study of plants and animals. +There was also an astronomical observatory containing armillary spheres, +globes, solstitial and equatorial armils, astrolabes, parallactic +rules, and other apparatus then in use, the graduation on the divided +instruments being into degrees and sixths. On the floor of this +observatory a meridian line was drawn. The want of correct means of +measuring time and temperature was severely felt; the clepsydra of +Ctesibius answered very imperfectly for the former, the hydrometer +floating in a cup of water for the latter; it measured variations of +temperature by variations of density. Philadelphus, who toward the close +of his life was haunted with an intolerable dread of death, devoted much +of his time to the discovery of an elixir. For such pursuits the Museum +was provided with a chemical laboratory. In spite of the prejudices of +the age, and especially in spite of Egyptian prejudices, there was +in connection with the medical department an anatomical room for the +dissection, not only of the dead, but actually of the living, who for +crimes had been condemned. + +3. For the diffusion of knowledge. In the Museum was given, by lectures, +conversation, or other appropriate methods instruction in all the +various departments of human knowledge. There flocked to this great +intellectual centre, students from all countries. It is said that at one +time not fewer than fourteen thousand were in attendance. Subsequently +even the Christian church received from it some of the most eminent of +its Fathers, as Clemens Alexandrinus, Origen, Athanasius. + +The library in the Museum was burnt during the siege of Alexandria by +Julius Caesar. To make amends for this great loss, that collected +by Eumenes, King of Pergamus, was presented by Mark Antony to Queen +Cleopatra. Originally it was founded as a rival to that of the +Ptolemies. It was added to the collection in the Serapion. + +SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL OF THE MUSEUM. It remains now to describe briefly the +philosophical basis of the Museum, and some of its contributions to the +stock of human knowledge. + +In memory of the illustrious founder of this most noble institution--an +institution which antiquity delighted to call "The divine school of +Alexandria"--we must mention in the first rank his "History of the +Campaigns of Alexander." Great as a soldier and as a sovereign, Ptolemy +Soter added to his glory by being an author. Time, which has not been +able to destroy the memory of our obligations to him, has dealt unjustly +by his work. It is not now extant. + +As might be expected from the friendship that existed between Alexander, +Ptolemy, and Aristotle, the Aristotelian philosophy was the intellectual +corner-stone on which the Museum rested. King Philip had committed the +education of Alexander to Aristotle, and during the Persian campaigns +the conqueror contributed materially, not only in money, but otherwise, +toward the "Natural History" then in preparation. + +The essential principle of the Aristotelian philosophy was, to rise +from the study of particulars to a knowledge of general principles or +universals, advancing to them by induction. The induction is the +more certain as the facts on which it is based are more numerous; its +correctness is established if it should enable us to predict other facts +until then unknown. This system implies endless toil in the collection +of facts, both by experiment and observation; it implies also a close +meditation on them. It is, therefore, essentially a method of labor +and of reason, not a method of imagination. The failures that Aristotle +himself so often exhibits are no proof of its unreliability, but +rather of its trustworthiness. They are failures arising from want of a +sufficiency of facts. + +ETHICAL SCHOOL OF THE MUSEUM. Some of the general results at which +Aristotle arrived are very grand. Thus, he concluded that every thing is +ready to burst into life, and that the various organic forms presented +to us by Nature are those which existing conditions permit. Should +the conditions change, the forms will also change. Hence there is an +unbroken chain from the simple element through plants and animals up to +man, the different groups merging by insensible shades into each other. + +The inductive philosophy thus established by Aristotle is a method of +great power. To it all the modern advances in science are due. In +its most improved form it rises by inductions from phenomena to their +causes, and then, imitating the method of the Academy, it descends by +deductions from those causes to the detail of phenomena. + +While thus the Scientific School of Alexandria was founded on the maxims +of one great Athenian philosopher, the Ethical School was founded on the +maxims of another, for Zeno, though a Cypriote or Phoenician, had for +many years been established at Athens. His disciples took the name of +Stoics. His doctrines long survived him, and, in times when there was no +other consolation for man, offered a support in the hour of trial, and +an unwavering guide in the vicissitudes of life, not only to illustrious +Greeks, but also to many of the great philosophers, statesmen, generals, +and emperors of Rome. + +THE PRINCIPLES OF STOICISM. The aim of Zeno was, to furnish a guide +for the daily practice of life, to make men virtuous. He insisted that +education is the true foundation of virtue, for, if we know what is +good, we shall incline to do it. We must trust to sense, to furnish the +data of knowledge, and reason will suitably combine them. In this the +affinity of Zeno to Aristotle is plainly seen. Every appetite, lust, +desire, springs from imperfect knowledge. Our nature is imposed upon +us by Fate, but we must learn to control our passions, and live free, +intelligent, virtuous, in all things in accordance with reason. Our +existence should be intellectual, we should survey with equanimity all +pleasures and all pains. We should never forget that we are freemen, not +the slaves of society. "I possess," said the Stoic, "a treasure which +not all the world can rob me of--no one can deprive me of death." We +should remember that Nature in her operations aims at the universal, and +never spares individuals, but uses them as means for the accomplishment +of her ends. It is, therefore, for us to submit to Destiny, cultivating, +as the things necessary to virtue, knowledge, temperance, fortitude, +justice. We must remember that every thing around us is in mutation; +decay follows reproduction, and reproduction decay, and that it is +useless to repine at death in a world where every thing is dying. As a +cataract shows from year to year an invariable shape, though the water +composing it is perpetually changing, so the aspect of Nature is nothing +more than a flow of matter presenting an impermanent form. The universe, +considered as a whole, is unchangeable. Nothing is eternal but +space, atoms, force. The forms of Nature that we see are essentially +transitory, they must all pass away. + +STOICISM IN THE MUSEUM. We must bear in mind that the majority of men +are imperfectly educated, and hence we must not needlessly offend the +religious ideas of our age. It is enough for us ourselves to know that, +though there is a Supreme Power, there is no Supreme Being. There is an +invisible principle, but not a personal God, to whom it would be not +so much blasphemy as absurdity to impute the form, the sentiments, the +passions of man. All revelation is, necessarily, a mere fiction. That +which men call chance is only the effect of an unknown cause. Even of +chances there is a law. There is no such thing as Providence, for Nature +proceeds under irresistible laws, and in this respect the universe is +only a vast automatic engine. The vital force which pervades the world +is what the illiterate call God. The modifications through which all +things are running take place in an irresistible way, and hence it may +be said that the progress of the world is, under Destiny, like a seed, +it can evolve only in a predetermined mode. + +The soul of man is a spark of the vital flame, the general vital +principle. Like heat, it passes from one to another, and is finally +reabsorbed or reunited in the universal principle from which it came. +Hence we must not expect annihilation, but reunion; and, as the tired +man looks forward to the insensibility of sleep, so the philosopher, +weary of the world, should look forward to the tranquillity of +extinction. Of these things, however, we should think doubtingly, since +the mind can produce no certain knowledge from its internal resources +alone. It is unphilosophical to inquire into first causes; we must deal +only with phenomena. Above all, we must never forget that man cannot +ascertain absolute truth, and that the final result of human inquiry +into the matter is, that we are incapable of perfect knowledge; that, +even if the truth be in our possession, we cannot be sure of it. + +What, then, remains for us? Is it not this--the acquisition of +knowledge, the cultivation of virtue and of friendship, the observance +of faith and truth, an unrepining submission to whatever befalls us, a +life led in accordance with reason? + +PLATONISM IN THE MUSEUM. But, though the Alexandrian Museum was +especially intended for the cultivation of the Aristotelian philosophy, +it must not be supposed that other systems were excluded. Platonism was +not only carried to its full development, but in the end it supplanted +Peripateticism, and through the New Academy left a permanent impress on +Christianity. The philosophical method of Plato was the inverse of that +of Aristotle. Its starting-point was universals, the very existence of +which was a matter of faith, and from these it descended to particulars, +or details. Aristotle, on the contrary, rose from particulars to +universals, advancing to them by inductions. + +Plato, therefore, trusted to the imagination, Aristotle to reason. +The former descended from the decomposition of a primitive idea into +particulars, the latter united particulars into a general conception. +Hence the method of Plato was capable of quickly producing what seemed +to be splendid, though in reality unsubstantial results; that of +Aristotle was more tardy in its operation, but much more solid. It +implied endless labor in the collection of facts, a tedious resort +to experiment and observation, the application of demonstration. The +philosophy of Plato is a gorgeous castle in the air; that of Aristotle +a solid structure, laboriously, and with many failures, founded on the +solid rock. + +An appeal to the imagination is much more alluring than the employment +of reason. In the intellectual decline of Alexandria, indolent methods +were preferred to laborious observation and severe mental exercise. The +schools of Neo-Platonism were crowded with speculative mystics, such +as Ammonius Saccas and Plotinus. These took the place of the severe +geometers of the old Museum. + +PHYSICAL SCIENCE IN THE MUSEUM. The Alexandrian school offers the first +example of that system which, in the hands of modern physicists, has +led to such wonderful results. It rejected imagination, and made its +theories the expression of facts obtained by experiment and observation, +aided by mathematical discussion. It enforced the principle that the +true method of studying Nature is by experimental interrogation. The +researches of Archimedes in specific gravity, and the works of +Ptolemy on optics, resemble our present investigations in experimental +philosophy, and stand in striking contrast with the speculative vagaries +of the older writers. Laplace says that the only observation which the +history of astronomy offers us, made by the Greeks before the school +of Alexandria, is that of the summer solstice of the year B.C. 432. +by Meton and Euctemon. We have, for the first time, in that school, +a combined system of observations made with instruments for the +measurement of angles, and calculated by trigonometrical methods. +Astronomy then took a form which subsequent ages could only perfect. + + +It does not accord with the compass or the intention of this work to +give a detailed account of the contributions of the Alexandrian Museum +to the stock of human knowledge. It is sufficient that the reader should +obtain a general impression of their character. For particulars, I +may refer him to the sixth chapter of my "History of the Intellectual +Development of Europe." + +EUCLID--ARCHIMEDES. It has just been remarked that the Stoical +philosophy doubted whether the mind can ascertain absolute truth. While +Zeno was indulging in such doubts, Euclid was preparing his great work, +destined to challenge contradiction from the whole human race. After +more than twenty-two centuries it still survives, a model of accuracy, +perspicuity, and a standard of exact demonstration. This great geometer +not only wrote on other mathematical topics, such as Conic Sections and +Prisms, but there are imputed to him treatises on Harmonics and Optics, +the latter subject being discussed on the hypothesis of rays issuing +from the eye to the object. + +With the Alexandrian mathematicians and physicists must be classed +Archimedes, though he eventually resided in Sicily. Among his +mathematical works were two books on the Sphere and Cylinder, in +which he gave the demonstration that the solid content of a sphere is +two-thirds that of its circumscribing cylinder. So highly did he esteem +this, that he directed the diagram to be engraved on his tombstone. He +also treated of the quadrature of the circle and of the parabola; he +wrote on Conoids and Spheroids, and on the spiral that bears his name, +the genesis of which was suggested to him by his friend Conon the +Alexandrian. As a mathematician, Europe produced no equal to him for +nearly two thousand years. In physical science he laid the foundation +of hydrostatics; invented a method for the determination of specific +gravities; discussed the equilibrium of floating bodies; discovered the +true theory of the lever, and invented a screw, which still bears +his name, for raising the water of the Nile. To him also are to be +attributed the endless screw, and a peculiar form of burning-mirror, by +which, at the siege of Syracuse, it is said that he set the Roman fleet +on fire. + +ERATOSTHENES--APOLLONIUS--HIPPARCHUS. Eratosthenes, who at one time had +charge of the library, was the author of many important works. Among +them may be mentioned his determination of the interval between +the tropics, and an attempt to ascertain the size of the earth. He +considered the articulation and expansion of continents, the position +of mountain-chains, the action of clouds, the geological submersion of +lands, the elevation of ancient sea-beds, the opening of the Dardanelles +and the straits of Gibraltar, and the relations of the Euxine Sea. +He composed a complete system of the earth, in three books--physical, +mathematical, historical--accompanied by a map of all the parts then +known. It is only of late years that the fragments remaining of his +"Chronicles of the Theban Kings" have been justly appreciated. For +many centuries they were thrown into discredit by the authority of our +existing absurd theological chronology. + +It is unnecessary to adduce the arguments relied upon by the +Alexandrians to prove the globular form of the earth. They had correct +ideas respecting the doctrine of the sphere, its poles, axis, equator, +arctic and antarctic circles, equinoctial points, solstices, the +distribution of climates, etc. I cannot do more than merely allude to +the treatises on Conic Sections and on Maxima and Minima by Apollonius, +who is said to have been the first to introduce the words ellipse and +hyperbola. In like manner I must pass the astronomical observations +of Alistyllus and Timocharis. It was to those of the latter on Spica +Virginis that Hipparchus was indebted for his great discovery of the +precession of the eqninoxes. Hipparchus also determined the first +inequality of the moon, the equation of the centre. He adopted the +theory of epicycles and eccentrics, a geometrical conception for the +purpose of resolving the apparent motions of the heavenly bodies on the +principle of circular movement. He also undertook to make a catalogue +of the stars by the method of alineations--that is, by indicating those +that are in the same apparent straight line. The number of stars so +catalogued was 1,080. If he thus attempted to depict the aspect of +the sky, he endeavored to do the same for the surface of the earth, by +marking the position of towns and other places by lines of latitude and +longitude. He was the first to construct tables of the sun and moon. + +THE SYNTAXIS OF PTOLEMY. In the midst of such a brilliant constellation +of geometers, astronomers, physicists, conspicuously shines forth +Ptolemy, the author of the great work, "Syntaxis," "a Treatise on the +Mathematical Construction of the Heavens." It maintained its ground +for nearly fifteen hundred years, and indeed was only displaced by the +immortal "Principia" of Newton. It commences with the doctrine that the +earth is globular and fixed in space, it describes the construction of a +table of chords, and instruments for observing the solstices, it deduces +the obliquity of the ecliptic, it finds terrestrial latitudes by the +gnomon, describes climates, shows how ordinary may be converted into +sidereal time, gives reasons for preferring the tropical to the sidereal +year, furnishes the solar theory on the principle of the sun's orbit +being a simple eccentric, explains the equation of time, advances to the +discussion of the motions of the moon, treats of the first inequality, +of her eclipses, and the motion of her nodes. It then gives Ptolemy's +own great discovery--that which has made his name immortal--the +discovery of the moon's evection or second inequality, reducing it to +the epicyclic theory. It attempts the determination of the distances of +the sun and moon from the earth--with, however, only partial success. It +considers the precession of the equinoxes, the discovery of Hipparchus, +the full period of which is twenty-five thousand years. It gives a +catalogue of 1,022 stars, treats of the nature of the milky-way, and +discusses in the most masterly manner the motions of the planets. This +point constitutes another of Ptolemy's claims to scientific fame. His +determination of the planetary orbits was accomplished by comparing +his own observations with those of former astronomers, among them the +observations of Timocharis on the planet Venus. + +INVENTION OF THE STEAM-ENGINE. In the Museum of Alexandria, Ctesibius +invented the fire-engine. His pupil, Hero, improved it by giving it two +cylinders. There, too, the first steam-engine worked. This also was the +invention of Hero, and was a reaction engine, on the principle of +the eolipile. The silence of the halls of Serapis was broken by the +water-clocks of Ctesibius and Apollonius, which drop by drop measured +time. When the Roman calendar had fallen into such confusion that it +had become absolutely necessary to rectify it, Julius Caesar brought +Sosigenes the astronomer from Alexandria. By his advice the lunar year +was abolished, the civil year regulated entirely by the sun, and the +Julian calendar introduced. + +The Macedonian rulers of Egypt have been blamed for the manner in which +they dealt with the religious sentiment of their time. They prostituted +it to the purpose of state-craft, finding in it a means of governing +their lower classes. To the intelligent they gave philosophy. + +POLICY OF THE PTOLEMIES. But doubtless they defended this policy by the +experience gathered in those great campaigns which had made the Greeks +the foremost nation of the world. They had seen the mythological +conceptions of their ancestral country dwindle into fables; the wonders +with which the old poets adorned the Mediterranean had been discovered +to be baseless illusions. From Olympus its divinities had disappeared; +indeed, Olympus itself had proved to be a phantom of the imagination. +Hades had lost its terrors; no place could be found for it. + +From the woods and grottoes and rivers of Asia Minor the local gods and +goddesses had departed; even their devotees began to doubt whether they +had ever been there. If still the Syrian damsels lamented, in their +amorous ditties, the fate of Adonis, it was only as a recollection, not +as a reality. Again and again had Persia changed her national faith. For +the revelation of Zoroaster she had substituted Dualism; then under new +political influences she had adopted Magianism. She had worshiped fire, +and kept her altars burning on mountain-tops. She had adored the sun. +When Alexander came, she was fast falling into pantheism. + +On a country to which in its political extremity the indigenous gods +have been found unable to give any protection, a change of faith is +impending. The venerable divinities of Egypt, to whose glory obelisks +had been raised and temples dedicated, had again and again submitted +to the sword of a foreign conqueror. In the land of the Pyramids, the +Colossi, the Sphinx, the images of the gods had ceased to represent +living realities. They had ceased to be objects of faith. Others of more +recent birth were needful, and Serapis confronted Osiris. In the shops +and streets of Alexandria there were thousands of Jews who had forgotten +the God that had made his habitation behind the veil of the temple. + +Tradition, revelation, time, all had lost their influence. The +traditions of European mythology, the revelations of Asia, the +time-consecrated dogmas of Egypt, all had passed or were fast passing +away. And the Ptolemies recognized how ephemeral are forms of faith. + +But the Ptolemies also recognized that there is something more durable +than forms of faith, which, like the organic forms of geological ages, +once gone, are clean gone forever, and have no restoration, no return. +They recognized that within this world of transient delusions and +unrealities there is a world of eternal truth. + +That world is not to be discovered through the vain traditions that +have brought down to us the opinions of men who lived in the morning of +civilization, nor in the dreams of mystics who thought that they were +inspired. It is to be discovered by the investigations of geometry, +and by the practical interrogation of Nature. These confer on humanity +solid, and innumerable, and inestimable blessings. + +The day will never come when any one of the propositions of Euclid will +be denied; no one henceforth will call in question the globular shape of +the earth, as recognized by Eratosthenes; the world will not permit +the great physical inventions and discoveries made in Alexandria and +Syracuse to be forgotten. The names of Hipparchus, of Apollonius, of +Ptolemy, of Archimedes, will be mentioned with reverence by men of every +religious profession, as long as there are men to speak. + +THE MUSEUM AND MODERN SCIENCE. The Museum of Alexandria was thus +the birthplace of modern science. It is true that, long before its +establishment, astronomical observations had been made in China and +Mesopotamia; the mathematics also had been cultivated with a certain +degree of success in India. But in none of these countries had +investigation assumed a connected and consistent form; in none was +physical experimentation resorted to. The characteristic feature of +Alexandrian, as of modern science, is, that it did not restrict itself +to observation, but relied on a practical interrogation of Nature. + + + +CHAPTER II. + + THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIANITY.--ITS TRANSFORMATION ON ATTAINING + IMPERIAL POWER.--ITS RELATIONS TO SCIENCE. + + Religious condition of the Roman Republic.--The adoption of + imperialism leads to monotheism.--Christianity spreads over + the Roman Empire.--The circumstances under which it + attained imperial power make its union with Paganism a + political necessity.--Tertullian's description of its + doctrines and practices.--Debasing effect of the policy of + Constantine on it.--Its alliance with the civil power.--Its + incompatibility with science.--Destruction of the + Alexandrian Library and prohibition of philosophy.-- + Exposition of the Augustinian philosophy and Patristic + science generally.--The Scriptures made the standard of + science. + + +IN a political sense, Christianity is the bequest of the Roman Empire to +the world. + +At the epoch of the transition of Rome from the republican to the +imperial form of government, all the independent nationalities around +the Mediterranean Sea had been brought under the control of that central +power. The conquest that had befallen them in succession had been by no +means a disaster. The perpetual wars they had maintained with each +other came to an end; the miseries their conflicts had engendered were +exchanged for universal peace. + +Not only as a token of the conquest she had made but also as a +gratification to her pride, the conquering republic brought the gods +of the vanquished peoples to Rome. With disdainful toleration, she +permitted the worship of them all. That paramount authority exercised by +each divinity in his original seat disappeared at once in the crowd of +gods and goddesses among whom he had been brought. Already, as we have +seen, through geographical discoveries and philosophical criticism, +faith in the religion of the old days had been profoundly shaken. It +was, by this policy of Rome, brought to an end. + +MONOTHEISM IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. The kings of all the conquered provinces +had vanished; in their stead one emperor had come. The gods also had +disappeared. Considering the connection which in all ages has existed +between political and religious ideas, it was then not at all strange +that polytheism should manifest a tendency to pass into monotheism. +Accordingly, divine honors were paid at first to the deceased and at +length to the living emperor. + +The facility with which gods were thus called into existence had a +powerful moral effect. The manufacture of a new one cast ridicule on +the origin of the old Incarnation in the East and apotheosis in the West +were fast filling Olympus with divinities. In the East, gods descended +from heaven, and were made incarnate in men; in the West, men ascended +from earth, and took their seat among the gods. It was not the +importation of Greek skepticism that made Rome skeptical. The excesses +of religion itself sapped the foundations of faith. + +Not with equal rapidity did all classes of the population adopt +monotheistic views. The merchants and lawyers and soldiers, who by the +nature of their pursuits are more familiar with the vicissitudes of +life, and have larger intellectual views, were the first to be affected, +the land laborers and farmers the last. + +THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY When the empire in a military and political +sense had reached its culmination, in a religious and social aspect +it had attained its height of immorality. It had become thoroughly +epicurean; its maxim was, that life should be made a feast, that +virtue is only the seasoning of pleasure, and temperance the means of +prolonging it. Dining-rooms glittering with gold and incrusted with +gems, slaves in superb apparel, the fascinations of female society where +all the women were dissolute, magnificent baths, theatres, gladiators, +such were the objects of Roman desire. The conquerors of the world had +discovered that the only thing worth worshiping is Force. By it all +things might be secured, all that toil and trade had laboriously +obtained. The confiscation of goods and lands, the taxation of +provinces, were the reward of successful warfare; and the emperor +was the symbol of force. There was a social splendor, but it was the +phosphorescent corruption of the ancient Mediterranean world. + +In one of the Eastern provinces, Syria, some persons in very humble +life had associated themselves together for benevolent and religious +purposes. The doctrines they held were in harmony with that sentiment +of universal brotherhood arising from the coalescence of the conquered +kingdoms. They were doctrines inculcated by Jesus. + +The Jewish people at that time entertained a belief, founded on old +traditions, that a deliverer would arise among them, who would restore +them to their ancient splendor. The disciples of Jesus regarded him +as this long-expected Messiah. But the priesthood, believing that the +doctrines he taught were prejudicial to their interests, denounced +him to the Roman governor, who, to satisfy their clamors, reluctantly +delivered him over to death. + +His doctrines of benevolence and human brotherhood outlasted that +event. The disciples, instead of scattering, organized. They associated +themselves on a principle of communism, each throwing into the common +stock whatever property he possessed, and all his gains. The widows +and orphans of the community were thus supported, the poor and the sick +sustained. From this germ was developed a new, and as the events proved, +all-powerful society--the Church; new, for nothing of the kind had +existed in antiquity; powerful, for the local churches, at first +isolated, soon began to confederate for their common interest. Through +this organization Christianity achieved all her political triumphs. + +As we have said, the military domination of Rome had brought about +universal peace, and had generated a sentiment of brotherhood among the +vanquished nations. Things were, therefore, propitious for the rapid +diffusion of the newly-established--the Christian--principle +throughout the empire. It spread from Syria through all Asia Minor, +and successively reached Cyprus, Greece, Italy, eventually extending +westward as far as Gaul and Britain. + +Its propagation was hastened by missionaries who made it known in all +directions. None of the ancient classical philosophies had ever taken +advantage of such a means. + +Political conditions determined the boundaries of the new religion. Its +limits were eventually those of the Roman Empire; Rome, doubtfully the +place of death of Peter, not Jerusalem, indisputably the place of the +death of our Savior, became the religious capital. It was better to have +possession of the imperial seven hilled city, than of Gethsemane and +Calvary with all their holy souvenirs. + +IT GATHERS POLITICAL POWER. For many years Christianity manifested +itself as a system enjoining three things--toward God veneration, in +personal life purity, in social life benevolence. In its early days of +feebleness it made proselytes only by persuasion, but, as it increased +in numbers and influence, it began to exhibit political tendencies, a +disposition to form a government within the government, an empire within +the empire. These tendencies it has never since lost. They are, in +truth, the logical result of its development. The Roman emperors, +discovering that it was absolutely incompatible with the imperial +system, tried to put it down by force. This was in accordance with the +spirit of their military maxims, which had no other means but force for +the establishment of conformity. + +In the winter A.D. 302-'3, the Christian soldiers in some of the legions +refused to join in the time-honored solemnities for propitiating the +gods. The mutiny spread so quickly, the emergency became so pressing, +that the Emperor Diocletian was compelled to hold a council for the +purpose of determining what should be done. The difficulty of the +position may perhaps be appreciated when it is understood that the wife +and the daughter of Diocletian himself were Christians. He was a man +of great capacity and large political views; he recognized in the +opposition that must be made to the new party a political necessity, +yet he expressly enjoined that there should be no bloodshed. But who can +control an infuriated civil commotion? The church of Nicomedia was razed +to the ground; in retaliation the imperial palace was set on fire, an +edict was openly insulted and torn down. The Christian officers in the +army were cashiered; in all directions, martyrdoms and massacres were +taking place. So resistless was the march of events, that not even the +emperor himself could stop the persecution. + +THE FIRST CHRISTIAN EMPEROR. It had now become evident that the +Christians constituted a powerful party in the state, animated with +indignation at the atrocities they had suffered, and determined to +endure them no longer. After the abdication of Diocletian (A.D. 305), +Constantine, one of the competitors for the purple, perceiving the +advantages that would accrue to him from such a policy, put himself +forth as the head of the Christian party. This gave him, in every part +of the empire, men and women ready to encounter fire and sword in his +behalf; it gave him unwavering adherents in every legion of the armies. +In a decisive battle, near the Milvian bridge, victory crowned his +schemes. The death of Maximin, and subsequently that of Licinius, +removed all obstacles. He ascended the throne of the Caesars--the first +Christian emperor. + +Place, profit, power--these were in view of whoever now joined the +conquering sect. Crowds of worldly persons, who cared nothing about its +religious ideas, became its warmest supporters. Pagans at heart, their +influence was soon manifested in the paganization of Christianity that +forthwith ensued. The emperor, no better than they, did nothing to check +their proceedings. But he did not personally conform to the ceremonial +requirements of the Church until the close of his evil life, A.D. 337. + +TERTULLIAN'S EXPOSITION OF CHRISTIANITY. That we may clearly appreciate +the modifications now impressed on Christianity--modifications which +eventually brought it in conflict with science--we must have, as a +means of comparison, a statement of what it was in its purer days. +Such, fortunately, we find in the "Apology or Defense of the Christians +against the Accusations of the Gentiles," written by Tertullian, at +Rome, during the persecution of Severus. He addressed it, not to the +emperor, but to the magistrates who sat in judgment on the accused. It +is a solemn and most earnest expostulation, setting forth all that could +be said in explanation of the subject, a representation of the belief +and cause of the Christians made in the imperial city in the face of the +whole world, not a querulous or passionate ecclesiastical appeal, but +a grave historical document. It has ever been looked upon as one of the +ablest of the early Christian works. Its date is about A.D. 200. + +With no inconsiderable skill Tertullian opens his argument. He tells +the magistrates that Christianity is a stranger upon earth, and that she +expects to meet with enemies in a country which is not her own. She only +asks that she may not be condemned unheard, and that Roman magistrates +will permit her to defend herself; that the laws of the empire will +gather lustre, if judgment be passed upon her after she has been tried +but not if she is sentenced without a hearing of her cause; that it is +unjust to hate a thing of which we are ignorant, even though it may be a +thing worthy of hate; that the laws of Rome deal with actions, not with +mere names; but that, notwithstanding this, persons have been punished +because they were called Christians, and that without any accusation of +crime. + +He then advances to an exposition of the origin, the nature, and the +effects of Christianity, stating that it is founded on the Hebrew +Scriptures, which are the most venerable of all books. He says to the +magistrates: "The books of Moses, in which God has inclosed, as in +a treasure, all the religion of the Jews, and consequently all the +Christian religion, reach far beyond the oldest you have, even beyond +all your public monuments, the establishment of your state, the +foundation of many great cities--all that is most advanced by you in all +ages of history, and memory of times; the invention of letters, which +are the interpreters of sciences and the guardians of all excellent +things. I think I may say more--beyond your gods, your temples, your +oracles and sacrifices. The author of those books lived a thousand years +before the siege of Troy, and more than fifteen hundred before Homer." +Time is the ally of truth, and wise men believe nothing but what is +certain, and what has been verified by time. The principal authority +of these Scriptures is derived from their venerable antiquity. The most +learned of the Ptolemies, who was surnamed Philadelphus, an accomplished +prince, by the advice of Demetrius Phalareus, obtained a copy of these +holy books. It may be found at this day in his library. The divinity of +these Scriptures is proved by this, that all that is done in our days +may be found predicted in them; they contain all that has since passed +in the view of men. + +Is not the accomplishment of a prophecy a testimony to its truth? Seeing +that events which are past have vindicated these prophecies, shall we be +blamed for trusting them in events that are to come? Now, as we believe +things that have been prophesied and have come to pass, so we believe +things that have been told us, but not yet come to pass, because they +have all been foretold by the same Scriptures, as well those that are +verified every day as those that still remain to be fulfilled. + +These Holy Scriptures teach us that there is one God, who made the world +out of nothing, who, though daily seen, is invisible; his infiniteness +is known only to himself; his immensity conceals, but at the same +time discovers him. He has ordained for men, according to their lives, +rewards and punishments; he will raise all the dead that have ever lived +from the creation of the world, will command them to reassume their +bodies, and thereupon adjudge them to felicity that has so end, or to +eternal flames. The fires of hell are those hidden flames which the +earth shuts up in her bosom. He has in past times sent into the world +preachers or prophets. The prophets of those old times were Jews; they +addressed their oracles, for such they were, to the Jews, who +have stored them up in the Scriptures. On them, as has been said, +Christianity is founded, though the Christian differs in his ceremonies +from the Jew. We are accused of worshiping a man, and not the God of +the Jews. Not so. The honor we bear to Christ does not derogate from the +honor we bear to God. + +On account of the merit of these ancient patriarchs, the Jews were the +only beloved people of God; he delighted to be in communication with +them by his own mouth. By him they were raised to admirable greatness. +But with perversity they wickedly ceased to regard him; they changed +his laws into a profane worship. He warned them that he would take to +himself servants more faithful than they, and, for their crime, punished +them by driving them forth from their country. They are now spread all +over the world; they wander in all parts; they cannot enjoy the air they +breathed at their birth; they have neither man nor God for their king. +As he threatened them, so he has done. He has taken, in all nations +and countries of the earth, people more faithful than they. Through his +prophets he had declared that these should have greater favors, and that +a Messiah should come, to publish a new law among them. This Messiah was +Jesus, who is also God. For God may be derived from God, as the light +of a candle may be derived from the light of another candle. God and his +Son are the self-same God--a light is the same light as that from which +it was taken. + +The Scriptures make known two comings of the Son of God; the first in +humility, the second at the day of judgment, in power. The Jews might +have known all this from the prophets, but their sins have so blinded +them that they did not recognize him at his first coming, and are still +vainly expecting him. They believed that all the miracles wrought by +him were the work of magic. The doctors of the law and the chief priests +were envious of him; they denounced him to Pilate. He was crucified, +died, was buried, and after three days rose again. For forty days he +remained among his disciples. Then he was environed in a cloud, and +rose up to heaven--a truth far more certain than any human testimonies +touching the ascension of Romulus or of any other Roman prince mounting +up to the same place. + +Tertullian then describes the origin and nature of devils, who, under +Satan, their prince, produce diseases, irregularities of the air, +plagues, and the blighting of the blossoms of the earth, who seduce men +to offer sacrifices, that they may have the blood of the victims, which +is their food. They are as nimble as the birds, and hence know every +thing that is passing upon earth; they live in the air, and hence can +spy what is going on in heaven; for this reason they can impose on men +reigned prophecies, and deliver oracles. Thus they announced in Rome +that a victory would be obtained over King Perseus, when in truth they +knew that the battle was already won. They falsely cure diseases; for, +taking possession of the body of a man, they produce in him a distemper, +and then ordaining some remedy to be used, they cease to afflict him, +and men think that a cure has taken place. + +Though Christians deny that the emperor is a god, they nevertheless pray +for his prosperity, because the general dissolution that threatens the +universe, the conflagration of the world, is retarded so long as the +glorious majesty of the triumphant Roman Empire shall last. They desire +not to be present at the subversion of all Nature. They acknowledge +only one republic, but it is the whole world; they constitute one body, +worship one God, and all look forward to eternal happiness. Not only do +they pray for the emperor and the magistrates, but also for peace. They +read the Scriptures to nourish their faith, lift up their hope, and +strengthen the confidence they have in God. They assemble to exhort one +another; they remove sinners from their societies; they have bishops who +preside over them, approved by the suffrages of those whom they are to +conduct. At the end of each month every one contributes if he will, but +no one is constrained to give; the money gathered in this manner is +the pledge of piety; it is not consumed in eating and drinking, but +in feeding the poor, and burying them, in comforting children that are +destitute of parents and goods, in helping old men who have spent the +best of their days in the service of the faithful, in assisting those +who have lost by shipwreck what they had, and those who are condemned +to the mines, or have been banished to islands, or shut up in prisons, +because they professed the religion of the true God. There is but one +thing that Christians have not in common, and that one thing is their +wives. They do not feast as if they should die to-morrow, nor build +as if they should never die. The objects of their life are innocence, +justice, patience, temperance, chastity. + +To this noble exposition of Christian belief and life in his day, +Tertullian does not hesitate to add an ominous warning to the +magistrates he is addressing--ominous, for it was a forecast of a great +event soon to come to pass: "Our origin is but recent, yet already we +fill all that your power acknowledges--cities, fortresses, islands, +provinces, the assemblies of the people, the wards of Rome, the palace, +the senate, the public places, and especially the armies. We have +left you nothing but your temples. Reflect what wars we are able to +undertake! With what promptitude might we not arm ourselves were we not +restrained by our religion, which teaches us that it is better to be +killed than to kill!" + +Before he closes his defense, Tertullian renews an assertion which, +carried into practice, as it subsequently was, affected the intellectual +development of all Europe. He declares that the Holy Scriptures are a +treasure from which all the true wisdom in the world has been drawn; +that every philosopher and every poet is indebted to them. He labors +to show that they are the standard and measure of all truth, and that +whatever is inconsistent with them must necessarily be false. + +From Tertullian's able work we see what Christianity was while it was +suffering persecution and struggling for existence. We have now to +see what it became when in possession of imperial power. Great is the +difference between Christianity under Severus and Christianity after +Constantine. Many of the doctrines which at the latter period were +preeminent, in the former were unknown. + +PAGANIZATION OF CHRISTIANITY. Two causes led to the amalgamation of +Christianity with paganism: 1. The political necessities of the new +dynasty; 2. The policy adopted by the new religion to insure its spread. + +1. Though the Christian party had proved itself sufficiently strong to +give a master to the empire, it was never sufficiently strong to destroy +its antagonist, paganism. The issue of the struggle between them was an +amalgamation of the principles of both. In this, Christianity differed +from Mohammedanism, which absolutely annihilated its antagonist, and +spread its own doctrines without adulteration. + +Constantine continually showed by his acts that he felt he must be the +impartial sovereign of all his people, not merely the representative +of a successful faction. Hence, if he built Christian churches, he also +restored pagan temples; if he listened to the clergy, he also consulted +the haruspices; if he summoned the Council of Nicea, he also honored the +statue of Fortune; if he accepted the rite of baptism, he also struck +a medal bearing his title of "God." His statue, on the top of the great +porphyry pillar at Constantinople, consisted of an ancient image of +Apollo, whose features were replaced by those of the emperor, and +its head surrounded by the nails feigned to have been used at the +crucifixion of Christ, arranged so as to form a crown of glory. + +Feeling that there must be concessions to the defeated pagan party, +in accordance with its ideas, he looked with favor on the idolatrous +movements of his court. In fact, the leaders of these movements were +persons of his own family. + +CHRISTIANITY UNDER CONSTANTINE. 2. To the emperor--a mere worldling--a +man without any religious convictions, doubtless it appeared best for +himself, best for the empire, and best for the contending parties, +Christian and pagan, to promote their union or amalgamation as much as +possible. Even sincere Christians do not seem to have been averse to +this; perhaps they believed that the new doctrines would diffuse most +thoroughly by incorporating in themselves ideas borrowed from the old, +that Truth would assert her self in the end, and the impurity be cast +off. In accomplishing this amalgamation, Helena, the empress-mother, +aided by the court ladies, led the way. For her gratification there were +discovered, in a cavern at Jerusalem, wherein they had lain buried for +more than three centuries, the Savior's cross, and those of the two +thieves, the inscription, and the nails that had been used. They were +identified by miracle. A true relic-worship set in. The superstition of +the old Greek times reappeared; the times when the tools with which the +Trojan horse was made might still be seen at Metapontum, the sceptre of +Pelops at Chaeroneia, the spear of Achilles at Phaselis, the sword +of Memnon at Nicomedia, when the Tegeates could show the hide of the +Calydonian boar and very many cities boasted their possession of the +true palladium of Troy; when there were statues of Minerva that could +brandish spears, paintings that could blush, images that could sweat, +and endless shrines and sanctuaries at which miracle-cures could be +performed. + +As years passed on, the faith described by Tertullian was transmuted +into one more fashionable and more debased. It was incorporated with +the old Greek mythology. Olympus was restored, but the divinities passed +under other names. The more powerful provinces insisted on the adoption +of their time-honored conceptions. Views of the Trinity, in accordance +with Egyptian traditions, were established. Not only was the adoration +of Isis under a new name restored, but even her image, standing on the +crescent moon, reappeared. The well-known effigy of that goddess, +with the infant Horus in her arms, has descended to our days in +the beautiful, artistic creations of the Madonna and Child. Such +restorations of old conceptions under novel forms were everywhere +received with delight. When it was announced to the Ephesians that the +Council of that place, headed by Cyril, had decreed that the Virgin +should be called "the Mother of God," with tears of joy they embraced +the knees of their bishop; it was the old instinct peeping out; their +ancestors would have done the same for Diana. + +This attempt to conciliate worldly converts, by adopting their ideas +and practices, did not pass without remonstrance from those whose +intelligence discerned the motive. "You have," says Faustus to +Augustine, "substituted your agapae for the sacrifices of the pagans; +for their idols your martyrs, whom you serve with the very same honors. +You appease the shades of the dead with wine and feasts; you celebrate +the solemn festivities of the Gentiles, their calends, and their +solstices; and, as to their manners, those you have retained without any +alteration. Nothing distinguishes you from the pagans, except that you +hold your assemblies apart from them." Pagan observances were everywhere +introduced. At weddings it was the custom to sing hymns to Venus. + +INTRODUCTION OF ROMAN RITES. Let us pause here a moment, and see, in +anticipation, to what a depth of intellectual degradation this policy of +paganization eventually led. Heathen rites were adopted, a pompous +and splendid ritual, gorgeous robes, mitres, tiaras, wax-tapers, +processional services, lustrations, gold and silver vases, were +introduced. The Roman lituus, the chief ensign of the augurs, became the +crozier. Churches were built over the tombs of martyrs, and consecrated +with rites borrowed from the ancient laws of the Roman pontiffs. +Festivals and commemorations of martyrs multiplied with the numberless +fictitious discoveries of their remains. Fasting became the grand means +of repelling the devil and appeasing God; celibacy the greatest of +the virtues. Pilgrimages were made to Palestine and the tombs of the +martyrs. Quantities of dust and earth were brought from the Holy Land +and sold at enormous prices, as antidotes against devils. The virtues +of consecrated water were upheld. Images and relics were introduced into +the churches, and worshiped after the fashion of the heathen gods. It +was given out that prodigies and miracles were to be seen in certain +places, as in the heathen times. The happy souls of departed Christians +were invoked; it was believed that they were wandering about the world, +or haunting their graves. There was a multiplication of temples, altars, +and penitential garments. The festival of the purification of the Virgin +was invented to remove the uneasiness of heathen converts on account of +the loss of their Lupercalia, or feasts of Pan. The worship of images, +of fragments of the cross, or bones, nails, and other relics, a true +fetich worship, was cultivated. Two arguments were relied on for the +authenticity of these objects--the authority of the Church, and the +working of miracles. Even the worn-out clothing of the saints and the +earth of their graves were venerated. From Palestine were brought what +were affirmed to be the skeletons of St. Mark and St. James, and other +ancient worthies. The apotheosis of the old Roman times was replaced by +canonization; tutelary saints succeed to local mythological divinities. +Then came the mystery of transubstantiation, or the conversion of bread +and wine by the priest into the flesh and blood of Christ. As centuries +passed, the paganization became more and more complete. Festivals sacred +to the memory of the lance with which the Savior's side was pierced, +the nails that fastened him to the cross, and the crown of thorns, were +instituted. Though there were several abbeys that possessed this last +peerless relic, no one dared to say that it was impossible they could +all be authentic. + +We may read with advantage the remarks made by Bishop Newton on this +paganization of Christianity. He asks: "Is not the worship of saints and +angels now in all respects the same that the worship of demons was in +former times? The name only is different, the thing is identically +the same,... the deified men of the Christians are substituted for the +deified men of the heathens. The promoters of this worship were sensible +that it was the same, and that the one succeeded to the other; and, +as the worship is the same, so likewise it is performed with the same +ceremonies. The burning of incense or perfumes on several altars at one +and the same time; the sprinkling of holy water, or a mixture of salt +and common water, at going into and coming out of places of public +worship; the lighting up of a great number of lamps and wax-candles in +broad daylight before altars and statues of these deities; the hanging +up of votive offerings and rich presents as attestations of so many +miraculous cures and deliverances from diseases and dangers; the +canonization or deification of deceased worthies; the assigning of +distinct provinces or prefectures to departed heroes and saints; the +worshiping and adoring of the dead in their sepulchres, shrines, and +relics; the consecrating and bowing down to images; the attributing +of miraculous powers and virtues to idols; the setting up of little +oratories, altars, and statues in the streets and highways, and on +the tops of mountains; the carrying of images and relics in pompous +procession, with numerous lights and with music and singing; +flagellations at solemn seasons under the notion of penance; a great +variety of religious orders and fraternities of priests; the shaving of +priests, or the tonsure as it is called, on the crown of their heads; +the imposing of celibacy and vows of chastity on the religious of both +sexes--all these and many more rites and ceremonies are equally parts of +pagan and popish superstition. Nay, the very same temples, the very same +images, which were once consecrated to Jupiter and the other demons, are +now consecrated to the Virgin Mary and the other saints. The very same +rites and inscriptions are ascribed to both, the very same prodigies and +miracles are related of these as of those. In short, almost the whole +of paganism is converted and applied to popery; the one is manifestly +formed upon the same plan and principles as the other; so that there is +not only a conformity, but even a uniformity, in the worship of ancient +and modern, of heathen and Christian Rome." + +DEBASEMENT OF CHRISTIANITY. Thus far Bishop Newton; but to return to the +times of Constantine: though these concessions to old and popular ideas +were permitted and even encouraged, the dominant religious party never +for a moment hesitated to enforce its decisions by the aid of the civil +power--an aid which was freely given. Constantine thus carried into +effect the acts of the Council of Nicea. In the affair of Arius, he even +ordered that whoever should find a book of that heretic, and not burn +it, should be put to death. In like manner Nestor was by Theodosius the +Younger banished to an Egyptian oasis. + +The pagan party included many of the old aristocratic families of the +empire; it counted among its adherents all the disciples of the old +philosophical schools. It looked down on its antagonist with contempt. +It asserted that knowledge is to be obtained only by the laborious +exercise of human observation and human reason. + +The Christian party asserted that all knowledge is to be found in the +Scriptures and in the traditions of the Church; that, in the written +revelation, God had not only given a criterion of truth, but had +furnished us all that he intended us to know. The Scriptures, therefore, +contain the sum, the end of all knowledge. The clergy, with the emperor +at their back, would endure no intellectual competition. + +Thus came into prominence what were termed sacred and profane knowledge; +thus came into presence of each other two opposing parties, one relying +on human reason as its guide, the other on revelation. Paganism leaned +for support on the learning of its philosophers, Christianity on the +inspiration of its Fathers. + +The Church thus set herself forth as the depository and arbiter of +knowledge; she was ever ready to resort to the civil power to compel +obedience to her decisions. She thus took a course which determined her +whole future career: she became a stumbling-block in the intellectual +advancement of Europe for more than a thousand years. + +The reign of Constantine marks the epoch of the transformation of +Christianity from a religion into a political system; and though, in +one sense, that system was degraded into an idolatry, in another it had +risen into a development of the old Greek mythology. The maxim holds +good in the social as well as in the mechanical world, that, when two +bodies strike, the form of both is changed. Paganism was modified by +Christianity; Christianity by Paganism. + +THE TRINITARIAN DISPUTE. In the Trinitarian controversy, which first +broke out in Egypt--Egypt, the land of Trinities--the chief point in +discussion was to define the position of "the Son." There lived in +Alexandria a presbyter of the name of Arius, a disappointed candidate +for the office of bishop. He took the ground that there was a time when, +from the very nature of sonship, the Son did not exist, and a time at +which he commenced to be, asserting that it is the necessary condition +of the filial relation that a father must be older than his son. But +this assertion evidently denied the coeternity of the three persons of +the Trinity; it suggested a subordination or inequality among them, +and indeed implied a time when the Trinity did not exist. Hereupon, the +bishop, who had been the successful competitor against Arius, displayed +his rhetorical powers in public debates on the question, and, the strife +spreading, the Jews and pagans, who formed a very large portion of +the population of Alexandria, amused themselves with theatrical +representations of the contest on the stage--the point of their +burlesques being the equality of age of the Father and his Son. + +Such was the violence the controversy at length assumed, that the matter +had to be referred to the emperor. At first he looked upon the dispute +as altogether frivolous, and perhaps in truth inclined to the assertion +of Arius, that in the very nature of the thing a father must be older +than his son. So great, however, was the pressure laid upon him, that +he was eventually compelled to summon the Council of Nicea, which, to +dispose of the conflict, set forth a formulary or creed, and attached to +it this anathema: "The Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church anathematizes +those who say that there was a time when the Son of God was not, and +that, before he was begotten, he was not, and that he was made out of +nothing, or out of another substance or essence, and is created, or +changeable, or alterable." Constantine at once enforced the decision of +the council by the civil power. + +A few years subsequently the Emperor Theodosius prohibited sacrifices, +made the inspection of the entrails of animals a capital offense, and +forbade any one entering a temple. He instituted Inquisitors of Faith, +and ordained that all who did not accord with the belief of Damasus, the +Bishop of Rome, and Peter, the Bishop of Alexandria, should be driven +into exile, and deprived of civil rights. Those who presumed to +celebrate Easter on the same day as the Jews, he condemned to death. +The Greek language was now ceasing to be known in the West, and true +learning was becoming extinct. + +At this time the bishopric of Alexandria was held by one Theophilus. An +ancient temple of Osiris having been given to the Christians of the city +for the site of a church, it happened that, in digging the foundation +for the new edifice, the obscene symbols of the former worship chanced +to be found. These, with more zeal than modesty, Theophilus exhibited +in the market-place to public derision. With less forbearance than the +Christian party showed when it was insulted in the theatre during the +Trinitarian dispute, the pagans resorted to violence, and a riot ensued. +They held the Serapion as their headquarters. Such were the disorder and +bloodshed that the emperor had to interfere. He dispatched a rescript to +Alexandria, enjoining the bishop, Theophilus, to destroy the Serapion; +and the great library, which had been collected by the Ptolemies, and +had escaped the fire of Julius Caesar, was by that fanatic dispersed. + +THE MURDER OF HYPATIA. The bishopric thus held by Theophilus was in due +time occupied by his nephew St. Cyril, who had commended himself to +the approval of the Alexandrian congregations as a successful and +fashionable preacher. It was he who had so much to do with the +introduction of the worship of the Virgin Mary. His hold upon the +audiences of the giddy city was, however, much weakened by Hypatia, the +daughter of Theon, the mathematician, who not only distinguished herself +by her expositions of the doctrines of Plato and Aristotle, but also by +her comments on the writings of Apollonius and other geometers. Each day +before her academy stood a long train of chariots; her lecture-room was +crowded with the wealth and fashion of Alexandria. They came to listen +to her discourses on those questions which man in all ages has asked, +but which never yet have been answered: "What am I? Where am I? What can +I know?" + +Hypatia and Cyril! Philosophy and bigotry. They cannot exist together. +So Cyril felt, and on that feeling he acted. As Hypatia repaired to her +academy, she was assaulted by Cyril's mob--a mob of many monks. Stripped +naked in the street, she was dragged into a church, and there killed by +the club of Peter the Reader. The corpse was cut to pieces, the flesh +was scraped from the bones with shells, and the remnants cast into a +fire. For this frightful crime Cyril was never called to account. It +seemed to be admitted that the end sanctified the means. + +So ended Greek philosophy in Alexandria, so came to an untimely close +the learning that the Ptolemies had done so much to promote. The +"Daughter Library," that of the Serapion, had been dispersed. The fate +of Hypatia was a warning to all who would cultivate profane knowledge. +Henceforth there was to be no freedom for human thought. Every one must +think as the ecclesiastical authority ordered him, A.D. 414. In Athens +itself philosophy awaited its doom. Justinian at length prohibited its +teaching, and caused all its schools in that city to be closed. + +PELAGIUS. While these events were transpiring in the Eastern provinces +of the Roman Empire, the spirit that had produced them was displaying +itself in the West. A British monk, who had assumed the name of +Pelagius, passed through Western Europe and Northern Africa, teaching +that death was not introduced into the world by the sin of Adam; that +on the contrary he was necessarily and by nature mortal, and had he not +sinned he would nevertheless have died; that the consequences of his +sins were confined to himself, and did not affect his posterity. From +these premises Pelagius drew certain important theological conclusions. + +At Rome, Pelagius had been received with favor; at Carthage, at the +instigation of St. Augustine, he was denounced. By a synod, held at +Diospolis, he was acquitted of heresy, but, on referring the matter to +the Bishop of Rome, Innocent I., he was, on the contrary, condemned. It +happened that at this moment Innocent died, and his successor, Zosimus, +annulled his judgment and declared the opinions of Pelagius to be +orthodox. These contradictory decisions are still often referred to +by the opponents of papal infallibility. Things were in this state of +confusion, when the wily African bishops, through the influence of Count +Valerius, procured from the emperor an edict denouncing Pelagins as +a heretic; he and his accomplices were condemned to exile and the +forfeiture of their goods. To affirm that death was in the world before +the fall of Adam, was a state crime. + +CONDEMNATION OF PELAGIUS. It is very instructive to consider the +principles on which this strange decision was founded. Since the +question was purely philosophical, one might suppose that it would +have been discussed on natural principles; instead of that, theological +considerations alone were adduced. The attentive reader will have +remarked, in Tertullian's statement of the principles of Christianity, +a complete absence of the doctrines of original sin, total depravity, +predestination, grace, and atonement. The intention of Christianity, +as set forth by him, has nothing in common with the plan of salvation +upheld two centuries subsequently. It is to St. Augustine, a +Carthaginian, that we are indebted for the precision of our views on +these important points. + +In deciding whether death had been in the world before the fall of Adam, +or whether it was the penalty inflicted on the world for his sin, +the course taken was to ascertain whether the views of Pelagius were +accordant or discordant not with Nature but with the theological +doctrines of St. Augustine. And the result has been such as might +be expected. The doctrine declared to be orthodox by ecclesiastical +authority is overthrown by the unquestionable discoveries of modern +science. Long before a human being had appeared upon earth, millions of +individuals--nay, more, thousands of species and even genera--had died; +those which remain with us are an insignificant fraction of the vast +hosts that have passed away. + +A consequence of great importance issued from the decision of the +Pelagian controversy. The book of Genesis had been made the basis of +Christianity. If, in a theological point of view, to its account of the +sin in the garden of Eden, and the transgression and punishment of Adam, +so much weight had been attached, it also in a philosophical point +of view became the grand authority of Patristic science. Astronomy, +geology, geography, anthropology, chronology, and indeed all the various +departments of human knowledge, were made to conform to it. + +ST. AUGUSTINE. As the doctrines of St. Augustine have had the effect of +thus placing theology in antagonism with science, it may be interesting +to examine briefly some of the more purely philosophical views of that +great man. For this purpose, we may appropriately select portions of +his study of the first chapter of Genesis, as contained in the eleventh, +twelfth, and thirteenth books of his "Confessions." + +These consist of philosophical discussions, largely interspersed +with rhapsodies. He prays that God will give him to understand the +Scriptures, and will open their meaning to him; he declares that in +them there is nothing superfluous, but that the words have a manifold +meaning. + +The face of creation testifies that there has been a Creator; but at +once arises the question, "How and when did he make heaven and earth? +They could not have been made IN heaven and earth, the world could not +have been made IN the world, nor could they have been made when there +was nothing to make them of." The solution of this fundamental inquiry +St. Augustine finds in saying, "Thou spakest, and they were made." + +But the difficulty does not end here. St. Augustine goes on to remark +that the syllables thus uttered by God came forth in succession, and +there must have been some created thing to express the words. This +created thing must, therefore, have existed before heaven and earth, and +yet there could have been no corporeal thing before heaven and earth. It +must have been a creature, because the words passed away and came to an +end but we know that "the word of the Lord endureth forever." + +Moreover, it is plain that the words thus spoken could not have been +spoken successively, but simultaneously, else there would have been time +and change--succession in its nature implying time; whereas there was +then nothing but eternity and immortality. God knows and says eternally +what takes place in time. + +CRITICISM OF ST. AUGUSTINE. St. Augustine then defines, not without +much mysticism, what is meant by the opening words of Genesis: "In +the beginning." He is guided to his conclusion by another scriptural +passage: "How wonderful are thy works, O Lord! in wisdom hast thou made +them all." This "wisdom" is "the beginning," and in that beginning the +Lord created the heaven and the earth. + +"But," he adds, "some one may ask, 'What was God doing before he made +the heaven and the earth? for, if at any particular moment he began +to employ himself, that means time, not eternity. In eternity nothing +transpires--the whole is present.'" In answering this question, he +cannot forbear one of those touches of rhetoric for which he was so +celebrated: "I will not answer this question by saying that he was +preparing hell for priers into his mysteries. I say that, before God +made heaven and earth, he did not make any thing, for no creature could +be made before any creature was made. Time itself is a creature, and +hence it could not possibly exist before creation. + +"What, then, is time? The past is not, the future is not, the +present--who can tell what it is, unless it be that which has no +duration between two nonentities? There is no such thing as 'a long +time,' or 'a short time,' for there are no such things as the past and +the future. They have no existence, except in the soul." + +The style in which St. Augustine conveyed his ideas is that of a +rhapsodical conversation with God. His works are an incoherent dream. +That the reader may appreciate this remark, I might copy almost at +random any of his paragraphs. The following is from the twelfth book: + +"This then, is what I conceive, O my God, when I hear thy Scripture +saying, In the beginning God made heaven and earth: and the earth was +invisible and without form, and darkness was upon the deep, and not +mentioning what day thou createdst them; this is what I conceive, +that because of the heaven of heavens--that intellectual heaven, whose +intelligences know all at once, not in part, not darkly, not through a +glass, but as a whole, in manifestation, face to face; not this thing +now, and that thing anon; but (as I said) know all at once, without any +succession of times; and because of the earth, invisible and without +form, without any succession of times, which succession presents 'this +thing now, that thing anon;' because, where there is no form, there +is no distinction of things; it is, then, on account of these two, a +primitive formed, and a primitive formless; the one, heaven, but the +heaven of heavens; the other, earth, but the earth movable and without +form; because of these two do I conceive, did thy Scripture say without +mention of days, In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. +For, forthwith it subjoined what earth it spake of; and also in that the +firmament is recorded to be created the second day, and called heaven, +it conveys to us of which heaven he before spake, without mention of +days. + +"Wondrous depth of thy words! whose surface behold! is before us, +inviting to little ones; yet are they a wondrous depth, O my God, a +wondrous depth! It is awful to look therein; an awfulness of honor, and +a trembling of love. The enemies thereof I hate vehemently; O that thou +wouldst slay them with thy two-edged sword, that they might no longer be +enemies to it: for so do I love to have them slain unto themselves, that +they may live unto thee." + +As an example of the hermeneutical manner in which St. Augustine +unfolded the concealed facts of the Scriptures, I may cite the following +from the thirteenth book of the "Confessions;" his object is to show +that the doctrine of the Trinity is contained in the Mosaic narrative of +the creation: + +"Lo, now the Trinity appears unto me in a glass darkly, which is thou my +God, because thou, O Father, in him who is the beginning of our wisdom, +which is thy wisdom, born of thyself, equal unto thee and coeternal, +that is, in thy Son, createdst heaven and earth. Much now have we said +of the heaven of heavens, and of the earth invisible and without form, +and of the darksome deep, in reference to the wandering instability of +its spiritual deformity, unless it had been converted unto him, from +whom it had its then degree of life, and by his enlightening became a +beauteous life, and the heaven of that heaven, which was afterward +set between water and water. And under the name of God, I now held the +Father, who made these things; and under the name of the beginning, the +Son, in whom he made these things; and believing, as I did, my God as +the Trinity, I searched further in his holy words, and lo! thy Spirit +moved upon the waters. Behold the Trinity, my God!--Father, and Son, and +Holy Ghost Creator of all creation." + +That I might convey to my reader a just impression of the character of +St. Augustine's philosophical writings, I have, in the two quotations +here given, substituted for my own translation that of the Rev. Dr. +Pusey, as contained in Vol. I. of the "Library of Fathers of the Holy +Catholic Church," published at Oxford, 1840. + +Considering the eminent authority which has been attributed to the +writings of St. Augustine by the religious world for nearly fifteen +centuries, it is proper to speak of them with respect. And indeed it +is not necessary to do otherwise. The paragraphs here quoted criticise +themselves. No one did more than this Father to bring science and +religion into antagonism; it was mainly he who diverted the Bible +from its true office--a guide to purity of life--and placed it in the +perilous position of being the arbiter of human knowledge, an audacious +tyranny over the mind of man. The example once set, there was no want of +followers; the works of the great Greek philosophers were stigmatized +as profane; the transcendently glorious achievements of the Museum of +Alexandria were hidden from sight by a cloud of ignorance, mysticism, +and unintelligible jargon, out of which there too often flashed the +destroying lightnings of ecclesiastical vengeance. + + +A divine revelation of science admits of no improvement, no change, no +advance. It discourages as needless, and indeed as presumptuous, all new +discovery, considering it as an unlawful prying into things which it was +the intention of God to conceal. + +What, then, is that sacred, that revealed science, declared by the +Fathers to be the sum of all knowledge? + +It likened all phenomena, natural and spiritual, to human acts. It saw +in the Almighty, the Eternal, only a gigantic man. + +THE PATRISTIC PHILOSOPHY. As to the earth, it affirmed that it is a flat +surface, over which the sky is spread like a dome, or, as St. Augustine +tells us, is stretched like a skin. In this the sun and moon and stars +move, so that they may give light by day and by night to man. The earth +was made of matter created by God out of nothing, and, with all the +tribes of animals and plants inhabiting it, was finished in six days. +Above the sky or firmament is heaven; in the dark and fiery space +beneath the earth is hell. The earth is the central and most important +body of the universe, all other things being intended for and +subservient to it. + +As to man, he was made out of the dust of the earth. At first he was +alone, but subsequently woman was formed from one of his ribs. He is the +greatest and choicest of the works of God. He was placed in a paradise +near the banks of the Euphrates, and was very wise and very pure; but, +having tasted of the forbidden fruit, and thereby broken the commandment +given to him, he was condemned to labor and to death. + +The descendants of the first man, undeterred by his punishment, pursued +such a career of wickedness that it became necessary to destroy them. A +deluge, therefore, flooded the face of the earth, and rose over the tops +of the mountains. Having accomplished its purpose, the water was dried +up by a wind. + +From this catastrophe Noah and his three sons, with their wives, were +saved in an ark. Of these sons, Shem remained in Asia and repeopled it. +Ham peopled Africa; Japhet, Europe. As the Fathers were not acquainted +with the existence of America, they did not provide an ancestor for its +people. + +Let us listen to what some of these authorities say in support of their +assertions. Thus Lactantius, referring to the heretical doctrine of the +globular form of the earth, remarks: "Is it possible that men can be so +absurd as to believe that the crops and the trees on the other side of +the earth hang downward, and that men have their feet higher than their +heads? If you ask them how they defend these monstrosities, how things +do not fall away from the earth on that side, they reply that the nature +of things is such that heavy bodies tend toward the centre, like the +spokes of a wheel, while light bodies, as clouds, smoke, fire, tend from +the centre to the heavens on all sides. Now, I am really at a loss what +to say of those who, when they have once gone wrong, steadily persevere +in their folly, and defend one absurd opinion by another." On the +question of the antipodes, St. Augustine asserts that "it is impossible +there should be inhabitants on the opposite side of the earth, since +no such race is recorded by Scripture among the descendants of Adam." +Perhaps, however, the most unanswerable argument against the sphericity +of the earth was this, that "in the day of judgment, men on the other +side of a globe could not see the Lord descending through the air." + +It is unnecessary for me to say any thing respecting the introduction of +death into the world, the continual interventions of spiritual agencies +in the course of events, the offices of angels and devils, the expected +conflagration of the earth, the tower of Babel, the confusion of +tongues, the dispersion of mankind, the interpretation of natural +phenomena, as eclipses, the rainbow, etc. Above all, I abstain from +commenting on the Patristic conceptions of the Almighty; they are too +anthropomorphic, and wanting in sublimity. + +Perhaps, however, I may quote from Cosmas Indicopleustes the views +that were entertained in the sixth century. He wrote a work entitled +"Christian Topography," the chief intent of which was to confute the +heretical opinion of the globular form of the earth, and the pagan +assertion that there is a temperate zone on the southern side of the +torrid. He affirms that, according to the true orthodox system of +geography, the earth is a quadrangular plane, extending four hundred +days' journey east and west, and exactly half as much north and south; +that it is inclosed by mountains, on which the sky rests; that one on +the north side, huger than the others, by intercepting the rays of the +sun, produces night; and that the plane of the earth is not set exactly +horizontally, but with a little inclination from the north: hence the +Euphrates, Tigris, and other rivers, running southward, are rapid; but +the Nile, having to run up-hill, has necessarily a very slow current. + +The Venerable Bede, writing in the seventh century, tells us that "the +creation was accomplished in six days, and that the earth is its centre +and its primary object. The heaven is of a fiery and subtile nature, +round, and equidistant in every part, as a canopy from the centre of the +earth. It turns round every day with ineffable rapidity, only moderated +by the resistance of the seven planets, three above the sun--Saturn, +Jupiter, Mars--then the sun; three below--Venus, Mercury, the moon. The +stars go round in their fixed courses, the northern perform the shortest +circle. The highest heaven has its proper limit; it contains the angelic +virtues who descend upon earth, assume ethereal bodies, perform human +functions, and return. The heaven is tempered with glacial waters, lest +it should be set on fire. The inferior heaven is called the firmament, +because it separates the superincumbent waters from the waters below. +The firmamental waters are lower than the spiritual heaven, higher than +all corporeal beings, reserved, some say, for a second deluge; others, +more truly, to temper the fire of the fixed stars." + +Was it for this preposterous scheme--this product of ignorance and +audacity--that the works of the Greek philosophers were to be given +up? It was none too soon that the great critics who appeared at the +Reformation, by comparing the works of these writers with one another, +brought them to their proper level, and taught us to look upon them all +with contempt. + +Of this presumptuous system, the strangest part was its logic, the +nature of its proofs. It relied upon miracle-evidence. A fact was +supposed to be demonstrated by an astounding illustration of something +else! An Arabian writer, referring to this, says: "If a conjurer should +say to me, 'Three are more than ten, and in proof of it I will change +this stick into a serpent,' I might be surprised at his legerdemain, +but I certainly should not admit his assertion." Yet, for more than +a thousand years, such was the accepted logic, and all over Europe +propositions equally absurd were accepted on equally ridiculous proof. + +Since the party that had become dominant in the empire could not furnish +works capable of intellectual competition with those of the great pagan +authors, and since it was impossible for it to accept a position of +inferiority, there arose a political necessity for the discouragement, +and even persecution, of profane learning. The persecution of the +Platonists under Valentinian was due to that necessity. They were +accused of magic, and many of them were put to death. The profession +of philosophy had become dangerous--it was a state crime. In its stead +there arose a passion for the marvelous, a spirit of superstition. Egypt +exchanged the great men, who had made her Museum immortal, for bands of +solitary monks and sequestered virgins, with which she was overrun. + + + +CHAPTER III. + + CONFLICT RESPECTING THE DOCTRINE OF THE UNITY OF GOD.--THE + FIRST OR SOUTHERN REFORMATION. + + The Egyptians insist on the introduction of the worship of + the Virgin Mary--They are resisted by Nestor, the Patriarch + of Constantinople, but eventually, through their influence + with the emperor, cause Nestor's exile and the dispersion of + his followers. + + Prelude to the Southern Reformation--The Persian attack; its + moral effects. + + The Arabian Reformation.--Mohammed is brought in contact + with the Nestorians--He adopts and extends their principles, + rejecting the worship of the Virgin, the doctrine of the + Trinity, and every thing in opposition to the unity of God.-- + He extinguishes idolatry in Arabia, by force, and prepares + to make war on the Roman Empire.--His successors conquer + Syria, Egypt, Asia Minor, North Africa, Spain, and invade + France. + + As the result of this conflict, the doctrine of the unity of + God was established in the greater part of the Roman Empire-- + The cultivation of science was restored, and Christendom + lost many of her most illustrious capitals, as Alexandria, + Carthage, and, above all, Jerusalem. + + +THE policy of the Byzantine court had given to primitive Christianity a +paganized form, which it had spread over all the idolatrous populations +constituting the empire. There had been an amalgamation of the two +parties. Christianity had modified paganism, paganism had modified +Christianity. The limits of this adulterated religion were the confines +of the Roman Empire. With this great extension there had come to the +Christian party political influence and wealth. No insignificant portion +of the vast public revenues found their way into the treasuries of the +Church. As under such circumstances must ever be the case, there were +many competitors for the spoils--men who, under the mask of zeal for the +predominant faith, sought only the enjoyment of its emoluments. + +ECCLESIASTICAL DISPUTES. Under the early emperors, conquest had reached +its culmination; the empire was completed; there remained no adequate +objects for military life; the days of war-peculation, and the +plundering of provinces, were over. For the ambitious, however, another +path was open; other objects presented. A successful career in the +Church led to results not unworthy of comparison with those that in +former days had been attained by a successful career in the army. + +The ecclesiastical, and indeed, it may be said, much of the political +history of that time, turns on the struggles of the bishops of the +three great metropolitan cities--Constantinople, Alexandria, Rome--for +supremacy: Constantinople based her claims on the fact that she was +the existing imperial city; Alexandria pointed to her commercial +and literary position; Rome, to her souvenirs. But the Patriarch of +Constantinople labored under the disadvantage that he was too closely +under the eye, and, as he found to his cost, too often under the hand, +of the emperor. Distance gave security to the episcopates of Alexandria +and Rome. + +ECCLESIASTICAL DISPUTES. Religious disputations in the East have +generally turned on diversities of opinion respecting the nature and +attributes of God; in the West, on the relations and life of man. This +peculiarity has been strikingly manifested in the transformations that +Christianity has undergone in Asia and Europe respectively. Accordingly, +at the time of which we are speaking, all the Eastern provinces of +the Roman Empire exhibited an intellectual anarchy. There were fierce +quarrels respecting the Trinity, the essence of God, the position of the +Son, the nature of the Holy Spirit, the influences of the Virgin Mary. +The triumphant clamor first of one then of another sect was confirmed, +sometimes by miracle-proof, sometimes by bloodshed. No attempt was ever +made to submit the rival opinions to logical examination. All parties, +however, agreed in this, that the imposture of the old classical pagan +forms of faith was demonstrated by the facility with which they had been +overthrown. The triumphant ecclesiastics proclaimed that the images of +the gods had failed to defend themselves when the time of trial came. + +Polytheistic ideas have always been held in repute by the southern +European races, the Semitic have maintained the unity of God. Perhaps +this is due to the fact, as a recent author has suggested, that a +diversified landscape of mountains and valleys, islands, and rivers, and +gulfs, predisposes man to a belief in a multitude of divinities. A vast +sandy desert, the illimitable ocean, impresses him with an idea of the +oneness of God. + +Political reasons had led the emperors to look with favor on the +admixture of Christianity and paganism, and doubtless by this means the +bitterness of the rivalry between those antagonists was somewhat abated. +The heaven of the popular, the fashionable Christianity was the old +Olympus, from which the venerable Greek divinities had been removed. +There, on a great white throne, sat God the Father, on his right the +Son, and then the blessed Virgin, clad in a golden robe, and "covered +with various female adornments;" on the left sat God the Holy Ghost. +Surrounding these thrones were hosts of angels with their harps. The +vast expanse beyond was filled with tables, seated at which the happy +spirits of the just enjoyed a perpetual banquet. + +If, satisfied with this picture of happiness, illiterate persons never +inquired how the details of such a heaven were carried out, or how much +pleasure there could be in the ennui of such an eternally unchanging, +unmoving scene, it was not so with the intelligent. As we are soon to +see, there were among the higher ecclesiastics those who rejected with +sentiments of horror these carnal, these materialistic conceptions, and +raised their protesting voices in vindication of the attributes of the +Omnipresent, the Almighty God. + +EGYPTIAN DOCTRINES. In the paganization of religion, now in all +directions taking place, it became the interest of every bishop to +procure an adoption of the ideas which, time out of mind, had been +current in the community under his charge. The Egyptians had already +thus forced on the Church their peculiar Trinitarian views; and now they +were resolved that, under the form of the adoration of the Virgin Mary, +the worship of Isis should be restored. + +THE NESTORIANS. It so happened that Nestor, the Bishop of Antioch, who +entertained the philosophical views of Theodore of Mopsuestia, had +been called by the Emperor Theodosius the Younger to the Episcopate +of Constantinople (A.D. 427). Nestor rejected the base popular +anthropomorphism, looking upon it as little better than blasphemous, +and pictured to himself an awful eternal Divinity, who pervaded the +universe, and had none of the aspects or attributes of man. Nestor +was deeply imbued with the doctrines of Aristotle, and attempted to +coordinate them with what he considered to be orthodox Christian tenets. +Between him and Cyril, the Bishop or Patriarch of Alexandria, a +quarrel accordingly arose. Cyril represented the paganizing, Nestor the +philosophizing party of the Church. This was that Cyril who had murdered +Hypatia. Cyril was determined that the worship of the Virgin as the +Mother of God should be recognized, Nestor was determined that it should +not. In a sermon delivered in the metropolitan church at Constantinople, +he vindicated the attributes of the Eternal, the Almighty God. "And can +this God have a mother?" he exclaimed. In other sermons and writings, +he set forth with more precision his ideas that the Virgin should be +considered not as the Mother of God, but as the mother of the human +portion of Christ, that portion being as essentially distinct from the +divine as is a temple from its contained deity. + +PERSECUTION AND DEATH OF NESTOR. Instigated by the monks of Alexandria, +the monks of Constantinople took up arms in behalf of "the Mother of +God." The quarrel rose to such a pitch that the emperor was constrained +to summon a council to meet at Ephesus. In the mean time Cyril had +given a bribe of many pounds of gold to the chief eunuch of the imperial +court, and had thereby obtained the influence of the emperor's sister. +"The holy virgin of the court of heaven thus found an ally of her own +sex in the holy virgin of the emperor's court." Cyril hastened to the +council, attended by a mob of men and women of the baser sort. He +at once assumed the presidency, and in the midst of a tumult had the +emperor's rescript read before the Syrian bishops could arrive. A single +day served to complete his triumph. All offers of accommodation on the +part of Nestor were refused, his explanations were not read, he was +condemned unheard. On the arrival of the Syrian ecclesiastics, a meeting +of protest was held by them. A riot, with much bloodshed, ensued in the +cathedral of St. John. Nestor was abandoned by the court, and eventually +exiled to an Egyptian oasis. His persecutors tormented him as long as +he lived, by every means in their power, and at his death gave out that +"his blasphemous tongue had been devoured by worms, and that from the +heats of an Egyptian desert he had escaped only into the hotter torments +of hell!" + +The overthrow and punishment of Nestor, however, by no means destroyed +his opinions. He and his followers, insisting on the plain inference of +the last verse of the first chapter of St. Matthew, together with the +fifty-fifth and fifty-sixth verses of the thirteenth of the same gospel, +could never be brought to an acknowledgment of the perpetual virginity +of the new queen of heaven. Their philosophical tendencies were soon +indicated by their actions. While their leader was tormented in an +African oasis, many of them emigrated to the Euphrates, and established +the Chaldean Church. Under their auspices the college of Edessa was +founded. From the college of Nisibis issued those doctors who spread +Nestor's tenets through Syria, Arabia, India, Tartary, China, Egypt. +The Nestorians, of course, adopted the philosophy of Aristotle, and +translated the works of that great writer into Syriac and Persian. They +also made similar translations of later works, such as those of +Pliny. In connection with the Jews they founded the medical college +of Djondesabour. Their missionaries disseminated the Nestorian form of +Christianity to such an extent over Asia, that its worshipers eventually +outnumbered all the European Christians of the Greek and Roman Churches +combined. It may be particularly remarked that in Arabia they had a +bishop. + +THE PERSIAN CAMPAIGN. The dissensions between Constantinople and +Alexandria had thus filled all Western Asia with sectaries, ferocious +in their contests with each other, and many of them burning with hatred +against the imperial power for the persecutions it had inflicted on +them. A religious revolution, the consequences of which are felt in our +own times, was the result. It affected the whole world. + +We shall gain a clear view of this great event, if we consider +separately the two acts into which it may be decomposed: 1. The +temporary overthrow of Asiatic Christianity by the Persians; 2. The +decisive and final reformation under the Arabians. + +1. It happened (A.D. 590) that, by one of those revolutions so frequent +in Oriental courts, Chosroes, the lawful heir to the Persian throne, was +compelled to seek refuge in the Byzantine Empire, and implore the aid +of the Emperor Maurice. That aid was cheerfully given. A brief and +successful campaign restored Chosroes to the throne of his ancestors. + +But the glories of this generous campaign could not preserve Maurice +himself. A mutiny broke out in the Roman army, headed by Phocas, a +centurion. The statues of the emperor were overthrown. The Patriarch +of Constantinople, having declared that he had assured himself of the +orthodoxy of Phocas, consecrated him emperor. The unfortunate Maurice +was dragged from a sanctuary, in which he had sought refuge; his five +sons were beheaded before his eyes, and then he was put to death. His +empress was inveigled from the church of St. Sophia, tortured, and +with her three young daughters beheaded. The adherents of the massacred +family were pursued with ferocious vindictiveness; of some the eyes were +blinded, of others the tongues were torn out, or the feet and hands cut +off, some were whipped to death, others were burnt. + +When the news reached Rome, Pope Gregory received it with exultation, +praying that the hands of Phocas might be strengthened against all his +enemies. As an equivalent for this subserviency, he was greeted with the +title of "Universal Bishop." The cause of his action, as well as of that +of the Patriarch of Constantinople, was doubtless the fact that Maurice +was suspected of Magrian tendencies, into which he had been lured by the +Persians. The mob of Constantinople had hooted after him in the streets, +branding him as a Marcionite, a sect which believed in the Magian +doctrine of two conflicting principles. + +With very different sentiments Chosroes heard of the murder of his +friend. Phocas had sent him the heads of Maurice and his sons. The +Persian king turned from the ghastly spectacle with horror, and at once +made ready to avenge the wrongs of his benefactor by war. + +THE EXPEDITION OF HERACLIUS. The Exarch of Africa, Heraclius, one of +the chief officers of the state, also received the shocking tidings with +indignation. He was determined that the imperial purple should not be +usurped by an obscure centurion of disgusting aspect. "The person of +this Phocas was diminutive and deformed; the closeness of his shaggy +eyebrows, his red hair, his beardless chin, were in keeping with his +cheek, disfigured and discolored by a formidable scar. Ignorant of +letters, of laws, and even of arms, he indulged in an ample privilege of +lust and drunkenness." At first Heraclius refused tribute and obedience +to him; then, admonished by age and infirmities, he committed the +dangerous enterprise of resistance to his son of the same name. A +prosperous voyage from Carthage soon brought the younger Heraclius in +front of Constantinople. The inconstant clergy, senate, and people of +the city joined him, the usurper was seized in his palace and beheaded. + +INVASION OF CHOSROES. But the revolution that had taken place in +Constantinople did not arrest the movements of the Persian king. His +Magian priests had warned him to act independently of the Greeks, +whose superstition, they declared, was devoid of all truth and justice. +Chosroes, therefore, crossed the Euphrates; his army was received with +transport by the Syrian sectaries, insurrections in his favor everywhere +breaking out. In succession, Antioch, Caesarea, Damascus fell; Jerusalem +itself was taken by storm; the sepulchre of Christ, the churches of +Constantine and of Helena were given to the flames; the Savior's cross +was sent as a trophy to Persia; the churches were rifled of their +riches; the sacred relics, collected by superstition, were dispersed. +Egypt was invaded, conquered, and annexed to the Persian Empire; the +Patriarch of Alexandria escaped by flight to Cyprus; the African coast +to Tripoli was seized. On the north, Asia Minor was subdued, and for +ten years the Persian forces encamped on the shores of the Bosporus, in +front of Constantinople. + +In his extremity Heraclius begged for peace. "I will never give peace +to the Emperor of Rome," replied the proud Persian, "till he has abjured +his crucified God, and embraced the worship of the sun." After a long +delay terms were, however, secured, and the Roman Empire was ransomed at +the price of "a thousand talents of gold, a thousand talents of silver, +a thousand silk robes, a thousand horses, and a thousand virgins." + +But Heraclius submitted only for a moment. He found means not only +to restore his affairs but to retaliate on the Persian Empire. The +operations by which he achieved this result were worthy of the most +brilliant days of Rome. + +INVASION OF CHOSROES Though her military renown was thus recovered, +though her territory was regained, there was something that the Roman +Empire had irrecoverably lost. Religious faith could never be restored. +In face of the world Magianism had insulted Christianity, by profaning +her most sacred places--Bethlehem, Gethsemane, Calvary--by burning +the sepulchre of Christ, by rifling and destroying the churches, by +scattering to the winds priceless relics, by carrying off, with shouts +of laughter, the cross. + +Miracles had once abounded in Syria, in Egypt, in Asia Minor; there was +not a church which had not its long catalogue of them. Very often they +were displayed on unimportant occasions and in insignificant cases. In +this supreme moment, when such aid was most urgently demanded, not a +miracle was worked. + +Amazement filled the Christian populations of the East when they +witnessed these Persian sacrileges perpetrated with impunity. The +heavens should have rolled asunder, the earth should have opened her +abysses, the sword of the Almighty should have flashed in the sky, the +fate of Sennacherib should have been repeated. But it was not so. In the +land of miracles, amazement was followed by consternation--consternation +died out in disbelief. + +2. But, dreadful as it was, the Persian conquest was but a prelude to +the great event, the story of which we have now to relate--the Southern +revolt against Christianity. Its issue was the loss of nine-tenths of +her geographical possessions--Asia, Africa, and part of Europe. + +MOHAMMED. In the summer of 581 of the Christian era, there came to +Bozrah, a town on the confines of Syria, south of Damascus, a caravan +of camels. It was from Mecca, and was laden with the costly products of +South Arabia--Arabia the Happy. The conductor of the caravan, one Abou +Taleb, and his nephew, a lad of twelve years, were hospitably received +and entertained at the Nestorian convent of the town. + +The monks of this convent soon found that their young visitor, Halibi or +Mohammed, was the nephew of the guardian of the Caaba, the sacred temple +of the Arabs. One of them, by name Bahira, spared no pains to secure his +conversion from the idolatry in which he had been brought up. He found +the boy not only precociously intelligent, but eagerly desirous of +information, especially on matters relating to religion. + +In Mohammed's own country the chief object of Meccan worship was a +black meteoric stone, kept in the Caaba, with three hundred and sixty +subordinate idols, representing the days of the year, as the year was +then counted. + +At this time, as we have seen, the Christian Church, through the +ambition and wickedness of its clergy, had been brought into a condition +of anarchy. Councils had been held on various pretenses, while the real +motives were concealed. Too often they were scenes of violence, bribery, +corruption. In the West, such were the temptations of riches, luxury, +and power, presented by the episcopates, that the election of a bishop +was often disgraced by frightful murders. In the East, in consequence of +the policy of the court of Constantinople, the Church had been torn in +pieces by contentions and schisms. Among a countless host of disputants +may be mentioned Arians, Basilidians, Carpocratians, Collyridians, +Eutychians, Gnostics, Jacobites, Marcionites, Marionites, Nestorians, +Sabellians, Valentinians. Of these, the Marionites regarded the Trinity +as consisting of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Virgin Mary; +the Collyridians worshiped the Virgin as a divinity, offering her +sacrifices of cakes; the Nestorians, as we have seen, denied that God +had "a mother." They prided themselves on being the inheritors, the +possessors of the science of old Greece. + +But, though they were irreconcilable in matters of faith, there was one +point in which all these sects agreed--ferocious hatred and persecution +of each other. Arabia, an unconquered land of liberty, stretching from +the Indian Ocean to the Desert of Syria, gave them all, as the tide +of fortune successively turned, a refuge. It had been so from the old +times. Thither, after the Roman conquest of Palestine, vast numbers of +Jews escaped; thither, immediately after his conversion, St. Paul +tells the Galatians that he retired. The deserts were now filled with +Christian anchorites, and among the chief tribes of the Arabs many +proselytes had been made. Here and there churches had been built. The +Christian princes of Abyssinia, who were Nestorians, held the southern +province of Arabia--Yemen--in possession. + +By the monk Bahira, in the convent at Bozrah, Mohammed was taught the +tenets of the Nestorians; from them the young Arab learned the story of +their persecutions. It was these interviews which engendered in him a +hatred of the idolatrous practices of the Eastern Church, and indeed of +all idolatry; that taught him, in his wonderful career, never to speak +of Jesus as the Son of God, but always as "Jesus, the son of Mary." His +untutored but active mind could not fail to be profoundly impressed not +only with the religious but also with the philosophical ideas of +his instructors, who gloried in being the living representatives of +Aristotelian science. His subsequent career shows how completely their +religious thoughts had taken possession of him, and repeated acts +manifest his affectionate regard for them. His own life was devoted to +the expansion and extension of their theological doctrine, and, that +once effectually established, his successors energetically adopted and +diffused their scientific, their Aristotelian opinions. + +As Mohammed grew to manhood, he made other expeditions to Syria. +Perhaps, we may suppose, that on these occasions the convent and its +hospitable in mates were not forgotten. He had a mysterious reverence +for that country. A wealthy Meccan widow Chadizah, had intrusted him +with the care of her Syrian trade. She was charmed with his capacity +and fidelity, and (since he is said to have been characterized by the +possession of singular manly beauty and a most courteous demeanor) +charmed with his person. The female heart in all ages and countries is +the same. She caused a slave to intimate to him what was passing in her +mind, and, for the remaining twenty-four years of her life, Mohammed was +her faithful husband. In a land of polygamy, he never insulted her by +the presence of a rival. Many years subsequently, in the height of his +power, Ayesha, who was one of the most beautiful women in Arabia, said +to him: "Was she not old? Did not God give you in me a better wife in +her place?" "No, by God!" exclaimed Mohammed, and with a burst of honest +gratitude, "there never can be a better. She believed in me when men +despised me, she relieved me when I was poor and persecuted by the +world." + +His marriage with Chadizah placed him in circumstances of ease, and gave +him an opportunity of indulging his inclination to religious meditation. +It so happened that her cousin Waraka, who was a Jew, had turned +Christian. He was the first to translate the Bible into Arabic. By his +conversation Mohammed's detestation of idolatry was confirmed. + +After the example of the Christian anchorites in their hermitages in +the desert, Mohammed retired to a grotto in Mount Hera, a few miles from +Mecca, giving himself up to meditation and prayer. In this seclusion, +contemplating the awful attributes of the Omnipotent and Eternal God, he +addressed to his conscience the solemn inquiry, whether he could adopt +the dogmas then held in Asiatic Christendom respecting the Trinity, the +sonship of Jesus as begotten by the Almighty, the character of Mary as +at once a virgin, a mother, and the queen of heaven, without incurring +the guilt and the peril of blasphemy. + +By his solitary meditations in the grotto Mohammed was drawn to the +conclusion that, through the cloud of dogmas and disputations around +him, one great truth might be discerned--the unity of God. Leaning +against the stem of a palm-tree, he unfolded his views on this subject +to his neighbors and friends, and announced to them that he should +dedicate his life to the preaching of that truth. Again and again, in +his sermons and in the Koran, he declared: "I am nothing but a public +preacher.... I preach the oneness of God." Such was his own conception +of his so-called apostleship. Henceforth, to the day of his death, he +wore on his finger a seal-ring on which was engraved, "Mohammed, the +messenger of God." + +VICTORIES OF MOHAMMED. It is well known among physicians that prolonged +fasting and mental anxiety inevitably give rise to hallucination. +Perhaps there never has been any religious system introduced by +self-denying, earnest men that did not offer examples of supernatural +temptations and supernatural commands. Mysterious voices encouraged the +Arabian preacher to persist in his determination; shadows of strange +forms passed before him. He heard sounds in the air like those of a +distant bell. In a nocturnal dream he was carried by Gabriel from Mecca +to Jerusalem, and thence in succession through the six heavens. Into the +seventh the angel feared to intrude and Mohammed alone passed into the +dread cloud that forever enshrouds the Almighty. "A shiver thrilled his +heart as he felt upon his shoulder the touch of the cold hand of God." + +His public ministrations met with much resistance and little success at +first. Expelled from Mecca by the upholders of the prevalent idolatry, +he sought refuge in Medina, a town in which there were many Jews and +Nestorians; the latter at once became proselytes to his faith. He had +already been compelled to send his daughter and others of his disciples +to Abyssinia, the king of which was a Nestorian Christian. At the end of +six years he had made only fifteen hundred converts. But in three little +skirmishes, magnified in subsequent times by the designation of the +battles of Beder, of Ohud, and of the Nations, Mohammed discovered that +his most convincing argument was his sword. Afterward, with Oriental +eloquence, he said, "Paradise will be found in the shadow of the +crossing of swords." By a series of well-conducted military operations, +his enemies were completely overthrown. Arabian idolatry was absolutely +exterminated; the doctrine he proclaimed, that "there is but one God," +was universally adopted by his countrymen, and his own apostleship +accepted. + +DEATH OF MOHAMMED. Let us pass over his stormy life, and hear what +he says when, on the pinnacle of earthly power and glory, he was +approaching its close. + +Steadfast in his declaration of the unity of God, he departed from +Medina on his last pilgrimage to Mecca, at the head of one hundred +and fourteen thousand devotees, with camels decorated with garlands of +flowers and fluttering streamers. When he approached the holy city, he +uttered the solemn invocation: "Here am I in thy service, O God! Thou +hast no companion. To thee alone belongeth worship. Thine alone is the +kingdom. There is none to share it with thee." + +With his own hand he offered up the camels in sacrifice. He considered +that primeval institution to be equally sacred as prayer, and that no +reason can be alleged in support of the one which is not equally strong +in support of the other. + +From the pulpit of the Caaba he reiterated, "O my hearers, I am only a +man like yourselves." They remembered that he had once said to one who +approached him with timid steps: "Of what dost thou stand in awe? I am +no king. I am nothing but the son of an Arab woman, who ate flesh dried +in the sun." + +He returned to Medina to die. In his farewell to his congregation, he +said: "Every thing happens according to the will of God, and has its +appointed time, which can neither be hastened nor avoided. I return to +him who sent me, and my last command to you is, that ye love, honor, and +uphold each other, that ye exhort each other to faith and constancy in +belief, and to the performance of pious deeds. My life has been for your +good, and so will be my death." + +In his dying agony, his head was reclined on the lap of Ayesha. From +time to time he had dipped his hand in a vase of water, and moistened +his face. At last he ceased, and, gazing steadfastly upward, said, in +broken accents: "O God--forgive my sins--be it so. I come." + +Shall we speak of this man with disrespect? His precepts are, at this +day, the religious guide of one-third of the human race. + +DOCTRINES OF MOHAMMED. In Mohammed, who had already broken away from the +ancient idolatrous worship of his native country, preparation had been +made for the rejection of those tenets which his Nestorian teachers +had communicated to him, inconsistent with reason and conscience. And, +though, in the first pages of the Koran, he declares his belief in what +was delivered to Moses and Jesus, and his reverence for them personally, +his veneration for the Almighty is perpetually displayed. He is +horror-stricken at the doctrine of the divinity of Jesus, the Worship of +Mary as the mother of God, the adoration of images and paintings, in +his eyes a base idolatry. He absolutely rejects the Trinity, of which +he seems to have entertained the idea that it could not be interpreted +otherwise than as presenting three distinct Gods. + +His first and ruling idea was simply religious reform--to overthrow +Arabian idolatry, and put an end to the wild sectarianism of +Christianity. That he proposed to set up a new religion was a calumny +invented against him in Constantinople, where he was looked upon with +detestation, like that with which in after ages Luther was regarded in +Rome. + +But, though he rejected with indignation whatever might seem to +disparage the doctrine of the unity of God, he was not able to +emancipate himself from anthropomorphic conceptions. The God of the +Koran is altogether human, both corporeally and mentally, if such +expressions may with propriety be used. Very soon, however, the +followers of Mohammed divested themselves of these base ideas and rose +to nobler ones. + +The view here presented of the primitive character of Mohammedanism +has long been adopted by many competent authorities. Sir William +Jones, following Locke, regards the main point in the divergence of +Mohammedanism from Christianity to consist "in denying vehemently the +character of our Savior as the Son, and his equality as God with the +Father, of whose unity and attributes the Mohammedans entertain and +express the most awful ideas." This opinion has been largely entertained +in Italy. Dante regarded Mohammed only as the author of a schism, and +saw in Islamism only an Arian sect. In England, Whately views it as a +corruption of Christianity. It was an offshoot of Nestorianism, and not +until it had overthrown Greek Christianity in many great battles, was +spreading rapidly over Asia and Africa, and had become intoxicated +with its wonderful successes, did it repudiate its primitive limited +intentions, and assert itself to be founded on a separate and distinct +revelation. + +THE FIRST KHALIF. Mohammed's life had been almost entirely consumed +in the conversion or conquest of his native country. Toward its close, +however, he felt himself strong enough to threaten the invasion of Syria +and Persia. He had made no provision for the perpetuation of his own +dominion, and hence it was not without a struggle that a successor was +appointed. At length Abubeker, the father of Ayesha, was selected. He +was proclaimed the first khalif, or successor of the Prophet. + +There is a very important difference between the spread of Mohammedanism +and the spread of Christianity. The latter was never sufficiently +strong to over throw and extirpate idolatry in the Roman Empire. As it +advanced, there was an amalgamation, a union. The old forms of the one +were vivified by the new spirit of the other, and that paganization to +which reference has already been made was the result. + +THE MOHAMMEDAN HEAVEN. But, in Arabia, Mohammed overthrew and absolutely +annihilated the old idolatry. No trace of it is found in the doctrines +preached by him and his successors. The black stone that had fallen from +heaven--the meteorite of the Caaba--and its encircling idols, passed +totally out of view. The essential dogma of the new faith--"There is but +one God"--spread without any adulteration. Military successes had, in a +worldly sense made the religion of the Koran profitable; and, no matter +what dogmas may be, when that is the case, there will be plenty of +converts. + +As to the popular doctrines of Mohammedanism, I shall here have nothing +to say. The reader who is interested in that matter will find an account +of them in a review of the Koran in the eleventh chapter of my "History +of the Intellectual Development of Europe." It is enough now to remark +that their heaven was arranged in seven stories, and was only a palace +of Oriental carnal delight. It was filled with black-eyed concubines +and servants. The form of God was, perhaps, more awful than that +of paganized Christianity. Anthropomorphism will, however, never be +obliterated from the ideas of the unintellectual. Their God, at the +best, will never be any thing more than the gigantic shadow of a man--a +vast phantom of humanity--like one of those Alpine spectres seen in the +midst of the clouds by him who turns his back on the sun. + +Abubeker had scarcely seated himself in the khalifate, when he put forth +the following proclamation: + +In the name of the most merciful God! Abubeker to the rest of the true +believers, health and happiness. The mercy and blessing of God be upon +you. I praise the most high God. I pray for his prophet Mohammed. + +INVASION OF SYRIA. "This is to inform you that I intend to send the true +believers into Syria, to take it out of the hands of the infidels. And +I would have you know that the fighting for religion is an act of +obedience to God." + +On the first encounter, Khaled, the Saracen general, hard pressed, +lifted up his hands in the midst of his army and said: "O God! these +vile wretches pray with idolatrous expressions and take to themselves +another God besides thee, but we acknowledge thy unity and affirm that +there is no other God but thee alone. Help us, we beseech thee, for the +sake of thy prophet Mohammed, against these idolaters." On the part of +the Saracens the conquest of Syria was conducted with ferocious piety. +The belief of the Syrian Christians aroused in their antagonists +sentiments of horror and indignation. "I will cleave the skull of any +blaspheming idolater who says that the Most Holy God, the Almighty +and Eternal, has begotten a son." The Khalif Omar, who took Jerusalem, +commences a letter to Heraclius, the Roman emperor: "In the name of the +most merciful God! Praise be to God, the Lord of this and of the other +world, who has neither female consort nor son." The Saracens nicknamed +the Christians "Associators," because they joined Mary and Jesus as +partners with the Almighty and Most Holy God. + +It was not the intention of the khalif to command his army; that duty +was devolved on Abou Obeidah nominally, on Khaled in reality. In a +parting review the khalif enjoined on his troops justice, mercy, and the +observance of fidelity in their engagements he commanded them to abstain +from all frivolous conversation and from wine, and rigorously to observe +the hours of prayer; to be kind to the common people among whom they +passed, but to show no mercy to their priests. + +FALL OF BOZRAH. Eastward of the river Jordan is Bozrah, a strong town +where Mohammed had first met his Nestorian Christian instructors. It was +one of the Roman forts with which the country was dotted over. Before +this place the Saracen army encamped. The garrison was strong, the +ramparts were covered with holy crosses and consecrated banners. It +might have made a long defense. But its governor, Romanus, betrayed his +trust, and stealthily opened its gates to the besiegers. His conduct +shows to what a deplorable condition the population of Syria had come. +After the surrender, in a speech he made to the people he had betrayed, +he said: "I renounce your society, both in this world and that to come. +And I deny him that was crucified, and whosoever worships him. And I +choose God for my Lord, Islam for my faith, Mecca for my temple, the +Moslems for my brethren, Mohammed for my prophet, who was sent to lead +us in the right way, and to exalt the true religion in spite of those +who join partners with God." Since the Persian invasion, Asia Minor, +Syria, and even Palestine, were full of traitors and apostates, ready to +join the Saracens. Romanus was but one of many thousands who had fallen +into disbelief through the victories of the Persians. + +FALL OF DAMASCUS. From Bozrah it was only seventy miles northward to +Damascus, the capital of Syria. Thither, without delay, the Saracen army +marched. The city was at once summoned to take its option--conversion, +tribute, or the sword. In his palace at Antioch, barely one hundred and +fifty miles still farther north, the Emperor Heraclius received tidings +of the alarming advance of his assailants. He at once dispatched an army +of seventy thousand men. The Saracens were compelled to raise the +siege. A battle took place in the plains of Aiznadin, the Roman army +was overthrown and dispersed. Khaled reappeared before Damascus with his +standard of the black eagle, and after a renewed investment of seventy +days Damascus surrendered. + +From the Arabian historians of these events we may gather that thus far +the Saracen armies were little better than a fanatic mob. Many of the +men fought naked. It was not unusual for a warrior to stand forth in +front and challenge an antagonist to mortal duel. Nay, more, even the +women engaged in the combats. Picturesque narratives have been +handed down to us relating the gallant manner in which they acquitted +themselves. + +FALL OF JERUSALEM. From Damascus the Saracen army advanced northward, +guided by the snow-clad peaks of Libanus and the beautiful river +Orontes. It captured on its way Baalbec, the capital of the Syrian +valley, and Emesa, the chief city of the eastern plain. To resist its +further progress, Heraclius collected an army of one hundred and forty +thousand men. A battle took place at Yermuck; the right wing of the +Saracens was broken, but the soldiers were driven back to the field by +the fanatic expostulations of their women. The conflict ended in +the complete overthrow of the Roman army. Forty thousand were taken +prisoners, and a vast number killed. The whole country now lay open to +the victors. The advance of their army had been east of the Jordan. +It was clear that, before Asia Minor could be touched, the strong and +important cities of Palestine, which was now in their rear, must be +secured. There was a difference of opinion among the generals in the +field as to whether Caesarea or Jerusalem should be assailed first. The +matter was referred to the khalif, who, rightly preferring the moral +advantages of the capture of Jerusalem to the military advantages of the +capture of Caesarea, ordered the Holy City to be taken, and that at any +cost. Close siege was therefore laid to it. The inhabitants, remembering +the atrocities inflicted by the Persians, and the indignities that had +been offered to the Savior's sepulchre, prepared now for a vigorous +defense. But, after an investment of four months, the Patriarch +Sophronius appeared on the wall, asking terms of capitulation. There had +been misunderstandings among the generals at the capture of Damascus, +followed by a massacre of the fleeing inhabitants. Sophronius, +therefore, stipulated that the surrender of Jerusalem should take place +in presence of the khalif himself Accordingly, Omar, the khalif, came +from Medina for that purpose. He journeyed on a red camel, carrying +a bag of corn and one of dates, a wooden dish, and a leathern +water-bottle. The Arab conqueror entered the Holy City riding by the +side of the Christian patriarch and the transference of the capital of +Christianity to the representative of Mohammedanism was effected without +tumult or outrage. Having ordered that a mosque should be built on the +site of the temple of Solomon, the khalif returned to the tomb of the +Prophet at Medina. + +Heraclius saw plainly that the disasters which were fast settling on +Christianity were due to the dissensions of its conflicting sects; and +hence, while he endeavored to defend the empire with his armies, he +sedulously tried to compose those differences. With this view he pressed +for acceptance the Monothelite doctrine of the nature of Christ. But it +was now too late. Aleppo and Antioch were taken. Nothing could prevent +the Saracens from overrunning Asia Minor. Heraclius himself had to seek +safety in flight. Syria, which had been added by Pompey the Great, +the rival of Caesar, to the provinces of Rome, seven hundred years +previously--Syria, the birthplace of Christianity, the scene of its most +sacred and precious souvenirs, the land from which Heraclius himself had +once expelled the Persian intruder--was irretrievably lost. Apostates +and traitors had wrought this calamity. We are told that, as the ship +which bore him to Constantinople parted from the shore, Heraclius +gazed intently on the receding hills, and in the bitterness of anguish +exclaimed, "Farewell, Syria, forever farewell!" + +It is needless to dwell on the remaining details of the Saracen +conquest: how Tripoli and Tyre were betrayed; how Caesarea was captured; +how with the trees of Libanus and the sailors of Phoenicia a Saracen +fleet was equipped, which drove the Roman navy into the Hellespont; how +Cyprus, Rhodes, and the Cyclades, were ravaged, and the Colossus, which +was counted as one of the wonders of the world, sold to a Jew, who +loaded nine hundred camels with its brass; how the armies of the khalif +advanced to the Black Sea, and even lay in front of Constantinople--all +this was as nothing after the fall of Jerusalem. + +OVERTHROW OF THE PERSIANS. The fall of Jerusalem! the loss of +the metropolis of Christianity! In the ideas of that age the two +antagonistic forms of faith had submitted themselves to the ordeal of +the judgment of God. Victory had awarded the prize of battle, Jerusalem, +to the Mohammedan; and, notwithstanding the temporary successes of the +Crusaders, after much more than a thousand years in his hands it remains +to this day. The Byzantine historians are not without excuse for the +course they are condemned for taking: "They have wholly neglected the +great topic of the ruin of the Eastern Church." And as for the Western +Church, even the debased popes of the middle ages--the ages of the +Crusades--could not see without indignation that they were compelled +to rest the claims of Rome as the metropolis of Christendom on a false +legendary story of a visit of St. Peter to that city; while the true +metropolis, the grand, the sacred place of the birth, the life, the +death of Christ himself, was in the hands of the infidels! It has not +been the Byzantine historians alone who have tried to conceal this great +catastrophe. The Christian writers of Europe on all manner of subjects, +whether of history, religion, or science, have followed a similar +course against their conquering antagonists. It has been their constant +practice to hide what they could not depreciate, and depreciate what +they could not hide. + +INVASION OF EGYPT. I have not space, nor indeed does it comport with the +intention of this work, to relate, in such detail as I have given to +the fall of Jerusalem, other conquests of the Saracens--conquests which +eventually established a Mohammedan empire far exceeding in geographical +extent that of Alexander, and even that of Rome. But, devoting a few +words to this subject, it may be said that Magianism received a worse +blow than that which had been inflicted on Christianity; The fate of +Persia was settled at the battle of Cadesia. At the sack of Ctesiphon, +the treasury, the royal arms, and an unlimited spoil, fell into the +hands of the Saracens. Not without reason do they call the battle of +Nehavend the "victory of victories." In one direction they advanced to +the Caspian, in the other southward along the Tigris to Persepolis. +The Persian king fled for his life over the great Salt Desert, from the +columns and statues of that city which had lain in ruins since the night +of the riotous banquet of Alexander. One division of the Arabian army +forced the Persian monarch over the Oxus. He was assassinated by the +Turks. His son was driven into China, and became a captain in the +Chinese emperor's guards. The country beyond the Oxus was reduced. +It paid a tribute of two million pieces of gold. While the emperor +at Peking was demanding the friendship of the khalif at Medina, the +standard of the Prophet was displayed on the banks of the Indus. + +Among the generals who had greatly distinguished themselves in the +Syrian wars was Amrou, destined to be the conqueror of Egypt; for the +khalifs, not content with their victories on the North and East, now +turned their eyes to the West, and prepared for the annexation of +Africa. As in the former cases, so in this, sectarian treason assisted +them. The Saracen army was hailed as the deliverer of the Jacobite +Church; the Monophysite Christians of Egypt, that is, they who, in the +language of the Athanasian Creed, confounded the substance of the +Son, proclaimed, through their leader, Mokaukas, that they desired no +communion with the Greeks, either in this world or the next, that they +abjured forever the Byzantine tyrant and his synod of Chalcedon. They +hastened to pay tribute to the khalif, to repair the roads and bridges, +and to supply provisions and intelligence to the invading army. + +FALL OF ALEXANDRIA. Memphis, one of the old Pharaonic capitals, soon +fell, and Alexandria was invested. The open sea behind gave opportunity +to Heraclius to reenforce the garrison continually. On his part, Omar, +who was now khalif sent to the succor of the besieging army the veteran +troops of Syria. There were many assaults and many sallies. In one Amrou +himself was taken prisoner by the besieged, but, through the dexterity +of a slave, made his escape. After a siege of fourteen months, and a +loss of twenty-three thousand men, the Saracens captured the city. In +his dispatch to the Khalif, Amrou enumerated the splendors of the great +city of the West "its four thousand palaces, four thousand baths, four +hundred theatres, twelve thousand shops for the sale of vegetable food, +and forty thousand tributary Jews." + +So fell the second great city of Christendom--the fate of Jerusalem had +fallen on Alexandria, the city of Athanasius, and Arius, and Cyril; the +city that had imposed Trinitarian ideas and Mariolatry on the Church. +In his palace at Constantinople Heraclius received the fatal tidings. +He was overwhelmed with grief. It seemed as if his reign was to be +disgraced by the downfall of Christianity. He lived scarcely a month +after the loss of the town. + +But if Alexandria had been essential to Constantinople in the supply +of orthodox faith, she was also essential in the supply of daily food. +Egypt was the granary of the Byzantines. For this reason two attempts +were made by powerful fleets and armies for the recovery of the place, +and twice had Amrou to renew his conquest. He saw with what facility +these attacks could be made, the place being open to the sea; he saw +that there was but one and that a fatal remedy. "By the living God, if +this thing be repeated a third time I will make Alexandria as open to +anybody as is the house of a prostitute!" He was better than his word, +for he forthwith dismantled its fortifications, and made it an untenable +place. + +FALL OF CARTHAGE. It was not the intention of the khalifs to limit their +conquest to Egypt. Othman contemplated the annexation of the entire +North-African coast. His general, Abdallah, set out from Memphis with +forty thousand men, passed through the desert of Barca, and besieged +Tripoli. But, the plague breaking out in his army, he was compelled to +retreat to Egypt. + +All attempts were now suspended for more than twenty years. Then Akbah +forced his way from the Nile to the Atlantic Ocean. In front of the +Canary Islands he rode his horse into the sea, exclaiming: "Great God! +if my course were not stopped by this sea, I would still go on to the +unknown kingdoms of the West, preaching the unity of thy holy name, and +putting to the sword the rebellious nations who worship any other gods +than thee." + +These Saracen expeditions had been through the interior of the country, +for the Byzantine emperors, controlling for the time the Mediterranean, +had retained possession of the cities on the coast. The Khalif +Abdalmalek at length resolved on the reduction of Carthage, the most +important of those cities, and indeed the capital of North Africa. +His general, Hassan, carried it by escalade; but reenforcements from +Constantinople, aided by some Sicilian and Gothic troops, compelled +him to retreat. The relief was, however, only temporary. Hassan, in the +course of a few months renewed his attack. It proved successful, and he +delivered Carthage to the flames. + +Jerusalem, Alexandria, Carthage, three out of the five great Christian +capitals, were lost. The fall of Constantinople was only a question of +time. After its fall, Rome alone remained. + +In the development of Christianity, Carthage had played no insignificant +part. It had given to Europe its Latin form of faith, and some of its +greatest theologians. It was the home of St. Augustine. + +Never in the history of the world had there been so rapid and extensive +a propagation of any religion as Mohammedanism. It was now dominating +from the Altai Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean, from the centre of Asia +to the western verge of Africa. + +CONQUEST OF SPAIN. The Khalif Alwalid next authorized the invasion of +Europe, the conquest of Andalusia, or the Region of the Evening. +Musa, his general, found, as had so often been the case elsewhere, two +effective allies sectarianism and treason--the Archbishop of Toledo and +Count Julian the Gothic general. Under their lead, in the very crisis +of the battle of Xeres, a large portion of the army went over to the +invaders; the Spanish king was compelled to flee from the field, and in +the pursuit he was drowned in the waters of the Guadalquivir. + +With great rapidity Tarik, the lieutenant of Musa, pushed forward from +the battle-field to Toledo, and thence northward. On the arrival of Musa +the reduction of the Spanish peninsula was completed, and the wreck of +the Gothic army driven beyond the Pyrenees into France. Considering the +conquest of Spain as only the first step in his victories, he announced +his intention of forcing his way into Italy, and preaching the unity of +God in the Vatican. Thence he would march to Constantinople, and, having +put all end to the Roman Empire and Christianity, would pass into Asia +and lay his victorious sword on the footstool of the khalif at Damascus. + +But this was not to be. Musa, envious of his lieutenant, Tarik, had +treated him with great indignity. The friends of Tarik at the court of +the khalif found means of retaliation. An envoy from Damascus arrested +Musa in his camp; he was carried before his sovereign, disgraced by a +public whipping, and died of a broken heart. + +INVASION OF FRANCE. Under other leaders, however, the Saracen conquest +of France was attempted. In a preliminary campaign the country from the +mouth of the Garonne to that of the Loire was secured. Then Abderahman, +the Saracen commander, dividing his forces into two columns, with one +on the east passed the Rhone, and laid siege to Arles. A Christian army, +attempting the relief of the place, was defeated with heavy loss. +His western column, equally successful, passed the Dordogne, defeated +another Christian army, inflicting on it such dreadful loss that, +according to its own fugitives, "God alone could number the slain." All +Central France was now overrun; the banks of the Loire were reached; +the churches and monasteries were despoiled of their treasures; and +the tutelar saints, who had worked so many miracles when there was no +necessity, were found to want the requisite power when it was so greatly +needed. + +The progress of the invaders was at length stopped by Charles Martel +(A.D. 732). Between Tours and Poictiers, a great battle, which lasted +seven days, was fought. Abderahman was killed, the Saracens retreated, +and soon afterward were compelled to recross the Pyrenees. + +The banks of the Loire, therefore, mark the boundary of the Mohammedan +advance in Western Europe. Gibbon, in his narrative of these great +events, makes this remark: "A victorious line of march had been +prolonged above a thousand miles from the rock of Gibraltar to the banks +of the Loire--a repetition of an equal space would have carried the +Saracens to the confines of Poland and the Highlands of Scotland." + +INSULT TO ROME. It is not necessary for me to add to this sketch of the +military diffusion of Mohammedanism, the operations of the Saracens on +the Mediterranean Sea, their conquest of Crete and Sicily, their insult +to Rome. It will be found, however, that their presence in Sicily +and the south of Italy exerted a marked influence on the intellectual +development of Europe. + +Their insult to Rome! What could be more humiliating than the +circumstances under which it took place (A.D. 846)? An insignificant +Saracen expedition entered the Tiber and appeared before the walls of +the city. Too weak to force an entrance, it insulted and plundered the +precincts, sacrilegiously violating the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul. +Had the city itself been sacked, the moral effect could not have been +greater. From the church of St. Peter its altar of silver was torn +away and sent to Africa--St. Peter's altar, the very emblem of Roman +Christianity! + +Constantinople had already been besieged by the Saracens more than once; +its fall was predestined, and only postponed. Rome had received the +direst insult, the greatest loss that could be inflicted upon it; +the venerable churches of Asia Minor had passed out of existence; no +Christian could set his foot in Jerusalem without permission; the Mosque +of Omar stood on the site of the Temple of Solomon. Among the ruins of +Alexandria the Mosque of Mercy marked the spot where a Saracen general, +satiated with massacre, had, in contemptuous compassion, spared the +fugitive relics of the enemies of Mohammed; nothing remained of Carthage +but her blackened ruins. The most powerful religious empire that the +world had ever seen had suddenly come into existence. It stretched from +the Atlantic Ocean to the Chinese Wall, from the shores of the Caspian +to those of the Indian Ocean, and yet, in one sense, it had not reached +its culmination. The day was to come when it was to expel the successors +of the Caesars from their capital, and hold the peninsula of Greece in +subjection, to dispute with Christianity the empire of Europe in the +very centre of that continent, and in Africa to extend its dogmas and +faith across burning deserts and through pestilential forests from the +Mediterranean to regions southward far beyond the equinoctial line. + +DISSENSIONS OF THE ARABS. But, though Mohammedanism had not reached its +culmination, the dominion of the khalifs had. Not the sword of Charles +Martel, but the internal dissension of the vast Arabian Empire, was the +salvation of Europe. Though the Ommiade Khalifs were popular in Syria, +elsewhere they were looked upon as intruders or usurpers; the kindred +of the apostle was considered to be the rightful representative of his +faith. Three parties, distinguished by their colors, tore the khalifate +asunder with their disputes, and disgraced it by their atrocities. The +color of the Ommiades was white, that of the Fatimites green, that of +the Abassides black; the last represented the party of Abbas, the uncle +of Mohammed. The result of these discords was a tripartite division +of the Mohammedan Empire in the tenth century into the khalifates of +Bagdad, of Cairoan, and of Cordova. Unity in Mohammedan political action +was at an end, and Christendom found its safeguard, not in supernatural +help, but in the quarrels of the rival potentates. To internal +animosities foreign pressures were eventually added and Arabism, which +had done so much for the intellectual advancement of the world, came to +an end when the Turks and the Berbers attained to power. + +The Saracens had become totally regardless of European opposition--they +were wholly taken up with their domestic quarrels. Ockley says with +truth, in his history: "The Saracens had scarce a deputy lieutenant or +general that would not have thought it the greatest affront, and such +as ought to stigmatize him with indelible disgrace, if he should have +suffered himself to have been insulted by the united forces of all +Europe. And if any one asks why the Greeks did not exert themselves +more, in order to the extirpation of these insolent invaders, it is a +sufficient answer to any person that is acquainted with the characters +of those men to say that Amrou kept his residence at Alexandria, and +Moawyah at Damascus." + +As to their contempt, this instance may suffice: Nicephorus, the Roman +emperor, had sent to the Khalif Haroun-al-Raschid a threatening +letter, and this was the reply: "In the name of the most merciful God, +Haroun-al-Raschid, commander of the faithful, to Nicephorus, the Roman +dog! I have read thy letter, O thou son of an unbelieving mother. Thou +shalt not hear, thou shalt behold my reply!" It was written in letters +of blood and fire on the plains of Phrygia. + +POLITICAL EFFECT OF POLYGAMY. A nation may recover the confiscation +of its provinces, the confiscation of its wealth; it may survive the +imposition of enormous war-fines; but it never can recover from that +most frightful of all war-acts, the confiscation of its women. When +Abou Obeidah sent to Omar news of his capture of Antioch, Omar gently +upbraided him that he had not let the troops have the women. "If they +want to marry in Syria, let them; and let them have as many female +slaves as they have occasion for." It was the institution of polygamy, +based upon the confiscation of the women in the vanquished countries, +that secured forever the Mohammedan rule. The children of these unions +gloried in their descent from their conquering fathers. No better proof +can be given of the efficacy of this policy than that which is furnished +by North Africa. The irresistible effect of polygamy in consolidating +the new order of things was very striking. In little more than a single +generation, the Khalif was informed by his officers that the tribute +must cease, for all the children born in that region were Mohammedans, +and all spoke Arabic. + +MOHAMMEDANISM. Mohammedanism, as left by its founder, was an +anthropomorphic religion. Its God was only a gigantic man, its heaven +a mansion of carnal pleasures. From these imperfect ideas its more +intelligent classes very soon freed themselves, substituting for them +others more philosophical, more correct. Eventually they attained to an +accordance with those that have been pronounced in our own times by the +Vatican Council as orthodox. Thus Al-Gazzali says: "A knowledge of God +cannot be obtained by means of the knowledge a man has of himself, or +of his own soul. The attributes of God cannot be determined from +the attributes of man. His sovereignty and government can neither be +compared nor measured." + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + THE RESTORATION OF SCIENCE IN THE SOUTH. + + By the influence of the Nestorians and Jews, the Arabians + are turned to the cultivation of Science.--They modify + their views as to the destiny of man, and obtain true + conceptions respecting the structure of the world.--They + ascertain the size of the earth, and determine its shape.-- + Their khalifs collect great libraries, patronize every + department of science and literature, establish astronomical + observatories.--They develop the mathematical sciences, + invent algebra, and improve geometry and trigonometry.--They + collect and translate the old Greek mathematical and + astronomical works, and adopt the inductive method of + Aristotle.--They establish many colleges, and, with the aid + of the Nestorians, organize a public-school system.--They + introduce the Arabic numerals and arithmetic, and catalogue + and give names to the stars.--They lay the foundation of + modern astronomy, chemistry, and physics, and introduce + great improvements in agriculture and manufactures. + + +"IN the course of my long life," said the Khalif Ali, "I have often +observed that men are more like the times they live in than they +are like their fathers." This profoundly philosophical remark of the +son-in-law of Mohammed is strictly true; for, though the personal, the +bodily lineaments of a man may indicate his parentage, the constitution +of his mind, and therefore the direction of his thoughts, is determined +by the environment in which he lives. + +When Amrou, the lieutenant of the Khalif Omar, conquered Egypt, and +annexed it to the Saracenic Empire, he found in Alexandria a Greek +grammarian, John surnamed Philoponus, or the Labor-lover. Presuming on +the friendship which had arisen between them, the Greek solicited as a +gift the remnant of the great library--a remnant which war and time and +bigotry had spared. Amrou, therefore, sent to the khalif to ascertain +his pleasure. "If," replied the khalif, "the books agree with the Koran, +the Word of God, they are useless, and need not be preserved; if +they disagree with it, they are pernicious. Let them be destroyed." +Accordingly, they were distributed among the baths of Alexandria, and it +is said that six months were barely sufficient to consume them. + +Although the fact has been denied, there can be little doubt that Omar +gave this order. The khalif was an illiterate man; his environment +was an environment of fanaticism and ignorance. Omar's act was an +illustration of Ali's remark. + +THE ALEXANDRIAN LIBRARY BURNT. But it must not be supposed that the +books which John the Labor-lover coveted were those which constituted +the great library of the Ptolemies, and that of Eumenes, King of +Pergamus. Nearly a thousand years had elapsed since Philadelphus began +his collection. Julius Caesar had burnt more than half; the Patriarchs +of Alexandria had not only permitted but superintended the dispersion +of almost all the rest. Orosius expressly states that he saw the empty +cases or shelves of the library twenty years after Theophilus, the uncle +of St. Cyril, had procured from the Emperor Theodosius a rescript for +its destruction. Even had this once noble collection never endured such +acts of violence, the mere wear and tear, and perhaps, I may add, the +pilfering of a thousand years, would have diminished it sadly. +Though John, as the surname he received indicates, might rejoice in a +superfluity of occupation, we may be certain that the care of a library +of half a million books would transcend even his well-tried powers; and +the cost of preserving and supporting it, that had demanded the ample +resources of the Ptolemies and the Caesars, was beyond the means of a +grammarian. Nor is the time required for its combustion or destruction +any indication of the extent of the collection. Of all articles of +fuel, parchment is, perhaps, the most wretched. Paper and papyrus do +excellently well as kindling-materials, but we may be sure that the +bath-men of Alexandria did not resort to parchment so long as they could +find any thing else, and of parchment a very large portion of these +books was composed. + +There can, then, be no more doubt that Omar did order the destruction of +this library, under an impression of its uselessness or its irreligious +tendency, than that the Crusaders burnt the library of Tripoli, +fancifully said to have consisted of three million volumes. The first +apartment entered being found to contain nothing but the Koran, all the +other books were supposed to be the works of the Arabian impostor, +and were consequently committed to the flames. In both cases the story +contains some truth and much exaggeration. Bigotry, however, has often +distinguished itself by such exploits. The Spaniards burnt in Mexico +vast piles of American picture-writings, an irretrievable loss; and +Cardinal Ximenes delivered to the flames, in the squares of Granada, +eighty thousand Arabic manuscripts, many of them translations of +classical authors. + +We have seen how engineering talent, stimulated by Alexander's Persian +campaign, led to a wonderful development of pure science under the +Ptolemies; a similar effect may be noted as the result of the Saracenic +military operations. + +The friendship contracted by Amrou, the conqueror of Egypt, with John +the Grammarian, indicates how much the Arabian mind was predisposed to +liberal ideas. Its step from the idolatry of the Caaba to the monotheism +of Mohammed prepared it to expatiate in the wide and pleasing fields +of literature and philosophy. There were two influences to which it +was continually exposed. They conspired in determining its path. These +were--1. That of the Nestorians in Syria; 2. That of the Jews in Egypt. + +INFLUENCE OF THE NESTORIANS AND JEWS. In the last chapter I have briefly +related the persecution of Nestor and his disciples. They bore testimony +to the oneness of God, through many sufferings and martyrdoms. They +utterly repudiated an Olympus filled with gods and goddesses. "Away from +us a queen of heaven!" + +Such being their special views, the Nestorians found no difficulty in +affiliating with their Saracen conquerors, by whom they were treated +not only with the highest respect, but intrusted with some of the most +important offices of the state. Mohammed, in the strongest manner, +prohibited his followers from committing any injuries against them. +Jesuiabbas, their pontiff, concluded treaties both with the Prophet and +with Omar, and subsequently the Khalif Haroun-al-Raschid placed all his +public schools under the superintendence of John Masue, a Nestorian. + +To the influence of the Nestorians that of the Jews was added. When +Christianity displayed a tendency to unite itself with paganism, the +conversion of the Jews was arrested; it totally ceased when Trinitarian +ideas were introduced. The cities of Syria and Egypt were full of Jews. +In Alexandria alone, at the time of its capture by Amrou, there were +forty thousand who paid tribute. Centuries of misfortune and persecution +had served only to confirm them in their monotheism, and to strengthen +that implacable hatred of idolatry which they had cherished ever +since the Babylonian captivity. Associated with the Nestorians, they +translated into Syriac many Greek and Latin philosophical works, which +were retranslated into Arabic. While the Nestorian was occupied with +the education of the children of the great Mohammedan families, the Jew +found his way into them in the character of a physician. + +FATALISM OF THE ARABIANS. Under these influences the ferocious +fanaticism of the Saracens abated, their manners were polished, their +thoughts elevated. They overran the realms of Philosophy and Science +as quickly as they had overrun the provinces of the Roman Empire. They +abandoned the fallacies of vulgar Mohammedanism, accepting in their +stead scientific truth. + +In a world devoted to idolatry, the sword of the Saracen had vindicated +the majesty of God. The doctrine of fatalism, inculcated by the Koran, +had powerfully contributed to that result. "No man can anticipate or +postpone his predetermined end. Death will overtake us even in lofty +towers. From the beginning God hath settled the place in which each man +shall die." In his figurative language the Arab said: "No man can by +flight escape his fate. The Destinies ride their horses by night.... +Whether asleep in bed or in the storm of battle, the angel of death will +find thee." "I am convinced," said Ali, to whose wisdom we have already +referred--"I am convinced that the affairs of men go by divine decree, +and not by our administration." The Mussulmen are those who submissively +resign themselves to the will of God. They reconciled fate and free-will +by saying, "The outline is given us, we color the picture of life as we +will." They said that, if we would overcome the laws of Nature, we must +not resist, we must balance them against each other. + +This dark doctrine prepared its devotees for the accomplishment of great +things--things such as the Saracens did accomplish. It converted despair +into resignation, and taught men to disdain hope. There was a proverb +among them that "Despair is a freeman, Hope is a slave." + +But many of the incidents of war showed plainly that medicines +may assuage pain, that skill may close wounds, that those who are +incontestably dying may be snatched from the grave. The Jewish physician +became a living, an accepted protest against the fatalism of the Koran. +By degrees the sternness of predestination was mitigated, and it was +admitted that in individual life there is an effect due to free-will; +that by his voluntary acts man may within certain limits determine his +own course. But, so far as nations are concerned, since they can yield +no personal accountability to God, they are placed under the control of +immutable law. + +In this respect the contrast between the Christian and the Mohammedan +nations was very striking: The Christian was convinced of incessant +providential interventions; he believed that there was no such thing as +law in the government of the world. By prayers and entreaties he might +prevail with God to change the current of affairs, or, if that failed, +he might succeed with Christ, or perhaps with the Virgin Mary, or +through the intercession of the saints, or by the influence of their +relics or bones. If his own supplications were unavailing, he might +obtain his desire through the intervention of his priest, or through +that of the holy men of the Church, and especially if oblations or gifts +of money were added. Christendom believed that she could change the +course of affairs by influencing the conduct of superior beings. Islam +rested in a pious resignation to the unchangeable will of God. The +prayer of the Christian was mainly an earnest intercession for benefits +hoped for, that of the Saracen a devout expression of gratitude for the +past. Both substituted prayer for the ecstatic meditation of India. +To the Christian the progress of the world was an exhibition of +disconnected impulses, of sudden surprises. To the Mohammedan that +progress presented a very different aspect. Every corporeal motion was +due to some preceding motion; every thought to some preceding thought; +every historical event was the offspring of some preceding event; every +human action was the result of some foregone and accomplished action. In +the long annals of our race, nothing has ever been abruptly introduced. +There has been an orderly, an inevitable sequence from event to event. +There is an iron chain of destiny, of which the links are facts; each +stands in its preordained place--not one has ever been disturbed, not +one has ever been removed. Every man came into the world without his own +knowledge, he is to depart from it perhaps against his own wishes. Then +let him calmly fold his hands, and expect the issues of fate. + +Coincidently with this change of opinion as to the government of +individual life, there came a change as respects the mechanical +construction of the world. According to the Koran, the earth is a square +plane, edged with vast mountains, which serve the double purpose of +balancing it in its seat, and of sustaining the dome of the sky. Our +devout admiration of the power and wisdom of God should be excited by +the spectacle of this vast crystalline brittle expanse, which has been +safely set in its position without so much as a crack or any other +injury. Above the sky, and resting on it, is heaven, built in seven +stories, the uppermost being the habitation of God, who, under the form +of a gigantic man, sits on a throne, having on either side winged bulls, +like those in the palaces of old Assyrian kings. + +THEY MEASURE THE EARTH. These ideas, which indeed are not peculiar to +Mohammedanism, but are entertained by all men in a certain stage of +their intellectual development as religious revelations, were +very quickly exchanged by the more advanced Mohammedans for others +scientifically correct. Yet, as has been the case in Christian +countries, the advance was not made without resistance on the part +of the defenders of revealed truth. Thus when Al-Mamun, having become +acquainted with the globular form of the earth, gave orders to his +mathematicians and astronomers to measure a degree of a great circle +upon it, Takyuddin, one of the most celebrated doctors of divinity +of that time, denounced the wicked khalif, declaring that God would +assuredly punish him for presumptuously interrupting the devotions +of the faithful by encouraging and diffusing a false and atheistical +philosophy among them. Al-Mamun, however, persisted. On the shores of +the Red Sea, in the plains of Shinar, by the aid of an astrolabe, the +elevation of the pole above the horizon was determined at two stations +on the same meridian, exactly one degree apart. The distance between +the two stations was then measured, and found to be two hundred thousand +Hashemite cubits; this gave for the entire circumference of the earth +about twenty-four thousand of our miles, a determination not far +from the truth. But, since the spherical form could not be positively +asserted from one such measurement, the khalif caused another to be made +near Cufa in Mesopotamia. His astronomers divided themselves into two +parties, and, starting from a given point, each party measured an arc +of one degree, the one northward, the other southward. Their result +is given in cubits. If the cubit employed was that known as the royal +cubit, the length of a degree was ascertained within one-third of a mile +of its true value. From these measures the khalif concluded that the +globular form was established. + +THEIR PASSION FOR SCIENCE. It is remarkable how quickly the ferocious +fanaticism of the Saracens was transformed into a passion for +intellectual pursuits. At first the Koran was an obstacle to +literature and science. Mohammed had extolled it as the grandest of all +compositions, and had adduced its unapproachable excellence as a proof +of his divine mission. But, in little more than twenty years after his +death, the experience that had been acquired in Syria, Persia, Asia +Minor, Egypt, had produced a striking effect, and Ali the khalif +reigning at that time, avowedly encouraged all kinds of literary +pursuits. Moawyah, the founder of the Ommiade dynasty, who followed in +661, revolutionized the government. It had been elective, he made it +hereditary. He removed its seat from Medina to a more central position +at Damascus, and entered on a career of luxury and magnificence. He +broke the bonds of a stern fanaticism, and put himself forth as a +cultivator and patron of letters. Thirty years had wrought a wonderful +change. A Persian satrap who had occasion to pay homage to Omar, the +second khalif, found him asleep among the beggars on the steps of the +Mosque of Medina; but foreign envoys who had occasion to seek Moawyah, +the sixth khalif, were presented to him in a magnificent palace, +decorated with exquisite arabesques, and adorned with flower-gardens and +fountains. + +THEIR LITERATURE. In less than a century after the death of Mohammed, +translations of the chief Greek philosophical authors had been made into +Arabic; poems such as the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey," being considered +to have an irreligious tendency from their mythological allusions, were +rendered into Syriac, to gratify the curiosity of the learned. Almansor, +during his khalifate (A.D. 753-775), transferred the seat of government +to Bagdad, which he converted into a splendid metropolis; he gave much +of his time to the study and promotion of astronomy, and established +schools of medicine and law. His grandson, Haroun-al-Raschid (A.D. 786), +followed his example, and ordered that to every mosque in his dominions +a school should be attached. But the Augustan age of Asiatic learning +was during the khalifate of Al-Mamun (A.D. 813-832). He made Bagdad the +centre of science, collected great libraries, and surrounded himself +with learned men. + +The elevated taste thus cultivated continued after the division of the +Saracen Empire by internal dissensions into three parts. The Abasside +dynasty in Asia, the Fatimite in Egypt, and the Ommiade in Spain, became +rivals not merely in politics, but also in letters and science. + +THEY ORIGINATE CHEMISTRY. In letters the Saracens embraced every topic +that can amuse or edify the mind. In later times, it was their boast +that they had produced more poets than all other nations combined. In +science their great merit consists in this, that they cultivated it +after the manner of the Alexandrian Greeks, not after the manner of the +European Greeks. They perceived that it can never be advanced by mere +speculation; its only sure progress is by the practical interrogation of +Nature. The essential characteristics of their method are experiment and +observation. Geometry and the mathematical sciences they looked upon +as instruments of reasoning. In their numerous writings on mechanics, +hydrostatics, optics, it is interesting to remark that the solution of +a problem is always obtained by performing an experiment, or by an +instrumental observation. It was this that made them the originators of +chemistry, that led them to the invention of all kinds of apparatus for +distillation, sublimation, fusion, filtration, etc.; that in astronomy +caused them to appeal to divided instruments, as quadrants and +astrolabes; in chemistry, to employ the balance, the theory of which +they were perfectly familiar with; to construct tables of specific +gravities and astronomical tables, as those of Bagdad, Spain, Samarcand; +that produced their great improvements in geometry, trigonometry, the +invention of algebra, and the adoption of the Indian numeration in +arithmetic. Such were the results of their preference of the inductive +method of Aristotle, their declining the reveries of Plato. + +THEIR GREAT LIBRARIES. For the establishment and extension of the public +libraries, books were sedulously collected. Thus the khalif Al-Mamun +is reported to have brought into Bagdad hundreds of camel-loads of +manuscripts. In a treaty he made with the Greek emperor, Michael III., +he stipulated that one of the Constantinople libraries should be given +up to him. Among the treasures he thus acquired was the treatise of +Ptolemy on the mathematical construction of the heavens. He had it +forthwith translated into Arabic, under the title of "Al-magest." The +collections thus acquired sometimes became very large; thus the Fatimite +Library at Cairo contained one hundred thousand volumes, elegantly +transcribed and bound. Among these, there were six thousand five hundred +manuscripts on astronomy and medicine alone. The rules of this library +permitted the lending out of books to students resident at Cairo. It +also contained two globes, one of massive silver and one of brass; the +latter was said to have been constructed by Ptolemy, the former cost +three thousand golden crowns. The great library of the Spanish khalifs +eventually numbered six hundred thousand volumes; its catalogue alone +occupied forty-four. Besides this, there were seventy public libraries +in Andalusia. The collections in the possession of individuals were +sometimes very extensive. A private doctor refused the invitation of a +Sultan of Bokhara because the carriage of his books would have required +four hundred camels. + +There was in every great library a department for the copying or +manufacture of translations. Such manufactures were also often an +affair of private enterprise. Honian, a Nestorian physician, had an +establishment of the kind at Bagdad (A.D. 850). He issued versions of +Aristotle, Plato, Hippocrates, Galen, etc. As to original works, it was +the custom of the authorities of colleges to require their professors +to prepare treatises on prescribed topics. Every khalif had his own +historian. Books of romances and tales, such as "The Thousand and One +Arabian Nights' Entertainments," bear testimony to the creative fancy +of the Saracens. Besides these, there were works on all kinds of +subjects--history, jurisprudence, politics, philosophy, biographies not +only of illustrious men, but also of celebrated horses and camels. These +were issued without any censorship or restraint, though, in later times, +works on theology required a license for publication. Books of reference +abounded, geographical, statistical, medical, historical dictionaries, +and even abridgments or condensations of them, as the "Encyclopedic +Dictionary of all the Sciences," by Mohammed Abu Abdallah. Much pride +was taken in the purity and whiteness of the paper, in the skillful +intermixture of variously-colored inks, and in the illumination of +titles by gilding and other adornments. + +The Saracen Empire was dotted all over with colleges. They were +established in Mongolia, Tartary, Persia, Mesopotamia, Syria, Egypt, +North Africa, Morocco, Fez, Spain. At one extremity of this vast region, +which far exceeded the Roman Empire in geographical extent, were the +college and astronomical observatory of Samarcand, at the other the +Giralda in Spain. Gibbon, referring to this patronage of learning, says: +"The same royal prerogative was claimed by the independent emirs of the +provinces, and their emulation diffused the taste and the rewards of +science from Samarcand and Bokhara to Fez and Cordova. The vizier of a +sultan consecrated a sum of two hundred thousand pieces of gold to +the foundation of a college at Bagdad, which he endowed with an annual +revenue of fifteen thousand dinars. The fruits of instruction were +communicated, perhaps, at different times, to six thousand disciples +of every degree, from the son of the noble to that of the mechanic; a +sufficient allowance was provided for the indigent scholars, and the +merit or industry of the professors was repaid with adequate stipends. +In every city the productions of Arabic literature were copied and +collected, by the curiosity of the studious and the vanity of the rich." +The superintendence of these schools was committed with noble liberality +sometimes to Nestorians, sometimes to Jews. It mattered not in what +country a man was born, nor what were his religious opinions; his +attainment in learning was the only thing to be considered. The great +Khalif Al-Mamun had declared that "they are the elect of God, his best +and most useful servants, whose lives are devoted to the improvement +of their rational faculties; that the teachers of wisdom are the true +luminaries and legislators of this world, which, without their aid, +would again sink into ignorance and barbarism." + +After the example of the medical college of Cairo, other medical +colleges required their students to pass a rigid examination. The +candidate then received authority to enter on the practice of his +profession. The first medical college established in Europe was that +founded by the Saracens at Salerno, in Italy. The first astronomical +observatory was that erected by them at Seville, in Spain. + +THE ARABIAN SCIENTIFIC MOVEMENT. It would far transcend the limits of +this book to give an adequate statement of the results of this imposing +scientific movement. The ancient sciences were greatly extended--new +ones were brought into existence. The Indian method of arithmetic was +introduced, a beautiful invention, which expresses all numbers by ten +characters, giving them an absolute value, and a value by position, +and furnishing simple rules for the easy performance of all kinds +of calculations. Algebra, or universal arithmetic--the method of +calculating indeterminate quantities, or investigating the relations +that subsist among quantities of all kinds, whether arithmetical or +geometrical--was developed from the germ that Diophantus had left. +Mohammed Ben Musa furnished the solution of quadratic equations, +Omar Ben Ibra him that of cubic equations. The Saracens also gave to +trigonometry its modern form, substituting sines for chords, which had +been previously used; they elevated it into a separate science. +Musa, above mentioned, was the author of a "Treatise on Spherical +Trigonometry." Al-Baghadadi left one on land-surveying, so excellent, +that by some it has been declared to be a copy of Euclid's lost work on +that subject. + +ARABIAN ASTRONOMY. In astronomy, they not only made catalogues, but +maps of the stars visible in their skies, giving to those of the larger +magnitudes the Arabic names they still bear on our celestial globes. +They ascertained, as we have seen, the size of the earth by the +measurement of a degree on her surface, determined the obliquity of +the ecliptic, published corrected tables of the sun and moon fixed +the length of the year, verified the precession of the equinoxes. The +treatise of Albategnius on "The Science of the Stars" is spoken of by +Laplace with respect; he also draws attention to an important fragment +of Ibn-Junis, the astronomer of Hakem, the Khalif of Egypt, A.D. 1000, +as containing a long series of observations from the time of Almansor, +of eclipses, equinoxes, solstices, conjunctions of planets, occultations +of stars--observations which have cast much light on the great +variations of the system of the world. The Arabian astronomers also +devoted themselves to the construction and perfection of astronomical +instruments, to the measurement of time by clocks of various kinds, by +clepsydras and sun-dials. They were the first to introduce, for this +purpose, the use of the pendulum. + +In the experimental sciences, they originated chemistry; they discovered +some of its most important reagents--sulphuric acid, nitric acid, +alcohol. They applied that science in the practice of medicine, being +the first to publish pharmacopoeias or dispensatories, and to include in +them mineral preparations. In mechanics, they had determined the laws +of falling bodies, had ideas, by no means indistinct, of the nature of +gravity; they were familiar with the theory of the mechanical powers. In +hydrostatics they constructed the first tables of the specific gravities +of bodies, and wrote treatises on the flotation and sinking of bodies +in water. In optics, they corrected the Greek misconception, that a +ray proceeds from the eye, and touches the object seen, introducing +the hypothesis that the ray passes from the object to the eye. They +understood the phenomena of the reflection and refraction of light. +Alhazen made the great discovery of the curvilinear path of a ray of +light through the atmosphere, and proved that we see the sun and moon +before they have risen, and after they have set. + +AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. The effects of this scientific activity are +plainly perceived in the great improvements that took place in many +of the industrial arts. Agriculture shows it in better methods of +irrigation, the skillful employment of manures, the raising of improved +breeds of cattle, the enactment of wise codes of rural laws, the +introduction of the culture of rice, and that of sugar and coffee. The +manufactures show it in the great extension of the industries of silk, +cotton, wool; in the fabrication of cordova and morocco leather, and +paper; in mining, casting, and various metallurgic operations; in the +making of Toledo blades. + +Passionate lovers of poetry and music, they dedicated much of their +leisure time to those elegant pursuits. They taught Europe the game of +chess; they gave it its taste for works of fiction--romances and novels. +In the graver domains of literature they took delight: they had many +admirable compositions on such subjects as the instability of human +greatness; the consequences of irreligion; the reverses of fortune; the +origin, duration, and end of the world. Sometimes, not without surprise, +we meet with ideas which we flatter ourselves have originated in our +own times. Thus our modern doctrines of evolution and development were +taught in their schools. In fact, they carried them much farther than we +are disposed to do, extending them even to inorganic or mineral +things. The fundamental principle of alchemy was the natural process of +development of metalline bodies. "When common people," says Al-Khazini, +writing in the twelfth century, "hear from natural philosophers that +gold is a body which has attained to perfection of maturity, to the +goal of completeness, they firmly believe that it is something which has +gradually come to that perfection by passing through the forms of all +other metallic bodies, so that its gold nature was originally lead, +afterward it became tin, then brass, then silver, and finally reached +the development of gold; not knowing that the natural philosophers mean, +in saying this, only something like what they mean when they speak of +man, and attribute to him a completeness and equilibrium in nature and +constitution--not that man was once a bull, and was changed into an +ass, and afterward into a horse, and after that into an ape, and finally +became a man." + + + +CHAPTER V. + + CONFLICT RESPECTING THE NATURE OF THE SOUL.--DOCTRINE OF + EMANATION AND ABSORPTION. + + European ideas respecting the soul.--It resembles the form + of the body. + + Philosophical views of the Orientals.--The Vedic theology + and Buddhism assert the doctrine of emanation and + absorption.--It is advocated by Aristotle, who is followed + by the Alexandrian school, and subsequently by the Jews and + Arabians.--It is found in the writings of Erigena. + + Connection of this doctrine with the theory of conservation + and correlation of force.--Parallel between the origin and + destiny of the body and the soul.--The necessity of founding + human on comparative psychology. + + Averroism, which is based on these facts, is brought into + Christendom through Spain and Sicily. + + History of the repression of Averroism.--Revolt of Islam + against it.--Antagonism of the Jewish synagogues.--Its + destruction undertaken by the papacy.--Institution of the + Inquisition in Spain.--Frightful persecutions and their + results.--Expulsion of the Jews and Moors.--Overthrow of + Averroism in Europe.--Decisive action of the late Vatican + Council. + + +THE pagan Greeks and Romans believed that the spirit of man resembles +his bodily form, varying its appearance with his variations, and growing +with his growth. Heroes, to whom it had been permitted to descend into +Hades, had therefore without difficulty recognized their former friends. +Not only had the corporeal aspect been retained, but even the customary +raiment. + +THE SOUL. The primitive Christians, whose conceptions of a future life +and of heaven and hell, the abodes of the blessed and the sinful, were +far more vivid than those of their pagan predecessors, accepted and +intensified these ancient ideas. They did not doubt that in the world +to come they should meet their friends, and hold converse with them, as +they had done here upon earth--an expectation that gives consolation to +the human heart, reconciling it to the most sorrowful bereavements, and +restoring to it its dead. + +In the uncertainty as to what becomes of the soul in the interval +between its separation from the body and the judgment-day, many +different opinions were held. Some thought that it hovered over the +grave, some that it wandered disconsolate through the air. In the +popular belief, St. Peter sat as a door-keeper at the gate of heaven. To +him it had been given to bind or to loose. He admitted or excluded the +Spirits of men at his pleasure. Many persons, however, were disposed to +deny him this power, since his decisions would be anticipatory of the +judgment-day, which would thus be rendered needless. After the time +of Gregory the Great, the doctrine of purgatory met with general +acceptance. A resting-place was provided for departed spirits. + +That the spirits of the dead occasionally revisit the living, or haunt +their former abodes, has been in all ages, in all European countries, +a fixed belief, not confined to rustics, but participated in by the +intelligent. A pleasing terror gathers round the winter's-evening +fireside at the stories of apparitions, goblins, ghosts. In the old +times the Romans had their lares, or spirits of those who had led +virtuous lives; their larvae or lemures, the spirits of the wicked; +their manes, the spirits of those of whom the merits were doubtful. If +human testimony on such subjects can be of any value, there is a body +of evidence reaching from the remotest ages to the present time, as +extensive and unimpeachable as is to be found in support of any thing +whatever, that these shades of the dead congregate near tombstones, +or take up their secret abode in the gloomy chambers of dilapidated +castles, or walk by moonlight in moody solitude. + +ASIATIC PSYCHOLOGICAL VIEWS. While these opinions have universally found +popular acceptance in Europe, others of a very different nature have +prevailed extensively in Asia, and indeed very generally in the higher +regions of thought. Ecclesiastical authority succeeded in repressing +them in the sixteenth century, but they never altogether disappeared. +In our own times so silently and extensively have they been diffused in +Europe, that it was found expedient in the papal Syllabus to draw +them in a very conspicuous manner into the open light; and the Vatican +Council, agreeing in that view of their obnoxious tendency and secret +spread, has in an equally prominent and signal manner among its first +canons anathematized all persons who hold them. "Let him be anathema who +says that spiritual things are emanations of the divine substance, or +that the divine essence by manifestation or development becomes all +things." In view of this authoritative action, it is necessary now to +consider the character and history of these opinions. + +Ideas respecting the nature of God necessarily influence ideas +respecting the nature of the soul. The eastern Asiatics had adopted the +conception of an impersonal God, and, as regards the soul, its necessary +consequence, the doctrine of emanation and absorption. + +EMANATION AND ABSORPTION. Thus the Vedic theology is based on the +acknowledgment of a universal spirit pervading all things. "There is in +truth but one Deity, the supreme Spirit; he is of the same nature as the +soul of man." Both the Vedas and the Institutes of Menu affirm that +the soul is an emanation of the all-pervading Intellect, and that it is +necessarily destined to be reabsorbed. They consider it to be without +form, and that visible Nature, with all its beauties and harmonies, is +only the shadow of God. + +Vedaism developed itself into Buddhism, which has become the faith of +a majority of the human race. This system acknowledges that there is a +supreme Power, but denies that there is a supreme Being. It contemplates +the existence of Force, giving rise as its manifestation to matter. It +adopts the theory of emanation and absorption. In a burning taper it +sees an effigy of man--an embodiment of matter, and an evolution of +force. If we interrogate it respecting the destiny of the soul, it +demands of us what has become of the flame when it is blown out, and in +what condition it was before the taper was lighted. Was it a nonentity? +Has it been annihilated? It admits that the idea of personality which +has deluded us through life may not be instantaneously extinguished at +death, but may be lost by slow degrees. On this is founded the doctrine +of transmigration. But at length reunion with the universal Intellect +takes place, Nirwana is reached, oblivion is attained, a state that has +no relation to matter, space, or time, the state into which the departed +flame of the extinguished taper has gone, the state in which we were +before we were born. This is the end that we ought to hope for; it is +reabsorption in the universal Force--supreme bliss, eternal rest. + +Through Aristotle these doctrines were first introduced into Eastern +Europe; indeed, eventually, as we shall see, he was regarded as the +author of them. They exerted a dominating influence in the later period +of the Alexandrian school. Philo, the Jew, who lived in the time of +Caligula, based his philosophy on the theory of emanation. Plotinus +not only accepted that theory as applicable to the soul of man, but as +affording an illustration of the nature of the Trinity. For, as a beam +of light emanates from the sun, and as warmth emanates from the beam +when it touches material bodies, so from the Father the Son emanates, +and thence the Holy Ghost. From these views Plotinus derived a practical +religious system, teaching the devout how to pass into a condition of +ecstasy, a foretaste of absorption into the universal mundane soul. +In that condition the soul loses its individual consciousness. In like +manner Porphyry sought absorption in or union with God. He was a Tyrian +by birth, established a school at Rome, and wrote against Christianity; +his treatise on that subject was answered by Eusebius and St. Jerome, +but the Emperor Theodosius silenced it more effectually by causing all +the copies to be burnt. Porphyry bewails his own unworthiness, saying +that he had been united to God in ecstasy but once in eighty-six years, +whereas his master Plotinus had been so united six times in sixty years. +A complete system of theology, based on the theory of emanation, was +constructed by Proclus, who speculated on the manner in which absorption +takes place: whether the soul is instantly reabsorbed and reunited in +the moment of death, or whether it retains the sentiment of personality +for a time, and subsides into complete reunion by successive steps. + +ARABIC PSYCHOLOGY. From the Alexandrian Greeks these ideas passed to +the Saracen philosophers, who very soon after the capture of the great +Egyptian city abandoned to the lower orders their anthropomorphic +notions of the nature of God and the simulachral form of the spirit of +man. As Arabism developed itself into a distinct scientific system, +the theories of emanation and absorption were among its characteristic +features. In this abandonment of vulgar Mohammedanism, the example of +the Jews greatly assisted. They, too, had given up the anthropomorphism +of their ancestors; they had exchanged the God who of old lived behind +the veil of the temple for an infinite Intelligence pervading the +universe, and, avowing their inability to conceive that any thing +which had on a sudden been called into existence should be capable of +immortality, they affirmed that the soul of man is connected with a past +of which there was no beginning, and with a future to which there is no +end. + +In the intellectual history of Arabism the Jew and the Saracen are +continually seen together. It was the same in their political history, +whether we consider it in Syria, in Egypt, or in Spain. From them +conjointly Western Europe derived its philosophical ideas, which in +the course of time culminated in Averroism; Averroism is philosophical +Islamism. Europeans generally regarded Averroes as the author of these +heresies, and the orthodox branded him accordingly, but he was nothing +more than their collector and commentator. His works invaded Christendom +by two routes: from Spain through Southern France they reached Upper +Italy, engendering numerous heresies on their way; from Sicily they +passed to Naples and South Italy, under the auspices of Frederick II. + +But, long before Europe suffered this great intellectual invasion, there +were what might, perhaps, be termed sporadic instances of Orientalism. +As an example I may quote the views of John Erigena (A.D. 800) He had +adopted and taught the philosophy of Aristotle had made a pilgrimage +to the birthplace of that philosopher, and indulged a hope of uniting +philosophy and religion in the manner proposed by the Christian +ecclesiastics who were then studying in the Mohammedan universities of +Spain. He was a native of Britain. + +In a letter to Charles the Bald, Anastasius expresses his astonishment +"how such a barbarian man, coming from the very ends of the earth, and +remote from human conversation, could comprehend things so clearly, and +transfer them into another language so well." The general intention of +his writings was, as we have said, to unite philosophy with religion, +but his treatment of these subjects brought him under ecclesiastical +censure, and some of his works were adjudged to the flames. His most +important book is entitled "De Divisione Nature." + +Erigena's philosophy rests upon the observed and admitted fact that +every living thing comes from something that had previously lived. The +visible world, being a world of life, has therefore emanated necessarily +from some primordial existence, and that existence is God, who is thus +the originator and conservator of all. Whatever we see maintains itself +as a visible thing through force derived from him, and, were that force +withdrawn, it must necessarily disappear. Erigena thus conceives of +the Deity as an unceasing participator in Nature, being its preserver, +maintainer, upholder, and in that respect answering to the soul of the +world of the Greeks. The particular life of individuals is therefore a +part of general existence, that is, of the mundane soul. + +If ever there were a withdrawal of the maintaining power, all things +must return to the source from which they issued--that is, they must +return to God, and be absorbed in him. All visible Nature must thus +pass back into "the Intellect" at last. "The death of the flesh is the +auspices of the restitution of things, and of a return to their ancient +conservation. So sounds revert back to the air in which they were born, +and by which they were maintained, and they are heard no more; no man +knows what has become of them. In that final absorption which, after +a lapse of time, must necessarily come, God will be all in all, and +nothing exist but him alone." "I contemplate him as the beginning and +cause of all things; all things that are and those that have been, but +now are not, were created from him, and by him, and in him. I also view +him as the end and intransgressible term of all things.... There is a +fourfold conception of universal Nature--two views of divine Nature, as +origin and end; two also of framed Nature, causes and effects. There is +nothing eternal but God." + +The return of the soul to the universal Intellect is designated by +Erigena as Theosis, or Deification. In that final absorption all +remembrance of its past experiences is lost. The soul reverts to the +condition in which it was before it animated the body. Necessarily, +therefore, Erigena fell under the displeasure of the Church. + +It was in India that men first recognized the fact that force is +indestructible and eternal. This implies ideas more or less distinct +of that which we now term its "correlation and conservation." +Considerations connected with the stability of the universe give +strength to this view, since it is clear that, were there either +an increase or a diminution, the order of the world must cease. The +definite and invariable amount of energy in the universe must therefore +be accepted as a scientific fact. The changes we witness are in its +distribution. + +But, since the soul must be regarded as an active principle, to call a +new one into existence out of nothing is necessarily to add to the force +previously in the world. And, if this has been done in the case of every +individual who has been born, and is to be repeated for every individual +hereafter, the totality of force must be continually increasing. + +Moreover, to many devout persons there is something very revolting in +the suggestion that the Almighty is a servitor to the caprices and lusts +of man, and that, at a certain term after its origin, it is necessary +for him to create for the embryo a soul. + +Considering man as composed of two portions, a soul and a body, the +obvious relations of the latter may cast much light on the mysterious, +the obscure relations of the former. Now, the substance of which the +body consists is obtained from the general mass of matter around us, +and after death to that general mass it is restored. Has Nature, then, +displayed before our eyes in the origin, mutations, and destiny of the +material part, the body, a revelation that may guide us to a knowledge +of the origin and destiny of the companion, the spiritual part, the +soul? + +Let us listen for a moment to one of the most powerful of Mohammedan +writers: + +"God has created the spirit of man out of a drop of his own light; +its destiny is to return to him. Do not deceive yourself with the vain +imagination that it will die when the body dies. The form you had on +your entrance into this world, and your present form, are not the +same; hence there is no necessity of your perishing, on account of the +perishing of your body. Your spirit came into this world a stranger, it +is only sojourning, in a temporary home. From the trials and tempests +of this troublesome life, our refuge is in God. In reunion with him we +shall find eternal rest--a rest without sorrow, a joy without pain, a +strength without infirmity, a knowledge without doubt, a tranquil and +yet an ecstatic vision of the source of life and light and glory, the +source from which we came." So says the Saracen philosopher, Al-Gazzali +(A.D. 1010). + +In a stone the material particles are in a state of stable equilibrium; +it may, therefore, endure forever. An animal is in reality only a form +through which a stream of matter is incessantly flowing. It receives its +supplies, and dismisses its wastes. In this it resembles a cataract, +a river, a flame. The particles that compose it at one instant have +departed from it the next. It depends for its continuance on exterior +supplies. It has a definite duration in time, and an inevitable moment +comes in which it must die. + +In the great problem of psychology we cannot expect to reach a +scientific result, if we persist in restricting ourselves to the +contemplation of one fact. We must avail ourselves of all accessible +facts. Human psychology can never be completely resolved except through +comparative psychology. With Descartes, we must inquire whether the +souls of animals be relations of the human soul, less perfect members in +the same series of development. We must take account of what we discover +in the intelligent principle of the ant, as well as what we discern in +the intelligent principle of man. Where would human physiology be, if +it were not illuminated by the bright irradiations of comparative +physiology? + +Brodie, after an exhaustive consideration of the facts, affirms that +the mind of animals is essentially the same as that of man. Every one +familiar with the dog will admit that that creature knows right from +wrong, and is conscious when he has committed a fault. Many domestic +animals have reasoning powers, and employ proper means for the +attainment of ends. How numerous are the anecdotes related of the +intentional actions of the elephant and the ape! Nor is this apparent +intelligence due to imitation, to their association with man, for +wild animals that have no such relation exhibit similar properties. In +different species, the capacity and character greatly vary. Thus the dog +is not only more intelligent, but has social and moral qualities that +the cat does not possess; the former loves his master, the latter her +home. + +Du Bois-Reymond makes this striking remark: "With awe and wonder must +the student of Nature regard that microscopic molecule of nervous +substance which is the seat of the laborious, constructive, orderly, +loyal, dauntless soul of the ant. It has developed itself to its present +state through a countless series of generations." What an impressive +inference we may draw from the statement of Huber, who has written so +well on this subject: "If you will watch a single ant at work, you can +tell what he will next do!" He is considering the matter, and reasoning +as you are doing. Listen to one of the many anecdotes which Huber, at +once truthful and artless, relates: "On the visit of an overseer ant to +the works, when the laborers had begun the roof too soon, he examined it +and had it taken down, the wall raised to the proper height, and a new +ceiling constructed with the fragments of the old one." Surely these +insects are not automata, they show intention. They recognize their old +companions, who have been shut up from them for many months, and exhibit +sentiments of joy at their return. Their antennal language is capable +of manifold expression; it suits the interior of the nest, where all is +dark. + +While solitary insects do not live to raise their young, social insects +have a longer term, they exhibit moral affections and educate +their offspring. Patterns of patience and industry, some of these +insignificant creatures will work sixteen or eighteen hours a day. Few +men are capable of sustained mental application more than four or five +hours. + +Similarity of effects indicates similarity of causes; similarity of +actions demands similarity of organs. I would ask the reader of these +paragraphs, who is familiar with the habits of animals, and especially +with the social relations of that wonderful insect to which reference +has been made, to turn to the nineteenth chapter of my work on +the "Intellectual Development of Europe," in which he will find a +description of the social system of the Incas of Peru. Perhaps, then, in +view of the similarity of the social institutions and personal conduct +of the insect, and the social institutions and personal conduct of the +civilized Indian--the one an insignificant speck, the other a man--he +will not be disposed to disagree with me in the opinion that "from bees, +and wasps, and ants, and birds, from all that low animal life on which +he looks with supercilious contempt, man is destined one day to learn +what in truth he really is." + +The views of Descartes, who regarded all insects as automata, can +scarcely be accepted without modification. Insects are automata only +so far as the action of their ventral cord, and that portion of their +cephalic ganglia which deals with contemporaneous impressions, is +concerned. + +It is one of the functions of vesicular-nervous material to retain +traces or relics of impressions brought to it by the organs of sense; +hence, nervous ganglia, being composed of that material, may be +considered as registering apparatus. They also introduce the element +of time into the action of the nervous mechanism. An impression, which +without them might have forthwith ended in reflex action, is delayed, +and with this duration come all those important effects arising through +the interaction of many impressions, old and new, upon each other. + +There is no such thing as a spontaneous, or self-originated, thought. +Every intellectual act is the consequence of some preceding act. It +comes into existence in virtue of something that has gone before. Two +minds constituted precisely alike, and placed under the influence of +precisely the same environment, must give rise to precisely the same +thought. To such sameness of action we allude in the popular expression +"common-sense"--a term full of meaning. In the origination of a +thought there are two distinct conditions: the state of the organism +as dependent on antecedent impressions, and on the existing physical +circumstances. + +In the cephalic ganglia of insects are stored up the relics of +impressions that have been made upon the common peripheral nerves, and +in them are kept those which are brought in by the organs of special +sense--the visual, olfactive, auditory. The interaction of these raises +insects above mere mechanical automata, in which the reaction instantly +follows the impression. + +In all cases the action of every nerve-centre, no matter what its stage +of development may be, high or low, depends upon an essential chemical +condition--oxidation. Even in man, if the supply of arterial blood +be stopped but for a moment, the nerve-mechanism loses its power; if +diminished, it correspondingly declines; if, on the contrary, it +be increased--as when nitrogen monoxide is breathed--there is more +energetic action. Hence there arises a need of repair, a necessity for +rest and sleep. + +Two fundamental ideas are essentially attached to all our perceptions +of external things: they are SPACE and TIME, and for these provision is +made in the nervous mechanism while it is yet in an almost rudimentary +state. The eye is the organ of space, the ear of time; the perceptions +of which by the elaborate mechanism of these structures become +infinitely more precise than would be possible if the sense of touch +alone were resorted to. + +There are some simple experiments which illustrate the vestiges of +ganglionic impressions. If on a cold, polished metal, as a new razor, +any object, such as a wafer, be laid, and the metal be then breathed +upon, and, when the moisture has had time to disappear, the wafer be +thrown off, though now the most critical inspection of the polished +surface can discover no trace of any form, if we breathe once more upon +it, a spectral image of the wafer comes plainly into view; and this may +be done again and again. Nay, more, if the polished metal be carefully +put aside where nothing can deteriorate its surface, and be so kept for +many months, on breathing again upon it the shadowy form emerges. + +Such an illustration shows how trivial an impression may be thus +registered and preserved. But, if, on such an inorganic surface, an +impression may thus be indelibly marked, how much more likely in the +purposely-constructed ganglion! A shadow never falls upon a wall without +leaving thereupon a permanent trace, a trace which might be made visible +by resorting to proper processes. Photographic operations are cases in +point. The portraits of our friends, or landscape views, may be hidden +on the sensitive surface from the eye, but they are ready to make their +appearance as soon as proper developers are resorted to. A spectre is +concealed on a silver or glassy surface until, by our necromancy, we +make it come forth into the visible world. Upon the walls of our most +private apartments, where we think the eye of intrusion is altogether +shut out and our retirement can never be profaned, there exist the +vestiges of all our acts, silhouettes of whatever we have done. + +If, after the eyelids have been closed for some time, as when we +first awake in the morning, we suddenly and steadfastly gaze at a +brightly-illuminated object and then quickly close the lids again, a +phantom image is perceived in the indefinite darkness beyond us. We may +satisfy ourselves that this is not a fiction, but a reality, for many +details that we had not time to identify in the momentary glance may +be contemplated at our leisure in the phantom. We may thus make out the +pattern of such an object as a lace curtain hanging in the window, or +the branches of a tree beyond. By degrees the image becomes less and +less distinct; in a minute or two it has disappeared. It seems to have a +tendency to float away in the vacancy before us. If we attempt to follow +it by moving the eyeball, it suddenly vanishes. + +Such a duration of impressions on the retina proves that the effect of +external influences on nerve-vesicles is not necessarily transitory. +In this there is a correspondence to the duration, the emergence, the +extinction, of impressions on photographic preparations. Thus, I have +seen landscapes and architectural views taken in Mexico developed, as +artists say, months subsequently in New York--the images coming out, +after the long voyage, in all their proper forms and in all their proper +contrast of light and shade. The photograph had forgotten nothing. It +had equally preserved the contour of the everlasting mountains and the +passing smoke of a bandit-fire. + +Are there, then, contained in the brain more permanently, as in the +retina more transiently, the vestiges of impressions that have been +gathered by the sensory organs? Is this the explanation of memory--the +Mind contemplating such pictures of past things and events as have +been committed to her custody. In her silent galleries are there hung +micrographs of the living and the dead, of scenes that we have +visited, of incidents in which we have borne a part? Are these abiding +impressions mere signal-marks, like the letters of a book, which impart +ideas to the mind? or are they actual picture-images, inconceivably +smaller than those made for us by artists, in which, by the aid of a +microscope, we can see, in a space not bigger than a pinhole, a whole +family group at a glance? + +The phantom images of the retina are not perceptible in the light of the +day. Those that exist in the sensorium in like manner do not attract our +attention so long as the sensory organs are in vigorous operation, and +occupied in bringing new impressions in. But, when those organs become +weary or dull, or when we experience hours of great anxiety, or are +in twilight reveries, or are asleep, the latent apparitions have their +vividness increased by the contrast, and obtrude themselves on the +mind. For the same reason they occupy us in the delirium of fevers, and +doubtless also in the solemn moments of death. During a third part of +our life, in sleep, we are withdrawn from external influences; hearing +and sight and the other senses are inactive, but the never-sleeping Mind, +that pensive, that veiled enchantress, in her mysterious retirement, +looks over the ambrotypes she has collected--ambrotypes, for they are +truly unfading impressions--and, combining them together, as they chance +to occur, constructs from them the panorama of a dream. + +Nature has thus implanted in the organization of every man means which +impressively suggest to him the immortality of the soul and a future +life. Even the benighted savage thus sees in his visions the fading +forms of landscapes, which are, perhaps, connected with some of his +most pleasant recollections; and what other conclusion can be possibly +extract from those unreal pictures than that they are the foreshadowings +of another land beyond that in which his lot is cast? At intervals he is +visited in his dreams by the resemblances of those whom he has loved +or hated while they were alive; and these manifestations are to him +incontrovertible proofs of the existence and immortality of the soul. +In our most refined social conditions we are never able to shake off the +impressions of these occurrences, and are perpetually drawing from +them the same conclusions that our uncivilized ancestors did. Our more +elevated condition of life in no respect relieves us from the inevitable +operation of our own organization, any more than it relieves us from +infirmities and disease. In these respects, all over the globe men are +on an equality. Savage or civilized, we carry within us a mechanism +which presents us with mementoes of the most solemn facts with which we +can be concerned. It wants only moments of repose or sickness, when the +influence of external things is diminished, to come into full play, and +these are precisely the moments when we are best prepared for the truths +it is going to suggest. That mechanism is no respecter of persons. It +neither permits the haughtiest to be free from the monitions, nor leaves +the humblest without the consolation of a knowledge of another life. +Open to no opportunities of being tampered with by the designing or +interested, requiring no extraneous human agency for its effect, +out always present with every man wherever he may go, it marvelously +extracts from vestiges of the impressions of the past overwhelming +proofs of the realities of the future, and, gathering its power from +what would seem to be a most unlikely source, it insensibly leads us, no +matter who or where we may be, to a profound belief in the immortal and +imperishable, from phantoms which have scarcely made their appearance +before they are ready to vanish away. + +The insect differs from a mere automaton in this, that it is influenced +by old, by registered impressions. In the higher forms of animated life +that registration becomes more and more complete, memory becomes more +perfect. There is not any necessary resemblance between an external form +and its ganglionic impression, any more than there is between the words +of a message delivered in a telegraphic office and the signals which +the telegraph may give to the distant station; any more than there +is between the letters of a printed page and the acts or scenes they +describe, but the letters call up with clearness to the mind of the +reader the events and scenes. + +An animal without any apparatus for the retention of impressions must +be a pure automaton--it cannot have memory. From insignificant and +uncertain beginnings, such an apparatus is gradually evolved, and, as +its development advances, the intellectual capacity increases. In man, +this retention or registration reaches perfection; he guides, himself by +past as well as by present impressions; he is influenced by experience; +his conduct is determined by reason. + +A most important advance is made when the capability is acquired by any +animal of imparting a knowledge of the impressions stored up in its own +nerve-centres to another of the same kind. This marks the extension of +individual into social life, and indeed is essential thereto. In the +higher insects it is accomplished by antennal contacts, in man by +speech. Humanity, in its earlier, its savage stages, was limited to +this: the knowledge of one person could be transmitted to another by +conversation. The acts and thoughts of one generation could be imparted +to another, and influence its acts and thoughts. + +But tradition has its limit. The faculty of speech makes society +possible--nothing more. + +Not without interest do we remark the progress of development of +this function. The invention of the art of writing gave extension and +durability to the registration or record of impressions. These, which +had hitherto been stored up in the brain of one man, might now be +imparted to the whole human race, and be made to endure forever. +Civilization became possible--for civilization cannot exist without +writing, or the means of record in some shape. + +From this psychological point of view we perceive the real significance +of the invention of printing--a development of writing which, by +increasing the rapidity of the diffusion of ideas, and insuring their +permanence, tends to promote civilization and to unify the human race. + +In the foregoing paragraphs, relating to nervous impressions, their +registry, and the consequences, that spring from them, I have given an +abstract of views presented in my work on "Human Physiology," published +in 1856, and may, therefore, refer the reader to the chapter on "Inverse +Vision, or Cerebral Sight;" to Chapter XIV., Book I.; and to Chapter +VIII., Book II.; of that work, for other particulars. + + +The only path to scientific human psychology is through comparative +psychology. It is a long and wearisome path, but it leads to truth. + +Is there, then, a vast spiritual existence pervading the universe, even +as there is a vast existence of matter pervading it--a spirit which, +as a great German author tells us, "sleeps in the stone, dreams in the +animal, awakes in man?" Does the soul arise from the one as the body +arises from the other? Do they in like manner return, each to the source +from which it has come? If so, we can interpret human existence, and our +ideas may still be in unison with scientific truth, and in accord with +our conception of the stability, the unchangeability of the universe. + +To this spiritual existence the Saracens, following Eastern nations, +gave the designation "the Active Intellect." They believed that the soul +of man emanated from it, as a rain-drop comes from the sea, and, after a +season, returns. So arose among them the imposing doctrines of emanation +and absorption. The active intellect is God. + +In one of its forms, as we have seen, this idea was developed by Chakia +Mouni, in India, in a most masterly manner, and embodied in the vast +practical system of Buddhism; in another, it was with less power +presented among the Saracens by Averroes. + +But, perhaps we ought rather to say that Europeans hold Averroes as +the author of this doctrine, because they saw him isolated from his +antecedents. But Mohammedans gave him little credit for originality. +He stood to them in the light of a commentator on Aristotle, and as +presenting the opinions of the Alexandrian and other philosophical +schools up to his time. The following excerpts from the "Historical +Essay on Averroism," by M. Renan, will show how closely the Sarscenic +ideas approached those presented above: + +This system supposes that, at the death of an individual, his +intelligent principle or soul no longer possesses a separate existence, +but returns to or is absorbed in the universal mind, the active +intelligence, the mundane soul, which is God; from whom, indeed, it had +originally emanated or issued forth. + +The universal, or active, or objective intellect, is uncreated, +impassible, incorruptible, has neither beginning nor end; nor does it +increase as the number of individual souls increases. It is altogether +separate from matter. It is, as it were, a cosmic principle. This +oneness of the active intellect, or reason, is the essential principle +of the Averroistic theory, and is in harmony with the cardinal doctrine +of Mohammedanism--the unity of God. + +The individual, or passive, or subjective intellect, is an emanation +from the universal, and constitutes what is termed the soul of man. In +one sense it is perishable and ends with the body, but in a higher +sense it endures; for, after death, it returns to or is absorbed in the +universal soul, and thus of all human souls there remains at last +but one--the aggregate of them all, life is not the property of the +individual, it belongs to Nature. The end of, man is to enter into union +more and more complete with the active intellect--reason. In that the +happiness of the soul consists. Our destiny is quietude. It was the +opinion of Averroes that the transition from the individual to the +universal is instantaneous at death, but the Buddhists maintain that +human personality continues in a declining manner for a certain term +before nonentity, or Nirwana, is attained. + +Philosophy has never proposed but two hypotheses to explain the system +of the world: first, a personal God existing apart, and a human soul +called into existence or created, and thenceforth immortal; second, an +impersonal intelligence, or indeterminate God, and a soul emerging from +and returning to him. As to the origin of beings, there are two opposite +opinions: first, that they are created from nothing; second, that they +come by development from pre-existing forms. The theory of creation +belongs to the first of the above hypotheses, that of evolution to the +last. + +Philosophy among the Arabs thus took the same direction that it had +taken in China, in India, and indeed throughout the East. Its whole +spirit depended on the admission of the indestructibility of matter and +force. It saw an analogy between the gathering of the material of which +the body of man consists from the vast store of matter in Nature, and +its final restoration to that store, and the emanation of the spirit +of man from the universal Intellect, the Divinity, and its final +reabsorption. + + +Having thus indicated in sufficient detail the philosophical +characteristics of the doctrine of emanation and absorption, I have in +the next place to relate its history. It was introduced into Europe by +the Spanish Arabs. Spain was the focal point from which, issuing forth, +it affected the ranks of intelligence and fashion all over Europe, and +in Spain it had a melancholy end. + +The Spanish khalifs had surrounded themselves with all the luxuries +of Oriental life. They had magnificent palaces, enchanting gardens, +seraglios filled with beautiful women. Europe at the present day does +not offer more taste, more refinement, more elegance, than might have +been seen, at the epoch of which we are speaking, in the capitals of the +Spanish Arabs. Their streets were lighted and solidly paved. The houses +were frescoed and carpeted; they were warmed in winter by furnaces, and +cooled in summer with perfumed air brought by underground pipes from +flower-beds. They had baths, and libraries, and dining-halls, fountains +of quicksilver and water. City and country were full of conviviality, +and of dancing to the lute and mandolin. Instead of the drunken and +gluttonous wassail orgies of their Northern neighbors, the feasts of the +Saracens were marked by sobriety. Wine was prohibited. The enchanting +moonlight evenings of Andalusia were spent by the Moors in sequestered, +fairy-like gardens or in orange-groves, listening to the romances of +the story-teller, or engaged in philosophical discourse; consoling +themselves for the disappointments of this life by such reflections +as that, if virtue were rewarded in this world, we should be without +expectations in the life to come; and reconciling themselves to their +daily toil by the expectation that rest will be found after death--a +rest never to be succeeded by labor. + +In the tenth century the Khalif Hakein II. had made beautiful Andalusia +the paradise of the world. Christians, Mussulmen, Jews, mixed together +without restraint. There, among many celebrated names that have +descended to our times, was Gerbert, destined subsequently to +become pope. There, too, was Peter the Venerable, and many Christian +ecclesiastics. Peter says that he found learned men even from Britain +pursuing astronomy. All learned men, no matter from what country they +came, or what their religious views, were welcomed. The khalif had in +his palace a manufactory of books, and copyists, binders, illuminators. +He kept book-buyers in all the great cities of Asia and Africa. His +library contained four hundred thousand volumes, superbly bound and +illuminated. + +Throughout the Mohammedan dominions in Asia, in Africa, and in Spain, +the lower order of Mussulmen entertained a fanatical hatred against +learning. Among the more devout--those who claimed to be orthodox--there +were painful doubts as to the salvation of the great Khalif +Al-Mamun--the wicked khalif, as they called him--for he had not only +disturbed the people by introducing the writings of Aristotle and other +Greek heathens, but had even struck at the existence of heaven and +hell by saying that the earth is a globe, and pretending that he could +measure its size. These persons, from their numbers, constituted a +political power. + +Almansor, who usurped the khalifate to the prejudice of Hakem's son, +thought that his usurpation would be sustained if he put himself at +the head of the orthodox party. He therefore had the library of Hakem +searched, and all works of a scientific or philosophical nature carried +into the public places and burnt, or thrown into the cisterns of the +palace. By a similar court revolution Averroes, in his old age--he died +A.D. 1193--was expelled from Spain; the religious party had triumphed +over the philosophical. He was denounced as a traitor to religion. +An opposition to philosophy had been organized all over the Mussulman +world. There was hardly a philosopher who was not punished. Some +were put to death, and the consequence was, that Islam was full of +hypocrites. + +Into Italy, Germany, England, Averroism had silently made its way. +It found favor in the eyes of the Franciscans, and a focus in the +University of Paris. By very many of the leading minds it had been +accepted. But at length the Dominicans, the rivals of the Franciscans, +sounded an alarm. They said it destroys all personality, conducts +to fatalism, and renders inexplicable the difference and progress +of individual intelligences. The declaration that there is but one +intellect is an error subversive of the merits of the saints, it is +an assertion that there is no difference among men. What! is there no +difference between the holy soul of Peter and the damned soul of Judas? +are they identical? Averroes in this his blasphemous doctrine denies +creation, providence, revelation, the Trinity, the efficacy of prayers, +of alms, and of litanies; he disbelieves in the resurrection and +immortality; he places the summum bonum in mere pleasure. + +So, too, among the Jews who were then the leading intellects of the +world, Averroism had been largely propagated. Their great writer +Maimonides had thoroughly accepted it; his school was spreading it in +all directions. A furious persecution arose on the part of the orthodox +Jews. Of Maimonides it had been formerly their delight to declare that +he was "the Eagle of the Doctors, the Great Sage, the Glory of the West, +the Light of the East, second only to Moses." Now, they proclaimed that +he had abandoned the faith of Abraham; had denied the possibility of +creation, believed in the eternity of the world; had given himself up to +the manufacture of atheists; had deprived God of his attributes; made a +vacuum of him; had declared him inaccessible to prayer, and a stranger +to the government of the world. The works of Maimonides were committed +to the flames by the synagogues of Montpellier, Barcelona, and Toledo. + +Scarcely had the conquering arms of Ferdinand and Isabella overthrown +the Arabian dominion in Spain, when measures were taken by the papacy +to extinguish these opinions, which, it was believed, were undermining +European Christianity. + +Until Innocent IV. (1243), there was no special tribunal against +heretics, distinct from those of the bishops. The Inquisition, then +introduced, in accordance with the centralization of the times, was +a general and papal tribunal, which displaced the old local ones. +The bishops, therefore, viewed the innovation with great dislike, +considering it as an intrusion on their rights. It was established in +Italy, Spain, Germany, and the southern provinces of France. + +The temporal sovereigns were only too desirous to make use of this +powerful engine for their own political purposes. Against this the popes +strongly protested. They were not willing that its use should pass out +of the ecclesiastical hand. + +The Inquisition, having already been tried in the south of France, had +there proved to be very effective for the suppression of heresy. It had +been introduced into Aragon. Now was assigned to it the duty of dealing +with the Jews. + +In the old times under Visigothic rule these people had greatly +prospered, but the leniency that had been shown to them was succeeded by +atrocious persecution, when the Visigoths abandoned their Arianism and +became orthodox. The most inhuman ordinances were issued against them--a +law was enacted condemning them all to be slaves. It was not to be +wondered at that, when the Saracen invasion took place, the Jews did +whatever they could to promote its success. They, like the Arabs, were +an Oriental people, both traced their lineage to Abraham, their common +ancestor; both were believers in the unity of God. It was their +defense of that doctrine that had brought upon them the hatred of their +Visigothic masters. + +Under the Saracen rule they were treated with the highest consideration. +They became distinguished for their wealth and their learning. For +the most part they were Aristotelians. They founded many schools and +colleges. Their mercantile interests led them to travel all over the +world. They particularly studied the science of medicine. Throughout the +middle ages they were the physicians and bankers of Europe. Of all men +they saw the course of human affairs from the most elevated point of +view. Among the special sciences they became proficient in mathematics +and astronomy; they composed the tables of Alfonso, and were the cause +of the voyage of De Gama. They distinguished themselves greatly in light +literature. From the tenth to the fourteenth century their literature +was the first in Europe. They were to be found in the courts of princes +as physicians, or as treasurers managing the public finances. + +The orthodox clergy in Navarre had excited popular prejudices against +them. To escape the persecutions that arose, many of them feigned to +turn Christians, and of these many apostatized to their former +faith. The papal nuncio at the court of Castile raised a cry for the +establishment of the Inquisition. The poorer Jews were accused of +sacrificing Christian children at the Passover, in mockery of the +crucifixion; the richer were denounced as Averroists. Under the +influence of Torquemada, a Dominican monk, the confessor of Queen +Isabella, that princess solicited a bull from the pope for the +establishment of the Holy Office. A bull was accordingly issued in +November, 1478, for the detection and suppression of heresy. In the +first year of the operation of the Inquisition, 1481, two thousand +victims were burnt in Andalusia; besides these, many thousands were dug +up from their graves and burnt; seventeen thousand were fined or +imprisoned for life. Whoever of the persecuted race could flee, escaped +for his life. Torquemada, now appointed inquisitor-general for Castile +and Leon, illustrated his office by his ferocity. Anonymous accusations +were received, the accused was not confronted by witnesses, torture was +relied upon for conviction; it was inflicted in vaults where no one +could hear the cries of the tormented. As, in pretended mercy, it was +forbidden to inflict torture a second time, with horrible duplicity it +was affirmed that the torment had not been completed at first, but had +only been suspended out of charity until the following day! The families +of the convicted were plunged into irretrievable ruin. Llorente, the +historian of the Inquisition, computes that Torquemada and his +collaborators, in the course of eighteen years, burnt at the stake ten +thousand two hundred and twenty persons, six thousand eight hundred and +sixty in effigy, and otherwise punished ninety-seven thousand three +hundred and twenty-one. This frantic priest destroyed Hebrew Bibles +wherever he could find them, And burnt six thousand volumes of Oriental +literature at Salamanca, under an imputation that they inculcated +Judaism. With unutterable disgust and indignation, we learn that the +papal government realized much money by selling to the rich +dispensations to secure them from the Inquisition. + +But all these frightful atrocities proved failures. The conversions +were few. Torquemada, therefore, insisted on the immediate banishment +of every unbaptized Jew. On March 30, 1492, the edict of expulsion was +signed. All unbaptized Jews, of whatever age, sex, or condition, were +ordered to leave the realm by the end of the following July. If they +revisited it, they should suffer death. They might sell their effects +and take the proceeds in merchandise or bills of exchange, but not in +gold or silver. Exiled thus suddenly from the land of their birth, the +land of their ancestors for hundreds of years, they could not in +the glutted market that arose sell what they possessed. Nobody would +purchase what could be got for nothing after July. The Spanish clergy +occupied themselves by preaching in the public squares sermons filled +with denunciations against their victims, who, when the time for +expatriation came, swarmed in the roads and filled the air with their +cries of despair. Even the Spanish onlookers wept at the scene of agony. +Torquemada, however, enforced the ordinance that no one should afford +them any help. + +Of the banished persons some made their way into Africa, some into +Italy; the latter carried with them to Naples ship-fever, which +destroyed not fewer than twenty thousand in that city, and devastated +that peninsula; some reached Turkey, a few England. Thousands, +especially mothers with nursing children, infants, and old people, died +by the way; many of them in the agonies of thirst. + +This action against the Jews was soon followed by one against the Moors. +A pragmatica was issued at Seville, February, 1502, setting forth the +obligations of the Castilians to drive the enemies of God from the land, +and ordering that all unbaptized Moors in the kingdoms of Castile and +Leon above the age of infancy should leave the country by the end of +April. They might sell their property, but not take away any gold or +silver; they were forbidden to emigrate to the Mohammedan dominions; the +penalty of disobedience was death. Their condition was thus worse than +that of the Jews, who had been permitted to go where they chose. Such +was the fiendish intolerance of the Spaniards, that they asserted the +government would be justified in taking the lives of all the Moors for +their shameless infidelity. + +What an ungrateful return for the toleration that the Moors in their +day of power had given to the Christians! No faith was kept with the +victims. Granada had surrendered under the solemn guarantee of the full +enjoyment of civil and religious liberty. At the instigation of +Cardinal Ximenes that pledge was broken, and, after a residence of eight +centuries, the Mohammedans were driven out of the land. + + +The coexistence of three religions in Andalusia--the Christian, the +Mohammedan, the Mosaic--had given opportunity for the development of +Averroism or philosophical Arabism. This was a repetition of what had +occurred at Rome, when the gods of all the conquered countries were +confronted in that capital, and universal disbelief in them all ensued. +Averroes himself was accused of having been first a Mussulman, then a +Christian, then a Jew, and finally a misbeliever. It was affirmed that +he was the author of the mysterious book "De Tribus Impostoribus." + +In the middle ages there were two celebrated heretical books, "The +Everlasting Gospel," and the "De Tribus Impostoribus." The latter was +variously imputed to Pope Gerbert, to Frederick II., and to Averroes. +In their unrelenting hatred the Dominicans fastened all the blasphemies +current in those times on Averroes; they never tired of recalling the +celebrated and outrageous one respecting the eucharist. His writings had +first been generally made known to Christian Europe by the translation +of Michael Scot in the beginning of the thirteenth century, but long +before his time the literature of the West, like that of Asia, was full +of these ideas. We have seen how broadly they were set forth by Erigena. +The Arabians, from their first cultivation of philosophy, had been +infected by them; they were current in all the colleges of the three +khalifates. Considered not as a mode of thought, that will spontaneously +occur to all men at a certain stage of intellectual development, but as +having originated with Aristotle, they continually found favor with men +of the highest culture. We see them in Robert Grostete, in Roger Bacon, +and eventually in Spinoza. Averroes was not their inventor, he merely +gave them clearness and expression. Among the Jews of the thirteenth +century, he had completely supplanted his imputed master. Aristotle had +passed away from their eyes; his great commentator, Averroes, stood in +his place. So numerous were the converts to the doctrine of emanation +in Christendom, that Pope Alexander IV. (1255) found it necessary to +interfere. By his order, Albertus Magnus composed a work against the +"Unity of the Intellect." Treating of the origin and nature of the +soul, he attempted to prove that the theory of "a separate intellect, +enlightening man by irradiation anterior to the individual and surviving +the individual, is a detestable error." But the most illustrious +antagonist of the great commentator was St. Thomas Aquinas, the +destroyer of all such heresies as the unity of the intellect, the denial +of Providence, the impossibility of creation; the victories of "the +Angelic Doctor" were celebrated not only in the disputations of the +Dominicans, but also in the works of art of the painters of Florence +and Pisa. The indignation of that saint knew no bounds when Christians +became the disciples of an infidel, who was worse than a Mohammedan. +The wrath of the Dominicans, the order to which St. Thomas belonged, was +sharpened by the fact that their rivals, the Franciscans, inclined to +Averroistic views; and Dante, who leaned to the Dominicans, denounced +Averroes as the author of a most dangerous system. The theological odium +of all three dominant religions was put upon him; he was pointed out +as the originator of the atrocious maxim that "all religions are false, +although all are probably useful." An attempt was made at the Council +of Vienne to have his writings absolutely suppressed, and to forbid all +Christians reading them. The Dominicans, armed with the weapons of +the Inquisition, terrified Christian Europe with their unrelenting +persecutions. They imputed all the infidelity of the times to the +Arabian philosopher. But he was not without support. In Paris and in the +cities of Northern Italy the Franciscans sustained his views, and all +Christendom was agitated with these disputes. + +Under the inspiration of the Dominicans, Averroes became to the Italian +painters the emblem of unbelief. Many of the Italian towns had pictures +or frescoes of the Day of Judgment and of Hell. In these Averroes not +unfrequently appears. Thus, in one at Pisa, he figures with Arius, +Mohammed, and Antichrist. In another he is represented as overthrown by +St. Thomas. He had become an essential element in the triumphs of the +great Dominican doctor. He continued thus to be familiar to the Italian +painters until the sixteenth century. His doctrines were maintained in +the University of Padua until the seventeenth. + +Such is, in brief, the history of Averroism as it invaded Europe from +Spain. Under the auspices of Frederick II., it, in a less imposing +manner, issued from Sicily. That sovereign bad adopted it fully. In his +"Sicilian Questions" he had demanded light on the eternity of the world, +and on the nature of the soul, and supposed he had found it in the +replies of Ibn Sabin, an upholder of these doctrines. But in his +conflict with the papacy be was overthrown, and with him these heresies +were destroyed. + +In Upper Italy, Averroism long maintained its ground. It was so +fashionable in high Venetian society that every gentleman felt +constrained to profess it. At length the Church took decisive action +against it. The Lateran Council, A.D. 1512, condemned the abettors of +these detestable doctrines to be held as heretics and infidels. As +we have seen, the late Vatican Council has anathematized them. +Notwithstanding that stigma, it is to be borne in mind that these +opinions are held to be true by a majority of the human race. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + CONFLICT RESPECTING THE NATURE OF THE WORLD. + + Scriptural view of the world: the earth a flat surface; + location of heaven and hell. + + Scientific view: the earth a globe; its size determined; its + position in and relations to the solar system.--The three + great voyages.--Columbus, De Gama, Magellan.-- + Circumnavigation of the earth.--Determination of its + curvature by the measurement of a degree and by the + pendulum. + + The discoveries of Copernicus.--Invention of the telescope.-- + Galileo brought before the Inquisition.--His punishment.-- + Victory over the Church. + + Attempts to ascertain the dimensions of the solar system.-- + Determination of the sun's parallax by the transits of + Venus.--Insignificance, of the earth and man. + + Ideas respecting the dimensions of the universe.--Parallax + of the stars.--The plurality of worlds asserted by Bruno.-- + He is seized and murdered by the Inquisition. + + +I HAVE now to present the discussions that arose respecting the third +great philosophical problem--the nature of the world. + +An uncritical observation of the aspect of Nature persuades us that the +earth is an extended level surface which sustains the dome of the sky, +a firmament dividing the waters above from the waters beneath; that the +heavenly bodies--the sun, the moon, the stars--pursue their way, +moving from east to west, their insignificant size and motion round the +motionless earth proclaiming their inferiority. Of the various organic +forms surrounding man none rival him in dignity, and hence he seems +justified in concluding that every thing has been created for his +use--the sun for the purpose of giving him light by day, the moon and +stars by night. + +Comparative theology shows us that this is the conception of Nature +universally adopted in the early phase of intellectual life. It is the +belief of all nations in all parts of the world in the beginning of +their civilization: geocentric, for it makes the earth the centre of the +universe; anthropocentric, for it makes man the central object of the +earth. And not only is this the conclusion spontaneously come to from +inconsiderate glimpses of the world, it is also the philosophical basis +of various religious revelations, vouchsafed to man from time to time. +These revelations, moreover, declare to him that above the crystalline +dome of the sky is a region of eternal light and happiness--heaven--the +abode of God and the angelic hosts, perhaps also his own abode after +death; and beneath the earth a region of eternal darkness and misery, +the habitation of those that are evil. In the visible world is thus seen +a picture of the invisible. + +On the basis of this view of the structure of the world great religious +systems have been founded, and hence powerful material interests have +been engaged in its support. These have resisted, sometimes by resorting +to bloodshed, attempts that have been made to correct its incontestable +errors--a resistance grounded on the suspicion that the localization of +heaven and hell and the supreme value of man in the universe might be +affected. + +That such attempts would be made was inevitable. As soon as men began +to reason on the subject at all, they could not fail to discredit the +assertion that the earth is an indefinite plane. No one can doubt that +the sun we see to-day is the self-same sun that we saw yesterday. His +reappearance each morning irresistibly suggests that he has passed on +the underside of the earth. But this is incompatible with the reign of +night in those regions. It presents more or less distinctly the idea of +the globular form of the earth. + +The earth cannot extend indefinitely downward; for the sun cannot go +through it, nor through any crevice or passage in it, Since he rises and +sets in different positions at different seasons of the year. The stars +also move under it in countless courses. There must, therefore, be a +clear way beneath. + +To reconcile revelation with these innovating facts, schemes, such +as that of Cosmas Indicopleustes in his Christian Topography, were +doubtless often adopted. To this in particular we have had occasion on a +former page to refer. It asserted that in the northern parts of the flat +earth there is an immense mountain, behind which the sun passes, and +thus produces night. + +At a very remote historical period the mechanism of eclipses had been +discovered. Those of the moon demonstrated that the shadow of the earth +is always circular. The form of the earth must therefore be globular. +A body which in all positions casts a circular shadow must itself be +spherical. Other considerations, with which every one is now familiar, +could not fail to establish that such is her figure. + +But the determination of the shape of the earth by no means deposed +her from her position of superiority. Apparently vastly larger than all +other things, it was fitting that she should be considered not merely as +the centre of the world, but, in truth, as--the world. All other objects +in their aggregate seemed utterly unimportant in comparison with her. + +Though the consequences flowing from an admission of the globular figure +of the earth affected very profoundly existing theological ideas, they +were of much less moment than those depending on a determination of her +size. It needed but an elementary knowledge of geometry to perceive that +correct ideas on this point could be readily obtained by measuring a +degree on her surface. Probably there were early attempts to accomplish +this object, the results of which have been lost. But Eratosthenes +executed one between Syene and Alexandria, in Egypt, Syene being +supposed to be exactly under the tropic of Cancer. The two places are, +however, not on the same meridian, and the distance between them was +estimated, not measured. Two centuries later, Posidonius made another +attempt between Alexandria and Rhodes; the bright star Canopus just +grazed the horizon at the latter place, at Alexandria it rose 7 1/2 +degrees. In this instance, also, since the direction lay across the sea, +the distance was estimated, not measured. Finally, as we have already +related, the Khalif Al-Mamun made two sets of measures, one on the shore +of the Red Sea, the other near Cufa, in Mesopotamia. The general result +of these various observations gave for the earth's diameter between +seven and eight thousand miles. + +This approximate determination of the size of the earth tended to +depose her from her dominating position, and gave rise to very serious +theological results. In this the ancient investigations of Aristarchus +of Samos, one of the Alexandrian school, 280 B.C., powerfully aided. +In his treatise on the magnitudes and distances of the sun and moon, he +explains the ingenious though imperfect method to which he had resorted +for the solution of that problem. Many ages previously a speculation had +been brought from India to Europe by Pythagoras. It presented the sun +as the centre of the system. Around him the planets revolved in circular +orbits, their order of position being Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, +Jupiter, Saturn, each of them being supposed to rotate on its axis as it +revolved round the sun. According to Cicero, Nicetas suggested that, +if it were admitted that the earth revolves on her axis, the difficulty +presented by the inconceivable velocity of the heavens would be avoided. + +There is reason to believe that the works of Aristarchus, in the +Alexandrian Library, were burnt at the time of the fire of Caesar. The +only treatise of his that has come down to us is that above mentioned, +on the size and distance of the sun and moon. + +Aristarchus adopted the Pythagorean system as representing the actual +facts. This was the result of a recognition of the sun's amazing +distance, and therefore of his enormous size. The heliocentric system, +thus regarding the sun as the central orb, degraded the earth to a very +subordinate rank, making her only one of a company of six revolving +bodies. + +But this is not the only contribution conferred on astronomy by +Aristarchus, for, considering that the movement of the earth does not +sensibly affect the apparent position of the stars, he inferred that +they are incomparably more distant from us than the sun. He, therefore, +of all the ancients, as Laplace remarks, had the most correct ideas of +the grandeur of the universe. He saw that the earth is of absolutely +insignificant size, when compared with the stellar distances. He saw, +too, that there is nothing above us but space and stars. + +But the views of Aristarchus, as respects the emplacement of the +planetary bodies, were not accepted by antiquity; the system proposed by +Ptolemy, and incorporated in his "Syntaxis," was universally preferred. +The physical philosophy of those times was very imperfect--one of +Ptolemy's objections to the Pythagorean system being that, if the earth +were in motion, it would leave the air and other light bodies behind it. +He therefore placed the earth in the central position, and in succession +revolved round her the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, +Saturn; beyond the orbit of Saturn came the firmament of the fixed +stars. As to the solid crystalline spheres, one moving from east to +west, the other from north to south, these were a fancy of Eudoxus, to +which Ptolemy does not allude. + +The Ptolemaic system is, therefore, essentially a geocentric system. It +left the earth in her position of superiority, and hence gave no cause +of umbrage to religious opinions, Christian or Mohammedan. The immense +reputation of its author, the signal ability of his great work on the +mechanism of the heavens, sustained it for almost fourteen hundred +years--that is, from the second to the sixteenth century. + +In Christendom, the greater part of this long period was consumed +in disputes respecting the nature of God, and in struggles for +ecclesiastical power. The authority of the Fathers, and the prevailing +belief that the Scriptures contain the sum, of all knowledge, +discouraged any investigation of Nature. If by chance a passing interest +was taken in some astronomical question, it was at once settled by +a reference to such authorities as the writings of Augustine or +Lactantius, not by an appeal to the phenomena of the heavens. So +great was the preference given to sacred over profane learning that +Christianity had been in existence fifteen hundred years, and had not +produced a single astronomer. + +The Mohammedan nations did much better. Their cultivation of science +dates from the capture of Alexandria, A.D. 638. This was only six years +after the death of the Prophet. In less than two centuries they had +not only become acquainted with, but correctly appreciated, the Greek +scientific writers. As we have already mentioned, by his treaty with +Michael III., the khalif Al-Mamun had obtained a copy of the "Syntaxis" +of Ptolemy. He had it forthwith translated into Arabic. It became at +once the great authority of Saracen astronomy. From this basis the +Saracens had advanced to the solution of some of the most important +scientific problems. They had ascertained the dimensions of the earth; +they had registered or catalogued all the stars visible in their +heavens, giving to those of the larger magnitudes the names they still +bear on our maps and globes; they determined the true length of the +year, discovered astronomical refraction, invented the pendulum-clock, +improved the photometry of the stars, ascertained the curvilinear +path of a ray of light through the air, explained the phenomena of the +horizontal sun and moon, and why we see those bodies before they have +risen and after they have set; measured the height of the atmosphere, +determining it to be fifty-eight miles; given the true theory of the +twilight, and of the twinkling of the stars. They had built the first +observatory in Europe. So accurate were they in their observations, that +the ablest modern mathematicians have made use of their results. +Thus Laplace, in his "Systeme du Monde," adduces the observations of +Al-Batagni as affording incontestable proof of the diminution of the +eccentricity of the earth's orbit. He uses those of Ibn-Junis in his +discussion of the obliquity of the ecliptic, and also in the case of the +problems of the greater inequalities of Jupiter and Saturn. + +These represent but a part, and indeed but a small part, of the services +rendered by the Arabian astronomers, in the solution of the problem of +the nature of the world. Meanwhile, such was the benighted condition of +Christendom, such its deplorable ignorance, that it cared nothing +about the matter. Its attention was engrossed by image-worship, +transubstantiation, the merits of the saints, miracles, shrine-cures. + +This indifference continued until the close of the fifteenth century. +Even then there was no scientific inducement. The inciting motives were +altogether of a different kind. They originated in commercial rivalries, +and the question of the shape of the earth was finally settled by three +sailors, Columbus, De Gama, and, above all, by Ferdinand Magellan. + +The trade of Eastern Asia has always been a source of immense wealth to +the Western nations who in succession have obtained it. In the middle +ages it had centred in Upper Italy. It was conducted along two lines--a +northern, by way of the Black and Caspian Seas, and camel-caravans +beyond--the headquarters of this were at Genoa; and a southern, through +the Syrian and Egyptian ports, and by the Arabian Sea, the headquarters +of this being at Venice. The merchants engaged in the latter traffic had +also made great gains in the transport service of the Crusade-wars. + +The Venetians had managed to maintain amicable relations with the +Mohammedan powers of Syria and Egypt; they were permitted to have +consulates at Alexandria and Damascus, and, notwithstanding the military +commotions of which those countries had been the scene, the trade was +still maintained in a comparatively flourishing condition. But the +northern or Genoese line had been completely broken up by the +irruptions of the Tartars and the Turks, and the military and political +disturbances of the countries through which it passed. The Eastern trade +of Genoa was not merely in a precarious condition--it was on the brink +of destruction. + +The circular visible horizon and its dip at sea, the gradual appearance +and disappearance of ships in the offing, cannot fail to incline +intelligent sailors to a belief in the globular figure of the earth. +The writings of the Mohammedan astronomers and philosophers had given +currency to that doctrine throughout Western Europe, but, as might be +expected, it was received with disfavor by theologians. When Genoa was +thus on the very brink of ruin, it occurred to some of her mariners +that, if this view were correct, her affairs might be re-established. +A ship sailing through the straits of Gibraltar westward, across the +Atlantic, would not fail to reach the East Indies. There were apparently +other great advantages. Heavy cargoes might be transported without +tedious and expensive land-carriage, and without breaking bulk. + +Among the Genoese sailors who entertained these views was Christopher +Columbus. + +He tells us that his attention was drawn to this subject by the writings +of Averroes, but among his friends he numbered Toscanelli, a Florentine, +who had turned his attention to astronomy, and had become a strong +advocate of the globular form. In Genoa itself Columbus met with but +little encouragement. He then spent many years in trying to interest +different princes in his proposed attempt. Its irreligious tendency was +pointed out by the Spanish ecclesiastics, and condemned by the Council +of Salamanca; its orthodoxy was confuted from the Pentateuch, the +Psalms, the Prophecies, the Gospels, the Epistles, and the writings of +the Fathers--St. Chrysostom, St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. Gregory, St. +Basil, St Ambrose. + +At length, however, encouraged by the Spanish Queen Isabella, and +substantially aided by a wealthy seafaring family, the Pinzons of Palos, +some of whom joined him personally, he sailed on August 3, 1492, with +three small ships, from Palos, carrying with him a letter from King +Ferdinand to the Grand-Khan of Tartary, and also a chart, or map, +constructed on the basis of that of Toscanelli. A little before +midnight, October 11, 1492, he saw from the forecastle of his ship a +moving light at a distance. Two hours subsequently a signal-gun from +another of the ships announced that they had descried land. At sunrise +Columbus landed in the New World. + +On his return to Europe it was universally supposed that he had reached +the eastern parts of Asia, and that therefore his voyage had been +theoretically successful. Columbus himself died in that belief. But +numerous voyages which were soon undertaken made known the general +contour of the American coast-line, and the discovery of the Great South +Sea by Balboa revealed at length the true facts of the case, and the +mistake into which both Toscanelli and Columbus had fallen, that in a +voyage to the West the distance from Europe to Asia could not exceed +the distance passed over in a voyage from Italy to the Gulf of Guinea--a +voyage that Columbus had repeatedly made. + +In his first voyage, at nightfall on September 13, 1492, being then two +and a half degrees east of Corvo, one of the Azores, Columbus observed +that the compass needles of the ships no longer pointed a little to the +east of north, but were varying to the west. The deviation became more +and more marked as the expedition advanced. He was not the first to +detect the fact of variation, but he was incontestably the first to +discover the line of no variation. On the return-voyage the reverse +was observed; the variation westward diminished until the meridian in +question was reached, when the needles again pointed due north. Thence, +as the coast of Europe was approached, the variation was to the +east. Columbus, therefore, came to the conclusion that the line of +no variation was a fixed geographical line, or boundary, between +the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. In the bull of May, 1493, Pope +Alexander VI. accordingly adopted this line as the perpetual boundary +between the possessions of Spain and Portugal, in his settlement of the +disputes of those nations. Subsequently, however, it was discovered that +the line was moving eastward. It coincided with the meridian of London +in 1662. + +By the papal bull the Portuguese possessions were limited to the east of +the line of no variation. Information derived from certain Egyptian +Jews had reached that government, that it was possible to sail round the +continent of Africa, there being at its extreme south a cape which could +be easily doubled. An expedition of three ships under Vasco de Gama set +sail, July 9, 1497; it doubled the cape on November 20th, and reached +Calicut, on the coast of India, May 19, 1498. Under the bull, this +voyage to the East gave to the Portuguese the right to the India trade. + +Until the cape was doubled, the course of De Gama's ships was in a +general manner southward. Very soon, it was noticed that the elevation +of the pole-star above the horizon was diminishing, and, soon after the +equator was reached, that star had ceased to be visible. Meantime other +stars, some of them forming magnificent constellations, had come into +view--the stars of the Southern Hemisphere. All this was in conformity +to theoretical expectations founded on the admission of the globular +form of the earth. + +The political consequences that at once ensued placed the Papal +Government in a position of great embarrassment. Its traditions and +policy forbade it to admit any other than the flat figure of the earth, +as revealed in the Scriptures. Concealment of the facts was impossible, +sophistry was unavailing. Commercial prosperity now left Venice as well +as Genoa. The front of Europe was changed. Maritime power had departed +from the Mediterranean countries, and passed to those upon the Atlantic +coast. + +But the Spanish Government did not submit to the advantage thus +gained by its commercial rival without an effort. It listened to the +representations of one Ferdinand Magellan, that India and the Spice +Islands could be reached by sailing to the west, if only a strait or +passage through what had now been recognized as "the American Continent" +could be discovered; and, if this should be accomplished, Spain, +under the papal bull, would have as good a right to the India trade as +Portugal. Under the command of Magellan, an expedition of five ships, +carrying two hundred and thirty-seven men, was dispatched from Seville, +August 10, 1519. + +Magellan at once struck boldly for the South American coast, hoping to +find some cleft or passage through the continent by which he might reach +the great South Sea. For seventy days he was becalmed on the line; his +sailors were appalled by the apprehension that they had drifted into a +region where the winds never blew, and that it was impossible for them +to escape. Calms, tempests, mutiny, desertion, could not shake his +resolution. After more than a year he discovered the strait which +now bears his name, and, as Pigafetti, an Italian, who was with him, +relates, he shed fears of joy when he found that it had pleased God at +length to bring him where he might grapple with the unknown dangers of +the South Sea, "the Great and Pacific Ocean." + +Driven by famine to eat scraps of skin and leather with which his +rigging was here and there bound, to drink water that had gone putrid, +his crew dying of hunger and scurvy, this man, firm in his belief of the +globular figure of the earth, steered steadily to the northwest, and for +nearly four months never saw inhabited land. He estimated that he had +sailed over the Pacific not less than twelve thousand miles. He crossed +the equator, saw once more the pole-star, and at length made land--the +Ladrones. Here he met with adventurers from Sumatra. Among these islands +he was killed, either by the savages or by his own men. His lieutenant, +Sebastian d'Elcano, now took command of the ship, directing her course +for the Cape of Good Hope, and encountering frightful hardships. He +doubled the cape at last, and then for the fourth time crossed the +equator. On September 7, 1522, after a voyage of more than three years, +he brought his ship, the San Vittoria, to anchor in the port of St. +Lucar, near Seville. She had accomplished the greatest achievement in +the history of the human race. She had circumnavigated the earth. + +The San Vittoria, sailing westward, had come back to her starting-point. +Henceforth the theological doctrine of the flatness of the earth was +irretrievably overthrown. + +Five years after the completion of the voyage of Magellan, was made the +first attempt in Christendom to ascertain the size of the earth. This +was by Fernel, a French physician, who, having observed the height of +the pole at Paris, went thence northward until he came to a place where +the height of the pole was exactly one degree more than at that city. +He measured the distance between the two stations by the number of +revolutions of one of the wheels of his carriage, to which a proper +indicator bad been attached, and came to the conclusion that the earth's +circumference is about twenty-four thousand four hundred and eighty +Italian miles. + +Measures executed more and more carefully were made in many countries: +by Snell in Holland; by Norwood between London and York in England; by +Picard, under the auspices of the French Academy of Sciences, in France. +Picard's plan was to connect two points by a series of triangles, +and, thus ascertaining the length of the arc of a meridian intercepted +between them, to compare it with the difference of latitudes found from +celestial observations. The stations were Malvoisine in the vicinity +of Paris, and Sourdon near Amiens. The difference of latitudes was +determined by observing the zenith-distances, of delta Cassiopeia. There +are two points of interest connected with Picard's operation: it was the +first in which instruments furnished with telescopes were employed; +and its result, as we shall shortly see, was to Newton the first +confirmation of the theory of universal gravitation. + +At this time it had become clear from mechanical considerations, more +especially such as had been deduced by Newton, that, since the earth is +a rotating body, her form cannot be that of a perfect sphere, but +must be that of a spheroid, oblate or flattened at the poles. It would +follow, from this, that the length of a degree must be greater near the +poles than at the equator. + +The French Academy resolved to extend Picard's operation, by prolonging +the measures in each direction, and making the result the basis of a +more accurate map of France. Delays, however, took place, and it was not +until 1718 that the measures, from Dunkirk on the north to the southern +extremity of France, were completed. A discussion arose as to the +interpretation of these measures, some affirming that they indicated a +prolate, others an oblate spheroid; the former figure may be popularly +represented by a lemon, the latter by an orange. To settle this, the +French Government, aided by the Academy, sent out two expeditions to +measure degrees of the meridian--one under the equator, the other as +far north as possible; the former went to Peru, the latter to Swedish +Lapland. Very great difficulties were encountered by both parties. The +Lapland commission, however, completed its observations long before the +Peruvian, which consumed not less than nine years. The results of the +measures thus obtained confirmed the theoretical expectation of the +oblate form. Since that time many extensive and exact repetitions of the +observation have been made, among which may be mentioned those of the +English in England and in India, and particularly that of the French +on the occasion of the introduction of the metric system of weights +and measures. It was begun by Delambre and Mechain, from Dunkirk to +Barcelona, and thence extended, by Biot and Arago, to the island +of Formentera near Minorea. Its length was nearly twelve and a half +degrees. + +Besides this method of direct measurement, the figure of the earth +may be determined from the observed number of oscillations made by a +pendulum of invariable length in different latitudes. These, though they +confirm the foregoing results, give a somewhat greater ellipticity +to the earth than that found by the measurement of degrees. Pendulums +vibrate more slowly the nearer they are to the equator. It follows, +therefore, that they are there farther from the centre of the earth. + +From the most reliable measures that have been made, the dimensions of +the earth may be thus stated: + + + Greater or equatorial diameter..............7,925 miles. + Less or polar diameter......................7,899 " + Difference or polar compression............. 26 " + + +Such was the result of the discussion respecting the figure and size +of the earth. While it was yet undetermined, another controversy arose, +fraught with even more serious consequences. This was the conflict +respecting the earth's position with regard to the sun and the planetary +bodies. + +Copernicus, a Prussian, about the year 1507, had completed a book "On +the Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies." He had journeyed to Italy +in his youth, had devoted his attention to astronomy, and had taught +mathematics at Rome. From a profound study of the Ptolemaic and +Pythagorean systems, he had come to a conclusion in favor of the latter, +the object of his book being to sustain it. Aware that his doctrines +were totally opposed to revealed truth, and foreseeing that they would +bring upon him the punishments of the Church, he expressed himself in +a cautious and apologetic manner, saying that he had only taken the +liberty of trying whether, on the supposition of the earth's motion, it +was possible to find better explanations than the ancient ones of the +revolutions of the celestial orbs; that in doing this he had only +taken the privilege that had been allowed to others, of feigning what +hypothesis they chose. The preface was addressed to Pope Paul III. + +Full of misgivings as to what might be the result, he refrained from +publishing his book for thirty-six years, thinking that "perhaps it +might be better to follow the examples of the Pythagoreans and others, +who delivered their doctrine only by tradition and to friends." At the +entreaty of Cardinal Schomberg he at length published it in 1543. A copy +of it was brought to him on his death-bed. Its fate was such as he had +anticipated. The Inquisition condemned it as heretical. In their decree, +prohibiting it, the Congregation of the Index denounced his system +as "that false Pythagorean doctrine utterly contrary to the Holy +Scriptures." + +Astronomers justly affirm that the book of Copernicus, "De +Revolutionibus," changed the face of their science. It incontestably +established the heliocentric theory. It showed that the distance of the +fixed stars is infinitely great, and that the earth is a mere point in +the heavens. Anticipating Newton, Copernicus imputed gravity to the sun, +the moon, and heavenly bodies, but he was led astray by assuming that +the celestial motions must be circular. Observations on the orbit of +Mars, and his different diameters at different times, had led Copernicus +to his theory. + +In thus denouncing the Copernican system as being in contradiction to +revelation, the ecclesiastical authorities were doubtless deeply moved +by inferential considerations. To dethrone the earth from her central +dominating position, to give her many equals and not a few superiors, +seemed to diminish her claims upon the Divine regard. If each of the +countless myriads of stars was a sun, surrounded by revolving globes, +peopled with responsible beings like ourselves, if we had fallen so +easily and had been redeemed at so stupendous a price as the death of +the Son of God, how was it with them? Of them were there none who had +fallen or might fall like us? Where, then, for them could a Savior be +found? + +During the year 1608 one Lippershey, a Hollander, discovered that, by +looking through two glass lenses, combined in a certain manner together, +distant objects were magnified and rendered very plain. He had invented +the telescope. In the following year Galileo, a Florentine, greatly +distinguished by his mathematical and scientific writings, hearing +of the circumstance, but without knowing the particulars of the +construction, invented a form of the instrument for himself. Improving +it gradually, he succeeded in making one that could magnify thirty +times. Examining the moon, he found that she had valleys like those of +the earth, and mountains casting shadows. It had been said in the old +times that in the Pleiades there were formerly seven stars, but a legend +related that one of them had mysteriously disappeared. On turning his +telescope toward them, Galileo found that he could easily count not +fewer than forty. In whatever direction he looked, he discovered stars +that were totally invisible to the naked eye. + +On the night of January 7, 1610, he perceived three small stars in +a straight line, adjacent to the planet Jupiter, and, a few evenings +later, a fourth. He found that these were revolving in orbits round the +body of the planet, and, with transport, recognized that they presented +a miniature representation of the Copernican system. + +The announcement of these wonders at once attracted universal attention. +The spiritual authorities were not slow to detect their tendency, as +endangering the doctrine that the universe was made for man. In the +creation of myriads of stars, hitherto invisible, there must surely have +been some other motive than that of illuminating the nights for him. + +It had been objected to the Copernican theory that, if the planets +Mercury and Venus move round the sun in orbits interior to that of the +earth, they ought to show phases like those of the moon; and that in +the case of Venus, which is so brilliant and conspicuous, these phases +should be very obvious. Copernicus himself had admitted the force of +the objection, and had vainly tried to find an explanation. Galileo, on +turning his telescope to the planet, discovered that the expected phases +actually exist; now she was a crescent, then half-moon, then gibbous, +then full. Previously to Copernicus, it was supposed that the planets +shine by their own light, but the phases of Venus and Mars proved that +their light is reflected. The Aristotelian notion, that celestial differ +from terrestrial bodies in being incorruptible, received a rude shock +from the discoveries of Galileo, that there are mountains and valleys in +the moon like those of the earth, that the sun is not perfect, but has +spots on his face, and that he turns on his axis instead of being in a +state of majestic rest. The apparition of new stars had already thrown +serious doubts on this theory of incorruptibility. + +These and many other beautiful telescopic discoveries tended to the +establishment of the truth of the Copernican theory and gave unbounded +alarm to the Church. By the low and ignorant ecclesiastics they were +denounced as deceptions or frauds. Some affirmed that the telescope +might be relied on well enough for terrestrial objects, but with the +heavenly bodies it was altogether a different affair. Others declared +that its invention was a mere application of Aristotle's remark that +stars could be seen in the daytime from the bottom of a deep well. +Galileo was accused of imposture, heresy, blasphemy, atheism. With a +view of defending himself, he addressed a letter to the Abbe Castelli, +suggesting that the Scriptures were never intended to be a scientific +authority, but only a moral guide. This made matters worse. He was +summoned before the Holy Inquisition, under an accusation of having +taught that the earth moves round the sun, a doctrine "utterly contrary +to the Scriptures." He was ordered to renounce that heresy, on pain of +being imprisoned. He was directed to desist from teaching and advocating +the Copernican theory, and pledge himself that he would neither publish +nor defend it for the future. Knowing well that Truth has no need of +martyrs, he assented to the required recantation, and gave the promise +demanded. + +For sixteen years the Church had rest. But in 1632 Galileo ventured +on the publication of his work entitled "The System of the World," its +object being the vindication of the Copernican doctrine. He was again +summoned before the Inquisition at Rome, accused of having asserted +that the earth moves round the sun. He was declared to have brought +upon himself the penalties of heresy. On his knees, with his hand on the +Bible, he was compelled to abjure and curse the doctrine of the movement +of the earth. What a spectacle! This venerable man, the most illustrious +of his age, forced by the threat of death to deny facts which his judges +as well as himself knew to be true! He was then committed to prison, +treated with remorseless severity during the remaining ten years of +his life, and was denied burial in consecrated ground. Must not that +be false which requires for its support so much imposture, so much +barbarity? The opinions thus defended by the Inquisition are now objects +of derision to the whole civilized world. + +One of the greatest of modern mathematicians, referring to this subject, +says that the point here contested was one which is for mankind of the +highest interest, because of the rank it assigns to the globe that we +inhabit. If the earth be immovable in the midst of the universe, man has +a right to regard himself as the principal object of the care of Nature. +But if the earth be only one of the planets revolving round the sun, an +insignificant body in the solar system, she will disappear entirely +in the immensity of the heavens, in which this system, vast as it may +appear to us, is nothing but an insensible point. + +The triumphant establishment of the Copernican doctrine dates from the +invention of the telescope. Soon there was not to be found in all Europe +an astronomer who had not accepted the heliocentric theory with its +essential postulate, the double motion of the earth--movement of +rotation on her axis, and a movement of revolution round the sun. +If additional proof of the latter were needed, it was furnished by +Bradley's great discovery of the aberration of the fixed stars, an +aberration depending partly on the progressive motion of light, and +partly on the revolution of the earth. Bradley's discovery ranked +in importance with that of the precession of the equinoxes. Roemer's +discovery of the progressive motion of light, though denounced by +Fontenelle as a seductive error, and not admitted by Cassini, at length +forced its way to universal acceptance. + + +Next it was necessary to obtain correct ideas of the dimensions of the +solar system, or, putting the problem under a more limited form, to +determine the distance of the earth from the sun. + +In the time of Copernicus it was supposed that the sun's distance could +not exceed five million miles, and indeed there were many who thought +that estimate very extravagant. From a review of the observations of +Tycho Brahe, Kepler, however, concluded that the error was actually in +the opposite direction, and that the estimate must be raised to at +least thirteen million. In 1670 Cassini showed that these numbers were +altogether inconsistent with the facts, and gave as his conclusion +eighty-five million. + +The transit of Venus over the face of the sun, June 3, 1769, had been +foreseen, and its great value in the solution of this fundamental +problem in astronomy appreciated. With commendable alacrity various +governments contributed their assistance in making observations, so that +in Europe there were fifty stations, in Asia six, in America seventeen. +It was for this purpose that the English Government dispatched Captain +Cook on his celebrated first voyage. He went to Otaheite. His voyage +was crowned with success. The sun rose without a cloud, and the sky +continued equally clear throughout the day. The transit at Cook's +station lasted from about half-past nine in the morning until about +half-past three in the afternoon, and all the observations were made in +a satisfactory manner. + +But, on the discussion of the observations made at the different +stations, it was found that there was not the accordance that could have +been desired--the result varying from eighty-eight to one hundred and +nine million. The celebrated mathematician, Encke, therefore reviewed +them in 1822-'24, and came to the conclusion that the sun's horizontal +parallax, that is, the angle under which the semi-diameter of the earth +is seen from the sun, is 8 576/1000 seconds; this gave as the distance +95,274,000 miles. Subsequently the observations were reconsidered +by Hansen, who gave as their result 91,659,000 miles. Still later, +Leverrier made it 91,759,000. Airy and Stone, by another method, made +it 91,400,000; Stone alone, by a revision of the old observations, +91,730,000; and finally, Foucault and Fizeau, from physical experiments, +determining the velocity of light, and therefore in their nature +altogether differing from transit observations, 91,400,000. Until the +results of the transit of next year (1874) are ascertained, it must +therefore be admitted that the distance of the earth from the sun is +somewhat less than ninety-two million miles. + +This distance once determined, the dimensions of the solar system may +be ascertained with ease and precision. It is enough to mention that +the distance of Neptune from the sun, the most remote of the planets at +present known, is about thirty times that of the earth. + +By the aid of these numbers we may begin to gain a just appreciation of +the doctrine of the human destiny of the universe--the doctrine that all +things were made for man. Seen from the sun, the earth dwindles away to +a mere speck, a mere dust-mote glistening in his beams. If the reader +wishes a more precise valuation, let him hold a page of this book a +couple of feet from his eye; then let him consider one of its dots or +full stops; that dot is several hundred times larger in surface than is +the earth as seen from the sun! + +Of what consequence, then, can such an almost imperceptible particle be? +One might think that it could be removed or even annihilated, and yet +never be missed. Of what consequence is one of those human monads, of +whom more than a thousand millions swarm on the surface of this all +but invisible speck, and of a million of whom scarcely one will leave +a trace that he has ever existed? Of what consequence is man, his +pleasures or his pains? + +Among the arguments brought forward against the Copernican system at the +time of its promulgation, was one by the great Danish astronomer, Tycho +Brahe, originally urged by Aristarchus against the Pythagorean system, +to the effect that, if, as was alleged, the earth moves round the sun, +there ought to be a change of the direction in which the fixed stars +appear. At one time we are nearer to a particular region of the heavens +by a distance equal to the whole diameter of the earth's orbit than we +were six months previously, and hence there ought to be a change in +the relative position of the stars; they should seem to separate as we +approach them, and to close together as we recede from them; or, to use +the astronomical expression, these stars should have a yearly parallax. + +The parallax of a star is the angle contained between two lines drawn +from it--one to the sun, the other to the earth. + +At that time, the earth's distance from the sun was greatly +under-estimated. Had it been known, as it is now, that that distance +exceeds ninety million miles, or that the diameter of the orbit is more +than one hundred and eighty million, that argument would doubtless have +had very great weight. + +In reply to Tycho, it was said that, since the parallax of a body +diminishes as its distance increases, a star may be so far off that its +parallax may be imperceptible. This answer proved to be correct. The +detection of the parallax of the stars depended on the improvement of +instruments for the measurement of angles. + +The parallax of alpha Centauri, a fine double star of the Southern +Hemisphere, at present considered to be the nearest of the fixed stars, +was first determined by Henderson and Maclear at the Cape of Good Hope +in 1832-'33. It is about nine-tenths of a second. Hence this star is +almost two hundred and thirty thousand times as far from us as the sun. +Seen from it, if the sun were even large enough to fill the whole orbit +of the earth, or one hundred and eighty million miles in diameter, +he would be a mere point. With its companion, it revolves round their +common centre of gravity in eighty-one years, and hence it would seem +that their conjoint mass is less than that of the sun. + +The star 61 Cygni is of the sixth magnitude. Its parallax was first +found by Bessel in 1838, and is about one-third of a second. The +distance from us is, therefore, much more than five hundred thousand +times that of the sun. With its companion, it revolves round their +common centre of gravity in five hundred and twenty years. Their +conjoint weight is about one-third that of the sun. + +There is reason to believe that the great star Sirius, the brightest +in the heavens, is about six times as far off as alpha Centauri. His +probable diameter is twelve million miles, and the light he emits two +hundred times more brilliant than that of the sun. Yet, even through the +telescope, he has no measurable diameter; he looks merely like a very +bright spark. + +The stars, then, differ not merely in visible magnitude, but also in +actual size. As the spectroscope shows, they differ greatly in chemical +and physical constitution. That instrument is also revealing to us the +duration of the life of a star, through changes in the refrangibility of +the emitted light. Though, as we have seen, the nearest to us is at +an enormous and all but immeasurable distance, this is but the first +step--there are others the rays of which have taken thousands, perhaps +millions, of years to reach us! The limits of our own system are far +beyond the range of our greatest telescopes; what, then, shall we say of +other systems beyond? Worlds are scattered like dust in the abysses in +space. + +Have these gigantic bodies--myriads of which are placed at so vast a +distance that our unassisted eyes cannot perceive them--have these no +other purpose than that assigned by theologians, to give light to us? +Does not their enormous size demonstrate that, as they are centres of +force, so they must be centres of motion--suns for other systems of +worlds? + +While yet these facts were very imperfectly known--indeed, were rather +speculations than facts--Giordano Bruno, an Italian, born seven years +after the death of Copernicus, published a work on the "Infinity of +the Universe and of Worlds;" he was also the author of "Evening +Conversations on Ash-Wednesday," an apology for the Copernican system, +and of "The One Sole Cause of Things." To these may be added an allegory +published in 1584, "The Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast." He had also +collected, for the use of future astronomers, all the observations he +could find respecting the new star that suddenly appeared in Cassiopeia, +A.D. 1572, and increased in brilliancy, until it surpassed all the other +stars. It could be plainly seen in the daytime. On a sudden, November +11th, it was as bright as Venus at her brightest. In the following March +it was of the first magnitude. It exhibited various hues of color in a +few months, and disappeared in March, 1574. + +The star that suddenly appeared in Serpentarius, in Kepler's time +(1604), was at first brighter than Venus. It lasted more than a year, +and, passing through various tints of purple, yellow, red, became +extinguished. + +Originally, Bruno was intended for the Church. He had become a +Dominican, but was led into doubt by his meditations on the subjects of +transubstantiation and the immaculate conception. Not caring to +conceal his opinions, he soon fell under the censure of the spiritual +authorities, and found it necessary to seek refuge successively in +Switzerland, France, England, Germany. The cold-scented sleuth-hounds of +the Inquisition followed his track remorselessly, and eventually hunted +him back to Italy. He was arrested in Venice, and confined in the Piombi +for six years, without books, or paper, or friends. + +In England he had given lectures on the plurality of worlds, and in that +country had written, in Italian, his most important works. It added +not a little to the exasperation against him, that he was perpetually +declaiming against the insincerity; the impostures, of his +persecutors--that wherever he went he found skepticism varnished over +and concealed by hypocrisy; and that it was not against the belief of +men, but against their pretended belief, that he was fighting; that he +was struggling with an orthodoxy that had neither morality nor faith. + +In his "Evening Conversations" he had insisted that the Scriptures were +never intended to teach science, but morals only; and that they cannot +be received as of any authority on astronomical and physical subjects. +Especially must we reject the view they reveal to us of the constitution +of the world, that the earth is a flat surface, supported on pillars; +that the sky is a firmament--the floor of heaven. On the contrary, we +must believe that the universe is infinite, and that it is filled with +self-luminous and opaque worlds, many of them inhabited; that there +is nothing above and around us but space and stars. His meditations +on these subjects had brought him to the conclusion that the views of +Averroes are not far from the truth--that there is an Intellect which +animates the universe, and of this Intellect the visible world is only +an emanation or manifestation, originated and sustained by force derived +from it, and, were that force withdrawn, all things would disappear. +This ever-present, all-pervading Intellect is God, who lives in all +things, even such as seem not to live; that every thing is ready to +become organized, to burst into life. God is, therefore, "the One Sole +Cause of Things," "the All in All." + +Bruno may hence be considered among philosophical writers as +intermediate between Averroes and Spinoza. The latter held that God and +the Universe are the same, that all events happen by an immutable law +of Nature, by an unconquerable necessity; that God is the Universe, +producing a series of necessary movements or acts, in consequence of +intrinsic, unchangeable, and irresistible energy. + +On the demand of the spiritual authorities, Bruno was removed from +Venice to Rome, and confined in the prison of the Inquisition, accused +not only of being a heretic, but also a heresiarch, who had written +things unseemly concerning religion; the special charge against him +being that he had taught the plurality of worlds, a doctrine repugnant +to the whole tenor of Scripture and inimical to revealed religion, +especially as regards the plan of salvation. After an imprisonment of +two years he was brought before his judges, declared guilty of the +acts alleged, excommunicated, and, on his nobly refusing to recant, was +delivered over to the secular authorities to be punished "as mercifully +as possible, and without the shedding of his blood," the horrible +formula for burning a prisoner at the stake. Knowing well that though +his tormentors might destroy his body, his thoughts would still live +among men, he said to his judges, "Perhaps it is with greater fear +that you pass the sentence upon me than I receive it." The sentence was +carried into effect, and he was burnt at Rome, February 16th, A.D. 1600. + +No one can recall without sentiments of pity the sufferings of those +countless martyrs, who first by one party, and then by another, have +been brought for their religious opinions to the stake. But each of +these had in his supreme moment a powerful and unfailing support. The +passage from this life to the next, though through a hard trial, was the +passage from a transient trouble to eternal happiness, an escape from +the cruelty of earth to the charity of heaven. On his way through the +dark valley the martyr believed that there was an invisible hand that +would lead him, a friend that would guide him all the more gently and +firmly because of the terrors of the flames. For Bruno there was no +such support. The philosophical opinions, for the sake of which he +surrendered his life, could give him no consolation. He must fight the +last fight alone. Is there not something very grand in the attitude of +this solitary man, something which human nature cannot help admiring, as +he stands in the gloomy hall before his inexorable judges? No accuser, +no witness, no advocate is present, but the familiars of the Holy +Office, clad in black, are stealthily moving about. The tormentors and +the rack are in the vaults below. He is simply told that he has brought +upon himself strong suspicions of heresy, since he has said that there +are other worlds than ours. He is asked if he will recant and abjure +his error. He cannot and will not deny what he knows to be true, and +perhaps--for he had often done so before--he tells his judges that they, +too, in their hearts are of the same belief. What a contrast between +this scene of manly honor, of unshaken firmness, of inflexible adherence +to the truth, and that other scene which took place more than fifteen +centuries previously by the fireside in the hall of Caiaphas the +high-priest, when the cock crew, and "the Lord turned and looked upon +Peter" (Luke xxii. 61)! And yet it is upon Peter that the Church has +grounded her right to act as she did to Bruno. But perhaps the day +approaches when posterity will offer an expiation for this great +ecclesiastical crime, and a statue of Bruno be unveiled under the dome +of St. Peter's at Rome. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + CONTROVERSY RESPECTING THE AGE OF THE EARTH. + + Scriptural view that the Earth is only six thousand years + old, and that it was made in a week.--Patristic chronology + founded on the ages of the patriarchs.--Difficulties arising + from different estimates in different versions of the Bible. + + Legend of the Deluge.--The repeopling.--The Tower of Babel; + the confusion of tongues.--The primitive language. + + Discovery by Cassini of the oblateness of the planet + Jupiter.--Discovery by Newton of the oblateness of the + Earth.--Deduction that she has been modeled by mechanical + causes.--Confirmation of this by geological discoveries + respecting aqueous rocks; corroboration by organic remains.-- + The necessity of admitting enormously long periods of + time.--Displacement of the doctrine of Creation by that of + Evolution--Discoveries respecting the Antiquity of Man. + + The time-scale and space-scale of the world are infinite.-- + Moderation with which the discussion of the Age of the World + has been conducted. + + +THE true position of the earth in the universe was established only +after a long and severe conflict. The Church used whatever power she +had, even to the infliction of death, for sustaining her ideas. But +it was in vain. The evidence in behalf of the Copernican theory became +irresistible. It was at length universally admitted that the sun is the +central, the ruling body of our system; the earth only one, and by no +means the largest, of a family of encircling planets. Taught by the +issue of that dispute, when the question of the age of the world +presented itself for consideration, the Church did not exhibit the +active resistance she had displayed on the former occasion. For, +though her traditions were again put in jeopardy, they were not, in her +judgment, so vitally assailed. To dethrone the Earth from her dominating +position was, so the spiritual authorities declared, to undermine the +very foundation of revealed truth; but discussions respecting the date +of creation might within certain limits be permitted. Those limits were, +however, very quickly overpassed, and thus the controversy became as +dangerous as the former one had been. + +It was not possible to adopt the advice given by Plato in his "Timaeus," +when treating of this subject--the origin of the universe: "It is proper +that both I who speak and you who judge should remember that we are but +men, and therefore, receiving the probable mythological tradition, it +is meet that we inquire no further into it." Since the time of St. +Augustine the Scriptures had been made the great and final authority in +all matters of science, and theologians had deduced from them schemes of +chronology and cosmogony which had proved to be stumbling-blocks to the +advance of real knowledge. + +It is not necessary for us to do more than to allude to some of the +leading features of these schemes; their peculiarities will be easily +discerned with sufficient clearness. Thus, from the six days of creation +and the Sabbath-day of rest, since we are told that a day is with the +Lord as a thousand years, it was inferred that the duration of the +world will be through six thousand years of suffering, and an additional +thousand, a millennium of rest. It was generally admitted that the +earth was about four thousand years old at the birth of Christ, but, so +careless had Europe been in the study of its annals, that not Until +A.D. 627 had it a proper chronology of its own. A Roman abbot, Dionysius +Exiguus, or Dennis the Less, then fixed the vulgar era, and gave Europe +its present Christian chronology. + +The method followed in obtaining the earliest chronological dates was +by computations, mainly founded on the lives of the patriarchs. Much +difficulty was encountered in reconciling numerical discrepancies. Even +if, as was taken for granted in those uncritical ages, Moses was the +author of the books imputed to him, due weight was not given to the fact +that he related events, many of which took place more than two thousand +years before he was born. It scarcely seemed necessary to regard the +Pentateuch as of plenary inspiration, since no means had been provided +to perpetuate its correctness. The different copies which had escaped +the chances of time varied very much; thus the Samaritan made thirteen +hundred and seven years from the Creation to the Deluge, the Hebrew +sixteen hundred and fifty-six, the Septuagint twenty-two hundred and +sixty-three. The Septuagint counted fifteen hundred years more from the +Creation to Abraham than the Hebrew. In general, however, there was +an inclination to the supposition that the Deluge took place about two +thousand years after the Creation, and, after another interval of two +thousand years, Christ was born. Persons who had given much attention +to the subject affirmed that there were not less than one hundred +and thirty-two different opinions as to the year in which the Messiah +appeared, and hence they declared that it was inexpedient to press for +acceptance the Scriptural numbers too closely, since it was plain, +from the great differences in different copies, that there had been no +providential intervention to perpetuate a correct reading, nor was there +any mark by which men could be guided to the only authentic version. +Even those held in the highest esteem contained undeniable errors. Thus +the Septuagint made Methuselah live until after the Deluge. + +It was thought that, in the antediluvian world, the year consisted +of three hundred and sixty days. Some even affirmed that this was +the origin of the division of the circle into three hundred and sixty +degrees. At the time of the Deluge, so many theologians declared, the +motion of the sun was altered, and the year became five days and six +hours longer. There was a prevalent opinion that that stupendous event +occurred on November 2d, in the year of the world 1656. Dr. Whiston, +however, disposed to greater precision, inclined to postpone it to +November 28th. Some thought that the rainbow was not seen until after +the flood; others, apparently with better reason, inferred that it was +then first established as a sign. On coming forth from the ark, men +received permission to use flesh as food, the antediluvians having been +herbivorous! It would seem that the Deluge had not occasioned any great +geographical changes, for Noah, relying on his antediluvian knowledge, +proceeded to divide the earth among his three sons, giving to Japhet +Europe, to Shem Asia, to Ham Africa. No provision was made for America, +as he did not know of its existence. These patriarchs, undeterred by the +terrible solitudes to which they were going, by the undrained swamps +and untracked forests, journeyed to their allotted possessions, and +commenced the settlement of the continents. + +In seventy years the Asiatic family had increased to several hundred. +They had found their way to the plains of Mesopotamia, and there, for +some motive that we cannot divine, began building a tower "whose top +might reach to heaven." Eusebius informs us that the work continued for +forty years. They did not abandon it until a miraculous confusion of +their language took place and dispersed them all over the earth. St. +Ambrose shows that this confusion could not have been brought about by +men. Origen believes that not even the angels accomplished it. + +The confusion of tongues has given rise to many curious speculations +among divines as to the primitive speech of man. Some have thought +that the language of Adam consisted altogether of nouns, that they were +monosyllables, and that the confusion was occasioned by the introduction +of polysyllables. But these learned men must surely have overlooked the +numerous conversations reported in Genesis, such as those between the +Almighty and Adam, the serpent and Eve, etc. In these all the various +parts of speech occur. There was, however, a coincidence of opinion +that the primitive language was Hebrew. On the general principles of +patristicism, it was fitting that this should be the case. + +The Greek Fathers computed that, at the time of the dispersion, +seventy-two nations were formed, and in this conclusion St. Augustine +coincides. But difficulties seem to have been recognized in these +computations; thus the learned Dr. Shuckford, who has treated very +elaborately on all the foregoing points in his excellent work "On the +Sacred and Profane History of the World connected," demonstrates that +there could not have been more than twenty-one or twenty-two men, women, +and children, in each of those kingdoms. + +A very vital point in this system of chronological computation, based +upon the ages of the patriarchs, was the great length of life to which +those worthies attained. It was generally supposed that before the Flood +"there was a perpetual equinox," and no vicissitudes in Nature. After +that event the standard of life diminished one-half, and in the time of +the Psalmist it had sunk to seventy years, at which it still remains. +Austerities of climate were affirmed to have arisen through the shifting +of the earth's axis at the Flood, and to this ill effect were added the +noxious influences of that universal catastrophe, which, "converting the +surface of the earth into a vast swamp, gave rise to fermentations of +the blood and a weakening of the fibres." + +With a view of avoiding difficulties arising from the extraordinary +length of the patriarchal lives, certain divines suggested that the +years spoken of by the sacred penman were not ordinary but lunar years. +This, though it might bring the age of those venerable men within +the recent term of life, introduced, however, another insuperable +difficulty, since it made them have children when only five or six years +old. + +Sacred science, as interpreted by the Fathers of the Church, +demonstrated these facts: 1. That the date of Creation was comparatively +recent, not more than four or five thousand years before Christ; 2. That +the act of Creation occupied the space of six ordinary days; 3. That +the Deluge was universal, and that the animals which survived it were +preserved in an ark; 4. That Adam was created perfect in morality and +intelligence, that he fell, and that his descendants have shared in his +sin and his fall. + +Of these points and others that might be mentioned there were two on +which ecclesiastical authority felt that it must insist. These were: +1. The recent date of Creation; for, the remoter that event, the more +urgent the necessity of vindicating the justice of God, who apparently +had left the majority of our race to its fate, and had reserved +salvation for the few who were living in the closing ages of the +world; 2. The perfect condition of Adam at his creation, since this was +necessary to the theory of the fall, and the plan of salvation. + +Theological authorities were therefore constrained to look with disfavor +on any attempt to carry back the origin of the earth, to an epoch +indefinitely remote, and on the Mohammedan theory of the evolution +of man from lower forms, or his gradual development to his present +condition in the long lapse of time. + + +From the puerilities, absurdities, and contradictions of the foregoing +statement, we may gather how very unsatisfactory this so-called sacred +science was. And perhaps we may be brought to the conclusion to +which Dr. Shuckford, above quoted, was constrained to come, after his +wearisome and unavailing attempt to coordinate its various parts: "As to +the Fathers of the first ages of the Church, they were good men, but not +men of universal learning." + +Sacred cosmogony regards the formation and modeling of the earth as the +direct act of God; it rejects the intervention of secondary causes in +those events. + +Scientific cosmogony dates from the telescopic discovery made by +Cassini--an Italian astronomer, under whose care Louis XIV. placed the +Observatory of Paris--that the planet Jupiter is not a sphere, but +an oblate spheroid, flattened at the poles. Mechanical philosophy +demonstrated that such a figure is the necessary result of the rotation +of a yielding mass, and that the more rapid the rotation the greater the +flattening, or, what comes to the same thing, the greater the equatorial +bulging must be. + +From considerations--purely of a mechanical kind--Newton had foreseen +that such likewise, though to a less striking extent, must be the figure +of the earth. To the protuberant mass is due the precession of the +equinoxes, which requires twenty-five thousand eight hundred and +sixty-eight years for its completion, and also the nutation of the +earth's axis, discovered by Bradley. We have already had occasion to +remark that the earth's equatorial diameter exceeds the polar by about +twenty-six miles. + +Two facts are revealed by the oblateness of the earth: 1. That she has +formerly been in a yielding or plastic condition; 2. That she has been +modeled by a mechanical and therefore a secondary cause. + +But this influence of mechanical causes is manifested not only in +the exterior configuration of the globe of the earth as a spheroid of +revolution, it also plainly appears on an examination of the arrangement +of her substance. + +If we consider the aqueous rocks, their aggregate is many miles in +thickness; yet they undeniably have been of slow deposit. The material +of which they consist has been obtained by the disintegration of ancient +lands; it has found its way into the water-courses, and by them been +distributed anew. Effects of this kind, taking place before our eyes, +require a very considerable lapse of time to produce a well-marked +result--a water deposit may in this manner measure in thickness a few +inches in a century--what, then, shall we say as to the time consumed in +the formation of deposits of many thousand yards? + +The position of the coast-line of Egypt has been known for much more +than two thousand years. In that time it has made, by reason of the +detritus brought down by the Nile, a distinctly-marked encroachment on +the Mediterranean. But all Lower Egypt has had a similar origin. The +coast-line near the mouth of the Mississippi has been well known +for three hundred years, and during that time has scarcely made a +perceptible advance on the Gulf of Mexico; but there was a time when the +delta of that river was at St. Louis, more than seven hundred miles +from its present position. In Egypt and in America--in fact, in all +countries--the rivers have been inch by inch prolonging the land into +the sea; the slowness of their work and the vastness of its extent +satisfy us that we must concede for the operation enormous periods of +time. + +To the same conclusion we are brought if we consider the filling of +lakes, the deposit of travertines, the denudation of hills, the +cutting action of the sea on its shores, the undermining of cliffs, the +weathering of rocks by atmospheric water and carbonic acid. + +Sedimentary strata must have been originally deposited in planes nearly +horizontal. Vast numbers of them have been forced, either by paroxysms +at intervals or by gradual movement, into all manner of angular +inclinations. Whatever explanations we may offer of these innumerable +and immense tilts and fractures, they would seem to demand for their +completion an inconceivable length of time. + +The coal-bearing strata in Wales, by their gradual submergence, have +attained a thickness of 12,000 feet; in Nova Scotia of 14,570 feet. +So slow and so steady was this submergence, that erect trees stand one +above another on successive levels; seventeen such repetitions may be +counted in a thickness of 4,515 feet. The age of the trees is proved +by their size, some being four feet in diameter. Round them, as they +gradually went down with the subsiding soil, calamites grew, at one +level after another. In the Sydney coal-field fifty-nine fossil forests +occur in superposition. + +Marine shells, found on mountain-tops far in the interior of continents, +were regarded by theological writers as an indisputable illustration of +the Deluge. But when, as geological studies became more exact, it was +proved that in the crust of the earth vast fresh-water formations are +repeatedly intercalated with vast marine ones, like the leaves of a +book, it became evident that no single cataclysm was sufficient +to account for such results; that the same region, through gradual +variations of its level and changes in its topographical surroundings, +had sometimes been dry land, sometimes covered with fresh and sometimes +with sea water. It became evident also that, for the completion of these +changes, tens of thousands of years were required. + +To this evidence of a remote origin of the earth, derived from the vast +superficial extent, the enormous thickness, and the varied characters of +its strata, was added an imposing body of proof depending on its fossil +remains. The relative ages of formations having been ascertained, it +was shown that there has been an advancing physiological progression of +organic forms, both vegetable and animal, from the oldest to the most +recent; that those which inhabit the surface in our times are but an +insignificant fraction of the prodigious multitude that have inhabited +it heretofore; that for each species now living there are thousands +that have become extinct. Though special formations are so strikingly +characterized by some predominating type of life as to justify such +expressions as the age of mollusks, the age of reptiles, the age of +mammals, the introduction of the new-comers did not take place abruptly. +as by sudden creation. They gradually emerged in an antecedent age, +reached their culmination in the one which they characterize, and then +gradually died out in a succeeding. There is no such thing as a +sudden creation, a sudden strange appearance--but there is a slow +metamorphosis, a slow development from a preexisting form. Here again +we encounter the necessity of admitting for such results long periods +of time. Within the range of history no well-marked instance of such +development has been witnessed, and we speak with hesitation of doubtful +instances of extinction. Yet in geological times myriads of evolutions +and extinctions have occurred. + +Since thus, within the experience of man, no case of metamorphosis +or development has been observed, some have been disposed to deny its +possibility altogether, affirming that all the different species have +come into existence by separate creative acts. But surely it is less +unphilosophical to suppose that each species has been evolved from a +predecessor by a modification of its parts, than that it has suddenly +started into existence out of nothing. Nor is there much weight in +the remark that no man has ever witnessed such a transformation taking +place. Let it be remembered that no man has ever witnessed an act +of creation, the sudden appearance of an organic form, without any +progenitor. + +Abrupt, arbitrary, disconnected creative acts may serve to illustrate +the Divine power; but that continuous unbroken chain of organisms which +extends from palaeozoic formations to the formations of recent times, a +chain in which each link hangs on a preceding and sustains a succeeding +one, demonstrates to us not only that the production of animated beings +is governed by law, but that it is by law that has undergone no change. +In its operation, through myriads of ages, there has been no variation, +no suspension. + +The foregoing paragraphs may serve to indicate the character of a +portion of the evidence with which we must deal in considering the +problem of the age of the earth. Through the unintermitting labors of +geologists, so immense a mass has been accumulated, that many volumes +would be required to contain the details. It is drawn from the phenomena +presented by all kinds of rocks, aqueous, igneous, metamorphic. Of +aqueous rocks it investigates the thickness, the inclined positions, +and how they rest unconformably on one another; how those that are of +fresh-water origin are intercalated with those that are marine; how +vast masses of material have been removed by slow-acting causes of +denudation, and extensive geographical surfaces have been remodeled; how +continents have undergone movements of elevation and depression, their +shores sunk under the ocean, or sea-beaches and sea-cliffs carried far +into the interior. It considers the zoological and botanical facts, the +fauna and flora of the successive ages, and how in an orderly manner the +chain of organic forms, plants, and animals, has been extended, from its +dim and doubtful beginnings to our own times. From facts presented by +the deposits of coal-coal which, in all its varieties, has originated +from the decay of plants--it not only demon strates the changes that +have taken place in the earth's atmosphere, but also universal changes +of climate. From other facts it proves that there have been oscillations +of temperature, periods in which the mean heat has risen, and periods +in which the polar ices and snows have covered large portions of the +existing continents--glacial periods, as they are termed. + +One school of geologists, resting its argument on very imposing +evidence, teaches that the whole mass of the earth, from being in a +molten, or perhaps a vaporous condition, has cooled by radiation in the +lapse of millions of ages, until it has reached its present equilibrium +of temperature. Astronomical observations give great weight to this +interpretation, especially so far as the planetary bodies of the solar +system are concerned. It is also supported by such facts as the small +mean density of the earth, the increasing temperature at increasing +depths, the phenomena of volcanoes and injected veins, and those of +igneous and metamorphic rocks. To satisfy the physical changes which +this school of geologists contemplates, myriads of centuries are +required. + +But, with the views that the adoption of the Copernican system has given +us, it is plain that we cannot consider the origin and biography of the +earth in an isolated way; we must include with her all the other members +of the system or family to which she belongs. Nay, more, we cannot +restrict ourselves to the solar system; we must embrace in our +discussions the starry worlds. And, since we have become familiarized +with their almost immeasurable distances from one another, we are +prepared to accept for their origin an immeasurably remote time. There +are stars so far off that their light, fast as it travels, has taken +thousands of years to reach us, and hence they must have been in +existence many thousands of years ago. + +Geologists having unanimously agreed--for perhaps there is not a single +dissenting voice--that the chronology of the earth must be greatly +extended, attempts have been made to give precision to it. Some of +these have been based on astronomical, some on physical principles. Thus +calculations founded on the known changes of the eccentricity of the +earth's orbit, with a view of determining the lapse of time since the +beginning of the last glacial period, have given two hundred and +forty thousand years. Though the general postulate of the immensity of +geological times may be conceded, such calculations are on too uncertain +a theoretical basis to furnish incontestable results. + +But, considering the whole subject from the present scientific +stand-point, it is very clear that the views presented by theological +writers, as derived from the Mosaic record, cannot be admitted. Attempts +have been repeatedly made to reconcile the revealed with the discovered +facts, but they have proved to be unsatisfactory. The Mosaic time is +too short, the order of creation incorrect, the divine interventions +too anthropomorphic; and, though the presentment of the subject is in +harmony with the ideas that men have entertained, when first their +minds were turned to the acquisition of natural knowledge, it is not in +accordance with their present conceptions of the insignificance of the +earth and the grandeur of the universe. + + +Among late geological discoveries is one of special interest; it is the +detection of human remains and human works in formations which, though +geologically recent, are historically very remote. + +The fossil remains of men, with rude implements of rough or chipped +flint, of polished stone, of bone, of bronze, are found in Europe in +caves, in drifts, in peat-beds. They indicate a savage life, spent in +hunting and fishing. Recent researches give reason to believe that, +under low and base grades, the existence of man can be traced back into +the tertiary times. He was contemporary with the southern elephant, +the rhinoceros leptorhinus, the great hippopotamus, perhaps even in the +miocene contemporary with the mastodon. + +At the close of the Tertiary period, from causes not yet determined, the +Northern Hemisphere underwent a great depression of temperature. From +a torrid it passed to a glacial condition. After a period of prodigious +length, the temperature again rose, and the glaciers that had so +extensively covered the surface receded. Once more there was a decline +in the heat, and the glaciers again advanced, but this time not so far +as formerly. This ushered in the Quaternary period, during which very +slowly the temperature came to its present degree. The water deposits +that were being made required thousands of centuries for their +completion. At the beginning of the Quaternary period there were +alive the cave-bear, the cave-lion, the amphibious hippopotamus, the +rhinoceros with chambered nostrils, the mammoth. In fact, the mammoth +swarmed. He delighted in a boreal climate. By degrees the reindeer, the +horse, the ox, the bison, multiplied, and disputed with him his food. +Partly for this reason, and partly because of the increasing heat, he +became extinct. From middle Europe, also, the reindeer retired. His +departure marks the end of the Quaternary period. + +Since the advent of man on the earth, we have, therefore, to deal with +periods of incalculable length. Vast changes in the climate and fauna +were produced by the slow operation of causes such as are in action at +the present day. Figures cannot enable us to appreciate these enormous +lapses of time. + +It seems to be satisfactorily established, that a race allied to the +Basques may be traced back to the Neolithic age. At that time the +British Islands were undergoing a change of level, like that at present +occurring in the Scandinavian Peninsula. Scotland was rising, England +was sinking. In the Pleistocene age there existed in Central Europe a +rude race of hunters and fishers closely allied to the Esquimaux. + +In the old glacial drift of Scotland the relics of man are found along +with those of the fossil elephant. This carries us back to that time +above referred to, when a large portion of Europe was covered with ice, +which had edged down from the polar regions to southerly latitudes, and, +as glaciers, descended from the summits of the mountain-chains into the +plains. Countless species of animals perished in this cataclysm of ice +and snow, but man survived. + +In his primitive savage condition, living for the most part on fruits, +roots, shell-fish, man was in possession of a fact which was certain +eventually to insure his civilization. He knew how to make a fire. In +peat-beds, under the remains of trees that in those localities have +long ago become extinct, his relics are still found, the implements +that accompany him indicating a distinct chronological order. Near the +surface are those of bronze, lower down those of bone or horn, still +lower those of polished stone, and beneath all those of chipped or rough +stone. The date of the origin of some of these beds cannot be estimated +at less than forty or fifty thousand years. + +The caves that have been examined in France and elsewhere have furnished +for the Stone age axes, knives, lance and arrow points, scrapers, +hammers. The change from what may be termed the chipped to the polished +stone period is very gradual. It coincides with the domestication of the +dog, an epoch in hunting-life. It embraces thousands of centuries. The +appearance of arrow-heads indicates the invention of the bow, and +the rise of man from a defensive to an offensive mode of life. The +introduction of barbed arrows shows how inventive talent was displaying +itself; bone and horn tips, that the huntsman was including smaller +animals, and perhaps birds, in his chase; bone whistles, his +companionship with other huntsmen or with his dog. The scraping-knives +of flint indicate the use of skin for clothing, and rude bodkins and +needles its manufacture. Shells perforated for bracelets and necklaces +prove how soon a taste for personal adornment was acquired; the +implements necessary for the preparation of pigments suggest the +painting of the body, and perhaps tattooing; and batons of rank bear +witness to the beginning of a social organization. + +With the utmost interest we look upon the first germs of art among these +primitive men. They have left its rude sketches on pieces of ivory and +flakes of bone, and carvings, of the animals contemporary with them. In +these prehistoric delineations, sometimes not without spirit, we have +mammoths, combats of reindeer. One presents us with a man harpooning a +fish, another a hunting-scene of naked men armed with the dart. Man is +the only animal who has the propensity of depicting external forms, and +of availing himself of the use of fire. + +Shell-mounds, consisting of bones and shells, some of which may be +justly described as of vast extent, and of a date anterior to the Bronze +age, and full of stone implements, bear in all their parts indications +of the use of fire. These are often adjacent to the existing coasts +sometimes, however, they are far inland, in certain instances as far +as fifty miles. Their contents and position indicate for them a date +posterior to that of the great extinct mammals, but prior to the +domesticated. Some of these, it is said, cannot be less than one hundred +thousand years old. + +The lake-dwellings in Switzerland--huts built on piles or logs, wattled +with boughs--were, as may be inferred from the accompanying implements, +begun in the Stone age, and continued into that of Bronze. In the latter +period the evidences become numerous of the adoption of an agricultural +life. + +It must not be supposed that the periods into which geologists have +found it convenient to divide the progress of man in civilization are +abrupt epochs, which hold good simultaneously for the whole human race. +Thus the wandering Indians of America are only at the present moment +emerging from the Stone age. They are still to be seen in many places +armed with arrows, tipped with flakes of flint. It is but as yesterday +that some have obtained, from the white man, iron, fire-arms, and the +horse. + +So far as investigations have gone, they indisputably refer the +existence of man to a date remote from us by many hundreds of thousands +of years. It must be borne in mind that these investigations are quite +recent, and confined to a very limited geographical space. No researches +have yet been made in those regions which might reasonably be regarded +as the primitive habitat of man. + +We are thus carried back immeasurably beyond the six thousand years of +Patristic chronology. It is difficult to assign a shorter date for the +last glaciation of Europe than a quarter of a million of years, and +human existence antedates that. But not only is it this grand fact that +confronts us, we have to admit also a primitive animalized state, and a +slow, a gradual development. But this forlorn, this savage condition +of humanity is in strong contrast to the paradisiacal happiness of the +garden of Eden, and, what is far more serious, it is inconsistent with +the theory of the Fall. + + +I have been induced to place the subject of this chapter out of its +proper chronological order, for the sake of presenting what I had to +say respecting the nature of the world more completely by itself. The +discussions that arose as to the age of the earth were long after the +conflict as to the criterion of truth--that is, after the Reformation; +indeed, they were substantially included in the present century. They +have been conducted with so much moderation as to justify the term +I have used in the title of this chapter, "Controversy," rather than +"Conflict." Geology has not had to encounter the vindictive opposition +with which astronomy was assailed, and, though, on her part, she has +insisted on a concession of great antiquity for the earth, she has +herself pointed out the unreliability of all numerical estimates thus +far offered. The attentive reader of this chapter cannot have failed to +observe inconsistencies in the numbers quoted. Though wanting the +merit of exactness, those numbers, however, justify the claim of vast +antiquity, and draw us to the conclusion that the time-scale of the +world answers to the space-scale in magnitude. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + CONFLICT RESPECTING THE CRITERION OF TRUTH. + + Ancient philosophy declares that man has no means of + ascertaining the truth. + + Differences of belief arise among the early Christians--An + ineffectual attempt is made to remedy them by Councils.-- + Miracle and ordeal proof introduced. + + The papacy resorts to auricular confession and the + Inquisition.--It perpetrates frightful atrocities for the + suppression of differences of opinion. + + Effect of the discovery of the Pandects of Justinian and + development of the canon law on the nature of evidence.--It + becomes more scientific. + + The Reformation establishes the rights of individual + reason.--Catholicism asserts that the criterion of truth is + in the Church. It restrains the reading of books by the + Index Expurgatorius, and combats dissent by such means as + the massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve. + + Examination of the authenticity of the Pentateuch as the + Protestant criterion.--Spurious character of those books. + + For Science the criterion of truth is to be found in the + revelations of Nature: for the Protestant, it is in the + Scriptures; for the Catholic, in an infallible Pope. + + +"WHAT is truth?" was the passionate demand of a Roman procurator on one +of the most momentous occasions in history. And the Divine Person who +stood before him, to whom the interrogation was addressed, made no +reply--unless, indeed, silence contained the reply. + +Often and vainly had that demand been made before--often and vainly has +it been made since. No one has yet given a satisfactory answer. + +When, at the dawn of science in Greece, the ancient religion was +disappearing like a mist at sunrise, the pious and thoughtful men of +that country were thrown into a condition of intellectual despair. +Anaxagoras plaintively exclaims, "Nothing can be known, nothing can be +learned, nothing can be certain, sense is limited, intellect is weak, +life is short." Xenophanes tells us that it is impossible for us to be +certain even when we utter the truth. Parmenides declares that the +very constitution of man prevents him from ascertaining absolute truth. +Empedocles affirms that all philosophical and religious systems must +be unreliable, because we have no criterion by which to test them. +Democritus asserts that even things that are true cannot impart +certainty to us; that the final result of human inquiry is the discovery +that man is incapable of absolute knowledge; that, even if the truth be +in his possession, he cannot be certain of it. Pyrrho bids us reflect +on the necessity of suspending our judgment of things, since we have no +criterion of truth; so deep a distrust did he impart to his followers, +that they were in the habit of saying, "We assert nothing; no, not even +that we assert nothing." Epicurus taught his disciples that truth can +never be determined by reason. Arcesilaus, denying both intellectual and +sensuous knowledge, publicly avowed that he knew nothing, not even his +own ignorance! The general conclusion to which Greek philosophy came was +this--that, in view of the contradiction of the evidence of the +senses, we cannot distinguish the true from the false; and such is the +imperfection of reason, that we cannot affirm the correctness of any +philosophical deduction. + +It might be supposed that a revelation from God to man would come with +such force and clearness as to settle all uncertainties and overwhelm +all opposition. A Greek philosopher, less despairing than others, had +ventured to affirm that the coexistence of two forms of faith, both +claiming to be revealed by the omnipotent God, proves that neither of +them is true. But let us remember that it is difficult for men to come +to the same conclusion as regards even material and visible things, +unless they stand at the same point of view. If discord and distrust +were the condition of philosophy three hundred years before the birth +of Christ, discord and distrust were the condition of religion three +hundred years after his death. This is what Hilary, the Bishop of +Poictiers, in his well-known passage written about the time of the +Nicene Council, says: + +"It is a thing equally deplorable and dangerous that there are, as many +creeds as opinions among men, as many doctrines as inclinations, and as +many sources of blasphemy as there are faults among us, because we make +creeds arbitrarily and explain them as arbitrarily. Every year, nay, +every moon, we make new creeds to describe invisible mysteries; we +repent of what we have done; we defend those who repent; we anathematize +those whom we defend; we condemn either the doctrines of others in +ourselves, or our own in that of others; and, reciprocally tearing each +other to pieces, we have been the cause of each other's ruin." + +These are not mere words; but the import of this self-accusation can +be realized fully only by such as are familiar with the ecclesiastical +history of those times. As soon as the first fervor of Christianity as a +system of benevolence had declined, dissensions appeared. Ecclesiastical +historians assert that "as early as the second century began the contest +between faith and reason, religion and philosophy, piety and genius." To +compose these dissensions, to obtain some authoritative expression, some +criterion of truth, assemblies for consultation were resorted to, which +eventually took the form of councils. For a long time they had nothing +more than an advisory authority; but, when, in the fourth century, +Christianity had attained to imperial rule, their dictates became +compulsory, being enforced by the civil power. By this the whole face +of the Church was changed. Oecumenical councils--parliaments of +Christianity--consisting of delegates from all the churches in the +world, were summoned by the authority of the emperor; he presided either +personally or nominally in them--composed all differences, and was, in +fact, the Pope of Christendom. Mosheim, the historian, to whom I have +more particularly referred above, speaking of these times, remarks +that "there was nothing to exclude the ignorant from ecclesiastical +preferment; the savage and illiterate party, who looked on all kinds +of learning, particularly philosophy, as pernicious to piety, was +increasing;" and, accordingly, "the disputes carried on in the Council +of Nicea offered a remarkable example of the greatest ignorance and +utter confusion of ideas, particularly in the language and explanations +of those who approved of the decisions of that council." Vast as its +influence has been, "the ancient critics are neither agreed concerning +the time nor place in which it was assembled, the number of those who +sat in it, nor the bishop who presided. No authentic acts of its famous +sentence have been committed to writing, or, at least, none have been +transmitted to our times." The Church had now become what, in the +language of modern politicians, would be called "a confederated +republic." The will of the council was determined by a majority vote, +and, to secure that, all manner of intrigues and impositions were +resorted to; the influence of court females, bribery, and violence, were +not spared. The Council of Nicea had scarcely adjourned,--when it was +plain to all impartial men that, as a method of establishing a criterion +of truth in religious matters, such councils were a total failure. The +minority had no rights which the majority need respect. The protest of +many good men, that a mere majority vote given by delegates, whose right +to vote had never been examined and authorized, could not be received +as ascertaining absolute truth, was passed over with contempt, and the +consequence was, that council was assembled against council, and their +jarring and contradictory decrees spread perplexity and confusion +throughout the Christian world. In the fourth century alone there were +thirteen councils adverse to Arius, fifteen in his favor, and seventeen +for the semi-Arians--in all, forty-five. Minorities were perpetually +attempting to use the weapon which majorities had abused. + +The impartial ecclesiastical historian above quoted, moreover, says +that "two monstrous and calamitous errors were adopted in this fourth +century: 1. That it was an act of virtue to deceive and lie when, by +that means, the interests of the Church might be promoted. 2. That +errors in religion, when maintained and adhered to after proper +admonition, were punishable with civil penalties and corporal tortures." + +Not without astonishment can we look back at what, in those times, were +popularly regarded as criteria of truth. Doctrines were considered +as established by the number of martyrs who had professed them, by +miracles, by the confession of demons, of lunatics, or of persons +possessed of evil spirits: thus, St. Ambrose, in his disputes with the +Arians, produced men possessed by devils, who, on the approach of the +relics of certain martyrs, acknowledged, with loud cries, that the +Nicean doctrine of the three persons of the Godhead was true. But +the Arians charged him with suborning these infernal witnesses with a +weighty bribe. Already, ordeal tribunals were making their appearance. +During the following six centuries they were held as a final resort for +establishing guilt or innocence, under the forms of trial by cold water, +by duel, by the fire, by the cross. + +What an utter ignorance of the nature of evidence and its laws have we +here! An accused man sinks or swims when thrown into a pond of water; +he is burnt or escapes unharmed when he holds a piece of red-hot iron +in his hand; a champion whom he has hired is vanquished or vanquishes in +single fight; he can keep his arms outstretched like a cross, or fails +to do so longer than his accuser, and his innocence or guilt of some +imputed crime is established! Are these criteria of truth? + +Is it surprising that all Europe was filled with imposture miracles +during those ages?--miracles that are a disgrace to the common-sense of +man! + +But the inevitable day came at length. Assertions and doctrines based +upon such preposterous evidence were involved in the discredit that fell +upon the evidence itself. As the thirteenth century is approached, we +find unbelief in all directions setting in. First, it is plainly seen +among the monastic orders, then it spreads rapidly among the common +people. Books, such as "The Everlasting Gospel," appear among the +former; sects, such as the Catharists, Waldenses, Petrobrussians, arise +among the latter. They agreed in this, "that the public and established +religion was a motley system of errors and superstitions, and that the +dominion which the pope had usurped over Christians was unlawful and +tyrannical; that the claim put forth by Rome, that the Bishop of Rome is +the supreme lord of the universe, and that neither princes nor bishops, +civil governors nor ecclesiastical rulers, have any lawful power in +church or state but what they receive from him, is utterly without +foundation, and a usurpation of the rights of man." + +To withstand this flood of impiety, the papal government established two +institutions: 1. The Inquisition; 2. Auricular confession--the latter as +a means of detection, the former as a tribunal for punishment. + +In general terms, the commission of the Inquisition was, to extirpate +religious dissent by terrorism, and surround heresy with the most +horrible associations; this necessarily implied the power of determining +what constitutes heresy. The criterion of truth was thus in possession +of this tribunal, which was charged "to discover and bring to judgment +heretics lurking in towns, houses, cellars, woods, caves, and fields." +With such savage alacrity did it carry out its object of protecting the +interests of religion, that between 1481 and 1808 it had punished three +hundred and forty thousand persons, and of these nearly thirty-two +thousand had been burnt! In its earlier days, when public opinion could +find no means of protesting against its atrocities, "it often put to +death, without appeal, on the very day that they were accused, nobles, +clerks, monks, hermits, and lay persons of every rank." In whatever +direction thoughtful men looked, the air was full of fearful shadows. No +one could indulge in freedom of thought without expecting punishment. So +dreadful were the proceedings of the Inquisition, that the exclamation +of Pagliarici was the exclamation of thousands: "It is hardly possible +for a man to be a Christian, and die in his bed." + +The Inquisition destroyed the sectaries of Southern France in the +thirteenth century. Its unscrupulous atrocities extirpated Protestantism +in Italy and Spain. Nor did it confine itself to religious affairs; it +engaged in the suppression of political discontent. Nicolas Eymeric, who +was inquisitor-general of the kingdom of Aragon for nearly fifty years, +and who died in 1399, has left a frightful statement of its conduct and +appalling cruelties in his "Directorium Inquisitorum." + +This disgrace of Christianity, and indeed of the human race, had +different constitutions in different countries. The papal Inquisition +continued the tyranny, and eventually superseded the old episcopal +inquisitions. The authority of the bishops was unceremoniously put aside +by the officers of the pope. + +By the action of the fourth Lateran Council, A.D. 1215, the power of +the Inquisition was frightfully increased, the necessity of private +confession to a priest--auricular confession--being at that time +formally established. This, so far as domestic life was concerned, gave +omnipresence and omniscience to the Inquisition. Not a man was safe. +In the hands of the priest, who, at the confessional, could extract or +extort from them their most secret thoughts, his wife and his servants +were turned into spies. Summoned before the dread tribunal, he was +simply informed that he lay under strong suspicions of heresy. No +accuser was named; but the thumb-screw, the stretching-rope, the boot +and wedge, or other enginery of torture, soon supplied that defect, and, +innocent or guilty, he accused himself! + +Notwithstanding all this power, the Inquisition failed of its purpose. +When the heretic could no longer confront it, he evaded it. A dismal +disbelief stealthily pervaded all Europe,--a denial of Providence, +of the immortality of the soul, of human free-will, and that man can +possibly resist the absolute necessity, the destiny which envelops him. +Ideas such as these were cherished in silence by multitudes of persons +driven to them by the tyrannical acts of ecclesiasticism. In spite of +persecution, the Waldenses still survived to propagate their declaration +that the Roman Church, since Constantine, had degenerated from its +purity and sanctity; to protest against the sale of indulgences, which +they said had nearly abolished prayer, fasting, alms; to affirm that it +was utterly useless to pray for the souls of the dead, since they must +already have gone either to heaven or hell. Though it was generally +believed that philosophy or science was pernicious to the interests of +Christianity or true piety, the Mohammedan literature then prevailing +in Spain was making converts among all classes of society. We see very +plainly its influence in many of the sects that then arose; thus, "the +Brethren and Sisters of the Free. Spirit" held that "the universe came +by emanation from God, and would finally return to him by absorption; +that rational souls are so many portions of the Supreme Deity; and that +the universe, considered as one great whole, is God." These are ideas +that can only be entertained in an advanced intellectual condition. Of +this sect it is said that many suffered burning with unclouded serenity, +with triumphant feelings of cheerfulness and joy. Their orthodox enemies +accused them of gratifying their passions at midnight assemblages in +darkened rooms, to which both sexes in a condition of nudity repaired. A +similar accusation, as is well known, was brought against the primitive +Christians by the fashionable society of Rome. + +The influences of the Averroistic philosophy were apparent in many of +these sects. That Mohammedan system, considered from a Christian point +of view, led to the heretical belief that the end of the precepts of +Christianity is the union of the soul with the Supreme Being; that God +and Nature have the same relations to each other as the soul and the +body; that there is but one individual intelligence; and that one soul +performs all the spiritual and rational functions in all the human race. +When, subsequently, toward the time of the Reformation, the Italian +Averroists were required by the Inquisition to give an account of +themselves, they attempted to show that there is a wide distinction +between philosophical and religious truth; that things may be +philosophically true, and yet theologically false--an exculpatory device +condemned at length by the Lateran Council in the time of Leo X. + +But, in spite of auricular confession, and the Inquisition, these +heretical tendencies survived. It has been truly said that, at the +epoch of the Reformation, there lay concealed, in many parts of Europe, +persons who entertained the most virulent enmity against Christianity. +In this pernicious class were many Aristotelians, such as Pomponatius; +many philosophers and wits, such as Bodin, Rabelais, Montaigne; many +Italians, as Leo X., Bembo, Bruno. + +Miracle-evidence began to fall into discredit during the eleventh and +twelfth centuries. The sarcasms of the Hispano-Moorish philosophers +had forcibly drawn the attention of many of the more enlightened +ecclesiastics to its illusory nature. The discovery of the Pandects +of Justinian, at Amalfi, in 1130, doubtless exerted a very powerful +influence in promoting the study of Roman jurisprudence, and +disseminating better notions as to the character of legal or +philosophical evidence. Hallam has cast some doubt on the well-known +story of this discovery, but he admits that the celebrated copy in the +Laurentian library, at Florence, is the only one containing the entire +fifty books. Twenty years subsequently, the monk Gratian collected +together the various papal edicts, the canons of councils, the +declarations of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, in a volume +called "The Decretum," considered as the earliest authority in canon +law. In the next century Gregory IX. published five books of Decretals, +and Boniface VIII. subsequently added a sixth. To these followed the +Clementine Constitutions, a seventh book of Decretals, and "A Book of +Institutes," published together, by Gregory XIII., in 1580, under the +title of "Corpus Juris Canonici." The canon law had gradually gained +enormous power through the control it had obtained over wills, the +guardianship of orphans, marriages, and divorces. + +The rejection of miracle-evidence, and the substitution of legal +evidence in its stead, accelerated the approach of the Reformation. No +longer was it possible to admit the requirement which, in former days, +Anselm, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in his treatise, "Cur Deus Homo," +had enforced, that we must first believe without examination, and +may afterward endeavor to understand what we have thus believed. When +Cajetan said to Luther, "Thou must believe that one single drop of +Christ's blood is sufficient to redeem the whole human race, and the +remaining quantity that was shed in the garden and on the cross was left +as a legacy to the pope, to be a treasure from which indulgences were +to be drawn," the soul of the sturdy German monk revolted against such +a monstrous assertion, nor would he have believed it though a thousand +miracles had been worked in its support. This shameful practice of +selling indulgences for the commission of sin originated among the +bishops, who, when they had need of money for their private pleasures, +obtained it in that way. Abbots and monks, to whom this gainful commerce +was denied, raised funds by carrying about relics in solemn procession, +and charging a fee for touching them. The popes, in their pecuniary +straits, perceiving how lucrative the practice might become, deprived +the bishops of the right of making such sales, and appropriated it to +themselves, establishing agencies, chiefly among the mendicant orders, +for the traffic. Among these orders there was a sharp competition, each +boasting of the superior value of its indulgences through its greater +influence at the court of heaven, its familiar connection with the +Virgin Mary and the saints in glory. Even against Luther himself, who +had been an Augustinian monk, a calumny was circulated that he was +first alienated from the Church by a traffic of this kind having been +conferred on the Dominicans, instead of on his own order, at the time +when Leo X. was raising funds by this means for building St. Peter's, at +Rome, A.D. 1517. and there is reason to think that Leo himself, in the +earlier stages of the Reformation, attached weight to that allegation. + +Indulgences were thus the immediate inciting cause of the Reformation, +but very soon there came into light the real principle that was +animating the controversy. It lay in the question, Does the Bible owe +its authenticity to the Church? or does the Church owe her authenticity +to the Bible? Where is the criterion of truth? + +It is not necessary for me here to relate the well known particulars of +that controversy, the desolating wars and scenes of blood to which it +gave rise: how Luther posted on the door of the cathedral of Wittemberg +ninety-five theses, and was summoned to Rome to answer for his offense; +how he appealed from the pope, ill-informed at the time, to the pope +when he should have been better instructed; how he was condemned as a +heretic, and thereupon appealed to a general council; how, through the +disputes about purgatory, transubstantiation, auricular confession, +absolution, the fundamental idea which lay at the bottom of the whole +movement came into relief, the right of individual judgment; how Luther +was now excommunicated, A.D. 1520, and in defiance burnt the bull of +excommunication and the volumes of the canon law, which he denounced as +aiming at the subversion of all civil government, and the exaltation of +the papacy; how by this skillful manoeuvre he brought over many of the +German princes to his views; how, summoned before the Imperial Diet at +Worms, he refused to retract, and, while he was bidden in the castle of +Wartburg, his doctrines were spreading, and a reformation under Zwingli +broke out in Switzerland; how the principle of sectarian decomposition +embedded in the movement gave rise to rivalries and dissensions between +the Germans and the Swiss, and even divided the latter among themselves +under the leadership of Zwingli and of Calvin; how the Conference of +Marburg, the Diet of Spires, and that at Augsburg, failed to compose +the troubles, and eventually the German Reformation assumed a political +organization at Smalcalde. The quarrels between the Lutherans and the +Calvinists gave hopes to Rome that she might recover her losses. + +Leo was not slow to discern that the Lutheran Reformation was something +more serious than a squabble among some monks about the profits of +indulgence-sales, and the papacy set itself seriously at work to +overcome the revolters. It instigated the frightful wars that for so +many years desolated Europe, and left animosities which neither the +Treaty of Westphalia, nor the Council of Trent after eighteen years of +debate, could compose. No one can read without a shudder the attempts +that were made to extend the Inquisition in foreign countries. All +Europe, Catholic and Protestant, was horror-stricken at the Huguenot +massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve (A.D. 1572). For perfidy and atrocity +it has no equal in the annals of the world. + +The desperate attempt in which the papacy had been engaged to put down +its opponents by instigating civil wars, massacres, and assassinations, +proved to be altogether abortive. Nor had the Council of Trent any +better result. Ostensibly summoned to correct, illustrate, and fix with +perspicacity the doctrine of the Church, to restore the vigor of +its discipline, and to reform the lives of its ministers, it was so +manipulated that a large majority of its members were Italians, and +under the influence of the pope. Hence the Protestants could not +possibly accept its decisions. + +The issue of the Reformation was the acceptance by all the Protestant +Churches of the dogma that the Bible is a sufficient guide for every +Christian man. Tradition was rejected, and the right of private +interpretation assured. It was thought that the criterion of truth had +at length been obtained. + +The authority thus imputed to the Scriptures was not restricted +to matters of a purely religious or moral kind; it extended over +philosophical facts and to the interpretation of Nature. Many went as +far as in the old times Epiphanius had done: he believed that the Bible +contained a complete system of mineralogy! The Reformers would tolerate +no science that was not in accordance with Genesis. Among them there +were many who maintained that religion and piety could never flourish +unless separated from learning and science. The fatal maxim that the +Bible contained the sum and substance of all knowledge, useful or +possible to man--a maxim employed with such pernicious effect of old by +Tertullian and by St. Augustine, and which had so often been enforced +by papal authority--was still strictly insisted upon. The leaders of +the Reformation, Luther and Melanchthon, were determined to banish +philosophy from the Church. Luther declared that the study of Aristotle +is wholly useless; his vilification of that Greek philosopher knew no +bounds. He is, says Luther, "truly a devil, a horrid calumniator, a +wicked sycophant, a prince of darkness, a real Apollyon, a beast, a +most horrid impostor on mankind, one in whom there is scarcely any +philosophy, a public and professed liar, a goat, a complete epicure, +this twice execrable Aristotle." The schoolmen were, so Luther said, +"locusts, caterpillars, frogs, lice." He entertained an abhorrence +for them. These opinions, though not so emphatically expressed, were +entertained by Calvin. So far as science is concerned, nothing is owed +to the Reformation. The Procrustean bed of the Pentateuch was still +before her. + +In the annals of Christianity the most ill-omened day is that in which +she separated herself from science. She compelled Origen, at that time +(A.D. 231) its chief representative and supporter in the Church, to +abandon his charge in Alexandria, and retire to Caesarea. In vain +through many subsequent centuries did her leading men spend themselves +in--as the phrase then went--"drawing forth the internal juice and +marrow of the Scriptures for the explaining of things." Universal +history from the third to the sixteenth century shows with what result. +The dark ages owe their darkness to this fatal policy. Here and there, +it is true, there were great men, such as Frederick II. and Alphonso X., +who, standing at a very elevated and general point of view, had detected +the value of learning to civilization, and, in the midst of the dreary +prospect that ecclesiasticism had created around them, had recognized +that science alone can improve the social condition of man. + +The infliction of the death-punishment for difference of opinion was +still resorted to. When Calvin caused Servetus to be burnt at Geneva, it +was obvious to every one that the spirit of persecution was unimpaired. +The offense of that philosopher lay in his belief. This was, that the +genuine doctrines of Christianity had been lost even before the time of +the Council of Nicea; that the Holy Ghost animates the whole system of +Nature, like a soul of the world, and that, with the Christ, it will +be absorbed, at the end of all things, into the substance of the Deity, +from which they had emanated. For this he was roasted to death over a +slow fire. Was there any distinction between this Protestant auto-da-fe +and the Catholic one of Vanini, who was burnt at Toulouse, by the +Inquisition, in 1629, for his "Dialogues concerning Nature?" + +The invention of printing, the dissemination of books, had introduced +a class of dangers which the persecution of the Inquisition could not +reach. In 1559, Pope Paul IV. instituted the Congregation of the Index +Expurgatorius. "Its duty is to examine books and manuscripts intended +for publication, and to decide whether the people may be permitted to +read them; to correct those books of which the errors are not numerous, +and which contain certain useful and salutary truths, so as to bring +them into harmony with the doctrines of the Church; to condemn those +of which the principles are heretical and pernicious; and to grant the +peculiar privilege of perusing heretical books to certain persons. +This congregation, which is sometimes held in presence of the pope, but +generally in the palace of the Cardinal-president, has a more extensive +jurisdiction than that of the Inquisition, as it not only takes +cognizance of those books that contain doctrines contrary to the Roman +Catholic faith, but of those that concern the duties of morality, the +discipline of the Church, the interests of society. Its name is derived +from the alphabetical tables or indexes of heretical books and authors +composed by its appointment." + +The Index Expurgatorius of prohibited books at first indicated +those works which it was unlawful to read; but, on this being found +insufficient, whatever was not permitted was prohibited--an audacious +attempt to prevent all knowledge, except such as suited the purposes of +the Church, from reaching the people. + +The two rival divisions of the Christian Church--Protestant and +Catholic--were thus in accord on one point: to tolerate no science +except such as they considered to be agreeable to the Scriptures. The +Catholic, being in possession of centralized power, could make its +decisions respected wherever its sway was acknowledged, and enforce the +monitions of the Index Expurgatorius; the Protestant, whose influence +was diffused among many foci in different nations, could not act in such +a direct and resolute manner. Its mode of procedure was, by raising a +theological odium against an offender, to put him under a social ban--a +course perhaps not less effectual than the other. + +As we have seen in former chapters, an antagonism between religion and +science had existed from the earliest days of Christianity. On every +occasion permitting its display it may be detected through successive +centuries. We witness it in the downfall of the Alexandrian Museum, in +the cases of Erigena and Wiclif, in the contemptuous rejection by the +heretics of the thirteenth century of the Scriptural account of the +Creation; but it was not until the epoch of Copernicus, Kepler, and +Galileo, that the efforts of Science to burst from the thraldom in which +she was fettered became uncontrollable. In all countries the political +power of the Church had greatly declined; her leading men perceived +that the cloudy foundation on which she had stood was dissolving away. +Repressive measures against her antagonists, in old times resorted +to with effect, could be no longer advantageously employed. To her +interests the burning of a philosopher here and there did more harm than +good. In her great conflict with astronomy, a conflict in which Galileo +stands as the central figure, she received an utter overthrow; and, as +we have seen, when the immortal work of Newton was printed, she could +offer no resistance, though Leibnitz affirmed, in the face of Europe, +that "Newton had robbed the Deity of some of his most excellent +attributes, and had sapped the foundation of natural religion." + +From the time of Newton to our own time, the divergence of science from +the dogmas of the Church has continually increased. The Church declared +that the earth is the central and most important body in the universe; +that the sun and moon and stars are tributary to it. On these points +she was worsted by astronomy. She affirmed that a universal deluge had +covered the earth; that the only surviving animals were such as had +been saved in an ark. In this her error was established by geology. She +taught that there was a first man, who, some six or eight thousand years +ago, was suddenly created or called into existence in a condition of +physical and moral perfection, and from that condition he fell. But +anthropology has shown that human beings existed far back in geological +time, and in a savage state but little better than that of the brute. + +Many good and well-meaning men have attempted to reconcile the +statements of Genesis with the discoveries of science, but it is in +vain. The divergence has increased so much, that it has become an +absolute opposition. One of the antagonists must give way. + +May we not, then, be permitted to examine the authenticity of this book, +which, since the second century, has been put forth as the criterion of +scientific truth? To maintain itself in a position so exalted, it must +challenge human criticism. + +In the early Christian ages, many of the most eminent Fathers of the +Church had serious doubts respecting the authorship of the entire +Pentateuch. I have not space, in the limited compass of these pages, to +present in detail the facts and arguments that were then and have since +been adduced. The literature of the subject is now very extensive. I +may, however, refer the reader to the work of the pious and learned Dean +Prideaux, on "The Old and New Testament connected," a work which is one +of the literary ornaments of the last century. He will also find the +subject more recently and exhaustively discussed by Bishop Colenso. The +following paragraphs will convey a sufficiently distinct impression of +the present state of the controversy: + +The Pentateuch is affirmed to have been written by Moses, under the +influence of divine inspiration. Considered thus, as a record vouchsafed +and dictated by the Almighty, it commands not only scientific but +universal consent. + +But here, in the first place, it may be demanded, Who or what is it that +has put forth this great claim in its behalf? + +Not the work itself. It nowhere claims the authorship of one man, or +makes the impious declaration that it is the writing of Almighty God. + +Not until after the second century was there any such extravagant +demand on human credulity. It originated, not among the higher ranks of +Christian philosophers, but among the more fervid Fathers of the Church, +whose own writings prove them to have been unlearned and uncritical +persons. + +Every age, from the second century to our times, has offered men of +great ability, both Christian and Jewish, who have altogether repudiated +these claims. Their decision has been founded upon the intrinsic +evidence of the books themselves. These furnish plain indications of at +least two distinct authors, who have been respectively termed Elohistic +and Jehovistic. Hupfeld maintains that the Jehovistic narrative bears +marks of having been a second original record, wholly independent of the +Elohistic. The two sources from which the narratives have been derived +are, in many respects, contradictory of each other. Moreover, it is +asserted that the books of the Pentateuch are never ascribed to Moses +in the inscriptions of Hebrew manuscripts, or in printed copies of the +Hebrew Bible, nor are they styled "Books of Moses" in the Septuagint or +Vulgate, but only in modern translations. + +It is clear that they cannot be imputed to the sole authorship of Moses, +since they record his death. It is clear that they were not written +until many hundred years after that event, since they contain references +to facts which did not occur until after the establishment of the +government of kings among the Jews. + +No man may dare to impute them to the inspiration of Almighty God--their +inconsistencies, incongruities, contradictions, and impossibilities, as +exposed by many learned and pious moderns, both German and English, +are so great. It is the decision of these critics that Genesis is a +narrative based upon legends; that Exodus is not historically true; that +the whole Pentateuch is unhistoric and non-Mosaic; it contains the most +extraordinary contradictions and impossibilities, sufficient to involve +the credibility of the whole--imperfections so many and so conspicuous +that they would destroy the authenticity of any modern historical work. + +Hengstenberg, in his "Dissertations on the Genuineness of the +Pentateuch," says: "It is the unavoidable fate of a spurious historical +work of any length to be involved in contradictions. This must be the +case to a very great extent with the Pentateuch, if it be not genuine. +If the Pentateuch is spurious, its histories and laws have been +fabricated in successive portions, and were committed to writing in the +course of many centuries by different individuals. From such a mode of +origination, a mass of contradictions is inseparable, and the improving +hand of a later editor could never be capable of entirely obliterating +them." + +To the above conclusions I may add that we are expressly told by Ezra +(Esdras ii. 14) that he himself, aided by five other persons, wrote +these books in the space of forty days. He says that at the time of the +Babylonian captivity the ancient sacred writings of the Jews were burnt, +and gives a particular detail of the circumstances under which these +were composed. He sets forth that he undertook to write all that had +been done in the world since the beginning. It may be said that the +books of Esdras are apocryphal, but in return it may be demanded, Has +that conclusion been reached on evidence that will withstand modern +criticism? In the early ages of Christianity, when the story of the fall +of man was not considered as essential to the Christian system, and the +doctrine of the atonement had not attained that precision which Anselm +eventually gave it, it was very generally admitted by the Fathers of the +Church that Ezra probably did so compose the Pentateuch. Thus St. Jerome +says, "Sive Mosem dicere volueris auctorem Pentateuchi, sive Esdram +ejusdem instauratorem operis, non recuso." Clemens Alexandrinus +says that when these books had been destroyed in the captivity of +Nebuchadnezzar, Esdras, having become inspired prophetically, reproduced +them. Irenaeus says the same. + +The incidents contained in Genesis, from the first to the tenth chapters +inclusive (chapters which, in their bearing upon science, are of more +importance than other portions of the Pentateuch), have been obviously +compiled from short, fragmentary legends of various authorship. To the +critical eye they all, however, present peculiarities which demonstrate +that they were written on the banks of the Euphrates, and not in the +Desert of Arabia. They contain many Chaldaisms. An Egyptian would not +speak of the Mediterranean Sea as being west of him, an Assyrian would. +Their scenery and machinery, if such expressions may with propriety be +used, are altogether Assyrian, not Egyptian. They were such records as +one might expect to meet with in the cuneiform impressions of the +tile libraries of the Mesopotamian kings. It is affirmed that one such +legend, that of the Deluge, has already been exhumed, and it is not +beyond the bounds of probability that the remainder may in like manner +be obtained. + +From such Assyrian sources, the legends of the creation of the earth and +heaven, the garden of Eden, the making of man from clay, and of woman +from one of his ribs, the temptation by the serpent, the naming of +animals, the cherubim and flaming sword, the Deluge and the ark, the +drying up of the waters by the wind, the building of the Tower of +Babel, and the confusion of tongues, were obtained by Ezra. He commences +abruptly the proper history of the Jews in the eleventh chapter. At that +point his universal history ceases; he occupies himself with the story +of one family, the descendants of Shem. + +It is of this restriction that the Duke of Argyll, in his book on +"Primeval Man," very graphically says: + +In the genealogy of the family of Shem we have a list of names which are +names, and nothing more to us. It is a genealogy which neither does, nor +pretends to do, more than to trace the order of succession among a few +families only, out of the millions then already existing in the world. +Nothing but this order of succession is given, nor is it at all certain +that this order is consecutive or complete. Nothing is told us of all +that lay behind that curtain of thick darkness, in front of which +these names are made to pass; and yet there are, as it were, momentary +liftings, through which we have glimpses of great movements which were +going on, and had been long going on beyond. No shapes are distinctly +seen. Even the direction of those movements can only be guessed. But +voices are heard which are "as the voices of many waters." I agree in +the opinion of Hupfeld, that "the discovery that the Pentateuch is put +together out of various sources, or original documents, is beyond +all doubt not only one of the most important and most pregnant with +consequences for the interpretation of the historical books of the Old +Testament, or rather for the whole of theology and history, but it is +also one of the most certain discoveries which have been made in +the domain of criticism and the history of literature. Whatever the +anticritical party may bring forward to the contrary, it will maintain +itself, and not retrograde again through any thing, so long as there +exists such a thing as criticism; and it will not be easy for a reader +upon the stage of culture on which we stand in the present day, if he +goes to the examination unprejudiced, and with an uncorrupted power of +appreciating the truth, to be able to ward off its influence." + +What then? shall we give up these books? Does not the admission that the +narrative of the fall in Eden is legendary carry with it the surrender +of that most solemn and sacred of Christian doctrines, the atonement? + +Let us reflect on this! Christianity, in its earliest days, when it was +converting and conquering the world, knew little or nothing about that +doctrine. We have seen that, in his "Apology," Tertullian did not +think it worth his while to mention it. It originated among the Gnostic +heretics. It was not admitted by the Alexandrian theological school. It +was never prominently advanced by the Fathers. It was not brought into +its present commanding position until the time of Anselm Philo Judaeus +speaks of the story of the fall as symbolical; Origen regarded it as an +allegory. Perhaps some of the Protestant churches may, with reason, be +accused of inconsistency, since in part they consider it as mythical, in +part real. But, if, with them, we admit that the serpent is symbolical +of Satan, does not that cast an air of allegory over the whole +narrative? + +It is to be regretted that the Christian Church has burdened itself with +the defense of these books, and voluntarily made itself answerable for +their manifest contradictions and errors. Their vindication, if it +were possible, should have been resigned to the Jews, among whom they +originated, and by whom they have been transmitted to us. Still more, it +is to be deeply regretted that the Pentateuch, a production so imperfect +as to be unable to stand the touch of modern criticism, should be put +forth as the arbiter of science. Let it be remembered that the exposure +of the true character of these books has been made, not by captious +enemies, but by pious and learned churchmen, some of them of the highest +dignity. + +While thus the Protestant churches have insisted on the acknowledgment +of the Scriptures as the criterion of truth, the Catholic has, in our +own times, declared the infallibility of the pope. It may be said that +this infallibility applies only to moral or religious things; but where +shall the line of separation be drawn? Onmiscience cannot be limited +to a restricted group of questions; in its very nature it implies the +knowledge of all, and infallibility means omniscience. + +Doubtless, if the fundamental principles of Italian Christianity be +admitted, their logical issue is an infallible pope. There is no need to +dwell on the unphilosophical nature of this conception; it is destroyed +by an examination of the political history of the papacy, and the +biography of the popes. The former exhibits all the errors and mistakes +to which institutions of a confessedly human character have been found +liable; the latter is only too frequently a story of sin and shame. + +It was not possible that the authoritative promulgation of the dogma of +papal infallibility should meet among enlightened Catholics universal +acceptance. Serious and wide-spread dissent has been produced. A +doctrine so revolting to common-sense could not find any other result. +There are many who affirm that, if infallibility exists anywhere, it is +in oecumenical councils, and yet such councils have not always agreed +with each other. There are also many who remember that councils +have deposed popes, and have passed judgment on their clamors and +contentions. Not without reason do Protestants demand, What proof can +be given that infallibility exists in the Church at all? what proof is +there that the Church has ever been fairly or justly represented in +any council? and why should the truth be ascertained by the vote of a +majority rather than by that of a minority? How often it has happened +that one man, standing at the right point of view, has descried the +truth, and, after having been denounced and persecuted by all others, +they have eventually been constrained to adopt his declarations! Of many +great discoveries, has not this been the history? + +It is not for Science to compose these contesting claims; it is not for +her to determine whether the criterion of truth for the religious man +shall be found in the Bible, or in the oecumenical council, or in the +pope. She only asks the right, which she so willingly accords to others, +of adopting a criterion of her own. If she regards unhistorical +legends with disdain; if she considers the vote of a majority in the +ascertainment of truth with supreme indifference; if she leaves the +claim of infallibility in any human being to be vindicated by the stern +logic of coming events--the cold impassiveness which in these matters +she maintains is what she displays toward her own doctrines. Without +hesitation she would give up the theories of gravitation or undulations, +if she found that they were irreconcilable with facts. For her the +volume of inspiration is the book of Nature, of which the open scroll +is ever spread forth before the eyes of every man. Confronting all, it +needs no societies for its dissemination. Infinite in extent, eternal +in duration, human ambition and human fanaticism have never been able +to tamper with it. On the earth it is illustrated by all that is +magnificent and beautiful, on the heavens its letters are suns and +worlds. + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + CONTROVERSY RESPECTING THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNIVERSE. + + There are two conceptions of the government of the world: 1. + By Providence; 2. By Law.--The former maintained by the + priesthood.--Sketch of the introduction of the latter. + + Kepler discovers the laws that preside over the solar + system.--His works are denounced by papal authority.--The + foundations of mechanical philosophy are laid by Da Vinci.-- + Galileo discovers the fundamental laws of Dynamics.--Newton + applies them to the movements of the celestial bodies, and + shows that the solar system is governed by mathematical + necessity.--Herschel extends that conclusion to the + universe.--The nebular hypothesis.--Theological exceptions + to it. + + Evidences of the control of law in the construction of the + earth, and in the development of the animal and plant + series.--They arose by Evolution, not by Creation. + + The reign of law is exhibited by the historic career of + human societies, and in the case of individual man. + + Partial adoption of this view by some of the Reformed + Churches. + + +Two interpretations may be given of the mode of government of the world. +It may be by incessant divine interventions, or by the operation of +unvarying law. + +To the adoption of the former a priesthood will always incline, since +it must desire to be considered as standing between the prayer of the +votary and the providential act. Its importance is magnified by the +power it claims of determining what that act shall be. In the pre +Christian (Roman) religion, the grand office of the priesthood was the +discovery of future events by oracles, omens, or an inspection of the +entrails of animals, and by the offering of sacrifices to propitiate the +gods. In the later, the Christian times, a higher power was claimed; the +clergy asserting that, by their intercessions, they could regulate the +course of affairs, avert dangers, secure benefits, work miracles, and +even change the order of Nature. + +Not without reason, therefore, did they look upon the doctrine of +government by unvarying law with disfavor. It seemed to depreciate +their dignity, to lessen their importance. To them there was something +shocking in a God who cannot be swayed by human entreaty, a cold, +passionless divinity--something frightful in fatalism, destiny. + +But the orderly movement of the heavens could not fail in all ages to +make a deep impression on thoughtful observers--the rising and setting +of the sun; the increasing or diminishing light of the day; the waxing +and waning of the moon; the return of the seasons in their proper +courses; the measured march of the wandering planets in the sky--what +are all these, and a thousand such, but manifestations of an orderly and +unchanging procession of events? The faith of early observers in this +interpretation may perhaps have been shaken by the occurrence of such a +phenomenon as an eclipse, a sudden and mysterious breach of the ordinary +course of natural events; but it would be resumed in tenfold strength as +soon as the discovery was made that eclipses themselves recur, and may +be predicted. + +Astronomical predictions of all kinds depend upon the admission of this +fact--that there never has been and never will be any intervention in +the operation of natural laws. The scientific philosopher affirms that +the condition of the world at any given moment is the direct result +of its condition in the preceding moment, and the direct cause of its +condition in the subsequent moment. Law and chance are only different +names for mechanical necessity. + +About fifty years after the death of Copernicus, John Kepler, a native +of Wurtemberg, who had adopted the heliocentric theory, and who was +deeply impressed with the belief that relationships exist in the +revolutions of the planetary bodies round the sun, and that these if +correctly examined would reveal the laws under which those movements +take place, devoted himself to the study of the distances, times, and +velocities of the planets, and the form of their orbits. His method +was, to submit the observations to which he had access, such as those +of Tycho Brahe, to computations based first on one and then on another +hypothesis, rejecting the hypothesis if he found that the calculations +did not accord with the observations. The incredible labor he had +undergone (he says, "I considered, and I computed, until I almost went +mad") was at length rewarded, and in 1609 he published his book, "On the +Motions of the Planet Mars." In this he had attempted to reconcile the +movements of that planet to the hypothesis of eccentrics and epicycles, +but eventually discovered that the orbit of a planet is not a circle but +an ellipse, the sun being in one of the foci, and that the areas swept +over by a line drawn from the planet to the sun are proportional to the +times. These constitute what are now known as the first and second laws +of Kepler. Eight years subsequently, he was rewarded by the discovery +of a third law, defining the relation between the mean distances of the +planets from the sun and the times of their revolutions; "the squares of +the periodic times are proportional to the cubes of the distances." In +"An Epitome of the Copernican System," published in 1618, he announced +this law, and showed that it holds good for the satellites of Jupiter as +regards their primary. Hence it was inferred that the laws which preside +over the grand movements of the solar system preside also over the less +movements of its constituent parts. + +The conception of law which is unmistakably conveyed by Kepler's +discoveries, and the evidence they gave in support of the heliocentric +as against the geocentric theory, could not fail to incur the +reprehension of the Roman authorities. The congregation of the Index, +therefore, when they denounced the Copernican system as utterly contrary +to the Holy Scriptures, prohibited Kepler's "Epitome" of that system. It +was on this occasion that Kepler submitted his celebrated remonstrance: +"Eighty years have elapsed during which the doctrines of Copernicus +regarding the movement of the earth and the immobility of the sun have +been promulgated without hinderance, because it was deemed allowable to +dispute concerning natural things, and to elucidate the works of God, +and now that new testimony is discovered in proof of the truth of those +doctrines--testimony which was not known to the spiritual judges--ye +would prohibit the promulgation of the true system of the structure of +the universe." + +None of Kepler's contemporaries believed the law of the areas, nor was +it accepted until the publication of the "Principia" of Newton. In fact, +no one in those times understood the philosophical meaning of Kepler's +laws. He himself did not foresee what they must inevitably lead to. His +mistakes showed how far he was from perceiving their result. Thus he +thought that each planet is the seat of an intelligent principle, and +that there is a relation between the magnitudes of the orbits of the +five principal planets and the five regular solids of geometry. At first +he inclined to believe that the orbit of Mars is oval, nor was it until +after a wearisome study that he detected the grand truth, its elliptical +form. An idea of the incorruptibility of the celestial objects had +led to the adoption of the Aristotelian doctrine of the perfection of +circular motions, and to the belief that there were none but circular +motions in the heavens. He bitterly complains of this as having been a +fatal "thief of his time." His philosophical daring is illustrated in +his breaking through this time-honored tradition. + +In some most important particulars Kepler anticipated Newton. He was the +first to give clear ideas respecting gravity. He says every particle of +matter will rest until it is disturbed by some other particle--that the +earth attracts a stone more than the stone attracts the earth, and that +bodies move to each other in proportion to their masses; that the earth +would ascend to the moon one-fifty-fourth of the distance, and the moon +would move toward the earth the other fifty-three. He affirms that the +moon's attraction causes the tides, and that the planets must impress +irregularities on the moon's motions. + +The progress of astronomy is obviously divisible into three periods: + +1. The period of observation of the apparent motions of the heavenly +bodies. + +2. The period of discovery of their real motions, and particularly of +the laws of the planetary revolutions; this was signally illustrated by +Copernicus and Kepler. + +3. The period of the ascertainment of the causes of those laws. It was +the epoch of Newton. + +The passage of the second into the third period depended on the +development of the Dynamical branch of mechanics, which had been in +a stagnant condition from the time of Archimedes or the Alexandrian +School. + +In Christian Europe there had not been a cultivator of mechanical +philosophy until Leonardo da Vinci, who was born A.D. 1452. To him, and +not to Lord Bacon, must be attributed the renaissance of science. Bacon +was not only ignorant of mathematics, but depreciated its application +to physical inquiries. He contemptuously rejected the Copernican system, +alleging absurd objections to it. While Galileo was on the brink of +his great telescopic discoveries, Bacon was publishing doubts as to +the utility of instruments in scientific investigations. To ascribe the +inductive method to him is to ignore history. His fanciful philosophical +suggestions have never been of the slightest practical use. No one has +ever thought of employing them. Except among English readers, his name +is almost unknown. + +To Da Vinci I shall have occasion to allude more particularly on a +subsequent page. Of his works still remaining in manuscript, two volumes +are at Milan, and one in Paris, carried there by Napoleon. After an +interval of about seventy years, Da Vinci was followed by the Dutch +engineer, Stevinus, whose work on the principles of equilibrium was +published in 1586. Six years afterward appeared Galileo's treatise on +mechanics. + +To this great Italian is due the establishment of the three fundamental +laws of dynamics, known as the Laws of Motion. + +The consequences of the establishment of these laws were very important. + +It had been supposed that continuous movements, such, for instance, as +those of the celestial bodies, could only be maintained by a perpetual +consumption and perpetual application of force, but the first of +Galileo's laws declared that every body will persevere in its state of +rest, or of uniform motion in a right line, until it is compelled to +change that state by disturbing forces. A clear perception of this +fundamental principle is essential to a comprehension of the elementary +facts of physical astronomy. Since all the motions that we witness +taking place on the surface of the earth soon come to an end, we are +led to infer that rest is the natural condition of things. We have made, +then, a very great advance when we have become satisfied that a body is +equally indifferent to rest as to motion, and that it equally perseveres +in either state until disturbing forces are applied. Such disturbing +forces in the case of common movements are friction and the resistance +of the air. When no such resistances exist, movement must be perpetual, +as is the case with the heavenly bodies, which are moving in a void. + +Forces, no matter what their difference of magnitude may be, will exert +their full influence conjointly, each as though the other did not exist. +Thus, when a ball is suffered to drop from the mouth of a cannon, it +falls to the ground in a certain interval of time through the influence +of gravity upon it. If, then, it be fired from the cannon, though now +it may be projected some thousands of feet in a second, the effect +of gravity upon it will be precisely the same as before. In the +intermingling of forces there is no deterioration; each produces its own +specific effect. + +In the latter half of the seventeenth century, through the works of +Borelli, Hooke, and Huyghens, it had become plain that circular motions +could be accounted for by the laws of Galileo. Borelli, treating of the +motions of Jupiter's satellites, shows how a circular movement may arise +under the influence of a central force. Hooke exhibited the inflection +of a direct motion into a circular by a supervening central attraction. + +The year 1687 presents, not only an epoch in European science, but also +in the intellectual development of man. It is marked by the publication +of the "Principia" of Newton, an incomparable, an immortal work. + +On the principle that all bodies attract each other with forces directly +as their masses, and inversely as the squares of their distances, Newton +showed that all the movements of the celestial bodies may be accounted +for, and that Kepler's laws might all have been predicted--the elliptic +motions--the described areas the relation of the times and distances. As +we have seen, Newton's contemporaries had perceived how circular motions +could be explained; that was a special case, but Newton furnished the +solution of the general problem, containing all special cases of motion +in circles, ellipses, parabolas, hyperbolas--that is, in all the conic +sections. + +The Alexandrian mathematicians had shown that the direction of movement +of falling bodies is toward the centre of the earth. Newton proved that +this must necessarily be the case, the general effect of the attraction +of all the particles of a sphere being the same as if they were all +concentrated in its centre. To this central force, thus determining the +fall of bodies, the designation of gravity was given. Up to this time, +no one, except Kepler, had considered how far its influence reached. It +seemed to Newton possible that it might extend as far as the moon, and +be the force that deflects her from a rectilinear path, and makes her +revolve in her orbit round the earth. It was easy to compute, on the +principle of the law of inverse squares, whether the earth's attraction +was sufficient to produce the observed effect. Employing the measures +of the size of the earth accessible at the time, Newton found that the +moon's deflection was only thirteen feet in a minute; whereas, if his +hypothesis of gravitation were true, it should be fifteen feet. But in +1669 Picard, as we have seen, executed the measurement of a degree more +carefully than had previously been done; this changed the estimate of +the magnitude of the earth, and, therefore, of the distance of the moon; +and, Newton's attention having been directed to it by some discussions +that took place at the Royal Society in 1679, he obtained Picard's +results, went home, took out his old papers, and resumed his +calculations. As they drew to a close, he became so much agitated +that he was obliged to desire a friend to finish them. The expected +coincidence was established. It was proved that the moon is retained +in her orbit and made to revolve round the earth by the force of +terrestrial gravity. The genii of Kepler had given place to the vortices +of Descartes, and these in their turn to the central force of Newton. + +In like manner the earth, and each of the planets, are made to move +in an elliptic orbit round the sun by his attractive force, and +perturbations arise by reason of the disturbing action of the planetary +masses on one another. Knowing the masses and the distances, these +disturbances may be computed. Later astronomers have even succeeded with +the inverse problem, that is, knowing the perturbations or disturbances, +to find the place and the mass of the disturbing body. Thus, from the +deviations of Uranus from his theoretical position, the discovery of +Neptune was accomplished. + +Newton's merit consisted in this, that he applied the laws of dynamics +to the movements of the celestial bodies, and insisted that scientific +theories must be substantiated by the agreement of observations with +calculations. + +When Kepler announced his three laws, they were received with +condemnation by the spiritual authorities, not because of any error they +were supposed to present or to contain, but partly because they gave +support to the Copernican system, and partly because it was judged +inexpedient to admit the prevalence of law of any kind as opposed to +providential intervention. The world was regarded as the theatre in +which the divine will was daily displayed; it was considered derogatory +to the majesty of God that that will should be fettered in any way. The +power of the clergy was chiefly manifested in the influence the were +alleged to possess in changing his arbitrary determinations. It was thus +that they could abate the baleful action of comets, secure fine weather +or rain, prevent eclipses, and, arresting the course of Nature, work all +manner of miracles; it was thus that the shadow had been made to go back +on the dial, and the sun and the moon stopped in mid-career. + +In the century preceding the epoch of Newton, a great religious and +political revolution had taken place--the Reformation. Though its +effect had not been the securing of complete liberty for thought, it had +weakened many of the old ecclesiastical bonds. In the reformed countries +there was no power to express a condemnation of Newton's works, and +among the clergy there was no disposition to give themselves any concern +about the matter. At first the attention of the Protestant was engrossed +by the movements of his great enemy the Catholic, and when that source +of disquietude ceased, and the inevitable partitions of the Reformation +arose, that attention was fastened upon the rival and antagonistic +Churches. The Lutheran, the Calvinist, the Episcopalian, the +Presbyterian, had something more urgent on hand than Newton's +mathematical demonstrations. + +So, uncondemned, and indeed unobserved, in this clamor of fighting +sects, Newton's grand theory solidly established itself. Its +philosophical significance was infinitely more momentous than the dogmas +that these persons were quarreling about. It not only accepted the +heliocentric theory and the laws discovered by Kepler, but it proved +that, no matter what might be the weight of opposing ecclesiastical +authority, the sun MUST be the centre of our system, and that Kepler's +laws are the result of a mathematical necessity. It is impossible that +they should be other than they are. + +But what is the meaning of all this? Plainly that the solar system +is not interrupted by providential interventions, but is under the +government of irreversible law--law that is itself the issue of +mathematical necessity. + +The telescopic observations of Herschel I. satisfied him that there are +very many double stars--double not merely because they are accidentally +in the same line of view, but because they are connected physically, +revolving round each other. These observations were continued and +greatly extended by Herschel II. The elements of the elliptic orbit of +the double star zeta of the Great Bear were determined by Savary, its +period being fifty-eight and one-quarter years; those of another, sigma +Coronae, were determined by Hind, its period being more than seven +hundred and thirty-six years. The orbital movement of these double suns +in ellipses compels us to admit that the law of gravitation holds good +far beyond the boundaries of the solar system; indeed, as far as the +telescope can reach, it demonstrates the reign of law. D'Alembert, in +the Introduction to the Encyclopaedia, says: "The universe is but a +single fact; it is only one great truth." + +Shall we, then, conclude that the solar and the starry systems have been +called into existence by God, and that he has then imposed upon them by +his arbitrary will laws under the control of which it was his pleasure +that their movements should be made? + +Or are there reasons for believing that these several systems came into +existence not by such an arbitrary fiat, but through the operation of +law? + +The following are some peculiarities displayed by the solar system as +enumerated by Laplace. All the planets and their satellites move in +ellipses of such small eccentricity that they are nearly circles. All +the planets move in the same direction and nearly in the same plane. The +movements of the satellites are in the same direction as those of the +planets. The movements of rotation of the sun, of the planets, and the +satellites, are in the same direction as their orbital motions, and in +planes little different. + +It is impossible that so many coincidences could be the result of +chance! Is it not plain that there must have been a common tie among +all these bodies, that they are only parts of what must once have been a +single mass? + +But if we admit that the substance of which the solar system consists +once existed in a nebulous condition, and was in rotation, all the above +peculiarities follow as necessary mechanical consequences. Nay, more, +the formation of planets, the formation of satellites and of asteroids, +is accounted for. We see why the outer planets and satellites are larger +than the interior ones; why the larger planets rotate rapidly, and the +small ones slowly; why of the satellites the outer planets have more, +the inner fewer. We are furnished with indications of the time of +revolution of the planets in their orbits, and of the satellites in +theirs; we perceive the mode of formation of Saturn's rings. We find an +explanation of the physical condition of the sun, and the transitions of +condition through which the earth and moon have passed, as indicated by +their geology. + +But two exceptions to the above peculiarities have been noted; they are +in the cases of Uranus and Neptune. + +The existence of such a nebulous mass once admitted, all the rest +follows as a matter of necessity. Is there not, however, a most serious +objection in the way? Is not this to exclude Almighty God from the +worlds he has made? + +First, we must be satisfied whether there is any solid evidence for +admitting the existence of such a nebulous mass. + +The nebular hypothesis rests primarily on the telescopic discovery made +by Herschel I., that there are scattered here and there in the heavens +pale, gleaming patches of light, a few of which are large enough to be +visible to the naked eye. Of these, many may be resolved by a sufficient +telescopic power into a congeries of stars, but some, such as the great +nebula in Orion, have resisted the best instruments hitherto made. + +It was asserted by those who were indisposed to accept the nebular +hypothesis, that the non-resolution was due to imperfection in the +telescopes used. In these instruments two distinct functions may be +observed: their light-gathering power depends on the diameter of their +object mirror or lens, their defining power depends on the exquisite +correctness of their optical surfaces. Grand instruments may possess +the former quality in perfection by reason of their size, but the latter +very imperfectly, either through want of original configuration, or +distortion arising from flexure through their own weight. But, unless an +instrument be perfect in this respect, as well as adequate in the other, +it may fail to decompose a nebula into discrete points. + +Fortunately, however, other means for the settlement of this question +are available. In 1846, it was discovered by the author of this book +that the spectrum of an ignited solid is continuous--that is, has +neither dark nor bright lines. Fraunhofer had previously made known that +the spectrum of ignited gases is discontinuous. Here, then, is the means +of determining whether the light emitted by a given nebula comes from an +incandescent gas, or from a congeries of ignited solids, stars, or +suns. If its spectrum be discontinuous, it is a true nebula or gas; if +continuous, a congeries of stars. + +In 1864, Mr. Huggins made this examination in the case of a nebula in +the constellation Draco. It proved to be gaseous. + +Subsequent observations have shown that, of sixty nebulae examined, +nineteen give discontinuous or gaseous spectra--the remainder continuous +ones. + +It may, therefore, be admitted that physical evidence has at length +been obtained, demonstrating the existence of vast masses of matter in a +gaseous condition, and at a temperature of incandescence. The hypothesis +of Laplace has thus a firm basis. In such a nebular mass, cooling by +radiation is a necessary incident, and condensation and rotation the +inevitable results. There must be a separation of rings all lying in +one plane, a generation of planets and satellites all rotating alike, +a central sun and engirdling globes. From a chaotic mass, through the +operation of natural laws, an organized system has been produced. An +integration of matter into worlds has taken place through a decline of +heat. + +If such be the cosmogony of the solar system, such the genesis of the +planetary worlds, we are constrained to extend our views of the dominion +of law, and to recognize its agency in the creation as well as in the +conservation of the innumerable orbs that throng the universe. + +But, again, it may be asked: "Is there not something profoundly impious +in this? Are we not excluding Almighty God from the world he has made?" + +We have often witnessed the formation of a cloud in a serene sky. A hazy +point, barely perceptible--a little wreath of mist--increases in volume, +and becomes darker and denser, until it obscures a large portion of the +heavens. It throws itself into fantastic shapes, it gathers a glory +from the sun, is borne onward by the wind, and, perhaps, as it gradually +came, so it gradually disappears, melting away in the untroubled air. + +Now, we say that the little vesicles of which this cloud was composed +arose from the condensation of water-vapor preexisting in the +atmosphere, through reduction of temperature; we show how they assumed +the form they present. We assign optical reasons for the brightness +or blackness of the cloud; we explain, on mechanical principles, its +drifting before the wind; for its disappearance we account on +the principles of chemistry. It never occurs to us to invoke the +interposition of the Almighty in the production and fashioning of this +fugitive form. We explain all the facts connected with it by physical +laws, and perhaps should reverentially hesitate to call into operation +the finger of God. + +But the universe is nothing more than such a cloud--a cloud of suns and +worlds. Supremely grand though it may seem to us, to the Infinite and +Eternal Intellect it is no more than a fleeting mist. If there be a +multiplicity of worlds in infinite space, there is also a succession of +worlds in infinite time. As one after another cloud replaces cloud in +the skies, so this starry system, the universe, is the successor of +countless others that have preceded it--the predecessor of countless +others that will follow. There is an unceasing metamorphosis, a sequence +of events, without beginning or end. + +If, on physical principles, we account for minor meteorological +incidents, mists and clouds, is it not permissible for us to appeal to +the same principle in the origin of world-systems and universes, which +are only clouds on a space-scale somewhat larger, mists on a time-scale +somewhat less transient? Can any man place the line which bounds +the physical on one side, the supernatural on the other? Do not our +estimates of the extent and the duration of things depend altogether +on our point of view? Were we set in the midst of the great nebula +of Orion, how transcendently magnificent the scene! The vast +transformations, the condensations of a fiery mist into worlds, might +seem worthy of the immediate presence, the supervision of God; here, at +our distant station, where millions of miles are inappreciable to our +eyes, and suns seem no bigger than motes in the air, that nebula is more +insignificant than the faintest cloud. Galileo, in his description of +the constellation of Orion, did not think it worth while so much as to +mention it. The most rigorous theologian of those days would have seen +nothing to blame in imputing its origin to secondary causes, nothing +irreligious in failing to invoke the arbitrary interference of God in +its metamorphoses. If such be the conclusion to which we come respecting +it, what would be the conclusion to which an Intelligence seated in it +might come respecting us? It occupies an extent of space millions of +times greater than that of our solar system; we are invisible from it, +and therefore absolutely insignificant. Would such an Intelligence think +it necessary to require for our origin and maintenance the immediate +intervention of God? + + +From the solar system let us descend to what is still more +insignificant--a little portion of it; let us descend to our own earth. +In the lapse of time it has experienced great changes. Have these been +due to incessant divine interventions, or to the continuous operation of +unfailing law? The aspect of Nature perpetually varies under our eyes, +still more grandly and strikingly has it altered in geological +times. But the laws guiding those changes never exhibit the slightest +variation. In the midst of immense vicissitudes they are immutable. +The present order of things is only a link in a vast connected chain +reaching back to an incalculable past, and forward to an infinite +future. + +There is evidence, geological and astronomical, that the temperature of +the earth and her satellite was in the remote past very much higher than +it is now. A decline so slow as to be imperceptible at short intervals, +but manifest enough in the course of many ages, has occurred. The heat +has been lost by radiation into space. + +The cooling of a mass of any kind, no matter whether large or small, is +not discontinuous; it does not go on by fits and starts; it takes +place under the operation of a mathematical law, though for such mighty +changes as are here contemplated neither the formula of Newton, nor that +of Dulong and Petit, may apply. It signifies nothing that periods of +partial decline, glacial periods, or others of temporary elevation, have +been intercalated; it signifies nothing whether these variations may +have arisen from topographical variations, as those of level, or from +periodicities in the radiation of the sun. A periodical sun would act as +a mere perturbation in the gradual decline of heat. The perturbations of +the planetary motions are a confirmation, not a disproof, of gravity. + +Now, such a decline of temperature must have been attended by +innumerable changes of a physical character in our globe. Her dimensions +must have diminished through contraction, the length of her day must +have lessened, her surface must have collapsed, and fractures taken +place along the lines of least resistance; the density of the sea must +have increased, its volume must have become less; the constitution of +the atmosphere must have varied, especially in the amount of water-vapor +and carbonic acid that it contained; the barometric pressure must have +declined. + +These changes, and very many more that might be mentioned, must have +taken place not in a discontinuous but in an orderly manner, since the +master-fact, the decline of heat, that was causing them, was itself +following a mathematical law. + +But not alone did lifeless Nature submit to these inevitable mutations; +living Nature was also simultaneously affected. + +An organic form of any kind, vegetable or animal, will remain unchanged +only so long as the environment in which it is placed remains unchanged. +Should an alteration in the environment occur, the organism will either +be modified or destroyed. + +Destruction is more likely to happen as the change in the environment +is more sudden; modification or transformation is more possible as that +change is more gradual. + +Since it is demonstrably certain that lifeless Nature has in the lapse +of ages undergone vast modifications; since the crust of the earth, and +the sea, and the atmosphere, are no longer such as they once were; since +the distribution of the land and the ocean and all manner of physical +conditions have varied; since there have been such grand changes in +the environment of living things on the surface of our planet--it +necessarily follows that organic Nature must have passed through +destructions and transformations in correspondence thereto. + +That such extinctions, such modifications, have taken place, how +copious, how convincing, is the evidence! + +Here, again, we must observe that, since the disturbing agency +was itself following a mathematical law, these its results must be +considered as following that law too. + +Such considerations, then, plainly force upon us the conclusion that +the organic progress of the world has been guided by the operation of +immutable law--not determined by discontinuous, disconnected, arbitrary +interventions of God. They incline us to view favorably the idea of +transmutations of one form into another, rather than that of sudden +creations. + +Creation implies an abrupt appearance, transformation a gradual change. + +In this manner is presented to our contemplation the great theory of +Evolution. Every organic being has a place in a chain of events. It is +not an isolated, a capricious fact, but an unavoidable phenomenon. It +has its place in that vast, orderly concourse which has successively +risen in the past, has introduced the present, and is preparing the way +for a predestined future. From point to point in this vast progression +there has been a gradual, a definite, a continuous unfolding, a +resistless order of evolution. But in the midst of these mighty changes +stand forth immutable the laws that are dominating over all. + +If we examine the introduction of any type of life in the animal series, +we find that it is in accordance with transformation, not with creation. +Its beginning is under an imperfect form in the midst of other forms, +of which the time is nearly complete, and which are passing into +extinction. By degrees, one species after another in succession more and +more perfect arises, until, after many ages, a culmination is reached. +From that there is, in like manner, a long, a gradual decline. + +Thus, though the mammal type of life is the characteristic of the +Tertiary and post-Tertiary periods, it does not suddenly make its +appearance without premonition in those periods. Far back, in the +Secondary, we find it under imperfect forms, struggling, as it were, to +make good a foothold. At length it gains a predominance under higher and +better models. + +So, too, of reptiles, the characteristic type of life of the Secondary +period. As we see in a dissolving view, out of the fading outlines of +a scene that is passing away, the dim form of a new one emerging, which +gradually gains strength, reaches its culmination, and then melts +away in some other that is displacing it, so reptile-life doubtfully, +appears, reaches its culmination, and gradually declines. In all this +there is nothing abrupt; the changes shade into each other by insensible +degrees. + +How could it be otherwise? The hot-blooded animals could not exist in +an atmosphere so laden with carbonic acid as was that of the primitive +times. But the removal of that noxious ingredient from the air by the +leaves of plants under the influence of sunlight, the enveloping of its +carbon in the earth under the form of coal, the disengagement of its +oxygen, permitted their life. As the atmosphere was thus modified, +the sea was involved in the change; it surrendered a large part of its +carbonic acid, and the limestone hitherto held in solution by it was +deposited in the solid form. For every equivalent of carbon buried in +the earth, there was an equivalent of carbonate of lime separated from +the sea--not necessarily in an amorphous condition, most frequently +under an organic form. The sunshine kept up its work day by day, but +there were demanded myriads of days for the work to be completed. It was +a slow passage from a noxious to a purified atmosphere, and an equally +slow passage from a cold-blooded to a hot-blooded type of life. But the +physical changes were taking place under the control of law, and the +organic transformations were not sudden or arbitrary providential acts. +They were the immediate, the inevitable consequences of the physical +changes, and therefore, like them, the necessary issue of law. + +For a more detailed consideration of this subject, I may refer the +reader to Chapters I, II., VII, of the second book of my "Treatise on +Human Physiology," published in 1856. + + +Is the world, then, governed by law or by providential interventions, +abruptly breaking the proper sequence of events? + +To complete our view of this question, we turn finally to what, in one +sense, is the most insignificant, in another the most important, case +that can be considered. Do human societies, in their historic career, +exhibit the marks of a predetermined progress in an unavoidable track? +Is there any evidence that the life of nations is under the control of +immutable law? + +May we conclude that, in society, as in the individual man, parts never +spring from nothing, but are evolved or developed from parts that are +already in existence? + +If any one should object to or deride the doctrine of the evolution +or successive development of the animated forms which constitute that +unbroken organic chain reaching from the beginning of life on the globe +to the present times, let him reflect that he has himself passed through +modifications the counterpart of those he disputes. For nine months +his type of life was aquatic, and during that time he assumed, in +succession, many distinct but correlated forms. At birth his type of +life became aerial; he began respiring the atmospheric air; new elements +of food were supplied to him; the mode of his nutrition changed; but +as yet he could see nothing, hear nothing, notice nothing. By degrees +conscious existence was assumed; he became aware that there is an +external world. In due time organs adapted to another change of food, +the teeth, appeared, and a change of food ensued. He then passed through +the stages of childhood and youth, his bodily form developing, and with +it his intellectual powers. At about fifteen years, in consequence of +the evolution which special parts of his system had attained, his moral +character changed. New ideas, new passions, influenced him. And that +that was the cause, and this the effect, is demonstrated when, by the +skill of the surgeon, those parts have been interfered with. Nor does +the development, the metamorphosis, end here; it requires many years +for the body to reach its full perfection, many years for the mind. A +culmination is at length reached, and then there is a decline. I need +not picture its mournful incidents--the corporeal, the intellectual +enfeeblement. Perhaps there is little exaggeration in saying that in +less than a century every human being on the face of the globe, if not +cut off in an untimely manner, has passed through all these changes. + +Is there for each of us a providential intervention as we thus pass +from stage to stage of life? or shall we not rather believe that the +countless myriads of human beings who have peopled the earth have been +under the guidance of an unchanging, a universal law? + +But individuals are the elementary constituents of communities--nations. +They maintain therein a relation like that which the particles of the +body maintain to the body itself. These, introduced into it, commence +and complete their function; they die, and are dismissed. + +Like the individual, the nation comes into existence without its own +knowledge, and dies without its own consent, often against its own will. +National life differs in no particular from individual, except in this, +that it is spread over a longer span, but no nation can escape its +inevitable term. Each, if its history be well considered, shows its +time of infancy, its time of youth, its time of maturity, its time of +decline, if its phases of life be completed. + +In the phases of existence of all, so far as those phases are +completed, there are common characteristics, and, as like accordances in +individuals point out that all are living under a reign of law, we +are justified in inferring that the course of nations, and indeed the +progress of humanity, does not take place in a chance or random way, +that supernatural interventions never break the chain of historic acts, +that every historic event has its warrant in some preceding event, and +gives warrant to others that are to follow.. + +But this conclusion is the essential principle of Stoicism--that Grecian +philosophical system which, as I have already said, offered a support in +their hour of trial and an unwavering guide in the vicissitudes of +life, not only to many illustrious Greeks, but also to some of the great +philosophers, statesmen, generals, and emperors of Rome; a system which +excluded chance from every thing, and asserted the direction of all +events by irresistible necessity, to the promotion of perfect good; a +system of earnestness, sternness, austerity, virtue--a protest in favor +of the common-sense of mankind. And perhaps we shall not dissent from +the remark of Montesquieu, who affirms that the destruction of the +Stoics was a great calamity to the human race; for they alone made great +citizens, great men. + +To the principle of government by law, Latin Christianity, in its papal +form, is in absolute contradiction. The history of this branch of +the Christian Church is almost a diary of miracles and supernatural +interventions. These show that the supplications of holy men have often +arrested the course of Nature--if, indeed, there be any such course; +that images and pictures have worked wonders; that bones, hairs, and +other sacred relics, have wrought miracles. The criterion or proof of +the authenticity of many of these objects is, not an unchallengeable +record of their origin and history, but an exhibition of their +miracle-working powers. + +Is not that a strange logic which finds proof of an asserted fact in an +inexplicable illustration of something else? + +Even in the darkest ages intelligent Christian men must have had +misgivings as to these alleged providential or miraculous interventions. +There is a solemn grandeur in the orderly progress of Nature which +profoundly impresses us; and such is the character of continuity in the +events of our individual life that we instinctively doubt the occurrence +of the supernatural in that of our neighbor. The intelligent man knows +well that, for his personal behoof, the course of Nature has never been +checked; for him no miracle has ever been worked; he attributes justly +every event of his life to some antecedent event; this he looks upon +as the cause, that as the consequence. When it is affirmed that, in his +neighbor's behalf, such grand interventions have been vouchsafed, he +cannot do otherwise than believe that his neighbor is either deceived, +or practising deception. + +As might, then, have been anticipated, the Catholic doctrine of +miraculous intervention received a rude shock at the time of the +Reformation, when predestination and election were upheld by some of the +greatest theologians, and accepted by some of the greatest Protestant +Churches. With stoical austerity Calvin declares: "We were elected from +eternity, before the foundation of the world, from no merit of our own, +but according to the purpose of the divine pleasure." In affirming this, +Calvin was resting on the belief that God has from all eternity decreed +whatever comes to pass. Thus, after the lapse of many ages, were again +emerging into prominence the ideas of the Basilidians wad Valentinians, +Christian sects of the second century, whose Gnostical views led to the +engraftment of the great doctrine of the Trinity upon Christianity. They +asserted that all the actions of men are necessary, that even faith is +a natural gift, to which men are forcibly determined, and must therefore +be saved, though their lives be ever so irregular. From the Supreme God +all things proceeded. Thus, also, came into prominence the views which +were developed by Augustine in his work, "De dono perseverantiae." These +were: that God, by his arbitrary will, has selected certain persons +without respect to foreseen faith or good works, and has infallibly +ordained to bestow upon them eternal happiness; other persons, in like +manner, he has condemned to eternal reprobation. The Sublapsarians +believed that "God permitted the fall of Adam;" the Supralapsarians that +"he predestinated it, with all its pernicious consequences, from all +eternity, and that our first parents had no liberty from the beginning." +In this, these sectarians disregarded the remark of St. Augustine: +"Nefas est dicere Deum aliquid nisi bonum predestinare." + +Is it true, then, that "predestination to eternal happiness is the +everlasting purpose of God, whereby, before the foundations of the world +were laid, he hath constantly decreed by his council, secret to us, +to deliver from curse and damnation those whom he hath chosen out of +mankind?" Is it true that of the human family there are some who, in +view of no fault of their own, Almighty God has condemned to unending +torture, eternal misery? + +In 1595 the Lambeth Articles asserted that "God from eternity hath +predestinated certain men unto life; certain he hath reprobated." In +1618 the Synod of Dort decided in favor of this view. It condemned the +remonstrants against it, and treated them with such severity, that many +of them had to flee to foreign countries. Even in the Church of England, +as is manifested by its seventeenth Article of Faith, these doctrines +have found favor. + +Probably there was no point which brought down from the Catholics on the +Protestants severer condemnation than this, their partial acceptance +of the government of the world by law. In all Reformed Europe miracles +ceased. But, with the cessation of shrine-cure, relic-cure, great +pecuniary profits ended. Indeed, as is well known, it was the sale +of indulgences that provoked the Reformation--indulgences which are +essentially a permit from God for the practice of sin, conditioned on +the payment of a certain sum of money to the priest. + +Philosophically, the Reformation implied a protest against the Catholic +doctrine of incessant divine intervention in human affairs, invoked by +sacerdotal agency; but this protest was far from being fully made by +all the Reforming Churches. The evidence in behalf of government by law, +which has of late years been offered by science, is received by many of +them with suspicion, perhaps with dislike; sentiments which, however, +must eventually give way before the hourly-increasing weight of +evidence. + +Shall we not, then, conclude with Cicero, who, quoted by Lactantius, +says: "One eternal and immutable law embraces all things and all times?" + + + +CHAPTER X. + + LATIN CHRISTIANITY IN RELATION TO MODERN CIVILIZATION. + + For more than a thousand years Latin Christianity controlled + the intelligence of Europe, and is responsible for the + result. + + That result is manifested by the condition of the city of + Rome at the Reformation, and by the condition of the + Continent of Europe in domestic and social life.--European + nations suffered under the coexistence of a dual government, + a spiritual and a temporal.--They were immersed in + ignorance, superstition, discomfort.--Explanation of the + failure of Catholicism--Political history of the papacy: it + was transmuted from a spiritual confederacy into an absolute + monarchy.--Action of the College of Cardinals and the Curia-- + Demoralization that ensued from the necessity of raising + large revenues. + + The advantages accruing to Europe during the Catholic rule + arose not from direct intention, but were incidental. + + The general result is, that the political influence of + Catholicism was prejudicial to modern civilization. + + +LATIN Christianity is responsible for the condition and progress of +Europe from the fourth to the sixteenth century. We have now to examine +how it discharged its trust. + +It will be convenient to limit to the case of Europe what has here to +be presented, though, from the claim of the papacy to superhuman origin, +and its demand for universal obedience, it should strictly be held to +account for the condition of all mankind. Its inefficacy against the +great and venerable religions of Southern and Eastern Asia would furnish +an important and instructive theme for consideration, and lead us to +the conclusion that it has impressed itself only where Roman imperial +influences have prevailed; a political conclusion which, however, it +contemptuously rejects. + +Doubtless at the inception of the Reformation there were many persons +who compared the existing social condition with what it had been in +ancient times. Morals had not changed, intelligence had not advanced, +society had little improved. From the Eternal City itself its splendors +had vanished. The marble streets, of which Augustus had once boasted, +had disappeared. Temples, broken columns, and the long, arcaded vistas +of gigantic aqueducts bestriding the desolate Campagna, presented a +mournful scene. From the uses to which they had been respectively put, +the Capitol had been known as Goats' Hill, and the site of the Roman +Forum, whence laws had been issued to the world, as Cows' Field. The +palace of the Caesars was hidden by mounds of earth, crested with +flowering shrubs. The baths of Caracalla, with their porticoes, gardens, +reservoirs, had long ago become useless through the destruction of their +supplying aqueducts. On the ruins of that grand edifice, "flowery glades +and thickets of odoriferous trees extended in ever-winding labyrinths +upon immense platforms, and dizzy arches suspended in the air." Of +the Coliseum, the most colossal of Roman ruins, only about one-third +remained. Once capable of accommodating nearly ninety thousand +spectators, it had, in succession, been turned into a fortress in the +middle ages, and then into a stone-quarry to furnish material for the +palaces of degenerate Roman princes. Some of the popes had occupied it +as a woollen-mill, some as a saltpetre factory; some had planned the +conversion of its magnificent arcades into shops for tradesmen. The iron +clamps which bound its stones together had been stolen. The walls were +fissured and falling. Even in our own times botanical works have been +composed on the plants which have made this noble wreck their home. "The +Flora of the Coliseum" contains four hundred and twenty species. +Among the ruins of classical buildings might be seen broken columns, +cypresses, and mouldy frescoes, dropping from the walls. Even the +vegetable world participated in the melancholy change: the myrtle, which +once flourished on the Aventine, had nearly become extinct; the laurel, +which once gave its leaves to encircle the brows of emperors, had been +replaced by ivy--the companion of death. + +But perhaps it may be said the popes were not responsible for all this. +Let it be remembered that in less than one hundred and forty years the +city had been successively taken by Alaric, Genseric, Rieimer, Vitiges, +Totila; that many of its great edifices had been converted into +defensive works. The aqueducts were destroyed by Vitiges, who ruined the +Campagna; the palace of the Caesars was ravaged by Totila; then there +had been the Lombard sieges; then Robert Guiscard and his Normans had +burnt the city from the Antonine Column to the Flaminian Gate, from +the Lateran to the Capitol; then it was sacked and mutilated by the +Constable Bourbon; again and again it was flooded by inundations of the +Tiber and shattered by earthquakes. We must, however, bear in mind the +accusation of Machiavelli, who says, in his "History of Florence," that +nearly all the barbarian invasions of Italy were by the invitations of +the pontiffs, who called in those hordes! It was not the Goth, nor +the Vandal, nor the Norman, nor the Saracen, but the popes and their +nephews, who produced the dilapidation of Rome! Lime-kilns had been fed +from the ruins, classical buildings had become stone-quarries for the +palaces of Italian princes, and churches were decorated from the old +temples. + +Churches decorated from the temples! It is for this and such as this +that the popes must be held responsible. Superb Corinthian columns bad +been chiseled into images of the saints. Magnificent Egyptian obelisks +had been dishonored by papal inscriptions. The Septizonium of Severus +had been demolished to furnish materials for the building of St. +Peter's; the bronze roof of the Pantheon had been melted into columns to +ornament the apostle's tomb. + +The great bell of Viterbo, in the tower of the Capitol, had announced +the death of many a pope, and still desecration of the buildings +and demoralization of the people went on. Papal Rome manifested no +consideration, but rather hatred, for classical Rome, The pontiffs had +been subordinates of the Byzantine sovereigns, then lieutenants of the +Frankish kings, then arbiters of Europe; their government had changed as +much as those of any of the surrounding nations; there had been complete +metamorphoses in its maxims, objects, claims. In one point only it had +never changed--intolerance. Claiming to be the centre of the religious +life of Europe, it steadfastly refused to recognize any religious +existence outside of itself, yet both in a political and theological +sense it was rotten to the core. Erasmus and Luther heard with amazement +the blasphemies and witnessed with a shudder the atheism of the city. + +The historian Ranke, to whom I am indebted for many of these facts, +has depicted in a very graphic manner the demoralization of the great +metropolis. The popes were, for the most part, at their election, aged +men. Power was, therefore, incessantly passing into new hands. Every +election was a revolution in prospects and expectations. In a community +where all might rise, where all might aspire to all, it necessarily +followed that every man was occupied in thrusting some other into the +background. Though the population of the city at the inception of the +Reformation had sunk to eighty thousand, there were vast crowds of +placemen, and still greater ones of aspirants for place. The +successful occupant of the pontificate had thousands of offices to give +away--offices from many of which the incumbents had been remorselessly +ejected; many had been created for the purpose of sale. The integrity +and capacity of an applicant were never inquired into; the points +considered were, what services has he rendered or can he render to the +party? how much can he pay for the preferment? An American reader can +thoroughly realize this state of things. At every presidential election +he witnesses similar acts. The election of a pope by the Conclave is not +unlike the nomination of an American president by a convention. In both +cases there are many offices to give away. + +William of Malmesbury says that in his day the Romans made a sale of +whatever was righteous and sacred for gold. After his time there was +no improvement; the Church degenerated into an instrument for the +exploitation of money. Vast sums were collected in Italy; vast sums +were drawn under all manner of pretenses from surrounding and reluctant +countries. Of these the most nefarious was the sale of indulgences +for the perpetration of sin. Italian religion had become the art of +plundering the people. + +For more than a thousand years the sovereign pontiffs had been rulers +of the city. True, it had witnessed many scenes of devastation for which +they were not responsible; but they were responsible for this, that they +had never made any vigorous, any persistent effort for its material, its +moral improvement. Instead of being in these respects an exemplar for +the imitation of the world, it became an exemplar of a condition that +ought to be shunned. Things steadily went on from bad to worse, until +at the epoch of the Reformation no pious stranger could visit it without +being shocked. + +The papacy, repudiating science as absolutely incompatible with its +pretensions, had in later years addressed itself to the encouragement of +art. But music and painting, though they may be exquisite adornments +of life, contain no living force that can develop a weak nation into a +strong one; nothing that can permanently assure the material well-being +or happiness of communities; and hence at the time of the Reformation, +to one who thoughtfully considered her condition, Rome had lost all +living energy. She was no longer the arbiter of the physical or the +religious progress of the world. For the progressive maxims of the +republic and the empire, she had substituted the stationary maxims of +the papacy. She had the appearance of piety and the possession of art. +In this she resembled one of those friar-corpses which we still see in +their brown cowls in the vaults of the Cappuccini, with a breviary or +some withered flowers in its hands. + +From this view of the Eternal City, this survey of what Latin +Christianity had done for Rome itself, let us turn to the whole European +Continent. Let us try to determine the true value of the system that was +guiding society; let us judge it by its fruits. + +The condition of nations as to their well-being is most precisely +represented by the variations of their population. Forms of government +have very little influence on population, but policy may control it +completely. + +It has been very satisfactorily shown by authors who have given +attention to the subject, that the variations of population depend +upon the interbalancing of the generative force of society and the +resistances to life. + +By the generative force of society is meant that instinct which +manifests itself in the multiplication of the race. To some extent it +depends on climate; but, since the climate of Europe did not sensibly +change between the fourth and the sixteenth centuries, we may regard +this force as having been, on that continent, during the period under +consideration, invariable. + +By the resistances to life is meant whatever tends to make individual +existence more difficult of support. Among such may be enumerated +insufficient food, inadequate clothing, imperfect shelter. + +It is also known that, if the resistances become inappreciable, the +generative force will double a population in twenty-five years. + +The resistances operate in two modes: 1. Physically; since they diminish +the number of births, and shorten the term of the life of all. 2. +Intellectually; since, in a moral, and particularly in a religious +community, they postpone marriage, by causing individuals to decline +its responsibilities until they feel that they are competent to meet +the charges and cares of a family. Hence the explanation of a +long-recognized fact, that the number of marriages during a given period +has a connection with the price of food. + +The increase of population keeps pace with the increase of food; and, +indeed, such being the power of the generative force, it overpasses the +means of subsistence, establishing a constant pressure upon them. Under +these circumstances, it necessarily happens that a certain amount of +destitution must occur. Individuals have come into existence who must be +starved. + +As illustrations of the variations that have occurred in the population +of different countries, may be mentioned the immense diminution of that +of Italy in consequence of the wars of Justinian; the depopulation of +North Africa in consequence of theological quarrels; its restoration +through the establishment of Mohammedanism; the increase of that of all +Europe through the feudal system, when estates became more valuable in +proportion to the number of retainers they could supply. The crusades +caused a sensible diminution, not only through the enormous army losses, +but also by reason of the withdrawal of so many able-bodied men +from marriage-life. Similar variations have occurred on the American +Continent. The population of Mexico was very quickly diminished by two +million through the rapacity and atrocious cruelty of the Spaniards, who +drove the civilized Indians to despair. The same happened in Peru. + +The population of England at the Norman conquest was about two million. +In five hundred years it had scarcely doubled. It may be supposed that +this stationary condition was to some extent induced by the papal policy +of the enforcement of celibacy in the clergy. The "legal generative +force" was doubtless affected by that policy, the "actual generative +force" was not. For those who have made this subject their study have +long ago been satisfied that public celibacy is private wickedness. This +mainly determined the laity, as well as the government in England, to +suppress the monasteries. It was openly asserted that there were one +hundred thousand women in England made dissolute by the clergy. + +In my history of the "American Civil War," I have presented some +reflections on this point, which I will take the liberty of quoting +here: "What, then, does this stationary condition of the population +mean? It means, food obtained with hardship, insufficient clothing, +personal uncleanness, cabins that could not keep out the weather, +the destructive effects of cold and heat, miasm, want of sanitary +provisions, absence of physicians, uselessness of shrine-cure, the +deceptiveness of miracles, in which society was putting its trust; or, +to sum up a long catalogue of sorrows, wants, and sufferings, in one +term--it means a high death-rate. + +"But more; it means deficient births. And what does that point out? +Marriage postponed, licentious life, private wickedness, demoralized +society. + +"To an American, who lives in a country that was yesterday an +interminable and impenetrable desert, but which to-day is filling with +a population doubling itself every twenty-five years at the prescribed +rate, this awful waste of actual and contingent life cannot but be a +most surprising fact. His curiosity will lead him to inquire what kind +of system that could have been which was pretending to guide and +develop society, but which must be held responsible for this prodigious +destruction, excelling, in its insidious result, war, pestilence, and +famine combined; insidious, for men were actually believing that it +secured their highest temporal interests. How different now! In England, +the same geographical surface is sustaining ten times the population +of that day, and sending forth its emigrating swarms. Let him, who looks +back, with veneration on the past, settle in his own mind what such a +system could have been worth." + +These variations in the population of Europe have been attended with +changes in distribution. The centre of population has passed northward +since the establishment of Christianity in the Roman Empire. It +has since passed westward, in consequence of the development of +manufacturing industry. + + +We may now examine somewhat more minutely the character of the +resistances which thus, for a thousand years, kept the population of +Europe stationary. The surface of the Continent was for the most +part covered with pathless forests; here and there it was dotted with +monasteries and towns. In the lowlands and along the river-courses were +fens, sometimes hundreds of miles in extent, exhaling their pestiferous +miasms, and spreading agues far and wide. In Paris and London, the +houses were of wood daubed with clay, and thatched with straw or reeds. +They had no windows, and, until the invention of the saw-mill, very +few had wooden floors. The luxury of a carpet was unknown; some straw, +scattered in the room, supplied its place. There were no chimneys; the +smoke of the ill-fed, cheerless fire escaped through a hole in the roof. +In such habitations there was scarcely any protection from the weather. +No attempt was made at drainage, but the putrefying garbage and rubbish +were simply thrown out of the door. Men, women, and children, slept +in the same apartment; not unfrequently, domestic animals were their +companions; in such a confusion of the family, it was impossible that +modesty or morality could be maintained. The bed was usually a bag of +straw, a wooden log served as a pillow. Personal cleanliness was utterly +unknown; great officers of state, even dignitaries so high as the +Archbishop of Canterbury, swarmed with vermin; such, it is related, was +the condition of Thomas a Becket, the antagonist of an English king. To +conceal personal impurity, perfumes were necessarily and profusely +used. The citizen clothed himself in leather, a garment which, with its +ever-accumulating impurity, might last for many years. He was considered +to be in circumstances of ease, if he could procure fresh meat once +a week for his dinner. The streets had no sewers; they were without +pavement or lamps. After nightfall, the chamber-shatters were thrown +open, and slops unceremoniously emptied down, to the discomfiture of the +wayfarer tracking his path through the narrow streets, with his dismal +lantern in his hand. + +Aeneas Sylvius, who afterward became Pope Pius II., and was therefore a +very competent and impartial writer, has left us a graphic account of +a journey he made to the British Islands, about 1430. He describes the +houses of the peasantry as constructed of stones put together without +mortar; the roofs were of turf, a stiffened bull's-hide served for a +door. The food consisted of coarse vegetable products, such as peas, +and even the bark of trees. In some places they were unacquainted with +bread. + +Cabins of reeds plastered with mud, houses of wattled stakes, +chimneyless peat-fires from which there was scarcely an escape for the +smoke, dens of physical and moral pollution swarming with vermin, wisps +of straw twisted round the limbs to keep off the cold, the ague-stricken +peasant, with no help except shrine-cure! How was it possible that the +population could increase? Shall we, then, wonder that, in the famine of +1030, human flesh was cooked and sold; or that, in that of 1258, fifteen +thousand persons died of hunger in London? Shall we wonder that, in some +of the invasions of the plague, the deaths were so frightfully numerous +that the living could hardly bury the dead? By that of 1348, which came +from the East along the lines of commercial travel, and spread all over +Europe, one-third of the population of France was destroyed. + +Such was the condition of the peasantry, and of the common inhabitants +of cities. Not much better was that of the nobles. William of +Malmesbury, speaking of the degraded manners of the Anglo-Saxons, says: +"Their nobles, devoted to gluttony and voluptuousness, never visited the +church, but the matins and the mass were read over to them by a hurrying +priest in their bedchambers, before they rose, themselves not listening. +The common people were a prey to the more powerful; their property was +seized, their bodies dragged away to distant countries; their maidens +were either thrown into a brothel, or sold for slaves. Drinking day +and night was the general pursuit; vices, the companions of inebriety, +followed, effeminating the manly mind." The baronial castles were dens +of robbers. The Saxon chronicler records how men and women were caught +and dragged into those strongholds, hung up by their thumbs or feet, +fire applied to them, knotted strings twisted round their heads, and +many other torments inflicted to extort ransom. + +All over Europe, the great and profitable political offices were filled +by ecclesiastics. In every country there was a dual government: 1. +That of a local kind, represented by a temporal sovereign; 2. That of +a foreign kind, acknowledging the authority of the pope, This Roman +influence was, in the nature of things, superior to the local; it +expressed the sovereign will of one man over all the nations of +the continent conjointly, and gathered overwhelming power from its +compactness and unity. The local influence was necessarily of a feeble +nature, since it was commonly weakened by the rivalries of conterminous +states, and the dissensions dexterously provoked by its competitor. On +not a single occasion could the various European states form a coalition +against their common antagonist. Whenever a question arose, they were +skillfully taken in detail, and commonly mastered. The ostensible +object of papal intrusion was to secure for the different peoples moral +well-being; the real object was to obtain large revenues, and give +support to vast bodies of ecclesiastics. The revenues thus abstracted +were not infrequently many times greater than those passing into the +treasury of the local power. Thus, on the occasion of Innocent IV. +demanding provision to be made for three hundred additional Italian +clergy by the Church of England, and that one of his nephews--a mere +boy--should have a stall in Lincoln Cathedral, it was found that the sum +already annually abstracted by foreign ecclesiastics from England was +thrice that which went into the coffers of the king. + +While thus the higher clergy secured every political appointment +worth having, and abbots vied with counts in the herds of slaves +they possessed--some, it is said, owned not fewer than twenty +thousand--begging friars pervaded society in all directions, picking +up a share of what still remained to the poor. There was a vast body of +non-producers, living in idleness and owning a foreign allegiance, who +were subsisting on the fruits of the toil of the laborers. It could not +be otherwise than that small farms should be unceasingly merged into +the larger estates; that the poor should steadily become poorer; that +society, far from improving, should exhibit a continually increasing +demoralization. Outside the monastic institutions no attempt at +intellectual advancement was made; indeed, so far as the laity were +concerned, the influence of the Church was directed to an opposite +result, for the maxim universally received was, that "ignorance is the +mother of devotion." + +The settled practice of republican and imperial Rome was to have swift +communication with all her outlying provinces, by means of substantial +bridges and roads. One of the prime duties of the legions was to +construct them and keep them in repair. By this, her military authority +was assured. But the dominion of papal Rome, depending upon a different +principle, had no exigencies of that kind, and this duty accordingly +was left for the local powers to neglect. And so, in all directions, +the roads were almost impassable for a large part of the year. A common +means of transportation was in clumsy carts drawn by oxen, going at the +most but three or four miles an hour. Where boat-conveyance along +rivers could not be had, pack-horses and mules were resorted to for +the transportation of merchandise, an adequate means for the slender +commerce of the times. When large bodies of men had to be moved, the +difficulties became almost insuperable. Of this, perhaps, one of the +best illustrations may be found in the story of the march of the first +Crusaders. These restraints upon intercommunication tended powerfully to +promote the general benighted condition. Journeys by individuals could +not be undertaken without much risk, for there was scarcely a moor or a +forest that had not its highwaymen. + +An illiterate condition everywhere prevailing, gave opportunity for the +development of superstition. Europe was full of disgraceful miracles. On +all the roads pilgrims were wending their way to the shrines of saints, +renowned for the cures they had wrought. It had always been the policy +of the Church to discourage the physician and his art; he interfered too +much with the gifts and profits of the shrines. Time has brought this +once lucrative imposture to its proper value. How many shrines are there +now in successful operation in Europe? + +For patients too sick to move or be moved, there were no remedies except +those of a ghostly kind--the Pater-noster or the Ave. For the prevention +of diseases, prayers were put up in the churches, but no sanitary +measures were resorted to. From cities reeking with putrefying filth +it was thought that the plague might be stayed by the prayers of the +priests, by them rain and dry weather might be secured, and deliverance +obtained from the baleful influences of eclipses and comets. But when +Halley's comet came, in 1456, so tremendous was its apparition that +it was necessary for the pope himself to interfere. He exorcised and +expelled it from the skies. It slunk away into the abysses of space, +terror-stricken by the maledictions of Calixtus III., and did not +venture back for seventy-five years! + +The physical value of shrine-cures and ghostly remedies is measured +by the death-rate. In those days it was, probably, about one in +twenty-three, under the present more material practice it is about one +in forty. + +The moral condition of Europe was signally illustrated when syphilis was +introduced from the West Indies by the companions of Columbus. It spread +with wonderful rapidity; all ranks of persons, from the Holy Father Leo +X. to the beggar by the wayside, contracting the shameful disease. Many +excused their misfortune by declaring that it was an epidemic proceeding +from a certain malignity in the constitution of the air, but in truth +its spread was due to a certain infirmity in the constitution of man--an +infirmity which had not been removed by the spiritual guidance under +which he had been living. + +To the medical efficacy of shrines must be added that of special relics. +These were sometimes of the most extraordinary kind. There were several +abbeys that possessed our Savior's crown of thorns. Eleven had the +lance that had pierced his side. If any person was adventurous enough +to suggest that these could not all be authentic, he would have been +denounced as an atheist. During the holy wars the Templar-Knights had +driven a profitable commerce by bringing from Jerusalem to the Crusading +armies bottles of the milk of the Blessed Virgin, which they sold for +enormous sums; these bottles were preserved with pious care in many of +the great religious establishments. But perhaps none of these impostures +surpassed in audacity that offered by a monastery in Jerusalem, which +presented to the beholder one of the fingers of the Holy Ghost! Modern +society has silently rendered its verdict on these scandalous objects. +Though they once nourished the piety of thousands of earnest people, +they are now considered too vile to have a place in any public museum. + +How shall we account for the great failure we thus detect in the +guardianship of the Church over Europe? This is not the result that +must have occurred had there been in Rome an unremitting care for the +spiritual and material prosperity of the continent, had the universal +pastor, the successor of Peter, occupied himself with singleness of +purpose for the holiness and happiness of his flock. + +The explanation is not difficult to find. It is contained in a story +of sin and shame. I prefer, therefore, in the following paragraphs, to +offer explanatory facts derived from Catholic authors, and, indeed, to +present them as nearly as I can in the words of those writers. + + +The story I am about to relate is a narrative of the transformation of a +confederacy into an absolute monarchy. + +In the early times every church, without prejudice to its agreement with +the Church universal in all essential points, managed its own affairs +with perfect freedom and independence, maintaining its own traditional +usages and discipline, all questions not concerning the whole Church, or +of primary importance, being settled on the spot. + +Until the beginning of the ninth century, there was no change in the +constitution of the Roman Church. But about 845 the Isidorian Decretals +were fabricated in the west of Gaul--a forgery containing about one +hundred pretended decrees of the early popes, together with certain +spurious writings of other church dignitaries and acts of synods. This +forgery produced an immense extension of the papal power, it displaced +the old system of church government, divesting it of the republican +attributes it had possessed, and transforming it into an absolute +monarchy. It brought the bishops into subjection to Rome, and made the +pontiff the supreme judge of the clergy of the whole Christian world. It +prepared the way for the great attempt, subsequently made by Hildebrand, +to convert the states of Europe into a theocratic priest-kingdom, with +the pope at its head. + +Gregory VII., the author of this great attempt, saw that his plans +would be best carried out through the agency of synods. He, therefore, +restricted the right of holding them to the popes and their legates. To +aid in the matter, a new system of church law was devised by Anselm +of Lucca, partly from the old Isidorian forgeries, and partly from new +inventions. To establish the supremacy of Rome, not only had a new +civil and a new canon law to be produced, a new history had also to +be invented. This furnished needful instances of the deposition +and excommunication of kings, and proved that they had always been +subordinate to the popes. The decretal letters of the popes were put on +a par with Scripture. At length it came to be received, throughout +the West, that the popes had been, from the beginning of Christianity, +legislators for the whole Church. As absolute sovereigns in later times +cannot endure representative assemblies, so the papacy, when it wished +to become absolute, found that the synods of particular national +churches must be put an end to, and those only under the immediate +control of the pontiff permitted. This, in itself, constituted a great +revolution. + +Another fiction concocted in Rome in the eighth century led to important +consequences. It feigned that the Emperor Constantine, in gratitude for +his cure from leprosy, and baptism by Pope Sylvester, had bestowed +Italy and the Western provinces on the pope, and that, in token of his +subordination, he had served the pope as his groom, and led his horse +some distance. This forgery was intended to work on the Frankish kings, +to impress them with a correct idea of their inferiority, and to show +that, in the territorial concessions they made to the Church, they were +not giving but only restoring what rightfully belonged to it. + +The most potent instrument of the new papal system was Gratian's +Decretum, which was issued about the middle of the twelfth century. It +was a mass of fabrications. It made the whole Christian world, through +the papacy, the domain of the Italian clergy. It inculcated that it is +lawful to constrain men to goodness, to torture and execute heretics, +and to confiscate their property; that to kill an excommunicated person +is not murder; that the pope, in his unlimited superiority to all law, +stands on an equality with the Son of God! + +As the new system of centralization developed, maxims, that in the olden +times would have been held to be shocking, were boldly avowed--the whole +Church is the property of the pope to do with as he will; what is simony +in others is not simony in him; he is above all law, and can be called +to account by none; whoever disobeys him must be put to death; every +baptized man is his subject, and must for life remain so, whether he +will or not. Up to the end of the twelfth century, the popes were the +vicars of Peter; after Innocent III. they were the vicars of Christ. + +But an absolute sovereign has need of revenues, and to this the popes +were no exception. The institution of legates was brought in from +Hildebrand's time. Sometimes their duty was to visit churches, sometimes +they were sent on special business, but always invested with unlimited +powers to bring back money over the Alps. And since the pope could not +only make laws, but could suspend their operation, a legislation was +introduced in view to the purchase of dispensations. Monasteries were +exempted from episcopal jurisdiction on payment of a tribute to Rome. +The pope had now become "the universal bishop;" he had a concurrent +jurisdiction in all the dioceses, and could bring any cases before +his own courts. His relation to the bishops was that of an absolute +sovereign to his officials. A bishop could resign only by his +permission, and sees vacated by resignation lapsed to him. Appeals to +him were encouraged in every way for the sake of the dispensations; +thousands of processes came before the Curia, bringing a rich harvest to +Rome. Often when there were disputing claimants to benefices, the +pope would oust them all, and appoint a creature of his own. Often the +candidates had to waste years in Rome, and either died there, or carried +back a vivid impression of the dominant corruption. Germany suffered +more than other countries from these appeals and processes, and hence +of all countries was best prepared for the Reformation. During the +thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the popes made gigantic strides in +the acquisition of power. Instead of recommending their favorites for +benefices, now they issued mandates. Their Italian partisans must +be rewarded; nothing could be done to satisfy their clamors, but to +provide for them in foreign countries. Shoals of contesting claimants +died in Rome; and, when death took place in that city, the Pope claimed +the right of giving away the benefices. At length it was affirmed that +he had the right of disposing of all church-offices without distinction, +and that the oath of obedience of a bishop to him implied political as +well as ecclesiastical subjection. In countries having a dual government +this increased the power of the spiritual element prodigiously. + +Rights of every kind were remorselessly overthrown to complete this +centralization. In this the mendicant orders were most efficient aids. +It was the pope and those orders on one side, the bishops and the +parochial clergy on the other. The Roman court had seized the rights +of synods, metropolitans, bishops, national churches. Incessantly +interfered with by the legates, the bishops lost all desire to +discipline their dioceses; incessantly interfered with by the begging +monks, the parish priest had become powerless in his own village; his +pastoral influence was utterly destroyed by the papal indulgences and +absolutions they sold. The money was carried off to Rome. + +Pecuniary necessities urged many of the popes to resort to such petty +expedients as to require from a prince, a bishop, or a grand-master, who +had a cause pending in the court, a present of a golden cup filled +with ducats. Such necessities also gave origin to jubilees. Sixtus IV. +established whole colleges, and sold the places at three or four hundred +ducats. Innocent VIII. pawned the papal tiara. Of Leo X. it was said +that he squandered the revenues of three popes, he wasted the savings +of his predecessor, he spent his own income, he anticipated that of his +successor, he created twenty-one hundred and fifty new offices and sold +them; they were considered to be a good investment, as they produced +twelve per cent. The interest was extorted from Catholic countries. +Nowhere in Europe could capital be so well invested as at Rome. Large +sums were raised by the foreclosing of mortgages, and not only by the +sale but the resale of offices. Men were promoted, for the purpose of +selling their offices again. + +Though against the papal theory, which denounced usurious practices, +an immense papal banking system had sprung up, in connection with the +Curia, and sums at usurious interest were advanced to prelates, +place-hunters, and litigants. The papal bankers were privileged; all +others were under the ban. The Curia had discovered that it was for their +interest to have ecclesiastics all over Europe in their debt. They could +make them pliant, and excommunicate them for non-payment of interest. +In 1327 it was reckoned that half the Christian world was under +excommunication: bishops were excommunicated because they could not +meet the extortions of legates; and persons were excommunicated, +under various pretenses, to compel them to purchase absolution at an +exorbitant price. The ecclesiastical revenues of all Europe were flowing +into Rome, a sink of corruption, simony, usury, bribery, extortion. The +popes, since 1066, when the great centralizing movement began, had no +time to pay attention to the internal affairs of their own special +flock in the city of Rome. There were thousands of foreign cases, each +bringing in money. "Whenever," says the Bishop Alvaro Pelayo, "I entered +the apartments of the Roman court clergy, I found them occupied in +counting up the gold-coin, which lay about the rooms in heaps." Every +opportunity of extending the jurisdiction of the Curia was welcome. +Exemptions were so managed that fresh grants were constantly necessary. +Bishops were privileged against cathedral chapters, chapters against +their bishops; bishops, convents, and individuals, against the +extortions of legates. + +The two pillars on which the papal system now rested were the College of +Cardinals and the Curia. The cardinals, in 1059, had become electors of +the popes. Up to that time elections were made by the whole body of the +Roman clergy, and the concurrence of the magistrates and citizens +was necessary. But Nicolas II. restricted elections to the College of +Cardinals by a two-thirds vote, and gave to the German emperor the +right of confirmation. For almost two centuries there was a struggle +for mastery between the cardinal oligarchy and papal absolutism. The +cardinals were willing enough that the pope should be absolute in his +foreign rule, but they never failed to attempt, before giving him +their votes, to bind him to accord to them a recognized share in the +government. After his election, and before his consecration, he swore +to observe certain capitulations, such as a participation of revenues +between himself and the cardinals; an obligation that he would not +remove them, but would permit them to assemble twice a year to discuss +whether he had kept his oath. Repeatedly the popes broke their oath. On +one side, the cardinals wanted a larger share in the church government +and emoluments; on the other, the popes refused to surrender revenues or +power. The cardinals wanted to be conspicuous in pomp and extravagance, +and for this vast sums were requisite. In one instance, not fewer than +five hundred benefices were held by one of them; their friends and +retainers must be supplied, their families enriched. It was affirmed +that the whole revenues of France were insufficient to meet their +expenditures. In their rivalries it sometimes happened that no pope +was elected for several years. It seemed as if they wanted to show how +easily the Church could get on without the Vicar of Christ. + +Toward the close of the eleventh century the Roman Church became the +Roman court. In place of the Christian sheep gently following their +shepherd in the holy precincts of the city, there had arisen a +chancery of writers, notaries, tax-gatherers, where transactions about +privileges, dispensations, exemptions, were carried on; and suitors +went with petitions from door to door. Rome was a rallying-point for +place-hunters of every nation. In presence of the enormous mass of +business-processes, graces, indulgences, absolutions, commands, and +decisions, addressed to all parts of Europe and Asia, the functions +of the local church sank into insignificance. Several hundred persons, +whose home was the Curia, were required. Their aim was to rise in it by +enlarging the profits of the papal treasury. The whole Christian +world had become tributary to it. Here every vestige of religion had +disappeared; its members were busy with politics, litigations, and +processes; not a word could be heard about spiritual concerns. Every +stroke of the pen had its price. Benefices, dispensations, licenses, +absolutions, indulgences, privileges, were bought and sold like +merchandise. The suitor had to bribe every one, from the doorkeeper +to the pope, or his case was lost. Poor men could neither attain +preferment, nor hope for it; and the result was, that every cleric felt +he had a right to follow the example he had seen at Rome, and that +he might make profits out of his spiritual ministries and sacraments, +having bought the right to do so at Rome, and having no other way to +pay off his debt. The transference of power from Italians to Frenchmen, +through the removal of the Curia to Avignon, produced no change--only +the Italians felt that the enrichment of Italian families had slipped +out of their grasp. They had learned to consider the papacy as their +appanage, and that they, under the Christian dispensation, were God's +chosen people, as the Jews had been under the Mosaic. + +At the end of the thirteenth century a new kingdom was discovered, +capable of yielding immense revenues. This was Purgatory. It was shown +that the pope could empty it by his indulgences. In this there was no +need of hypocrisy. Things were done openly. The original germ of the +apostolic primacy had now expanded into a colossal monarchy. + +NEED OF A GENERAL COUNCIL. The Inquisition had made the papal system +irresistible. All opposition must be punished with death by fire. A mere +thought, without having betrayed itself by outward sign, was considered +as guilt. As time went on, this practice of the Inquisition became +more and more atrocious. Torture was resorted to on mere suspicion. +The accused was not allowed to know the name of his accuser. He was +not permitted to have any legal adviser. There was no appeal. The +Inquisition was ordered not to lean to pity. No recantation was of +avail. The innocent family of the accused was deprived of its +property by confiscation; half went to the papal treasury, half to the +inquisitors. Life only, said Innocent III., was to be left to the sons +of misbelievers, and that merely as an act of mercy. The consequence +was, that popes, such as Nicolas III., enriched their families through +plunder acquired by this tribunal. Inquisitors did the same habitually. + +The struggle between the French and Italians for the possession of the +papacy inevitably led to the schism of the fourteenth century. For more +than forty years two rival popes were now anathematizing each other, +two rival Curias were squeezing the nations for money. Eventually, there +were three obediences, and triple revenues to be extorted. Nobody, now, +could guarantee the validity of the sacraments, for nobody could be +sure which was the true pope. Men were thus compelled to think for +themselves. They could not find who was the legitimate thinker for them. +They began to see that the Church must rid herself of the curialistic +chains, and resort to a General Council. That attempt was again and +again made, the intention being to raise the Council into a Parliament +of Christendom, and make the pope its chief executive officer. But the +vast interests that had grown out of the corruption of ages could not +so easily be overcome; the Curia again recovered its ascendency, and +ecclesiastical trading was resumed. The Germans, who had never been +permitted to share in the Curia, took the leading part in these attempts +at reform. As things went on from bad to worse, even they at last found +out that all hope of reforming the Church by means of councils was +delusive. Erasmus exclaimed, "If Christ does not deliver his people +from this multiform ecclesiastical tyranny, the tyranny of the Turk will +become less intolerable." Cardinals' hats were now sold, and under Leo +X. ecclesiastical and religious offices were actually put up to auction. +The maxim of life had become, interest first, honor afterward. Among +the officials, there was not one who could be honest in the dark, and +virtuous without a witness. The violet-colored velvet cloaks and white +ermine capes of the cardinals were truly a cover for wickedness. + +The unity of the Church, and therefore its power, required the use of +Latin as a sacred language. Through this, Rome had stood in an attitude +strictly European, and was enabled to maintain a general international +relation. It gave her far more power than her asserted celestial +authority, and, much as she claims to have done, she is open to +condemnation that, with such a signal advantage in her hands, never +again to be enjoyed by any successor, she did not accomplish much +more. Had not the sovereign pontiffs been so completely occupied with +maintaining their emoluments and temporalities in Italy, they might have +made the whole continent advance like one man. Their officials could +pass without difficulty into every nation, and communicate without +embarrassment with each other, from Ireland to Bohemia, from Italy to +Scotland. The possession of a common tongue gave them the administration +of international affairs with intelligent allies everywhere, speaking +the same language. + +Not without cause was the hatred manifested by Rome to the restoration +of Greek and introduction of Hebrew, and the alarm with which she +perceived the modern languages forming out of the vulgar dialects. +Not without reason did the Faculty of Theology in Paris re-echo the +sentiment that, was prevalent in the time of Ximenes, "What will +become of religion if the study of Greek and Hebrew be permitted?" The +prevalence of Latin was the condition of her power; its deterioration, +the measure of her decay; its disuse, the signal of her limitation to +a little principality in Italy. In fact, the development of European +languages was the instrument of her overthrow. They formed an effectual +communication between the mendicant friars and the illiterate populace, +and there was not one of them that did not display in its earliest +productions a sovereign contempt for her. + +The rise of the many-tongued European literature was therefore +coincident with the decline of papal Christianity; European literature +was impossible under Catholic rule. A grand, a solemn, an imposing +religious unity enforced the literary unity which is implied in the use +of a single tongue. + +While thus the possession of a universal language so signally secured +her power, the real secret of much of the influence of the Church lay +in the control she had so skillfully obtained over domestic life. Her +influence diminished as that declined. Coincident with this was her +displacement in the guidance of international relations by diplomacy. + +CATHOLICITY AND CIVILIZATION. In the old times of Roman domination the +encampments of the legions in the provinces had always proved to be foci +of civilization. The industry and order exhibited in them presented an +example not lost on the surrounding barbarians of Britain, Gaul, and +Germany. And, though it was no part of their duty to occupy themselves +actively in the betterment of the conquered tribes, but rather to keep +them in a depressed condition that aided in maintaining subjection, +a steady improvement both in the individual and social condition took +place. + +Under the ecclesiastical domination of Rome similar effects occurred. In +the open country the monastery replaced the legionary encampment; in the +village or town, the church was a centre of light. A powerful effect +was produced by the elegant luxury of the former, and by the sacred and +solemn monitions of the latter. + +In extolling the papal system for what it did in the organization of the +family, the definition of civil policy, the construction of the states +of Europe, our praise must be limited by the recollection that the chief +object of ecclesiastical policy was the aggrandizement of the Church, +not the promotion of civilization. The benefit obtained by the laity was +not through any special intention, but incidental or collateral. + +There was no far-reaching, no persistent plan to ameliorate the physical +condition of the nations. Nothing was done to favor their intellectual +development; indeed, on the contrary, it was the settled policy to keep +them not merely illiterate, but ignorant. Century after century passed +away, and left the peasantry but little better than the cattle in the +fields. Intercommunication and locomotion, which tend so powerfully to +expand the ideas, received no encouragement; the majority of men died +without ever having ventured out of the neighborhood in which they were +born. For them there was no hope of personal improvement, none of the +bettering of their lot; there were no comprehensive schemes for the +avoidance of individual want, none for the resistance of famines. +Pestilences were permitted to stalk forth unchecked, or at best opposed +only by mummeries. Bad food, wretched clothing, inadequate shelter, were +suffered to produce their result, and at the end of a thousand years the +population of Europe had not doubled. + +If policy may be held accountable as much for the births it prevents as +for the deaths it occasions, what a great responsibility there is here! + +In this investigation of the influence of Catholicism, we must carefully +keep separate what it did for the people and what it did for itself. +When we think of the stately monastery, an embodiment of luxury, with +its closely-mown lawns, its gardens and bowers, its fountains and many +murmuring streams, we must connect it not with the ague-stricken peasant +dying without help in the fens, but with the abbot, his ambling palfrey, +his hawk and hounds, his well-stocked cellar and larder. He is part of +a system that has its centre of authority in Italy.. To that his +allegiance is due. For its behoof are all his acts. When we survey, as +still we may, the magnificent churches and cathedrals of those +times, miracles of architectural skill--the only real miracles of +Catholicism--when in imagination we restore the transcendently +imposing, the noble services of which they were once the scene, the +dim, religious-light streaming in through the many-colored windows, the +sounds of voices not inferior in their melody to those of heaven, +the priests in their sacred vestments, and above all the prostrate +worshipers listening to litanies and prayers in a foreign and unknown +tongue, shall we not ask ourselves, Was all this for the sake of those +worshipers, or for the glory of the great, the overshadowing authority +at Rome? + +But perhaps some one may say, Are there not limits to human +exertion--things which no political system, no human power, no matter +how excellent its intention, can accomplish? Men cannot be raised from +barbarism, a continent cannot be civilized, in a day! + +The Catholic power is not, however, to be tried by any such standard. +It scornfully rejected and still rejects a human origin. It claims to +be accredited supernaturally. The sovereign pontiff is the Vicar of God +upon earth. Infallible in judgment, it is given to him to accomplish +all things by miracle if need be. He had exercised an autocratic tyranny +over the intellect of Europe for more than a thousand years; and, though +on some occasions he had encountered the resistances of disobedient +princes, these, in the aggregate, were of so little moment, that the +physical, the political power of the continent may be affirmed to have +been at his disposal. + +Such facts as have been presented in this chapter were, doubtless, +well weighed by the Protestant Reformers of the sixteenth century, and +brought them to the conclusion that Catholicism had altogether failed in +its mission; that it had become a vast system of delusion and imposture, +and that a restoration of true Christianity could only be accomplished +by returning to the faith and practices of the primitive times. This was +no decision suddenly arrived at; it had long been the opinion of many +religious and learned men. The pious Fratricelli in the middle ages had +loudly expressed their belief that the fatal gift of a Roman emperor had +been the doom of true religion. It wanted nothing more than the voice of +Luther to bring men throughout the north of Europe to the determination +that the worship of the Virgin Mary, the invocation of saints, the +working of miracles, supernatural cures of the sick, the purchase of +indulgences for the perpetration of sin, and all other evil practices, +lucrative to their abettors, which had been fastened on Christianity, +but which were no part of it, should come to an end. Catholicism, as +a system for promoting the well-being of man, had plainly failed in +justifying its alleged origin; its performance had not corresponded to +its great pretensions; and, after an opportunity of more than a +thousand years' duration, it had left the masses of men submitted to +its influences, both as regards physical well-being and intellectual +culture, in a condition far lower than what it ought to have been. + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + SCIENCE IN RELATION TO MODERN CIVILIZATION. + + Illustration of the general influences of Science from the + history of America. + + THE INTRODUCTION OF SCIENCE INTO EUROPE.--It passed from + Moorish Spain to Upper Italy, and was favored by the absence + of the popes at Avignon.--The effects of printing, of + maritime adventure, and of the Reformation--Establishment of + the Italian scientific societies. + + THE INTELLECTUAL INFLUENCE OF SCIENCE.--It changed the mode + and the direction of thought in Europe.--The transactions of + the Royal Society of London, and other scientific societies, + furnish an illustration of this. + + THE ECONOMICAL INFLUENCE OF SCIENCE is illustrated by the + numerous mechanical and physical inventions, made since the + fourteenth century.--Their influence on health and domestic + life, on the arts of peace and of war. + + Answer to the question, What has Science done for humanity? + + +EUROPE, at the epoch of the Reformation, furnishes us with the result of +the influences of Roman Christianity in the promotion of civilization. +America, examined in like manner at the present time, furnishes us with +an illustration of the influences of science. + +SCIENCE AND CIVILIZATION. In the course of the seventeenth century a +sparse European population had settled along the western Atlantic coast. +Attracted by the cod-fishery of Newfoundland, the French had a little +colony north of the St. Lawrence; the English, Dutch, and Swedes, +occupied the shore of New England and the Middle States; some Huguenots +were living in the Carolinas. Rumors of a spring that could confer +perpetual youth--a fountain of life--had brought a few Spaniards into +Florida. Behind the fringe of villages which these adventurers had +built, lay a vast and unknown country, inhabited by wandering Indians, +whose numbers from the Gulf of Mexico to the St. Lawrence did not exceed +one hundred and eighty thousand. From them the European strangers had +learned that in those solitary regions there were fresh-water seas, +and a great river which they called the Mississippi. Some said that it +flowed through Virginia into the Atlantic, some that it passed through +Florida, some that it emptied into the Pacific, and some that it reached +the Gulf of Mexico. Parted from their native countries by the stormy +Atlantic, to cross which implied a voyage of many months, these refugees +seemed lost to the world. + +But before the close of the nineteenth century the descendants of this +feeble people had become one of the great powers of the earth. They +had established a republic whose sway extended from the Atlantic to +the Pacific. With an army of more than a million men, not on paper, but +actually in the field, they had overthrown a domestic assailant. +They had maintained at sea a war-fleet of nearly seven hundred ships, +carrying five thousand guns, some of them the heaviest in the world. The +tonnage of this navy amounted to half a million. In the defense of their +national life they had expended in less than five years more than four +thousand million dollars. Their census, periodically taken, showed that +the population was doubling itself every twenty-five years; it justified +the expectation that at the close of that century it would number nearly +one hundred million souls. + +KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. A silent continent had been changed into a scene of +industry; it was full of the din of machinery and the restless moving +of men. Where there had been an unbroken forest, there were hundreds of +cities and towns. To commerce were furnished in profusion some of the +most important staples, as cotton, tobacco, breadstuffs. The mines +yielded incredible quantities of gold, iron, coal. Countless churches, +colleges, and public schools, testified that a moral influence vivified +this material activity. Locomotion was effectually provided for. The +railways exceeded in aggregate length those of all Europe combined. +In 1873 the aggregate length of the European railways was sixty-three +thousand three hundred and sixty miles, that of the American was seventy +thousand six hundred and fifty miles. One of them, built across the +continent, connected the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. + +But not alone are these material results worthy of notice. Others of a +moral and social kind force themselves on our attention. Four million +negro slaves had been set free. Legislation, if it inclined to the +advantage of any class, inclined to that of the poor. Its intention was +to raise them from poverty, and better their lot. A career was open +to talent, and that without any restraint. Every thing was possible to +intelligence and industry. Many of the most important public offices +were filled by men who had risen from the humblest walks of life. +If there was not social equality, as there never can be in rich and +prosperous communities, there was civil equality, rigorously maintained. + +It may perhaps be said that much of this material prosperity arose from +special conditions, such as had never occurred in the case of any people +before, There was a vast, an open theatre of action, a whole continent +ready for any who chose to take possession of it. Nothing more than +courage and industry was needed to overcome Nature, and to seize the +abounding advantages she offered. + +ILLUSTRATIONS FROM AMERICAN HISTORY. But must not men be animated by a +great principle who successfully transform the primeval solitudes into +an abode of civilization, who are not dismayed by gloomy forests, or +rivers, mountains, or frightful deserts, who push their conquering +way in the course of a century across a continent, and hold it in +subjection? Let us contrast with this the results of the invasion of +Mexico and Peru by the Spaniards, who in those countries overthrew +a wonderful civilization, in many respects superior to their own--a +civilization that had been accomplished without iron and gunpowder--a +civilization resting on an agriculture that had neither horse, nor +ox, nor plough. The Spaniards had a clear base to start from, and +no obstruction whatever in their advance. They ruined all that the +aboriginal children of America had accomplished. Millions of those +unfortunates were destroyed by their cruelty. Nations that for +many centuries had been living in contentment and prosperity, under +institutions shown by their history to be suitable to them, were plunged +into anarchy; the people fell into a baneful superstition, and a +greater part of their landed and other property found its way into the +possession of the Roman Church. + +I have selected the foregoing illustration, drawn from American history, +in preference to many others that might have been taken from European, +because it furnishes an instance of the operation of the acting +principle least interfered with by extraneous conditions. European +political progress is less simple than American. + +QUARREL BETWEEN FRANCE AND THE PAPACY. Before considering its manner +of action, and its results, I will briefly relate how the scientific +principle found an introduction into Europe. + +INTRODUCTION OF SCIENCE INTO EUROPE. Not only had the Crusades, for many +years, brought vast sums to Rome, extorted from the fears or the piety +of every Christian nation; they had also increased the papal power to a +most dangerous extent. In the dual governments everywhere prevailing in +Europe, the spiritual had obtained the mastery; the temporal was little +better than its servant. + +From all quarters, and under all kinds of pretenses, streams of money +were steadily flowing into Italy. The temporal princes found that there +were left for them inadequate and impoverished revenues. Philip the +Fair, King of France (A.D. 1300), not only determined to check this +drain from his dominions, by prohibiting the export of gold and +silver without his license; he also resolved that the clergy and the +ecclesiastical estates should pay their share of taxes to him. +This brought on a mortal contest with the papacy. The king was +excommunicated, and, in retaliation, he accused the pope, Boniface +VIII., of atheism; demanding that he should be tried by a general +council. He sent some trusty persons into Italy, who seized Boniface in +his palace at Anagni, and treated him with so much severity, that in a +few days he died. The succeeding pontiff, Benedict XI., was poisoned. + +The French king was determined that the papacy should be purified and +reformed; that it should no longer be the appanage of a few Italian +families, who were dexterously transmuting the credulity of Europe into +coin--that French influence should prevail in it. He Therefore came to +an understanding with the cardinals; a French archbishop was elevated +to the pontificate; he took the name of Clement V. The papal court was +removed to Avignon, in France, and Rome was abandoned as the metropolis +of Christianity. + +MOORISH SCIENCE INTRODUCED THROUGH FRANCE. Seventy years elapsed before +the papacy was restored to the Eternal City (A.D. 1376). The diminution +of its influence in the peninsula, that had thus occurred, gave +opportunity for the memorable intellectual movement which soon +manifested itself in the great commercial cities of Upper Italy. +Contemporaneously, also, there were other propitious events. The result +of the Crusades had shaken the faith of all Christendom. In an age when +the test of the ordeal of battle was universally accepted, those wars +had ended in leaving the Holy Land in the hands of the Saracens; the +many thousand Christian warriors who had returned from them did not +hesitate to declare that they had found their antagonists not such as +had been pictured by the Church, but valiant, courteous, just. Through +the gay cities of the South of France a love of romantic literature +had been spreading; the wandering troubadours had been singing their +songs--songs far from being restricted to ladye-love and feats of war; +often their burden was the awful atrocities that had been perpetrated +by papal authority--the religious massacres of Languedoc; often their +burden was the illicit amours of the clergy. From Moorish Spain the +gentle and gallant idea of chivalry had been brought, and with it the +noble sentiment of "personal honor," destined in the course of time to +give a code of its own to Europe. + +EFFECT OF THE GREAT SCHISM. The return of the papacy to Rome was far +from restoring the influence of the popes over the Italian Peninsula. +More than two generations had passed away since their departure, and, +had they come back even in their original strength, they could not +have resisted the intellectual progress that had been made during their +absence. The papacy, however, came back not to rule, but to be divided +against itself, to encounter the Great Schism. Out of its dissensions +emerged two rival popes; eventually there were three, each pressing +his claims upon the religious, each cursing his rival. A sentiment +of indignation soon spread all over Europe, a determination that the +shameful scenes which were then enacting should be ended. How could the +dogma of a Vicar of God upon earth, the dogma of an infallible pope, +be sustained in presence of such scandals? Herein lay the cause of that +resolution of the ablest ecclesiastics of those times (which, alas for +Europe! could not be carried into effect), that a general council should +be made the permanent religious parliament of the whole continent, +with the pope as its chief executive officer. Had that intention been +accomplished, there would have been at this day no conflict between +science and religion; the convulsion of the Reformation would have been +avoided; there would have been no jarring Protestant sects. But the +Councils of Constance and Basle failed to shake off the Italian yoke, +failed to attain that noble result. + +Catholicism was thus weakening; as its leaden pressure lifted, the +intellect of man expanded. The Saracens had invented the method of +making paper from linen rags and from cotton. The Venetians had brought +from China to Europe the art of printing. The former of these inventions +was essential to the latter. Hence forth, without the possibility of a +check, there was intellectual intercommunication among all men. + +INVENTION OF PRINTING. The invention of printing was a severe blow to +Catholicism, which had, previously, enjoyed the inappreciable advantage +of a monopoly of intercommunication. From its central seat, orders could +be disseminated through all the ecclesiastical ranks, and fulminated +through the pulpits. This monopoly and the amazing power it conferred +were destroyed by the press. In modern times, the influence of the +pulpit has become insignificant. The pulpit has been thoroughly +supplanted by the newspaper. + +Yet, Catholicism did not yield its ancient advantage without a struggle. +As soon as the inevitable tendency of the new art was detected, a +restraint upon it, under the form of a censorship, was attempted. It was +made necessary to have a permit, in order to print a book. For this, it +was needful that the work should have been read, examined, and approved +by the clergy. There must be a certificate that it was a godly and +orthodox book. A bull of excommunication was issued in 1501, by +Alexander VI., against printers who should publish pernicious doctrines. +In 1515 the Lateran Council ordered that no books should be printed but +such as had been inspected by the ecclesiastical censors, under pain of +excommunication and fine; the censors being directed "to take the utmost +care that nothing should be printed contrary to the orthodox faith." +There was thus a dread of religious discussion; a terror lest truth +should emerge. + +But these frantic struggles of the powers of ignorance were unavailing. +Intellectual intercommunication among men was secured. It culminated in +the modern newspaper, which daily gives its contemporaneous intelligence +from all parts of the world. Reading became a common occupation. In +ancient society that art was possessed by comparatively few persons. +Modern society owes some of its most striking characteristics to this +change. + +EFFECTS OF MARITIME ENTERPRISE. Such was the result of bringing into +Europe the manufacture of paper and the printing-press. In like manner +the introduction of the mariner's compass was followed by imposing +material and moral effects. These were--the discovery of America in +consequence of the rivalry of the Venetians and Genoese about the India +trade; the doubling of Africa by De Gama; and the circumnavigation of +the earth by Magellan. With respect to the last, the grandest of +all human undertakings, it is to be remembered that Catholicism had +irrevocably committed itself to the dogma of a flat earth, with the +sky as the floor of heaven, and hell in the under-world. Some of the +Fathers, whose authority was held to be paramount, had, as we have +previously said, furnished philosophical and religious arguments against +the globular form. The controversy had now suddenly come to an end--the +Church was found to be in error. + +The correction of that geographical error was by no means the only +important result that followed the three great voyages. The spirit of +Columbus, De Gama, Magellan, diffused itself among all the enterprising +men of Western Europe. Society had been hitherto living under the dogma +of "loyalty to the king, obedience to the Church." It had therefore been +living for others, not for itself. The political effect of that dogma +had culminated in the Crusades. Countless thousands had perished in +wars that could bring them no reward, and of which the result had been +conspicuous failure. Experience had revealed the fact that the only +gainers were the pontiffs, cardinals, and other ecclesiastics in Rome, +and the shipmasters of Venice. But, when it became known that the +wealth of Mexico, Peru, and India, might be shared by any one who had +enterprise and courage, the motives that had animated the restless +populations of Europe suddenly changed. The story of Cortez and Pizarro +found enthusiastic listeners everywhere. Maritime adventure supplanted +religious enthusiasm. + +If we attempt to isolate the principle that lay at the basis of the +wonderful social changes that now took place, we may recognize it +without difficulty. Heretofore each man had dedicated his services to +his superior--feudal or ecclesiastical; now he had resolved to gather +the fruits of his exertions himself. Individualism was becoming +predominant, loyalty was declining into a sentiment. We shall now see +how it was with the Church. + +INDIVIDUALISM. Individualism rests on the principle that a man shall +be his own master, that he shall have liberty to form his own opinions, +freedom to carry into effect his resolves. He is, therefore, ever +brought into competition with his fellow-men. His life is a display of +energy. + +To remove the stagnation of centuries front European life, to vivify +suddenly what had hitherto been an inert mass, to impart to it +individualism, was to bring it into conflict with the influences +that had been oppressing it. All through the fourteenth and fifteenth +centuries uneasy strugglings gave a premonition of what was coming. +In the early part of the sixteenth (1517), the battle was joined. +Individualism found its embodiment in a sturdy German monk, and +therefore, perhaps necessarily, asserted its rights under theological +forms. There were some preliminary skirmishes about indulgences and +other minor matters, but very soon the real cause of dispute came +plainly into view. Martin Luther refused to think as he was ordered to +do by his ecclesiastical superiors at Rome; he asserted that he had an +inalienable right to interpret the Bible for himself. + +At her first glance, Rome saw nothing in Martin Luther but a vulgar, +insubordinate, quarrelsome monk. Could the Inquisition have laid hold of +him, it would have speedily disposed of his affair; but, as the conflict +went on, it was discovered that Martin was not standing alone. Many +thousands of men, as resolute as himself, were coming up to his support; +and, while he carried on the combat with writings and words, they made +good his propositions with the sword. + +THE REFORMATION. The vilification which was poured on Luther and his +doings was so bitter as to be ludicrous. It was declared that his father +was not his mother's husband, but an impish incubus, who had deluded +her; that, after ten years' struggling with his conscience, he had +become an atheist; that he denied the immortality of the soul; that +he had composed hymns in honor of drunkenness, a vice to which he +was unceasingly addicted; that he blasphemed the Holy Scriptures, and +particularly Moses; that he did not believe a word of what he preached; +that he had called the Epistle of St. James a thing of straw; and, above +all, that the Reformation was no work of his, but, in reality, was due +to a certain astrological position of the stars. It was, however, a +vulgar saying among the Roman ecclesiastics that Erasmus laid the egg of +the Reformation, and Luther hatched it. + +Rome at first made the mistake of supposing that this was nothing more +than a casual outbreak; she failed to discern that it was, in fact, the +culmination of an internal movement which for two centuries had been +going on in Europe, and which had been hourly gathering force; that, +had there been nothing else, the existence of three popes--three +obediences--would have compelled men to think, to deliberate, to +conclude for themselves. The Councils of Constance and Basle taught them +that there was a higher power than the popes. The long and bloody wars +that ensued were closed by the Peace of Westphalia; and then it was +found that Central and Northern Europe had cast off the intellectual +tyranny of Rome, that individualism had carried its point, and had +established the right of every man to think for himself. + +DECOMPOSITION OF PROTESTANTISM. But it was impossible that the +establishment of this right of private judgment should end with the +rejection of Catholicism. Early in the movement some of the most +distinguished men, such as Erasmus, who had been among its first +promoters, abandoned it. They perceived that many of the Reformers +entertained a bitter dislike of learning, and they were afraid of +being brought under bigoted caprice. The Protestant party, having thus +established its existence by dissent and separation, must, in its turn, +submit to the operation of the same principles. A decomposition into +many subordinate sects was inevitable. And these, now that they had no +longer any thing to fear from their great Italian adversary, commenced +partisan warfares on each other. As, in different countries, first one +and then another sect rose to power, it stained itself with cruelties +perpetrated upon its competitors. The mortal retaliations that had +ensued, when, in the chances of the times, the oppressed got the better +of their oppressors, convinced the contending sectarians that they must +concede to their competitors what they claimed for themselves; and thus, +from their broils and their crimes, the great principle of toleration +extricated itself. But toleration is only an intermediate stage; and, +as the intellectual decomposition of Protestantism keeps going on, that +transitional condition will lead to a higher and nobler state--the hope +of philosophy in all past ages of the world--a social state in which +there shall be unfettered freedom for thought. Toleration, except +when extorted by fear, can only come from those who are capable of +entertaining and respecting other opinions than their own. It can +therefore only come from philosophy. History teaches us only too plainly +that fanaticism is stimulated by religion, and neutralized or eradicated +by philosophy. + +TOLERATION. The avowed object of the Reformation was, to remove from +Christianity the pagan ideas and pagan rites engrafted upon it by +Constantine and his successors, in their attempt to reconcile the Roman +Empire to it. The Protestants designed to bring it back to its primitive +purity; and hence, while restoring the ancient doctrines, they cast out +of it all such practices as the adoration of the Virgin Mary and +the invocation of saints. The Virgin Mary, we are assured by the +Evangelists, had accepted the duties of married life, and borne to her +husband several children. In the prevailing idolatry, she had ceased to +be regarded as the carpenter's wife; she had become the queen of heaven, +and the mother of God. + +DA VINCI. The science of the Arabians followed the invading track of +their literature, which had come into Christendom by two routes--the +south of France, and Sicily. Favored by the exile of the popes to +Avignon, and by the Great Schism, it made good its foothold in Upper +Italy. The Aristotelian or Inductive philosophy, clad in the Saracenic +costume that Averroes had given it, made many secret and not a few open +friends. It found many minds eager to receive and able to appreciate +it. Among these were Leonardo da Vinci, who proclaimed the fundamental +principle that experiment and observation are the only reliable +foundations of reasoning in science, that experiment is the only +trustworthy interpreter of Nature, and is essential to the ascertainment +of laws. He showed that the action of two perpendicular forces upon a +point is the same as that denoted by the diagonal of a rectangle, of +which they represent the sides. From this the passage to the proposition +of oblique forces was very easy. This proposition was rediscovered by +Stevinus, a century later, and applied by him to the explanation of the +mechanical powers. Da Vinci gave a clear exposition of the theory of +forces applied obliquely on a lever, discovered the laws of friction +subsequently demonstrated by Amontons, and understood the principle of +virtual velocities. He treated of the conditions of descent of bodies +along inclined planes and circular arcs, invented the camera-obscura, +discussed correctly several physiological problems, and foreshadowed +some of the great conclusions of modern geology, such as the nature +of fossil remains, and the elevation of continents. He explained the +earth-light reflected by the moon. With surprising versatility of genius +he excelled as a sculptor, architect, engineer; was thoroughly versed in +the astronomy, anatomy, and chemistry of his times. In painting, he +was the rival of Michel Angelo; in a competition between them, he was +considered to have established his superiority. His "Last Supper," on +the wall of the refectory of the Dominican convent of Sta. Maria delle +Grazie, is well known, from the numerous engravings and copies that have +been made of it. + +ITALIAN SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. Once firmly established in the north of +Italy, Science soon extended her sway over the entire peninsula. The +increasing number of her devotees is indicated by the rise and rapid +multiplication of learned societies. These were reproductions of the +Moorish ones that had formerly existed in Granada and Cordova. As if +to mark by a monument the track through which civilizing influences had +come, the Academy of Toulouse, founded in 1345, has survived to our +own times. It represented, however, the gay literature of the south of +France, and was known under the fanciful title of "the Academy of Floral +Games." The first society for the promotion of physical science, the +Academia Secretorum Naturae, was founded at Naples, by Baptista +Porta. It was, as Tiraboschi relates, dissolved by the ecclesiastical +authorities. The Lyncean was founded by Prince Frederic Cesi at Rome; +its device plainly indicated its intention: a lynx, with its eyes turned +upward toward heaven, tearing a triple-headed Cerberus with its claws. +The Accademia del Cimento, established at Florence, 1657, held its +meetings in the ducal palace. It lasted ten years, and was then +suppressed at the instance of the papal government; as an equivalent, +the brother of the grand-duke was made a cardinal. It numbered many +great men, such as Torricelli and Castelli, among its members. The +condition of admission into it was an abjuration of all faith, and a +resolution to inquire into the truth. These societies extricated the +cultivators of science from the isolation in which they had hitherto +lived, and, by promoting their intercommunication and union, imparted +activity and strength to them all. + +Returning now from this digression, this historical sketch of the +circumstances under which science was introduced into Europe, I pass to +the consideration of its manner of action and its results. + +INTELLECTUAL INFLUENCE OF SCIENCE. The influence of science on modern +civilization has been twofold: 1. Intellectual; 2. Economical. Under +these titles we may conveniently consider it. + +Intellectually it overthrew the authority of tradition. It refused to +accept, unless accompanied by proof, the dicta of any master, no matter +how eminent or honored his name. The conditions of admission into +the Italian Accademia del Cimento, and the motto adopted by the Royal +Society of London, illustrate the position it took in this respect. + +It rejected the supernatural and miraculous as evidence in physical +discussions. It abandoned sign-proof such as the Jews in old days +required, and denied that a demonstration can be given through an +illustration of something else, thus casting aside the logic that had +been in vogue for many centuries. + +In physical inquiries, its mode of procedure was, to test the value of +any proposed hypothesis, by executing computations in any special case +on the basis or principle of that hypothesis, and then, by performing an +experiment or making an observation, to ascertain whether the result +of these agreed with the result of the computation. If it did not, the +hypothesis was to be rejected. + +We may here introduce an illustration or two of this mode of procedure: + +THEORIES OF GRAVITATION AND PHLOGISTON. Newton, suspecting that the +influence of the earth's attraction, gravity, may extend as far as the +moon, and be the force that causes her to revolve in her orbit round the +earth, calculated that, by her motion in her orbit, she was deflected +from the tangent thirteen feet every minute; but, by ascertaining the +space through which bodies would fall in one minute at the earth's +surface, and supposing it to be diminished in the ratio of the inverse +square, it appeared that the attraction at the moon's orbit would draw +a body through more than fifteen feet. He, therefore, for the time, +considered his hypothesis as unsustained. But it so happened that Picard +shortly afterward executed more correctly a new measurement of a degree; +this changed the estimated magnitude of the earth, and the distance of +the moon, which was measured in earth-semidiameters. Newton now renewed +his computation, and, as I have related on a previous page, as it drew +to a close, foreseeing that a coincidence was about to be established, +was so much agitated that he was obliged to ask a friend to complete it. +The hypothesis was sustained. + +A second instance will sufficiently illustrate the method under +consideration. It is presented by the chemical theory of phlogiston. +Stahl, the author of this theory, asserted that there is a principle of +inflammability, to which he gave the name phlogiston, having the quality +of uniting with substances. Thus, when what we now term a metallic oxide +was united to it, a metal was produced; and, if the phlogiston were +withdrawn, the metal passed back into its earthy or oxidized state. On +this principle, then, the metals were compound bodies, earths combined +with phlogiston. + +SCIENCE AND ECCLESIASTICISM. But during the eighteenth century the +balance was introduced as an instrument of chemical research. Now, if +the phlogistic hypothesis be true, it would follow that a metal should +be the heavier, its oxide the lighter body, for the former contains +something--phlogiston--that has been added to the latter. But, on +weighing a portion of any metal, and also the oxide producible from it, +the latter proves to be the heavier, and here the phlogistic hypothesis +fails. Still further, on continuing the investigation, it may be shown +that the oxide or calx, as it used to be called, has become heavier by +combining with one of the ingredients of the air. + +To Lavoisier is usually attributed this test experiment; but the fact +that the weight of a metal increases by calcination was established +by earlier European experimenters, and, indeed, was well known to the +Arabian chemists. Lavoisier, however, was the first to recognize its +great importance. In his hands it produced a revolution in chemistry. + +The abandonment of the phlogistic theory is an illustration of the +readiness with which scientific hypotheses are surrendered, when found +to be wanting in accordance with facts. Authority and tradition pass for +nothing. Every thing is settled by an appeal to Nature. It is assumed +that the answers she gives to a practical interrogation will ever be +true. + +Comparing now the philosophical principles on which science was +proceeding, with the principles on which ecclesiasticism rested, we see +that, while the former repudiated tradition, to the latter it was the +main support while the former insisted on the agreement of calculation +and observation, or the correspondence of reasoning and fact, the latter +leaned upon mysteries; while the former summarily rejected its own +theories, if it saw that they could not be coordinated with Nature, the +latter found merit in a faith that blindly accepted the inexplicable, a +satisfied contemplation of "things above reason." The alienation between +the two continually increased. On one side there was a sentiment of +disdain, on the other a sentiment of hatred. Impartial witnesses on all +hands perceived that science was rapidly undermining ecclesiasticism. + +MATHEMATICS. Mathematics had thus become the great instrument of +scientific research, it had become the instrument of scientific +reasoning. In one respect it may be said that it reduced the operations +of the mind to a mechanical process, for its symbols often saved the +labor of thinking. The habit of mental exactness it encouraged extended +to other branches of thought, and produced an intellectual revolution. +No longer was it possible to be satisfied with miracle-proof, or the +logic that had been relied upon throughout the middle ages. Not only did +it thus influence the manner of thinking, it also changed the direction +of thought. Of this we may be satisfied by comparing the subjects +considered in the transactions of the various learned societies with the +discussions that had occupied the attention of the middle ages. + +But the use of mathematics was not limited to the verification of +theories; as above indicated, it also furnished a means of predicting +what had hitherto been unobserved. In this it offered a counterpart +to the prophecies of ecclesiasticism. The discovery of Neptune is +an instance of the kind furnished by astronomy, and that of conical +refraction by the optical theory of undulations. + +But, while this great instrument led to such a wonderful development in +natural science, it was itself undergoing development--improvement. Let +us in a few lines recall its progress. + +The germ of algebra may be discerned in the works of Diophantus of +Alexandria, who is supposed to have lived in the second century of our +era. In that Egyptian school Euclid had formerly collected the great +truths of geometry, and arranged them in logical sequence. Archimedes, +in Syracuse, had attempted the solution of the higher problems by the +method of exhaustions. Such was the tendency of things that, had the +patronage of science been continued, algebra would inevitably have been +invented. + +To the Arabians we owe our knowledge of the rudiments of algebra; we +owe to them the very name under which this branch of mathematics passes. +They had carefully added, to the remains of the Alexandrian School, +improvements obtained in India, and had communicated to the subject +a certain consistency and form. The knowledge of algebra, as they +possessed it, was first brought into Italy about the beginning of the +thirteenth century. It attracted so little attention, that nearly three +hundred years elapsed before any European work on the subject appeared. +In 1496 Paccioli published his book entitled "Arte Maggiore," or +"Alghebra." In 1501, Cardan, of Milan, gave a method for the solution of +cubic equations; other improvements were contributed by Scipio Ferreo, +1508, by Tartalea, by Vieta. The Germans now took up the subject. At +this time the notation was in an imperfect state. + +The publication of the Geometry of Descartes, which contains the +application of algebra to the definition and investigation of curve +lines (1637), constitutes an epoch in the history of the mathematical +sciences. Two years previously, Cavalieri's work on Indivisibles had +appeared. This method was improved by Torricelli and others. The way was +now open, for the development of the Infinitesimal Calculus, the method +of Fluxions of Newton, and the Differential and Integral Calculus +of Leibnitz. Though in his possession many years previously, Newton +published nothing on Fluxions until 1704; the imperfect notation he +employed retarded very much the application of his method. Meantime, on +the Continent, very largely through the brilliant solutions of some of +the higher problems, accomplished by the Bernouillis, the Calculus of +Leibnitz was universally accepted, and improved by many mathematicians. +An extraordinary development of the science now took place, and +continued throughout the century. To the Binomial theorem, previously +discovered by Newton, Taylor now added, in his "Method of Increments," +the celebrated theorem that bears his name. This was in 1715. The +Calculus of Partial Differences was introduced by Euler in 1734. It was +extended by D'Alembert, and was followed by that of Variations, by Euler +and Lagrange, and by the method of Derivative Functions, by Lagrange, in +1772. + +But it was not only in Italy, in Germany, in England, in France, that +this great movement in mathematics was witnessed; Scotland had added a +new gem to the intellectual diadem with which her brow is encircled, +by the grand invention of Logarithms, by Napier of Merchiston. It is +impossible to give any adequate conception of the scientific importance +of this incomparable invention. The modern physicist and astronomer +will most cordially agree with Briggs, the Professor of Mathematics in +Gresham College, in his exclamation: "I never saw a book that pleased +me better, and that made I me more wonder!" Not without reason did the +immortal Kepler regard Napier "to be the greatest man of his age, in the +department to which he had applied his abilities." Napier died in 1617. +It is no exaggeration to say that this invention, by shortening the +labors, doubled the life of the astronomer. + +But here I must check myself. I must remember that my present purpose is +not to give the history of mathematics, but to consider what science has +done for the advancement of human civilization. And now, at once, recurs +the question, How is it that the Church produced no geometer in her +autocratic reign of twelve hundred years? + +With respect to pure mathematics this remark may be made: Its +cultivation does not demand appliances that are beyond the reach of +most individuals. Astronomy must have its observatory, chemistry its +laboratory; but mathematics asks only personal disposition and a +few books. No great expenditures are called for, nor the services +of assistants. One would think that nothing could be more congenial, +nothing more delightful, even in the retirement of monastic life. + +Shall we answer with Eusebius, "It is through contempt of such useless +labor that we think so little of these matters; we turn our souls to +the exercise of better things?" Better things! What can be better than +absolute truth? Are mysteries, miracles, lying impostures, better? It +was these that stood in the way! + +The ecclesiastical authorities had recognized, from the outset of this +scientific invasion, that the principles it was disseminating were +absolutely irreconcilable with the current theology. Directly and +indirectly, they struggled against it. So great was their detestation +of experimental science, that they thought they had gained a great +advantage when the Accademia del Cimento was suppressed. Nor was the +sentiment restricted to Catholicism. When the Royal Society of London +was founded, theological odium was directed against it with so much +rancor that, doubtless, it would have been extinguished, had not King +Charles II. given it his open and avowed support. It was accused of +an intention of "destroying the established religion, of injuring the +universities, and of upsetting ancient and solid learning." + +THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. We have only to turn over the pages of its +Transactions to discern how much this society has done for the progress +of humanity. It was incorporated in 1662, and has interested itself in +all the great scientific movements and discoveries that have since been +made. It published Newton's "Principia;" it promoted Halley's voyage, +the first scientific expedition undertaken by any government; it made +experiments on the transfusion of blood, and accepted Harvey's discovery +of the circulation. The encouragement it gave to inoculation led Queen +Caroline to beg six condemned criminals for experiment, and then to +submit her own children to that operation. Through its encouragement +Bradley accomplished his great discovery, the aberration of the fixed +stars, and that of the nutation of the earth's axis; to these two +discoveries, Delambre says, we owe the exactness of modern astronomy. It +promoted the improvement of the thermometer, the measure of temperature, +and in Harrison's watch, the chronometer, the measure of time. Through +it the Gregorian Calendar was introduced into England, in 1752, against +a violent religious opposition. Some of its Fellows were pursued through +the streets by an ignorant and infuriated mob, who believed it had +robbed them of eleven days of their lives; it was found necessary to +conceal the name of Father Walmesley, a learned Jesuit, who had taken +deep interest in the matter; and, Bradley happening to die during the +commotion, it was declared that he had suffered a judgment from Heaven +for his crime! + +THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. If I were to attempt to do justice to the +merits of this great society, I should have to devote many pages, to +such subjects as the achromatic telescope of Dollond; the dividing +engine of Ramsden, which first gave precision to astronomical +observations, the measurement of a degree on the earth's surface by +Mason and Dixon; the expeditions of Cook in connection with the transit +of Venus; his circumnavigation of the earth; his proof that scurvy, +the curse of long sea-voyages, may be avoided by the use of vegetable +substances; the polar expeditions; the determination of the density of +the earth by Maskelyne's experiments at Scheliallion, and by those +of Cavendish; the discovery of the planet Uranus by Herschel; the +composition of water by Cavendish and Watt; the determination of the +difference of longitude between London and Paris; the invention of +the voltaic pile; the surveys of the heavens by the Herschels; +the development of the principle of interference by Young, and his +establishment of the undulatory theory of light; the ventilation +of jails and other buildings; the introduction of gas for city +illumination; the ascertainment of the length of the seconds-pendulum; +the measurement of the variations of gravity in different latitudes; the +operations to ascertain the curvature of the earth; the polar expedition +of Ross; the invention of the safety-lamp by Davy, and his decomposition +of the alkalies and earths; the electro-magnetic discoveries of Oersted +and Faraday; the calculating-engines of Babbage; the measures taken +at the instance of Humboldt for the establishment of many magnetic +observatories; the verification of contemporaneous magnetic disturbances +over the earth's surface. But it is impossible, in the limited space at +my disposal, to give even so little as a catalogue of its Transactions. +Its spirit was identical with that which animated the Accademia del +Cimento, and its motto accordingly was "Nullius in Verba." It proscribed +superstition, and permitted only calculation, observation, and +experiment. + +INFLUENCE OF SCIENCE. Not for a moment must it be supposed that in these +great attempts, these great Successes, the Royal Society stood alone. +In all the capitals of Europe there were Academies, Institutes, or +Societies, equal in distinction, and equally successful in promoting +human knowledge and modern civilization. + + +THE ECONOMICAL INFLUENCES OF SCIENCE. + +The scientific study of Nature tends not only to correct and ennoble +the intellectual conceptions of man; it serves also to ameliorate his +physical condition. It perpetually suggests to him the inquiry, how he +may make, by their economical application, ascertained facts subservient +to his use. + +The investigation of principles is quickly followed by practical +inventions. This, indeed, is the characteristic feature of our times. It +has produced a great revolution in national policy. + +In former ages wars were made for the procuring of slaves. A conqueror +transported entire populations, and extorted from them forced labor, for +it was only by human labor that human labor could be relieved. But when +it was discovered that physical agents and mechanical combinations could +be employed to incomparably greater advantage, public policy underwent a +change; when it was recognized that the application of a new principle, +or the invention of a new machine, was better than the acquisition of an +additional slave, peace became preferable to war. And not only so, but +nations possessing great slave or serf populations, as was the care in +America and Russia, found that considerations of humanity were supported +by considerations of interest, and set their bondmen free. + +SCIENTIFIC INVENTIONS. Thus we live in a period of which a +characteristic is the supplanting of human and animal labor by machines. +Its mechanical inventions have wrought a social revolution. We appeal +to the natural, not to the supernatural, for the accomplishment of our +ends. It is with the "modern civilization" thus arising that Catholicism +refuses to be reconciled. The papacy loudly proclaims its inflexible +repudiation of this state of affairs, and insists on a restoration of +the medieval condition of things. + +That a piece of amber, when rubbed, will attract and then repel light +bodies, was a fact known six hundred years before Christ. It remained an +isolated, uncultivated fact, a mere trifle, until sixteen hundred years +after Christ. Then dealt with by the scientific methods of mathematical +discussion and experiment, and practical application made of the result, +it has permitted men to communicate instantaneously with each other +across continents and under oceans. It has centralized the world. By +enabling the sovereign authority to transmit its mandates without +regard to distance or to time, it has revolutionized statesmanship and +condensed political power. + +In the Museum of Alexandria there was a machine invented by Hero, the +mathematician, a little more than one hundred years before Christ. It +revolved by the agency of steam, and was of the form that we should +now call a reaction-engine. This, the germ of one of the most important +inventions ever made, was remembered as a mere curiosity for seventeen +hundred years. + +Chance had nothing to do with the invention of the modern steam-engine. +It was the product of meditation and experiment. In the middle of the +seventeenth century several mechanical engineers attempted to utilize +the properties of steam; their labors were brought to perfection by Watt +in the middle of the eighteenth. + +The steam-engine quickly became the drudge of civilization. It performed +the work of many millions of men. It gave, to those who would have been +condemned to a life of brutal toil, the opportunity of better pursuits. +He who formerly labored might now think. + +Its earliest application was in such operations as pumping, wherein mere +force is required. Soon, however, it vindicated its delicacy of touch +in the industrial arts of spinning and weaving. It created vast +manufacturing establishments, and supplied clothing for the world. It +changed the industry of nations. + +In its application, first to the navigation of rivers, and then to the +navigation of the ocean, it more than quadrupled the speed that had +heretofore been attained. Instead of forty days being requisite for +the passage, the Atlantic might now be crossed in eight. But, in land +transportation, its power was most strikingly displayed. The admirable +invention of the locomotive enabled men to travel farther in less than +an hour than they formerly could have done in more than a day. + +The locomotive has not only enlarged the field of human activity, but, +by diminishing space, it has increased the capabilities of human life. +In the swift transportation of manufactured goods and agricultural +products, it has become a most efficient incentive to human industry + +The perfection of ocean steam-navigation was greatly promoted by the +invention of the chronometer, which rendered it possible to find +with accuracy the place of a ship at sea. The great drawback on the +advancement of science in the Alexandrian School was the want of an +instrument for the measurement of time, and one for the measurement of +temperature--the chronometer and the thermometer; indeed, the invention +of the latter is essential to that of the former. Clepsydras, or +water-clocks, had been tried, but they were deficient in accuracy. Of +one of them, ornamented with the signs of the zodiac, and destroyed by +certain primitive Christians, St. Polycarp significantly remarked, "In +all these monstrous demons is seen an art hostile to God." Not until +about 1680 did the chronometer begin to approach accuracy. Hooke, the +contemporary of Newton, gave it the balance-wheel, with the spiral +spring, and various escapements in succession were devised, such as the +anchor, the dead-beat, the duplex, the remontoir. Provisions for the +variation of temperature were introduced. It was brought to perfection +eventually by Harrison and Arnold, in their hands becoming an accurate +measure of the flight of time. To the invention of the chronometer +must be added that of the reflecting sextant by Godfrey. This permitted +astronomical observations to be made, notwithstanding the motion of a +ship. + +Improvements in ocean navigation are exercising a powerful influence on +the distribution of mankind. They are increasing the amount and altering +the character of colonization. + +DOMESTIC IMPROVEMENT. But not alone have these great discoveries and +inventions, the offspring of scientific investigation, changed the +lot of the human race; very many minor ones, perhaps individually +insignificant, have in their aggregate accomplished surprising effects. +The commencing cultivation of science in the fourteenth century gave +a wonderful stimulus to inventive talent, directed mainly to useful +practical results; and this, subsequently, was greatly encouraged by the +system of patents, which secure to the originator a reasonable portion +of the benefits of his skill. It is sufficient to refer in the most +cursory manner to a few of these improvements; we appreciate at once how +much they have done. The introduction of the saw-mill gave wooden floors +to houses, banishing those of gypsum, tile, or stone; improvements +cheapening the manufacture of glass gave windows, making possible the +warming of apartments. However, it was not until the sixteenth century +that glazing could be well done. The cutting of glass by the diamond +was then introduced. The addition of chimneys purified the atmosphere +of dwellings, smoky and sooty as the huts of savages; it gave that +indescribable blessing of northern homes--a cheerful fireside. Hitherto +a hole in the roof for the escape of the smoke, a pit in the midst of +the floor to contain the fuel, and to be covered with a lid when the +curfew-bell sounded or night came, such had been the cheerless and +inadequate means of warming. + +MUNICIPAL IMPROVEMENTS. Though not without a bitter resistance on +the part of the clergy, men began to think that pestilences are not +punishments inflicted by God on society for its religious shortcomings, +but the physical consequences of filth and wretchedness; that the proper +mode of avoiding them is not by praying to the saints, but by insuring +personal and municipal cleanliness. In the twelfth century it was +found necessary to pave the streets of Paris, the stench in them was so +dreadful At once dysenteries and spotted fever diminished; a sanitary +condition approaching that of the Moorish cities of Spain, which had +been paved for centuries, was attained. In that now beautiful metropolis +it was forbidden to keep swine, an ordinance resented by the monks +of the abbey of St. Anthony, who demanded that the pigs of that saint +should go where they chose; the government was obliged to compromise the +matter by requiring that bells should be fastened to the animals' necks. +King Philip, the son of Louis the Fat, had been killed by his horse +stumbling over a sow. Prohibitions were published against throwing slops +out of the windows. In 1870 an eye-witness, the author of this book, +at the close of the pontifical rule in Rome, found that, in walking the +ordure-defiled streets of that city, it was more necessary to inspect +the earth than to contemplate the heavens, in order to preserve personal +purity. Until the beginning of the seventeenth century, the streets of +Berlin were never swept. There was a law that every countryman, who came +to market with a cart, should carry back a load of dirt! + +Paving was followed by attempts, often of an imperfect kind, at +the construction of drains and sewers. It had become obvious to all +reflecting men that these were necessary to the preservation of health, +not only in towns, but in isolated houses. Then followed the lighting +of the public thoroughfares. At first houses facing the streets were +compelled to have candles or lamps in their windows; next the system +that had been followed with so much advantage in Cordova and Granada--of +having public lamps--was tried, but this was not brought to perfection +until the present century, when lighting by gas was invented. +Contemporaneously with public lamps were improved organizations for +night-watchmen and police. + +By the sixteenth century, mechanical inventions and manufacturing +improvements were exercising a conspicuous influence on domestic and +social life. There were looking-glasses and clocks on the walls, mantels +over the fireplaces. Though in many districts the kitchen-fire was still +supplied with turf, the use of coal began to prevail. The table in the +dining-room offered new delicacies; commerce was bringing to it foreign +products; the coarse drinks of the North were supplanted by the delicate +wines of the South. Ice-houses were constructed. The bolting of flour, +introduced at the windmills, had given whiter and finer bread. By +degrees things that had been rarities became common--Indian-corn, the +potato, the turkey, and, conspicuous in the long list, tobacco. Forks, +an Italian invention, displaced the filthy use of the fingers. It may be +said that the diet of civilized men now underwent a radical change. Tea +came from China, coffee from Arabia, the use of sugar from India, and +these to no insignificant degree supplanted fermented liquors. Carpets +replaced on the floors the layer of straw; in the chambers +there appeared better beds, in the wardrobes cleaner and more +frequently-changed clothing. In many towns the aqueduct was substituted +for the public fountain and the street-pump. Ceilings which in the old +days would have been dingy with soot and dirt, were now decorated with +ornamental frescoes. Baths were more commonly resorted to; there was +less need to use perfumery for the concealment of personal odors. +An increasing taste for the innocent pleasures of horticulture +was manifested, by the introduction of many foreign flowers in the +gardens--the tuberose, the auricula, the crown imperial, the Persian +lily, the ranunculus, and African marigolds. In the streets there +appeared sedans, then close carriages, and at length hackney-coaches. + +Among the dull rustics mechanical improvements forced their way, and +gradually attained, in the implements for ploughing, sowing, mowing, +reaping, thrashing, the perfection of our own times. + +MERCANTILE INVENTIONS. It began to be recognized, in spite of the +preaching of the mendicant orders, that poverty is the source of crime, +the obstruction to knowledge; that the pursuit of riches by commerce is +far better than the acquisition of power by war. For, though it may +be true, as Montesquieu says, that, while commerce unites nations, it +antagonizes individuals, and makes a traffic of morality, it alone can +give unity to the world; its dream, its hope, is universal peace. + +MEDICAL IMPROVEMENTS. Though, instead of a few pages, it would require +volumes to record adequately the ameliorations that took place in +domestic and social life after science began to exert its beneficent +influences, and inventive talent came to the aid of industry, there +are some things which cannot be passed in silence. From the port of +Barcelona the Spanish khalifs had carried on an enormous commerce, and +they with their coadjutors--Jewish merchants--had adopted or originated +many commercial inventions, which, with matters of pure science, +they had transmitted to the trading communities of Europe. The art of +book-keeping by double entry was thus brought into Upper Italy. The +different kinds of insurance were adopted, though strenuously resisted +by the clergy. They opposed fire and marine insurance, on the ground +that it is a tempting of Providence. Life insurance was regarded as +an act of interference with the consequences of God's will. Houses +for lending money on interest and on pledges, that is, banking and +pawnbroking establishments, were bitterly denounced, and especially was +indignation excited against the taking of high rates of interest, +which was stigmatized as usury--a feeling existing in some backward +communities up to the present day. Bills of exchange in the present form +and terms were adopted, the office of the public notary established, and +protests for dishonored obligations resorted to. Indeed, it may be said, +with but little exaggeration, that the commercial machinery now used +was thus introduced. I have already remarked that, in consequence of the +discovery of America, the front of Europe had been changed. Many rich +Italian merchants and many enterprising Jews, had settled in Holland +England, France, and brought into those countries various mercantile +devices. The Jews, who cared nothing about papal maledictions, were +enriched by the pontifical action in relation to the lending of money at +high interest; but Pius II., perceiving the mistake that had been +made, withdrew his opposition. Pawnbroking establishments were finally +authorized by Leo X., who threatened excommunication of those who wrote +against them. In their turn the Protestants now exhibited a dislike +against establishments thus authorized by Rome. As the theological +dogma, that the plague, like the earthquake, is an unavoidable +visitation from God for the sins of men, began to be doubted, attempts +were made to resist its progress by the establishment of quarantines. +When the Mohammedan discovery of inoculation was brought from +Constantinople in 1721, by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, it was so +strenuously resisted by the clergy, that nothing short of its adoption +by the royal family of England brought it into use. A similar resistance +was exhibited when Jenner introduced his great improvement, vaccination; +yet a century ago it was the exception to see a face unpitted by +smallpox--now it is the exception to see one so disfigured. In like +manner, when the great American discovery of anaesthetics was applied +in obstetrical cases, it was discouraged, not so much for physiological +reasons, as under the pretense that it was an impious attempt to escape +from the curse denounced against all women in Genesis iii. 16. + +MAGIC AND MIRACLES. Inventive ingenuity did not restrict itself to the +production of useful contrivances, it added amusing ones. Soon after the +introduction of science into Italy, the houses of the virtuosi began to +abound in all kinds of curious mechanical surprises, and, as they +were termed, magical effects. In the latter the invention of the +magic-lantern greatly assisted. Not without reason did the ecclesiastics +detest experimental philosophy, for a result of no little importance +ensued--the juggler became a successful rival to the miracle-worker. The +pious frauds enacted in the churches lost their wonder when brought +into competition with the tricks of the conjurer in the market-place: he +breathed flame, walked on burning coals, held red-hot iron in his +teeth, drew basketfuls of eggs out of his mouth, worked miracles by +marionettes. Yet the old idea of the supernatural was with difficulty +destroyed. A horse, whose master had taught him many tricks, was tried +at Lisbon in 1601, found guilty of being, possessed by the devil, and +was burnt. Still later than that many witches were brought to the stake. + +DISCOVERIES IN ASTRONOMY AND CHEMISTRY. Once fairly introduced, +discovery and invention have unceasingly advanced at an accelerated +pace. Each continually reacted on the other, continually they sapped +supernaturalism. De Dominis commenced, and Newton completed, the +explanation of the rainbow; they showed that it was not the weapon of +warfare of God, but the accident of rays of light in drops of water. De +Dominis was decoyed to Rome through the promise of an archbishopric, +and the hope of a cardinal's hat. He was lodged in a fine residence, but +carefully watched. Accused of having suggested a concord between Rome +and England, he was imprisoned in the castle of St Angelo, and there +died. He was brought in his coffin before an ecclesiastical tribunal, +adjudged guilty of heresy, and his body, with a heap of heretical books, +was cast into the flames. Franklin, by demonstrating the identity of +lightning and electricity, deprived Jupiter of his thunder-bolt. The +marvels of superstition were displaced by the wonders of truth. The two +telescopes, the reflector and the achromatic, inventions of the last +century, permitted man to penetrate into the infinite grandeurs of +the universe, to recognize, as far as such a thing is possible, its +illimitable spaces, its measureless times; and a little later the +achromatic microscope placed before his eyes the world of the infinitely +small. The air-balloon carried him above the clouds, the diving-bell +to the bottom of the sea. The thermometer gave him true measures of +the variations of heat; the barometer, of the pressure of the air. The +introduction of the balance imparted exactness to chemistry, it proved +the indestructibility of matter. The discovery of oxygen, hydrogen, and +many other gases, the isolation of aluminum, calcium, and other metals, +showed that earth and air and water are not elements. With an enterprise +that can never be too much commended, advantage was taken of the +transits of Venus, and, by sending expeditions to different regions, +the distance of the earth from the sun was determined. The step that +European intellect had made between 1456 and 1759 was illustrated by +Halley's comet. When it appeared in the former year, it was considered +as the harbinger of the vengeance of God, the dispenser of the most +dreadful of his retributions, war, pestilence, famine. By order of the +pope, all the church-bells in Europe were rung to scare it away, the +faithful were commanded to add each day another prayer; and, as their +prayers had often in so marked a manner been answered in eclipses and +droughts and rains, so on this occasion it was declared that a victory +over the comet had been vouchsafed to the pope. But, in the mean time, +Halley, guided by the revelations of Kepler and Newton, had discovered +that its motions, so far from being controlled by the supplications of +Christendom, were guided in an elliptic orbit by destiny. Knowing that +Nature bad denied to him an opportunity of witnessing the fulfillment +of his daring prophecy, he besought the astronomers of the succeeding +generation to watch for its return in 1759, and in that year it came. + +INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES. Whoever will in a spirit of impartiality +examine what had been done by Catholicism for the intellectual and +material advancement of Europe, during her long reign, and what has been +done by science in its brief period of action, can, I am persuaded, come +to no other conclusion than this, that, in instituting a comparison, he +has established a contrast. And yet, how imperfect, how inadequate is +the catalogue of facts I have furnished in the foregoing pages! I have +said nothing of the spread of instruction by the diffusion of the arts +of reading and writing, through public schools, and the consequent +creation of a reading community; the modes of manufacturing public +opinion by newspapers and reviews, the power of journalism, the +diffusion of information public and private by the post-office and cheap +mails, the individual and social advantages of newspaper advertisements. +I have said nothing of the establishment of hospitals, the first +exemplar of which was the Invalides of Paris; nothing of the improved +prisons, reformatories, penitentiaries, asylums, the treatment of +lunatics, paupers, criminals; nothing of the construction of canals, of +sanitary engineering, or of census reports; nothing of the invention of +stereotyping, bleaching by chlorine, the cotton-gin, or of the marvelous +contrivances with which cotton-mills are filled--contrivances which have +given us cheap clothing, and therefore added to cleanliness, comfort, +health; nothing of the grand advancement of medicine and surgery, or +of the discoveries in physiology, the cultivation of the fine arts, +the improvement of agriculture and rural economy, the introduction +of chemical manures and farm-machinery. I have not referred to the +manufacture of iron and its vast affiliated industries; to those of +textile fabrics; to the collection of museums of natural history, +antiquities, curiosities. I have passed unnoticed the great subject of +the manufacture of machinery by itself--the invention of the slide-rest, +the planing-machine, and many other contrivances by which engines can +be constructed with almost mathematical correctness. I have said nothing +adequate about the railway system, or the electric telegraph, nor about +the calculus, or lithography, the airpump, or the voltaic battery; the +discovery of Uranus or Neptune, and more than a hundred asteroids; the +relation of meteoric streams to comets; nothing of the expeditions by +land and sea that have been sent forth by various governments for the +determination of important astronomical or geographical questions; +nothing of the costly and accurate experiments they have caused to be +made for the ascertainment of fundamental physical data. I have been so +unjust to our own century that I have made no allusion to some of its +greatest scientific triumphs: its grand conceptions in natural history; +its discoveries in magnetism and electricity; its invention of the +beautiful art of photography; its applications of spectrum analysis; its +attempts to bring chemistry under the three laws of Avogadro, of Boyle +and Mariotte, and of Charles; its artificial production of organic +substances from inorganic material, of which the philosophical +consequences are of the utmost importance; its reconstruction of +physiology by laying the foundation of that science on chemistry; its +improvements and advances in topographical surveying and in the correct +representation of the surface of the globe. I have said nothing about +rifled-guns and armored ships, nor of the revolution that has been made +in the art of war; nothing of that gift to women, the sewing-machine; +nothing of the noble contentions and triumphs of the arts of peace--the +industrial exhibitions and world's fairs. + +What a catalogue have we here, and yet how imperfect! It gives merely a +random glimpse at an ever-increasing intellectual commotion--a mention +of things as they casually present themselves to view. How striking +the contrast between this literary, this scientific activity, and the +stagnation of the middle ages! + +The intellectual enlightenment that surrounds this activity has imparted +unnumbered blessings to the human race. In Russia it has emancipated a +vast serf-population; in America it has given freedom to four million +negro slaves. In place of the sparse dole of the monastery-gate, it has +organized charity and directed legislation to the poor. It has shown +medicine its true function, to prevent rather than to cure disease. In +statesmanship it has introduced scientific methods, displacing random +and empirical legislation by a laborious ascertainment of social facts +previous to the application of legal remedies. So conspicuous, so +impressive is the manner in which it is elevating men, that the hoary +nations of Asia seek to participate in the boon. Let us not forget that +our action on them must be attended by their reaction on us. If the +destruction of paganism was completed when all the gods were brought +to Rome and confronted there, now, when by our wonderful facilities of +locomotion strange nations and conflicting religions are brought into +common presence--the Mohammedan, the Buddhist, the Brahman-modifications +of them all must ensue. In that conflict science alone will stand +secure; for it has given us grander views of the universe, more awful +views of God. + +AMERICAN AND FRENCH REVOLUTIONS. The spirit that has imparted life to +this movement, that has animated these discoveries and inventions, is +Individualism; in some minds the hope of gain, in other and nobler ones +the expectation of honor. It is, then, not to be wondered at that +this principle found a political embodiment, and that, during the last +century, on two occasions, it gave rise to social convulsions--the +American and the French Revolutions. The former has ended in the +dedication of a continent to Individualism--there, under republican +forms, before the close of the present century, one hundred million +people, with no more restraint than their common security requires, will +be pursuing an unfettered career. The latter, though it has modified +the political aspect of all Europe, and though illustrated by surprising +military successes, has, thus far, not consummated its intentions; again +and again it has brought upon France fearful disasters. Her dual form of +government--her allegiance to her two sovereigns, the political and the +spiritual--has made her at once the leader and the antagonist of modern +progress. With one hand she has enthroned Reason, with the other she +has re-established and sustained the pope. Nor will this anomaly in her +conduct cease until she bestows a true education on all her children, +even on those of the humblest rustic. + +SCIENCE AND CIVILIZATION. The intellectual attack made on existing +opinions by the French Revolution was not of a scientific, but of a +literary character; it was critical and aggressive. But Science has +never been an aggressor. She has always acted on the defensive, and left +to her antagonist the making of wanton attacks. Nevertheless, literary +dissent is not of such ominous import as scientific; for literature is, +in its nature, local--science is cosmopolitan. + +If, now, we demand, What has science done for the promotion of modern +civilization; what has it done for the happiness, the well-being of +society? we shall find our answer in the same manner that we reached +a just estimate of what Latin Christianity had done. The reader of the +foregoing paragraphs would undoubtedly infer that there must have +been an amelioration in the lot of our race; but, when we apply the +touchstone of statistics, that inference gathers precision. Systems of +philosophy and forms of religion find a measure of their influence on +humanity in census-returns. Latin Christianity, in a thousand years, +could not double the population of Europe; it did not add perceptibly +to the term of individual life. But, as Dr. Jarvis, in his report to +the Massachusetts Board of Health, has stated, at the epoch of the +Reformation "the average longevity in Geneva was 21.21 years, between +1814 and 1833 it was 40.68; as large a number of persons now live to +seventy years as lived to forty, three hundred years ago. In 1693 the +British Government borrowed money by selling annuities on lives from +infancy upward, on the basis of the average longevity. The contract +was profitable. Ninety-seven years later another tontine, or scale +of annuities, on the basis of the same expectation of life as in the +previous century, was issued. These latter annuitants, however, lived so +much longer than their predecessors, that it proved to be a very costly +loan for the government. It was found that, while ten thousand of each +sex in the first tontine died under the age of twenty-eight, only five +thousand seven hundred and seventy-two males and six thousand four +hundred and sixteen females in the second tontine died at the same age, +one hundred years later." + +We have been comparing the spiritual with the practical, the imaginary +with the real. The maxims that have been followed in the earlier and the +later period produced their inevitable result. In the former that maxim +was, "Ignorance is the mother of Devotion in the latter, Knowledge is +Power." + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + THE IMPENDING CRISIS. INDICATIONS OF THE APPROACH OF A + RELIGIOUS CRISIS.--THE PREDOMINATING CHRISTIAN CHURCH, THE + ROMAN, PERCEIVES THIS, AND MAKES PREPARATION FOR IT.--PIUS + IX CONVOKES AN OECUMENICAL COUNCIL--RELATIONS OF THE + DIFFERENT EUROPEAN GOVERNMENTS TO THE PAPACY.--RELATIONS OF + THE CHURCH TO SCIENCE, AS INDICATED BY THE ENCYCLICAL LETTER + AND THE SYLLABUS. + + Acts of the Vatican Council in relation to the infallibility + of the pope, and to Science.--Abstract of decisions arrived + at. + + Controversy between the Prussian Government and the papacy.-- + It is a contest between the State and the Church for + supremacy--Effect of dual government in Europe--Declaration + by the Vatican Council of its position as to Science--The + dogmatic constitution of the Catholic faith.--Its + definitions respecting God, Revelation, Faith, Reason.--The + anathemas it pronounces.--Its denunciation of modern + civilization. + + The Protestant Evangelical Alliance and its acts. + + General review of the foregoing definitions, and acts.-- + Present condition of the controversy, and its future + prospects. + + +PREDOMINANCE OF CATHOLICITY. No one who is acquainted with the present +tone of thought in Christendom can hide from himself the fact that an +intellectual, a religious crisis is impending. + +In all directions we see the lowering skies, we hear the mutterings +of the coming storm. In Germany, the national party is arraying itself +against the ultramontane; in France, the men of progress are struggling +against the unprogressive, and in their contest the political supremacy +of that great country is wellnigh neutralized or lost. In Italy, Rome +has passed into the hands of an excommunicated king. The sovereign +pontiff, feigning that he is a prisoner, is fulminating from the Vatican +his anathemas, and, in the midst of the most convincing proofs of his +manifold errors, asserting his own infallibility. A Catholic archbishop +with truth declares that the whole civil society of Europe seems to be +withdrawing itself in its public life from Christianity. In England and +America, religious persons perceive with dismay that the intellectual +basis of faith has been undermined by the spirit of the age. They +prepare for the approaching disaster in the best manner they can. + +The most serious trial through which society can pass is encountered in +the exuviation of its religious restraints. The history of Greece and +the history of Rome exhibit to us in an impressive manner how great are +the perils. But it is not given to religions to endure forever. They +necessarily undergo transformation with the intellectual development of +man. How many countries are there professing the same religion now that +they did at the birth of Christ? + +It is estimated that the entire population of Europe is about three +hundred and one million. Of these, one hundred and eighty-five million +are Roman Catholics, thirty-three million are Greek Catholics. Of +Protestants there are seventy-one million, separated into many sects. Of +Jews, five million; of Mohammedans, seven million. + +Of the religious subdivisions of America an accurate numerical statement +cannot be given. The whole of Christian South America is Roman Catholic, +the same may be said of Central America and of Mexico, as also of the +Spanish and French West India possessions. In the United States and +Canada the Protestant population predominates. To Australia the same +remark applies. In India the sparse Christian population sinks into +insignificance in presence of two hundred million Mohammedans and other +Oriental denominations. The Roman Catholic Church is the most widely +diffused and the most powerfully organized of all modern societies. It +is far more a political than a religious combination. Its principle is +that all power is in the clergy, and that for laymen there is only the +privilege of obedience. The republican forms under which the Churches +existed in primitive Christianity have gradually merged into an absolute +centralization, with a man as vice-God at its head. This Church +asserts that the divine commission under which it acts comprises civil +government; that it has a right to use the state for its own purposes, +but that the state has no right to intermeddle with it; that even in +Protestant countries it is not merely a coordinate government, but the +sovereign power. It insists that the state has no rights over any thing +which it declares to be in its domain, and that Protestantism, being +a mere rebellion, has no rights at all; that even in Protestant +communities the Catholic bishop is the only lawful spiritual pastor. + +It is plain, therefore, that of professing Christians the vast majority +are Catholic; and such is the authoritative demand of the papacy for +supremacy, that, in any survey of the present religious condition of +Christendom, regard must be mainly had to its acts. Its movements are +guided by the highest intelligence and skill. Catholicism obeys the +orders of one man, and has therefore a unity, a compactness, a power, +which Protestant denominations do not possess. Moreover, it derives +inestimable strength from the souvenirs of the great name of Rome. + +Unembarrassed by any hesitating sentiment, the papacy has contemplated +the coming intellectual crisis. It has pronounced its decision, and +occupied what seems to it to be the most advantageous ground. + +This definition of position we find in the acts of the late Vatican +Council. + +THE OECUMENICAL COUNCIL. Pius IX., by a bull dated June 29, 1868, +convoked an Oecumenical Council, to meet in Rome, on December 8, 1869. +Its sessions ended in July, 1870. Among other matters submitted to its +consideration, two stand forth in conspicuous prominence--they are the +assertion of the infallibility of the Roman pontiff, and the definition +of the relations of religion to science. + +But the convocation of the Council was far from meeting with general +approval. + +The views of the Oriental Churches were, for the most part, unfavorable. +They affirmed that they saw a desire in the Roman pontiff to set himself +up as the head of Christianity, whereas they recognized the Lord Jesus +Christ alone as the head of the Church. They believed that the Council +would only lead to new quarrels and scandals. The sentiment of these +venerable Churches is well shown by the incident that, when, in +1867, the Nestorian Patriarch Simeon had been invited by the Chaldean +Patriarch to return to Roman Catholic unity, he, in his reply, showed +that there was no prospect for harmonious action between the East and +the West: "You invite me to kiss humbly the slipper of the Bishop of +Rome; but is he not, in every respect, a man like yourself--is his +dignity superior to yours? We will never permit to be introduced into +our holy temples of worship images and statues, which are nothing but +abominable and impure idols. What! shall we attribute to Almighty God a +mother, as you dare to do? Away from us, such blasphemy!" + +EXPECTATIONS OF THE PAPACY. Eventually, the patriarchs, archbishops, and +bishops, from all regions of the world, who took part in this Council, +were seven hundred and four. + +Rome had seen very plainly that Science was not only rapidly undermining +the dogmas of the papacy, but was gathering great political power. She +recognized that all over Europe there was a fast-spreading secession +among persons of education, and that its true focus was North Germany. + +She looked, therefore, with deep interest on the Prusso-Austrian War, +giving to Austria whatever encouragement she could. The battle of Sadowa +was a bitter disappointment to her. + +With satisfaction again she looked upon the breaking out of the +Franco-Prussian War, not doubting that its issue would be favorable to +France, and therefore favorable to her. Here, again, she was doomed to +disappointment at Sedan. + +Having now no further hope, for many years to come, from external war, +she resolved to see what could be done by internal insurrection, and the +present movement in the German Empire is the result of her machinations. + +Had Austria or had France succeeded, Protestantism would have been +overthrown along with Prussia. + +But, while these military movements were being carried on, a movement of +a different, an intellectual kind, was engaged in. Its principle was, to +restore the worn-out mediaeval doctrines and practices, carrying them to +an extreme, no matter what the consequences might be. + +ENCYCLICAL LETTER AND SYLLABUS. Not only was it asserted that the papacy +has a divine right to participate in the government of all countries, +coordinately with their temporal authorities, but that the supremacy of +Rome in this matter must be recognized; and that in any question between +them the temporal authority must conform itself to her order. + +And, since the endangering of her position had been mainly brought about +by the progress of science, she presumed to define its boundaries, and +prescribe limits to its authority. Still more, she undertook to denounce +modern civilization. + +These measures were contemplated soon after the return of his Holiness +from Gaeta in 1848, and were undertaken by the advice of the Jesuits, +who, lingering in the hope that God would work the impossible, supposed +that the papacy, in its old age, might be reinvigorated. The organ of +the Curia proclaimed the absolute independence of the Church as regards +the state; the dependence of the bishops on the pope; of the diocesan +clergy on the bishops; the obligation of the Protestants to abandon +their atheism, and return to the fold; the absolute condemnation of all +kinds of toleration. In December, 1854, in an assembly of bishops, the +pope had proclaimed the dogma of the immaculate conception. Ten years +subsequently he put forth the celebrated Encyclical Letter and the +Syllabus. + +The Encyclical Letter is dated December 8, 1864. It was drawn up by +learned ecclesiastics, and subsequently debated at the Congregation of +the Holy Office, then forwarded to prelates, and finally gone over by +the pope and cardinals. + +ENCYCLICAL LETTER AND SYLLABUS. Many of the clergy objected to its +condemnation of modern civilization. Some of the cardinals were +reluctant to concur in it. The Catholic press accepted it, not, however, +without misgivings and regrets. The Protestant governments put no +obstacle in its way; the Catholic were embarrassed by it. France allowed +the publication only of that portion proclaiming the jubilee; Austria +and Italy permitted its introduction, but withheld their approval. +The political press and legislatures of Catholic countries gave it an +unfavorable reception. Many deplored it as likely to widen the breach +between the Church and modern society. The Italian press regarded it as +determining a war, without truce or armistice, between the papacy and +modern civilization. Even in Spain there were journals that regretted +"the obstinacy and blindness of the court of Rome, in branding and +condemning modern civilization." + +It denounces that "most pernicious and insane opinion, that liberty of +conscience and of worship is the right of every man, and that this right +ought, in every well-governed state, to be proclaimed and asserted by +law; and that the will of the people, manifested by public opinion (as +it is called), or by other means, constitutes a supreme law, independent +of all divine and human rights." It denies the right of parents to +educate their children outside the Catholic Church. It denounces "the +impudence" of those who presume to subordinate the authority of the +Church and of the Apostolic See, "conferred upon it by Christ our Lord, +to the judgment of the civil authority." His Holiness commends, to +the venerable brothers to whom the Encyclical is addressed, incessant +prayer, and, "in order that God may accede the more easily to our and +your prayers, let us employ in all confidence, as our mediatrix with +him, the Virgin Mary, mother of God, who sits as a queen upon the +right hand of her only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in a golden +vestment, clothed around with various adornments. There is nothing she +cannot obtain from him." + +CONVOCATION OF THE COUNCIL. Plainly, the principle now avowed by the +papacy must bring it into collision even with governments which had +heretofore maintained amicable relations with it. Great dissatisfaction +was manifested by Russia, and the incidents that ensued drew forth from +his Holiness an allocution (November, 1866) condemnatory of the course +of that government. To this, Russia replied, by declaring the Concordat +of 1867 abrogated. + +Undeterred by the result of the battle of Sadowa (July, 1866), though +it was plain that the political condition of Europe was now profoundly +affected, and especially the relations of the papacy, the pope delivered +an allocution (June 27, 1867), confirming the Encyclical and Syllabus. +He announced his intention of convoking an Oecumenical Council. + +Accordingly, as we have already mentioned, in the following year (June +29, 1868), a bull was issued convoking that Council. Misunderstandings, +however, had now sprung up with Austria. The Austrian Reichsrath +had adopted laws introducing equality of civil rights for all the +inhabitants of the empire, and restricting the influence of the Church. +This produced on the part of the papal government an expostulation. +Acting as Russia had done, the Austrian Government found it necessary to +abrogate the Concordat of 1855. + +In France, as above stated, the publication of the entire Syllabus was +not permitted; but Prussia, desirous of keeping on good terms with the +papacy, did not disallow it. The exacting disposition of the papacy +increased. It was openly declared that the faithful must now sacrifice +to the Church, property, life, and even their intellectual convictions. +The Protestants and the Greeks were invited to tender their submission. + +THE VATICAN COUNCIL. On the appointed day, the Council opened. Its +objects were, to translate the Syllabus into practice, to establish the +dogma of papal infallibility, and define the relations of religion to +science. Every preparation had been made that the points determined on +should be carried. The bishops were informed that they were coming to +Rome not to deliberate, but to sanction decrees previously made by +an infallible pope. No idea was entertained of any such thing as +free discussion. The minutes of the meetings were not permitted to be +inspected; the prelates of the opposition were hardly allowed to speak. +On January 22, 1870, a petition, requesting that the infallibility of +the pope should be defined, was presented; an opposition petition of the +minority was offered. Hereupon, the deliberations of the minority were +forbidden, and their publications prohibited. And, though the Curia had +provided a compact majority, it was found expedient to issue an order +that to carry any proposition it was not necessary that the vote should +be near unanimity, a simple majority sufficed. The remonstrances of the +minority were altogether unheeded. + +As the Council pressed forward to its object, foreign authorities +became alarmed at its reckless determination. A petition drawn up by the +Archbishop of Vienna, and signed by several cardinals and archbishops, +entreated his Holiness not to submit the dogma of infallibility for +consideration, "because the Church has to sustain at present a struggle +unknown in former times, against men who oppose religion itself as +an institution baneful to human nature, and that it is inopportune +to impose upon Catholic nations, led into temptation by so many +machinations, more dogmas than the Council of Trent proclaimed." It +added that "the definition demanded would furnish fresh arms to +the enemies of religion, to excite against the Catholic Church the +resentment of men avowedly the best." The Austrian prime-minister +addressed a protest to the papal government, warning it against any +steps that might lead to encroachments on the rights of Austria. The +French Government also addressed a note, suggesting that a French bishop +should explain to the Council the condition and the rights of France. To +this the papal government replied that a bishop could not reconcile the +double duties of an ambassador and a Father of the Council. Hereupon, +the French Government, in a very respectful note, remarked that, +to prevent ultra opinions from becoming dogmas, it reckoned on the +moderation of the bishops, and the prudence of the Holy Father; and, +to defend its civil and political laws against the encroachments of the +theocracy, it had counted on public reason and the patriotism of French +Catholics. In these remonstrances the North-German Confederation joined, +seriously pressing them on the consideration of the papal government. + +On April 23d, Von Arnim, the Prussian embassador, united with Daru, the +French minister, in suggesting to the Curia the inexpediency of reviving +mediaeval ideas. The minority bishops, thus encouraged, demanded now +that the relations of the spiritual to the secular power should be +determined before the pope's infallibility was discussed, and that it +should be settled whether Christ had conferred on St. Peter and his +successors a power over kings and emperors. + +INFALLIBILITY OF THE POPE. No regard was paid to this, not even delay +was consented to. The Jesuits, who were at the bottom of the movement, +carried their measures through the packed assembly with a high hand. The +Council omitted no device to screen itself from popular criticism. Its +proceedings were conducted with the utmost secrecy; all who took part in +them were bound by a solemn oath to observe silence. + +On July 13th, the votes were taken. Of 601 votes, 451 were affirmative. +Under the majority rule, the measure was pronounced carried, and, five +days subsequently, the pope proclaimed the dogma of his infallibility. +It has often been remarked that this was the day on which the French +declared war against Prussia. Eight days afterward the French troops +were withdrawn from Rome. Perhaps both the statesman and the philosopher +will admit that an infallible pope would be a great harmonizing element, +if only common-sense could acknowledge him. + +Hereupon, the King of Italy addressed an autograph letter to the pope, +setting forth in very respectful terms the necessity that his troops +should advance and occupy positions "indispensable to the security of +his Holiness, and the maintenance of order;" that, while satisfying +the national aspirations, the chief of Catholicity, surrounded by the +devotion of the Italian populations, "might preserve on the banks of the +Tiber a glorious seat, independent of all human sovereignty." + +To this his Holiness replied in a brief and caustic letter: "I give +thanks to God, who has permitted your majesty to fill the last days of +my life with bitterness. For the rest, I cannot grant certain requests, +nor conform with certain principles contained in your letter. Again, I +call upon God, and into his hands commit my cause, which is his cause. +I pray God to grant your majesty many graces, to free you from dangers, +and to dispense to you his mercy which you so much need." + +THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT. The Italian troops met with but little +resistance. They occupied Rome on September 20, 1870. A manifesto was +issued, setting forth the details of a plebiscitum, the vote to be by +ballot, the question, "the unification of Italy." Its result showed how +completely the popular mind in Italy is emancipated from theology. In +the Roman provinces the number of votes on the lists was 167,548; the +number who voted, 135,291; the number who voted for annexation, 133,681; +the number who voted against it, 1,507; votes annulled, 103. The +Parliament of Italy ratified the vote of the Roman people for annexation +by a vote of 239 to 20. A royal decree now announced the annexation of +the Papal States to the kingdom of Italy, and a manifesto was issued +indicating the details of the arrangement. It declared that "by these +concessions the Italian Government seeks to prove to Europe that Italy +respects the sovereignty of the pope in conformity with the principle of +a free Church in a free state." + +AFFAIRS IN PRUSSIA. In the Prusso-Austrian War it had been the hope of +the papacy, to restore the German Empire under Austria, and make +Germany a Catholic nation. In the Franco-German War the French expected +ultramontane sympathies in Germany. No means were spared to excite +Catholic sentiment against the Protestants. No vilification was spared. +They were spoken of as atheists; they were declared incapable of being +honest men; their sects were pointed out as indicating that their +secession was in a state of dissolution. "The followers of Luther are +the most abandoned men in all Europe." Even the pope himself, presuming +that the whole world had forgotten all history, did not hesitate to say, +"Let the German people understand that no other Church but that of Rome +is the Church of freedom and progress." + +Meantime, among the clergy of Germany a party was organized to +remonstrate against, and even resist, the papal usurpation. It protested +against "a man being placed on the throne of God," against a vice-God +of any kind, nor would it yield its scientific convictions to +ecclesiastical authority. Some did not hesitate to accuse the +pope himself of being a heretic. Against these insubordinates +excommunications began to be fulminated, and at length it was demanded +that certain professors and teachers should be removed from their +offices, and infallibilists substituted. With this demand the Prussian +Government declined to comply. + +The Prussian Government had earnestly desired to remain on amicable +terms with the papacy; it had no wish to enter on a theological quarrel; +but gradually the conviction was forced upon it that the question was +not a religious but a political one--whether the power of the state +should be used against the state. A teacher in a gymnasium had been +excommunicated; the government, on being required to dismiss him, +refused. The Church authorities denounced this as an attack upon faith. +The emperor sustained his minister. The organ of the infallible party +threatened the emperor with the opposition of all good Catholics, and +told him that, in a contention with the pope, systems of government can +and must change. It was now plain to every one that the question had +become, "Who is to be master in the state, the government or the Roman +Church? It is plainly impossible for men to live under two governments, +one of which declares to be wrong what the other commands. If the +government will not submit to the Roman Church, the two are enemies." A +conflict was thus forced upon Prussia by Rome--a conflict in which the +latter, impelled by her antagonism to modern civilization, is clearly +the aggressor. + +ACTION OF THE PRUSSIAN GOVERNMENT. The government, now recognizing its +antagonist, defended itself by abolishing the Catholic department in +the ministry of Public Worship. This was about midsummer, 1871. In +the following November the Imperial Parliament passed a law that +ecclesiastics abusing their office, to the disturbance of the public +peace, should be criminally punished. And, guided by the principle that +the future belongs to him to whom the school belongs, a movement arose +for the purpose of separating the schools from the Church. + +THE CHURCH A POLITICAL POWER. The Jesuit party was extending and +strengthening an organization all over Germany, based on the principle +that state legislation in ecclesiastical matters is not binding. Here +was an act of open insurrection. Could the government allow itself to be +intimidated? The Bishop of Ermeland declared that he would not obey the +laws of the state if they touched the Church. The government stopped the +payment of his salary; and, perceiving that there could be no peace +so long as the Jesuits were permitted to remain in the country, their +expulsion was resolved on, and carried into effect. At the close of +1872 his Holiness delivered an allocution, in which he touched on the +"persecution of the Church in the German Empire," and asserted that the +Church alone has a right to fix the limits between its domain and that +of the state--a dangerous and inadmissible principle, since under the +term morals the Church comprises all the relations of men to each other, +and asserts that whatever does not assist her oppresses her. Hereupon, a +few days subsequently (January 9, 1873), four laws were brought forward +by the government: 1. Regulating the means by which a person might +sever his connection with the Church; 2. Restricting the Church in the +exercise of ecclesiastical punishments; 3. Regulating the ecclesiastical +power of discipline, forbidding bodily chastisement, regulating fines +and banishments granting the privilege of an appeal to the Royal Court +of Justice for Ecclesiastical Affairs, the decision of which is final; +4. Ordaining the preliminary education and appointment of priests. They +must have had a satisfactory education, passed a public examination +conducted by the state, and have a knowledge of philosophy, history, +and German literature. Institutions refusing to be superintended by the +state are to be closed. + +These laws demonstrate that Germany is resolved that she will no longer +be dictated to nor embarrassed by a few Italian noble families; that she +will be master of her own house. She sees in the conflict, not an affair +of religion or of conscience, but a struggle between the sovereignty +of state legislation and the sovereignty of the Church. She treats the +papacy not in the aspect of a religious, but of a political power, and +is resolved that the declaration of the Prussian Constitution shall be +maintained, that "the exercise of religious freedom must not interfere +with the duties of a citizen toward the community and the state." + +DUAL GOVERNMENT IN EUROPE. With truth it is affirmed that the papacy is +administered not oecumenically, not as a universal Church, for all +the nations, but for the benefit of some Italian families. Look at its +composition! It consists of pope, cardinal bishops, cardinal deacons, +who at the present moment are all Italians; cardinal priests, nearly all +Italians; ministers and secretaries of the Sacred Congregation in Rome, +all Italians. France has not given a pope since the middle ages. It +is the same with Austria, Portugal, Spain. In spite of all attempts to +change this system of exclusion, to open the dignities of the Church to +all Catholicism, no foreigner can reach the holy chair. It is recognized +that the Church is a domain given by God to the princely Italian +families. Of fifty-five members of the present College of Cardinals, +forty are Italians--that is, thirty-two beyond their proper share. + +The stumbling-block to the progress of Europe has been its dual system +of government. So long as every nation had two sovereigns, a temporal +one at home and a spiritual one in a foreign land--there being different +temporal masters in different nations, but only one foreign master +for all, the pontiff at Rome--how was it possible that history should +present us with any thing more than a narrative of the strifes of these +rival powers? Whoever will reflect on this state of things will see +how it is that those nations which have shaken off the dual form of +government are those which have made the greatest advance. He will +discern what is the cause of the paralysis which has befallen France. On +one hand she wishes to be the leader of Europe, on the other she clings +to a dead past. For the sake of propitiating her ignorant classes, she +enters upon lines of policy which her intelligence must condemn. So +evenly balanced are the two sovereignties under which she lives, that +sometimes one, sometimes the other, prevails; and not unfrequently the +one uses the other as an engine for the accomplishment of its ends. + +INTENTIONS OF THE POPE. But this dual system approaches its close. To +the northern nations, less imaginative and less superstitious, it had +long ago become intolerable; they rejected it summarily at the epoch of +the Reformation, notwithstanding the protestations and pretensions +of Rome, Russia, happier than the rest, has never acknowledged the +influence of any foreign spiritual power. She gloried in her attachment +to the ancient Greek rite, and saw in the papacy nothing more than a +troublesome dissenter from the primitive faith. In America the temporal +and the spiritual have been absolutely divorced--the latter is not +permitted to have any thing to do with affairs of state, though in all +other respects liberty is conceded to it. The condition of the New +World also satisfies us that both forms of Christianity, Catholic and +Protestant, have lost their expansive power; neither can pass beyond its +long-established boundary-line--the Catholic republics remain Catholic, +the Protestant Protestant. And among the latter the disposition to +sectarian isolation is disappearing; persons of different denominations +consort without hesitation together. They gather their current opinions +from newspapers, not from the Church. + +Pius IX., in the movements we have been considering, has had two objects +in view: 1. The more thorough centralization of the papacy, with a +spiritual autocrat assuming the prerogatives of God at its head; 2. +Control over the intellectual development of the nations professing +Christianity. + +The logical consequence of the former of these is political +intervention. He insists that in all cases the temporal must subordinate +itself to the spiritual power; all laws inconsistent with the interests +of the Church must be repealed. They are not binding on the faithful. +In the preceding pages I have briefly related some of the complications +that have already occurred in the attempt to maintain this policy. + +THE SYLLABUS. I now come to the consideration of the manner in which the +papacy proposes to establish its intellectual control; how it defines +its relation to its antagonist, Science, and, seeking a restoration +of the mediaeval condition, opposes modern civilization, and denounces +modern society. + +The Encyclical and Syllabus present the principles which it was the +object of the Vatican Council to carry into practical effect. The +Syllabus stigmatizes pantheism, naturalism, and absolute rationalism, +denouncing such opinions as that God is the world; that there is no God +other than Nature; that theological matters must be treated in the same +manner as philosophical ones, that the methods and principles by which +the old scholastic doctors cultivated theology are no longer suitable +to the demands of the age and the progress of science; that every man +is free to embrace and profess the religion he may believe to be true, +guided by the light of his reason; that it appertains to the civil +power to define what are the rights and limits in which the Church +may exercise authority; that the Church has not the right of availing +herself of force or any direct or indirect temporal power; that the +Church ought to be separated from the state and the state from the +Church; that it is no longer expedient that the Catholic religion shall +be held as the only religion of the state, to the exclusion of all other +modes of worship; that persons coming to reside in Catholic countries +have a right to the public exercise of their own worship; that the +Roman pontiff can and ought to reconcile himself to, and agree with, the +progress of modern civilization. The Syllabus claims the right of the +Church to control public schools, and denies the right of the state in +that respect; it claims the control over marriage and divorce. + +Such of these principles as the Council found expedient at present to +formularize, were set forth by it in "The Dogmatic Constitution of +the Catholic Faith." The essential points of this constitution, more +especially as regards the relations of religion to science, we have now +to examine. It will be understood that the following does not present +the entire document, but only an abstract of what appear to be its more +important parts. + +CONSTITUTION OF CATHOLIC FAITH. This definition opens with a severe +review of the principles and consequences of the Protestant Reformation: + +"The rejection of the divine authority of the Church to teach, and the +subjection of all things belonging to religion to the judgment of each +individual, have led to the production of many sects, and, as these +differed and disputed with each other, all belief in Christ was +overthrown in the minds of not a few, and the Holy Scriptures began to +be counted as myths and fables. Christianity has been rejected, and +the reign of mere Reason as they call it, or Nature, substituted; many +falling into the abyss of pantheism, materialism, and atheism, and, +repudiating the reasoning nature of man, and every rule of right and +wrong, they are laboring to overthrow the very foundations of human +society. As this impious heresy is spreading everywhere, not a few +Catholics have been inveigled by it. They have confounded human science +and divine faith. + +"But the Church, the Mother and Mistress of nations, is ever ready to +strengthen the weak, to take to her bosom those that return, and carry +them on to better things. And, now the bishops of the whole world +being gathered together in this Oecumenical Council, and the Holy Ghost +sitting therein, and judging with us, we have determined to declare from +this chair of St. Peter the saving doctrine of Christ, and proscribe and +condemn the opposing errors. + +"OF GOD, THE CREATOR OF ALL THINGS.--The Holy Catholic Apostolic Roman +Church believes that there is one true and living God, Creator and +Lord of Heaven and Earth, Almighty, Eternal, Immense, Incomprehensible, +Infinite in understanding and will, and in all perfection. He is +distinct from the world. Of his own most free counsel he made alike out +of nothing two created creatures, a spiritual and a temporal, angelic +and earthly. Afterward he made the human nature, composed of both. +Moreover, God by his providence protects and governs all things, +reaching from end to end mightily, and ordering all things harmoniously. +Every thing is open to his eyes, even things that come to pass by the +free action of his creatures." + +"OF REVELATION.--The Holy Mother Church holds that God can be known with +certainty by the natural light of human reason, but that it has also +pleased him to reveal himself and the eternal decrees of his will in a +supernatural way. This supernatural revelation, as declared by the +Holy Council of Trent, is contained in the books of the Old and New +Testament, as enumerated in the decrees of that Council, and as are to +be had in the old Vulgate Latin edition. These are sacred because they +were written under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. They have God for +their author, and as such have been delivered to the Church. + +"And, in order to restrain restless spirits, who may give erroneous +explanations, it is decreed--renewing the decision of the Council of +Trent--that no one may interpret the sacred Scriptures contrary to the +sense in which they are interpreted by Holy Mother Church, to whom such +interpretation belongs." + +"OF FAITH.--Inasmuch as man depends on God as his Lord, and created +reason is wholly subject to uncreated truth, he is bound when God makes +a revelation to obey it by faith. This faith is a supernatural virtue, +and the beginning of man's salvation who believes revealed things to +be true, not for their intrinsic truth as seen by the natural light +of reason, but for the authority of God in revealing them. But, +nevertheless that faith might be agreeable to reason, God willed to +join miracles and prophecies, which, showing forth his omnipotence and +knowledge, are proofs suited to the understanding of all. Such we have +in Moses and the prophets, and above all in Christ. Now, all those +things are to be believed which are written in the word of God, or +handed down by tradition, which the Church by her teaching has proposed +for belief. + +"No one can be justified without this faith, nor shall any one, unless +he persevere therein to the end, attain everlasting life. Hence God, +through his only-begotten Son, has established the Church as the +guardian and teacher of his revealed word. For only to the Catholic +Church do all those signs belong which make evident the credibility of +the Christian faith. Nay, more, the very Church herself, in view of +her wonderful propagation, her eminent holiness, her exhaustless +fruitfulness in all that is good, her Catholic unity, her unshaken +stability, offers a great and evident claim to belief, and an undeniable +proof of her divine mission. Thus the Church shows to her children that +the faith they hold rests on a most solid foundation. Wherefore, totally +unlike is the condition of those who, by the heavenly gift of faith, +have embraced the Catholic truth, and of those who, led by human +opinions, are following, a false religion." + +"OF FAITH AND REASON.--Moreover, the Catholic Church has ever held and +now holds that there exists a twofold order of knowledge, each of which +is distinct from the other, both as to its principle and its object. As +to its principle, because in the one we know by natural reason, in the +other by divine faith; as to the object, because, besides those things +which our natural reason can attain, there are proposed to our belief +mysteries hidden in God, which, unless by him revealed, cannot come to +our knowledge. + +"Reason, indeed, enlightened by faith, and seeking, with diligence and +godly sobriety, may, by God's gift, come to some understanding, limited +in degree, but most wholesome in its effects, of mysteries, both from +the analogy of things which are naturally known and from the connection +of the mysteries themselves with one another and with man's last end. +But never can reason be rendered capable of thoroughly understanding +mysteries as it does those truths which form its proper object. For +God's mysteries, in their very nature, so far surpass the reach of +created intellect, that, even when taught by revelation and received by +faith, they remain covered by faith itself, as by a veil, and shrouded, +as it were, in darkness as long as in this mortal life. + +"But, although faith be above reason, there never can be a real +disagreement between them, since the same God who reveals mysteries and +infuses faith has given man's soul the light of reason, and God cannot +deny himself, nor can one truth ever contradict another. Wherefore the +empty shadow of such contradiction arises chiefly from this, that either +the doctrines of faith are not understood and set forth as the Church +really holds them, or that the vain devices and opinions of men are +mistaken for the dictates of reason. We therefore pronounce false every +assertion which is contrary to the enlightened truth of faith. Moreover, +the Church, which, together with her apostolic office of teaching, +is charged also with the guardianship of the deposits of faith, holds +likewise from God the right and the duty to condemn 'knowledge, falsely +so called,' 'lest any man be cheated by philosophy and vain deceit.' +Hence all the Christian faithful are not only forbidden to defend, as +legitimate conclusions of science, those opinions which are known to +be contrary to the doctrine of faith, especially when condemned by the +Church, but are rather absolutely bound to hold them for errors wearing +the deceitful appearance of truth." + +THE VATICAN ANATHEMAS. "Not only is it impossible for faith and reason +ever to contradict each other, but they rather afford each other mutual +assistance. For right reason establishes the foundation of faith, and, +by the aid of its light, cultivates the science of divine things; and +faith, on the other hand, frees and preserves reason from errors, and +enriches it with knowledge of many kinds. So far, then, is the Church +from opposing the culture of human arts and sciences, that she rather +aids and promotes it in many ways. For she is not ignorant of nor does +she despise the advantages which flow from them to the life of man; on +the contrary, she acknowledges that, as they sprang from God, the Lord +of knowledge, so, if they be rightly pursued, they will, through the aid +of his grace, lead to God. Nor does she forbid any of those sciences +the use of its own principles and its own method within its own proper +sphere; but, recognizing this reasonable freedom, she takes care that +they may not, by contradicting God's teaching, fall into errors, or, +overstepping the due limits, invade or throw into confusion the domain +of faith. + +"For the doctrine of faith revealed by God has not been proposed, like +some philosophical discovery, to be made perfect by human ingenuity, but +it has been delivered to the spouse of Christ as a divine deposit, to be +faithfully guarded and unerringly set forth. Hence, all tenets of holy +faith are to be explained always according to the sense and meaning of +the Church; nor is it ever lawful to depart therefrom under pretense or +color of a more enlightened explanation. Therefore, as generations and +centuries roll on, let the understanding, knowledge, and wisdom of each +and every one, of individuals and of the whole Church, grow apace and +increase exceedingly, yet only in its kind; that is to say retaining +pure and inviolate the sense and meaning and belief of the same +doctrine." + +Among other canons the following were promulgated. + +"Let him be anathema-- + +"Who denies the one true God, Creator and Lord of all things, visible +and invisible. + +"Who unblushingly affirms that, besides matter, nothing else exists. + +"Who says that the substance or essence of God, and of all things, is +one and the same. + +"Who says that finite things, both corporeal and spiritual, or at least +spiritual things, are emanations of the divine substance; or that the +divine essence, by manifestation or development of itself, becomes all +things. + +"Who does not acknowledge that the world and all things which it +contains were produced by God out of nothing. + +"Who shall say that man can and ought to, of his own efforts, by means +of, constant progress, arrive, at last, at the possession of all truth +and goodness. + +"Who shall refuse to receive, for sacred and canonical, the books of +Holy Scripture in their integrity, with all their parts, according as +they were enumerated by the holy Council of Trent, or shall deny that +they are Inspired by God. + +"Who shall say that human reason is in such wise independent, that faith +cannot be demanded of it by God. + +"Who shall say that divine revelation cannot be rendered credible by +external evidences. + +"Who shall say that no miracles can be wrought, or that they can never +be known with certainty, and that the divine origin of Christianity +cannot be proved by them. + +"Who shall say that divine revelation includes no mysteries, but that +all the dogmas of faith may be understood and demonstrated by reason +duly cultivated. + +"Who shall say that human sciences ought to be pursued in such a spirit +of freedom that one may be allowed to hold as true their assertions, +even when opposed to revealed doctrine. + +"Who shall say that it may at any time come to pass, in the progress +of science, that the doctrines set forth by the Church must be taken in +another sense than that in which the Church has ever received and yet +receives them." + +THE EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE. The extraordinary and, indeed, it may be said, +arrogant assumptions contained in these decisions were far from being +received with satisfaction by educated Catholics. On the part of the +German universities there was resistance; and, when, at the close of the +year, the decrees of the Vatican Council were generally acquiesced in, +it was not through conviction of their truth, but through a disciplinary +sense of obedience. + +By many of the most pious Catholics the entire movement and the results +to which it had led were looked upon with the sincerest sorrow. Pere +Hyacinthe, in a letter to the superior of his order, says: "I protest +against the divorce, as impious as it is insensate, sought to be +effected between the Church, which is our eternal mother, and the +society of the nineteenth century, of which we are the temporal +children, and toward which we have also duties and regards. It is my +most profound conviction that, if France in particular, and the Latin +race in general, are given up to social, moral, and religious anarchy, +the principal cause undoubtedly is not Catholicism itself, but the +manner in which Catholicism has for a long time been understood and +practised." + +Notwithstanding his infallibility, which implies omniscience, his +Holiness did not foresee the issue of the Franco-Prussian War. Had the +prophetical talent been vouchsafed to him, he would have detected the +inopportuneness of the acts of his Council. His request to the King of +Prussia for military aid to support his temporal power was denied. The +excommunicated King of Italy, as we have seen, took possession of Rome. +A bitter papal encyclical, strangely contrasting with the courteous +politeness of modern state-papers, was issued, November 1, 1870, +denouncing the acts of the Piedmontese court, "which had followed the +counsel of the sects of perdition." In this his Holiness declares that +he is in captivity, and that he will have no agreement with Belial. He +pronounces the greater excommunication, with censures and penalties, +against his antagonists, and prays for "the intercession of the +immaculate Virgin Mary, mother of God, and that of the blessed apostles +Peter and Paul." + +Of the various Protestant denominations, several had associated +themselves, for the purposes of consultation, under the designation of +the Evangelical Alliance. Their last meeting was held in New York, in +the autumn of 1873. Though, in this meeting, were gathered together many +pious representatives of the Reformed Churches, European and American, +it had not the prestige nor the authority of the Great Council that had +just previously closed its sessions in St. Peters, at Rome. It could +not appeal to an unbroken ancestry of far more than a thousand years; +it could not speak with the authority of an equal and, indeed, of +a superior to emperors and kings. While profound intelligence and a +statesmanlike, worldly wisdom gleamed in every thing that the Vatican +Council had done, the Evangelical Alliance met without a clear and +precise view of its objects, without any definitely-marked intentions. +Its wish was to draw into closer union the various Protestant Churches, +but it had no well-grounded hope of accomplishing that desirable result. +It illustrated the necessary working, of the principle on which +those Churches originated. They were founded on dissent and exist by +separation. + +Yet in the action of the Evangelical Alliance may be discerned +certain very impressive facts. It averted its eyes from its ancient +antagonist--that antagonist which had so recently loaded the Reformation +with contumely and denunciation--it fastened them, as the Vatican +Council had done, on Science. Under that dreaded name there stood before +it what seemed to be a spectre of uncertain form, of hourly-dilating +proportions, of threatening aspect. Sometimes the Alliance addressed +this stupendous apparition in words of courtesy, sometimes in tones of +denunciation. + +THE VATICAN CONSTITUTION CRITICISED. The Alliance failed to perceive +that modern Science is the legitimate sister--indeed, it is the +twin-sister--of the Reformation. They were begotten together and +were born together. It failed to perceive that, though there is an +impossibility of bringing into coalition the many conflicting sects, +they may all find in science a point of connection; and that, not a +distrustful attitude toward it, but a cordial union with it, is their +true policy. + +It remains now to offer some reflections on this "Constitution of the +Catholic Faith," as defined by the Vatican Council. + +For objects to present themselves under identical relations to different +persons, they must be seen from the same point of view. In the instance +we are now considering, the religious man has his own especial station; +the scientific man another, a very different one. It is not for either +to demand that his co-observer shall admit that the panorama of facts +spread before them is actually such as it appears to him to be. + +The Dogmatic Constitution insists on the admission of this postulate, +that the Roman Church acts under a divine commission, specially and +exclusively delivered to it. In virtue of that great authority, it +requires of all men the surrender of their intellectual convictions, and +of all nations the subordination of their civil power. + +But a claim so imposing must be substantiated by the most decisive and +unimpeachable credentials; proofs, not only of an implied and indirect +kind, but clear, emphatic, and to the point; proofs that it would be +impossible to call in question. + +The Church, however, declares, that she will not submit her claim to +the arbitrament of human reason; she demands that it shall be at once +conceded as an article of faith. + +If this be admitted, all bar requirements must necessarily be assented +to, no matter how exorbitant they may be. + +With strange inconsistency the Dogmatic Constitution deprecates reason, +affirming that it cannot determine the points under consideration, and +yet submits to it arguments for adjudication. In truth, it might be said +that the whole composition is a passionate plea to Reason to stultify +itself in favor of Roman Christianity. + +With points of view so widely asunder, it is impossible that Religion +and Science should accord in their representation of things. Nor can +any conclusion in common be reached, except by an appeal to Reason as a +supreme and final judge. + +There are many religions in the world, some of them of more venerable +antiquity, some having far more numerous adherents, than the Roman. How +can a selection be made among them, except by such an appeal to Reason? +Religion and Science must both submit their claims and their dissensions +to its arbitrament. + +Against this the Vatican Council protests. It exalts faith to a +superiority over reason; it says that they constitute two separate +orders of knowledge, having respectively for their objects mysteries +and facts. Faith deals with mysteries, reason with facts. Asserting the +dominating superiority of faith, it tries to satisfy the reluctant mind +with miracles and prophecies. + +On the other hand, Science turns away from the incomprehensible, and +rests herself on the maxim of Wiclif: "God forceth not a man to believe +that which he cannot understand." In the absence of an exhibition of +satisfactory credentials on the part of her opponent, she considers +whether there be in the history of the papacy, and in the biography of +the popes, any thing that can adequately sustain a divine commission, +any thing that can justify pontifical infallibility, or extort that +unhesitating obedience which is due to the vice-God. + +One of the most striking and yet contradictory features of the Dogmatic +Constitution is, the reluctant homage it pays to the intelligence of +man. It presents a definition of the philosophical basis of Catholicism, +but it veils from view the repulsive features of the vulgar faith. It +sets forth the attributes of God, the Creator of all things, in words +fitly designating its sublime conception, but it abstains from affirming +that this most awful and eternal Being was born of an earthly mother, +the wife of a Jewish carpenter, who has since become the queen of +heaven. The God it depicts is not the God of the middle ages, seated +on his golden throne, surrounded by choirs of angels, but the God of +Philosophy. The Constitution has nothing to say about the Trinity, +nothing of the worship due to the Virgin--on the contrary, that is by +implication sternly condemned; nothing about transubstantiation, or +the making of the flesh and blood of God by the priest; nothing of the +invocation of the saints. It bears on its face subordination to the +thought of the age, the impress of the intellectual progress of man. + +THE PASSAGE OF EUROPE TO LLAMAISM. Such being the exposition rendered to +us respecting the attributes of God, it next instructs us as to his +mode of government of the world. The Church asserts that she possesses a +supernatural control over all material and moral events. The priesthood, +in its various grades, can determine issues of the future, either by the +exercise of its inherent attributes, or by its influential invocation of +the celestial powers. To the sovereign pontiff it has been given to bind +or loose at his pleasure. It is unlawful to appeal from his judgments +to an Oecumenical Council, as if to an earthly arbiter superior to him. +Powers such as these are consistent with arbitrary rule, but they are +inconsistent with the government of the world by immutable law. Hence +the Dogmatic Constitution plants itself firmly in behalf of incessant +providential interventions; it will not for a moment admit that in +natural things there is an irresistible sequence of events, or in the +affairs of men an unavoidable course of acts. + +But has not the order of civilization in all parts of the world been the +same? Does not the growth of society resemble individual growth? Do not +both exhibit to us phases of youth, of maturity, of decrepitude? To +a person who has carefully considered the progressive civilization of +groups of men in regions of the earth far apart, who has observed the +identical forms under which that advancing civilization has manifested +itself, is it not clear that the procedure is determined by law? The +religious ideas of the Incas of Peru and the emperors of Mexico, and the +ceremonials of their court-life, were the same as those in Europe--the +same as those in Asia. The current of thought had been the same. A swarm +of bees carried to some distant land will build its combs and regulate +its social institutions as other unknown swarms would do, and so with +separated and disconnected swarms of men. So invariable is this sequence +of thought and act, that there are philosophers who, transferring the +past example offered by Asiatic history to the case of Europe, would +not hesitate to sustain the proposition--given a bishop of Rome and some +centuries, and you will have an infallible pope: given an infallible +pope and a little more time, and you will have Llamaism--Llamaism to +which Asia has long, ago attained. + +As to the origin of corporeal and spiritual things, the Dogmatic +Constitution adds a solemn emphasis to its declarations, by +anathematizing all those who hold the doctrine of emanation, or who +believe that visible Nature is only a manifestation of the Divine +Essence. In this its authors had a task of no ordinary difficulty before +them. They must encounter those formidable ideas, whether old or new, +which in our times are so strongly forcing themselves on thoughtful men. +The doctrine of the conservation and correlation of Force yields as its +logical issue the time-worn Oriental emanation theory; the doctrines of +Evolution and Development strike at that of successive creative acts. +The former rests on the fundamental principle that the quantity of +force in the universe is invariable. Though that quantity can neither be +increased nor diminished, the forms under which Force expresses itself +may be transmuted into each other. As yet this doctrine has not received +complete scientific demonstration, but so numerous and so cogent are the +arguments adduced in its behalf, that it stands in an imposing, almost +in an authoritative attitude. Now, the Asiatic theory of emanation and +absorption is seen to be in harmony with this grand idea. It does not +hold that, at the conception of a human being, a soul is created by +God out of nothing and given to it, but that a portion of the already +existing, the divine, the universal intelligence, is imparted, and, when +life is over, this returns to and is absorbed in the general source from +which it originally came. The authors of the Constitution forbid these +ideas to be held, under pain of eternal punishment. + +In like manner they dispose of the doctrines of Evolution and +Development, bluntly insisting that the Church believes in distinct +creative acts. The doctrine that every living form is derived from some +preceding form is scientifically in a much more advanced position than +that concerning Force, and probably may be considered as established, +whatever may become of the additions with which it has recently been +overlaid. + +In her condemnation of the Reformation, the Church carries into effect +her ideas of the subordination of reason to faith. In her eyes the +Reformation is an impious heresy, leading to the abyss of pantheism, +materialism, and atheism, and tending to overthrow the very foundations +of human society. She therefore would restrain those "restless spirits" +who, following Luther, have upheld the "right of every man to interpret +the Scriptures for himself." She asserts that it is a wicked error to +admit Protestants to equal political privileges with Catholics, and that +to coerce them and suppress them is a sacred duty; that it is abominable +to permit them to establish educational institutions. Gregory XVI. +denounced freedom of conscience as an insane folly, and the freedom of +the press a pestilent error, which cannot be sufficiently detested. + +But how is it possible to recognize an inspired and infallible oracle on +the Tiber, when it is remembered that again and again successive popes +have contradicted each other; that popes have denounced councils, and +councils have denounced popes; that the Bible of Sixtus V. had so many +admitted errors--nearly two thousand--that its own authors had to recall +it? How is it possible for the children of the Church to regard as +"delusive errors" the globular form of the earth, her position as a +planet in the solar system, her rotation on her axis, her movement round +the sun? How can they deny that there are antipodes, and other worlds +than ours? How can they believe that the world was made out of nothing, +completed in a week, finished just as we see it now; that it has +undergone no change, but that its parts have worked so indifferently as +to require incessant interventions? + +THE ERRORS OF ECCLESIASTICISM. When Science is thus commanded to +surrender her intellectual convictions, may she not ask the ecclesiastic +to remember the past? The contest respecting the figure of the earth, +and the location of heaven and hell, ended adversely to him. He affirmed +that the earth is an extended plane, and that the sky is a firmament, +the floor of heaven, through which again and again persons have been +seen to ascend. The globular form demonstrated beyond any possibility +of contradiction by astronomical facts, and by the voyage of Magellan's +ship, he then maintained that it is the central body of the universe, +all others being in subordination to it, and it the grand object of +God's regard. Forced from this position, he next affirmed that it is +motionless, the sun and the stars actually revolving, as they apparently +do, around it. The invention of the telescope proved that here again +he was in error. Then he maintained that all the motions of the solar +system are regulated by providential intervention; the "Principia" +of Newton demonstrated that they are due to irresistible law. He then +affirmed that the earth and all the celestial bodies were created about +six thousand years ago, and that in six days the order of Nature was +settled, and plants and animals in their various tribes introduced. +Constrained by the accumulating mass of adverse evidence, he enlarged +his days into periods of indefinite length--only, however, to find that +even this device was inadequate. The six ages, with their six special +creations, could no longer be maintained, when it was discovered that +species, slowly emerged in one age, reached a culmination in a second, +and gradually died out in a third: this overlapping from age to age +would not only have demanded creations, but re-creations also. He +affirmed that there had been a deluge, which covered the whole earth +above the tops of the highest mountains, and that the waters of this +flood were removed by a wind. Correct ideas respecting the dimensions +of the atmosphere, and of the sea, and of the operation of evaporation, +proved how untenable these statements are. Of the progenitors of the +human race, he declared that they had come from their Maker's hand +perfect, both in body and mind, and had subsequently experienced a fall. +He is now considering how best to dispose of the evidence continually +accumulating respecting the savage condition of prehistoric man. + +Is it at all surprising that the number of those who hold the opinions +of the Church in light esteem should so rapidly increase? How can that +be received as a trustworthy guide in the invisible, which falls into so +many errors in the visible? How can that give confidence in the moral, +the spiritual, which has so signally failed in the physical? It is not +possible to dispose of these conflicting facts as "empty shadows," "vain +devices," "fictions coming from knowledge falsely so called," "errors +wearing the deceitful appearance of truth," as the Church stigmatizes +them. On the contrary, they are stern witnesses, bearing emphatic +and unimpeachable testimony against the ecclesiastical claim to +infallibility, and fastening a conviction of ignorance and blindness +upon her. + +Convicted of so many errors, the papacy makes no attempt at explanation. +It ignores the whole matter Nay, more, relying on the efficacy +of audacity, though confronted by these facts, it lays claim to +infallibility. + +SEPARATION OF CATHOLICISM AND CIVILIZATION. But, to the pontiff, no +other rights can be conceded than those he can establish at the bar of +Reason. He cannot claim infallibility in religious affairs, and +decline it in scientific. Infallibility embraces all things. It implies +omniscience. If it holds good for theology, it necessarily holds good +for science. How is it possible to coordinate the infallibility of the +papacy with the well-known errors into which it has fallen? + +Does it not, then, become needful to reject the claim of the papacy +to the employment of coercion in the maintenance of its opinions; to +repudiate utterly the declaration that "the Inquisition is an urgent +necessity in view of the unbelief of the present age," and in the name +of human nature to protest loudly against the ferocity and terrorism of +that institution? Has not conscience inalienable rights? + +An impassable and hourly-widening gulf intervenes between Catholicism +and the spirit of the age. Catholicism insists that blind faith is +superior to reason; that mysteries are of more importance than facts. +She claims to be the sole interpreter of Nature and revelation, the +supreme arbiter of knowledge; she summarily rejects all modern criticism +of the Scriptures, and orders the Bible to be accepted in accordance +with the views of the theologians of Trent; she openly avows her hatred +of free institutions and constitutional systems, and declares that those +are in damnable error who regard the reconciliation of the pope with +modern civilization as either possible or desirable. + +SCIENCE AND PROTESTANTISM. But the spirit of the age demands--is the +human intellect to be subordinated to the Tridentine Fathers, or to the +fancy of illiterate and uncritical persons who wrote in the earlier ages +of the Church? It sees no merit in blind faith, but rather distrusts it. +It looks forward to an improvement in the popular canon of credibility +for a decision between fact and fiction. It does not consider itself +bound to believe fables and falsehoods that have been invented for +ecclesiastical ends. It finds no argument in behalf of their truth, that +traditions and legends have been long-lived; in this respect, those of +the Church are greatly inferior to the fables of paganism. The longevity +of the Church itself is not due to divine protection or intervention, +but to the skill with which it has adapted its policy to existing +circumstances. If antiquity be the criterion of authenticity, the claims +of Buddhism must be respected; it has the superior warrant of many +centuries. There can be no defense of those deliberate falsifications of +history, that concealment of historical facts, of which the Church has +so often taken advantage. In these things the end does not justify the +means. + +Then has it in truth come to this, that Roman Christianity and Science +are recognized by their respective adherents as being absolutely +incompatible; they cannot exist together; one must yield to the other; +mankind must make its choice--it cannot have both. + +SCIENCE AND FAITH. While such is, perhaps, the issue as regards +Catholicism, a reconciliation of the Reformation with Science is not +only possible, but would easily take place, if the Protestant Churches +would only live up to the maxim taught by Luther, and established by so +many years of war. That maxim is, the right of private interpretation of +the Scriptures. It was the foundation of intellectual liberty. But, if +a personal interpretation of the book of Revelation is permissible, +how can it be denied in the case of the book of Nature? In the +misunderstandings that have taken place, we must ever bear in mind +the infirmities of men. The generations that immediately followed +the Reformation may perhaps be excused for not comprehending the full +significance of their cardinal principle, and for not on all occasions +carrying it into effect. When Calvin caused Servetus, to be burnt, he +was animated, not by the principles of the Reformation, but by those +of Catholicism, from which he had not been able to emancipate himself +completely. And when the clergy of influential Protestant confessions +have stigmatized the investigators of Nature as infidels and atheists, +the same may be said. For Catholicism to reconcile itself to Science, +there are formidable, perhaps insuperable obstacles in the way. For +Protestantism to achieve that great result there are not. In the one +case there is a bitter, a mortal animosity to be overcome; in the other, +a friendship, that misunderstandings have alienated, to be restored. + +CIVILIZATION AND RELIGION. But, whatever may be the preparatory +incidents of that great impending intellectual crisis which Christendom +must soon inevitably witness, of this we may rest assured, that the +silent secession from the public faith, which in so ominous a manner +characterizes the present generation, will find at length political +expression. It is not without significance that France reenforces the +ultramontane tendencies of her lower population, by the promotion of +pilgrimages, the perpetration of miracles, the exhibition of celestial +apparitions. Constrained to do this by her destiny, she does it with +a blush. It is not without significance that Germany resolves to rid +herself of the incubus of a dual government, by the exclusion of the +Italian element, and to carry to its completion that Reformation which +three centuries ago she left unfinished. The time approaches when +men must take their choice between quiescent, immobile faith and +ever-advancing Science--faith, with its mediaeval consolations, Science, +which is incessantly scattering its material blessings in the pathway +of life, elevating the lot of man in this world, and unifying the +human race. Its triumphs are solid and enduring. But the glory which +Catholicism might gain from a conflict with material ideas is at the +best only like that of other celestial meteors when they touch the +atmosphere of the earth--transitory and useless. + +Though Guizot's affirmation that the Church has always sided with +despotism is only too true, it must be remembered that in the policy +she follows there is much of political necessity. She is urged on by +the pressure of nineteen centuries. But, if the irresistible indicates +itself in her action, the inevitable manifests itself in her life. For +it is with the papacy as with a man. It has passed through the struggles +of infancy, it has displayed the energies of maturity, and, its work +completed, it must sink into the feebleness and querulousness of old +age. Its youth can never be renewed. The influence of its souvenirs +alone will remain. As pagan Rome threw her departing shadow over the +empire and tinctured all its thoughts, so Christian Rome casts her +parting shadow over Europe. + +INADMISSIBLE CLAIMS OF CATHOLICISM. Will modern civilization consent to +abandon the career of advancement which has given it so much power and +happiness? Will it consent to retrace its steps to the semi-barbarian +ignorance and superstition of the middle ages? Will it submit to the +dictation of a power, which, claiming divine authority, can present +no adequate credentials of its office; a power which kept Europe in a +stagnant condition for many centuries, ferociously suppressing by the +stake and the sword every attempt at progress; a power that is founded +in a cloud of mysteries; that sets itself above reason and common-sense; +that loudly proclaims the hatred it entertains against liberty of +thought and freedom in civil institutions; that professes its intention +of repressing the one and destroying the other whenever it can find the +opportunity; that denounces as most pernicious and insane the opinion +that liberty of conscience and of worship is the right of every man; +that protests against that right being proclaimed and asserted by law in +every well-governed state; that contemptuously repudiates the principle +that the will of the people, manifested by public opinion (as it is +called) or by other means, shall constitute law; that refuses to every +man any title to opinion in matters of religion, but holds that it is +simply his duty to believe what he is told by the Church, and to obey +her commands; that will not permit any temporal government to define +the rights and prescribe limits to the authority of the Church; +that declares it not only may but will resort to force to discipline +disobedient individuals; that invades the sanctify of private life, by +making, at the confessional, the wife and daughters and servants of one +suspected, spies and informers against him; that tries him without an +accuser, and by torture makes him bear witness against himself; that +denies the right of parents to educate their children outside of its own +Church, and insists that to it alone belongs the supervision of domestic +life and the control of marriages and divorces; that denounces "the +impudence" of those who presume to subordinate the authority of the +Church to the civil authority, or who advocate the separation of the +Church from the state; that absolutely repudiates all toleration, and +affirms that the Catholic religion is entitled to be held as the only +religion in every country, to the exclusion of all other modes of +worship; that requires all laws standing in the way of its interests +to be repealed, and, if that be refused, orders all its followers to +disobey them? + +ISSUE OF THE CONFLICT. This power, conscious that it can work no miracle +to serve itself, does not hesitate to disturb society by its intrigues +against governments, and seeks to accomplish its ends by alliances with +despotism. + +Claims such as these mean a revolt against modern civilization, an +intention of destroying it, no matter at what social cost. To submit to +them without resistance, men must be slaves indeed! + +As to the issue of the coming conflict, can any one doubt? Whatever +is resting on fiction and fraud will be overthrown. Institutions that +organize impostures and spread delusions must show what right they have +to exist. Faith must render an account of herself to Reason. Mysteries +must give place to facts. Religion must relinquish that imperious, that +domineering position which she has so long maintained against Science. +There must be absolute freedom for thought. The ecclesiastic must learn +to keep himself within the domain he has chosen, and cease to tyrannize +over the philosopher, who, conscious of his own strength and the purity +of his motives, will bear such interference no longer. What was +written by Esdras near the willow-fringed rivers of Babylon, more than +twenty-three centuries ago, still holds good: "As for Truth it endureth +and is always strong; it liveth and conquereth for evermore." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History of the Conflict Between +Religion and Science, by John William Draper + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT *** + +***** This file should be named 1185.txt or 1185.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/8/1185/ + +Produced by Charles Keller + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/1185.zip b/old/1185.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..033f342 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1185.zip diff --git a/old/old/1185-h.zip b/old/old/1185-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e582507 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/1185-h.zip diff --git a/old/old/20080821-1185-h.htm b/old/old/20080821-1185-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..de39479 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/20080821-1185-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,12477 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" + content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> +<title> + History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science, + by John William Draper, M. D., LL. D. +</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + body { text-align:justify} + P { margin:10%; + text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; } + hr.full { width: 100%; } + .foot { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 95%; } + img {border: 0;} + HR { width: 33%; text-align: center; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; } + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 1%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: left; + color: gray; + } /* page numbers */ + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 10%; margin-left: 1%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; + margin: 1em 5%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 5%; margin-bottom: .75em; font-size: 80%;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 5%;} + CENTER { padding: 10px;} + PRE { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 20%;} + // --> +</style> + + +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of History of the Conflict Between Religion +and Science, by John William Draper + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science + +Author: John William Draper + +Release Date: August 21, 2008 [EBook #1185] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Keller, and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + + +<br><br> + +<h1> + HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT BETWEEN RELIGION AND SCIENCE +</h1> +<center><b> +By John William Draper, M. D., LL. D. +</b></center> +<center> +PROFESSOR IN THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK, +</center> +<pre> + AUTHOR OF A TREATISE ON HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY, HISTORY OF THE + INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT OF EUROPE, HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN + CIVIL WAR, AND OF MANY EXPERIMENTAL MEMOIRS ON CHEMICAL AND + OTHER SCIENTIFIC SUBJECTS +</pre> + + +<br> +<br> +<hr> +<br> +<br> + + +<h2>Contents</h2> + +<center> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2H_PREF"> +PREFACE. +</a></p><br></center> +<center> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2H_4_0002"> +<b>HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT BETWEEN RELIGION AND SCIENCE.</b> +</a></p><br> +</center> + + +<center> +<table summary=""> +<tr><td> + + +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0001"> +CHAPTER I. +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0002"> +CHAPTER II. +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0003"> +CHAPTER III. +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0004"> +CHAPTER IV. +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0005"> +CHAPTER V. +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0006"> +CHAPTER VI. +</a></p></td><td> + +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0007"> +CHAPTER VII. +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0008"> +CHAPTER VIII. +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0009"> +CHAPTER IX. +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0010"> +CHAPTER X. +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0011"> +CHAPTER XI. +</a></p> + +<p class="toc"><a href="#twelve"> +CHAPTER XII. +</a></p> + + + +</td></tr> +</table> +</center> + + +<br> +<br> +<hr> +<br> +<br> + +<a name="2H_PREF"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + + +<h2> + PREFACE. +</h2> +<p> +WHOEVER has had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the mental +condition of the intelligent classes in Europe and America, must have +perceived that there is a great and rapidly-increasing departure from +the public religious faith, and that, while among the more frank this +divergence is not concealed, there is a far more extensive and far more +dangerous secession, private and unacknowledged. +</p> +<p> +So wide-spread and so powerful is this secession, that it can neither be +treated with contempt nor with punishment. It cannot be extinguished by +derision, by vituperation, or by force. The time is rapidly approaching +when it will give rise to serious political results. +</p> +<p> +Ecclesiastical spirit no longer inspires the policy of the world. +Military fervor in behalf of faith has disappeared. Its only souvenirs +are the marble effigies of crusading knights, reposing in the silent +crypts of churches on their tombs. +</p> +<p> +That a crisis is impending is shown by the attitude of the great powers +toward the papacy. The papacy represents the ideas and aspirations +of two-thirds of the population of Europe. It insists on a political +supremacy in accordance with its claims to a divine origin and mission, +and a restoration of the mediaeval order of things, loudly declaring +that it will accept no reconciliation with modern civilization. +</p> +<p> +The antagonism we thus witness between Religion and Science is the +continuation of a struggle that commenced when Christianity began +to attain political power. A divine revelation must necessarily be +intolerant of contradiction; it must repudiate all improvement in +itself, and view with disdain that arising from the progressive +intellectual development of man. But our opinions on every subject are +continually liable to modification, from the irresistible advance of +human knowledge. +</p> +<p> +Can we exaggerate the importance of a contention in which every +thoughtful person must take part whether he will or not? In a matter so +solemn as that of religion, all men, whose temporal interests are not +involved in existing institutions, earnestly desire to find the truth. +They seek information as to the subjects in dispute, and as to the +conduct of the disputants. +</p> +<p> +The history of Science is not a mere record of isolated discoveries; it +is a narrative of the conflict of two contending powers, the expansive +force of the human intellect on one side, and the compression arising +from traditionary faith and human interests on the other. +</p> +<p> +No one has hitherto treated the subject from this point of view. Yet +from this point it presents itself to us as a living issue—in fact, as +the most important of all living issues. +</p> +<p> +A few years ago, it was the politic and therefore the proper course to +abstain from all allusion to this controversy, and to keep it as far as +possible in the background. The tranquillity of society depends so +much on the stability of its religious convictions, that no one can +be justified in wantonly disturbing them. But faith is in its nature +unchangeable, stationary; Science is in its nature progressive; and +eventually a divergence between them, impossible to conceal, must take +place. It then becomes the duty of those whose lives have made them +familiar with both modes of thought, to present modestly, but +firmly, their views; to compare the antagonistic pretensions calmly, +impartially, philosophically. History shows that, if this be not done, +social misfortunes, disastrous and enduring, will ensue. When the old +mythological religion of Europe broke down under the weight of its own +inconsistencies, neither the Roman emperors nor the philosophers of +those times did any thing adequate for the guidance of public opinion. +They left religious affairs to take their chance, and accordingly those +affairs fell into the hands of ignorant and infuriated ecclesiastics, +parasites, eunuchs, and slaves. +</p> +<p> +The intellectual night which settled on Europe, in consequence of that +great neglect of duty, is passing away; we live in the daybreak of +better things. Society is anxiously expecting light, to see in what +direction it is drifting. It plainly discerns that the track along which +the voyage of civilization has thus far been made, has been left; and +that a new departure, on all unknown sea, has been taken. +</p> +<p> +Though deeply impressed with such thoughts, I should not have presumed +to write this book, or to intrude on the public the ideas it presents, +had I not made the facts with which it deals a subject of long and +earnest meditation. And I have gathered a strong incentive to undertake +this duty from the circumstance that a "History of the Intellectual +Development of Europe," published by me several years ago, which has +passed through many editions in America, and has been reprinted in +numerous European languages, English, French, German, Russian, Polish, +Servian, etc., is everywhere received with favor. +</p> +<p> +In collecting and arranging the materials for the volumes I published +under the title of "A History of the American Civil War," a work of very +great labor, I had become accustomed to the comparison of conflicting +statements, the adjustment of conflicting claims. The approval with +which that book has been received by the American public, a critical +judge of the events considered, has inspired me with additional +confidence. I had also devoted much attention to the experimental +investigation of natural phenomena, and had published many well-known +memoirs on such subjects. And perhaps no one can give himself to these +pursuits, and spend a large part of his life in the public teaching of +science, without partaking of that love of impartiality and truth which +Philosophy incites. She inspires us with a desire to dedicate our days +to the good of our race, so that in the fading light of life's evening +we may not, on looking back, be forced to acknowledge how unsubstantial +and useless are the objects that we have pursued. +</p> +<p> +Though I have spared no pains in the composition of this book, I am +very sensible how unequal it is to the subject, to do justice to which +a knowledge of science, history, theology, politics, is required; every +page should be alive with intelligence and glistening with facts. But +then I have remembered that this is only as it were the preface, or +forerunner, of a body of literature, which the events and wants of our +times will call forth. We have come to the brink of a great intellectual +change. Much of the frivolous reading of the present will be supplanted +by a thoughtful and austere literature, vivified by endangered +interests, and made fervid by ecclesiastical passion. +</p> +<p> +What I have sought to do is, to present a clear and impartial statement +of the views and acts of the two contending parties. In one sense I have +tried to identify myself with each, so as to comprehend thoroughly their +motives; but in another and higher sense I have endeavored to stand +aloof, and relate with impartiality their actions. +</p> +<p> +I therefore trust that those, who may be disposed to criticise this +book, will bear in mind that its object is not to advocate the views +and pretensions of either party, but to explain clearly, and without +shrinking those of both. In the management of each chapter I have +usually set forth the orthodox view first, and then followed it with +that of its opponents. +</p> +<p> +In thus treating the subject it has not been necessary to pay much +regard to more moderate or intermediate opinions, for, though they may +be intrinsically of great value, in conflicts of this kind it is not +with the moderates but with the extremists that the impartial reader is +mainly concerned. Their movements determine the issue. +</p> +<p> +For this reason I have had little to say respecting the two great +Christian confessions, the Protestant and Greek Churches. As to the +latter, it has never, since the restoration of science, arrayed itself +in opposition to the advancement of knowledge. On the contrary, it has +always met it with welcome. It has observed a reverential attitude to +truth, from whatever quarter it might come. Recognizing the apparent +discrepancies between its interpretations of revealed truth and the +discoveries of science, it has always expected that satisfactory +explanations and reconciliations would ensue, and in this it has not +been disappointed. It would have been well for modern civilization if +the Roman Church had done the same. +</p> +<p> +In speaking of Christianity, reference is generally made to the +Roman Church, partly because its adherents compose the majority of +Christendom, partly because its demands are the most pretentious, and +partly because it has commonly sought to enforce those demands by +the civil power. None of the Protestant Churches has ever occupied a +position so imperious—none has ever had such wide-spread political +influence. For the most part they have been averse to constraint, and +except in very few instances their opposition has not passed beyond the +exciting of theological odium. +</p> +<p> +As to Science, she has never sought to ally herself to civil power. She +has never attempted to throw odium or inflict social ruin on any human +being. She has never subjected any one to mental torment, physical +torture, least of all to death, for the purpose of upholding or +promoting her ideas. She presents herself unstained by cruelties and +crimes. But in the Vatican—we have only to recall the Inquisition—the +hands that are now raised in appeals to the Most Merciful are crimsoned. +They have been steeped in blood! +</p> +<p> +There are two modes of historical composition, the artistic and the +scientific. The former implies that men give origin to events; it +therefore selects some prominent individual, pictures him under +a fanciful form, and makes him the hero of a romance. The latter, +insisting that human affairs present an unbroken chain, in which each +fact is the offspring of some preceding fact, and the parent of some +subsequent fact, declares that men do not control events, but that +events control men. The former gives origin to compositions, which, +however much they may interest or delight us, are but a grade above +novels; the latter is austere, perhaps even repulsive, for it sternly +impresses us with a conviction of the irresistible dominion of law, and +the insignificance of human exertions. In a subject so solemn as that to +which this book is devoted, the romantic and the popular are altogether +out of place. He who presumes to treat of it must fix his eyes +steadfastly on that chain of destiny which universal history displays; +he must turn with disdain from the phantom impostures of pontiffs and +statesmen and kings. +</p> +<p> +If any thing were needed to show us the untrustworthiness of artistic +historical compositions, our personal experience would furnish it. How +often do our most intimate friends fail to perceive the real motives of +our every-day actions; how frequently they misinterpret our intentions! +If this be the case in what is passing before our eyes, may we not +be satisfied that it is impossible to comprehend justly the doings of +persons who lived many years ago, and whom we have never seen. +</p> +<p> +In selecting and arranging the topics now to be presented, I have been +guided in part by "the Confession" of the late Vatican Council, and in +part by the order of events in history. Not without interest will the +reader remark that the subjects offer themselves to us now as they did +to the old philosophers of Greece. We still deal with the same questions +about which they disputed. What is God? What is the soul? What is the +world? How is it governed? Have we any standard or criterion of truth? +And the thoughtful reader will earnestly ask, "Are our solutions of +these problems any better than theirs?" +</p> +<p> +The general argument of this book, then, is as follows: +</p> +<p> +I first direct attention to the origin of modern science as +distinguished from ancient, by depending on observation, experiment, +and mathematical discussion, instead of mere speculation, and shall show +that it was a consequence of the Macedonian campaigns, which brought +Asia and Europe into contact. A brief sketch of those campaigns, and of +the Museum of Alexandria, illustrates its character. +</p> +<p> +Then with brevity I recall the well-known origin of Christianity, and +show its advance to the attainment of imperial power, the transformation +it underwent by its incorporation with paganism, the existing religion +of the Roman Empire. A clear conception of its incompatibility with +science caused it to suppress forcibly the Schools of Alexandria. It was +constrained to this by the political necessities of its position. +</p> +<p> +The parties to the conflict thus placed, I next relate the story of +their first open struggle; it is the first or Southern Reformation. The +point in dispute had respect to the nature of God. It involved the rise +of Mohammedanism. Its result was, that much of Asia and Africa, with the +historic cities Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Carthage, were wrenched from +Christendom, and the doctrine of the Unity of God established in the +larger portion of what had been the Roman Empire. +</p> +<p> +This political event was followed by the restoration of science, the +establishment of colleges, schools, libraries, throughout the dominions +of the Arabians. Those conquerors, pressing forward rapidly in their +intellectual development, rejected the anthropomorphic ideas of the +nature of God remaining in their popular belief, and accepted other more +philosophical ones, akin to those that had long previously been attained +to in India. The result of this was a second conflict, that respecting +the nature of the soul. Under the designation of Averroism, there came +into prominence the theories of Emanation and Absorption. At the +close of the middle ages the Inquisition succeeded in excluding those +doctrines from Europe, and now the Vatican Council has formally and +solemnly anathematized them. +</p> +<p> +Meantime, through the cultivation of astronomy, geography, and other +sciences, correct views had been gained as to the position and relations +of the earth, and as to the structure of the world; and since Religion, +resting itself on what was assumed to be the proper interpretation +of the Scriptures, insisted that the earth is the central and most +important part of the universe, a third conflict broke out. In this +Galileo led the way on the part of Science. Its issue was the overthrow +of the Church on the question in dispute. Subsequently a subordinate +controversy arose respecting the age of the world, the Church insisting +that it is only about six thousand years old. In this she was again +overthrown The light of history and of science had been gradually +spreading over Europe. In the sixteenth century the prestige of Roman +Christianity was greatly diminished by the intellectual reverses it +had experienced, and also by its political and moral condition. It was +clearly seen by many pious men that Religion was not accountable for +the false position in which she was found, but that the misfortune was +directly traceable to the alliance she had of old contracted with Roman +paganism. The obvious remedy, therefore, was a return to primitive +purity. Thus arose the fourth conflict, known to us as the +Reformation—the second or Northern Reformation. The special form it +assumed was a contest respecting the standard or criterion of +truth, whether it is to be found in the Church or in the Bible. The +determination of this involved a settlement of the rights of reason, or +intellectual freedom. Luther, who is the conspicuous man of the epoch, +carried into effect his intention with no inconsiderable success; and at +the close of the struggle it was found that Northern Europe was lost to +Roman Christianity. +</p> +<p> +We are now in the midst of a controversy respecting the mode of +government of the world, whether it be by incessant divine intervention, +or by the operation of primordial and unchangeable law. The intellectual +movement of Christendom has reached that point which Arabism had +attained to in the tenth and eleventh centuries; and doctrines which +were then discussed are presenting themselves again for review; such are +those of Evolution, Creation, Development. +</p> +<p> +Offered under these general titles, I think it will be found that all +the essential points of this great controversy are included. By grouping +under these comprehensive heads the facts to be considered, and dealing +with each group separately, we shall doubtless acquire clear views of +their inter-connection and their historical succession. +</p> +<p> +I have treated of these conflicts as nearly as I conveniently could in +their proper chronological order, and, for the sake of completeness, +have added chapters on— +</p> +<p> +An examination of what Latin Christianity has done for modern +civilization. +</p> +<p> +A corresponding examination of what Science has done. +</p> +<p> +The attitude of Roman Christianity in the impending conflict, as defined +by the Vatican Council. +</p> +<p> +The attention of many truth-seeking persons has been so exclusively +given to the details of sectarian dissensions, that the long strife, to +the history of which these pages are devoted, is popularly but little +known. Having tried to keep steadfastly in view the determination to +write this work in an impartial spirit, to speak with respect of the +contending parties, but never to conceal the truth, I commit it to the +considerate judgment of the thoughtful reader. +</p> +<pre> + JOHN WILLIAM DRAPER +</pre> +<p> +UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK, December, 1878. +</p> +<a name="2H_4_0002"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT BETWEEN RELIGION AND SCIENCE. +</h2> +<a name="2HCH0001"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER I. +</h2> +<pre> + THE ORIGIN OF SCIENCE. + + Religious condition of the Greeks in the fourth century + before Christ.—Their invasion of the Persian Empire brings + them in contact with new aspects of Nature, and familiarizes + them with new religious systems.—The military, + engineering, and scientific activity, stimulated by the + Macedonian campaigns, leads to the establishment in + Alexandria of an institute, the Museum, for the cultivation + of knowledge by experiment, observation, and mathematical + discussion.—It is the origin of Science. +</pre> +<p> +GREEK MYTHOLOGY. No spectacle can be presented to the thoughtful +mind more solemn, more mournful, than that of the dying of an ancient +religion, which in its day has given consolation to many generations of +men. +</p> +<p> +Four centuries before the birth of Christ, Greece was fast outgrowing +her ancient faith. Her philosophers, in their studies of the world, had +been profoundly impressed with the contrast between the majesty of the +operations of Nature and the worthlessness of the divinities of Olympus. +Her historians, considering the orderly course of political affairs, +the manifest uniformity in the acts of men, and that there was no event +occurring before their eyes for which they could not find an obvious +cause in some preceding event, began to suspect that the miracles and +celestial interventions, with which the old annals were filled, were +only fictions. They demanded, when the age of the supernatural had +ceased, why oracles had become mute, and why there were now no more +prodigies in the world. +</p> +<p> +Traditions, descending from immemorial antiquity, and formerly accepted +by pious men as unquestionable truths, had filled the islands of +the Mediterranean and the conterminous countries with supernatural +wonders—enchantresses, sorcerers, giants, ogres, harpies, gorgons, +centaurs, cyclops. The azure vault was the floor of heaven; there Zeus, +surrounded by the gods with their wives and mistresses, held his court, +engaged in pursuits like those of men, and not refraining from acts of +human passion and crime. +</p> +<p> +A sea-coast broken by numerous indentations, an archipelago with some of +the most lovely islands in the world, inspired the Greeks with a taste +for maritime life, for geographical discovery, and colonization. +Their ships wandered all over the Black and Mediterranean Seas. The +time-honored wonders that had been glorified in the "Odyssey," and +sacred in public faith, were found to have no existence. As a better +knowledge of Nature was obtained, the sky was shown to be an illusion; +it was discovered that there is no Olympus, nothing above but space and +stars. With the vanishing of their habitation, the gods disappeared, +both those of the Ionian type of Homer and those of the Doric of Hesiod. +</p> +<p> +EFFECTS OF DISCOVERY AND CRITICISM. But this did not take place without +resistance. At first, the public, and particularly its religious +portion, denounced the rising doubts as atheism. They despoiled some +of the offenders of their goods, exiled others; some they put to death. +They asserted that what had been believed by pious men in the old times, +and had stood the test of ages, must necessarily be true. Then, as the +opposing evidence became irresistible, they were content to admit that +these marvels were allegories under which the wisdom of the ancients had +concealed many sacred and mysterious things. They tried to reconcile, +what now in their misgivings they feared might be myths, with their +advancing intellectual state. But their efforts were in vain, for there +are predestined phases through which on such an occasion public opinion +must pass. What it has received with veneration it begins to doubt, then +it offers new interpretations, then subsides into dissent, and ends with +a rejection of the whole as a mere fable. +</p> +<p> +In their secession the philosophers and historians were followed by +the poets. Euripides incurred the odium of heresy. Aeschylus narrowly +escaped being stoned to death for blasphemy. But the frantic efforts +of those who are interested in supporting delusions must always end in +defeat. The demoralization resistlessly extended through every branch of +literature, until at length it reached the common people. +</p> +<p> +THE PERSIAN EMPIRE. Greek philosophical criticism had lent its aid to +Greek philosophical discovery in this destruction of the national faith. +It sustained by many arguments the wide-spreading unbelief. It compared +the doctrines of the different schools with each other, and showed from +their contradictions that man has no criterion of truth; that, since his +ideas of what is good and what is evil differ according to the country +in which he lives, they can have no foundation in Nature, but must be +altogether the result of education; that right and wrong are nothing +more than fictions created by society for its own purposes. In Athens, +some of the more advanced classes had reached such a pass that they not +only denied the unseen, the supernatural, they even affirmed that the +world is only a day-dream, a phantasm, and that nothing at all exists. +</p> +<p> +The topographical configuration of Greece gave an impress to her +political condition. It divided her people into distinct communities +having conflicting interests, and made them incapable of centralization. +Incessant domestic wars between the rival states checked her +advancement. She was poor, her leading men had become corrupt. They were +ever ready to barter patriotic considerations for foreign gold, to sell +themselves for Persian bribes. Possessing a perception of the beautiful +as manifested in sculpture and architecture to a degree never +attained elsewhere either before or since, Greece had lost a practical +appreciation of the Good and the True. +</p> +<p> +While European Greece, full of ideas of liberty and independence, +rejected the sovereignty of Persia, Asiatic Greece acknowledged it +without reluctance. At that time the Persian Empire in territorial +extent was equal to half of modern Europe. It touched the waters of +the Mediterranean, the Aegean, the Black, the Caspian, the Indian, the +Persian, the Red Seas. Through its territories there flowed six of the +grandest rivers in the world—the Euphrates, the Tigris, the Indus, the +Jaxartes, the Oxus, the Nile, each more than a thousand miles in length. +Its surface reached from thirteen hundred feet below the sea-level to +twenty thousand feet above. It yielded, therefore, every agricultural +product. Its mineral wealth was boundless. It inherited the prestige of +the Median, the Babylonian, the Assyrian, the Chaldean Empires, whose +annals reached back through more than twenty centuries. +</p> +<p> +THE PERSIAN EMPIRE. Persia had always looked upon European Greece as +politically insignificant, for it had scarcely half the territorial +extent of one of her satrapies. Her expeditions for compelling its +obedience had, however, taught her the military qualities of its people. +In her forces were incorporated Greek mercenaries, esteemed the very +best of her troops. She did not hesitate sometimes to give the command +of her armies to Greek generals, of her fleets to Greek captains. In the +political convulsions through which she had passed, Greek soldiers had +often been used by her contending chiefs. These military operations were +attended by a momentous result. They revealed, to the quick eye of +these warlike mercenaries, the political weakness of the empire and +the possibility of reaching its centre. After the death of Cyrus on the +battle-field of Cunaxa, it was demonstrated, by the immortal retreat of +the ten thousand under Xenophon, that a Greek army could force its way +to and from the heart of Persia. +</p> +<p> +That reverence for the military abilities of Asiatic generals, so +profoundly impressed on the Greeks by such engineering exploits as the +bridging of the Hellespont, and the cutting of the isthmus at Mount +Athos by Xerxes, had been obliterated at Salamis, Platea, Mycale. To +plunder rich Persian provinces had become an irresistible temptation. +Such was the expedition of Agesilaus, the Spartan king, whose brilliant +successes were, however, checked by the Persian government resorting to +its time-proved policy of bribing the neighbors of Sparta to attack her. +"I have been conquered by thirty thousand Persian archers," bitterly +exclaimed Agesilaus, as he re-embarked, alluding to the Persian coin, +the Daric, which was stamped with the image of an archer. +</p> +<p> +THE INVASION OF PERSIA BY GREECE. At length Philip, the King of Macedon, +projected a renewal of these attempts, under a far more formidable +organization, and with a grander object. He managed to have himself +appointed captain-general of all Greece not for the purpose of a mere +foray into the Asiatic satrapies, but for the overthrow of the Persian +dynasty in the very centre of its power. Assassinated while his +preparations were incomplete, he was succeeded by his son Alexander, +then a youth. A general assembly of Greeks at Corinth had unanimously +elected him in his father's stead. There were some disturbances in +Illyria; Alexander had to march his army as far north as the Danube to +quell them. During his absence the Thebans with some others conspired +against him. On his return he took Thebes by assault. He massacred +six thousand of its inhabitants, sold thirty thousand for slaves, and +utterly demolished the city. The military wisdom of this severity was +apparent in his Asiatic campaign. He was not troubled by any revolt in +his rear. +</p> +<p> +THE MACEDONIAN CAMPAIGN. In the spring B.C. 334 Alexander crossed the +Hellespont into Asia. His army consisted of thirty-four thousand foot +and four thousand horse. He had with him only seventy talents in money. +He marched directly on the Persian army, which, vastly exceeding him in +strength, was holding the line of the Granicus. He forced the passage of +the river, routed the enemy, and the possession of all Asia Minor, with +its treasures, was the fruit of the victory. The remainder of that +year he spent in the military organization of the conquered provinces. +Meantime Darius, the Persian king, had advanced an army of six hundred +thousand men to prevent the passage of the Macedonians into Syria. In +a battle that ensued among the mountain-defiles at Issus, the Persians +were again overthrown. So great was the slaughter that Alexander, and +Ptolemy, one of his generals, crossed over a ravine choked with dead +bodies. It was estimated that the Persian loss was not less than ninety +thousand foot and ten thousand horse. The royal pavilion fell into the +conqueror's hands, and with it the wife and several of the children of +Darius. Syria was thus added to the Greek conquests. In Damascus were +found many of the concubines of Darius and his chief officers, together +with a vast treasure. +</p> +<p> +Before venturing into the plains of Mesopotamia for the final struggle, +Alexander, to secure his rear and preserve his communications with the +sea, marched southward down the Mediterranean coast, reducing the cities +in his way. In his speech before the council of war after Issus, he told +his generals that they must not pursue Darius with Tyre unsubdued, and +Persia in possession of Egypt and Cyprus, for, if Persia should regain +her seaports, she would transfer the war into Greece, and that it was +absolutely necessary for him to be sovereign at sea. With Cyprus and +Egypt in his possession he felt no solicitude about Greece. The siege +of Tyre cost him more than half a year. In revenge for this delay, +he crucified, it is said, two thousand of his prisoners. Jerusalem +voluntarily surrendered, and therefore was treated leniently: but the +passage of the Macedonian army into Egypt being obstructed at Gaza, the +Persian governor of which, Betis, made a most obstinate defense, that +place, after a siege of two months, was carried by assault, ten thousand +of its men were massacred, and the rest, with their wives and children, +sold into slavery. Betis himself was dragged alive round the city at the +chariot-wheels of the conqueror. There was now no further obstacle. The +Egyptians, who detested the Persian rule, received their invader with +open arms. He organized the country in his own interest, intrusting +all its military commands to Macedonian officers, and leaving the civil +government in the hands of native Egyptians. +</p> +<p> +CONQUEST OF EGYPT. While preparations for the final campaign were being +made, he undertook a journey to the temple of Jupiter Ammon, which was +situated in an oasis of the Libyan Desert, at a distance of two hundred +miles. The oracle declared him to be a son of that god who, under +the form of a serpent, had beguiled Olympias, his mother. Immaculate +conceptions and celestial descents were so currently received in those +days, that whoever had greatly distinguished himself in the affairs of +men was thought to be of supernatural lineage. Even in Rome, centuries +later, no one could with safety have denied that the city owed its +founder, Romulus, to an accidental meeting of the god Mars with the +virgin Rhea Sylvia, as she went with her pitcher for water to the +spring. The Egyptian disciples of Plato would have looked with anger on +those who rejected the legend that Perictione, the mother of that +great philosopher, a pure virgin, had suffered an immaculate conception +through the influences of Apollo, and that the god had declared to +Ariston, to whom she was betrothed, the parentage of the child. When +Alexander issued his letters, orders, and decrees, styling himself "King +Alexander, the son of Jupiter Ammon," they came to the inhabitants of +Egypt and Syria with an authority that now can hardly be realized. The +free-thinking Greeks, however, put on such a supernatural pedigree its +proper value. Olympias, who, of course, better than all others knew the +facts of the case, used jestingly to say, that "she wished Alexander +would cease from incessantly embroiling her with Jupiter's wife." +Arrian, the historian of the Macedonian expedition, observes, "I cannot +condemn him for endeavoring to draw his subjects into the belief of his +divine origin, nor can I be induced to think it any great crime, for it +is very reasonable to imagine that he intended no more by it than merely +to procure the greater authority among his soldiers." +</p> +<p> +GREEK CONQUEST OF PERSIA. All things being thus secured in his rear, +Alexander, having returned into Syria, directed the march of his army, +now consisting of fifty thousand veterans, eastward. After crossing the +Euphrates, he kept close to the Masian hills, to avoid the intense heat +of the more southerly Mesopotamian plains; more abundant forage could +also thus be procured for the cavalry. On the left bank of the Tigris, +near Arbela, he encountered the great army of eleven hundred thousand +men brought up by Darius from Babylon. The death of the Persian monarch, +which soon followed the defeat he suffered, left the Macedonian general +master of all the countries from the Danube to the Indus. Eventually he +extended his conquest to the Ganges. The treasures he seized are almost +beyond belief. At Susa alone he found—so Arrian says—fifty thousand +talents in money. +</p> +<p> +EVENTS OF THE CAMPAIGNS. The modern military student cannot look +upon these wonderful campaigns without admiration. The passage of the +Hellespont; the forcing of the Granicus; the winter spent in a political +organization of conquered Asia Minor; the march of the right wing and +centre of the army along the Syrian Mediterranean coast; the engineering +difficulties overcome at the siege of Tyre; the storming of Gaza; the +isolation of Persia from Greece; the absolute exclusion of her navy from +the Mediterranean; the check on all her attempts at intriguing with +or bribing Athenians or Spartans, heretofore so often resorted to with +success; the submission of Egypt; another winter spent in the political +organization of that venerable country; the convergence of the whole +army from the Black and Red Seas toward the nitre-covered plains of +Mesopotamia in the ensuing spring; the passage of the Euphrates fringed +with its weeping-willows at the broken bridge of Thapsacus; the crossing +of the Tigris; the nocturnal reconnaissance before the great and +memorable battle of Arbela; the oblique movement on the field; the +piercing of the enemy's centre—a manoeuvre destined to be repeated +many centuries subsequently at Austerlitz; the energetic pursuit of +the Persian monarch; these are exploits not surpassed by any soldier of +later times. +</p> +<p> +A prodigious stimulus was thus given to Greek intellectual activity. +There were men who had marched with the Macedonian army from the Danube +to the Nile, from the Nile to the Ganges. They had felt the hyperborean +blasts of the countries beyond the Black Sea, the simooms and +sand-tempests of the Egyptian deserts. They had seen the Pyramids which +had already stood for twenty centuries, the hieroglyph-covered obelisks +of Luxor, avenues of silent and mysterious sphinxes, colossi of monarchs +who reigned in the morning of the world. In the halls of Esar-haddon +they had stood before the thrones of grim old Assyrian kings, guarded by +winged bulls. In Babylon there still remained its walls, once more than +sixty miles in compass, and, after the ravages of three centuries and +three conquerors, still more than eighty feet in height; there were +still the ruins of the temple of cloud encompassed Bel, on its top was +planted the observatory wherein the weird Chaldean astronomers had held +nocturnal communion with the stars; still there were vestiges of the two +palaces with their hanging gardens in which were great trees growing in +mid-air, and the wreck of the hydraulic machinery that had supplied +them with water from the river. Into the artificial lake with its vast +apparatus of aqueducts and sluices the melted snows of the Armenian +mountains found their way, and were confined in their course through +the city by the embankments of the Euphrates. Most wonderful of all, +perhaps, was the tunnel under the river-bed. +</p> +<p> +EFFECT ON THE GREEK ARMY. If Chaldea, Assyria, Babylon, presented +stupendous and venerable antiquities reaching far back into the night of +time, Persia was not without her wonders of a later date. The pillared +halls of Persepolis were filled with miracles of art—carvings, +sculptures, enamels, alabaster libraries, obelisks, sphinxes, colossal +bulls. Ecbatana, the cool summer retreat of the Persian kings, was +defended by seven encircling walls of hewn and polished blocks, the +interior ones in succession of increasing height, and of different +colors, in astrological accordance with the seven planets. The palace +was roofed with silver tiles, its beams were plated with gold. At +midnight, in its halls the sunlight was rivaled by many a row of naphtha +cressets. A paradise—that luxury of the monarchs of the East—was +planted in the midst of the city. The Persian Empire, from the +Hellespont to the Indus, was truly the garden of the world. +</p> +<p> +EFFECTS ON THE GREEK ARMY. I have devoted a few pages to the story of +these marvelous campaigns, for the military talent they fostered led +to the establishment of the mathematical and practical schools of +Alexandria, the true origin of science. We trace back all our exact +knowledge to the Macedonian campaigns. Humboldt has well observed that +an introduction to new and grand objects of Nature enlarges the human +mind. The soldiers of Alexander and the hosts of his camp-followers +encountered at every march unexpected and picturesque scenery. Of all +men, the Greeks were the most observant, the most readily and profoundly +impressed. Here there were interminable sandy plains, there mountains +whose peaks were lost above the clouds. In the deserts were mirages, +on the hill-sides shadows of fleeting clouds sweeping over the forests. +They were in a land of amber-colored date-palms and cypresses, of +tamarisks, green myrtles, and oleanders. At Arbela they had fought +against Indian elephants; in the thickets of the Caspian they had roused +from his lair the lurking royal tiger. They had seen animals which, +compared with those of Europe, were not only strange, but colossal—the +rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, the camel, the crocodiles of the Nile +and the Ganges. They had encountered men of many complexions and many +costumes: the swarthy Syrian, the olive-colored Persian, the black +African. Even of Alexander himself it is related that on his death-bed +he caused his admiral, Nearchus, to sit by his side, and found +consolation in listening to the adventures of that sailor—the story of +his voyage from the Indus up the Persian Gulf. The conqueror had seen +with astonishment the ebbing and flowing of the tides. He had built +ships for the exploration of the Caspian, supposing that it and +the Black Sea might be gulfs of a great ocean, such as Nearchus had +discovered the Persian and Red Seas to be. He had formed a resolution +that his fleet should attempt the circumnavigation of Africa, and come +into the Mediterranean through the Pillars of Hercules—a feat which, it +was affirmed, had once been accomplished by the Pharaohs. +</p> +<p> +INTELLECTUAL CONDITION OF PERSIA. Not only her greatest soldiers, but +also her greatest philosophers, found in the conquered empire much that +might excite the admiration of Greece. Callisthenes obtained in Babylon +a series of Chaldean astronomical observations ranging back through +1,903 years; these he sent to Aristotle. Perhaps, since they were on +burnt bricks, duplicates of them may be recovered by modern research +in the clay libraries of the Assyrian kings. Ptolemy, the Egyptian +astronomer, possessed a Babylonian record of eclipses, going back +747 years before our era. Long-continued and close observations were +necessary, before some of these astronomical results that have reached +our times could have been ascertained. Thus the Babylonians had fixed +the length of a tropical year within twenty-five seconds of the truth; +their estimate of the sidereal year was barely two minutes in excess. +They had detected the precession of the equinoxes. They knew the causes +of eclipses, and, by the aid of their cycle called Saros, could predict +them. Their estimate of the value of that cycle, which is more than +6,585 days, was within nineteen and a half minutes of the truth. +</p> +<p> +INTELLECTUAL CONDITION OF PERSIA. Such facts furnish incontrovertible +proof of the patience and skill with which astronomy had been cultivated +in Mesopotamia, and that, with very inadequate instrumental means, it +had reached no inconsiderable perfection. These old observers had made +a catalogue of the stars, had divided the zodiac into twelve signs; they +had parted the day into twelve hours, the night into twelve. They had, +as Alistotle says, for a long time devoted themselves to observations of +star-occultations by the moon. They had correct views of the structure +of the solar system, and knew the order of the emplacement of the +planets. They constructed sundials, clepsydras, astrolabes, gnomons. +</p> +<p> +Not without interest do we still look on specimens of their method of +printing. Upon a revolving roller they engraved, in cuneiform letters, +their records, and, running this over plastic clay formed into blocks, +produced ineffaceable proofs. From their tile-libraries we are still +to reap a literary and historical harvest. They were not without some +knowledge of optics. The convex lens found at Nimroud shows that they +were not unacquainted with magnifying instruments. In arithmetic they +had detected the value of position in the digits, though they missed the +grand Indian invention of the cipher. +</p> +<p> +What a spectacle for the conquering Greeks, who, up to this time, had +neither experimented nor observed! They had contented themselves with +mere meditation and useless speculation. +</p> +<p> +ITS RELIGIOUS CONDITION. But Greek intellectual development, due thus +in part to a more extended view of Nature, was powerfully aided by the +knowledge then acquired of the religion of the conquered country. The +idolatry of Greece had always been a horror to Persia, who, in her +invasions, had never failed to destroy the temples and insult the fanes +of the bestial gods. The impunity with which these sacrileges had +been perpetrated had made a profound impression, and did no little to +undermine Hellenic faith. But now the worshiper of the vile Olympian +divinities, whose obscene lives must have been shocking to every +pious man, was brought in contact with a grand, a solemn, a consistent +religious system having its foundation on a philosophical basis. Persia, +as is the case with all empires of long duration, had passed through +many changes of religion. She had followed the Monotheism of Zoroaster; +had then accepted Dualism, and exchanged that for Magianism. At the time +of the Macedonian expedition, she recognized one universal Intelligence, +the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of all things, the most holy +essence of truth, the giver of all good. He was not to be represented by +any image, or any graven form. And, since, in every thing here below, we +see the resultant of two opposing forces, under him were two coequal and +coeternal principles, represented by the imagery of Light and Darkness. +These principles are in never-ending conflict. The world is their +battle-ground, man is their prize. +</p> +<p> +In the old legends of Dualism, the Evil Spirit was said to have sent +a serpent to ruin the paradise which the Good Spirit had made. These +legends became known to the Jews during their Babylonian captivity. +</p> +<p> +The existence of a principle of evil is the necessary incident of the +existence of a principle of good, as a shadow is the necessary incident +of the presence of light. In this manner could be explained the +occurrence of evil in a world, the maker and ruler of which is supremely +good. Each of the personified principles of light and darkness, Ormuzd +and Ahriman, had his subordinate angels, his counselors, his armies. It +is the duty of a good man to cultivate truth, purity, and industry. He +may look forward, when this life is over, to a life in another world, +and trust to a resurrection of the body, the immortality of the soul, +and a conscious future existence. +</p> +<p> +In the later years of the empire, the principles of Magianism had +gradually prevailed more and more over those of Zoroaster. Magianism was +essentially a worship of the elements. Of these, fire was considered as +the most worthy representative of the Supreme Being. On altars erected, +not in temples, but under the blue canopy of the sky, perpetual fires +were kept burning, and the rising sun was regarded as the noblest object +of human adoration. In the society of Asia, nothing is visible but the +monarch; in the expanse of heaven, all objects vanish in presence of the +sun. +</p> +<p> +DEATH OF ALEXANDER. Prematurely cut off in the midst of many great +projects Alexander died at Babylon before he had completed his +thirty-third year (B.C. 323). There was a suspicion that he had been +poisoned. His temper had become so unbridled, his passion so ferocious, +that his generals and even his intimate friends lived in continual +dread. Clitus, one of the latter, he in a moment of fury had stabbed to +the heart. Callisthenes, the intermedium between himself and Aristotle, +he had caused to be hanged, or, as was positively asserted by some who +knew the facts, had had him put upon the rack and then crucified. It +may have been in self-defense that the conspirators resolved on his +assassination. But surely it was a calumny to associate the name of +Aristotle with this transaction. He would have rather borne the worst +that Alexander could inflict, than have joined in the perpetration of so +great a crime. +</p> +<p> +A scene of confusion and bloodshed lasting many years ensued, nor did it +cease even after the Macedonian generals had divided the empire. Among +its vicissitudes one incident mainly claims our attention. Ptolemy, who +was a son of King Philip by Arsinoe, a beautiful concubine, and who +in his boyhood had been driven into exile with Alexander, when they +incurred their father's displeasure, who had been Alexander's comrade +in many of his battles and all his campaigns, became governor and +eventually king of Egypt. +</p> +<p> +FOUNDATION OF ALEXANDER. At the siege of Rhodes, Ptolemy had been of +such signal service to its citizens that in gratitude they paid divine +honors to him, and saluted him with the title of Soter (the Savior). +By that designation—Ptolemy Soter—he is distinguished from succeeding +kings of the Macedonian dynasty in Egypt. +</p> +<p> +He established his seat of government not in any of the old capitals +of the country, but in Alexandria. At the time of the expedition to +the temple of Jupiter Ammon, the Macedonian conqueror had caused the +foundations of that city to be laid, foreseeing that it might be +made the commercial entrepot between Asia and Europe. It is to be +particularly remarked that not only did Alexander himself deport many +Jews from Palestine to people the city, and not only did Ptolemy Soter +bring one hundred thousand more after his siege of Jerusalem, but +Philadelphus, his successor, redeemed from slavery one hundred and +ninety-eight thousand of that people, paying their Egyptian owners a +just money equivalent for each. To all these Jews the same privileges +were accorded as to the Macedonians. In consequence of this considerate +treatment, vast numbers of their compatriots and many Syrians +voluntarily came into Egypt. To them the designation of Hellenistical +Jews was given. In like manner, tempted by the benign government of +Soter, multitudes of Greeks sought refuge in the country, and the +invasions of Perdiccas and Antigonus showed that Greek soldiers would +desert from other Macedonian generals to join is armies. +</p> +<p> +The population of Alexandria was therefore of three distinct +nationalities: 1. Native Egyptians 2. Greeks; 3. Jews—a fact that has +left an impress on the religious faith of modern Europe. +</p> +<p> +Greek architects and Greek engineers had made Alexandria the most +beautiful city of the ancient world. They had filled it with magnificent +palaces, temples, theatres. In its centre, at the intersection of its +two grand avenues, which crossed each other at right angles, and in the +midst of gardens, fountains, obelisks, stood the mausoleum, in +which, embalmed after the manner of the Egyptians, rested the body of +Alexander. In a funereal journey of two years it had been brought with +great pomp from Babylon. At first the coffin was of pure gold, but +this having led to a violation of the tomb, it was replaced by one of +alabaster. But not these, not even the great light-house, Pharos, built +of blocks of white marble and so high that the fire continually burning +on its top could be seen many miles off at sea—the Pharos counted +as one of the seven wonders of the world—it is not these magnificent +achievements of architecture that arrest our attention; the true, the +most glorious monument of the Macedonian kings of Egypt is the Museum. +Its influences will last when even the Pyramids have passed away. +</p> +<p> +THE ALEXANDRIAN MUSEUM. The Alexandrian Museum was commenced by Ptolemy +Soter, and was completed by his son Ptolemy Philadelphus. It was +situated in the Bruchion, the aristocratic quarter of the city, +adjoining the king's palace. Built of marble, it was surrounded with +a piazza, in which the residents might walk and converse together. Its +sculptured apartments contained the Philadelphian library, and were +crowded with the choicest statues and pictures. This library eventually +comprised four hundred thousand volumes. In the course of time, probably +on account of inadequate accommodation for so many books, an additional +library was established in the adjacent quarter Rhacotis, and placed +in the Serapion or temple of Serapis. The number of volumes in this +library, which was called the Daughter of that in the Museum, was +eventually three hundred thousand. There were, therefore, seven hundred +thousand volumes in these royal collections. +</p> +<p> +Alexandria was not merely the capital of Egypt, it was the intellectual +metropolis of the world. Here it was truly said the Genius of the East +met the Genius of the West, and this Paris of antiquity became a focus +of fashionable dissipation and universal skepticism. In the allurements +of its bewitching society even the Jews forgot their patriotism. They +abandoned the language of their forefathers, and adopted Greek. +</p> +<p> +In the establishment of the Museum, Ptolemy Soter and his son +Philadelphus had three objects in view: 1. The perpetuation of such +knowledge as was then in the world; 2. Its increase; 3. Its diffusion. +</p> +<p> +1. For the perpetuation of knowledge. Orders were given to the chief +librarian to buy at the king's expense whatever books he could. A body +of transcribers was maintained in the Museum, whose duty it was to make +correct copies of such works as their owners were not disposed to sell. +Any books brought by foreigners into Egypt were taken at once to the +Museum, and, when correct copies had been made, the transcript was given +to the owner, and the original placed in the library. Often a very large +pecuniary indemnity was paid. Thus it is said of Ptolemy Euergetes +that, having obtained from Athens the works of Euripides, Sophocles, +and Aeschylus, he sent to their owners transcripts, together with about +fifteen thousand dollars, as an indemnity. On his return from the Syrian +expedition he carried back in triumph all the Egyptian monuments from +Ecbatana and Susa, which Cambyses and other invaders had removed from +Egypt. These he replaced in their original seats, or added as adornments +to his museums. When works were translated as well as transcribed, sums +which we should consider as almost incredible were paid, as was the +case with the Septuagint translation of the Bible, ordered by Ptolemy +Philadelphus. +</p> +<p> +2. For the increase of knowledge. One of the chief objects of the Museum +was that of serving as the home of a body of men who devoted themselves +to study, and were lodged and maintained at the king's expense. +Occasionally he himself sat at their table. Anecdotes connected with +those festive occasions have descended to our times. In the original +organization of the Museum the residents were divided into four +faculties—literature; mathematics, astronomy, medicine. Minor branches +were appropriately classified under one of these general heads; thus +natural history was considered to be a branch of medicine. An officer of +very great distinction presided over the establishment, and had general +charge of its interests. Demetrius Phalareus, perhaps the most learned +man of his age, who had been governor of Athens for many years, was the +first so appointed. Under him was the librarian, an office sometimes +held by men whose names have descended to our times, as Eratosthenes, +and Apollonius Rhodius. +</p> +<p> +ORGANIZATION OF THE MUSEUM. In connection with the Museum were a +botanical and a zoological garden. These gardens, as their names import, +were for the purpose of facilitating the study of plants and animals. +There was also an astronomical observatory containing armillary spheres, +globes, solstitial and equatorial armils, astrolabes, parallactic +rules, and other apparatus then in use, the graduation on the divided +instruments being into degrees and sixths. On the floor of this +observatory a meridian line was drawn. The want of correct means of +measuring time and temperature was severely felt; the clepsydra of +Ctesibius answered very imperfectly for the former, the hydrometer +floating in a cup of water for the latter; it measured variations of +temperature by variations of density. Philadelphus, who toward the close +of his life was haunted with an intolerable dread of death, devoted much +of his time to the discovery of an elixir. For such pursuits the Museum +was provided with a chemical laboratory. In spite of the prejudices of +the age, and especially in spite of Egyptian prejudices, there was +in connection with the medical department an anatomical room for the +dissection, not only of the dead, but actually of the living, who for +crimes had been condemned. +</p> +<p> +3. For the diffusion of knowledge. In the Museum was given, by lectures, +conversation, or other appropriate methods instruction in all the +various departments of human knowledge. There flocked to this great +intellectual centre, students from all countries. It is said that at one +time not fewer than fourteen thousand were in attendance. Subsequently +even the Christian church received from it some of the most eminent of +its Fathers, as Clemens Alexandrinus, Origen, Athanasius. +</p> +<p> +The library in the Museum was burnt during the siege of Alexandria by +Julius Caesar. To make amends for this great loss, that collected +by Eumenes, King of Pergamus, was presented by Mark Antony to Queen +Cleopatra. Originally it was founded as a rival to that of the +Ptolemies. It was added to the collection in the Serapion. +</p> +<p> +SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL OF THE MUSEUM. It remains now to describe briefly the +philosophical basis of the Museum, and some of its contributions to the +stock of human knowledge. +</p> +<p> +In memory of the illustrious founder of this most noble institution—an +institution which antiquity delighted to call "The divine school of +Alexandria"—we must mention in the first rank his "History of the +Campaigns of Alexander." Great as a soldier and as a sovereign, Ptolemy +Soter added to his glory by being an author. Time, which has not been +able to destroy the memory of our obligations to him, has dealt unjustly +by his work. It is not now extant. +</p> +<p> +As might be expected from the friendship that existed between Alexander, +Ptolemy, and Aristotle, the Aristotelian philosophy was the intellectual +corner-stone on which the Museum rested. King Philip had committed the +education of Alexander to Aristotle, and during the Persian campaigns +the conqueror contributed materially, not only in money, but otherwise, +toward the "Natural History" then in preparation. +</p> +<p> +The essential principle of the Aristotelian philosophy was, to rise +from the study of particulars to a knowledge of general principles or +universals, advancing to them by induction. The induction is the +more certain as the facts on which it is based are more numerous; its +correctness is established if it should enable us to predict other facts +until then unknown. This system implies endless toil in the collection +of facts, both by experiment and observation; it implies also a close +meditation on them. It is, therefore, essentially a method of labor +and of reason, not a method of imagination. The failures that Aristotle +himself so often exhibits are no proof of its unreliability, but +rather of its trustworthiness. They are failures arising from want of a +sufficiency of facts. +</p> +<p> +ETHICAL SCHOOL OF THE MUSEUM. Some of the general results at which +Aristotle arrived are very grand. Thus, he concluded that every thing is +ready to burst into life, and that the various organic forms presented +to us by Nature are those which existing conditions permit. Should +the conditions change, the forms will also change. Hence there is an +unbroken chain from the simple element through plants and animals up to +man, the different groups merging by insensible shades into each other. +</p> +<p> +The inductive philosophy thus established by Aristotle is a method of +great power. To it all the modern advances in science are due. In +its most improved form it rises by inductions from phenomena to their +causes, and then, imitating the method of the Academy, it descends by +deductions from those causes to the detail of phenomena. +</p> +<p> +While thus the Scientific School of Alexandria was founded on the maxims +of one great Athenian philosopher, the Ethical School was founded on the +maxims of another, for Zeno, though a Cypriote or Phoenician, had for +many years been established at Athens. His disciples took the name of +Stoics. His doctrines long survived him, and, in times when there was no +other consolation for man, offered a support in the hour of trial, and +an unwavering guide in the vicissitudes of life, not only to illustrious +Greeks, but also to many of the great philosophers, statesmen, generals, +and emperors of Rome. +</p> +<p> +THE PRINCIPLES OF STOICISM. The aim of Zeno was, to furnish a guide +for the daily practice of life, to make men virtuous. He insisted that +education is the true foundation of virtue, for, if we know what is +good, we shall incline to do it. We must trust to sense, to furnish the +data of knowledge, and reason will suitably combine them. In this the +affinity of Zeno to Aristotle is plainly seen. Every appetite, lust, +desire, springs from imperfect knowledge. Our nature is imposed upon +us by Fate, but we must learn to control our passions, and live free, +intelligent, virtuous, in all things in accordance with reason. Our +existence should be intellectual, we should survey with equanimity all +pleasures and all pains. We should never forget that we are freemen, not +the slaves of society. "I possess," said the Stoic, "a treasure which +not all the world can rob me of—no one can deprive me of death." We +should remember that Nature in her operations aims at the universal, and +never spares individuals, but uses them as means for the accomplishment +of her ends. It is, therefore, for us to submit to Destiny, cultivating, +as the things necessary to virtue, knowledge, temperance, fortitude, +justice. We must remember that every thing around us is in mutation; +decay follows reproduction, and reproduction decay, and that it is +useless to repine at death in a world where every thing is dying. As a +cataract shows from year to year an invariable shape, though the water +composing it is perpetually changing, so the aspect of Nature is nothing +more than a flow of matter presenting an impermanent form. The universe, +considered as a whole, is unchangeable. Nothing is eternal but +space, atoms, force. The forms of Nature that we see are essentially +transitory, they must all pass away. +</p> +<p> +STOICISM IN THE MUSEUM. We must bear in mind that the majority of men +are imperfectly educated, and hence we must not needlessly offend the +religious ideas of our age. It is enough for us ourselves to know that, +though there is a Supreme Power, there is no Supreme Being. There is an +invisible principle, but not a personal God, to whom it would be not +so much blasphemy as absurdity to impute the form, the sentiments, the +passions of man. All revelation is, necessarily, a mere fiction. That +which men call chance is only the effect of an unknown cause. Even of +chances there is a law. There is no such thing as Providence, for Nature +proceeds under irresistible laws, and in this respect the universe is +only a vast automatic engine. The vital force which pervades the world +is what the illiterate call God. The modifications through which all +things are running take place in an irresistible way, and hence it may +be said that the progress of the world is, under Destiny, like a seed, +it can evolve only in a predetermined mode. +</p> +<p> +The soul of man is a spark of the vital flame, the general vital +principle. Like heat, it passes from one to another, and is finally +reabsorbed or reunited in the universal principle from which it came. +Hence we must not expect annihilation, but reunion; and, as the tired +man looks forward to the insensibility of sleep, so the philosopher, +weary of the world, should look forward to the tranquillity of +extinction. Of these things, however, we should think doubtingly, since +the mind can produce no certain knowledge from its internal resources +alone. It is unphilosophical to inquire into first causes; we must deal +only with phenomena. Above all, we must never forget that man cannot +ascertain absolute truth, and that the final result of human inquiry +into the matter is, that we are incapable of perfect knowledge; that, +even if the truth be in our possession, we cannot be sure of it. +</p> +<p> +What, then, remains for us? Is it not this—the acquisition of +knowledge, the cultivation of virtue and of friendship, the observance +of faith and truth, an unrepining submission to whatever befalls us, a +life led in accordance with reason? +</p> +<p> +PLATONISM IN THE MUSEUM. But, though the Alexandrian Museum was +especially intended for the cultivation of the Aristotelian philosophy, +it must not be supposed that other systems were excluded. Platonism was +not only carried to its full development, but in the end it supplanted +Peripateticism, and through the New Academy left a permanent impress on +Christianity. The philosophical method of Plato was the inverse of that +of Aristotle. Its starting-point was universals, the very existence of +which was a matter of faith, and from these it descended to particulars, +or details. Aristotle, on the contrary, rose from particulars to +universals, advancing to them by inductions. +</p> +<p> +Plato, therefore, trusted to the imagination, Aristotle to reason. +The former descended from the decomposition of a primitive idea into +particulars, the latter united particulars into a general conception. +Hence the method of Plato was capable of quickly producing what seemed +to be splendid, though in reality unsubstantial results; that of +Aristotle was more tardy in its operation, but much more solid. It +implied endless labor in the collection of facts, a tedious resort +to experiment and observation, the application of demonstration. The +philosophy of Plato is a gorgeous castle in the air; that of Aristotle +a solid structure, laboriously, and with many failures, founded on the +solid rock. +</p> +<p> +An appeal to the imagination is much more alluring than the employment +of reason. In the intellectual decline of Alexandria, indolent methods +were preferred to laborious observation and severe mental exercise. The +schools of Neo-Platonism were crowded with speculative mystics, such +as Ammonius Saccas and Plotinus. These took the place of the severe +geometers of the old Museum. +</p> +<p> +PHYSICAL SCIENCE IN THE MUSEUM. The Alexandrian school offers the first +example of that system which, in the hands of modern physicists, has +led to such wonderful results. It rejected imagination, and made its +theories the expression of facts obtained by experiment and observation, +aided by mathematical discussion. It enforced the principle that the +true method of studying Nature is by experimental interrogation. The +researches of Archimedes in specific gravity, and the works of +Ptolemy on optics, resemble our present investigations in experimental +philosophy, and stand in striking contrast with the speculative vagaries +of the older writers. Laplace says that the only observation which the +history of astronomy offers us, made by the Greeks before the school +of Alexandria, is that of the summer solstice of the year B.C. 432. +by Meton and Euctemon. We have, for the first time, in that school, +a combined system of observations made with instruments for the +measurement of angles, and calculated by trigonometrical methods. +Astronomy then took a form which subsequent ages could only perfect. +</p> +<p> +It does not accord with the compass or the intention of this work to +give a detailed account of the contributions of the Alexandrian Museum +to the stock of human knowledge. It is sufficient that the reader should +obtain a general impression of their character. For particulars, I +may refer him to the sixth chapter of my "History of the Intellectual +Development of Europe." +</p> +<p> +EUCLID—ARCHIMEDES. It has just been remarked that the Stoical +philosophy doubted whether the mind can ascertain absolute truth. While +Zeno was indulging in such doubts, Euclid was preparing his great work, +destined to challenge contradiction from the whole human race. After +more than twenty-two centuries it still survives, a model of accuracy, +perspicuity, and a standard of exact demonstration. This great geometer +not only wrote on other mathematical topics, such as Conic Sections and +Porisms, but there are imputed to him treatises on Harmonics and Optics, +the latter subject being discussed on the hypothesis of rays issuing +from the eye to the object. +</p> +<p> +With the Alexandrian mathematicians and physicists must be classed +Archimedes, though he eventually resided in Sicily. Among his +mathematical works were two books on the Sphere and Cylinder, in +which he gave the demonstration that the solid content of a sphere is +two-thirds that of its circumscribing cylinder. So highly did he esteem +this, that he directed the diagram to be engraved on his tombstone. He +also treated of the quadrature of the circle and of the parabola; he +wrote on Conoids and Spheroids, and on the spiral that bears his name, +the genesis of which was suggested to him by his friend Conon the +Alexandrian. As a mathematician, Europe produced no equal to him for +nearly two thousand years. In physical science he laid the foundation +of hydrostatics; invented a method for the determination of specific +gravities; discussed the equilibrium of floating bodies; discovered the +true theory of the lever, and invented a screw, which still bears +his name, for raising the water of the Nile. To him also are to be +attributed the endless screw, and a peculiar form of burning-mirror, by +which, at the siege of Syracuse, it is said that he set the Roman fleet +on fire. +</p> +<p> +ERATOSTHENES—APOLLONIUS—HIPPARCHUS. Eratosthenes, who at one time had +charge of the library, was the author of many important works. Among +them may be mentioned his determination of the interval between +the tropics, and an attempt to ascertain the size of the earth. He +considered the articulation and expansion of continents, the position +of mountain-chains, the action of clouds, the geological submersion of +lands, the elevation of ancient sea-beds, the opening of the Dardanelles +and the straits of Gibraltar, and the relations of the Euxine Sea. +He composed a complete system of the earth, in three books—physical, +mathematical, historical—accompanied by a map of all the parts then +known. It is only of late years that the fragments remaining of his +"Chronicles of the Theban Kings" have been justly appreciated. For +many centuries they were thrown into discredit by the authority of our +existing absurd theological chronology. +</p> +<p> +It is unnecessary to adduce the arguments relied upon by the +Alexandrians to prove the globular form of the earth. They had correct +ideas respecting the doctrine of the sphere, its poles, axis, equator, +arctic and antarctic circles, equinoctial points, solstices, the +distribution of climates, etc. I cannot do more than merely allude to +the treatises on Conic Sections and on Maxima and Minima by Apollonius, +who is said to have been the first to introduce the words ellipse and +hyperbola. In like manner I must pass the astronomical observations +of Alistyllus and Timocharis. It was to those of the latter on Spica +Virginis that Hipparchus was indebted for his great discovery of the +precession of the eqninoxes. Hipparchus also determined the first +inequality of the moon, the equation of the centre. He adopted the +theory of epicycles and eccentrics, a geometrical conception for the +purpose of resolving the apparent motions of the heavenly bodies on the +principle of circular movement. He also undertook to make a catalogue +of the stars by the method of alineations—that is, by indicating those +that are in the same apparent straight line. The number of stars so +catalogued was 1,080. If he thus attempted to depict the aspect of +the sky, he endeavored to do the same for the surface of the earth, by +marking the position of towns and other places by lines of latitude and +longitude. He was the first to construct tables of the sun and moon. +</p> +<p> +THE SYNTAXIS OF PTOLEMY. In the midst of such a brilliant constellation +of geometers, astronomers, physicists, conspicuously shines forth +Ptolemy, the author of the great work, "Syntaxis," "a Treatise on the +Mathematical Construction of the Heavens." It maintained its ground +for nearly fifteen hundred years, and indeed was only displaced by the +immortal "Principia" of Newton. It commences with the doctrine that the +earth is globular and fixed in space, it describes the construction of a +table of chords, and instruments for observing the solstices, it deduces +the obliquity of the ecliptic, it finds terrestrial latitudes by the +gnomon, describes climates, shows how ordinary may be converted into +sidereal time, gives reasons for preferring the tropical to the sidereal +year, furnishes the solar theory on the principle of the sun's orbit +being a simple eccentric, explains the equation of time, advances to the +discussion of the motions of the moon, treats of the first inequality, +of her eclipses, and the motion of her nodes. It then gives Ptolemy's +own great discovery—that which has made his name immortal—the +discovery of the moon's evection or second inequality, reducing it to +the epicyclic theory. It attempts the determination of the distances of +the sun and moon from the earth—with, however, only partial success. It +considers the precession of the equinoxes, the discovery of Hipparchus, +the full period of which is twenty-five thousand years. It gives a +catalogue of 1,022 stars, treats of the nature of the milky-way, and +discusses in the most masterly manner the motions of the planets. This +point constitutes another of Ptolemy's claims to scientific fame. His +determination of the planetary orbits was accomplished by comparing +his own observations with those of former astronomers, among them the +observations of Timocharis on the planet Venus. +</p> +<p> +INVENTION OF THE STEAM-ENGINE. In the Museum of Alexandria, Ctesibius +invented the fire-engine. His pupil, Hero, improved it by giving it two +cylinders. There, too, the first steam-engine worked. This also was the +invention of Hero, and was a reaction engine, on the principle of +the eolipile. The silence of the halls of Serapis was broken by the +water-clocks of Ctesibius and Apollonius, which drop by drop measured +time. When the Roman calendar had fallen into such confusion that it +had become absolutely necessary to rectify it, Julius Caesar brought +Sosigenes the astronomer from Alexandria. By his advice the lunar year +was abolished, the civil year regulated entirely by the sun, and the +Julian calendar introduced. +</p> +<p> +The Macedonian rulers of Egypt have been blamed for the manner in which +they dealt with the religious sentiment of their time. They prostituted +it to the purpose of state-craft, finding in it a means of governing +their lower classes. To the intelligent they gave philosophy. +</p> +<p> +POLICY OF THE PTOLEMIES. But doubtless they defended this policy by the +experience gathered in those great campaigns which had made the Greeks +the foremost nation of the world. They had seen the mythological +conceptions of their ancestral country dwindle into fables; the wonders +with which the old poets adorned the Mediterranean had been discovered +to be baseless illusions. From Olympus its divinities had disappeared; +indeed, Olympus itself had proved to be a phantom of the imagination. +Hades had lost its terrors; no place could be found for it. +</p> +<p> +From the woods and grottoes and rivers of Asia Minor the local gods and +goddesses had departed; even their devotees began to doubt whether they +had ever been there. If still the Syrian damsels lamented, in their +amorous ditties, the fate of Adonis, it was only as a recollection, not +as a reality. Again and again had Persia changed her national faith. For +the revelation of Zoroaster she had substituted Dualism; then under new +political influences she had adopted Magianism. She had worshiped fire, +and kept her altars burning on mountain-tops. She had adored the sun. +When Alexander came, she was fast falling into pantheism. +</p> +<p> +On a country to which in its political extremity the indigenous gods +have been found unable to give any protection, a change of faith is +impending. The venerable divinities of Egypt, to whose glory obelisks +had been raised and temples dedicated, had again and again submitted +to the sword of a foreign conqueror. In the land of the Pyramids, the +Colossi, the Sphinx, the images of the gods had ceased to represent +living realities. They had ceased to be objects of faith. Others of more +recent birth were needful, and Serapis confronted Osiris. In the shops +and streets of Alexandria there were thousands of Jews who had forgotten +the God that had made his habitation behind the veil of the temple. +</p> +<p> +Tradition, revelation, time, all had lost their influence. The +traditions of European mythology, the revelations of Asia, the +time-consecrated dogmas of Egypt, all had passed or were fast passing +away. And the Ptolemies recognized how ephemeral are forms of faith. +</p> +<p> +But the Ptolemies also recognized that there is something more durable +than forms of faith, which, like the organic forms of geological ages, +once gone, are clean gone forever, and have no restoration, no return. +They recognized that within this world of transient delusions and +unrealities there is a world of eternal truth. +</p> +<p> +That world is not to be discovered through the vain traditions that +have brought down to us the opinions of men who lived in the morning of +civilization, nor in the dreams of mystics who thought that they were +inspired. It is to be discovered by the investigations of geometry, +and by the practical interrogation of Nature. These confer on humanity +solid, and innumerable, and inestimable blessings. +</p> +<p> +The day will never come when any one of the propositions of Euclid will +be denied; no one henceforth will call in question the globular shape of +the earth, as recognized by Eratosthenes; the world will not permit +the great physical inventions and discoveries made in Alexandria and +Syracuse to be forgotten. The names of Hipparchus, of Apollonius, of +Ptolemy, of Archimedes, will be mentioned with reverence by men of every +religious profession, as long as there are men to speak. +</p> +<p> +THE MUSEUM AND MODERN SCIENCE. The Museum of Alexandria was thus +the birthplace of modern science. It is true that, long before its +establishment, astronomical observations had been made in China and +Mesopotamia; the mathematics also had been cultivated with a certain +degree of success in India. But in none of these countries had +investigation assumed a connected and consistent form; in none was +physical experimentation resorted to. The characteristic feature of +Alexandrian, as of modern science, is, that it did not restrict itself +to observation, but relied on a practical interrogation of Nature. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0002"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER II. +</h2> +<pre> + THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIANITY.—ITS TRANSFORMATION ON ATTAINING + IMPERIAL POWER.—ITS RELATIONS TO SCIENCE. + + Religious condition of the Roman Republic.—The adoption of + imperialism leads to monotheism.—Christianity spreads over + the Roman Empire.—The circumstances under which it + attained imperial power make its union with Paganism a + political necessity.—Tertullian's description of its + doctrines and practices.—Debasing effect of the policy of + Constantine on it.—Its alliance with the civil power.—Its + incompatibility with science.—Destruction of the + Alexandrian Library and prohibition of philosophy.— + Exposition of the Augustinian philosophy and Patristic + science generally.—The Scriptures made the standard of + science. +</pre> +<p> +IN a political sense, Christianity is the bequest of the Roman Empire to +the world. +</p> +<p> +At the epoch of the transition of Rome from the republican to the +imperial form of government, all the independent nationalities around +the Mediterranean Sea had been brought under the control of that central +power. The conquest that had befallen them in succession had been by no +means a disaster. The perpetual wars they had maintained with each +other came to an end; the miseries their conflicts had engendered were +exchanged for universal peace. +</p> +<p> +Not only as a token of the conquest she had made but also as a +gratification to her pride, the conquering republic brought the gods +of the vanquished peoples to Rome. With disdainful toleration, she +permitted the worship of them all. That paramount authority exercised by +each divinity in his original seat disappeared at once in the crowd of +gods and goddesses among whom he had been brought. Already, as we have +seen, through geographical discoveries and philosophical criticism, +faith in the religion of the old days had been profoundly shaken. It +was, by this policy of Rome, brought to an end. +</p> +<p> +MONOTHEISM IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. The kings of all the conquered provinces +had vanished; in their stead one emperor had come. The gods also had +disappeared. Considering the connection which in all ages has existed +between political and religious ideas, it was then not at all strange +that polytheism should manifest a tendency to pass into monotheism. +Accordingly, divine honors were paid at first to the deceased and at +length to the living emperor. +</p> +<p> +The facility with which gods were thus called into existence had a +powerful moral effect. The manufacture of a new one cast ridicule on +the origin of the old Incarnation in the East and apotheosis in the West +were fast filling Olympus with divinities. In the East, gods descended +from heaven, and were made incarnate in men; in the West, men ascended +from earth, and took their seat among the gods. It was not the +importation of Greek skepticism that made Rome skeptical. The excesses +of religion itself sapped the foundations of faith. +</p> +<p> +Not with equal rapidity did all classes of the population adopt +monotheistic views. The merchants and lawyers and soldiers, who by the +nature of their pursuits are more familiar with the vicissitudes of +life, and have larger intellectual views, were the first to be affected, +the land laborers and farmers the last. +</p> +<p> +THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY When the empire in a military and political +sense had reached its culmination, in a religious and social aspect +it had attained its height of immorality. It had become thoroughly +epicurean; its maxim was, that life should be made a feast, that +virtue is only the seasoning of pleasure, and temperance the means of +prolonging it. Dining-rooms glittering with gold and incrusted with +gems, slaves in superb apparel, the fascinations of female society where +all the women were dissolute, magnificent baths, theatres, gladiators, +such were the objects of Roman desire. The conquerors of the world had +discovered that the only thing worth worshiping is Force. By it all +things might be secured, all that toil and trade had laboriously +obtained. The confiscation of goods and lands, the taxation of +provinces, were the reward of successful warfare; and the emperor +was the symbol of force. There was a social splendor, but it was the +phosphorescent corruption of the ancient Mediterranean world. +</p> +<p> +In one of the Eastern provinces, Syria, some persons in very humble +life had associated themselves together for benevolent and religious +purposes. The doctrines they held were in harmony with that sentiment +of universal brotherhood arising from the coalescence of the conquered +kingdoms. They were doctrines inculcated by Jesus. +</p> +<p> +The Jewish people at that time entertained a belief, founded on old +traditions, that a deliverer would arise among them, who would restore +them to their ancient splendor. The disciples of Jesus regarded him +as this long-expected Messiah. But the priesthood, believing that the +doctrines he taught were prejudicial to their interests, denounced +him to the Roman governor, who, to satisfy their clamors, reluctantly +delivered him over to death. +</p> +<p> +His doctrines of benevolence and human brotherhood outlasted that +event. The disciples, instead of scattering, organized. They associated +themselves on a principle of communism, each throwing into the common +stock whatever property he possessed, and all his gains. The widows +and orphans of the community were thus supported, the poor and the sick +sustained. From this germ was developed a new, and as the events proved, +all-powerful society—the Church; new, for nothing of the kind had +existed in antiquity; powerful, for the local churches, at first +isolated, soon began to confederate for their common interest. Through +this organization Christianity achieved all her political triumphs. +</p> +<p> +As we have said, the military domination of Rome had brought about +universal peace, and had generated a sentiment of brotherhood among the +vanquished nations. Things were, therefore, propitious for the rapid +diffusion of the newly-established—the Christian—principle +throughout the empire. It spread from Syria through all Asia Minor, +and successively reached Cyprus, Greece, Italy, eventually extending +westward as far as Gaul and Britain. +</p> +<p> +Its propagation was hastened by missionaries who made it known in all +directions. None of the ancient classical philosophies had ever taken +advantage of such a means. +</p> +<p> +Political conditions determined the boundaries of the new religion. Its +limits were eventually those of the Roman Empire; Rome, doubtfully the +place of death of Peter, not Jerusalem, indisputably the place of the +death of our Savior, became the religious capital. It was better to have +possession of the imperial seven hilled city, than of Gethsemane and +Calvary with all their holy souvenirs. +</p> +<p> +IT GATHERS POLITICAL POWER. For many years Christianity manifested +itself as a system enjoining three things—toward God veneration, in +personal life purity, in social life benevolence. In its early days of +feebleness it made proselytes only by persuasion, but, as it increased +in numbers and influence, it began to exhibit political tendencies, a +disposition to form a government within the government, an empire within +the empire. These tendencies it has never since lost. They are, in +truth, the logical result of its development. The Roman emperors, +discovering that it was absolutely incompatible with the imperial +system, tried to put it down by force. This was in accordance with the +spirit of their military maxims, which had no other means but force for +the establishment of conformity. +</p> +<p> +In the winter A.D. 302-'3, the Christian soldiers in some of the legions +refused to join in the time-honored solemnities for propitiating the +gods. The mutiny spread so quickly, the emergency became so pressing, +that the Emperor Diocletian was compelled to hold a council for the +purpose of determining what should be done. The difficulty of the +position may perhaps be appreciated when it is understood that the wife +and the daughter of Diocletian himself were Christians. He was a man +of great capacity and large political views; he recognized in the +opposition that must be made to the new party a political necessity, +yet he expressly enjoined that there should be no bloodshed. But who can +control an infuriated civil commotion? The church of Nicomedia was razed +to the ground; in retaliation the imperial palace was set on fire, an +edict was openly insulted and torn down. The Christian officers in the +army were cashiered; in all directions, martyrdoms and massacres were +taking place. So resistless was the march of events, that not even the +emperor himself could stop the persecution. +</p> +<p> +THE FIRST CHRISTIAN EMPEROR. It had now become evident that the +Christians constituted a powerful party in the state, animated with +indignation at the atrocities they had suffered, and determined to +endure them no longer. After the abdication of Diocletian (A.D. 305), +Constantine, one of the competitors for the purple, perceiving the +advantages that would accrue to him from such a policy, put himself +forth as the head of the Christian party. This gave him, in every part +of the empire, men and women ready to encounter fire and sword in his +behalf; it gave him unwavering adherents in every legion of the armies. +In a decisive battle, near the Milvian bridge, victory crowned his +schemes. The death of Maximin, and subsequently that of Licinius, +removed all obstacles. He ascended the throne of the Caesars—the first +Christian emperor. +</p> +<p> +Place, profit, power—these were in view of whoever now joined the +conquering sect. Crowds of worldly persons, who cared nothing about its +religious ideas, became its warmest supporters. Pagans at heart, their +influence was soon manifested in the paganization of Christianity that +forthwith ensued. The emperor, no better than they, did nothing to check +their proceedings. But he did not personally conform to the ceremonial +requirements of the Church until the close of his evil life, A.D. 337. +</p> +<p> +TERTULLIAN'S EXPOSITION OF CHRISTIANITY. That we may clearly appreciate +the modifications now impressed on Christianity—modifications which +eventually brought it in conflict with science—we must have, as a +means of comparison, a statement of what it was in its purer days. +Such, fortunately, we find in the "Apology or Defense of the Christians +against the Accusations of the Gentiles," written by Tertullian, at +Rome, during the persecution of Severus. He addressed it, not to the +emperor, but to the magistrates who sat in judgment on the accused. It +is a solemn and most earnest expostulation, setting forth all that could +be said in explanation of the subject, a representation of the belief +and cause of the Christians made in the imperial city in the face of the +whole world, not a querulous or passionate ecclesiastical appeal, but +a grave historical document. It has ever been looked upon as one of the +ablest of the early Christian works. Its date is about A.D. 200. +</p> +<p> +With no inconsiderable skill Tertullian opens his argument. He tells +the magistrates that Christianity is a stranger upon earth, and that she +expects to meet with enemies in a country which is not her own. She only +asks that she may not be condemned unheard, and that Roman magistrates +will permit her to defend herself; that the laws of the empire will +gather lustre, if judgment be passed upon her after she has been tried +but not if she is sentenced without a hearing of her cause; that it is +unjust to hate a thing of which we are ignorant, even though it may be a +thing worthy of hate; that the laws of Rome deal with actions, not with +mere names; but that, notwithstanding this, persons have been punished +because they were called Christians, and that without any accusation of +crime. +</p> +<p> +He then advances to an exposition of the origin, the nature, and the +effects of Christianity, stating that it is founded on the Hebrew +Scriptures, which are the most venerable of all books. He says to the +magistrates: "The books of Moses, in which God has inclosed, as in +a treasure, all the religion of the Jews, and consequently all the +Christian religion, reach far beyond the oldest you have, even beyond +all your public monuments, the establishment of your state, the +foundation of many great cities—all that is most advanced by you in all +ages of history, and memory of times; the invention of letters, which +are the interpreters of sciences and the guardians of all excellent +things. I think I may say more—beyond your gods, your temples, your +oracles and sacrifices. The author of those books lived a thousand years +before the siege of Troy, and more than fifteen hundred before Homer." +Time is the ally of truth, and wise men believe nothing but what is +certain, and what has been verified by time. The principal authority +of these Scriptures is derived from their venerable antiquity. The most +learned of the Ptolemies, who was surnamed Philadelphus, an accomplished +prince, by the advice of Demetrius Phalareus, obtained a copy of these +holy books. It may be found at this day in his library. The divinity of +these Scriptures is proved by this, that all that is done in our days +may be found predicted in them; they contain all that has since passed +in the view of men. +</p> +<p> +Is not the accomplishment of a prophecy a testimony to its truth? Seeing +that events which are past have vindicated these prophecies, shall we be +blamed for trusting them in events that are to come? Now, as we believe +things that have been prophesied and have come to pass, so we believe +things that have been told us, but not yet come to pass, because they +have all been foretold by the same Scriptures, as well those that are +verified every day as those that still remain to be fulfilled. +</p> +<p> +These Holy Scriptures teach us that there is one God, who made the world +out of nothing, who, though daily seen, is invisible; his infiniteness +is known only to himself; his immensity conceals, but at the same +time discovers him. He has ordained for men, according to their lives, +rewards and punishments; he will raise all the dead that have ever lived +from the creation of the world, will command them to reassume their +bodies, and thereupon adjudge them to felicity that has so end, or to +eternal flames. The fires of hell are those hidden flames which the +earth shuts up in her bosom. He has in past times sent into the world +preachers or prophets. The prophets of those old times were Jews; they +addressed their oracles, for such they were, to the Jews, who +have stored them up in the Scriptures. On them, as has been said, +Christianity is founded, though the Christian differs in his ceremonies +from the Jew. We are accused of worshiping a man, and not the God of +the Jews. Not so. The honor we bear to Christ does not derogate from the +honor we bear to God. +</p> +<p> +On account of the merit of these ancient patriarchs, the Jews were the +only beloved people of God; he delighted to be in communication with +them by his own mouth. By him they were raised to admirable greatness. +But with perversity they wickedly ceased to regard him; they changed +his laws into a profane worship. He warned them that he would take to +himself servants more faithful than they, and, for their crime, punished +them by driving them forth from their country. They are now spread all +over the world; they wander in all parts; they cannot enjoy the air they +breathed at their birth; they have neither man nor God for their king. +As he threatened them, so he has done. He has taken, in all nations +and countries of the earth, people more faithful than they. Through his +prophets he had declared that these should have greater favors, and that +a Messiah should come, to publish a new law among them. This Messiah was +Jesus, who is also God. For God may be derived from God, as the light +of a candle may be derived from the light of another candle. God and his +Son are the self-same God—a light is the same light as that from which +it was taken. +</p> +<p> +The Scriptures make known two comings of the Son of God; the first in +humility, the second at the day of judgment, in power. The Jews might +have known all this from the prophets, but their sins have so blinded +them that they did not recognize him at his first coming, and are still +vainly expecting him. They believed that all the miracles wrought by +him were the work of magic. The doctors of the law and the chief priests +were envious of him; they denounced him to Pilate. He was crucified, +died, was buried, and after three days rose again. For forty days he +remained among his disciples. Then he was environed in a cloud, and +rose up to heaven—a truth far more certain than any human testimonies +touching the ascension of Romulus or of any other Roman prince mounting +up to the same place. +</p> +<p> +Tertullian then describes the origin and nature of devils, who, under +Satan, their prince, produce diseases, irregularities of the air, +plagues, and the blighting of the blossoms of the earth, who seduce men +to offer sacrifices, that they may have the blood of the victims, which +is their food. They are as nimble as the birds, and hence know every +thing that is passing upon earth; they live in the air, and hence can +spy what is going on in heaven; for this reason they can impose on men +reigned prophecies, and deliver oracles. Thus they announced in Rome +that a victory would be obtained over King Perseus, when in truth they +knew that the battle was already won. They falsely cure diseases; for, +taking possession of the body of a man, they produce in him a distemper, +and then ordaining some remedy to be used, they cease to afflict him, +and men think that a cure has taken place. +</p> +<p> +Though Christians deny that the emperor is a god, they nevertheless pray +for his prosperity, because the general dissolution that threatens the +universe, the conflagration of the world, is retarded so long as the +glorious majesty of the triumphant Roman Empire shall last. They desire +not to be present at the subversion of all Nature. They acknowledge +only one republic, but it is the whole world; they constitute one body, +worship one God, and all look forward to eternal happiness. Not only do +they pray for the emperor and the magistrates, but also for peace. They +read the Scriptures to nourish their faith, lift up their hope, and +strengthen the confidence they have in God. They assemble to exhort one +another; they remove sinners from their societies; they have bishops who +preside over them, approved by the suffrages of those whom they are to +conduct. At the end of each month every one contributes if he will, but +no one is constrained to give; the money gathered in this manner is +the pledge of piety; it is not consumed in eating and drinking, but +in feeding the poor, and burying them, in comforting children that are +destitute of parents and goods, in helping old men who have spent the +best of their days in the service of the faithful, in assisting those +who have lost by shipwreck what they had, and those who are condemned +to the mines, or have been banished to islands, or shut up in prisons, +because they professed the religion of the true God. There is but one +thing that Christians have not in common, and that one thing is their +wives. They do not feast as if they should die to-morrow, nor build +as if they should never die. The objects of their life are innocence, +justice, patience, temperance, chastity. +</p> +<p> +To this noble exposition of Christian belief and life in his day, +Tertullian does not hesitate to add an ominous warning to the +magistrates he is addressing—ominous, for it was a forecast of a great +event soon to come to pass: "Our origin is but recent, yet already we +fill all that your power acknowledges—cities, fortresses, islands, +provinces, the assemblies of the people, the wards of Rome, the palace, +the senate, the public places, and especially the armies. We have +left you nothing but your temples. Reflect what wars we are able to +undertake! With what promptitude might we not arm ourselves were we not +restrained by our religion, which teaches us that it is better to be +killed than to kill!" +</p> +<p> +Before he closes his defense, Tertullian renews an assertion which, +carried into practice, as it subsequently was, affected the intellectual +development of all Europe. He declares that the Holy Scriptures are a +treasure from which all the true wisdom in the world has been drawn; +that every philosopher and every poet is indebted to them. He labors +to show that they are the standard and measure of all truth, and that +whatever is inconsistent with them must necessarily be false. +</p> +<p> +From Tertullian's able work we see what Christianity was while it was +suffering persecution and struggling for existence. We have now to +see what it became when in possession of imperial power. Great is the +difference between Christianity under Severus and Christianity after +Constantine. Many of the doctrines which at the latter period were +preeminent, in the former were unknown. +</p> +<p> +PAGANIZATION OF CHRISTIANITY. Two causes led to the amalgamation of +Christianity with paganism: 1. The political necessities of the new +dynasty; 2. The policy adopted by the new religion to insure its spread. +</p> +<p> +1. Though the Christian party had proved itself sufficiently strong to +give a master to the empire, it was never sufficiently strong to destroy +its antagonist, paganism. The issue of the struggle between them was an +amalgamation of the principles of both. In this, Christianity differed +from Mohammedanism, which absolutely annihilated its antagonist, and +spread its own doctrines without adulteration. +</p> +<p> +Constantine continually showed by his acts that he felt he must be the +impartial sovereign of all his people, not merely the representative +of a successful faction. Hence, if he built Christian churches, he also +restored pagan temples; if he listened to the clergy, he also consulted +the haruspices; if he summoned the Council of Nicea, he also honored the +statue of Fortune; if he accepted the rite of baptism, he also struck +a medal bearing his title of "God." His statue, on the top of the great +porphyry pillar at Constantinople, consisted of an ancient image of +Apollo, whose features were replaced by those of the emperor, and +its head surrounded by the nails feigned to have been used at the +crucifixion of Christ, arranged so as to form a crown of glory. +</p> +<p> +Feeling that there must be concessions to the defeated pagan party, +in accordance with its ideas, he looked with favor on the idolatrous +movements of his court. In fact, the leaders of these movements were +persons of his own family. +</p> +<p> +CHRISTIANITY UNDER CONSTANTINE. 2. To the emperor—a mere worldling—a +man without any religious convictions, doubtless it appeared best for +himself, best for the empire, and best for the contending parties, +Christian and pagan, to promote their union or amalgamation as much as +possible. Even sincere Christians do not seem to have been averse to +this; perhaps they believed that the new doctrines would diffuse most +thoroughly by incorporating in themselves ideas borrowed from the old, +that Truth would assert her self in the end, and the impurity be cast +off. In accomplishing this amalgamation, Helena, the empress-mother, +aided by the court ladies, led the way. For her gratification there were +discovered, in a cavern at Jerusalem, wherein they had lain buried for +more than three centuries, the Savior's cross, and those of the two +thieves, the inscription, and the nails that had been used. They were +identified by miracle. A true relic-worship set in. The superstition of +the old Greek times reappeared; the times when the tools with which the +Trojan horse was made might still be seen at Metapontum, the sceptre of +Pelops at Chaeroneia, the spear of Achilles at Phaselis, the sword +of Memnon at Nicomedia, when the Tegeates could show the hide of the +Calydonian boar and very many cities boasted their possession of the +true palladium of Troy; when there were statues of Minerva that could +brandish spears, paintings that could blush, images that could sweat, +and endless shrines and sanctuaries at which miracle-cures could be +performed. +</p> +<p> +As years passed on, the faith described by Tertullian was transmuted +into one more fashionable and more debased. It was incorporated with +the old Greek mythology. Olympus was restored, but the divinities passed +under other names. The more powerful provinces insisted on the adoption +of their time-honored conceptions. Views of the Trinity, in accordance +with Egyptian traditions, were established. Not only was the adoration +of Isis under a new name restored, but even her image, standing on the +crescent moon, reappeared. The well-known effigy of that goddess, +with the infant Horus in her arms, has descended to our days in +the beautiful, artistic creations of the Madonna and Child. Such +restorations of old conceptions under novel forms were everywhere +received with delight. When it was announced to the Ephesians that the +Council of that place, headed by Cyril, had decreed that the Virgin +should be called "the Mother of God," with tears of joy they embraced +the knees of their bishop; it was the old instinct peeping out; their +ancestors would have done the same for Diana. +</p> +<p> +This attempt to conciliate worldly converts, by adopting their ideas +and practices, did not pass without remonstrance from those whose +intelligence discerned the motive. "You have," says Faustus to +Augustine, "substituted your agapae for the sacrifices of the pagans; +for their idols your martyrs, whom you serve with the very same honors. +You appease the shades of the dead with wine and feasts; you celebrate +the solemn festivities of the Gentiles, their calends, and their +solstices; and, as to their manners, those you have retained without any +alteration. Nothing distinguishes you from the pagans, except that you +hold your assemblies apart from them." Pagan observances were everywhere +introduced. At weddings it was the custom to sing hymns to Venus. +</p> + + +<p>INTRODUCTION OF ROMAN RITES. Let us pause here a moment, and see, in +anticipation, to what a depth of intellectual degradation this policy of +paganization eventually led. Heathen rites were adopted, a pompous +and splendid ritual, gorgeous robes, mitres, tiaras, wax-tapers, +processional services, lustrations, gold and silver vases, were +introduced. The Roman lituus, the chief ensign of the augurs, became the +crozier. Churches were built over the tombs of martyrs, and consecrated +with rites borrowed from the ancient laws of the Roman pontiffs. +Festivals and commemorations of martyrs multiplied with the numberless +fictitious discoveries of their remains. Fasting became the grand means +of repelling the devil and appeasing God; celibacy the greatest of +the virtues. Pilgrimages were made to Palestine and the tombs of the +martyrs. Quantities of dust and earth were brought from the Holy Land +and sold at enormous prices, as antidotes against devils. The virtues +of consecrated water were upheld. Images and relics were introduced into +the churches, and worshiped after the fashion of the heathen gods. It +was given out that prodigies and miracles were to be seen in certain +places, as in the heathen times. The happy souls of departed Christians +were invoked; it was believed that they were wandering about the world, +or haunting their graves. There was a multiplication of temples, altars, +and penitential garments. The festival of the purification of the Virgin +was invented to remove the uneasiness of heathen converts on account of +the loss of their Lupercalia, or feasts of Pan. The worship of images, +of fragments of the cross, or bones, nails, and other relics, a true +fetich worship, was cultivated. Two arguments were relied on for the +authenticity of these objects—the authority of the Church, and the +working of miracles. Even the worn-out clothing of the saints and the +earth of their graves were venerated. From Palestine were brought what +were affirmed to be the skeletons of St. Mark and St. James, and other +ancient worthies. The apotheosis of the old Roman times was replaced by +canonization; tutelary saints succeed to local mythological divinities. +Then came the mystery of transubstantiation, or the conversion of bread +and wine by the priest into the flesh and blood of Christ. As centuries +passed, the paganization became more and more complete. Festivals sacred +to the memory of the lance with which the Savior's side was pierced, +the nails that fastened him to the cross, and the crown of thorns, were +instituted. Though there were several abbeys that possessed this last +peerless relic, no one dared to say that it was impossible they could +all be authentic. +</p> +<p> +We may read with advantage the remarks made by Bishop Newton on this +paganization of Christianity. He asks: "Is not the worship of saints and +angels now in all respects the same that the worship of demons was in +former times? The name only is different, the thing is identically +the same,... the deified men of the Christians are substituted for the +deified men of the heathens. The promoters of this worship were sensible +that it was the same, and that the one succeeded to the other; and, +as the worship is the same, so likewise it is performed with the same +ceremonies. The burning of incense or perfumes on several altars at one +and the same time; the sprinkling of holy water, or a mixture of salt +and common water, at going into and coming out of places of public +worship; the lighting up of a great number of lamps and wax-candles in +broad daylight before altars and statues of these deities; the hanging +up of votive offerings and rich presents as attestations of so many +miraculous cures and deliverances from diseases and dangers; the +canonization or deification of deceased worthies; the assigning of +distinct provinces or prefectures to departed heroes and saints; the +worshiping and adoring of the dead in their sepulchres, shrines, and +relics; the consecrating and bowing down to images; the attributing +of miraculous powers and virtues to idols; the setting up of little +oratories, altars, and statues in the streets and highways, and on +the tops of mountains; the carrying of images and relics in pompous +procession, with numerous lights and with music and singing; +flagellations at solemn seasons under the notion of penance; a great +variety of religious orders and fraternities of priests; the shaving of +priests, or the tonsure as it is called, on the crown of their heads; +the imposing of celibacy and vows of chastity on the religious of both +sexes—all these and many more rites and ceremonies are equally parts of +pagan and popish superstition. Nay, the very same temples, the very same +images, which were once consecrated to Jupiter and the other demons, are +now consecrated to the Virgin Mary and the other saints. The very same +rites and inscriptions are ascribed to both, the very same prodigies and +miracles are related of these as of those. In short, almost the whole +of paganism is converted and applied to popery; the one is manifestly +formed upon the same plan and principles as the other; so that there is +not only a conformity, but even a uniformity, in the worship of ancient +and modern, of heathen and Christian Rome." +</p> +<p> +DEBASEMENT OF CHRISTIANITY. Thus far Bishop Newton; but to return to the +times of Constantine: though these concessions to old and popular ideas +were permitted and even encouraged, the dominant religious party never +for a moment hesitated to enforce its decisions by the aid of the civil +power—an aid which was freely given. Constantine thus carried into +effect the acts of the Council of Nicea. In the affair of Arius, he even +ordered that whoever should find a book of that heretic, and not burn +it, should be put to death. In like manner Nestor was by Theodosius the +Younger banished to an Egyptian oasis. +</p> +<p> +The pagan party included many of the old aristocratic families of the +empire; it counted among its adherents all the disciples of the old +philosophical schools. It looked down on its antagonist with contempt. +It asserted that knowledge is to be obtained only by the laborious +exercise of human observation and human reason. +</p> +<p> +The Christian party asserted that all knowledge is to be found in the +Scriptures and in the traditions of the Church; that, in the written +revelation, God had not only given a criterion of truth, but had +furnished us all that he intended us to know. The Scriptures, therefore, +contain the sum, the end of all knowledge. The clergy, with the emperor +at their back, would endure no intellectual competition. +</p> +<p> +Thus came into prominence what were termed sacred and profane knowledge; +thus came into presence of each other two opposing parties, one relying +on human reason as its guide, the other on revelation. Paganism leaned +for support on the learning of its philosophers, Christianity on the +inspiration of its Fathers. +</p> +<p> +The Church thus set herself forth as the depository and arbiter of +knowledge; she was ever ready to resort to the civil power to compel +obedience to her decisions. She thus took a course which determined her +whole future career: she became a stumbling-block in the intellectual +advancement of Europe for more than a thousand years. +</p> +<p> +The reign of Constantine marks the epoch of the transformation of +Christianity from a religion into a political system; and though, in +one sense, that system was degraded into an idolatry, in another it had +risen into a development of the old Greek mythology. The maxim holds +good in the social as well as in the mechanical world, that, when two +bodies strike, the form of both is changed. Paganism was modified by +Christianity; Christianity by Paganism. +</p> +<p> +THE TRINITARIAN DISPUTE. In the Trinitarian controversy, which first +broke out in Egypt—Egypt, the land of Trinities—the chief point in +discussion was to define the position of "the Son." There lived in +Alexandria a presbyter of the name of Arius, a disappointed candidate +for the office of bishop. He took the ground that there was a time when, +from the very nature of sonship, the Son did not exist, and a time at +which he commenced to be, asserting that it is the necessary condition +of the filial relation that a father must be older than his son. But +this assertion evidently denied the coeternity of the three persons of +the Trinity; it suggested a subordination or inequality among them, +and indeed implied a time when the Trinity did not exist. Hereupon, the +bishop, who had been the successful competitor against Arius, displayed +his rhetorical powers in public debates on the question, and, the strife +spreading, the Jews and pagans, who formed a very large portion of +the population of Alexandria, amused themselves with theatrical +representations of the contest on the stage—the point of their +burlesques being the equality of age of the Father and his Son. +</p> +<p> +Such was the violence the controversy at length assumed, that the matter +had to be referred to the emperor. At first he looked upon the dispute +as altogether frivolous, and perhaps in truth inclined to the assertion +of Arius, that in the very nature of the thing a father must be older +than his son. So great, however, was the pressure laid upon him, that +he was eventually compelled to summon the Council of Nicea, which, to +dispose of the conflict, set forth a formulary or creed, and attached to +it this anathema: "The Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church anathematizes +those who say that there was a time when the Son of God was not, and +that, before he was begotten, he was not, and that he was made out of +nothing, or out of another substance or essence, and is created, or +changeable, or alterable." Constantine at once enforced the decision of +the council by the civil power. +</p> +<p> +A few years subsequently the Emperor Theodosius prohibited sacrifices, +made the inspection of the entrails of animals a capital offense, and +forbade any one entering a temple. He instituted Inquisitors of Faith, +and ordained that all who did not accord with the belief of Damasus, the +Bishop of Rome, and Peter, the Bishop of Alexandria, should be driven +into exile, and deprived of civil rights. Those who presumed to +celebrate Easter on the same day as the Jews, he condemned to death. +The Greek language was now ceasing to be known in the West, and true +learning was becoming extinct. +</p> +<p> +At this time the bishopric of Alexandria was held by one Theophilus. An +ancient temple of Osiris having been given to the Christians of the city +for the site of a church, it happened that, in digging the foundation +for the new edifice, the obscene symbols of the former worship chanced +to be found. These, with more zeal than modesty, Theophilus exhibited +in the market-place to public derision. With less forbearance than the +Christian party showed when it was insulted in the theatre during the +Trinitarian dispute, the pagans resorted to violence, and a riot ensued. +They held the Serapion as their headquarters. Such were the disorder and +bloodshed that the emperor had to interfere. He dispatched a rescript to +Alexandria, enjoining the bishop, Theophilus, to destroy the Serapion; +and the great library, which had been collected by the Ptolemies, and +had escaped the fire of Julius Caesar, was by that fanatic dispersed. +</p> +<p> +THE MURDER OF HYPATIA. The bishopric thus held by Theophilus was in due +time occupied by his nephew St. Cyril, who had commended himself to +the approval of the Alexandrian congregations as a successful and +fashionable preacher. It was he who had so much to do with the +introduction of the worship of the Virgin Mary. His hold upon the +audiences of the giddy city was, however, much weakened by Hypatia, the +daughter of Theon, the mathematician, who not only distinguished herself +by her expositions of the doctrines of Plato and Aristotle, but also by +her comments on the writings of Apollonius and other geometers. Each day +before her academy stood a long train of chariots; her lecture-room was +crowded with the wealth and fashion of Alexandria. They came to listen +to her discourses on those questions which man in all ages has asked, +but which never yet have been answered: "What am I? Where am I? What can +I know?" +</p> +<p> +Hypatia and Cyril! Philosophy and bigotry. They cannot exist together. +So Cyril felt, and on that feeling he acted. As Hypatia repaired to her +academy, she was assaulted by Cyril's mob—a mob of many monks. Stripped +naked in the street, she was dragged into a church, and there killed by +the club of Peter the Reader. The corpse was cut to pieces, the flesh +was scraped from the bones with shells, and the remnants cast into a +fire. For this frightful crime Cyril was never called to account. It +seemed to be admitted that the end sanctified the means. +</p> +<p> +So ended Greek philosophy in Alexandria, so came to an untimely close +the learning that the Ptolemies had done so much to promote. The +"Daughter Library," that of the Serapion, had been dispersed. The fate +of Hypatia was a warning to all who would cultivate profane knowledge. +Henceforth there was to be no freedom for human thought. Every one must +think as the ecclesiastical authority ordered him, A.D. 414. In Athens +itself philosophy awaited its doom. Justinian at length prohibited its +teaching, and caused all its schools in that city to be closed. +</p> +<p> +PELAGIUS. While these events were transpiring in the Eastern provinces +of the Roman Empire, the spirit that had produced them was displaying +itself in the West. A British monk, who had assumed the name of +Pelagius, passed through Western Europe and Northern Africa, teaching +that death was not introduced into the world by the sin of Adam; that +on the contrary he was necessarily and by nature mortal, and had he not +sinned he would nevertheless have died; that the consequences of his +sins were confined to himself, and did not affect his posterity. From +these premises Pelagius drew certain important theological conclusions. +</p> +<p> +At Rome, Pelagius had been received with favor; at Carthage, at the +instigation of St. Augustine, he was denounced. By a synod, held at +Diospolis, he was acquitted of heresy, but, on referring the matter to +the Bishop of Rome, Innocent I., he was, on the contrary, condemned. It +happened that at this moment Innocent died, and his successor, Zosimus, +annulled his judgment and declared the opinions of Pelagius to be +orthodox. These contradictory decisions are still often referred to +by the opponents of papal infallibility. Things were in this state of +confusion, when the wily African bishops, through the influence of Count +Valerius, procured from the emperor an edict denouncing Pelagins as +a heretic; he and his accomplices were condemned to exile and the +forfeiture of their goods. To affirm that death was in the world before +the fall of Adam, was a state crime. +</p> +<p> +CONDEMNATION OF PELAGIUS. It is very instructive to consider the +principles on which this strange decision was founded. Since the +question was purely philosophical, one might suppose that it would +have been discussed on natural principles; instead of that, theological +considerations alone were adduced. The attentive reader will have +remarked, in Tertullian's statement of the principles of Christianity, +a complete absence of the doctrines of original sin, total depravity, +predestination, grace, and atonement. The intention of Christianity, +as set forth by him, has nothing in common with the plan of salvation +upheld two centuries subsequently. It is to St. Augustine, a +Carthaginian, that we are indebted for the precision of our views on +these important points. +</p> +<p> +In deciding whether death had been in the world before the fall of Adam, +or whether it was the penalty inflicted on the world for his sin, +the course taken was to ascertain whether the views of Pelagius were +accordant or discordant not with Nature but with the theological +doctrines of St. Augustine. And the result has been such as might +be expected. The doctrine declared to be orthodox by ecclesiastical +authority is overthrown by the unquestionable discoveries of modern +science. Long before a human being had appeared upon earth, millions of +individuals—nay, more, thousands of species and even genera—had died; +those which remain with us are an insignificant fraction of the vast +hosts that have passed away. +</p> +<p> +A consequence of great importance issued from the decision of the +Pelagian controversy. The book of Genesis had been made the basis of +Christianity. If, in a theological point of view, to its account of the +sin in the garden of Eden, and the transgression and punishment of Adam, +so much weight had been attached, it also in a philosophical point +of view became the grand authority of Patristic science. Astronomy, +geology, geography, anthropology, chronology, and indeed all the various +departments of human knowledge, were made to conform to it. +</p> +<p> +ST. AUGUSTINE. As the doctrines of St. Augustine have had the effect of +thus placing theology in antagonism with science, it may be interesting +to examine briefly some of the more purely philosophical views of that +great man. For this purpose, we may appropriately select portions of +his study of the first chapter of Genesis, as contained in the eleventh, +twelfth, and thirteenth books of his "Confessions." +</p> +<p> +These consist of philosophical discussions, largely interspersed +with rhapsodies. He prays that God will give him to understand the +Scriptures, and will open their meaning to him; he declares that in +them there is nothing superfluous, but that the words have a manifold +meaning. +</p> +<p> +The face of creation testifies that there has been a Creator; but at +once arises the question, "How and when did he make heaven and earth? +They could not have been made IN heaven and earth, the world could not +have been made IN the world, nor could they have been made when there +was nothing to make them of." The solution of this fundamental inquiry +St. Augustine finds in saying, "Thou spakest, and they were made." +</p> +<p> +But the difficulty does not end here. St. Augustine goes on to remark +that the syllables thus uttered by God came forth in succession, and +there must have been some created thing to express the words. This +created thing must, therefore, have existed before heaven and earth, and +yet there could have been no corporeal thing before heaven and earth. It +must have been a creature, because the words passed away and came to an +end but we know that "the word of the Lord endureth forever." +</p> +<p> +Moreover, it is plain that the words thus spoken could not have been +spoken successively, but simultaneously, else there would have been time +and change—succession in its nature implying time; whereas there was +then nothing but eternity and immortality. God knows and says eternally +what takes place in time. +</p> +<p> +CRITICISM OF ST. AUGUSTINE. St. Augustine then defines, not without +much mysticism, what is meant by the opening words of Genesis: "In +the beginning." He is guided to his conclusion by another scriptural +passage: "How wonderful are thy works, O Lord! in wisdom hast thou made +them all." This "wisdom" is "the beginning," and in that beginning the +Lord created the heaven and the earth. +</p> +<p> +"But," he adds, "some one may ask, 'What was God doing before he made +the heaven and the earth? for, if at any particular moment he began +to employ himself, that means time, not eternity. In eternity nothing +transpires—the whole is present.'" In answering this question, he +cannot forbear one of those touches of rhetoric for which he was so +celebrated: "I will not answer this question by saying that he was +preparing hell for priers into his mysteries. I say that, before God +made heaven and earth, he did not make any thing, for no creature could +be made before any creature was made. Time itself is a creature, and +hence it could not possibly exist before creation. +</p> +<p> +"What, then, is time? The past is not, the future is not, the +present—who can tell what it is, unless it be that which has no +duration between two nonentities? There is no such thing as 'a long +time,' or 'a short time,' for there are no such things as the past and +the future. They have no existence, except in the soul." +</p> +<p> +The style in which St. Augustine conveyed his ideas is that of a +rhapsodical conversation with God. His works are an incoherent dream. +That the reader may appreciate this remark, I might copy almost at +random any of his paragraphs. The following is from the twelfth book: +</p> +<p> +"This then, is what I conceive, O my God, when I hear thy Scripture +saying, In the beginning God made heaven and earth: and the earth was +invisible and without form, and darkness was upon the deep, and not +mentioning what day thou createdst them; this is what I conceive, +that because of the heaven of heavens—that intellectual heaven, whose +intelligences know all at once, not in part, not darkly, not through a +glass, but as a whole, in manifestation, face to face; not this thing +now, and that thing anon; but (as I said) know all at once, without any +succession of times; and because of the earth, invisible and without +form, without any succession of times, which succession presents 'this +thing now, that thing anon;' because, where there is no form, there +is no distinction of things; it is, then, on account of these two, a +primitive formed, and a primitive formless; the one, heaven, but the +heaven of heavens; the other, earth, but the earth movable and without +form; because of these two do I conceive, did thy Scripture say without +mention of days, In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. +For, forthwith it subjoined what earth it spake of; and also in that the +firmament is recorded to be created the second day, and called heaven, +it conveys to us of which heaven he before spake, without mention of +days. +</p> +<p> +"Wondrous depth of thy words! whose surface behold! is before us, +inviting to little ones; yet are they a wondrous depth, O my God, a +wondrous depth! It is awful to look therein; an awfulness of honor, and +a trembling of love. The enemies thereof I hate vehemently; O that thou +wouldst slay them with thy two-edged sword, that they might no longer be +enemies to it: for so do I love to have them slain unto themselves, that +they may live unto thee." +</p> +<p> +As an example of the hermeneutical manner in which St. Augustine +unfolded the concealed facts of the Scriptures, I may cite the following +from the thirteenth book of the "Confessions;" his object is to show +that the doctrine of the Trinity is contained in the Mosaic narrative of +the creation: +</p> +<p> +"Lo, now the Trinity appears unto me in a glass darkly, which is thou my +God, because thou, O Father, in him who is the beginning of our wisdom, +which is thy wisdom, born of thyself, equal unto thee and coeternal, +that is, in thy Son, createdst heaven and earth. Much now have we said +of the heaven of heavens, and of the earth invisible and without form, +and of the darksome deep, in reference to the wandering instability of +its spiritual deformity, unless it had been converted unto him, from +whom it had its then degree of life, and by his enlightening became a +beauteous life, and the heaven of that heaven, which was afterward +set between water and water. And under the name of God, I now held the +Father, who made these things; and under the name of the beginning, the +Son, in whom he made these things; and believing, as I did, my God as +the Trinity, I searched further in his holy words, and lo! thy Spirit +moved upon the waters. Behold the Trinity, my God!—Father, and Son, and +Holy Ghost Creator of all creation." +</p> +<p> +That I might convey to my reader a just impression of the character of +St. Augustine's philosophical writings, I have, in the two quotations +here given, substituted for my own translation that of the Rev. Dr. +Pusey, as contained in Vol. I. of the "Library of Fathers of the Holy +Catholic Church," published at Oxford, 1840. +</p> +<p> +Considering the eminent authority which has been attributed to the +writings of St. Augustine by the religious world for nearly fifteen +centuries, it is proper to speak of them with respect. And indeed it +is not necessary to do otherwise. The paragraphs here quoted criticise +themselves. No one did more than this Father to bring science and +religion into antagonism; it was mainly he who diverted the Bible +from its true office—a guide to purity of life—and placed it in the +perilous position of being the arbiter of human knowledge, an audacious +tyranny over the mind of man. The example once set, there was no want of +followers; the works of the great Greek philosophers were stigmatized +as profane; the transcendently glorious achievements of the Museum of +Alexandria were hidden from sight by a cloud of ignorance, mysticism, +and unintelligible jargon, out of which there too often flashed the +destroying lightnings of ecclesiastical vengeance. +</p> +<p> +A divine revelation of science admits of no improvement, no change, no +advance. It discourages as needless, and indeed as presumptuous, all new +discovery, considering it as an unlawful prying into things which it was +the intention of God to conceal. +</p> +<p> +What, then, is that sacred, that revealed science, declared by the +Fathers to be the sum of all knowledge? +</p> +<p> +It likened all phenomena, natural and spiritual, to human acts. It saw +in the Almighty, the Eternal, only a gigantic man. +</p> +<p> +THE PATRISTIC PHILOSOPHY. As to the earth, it affirmed that it is a flat +surface, over which the sky is spread like a dome, or, as St. Augustine +tells us, is stretched like a skin. In this the sun and moon and stars +move, so that they may give light by day and by night to man. The earth +was made of matter created by God out of nothing, and, with all the +tribes of animals and plants inhabiting it, was finished in six days. +Above the sky or firmament is heaven; in the dark and fiery space +beneath the earth is hell. The earth is the central and most important +body of the universe, all other things being intended for and +subservient to it. +</p> +<p> +As to man, he was made out of the dust of the earth. At first he was +alone, but subsequently woman was formed from one of his ribs. He is the +greatest and choicest of the works of God. He was placed in a paradise +near the banks of the Euphrates, and was very wise and very pure; but, +having tasted of the forbidden fruit, and thereby broken the commandment +given to him, he was condemned to labor and to death. +</p> +<p> +The descendants of the first man, undeterred by his punishment, pursued +such a career of wickedness that it became necessary to destroy them. A +deluge, therefore, flooded the face of the earth, and rose over the tops +of the mountains. Having accomplished its purpose, the water was dried +up by a wind. +</p> +<p> +From this catastrophe Noah and his three sons, with their wives, were +saved in an ark. Of these sons, Shem remained in Asia and repeopled it. +Ham peopled Africa; Japhet, Europe. As the Fathers were not acquainted +with the existence of America, they did not provide an ancestor for its +people. +</p> +<p> +Let us listen to what some of these authorities say in support of their +assertions. Thus Lactantius, referring to the heretical doctrine of the +globular form of the earth, remarks: "Is it possible that men can be so +absurd as to believe that the crops and the trees on the other side of +the earth hang downward, and that men have their feet higher than their +heads? If you ask them how they defend these monstrosities, how things +do not fall away from the earth on that side, they reply that the nature +of things is such that heavy bodies tend toward the centre, like the +spokes of a wheel, while light bodies, as clouds, smoke, fire, tend from +the centre to the heavens on all sides. Now, I am really at a loss what +to say of those who, when they have once gone wrong, steadily persevere +in their folly, and defend one absurd opinion by another." On the +question of the antipodes, St. Augustine asserts that "it is impossible +there should be inhabitants on the opposite side of the earth, since +no such race is recorded by Scripture among the descendants of Adam." +Perhaps, however, the most unanswerable argument against the sphericity +of the earth was this, that "in the day of judgment, men on the other +side of a globe could not see the Lord descending through the air." +</p> +<p> +It is unnecessary for me to say any thing respecting the introduction of +death into the world, the continual interventions of spiritual agencies +in the course of events, the offices of angels and devils, the expected +conflagration of the earth, the tower of Babel, the confusion of +tongues, the dispersion of mankind, the interpretation of natural +phenomena, as eclipses, the rainbow, etc. Above all, I abstain from +commenting on the Patristic conceptions of the Almighty; they are too +anthropomorphic, and wanting in sublimity. +</p> +<p> +Perhaps, however, I may quote from Cosmas Indicopleustes the views +that were entertained in the sixth century. He wrote a work entitled +"Christian Topography," the chief intent of which was to confute the +heretical opinion of the globular form of the earth, and the pagan +assertion that there is a temperate zone on the southern side of the +torrid. He affirms that, according to the true orthodox system of +geography, the earth is a quadrangular plane, extending four hundred +days' journey east and west, and exactly half as much north and south; +that it is inclosed by mountains, on which the sky rests; that one on +the north side, huger than the others, by intercepting the rays of the +sun, produces night; and that the plane of the earth is not set exactly +horizontally, but with a little inclination from the north: hence the +Euphrates, Tigris, and other rivers, running southward, are rapid; but +the Nile, having to run up-hill, has necessarily a very slow current. +</p> +<p> +The Venerable Bede, writing in the seventh century, tells us that "the +creation was accomplished in six days, and that the earth is its centre +and its primary object. The heaven is of a fiery and subtile nature, +round, and equidistant in every part, as a canopy from the centre of the +earth. It turns round every day with ineffable rapidity, only moderated +by the resistance of the seven planets, three above the sun—Saturn, +Jupiter, Mars—then the sun; three below—Venus, Mercury, the moon. The +stars go round in their fixed courses, the northern perform the shortest +circle. The highest heaven has its proper limit; it contains the angelic +virtues who descend upon earth, assume ethereal bodies, perform human +functions, and return. The heaven is tempered with glacial waters, lest +it should be set on fire. The inferior heaven is called the firmament, +because it separates the superincumbent waters from the waters below. +The firmamental waters are lower than the spiritual heaven, higher than +all corporeal beings, reserved, some say, for a second deluge; others, +more truly, to temper the fire of the fixed stars." +</p> +<p> +Was it for this preposterous scheme—this product of ignorance and +audacity—that the works of the Greek philosophers were to be given +up? It was none too soon that the great critics who appeared at the +Reformation, by comparing the works of these writers with one another, +brought them to their proper level, and taught us to look upon them all +with contempt. +</p> +<p> +Of this presumptuous system, the strangest part was its logic, the +nature of its proofs. It relied upon miracle-evidence. A fact was +supposed to be demonstrated by an astounding illustration of something +else! An Arabian writer, referring to this, says: "If a conjurer should +say to me, 'Three are more than ten, and in proof of it I will change +this stick into a serpent,' I might be surprised at his legerdemain, +but I certainly should not admit his assertion." Yet, for more than +a thousand years, such was the accepted logic, and all over Europe +propositions equally absurd were accepted on equally ridiculous proof. +</p> +<p> +Since the party that had become dominant in the empire could not furnish +works capable of intellectual competition with those of the great pagan +authors, and since it was impossible for it to accept a position of +inferiority, there arose a political necessity for the discouragement, +and even persecution, of profane learning. The persecution of the +Platonists under Valentinian was due to that necessity. They were +accused of magic, and many of them were put to death. The profession +of philosophy had become dangerous—it was a state crime. In its stead +there arose a passion for the marvelous, a spirit of superstition. Egypt +exchanged the great men, who had made her Museum immortal, for bands of +solitary monks and sequestered virgins, with which she was overrun. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0003"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER III. +</h2> +<pre> + CONFLICT RESPECTING THE DOCTRINE OF THE UNITY OF GOD.—THE + FIRST OR SOUTHERN REFORMATION. + + The Egyptians insist on the introduction of the worship of + the Virgin Mary—They are resisted by Nestor, the Patriarch + of Constantinople, but eventually, through their influence + with the emperor, cause Nestor's exile and the dispersion of + his followers. + + Prelude to the Southern Reformation—The Persian attack; its + moral effects. + + The Arabian Reformation.—Mohammed is brought in contact + with the Nestorians—He adopts and extends their principles, + rejecting the worship of the Virgin, the doctrine of the + Trinity, and every thing in opposition to the unity of God.— + He extinguishes idolatry in Arabia, by force, and prepares + to make war on the Roman Empire.—His successors conquer + Syria, Egypt, Asia Minor, North Africa, Spain, and invade + France. + + As the result of this conflict, the doctrine of the unity of + God was established in the greater part of the Roman Empire— + The cultivation of science was restored, and Christendom + lost many of her most illustrious capitals, as Alexandria, + Carthage, and, above all, Jerusalem. +</pre> +<p> +THE policy of the Byzantine court had given to primitive Christianity a +paganized form, which it had spread over all the idolatrous populations +constituting the empire. There had been an amalgamation of the two +parties. Christianity had modified paganism, paganism had modified +Christianity. The limits of this adulterated religion were the confines +of the Roman Empire. With this great extension there had come to the +Christian party political influence and wealth. No insignificant portion +of the vast public revenues found their way into the treasuries of the +Church. As under such circumstances must ever be the case, there were +many competitors for the spoils—men who, under the mask of zeal for the +predominant faith, sought only the enjoyment of its emoluments. +</p> +<p> +ECCLESIASTICAL DISPUTES. Under the early emperors, conquest had reached +its culmination; the empire was completed; there remained no adequate +objects for military life; the days of war-peculation, and the +plundering of provinces, were over. For the ambitious, however, another +path was open; other objects presented. A successful career in the +Church led to results not unworthy of comparison with those that in +former days had been attained by a successful career in the army. +</p> +<p> +The ecclesiastical, and indeed, it may be said, much of the political +history of that time, turns on the struggles of the bishops of the +three great metropolitan cities—Constantinople, Alexandria, Rome—for +supremacy: Constantinople based her claims on the fact that she was +the existing imperial city; Alexandria pointed to her commercial +and literary position; Rome, to her souvenirs. But the Patriarch of +Constantinople labored under the disadvantage that he was too closely +under the eye, and, as he found to his cost, too often under the hand, +of the emperor. Distance gave security to the episcopates of Alexandria +and Rome. +</p> +<p> +ECCLESIASTICAL DISPUTES. Religious disputations in the East have +generally turned on diversities of opinion respecting the nature and +attributes of God; in the West, on the relations and life of man. This +peculiarity has been strikingly manifested in the transformations that +Christianity has undergone in Asia and Europe respectively. Accordingly, +at the time of which we are speaking, all the Eastern provinces of +the Roman Empire exhibited an intellectual anarchy. There were fierce +quarrels respecting the Trinity, the essence of God, the position of the +Son, the nature of the Holy Spirit, the influences of the Virgin Mary. +The triumphant clamor first of one then of another sect was confirmed, +sometimes by miracle-proof, sometimes by bloodshed. No attempt was ever +made to submit the rival opinions to logical examination. All parties, +however, agreed in this, that the imposture of the old classical pagan +forms of faith was demonstrated by the facility with which they had been +overthrown. The triumphant ecclesiastics proclaimed that the images of +the gods had failed to defend themselves when the time of trial came. +</p> +<p> +Polytheistic ideas have always been held in repute by the southern +European races, the Semitic have maintained the unity of God. Perhaps +this is due to the fact, as a recent author has suggested, that a +diversified landscape of mountains and valleys, islands, and rivers, and +gulfs, predisposes man to a belief in a multitude of divinities. A vast +sandy desert, the illimitable ocean, impresses him with an idea of the +oneness of God. +</p> +<p> +Political reasons had led the emperors to look with favor on the +admixture of Christianity and paganism, and doubtless by this means the +bitterness of the rivalry between those antagonists was somewhat abated. +The heaven of the popular, the fashionable Christianity was the old +Olympus, from which the venerable Greek divinities had been removed. +There, on a great white throne, sat God the Father, on his right the +Son, and then the blessed Virgin, clad in a golden robe, and "covered +with various female adornments;" on the left sat God the Holy Ghost. +Surrounding these thrones were hosts of angels with their harps. The +vast expanse beyond was filled with tables, seated at which the happy +spirits of the just enjoyed a perpetual banquet. +</p> +<p> +If, satisfied with this picture of happiness, illiterate persons never +inquired how the details of such a heaven were carried out, or how much +pleasure there could be in the ennui of such an eternally unchanging, +unmoving scene, it was not so with the intelligent. As we are soon to +see, there were among the higher ecclesiastics those who rejected with +sentiments of horror these carnal, these materialistic conceptions, and +raised their protesting voices in vindication of the attributes of the +Omnipresent, the Almighty God. +</p> +<p> +EGYPTIAN DOCTRINES. In the paganization of religion, now in all +directions taking place, it became the interest of every bishop to +procure an adoption of the ideas which, time out of mind, had been +current in the community under his charge. The Egyptians had already +thus forced on the Church their peculiar Trinitarian views; and now they +were resolved that, under the form of the adoration of the Virgin Mary, +the worship of Isis should be restored. +</p> +<p> +THE NESTORIANS. It so happened that Nestor, the Bishop of Antioch, who +entertained the philosophical views of Theodore of Mopsuestia, had +been called by the Emperor Theodosius the Younger to the Episcopate +of Constantinople (A.D. 427). Nestor rejected the base popular +anthropomorphism, looking upon it as little better than blasphemous, +and pictured to himself an awful eternal Divinity, who pervaded the +universe, and had none of the aspects or attributes of man. Nestor +was deeply imbued with the doctrines of Aristotle, and attempted to +coordinate them with what he considered to be orthodox Christian tenets. +Between him and Cyril, the Bishop or Patriarch of Alexandria, a +quarrel accordingly arose. Cyril represented the paganizing, Nestor the +philosophizing party of the Church. This was that Cyril who had murdered +Hypatia. Cyril was determined that the worship of the Virgin as the +Mother of God should be recognized, Nestor was determined that it should +not. In a sermon delivered in the metropolitan church at Constantinople, +he vindicated the attributes of the Eternal, the Almighty God. "And can +this God have a mother?" he exclaimed. In other sermons and writings, +he set forth with more precision his ideas that the Virgin should be +considered not as the Mother of God, but as the mother of the human +portion of Christ, that portion being as essentially distinct from the +divine as is a temple from its contained deity. +</p> +<p> +PERSECUTION AND DEATH OF NESTOR. Instigated by the monks of Alexandria, +the monks of Constantinople took up arms in behalf of "the Mother of +God." The quarrel rose to such a pitch that the emperor was constrained +to summon a council to meet at Ephesus. In the mean time Cyril had +given a bribe of many pounds of gold to the chief eunuch of the imperial +court, and had thereby obtained the influence of the emperor's sister. +"The holy virgin of the court of heaven thus found an ally of her own +sex in the holy virgin of the emperor's court." Cyril hastened to the +council, attended by a mob of men and women of the baser sort. He +at once assumed the presidency, and in the midst of a tumult had the +emperor's rescript read before the Syrian bishops could arrive. A single +day served to complete his triumph. All offers of accommodation on the +part of Nestor were refused, his explanations were not read, he was +condemned unheard. On the arrival of the Syrian ecclesiastics, a meeting +of protest was held by them. A riot, with much bloodshed, ensued in the +cathedral of St. John. Nestor was abandoned by the court, and eventually +exiled to an Egyptian oasis. His persecutors tormented him as long as +he lived, by every means in their power, and at his death gave out that +"his blasphemous tongue had been devoured by worms, and that from the +heats of an Egyptian desert he had escaped only into the hotter torments +of hell!" +</p> +<p> +The overthrow and punishment of Nestor, however, by no means destroyed +his opinions. He and his followers, insisting on the plain inference of +the last verse of the first chapter of St. Matthew, together with the +fifty-fifth and fifty-sixth verses of the thirteenth of the same gospel, +could never be brought to an acknowledgment of the perpetual virginity +of the new queen of heaven. Their philosophical tendencies were soon +indicated by their actions. While their leader was tormented in an +African oasis, many of them emigrated to the Euphrates, and established +the Chaldean Church. Under their auspices the college of Edessa was +founded. From the college of Nisibis issued those doctors who spread +Nestor's tenets through Syria, Arabia, India, Tartary, China, Egypt. +The Nestorians, of course, adopted the philosophy of Aristotle, and +translated the works of that great writer into Syriac and Persian. They +also made similar translations of later works, such as those of +Pliny. In connection with the Jews they founded the medical college +of Djondesabour. Their missionaries disseminated the Nestorian form of +Christianity to such an extent over Asia, that its worshipers eventually +outnumbered all the European Christians of the Greek and Roman Churches +combined. It may be particularly remarked that in Arabia they had a +bishop. +</p> +<p> +THE PERSIAN CAMPAIGN. The dissensions between Constantinople and +Alexandria had thus filled all Western Asia with sectaries, ferocious +in their contests with each other, and many of them burning with hatred +against the imperial power for the persecutions it had inflicted on +them. A religious revolution, the consequences of which are felt in our +own times, was the result. It affected the whole world. +</p> +<p> +We shall gain a clear view of this great event, if we consider +separately the two acts into which it may be decomposed: 1. The +temporary overthrow of Asiatic Christianity by the Persians; 2. The +decisive and final reformation under the Arabians. +</p> +<p> +1. It happened (A.D. 590) that, by one of those revolutions so frequent +in Oriental courts, Chosroes, the lawful heir to the Persian throne, was +compelled to seek refuge in the Byzantine Empire, and implore the aid +of the Emperor Maurice. That aid was cheerfully given. A brief and +successful campaign restored Chosroes to the throne of his ancestors. +</p> +<p> +But the glories of this generous campaign could not preserve Maurice +himself. A mutiny broke out in the Roman army, headed by Phocas, a +centurion. The statues of the emperor were overthrown. The Patriarch +of Constantinople, having declared that he had assured himself of the +orthodoxy of Phocas, consecrated him emperor. The unfortunate Maurice +was dragged from a sanctuary, in which he had sought refuge; his five +sons were beheaded before his eyes, and then he was put to death. His +empress was inveigled from the church of St. Sophia, tortured, and +with her three young daughters beheaded. The adherents of the massacred +family were pursued with ferocious vindictiveness; of some the eyes were +blinded, of others the tongues were torn out, or the feet and hands cut +off, some were whipped to death, others were burnt. +</p> +<p> +When the news reached Rome, Pope Gregory received it with exultation, +praying that the hands of Phocas might be strengthened against all his +enemies. As an equivalent for this subserviency, he was greeted with the +title of "Universal Bishop." The cause of his action, as well as of that +of the Patriarch of Constantinople, was doubtless the fact that Maurice +was suspected of Magrian tendencies, into which he had been lured by the +Persians. The mob of Constantinople had hooted after him in the streets, +branding him as a Marcionite, a sect which believed in the Magian +doctrine of two conflicting principles. +</p> +<p> +With very different sentiments Chosroes heard of the murder of his +friend. Phocas had sent him the heads of Maurice and his sons. The +Persian king turned from the ghastly spectacle with horror, and at once +made ready to avenge the wrongs of his benefactor by war. +</p> +<p> +THE EXPEDITION OF HERACLIUS. The Exarch of Africa, Heraclius, one of +the chief officers of the state, also received the shocking tidings with +indignation. He was determined that the imperial purple should not be +usurped by an obscure centurion of disgusting aspect. "The person of +this Phocas was diminutive and deformed; the closeness of his shaggy +eyebrows, his red hair, his beardless chin, were in keeping with his +cheek, disfigured and discolored by a formidable scar. Ignorant of +letters, of laws, and even of arms, he indulged in an ample privilege of +lust and drunkenness." At first Heraclius refused tribute and obedience +to him; then, admonished by age and infirmities, he committed the +dangerous enterprise of resistance to his son of the same name. A +prosperous voyage from Carthage soon brought the younger Heraclius in +front of Constantinople. The inconstant clergy, senate, and people of +the city joined him, the usurper was seized in his palace and beheaded. +</p> +<p> +INVASION OF CHOSROES. But the revolution that had taken place in +Constantinople did not arrest the movements of the Persian king. His +Magian priests had warned him to act independently of the Greeks, +whose superstition, they declared, was devoid of all truth and justice. +Chosroes, therefore, crossed the Euphrates; his army was received with +transport by the Syrian sectaries, insurrections in his favor everywhere +breaking out. In succession, Antioch, Caesarea, Damascus fell; Jerusalem +itself was taken by storm; the sepulchre of Christ, the churches of +Constantine and of Helena were given to the flames; the Savior's cross +was sent as a trophy to Persia; the churches were rifled of their +riches; the sacred relics, collected by superstition, were dispersed. +Egypt was invaded, conquered, and annexed to the Persian Empire; the +Patriarch of Alexandria escaped by flight to Cyprus; the African coast +to Tripoli was seized. On the north, Asia Minor was subdued, and for +ten years the Persian forces encamped on the shores of the Bosporus, in +front of Constantinople. +</p> +<p> +In his extremity Heraclius begged for peace. "I will never give peace +to the Emperor of Rome," replied the proud Persian, "till he has abjured +his crucified God, and embraced the worship of the sun." After a long +delay terms were, however, secured, and the Roman Empire was ransomed at +the price of "a thousand talents of gold, a thousand talents of silver, +a thousand silk robes, a thousand horses, and a thousand virgins." +</p> +<p> +But Heraclius submitted only for a moment. He found means not only +to restore his affairs but to retaliate on the Persian Empire. The +operations by which he achieved this result were worthy of the most +brilliant days of Rome. +</p> +<p> +INVASION OF CHOSROES Though her military renown was thus recovered, +though her territory was regained, there was something that the Roman +Empire had irrecoverably lost. Religious faith could never be restored. +In face of the world Magianism had insulted Christianity, by profaning +her most sacred places—Bethlehem, Gethsemane, Calvary—by burning +the sepulchre of Christ, by rifling and destroying the churches, by +scattering to the winds priceless relics, by carrying off, with shouts +of laughter, the cross. +</p> +<p> +Miracles had once abounded in Syria, in Egypt, in Asia Minor; there was +not a church which had not its long catalogue of them. Very often they +were displayed on unimportant occasions and in insignificant cases. In +this supreme moment, when such aid was most urgently demanded, not a +miracle was worked. +</p> +<p> +Amazement filled the Christian populations of the East when they +witnessed these Persian sacrileges perpetrated with impunity. The +heavens should have rolled asunder, the earth should have opened her +abysses, the sword of the Almighty should have flashed in the sky, the +fate of Sennacherib should have been repeated. But it was not so. In the +land of miracles, amazement was followed by consternation—consternation +died out in disbelief. +</p> +<p> +2. But, dreadful as it was, the Persian conquest was but a prelude to +the great event, the story of which we have now to relate—the Southern +revolt against Christianity. Its issue was the loss of nine-tenths of +her geographical possessions—Asia, Africa, and part of Europe. +</p> +<p> +MOHAMMED. In the summer of 581 of the Christian era, there came to +Bozrah, a town on the confines of Syria, south of Damascus, a caravan +of camels. It was from Mecca, and was laden with the costly products of +South Arabia—Arabia the Happy. The conductor of the caravan, one Abou +Taleb, and his nephew, a lad of twelve years, were hospitably received +and entertained at the Nestorian convent of the town. +</p> +<p> +The monks of this convent soon found that their young visitor, Halibi or +Mohammed, was the nephew of the guardian of the Caaba, the sacred temple +of the Arabs. One of them, by name Bahira, spared no pains to secure his +conversion from the idolatry in which he had been brought up. He found +the boy not only precociously intelligent, but eagerly desirous of +information, especially on matters relating to religion. +</p> +<p> +In Mohammed's own country the chief object of Meccan worship was a +black meteoric stone, kept in the Caaba, with three hundred and sixty +subordinate idols, representing the days of the year, as the year was +then counted. +</p> +<p> +At this time, as we have seen, the Christian Church, through the +ambition and wickedness of its clergy, had been brought into a condition +of anarchy. Councils had been held on various pretenses, while the real +motives were concealed. Too often they were scenes of violence, bribery, +corruption. In the West, such were the temptations of riches, luxury, +and power, presented by the episcopates, that the election of a bishop +was often disgraced by frightful murders. In the East, in consequence of +the policy of the court of Constantinople, the Church had been torn in +pieces by contentions and schisms. Among a countless host of disputants +may be mentioned Arians, Basilidians, Carpocratians, Collyridians, +Eutychians, Gnostics, Jacobites, Marcionites, Marionites, Nestorians, +Sabellians, Valentinians. Of these, the Marionites regarded the Trinity +as consisting of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Virgin Mary; +the Collyridians worshiped the Virgin as a divinity, offering her +sacrifices of cakes; the Nestorians, as we have seen, denied that God +had "a mother." They prided themselves on being the inheritors, the +possessors of the science of old Greece. +</p> +<p> +But, though they were irreconcilable in matters of faith, there was one +point in which all these sects agreed—ferocious hatred and persecution +of each other. Arabia, an unconquered land of liberty, stretching from +the Indian Ocean to the Desert of Syria, gave them all, as the tide +of fortune successively turned, a refuge. It had been so from the old +times. Thither, after the Roman conquest of Palestine, vast numbers of +Jews escaped; thither, immediately after his conversion, St. Paul +tells the Galatians that he retired. The deserts were now filled with +Christian anchorites, and among the chief tribes of the Arabs many +proselytes had been made. Here and there churches had been built. The +Christian princes of Abyssinia, who were Nestorians, held the southern +province of Arabia—Yemen—in possession. +</p> +<p> +By the monk Bahira, in the convent at Bozrah, Mohammed was taught the +tenets of the Nestorians; from them the young Arab learned the story of +their persecutions. It was these interviews which engendered in him a +hatred of the idolatrous practices of the Eastern Church, and indeed of +all idolatry; that taught him, in his wonderful career, never to speak +of Jesus as the Son of God, but always as "Jesus, the son of Mary." His +untutored but active mind could not fail to be profoundly impressed not +only with the religious but also with the philosophical ideas of +his instructors, who gloried in being the living representatives of +Aristotelian science. His subsequent career shows how completely their +religious thoughts had taken possession of him, and repeated acts +manifest his affectionate regard for them. His own life was devoted to +the expansion and extension of their theological doctrine, and, that +once effectually established, his successors energetically adopted and +diffused their scientific, their Aristotelian opinions. +</p> +<p> +As Mohammed grew to manhood, he made other expeditions to Syria. +Perhaps, we may suppose, that on these occasions the convent and its +hospitable in mates were not forgotten. He had a mysterious reverence +for that country. A wealthy Meccan widow Chadizah, had intrusted him +with the care of her Syrian trade. She was charmed with his capacity +and fidelity, and (since he is said to have been characterized by the +possession of singular manly beauty and a most courteous demeanor) +charmed with his person. The female heart in all ages and countries is +the same. She caused a slave to intimate to him what was passing in her +mind, and, for the remaining twenty-four years of her life, Mohammed was +her faithful husband. In a land of polygamy, he never insulted her by +the presence of a rival. Many years subsequently, in the height of his +power, Ayesha, who was one of the most beautiful women in Arabia, said +to him: "Was she not old? Did not God give you in me a better wife in +her place?" "No, by God!" exclaimed Mohammed, and with a burst of honest +gratitude, "there never can be a better. She believed in me when men +despised me, she relieved me when I was poor and persecuted by the +world." +</p> +<p> +His marriage with Chadizah placed him in circumstances of ease, and gave +him an opportunity of indulging his inclination to religious meditation. +It so happened that her cousin Waraka, who was a Jew, had turned +Christian. He was the first to translate the Bible into Arabic. By his +conversation Mohammed's detestation of idolatry was confirmed. +</p> +<p> +After the example of the Christian anchorites in their hermitages in +the desert, Mohammed retired to a grotto in Mount Hera, a few miles from +Mecca, giving himself up to meditation and prayer. In this seclusion, +contemplating the awful attributes of the Omnipotent and Eternal God, he +addressed to his conscience the solemn inquiry, whether he could adopt +the dogmas then held in Asiatic Christendom respecting the Trinity, the +sonship of Jesus as begotten by the Almighty, the character of Mary as +at once a virgin, a mother, and the queen of heaven, without incurring +the guilt and the peril of blasphemy. +</p> +<p> +By his solitary meditations in the grotto Mohammed was drawn to the +conclusion that, through the cloud of dogmas and disputations around +him, one great truth might be discerned—the unity of God. Leaning +against the stem of a palm-tree, he unfolded his views on this subject +to his neighbors and friends, and announced to them that he should +dedicate his life to the preaching of that truth. Again and again, in +his sermons and in the Koran, he declared: "I am nothing but a public +preacher.... I preach the oneness of God." Such was his own conception +of his so-called apostleship. Henceforth, to the day of his death, he +wore on his finger a seal-ring on which was engraved, "Mohammed, the +messenger of God." +</p> +<p> +VICTORIES OF MOHAMMED. It is well known among physicians that prolonged +fasting and mental anxiety inevitably give rise to hallucination. +Perhaps there never has been any religious system introduced by +self-denying, earnest men that did not offer examples of supernatural +temptations and supernatural commands. Mysterious voices encouraged the +Arabian preacher to persist in his determination; shadows of strange +forms passed before him. He heard sounds in the air like those of a +distant bell. In a nocturnal dream he was carried by Gabriel from Mecca +to Jerusalem, and thence in succession through the six heavens. Into the +seventh the angel feared to intrude and Mohammed alone passed into the +dread cloud that forever enshrouds the Almighty. "A shiver thrilled his +heart as he felt upon his shoulder the touch of the cold hand of God." +</p> +<p> +His public ministrations met with much resistance and little success at +first. Expelled from Mecca by the upholders of the prevalent idolatry, +he sought refuge in Medina, a town in which there were many Jews and +Nestorians; the latter at once became proselytes to his faith. He had +already been compelled to send his daughter and others of his disciples +to Abyssinia, the king of which was a Nestorian Christian. At the end of +six years he had made only fifteen hundred converts. But in three little +skirmishes, magnified in subsequent times by the designation of the +battles of Beder, of Ohud, and of the Nations, Mohammed discovered that +his most convincing argument was his sword. Afterward, with Oriental +eloquence, he said, "Paradise will be found in the shadow of the +crossing of swords." By a series of well-conducted military operations, +his enemies were completely overthrown. Arabian idolatry was absolutely +exterminated; the doctrine he proclaimed, that "there is but one God," +was universally adopted by his countrymen, and his own apostleship +accepted. +</p> +<p> +DEATH OF MOHAMMED. Let us pass over his stormy life, and hear what +he says when, on the pinnacle of earthly power and glory, he was +approaching its close. +</p> +<p> +Steadfast in his declaration of the unity of God, he departed from +Medina on his last pilgrimage to Mecca, at the head of one hundred +and fourteen thousand devotees, with camels decorated with garlands of +flowers and fluttering streamers. When he approached the holy city, he +uttered the solemn invocation: "Here am I in thy service, O God! Thou +hast no companion. To thee alone belongeth worship. Thine alone is the +kingdom. There is none to share it with thee." +</p> +<p> +With his own hand he offered up the camels in sacrifice. He considered +that primeval institution to be equally sacred as prayer, and that no +reason can be alleged in support of the one which is not equally strong +in support of the other. +</p> +<p> +From the pulpit of the Caaba he reiterated, "O my hearers, I am only a +man like yourselves." They remembered that he had once said to one who +approached him with timid steps: "Of what dost thou stand in awe? I am +no king. I am nothing but the son of an Arab woman, who ate flesh dried +in the sun." +</p> +<p> +He returned to Medina to die. In his farewell to his congregation, he +said: "Every thing happens according to the will of God, and has its +appointed time, which can neither be hastened nor avoided. I return to +him who sent me, and my last command to you is, that ye love, honor, and +uphold each other, that ye exhort each other to faith and constancy in +belief, and to the performance of pious deeds. My life has been for your +good, and so will be my death." +</p> +<p> +In his dying agony, his head was reclined on the lap of Ayesha. From +time to time he had dipped his hand in a vase of water, and moistened +his face. At last he ceased, and, gazing steadfastly upward, said, in +broken accents: "O God—forgive my sins—be it so. I come." +</p> +<p> +Shall we speak of this man with disrespect? His precepts are, at this +day, the religious guide of one-third of the human race. +</p> +<p> +DOCTRINES OF MOHAMMED. In Mohammed, who had already broken away from the +ancient idolatrous worship of his native country, preparation had been +made for the rejection of those tenets which his Nestorian teachers +had communicated to him, inconsistent with reason and conscience. And, +though, in the first pages of the Koran, he declares his belief in what +was delivered to Moses and Jesus, and his reverence for them personally, +his veneration for the Almighty is perpetually displayed. He is +horror-stricken at the doctrine of the divinity of Jesus, the Worship of +Mary as the mother of God, the adoration of images and paintings, in +his eyes a base idolatry. He absolutely rejects the Trinity, of which +he seems to have entertained the idea that it could not be interpreted +otherwise than as presenting three distinct Gods. +</p> +<p> +His first and ruling idea was simply religious reform—to overthrow +Arabian idolatry, and put an end to the wild sectarianism of +Christianity. That he proposed to set up a new religion was a calumny +invented against him in Constantinople, where he was looked upon with +detestation, like that with which in after ages Luther was regarded in +Rome. +</p> +<p> +But, though he rejected with indignation whatever might seem to +disparage the doctrine of the unity of God, he was not able to +emancipate himself from anthropomorphic conceptions. The God of the +Koran is altogether human, both corporeally and mentally, if such +expressions may with propriety be used. Very soon, however, the +followers of Mohammed divested themselves of these base ideas and rose +to nobler ones. +</p> +<p> +The view here presented of the primitive character of Mohammedanism +has long been adopted by many competent authorities. Sir William +Jones, following Locke, regards the main point in the divergence of +Mohammedanism from Christianity to consist "in denying vehemently the +character of our Savior as the Son, and his equality as God with the +Father, of whose unity and attributes the Mohammedans entertain and +express the most awful ideas." This opinion has been largely entertained +in Italy. Dante regarded Mohammed only as the author of a schism, and +saw in Islamism only an Arian sect. In England, Whately views it as a +corruption of Christianity. It was an offshoot of Nestorianism, and not +until it had overthrown Greek Christianity in many great battles, was +spreading rapidly over Asia and Africa, and had become intoxicated +with its wonderful successes, did it repudiate its primitive limited +intentions, and assert itself to be founded on a separate and distinct +revelation. +</p> +<p> +THE FIRST KHALIF. Mohammed's life had been almost entirely consumed +in the conversion or conquest of his native country. Toward its close, +however, he felt himself strong enough to threaten the invasion of Syria +and Persia. He had made no provision for the perpetuation of his own +dominion, and hence it was not without a struggle that a successor was +appointed. At length Abubeker, the father of Ayesha, was selected. He +was proclaimed the first khalif, or successor of the Prophet. +</p> +<p> +There is a very important difference between the spread of Mohammedanism +and the spread of Christianity. The latter was never sufficiently +strong to over throw and extirpate idolatry in the Roman Empire. As it +advanced, there was an amalgamation, a union. The old forms of the one +were vivified by the new spirit of the other, and that paganization to +which reference has already been made was the result. +</p> +<p> +THE MOHAMMEDAN HEAVEN. But, in Arabia, Mohammed overthrew and absolutely +annihilated the old idolatry. No trace of it is found in the doctrines +preached by him and his successors. The black stone that had fallen from +heaven—the meteorite of the Caaba—and its encircling idols, passed +totally out of view. The essential dogma of the new faith—"There is but +one God"—spread without any adulteration. Military successes had, in a +worldly sense made the religion of the Koran profitable; and, no matter +what dogmas may be, when that is the case, there will be plenty of +converts. +</p> +<p> +As to the popular doctrines of Mohammedanism, I shall here have nothing +to say. The reader who is interested in that matter will find an account +of them in a review of the Koran in the eleventh chapter of my "History +of the Intellectual Development of Europe." It is enough now to remark +that their heaven was arranged in seven stories, and was only a palace +of Oriental carnal delight. It was filled with black-eyed concubines +and servants. The form of God was, perhaps, more awful than that +of paganized Christianity. Anthropomorphism will, however, never be +obliterated from the ideas of the unintellectual. Their God, at the +best, will never be any thing more than the gigantic shadow of a man—a +vast phantom of humanity—like one of those Alpine spectres seen in the +midst of the clouds by him who turns his back on the sun. +</p> +<p> +Abubeker had scarcely seated himself in the khalifate, when he put forth +the following proclamation: +</p> +<p> +In the name of the most merciful God! Abubeker to the rest of the true +believers, health and happiness. The mercy and blessing of God be upon +you. I praise the most high God. I pray for his prophet Mohammed. +</p> +<p> +INVASION OF SYRIA. "This is to inform you that I intend to send the true +believers into Syria, to take it out of the hands of the infidels. And +I would have you know that the fighting for religion is an act of +obedience to God." +</p> +<p> +On the first encounter, Khaled, the Saracen general, hard pressed, +lifted up his hands in the midst of his army and said: "O God! these +vile wretches pray with idolatrous expressions and take to themselves +another God besides thee, but we acknowledge thy unity and affirm that +there is no other God but thee alone. Help us, we beseech thee, for the +sake of thy prophet Mohammed, against these idolaters." On the part of +the Saracens the conquest of Syria was conducted with ferocious piety. +The belief of the Syrian Christians aroused in their antagonists +sentiments of horror and indignation. "I will cleave the skull of any +blaspheming idolater who says that the Most Holy God, the Almighty +and Eternal, has begotten a son." The Khalif Omar, who took Jerusalem, +commences a letter to Heraclius, the Roman emperor: "In the name of the +most merciful God! Praise be to God, the Lord of this and of the other +world, who has neither female consort nor son." The Saracens nicknamed +the Christians "Associators," because they joined Mary and Jesus as +partners with the Almighty and Most Holy God. +</p> +<p> +It was not the intention of the khalif to command his army; that duty +was devolved on Abou Obeidah nominally, on Khaled in reality. In a +parting review the khalif enjoined on his troops justice, mercy, and the +observance of fidelity in their engagements he commanded them to abstain +from all frivolous conversation and from wine, and rigorously to observe +the hours of prayer; to be kind to the common people among whom they +passed, but to show no mercy to their priests. +</p> +<p> +FALL OF BOZRAH. Eastward of the river Jordan is Bozrah, a strong town +where Mohammed had first met his Nestorian Christian instructors. It was +one of the Roman forts with which the country was dotted over. Before +this place the Saracen army encamped. The garrison was strong, the +ramparts were covered with holy crosses and consecrated banners. It +might have made a long defense. But its governor, Romanus, betrayed his +trust, and stealthily opened its gates to the besiegers. His conduct +shows to what a deplorable condition the population of Syria had come. +After the surrender, in a speech he made to the people he had betrayed, +he said: "I renounce your society, both in this world and that to come. +And I deny him that was crucified, and whosoever worships him. And I +choose God for my Lord, Islam for my faith, Mecca for my temple, the +Moslems for my brethren, Mohammed for my prophet, who was sent to lead +us in the right way, and to exalt the true religion in spite of those +who join partners with God." Since the Persian invasion, Asia Minor, +Syria, and even Palestine, were full of traitors and apostates, ready to +join the Saracens. Romanus was but one of many thousands who had fallen +into disbelief through the victories of the Persians. +</p> +<p> +FALL OF DAMASCUS. From Bozrah it was only seventy miles northward to +Damascus, the capital of Syria. Thither, without delay, the Saracen army +marched. The city was at once summoned to take its option—conversion, +tribute, or the sword. In his palace at Antioch, barely one hundred and +fifty miles still farther north, the Emperor Heraclius received tidings +of the alarming advance of his assailants. He at once dispatched an army +of seventy thousand men. The Saracens were compelled to raise the +siege. A battle took place in the plains of Aiznadin, the Roman army +was overthrown and dispersed. Khaled reappeared before Damascus with his +standard of the black eagle, and after a renewed investment of seventy +days Damascus surrendered. +</p> +<p> +From the Arabian historians of these events we may gather that thus far +the Saracen armies were little better than a fanatic mob. Many of the +men fought naked. It was not unusual for a warrior to stand forth in +front and challenge an antagonist to mortal duel. Nay, more, even the +women engaged in the combats. Picturesque narratives have been +handed down to us relating the gallant manner in which they acquitted +themselves. +</p> +<p> +FALL OF JERUSALEM. From Damascus the Saracen army advanced northward, +guided by the snow-clad peaks of Libanus and the beautiful river +Orontes. It captured on its way Baalbec, the capital of the Syrian +valley, and Emesa, the chief city of the eastern plain. To resist its +further progress, Heraclius collected an army of one hundred and forty +thousand men. A battle took place at Yermuck; the right wing of the +Saracens was broken, but the soldiers were driven back to the field by +the fanatic expostulations of their women. The conflict ended in +the complete overthrow of the Roman army. Forty thousand were taken +prisoners, and a vast number killed. The whole country now lay open to +the victors. The advance of their army had been east of the Jordan. +It was clear that, before Asia Minor could be touched, the strong and +important cities of Palestine, which was now in their rear, must be +secured. There was a difference of opinion among the generals in the +field as to whether Caesarea or Jerusalem should be assailed first. The +matter was referred to the khalif, who, rightly preferring the moral +advantages of the capture of Jerusalem to the military advantages of the +capture of Caesarea, ordered the Holy City to be taken, and that at any +cost. Close siege was therefore laid to it. The inhabitants, remembering +the atrocities inflicted by the Persians, and the indignities that had +been offered to the Savior's sepulchre, prepared now for a vigorous +defense. But, after an investment of four months, the Patriarch +Sophronius appeared on the wall, asking terms of capitulation. There had +been misunderstandings among the generals at the capture of Damascus, +followed by a massacre of the fleeing inhabitants. Sophronius, +therefore, stipulated that the surrender of Jerusalem should take place +in presence of the khalif himself Accordingly, Omar, the khalif, came +from Medina for that purpose. He journeyed on a red camel, carrying +a bag of corn and one of dates, a wooden dish, and a leathern +water-bottle. The Arab conqueror entered the Holy City riding by the +side of the Christian patriarch and the transference of the capital of +Christianity to the representative of Mohammedanism was effected without +tumult or outrage. Having ordered that a mosque should be built on the +site of the temple of Solomon, the khalif returned to the tomb of the +Prophet at Medina. +</p> +<p> +Heraclius saw plainly that the disasters which were fast settling on +Christianity were due to the dissensions of its conflicting sects; and +hence, while he endeavored to defend the empire with his armies, he +sedulously tried to compose those differences. With this view he pressed +for acceptance the Monothelite doctrine of the nature of Christ. But it +was now too late. Aleppo and Antioch were taken. Nothing could prevent +the Saracens from overrunning Asia Minor. Heraclius himself had to seek +safety in flight. Syria, which had been added by Pompey the Great, +the rival of Caesar, to the provinces of Rome, seven hundred years +previously—Syria, the birthplace of Christianity, the scene of its most +sacred and precious souvenirs, the land from which Heraclius himself had +once expelled the Persian intruder—was irretrievably lost. Apostates +and traitors had wrought this calamity. We are told that, as the ship +which bore him to Constantinople parted from the shore, Heraclius +gazed intently on the receding hills, and in the bitterness of anguish +exclaimed, "Farewell, Syria, forever farewell!" +</p> +<p> +It is needless to dwell on the remaining details of the Saracen +conquest: how Tripoli and Tyre were betrayed; how Caesarea was captured; +how with the trees of Libanus and the sailors of Phoenicia a Saraeen +fleet was equipped, which drove the Roman navy into the Hellespont; how +Cyprus, Rhodes, and the Cyclades, were ravaged, and the Colossus, which +was counted as one of the wonders of the world, sold to a Jew, who +loaded nine hundred camels with its brass; how the armies of the khalif +advanced to the Black Sea, and even lay in front of Constantinople—all +this was as nothing after the fall of Jerusalem. +</p> +<p> +OVERTHROW OF THE PERSIANS. The fall of Jerusalem! the loss of +the metropolis of Christianity! In the ideas of that age the two +antagonistic forms of faith had submitted themselves to the ordeal of +the judgment of God. Victory had awarded the prize of battle, Jerusalem, +to the Mohammedan; and, notwithstanding the temporary successes of the +Crusaders, after much more than a thousand years in his hands it remains +to this day. The Byzantine historians are not without excuse for the +course they are condemned for taking: "They have wholly neglected the +great topic of the ruin of the Eastern Church." And as for the Western +Church, even the debased popes of the middle ages—the ages of the +Crusades—could not see without indignation that they were compelled +to rest the claims of Rome as the metropolis of Christendom on a false +legendary story of a visit of St. Peter to that city; while the true +metropolis, the grand, the sacred place of the birth, the life, the +death of Christ himself, was in the hands of the infidels! It has not +been the Byzantine historians alone who have tried to conceal this great +catastrophe. The Christian writers of Europe on all manner of subjects, +whether of history, religion, or science, have followed a similar +course against their conquering antagonists. It has been their constant +practice to hide what they could not depreciate, and depreciate what +they could not hide. +</p> +<p> +INVASION OF EGYPT. I have not space, nor indeed does it comport with the +intention of this work, to relate, in such detail as I have given to +the fall of Jerusalem, other conquests of the Saracens—conquests which +eventually established a Mohammedan empire far exceeding in geographical +extent that of Alexander, and even that of Rome. But, devoting a few +words to this subject, it may be said that Magianism received a worse +blow than that which had been inflicted on Christianity; The fate of +Persia was settled at the battle of Cadesia. At the sack of Ctesiphon, +the treasury, the royal arms, and an unlimited spoil, fell into the +hands of the Saracens. Not without reason do they call the battle of +Nehavend the "victory of victories." In one direction they advanced to +the Caspian, in the other southward along the Tigris to Persepolis. +The Persian king fled for his life over the great Salt Desert, from the +columns and statues of that city which had lain in ruins since the night +of the riotous banquet of Alexander. One division of the Arabian army +forced the Persian monarch over the Oxus. He was assassinated by the +Turks. His son was driven into China, and became a captain in the +Chinese emperor's guards. The country beyond the Oxus was reduced. +It paid a tribute of two million pieces of gold. While the emperor +at Peking was demanding the friendship of the khalif at Medina, the +standard of the Prophet was displayed on the banks of the Indus. +</p> +<p> +Among the generals who had greatly distinguished themselves in the +Syrian wars was Amrou, destined to be the conqueror of Egypt; for the +khalifs, not content with their victories on the North and East, now +turned their eyes to the West, and prepared for the annexation of +Africa. As in the former cases, so in this, sectarian treason assisted +them. The Saracen army was hailed as the deliverer of the Jacobite +Church; the Monophysite Christians of Egypt, that is, they who, in the +language of the Athanasian Creed, confounded the substance of the +Son, proclaimed, through their leader, Mokaukas, that they desired no +communion with the Greeks, either in this world or the next, that they +abjured forever the Byzantine tyrant and his synod of Chalcedon. They +hastened to pay tribute to the khalif, to repair the roads and bridges, +and to supply provisions and intelligence to the invading army. +</p> +<p> +FALL OF ALEXANDRIA. Memphis, one of the old Pharaonic capitals, soon +fell, and Alexandria was invested. The open sea behind gave opportunity +to Heraclius to reenforce the garrison continually. On his part, Omar, +who was now khalif sent to the succor of the besieging army the veteran +troops of Syria. There were many assaults and many sallies. In one Amrou +himself was taken prisoner by the besieged, but, through the dexterity +of a slave, made his escape. After a siege of fourteen months, and a +loss of twenty-three thousand men, the Saracens captured the city. In +his dispatch to the Khalif, Amrou enumerated the splendors of the great +city of the West "its four thousand palaces, four thousand baths, four +hundred theatres, twelve thousand shops for the sale of vegetable food, +and forty thousand tributary Jews." +</p> +<p> +So fell the second great city of Christendom—the fate of Jerusalem had +fallen on Alexandria, the city of Athanasius, and Arius, and Cyril; the +city that had imposed Trinitarian ideas and Mariolatry on the Church. +In his palace at Constantinople Heraclius received the fatal tidings. +He was overwhelmed with grief. It seemed as if his reign was to be +disgraced by the downfall of Christianity. He lived scarcely a month +after the loss of the town. +</p> +<p> +But if Alexandria had been essential to Constantinople in the supply +of orthodox faith, she was also essential in the supply of daily food. +Egypt was the granary of the Byzantines. For this reason two attempts +were made by powerful fleets and armies for the recovery of the place, +and twice had Amrou to renew his conquest. He saw with what facility +these attacks could be made, the place being open to the sea; he saw +that there was but one and that a fatal remedy. "By the living God, if +this thing be repeated a third time I will make Alexandria as open to +anybody as is the house of a prostitute!" He was better than his word, +for he forthwith dismantled its fortifications, and made it an untenable +place. +</p> +<p> +FALL OF CARTHAGE. It was not the intention of the khalifs to limit their +conquest to Egypt. Othman contemplated the annexation of the entire +North-African coast. His general, Abdallah, set out from Memphis with +forty thousand men, passed through the desert of Barca, and besieged +Tripoli. But, the plague breaking out in his army, he was compelled to +retreat to Egypt. +</p> +<p> +All attempts were now suspended for more than twenty years. Then Akbah +forced his way from the Nile to the Atlantic Ocean. In front of the +Canary Islands he rode his horse into the sea, exclaiming: "Great God! +if my course were not stopped by this sea, I would still go on to the +unknown kingdoms of the West, preaching the unity of thy holy name, and +putting to the sword the rebellious nations who worship any other gods +than thee." +</p> +<p> +These Saracen expeditions had been through the interior of the country, +for the Byzantine emperors, controlling for the time the Mediterranean, +had retained possession of the cities on the coast. The Khalif +Abdalmalek at length resolved on the reduction of Carthage, the most +important of those cities, and indeed the capital of North Africa. +His general, Hassan, carried it by escalade; but reenforcements from +Constantinople, aided by some Sicilian and Gothic troops, compelled +him to retreat. The relief was, however, only temporary. Hassan, in the +course of a few months renewed his attack. It proved successful, and he +delivered Carthage to the flames. +</p> +<p> +Jerusalem, Alexandria, Carthage, three out of the five great Christian +capitals, were lost. The fall of Constantinople was only a question of +time. After its fall, Rome alone remained. +</p> +<p> +In the development of Christianity, Carthage had played no insignificant +part. It had given to Europe its Latin form of faith, and some of its +greatest theologians. It was the home of St. Augustine. +</p> +<p> +Never in the history of the world had there been so rapid and extensive +a propagation of any religion as Mohammedanism. It was now dominating +from the Altai Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean, from the centre of Asia +to the western verge of Africa. +</p> +<p> +CONQUEST OF SPAIN. The Khalif Alwalid next authorized the invasion of +Europe, the conquest of Andalusia, or the Region of the Evening. +Musa, his general, found, as had so often been the case elsewhere, two +effective allies sectarianism and treason—the Archbishop of Toledo and +Count Julian the Gothic general. Under their lead, in the very crisis +of the battle of Xeres, a large portion of the army went over to the +invaders; the Spanish king was compelled to flee from the field, and in +the pursuit he was drowned in the waters of the Guadalquivir. +</p> +<p> +With great rapidity Tarik, the lieutenant of Musa, pushed forward from +the battle-field to Toledo, and thence northward. On the arrival of Musa +the reduction of the Spanish peninsula was completed, and the wreck of +the Gothic army driven beyond the Pyrenees into France. Considering the +conquest of Spain as only the first step in his victories, he announced +his intention of forcing his way into Italy, and preaching the unity of +God in the Vatican. Thence he would march to Constantinople, and, having +put all end to the Roman Empire and Christianity, would pass into Asia +and lay his victorious sword on the footstool of the khalif at Damascus. +</p> +<p> +But this was not to be. Musa, envious of his lieutenant, Tarik, had +treated him with great indignity. The friends of Tarik at the court of +the khalif found means of retaliation. An envoy from Damascus arrested +Musa in his camp; he was carried before his sovereign, disgraced by a +public whipping, and died of a broken heart. +</p> +<p> +INVASION OF FRANCE. Under other leaders, however, the Saracen conquest +of France was attempted. In a preliminary campaign the country from the +mouth of the Garonne to that of the Loire was secured. Then Abderahman, +the Saracen commander, dividing his forces into two columns, with one +on the east passed the Rhone, and laid siege to Arles. A Christian army, +attempting the relief of the place, was defeated with heavy loss. +His western column, equally successful, passed the Dordogne, defeated +another Christian army, inflicting on it such dreadful loss that, +according to its own fugitives, "God alone could number the slain." All +Central France was now overrun; the banks of the Loire were reached; +the churches and monasteries were despoiled of their treasures; and +the tutelar saints, who had worked so many miracles when there was no +necessity, were found to want the requisite power when it was so greatly +needed. +</p> +<p> +The progress of the invaders was at length stopped by Charles Martel +(A.D. 732). Between Tours and Poictiers, a great battle, which lasted +seven days, was fought. Abderahman was killed, the Saracens retreated, +and soon afterward were compelled to recross the Pyrenees. +</p> +<p> +The banks of the Loire, therefore, mark the boundary of the Mohammedan +advance in Western Europe. Gibbon, in his narrative of these great +events, makes this remark: "A victorious line of march had been +prolonged above a thousand miles from the rock of Gibraltar to the banks +of the Loire—a repetition of an equal space would have carried the +Saracens to the confines of Poland and the Highlands of Scotland." +</p> +<p> +INSULT TO ROME. It is not necessary for me to add to this sketch of the +military diffusion of Mohammedanism, the operations of the Saracens on +the Mediterranean Sea, their conquest of Crete and Sicily, their insult +to Rome. It will be found, however, that their presence in Sicily +and the south of Italy exerted a marked influence on the intellectual +development of Europe. +</p> +<p> +Their insult to Rome! What could be more humiliating than the +circumstances under which it took place (A.D. 846)? An insignificant +Saracen expedition entered the Tiber and appeared before the walls of +the city. Too weak to force an entrance, it insulted and plundered the +precincts, sacrilegiously violating the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul. +Had the city itself been sacked, the moral effect could not have been +greater. From the church of St. Peter its altar of silver was torn +away and sent to Africa—St. Peter's altar, the very emblem of Roman +Christianity! +</p> +<p> +Constantinople had already been besieged by the Saracens more than once; +its fall was predestined, and only postponed. Rome had received the +direst insult, the greatest loss that could be inflicted upon it; +the venerable churches of Asia Minor had passed out of existence; no +Christian could set his foot in Jerusalem without permission; the Mosque +of Omar stood on the site of the Temple of Solomon. Among the ruins of +Alexandria the Mosque of Mercy marked the spot where a Saracen general, +satiated with massacre, had, in contemptuous compassion, spared the +fugitive relics of the enemies of Mohammed; nothing remained of Carthage +but her blackened ruins. The most powerful religious empire that the +world had ever seen had suddenly come into existence. It stretched from +the Atlantic Ocean to the Chinese Wall, from the shores of the Caspian +to those of the Indian Ocean, and yet, in one sense, it had not reached +its culmination. The day was to come when it was to expel the successors +of the Caesars from their capital, and hold the peninsula of Greece in +subjection, to dispute with Christianity the empire of Europe in the +very centre of that continent, and in Africa to extend its dogmas and +faith across burning deserts and through pestilential forests from the +Mediterranean to regions southward far beyond the equinoetial line. +</p> +<p> +DISSENSIONS OF THE ARABS. But, though Mohammedanism had not reached its +culmination, the dominion of the khalifs had. Not the sword of Charles +Martel, but the internal dissension of the vast Arabian Empire, was the +salvation of Europe. Though the Ommiade Khalifs were popular in Syria, +elsewhere they were looked upon as intruders or usurpers; the kindred +of the apostle was considered to be the rightful representative of his +faith. Three parties, distinguished by their colors, tore the khalifate +asunder with their disputes, and disgraced it by their atrocities. The +color of the Ommiades was white, that of the Fatimites green, that of +the Abassides black; the last represented the party of Abbas, the uncle +of Mohammed. The result of these discords was a tripartite division +of the Mohammedan Empire in the tenth century into the khalifates of +Bagdad, of Cairoan, and of Cordova. Unity in Mohammedan political action +was at an end, and Christendom found its safeguard, not in supernatural +help, but in the quarrels of the rival potentates. To internal +animosities foreign pressures were eventually added and Arabism, which +had done so much for the intellectual advancement of the world, came to +an end when the Turks and the Berbers attained to power. +</p> +<p> +The Saracens had become totally regardless of European opposition—they +were wholly taken up with their domestic quarrels. Ockley says with +truth, in his history: "The Saracens had scarce a deputy lieutenant or +general that would not have thought it the greatest affront, and such +as ought to stigmatize him with indelible disgrace, if he should have +suffered himself to have been insulted by the united forces of all +Europe. And if any one asks why the Greeks did not exert themselves +more, in order to the extirpation of these insolent invaders, it is a +sufficient answer to any person that is acquainted with the characters +of those men to say that Amrou kept his residence at Alexandria, and +Moawyah at Damascus." +</p> +<p> +As to their contempt, this instance may suffice: Nicephorus, the Roman +emperor, had sent to the Khalif Haroun-al-Raschid a threatening +letter, and this was the reply: "In the name of the most merciful God, +Haroun-al-Raschid, commander of the faithful, to Nicephorus, the Roman +dog! I have read thy letter, O thou son of an unbelieving mother. Thou +shalt not hear, thou shalt behold my reply!" It was written in letters +of blood and fire on the plains of Phrygia. +</p> +<p> +POLITICAL EFFECT OF POLYGAMY. A nation may recover the confiscation +of its provinces, the confiscation of its wealth; it may survive the +imposition of enormous war-fines; but it never can recover from that +most frightful of all war-acts, the confiscation of its women. When +Abou Obeidah sent to Omar news of his capture of Antioch, Omar gently +upbraided him that he had not let the troops have the women. "If they +want to marry in Syria, let them; and let them have as many female +slaves as they have occasion for." It was the institution of polygamy, +based upon the confiscation of the women in the vanquished countries, +that secured forever the Mohammedan rule. The children of these unions +gloried in their descent from their conquering fathers. No better proof +can be given of the efficacy of this policy than that which is furnished +by North Africa. The irresistible effect of polygamy in consolidating +the new order of things was very striking. In little more than a single +generation, the Khalif was informed by his officers that the tribute +must cease, for all the children born in that region were Mohammedans, +and all spoke Arabic. +</p> +<p> +MOHAMMEDANISM. Mohammedanism, as left by its founder, was an +anthropomorphic religion. Its God was only a gigantic man, its heaven +a mansion of carnal pleasures. From these imperfect ideas its more +intelligent classes very soon freed themselves, substituting for them +others more philosophical, more correct. Eventually they attained to an +accordance with those that have been pronounced in our own times by the +Vatican Council as orthodox. Thus Al-Gazzali says: "A knowledge of God +cannot be obtained by means of the knowledge a man has of himself, or +of his own soul. The attributes of God cannot be determined from +the attributes of man. His sovereignty and government can neither be +compared nor measured." +</p> +<a name="2HCH0004"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER IV. +</h2> +<pre> + THE RESTORATION OF SCIENCE IN THE SOUTH. + + By the influence of the Nestorians and Jews, the Arabians + are turned to the cultivation of Science.—They modify + their views as to the destiny of man, and obtain true + conceptions respecting the structure of the world.—They + ascertain the size of the earth, and determine its shape.— + Their khalifs collect great libraries, patronize every + department of science and literature, establish astronomical + observatories.—They develop the mathematical sciences, + invent algebra, and improve geometry and trigonometry.—They + collect and translate the old Greek mathematical and + astronomical works, and adopt the inductive method of + Aristotle.—They establish many colleges, and, with the aid + of the Nestorians, organize a public-school system.—They + introduce the Arabic numerals and arithmetic, and catalogue + and give names to the stars.—They lay the foundation of + modern astronomy, chemistry, and physics, and introduce + great improvements in agriculture and manufactures. +</pre> +<p> +"IN the course of my long life," said the Khalif Ali, "I have often +observed that men are more like the times they live in than they +are like their fathers." This profoundly philosophical remark of the +son-in-law of Mohammed is strictly true; for, though the personal, the +bodily lineaments of a man may indicate his parentage, the constitution +of his mind, and therefore the direction of his thoughts, is determined +by the environment in which he lives. +</p> +<p> +When Amrou, the lieutenant of the Khalif Omar, conquered Egypt, and +annexed it to the Saracenic Empire, he found in Alexandria a Greek +grammarian, John surnamed Philoponus, or the Labor-lover. Presuming on +the friendship which had arisen between them, the Greek solicited as a +gift the remnant of the great library—a remnant which war and time and +bigotry had spared. Amrou, therefore, sent to the khalif to ascertain +his pleasure. "If," replied the khalif, "the books agree with the Koran, +the Word of God, they are useless, and need not be preserved; if +they disagree with it, they are pernicious. Let them be destroyed." +Accordingly, they were distributed among the baths of Alexandria, and it +is said that six months were barely sufficient to consume them. +</p> +<p> +Although the fact has been denied, there can be little doubt that Omar +gave this order. The khalif was an illiterate man; his environment +was an environment of fanaticism and ignorance. Omar's act was an +illustration of Ali's remark. +</p> +<p> +THE ALEXANDRIAN LIBRARY BURNT. But it must not be supposed that the +books which John the Labor-lover coveted were those which constituted +the great library of the Ptolemies, and that of Eumenes, King of +Pergamus. Nearly a thousand years had elapsed since Philadelphus began +his collection. Julius Caesar had burnt more than half; the Patriarchs +of Alexandria had not only permitted but superintended the dispersion +of almost all the rest. Orosius expressly states that he saw the empty +cases or shelves of the library twenty years after Theophilus, the uncle +of St. Cyril, had procured from the Emperor Theodosius a rescript for +its destruction. Even had this once noble collection never endured such +acts of violence, the mere wear and tear, and perhaps, I may add, the +pilfering of a thousand years, would have diminished it sadly. +Though John, as the surname he received indicates, might rejoice in a +superfluity of occupation, we may be certain that the care of a library +of half a million books would transcend even his well-tried powers; and +the cost of preserving and supporting it, that had demanded the ample +resources of the Ptolemies and the Caesars, was beyond the means of a +grammarian. Nor is the time required for its combustion or destruction +any indication of the extent of the collection. Of all articles of +fuel, parchment is, perhaps, the most wretched. Paper and papyrus do +excellently well as kindling-materials, but we may be sure that the +bath-men of Alexandria did not resort to parchment so long as they could +find any thing else, and of parchment a very large portion of these +books was composed. +</p> +<p> +There can, then, be no more doubt that Omar did order the destruction of +this library, under an impression of its uselessness or its irreligious +tendency, than that the Crusaders burnt the library of Tripoli, +fancifully said to have consisted of three million volumes. The first +apartment entered being found to contain nothing but the Koran, all the +other books were supposed to be the works of the Arabian impostor, +and were consequently committed to the flames. In both cases the story +contains some truth and much exaggeration. Bigotry, however, has often +distinguished itself by such exploits. The Spaniards burnt in Mexico +vast piles of American picture-writings, an irretrievable loss; and +Cardinal Ximenes delivered to the flames, in the squares of Granada, +eighty thousand Arabic manuscripts, many of them translations of +classical authors. +</p> +<p> +We have seen how engineering talent, stimulated by Alexander's Persian +campaign, led to a wonderful development of pure science under the +Ptolemies; a similar effect may be noted as the result of the Saracenic +military operations. +</p> +<p> +The friendship contracted by Amrou, the conqueror of Egypt, with John +the Grammarian, indicates how much the Arabian mind was predisposed to +liberal ideas. Its step from the idolatry of the Caaba to the monotheism +of Mohammed prepared it to expatiate in the wide and pleasing fields +of literature and philosophy. There were two influences to which it +was continually exposed. They conspired in determining its path. These +were—1. That of the Nestorians in Syria; 2. That of the Jews in Egypt. +</p> +<p> +INFLUENCE OF THE NESTORIANS AND JEWS. In the last chapter I have briefly +related the persecution of Nestor and his disciples. They bore testimony +to the oneness of God, through many sufferings and martyrdoms. They +utterly repudiated an Olympus filled with gods and goddesses. "Away from +us a queen of heaven!" +</p> +<p> +Such being their special views, the Nestorians found no difficulty in +affiliating with their Saracen conquerors, by whom they were treated +not only with the highest respect, but intrusted with some of the most +important offices of the state. Mohammed, in the strongest manner, +prohibited his followers from committing any injuries against them. +Jesuiabbas, their pontiff, concluded treaties both with the Prophet and +with Omar, and subsequently the Khalif Haroun-al-Raschid placed all his +public schools under the superintendence of John Masue, a Nestorian. +</p> +<p> +To the influence of the Nestorians that of the Jews was added. When +Christianity displayed a tendency to unite itself with paganism, the +conversion of the Jews was arrested; it totally ceased when Trinitarian +ideas were introduced. The cities of Syria and Egypt were full of Jews. +In Alexandria alone, at the time of its capture by Amrou, there were +forty thousand who paid tribute. Centuries of misfortune and persecution +had served only to confirm them in their monotheism, and to strengthen +that implacable hatred of idolatry which they had cherished ever +since the Babylonian captivity. Associated with the Nestorians, they +translated into Syriac many Greek and Latin philosophical works, which +were retranslated into Arabic. While the Nestorian was occupied with +the education of the children of the great Mohammedan families, the Jew +found his way into them in the character of a physician. +</p> +<p> +FATALISM OF THE ARABIANS. Under these influences the ferocious +fanaticism of the Saracens abated, their manners were polished, their +thoughts elevated. They overran the realms of Philosophy and Science +as quickly as they had overrun the provinces of the Roman Empire. They +abandoned the fallacies of vulgar Mohammedanism, accepting in their +stead scientific truth. +</p> +<p> +In a world devoted to idolatry, the sword of the Saracen had vindicated +the majesty of God. The doctrine of fatalism, inculcated by the Koran, +had powerfully contributed to that result. "No man can anticipate or +postpone his predetermined end. Death will overtake us even in lofty +towers. From the beginning God hath settled the place in which each man +shall die." In his figurative language the Arab said: "No man can by +flight escape his fate. The Destinies ride their horses by night.... +Whether asleep in bed or in the storm of battle, the angel of death will +find thee." "I am convinced," said Ali, to whose wisdom we have already +referred—"I am convinced that the affairs of men go by divine decree, +and not by our administration." The Mussulmen are those who submissively +resign themselves to the will of God. They reconciled fate and free-will +by saying, "The outline is given us, we color the picture of life as we +will." They said that, if we would overcome the laws of Nature, we must +not resist, we must balance them against each other. +</p> +<p> +This dark doctrine prepared its devotees for the accomplishment of great +things—things such as the Saracens did accomplish. It converted despair +into resignation, and taught men to disdain hope. There was a proverb +among them that "Despair is a freeman, Hope is a slave." +</p> +<p> +But many of the incidents of war showed plainly that medicines +may assuage pain, that skill may close wounds, that those who are +incontestably dying may be snatched from the grave. The Jewish physician +became a living, an accepted protest against the fatalism of the Koran. +By degrees the sternness of predestination was mitigated, and it was +admitted that in individual life there is an effect due to free-will; +that by his voluntary acts man may within certain limits determine his +own course. But, so far as nations are concerned, since they can yield +no personal accountability to God, they are placed under the control of +immutable law. +</p> +<p> +In this respect the contrast between the Christian and the Mohammedan +nations was very striking: The Christian was convinced of incessant +providential interventions; he believed that there was no such thing as +law in the government of the world. By prayers and entreaties he might +prevail with God to change the current of affairs, or, if that failed, +he might succeed with Christ, or perhaps with the Virgin Mary, or +through the intercession of the saints, or by the influence of their +relics or bones. If his own supplications were unavailing, he might +obtain his desire through the intervention of his priest, or through +that of the holy men of the Church, and especially if oblations or gifts +of money were added. Christendom believed that she could change the +course of affairs by influencing the conduct of superior beings. Islam +rested in a pious resignation to the unchangeable will of God. The +prayer of the Christian was mainly an earnest intercession for benefits +hoped for, that of the Saracen a devout expression of gratitude for the +past. Both substituted prayer for the ecstatic meditation of India. +To the Christian the progress of the world was an exhibition of +disconnected impulses, of sudden surprises. To the Mohammedan that +progress presented a very different aspect. Every corporeal motion was +due to some preceding motion; every thought to some preceding thought; +every historical event was the offspring of some preceding event; every +human action was the result of some foregone and accomplished action. In +the long annals of our race, nothing has ever been abruptly introduced. +There has been an orderly, an inevitable sequence from event to event. +There is an iron chain of destiny, of which the links are facts; each +stands in its preordained place—not one has ever been disturbed, not +one has ever been removed. Every man came into the world without his own +knowledge, he is to depart from it perhaps against his own wishes. Then +let him calmly fold his hands, and expect the issues of fate. +</p> +<p> +Coincidently with this change of opinion as to the government of +individual life, there came a change as respects the mechanical +construction of the world. According to the Koran, the earth is a square +plane, edged with vast mountains, which serve the double purpose of +balancing it in its seat, and of sustaining the dome of the sky. Our +devout admiration of the power and wisdom of God should be excited by +the spectacle of this vast crystalline brittle expanse, which has been +safely set in its position without so much as a crack or any other +injury. Above the sky, and resting on it, is heaven, built in seven +stories, the uppermost being the habitation of God, who, under the form +of a gigantic man, sits on a throne, having on either side winged bulls, +like those in the palaces of old Assyrian kings. +</p> +<p> +THEY MEASURE THE EARTH. These ideas, which indeed are not peculiar to +Mohammedanism, but are entertained by all men in a certain stage of +their intellectual development as religious revelations, were +very quickly exchanged by the more advanced Mohammedans for others +scientifically correct. Yet, as has been the case in Christian +countries, the advance was not made without resistance on the part +of the defenders of revealed truth. Thus when Al-Mamun, having become +acquainted with the globular form of the earth, gave orders to his +mathematicians and astronomers to measure a degree of a great circle +upon it, Takyuddin, one of the most celebrated doctors of divinity +of that time, denounced the wicked khalif, declaring that God would +assuredly punish him for presumptuously interrupting the devotions +of the faithful by encouraging and diffusing a false and atheistical +philosophy among them. Al-Mamun, however, persisted. On the shores of +the Red Sea, in the plains of Shinar, by the aid of an astrolabe, the +elevation of the pole above the horizon was determined at two stations +on the same meridian, exactly one degree apart. The distance between +the two stations was then measured, and found to be two hundred thousand +Hashemite cubits; this gave for the entire circumference of the earth +about twenty-four thousand of our miles, a determination not far +from the truth. But, since the spherical form could not be positively +asserted from one such measurement, the khalif caused another to be made +near Cufa in Mesopotamia. His astronomers divided themselves into two +parties, and, starting from a given point, each party measured an arc +of one degree, the one northward, the other southward. Their result +is given in cubits. If the cubit employed was that known as the royal +cubit, the length of a degree was ascertained within one-third of a mile +of its true value. From these measures the khalif concluded that the +globular form was established. +</p> +<p> +THEIR PASSION FOR SCIENCE. It is remarkable how quickly the ferocious +fanaticism of the Saracens was transformed into a passion for +intellectual pursuits. At first the Koran was an obstacle to +literature and science. Mohammed had extolled it as the grandest of all +compositions, and had adduced its unapproachable excellence as a proof +of his divine mission. But, in little more than twenty years after his +death, the experience that had been acquired in Syria, Persia, Asia +Minor, Egypt, had produced a striking effect, and Ali the khalif +reigning at that time, avowedly encouraged all kinds of literary +pursuits. Moawyah, the founder of the Ommiade dynasty, who followed in +661, revolutionized the government. It had been elective, he made it +hereditary. He removed its seat from Medina to a more central position +at Damascus, and entered on a career of luxury and magnificence. He +broke the bonds of a stern fanaticism, and put himself forth as a +cultivator and patron of letters. Thirty years had wrought a wonderful +change. A Persian satrap who had occasion to pay homage to Omar, the +second khalif, found him asleep among the beggars on the steps of the +Mosque of Medina; but foreign envoys who had occasion to seek Moawyah, +the sixth khalif, were presented to him in a magnificent palace, +decorated with exquisite arabesques, and adorned with flower-gardens and +fountains. +</p> +<p> +THEIR LITERATURE. In less than a century after the death of Mohammed, +translations of the chief Greek philosophical authors had been made into +Arabic; poems such as the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey," being considered +to have an irreligious tendency from their mythological allusions, were +rendered into Syriac, to gratify the curiosity of the learned. Almansor, +during his khalifate (A.D. 753-775), transferred the seat of government +to Bagdad, which he converted into a splendid metropolis; he gave much +of his time to the study and promotion of astronomy, and established +schools of medicine and law. His grandson, Haroun-al-Raschid (A.D. 786), +followed his example, and ordered that to every mosque in his dominions +a school should be attached. But the Augustan age of Asiatic learning +was during the khalifate of Al-Mamun (A.D. 813-832). He made Bagdad the +centre of science, collected great libraries, and surrounded himself +with learned men. +</p> +<p> +The elevated taste thus cultivated continued after the division of the +Saracen Empire by internal dissensions into three parts. The Abasside +dynasty in Asia, the Fatimite in Egypt, and the Ommiade in Spain, became +rivals not merely in politics, but also in letters and science. +</p> +<p> +THEY ORIGINATE CHEMISTRY. In letters the Saracens embraced every topic +that can amuse or edify the mind. In later times, it was their boast +that they had produced more poets than all other nations combined. In +science their great merit consists in this, that they cultivated it +after the manner of the Alexandrian Greeks, not after the manner of the +European Greeks. They perceived that it can never be advanced by mere +speculation; its only sure progress is by the practical interrogation of +Nature. The essential characteristics of their method are experiment and +observation. Geometry and the mathematical sciences they looked upon +as instruments of reasoning. In their numerous writings on mechanics, +hydrostatics, optics, it is interesting to remark that the solution of +a problem is always obtained by performing an experiment, or by an +instrumental observation. It was this that made them the originators of +chemistry, that led them to the invention of all kinds of apparatus for +distillation, sublimation, fusion, filtration, etc.; that in astronomy +caused them to appeal to divided instruments, as quadrants and +astrolabes; in chemistry, to employ the balance, the theory of which +they were perfectly familiar with; to construct tables of specific +gravities and astronomical tables, as those of Bagdad, Spain, Samarcand; +that produced their great improvements in geometry, trigonometry, the +invention of algebra, and the adoption of the Indian numeration in +arithmetic. Such were the results of their preference of the inductive +method of Aristotle, their declining the reveries of Plato. +</p> +<p> +THEIR GREAT LIBRARIES. For the establishment and extension of the public +libraries, books were sedulously collected. Thus the khalif Al-Mamun +is reported to have brought into Bagdad hundreds of camel-loads of +manuscripts. In a treaty he made with the Greek emperor, Michael III., +he stipulated that one of the Constantinople libraries should be given +up to him. Among the treasures he thus acquired was the treatise of +Ptolemy on the mathematical construction of the heavens. He had it +forthwith translated into Arabic, under the title of "Al-magest." The +collections thus acquired sometimes became very large; thus the Fatimite +Library at Cairo contained one hundred thousand volumes, elegantly +transcribed and bound. Among these, there were six thousand five hundred +manuscripts on astronomy and medicine alone. The rules of this library +permitted the lending out of books to students resident at Cairo. It +also contained two globes, one of massive silver and one of brass; the +latter was said to have been constructed by Ptolemy, the former cost +three thousand golden crowns. The great library of the Spanish khalifs +eventually numbered six hundred thousand volumes; its catalogue alone +occupied forty-four. Besides this, there were seventy public libraries +in Andalusia. The collections in the possession of individuals were +sometimes very extensive. A private doctor refused the invitation of a +Sultan of Bokhara because the carriage of his books would have required +four hundred camels. +</p> +<p> +There was in every great library a department for the copying or +manufacture of translations. Such manufactures were also often an +affair of private enterprise. Honian, a Nestorian physician, had an +establishment of the kind at Bagdad (A.D. 850). He issued versions of +Aristotle, Plato, Hippocrates, Galen, etc. As to original works, it was +the custom of the authorities of colleges to require their professors +to prepare treatises on prescribed topics. Every khalif had his own +historian. Books of romances and tales, such as "The Thousand and One +Arabian Nights' Entertainments," bear testimony to the creative fancy +of the Saracens. Besides these, there were works on all kinds of +subjects—history, jurisprudence, politics, philosophy, biographies not +only of illustrious men, but also of celebrated horses and camels. These +were issued without any censorship or restraint, though, in later times, +works on theology required a license for publication. Books of reference +abounded, geographical, statistical, medical, historical dictionaries, +and even abridgments or condensations of them, as the "Encyclopedic +Dictionary of all the Sciences," by Mohammed Abu Abdallah. Much pride +was taken in the purity and whiteness of the paper, in the skillful +intermixture of variously-colored inks, and in the illumination of +titles by gilding and other adornments. +</p> +<p> +The Saracen Empire was dotted all over with colleges. They were +established in Mongolia, Tartary, Persia, Mesopotamia, Syria, Egypt, +North Africa, Morocco, Fez, Spain. At one extremity of this vast region, +which far exceeded the Roman Empire in geographical extent, were the +college and astronomical observatory of Samarcand, at the other the +Giralda in Spain. Gibbon, referring to this patronage of learning, says: +"The same royal prerogative was claimed by the independent emirs of the +provinces, and their emulation diffused the taste and the rewards of +science from Samarcand and Bokhara to Fez and Cordova. The vizier of a +sultan consecrated a sum of two hundred thousand pieces of gold to +the foundation of a college at Bagdad, which he endowed with an annual +revenue of fifteen thousand dinars. The fruits of instruction were +communicated, perhaps, at different times, to six thousand disciples +of every degree, from the son of the noble to that of the mechanic; a +sufficient allowance was provided for the indigent scholars, and the +merit or industry of the professors was repaid with adequate stipends. +In every city the productions of Arabic literature were copied and +collected, by the curiosity of the studious and the vanity of the rich." +The superintendence of these schools was committed with noble liberality +sometimes to Nestorians, sometimes to Jews. It mattered not in what +country a man was born, nor what were his religious opinions; his +attainment in learning was the only thing to be considered. The great +Khalif Al-Mamun had declared that "they are the elect of God, his best +and most useful servants, whose lives are devoted to the improvement +of their rational faculties; that the teachers of wisdom are the true +luminaries and legislators of this world, which, without their aid, +would again sink into ignorance and barbarism." +</p> +<p> +After the example of the medical college of Cairo, other medical +colleges required their students to pass a rigid examination. The +candidate then received authority to enter on the practice of his +profession. The first medical college established in Europe was that +founded by the Saracens at Salerno, in Italy. The first astronomical +observatory was that erected by them at Seville, in Spain. +</p> +<p> +THE ARABIAN SCIENTIFIC MOVEMENT. It would far transcend the limits of +this book to give an adequate statement of the results of this imposing +scientific movement. The ancient sciences were greatly extended—new +ones were brought into existence. The Indian method of arithmetic was +introduced, a beautiful invention, which expresses all numbers by ten +characters, giving them an absolute value, and a value by position, +and furnishing simple rules for the easy performance of all kinds +of calculations. Algebra, or universal arithmetic—the method of +calculating indeterminate quantities, or investigating the relations +that subsist among quantities of all kinds, whether arithmetical or +geometrical—was developed from the germ that Diophantus had left. +Mohammed Ben Musa furnished the solution of quadratic equations, +Omar Ben Ibra him that of cubic equations. The Saracens also gave to +trigonometry its modern form, substituting sines for chords, which had +been previously used; they elevated it into a separate science. +Musa, above mentioned, was the author of a "Treatise on Spherical +Trigonometry." Al-Baghadadi left one on land-surveying, so excellent, +that by some it has been declared to be a copy of Euclid's lost work on +that subject. +</p> +<p> +ARABIAN ASTRONOMY. In astronomy, they not only made catalogues, but +maps of the stars visible in their skies, giving to those of the larger +magnitudes the Arabic names they still bear on our celestial globes. +They ascertained, as we have seen, the size of the earth by the +measurement of a degree on her surface, determined the obliquity of +the ecliptic, published corrected tables of the sun and moon fixed +the length of the year, verified the precession of the equinoxes. The +treatise of Albategnius on "The Science of the Stars" is spoken of by +Laplace with respect; he also draws attention to an important fragment +of Ibn-Junis, the astronomer of Hakem, the Khalif of Egypt, A.D. 1000, +as containing a long series of observations from the time of Almansor, +of eclipses, equinoxes, solstices, conjunctions of planets, occultations +of stars—observations which have cast much light on the great +variations of the system of the world. The Arabian astronomers also +devoted themselves to the construction and perfection of astronomical +instruments, to the measurement of time by clocks of various kinds, by +clepsydras and sun-dials. They were the first to introduce, for this +purpose, the use of the pendulum. +</p> +<p> +In the experimental sciences, they originated chemistry; they discovered +some of its most important reagents—sulphuric acid, nitric acid, +alcohol. They applied that science in the practice of medicine, being +the first to publish pharmacopoeias or dispensatories, and to include in +them mineral preparations. In mechanics, they had determined the laws +of falling bodies, had ideas, by no means indistinct, of the nature of +gravity; they were familiar with the theory of the mechanical powers. In +hydrostatics they constructed the first tables of the specific gravities +of bodies, and wrote treatises on the flotation and sinking of bodies +in water. In optics, they corrected the Greek misconception, that a +ray proceeds from the eye, and touches the object seen, introducing +the hypothesis that the ray passes from the object to the eye. They +understood the phenomena of the reflection and refraction of light. +Alhazen made the great discovery of the curvilinear path of a ray of +light through the atmosphere, and proved that we see the sun and moon +before they have risen, and after they have set. +</p> +<p> +AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. The effects of this scientific activity are +plainly perceived in the great improvements that took place in many +of the industrial arts. Agriculture shows it in better methods of +irrigation, the skillful employment of manures, the raising of improved +breeds of cattle, the enactment of wise codes of rural laws, the +introduction of the culture of rice, and that of sugar and coffee. The +manufactures show it in the great extension of the industries of silk, +cotton, wool; in the fabrication of cordova and morocco leather, and +paper; in mining, casting, and various metallurgic operations; in the +making of Toledo blades. +</p> +<p> +Passionate lovers of poetry and music, they dedicated much of their +leisure time to those elegant pursuits. They taught Europe the game of +chess; they gave it its taste for works of fiction—romances and novels. +In the graver domains of literature they took delight: they had many +admirable compositions on such subjects as the instability of human +greatness; the consequences of irreligion; the reverses of fortune; the +origin, duration, and end of the world. Sometimes, not without surprise, +we meet with ideas which we flatter ourselves have originated in our +own times. Thus our modern doctrines of evolution and development were +taught in their schools. In fact, they carried them much farther than we +are disposed to do, extending them even to inorganic or mineral +things. The fundamental principle of alchemy was the natural process of +development of metalline bodies. "When common people," says Al-Khazini, +writing in the twelfth century, "hear from natural philosophers that +gold is a body which has attained to perfection of maturity, to the +goal of completeness, they firmly believe that it is something which has +gradually come to that perfection by passing through the forms of all +other metallic bodies, so that its gold nature was originally lead, +afterward it became tin, then brass, then silver, and finally reached +the development of gold; not knowing that the natural philosophers mean, +in saying this, only something like what they mean when they speak of +man, and attribute to him a completeness and equilibrium in nature and +constitution—not that man was once a bull, and was changed into an +ass, and afterward into a horse, and after that into an ape, and finally +became a man." +</p> +<a name="2HCH0005"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER V. +</h2> +<pre> + CONFLICT RESPECTING THE NATURE OF THE SOUL.—DOCTRINE OF + EMANATION AND ABSORPTION. + + European ideas respecting the soul.—It resembles the form + of the body. + + Philosophical views of the Orientals.—The Vedic theology + and Buddhism assert the doctrine of emanation and + absorption.—It is advocated by Aristotle, who is followed + by the Alexandrian school, and subsequently by the Jews and + Arabians.—It is found in the writings of Erigena. + + Connection of this doctrine with the theory of conservation + and correlation of force.—Parallel between the origin and + destiny of the body and the soul.—The necessity of founding + human on comparative psychology. + + Averroism, which is based on these facts, is brought into + Christendom through Spain and Sicily. + + History of the repression of Averroism.—Revolt of Islam + against it.—Antagonism of the Jewish synagogues.—Its + destruction undertaken by the papacy.—Institution of the + Inquisition in Spain.—Frightful persecutions and their + results.—Expulsion of the Jews and Moors.—Overthrow of + Averroism in Europe.—Decisive action of the late Vatican + Council. +</pre> +<p> +THE pagan Greeks and Romans believed that the spirit of man resembles +his bodily form, varying its appearance with his variations, and growing +with his growth. Heroes, to whom it had been permitted to descend into +Hades, had therefore without difficulty recognized their former friends. +Not only had the corporeal aspect been retained, but even the customary +raiment. +</p> +<p> +THE SOUL. The primitive Christians, whose conceptions of a future life +and of heaven and hell, the abodes of the blessed and the sinful, were +far more vivid than those of their pagan predecessors, accepted and +intensified these ancient ideas. They did not doubt that in the world +to come they should meet their friends, and hold converse with them, as +they had done here upon earth—an expectation that gives consolation to +the human heart, reconciling it to the most sorrowful bereavements, and +restoring to it its dead. +</p> +<p> +In the uncertainty as to what becomes of the soul in the interval +between its separation from the body and the judgment-day, many +different opinions were held. Some thought that it hovered over the +grave, some that it wandered disconsolate through the air. In the +popular belief, St. Peter sat as a door-keeper at the gate of heaven. To +him it had been given to bind or to loose. He admitted or excluded the +Spirits of men at his pleasure. Many persons, however, were disposed to +deny him this power, since his decisions would be anticipatory of the +judgment-day, which would thus be rendered needless. After the time +of Gregory the Great, the doctrine of purgatory met with general +acceptance. A resting-place was provided for departed spirits. +</p> +<p> +That the spirits of the dead occasionally revisit the living, or haunt +their former abodes, has been in all ages, in all European countries, +a fixed belief, not confined to rustics, but participated in by the +intelligent. A pleasing terror gathers round the winter's-evening +fireside at the stories of apparitions, goblins, ghosts. In the old +times the Romans had their lares, or spirits of those who had led +virtuous lives; their larvae or lemures, the spirits of the wicked; +their manes, the spirits of those of whom the merits were doubtful. If +human testimony on such subjects can be of any value, there is a body +of evidence reaching from the remotest ages to the present time, as +extensive and unimpeachable as is to be found in support of any thing +whatever, that these shades of the dead congregate near tombstones, +or take up their secret abode in the gloomy chambers of dilapidated +castles, or walk by moonlight in moody solitude. +</p> +<p> +ASIATIC PSYCHOLOGICAL VIEWS. While these opinions have universally found +popular acceptance in Europe, others of a very different nature have +prevailed extensively in Asia, and indeed very generally in the higher +regions of thought. Ecclesiastical authority succeeded in repressing +them in the sixteenth century, but they never altogether disappeared. +In our own times so silently and extensively have they been diffused in +Europe, that it was found expedient in the papal Syllabus to draw +them in a very conspicuous manner into the open light; and the Vatican +Council, agreeing in that view of their obnoxious tendency and secret +spread, has in an equally prominent and signal manner among its first +canons anathematized all persons who hold them. "Let him be anathema who +says that spiritual things are emanations of the divine substance, or +that the divine essence by manifestation or development becomes all +things." In view of this authoritative action, it is necessary now to +consider the character and history of these opinions. +</p> +<p> +Ideas respecting the nature of God necessarily influence ideas +respecting the nature of the soul. The eastern Asiatics had adopted the +conception of an impersonal God, and, as regards the soul, its necessary +consequence, the doctrine of emanation and absorption. +</p> +<p> +EMANATION AND ABSORPTION. Thus the Vedic theology is based on the +acknowledgment of a universal spirit pervading all things. "There is in +truth but one Deity, the supreme Spirit; he is of the same nature as the +soul of man." Both the Vedas and the Institutes of Menu affirm that +the soul is an emanation of the all-pervading Intellect, and that it is +necessarily destined to be reabsorbed. They consider it to be without +form, and that visible Nature, with all its beauties and harmonies, is +only the shadow of God. +</p> +<p> +Vedaism developed itself into Buddhism, which has become the faith of +a majority of the human race. This system acknowledges that there is a +supreme Power, but denies that there is a supreme Being. It contemplates +the existence of Force, giving rise as its manifestation to matter. It +adopts the theory of emanation and absorption. In a burning taper it +sees an effigy of man—an embodiment of matter, and an evolution of +force. If we interrogate it respecting the destiny of the soul, it +demands of us what has become of the flame when it is blown out, and in +what condition it was before the taper was lighted. Was it a nonentity? +Has it been annihilated? It admits that the idea of personality which +has deluded us through life may not be instantaneously extinguished at +death, but may be lost by slow degrees. On this is founded the doctrine +of transmigration. But at length reunion with the universal Intellect +takes place, Nirwana is reached, oblivion is attained, a state that has +no relation to matter, space, or time, the state into which the departed +flame of the extinguished taper has gone, the state in which we were +before we were born. This is the end that we ought to hope for; it is +reabsorption in the universal Force—supreme bliss, eternal rest. +</p> +<p> +Through Aristotle these doctrines were first introduced into Eastern +Europe; indeed, eventually, as we shall see, he was regarded as the +author of them. They exerted a dominating influence in the later period +of the Alexandrian school. Philo, the Jew, who lived in the time of +Caligula, based his philosophy on the theory of emanation. Plotinus +not only accepted that theory as applicable to the soul of man, but as +affording an illustration of the nature of the Trinity. For, as a beam +of light emanates from the sun, and as warmth emanates from the beam +when it touches material bodies, so from the Father the Son emanates, +and thence the Holy Ghost. From these views Plotinus derived a practical +religious system, teaching the devout how to pass into a condition of +ecstasy, a foretaste of absorption into the universal mundane soul. +In that condition the soul loses its individual consciousness. In like +manner Porphyry sought absorption in or union with God. He was a Tyrian +by birth, established a school at Rome, and wrote against Christianity; +his treatise on that subject was answered by Eusebius and St. Jerome, +but the Emperor Theodosius silenced it more effectually by causing all +the copies to be burnt. Porphyry bewails his own unworthiness, saying +that he had been united to God in ecstasy but once in eighty-six years, +whereas his master Plotinus had been so united six times in sixty years. +A complete system of theology, based on the theory of emanation, was +constructed by Proclus, who speculated on the manner in which absorption +takes place: whether the soul is instantly reabsorbed and reunited in +the moment of death, or whether it retains the sentiment of personality +for a time, and subsides into complete reunion by successive steps. +</p> +<p> +ARABIC PSYCHOLOGY. From the Alexandrian Greeks these ideas passed to +the Saracen philosophers, who very soon after the capture of the great +Egyptian city abandoned to the lower orders their anthropomorphic +notions of the nature of God and the simulachral form of the spirit of +man. As Arabism developed itself into a distinct scientific system, +the theories of emanation and absorption were among its characteristic +features. In this abandonment of vulgar Mohammedanism, the example of +the Jews greatly assisted. They, too, had given up the anthropomorphism +of their ancestors; they had exchanged the God who of old lived behind +the veil of the temple for an infinite Intelligence pervading the +universe, and, avowing their inability to conceive that any thing +which had on a sudden been called into existence should be capable of +immortality, they affirmed that the soul of man is connected with a past +of which there was no beginning, and with a future to which there is no +end. +</p> +<p> +In the intellectual history of Arabism the Jew and the Saracen are +continually seen together. It was the same in their political history, +whether we consider it in Syria, in Egypt, or in Spain. From them +conjointly Western Europe derived its philosophical ideas, which in +the course of time culminated in Averroism; Averroism is philosophical +Islamism. Europeans generally regarded Averroes as the author of these +heresies, and the orthodox branded him accordingly, but he was nothing +more than their collector and commentator. His works invaded Christendom +by two routes: from Spain through Southern France they reached Upper +Italy, engendering numerous heresies on their way; from Sicily they +passed to Naples and South Italy, under the auspices of Frederick II. +</p> +<p> +But, long before Europe suffered this great intellectual invasion, there +were what might, perhaps, be termed sporadic instances of Orientalism. +As an example I may quote the views of John Erigena (A.D. 800) He had +adopted and taught the philosophy of Aristotle had made a pilgrimage +to the birthplace of that philosopher, and indulged a hope of uniting +philosophy and religion in the manner proposed by the Christian +ecclesiastics who were then studying in the Mohammedan universities of +Spain. He was a native of Britain. +</p> +<p> +In a letter to Charles the Bald, Anastasius expresses his astonishment +"how such a barbarian man, coming from the very ends of the earth, and +remote from human conversation, could comprehend things so clearly, and +transfer them into another language so well." The general intention of +his writings was, as we have said, to unite philosophy with religion, +but his treatment of these subjects brought him under ecclesiastical +censure, and some of his works were adjudged to the flames. His most +important book is entitled "De Divisione Nature." +</p> +<p> +Erigena's philosophy rests upon the observed and admitted fact that +every living thing comes from something that had previously lived. The +visible world, being a world of life, has therefore emanated necessarily +from some primordial existence, and that existence is God, who is thus +the originator and conservator of all. Whatever we see maintains itself +as a visible thing through force derived from him, and, were that force +withdrawn, it must necessarily disappear. Erigena thus conceives of +the Deity as an unceasing participator in Nature, being its preserver, +maintainer, upholder, and in that respect answering to the soul of the +world of the Greeks. The particular life of individuals is therefore a +part of general existence, that is, of the mundane soul. +</p> +<p> +If ever there were a withdrawal of the maintaining power, all things +must return to the source from which they issued—that is, they must +return to God, and be absorbed in him. All visible Nature must thus +pass back into "the Intellect" at last. "The death of the flesh is the +auspices of the restitution of things, and of a return to their ancient +conservation. So sounds revert back to the air in which they were born, +and by which they were maintained, and they are heard no more; no man +knows what has become of them. In that final absorption which, after +a lapse of time, must necessarily come, God will be all in all, and +nothing exist but him alone." "I contemplate him as the beginning and +cause of all things; all things that are and those that have been, but +now are not, were created from him, and by him, and in him. I also view +him as the end and intransgressible term of all things.... There is a +fourfold conception of universal Nature—two views of divine Nature, as +origin and end; two also of framed Nature, causes and effects. There is +nothing eternal but God." +</p> +<p> +The return of the soul to the universal Intellect is designated by +Erigena as Theosis, or Deification. In that final absorption all +remembrance of its past experiences is lost. The soul reverts to the +condition in which it was before it animated the body. Necessarily, +therefore, Erigena fell under the displeasure of the Church. +</p> +<p> +It was in India that men first recognized the fact that force is +indestructible and eternal. This implies ideas more or less distinct +of that which we now term its "correlation and conservation." +Considerations connected with the stability of the universe give +strength to this view, since it is clear that, were there either +an increase or a diminution, the order of the world must cease. The +definite and invariable amount of energy in the universe must therefore +be accepted as a scientific fact. The changes we witness are in its +distribution. +</p> +<p> +But, since the soul must be regarded as an active principle, to call a +new one into existence out of nothing is necessarily to add to the force +previously in the world. And, if this has been done in the case of every +individual who has been born, and is to be repeated for every individual +hereafter, the totality of force must be continually increasing. +</p> +<p> +Moreover, to many devout persons there is something very revolting in +the suggestion that the Almighty is a servitor to the caprices and lusts +of man, and that, at a certain term after its origin, it is necessary +for him to create for the embryo a soul. +</p> +<p> +Considering man as composed of two portions, a soul and a body, the +obvious relations of the latter may cast much light on the mysterious, +the obscure relations of the former. Now, the substance of which the +body consists is obtained from the general mass of matter around us, +and after death to that general mass it is restored. Has Nature, then, +displayed before our eyes in the origin, mutations, and destiny of the +material part, the body, a revelation that may guide us to a knowledge +of the origin and destiny of the companion, the spiritual part, the +soul? +</p> +<p> +Let us listen for a moment to one of the most powerful of Mohammedan +writers: +</p> +<p> +"God has created the spirit of man out of a drop of his own light; +its destiny is to return to him. Do not deceive yourself with the vain +imagination that it will die when the body dies. The form you had on +your entrance into this world, and your present form, are not the +same; hence there is no necessity of your perishing, on account of the +perishing of your body. Your spirit came into this world a stranger, it +is only sojourning, in a temporary home. From the trials and tempests +of this troublesome life, our refuge is in God. In reunion with him we +shall find eternal rest—a rest without sorrow, a joy without pain, a +strength without infirmity, a knowledge without doubt, a tranquil and +yet an ecstatic vision of the source of life and light and glory, the +source from which we came." So says the Saracen philosopher, Al-Gazzali +(A.D. 1010). +</p> +<p> +In a stone the material particles are in a state of stable equilibrium; +it may, therefore, endure forever. An animal is in reality only a form +through which a stream of matter is incessantly flowing. It receives its +supplies, and dismisses its wastes. In this it resembles a cataract, +a river, a flame. The particles that compose it at one instant have +departed from it the next. It depends for its continuance on exterior +supplies. It has a definite duration in time, and an inevitable moment +comes in which it must die. +</p> +<p> +In the great problem of psychology we cannot expect to reach a +scientific result, if we persist in restricting ourselves to the +contemplation of one fact. We must avail ourselves of all accessible +facts. Human psychology can never be completely resolved except through +comparative psychology. With Descartes, we must inquire whether the +souls of animals be relations of the human soul, less perfect members in +the same series of development. We must take account of what we discover +in the intelligent principle of the ant, as well as what we discern in +the intelligent principle of man. Where would human physiology be, if +it were not illuminated by the bright irradiations of comparative +physiology? +</p> +<p> +Brodie, after an exhaustive consideration of the facts, affirms that +the mind of animals is essentially the same as that of man. Every one +familiar with the dog will admit that that creature knows right from +wrong, and is conscious when he has committed a fault. Many domestic +animals have reasoning powers, and employ proper means for the +attainment of ends. How numerous are the anecdotes related of the +intentional actions of the elephant and the ape! Nor is this apparent +intelligence due to imitation, to their association with man, for +wild animals that have no such relation exhibit similar properties. In +different species, the capacity and character greatly vary. Thus the dog +is not only more intelligent, but has social and moral qualities that +the cat does not possess; the former loves his master, the latter her +home. +</p> +<p> +Du Bois-Reymond makes this striking remark: "With awe and wonder must +the student of Nature regard that microscopic molecule of nervous +substance which is the seat of the laborious, constructive, orderly, +loyal, dauntless soul of the ant. It has developed itself to its present +state through a countless series of generations." What an impressive +inference we may draw from the statement of Huber, who has written so +well on this subject: "If you will watch a single ant at work, you can +tell what he will next do!" He is considering the matter, and reasoning +as you are doing. Listen to one of the many anecdotes which Huber, at +once truthful and artless, relates: "On the visit of an overseer ant to +the works, when the laborers had begun the roof too soon, he examined it +and had it taken down, the wall raised to the proper height, and a new +ceiling constructed with the fragments of the old one." Surely these +insects are not automata, they show intention. They recognize their old +companions, who have been shut up from them for many months, and exhibit +sentiments of joy at their return. Their antennal language is capable +of manifold expression; it suits the interior of the nest, where all is +dark. +</p> +<p> +While solitary insects do not live to raise their young, social insects +have a longer term, they exhibit moral affections and educate +their offspring. Patterns of patience and industry, some of these +insignificant creatures will work sixteen or eighteen hours a day. Few +men are capable of sustained mental application more than four or five +hours. +</p> +<p> +Similarity of effects indicates similarity of causes; similarity of +actions demands similarity of organs. I would ask the reader of these +paragraphs, who is familiar with the habits of animals, and especially +with the social relations of that wonderful insect to which reference +has been made, to turn to the nineteenth chapter of my work on +the "Intellectual Development of Europe," in which he will find a +description of the social system of the Incas of Peru. Perhaps, then, in +view of the similarity of the social institutions and personal conduct +of the insect, and the social institutions and personal conduct of the +civilized Indian—the one an insignificant speck, the other a man—he +will not be disposed to disagree with me in the opinion that "from bees, +and wasps, and ants, and birds, from all that low animal life on which +he looks with supercilious contempt, man is destined one day to learn +what in truth he really is." +</p> +<p> +The views of Descartes, who regarded all insects as automata, can +scarcely be accepted without modification. Insects are automata only +so far as the action of their ventral cord, and that portion of their +cephalic ganglia which deals with contemporaneous impressions, is +concerned. +</p> +<p> +It is one of the functions of vesicular-nervous material to retain +traces or relics of impressions brought to it by the organs of sense; +hence, nervous ganglia, being composed of that material, may be +considered as registering apparatus. They also introduce the element +of time into the action of the nervous mechanism. An impression, which +without them might have forthwith ended in reflex action, is delayed, +and with this duration come all those important effects arising through +the interaction of many impressions, old and new, upon each other. +</p> +<p> +There is no such thing as a spontaneous, or self-originated, thought. +Every intellectual act is the consequence of some preceding act. It +comes into existence in virtue of something that has gone before. Two +minds constituted precisely alike, and placed under the influence of +precisely the same environment, must give rise to precisely the same +thought. To such sameness of action we allude in the popular expression +"common-sense"—a term full of meaning. In the origination of a +thought there are two distinct conditions: the state of the organism +as dependent on antecedent impressions, and on the existing physical +circumstances. +</p> +<p> +In the cephalic ganglia of insects are stored up the relics of +impressions that have been made upon the common peripheral nerves, and +in them are kept those which are brought in by the organs of special +sense—the visual, olfactive, auditory. The interaction of these raises +insects above mere mechanical automata, in which the reaction instantly +follows the impression. +</p> +<p> +In all cases the action of every nerve-centre, no matter what its stage +of development may be, high or low, depends upon an essential chemical +condition—oxidation. Even in man, if the supply of arterial blood +be stopped but for a moment, the nerve-mechanism loses its power; if +diminished, it correspondingly declines; if, on the contrary, it +be increased—as when nitrogen monoxide is breathed—there is more +energetic action. Hence there arises a need of repair, a necessity for +rest and sleep. +</p> +<p> +Two fundamental ideas are essentially attached to all our perceptions +of external things: they are SPACE and TIME, and for these provision is +made in the nervous mechanism while it is yet in an almost rudimentary +state. The eye is the organ of space, the ear of time; the perceptions +of which by the elaborate mechanism of these structures become +infinitely more precise than would be possible if the sense of touch +alone were resorted to. +</p> +<p> +There are some simple experiments which illustrate the vestiges of +ganglionic impressions. If on a cold, polished metal, as a new razor, +any object, such as a wafer, be laid, and the metal be then breathed +upon, and, when the moisture has had time to disappear, the wafer be +thrown off, though now the most critical inspection of the polished +surface can discover no trace of any form, if we breathe once more upon +it, a spectral image of the wafer comes plainly into view; and this may +be done again and again. Nay, more, if the polished metal be carefully +put aside where nothing can deteriorate its surface, and be so kept for +many months, on breathing again upon it the shadowy form emerges. +</p> +<p> +Such an illustration shows how trivial an impression may be thus +registered and preserved. But, if, on such an inorganic surface, an +impression may thus be indelibly marked, how much more likely in the +purposely-constructed ganglion! A shadow never falls upon a wall without +leaving thereupon a permanent trace, a trace which might be made visible +by resorting to proper processes. Photographic operations are cases in +point. The portraits of our friends, or landscape views, may be hidden +on the sensitive surface from the eye, but they are ready to make their +appearance as soon as proper developers are resorted to. A spectre is +concealed on a silver or glassy surface until, by our necromancy, we +make it come forth into the visible world. Upon the walls of our most +private apartments, where we think the eye of intrusion is altogether +shut out and our retirement can never be profaned, there exist the +vestiges of all our acts, silhouettes of whatever we have done. +</p> +<p> +If, after the eyelids have been closed for some time, as when we +first awake in the morning, we suddenly and steadfastly gaze at a +brightly-illuminated object and then quickly close the lids again, a +phantom image is perceived in the indefinite darkness beyond us. We may +satisfy ourselves that this is not a fiction, but a reality, for many +details that we had not time to identify in the momentary glance may +be contemplated at our leisure in the phantom. We may thus make out the +pattern of such an object as a lace curtain hanging in the window, or +the branches of a tree beyond. By degrees the image becomes less and +less distinct; in a minute or two it has disappeared. It seems to have a +tendency to float away in the vacancy before us. If we attempt to follow +it by moving the eyeball, it suddenly vanishes. +</p> +<p> +Such a duration of impressions on the retina proves that the effect of +external influences on nerve-vesicles is not necessarily transitory. +In this there is a correspondence to the duration, the emergence, the +extinction, of impressions on photographic preparations. Thus, I have +seen landscapes and architectural views taken in Mexico developed, as +artists say, months subsequently in New York—the images coming out, +after the long voyage, in all their proper forms and in all their proper +contrast of light and shade. The photograph had forgotten nothing. It +had equally preserved the contour of the everlasting mountains and the +passing smoke of a bandit-fire. +</p> +<p> +Are there, then, contained in the brain more permanently, as in the +retina more transiently, the vestiges of impressions that have been +gathered by the sensory organs? Is this the explanation of memory—the +Mind contemplating such pictures of past things and events as have +been committed to her custody. In her silent galleries are there hung +micrographs of the living and the dead, of scenes that we have +visited, of incidents in which we have borne a part? Are these abiding +impressions mere signal-marks, like the letters of a book, which impart +ideas to the mind? or are they actual picture-images, inconceivably +smaller than those made for us by artists, in which, by the aid of a +microscope, we can see, in a space not bigger than a pinhole, a whole +family group at a glance? +</p> +<p> +The phantom images of the retina are not perceptible in the light of the +day. Those that exist in the sensorium in like manner do not attract our +attention so long as the sensory organs are in vigorous operation, and +occupied in bringing new impressions in. But, when those organs become +weary or dull, or when we experience hours of great anxiety, or are +in twilight reveries, or are asleep, the latent apparitions have their +vividness increased by the contrast, and obtrude themselves on the +mind. For the same reason they occupy us in the delirium of fevers, and +doubtless also in the solemn moments of death. During a third part of +our life, in sleep, we are withdrawn from external influences; hearing +and sight and the other senses are inactive, but the never-sleeping Mind, +that pensive, that veiled enchantress, in her mysterious retirement, +looks over the ambrotypes she has collected—ambrotypes, for they are +truly unfading impressions—and, combining them together, as they chance +to occur, constructs from them the panorama of a dream. +</p> +<p> +Nature has thus implanted in the organization of every man means which +impressively suggest to him the immortality of the soul and a future +life. Even the benighted savage thus sees in his visions the fading +forms of landscapes, which are, perhaps, connected with some of his +most pleasant recollections; and what other conclusion can be possibly +extract from those unreal pictures than that they are the foreshadowings +of another land beyond that in which his lot is cast? At intervals he is +visited in his dreams by the resemblances of those whom he has loved +or hated while they were alive; and these manifestations are to him +incontrovertible proofs of the existence and immortality of the soul. +In our most refined social conditions we are never able to shake off the +impressions of these occurrences, and are perpetually drawing from +them the same conclusions that our uncivilized ancestors did. Our more +elevated condition of life in no respect relieves us from the inevitable +operation of our own organization, any more than it relieves us from +infirmities and disease. In these respects, all over the globe men are +on an equality. Savage or civilized, we carry within us a mechanism +which presents us with mementoes of the most solemn facts with which we +can be concerned. It wants only moments of repose or sickness, when the +influence of external things is diminished, to come into full play, and +these are precisely the moments when we are best prepared for the truths +it is going to suggest. That mechanism is no respecter of persons. It +neither permits the haughtiest to be free from the monitions, nor leaves +the humblest without the consolation of a knowledge of another life. +Open to no opportunities of being tampered with by the designing or +interested, requiring no extraneous human agency for its effect, +out always present with every man wherever he may go, it marvelously +extracts from vestiges of the impressions of the past overwhelming +proofs of the realities of the future, and, gathering its power from +what would seem to be a most unlikely source, it insensibly leads us, no +matter who or where we may be, to a profound belief in the immortal and +imperishable, from phantoms which have scarcely made their appearance +before they are ready to vanish away. +</p> +<p> +The insect differs from a mere automaton in this, that it is influenced +by old, by registered impressions. In the higher forms of animated life +that registration becomes more and more complete, memory becomes more +perfect. There is not any necessary resemblance between an external form +and its ganglionic impression, any more than there is between the words +of a message delivered in a telegraphic office and the signals which +the telegraph may give to the distant station; any more than there +is between the letters of a printed page and the acts or scenes they +describe, but the letters call up with clearness to the mind of the +reader the events and scenes. +</p> +<p> +An animal without any apparatus for the retention of impressions must +be a pure automaton—it cannot have memory. From insignificant and +uncertain beginnings, such an apparatus is gradually evolved, and, as +its development advances, the intellectual capacity increases. In man, +this retention or registration reaches perfection; he guides, himself by +past as well as by present impressions; he is influenced by experience; +his conduct is determined by reason. +</p> +<p> +A most important advance is made when the capability is acquired by any +animal of imparting a knowledge of the impressions stored up in its own +nerve-centres to another of the same kind. This marks the extension of +individual into social life, and indeed is essential thereto. In the +higher insects it is accomplished by antennal contacts, in man by +speech. Humanity, in its earlier, its savage stages, was limited to +this: the knowledge of one person could be transmitted to another by +conversation. The acts and thoughts of one generation could be imparted +to another, and influence its acts and thoughts. +</p> +<p> +But tradition has its limit. The faculty of speech makes society +possible—nothing more. +</p> +<p> +Not without interest do we remark the progress of development of +this function. The invention of the art of writing gave extension and +durability to the registration or record of impressions. These, which +had hitherto been stored up in the brain of one man, might now be +imparted to the whole human race, and be made to endure forever. +Civilization became possible—for civilization cannot exist without +writing, or the means of record in some shape. +</p> +<p> +From this psychological point of view we perceive the real significance +of the invention of printing—a development of writing which, by +increasing the rapidity of the diffusion of ideas, and insuring their +permanence, tends to promote civilization and to unify the human race. +</p> +<p> +In the foregoing paragraphs, relating to nervous impressions, their +registry, and the consequences, that spring from them, I have given an +abstract of views presented in my work on "Human Physiology," published +in 1856, and may, therefore, refer the reader to the chapter on "Inverse +Vision, or Cerebral Sight;" to Chapter XIV., Book I.; and to Chapter +VIII., Book II.; of that work, for other particulars. +</p> +<p> +The only path to scientific human psychology is through comparative +psychology. It is a long and wearisome path, but it leads to truth. +</p> +<p> +Is there, then, a vast spiritual existence pervading the universe, even +as there is a vast existence of matter pervading it—a spirit which, +as a great German author tells us, "sleeps in the stone, dreams in the +animal, awakes in man?" Does the soul arise from the one as the body +arises from the other? Do they in like manner return, each to the source +from which it has come? If so, we can interpret human existence, and our +ideas may still be in unison with scientific truth, and in accord with +our conception of the stability, the unchangeability of the universe. +</p> +<p> +To this spiritual existence the Saracens, following Eastern nations, +gave the designation "the Active Intellect." They believed that the soul +of man emanated from it, as a rain-drop comes from the sea, and, after a +season, returns. So arose among them the imposing doctrines of emanation +and absorption. The active intellect is God. +</p> +<p> +In one of its forms, as we have seen, this idea was developed by Chakia +Mouni, in India, in a most masterly manner, and embodied in the vast +practical system of Buddhism; in another, it was with less power +presented among the Saracens by Averroes. +</p> +<p> +But, perhaps we ought rather to say that Europeans hold Averroes as +the author of this doctrine, because they saw him isolated from his +antecedents. But Mohammedans gave him little credit for originality. +He stood to them in the light of a commentator on Aristotle, and as +presenting the opinions of the Alexandrian and other philosophical +schools up to his time. The following excerpts from the "Historical +Essay on Averroism," by M. Renan, will show how closely the Sarscenic +ideas approached those presented above: +</p> +<p> +This system supposes that, at the death of an individual, his +intelligent principle or soul no longer possesses a separate existence, +but returns to or is absorbed in the universal mind, the active +intelligence, the mundane soul, which is God; from whom, indeed, it had +originally emanated or issued forth. +</p> +<p> +The universal, or active, or objective intellect, is uncreated, +impassible, incorruptible, has neither beginning nor end; nor does it +increase as the number of individual souls increases. It is altogether +separate from matter. It is, as it were, a cosmic principle. This +oneness of the active intellect, or reason, is the essential principle +of the Averroistic theory, and is in harmony with the cardinal doctrine +of Mohammedanism—the unity of God. +</p> +<p> +The individual, or passive, or subjective intellect, is an emanation +from the universal, and constitutes what is termed the soul of man. In +one sense it is perishable and ends with the body, but in a higher +sense it endures; for, after death, it returns to or is absorbed in the +universal soul, and thus of all human souls there remains at last +but one—the aggregate of them all, life is not the property of the +individual, it belongs to Nature. The end of, man is to enter into union +more and more complete with the active intellect—reason. In that the +happiness of the soul consists. Our destiny is quietude. It was the +opinion of Averroes that the transition from the individual to the +universal is instantaneous at death, but the Buddhists maintain that +human personality continues in a declining manner for a certain term +before nonentity, or Nirwana, is attained. +</p> +<p> +Philosophy has never proposed but two hypotheses to explain the system +of the world: first, a personal God existing apart, and a human soul +called into existence or created, and thenceforth immortal; second, an +impersonal intelligence, or indeterminate God, and a soul emerging from +and returning to him. As to the origin of beings, there are two opposite +opinions: first, that they are created from nothing; second, that they +come by development from pre-existing forms. The theory of creation +belongs to the first of the above hypotheses, that of evolution to the +last. +</p> +<p> +Philosophy among the Arabs thus took the same direction that it had +taken in China, in India, and indeed throughout the East. Its whole +spirit depended on the admission of the indestructibility of matter and +force. It saw an analogy between the gathering of the material of which +the body of man consists from the vast store of matter in Nature, and +its final restoration to that store, and the emanation of the spirit +of man from the universal Intellect, the Divinity, and its final +reabsorption. +</p> +<p> +Having thus indicated in sufficient detail the philosophical +characteristics of the doctrine of emanation and absorption, I have in +the next place to relate its history. It was introduced into Europe by +the Spanish Arabs. Spain was the focal point from which, issuing forth, +it affected the ranks of intelligence and fashion all over Europe, and +in Spain it had a melancholy end. +</p> +<p> +The Spanish khalifs had surrounded themselves with all the luxuries +of Oriental life. They had magnificent palaces, enchanting gardens, +seraglios filled with beautiful women. Europe at the present day does +not offer more taste, more refinement, more elegance, than might have +been seen, at the epoch of which we are speaking, in the capitals of the +Spanish Arabs. Their streets were lighted and solidly paved. The houses +were frescoed and carpeted; they were warmed in winter by furnaces, and +cooled in summer with perfumed air brought by underground pipes from +flower-beds. They had baths, and libraries, and dining-halls, fountains +of quicksilver and water. City and country were full of conviviality, +and of dancing to the lute and mandolin. Instead of the drunken and +gluttonous wassail orgies of their Northern neighbors, the feasts of the +Saracens were marked by sobriety. Wine was prohibited. The enchanting +moonlight evenings of Andalusia were spent by the Moors in sequestered, +fairy-like gardens or in orange-groves, listening to the romances of +the story-teller, or engaged in philosophical discourse; consoling +themselves for the disappointments of this life by such reflections +as that, if virtue were rewarded in this world, we should be without +expectations in the life to come; and reconciling themselves to their +daily toil by the expectation that rest will be found after death—a +rest never to be succeeded by labor. +</p> +<p> +In the tenth century the Khalif Hakein II. had made beautiful Andalusia +the paradise of the world. Christians, Mussulmen, Jews, mixed together +without restraint. There, among many celebrated names that have +descended to our times, was Gerbert, destined subsequently to +become pope. There, too, was Peter the Venerable, and many Christian +ecclesiastics. Peter says that he found learned men even from Britain +pursuing astronomy. All learned men, no matter from what country they +came, or what their religious views, were welcomed. The khalif had in +his palace a manufactory of books, and copyists, binders, illuminators. +He kept book-buyers in all the great cities of Asia and Africa. His +library contained four hundred thousand volumes, superbly bound and +illuminated. +</p> +<p> +Throughout the Mohammedan dominions in Asia, in Africa, and in Spain, +the lower order of Mussulmen entertained a fanatical hatred against +learning. Among the more devout—those who claimed to be orthodox—there +were painful doubts as to the salvation of the great Khalif +Al-Mamun—the wicked khalif, as they called him—for he had not only +disturbed the people by introducing the writings of Aristotle and other +Greek heathens, but had even struck at the existence of heaven and +hell by saying that the earth is a globe, and pretending that he could +measure its size. These persons, from their numbers, constituted a +political power. +</p> +<p> +Almansor, who usurped the khalifate to the prejudice of Hakem's son, +thought that his usurpation would be sustained if he put himself at +the head of the orthodox party. He therefore had the library of Hakem +searched, and all works of a scientific or philosophical nature carried +into the public places and burnt, or thrown into the cisterns of the +palace. By a similar court revolution Averroes, in his old age—he died +A.D. 1193—was expelled from Spain; the religious party had triumphed +over the philosophical. He was denounced as a traitor to religion. +An opposition to philosophy had been organized all over the Mussulman +world. There was hardly a philosopher who was not punished. Some +were put to death, and the consequence was, that Islam was full of +hypocrites. +</p> +<p> +Into Italy, Germany, England, Averroism had silently made its way. +It found favor in the eyes of the Franciscans, and a focus in the +University of Paris. By very many of the leading minds it had been +accepted. But at length the Dominicans, the rivals of the Franciscans, +sounded an alarm. They said it destroys all personality, conducts +to fatalism, and renders inexplicable the difference and progress +of individual intelligences. The declaration that there is but one +intellect is an error subversive of the merits of the saints, it is +an assertion that there is no difference among men. What! is there no +difference between the holy soul of Peter and the damned soul of Judas? +are they identical? Averroes in this his blasphemous doctrine denies +creation, providence, revelation, the Trinity, the efficacy of prayers, +of alms, and of litanies; he disbelieves in the resurrection and +immortality; he places the summum bonum in mere pleasure. +</p> +<p> +So, too, among the Jews who were then the leading intellects of the +world, Averroism had been largely propagated. Their great writer +Maimonides had thoroughly accepted it; his school was spreading it in +all directions. A furious persecution arose on the part of the orthodox +Jews. Of Maimonides it had been formerly their delight to declare that +he was "the Eagle of the Doctors, the Great Sage, the Glory of the West, +the Light of the East, second only to Moses." Now, they proclaimed that +he had abandoned the faith of Abraham; had denied the possibility of +creation, believed in the eternity of the world; had given himself up to +the manufacture of atheists; had deprived God of his attributes; made a +vacuum of him; had declared him inaccessible to prayer, and a stranger +to the government of the world. The works of Maimonides were committed +to the flames by the synagogues of Montpellier, Barcelona, and Toledo. +</p> +<p> +Scarcely had the conquering arms of Ferdinand and Isabella overthrown +the Arabian dominion in Spain, when measures were taken by the papacy +to extinguish these opinions, which, it was believed, were undermining +European Christianity. +</p> +<p> +Until Innocent IV. (1243), there was no special tribunal against +heretics, distinct from those of the bishops. The Inquisition, then +introduced, in accordance with the centralization of the times, was +a general and papal tribunal, which displaced the old local ones. +The bishops, therefore, viewed the innovation with great dislike, +considering it as an intrusion on their rights. It was established in +Italy, Spain, Germany, and the southern provinces of France. +</p> +<p> +The temporal sovereigns were only too desirous to make use of this +powerful engine for their own political purposes. Against this the popes +strongly protested. They were not willing that its use should pass out +of the ecclesiastical hand. +</p> +<p> +The Inquisition, having already been tried in the south of France, had +there proved to be very effective for the suppression of heresy. It had +been introduced into Aragon. Now was assigned to it the duty of dealing +with the Jews. +</p> +<p> +In the old times under Visigothic rule these people had greatly +prospered, but the leniency that had been shown to them was succeeded by +atrocious persecution, when the Visigoths abandoned their Arianism and +became orthodox. The most inhuman ordinances were issued against them—a +law was enacted condemning them all to be slaves. It was not to be +wondered at that, when the Saracen invasion took place, the Jews did +whatever they could to promote its success. They, like the Arabs, were +an Oriental people, both traced their lineage to Abraham, their common +ancestor; both were believers in the unity of God. It was their +defense of that doctrine that had brought upon them the hatred of their +Visigothic masters. +</p> +<p> +Under the Saracen rule they were treated with the highest consideration. +They became distinguished for their wealth and their learning. For +the most part they were Aristotelians. They founded many schools and +colleges. Their mercantile interests led them to travel all over the +world. They particularly studied the science of medicine. Throughout the +middle ages they were the physicians and bankers of Europe. Of all men +they saw the course of human affairs from the most elevated point of +view. Among the special sciences they became proficient in mathematics +and astronomy; they composed the tables of Alfonso, and were the cause +of the voyage of De Gama. They distinguished themselves greatly in light +literature. From the tenth to the fourteenth century their literature +was the first in Europe. They were to be found in the courts of princes +as physicians, or as treasurers managing the public finances. +</p> +<p> +The orthodox clergy in Navarre had excited popular prejudices against +them. To escape the persecutions that arose, many of them feigned to +turn Christians, and of these many apostatized to their former +faith. The papal nuncio at the court of Castile raised a cry for the +establishment of the Inquisition. The poorer Jews were accused of +sacrificing Christian children at the Passover, in mockery of the +crucifixion; the richer were denounced as Averroists. Under the +influence of Torquemada, a Dominican monk, the confessor of Queen +Isabella, that princess solicited a bull from the pope for the +establishment of the Holy Office. A bull was accordingly issued in +November, 1478, for the detection and suppression of heresy. In the +first year of the operation of the Inquisition, 1481, two thousand +victims were burnt in Andalusia; besides these, many thousands were dug +up from their graves and burnt; seventeen thousand were fined or +imprisoned for life. Whoever of the persecuted race could flee, escaped +for his life. Torquemada, now appointed inquisitor-general for Castile +and Leon, illustrated his office by his ferocity. Anonymous accusations +were received, the accused was not confronted by witnesses, torture was +relied upon for conviction; it was inflicted in vaults where no one +could hear the cries of the tormented. As, in pretended mercy, it was +forbidden to inflict torture a second time, with horrible duplicity it +was affirmed that the torment had not been completed at first, but had +only been suspended out of charity until the following day! The families +of the convicted were plunged into irretrievable ruin. Llorente, the +historian of the Inquisition, computes that Torquemada and his +collaborators, in the course of eighteen years, burnt at the stake ten +thousand two hundred and twenty persons, six thousand eight hundred and +sixty in effigy, and otherwise punished ninety-seven thousand three +hundred and twenty-one. This frantic priest destroyed Hebrew Bibles +wherever he could find them, And burnt six thousand volumes of Oriental +literature at Salamanca, under an imputation that they inculcated +Judaism. With unutterable disgust and indignation, we learn that the +papal government realized much money by selling to the rich +dispensations to secure them from the Inquisition. +</p> +<p> +But all these frightful atrocities proved failures. The conversions +were few. Torquemada, therefore, insisted on the immediate banishment +of every unbaptized Jew. On March 30, 1492, the edict of expulsion was +signed. All unbaptized Jews, of whatever age, sex, or condition, were +ordered to leave the realm by the end of the following July. If they +revisited it, they should suffer death. They might sell their effects +and take the proceeds in merchandise or bills of exchange, but not in +gold or silver. Exiled thus suddenly from the land of their birth, the +land of their ancestors for hundreds of years, they could not in +the glutted market that arose sell what they possessed. Nobody would +purchase what could be got for nothing after July. The Spanish clergy +occupied themselves by preaching in the public squares sermons filled +with denunciations against their victims, who, when the time for +expatriation came, swarmed in the roads and filled the air with their +cries of despair. Even the Spanish onlookers wept at the scene of agony. +Torquemada, however, enforced the ordinance that no one should afford +them any help. +</p> +<p> +Of the banished persons some made their way into Africa, some into +Italy; the latter carried with them to Naples ship-fever, which +destroyed not fewer than twenty thousand in that city, and devastated +that peninsula; some reached Turkey, a few England. Thousands, +especially mothers with nursing children, infants, and old people, died +by the way; many of them in the agonies of thirst. +</p> +<p> +This action against the Jews was soon followed by one against the Moors. +A pragmatica was issued at Seville, February, 1502, setting forth the +obligations of the Castilians to drive the enemies of God from the land, +and ordering that all unbaptized Moors in the kingdoms of Castile and +Leon above the age of infancy should leave the country by the end of +April. They might sell their property, but not take away any gold or +silver; they were forbidden to emigrate to the Mohammedan dominions; the +penalty of disobedience was death. Their condition was thus worse than +that of the Jews, who had been permitted to go where they chose. Such +was the fiendish intolerance of the Spaniards, that they asserted the +government would be justified in taking the lives of all the Moors for +their shameless infidelity. +</p> +<p> +What an ungrateful return for the toleration that the Moors in their +day of power had given to the Christians! No faith was kept with the +victims. Granada had surrendered under the solemn guarantee of the full +enjoyment of civil and religious liberty. At the instigation of +Cardinal Ximenes that pledge was broken, and, after a residence of eight +centuries, the Mohammedans were driven out of the land. +</p> +<p> +The coexistence of three religions in Andalusia—the Christian, the +Mohammedan, the Mosaic—had given opportunity for the development of +Averroism or philosophical Arabism. This was a repetition of what had +occurred at Rome, when the gods of all the conquered countries were +confronted in that capital, and universal disbelief in them all ensued. +Averroes himself was accused of having been first a Mussulman, then a +Christian, then a Jew, and finally a misbeliever. It was affirmed that +he was the author of the mysterious book "De Tribus Impostoribus." +</p> +<p> +In the middle ages there were two celebrated heretical books, "The +Everlasting Gospel," and the "De Tribus Impostoribus." The latter was +variously imputed to Pope Gerbert, to Frederick II., and to Averroes. +In their unrelenting hatred the Dominicans fastened all the blasphemies +current in those times on Averroes; they never tired of recalling the +celebrated and outrageous one respecting the eucharist. His writings had +first been generally made known to Christian Europe by the translation +of Michael Scot in the beginning of the thirteenth century, but long +before his time the literature of the West, like that of Asia, was full +of these ideas. We have seen how broadly they were set forth by Erigena. +The Arabians, from their first cultivation of philosophy, had been +infected by them; they were current in all the colleges of the three +khalifates. Considered not as a mode of thought, that will spontaneously +occur to all men at a certain stage of intellectual development, but as +having originated with Aristotle, they continually found favor with men +of the highest culture. We see them in Robert Grostete, in Roger Bacon, +and eventually in Spinoza. Averroes was not their inventor, he merely +gave them clearness and expression. Among the Jews of the thirteenth +century, he had completely supplanted his imputed master. Aristotle had +passed away from their eyes; his great commentator, Averroes, stood in +his place. So numerous were the converts to the doctrine of emanation +in Christendom, that Pope Alexander IV. (1255) found it necessary to +interfere. By his order, Albertus Magnus composed a work against the +"Unity of the Intellect." Treating of the origin and nature of the +soul, he attempted to prove that the theory of "a separate intellect, +enlightening man by irradiation anterior to the individual and surviving +the individual, is a detestable error." But the most illustrious +antagonist of the great commentator was St. Thomas Aquinas, the +destroyer of all such heresies as the unity of the intellect, the denial +of Providence, the impossibility of creation; the victories of "the +Angelic Doctor" were celebrated not only in the disputations of the +Dominicans, but also in the works of art of the painters of Florence +and Pisa. The indignation of that saint knew no bounds when Christians +became the disciples of an infidel, who was worse than a Mohammedan. +The wrath of the Dominicans, the order to which St. Thomas belonged, was +sharpened by the fact that their rivals, the Franciscans, inclined to +Averroistic views; and Dante, who leaned to the Dominicans, denounced +Averroes as the author of a most dangerous system. The theological odium +of all three dominant religions was put upon him; he was pointed out +as the originator of the atrocious maxim that "all religions are false, +although all are probably useful." An attempt was made at the Council +of Vienne to have his writings absolutely suppressed, and to forbid all +Christians reading them. The Dominicans, armed with the weapons of +the Inquisition, terrified Christian Europe with their unrelenting +persecutions. They imputed all the infidelity of the times to the +Arabian philosopher. But he was not without support. In Paris and in the +cities of Northern Italy the Franciscans sustained his views, and all +Christendom was agitated with these disputes. +</p> +<p> +Under the inspiration of the Dominicans, Averroes oceanic to the Italian +painters the emblem of unbelief. Many of the Italian towns had pictures +or frescoes of the Day of Judgment and of Hell. In these Averroes not +unfrequently appears. Thus, in one at Pisa, he figures with Arius, +Mohammed, and Antichrist. In another he is represented as overthrown by +St. Thomas. He had become an essential element in the triumphs of the +great Dominican doctor. He continued thus to be familiar to the Italian +painters until the sixteenth century. His doctrines were maintained in +the University of Padua until the seventeenth. +</p> +<p> +Such is, in brief, the history of Averroism as it invaded Europe from +Spain. Under the auspices of Frederick II., it, in a less imposing +manner, issued from Sicily. That sovereign bad adopted it fully. In his +"Sicilian Questions" he had demanded light on the eternity of the world, +and on the nature of the soul, and supposed he had found it in the +replies of Ibn Sabin, an upholder of these doctrines. But in his +conflict with the papacy be was overthrown, and with him these heresies +were destroyed. +</p> +<p> +In Upper Italy, Averroism long maintained its ground. It was so +fashionable in high Venetian society that every gentleman felt +constrained to profess it. At length the Church took decisive action +against it. The Lateran Council, A.D. 1512, condemned the abettors of +these detestable doctrines to be held as heretics and infidels. As +we have seen, the late Vatican Council has anathematized them. +Notwithstanding that stigma, it is to be borne in mind that these +opinions are held to be true by a majority of the human race. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0006"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER VI. +</h2> +<pre> + CONFLICT RESPECTING THE NATURE OF THE WORLD. + + Scriptural view of the world: the earth a flat surface; + location of heaven and hell. + + Scientific view: the earth a globe; its size determined; its + position in and relations to the solar system.—The three + great voyages.—Columbus, De Gama, Magellan.— + Circumnavigation of the earth.—Determination of its + curvature by the measurement of a degree and by the + pendulum. + + The discoveries of Copernicus.—Invention of the telescope.— + Galileo brought before the Inquisition.—His punishment.— + Victory over the Church. + + Attempts to ascertain the dimensions of the solar system.— + Determination of the sun's parallax by the transits of + Venus.—Insignificance, of the earth and man. + + Ideas respecting the dimensions of the universe.—Parallax + of the stars.—The plurality of worlds asserted by Bruno.— + He is seized and murdered by the Inquisition. +</pre> +<p> +I HAVE now to present the discussions that arose respecting the third +great philosophical problem—the nature of the world. +</p> +<p> +An uncritical observation of the aspect of Nature persuades us that the +earth is an extended level surface which sustains the dome of the sky, +a firmament dividing the waters above from the waters beneath; that the +heavenly bodies—the sun, the moon, the stars—pursue their way, +moving from east to west, their insignificant size and motion round the +motionless earth proclaiming their inferiority. Of the various organic +forms surrounding man none rival him in dignity, and hence he seems +justified in concluding that every thing has been created for his +use—the sun for the purpose of giving him light by day, the moon and +stars by night. +</p> +<p> +Comparative theology shows us that this is the conception of Nature +universally adopted in the early phase of intellectual life. It is the +belief of all nations in all parts of the world in the beginning of +their civilization: geocentric, for it makes the earth the centre of the +universe; anthropocentric, for it makes man the central object of the +earth. And not only is this the conclusion spontaneously come to from +inconsiderate glimpses of the world, it is also the philosophical basis +of various religious revelations, vouchsafed to man from time to time. +These revelations, moreover, declare to him that above the crystalline +dome of the sky is a region of eternal light and happiness—heaven—the +abode of God and the angelic hosts, perhaps also his own abode after +death; and beneath the earth a region of eternal darkness and misery, +the habitation of those that are evil. In the visible world is thus seen +a picture of the invisible. +</p> +<p> +On the basis of this view of the structure of the world great religious +systems have been founded, and hence powerful material interests have +been engaged in its support. These have resisted, sometimes by resorting +to bloodshed, attempts that have been made to correct its incontestable +errors—a resistance grounded on the suspicion that the localization of +heaven and hell and the supreme value of man in the universe might be +affected. +</p> +<p> +That such attempts would be made was inevitable. As soon as men began +to reason on the subject at all, they could not fail to discredit the +assertion that the earth is an indefinite plane. No one can doubt that +the sun we see to-day is the self-same sun that we saw yesterday. His +reappearance each morning irresistibly suggests that he has passed on +the underside of the earth. But this is incompatible with the reign of +night in those regions. It presents more or less distinctly the idea of +the globular form of the earth. +</p> +<p> +The earth cannot extend indefinitely downward; for the sun cannot go +through it, nor through any crevice or passage in it, Since he rises and +sets in different positions at different seasons of the year. The stars +also move under it in countless courses. There must, therefore, be a +clear way beneath. +</p> +<p> +To reconcile revelation with these innovating facts, schemes, such +as that of Cosmas Indicopleustes in his Christian Topography, were +doubtless often adopted. To this in particular we have had occasion on a +former page to refer. It asserted that in the northern parts of the flat +earth there is an immense mountain, behind which the sun passes, and +thus produces night. +</p> +<p> +At a very remote historical period the mechanism of eclipses had been +discovered. Those of the moon demonstrated that the shadow of the earth +is always circular. The form of the earth must therefore be globular. +A body which in all positions casts a circular shadow must itself be +spherical. Other considerations, with which every one is now familiar, +could not fail to establish that such is her figure. +</p> +<p> +But the determination of the shape of the earth by no means deposed +her from her position of superiority. Apparently vastly larger than all +other things, it was fitting that she should be considered not merely as +the centre of the world, but, in truth, as—the world. All other objects +in their aggregate seemed utterly unimportant in comparison with her. +</p> +<p> +Though the consequences flowing from an admission of the globular figure +of the earth affected very profoundly existing theological ideas, they +were of much less moment than those depending on a determination of her +size. It needed but an elementary knowledge of geometry to perceive that +correct ideas on this point could be readily obtained by measuring a +degree on her surface. Probably there were early attempts to accomplish +this object, the results of which have been lost. But Eratosthenes +executed one between Syene and Alexandria, in Egypt, Syene being +supposed to be exactly under the tropic of Cancer. The two places are, +however, not on the same meridian, and the distance between them was +estimated, not measured. Two centuries later, Posidonius made another +attempt between Alexandria and Rhodes; the bright star Canopus just +grazed the horizon at the latter place, at Alexandria it rose 7 1/2 +degrees. In this instance, also, since the direction lay across the sea, +the distance was estimated, not measured. Finally, as we have already +related, the Khalif Al-Mamun made two sets of measures, one on the shore +of the Red Sea, the other near Cufa, in Mesopotamia. The general result +of these various observations gave for the earth's diameter between +seven and eight thousand miles. +</p> +<p> +This approximate determination of the size of the earth tended to +depose her from her dominating position, and gave rise to very serious +theological results. In this the ancient investigations of Aristarchus +of Samos, one of the Alexandrian school, 280 B.C., powerfully aided. +In his treatise on the magnitudes and distances of the sun and moon, he +explains the ingenious though imperfect method to which he had resorted +for the solution of that problem. Many ages previously a speculation had +been brought from India to Europe by Pythagoras. It presented the sun +as the centre of the system. Around him the planets revolved in circular +orbits, their order of position being Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, +Jupiter, Saturn, each of them being supposed to rotate on its axis as it +revolved round the sun. According to Cicero, Nicetas suggested that, +if it were admitted that the earth revolves on her axis, the difficulty +presented by the inconceivable velocity of the heavens would be avoided. +</p> +<p> +There is reason to believe that the works of Aristarchus, in the +Alexandrian Library, were burnt at the time of the fire of Caesar. The +only treatise of his that has come down to us is that above mentioned, +on the size and distance of the sun and moon. +</p> +<p> +Aristarchus adopted the Pythagorean system as representing the actual +facts. This was the result of a recognition of the sun's amazing +distance, and therefore of his enormous size. The heliocentric system, +thus regarding the sun as the central orb, degraded the earth to a very +subordinate rank, making her only one of a company of six revolving +bodies. +</p> +<p> +But this is not the only contribution conferred on astronomy by +Aristarchus, for, considering that the movement of the earth does not +sensibly affect the apparent position of the stars, he inferred that +they are incomparably more distant from us than the sun. He, therefore, +of all the ancients, as Laplace remarks, had the most correct ideas of +the grandeur of the universe. He saw that the earth is of absolutely +insignificant size, when compared with the stellar distances. He saw, +too, that there is nothing above us but space and stars. +</p> +<p> +But the views of Aristarchus, as respects the emplacement of the +planetary bodies, were not accepted by antiquity; the system proposed by +Ptolemy, and incorporated in his "Syntaxis," was universally preferred. +The physical philosophy of those times was very imperfect—one of +Ptolemy's objections to the Pythagorean system being that, if the earth +were in motion, it would leave the air and other light bodies behind it. +He therefore placed the earth in the central position, and in succession +revolved round her the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, +Saturn; beyond the orbit of Saturn came the firmament of the fixed +stars. As to the solid crystalline spheres, one moving from east to +west, the other from north to south, these were a fancy of Eudoxus, to +which Ptolemy does not allude. +</p> +<p> +The Ptolemaic system is, therefore, essentially a geocentric system. It +left the earth in her position of superiority, and hence gave no cause +of umbrage to religious opinions, Christian or Mohammedan. The immense +reputation of its author, the signal ability of his great work on the +mechanism of the heavens, sustained it for almost fourteen hundred +years—that is, from the second to the sixteenth century. +</p> +<p> +In Christendom, the greater part of this long period was consumed +in disputes respecting the nature of God, and in struggles for +ecclesiastical power. The authority of the Fathers, and the prevailing +belief that the Scriptures contain the sum, of all knowledge, +discouraged any investigation of Nature. If by chance a passing interest +was taken in some astronomical question, it was at once settled by +a reference to such authorities as the writings of Augustine or +Lactantius, not by an appeal to the phenomena of the heavens. So +great was the preference given to sacred over profane learning that +Christianity had been in existence fifteen hundred years, and had not +produced a single astronomer. +</p> +<p> +The Mohammedan nations did much better. Their cultivation of science +dates from the capture of Alexandria, A.D. 638. This was only six years +after the death of the Prophet. In less than two centuries they had +not only become acquainted with, but correctly appreciated, the Greek +scientific writers. As we have already mentioned, by his treaty with +Michael III., the khalif Al-Mamun had obtained a copy of the "Syntaxis" +of Ptolemy. He had it forthwith translated into Arabic. It became at +once the great authority of Saracen astronomy. From this basis the +Saracens had advanced to the solution of some of the most important +scientific problems. They had ascertained the dimensions of the earth; +they had registered or catalogued all the stars visible in their +heavens, giving to those of the larger magnitudes the names they still +bear on our maps and globes; they determined the true length of the +year, discovered astronomical refraction, invented the pendulum-clock, +improved the photometry of the stars, ascertained the curvilinear +path of a ray of light through the air, explained the phenomena of the +horizontal sun and moon, and why we see those bodies before they have +risen and after they have set; measured the height of the atmosphere, +determining it to be fifty-eight miles; given the true theory of the +twilight, and of the twinkling of the stars. They had built the first +observatory in Europe. So accurate were they in their observations, that +the ablest modern mathematicians have made use of their results. +Thus Laplace, in his "Systeme du Monde," adduces the observations of +Al-Batagni as affording incontestable proof of the diminution of the +eccentricity of the earth's orbit. He uses those of Ibn-Junis in his +discussion of the obliquity of the ecliptic, and also in the case of the +problems of the greater inequalities of Jupiter and Saturn. +</p> +<p> +These represent but a part, and indeed but a small part, of the services +rendered by the Arabian astronomers, in the solution of the problem of +the nature of the world. Meanwhile, such was the benighted condition of +Christendom, such its deplorable ignorance, that it cared nothing +about the matter. Its attention was engrossed by image-worship, +transubstantiation, the merits of the saints, miracles, shrine-cures. +</p> +<p> +This indifference continued until the close of the fifteenth century. +Even then there was no scientific inducement. The inciting motives were +altogether of a different kind. They originated in commercial rivalries, +and the question of the shape of the earth was finally settled by three +sailors, Columbus, De Gama, and, above all, by Ferdinand Magellan. +</p> +<p> +The trade of Eastern Asia has always been a source of immense wealth to +the Western nations who in succession have obtained it. In the middle +ages it had centred in Upper Italy. It was conducted along two lines—a +northern, by way of the Black and Caspian Seas, and camel-caravans +beyond—the headquarters of this were at Genoa; and a southern, through +the Syrian and Egyptian ports, and by the Arabian Sea, the headquarters +of this being at Venice. The merchants engaged in the latter traffic had +also made great gains in the transport service of the Crusade-wars. +</p> +<p> +The Venetians had managed to maintain amicable relations with the +Mohammedan powers of Syria and Egypt; they were permitted to have +consulates at Alexandria and Damascus, and, notwithstanding the military +commotions of which those countries had been the scene, the trade was +still maintained in a comparatively flourishing condition. But the +northern or Genoese line had been completely broken up by the +irruptions of the Tartars and the Turks, and the military and political +disturbances of the countries through which it passed. The Eastern trade +of Genoa was not merely in a precarious condition—it was on the brink +of destruction. +</p> +<p> +The circular visible horizon and its dip at sea, the gradual appearance +and disappearance of ships in the offing, cannot fail to incline +intelligent sailors to a belief in the globular figure of the earth. +The writings of the Mohammedan astronomers and philosophers had given +currency to that doctrine throughout Western Europe, but, as might be +expected, it was received with disfavor by theologians. When Genoa was +thus on the very brink of ruin, it occurred to some of her mariners +that, if this view were correct, her affairs might be re-established. +A ship sailing through the straits of Gibraltar westward, across the +Atlantic, would not fail to reach the East Indies. There were apparently +other great advantages. Heavy cargoes might be transported without +tedious and expensive land-carriage, and without breaking bulk. +</p> +<p> +Among the Genoese sailors who entertained these views was Christopher +Columbus. +</p> +<p> +He tells us that his attention was drawn to this subject by the writings +of Averroes, but among his friends he numbered Toscanelli, a Florentine, +who had turned his attention to astronomy, and had become a strong +advocate of the globular form. In Genoa itself Columbus met with but +little encouragement. He then spent many years in trying to interest +different princes in his proposed attempt. Its irreligious tendency was +pointed out by the Spanish ecclesiastics, and condemned by the Council +of Salamanca; its orthodoxy was confuted from the Pentateuch, the +Psalms, the Prophecies, the Gospels, the Epistles, and the writings of +the Fathers—St. Chrysostom, St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. Gregory, St. +Basil, St Ambrose. +</p> +<p> +At length, however, encouraged by the Spanish Queen Isabella, and +substantially aided by a wealthy seafaring family, the Pinzons of Palos, +some of whom joined him personally, he sailed on August 3, 1492, with +three small ships, from Palos, carrying with him a letter from King +Ferdinand to the Grand-Khan of Tartary, and also a chart, or map, +constructed on the basis of that of Toscanelli. A little before +midnight, October 11, 1492, he saw from the forecastle of his ship a +moving light at a distance. Two hours subsequently a signal-gun from +another of the ships announced that they had descried land. At sunrise +Columbus landed in the New World. +</p> +<p> +On his return to Europe it was universally supposed that he had reached +the eastern parts of Asia, and that therefore his voyage bad been +theoretically successful. Columbus himself died in that belief. But +numerous voyages which were soon undertaken made known the general +contour of the American coast-line, and the discovery of the Great South +Sea by Balboa revealed at length the true facts of the case, and the +mistake into which both Toscanelli and Columbus had fallen, that in a +voyage to the West the distance from Europe to Asia could not exceed +the distance passed over in a voyage from Italy to the Gulf of Guinea—a +voyage that Columbus had repeatedly made. +</p> +<p> +In his first voyage, at nightfall on September 13, 1492, being then two +and a half degrees east of Corvo, one of the Azores, Columbus observed +that the compass needles of the ships no longer pointed a little to the +east of north, but were varying to the west. The deviation became more +and more marked as the expedition advanced. He was not the first to +detect the fact of variation, but he was incontestably the first to +discover the line of no variation. On the return-voyage the reverse +was observed; the variation westward diminished until the meridian in +question was reached, when the needles again pointed due north. Thence, +as the coast of Europe was approached, the variation was to the +east. Columbus, therefore, came to the conclusion that the line of +no variation was a fixed geographical line, or boundary, between +the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. In the bull of May, 1493, Pope +Alexander VI. accordingly adopted this line as the perpetual boundary +between the possessions of Spain and Portugal, in his settlement of the +disputes of those nations. Subsequently, however, it was discovered that +the line was moving eastward. It coincided with the meridian of London +in 1662. +</p> +<p> +By the papal bull the Portuguese possessions were limited to the east of +the line of no variation. Information derived from certain Egyptian +Jews had reached that government, that it was possible to sail round the +continent of Africa, there being at its extreme south a cape which could +be easily doubled. An expedition of three ships under Vasco de Gama set +sail, July 9, 1497; it doubled the cape on November 20th, and reached +Calicut, on the coast of India, May 19, 1498. Under the bull, this +voyage to the East gave to the Portuguese the right to the India trade. +</p> +<p> +Until the cape was doubled, the course of De Gama's ships was in a +general manner southward. Very soon, it was noticed that the elevation +of the pole-star above the horizon was diminishing, and, soon after the +equator was reached, that star had ceased to be visible. Meantime other +stars, some of them forming magnificent constellations, had come into +view—the stars of the Southern Hemisphere. All this was in conformity +to theoretical expectations founded on the admission of the globular +form of the earth. +</p> +<p> +The political consequences that at once ensued placed the Papal +Government in a position of great embarrassment. Its traditions and +policy forbade it to admit any other than the flat figure of the earth, +as revealed in the Scriptures. Concealment of the facts was impossible, +sophistry was unavailing. Commercial prosperity now left Venice as well +as Genoa. The front of Europe was changed. Maritime power had departed +from the Mediterranean countries, and passed to those upon the Atlantic +coast. +</p> +<p> +But the Spanish Government did not submit to the advantage thus +gained by its commercial rival without an effort. It listened to the +representations of one Ferdinand Magellan, that India and the Spice +Islands could be reached by sailing to the west, if only a strait or +passage through what had now been recognized as "the American Continent" +could be discovered; and, if this should be accomplished, Spain, +under the papal bull, would have as good a right to the India trade as +Portugal. Under the command of Magellan, an expedition of five ships, +carrying two hundred and thirty-seven men, was dispatched from Seville, +August 10, 1519. +</p> +<p> +Magellan at once struck boldly for the South American coast, hoping to +find some cleft or passage through the continent by which he might reach +the great South Sea. For seventy days he was becalmed on the line; his +sailors were appalled by the apprehension that they had drifted into a +region where the winds never blew, and that it was impossible for them +to escape. Calms, tempests, mutiny, desertion, could not shake his +resolution. After more than a year he discovered the strait which +now bears his name, and, as Pigafetti, an Italian, who was with him, +relates, he shed fears of joy when he found that it had pleased God at +length to bring him where he might grapple with the unknown dangers of +the South Sea, "the Great and Pacific Ocean." +</p> +<p> +Driven by famine to eat scraps of skin and leather with which his +rigging was here and there bound, to drink water that had gone putrid, +his crew dying of hunger and scurvy, this man, firm in his belief of the +globular figure of the earth, steered steadily to the northwest, and for +nearly four months never saw inhabited land. He estimated that he had +sailed over the Pacific not less than twelve thousand miles. He crossed +the equator, saw once more the pole-star, and at length made land—the +Ladrones. Here he met with adventurers from Sumatra. Among these islands +he was killed, either by the savages or by his own men. His lieutenant, +Sebastian d'Elcano, now took command of the ship, directing her course +for the Cape of Good Hope, and encountering frightful hardships. He +doubled the cape at last, and then for the fourth time crossed the +equator. On September 7, 1522, after a voyage of more than three years, +he brought his ship, the San Vittoria, to anchor in the port of St. +Lucar, near Seville. She had accomplished the greatest achievement in +the history of the human race. She had circumnavigated the earth. +</p> +<p> +The San Vittoria, sailing westward, had come back to her starting-point. +Henceforth the theological doctrine of the flatness of the earth was +irretrievably overthrown. +</p> +<p> +Five years after the completion of the voyage of Magellan, was made the +first attempt in Christendom to ascertain the size of the earth. This +was by Fernel, a French physician, who, having observed the height of +the pole at Paris, went thence northward until he came to a place where +the height of the pole was exactly one degree more than at that city. +He measured the distance between the two stations by the number of +revolutions of one of the wheels of his carriage, to which a proper +indicator bad been attached, and came to the conclusion that the earth's +circumference is about twenty-four thousand four hundred and eighty +Italian miles. +</p> +<p> +Measures executed more and more carefully were made in many countries: +by Snell in Holland; by Norwood between London and York in England; by +Picard, under the auspices of the French Academy of Sciences, in France. +Picard's plan was to connect two points by a series of triangles, +and, thus ascertaining the length of the arc of a meridian intercepted +between them, to compare it with the difference of latitudes found from +celestial observations. The stations were Malvoisine in the vicinity +of Paris, and Sourdon near Amiens. The difference of latitudes was +determined by observing the zenith-distances, of delta Cassiopeia. There +are two points of interest connected with Picard's operation: it was the +first in which instruments furnished with telescopes were employed; +and its result, as we shall shortly see, was to Newton the first +confirmation of the theory of universal gravitation. +</p> +<p> +At this time it had become clear from mechanical considerations, more +especially such as had been deduced by Newton, that, since the earth is +a rotating body, her form cannot be that of a perfect sphere, but +must be that of a spheroid, oblate or flattened at the poles. It would +follow, from this, that the length of a degree must be greater near the +poles than at the equator. +</p> +<p> +The French Academy resolved to extend Picard's operation, by prolonging +the measures in each direction, and making the result the basis of a +more accurate map of France. Delays, however, took place, and it was not +until 1718 that the measures, from Dunkirk on the north to the southern +extremity of France, were completed. A discussion arose as to the +interpretation of these measures, some affirming that they indicated a +prolate, others an oblate spheroid; the former figure may be popularly +represented by a lemon, the latter by an orange. To settle this, the +French Government, aided by the Academy, sent out two expeditions to +measure degrees of the meridian—one under the equator, the other as +far north as possible; the former went to Peru, the latter to Swedish +Lapland. Very great difficulties were encountered by both parties. The +Lapland commission, however, completed its observations long before the +Peruvian, which consumed not less than nine years. The results of the +measures thus obtained confirmed the theoretical expectation of the +oblate form. Since that time many extensive and exact repetitions of the +observation have been made, among which may be mentioned those of the +English in England and in India, and particularly that of the French +on the occasion of the introduction of the metric system of weights +and measures. It was begun by Delambre and Mechain, from Dunkirk to +Barcelona, and thence extended, by Biot and Arago, to the island +of Formentera near Minorea. Its length was nearly twelve and a half +degrees. +</p> +<p> +Besides this method of direct measurement, the figure of the earth +may be determined from the observed number of oscillations made by a +pendulum of invariable length in different latitudes. These, though they +confirm the foregoing results, give a somewhat greater ellipticity +to the earth than that found by the measurement of degrees. Pendulums +vibrate more slowly the nearer they are to the equator. It follows, +therefore, that they are there farther from the centre of the earth. +</p> +<p> +From the most reliable measures that have been made, the dimensions of +the earth may be thus stated: +</p> +<pre> + + Greater or equatorial diameter..............7,925 miles. + Less or polar diameter......................7,899 " + Difference or polar compression............. 26 " +</pre> +<p> +Such was the result of the discussion respecting the figure and size +of the earth. While it was yet undetermined, another controversy arose, +fraught with even more serious consequences. This was the conflict +respecting the earth's position with regard to the sun and the planetary +bodies. +</p> +<p> +Copernicus, a Prussian, about the year 1507, had completed a book "On +the Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies." He had journeyed to Italy +in his youth, had devoted his attention to astronomy, and had taught +mathematics at Rome. From a profound study of the Ptolemaic and +Pythagorean systems, he had come to a conclusion in favor of the latter, +the object of his book being to sustain it. Aware that his doctrines +were totally opposed to revealed truth, and foreseeing that they would +bring upon him the punishments of the Church, he expressed himself in +a cautious and apologetic manner, saying that he had only taken the +liberty of trying whether, on the supposition of the earth's motion, it +was possible to find better explanations than the ancient ones of the +revolutions of the celestial orbs; that in doing this he had only +taken the privilege that had been allowed to others, of feigning what +hypothesis they chose. The preface was addressed to Pope Paul III. +</p> +<p> +Full of misgivings as to what might be the result, he refrained from +publishing his book for thirty-six years, thinking that "perhaps it +might be better to follow the examples of the Pythagoreans and others, +who delivered their doctrine only by tradition and to friends." At the +entreaty of Cardinal Schomberg he at length published it in 1543. A copy +of it was brought to him on his death-bed. Its fate was such as he had +anticipated. The Inquisition condemned it as heretical. In their decree, +prohibiting it, the Congregation of the Index denounced his system +as "that false Pythagorean doctrine utterly contrary to the Holy +Scriptures." +</p> +<p> +Astronomers justly affirm that the book of Copernicus, "De +Revolutionibus," changed the face of their science. It incontestably +established the heliocentric theory. It showed that the distance of the +fixed stars is infinitely great, and that the earth is a mere point in +the heavens. Anticipating Newton, Copernicus imputed gravity to the sun, +the moon, and heavenly bodies, but he was led astray by assuming that +the celestial motions must be circular. Observations on the orbit of +Mars, and his different diameters at different times, had led Copernicus +to his theory. +</p> +<p> +In thus denouncing the Copernican system as being in contradiction to +revelation, the ecclesiastical authorities were doubtless deeply moved +by inferential considerations. To dethrone the earth from her central +dominating position, to give her many equals and not a few superiors, +seemed to diminish her claims upon the Divine regard. If each of the +countless myriads of stars was a sun, surrounded by revolving globes, +peopled with responsible beings like ourselves, if we had fallen so +easily and had been redeemed at so stupendous a price as the death of +the Son of God, how was it with them? Of them were there none who had +fallen or might fall like us? Where, then, for them could a Savior be +found? +</p> +<p> +During the year 1608 one Lippershey, a Hollander, discovered that, by +looking through two glass lenses, combined in a certain manner together, +distant objects were magnified and rendered very plain. He had invented +the telescope. In the following year Galileo, a Florentine, greatly +distinguished by his mathematical and scientific writings, hearing +of the circumstance, but without knowing the particulars of the +construction, invented a form of the instrument for himself. Improving +it gradually, he succeeded in making one that could magnify thirty +times. Examining the moon, he found that she had valleys like those of +the earth, and mountains casting shadows. It had been said in the old +times that in the Pleiades there were formerly seven stars, but a legend +related that one of them had mysteriously disappeared. On turning his +telescope toward them, Galileo found that he could easily count not +fewer than forty. In whatever direction he looked, he discovered stars +that were totally invisible to the naked eye. +</p> +<p> +On the night of January 7, 1610, he perceived three small stars in +a straight line, adjacent to the planet Jupiter, and, a few evenings +later, a fourth. He found that these were revolving in orbits round the +body of the planet, and, with transport, recognized that they presented +a miniature representation of the Copernican system. +</p> +<p> +The announcement of these wonders at once attracted universal attention. +The spiritual authorities were not slow to detect their tendency, as +endangering the doctrine that the universe was made for man. In the +creation of myriads of stars, hitherto invisible, there must surely have +been some other motive than that of illuminating the nights for him. +</p> +<p> +It had been objected to the Copernican theory that, if the planets +Mercury and Venus move round the sun in orbits interior to that of the +earth, they ought to show phases like those of the moon; and that in +the case of Venus, which is so brilliant and conspicuous, these phases +should be very obvious. Copernicus himself had admitted the force of +the objection, and had vainly tried to find an explanation. Galileo, on +turning his telescope to the planet, discovered that the expected phases +actually exist; now she was a crescent, then half-moon, then gibbous, +then full. Previously to Copernicus, it was supposed that the planets +shine by their own light, but the phases of Venus and Mars proved that +their light is reflected. The Aristotelian notion, that celestial differ +from terrestrial bodies in being incorruptible, received a rude shock +from the discoveries of Galileo, that there are mountains and valleys in +the moon like those of the earth, that the sun is not perfect, but has +spots on his face, and that he turns on his axis instead of being in a +state of majestic rest. The apparition of new stars had already thrown +serious doubts on this theory of incorruptibility. +</p> +<p> +These and many other beautiful telescopic discoveries tended to the +establishment of the truth of the Copernican theory and gave unbounded +alarm to the Church. By the low and ignorant ecclesiastics they were +denounced as deceptions or frauds. Some affirmed that the telescope +might be relied on well enough for terrestrial objects, but with the +heavenly bodies it was altogether a different affair. Others declared +that its invention was a mere application of Aristotle's remark that +stars could be seen in the daytime from the bottom of a deep well. +Galileo was accused of imposture, heresy, blasphemy, atheism. With a +view of defending himself, he addressed a letter to the Abbe Castelli, +suggesting that the Scriptures were never intended to be a scientific +authority, but only a moral guide. This made matters worse. He was +summoned before the Holy Inquisition, under an accusation of having +taught that the earth moves round the sun, a doctrine "utterly contrary +to the Scriptures." He was ordered to renounce that heresy, on pain of +being imprisoned. He was directed to desist from teaching and advocating +the Copernican theory, and pledge himself that he would neither publish +nor defend it for the future. Knowing well that Truth has no need of +martyrs, he assented to the required recantation, and gave the promise +demanded. +</p> +<p> +For sixteen years the Church had rest. But in 1632 Galileo ventured +on the publication of his work entitled "The System of the World," its +object being the vindication of the Copernican doctrine. He was again +summoned before the Inquisition at Rome, accused of having asserted +that the earth moves round the sun. He was declared to have brought +upon himself the penalties of heresy. On his knees, with his hand on the +Bible, he was compelled to abjure and curse the doctrine of the movement +of the earth. What a spectacle! This venerable man, the most illustrious +of his age, forced by the threat of death to deny facts which his judges +as well as himself knew to be true! He was then committed to prison, +treated with remorseless severity during the remaining ten years of +his life, and was denied burial in consecrated ground. Must not that +be false which requires for its support so much imposture, so much +barbarity? The opinions thus defended by the Inquisition are now objects +of derision to the whole civilized world. +</p> +<p> +One of the greatest of modern mathematicians, referring to this subject, +says that the point here contested was one which is for mankind of the +highest interest, because of the rank it assigns to the globe that we +inhabit. If the earth be immovable in the midst of the universe, man has +a right to regard himself as the principal object of the care of Nature. +But if the earth be only one of the planets revolving round the sun, an +insignificant body in the solar system, she will disappear entirely +in the immensity of the heavens, in which this system, vast as it may +appear to us, is nothing but an insensible point. +</p> +<p> +The triumphant establishment of the Copernican doctrine dates from the +invention of the telescope. Soon there was not to be found in all Europe +an astronomer who had not accepted the heliocentric theory with its +essential postulate, the double motion of the earth—movement of +rotation on her axis, and a movement of revolution round the sun. +If additional proof of the latter were needed, it was furnished by +Bradley's great discovery of the aberration of the fixed stars, an +aberration depending partly on the progressive motion of light, and +partly on the revolution of the earth. Bradley's discovery ranked +in importance with that of the precession of the equinoxes. Roemer's +discovery of the progressive motion of light, though denounced by +Fontenelle as a seductive error, and not admitted by Cassini, at length +forced its way to universal acceptance. +</p> +<p> +Next it was necessary to obtain correct ideas of the dimensions of the +solar system, or, putting the problem under a more limited form, to +determine the distance of the earth from the sun. +</p> +<p> +In the time of Copernicus it was supposed that the sun's distance could +not exceed five million miles, and indeed there were many who thought +that estimate very extravagant. From a review of the observations of +Tycho Brahe, Kepler, however, concluded that the error was actually in +the opposite direction, and that the estimate must be raised to at +least thirteen million. In 1670 Cassini showed that these numbers were +altogether inconsistent with the facts, and gave as his conclusion +eighty-five million. +</p> +<p> +The transit of Venus over the face of the sun, June 3, 1769, had been +foreseen, and its great value in the solution of this fundamental +problem in astronomy appreciated. With commendable alacrity various +governments contributed their assistance in making observations, so that +in Europe there were fifty stations, in Asia six, in America seventeen. +It was for this purpose that the English Government dispatched Captain +Cook on his celebrated first voyage. He went to Otaheite. His voyage +was crowned with success. The sun rose without a cloud, and the sky +continued equally clear throughout the day. The transit at Cook's +station lasted from about half-past nine in the morning until about +half-past three in the afternoon, and all the observations were made in +a satisfactory manner. +</p> +<p> +But, on the discussion of the observations made at the different +stations, it was found that there was not the accordance that could have +been desired—the result varying from eighty-eight to one hundred and +nine million. The celebrated mathematician, Encke, therefore reviewed +them in 1822-'24, and came to the conclusion that the sun's horizontal +parallax, that is, the angle under which the semi-diameter of the earth +is seen from the sun, is 8 576/1000 seconds; this gave as the distance +95,274,000 miles. Subsequently the observations were reconsidered +by Hansen, who gave as their result 91,659,000 miles. Still later, +Leverrier made it 91,759,000. Airy and Stone, by another method, made +it 91,400,000; Stone alone, by a revision of the old observations, +91,730,000; and finally, Foucault and Fizeau, from physical experiments, +determining the velocity of light, and therefore in their nature +altogether differing from transit observations, 91,400,000. Until the +results of the transit of next year (1874) are ascertained, it must +therefore be admitted that the distance of the earth from the sun is +somewhat less than ninety-two million miles. +</p> +<p> +This distance once determined, the dimensions of the solar system may +be ascertained with ease and precision. It is enough to mention that +the distance of Neptune from the sun, the most remote of the planets at +present known, is about thirty times that of the earth. +</p> +<p> +By the aid of these numbers we may begin to gain a just appreciation of +the doctrine of the human destiny of the universe—the doctrine that all +things were made for man. Seen from the sun, the earth dwindles away to +a mere speck, a mere dust-mote glistening in his beams. If the reader +wishes a more precise valuation, let him hold a page of this book a +couple of feet from his eye; then let him consider one of its dots or +full stops; that dot is several hundred times larger in surface than is +the earth as seen from the sun! +</p> +<p> +Of what consequence, then, can such an almost imperceptible particle be? +One might think that it could be removed or even annihilated, and yet +never be missed. Of what consequence is one of those human monads, of +whom more than a thousand millions swarm on the surface of this all +but invisible speck, and of a million of whom scarcely one will leave +a trace that he has ever existed? Of what consequence is man, his +pleasures or his pains? +</p> +<p> +Among the arguments brought forward against the Copernican system at the +time of its promulgation, was one by the great Danish astronomer, Tycho +Brahe, originally urged by Aristarchus against the Pythagorean system, +to the effect that, if, as was alleged, the earth moves round the sun, +there ought to be a change of the direction in which the fixed stars +appear. At one time we are nearer to a particular region of the heavens +by a distance equal to the whole diameter of the earth's orbit than we +were six months previously, and hence there ought to be a change in +the relative position of the stars; they should seem to separate as we +approach them, and to close together as we recede from them; or, to use +the astronomical expression, these stars should have a yearly parallax. +</p> +<p> +The parallax of a star is the angle contained between two lines drawn +from it—one to the sun, the other to the earth. +</p> +<p> +At that time, the earth's distance from the sun was greatly +under-estimated. Had it been known, as it is now, that that distance +exceeds ninety million miles, or that the diameter of the orbit is more +than one hundred and eighty million, that argument would doubtless have +had very great weight. +</p> +<p> +In reply to Tycho, it was said that, since the parallax of a body +diminishes as its distance increases, a star may be so far off that its +parallax may be imperceptible. This answer proved to be correct. The +detection of the parallax of the stars depended on the improvement of +instruments for the measurement of angles. +</p> +<p> +The parallax of alpha Centauri, a fine double star of the Southern +Hemisphere, at present considered to be the nearest of the fixed stars, +was first determined by Henderson and Maclear at the Cape of Good Hope +in 1832-'33. It is about nine-tenths of a second. Hence this star is +almost two hundred and thirty thousand times as far from us as the sun. +Seen from it, if the sun were even large enough to fill the whole orbit +of the earth, or one hundred and eighty million miles in diameter, +he would be a mere point. With its companion, it revolves round their +common centre of gravity in eighty-one years, and hence it would seem +that their conjoint mass is less than that of the sun. +</p> +<p> +The star 61 Cygni is of the sixth magnitude. Its parallax was first +found by Bessel in 1838, and is about one-third of a second. The +distance from us is, therefore, much more than five hundred thousand +times that of the sun. With its companion, it revolves round their +common centre of gravity in five hundred and twenty years. Their +conjoint weight is about one-third that of the sun. +</p> +<p> +There is reason to believe that the great star Sirius, the brightest +in the heavens, is about six times as far off as alpha Centauri. His +probable diameter is twelve million miles, and the light he emits two +hundred times more brilliant than that of the sun. Yet, even through the +telescope, he has no measurable diameter; he looks merely like a very +bright spark. +</p> +<p> +The stars, then, differ not merely in visible magnitude, but also in +actual size. As the spectroscope shows, they differ greatly in chemical +and physical constitution. That instrument is also revealing to us the +duration of the life of a star, through changes in the refrangibility of +the emitted light. Though, as we have seen, the nearest to us is at +an enormous and all but immeasurable distance, this is but the first +step—there are others the rays of which have taken thousands, perhaps +millions, of years to reach us! The limits of our own system are far +beyond the range of our greatest telescopes; what, then, shall we say of +other systems beyond? Worlds are scattered like dust in the abysses in +space. +</p> +<p> +Have these gigantic bodies—myriads of which are placed at so vast a +distance that our unassisted eyes cannot perceive them—have these no +other purpose than that assigned by theologians, to give light to us? +Does not their enormous size demonstrate that, as they are centres of +force, so they must be centres of motion—suns for other systems of +worlds? +</p> +<p> +While yet these facts were very imperfectly known—indeed, were rather +speculations than facts—Giordano Bruno, an Italian, born seven years +after the death of Copernicus, published a work on the "Infinity of +the Universe and of Worlds;" he was also the author of "Evening +Conversations on Ash-Wednesday," an apology for the Copernican system, +and of "The One Sole Cause of Things." To these may be added an allegory +published in 1584, "The Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast." He had also +collected, for the use of future astronomers, all the observations he +could find respecting the new star that suddenly appeared in Cassiopeia, +A.D. 1572, and increased in brilliancy, until it surpassed all the other +stars. It could be plainly seen in the daytime. On a sudden, November +11th, it was as bright as Venus at her brightest. In the following March +it was of the first magnitude. It exhibited various hues of color in a +few months, and disappeared in March, 1574. +</p> +<p> +The star that suddenly appeared in Serpentarius, in Kepler's time +(1604), was at first brighter than Venus. It lasted more than a year, +and, passing through various tints of purple, yellow, red, became +extinguished. +</p> +<p> +Originally, Bruno was intended for the Church. He had become a +Dominican, but was led into doubt by his meditations on the subjects of +transubstantiation and the immaculate conception. Not caring to +conceal his opinions, he soon fell under the censure of the spiritual +authorities, and found it necessary to seek refuge successively in +Switzerland, France, England, Germany. The cold-scented sleuth-hounds of +the Inquisition followed his track remorselessly, and eventually hunted +him back to Italy. He was arrested in Venice, and confined in the Piombi +for six years, without books, or paper, or friends. +</p> +<p> +In England he had given lectures on the plurality of worlds, and in that +country had written, in Italian, his most important works. It added +not a little to the exasperation against him, that he was perpetually +declaiming against the insincerity; the impostures, of his +persecutors—that wherever he went he found skepticism varnished over +and concealed by hypocrisy; and that it was not against the belief of +men, but against their pretended belief, that he was fighting; that he +was struggling with an orthodoxy that had neither morality nor faith. +</p> +<p> +In his "Evening Conversations" he had insisted that the Scriptures were +never intended to teach science, but morals only; and that they cannot +be received as of any authority on astronomical and physical subjects. +Especially must we reject the view they reveal to us of the constitution +of the world, that the earth is a flat surface, supported on pillars; +that the sky is a firmament—the floor of heaven. On the contrary, we +must believe that the universe is infinite, and that it is filled with +self-luminous and opaque worlds, many of them inhabited; that there +is nothing above and around us but space and stars. His meditations +on these subjects had brought him to the conclusion that the views of +Averroes are not far from the truth—that there is an Intellect which +animates the universe, and of this Intellect the visible world is only +an emanation or manifestation, originated and sustained by force derived +from it, and, were that force withdrawn, all things would disappear. +This ever-present, all-pervading Intellect is God, who lives in all +things, even such as seem not to live; that every thing is ready to +become organized, to burst into life. God is, therefore, "the One Sole +Cause of Things," "the All in All." +</p> +<p> +Bruno may hence be considered among philosophical writers as +intermediate between Averroes and Spinoza. The latter held that God and +the Universe are the same, that all events happen by an immutable law +of Nature, by an unconquerable necessity; that God is the Universe, +producing a series of necessary movements or acts, in consequence of +intrinsic, unchangeable, and irresistible energy. +</p> +<p> +On the demand of the spiritual authorities, Bruno was removed from +Venice to Rome, and confined in the prison of the Inquisition, accused +not only of being a heretic, but also a heresiarch, who had written +things unseemly concerning religion; the special charge against him +being that he had taught the plurality of worlds, a doctrine repugnant +to the whole tenor of Scripture and inimical to revealed religion, +especially as regards the plan of salvation. After an imprisonment of +two years he was brought before his judges, declared guilty of the +acts alleged, excommunicated, and, on his nobly refusing to recant, was +delivered over to the secular authorities to be punished "as mercifully +as possible, and without the shedding of his blood," the horrible +formula for burning a prisoner at the stake. Knowing well that though +his tormentors might destroy his body, his thoughts would still live +among men, he said to his judges, "Perhaps it is with greater fear +that you pass the sentence upon me than I receive it." The sentence was +carried into effect, and he was burnt at Rome, February 16th, A.D. 1600. +</p> +<p> +No one can recall without sentiments of pity the sufferings of those +countless martyrs, who first by one party, and then by another, have +been brought for their religious opinions to the stake. But each of +these had in his supreme moment a powerful and unfailing support. The +passage from this life to the next, though through a hard trial, was the +passage from a transient trouble to eternal happiness, an escape from +the cruelty of earth to the charity of heaven. On his way through the +dark valley the martyr believed that there was an invisible hand that +would lead him, a friend that would guide him all the more gently and +firmly because of the terrors of the flames. For Bruno there was no +such support. The philosophical opinions, for the sake of which he +surrendered his life, could give him no consolation. He must fight the +last fight alone. Is there not something very grand in the attitude of +this solitary man, something which human nature cannot help admiring, as +he stands in the gloomy hall before his inexorable judges? No accuser, +no witness, no advocate is present, but the familiars of the Holy +Office, clad in black, are stealthily moving about. The tormentors and +the rack are in the vaults below. He is simply told that he has brought +upon himself strong suspicions of heresy, since he has said that there +are other worlds than ours. He is asked if he will recant and abjure +his error. He cannot and will not deny what he knows to be true, and +perhaps—for he had often done so before—he tells his judges that they, +too, in their hearts are of the same belief. What a contrast between +this scene of manly honor, of unshaken firmness, of inflexible adherence +to the truth, and that other scene which took place more than fifteen +centuries previously by the fireside in the hall of Caiaphas the +high-priest, when the cock crew, and "the Lord turned and looked upon +Peter" (Luke xxii. 61)! And yet it is upon Peter that the Church has +grounded her right to act as she did to Bruno. But perhaps the day +approaches when posterity will offer an expiation for this great +ecclesiastical crime, and a statue of Bruno be unveiled under the dome +of St. Peter's at Rome. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0007"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER VII. +</h2> +<pre> + CONTROVERSY RESPECTING THE AGE OF THE EARTH. + + Scriptural view that the Earth is only six thousand years + old, and that it was made in a week.—Patristic chronology + founded on the ages of the patriarchs.—Difficulties arising + from different estimates in different versions of the Bible. + + Legend of the Deluge.—The repeopling.—The Tower of Babel; + the confusion of tongues.—The primitive language. + + Discovery by Cassini of the oblateness of the planet + Jupiter.—Discovery by Newton of the oblateness of the + Earth.—Deduction that she has been modeled by mechanical + causes.—Confirmation of this by geological discoveries + respecting aqueous rocks; corroboration by organic remains.— + The necessity of admitting enormously long periods of + time.—Displacement of the doctrine of Creation by that of + Evolution—Discoveries respecting the Antiquity of Man. + + The time-scale and space-scale of the world are infinite.— + Moderation with which the discussion of the Age of the World + has been conducted. +</pre> +<p> +THE true position of the earth in the universe was established only +after a long and severe conflict. The Church used whatever power she +had, even to the infliction of death, for sustaining her ideas. But +it was in vain. The evidence in behalf of the Copernican theory became +irresistible. It was at length universally admitted that the sun is the +central, the ruling body of our system; the earth only one, and by no +means the largest, of a family of encircling planets. Taught by the +issue of that dispute, when the question of the age of the world +presented itself for consideration, the Church did not exhibit the +active resistance she had displayed on the former occasion. For, +though her traditions were again put in jeopardy, they were not, in her +judgment, so vitally assailed. To dethrone the Earth from her dominating +position was, so the spiritual authorities declared, to undermine the +very foundation of revealed truth; but discussions respecting the date +of creation might within certain limits be permitted. Those limits were, +however, very quickly overpassed, and thus the controversy became as +dangerous as the former one had been. +</p> +<p> +It was not possible to adopt the advice given by Plato in his "Timaeus," +when treating of this subject—the origin of the universe: "It is proper +that both I who speak and you who judge should remember that we are but +men, and therefore, receiving the probable mythological tradition, it +is meet that we inquire no further into it." Since the time of St. +Augustine the Scriptures had been made the great and final authority in +all matters of science, and theologians had deduced from them schemes of +chronology and cosmogony which had proved to be stumbling-blocks to the +advance of real knowledge. +</p> +<p> +It is not necessary for us to do more than to allude to some of the +leading features of these schemes; their peculiarities will be easily +discerned with sufficient clearness. Thus, from the six days of creation +and the Sabbath-day of rest, since we are told that a day is with the +Lord as a thousand years, it was inferred that the duration of the +world will be through six thousand years of suffering, and an additional +thousand, a millennium of rest. It was generally admitted that the +earth was about four thousand years old at the birth of Christ, but, so +careless had Europe been in the study of its annals, that not Until +A.D. 627 had it a proper chronology of its own. A Roman abbot, Dionysius +Exiguus, or Dennis the Less, then fixed the vulgar era, and gave Europe +its present Christian chronology. +</p> +<p> +The method followed in obtaining the earliest chronological dates was +by computations, mainly founded on the lives of the patriarchs. Much +difficulty was encountered in reconciling numerical discrepancies. Even +if, as was taken for granted in those uncritical ages, Moses was the +author of the books imputed to him, due weight was not given to the fact +that he related events, many of which took place more than two thousand +years before he was born. It scarcely seemed necessary to regard the +Pentateuch as of plenary inspiration, since no means had been provided +to perpetuate its correctness. The different copies which had escaped +the chances of time varied very much; thus the Samaritan made thirteen +hundred and seven years from the Creation to the Deluge, the Hebrew +sixteen hundred and fifty-six, the Septuagint twenty-two hundred and +sixty-three. The Septuagint counted fifteen hundred years more from the +Creation to Abraham than the Hebrew. In general, however, there was +an inclination to the supposition that the Deluge took place about two +thousand years after the Creation, and, after another interval of two +thousand years, Christ was born. Persons who had given much attention +to the subject affirmed that there were not less than one hundred +and thirty-two different opinions as to the year in which the Messiah +appeared, and hence they declared that it was inexpedient to press for +acceptance the Scriptural numbers too closely, since it was plain, +from the great differences in different copies, that there had been no +providential intervention to perpetuate a correct reading, nor was there +any mark by which men could be guided to the only authentic version. +Even those held in the highest esteem contained undeniable errors. Thus +the Septuagint made Methuselah live until after the Deluge. +</p> +<p> +It was thought that, in the antediluvian world, the year consisted +of three hundred and sixty days. Some even affirmed that this was +the origin of the division of the circle into three hundred and sixty +degrees. At the time of the Deluge, so many theologians declared, the +motion of the sun was altered, and the year became five days and six +hours longer. There was a prevalent opinion that that stupendous event +occurred on November 2d, in the year of the world 1656. Dr. Whiston, +however, disposed to greater precision, inclined to postpone it to +November 28th. Some thought that the rainbow was not seen until after +the flood; others, apparently with better reason, inferred that it was +then first established as a sign. On coming forth from the ark, men +received permission to use flesh as food, the antediluvians having been +herbivorous! It would seem that the Deluge had not occasioned any great +geographical changes, for Noah, relying on his antediluvian knowledge, +proceeded to divide the earth among his three sons, giving to Japhet +Europe, to Shem Asia, to Ham Africa. No provision was made for America, +as he did not know of its existence. These patriarchs, undeterred by the +terrible solitudes to which they were going, by the undrained swamps +and untracked forests, journeyed to their allotted possessions, and +commenced the settlement of the continents. +</p> +<p> +In seventy years the Asiatic family had increased to several hundred. +They had found their way to the plains of Mesopotamia, and there, for +some motive that we cannot divine, began building a tower "whose top +might reach to heaven." Eusebius informs us that the work continued for +forty years. They did not abandon it until a miraculous confusion of +their language took place and dispersed them all over the earth. St. +Ambrose shows that this confusion could not have been brought about by +men. Origen believes that not even the angels accomplished it. +</p> +<p> +The confusion of tongues has given rise to many curious speculations +among divines as to the primitive speech of man. Some have thought +that the language of Adam consisted altogether of nouns, that they were +monosyllables, and that the confusion was occasioned by the introduction +of polysyllables. But these learned men must surely have overlooked the +numerous conversations reported in Genesis, such as those between the +Almighty and Adam, the serpent and Eve, etc. In these all the various +parts of speech occur. There was, however, a coincidence of opinion +that the primitive language was Hebrew. On the general principles of +patristicism, it was fitting that this should be the case. +</p> +<p> +The Greek Fathers computed that, at the time of the dispersion, +seventy-two nations were formed, and in this conclusion St. Augustine +coincides. But difficulties seem to have been recognized in these +computations; thus the learned Dr. Shuckford, who has treated very +elaborately on all the foregoing points in his excellent work "On the +Sacred and Profane History of the World connected," demonstrates that +there could not have been more than twenty-one or twenty-two men, women, +and children, in each of those kingdoms. +</p> +<p> +A very vital point in this system of chronological computation, based +upon the ages of the patriarchs, was the great length of life to which +those worthies attained. It was generally supposed that before the Flood +"there was a perpetual equinox," and no vicissitudes in Nature. After +that event the standard of life diminished one-half, and in the time of +the Psalmist it had sunk to seventy years, at which it still remains. +Austerities of climate were affirmed to have arisen through the shifting +of the earth's axis at the Flood, and to this ill effect were added the +noxious influences of that universal catastrophe, which, "converting the +surface of the earth into a vast swamp, gave rise to fermentations of +the blood and a weakening of the fibres." +</p> +<p> +With a view of avoiding difficulties arising from the extraordinary +length of the patriarchal lives, certain divines suggested that the +years spoken of by the sacred penman were not ordinary but lunar years. +This, though it might bring the age of those venerable men within +the recent term of life, introduced, however, another insuperable +difficulty, since it made them have children when only five or six years +old. +</p> +<p> +Sacred science, as interpreted by the Fathers of the Church, +demonstrated these facts: 1. That the date of Creation was comparatively +recent, not more than four or five thousand years before Christ; 2. That +the act of Creation occupied the space of six ordinary days; 3. That +the Deluge was universal, and that the animals which survived it were +preserved in an ark; 4. That Adam was created perfect in morality and +intelligence, that he fell, and that his descendants have shared in his +sin and his fall. +</p> +<p> +Of these points and others that might be mentioned there were two on +which ecclesiastical authority felt that it must insist. These were: +1. The recent date of Creation; for, the remoter that event, the more +urgent the necessity of vindicating the justice of God, who apparently +had left the majority of our race to its fate, and had reserved +salvation for the few who were living in the closing ages of the +world; 2. The perfect condition of Adam at his creation, since this was +necessary to the theory of the fall, and the plan of salvation. +</p> +<p> +Theological authorities were therefore constrained to look with disfavor +on any attempt to carry back the origin of the earth, to an epoch +indefinitely remote, and on the Mohammedan theory of the evolution +of man from lower forms, or his gradual development to his present +condition in the long lapse of time. +</p> +<p> +From the puerilities, absurdities, and contradictions of the foregoing +statement, we may gather how very unsatisfactory this so-called sacred +science was. And perhaps we may be brought to the conclusion to +which Dr. Shuckford, above quoted, was constrained to come, after his +wearisome and unavailing attempt to coordinate its various parts: "As to +the Fathers of the first ages of the Church, they were good men, but not +men of universal learning." +</p> +<p> +Sacred cosmogony regards the formation and modeling of the earth as the +direct act of God; it rejects the intervention of secondary causes in +those events. +</p> +<p> +Scientific cosmogony dates from the telescopic discovery made by +Cassini—an Italian astronomer, under whose care Louis XIV. placed the +Observatory of Paris—that the planet Jupiter is not a sphere, but +an oblate spheroid, flattened at the poles. Mechanical philosophy +demonstrated that such a figure is the necessary result of the rotation +of a yielding mass, and that the more rapid the rotation the greater the +flattening, or, what comes to the same thing, the greater the equatorial +bulging must be. +</p> +<p> +From considerations—purely of a mechanical kind—Newton had foreseen +that such likewise, though to a less striking extent, must be the figure +of the earth. To the protuberant mass is due the precession of the +equinoxes, which requires twenty-five thousand eight hundred and +sixty-eight years for its completion, and also the nutation of the +earth's axis, discovered by Bradley. We have already had occasion to +remark that the earth's equatorial diameter exceeds the polar by about +twenty-six miles. +</p> +<p> +Two facts are revealed by the oblateness of the earth: 1. That she has +formerly been in a yielding or plastic condition; 2. That she has been +modeled by a mechanical and therefore a secondary cause. +</p> +<p> +But this influence of mechanical causes is manifested not only in +the exterior configuration of the globe of the earth as a spheroid of +revolution, it also plainly appears on an examination of the arrangement +of her substance. +</p> +<p> +If we consider the aqueous rocks, their aggregate is many miles in +thickness; yet they undeniably have been of slow deposit. The material +of which they consist has been obtained by the disintegration of ancient +lands; it has found its way into the water-courses, and by them been +distributed anew. Effects of this kind, taking place before our eyes, +require a very considerable lapse of time to produce a well-marked +result—a water deposit may in this manner measure in thickness a few +inches in a century—what, then, shall we say as to the time consumed in +the formation of deposits of many thousand yards? +</p> +<p> +The position of the coast-line of Egypt has been known for much more +than two thousand years. In that time it has made, by reason of the +detritus brought down by the Nile, a distinctly-marked encroachment on +the Mediterranean. But all Lower Egypt has had a similar origin. The +coast-line near the mouth of the Mississippi has been well known +for three hundred years, and during that time has scarcely made a +perceptible advance on the Gulf of Mexico; but there was a time when the +delta of that river was at St. Louis, more than seven hundred miles +from its present position. In Egypt and in America—in fact, in all +countries—the rivers have been inch by inch prolonging the land into +the sea; the slowness of their work and the vastness of its extent +satisfy us that we must concede for the operation enormous periods of +time. +</p> +<p> +To the same conclusion we are brought if we consider the filling of +lakes, the deposit of travertines, the denudation of hills, the +cutting action of the sea on its shores, the undermining of cliffs, the +weathering of rocks by atmospheric water and carbonic acid. +</p> +<p> +Sedimentary strata must have been originally deposited in planes nearly +horizontal. Vast numbers of them have been forced, either by paroxysms +at intervals or by gradual movement, into all manner of angular +inclinations. Whatever explanations we may offer of these innumerable +and immense tilts and fractures, they would seem to demand for their +completion an inconceivable length of time. +</p> +<p> +The coal-bearing strata in Wales, by their gradual submergence, have +attained a thickness of 12,000 feet; in Nova Scotia of 14,570 feet. +So slow and so steady was this submergence, that erect trees stand one +above another on successive levels; seventeen such repetitions may be +counted in a thickness of 4,515 feet. The age of the trees is proved +by their size, some being four feet in diameter. Round them, as they +gradually went down with the subsiding soil, calamites grew, at one +level after another. In the Sydney coal-field fifty-nine fossil forests +occur in superposition. +</p> +<p> +Marine shells, found on mountain-tops far in the interior of continents, +were regarded by theological writers as an indisputable illustration of +the Deluge. But when, as geological studies became more exact, it was +proved that in the crust of the earth vast fresh-water formations are +repeatedly intercalated with vast marine ones, like the leaves of a +book, it became evident that no single cataclysm was sufficient +to account for such results; that the same region, through gradual +variations of its level and changes in its topographical surroundings, +had sometimes been dry land, sometimes covered with fresh and sometimes +with sea water. It became evident also that, for the completion of these +changes, tens of thousands of years were required. +</p> +<p> +To this evidence of a remote origin of the earth, derived from the vast +superficial extent, the enormous thickness, and the varied characters of +its strata, was added an imposing body of proof depending on its fossil +remains. The relative ages of formations having been ascertained, it +was shown that there has been an advancing physiological progression of +organic forms, both vegetable and animal, from the oldest to the most +recent; that those which inhabit the surface in our times are but an +insignificant fraction of the prodigious multitude that have inhabited +it heretofore; that for each species now living there are thousands +that have become extinct. Though special formations are so strikingly +characterized by some predominating type of life as to justify such +expressions as the age of mollusks, the age of reptiles, the age of +mammals, the introduction of the new-comers did not take place abruptly. +as by sudden creation. They gradually emerged in an antecedent age, +reached their culmination in the one which they characterize, and then +gradually died out in a succeeding. There is no such thing as a +sudden creation, a sudden strange appearance—but there is a slow +metamorphosis, a slow development from a preexisting form. Here again +we encounter the necessity of admitting for such results long periods +of time. Within the range of history no well-marked instance of such +development has been witnessed, and we speak with hesitation of doubtful +instances of extinction. Yet in geological times myriads of evolutions +and extinctions have occurred. +</p> +<p> +Since thus, within the experience of man, no case of metamorphosis +or development has been observed, some have been disposed to deny its +possibility altogether, affirming that all the different species have +come into existence by separate creative acts. But surely it is less +unphilosophical to suppose that each species has been evolved from a +predecessor by a modification of its parts, than that it has suddenly +started into existence out of nothing. Nor is there much weight in +the remark that no man has ever witnessed such a transformation taking +place. Let it be remembered that no man has ever witnessed an act +of creation, the sudden appearance of an organic form, without any +progenitor. +</p> +<p> +Abrupt, arbitrary, disconnected creative acts may serve to illustrate +the Divine power; but that continuous unbroken chain of organisms which +extends from palaeozoic formations to the formations of recent times, a +chain in which each link hangs on a preceding and sustains a succeeding +one, demonstrates to us not only that the production of animated beings +is governed by law, but that it is by law that has undergone no change. +In its operation, through myriads of ages, there has been no variation, +no suspension. +</p> +<p> +The foregoing paragraphs may serve to indicate the character of a +portion of the evidence with which we must deal in considering the +problem of the age of the earth. Through the unintermitting labors of +geologists, so immense a mass has been accumulated, that many volumes +would be required to contain the details. It is drawn from the phenomena +presented by all kinds of rocks, aqueous, igneous, metamorphic. Of +aqueous rocks it investigates the thickness, the inclined positions, +and how they rest unconformably on one another; how those that are of +fresh-water origin are intercalated with those that are marine; how +vast masses of material have been removed by slow-acting causes of +denudation, and extensive geographical surfaces have been remodeled; how +continents have undergone movements of elevation and depression, their +shores sunk under the ocean, or sea-beaches and sea-cliffs carried far +into the interior. It considers the zoological and botanical facts, the +fauna and flora of the successive ages, and how in an orderly manner the +chain of organic forms, plants, and animals, has been extended, from its +dim and doubtful beginnings to our own times. From facts presented by +the deposits of coal-coal which, in all its varieties, has originated +from the decay of plants—it not only demon strates the changes that +have taken place in the earth's atmosphere, but also universal changes +of climate. From other facts it proves that there have been oscillations +of temperature, periods in which the mean heat has risen, and periods +in which the polar ices and snows have covered large portions of the +existing continents—glacial periods, as they are termed. +</p> +<p> +One school of geologists, resting its argument on very imposing +evidence, teaches that the whole mass of the earth, from being in a +molten, or perhaps a vaporous condition, has cooled by radiation in the +lapse of millions of ages, until it has reached its present equilibrium +of temperature. Astronomical observations give great weight to this +interpretation, especially so far as the planetary bodies of the solar +system are concerned. It is also supported by such facts as the small +mean density of the earth, the increasing temperature at increasing +depths, the phenomena of volcanoes and injected veins, and those of +igneous and metamorphic rocks. To satisfy the physical changes which +this school of geologists contemplates, myriads of centuries are +required. +</p> +<p> +But, with the views that the adoption of the Copernican system has given +us, it is plain that we cannot consider the origin and biography of the +earth in an isolated way; we must include with her all the other members +of the system or family to which she belongs. Nay, more, we cannot +restrict ourselves to the solar system; we must embrace in our +discussions the starry worlds. And, since we have become familiarized +with their almost immeasurable distances from one another, we are +prepared to accept for their origin an immeasurably remote time. There +are stars so far off that their light, fast as it travels, has taken +thousands of years to reach us, and hence they must have been in +existence many thousands of years ago. +</p> +<p> +Geologists having unanimously agreed—for perhaps there is not a single +dissenting voice—that the chronology of the earth must be greatly +extended, attempts have been made to give precision to it. Some of +these have been based on astronomical, some on physical principles. Thus +calculations founded on the known changes of the eccentricity of the +earth's orbit, with a view of determining the lapse of time since the +beginning of the last glacial period, have given two hundred and +forty thousand years. Though the general postulate of the immensity of +geological times may be conceded, such calculations are on too uncertain +a theoretical basis to furnish incontestable results. +</p> +<p> +But, considering the whole subject from the present scientific +stand-point, it is very clear that the views presented by theological +writers, as derived from the Mosaic record, cannot be admitted. Attempts +have been repeatedly made to reconcile the revealed with the discovered +facts, but they have proved to be unsatisfactory. The Mosaic time is +too short, the order of creation incorrect, the divine interventions +too anthropomorphic; and, though the presentment of the subject is in +harmony with the ideas that men have entertained, when first their +minds were turned to the acquisition of natural knowledge, it is not in +accordance with their present conceptions of the insignificance of the +earth and the grandeur of the universe. +</p> +<p> +Among late geological discoveries is one of special interest; it is the +detection of human remains and human works in formations which, though +geologically recent, are historically very remote. +</p> +<p> +The fossil remains of men, with rude implements of rough or chipped +flint, of polished stone, of bone, of bronze, are found in Europe in +caves, in drifts, in peat-beds. They indicate a savage life, spent in +hunting and fishing. Recent researches give reason to believe that, +under low and base grades, the existence of man can be traced back into +the tertiary times. He was contemporary with the southern elephant, +the rhinoceros leptorhinus, the great hippopotamus, perhaps even in the +miocene contemporary with the mastodon. +</p> +<p> +At the close of the Tertiary period, from causes not yet determined, the +Northern Hemisphere underwent a great depression of temperature. From +a torrid it passed to a glacial condition. After a period of prodigious +length, the temperature again rose, and the glaciers that had so +extensively covered the surface receded. Once more there was a decline +in the heat, and the glaciers again advanced, but this time not so far +as formerly. This ushered in the Quaternary period, during which very +slowly the temperature came to its present degree. The water deposits +that were being made required thousands of centuries for their +completion. At the beginning of the Quaternary period there were +alive the cave-bear, the cave-lion, the amphibious hippopotamus, the +rhinoceros with chambered nostrils, the mammoth. In fact, the mammoth +swarmed. He delighted in a boreal climate. By degrees the reindeer, the +horse, the ox, the bison, multiplied, and disputed with him his food. +Partly for this reason, and partly because of the increasing heat, he +became extinct. From middle Europe, also, the reindeer retired. His +departure marks the end of the Quaternary period. +</p> +<p> +Since the advent of man on the earth, we have, therefore, to deal with +periods of incalculable length. Vast changes in the climate and fauna +were produced by the slow operation of causes such as are in action at +the present day. Figures cannot enable us to appreciate these enormous +lapses of time. +</p> +<p> +It seems to be satisfactorily established, that a race allied to the +Basques may be traced back to the Neolithic age. At that time the +British Islands were undergoing a change of level, like that at present +occurring in the Scandinavian Peninsula. Scotland was rising, England +was sinking. In the Pleistocene age there existed in Central Europe a +rude race of hunters and fishers closely allied to the Esquimaux. +</p> +<p> +In the old glacial drift of Scotland the relics of man are found along +with those of the fossil elephant. This carries us back to that time +above referred to, when a large portion of Europe was covered with ice, +which had edged down from the polar regions to southerly latitudes, and, +as glaciers, descended from the summits of the mountain-chains into the +plains. Countless species of animals perished in this cataclysm of ice +and snow, but man survived. +</p> +<p> +In his primitive savage condition, living for the most part on fruits, +roots, shell-fish, man was in possession of a fact which was certain +eventually to insure his civilization. He knew how to make a fire. In +peat-beds, under the remains of trees that in those localities have +long ago become extinct, his relics are still found, the implements +that accompany him indicating a distinct chronological order. Near the +surface are those of bronze, lower down those of bone or horn, still +lower those of polished stone, and beneath all those of chipped or rough +stone. The date of the origin of some of these beds cannot be estimated +at less than forty or fifty thousand years. +</p> +<p> +The caves that have been examined in France and elsewhere have furnished +for the Stone age axes, knives, lance and arrow points, scrapers, +hammers. The change from what may be termed the chipped to the polished +stone period is very gradual. It coincides with the domestication of the +dog, an epoch in hunting-life. It embraces thousands of centuries. The +appearance of arrow-heads indicates the invention of the bow, and +the rise of man from a defensive to an offensive mode of life. The +introduction of barbed arrows shows how inventive talent was displaying +itself; bone and horn tips, that the huntsman was including smaller +animals, and perhaps birds, in his chase; bone whistles, his +companionship with other huntsmen or with his dog. The scraping-knives +of flint indicate the use of skin for clothing, and rude bodkins and +needles its manufacture. Shells perforated for bracelets and necklaces +prove how soon a taste for personal adornment was acquired; the +implements necessary for the preparation of pigments suggest the +painting of the body, and perhaps tattooing; and batons of rank bear +witness to the beginning of a social organization. +</p> +<p> +With the utmost interest we look upon the first germs of art among these +primitive men. They have left its rude sketches on pieces of ivory and +flakes of bone, and carvings, of the animals contemporary with them. In +these prehistoric delineations, sometimes not without spirit, we have +mammoths, combats of reindeer. One presents us with a man harpooning a +fish, another a hunting-scene of naked men armed with the dart. Man is +the only animal who has the propensity of depicting external forms, and +of availing himself of the use of fire. +</p> +<p> +Shell-mounds, consisting of bones and shells, some of which may be +justly described as of vast extent, and of a date anterior to the Bronze +age, and full of stone implements, bear in all their parts indications +of the use of fire. These are often adjacent to the existing coasts +sometimes, however, they are far inland, in certain instances as far +as fifty miles. Their contents and position indicate for them a date +posterior to that of the great extinct mammals, but prior to the +domesticated. Some of these, it is said, cannot be less than one hundred +thousand years old. +</p> +<p> +The lake-dwellings in Switzerland—huts built on piles or logs, wattled +with boughs—were, as may be inferred from the accompanying implements, +begun in the Stone age, and continued into that of Bronze. In the latter +period the evidences become numerous of the adoption of an agricultural +life. +</p> +<p> +It must not be supposed that the periods into which geologists have +found it convenient to divide the progress of man in civilization are +abrupt epochs, which hold good simultaneously for the whole human race. +Thus the wandering Indians of America are only at the present moment +emerging from the Stone age. They are still to be seen in many places +armed with arrows, tipped with flakes of flint. It is but as yesterday +that some have obtained, from the white man, iron, fire-arms, and the +horse. +</p> +<p> +So far as investigations have gone, they indisputably refer the +existence of man to a date remote from us by many hundreds of thousands +of years. It must be borne in mind that these investigations are quite +recent, and confined to a very limited geographical space. No researches +have yet been made in those regions which might reasonably be regarded +as the primitive habitat of man. +</p> +<p> +We are thus carried back immeasurably beyond the six thousand years of +Patristic chronology. It is difficult to assign a shorter date for the +last glaciation of Europe than a quarter of a million of years, and +human existence antedates that. But not only is it this grand fact that +confronts us, we have to admit also a primitive animalized state, and a +slow, a gradual development. But this forlorn, this savage condition +of humanity is in strong contrast to the paradisiacal happiness of the +garden of Eden, and, what is far in ore serious, it is inconsistent with +the theory of the Fall. +</p> +<p> +I have been induced to place the subject of this chapter out of its +proper chronological order, for the sake of presenting what I had to +say respecting the nature of the world more completely by itself. The +discussions that arose as to the age of the earth were long after the +conflict as to the criterion of truth—that is, after the Reformation; +indeed, they were substantially included in the present century. They +have been conducted with so much moderation as to justify the term +I have used in the title of this chapter, "Controversy," rather than +"Conflict." Geology has not had to encounter the vindictive opposition +with which astronomy was assailed, and, though, on her part, she has +insisted on a concession of great antiquity for the earth, she has +herself pointed out the unreliability of all numerical estimates thus +far offered. The attentive reader of this chapter cannot have failed to +observe inconsistencies in the numbers quoted. Though wanting the +merit of exactness, those numbers, however, justify the claim of vast +antiquity, and draw us to the conclusion that the time-scale of the +world answers to the space-scale in magnitude. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0008"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER VIII. +</h2> +<pre> + CONFLICT RESPECTING THE CRITERION OF TRUTH. + + Ancient philosophy declares that man has no means of + ascertaining the truth. + + Differences of belief arise among the early Christians—An + ineffectual attempt is made to remedy them by Councils.— + Miracle and ordeal proof introduced. + + The papacy resorts to auricular confession and the + Inquisition.—It perpetrates frightful atrocities for the + suppression of differences of opinion. + + Effect of the discovery of the Pandects of Justinian and + development of the canon law on the nature of evidence.—It + becomes more scientific. + + The Reformation establishes the rights of individual + reason.—Catholicism asserts that the criterion of truth is + in the Church. It restrains the reading of books by the + Index Expurgatorius, and combats dissent by such means as + the massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve. + + Examination of the authenticity of the Pentateuch as the + Protestant criterion.—Spurious character of those books. + + For Science the criterion of truth is to be found in the + revelations of Nature: for the Protestant, it is in the + Scriptures; for the Catholic, in an infallible Pope. +</pre> +<p> +"WHAT is truth?" was the passionate demand of a Roman procurator on one +of the most momentous occasions in history. And the Divine Person who +stood before him, to whom the interrogation was addressed, made no +reply—unless, indeed, silence contained the reply. +</p> +<p> +Often and vainly had that demand been made before—often and vainly has +it been made since. No one has yet given a satisfactory answer. +</p> +<p> +When, at the dawn of science in Greece, the ancient religion was +disappearing like a mist at sunrise, the pious and thoughtful men of +that country were thrown into a condition of intellectual despair. +Anaxagoras plaintively exclaims, "Nothing can be known, nothing can be +learned, nothing can be certain, sense is limited, intellect is weak, +life is short." Xenophanes tells us that it is impossible for us to be +certain even when we utter the truth. Parmenides declares that the +very constitution of man prevents him from ascertaining absolute truth. +Empedocles affirms that all philosophical and religious systems must +be unreliable, because we have no criterion by which to test them. +Democritus asserts that even things that are true cannot impart +certainty to us; that the final result of human inquiry is the discovery +that man is incapable of absolute knowledge; that, even if the truth be +in his possession, he cannot be certain of it. Pyrrho bids us reflect +on the necessity of suspending our judgment of things, since we have no +criterion of truth; so deep a distrust did he impart to his followers, +that they were in the habit of saying, "We assert nothing; no, not even +that we assert nothing." Epicurus taught his disciples that truth can +never be determined by reason. Arcesilaus, denying both intellectual and +sensuous knowledge, publicly avowed that he knew nothing, not even his +own ignorance! The general conclusion to which Greek philosophy came was +this—that, in view of the contradiction of the evidence of the +senses, we cannot distinguish the true from the false; and such is the +imperfection of reason, that we cannot affirm the correctness of any +philosophical deduction. +</p> +<p> +It might be supposed that a revelation from God to man would come with +such force and clearness as to settle all uncertainties and overwhelm +all opposition. A Greek philosopher, less despairing than others, had +ventured to affirm that the coexistence of two forms of faith, both +claiming to be revealed by the omnipotent God, proves that neither of +them is true. But let us remember that it is difficult for men to come +to the same conclusion as regards even material and visible things, +unless they stand at the same point of view. If discord and distrust +were the condition of philosophy three hundred years before the birth +of Christ, discord and distrust were the condition of religion three +hundred years after his death. This is what Hilary, the Bishop of +Poictiers, in his well-known passage written about the time of the +Nicene Council, says: +</p> +<p> +"It is a thing equally deplorable and dangerous that there are, as many +creeds as opinions among men, as many doctrines as inclinations, and as +many sources of blasphemy as there are faults among us, because we make +creeds arbitrarily and explain them as arbitrarily. Every year, nay, +every moon, we make new creeds to describe invisible mysteries; we +repent of what we have done; we defend those who repent; we anathematize +those whom we defend; we condemn either the doctrines of others in +ourselves, or our own in that of others; and, reciprocally tearing each +other to pieces, we have been the cause of each other's ruin." +</p> +<p> +These are not mere words; but the import of this self-accusation can +be realized fully only by such as are familiar with the ecclesiastical +history of those times. As soon as the first fervor of Christianity as a +system of benevolence had declined, dissensions appeared. Ecclesiastical +historians assert that "as early as the second century began the contest +between faith and reason, religion and philosophy, piety and genius." To +compose these dissensions, to obtain some authoritative expression, some +criterion of truth, assemblies for consultation were resorted to, which +eventually took the form of councils. For a long time they had nothing +more than an advisory authority; but, when, in the fourth century, +Christianity had attained to imperial rule, their dictates became +compulsory, being enforced by the civil power. By this the whole face +of the Church was changed. Oecumenical councils—parliaments of +Christianity—consisting of delegates from all the churches in the +world, were summoned by the authority of the emperor; he presided either +personally or nominally in them—composed all differences, and was, in +fact, the Pope of Christendom. Mosheim, the historian, to whom I have +more particularly referred above, speaking of these times, remarks +that "there was nothing to exclude the ignorant from ecclesiastical +preferment; the savage and illiterate party, who looked on all kinds +of learning, particularly philosophy, as pernicious to piety, was +increasing;" and, accordingly, "the disputes carried on in the Council +of Nicea offered a remarkable example of the greatest ignorance and +utter confusion of ideas, particularly in the language and explanations +of those who approved of the decisions of that council." Vast as its +influence has been, "the ancient critics are neither agreed concerning +the time nor place in which it was assembled, the number of those who +sat in it, nor the bishop who presided. No authentic acts of its famous +sentence have been committed to writing, or, at least, none have been +transmitted to our times." The Church had now become what, in the +language of modern politicians, would be called "a confederated +republic." The will of the council was determined by a majority vote, +and, to secure that, all manner of intrigues and impositions were +resorted to; the influence of court females, bribery, and violence, were +not spared. The Council of Nicea had scarcely adjourned,—when it was +plain to all impartial men that, as a method of establishing a criterion +of truth in religious matters, such councils were a total failure. The +minority had no rights which the majority need respect. The protest of +many good men, that a mere majority vote given by delegates, whose right +to vote had never been examined and authorized, could not be received +as ascertaining absolute truth, was passed over with contempt, and the +consequence was, that council was assembled against council, and their +jarring and contradictory decrees spread perplexity and confusion +throughout the Christian world. In the fourth century alone there were +thirteen councils adverse to Arius, fifteen in his favor, and seventeen +for the semi-Arians—in all, forty-five. Minorities were perpetually +attempting to use the weapon which majorities had abused. +</p> +<p> +The impartial ecclesiastical historian above quoted, moreover, says +that "two monstrous and calamitous errors were adopted in this fourth +century: 1. That it was an act of virtue to deceive and lie when, by +that means, the interests of the Church might be promoted. 2. That +errors in religion, when maintained and adhered to after proper +admonition, were punishable with civil penalties and corporal tortures." +</p> +<p> +Not without astonishment can we look back at what, in those times, were +popularly regarded as criteria of truth. Doctrines were considered +as established by the number of martyrs who had professed them, by +miracles, by the confession of demons, of lunatics, or of persons +possessed of evil spirits: thus, St. Ambrose, in his disputes with the +Arians, produced men possessed by devils, who, on the approach of the +relics of certain martyrs, acknowledged, with loud cries, that the +Nicean doctrine of the three persons of the Godhead was true. But +the Arians charged him with suborning these infernal witnesses with a +weighty bribe. Already, ordeal tribunals were making their appearance. +During the following six centuries they were held as a final resort for +establishing guilt or innocence, under the forms of trial by cold water, +by duel, by the fire, by the cross. +</p> +<p> +What an utter ignorance of the nature of evidence and its laws have we +here! An accused man sinks or swims when thrown into a pond of water; +he is burnt or escapes unharmed when he holds a piece of red-hot iron +in his hand; a champion whom he has hired is vanquished or vanquishes in +single fight; he can keep his arms outstretched like a cross, or fails +to do so longer than his accuser, and his innocence or guilt of some +imputed crime is established! Are these criteria of truth? +</p> +<p> +Is it surprising that all Europe was filled with imposture miracles +during those ages?—miracles that are a disgrace to the common-sense of +man! +</p> +<p> +But the inevitable day came at length. Assertions and doctrines based +upon such preposterous evidence were involved in the discredit that fell +upon the evidence itself. As the thirteenth century is approached, we +find unbelief in all directions setting in. First, it is plainly seen +among the monastic orders, then it spreads rapidly among the common +people. Books, such as "The Everlasting Gospel," appear among the +former; sects, such as the Catharists, Waldenses, Petrobrussians, arise +among the latter. They agreed in this, "that the public and established +religion was a motley system of errors and superstitions, and that the +dominion which the pope had usurped over Christians was unlawful and +tyrannical; that the claim put forth by Rome, that the Bishop of Rome is +the supreme lord of the universe, and that neither princes nor bishops, +civil governors nor ecclesiastical rulers, have any lawful power in +church or state but what they receive from him, is utterly without +foundation, and a usurpation of the rights of man." +</p> +<p> +To withstand this flood of impiety, the papal government established two +institutions: 1. The Inquisition; 2. Auricular confession—the latter as +a means of detection, the former as a tribunal for punishment. +</p> +<p> +In general terms, the commission of the Inquisition was, to extirpate +religious dissent by terrorism, and surround heresy with the most +horrible associations; this necessarily implied the power of determining +what constitutes heresy. The criterion of truth was thus in possession +of this tribunal, which was charged "to discover and bring to judgment +heretics lurking in towns, houses, cellars, woods, caves, and fields." +With such savage alacrity did it carry out its object of protecting the +interests of religion, that between 1481 and 1808 it had punished three +hundred and forty thousand persons, and of these nearly thirty-two +thousand had been burnt! In its earlier days, when public opinion could +find no means of protesting against its atrocities, "it often put to +death, without appeal, on the very day that they were accused, nobles, +clerks, monks, hermits, and lay persons of every rank." In whatever +direction thoughtful men looked, the air was full of fearful shadows. No +one could indulge in freedom of thought without expecting punishment. So +dreadful were the proceedings of the Inquisition, that the exclamation +of Pagliarici was the exclamation of thousands: "It is hardly possible +for a man to be a Christian, and die in his bed." +</p> +<p> +The Inquisition destroyed the sectaries of Southern France in the +thirteenth century. Its unscrupulous atrocities extirpated Protestantism +in Italy and Spain. Nor did it confine itself to religious affairs; it +engaged in the suppression of political discontent. Nicolas Eymeric, who +was inquisitor-general of the kingdom of Aragon for nearly fifty years, +and who died in 1399, has left a frightful statement of its conduct and +appalling cruelties in his "Directorium Inquisitorum." +</p> +<p> +This disgrace of Christianity, and indeed of the human race, had +different constitutions in different countries. The papal Inquisition +continued the tyranny, and eventually superseded the old episcopal +inquisitions. The authority of the bishops was unceremoniously put aside +by the officers of the pope. +</p> +<p> +By the action of the fourth Lateran Council, A.D. 1215, the power of +the Inquisition was frightfully increased, the necessity of private +confession to a priest—auricular confession—being at that time +formally established. This, so far as domestic life was concerned, gave +omnipresence and omniscience to the Inquisition. Not a man was safe. +In the hands of the priest, who, at the confessional, could extract or +extort from them their most secret thoughts, his wife and his servants +were turned into spies. Summoned before the dread tribunal, he was +simply informed that he lay under strong suspicions of heresy. No +accuser was named; but the thumb-screw, the stretching-rope, the boot +and wedge, or other enginery of torture, soon supplied that defect, and, +innocent or guilty, he accused himself! +</p> +<p> +Notwithstanding all this power, the Inquisition failed of its purpose. +When the heretic could no longer confront it, he evaded it. A dismal +disbelief stealthily pervaded all Europe,—a denial of Providence, +of the immortality of the soul, of human free-will, and that man can +possibly resist the absolute necessity, the destiny which envelops him. +Ideas such as these were cherished in silence by multitudes of persons +driven to them by the tyrannical acts of ecclesiasticism. In spite of +persecution, the Waldenses still survived to propagate their declaration +that the Roman Church, since Constantine, had degenerated from its +purity and sanctity; to protest against the sale of indulgences, which +they said had nearly abolished prayer, fasting, alms; to affirm that it +was utterly useless to pray for the souls of the dead, since they must +already have gone either to heaven or hell. Though it was generally +believed that philosophy or science was pernicious to the interests of +Christianity or true piety, the Mohammedan literature then prevailing +in Spain was making converts among all classes of society. We see very +plainly its influence in many of the sects that then arose; thus, "the +Brethren and Sisters of the Free. Spirit" held that "the universe came +by emanation from God, and would finally return to him by absorption; +that rational souls are so many portions of the Supreme Deity; and that +the universe, considered as one great whole, is God." These are ideas +that can only be entertained in an advanced intellectual condition. Of +this sect it is said that many suffered burning with unclouded serenity, +with triumphant feelings of cheerfulness and joy. Their orthodox enemies +accused them of gratifying their passions at midnight assemblages in +darkened rooms, to which both sexes in a condition of nudity repaired. A +similar accusation, as is well known, was brought against the primitive +Christians by the fashionable society of Rome. +</p> +<p> +The influences of the Averroistic philosophy were apparent in many of +these sects. That Mohammedan system, considered from a Christian point +of view, led to the heretical belief that the end of the precepts of +Christianity is the union of the soul with the Supreme Being; that God +and Nature have the same relations to each other as the soul and the +body; that there is but one individual intelligence; and that one soul +performs all the spiritual and rational functions in all the human race. +When, subsequently, toward the time of the Reformation, the Italian +Averroists were required by the Inquisition to give an account of +themselves, they attempted to show that there is a wide distinction +between philosophical and religious truth; that things may be +philosophically true, and yet theologically false—an exculpatory device +condemned at length by the Lateran Council in the time of Leo X. +</p> +<p> +But, in spite of auricular confession, and the Inquisition, these +heretical tendencies survived. It has been truly said that, at the +epoch of the Reformation, there lay concealed, in many parts of Europe, +persons who entertained the most virulent enmity against Christianity. +In this pernicious class were many Aristotelians, such as Pomponatius; +many philosophers and wits, such as Bodin, Rabelais, Montaigne; many +Italians, as Leo X., Bembo, Bruno. +</p> +<p> +Miracle-evidence began to fall into discredit during the eleventh and +twelfth centuries. The sarcasms of the Hispano-Moorish philosophers +had forcibly drawn the attention of many of the more enlightened +ecclesiastics to its illusory nature. The discovery of the Pandects +of Justinian, at Amalfi, in 1130, doubtless exerted a very powerful +influence in promoting the study of Roman jurisprudence, and +disseminating better notions as to the character of legal or +philosophical evidence. Hallam has cast some doubt on the well-known +story of this discovery, but he admits that the celebrated copy in the +Laurentian library, at Florence, is the only one containing the entire +fifty books. Twenty years subsequently, the monk Gratian collected +together the various papal edicts, the canons of councils, the +declarations of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, in a volume +called "The Decretum," considered as the earliest authority in canon +law. In the next century Gregory IX. published five books of Decretals, +and Boniface VIII. subsequently added a sixth. To these followed the +Clementine Constitutions, a seventh book of Decretals, and "A Book of +Institutes," published together, by Gregory XIII., in 1580, under the +title of "Corpus Juris Canonici." The canon law had gradually gained +enormous power through the control it had obtained over wills, the +guardianship of orphans, marriages, and divorces. +</p> +<p> +The rejection of miracle-evidence, and the substitution of legal +evidence in its stead, accelerated the approach of the Reformation. No +longer was it possible to admit the requirement which, in former days, +Anselm, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in his treatise, "Cur Deus Homo," +had enforced, that we must first believe without examination, and +may afterward endeavor to understand what we have thus believed. When +Cajetan said to Luther, "Thou must believe that one single drop of +Christ's blood is sufficient to redeem the whole human race, and the +remaining quantity that was shed in the garden and on the cross was left +as a legacy to the pope, to be a treasure from which indulgences were +to be drawn," the soul of the sturdy German monk revolted against such +a monstrous assertion, nor would he have believed it though a thousand +miracles had been worked in its support. This shameful practice of +selling indulgences for the commission of sin originated among the +bishops, who, when they had need of money for their private pleasures, +obtained it in that way. Abbots and monks, to whom this gainful commerce +was denied, raised funds by carrying about relics in solemn procession, +and charging a fee for touching them. The popes, in their pecuniary +straits, perceiving how lucrative the practice might become, deprived +the bishops of the right of making such sales, and appropriated it to +themselves, establishing agencies, chiefly among the mendicant orders, +for the traffic. Among these orders there was a sharp competition, each +boasting of the superior value of its indulgences through its greater +influence at the court of heaven, its familiar connection with the +Virgin Mary and the saints in glory. Even against Luther himself, who +had been an Augustinian monk, a calumny was circulated that he was +first alienated from the Church by a traffic of this kind having been +conferred on the Dominicans, instead of on his own order, at the time +when Leo X. was raising funds by this means for building St. Peter's, at +Rome, A.D. 1517. and there is reason to think that Leo himself, in the +earlier stages of the Reformation, attached weight to that allegation. +</p> +<p> +Indulgences were thus the immediate inciting cause of the Reformation, +but very soon there came into light the real principle that was +animating the controversy. It lay in the question, Does the Bible owe +its authenticity to the Church? or does the Church owe her authenticity +to the Bible? Where is the criterion of truth? +</p> +<p> +It is not necessary for me here to relate the well known particulars of +that controversy, the desolating wars and scenes of blood to which it +gave rise: how Luther posted on the door of the cathedral of Wittemberg +ninety-five theses, and was summoned to Rome to answer for his offense; +how he appealed from the pope, ill-informed at the time, to the pope +when he should have been better instructed; how he was condemned as a +heretic, and thereupon appealed to a general council; how, through the +disputes about purgatory, transubstantiation, auricular confession, +absolution, the fundamental idea which lay at the bottom of the whole +movement came into relief, the right of individual judgment; how Luther +was now excommunicated, A.D. 1520, and in defiance burnt the bull of +excommunication and the volumes of the canon law, which he denounced as +aiming at the subversion of all civil government, and the exaltation of +the papacy; how by this skillful manoeuvre he brought over many of the +German princes to his views; how, summoned before the Imperial Diet at +Worms, he refused to retract, and, while he was bidden in the castle of +Wartburg, his doctrines were spreading, and a reformation under Zwingli +broke out in Switzerland; how the principle of sectarian decomposition +embedded in the movement gave rise to rivalries and dissensions between +the Germans and the Swiss, and even divided the latter among themselves +under the leadership of Zwingli and of Calvin; how the Conference of +Marburg, the Diet of Spires, and that at Augsburg, failed to compose +the troubles, and eventually the German Reformation assumed a political +organization at Smalcalde. The quarrels between the Lutherans and the +Calvinists gave hopes to Rome that she might recover her losses. +</p> +<p> +Leo was not slow to discern that the Lutheran Reformation was something +more serious than a squabble among some monks about the profits of +indulgence-sales, and the papacy set itself seriously at work to +overcome the revolters. It instigated the frightful wars that for so +many years desolated Europe, and left animosities which neither the +Treaty of Westphalia, nor the Council of Trent after eighteen years of +debate, could compose. No one can read without a shudder the attempts +that were made to extend the Inquisition in foreign countries. All +Europe, Catholic and Protestant, was horror-stricken at the Huguenot +massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve (A.D. 1572). For perfidy and atrocity +it has no equal in the annals of the world. +</p> +<p> +The desperate attempt in which the papacy had been engaged to put down +its opponents by instigating civil wars, massacres, and assassinations, +proved to be altogether abortive. Nor had the Council of Trent any +better result. Ostensibly summoned to correct, illustrate, and fix with +perspicacity the doctrine of the Church, to restore the vigor of +its discipline, and to reform the lives of its ministers, it was so +manipulated that a large majority of its members were Italians, and +under the influence of the pope. Hence the Protestants could not +possibly accept its decisions. +</p> +<p> +The issue of the Reformation was the acceptance by all the Protestant +Churches of the dogma that the Bible is a sufficient guide for every +Christian man. Tradition was rejected, and the right of private +interpretation assured. It was thought that the criterion of truth had +at length been obtained. +</p> +<p> +The authority thus imputed to the Scriptures was not restricted +to matters of a purely religious or moral kind; it extended over +philosophical facts and to the interpretation of Nature. Many went as +far as in the old times Epiphanius had done: he believed that the Bible +contained a complete system of mineralogy! The Reformers would tolerate +no science that was not in accordance with Genesis. Among them there +were many who maintained that religion and piety could never flourish +unless separated from learning and science. The fatal maxim that the +Bible contained the sum and substance of all knowledge, useful or +possible to man—a maxim employed with such pernicious effect of old by +Tertullian and by St. Augustine, and which had so often been enforced +by papal authority—was still strictly insisted upon. The leaders of +the Reformation, Luther and Melanchthon, were determined to banish +philosophy from the Church. Luther declared that the study of Aristotle +is wholly useless; his vilification of that Greek philosopher knew no +bounds. He is, says Luther, "truly a devil, a horrid calumniator, a +wicked sycophant, a prince of darkness, a real Apollyon, a beast, a +most horrid impostor on mankind, one in whom there is scarcely any +philosophy, a public and professed liar, a goat, a complete epicure, +this twice execrable Aristotle." The schoolmen were, so Luther said, +"locusts, caterpillars, frogs, lice." He entertained an abhorrence +for them. These opinions, though not so emphatically expressed, were +entertained by Calvin. So far as science is concerned, nothing is owed +to the Reformation. The Procrustean bed of the Pentateuch was still +before her. +</p> +<p> +In the annals of Christianity the most ill-omened day is that in which +she separated herself from science. She compelled Origen, at that time +(A.D. 231) its chief representative and supporter in the Church, to +abandon his charge in Alexandria, and retire to Caesarea. In vain +through many subsequent centuries did her leading men spend themselves +in—as the phrase then went—"drawing forth the internal juice and +marrow of the Scriptures for the explaining of things." Universal +history from the third to the sixteenth century shows with what result. +The dark ages owe their darkness to this fatal policy. Here and there, +it is true, there were great men, such as Frederick II. and Alphonso X., +who, standing at a very elevated and general point of view, had detected +the value of learning to civilization, and, in the midst of the dreary +prospect that ecclesiasticism had created around them, had recognized +that science alone can improve the social condition of man. +</p> +<p> +The infliction of the death-punishment for difference of opinion was +still resorted to. When Calvin caused Servetus to be burnt at Geneva, it +was obvious to every one that the spirit of persecution was unimpaired. +The offense of that philosopher lay in his belief. This was, that the +genuine doctrines of Christianity had been lost even before the time of +the Council of Nicea; that the Holy Ghost animates the whole system of +Nature, like a soul of the world, and that, with the Christ, it will +be absorbed, at the end of all things, into the substance of the Deity, +from which they had emanated. For this he was roasted to death over a +slow fire. Was there any distinction between this Protestant auto-da-fe +and the Catholic one of Vanini, who was burnt at Toulouse, by the +Inquisition, in 1629, for his "Dialogues concerning Nature?" +</p> +<p> +The invention of printing, the dissemination of books, had introduced +a class of dangers which the persecution of the Inquisition could not +reach. In 1559, Pope Paul IV. instituted the Congregation of the Index +Expurgatorius. "Its duty is to examine books and manuscripts intended +for publication, and to decide whether the people may be permitted to +read them; to correct those books of which the errors are not numerous, +and which contain certain useful and salutary truths, so as to bring +them into harmony with the doctrines of the Church; to condemn those +of which the principles are heretical and pernicious; and to grant the +peculiar privilege of perusing heretical books to certain persons. +This congregation, which is sometimes held in presence of the pope, but +generally in the palace of the Cardinal-president, has a more extensive +jurisdiction than that of the Inquisition, as it not only takes +cognizance of those books that contain doctrines contrary to the Roman +Catholic faith, but of those that concern the duties of morality, the +discipline of the Church, the interests of society. Its name is derived +from the alphabetical tables or indexes of heretical books and authors +composed by its appointment." +</p> +<p> +The Index Expurgatorius of prohibited books at first indicated +those works which it was unlawful to read; but, on this being found +insufficient, whatever was not permitted was prohibited—an audacious +attempt to prevent all knowledge, except such as suited the purposes of +the Church, from reaching the people. +</p> +<p> +The two rival divisions of the Christian Church—Protestant and +Catholic—were thus in accord on one point: to tolerate no science +except such as they considered to be agreeable to the Scriptures. The +Catholic, being in possession of centralized power, could make its +decisions respected wherever its sway was acknowledged, and enforce the +monitions of the Index Expurgatorius; the Protestant, whose influence +was diffused among many foci in different nations, could not act in such +a direct and resolute manner. Its mode of procedure was, by raising a +theological odium against an offender, to put him under a social ban—a +course perhaps not less effectual than the other. +</p> +<p> +As we have seen in former chapters, an antagonism between religion and +science had existed from the earliest days of Christianity. On every +occasion permitting its display it may be detected through successive +centuries. We witness it in the downfall of the Alexandrian Museum, in +the cases of Erigena and Wiclif, in the contemptuous rejection by the +heretics of the thirteenth century of the Scriptural account of the +Creation; but it was not until the epoch of Copernicus, Kepler, and +Galileo, that the efforts of Science to burst from the thraldom in which +she was fettered became uncontrollable. In all countries the political +power of the Church had greatly declined; her leading men perceived +that the cloudy foundation on which she had stood was dissolving away. +Repressive measures against her antagonists, in old times resorted +to with effect, could be no longer advantageously employed. To her +interests the burning of a philosopher here and there did more harm than +good. In her great conflict with astronomy, a conflict in which Galileo +stands as the central figure, she received an utter overthrow; and, as +we have seen, when the immortal work of Newton was printed, she could +offer no resistance, though Leibnitz affirmed, in the face of Europe, +that "Newton had robbed the Deity of some of his most excellent +attributes, and had sapped the foundation of natural religion." +</p> +<p> +From the time of Newton to our own time, the divergence of science from +the dogmas of the Church has continually increased. The Church declared +that the earth is the central and most important body in the universe; +that the sun and moon and stars are tributary to it. On these points +she was worsted by astronomy. She affirmed that a universal deluge had +covered the earth; that the only surviving animals were such as had +been saved in an ark. In this her error was established by geology. She +taught that there was a first man, who, some six or eight thousand years +ago, was suddenly created or called into existence in a condition of +physical and moral perfection, and from that condition he fell. But +anthropology has shown that human beings existed far back in geological +time, and in a savage state but little better than that of the brute. +</p> +<p> +Many good and well-meaning men have attempted to reconcile the +statements of Genesis with the discoveries of science, but it is in +vain. The divergence has increased so much, that it has become an +absolute opposition. One of the antagonists must give way. +</p> +<p> +May we not, then, be permitted to examine the authenticity of this book, +which, since the second century, has been put forth as the criterion of +scientific truth? To maintain itself in a position so exalted, it must +challenge human criticism. +</p> +<p> +In the early Christian ages, many of the most eminent Fathers of the +Church had serious doubts respecting the authorship of the entire +Pentateuch. I have not space, in the limited compass of these pages, to +present in detail the facts and arguments that were then and have since +been adduced. The literature of the subject is now very extensive. I +may, however, refer the reader to the work of the pious and learned Dean +Prideaux, on "The Old and New Testament connected," a work which is one +of the literary ornaments of the last century. He will also find the +subject more recently and exhaustively discussed by Bishop Colenso. The +following paragraphs will convey a sufficiently distinct impression of +the present state of the controversy: +</p> +<p> +The Pentateuch is affirmed to have been written by Moses, under the +influence of divine inspiration. Considered thus, as a record vouchsafed +and dictated by the Almighty, it commands not only scientific but +universal consent. +</p> +<p> +But here, in the first place, it may be demanded, Who or what is it that +has put forth this great claim in its behalf? +</p> +<p> +Not the work itself. It nowhere claims the authorship of one man, or +makes the impious declaration that it is the writing of Almighty God. +</p> +<p> +Not until after the second century was there any such extravagant +demand on human credulity. It originated, not among the higher ranks of +Christian philosophers, but among the more fervid Fathers of the Church, +whose own writings prove them to have been unlearned and uncritical +persons. +</p> +<p> +Every age, from the second century to our times, has offered men of +great ability, both Christian and Jewish, who have altogether repudiated +these claims. Their decision has been founded upon the intrinsic +evidence of the books themselves. These furnish plain indications of at +least two distinct authors, who have been respectively termed Elohistic +and Jehovistic. Hupfeld maintains that the Jehovistic narrative bears +marks of having been a second original record, wholly independent of the +Elohistic. The two sources from which the narratives have been derived +are, in many respects, contradictory of each other. Moreover, it is +asserted that the books of the Pentateuch are never ascribed to Moses +in the inscriptions of Hebrew manuscripts, or in printed copies of the +Hebrew Bible, nor are they styled "Books of Moses" in the Septuagint or +Vulgate, but only in modern translations. +</p> +<p> +It is clear that they cannot be imputed to the sole authorship of Moses, +since they record his death. It is clear that they were not written +until many hundred years after that event, since they contain references +to facts which did not occur until after the establishment of the +government of kings among the Jews. +</p> +<p> +No man may dare to impute them to the inspiration of Almighty God—their +inconsistencies, incongruities, contradictions, and impossibilities, as +exposed by many learned and pious moderns, both German and English, +are so great. It is the decision of these critics that Genesis is a +narrative based upon legends; that Exodus is not historically true; that +the whole Pentateuch is unhistoric and non-Mosaic; it contains the most +extraordinary contradictions and impossibilities, sufficient to involve +the credibility of the whole—imperfections so many and so conspicuous +that they would destroy the authenticity of any modern historical work. +</p> +<p> +Hengstenberg, in his "Dissertations on the Genuineness of the +Pentateuch," says: "It is the unavoidable fate of a spurious historical +work of any length to be involved in contradictions. This must be the +case to a very great extent with the Pentateuch, if it be not genuine. +If the Pentateuch is spurious, its histories and laws have been +fabricated in successive portions, and were committed to writing in the +course of many centuries by different individuals. From such a mode of +origination, a mass of contradictions is inseparable, and the improving +hand of a later editor could never be capable of entirely obliterating +them." +</p> +<p> +To the above conclusions I may add that we are expressly told by Ezra +(Esdras ii. 14) that he himself, aided by five other persons, wrote +these books in the space of forty days. He says that at the time of the +Babylonian captivity the ancient sacred writings of the Jews were burnt, +and gives a particular detail of the circumstances under which these +were composed. He sets forth that he undertook to write all that had +been done in the world since the beginning. It may be said that the +books of Esdras are apocryphal, but in return it may be demanded, Has +that conclusion been reached on evidence that will withstand modern +criticism? In the early ages of Christianity, when the story of the fall +of man was not considered as essential to the Christian system, and the +doctrine of the atonement had not attained that precision which Anselm +eventually gave it, it was very generally admitted by the Fathers of the +Church that Ezra probably did so compose the Pentateuch. Thus St. Jerome +says, "Sive Mosem dicere volueris auctorem Pentateuchi, sive Esdram +ejusdem instauratorem operis, non recuso." Clemens Alexandrinus +says that when these books had been destroyed in the captivity of +Nebuchadnezzar, Esdras, having become inspired prophetically, reproduced +them. Irenaeus says the same. +</p> +<p> +The incidents contained in Genesis, from the first to the tenth chapters +inclusive (chapters which, in their bearing upon science, are of more +importance than other portions of the Pentateuch), have been obviously +compiled from short, fragmentary legends of various authorship. To the +critical eye they all, however, present peculiarities which demonstrate +that they were written on the banks of the Euphrates, and not in the +Desert of Arabia. They contain many Chaldaisms. An Egyptian would not +speak of the Mediterranean Sea as being west of him, an Assyrian would. +Their scenery and machinery, if such expressions may with propriety be +used, are altogether Assyrian, not Egyptian. They were such records as +one might expect to meet with in the cuneiform impressions of the +tile libraries of the Mesopotamian kings. It is affirmed that one such +legend, that of the Deluge, has already been exhumed, and it is not +beyond the bounds of probability that the remainder may in like manner +be obtained. +</p> +<p> +From such Assyrian sources, the legends of the creation of the earth and +heaven, the garden of Eden, the making of man from clay, and of woman +from one of his ribs, the temptation by the serpent, the naming of +animals, the cherubim and flaming sword, the Deluge and the ark, the +drying up of the waters by the wind, the building of the Tower of +Babel, and the confusion of tongues, were obtained by Ezra. He commences +abruptly the proper history of the Jews in the eleventh chapter. At that +point his universal history ceases; he occupies himself with the story +of one family, the descendants of Shem. +</p> +<p> +It is of this restriction that the Duke of Argyll, in his book on +"Primeval Man," very graphically says: +</p> +<p> +In the genealogy of the family of Shem we have a list of names which are +names, and nothing more to us. It is a genealogy which neither does, nor +pretends to do, more than to trace the order of succession among a few +families only, out of the millions then already existing in the world. +Nothing but this order of succession is given, nor is it at all certain +that this order is consecutive or complete. Nothing is told us of all +that lay behind that curtain of thick darkness, in front of which +these names are made to pass; and yet there are, as it were, momentary +liftings, through which we have glimpses of great movements which were +going on, and had been long going on beyond. No shapes are distinctly +seen. Even the direction of those movements can only be guessed. But +voices are heard which are "as the voices of many waters." I agree in +the opinion of Hupfeld, that "the discovery that the Pentateuch is put +together out of various sources, or original documents, is beyond +all doubt not only one of the most important and most pregnant with +consequences for the interpretation of the historical books of the Old +Testament, or rather for the whole of theology and history, but it is +also one of the most certain discoveries which have been made in +the domain of criticism and the history of literature. Whatever the +anticritical party may bring forward to the contrary, it will maintain +itself, and not retrograde again through any thing, so long as there +exists such a thing as criticism; and it will not be easy for a reader +upon the stage of culture on which we stand in the present day, if he +goes to the examination unprejudiced, and with an uncorrupted power of +appreciating the truth, to be able to ward off its influence." +</p> +<p> +What then? shall we give up these books? Does not the admission that the +narrative of the fall in Eden is legendary carry with it the surrender +of that most solemn and sacred of Christian doctrines, the atonement? +</p> +<p> +Let us reflect on this! Christianity, in its earliest days, when it was +converting and conquering the world, knew little or nothing about that +doctrine. We have seen that, in his "Apology," Tertullian did not +think it worth his while to mention it. It originated among the Gnostic +heretics. It was not admitted by the Alexandrian theological school. It +was never prominently advanced by the Fathers. It was not brought into +its present commanding position until the time of Anselm Philo Judaeus +speaks of the story of the fall as symbolical; Origen regarded it as an +allegory. Perhaps some of the Protestant churches may, with reason, be +accused of inconsistency, since in part they consider it as mythical, in +part real. But, if, with them, we admit that the serpent is symbolical +of Satan, does not that cast an air of allegory over the whole +narrative? +</p> +<p> +It is to be regretted that the Christian Church has burdened itself with +the defense of these books, and voluntarily made itself answerable for +their manifest contradictions and errors. Their vindication, if it +were possible, should have been resigned to the Jews, among whom they +originated, and by whom they have been transmitted to us. Still more, it +is to be deeply regretted that the Pentateuch, a production so imperfect +as to be unable to stand the touch of modern criticism, should be put +forth as the arbiter of science. Let it be remembered that the exposure +of the true character of these books has been made, not by captious +enemies, but by pious and learned churchmen, some of them of the highest +dignity. +</p> +<p> +While thus the Protestant churches have insisted on the acknowledgment +of the Scriptures as the criterion of truth, the Catholic has, in our +own times, declared the infallibility of the pope. It may be said that +this infallibility applies only to moral or religious things; but where +shall the line of separation be drawn? Onmiscience cannot be limited +to a restricted group of questions; in its very nature it implies the +knowledge of all, and infallibility means omniscience. +</p> +<p> +Doubtless, if the fundamental principles of Italian Christianity be +admitted, their logical issue is an infallible pope. There is no need to +dwell on the unphilosophical nature of this conception; it is destroyed +by an examination of the political history of the papacy, and the +biography of the popes. The former exhibits all the errors and mistakes +to which institutions of a confessedly human character have been found +liable; the latter is only ton frequently a story of sin and shame. +</p> +<p> +It was not possible that the authoritative promulgation of the dogma of +papal infallibility should meet among enlightened Catholics universal +acceptance. Serious and wide-spread dissent has been produced. A +doctrine so revolting to common-sense could not find any other result. +There are many who affirm that, if infallibility exists anywhere, it is +in oecumenical councils, and yet such councils have not always agreed +with each other. There are also many who remember that councils +have deposed popes, and have passed judgment on their clamors and +contentions. Not without reason do Protestants demand, What proof can +be given that infallibility exists in the Church at all? what proof is +there that the Church has ever been fairly or justly represented in +any council? and why should the truth be ascertained by the vote of a +majority rather than by that of a minority? How often it has happened +that one man, standing at the right point of view, has descried the +truth, and, after having been denounced and persecuted by all others, +they have eventually been constrained to adopt his declarations! Of many +great discoveries, has not this been the history? +</p> +<p> +It is not for Science to compose these contesting claims; it is not for +her to determine whether the criterion of truth for the religious man +shall be found in the Bible, or in the oecumenical council, or in the +pope. She only asks the right, which she so willingly accords to others, +of adopting a criterion of her own. If she regards unhistorical +legends with disdain; if she considers the vote of a majority in the +ascertainment of truth with supreme indifference; if she leaves the +claim of infallibility in any human being to be vindicated by the stern +logic of coming events—the cold impassiveness which in these matters +she maintains is what she displays toward her own doctrines. Without +hesitation she would give up the theories of gravitation or undulations, +if she found that they were irreconcilable with facts. For her the +volume of inspiration is the book of Nature, of which the open scroll +is ever spread forth before the eyes of every man. Confronting all, it +needs no societies for its dissemination. Infinite in extent, eternal +in duration, human ambition and human fanaticism have never been able +to tamper with it. On the earth it is illustrated by all that is +magnificent and beautiful, on the heavens its letters are suns and +worlds. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0009"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER IX. +</h2> +<pre> + CONTROVERSY RESPECTING THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNIVERSE. + + There are two conceptions of the government of the world: 1. + By Providence; 2. By Law.—The former maintained by the + priesthood.—Sketch of the introduction of the latter. + + Kepler discovers the laws that preside over the solar + system.—His works are denounced by papal authority.—The + foundations of mechanical philosophy are laid by Da Vinci.— + Galileo discovers the fundamental laws of Dynamics.—Newton + applies them to the movements of the celestial bodies, and + shows that the solar system is governed by mathematical + necessity.—Herschel extends that conclusion to the + universe.—The nebular hypothesis.—Theological exceptions + to it. + + Evidences of the control of law in the construction of the + earth, and in the development of the animal and plant + series.—They arose by Evolution, not by Creation. + + The reign of law is exhibited by the historic career of + human societies, and in the case of individual man. + + Partial adoption of this view by some of the Reformed + Churches. +</pre> +<p> +Two interpretations may be given of the mode of government of the world. +It may be by incessant divine interventions, or by the operation of +unvarying law. +</p> +<p> +To the adoption of the former a priesthood will always incline, since +it must desire to be considered as standing between the prayer of the +votary and the providential act. Its importance is magnified by the +power it claims of determining what that act shall be. In the pre +Christian (Roman) religion, the grand office of the priesthood was the +discovery of future events by oracles, omens, or an inspection of the +entrails of animals, and by the offering of sacrifices to propitiate the +gods. In the later, the Christian times, a higher power was claimed; the +clergy asserting that, by their intercessions, they could regulate the +course of affairs, avert dangers, secure benefits, work miracles, and +even change the order of Nature. +</p> +<p> +Not without reason, therefore, did they look upon the doctrine of +government by unvarying law with disfavor. It seemed to depreciate +their dignity, to lessen their importance. To them there was something +shocking in a God who cannot be swayed by human entreaty, a cold, +passionless divinity—something frightful in fatalism, destiny. +</p> +<p> +But the orderly movement of the heavens could not fail in all ages to +make a deep impression on thoughtful observers—the rising and setting +of the sun; the increasing or diminishing light of the day; the waxing +and waning of the moon; the return of the seasons in their proper +courses; the measured march of the wandering planets in the sky—what +are all these, and a thousand such, but manifestations of an orderly and +unchanging procession of events? The faith of early observers in this +interpretation may perhaps have been shaken by the occurrence of such a +phenomenon as an eclipse, a sudden and mysterious breach of the ordinary +course of natural events; but it would be resumed in tenfold strength as +soon as the discovery was made that eclipses themselves recur, and may +be predicted. +</p> +<p> +Astronomical predictions of all kinds depend upon the admission of this +fact—that there never has been and never will be any intervention in +the operation of natural laws. The scientific philosopher affirms that +the condition of the world at any given moment is the direct result +of its condition in the preceding moment, and the direct cause of its +condition in the subsequent moment. Law and chance are only different +names for mechanical necessity. +</p> +<p> +About fifty years after the death of Copernicus, John Kepler, a native +of Wurtemberg, who had adopted the heliocentric theory, and who was +deeply impressed with the belief that relationships exist in the +revolutions of the planetary bodies round the sun, and that these if +correctly examined would reveal the laws under which those movements +take place, devoted himself to the study of the distances, times, and +velocities of the planets, and the form of their orbits. His method +was, to submit the observations to which he had access, such as those +of Tycho Brahe, to computations based first on one and then on another +hypothesis, rejecting the hypothesis if he found that the calculations +did not accord with the observations. The incredible labor he had +undergone (he says, "I considered, and I computed, until I almost went +mad") was at length rewarded, and in 1609 he published his book, "On the +Motions of the Planet Mars." In this he had attempted to reconcile the +movements of that planet to the hypothesis of eccentrics and epicycles, +but eventually discovered that the orbit of a planet is not a circle but +an ellipse, the sun being in one of the foci, and that the areas swept +over by a line drawn from the planet to the sun are proportional to the +times. These constitute what are now known as the first and second laws +of Kepler. Eight years subsequently, he was rewarded by the discovery +of a third law, defining the relation between the mean distances of the +planets from the sun and the times of their revolutions; "the squares of +the periodic times are proportional to the cubes of the distances." In +"An Epitome of the Copernican System," published in 1618, he announced +this law, and showed that it holds good for the satellites of Jupiter as +regards their primary. Hence it was inferred that the laws which preside +over the grand movements of the solar system preside also over the less +movements of its constituent parts. +</p> +<p> +The conception of law which is unmistakably conveyed by Kepler's +discoveries, and the evidence they gave in support of the heliocentric +as against the geocentric theory, could not fail to incur the +reprehension of the Roman authorities. The congregation of the Index, +therefore, when they denounced the Copernican system as utterly contrary +to the Holy Scriptures, prohibited Kepler's "Epitome" of that system. It +was on this occasion that Kepler submitted his celebrated remonstrance: +"Eighty years have elapsed during which the doctrines of Copernicus +regarding the movement of the earth and the immobility of the sun have +been promulgated without hinderance, because it was deemed allowable to +dispute concerning natural things, and to elucidate the works of God, +and now that new testimony is discovered in proof of the truth of those +doctrines—testimony which was not known to the spiritual judges—ye +would prohibit the promulgation of the true system of the structure of +the universe." +</p> +<p> +None of Kepler's contemporaries believed the law of the areas, nor was +it accepted until the publication of the "Principia" of Newton. In fact, +no one in those times understood the philosophical meaning of Kepler's +laws. He himself did not foresee what they must inevitably lead to. His +mistakes showed how far he was from perceiving their result. Thus he +thought that each planet is the seat of an intelligent principle, and +that there is a relation between the magnitudes of the orbits of the +five principal planets and the five regular solids of geometry. At first +he inclined to believe that the orbit of Mars is oval, nor was it until +after a wearisome study that he detected the grand truth, its elliptical +form. An idea of the incorruptibility of the celestial objects had +led to the adoption of the Aristotelian doctrine of the perfection of +circular motions, and to the belief that there were none but circular +motions in the heavens. He bitterly complains of this as having been a +fatal "thief of his time." His philosophical daring is illustrated in +his breaking through this time-honored tradition. +</p> +<p> +In some most important particulars Kepler anticipated Newton. He was the +first to give clear ideas respecting gravity. He says every particle of +matter will rest until it is disturbed by some other particle—that the +earth attracts a stone more than the stone attracts the earth, and that +bodies move to each other in proportion to their masses; that the earth +would ascend to the moon one-fifty-fourth of the distance, and the moon +would move toward the earth the other fifty-three. He affirms that the +moon's attraction causes the tides, and that the planets must impress +irregularities on the moon's motions. +</p> +<p> +The progress of astronomy is obviously divisible into three periods: +</p> +<p> +1. The period of observation of the apparent motions of the heavenly +bodies. +</p> +<p> +2. The period of discovery of their real motions, and particularly of +the laws of the planetary revolutions; this was signally illustrated by +Copernicus and Kepler. +</p> +<p> +3. The period of the ascertainment of the causes of those laws. It was +the epoch of Newton. +</p> +<p> +The passage of the second into the third period depended on the +development of the Dynamical branch of mechanics, which had been in +a stagnant condition from the time of Archimedes or the Alexandrian +School. +</p> +<p> +In Christian Europe there had not been a cultivator of mechanical +philosophy until Leonardo da Vinci, who was born A.D. 1452. To him, and +not to Lord Bacon, must be attributed the renaissance of science. Bacon +was not only ignorant of mathematics, but depreciated its application +to physical inquiries. He contemptuously rejected the Copernican system, +alleging absurd objections to it. While Galileo was on the brink of +his great telescopic discoveries, Bacon was publishing doubts as to +the utility of instruments in scientific investigations. To ascribe the +inductive method to him is to ignore history. His fanciful philosophical +suggestions have never been of the slightest practical use. No one has +ever thought of employing them. Except among English readers, his name +is almost unknown. +</p> +<p> +To Da Vinci I shall have occasion to allude more particularly on a +subsequent page. Of his works still remaining in manuscript, two volumes +are at Milan, and one in Paris, carried there by Napoleon. After an +interval of about seventy years, Da Vinci was followed by the Dutch +engineer, Stevinus, whose work on the principles of equilibrium was +published in 1586. Six years afterward appeared Galileo's treatise on +mechanics. +</p> +<p> +To this great Italian is due the establishment of the three fundamental +laws of dynamics, known as the Laws of Motion. +</p> +<p> +The consequences of the establishment of these laws were very important. +</p> +<p> +It had been supposed that continuous movements, such, for instance, as +those of the celestial bodies, could only be maintained by a perpetual +consumption and perpetual application of force, but the first of +Galileo's laws declared that every body will persevere in its state of +rest, or of uniform motion in a right line, until it is compelled to +change that state by disturbing forces. A clear perception of this +fundamental principle is essential to a comprehension of the elementary +facts of physical astronomy. Since all the motions that we witness +taking place on the surface of the earth soon come to an end, we are +led to infer that rest is the natural condition of things. We have made, +then, a very great advance when we have become satisfied that a body is +equally indifferent to rest as to motion, and that it equally perseveres +in either state until disturbing forces are applied. Such disturbing +forces in the case of common movements are friction and the resistance +of the air. When no such resistances exist, movement must be perpetual, +as is the case with the heavenly bodies, which are moving in a void. +</p> +<p> +Forces, no matter what their difference of magnitude may be, will exert +their full influence conjointly, each as though the other did not exist. +Thus, when a ball is suffered to drop from the mouth of a cannon, it +falls to the ground in a certain interval of time through the influence +of gravity upon it. If, then, it be fired from the cannon, though now +it may be projected some thousands of feet in a second, the effect +of gravity upon it will be precisely the same as before. In the +intermingling of forces there is no deterioration; each produces its own +specific effect. +</p> +<p> +In the latter half of the seventeenth century, through the works of +Borelli, Hooke, and Huyghens, it had become plain that circular motions +could be accounted for by the laws of Galileo. Borelli, treating of the +motions of Jupiter's satellites, shows how a circular movement may arise +under the influence of a central force. Hooke exhibited the inflection +of a direct motion into a circular by a supervening central attraction. +</p> +<p> +The year 1687 presents, not only an epoch in European science, but also +in the intellectual development of man. It is marked by the publication +of the "Principia" of Newton, an incomparable, an immortal work. +</p> +<p> +On the principle that all bodies attract each other with forces directly +as their masses, and inversely as the squares of their distances, Newton +showed that all the movements of the celestial bodies may be accounted +for, and that Kepler's laws might all have been predicted—the elliptic +motions—the described areas the relation of the times and distances. As +we have seen, Newton's contemporaries had perceived how circular motions +could be explained; that was a special case, but Newton furnished the +solution of the general problem, containing all special cases of motion +in circles, ellipses, parabolas, hyperbolas—that is, in all the conic +sections. +</p> +<p> +The Alexandrian mathematicians had shown that the direction of movement +of falling bodies is toward the centre of the earth. Newton proved that +this must necessarily be the case, the general effect of the attraction +of all the particles of a sphere being the same as if they were all +concentrated in its centre. To this central force, thus determining the +fall of bodies, the designation of gravity was given. Up to this time, +no one, except Kepler, had considered how far its influence reached. It +seemed to Newton possible that it might extend as far as the moon, and +be the force that deflects her from a rectilinear path, and makes her +revolve in her orbit round the earth. It was easy to compute, on the +principle of the law of inverse squares, whether the earth's attraction +was sufficient to produce the observed effect. Employing the measures +of the size of the earth accessible at the time, Newton found that the +moon's deflection was only thirteen feet in a minute; whereas, if his +hypothesis of gravitation were true, it should be fifteen feet. But in +1669 Picard, as we have seen, executed the measurement of a degree more +carefully than had previously been done; this changed the estimate of +the magnitude of the earth, and, therefore, of the distance of the moon; +and, Newton's attention having been directed to it by some discussions +that took place at the Royal Society in 1679, he obtained Picard's +results, went home, took out his old papers, and resumed his +calculations. As they drew to a close, he became so much agitated +that he was obliged to desire a friend to finish them. The expected +coincidence was established. It was proved that the moon is retained +in her orbit and made to revolve round the earth by the force of +terrestrial gravity. The genii of Kepler had given place to the vortices +of Descartes, and these in their turn to the central force of Newton. +</p> +<p> +In like manner the earth, and each of the planets, are made to move +in an elliptic orbit round the sun by his attractive force, and +perturbations arise by reason of the disturbing action of the planetary +masses on one another. Knowing the masses and the distances, these +disturbances may be computed. Later astronomers have even succeeded with +the inverse problem, that is, knowing the perturbations or disturbances, +to find the place and the mass of the disturbing body. Thus, from the +deviations of Uranus from his theoretical position, the discovery of +Neptune was accomplished. +</p> +<p> +Newton's merit consisted in this, that he applied the laws of dynamics +to the movements of the celestial bodies, and insisted that scientific +theories must be substantiated by the agreement of observations with +calculations. +</p> +<p> +When Kepler announced his three laws, they were received with +condemnation by the spiritual authorities, not because of any error they +were supposed to present or to contain, but partly because they gave +support to the Copernican system, and partly because it was judged +inexpedient to admit the prevalence of law of any kind as opposed to +providential intervention. The world was regarded as the theatre in +which the divine will was daily displayed; it was considered derogatory +to the majesty of God that that will should be fettered in any way. The +power of the clergy was chiefly manifested in the influence the were +alleged to possess in changing his arbitrary determinations. It was thus +that they could abate the baleful action of comets, secure fine weather +or rain, prevent eclipses, and, arresting the course of Nature, work all +manner of miracles; it was thus that the shadow had been made to go back +on the dial, and the sun and the moon stopped in mid-career. +</p> +<p> +In the century preceding the epoch of Newton, a great religious and +political revolution had taken place—the Reformation. Though its +effect had not been the securing of complete liberty for thought, it bad +weakened many of the old ecclesiastical bonds. In the reformed countries +there was no power to express a condemnation of Newton's works, and +among the clergy there was no disposition to give themselves any concern +about the matter. At first the attention of the Protestant was engrossed +by the movements of his great enemy the Catholic, and when that source +of disquietude ceased, and the inevitable partitions of the Reformation +arose, that attention was fastened upon the rival and antagonistic +Churches. The Lutheran, the Calvinist, the Episcopalian, the +Presbyterian, had something more urgent on hand than Newton's +mathematical demonstrations. +</p> +<p> +So, uncondemned, and indeed unobserved, in this clamor of fighting +sects, Newton's grand theory solidly established itself. Its +philosophical significance was infinitely more momentous than the dogmas +that these persons were quarreling about. It not only accepted the +heliocentric theory and the laws discovered by Kepler, but it proved +that, no matter what might be the weight of opposing ecclesiastical +authority, the sun MUST be the centre of our system, and that Kepler's +laws are the result of a mathematical necessity. It is impossible that +they should be other than they are. +</p> +<p> +But what is the meaning of all this? Plainly that the solar system +is not interrupted by providential interventions, but is under the +government of irreversible law—law that is itself the issue of +mathematical necessity. +</p> +<p> +The telescopic observations of Herschel I. satisfied him that there are +very many double stars—double not merely because they are accidentally +in the same line of view, but because they are connected physically, +revolving round each other. These observations were continued and +greatly extended by Herschel II. The elements of the elliptic orbit of +the double star zeta of the Great Bear were determined by Savary, its +period being fifty-eight and one-quarter years; those of another, sigma +Coronae, were determined by Hind, its period being more than seven +hundred and thirty-six years. The orbital movement of these double suns +in ellipses compels us to admit that the law of gravitation holds good +far beyond the boundaries of the solar system; indeed, as far as the +telescope can reach, it demonstrates the reign of law. D'Alembert, in +the Introduction to the Encyclopaedia, says: "The universe is but a +single fact; it is only one great truth." +</p> +<p> +Shall we, then, conclude that the solar and the starry systems have been +called into existence by God, and that he has then imposed upon them by +his arbitrary will laws under the control of which it was his pleasure +that their movements should be made? +</p> +<p> +Or are there reasons for believing that these several systems came into +existence not by such an arbitrary fiat, but through the operation of +law? +</p> +<p> +The following are some peculiarities displayed by the solar system as +enumerated by Laplace. All the planets and their satellites move in +ellipses of such small eccentricity that they are nearly circles. All +the planets move in the same direction and nearly in the same plane. The +movements of the satellites are in the same direction as those of the +planets. The movements of rotation of the sun, of the planets, and the +satellites, are in the same direction as their orbital motions, and in +planes little different. +</p> +<p> +It is impossible that so many coincidences could be the result of +chance! Is it not plain that there must have been a common tie among +all these bodies, that they are only parts of what must once have been a +single mass? +</p> +<p> +But if we admit that the substance of which the solar system consists +once existed in a nebulous condition, and was in rotation, all the above +peculiarities follow as necessary mechanical consequences. Nay, more, +the formation of planets, the formation of satellites and of asteroids, +is accounted for. We see why the outer planets and satellites are larger +than the interior ones; why the larger planets rotate rapidly, and the +small ones slowly; why of the satellites the outer planets have more, +the inner fewer. We are furnished with indications of the time of +revolution of the planets in their orbits, and of the satellites in +theirs; we perceive the mode of formation of Saturn's rings. We find an +explanation of the physical condition of the sun, and the transitions of +condition through which the earth and moon have passed, as indicated by +their geology. +</p> +<p> +But two exceptions to the above peculiarities have been noted; they are +in the cases of Uranus and Neptune. +</p> +<p> +The existence of such a nebulous mass once admitted, all the rest +follows as a matter of necessity. Is there not, however, a most serious +objection in the way? Is not this to exclude Almighty God from the +worlds he has made? +</p> +<p> +First, we must be satisfied whether there is any solid evidence for +admitting the existence of such a nebulous mass. +</p> +<p> +The nebular hypothesis rests primarily on the telescopic discovery made +by Herschel I., that there are scattered here and there in the heavens +pale, gleaming patches of light, a few of which are large enough to be +visible to the naked eye. Of these, many may be resolved by a sufficient +telescopic power into a congeries of stars, but some, such as the great +nebula in Orion, have resisted the best instruments hitherto made. +</p> +<p> +It was asserted by those who were indisposed to accept the nebular +hypothesis, that the non-resolution was due to imperfection in the +telescopes used. In these instruments two distinct functions may be +observed: their light-gathering power depends on the diameter of their +object mirror or lens, their defining power depends on the exquisite +correctness of their optical surfaces. Grand instruments may possess +the former quality in perfection by reason of their size, but the latter +very imperfectly, either through want of original configuration, or +distortion arising from flexure through their own weight. But, unless an +instrument be perfect in this respect, as well as adequate in the other, +it may fail to decompose a nebula into discrete points. +</p> +<p> +Fortunately, however, other means for the settlement of this question +are available. In 1846, it was discovered by the author of this book +that the spectrum of an ignited solid is continuous—that is, has +neither dark nor bright lines. Fraunhofer had previously made known that +the spectrum of ignited gases is discontinuous. Here, then, is the means +of determining whether the light emitted by a given nebula comes from an +incandescent gas, or from a congeries of ignited solids, stars, or +suns. If its spectrum be discontinuous, it is a true nebula or gas; if +continuous, a congeries of stars. +</p> +<p> +In 1864, Mr. Huggins made this examination in the case of a nebula in +the constellation Draco. It proved to be gaseous. +</p> +<p> +Subsequent observations have shown that, of sixty nebulae examined, +nineteen give discontinuous or gaseous spectra—the remainder continuous +ones. +</p> +<p> +It may, therefore, be admitted that physical evidence has at length +been obtained, demonstrating the existence of vast masses of matter in a +gaseous condition, and at a temperature of incandescence. The hypothesis +of Laplace has thus a firm basis. In such a nebular mass, cooling by +radiation is a necessary incident, and condensation and rotation the +inevitable results. There must be a separation of rings all lying in +one plane, a generation of planets and satellites all rotating alike, +a central sun and engirdling globes. From a chaotic mass, through the +operation of natural laws, an organized system has been produced. An +integration of matter into worlds has taken place through a decline of +heat. +</p> +<p> +If such be the cosmogony of the solar system, such the genesis of the +planetary worlds, we are constrained to extend our views of the dominion +of law, and to recognize its agency in the creation as well as in the +conservation of the innumerable orbs that throng the universe. +</p> +<p> +But, again, it may be asked: "Is there not something profoundly impious +in this? Are we not excluding Almighty God from the world he has made?" +</p> +<p> +We have often witnessed the formation of a cloud in a serene sky. A hazy +point, barely perceptible—a little wreath of mist—increases in volume, +and becomes darker and denser, until it obscures a large portion of the +heavens. It throws itself into fantastic shapes, it gathers a glory +from the sun, is borne onward by the wind, and, perhaps, as it gradually +came, so it gradually disappears, melting away in the untroubled air. +</p> +<p> +Now, we say that the little vesicles of which this cloud was composed +arose from the condensation of water-vapor preexisting in the +atmosphere, through reduction of temperature; we show how they assumed +the form they present. We assign optical reasons for the brightness +or blackness of the cloud; we explain, on mechanical principles, its +drifting before the wind; for its disappearance we account on +the principles of chemistry. It never occurs to us to invoke the +interposition of the Almighty in the production and fashioning of this +fugitive form. We explain all the facts connected with it by physical +laws, and perhaps should reverentially hesitate to call into operation +the finger of God. +</p> +<p> +But the universe is nothing more than such a cloud—a cloud of suns and +worlds. Supremely grand though it may seem to us, to the Infinite and +Eternal Intellect it is no more than a fleeting mist. If there be a +multiplicity of worlds in infinite space, there is also a succession of +worlds in infinite time. As one after another cloud replaces cloud in +the skies, so this starry system, the universe, is the successor of +countless others that have preceded it—the predecessor of countless +others that will follow. There is an unceasing metamorphosis, a sequence +of events, without beginning or end. +</p> +<p> +If, on physical principles, we account for minor meteorological +incidents, mists and clouds, is it not permissible for us to appeal to +the same principle in the origin of world-systems and universes, which +are only clouds on a space-scale somewhat larger, mists on a time-scale +somewhat less transient? Can any man place the line which bounds +the physical on one side, the supernatural on the other? Do not our +estimates of the extent and the duration of things depend altogether +on our point of view? Were we set in the midst of the great nebula +of Orion, how transcendently magnificent the scene! The vast +transformations, the condensations of a fiery mist into worlds, might +seem worthy of the immediate presence, the supervision of God; here, at +our distant station, where millions of miles are inappreciable to our +eyes, and suns seem no bigger than motes in the air, that nebula is more +insignificant than the faintest cloud. Galileo, in his description of +the constellation of Orion, did not think it worth while so much as to +mention it. The most rigorous theologian of those days would have seen +nothing to blame in imputing its origin to secondary causes, nothing +irreligious in failing to invoke the arbitrary interference of God in +its metamorphoses. If such be the conclusion to which we come respecting +it, what would be the conclusion to which an Intelligence seated in it +might come respecting us? It occupies an extent of space millions of +times greater than that of our solar system; we are invisible from it, +and therefore absolutely insignificant. Would such an Intelligence think +it necessary to require for our origin and maintenance the immediate +intervention of God? +</p> +<p> +From the solar system let us descend to what is still more +insignificant—a little portion of it; let us descend to our own earth. +In the lapse of time it has experienced great changes. Have these been +due to incessant divine interventions, or to the continuous operation of +unfailing law? The aspect of Nature perpetually varies under our eyes, +still more grandly and strikingly has it altered in geological +times. But the laws guiding those changes never exhibit the slightest +variation. In the midst of immense vicissitudes they are immutable. +The present order of things is only a link in a vast connected chain +reaching back to an incalculable past, and forward to an infinite +future. +</p> +<p> +There is evidence, geological and astronomical, that the temperature of +the earth and her satellite was in the remote past very much higher than +it is now. A decline so slow as to be imperceptible at short intervals, +but manifest enough in the course of many ages, has occurred. The heat +has been lost by radiation into space. +</p> +<p> +The cooling of a mass of any kind, no matter whether large or small, is +not discontinuous; it does not go on by fits and starts; it takes +place under the operation of a mathematical law, though for such mighty +changes as are here contemplated neither the formula of Newton, nor that +of Dulong and Petit, may apply. It signifies nothing that periods of +partial decline, glacial periods, or others of temporary elevation, have +been intercalated; it signifies nothing whether these variations may +have arisen from topographical variations, as those of level, or from +periodicities in the radiation of the sun. A periodical sun would act as +a mere perturbation in the gradual decline of heat. The perturbations of +the planetary motions are a confirmation, not a disproof, of gravity. +</p> +<p> +Now, such a decline of temperature must have been attended by +innumerable changes of a physical character in our globe. Her dimensions +must have diminished through contraction, the length of her day must +have lessened, her surface must have collapsed, and fractures taken +place along the lines of least resistance; the density of the sea must +have increased, its volume must have become less; the constitution of +the atmosphere must have varied, especially in the amount of water-vapor +and carbonic acid that it contained; the barometric pressure must have +declined. +</p> +<p> +These changes, and very many more that might be mentioned, must have +taken place not in a discontinuous but in an orderly manner, since the +master-fact, the decline of heat, that was causing them, was itself +following a mathematical law. +</p> +<p> +But not alone did lifeless Nature submit to these inevitable mutations; +living Nature was also simultaneously affected. +</p> +<p> +An organic form of any kind, vegetable or animal, will remain unchanged +only so long as the environment in which it is placed remains unchanged. +Should an alteration in the environment occur, the organism will either +be modified or destroyed. +</p> +<p> +Destruction is more likely to happen as the change in the environment +is more sudden; modification or transformation is more possible as that +change is more gradual. +</p> +<p> +Since it is demonstrably certain that lifeless Nature has in the lapse +of ages undergone vast modifications; since the crust of the earth, and +the sea, and the atmosphere, are no longer such as they once were; since +the distribution of the land and the ocean and all manner of physical +conditions have varied; since there have been such grand changes in +the environment of living things on the surface of our planet—it +necessarily follows that organic Nature must have passed through +destructions and transformations in correspondence thereto. +</p> +<p> +That such extinctions, such modifications, have taken place, how +copious, how convincing, is the evidence! +</p> +<p> +Here, again, we must observe that, since the disturbing agency +was itself following a mathematical law, these its results must be +considered as following that law too. +</p> +<p> +Such considerations, then, plainly force upon us the conclusion that +the organic progress of the world has been guided by the operation of +immutable law—not determined by discontinuous, disconnected, arbitrary +interventions of God. They incline us to view favorably the idea of +transmutations of one form into another, rather than that of sudden +creations. +</p> +<p> +Creation implies an abrupt appearance, transformation a gradual change. +</p> +<p> +In this manner is presented to our contemplation the great theory of +Evolution. Every organic being has a place in a chain of events. It is +not an isolated, a capricious fact, but an unavoidable phenomenon. It +has its place in that vast, orderly concourse which has successively +risen in the past, has introduced the present, and is preparing the way +for a predestined future. From point to point in this vast progression +there has been a gradual, a definite, a continuous unfolding, a +resistless order of evolution. But in the midst of these mighty changes +stand forth immutable the laws that are dominating over all. +</p> +<p> +If we examine the introduction of any type of life in the animal series, +we find that it is in accordance with transformation, not with creation. +Its beginning is under an imperfect form in the midst of other forms, +of which the time is nearly complete, and which are passing into +extinction. By degrees, one species after another in succession more and +more perfect arises, until, after many ages, a culmination is reached. +From that there is, in like manner, a long, a gradual decline. +</p> +<p> +Thus, though the mammal type of life is the characteristic of the +Tertiary and post-Tertiary periods, it does not suddenly make its +appearance without premonition in those periods. Far back, in the +Secondary, we find it under imperfect forms, struggling, as it were, to +make good a foothold. At length it gains a predominance under higher and +better models. +</p> +<p> +So, too, of reptiles, the characteristic type of life of the Secondary +period. As we see in a dissolving view, out of the fading outlines of +a scene that is passing away, the dim form of a new one emerging, which +gradually gains strength, reaches its culmination, and then melts +away in some other that is displacing it, so reptile-life doubtfully, +appears, reaches its culmination, and gradually declines. In all this +there is nothing abrupt; the changes shade into each other by insensible +degrees. +</p> +<p> +How could it be otherwise? The hot-blooded animals could not exist in +an atmosphere so laden with carbonic acid as was that of the primitive +times. But the removal of that noxious ingredient from the air by the +leaves of plants under the influence of sunlight, the enveloping of its +carbon in the earth under the form of coal, the disengagement of its +oxygen, permitted their life. As the atmosphere was thus modified, +the sea was involved in the change; it surrendered a large part of its +carbonic acid, and the limestone hitherto held in solution by it was +deposited in the solid form. For every equivalent of carbon buried in +the earth, there was an equivalent of carbonate of lime separated from +the sea—not necessarily in an amorphous condition, most frequently +under an organic form. The sunshine kept up its work day by day, but +there were demanded myriads of days for the work to be completed. It was +a slow passage from a noxious to a purified atmosphere, and an equally +slow passage from a cold-blooded to a hot-blooded type of life. But the +physical changes were taking place under the control of law, and the +organic transformations were not sudden or arbitrary providential acts. +They were the immediate, the inevitable consequences of the physical +changes, and therefore, like them, the necessary issue of law. +</p> +<p> +For a more detailed consideration of this subject, I may refer the +reader to Chapters I, II., VII, of the second book of my "Treatise on +Human Physiology," published in 1856. +</p> +<p> +Is the world, then, governed by law or by providential interventions, +abruptly breaking the proper sequence of events? +</p> +<p> +To complete our view of this question, we turn finally to what, in one +sense, is the most insignificant, in another the most important, case +that can be considered. Do human societies, in their historic career, +exhibit the marks of a predetermined progress in an unavoidable track? +Is there any evidence that the life of nations is under the control of +immutable law? +</p> +<p> +May we conclude that, in society, as in the individual man, parts never +spring from nothing, but are evolved or developed from parts that are +already in existence? +</p> +<p> +If any one should object to or deride the doctrine of the evolution +or successive development of the animated forms which constitute that +unbroken organic chain reaching from the beginning of life on the globe +to the present times, let him reflect that he has himself passed through +modifications the counterpart of those he disputes. For nine months +his type of life was aquatic, and during that time he assumed, in +succession, many distinct but correlated forms. At birth his type of +life became aerial; he began respiring the atmospheric air; new elements +of food were supplied to him; the mode of his nutrition changed; but +as yet he could see nothing, hear nothing, notice nothing. By degrees +conscious existence was assumed; he became aware that there is an +external world. In due time organs adapted to another change of food, +the teeth, appeared, and a change of food ensued. He then passed through +the stages of childhood and youth, his bodily form developing, and with +it his intellectual powers. At about fifteen years, in consequence of +the evolution which special parts of his system had attained, his moral +character changed. New ideas, new passions, influenced him. And that +that was the cause, and this the effect, is demonstrated when, by the +skill of the surgeon, those parts have been interfered with. Nor does +the development, the metamorphosis, end here; it requires many years +for the body to reach its full perfection, many years for the mind. A +culmination is at length reached, and then there is a decline. I need +not picture its mournful incidents—the corporeal, the intellectual +enfeeblement. Perhaps there is little exaggeration in saying that in +less than a century every human being on the face of the globe, if not +cut off in an untimely manner, has passed through all these changes. +</p> +<p> +Is there for each of us a providential intervention as we thus pass +from stage to stage of life? or shall we not rather believe that the +countless myriads of human beings who have peopled the earth have been +under the guidance of an unchanging, a universal law? +</p> +<p> +But individuals are the elementary constituents of communities—nations. +They maintain therein a relation like that which the particles of the +body maintain to the body itself. These, introduced into it, commence +and complete their function; they die, and are dismissed. +</p> +<p> +Like the individual, the nation comes into existence without its own +knowledge, and dies without its own consent, often against its own will. +National life differs in no particular from individual, except in this, +that it is spread over a longer span, but no nation can escape its +inevitable term. Each, if its history be well considered, shows its +time of infancy, its time of youth, its time of maturity, its time of +decline, if its phases of life be completed. +</p> +<p> +In the phases of existence of all, so far as those phases are +completed, there are common characteristics, and, as like accordances in +individuals point out that all are living under a reign of law, we +are justified in inferring that the course of nations, and indeed the +progress of humanity, does not take place in a chance or random way, +that supernatural interventions never break the chain of historic acts, +that every historic event has its warrant in some preceding event, and +gives warrant to others that are to follow.. +</p> +<p> +But this conclusion is the essential principle of Stoicism—that Grecian +philosophical system which, as I have already said, offered a support in +their hour of trial and an unwavering guide in the vicissitudes of +life, not only to many illustrious Greeks, but also to some of the great +philosophers, statesmen, generals, and emperors of Rome; a system which +excluded chance from every thing, and asserted the direction of all +events by irresistible necessity, to the promotion of perfect good; a +system of earnestness, sternness, austerity, virtue—a protest in favor +of the common-sense of mankind. And perhaps we shall not dissent from +the remark of Montesquieu, who affirms that the destruction of the +Stoics was a great calamity to the human race; for they alone made great +citizens, great men. +</p> +<p> +To the principle of government by law, Latin Christianity, in its papal +form, is in absolute contradiction. The history of this branch of +the Christian Church is almost a diary of miracles and supernatural +interventions. These show that the supplications of holy men have often +arrested the course of Nature—if, indeed, there be any such course; +that images and pictures have worked wonders; that bones, hairs, and +other sacred relics, have wrought miracles. The criterion or proof of +the authenticity of many of these objects is, not an unchallengeable +record of their origin and history, but an exhibition of their +miracle-working powers. +</p> +<p> +Is not that a strange logic which finds proof of an asserted fact in an +inexplicable illustration of something else? +</p> +<p> +Even in the darkest ages intelligent Christian men must have had +misgivings as to these alleged providential or miraculous interventions. +There is a solemn grandeur in the orderly progress of Nature which +profoundly impresses us; and such is the character of continuity in the +events of our individual life that we instinctively doubt the occurrence +of the supernatural in that of our neighbor. The intelligent man knows +well that, for his personal behoof, the course of Nature has never been +checked; for him no miracle has ever been worked; he attributes justly +every event of his life to some antecedent event; this he looks upon +as the cause, that as the consequence. When it is affirmed that, in his +neighbor's behalf, such grand interventions have been vouchsafed, he +cannot do otherwise than believe that his neighbor is either deceived, +or practising deception. +</p> +<p> +As might, then, have been anticipated, the Catholic doctrine of +miraculous intervention received a rude shock at the time of the +Reformation, when predestination and election were upheld by some of the +greatest theologians, and accepted by some of the greatest Protestant +Churches. With stoical austerity Calvin declares: "We were elected from +eternity, before the foundation of the world, from no merit of our own, +but according to the purpose of the divine pleasure." In affirming this, +Calvin was resting on the belief that God has from all eternity decreed +whatever comes to pass. Thus, after the lapse of many ages, were again +emerging into prominence the ideas of the Basilidians wad Valentinians, +Christian sects of the second century, whose Gnostical views led to the +engraftment of the great doctrine of the Trinity upon Christianity. They +asserted that all the actions of men are necessary, that even faith is +a natural gift, to which men are forcibly determined, and must therefore +be saved, though their lives be ever so irregular. From the Supreme God +all things proceeded. Thus, also, came into prominence the views which +were developed by Augustine in his work, "De dono perseverantiae." These +were: that God, by his arbitrary will, has selected certain persons +without respect to foreseen faith or good works, and has infallibly +ordained to bestow upon them eternal happiness; other persons, in like +manner, he has condemned to eternal reprobation. The Sublapsarians +believed that "God permitted the fall of Adam;" the Supralapsarians that +"he predestinated it, with all its pernicious consequences, from all +eternity, and that our first parents had no liberty from the beginning." +In this, these sectarians disregarded the remark of St. Augustine: +"Nefas est dicere Deum aliquid nisi bonum predestinare." +</p> +<p> +Is it true, then, that "predestination to eternal happiness is the +everlasting purpose of God, whereby, before the foundations of the world +were laid, he hath constantly decreed by his council, secret to us, +to deliver from curse and damnation those whom he hath chosen out of +mankind?" Is it true that of the human family there are some who, in +view of no fault of their own, Almighty God has condemned to unending +torture, eternal misery? +</p> +<p> +In 1595 the Lambeth Articles asserted that "God from eternity hath +predestinated certain men unto life; certain he hath reprobated." In +1618 the Synod of Dort decided in favor of this view. It condemned the +remonstrants against it, and treated them with such severity, that many +of them had to flee to foreign countries. Even in the Church of England, +as is manifested by its seventeenth Article of Faith, these doctrines +have found favor. +</p> +<p> +Probably there was no point which brought down from the Catholics on the +Protestants severer condemnation than this, their partial acceptance +of the government of the world by law. In all Reformed Europe miracles +ceased. But, with the cessation of shrine-cure, relic-cure, great +pecuniary profits ended. Indeed, as is well known, it was the sale +of indulgences that provoked the Reformation—indulgences which are +essentially a permit from God for the practice of sin, conditioned on +the payment of a certain sum of money to the priest. +</p> +<p> +Philosophically, the Reformation implied a protest against the Catholic +doctrine of incessant divine intervention in human affairs, invoked by +sacerdotal agency; but this protest was far from being fully made by +all the Reforming Churches. The evidence in behalf of government by law, +which has of late years been offered by science, is received by many of +them with suspicion, perhaps with dislike; sentiments which, however, +must eventually give way before the hourly-increasing weight of +evidence. +</p> +<p> +Shall we not, then, conclude with Cicero, who, quoted by Lactantius, +says: "One eternal and immutable law embraces all things and all times?" +</p> +<a name="2HCH0010"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER X. +</h2> +<pre> + LATIN CHRISTIANITY IN RELATION TO MODERN CIVILIZATION. + + For more than a thousand years Latin Christianity controlled + the intelligence of Europe, and is responsible for the + result. + + That result is manifested by the condition of the city of + Rome at the Reformation, and by the condition of the + Continent of Europe in domestic and social life.—European + nations suffered under the coexistence of a dual government, + a spiritual and a temporal.—They were immersed in + ignorance, superstition, discomfort.—Explanation of the + failure of Catholicism—Political history of the papacy: it + was transmuted from a spiritual confederacy into an absolute + monarchy.—Action of the College of Cardinals and the Curia— + Demoralization that ensued from the necessity of raising + large revenues. + + The advantages accruing to Europe during the Catholic rule + arose not from direct intention, but were incidental. + + The general result is, that the political influence of + Catholicism was prejudicial to modern civilization. +</pre> +<p> +LATIN Christianity is responsible for the condition and progress of +Europe from the fourth to the sixteenth century. We have now to examine +how it discharged its trust. +</p> +<p> +It will be convenient to limit to the case of Europe what has here to +be presented, though, from the claim of the papacy to superhuman origin, +and its demand for universal obedience, it should strictly be held to +account for the condition of all mankind. Its inefficacy against the +great and venerable religions of Southern and Eastern Asia would furnish +an important and instructive theme for consideration, and lead us to +the conclusion that it has impressed itself only where Roman imperial +influences have prevailed; a political conclusion which, however, it +contemptuously rejects. +</p> +<p> +Doubtless at the inception of the Reformation there were many persons +who compared the existing social condition with what it had been in +ancient times. Morals had not changed, intelligence had not advanced, +society had little improved. From the Eternal City itself its splendors +had vanished. The marble streets, of which Augustus had once boasted, +had disappeared. Temples, broken columns, and the long, arcaded vistas +of gigantic aqueducts bestriding the desolate Campagna, presented a +mournful scene. From the uses to which they had been respectively put, +the Capitol had been known as Goats' Hill, and the site of the Roman +Forum, whence laws had been issued to the world, as Cows' Field. The +palace of the Caesars was hidden by mounds of earth, crested with +flowering shrubs. The baths of Caracalla, with their porticoes, gardens, +reservoirs, had long ago become useless through the destruction of their +supplying aqueducts. On the ruins of that grand edifice, "flowery glades +and thickets of odoriferous trees extended in ever-winding labyrinths +upon immense platforms, and dizzy arches suspended in the air." Of +the Coliseum, the most colossal of Roman ruins, only about one-third +remained. Once capable of accommodating nearly ninety thousand +spectators, it had, in succession, been turned into a fortress in the +middle ages, and then into a stone-quarry to furnish material for the +palaces of degenerate Roman princes. Some of the popes had occupied it +as a woollen-mill, some as a saltpetre factory; some had planned the +conversion of its magnificent arcades into shops for tradesmen. The iron +clamps which bound its stones together had been stolen. The walls were +fissured and falling. Even in our own times botanical works have been +composed on the plants which have made this noble wreck their home. "The +Flora of the Coliseum" contains four hundred and twenty species. +Among the ruins of classical buildings might be seen broken columns, +cypresses, and mouldy frescoes, dropping from the walls. Even the +vegetable world participated in the melancholy change: the myrtle, which +once flourished on the Aventine, had nearly become extinct; the laurel, +which once gave its leaves to encircle the brows of emperors, had been +replaced by ivy—the companion of death. +</p> +<p> +But perhaps it may be said the popes were not responsible for all this. +Let it be remembered that in less than one hundred and forty years the +city had been successively taken by Alaric, Genseric, Rieimer, Vitiges, +Totila; that many of its great edifices had been converted into +defensive works. The aqueducts were destroyed by Vitiges, who ruined the +Campagna; the palace of the Caesars was ravaged by Totila; then there +had been the Lombard sieges; then Robert Guiscard and his Normans had +burnt the city from the Antonine Column to the Flaminian Gate, from +the Lateran to the Capitol; then it was sacked and mutilated by the +Constable Bourbon; again and again it was flooded by inundations of the +Tiber and shattered by earthquakes. We must, however, bear in mind the +accusation of Machiavelli, who says, in his "History of Florence," that +nearly all the barbarian invasions of Italy were by the invitations of +the pontiffs, who called in those hordes! It was not the Goth, nor +the Vandal, nor the Norman, nor the Saracen, but the popes and their +nephews, who produced the dilapidation of Rome! Lime-kilns had been fed +from the ruins, classical buildings had become stone-quarries for the +palaces of Italian princes, and churches were decorated from the old +temples. +</p> +<p> +Churches decorated from the temples! It is for this and such as this +that the popes must be held responsible. Superb Corinthian columns bad +been chiseled into images of the saints. Magnificent Egyptian obelisks +had been dishonored by papal inscriptions. The Septizonium of Severus +had been demolished to furnish materials for the building of St. +Peter's; the bronze roof of the Pantheon had been melted into columns to +ornament the apostle's tomb. +</p> +<p> +The great bell of Viterbo, in the tower of the Capitol, had announced +the death of many a pope, and still desecration of the buildings +and demoralization of the people went on. Papal Rome manifested no +consideration, but rather hatred, for classical Rome, The pontiffs had +been subordinates of the Byzantine sovereigns, then lieutenants of the +Frankish kings, then arbiters of Europe; their government had changed as +much as those of any of the surrounding nations; there had been complete +metamorphoses in its maxims, objects, claims. In one point only it had +never changed—intolerance. Claiming to be the centre of the religious +life of Europe, it steadfastly refused to recognize any religious +existence outside of itself, yet both in a political and theological +sense it was rotten to the core. Erasmus and Luther heard with amazement +the blasphemies and witnessed with a shudder the atheism of the city. +</p> +<p> +The historian Ranke, to whom I am indebted for many of these facts, +has depicted in a very graphic manner the demoralization of the great +metropolis. The popes were, for the most part, at their election, aged +men. Power was, therefore, incessantly passing into new hands. Every +election was a revolution in prospects and expectations. In a community +where all might rise, where all might aspire to all, it necessarily +followed that every man was occupied in thrusting some other into the +background. Though the population of the city at the inception of the +Reformation had sunk to eighty thousand, there were vast crowds of +placemen, and still greater ones of aspirants for place. The +successful occupant of the pontificate had thousands of offices to give +away—offices from many of which the incumbents had been remorselessly +ejected; many had been created for the purpose of sale. The integrity +and capacity of an applicant were never inquired into; the points +considered were, what services has he rendered or can he render to the +party? how much can he pay for the preferment? An American reader can +thoroughly realize this state of things. At every presidential election +he witnesses similar acts. The election of a pope by the Conclave is not +unlike the nomination of an American president by a convention. In both +cases there are many offices to give away. +</p> +<p> +William of Malmesbury says that in his day the Romans made a sale of +whatever was righteous and sacred for gold. After his time there was +no improvement; the Church degenerated into an instrument for the +exploitation of money. Vast sums were collected in Italy; vast sums +were drawn under all manner of pretenses from surrounding and reluctant +countries. Of these the most nefarious was the sale of indulgences +for the perpetration of sin. Italian religion had become the art of +plundering the people. +</p> +<p> +For more than a thousand years the sovereign pontiffs had been rulers +of the city. True, it had witnessed many scenes of devastation for which +they were not responsible; but they were responsible for this, that they +had never made any vigorous, any persistent effort for its material, its +moral improvement. Instead of being in these respects an exemplar for +the imitation of the world, it became an exemplar of a condition that +ought to be shunned. Things steadily went on from bad to worse, until +at the epoch of the Reformation no pious stranger could visit it without +being shocked. +</p> +<p> +The papacy, repudiating science as absolutely incompatible with its +pretensions, had in later years addressed itself to the encouragement of +art. But music and painting, though they may be exquisite adornments +of life, contain no living force that can develop a weak nation into a +strong one; nothing that can permanently assure the material well-being +or happiness of communities; and hence at the time of the Reformation, +to one who thoughtfully considered her condition, Rome had lost all +living energy. She was no longer the arbiter of the physical or the +religious progress of the world. For the progressive maxims of the +republic and the empire, she had substituted the stationary maxims of +the papacy. She had the appearance of piety and the possession of art. +In this she resembled one of those friar-corpses which we still see in +their brown cowls in the vaults of the Cappuccini, with a breviary or +some withered flowers in its hands. +</p> +<p> +From this view of the Eternal City, this survey of what Latin +Christianity had done for Rome itself, let us turn to the whole European +Continent. Let us try to determine the true value of the system that was +guiding society; let us judge it by its fruits. +</p> +<p> +The condition of nations as to their well-being is most precisely +represented by the variations of their population. Forms of government +have very little influence on population, but policy may control it +completely. +</p> +<p> +It has been very satisfactorily shown by authors who have given +attention to the subject, that the variations of population depend +upon the interbalancing of the generative force of society and the +resistances to life. +</p> +<p> +By the generative force of society is meant that instinct which +manifests itself in the multiplication of the race. To some extent it +depends on climate; but, since the climate of Europe did not sensibly +change between the fourth and the sixteenth centuries, we may regard +this force as having been, on that continent, during the period under +consideration, invariable. +</p> +<p> +By the resistances to life is meant whatever tends to make individual +existence more difficult of support. Among such may be enumerated +insufficient food, inadequate clothing, imperfect shelter. +</p> +<p> +It is also known that, if the resistances become inappreciable, the +generative force will double a population in twenty-five years. +</p> +<p> +The resistances operate in two modes: 1. Physically; since they diminish +the number of births, and shorten the term of the life of all. 2. +Intellectually; since, in a moral, and particularly in a religious +community, they postpone marriage, by causing individuals to decline +its responsibilities until they feel that they are competent to meet +the charges and cares of a family. Hence the explanation of a +long-recognized fact, that the number of marriages during a given period +has a connection with the price of food. +</p> +<p> +The increase of population keeps pace with the increase of food; and, +indeed, such being the power of the generative force, it overpasses the +means of subsistence, establishing a constant pressure upon them. Under +these circumstances, it necessarily happens that a certain amount of +destitution must occur. Individuals have come into existence who must be +starved. +</p> +<p> +As illustrations of the variations that have occurred in the population +of different countries, may be mentioned the immense diminution of that +of Italy in consequence of the wars of Justinian; the depopulation of +North Africa in consequence of theological quarrels; its restoration +through the establishment of Mohammedanism; the increase of that of all +Europe through the feudal system, when estates became more valuable in +proportion to the number of retainers they could supply. The crusades +caused a sensible diminution, not only through the enormous army losses, +but also by reason of the withdrawal of so many able-bodied men +from marriage-life. Similar variations have occurred on the American +Continent. The population of Mexico was very quickly diminished by two +million through the rapacity and atrocious cruelty of the Spaniards, who +drove the civilized Indians to despair. The same happened in Peru. +</p> +<p> +The population of England at the Norman conquest was about two million. +In five hundred years it had scarcely doubled. It may be supposed that +this stationary condition was to some extent induced by the papal policy +of the enforcement of celibacy in the clergy. The "legal generative +force" was doubtless affected by that policy, the "actual generative +force" was not. For those who have made this subject their study have +long ago been satisfied that public celibacy is private wickedness. This +mainly determined the laity, as well as the government in England, to +suppress the monasteries. It was openly asserted that there were one +hundred thousand women in England made dissolute by the clergy. +</p> +<p> +In my history of the "American Civil War," I have presented some +reflections on this point, which I will take the liberty of quoting +here: "What, then, does this stationary condition of the population +mean? It means, food obtained with hardship, insufficient clothing, +personal uncleanness, cabins that could not keep out the weather, +the destructive effects of cold and heat, miasm, want of sanitary +provisions, absence of physicians, uselessness of shrine-cure, the +deceptiveness of miracles, in which society was putting its trust; or, +to sum up a long catalogue of sorrows, wants, and sufferings, in one +term—it means a high death-rate. +</p> +<p> +"But more; it means deficient births. And what does that point out? +Marriage postponed, licentious life, private wickedness, demoralized +society. +</p> +<p> +"To an American, who lives in a country that was yesterday an +interminable and impenetrable desert, but which to-day is filling with +a population doubling itself every twenty-five years at the prescribed +rate, this awful waste of actual and contingent life cannot but be a +most surprising fact. His curiosity will lead him to inquire what kind +of system that could have been which was pretending to guide and +develop society, but which must be held responsible for this prodigious +destruction, excelling, in its insidious result, war, pestilence, and +famine combined; insidious, for men were actually believing that it +secured their highest temporal interests. How different now! In England, +the same geographical surface is sustaining ten times the population +of that day, and sending forth its emigrating swarms. Let him, who looks +back, with veneration on the past, settle in his own mind what such a +system could have been worth." +</p> +<p> +These variations in the population of Europe have been attended with +changes in distribution. The centre of population has passed northward +since the establishment of Christianity in the Roman Empire. It +has since passed westward, in consequence of the development of +manufacturing industry. +</p> +<p> +We may now examine somewhat more minutely the character of the +resistances which thus, for a thousand years, kept the population of +Europe stationary. The surface of the Continent was for the most +part covered with pathless forests; here and there it was dotted with +monasteries and towns. In the lowlands and along the river-courses were +fens, sometimes hundreds of miles in extent, exhaling their pestiferous +miasms, and spreading agues far and wide. In Paris and London, the +houses were of wood daubed with clay, and thatched with straw or reeds. +They had no windows, and, until the invention of the saw-mill, very +few had wooden floors. The luxury of a carpet was unknown; some straw, +scattered in the room, supplied its place. There were no chimneys; the +smoke of the ill-fed, cheerless fire escaped through a hole in the roof. +In such habitations there was scarcely any protection from the weather. +No attempt was made at drainage, but the putrefying garbage and rubbish +were simply thrown out of the door. Men, women, and children, slept +in the same apartment; not unfrequently, domestic animals were their +companions; in such a confusion of the family, it was impossible that +modesty or morality could be maintained. The bed was usually a bag of +straw, a wooden log served as a pillow. Personal cleanliness was utterly +unknown; great officers of state, even dignitaries so high as the +Archbishop of Canterbury, swarmed with vermin; such, it is related, was +the condition of Thomas a Becket, the antagonist of an English king. To +conceal personal impurity, perfumes were necessarily and profusely +used. The citizen clothed himself in leather, a garment which, with its +ever-accumulating impurity, might last for many years. He was considered +to be in circumstances of ease, if he could procure fresh meat once +a week for his dinner. The streets had no sewers; they were without +pavement or lamps. After nightfall, the chamber-shatters were thrown +open, and slops unceremoniously emptied down, to the discomfiture of the +wayfarer tracking his path through the narrow streets, with his dismal +lantern in his hand. +</p> +<p> +Aeneas Sylvius, who afterward became Pope Pius II., and was therefore a +very competent and impartial writer, has left us a graphic account of +a journey he made to the British Islands, about 1430. He describes the +houses of the peasantry as constructed of stones put together without +mortar; the roofs were of turf, a stiffened bull's-hide served for a +door. The food consisted of coarse vegetable products, such as peas, +and even the bark of trees. In some places they were unacquainted with +bread. +</p> +<p> +Cabins of reeds plastered with mud, houses of wattled stakes, +chimneyless peat-fires from which there was scarcely an escape for the +smoke, dens of physical and moral pollution swarming with vermin, wisps +of straw twisted round the limbs to keep off the cold, the ague-stricken +peasant, with no help except shrine-cure! How was it possible that the +population could increase? Shall we, then, wonder that, in the famine of +1030, human flesh was cooked and sold; or that, in that of 1258, fifteen +thousand persons died of hunger in London? Shall we wonder that, in some +of the invasions of the plague, the deaths were so frightfully numerous +that the living could hardly bury the dead? By that of 1348, which came +from the East along the lines of commercial travel, and spread all over +Europe, one-third of the population of France was destroyed. +</p> +<p> +Such was the condition of the peasantry, and of the common inhabitants +of cities. Not much better was that of the nobles. William of +Malmesbury, speaking of the degraded manners of the Anglo-Saxons, says: +"Their nobles, devoted to gluttony and voluptuousness, never visited the +church, but the matins and the mass were read over to them by a hurrying +priest in their bedchambers, before they rose, themselves not listening. +The common people were a prey to the more powerful; their property was +seized, their bodies dragged away to distant countries; their maidens +were either thrown into a brothel, or sold for slaves. Drinking day +and night was the general pursuit; vices, the companions of inebriety, +followed, effeminating the manly mind." The baronial castles were dens +of robbers. The Saxon chronicler records how men and women were caught +and dragged into those strongholds, hung up by their thumbs or feet, +fire applied to them, knotted strings twisted round their heads, and +many other torments inflicted to extort ransom. +</p> +<p> +All over Europe, the great and profitable political offices were filled +by ecclesiastics. In every country there was a dual government: 1. +That of a local kind, represented by a temporal sovereign; 2. That of +a foreign kind, acknowledging the authority of the pope, This Roman +influence was, in the nature of things, superior to the local; it +expressed the sovereign will of one man over all the nations of +the continent conjointly, and gathered overwhelming power from its +compactness and unity. The local influence was necessarily of a feeble +nature, since it was commonly weakened by the rivalries of conterminous +states, and the dissensions dexterously provoked by its competitor. On +not a single occasion could the various European states form a coalition +against their common antagonist. Whenever a question arose, they were +skillfully taken in detail, and commonly mastered. The ostensible +object of papal intrusion was to secure for the different peoples moral +well-being; the real object was to obtain large revenues, and give +support to vast bodies of ecclesiastics. The revenues thus abstracted +were not infrequently many times greater than those passing into the +treasury of the local power. Thus, on the occasion of Innocent IV. +demanding provision to be made for three hundred additional Italian +clergy by the Church of England, and that one of his nephews—a mere +boy—should have a stall in Lincoln Cathedral, it was found that the sum +already annually abstracted by foreign ecclesiastics from England was +thrice that which went into the coffers of the king. +</p> +<p> +While thus the higher clergy secured every political appointment +worth having, and abbots vied with counts in the herds of slaves +they possessed—some, it is said, owned not fewer than twenty +thousand—begging friars pervaded society in all directions, picking +up a share of what still remained to the poor. There was a vast body of +non-producers, living in idleness and owning a foreign allegiance, who +were subsisting on the fruits of the toil of the laborers. It could not +be otherwise than that small farms should be unceasingly merged into +the larger estates; that the poor should steadily become poorer; that +society, far from improving, should exhibit a continually increasing +demoralization. Outside the monastic institutions no attempt at +intellectual advancement was made; indeed, so far as the laity were +concerned, the influence of the Church was directed to an opposite +result, for the maxim universally received was, that "ignorance is the +mother of devotion." +</p> +<p> +The settled practice of republican and imperial Rome was to have swift +communication with all her outlying provinces, by means of substantial +bridges and roads. One of the prime duties of the legions was to +construct them and keep them in repair. By this, her military authority +was assured. But the dominion of papal Rome, depending upon a different +principle, had no exigencies of that kind, and this duty accordingly +was left for the local powers to neglect. And so, in all directions, +the roads were almost impassable for a large part of the year. A common +means of transportation was in clumsy carts drawn by oxen, going at the +most but three or four miles an hour. Where boat-conveyance along +rivers could not be had, pack-horses and mules were resorted to for +the transportation of merchandise, an adequate means for the slender +commerce of the times. When large bodies of men had to be moved, the +difficulties became almost insuperable. Of this, perhaps, one of the +best illustrations may be found in the story of the march of the first +Crusaders. These restraints upon intercommunication tended powerfully to +promote the general benighted condition. Journeys by individuals could +not be undertaken without much risk, for there was scarcely a moor or a +forest that had not its highwaymen. +</p> +<p> +An illiterate condition everywhere prevailing, gave opportunity for the +development of superstition. Europe was full of disgraceful miracles. On +all the roads pilgrims were wending their way to the shrines of saints, +renowned for the cures they had wrought. It had always been the policy +of the Church to discourage the physician and his art; he interfered too +much with the gifts and profits of the shrines. Time has brought this +once lucrative imposture to its proper value. How many shrines are there +now in successful operation in Europe? +</p> +<p> +For patients too sick to move or be moved, there were no remedies except +those of a ghostly kind—the Pater-noster or the Ave. For the prevention +of diseases, prayers were put up in the churches, but no sanitary +measures were resorted to. From cities reeking with putrefying filth +it was thought that the plague might be stayed by the prayers of the +priests, by them rain and dry weather might be secured, and deliverance +obtained from the baleful influences of eclipses and comets. But when +Halley's comet came, in 1456, so tremendous was its apparition that +it was necessary for the pope himself to interfere. He exorcised and +expelled it from the skies. It slunk away into the abysses of space, +terror-stricken by the maledictions of Calixtus III., and did not +venture back for seventy-five years! +</p> +<p> +The physical value of shrine-cures and ghostly remedies is measured +by the death-rate. In those days it was, probably, about one in +twenty-three, under the present more material practice it is about one +in forty. +</p> +<p> +The moral condition of Europe was signally illustrated when syphilis was +introduced from the West Indies by the companions of Columbus. It spread +with wonderful rapidity; all ranks of persons, from the Holy Father Leo +X. to the beggar by the wayside, contracting the shameful disease. Many +excused their misfortune by declaring that it was an epidemic proceeding +from a certain malignity in the constitution of the air, but in truth +its spread was due to a certain infirmity in the constitution of man—an +infirmity which had not been removed by the spiritual guidance under +which he had been living. +</p> +<p> +To the medical efficacy of shrines must be added that of special relics. +These were sometimes of the most extraordinary kind. There were several +abbeys that possessed our Savior's crown of thorns. Eleven had the +lance that had pierced his side. If any person was adventurous enough +to suggest that these could not all be authentic, he would have been +denounced as an atheist. During the holy wars the Templar-Knights had +driven a profitable commerce by bringing from Jerusalem to the Crusading +armies bottles of the milk of the Blessed Virgin, which they sold for +enormous sums; these bottles were preserved with pious care in many of +the great religious establishments. But perhaps none of these impostures +surpassed in audacity that offered by a monastery in Jerusalem, which +presented to the beholder one of the fingers of the Holy Ghost! Modern +society has silently rendered its verdict on these scandalous objects. +Though they once nourished the piety of thousands of earnest people, +they are now considered too vile to have a place in any public museum. +</p> +<p> +How shall we account for the great failure we thus detect in the +guardianship of the Church over Europe? This is not the result that +must have occurred had there been in Rome an unremitting care for the +spiritual and material prosperity of the continent, had the universal +pastor, the successor of Peter, occupied himself with singleness of +purpose for the holiness and happiness of his flock. +</p> +<p> +The explanation is not difficult to find. It is contained in a story +of sin and shame. I prefer, therefore, in the following paragraphs, to +offer explanatory facts derived from Catholic authors, and, indeed, to +present them as nearly as I can in the words of those writers. +</p> +<p> +The story I am about to relate is a narrative of the transformation of a +confederacy into an absolute monarchy. +</p> +<p> +In the early times every church, without prejudice to its agreement with +the Church universal in all essential points, managed its own affairs +with perfect freedom and independence, maintaining its own traditional +usages and discipline, all questions not concerning the whole Church, or +of primary importance, being settled on the spot. +</p> +<p> +Until the beginning of the ninth century, there was no change in the +constitution of the Roman Church. But about 845 the Isidorian Decretals +were fabricated in the west of Gaul—a forgery containing about one +hundred pretended decrees of the early popes, together with certain +spurious writings of other church dignitaries and acts of synods. This +forgery produced an immense extension of the papal power, it displaced +the old system of church government, divesting it of the republican +attributes it had possessed, and transforming it into an absolute +monarchy. It brought the bishops into subjection to Rome, and made the +pontiff the supreme judge of the clergy of the whole Christian world. It +prepared the way for the great attempt, subsequently made by Hildebrand, +to convert the states of Europe into a theocratic priest-kingdom, with +the pope at its head. +</p> +<p> +Gregory VII., the author of this great attempt, saw that his plans +would be best carried out through the agency of synods. He, therefore, +restricted the right of holding them to the popes and their legates. To +aid in the matter, a new system of church law was devised by Anselm +of Lucca, partly from the old Isidorian forgeries, and partly from new +inventions. To establish the supremacy of Rome, not only had a new +civil and a new canon law to be produced, a new history had also to +be invented. This furnished needful instances of the deposition +and excommunication of kings, and proved that they had always been +subordinate to the popes. The decretal letters of the popes were put on +a par with Scripture. At length it came to be received, throughout +the West, that the popes had been, from the beginning of Christianity, +legislators for the whole Church. As absolute sovereigns in later times +cannot endure representative assemblies, so the papacy, when it wished +to become absolute, found that the synods of particular national +churches must be put an end to, and those only under the immediate +control of the pontiff permitted. This, in itself, constituted a great +revolution. +</p> +<p> +Another fiction concocted in Rome in the eighth century led to important +consequences. It feigned that the Emperor Constantine, in gratitude for +his cure from leprosy, and baptism by Pope Sylvester, had bestowed +Italy and the Western provinces on the pope, and that, in token of his +subordination, he had served the pope as his groom, and led his horse +some distance. This forgery was intended to work on the Frankish kings, +to impress them with a correct idea of their inferiority, and to show +that, in the territorial concessions they made to the Church, they were +not giving but only restoring what rightfully belonged to it. +</p> +<p> +The most potent instrument of the new papal system was Gratian's +Decretum, which was issued about the middle of the twelfth century. It +was a mass of fabrications. It made the whole Christian world, through +the papacy, the domain of the Italian clergy. It inculcated that it is +lawful to constrain men to goodness, to torture and execute heretics, +and to confiscate their property; that to kill an excommunicated person +is not murder; that the pope, in his unlimited superiority to all law, +stands on an equality with the Son of God! +</p> +<p> +As the new system of centralization developed, maxims, that in the olden +times would have been held to be shocking, were boldly avowed—the whole +Church is the property of the pope to do with as he will; what is simony +in others is not simony in him; he is above all law, and can be called +to account by none; whoever disobeys him must be put to death; every +baptized man is his subject, and must for life remain so, whether he +will or not. Up to the end of the twelfth century, the popes were the +vicars of Peter; after Innocent III. they were the vicars of Christ. +</p> +<p> +But an absolute sovereign has need of revenues, and to this the popes +were no exception. The institution of legates was brought in from +Hildebrand's time. Sometimes their duty was to visit churches, sometimes +they were sent on special business, but always invested with unlimited +powers to bring back money over the Alps. And since the pope could not +only make laws, but could suspend their operation, a legislation was +introduced in view to the purchase of dispensations. Monasteries were +exempted from episcopal jurisdiction on payment of a tribute to Rome. +The pope had now become "the universal bishop;" he had a concurrent +jurisdiction in all the dioceses, and could bring any cases before +his own courts. His relation to the bishops was that of an absolute +sovereign to his officials. A bishop could resign only by his +permission, and sees vacated by resignation lapsed to him. Appeals to +him were encouraged in every way for the sake of the dispensations; +thousands of processes came before the Curia, bringing a rich harvest to +Rome. Often when there were disputing claimants to benefices, the +pope would oust them all, and appoint a creature of his own. Often the +candidates had to waste years in Rome, and either died there, or carried +back a vivid impression of the dominant corruption. Germany suffered +more than other countries from these appeals and processes, and hence +of all countries was best prepared for the Reformation. During the +thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the popes made gigantic strides in +the acquisition of power. Instead of recommending their favorites for +benefices, now they issued mandates. Their Italian partisans must +be rewarded; nothing could be done to satisfy their clamors, but to +provide for them in foreign countries. Shoals of contesting claimants +died in Rome; and, when death took place in that city, the Pope claimed +the right of giving away the benefices. At length it was affirmed that +he had the right of disposing of all church-offices without distinction, +and that the oath of obedience of a bishop to him implied political as +well as ecclesiastical subjection. In countries having a dual government +this increased the power of the spiritual element prodigiously. +</p> +<p> +Rights of every kind were remorselessly overthrown to complete this +centralization. In this the mendicant orders were most efficient aids. +It was the pope and those orders on one side, the bishops and the +parochial clergy on the other. The Roman court had seized the rights +of synods, metropolitans, bishops, national churches. Incessantly +interfered with by the legates, the bishops lost all desire to +discipline their dioceses; incessantly interfered with by the begging +monks, the parish priest had become powerless in his own village; his +pastoral influence was utterly destroyed by the papal indulgences and +absolutions they sold. The money was carried off to Rome. +</p> +<p> +Pecuniary necessities urged many of the popes to resort to such petty +expedients as to require from a prince, a bishop, or a grand-master, who +bad a cause pending in the court, a present of a golden cup filled +with ducats. Such necessities also gave origin to jubilees. Sixtus IV. +established whole colleges, and sold the places at three or four hundred +ducats. Innocent VIII. pawned the papal tiara. Of Leo X. it was said +that he squandered the revenues of three popes, he wasted the savings +of his predecessor, he spent his own income, he anticipated that of his +successor, he created twenty-one hundred and fifty new offices and sold +them; they were considered to be a good investment, as they produced +twelve per cent. The interest was extorted from Catholic countries. +Nowhere in Europe could capital be so well invested as at Rome. Large +sums were raised by the foreclosing of mortgages, and not only by the +sale but the resale of offices. Men were promoted, for the purpose of +selling their offices again. +</p> +<p> +Though against the papal theory, which denounced usurious practices, +an immense papal banking system had sprung up, in connection with the +Curia, and sums at usurious interest were advanced to prelates, place. +hunters, and litigants. The papal bankers were privileged; all others +were under the ban. The Curia had discovered that it was for their +interest to have ecelesiastics all over Europe in their debt. They could +make them pliant, and excommunicate them for non-payment of interest. +In 1327 it was reckoned that half the Christian world was under +excommunication: bishops were excommunicated because they could not +meet the extortions of legates; and persons were excommunicated, +under various pretenses, to compel them to purchase absolution at an +exorbitant price. The ecclesiastical revenues of all Europe were flowing +into Rome, a sink of corruption, simony, usury, bribery, extortion. The +popes, since 1066, when the great centralizing movement began, had no +time to pay attention to the internal affairs of their own special +flock in the city of Rome. There were thousands of foreign cases, each +bringing in money. "Whenever," says the Bishop Alvaro Pelayo, "I entered +the apartments of the Roman court clergy, I found them occupied in +counting up the gold-coin, which lay about the rooms in heaps." Every +opportunity of extending the jurisdiction of the Curia was welcome. +Exemptions were so managed that fresh grants were constantly necessary. +Bishops were privileged against cathedral chapters, chapters against +their bishops; bishops, convents, and individuals, against the +extortions of legates. +</p> +<p> +The two pillars on which the papal system now rested were the College of +Cardinals and the Curia. The cardinals, in 1059, had become electors of +the popes. Up to that time elections were made by the whole body of the +Roman clergy, and the concurrence of the magistrates and citizens +was necessary. But Nicolas II. restricted elections to the College of +Cardinals by a two-thirds vote, and gave to the German emperor the +right of confirmation. For almost two centuries there was a struggle +for mastery between the cardinal oligarchy and papal absolutism. The +cardinals were willing enough that the pope should be absolute in his +foreign rule, but the never failed to attempt, before giving him +their votes, to bind him to accord to them a recognized share in the +government. After his election, and before his consecration, he swore +to observe certain capitulations, such as a participation of revenues +between himself and the cardinals; an obligation that lie would not +remove them, but would permit them to assemble twice a year to discuss +whether he had kept his oath. Repeatedly the popes broke their oath. On +one side, the cardinals wanted a larger share in the church government +and emoluments; on the other, the popes refused to surrender revenues or +power. The cardinals wanted to be conspicuous in pomp and extravagance, +and for this vast sums were requisite. In one instance, not fewer than +five hundred benefices were held by one of them; their friends and +retainers must be supplied, their families enriched. It was affirmed +that the whole revenues of France were insufficient to meet their +expenditures. In their rivalries it sometimes happened that no pope +was elected for several years. It seemed as if they wanted to show how +easily the Church could get on without the Vicar of Christ. +</p> +<p> +Toward the close of the eleventh century the Roman Church became the +Roman court. In place of the Christian sheep gently following their +shepherd in the holy precincts of the city, there had arisen a +chancery of writers, notaries, tax-gatherers, where transactions about +privileges, dispensations, exemptions, were carried on; and suitors +went with petitions from door to door. Rome was a rallying-point for +place-hunters of every nation. In presence of the enormous mass of +business-processes, graces, indulgences, absolutions, commands, and +decisions, addressed to all parts of Europe and Asia, the functions +of the local church sank into insignificance. Several hundred persons, +whose home was the Curia, were required. Their aim was to rise in it by +enlarging the profits of the papal treasury. The whole Christian +world had become tributary to it. Here every vestige of religion had +disappeared; its members were busy with politics, litigations, and +processes; not a word could be heard about spiritual concerns. Every +stroke of the pen had its price. Benefices, dispensations, licenses, +absolutions, indulgences, privileges, were bought and sold like +merchandise. The suitor had to bribe every one, from the doorkeeper +to the pope, or his case was lost. Poor men could neither attain +preferment, nor hope for it; and the result was, that every cleric felt +he had a right to follow the example he had seen at Rome, and that +he might make profits out of his spiritual ministries and sacraments, +having bought the right to do so at Rome, and having no other way to +pay off his debt. The transference of power from Italians to Frenchmen, +through the removal of the Curia to Avignon, produced no change—only +the Italians felt that the enrichment of Italian families had slipped +out of their grasp. They had learned to consider the papacy as their +appanage, and that they, under the Christian dispensation, were God's +chosen people, as the Jews had been under the Mosaic. +</p> +<p> +At the end of the thirteenth century a new kingdom was discovered, +capable of yielding immense revenues. This was Purgatory. It was shown +that the pope could empty it by his indulgences. In this there was no +need of hypocrisy. Things were done openly. The original germ of the +apostolic primacy had now expanded into a colossal monarchy. +</p> +<p> +NEED OF A GENERAL COUNCIL. The Inquisition had made the papal system +irresistible. All opposition must be punished with death by fire. A mere +thought, without having betrayed itself by outward sign, was considered +as guilt. As time went on, this practice of the Inquisition became +more and more atrocious. Torture was resorted to on mere suspicion. +The accused was not allowed to know the name of his accuser. He was +not permitted to have any legal adviser. There was no appeal. The +Inquisition was ordered not to lean to pity. No recantation was of +avail. The innocent family of the accused was deprived of its +property by confiscation; half went to the papal treasury, half to the +inquisitors. Life only, said Innocent III., was to be left to the sons +of misbelievers, and that merely as an act of mercy. The consequence +was, that popes, such as Nicolas III., enriched their families through +plunder acquired by this tribunal. Inquisitors did the same habitually. +</p> +<p> +The struggle between the French and Italians for the possession of the +papacy inevitably led to the schism of the fourteenth century. For more +than forty years two rival popes were now anathematizing each other, +two rival Curias were squeezing the nations for money. Eventually, there +were three obediences, and triple revenues to be extorted. Nobody, now, +could guarantee the validity of the sacraments, for nobody could be +sure which was the true pope. Men were thus compelled to think for +themselves. They could not find who was the legitimate thinker for them. +They began to see that the Church must rid herself of the curialistic +chains, and resort to a General Council. That attempt was again and +again made, the intention being to raise the Council into a Parliament +of Christendom, and make the pope its chief executive officer. But the +vast interests that had grown out of the corruption of ages could not +so easily be overcome; the Curia again recovered its ascendency, and +ecclesiastical trading was resumed. The Germans, who had never been +permitted to share in the Curia, took the leading part in these attempts +at reform. As things went on from bad to worse, even they at last found +out that all hope of reforming the Church by means of councils was +delusive. Erasmus exclaimed, "If Christ does not deliver his people +from this multiform ecclesiastical tyranny, the tyranny of the Turk will +become less intolerable." Cardinals' hats were now sold, and under Leo +X. ecclesiastical and religious offices were actually put up to auction. +The maxim of life had become, interest first, honor afterward. Among +the officials, there was not one who could be honest in the dark, and +virtuous without a witness. The violet-colored velvet cloaks and white +ermine capes of the cardinals were truly a cover for wickedness. +</p> +<p> +The unity of the Church, and therefore its power, required the use of +Latin as a sacred language. Through this, Rome had stood in an attitude +strictly European, and was enabled to maintain a general international +relation. It gave her far more power than her asserted celestial +authority, and, much as she claims to have done, she is open to +condemnation that, with such a signal advantage in her hands, never +again to be enjoyed by any successor, she did not accomplish much +more. Had not the sovereign pontiffs been so completely occupied with +maintaining their emoluments and temporalities in Italy, they might have +made the whole continent advance like one man. Their officials could +pass without difficulty into every nation, and communicate without +embarrassment with each other, from Ireland to Bohemia, from Italy to +Scotland. The possession of a common tongue gave them the administration +of international affairs with intelligent allies everywhere, speaking +the same language. +</p> +<p> +Not without cause was the hatred manifested by Rome to the restoration +of Greek and introduction of Hebrew, and the alarm with which she +perceived the modern languages forming out of the vulgar dialects. +Not without reason did the Faculty of Theology in Paris re-echo the +sentiment that, was prevalent in the time of Ximenes, "What will +become of religion if the study of Greek and Hebrew be permitted?" The +prevalence of Latin was the condition of her power; its deterioration, +the measure of her decay; its disuse, the signal of her limitation to +a little principality in Italy. In fact, the development of European +languages was the instrument of her overthrow. They formed an effectual +communication between the mendicant friars and the illiterate populace, +and there was not one of them that did not display in its earliest +productions a sovereign contempt for her. +</p> +<p> +The rise of the many-tongued European literature was therefore +coincident with the decline of papal Christianity; European literature +was impossible under Catholic rule. A grand, a solemn, an imposing +religious unity enforced the literary unity which is implied in the use +of a single tongue. +</p> +<p> +While thus the possession of a universal language so signally secured +her power, the real secret of much of the influence of the Church lay +in the control she had so skillfully obtained over domestic life. Her +influence diminished as that declined. Coincident with this was her +displacement in the guidance of international relations by diplomacy. +</p> +<p> +CATHOLICITY AND CIVILIZATION. In the old times of Roman domination the +encampments of the legions in the provinces had always proved to be foci +of civilization. The industry and order exhibited in them presented an +example not lost on the surrounding barbarians of Britain, Gaul, and +Germany. And, though it was no part of their duty to occupy themselves +actively in the betterment of the conquered tribes, but rather to keep +them in a depressed condition that aided in maintaining subjection, +a steady improvement both in the individual and social condition took +place. +</p> +<p> +Under the ecclesiastical domination of Rome similar effects occurred. In +the open country the monastery replaced the legionary encampment; in the +village or town, the church was a centre of light. A powerful effect +was produced by the elegant luxury of the former, and by the sacred and +solemn monitions of the latter. +</p> +<p> +In extolling the papal system for what it did in the organization of the +family, the definition of civil policy, the construction of the states +of Europe, our praise must be limited by the recollection that the chief +object of ecclesiastical policy was the aggrandizement of the Church, +not the promotion of civilization. The benefit obtained by the laity was +not through any special intention, but incidental or collateral. +</p> +<p> +There was no far-reaching, no persistent plan to ameliorate the physical +condition of the nations. Nothing was done to favor their intellectual +development; indeed, on the contrary, it was the settled policy to keep +them not merely illiterate, but ignorant. Century after century passed +away, and left the peasantry but little better than the cattle in the +fields. Intercommunication and locomotion, which tend so powerfully to +expand the ideas, received no encouragement; the majority of men died +without ever having ventured out of the neighborhood in which they were +born. For them there was no hope of personal improvement, none of the +bettering of their lot; there were no comprehensive schemes for the +avoidance of individual want, none for the resistance of famines. +Pestilences were permitted to stalk forth unchecked, or at best opposed +only by mummeries. Bad food, wretched clothing, inadequate shelter, were +suffered to produce their result, and at the end of a thousand years the +population of Europe had not doubled. +</p> +<p> +If policy may be held accountable as much for the births it prevents as +for the deaths it occasions, what a great responsibility there is here! +</p> +<p> +In this investigation of the influence of Catholicism, we must carefully +keep separate what it did for the people and what it did for itself. +When we think of the stately monastery, an embodiment of luxury, with +its closely-mown lawns, its gardens and bowers, its fountains and many +murmuring streams, we must connect it not with the ague-stricken peasant +dying without help in the fens, but with the abbot, his ambling palfrey, +his hawk and hounds, his well-stocked cellar and larder. He is part of +a system that has its centre of authority in Italy.. To that his +allegiance is due. For its behoof are all his acts. When we survey, as +still we may, the magnificent churches and cathedrals of those +times, miracles of architectural skill—the only real miracles of +Catholicism—when in imagination we restore the transcendently +imposing, the noble services of which they were once the scene, the +dim, religious-light streaming in through the many-colored windows, the +sounds of voices not inferior in their melody to those of heaven, +the priests in their sacred vestments, and above all the prostrate +worshipers listening to litanies and prayers in a foreign and unknown +tongue, shall we not ask ourselves, Was all this for the sake of those +worshipers, or for the glory of the great, the overshadowing authority +at Rome? +</p> +<p> +But perhaps some one may say, Are there not limits to human +exertion—things which no political system, no human power, no matter +how excellent its intention, can accomplish? Men cannot be raised from +barbarism, a continent cannot be civilized, in a day! +</p> +<p> +The Catholic power is not, however, to be tried by any such standard. +It scornfully rejected and still rejects a human origin. It claims to +be accredited supernaturally. The sovereign pontiff is the Vicar of God +upon earth. Infallible in judgment, it is given to him to accomplish +all things by miracle if need be. He had exercised an autocratic tyranny +over the intellect of Europe for more than a thousand years; and, though +on some occasions he had encountered the resistances of disobedient +princes, these, in the aggregate, were of so little moment, that the +physical, the political power of the continent may be affirmed to have +been at his disposal. +</p> +<p> +Such facts as have been presented in this chapter were, doubtless, +well weighed by the Protestant Reformers of the sixteenth century, and +brought them to the conclusion that Catholicism had altogether failed in +its mission; that it had become a vast system of delusion and imposture, +and that a restoration of true Christianity could only be accomplished +by returning to the faith and practices of the primitive times. This was +no decision suddenly arrived at; it had long been the opinion of many +religious and learned men. The pious Fratricelli in the middle ages had +loudly expressed their belief that the fatal gift of a Roman emperor had +been the doom of true religion. It wanted nothing more than the voice of +Luther to bring men throughout the north of Europe to the determination +that the worship of the Virgin Mary, the invocation of saints, the +working of miracles, supernatural cures of the sick, the purchase of +indulgences for the perpetration of sin, and all other evil practices, +lucrative to their abettors, which had been fastened on Christianity, +but which were no part of it, should come to an end. Catholicism, as +a system for promoting the well-being of man, had plainly failed in +justifying its alleged origin; its performance had not corresponded to +its great pretensions; and, after an opportunity of more than a +thousand years' duration, it had left the masses of men submitted to +its influences, both as regards physical well-being and intellectual +culture, in a condition far lower than what it ought to have been. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0011"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XI. +</h2> +<pre> + SCIENCE IN RELATION TO MODERN CIVILIZATION. + + Illustration of the general influences of Science from the + history of America. + + THE INTRODUCTION OF SCIENCE INTO EUROPE.—It passed from + Moorish Spain to Upper Italy, and was favored by the absence + of the popes at Avignon.—The effects of printing, of + maritime adventure, and of the Reformation—Establishment of + the Italian scientific societies. + + THE INTELLECTUAL INFLUENCE OF SCIENCE.—It changed the mode + and the direction of thought in Europe.—The transactions of + the Royal Society of London, and other scientific societies, + furnish an illustration of this. + + THE ECONOMICAL INFLUENCE OF SCIENCE is illustrated by the + numerous mechanical and physical inventions, made since the + fourteenth century.—Their influence on health and domestic + life, on the arts of peace and of war. + + Answer to the question, What has Science done for humanity? +</pre> +<p> +EUROPE, at the epoch of the Reformation, furnishes us with the result of +the influences of Roman Christianity in the promotion of civilization. +America, examined in like manner at the present time, furnishes us with +an illustration of the influences of science. +</p> +<p> +SCIENCE AND CIVILIZATION. In the course of the seventeenth century a +sparse European population bad settled along the western Atlantic coast. +Attracted by the cod-fishery of Newfoundland, the French had a little +colony north of the St. Lawrence; the English, Dutch, and Swedes, +occupied the shore of New England and the Middle States; some Huguenots +were living in the Carolinas. Rumors of a spring that could confer +perpetual youth—a fountain of life—had brought a few Spaniards into +Florida. Behind the fringe of villages which these adventurers had +built, lay a vast and unknown country, inhabited by wandering Indians, +whose numbers from the Gulf of Mexico to the St. Lawrence did not exceed +one hundred and eighty thousand. From them the European strangers had +learned that in those solitary regions there were fresh-water seas, +and a great river which they called the Mississippi. Some said that it +flowed through Virginia into the Atlantic, some that it passed through +Florida, some that it emptied into the Pacific, and some that it reached +the Gulf of Mexico. Parted from their native countries by the stormy +Atlantic, to cross which implied a voyage of many months, these refugees +seemed lost to the world. +</p> +<p> +But before the close of the nineteenth century the descendants of this +feeble people had become one of the great powers of the earth. They +had established a republic whose sway extended from the Atlantic to +the Pacific. With an army of more than a million men, not on paper, but +actually in the field, they had overthrown a domestic assailant. +They had maintained at sea a war-fleet of nearly seven hundred ships, +carrying five thousand guns, some of them the heaviest in the world. The +tonnage of this navy amounted to half a million. In the defense of their +national life they had expended in less than five years more than four +thousand million dollars. Their census, periodically taken, showed that +the population was doubling itself every twenty-five years; it justified +the expectation that at the close of that century it would number nearly +one hundred million souls. +</p> +<p> +KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. A silent continent had been changed into a scene of +industry; it was full of the din of machinery and the restless moving +of men. Where there had been an unbroken forest, there were hundreds of +cities and towns. To commerce were furnished in profusion some of the +most important staples, as cotton, tobacco, breadstuffs. The mines +yielded incredible quantities of gold, iron, coal. Countless churches, +colleges, and public schools, testified that a moral influence vivified +this material activity. Locomotion was effectually provided for. The +railways exceeded in aggregate length those of all Europe combined. +In 1873 the aggregate length of the European railways was sixty-three +thousand three hundred and sixty miles, that of the American was seventy +thousand six hundred and fifty miles. One of them, built across the +continent, connected the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. +</p> +<p> +But not alone are these material results worthy of notice. Others of a +moral and social kind force themselves on our attention. Four million +negro slaves had been set free. Legislation, if it inclined to the +advantage of any class, inclined to that of the poor. Its intention was +to raise them from poverty, and better their lot. A career was open +to talent, and that without any restraint. Every thing was possible to +intelligence and industry. Many of the most important public offices +were filled by men who had risen from the humblest walks of life. +If there was not social equality, as there never can be in rich and +prosperous communities, there was civil equality, rigorously maintained. +</p> +<p> +It may perhaps be said that much of this material prosperity arose from +special conditions, such as had never occurred in the case of any people +before, There was a vast, an open theatre of action, a whole continent +ready for any who chose to take possession of it. Nothing more than +courage and industry was needed to overcome Nature, and to seize the +abounding advantages she offered. +</p> + + === + + + + +<p>ILLUSTRATIONS FROM AMERICAN HISTORY. But must not men be animated by a +great principle who successfully transform the primeval solitudes into +an abode of civilization, who are not dismayed by gloomy forests, or +rivers, mountains, or frightful deserts, who push their conquering +way in the course of a century across a continent, and hold it in +subjection? Let us contrast with this the results of the invasion of +Mexico and Peru by the Spaniards, who in those countries overthrew +a wonderful civilization, in many respects superior to their own—a +civilization that had been accomplished without iron and gunpowder—a +civilization resting on an agriculture that had neither horse, nor +ox, nor plough. The Spaniards had a clear base to start from, and +no obstruction whatever in their advance. They ruined all that the +aboriginal children of America had accomplished. Millions of those +unfortunates were destroyed by their cruelty. Nations that for +many centuries had been living in contentment and prosperity, under +institutions shown by their history to be suitable to them, were plunged +into anarchy; the people fell into a baneful superstition, and a +greater part of their landed and other property found its way into the +possession of the Roman Church. +</p> +<p> +I have selected the foregoing illustration, drawn from American history, +in preference to many others that might have been taken from European, +because it furnishes an instance of the operation of the acting +principle least interfered with by extraneous conditions. European +political progress is less simple than American. +</p> +<p> +QUARREL BETWEEN FRANCE AND THE PAPACY. Before considering its manner +of action, and its results, I will briefly relate how the scientific +principle found an introduction into Europe. +</p> + + +<p>INTRODUCTION OF SCIENCE INTO EUROPE. Not only had the Crusades, for many +years, brought vast sums to Rome, extorted from the fears or the piety +of every Christian nation; they had also increased the papal power to a +most dangerous extent. In the dual governments everywhere prevailing in +Europe, the spiritual had obtained the mastery; the temporal was little +better than its servant. +</p> +<p> +From all quarters, and under all kinds of pretenses, streams of money +were steadily flowing into Italy. The temporal princes found that there +were left for them inadequate and impoverished revenues. Philip the +Fair, King of France (A.D. 1300), not only determined to check this +drain from his dominions, by prohibiting the export of gold and +silver without his license; he also resolved that the clergy and the +ecclesiastical estates should pay their share of taxes to him. +This brought on a mortal contest with the papacy. The king was +excommunicated, and, in retaliation, he accused the pope, Boniface +VIII., of atheism; demanding that he should be tried by a general +council. He sent some trusty persons into Italy, who seized Boniface in +his palace at Anagni, and treated him with so much severity, that in a +few days he died. The succeeding pontiff, Benedict XI., was poisoned. +</p> +<p> +The French king was determined that the papacy should be purified and +reformed; that it should no longer be the appanage of a few Italian +families, who were dexterously transmuting the credulity of Europe into +coin—that French influence should prevail in it. He Therefore came to +an understanding with the cardinals; a French archbishop was elevated +to the pontificate; he took the name of Clement V. The papal court was +removed to Avignon, in France, and Rome was abandoned as the metropolis +of Christianity. +</p> +<p> +MOORISH SCIENCE INTRODUCED THROUGH FRANCE. Seventy years elapsed before +the papacy was restored to the Eternal City (A.D. 1376). The diminution +of its influence in the peninsula, that had thus occurred, gave +opportunity for the memorable intellectual movement which soon +manifested itself in the great commercial cities of Upper Italy. +Contemporaneously, also, there were other propitious events. The result +of the Crusades had shaken the faith of all Christendom. In an age when +the test of the ordeal of battle was universally accepted, those wars +had ended in leaving the Holy Land in the hands of the Saracens; the +many thousand Christian warriors who had returned from them did not +hesitate to declare that they had found their antagonists not such as +had been pictured by the Church, but valiant, courteous, just. Through +the gay cities of the South of France a love of romantic literature +had been spreading; the wandering troubadours had been singing their +songs—songs far from being restricted to ladye-love and feats of war; +often their burden was the awful atrocities that had been perpetrated +by papal authority—the religious massacres of Languedoc; often their +burden was the illicit amours of the clergy. From Moorish Spain the +gentle and gallant idea of chivalry had been brought, and with it the +noble sentiment of "personal honor," destined in the course of time to +give a code of its own to Europe. +</p> +<p> +EFFECT OF THE GREAT SCHISM. The return of the papacy to Rome was far +from restoring the influence of the popes over the Italian Peninsula. +More than two generations had passed away since their departure, and, +had they come back even in their original strength, they could not +have resisted the intellectual progress that had been made during their +absence. The papacy, however, came back not to rule, but to be divided +against itself, to encounter the Great Schism. Out of its dissensions +emerged two rival popes; eventually there were three, each pressing +his claims upon the religious, each cursing his rival. A sentiment +of indignation soon spread all over Europe, a determination that the +shameful scenes which were then enacting should be ended. How could the +dogma of a Vicar of God upon earth, the dogma of an infallible pope, +be sustained in presence of such scandals? Herein lay the cause of that +resolution of the ablest ecclesiastics of those times (which, alas for +Europe! could not be carried into effect), that a general council should +be made the permanent religious parliament of the whole continent, +with the pope as its chief executive officer. Had that intention been +accomplished, there would have been at this day no conflict between +science and religion; the convulsion of the Reformation would have been +avoided; there would have been no jarring Protestant sects. But the +Councils of Constance and Basle failed to shake off the Italian yoke, +failed to attain that noble result. +</p> +<p> +Catholicism was thus weakening; as its leaden pressure lifted, the +intellect of man expanded. The Saracens had invented the method of +making paper from linen rags and from cotton. The Venetians had brought +from China to Europe the art of printing. The former of these inventions +was essential to the latter. Hence forth, without the possibility of a +check, there was intellectual intercommunication among all men. +</p> +<p> +INVENTION OF PRINTING. The invention of printing was a severe blow to +Catholicism, which had, previously, enjoyed the inappreciable advantage +of a monopoly of intercommunication. From its central seat, orders could +be disseminated through all the ecclesiastical ranks, and fulminated +through the pulpits. This monopoly and the amazing power it conferred +were destroyed by the press. In modern times, the influence of the +pulpit has become insignificant. The pulpit has been thoroughly +supplanted by the newspaper. +</p> +<p> +Yet, Catholicism did not yield its ancient advantage without a struggle. +As soon as the inevitable tendency of the new art was detected, a +restraint upon it, under the form of a censorship, was attempted. It was +made necessary to have a permit, in order to print a book. For this, it +was needful that the work should have been read, examined, and approved +by the clergy. There must be a certificate that it was a godly and +orthodox book. A bull of excommunication was issued in 1501, by +Alexander VI., against printers who should publish pernicious doctrines. +In 1515 the Lateran Council ordered that no books should be printed but +such as had been inspected by the ecclesiastical censors, under pain of +excommunication and fine; the censors being directed "to take the utmost +care that nothing should be printed contrary to the orthodox faith." +There was thus a dread of religious discussion; a terror lest truth +should emerge. +</p> +<p> +But these frantic struggles of the powers of ignorance were unavailing. +Intellectual intercommunication among men was secured. It culminated in +the modern newspaper, which daily gives its contemporaneous intelligence +from all parts of the world. Reading became a common occupation. In +ancient society that art was possessed by comparatively few persons. +Modern society owes some of its most striking characteristics to this +change. +</p> +<p> +EFFECTS OF MARITIME ENTERPRISE. Such was the result of bringing into +Europe the manufacture of paper and the printing-press. In like manner +the introduction of the mariner's compass was followed by imposing +material and moral effects. These were—the discovery of America in +consequence of the rivalry of the Venetians and Genoese about the India +trade; the doubling of Africa by De Gama; and the circumnavigation of +the earth by Magellan. With respect to the last, the grandest of +all human undertakings, it is to be remembered that Catholicism had +irrevocably committed itself to the dogma of a flat earth, with the +sky as the floor of heaven, and hell in the under-world. Some of the +Fathers, whose authority was held to be paramount, had, as we have +previously said, furnished philosophical and religious arguments against +the globular form. The controversy had now suddenly come to an end—the +Church was found to be in error. +</p> +<p> +The correction of that geographical error was by no means the only +important result that followed the three great voyages. The spirit of +Columbus, De Gama, Magellan, diffused itself among all the enterprising +men of Western Europe. Society had been hitherto living under the dogma +of "loyalty to the king, obedience to the Church." It had therefore been +living for others, not for itself. The political effect of that dogma +had culminated in the Crusades. Countless thousands had perished in +wars that could bring them no reward, and of which the result had been +conspicuous failure. Experience had revealed the fact that the only +gainers were the pontiffs, cardinals, and other ecclesiastics in Rome, +and the shipmasters of Venice. But, when it became known that the +wealth of Mexico, Peru, and India, might be shared by any one who had +enterprise and courage, the motives that had animated the restless +populations of Europe suddenly changed. The story of Cortez and Pizarro +found enthusiastic listeners everywhere. Maritime adventure supplanted +religious enthusiasm. +</p> +<p> +If we attempt to isolate the principle that lay at the basis of the +wonderful social changes that now took place, we may recognize it +without difficulty. Heretofore each man had dedicated his services to +his superior—feudal or ecclesiastical; now he had resolved to gather +the fruits of his exertions himself. Individualism was becoming +predominant, loyalty was declining into a sentiment. We shall now see +how it was with the Church. +</p> +<p> +INDIVIDUALISM. Individualism rests on the principle that a man shall +be his own master, that he shall have liberty to form his own opinions, +freedom to carry into effect his resolves. He is, therefore, ever +brought into competition with his fellow-men. His life is a display of +energy. +</p> +<p> +To remove the stagnation of centuries front European life, to vivify +suddenly what had hitherto been an inert mass, to impart to it +individualism, was to bring it into conflict with the influences +that had been oppressing it. All through the fourteenth and fifteenth +centuries uneasy strugglings gave a premonition of what was coming. +In the early part of the sixteenth (1517), the battle was joined. +Individualism found its embodiment in a sturdy German monk, and +therefore, perhaps necessarily, asserted its rights under theological +forms. There were some preliminary skirmishes about indulgences and +other minor matters, but very soon the real cause of dispute came +plainly into view. Martin Luther refused to think as he was ordered to +do by his ecclesiastical superiors at Rome; he asserted that he had an +inalienable right to interpret the Bible for himself. +</p> +<p> +At her first glance, Rome saw nothing in Martin Luther but a vulgar, +insubordinate, quarrelsome monk. Could the Inquisition have laid hold of +him, it would have speedily disposed of his affair; but, as the conflict +went on, it was discovered that Martin was not standing alone. Many +thousands of men, as resolute as himself, were coming up to his support; +and, while he carried on the combat with writings and words, they made +good his propositions with the sword. +</p> +<p> +THE REFORMATION. The vilification which was poured on Luther and his +doings was so bitter as to be ludicrous. It was declared that his father +was not his mother's husband, but an impish incubus, who had deluded +her; that, after ten years' struggling with his conscience, he had +become an atheist; that he denied the immortality of the soul; that +he had composed hymns in honor of drunkenness, a vice to which he +was unceasingly addicted; that he blasphemed the Holy Scriptures, and +particularly Moses; that he did not believe a word of what he preached; +that he had called the Epistle of St. James a thing of straw; and, above +all, that the Reformation was no work of his, but, in reality, was due +to a certain astrological position of the stars. It was, however, a +vulgar saying among the Roman ecclesiastics that Erasmus laid the egg of +the Reformation, and Luther hatched it. +</p> +<p> +Rome at first made the mistake of supposing that this was nothing more +than a casual outbreak; she failed to discern that it was, in fact, the +culmination of an internal movement which for two centuries had been +going on in Europe, and which had been hourly gathering force; that, +had there been nothing else, the existence of three popes—three +obediences—would have compelled men to think, to deliberate, to +conclude for themselves. The Councils of Constance and Basle taught them +that there was a higher power than the popes. The long and bloody wars +that ensued were closed by the Peace of Westphalia; and then it was +found that Central and Northern Europe had cast off the intellectual +tyranny of Rome, that individualism had carried its point, and had +established the right of every man to think for himself. +</p> +<p> +DECOMPOSITION OF PROTESTANTISM. But it was impossible that the +establishment of this right of private judgment should end with the +rejection of Catholicism. Early in the movement some of the most +distinguished men, such as Erasmus, who had been among its first +promoters, abandoned it. They perceived that many of the Reformers +entertained a bitter dislike of learning, and they were afraid of +being brought under bigoted caprice. The Protestant party, having thus +established its existence by dissent and separation, must, in its turn, +submit to the operation of the same principles. A decomposition into +many subordinate sects was inevitable. And these, now that they had no +longer any thing to fear from their great Italian adversary, commenced +partisan warfares on each other. As, in different countries, first one +and then another sect rose to power, it stained itself with cruelties +perpetrated upon its competitors. The mortal retaliations that had +ensued, when, in the chances of the times, the oppressed got the better +of their oppressors, convinced the contending sectarians that they must +concede to their competitors what they claimed for themselves; and thus, +from their broils and their crimes, the great principle of toleration +extricated itself. But toleration is only an intermediate stage; and, +as the intellectual decomposition of Protestantism keeps going on, that +transitional condition will lead to a higher and nobler state—the hope +of philosophy in all past ages of the world—a social state in which +there shall be unfettered freedom for thought. Toleration, except +when extorted by fear, can only come from those who are capable of +entertaining and respecting other opinions than their own. It can +therefore only come from philosophy. History teaches us only too plainly +that fanaticism is stimulated by religion, and neutralized or eradicated +by philosophy. +</p> +<p> +TOLERATION. The avowed object of the Reformation was, to remove from +Christianity the pagan ideas and pagan rites engrafted upon it by +Constantine and his successors, in their attempt to reconcile the Roman +Empire to it. The Protestants designed to bring it back to its primitive +purity; and hence, while restoring the ancient doctrines, they cast out +of it all such practices as the adoration of the Virgin Mary and +the invocation of saints. The Virgin Mary, we are assured by the +Evangelists, had accepted the duties of married life, and borne to her +husband several children. In the prevailing idolatry, she had ceased to +be regarded as the carpenter's wife; she had become the queen of heaven, +and the mother of God. +</p> +<p> +DA VINCI. The science of the Arabians followed the invading track of +their literature, which had come into Christendom by two routes—the +south of France, and Sicily. Favored by the exile of the popes to +Avignon, and by the Great Schism, it made good its foothold in Upper +Italy. The Aristotelian or Inductive philosophy, clad in the Saracenic +costume that Averroes had given it, made many secret and not a few open +friends. It found many minds eager to receive and able to appreciate +it. Among these were Leonardo da Vinci, who proclaimed the fundamental +principle that experiment and observation are the only reliable +foundations of reasoning in science, that experiment is the only +trustworthy interpreter of Nature, and is essential to the ascertainment +of laws. He showed that the action of two perpendicular forces upon a +point is the same as that denoted by the diagonal of a rectangle, of +which they represent the sides. From this the passage to the proposition +of oblique forces was very easy. This proposition was rediscovered by +Stevinus, a century later, and applied by him to the explanation of the +mechanical powers. Da Vinci gave a clear exposition of the theory of +forces applied obliquely on a lever, discovered the laws of friction +subsequently demonstrated by Amontons, and understood the principle of +virtual velocities. He treated of the conditions of descent of bodies +along inclined planes and circular arcs, invented the camera-obscura, +discussed correctly several physiological problems, and foreshadowed +some of the great conclusions of modern geology, such as the nature +of fossil remains, and the elevation of continents. He explained the +earth-light reflected by the moon. With surprising versatility of genius +he excelled as a sculptor, architect, engineer; was thoroughly versed in +the astronomy, anatomy, and chemistry of his times. In painting, he +was the rival of Michel Angelo; in a competition between them, he was +considered to have established his superiority. His "Last Supper," on +the wall of the refectory of the Dominican convent of Sta. Maria delle +Grazie, is well known, from the numerous engravings and copies that have +been made of it. +</p> +<p> +ITALIAN SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. Once firmly established in the north of +Italy, Science soon extended her sway over the entire peninsula. The +increasing number of her devotees is indicated by the rise and rapid +multiplication of learned societies. These were reproductions of the +Moorish ones that had formerly existed in Granada and Cordova. As if +to mark by a monument the track through which civilizing influences had +come, the Academy of Toulouse, founded in 1345, has survived to our +own times. It represented, however, the gay literature of the south of +France, and was known under the fanciful title of "the Academy of Floral +Games." The first society for the promotion of physical science, the +Academia Secretorum Naturae, was founded at Naples, by Baptista +Porta. It was, as Tiraboschi relates, dissolved by the ecclesiastical +authorities. The Lyncean was founded by Prince Frederic Cesi at Rome; +its device plainly indicated its intention: a lynx, with its eyes turned +upward toward heaven, tearing a triple-headed Cerberus with its claws. +The Accademia del Cimento, established at Florence, 1657, held its +meetings in the ducal palace. It lasted ten years, and was then +suppressed at the instance of the papal government; as an equivalent, +the brother of the grand-duke was made a cardinal. It numbered many +great men, such as Torricelli and Castelli, among its members. The +condition of admission into it was an abjuration of all faith, and a +resolution to inquire into the truth. These societies extricated the +cultivators of science from the isolation in which they had hitherto +lived, and, by promoting their intercommunication and union, imparted +activity and strength to them all. +</p> +<p> +Returning now from this digression, this historical sketch of the +circumstances under which science was introduced into Europe, I pass to +the consideration of its manner of action and its results. +</p> +<p> +INTELLECTUAL INFLUENCE OF SCIENCE. The influence of science on modern +civilization has been twofold: 1. Intellectual; 2. Economical. Under +these titles we may conveniently consider it. +</p> +<p> +Intellectually it overthrew the authority of tradition. It refused to +accept, unless accompanied by proof, the dicta of any master, no matter +how eminent or honored his name. The conditions of admission into +the Italian Accademia del Cimento, and the motto adopted by the Royal +Society of London, illustrate the position it took in this respect. +</p> +<p> +It rejected the supernatural and miraculous as evidence in physical +discussions. It abandoned sign-proof such as the Jews in old days +required, and denied that a demonstration can be given through an +illustration of something else, thus casting aside the logic that had +been in vogue for many centuries. +</p> +<p> +In physical inquiries, its mode of procedure was, to test the value of +any proposed hypothesis, by executing computations in any special case +on the basis or principle of that hypothesis, and then, by performing an +experiment or making an observation, to ascertain whether the result +of these agreed with the result of the computation. If it did not, the +hypothesis was to be rejected. +</p> +<p> +We may here introduce an illustration or two of this mode of procedure: +</p> +<p> +THEORIES OF GRAVITATION AND PHLOGISTON. Newton, suspecting that the +influence of the earth's attraction, gravity, may extend as far as the +moon, and be the force that causes her to revolve in her orbit round the +earth, calculated that, by her motion in her orbit, she was deflected +from the tangent thirteen feet every minute; but, by ascertaining the +space through which bodies would fall in one minute at the earth's +surface, and supposing it to be diminished in the ratio of the inverse +square, it appeared that the attraction at the moon's orbit would draw +a body through more than fifteen feet. He, therefore, for the time, +considered his hypothesis as unsustained. But it so happened that Picard +shortly afterward executed more correctly a new measurement of a degree; +this changed the estimated magnitude of the earth, and the distance of +the moon, which was measured in earth-semidiameters. Newton now renewed +his computation, and, as I have related on a previous page, as it drew +to a close, foreseeing that a coincidence was about to be established, +was so much agitated that he was obliged to ask a friend to complete it. +The hypothesis was sustained. +</p> +<p> +A second instance will sufficiently illustrate the method under +consideration. It is presented by the chemical theory of phlogiston. +Stahl, the author of this theory, asserted that there is a principle of +inflammability, to which he gave the name phlogiston, having the quality +of uniting with substances. Thus, when what we now term a metallic oxide +was united to it, a metal was produced; and, if the phlogiston were +withdrawn, the metal passed back into its earthy or oxidized state. On +this principle, then, the metals were compound bodies, earths combined +with phlogiston. +</p> +<p> +SCIENCE AND ECCLESIASTICISM. But during the eighteenth century the +balance was introduced as an instrument of chemical research. Now, if +the phlogistic hypothesis be true, it would follow that a metal should +be the heavier, its oxide the lighter body, for the former contains +something—phlogiston—that has been added to the latter. But, on +weighing a portion of any metal, and also the oxide producible from it, +the latter proves to be the heavier, and here the phlogistic hypothesis +fails. Still further, on continuing the investigation, it may be shown +that the oxide or calx, as it used to be called, has become heavier by +combining with one of the ingredients of the air. +</p> +<p> +To Lavoisier is usually attributed this test experiment; but the fact +that the weight of a metal increases by calcination was established +by earlier European experimenters, and, indeed, was well known to the +Arabian chemists. Lavoisier, however, was the first to recognize its +great importance. In his hands it produced a revolution in chemistry. +</p> +<p> +The abandonment of the phlogistic theory is an illustration of the +readiness with which scientific hypotheses are surrendered, when found +to be wanting in accordance with facts. Authority and tradition pass for +nothing. Every thing is settled by an appeal to Nature. It is assumed +that the answers she gives to a practical interrogation will ever be +true. +</p> +<p> +Comparing now the philosophical principles on which science was +proceeding, with the principles on which ecclesiasticism rested, we see +that, while the former repudiated tradition, to the latter it was the +main support while the former insisted on the agreement of calculation +and observation, or the correspondence of reasoning and fact, the latter +leaned upon mysteries; while the former summarily rejected its own +theories, if it saw that they could not be coordinated with Nature, the +latter found merit in a faith that blindly accepted the inexplicable, a +satisfied contemplation of "things above reason." The alienation between +the two continually increased. On one side there was a sentiment of +disdain, on the other a sentiment of hatred. Impartial witnesses on all +hands perceived that science was rapidly undermining ecclesiasticism. +</p> +<p> +MATHEMATICS. Mathematics had thus become the great instrument of +scientific research, it had become the instrument of scientific +reasoning. In one respect it may be said that it reduced the operations +of the mind to a mechanical process, for its symbols often saved the +labor of thinking. The habit of mental exactness it encouraged extended +to other branches of thought, and produced an intellectual revolution. +No longer was it possible to be satisfied with miracle-proof, or the +logic that had been relied upon throughout the middle ages. Not only did +it thus influence the manner of thinking, it also changed the direction +of thought. Of this we may be satisfied by comparing the subjects +considered in the transactions of the various learned societies with the +discussions that had occupied the attention of the middle ages. +</p> +<p> +But the use of mathematics was not limited to the verification of +theories; as above indicated, it also furnished a means of predicting +what had hitherto been unobserved. In this it offered a counterpart +to the prophecies of ecclesiasticism. The discovery of Neptune is +an instance of the kind furnished by astronomy, and that of conical +refraction by the optical theory of undulations. +</p> +<p> +But, while this great instrument led to such a wonderful development in +natural science, it was itself undergoing development—improvement. Let +us in a few lines recall its progress. +</p> +<p> +The germ of algebra may be discerned in the works of Diophantus of +Alexandria, who is supposed to have lived in the second century of our +era. In that Egyptian school Euclid had formerly collected the great +truths of geometry, and arranged them in logical sequence. Archimedes, +in Syracuse, had attempted the solution of the higher problems by the +method of exhaustions. Such was the tendency of things that, had the +patronage of science been continued, algebra would inevitably have been +invented. +</p> +<p> +To the Arabians we owe our knowledge of the rudiments of algebra; we +owe to them the very name under which this branch of mathematics passes. +They had carefully added, to the remains of the Alexandrian School, +improvements obtained in India, and had communicated to the subject +a certain consistency and form. The knowledge of algebra, as they +possessed it, was first brought into Italy about the beginning of the +thirteenth century. It attracted so little attention, that nearly three +hundred years elapsed before any European work on the subject appeared. +In 1496 Paccioli published his book entitled "Arte Maggiore," or +"Alghebra." In 1501, Cardan, of Milan, gave a method for the solution of +cubic equations; other improvements were contributed by Scipio Ferreo, +1508, by Tartalea, by Vieta. The Germans now took up the subject. At +this time the notation was in an imperfect state. +</p> +<p> +The publication of the Geometry of Descartes, which contains the +application of algebra to the definition and investigation of curve +lines (1637), constitutes an epoch in the history of the mathematical +sciences. Two years previously, Cavalieri's work on Indivisibles had +appeared. This method was improved by Torricelli and others. The way was +now open, for the development of the Infinitesimal Calculus, the method +of Fluxions of Newton, and the Differential and Integral Calculus +of Leibnitz. Though in his possession many years previously, Newton +published nothing on Fluxions until 1704; the imperfect notation he +employed retarded very much the application of his method. Meantime, on +the Continent, very largely through the brilliant solutions of some of +the higher problems, accomplished by the Bernouillis, the Calculus of +Leibnitz was universally accepted, and improved by many mathematicians. +An extraordinary development of the science now took place, and +continued throughout the century. To the Binomial theorem, previously +discovered by Newton, Taylor now added, in his "Method of Increments," +the celebrated theorem that bears his name. This was in 1715. The +Calculus of Partial Differences was introduced by Euler in 1734. It was +extended by D'Alembert, and was followed by that of Variations, by Euler +and Lagrange, and by the method of Derivative Functions, by Lagrange, in +1772. +</p> +<p> +But it was not only in Italy, in Germany, in England, in France, that +this great movement in mathematics was witnessed; Scotland had added a +new gem to the intellectual diadem with which her brow is encircled, +by the grand invention of Logarithms, by Napier of Merchiston. It is +impossible to give any adequate conception of the scientific importance +of this incomparable invention. The modern physicist and astronomer +will most cordially agree with Briggs, the Professor of Mathematics in +Gresham College, in his exclamation: "I never saw a book that pleased +me better, and that made I me more wonder!" Not without reason did the +immortal Kepler regard Napier "to be the greatest man of his age, in the +department to which he had applied his abilities." Napier died in 1617. +It is no exaggeration to say that this invention, by shortening the +labors, doubled the life of the astronomer. +</p> +<p> +But here I must check myself. I must remember that my present purpose is +not to give the history of mathematics, but to consider what science has +done for the advancement of human civilization. And now, at once, recurs +the question, How is it that the Church produced no geometer in her +autocratic reign of twelve hundred years? +</p> +<p> +With respect to pure mathematics this remark may be made: Its +cultivation does not demand appliances that are beyond the reach of +most individuals. Astronomy must have its observatory, chemistry its +laboratory; but mathematics asks only personal disposition and a +few books. No great expenditures are called for, nor the services +of assistants. One would think that nothing could be more congenial, +nothing more delightful, even in the retirement of monastic life. +</p> +<p> +Shall we answer with Eusebius, "It is through contempt of such useless +labor that we think so little of these matters; we turn our souls to +the exercise of better things?" Better things! What can be better than +absolute truth? Are mysteries, miracles, lying impostures, better? It +was these that stood in the way! +</p> +<p> +The ecclesiastical authorities had recognized, from the outset of this +scientific invasion, that the principles it was disseminating were +absolutely irreconcilable with the current theology. Directly and +indirectly, they struggled against it. So great was their detestation +of experimental science, that they thought they had gained a great +advantage when the Accademia del Cimento was suppressed. Nor was the +sentiment restricted to Catholicism. When the Royal Society of London +was founded, theological odium was directed against it with so much +rancor that, doubtless, it would have been extinguished, had not King +Charles II. given it his open and avowed support. It was accused of +an intention of "destroying the established religion, of injuring the +universities, and of upsetting ancient and solid learning." +</p> +<p> +THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. We have only to turn over the pages of its +Transactions to discern how much this society has done for the progress +of humanity. It was incorporated in 1662, and has interested itself in +all the great scientific movements and discoveries that have since been +made. It published Newton's "Principia;" it promoted Halley's voyage, +the first scientific expedition undertaken by any government; it made +experiments on the transfusion of blood, and accepted Harvey's discovery +of the circulation. The encouragement it gave to inoculation led Queen +Caroline to beg six condemned criminals for experiment, and then to +submit her own children to that operation. Through its encouragement +Bradley accomplished his great discovery, the aberration of the fixed +stars, and that of the nutation of the earth's axis; to these two +discoveries, Delambre says, we owe the exactness of modern astronomy. It +promoted the improvement of the thermometer, the measure of temperature, +and in Harrison's watch, the chronometer, the measure of time. Through +it the Gregorian Calendar was introduced into England, in 1752, against +a violent religious opposition. Some of its Fellows were pursued through +the streets by an ignorant and infuriated mob, who believed it had +robbed them of eleven days of their lives; it was found necessary to +conceal the name of Father Walmesley, a learned Jesuit, who had taken +deep interest in the matter; and, Bradley happening to die during the +commotion, it was declared that he had suffered a judgment from Heaven +for his crime! +</p> +<p> +THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. If I were to attempt to do justice to the +merits of this great society, I should have to devote many pages, to +such subjects as the achromatic telescope of Dollond; the dividing +engine of Ramsden, which first gave precision to astronomical +observations, the measurement of a degree on the earth's surface by +Mason and Dixon; the expeditions of Cook in connection with the transit +of Venus; his circumnavigation of the earth; his proof that scurvy, +the curse of long sea-voyages, may be avoided by the use of vegetable +substances; the polar expeditions; the determination of the density of +the earth by Maskelyne's experiments at Scheliallion, and by those +of Cavendish; the discovery of the planet Uranus by Herschel; the +composition of water by Cavendish and Watt; the determination of the +difference of longitude between London and Paris; the invention of +the voltaic pile; the surveys of the heavens by the Herschels; +the development of the principle of interference by Young, and his +establishment of the undulatory theory of light; the ventilation +of jails and other buildings; the introduction of gas for city +illumination; the ascertainment of the length of the seconds-pendulum; +the measurement of the variations of gravity in different latitudes; the +operations to ascertain the curvature of the earth; the polar expedition +of Ross; the invention of the safety-lamp by Davy, and his decomposition +of the alkalies and earths; the electro-magnetic discoveries of Oersted +and Faraday; the calculating-engines of Babbage; the measures taken +at the instance of Humboldt for the establishment of many magnetic +observatories; the verification of contemporaneous magnetic disturbances +over the earth's surface. But it is impossible, in the limited space at +my disposal, to give even so little as a catalogue of its Transactions. +Its spirit was identical with that which animated the Accademia del +Cimento, and its motto accordingly was "Nullius in Verba." It proscribed +superstition, and permitted only calculation, observation, and +experiment. +</p> +<p> +INFLUENCE OF SCIENCE. Not for a moment must it be supposed that in these +great attempts, these great Successes, the Royal Society stood alone. +In all the capitals of Europe there were Academies, Institutes, or +Societies, equal in distinction, and equally successful in promoting +human knowledge and modern civilization. +</p> +<center> +THE ECONOMICAL INFLUENCES OF SCIENCE. +</center> +<p> +The scientific study of Nature tends not only to correct and ennoble +the intellectual conceptions of man; it serves also to ameliorate his +physical condition. It perpetually suggests to him the inquiry, how he +may make, by their economical application, ascertained facts subservient +to his use. +</p> +<p> +The investigation of principles is quickly followed by practical +inventions. This, indeed, is the characteristic feature of our times. It +has produced a great revolution in national policy. +</p> +<p> +In former ages wars were made for the procuring of slaves. A conqueror +transported entire populations, and extorted from them forced labor, for +it was only by human labor that human labor could be relieved. But when +it was discovered that physical agents and mechanical combinations could +be employed to incomparably greater advantage, public policy underwent a +change; when it was recognized that the application of a new principle, +or the invention of a new machine, was better than the acquisition of an +additional slave, peace became preferable to war. And not only so, but +nations possessing great slave or serf populations, as was the care in +America and Russia, found that considerations of humanity were supported +by considerations of interest, and set their bondmen free. +</p> +<p> +SCIENTIFIC INVENTIONS. Thus we live in a period of which a +characteristic is the supplanting of human and animal labor by machines. +Its mechanical inventions have wrought a social revolution. We appeal +to the natural, not to the supernatural, for the accomplishment of our +ends. It is with the "modern civilization" thus arising that Catholicism +refuses to be reconciled. The papacy loudly proclaims its inflexible +repudiation of this state of affairs, and insists on a restoration of +the medieval condition of things. +</p> +<p> +That a piece of amber, when rubbed, will attract and then repel light +bodies, was a fact known six hundred years before Christ. It remained an +isolated, uncultivated fact, a mere trifle, until sixteen hundred years +after Christ. Then dealt with by the scientific methods of mathematical +discussion and experiment, and practical application made of the result, +it has permitted men to communicate instantaneously with each other +across continents and under oceans. It has centralized the world. By +enabling the sovereign authority to transmit its mandates without +regard to distance or to time, it has revolutionized statesmanship and +condensed political power. +</p> +<p> +In the Museum of Alexandria there was a machine invented by Hero, the +mathematician, a little more than one hundred years before Christ. It +revolved by the agency of steam, and was of the form that we should +now call a reaction-engine. This, the germ of one of the most important +inventions ever made, was remembered as a mere curiosity for seventeen +hundred years. +</p> +<p> +Chance had nothing to do with the invention of the modern steam-engine. +It was the product of meditation and experiment. In the middle of the +seventeenth century several mechanical engineers attempted to utilize +the properties of steam; their labors were brought to perfection by Watt +in the middle of the eighteenth. +</p> +<p> +The steam-engine quickly became the drudge of civilization. It performed +the work of many millions of men. It gave, to those who would have been +condemned to a life of brutal toil, the opportunity of better pursuits. +He who formerly labored might now think. +</p> +<p> +Its earliest application was in such operations as pumping, wherein mere +force is required. Soon, however, it vindicated its delicacy of touch +in the industrial arts of spinning and weaving. It created vast +manufacturing establishments, and supplied clothing for the world. It +changed the industry of nations. +</p> +<p> +In its application, first to the navigation of rivers, and then to the +navigation of the ocean, it more than quadrupled the speed that had +heretofore been attained. Instead of forty days being requisite for +the passage, the Atlantic might now be crossed in eight. But, in land +transportation, its power was most strikingly displayed. The admirable +invention of the locomotive enabled men to travel farther in less than +an hour than they formerly could have done in more than a day. +</p> +<p> +The locomotive has not only enlarged the field of human activity, but, +by diminishing space, it has increased the capabilities of human life. +In the swift transportation of manufactured goods and agricultural +products, it has become a most efficient incentive to human industry +</p> +<p> +The perfection of ocean steam-navigation was greatly promoted by the +invention of the chronometer, which rendered it possible to find +with accuracy the place of a ship at sea. The great drawback on the +advancement of science in the Alexandrian School was the want of an +instrument for the measurement of time, and one for the measurement of +temperature—the chronometer and the thermometer; indeed, the invention +of the latter is essential to that of the former. Clepsydras, or +water-clocks, had been tried, but they were deficient in accuracy. Of +one of them, ornamented with the signs of the zodiac, and destroyed by +certain primitive Christians, St. Polycarp significantly remarked, "In +all these monstrous demons is seen an art hostile to God." Not until +about 1680 did the chronometer begin to approach accuracy. Hooke, the +contemporary of Newton, gave it the balance-wheel, with the spiral +spring, and various escapements in succession were devised, such as the +anchor, the dead-beat, the duplex, the remontoir. Provisions for the +variation of temperature were introduced. It was brought to perfection +eventually by Harrison and Arnold, in their hands becoming an accurate +measure of the flight of time. To the invention of the chronometer +must be added that of the reflecting sextant by Godfrey. This permitted +astronomical observations to be made, notwithstanding the motion of a +ship. +</p> +<p> +Improvements in ocean navigation are exercising a powerful influence on +the distribution of mankind. They are increasing the amount and altering +the character of colonization. +</p> +<p> +DOMESTIC IMPROVEMENT. But not alone have these great discoveries and +inventions, the offspring of scientific investigation, changed the +lot of the human race; very many minor ones, perhaps individually +insignificant, have in their aggregate accomplished surprising effects. +The commencing cultivation of science in the fourteenth century gave +a wonderful stimulus to inventive talent, directed mainly to useful +practical results; and this, subsequently, was greatly encouraged by the +system of patents, which secure to the originator a reasonable portion +of the benefits of his skill. It is sufficient to refer in the most +cursory manner to a few of these improvements; we appreciate at once how +much they have done. The introduction of the saw-mill gave wooden floors +to houses, banishing those of gypsum, tile, or stone; improvements +cheapening the manufacture of glass gave windows, making possible the +warming of apartments. However, it was not until the sixteenth century +that glazing could be well done. The cutting of glass by the diamond +was then introduced. The addition of chimneys purified the atmosphere +of dwellings, smoky and sooty as the huts of savages; it gave that +indescribable blessing of northern homes—a cheerful fireside. Hitherto +a hole in the roof for the escape of the smoke, a pit in the midst of +the floor to contain the fuel, and to be covered with a lid when the +curfew-bell sounded or night came, such had been the cheerless and +inadequate means of warming. +</p> +<p> +MUNICIPAL IMPROVEMENTS. Though not without a bitter resistance on +the part of the clergy, men began to think that pestilences are not +punishments inflicted by God on society for its religious shortcomings, +but the physical consequences of filth and wretchedness; that the proper +mode of avoiding them is not by praying to the saints, but by insuring +personal and municipal cleanliness. In the twelfth century it was +found necessary to pave the streets of Paris, the stench in them was so +dreadful At once dysenteries and spotted fever diminished; a sanitary +condition approaching that of the Moorish cities of Spain, which had +been paved for centuries, was attained. In that now beautiful metropolis +it was forbidden to keep swine, an ordinance resented by the monks +of the abbey of St. Anthony, who demanded that the pigs of that saint +should go where they chose; the government was obliged to compromise the +matter by requiring that bells should be fastened to the animals' necks. +King Philip, the son of Louis the Fat, had been killed by his horse +stumbling over a sow. Prohibitions were published against throwing slops +out of the windows. In 1870 an eye-witness, the author of this book, +at the close of the pontifical rule in Rome, found that, in walking the +ordure-defiled streets of that city, it was more necessary to inspect +the earth than to contemplate the heavens, in order to preserve personal +purity. Until the beginning of the seventeenth century, the streets of +Berlin were never swept. There was a law that every countryman, who came +to market with a cart, should carry back a load of dirt! +</p> +<p> +Paving was followed by attempts, often of an imperfect kind, at +the construction of drains and sewers. It had become obvious to all +reflecting men that these were necessary to the preservation of health, +not only in towns, but in isolated houses. Then followed the lighting +of the public thoroughfares. At first houses facing the streets were +compelled to have candles or lamps in their windows; next the system +that had been followed with so much advantage in Cordova and Granada—of +having public lamps—was tried, but this was not brought to perfection +until the present century, when lighting by gas was invented. +Contemporaneously with public lamps were improved organizations for +night-watchmen and police. +</p> +<p> +By the sixteenth century, mechanical inventions and manufacturing +improvements were exercising a conspicuous influence on domestic and +social life. There were looking-glasses and clocks on the walls, mantels +over the fireplaces. Though in many districts the kitchen-fire was still +supplied with turf, the use of coal began to prevail. The table in the +dining-room offered new delicacies; commerce was bringing to it foreign +products; the coarse drinks of the North were supplanted by the delicate +wines of the South. Ice-houses were constructed. The bolting of flour, +introduced at the windmills, had given whiter and finer bread. By +degrees things that had been rarities became common—Indian-corn, the +potato, the turkey, and, conspicuous in the long list, tobacco. Forks, +an Italian invention, displaced the filthy use of the fingers. It may be +said that the diet of civilized men now underwent a radical change. Tea +came from China, coffee from Arabia, the use of sugar from India, and +these to no insignificant degree supplanted fermented liquors. Carpets +replaced on the floors the layer of straw; in the chambers +there appeared better beds, in the wardrobes cleaner and more +frequently-changed clothing. In many towns the aqueduct was substituted +for the public fountain and the street-pump. Ceilings which in the old +days would have been dingy with soot and dirt, were now decorated with +ornamental frescoes. Baths were more commonly resorted to; there was +less need to use perfumery for the concealment of personal odors. +An increasing taste for the innocent pleasures of horticulture +was manifested, by the introduction of many foreign flowers in the +gardens—the tuberose, the auricula, the crown imperial, the Persian +lily, the ranunculus, and African marigolds. In the streets there +appeared sedans, then close carriages, and at length hackney-coaches. +</p> +<p> +Among the dull rustics mechanical improvements forced their way, and +gradually attained, in the implements for ploughing, sowing, mowing, +reaping, thrashing, the perfection of our own times. +</p> +<p> +MERCANTILE INVENTIONS. It began to be recognized, in spite of the +preaching of the mendicant orders, that poverty is the source of crime, +the obstruction to knowledge; that the pursuit of riches by commerce is +far better than the acquisition of power by war. For, though it may +be true, as Montesquieu says, that, while commerce unites nations, it +antagonizes individuals, and makes a traffic of morality, it alone can +give unity to the world; its dream, its hope, is universal peace. +</p> +<p> +MEDICAL IMPROVEMENTS. Though, instead of a few pages, it would require +volumes to record adequately the ameliorations that took place in +domestic and social life after science began to exert its beneficent +influences, and inventive talent came to the aid of industry, there +are some things which cannot be passed in silence. From the port of +Barcelona the Spanish khalifs had carried on an enormous commerce, and +they with their coadjutors—Jewish merchants—had adopted or originated +many commercial inventions, which, with matters of pure science, +they had transmitted to the trading communities of Europe. The art of +book-keeping by double entry was thus brought into Upper Italy. The +different kinds of insurance were adopted, though strenuously resisted +by the clergy. They opposed fire and marine insurance, on the ground +that it is a tempting of Providence. Life insurance was regarded as +an act of interference with the consequences of God's will. Houses +for lending money on interest and on pledges, that is, banking and +pawnbroking establishments, were bitterly denounced, and especially was +indignation excited against the taking of high rates of interest, +which was stigmatized as usury—a feeling existing in some backward +communities up to the present day. Bills of exchange in the present form +and terms were adopted, the office of the public notary established, and +protests for dishonored obligations resorted to. Indeed, it may be said, +with but little exaggeration, that the commercial machinery now used +was thus introduced. I have already remarked that, in consequence of the +discovery of America, the front of Europe had been changed. Many rich +Italian merchants and many enterprising Jews, had settled in Holland +England, France, and brought into those countries various mercantile +devices. The Jews, who cared nothing about papal maledictions, were +enriched by the pontifical action in relation to the lending of money at +high interest; but Pius II., perceiving the mistake that had been +made, withdrew his opposition. Pawnbroking establishments were finally +authorized by Leo X., who threatened excommunication of those who wrote +against them. In their turn the Protestants now exhibited a dislike +against establishments thus authorized by Rome. As the theological +dogma, that the plague, like the earthquake, is an unavoidable +visitation from God for the sins of men, began to be doubted, attempts +were made to resist its progress by the establishment of quarantines. +When the Mohammedan discovery of inoculation was brought from +Constantinople in 1721, by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, it was so +strenuously resisted by the clergy, that nothing short of its adoption +by the royal family of England brought it into use. A similar resistance +was exhibited when Jenner introduced his great improvement, vaccination; +yet a century ago it was the exception to see a face unpitted by +smallpox—now it is the exception to see one so disfigured. In like +manner, when the great American discovery of anaesthetics was applied +in obstetrical cases, it was discouraged, not so much for physiological +reasons, as under the pretense that it was an impious attempt to escape +from the curse denounced against all women in Genesis iii. 16. +</p> +<p> +MAGIC AND MIRACLES. Inventive ingenuity did not restrict itself to the +production of useful contrivances, it added amusing ones. Soon after the +introduction of science into Italy, the houses of the virtuosi began to +abound in all kinds of curious mechanical surprises, and, as they +were termed, magical effects. In the latter the invention of the +magic-lantern greatly assisted. Not without reason did the ecclesiastics +detest experimental philosophy, for a result of no little importance +ensued—the juggler became a successful rival to the miracle-worker. The +pious frauds enacted in the churches lost their wonder when brought +into competition with the tricks of the conjurer in the market-place: he +breathed flame, walked on burning coals, held red-hot iron in his +teeth, drew basketfuls of eggs out of his mouth, worked miracles by +marionettes. Yet the old idea of the supernatural was with difficulty +destroyed. A horse, whose master had taught him many tricks, was tried +at Lisbon in 1601, found guilty of being, possessed by the devil, and +was burnt. Still later than that many witches were brought to the stake. +</p> +<p> +DISCOVERIES IN ASTRONOMY AND CHEMISTRY. Once fairly introduced, +discovery and invention have unceasingly advanced at an accelerated +pace. Each continually reacted on the other, continually they sapped +supernaturalism. De Dominis commenced, and Newton completed, the +explanation of the rainbow; they showed that it was not the weapon of +warfare of God, but the accident of rays of light in drops of water. De +Dominis was decoyed to Rome through the promise of an archbishopric, +and the hope of a cardinal's hat. He was lodged in a fine residence, but +carefully watched. Accused of having suggested a concord between Rome +and England, he was imprisoned in the castle of St Angelo, and there +died. He was brought in his coffin before an ecclesiastical tribunal, +adjudged guilty of heresy, and his body, with a heap of heretical books, +was cast into the flames. Franklin, by demonstrating the identity of +lightning and electricity, deprived Jupiter of his thunder-bolt. The +marvels of superstition were displaced by the wonders of truth. The two +telescopes, the reflector and the achromatic, inventions of the last +century, permitted man to penetrate into the infinite grandeurs of +the universe, to recognize, as far as such a thing is possible, its +illimitable spaces, its measureless times; and a little later the +achromatic microscope placed before his eyes the world of the infinitely +small. The air-balloon carried him above the clouds, the diving-bell +to the bottom of the sea. The thermometer gave him true measures of +the variations of heat; the barometer, of the pressure of the air. The +introduction of the balance imparted exactness to chemistry, it proved +the indestructibility of matter. The discovery of oxygen, hydrogen, and +many other gases, the isolation of aluminum, calcium, and other metals, +showed that earth and air and water are not elements. With an enterprise +that can never be too much commended, advantage was taken of the +transits of Venus, and, by sending expeditions to different regions, +the distance of the earth from the sun was determined. The step that +European intellect had made between 1456 and 1759 was illustrated by +Halley's comet. When it appeared in the former year, it was considered +as the harbinger of the vengeance of God, the dispenser of the most +dreadful of his retributions, war, pestilence, famine. By order of the +pope, all the church-bells in Europe were rung to scare it away, the +faithful were commanded to add each day another prayer; and, as their +prayers had often in so marked a manner been answered in eclipses and +droughts and rains, so on this occasion it was declared that a victory +over the comet had been vouchsafed to the pope. But, in the mean time, +Halley, guided by the revelations of Kepler and Newton, had discovered +that its motions, so far from being controlled by the supplications of +Christendom, were guided in an elliptic orbit by destiny. Knowing that +Nature bad denied to him an opportunity of witnessing the fulfillment +of his daring prophecy, he besought the astronomers of the succeeding +generation to watch for its return in 1759, and in that year it came. +</p> +<p> +INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES. Whoever will in a spirit of impartiality +examine what had been done by Catholicism for the intellectual and +material advancement of Europe, during her long reign, and what has been +done by science in its brief period of action, can, I am persuaded, come +to no other conclusion than this, that, in instituting a comparison, he +has established a contrast. And yet, how imperfect, how inadequate is +the catalogue of facts I have furnished in the foregoing pages! I have +said nothing of the spread of instruction by the diffusion of the arts +of reading and writing, through public schools, and the consequent +creation of a reading community; the modes of manufacturing public +opinion by newspapers and reviews, the power of journalism, the +diffusion of information public and private by the post-office and cheap +mails, the individual and social advantages of newspaper advertisements. +I have said nothing of the establishment of hospitals, the first +exemplar of which was the Invalides of Paris; nothing of the improved +prisons, reformatories, penitentiaries, asylums, the treatment of +lunatics, paupers, criminals; nothing of the construction of canals, of +sanitary engineering, or of census reports; nothing of the invention of +stereotyping, bleaching by chlorine, the cotton-gin, or of the marvelous +contrivances with which cotton-mills are filled—contrivances which have +given us cheap clothing, and therefore added to cleanliness, comfort, +health; nothing of the grand advancement of medicine and surgery, or +of the discoveries in physiology, the cultivation of the fine arts, +the improvement of agriculture and rural economy, the introduction +of chemical manures and farm-machinery. I have not referred to the +manufacture of iron and its vast affiliated industries; to those of +textile fabrics; to the collection of museums of natural history, +antiquities, curiosities. I have passed unnoticed the great subject of +the manufacture of machinery by itself—the invention of the slide-rest, +the planing-machine, and many other contrivances by which engines can +be constructed with almost mathematical correctness. I have said nothing +adequate about the railway system, or the electric telegraph, nor about +the calculus, or lithography, the airpump, or the voltaic battery; the +discovery of Uranus or Neptune, and more than a hundred asteroids; the +relation of meteoric streams to comets; nothing of the expeditions by +land and sea that have been sent forth by various governments for the +determination of important astronomical or geographical questions; +nothing of the costly and accurate experiments they have caused to be +made for the ascertainment of fundamental physical data. I have been so +unjust to our own century that I have made no allusion to some of its +greatest scientific triumphs: its grand conceptions in natural history; +its discoveries in magnetism and electricity; its invention of the +beautiful art of photography; its applications of spectrum analysis; its +attempts to bring chemistry under the three laws of Avogadro, of Boyle +and Mariotte, and of Charles; its artificial production of organic +substances from inorganic material, of which the philosophical +consequences are of the utmost importance; its reconstruction of +physiology by laying the foundation of that science on chemistry; its +improvements and advances in topographical surveying and in the correct +representation of the surface of the globe. I have said nothing about +rifled-guns and armored ships, nor of the revolution that has been made +in the art of war; nothing of that gift to women, the sewing-machine; +nothing of the noble contentions and triumphs of the arts of peace—the +industrial exhibitions and world's fairs. +</p> +<p> +What a catalogue have we here, and yet how imperfect! It gives merely a +random glimpse at an ever-increasing intellectual commotion—a mention +of things as they casually present themselves to view. How striking +the contrast between this literary, this scientific activity, and the +stagnation of the middle ages! +</p> +<p> +The intellectual enlightenment that surrounds this activity has imparted +unnumbered blessings to the human race. In Russia it has emancipated a +vast serf-population; in America it has given freedom to four million +negro slaves. In place of the sparse dole of the monastery-gate, it has +organized charity and directed legislation to the poor. It has shown +medicine its true function, to prevent rather than to cure disease. In +statesmanship it has introduced scientific methods, displacing random +and empirical legislation by a laborious ascertainment of social facts +previous to the application of legal remedies. So conspicuous, so +impressive is the manner in which it is elevating men, that the hoary +nations of Asia seek to participate in the boon. Let us not forget that +our action on them must be attended by their reaction on us. If the +destruction of paganism was completed when all the gods were brought +to Rome and confronted there, now, when by our wonderful facilities of +locomotion strange nations and conflicting religions are brought into +common presence—the Mohammedan, the Buddhist, the Brahman-modifications +of them all must ensue. In that conflict science alone will stand +secure; for it has given us grander views of the universe, more awful +views of God. +</p> +<p> +AMERICAN AND FRENCH REVOLUTIONS. The spirit that has imparted life to +this movement, that has animated these discoveries and inventions, is +Individualism; in some minds the hope of gain, in other and nobler ones +the expectation of honor. It is, then, not to be wondered at that +this principle found a political embodiment, and that, during the last +century, on two occasions, it gave rise to social convulsions—the +American and the French Revolutions. The former has ended in the +dedication of a continent to Individualism—there, under republican +forms, before the close of the present century, one hundred million +people, with no more restraint than their common security requires, will +be pursuing an unfettered career. The latter, though it has modified +the political aspect of all Europe, and though illustrated by surprising +military successes, has, thus far, not consummated its intentions; again +and again it has brought upon France fearful disasters. Her dual form of +government—her allegiance to her two sovereigns, the political and the +spiritual—has made her at once the leader and the antagonist of modern +progress. With one hand she has enthroned Reason, with the other she +has re-established and sustained the pope. Nor will this anomaly in her +conduct cease until she bestows a true education on all her children, +even on those of the humblest rustic. +</p> +<p> +SCIENCE AND CIVILIZATION. The intellectual attack made on existing +opinions by the French Revolution was not of a scientific, but of a +literary character; it was critical and aggressive. But Science has +never been an aggressor. She has always acted on the defensive, and left +to her antagonist the making of wanton attacks. Nevertheless, literary +dissent is not of such ominous import as scientific; for literature is, +in its nature, local—science is cosmopolitan. +</p> +<p> +If, now, we demand, What has science done for the promotion of modern +civilization; what has it done for the happiness, the well-being of +society? we shall find our answer in the same manner that we reached +a just estimate of what Latin Christianity had done. The reader of the +foregoing paragraphs would undoubtedly infer that there must have +been an amelioration in the lot of our race; but, when we apply the +touchstone of statistics, that inference gathers precision. Systems of +philosophy and forms of religion find a measure of their influence on +humanity in census-returns. Latin Christianity, in a thousand years, +could not double the population of Europe; it did not add perceptibly +to the term of individual life. But, as Dr. Jarvis, in his report to +the Massachusetts Board of Health, has stated, at the epoch of the +Reformation "the average longevity in Geneva was 21.21 years, between +1814 and 1833 it was 40.68; as large a number of persons now live to +seventy years as lived to forty, three hundred years ago. In 1693 the +British Government borrowed money by selling annuities on lives from +infancy upward, on the basis of the average longevity. The contract +was profitable. Ninety-seven years later another tontine, or scale +of annuities, on the basis of the same expectation of life as in the +previous century, was issued. These latter annuitants, however, lived so +much longer than their predecessors, that it proved to be a very costly +loan for the government. It was found that, while ten thousand of each +sex in the first tontine died under the age of twenty-eight, only five +thousand seven hundred and seventy-two males and six thousand four +hundred and sixteen females in the second tontine died at the same age, +one hundred years later." +</p> +<p> +We have been comparing the spiritual with the practical, the imaginary +with the real. The maxims that have been followed in the earlier and the +later period produced their inevitable result. In the former that maxim +was, "Ignorance is the mother of Devotion in the latter, Knowledge is +Power." +</p> + + +<br><a name="twelve"></a> +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<pre> + THE IMPENDING CRISIS. INDICATIONS OF THE APPROACH OF A + RELIGIOUS CRISIS.—THE PREDOMINATING CHRISTIAN CHURCH, THE + ROMAN, PERCEIVES THIS, AND MAKES PREPARATION FOR IT.—PIUS + IX CONVOKES AN OECUMENICAL COUNCIL—RELATIONS OF THE + DIFFERENT EUROPEAN GOVERNMENTS TO THE PAPACY.—RELATIONS OF + THE CHURCH TO SCIENCE, AS INDICATED BY THE ENCYCLICAL LETTER + AND THE SYLLABUS. + + Acts of the Vatican Council in relation to the infallibility + of the pope, and to Science.—Abstract of decisions arrived + at. + + Controversy between the Prussian Government and the papacy.— + It is a contest between the State and the Church for + supremacy—Effect of dual government in Europe—Declaration + by the Vatican Council of its position as to Science—The + dogmatic constitution of the Catholic faith.—Its + definitions respecting God, Revelation, Faith, Reason.—The + anathemas it pronounces.—Its denunciation of modern + civilization. + + The Protestant Evangelical Alliance and its acts. + + General review of the foregoing definitions, and acts.— + Present condition of the controversy, and its future + prospects. +</pre> +<p> +PREDOMINANCE OF CATHOLICITY. No one who is acquainted with the present +tone of thought in Christendom can hide from himself the fact that an +intellectual, a religious crisis is impending. +</p> +<p> +In all directions we see the lowering skies, we hear the mutterings +of the coming storm. In Germany, the national party is arraying itself +against the ultramontane; in France, the men of progress are struggling +against the unprogressive, and in their contest the political supremacy +of that great country is wellnigh neutralized or lost. In Italy, Rome +has passed into the hands of an excommunicated king. The sovereign +pontiff, feigning that he is a prisoner, is fulminating from the Vatican +his anathemas, and, in the midst of the most convincing proofs of his +manifold errors, asserting his own infallibility. A Catholic archbishop +with truth declares that the whole civil society of Europe seems to be +withdrawing itself in its public life from Christianity. In England and +America, religious persons perceive with dismay that the intellectual +basis of faith has been undermined by the spirit of the age. They +prepare for the approaching disaster in the best manner they can. +</p> +<p> +The most serious trial through which society can pass is encountered in +the exuviation of its religious restraints. The history of Greece and +the history of Rome exhibit to us in an impressive manner how great are +the perils. But it is not given to religions to endure forever. They +necessarily undergo transformation with the intellectual development of +man. How many countries are there professing the same religion now that +they did at the birth of Christ? +</p> +<p> +It is estimated that the entire population of Europe is about three +hundred and one million. Of these, one hundred and eighty-five million +are Roman Catholics, thirty-three million are Greek Catholics. Of +Protestants there are seventy-one million, separated into many sects. Of +Jews, five million; of Mohammedans, seven million. +</p> +<p> +Of the religious subdivisions of America an accurate numerical statement +cannot be given. The whole of Christian South America is Roman Catholic, +the same may be said of Central America and of Mexico, as also of the +Spanish and French West India possessions. In the United States and +Canada the Protestant population predominates. To Australia the same +remark applies. In India the sparse Christian population sinks into +insignificance in presence of two hundred million Mohammedans and other +Oriental denominations. The Roman Catholic Church is the most widely +diffused and the most powerfully organized of all modern societies. It +is far more a political than a religious combination. Its principle is +that all power is in the clergy, and that for laymen there is only the +privilege of obedience. The republican forms under which the Churches +existed in primitive Christianity have gradually merged into an absolute +centralization, with a man as vice-God at its head. This Church +asserts that the divine commission under which it acts comprises civil +government; that it has a right to use the state for its own purposes, +but that the state has no right to intermeddle with it; that even in +Protestant countries it is not merely a coordinate government, but the +sovereign power. It insists that the state has no rights over any thing +which it declares to be in its domain, and that Protestantism, being +a mere rebellion, has no rights at all; that even in Protestant +communities the Catholic bishop is the only lawful spiritual pastor. +</p> +<p> +It is plain, therefore, that of professing Christians the vast majority +are Catholic; and such is the authoritative demand of the papacy for +supremacy, that, in any survey of the present religious condition of +Christendom, regard must be mainly had to its acts. Its movements are +guided by the highest intelligence and skill. Catholicism obeys the +orders of one man, and has therefore a unity, a compactness, a power, +which Protestant denominations do not possess. Moreover, it derives +inestimable strength from the souvenirs of the great name of Rome. +</p> +<p> +Unembarrassed by any hesitating sentiment, the papacy has contemplated +the coming intellectual crisis. It has pronounced its decision, and +occupied what seems to it to be the most advantageous ground. +</p> +<p> +This definition of position we find in the acts of the late Vatican +Council. +</p> +<p> +THE OECUMENICAL COUNCIL. Pius IX., by a bull dated June 29, 1868, +convoked an Oecumenical Council, to meet in Rome, on December 8, 1869. +Its sessions ended in July, 1870. Among other matters submitted to its +consideration, two stand forth in conspicuous prominence—they are the +assertion of the infallibility of the Roman pontiff, and the definition +of the relations of religion to science. +</p> +<p> +But the convocation of the Council was far from meeting with general +approval. +</p> +<p> +The views of the Oriental Churches were, for the most part, unfavorable. +They affirmed that they saw a desire in the Roman pontiff to set himself +up as the head of Christianity, whereas they recognized the Lord Jesus +Christ alone as the head of the Church. They believed that the Council +would only lead to new quarrels and scandals. The sentiment of these +venerable Churches is well shown by the incident that, when, in +1867, the Nestorian Patriarch Simeon had been invited by the Chaldean +Patriarch to return to Roman Catholic unity, he, in his reply, showed +that there was no prospect for harmonious action between the East and +the West: "You invite me to kiss humbly the slipper of the Bishop of +Rome; but is he not, in every respect, a man like yourself—is his +dignity superior to yours? We will never permit to be introduced into +our holy temples of worship images and statues, which are nothing but +abominable and impure idols. What! shall we attribute to Almighty God a +mother, as you dare to do? Away from us, such blasphemy!" +</p> +<p> +EXPECTATIONS OF THE PAPACY. Eventually, the patriarchs, archbishops, and +bishops, from all regions of the world, who took part in this Council, +were seven hundred and four. +</p> +<p> +Rome had seen very plainly that Science was not only rapidly undermining +the dogmas of the papacy, but was gathering great political power. She +recognized that all over Europe there was a fast-spreading secession +among persons of education, and that its true focus was North Germany. +</p> +<p> +She looked, therefore, with deep interest on the Prusso-Austrian War, +giving to Austria whatever encouragement she could. The battle of Sadowa +was a bitter disappointment to her. +</p> +<p> +With satisfaction again she looked upon the breaking out of the +Franco-Prussian War, not doubting that its issue would be favorable to +France, and therefore favorable to her. Here, again, she was doomed to +disappointment at Sedan. +</p> +<p> +Having now no further hope, for many years to come, from external war, +she resolved to see what could be done by internal insurrection, and the +present movement in the German Empire is the result of her machinations. +</p> +<p> +Had Austria or had France succeeded, Protestantism would have been +overthrown along with Prussia. +</p> +<p> +But, while these military movements were being carried on, a movement of +a different, an intellectual kind, was engaged in. Its principle was, to +restore the worn-out mediaeval doctrines and practices, carrying them to +an extreme, no matter what the consequences might be. +</p> +<p> +ENCYCLICAL LETTER AND SYLLABUS. Not only was it asserted that the papacy +has a divine right to participate in the government of all countries, +coordinately with their temporal authorities, but that the supremacy of +Rome in this matter must be recognized; and that in any question between +them the temporal authority must conform itself to her order. +</p> +<p> +And, since the endangering of her position had been mainly brought about +by the progress of science, she presumed to define its boundaries, and +prescribe limits to its authority. Still more, she undertook to denounce +modern civilization. +</p> +<p> +These measures were contemplated soon after the return of his Holiness +from Gaeta in 1848, and were undertaken by the advice of the Jesuits, +who, lingering in the hope that God would work the impossible, supposed +that the papacy, in its old age, might be reinvigorated. The organ of +the Curia proclaimed the absolute independence of the Church as regards +the state; the dependence of the bishops on the pope; of the diocesan +clergy on the bishops; the obligation of the Protestants to abandon +their atheism, and return to the fold; the absolute condemnation of all +kinds of toleration. In December, 1854, in an assembly of bishops, the +pope had proclaimed the dogma of the immaculate conception. Ten years +subsequently he put forth the celebrated Encyclical Letter and the +Syllabus. +</p> +<p> +The Encyclical Letter is dated December 8, 1864. It was drawn up by +learned ecclesiastics, and subsequently debated at the Congregation of +the Holy Office, then forwarded to prelates, and finally gone over by +the pope and cardinals. +</p> +<p> +ENCYCLICAL LETTER AND SYLLABUS. Many of the clergy objected to its +condemnation of modern civilization. Some of the cardinals were +reluctant to concur in it. The Catholic press accepted it, not, however, +without misgivings and regrets. The Protestant governments put no +obstacle in its way; the Catholic were embarrassed by it. France allowed +the publication only of that portion proclaiming the jubilee; Austria +and Italy permitted its introduction, but withheld their approval. +The political press and legislatures of Catholic countries gave it an +unfavorable reception. Many deplored it as likely to widen the breach +between the Church and modern society. The Italian press regarded it as +determining a war, without truce or armistice, between the papacy and +modern civilization. Even in Spain there were journals that regretted +"the obstinacy and blindness of the court of Rome, in branding and +condemning modern civilization." +</p> +<p> +It denounces that "most pernicious and insane opinion, that liberty of +conscience and of worship is the right of every man, and that this right +ought, in every well-governed state, to be proclaimed and asserted by +law; and that the will of the people, manifested by public opinion (as +it is called), or by other means, constitutes a supreme law, independent +of all divine and human rights." It denies the right of parents to +educate their children outside the Catholic Church. It denounces "the +impudence" of those who presume to subordinate the authority of the +Church and of the Apostolic See, "conferred upon it by Christ our Lord, +to the judgment of the civil authority." His Holiness commends, to +the venerable brothers to whom the Encyclical is addressed, incessant +prayer, and, "in order that God may accede the more easily to our and +your prayers, let us employ in all confidence, as our mediatrix with +him, the Virgin Mary, mother of God, who sits as a queen upon the +right hand of her only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in a golden +vestment, clothed around with various adornments. There is nothing she +cannot obtain from him." +</p> +<p> +CONVOCATION OF THE COUNCIL. Plainly, the principle now avowed by the +papacy must bring it into collision even with governments which had +heretofore maintained amicable relations with it. Great dissatisfaction +was manifested by Russia, and the incidents that ensued drew forth from +his Holiness an allocution (November, 1866) condemnatory of the course +of that government. To this, Russia replied, by declaring the Concordat +of 1867 abrogated. +</p> +<p> +Undeterred by the result of the battle of Sadowa (July, 1866), though +it was plain that the political condition of Europe was now profoundly +affected, and especially the relations of the papacy, the pope delivered +an allocution (June 27, 1867), confirming the Encyclical and Syllabus. +He announced his intention of convoking an Oecumenical Council. +</p> +<p> +Accordingly, as we have already mentioned, in the following year (June +29, 1868), a bull was issued convoking that Council. Misunderstandings, +however, had now sprung up with Austria. The Austrian Reichsrath +had adopted laws introducing equality of civil rights for all the +inhabitants of the empire, and restricting the influence of the Church. +This produced on the part of the papal government an expostulation. +Acting as Russia had done, the Austrian Government found it necessary to +abrogate the Concordat of 1855. +</p> +<p> +In France, as above stated, the publication of the entire Syllabus was +not permitted; but Prussia, desirous of keeping on good terms with the +papacy, did not disallow it. The exacting disposition of the papacy +increased. It was openly declared that the faithful must now sacrifice +to the Church, property, life, and even their intellectual convictions. +The Protestants and the Greeks were invited to tender their submission. +</p> +<p> +THE VATICAN COUNCIL. On the appointed day, the Council opened. Its +objects were, to translate the Syllabus into practice, to establish the +dogma of papal infallibility, and define the relations of religion to +science. Every preparation had been made that the points determined on +should be carried. The bishops were informed that they were coming to +Rome not to deliberate, but to sanction decrees previously made by +an infallible pope. No idea was entertained of any such thing as +free discussion. The minutes of the meetings were not permitted to be +inspected; the prelates of the opposition were hardly allowed to speak. +On January 22, 1870, a petition, requesting that the infallibility of +the pope should be defined, was presented; an opposition petition of the +minority was offered. Hereupon, the deliberations of the minority were +forbidden, and their publications prohibited. And, though the Curia had +provided a compact majority, it was found expedient to issue an order +that to carry any proposition it was not necessary that the vote should +be near unanimity, a simple majority sufficed. The remonstrances of the +minority were altogether unheeded. +</p> +<p> +As the Council pressed forward to its object, foreign authorities +became alarmed at its reckless determination. A petition drawn up by the +Archbishop of Vienna, and signed by several cardinals and archbishops, +entreated his Holiness not to submit the dogma of infallibility for +consideration, "because the Church has to sustain at present a struggle +unknown in former times, against men who oppose religion itself as +an institution baneful to human nature, and that it is inopportune +to impose upon Catholic nations, led into temptation by so many +machinations, more dogmas than the Council of Trent proclaimed." It +added that "the definition demanded would furnish fresh arms to +the enemies of religion, to excite against the Catholic Church the +resentment of men avowedly the best." The Austrian prime-minister +addressed a protest to the papal government, warning it against any +steps that might lead to encroachments on the rights of Austria. The +French Government also addressed a note, suggesting that a French bishop +should explain to the Council the condition and the rights of France. To +this the papal government replied that a bishop could not reconcile the +double duties of an ambassador and a Father of the Council. Hereupon, +the French Government, in a very respectful note, remarked that, +to prevent ultra opinions from becoming dogmas, it reckoned on the +moderation of the bishops, and the prudence of the Holy Father; and, +to defend its civil and political laws against the encroachments of the +theocracy, it had counted on public reason and the patriotism of French +Catholics. In these remonstrances the North-German Confederation joined, +seriously pressing them on the consideration of the papal government. +</p> +<p> +On April 23d, Von Arnim, the Prussian embassador, united with Daru, the +French minister, in suggesting to the Curia the inexpediency of reviving +mediaeval ideas. The minority bishops, thus encouraged, demanded now +that the relations of the spiritual to the secular power should be +determined before the pope's infallibility was discussed, and that it +should be settled whether Christ had conferred on St. Peter and his +successors a power over kings and emperors. +</p> +<p> +INFALLIBILITY OF THE POPE. No regard was paid to this, not even delay +was consented to. The Jesuits, who were at the bottom of the movement, +carried their measures through the packed assembly with a high hand. The +Council omitted no device to screen itself from popular criticism. Its +proceedings were conducted with the utmost secrecy; all who took part in +them were bound by a solemn oath to observe silence. +</p> +<p> +On July 13th, the votes were taken. Of 601 votes, 451 were affirmative. +Under the majority rule, the measure was pronounced carried, and, five +days subsequently, the pope proclaimed the dogma of his infallibility. +It has often been remarked that this was the day on which the French +declared war against Prussia. Eight days afterward the French troops +were withdrawn from Rome. Perhaps both the statesman and the philosopher +will admit that an infallible pope would be a great harmonizing element, +if only common-sense could acknowledge him. +</p> +<p> +Hereupon, the King of Italy addressed an autograph letter to the pope, +setting forth in very respectful terms the necessity that his troops +should advance and occupy positions "indispensable to the security of +his Holiness, and the maintenance of order;" that, while satisfying +the national aspirations, the chief of Catholicity, surrounded by the +devotion of the Italian populations, "might preserve on the banks of the +Tiber a glorious seat, independent of all human sovereignty." +</p> +<p> +To this his Holiness replied in a brief and caustic letter: "I give +thanks to God, who has permitted your majesty to fill the last days of +my life with bitterness. For the rest, I cannot grant certain requests, +nor conform with certain principles contained in your letter. Again, I +call upon God, and into his hands commit my cause, which is his cause. +I pray God to grant your majesty many graces, to free you from dangers, +and to dispense to you his mercy which you so much need." +</p> +<p> +THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT. The Italian troops met with but little +resistance. They occupied Rome on September 20, 1870. A manifesto was +issued, setting forth the details of a plebiscitum, the vote to be by +ballot, the question, "the unification of Italy." Its result showed how +completely the popular mind in Italy is emancipated from theology. In +the Roman provinces the number of votes on the lists was 167,548; the +number who voted, 135,291; the number who voted for annexation, 133,681; +the number who voted against it, 1,507; votes annulled, 103. The +Parliament of Italy ratified the vote of the Roman people for annexation +by a vote of 239 to 20. A royal decree now announced the annexation of +the Papal States to the kingdom of Italy, and a manifesto was issued +indicating the details of the arrangement. It declared that "by these +concessions the Italian Government seeks to prove to Europe that Italy +respects the sovereignty of the pope in conformity with the principle of +a free Church in a free state." +</p> +<p> +AFFAIRS IN PRUSSIA. In the Prusso-Austrian War it had been the hope of +the papacy, to restore the German Empire under Austria, and make +Germany a Catholic nation. In the Franco-German War the French expected +ultramontane sympathies in Germany. No means were spared to excite +Catholic sentiment against the Protestants. No vilification was spared. +They were spoken of as atheists; they were declared incapable of being +honest men; their sects were pointed out as indicating that their +secession was in a state of dissolution. "The followers of Luther are +the most abandoned men in all Europe." Even the pope himself, presuming +that the whole world had forgotten all history, did not hesitate to say, +"Let the German people understand that no other Church but that of Rome +is the Church of freedom and progress." +</p> +<p> +Meantime, among the clergy of Germany a party was organized to +remonstrate against, and even resist, the papal usurpation. It protested +against "a man being placed on the throne of God," against a vice-God +of any kind, nor would it yield its scientific convictions to +ecclesiastical authority. Some did not hesitate to accuse the +pope himself of being a heretic. Against these insubordinates +excommunications began to be fulminated, and at length it was demanded +that certain professors and teachers should be removed from their +offices, and infallibilists substituted. With this demand the Prussian +Government declined to comply. +</p> +<p> +The Prussian Government had earnestly desired to remain on amicable +terms with the papacy; it had no wish to enter on a theological quarrel; +but gradually the conviction was forced upon it that the question was +not a religious but a political one—whether the power of the state +should be used against the state. A teacher in a gymnasium had been +excommunicated; the government, on being required to dismiss him, +refused. The Church authorities denounced this as an attack upon faith. +The emperor sustained his minister. The organ of the infallible party +threatened the emperor with the opposition of all good Catholics, and +told him that, in a contention with the pope, systems of government can +and must change. It was now plain to every one that the question had +become, "Who is to be master in the state, the government or the Roman +Church? It is plainly impossible for men to live under two governments, +one of which declares to be wrong what the other commands. If the +government will not submit to the Roman Church, the two are enemies." A +conflict was thus forced upon Prussia by Rome—a conflict in which the +latter, impelled by her antagonism to modern civilization, is clearly +the aggressor. +</p> +<p> +ACTION OF THE PRUSSIAN GOVERNMENT. The government, now recognizing its +antagonist, defended itself by abolishing the Catholic department in +the ministry of Public Worship. This was about midsummer, 1871. In +the following November the Imperial Parliament passed a law that +ecclesiastics abusing their office, to the disturbance of the public +peace, should be criminally punished. And, guided by the principle that +the future belongs to him to whom the school belongs, a movement arose +for the purpose of separating the schools from the Church. +</p> +<p> +THE CHURCH A POLITICAL POWER. The Jesuit party was extending and +strengthening an organization all over Germany, based on the principle +that state legislation in ecclesiastical matters is not binding. Here +was an act of open insurrection. Could the government allow itself to be +intimidated? The Bishop of Ermeland declared that he would not obey the +laws of the state if they touched the Church. The government stopped the +payment of his salary; and, perceiving that there could be no peace +so long as the Jesuits were permitted to remain in the country, their +expulsion was resolved on, and carried into effect. At the close of +1872 his Holiness delivered an allocution, in which he touched on the +"persecution of the Church in the German Empire," and asserted that the +Church alone has a right to fix the limits between its domain and that +of the state—a dangerous and inadmissible principle, since under the +term morals the Church comprises all the relations of men to each other, +and asserts that whatever does not assist her oppresses her. Hereupon, a +few days subsequently (January 9, 1873), four laws were brought forward +by the government: 1. Regulating the means by which a person might +sever his connection with the Church; 2. Restricting the Church in the +exercise of ecclesiastical punishments; 3. Regulating the ecclesiastical +power of discipline, forbidding bodily chastisement, regulating fines +and banishments granting the privilege of an appeal to the Royal Court +of Justice for Ecclesiastical Affairs, the decision of which is final; +4. Ordaining the preliminary education and appointment of priests. They +must have had a satisfactory education, passed a public examination +conducted by the state, and have a knowledge of philosophy, history, +and German literature. Institutions refusing to be superintended by the +state are to be closed. +</p> +<p> +These laws demonstrate that Germany is resolved that she will no longer +be dictated to nor embarrassed by a few Italian noble families; that she +will be master of her own house. She sees in the conflict, not an affair +of religion or of conscience, but a struggle between the sovereignty +of state legislation and the sovereignty of the Church. She treats the +papacy not in the aspect of a religious, but of a political power, and +is resolved that the declaration of the Prussian Constitution shall be +maintained, that "the exercise of religious freedom must not interfere +with the duties of a citizen toward the community and the state." +</p> +<p> +DUAL GOVERNMENT IN EUROPE. With truth it is affirmed that the papacy is +administered not oecumenically, not as a universal Church, for all +the nations, but for the benefit of some Italian families. Look at its +composition! It consists of pope, cardinal bishops, cardinal deacons, +who at the present moment are all Italians; cardinal priests, nearly all +Italians; ministers and secretaries of the Sacred Congregation in Rome, +all Italians. France has not given a pope since the middle ages. It +is the same with Austria, Portugal, Spain. In spite of all attempts to +change this system of exclusion, to open the dignities of the Church to +all Catholicism, no foreigner can reach the holy chair. It is recognized +that the Church is a domain given by God to the princely Italian +families. Of fifty-five members of the present College of Cardinals, +forty are Italians—that is, thirty-two beyond their proper share. +</p> +<p> +The stumbling-block to the progress of Europe has been its dual system +of government. So long as every nation had two sovereigns, a temporal +one at home and a spiritual one in a foreign land—there being different +temporal masters in different nations, but only one foreign master +for all, the pontiff at Rome—how was it possible that history should +present us with any thing more than a narrative of the strifes of these +rival powers? Whoever will reflect on this state of things will see +how it is that those nations which have shaken off the dual form of +government are those which have made the greatest advance. He will +discern what is the cause of the paralysis which has befallen France. On +one hand she wishes to be the leader of Europe, on the other she clings +to a dead past. For the sake of propitiating her ignorant classes, she +enters upon lines of policy which her intelligence must condemn. So +evenly balanced are the two sovereignties under which she lives, that +sometimes one, sometimes the other, prevails; and not unfrequently the +one uses the other as an engine for the accomplishment of its ends. +</p> +<p> +INTENTIONS OF THE POPE. But this dual system approaches its close. To +the northern nations, less imaginative and less superstitious, it had +long ago become intolerable; they rejected it summarily at the epoch of +the Reformation, notwithstanding the protestations and pretensions +of Rome, Russia, happier than the rest, has never acknowledged the +influence of any foreign spiritual power. She gloried in her attachment +to the ancient Greek rite, and saw in the papacy nothing more than a +troublesome dissenter from the primitive faith. In America the temporal +and the spiritual have been absolutely divorced—the latter is not +permitted to have any thing to do with affairs of state, though in all +other respects liberty is conceded to it. The condition of the New +World also satisfies us that both forms of Christianity, Catholic and +Protestant, have lost their expansive power; neither can pass beyond its +long-established boundary-line—the Catholic republics remain Catholic, +the Protestant Protestant. And among the latter the disposition to +sectarian isolation is disappearing; persons of different denominations +consort without hesitation together. They gather their current opinions +from newspapers, not from the Church. +</p> +<p> +Pius IX., in the movements we have been considering, has had two objects +in view: 1. The more thorough centralization of the papacy, with a +spiritual autocrat assuming the prerogatives of God at its head; 2. +Control over the intellectual development of the nations professing +Christianity. +</p> +<p> +The logical consequence of the former of these is political +intervention. He insists that in all cases the temporal must subordinate +itself to the spiritual power; all laws inconsistent with the interests +of the Church must be repealed. They are not binding on the faithful. +In the preceding pages I have briefly related some of the complications +that have already occurred in the attempt to maintain this policy. +</p> +<p> +THE SYLLABUS. I now come to the consideration of the manner in which the +papacy proposes to establish its intellectual control; how it defines +its relation to its antagonist, Science, and, seeking a restoration +of the mediaeval condition, opposes modern civilization, and denounces +modern society. +</p> +<p> +The Encyclical and Syllabus present the principles which it was the +object of the Vatican Council to carry into practical effect. The +Syllabus stigmatizes pantheism, naturalism, and absolute rationalism, +denouncing such opinions as that God is the world; that there is no God +other than Nature; that theological matters must be treated in the same +manner as philosophical ones, that the methods and principles by which +the old scholastic doctors cultivated theology are no longer suitable +to the demands of the age and the progress of science; that every man +is free to embrace and profess the religion he may believe to be true, +guided by the light of his reason; that it appertains to the civil +power to define what are the rights and limits in which the Church +may exercise authority; that the Church has not the right of availing +herself of force or any direct or indirect temporal power; that the +Church ought to be separated from the state and the state from the +Church; that it is no longer expedient that the Catholic religion shall +be held as the only religion of the state, to the exclusion of all other +modes of worship; that persons coming to reside in Catholic countries +have a right to the public exercise of their own worship; that the +Roman pontiff can and ought to reconcile himself to, and agree with, the +progress of modern civilization. The Syllabus claims the right of the +Church to control public schools, and denies the right of the state in +that respect; it claims the control over marriage and divorce. +</p> +<p> +Such of these principles as the Council found expedient at present to +formularize, were set forth by it in "The Dogmatic Constitution of +the Catholic Faith." The essential points of this constitution, more +especially as regards the relations of religion to science, we have now +to examine. It will be understood that the following does not present +the entire document, but only an abstract of what appear to be its more +important parts. +</p> +<p> +CONSTITUTION OF CATHOLIC FAITH. This definition opens with a severe +review of the principles and consequences of the Protestant Reformation: +</p> +<p> +"The rejection of the divine authority of the Church to teach, and the +subjection of all things belonging to religion to the judgment of each +individual, have led to the production of many sects, and, as these +differed and disputed with each other, all belief in Christ was +overthrown in the minds of not a few, and the Holy Scriptures began to +be counted as myths and fables. Christianity has been rejected, and +the reign of mere Reason as they call it, or Nature, substituted; many +falling into the abyss of pantheism, materialism, and atheism, and, +repudiating the reasoning nature of man, and every rule of right and +wrong, they are laboring to overthrow the very foundations of human +society. As this impious heresy is spreading everywhere, not a few +Catholics have been inveigled by it. They have confounded human science +and divine faith. +</p> +<p> +"But the Church, the Mother and Mistress of nations, is ever ready to +strengthen the weak, to take to her bosom those that return, and carry +them on to better things. And, now the bishops of the whole world +being gathered together in this Oecumenical Council, and the Holy Ghost +sitting therein, and judging with us, we have determined to declare from +this chair of St. Peter the saving doctrine of Christ, and proscribe and +condemn the opposing errors. +</p> +<p> +"OF GOD, THE CREATOR OF ALL THINGS.—The Holy Catholic Apostolic Roman +Church believes that there is one true and living God, Creator and +Lord of Heaven and Earth, Almighty, Eternal, Immense, Incomprehensible, +Infinite in understanding and will, and in all perfection. He is +distinct from the world. Of his own most free counsel he made alike out +of nothing two created creatures, a spiritual and a temporal, angelic +and earthly. Afterward he made the human nature, composed of both. +Moreover, God by his providence protects and governs all things, +reaching from end to end mightily, and ordering all things harmoniously. +Every thing is open to his eyes, even things that come to pass by the +free action of his creatures." +</p> +<p> +"OF REVELATION.—The Holy Mother Church holds that God can be known with +certainty by the natural light of human reason, but that it has also +pleased him to reveal himself and the eternal decrees of his will in a +supernatural way. This supernatural revelation, as declared by the +Holy Council of Trent, is contained in the books of the Old and New +Testament, as enumerated in the decrees of that Council, and as are to +be had in the old Vulgate Latin edition. These are sacred because they +were written under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. They have God for +their author, and as such have been delivered to the Church. +</p> +<p> +"And, in order to restrain restless spirits, who may give erroneous +explanations, it is decreed—renewing the decision of the Council of +Trent—that no one may interpret the sacred Scriptures contrary to the +sense in which they are interpreted by Holy Mother Church, to whom such +interpretation belongs." +</p> +<p> +"OF FAITH.—Inasmuch as man depends on God as his Lord, and created +reason is wholly subject to uncreated truth, he is bound when God makes +a revelation to obey it by faith. This faith is a supernatural virtue, +and the beginning of man's salvation who believes revealed things to +be true, not for their intrinsic truth as seen by the natural light +of reason, but for the authority of God in revealing them. But, +nevertheless that faith might be agreeable to reason, God willed to +join miracles and prophecies, which, showing forth his omnipotence and +knowledge, are proofs suited to the understanding of all. Such we have +in Moses and the prophets, and above all in Christ. Now, all those +things are to be believed which are written in the word of God, or +handed down by tradition, which the Church by her teaching has proposed +for belief. +</p> +<p> +"No one can be justified without this faith, nor shall any one, unless +he persevere therein to the end, attain everlasting life. Hence God, +through his only-begotten Son, has established the Church as the +guardian and teacher of his revealed word. For only to the Catholic +Church do all those signs belong which make evident the credibility of +the Christian faith. Nay, more, the very Church herself, in view of +her wonderful propagation, her eminent holiness, her exhaustless +fruitfulness in all that is good, her Catholic unity, her unshaken +stability, offers a great and evident claim to belief, and an undeniable +proof of her divine mission. Thus the Church shows to her children that +the faith they hold rests on a most solid foundation. Wherefore, totally +unlike is the condition of those who, by the heavenly gift of faith, +have embraced the Catholic truth, and of those who, led by human +opinions, are following, a false religion." +</p> +<p> +"OF FAITH AND REASON.—Moreover, the Catholic Church has ever held and +now holds that there exists a twofold order of knowledge, each of which +is distinct from the other, both as to its principle and its object. As +to its principle, because in the one we know by natural reason, in the +other by divine faith; as to the object, because, besides those things +which our natural reason can attain, there are proposed to our belief +mysteries hidden in God, which, unless by him revealed, cannot come to +our knowledge. +</p> +<p> +"Reason, indeed, enlightened by faith, and seeking, with diligence and +godly sobriety, may, by God's gift, come to some understanding, limited +in degree, but most wholesome in its effects, of mysteries, both from +the analogy of things which are naturally known and from the connection +of the mysteries themselves with one another and with man's last end. +But never can reason be rendered capable of thoroughly understanding +mysteries as it does those truths which form its proper object. For +God's mysteries, in their very nature, so far surpass the reach of +created intellect, that, even when taught by revelation and received by +faith, they remain covered by faith itself, as by a veil, and shrouded, +as it were, in darkness as long as in this mortal life. +</p> +<p> +"But, although faith be above reason, there never can be a real +disagreement between them, since the same God who reveals mysteries and +infuses faith has given man's soul the light of reason, and God cannot +deny himself, nor can one truth ever contradict another. Wherefore the +empty shadow of such contradiction arises chiefly from this, that either +the doctrines of faith are not understood and set forth as the Church +really holds them, or that the vain devices and opinions of men are +mistaken for the dictates of reason. We therefore pronounce false every +assertion which is contrary to the enlightened truth of faith. Moreover, +the Church, which, together with her apostolic office of teaching, +is charged also with the guardianship of the deposits of faith, holds +likewise from God the right and the duty to condemn 'knowledge, falsely +so called,' 'lest any man be cheated by philosophy and vain deceit.' +Hence all the Christian faithful are not only forbidden to defend, as +legitimate conclusions of science, those opinions which are known to +be contrary to the doctrine of faith, especially when condemned by the +Church, but are rather absolutely bound to hold them for errors wearing +the deceitful appearance of truth." +</p> +<p> +THE VATICAN ANATHEMAS. "Not only is it impossible for faith and reason +ever to contradict each other, but they rather afford each other mutual +assistance. For right reason establishes the foundation of faith, and, +by the aid of its light, cultivates the science of divine things; and +faith, on the other hand, frees and preserves reason from errors, and +enriches it with knowledge of many kinds. So far, then, is the Church +from opposing the culture of human arts and sciences, that she rather +aids and promotes it in many ways. For she is not ignorant of nor does +she despise the advantages which flow from them to the life of man; on +the contrary, she acknowledges that, as they sprang from God, the Lord +of knowledge, so, if they be rightly pursued, they will, through the aid +of his grace, lead to God. Nor does she forbid any of those sciences +the use of its own principles and its own method within its own proper +sphere; but, recognizing this reasonable freedom, she takes care that +they may not, by contradicting God's teaching, fall into errors, or, +overstepping the due limits, invade or throw into confusion the domain +of faith. +</p> +<p> +"For the doctrine of faith revealed by God has not been proposed, like +some philosophical discovery, to be made perfect by human ingenuity, but +it has been delivered to the spouse of Christ as a divine deposit, to be +faithfully guarded and unerringly set forth. Hence, all tenets of holy +faith are to be explained always according to the sense and meaning of +the Church; nor is it ever lawful to depart therefrom under pretense or +color of a more enlightened explanation. Therefore, as generations and +centuries roll on, let the understanding, knowledge, and wisdom of each +and every one, of individuals and of the whole Church, grow apace and +increase exceedingly, yet only in its kind; that is to say retaining +pure and inviolate the sense and meaning and belief of the same +doctrine." +</p> +<p> +Among other canons the following were promulgated. +</p> +<p> +"Let him be anathema— +</p> +<p> +"Who denies the one true God, Creator and Lord of all things, visible +and invisible. +</p> +<p> +"Who unblushingly affirms that, besides matter, nothing else exists. +</p> +<p> +"Who says that the substance or essence of God, and of all things, is +one and the same. +</p> +<p> +"Who says that finite things, both corporeal and spiritual, or at least +spiritual things, are emanations of the divine substance; or that the +divine essence, by manifestation or development of itself, becomes all +things. +</p> +<p> +"Who does not acknowledge that the world and all things which it +contains were produced by God out of nothing. +</p> +<p> +"Who shall say that man can and ought to, of his own efforts, by means +of, constant progress, arrive, at last, at the possession of all truth +and goodness. +</p> +<p> +"Who shall refuse to receive, for sacred and canonical, the books of +Holy Scripture in their integrity, with all their parts, according as +they were enumerated by the holy Council of Trent, or shall deny that +they are Inspired by God. +</p> +<p> +"Who shall say that human reason is in such wise independent, that faith +cannot be demanded of it by God. +</p> +<p> +"Who shall say that divine revelation cannot be rendered credible by +external evidences. +</p> +<p> +"Who shall say that no miracles can be wrought, or that they can never +be known with certainty, and that the divine origin of Christianity +cannot be proved by them. +</p> +<p> +"Who shall say that divine revelation includes no mysteries, but that +all the dogmas of faith may be understood and demonstrated by reason +duly cultivated. +</p> +<p> +"Who shall say that human sciences ought to be pursued in such a spirit +of freedom that one may be allowed to hold as true their assertions, +even when opposed to revealed doctrine. +</p> +<p> +"Who shall say that it may at any time come to pass, in the progress +of science, that the doctrines set forth by the Church must be taken in +another sense than that in which the Church has ever received and yet +receives them." +</p> +<p> +THE EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE. The extraordinary and, indeed, it may be said, +arrogant assumptions contained in these decisions were far from being +received with satisfaction by educated Catholics. On the part of the +German universities there was resistance; and, when, at the close of the +year, the decrees of the Vatican Council were generally acquiesced in, +it was not through conviction of their truth, but through a disciplinary +sense of obedience. +</p> +<p> +By many of the most pious Catholics the entire movement and the results +to which it had led were looked upon with the sincerest sorrow. Pere +Hyacinthe, in a letter to the superior of his order, says: "I protest +against the divorce, as impious as it is insensate, sought to be +effected between the Church, which is our eternal mother, and the +society of the nineteenth century, of which we are the temporal +children, and toward which we have also duties and regards. It is my +most profound conviction that, if France in particular, and the Latin +race in general, are given up to social, moral, and religious anarchy, +the principal cause undoubtedly is not Catholicism itself, but the +manner in which Catholicism has for a long time been understood and +practised." +</p> +<p> +Notwithstanding his infallibility, which implies omniscience, his +Holiness did not foresee the issue of the Franco-Prussian War. Had the +prophetical talent been vouchsafed to him, he would have detected the +inopportuneness of the acts of his Council. His request to the King of +Prussia for military aid to support his temporal power was denied. The +excommunicated King of Italy, as we have seen, took possession of Rome. +A bitter papal encyclical, strangely contrasting with the courteous +politeness of modern state-papers, was issued, November 1, 1870, +denouncing the acts of the Piedmontese court, "which had followed the +counsel of the sects of perdition." In this his Holiness declares that +he is in captivity, and that he will have no agreement with Belial. He +pronounces the greater excommunication, with censures and penalties, +against his antagonists, and prays for "the intercession of the +immaculate Virgin Mary, mother of God, and that of the blessed apostles +Peter and Paul." +</p> +<p> +Of the various Protestant denominations, several had associated +themselves, for the purposes of consultation, under the designation of +the Evangelical Alliance. Their last meeting was held in New York, in +the autumn of 1873. Though, in this meeting, were gathered together many +pious representatives of the Reformed Churches, European and American, +it had not the prestige nor the authority of the Great Council that had +just previously closed its sessions in St. Peters, at Rome. It could +not appeal to an unbroken ancestry of far more than a thousand years; +it could not speak with the authority of an equal and, indeed, of +a superior to emperors and kings. While profound intelligence and a +statesmanlike, worldly wisdom gleamed in every thing that the Vatican +Council had done, the Evangelical Alliance met without a clear and +precise view of its objects, without any definitely-marked intentions. +Its wish was to draw into closer union the various Protestant Churches, +but it had no well-grounded hope of accomplishing that desirable result. +It illustrated the necessary working, of the principle on which +those Churches originated. They were founded on dissent and exist by +separation. +</p> +<p> +Yet in the action of the Evangelical Alliance may be discerned +certain very impressive facts. It averted its eyes from its ancient +antagonist—that antagonist which had so recently loaded the Reformation +with contumely and denunciation—it fastened them, as the Vatican +Council had done, on Science. Under that dreaded name there stood before +it what seemed to be a spectre of uncertain form, of hourly-dilating +proportions, of threatening aspect. Sometimes the Alliance addressed +this stupendous apparition in words of courtesy, sometimes in tones of +denunciation. +</p> +<p> +THE VATICAN CONSTITUTION CRITICISED. The Alliance failed to perceive +that modern Science is the legitimate sister—indeed, it is the +twin-sister—of the Reformation. They were begotten together and +were born together. It failed to perceive that, though there is an +impossibility of bringing into coalition the many conflicting sects, +they may all find in science a point of connection; and that, not a +distrustful attitude toward it, but a cordial union with it, is their +true policy. +</p> +<p> +It remains now to offer some reflections on this "Constitution of the +Catholic Faith," as defined by the Vatican Council. +</p> +<p> +For objects to present themselves under identical relations to different +persons, they must be seen from the same point of view. In the instance +we are now considering, the religious man has his own especial station; +the scientific man another, a very different one. It is not for either +to demand that his co-observer shall admit that the panorama of facts +spread before them is actually such as it appears to him to be. +</p> +<p> +The Dogmatic Constitution insists on the admission of this postulate, +that the Roman Church acts under a divine commission, specially and +exclusively delivered to it. In virtue of that great authority, it +requires of all men the surrender of their intellectual convictions, and +of all nations the subordination of their civil power. +</p> +<p> +But a claim so imposing must be substantiated by the most decisive and +unimpeachable credentials; proofs, not only of an implied and indirect +kind, but clear, emphatic, and to the point; proofs that it would be +impossible to call in question. +</p> +<p> +The Church, however, declares, that she will not submit her claim to +the arbitrament of human reason; she demands that it shall be at once +conceded as an article of faith. +</p> +<p> +If this be admitted, all bar requirements must necessarily be assented +to, no matter how exorbitant they may be. +</p> +<p> +With strange inconsistency the Dogmatic Constitution deprecates reason, +affirming that it cannot determine the points under consideration, and +yet submits to it arguments for adjudication. In truth, it might be said +that the whole composition is a passionate plea to Reason to stultify +itself in favor of Roman Christianity. +</p> +<p> +With points of view so widely asunder, it is impossible that Religion +and Science should accord in their representation of things. Nor can +any conclusion in common be reached, except by an appeal to Reason as a +supreme and final judge. +</p> +<p> +There are many religions in the world, some of them of more venerable +antiquity, some having far more numerous adherents, than the Roman. How +can a selection be made among them, except by such an appeal to Reason? +Religion and Science must both submit their claims and their dissensions +to its arbitrament. +</p> +<p> +Against this the Vatican Council protests. It exalts faith to a +superiority over reason; it says that they constitute two separate +orders of knowledge, having respectively for their objects mysteries +and facts. Faith deals with mysteries, reason with facts. Asserting the +dominating superiority of faith, it tries to satisfy the reluctant mind +with miracles and prophecies. +</p> +<p> +On the other hand, Science turns away from the incomprehensible, and +rests herself on the maxim of Wiclif: "God forceth not a man to believe +that which he cannot understand." In the absence of an exhibition of +satisfactory credentials on the part of her opponent, she considers +whether there be in the history of the papacy, and in the biography of +the popes, any thing that can adequately sustain a divine commission, +any thing that can justify pontifical infallibility, or extort that +unhesitating obedience which is due to the vice-God. +</p> +<p> +One of the most striking and vet contradictory features of the Dogmatic +Constitution is, the reluctant homage it pays to the intelligence of +man. It presents a definition of the philosophical basis of Catholicism, +but it veils from view the repulsive features of the vulgar faith. It +sets forth the attributes of God, the Creator of all things, in words +fitly designating its sublime conception, but it abstains from affirming +that this most awful and eternal Being was born of an earthly mother, +the wife of a Jewish carpenter, who has since become the queen of +heaven. The God it depicts is not the God of the middle ages, seated +on his golden throne, surrounded by choirs of angels, but the God of +Philosophy. The Constitution has nothing to say about the Trinity, +nothing of the worship due to the Virgin—on the contrary, that is by +implication sternly condemned; nothing about transubstantiation, or +the making of the flesh and blood of God by the priest; nothing of the +invocation of the saints. It bears on its face subordination to the +thought of the age, the impress of the intellectual progress of man. +</p> +<p> +THE PASSAGE OF EUROPE TO LLAMAISM. Such being the exposition rendered to +us respecting the attributes of God, it next instructs us as to his +mode of government of the world. The Church asserts that she possesses a +supernatural control over all material and moral events. The priesthood, +in its various grades, can determine issues of the future, either by the +exercise of its inherent attributes, or by its influential invocation of +the celestial powers. To the sovereign pontiff it has been given to bind +or loose at his pleasure. It is unlawful to appeal from his judgments +to an Oecumenical Council, as if to an earthly arbiter superior to him. +Powers such as these are consistent with arbitrary rule, but they are +inconsistent with the government of the world by immutable law. Hence +the Dogmatic Constitution plants itself firmly in behalf of incessant +providential interventions; it will not for a moment admit that in +natural things there is an irresistible sequence of events, or in the +affairs of men an unavoidable course of acts. +</p> +<p> +But has not the order of civilization in all parts of the world been the +same? Does not the growth of society resemble individual growth? Do not +both exhibit to us phases of youth, of maturity, of decrepitude? To +a person who has carefully considered the progressive civilization of +groups of men in regions of the earth far apart, who has observed the +identical forms under which that advancing civilization has manifested +itself, is it not clear that the procedure is determined by law? The +religious ideas of the Incas of Peru and the emperors of Mexico, and the +ceremonials of their court-life, were the same as those in Europe—the +same as those in Asia. The current of thought had been the same. A swarm +of bees carried to some distant land will build its combs and regulate +its social institutions as other unknown swarms would do, and so with +separated and disconnected swarms of men. So invariable is this sequence +of thought and act, that there are philosophers who, transferring the +past example offered by Asiatic history to the case of Europe, would +not hesitate to sustain the proposition—given a bishop of Rome and some +centuries, and you will have an infallible pope: given an infallible +pope and a little more time, and you will have Llamaism—Llamaism to +which Asia has long, ago attained. +</p> +<p> +As to the origin of corporeal and spiritual things, the Dogmatic +Constitution adds a solemn emphasis to its declarations, by +anathematizing all those who bold the doctrine of emanation, or who +believe that visible Nature is only a manifestation of the Divine +Essence. In this its authors had a task of no ordinary difficulty before +them. They must encounter those formidable ideas, whether old or new, +which in our times are so strongly forcing themselves on thoughtful men. +The doctrine of the conservation and correlation of Force yields as its +logical issue the time-worn Oriental emanation theory; the doctrines of +Evolution and Development strike at that of successive creative acts. +The former rests on the fundamental principle that the quantity of +force in the universe is invariable. Though that quantity can neither be +increased nor diminished, the forms under which Force expresses itself +may be transmuted into each other. As yet this doctrine has not received +complete scientific demonstration, but so numerous and so cogent are the +arguments adduced in its behalf, that it stands in an imposing, almost +in an authoritative attitude. Now, the Asiatic theory of emanation and +absorption is seen to be in harmony with this grand idea. It does not +hold that, at the conception of a human being, a soul is created by +God out of nothing and given to it, but that a portion of the already +existing, the divine, the universal intelligence, is imparted, and, when +life is over, this returns to and is absorbed in the general source from +which it originally came. The authors of the Constitution forbid these +ideas to be held, under pain of eternal punishment. +</p> +<p> +In like manner they dispose of the doctrines of Evolution and +Development, bluntly insisting that the Church believes in distinct +creative acts. The doctrine that every living form is derived from some +preceding form is scientifically in a much more advanced position than +that concerning Force, and probably may be considered as established, +whatever may become of the additions with which it has recently been +overlaid. +</p> +<p> +In her condemnation of the Reformation, the Church carries into effect +her ideas of the subordination of reason to faith. In her eyes the +Reformation is an impious heresy, leading to the abyss of pantheism, +materialism, and atheism, and tending to overthrow the very foundations +of human society. She therefore would restrain those "restless spirits" +who, following Luther, have upheld the "right of every man to interpret +the Scriptures for himself." She asserts that it is a wicked error to +admit Protestants to equal political privileges with Catholics, and that +to coerce them and suppress them is a sacred duty; that it is abominable +to permit them to establish educational institutions. Gregory XVI. +denounced freedom of conscience as an insane folly, and the freedom of +the press a pestilent error, which cannot be sufficiently detested. +</p> +<p> +But how is it possible to recognize an inspired and infallible oracle on +the Tiber, when it is remembered that again and again successive popes +have contradicted each other; that popes have denounced councils, and +councils have denounced popes; that the Bible of Sixtus V. had so many +admitted errors—nearly two thousand—that its own authors had to recall +it? How is it possible for the children of the Church to regard as +"delusive errors" the globular form of the earth, her position as a +planet in the solar system, her rotation on her axis, her movement round +the sun? How can they deny that there are antipodes, and other worlds +than ours? How can they believe that the world was made out of nothing, +completed in a week, finished just as we see it now; that it has +undergone no change, but that its parts have worked so indifferently as +to require incessant interventions? +</p> +<p> +THE ERRORS OF ECCLESIASTICISM. When Science is thus commanded to +surrender her intellectual convictions, may she not ask the ecclesiastic +to remember the past? The contest respecting the figure of the earth, +and the location of heaven and hell, ended adversely to him. He affirmed +that the earth is an extended plane, and that the sky is a firmament, +the floor of heaven, through which again and again persons have been +seen to ascend. The globular form demonstrated beyond any possibility +of contradiction by astronomical facts, and by the voyage of Magellan's +ship, he then maintained that it is the central body of the universe, +all others being in subordination to it, and it the grand object of +God's regard. Forced from this position, he next affirmed that it is +motionless, the sun and the stars actually revolving, as they apparently +do, around it. The invention of the telescope proved that here again +he was in error. Then he maintained that all the motions of the solar +system are regulated by providential intervention; the "Principia" +of Newton demonstrated that they are due to irresistible law. He then +affirmed that the earth and all the celestial bodies were created about +six thousand years ago, and that in six days the order of Nature was +settled, and plants and animals in their various tribes introduced. +Constrained by the accumulating mass of adverse evidence, he enlarged +his days into periods of indefinite length—only, however, to find that +even this device was inadequate. The six ages, with their six special +creations, could no longer be maintained, when it was discovered that +species, slowly emerged in one age, reached a culmination in a second, +and gradually died out in a third: this overlapping from age to age +would not only have demanded creations, but re-creations also. He +affirmed that there had been a deluge, which covered the whole earth +above the tops of the highest mountains, and that the waters of this +flood were removed by a wind. Correct ideas respecting the dimensions +of the atmosphere, and of the sea, and of the operation of evaporation, +proved how untenable these statements are. Of the progenitors of the +human race, he declared that they had come from their Maker's hand +perfect, both in body and mind, and had subsequently experienced a fall. +He is now considering how best to dispose of the evidence continually +accumulating respecting the savage condition of prehistoric man. +</p> +<p> +Is it at all surprising that the number of those who hold the opinions +of the Church in light esteem should so rapidly increase? How can that +be received as a trustworthy guide in the invisible, which falls into so +many errors in the visible? How can that give confidence in the moral, +the spiritual, which has so signally failed in the physical? It is not +possible to dispose of these conflicting facts as "empty shadows," "vain +devices," "fictions coming from knowledge falsely so called," "errors +wearing the deceitful appearance of truth," as the Church stigmatizes +them. On the contrary, they are stern witnesses, bearing emphatic +and unimpeachable testimony against the ecclesiastical claim to +infallibility, and fastening a conviction of ignorance and blindness +upon her. +</p> +<p> +Convicted of so many errors, the papacy makes no attempt at explanation. +It ignores the whole matter Nay, more, relying on the efficacy +of audacity, though confronted by these facts, it lays claim to +infallibility. +</p> +<p> +SEPARATION OF CATHOLICISM AND CIVILIZATION. But, to the pontiff, no +other rights can be conceded than those he can establish at the bar of +Reason. He cannot claim infallibility in religious affairs, and +decline it in scientific. Infallibility embraces all things. It implies +omniscience. If it holds good for theology, it necessarily holds good +for science. How is it possible to coordinate the infallibility of the +papacy with the well-known errors into which it has fallen? +</p> +<p> +Does it not, then, become needful to reject the claim of the papacy +to the employment of coercion in the maintenance of its opinions; to +repudiate utterly the declaration that "the Inquisition is an urgent +necessity in view of the unbelief of the present age," and in the name +of human nature to protest loudly against the ferocity and terrorism of +that institution? Has not conscience inalienable rights? +</p> +<p> +An impassable and hourly-widening gulf intervenes between Catholicism +and the spirit of the age. Catholicism insists that blind faith is +superior to reason; that mysteries are of more importance than facts. +She claims to be the sole interpreter of Nature and revelation, the +supreme arbiter of knowledge; she summarily rejects all modern criticism +of the Scriptures, and orders the Bible to be accepted in accordance +with the views of the theologians of Trent; she openly avows her hatred +of free institutions and constitutional systems, and declares that those +are in damnable error who regard the reconciliation of the pope with +modern civilization as either possible or desirable. +</p> +<p> +SCIENCE AND PROTESTANTISM. But the spirit of the age demands—is the +human intellect to be subordinated to the Tridentine Fathers, or to the +fancy of illiterate and uncritical persons who wrote in the earlier ages +of the Church? It sees no merit in blind faith, but rather distrusts it. +It looks forward to an improvement in the popular canon of credibility +for a decision between fact and fiction. It does not consider itself +bound to believe fables and falsehoods that have been invented for +ecclesiastical ends. It finds no argument in behalf of their truth, that +traditions and legends have been long-lived; in this respect, those of +the Church are greatly inferior to the fables of paganism. The longevity +of the Church itself is not due to divine protection or intervention, +but to the skill with which it has adapted its policy to existing +circumstances. If antiquity be the criterion of authenticity, the claims +of Buddhism must be respected; it has the superior warrant of many +centuries. There can be no defense of those deliberate falsifications of +history, that concealment of historical facts, of which the Church has +so often taken advantage. In these things the end does not justify the +means. +</p> +<p> +Then has it in truth come to this, that Roman Christianity and Science +are recognized by their respective adherents as being absolutely +incompatible; they cannot exist together; one must yield to the other; +mankind must make its choice—it cannot have both. +</p> +<p> +SCIENCE AND FAITH. While such is, perhaps, the issue as regards +Catholicism, a reconciliation of the Reformation with Science is not +only possible, but would easily take place, if the Protestant Churches +would only live up to the maxim taught by Luther, and established by so +many years of war. That maxim is, the right of private interpretation of +the Scriptures. It was the foundation of intellectual liberty. But, if +a personal interpretation of the book of Revelation is permissible, +how can it be denied in the case of the book of Nature? In the +misunderstandings that have taken place, we must ever bear in mind +the infirmities of men. The generations that immediately followed +the Reformation may perhaps be excused for not comprehending the full +significance of their cardinal principle, and for not on all occasions +carrying it into effect. When Calvin caused Servetus, to be burnt, he +was animated, not by the principles of the Reformation, but by those +of Catholicism, from which he had not been able to emancipate himself +completely. And when the clergy of influential Protestant confessions +have stigmatized the investigators of Nature as infidels and atheists, +the same may be said. For Catholicism to reconcile itself to Science, +there are formidable, perhaps insuperable obstacles in the way. For +Protestantism to achieve that great result there are not. In the one +case there is a bitter, a mortal animosity to be overcome; in the other, +a friendship, that misunderstandings have alienated, to be restored. +</p> +<p> +CIVILIZATION AND RELIGION. But, whatever may be the preparatory +incidents of that great impending intellectual crisis which Christendom +must soon inevitably witness, of this we may rest assured, that the +silent secession from the public faith, which in so ominous a manner +characterizes the present generation, will find at length political +expression. It is not without significance that France reenforces the +ultramontane tendencies of her lower population, by the promotion of +pilgrimages, the perpetration of miracles, the exhibition of celestial +apparitions. Constrained to do this by her destiny, she does it with +a blush. It is not without significance that Germany resolves to rid +herself of the incubus of a dual government, by the exclusion of the +Italian element, and to carry to its completion that Reformation which +three centuries ago she left unfinished. The time approaches when +men must take their choice between quiescent, immobile faith and +ever-advancing Science—faith, with its mediaeval consolations, Science, +which is incessantly scattering its material blessings in the pathway +of life, elevating the lot of man in this world, and unifying the +human race. Its triumphs are solid and enduring. But the glory which +Catholicism might gain from a conflict with material ideas is at the +best only like that of other celestial meteors when they touch the +atmosphere of the earth—transitory and useless. +</p> +<p> +Though Guizot's affirmation that the Church has always sided with +despotism is only too true, it must be remembered that in the policy +she follows there is much of political necessity. She is urged on by +the pressure of nineteen centuries. But, if the irresistible indicates +itself in her action, the inevitable manifests itself in her life. For +it is with the papacy as with a man. It has passed through the struggles +of infancy, it has displayed the energies of maturity, and, its work +completed, it must sink into the feebleness and querulousness of old +age. Its youth can never be renewed. The influence of its souvenirs +alone will remain. As pagan Rome threw her departing shadow over the +empire and tinctured all its thoughts, so Christian Rome casts her +parting shadow over Europe. +</p> +<p> +INADMISSIBLE CLAIMS OF CATHOLICISM. Will modern civilization consent to +abandon the career of advancement which has given it so much power and +happiness? Will it consent to retrace its steps to the semi-barbarian +ignorance and superstition of the middle ages? Will it submit to the +dictation of a power, which, claiming divine authority, can present +no adequate credentials of its office; a power which kept Europe in a +stagnant condition for many centuries, ferociously suppressing by the +stake and the sword every attempt at progress; a power that is founded +in a cloud of mysteries; that sets itself above reason and common-sense; +that loudly proclaims the hatred it entertains against liberty of +thought and freedom in civil institutions; that professes its intention +of repressing the one and destroying the other whenever it can find the +opportunity; that denounces as most pernicious and insane the opinion +that liberty of conscience and of worship is the right of every man; +that protests against that right being proclaimed and asserted by law in +every well-governed state; that contemptuously repudiates the principle +that the will of the people, manifested by public opinion (as it is +called) or by other means, shall constitute law; that refuses to every +man any title to opinion in matters of religion, but holds that it is +simply his duty to believe what he is told by the Church, and to obey +her commands; that will not permit any temporal government to define +the rights and prescribe limits to the authority of the Church; +that declares it not only may but will resort to force to discipline +disobedient individuals; that invades the sanctify of private life, by +making, at the confessional, the wife and daughters and servants of one +suspected, spies and informers against him; that tries him without an +accuser, and by torture makes him bear witness against himself; that +denies the right of parents to educate their children outside of its own +Church, and insists that to it alone belongs the supervision of domestic +life and the control of marriages and divorces; that denounces "the +impudence" of those who presume to subordinate the authority of the +Church to the civil authority, or who advocate the separation of the +Church from the state; that absolutely repudiates all toleration, and +affirms that the Catholic religion is entitled to be held as the only +religion in every country, to the exclusion of all other modes of +worship; that requires all laws standing in the way of its interests +to be repealed, and, if that be refused, orders all its followers to +disobey them? +</p> +<p> +ISSUE OF THE CONFLICT. This power, conscious that it can work no miracle +to serve itself, does not hesitate to disturb society by its intrigues +against governments, and seeks to accomplish its ends by alliances with +despotism. +</p> +<p> +Claims such as these mean a revolt against modern civilization, an +intention of destroying it, no matter at what social cost. To submit to +them without resistance, men must be slaves indeed! +</p> +<p> +As to the issue of the coming conflict, can any one doubt? Whatever +is resting on fiction and fraud will be overthrown. Institutions that +organize impostures and spread delusions must show what right they have +to exist. Faith must render an account of herself to Reason. Mysteries +must give place to facts. Religion must relinquish that imperious, that +domineering position which she has so long maintained against Science. +There must be absolute freedom for thought. The ecclesiastic must learn +to keep himself within the domain he has chosen, and cease to tyrannize +over the philosopher, who, conscious of his own strength and the purity +of his motives, will bear such interference no longer. What was +written by Esdras near the willow-fringed rivers of Babylon, more than +twenty-three centuries ago, still holds good: "As for Truth it endureth +and is always strong; it liveth and conquereth for evermore." +</p> + + +<br><br><br><br> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History of the Conflict Between +Religion and Science, by John William Draper + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT *** + +***** This file should be named 1185-h.htm or 1185-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/8/1185/ + +Produced by Charles Keller, and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science + +Author: John William Draper + +Posting Date: August 21, 2008 [EBook #1185] +Release Date: February, 1998 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Keller + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT BETWEEN RELIGION AND SCIENCE + +By John William Draper, M. D., LL. D. + +PROFESSOR IN THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK, + + AUTHOR OF A TREATISE ON HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY, HISTORY OF THE + INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT OF EUROPE, HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN + CIVIL WAR, AND OF MANY EXPERIMENTAL MEMOIRS ON CHEMICAL AND + OTHER SCIENTIFIC SUBJECTS + + + + +PREFACE. + +WHOEVER has had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the mental +condition of the intelligent classes in Europe and America, must have +perceived that there is a great and rapidly-increasing departure from +the public religious faith, and that, while among the more frank this +divergence is not concealed, there is a far more extensive and far more +dangerous secession, private and unacknowledged. + +So wide-spread and so powerful is this secession, that it can neither be +treated with contempt nor with punishment. It cannot be extinguished by +derision, by vituperation, or by force. The time is rapidly approaching +when it will give rise to serious political results. + +Ecclesiastical spirit no longer inspires the policy of the world. +Military fervor in behalf of faith has disappeared. Its only souvenirs +are the marble effigies of crusading knights, reposing in the silent +crypts of churches on their tombs. + +That a crisis is impending is shown by the attitude of the great powers +toward the papacy. The papacy represents the ideas and aspirations +of two-thirds of the population of Europe. It insists on a political +supremacy in accordance with its claims to a divine origin and mission, +and a restoration of the mediaeval order of things, loudly declaring +that it will accept no reconciliation with modern civilization. + +The antagonism we thus witness between Religion and Science is the +continuation of a struggle that commenced when Christianity began +to attain political power. A divine revelation must necessarily be +intolerant of contradiction; it must repudiate all improvement in +itself, and view with disdain that arising from the progressive +intellectual development of man. But our opinions on every subject are +continually liable to modification, from the irresistible advance of +human knowledge. + +Can we exaggerate the importance of a contention in which every +thoughtful person must take part whether he will or not? In a matter so +solemn as that of religion, all men, whose temporal interests are not +involved in existing institutions, earnestly desire to find the truth. +They seek information as to the subjects in dispute, and as to the +conduct of the disputants. + +The history of Science is not a mere record of isolated discoveries; it +is a narrative of the conflict of two contending powers, the expansive +force of the human intellect on one side, and the compression arising +from traditionary faith and human interests on the other. + +No one has hitherto treated the subject from this point of view. Yet +from this point it presents itself to us as a living issue--in fact, as +the most important of all living issues. + +A few years ago, it was the politic and therefore the proper course to +abstain from all allusion to this controversy, and to keep it as far as +possible in the background. The tranquillity of society depends so +much on the stability of its religious convictions, that no one can +be justified in wantonly disturbing them. But faith is in its nature +unchangeable, stationary; Science is in its nature progressive; and +eventually a divergence between them, impossible to conceal, must take +place. It then becomes the duty of those whose lives have made them +familiar with both modes of thought, to present modestly, but +firmly, their views; to compare the antagonistic pretensions calmly, +impartially, philosophically. History shows that, if this be not done, +social misfortunes, disastrous and enduring, will ensue. When the old +mythological religion of Europe broke down under the weight of its own +inconsistencies, neither the Roman emperors nor the philosophers of +those times did any thing adequate for the guidance of public opinion. +They left religious affairs to take their chance, and accordingly those +affairs fell into the hands of ignorant and infuriated ecclesiastics, +parasites, eunuchs, and slaves. + +The intellectual night which settled on Europe, in consequence of that +great neglect of duty, is passing away; we live in the daybreak of +better things. Society is anxiously expecting light, to see in what +direction it is drifting. It plainly discerns that the track along which +the voyage of civilization has thus far been made, has been left; and +that a new departure, on all unknown sea, has been taken. + +Though deeply impressed with such thoughts, I should not have presumed +to write this book, or to intrude on the public the ideas it presents, +had I not made the facts with which it deals a subject of long and +earnest meditation. And I have gathered a strong incentive to undertake +this duty from the circumstance that a "History of the Intellectual +Development of Europe," published by me several years ago, which has +passed through many editions in America, and has been reprinted in +numerous European languages, English, French, German, Russian, Polish, +Servian, etc., is everywhere received with favor. + +In collecting and arranging the materials for the volumes I published +under the title of "A History of the American Civil War," a work of very +great labor, I had become accustomed to the comparison of conflicting +statements, the adjustment of conflicting claims. The approval with +which that book has been received by the American public, a critical +judge of the events considered, has inspired me with additional +confidence. I had also devoted much attention to the experimental +investigation of natural phenomena, and had published many well-known +memoirs on such subjects. And perhaps no one can give himself to these +pursuits, and spend a large part of his life in the public teaching of +science, without partaking of that love of impartiality and truth which +Philosophy incites. She inspires us with a desire to dedicate our days +to the good of our race, so that in the fading light of life's evening +we may not, on looking back, be forced to acknowledge how unsubstantial +and useless are the objects that we have pursued. + +Though I have spared no pains in the composition of this book, I am +very sensible how unequal it is to the subject, to do justice to which +a knowledge of science, history, theology, politics, is required; every +page should be alive with intelligence and glistening with facts. But +then I have remembered that this is only as it were the preface, or +forerunner, of a body of literature, which the events and wants of our +times will call forth. We have come to the brink of a great intellectual +change. Much of the frivolous reading of the present will be supplanted +by a thoughtful and austere literature, vivified by endangered +interests, and made fervid by ecclesiastical passion. + +What I have sought to do is, to present a clear and impartial statement +of the views and acts of the two contending parties. In one sense I have +tried to identify myself with each, so as to comprehend thoroughly their +motives; but in another and higher sense I have endeavored to stand +aloof, and relate with impartiality their actions. + +I therefore trust that those, who may be disposed to criticise this +book, will bear in mind that its object is not to advocate the views +and pretensions of either party, but to explain clearly, and without +shrinking those of both. In the management of each chapter I have +usually set forth the orthodox view first, and then followed it with +that of its opponents. + +In thus treating the subject it has not been necessary to pay much +regard to more moderate or intermediate opinions, for, though they may +be intrinsically of great value, in conflicts of this kind it is not +with the moderates but with the extremists that the impartial reader is +mainly concerned. Their movements determine the issue. + +For this reason I have had little to say respecting the two great +Christian confessions, the Protestant and Greek Churches. As to the +latter, it has never, since the restoration of science, arrayed itself +in opposition to the advancement of knowledge. On the contrary, it has +always met it with welcome. It has observed a reverential attitude to +truth, from whatever quarter it might come. Recognizing the apparent +discrepancies between its interpretations of revealed truth and the +discoveries of science, it has always expected that satisfactory +explanations and reconciliations would ensue, and in this it has not +been disappointed. It would have been well for modern civilization if +the Roman Church had done the same. + +In speaking of Christianity, reference is generally made to the +Roman Church, partly because its adherents compose the majority of +Christendom, partly because its demands are the most pretentious, and +partly because it has commonly sought to enforce those demands by +the civil power. None of the Protestant Churches has ever occupied a +position so imperious--none has ever had such wide-spread political +influence. For the most part they have been averse to constraint, and +except in very few instances their opposition has not passed beyond the +exciting of theological odium. + +As to Science, she has never sought to ally herself to civil power. She +has never attempted to throw odium or inflict social ruin on any human +being. She has never subjected any one to mental torment, physical +torture, least of all to death, for the purpose of upholding or +promoting her ideas. She presents herself unstained by cruelties and +crimes. But in the Vatican--we have only to recall the Inquisition--the +hands that are now raised in appeals to the Most Merciful are crimsoned. +They have been steeped in blood! + +There are two modes of historical composition, the artistic and the +scientific. The former implies that men give origin to events; it +therefore selects some prominent individual, pictures him under +a fanciful form, and makes him the hero of a romance. The latter, +insisting that human affairs present an unbroken chain, in which each +fact is the offspring of some preceding fact, and the parent of some +subsequent fact, declares that men do not control events, but that +events control men. The former gives origin to compositions, which, +however much they may interest or delight us, are but a grade above +novels; the latter is austere, perhaps even repulsive, for it sternly +impresses us with a conviction of the irresistible dominion of law, and +the insignificance of human exertions. In a subject so solemn as that to +which this book is devoted, the romantic and the popular are altogether +out of place. He who presumes to treat of it must fix his eyes +steadfastly on that chain of destiny which universal history displays; +he must turn with disdain from the phantom impostures of pontiffs and +statesmen and kings. + +If any thing were needed to show us the untrustworthiness of artistic +historical compositions, our personal experience would furnish it. How +often do our most intimate friends fail to perceive the real motives of +our every-day actions; how frequently they misinterpret our intentions! +If this be the case in what is passing before our eyes, may we not +be satisfied that it is impossible to comprehend justly the doings of +persons who lived many years ago, and whom we have never seen. + +In selecting and arranging the topics now to be presented, I have been +guided in part by "the Confession" of the late Vatican Council, and in +part by the order of events in history. Not without interest will the +reader remark that the subjects offer themselves to us now as they did +to the old philosophers of Greece. We still deal with the same questions +about which they disputed. What is God? What is the soul? What is the +world? How is it governed? Have we any standard or criterion of truth? +And the thoughtful reader will earnestly ask, "Are our solutions of +these problems any better than theirs?" + +The general argument of this book, then, is as follows: + +I first direct attention to the origin of modern science as +distinguished from ancient, by depending on observation, experiment, +and mathematical discussion, instead of mere speculation, and shall show +that it was a consequence of the Macedonian campaigns, which brought +Asia and Europe into contact. A brief sketch of those campaigns, and of +the Museum of Alexandria, illustrates its character. + +Then with brevity I recall the well-known origin of Christianity, and +show its advance to the attainment of imperial power, the transformation +it underwent by its incorporation with paganism, the existing religion +of the Roman Empire. A clear conception of its incompatibility with +science caused it to suppress forcibly the Schools of Alexandria. It was +constrained to this by the political necessities of its position. + +The parties to the conflict thus placed, I next relate the story of +their first open struggle; it is the first or Southern Reformation. The +point in dispute had respect to the nature of God. It involved the rise +of Mohammedanism. Its result was, that much of Asia and Africa, with the +historic cities Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Carthage, were wrenched from +Christendom, and the doctrine of the Unity of God established in the +larger portion of what had been the Roman Empire. + +This political event was followed by the restoration of science, the +establishment of colleges, schools, libraries, throughout the dominions +of the Arabians. Those conquerors, pressing forward rapidly in their +intellectual development, rejected the anthropomorphic ideas of the +nature of God remaining in their popular belief, and accepted other more +philosophical ones, akin to those that had long previously been attained +to in India. The result of this was a second conflict, that respecting +the nature of the soul. Under the designation of Averroism, there came +into prominence the theories of Emanation and Absorption. At the +close of the middle ages the Inquisition succeeded in excluding those +doctrines from Europe, and now the Vatican Council has formally and +solemnly anathematized them. + +Meantime, through the cultivation of astronomy, geography, and other +sciences, correct views had been gained as to the position and relations +of the earth, and as to the structure of the world; and since Religion, +resting itself on what was assumed to be the proper interpretation +of the Scriptures, insisted that the earth is the central and most +important part of the universe, a third conflict broke out. In this +Galileo led the way on the part of Science. Its issue was the overthrow +of the Church on the question in dispute. Subsequently a subordinate +controversy arose respecting the age of the world, the Church insisting +that it is only about six thousand years old. In this she was again +overthrown The light of history and of science had been gradually +spreading over Europe. In the sixteenth century the prestige of Roman +Christianity was greatly diminished by the intellectual reverses it +had experienced, and also by its political and moral condition. It was +clearly seen by many pious men that Religion was not accountable for +the false position in which she was found, but that the misfortune was +directly traceable to the alliance she had of old contracted with Roman +paganism. The obvious remedy, therefore, was a return to primitive +purity. Thus arose the fourth conflict, known to us as the +Reformation--the second or Northern Reformation. The special form it +assumed was a contest respecting the standard or criterion of +truth, whether it is to be found in the Church or in the Bible. The +determination of this involved a settlement of the rights of reason, or +intellectual freedom. Luther, who is the conspicuous man of the epoch, +carried into effect his intention with no inconsiderable success; and at +the close of the struggle it was found that Northern Europe was lost to +Roman Christianity. + +We are now in the midst of a controversy respecting the mode of +government of the world, whether it be by incessant divine intervention, +or by the operation of primordial and unchangeable law. The intellectual +movement of Christendom has reached that point which Arabism had +attained to in the tenth and eleventh centuries; and doctrines which +were then discussed are presenting themselves again for review; such are +those of Evolution, Creation, Development. + +Offered under these general titles, I think it will be found that all +the essential points of this great controversy are included. By grouping +under these comprehensive heads the facts to be considered, and dealing +with each group separately, we shall doubtless acquire clear views of +their inter-connection and their historical succession. + +I have treated of these conflicts as nearly as I conveniently could in +their proper chronological order, and, for the sake of completeness, +have added chapters on-- + +An examination of what Latin Christianity has done for modern +civilization. + +A corresponding examination of what Science has done. + +The attitude of Roman Christianity in the impending conflict, as defined +by the Vatican Council. + +The attention of many truth-seeking persons has been so exclusively +given to the details of sectarian dissensions, that the long strife, to +the history of which these pages are devoted, is popularly but little +known. Having tried to keep steadfastly in view the determination to +write this work in an impartial spirit, to speak with respect of the +contending parties, but never to conceal the truth, I commit it to the +considerate judgment of the thoughtful reader. + + JOHN WILLIAM DRAPER + +UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK, December, 1878. + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT BETWEEN RELIGION AND SCIENCE. + + + +CHAPTER I. + + THE ORIGIN OF SCIENCE. + + Religious condition of the Greeks in the fourth century + before Christ.--Their invasion of the Persian Empire brings + them in contact with new aspects of Nature, and familiarizes + them with new religious systems.--The military, + engineering, and scientific activity, stimulated by the + Macedonian campaigns, leads to the establishment in + Alexandria of an institute, the Museum, for the cultivation + of knowledge by experiment, observation, and mathematical + discussion.--It is the origin of Science. + +GREEK MYTHOLOGY. No spectacle can be presented to the thoughtful +mind more solemn, more mournful, than that of the dying of an ancient +religion, which in its day has given consolation to many generations of +men. + +Four centuries before the birth of Christ, Greece was fast outgrowing +her ancient faith. Her philosophers, in their studies of the world, had +been profoundly impressed with the contrast between the majesty of the +operations of Nature and the worthlessness of the divinities of Olympus. +Her historians, considering the orderly course of political affairs, +the manifest uniformity in the acts of men, and that there was no event +occurring before their eyes for which they could not find an obvious +cause in some preceding event, began to suspect that the miracles and +celestial interventions, with which the old annals were filled, were +only fictions. They demanded, when the age of the supernatural had +ceased, why oracles had become mute, and why there were now no more +prodigies in the world. + +Traditions, descending from immemorial antiquity, and formerly accepted +by pious men as unquestionable truths, had filled the islands of +the Mediterranean and the conterminous countries with supernatural +wonders--enchantresses, sorcerers, giants, ogres, harpies, gorgons, +centaurs, cyclops. The azure vault was the floor of heaven; there Zeus, +surrounded by the gods with their wives and mistresses, held his court, +engaged in pursuits like those of men, and not refraining from acts of +human passion and crime. + +A sea-coast broken by numerous indentations, an archipelago with some of +the most lovely islands in the world, inspired the Greeks with a taste +for maritime life, for geographical discovery, and colonization. +Their ships wandered all over the Black and Mediterranean Seas. The +time-honored wonders that had been glorified in the "Odyssey," and +sacred in public faith, were found to have no existence. As a better +knowledge of Nature was obtained, the sky was shown to be an illusion; +it was discovered that there is no Olympus, nothing above but space and +stars. With the vanishing of their habitation, the gods disappeared, +both those of the Ionian type of Homer and those of the Doric of Hesiod. + +EFFECTS OF DISCOVERY AND CRITICISM. But this did not take place without +resistance. At first, the public, and particularly its religious +portion, denounced the rising doubts as atheism. They despoiled some +of the offenders of their goods, exiled others; some they put to death. +They asserted that what had been believed by pious men in the old times, +and had stood the test of ages, must necessarily be true. Then, as the +opposing evidence became irresistible, they were content to admit that +these marvels were allegories under which the wisdom of the ancients had +concealed many sacred and mysterious things. They tried to reconcile, +what now in their misgivings they feared might be myths, with their +advancing intellectual state. But their efforts were in vain, for there +are predestined phases through which on such an occasion public opinion +must pass. What it has received with veneration it begins to doubt, then +it offers new interpretations, then subsides into dissent, and ends with +a rejection of the whole as a mere fable. + +In their secession the philosophers and historians were followed by +the poets. Euripides incurred the odium of heresy. Aeschylus narrowly +escaped being stoned to death for blasphemy. But the frantic efforts +of those who are interested in supporting delusions must always end in +defeat. The demoralization resistlessly extended through every branch of +literature, until at length it reached the common people. + +THE PERSIAN EMPIRE. Greek philosophical criticism had lent its aid to +Greek philosophical discovery in this destruction of the national faith. +It sustained by many arguments the wide-spreading unbelief. It compared +the doctrines of the different schools with each other, and showed from +their contradictions that man has no criterion of truth; that, since his +ideas of what is good and what is evil differ according to the country +in which he lives, they can have no foundation in Nature, but must be +altogether the result of education; that right and wrong are nothing +more than fictions created by society for its own purposes. In Athens, +some of the more advanced classes had reached such a pass that they not +only denied the unseen, the supernatural, they even affirmed that the +world is only a day-dream, a phantasm, and that nothing at all exists. + +The topographical configuration of Greece gave an impress to her +political condition. It divided her people into distinct communities +having conflicting interests, and made them incapable of centralization. +Incessant domestic wars between the rival states checked her +advancement. She was poor, her leading men had become corrupt. They were +ever ready to barter patriotic considerations for foreign gold, to sell +themselves for Persian bribes. Possessing a perception of the beautiful +as manifested in sculpture and architecture to a degree never +attained elsewhere either before or since, Greece had lost a practical +appreciation of the Good and the True. + +While European Greece, full of ideas of liberty and independence, +rejected the sovereignty of Persia, Asiatic Greece acknowledged it +without reluctance. At that time the Persian Empire in territorial +extent was equal to half of modern Europe. It touched the waters of +the Mediterranean, the Aegean, the Black, the Caspian, the Indian, the +Persian, the Red Seas. Through its territories there flowed six of the +grandest rivers in the world--the Euphrates, the Tigris, the Indus, the +Jaxartes, the Oxus, the Nile, each more than a thousand miles in length. +Its surface reached from thirteen hundred feet below the sea-level to +twenty thousand feet above. It yielded, therefore, every agricultural +product. Its mineral wealth was boundless. It inherited the prestige of +the Median, the Babylonian, the Assyrian, the Chaldean Empires, whose +annals reached back through more than twenty centuries. + +THE PERSIAN EMPIRE. Persia had always looked upon European Greece as +politically insignificant, for it had scarcely half the territorial +extent of one of her satrapies. Her expeditions for compelling its +obedience had, however, taught her the military qualities of its people. +In her forces were incorporated Greek mercenaries, esteemed the very +best of her troops. She did not hesitate sometimes to give the command +of her armies to Greek generals, of her fleets to Greek captains. In the +political convulsions through which she had passed, Greek soldiers had +often been used by her contending chiefs. These military operations were +attended by a momentous result. They revealed, to the quick eye of +these warlike mercenaries, the political weakness of the empire and +the possibility of reaching its centre. After the death of Cyrus on the +battle-field of Cunaxa, it was demonstrated, by the immortal retreat of +the ten thousand under Xenophon, that a Greek army could force its way +to and from the heart of Persia. + +That reverence for the military abilities of Asiatic generals, so +profoundly impressed on the Greeks by such engineering exploits as the +bridging of the Hellespont, and the cutting of the isthmus at Mount +Athos by Xerxes, had been obliterated at Salamis, Platea, Mycale. To +plunder rich Persian provinces had become an irresistible temptation. +Such was the expedition of Agesilaus, the Spartan king, whose brilliant +successes were, however, checked by the Persian government resorting to +its time-proved policy of bribing the neighbors of Sparta to attack her. +"I have been conquered by thirty thousand Persian archers," bitterly +exclaimed Agesilaus, as he re-embarked, alluding to the Persian coin, +the Daric, which was stamped with the image of an archer. + +THE INVASION OF PERSIA BY GREECE. At length Philip, the King of Macedon, +projected a renewal of these attempts, under a far more formidable +organization, and with a grander object. He managed to have himself +appointed captain-general of all Greece not for the purpose of a mere +foray into the Asiatic satrapies, but for the overthrow of the Persian +dynasty in the very centre of its power. Assassinated while his +preparations were incomplete, he was succeeded by his son Alexander, +then a youth. A general assembly of Greeks at Corinth had unanimously +elected him in his father's stead. There were some disturbances in +Illyria; Alexander had to march his army as far north as the Danube to +quell them. During his absence the Thebans with some others conspired +against him. On his return he took Thebes by assault. He massacred +six thousand of its inhabitants, sold thirty thousand for slaves, and +utterly demolished the city. The military wisdom of this severity was +apparent in his Asiatic campaign. He was not troubled by any revolt in +his rear. + +THE MACEDONIAN CAMPAIGN. In the spring B.C. 334 Alexander crossed the +Hellespont into Asia. His army consisted of thirty-four thousand foot +and four thousand horse. He had with him only seventy talents in money. +He marched directly on the Persian army, which, vastly exceeding him in +strength, was holding the line of the Granicus. He forced the passage of +the river, routed the enemy, and the possession of all Asia Minor, with +its treasures, was the fruit of the victory. The remainder of that +year he spent in the military organization of the conquered provinces. +Meantime Darius, the Persian king, had advanced an army of six hundred +thousand men to prevent the passage of the Macedonians into Syria. In +a battle that ensued among the mountain-defiles at Issus, the Persians +were again overthrown. So great was the slaughter that Alexander, and +Ptolemy, one of his generals, crossed over a ravine choked with dead +bodies. It was estimated that the Persian loss was not less than ninety +thousand foot and ten thousand horse. The royal pavilion fell into the +conqueror's hands, and with it the wife and several of the children of +Darius. Syria was thus added to the Greek conquests. In Damascus were +found many of the concubines of Darius and his chief officers, together +with a vast treasure. + +Before venturing into the plains of Mesopotamia for the final struggle, +Alexander, to secure his rear and preserve his communications with the +sea, marched southward down the Mediterranean coast, reducing the cities +in his way. In his speech before the council of war after Issus, he told +his generals that they must not pursue Darius with Tyre unsubdued, and +Persia in possession of Egypt and Cyprus, for, if Persia should regain +her seaports, she would transfer the war into Greece, and that it was +absolutely necessary for him to be sovereign at sea. With Cyprus and +Egypt in his possession he felt no solicitude about Greece. The siege +of Tyre cost him more than half a year. In revenge for this delay, +he crucified, it is said, two thousand of his prisoners. Jerusalem +voluntarily surrendered, and therefore was treated leniently: but the +passage of the Macedonian army into Egypt being obstructed at Gaza, the +Persian governor of which, Betis, made a most obstinate defense, that +place, after a siege of two months, was carried by assault, ten thousand +of its men were massacred, and the rest, with their wives and children, +sold into slavery. Betis himself was dragged alive round the city at the +chariot-wheels of the conqueror. There was now no further obstacle. The +Egyptians, who detested the Persian rule, received their invader with +open arms. He organized the country in his own interest, intrusting +all its military commands to Macedonian officers, and leaving the civil +government in the hands of native Egyptians. + +CONQUEST OF EGYPT. While preparations for the final campaign were being +made, he undertook a journey to the temple of Jupiter Ammon, which was +situated in an oasis of the Libyan Desert, at a distance of two hundred +miles. The oracle declared him to be a son of that god who, under +the form of a serpent, had beguiled Olympias, his mother. Immaculate +conceptions and celestial descents were so currently received in those +days, that whoever had greatly distinguished himself in the affairs of +men was thought to be of supernatural lineage. Even in Rome, centuries +later, no one could with safety have denied that the city owed its +founder, Romulus, to an accidental meeting of the god Mars with the +virgin Rhea Sylvia, as she went with her pitcher for water to the +spring. The Egyptian disciples of Plato would have looked with anger on +those who rejected the legend that Perictione, the mother of that +great philosopher, a pure virgin, had suffered an immaculate conception +through the influences of Apollo, and that the god had declared to +Ariston, to whom she was betrothed, the parentage of the child. When +Alexander issued his letters, orders, and decrees, styling himself "King +Alexander, the son of Jupiter Ammon," they came to the inhabitants of +Egypt and Syria with an authority that now can hardly be realized. The +free-thinking Greeks, however, put on such a supernatural pedigree its +proper value. Olympias, who, of course, better than all others knew the +facts of the case, used jestingly to say, that "she wished Alexander +would cease from incessantly embroiling her with Jupiter's wife." +Arrian, the historian of the Macedonian expedition, observes, "I cannot +condemn him for endeavoring to draw his subjects into the belief of his +divine origin, nor can I be induced to think it any great crime, for it +is very reasonable to imagine that he intended no more by it than merely +to procure the greater authority among his soldiers." + +GREEK CONQUEST OF PERSIA. All things being thus secured in his rear, +Alexander, having returned into Syria, directed the march of his army, +now consisting of fifty thousand veterans, eastward. After crossing the +Euphrates, he kept close to the Masian hills, to avoid the intense heat +of the more southerly Mesopotamian plains; more abundant forage could +also thus be procured for the cavalry. On the left bank of the Tigris, +near Arbela, he encountered the great army of eleven hundred thousand +men brought up by Darius from Babylon. The death of the Persian monarch, +which soon followed the defeat he suffered, left the Macedonian general +master of all the countries from the Danube to the Indus. Eventually he +extended his conquest to the Ganges. The treasures he seized are almost +beyond belief. At Susa alone he found--so Arrian says--fifty thousand +talents in money. + +EVENTS OF THE CAMPAIGNS. The modern military student cannot look +upon these wonderful campaigns without admiration. The passage of the +Hellespont; the forcing of the Granicus; the winter spent in a political +organization of conquered Asia Minor; the march of the right wing and +centre of the army along the Syrian Mediterranean coast; the engineering +difficulties overcome at the siege of Tyre; the storming of Gaza; the +isolation of Persia from Greece; the absolute exclusion of her navy from +the Mediterranean; the check on all her attempts at intriguing with +or bribing Athenians or Spartans, heretofore so often resorted to with +success; the submission of Egypt; another winter spent in the political +organization of that venerable country; the convergence of the whole +army from the Black and Red Seas toward the nitre-covered plains of +Mesopotamia in the ensuing spring; the passage of the Euphrates fringed +with its weeping-willows at the broken bridge of Thapsacus; the crossing +of the Tigris; the nocturnal reconnaissance before the great and +memorable battle of Arbela; the oblique movement on the field; the +piercing of the enemy's centre--a manoeuvre destined to be repeated +many centuries subsequently at Austerlitz; the energetic pursuit of +the Persian monarch; these are exploits not surpassed by any soldier of +later times. + +A prodigious stimulus was thus given to Greek intellectual activity. +There were men who had marched with the Macedonian army from the Danube +to the Nile, from the Nile to the Ganges. They had felt the hyperborean +blasts of the countries beyond the Black Sea, the simooms and +sand-tempests of the Egyptian deserts. They had seen the Pyramids which +had already stood for twenty centuries, the hieroglyph-covered obelisks +of Luxor, avenues of silent and mysterious sphinxes, colossi of monarchs +who reigned in the morning of the world. In the halls of Esar-haddon +they had stood before the thrones of grim old Assyrian kings, guarded by +winged bulls. In Babylon there still remained its walls, once more than +sixty miles in compass, and, after the ravages of three centuries and +three conquerors, still more than eighty feet in height; there were +still the ruins of the temple of cloud encompassed Bel, on its top was +planted the observatory wherein the weird Chaldean astronomers had held +nocturnal communion with the stars; still there were vestiges of the two +palaces with their hanging gardens in which were great trees growing in +mid-air, and the wreck of the hydraulic machinery that had supplied +them with water from the river. Into the artificial lake with its vast +apparatus of aqueducts and sluices the melted snows of the Armenian +mountains found their way, and were confined in their course through +the city by the embankments of the Euphrates. Most wonderful of all, +perhaps, was the tunnel under the river-bed. + +EFFECT ON THE GREEK ARMY. If Chaldea, Assyria, Babylon, presented +stupendous and venerable antiquities reaching far back into the night of +time, Persia was not without her wonders of a later date. The pillared +halls of Persepolis were filled with miracles of art--carvings, +sculptures, enamels, alabaster libraries, obelisks, sphinxes, colossal +bulls. Ecbatana, the cool summer retreat of the Persian kings, was +defended by seven encircling walls of hewn and polished blocks, the +interior ones in succession of increasing height, and of different +colors, in astrological accordance with the seven planets. The palace +was roofed with silver tiles, its beams were plated with gold. At +midnight, in its halls the sunlight was rivaled by many a row of naphtha +cressets. A paradise--that luxury of the monarchs of the East--was +planted in the midst of the city. The Persian Empire, from the +Hellespont to the Indus, was truly the garden of the world. + +EFFECTS ON THE GREEK ARMY. I have devoted a few pages to the story of +these marvelous campaigns, for the military talent they fostered led +to the establishment of the mathematical and practical schools of +Alexandria, the true origin of science. We trace back all our exact +knowledge to the Macedonian campaigns. Humboldt has well observed that +an introduction to new and grand objects of Nature enlarges the human +mind. The soldiers of Alexander and the hosts of his camp-followers +encountered at every march unexpected and picturesque scenery. Of all +men, the Greeks were the most observant, the most readily and profoundly +impressed. Here there were interminable sandy plains, there mountains +whose peaks were lost above the clouds. In the deserts were mirages, +on the hill-sides shadows of fleeting clouds sweeping over the forests. +They were in a land of amber-colored date-palms and cypresses, of +tamarisks, green myrtles, and oleanders. At Arbela they had fought +against Indian elephants; in the thickets of the Caspian they had roused +from his lair the lurking royal tiger. They had seen animals which, +compared with those of Europe, were not only strange, but colossal--the +rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, the camel, the crocodiles of the Nile +and the Ganges. They had encountered men of many complexions and many +costumes: the swarthy Syrian, the olive-colored Persian, the black +African. Even of Alexander himself it is related that on his death-bed +he caused his admiral, Nearchus, to sit by his side, and found +consolation in listening to the adventures of that sailor--the story of +his voyage from the Indus up the Persian Gulf. The conqueror had seen +with astonishment the ebbing and flowing of the tides. He had built +ships for the exploration of the Caspian, supposing that it and +the Black Sea might be gulfs of a great ocean, such as Nearchus had +discovered the Persian and Red Seas to be. He had formed a resolution +that his fleet should attempt the circumnavigation of Africa, and come +into the Mediterranean through the Pillars of Hercules--a feat which, it +was affirmed, had once been accomplished by the Pharaohs. + +INTELLECTUAL CONDITION OF PERSIA. Not only her greatest soldiers, but +also her greatest philosophers, found in the conquered empire much that +might excite the admiration of Greece. Callisthenes obtained in Babylon +a series of Chaldean astronomical observations ranging back through +1,903 years; these he sent to Aristotle. Perhaps, since they were on +burnt bricks, duplicates of them may be recovered by modern research +in the clay libraries of the Assyrian kings. Ptolemy, the Egyptian +astronomer, possessed a Babylonian record of eclipses, going back +747 years before our era. Long-continued and close observations were +necessary, before some of these astronomical results that have reached +our times could have been ascertained. Thus the Babylonians had fixed +the length of a tropical year within twenty-five seconds of the truth; +their estimate of the sidereal year was barely two minutes in excess. +They had detected the precession of the equinoxes. They knew the causes +of eclipses, and, by the aid of their cycle called Saros, could predict +them. Their estimate of the value of that cycle, which is more than +6,585 days, was within nineteen and a half minutes of the truth. + +INTELLECTUAL CONDITION OF PERSIA. Such facts furnish incontrovertible +proof of the patience and skill with which astronomy had been cultivated +in Mesopotamia, and that, with very inadequate instrumental means, it +had reached no inconsiderable perfection. These old observers had made +a catalogue of the stars, had divided the zodiac into twelve signs; they +had parted the day into twelve hours, the night into twelve. They had, +as Alistotle says, for a long time devoted themselves to observations of +star-occultations by the moon. They had correct views of the structure +of the solar system, and knew the order of the emplacement of the +planets. They constructed sundials, clepsydras, astrolabes, gnomons. + +Not without interest do we still look on specimens of their method of +printing. Upon a revolving roller they engraved, in cuneiform letters, +their records, and, running this over plastic clay formed into blocks, +produced ineffaceable proofs. From their tile-libraries we are still +to reap a literary and historical harvest. They were not without some +knowledge of optics. The convex lens found at Nimroud shows that they +were not unacquainted with magnifying instruments. In arithmetic they +had detected the value of position in the digits, though they missed the +grand Indian invention of the cipher. + +What a spectacle for the conquering Greeks, who, up to this time, had +neither experimented nor observed! They had contented themselves with +mere meditation and useless speculation. + +ITS RELIGIOUS CONDITION. But Greek intellectual development, due thus +in part to a more extended view of Nature, was powerfully aided by the +knowledge then acquired of the religion of the conquered country. The +idolatry of Greece had always been a horror to Persia, who, in her +invasions, had never failed to destroy the temples and insult the fanes +of the bestial gods. The impunity with which these sacrileges had +been perpetrated had made a profound impression, and did no little to +undermine Hellenic faith. But now the worshiper of the vile Olympian +divinities, whose obscene lives must have been shocking to every +pious man, was brought in contact with a grand, a solemn, a consistent +religious system having its foundation on a philosophical basis. Persia, +as is the case with all empires of long duration, had passed through +many changes of religion. She had followed the Monotheism of Zoroaster; +had then accepted Dualism, and exchanged that for Magianism. At the time +of the Macedonian expedition, she recognized one universal Intelligence, +the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of all things, the most holy +essence of truth, the giver of all good. He was not to be represented by +any image, or any graven form. And, since, in every thing here below, we +see the resultant of two opposing forces, under him were two coequal and +coeternal principles, represented by the imagery of Light and Darkness. +These principles are in never-ending conflict. The world is their +battle-ground, man is their prize. + +In the old legends of Dualism, the Evil Spirit was said to have sent +a serpent to ruin the paradise which the Good Spirit had made. These +legends became known to the Jews during their Babylonian captivity. + +The existence of a principle of evil is the necessary incident of the +existence of a principle of good, as a shadow is the necessary incident +of the presence of light. In this manner could be explained the +occurrence of evil in a world, the maker and ruler of which is supremely +good. Each of the personified principles of light and darkness, Ormuzd +and Ahriman, had his subordinate angels, his counselors, his armies. It +is the duty of a good man to cultivate truth, purity, and industry. He +may look forward, when this life is over, to a life in another world, +and trust to a resurrection of the body, the immortality of the soul, +and a conscious future existence. + +In the later years of the empire, the principles of Magianism had +gradually prevailed more and more over those of Zoroaster. Magianism was +essentially a worship of the elements. Of these, fire was considered as +the most worthy representative of the Supreme Being. On altars erected, +not in temples, but under the blue canopy of the sky, perpetual fires +were kept burning, and the rising sun was regarded as the noblest object +of human adoration. In the society of Asia, nothing is visible but the +monarch; in the expanse of heaven, all objects vanish in presence of the +sun. + +DEATH OF ALEXANDER. Prematurely cut off in the midst of many great +projects Alexander died at Babylon before he had completed his +thirty-third year (B.C. 323). There was a suspicion that he had been +poisoned. His temper had become so unbridled, his passion so ferocious, +that his generals and even his intimate friends lived in continual +dread. Clitus, one of the latter, he in a moment of fury had stabbed to +the heart. Callisthenes, the intermedium between himself and Aristotle, +he had caused to be hanged, or, as was positively asserted by some who +knew the facts, had had him put upon the rack and then crucified. It +may have been in self-defense that the conspirators resolved on his +assassination. But surely it was a calumny to associate the name of +Aristotle with this transaction. He would have rather borne the worst +that Alexander could inflict, than have joined in the perpetration of so +great a crime. + +A scene of confusion and bloodshed lasting many years ensued, nor did it +cease even after the Macedonian generals had divided the empire. Among +its vicissitudes one incident mainly claims our attention. Ptolemy, who +was a son of King Philip by Arsinoe, a beautiful concubine, and who +in his boyhood had been driven into exile with Alexander, when they +incurred their father's displeasure, who had been Alexander's comrade +in many of his battles and all his campaigns, became governor and +eventually king of Egypt. + +FOUNDATION OF ALEXANDER. At the siege of Rhodes, Ptolemy had been of +such signal service to its citizens that in gratitude they paid divine +honors to him, and saluted him with the title of Soter (the Savior). +By that designation--Ptolemy Soter--he is distinguished from succeeding +kings of the Macedonian dynasty in Egypt. + +He established his seat of government not in any of the old capitals +of the country, but in Alexandria. At the time of the expedition to +the temple of Jupiter Ammon, the Macedonian conqueror had caused the +foundations of that city to be laid, foreseeing that it might be +made the commercial entrepot between Asia and Europe. It is to be +particularly remarked that not only did Alexander himself deport many +Jews from Palestine to people the city, and not only did Ptolemy Soter +bring one hundred thousand more after his siege of Jerusalem, but +Philadelphus, his successor, redeemed from slavery one hundred and +ninety-eight thousand of that people, paying their Egyptian owners a +just money equivalent for each. To all these Jews the same privileges +were accorded as to the Macedonians. In consequence of this considerate +treatment, vast numbers of their compatriots and many Syrians +voluntarily came into Egypt. To them the designation of Hellenistical +Jews was given. In like manner, tempted by the benign government of +Soter, multitudes of Greeks sought refuge in the country, and the +invasions of Perdiccas and Antigonus showed that Greek soldiers would +desert from other Macedonian generals to join is armies. + +The population of Alexandria was therefore of three distinct +nationalities: 1. Native Egyptians 2. Greeks; 3. Jews--a fact that has +left an impress on the religious faith of modern Europe. + +Greek architects and Greek engineers had made Alexandria the most +beautiful city of the ancient world. They had filled it with magnificent +palaces, temples, theatres. In its centre, at the intersection of its +two grand avenues, which crossed each other at right angles, and in the +midst of gardens, fountains, obelisks, stood the mausoleum, in +which, embalmed after the manner of the Egyptians, rested the body of +Alexander. In a funereal journey of two years it had been brought with +great pomp from Babylon. At first the coffin was of pure gold, but +this having led to a violation of the tomb, it was replaced by one of +alabaster. But not these, not even the great light-house, Pharos, built +of blocks of white marble and so high that the fire continually burning +on its top could be seen many miles off at sea--the Pharos counted +as one of the seven wonders of the world--it is not these magnificent +achievements of architecture that arrest our attention; the true, the +most glorious monument of the Macedonian kings of Egypt is the Museum. +Its influences will last when even the Pyramids have passed away. + +THE ALEXANDRIAN MUSEUM. The Alexandrian Museum was commenced by Ptolemy +Soter, and was completed by his son Ptolemy Philadelphus. It was +situated in the Bruchion, the aristocratic quarter of the city, +adjoining the king's palace. Built of marble, it was surrounded with +a piazza, in which the residents might walk and converse together. Its +sculptured apartments contained the Philadelphian library, and were +crowded with the choicest statues and pictures. This library eventually +comprised four hundred thousand volumes. In the course of time, probably +on account of inadequate accommodation for so many books, an additional +library was established in the adjacent quarter Rhacotis, and placed +in the Serapion or temple of Serapis. The number of volumes in this +library, which was called the Daughter of that in the Museum, was +eventually three hundred thousand. There were, therefore, seven hundred +thousand volumes in these royal collections. + +Alexandria was not merely the capital of Egypt, it was the intellectual +metropolis of the world. Here it was truly said the Genius of the East +met the Genius of the West, and this Paris of antiquity became a focus +of fashionable dissipation and universal skepticism. In the allurements +of its bewitching society even the Jews forgot their patriotism. They +abandoned the language of their forefathers, and adopted Greek. + +In the establishment of the Museum, Ptolemy Soter and his son +Philadelphus had three objects in view: 1. The perpetuation of such +knowledge as was then in the world; 2. Its increase; 3. Its diffusion. + +1. For the perpetuation of knowledge. Orders were given to the chief +librarian to buy at the king's expense whatever books he could. A body +of transcribers was maintained in the Museum, whose duty it was to make +correct copies of such works as their owners were not disposed to sell. +Any books brought by foreigners into Egypt were taken at once to the +Museum, and, when correct copies had been made, the transcript was given +to the owner, and the original placed in the library. Often a very large +pecuniary indemnity was paid. Thus it is said of Ptolemy Euergetes +that, having obtained from Athens the works of Euripides, Sophocles, +and Aeschylus, he sent to their owners transcripts, together with about +fifteen thousand dollars, as an indemnity. On his return from the Syrian +expedition he carried back in triumph all the Egyptian monuments from +Ecbatana and Susa, which Cambyses and other invaders had removed from +Egypt. These he replaced in their original seats, or added as adornments +to his museums. When works were translated as well as transcribed, sums +which we should consider as almost incredible were paid, as was the +case with the Septuagint translation of the Bible, ordered by Ptolemy +Philadelphus. + +2. For the increase of knowledge. One of the chief objects of the Museum +was that of serving as the home of a body of men who devoted themselves +to study, and were lodged and maintained at the king's expense. +Occasionally he himself sat at their table. Anecdotes connected with +those festive occasions have descended to our times. In the original +organization of the Museum the residents were divided into four +faculties--literature; mathematics, astronomy, medicine. Minor branches +were appropriately classified under one of these general heads; thus +natural history was considered to be a branch of medicine. An officer of +very great distinction presided over the establishment, and had general +charge of its interests. Demetrius Phalareus, perhaps the most learned +man of his age, who had been governor of Athens for many years, was the +first so appointed. Under him was the librarian, an office sometimes +held by men whose names have descended to our times, as Eratosthenes, +and Apollonius Rhodius. + +ORGANIZATION OF THE MUSEUM. In connection with the Museum were a +botanical and a zoological garden. These gardens, as their names import, +were for the purpose of facilitating the study of plants and animals. +There was also an astronomical observatory containing armillary spheres, +globes, solstitial and equatorial armils, astrolabes, parallactic +rules, and other apparatus then in use, the graduation on the divided +instruments being into degrees and sixths. On the floor of this +observatory a meridian line was drawn. The want of correct means of +measuring time and temperature was severely felt; the clepsydra of +Ctesibius answered very imperfectly for the former, the hydrometer +floating in a cup of water for the latter; it measured variations of +temperature by variations of density. Philadelphus, who toward the close +of his life was haunted with an intolerable dread of death, devoted much +of his time to the discovery of an elixir. For such pursuits the Museum +was provided with a chemical laboratory. In spite of the prejudices of +the age, and especially in spite of Egyptian prejudices, there was +in connection with the medical department an anatomical room for the +dissection, not only of the dead, but actually of the living, who for +crimes had been condemned. + +3. For the diffusion of knowledge. In the Museum was given, by lectures, +conversation, or other appropriate methods instruction in all the +various departments of human knowledge. There flocked to this great +intellectual centre, students from all countries. It is said that at one +time not fewer than fourteen thousand were in attendance. Subsequently +even the Christian church received from it some of the most eminent of +its Fathers, as Clemens Alexandrinus, Origen, Athanasius. + +The library in the Museum was burnt during the siege of Alexandria by +Julius Caesar. To make amends for this great loss, that collected +by Eumenes, King of Pergamus, was presented by Mark Antony to Queen +Cleopatra. Originally it was founded as a rival to that of the +Ptolemies. It was added to the collection in the Serapion. + +SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL OF THE MUSEUM. It remains now to describe briefly the +philosophical basis of the Museum, and some of its contributions to the +stock of human knowledge. + +In memory of the illustrious founder of this most noble institution--an +institution which antiquity delighted to call "The divine school of +Alexandria"--we must mention in the first rank his "History of the +Campaigns of Alexander." Great as a soldier and as a sovereign, Ptolemy +Soter added to his glory by being an author. Time, which has not been +able to destroy the memory of our obligations to him, has dealt unjustly +by his work. It is not now extant. + +As might be expected from the friendship that existed between Alexander, +Ptolemy, and Aristotle, the Aristotelian philosophy was the intellectual +corner-stone on which the Museum rested. King Philip had committed the +education of Alexander to Aristotle, and during the Persian campaigns +the conqueror contributed materially, not only in money, but otherwise, +toward the "Natural History" then in preparation. + +The essential principle of the Aristotelian philosophy was, to rise +from the study of particulars to a knowledge of general principles or +universals, advancing to them by induction. The induction is the +more certain as the facts on which it is based are more numerous; its +correctness is established if it should enable us to predict other facts +until then unknown. This system implies endless toil in the collection +of facts, both by experiment and observation; it implies also a close +meditation on them. It is, therefore, essentially a method of labor +and of reason, not a method of imagination. The failures that Aristotle +himself so often exhibits are no proof of its unreliability, but +rather of its trustworthiness. They are failures arising from want of a +sufficiency of facts. + +ETHICAL SCHOOL OF THE MUSEUM. Some of the general results at which +Aristotle arrived are very grand. Thus, he concluded that every thing is +ready to burst into life, and that the various organic forms presented +to us by Nature are those which existing conditions permit. Should +the conditions change, the forms will also change. Hence there is an +unbroken chain from the simple element through plants and animals up to +man, the different groups merging by insensible shades into each other. + +The inductive philosophy thus established by Aristotle is a method of +great power. To it all the modern advances in science are due. In +its most improved form it rises by inductions from phenomena to their +causes, and then, imitating the method of the Academy, it descends by +deductions from those causes to the detail of phenomena. + +While thus the Scientific School of Alexandria was founded on the maxims +of one great Athenian philosopher, the Ethical School was founded on the +maxims of another, for Zeno, though a Cypriote or Phoenician, had for +many years been established at Athens. His disciples took the name of +Stoics. His doctrines long survived him, and, in times when there was no +other consolation for man, offered a support in the hour of trial, and +an unwavering guide in the vicissitudes of life, not only to illustrious +Greeks, but also to many of the great philosophers, statesmen, generals, +and emperors of Rome. + +THE PRINCIPLES OF STOICISM. The aim of Zeno was, to furnish a guide +for the daily practice of life, to make men virtuous. He insisted that +education is the true foundation of virtue, for, if we know what is +good, we shall incline to do it. We must trust to sense, to furnish the +data of knowledge, and reason will suitably combine them. In this the +affinity of Zeno to Aristotle is plainly seen. Every appetite, lust, +desire, springs from imperfect knowledge. Our nature is imposed upon +us by Fate, but we must learn to control our passions, and live free, +intelligent, virtuous, in all things in accordance with reason. Our +existence should be intellectual, we should survey with equanimity all +pleasures and all pains. We should never forget that we are freemen, not +the slaves of society. "I possess," said the Stoic, "a treasure which +not all the world can rob me of--no one can deprive me of death." We +should remember that Nature in her operations aims at the universal, and +never spares individuals, but uses them as means for the accomplishment +of her ends. It is, therefore, for us to submit to Destiny, cultivating, +as the things necessary to virtue, knowledge, temperance, fortitude, +justice. We must remember that every thing around us is in mutation; +decay follows reproduction, and reproduction decay, and that it is +useless to repine at death in a world where every thing is dying. As a +cataract shows from year to year an invariable shape, though the water +composing it is perpetually changing, so the aspect of Nature is nothing +more than a flow of matter presenting an impermanent form. The universe, +considered as a whole, is unchangeable. Nothing is eternal but +space, atoms, force. The forms of Nature that we see are essentially +transitory, they must all pass away. + +STOICISM IN THE MUSEUM. We must bear in mind that the majority of men +are imperfectly educated, and hence we must not needlessly offend the +religious ideas of our age. It is enough for us ourselves to know that, +though there is a Supreme Power, there is no Supreme Being. There is an +invisible principle, but not a personal God, to whom it would be not +so much blasphemy as absurdity to impute the form, the sentiments, the +passions of man. All revelation is, necessarily, a mere fiction. That +which men call chance is only the effect of an unknown cause. Even of +chances there is a law. There is no such thing as Providence, for Nature +proceeds under irresistible laws, and in this respect the universe is +only a vast automatic engine. The vital force which pervades the world +is what the illiterate call God. The modifications through which all +things are running take place in an irresistible way, and hence it may +be said that the progress of the world is, under Destiny, like a seed, +it can evolve only in a predetermined mode. + +The soul of man is a spark of the vital flame, the general vital +principle. Like heat, it passes from one to another, and is finally +reabsorbed or reunited in the universal principle from which it came. +Hence we must not expect annihilation, but reunion; and, as the tired +man looks forward to the insensibility of sleep, so the philosopher, +weary of the world, should look forward to the tranquillity of +extinction. Of these things, however, we should think doubtingly, since +the mind can produce no certain knowledge from its internal resources +alone. It is unphilosophical to inquire into first causes; we must deal +only with phenomena. Above all, we must never forget that man cannot +ascertain absolute truth, and that the final result of human inquiry +into the matter is, that we are incapable of perfect knowledge; that, +even if the truth be in our possession, we cannot be sure of it. + +What, then, remains for us? Is it not this--the acquisition of +knowledge, the cultivation of virtue and of friendship, the observance +of faith and truth, an unrepining submission to whatever befalls us, a +life led in accordance with reason? + +PLATONISM IN THE MUSEUM. But, though the Alexandrian Museum was +especially intended for the cultivation of the Aristotelian philosophy, +it must not be supposed that other systems were excluded. Platonism was +not only carried to its full development, but in the end it supplanted +Peripateticism, and through the New Academy left a permanent impress on +Christianity. The philosophical method of Plato was the inverse of that +of Aristotle. Its starting-point was universals, the very existence of +which was a matter of faith, and from these it descended to particulars, +or details. Aristotle, on the contrary, rose from particulars to +universals, advancing to them by inductions. + +Plato, therefore, trusted to the imagination, Aristotle to reason. +The former descended from the decomposition of a primitive idea into +particulars, the latter united particulars into a general conception. +Hence the method of Plato was capable of quickly producing what seemed +to be splendid, though in reality unsubstantial results; that of +Aristotle was more tardy in its operation, but much more solid. It +implied endless labor in the collection of facts, a tedious resort +to experiment and observation, the application of demonstration. The +philosophy of Plato is a gorgeous castle in the air; that of Aristotle +a solid structure, laboriously, and with many failures, founded on the +solid rock. + +An appeal to the imagination is much more alluring than the employment +of reason. In the intellectual decline of Alexandria, indolent methods +were preferred to laborious observation and severe mental exercise. The +schools of Neo-Platonism were crowded with speculative mystics, such +as Ammonius Saccas and Plotinus. These took the place of the severe +geometers of the old Museum. + +PHYSICAL SCIENCE IN THE MUSEUM. The Alexandrian school offers the first +example of that system which, in the hands of modern physicists, has +led to such wonderful results. It rejected imagination, and made its +theories the expression of facts obtained by experiment and observation, +aided by mathematical discussion. It enforced the principle that the +true method of studying Nature is by experimental interrogation. The +researches of Archimedes in specific gravity, and the works of +Ptolemy on optics, resemble our present investigations in experimental +philosophy, and stand in striking contrast with the speculative vagaries +of the older writers. Laplace says that the only observation which the +history of astronomy offers us, made by the Greeks before the school +of Alexandria, is that of the summer solstice of the year B.C. 432. +by Meton and Euctemon. We have, for the first time, in that school, +a combined system of observations made with instruments for the +measurement of angles, and calculated by trigonometrical methods. +Astronomy then took a form which subsequent ages could only perfect. + + +It does not accord with the compass or the intention of this work to +give a detailed account of the contributions of the Alexandrian Museum +to the stock of human knowledge. It is sufficient that the reader should +obtain a general impression of their character. For particulars, I +may refer him to the sixth chapter of my "History of the Intellectual +Development of Europe." + +EUCLID--ARCHIMEDES. It has just been remarked that the Stoical +philosophy doubted whether the mind can ascertain absolute truth. While +Zeno was indulging in such doubts, Euclid was preparing his great work, +destined to challenge contradiction from the whole human race. After +more than twenty-two centuries it still survives, a model of accuracy, +perspicuity, and a standard of exact demonstration. This great geometer +not only wrote on other mathematical topics, such as Conic Sections and +Porisms, but there are imputed to him treatises on Harmonics and Optics, +the latter subject being discussed on the hypothesis of rays issuing +from the eye to the object. + +With the Alexandrian mathematicians and physicists must be classed +Archimedes, though he eventually resided in Sicily. Among his +mathematical works were two books on the Sphere and Cylinder, in +which he gave the demonstration that the solid content of a sphere is +two-thirds that of its circumscribing cylinder. So highly did he esteem +this, that he directed the diagram to be engraved on his tombstone. He +also treated of the quadrature of the circle and of the parabola; he +wrote on Conoids and Spheroids, and on the spiral that bears his name, +the genesis of which was suggested to him by his friend Conon the +Alexandrian. As a mathematician, Europe produced no equal to him for +nearly two thousand years. In physical science he laid the foundation +of hydrostatics; invented a method for the determination of specific +gravities; discussed the equilibrium of floating bodies; discovered the +true theory of the lever, and invented a screw, which still bears +his name, for raising the water of the Nile. To him also are to be +attributed the endless screw, and a peculiar form of burning-mirror, by +which, at the siege of Syracuse, it is said that he set the Roman fleet +on fire. + +ERATOSTHENES--APOLLONIUS--HIPPARCHUS. Eratosthenes, who at one time had +charge of the library, was the author of many important works. Among +them may be mentioned his determination of the interval between +the tropics, and an attempt to ascertain the size of the earth. He +considered the articulation and expansion of continents, the position +of mountain-chains, the action of clouds, the geological submersion of +lands, the elevation of ancient sea-beds, the opening of the Dardanelles +and the straits of Gibraltar, and the relations of the Euxine Sea. +He composed a complete system of the earth, in three books--physical, +mathematical, historical--accompanied by a map of all the parts then +known. It is only of late years that the fragments remaining of his +"Chronicles of the Theban Kings" have been justly appreciated. For +many centuries they were thrown into discredit by the authority of our +existing absurd theological chronology. + +It is unnecessary to adduce the arguments relied upon by the +Alexandrians to prove the globular form of the earth. They had correct +ideas respecting the doctrine of the sphere, its poles, axis, equator, +arctic and antarctic circles, equinoctial points, solstices, the +distribution of climates, etc. I cannot do more than merely allude to +the treatises on Conic Sections and on Maxima and Minima by Apollonius, +who is said to have been the first to introduce the words ellipse and +hyperbola. In like manner I must pass the astronomical observations +of Alistyllus and Timocharis. It was to those of the latter on Spica +Virginis that Hipparchus was indebted for his great discovery of the +precession of the eqninoxes. Hipparchus also determined the first +inequality of the moon, the equation of the centre. He adopted the +theory of epicycles and eccentrics, a geometrical conception for the +purpose of resolving the apparent motions of the heavenly bodies on the +principle of circular movement. He also undertook to make a catalogue +of the stars by the method of alineations--that is, by indicating those +that are in the same apparent straight line. The number of stars so +catalogued was 1,080. If he thus attempted to depict the aspect of +the sky, he endeavored to do the same for the surface of the earth, by +marking the position of towns and other places by lines of latitude and +longitude. He was the first to construct tables of the sun and moon. + +THE SYNTAXIS OF PTOLEMY. In the midst of such a brilliant constellation +of geometers, astronomers, physicists, conspicuously shines forth +Ptolemy, the author of the great work, "Syntaxis," "a Treatise on the +Mathematical Construction of the Heavens." It maintained its ground +for nearly fifteen hundred years, and indeed was only displaced by the +immortal "Principia" of Newton. It commences with the doctrine that the +earth is globular and fixed in space, it describes the construction of a +table of chords, and instruments for observing the solstices, it deduces +the obliquity of the ecliptic, it finds terrestrial latitudes by the +gnomon, describes climates, shows how ordinary may be converted into +sidereal time, gives reasons for preferring the tropical to the sidereal +year, furnishes the solar theory on the principle of the sun's orbit +being a simple eccentric, explains the equation of time, advances to the +discussion of the motions of the moon, treats of the first inequality, +of her eclipses, and the motion of her nodes. It then gives Ptolemy's +own great discovery--that which has made his name immortal--the +discovery of the moon's evection or second inequality, reducing it to +the epicyclic theory. It attempts the determination of the distances of +the sun and moon from the earth--with, however, only partial success. It +considers the precession of the equinoxes, the discovery of Hipparchus, +the full period of which is twenty-five thousand years. It gives a +catalogue of 1,022 stars, treats of the nature of the milky-way, and +discusses in the most masterly manner the motions of the planets. This +point constitutes another of Ptolemy's claims to scientific fame. His +determination of the planetary orbits was accomplished by comparing +his own observations with those of former astronomers, among them the +observations of Timocharis on the planet Venus. + +INVENTION OF THE STEAM-ENGINE. In the Museum of Alexandria, Ctesibius +invented the fire-engine. His pupil, Hero, improved it by giving it two +cylinders. There, too, the first steam-engine worked. This also was the +invention of Hero, and was a reaction engine, on the principle of +the eolipile. The silence of the halls of Serapis was broken by the +water-clocks of Ctesibius and Apollonius, which drop by drop measured +time. When the Roman calendar had fallen into such confusion that it +had become absolutely necessary to rectify it, Julius Caesar brought +Sosigenes the astronomer from Alexandria. By his advice the lunar year +was abolished, the civil year regulated entirely by the sun, and the +Julian calendar introduced. + +The Macedonian rulers of Egypt have been blamed for the manner in which +they dealt with the religious sentiment of their time. They prostituted +it to the purpose of state-craft, finding in it a means of governing +their lower classes. To the intelligent they gave philosophy. + +POLICY OF THE PTOLEMIES. But doubtless they defended this policy by the +experience gathered in those great campaigns which had made the Greeks +the foremost nation of the world. They had seen the mythological +conceptions of their ancestral country dwindle into fables; the wonders +with which the old poets adorned the Mediterranean had been discovered +to be baseless illusions. From Olympus its divinities had disappeared; +indeed, Olympus itself had proved to be a phantom of the imagination. +Hades had lost its terrors; no place could be found for it. + +From the woods and grottoes and rivers of Asia Minor the local gods and +goddesses had departed; even their devotees began to doubt whether they +had ever been there. If still the Syrian damsels lamented, in their +amorous ditties, the fate of Adonis, it was only as a recollection, not +as a reality. Again and again had Persia changed her national faith. For +the revelation of Zoroaster she had substituted Dualism; then under new +political influences she had adopted Magianism. She had worshiped fire, +and kept her altars burning on mountain-tops. She had adored the sun. +When Alexander came, she was fast falling into pantheism. + +On a country to which in its political extremity the indigenous gods +have been found unable to give any protection, a change of faith is +impending. The venerable divinities of Egypt, to whose glory obelisks +had been raised and temples dedicated, had again and again submitted +to the sword of a foreign conqueror. In the land of the Pyramids, the +Colossi, the Sphinx, the images of the gods had ceased to represent +living realities. They had ceased to be objects of faith. Others of more +recent birth were needful, and Serapis confronted Osiris. In the shops +and streets of Alexandria there were thousands of Jews who had forgotten +the God that had made his habitation behind the veil of the temple. + +Tradition, revelation, time, all had lost their influence. The +traditions of European mythology, the revelations of Asia, the +time-consecrated dogmas of Egypt, all had passed or were fast passing +away. And the Ptolemies recognized how ephemeral are forms of faith. + +But the Ptolemies also recognized that there is something more durable +than forms of faith, which, like the organic forms of geological ages, +once gone, are clean gone forever, and have no restoration, no return. +They recognized that within this world of transient delusions and +unrealities there is a world of eternal truth. + +That world is not to be discovered through the vain traditions that +have brought down to us the opinions of men who lived in the morning of +civilization, nor in the dreams of mystics who thought that they were +inspired. It is to be discovered by the investigations of geometry, +and by the practical interrogation of Nature. These confer on humanity +solid, and innumerable, and inestimable blessings. + +The day will never come when any one of the propositions of Euclid will +be denied; no one henceforth will call in question the globular shape of +the earth, as recognized by Eratosthenes; the world will not permit +the great physical inventions and discoveries made in Alexandria and +Syracuse to be forgotten. The names of Hipparchus, of Apollonius, of +Ptolemy, of Archimedes, will be mentioned with reverence by men of every +religious profession, as long as there are men to speak. + +THE MUSEUM AND MODERN SCIENCE. The Museum of Alexandria was thus +the birthplace of modern science. It is true that, long before its +establishment, astronomical observations had been made in China and +Mesopotamia; the mathematics also had been cultivated with a certain +degree of success in India. But in none of these countries had +investigation assumed a connected and consistent form; in none was +physical experimentation resorted to. The characteristic feature of +Alexandrian, as of modern science, is, that it did not restrict itself +to observation, but relied on a practical interrogation of Nature. + + + +CHAPTER II. + + THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIANITY.--ITS TRANSFORMATION ON ATTAINING + IMPERIAL POWER.--ITS RELATIONS TO SCIENCE. + + Religious condition of the Roman Republic.--The adoption of + imperialism leads to monotheism.--Christianity spreads over + the Roman Empire.--The circumstances under which it + attained imperial power make its union with Paganism a + political necessity.--Tertullian's description of its + doctrines and practices.--Debasing effect of the policy of + Constantine on it.--Its alliance with the civil power.--Its + incompatibility with science.--Destruction of the + Alexandrian Library and prohibition of philosophy.-- + Exposition of the Augustinian philosophy and Patristic + science generally.--The Scriptures made the standard of + science. + + +IN a political sense, Christianity is the bequest of the Roman Empire to +the world. + +At the epoch of the transition of Rome from the republican to the +imperial form of government, all the independent nationalities around +the Mediterranean Sea had been brought under the control of that central +power. The conquest that had befallen them in succession had been by no +means a disaster. The perpetual wars they had maintained with each +other came to an end; the miseries their conflicts had engendered were +exchanged for universal peace. + +Not only as a token of the conquest she had made but also as a +gratification to her pride, the conquering republic brought the gods +of the vanquished peoples to Rome. With disdainful toleration, she +permitted the worship of them all. That paramount authority exercised by +each divinity in his original seat disappeared at once in the crowd of +gods and goddesses among whom he had been brought. Already, as we have +seen, through geographical discoveries and philosophical criticism, +faith in the religion of the old days had been profoundly shaken. It +was, by this policy of Rome, brought to an end. + +MONOTHEISM IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. The kings of all the conquered provinces +had vanished; in their stead one emperor had come. The gods also had +disappeared. Considering the connection which in all ages has existed +between political and religious ideas, it was then not at all strange +that polytheism should manifest a tendency to pass into monotheism. +Accordingly, divine honors were paid at first to the deceased and at +length to the living emperor. + +The facility with which gods were thus called into existence had a +powerful moral effect. The manufacture of a new one cast ridicule on +the origin of the old Incarnation in the East and apotheosis in the West +were fast filling Olympus with divinities. In the East, gods descended +from heaven, and were made incarnate in men; in the West, men ascended +from earth, and took their seat among the gods. It was not the +importation of Greek skepticism that made Rome skeptical. The excesses +of religion itself sapped the foundations of faith. + +Not with equal rapidity did all classes of the population adopt +monotheistic views. The merchants and lawyers and soldiers, who by the +nature of their pursuits are more familiar with the vicissitudes of +life, and have larger intellectual views, were the first to be affected, +the land laborers and farmers the last. + +THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY When the empire in a military and political +sense had reached its culmination, in a religious and social aspect +it had attained its height of immorality. It had become thoroughly +epicurean; its maxim was, that life should be made a feast, that +virtue is only the seasoning of pleasure, and temperance the means of +prolonging it. Dining-rooms glittering with gold and incrusted with +gems, slaves in superb apparel, the fascinations of female society where +all the women were dissolute, magnificent baths, theatres, gladiators, +such were the objects of Roman desire. The conquerors of the world had +discovered that the only thing worth worshiping is Force. By it all +things might be secured, all that toil and trade had laboriously +obtained. The confiscation of goods and lands, the taxation of +provinces, were the reward of successful warfare; and the emperor +was the symbol of force. There was a social splendor, but it was the +phosphorescent corruption of the ancient Mediterranean world. + +In one of the Eastern provinces, Syria, some persons in very humble +life had associated themselves together for benevolent and religious +purposes. The doctrines they held were in harmony with that sentiment +of universal brotherhood arising from the coalescence of the conquered +kingdoms. They were doctrines inculcated by Jesus. + +The Jewish people at that time entertained a belief, founded on old +traditions, that a deliverer would arise among them, who would restore +them to their ancient splendor. The disciples of Jesus regarded him +as this long-expected Messiah. But the priesthood, believing that the +doctrines he taught were prejudicial to their interests, denounced +him to the Roman governor, who, to satisfy their clamors, reluctantly +delivered him over to death. + +His doctrines of benevolence and human brotherhood outlasted that +event. The disciples, instead of scattering, organized. They associated +themselves on a principle of communism, each throwing into the common +stock whatever property he possessed, and all his gains. The widows +and orphans of the community were thus supported, the poor and the sick +sustained. From this germ was developed a new, and as the events proved, +all-powerful society--the Church; new, for nothing of the kind had +existed in antiquity; powerful, for the local churches, at first +isolated, soon began to confederate for their common interest. Through +this organization Christianity achieved all her political triumphs. + +As we have said, the military domination of Rome had brought about +universal peace, and had generated a sentiment of brotherhood among the +vanquished nations. Things were, therefore, propitious for the rapid +diffusion of the newly-established--the Christian--principle +throughout the empire. It spread from Syria through all Asia Minor, +and successively reached Cyprus, Greece, Italy, eventually extending +westward as far as Gaul and Britain. + +Its propagation was hastened by missionaries who made it known in all +directions. None of the ancient classical philosophies had ever taken +advantage of such a means. + +Political conditions determined the boundaries of the new religion. Its +limits were eventually those of the Roman Empire; Rome, doubtfully the +place of death of Peter, not Jerusalem, indisputably the place of the +death of our Savior, became the religious capital. It was better to have +possession of the imperial seven hilled city, than of Gethsemane and +Calvary with all their holy souvenirs. + +IT GATHERS POLITICAL POWER. For many years Christianity manifested +itself as a system enjoining three things--toward God veneration, in +personal life purity, in social life benevolence. In its early days of +feebleness it made proselytes only by persuasion, but, as it increased +in numbers and influence, it began to exhibit political tendencies, a +disposition to form a government within the government, an empire within +the empire. These tendencies it has never since lost. They are, in +truth, the logical result of its development. The Roman emperors, +discovering that it was absolutely incompatible with the imperial +system, tried to put it down by force. This was in accordance with the +spirit of their military maxims, which had no other means but force for +the establishment of conformity. + +In the winter A.D. 302-'3, the Christian soldiers in some of the legions +refused to join in the time-honored solemnities for propitiating the +gods. The mutiny spread so quickly, the emergency became so pressing, +that the Emperor Diocletian was compelled to hold a council for the +purpose of determining what should be done. The difficulty of the +position may perhaps be appreciated when it is understood that the wife +and the daughter of Diocletian himself were Christians. He was a man +of great capacity and large political views; he recognized in the +opposition that must be made to the new party a political necessity, +yet he expressly enjoined that there should be no bloodshed. But who can +control an infuriated civil commotion? The church of Nicomedia was razed +to the ground; in retaliation the imperial palace was set on fire, an +edict was openly insulted and torn down. The Christian officers in the +army were cashiered; in all directions, martyrdoms and massacres were +taking place. So resistless was the march of events, that not even the +emperor himself could stop the persecution. + +THE FIRST CHRISTIAN EMPEROR. It had now become evident that the +Christians constituted a powerful party in the state, animated with +indignation at the atrocities they had suffered, and determined to +endure them no longer. After the abdication of Diocletian (A.D. 305), +Constantine, one of the competitors for the purple, perceiving the +advantages that would accrue to him from such a policy, put himself +forth as the head of the Christian party. This gave him, in every part +of the empire, men and women ready to encounter fire and sword in his +behalf; it gave him unwavering adherents in every legion of the armies. +In a decisive battle, near the Milvian bridge, victory crowned his +schemes. The death of Maximin, and subsequently that of Licinius, +removed all obstacles. He ascended the throne of the Caesars--the first +Christian emperor. + +Place, profit, power--these were in view of whoever now joined the +conquering sect. Crowds of worldly persons, who cared nothing about its +religious ideas, became its warmest supporters. Pagans at heart, their +influence was soon manifested in the paganization of Christianity that +forthwith ensued. The emperor, no better than they, did nothing to check +their proceedings. But he did not personally conform to the ceremonial +requirements of the Church until the close of his evil life, A.D. 337. + +TERTULLIAN'S EXPOSITION OF CHRISTIANITY. That we may clearly appreciate +the modifications now impressed on Christianity--modifications which +eventually brought it in conflict with science--we must have, as a +means of comparison, a statement of what it was in its purer days. +Such, fortunately, we find in the "Apology or Defense of the Christians +against the Accusations of the Gentiles," written by Tertullian, at +Rome, during the persecution of Severus. He addressed it, not to the +emperor, but to the magistrates who sat in judgment on the accused. It +is a solemn and most earnest expostulation, setting forth all that could +be said in explanation of the subject, a representation of the belief +and cause of the Christians made in the imperial city in the face of the +whole world, not a querulous or passionate ecclesiastical appeal, but +a grave historical document. It has ever been looked upon as one of the +ablest of the early Christian works. Its date is about A.D. 200. + +With no inconsiderable skill Tertullian opens his argument. He tells +the magistrates that Christianity is a stranger upon earth, and that she +expects to meet with enemies in a country which is not her own. She only +asks that she may not be condemned unheard, and that Roman magistrates +will permit her to defend herself; that the laws of the empire will +gather lustre, if judgment be passed upon her after she has been tried +but not if she is sentenced without a hearing of her cause; that it is +unjust to hate a thing of which we are ignorant, even though it may be a +thing worthy of hate; that the laws of Rome deal with actions, not with +mere names; but that, notwithstanding this, persons have been punished +because they were called Christians, and that without any accusation of +crime. + +He then advances to an exposition of the origin, the nature, and the +effects of Christianity, stating that it is founded on the Hebrew +Scriptures, which are the most venerable of all books. He says to the +magistrates: "The books of Moses, in which God has inclosed, as in +a treasure, all the religion of the Jews, and consequently all the +Christian religion, reach far beyond the oldest you have, even beyond +all your public monuments, the establishment of your state, the +foundation of many great cities--all that is most advanced by you in all +ages of history, and memory of times; the invention of letters, which +are the interpreters of sciences and the guardians of all excellent +things. I think I may say more--beyond your gods, your temples, your +oracles and sacrifices. The author of those books lived a thousand years +before the siege of Troy, and more than fifteen hundred before Homer." +Time is the ally of truth, and wise men believe nothing but what is +certain, and what has been verified by time. The principal authority +of these Scriptures is derived from their venerable antiquity. The most +learned of the Ptolemies, who was surnamed Philadelphus, an accomplished +prince, by the advice of Demetrius Phalareus, obtained a copy of these +holy books. It may be found at this day in his library. The divinity of +these Scriptures is proved by this, that all that is done in our days +may be found predicted in them; they contain all that has since passed +in the view of men. + +Is not the accomplishment of a prophecy a testimony to its truth? Seeing +that events which are past have vindicated these prophecies, shall we be +blamed for trusting them in events that are to come? Now, as we believe +things that have been prophesied and have come to pass, so we believe +things that have been told us, but not yet come to pass, because they +have all been foretold by the same Scriptures, as well those that are +verified every day as those that still remain to be fulfilled. + +These Holy Scriptures teach us that there is one God, who made the world +out of nothing, who, though daily seen, is invisible; his infiniteness +is known only to himself; his immensity conceals, but at the same +time discovers him. He has ordained for men, according to their lives, +rewards and punishments; he will raise all the dead that have ever lived +from the creation of the world, will command them to reassume their +bodies, and thereupon adjudge them to felicity that has so end, or to +eternal flames. The fires of hell are those hidden flames which the +earth shuts up in her bosom. He has in past times sent into the world +preachers or prophets. The prophets of those old times were Jews; they +addressed their oracles, for such they were, to the Jews, who +have stored them up in the Scriptures. On them, as has been said, +Christianity is founded, though the Christian differs in his ceremonies +from the Jew. We are accused of worshiping a man, and not the God of +the Jews. Not so. The honor we bear to Christ does not derogate from the +honor we bear to God. + +On account of the merit of these ancient patriarchs, the Jews were the +only beloved people of God; he delighted to be in communication with +them by his own mouth. By him they were raised to admirable greatness. +But with perversity they wickedly ceased to regard him; they changed +his laws into a profane worship. He warned them that he would take to +himself servants more faithful than they, and, for their crime, punished +them by driving them forth from their country. They are now spread all +over the world; they wander in all parts; they cannot enjoy the air they +breathed at their birth; they have neither man nor God for their king. +As he threatened them, so he has done. He has taken, in all nations +and countries of the earth, people more faithful than they. Through his +prophets he had declared that these should have greater favors, and that +a Messiah should come, to publish a new law among them. This Messiah was +Jesus, who is also God. For God may be derived from God, as the light +of a candle may be derived from the light of another candle. God and his +Son are the self-same God--a light is the same light as that from which +it was taken. + +The Scriptures make known two comings of the Son of God; the first in +humility, the second at the day of judgment, in power. The Jews might +have known all this from the prophets, but their sins have so blinded +them that they did not recognize him at his first coming, and are still +vainly expecting him. They believed that all the miracles wrought by +him were the work of magic. The doctors of the law and the chief priests +were envious of him; they denounced him to Pilate. He was crucified, +died, was buried, and after three days rose again. For forty days he +remained among his disciples. Then he was environed in a cloud, and +rose up to heaven--a truth far more certain than any human testimonies +touching the ascension of Romulus or of any other Roman prince mounting +up to the same place. + +Tertullian then describes the origin and nature of devils, who, under +Satan, their prince, produce diseases, irregularities of the air, +plagues, and the blighting of the blossoms of the earth, who seduce men +to offer sacrifices, that they may have the blood of the victims, which +is their food. They are as nimble as the birds, and hence know every +thing that is passing upon earth; they live in the air, and hence can +spy what is going on in heaven; for this reason they can impose on men +reigned prophecies, and deliver oracles. Thus they announced in Rome +that a victory would be obtained over King Perseus, when in truth they +knew that the battle was already won. They falsely cure diseases; for, +taking possession of the body of a man, they produce in him a distemper, +and then ordaining some remedy to be used, they cease to afflict him, +and men think that a cure has taken place. + +Though Christians deny that the emperor is a god, they nevertheless pray +for his prosperity, because the general dissolution that threatens the +universe, the conflagration of the world, is retarded so long as the +glorious majesty of the triumphant Roman Empire shall last. They desire +not to be present at the subversion of all Nature. They acknowledge +only one republic, but it is the whole world; they constitute one body, +worship one God, and all look forward to eternal happiness. Not only do +they pray for the emperor and the magistrates, but also for peace. They +read the Scriptures to nourish their faith, lift up their hope, and +strengthen the confidence they have in God. They assemble to exhort one +another; they remove sinners from their societies; they have bishops who +preside over them, approved by the suffrages of those whom they are to +conduct. At the end of each month every one contributes if he will, but +no one is constrained to give; the money gathered in this manner is +the pledge of piety; it is not consumed in eating and drinking, but +in feeding the poor, and burying them, in comforting children that are +destitute of parents and goods, in helping old men who have spent the +best of their days in the service of the faithful, in assisting those +who have lost by shipwreck what they had, and those who are condemned +to the mines, or have been banished to islands, or shut up in prisons, +because they professed the religion of the true God. There is but one +thing that Christians have not in common, and that one thing is their +wives. They do not feast as if they should die to-morrow, nor build +as if they should never die. The objects of their life are innocence, +justice, patience, temperance, chastity. + +To this noble exposition of Christian belief and life in his day, +Tertullian does not hesitate to add an ominous warning to the +magistrates he is addressing--ominous, for it was a forecast of a great +event soon to come to pass: "Our origin is but recent, yet already we +fill all that your power acknowledges--cities, fortresses, islands, +provinces, the assemblies of the people, the wards of Rome, the palace, +the senate, the public places, and especially the armies. We have +left you nothing but your temples. Reflect what wars we are able to +undertake! With what promptitude might we not arm ourselves were we not +restrained by our religion, which teaches us that it is better to be +killed than to kill!" + +Before he closes his defense, Tertullian renews an assertion which, +carried into practice, as it subsequently was, affected the intellectual +development of all Europe. He declares that the Holy Scriptures are a +treasure from which all the true wisdom in the world has been drawn; +that every philosopher and every poet is indebted to them. He labors +to show that they are the standard and measure of all truth, and that +whatever is inconsistent with them must necessarily be false. + +From Tertullian's able work we see what Christianity was while it was +suffering persecution and struggling for existence. We have now to +see what it became when in possession of imperial power. Great is the +difference between Christianity under Severus and Christianity after +Constantine. Many of the doctrines which at the latter period were +preeminent, in the former were unknown. + +PAGANIZATION OF CHRISTIANITY. Two causes led to the amalgamation of +Christianity with paganism: 1. The political necessities of the new +dynasty; 2. The policy adopted by the new religion to insure its spread. + +1. Though the Christian party had proved itself sufficiently strong to +give a master to the empire, it was never sufficiently strong to destroy +its antagonist, paganism. The issue of the struggle between them was an +amalgamation of the principles of both. In this, Christianity differed +from Mohammedanism, which absolutely annihilated its antagonist, and +spread its own doctrines without adulteration. + +Constantine continually showed by his acts that he felt he must be the +impartial sovereign of all his people, not merely the representative +of a successful faction. Hence, if he built Christian churches, he also +restored pagan temples; if he listened to the clergy, he also consulted +the haruspices; if he summoned the Council of Nicea, he also honored the +statue of Fortune; if he accepted the rite of baptism, he also struck +a medal bearing his title of "God." His statue, on the top of the great +porphyry pillar at Constantinople, consisted of an ancient image of +Apollo, whose features were replaced by those of the emperor, and +its head surrounded by the nails feigned to have been used at the +crucifixion of Christ, arranged so as to form a crown of glory. + +Feeling that there must be concessions to the defeated pagan party, +in accordance with its ideas, he looked with favor on the idolatrous +movements of his court. In fact, the leaders of these movements were +persons of his own family. + +CHRISTIANITY UNDER CONSTANTINE. 2. To the emperor--a mere worldling--a +man without any religious convictions, doubtless it appeared best for +himself, best for the empire, and best for the contending parties, +Christian and pagan, to promote their union or amalgamation as much as +possible. Even sincere Christians do not seem to have been averse to +this; perhaps they believed that the new doctrines would diffuse most +thoroughly by incorporating in themselves ideas borrowed from the old, +that Truth would assert her self in the end, and the impurity be cast +off. In accomplishing this amalgamation, Helena, the empress-mother, +aided by the court ladies, led the way. For her gratification there were +discovered, in a cavern at Jerusalem, wherein they had lain buried for +more than three centuries, the Savior's cross, and those of the two +thieves, the inscription, and the nails that had been used. They were +identified by miracle. A true relic-worship set in. The superstition of +the old Greek times reappeared; the times when the tools with which the +Trojan horse was made might still be seen at Metapontum, the sceptre of +Pelops at Chaeroneia, the spear of Achilles at Phaselis, the sword +of Memnon at Nicomedia, when the Tegeates could show the hide of the +Calydonian boar and very many cities boasted their possession of the +true palladium of Troy; when there were statues of Minerva that could +brandish spears, paintings that could blush, images that could sweat, +and endless shrines and sanctuaries at which miracle-cures could be +performed. + +As years passed on, the faith described by Tertullian was transmuted +into one more fashionable and more debased. It was incorporated with +the old Greek mythology. Olympus was restored, but the divinities passed +under other names. The more powerful provinces insisted on the adoption +of their time-honored conceptions. Views of the Trinity, in accordance +with Egyptian traditions, were established. Not only was the adoration +of Isis under a new name restored, but even her image, standing on the +crescent moon, reappeared. The well-known effigy of that goddess, +with the infant Horus in her arms, has descended to our days in +the beautiful, artistic creations of the Madonna and Child. Such +restorations of old conceptions under novel forms were everywhere +received with delight. When it was announced to the Ephesians that the +Council of that place, headed by Cyril, had decreed that the Virgin +should be called "the Mother of God," with tears of joy they embraced +the knees of their bishop; it was the old instinct peeping out; their +ancestors would have done the same for Diana. + +This attempt to conciliate worldly converts, by adopting their ideas +and practices, did not pass without remonstrance from those whose +intelligence discerned the motive. "You have," says Faustus to +Augustine, "substituted your agapae for the sacrifices of the pagans; +for their idols your martyrs, whom you serve with the very same honors. +You appease the shades of the dead with wine and feasts; you celebrate +the solemn festivities of the Gentiles, their calends, and their +solstices; and, as to their manners, those you have retained without any +alteration. Nothing distinguishes you from the pagans, except that you +hold your assemblies apart from them." Pagan observances were everywhere +introduced. At weddings it was the custom to sing hymns to Venus. + +INTRODUCTION OF ROMAN RITES. Let us pause here a moment, and see, in +anticipation, to what a depth of intellectual degradation this policy of +paganization eventually led. Heathen rites were adopted, a pompous +and splendid ritual, gorgeous robes, mitres, tiaras, wax-tapers, +processional services, lustrations, gold and silver vases, were +introduced. The Roman lituus, the chief ensign of the augurs, became the +crozier. Churches were built over the tombs of martyrs, and consecrated +with rites borrowed from the ancient laws of the Roman pontiffs. +Festivals and commemorations of martyrs multiplied with the numberless +fictitious discoveries of their remains. Fasting became the grand means +of repelling the devil and appeasing God; celibacy the greatest of +the virtues. Pilgrimages were made to Palestine and the tombs of the +martyrs. Quantities of dust and earth were brought from the Holy Land +and sold at enormous prices, as antidotes against devils. The virtues +of consecrated water were upheld. Images and relics were introduced into +the churches, and worshiped after the fashion of the heathen gods. It +was given out that prodigies and miracles were to be seen in certain +places, as in the heathen times. The happy souls of departed Christians +were invoked; it was believed that they were wandering about the world, +or haunting their graves. There was a multiplication of temples, altars, +and penitential garments. The festival of the purification of the Virgin +was invented to remove the uneasiness of heathen converts on account of +the loss of their Lupercalia, or feasts of Pan. The worship of images, +of fragments of the cross, or bones, nails, and other relics, a true +fetich worship, was cultivated. Two arguments were relied on for the +authenticity of these objects--the authority of the Church, and the +working of miracles. Even the worn-out clothing of the saints and the +earth of their graves were venerated. From Palestine were brought what +were affirmed to be the skeletons of St. Mark and St. James, and other +ancient worthies. The apotheosis of the old Roman times was replaced by +canonization; tutelary saints succeed to local mythological divinities. +Then came the mystery of transubstantiation, or the conversion of bread +and wine by the priest into the flesh and blood of Christ. As centuries +passed, the paganization became more and more complete. Festivals sacred +to the memory of the lance with which the Savior's side was pierced, +the nails that fastened him to the cross, and the crown of thorns, were +instituted. Though there were several abbeys that possessed this last +peerless relic, no one dared to say that it was impossible they could +all be authentic. + +We may read with advantage the remarks made by Bishop Newton on this +paganization of Christianity. He asks: "Is not the worship of saints and +angels now in all respects the same that the worship of demons was in +former times? The name only is different, the thing is identically +the same,... the deified men of the Christians are substituted for the +deified men of the heathens. The promoters of this worship were sensible +that it was the same, and that the one succeeded to the other; and, +as the worship is the same, so likewise it is performed with the same +ceremonies. The burning of incense or perfumes on several altars at one +and the same time; the sprinkling of holy water, or a mixture of salt +and common water, at going into and coming out of places of public +worship; the lighting up of a great number of lamps and wax-candles in +broad daylight before altars and statues of these deities; the hanging +up of votive offerings and rich presents as attestations of so many +miraculous cures and deliverances from diseases and dangers; the +canonization or deification of deceased worthies; the assigning of +distinct provinces or prefectures to departed heroes and saints; the +worshiping and adoring of the dead in their sepulchres, shrines, and +relics; the consecrating and bowing down to images; the attributing +of miraculous powers and virtues to idols; the setting up of little +oratories, altars, and statues in the streets and highways, and on +the tops of mountains; the carrying of images and relics in pompous +procession, with numerous lights and with music and singing; +flagellations at solemn seasons under the notion of penance; a great +variety of religious orders and fraternities of priests; the shaving of +priests, or the tonsure as it is called, on the crown of their heads; +the imposing of celibacy and vows of chastity on the religious of both +sexes--all these and many more rites and ceremonies are equally parts of +pagan and popish superstition. Nay, the very same temples, the very same +images, which were once consecrated to Jupiter and the other demons, are +now consecrated to the Virgin Mary and the other saints. The very same +rites and inscriptions are ascribed to both, the very same prodigies and +miracles are related of these as of those. In short, almost the whole +of paganism is converted and applied to popery; the one is manifestly +formed upon the same plan and principles as the other; so that there is +not only a conformity, but even a uniformity, in the worship of ancient +and modern, of heathen and Christian Rome." + +DEBASEMENT OF CHRISTIANITY. Thus far Bishop Newton; but to return to the +times of Constantine: though these concessions to old and popular ideas +were permitted and even encouraged, the dominant religious party never +for a moment hesitated to enforce its decisions by the aid of the civil +power--an aid which was freely given. Constantine thus carried into +effect the acts of the Council of Nicea. In the affair of Arius, he even +ordered that whoever should find a book of that heretic, and not burn +it, should be put to death. In like manner Nestor was by Theodosius the +Younger banished to an Egyptian oasis. + +The pagan party included many of the old aristocratic families of the +empire; it counted among its adherents all the disciples of the old +philosophical schools. It looked down on its antagonist with contempt. +It asserted that knowledge is to be obtained only by the laborious +exercise of human observation and human reason. + +The Christian party asserted that all knowledge is to be found in the +Scriptures and in the traditions of the Church; that, in the written +revelation, God had not only given a criterion of truth, but had +furnished us all that he intended us to know. The Scriptures, therefore, +contain the sum, the end of all knowledge. The clergy, with the emperor +at their back, would endure no intellectual competition. + +Thus came into prominence what were termed sacred and profane knowledge; +thus came into presence of each other two opposing parties, one relying +on human reason as its guide, the other on revelation. Paganism leaned +for support on the learning of its philosophers, Christianity on the +inspiration of its Fathers. + +The Church thus set herself forth as the depository and arbiter of +knowledge; she was ever ready to resort to the civil power to compel +obedience to her decisions. She thus took a course which determined her +whole future career: she became a stumbling-block in the intellectual +advancement of Europe for more than a thousand years. + +The reign of Constantine marks the epoch of the transformation of +Christianity from a religion into a political system; and though, in +one sense, that system was degraded into an idolatry, in another it had +risen into a development of the old Greek mythology. The maxim holds +good in the social as well as in the mechanical world, that, when two +bodies strike, the form of both is changed. Paganism was modified by +Christianity; Christianity by Paganism. + +THE TRINITARIAN DISPUTE. In the Trinitarian controversy, which first +broke out in Egypt--Egypt, the land of Trinities--the chief point in +discussion was to define the position of "the Son." There lived in +Alexandria a presbyter of the name of Arius, a disappointed candidate +for the office of bishop. He took the ground that there was a time when, +from the very nature of sonship, the Son did not exist, and a time at +which he commenced to be, asserting that it is the necessary condition +of the filial relation that a father must be older than his son. But +this assertion evidently denied the coeternity of the three persons of +the Trinity; it suggested a subordination or inequality among them, +and indeed implied a time when the Trinity did not exist. Hereupon, the +bishop, who had been the successful competitor against Arius, displayed +his rhetorical powers in public debates on the question, and, the strife +spreading, the Jews and pagans, who formed a very large portion of +the population of Alexandria, amused themselves with theatrical +representations of the contest on the stage--the point of their +burlesques being the equality of age of the Father and his Son. + +Such was the violence the controversy at length assumed, that the matter +had to be referred to the emperor. At first he looked upon the dispute +as altogether frivolous, and perhaps in truth inclined to the assertion +of Arius, that in the very nature of the thing a father must be older +than his son. So great, however, was the pressure laid upon him, that +he was eventually compelled to summon the Council of Nicea, which, to +dispose of the conflict, set forth a formulary or creed, and attached to +it this anathema: "The Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church anathematizes +those who say that there was a time when the Son of God was not, and +that, before he was begotten, he was not, and that he was made out of +nothing, or out of another substance or essence, and is created, or +changeable, or alterable." Constantine at once enforced the decision of +the council by the civil power. + +A few years subsequently the Emperor Theodosius prohibited sacrifices, +made the inspection of the entrails of animals a capital offense, and +forbade any one entering a temple. He instituted Inquisitors of Faith, +and ordained that all who did not accord with the belief of Damasus, the +Bishop of Rome, and Peter, the Bishop of Alexandria, should be driven +into exile, and deprived of civil rights. Those who presumed to +celebrate Easter on the same day as the Jews, he condemned to death. +The Greek language was now ceasing to be known in the West, and true +learning was becoming extinct. + +At this time the bishopric of Alexandria was held by one Theophilus. An +ancient temple of Osiris having been given to the Christians of the city +for the site of a church, it happened that, in digging the foundation +for the new edifice, the obscene symbols of the former worship chanced +to be found. These, with more zeal than modesty, Theophilus exhibited +in the market-place to public derision. With less forbearance than the +Christian party showed when it was insulted in the theatre during the +Trinitarian dispute, the pagans resorted to violence, and a riot ensued. +They held the Serapion as their headquarters. Such were the disorder and +bloodshed that the emperor had to interfere. He dispatched a rescript to +Alexandria, enjoining the bishop, Theophilus, to destroy the Serapion; +and the great library, which had been collected by the Ptolemies, and +had escaped the fire of Julius Caesar, was by that fanatic dispersed. + +THE MURDER OF HYPATIA. The bishopric thus held by Theophilus was in due +time occupied by his nephew St. Cyril, who had commended himself to +the approval of the Alexandrian congregations as a successful and +fashionable preacher. It was he who had so much to do with the +introduction of the worship of the Virgin Mary. His hold upon the +audiences of the giddy city was, however, much weakened by Hypatia, the +daughter of Theon, the mathematician, who not only distinguished herself +by her expositions of the doctrines of Plato and Aristotle, but also by +her comments on the writings of Apollonius and other geometers. Each day +before her academy stood a long train of chariots; her lecture-room was +crowded with the wealth and fashion of Alexandria. They came to listen +to her discourses on those questions which man in all ages has asked, +but which never yet have been answered: "What am I? Where am I? What can +I know?" + +Hypatia and Cyril! Philosophy and bigotry. They cannot exist together. +So Cyril felt, and on that feeling he acted. As Hypatia repaired to her +academy, she was assaulted by Cyril's mob--a mob of many monks. Stripped +naked in the street, she was dragged into a church, and there killed by +the club of Peter the Reader. The corpse was cut to pieces, the flesh +was scraped from the bones with shells, and the remnants cast into a +fire. For this frightful crime Cyril was never called to account. It +seemed to be admitted that the end sanctified the means. + +So ended Greek philosophy in Alexandria, so came to an untimely close +the learning that the Ptolemies had done so much to promote. The +"Daughter Library," that of the Serapion, had been dispersed. The fate +of Hypatia was a warning to all who would cultivate profane knowledge. +Henceforth there was to be no freedom for human thought. Every one must +think as the ecclesiastical authority ordered him, A.D. 414. In Athens +itself philosophy awaited its doom. Justinian at length prohibited its +teaching, and caused all its schools in that city to be closed. + +PELAGIUS. While these events were transpiring in the Eastern provinces +of the Roman Empire, the spirit that had produced them was displaying +itself in the West. A British monk, who had assumed the name of +Pelagius, passed through Western Europe and Northern Africa, teaching +that death was not introduced into the world by the sin of Adam; that +on the contrary he was necessarily and by nature mortal, and had he not +sinned he would nevertheless have died; that the consequences of his +sins were confined to himself, and did not affect his posterity. From +these premises Pelagius drew certain important theological conclusions. + +At Rome, Pelagius had been received with favor; at Carthage, at the +instigation of St. Augustine, he was denounced. By a synod, held at +Diospolis, he was acquitted of heresy, but, on referring the matter to +the Bishop of Rome, Innocent I., he was, on the contrary, condemned. It +happened that at this moment Innocent died, and his successor, Zosimus, +annulled his judgment and declared the opinions of Pelagius to be +orthodox. These contradictory decisions are still often referred to +by the opponents of papal infallibility. Things were in this state of +confusion, when the wily African bishops, through the influence of Count +Valerius, procured from the emperor an edict denouncing Pelagins as +a heretic; he and his accomplices were condemned to exile and the +forfeiture of their goods. To affirm that death was in the world before +the fall of Adam, was a state crime. + +CONDEMNATION OF PELAGIUS. It is very instructive to consider the +principles on which this strange decision was founded. Since the +question was purely philosophical, one might suppose that it would +have been discussed on natural principles; instead of that, theological +considerations alone were adduced. The attentive reader will have +remarked, in Tertullian's statement of the principles of Christianity, +a complete absence of the doctrines of original sin, total depravity, +predestination, grace, and atonement. The intention of Christianity, +as set forth by him, has nothing in common with the plan of salvation +upheld two centuries subsequently. It is to St. Augustine, a +Carthaginian, that we are indebted for the precision of our views on +these important points. + +In deciding whether death had been in the world before the fall of Adam, +or whether it was the penalty inflicted on the world for his sin, +the course taken was to ascertain whether the views of Pelagius were +accordant or discordant not with Nature but with the theological +doctrines of St. Augustine. And the result has been such as might +be expected. The doctrine declared to be orthodox by ecclesiastical +authority is overthrown by the unquestionable discoveries of modern +science. Long before a human being had appeared upon earth, millions of +individuals--nay, more, thousands of species and even genera--had died; +those which remain with us are an insignificant fraction of the vast +hosts that have passed away. + +A consequence of great importance issued from the decision of the +Pelagian controversy. The book of Genesis had been made the basis of +Christianity. If, in a theological point of view, to its account of the +sin in the garden of Eden, and the transgression and punishment of Adam, +so much weight had been attached, it also in a philosophical point +of view became the grand authority of Patristic science. Astronomy, +geology, geography, anthropology, chronology, and indeed all the various +departments of human knowledge, were made to conform to it. + +ST. AUGUSTINE. As the doctrines of St. Augustine have had the effect of +thus placing theology in antagonism with science, it may be interesting +to examine briefly some of the more purely philosophical views of that +great man. For this purpose, we may appropriately select portions of +his study of the first chapter of Genesis, as contained in the eleventh, +twelfth, and thirteenth books of his "Confessions." + +These consist of philosophical discussions, largely interspersed +with rhapsodies. He prays that God will give him to understand the +Scriptures, and will open their meaning to him; he declares that in +them there is nothing superfluous, but that the words have a manifold +meaning. + +The face of creation testifies that there has been a Creator; but at +once arises the question, "How and when did he make heaven and earth? +They could not have been made IN heaven and earth, the world could not +have been made IN the world, nor could they have been made when there +was nothing to make them of." The solution of this fundamental inquiry +St. Augustine finds in saying, "Thou spakest, and they were made." + +But the difficulty does not end here. St. Augustine goes on to remark +that the syllables thus uttered by God came forth in succession, and +there must have been some created thing to express the words. This +created thing must, therefore, have existed before heaven and earth, and +yet there could have been no corporeal thing before heaven and earth. It +must have been a creature, because the words passed away and came to an +end but we know that "the word of the Lord endureth forever." + +Moreover, it is plain that the words thus spoken could not have been +spoken successively, but simultaneously, else there would have been time +and change--succession in its nature implying time; whereas there was +then nothing but eternity and immortality. God knows and says eternally +what takes place in time. + +CRITICISM OF ST. AUGUSTINE. St. Augustine then defines, not without +much mysticism, what is meant by the opening words of Genesis: "In +the beginning." He is guided to his conclusion by another scriptural +passage: "How wonderful are thy works, O Lord! in wisdom hast thou made +them all." This "wisdom" is "the beginning," and in that beginning the +Lord created the heaven and the earth. + +"But," he adds, "some one may ask, 'What was God doing before he made +the heaven and the earth? for, if at any particular moment he began +to employ himself, that means time, not eternity. In eternity nothing +transpires--the whole is present.'" In answering this question, he +cannot forbear one of those touches of rhetoric for which he was so +celebrated: "I will not answer this question by saying that he was +preparing hell for priers into his mysteries. I say that, before God +made heaven and earth, he did not make any thing, for no creature could +be made before any creature was made. Time itself is a creature, and +hence it could not possibly exist before creation. + +"What, then, is time? The past is not, the future is not, the +present--who can tell what it is, unless it be that which has no +duration between two nonentities? There is no such thing as 'a long +time,' or 'a short time,' for there are no such things as the past and +the future. They have no existence, except in the soul." + +The style in which St. Augustine conveyed his ideas is that of a +rhapsodical conversation with God. His works are an incoherent dream. +That the reader may appreciate this remark, I might copy almost at +random any of his paragraphs. The following is from the twelfth book: + +"This then, is what I conceive, O my God, when I hear thy Scripture +saying, In the beginning God made heaven and earth: and the earth was +invisible and without form, and darkness was upon the deep, and not +mentioning what day thou createdst them; this is what I conceive, +that because of the heaven of heavens--that intellectual heaven, whose +intelligences know all at once, not in part, not darkly, not through a +glass, but as a whole, in manifestation, face to face; not this thing +now, and that thing anon; but (as I said) know all at once, without any +succession of times; and because of the earth, invisible and without +form, without any succession of times, which succession presents 'this +thing now, that thing anon;' because, where there is no form, there +is no distinction of things; it is, then, on account of these two, a +primitive formed, and a primitive formless; the one, heaven, but the +heaven of heavens; the other, earth, but the earth movable and without +form; because of these two do I conceive, did thy Scripture say without +mention of days, In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. +For, forthwith it subjoined what earth it spake of; and also in that the +firmament is recorded to be created the second day, and called heaven, +it conveys to us of which heaven he before spake, without mention of +days. + +"Wondrous depth of thy words! whose surface behold! is before us, +inviting to little ones; yet are they a wondrous depth, O my God, a +wondrous depth! It is awful to look therein; an awfulness of honor, and +a trembling of love. The enemies thereof I hate vehemently; O that thou +wouldst slay them with thy two-edged sword, that they might no longer be +enemies to it: for so do I love to have them slain unto themselves, that +they may live unto thee." + +As an example of the hermeneutical manner in which St. Augustine +unfolded the concealed facts of the Scriptures, I may cite the following +from the thirteenth book of the "Confessions;" his object is to show +that the doctrine of the Trinity is contained in the Mosaic narrative of +the creation: + +"Lo, now the Trinity appears unto me in a glass darkly, which is thou my +God, because thou, O Father, in him who is the beginning of our wisdom, +which is thy wisdom, born of thyself, equal unto thee and coeternal, +that is, in thy Son, createdst heaven and earth. Much now have we said +of the heaven of heavens, and of the earth invisible and without form, +and of the darksome deep, in reference to the wandering instability of +its spiritual deformity, unless it had been converted unto him, from +whom it had its then degree of life, and by his enlightening became a +beauteous life, and the heaven of that heaven, which was afterward +set between water and water. And under the name of God, I now held the +Father, who made these things; and under the name of the beginning, the +Son, in whom he made these things; and believing, as I did, my God as +the Trinity, I searched further in his holy words, and lo! thy Spirit +moved upon the waters. Behold the Trinity, my God!--Father, and Son, and +Holy Ghost Creator of all creation." + +That I might convey to my reader a just impression of the character of +St. Augustine's philosophical writings, I have, in the two quotations +here given, substituted for my own translation that of the Rev. Dr. +Pusey, as contained in Vol. I. of the "Library of Fathers of the Holy +Catholic Church," published at Oxford, 1840. + +Considering the eminent authority which has been attributed to the +writings of St. Augustine by the religious world for nearly fifteen +centuries, it is proper to speak of them with respect. And indeed it +is not necessary to do otherwise. The paragraphs here quoted criticise +themselves. No one did more than this Father to bring science and +religion into antagonism; it was mainly he who diverted the Bible +from its true office--a guide to purity of life--and placed it in the +perilous position of being the arbiter of human knowledge, an audacious +tyranny over the mind of man. The example once set, there was no want of +followers; the works of the great Greek philosophers were stigmatized +as profane; the transcendently glorious achievements of the Museum of +Alexandria were hidden from sight by a cloud of ignorance, mysticism, +and unintelligible jargon, out of which there too often flashed the +destroying lightnings of ecclesiastical vengeance. + + +A divine revelation of science admits of no improvement, no change, no +advance. It discourages as needless, and indeed as presumptuous, all new +discovery, considering it as an unlawful prying into things which it was +the intention of God to conceal. + +What, then, is that sacred, that revealed science, declared by the +Fathers to be the sum of all knowledge? + +It likened all phenomena, natural and spiritual, to human acts. It saw +in the Almighty, the Eternal, only a gigantic man. + +THE PATRISTIC PHILOSOPHY. As to the earth, it affirmed that it is a flat +surface, over which the sky is spread like a dome, or, as St. Augustine +tells us, is stretched like a skin. In this the sun and moon and stars +move, so that they may give light by day and by night to man. The earth +was made of matter created by God out of nothing, and, with all the +tribes of animals and plants inhabiting it, was finished in six days. +Above the sky or firmament is heaven; in the dark and fiery space +beneath the earth is hell. The earth is the central and most important +body of the universe, all other things being intended for and +subservient to it. + +As to man, he was made out of the dust of the earth. At first he was +alone, but subsequently woman was formed from one of his ribs. He is the +greatest and choicest of the works of God. He was placed in a paradise +near the banks of the Euphrates, and was very wise and very pure; but, +having tasted of the forbidden fruit, and thereby broken the commandment +given to him, he was condemned to labor and to death. + +The descendants of the first man, undeterred by his punishment, pursued +such a career of wickedness that it became necessary to destroy them. A +deluge, therefore, flooded the face of the earth, and rose over the tops +of the mountains. Having accomplished its purpose, the water was dried +up by a wind. + +From this catastrophe Noah and his three sons, with their wives, were +saved in an ark. Of these sons, Shem remained in Asia and repeopled it. +Ham peopled Africa; Japhet, Europe. As the Fathers were not acquainted +with the existence of America, they did not provide an ancestor for its +people. + +Let us listen to what some of these authorities say in support of their +assertions. Thus Lactantius, referring to the heretical doctrine of the +globular form of the earth, remarks: "Is it possible that men can be so +absurd as to believe that the crops and the trees on the other side of +the earth hang downward, and that men have their feet higher than their +heads? If you ask them how they defend these monstrosities, how things +do not fall away from the earth on that side, they reply that the nature +of things is such that heavy bodies tend toward the centre, like the +spokes of a wheel, while light bodies, as clouds, smoke, fire, tend from +the centre to the heavens on all sides. Now, I am really at a loss what +to say of those who, when they have once gone wrong, steadily persevere +in their folly, and defend one absurd opinion by another." On the +question of the antipodes, St. Augustine asserts that "it is impossible +there should be inhabitants on the opposite side of the earth, since +no such race is recorded by Scripture among the descendants of Adam." +Perhaps, however, the most unanswerable argument against the sphericity +of the earth was this, that "in the day of judgment, men on the other +side of a globe could not see the Lord descending through the air." + +It is unnecessary for me to say any thing respecting the introduction of +death into the world, the continual interventions of spiritual agencies +in the course of events, the offices of angels and devils, the expected +conflagration of the earth, the tower of Babel, the confusion of +tongues, the dispersion of mankind, the interpretation of natural +phenomena, as eclipses, the rainbow, etc. Above all, I abstain from +commenting on the Patristic conceptions of the Almighty; they are too +anthropomorphic, and wanting in sublimity. + +Perhaps, however, I may quote from Cosmas Indicopleustes the views +that were entertained in the sixth century. He wrote a work entitled +"Christian Topography," the chief intent of which was to confute the +heretical opinion of the globular form of the earth, and the pagan +assertion that there is a temperate zone on the southern side of the +torrid. He affirms that, according to the true orthodox system of +geography, the earth is a quadrangular plane, extending four hundred +days' journey east and west, and exactly half as much north and south; +that it is inclosed by mountains, on which the sky rests; that one on +the north side, huger than the others, by intercepting the rays of the +sun, produces night; and that the plane of the earth is not set exactly +horizontally, but with a little inclination from the north: hence the +Euphrates, Tigris, and other rivers, running southward, are rapid; but +the Nile, having to run up-hill, has necessarily a very slow current. + +The Venerable Bede, writing in the seventh century, tells us that "the +creation was accomplished in six days, and that the earth is its centre +and its primary object. The heaven is of a fiery and subtile nature, +round, and equidistant in every part, as a canopy from the centre of the +earth. It turns round every day with ineffable rapidity, only moderated +by the resistance of the seven planets, three above the sun--Saturn, +Jupiter, Mars--then the sun; three below--Venus, Mercury, the moon. The +stars go round in their fixed courses, the northern perform the shortest +circle. The highest heaven has its proper limit; it contains the angelic +virtues who descend upon earth, assume ethereal bodies, perform human +functions, and return. The heaven is tempered with glacial waters, lest +it should be set on fire. The inferior heaven is called the firmament, +because it separates the superincumbent waters from the waters below. +The firmamental waters are lower than the spiritual heaven, higher than +all corporeal beings, reserved, some say, for a second deluge; others, +more truly, to temper the fire of the fixed stars." + +Was it for this preposterous scheme--this product of ignorance and +audacity--that the works of the Greek philosophers were to be given +up? It was none too soon that the great critics who appeared at the +Reformation, by comparing the works of these writers with one another, +brought them to their proper level, and taught us to look upon them all +with contempt. + +Of this presumptuous system, the strangest part was its logic, the +nature of its proofs. It relied upon miracle-evidence. A fact was +supposed to be demonstrated by an astounding illustration of something +else! An Arabian writer, referring to this, says: "If a conjurer should +say to me, 'Three are more than ten, and in proof of it I will change +this stick into a serpent,' I might be surprised at his legerdemain, +but I certainly should not admit his assertion." Yet, for more than +a thousand years, such was the accepted logic, and all over Europe +propositions equally absurd were accepted on equally ridiculous proof. + +Since the party that had become dominant in the empire could not furnish +works capable of intellectual competition with those of the great pagan +authors, and since it was impossible for it to accept a position of +inferiority, there arose a political necessity for the discouragement, +and even persecution, of profane learning. The persecution of the +Platonists under Valentinian was due to that necessity. They were +accused of magic, and many of them were put to death. The profession +of philosophy had become dangerous--it was a state crime. In its stead +there arose a passion for the marvelous, a spirit of superstition. Egypt +exchanged the great men, who had made her Museum immortal, for bands of +solitary monks and sequestered virgins, with which she was overrun. + + + +CHAPTER III. + + CONFLICT RESPECTING THE DOCTRINE OF THE UNITY OF GOD.--THE + FIRST OR SOUTHERN REFORMATION. + + The Egyptians insist on the introduction of the worship of + the Virgin Mary--They are resisted by Nestor, the Patriarch + of Constantinople, but eventually, through their influence + with the emperor, cause Nestor's exile and the dispersion of + his followers. + + Prelude to the Southern Reformation--The Persian attack; its + moral effects. + + The Arabian Reformation.--Mohammed is brought in contact + with the Nestorians--He adopts and extends their principles, + rejecting the worship of the Virgin, the doctrine of the + Trinity, and every thing in opposition to the unity of God.-- + He extinguishes idolatry in Arabia, by force, and prepares + to make war on the Roman Empire.--His successors conquer + Syria, Egypt, Asia Minor, North Africa, Spain, and invade + France. + + As the result of this conflict, the doctrine of the unity of + God was established in the greater part of the Roman Empire-- + The cultivation of science was restored, and Christendom + lost many of her most illustrious capitals, as Alexandria, + Carthage, and, above all, Jerusalem. + + +THE policy of the Byzantine court had given to primitive Christianity a +paganized form, which it had spread over all the idolatrous populations +constituting the empire. There had been an amalgamation of the two +parties. Christianity had modified paganism, paganism had modified +Christianity. The limits of this adulterated religion were the confines +of the Roman Empire. With this great extension there had come to the +Christian party political influence and wealth. No insignificant portion +of the vast public revenues found their way into the treasuries of the +Church. As under such circumstances must ever be the case, there were +many competitors for the spoils--men who, under the mask of zeal for the +predominant faith, sought only the enjoyment of its emoluments. + +ECCLESIASTICAL DISPUTES. Under the early emperors, conquest had reached +its culmination; the empire was completed; there remained no adequate +objects for military life; the days of war-peculation, and the +plundering of provinces, were over. For the ambitious, however, another +path was open; other objects presented. A successful career in the +Church led to results not unworthy of comparison with those that in +former days had been attained by a successful career in the army. + +The ecclesiastical, and indeed, it may be said, much of the political +history of that time, turns on the struggles of the bishops of the +three great metropolitan cities--Constantinople, Alexandria, Rome--for +supremacy: Constantinople based her claims on the fact that she was +the existing imperial city; Alexandria pointed to her commercial +and literary position; Rome, to her souvenirs. But the Patriarch of +Constantinople labored under the disadvantage that he was too closely +under the eye, and, as he found to his cost, too often under the hand, +of the emperor. Distance gave security to the episcopates of Alexandria +and Rome. + +ECCLESIASTICAL DISPUTES. Religious disputations in the East have +generally turned on diversities of opinion respecting the nature and +attributes of God; in the West, on the relations and life of man. This +peculiarity has been strikingly manifested in the transformations that +Christianity has undergone in Asia and Europe respectively. Accordingly, +at the time of which we are speaking, all the Eastern provinces of +the Roman Empire exhibited an intellectual anarchy. There were fierce +quarrels respecting the Trinity, the essence of God, the position of the +Son, the nature of the Holy Spirit, the influences of the Virgin Mary. +The triumphant clamor first of one then of another sect was confirmed, +sometimes by miracle-proof, sometimes by bloodshed. No attempt was ever +made to submit the rival opinions to logical examination. All parties, +however, agreed in this, that the imposture of the old classical pagan +forms of faith was demonstrated by the facility with which they had been +overthrown. The triumphant ecclesiastics proclaimed that the images of +the gods had failed to defend themselves when the time of trial came. + +Polytheistic ideas have always been held in repute by the southern +European races, the Semitic have maintained the unity of God. Perhaps +this is due to the fact, as a recent author has suggested, that a +diversified landscape of mountains and valleys, islands, and rivers, and +gulfs, predisposes man to a belief in a multitude of divinities. A vast +sandy desert, the illimitable ocean, impresses him with an idea of the +oneness of God. + +Political reasons had led the emperors to look with favor on the +admixture of Christianity and paganism, and doubtless by this means the +bitterness of the rivalry between those antagonists was somewhat abated. +The heaven of the popular, the fashionable Christianity was the old +Olympus, from which the venerable Greek divinities had been removed. +There, on a great white throne, sat God the Father, on his right the +Son, and then the blessed Virgin, clad in a golden robe, and "covered +with various female adornments;" on the left sat God the Holy Ghost. +Surrounding these thrones were hosts of angels with their harps. The +vast expanse beyond was filled with tables, seated at which the happy +spirits of the just enjoyed a perpetual banquet. + +If, satisfied with this picture of happiness, illiterate persons never +inquired how the details of such a heaven were carried out, or how much +pleasure there could be in the ennui of such an eternally unchanging, +unmoving scene, it was not so with the intelligent. As we are soon to +see, there were among the higher ecclesiastics those who rejected with +sentiments of horror these carnal, these materialistic conceptions, and +raised their protesting voices in vindication of the attributes of the +Omnipresent, the Almighty God. + +EGYPTIAN DOCTRINES. In the paganization of religion, now in all +directions taking place, it became the interest of every bishop to +procure an adoption of the ideas which, time out of mind, had been +current in the community under his charge. The Egyptians had already +thus forced on the Church their peculiar Trinitarian views; and now they +were resolved that, under the form of the adoration of the Virgin Mary, +the worship of Isis should be restored. + +THE NESTORIANS. It so happened that Nestor, the Bishop of Antioch, who +entertained the philosophical views of Theodore of Mopsuestia, had +been called by the Emperor Theodosius the Younger to the Episcopate +of Constantinople (A.D. 427). Nestor rejected the base popular +anthropomorphism, looking upon it as little better than blasphemous, +and pictured to himself an awful eternal Divinity, who pervaded the +universe, and had none of the aspects or attributes of man. Nestor +was deeply imbued with the doctrines of Aristotle, and attempted to +coordinate them with what he considered to be orthodox Christian tenets. +Between him and Cyril, the Bishop or Patriarch of Alexandria, a +quarrel accordingly arose. Cyril represented the paganizing, Nestor the +philosophizing party of the Church. This was that Cyril who had murdered +Hypatia. Cyril was determined that the worship of the Virgin as the +Mother of God should be recognized, Nestor was determined that it should +not. In a sermon delivered in the metropolitan church at Constantinople, +he vindicated the attributes of the Eternal, the Almighty God. "And can +this God have a mother?" he exclaimed. In other sermons and writings, +he set forth with more precision his ideas that the Virgin should be +considered not as the Mother of God, but as the mother of the human +portion of Christ, that portion being as essentially distinct from the +divine as is a temple from its contained deity. + +PERSECUTION AND DEATH OF NESTOR. Instigated by the monks of Alexandria, +the monks of Constantinople took up arms in behalf of "the Mother of +God." The quarrel rose to such a pitch that the emperor was constrained +to summon a council to meet at Ephesus. In the mean time Cyril had +given a bribe of many pounds of gold to the chief eunuch of the imperial +court, and had thereby obtained the influence of the emperor's sister. +"The holy virgin of the court of heaven thus found an ally of her own +sex in the holy virgin of the emperor's court." Cyril hastened to the +council, attended by a mob of men and women of the baser sort. He +at once assumed the presidency, and in the midst of a tumult had the +emperor's rescript read before the Syrian bishops could arrive. A single +day served to complete his triumph. All offers of accommodation on the +part of Nestor were refused, his explanations were not read, he was +condemned unheard. On the arrival of the Syrian ecclesiastics, a meeting +of protest was held by them. A riot, with much bloodshed, ensued in the +cathedral of St. John. Nestor was abandoned by the court, and eventually +exiled to an Egyptian oasis. His persecutors tormented him as long as +he lived, by every means in their power, and at his death gave out that +"his blasphemous tongue had been devoured by worms, and that from the +heats of an Egyptian desert he had escaped only into the hotter torments +of hell!" + +The overthrow and punishment of Nestor, however, by no means destroyed +his opinions. He and his followers, insisting on the plain inference of +the last verse of the first chapter of St. Matthew, together with the +fifty-fifth and fifty-sixth verses of the thirteenth of the same gospel, +could never be brought to an acknowledgment of the perpetual virginity +of the new queen of heaven. Their philosophical tendencies were soon +indicated by their actions. While their leader was tormented in an +African oasis, many of them emigrated to the Euphrates, and established +the Chaldean Church. Under their auspices the college of Edessa was +founded. From the college of Nisibis issued those doctors who spread +Nestor's tenets through Syria, Arabia, India, Tartary, China, Egypt. +The Nestorians, of course, adopted the philosophy of Aristotle, and +translated the works of that great writer into Syriac and Persian. They +also made similar translations of later works, such as those of +Pliny. In connection with the Jews they founded the medical college +of Djondesabour. Their missionaries disseminated the Nestorian form of +Christianity to such an extent over Asia, that its worshipers eventually +outnumbered all the European Christians of the Greek and Roman Churches +combined. It may be particularly remarked that in Arabia they had a +bishop. + +THE PERSIAN CAMPAIGN. The dissensions between Constantinople and +Alexandria had thus filled all Western Asia with sectaries, ferocious +in their contests with each other, and many of them burning with hatred +against the imperial power for the persecutions it had inflicted on +them. A religious revolution, the consequences of which are felt in our +own times, was the result. It affected the whole world. + +We shall gain a clear view of this great event, if we consider +separately the two acts into which it may be decomposed: 1. The +temporary overthrow of Asiatic Christianity by the Persians; 2. The +decisive and final reformation under the Arabians. + +1. It happened (A.D. 590) that, by one of those revolutions so frequent +in Oriental courts, Chosroes, the lawful heir to the Persian throne, was +compelled to seek refuge in the Byzantine Empire, and implore the aid +of the Emperor Maurice. That aid was cheerfully given. A brief and +successful campaign restored Chosroes to the throne of his ancestors. + +But the glories of this generous campaign could not preserve Maurice +himself. A mutiny broke out in the Roman army, headed by Phocas, a +centurion. The statues of the emperor were overthrown. The Patriarch +of Constantinople, having declared that he had assured himself of the +orthodoxy of Phocas, consecrated him emperor. The unfortunate Maurice +was dragged from a sanctuary, in which he had sought refuge; his five +sons were beheaded before his eyes, and then he was put to death. His +empress was inveigled from the church of St. Sophia, tortured, and +with her three young daughters beheaded. The adherents of the massacred +family were pursued with ferocious vindictiveness; of some the eyes were +blinded, of others the tongues were torn out, or the feet and hands cut +off, some were whipped to death, others were burnt. + +When the news reached Rome, Pope Gregory received it with exultation, +praying that the hands of Phocas might be strengthened against all his +enemies. As an equivalent for this subserviency, he was greeted with the +title of "Universal Bishop." The cause of his action, as well as of that +of the Patriarch of Constantinople, was doubtless the fact that Maurice +was suspected of Magrian tendencies, into which he had been lured by the +Persians. The mob of Constantinople had hooted after him in the streets, +branding him as a Marcionite, a sect which believed in the Magian +doctrine of two conflicting principles. + +With very different sentiments Chosroes heard of the murder of his +friend. Phocas had sent him the heads of Maurice and his sons. The +Persian king turned from the ghastly spectacle with horror, and at once +made ready to avenge the wrongs of his benefactor by war. + +THE EXPEDITION OF HERACLIUS. The Exarch of Africa, Heraclius, one of +the chief officers of the state, also received the shocking tidings with +indignation. He was determined that the imperial purple should not be +usurped by an obscure centurion of disgusting aspect. "The person of +this Phocas was diminutive and deformed; the closeness of his shaggy +eyebrows, his red hair, his beardless chin, were in keeping with his +cheek, disfigured and discolored by a formidable scar. Ignorant of +letters, of laws, and even of arms, he indulged in an ample privilege of +lust and drunkenness." At first Heraclius refused tribute and obedience +to him; then, admonished by age and infirmities, he committed the +dangerous enterprise of resistance to his son of the same name. A +prosperous voyage from Carthage soon brought the younger Heraclius in +front of Constantinople. The inconstant clergy, senate, and people of +the city joined him, the usurper was seized in his palace and beheaded. + +INVASION OF CHOSROES. But the revolution that had taken place in +Constantinople did not arrest the movements of the Persian king. His +Magian priests had warned him to act independently of the Greeks, +whose superstition, they declared, was devoid of all truth and justice. +Chosroes, therefore, crossed the Euphrates; his army was received with +transport by the Syrian sectaries, insurrections in his favor everywhere +breaking out. In succession, Antioch, Caesarea, Damascus fell; Jerusalem +itself was taken by storm; the sepulchre of Christ, the churches of +Constantine and of Helena were given to the flames; the Savior's cross +was sent as a trophy to Persia; the churches were rifled of their +riches; the sacred relics, collected by superstition, were dispersed. +Egypt was invaded, conquered, and annexed to the Persian Empire; the +Patriarch of Alexandria escaped by flight to Cyprus; the African coast +to Tripoli was seized. On the north, Asia Minor was subdued, and for +ten years the Persian forces encamped on the shores of the Bosporus, in +front of Constantinople. + +In his extremity Heraclius begged for peace. "I will never give peace +to the Emperor of Rome," replied the proud Persian, "till he has abjured +his crucified God, and embraced the worship of the sun." After a long +delay terms were, however, secured, and the Roman Empire was ransomed at +the price of "a thousand talents of gold, a thousand talents of silver, +a thousand silk robes, a thousand horses, and a thousand virgins." + +But Heraclius submitted only for a moment. He found means not only +to restore his affairs but to retaliate on the Persian Empire. The +operations by which he achieved this result were worthy of the most +brilliant days of Rome. + +INVASION OF CHOSROES Though her military renown was thus recovered, +though her territory was regained, there was something that the Roman +Empire had irrecoverably lost. Religious faith could never be restored. +In face of the world Magianism had insulted Christianity, by profaning +her most sacred places--Bethlehem, Gethsemane, Calvary--by burning +the sepulchre of Christ, by rifling and destroying the churches, by +scattering to the winds priceless relics, by carrying off, with shouts +of laughter, the cross. + +Miracles had once abounded in Syria, in Egypt, in Asia Minor; there was +not a church which had not its long catalogue of them. Very often they +were displayed on unimportant occasions and in insignificant cases. In +this supreme moment, when such aid was most urgently demanded, not a +miracle was worked. + +Amazement filled the Christian populations of the East when they +witnessed these Persian sacrileges perpetrated with impunity. The +heavens should have rolled asunder, the earth should have opened her +abysses, the sword of the Almighty should have flashed in the sky, the +fate of Sennacherib should have been repeated. But it was not so. In the +land of miracles, amazement was followed by consternation--consternation +died out in disbelief. + +2. But, dreadful as it was, the Persian conquest was but a prelude to +the great event, the story of which we have now to relate--the Southern +revolt against Christianity. Its issue was the loss of nine-tenths of +her geographical possessions--Asia, Africa, and part of Europe. + +MOHAMMED. In the summer of 581 of the Christian era, there came to +Bozrah, a town on the confines of Syria, south of Damascus, a caravan +of camels. It was from Mecca, and was laden with the costly products of +South Arabia--Arabia the Happy. The conductor of the caravan, one Abou +Taleb, and his nephew, a lad of twelve years, were hospitably received +and entertained at the Nestorian convent of the town. + +The monks of this convent soon found that their young visitor, Halibi or +Mohammed, was the nephew of the guardian of the Caaba, the sacred temple +of the Arabs. One of them, by name Bahira, spared no pains to secure his +conversion from the idolatry in which he had been brought up. He found +the boy not only precociously intelligent, but eagerly desirous of +information, especially on matters relating to religion. + +In Mohammed's own country the chief object of Meccan worship was a +black meteoric stone, kept in the Caaba, with three hundred and sixty +subordinate idols, representing the days of the year, as the year was +then counted. + +At this time, as we have seen, the Christian Church, through the +ambition and wickedness of its clergy, had been brought into a condition +of anarchy. Councils had been held on various pretenses, while the real +motives were concealed. Too often they were scenes of violence, bribery, +corruption. In the West, such were the temptations of riches, luxury, +and power, presented by the episcopates, that the election of a bishop +was often disgraced by frightful murders. In the East, in consequence of +the policy of the court of Constantinople, the Church had been torn in +pieces by contentions and schisms. Among a countless host of disputants +may be mentioned Arians, Basilidians, Carpocratians, Collyridians, +Eutychians, Gnostics, Jacobites, Marcionites, Marionites, Nestorians, +Sabellians, Valentinians. Of these, the Marionites regarded the Trinity +as consisting of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Virgin Mary; +the Collyridians worshiped the Virgin as a divinity, offering her +sacrifices of cakes; the Nestorians, as we have seen, denied that God +had "a mother." They prided themselves on being the inheritors, the +possessors of the science of old Greece. + +But, though they were irreconcilable in matters of faith, there was one +point in which all these sects agreed--ferocious hatred and persecution +of each other. Arabia, an unconquered land of liberty, stretching from +the Indian Ocean to the Desert of Syria, gave them all, as the tide +of fortune successively turned, a refuge. It had been so from the old +times. Thither, after the Roman conquest of Palestine, vast numbers of +Jews escaped; thither, immediately after his conversion, St. Paul +tells the Galatians that he retired. The deserts were now filled with +Christian anchorites, and among the chief tribes of the Arabs many +proselytes had been made. Here and there churches had been built. The +Christian princes of Abyssinia, who were Nestorians, held the southern +province of Arabia--Yemen--in possession. + +By the monk Bahira, in the convent at Bozrah, Mohammed was taught the +tenets of the Nestorians; from them the young Arab learned the story of +their persecutions. It was these interviews which engendered in him a +hatred of the idolatrous practices of the Eastern Church, and indeed of +all idolatry; that taught him, in his wonderful career, never to speak +of Jesus as the Son of God, but always as "Jesus, the son of Mary." His +untutored but active mind could not fail to be profoundly impressed not +only with the religious but also with the philosophical ideas of +his instructors, who gloried in being the living representatives of +Aristotelian science. His subsequent career shows how completely their +religious thoughts had taken possession of him, and repeated acts +manifest his affectionate regard for them. His own life was devoted to +the expansion and extension of their theological doctrine, and, that +once effectually established, his successors energetically adopted and +diffused their scientific, their Aristotelian opinions. + +As Mohammed grew to manhood, he made other expeditions to Syria. +Perhaps, we may suppose, that on these occasions the convent and its +hospitable in mates were not forgotten. He had a mysterious reverence +for that country. A wealthy Meccan widow Chadizah, had intrusted him +with the care of her Syrian trade. She was charmed with his capacity +and fidelity, and (since he is said to have been characterized by the +possession of singular manly beauty and a most courteous demeanor) +charmed with his person. The female heart in all ages and countries is +the same. She caused a slave to intimate to him what was passing in her +mind, and, for the remaining twenty-four years of her life, Mohammed was +her faithful husband. In a land of polygamy, he never insulted her by +the presence of a rival. Many years subsequently, in the height of his +power, Ayesha, who was one of the most beautiful women in Arabia, said +to him: "Was she not old? Did not God give you in me a better wife in +her place?" "No, by God!" exclaimed Mohammed, and with a burst of honest +gratitude, "there never can be a better. She believed in me when men +despised me, she relieved me when I was poor and persecuted by the +world." + +His marriage with Chadizah placed him in circumstances of ease, and gave +him an opportunity of indulging his inclination to religious meditation. +It so happened that her cousin Waraka, who was a Jew, had turned +Christian. He was the first to translate the Bible into Arabic. By his +conversation Mohammed's detestation of idolatry was confirmed. + +After the example of the Christian anchorites in their hermitages in +the desert, Mohammed retired to a grotto in Mount Hera, a few miles from +Mecca, giving himself up to meditation and prayer. In this seclusion, +contemplating the awful attributes of the Omnipotent and Eternal God, he +addressed to his conscience the solemn inquiry, whether he could adopt +the dogmas then held in Asiatic Christendom respecting the Trinity, the +sonship of Jesus as begotten by the Almighty, the character of Mary as +at once a virgin, a mother, and the queen of heaven, without incurring +the guilt and the peril of blasphemy. + +By his solitary meditations in the grotto Mohammed was drawn to the +conclusion that, through the cloud of dogmas and disputations around +him, one great truth might be discerned--the unity of God. Leaning +against the stem of a palm-tree, he unfolded his views on this subject +to his neighbors and friends, and announced to them that he should +dedicate his life to the preaching of that truth. Again and again, in +his sermons and in the Koran, he declared: "I am nothing but a public +preacher.... I preach the oneness of God." Such was his own conception +of his so-called apostleship. Henceforth, to the day of his death, he +wore on his finger a seal-ring on which was engraved, "Mohammed, the +messenger of God." + +VICTORIES OF MOHAMMED. It is well known among physicians that prolonged +fasting and mental anxiety inevitably give rise to hallucination. +Perhaps there never has been any religious system introduced by +self-denying, earnest men that did not offer examples of supernatural +temptations and supernatural commands. Mysterious voices encouraged the +Arabian preacher to persist in his determination; shadows of strange +forms passed before him. He heard sounds in the air like those of a +distant bell. In a nocturnal dream he was carried by Gabriel from Mecca +to Jerusalem, and thence in succession through the six heavens. Into the +seventh the angel feared to intrude and Mohammed alone passed into the +dread cloud that forever enshrouds the Almighty. "A shiver thrilled his +heart as he felt upon his shoulder the touch of the cold hand of God." + +His public ministrations met with much resistance and little success at +first. Expelled from Mecca by the upholders of the prevalent idolatry, +he sought refuge in Medina, a town in which there were many Jews and +Nestorians; the latter at once became proselytes to his faith. He had +already been compelled to send his daughter and others of his disciples +to Abyssinia, the king of which was a Nestorian Christian. At the end of +six years he had made only fifteen hundred converts. But in three little +skirmishes, magnified in subsequent times by the designation of the +battles of Beder, of Ohud, and of the Nations, Mohammed discovered that +his most convincing argument was his sword. Afterward, with Oriental +eloquence, he said, "Paradise will be found in the shadow of the +crossing of swords." By a series of well-conducted military operations, +his enemies were completely overthrown. Arabian idolatry was absolutely +exterminated; the doctrine he proclaimed, that "there is but one God," +was universally adopted by his countrymen, and his own apostleship +accepted. + +DEATH OF MOHAMMED. Let us pass over his stormy life, and hear what +he says when, on the pinnacle of earthly power and glory, he was +approaching its close. + +Steadfast in his declaration of the unity of God, he departed from +Medina on his last pilgrimage to Mecca, at the head of one hundred +and fourteen thousand devotees, with camels decorated with garlands of +flowers and fluttering streamers. When he approached the holy city, he +uttered the solemn invocation: "Here am I in thy service, O God! Thou +hast no companion. To thee alone belongeth worship. Thine alone is the +kingdom. There is none to share it with thee." + +With his own hand he offered up the camels in sacrifice. He considered +that primeval institution to be equally sacred as prayer, and that no +reason can be alleged in support of the one which is not equally strong +in support of the other. + +From the pulpit of the Caaba he reiterated, "O my hearers, I am only a +man like yourselves." They remembered that he had once said to one who +approached him with timid steps: "Of what dost thou stand in awe? I am +no king. I am nothing but the son of an Arab woman, who ate flesh dried +in the sun." + +He returned to Medina to die. In his farewell to his congregation, he +said: "Every thing happens according to the will of God, and has its +appointed time, which can neither be hastened nor avoided. I return to +him who sent me, and my last command to you is, that ye love, honor, and +uphold each other, that ye exhort each other to faith and constancy in +belief, and to the performance of pious deeds. My life has been for your +good, and so will be my death." + +In his dying agony, his head was reclined on the lap of Ayesha. From +time to time he had dipped his hand in a vase of water, and moistened +his face. At last he ceased, and, gazing steadfastly upward, said, in +broken accents: "O God--forgive my sins--be it so. I come." + +Shall we speak of this man with disrespect? His precepts are, at this +day, the religious guide of one-third of the human race. + +DOCTRINES OF MOHAMMED. In Mohammed, who had already broken away from the +ancient idolatrous worship of his native country, preparation had been +made for the rejection of those tenets which his Nestorian teachers +had communicated to him, inconsistent with reason and conscience. And, +though, in the first pages of the Koran, he declares his belief in what +was delivered to Moses and Jesus, and his reverence for them personally, +his veneration for the Almighty is perpetually displayed. He is +horror-stricken at the doctrine of the divinity of Jesus, the Worship of +Mary as the mother of God, the adoration of images and paintings, in +his eyes a base idolatry. He absolutely rejects the Trinity, of which +he seems to have entertained the idea that it could not be interpreted +otherwise than as presenting three distinct Gods. + +His first and ruling idea was simply religious reform--to overthrow +Arabian idolatry, and put an end to the wild sectarianism of +Christianity. That he proposed to set up a new religion was a calumny +invented against him in Constantinople, where he was looked upon with +detestation, like that with which in after ages Luther was regarded in +Rome. + +But, though he rejected with indignation whatever might seem to +disparage the doctrine of the unity of God, he was not able to +emancipate himself from anthropomorphic conceptions. The God of the +Koran is altogether human, both corporeally and mentally, if such +expressions may with propriety be used. Very soon, however, the +followers of Mohammed divested themselves of these base ideas and rose +to nobler ones. + +The view here presented of the primitive character of Mohammedanism +has long been adopted by many competent authorities. Sir William +Jones, following Locke, regards the main point in the divergence of +Mohammedanism from Christianity to consist "in denying vehemently the +character of our Savior as the Son, and his equality as God with the +Father, of whose unity and attributes the Mohammedans entertain and +express the most awful ideas." This opinion has been largely entertained +in Italy. Dante regarded Mohammed only as the author of a schism, and +saw in Islamism only an Arian sect. In England, Whately views it as a +corruption of Christianity. It was an offshoot of Nestorianism, and not +until it had overthrown Greek Christianity in many great battles, was +spreading rapidly over Asia and Africa, and had become intoxicated +with its wonderful successes, did it repudiate its primitive limited +intentions, and assert itself to be founded on a separate and distinct +revelation. + +THE FIRST KHALIF. Mohammed's life had been almost entirely consumed +in the conversion or conquest of his native country. Toward its close, +however, he felt himself strong enough to threaten the invasion of Syria +and Persia. He had made no provision for the perpetuation of his own +dominion, and hence it was not without a struggle that a successor was +appointed. At length Abubeker, the father of Ayesha, was selected. He +was proclaimed the first khalif, or successor of the Prophet. + +There is a very important difference between the spread of Mohammedanism +and the spread of Christianity. The latter was never sufficiently +strong to over throw and extirpate idolatry in the Roman Empire. As it +advanced, there was an amalgamation, a union. The old forms of the one +were vivified by the new spirit of the other, and that paganization to +which reference has already been made was the result. + +THE MOHAMMEDAN HEAVEN. But, in Arabia, Mohammed overthrew and absolutely +annihilated the old idolatry. No trace of it is found in the doctrines +preached by him and his successors. The black stone that had fallen from +heaven--the meteorite of the Caaba--and its encircling idols, passed +totally out of view. The essential dogma of the new faith--"There is but +one God"--spread without any adulteration. Military successes had, in a +worldly sense made the religion of the Koran profitable; and, no matter +what dogmas may be, when that is the case, there will be plenty of +converts. + +As to the popular doctrines of Mohammedanism, I shall here have nothing +to say. The reader who is interested in that matter will find an account +of them in a review of the Koran in the eleventh chapter of my "History +of the Intellectual Development of Europe." It is enough now to remark +that their heaven was arranged in seven stories, and was only a palace +of Oriental carnal delight. It was filled with black-eyed concubines +and servants. The form of God was, perhaps, more awful than that +of paganized Christianity. Anthropomorphism will, however, never be +obliterated from the ideas of the unintellectual. Their God, at the +best, will never be any thing more than the gigantic shadow of a man--a +vast phantom of humanity--like one of those Alpine spectres seen in the +midst of the clouds by him who turns his back on the sun. + +Abubeker had scarcely seated himself in the khalifate, when he put forth +the following proclamation: + +In the name of the most merciful God! Abubeker to the rest of the true +believers, health and happiness. The mercy and blessing of God be upon +you. I praise the most high God. I pray for his prophet Mohammed. + +INVASION OF SYRIA. "This is to inform you that I intend to send the true +believers into Syria, to take it out of the hands of the infidels. And +I would have you know that the fighting for religion is an act of +obedience to God." + +On the first encounter, Khaled, the Saracen general, hard pressed, +lifted up his hands in the midst of his army and said: "O God! these +vile wretches pray with idolatrous expressions and take to themselves +another God besides thee, but we acknowledge thy unity and affirm that +there is no other God but thee alone. Help us, we beseech thee, for the +sake of thy prophet Mohammed, against these idolaters." On the part of +the Saracens the conquest of Syria was conducted with ferocious piety. +The belief of the Syrian Christians aroused in their antagonists +sentiments of horror and indignation. "I will cleave the skull of any +blaspheming idolater who says that the Most Holy God, the Almighty +and Eternal, has begotten a son." The Khalif Omar, who took Jerusalem, +commences a letter to Heraclius, the Roman emperor: "In the name of the +most merciful God! Praise be to God, the Lord of this and of the other +world, who has neither female consort nor son." The Saracens nicknamed +the Christians "Associators," because they joined Mary and Jesus as +partners with the Almighty and Most Holy God. + +It was not the intention of the khalif to command his army; that duty +was devolved on Abou Obeidah nominally, on Khaled in reality. In a +parting review the khalif enjoined on his troops justice, mercy, and the +observance of fidelity in their engagements he commanded them to abstain +from all frivolous conversation and from wine, and rigorously to observe +the hours of prayer; to be kind to the common people among whom they +passed, but to show no mercy to their priests. + +FALL OF BOZRAH. Eastward of the river Jordan is Bozrah, a strong town +where Mohammed had first met his Nestorian Christian instructors. It was +one of the Roman forts with which the country was dotted over. Before +this place the Saracen army encamped. The garrison was strong, the +ramparts were covered with holy crosses and consecrated banners. It +might have made a long defense. But its governor, Romanus, betrayed his +trust, and stealthily opened its gates to the besiegers. His conduct +shows to what a deplorable condition the population of Syria had come. +After the surrender, in a speech he made to the people he had betrayed, +he said: "I renounce your society, both in this world and that to come. +And I deny him that was crucified, and whosoever worships him. And I +choose God for my Lord, Islam for my faith, Mecca for my temple, the +Moslems for my brethren, Mohammed for my prophet, who was sent to lead +us in the right way, and to exalt the true religion in spite of those +who join partners with God." Since the Persian invasion, Asia Minor, +Syria, and even Palestine, were full of traitors and apostates, ready to +join the Saracens. Romanus was but one of many thousands who had fallen +into disbelief through the victories of the Persians. + +FALL OF DAMASCUS. From Bozrah it was only seventy miles northward to +Damascus, the capital of Syria. Thither, without delay, the Saracen army +marched. The city was at once summoned to take its option--conversion, +tribute, or the sword. In his palace at Antioch, barely one hundred and +fifty miles still farther north, the Emperor Heraclius received tidings +of the alarming advance of his assailants. He at once dispatched an army +of seventy thousand men. The Saracens were compelled to raise the +siege. A battle took place in the plains of Aiznadin, the Roman army +was overthrown and dispersed. Khaled reappeared before Damascus with his +standard of the black eagle, and after a renewed investment of seventy +days Damascus surrendered. + +From the Arabian historians of these events we may gather that thus far +the Saracen armies were little better than a fanatic mob. Many of the +men fought naked. It was not unusual for a warrior to stand forth in +front and challenge an antagonist to mortal duel. Nay, more, even the +women engaged in the combats. Picturesque narratives have been +handed down to us relating the gallant manner in which they acquitted +themselves. + +FALL OF JERUSALEM. From Damascus the Saracen army advanced northward, +guided by the snow-clad peaks of Libanus and the beautiful river +Orontes. It captured on its way Baalbec, the capital of the Syrian +valley, and Emesa, the chief city of the eastern plain. To resist its +further progress, Heraclius collected an army of one hundred and forty +thousand men. A battle took place at Yermuck; the right wing of the +Saracens was broken, but the soldiers were driven back to the field by +the fanatic expostulations of their women. The conflict ended in +the complete overthrow of the Roman army. Forty thousand were taken +prisoners, and a vast number killed. The whole country now lay open to +the victors. The advance of their army had been east of the Jordan. +It was clear that, before Asia Minor could be touched, the strong and +important cities of Palestine, which was now in their rear, must be +secured. There was a difference of opinion among the generals in the +field as to whether Caesarea or Jerusalem should be assailed first. The +matter was referred to the khalif, who, rightly preferring the moral +advantages of the capture of Jerusalem to the military advantages of the +capture of Caesarea, ordered the Holy City to be taken, and that at any +cost. Close siege was therefore laid to it. The inhabitants, remembering +the atrocities inflicted by the Persians, and the indignities that had +been offered to the Savior's sepulchre, prepared now for a vigorous +defense. But, after an investment of four months, the Patriarch +Sophronius appeared on the wall, asking terms of capitulation. There had +been misunderstandings among the generals at the capture of Damascus, +followed by a massacre of the fleeing inhabitants. Sophronius, +therefore, stipulated that the surrender of Jerusalem should take place +in presence of the khalif himself Accordingly, Omar, the khalif, came +from Medina for that purpose. He journeyed on a red camel, carrying +a bag of corn and one of dates, a wooden dish, and a leathern +water-bottle. The Arab conqueror entered the Holy City riding by the +side of the Christian patriarch and the transference of the capital of +Christianity to the representative of Mohammedanism was effected without +tumult or outrage. Having ordered that a mosque should be built on the +site of the temple of Solomon, the khalif returned to the tomb of the +Prophet at Medina. + +Heraclius saw plainly that the disasters which were fast settling on +Christianity were due to the dissensions of its conflicting sects; and +hence, while he endeavored to defend the empire with his armies, he +sedulously tried to compose those differences. With this view he pressed +for acceptance the Monothelite doctrine of the nature of Christ. But it +was now too late. Aleppo and Antioch were taken. Nothing could prevent +the Saracens from overrunning Asia Minor. Heraclius himself had to seek +safety in flight. Syria, which had been added by Pompey the Great, +the rival of Caesar, to the provinces of Rome, seven hundred years +previously--Syria, the birthplace of Christianity, the scene of its most +sacred and precious souvenirs, the land from which Heraclius himself had +once expelled the Persian intruder--was irretrievably lost. Apostates +and traitors had wrought this calamity. We are told that, as the ship +which bore him to Constantinople parted from the shore, Heraclius +gazed intently on the receding hills, and in the bitterness of anguish +exclaimed, "Farewell, Syria, forever farewell!" + +It is needless to dwell on the remaining details of the Saracen +conquest: how Tripoli and Tyre were betrayed; how Caesarea was captured; +how with the trees of Libanus and the sailors of Phoenicia a Saraeen +fleet was equipped, which drove the Roman navy into the Hellespont; how +Cyprus, Rhodes, and the Cyclades, were ravaged, and the Colossus, which +was counted as one of the wonders of the world, sold to a Jew, who +loaded nine hundred camels with its brass; how the armies of the khalif +advanced to the Black Sea, and even lay in front of Constantinople--all +this was as nothing after the fall of Jerusalem. + +OVERTHROW OF THE PERSIANS. The fall of Jerusalem! the loss of +the metropolis of Christianity! In the ideas of that age the two +antagonistic forms of faith had submitted themselves to the ordeal of +the judgment of God. Victory had awarded the prize of battle, Jerusalem, +to the Mohammedan; and, notwithstanding the temporary successes of the +Crusaders, after much more than a thousand years in his hands it remains +to this day. The Byzantine historians are not without excuse for the +course they are condemned for taking: "They have wholly neglected the +great topic of the ruin of the Eastern Church." And as for the Western +Church, even the debased popes of the middle ages--the ages of the +Crusades--could not see without indignation that they were compelled +to rest the claims of Rome as the metropolis of Christendom on a false +legendary story of a visit of St. Peter to that city; while the true +metropolis, the grand, the sacred place of the birth, the life, the +death of Christ himself, was in the hands of the infidels! It has not +been the Byzantine historians alone who have tried to conceal this great +catastrophe. The Christian writers of Europe on all manner of subjects, +whether of history, religion, or science, have followed a similar +course against their conquering antagonists. It has been their constant +practice to hide what they could not depreciate, and depreciate what +they could not hide. + +INVASION OF EGYPT. I have not space, nor indeed does it comport with the +intention of this work, to relate, in such detail as I have given to +the fall of Jerusalem, other conquests of the Saracens--conquests which +eventually established a Mohammedan empire far exceeding in geographical +extent that of Alexander, and even that of Rome. But, devoting a few +words to this subject, it may be said that Magianism received a worse +blow than that which had been inflicted on Christianity; The fate of +Persia was settled at the battle of Cadesia. At the sack of Ctesiphon, +the treasury, the royal arms, and an unlimited spoil, fell into the +hands of the Saracens. Not without reason do they call the battle of +Nehavend the "victory of victories." In one direction they advanced to +the Caspian, in the other southward along the Tigris to Persepolis. +The Persian king fled for his life over the great Salt Desert, from the +columns and statues of that city which had lain in ruins since the night +of the riotous banquet of Alexander. One division of the Arabian army +forced the Persian monarch over the Oxus. He was assassinated by the +Turks. His son was driven into China, and became a captain in the +Chinese emperor's guards. The country beyond the Oxus was reduced. +It paid a tribute of two million pieces of gold. While the emperor +at Peking was demanding the friendship of the khalif at Medina, the +standard of the Prophet was displayed on the banks of the Indus. + +Among the generals who had greatly distinguished themselves in the +Syrian wars was Amrou, destined to be the conqueror of Egypt; for the +khalifs, not content with their victories on the North and East, now +turned their eyes to the West, and prepared for the annexation of +Africa. As in the former cases, so in this, sectarian treason assisted +them. The Saracen army was hailed as the deliverer of the Jacobite +Church; the Monophysite Christians of Egypt, that is, they who, in the +language of the Athanasian Creed, confounded the substance of the +Son, proclaimed, through their leader, Mokaukas, that they desired no +communion with the Greeks, either in this world or the next, that they +abjured forever the Byzantine tyrant and his synod of Chalcedon. They +hastened to pay tribute to the khalif, to repair the roads and bridges, +and to supply provisions and intelligence to the invading army. + +FALL OF ALEXANDRIA. Memphis, one of the old Pharaonic capitals, soon +fell, and Alexandria was invested. The open sea behind gave opportunity +to Heraclius to reenforce the garrison continually. On his part, Omar, +who was now khalif sent to the succor of the besieging army the veteran +troops of Syria. There were many assaults and many sallies. In one Amrou +himself was taken prisoner by the besieged, but, through the dexterity +of a slave, made his escape. After a siege of fourteen months, and a +loss of twenty-three thousand men, the Saracens captured the city. In +his dispatch to the Khalif, Amrou enumerated the splendors of the great +city of the West "its four thousand palaces, four thousand baths, four +hundred theatres, twelve thousand shops for the sale of vegetable food, +and forty thousand tributary Jews." + +So fell the second great city of Christendom--the fate of Jerusalem had +fallen on Alexandria, the city of Athanasius, and Arius, and Cyril; the +city that had imposed Trinitarian ideas and Mariolatry on the Church. +In his palace at Constantinople Heraclius received the fatal tidings. +He was overwhelmed with grief. It seemed as if his reign was to be +disgraced by the downfall of Christianity. He lived scarcely a month +after the loss of the town. + +But if Alexandria had been essential to Constantinople in the supply +of orthodox faith, she was also essential in the supply of daily food. +Egypt was the granary of the Byzantines. For this reason two attempts +were made by powerful fleets and armies for the recovery of the place, +and twice had Amrou to renew his conquest. He saw with what facility +these attacks could be made, the place being open to the sea; he saw +that there was but one and that a fatal remedy. "By the living God, if +this thing be repeated a third time I will make Alexandria as open to +anybody as is the house of a prostitute!" He was better than his word, +for he forthwith dismantled its fortifications, and made it an untenable +place. + +FALL OF CARTHAGE. It was not the intention of the khalifs to limit their +conquest to Egypt. Othman contemplated the annexation of the entire +North-African coast. His general, Abdallah, set out from Memphis with +forty thousand men, passed through the desert of Barca, and besieged +Tripoli. But, the plague breaking out in his army, he was compelled to +retreat to Egypt. + +All attempts were now suspended for more than twenty years. Then Akbah +forced his way from the Nile to the Atlantic Ocean. In front of the +Canary Islands he rode his horse into the sea, exclaiming: "Great God! +if my course were not stopped by this sea, I would still go on to the +unknown kingdoms of the West, preaching the unity of thy holy name, and +putting to the sword the rebellious nations who worship any other gods +than thee." + +These Saracen expeditions had been through the interior of the country, +for the Byzantine emperors, controlling for the time the Mediterranean, +had retained possession of the cities on the coast. The Khalif +Abdalmalek at length resolved on the reduction of Carthage, the most +important of those cities, and indeed the capital of North Africa. +His general, Hassan, carried it by escalade; but reenforcements from +Constantinople, aided by some Sicilian and Gothic troops, compelled +him to retreat. The relief was, however, only temporary. Hassan, in the +course of a few months renewed his attack. It proved successful, and he +delivered Carthage to the flames. + +Jerusalem, Alexandria, Carthage, three out of the five great Christian +capitals, were lost. The fall of Constantinople was only a question of +time. After its fall, Rome alone remained. + +In the development of Christianity, Carthage had played no insignificant +part. It had given to Europe its Latin form of faith, and some of its +greatest theologians. It was the home of St. Augustine. + +Never in the history of the world had there been so rapid and extensive +a propagation of any religion as Mohammedanism. It was now dominating +from the Altai Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean, from the centre of Asia +to the western verge of Africa. + +CONQUEST OF SPAIN. The Khalif Alwalid next authorized the invasion of +Europe, the conquest of Andalusia, or the Region of the Evening. +Musa, his general, found, as had so often been the case elsewhere, two +effective allies sectarianism and treason--the Archbishop of Toledo and +Count Julian the Gothic general. Under their lead, in the very crisis +of the battle of Xeres, a large portion of the army went over to the +invaders; the Spanish king was compelled to flee from the field, and in +the pursuit he was drowned in the waters of the Guadalquivir. + +With great rapidity Tarik, the lieutenant of Musa, pushed forward from +the battle-field to Toledo, and thence northward. On the arrival of Musa +the reduction of the Spanish peninsula was completed, and the wreck of +the Gothic army driven beyond the Pyrenees into France. Considering the +conquest of Spain as only the first step in his victories, he announced +his intention of forcing his way into Italy, and preaching the unity of +God in the Vatican. Thence he would march to Constantinople, and, having +put all end to the Roman Empire and Christianity, would pass into Asia +and lay his victorious sword on the footstool of the khalif at Damascus. + +But this was not to be. Musa, envious of his lieutenant, Tarik, had +treated him with great indignity. The friends of Tarik at the court of +the khalif found means of retaliation. An envoy from Damascus arrested +Musa in his camp; he was carried before his sovereign, disgraced by a +public whipping, and died of a broken heart. + +INVASION OF FRANCE. Under other leaders, however, the Saracen conquest +of France was attempted. In a preliminary campaign the country from the +mouth of the Garonne to that of the Loire was secured. Then Abderahman, +the Saracen commander, dividing his forces into two columns, with one +on the east passed the Rhone, and laid siege to Arles. A Christian army, +attempting the relief of the place, was defeated with heavy loss. +His western column, equally successful, passed the Dordogne, defeated +another Christian army, inflicting on it such dreadful loss that, +according to its own fugitives, "God alone could number the slain." All +Central France was now overrun; the banks of the Loire were reached; +the churches and monasteries were despoiled of their treasures; and +the tutelar saints, who had worked so many miracles when there was no +necessity, were found to want the requisite power when it was so greatly +needed. + +The progress of the invaders was at length stopped by Charles Martel +(A.D. 732). Between Tours and Poictiers, a great battle, which lasted +seven days, was fought. Abderahman was killed, the Saracens retreated, +and soon afterward were compelled to recross the Pyrenees. + +The banks of the Loire, therefore, mark the boundary of the Mohammedan +advance in Western Europe. Gibbon, in his narrative of these great +events, makes this remark: "A victorious line of march had been +prolonged above a thousand miles from the rock of Gibraltar to the banks +of the Loire--a repetition of an equal space would have carried the +Saracens to the confines of Poland and the Highlands of Scotland." + +INSULT TO ROME. It is not necessary for me to add to this sketch of the +military diffusion of Mohammedanism, the operations of the Saracens on +the Mediterranean Sea, their conquest of Crete and Sicily, their insult +to Rome. It will be found, however, that their presence in Sicily +and the south of Italy exerted a marked influence on the intellectual +development of Europe. + +Their insult to Rome! What could be more humiliating than the +circumstances under which it took place (A.D. 846)? An insignificant +Saracen expedition entered the Tiber and appeared before the walls of +the city. Too weak to force an entrance, it insulted and plundered the +precincts, sacrilegiously violating the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul. +Had the city itself been sacked, the moral effect could not have been +greater. From the church of St. Peter its altar of silver was torn +away and sent to Africa--St. Peter's altar, the very emblem of Roman +Christianity! + +Constantinople had already been besieged by the Saracens more than once; +its fall was predestined, and only postponed. Rome had received the +direst insult, the greatest loss that could be inflicted upon it; +the venerable churches of Asia Minor had passed out of existence; no +Christian could set his foot in Jerusalem without permission; the Mosque +of Omar stood on the site of the Temple of Solomon. Among the ruins of +Alexandria the Mosque of Mercy marked the spot where a Saracen general, +satiated with massacre, had, in contemptuous compassion, spared the +fugitive relics of the enemies of Mohammed; nothing remained of Carthage +but her blackened ruins. The most powerful religious empire that the +world had ever seen had suddenly come into existence. It stretched from +the Atlantic Ocean to the Chinese Wall, from the shores of the Caspian +to those of the Indian Ocean, and yet, in one sense, it had not reached +its culmination. The day was to come when it was to expel the successors +of the Caesars from their capital, and hold the peninsula of Greece in +subjection, to dispute with Christianity the empire of Europe in the +very centre of that continent, and in Africa to extend its dogmas and +faith across burning deserts and through pestilential forests from the +Mediterranean to regions southward far beyond the equinoetial line. + +DISSENSIONS OF THE ARABS. But, though Mohammedanism had not reached its +culmination, the dominion of the khalifs had. Not the sword of Charles +Martel, but the internal dissension of the vast Arabian Empire, was the +salvation of Europe. Though the Ommiade Khalifs were popular in Syria, +elsewhere they were looked upon as intruders or usurpers; the kindred +of the apostle was considered to be the rightful representative of his +faith. Three parties, distinguished by their colors, tore the khalifate +asunder with their disputes, and disgraced it by their atrocities. The +color of the Ommiades was white, that of the Fatimites green, that of +the Abassides black; the last represented the party of Abbas, the uncle +of Mohammed. The result of these discords was a tripartite division +of the Mohammedan Empire in the tenth century into the khalifates of +Bagdad, of Cairoan, and of Cordova. Unity in Mohammedan political action +was at an end, and Christendom found its safeguard, not in supernatural +help, but in the quarrels of the rival potentates. To internal +animosities foreign pressures were eventually added and Arabism, which +had done so much for the intellectual advancement of the world, came to +an end when the Turks and the Berbers attained to power. + +The Saracens had become totally regardless of European opposition--they +were wholly taken up with their domestic quarrels. Ockley says with +truth, in his history: "The Saracens had scarce a deputy lieutenant or +general that would not have thought it the greatest affront, and such +as ought to stigmatize him with indelible disgrace, if he should have +suffered himself to have been insulted by the united forces of all +Europe. And if any one asks why the Greeks did not exert themselves +more, in order to the extirpation of these insolent invaders, it is a +sufficient answer to any person that is acquainted with the characters +of those men to say that Amrou kept his residence at Alexandria, and +Moawyah at Damascus." + +As to their contempt, this instance may suffice: Nicephorus, the Roman +emperor, had sent to the Khalif Haroun-al-Raschid a threatening +letter, and this was the reply: "In the name of the most merciful God, +Haroun-al-Raschid, commander of the faithful, to Nicephorus, the Roman +dog! I have read thy letter, O thou son of an unbelieving mother. Thou +shalt not hear, thou shalt behold my reply!" It was written in letters +of blood and fire on the plains of Phrygia. + +POLITICAL EFFECT OF POLYGAMY. A nation may recover the confiscation +of its provinces, the confiscation of its wealth; it may survive the +imposition of enormous war-fines; but it never can recover from that +most frightful of all war-acts, the confiscation of its women. When +Abou Obeidah sent to Omar news of his capture of Antioch, Omar gently +upbraided him that he had not let the troops have the women. "If they +want to marry in Syria, let them; and let them have as many female +slaves as they have occasion for." It was the institution of polygamy, +based upon the confiscation of the women in the vanquished countries, +that secured forever the Mohammedan rule. The children of these unions +gloried in their descent from their conquering fathers. No better proof +can be given of the efficacy of this policy than that which is furnished +by North Africa. The irresistible effect of polygamy in consolidating +the new order of things was very striking. In little more than a single +generation, the Khalif was informed by his officers that the tribute +must cease, for all the children born in that region were Mohammedans, +and all spoke Arabic. + +MOHAMMEDANISM. Mohammedanism, as left by its founder, was an +anthropomorphic religion. Its God was only a gigantic man, its heaven +a mansion of carnal pleasures. From these imperfect ideas its more +intelligent classes very soon freed themselves, substituting for them +others more philosophical, more correct. Eventually they attained to an +accordance with those that have been pronounced in our own times by the +Vatican Council as orthodox. Thus Al-Gazzali says: "A knowledge of God +cannot be obtained by means of the knowledge a man has of himself, or +of his own soul. The attributes of God cannot be determined from +the attributes of man. His sovereignty and government can neither be +compared nor measured." + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + THE RESTORATION OF SCIENCE IN THE SOUTH. + + By the influence of the Nestorians and Jews, the Arabians + are turned to the cultivation of Science.--They modify + their views as to the destiny of man, and obtain true + conceptions respecting the structure of the world.--They + ascertain the size of the earth, and determine its shape.-- + Their khalifs collect great libraries, patronize every + department of science and literature, establish astronomical + observatories.--They develop the mathematical sciences, + invent algebra, and improve geometry and trigonometry.--They + collect and translate the old Greek mathematical and + astronomical works, and adopt the inductive method of + Aristotle.--They establish many colleges, and, with the aid + of the Nestorians, organize a public-school system.--They + introduce the Arabic numerals and arithmetic, and catalogue + and give names to the stars.--They lay the foundation of + modern astronomy, chemistry, and physics, and introduce + great improvements in agriculture and manufactures. + + +"IN the course of my long life," said the Khalif Ali, "I have often +observed that men are more like the times they live in than they +are like their fathers." This profoundly philosophical remark of the +son-in-law of Mohammed is strictly true; for, though the personal, the +bodily lineaments of a man may indicate his parentage, the constitution +of his mind, and therefore the direction of his thoughts, is determined +by the environment in which he lives. + +When Amrou, the lieutenant of the Khalif Omar, conquered Egypt, and +annexed it to the Saracenic Empire, he found in Alexandria a Greek +grammarian, John surnamed Philoponus, or the Labor-lover. Presuming on +the friendship which had arisen between them, the Greek solicited as a +gift the remnant of the great library--a remnant which war and time and +bigotry had spared. Amrou, therefore, sent to the khalif to ascertain +his pleasure. "If," replied the khalif, "the books agree with the Koran, +the Word of God, they are useless, and need not be preserved; if +they disagree with it, they are pernicious. Let them be destroyed." +Accordingly, they were distributed among the baths of Alexandria, and it +is said that six months were barely sufficient to consume them. + +Although the fact has been denied, there can be little doubt that Omar +gave this order. The khalif was an illiterate man; his environment +was an environment of fanaticism and ignorance. Omar's act was an +illustration of Ali's remark. + +THE ALEXANDRIAN LIBRARY BURNT. But it must not be supposed that the +books which John the Labor-lover coveted were those which constituted +the great library of the Ptolemies, and that of Eumenes, King of +Pergamus. Nearly a thousand years had elapsed since Philadelphus began +his collection. Julius Caesar had burnt more than half; the Patriarchs +of Alexandria had not only permitted but superintended the dispersion +of almost all the rest. Orosius expressly states that he saw the empty +cases or shelves of the library twenty years after Theophilus, the uncle +of St. Cyril, had procured from the Emperor Theodosius a rescript for +its destruction. Even had this once noble collection never endured such +acts of violence, the mere wear and tear, and perhaps, I may add, the +pilfering of a thousand years, would have diminished it sadly. +Though John, as the surname he received indicates, might rejoice in a +superfluity of occupation, we may be certain that the care of a library +of half a million books would transcend even his well-tried powers; and +the cost of preserving and supporting it, that had demanded the ample +resources of the Ptolemies and the Caesars, was beyond the means of a +grammarian. Nor is the time required for its combustion or destruction +any indication of the extent of the collection. Of all articles of +fuel, parchment is, perhaps, the most wretched. Paper and papyrus do +excellently well as kindling-materials, but we may be sure that the +bath-men of Alexandria did not resort to parchment so long as they could +find any thing else, and of parchment a very large portion of these +books was composed. + +There can, then, be no more doubt that Omar did order the destruction of +this library, under an impression of its uselessness or its irreligious +tendency, than that the Crusaders burnt the library of Tripoli, +fancifully said to have consisted of three million volumes. The first +apartment entered being found to contain nothing but the Koran, all the +other books were supposed to be the works of the Arabian impostor, +and were consequently committed to the flames. In both cases the story +contains some truth and much exaggeration. Bigotry, however, has often +distinguished itself by such exploits. The Spaniards burnt in Mexico +vast piles of American picture-writings, an irretrievable loss; and +Cardinal Ximenes delivered to the flames, in the squares of Granada, +eighty thousand Arabic manuscripts, many of them translations of +classical authors. + +We have seen how engineering talent, stimulated by Alexander's Persian +campaign, led to a wonderful development of pure science under the +Ptolemies; a similar effect may be noted as the result of the Saracenic +military operations. + +The friendship contracted by Amrou, the conqueror of Egypt, with John +the Grammarian, indicates how much the Arabian mind was predisposed to +liberal ideas. Its step from the idolatry of the Caaba to the monotheism +of Mohammed prepared it to expatiate in the wide and pleasing fields +of literature and philosophy. There were two influences to which it +was continually exposed. They conspired in determining its path. These +were--1. That of the Nestorians in Syria; 2. That of the Jews in Egypt. + +INFLUENCE OF THE NESTORIANS AND JEWS. In the last chapter I have briefly +related the persecution of Nestor and his disciples. They bore testimony +to the oneness of God, through many sufferings and martyrdoms. They +utterly repudiated an Olympus filled with gods and goddesses. "Away from +us a queen of heaven!" + +Such being their special views, the Nestorians found no difficulty in +affiliating with their Saracen conquerors, by whom they were treated +not only with the highest respect, but intrusted with some of the most +important offices of the state. Mohammed, in the strongest manner, +prohibited his followers from committing any injuries against them. +Jesuiabbas, their pontiff, concluded treaties both with the Prophet and +with Omar, and subsequently the Khalif Haroun-al-Raschid placed all his +public schools under the superintendence of John Masue, a Nestorian. + +To the influence of the Nestorians that of the Jews was added. When +Christianity displayed a tendency to unite itself with paganism, the +conversion of the Jews was arrested; it totally ceased when Trinitarian +ideas were introduced. The cities of Syria and Egypt were full of Jews. +In Alexandria alone, at the time of its capture by Amrou, there were +forty thousand who paid tribute. Centuries of misfortune and persecution +had served only to confirm them in their monotheism, and to strengthen +that implacable hatred of idolatry which they had cherished ever +since the Babylonian captivity. Associated with the Nestorians, they +translated into Syriac many Greek and Latin philosophical works, which +were retranslated into Arabic. While the Nestorian was occupied with +the education of the children of the great Mohammedan families, the Jew +found his way into them in the character of a physician. + +FATALISM OF THE ARABIANS. Under these influences the ferocious +fanaticism of the Saracens abated, their manners were polished, their +thoughts elevated. They overran the realms of Philosophy and Science +as quickly as they had overrun the provinces of the Roman Empire. They +abandoned the fallacies of vulgar Mohammedanism, accepting in their +stead scientific truth. + +In a world devoted to idolatry, the sword of the Saracen had vindicated +the majesty of God. The doctrine of fatalism, inculcated by the Koran, +had powerfully contributed to that result. "No man can anticipate or +postpone his predetermined end. Death will overtake us even in lofty +towers. From the beginning God hath settled the place in which each man +shall die." In his figurative language the Arab said: "No man can by +flight escape his fate. The Destinies ride their horses by night.... +Whether asleep in bed or in the storm of battle, the angel of death will +find thee." "I am convinced," said Ali, to whose wisdom we have already +referred--"I am convinced that the affairs of men go by divine decree, +and not by our administration." The Mussulmen are those who submissively +resign themselves to the will of God. They reconciled fate and free-will +by saying, "The outline is given us, we color the picture of life as we +will." They said that, if we would overcome the laws of Nature, we must +not resist, we must balance them against each other. + +This dark doctrine prepared its devotees for the accomplishment of great +things--things such as the Saracens did accomplish. It converted despair +into resignation, and taught men to disdain hope. There was a proverb +among them that "Despair is a freeman, Hope is a slave." + +But many of the incidents of war showed plainly that medicines +may assuage pain, that skill may close wounds, that those who are +incontestably dying may be snatched from the grave. The Jewish physician +became a living, an accepted protest against the fatalism of the Koran. +By degrees the sternness of predestination was mitigated, and it was +admitted that in individual life there is an effect due to free-will; +that by his voluntary acts man may within certain limits determine his +own course. But, so far as nations are concerned, since they can yield +no personal accountability to God, they are placed under the control of +immutable law. + +In this respect the contrast between the Christian and the Mohammedan +nations was very striking: The Christian was convinced of incessant +providential interventions; he believed that there was no such thing as +law in the government of the world. By prayers and entreaties he might +prevail with God to change the current of affairs, or, if that failed, +he might succeed with Christ, or perhaps with the Virgin Mary, or +through the intercession of the saints, or by the influence of their +relics or bones. If his own supplications were unavailing, he might +obtain his desire through the intervention of his priest, or through +that of the holy men of the Church, and especially if oblations or gifts +of money were added. Christendom believed that she could change the +course of affairs by influencing the conduct of superior beings. Islam +rested in a pious resignation to the unchangeable will of God. The +prayer of the Christian was mainly an earnest intercession for benefits +hoped for, that of the Saracen a devout expression of gratitude for the +past. Both substituted prayer for the ecstatic meditation of India. +To the Christian the progress of the world was an exhibition of +disconnected impulses, of sudden surprises. To the Mohammedan that +progress presented a very different aspect. Every corporeal motion was +due to some preceding motion; every thought to some preceding thought; +every historical event was the offspring of some preceding event; every +human action was the result of some foregone and accomplished action. In +the long annals of our race, nothing has ever been abruptly introduced. +There has been an orderly, an inevitable sequence from event to event. +There is an iron chain of destiny, of which the links are facts; each +stands in its preordained place--not one has ever been disturbed, not +one has ever been removed. Every man came into the world without his own +knowledge, he is to depart from it perhaps against his own wishes. Then +let him calmly fold his hands, and expect the issues of fate. + +Coincidently with this change of opinion as to the government of +individual life, there came a change as respects the mechanical +construction of the world. According to the Koran, the earth is a square +plane, edged with vast mountains, which serve the double purpose of +balancing it in its seat, and of sustaining the dome of the sky. Our +devout admiration of the power and wisdom of God should be excited by +the spectacle of this vast crystalline brittle expanse, which has been +safely set in its position without so much as a crack or any other +injury. Above the sky, and resting on it, is heaven, built in seven +stories, the uppermost being the habitation of God, who, under the form +of a gigantic man, sits on a throne, having on either side winged bulls, +like those in the palaces of old Assyrian kings. + +THEY MEASURE THE EARTH. These ideas, which indeed are not peculiar to +Mohammedanism, but are entertained by all men in a certain stage of +their intellectual development as religious revelations, were +very quickly exchanged by the more advanced Mohammedans for others +scientifically correct. Yet, as has been the case in Christian +countries, the advance was not made without resistance on the part +of the defenders of revealed truth. Thus when Al-Mamun, having become +acquainted with the globular form of the earth, gave orders to his +mathematicians and astronomers to measure a degree of a great circle +upon it, Takyuddin, one of the most celebrated doctors of divinity +of that time, denounced the wicked khalif, declaring that God would +assuredly punish him for presumptuously interrupting the devotions +of the faithful by encouraging and diffusing a false and atheistical +philosophy among them. Al-Mamun, however, persisted. On the shores of +the Red Sea, in the plains of Shinar, by the aid of an astrolabe, the +elevation of the pole above the horizon was determined at two stations +on the same meridian, exactly one degree apart. The distance between +the two stations was then measured, and found to be two hundred thousand +Hashemite cubits; this gave for the entire circumference of the earth +about twenty-four thousand of our miles, a determination not far +from the truth. But, since the spherical form could not be positively +asserted from one such measurement, the khalif caused another to be made +near Cufa in Mesopotamia. His astronomers divided themselves into two +parties, and, starting from a given point, each party measured an arc +of one degree, the one northward, the other southward. Their result +is given in cubits. If the cubit employed was that known as the royal +cubit, the length of a degree was ascertained within one-third of a mile +of its true value. From these measures the khalif concluded that the +globular form was established. + +THEIR PASSION FOR SCIENCE. It is remarkable how quickly the ferocious +fanaticism of the Saracens was transformed into a passion for +intellectual pursuits. At first the Koran was an obstacle to +literature and science. Mohammed had extolled it as the grandest of all +compositions, and had adduced its unapproachable excellence as a proof +of his divine mission. But, in little more than twenty years after his +death, the experience that had been acquired in Syria, Persia, Asia +Minor, Egypt, had produced a striking effect, and Ali the khalif +reigning at that time, avowedly encouraged all kinds of literary +pursuits. Moawyah, the founder of the Ommiade dynasty, who followed in +661, revolutionized the government. It had been elective, he made it +hereditary. He removed its seat from Medina to a more central position +at Damascus, and entered on a career of luxury and magnificence. He +broke the bonds of a stern fanaticism, and put himself forth as a +cultivator and patron of letters. Thirty years had wrought a wonderful +change. A Persian satrap who had occasion to pay homage to Omar, the +second khalif, found him asleep among the beggars on the steps of the +Mosque of Medina; but foreign envoys who had occasion to seek Moawyah, +the sixth khalif, were presented to him in a magnificent palace, +decorated with exquisite arabesques, and adorned with flower-gardens and +fountains. + +THEIR LITERATURE. In less than a century after the death of Mohammed, +translations of the chief Greek philosophical authors had been made into +Arabic; poems such as the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey," being considered +to have an irreligious tendency from their mythological allusions, were +rendered into Syriac, to gratify the curiosity of the learned. Almansor, +during his khalifate (A.D. 753-775), transferred the seat of government +to Bagdad, which he converted into a splendid metropolis; he gave much +of his time to the study and promotion of astronomy, and established +schools of medicine and law. His grandson, Haroun-al-Raschid (A.D. 786), +followed his example, and ordered that to every mosque in his dominions +a school should be attached. But the Augustan age of Asiatic learning +was during the khalifate of Al-Mamun (A.D. 813-832). He made Bagdad the +centre of science, collected great libraries, and surrounded himself +with learned men. + +The elevated taste thus cultivated continued after the division of the +Saracen Empire by internal dissensions into three parts. The Abasside +dynasty in Asia, the Fatimite in Egypt, and the Ommiade in Spain, became +rivals not merely in politics, but also in letters and science. + +THEY ORIGINATE CHEMISTRY. In letters the Saracens embraced every topic +that can amuse or edify the mind. In later times, it was their boast +that they had produced more poets than all other nations combined. In +science their great merit consists in this, that they cultivated it +after the manner of the Alexandrian Greeks, not after the manner of the +European Greeks. They perceived that it can never be advanced by mere +speculation; its only sure progress is by the practical interrogation of +Nature. The essential characteristics of their method are experiment and +observation. Geometry and the mathematical sciences they looked upon +as instruments of reasoning. In their numerous writings on mechanics, +hydrostatics, optics, it is interesting to remark that the solution of +a problem is always obtained by performing an experiment, or by an +instrumental observation. It was this that made them the originators of +chemistry, that led them to the invention of all kinds of apparatus for +distillation, sublimation, fusion, filtration, etc.; that in astronomy +caused them to appeal to divided instruments, as quadrants and +astrolabes; in chemistry, to employ the balance, the theory of which +they were perfectly familiar with; to construct tables of specific +gravities and astronomical tables, as those of Bagdad, Spain, Samarcand; +that produced their great improvements in geometry, trigonometry, the +invention of algebra, and the adoption of the Indian numeration in +arithmetic. Such were the results of their preference of the inductive +method of Aristotle, their declining the reveries of Plato. + +THEIR GREAT LIBRARIES. For the establishment and extension of the public +libraries, books were sedulously collected. Thus the khalif Al-Mamun +is reported to have brought into Bagdad hundreds of camel-loads of +manuscripts. In a treaty he made with the Greek emperor, Michael III., +he stipulated that one of the Constantinople libraries should be given +up to him. Among the treasures he thus acquired was the treatise of +Ptolemy on the mathematical construction of the heavens. He had it +forthwith translated into Arabic, under the title of "Al-magest." The +collections thus acquired sometimes became very large; thus the Fatimite +Library at Cairo contained one hundred thousand volumes, elegantly +transcribed and bound. Among these, there were six thousand five hundred +manuscripts on astronomy and medicine alone. The rules of this library +permitted the lending out of books to students resident at Cairo. It +also contained two globes, one of massive silver and one of brass; the +latter was said to have been constructed by Ptolemy, the former cost +three thousand golden crowns. The great library of the Spanish khalifs +eventually numbered six hundred thousand volumes; its catalogue alone +occupied forty-four. Besides this, there were seventy public libraries +in Andalusia. The collections in the possession of individuals were +sometimes very extensive. A private doctor refused the invitation of a +Sultan of Bokhara because the carriage of his books would have required +four hundred camels. + +There was in every great library a department for the copying or +manufacture of translations. Such manufactures were also often an +affair of private enterprise. Honian, a Nestorian physician, had an +establishment of the kind at Bagdad (A.D. 850). He issued versions of +Aristotle, Plato, Hippocrates, Galen, etc. As to original works, it was +the custom of the authorities of colleges to require their professors +to prepare treatises on prescribed topics. Every khalif had his own +historian. Books of romances and tales, such as "The Thousand and One +Arabian Nights' Entertainments," bear testimony to the creative fancy +of the Saracens. Besides these, there were works on all kinds of +subjects--history, jurisprudence, politics, philosophy, biographies not +only of illustrious men, but also of celebrated horses and camels. These +were issued without any censorship or restraint, though, in later times, +works on theology required a license for publication. Books of reference +abounded, geographical, statistical, medical, historical dictionaries, +and even abridgments or condensations of them, as the "Encyclopedic +Dictionary of all the Sciences," by Mohammed Abu Abdallah. Much pride +was taken in the purity and whiteness of the paper, in the skillful +intermixture of variously-colored inks, and in the illumination of +titles by gilding and other adornments. + +The Saracen Empire was dotted all over with colleges. They were +established in Mongolia, Tartary, Persia, Mesopotamia, Syria, Egypt, +North Africa, Morocco, Fez, Spain. At one extremity of this vast region, +which far exceeded the Roman Empire in geographical extent, were the +college and astronomical observatory of Samarcand, at the other the +Giralda in Spain. Gibbon, referring to this patronage of learning, says: +"The same royal prerogative was claimed by the independent emirs of the +provinces, and their emulation diffused the taste and the rewards of +science from Samarcand and Bokhara to Fez and Cordova. The vizier of a +sultan consecrated a sum of two hundred thousand pieces of gold to +the foundation of a college at Bagdad, which he endowed with an annual +revenue of fifteen thousand dinars. The fruits of instruction were +communicated, perhaps, at different times, to six thousand disciples +of every degree, from the son of the noble to that of the mechanic; a +sufficient allowance was provided for the indigent scholars, and the +merit or industry of the professors was repaid with adequate stipends. +In every city the productions of Arabic literature were copied and +collected, by the curiosity of the studious and the vanity of the rich." +The superintendence of these schools was committed with noble liberality +sometimes to Nestorians, sometimes to Jews. It mattered not in what +country a man was born, nor what were his religious opinions; his +attainment in learning was the only thing to be considered. The great +Khalif Al-Mamun had declared that "they are the elect of God, his best +and most useful servants, whose lives are devoted to the improvement +of their rational faculties; that the teachers of wisdom are the true +luminaries and legislators of this world, which, without their aid, +would again sink into ignorance and barbarism." + +After the example of the medical college of Cairo, other medical +colleges required their students to pass a rigid examination. The +candidate then received authority to enter on the practice of his +profession. The first medical college established in Europe was that +founded by the Saracens at Salerno, in Italy. The first astronomical +observatory was that erected by them at Seville, in Spain. + +THE ARABIAN SCIENTIFIC MOVEMENT. It would far transcend the limits of +this book to give an adequate statement of the results of this imposing +scientific movement. The ancient sciences were greatly extended--new +ones were brought into existence. The Indian method of arithmetic was +introduced, a beautiful invention, which expresses all numbers by ten +characters, giving them an absolute value, and a value by position, +and furnishing simple rules for the easy performance of all kinds +of calculations. Algebra, or universal arithmetic--the method of +calculating indeterminate quantities, or investigating the relations +that subsist among quantities of all kinds, whether arithmetical or +geometrical--was developed from the germ that Diophantus had left. +Mohammed Ben Musa furnished the solution of quadratic equations, +Omar Ben Ibra him that of cubic equations. The Saracens also gave to +trigonometry its modern form, substituting sines for chords, which had +been previously used; they elevated it into a separate science. +Musa, above mentioned, was the author of a "Treatise on Spherical +Trigonometry." Al-Baghadadi left one on land-surveying, so excellent, +that by some it has been declared to be a copy of Euclid's lost work on +that subject. + +ARABIAN ASTRONOMY. In astronomy, they not only made catalogues, but +maps of the stars visible in their skies, giving to those of the larger +magnitudes the Arabic names they still bear on our celestial globes. +They ascertained, as we have seen, the size of the earth by the +measurement of a degree on her surface, determined the obliquity of +the ecliptic, published corrected tables of the sun and moon fixed +the length of the year, verified the precession of the equinoxes. The +treatise of Albategnius on "The Science of the Stars" is spoken of by +Laplace with respect; he also draws attention to an important fragment +of Ibn-Junis, the astronomer of Hakem, the Khalif of Egypt, A.D. 1000, +as containing a long series of observations from the time of Almansor, +of eclipses, equinoxes, solstices, conjunctions of planets, occultations +of stars--observations which have cast much light on the great +variations of the system of the world. The Arabian astronomers also +devoted themselves to the construction and perfection of astronomical +instruments, to the measurement of time by clocks of various kinds, by +clepsydras and sun-dials. They were the first to introduce, for this +purpose, the use of the pendulum. + +In the experimental sciences, they originated chemistry; they discovered +some of its most important reagents--sulphuric acid, nitric acid, +alcohol. They applied that science in the practice of medicine, being +the first to publish pharmacopoeias or dispensatories, and to include in +them mineral preparations. In mechanics, they had determined the laws +of falling bodies, had ideas, by no means indistinct, of the nature of +gravity; they were familiar with the theory of the mechanical powers. In +hydrostatics they constructed the first tables of the specific gravities +of bodies, and wrote treatises on the flotation and sinking of bodies +in water. In optics, they corrected the Greek misconception, that a +ray proceeds from the eye, and touches the object seen, introducing +the hypothesis that the ray passes from the object to the eye. They +understood the phenomena of the reflection and refraction of light. +Alhazen made the great discovery of the curvilinear path of a ray of +light through the atmosphere, and proved that we see the sun and moon +before they have risen, and after they have set. + +AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. The effects of this scientific activity are +plainly perceived in the great improvements that took place in many +of the industrial arts. Agriculture shows it in better methods of +irrigation, the skillful employment of manures, the raising of improved +breeds of cattle, the enactment of wise codes of rural laws, the +introduction of the culture of rice, and that of sugar and coffee. The +manufactures show it in the great extension of the industries of silk, +cotton, wool; in the fabrication of cordova and morocco leather, and +paper; in mining, casting, and various metallurgic operations; in the +making of Toledo blades. + +Passionate lovers of poetry and music, they dedicated much of their +leisure time to those elegant pursuits. They taught Europe the game of +chess; they gave it its taste for works of fiction--romances and novels. +In the graver domains of literature they took delight: they had many +admirable compositions on such subjects as the instability of human +greatness; the consequences of irreligion; the reverses of fortune; the +origin, duration, and end of the world. Sometimes, not without surprise, +we meet with ideas which we flatter ourselves have originated in our +own times. Thus our modern doctrines of evolution and development were +taught in their schools. In fact, they carried them much farther than we +are disposed to do, extending them even to inorganic or mineral +things. The fundamental principle of alchemy was the natural process of +development of metalline bodies. "When common people," says Al-Khazini, +writing in the twelfth century, "hear from natural philosophers that +gold is a body which has attained to perfection of maturity, to the +goal of completeness, they firmly believe that it is something which has +gradually come to that perfection by passing through the forms of all +other metallic bodies, so that its gold nature was originally lead, +afterward it became tin, then brass, then silver, and finally reached +the development of gold; not knowing that the natural philosophers mean, +in saying this, only something like what they mean when they speak of +man, and attribute to him a completeness and equilibrium in nature and +constitution--not that man was once a bull, and was changed into an +ass, and afterward into a horse, and after that into an ape, and finally +became a man." + + + +CHAPTER V. + + CONFLICT RESPECTING THE NATURE OF THE SOUL.--DOCTRINE OF + EMANATION AND ABSORPTION. + + European ideas respecting the soul.--It resembles the form + of the body. + + Philosophical views of the Orientals.--The Vedic theology + and Buddhism assert the doctrine of emanation and + absorption.--It is advocated by Aristotle, who is followed + by the Alexandrian school, and subsequently by the Jews and + Arabians.--It is found in the writings of Erigena. + + Connection of this doctrine with the theory of conservation + and correlation of force.--Parallel between the origin and + destiny of the body and the soul.--The necessity of founding + human on comparative psychology. + + Averroism, which is based on these facts, is brought into + Christendom through Spain and Sicily. + + History of the repression of Averroism.--Revolt of Islam + against it.--Antagonism of the Jewish synagogues.--Its + destruction undertaken by the papacy.--Institution of the + Inquisition in Spain.--Frightful persecutions and their + results.--Expulsion of the Jews and Moors.--Overthrow of + Averroism in Europe.--Decisive action of the late Vatican + Council. + + +THE pagan Greeks and Romans believed that the spirit of man resembles +his bodily form, varying its appearance with his variations, and growing +with his growth. Heroes, to whom it had been permitted to descend into +Hades, had therefore without difficulty recognized their former friends. +Not only had the corporeal aspect been retained, but even the customary +raiment. + +THE SOUL. The primitive Christians, whose conceptions of a future life +and of heaven and hell, the abodes of the blessed and the sinful, were +far more vivid than those of their pagan predecessors, accepted and +intensified these ancient ideas. They did not doubt that in the world +to come they should meet their friends, and hold converse with them, as +they had done here upon earth--an expectation that gives consolation to +the human heart, reconciling it to the most sorrowful bereavements, and +restoring to it its dead. + +In the uncertainty as to what becomes of the soul in the interval +between its separation from the body and the judgment-day, many +different opinions were held. Some thought that it hovered over the +grave, some that it wandered disconsolate through the air. In the +popular belief, St. Peter sat as a door-keeper at the gate of heaven. To +him it had been given to bind or to loose. He admitted or excluded the +Spirits of men at his pleasure. Many persons, however, were disposed to +deny him this power, since his decisions would be anticipatory of the +judgment-day, which would thus be rendered needless. After the time +of Gregory the Great, the doctrine of purgatory met with general +acceptance. A resting-place was provided for departed spirits. + +That the spirits of the dead occasionally revisit the living, or haunt +their former abodes, has been in all ages, in all European countries, +a fixed belief, not confined to rustics, but participated in by the +intelligent. A pleasing terror gathers round the winter's-evening +fireside at the stories of apparitions, goblins, ghosts. In the old +times the Romans had their lares, or spirits of those who had led +virtuous lives; their larvae or lemures, the spirits of the wicked; +their manes, the spirits of those of whom the merits were doubtful. If +human testimony on such subjects can be of any value, there is a body +of evidence reaching from the remotest ages to the present time, as +extensive and unimpeachable as is to be found in support of any thing +whatever, that these shades of the dead congregate near tombstones, +or take up their secret abode in the gloomy chambers of dilapidated +castles, or walk by moonlight in moody solitude. + +ASIATIC PSYCHOLOGICAL VIEWS. While these opinions have universally found +popular acceptance in Europe, others of a very different nature have +prevailed extensively in Asia, and indeed very generally in the higher +regions of thought. Ecclesiastical authority succeeded in repressing +them in the sixteenth century, but they never altogether disappeared. +In our own times so silently and extensively have they been diffused in +Europe, that it was found expedient in the papal Syllabus to draw +them in a very conspicuous manner into the open light; and the Vatican +Council, agreeing in that view of their obnoxious tendency and secret +spread, has in an equally prominent and signal manner among its first +canons anathematized all persons who hold them. "Let him be anathema who +says that spiritual things are emanations of the divine substance, or +that the divine essence by manifestation or development becomes all +things." In view of this authoritative action, it is necessary now to +consider the character and history of these opinions. + +Ideas respecting the nature of God necessarily influence ideas +respecting the nature of the soul. The eastern Asiatics had adopted the +conception of an impersonal God, and, as regards the soul, its necessary +consequence, the doctrine of emanation and absorption. + +EMANATION AND ABSORPTION. Thus the Vedic theology is based on the +acknowledgment of a universal spirit pervading all things. "There is in +truth but one Deity, the supreme Spirit; he is of the same nature as the +soul of man." Both the Vedas and the Institutes of Menu affirm that +the soul is an emanation of the all-pervading Intellect, and that it is +necessarily destined to be reabsorbed. They consider it to be without +form, and that visible Nature, with all its beauties and harmonies, is +only the shadow of God. + +Vedaism developed itself into Buddhism, which has become the faith of +a majority of the human race. This system acknowledges that there is a +supreme Power, but denies that there is a supreme Being. It contemplates +the existence of Force, giving rise as its manifestation to matter. It +adopts the theory of emanation and absorption. In a burning taper it +sees an effigy of man--an embodiment of matter, and an evolution of +force. If we interrogate it respecting the destiny of the soul, it +demands of us what has become of the flame when it is blown out, and in +what condition it was before the taper was lighted. Was it a nonentity? +Has it been annihilated? It admits that the idea of personality which +has deluded us through life may not be instantaneously extinguished at +death, but may be lost by slow degrees. On this is founded the doctrine +of transmigration. But at length reunion with the universal Intellect +takes place, Nirwana is reached, oblivion is attained, a state that has +no relation to matter, space, or time, the state into which the departed +flame of the extinguished taper has gone, the state in which we were +before we were born. This is the end that we ought to hope for; it is +reabsorption in the universal Force--supreme bliss, eternal rest. + +Through Aristotle these doctrines were first introduced into Eastern +Europe; indeed, eventually, as we shall see, he was regarded as the +author of them. They exerted a dominating influence in the later period +of the Alexandrian school. Philo, the Jew, who lived in the time of +Caligula, based his philosophy on the theory of emanation. Plotinus +not only accepted that theory as applicable to the soul of man, but as +affording an illustration of the nature of the Trinity. For, as a beam +of light emanates from the sun, and as warmth emanates from the beam +when it touches material bodies, so from the Father the Son emanates, +and thence the Holy Ghost. From these views Plotinus derived a practical +religious system, teaching the devout how to pass into a condition of +ecstasy, a foretaste of absorption into the universal mundane soul. +In that condition the soul loses its individual consciousness. In like +manner Porphyry sought absorption in or union with God. He was a Tyrian +by birth, established a school at Rome, and wrote against Christianity; +his treatise on that subject was answered by Eusebius and St. Jerome, +but the Emperor Theodosius silenced it more effectually by causing all +the copies to be burnt. Porphyry bewails his own unworthiness, saying +that he had been united to God in ecstasy but once in eighty-six years, +whereas his master Plotinus had been so united six times in sixty years. +A complete system of theology, based on the theory of emanation, was +constructed by Proclus, who speculated on the manner in which absorption +takes place: whether the soul is instantly reabsorbed and reunited in +the moment of death, or whether it retains the sentiment of personality +for a time, and subsides into complete reunion by successive steps. + +ARABIC PSYCHOLOGY. From the Alexandrian Greeks these ideas passed to +the Saracen philosophers, who very soon after the capture of the great +Egyptian city abandoned to the lower orders their anthropomorphic +notions of the nature of God and the simulachral form of the spirit of +man. As Arabism developed itself into a distinct scientific system, +the theories of emanation and absorption were among its characteristic +features. In this abandonment of vulgar Mohammedanism, the example of +the Jews greatly assisted. They, too, had given up the anthropomorphism +of their ancestors; they had exchanged the God who of old lived behind +the veil of the temple for an infinite Intelligence pervading the +universe, and, avowing their inability to conceive that any thing +which had on a sudden been called into existence should be capable of +immortality, they affirmed that the soul of man is connected with a past +of which there was no beginning, and with a future to which there is no +end. + +In the intellectual history of Arabism the Jew and the Saracen are +continually seen together. It was the same in their political history, +whether we consider it in Syria, in Egypt, or in Spain. From them +conjointly Western Europe derived its philosophical ideas, which in +the course of time culminated in Averroism; Averroism is philosophical +Islamism. Europeans generally regarded Averroes as the author of these +heresies, and the orthodox branded him accordingly, but he was nothing +more than their collector and commentator. His works invaded Christendom +by two routes: from Spain through Southern France they reached Upper +Italy, engendering numerous heresies on their way; from Sicily they +passed to Naples and South Italy, under the auspices of Frederick II. + +But, long before Europe suffered this great intellectual invasion, there +were what might, perhaps, be termed sporadic instances of Orientalism. +As an example I may quote the views of John Erigena (A.D. 800) He had +adopted and taught the philosophy of Aristotle had made a pilgrimage +to the birthplace of that philosopher, and indulged a hope of uniting +philosophy and religion in the manner proposed by the Christian +ecclesiastics who were then studying in the Mohammedan universities of +Spain. He was a native of Britain. + +In a letter to Charles the Bald, Anastasius expresses his astonishment +"how such a barbarian man, coming from the very ends of the earth, and +remote from human conversation, could comprehend things so clearly, and +transfer them into another language so well." The general intention of +his writings was, as we have said, to unite philosophy with religion, +but his treatment of these subjects brought him under ecclesiastical +censure, and some of his works were adjudged to the flames. His most +important book is entitled "De Divisione Nature." + +Erigena's philosophy rests upon the observed and admitted fact that +every living thing comes from something that had previously lived. The +visible world, being a world of life, has therefore emanated necessarily +from some primordial existence, and that existence is God, who is thus +the originator and conservator of all. Whatever we see maintains itself +as a visible thing through force derived from him, and, were that force +withdrawn, it must necessarily disappear. Erigena thus conceives of +the Deity as an unceasing participator in Nature, being its preserver, +maintainer, upholder, and in that respect answering to the soul of the +world of the Greeks. The particular life of individuals is therefore a +part of general existence, that is, of the mundane soul. + +If ever there were a withdrawal of the maintaining power, all things +must return to the source from which they issued--that is, they must +return to God, and be absorbed in him. All visible Nature must thus +pass back into "the Intellect" at last. "The death of the flesh is the +auspices of the restitution of things, and of a return to their ancient +conservation. So sounds revert back to the air in which they were born, +and by which they were maintained, and they are heard no more; no man +knows what has become of them. In that final absorption which, after +a lapse of time, must necessarily come, God will be all in all, and +nothing exist but him alone." "I contemplate him as the beginning and +cause of all things; all things that are and those that have been, but +now are not, were created from him, and by him, and in him. I also view +him as the end and intransgressible term of all things.... There is a +fourfold conception of universal Nature--two views of divine Nature, as +origin and end; two also of framed Nature, causes and effects. There is +nothing eternal but God." + +The return of the soul to the universal Intellect is designated by +Erigena as Theosis, or Deification. In that final absorption all +remembrance of its past experiences is lost. The soul reverts to the +condition in which it was before it animated the body. Necessarily, +therefore, Erigena fell under the displeasure of the Church. + +It was in India that men first recognized the fact that force is +indestructible and eternal. This implies ideas more or less distinct +of that which we now term its "correlation and conservation." +Considerations connected with the stability of the universe give +strength to this view, since it is clear that, were there either +an increase or a diminution, the order of the world must cease. The +definite and invariable amount of energy in the universe must therefore +be accepted as a scientific fact. The changes we witness are in its +distribution. + +But, since the soul must be regarded as an active principle, to call a +new one into existence out of nothing is necessarily to add to the force +previously in the world. And, if this has been done in the case of every +individual who has been born, and is to be repeated for every individual +hereafter, the totality of force must be continually increasing. + +Moreover, to many devout persons there is something very revolting in +the suggestion that the Almighty is a servitor to the caprices and lusts +of man, and that, at a certain term after its origin, it is necessary +for him to create for the embryo a soul. + +Considering man as composed of two portions, a soul and a body, the +obvious relations of the latter may cast much light on the mysterious, +the obscure relations of the former. Now, the substance of which the +body consists is obtained from the general mass of matter around us, +and after death to that general mass it is restored. Has Nature, then, +displayed before our eyes in the origin, mutations, and destiny of the +material part, the body, a revelation that may guide us to a knowledge +of the origin and destiny of the companion, the spiritual part, the +soul? + +Let us listen for a moment to one of the most powerful of Mohammedan +writers: + +"God has created the spirit of man out of a drop of his own light; +its destiny is to return to him. Do not deceive yourself with the vain +imagination that it will die when the body dies. The form you had on +your entrance into this world, and your present form, are not the +same; hence there is no necessity of your perishing, on account of the +perishing of your body. Your spirit came into this world a stranger, it +is only sojourning, in a temporary home. From the trials and tempests +of this troublesome life, our refuge is in God. In reunion with him we +shall find eternal rest--a rest without sorrow, a joy without pain, a +strength without infirmity, a knowledge without doubt, a tranquil and +yet an ecstatic vision of the source of life and light and glory, the +source from which we came." So says the Saracen philosopher, Al-Gazzali +(A.D. 1010). + +In a stone the material particles are in a state of stable equilibrium; +it may, therefore, endure forever. An animal is in reality only a form +through which a stream of matter is incessantly flowing. It receives its +supplies, and dismisses its wastes. In this it resembles a cataract, +a river, a flame. The particles that compose it at one instant have +departed from it the next. It depends for its continuance on exterior +supplies. It has a definite duration in time, and an inevitable moment +comes in which it must die. + +In the great problem of psychology we cannot expect to reach a +scientific result, if we persist in restricting ourselves to the +contemplation of one fact. We must avail ourselves of all accessible +facts. Human psychology can never be completely resolved except through +comparative psychology. With Descartes, we must inquire whether the +souls of animals be relations of the human soul, less perfect members in +the same series of development. We must take account of what we discover +in the intelligent principle of the ant, as well as what we discern in +the intelligent principle of man. Where would human physiology be, if +it were not illuminated by the bright irradiations of comparative +physiology? + +Brodie, after an exhaustive consideration of the facts, affirms that +the mind of animals is essentially the same as that of man. Every one +familiar with the dog will admit that that creature knows right from +wrong, and is conscious when he has committed a fault. Many domestic +animals have reasoning powers, and employ proper means for the +attainment of ends. How numerous are the anecdotes related of the +intentional actions of the elephant and the ape! Nor is this apparent +intelligence due to imitation, to their association with man, for +wild animals that have no such relation exhibit similar properties. In +different species, the capacity and character greatly vary. Thus the dog +is not only more intelligent, but has social and moral qualities that +the cat does not possess; the former loves his master, the latter her +home. + +Du Bois-Reymond makes this striking remark: "With awe and wonder must +the student of Nature regard that microscopic molecule of nervous +substance which is the seat of the laborious, constructive, orderly, +loyal, dauntless soul of the ant. It has developed itself to its present +state through a countless series of generations." What an impressive +inference we may draw from the statement of Huber, who has written so +well on this subject: "If you will watch a single ant at work, you can +tell what he will next do!" He is considering the matter, and reasoning +as you are doing. Listen to one of the many anecdotes which Huber, at +once truthful and artless, relates: "On the visit of an overseer ant to +the works, when the laborers had begun the roof too soon, he examined it +and had it taken down, the wall raised to the proper height, and a new +ceiling constructed with the fragments of the old one." Surely these +insects are not automata, they show intention. They recognize their old +companions, who have been shut up from them for many months, and exhibit +sentiments of joy at their return. Their antennal language is capable +of manifold expression; it suits the interior of the nest, where all is +dark. + +While solitary insects do not live to raise their young, social insects +have a longer term, they exhibit moral affections and educate +their offspring. Patterns of patience and industry, some of these +insignificant creatures will work sixteen or eighteen hours a day. Few +men are capable of sustained mental application more than four or five +hours. + +Similarity of effects indicates similarity of causes; similarity of +actions demands similarity of organs. I would ask the reader of these +paragraphs, who is familiar with the habits of animals, and especially +with the social relations of that wonderful insect to which reference +has been made, to turn to the nineteenth chapter of my work on +the "Intellectual Development of Europe," in which he will find a +description of the social system of the Incas of Peru. Perhaps, then, in +view of the similarity of the social institutions and personal conduct +of the insect, and the social institutions and personal conduct of the +civilized Indian--the one an insignificant speck, the other a man--he +will not be disposed to disagree with me in the opinion that "from bees, +and wasps, and ants, and birds, from all that low animal life on which +he looks with supercilious contempt, man is destined one day to learn +what in truth he really is." + +The views of Descartes, who regarded all insects as automata, can +scarcely be accepted without modification. Insects are automata only +so far as the action of their ventral cord, and that portion of their +cephalic ganglia which deals with contemporaneous impressions, is +concerned. + +It is one of the functions of vesicular-nervous material to retain +traces or relics of impressions brought to it by the organs of sense; +hence, nervous ganglia, being composed of that material, may be +considered as registering apparatus. They also introduce the element +of time into the action of the nervous mechanism. An impression, which +without them might have forthwith ended in reflex action, is delayed, +and with this duration come all those important effects arising through +the interaction of many impressions, old and new, upon each other. + +There is no such thing as a spontaneous, or self-originated, thought. +Every intellectual act is the consequence of some preceding act. It +comes into existence in virtue of something that has gone before. Two +minds constituted precisely alike, and placed under the influence of +precisely the same environment, must give rise to precisely the same +thought. To such sameness of action we allude in the popular expression +"common-sense"--a term full of meaning. In the origination of a +thought there are two distinct conditions: the state of the organism +as dependent on antecedent impressions, and on the existing physical +circumstances. + +In the cephalic ganglia of insects are stored up the relics of +impressions that have been made upon the common peripheral nerves, and +in them are kept those which are brought in by the organs of special +sense--the visual, olfactive, auditory. The interaction of these raises +insects above mere mechanical automata, in which the reaction instantly +follows the impression. + +In all cases the action of every nerve-centre, no matter what its stage +of development may be, high or low, depends upon an essential chemical +condition--oxidation. Even in man, if the supply of arterial blood +be stopped but for a moment, the nerve-mechanism loses its power; if +diminished, it correspondingly declines; if, on the contrary, it +be increased--as when nitrogen monoxide is breathed--there is more +energetic action. Hence there arises a need of repair, a necessity for +rest and sleep. + +Two fundamental ideas are essentially attached to all our perceptions +of external things: they are SPACE and TIME, and for these provision is +made in the nervous mechanism while it is yet in an almost rudimentary +state. The eye is the organ of space, the ear of time; the perceptions +of which by the elaborate mechanism of these structures become +infinitely more precise than would be possible if the sense of touch +alone were resorted to. + +There are some simple experiments which illustrate the vestiges of +ganglionic impressions. If on a cold, polished metal, as a new razor, +any object, such as a wafer, be laid, and the metal be then breathed +upon, and, when the moisture has had time to disappear, the wafer be +thrown off, though now the most critical inspection of the polished +surface can discover no trace of any form, if we breathe once more upon +it, a spectral image of the wafer comes plainly into view; and this may +be done again and again. Nay, more, if the polished metal be carefully +put aside where nothing can deteriorate its surface, and be so kept for +many months, on breathing again upon it the shadowy form emerges. + +Such an illustration shows how trivial an impression may be thus +registered and preserved. But, if, on such an inorganic surface, an +impression may thus be indelibly marked, how much more likely in the +purposely-constructed ganglion! A shadow never falls upon a wall without +leaving thereupon a permanent trace, a trace which might be made visible +by resorting to proper processes. Photographic operations are cases in +point. The portraits of our friends, or landscape views, may be hidden +on the sensitive surface from the eye, but they are ready to make their +appearance as soon as proper developers are resorted to. A spectre is +concealed on a silver or glassy surface until, by our necromancy, we +make it come forth into the visible world. Upon the walls of our most +private apartments, where we think the eye of intrusion is altogether +shut out and our retirement can never be profaned, there exist the +vestiges of all our acts, silhouettes of whatever we have done. + +If, after the eyelids have been closed for some time, as when we +first awake in the morning, we suddenly and steadfastly gaze at a +brightly-illuminated object and then quickly close the lids again, a +phantom image is perceived in the indefinite darkness beyond us. We may +satisfy ourselves that this is not a fiction, but a reality, for many +details that we had not time to identify in the momentary glance may +be contemplated at our leisure in the phantom. We may thus make out the +pattern of such an object as a lace curtain hanging in the window, or +the branches of a tree beyond. By degrees the image becomes less and +less distinct; in a minute or two it has disappeared. It seems to have a +tendency to float away in the vacancy before us. If we attempt to follow +it by moving the eyeball, it suddenly vanishes. + +Such a duration of impressions on the retina proves that the effect of +external influences on nerve-vesicles is not necessarily transitory. +In this there is a correspondence to the duration, the emergence, the +extinction, of impressions on photographic preparations. Thus, I have +seen landscapes and architectural views taken in Mexico developed, as +artists say, months subsequently in New York--the images coming out, +after the long voyage, in all their proper forms and in all their proper +contrast of light and shade. The photograph had forgotten nothing. It +had equally preserved the contour of the everlasting mountains and the +passing smoke of a bandit-fire. + +Are there, then, contained in the brain more permanently, as in the +retina more transiently, the vestiges of impressions that have been +gathered by the sensory organs? Is this the explanation of memory--the +Mind contemplating such pictures of past things and events as have +been committed to her custody. In her silent galleries are there hung +micrographs of the living and the dead, of scenes that we have +visited, of incidents in which we have borne a part? Are these abiding +impressions mere signal-marks, like the letters of a book, which impart +ideas to the mind? or are they actual picture-images, inconceivably +smaller than those made for us by artists, in which, by the aid of a +microscope, we can see, in a space not bigger than a pinhole, a whole +family group at a glance? + +The phantom images of the retina are not perceptible in the light of the +day. Those that exist in the sensorium in like manner do not attract our +attention so long as the sensory organs are in vigorous operation, and +occupied in bringing new impressions in. But, when those organs become +weary or dull, or when we experience hours of great anxiety, or are +in twilight reveries, or are asleep, the latent apparitions have their +vividness increased by the contrast, and obtrude themselves on the +mind. For the same reason they occupy us in the delirium of fevers, and +doubtless also in the solemn moments of death. During a third part of +our life, in sleep, we are withdrawn from external influences; hearing +and sight and the other senses are inactive, but the never-sleeping Mind, +that pensive, that veiled enchantress, in her mysterious retirement, +looks over the ambrotypes she has collected--ambrotypes, for they are +truly unfading impressions--and, combining them together, as they chance +to occur, constructs from them the panorama of a dream. + +Nature has thus implanted in the organization of every man means which +impressively suggest to him the immortality of the soul and a future +life. Even the benighted savage thus sees in his visions the fading +forms of landscapes, which are, perhaps, connected with some of his +most pleasant recollections; and what other conclusion can be possibly +extract from those unreal pictures than that they are the foreshadowings +of another land beyond that in which his lot is cast? At intervals he is +visited in his dreams by the resemblances of those whom he has loved +or hated while they were alive; and these manifestations are to him +incontrovertible proofs of the existence and immortality of the soul. +In our most refined social conditions we are never able to shake off the +impressions of these occurrences, and are perpetually drawing from +them the same conclusions that our uncivilized ancestors did. Our more +elevated condition of life in no respect relieves us from the inevitable +operation of our own organization, any more than it relieves us from +infirmities and disease. In these respects, all over the globe men are +on an equality. Savage or civilized, we carry within us a mechanism +which presents us with mementoes of the most solemn facts with which we +can be concerned. It wants only moments of repose or sickness, when the +influence of external things is diminished, to come into full play, and +these are precisely the moments when we are best prepared for the truths +it is going to suggest. That mechanism is no respecter of persons. It +neither permits the haughtiest to be free from the monitions, nor leaves +the humblest without the consolation of a knowledge of another life. +Open to no opportunities of being tampered with by the designing or +interested, requiring no extraneous human agency for its effect, +out always present with every man wherever he may go, it marvelously +extracts from vestiges of the impressions of the past overwhelming +proofs of the realities of the future, and, gathering its power from +what would seem to be a most unlikely source, it insensibly leads us, no +matter who or where we may be, to a profound belief in the immortal and +imperishable, from phantoms which have scarcely made their appearance +before they are ready to vanish away. + +The insect differs from a mere automaton in this, that it is influenced +by old, by registered impressions. In the higher forms of animated life +that registration becomes more and more complete, memory becomes more +perfect. There is not any necessary resemblance between an external form +and its ganglionic impression, any more than there is between the words +of a message delivered in a telegraphic office and the signals which +the telegraph may give to the distant station; any more than there +is between the letters of a printed page and the acts or scenes they +describe, but the letters call up with clearness to the mind of the +reader the events and scenes. + +An animal without any apparatus for the retention of impressions must +be a pure automaton--it cannot have memory. From insignificant and +uncertain beginnings, such an apparatus is gradually evolved, and, as +its development advances, the intellectual capacity increases. In man, +this retention or registration reaches perfection; he guides, himself by +past as well as by present impressions; he is influenced by experience; +his conduct is determined by reason. + +A most important advance is made when the capability is acquired by any +animal of imparting a knowledge of the impressions stored up in its own +nerve-centres to another of the same kind. This marks the extension of +individual into social life, and indeed is essential thereto. In the +higher insects it is accomplished by antennal contacts, in man by +speech. Humanity, in its earlier, its savage stages, was limited to +this: the knowledge of one person could be transmitted to another by +conversation. The acts and thoughts of one generation could be imparted +to another, and influence its acts and thoughts. + +But tradition has its limit. The faculty of speech makes society +possible--nothing more. + +Not without interest do we remark the progress of development of +this function. The invention of the art of writing gave extension and +durability to the registration or record of impressions. These, which +had hitherto been stored up in the brain of one man, might now be +imparted to the whole human race, and be made to endure forever. +Civilization became possible--for civilization cannot exist without +writing, or the means of record in some shape. + +From this psychological point of view we perceive the real significance +of the invention of printing--a development of writing which, by +increasing the rapidity of the diffusion of ideas, and insuring their +permanence, tends to promote civilization and to unify the human race. + +In the foregoing paragraphs, relating to nervous impressions, their +registry, and the consequences, that spring from them, I have given an +abstract of views presented in my work on "Human Physiology," published +in 1856, and may, therefore, refer the reader to the chapter on "Inverse +Vision, or Cerebral Sight;" to Chapter XIV., Book I.; and to Chapter +VIII., Book II.; of that work, for other particulars. + + +The only path to scientific human psychology is through comparative +psychology. It is a long and wearisome path, but it leads to truth. + +Is there, then, a vast spiritual existence pervading the universe, even +as there is a vast existence of matter pervading it--a spirit which, +as a great German author tells us, "sleeps in the stone, dreams in the +animal, awakes in man?" Does the soul arise from the one as the body +arises from the other? Do they in like manner return, each to the source +from which it has come? If so, we can interpret human existence, and our +ideas may still be in unison with scientific truth, and in accord with +our conception of the stability, the unchangeability of the universe. + +To this spiritual existence the Saracens, following Eastern nations, +gave the designation "the Active Intellect." They believed that the soul +of man emanated from it, as a rain-drop comes from the sea, and, after a +season, returns. So arose among them the imposing doctrines of emanation +and absorption. The active intellect is God. + +In one of its forms, as we have seen, this idea was developed by Chakia +Mouni, in India, in a most masterly manner, and embodied in the vast +practical system of Buddhism; in another, it was with less power +presented among the Saracens by Averroes. + +But, perhaps we ought rather to say that Europeans hold Averroes as +the author of this doctrine, because they saw him isolated from his +antecedents. But Mohammedans gave him little credit for originality. +He stood to them in the light of a commentator on Aristotle, and as +presenting the opinions of the Alexandrian and other philosophical +schools up to his time. The following excerpts from the "Historical +Essay on Averroism," by M. Renan, will show how closely the Sarscenic +ideas approached those presented above: + +This system supposes that, at the death of an individual, his +intelligent principle or soul no longer possesses a separate existence, +but returns to or is absorbed in the universal mind, the active +intelligence, the mundane soul, which is God; from whom, indeed, it had +originally emanated or issued forth. + +The universal, or active, or objective intellect, is uncreated, +impassible, incorruptible, has neither beginning nor end; nor does it +increase as the number of individual souls increases. It is altogether +separate from matter. It is, as it were, a cosmic principle. This +oneness of the active intellect, or reason, is the essential principle +of the Averroistic theory, and is in harmony with the cardinal doctrine +of Mohammedanism--the unity of God. + +The individual, or passive, or subjective intellect, is an emanation +from the universal, and constitutes what is termed the soul of man. In +one sense it is perishable and ends with the body, but in a higher +sense it endures; for, after death, it returns to or is absorbed in the +universal soul, and thus of all human souls there remains at last +but one--the aggregate of them all, life is not the property of the +individual, it belongs to Nature. The end of, man is to enter into union +more and more complete with the active intellect--reason. In that the +happiness of the soul consists. Our destiny is quietude. It was the +opinion of Averroes that the transition from the individual to the +universal is instantaneous at death, but the Buddhists maintain that +human personality continues in a declining manner for a certain term +before nonentity, or Nirwana, is attained. + +Philosophy has never proposed but two hypotheses to explain the system +of the world: first, a personal God existing apart, and a human soul +called into existence or created, and thenceforth immortal; second, an +impersonal intelligence, or indeterminate God, and a soul emerging from +and returning to him. As to the origin of beings, there are two opposite +opinions: first, that they are created from nothing; second, that they +come by development from pre-existing forms. The theory of creation +belongs to the first of the above hypotheses, that of evolution to the +last. + +Philosophy among the Arabs thus took the same direction that it had +taken in China, in India, and indeed throughout the East. Its whole +spirit depended on the admission of the indestructibility of matter and +force. It saw an analogy between the gathering of the material of which +the body of man consists from the vast store of matter in Nature, and +its final restoration to that store, and the emanation of the spirit +of man from the universal Intellect, the Divinity, and its final +reabsorption. + + +Having thus indicated in sufficient detail the philosophical +characteristics of the doctrine of emanation and absorption, I have in +the next place to relate its history. It was introduced into Europe by +the Spanish Arabs. Spain was the focal point from which, issuing forth, +it affected the ranks of intelligence and fashion all over Europe, and +in Spain it had a melancholy end. + +The Spanish khalifs had surrounded themselves with all the luxuries +of Oriental life. They had magnificent palaces, enchanting gardens, +seraglios filled with beautiful women. Europe at the present day does +not offer more taste, more refinement, more elegance, than might have +been seen, at the epoch of which we are speaking, in the capitals of the +Spanish Arabs. Their streets were lighted and solidly paved. The houses +were frescoed and carpeted; they were warmed in winter by furnaces, and +cooled in summer with perfumed air brought by underground pipes from +flower-beds. They had baths, and libraries, and dining-halls, fountains +of quicksilver and water. City and country were full of conviviality, +and of dancing to the lute and mandolin. Instead of the drunken and +gluttonous wassail orgies of their Northern neighbors, the feasts of the +Saracens were marked by sobriety. Wine was prohibited. The enchanting +moonlight evenings of Andalusia were spent by the Moors in sequestered, +fairy-like gardens or in orange-groves, listening to the romances of +the story-teller, or engaged in philosophical discourse; consoling +themselves for the disappointments of this life by such reflections +as that, if virtue were rewarded in this world, we should be without +expectations in the life to come; and reconciling themselves to their +daily toil by the expectation that rest will be found after death--a +rest never to be succeeded by labor. + +In the tenth century the Khalif Hakein II. had made beautiful Andalusia +the paradise of the world. Christians, Mussulmen, Jews, mixed together +without restraint. There, among many celebrated names that have +descended to our times, was Gerbert, destined subsequently to +become pope. There, too, was Peter the Venerable, and many Christian +ecclesiastics. Peter says that he found learned men even from Britain +pursuing astronomy. All learned men, no matter from what country they +came, or what their religious views, were welcomed. The khalif had in +his palace a manufactory of books, and copyists, binders, illuminators. +He kept book-buyers in all the great cities of Asia and Africa. His +library contained four hundred thousand volumes, superbly bound and +illuminated. + +Throughout the Mohammedan dominions in Asia, in Africa, and in Spain, +the lower order of Mussulmen entertained a fanatical hatred against +learning. Among the more devout--those who claimed to be orthodox--there +were painful doubts as to the salvation of the great Khalif +Al-Mamun--the wicked khalif, as they called him--for he had not only +disturbed the people by introducing the writings of Aristotle and other +Greek heathens, but had even struck at the existence of heaven and +hell by saying that the earth is a globe, and pretending that he could +measure its size. These persons, from their numbers, constituted a +political power. + +Almansor, who usurped the khalifate to the prejudice of Hakem's son, +thought that his usurpation would be sustained if he put himself at +the head of the orthodox party. He therefore had the library of Hakem +searched, and all works of a scientific or philosophical nature carried +into the public places and burnt, or thrown into the cisterns of the +palace. By a similar court revolution Averroes, in his old age--he died +A.D. 1193--was expelled from Spain; the religious party had triumphed +over the philosophical. He was denounced as a traitor to religion. +An opposition to philosophy had been organized all over the Mussulman +world. There was hardly a philosopher who was not punished. Some +were put to death, and the consequence was, that Islam was full of +hypocrites. + +Into Italy, Germany, England, Averroism had silently made its way. +It found favor in the eyes of the Franciscans, and a focus in the +University of Paris. By very many of the leading minds it had been +accepted. But at length the Dominicans, the rivals of the Franciscans, +sounded an alarm. They said it destroys all personality, conducts +to fatalism, and renders inexplicable the difference and progress +of individual intelligences. The declaration that there is but one +intellect is an error subversive of the merits of the saints, it is +an assertion that there is no difference among men. What! is there no +difference between the holy soul of Peter and the damned soul of Judas? +are they identical? Averroes in this his blasphemous doctrine denies +creation, providence, revelation, the Trinity, the efficacy of prayers, +of alms, and of litanies; he disbelieves in the resurrection and +immortality; he places the summum bonum in mere pleasure. + +So, too, among the Jews who were then the leading intellects of the +world, Averroism had been largely propagated. Their great writer +Maimonides had thoroughly accepted it; his school was spreading it in +all directions. A furious persecution arose on the part of the orthodox +Jews. Of Maimonides it had been formerly their delight to declare that +he was "the Eagle of the Doctors, the Great Sage, the Glory of the West, +the Light of the East, second only to Moses." Now, they proclaimed that +he had abandoned the faith of Abraham; had denied the possibility of +creation, believed in the eternity of the world; had given himself up to +the manufacture of atheists; had deprived God of his attributes; made a +vacuum of him; had declared him inaccessible to prayer, and a stranger +to the government of the world. The works of Maimonides were committed +to the flames by the synagogues of Montpellier, Barcelona, and Toledo. + +Scarcely had the conquering arms of Ferdinand and Isabella overthrown +the Arabian dominion in Spain, when measures were taken by the papacy +to extinguish these opinions, which, it was believed, were undermining +European Christianity. + +Until Innocent IV. (1243), there was no special tribunal against +heretics, distinct from those of the bishops. The Inquisition, then +introduced, in accordance with the centralization of the times, was +a general and papal tribunal, which displaced the old local ones. +The bishops, therefore, viewed the innovation with great dislike, +considering it as an intrusion on their rights. It was established in +Italy, Spain, Germany, and the southern provinces of France. + +The temporal sovereigns were only too desirous to make use of this +powerful engine for their own political purposes. Against this the popes +strongly protested. They were not willing that its use should pass out +of the ecclesiastical hand. + +The Inquisition, having already been tried in the south of France, had +there proved to be very effective for the suppression of heresy. It had +been introduced into Aragon. Now was assigned to it the duty of dealing +with the Jews. + +In the old times under Visigothic rule these people had greatly +prospered, but the leniency that had been shown to them was succeeded by +atrocious persecution, when the Visigoths abandoned their Arianism and +became orthodox. The most inhuman ordinances were issued against them--a +law was enacted condemning them all to be slaves. It was not to be +wondered at that, when the Saracen invasion took place, the Jews did +whatever they could to promote its success. They, like the Arabs, were +an Oriental people, both traced their lineage to Abraham, their common +ancestor; both were believers in the unity of God. It was their +defense of that doctrine that had brought upon them the hatred of their +Visigothic masters. + +Under the Saracen rule they were treated with the highest consideration. +They became distinguished for their wealth and their learning. For +the most part they were Aristotelians. They founded many schools and +colleges. Their mercantile interests led them to travel all over the +world. They particularly studied the science of medicine. Throughout the +middle ages they were the physicians and bankers of Europe. Of all men +they saw the course of human affairs from the most elevated point of +view. Among the special sciences they became proficient in mathematics +and astronomy; they composed the tables of Alfonso, and were the cause +of the voyage of De Gama. They distinguished themselves greatly in light +literature. From the tenth to the fourteenth century their literature +was the first in Europe. They were to be found in the courts of princes +as physicians, or as treasurers managing the public finances. + +The orthodox clergy in Navarre had excited popular prejudices against +them. To escape the persecutions that arose, many of them feigned to +turn Christians, and of these many apostatized to their former +faith. The papal nuncio at the court of Castile raised a cry for the +establishment of the Inquisition. The poorer Jews were accused of +sacrificing Christian children at the Passover, in mockery of the +crucifixion; the richer were denounced as Averroists. Under the +influence of Torquemada, a Dominican monk, the confessor of Queen +Isabella, that princess solicited a bull from the pope for the +establishment of the Holy Office. A bull was accordingly issued in +November, 1478, for the detection and suppression of heresy. In the +first year of the operation of the Inquisition, 1481, two thousand +victims were burnt in Andalusia; besides these, many thousands were dug +up from their graves and burnt; seventeen thousand were fined or +imprisoned for life. Whoever of the persecuted race could flee, escaped +for his life. Torquemada, now appointed inquisitor-general for Castile +and Leon, illustrated his office by his ferocity. Anonymous accusations +were received, the accused was not confronted by witnesses, torture was +relied upon for conviction; it was inflicted in vaults where no one +could hear the cries of the tormented. As, in pretended mercy, it was +forbidden to inflict torture a second time, with horrible duplicity it +was affirmed that the torment had not been completed at first, but had +only been suspended out of charity until the following day! The families +of the convicted were plunged into irretrievable ruin. Llorente, the +historian of the Inquisition, computes that Torquemada and his +collaborators, in the course of eighteen years, burnt at the stake ten +thousand two hundred and twenty persons, six thousand eight hundred and +sixty in effigy, and otherwise punished ninety-seven thousand three +hundred and twenty-one. This frantic priest destroyed Hebrew Bibles +wherever he could find them, And burnt six thousand volumes of Oriental +literature at Salamanca, under an imputation that they inculcated +Judaism. With unutterable disgust and indignation, we learn that the +papal government realized much money by selling to the rich +dispensations to secure them from the Inquisition. + +But all these frightful atrocities proved failures. The conversions +were few. Torquemada, therefore, insisted on the immediate banishment +of every unbaptized Jew. On March 30, 1492, the edict of expulsion was +signed. All unbaptized Jews, of whatever age, sex, or condition, were +ordered to leave the realm by the end of the following July. If they +revisited it, they should suffer death. They might sell their effects +and take the proceeds in merchandise or bills of exchange, but not in +gold or silver. Exiled thus suddenly from the land of their birth, the +land of their ancestors for hundreds of years, they could not in +the glutted market that arose sell what they possessed. Nobody would +purchase what could be got for nothing after July. The Spanish clergy +occupied themselves by preaching in the public squares sermons filled +with denunciations against their victims, who, when the time for +expatriation came, swarmed in the roads and filled the air with their +cries of despair. Even the Spanish onlookers wept at the scene of agony. +Torquemada, however, enforced the ordinance that no one should afford +them any help. + +Of the banished persons some made their way into Africa, some into +Italy; the latter carried with them to Naples ship-fever, which +destroyed not fewer than twenty thousand in that city, and devastated +that peninsula; some reached Turkey, a few England. Thousands, +especially mothers with nursing children, infants, and old people, died +by the way; many of them in the agonies of thirst. + +This action against the Jews was soon followed by one against the Moors. +A pragmatica was issued at Seville, February, 1502, setting forth the +obligations of the Castilians to drive the enemies of God from the land, +and ordering that all unbaptized Moors in the kingdoms of Castile and +Leon above the age of infancy should leave the country by the end of +April. They might sell their property, but not take away any gold or +silver; they were forbidden to emigrate to the Mohammedan dominions; the +penalty of disobedience was death. Their condition was thus worse than +that of the Jews, who had been permitted to go where they chose. Such +was the fiendish intolerance of the Spaniards, that they asserted the +government would be justified in taking the lives of all the Moors for +their shameless infidelity. + +What an ungrateful return for the toleration that the Moors in their +day of power had given to the Christians! No faith was kept with the +victims. Granada had surrendered under the solemn guarantee of the full +enjoyment of civil and religious liberty. At the instigation of +Cardinal Ximenes that pledge was broken, and, after a residence of eight +centuries, the Mohammedans were driven out of the land. + + +The coexistence of three religions in Andalusia--the Christian, the +Mohammedan, the Mosaic--had given opportunity for the development of +Averroism or philosophical Arabism. This was a repetition of what had +occurred at Rome, when the gods of all the conquered countries were +confronted in that capital, and universal disbelief in them all ensued. +Averroes himself was accused of having been first a Mussulman, then a +Christian, then a Jew, and finally a misbeliever. It was affirmed that +he was the author of the mysterious book "De Tribus Impostoribus." + +In the middle ages there were two celebrated heretical books, "The +Everlasting Gospel," and the "De Tribus Impostoribus." The latter was +variously imputed to Pope Gerbert, to Frederick II., and to Averroes. +In their unrelenting hatred the Dominicans fastened all the blasphemies +current in those times on Averroes; they never tired of recalling the +celebrated and outrageous one respecting the eucharist. His writings had +first been generally made known to Christian Europe by the translation +of Michael Scot in the beginning of the thirteenth century, but long +before his time the literature of the West, like that of Asia, was full +of these ideas. We have seen how broadly they were set forth by Erigena. +The Arabians, from their first cultivation of philosophy, had been +infected by them; they were current in all the colleges of the three +khalifates. Considered not as a mode of thought, that will spontaneously +occur to all men at a certain stage of intellectual development, but as +having originated with Aristotle, they continually found favor with men +of the highest culture. We see them in Robert Grostete, in Roger Bacon, +and eventually in Spinoza. Averroes was not their inventor, he merely +gave them clearness and expression. Among the Jews of the thirteenth +century, he had completely supplanted his imputed master. Aristotle had +passed away from their eyes; his great commentator, Averroes, stood in +his place. So numerous were the converts to the doctrine of emanation +in Christendom, that Pope Alexander IV. (1255) found it necessary to +interfere. By his order, Albertus Magnus composed a work against the +"Unity of the Intellect." Treating of the origin and nature of the +soul, he attempted to prove that the theory of "a separate intellect, +enlightening man by irradiation anterior to the individual and surviving +the individual, is a detestable error." But the most illustrious +antagonist of the great commentator was St. Thomas Aquinas, the +destroyer of all such heresies as the unity of the intellect, the denial +of Providence, the impossibility of creation; the victories of "the +Angelic Doctor" were celebrated not only in the disputations of the +Dominicans, but also in the works of art of the painters of Florence +and Pisa. The indignation of that saint knew no bounds when Christians +became the disciples of an infidel, who was worse than a Mohammedan. +The wrath of the Dominicans, the order to which St. Thomas belonged, was +sharpened by the fact that their rivals, the Franciscans, inclined to +Averroistic views; and Dante, who leaned to the Dominicans, denounced +Averroes as the author of a most dangerous system. The theological odium +of all three dominant religions was put upon him; he was pointed out +as the originator of the atrocious maxim that "all religions are false, +although all are probably useful." An attempt was made at the Council +of Vienne to have his writings absolutely suppressed, and to forbid all +Christians reading them. The Dominicans, armed with the weapons of +the Inquisition, terrified Christian Europe with their unrelenting +persecutions. They imputed all the infidelity of the times to the +Arabian philosopher. But he was not without support. In Paris and in the +cities of Northern Italy the Franciscans sustained his views, and all +Christendom was agitated with these disputes. + +Under the inspiration of the Dominicans, Averroes oceanic to the Italian +painters the emblem of unbelief. Many of the Italian towns had pictures +or frescoes of the Day of Judgment and of Hell. In these Averroes not +unfrequently appears. Thus, in one at Pisa, he figures with Arius, +Mohammed, and Antichrist. In another he is represented as overthrown by +St. Thomas. He had become an essential element in the triumphs of the +great Dominican doctor. He continued thus to be familiar to the Italian +painters until the sixteenth century. His doctrines were maintained in +the University of Padua until the seventeenth. + +Such is, in brief, the history of Averroism as it invaded Europe from +Spain. Under the auspices of Frederick II., it, in a less imposing +manner, issued from Sicily. That sovereign bad adopted it fully. In his +"Sicilian Questions" he had demanded light on the eternity of the world, +and on the nature of the soul, and supposed he had found it in the +replies of Ibn Sabin, an upholder of these doctrines. But in his +conflict with the papacy be was overthrown, and with him these heresies +were destroyed. + +In Upper Italy, Averroism long maintained its ground. It was so +fashionable in high Venetian society that every gentleman felt +constrained to profess it. At length the Church took decisive action +against it. The Lateran Council, A.D. 1512, condemned the abettors of +these detestable doctrines to be held as heretics and infidels. As +we have seen, the late Vatican Council has anathematized them. +Notwithstanding that stigma, it is to be borne in mind that these +opinions are held to be true by a majority of the human race. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + CONFLICT RESPECTING THE NATURE OF THE WORLD. + + Scriptural view of the world: the earth a flat surface; + location of heaven and hell. + + Scientific view: the earth a globe; its size determined; its + position in and relations to the solar system.--The three + great voyages.--Columbus, De Gama, Magellan.-- + Circumnavigation of the earth.--Determination of its + curvature by the measurement of a degree and by the + pendulum. + + The discoveries of Copernicus.--Invention of the telescope.-- + Galileo brought before the Inquisition.--His punishment.-- + Victory over the Church. + + Attempts to ascertain the dimensions of the solar system.-- + Determination of the sun's parallax by the transits of + Venus.--Insignificance, of the earth and man. + + Ideas respecting the dimensions of the universe.--Parallax + of the stars.--The plurality of worlds asserted by Bruno.-- + He is seized and murdered by the Inquisition. + + +I HAVE now to present the discussions that arose respecting the third +great philosophical problem--the nature of the world. + +An uncritical observation of the aspect of Nature persuades us that the +earth is an extended level surface which sustains the dome of the sky, +a firmament dividing the waters above from the waters beneath; that the +heavenly bodies--the sun, the moon, the stars--pursue their way, +moving from east to west, their insignificant size and motion round the +motionless earth proclaiming their inferiority. Of the various organic +forms surrounding man none rival him in dignity, and hence he seems +justified in concluding that every thing has been created for his +use--the sun for the purpose of giving him light by day, the moon and +stars by night. + +Comparative theology shows us that this is the conception of Nature +universally adopted in the early phase of intellectual life. It is the +belief of all nations in all parts of the world in the beginning of +their civilization: geocentric, for it makes the earth the centre of the +universe; anthropocentric, for it makes man the central object of the +earth. And not only is this the conclusion spontaneously come to from +inconsiderate glimpses of the world, it is also the philosophical basis +of various religious revelations, vouchsafed to man from time to time. +These revelations, moreover, declare to him that above the crystalline +dome of the sky is a region of eternal light and happiness--heaven--the +abode of God and the angelic hosts, perhaps also his own abode after +death; and beneath the earth a region of eternal darkness and misery, +the habitation of those that are evil. In the visible world is thus seen +a picture of the invisible. + +On the basis of this view of the structure of the world great religious +systems have been founded, and hence powerful material interests have +been engaged in its support. These have resisted, sometimes by resorting +to bloodshed, attempts that have been made to correct its incontestable +errors--a resistance grounded on the suspicion that the localization of +heaven and hell and the supreme value of man in the universe might be +affected. + +That such attempts would be made was inevitable. As soon as men began +to reason on the subject at all, they could not fail to discredit the +assertion that the earth is an indefinite plane. No one can doubt that +the sun we see to-day is the self-same sun that we saw yesterday. His +reappearance each morning irresistibly suggests that he has passed on +the underside of the earth. But this is incompatible with the reign of +night in those regions. It presents more or less distinctly the idea of +the globular form of the earth. + +The earth cannot extend indefinitely downward; for the sun cannot go +through it, nor through any crevice or passage in it, Since he rises and +sets in different positions at different seasons of the year. The stars +also move under it in countless courses. There must, therefore, be a +clear way beneath. + +To reconcile revelation with these innovating facts, schemes, such +as that of Cosmas Indicopleustes in his Christian Topography, were +doubtless often adopted. To this in particular we have had occasion on a +former page to refer. It asserted that in the northern parts of the flat +earth there is an immense mountain, behind which the sun passes, and +thus produces night. + +At a very remote historical period the mechanism of eclipses had been +discovered. Those of the moon demonstrated that the shadow of the earth +is always circular. The form of the earth must therefore be globular. +A body which in all positions casts a circular shadow must itself be +spherical. Other considerations, with which every one is now familiar, +could not fail to establish that such is her figure. + +But the determination of the shape of the earth by no means deposed +her from her position of superiority. Apparently vastly larger than all +other things, it was fitting that she should be considered not merely as +the centre of the world, but, in truth, as--the world. All other objects +in their aggregate seemed utterly unimportant in comparison with her. + +Though the consequences flowing from an admission of the globular figure +of the earth affected very profoundly existing theological ideas, they +were of much less moment than those depending on a determination of her +size. It needed but an elementary knowledge of geometry to perceive that +correct ideas on this point could be readily obtained by measuring a +degree on her surface. Probably there were early attempts to accomplish +this object, the results of which have been lost. But Eratosthenes +executed one between Syene and Alexandria, in Egypt, Syene being +supposed to be exactly under the tropic of Cancer. The two places are, +however, not on the same meridian, and the distance between them was +estimated, not measured. Two centuries later, Posidonius made another +attempt between Alexandria and Rhodes; the bright star Canopus just +grazed the horizon at the latter place, at Alexandria it rose 7 1/2 +degrees. In this instance, also, since the direction lay across the sea, +the distance was estimated, not measured. Finally, as we have already +related, the Khalif Al-Mamun made two sets of measures, one on the shore +of the Red Sea, the other near Cufa, in Mesopotamia. The general result +of these various observations gave for the earth's diameter between +seven and eight thousand miles. + +This approximate determination of the size of the earth tended to +depose her from her dominating position, and gave rise to very serious +theological results. In this the ancient investigations of Aristarchus +of Samos, one of the Alexandrian school, 280 B.C., powerfully aided. +In his treatise on the magnitudes and distances of the sun and moon, he +explains the ingenious though imperfect method to which he had resorted +for the solution of that problem. Many ages previously a speculation had +been brought from India to Europe by Pythagoras. It presented the sun +as the centre of the system. Around him the planets revolved in circular +orbits, their order of position being Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, +Jupiter, Saturn, each of them being supposed to rotate on its axis as it +revolved round the sun. According to Cicero, Nicetas suggested that, +if it were admitted that the earth revolves on her axis, the difficulty +presented by the inconceivable velocity of the heavens would be avoided. + +There is reason to believe that the works of Aristarchus, in the +Alexandrian Library, were burnt at the time of the fire of Caesar. The +only treatise of his that has come down to us is that above mentioned, +on the size and distance of the sun and moon. + +Aristarchus adopted the Pythagorean system as representing the actual +facts. This was the result of a recognition of the sun's amazing +distance, and therefore of his enormous size. The heliocentric system, +thus regarding the sun as the central orb, degraded the earth to a very +subordinate rank, making her only one of a company of six revolving +bodies. + +But this is not the only contribution conferred on astronomy by +Aristarchus, for, considering that the movement of the earth does not +sensibly affect the apparent position of the stars, he inferred that +they are incomparably more distant from us than the sun. He, therefore, +of all the ancients, as Laplace remarks, had the most correct ideas of +the grandeur of the universe. He saw that the earth is of absolutely +insignificant size, when compared with the stellar distances. He saw, +too, that there is nothing above us but space and stars. + +But the views of Aristarchus, as respects the emplacement of the +planetary bodies, were not accepted by antiquity; the system proposed by +Ptolemy, and incorporated in his "Syntaxis," was universally preferred. +The physical philosophy of those times was very imperfect--one of +Ptolemy's objections to the Pythagorean system being that, if the earth +were in motion, it would leave the air and other light bodies behind it. +He therefore placed the earth in the central position, and in succession +revolved round her the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, +Saturn; beyond the orbit of Saturn came the firmament of the fixed +stars. As to the solid crystalline spheres, one moving from east to +west, the other from north to south, these were a fancy of Eudoxus, to +which Ptolemy does not allude. + +The Ptolemaic system is, therefore, essentially a geocentric system. It +left the earth in her position of superiority, and hence gave no cause +of umbrage to religious opinions, Christian or Mohammedan. The immense +reputation of its author, the signal ability of his great work on the +mechanism of the heavens, sustained it for almost fourteen hundred +years--that is, from the second to the sixteenth century. + +In Christendom, the greater part of this long period was consumed +in disputes respecting the nature of God, and in struggles for +ecclesiastical power. The authority of the Fathers, and the prevailing +belief that the Scriptures contain the sum, of all knowledge, +discouraged any investigation of Nature. If by chance a passing interest +was taken in some astronomical question, it was at once settled by +a reference to such authorities as the writings of Augustine or +Lactantius, not by an appeal to the phenomena of the heavens. So +great was the preference given to sacred over profane learning that +Christianity had been in existence fifteen hundred years, and had not +produced a single astronomer. + +The Mohammedan nations did much better. Their cultivation of science +dates from the capture of Alexandria, A.D. 638. This was only six years +after the death of the Prophet. In less than two centuries they had +not only become acquainted with, but correctly appreciated, the Greek +scientific writers. As we have already mentioned, by his treaty with +Michael III., the khalif Al-Mamun had obtained a copy of the "Syntaxis" +of Ptolemy. He had it forthwith translated into Arabic. It became at +once the great authority of Saracen astronomy. From this basis the +Saracens had advanced to the solution of some of the most important +scientific problems. They had ascertained the dimensions of the earth; +they had registered or catalogued all the stars visible in their +heavens, giving to those of the larger magnitudes the names they still +bear on our maps and globes; they determined the true length of the +year, discovered astronomical refraction, invented the pendulum-clock, +improved the photometry of the stars, ascertained the curvilinear +path of a ray of light through the air, explained the phenomena of the +horizontal sun and moon, and why we see those bodies before they have +risen and after they have set; measured the height of the atmosphere, +determining it to be fifty-eight miles; given the true theory of the +twilight, and of the twinkling of the stars. They had built the first +observatory in Europe. So accurate were they in their observations, that +the ablest modern mathematicians have made use of their results. +Thus Laplace, in his "Systeme du Monde," adduces the observations of +Al-Batagni as affording incontestable proof of the diminution of the +eccentricity of the earth's orbit. He uses those of Ibn-Junis in his +discussion of the obliquity of the ecliptic, and also in the case of the +problems of the greater inequalities of Jupiter and Saturn. + +These represent but a part, and indeed but a small part, of the services +rendered by the Arabian astronomers, in the solution of the problem of +the nature of the world. Meanwhile, such was the benighted condition of +Christendom, such its deplorable ignorance, that it cared nothing +about the matter. Its attention was engrossed by image-worship, +transubstantiation, the merits of the saints, miracles, shrine-cures. + +This indifference continued until the close of the fifteenth century. +Even then there was no scientific inducement. The inciting motives were +altogether of a different kind. They originated in commercial rivalries, +and the question of the shape of the earth was finally settled by three +sailors, Columbus, De Gama, and, above all, by Ferdinand Magellan. + +The trade of Eastern Asia has always been a source of immense wealth to +the Western nations who in succession have obtained it. In the middle +ages it had centred in Upper Italy. It was conducted along two lines--a +northern, by way of the Black and Caspian Seas, and camel-caravans +beyond--the headquarters of this were at Genoa; and a southern, through +the Syrian and Egyptian ports, and by the Arabian Sea, the headquarters +of this being at Venice. The merchants engaged in the latter traffic had +also made great gains in the transport service of the Crusade-wars. + +The Venetians had managed to maintain amicable relations with the +Mohammedan powers of Syria and Egypt; they were permitted to have +consulates at Alexandria and Damascus, and, notwithstanding the military +commotions of which those countries had been the scene, the trade was +still maintained in a comparatively flourishing condition. But the +northern or Genoese line had been completely broken up by the +irruptions of the Tartars and the Turks, and the military and political +disturbances of the countries through which it passed. The Eastern trade +of Genoa was not merely in a precarious condition--it was on the brink +of destruction. + +The circular visible horizon and its dip at sea, the gradual appearance +and disappearance of ships in the offing, cannot fail to incline +intelligent sailors to a belief in the globular figure of the earth. +The writings of the Mohammedan astronomers and philosophers had given +currency to that doctrine throughout Western Europe, but, as might be +expected, it was received with disfavor by theologians. When Genoa was +thus on the very brink of ruin, it occurred to some of her mariners +that, if this view were correct, her affairs might be re-established. +A ship sailing through the straits of Gibraltar westward, across the +Atlantic, would not fail to reach the East Indies. There were apparently +other great advantages. Heavy cargoes might be transported without +tedious and expensive land-carriage, and without breaking bulk. + +Among the Genoese sailors who entertained these views was Christopher +Columbus. + +He tells us that his attention was drawn to this subject by the writings +of Averroes, but among his friends he numbered Toscanelli, a Florentine, +who had turned his attention to astronomy, and had become a strong +advocate of the globular form. In Genoa itself Columbus met with but +little encouragement. He then spent many years in trying to interest +different princes in his proposed attempt. Its irreligious tendency was +pointed out by the Spanish ecclesiastics, and condemned by the Council +of Salamanca; its orthodoxy was confuted from the Pentateuch, the +Psalms, the Prophecies, the Gospels, the Epistles, and the writings of +the Fathers--St. Chrysostom, St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. Gregory, St. +Basil, St Ambrose. + +At length, however, encouraged by the Spanish Queen Isabella, and +substantially aided by a wealthy seafaring family, the Pinzons of Palos, +some of whom joined him personally, he sailed on August 3, 1492, with +three small ships, from Palos, carrying with him a letter from King +Ferdinand to the Grand-Khan of Tartary, and also a chart, or map, +constructed on the basis of that of Toscanelli. A little before +midnight, October 11, 1492, he saw from the forecastle of his ship a +moving light at a distance. Two hours subsequently a signal-gun from +another of the ships announced that they had descried land. At sunrise +Columbus landed in the New World. + +On his return to Europe it was universally supposed that he had reached +the eastern parts of Asia, and that therefore his voyage bad been +theoretically successful. Columbus himself died in that belief. But +numerous voyages which were soon undertaken made known the general +contour of the American coast-line, and the discovery of the Great South +Sea by Balboa revealed at length the true facts of the case, and the +mistake into which both Toscanelli and Columbus had fallen, that in a +voyage to the West the distance from Europe to Asia could not exceed +the distance passed over in a voyage from Italy to the Gulf of Guinea--a +voyage that Columbus had repeatedly made. + +In his first voyage, at nightfall on September 13, 1492, being then two +and a half degrees east of Corvo, one of the Azores, Columbus observed +that the compass needles of the ships no longer pointed a little to the +east of north, but were varying to the west. The deviation became more +and more marked as the expedition advanced. He was not the first to +detect the fact of variation, but he was incontestably the first to +discover the line of no variation. On the return-voyage the reverse +was observed; the variation westward diminished until the meridian in +question was reached, when the needles again pointed due north. Thence, +as the coast of Europe was approached, the variation was to the +east. Columbus, therefore, came to the conclusion that the line of +no variation was a fixed geographical line, or boundary, between +the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. In the bull of May, 1493, Pope +Alexander VI. accordingly adopted this line as the perpetual boundary +between the possessions of Spain and Portugal, in his settlement of the +disputes of those nations. Subsequently, however, it was discovered that +the line was moving eastward. It coincided with the meridian of London +in 1662. + +By the papal bull the Portuguese possessions were limited to the east of +the line of no variation. Information derived from certain Egyptian +Jews had reached that government, that it was possible to sail round the +continent of Africa, there being at its extreme south a cape which could +be easily doubled. An expedition of three ships under Vasco de Gama set +sail, July 9, 1497; it doubled the cape on November 20th, and reached +Calicut, on the coast of India, May 19, 1498. Under the bull, this +voyage to the East gave to the Portuguese the right to the India trade. + +Until the cape was doubled, the course of De Gama's ships was in a +general manner southward. Very soon, it was noticed that the elevation +of the pole-star above the horizon was diminishing, and, soon after the +equator was reached, that star had ceased to be visible. Meantime other +stars, some of them forming magnificent constellations, had come into +view--the stars of the Southern Hemisphere. All this was in conformity +to theoretical expectations founded on the admission of the globular +form of the earth. + +The political consequences that at once ensued placed the Papal +Government in a position of great embarrassment. Its traditions and +policy forbade it to admit any other than the flat figure of the earth, +as revealed in the Scriptures. Concealment of the facts was impossible, +sophistry was unavailing. Commercial prosperity now left Venice as well +as Genoa. The front of Europe was changed. Maritime power had departed +from the Mediterranean countries, and passed to those upon the Atlantic +coast. + +But the Spanish Government did not submit to the advantage thus +gained by its commercial rival without an effort. It listened to the +representations of one Ferdinand Magellan, that India and the Spice +Islands could be reached by sailing to the west, if only a strait or +passage through what had now been recognized as "the American Continent" +could be discovered; and, if this should be accomplished, Spain, +under the papal bull, would have as good a right to the India trade as +Portugal. Under the command of Magellan, an expedition of five ships, +carrying two hundred and thirty-seven men, was dispatched from Seville, +August 10, 1519. + +Magellan at once struck boldly for the South American coast, hoping to +find some cleft or passage through the continent by which he might reach +the great South Sea. For seventy days he was becalmed on the line; his +sailors were appalled by the apprehension that they had drifted into a +region where the winds never blew, and that it was impossible for them +to escape. Calms, tempests, mutiny, desertion, could not shake his +resolution. After more than a year he discovered the strait which +now bears his name, and, as Pigafetti, an Italian, who was with him, +relates, he shed fears of joy when he found that it had pleased God at +length to bring him where he might grapple with the unknown dangers of +the South Sea, "the Great and Pacific Ocean." + +Driven by famine to eat scraps of skin and leather with which his +rigging was here and there bound, to drink water that had gone putrid, +his crew dying of hunger and scurvy, this man, firm in his belief of the +globular figure of the earth, steered steadily to the northwest, and for +nearly four months never saw inhabited land. He estimated that he had +sailed over the Pacific not less than twelve thousand miles. He crossed +the equator, saw once more the pole-star, and at length made land--the +Ladrones. Here he met with adventurers from Sumatra. Among these islands +he was killed, either by the savages or by his own men. His lieutenant, +Sebastian d'Elcano, now took command of the ship, directing her course +for the Cape of Good Hope, and encountering frightful hardships. He +doubled the cape at last, and then for the fourth time crossed the +equator. On September 7, 1522, after a voyage of more than three years, +he brought his ship, the San Vittoria, to anchor in the port of St. +Lucar, near Seville. She had accomplished the greatest achievement in +the history of the human race. She had circumnavigated the earth. + +The San Vittoria, sailing westward, had come back to her starting-point. +Henceforth the theological doctrine of the flatness of the earth was +irretrievably overthrown. + +Five years after the completion of the voyage of Magellan, was made the +first attempt in Christendom to ascertain the size of the earth. This +was by Fernel, a French physician, who, having observed the height of +the pole at Paris, went thence northward until he came to a place where +the height of the pole was exactly one degree more than at that city. +He measured the distance between the two stations by the number of +revolutions of one of the wheels of his carriage, to which a proper +indicator bad been attached, and came to the conclusion that the earth's +circumference is about twenty-four thousand four hundred and eighty +Italian miles. + +Measures executed more and more carefully were made in many countries: +by Snell in Holland; by Norwood between London and York in England; by +Picard, under the auspices of the French Academy of Sciences, in France. +Picard's plan was to connect two points by a series of triangles, +and, thus ascertaining the length of the arc of a meridian intercepted +between them, to compare it with the difference of latitudes found from +celestial observations. The stations were Malvoisine in the vicinity +of Paris, and Sourdon near Amiens. The difference of latitudes was +determined by observing the zenith-distances, of delta Cassiopeia. There +are two points of interest connected with Picard's operation: it was the +first in which instruments furnished with telescopes were employed; +and its result, as we shall shortly see, was to Newton the first +confirmation of the theory of universal gravitation. + +At this time it had become clear from mechanical considerations, more +especially such as had been deduced by Newton, that, since the earth is +a rotating body, her form cannot be that of a perfect sphere, but +must be that of a spheroid, oblate or flattened at the poles. It would +follow, from this, that the length of a degree must be greater near the +poles than at the equator. + +The French Academy resolved to extend Picard's operation, by prolonging +the measures in each direction, and making the result the basis of a +more accurate map of France. Delays, however, took place, and it was not +until 1718 that the measures, from Dunkirk on the north to the southern +extremity of France, were completed. A discussion arose as to the +interpretation of these measures, some affirming that they indicated a +prolate, others an oblate spheroid; the former figure may be popularly +represented by a lemon, the latter by an orange. To settle this, the +French Government, aided by the Academy, sent out two expeditions to +measure degrees of the meridian--one under the equator, the other as +far north as possible; the former went to Peru, the latter to Swedish +Lapland. Very great difficulties were encountered by both parties. The +Lapland commission, however, completed its observations long before the +Peruvian, which consumed not less than nine years. The results of the +measures thus obtained confirmed the theoretical expectation of the +oblate form. Since that time many extensive and exact repetitions of the +observation have been made, among which may be mentioned those of the +English in England and in India, and particularly that of the French +on the occasion of the introduction of the metric system of weights +and measures. It was begun by Delambre and Mechain, from Dunkirk to +Barcelona, and thence extended, by Biot and Arago, to the island +of Formentera near Minorea. Its length was nearly twelve and a half +degrees. + +Besides this method of direct measurement, the figure of the earth +may be determined from the observed number of oscillations made by a +pendulum of invariable length in different latitudes. These, though they +confirm the foregoing results, give a somewhat greater ellipticity +to the earth than that found by the measurement of degrees. Pendulums +vibrate more slowly the nearer they are to the equator. It follows, +therefore, that they are there farther from the centre of the earth. + +From the most reliable measures that have been made, the dimensions of +the earth may be thus stated: + + + Greater or equatorial diameter..............7,925 miles. + Less or polar diameter......................7,899 " + Difference or polar compression............. 26 " + + +Such was the result of the discussion respecting the figure and size +of the earth. While it was yet undetermined, another controversy arose, +fraught with even more serious consequences. This was the conflict +respecting the earth's position with regard to the sun and the planetary +bodies. + +Copernicus, a Prussian, about the year 1507, had completed a book "On +the Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies." He had journeyed to Italy +in his youth, had devoted his attention to astronomy, and had taught +mathematics at Rome. From a profound study of the Ptolemaic and +Pythagorean systems, he had come to a conclusion in favor of the latter, +the object of his book being to sustain it. Aware that his doctrines +were totally opposed to revealed truth, and foreseeing that they would +bring upon him the punishments of the Church, he expressed himself in +a cautious and apologetic manner, saying that he had only taken the +liberty of trying whether, on the supposition of the earth's motion, it +was possible to find better explanations than the ancient ones of the +revolutions of the celestial orbs; that in doing this he had only +taken the privilege that had been allowed to others, of feigning what +hypothesis they chose. The preface was addressed to Pope Paul III. + +Full of misgivings as to what might be the result, he refrained from +publishing his book for thirty-six years, thinking that "perhaps it +might be better to follow the examples of the Pythagoreans and others, +who delivered their doctrine only by tradition and to friends." At the +entreaty of Cardinal Schomberg he at length published it in 1543. A copy +of it was brought to him on his death-bed. Its fate was such as he had +anticipated. The Inquisition condemned it as heretical. In their decree, +prohibiting it, the Congregation of the Index denounced his system +as "that false Pythagorean doctrine utterly contrary to the Holy +Scriptures." + +Astronomers justly affirm that the book of Copernicus, "De +Revolutionibus," changed the face of their science. It incontestably +established the heliocentric theory. It showed that the distance of the +fixed stars is infinitely great, and that the earth is a mere point in +the heavens. Anticipating Newton, Copernicus imputed gravity to the sun, +the moon, and heavenly bodies, but he was led astray by assuming that +the celestial motions must be circular. Observations on the orbit of +Mars, and his different diameters at different times, had led Copernicus +to his theory. + +In thus denouncing the Copernican system as being in contradiction to +revelation, the ecclesiastical authorities were doubtless deeply moved +by inferential considerations. To dethrone the earth from her central +dominating position, to give her many equals and not a few superiors, +seemed to diminish her claims upon the Divine regard. If each of the +countless myriads of stars was a sun, surrounded by revolving globes, +peopled with responsible beings like ourselves, if we had fallen so +easily and had been redeemed at so stupendous a price as the death of +the Son of God, how was it with them? Of them were there none who had +fallen or might fall like us? Where, then, for them could a Savior be +found? + +During the year 1608 one Lippershey, a Hollander, discovered that, by +looking through two glass lenses, combined in a certain manner together, +distant objects were magnified and rendered very plain. He had invented +the telescope. In the following year Galileo, a Florentine, greatly +distinguished by his mathematical and scientific writings, hearing +of the circumstance, but without knowing the particulars of the +construction, invented a form of the instrument for himself. Improving +it gradually, he succeeded in making one that could magnify thirty +times. Examining the moon, he found that she had valleys like those of +the earth, and mountains casting shadows. It had been said in the old +times that in the Pleiades there were formerly seven stars, but a legend +related that one of them had mysteriously disappeared. On turning his +telescope toward them, Galileo found that he could easily count not +fewer than forty. In whatever direction he looked, he discovered stars +that were totally invisible to the naked eye. + +On the night of January 7, 1610, he perceived three small stars in +a straight line, adjacent to the planet Jupiter, and, a few evenings +later, a fourth. He found that these were revolving in orbits round the +body of the planet, and, with transport, recognized that they presented +a miniature representation of the Copernican system. + +The announcement of these wonders at once attracted universal attention. +The spiritual authorities were not slow to detect their tendency, as +endangering the doctrine that the universe was made for man. In the +creation of myriads of stars, hitherto invisible, there must surely have +been some other motive than that of illuminating the nights for him. + +It had been objected to the Copernican theory that, if the planets +Mercury and Venus move round the sun in orbits interior to that of the +earth, they ought to show phases like those of the moon; and that in +the case of Venus, which is so brilliant and conspicuous, these phases +should be very obvious. Copernicus himself had admitted the force of +the objection, and had vainly tried to find an explanation. Galileo, on +turning his telescope to the planet, discovered that the expected phases +actually exist; now she was a crescent, then half-moon, then gibbous, +then full. Previously to Copernicus, it was supposed that the planets +shine by their own light, but the phases of Venus and Mars proved that +their light is reflected. The Aristotelian notion, that celestial differ +from terrestrial bodies in being incorruptible, received a rude shock +from the discoveries of Galileo, that there are mountains and valleys in +the moon like those of the earth, that the sun is not perfect, but has +spots on his face, and that he turns on his axis instead of being in a +state of majestic rest. The apparition of new stars had already thrown +serious doubts on this theory of incorruptibility. + +These and many other beautiful telescopic discoveries tended to the +establishment of the truth of the Copernican theory and gave unbounded +alarm to the Church. By the low and ignorant ecclesiastics they were +denounced as deceptions or frauds. Some affirmed that the telescope +might be relied on well enough for terrestrial objects, but with the +heavenly bodies it was altogether a different affair. Others declared +that its invention was a mere application of Aristotle's remark that +stars could be seen in the daytime from the bottom of a deep well. +Galileo was accused of imposture, heresy, blasphemy, atheism. With a +view of defending himself, he addressed a letter to the Abbe Castelli, +suggesting that the Scriptures were never intended to be a scientific +authority, but only a moral guide. This made matters worse. He was +summoned before the Holy Inquisition, under an accusation of having +taught that the earth moves round the sun, a doctrine "utterly contrary +to the Scriptures." He was ordered to renounce that heresy, on pain of +being imprisoned. He was directed to desist from teaching and advocating +the Copernican theory, and pledge himself that he would neither publish +nor defend it for the future. Knowing well that Truth has no need of +martyrs, he assented to the required recantation, and gave the promise +demanded. + +For sixteen years the Church had rest. But in 1632 Galileo ventured +on the publication of his work entitled "The System of the World," its +object being the vindication of the Copernican doctrine. He was again +summoned before the Inquisition at Rome, accused of having asserted +that the earth moves round the sun. He was declared to have brought +upon himself the penalties of heresy. On his knees, with his hand on the +Bible, he was compelled to abjure and curse the doctrine of the movement +of the earth. What a spectacle! This venerable man, the most illustrious +of his age, forced by the threat of death to deny facts which his judges +as well as himself knew to be true! He was then committed to prison, +treated with remorseless severity during the remaining ten years of +his life, and was denied burial in consecrated ground. Must not that +be false which requires for its support so much imposture, so much +barbarity? The opinions thus defended by the Inquisition are now objects +of derision to the whole civilized world. + +One of the greatest of modern mathematicians, referring to this subject, +says that the point here contested was one which is for mankind of the +highest interest, because of the rank it assigns to the globe that we +inhabit. If the earth be immovable in the midst of the universe, man has +a right to regard himself as the principal object of the care of Nature. +But if the earth be only one of the planets revolving round the sun, an +insignificant body in the solar system, she will disappear entirely +in the immensity of the heavens, in which this system, vast as it may +appear to us, is nothing but an insensible point. + +The triumphant establishment of the Copernican doctrine dates from the +invention of the telescope. Soon there was not to be found in all Europe +an astronomer who had not accepted the heliocentric theory with its +essential postulate, the double motion of the earth--movement of +rotation on her axis, and a movement of revolution round the sun. +If additional proof of the latter were needed, it was furnished by +Bradley's great discovery of the aberration of the fixed stars, an +aberration depending partly on the progressive motion of light, and +partly on the revolution of the earth. Bradley's discovery ranked +in importance with that of the precession of the equinoxes. Roemer's +discovery of the progressive motion of light, though denounced by +Fontenelle as a seductive error, and not admitted by Cassini, at length +forced its way to universal acceptance. + + +Next it was necessary to obtain correct ideas of the dimensions of the +solar system, or, putting the problem under a more limited form, to +determine the distance of the earth from the sun. + +In the time of Copernicus it was supposed that the sun's distance could +not exceed five million miles, and indeed there were many who thought +that estimate very extravagant. From a review of the observations of +Tycho Brahe, Kepler, however, concluded that the error was actually in +the opposite direction, and that the estimate must be raised to at +least thirteen million. In 1670 Cassini showed that these numbers were +altogether inconsistent with the facts, and gave as his conclusion +eighty-five million. + +The transit of Venus over the face of the sun, June 3, 1769, had been +foreseen, and its great value in the solution of this fundamental +problem in astronomy appreciated. With commendable alacrity various +governments contributed their assistance in making observations, so that +in Europe there were fifty stations, in Asia six, in America seventeen. +It was for this purpose that the English Government dispatched Captain +Cook on his celebrated first voyage. He went to Otaheite. His voyage +was crowned with success. The sun rose without a cloud, and the sky +continued equally clear throughout the day. The transit at Cook's +station lasted from about half-past nine in the morning until about +half-past three in the afternoon, and all the observations were made in +a satisfactory manner. + +But, on the discussion of the observations made at the different +stations, it was found that there was not the accordance that could have +been desired--the result varying from eighty-eight to one hundred and +nine million. The celebrated mathematician, Encke, therefore reviewed +them in 1822-'24, and came to the conclusion that the sun's horizontal +parallax, that is, the angle under which the semi-diameter of the earth +is seen from the sun, is 8 576/1000 seconds; this gave as the distance +95,274,000 miles. Subsequently the observations were reconsidered +by Hansen, who gave as their result 91,659,000 miles. Still later, +Leverrier made it 91,759,000. Airy and Stone, by another method, made +it 91,400,000; Stone alone, by a revision of the old observations, +91,730,000; and finally, Foucault and Fizeau, from physical experiments, +determining the velocity of light, and therefore in their nature +altogether differing from transit observations, 91,400,000. Until the +results of the transit of next year (1874) are ascertained, it must +therefore be admitted that the distance of the earth from the sun is +somewhat less than ninety-two million miles. + +This distance once determined, the dimensions of the solar system may +be ascertained with ease and precision. It is enough to mention that +the distance of Neptune from the sun, the most remote of the planets at +present known, is about thirty times that of the earth. + +By the aid of these numbers we may begin to gain a just appreciation of +the doctrine of the human destiny of the universe--the doctrine that all +things were made for man. Seen from the sun, the earth dwindles away to +a mere speck, a mere dust-mote glistening in his beams. If the reader +wishes a more precise valuation, let him hold a page of this book a +couple of feet from his eye; then let him consider one of its dots or +full stops; that dot is several hundred times larger in surface than is +the earth as seen from the sun! + +Of what consequence, then, can such an almost imperceptible particle be? +One might think that it could be removed or even annihilated, and yet +never be missed. Of what consequence is one of those human monads, of +whom more than a thousand millions swarm on the surface of this all +but invisible speck, and of a million of whom scarcely one will leave +a trace that he has ever existed? Of what consequence is man, his +pleasures or his pains? + +Among the arguments brought forward against the Copernican system at the +time of its promulgation, was one by the great Danish astronomer, Tycho +Brahe, originally urged by Aristarchus against the Pythagorean system, +to the effect that, if, as was alleged, the earth moves round the sun, +there ought to be a change of the direction in which the fixed stars +appear. At one time we are nearer to a particular region of the heavens +by a distance equal to the whole diameter of the earth's orbit than we +were six months previously, and hence there ought to be a change in +the relative position of the stars; they should seem to separate as we +approach them, and to close together as we recede from them; or, to use +the astronomical expression, these stars should have a yearly parallax. + +The parallax of a star is the angle contained between two lines drawn +from it--one to the sun, the other to the earth. + +At that time, the earth's distance from the sun was greatly +under-estimated. Had it been known, as it is now, that that distance +exceeds ninety million miles, or that the diameter of the orbit is more +than one hundred and eighty million, that argument would doubtless have +had very great weight. + +In reply to Tycho, it was said that, since the parallax of a body +diminishes as its distance increases, a star may be so far off that its +parallax may be imperceptible. This answer proved to be correct. The +detection of the parallax of the stars depended on the improvement of +instruments for the measurement of angles. + +The parallax of alpha Centauri, a fine double star of the Southern +Hemisphere, at present considered to be the nearest of the fixed stars, +was first determined by Henderson and Maclear at the Cape of Good Hope +in 1832-'33. It is about nine-tenths of a second. Hence this star is +almost two hundred and thirty thousand times as far from us as the sun. +Seen from it, if the sun were even large enough to fill the whole orbit +of the earth, or one hundred and eighty million miles in diameter, +he would be a mere point. With its companion, it revolves round their +common centre of gravity in eighty-one years, and hence it would seem +that their conjoint mass is less than that of the sun. + +The star 61 Cygni is of the sixth magnitude. Its parallax was first +found by Bessel in 1838, and is about one-third of a second. The +distance from us is, therefore, much more than five hundred thousand +times that of the sun. With its companion, it revolves round their +common centre of gravity in five hundred and twenty years. Their +conjoint weight is about one-third that of the sun. + +There is reason to believe that the great star Sirius, the brightest +in the heavens, is about six times as far off as alpha Centauri. His +probable diameter is twelve million miles, and the light he emits two +hundred times more brilliant than that of the sun. Yet, even through the +telescope, he has no measurable diameter; he looks merely like a very +bright spark. + +The stars, then, differ not merely in visible magnitude, but also in +actual size. As the spectroscope shows, they differ greatly in chemical +and physical constitution. That instrument is also revealing to us the +duration of the life of a star, through changes in the refrangibility of +the emitted light. Though, as we have seen, the nearest to us is at +an enormous and all but immeasurable distance, this is but the first +step--there are others the rays of which have taken thousands, perhaps +millions, of years to reach us! The limits of our own system are far +beyond the range of our greatest telescopes; what, then, shall we say of +other systems beyond? Worlds are scattered like dust in the abysses in +space. + +Have these gigantic bodies--myriads of which are placed at so vast a +distance that our unassisted eyes cannot perceive them--have these no +other purpose than that assigned by theologians, to give light to us? +Does not their enormous size demonstrate that, as they are centres of +force, so they must be centres of motion--suns for other systems of +worlds? + +While yet these facts were very imperfectly known--indeed, were rather +speculations than facts--Giordano Bruno, an Italian, born seven years +after the death of Copernicus, published a work on the "Infinity of +the Universe and of Worlds;" he was also the author of "Evening +Conversations on Ash-Wednesday," an apology for the Copernican system, +and of "The One Sole Cause of Things." To these may be added an allegory +published in 1584, "The Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast." He had also +collected, for the use of future astronomers, all the observations he +could find respecting the new star that suddenly appeared in Cassiopeia, +A.D. 1572, and increased in brilliancy, until it surpassed all the other +stars. It could be plainly seen in the daytime. On a sudden, November +11th, it was as bright as Venus at her brightest. In the following March +it was of the first magnitude. It exhibited various hues of color in a +few months, and disappeared in March, 1574. + +The star that suddenly appeared in Serpentarius, in Kepler's time +(1604), was at first brighter than Venus. It lasted more than a year, +and, passing through various tints of purple, yellow, red, became +extinguished. + +Originally, Bruno was intended for the Church. He had become a +Dominican, but was led into doubt by his meditations on the subjects of +transubstantiation and the immaculate conception. Not caring to +conceal his opinions, he soon fell under the censure of the spiritual +authorities, and found it necessary to seek refuge successively in +Switzerland, France, England, Germany. The cold-scented sleuth-hounds of +the Inquisition followed his track remorselessly, and eventually hunted +him back to Italy. He was arrested in Venice, and confined in the Piombi +for six years, without books, or paper, or friends. + +In England he had given lectures on the plurality of worlds, and in that +country had written, in Italian, his most important works. It added +not a little to the exasperation against him, that he was perpetually +declaiming against the insincerity; the impostures, of his +persecutors--that wherever he went he found skepticism varnished over +and concealed by hypocrisy; and that it was not against the belief of +men, but against their pretended belief, that he was fighting; that he +was struggling with an orthodoxy that had neither morality nor faith. + +In his "Evening Conversations" he had insisted that the Scriptures were +never intended to teach science, but morals only; and that they cannot +be received as of any authority on astronomical and physical subjects. +Especially must we reject the view they reveal to us of the constitution +of the world, that the earth is a flat surface, supported on pillars; +that the sky is a firmament--the floor of heaven. On the contrary, we +must believe that the universe is infinite, and that it is filled with +self-luminous and opaque worlds, many of them inhabited; that there +is nothing above and around us but space and stars. His meditations +on these subjects had brought him to the conclusion that the views of +Averroes are not far from the truth--that there is an Intellect which +animates the universe, and of this Intellect the visible world is only +an emanation or manifestation, originated and sustained by force derived +from it, and, were that force withdrawn, all things would disappear. +This ever-present, all-pervading Intellect is God, who lives in all +things, even such as seem not to live; that every thing is ready to +become organized, to burst into life. God is, therefore, "the One Sole +Cause of Things," "the All in All." + +Bruno may hence be considered among philosophical writers as +intermediate between Averroes and Spinoza. The latter held that God and +the Universe are the same, that all events happen by an immutable law +of Nature, by an unconquerable necessity; that God is the Universe, +producing a series of necessary movements or acts, in consequence of +intrinsic, unchangeable, and irresistible energy. + +On the demand of the spiritual authorities, Bruno was removed from +Venice to Rome, and confined in the prison of the Inquisition, accused +not only of being a heretic, but also a heresiarch, who had written +things unseemly concerning religion; the special charge against him +being that he had taught the plurality of worlds, a doctrine repugnant +to the whole tenor of Scripture and inimical to revealed religion, +especially as regards the plan of salvation. After an imprisonment of +two years he was brought before his judges, declared guilty of the +acts alleged, excommunicated, and, on his nobly refusing to recant, was +delivered over to the secular authorities to be punished "as mercifully +as possible, and without the shedding of his blood," the horrible +formula for burning a prisoner at the stake. Knowing well that though +his tormentors might destroy his body, his thoughts would still live +among men, he said to his judges, "Perhaps it is with greater fear +that you pass the sentence upon me than I receive it." The sentence was +carried into effect, and he was burnt at Rome, February 16th, A.D. 1600. + +No one can recall without sentiments of pity the sufferings of those +countless martyrs, who first by one party, and then by another, have +been brought for their religious opinions to the stake. But each of +these had in his supreme moment a powerful and unfailing support. The +passage from this life to the next, though through a hard trial, was the +passage from a transient trouble to eternal happiness, an escape from +the cruelty of earth to the charity of heaven. On his way through the +dark valley the martyr believed that there was an invisible hand that +would lead him, a friend that would guide him all the more gently and +firmly because of the terrors of the flames. For Bruno there was no +such support. The philosophical opinions, for the sake of which he +surrendered his life, could give him no consolation. He must fight the +last fight alone. Is there not something very grand in the attitude of +this solitary man, something which human nature cannot help admiring, as +he stands in the gloomy hall before his inexorable judges? No accuser, +no witness, no advocate is present, but the familiars of the Holy +Office, clad in black, are stealthily moving about. The tormentors and +the rack are in the vaults below. He is simply told that he has brought +upon himself strong suspicions of heresy, since he has said that there +are other worlds than ours. He is asked if he will recant and abjure +his error. He cannot and will not deny what he knows to be true, and +perhaps--for he had often done so before--he tells his judges that they, +too, in their hearts are of the same belief. What a contrast between +this scene of manly honor, of unshaken firmness, of inflexible adherence +to the truth, and that other scene which took place more than fifteen +centuries previously by the fireside in the hall of Caiaphas the +high-priest, when the cock crew, and "the Lord turned and looked upon +Peter" (Luke xxii. 61)! And yet it is upon Peter that the Church has +grounded her right to act as she did to Bruno. But perhaps the day +approaches when posterity will offer an expiation for this great +ecclesiastical crime, and a statue of Bruno be unveiled under the dome +of St. Peter's at Rome. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + CONTROVERSY RESPECTING THE AGE OF THE EARTH. + + Scriptural view that the Earth is only six thousand years + old, and that it was made in a week.--Patristic chronology + founded on the ages of the patriarchs.--Difficulties arising + from different estimates in different versions of the Bible. + + Legend of the Deluge.--The repeopling.--The Tower of Babel; + the confusion of tongues.--The primitive language. + + Discovery by Cassini of the oblateness of the planet + Jupiter.--Discovery by Newton of the oblateness of the + Earth.--Deduction that she has been modeled by mechanical + causes.--Confirmation of this by geological discoveries + respecting aqueous rocks; corroboration by organic remains.-- + The necessity of admitting enormously long periods of + time.--Displacement of the doctrine of Creation by that of + Evolution--Discoveries respecting the Antiquity of Man. + + The time-scale and space-scale of the world are infinite.-- + Moderation with which the discussion of the Age of the World + has been conducted. + + +THE true position of the earth in the universe was established only +after a long and severe conflict. The Church used whatever power she +had, even to the infliction of death, for sustaining her ideas. But +it was in vain. The evidence in behalf of the Copernican theory became +irresistible. It was at length universally admitted that the sun is the +central, the ruling body of our system; the earth only one, and by no +means the largest, of a family of encircling planets. Taught by the +issue of that dispute, when the question of the age of the world +presented itself for consideration, the Church did not exhibit the +active resistance she had displayed on the former occasion. For, +though her traditions were again put in jeopardy, they were not, in her +judgment, so vitally assailed. To dethrone the Earth from her dominating +position was, so the spiritual authorities declared, to undermine the +very foundation of revealed truth; but discussions respecting the date +of creation might within certain limits be permitted. Those limits were, +however, very quickly overpassed, and thus the controversy became as +dangerous as the former one had been. + +It was not possible to adopt the advice given by Plato in his "Timaeus," +when treating of this subject--the origin of the universe: "It is proper +that both I who speak and you who judge should remember that we are but +men, and therefore, receiving the probable mythological tradition, it +is meet that we inquire no further into it." Since the time of St. +Augustine the Scriptures had been made the great and final authority in +all matters of science, and theologians had deduced from them schemes of +chronology and cosmogony which had proved to be stumbling-blocks to the +advance of real knowledge. + +It is not necessary for us to do more than to allude to some of the +leading features of these schemes; their peculiarities will be easily +discerned with sufficient clearness. Thus, from the six days of creation +and the Sabbath-day of rest, since we are told that a day is with the +Lord as a thousand years, it was inferred that the duration of the +world will be through six thousand years of suffering, and an additional +thousand, a millennium of rest. It was generally admitted that the +earth was about four thousand years old at the birth of Christ, but, so +careless had Europe been in the study of its annals, that not Until +A.D. 627 had it a proper chronology of its own. A Roman abbot, Dionysius +Exiguus, or Dennis the Less, then fixed the vulgar era, and gave Europe +its present Christian chronology. + +The method followed in obtaining the earliest chronological dates was +by computations, mainly founded on the lives of the patriarchs. Much +difficulty was encountered in reconciling numerical discrepancies. Even +if, as was taken for granted in those uncritical ages, Moses was the +author of the books imputed to him, due weight was not given to the fact +that he related events, many of which took place more than two thousand +years before he was born. It scarcely seemed necessary to regard the +Pentateuch as of plenary inspiration, since no means had been provided +to perpetuate its correctness. The different copies which had escaped +the chances of time varied very much; thus the Samaritan made thirteen +hundred and seven years from the Creation to the Deluge, the Hebrew +sixteen hundred and fifty-six, the Septuagint twenty-two hundred and +sixty-three. The Septuagint counted fifteen hundred years more from the +Creation to Abraham than the Hebrew. In general, however, there was +an inclination to the supposition that the Deluge took place about two +thousand years after the Creation, and, after another interval of two +thousand years, Christ was born. Persons who had given much attention +to the subject affirmed that there were not less than one hundred +and thirty-two different opinions as to the year in which the Messiah +appeared, and hence they declared that it was inexpedient to press for +acceptance the Scriptural numbers too closely, since it was plain, +from the great differences in different copies, that there had been no +providential intervention to perpetuate a correct reading, nor was there +any mark by which men could be guided to the only authentic version. +Even those held in the highest esteem contained undeniable errors. Thus +the Septuagint made Methuselah live until after the Deluge. + +It was thought that, in the antediluvian world, the year consisted +of three hundred and sixty days. Some even affirmed that this was +the origin of the division of the circle into three hundred and sixty +degrees. At the time of the Deluge, so many theologians declared, the +motion of the sun was altered, and the year became five days and six +hours longer. There was a prevalent opinion that that stupendous event +occurred on November 2d, in the year of the world 1656. Dr. Whiston, +however, disposed to greater precision, inclined to postpone it to +November 28th. Some thought that the rainbow was not seen until after +the flood; others, apparently with better reason, inferred that it was +then first established as a sign. On coming forth from the ark, men +received permission to use flesh as food, the antediluvians having been +herbivorous! It would seem that the Deluge had not occasioned any great +geographical changes, for Noah, relying on his antediluvian knowledge, +proceeded to divide the earth among his three sons, giving to Japhet +Europe, to Shem Asia, to Ham Africa. No provision was made for America, +as he did not know of its existence. These patriarchs, undeterred by the +terrible solitudes to which they were going, by the undrained swamps +and untracked forests, journeyed to their allotted possessions, and +commenced the settlement of the continents. + +In seventy years the Asiatic family had increased to several hundred. +They had found their way to the plains of Mesopotamia, and there, for +some motive that we cannot divine, began building a tower "whose top +might reach to heaven." Eusebius informs us that the work continued for +forty years. They did not abandon it until a miraculous confusion of +their language took place and dispersed them all over the earth. St. +Ambrose shows that this confusion could not have been brought about by +men. Origen believes that not even the angels accomplished it. + +The confusion of tongues has given rise to many curious speculations +among divines as to the primitive speech of man. Some have thought +that the language of Adam consisted altogether of nouns, that they were +monosyllables, and that the confusion was occasioned by the introduction +of polysyllables. But these learned men must surely have overlooked the +numerous conversations reported in Genesis, such as those between the +Almighty and Adam, the serpent and Eve, etc. In these all the various +parts of speech occur. There was, however, a coincidence of opinion +that the primitive language was Hebrew. On the general principles of +patristicism, it was fitting that this should be the case. + +The Greek Fathers computed that, at the time of the dispersion, +seventy-two nations were formed, and in this conclusion St. Augustine +coincides. But difficulties seem to have been recognized in these +computations; thus the learned Dr. Shuckford, who has treated very +elaborately on all the foregoing points in his excellent work "On the +Sacred and Profane History of the World connected," demonstrates that +there could not have been more than twenty-one or twenty-two men, women, +and children, in each of those kingdoms. + +A very vital point in this system of chronological computation, based +upon the ages of the patriarchs, was the great length of life to which +those worthies attained. It was generally supposed that before the Flood +"there was a perpetual equinox," and no vicissitudes in Nature. After +that event the standard of life diminished one-half, and in the time of +the Psalmist it had sunk to seventy years, at which it still remains. +Austerities of climate were affirmed to have arisen through the shifting +of the earth's axis at the Flood, and to this ill effect were added the +noxious influences of that universal catastrophe, which, "converting the +surface of the earth into a vast swamp, gave rise to fermentations of +the blood and a weakening of the fibres." + +With a view of avoiding difficulties arising from the extraordinary +length of the patriarchal lives, certain divines suggested that the +years spoken of by the sacred penman were not ordinary but lunar years. +This, though it might bring the age of those venerable men within +the recent term of life, introduced, however, another insuperable +difficulty, since it made them have children when only five or six years +old. + +Sacred science, as interpreted by the Fathers of the Church, +demonstrated these facts: 1. That the date of Creation was comparatively +recent, not more than four or five thousand years before Christ; 2. That +the act of Creation occupied the space of six ordinary days; 3. That +the Deluge was universal, and that the animals which survived it were +preserved in an ark; 4. That Adam was created perfect in morality and +intelligence, that he fell, and that his descendants have shared in his +sin and his fall. + +Of these points and others that might be mentioned there were two on +which ecclesiastical authority felt that it must insist. These were: +1. The recent date of Creation; for, the remoter that event, the more +urgent the necessity of vindicating the justice of God, who apparently +had left the majority of our race to its fate, and had reserved +salvation for the few who were living in the closing ages of the +world; 2. The perfect condition of Adam at his creation, since this was +necessary to the theory of the fall, and the plan of salvation. + +Theological authorities were therefore constrained to look with disfavor +on any attempt to carry back the origin of the earth, to an epoch +indefinitely remote, and on the Mohammedan theory of the evolution +of man from lower forms, or his gradual development to his present +condition in the long lapse of time. + + +From the puerilities, absurdities, and contradictions of the foregoing +statement, we may gather how very unsatisfactory this so-called sacred +science was. And perhaps we may be brought to the conclusion to +which Dr. Shuckford, above quoted, was constrained to come, after his +wearisome and unavailing attempt to coordinate its various parts: "As to +the Fathers of the first ages of the Church, they were good men, but not +men of universal learning." + +Sacred cosmogony regards the formation and modeling of the earth as the +direct act of God; it rejects the intervention of secondary causes in +those events. + +Scientific cosmogony dates from the telescopic discovery made by +Cassini--an Italian astronomer, under whose care Louis XIV. placed the +Observatory of Paris--that the planet Jupiter is not a sphere, but +an oblate spheroid, flattened at the poles. Mechanical philosophy +demonstrated that such a figure is the necessary result of the rotation +of a yielding mass, and that the more rapid the rotation the greater the +flattening, or, what comes to the same thing, the greater the equatorial +bulging must be. + +From considerations--purely of a mechanical kind--Newton had foreseen +that such likewise, though to a less striking extent, must be the figure +of the earth. To the protuberant mass is due the precession of the +equinoxes, which requires twenty-five thousand eight hundred and +sixty-eight years for its completion, and also the nutation of the +earth's axis, discovered by Bradley. We have already had occasion to +remark that the earth's equatorial diameter exceeds the polar by about +twenty-six miles. + +Two facts are revealed by the oblateness of the earth: 1. That she has +formerly been in a yielding or plastic condition; 2. That she has been +modeled by a mechanical and therefore a secondary cause. + +But this influence of mechanical causes is manifested not only in +the exterior configuration of the globe of the earth as a spheroid of +revolution, it also plainly appears on an examination of the arrangement +of her substance. + +If we consider the aqueous rocks, their aggregate is many miles in +thickness; yet they undeniably have been of slow deposit. The material +of which they consist has been obtained by the disintegration of ancient +lands; it has found its way into the water-courses, and by them been +distributed anew. Effects of this kind, taking place before our eyes, +require a very considerable lapse of time to produce a well-marked +result--a water deposit may in this manner measure in thickness a few +inches in a century--what, then, shall we say as to the time consumed in +the formation of deposits of many thousand yards? + +The position of the coast-line of Egypt has been known for much more +than two thousand years. In that time it has made, by reason of the +detritus brought down by the Nile, a distinctly-marked encroachment on +the Mediterranean. But all Lower Egypt has had a similar origin. The +coast-line near the mouth of the Mississippi has been well known +for three hundred years, and during that time has scarcely made a +perceptible advance on the Gulf of Mexico; but there was a time when the +delta of that river was at St. Louis, more than seven hundred miles +from its present position. In Egypt and in America--in fact, in all +countries--the rivers have been inch by inch prolonging the land into +the sea; the slowness of their work and the vastness of its extent +satisfy us that we must concede for the operation enormous periods of +time. + +To the same conclusion we are brought if we consider the filling of +lakes, the deposit of travertines, the denudation of hills, the +cutting action of the sea on its shores, the undermining of cliffs, the +weathering of rocks by atmospheric water and carbonic acid. + +Sedimentary strata must have been originally deposited in planes nearly +horizontal. Vast numbers of them have been forced, either by paroxysms +at intervals or by gradual movement, into all manner of angular +inclinations. Whatever explanations we may offer of these innumerable +and immense tilts and fractures, they would seem to demand for their +completion an inconceivable length of time. + +The coal-bearing strata in Wales, by their gradual submergence, have +attained a thickness of 12,000 feet; in Nova Scotia of 14,570 feet. +So slow and so steady was this submergence, that erect trees stand one +above another on successive levels; seventeen such repetitions may be +counted in a thickness of 4,515 feet. The age of the trees is proved +by their size, some being four feet in diameter. Round them, as they +gradually went down with the subsiding soil, calamites grew, at one +level after another. In the Sydney coal-field fifty-nine fossil forests +occur in superposition. + +Marine shells, found on mountain-tops far in the interior of continents, +were regarded by theological writers as an indisputable illustration of +the Deluge. But when, as geological studies became more exact, it was +proved that in the crust of the earth vast fresh-water formations are +repeatedly intercalated with vast marine ones, like the leaves of a +book, it became evident that no single cataclysm was sufficient +to account for such results; that the same region, through gradual +variations of its level and changes in its topographical surroundings, +had sometimes been dry land, sometimes covered with fresh and sometimes +with sea water. It became evident also that, for the completion of these +changes, tens of thousands of years were required. + +To this evidence of a remote origin of the earth, derived from the vast +superficial extent, the enormous thickness, and the varied characters of +its strata, was added an imposing body of proof depending on its fossil +remains. The relative ages of formations having been ascertained, it +was shown that there has been an advancing physiological progression of +organic forms, both vegetable and animal, from the oldest to the most +recent; that those which inhabit the surface in our times are but an +insignificant fraction of the prodigious multitude that have inhabited +it heretofore; that for each species now living there are thousands +that have become extinct. Though special formations are so strikingly +characterized by some predominating type of life as to justify such +expressions as the age of mollusks, the age of reptiles, the age of +mammals, the introduction of the new-comers did not take place abruptly. +as by sudden creation. They gradually emerged in an antecedent age, +reached their culmination in the one which they characterize, and then +gradually died out in a succeeding. There is no such thing as a +sudden creation, a sudden strange appearance--but there is a slow +metamorphosis, a slow development from a preexisting form. Here again +we encounter the necessity of admitting for such results long periods +of time. Within the range of history no well-marked instance of such +development has been witnessed, and we speak with hesitation of doubtful +instances of extinction. Yet in geological times myriads of evolutions +and extinctions have occurred. + +Since thus, within the experience of man, no case of metamorphosis +or development has been observed, some have been disposed to deny its +possibility altogether, affirming that all the different species have +come into existence by separate creative acts. But surely it is less +unphilosophical to suppose that each species has been evolved from a +predecessor by a modification of its parts, than that it has suddenly +started into existence out of nothing. Nor is there much weight in +the remark that no man has ever witnessed such a transformation taking +place. Let it be remembered that no man has ever witnessed an act +of creation, the sudden appearance of an organic form, without any +progenitor. + +Abrupt, arbitrary, disconnected creative acts may serve to illustrate +the Divine power; but that continuous unbroken chain of organisms which +extends from palaeozoic formations to the formations of recent times, a +chain in which each link hangs on a preceding and sustains a succeeding +one, demonstrates to us not only that the production of animated beings +is governed by law, but that it is by law that has undergone no change. +In its operation, through myriads of ages, there has been no variation, +no suspension. + +The foregoing paragraphs may serve to indicate the character of a +portion of the evidence with which we must deal in considering the +problem of the age of the earth. Through the unintermitting labors of +geologists, so immense a mass has been accumulated, that many volumes +would be required to contain the details. It is drawn from the phenomena +presented by all kinds of rocks, aqueous, igneous, metamorphic. Of +aqueous rocks it investigates the thickness, the inclined positions, +and how they rest unconformably on one another; how those that are of +fresh-water origin are intercalated with those that are marine; how +vast masses of material have been removed by slow-acting causes of +denudation, and extensive geographical surfaces have been remodeled; how +continents have undergone movements of elevation and depression, their +shores sunk under the ocean, or sea-beaches and sea-cliffs carried far +into the interior. It considers the zoological and botanical facts, the +fauna and flora of the successive ages, and how in an orderly manner the +chain of organic forms, plants, and animals, has been extended, from its +dim and doubtful beginnings to our own times. From facts presented by +the deposits of coal-coal which, in all its varieties, has originated +from the decay of plants--it not only demon strates the changes that +have taken place in the earth's atmosphere, but also universal changes +of climate. From other facts it proves that there have been oscillations +of temperature, periods in which the mean heat has risen, and periods +in which the polar ices and snows have covered large portions of the +existing continents--glacial periods, as they are termed. + +One school of geologists, resting its argument on very imposing +evidence, teaches that the whole mass of the earth, from being in a +molten, or perhaps a vaporous condition, has cooled by radiation in the +lapse of millions of ages, until it has reached its present equilibrium +of temperature. Astronomical observations give great weight to this +interpretation, especially so far as the planetary bodies of the solar +system are concerned. It is also supported by such facts as the small +mean density of the earth, the increasing temperature at increasing +depths, the phenomena of volcanoes and injected veins, and those of +igneous and metamorphic rocks. To satisfy the physical changes which +this school of geologists contemplates, myriads of centuries are +required. + +But, with the views that the adoption of the Copernican system has given +us, it is plain that we cannot consider the origin and biography of the +earth in an isolated way; we must include with her all the other members +of the system or family to which she belongs. Nay, more, we cannot +restrict ourselves to the solar system; we must embrace in our +discussions the starry worlds. And, since we have become familiarized +with their almost immeasurable distances from one another, we are +prepared to accept for their origin an immeasurably remote time. There +are stars so far off that their light, fast as it travels, has taken +thousands of years to reach us, and hence they must have been in +existence many thousands of years ago. + +Geologists having unanimously agreed--for perhaps there is not a single +dissenting voice--that the chronology of the earth must be greatly +extended, attempts have been made to give precision to it. Some of +these have been based on astronomical, some on physical principles. Thus +calculations founded on the known changes of the eccentricity of the +earth's orbit, with a view of determining the lapse of time since the +beginning of the last glacial period, have given two hundred and +forty thousand years. Though the general postulate of the immensity of +geological times may be conceded, such calculations are on too uncertain +a theoretical basis to furnish incontestable results. + +But, considering the whole subject from the present scientific +stand-point, it is very clear that the views presented by theological +writers, as derived from the Mosaic record, cannot be admitted. Attempts +have been repeatedly made to reconcile the revealed with the discovered +facts, but they have proved to be unsatisfactory. The Mosaic time is +too short, the order of creation incorrect, the divine interventions +too anthropomorphic; and, though the presentment of the subject is in +harmony with the ideas that men have entertained, when first their +minds were turned to the acquisition of natural knowledge, it is not in +accordance with their present conceptions of the insignificance of the +earth and the grandeur of the universe. + + +Among late geological discoveries is one of special interest; it is the +detection of human remains and human works in formations which, though +geologically recent, are historically very remote. + +The fossil remains of men, with rude implements of rough or chipped +flint, of polished stone, of bone, of bronze, are found in Europe in +caves, in drifts, in peat-beds. They indicate a savage life, spent in +hunting and fishing. Recent researches give reason to believe that, +under low and base grades, the existence of man can be traced back into +the tertiary times. He was contemporary with the southern elephant, +the rhinoceros leptorhinus, the great hippopotamus, perhaps even in the +miocene contemporary with the mastodon. + +At the close of the Tertiary period, from causes not yet determined, the +Northern Hemisphere underwent a great depression of temperature. From +a torrid it passed to a glacial condition. After a period of prodigious +length, the temperature again rose, and the glaciers that had so +extensively covered the surface receded. Once more there was a decline +in the heat, and the glaciers again advanced, but this time not so far +as formerly. This ushered in the Quaternary period, during which very +slowly the temperature came to its present degree. The water deposits +that were being made required thousands of centuries for their +completion. At the beginning of the Quaternary period there were +alive the cave-bear, the cave-lion, the amphibious hippopotamus, the +rhinoceros with chambered nostrils, the mammoth. In fact, the mammoth +swarmed. He delighted in a boreal climate. By degrees the reindeer, the +horse, the ox, the bison, multiplied, and disputed with him his food. +Partly for this reason, and partly because of the increasing heat, he +became extinct. From middle Europe, also, the reindeer retired. His +departure marks the end of the Quaternary period. + +Since the advent of man on the earth, we have, therefore, to deal with +periods of incalculable length. Vast changes in the climate and fauna +were produced by the slow operation of causes such as are in action at +the present day. Figures cannot enable us to appreciate these enormous +lapses of time. + +It seems to be satisfactorily established, that a race allied to the +Basques may be traced back to the Neolithic age. At that time the +British Islands were undergoing a change of level, like that at present +occurring in the Scandinavian Peninsula. Scotland was rising, England +was sinking. In the Pleistocene age there existed in Central Europe a +rude race of hunters and fishers closely allied to the Esquimaux. + +In the old glacial drift of Scotland the relics of man are found along +with those of the fossil elephant. This carries us back to that time +above referred to, when a large portion of Europe was covered with ice, +which had edged down from the polar regions to southerly latitudes, and, +as glaciers, descended from the summits of the mountain-chains into the +plains. Countless species of animals perished in this cataclysm of ice +and snow, but man survived. + +In his primitive savage condition, living for the most part on fruits, +roots, shell-fish, man was in possession of a fact which was certain +eventually to insure his civilization. He knew how to make a fire. In +peat-beds, under the remains of trees that in those localities have +long ago become extinct, his relics are still found, the implements +that accompany him indicating a distinct chronological order. Near the +surface are those of bronze, lower down those of bone or horn, still +lower those of polished stone, and beneath all those of chipped or rough +stone. The date of the origin of some of these beds cannot be estimated +at less than forty or fifty thousand years. + +The caves that have been examined in France and elsewhere have furnished +for the Stone age axes, knives, lance and arrow points, scrapers, +hammers. The change from what may be termed the chipped to the polished +stone period is very gradual. It coincides with the domestication of the +dog, an epoch in hunting-life. It embraces thousands of centuries. The +appearance of arrow-heads indicates the invention of the bow, and +the rise of man from a defensive to an offensive mode of life. The +introduction of barbed arrows shows how inventive talent was displaying +itself; bone and horn tips, that the huntsman was including smaller +animals, and perhaps birds, in his chase; bone whistles, his +companionship with other huntsmen or with his dog. The scraping-knives +of flint indicate the use of skin for clothing, and rude bodkins and +needles its manufacture. Shells perforated for bracelets and necklaces +prove how soon a taste for personal adornment was acquired; the +implements necessary for the preparation of pigments suggest the +painting of the body, and perhaps tattooing; and batons of rank bear +witness to the beginning of a social organization. + +With the utmost interest we look upon the first germs of art among these +primitive men. They have left its rude sketches on pieces of ivory and +flakes of bone, and carvings, of the animals contemporary with them. In +these prehistoric delineations, sometimes not without spirit, we have +mammoths, combats of reindeer. One presents us with a man harpooning a +fish, another a hunting-scene of naked men armed with the dart. Man is +the only animal who has the propensity of depicting external forms, and +of availing himself of the use of fire. + +Shell-mounds, consisting of bones and shells, some of which may be +justly described as of vast extent, and of a date anterior to the Bronze +age, and full of stone implements, bear in all their parts indications +of the use of fire. These are often adjacent to the existing coasts +sometimes, however, they are far inland, in certain instances as far +as fifty miles. Their contents and position indicate for them a date +posterior to that of the great extinct mammals, but prior to the +domesticated. Some of these, it is said, cannot be less than one hundred +thousand years old. + +The lake-dwellings in Switzerland--huts built on piles or logs, wattled +with boughs--were, as may be inferred from the accompanying implements, +begun in the Stone age, and continued into that of Bronze. In the latter +period the evidences become numerous of the adoption of an agricultural +life. + +It must not be supposed that the periods into which geologists have +found it convenient to divide the progress of man in civilization are +abrupt epochs, which hold good simultaneously for the whole human race. +Thus the wandering Indians of America are only at the present moment +emerging from the Stone age. They are still to be seen in many places +armed with arrows, tipped with flakes of flint. It is but as yesterday +that some have obtained, from the white man, iron, fire-arms, and the +horse. + +So far as investigations have gone, they indisputably refer the +existence of man to a date remote from us by many hundreds of thousands +of years. It must be borne in mind that these investigations are quite +recent, and confined to a very limited geographical space. No researches +have yet been made in those regions which might reasonably be regarded +as the primitive habitat of man. + +We are thus carried back immeasurably beyond the six thousand years of +Patristic chronology. It is difficult to assign a shorter date for the +last glaciation of Europe than a quarter of a million of years, and +human existence antedates that. But not only is it this grand fact that +confronts us, we have to admit also a primitive animalized state, and a +slow, a gradual development. But this forlorn, this savage condition +of humanity is in strong contrast to the paradisiacal happiness of the +garden of Eden, and, what is far in ore serious, it is inconsistent with +the theory of the Fall. + + +I have been induced to place the subject of this chapter out of its +proper chronological order, for the sake of presenting what I had to +say respecting the nature of the world more completely by itself. The +discussions that arose as to the age of the earth were long after the +conflict as to the criterion of truth--that is, after the Reformation; +indeed, they were substantially included in the present century. They +have been conducted with so much moderation as to justify the term +I have used in the title of this chapter, "Controversy," rather than +"Conflict." Geology has not had to encounter the vindictive opposition +with which astronomy was assailed, and, though, on her part, she has +insisted on a concession of great antiquity for the earth, she has +herself pointed out the unreliability of all numerical estimates thus +far offered. The attentive reader of this chapter cannot have failed to +observe inconsistencies in the numbers quoted. Though wanting the +merit of exactness, those numbers, however, justify the claim of vast +antiquity, and draw us to the conclusion that the time-scale of the +world answers to the space-scale in magnitude. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + CONFLICT RESPECTING THE CRITERION OF TRUTH. + + Ancient philosophy declares that man has no means of + ascertaining the truth. + + Differences of belief arise among the early Christians--An + ineffectual attempt is made to remedy them by Councils.-- + Miracle and ordeal proof introduced. + + The papacy resorts to auricular confession and the + Inquisition.--It perpetrates frightful atrocities for the + suppression of differences of opinion. + + Effect of the discovery of the Pandects of Justinian and + development of the canon law on the nature of evidence.--It + becomes more scientific. + + The Reformation establishes the rights of individual + reason.--Catholicism asserts that the criterion of truth is + in the Church. It restrains the reading of books by the + Index Expurgatorius, and combats dissent by such means as + the massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve. + + Examination of the authenticity of the Pentateuch as the + Protestant criterion.--Spurious character of those books. + + For Science the criterion of truth is to be found in the + revelations of Nature: for the Protestant, it is in the + Scriptures; for the Catholic, in an infallible Pope. + + +"WHAT is truth?" was the passionate demand of a Roman procurator on one +of the most momentous occasions in history. And the Divine Person who +stood before him, to whom the interrogation was addressed, made no +reply--unless, indeed, silence contained the reply. + +Often and vainly had that demand been made before--often and vainly has +it been made since. No one has yet given a satisfactory answer. + +When, at the dawn of science in Greece, the ancient religion was +disappearing like a mist at sunrise, the pious and thoughtful men of +that country were thrown into a condition of intellectual despair. +Anaxagoras plaintively exclaims, "Nothing can be known, nothing can be +learned, nothing can be certain, sense is limited, intellect is weak, +life is short." Xenophanes tells us that it is impossible for us to be +certain even when we utter the truth. Parmenides declares that the +very constitution of man prevents him from ascertaining absolute truth. +Empedocles affirms that all philosophical and religious systems must +be unreliable, because we have no criterion by which to test them. +Democritus asserts that even things that are true cannot impart +certainty to us; that the final result of human inquiry is the discovery +that man is incapable of absolute knowledge; that, even if the truth be +in his possession, he cannot be certain of it. Pyrrho bids us reflect +on the necessity of suspending our judgment of things, since we have no +criterion of truth; so deep a distrust did he impart to his followers, +that they were in the habit of saying, "We assert nothing; no, not even +that we assert nothing." Epicurus taught his disciples that truth can +never be determined by reason. Arcesilaus, denying both intellectual and +sensuous knowledge, publicly avowed that he knew nothing, not even his +own ignorance! The general conclusion to which Greek philosophy came was +this--that, in view of the contradiction of the evidence of the +senses, we cannot distinguish the true from the false; and such is the +imperfection of reason, that we cannot affirm the correctness of any +philosophical deduction. + +It might be supposed that a revelation from God to man would come with +such force and clearness as to settle all uncertainties and overwhelm +all opposition. A Greek philosopher, less despairing than others, had +ventured to affirm that the coexistence of two forms of faith, both +claiming to be revealed by the omnipotent God, proves that neither of +them is true. But let us remember that it is difficult for men to come +to the same conclusion as regards even material and visible things, +unless they stand at the same point of view. If discord and distrust +were the condition of philosophy three hundred years before the birth +of Christ, discord and distrust were the condition of religion three +hundred years after his death. This is what Hilary, the Bishop of +Poictiers, in his well-known passage written about the time of the +Nicene Council, says: + +"It is a thing equally deplorable and dangerous that there are, as many +creeds as opinions among men, as many doctrines as inclinations, and as +many sources of blasphemy as there are faults among us, because we make +creeds arbitrarily and explain them as arbitrarily. Every year, nay, +every moon, we make new creeds to describe invisible mysteries; we +repent of what we have done; we defend those who repent; we anathematize +those whom we defend; we condemn either the doctrines of others in +ourselves, or our own in that of others; and, reciprocally tearing each +other to pieces, we have been the cause of each other's ruin." + +These are not mere words; but the import of this self-accusation can +be realized fully only by such as are familiar with the ecclesiastical +history of those times. As soon as the first fervor of Christianity as a +system of benevolence had declined, dissensions appeared. Ecclesiastical +historians assert that "as early as the second century began the contest +between faith and reason, religion and philosophy, piety and genius." To +compose these dissensions, to obtain some authoritative expression, some +criterion of truth, assemblies for consultation were resorted to, which +eventually took the form of councils. For a long time they had nothing +more than an advisory authority; but, when, in the fourth century, +Christianity had attained to imperial rule, their dictates became +compulsory, being enforced by the civil power. By this the whole face +of the Church was changed. Oecumenical councils--parliaments of +Christianity--consisting of delegates from all the churches in the +world, were summoned by the authority of the emperor; he presided either +personally or nominally in them--composed all differences, and was, in +fact, the Pope of Christendom. Mosheim, the historian, to whom I have +more particularly referred above, speaking of these times, remarks +that "there was nothing to exclude the ignorant from ecclesiastical +preferment; the savage and illiterate party, who looked on all kinds +of learning, particularly philosophy, as pernicious to piety, was +increasing;" and, accordingly, "the disputes carried on in the Council +of Nicea offered a remarkable example of the greatest ignorance and +utter confusion of ideas, particularly in the language and explanations +of those who approved of the decisions of that council." Vast as its +influence has been, "the ancient critics are neither agreed concerning +the time nor place in which it was assembled, the number of those who +sat in it, nor the bishop who presided. No authentic acts of its famous +sentence have been committed to writing, or, at least, none have been +transmitted to our times." The Church had now become what, in the +language of modern politicians, would be called "a confederated +republic." The will of the council was determined by a majority vote, +and, to secure that, all manner of intrigues and impositions were +resorted to; the influence of court females, bribery, and violence, were +not spared. The Council of Nicea had scarcely adjourned,--when it was +plain to all impartial men that, as a method of establishing a criterion +of truth in religious matters, such councils were a total failure. The +minority had no rights which the majority need respect. The protest of +many good men, that a mere majority vote given by delegates, whose right +to vote had never been examined and authorized, could not be received +as ascertaining absolute truth, was passed over with contempt, and the +consequence was, that council was assembled against council, and their +jarring and contradictory decrees spread perplexity and confusion +throughout the Christian world. In the fourth century alone there were +thirteen councils adverse to Arius, fifteen in his favor, and seventeen +for the semi-Arians--in all, forty-five. Minorities were perpetually +attempting to use the weapon which majorities had abused. + +The impartial ecclesiastical historian above quoted, moreover, says +that "two monstrous and calamitous errors were adopted in this fourth +century: 1. That it was an act of virtue to deceive and lie when, by +that means, the interests of the Church might be promoted. 2. That +errors in religion, when maintained and adhered to after proper +admonition, were punishable with civil penalties and corporal tortures." + +Not without astonishment can we look back at what, in those times, were +popularly regarded as criteria of truth. Doctrines were considered +as established by the number of martyrs who had professed them, by +miracles, by the confession of demons, of lunatics, or of persons +possessed of evil spirits: thus, St. Ambrose, in his disputes with the +Arians, produced men possessed by devils, who, on the approach of the +relics of certain martyrs, acknowledged, with loud cries, that the +Nicean doctrine of the three persons of the Godhead was true. But +the Arians charged him with suborning these infernal witnesses with a +weighty bribe. Already, ordeal tribunals were making their appearance. +During the following six centuries they were held as a final resort for +establishing guilt or innocence, under the forms of trial by cold water, +by duel, by the fire, by the cross. + +What an utter ignorance of the nature of evidence and its laws have we +here! An accused man sinks or swims when thrown into a pond of water; +he is burnt or escapes unharmed when he holds a piece of red-hot iron +in his hand; a champion whom he has hired is vanquished or vanquishes in +single fight; he can keep his arms outstretched like a cross, or fails +to do so longer than his accuser, and his innocence or guilt of some +imputed crime is established! Are these criteria of truth? + +Is it surprising that all Europe was filled with imposture miracles +during those ages?--miracles that are a disgrace to the common-sense of +man! + +But the inevitable day came at length. Assertions and doctrines based +upon such preposterous evidence were involved in the discredit that fell +upon the evidence itself. As the thirteenth century is approached, we +find unbelief in all directions setting in. First, it is plainly seen +among the monastic orders, then it spreads rapidly among the common +people. Books, such as "The Everlasting Gospel," appear among the +former; sects, such as the Catharists, Waldenses, Petrobrussians, arise +among the latter. They agreed in this, "that the public and established +religion was a motley system of errors and superstitions, and that the +dominion which the pope had usurped over Christians was unlawful and +tyrannical; that the claim put forth by Rome, that the Bishop of Rome is +the supreme lord of the universe, and that neither princes nor bishops, +civil governors nor ecclesiastical rulers, have any lawful power in +church or state but what they receive from him, is utterly without +foundation, and a usurpation of the rights of man." + +To withstand this flood of impiety, the papal government established two +institutions: 1. The Inquisition; 2. Auricular confession--the latter as +a means of detection, the former as a tribunal for punishment. + +In general terms, the commission of the Inquisition was, to extirpate +religious dissent by terrorism, and surround heresy with the most +horrible associations; this necessarily implied the power of determining +what constitutes heresy. The criterion of truth was thus in possession +of this tribunal, which was charged "to discover and bring to judgment +heretics lurking in towns, houses, cellars, woods, caves, and fields." +With such savage alacrity did it carry out its object of protecting the +interests of religion, that between 1481 and 1808 it had punished three +hundred and forty thousand persons, and of these nearly thirty-two +thousand had been burnt! In its earlier days, when public opinion could +find no means of protesting against its atrocities, "it often put to +death, without appeal, on the very day that they were accused, nobles, +clerks, monks, hermits, and lay persons of every rank." In whatever +direction thoughtful men looked, the air was full of fearful shadows. No +one could indulge in freedom of thought without expecting punishment. So +dreadful were the proceedings of the Inquisition, that the exclamation +of Pagliarici was the exclamation of thousands: "It is hardly possible +for a man to be a Christian, and die in his bed." + +The Inquisition destroyed the sectaries of Southern France in the +thirteenth century. Its unscrupulous atrocities extirpated Protestantism +in Italy and Spain. Nor did it confine itself to religious affairs; it +engaged in the suppression of political discontent. Nicolas Eymeric, who +was inquisitor-general of the kingdom of Aragon for nearly fifty years, +and who died in 1399, has left a frightful statement of its conduct and +appalling cruelties in his "Directorium Inquisitorum." + +This disgrace of Christianity, and indeed of the human race, had +different constitutions in different countries. The papal Inquisition +continued the tyranny, and eventually superseded the old episcopal +inquisitions. The authority of the bishops was unceremoniously put aside +by the officers of the pope. + +By the action of the fourth Lateran Council, A.D. 1215, the power of +the Inquisition was frightfully increased, the necessity of private +confession to a priest--auricular confession--being at that time +formally established. This, so far as domestic life was concerned, gave +omnipresence and omniscience to the Inquisition. Not a man was safe. +In the hands of the priest, who, at the confessional, could extract or +extort from them their most secret thoughts, his wife and his servants +were turned into spies. Summoned before the dread tribunal, he was +simply informed that he lay under strong suspicions of heresy. No +accuser was named; but the thumb-screw, the stretching-rope, the boot +and wedge, or other enginery of torture, soon supplied that defect, and, +innocent or guilty, he accused himself! + +Notwithstanding all this power, the Inquisition failed of its purpose. +When the heretic could no longer confront it, he evaded it. A dismal +disbelief stealthily pervaded all Europe,--a denial of Providence, +of the immortality of the soul, of human free-will, and that man can +possibly resist the absolute necessity, the destiny which envelops him. +Ideas such as these were cherished in silence by multitudes of persons +driven to them by the tyrannical acts of ecclesiasticism. In spite of +persecution, the Waldenses still survived to propagate their declaration +that the Roman Church, since Constantine, had degenerated from its +purity and sanctity; to protest against the sale of indulgences, which +they said had nearly abolished prayer, fasting, alms; to affirm that it +was utterly useless to pray for the souls of the dead, since they must +already have gone either to heaven or hell. Though it was generally +believed that philosophy or science was pernicious to the interests of +Christianity or true piety, the Mohammedan literature then prevailing +in Spain was making converts among all classes of society. We see very +plainly its influence in many of the sects that then arose; thus, "the +Brethren and Sisters of the Free. Spirit" held that "the universe came +by emanation from God, and would finally return to him by absorption; +that rational souls are so many portions of the Supreme Deity; and that +the universe, considered as one great whole, is God." These are ideas +that can only be entertained in an advanced intellectual condition. Of +this sect it is said that many suffered burning with unclouded serenity, +with triumphant feelings of cheerfulness and joy. Their orthodox enemies +accused them of gratifying their passions at midnight assemblages in +darkened rooms, to which both sexes in a condition of nudity repaired. A +similar accusation, as is well known, was brought against the primitive +Christians by the fashionable society of Rome. + +The influences of the Averroistic philosophy were apparent in many of +these sects. That Mohammedan system, considered from a Christian point +of view, led to the heretical belief that the end of the precepts of +Christianity is the union of the soul with the Supreme Being; that God +and Nature have the same relations to each other as the soul and the +body; that there is but one individual intelligence; and that one soul +performs all the spiritual and rational functions in all the human race. +When, subsequently, toward the time of the Reformation, the Italian +Averroists were required by the Inquisition to give an account of +themselves, they attempted to show that there is a wide distinction +between philosophical and religious truth; that things may be +philosophically true, and yet theologically false--an exculpatory device +condemned at length by the Lateran Council in the time of Leo X. + +But, in spite of auricular confession, and the Inquisition, these +heretical tendencies survived. It has been truly said that, at the +epoch of the Reformation, there lay concealed, in many parts of Europe, +persons who entertained the most virulent enmity against Christianity. +In this pernicious class were many Aristotelians, such as Pomponatius; +many philosophers and wits, such as Bodin, Rabelais, Montaigne; many +Italians, as Leo X., Bembo, Bruno. + +Miracle-evidence began to fall into discredit during the eleventh and +twelfth centuries. The sarcasms of the Hispano-Moorish philosophers +had forcibly drawn the attention of many of the more enlightened +ecclesiastics to its illusory nature. The discovery of the Pandects +of Justinian, at Amalfi, in 1130, doubtless exerted a very powerful +influence in promoting the study of Roman jurisprudence, and +disseminating better notions as to the character of legal or +philosophical evidence. Hallam has cast some doubt on the well-known +story of this discovery, but he admits that the celebrated copy in the +Laurentian library, at Florence, is the only one containing the entire +fifty books. Twenty years subsequently, the monk Gratian collected +together the various papal edicts, the canons of councils, the +declarations of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, in a volume +called "The Decretum," considered as the earliest authority in canon +law. In the next century Gregory IX. published five books of Decretals, +and Boniface VIII. subsequently added a sixth. To these followed the +Clementine Constitutions, a seventh book of Decretals, and "A Book of +Institutes," published together, by Gregory XIII., in 1580, under the +title of "Corpus Juris Canonici." The canon law had gradually gained +enormous power through the control it had obtained over wills, the +guardianship of orphans, marriages, and divorces. + +The rejection of miracle-evidence, and the substitution of legal +evidence in its stead, accelerated the approach of the Reformation. No +longer was it possible to admit the requirement which, in former days, +Anselm, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in his treatise, "Cur Deus Homo," +had enforced, that we must first believe without examination, and +may afterward endeavor to understand what we have thus believed. When +Cajetan said to Luther, "Thou must believe that one single drop of +Christ's blood is sufficient to redeem the whole human race, and the +remaining quantity that was shed in the garden and on the cross was left +as a legacy to the pope, to be a treasure from which indulgences were +to be drawn," the soul of the sturdy German monk revolted against such +a monstrous assertion, nor would he have believed it though a thousand +miracles had been worked in its support. This shameful practice of +selling indulgences for the commission of sin originated among the +bishops, who, when they had need of money for their private pleasures, +obtained it in that way. Abbots and monks, to whom this gainful commerce +was denied, raised funds by carrying about relics in solemn procession, +and charging a fee for touching them. The popes, in their pecuniary +straits, perceiving how lucrative the practice might become, deprived +the bishops of the right of making such sales, and appropriated it to +themselves, establishing agencies, chiefly among the mendicant orders, +for the traffic. Among these orders there was a sharp competition, each +boasting of the superior value of its indulgences through its greater +influence at the court of heaven, its familiar connection with the +Virgin Mary and the saints in glory. Even against Luther himself, who +had been an Augustinian monk, a calumny was circulated that he was +first alienated from the Church by a traffic of this kind having been +conferred on the Dominicans, instead of on his own order, at the time +when Leo X. was raising funds by this means for building St. Peter's, at +Rome, A.D. 1517. and there is reason to think that Leo himself, in the +earlier stages of the Reformation, attached weight to that allegation. + +Indulgences were thus the immediate inciting cause of the Reformation, +but very soon there came into light the real principle that was +animating the controversy. It lay in the question, Does the Bible owe +its authenticity to the Church? or does the Church owe her authenticity +to the Bible? Where is the criterion of truth? + +It is not necessary for me here to relate the well known particulars of +that controversy, the desolating wars and scenes of blood to which it +gave rise: how Luther posted on the door of the cathedral of Wittemberg +ninety-five theses, and was summoned to Rome to answer for his offense; +how he appealed from the pope, ill-informed at the time, to the pope +when he should have been better instructed; how he was condemned as a +heretic, and thereupon appealed to a general council; how, through the +disputes about purgatory, transubstantiation, auricular confession, +absolution, the fundamental idea which lay at the bottom of the whole +movement came into relief, the right of individual judgment; how Luther +was now excommunicated, A.D. 1520, and in defiance burnt the bull of +excommunication and the volumes of the canon law, which he denounced as +aiming at the subversion of all civil government, and the exaltation of +the papacy; how by this skillful manoeuvre he brought over many of the +German princes to his views; how, summoned before the Imperial Diet at +Worms, he refused to retract, and, while he was bidden in the castle of +Wartburg, his doctrines were spreading, and a reformation under Zwingli +broke out in Switzerland; how the principle of sectarian decomposition +embedded in the movement gave rise to rivalries and dissensions between +the Germans and the Swiss, and even divided the latter among themselves +under the leadership of Zwingli and of Calvin; how the Conference of +Marburg, the Diet of Spires, and that at Augsburg, failed to compose +the troubles, and eventually the German Reformation assumed a political +organization at Smalcalde. The quarrels between the Lutherans and the +Calvinists gave hopes to Rome that she might recover her losses. + +Leo was not slow to discern that the Lutheran Reformation was something +more serious than a squabble among some monks about the profits of +indulgence-sales, and the papacy set itself seriously at work to +overcome the revolters. It instigated the frightful wars that for so +many years desolated Europe, and left animosities which neither the +Treaty of Westphalia, nor the Council of Trent after eighteen years of +debate, could compose. No one can read without a shudder the attempts +that were made to extend the Inquisition in foreign countries. All +Europe, Catholic and Protestant, was horror-stricken at the Huguenot +massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve (A.D. 1572). For perfidy and atrocity +it has no equal in the annals of the world. + +The desperate attempt in which the papacy had been engaged to put down +its opponents by instigating civil wars, massacres, and assassinations, +proved to be altogether abortive. Nor had the Council of Trent any +better result. Ostensibly summoned to correct, illustrate, and fix with +perspicacity the doctrine of the Church, to restore the vigor of +its discipline, and to reform the lives of its ministers, it was so +manipulated that a large majority of its members were Italians, and +under the influence of the pope. Hence the Protestants could not +possibly accept its decisions. + +The issue of the Reformation was the acceptance by all the Protestant +Churches of the dogma that the Bible is a sufficient guide for every +Christian man. Tradition was rejected, and the right of private +interpretation assured. It was thought that the criterion of truth had +at length been obtained. + +The authority thus imputed to the Scriptures was not restricted +to matters of a purely religious or moral kind; it extended over +philosophical facts and to the interpretation of Nature. Many went as +far as in the old times Epiphanius had done: he believed that the Bible +contained a complete system of mineralogy! The Reformers would tolerate +no science that was not in accordance with Genesis. Among them there +were many who maintained that religion and piety could never flourish +unless separated from learning and science. The fatal maxim that the +Bible contained the sum and substance of all knowledge, useful or +possible to man--a maxim employed with such pernicious effect of old by +Tertullian and by St. Augustine, and which had so often been enforced +by papal authority--was still strictly insisted upon. The leaders of +the Reformation, Luther and Melanchthon, were determined to banish +philosophy from the Church. Luther declared that the study of Aristotle +is wholly useless; his vilification of that Greek philosopher knew no +bounds. He is, says Luther, "truly a devil, a horrid calumniator, a +wicked sycophant, a prince of darkness, a real Apollyon, a beast, a +most horrid impostor on mankind, one in whom there is scarcely any +philosophy, a public and professed liar, a goat, a complete epicure, +this twice execrable Aristotle." The schoolmen were, so Luther said, +"locusts, caterpillars, frogs, lice." He entertained an abhorrence +for them. These opinions, though not so emphatically expressed, were +entertained by Calvin. So far as science is concerned, nothing is owed +to the Reformation. The Procrustean bed of the Pentateuch was still +before her. + +In the annals of Christianity the most ill-omened day is that in which +she separated herself from science. She compelled Origen, at that time +(A.D. 231) its chief representative and supporter in the Church, to +abandon his charge in Alexandria, and retire to Caesarea. In vain +through many subsequent centuries did her leading men spend themselves +in--as the phrase then went--"drawing forth the internal juice and +marrow of the Scriptures for the explaining of things." Universal +history from the third to the sixteenth century shows with what result. +The dark ages owe their darkness to this fatal policy. Here and there, +it is true, there were great men, such as Frederick II. and Alphonso X., +who, standing at a very elevated and general point of view, had detected +the value of learning to civilization, and, in the midst of the dreary +prospect that ecclesiasticism had created around them, had recognized +that science alone can improve the social condition of man. + +The infliction of the death-punishment for difference of opinion was +still resorted to. When Calvin caused Servetus to be burnt at Geneva, it +was obvious to every one that the spirit of persecution was unimpaired. +The offense of that philosopher lay in his belief. This was, that the +genuine doctrines of Christianity had been lost even before the time of +the Council of Nicea; that the Holy Ghost animates the whole system of +Nature, like a soul of the world, and that, with the Christ, it will +be absorbed, at the end of all things, into the substance of the Deity, +from which they had emanated. For this he was roasted to death over a +slow fire. Was there any distinction between this Protestant auto-da-fe +and the Catholic one of Vanini, who was burnt at Toulouse, by the +Inquisition, in 1629, for his "Dialogues concerning Nature?" + +The invention of printing, the dissemination of books, had introduced +a class of dangers which the persecution of the Inquisition could not +reach. In 1559, Pope Paul IV. instituted the Congregation of the Index +Expurgatorius. "Its duty is to examine books and manuscripts intended +for publication, and to decide whether the people may be permitted to +read them; to correct those books of which the errors are not numerous, +and which contain certain useful and salutary truths, so as to bring +them into harmony with the doctrines of the Church; to condemn those +of which the principles are heretical and pernicious; and to grant the +peculiar privilege of perusing heretical books to certain persons. +This congregation, which is sometimes held in presence of the pope, but +generally in the palace of the Cardinal-president, has a more extensive +jurisdiction than that of the Inquisition, as it not only takes +cognizance of those books that contain doctrines contrary to the Roman +Catholic faith, but of those that concern the duties of morality, the +discipline of the Church, the interests of society. Its name is derived +from the alphabetical tables or indexes of heretical books and authors +composed by its appointment." + +The Index Expurgatorius of prohibited books at first indicated +those works which it was unlawful to read; but, on this being found +insufficient, whatever was not permitted was prohibited--an audacious +attempt to prevent all knowledge, except such as suited the purposes of +the Church, from reaching the people. + +The two rival divisions of the Christian Church--Protestant and +Catholic--were thus in accord on one point: to tolerate no science +except such as they considered to be agreeable to the Scriptures. The +Catholic, being in possession of centralized power, could make its +decisions respected wherever its sway was acknowledged, and enforce the +monitions of the Index Expurgatorius; the Protestant, whose influence +was diffused among many foci in different nations, could not act in such +a direct and resolute manner. Its mode of procedure was, by raising a +theological odium against an offender, to put him under a social ban--a +course perhaps not less effectual than the other. + +As we have seen in former chapters, an antagonism between religion and +science had existed from the earliest days of Christianity. On every +occasion permitting its display it may be detected through successive +centuries. We witness it in the downfall of the Alexandrian Museum, in +the cases of Erigena and Wiclif, in the contemptuous rejection by the +heretics of the thirteenth century of the Scriptural account of the +Creation; but it was not until the epoch of Copernicus, Kepler, and +Galileo, that the efforts of Science to burst from the thraldom in which +she was fettered became uncontrollable. In all countries the political +power of the Church had greatly declined; her leading men perceived +that the cloudy foundation on which she had stood was dissolving away. +Repressive measures against her antagonists, in old times resorted +to with effect, could be no longer advantageously employed. To her +interests the burning of a philosopher here and there did more harm than +good. In her great conflict with astronomy, a conflict in which Galileo +stands as the central figure, she received an utter overthrow; and, as +we have seen, when the immortal work of Newton was printed, she could +offer no resistance, though Leibnitz affirmed, in the face of Europe, +that "Newton had robbed the Deity of some of his most excellent +attributes, and had sapped the foundation of natural religion." + +From the time of Newton to our own time, the divergence of science from +the dogmas of the Church has continually increased. The Church declared +that the earth is the central and most important body in the universe; +that the sun and moon and stars are tributary to it. On these points +she was worsted by astronomy. She affirmed that a universal deluge had +covered the earth; that the only surviving animals were such as had +been saved in an ark. In this her error was established by geology. She +taught that there was a first man, who, some six or eight thousand years +ago, was suddenly created or called into existence in a condition of +physical and moral perfection, and from that condition he fell. But +anthropology has shown that human beings existed far back in geological +time, and in a savage state but little better than that of the brute. + +Many good and well-meaning men have attempted to reconcile the +statements of Genesis with the discoveries of science, but it is in +vain. The divergence has increased so much, that it has become an +absolute opposition. One of the antagonists must give way. + +May we not, then, be permitted to examine the authenticity of this book, +which, since the second century, has been put forth as the criterion of +scientific truth? To maintain itself in a position so exalted, it must +challenge human criticism. + +In the early Christian ages, many of the most eminent Fathers of the +Church had serious doubts respecting the authorship of the entire +Pentateuch. I have not space, in the limited compass of these pages, to +present in detail the facts and arguments that were then and have since +been adduced. The literature of the subject is now very extensive. I +may, however, refer the reader to the work of the pious and learned Dean +Prideaux, on "The Old and New Testament connected," a work which is one +of the literary ornaments of the last century. He will also find the +subject more recently and exhaustively discussed by Bishop Colenso. The +following paragraphs will convey a sufficiently distinct impression of +the present state of the controversy: + +The Pentateuch is affirmed to have been written by Moses, under the +influence of divine inspiration. Considered thus, as a record vouchsafed +and dictated by the Almighty, it commands not only scientific but +universal consent. + +But here, in the first place, it may be demanded, Who or what is it that +has put forth this great claim in its behalf? + +Not the work itself. It nowhere claims the authorship of one man, or +makes the impious declaration that it is the writing of Almighty God. + +Not until after the second century was there any such extravagant +demand on human credulity. It originated, not among the higher ranks of +Christian philosophers, but among the more fervid Fathers of the Church, +whose own writings prove them to have been unlearned and uncritical +persons. + +Every age, from the second century to our times, has offered men of +great ability, both Christian and Jewish, who have altogether repudiated +these claims. Their decision has been founded upon the intrinsic +evidence of the books themselves. These furnish plain indications of at +least two distinct authors, who have been respectively termed Elohistic +and Jehovistic. Hupfeld maintains that the Jehovistic narrative bears +marks of having been a second original record, wholly independent of the +Elohistic. The two sources from which the narratives have been derived +are, in many respects, contradictory of each other. Moreover, it is +asserted that the books of the Pentateuch are never ascribed to Moses +in the inscriptions of Hebrew manuscripts, or in printed copies of the +Hebrew Bible, nor are they styled "Books of Moses" in the Septuagint or +Vulgate, but only in modern translations. + +It is clear that they cannot be imputed to the sole authorship of Moses, +since they record his death. It is clear that they were not written +until many hundred years after that event, since they contain references +to facts which did not occur until after the establishment of the +government of kings among the Jews. + +No man may dare to impute them to the inspiration of Almighty God--their +inconsistencies, incongruities, contradictions, and impossibilities, as +exposed by many learned and pious moderns, both German and English, +are so great. It is the decision of these critics that Genesis is a +narrative based upon legends; that Exodus is not historically true; that +the whole Pentateuch is unhistoric and non-Mosaic; it contains the most +extraordinary contradictions and impossibilities, sufficient to involve +the credibility of the whole--imperfections so many and so conspicuous +that they would destroy the authenticity of any modern historical work. + +Hengstenberg, in his "Dissertations on the Genuineness of the +Pentateuch," says: "It is the unavoidable fate of a spurious historical +work of any length to be involved in contradictions. This must be the +case to a very great extent with the Pentateuch, if it be not genuine. +If the Pentateuch is spurious, its histories and laws have been +fabricated in successive portions, and were committed to writing in the +course of many centuries by different individuals. From such a mode of +origination, a mass of contradictions is inseparable, and the improving +hand of a later editor could never be capable of entirely obliterating +them." + +To the above conclusions I may add that we are expressly told by Ezra +(Esdras ii. 14) that he himself, aided by five other persons, wrote +these books in the space of forty days. He says that at the time of the +Babylonian captivity the ancient sacred writings of the Jews were burnt, +and gives a particular detail of the circumstances under which these +were composed. He sets forth that he undertook to write all that had +been done in the world since the beginning. It may be said that the +books of Esdras are apocryphal, but in return it may be demanded, Has +that conclusion been reached on evidence that will withstand modern +criticism? In the early ages of Christianity, when the story of the fall +of man was not considered as essential to the Christian system, and the +doctrine of the atonement had not attained that precision which Anselm +eventually gave it, it was very generally admitted by the Fathers of the +Church that Ezra probably did so compose the Pentateuch. Thus St. Jerome +says, "Sive Mosem dicere volueris auctorem Pentateuchi, sive Esdram +ejusdem instauratorem operis, non recuso." Clemens Alexandrinus +says that when these books had been destroyed in the captivity of +Nebuchadnezzar, Esdras, having become inspired prophetically, reproduced +them. Irenaeus says the same. + +The incidents contained in Genesis, from the first to the tenth chapters +inclusive (chapters which, in their bearing upon science, are of more +importance than other portions of the Pentateuch), have been obviously +compiled from short, fragmentary legends of various authorship. To the +critical eye they all, however, present peculiarities which demonstrate +that they were written on the banks of the Euphrates, and not in the +Desert of Arabia. They contain many Chaldaisms. An Egyptian would not +speak of the Mediterranean Sea as being west of him, an Assyrian would. +Their scenery and machinery, if such expressions may with propriety be +used, are altogether Assyrian, not Egyptian. They were such records as +one might expect to meet with in the cuneiform impressions of the +tile libraries of the Mesopotamian kings. It is affirmed that one such +legend, that of the Deluge, has already been exhumed, and it is not +beyond the bounds of probability that the remainder may in like manner +be obtained. + +From such Assyrian sources, the legends of the creation of the earth and +heaven, the garden of Eden, the making of man from clay, and of woman +from one of his ribs, the temptation by the serpent, the naming of +animals, the cherubim and flaming sword, the Deluge and the ark, the +drying up of the waters by the wind, the building of the Tower of +Babel, and the confusion of tongues, were obtained by Ezra. He commences +abruptly the proper history of the Jews in the eleventh chapter. At that +point his universal history ceases; he occupies himself with the story +of one family, the descendants of Shem. + +It is of this restriction that the Duke of Argyll, in his book on +"Primeval Man," very graphically says: + +In the genealogy of the family of Shem we have a list of names which are +names, and nothing more to us. It is a genealogy which neither does, nor +pretends to do, more than to trace the order of succession among a few +families only, out of the millions then already existing in the world. +Nothing but this order of succession is given, nor is it at all certain +that this order is consecutive or complete. Nothing is told us of all +that lay behind that curtain of thick darkness, in front of which +these names are made to pass; and yet there are, as it were, momentary +liftings, through which we have glimpses of great movements which were +going on, and had been long going on beyond. No shapes are distinctly +seen. Even the direction of those movements can only be guessed. But +voices are heard which are "as the voices of many waters." I agree in +the opinion of Hupfeld, that "the discovery that the Pentateuch is put +together out of various sources, or original documents, is beyond +all doubt not only one of the most important and most pregnant with +consequences for the interpretation of the historical books of the Old +Testament, or rather for the whole of theology and history, but it is +also one of the most certain discoveries which have been made in +the domain of criticism and the history of literature. Whatever the +anticritical party may bring forward to the contrary, it will maintain +itself, and not retrograde again through any thing, so long as there +exists such a thing as criticism; and it will not be easy for a reader +upon the stage of culture on which we stand in the present day, if he +goes to the examination unprejudiced, and with an uncorrupted power of +appreciating the truth, to be able to ward off its influence." + +What then? shall we give up these books? Does not the admission that the +narrative of the fall in Eden is legendary carry with it the surrender +of that most solemn and sacred of Christian doctrines, the atonement? + +Let us reflect on this! Christianity, in its earliest days, when it was +converting and conquering the world, knew little or nothing about that +doctrine. We have seen that, in his "Apology," Tertullian did not +think it worth his while to mention it. It originated among the Gnostic +heretics. It was not admitted by the Alexandrian theological school. It +was never prominently advanced by the Fathers. It was not brought into +its present commanding position until the time of Anselm Philo Judaeus +speaks of the story of the fall as symbolical; Origen regarded it as an +allegory. Perhaps some of the Protestant churches may, with reason, be +accused of inconsistency, since in part they consider it as mythical, in +part real. But, if, with them, we admit that the serpent is symbolical +of Satan, does not that cast an air of allegory over the whole +narrative? + +It is to be regretted that the Christian Church has burdened itself with +the defense of these books, and voluntarily made itself answerable for +their manifest contradictions and errors. Their vindication, if it +were possible, should have been resigned to the Jews, among whom they +originated, and by whom they have been transmitted to us. Still more, it +is to be deeply regretted that the Pentateuch, a production so imperfect +as to be unable to stand the touch of modern criticism, should be put +forth as the arbiter of science. Let it be remembered that the exposure +of the true character of these books has been made, not by captious +enemies, but by pious and learned churchmen, some of them of the highest +dignity. + +While thus the Protestant churches have insisted on the acknowledgment +of the Scriptures as the criterion of truth, the Catholic has, in our +own times, declared the infallibility of the pope. It may be said that +this infallibility applies only to moral or religious things; but where +shall the line of separation be drawn? Onmiscience cannot be limited +to a restricted group of questions; in its very nature it implies the +knowledge of all, and infallibility means omniscience. + +Doubtless, if the fundamental principles of Italian Christianity be +admitted, their logical issue is an infallible pope. There is no need to +dwell on the unphilosophical nature of this conception; it is destroyed +by an examination of the political history of the papacy, and the +biography of the popes. The former exhibits all the errors and mistakes +to which institutions of a confessedly human character have been found +liable; the latter is only ton frequently a story of sin and shame. + +It was not possible that the authoritative promulgation of the dogma of +papal infallibility should meet among enlightened Catholics universal +acceptance. Serious and wide-spread dissent has been produced. A +doctrine so revolting to common-sense could not find any other result. +There are many who affirm that, if infallibility exists anywhere, it is +in oecumenical councils, and yet such councils have not always agreed +with each other. There are also many who remember that councils +have deposed popes, and have passed judgment on their clamors and +contentions. Not without reason do Protestants demand, What proof can +be given that infallibility exists in the Church at all? what proof is +there that the Church has ever been fairly or justly represented in +any council? and why should the truth be ascertained by the vote of a +majority rather than by that of a minority? How often it has happened +that one man, standing at the right point of view, has descried the +truth, and, after having been denounced and persecuted by all others, +they have eventually been constrained to adopt his declarations! Of many +great discoveries, has not this been the history? + +It is not for Science to compose these contesting claims; it is not for +her to determine whether the criterion of truth for the religious man +shall be found in the Bible, or in the oecumenical council, or in the +pope. She only asks the right, which she so willingly accords to others, +of adopting a criterion of her own. If she regards unhistorical +legends with disdain; if she considers the vote of a majority in the +ascertainment of truth with supreme indifference; if she leaves the +claim of infallibility in any human being to be vindicated by the stern +logic of coming events--the cold impassiveness which in these matters +she maintains is what she displays toward her own doctrines. Without +hesitation she would give up the theories of gravitation or undulations, +if she found that they were irreconcilable with facts. For her the +volume of inspiration is the book of Nature, of which the open scroll +is ever spread forth before the eyes of every man. Confronting all, it +needs no societies for its dissemination. Infinite in extent, eternal +in duration, human ambition and human fanaticism have never been able +to tamper with it. On the earth it is illustrated by all that is +magnificent and beautiful, on the heavens its letters are suns and +worlds. + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + CONTROVERSY RESPECTING THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNIVERSE. + + There are two conceptions of the government of the world: 1. + By Providence; 2. By Law.--The former maintained by the + priesthood.--Sketch of the introduction of the latter. + + Kepler discovers the laws that preside over the solar + system.--His works are denounced by papal authority.--The + foundations of mechanical philosophy are laid by Da Vinci.-- + Galileo discovers the fundamental laws of Dynamics.--Newton + applies them to the movements of the celestial bodies, and + shows that the solar system is governed by mathematical + necessity.--Herschel extends that conclusion to the + universe.--The nebular hypothesis.--Theological exceptions + to it. + + Evidences of the control of law in the construction of the + earth, and in the development of the animal and plant + series.--They arose by Evolution, not by Creation. + + The reign of law is exhibited by the historic career of + human societies, and in the case of individual man. + + Partial adoption of this view by some of the Reformed + Churches. + + +Two interpretations may be given of the mode of government of the world. +It may be by incessant divine interventions, or by the operation of +unvarying law. + +To the adoption of the former a priesthood will always incline, since +it must desire to be considered as standing between the prayer of the +votary and the providential act. Its importance is magnified by the +power it claims of determining what that act shall be. In the pre +Christian (Roman) religion, the grand office of the priesthood was the +discovery of future events by oracles, omens, or an inspection of the +entrails of animals, and by the offering of sacrifices to propitiate the +gods. In the later, the Christian times, a higher power was claimed; the +clergy asserting that, by their intercessions, they could regulate the +course of affairs, avert dangers, secure benefits, work miracles, and +even change the order of Nature. + +Not without reason, therefore, did they look upon the doctrine of +government by unvarying law with disfavor. It seemed to depreciate +their dignity, to lessen their importance. To them there was something +shocking in a God who cannot be swayed by human entreaty, a cold, +passionless divinity--something frightful in fatalism, destiny. + +But the orderly movement of the heavens could not fail in all ages to +make a deep impression on thoughtful observers--the rising and setting +of the sun; the increasing or diminishing light of the day; the waxing +and waning of the moon; the return of the seasons in their proper +courses; the measured march of the wandering planets in the sky--what +are all these, and a thousand such, but manifestations of an orderly and +unchanging procession of events? The faith of early observers in this +interpretation may perhaps have been shaken by the occurrence of such a +phenomenon as an eclipse, a sudden and mysterious breach of the ordinary +course of natural events; but it would be resumed in tenfold strength as +soon as the discovery was made that eclipses themselves recur, and may +be predicted. + +Astronomical predictions of all kinds depend upon the admission of this +fact--that there never has been and never will be any intervention in +the operation of natural laws. The scientific philosopher affirms that +the condition of the world at any given moment is the direct result +of its condition in the preceding moment, and the direct cause of its +condition in the subsequent moment. Law and chance are only different +names for mechanical necessity. + +About fifty years after the death of Copernicus, John Kepler, a native +of Wurtemberg, who had adopted the heliocentric theory, and who was +deeply impressed with the belief that relationships exist in the +revolutions of the planetary bodies round the sun, and that these if +correctly examined would reveal the laws under which those movements +take place, devoted himself to the study of the distances, times, and +velocities of the planets, and the form of their orbits. His method +was, to submit the observations to which he had access, such as those +of Tycho Brahe, to computations based first on one and then on another +hypothesis, rejecting the hypothesis if he found that the calculations +did not accord with the observations. The incredible labor he had +undergone (he says, "I considered, and I computed, until I almost went +mad") was at length rewarded, and in 1609 he published his book, "On the +Motions of the Planet Mars." In this he had attempted to reconcile the +movements of that planet to the hypothesis of eccentrics and epicycles, +but eventually discovered that the orbit of a planet is not a circle but +an ellipse, the sun being in one of the foci, and that the areas swept +over by a line drawn from the planet to the sun are proportional to the +times. These constitute what are now known as the first and second laws +of Kepler. Eight years subsequently, he was rewarded by the discovery +of a third law, defining the relation between the mean distances of the +planets from the sun and the times of their revolutions; "the squares of +the periodic times are proportional to the cubes of the distances." In +"An Epitome of the Copernican System," published in 1618, he announced +this law, and showed that it holds good for the satellites of Jupiter as +regards their primary. Hence it was inferred that the laws which preside +over the grand movements of the solar system preside also over the less +movements of its constituent parts. + +The conception of law which is unmistakably conveyed by Kepler's +discoveries, and the evidence they gave in support of the heliocentric +as against the geocentric theory, could not fail to incur the +reprehension of the Roman authorities. The congregation of the Index, +therefore, when they denounced the Copernican system as utterly contrary +to the Holy Scriptures, prohibited Kepler's "Epitome" of that system. It +was on this occasion that Kepler submitted his celebrated remonstrance: +"Eighty years have elapsed during which the doctrines of Copernicus +regarding the movement of the earth and the immobility of the sun have +been promulgated without hinderance, because it was deemed allowable to +dispute concerning natural things, and to elucidate the works of God, +and now that new testimony is discovered in proof of the truth of those +doctrines--testimony which was not known to the spiritual judges--ye +would prohibit the promulgation of the true system of the structure of +the universe." + +None of Kepler's contemporaries believed the law of the areas, nor was +it accepted until the publication of the "Principia" of Newton. In fact, +no one in those times understood the philosophical meaning of Kepler's +laws. He himself did not foresee what they must inevitably lead to. His +mistakes showed how far he was from perceiving their result. Thus he +thought that each planet is the seat of an intelligent principle, and +that there is a relation between the magnitudes of the orbits of the +five principal planets and the five regular solids of geometry. At first +he inclined to believe that the orbit of Mars is oval, nor was it until +after a wearisome study that he detected the grand truth, its elliptical +form. An idea of the incorruptibility of the celestial objects had +led to the adoption of the Aristotelian doctrine of the perfection of +circular motions, and to the belief that there were none but circular +motions in the heavens. He bitterly complains of this as having been a +fatal "thief of his time." His philosophical daring is illustrated in +his breaking through this time-honored tradition. + +In some most important particulars Kepler anticipated Newton. He was the +first to give clear ideas respecting gravity. He says every particle of +matter will rest until it is disturbed by some other particle--that the +earth attracts a stone more than the stone attracts the earth, and that +bodies move to each other in proportion to their masses; that the earth +would ascend to the moon one-fifty-fourth of the distance, and the moon +would move toward the earth the other fifty-three. He affirms that the +moon's attraction causes the tides, and that the planets must impress +irregularities on the moon's motions. + +The progress of astronomy is obviously divisible into three periods: + +1. The period of observation of the apparent motions of the heavenly +bodies. + +2. The period of discovery of their real motions, and particularly of +the laws of the planetary revolutions; this was signally illustrated by +Copernicus and Kepler. + +3. The period of the ascertainment of the causes of those laws. It was +the epoch of Newton. + +The passage of the second into the third period depended on the +development of the Dynamical branch of mechanics, which had been in +a stagnant condition from the time of Archimedes or the Alexandrian +School. + +In Christian Europe there had not been a cultivator of mechanical +philosophy until Leonardo da Vinci, who was born A.D. 1452. To him, and +not to Lord Bacon, must be attributed the renaissance of science. Bacon +was not only ignorant of mathematics, but depreciated its application +to physical inquiries. He contemptuously rejected the Copernican system, +alleging absurd objections to it. While Galileo was on the brink of +his great telescopic discoveries, Bacon was publishing doubts as to +the utility of instruments in scientific investigations. To ascribe the +inductive method to him is to ignore history. His fanciful philosophical +suggestions have never been of the slightest practical use. No one has +ever thought of employing them. Except among English readers, his name +is almost unknown. + +To Da Vinci I shall have occasion to allude more particularly on a +subsequent page. Of his works still remaining in manuscript, two volumes +are at Milan, and one in Paris, carried there by Napoleon. After an +interval of about seventy years, Da Vinci was followed by the Dutch +engineer, Stevinus, whose work on the principles of equilibrium was +published in 1586. Six years afterward appeared Galileo's treatise on +mechanics. + +To this great Italian is due the establishment of the three fundamental +laws of dynamics, known as the Laws of Motion. + +The consequences of the establishment of these laws were very important. + +It had been supposed that continuous movements, such, for instance, as +those of the celestial bodies, could only be maintained by a perpetual +consumption and perpetual application of force, but the first of +Galileo's laws declared that every body will persevere in its state of +rest, or of uniform motion in a right line, until it is compelled to +change that state by disturbing forces. A clear perception of this +fundamental principle is essential to a comprehension of the elementary +facts of physical astronomy. Since all the motions that we witness +taking place on the surface of the earth soon come to an end, we are +led to infer that rest is the natural condition of things. We have made, +then, a very great advance when we have become satisfied that a body is +equally indifferent to rest as to motion, and that it equally perseveres +in either state until disturbing forces are applied. Such disturbing +forces in the case of common movements are friction and the resistance +of the air. When no such resistances exist, movement must be perpetual, +as is the case with the heavenly bodies, which are moving in a void. + +Forces, no matter what their difference of magnitude may be, will exert +their full influence conjointly, each as though the other did not exist. +Thus, when a ball is suffered to drop from the mouth of a cannon, it +falls to the ground in a certain interval of time through the influence +of gravity upon it. If, then, it be fired from the cannon, though now +it may be projected some thousands of feet in a second, the effect +of gravity upon it will be precisely the same as before. In the +intermingling of forces there is no deterioration; each produces its own +specific effect. + +In the latter half of the seventeenth century, through the works of +Borelli, Hooke, and Huyghens, it had become plain that circular motions +could be accounted for by the laws of Galileo. Borelli, treating of the +motions of Jupiter's satellites, shows how a circular movement may arise +under the influence of a central force. Hooke exhibited the inflection +of a direct motion into a circular by a supervening central attraction. + +The year 1687 presents, not only an epoch in European science, but also +in the intellectual development of man. It is marked by the publication +of the "Principia" of Newton, an incomparable, an immortal work. + +On the principle that all bodies attract each other with forces directly +as their masses, and inversely as the squares of their distances, Newton +showed that all the movements of the celestial bodies may be accounted +for, and that Kepler's laws might all have been predicted--the elliptic +motions--the described areas the relation of the times and distances. As +we have seen, Newton's contemporaries had perceived how circular motions +could be explained; that was a special case, but Newton furnished the +solution of the general problem, containing all special cases of motion +in circles, ellipses, parabolas, hyperbolas--that is, in all the conic +sections. + +The Alexandrian mathematicians had shown that the direction of movement +of falling bodies is toward the centre of the earth. Newton proved that +this must necessarily be the case, the general effect of the attraction +of all the particles of a sphere being the same as if they were all +concentrated in its centre. To this central force, thus determining the +fall of bodies, the designation of gravity was given. Up to this time, +no one, except Kepler, had considered how far its influence reached. It +seemed to Newton possible that it might extend as far as the moon, and +be the force that deflects her from a rectilinear path, and makes her +revolve in her orbit round the earth. It was easy to compute, on the +principle of the law of inverse squares, whether the earth's attraction +was sufficient to produce the observed effect. Employing the measures +of the size of the earth accessible at the time, Newton found that the +moon's deflection was only thirteen feet in a minute; whereas, if his +hypothesis of gravitation were true, it should be fifteen feet. But in +1669 Picard, as we have seen, executed the measurement of a degree more +carefully than had previously been done; this changed the estimate of +the magnitude of the earth, and, therefore, of the distance of the moon; +and, Newton's attention having been directed to it by some discussions +that took place at the Royal Society in 1679, he obtained Picard's +results, went home, took out his old papers, and resumed his +calculations. As they drew to a close, he became so much agitated +that he was obliged to desire a friend to finish them. The expected +coincidence was established. It was proved that the moon is retained +in her orbit and made to revolve round the earth by the force of +terrestrial gravity. The genii of Kepler had given place to the vortices +of Descartes, and these in their turn to the central force of Newton. + +In like manner the earth, and each of the planets, are made to move +in an elliptic orbit round the sun by his attractive force, and +perturbations arise by reason of the disturbing action of the planetary +masses on one another. Knowing the masses and the distances, these +disturbances may be computed. Later astronomers have even succeeded with +the inverse problem, that is, knowing the perturbations or disturbances, +to find the place and the mass of the disturbing body. Thus, from the +deviations of Uranus from his theoretical position, the discovery of +Neptune was accomplished. + +Newton's merit consisted in this, that he applied the laws of dynamics +to the movements of the celestial bodies, and insisted that scientific +theories must be substantiated by the agreement of observations with +calculations. + +When Kepler announced his three laws, they were received with +condemnation by the spiritual authorities, not because of any error they +were supposed to present or to contain, but partly because they gave +support to the Copernican system, and partly because it was judged +inexpedient to admit the prevalence of law of any kind as opposed to +providential intervention. The world was regarded as the theatre in +which the divine will was daily displayed; it was considered derogatory +to the majesty of God that that will should be fettered in any way. The +power of the clergy was chiefly manifested in the influence the were +alleged to possess in changing his arbitrary determinations. It was thus +that they could abate the baleful action of comets, secure fine weather +or rain, prevent eclipses, and, arresting the course of Nature, work all +manner of miracles; it was thus that the shadow had been made to go back +on the dial, and the sun and the moon stopped in mid-career. + +In the century preceding the epoch of Newton, a great religious and +political revolution had taken place--the Reformation. Though its +effect had not been the securing of complete liberty for thought, it bad +weakened many of the old ecclesiastical bonds. In the reformed countries +there was no power to express a condemnation of Newton's works, and +among the clergy there was no disposition to give themselves any concern +about the matter. At first the attention of the Protestant was engrossed +by the movements of his great enemy the Catholic, and when that source +of disquietude ceased, and the inevitable partitions of the Reformation +arose, that attention was fastened upon the rival and antagonistic +Churches. The Lutheran, the Calvinist, the Episcopalian, the +Presbyterian, had something more urgent on hand than Newton's +mathematical demonstrations. + +So, uncondemned, and indeed unobserved, in this clamor of fighting +sects, Newton's grand theory solidly established itself. Its +philosophical significance was infinitely more momentous than the dogmas +that these persons were quarreling about. It not only accepted the +heliocentric theory and the laws discovered by Kepler, but it proved +that, no matter what might be the weight of opposing ecclesiastical +authority, the sun MUST be the centre of our system, and that Kepler's +laws are the result of a mathematical necessity. It is impossible that +they should be other than they are. + +But what is the meaning of all this? Plainly that the solar system +is not interrupted by providential interventions, but is under the +government of irreversible law--law that is itself the issue of +mathematical necessity. + +The telescopic observations of Herschel I. satisfied him that there are +very many double stars--double not merely because they are accidentally +in the same line of view, but because they are connected physically, +revolving round each other. These observations were continued and +greatly extended by Herschel II. The elements of the elliptic orbit of +the double star zeta of the Great Bear were determined by Savary, its +period being fifty-eight and one-quarter years; those of another, sigma +Coronae, were determined by Hind, its period being more than seven +hundred and thirty-six years. The orbital movement of these double suns +in ellipses compels us to admit that the law of gravitation holds good +far beyond the boundaries of the solar system; indeed, as far as the +telescope can reach, it demonstrates the reign of law. D'Alembert, in +the Introduction to the Encyclopaedia, says: "The universe is but a +single fact; it is only one great truth." + +Shall we, then, conclude that the solar and the starry systems have been +called into existence by God, and that he has then imposed upon them by +his arbitrary will laws under the control of which it was his pleasure +that their movements should be made? + +Or are there reasons for believing that these several systems came into +existence not by such an arbitrary fiat, but through the operation of +law? + +The following are some peculiarities displayed by the solar system as +enumerated by Laplace. All the planets and their satellites move in +ellipses of such small eccentricity that they are nearly circles. All +the planets move in the same direction and nearly in the same plane. The +movements of the satellites are in the same direction as those of the +planets. The movements of rotation of the sun, of the planets, and the +satellites, are in the same direction as their orbital motions, and in +planes little different. + +It is impossible that so many coincidences could be the result of +chance! Is it not plain that there must have been a common tie among +all these bodies, that they are only parts of what must once have been a +single mass? + +But if we admit that the substance of which the solar system consists +once existed in a nebulous condition, and was in rotation, all the above +peculiarities follow as necessary mechanical consequences. Nay, more, +the formation of planets, the formation of satellites and of asteroids, +is accounted for. We see why the outer planets and satellites are larger +than the interior ones; why the larger planets rotate rapidly, and the +small ones slowly; why of the satellites the outer planets have more, +the inner fewer. We are furnished with indications of the time of +revolution of the planets in their orbits, and of the satellites in +theirs; we perceive the mode of formation of Saturn's rings. We find an +explanation of the physical condition of the sun, and the transitions of +condition through which the earth and moon have passed, as indicated by +their geology. + +But two exceptions to the above peculiarities have been noted; they are +in the cases of Uranus and Neptune. + +The existence of such a nebulous mass once admitted, all the rest +follows as a matter of necessity. Is there not, however, a most serious +objection in the way? Is not this to exclude Almighty God from the +worlds he has made? + +First, we must be satisfied whether there is any solid evidence for +admitting the existence of such a nebulous mass. + +The nebular hypothesis rests primarily on the telescopic discovery made +by Herschel I., that there are scattered here and there in the heavens +pale, gleaming patches of light, a few of which are large enough to be +visible to the naked eye. Of these, many may be resolved by a sufficient +telescopic power into a congeries of stars, but some, such as the great +nebula in Orion, have resisted the best instruments hitherto made. + +It was asserted by those who were indisposed to accept the nebular +hypothesis, that the non-resolution was due to imperfection in the +telescopes used. In these instruments two distinct functions may be +observed: their light-gathering power depends on the diameter of their +object mirror or lens, their defining power depends on the exquisite +correctness of their optical surfaces. Grand instruments may possess +the former quality in perfection by reason of their size, but the latter +very imperfectly, either through want of original configuration, or +distortion arising from flexure through their own weight. But, unless an +instrument be perfect in this respect, as well as adequate in the other, +it may fail to decompose a nebula into discrete points. + +Fortunately, however, other means for the settlement of this question +are available. In 1846, it was discovered by the author of this book +that the spectrum of an ignited solid is continuous--that is, has +neither dark nor bright lines. Fraunhofer had previously made known that +the spectrum of ignited gases is discontinuous. Here, then, is the means +of determining whether the light emitted by a given nebula comes from an +incandescent gas, or from a congeries of ignited solids, stars, or +suns. If its spectrum be discontinuous, it is a true nebula or gas; if +continuous, a congeries of stars. + +In 1864, Mr. Huggins made this examination in the case of a nebula in +the constellation Draco. It proved to be gaseous. + +Subsequent observations have shown that, of sixty nebulae examined, +nineteen give discontinuous or gaseous spectra--the remainder continuous +ones. + +It may, therefore, be admitted that physical evidence has at length +been obtained, demonstrating the existence of vast masses of matter in a +gaseous condition, and at a temperature of incandescence. The hypothesis +of Laplace has thus a firm basis. In such a nebular mass, cooling by +radiation is a necessary incident, and condensation and rotation the +inevitable results. There must be a separation of rings all lying in +one plane, a generation of planets and satellites all rotating alike, +a central sun and engirdling globes. From a chaotic mass, through the +operation of natural laws, an organized system has been produced. An +integration of matter into worlds has taken place through a decline of +heat. + +If such be the cosmogony of the solar system, such the genesis of the +planetary worlds, we are constrained to extend our views of the dominion +of law, and to recognize its agency in the creation as well as in the +conservation of the innumerable orbs that throng the universe. + +But, again, it may be asked: "Is there not something profoundly impious +in this? Are we not excluding Almighty God from the world he has made?" + +We have often witnessed the formation of a cloud in a serene sky. A hazy +point, barely perceptible--a little wreath of mist--increases in volume, +and becomes darker and denser, until it obscures a large portion of the +heavens. It throws itself into fantastic shapes, it gathers a glory +from the sun, is borne onward by the wind, and, perhaps, as it gradually +came, so it gradually disappears, melting away in the untroubled air. + +Now, we say that the little vesicles of which this cloud was composed +arose from the condensation of water-vapor preexisting in the +atmosphere, through reduction of temperature; we show how they assumed +the form they present. We assign optical reasons for the brightness +or blackness of the cloud; we explain, on mechanical principles, its +drifting before the wind; for its disappearance we account on +the principles of chemistry. It never occurs to us to invoke the +interposition of the Almighty in the production and fashioning of this +fugitive form. We explain all the facts connected with it by physical +laws, and perhaps should reverentially hesitate to call into operation +the finger of God. + +But the universe is nothing more than such a cloud--a cloud of suns and +worlds. Supremely grand though it may seem to us, to the Infinite and +Eternal Intellect it is no more than a fleeting mist. If there be a +multiplicity of worlds in infinite space, there is also a succession of +worlds in infinite time. As one after another cloud replaces cloud in +the skies, so this starry system, the universe, is the successor of +countless others that have preceded it--the predecessor of countless +others that will follow. There is an unceasing metamorphosis, a sequence +of events, without beginning or end. + +If, on physical principles, we account for minor meteorological +incidents, mists and clouds, is it not permissible for us to appeal to +the same principle in the origin of world-systems and universes, which +are only clouds on a space-scale somewhat larger, mists on a time-scale +somewhat less transient? Can any man place the line which bounds +the physical on one side, the supernatural on the other? Do not our +estimates of the extent and the duration of things depend altogether +on our point of view? Were we set in the midst of the great nebula +of Orion, how transcendently magnificent the scene! The vast +transformations, the condensations of a fiery mist into worlds, might +seem worthy of the immediate presence, the supervision of God; here, at +our distant station, where millions of miles are inappreciable to our +eyes, and suns seem no bigger than motes in the air, that nebula is more +insignificant than the faintest cloud. Galileo, in his description of +the constellation of Orion, did not think it worth while so much as to +mention it. The most rigorous theologian of those days would have seen +nothing to blame in imputing its origin to secondary causes, nothing +irreligious in failing to invoke the arbitrary interference of God in +its metamorphoses. If such be the conclusion to which we come respecting +it, what would be the conclusion to which an Intelligence seated in it +might come respecting us? It occupies an extent of space millions of +times greater than that of our solar system; we are invisible from it, +and therefore absolutely insignificant. Would such an Intelligence think +it necessary to require for our origin and maintenance the immediate +intervention of God? + + +From the solar system let us descend to what is still more +insignificant--a little portion of it; let us descend to our own earth. +In the lapse of time it has experienced great changes. Have these been +due to incessant divine interventions, or to the continuous operation of +unfailing law? The aspect of Nature perpetually varies under our eyes, +still more grandly and strikingly has it altered in geological +times. But the laws guiding those changes never exhibit the slightest +variation. In the midst of immense vicissitudes they are immutable. +The present order of things is only a link in a vast connected chain +reaching back to an incalculable past, and forward to an infinite +future. + +There is evidence, geological and astronomical, that the temperature of +the earth and her satellite was in the remote past very much higher than +it is now. A decline so slow as to be imperceptible at short intervals, +but manifest enough in the course of many ages, has occurred. The heat +has been lost by radiation into space. + +The cooling of a mass of any kind, no matter whether large or small, is +not discontinuous; it does not go on by fits and starts; it takes +place under the operation of a mathematical law, though for such mighty +changes as are here contemplated neither the formula of Newton, nor that +of Dulong and Petit, may apply. It signifies nothing that periods of +partial decline, glacial periods, or others of temporary elevation, have +been intercalated; it signifies nothing whether these variations may +have arisen from topographical variations, as those of level, or from +periodicities in the radiation of the sun. A periodical sun would act as +a mere perturbation in the gradual decline of heat. The perturbations of +the planetary motions are a confirmation, not a disproof, of gravity. + +Now, such a decline of temperature must have been attended by +innumerable changes of a physical character in our globe. Her dimensions +must have diminished through contraction, the length of her day must +have lessened, her surface must have collapsed, and fractures taken +place along the lines of least resistance; the density of the sea must +have increased, its volume must have become less; the constitution of +the atmosphere must have varied, especially in the amount of water-vapor +and carbonic acid that it contained; the barometric pressure must have +declined. + +These changes, and very many more that might be mentioned, must have +taken place not in a discontinuous but in an orderly manner, since the +master-fact, the decline of heat, that was causing them, was itself +following a mathematical law. + +But not alone did lifeless Nature submit to these inevitable mutations; +living Nature was also simultaneously affected. + +An organic form of any kind, vegetable or animal, will remain unchanged +only so long as the environment in which it is placed remains unchanged. +Should an alteration in the environment occur, the organism will either +be modified or destroyed. + +Destruction is more likely to happen as the change in the environment +is more sudden; modification or transformation is more possible as that +change is more gradual. + +Since it is demonstrably certain that lifeless Nature has in the lapse +of ages undergone vast modifications; since the crust of the earth, and +the sea, and the atmosphere, are no longer such as they once were; since +the distribution of the land and the ocean and all manner of physical +conditions have varied; since there have been such grand changes in +the environment of living things on the surface of our planet--it +necessarily follows that organic Nature must have passed through +destructions and transformations in correspondence thereto. + +That such extinctions, such modifications, have taken place, how +copious, how convincing, is the evidence! + +Here, again, we must observe that, since the disturbing agency +was itself following a mathematical law, these its results must be +considered as following that law too. + +Such considerations, then, plainly force upon us the conclusion that +the organic progress of the world has been guided by the operation of +immutable law--not determined by discontinuous, disconnected, arbitrary +interventions of God. They incline us to view favorably the idea of +transmutations of one form into another, rather than that of sudden +creations. + +Creation implies an abrupt appearance, transformation a gradual change. + +In this manner is presented to our contemplation the great theory of +Evolution. Every organic being has a place in a chain of events. It is +not an isolated, a capricious fact, but an unavoidable phenomenon. It +has its place in that vast, orderly concourse which has successively +risen in the past, has introduced the present, and is preparing the way +for a predestined future. From point to point in this vast progression +there has been a gradual, a definite, a continuous unfolding, a +resistless order of evolution. But in the midst of these mighty changes +stand forth immutable the laws that are dominating over all. + +If we examine the introduction of any type of life in the animal series, +we find that it is in accordance with transformation, not with creation. +Its beginning is under an imperfect form in the midst of other forms, +of which the time is nearly complete, and which are passing into +extinction. By degrees, one species after another in succession more and +more perfect arises, until, after many ages, a culmination is reached. +From that there is, in like manner, a long, a gradual decline. + +Thus, though the mammal type of life is the characteristic of the +Tertiary and post-Tertiary periods, it does not suddenly make its +appearance without premonition in those periods. Far back, in the +Secondary, we find it under imperfect forms, struggling, as it were, to +make good a foothold. At length it gains a predominance under higher and +better models. + +So, too, of reptiles, the characteristic type of life of the Secondary +period. As we see in a dissolving view, out of the fading outlines of +a scene that is passing away, the dim form of a new one emerging, which +gradually gains strength, reaches its culmination, and then melts +away in some other that is displacing it, so reptile-life doubtfully, +appears, reaches its culmination, and gradually declines. In all this +there is nothing abrupt; the changes shade into each other by insensible +degrees. + +How could it be otherwise? The hot-blooded animals could not exist in +an atmosphere so laden with carbonic acid as was that of the primitive +times. But the removal of that noxious ingredient from the air by the +leaves of plants under the influence of sunlight, the enveloping of its +carbon in the earth under the form of coal, the disengagement of its +oxygen, permitted their life. As the atmosphere was thus modified, +the sea was involved in the change; it surrendered a large part of its +carbonic acid, and the limestone hitherto held in solution by it was +deposited in the solid form. For every equivalent of carbon buried in +the earth, there was an equivalent of carbonate of lime separated from +the sea--not necessarily in an amorphous condition, most frequently +under an organic form. The sunshine kept up its work day by day, but +there were demanded myriads of days for the work to be completed. It was +a slow passage from a noxious to a purified atmosphere, and an equally +slow passage from a cold-blooded to a hot-blooded type of life. But the +physical changes were taking place under the control of law, and the +organic transformations were not sudden or arbitrary providential acts. +They were the immediate, the inevitable consequences of the physical +changes, and therefore, like them, the necessary issue of law. + +For a more detailed consideration of this subject, I may refer the +reader to Chapters I, II., VII, of the second book of my "Treatise on +Human Physiology," published in 1856. + + +Is the world, then, governed by law or by providential interventions, +abruptly breaking the proper sequence of events? + +To complete our view of this question, we turn finally to what, in one +sense, is the most insignificant, in another the most important, case +that can be considered. Do human societies, in their historic career, +exhibit the marks of a predetermined progress in an unavoidable track? +Is there any evidence that the life of nations is under the control of +immutable law? + +May we conclude that, in society, as in the individual man, parts never +spring from nothing, but are evolved or developed from parts that are +already in existence? + +If any one should object to or deride the doctrine of the evolution +or successive development of the animated forms which constitute that +unbroken organic chain reaching from the beginning of life on the globe +to the present times, let him reflect that he has himself passed through +modifications the counterpart of those he disputes. For nine months +his type of life was aquatic, and during that time he assumed, in +succession, many distinct but correlated forms. At birth his type of +life became aerial; he began respiring the atmospheric air; new elements +of food were supplied to him; the mode of his nutrition changed; but +as yet he could see nothing, hear nothing, notice nothing. By degrees +conscious existence was assumed; he became aware that there is an +external world. In due time organs adapted to another change of food, +the teeth, appeared, and a change of food ensued. He then passed through +the stages of childhood and youth, his bodily form developing, and with +it his intellectual powers. At about fifteen years, in consequence of +the evolution which special parts of his system had attained, his moral +character changed. New ideas, new passions, influenced him. And that +that was the cause, and this the effect, is demonstrated when, by the +skill of the surgeon, those parts have been interfered with. Nor does +the development, the metamorphosis, end here; it requires many years +for the body to reach its full perfection, many years for the mind. A +culmination is at length reached, and then there is a decline. I need +not picture its mournful incidents--the corporeal, the intellectual +enfeeblement. Perhaps there is little exaggeration in saying that in +less than a century every human being on the face of the globe, if not +cut off in an untimely manner, has passed through all these changes. + +Is there for each of us a providential intervention as we thus pass +from stage to stage of life? or shall we not rather believe that the +countless myriads of human beings who have peopled the earth have been +under the guidance of an unchanging, a universal law? + +But individuals are the elementary constituents of communities--nations. +They maintain therein a relation like that which the particles of the +body maintain to the body itself. These, introduced into it, commence +and complete their function; they die, and are dismissed. + +Like the individual, the nation comes into existence without its own +knowledge, and dies without its own consent, often against its own will. +National life differs in no particular from individual, except in this, +that it is spread over a longer span, but no nation can escape its +inevitable term. Each, if its history be well considered, shows its +time of infancy, its time of youth, its time of maturity, its time of +decline, if its phases of life be completed. + +In the phases of existence of all, so far as those phases are +completed, there are common characteristics, and, as like accordances in +individuals point out that all are living under a reign of law, we +are justified in inferring that the course of nations, and indeed the +progress of humanity, does not take place in a chance or random way, +that supernatural interventions never break the chain of historic acts, +that every historic event has its warrant in some preceding event, and +gives warrant to others that are to follow.. + +But this conclusion is the essential principle of Stoicism--that Grecian +philosophical system which, as I have already said, offered a support in +their hour of trial and an unwavering guide in the vicissitudes of +life, not only to many illustrious Greeks, but also to some of the great +philosophers, statesmen, generals, and emperors of Rome; a system which +excluded chance from every thing, and asserted the direction of all +events by irresistible necessity, to the promotion of perfect good; a +system of earnestness, sternness, austerity, virtue--a protest in favor +of the common-sense of mankind. And perhaps we shall not dissent from +the remark of Montesquieu, who affirms that the destruction of the +Stoics was a great calamity to the human race; for they alone made great +citizens, great men. + +To the principle of government by law, Latin Christianity, in its papal +form, is in absolute contradiction. The history of this branch of +the Christian Church is almost a diary of miracles and supernatural +interventions. These show that the supplications of holy men have often +arrested the course of Nature--if, indeed, there be any such course; +that images and pictures have worked wonders; that bones, hairs, and +other sacred relics, have wrought miracles. The criterion or proof of +the authenticity of many of these objects is, not an unchallengeable +record of their origin and history, but an exhibition of their +miracle-working powers. + +Is not that a strange logic which finds proof of an asserted fact in an +inexplicable illustration of something else? + +Even in the darkest ages intelligent Christian men must have had +misgivings as to these alleged providential or miraculous interventions. +There is a solemn grandeur in the orderly progress of Nature which +profoundly impresses us; and such is the character of continuity in the +events of our individual life that we instinctively doubt the occurrence +of the supernatural in that of our neighbor. The intelligent man knows +well that, for his personal behoof, the course of Nature has never been +checked; for him no miracle has ever been worked; he attributes justly +every event of his life to some antecedent event; this he looks upon +as the cause, that as the consequence. When it is affirmed that, in his +neighbor's behalf, such grand interventions have been vouchsafed, he +cannot do otherwise than believe that his neighbor is either deceived, +or practising deception. + +As might, then, have been anticipated, the Catholic doctrine of +miraculous intervention received a rude shock at the time of the +Reformation, when predestination and election were upheld by some of the +greatest theologians, and accepted by some of the greatest Protestant +Churches. With stoical austerity Calvin declares: "We were elected from +eternity, before the foundation of the world, from no merit of our own, +but according to the purpose of the divine pleasure." In affirming this, +Calvin was resting on the belief that God has from all eternity decreed +whatever comes to pass. Thus, after the lapse of many ages, were again +emerging into prominence the ideas of the Basilidians wad Valentinians, +Christian sects of the second century, whose Gnostical views led to the +engraftment of the great doctrine of the Trinity upon Christianity. They +asserted that all the actions of men are necessary, that even faith is +a natural gift, to which men are forcibly determined, and must therefore +be saved, though their lives be ever so irregular. From the Supreme God +all things proceeded. Thus, also, came into prominence the views which +were developed by Augustine in his work, "De dono perseverantiae." These +were: that God, by his arbitrary will, has selected certain persons +without respect to foreseen faith or good works, and has infallibly +ordained to bestow upon them eternal happiness; other persons, in like +manner, he has condemned to eternal reprobation. The Sublapsarians +believed that "God permitted the fall of Adam;" the Supralapsarians that +"he predestinated it, with all its pernicious consequences, from all +eternity, and that our first parents had no liberty from the beginning." +In this, these sectarians disregarded the remark of St. Augustine: +"Nefas est dicere Deum aliquid nisi bonum predestinare." + +Is it true, then, that "predestination to eternal happiness is the +everlasting purpose of God, whereby, before the foundations of the world +were laid, he hath constantly decreed by his council, secret to us, +to deliver from curse and damnation those whom he hath chosen out of +mankind?" Is it true that of the human family there are some who, in +view of no fault of their own, Almighty God has condemned to unending +torture, eternal misery? + +In 1595 the Lambeth Articles asserted that "God from eternity hath +predestinated certain men unto life; certain he hath reprobated." In +1618 the Synod of Dort decided in favor of this view. It condemned the +remonstrants against it, and treated them with such severity, that many +of them had to flee to foreign countries. Even in the Church of England, +as is manifested by its seventeenth Article of Faith, these doctrines +have found favor. + +Probably there was no point which brought down from the Catholics on the +Protestants severer condemnation than this, their partial acceptance +of the government of the world by law. In all Reformed Europe miracles +ceased. But, with the cessation of shrine-cure, relic-cure, great +pecuniary profits ended. Indeed, as is well known, it was the sale +of indulgences that provoked the Reformation--indulgences which are +essentially a permit from God for the practice of sin, conditioned on +the payment of a certain sum of money to the priest. + +Philosophically, the Reformation implied a protest against the Catholic +doctrine of incessant divine intervention in human affairs, invoked by +sacerdotal agency; but this protest was far from being fully made by +all the Reforming Churches. The evidence in behalf of government by law, +which has of late years been offered by science, is received by many of +them with suspicion, perhaps with dislike; sentiments which, however, +must eventually give way before the hourly-increasing weight of +evidence. + +Shall we not, then, conclude with Cicero, who, quoted by Lactantius, +says: "One eternal and immutable law embraces all things and all times?" + + + +CHAPTER X. + + LATIN CHRISTIANITY IN RELATION TO MODERN CIVILIZATION. + + For more than a thousand years Latin Christianity controlled + the intelligence of Europe, and is responsible for the + result. + + That result is manifested by the condition of the city of + Rome at the Reformation, and by the condition of the + Continent of Europe in domestic and social life.--European + nations suffered under the coexistence of a dual government, + a spiritual and a temporal.--They were immersed in + ignorance, superstition, discomfort.--Explanation of the + failure of Catholicism--Political history of the papacy: it + was transmuted from a spiritual confederacy into an absolute + monarchy.--Action of the College of Cardinals and the Curia-- + Demoralization that ensued from the necessity of raising + large revenues. + + The advantages accruing to Europe during the Catholic rule + arose not from direct intention, but were incidental. + + The general result is, that the political influence of + Catholicism was prejudicial to modern civilization. + + +LATIN Christianity is responsible for the condition and progress of +Europe from the fourth to the sixteenth century. We have now to examine +how it discharged its trust. + +It will be convenient to limit to the case of Europe what has here to +be presented, though, from the claim of the papacy to superhuman origin, +and its demand for universal obedience, it should strictly be held to +account for the condition of all mankind. Its inefficacy against the +great and venerable religions of Southern and Eastern Asia would furnish +an important and instructive theme for consideration, and lead us to +the conclusion that it has impressed itself only where Roman imperial +influences have prevailed; a political conclusion which, however, it +contemptuously rejects. + +Doubtless at the inception of the Reformation there were many persons +who compared the existing social condition with what it had been in +ancient times. Morals had not changed, intelligence had not advanced, +society had little improved. From the Eternal City itself its splendors +had vanished. The marble streets, of which Augustus had once boasted, +had disappeared. Temples, broken columns, and the long, arcaded vistas +of gigantic aqueducts bestriding the desolate Campagna, presented a +mournful scene. From the uses to which they had been respectively put, +the Capitol had been known as Goats' Hill, and the site of the Roman +Forum, whence laws had been issued to the world, as Cows' Field. The +palace of the Caesars was hidden by mounds of earth, crested with +flowering shrubs. The baths of Caracalla, with their porticoes, gardens, +reservoirs, had long ago become useless through the destruction of their +supplying aqueducts. On the ruins of that grand edifice, "flowery glades +and thickets of odoriferous trees extended in ever-winding labyrinths +upon immense platforms, and dizzy arches suspended in the air." Of +the Coliseum, the most colossal of Roman ruins, only about one-third +remained. Once capable of accommodating nearly ninety thousand +spectators, it had, in succession, been turned into a fortress in the +middle ages, and then into a stone-quarry to furnish material for the +palaces of degenerate Roman princes. Some of the popes had occupied it +as a woollen-mill, some as a saltpetre factory; some had planned the +conversion of its magnificent arcades into shops for tradesmen. The iron +clamps which bound its stones together had been stolen. The walls were +fissured and falling. Even in our own times botanical works have been +composed on the plants which have made this noble wreck their home. "The +Flora of the Coliseum" contains four hundred and twenty species. +Among the ruins of classical buildings might be seen broken columns, +cypresses, and mouldy frescoes, dropping from the walls. Even the +vegetable world participated in the melancholy change: the myrtle, which +once flourished on the Aventine, had nearly become extinct; the laurel, +which once gave its leaves to encircle the brows of emperors, had been +replaced by ivy--the companion of death. + +But perhaps it may be said the popes were not responsible for all this. +Let it be remembered that in less than one hundred and forty years the +city had been successively taken by Alaric, Genseric, Rieimer, Vitiges, +Totila; that many of its great edifices had been converted into +defensive works. The aqueducts were destroyed by Vitiges, who ruined the +Campagna; the palace of the Caesars was ravaged by Totila; then there +had been the Lombard sieges; then Robert Guiscard and his Normans had +burnt the city from the Antonine Column to the Flaminian Gate, from +the Lateran to the Capitol; then it was sacked and mutilated by the +Constable Bourbon; again and again it was flooded by inundations of the +Tiber and shattered by earthquakes. We must, however, bear in mind the +accusation of Machiavelli, who says, in his "History of Florence," that +nearly all the barbarian invasions of Italy were by the invitations of +the pontiffs, who called in those hordes! It was not the Goth, nor +the Vandal, nor the Norman, nor the Saracen, but the popes and their +nephews, who produced the dilapidation of Rome! Lime-kilns had been fed +from the ruins, classical buildings had become stone-quarries for the +palaces of Italian princes, and churches were decorated from the old +temples. + +Churches decorated from the temples! It is for this and such as this +that the popes must be held responsible. Superb Corinthian columns bad +been chiseled into images of the saints. Magnificent Egyptian obelisks +had been dishonored by papal inscriptions. The Septizonium of Severus +had been demolished to furnish materials for the building of St. +Peter's; the bronze roof of the Pantheon had been melted into columns to +ornament the apostle's tomb. + +The great bell of Viterbo, in the tower of the Capitol, had announced +the death of many a pope, and still desecration of the buildings +and demoralization of the people went on. Papal Rome manifested no +consideration, but rather hatred, for classical Rome, The pontiffs had +been subordinates of the Byzantine sovereigns, then lieutenants of the +Frankish kings, then arbiters of Europe; their government had changed as +much as those of any of the surrounding nations; there had been complete +metamorphoses in its maxims, objects, claims. In one point only it had +never changed--intolerance. Claiming to be the centre of the religious +life of Europe, it steadfastly refused to recognize any religious +existence outside of itself, yet both in a political and theological +sense it was rotten to the core. Erasmus and Luther heard with amazement +the blasphemies and witnessed with a shudder the atheism of the city. + +The historian Ranke, to whom I am indebted for many of these facts, +has depicted in a very graphic manner the demoralization of the great +metropolis. The popes were, for the most part, at their election, aged +men. Power was, therefore, incessantly passing into new hands. Every +election was a revolution in prospects and expectations. In a community +where all might rise, where all might aspire to all, it necessarily +followed that every man was occupied in thrusting some other into the +background. Though the population of the city at the inception of the +Reformation had sunk to eighty thousand, there were vast crowds of +placemen, and still greater ones of aspirants for place. The +successful occupant of the pontificate had thousands of offices to give +away--offices from many of which the incumbents had been remorselessly +ejected; many had been created for the purpose of sale. The integrity +and capacity of an applicant were never inquired into; the points +considered were, what services has he rendered or can he render to the +party? how much can he pay for the preferment? An American reader can +thoroughly realize this state of things. At every presidential election +he witnesses similar acts. The election of a pope by the Conclave is not +unlike the nomination of an American president by a convention. In both +cases there are many offices to give away. + +William of Malmesbury says that in his day the Romans made a sale of +whatever was righteous and sacred for gold. After his time there was +no improvement; the Church degenerated into an instrument for the +exploitation of money. Vast sums were collected in Italy; vast sums +were drawn under all manner of pretenses from surrounding and reluctant +countries. Of these the most nefarious was the sale of indulgences +for the perpetration of sin. Italian religion had become the art of +plundering the people. + +For more than a thousand years the sovereign pontiffs had been rulers +of the city. True, it had witnessed many scenes of devastation for which +they were not responsible; but they were responsible for this, that they +had never made any vigorous, any persistent effort for its material, its +moral improvement. Instead of being in these respects an exemplar for +the imitation of the world, it became an exemplar of a condition that +ought to be shunned. Things steadily went on from bad to worse, until +at the epoch of the Reformation no pious stranger could visit it without +being shocked. + +The papacy, repudiating science as absolutely incompatible with its +pretensions, had in later years addressed itself to the encouragement of +art. But music and painting, though they may be exquisite adornments +of life, contain no living force that can develop a weak nation into a +strong one; nothing that can permanently assure the material well-being +or happiness of communities; and hence at the time of the Reformation, +to one who thoughtfully considered her condition, Rome had lost all +living energy. She was no longer the arbiter of the physical or the +religious progress of the world. For the progressive maxims of the +republic and the empire, she had substituted the stationary maxims of +the papacy. She had the appearance of piety and the possession of art. +In this she resembled one of those friar-corpses which we still see in +their brown cowls in the vaults of the Cappuccini, with a breviary or +some withered flowers in its hands. + +From this view of the Eternal City, this survey of what Latin +Christianity had done for Rome itself, let us turn to the whole European +Continent. Let us try to determine the true value of the system that was +guiding society; let us judge it by its fruits. + +The condition of nations as to their well-being is most precisely +represented by the variations of their population. Forms of government +have very little influence on population, but policy may control it +completely. + +It has been very satisfactorily shown by authors who have given +attention to the subject, that the variations of population depend +upon the interbalancing of the generative force of society and the +resistances to life. + +By the generative force of society is meant that instinct which +manifests itself in the multiplication of the race. To some extent it +depends on climate; but, since the climate of Europe did not sensibly +change between the fourth and the sixteenth centuries, we may regard +this force as having been, on that continent, during the period under +consideration, invariable. + +By the resistances to life is meant whatever tends to make individual +existence more difficult of support. Among such may be enumerated +insufficient food, inadequate clothing, imperfect shelter. + +It is also known that, if the resistances become inappreciable, the +generative force will double a population in twenty-five years. + +The resistances operate in two modes: 1. Physically; since they diminish +the number of births, and shorten the term of the life of all. 2. +Intellectually; since, in a moral, and particularly in a religious +community, they postpone marriage, by causing individuals to decline +its responsibilities until they feel that they are competent to meet +the charges and cares of a family. Hence the explanation of a +long-recognized fact, that the number of marriages during a given period +has a connection with the price of food. + +The increase of population keeps pace with the increase of food; and, +indeed, such being the power of the generative force, it overpasses the +means of subsistence, establishing a constant pressure upon them. Under +these circumstances, it necessarily happens that a certain amount of +destitution must occur. Individuals have come into existence who must be +starved. + +As illustrations of the variations that have occurred in the population +of different countries, may be mentioned the immense diminution of that +of Italy in consequence of the wars of Justinian; the depopulation of +North Africa in consequence of theological quarrels; its restoration +through the establishment of Mohammedanism; the increase of that of all +Europe through the feudal system, when estates became more valuable in +proportion to the number of retainers they could supply. The crusades +caused a sensible diminution, not only through the enormous army losses, +but also by reason of the withdrawal of so many able-bodied men +from marriage-life. Similar variations have occurred on the American +Continent. The population of Mexico was very quickly diminished by two +million through the rapacity and atrocious cruelty of the Spaniards, who +drove the civilized Indians to despair. The same happened in Peru. + +The population of England at the Norman conquest was about two million. +In five hundred years it had scarcely doubled. It may be supposed that +this stationary condition was to some extent induced by the papal policy +of the enforcement of celibacy in the clergy. The "legal generative +force" was doubtless affected by that policy, the "actual generative +force" was not. For those who have made this subject their study have +long ago been satisfied that public celibacy is private wickedness. This +mainly determined the laity, as well as the government in England, to +suppress the monasteries. It was openly asserted that there were one +hundred thousand women in England made dissolute by the clergy. + +In my history of the "American Civil War," I have presented some +reflections on this point, which I will take the liberty of quoting +here: "What, then, does this stationary condition of the population +mean? It means, food obtained with hardship, insufficient clothing, +personal uncleanness, cabins that could not keep out the weather, +the destructive effects of cold and heat, miasm, want of sanitary +provisions, absence of physicians, uselessness of shrine-cure, the +deceptiveness of miracles, in which society was putting its trust; or, +to sum up a long catalogue of sorrows, wants, and sufferings, in one +term--it means a high death-rate. + +"But more; it means deficient births. And what does that point out? +Marriage postponed, licentious life, private wickedness, demoralized +society. + +"To an American, who lives in a country that was yesterday an +interminable and impenetrable desert, but which to-day is filling with +a population doubling itself every twenty-five years at the prescribed +rate, this awful waste of actual and contingent life cannot but be a +most surprising fact. His curiosity will lead him to inquire what kind +of system that could have been which was pretending to guide and +develop society, but which must be held responsible for this prodigious +destruction, excelling, in its insidious result, war, pestilence, and +famine combined; insidious, for men were actually believing that it +secured their highest temporal interests. How different now! In England, +the same geographical surface is sustaining ten times the population +of that day, and sending forth its emigrating swarms. Let him, who looks +back, with veneration on the past, settle in his own mind what such a +system could have been worth." + +These variations in the population of Europe have been attended with +changes in distribution. The centre of population has passed northward +since the establishment of Christianity in the Roman Empire. It +has since passed westward, in consequence of the development of +manufacturing industry. + + +We may now examine somewhat more minutely the character of the +resistances which thus, for a thousand years, kept the population of +Europe stationary. The surface of the Continent was for the most +part covered with pathless forests; here and there it was dotted with +monasteries and towns. In the lowlands and along the river-courses were +fens, sometimes hundreds of miles in extent, exhaling their pestiferous +miasms, and spreading agues far and wide. In Paris and London, the +houses were of wood daubed with clay, and thatched with straw or reeds. +They had no windows, and, until the invention of the saw-mill, very +few had wooden floors. The luxury of a carpet was unknown; some straw, +scattered in the room, supplied its place. There were no chimneys; the +smoke of the ill-fed, cheerless fire escaped through a hole in the roof. +In such habitations there was scarcely any protection from the weather. +No attempt was made at drainage, but the putrefying garbage and rubbish +were simply thrown out of the door. Men, women, and children, slept +in the same apartment; not unfrequently, domestic animals were their +companions; in such a confusion of the family, it was impossible that +modesty or morality could be maintained. The bed was usually a bag of +straw, a wooden log served as a pillow. Personal cleanliness was utterly +unknown; great officers of state, even dignitaries so high as the +Archbishop of Canterbury, swarmed with vermin; such, it is related, was +the condition of Thomas a Becket, the antagonist of an English king. To +conceal personal impurity, perfumes were necessarily and profusely +used. The citizen clothed himself in leather, a garment which, with its +ever-accumulating impurity, might last for many years. He was considered +to be in circumstances of ease, if he could procure fresh meat once +a week for his dinner. The streets had no sewers; they were without +pavement or lamps. After nightfall, the chamber-shatters were thrown +open, and slops unceremoniously emptied down, to the discomfiture of the +wayfarer tracking his path through the narrow streets, with his dismal +lantern in his hand. + +Aeneas Sylvius, who afterward became Pope Pius II., and was therefore a +very competent and impartial writer, has left us a graphic account of +a journey he made to the British Islands, about 1430. He describes the +houses of the peasantry as constructed of stones put together without +mortar; the roofs were of turf, a stiffened bull's-hide served for a +door. The food consisted of coarse vegetable products, such as peas, +and even the bark of trees. In some places they were unacquainted with +bread. + +Cabins of reeds plastered with mud, houses of wattled stakes, +chimneyless peat-fires from which there was scarcely an escape for the +smoke, dens of physical and moral pollution swarming with vermin, wisps +of straw twisted round the limbs to keep off the cold, the ague-stricken +peasant, with no help except shrine-cure! How was it possible that the +population could increase? Shall we, then, wonder that, in the famine of +1030, human flesh was cooked and sold; or that, in that of 1258, fifteen +thousand persons died of hunger in London? Shall we wonder that, in some +of the invasions of the plague, the deaths were so frightfully numerous +that the living could hardly bury the dead? By that of 1348, which came +from the East along the lines of commercial travel, and spread all over +Europe, one-third of the population of France was destroyed. + +Such was the condition of the peasantry, and of the common inhabitants +of cities. Not much better was that of the nobles. William of +Malmesbury, speaking of the degraded manners of the Anglo-Saxons, says: +"Their nobles, devoted to gluttony and voluptuousness, never visited the +church, but the matins and the mass were read over to them by a hurrying +priest in their bedchambers, before they rose, themselves not listening. +The common people were a prey to the more powerful; their property was +seized, their bodies dragged away to distant countries; their maidens +were either thrown into a brothel, or sold for slaves. Drinking day +and night was the general pursuit; vices, the companions of inebriety, +followed, effeminating the manly mind." The baronial castles were dens +of robbers. The Saxon chronicler records how men and women were caught +and dragged into those strongholds, hung up by their thumbs or feet, +fire applied to them, knotted strings twisted round their heads, and +many other torments inflicted to extort ransom. + +All over Europe, the great and profitable political offices were filled +by ecclesiastics. In every country there was a dual government: 1. +That of a local kind, represented by a temporal sovereign; 2. That of +a foreign kind, acknowledging the authority of the pope, This Roman +influence was, in the nature of things, superior to the local; it +expressed the sovereign will of one man over all the nations of +the continent conjointly, and gathered overwhelming power from its +compactness and unity. The local influence was necessarily of a feeble +nature, since it was commonly weakened by the rivalries of conterminous +states, and the dissensions dexterously provoked by its competitor. On +not a single occasion could the various European states form a coalition +against their common antagonist. Whenever a question arose, they were +skillfully taken in detail, and commonly mastered. The ostensible +object of papal intrusion was to secure for the different peoples moral +well-being; the real object was to obtain large revenues, and give +support to vast bodies of ecclesiastics. The revenues thus abstracted +were not infrequently many times greater than those passing into the +treasury of the local power. Thus, on the occasion of Innocent IV. +demanding provision to be made for three hundred additional Italian +clergy by the Church of England, and that one of his nephews--a mere +boy--should have a stall in Lincoln Cathedral, it was found that the sum +already annually abstracted by foreign ecclesiastics from England was +thrice that which went into the coffers of the king. + +While thus the higher clergy secured every political appointment +worth having, and abbots vied with counts in the herds of slaves +they possessed--some, it is said, owned not fewer than twenty +thousand--begging friars pervaded society in all directions, picking +up a share of what still remained to the poor. There was a vast body of +non-producers, living in idleness and owning a foreign allegiance, who +were subsisting on the fruits of the toil of the laborers. It could not +be otherwise than that small farms should be unceasingly merged into +the larger estates; that the poor should steadily become poorer; that +society, far from improving, should exhibit a continually increasing +demoralization. Outside the monastic institutions no attempt at +intellectual advancement was made; indeed, so far as the laity were +concerned, the influence of the Church was directed to an opposite +result, for the maxim universally received was, that "ignorance is the +mother of devotion." + +The settled practice of republican and imperial Rome was to have swift +communication with all her outlying provinces, by means of substantial +bridges and roads. One of the prime duties of the legions was to +construct them and keep them in repair. By this, her military authority +was assured. But the dominion of papal Rome, depending upon a different +principle, had no exigencies of that kind, and this duty accordingly +was left for the local powers to neglect. And so, in all directions, +the roads were almost impassable for a large part of the year. A common +means of transportation was in clumsy carts drawn by oxen, going at the +most but three or four miles an hour. Where boat-conveyance along +rivers could not be had, pack-horses and mules were resorted to for +the transportation of merchandise, an adequate means for the slender +commerce of the times. When large bodies of men had to be moved, the +difficulties became almost insuperable. Of this, perhaps, one of the +best illustrations may be found in the story of the march of the first +Crusaders. These restraints upon intercommunication tended powerfully to +promote the general benighted condition. Journeys by individuals could +not be undertaken without much risk, for there was scarcely a moor or a +forest that had not its highwaymen. + +An illiterate condition everywhere prevailing, gave opportunity for the +development of superstition. Europe was full of disgraceful miracles. On +all the roads pilgrims were wending their way to the shrines of saints, +renowned for the cures they had wrought. It had always been the policy +of the Church to discourage the physician and his art; he interfered too +much with the gifts and profits of the shrines. Time has brought this +once lucrative imposture to its proper value. How many shrines are there +now in successful operation in Europe? + +For patients too sick to move or be moved, there were no remedies except +those of a ghostly kind--the Pater-noster or the Ave. For the prevention +of diseases, prayers were put up in the churches, but no sanitary +measures were resorted to. From cities reeking with putrefying filth +it was thought that the plague might be stayed by the prayers of the +priests, by them rain and dry weather might be secured, and deliverance +obtained from the baleful influences of eclipses and comets. But when +Halley's comet came, in 1456, so tremendous was its apparition that +it was necessary for the pope himself to interfere. He exorcised and +expelled it from the skies. It slunk away into the abysses of space, +terror-stricken by the maledictions of Calixtus III., and did not +venture back for seventy-five years! + +The physical value of shrine-cures and ghostly remedies is measured +by the death-rate. In those days it was, probably, about one in +twenty-three, under the present more material practice it is about one +in forty. + +The moral condition of Europe was signally illustrated when syphilis was +introduced from the West Indies by the companions of Columbus. It spread +with wonderful rapidity; all ranks of persons, from the Holy Father Leo +X. to the beggar by the wayside, contracting the shameful disease. Many +excused their misfortune by declaring that it was an epidemic proceeding +from a certain malignity in the constitution of the air, but in truth +its spread was due to a certain infirmity in the constitution of man--an +infirmity which had not been removed by the spiritual guidance under +which he had been living. + +To the medical efficacy of shrines must be added that of special relics. +These were sometimes of the most extraordinary kind. There were several +abbeys that possessed our Savior's crown of thorns. Eleven had the +lance that had pierced his side. If any person was adventurous enough +to suggest that these could not all be authentic, he would have been +denounced as an atheist. During the holy wars the Templar-Knights had +driven a profitable commerce by bringing from Jerusalem to the Crusading +armies bottles of the milk of the Blessed Virgin, which they sold for +enormous sums; these bottles were preserved with pious care in many of +the great religious establishments. But perhaps none of these impostures +surpassed in audacity that offered by a monastery in Jerusalem, which +presented to the beholder one of the fingers of the Holy Ghost! Modern +society has silently rendered its verdict on these scandalous objects. +Though they once nourished the piety of thousands of earnest people, +they are now considered too vile to have a place in any public museum. + +How shall we account for the great failure we thus detect in the +guardianship of the Church over Europe? This is not the result that +must have occurred had there been in Rome an unremitting care for the +spiritual and material prosperity of the continent, had the universal +pastor, the successor of Peter, occupied himself with singleness of +purpose for the holiness and happiness of his flock. + +The explanation is not difficult to find. It is contained in a story +of sin and shame. I prefer, therefore, in the following paragraphs, to +offer explanatory facts derived from Catholic authors, and, indeed, to +present them as nearly as I can in the words of those writers. + + +The story I am about to relate is a narrative of the transformation of a +confederacy into an absolute monarchy. + +In the early times every church, without prejudice to its agreement with +the Church universal in all essential points, managed its own affairs +with perfect freedom and independence, maintaining its own traditional +usages and discipline, all questions not concerning the whole Church, or +of primary importance, being settled on the spot. + +Until the beginning of the ninth century, there was no change in the +constitution of the Roman Church. But about 845 the Isidorian Decretals +were fabricated in the west of Gaul--a forgery containing about one +hundred pretended decrees of the early popes, together with certain +spurious writings of other church dignitaries and acts of synods. This +forgery produced an immense extension of the papal power, it displaced +the old system of church government, divesting it of the republican +attributes it had possessed, and transforming it into an absolute +monarchy. It brought the bishops into subjection to Rome, and made the +pontiff the supreme judge of the clergy of the whole Christian world. It +prepared the way for the great attempt, subsequently made by Hildebrand, +to convert the states of Europe into a theocratic priest-kingdom, with +the pope at its head. + +Gregory VII., the author of this great attempt, saw that his plans +would be best carried out through the agency of synods. He, therefore, +restricted the right of holding them to the popes and their legates. To +aid in the matter, a new system of church law was devised by Anselm +of Lucca, partly from the old Isidorian forgeries, and partly from new +inventions. To establish the supremacy of Rome, not only had a new +civil and a new canon law to be produced, a new history had also to +be invented. This furnished needful instances of the deposition +and excommunication of kings, and proved that they had always been +subordinate to the popes. The decretal letters of the popes were put on +a par with Scripture. At length it came to be received, throughout +the West, that the popes had been, from the beginning of Christianity, +legislators for the whole Church. As absolute sovereigns in later times +cannot endure representative assemblies, so the papacy, when it wished +to become absolute, found that the synods of particular national +churches must be put an end to, and those only under the immediate +control of the pontiff permitted. This, in itself, constituted a great +revolution. + +Another fiction concocted in Rome in the eighth century led to important +consequences. It feigned that the Emperor Constantine, in gratitude for +his cure from leprosy, and baptism by Pope Sylvester, had bestowed +Italy and the Western provinces on the pope, and that, in token of his +subordination, he had served the pope as his groom, and led his horse +some distance. This forgery was intended to work on the Frankish kings, +to impress them with a correct idea of their inferiority, and to show +that, in the territorial concessions they made to the Church, they were +not giving but only restoring what rightfully belonged to it. + +The most potent instrument of the new papal system was Gratian's +Decretum, which was issued about the middle of the twelfth century. It +was a mass of fabrications. It made the whole Christian world, through +the papacy, the domain of the Italian clergy. It inculcated that it is +lawful to constrain men to goodness, to torture and execute heretics, +and to confiscate their property; that to kill an excommunicated person +is not murder; that the pope, in his unlimited superiority to all law, +stands on an equality with the Son of God! + +As the new system of centralization developed, maxims, that in the olden +times would have been held to be shocking, were boldly avowed--the whole +Church is the property of the pope to do with as he will; what is simony +in others is not simony in him; he is above all law, and can be called +to account by none; whoever disobeys him must be put to death; every +baptized man is his subject, and must for life remain so, whether he +will or not. Up to the end of the twelfth century, the popes were the +vicars of Peter; after Innocent III. they were the vicars of Christ. + +But an absolute sovereign has need of revenues, and to this the popes +were no exception. The institution of legates was brought in from +Hildebrand's time. Sometimes their duty was to visit churches, sometimes +they were sent on special business, but always invested with unlimited +powers to bring back money over the Alps. And since the pope could not +only make laws, but could suspend their operation, a legislation was +introduced in view to the purchase of dispensations. Monasteries were +exempted from episcopal jurisdiction on payment of a tribute to Rome. +The pope had now become "the universal bishop;" he had a concurrent +jurisdiction in all the dioceses, and could bring any cases before +his own courts. His relation to the bishops was that of an absolute +sovereign to his officials. A bishop could resign only by his +permission, and sees vacated by resignation lapsed to him. Appeals to +him were encouraged in every way for the sake of the dispensations; +thousands of processes came before the Curia, bringing a rich harvest to +Rome. Often when there were disputing claimants to benefices, the +pope would oust them all, and appoint a creature of his own. Often the +candidates had to waste years in Rome, and either died there, or carried +back a vivid impression of the dominant corruption. Germany suffered +more than other countries from these appeals and processes, and hence +of all countries was best prepared for the Reformation. During the +thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the popes made gigantic strides in +the acquisition of power. Instead of recommending their favorites for +benefices, now they issued mandates. Their Italian partisans must +be rewarded; nothing could be done to satisfy their clamors, but to +provide for them in foreign countries. Shoals of contesting claimants +died in Rome; and, when death took place in that city, the Pope claimed +the right of giving away the benefices. At length it was affirmed that +he had the right of disposing of all church-offices without distinction, +and that the oath of obedience of a bishop to him implied political as +well as ecclesiastical subjection. In countries having a dual government +this increased the power of the spiritual element prodigiously. + +Rights of every kind were remorselessly overthrown to complete this +centralization. In this the mendicant orders were most efficient aids. +It was the pope and those orders on one side, the bishops and the +parochial clergy on the other. The Roman court had seized the rights +of synods, metropolitans, bishops, national churches. Incessantly +interfered with by the legates, the bishops lost all desire to +discipline their dioceses; incessantly interfered with by the begging +monks, the parish priest had become powerless in his own village; his +pastoral influence was utterly destroyed by the papal indulgences and +absolutions they sold. The money was carried off to Rome. + +Pecuniary necessities urged many of the popes to resort to such petty +expedients as to require from a prince, a bishop, or a grand-master, who +bad a cause pending in the court, a present of a golden cup filled +with ducats. Such necessities also gave origin to jubilees. Sixtus IV. +established whole colleges, and sold the places at three or four hundred +ducats. Innocent VIII. pawned the papal tiara. Of Leo X. it was said +that he squandered the revenues of three popes, he wasted the savings +of his predecessor, he spent his own income, he anticipated that of his +successor, he created twenty-one hundred and fifty new offices and sold +them; they were considered to be a good investment, as they produced +twelve per cent. The interest was extorted from Catholic countries. +Nowhere in Europe could capital be so well invested as at Rome. Large +sums were raised by the foreclosing of mortgages, and not only by the +sale but the resale of offices. Men were promoted, for the purpose of +selling their offices again. + +Though against the papal theory, which denounced usurious practices, +an immense papal banking system had sprung up, in connection with the +Curia, and sums at usurious interest were advanced to prelates, place. +hunters, and litigants. The papal bankers were privileged; all others +were under the ban. The Curia had discovered that it was for their +interest to have ecelesiastics all over Europe in their debt. They could +make them pliant, and excommunicate them for non-payment of interest. +In 1327 it was reckoned that half the Christian world was under +excommunication: bishops were excommunicated because they could not +meet the extortions of legates; and persons were excommunicated, +under various pretenses, to compel them to purchase absolution at an +exorbitant price. The ecclesiastical revenues of all Europe were flowing +into Rome, a sink of corruption, simony, usury, bribery, extortion. The +popes, since 1066, when the great centralizing movement began, had no +time to pay attention to the internal affairs of their own special +flock in the city of Rome. There were thousands of foreign cases, each +bringing in money. "Whenever," says the Bishop Alvaro Pelayo, "I entered +the apartments of the Roman court clergy, I found them occupied in +counting up the gold-coin, which lay about the rooms in heaps." Every +opportunity of extending the jurisdiction of the Curia was welcome. +Exemptions were so managed that fresh grants were constantly necessary. +Bishops were privileged against cathedral chapters, chapters against +their bishops; bishops, convents, and individuals, against the +extortions of legates. + +The two pillars on which the papal system now rested were the College of +Cardinals and the Curia. The cardinals, in 1059, had become electors of +the popes. Up to that time elections were made by the whole body of the +Roman clergy, and the concurrence of the magistrates and citizens +was necessary. But Nicolas II. restricted elections to the College of +Cardinals by a two-thirds vote, and gave to the German emperor the +right of confirmation. For almost two centuries there was a struggle +for mastery between the cardinal oligarchy and papal absolutism. The +cardinals were willing enough that the pope should be absolute in his +foreign rule, but the never failed to attempt, before giving him +their votes, to bind him to accord to them a recognized share in the +government. After his election, and before his consecration, he swore +to observe certain capitulations, such as a participation of revenues +between himself and the cardinals; an obligation that lie would not +remove them, but would permit them to assemble twice a year to discuss +whether he had kept his oath. Repeatedly the popes broke their oath. On +one side, the cardinals wanted a larger share in the church government +and emoluments; on the other, the popes refused to surrender revenues or +power. The cardinals wanted to be conspicuous in pomp and extravagance, +and for this vast sums were requisite. In one instance, not fewer than +five hundred benefices were held by one of them; their friends and +retainers must be supplied, their families enriched. It was affirmed +that the whole revenues of France were insufficient to meet their +expenditures. In their rivalries it sometimes happened that no pope +was elected for several years. It seemed as if they wanted to show how +easily the Church could get on without the Vicar of Christ. + +Toward the close of the eleventh century the Roman Church became the +Roman court. In place of the Christian sheep gently following their +shepherd in the holy precincts of the city, there had arisen a +chancery of writers, notaries, tax-gatherers, where transactions about +privileges, dispensations, exemptions, were carried on; and suitors +went with petitions from door to door. Rome was a rallying-point for +place-hunters of every nation. In presence of the enormous mass of +business-processes, graces, indulgences, absolutions, commands, and +decisions, addressed to all parts of Europe and Asia, the functions +of the local church sank into insignificance. Several hundred persons, +whose home was the Curia, were required. Their aim was to rise in it by +enlarging the profits of the papal treasury. The whole Christian +world had become tributary to it. Here every vestige of religion had +disappeared; its members were busy with politics, litigations, and +processes; not a word could be heard about spiritual concerns. Every +stroke of the pen had its price. Benefices, dispensations, licenses, +absolutions, indulgences, privileges, were bought and sold like +merchandise. The suitor had to bribe every one, from the doorkeeper +to the pope, or his case was lost. Poor men could neither attain +preferment, nor hope for it; and the result was, that every cleric felt +he had a right to follow the example he had seen at Rome, and that +he might make profits out of his spiritual ministries and sacraments, +having bought the right to do so at Rome, and having no other way to +pay off his debt. The transference of power from Italians to Frenchmen, +through the removal of the Curia to Avignon, produced no change--only +the Italians felt that the enrichment of Italian families had slipped +out of their grasp. They had learned to consider the papacy as their +appanage, and that they, under the Christian dispensation, were God's +chosen people, as the Jews had been under the Mosaic. + +At the end of the thirteenth century a new kingdom was discovered, +capable of yielding immense revenues. This was Purgatory. It was shown +that the pope could empty it by his indulgences. In this there was no +need of hypocrisy. Things were done openly. The original germ of the +apostolic primacy had now expanded into a colossal monarchy. + +NEED OF A GENERAL COUNCIL. The Inquisition had made the papal system +irresistible. All opposition must be punished with death by fire. A mere +thought, without having betrayed itself by outward sign, was considered +as guilt. As time went on, this practice of the Inquisition became +more and more atrocious. Torture was resorted to on mere suspicion. +The accused was not allowed to know the name of his accuser. He was +not permitted to have any legal adviser. There was no appeal. The +Inquisition was ordered not to lean to pity. No recantation was of +avail. The innocent family of the accused was deprived of its +property by confiscation; half went to the papal treasury, half to the +inquisitors. Life only, said Innocent III., was to be left to the sons +of misbelievers, and that merely as an act of mercy. The consequence +was, that popes, such as Nicolas III., enriched their families through +plunder acquired by this tribunal. Inquisitors did the same habitually. + +The struggle between the French and Italians for the possession of the +papacy inevitably led to the schism of the fourteenth century. For more +than forty years two rival popes were now anathematizing each other, +two rival Curias were squeezing the nations for money. Eventually, there +were three obediences, and triple revenues to be extorted. Nobody, now, +could guarantee the validity of the sacraments, for nobody could be +sure which was the true pope. Men were thus compelled to think for +themselves. They could not find who was the legitimate thinker for them. +They began to see that the Church must rid herself of the curialistic +chains, and resort to a General Council. That attempt was again and +again made, the intention being to raise the Council into a Parliament +of Christendom, and make the pope its chief executive officer. But the +vast interests that had grown out of the corruption of ages could not +so easily be overcome; the Curia again recovered its ascendency, and +ecclesiastical trading was resumed. The Germans, who had never been +permitted to share in the Curia, took the leading part in these attempts +at reform. As things went on from bad to worse, even they at last found +out that all hope of reforming the Church by means of councils was +delusive. Erasmus exclaimed, "If Christ does not deliver his people +from this multiform ecclesiastical tyranny, the tyranny of the Turk will +become less intolerable." Cardinals' hats were now sold, and under Leo +X. ecclesiastical and religious offices were actually put up to auction. +The maxim of life had become, interest first, honor afterward. Among +the officials, there was not one who could be honest in the dark, and +virtuous without a witness. The violet-colored velvet cloaks and white +ermine capes of the cardinals were truly a cover for wickedness. + +The unity of the Church, and therefore its power, required the use of +Latin as a sacred language. Through this, Rome had stood in an attitude +strictly European, and was enabled to maintain a general international +relation. It gave her far more power than her asserted celestial +authority, and, much as she claims to have done, she is open to +condemnation that, with such a signal advantage in her hands, never +again to be enjoyed by any successor, she did not accomplish much +more. Had not the sovereign pontiffs been so completely occupied with +maintaining their emoluments and temporalities in Italy, they might have +made the whole continent advance like one man. Their officials could +pass without difficulty into every nation, and communicate without +embarrassment with each other, from Ireland to Bohemia, from Italy to +Scotland. The possession of a common tongue gave them the administration +of international affairs with intelligent allies everywhere, speaking +the same language. + +Not without cause was the hatred manifested by Rome to the restoration +of Greek and introduction of Hebrew, and the alarm with which she +perceived the modern languages forming out of the vulgar dialects. +Not without reason did the Faculty of Theology in Paris re-echo the +sentiment that, was prevalent in the time of Ximenes, "What will +become of religion if the study of Greek and Hebrew be permitted?" The +prevalence of Latin was the condition of her power; its deterioration, +the measure of her decay; its disuse, the signal of her limitation to +a little principality in Italy. In fact, the development of European +languages was the instrument of her overthrow. They formed an effectual +communication between the mendicant friars and the illiterate populace, +and there was not one of them that did not display in its earliest +productions a sovereign contempt for her. + +The rise of the many-tongued European literature was therefore +coincident with the decline of papal Christianity; European literature +was impossible under Catholic rule. A grand, a solemn, an imposing +religious unity enforced the literary unity which is implied in the use +of a single tongue. + +While thus the possession of a universal language so signally secured +her power, the real secret of much of the influence of the Church lay +in the control she had so skillfully obtained over domestic life. Her +influence diminished as that declined. Coincident with this was her +displacement in the guidance of international relations by diplomacy. + +CATHOLICITY AND CIVILIZATION. In the old times of Roman domination the +encampments of the legions in the provinces had always proved to be foci +of civilization. The industry and order exhibited in them presented an +example not lost on the surrounding barbarians of Britain, Gaul, and +Germany. And, though it was no part of their duty to occupy themselves +actively in the betterment of the conquered tribes, but rather to keep +them in a depressed condition that aided in maintaining subjection, +a steady improvement both in the individual and social condition took +place. + +Under the ecclesiastical domination of Rome similar effects occurred. In +the open country the monastery replaced the legionary encampment; in the +village or town, the church was a centre of light. A powerful effect +was produced by the elegant luxury of the former, and by the sacred and +solemn monitions of the latter. + +In extolling the papal system for what it did in the organization of the +family, the definition of civil policy, the construction of the states +of Europe, our praise must be limited by the recollection that the chief +object of ecclesiastical policy was the aggrandizement of the Church, +not the promotion of civilization. The benefit obtained by the laity was +not through any special intention, but incidental or collateral. + +There was no far-reaching, no persistent plan to ameliorate the physical +condition of the nations. Nothing was done to favor their intellectual +development; indeed, on the contrary, it was the settled policy to keep +them not merely illiterate, but ignorant. Century after century passed +away, and left the peasantry but little better than the cattle in the +fields. Intercommunication and locomotion, which tend so powerfully to +expand the ideas, received no encouragement; the majority of men died +without ever having ventured out of the neighborhood in which they were +born. For them there was no hope of personal improvement, none of the +bettering of their lot; there were no comprehensive schemes for the +avoidance of individual want, none for the resistance of famines. +Pestilences were permitted to stalk forth unchecked, or at best opposed +only by mummeries. Bad food, wretched clothing, inadequate shelter, were +suffered to produce their result, and at the end of a thousand years the +population of Europe had not doubled. + +If policy may be held accountable as much for the births it prevents as +for the deaths it occasions, what a great responsibility there is here! + +In this investigation of the influence of Catholicism, we must carefully +keep separate what it did for the people and what it did for itself. +When we think of the stately monastery, an embodiment of luxury, with +its closely-mown lawns, its gardens and bowers, its fountains and many +murmuring streams, we must connect it not with the ague-stricken peasant +dying without help in the fens, but with the abbot, his ambling palfrey, +his hawk and hounds, his well-stocked cellar and larder. He is part of +a system that has its centre of authority in Italy.. To that his +allegiance is due. For its behoof are all his acts. When we survey, as +still we may, the magnificent churches and cathedrals of those +times, miracles of architectural skill--the only real miracles of +Catholicism--when in imagination we restore the transcendently +imposing, the noble services of which they were once the scene, the +dim, religious-light streaming in through the many-colored windows, the +sounds of voices not inferior in their melody to those of heaven, +the priests in their sacred vestments, and above all the prostrate +worshipers listening to litanies and prayers in a foreign and unknown +tongue, shall we not ask ourselves, Was all this for the sake of those +worshipers, or for the glory of the great, the overshadowing authority +at Rome? + +But perhaps some one may say, Are there not limits to human +exertion--things which no political system, no human power, no matter +how excellent its intention, can accomplish? Men cannot be raised from +barbarism, a continent cannot be civilized, in a day! + +The Catholic power is not, however, to be tried by any such standard. +It scornfully rejected and still rejects a human origin. It claims to +be accredited supernaturally. The sovereign pontiff is the Vicar of God +upon earth. Infallible in judgment, it is given to him to accomplish +all things by miracle if need be. He had exercised an autocratic tyranny +over the intellect of Europe for more than a thousand years; and, though +on some occasions he had encountered the resistances of disobedient +princes, these, in the aggregate, were of so little moment, that the +physical, the political power of the continent may be affirmed to have +been at his disposal. + +Such facts as have been presented in this chapter were, doubtless, +well weighed by the Protestant Reformers of the sixteenth century, and +brought them to the conclusion that Catholicism had altogether failed in +its mission; that it had become a vast system of delusion and imposture, +and that a restoration of true Christianity could only be accomplished +by returning to the faith and practices of the primitive times. This was +no decision suddenly arrived at; it had long been the opinion of many +religious and learned men. The pious Fratricelli in the middle ages had +loudly expressed their belief that the fatal gift of a Roman emperor had +been the doom of true religion. It wanted nothing more than the voice of +Luther to bring men throughout the north of Europe to the determination +that the worship of the Virgin Mary, the invocation of saints, the +working of miracles, supernatural cures of the sick, the purchase of +indulgences for the perpetration of sin, and all other evil practices, +lucrative to their abettors, which had been fastened on Christianity, +but which were no part of it, should come to an end. Catholicism, as +a system for promoting the well-being of man, had plainly failed in +justifying its alleged origin; its performance had not corresponded to +its great pretensions; and, after an opportunity of more than a +thousand years' duration, it had left the masses of men submitted to +its influences, both as regards physical well-being and intellectual +culture, in a condition far lower than what it ought to have been. + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + SCIENCE IN RELATION TO MODERN CIVILIZATION. + + Illustration of the general influences of Science from the + history of America. + + THE INTRODUCTION OF SCIENCE INTO EUROPE.--It passed from + Moorish Spain to Upper Italy, and was favored by the absence + of the popes at Avignon.--The effects of printing, of + maritime adventure, and of the Reformation--Establishment of + the Italian scientific societies. + + THE INTELLECTUAL INFLUENCE OF SCIENCE.--It changed the mode + and the direction of thought in Europe.--The transactions of + the Royal Society of London, and other scientific societies, + furnish an illustration of this. + + THE ECONOMICAL INFLUENCE OF SCIENCE is illustrated by the + numerous mechanical and physical inventions, made since the + fourteenth century.--Their influence on health and domestic + life, on the arts of peace and of war. + + Answer to the question, What has Science done for humanity? + + +EUROPE, at the epoch of the Reformation, furnishes us with the result of +the influences of Roman Christianity in the promotion of civilization. +America, examined in like manner at the present time, furnishes us with +an illustration of the influences of science. + +SCIENCE AND CIVILIZATION. In the course of the seventeenth century a +sparse European population bad settled along the western Atlantic coast. +Attracted by the cod-fishery of Newfoundland, the French had a little +colony north of the St. Lawrence; the English, Dutch, and Swedes, +occupied the shore of New England and the Middle States; some Huguenots +were living in the Carolinas. Rumors of a spring that could confer +perpetual youth--a fountain of life--had brought a few Spaniards into +Florida. Behind the fringe of villages which these adventurers had +built, lay a vast and unknown country, inhabited by wandering Indians, +whose numbers from the Gulf of Mexico to the St. Lawrence did not exceed +one hundred and eighty thousand. From them the European strangers had +learned that in those solitary regions there were fresh-water seas, +and a great river which they called the Mississippi. Some said that it +flowed through Virginia into the Atlantic, some that it passed through +Florida, some that it emptied into the Pacific, and some that it reached +the Gulf of Mexico. Parted from their native countries by the stormy +Atlantic, to cross which implied a voyage of many months, these refugees +seemed lost to the world. + +But before the close of the nineteenth century the descendants of this +feeble people had become one of the great powers of the earth. They +had established a republic whose sway extended from the Atlantic to +the Pacific. With an army of more than a million men, not on paper, but +actually in the field, they had overthrown a domestic assailant. +They had maintained at sea a war-fleet of nearly seven hundred ships, +carrying five thousand guns, some of them the heaviest in the world. The +tonnage of this navy amounted to half a million. In the defense of their +national life they had expended in less than five years more than four +thousand million dollars. Their census, periodically taken, showed that +the population was doubling itself every twenty-five years; it justified +the expectation that at the close of that century it would number nearly +one hundred million souls. + +KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. A silent continent had been changed into a scene of +industry; it was full of the din of machinery and the restless moving +of men. Where there had been an unbroken forest, there were hundreds of +cities and towns. To commerce were furnished in profusion some of the +most important staples, as cotton, tobacco, breadstuffs. The mines +yielded incredible quantities of gold, iron, coal. Countless churches, +colleges, and public schools, testified that a moral influence vivified +this material activity. Locomotion was effectually provided for. The +railways exceeded in aggregate length those of all Europe combined. +In 1873 the aggregate length of the European railways was sixty-three +thousand three hundred and sixty miles, that of the American was seventy +thousand six hundred and fifty miles. One of them, built across the +continent, connected the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. + +But not alone are these material results worthy of notice. Others of a +moral and social kind force themselves on our attention. Four million +negro slaves had been set free. Legislation, if it inclined to the +advantage of any class, inclined to that of the poor. Its intention was +to raise them from poverty, and better their lot. A career was open +to talent, and that without any restraint. Every thing was possible to +intelligence and industry. Many of the most important public offices +were filled by men who had risen from the humblest walks of life. +If there was not social equality, as there never can be in rich and +prosperous communities, there was civil equality, rigorously maintained. + +It may perhaps be said that much of this material prosperity arose from +special conditions, such as had never occurred in the case of any people +before, There was a vast, an open theatre of action, a whole continent +ready for any who chose to take possession of it. Nothing more than +courage and industry was needed to overcome Nature, and to seize the +abounding advantages she offered. + +ILLUSTRATIONS FROM AMERICAN HISTORY. But must not men be animated by a +great principle who successfully transform the primeval solitudes into +an abode of civilization, who are not dismayed by gloomy forests, or +rivers, mountains, or frightful deserts, who push their conquering +way in the course of a century across a continent, and hold it in +subjection? Let us contrast with this the results of the invasion of +Mexico and Peru by the Spaniards, who in those countries overthrew +a wonderful civilization, in many respects superior to their own--a +civilization that had been accomplished without iron and gunpowder--a +civilization resting on an agriculture that had neither horse, nor +ox, nor plough. The Spaniards had a clear base to start from, and +no obstruction whatever in their advance. They ruined all that the +aboriginal children of America had accomplished. Millions of those +unfortunates were destroyed by their cruelty. Nations that for +many centuries had been living in contentment and prosperity, under +institutions shown by their history to be suitable to them, were plunged +into anarchy; the people fell into a baneful superstition, and a +greater part of their landed and other property found its way into the +possession of the Roman Church. + +I have selected the foregoing illustration, drawn from American history, +in preference to many others that might have been taken from European, +because it furnishes an instance of the operation of the acting +principle least interfered with by extraneous conditions. European +political progress is less simple than American. + +QUARREL BETWEEN FRANCE AND THE PAPACY. Before considering its manner +of action, and its results, I will briefly relate how the scientific +principle found an introduction into Europe. + +INTRODUCTION OF SCIENCE INTO EUROPE. Not only had the Crusades, for many +years, brought vast sums to Rome, extorted from the fears or the piety +of every Christian nation; they had also increased the papal power to a +most dangerous extent. In the dual governments everywhere prevailing in +Europe, the spiritual had obtained the mastery; the temporal was little +better than its servant. + +From all quarters, and under all kinds of pretenses, streams of money +were steadily flowing into Italy. The temporal princes found that there +were left for them inadequate and impoverished revenues. Philip the +Fair, King of France (A.D. 1300), not only determined to check this +drain from his dominions, by prohibiting the export of gold and +silver without his license; he also resolved that the clergy and the +ecclesiastical estates should pay their share of taxes to him. +This brought on a mortal contest with the papacy. The king was +excommunicated, and, in retaliation, he accused the pope, Boniface +VIII., of atheism; demanding that he should be tried by a general +council. He sent some trusty persons into Italy, who seized Boniface in +his palace at Anagni, and treated him with so much severity, that in a +few days he died. The succeeding pontiff, Benedict XI., was poisoned. + +The French king was determined that the papacy should be purified and +reformed; that it should no longer be the appanage of a few Italian +families, who were dexterously transmuting the credulity of Europe into +coin--that French influence should prevail in it. He Therefore came to +an understanding with the cardinals; a French archbishop was elevated +to the pontificate; he took the name of Clement V. The papal court was +removed to Avignon, in France, and Rome was abandoned as the metropolis +of Christianity. + +MOORISH SCIENCE INTRODUCED THROUGH FRANCE. Seventy years elapsed before +the papacy was restored to the Eternal City (A.D. 1376). The diminution +of its influence in the peninsula, that had thus occurred, gave +opportunity for the memorable intellectual movement which soon +manifested itself in the great commercial cities of Upper Italy. +Contemporaneously, also, there were other propitious events. The result +of the Crusades had shaken the faith of all Christendom. In an age when +the test of the ordeal of battle was universally accepted, those wars +had ended in leaving the Holy Land in the hands of the Saracens; the +many thousand Christian warriors who had returned from them did not +hesitate to declare that they had found their antagonists not such as +had been pictured by the Church, but valiant, courteous, just. Through +the gay cities of the South of France a love of romantic literature +had been spreading; the wandering troubadours had been singing their +songs--songs far from being restricted to ladye-love and feats of war; +often their burden was the awful atrocities that had been perpetrated +by papal authority--the religious massacres of Languedoc; often their +burden was the illicit amours of the clergy. From Moorish Spain the +gentle and gallant idea of chivalry had been brought, and with it the +noble sentiment of "personal honor," destined in the course of time to +give a code of its own to Europe. + +EFFECT OF THE GREAT SCHISM. The return of the papacy to Rome was far +from restoring the influence of the popes over the Italian Peninsula. +More than two generations had passed away since their departure, and, +had they come back even in their original strength, they could not +have resisted the intellectual progress that had been made during their +absence. The papacy, however, came back not to rule, but to be divided +against itself, to encounter the Great Schism. Out of its dissensions +emerged two rival popes; eventually there were three, each pressing +his claims upon the religious, each cursing his rival. A sentiment +of indignation soon spread all over Europe, a determination that the +shameful scenes which were then enacting should be ended. How could the +dogma of a Vicar of God upon earth, the dogma of an infallible pope, +be sustained in presence of such scandals? Herein lay the cause of that +resolution of the ablest ecclesiastics of those times (which, alas for +Europe! could not be carried into effect), that a general council should +be made the permanent religious parliament of the whole continent, +with the pope as its chief executive officer. Had that intention been +accomplished, there would have been at this day no conflict between +science and religion; the convulsion of the Reformation would have been +avoided; there would have been no jarring Protestant sects. But the +Councils of Constance and Basle failed to shake off the Italian yoke, +failed to attain that noble result. + +Catholicism was thus weakening; as its leaden pressure lifted, the +intellect of man expanded. The Saracens had invented the method of +making paper from linen rags and from cotton. The Venetians had brought +from China to Europe the art of printing. The former of these inventions +was essential to the latter. Hence forth, without the possibility of a +check, there was intellectual intercommunication among all men. + +INVENTION OF PRINTING. The invention of printing was a severe blow to +Catholicism, which had, previously, enjoyed the inappreciable advantage +of a monopoly of intercommunication. From its central seat, orders could +be disseminated through all the ecclesiastical ranks, and fulminated +through the pulpits. This monopoly and the amazing power it conferred +were destroyed by the press. In modern times, the influence of the +pulpit has become insignificant. The pulpit has been thoroughly +supplanted by the newspaper. + +Yet, Catholicism did not yield its ancient advantage without a struggle. +As soon as the inevitable tendency of the new art was detected, a +restraint upon it, under the form of a censorship, was attempted. It was +made necessary to have a permit, in order to print a book. For this, it +was needful that the work should have been read, examined, and approved +by the clergy. There must be a certificate that it was a godly and +orthodox book. A bull of excommunication was issued in 1501, by +Alexander VI., against printers who should publish pernicious doctrines. +In 1515 the Lateran Council ordered that no books should be printed but +such as had been inspected by the ecclesiastical censors, under pain of +excommunication and fine; the censors being directed "to take the utmost +care that nothing should be printed contrary to the orthodox faith." +There was thus a dread of religious discussion; a terror lest truth +should emerge. + +But these frantic struggles of the powers of ignorance were unavailing. +Intellectual intercommunication among men was secured. It culminated in +the modern newspaper, which daily gives its contemporaneous intelligence +from all parts of the world. Reading became a common occupation. In +ancient society that art was possessed by comparatively few persons. +Modern society owes some of its most striking characteristics to this +change. + +EFFECTS OF MARITIME ENTERPRISE. Such was the result of bringing into +Europe the manufacture of paper and the printing-press. In like manner +the introduction of the mariner's compass was followed by imposing +material and moral effects. These were--the discovery of America in +consequence of the rivalry of the Venetians and Genoese about the India +trade; the doubling of Africa by De Gama; and the circumnavigation of +the earth by Magellan. With respect to the last, the grandest of +all human undertakings, it is to be remembered that Catholicism had +irrevocably committed itself to the dogma of a flat earth, with the +sky as the floor of heaven, and hell in the under-world. Some of the +Fathers, whose authority was held to be paramount, had, as we have +previously said, furnished philosophical and religious arguments against +the globular form. The controversy had now suddenly come to an end--the +Church was found to be in error. + +The correction of that geographical error was by no means the only +important result that followed the three great voyages. The spirit of +Columbus, De Gama, Magellan, diffused itself among all the enterprising +men of Western Europe. Society had been hitherto living under the dogma +of "loyalty to the king, obedience to the Church." It had therefore been +living for others, not for itself. The political effect of that dogma +had culminated in the Crusades. Countless thousands had perished in +wars that could bring them no reward, and of which the result had been +conspicuous failure. Experience had revealed the fact that the only +gainers were the pontiffs, cardinals, and other ecclesiastics in Rome, +and the shipmasters of Venice. But, when it became known that the +wealth of Mexico, Peru, and India, might be shared by any one who had +enterprise and courage, the motives that had animated the restless +populations of Europe suddenly changed. The story of Cortez and Pizarro +found enthusiastic listeners everywhere. Maritime adventure supplanted +religious enthusiasm. + +If we attempt to isolate the principle that lay at the basis of the +wonderful social changes that now took place, we may recognize it +without difficulty. Heretofore each man had dedicated his services to +his superior--feudal or ecclesiastical; now he had resolved to gather +the fruits of his exertions himself. Individualism was becoming +predominant, loyalty was declining into a sentiment. We shall now see +how it was with the Church. + +INDIVIDUALISM. Individualism rests on the principle that a man shall +be his own master, that he shall have liberty to form his own opinions, +freedom to carry into effect his resolves. He is, therefore, ever +brought into competition with his fellow-men. His life is a display of +energy. + +To remove the stagnation of centuries front European life, to vivify +suddenly what had hitherto been an inert mass, to impart to it +individualism, was to bring it into conflict with the influences +that had been oppressing it. All through the fourteenth and fifteenth +centuries uneasy strugglings gave a premonition of what was coming. +In the early part of the sixteenth (1517), the battle was joined. +Individualism found its embodiment in a sturdy German monk, and +therefore, perhaps necessarily, asserted its rights under theological +forms. There were some preliminary skirmishes about indulgences and +other minor matters, but very soon the real cause of dispute came +plainly into view. Martin Luther refused to think as he was ordered to +do by his ecclesiastical superiors at Rome; he asserted that he had an +inalienable right to interpret the Bible for himself. + +At her first glance, Rome saw nothing in Martin Luther but a vulgar, +insubordinate, quarrelsome monk. Could the Inquisition have laid hold of +him, it would have speedily disposed of his affair; but, as the conflict +went on, it was discovered that Martin was not standing alone. Many +thousands of men, as resolute as himself, were coming up to his support; +and, while he carried on the combat with writings and words, they made +good his propositions with the sword. + +THE REFORMATION. The vilification which was poured on Luther and his +doings was so bitter as to be ludicrous. It was declared that his father +was not his mother's husband, but an impish incubus, who had deluded +her; that, after ten years' struggling with his conscience, he had +become an atheist; that he denied the immortality of the soul; that +he had composed hymns in honor of drunkenness, a vice to which he +was unceasingly addicted; that he blasphemed the Holy Scriptures, and +particularly Moses; that he did not believe a word of what he preached; +that he had called the Epistle of St. James a thing of straw; and, above +all, that the Reformation was no work of his, but, in reality, was due +to a certain astrological position of the stars. It was, however, a +vulgar saying among the Roman ecclesiastics that Erasmus laid the egg of +the Reformation, and Luther hatched it. + +Rome at first made the mistake of supposing that this was nothing more +than a casual outbreak; she failed to discern that it was, in fact, the +culmination of an internal movement which for two centuries had been +going on in Europe, and which had been hourly gathering force; that, +had there been nothing else, the existence of three popes--three +obediences--would have compelled men to think, to deliberate, to +conclude for themselves. The Councils of Constance and Basle taught them +that there was a higher power than the popes. The long and bloody wars +that ensued were closed by the Peace of Westphalia; and then it was +found that Central and Northern Europe had cast off the intellectual +tyranny of Rome, that individualism had carried its point, and had +established the right of every man to think for himself. + +DECOMPOSITION OF PROTESTANTISM. But it was impossible that the +establishment of this right of private judgment should end with the +rejection of Catholicism. Early in the movement some of the most +distinguished men, such as Erasmus, who had been among its first +promoters, abandoned it. They perceived that many of the Reformers +entertained a bitter dislike of learning, and they were afraid of +being brought under bigoted caprice. The Protestant party, having thus +established its existence by dissent and separation, must, in its turn, +submit to the operation of the same principles. A decomposition into +many subordinate sects was inevitable. And these, now that they had no +longer any thing to fear from their great Italian adversary, commenced +partisan warfares on each other. As, in different countries, first one +and then another sect rose to power, it stained itself with cruelties +perpetrated upon its competitors. The mortal retaliations that had +ensued, when, in the chances of the times, the oppressed got the better +of their oppressors, convinced the contending sectarians that they must +concede to their competitors what they claimed for themselves; and thus, +from their broils and their crimes, the great principle of toleration +extricated itself. But toleration is only an intermediate stage; and, +as the intellectual decomposition of Protestantism keeps going on, that +transitional condition will lead to a higher and nobler state--the hope +of philosophy in all past ages of the world--a social state in which +there shall be unfettered freedom for thought. Toleration, except +when extorted by fear, can only come from those who are capable of +entertaining and respecting other opinions than their own. It can +therefore only come from philosophy. History teaches us only too plainly +that fanaticism is stimulated by religion, and neutralized or eradicated +by philosophy. + +TOLERATION. The avowed object of the Reformation was, to remove from +Christianity the pagan ideas and pagan rites engrafted upon it by +Constantine and his successors, in their attempt to reconcile the Roman +Empire to it. The Protestants designed to bring it back to its primitive +purity; and hence, while restoring the ancient doctrines, they cast out +of it all such practices as the adoration of the Virgin Mary and +the invocation of saints. The Virgin Mary, we are assured by the +Evangelists, had accepted the duties of married life, and borne to her +husband several children. In the prevailing idolatry, she had ceased to +be regarded as the carpenter's wife; she had become the queen of heaven, +and the mother of God. + +DA VINCI. The science of the Arabians followed the invading track of +their literature, which had come into Christendom by two routes--the +south of France, and Sicily. Favored by the exile of the popes to +Avignon, and by the Great Schism, it made good its foothold in Upper +Italy. The Aristotelian or Inductive philosophy, clad in the Saracenic +costume that Averroes had given it, made many secret and not a few open +friends. It found many minds eager to receive and able to appreciate +it. Among these were Leonardo da Vinci, who proclaimed the fundamental +principle that experiment and observation are the only reliable +foundations of reasoning in science, that experiment is the only +trustworthy interpreter of Nature, and is essential to the ascertainment +of laws. He showed that the action of two perpendicular forces upon a +point is the same as that denoted by the diagonal of a rectangle, of +which they represent the sides. From this the passage to the proposition +of oblique forces was very easy. This proposition was rediscovered by +Stevinus, a century later, and applied by him to the explanation of the +mechanical powers. Da Vinci gave a clear exposition of the theory of +forces applied obliquely on a lever, discovered the laws of friction +subsequently demonstrated by Amontons, and understood the principle of +virtual velocities. He treated of the conditions of descent of bodies +along inclined planes and circular arcs, invented the camera-obscura, +discussed correctly several physiological problems, and foreshadowed +some of the great conclusions of modern geology, such as the nature +of fossil remains, and the elevation of continents. He explained the +earth-light reflected by the moon. With surprising versatility of genius +he excelled as a sculptor, architect, engineer; was thoroughly versed in +the astronomy, anatomy, and chemistry of his times. In painting, he +was the rival of Michel Angelo; in a competition between them, he was +considered to have established his superiority. His "Last Supper," on +the wall of the refectory of the Dominican convent of Sta. Maria delle +Grazie, is well known, from the numerous engravings and copies that have +been made of it. + +ITALIAN SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. Once firmly established in the north of +Italy, Science soon extended her sway over the entire peninsula. The +increasing number of her devotees is indicated by the rise and rapid +multiplication of learned societies. These were reproductions of the +Moorish ones that had formerly existed in Granada and Cordova. As if +to mark by a monument the track through which civilizing influences had +come, the Academy of Toulouse, founded in 1345, has survived to our +own times. It represented, however, the gay literature of the south of +France, and was known under the fanciful title of "the Academy of Floral +Games." The first society for the promotion of physical science, the +Academia Secretorum Naturae, was founded at Naples, by Baptista +Porta. It was, as Tiraboschi relates, dissolved by the ecclesiastical +authorities. The Lyncean was founded by Prince Frederic Cesi at Rome; +its device plainly indicated its intention: a lynx, with its eyes turned +upward toward heaven, tearing a triple-headed Cerberus with its claws. +The Accademia del Cimento, established at Florence, 1657, held its +meetings in the ducal palace. It lasted ten years, and was then +suppressed at the instance of the papal government; as an equivalent, +the brother of the grand-duke was made a cardinal. It numbered many +great men, such as Torricelli and Castelli, among its members. The +condition of admission into it was an abjuration of all faith, and a +resolution to inquire into the truth. These societies extricated the +cultivators of science from the isolation in which they had hitherto +lived, and, by promoting their intercommunication and union, imparted +activity and strength to them all. + +Returning now from this digression, this historical sketch of the +circumstances under which science was introduced into Europe, I pass to +the consideration of its manner of action and its results. + +INTELLECTUAL INFLUENCE OF SCIENCE. The influence of science on modern +civilization has been twofold: 1. Intellectual; 2. Economical. Under +these titles we may conveniently consider it. + +Intellectually it overthrew the authority of tradition. It refused to +accept, unless accompanied by proof, the dicta of any master, no matter +how eminent or honored his name. The conditions of admission into +the Italian Accademia del Cimento, and the motto adopted by the Royal +Society of London, illustrate the position it took in this respect. + +It rejected the supernatural and miraculous as evidence in physical +discussions. It abandoned sign-proof such as the Jews in old days +required, and denied that a demonstration can be given through an +illustration of something else, thus casting aside the logic that had +been in vogue for many centuries. + +In physical inquiries, its mode of procedure was, to test the value of +any proposed hypothesis, by executing computations in any special case +on the basis or principle of that hypothesis, and then, by performing an +experiment or making an observation, to ascertain whether the result +of these agreed with the result of the computation. If it did not, the +hypothesis was to be rejected. + +We may here introduce an illustration or two of this mode of procedure: + +THEORIES OF GRAVITATION AND PHLOGISTON. Newton, suspecting that the +influence of the earth's attraction, gravity, may extend as far as the +moon, and be the force that causes her to revolve in her orbit round the +earth, calculated that, by her motion in her orbit, she was deflected +from the tangent thirteen feet every minute; but, by ascertaining the +space through which bodies would fall in one minute at the earth's +surface, and supposing it to be diminished in the ratio of the inverse +square, it appeared that the attraction at the moon's orbit would draw +a body through more than fifteen feet. He, therefore, for the time, +considered his hypothesis as unsustained. But it so happened that Picard +shortly afterward executed more correctly a new measurement of a degree; +this changed the estimated magnitude of the earth, and the distance of +the moon, which was measured in earth-semidiameters. Newton now renewed +his computation, and, as I have related on a previous page, as it drew +to a close, foreseeing that a coincidence was about to be established, +was so much agitated that he was obliged to ask a friend to complete it. +The hypothesis was sustained. + +A second instance will sufficiently illustrate the method under +consideration. It is presented by the chemical theory of phlogiston. +Stahl, the author of this theory, asserted that there is a principle of +inflammability, to which he gave the name phlogiston, having the quality +of uniting with substances. Thus, when what we now term a metallic oxide +was united to it, a metal was produced; and, if the phlogiston were +withdrawn, the metal passed back into its earthy or oxidized state. On +this principle, then, the metals were compound bodies, earths combined +with phlogiston. + +SCIENCE AND ECCLESIASTICISM. But during the eighteenth century the +balance was introduced as an instrument of chemical research. Now, if +the phlogistic hypothesis be true, it would follow that a metal should +be the heavier, its oxide the lighter body, for the former contains +something--phlogiston--that has been added to the latter. But, on +weighing a portion of any metal, and also the oxide producible from it, +the latter proves to be the heavier, and here the phlogistic hypothesis +fails. Still further, on continuing the investigation, it may be shown +that the oxide or calx, as it used to be called, has become heavier by +combining with one of the ingredients of the air. + +To Lavoisier is usually attributed this test experiment; but the fact +that the weight of a metal increases by calcination was established +by earlier European experimenters, and, indeed, was well known to the +Arabian chemists. Lavoisier, however, was the first to recognize its +great importance. In his hands it produced a revolution in chemistry. + +The abandonment of the phlogistic theory is an illustration of the +readiness with which scientific hypotheses are surrendered, when found +to be wanting in accordance with facts. Authority and tradition pass for +nothing. Every thing is settled by an appeal to Nature. It is assumed +that the answers she gives to a practical interrogation will ever be +true. + +Comparing now the philosophical principles on which science was +proceeding, with the principles on which ecclesiasticism rested, we see +that, while the former repudiated tradition, to the latter it was the +main support while the former insisted on the agreement of calculation +and observation, or the correspondence of reasoning and fact, the latter +leaned upon mysteries; while the former summarily rejected its own +theories, if it saw that they could not be coordinated with Nature, the +latter found merit in a faith that blindly accepted the inexplicable, a +satisfied contemplation of "things above reason." The alienation between +the two continually increased. On one side there was a sentiment of +disdain, on the other a sentiment of hatred. Impartial witnesses on all +hands perceived that science was rapidly undermining ecclesiasticism. + +MATHEMATICS. Mathematics had thus become the great instrument of +scientific research, it had become the instrument of scientific +reasoning. In one respect it may be said that it reduced the operations +of the mind to a mechanical process, for its symbols often saved the +labor of thinking. The habit of mental exactness it encouraged extended +to other branches of thought, and produced an intellectual revolution. +No longer was it possible to be satisfied with miracle-proof, or the +logic that had been relied upon throughout the middle ages. Not only did +it thus influence the manner of thinking, it also changed the direction +of thought. Of this we may be satisfied by comparing the subjects +considered in the transactions of the various learned societies with the +discussions that had occupied the attention of the middle ages. + +But the use of mathematics was not limited to the verification of +theories; as above indicated, it also furnished a means of predicting +what had hitherto been unobserved. In this it offered a counterpart +to the prophecies of ecclesiasticism. The discovery of Neptune is +an instance of the kind furnished by astronomy, and that of conical +refraction by the optical theory of undulations. + +But, while this great instrument led to such a wonderful development in +natural science, it was itself undergoing development--improvement. Let +us in a few lines recall its progress. + +The germ of algebra may be discerned in the works of Diophantus of +Alexandria, who is supposed to have lived in the second century of our +era. In that Egyptian school Euclid had formerly collected the great +truths of geometry, and arranged them in logical sequence. Archimedes, +in Syracuse, had attempted the solution of the higher problems by the +method of exhaustions. Such was the tendency of things that, had the +patronage of science been continued, algebra would inevitably have been +invented. + +To the Arabians we owe our knowledge of the rudiments of algebra; we +owe to them the very name under which this branch of mathematics passes. +They had carefully added, to the remains of the Alexandrian School, +improvements obtained in India, and had communicated to the subject +a certain consistency and form. The knowledge of algebra, as they +possessed it, was first brought into Italy about the beginning of the +thirteenth century. It attracted so little attention, that nearly three +hundred years elapsed before any European work on the subject appeared. +In 1496 Paccioli published his book entitled "Arte Maggiore," or +"Alghebra." In 1501, Cardan, of Milan, gave a method for the solution of +cubic equations; other improvements were contributed by Scipio Ferreo, +1508, by Tartalea, by Vieta. The Germans now took up the subject. At +this time the notation was in an imperfect state. + +The publication of the Geometry of Descartes, which contains the +application of algebra to the definition and investigation of curve +lines (1637), constitutes an epoch in the history of the mathematical +sciences. Two years previously, Cavalieri's work on Indivisibles had +appeared. This method was improved by Torricelli and others. The way was +now open, for the development of the Infinitesimal Calculus, the method +of Fluxions of Newton, and the Differential and Integral Calculus +of Leibnitz. Though in his possession many years previously, Newton +published nothing on Fluxions until 1704; the imperfect notation he +employed retarded very much the application of his method. Meantime, on +the Continent, very largely through the brilliant solutions of some of +the higher problems, accomplished by the Bernouillis, the Calculus of +Leibnitz was universally accepted, and improved by many mathematicians. +An extraordinary development of the science now took place, and +continued throughout the century. To the Binomial theorem, previously +discovered by Newton, Taylor now added, in his "Method of Increments," +the celebrated theorem that bears his name. This was in 1715. The +Calculus of Partial Differences was introduced by Euler in 1734. It was +extended by D'Alembert, and was followed by that of Variations, by Euler +and Lagrange, and by the method of Derivative Functions, by Lagrange, in +1772. + +But it was not only in Italy, in Germany, in England, in France, that +this great movement in mathematics was witnessed; Scotland had added a +new gem to the intellectual diadem with which her brow is encircled, +by the grand invention of Logarithms, by Napier of Merchiston. It is +impossible to give any adequate conception of the scientific importance +of this incomparable invention. The modern physicist and astronomer +will most cordially agree with Briggs, the Professor of Mathematics in +Gresham College, in his exclamation: "I never saw a book that pleased +me better, and that made I me more wonder!" Not without reason did the +immortal Kepler regard Napier "to be the greatest man of his age, in the +department to which he had applied his abilities." Napier died in 1617. +It is no exaggeration to say that this invention, by shortening the +labors, doubled the life of the astronomer. + +But here I must check myself. I must remember that my present purpose is +not to give the history of mathematics, but to consider what science has +done for the advancement of human civilization. And now, at once, recurs +the question, How is it that the Church produced no geometer in her +autocratic reign of twelve hundred years? + +With respect to pure mathematics this remark may be made: Its +cultivation does not demand appliances that are beyond the reach of +most individuals. Astronomy must have its observatory, chemistry its +laboratory; but mathematics asks only personal disposition and a +few books. No great expenditures are called for, nor the services +of assistants. One would think that nothing could be more congenial, +nothing more delightful, even in the retirement of monastic life. + +Shall we answer with Eusebius, "It is through contempt of such useless +labor that we think so little of these matters; we turn our souls to +the exercise of better things?" Better things! What can be better than +absolute truth? Are mysteries, miracles, lying impostures, better? It +was these that stood in the way! + +The ecclesiastical authorities had recognized, from the outset of this +scientific invasion, that the principles it was disseminating were +absolutely irreconcilable with the current theology. Directly and +indirectly, they struggled against it. So great was their detestation +of experimental science, that they thought they had gained a great +advantage when the Accademia del Cimento was suppressed. Nor was the +sentiment restricted to Catholicism. When the Royal Society of London +was founded, theological odium was directed against it with so much +rancor that, doubtless, it would have been extinguished, had not King +Charles II. given it his open and avowed support. It was accused of +an intention of "destroying the established religion, of injuring the +universities, and of upsetting ancient and solid learning." + +THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. We have only to turn over the pages of its +Transactions to discern how much this society has done for the progress +of humanity. It was incorporated in 1662, and has interested itself in +all the great scientific movements and discoveries that have since been +made. It published Newton's "Principia;" it promoted Halley's voyage, +the first scientific expedition undertaken by any government; it made +experiments on the transfusion of blood, and accepted Harvey's discovery +of the circulation. The encouragement it gave to inoculation led Queen +Caroline to beg six condemned criminals for experiment, and then to +submit her own children to that operation. Through its encouragement +Bradley accomplished his great discovery, the aberration of the fixed +stars, and that of the nutation of the earth's axis; to these two +discoveries, Delambre says, we owe the exactness of modern astronomy. It +promoted the improvement of the thermometer, the measure of temperature, +and in Harrison's watch, the chronometer, the measure of time. Through +it the Gregorian Calendar was introduced into England, in 1752, against +a violent religious opposition. Some of its Fellows were pursued through +the streets by an ignorant and infuriated mob, who believed it had +robbed them of eleven days of their lives; it was found necessary to +conceal the name of Father Walmesley, a learned Jesuit, who had taken +deep interest in the matter; and, Bradley happening to die during the +commotion, it was declared that he had suffered a judgment from Heaven +for his crime! + +THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. If I were to attempt to do justice to the +merits of this great society, I should have to devote many pages, to +such subjects as the achromatic telescope of Dollond; the dividing +engine of Ramsden, which first gave precision to astronomical +observations, the measurement of a degree on the earth's surface by +Mason and Dixon; the expeditions of Cook in connection with the transit +of Venus; his circumnavigation of the earth; his proof that scurvy, +the curse of long sea-voyages, may be avoided by the use of vegetable +substances; the polar expeditions; the determination of the density of +the earth by Maskelyne's experiments at Scheliallion, and by those +of Cavendish; the discovery of the planet Uranus by Herschel; the +composition of water by Cavendish and Watt; the determination of the +difference of longitude between London and Paris; the invention of +the voltaic pile; the surveys of the heavens by the Herschels; +the development of the principle of interference by Young, and his +establishment of the undulatory theory of light; the ventilation +of jails and other buildings; the introduction of gas for city +illumination; the ascertainment of the length of the seconds-pendulum; +the measurement of the variations of gravity in different latitudes; the +operations to ascertain the curvature of the earth; the polar expedition +of Ross; the invention of the safety-lamp by Davy, and his decomposition +of the alkalies and earths; the electro-magnetic discoveries of Oersted +and Faraday; the calculating-engines of Babbage; the measures taken +at the instance of Humboldt for the establishment of many magnetic +observatories; the verification of contemporaneous magnetic disturbances +over the earth's surface. But it is impossible, in the limited space at +my disposal, to give even so little as a catalogue of its Transactions. +Its spirit was identical with that which animated the Accademia del +Cimento, and its motto accordingly was "Nullius in Verba." It proscribed +superstition, and permitted only calculation, observation, and +experiment. + +INFLUENCE OF SCIENCE. Not for a moment must it be supposed that in these +great attempts, these great Successes, the Royal Society stood alone. +In all the capitals of Europe there were Academies, Institutes, or +Societies, equal in distinction, and equally successful in promoting +human knowledge and modern civilization. + + +THE ECONOMICAL INFLUENCES OF SCIENCE. + +The scientific study of Nature tends not only to correct and ennoble +the intellectual conceptions of man; it serves also to ameliorate his +physical condition. It perpetually suggests to him the inquiry, how he +may make, by their economical application, ascertained facts subservient +to his use. + +The investigation of principles is quickly followed by practical +inventions. This, indeed, is the characteristic feature of our times. It +has produced a great revolution in national policy. + +In former ages wars were made for the procuring of slaves. A conqueror +transported entire populations, and extorted from them forced labor, for +it was only by human labor that human labor could be relieved. But when +it was discovered that physical agents and mechanical combinations could +be employed to incomparably greater advantage, public policy underwent a +change; when it was recognized that the application of a new principle, +or the invention of a new machine, was better than the acquisition of an +additional slave, peace became preferable to war. And not only so, but +nations possessing great slave or serf populations, as was the care in +America and Russia, found that considerations of humanity were supported +by considerations of interest, and set their bondmen free. + +SCIENTIFIC INVENTIONS. Thus we live in a period of which a +characteristic is the supplanting of human and animal labor by machines. +Its mechanical inventions have wrought a social revolution. We appeal +to the natural, not to the supernatural, for the accomplishment of our +ends. It is with the "modern civilization" thus arising that Catholicism +refuses to be reconciled. The papacy loudly proclaims its inflexible +repudiation of this state of affairs, and insists on a restoration of +the medieval condition of things. + +That a piece of amber, when rubbed, will attract and then repel light +bodies, was a fact known six hundred years before Christ. It remained an +isolated, uncultivated fact, a mere trifle, until sixteen hundred years +after Christ. Then dealt with by the scientific methods of mathematical +discussion and experiment, and practical application made of the result, +it has permitted men to communicate instantaneously with each other +across continents and under oceans. It has centralized the world. By +enabling the sovereign authority to transmit its mandates without +regard to distance or to time, it has revolutionized statesmanship and +condensed political power. + +In the Museum of Alexandria there was a machine invented by Hero, the +mathematician, a little more than one hundred years before Christ. It +revolved by the agency of steam, and was of the form that we should +now call a reaction-engine. This, the germ of one of the most important +inventions ever made, was remembered as a mere curiosity for seventeen +hundred years. + +Chance had nothing to do with the invention of the modern steam-engine. +It was the product of meditation and experiment. In the middle of the +seventeenth century several mechanical engineers attempted to utilize +the properties of steam; their labors were brought to perfection by Watt +in the middle of the eighteenth. + +The steam-engine quickly became the drudge of civilization. It performed +the work of many millions of men. It gave, to those who would have been +condemned to a life of brutal toil, the opportunity of better pursuits. +He who formerly labored might now think. + +Its earliest application was in such operations as pumping, wherein mere +force is required. Soon, however, it vindicated its delicacy of touch +in the industrial arts of spinning and weaving. It created vast +manufacturing establishments, and supplied clothing for the world. It +changed the industry of nations. + +In its application, first to the navigation of rivers, and then to the +navigation of the ocean, it more than quadrupled the speed that had +heretofore been attained. Instead of forty days being requisite for +the passage, the Atlantic might now be crossed in eight. But, in land +transportation, its power was most strikingly displayed. The admirable +invention of the locomotive enabled men to travel farther in less than +an hour than they formerly could have done in more than a day. + +The locomotive has not only enlarged the field of human activity, but, +by diminishing space, it has increased the capabilities of human life. +In the swift transportation of manufactured goods and agricultural +products, it has become a most efficient incentive to human industry + +The perfection of ocean steam-navigation was greatly promoted by the +invention of the chronometer, which rendered it possible to find +with accuracy the place of a ship at sea. The great drawback on the +advancement of science in the Alexandrian School was the want of an +instrument for the measurement of time, and one for the measurement of +temperature--the chronometer and the thermometer; indeed, the invention +of the latter is essential to that of the former. Clepsydras, or +water-clocks, had been tried, but they were deficient in accuracy. Of +one of them, ornamented with the signs of the zodiac, and destroyed by +certain primitive Christians, St. Polycarp significantly remarked, "In +all these monstrous demons is seen an art hostile to God." Not until +about 1680 did the chronometer begin to approach accuracy. Hooke, the +contemporary of Newton, gave it the balance-wheel, with the spiral +spring, and various escapements in succession were devised, such as the +anchor, the dead-beat, the duplex, the remontoir. Provisions for the +variation of temperature were introduced. It was brought to perfection +eventually by Harrison and Arnold, in their hands becoming an accurate +measure of the flight of time. To the invention of the chronometer +must be added that of the reflecting sextant by Godfrey. This permitted +astronomical observations to be made, notwithstanding the motion of a +ship. + +Improvements in ocean navigation are exercising a powerful influence on +the distribution of mankind. They are increasing the amount and altering +the character of colonization. + +DOMESTIC IMPROVEMENT. But not alone have these great discoveries and +inventions, the offspring of scientific investigation, changed the +lot of the human race; very many minor ones, perhaps individually +insignificant, have in their aggregate accomplished surprising effects. +The commencing cultivation of science in the fourteenth century gave +a wonderful stimulus to inventive talent, directed mainly to useful +practical results; and this, subsequently, was greatly encouraged by the +system of patents, which secure to the originator a reasonable portion +of the benefits of his skill. It is sufficient to refer in the most +cursory manner to a few of these improvements; we appreciate at once how +much they have done. The introduction of the saw-mill gave wooden floors +to houses, banishing those of gypsum, tile, or stone; improvements +cheapening the manufacture of glass gave windows, making possible the +warming of apartments. However, it was not until the sixteenth century +that glazing could be well done. The cutting of glass by the diamond +was then introduced. The addition of chimneys purified the atmosphere +of dwellings, smoky and sooty as the huts of savages; it gave that +indescribable blessing of northern homes--a cheerful fireside. Hitherto +a hole in the roof for the escape of the smoke, a pit in the midst of +the floor to contain the fuel, and to be covered with a lid when the +curfew-bell sounded or night came, such had been the cheerless and +inadequate means of warming. + +MUNICIPAL IMPROVEMENTS. Though not without a bitter resistance on +the part of the clergy, men began to think that pestilences are not +punishments inflicted by God on society for its religious shortcomings, +but the physical consequences of filth and wretchedness; that the proper +mode of avoiding them is not by praying to the saints, but by insuring +personal and municipal cleanliness. In the twelfth century it was +found necessary to pave the streets of Paris, the stench in them was so +dreadful At once dysenteries and spotted fever diminished; a sanitary +condition approaching that of the Moorish cities of Spain, which had +been paved for centuries, was attained. In that now beautiful metropolis +it was forbidden to keep swine, an ordinance resented by the monks +of the abbey of St. Anthony, who demanded that the pigs of that saint +should go where they chose; the government was obliged to compromise the +matter by requiring that bells should be fastened to the animals' necks. +King Philip, the son of Louis the Fat, had been killed by his horse +stumbling over a sow. Prohibitions were published against throwing slops +out of the windows. In 1870 an eye-witness, the author of this book, +at the close of the pontifical rule in Rome, found that, in walking the +ordure-defiled streets of that city, it was more necessary to inspect +the earth than to contemplate the heavens, in order to preserve personal +purity. Until the beginning of the seventeenth century, the streets of +Berlin were never swept. There was a law that every countryman, who came +to market with a cart, should carry back a load of dirt! + +Paving was followed by attempts, often of an imperfect kind, at +the construction of drains and sewers. It had become obvious to all +reflecting men that these were necessary to the preservation of health, +not only in towns, but in isolated houses. Then followed the lighting +of the public thoroughfares. At first houses facing the streets were +compelled to have candles or lamps in their windows; next the system +that had been followed with so much advantage in Cordova and Granada--of +having public lamps--was tried, but this was not brought to perfection +until the present century, when lighting by gas was invented. +Contemporaneously with public lamps were improved organizations for +night-watchmen and police. + +By the sixteenth century, mechanical inventions and manufacturing +improvements were exercising a conspicuous influence on domestic and +social life. There were looking-glasses and clocks on the walls, mantels +over the fireplaces. Though in many districts the kitchen-fire was still +supplied with turf, the use of coal began to prevail. The table in the +dining-room offered new delicacies; commerce was bringing to it foreign +products; the coarse drinks of the North were supplanted by the delicate +wines of the South. Ice-houses were constructed. The bolting of flour, +introduced at the windmills, had given whiter and finer bread. By +degrees things that had been rarities became common--Indian-corn, the +potato, the turkey, and, conspicuous in the long list, tobacco. Forks, +an Italian invention, displaced the filthy use of the fingers. It may be +said that the diet of civilized men now underwent a radical change. Tea +came from China, coffee from Arabia, the use of sugar from India, and +these to no insignificant degree supplanted fermented liquors. Carpets +replaced on the floors the layer of straw; in the chambers +there appeared better beds, in the wardrobes cleaner and more +frequently-changed clothing. In many towns the aqueduct was substituted +for the public fountain and the street-pump. Ceilings which in the old +days would have been dingy with soot and dirt, were now decorated with +ornamental frescoes. Baths were more commonly resorted to; there was +less need to use perfumery for the concealment of personal odors. +An increasing taste for the innocent pleasures of horticulture +was manifested, by the introduction of many foreign flowers in the +gardens--the tuberose, the auricula, the crown imperial, the Persian +lily, the ranunculus, and African marigolds. In the streets there +appeared sedans, then close carriages, and at length hackney-coaches. + +Among the dull rustics mechanical improvements forced their way, and +gradually attained, in the implements for ploughing, sowing, mowing, +reaping, thrashing, the perfection of our own times. + +MERCANTILE INVENTIONS. It began to be recognized, in spite of the +preaching of the mendicant orders, that poverty is the source of crime, +the obstruction to knowledge; that the pursuit of riches by commerce is +far better than the acquisition of power by war. For, though it may +be true, as Montesquieu says, that, while commerce unites nations, it +antagonizes individuals, and makes a traffic of morality, it alone can +give unity to the world; its dream, its hope, is universal peace. + +MEDICAL IMPROVEMENTS. Though, instead of a few pages, it would require +volumes to record adequately the ameliorations that took place in +domestic and social life after science began to exert its beneficent +influences, and inventive talent came to the aid of industry, there +are some things which cannot be passed in silence. From the port of +Barcelona the Spanish khalifs had carried on an enormous commerce, and +they with their coadjutors--Jewish merchants--had adopted or originated +many commercial inventions, which, with matters of pure science, +they had transmitted to the trading communities of Europe. The art of +book-keeping by double entry was thus brought into Upper Italy. The +different kinds of insurance were adopted, though strenuously resisted +by the clergy. They opposed fire and marine insurance, on the ground +that it is a tempting of Providence. Life insurance was regarded as +an act of interference with the consequences of God's will. Houses +for lending money on interest and on pledges, that is, banking and +pawnbroking establishments, were bitterly denounced, and especially was +indignation excited against the taking of high rates of interest, +which was stigmatized as usury--a feeling existing in some backward +communities up to the present day. Bills of exchange in the present form +and terms were adopted, the office of the public notary established, and +protests for dishonored obligations resorted to. Indeed, it may be said, +with but little exaggeration, that the commercial machinery now used +was thus introduced. I have already remarked that, in consequence of the +discovery of America, the front of Europe had been changed. Many rich +Italian merchants and many enterprising Jews, had settled in Holland +England, France, and brought into those countries various mercantile +devices. The Jews, who cared nothing about papal maledictions, were +enriched by the pontifical action in relation to the lending of money at +high interest; but Pius II., perceiving the mistake that had been +made, withdrew his opposition. Pawnbroking establishments were finally +authorized by Leo X., who threatened excommunication of those who wrote +against them. In their turn the Protestants now exhibited a dislike +against establishments thus authorized by Rome. As the theological +dogma, that the plague, like the earthquake, is an unavoidable +visitation from God for the sins of men, began to be doubted, attempts +were made to resist its progress by the establishment of quarantines. +When the Mohammedan discovery of inoculation was brought from +Constantinople in 1721, by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, it was so +strenuously resisted by the clergy, that nothing short of its adoption +by the royal family of England brought it into use. A similar resistance +was exhibited when Jenner introduced his great improvement, vaccination; +yet a century ago it was the exception to see a face unpitted by +smallpox--now it is the exception to see one so disfigured. In like +manner, when the great American discovery of anaesthetics was applied +in obstetrical cases, it was discouraged, not so much for physiological +reasons, as under the pretense that it was an impious attempt to escape +from the curse denounced against all women in Genesis iii. 16. + +MAGIC AND MIRACLES. Inventive ingenuity did not restrict itself to the +production of useful contrivances, it added amusing ones. Soon after the +introduction of science into Italy, the houses of the virtuosi began to +abound in all kinds of curious mechanical surprises, and, as they +were termed, magical effects. In the latter the invention of the +magic-lantern greatly assisted. Not without reason did the ecclesiastics +detest experimental philosophy, for a result of no little importance +ensued--the juggler became a successful rival to the miracle-worker. The +pious frauds enacted in the churches lost their wonder when brought +into competition with the tricks of the conjurer in the market-place: he +breathed flame, walked on burning coals, held red-hot iron in his +teeth, drew basketfuls of eggs out of his mouth, worked miracles by +marionettes. Yet the old idea of the supernatural was with difficulty +destroyed. A horse, whose master had taught him many tricks, was tried +at Lisbon in 1601, found guilty of being, possessed by the devil, and +was burnt. Still later than that many witches were brought to the stake. + +DISCOVERIES IN ASTRONOMY AND CHEMISTRY. Once fairly introduced, +discovery and invention have unceasingly advanced at an accelerated +pace. Each continually reacted on the other, continually they sapped +supernaturalism. De Dominis commenced, and Newton completed, the +explanation of the rainbow; they showed that it was not the weapon of +warfare of God, but the accident of rays of light in drops of water. De +Dominis was decoyed to Rome through the promise of an archbishopric, +and the hope of a cardinal's hat. He was lodged in a fine residence, but +carefully watched. Accused of having suggested a concord between Rome +and England, he was imprisoned in the castle of St Angelo, and there +died. He was brought in his coffin before an ecclesiastical tribunal, +adjudged guilty of heresy, and his body, with a heap of heretical books, +was cast into the flames. Franklin, by demonstrating the identity of +lightning and electricity, deprived Jupiter of his thunder-bolt. The +marvels of superstition were displaced by the wonders of truth. The two +telescopes, the reflector and the achromatic, inventions of the last +century, permitted man to penetrate into the infinite grandeurs of +the universe, to recognize, as far as such a thing is possible, its +illimitable spaces, its measureless times; and a little later the +achromatic microscope placed before his eyes the world of the infinitely +small. The air-balloon carried him above the clouds, the diving-bell +to the bottom of the sea. The thermometer gave him true measures of +the variations of heat; the barometer, of the pressure of the air. The +introduction of the balance imparted exactness to chemistry, it proved +the indestructibility of matter. The discovery of oxygen, hydrogen, and +many other gases, the isolation of aluminum, calcium, and other metals, +showed that earth and air and water are not elements. With an enterprise +that can never be too much commended, advantage was taken of the +transits of Venus, and, by sending expeditions to different regions, +the distance of the earth from the sun was determined. The step that +European intellect had made between 1456 and 1759 was illustrated by +Halley's comet. When it appeared in the former year, it was considered +as the harbinger of the vengeance of God, the dispenser of the most +dreadful of his retributions, war, pestilence, famine. By order of the +pope, all the church-bells in Europe were rung to scare it away, the +faithful were commanded to add each day another prayer; and, as their +prayers had often in so marked a manner been answered in eclipses and +droughts and rains, so on this occasion it was declared that a victory +over the comet had been vouchsafed to the pope. But, in the mean time, +Halley, guided by the revelations of Kepler and Newton, had discovered +that its motions, so far from being controlled by the supplications of +Christendom, were guided in an elliptic orbit by destiny. Knowing that +Nature bad denied to him an opportunity of witnessing the fulfillment +of his daring prophecy, he besought the astronomers of the succeeding +generation to watch for its return in 1759, and in that year it came. + +INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES. Whoever will in a spirit of impartiality +examine what had been done by Catholicism for the intellectual and +material advancement of Europe, during her long reign, and what has been +done by science in its brief period of action, can, I am persuaded, come +to no other conclusion than this, that, in instituting a comparison, he +has established a contrast. And yet, how imperfect, how inadequate is +the catalogue of facts I have furnished in the foregoing pages! I have +said nothing of the spread of instruction by the diffusion of the arts +of reading and writing, through public schools, and the consequent +creation of a reading community; the modes of manufacturing public +opinion by newspapers and reviews, the power of journalism, the +diffusion of information public and private by the post-office and cheap +mails, the individual and social advantages of newspaper advertisements. +I have said nothing of the establishment of hospitals, the first +exemplar of which was the Invalides of Paris; nothing of the improved +prisons, reformatories, penitentiaries, asylums, the treatment of +lunatics, paupers, criminals; nothing of the construction of canals, of +sanitary engineering, or of census reports; nothing of the invention of +stereotyping, bleaching by chlorine, the cotton-gin, or of the marvelous +contrivances with which cotton-mills are filled--contrivances which have +given us cheap clothing, and therefore added to cleanliness, comfort, +health; nothing of the grand advancement of medicine and surgery, or +of the discoveries in physiology, the cultivation of the fine arts, +the improvement of agriculture and rural economy, the introduction +of chemical manures and farm-machinery. I have not referred to the +manufacture of iron and its vast affiliated industries; to those of +textile fabrics; to the collection of museums of natural history, +antiquities, curiosities. I have passed unnoticed the great subject of +the manufacture of machinery by itself--the invention of the slide-rest, +the planing-machine, and many other contrivances by which engines can +be constructed with almost mathematical correctness. I have said nothing +adequate about the railway system, or the electric telegraph, nor about +the calculus, or lithography, the airpump, or the voltaic battery; the +discovery of Uranus or Neptune, and more than a hundred asteroids; the +relation of meteoric streams to comets; nothing of the expeditions by +land and sea that have been sent forth by various governments for the +determination of important astronomical or geographical questions; +nothing of the costly and accurate experiments they have caused to be +made for the ascertainment of fundamental physical data. I have been so +unjust to our own century that I have made no allusion to some of its +greatest scientific triumphs: its grand conceptions in natural history; +its discoveries in magnetism and electricity; its invention of the +beautiful art of photography; its applications of spectrum analysis; its +attempts to bring chemistry under the three laws of Avogadro, of Boyle +and Mariotte, and of Charles; its artificial production of organic +substances from inorganic material, of which the philosophical +consequences are of the utmost importance; its reconstruction of +physiology by laying the foundation of that science on chemistry; its +improvements and advances in topographical surveying and in the correct +representation of the surface of the globe. I have said nothing about +rifled-guns and armored ships, nor of the revolution that has been made +in the art of war; nothing of that gift to women, the sewing-machine; +nothing of the noble contentions and triumphs of the arts of peace--the +industrial exhibitions and world's fairs. + +What a catalogue have we here, and yet how imperfect! It gives merely a +random glimpse at an ever-increasing intellectual commotion--a mention +of things as they casually present themselves to view. How striking +the contrast between this literary, this scientific activity, and the +stagnation of the middle ages! + +The intellectual enlightenment that surrounds this activity has imparted +unnumbered blessings to the human race. In Russia it has emancipated a +vast serf-population; in America it has given freedom to four million +negro slaves. In place of the sparse dole of the monastery-gate, it has +organized charity and directed legislation to the poor. It has shown +medicine its true function, to prevent rather than to cure disease. In +statesmanship it has introduced scientific methods, displacing random +and empirical legislation by a laborious ascertainment of social facts +previous to the application of legal remedies. So conspicuous, so +impressive is the manner in which it is elevating men, that the hoary +nations of Asia seek to participate in the boon. Let us not forget that +our action on them must be attended by their reaction on us. If the +destruction of paganism was completed when all the gods were brought +to Rome and confronted there, now, when by our wonderful facilities of +locomotion strange nations and conflicting religions are brought into +common presence--the Mohammedan, the Buddhist, the Brahman-modifications +of them all must ensue. In that conflict science alone will stand +secure; for it has given us grander views of the universe, more awful +views of God. + +AMERICAN AND FRENCH REVOLUTIONS. The spirit that has imparted life to +this movement, that has animated these discoveries and inventions, is +Individualism; in some minds the hope of gain, in other and nobler ones +the expectation of honor. It is, then, not to be wondered at that +this principle found a political embodiment, and that, during the last +century, on two occasions, it gave rise to social convulsions--the +American and the French Revolutions. The former has ended in the +dedication of a continent to Individualism--there, under republican +forms, before the close of the present century, one hundred million +people, with no more restraint than their common security requires, will +be pursuing an unfettered career. The latter, though it has modified +the political aspect of all Europe, and though illustrated by surprising +military successes, has, thus far, not consummated its intentions; again +and again it has brought upon France fearful disasters. Her dual form of +government--her allegiance to her two sovereigns, the political and the +spiritual--has made her at once the leader and the antagonist of modern +progress. With one hand she has enthroned Reason, with the other she +has re-established and sustained the pope. Nor will this anomaly in her +conduct cease until she bestows a true education on all her children, +even on those of the humblest rustic. + +SCIENCE AND CIVILIZATION. The intellectual attack made on existing +opinions by the French Revolution was not of a scientific, but of a +literary character; it was critical and aggressive. But Science has +never been an aggressor. She has always acted on the defensive, and left +to her antagonist the making of wanton attacks. Nevertheless, literary +dissent is not of such ominous import as scientific; for literature is, +in its nature, local--science is cosmopolitan. + +If, now, we demand, What has science done for the promotion of modern +civilization; what has it done for the happiness, the well-being of +society? we shall find our answer in the same manner that we reached +a just estimate of what Latin Christianity had done. The reader of the +foregoing paragraphs would undoubtedly infer that there must have +been an amelioration in the lot of our race; but, when we apply the +touchstone of statistics, that inference gathers precision. Systems of +philosophy and forms of religion find a measure of their influence on +humanity in census-returns. Latin Christianity, in a thousand years, +could not double the population of Europe; it did not add perceptibly +to the term of individual life. But, as Dr. Jarvis, in his report to +the Massachusetts Board of Health, has stated, at the epoch of the +Reformation "the average longevity in Geneva was 21.21 years, between +1814 and 1833 it was 40.68; as large a number of persons now live to +seventy years as lived to forty, three hundred years ago. In 1693 the +British Government borrowed money by selling annuities on lives from +infancy upward, on the basis of the average longevity. The contract +was profitable. Ninety-seven years later another tontine, or scale +of annuities, on the basis of the same expectation of life as in the +previous century, was issued. These latter annuitants, however, lived so +much longer than their predecessors, that it proved to be a very costly +loan for the government. It was found that, while ten thousand of each +sex in the first tontine died under the age of twenty-eight, only five +thousand seven hundred and seventy-two males and six thousand four +hundred and sixteen females in the second tontine died at the same age, +one hundred years later." + +We have been comparing the spiritual with the practical, the imaginary +with the real. The maxims that have been followed in the earlier and the +later period produced their inevitable result. In the former that maxim +was, "Ignorance is the mother of Devotion in the latter, Knowledge is +Power." + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + THE IMPENDING CRISIS. INDICATIONS OF THE APPROACH OF A + RELIGIOUS CRISIS.--THE PREDOMINATING CHRISTIAN CHURCH, THE + ROMAN, PERCEIVES THIS, AND MAKES PREPARATION FOR IT.--PIUS + IX CONVOKES AN OECUMENICAL COUNCIL--RELATIONS OF THE + DIFFERENT EUROPEAN GOVERNMENTS TO THE PAPACY.--RELATIONS OF + THE CHURCH TO SCIENCE, AS INDICATED BY THE ENCYCLICAL LETTER + AND THE SYLLABUS. + + Acts of the Vatican Council in relation to the infallibility + of the pope, and to Science.--Abstract of decisions arrived + at. + + Controversy between the Prussian Government and the papacy.-- + It is a contest between the State and the Church for + supremacy--Effect of dual government in Europe--Declaration + by the Vatican Council of its position as to Science--The + dogmatic constitution of the Catholic faith.--Its + definitions respecting God, Revelation, Faith, Reason.--The + anathemas it pronounces.--Its denunciation of modern + civilization. + + The Protestant Evangelical Alliance and its acts. + + General review of the foregoing definitions, and acts.-- + Present condition of the controversy, and its future + prospects. + + +PREDOMINANCE OF CATHOLICITY. No one who is acquainted with the present +tone of thought in Christendom can hide from himself the fact that an +intellectual, a religious crisis is impending. + +In all directions we see the lowering skies, we hear the mutterings +of the coming storm. In Germany, the national party is arraying itself +against the ultramontane; in France, the men of progress are struggling +against the unprogressive, and in their contest the political supremacy +of that great country is wellnigh neutralized or lost. In Italy, Rome +has passed into the hands of an excommunicated king. The sovereign +pontiff, feigning that he is a prisoner, is fulminating from the Vatican +his anathemas, and, in the midst of the most convincing proofs of his +manifold errors, asserting his own infallibility. A Catholic archbishop +with truth declares that the whole civil society of Europe seems to be +withdrawing itself in its public life from Christianity. In England and +America, religious persons perceive with dismay that the intellectual +basis of faith has been undermined by the spirit of the age. They +prepare for the approaching disaster in the best manner they can. + +The most serious trial through which society can pass is encountered in +the exuviation of its religious restraints. The history of Greece and +the history of Rome exhibit to us in an impressive manner how great are +the perils. But it is not given to religions to endure forever. They +necessarily undergo transformation with the intellectual development of +man. How many countries are there professing the same religion now that +they did at the birth of Christ? + +It is estimated that the entire population of Europe is about three +hundred and one million. Of these, one hundred and eighty-five million +are Roman Catholics, thirty-three million are Greek Catholics. Of +Protestants there are seventy-one million, separated into many sects. Of +Jews, five million; of Mohammedans, seven million. + +Of the religious subdivisions of America an accurate numerical statement +cannot be given. The whole of Christian South America is Roman Catholic, +the same may be said of Central America and of Mexico, as also of the +Spanish and French West India possessions. In the United States and +Canada the Protestant population predominates. To Australia the same +remark applies. In India the sparse Christian population sinks into +insignificance in presence of two hundred million Mohammedans and other +Oriental denominations. The Roman Catholic Church is the most widely +diffused and the most powerfully organized of all modern societies. It +is far more a political than a religious combination. Its principle is +that all power is in the clergy, and that for laymen there is only the +privilege of obedience. The republican forms under which the Churches +existed in primitive Christianity have gradually merged into an absolute +centralization, with a man as vice-God at its head. This Church +asserts that the divine commission under which it acts comprises civil +government; that it has a right to use the state for its own purposes, +but that the state has no right to intermeddle with it; that even in +Protestant countries it is not merely a coordinate government, but the +sovereign power. It insists that the state has no rights over any thing +which it declares to be in its domain, and that Protestantism, being +a mere rebellion, has no rights at all; that even in Protestant +communities the Catholic bishop is the only lawful spiritual pastor. + +It is plain, therefore, that of professing Christians the vast majority +are Catholic; and such is the authoritative demand of the papacy for +supremacy, that, in any survey of the present religious condition of +Christendom, regard must be mainly had to its acts. Its movements are +guided by the highest intelligence and skill. Catholicism obeys the +orders of one man, and has therefore a unity, a compactness, a power, +which Protestant denominations do not possess. Moreover, it derives +inestimable strength from the souvenirs of the great name of Rome. + +Unembarrassed by any hesitating sentiment, the papacy has contemplated +the coming intellectual crisis. It has pronounced its decision, and +occupied what seems to it to be the most advantageous ground. + +This definition of position we find in the acts of the late Vatican +Council. + +THE OECUMENICAL COUNCIL. Pius IX., by a bull dated June 29, 1868, +convoked an Oecumenical Council, to meet in Rome, on December 8, 1869. +Its sessions ended in July, 1870. Among other matters submitted to its +consideration, two stand forth in conspicuous prominence--they are the +assertion of the infallibility of the Roman pontiff, and the definition +of the relations of religion to science. + +But the convocation of the Council was far from meeting with general +approval. + +The views of the Oriental Churches were, for the most part, unfavorable. +They affirmed that they saw a desire in the Roman pontiff to set himself +up as the head of Christianity, whereas they recognized the Lord Jesus +Christ alone as the head of the Church. They believed that the Council +would only lead to new quarrels and scandals. The sentiment of these +venerable Churches is well shown by the incident that, when, in +1867, the Nestorian Patriarch Simeon had been invited by the Chaldean +Patriarch to return to Roman Catholic unity, he, in his reply, showed +that there was no prospect for harmonious action between the East and +the West: "You invite me to kiss humbly the slipper of the Bishop of +Rome; but is he not, in every respect, a man like yourself--is his +dignity superior to yours? We will never permit to be introduced into +our holy temples of worship images and statues, which are nothing but +abominable and impure idols. What! shall we attribute to Almighty God a +mother, as you dare to do? Away from us, such blasphemy!" + +EXPECTATIONS OF THE PAPACY. Eventually, the patriarchs, archbishops, and +bishops, from all regions of the world, who took part in this Council, +were seven hundred and four. + +Rome had seen very plainly that Science was not only rapidly undermining +the dogmas of the papacy, but was gathering great political power. She +recognized that all over Europe there was a fast-spreading secession +among persons of education, and that its true focus was North Germany. + +She looked, therefore, with deep interest on the Prusso-Austrian War, +giving to Austria whatever encouragement she could. The battle of Sadowa +was a bitter disappointment to her. + +With satisfaction again she looked upon the breaking out of the +Franco-Prussian War, not doubting that its issue would be favorable to +France, and therefore favorable to her. Here, again, she was doomed to +disappointment at Sedan. + +Having now no further hope, for many years to come, from external war, +she resolved to see what could be done by internal insurrection, and the +present movement in the German Empire is the result of her machinations. + +Had Austria or had France succeeded, Protestantism would have been +overthrown along with Prussia. + +But, while these military movements were being carried on, a movement of +a different, an intellectual kind, was engaged in. Its principle was, to +restore the worn-out mediaeval doctrines and practices, carrying them to +an extreme, no matter what the consequences might be. + +ENCYCLICAL LETTER AND SYLLABUS. Not only was it asserted that the papacy +has a divine right to participate in the government of all countries, +coordinately with their temporal authorities, but that the supremacy of +Rome in this matter must be recognized; and that in any question between +them the temporal authority must conform itself to her order. + +And, since the endangering of her position had been mainly brought about +by the progress of science, she presumed to define its boundaries, and +prescribe limits to its authority. Still more, she undertook to denounce +modern civilization. + +These measures were contemplated soon after the return of his Holiness +from Gaeta in 1848, and were undertaken by the advice of the Jesuits, +who, lingering in the hope that God would work the impossible, supposed +that the papacy, in its old age, might be reinvigorated. The organ of +the Curia proclaimed the absolute independence of the Church as regards +the state; the dependence of the bishops on the pope; of the diocesan +clergy on the bishops; the obligation of the Protestants to abandon +their atheism, and return to the fold; the absolute condemnation of all +kinds of toleration. In December, 1854, in an assembly of bishops, the +pope had proclaimed the dogma of the immaculate conception. Ten years +subsequently he put forth the celebrated Encyclical Letter and the +Syllabus. + +The Encyclical Letter is dated December 8, 1864. It was drawn up by +learned ecclesiastics, and subsequently debated at the Congregation of +the Holy Office, then forwarded to prelates, and finally gone over by +the pope and cardinals. + +ENCYCLICAL LETTER AND SYLLABUS. Many of the clergy objected to its +condemnation of modern civilization. Some of the cardinals were +reluctant to concur in it. The Catholic press accepted it, not, however, +without misgivings and regrets. The Protestant governments put no +obstacle in its way; the Catholic were embarrassed by it. France allowed +the publication only of that portion proclaiming the jubilee; Austria +and Italy permitted its introduction, but withheld their approval. +The political press and legislatures of Catholic countries gave it an +unfavorable reception. Many deplored it as likely to widen the breach +between the Church and modern society. The Italian press regarded it as +determining a war, without truce or armistice, between the papacy and +modern civilization. Even in Spain there were journals that regretted +"the obstinacy and blindness of the court of Rome, in branding and +condemning modern civilization." + +It denounces that "most pernicious and insane opinion, that liberty of +conscience and of worship is the right of every man, and that this right +ought, in every well-governed state, to be proclaimed and asserted by +law; and that the will of the people, manifested by public opinion (as +it is called), or by other means, constitutes a supreme law, independent +of all divine and human rights." It denies the right of parents to +educate their children outside the Catholic Church. It denounces "the +impudence" of those who presume to subordinate the authority of the +Church and of the Apostolic See, "conferred upon it by Christ our Lord, +to the judgment of the civil authority." His Holiness commends, to +the venerable brothers to whom the Encyclical is addressed, incessant +prayer, and, "in order that God may accede the more easily to our and +your prayers, let us employ in all confidence, as our mediatrix with +him, the Virgin Mary, mother of God, who sits as a queen upon the +right hand of her only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in a golden +vestment, clothed around with various adornments. There is nothing she +cannot obtain from him." + +CONVOCATION OF THE COUNCIL. Plainly, the principle now avowed by the +papacy must bring it into collision even with governments which had +heretofore maintained amicable relations with it. Great dissatisfaction +was manifested by Russia, and the incidents that ensued drew forth from +his Holiness an allocution (November, 1866) condemnatory of the course +of that government. To this, Russia replied, by declaring the Concordat +of 1867 abrogated. + +Undeterred by the result of the battle of Sadowa (July, 1866), though +it was plain that the political condition of Europe was now profoundly +affected, and especially the relations of the papacy, the pope delivered +an allocution (June 27, 1867), confirming the Encyclical and Syllabus. +He announced his intention of convoking an Oecumenical Council. + +Accordingly, as we have already mentioned, in the following year (June +29, 1868), a bull was issued convoking that Council. Misunderstandings, +however, had now sprung up with Austria. The Austrian Reichsrath +had adopted laws introducing equality of civil rights for all the +inhabitants of the empire, and restricting the influence of the Church. +This produced on the part of the papal government an expostulation. +Acting as Russia had done, the Austrian Government found it necessary to +abrogate the Concordat of 1855. + +In France, as above stated, the publication of the entire Syllabus was +not permitted; but Prussia, desirous of keeping on good terms with the +papacy, did not disallow it. The exacting disposition of the papacy +increased. It was openly declared that the faithful must now sacrifice +to the Church, property, life, and even their intellectual convictions. +The Protestants and the Greeks were invited to tender their submission. + +THE VATICAN COUNCIL. On the appointed day, the Council opened. Its +objects were, to translate the Syllabus into practice, to establish the +dogma of papal infallibility, and define the relations of religion to +science. Every preparation had been made that the points determined on +should be carried. The bishops were informed that they were coming to +Rome not to deliberate, but to sanction decrees previously made by +an infallible pope. No idea was entertained of any such thing as +free discussion. The minutes of the meetings were not permitted to be +inspected; the prelates of the opposition were hardly allowed to speak. +On January 22, 1870, a petition, requesting that the infallibility of +the pope should be defined, was presented; an opposition petition of the +minority was offered. Hereupon, the deliberations of the minority were +forbidden, and their publications prohibited. And, though the Curia had +provided a compact majority, it was found expedient to issue an order +that to carry any proposition it was not necessary that the vote should +be near unanimity, a simple majority sufficed. The remonstrances of the +minority were altogether unheeded. + +As the Council pressed forward to its object, foreign authorities +became alarmed at its reckless determination. A petition drawn up by the +Archbishop of Vienna, and signed by several cardinals and archbishops, +entreated his Holiness not to submit the dogma of infallibility for +consideration, "because the Church has to sustain at present a struggle +unknown in former times, against men who oppose religion itself as +an institution baneful to human nature, and that it is inopportune +to impose upon Catholic nations, led into temptation by so many +machinations, more dogmas than the Council of Trent proclaimed." It +added that "the definition demanded would furnish fresh arms to +the enemies of religion, to excite against the Catholic Church the +resentment of men avowedly the best." The Austrian prime-minister +addressed a protest to the papal government, warning it against any +steps that might lead to encroachments on the rights of Austria. The +French Government also addressed a note, suggesting that a French bishop +should explain to the Council the condition and the rights of France. To +this the papal government replied that a bishop could not reconcile the +double duties of an ambassador and a Father of the Council. Hereupon, +the French Government, in a very respectful note, remarked that, +to prevent ultra opinions from becoming dogmas, it reckoned on the +moderation of the bishops, and the prudence of the Holy Father; and, +to defend its civil and political laws against the encroachments of the +theocracy, it had counted on public reason and the patriotism of French +Catholics. In these remonstrances the North-German Confederation joined, +seriously pressing them on the consideration of the papal government. + +On April 23d, Von Arnim, the Prussian embassador, united with Daru, the +French minister, in suggesting to the Curia the inexpediency of reviving +mediaeval ideas. The minority bishops, thus encouraged, demanded now +that the relations of the spiritual to the secular power should be +determined before the pope's infallibility was discussed, and that it +should be settled whether Christ had conferred on St. Peter and his +successors a power over kings and emperors. + +INFALLIBILITY OF THE POPE. No regard was paid to this, not even delay +was consented to. The Jesuits, who were at the bottom of the movement, +carried their measures through the packed assembly with a high hand. The +Council omitted no device to screen itself from popular criticism. Its +proceedings were conducted with the utmost secrecy; all who took part in +them were bound by a solemn oath to observe silence. + +On July 13th, the votes were taken. Of 601 votes, 451 were affirmative. +Under the majority rule, the measure was pronounced carried, and, five +days subsequently, the pope proclaimed the dogma of his infallibility. +It has often been remarked that this was the day on which the French +declared war against Prussia. Eight days afterward the French troops +were withdrawn from Rome. Perhaps both the statesman and the philosopher +will admit that an infallible pope would be a great harmonizing element, +if only common-sense could acknowledge him. + +Hereupon, the King of Italy addressed an autograph letter to the pope, +setting forth in very respectful terms the necessity that his troops +should advance and occupy positions "indispensable to the security of +his Holiness, and the maintenance of order;" that, while satisfying +the national aspirations, the chief of Catholicity, surrounded by the +devotion of the Italian populations, "might preserve on the banks of the +Tiber a glorious seat, independent of all human sovereignty." + +To this his Holiness replied in a brief and caustic letter: "I give +thanks to God, who has permitted your majesty to fill the last days of +my life with bitterness. For the rest, I cannot grant certain requests, +nor conform with certain principles contained in your letter. Again, I +call upon God, and into his hands commit my cause, which is his cause. +I pray God to grant your majesty many graces, to free you from dangers, +and to dispense to you his mercy which you so much need." + +THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT. The Italian troops met with but little +resistance. They occupied Rome on September 20, 1870. A manifesto was +issued, setting forth the details of a plebiscitum, the vote to be by +ballot, the question, "the unification of Italy." Its result showed how +completely the popular mind in Italy is emancipated from theology. In +the Roman provinces the number of votes on the lists was 167,548; the +number who voted, 135,291; the number who voted for annexation, 133,681; +the number who voted against it, 1,507; votes annulled, 103. The +Parliament of Italy ratified the vote of the Roman people for annexation +by a vote of 239 to 20. A royal decree now announced the annexation of +the Papal States to the kingdom of Italy, and a manifesto was issued +indicating the details of the arrangement. It declared that "by these +concessions the Italian Government seeks to prove to Europe that Italy +respects the sovereignty of the pope in conformity with the principle of +a free Church in a free state." + +AFFAIRS IN PRUSSIA. In the Prusso-Austrian War it had been the hope of +the papacy, to restore the German Empire under Austria, and make +Germany a Catholic nation. In the Franco-German War the French expected +ultramontane sympathies in Germany. No means were spared to excite +Catholic sentiment against the Protestants. No vilification was spared. +They were spoken of as atheists; they were declared incapable of being +honest men; their sects were pointed out as indicating that their +secession was in a state of dissolution. "The followers of Luther are +the most abandoned men in all Europe." Even the pope himself, presuming +that the whole world had forgotten all history, did not hesitate to say, +"Let the German people understand that no other Church but that of Rome +is the Church of freedom and progress." + +Meantime, among the clergy of Germany a party was organized to +remonstrate against, and even resist, the papal usurpation. It protested +against "a man being placed on the throne of God," against a vice-God +of any kind, nor would it yield its scientific convictions to +ecclesiastical authority. Some did not hesitate to accuse the +pope himself of being a heretic. Against these insubordinates +excommunications began to be fulminated, and at length it was demanded +that certain professors and teachers should be removed from their +offices, and infallibilists substituted. With this demand the Prussian +Government declined to comply. + +The Prussian Government had earnestly desired to remain on amicable +terms with the papacy; it had no wish to enter on a theological quarrel; +but gradually the conviction was forced upon it that the question was +not a religious but a political one--whether the power of the state +should be used against the state. A teacher in a gymnasium had been +excommunicated; the government, on being required to dismiss him, +refused. The Church authorities denounced this as an attack upon faith. +The emperor sustained his minister. The organ of the infallible party +threatened the emperor with the opposition of all good Catholics, and +told him that, in a contention with the pope, systems of government can +and must change. It was now plain to every one that the question had +become, "Who is to be master in the state, the government or the Roman +Church? It is plainly impossible for men to live under two governments, +one of which declares to be wrong what the other commands. If the +government will not submit to the Roman Church, the two are enemies." A +conflict was thus forced upon Prussia by Rome--a conflict in which the +latter, impelled by her antagonism to modern civilization, is clearly +the aggressor. + +ACTION OF THE PRUSSIAN GOVERNMENT. The government, now recognizing its +antagonist, defended itself by abolishing the Catholic department in +the ministry of Public Worship. This was about midsummer, 1871. In +the following November the Imperial Parliament passed a law that +ecclesiastics abusing their office, to the disturbance of the public +peace, should be criminally punished. And, guided by the principle that +the future belongs to him to whom the school belongs, a movement arose +for the purpose of separating the schools from the Church. + +THE CHURCH A POLITICAL POWER. The Jesuit party was extending and +strengthening an organization all over Germany, based on the principle +that state legislation in ecclesiastical matters is not binding. Here +was an act of open insurrection. Could the government allow itself to be +intimidated? The Bishop of Ermeland declared that he would not obey the +laws of the state if they touched the Church. The government stopped the +payment of his salary; and, perceiving that there could be no peace +so long as the Jesuits were permitted to remain in the country, their +expulsion was resolved on, and carried into effect. At the close of +1872 his Holiness delivered an allocution, in which he touched on the +"persecution of the Church in the German Empire," and asserted that the +Church alone has a right to fix the limits between its domain and that +of the state--a dangerous and inadmissible principle, since under the +term morals the Church comprises all the relations of men to each other, +and asserts that whatever does not assist her oppresses her. Hereupon, a +few days subsequently (January 9, 1873), four laws were brought forward +by the government: 1. Regulating the means by which a person might +sever his connection with the Church; 2. Restricting the Church in the +exercise of ecclesiastical punishments; 3. Regulating the ecclesiastical +power of discipline, forbidding bodily chastisement, regulating fines +and banishments granting the privilege of an appeal to the Royal Court +of Justice for Ecclesiastical Affairs, the decision of which is final; +4. Ordaining the preliminary education and appointment of priests. They +must have had a satisfactory education, passed a public examination +conducted by the state, and have a knowledge of philosophy, history, +and German literature. Institutions refusing to be superintended by the +state are to be closed. + +These laws demonstrate that Germany is resolved that she will no longer +be dictated to nor embarrassed by a few Italian noble families; that she +will be master of her own house. She sees in the conflict, not an affair +of religion or of conscience, but a struggle between the sovereignty +of state legislation and the sovereignty of the Church. She treats the +papacy not in the aspect of a religious, but of a political power, and +is resolved that the declaration of the Prussian Constitution shall be +maintained, that "the exercise of religious freedom must not interfere +with the duties of a citizen toward the community and the state." + +DUAL GOVERNMENT IN EUROPE. With truth it is affirmed that the papacy is +administered not oecumenically, not as a universal Church, for all +the nations, but for the benefit of some Italian families. Look at its +composition! It consists of pope, cardinal bishops, cardinal deacons, +who at the present moment are all Italians; cardinal priests, nearly all +Italians; ministers and secretaries of the Sacred Congregation in Rome, +all Italians. France has not given a pope since the middle ages. It +is the same with Austria, Portugal, Spain. In spite of all attempts to +change this system of exclusion, to open the dignities of the Church to +all Catholicism, no foreigner can reach the holy chair. It is recognized +that the Church is a domain given by God to the princely Italian +families. Of fifty-five members of the present College of Cardinals, +forty are Italians--that is, thirty-two beyond their proper share. + +The stumbling-block to the progress of Europe has been its dual system +of government. So long as every nation had two sovereigns, a temporal +one at home and a spiritual one in a foreign land--there being different +temporal masters in different nations, but only one foreign master +for all, the pontiff at Rome--how was it possible that history should +present us with any thing more than a narrative of the strifes of these +rival powers? Whoever will reflect on this state of things will see +how it is that those nations which have shaken off the dual form of +government are those which have made the greatest advance. He will +discern what is the cause of the paralysis which has befallen France. On +one hand she wishes to be the leader of Europe, on the other she clings +to a dead past. For the sake of propitiating her ignorant classes, she +enters upon lines of policy which her intelligence must condemn. So +evenly balanced are the two sovereignties under which she lives, that +sometimes one, sometimes the other, prevails; and not unfrequently the +one uses the other as an engine for the accomplishment of its ends. + +INTENTIONS OF THE POPE. But this dual system approaches its close. To +the northern nations, less imaginative and less superstitious, it had +long ago become intolerable; they rejected it summarily at the epoch of +the Reformation, notwithstanding the protestations and pretensions +of Rome, Russia, happier than the rest, has never acknowledged the +influence of any foreign spiritual power. She gloried in her attachment +to the ancient Greek rite, and saw in the papacy nothing more than a +troublesome dissenter from the primitive faith. In America the temporal +and the spiritual have been absolutely divorced--the latter is not +permitted to have any thing to do with affairs of state, though in all +other respects liberty is conceded to it. The condition of the New +World also satisfies us that both forms of Christianity, Catholic and +Protestant, have lost their expansive power; neither can pass beyond its +long-established boundary-line--the Catholic republics remain Catholic, +the Protestant Protestant. And among the latter the disposition to +sectarian isolation is disappearing; persons of different denominations +consort without hesitation together. They gather their current opinions +from newspapers, not from the Church. + +Pius IX., in the movements we have been considering, has had two objects +in view: 1. The more thorough centralization of the papacy, with a +spiritual autocrat assuming the prerogatives of God at its head; 2. +Control over the intellectual development of the nations professing +Christianity. + +The logical consequence of the former of these is political +intervention. He insists that in all cases the temporal must subordinate +itself to the spiritual power; all laws inconsistent with the interests +of the Church must be repealed. They are not binding on the faithful. +In the preceding pages I have briefly related some of the complications +that have already occurred in the attempt to maintain this policy. + +THE SYLLABUS. I now come to the consideration of the manner in which the +papacy proposes to establish its intellectual control; how it defines +its relation to its antagonist, Science, and, seeking a restoration +of the mediaeval condition, opposes modern civilization, and denounces +modern society. + +The Encyclical and Syllabus present the principles which it was the +object of the Vatican Council to carry into practical effect. The +Syllabus stigmatizes pantheism, naturalism, and absolute rationalism, +denouncing such opinions as that God is the world; that there is no God +other than Nature; that theological matters must be treated in the same +manner as philosophical ones, that the methods and principles by which +the old scholastic doctors cultivated theology are no longer suitable +to the demands of the age and the progress of science; that every man +is free to embrace and profess the religion he may believe to be true, +guided by the light of his reason; that it appertains to the civil +power to define what are the rights and limits in which the Church +may exercise authority; that the Church has not the right of availing +herself of force or any direct or indirect temporal power; that the +Church ought to be separated from the state and the state from the +Church; that it is no longer expedient that the Catholic religion shall +be held as the only religion of the state, to the exclusion of all other +modes of worship; that persons coming to reside in Catholic countries +have a right to the public exercise of their own worship; that the +Roman pontiff can and ought to reconcile himself to, and agree with, the +progress of modern civilization. The Syllabus claims the right of the +Church to control public schools, and denies the right of the state in +that respect; it claims the control over marriage and divorce. + +Such of these principles as the Council found expedient at present to +formularize, were set forth by it in "The Dogmatic Constitution of +the Catholic Faith." The essential points of this constitution, more +especially as regards the relations of religion to science, we have now +to examine. It will be understood that the following does not present +the entire document, but only an abstract of what appear to be its more +important parts. + +CONSTITUTION OF CATHOLIC FAITH. This definition opens with a severe +review of the principles and consequences of the Protestant Reformation: + +"The rejection of the divine authority of the Church to teach, and the +subjection of all things belonging to religion to the judgment of each +individual, have led to the production of many sects, and, as these +differed and disputed with each other, all belief in Christ was +overthrown in the minds of not a few, and the Holy Scriptures began to +be counted as myths and fables. Christianity has been rejected, and +the reign of mere Reason as they call it, or Nature, substituted; many +falling into the abyss of pantheism, materialism, and atheism, and, +repudiating the reasoning nature of man, and every rule of right and +wrong, they are laboring to overthrow the very foundations of human +society. As this impious heresy is spreading everywhere, not a few +Catholics have been inveigled by it. They have confounded human science +and divine faith. + +"But the Church, the Mother and Mistress of nations, is ever ready to +strengthen the weak, to take to her bosom those that return, and carry +them on to better things. And, now the bishops of the whole world +being gathered together in this Oecumenical Council, and the Holy Ghost +sitting therein, and judging with us, we have determined to declare from +this chair of St. Peter the saving doctrine of Christ, and proscribe and +condemn the opposing errors. + +"OF GOD, THE CREATOR OF ALL THINGS.--The Holy Catholic Apostolic Roman +Church believes that there is one true and living God, Creator and +Lord of Heaven and Earth, Almighty, Eternal, Immense, Incomprehensible, +Infinite in understanding and will, and in all perfection. He is +distinct from the world. Of his own most free counsel he made alike out +of nothing two created creatures, a spiritual and a temporal, angelic +and earthly. Afterward he made the human nature, composed of both. +Moreover, God by his providence protects and governs all things, +reaching from end to end mightily, and ordering all things harmoniously. +Every thing is open to his eyes, even things that come to pass by the +free action of his creatures." + +"OF REVELATION.--The Holy Mother Church holds that God can be known with +certainty by the natural light of human reason, but that it has also +pleased him to reveal himself and the eternal decrees of his will in a +supernatural way. This supernatural revelation, as declared by the +Holy Council of Trent, is contained in the books of the Old and New +Testament, as enumerated in the decrees of that Council, and as are to +be had in the old Vulgate Latin edition. These are sacred because they +were written under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. They have God for +their author, and as such have been delivered to the Church. + +"And, in order to restrain restless spirits, who may give erroneous +explanations, it is decreed--renewing the decision of the Council of +Trent--that no one may interpret the sacred Scriptures contrary to the +sense in which they are interpreted by Holy Mother Church, to whom such +interpretation belongs." + +"OF FAITH.--Inasmuch as man depends on God as his Lord, and created +reason is wholly subject to uncreated truth, he is bound when God makes +a revelation to obey it by faith. This faith is a supernatural virtue, +and the beginning of man's salvation who believes revealed things to +be true, not for their intrinsic truth as seen by the natural light +of reason, but for the authority of God in revealing them. But, +nevertheless that faith might be agreeable to reason, God willed to +join miracles and prophecies, which, showing forth his omnipotence and +knowledge, are proofs suited to the understanding of all. Such we have +in Moses and the prophets, and above all in Christ. Now, all those +things are to be believed which are written in the word of God, or +handed down by tradition, which the Church by her teaching has proposed +for belief. + +"No one can be justified without this faith, nor shall any one, unless +he persevere therein to the end, attain everlasting life. Hence God, +through his only-begotten Son, has established the Church as the +guardian and teacher of his revealed word. For only to the Catholic +Church do all those signs belong which make evident the credibility of +the Christian faith. Nay, more, the very Church herself, in view of +her wonderful propagation, her eminent holiness, her exhaustless +fruitfulness in all that is good, her Catholic unity, her unshaken +stability, offers a great and evident claim to belief, and an undeniable +proof of her divine mission. Thus the Church shows to her children that +the faith they hold rests on a most solid foundation. Wherefore, totally +unlike is the condition of those who, by the heavenly gift of faith, +have embraced the Catholic truth, and of those who, led by human +opinions, are following, a false religion." + +"OF FAITH AND REASON.--Moreover, the Catholic Church has ever held and +now holds that there exists a twofold order of knowledge, each of which +is distinct from the other, both as to its principle and its object. As +to its principle, because in the one we know by natural reason, in the +other by divine faith; as to the object, because, besides those things +which our natural reason can attain, there are proposed to our belief +mysteries hidden in God, which, unless by him revealed, cannot come to +our knowledge. + +"Reason, indeed, enlightened by faith, and seeking, with diligence and +godly sobriety, may, by God's gift, come to some understanding, limited +in degree, but most wholesome in its effects, of mysteries, both from +the analogy of things which are naturally known and from the connection +of the mysteries themselves with one another and with man's last end. +But never can reason be rendered capable of thoroughly understanding +mysteries as it does those truths which form its proper object. For +God's mysteries, in their very nature, so far surpass the reach of +created intellect, that, even when taught by revelation and received by +faith, they remain covered by faith itself, as by a veil, and shrouded, +as it were, in darkness as long as in this mortal life. + +"But, although faith be above reason, there never can be a real +disagreement between them, since the same God who reveals mysteries and +infuses faith has given man's soul the light of reason, and God cannot +deny himself, nor can one truth ever contradict another. Wherefore the +empty shadow of such contradiction arises chiefly from this, that either +the doctrines of faith are not understood and set forth as the Church +really holds them, or that the vain devices and opinions of men are +mistaken for the dictates of reason. We therefore pronounce false every +assertion which is contrary to the enlightened truth of faith. Moreover, +the Church, which, together with her apostolic office of teaching, +is charged also with the guardianship of the deposits of faith, holds +likewise from God the right and the duty to condemn 'knowledge, falsely +so called,' 'lest any man be cheated by philosophy and vain deceit.' +Hence all the Christian faithful are not only forbidden to defend, as +legitimate conclusions of science, those opinions which are known to +be contrary to the doctrine of faith, especially when condemned by the +Church, but are rather absolutely bound to hold them for errors wearing +the deceitful appearance of truth." + +THE VATICAN ANATHEMAS. "Not only is it impossible for faith and reason +ever to contradict each other, but they rather afford each other mutual +assistance. For right reason establishes the foundation of faith, and, +by the aid of its light, cultivates the science of divine things; and +faith, on the other hand, frees and preserves reason from errors, and +enriches it with knowledge of many kinds. So far, then, is the Church +from opposing the culture of human arts and sciences, that she rather +aids and promotes it in many ways. For she is not ignorant of nor does +she despise the advantages which flow from them to the life of man; on +the contrary, she acknowledges that, as they sprang from God, the Lord +of knowledge, so, if they be rightly pursued, they will, through the aid +of his grace, lead to God. Nor does she forbid any of those sciences +the use of its own principles and its own method within its own proper +sphere; but, recognizing this reasonable freedom, she takes care that +they may not, by contradicting God's teaching, fall into errors, or, +overstepping the due limits, invade or throw into confusion the domain +of faith. + +"For the doctrine of faith revealed by God has not been proposed, like +some philosophical discovery, to be made perfect by human ingenuity, but +it has been delivered to the spouse of Christ as a divine deposit, to be +faithfully guarded and unerringly set forth. Hence, all tenets of holy +faith are to be explained always according to the sense and meaning of +the Church; nor is it ever lawful to depart therefrom under pretense or +color of a more enlightened explanation. Therefore, as generations and +centuries roll on, let the understanding, knowledge, and wisdom of each +and every one, of individuals and of the whole Church, grow apace and +increase exceedingly, yet only in its kind; that is to say retaining +pure and inviolate the sense and meaning and belief of the same +doctrine." + +Among other canons the following were promulgated. + +"Let him be anathema-- + +"Who denies the one true God, Creator and Lord of all things, visible +and invisible. + +"Who unblushingly affirms that, besides matter, nothing else exists. + +"Who says that the substance or essence of God, and of all things, is +one and the same. + +"Who says that finite things, both corporeal and spiritual, or at least +spiritual things, are emanations of the divine substance; or that the +divine essence, by manifestation or development of itself, becomes all +things. + +"Who does not acknowledge that the world and all things which it +contains were produced by God out of nothing. + +"Who shall say that man can and ought to, of his own efforts, by means +of, constant progress, arrive, at last, at the possession of all truth +and goodness. + +"Who shall refuse to receive, for sacred and canonical, the books of +Holy Scripture in their integrity, with all their parts, according as +they were enumerated by the holy Council of Trent, or shall deny that +they are Inspired by God. + +"Who shall say that human reason is in such wise independent, that faith +cannot be demanded of it by God. + +"Who shall say that divine revelation cannot be rendered credible by +external evidences. + +"Who shall say that no miracles can be wrought, or that they can never +be known with certainty, and that the divine origin of Christianity +cannot be proved by them. + +"Who shall say that divine revelation includes no mysteries, but that +all the dogmas of faith may be understood and demonstrated by reason +duly cultivated. + +"Who shall say that human sciences ought to be pursued in such a spirit +of freedom that one may be allowed to hold as true their assertions, +even when opposed to revealed doctrine. + +"Who shall say that it may at any time come to pass, in the progress +of science, that the doctrines set forth by the Church must be taken in +another sense than that in which the Church has ever received and yet +receives them." + +THE EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE. The extraordinary and, indeed, it may be said, +arrogant assumptions contained in these decisions were far from being +received with satisfaction by educated Catholics. On the part of the +German universities there was resistance; and, when, at the close of the +year, the decrees of the Vatican Council were generally acquiesced in, +it was not through conviction of their truth, but through a disciplinary +sense of obedience. + +By many of the most pious Catholics the entire movement and the results +to which it had led were looked upon with the sincerest sorrow. Pere +Hyacinthe, in a letter to the superior of his order, says: "I protest +against the divorce, as impious as it is insensate, sought to be +effected between the Church, which is our eternal mother, and the +society of the nineteenth century, of which we are the temporal +children, and toward which we have also duties and regards. It is my +most profound conviction that, if France in particular, and the Latin +race in general, are given up to social, moral, and religious anarchy, +the principal cause undoubtedly is not Catholicism itself, but the +manner in which Catholicism has for a long time been understood and +practised." + +Notwithstanding his infallibility, which implies omniscience, his +Holiness did not foresee the issue of the Franco-Prussian War. Had the +prophetical talent been vouchsafed to him, he would have detected the +inopportuneness of the acts of his Council. His request to the King of +Prussia for military aid to support his temporal power was denied. The +excommunicated King of Italy, as we have seen, took possession of Rome. +A bitter papal encyclical, strangely contrasting with the courteous +politeness of modern state-papers, was issued, November 1, 1870, +denouncing the acts of the Piedmontese court, "which had followed the +counsel of the sects of perdition." In this his Holiness declares that +he is in captivity, and that he will have no agreement with Belial. He +pronounces the greater excommunication, with censures and penalties, +against his antagonists, and prays for "the intercession of the +immaculate Virgin Mary, mother of God, and that of the blessed apostles +Peter and Paul." + +Of the various Protestant denominations, several had associated +themselves, for the purposes of consultation, under the designation of +the Evangelical Alliance. Their last meeting was held in New York, in +the autumn of 1873. Though, in this meeting, were gathered together many +pious representatives of the Reformed Churches, European and American, +it had not the prestige nor the authority of the Great Council that had +just previously closed its sessions in St. Peters, at Rome. It could +not appeal to an unbroken ancestry of far more than a thousand years; +it could not speak with the authority of an equal and, indeed, of +a superior to emperors and kings. While profound intelligence and a +statesmanlike, worldly wisdom gleamed in every thing that the Vatican +Council had done, the Evangelical Alliance met without a clear and +precise view of its objects, without any definitely-marked intentions. +Its wish was to draw into closer union the various Protestant Churches, +but it had no well-grounded hope of accomplishing that desirable result. +It illustrated the necessary working, of the principle on which +those Churches originated. They were founded on dissent and exist by +separation. + +Yet in the action of the Evangelical Alliance may be discerned +certain very impressive facts. It averted its eyes from its ancient +antagonist--that antagonist which had so recently loaded the Reformation +with contumely and denunciation--it fastened them, as the Vatican +Council had done, on Science. Under that dreaded name there stood before +it what seemed to be a spectre of uncertain form, of hourly-dilating +proportions, of threatening aspect. Sometimes the Alliance addressed +this stupendous apparition in words of courtesy, sometimes in tones of +denunciation. + +THE VATICAN CONSTITUTION CRITICISED. The Alliance failed to perceive +that modern Science is the legitimate sister--indeed, it is the +twin-sister--of the Reformation. They were begotten together and +were born together. It failed to perceive that, though there is an +impossibility of bringing into coalition the many conflicting sects, +they may all find in science a point of connection; and that, not a +distrustful attitude toward it, but a cordial union with it, is their +true policy. + +It remains now to offer some reflections on this "Constitution of the +Catholic Faith," as defined by the Vatican Council. + +For objects to present themselves under identical relations to different +persons, they must be seen from the same point of view. In the instance +we are now considering, the religious man has his own especial station; +the scientific man another, a very different one. It is not for either +to demand that his co-observer shall admit that the panorama of facts +spread before them is actually such as it appears to him to be. + +The Dogmatic Constitution insists on the admission of this postulate, +that the Roman Church acts under a divine commission, specially and +exclusively delivered to it. In virtue of that great authority, it +requires of all men the surrender of their intellectual convictions, and +of all nations the subordination of their civil power. + +But a claim so imposing must be substantiated by the most decisive and +unimpeachable credentials; proofs, not only of an implied and indirect +kind, but clear, emphatic, and to the point; proofs that it would be +impossible to call in question. + +The Church, however, declares, that she will not submit her claim to +the arbitrament of human reason; she demands that it shall be at once +conceded as an article of faith. + +If this be admitted, all bar requirements must necessarily be assented +to, no matter how exorbitant they may be. + +With strange inconsistency the Dogmatic Constitution deprecates reason, +affirming that it cannot determine the points under consideration, and +yet submits to it arguments for adjudication. In truth, it might be said +that the whole composition is a passionate plea to Reason to stultify +itself in favor of Roman Christianity. + +With points of view so widely asunder, it is impossible that Religion +and Science should accord in their representation of things. Nor can +any conclusion in common be reached, except by an appeal to Reason as a +supreme and final judge. + +There are many religions in the world, some of them of more venerable +antiquity, some having far more numerous adherents, than the Roman. How +can a selection be made among them, except by such an appeal to Reason? +Religion and Science must both submit their claims and their dissensions +to its arbitrament. + +Against this the Vatican Council protests. It exalts faith to a +superiority over reason; it says that they constitute two separate +orders of knowledge, having respectively for their objects mysteries +and facts. Faith deals with mysteries, reason with facts. Asserting the +dominating superiority of faith, it tries to satisfy the reluctant mind +with miracles and prophecies. + +On the other hand, Science turns away from the incomprehensible, and +rests herself on the maxim of Wiclif: "God forceth not a man to believe +that which he cannot understand." In the absence of an exhibition of +satisfactory credentials on the part of her opponent, she considers +whether there be in the history of the papacy, and in the biography of +the popes, any thing that can adequately sustain a divine commission, +any thing that can justify pontifical infallibility, or extort that +unhesitating obedience which is due to the vice-God. + +One of the most striking and vet contradictory features of the Dogmatic +Constitution is, the reluctant homage it pays to the intelligence of +man. It presents a definition of the philosophical basis of Catholicism, +but it veils from view the repulsive features of the vulgar faith. It +sets forth the attributes of God, the Creator of all things, in words +fitly designating its sublime conception, but it abstains from affirming +that this most awful and eternal Being was born of an earthly mother, +the wife of a Jewish carpenter, who has since become the queen of +heaven. The God it depicts is not the God of the middle ages, seated +on his golden throne, surrounded by choirs of angels, but the God of +Philosophy. The Constitution has nothing to say about the Trinity, +nothing of the worship due to the Virgin--on the contrary, that is by +implication sternly condemned; nothing about transubstantiation, or +the making of the flesh and blood of God by the priest; nothing of the +invocation of the saints. It bears on its face subordination to the +thought of the age, the impress of the intellectual progress of man. + +THE PASSAGE OF EUROPE TO LLAMAISM. Such being the exposition rendered to +us respecting the attributes of God, it next instructs us as to his +mode of government of the world. The Church asserts that she possesses a +supernatural control over all material and moral events. The priesthood, +in its various grades, can determine issues of the future, either by the +exercise of its inherent attributes, or by its influential invocation of +the celestial powers. To the sovereign pontiff it has been given to bind +or loose at his pleasure. It is unlawful to appeal from his judgments +to an Oecumenical Council, as if to an earthly arbiter superior to him. +Powers such as these are consistent with arbitrary rule, but they are +inconsistent with the government of the world by immutable law. Hence +the Dogmatic Constitution plants itself firmly in behalf of incessant +providential interventions; it will not for a moment admit that in +natural things there is an irresistible sequence of events, or in the +affairs of men an unavoidable course of acts. + +But has not the order of civilization in all parts of the world been the +same? Does not the growth of society resemble individual growth? Do not +both exhibit to us phases of youth, of maturity, of decrepitude? To +a person who has carefully considered the progressive civilization of +groups of men in regions of the earth far apart, who has observed the +identical forms under which that advancing civilization has manifested +itself, is it not clear that the procedure is determined by law? The +religious ideas of the Incas of Peru and the emperors of Mexico, and the +ceremonials of their court-life, were the same as those in Europe--the +same as those in Asia. The current of thought had been the same. A swarm +of bees carried to some distant land will build its combs and regulate +its social institutions as other unknown swarms would do, and so with +separated and disconnected swarms of men. So invariable is this sequence +of thought and act, that there are philosophers who, transferring the +past example offered by Asiatic history to the case of Europe, would +not hesitate to sustain the proposition--given a bishop of Rome and some +centuries, and you will have an infallible pope: given an infallible +pope and a little more time, and you will have Llamaism--Llamaism to +which Asia has long, ago attained. + +As to the origin of corporeal and spiritual things, the Dogmatic +Constitution adds a solemn emphasis to its declarations, by +anathematizing all those who bold the doctrine of emanation, or who +believe that visible Nature is only a manifestation of the Divine +Essence. In this its authors had a task of no ordinary difficulty before +them. They must encounter those formidable ideas, whether old or new, +which in our times are so strongly forcing themselves on thoughtful men. +The doctrine of the conservation and correlation of Force yields as its +logical issue the time-worn Oriental emanation theory; the doctrines of +Evolution and Development strike at that of successive creative acts. +The former rests on the fundamental principle that the quantity of +force in the universe is invariable. Though that quantity can neither be +increased nor diminished, the forms under which Force expresses itself +may be transmuted into each other. As yet this doctrine has not received +complete scientific demonstration, but so numerous and so cogent are the +arguments adduced in its behalf, that it stands in an imposing, almost +in an authoritative attitude. Now, the Asiatic theory of emanation and +absorption is seen to be in harmony with this grand idea. It does not +hold that, at the conception of a human being, a soul is created by +God out of nothing and given to it, but that a portion of the already +existing, the divine, the universal intelligence, is imparted, and, when +life is over, this returns to and is absorbed in the general source from +which it originally came. The authors of the Constitution forbid these +ideas to be held, under pain of eternal punishment. + +In like manner they dispose of the doctrines of Evolution and +Development, bluntly insisting that the Church believes in distinct +creative acts. The doctrine that every living form is derived from some +preceding form is scientifically in a much more advanced position than +that concerning Force, and probably may be considered as established, +whatever may become of the additions with which it has recently been +overlaid. + +In her condemnation of the Reformation, the Church carries into effect +her ideas of the subordination of reason to faith. In her eyes the +Reformation is an impious heresy, leading to the abyss of pantheism, +materialism, and atheism, and tending to overthrow the very foundations +of human society. She therefore would restrain those "restless spirits" +who, following Luther, have upheld the "right of every man to interpret +the Scriptures for himself." She asserts that it is a wicked error to +admit Protestants to equal political privileges with Catholics, and that +to coerce them and suppress them is a sacred duty; that it is abominable +to permit them to establish educational institutions. Gregory XVI. +denounced freedom of conscience as an insane folly, and the freedom of +the press a pestilent error, which cannot be sufficiently detested. + +But how is it possible to recognize an inspired and infallible oracle on +the Tiber, when it is remembered that again and again successive popes +have contradicted each other; that popes have denounced councils, and +councils have denounced popes; that the Bible of Sixtus V. had so many +admitted errors--nearly two thousand--that its own authors had to recall +it? How is it possible for the children of the Church to regard as +"delusive errors" the globular form of the earth, her position as a +planet in the solar system, her rotation on her axis, her movement round +the sun? How can they deny that there are antipodes, and other worlds +than ours? How can they believe that the world was made out of nothing, +completed in a week, finished just as we see it now; that it has +undergone no change, but that its parts have worked so indifferently as +to require incessant interventions? + +THE ERRORS OF ECCLESIASTICISM. When Science is thus commanded to +surrender her intellectual convictions, may she not ask the ecclesiastic +to remember the past? The contest respecting the figure of the earth, +and the location of heaven and hell, ended adversely to him. He affirmed +that the earth is an extended plane, and that the sky is a firmament, +the floor of heaven, through which again and again persons have been +seen to ascend. The globular form demonstrated beyond any possibility +of contradiction by astronomical facts, and by the voyage of Magellan's +ship, he then maintained that it is the central body of the universe, +all others being in subordination to it, and it the grand object of +God's regard. Forced from this position, he next affirmed that it is +motionless, the sun and the stars actually revolving, as they apparently +do, around it. The invention of the telescope proved that here again +he was in error. Then he maintained that all the motions of the solar +system are regulated by providential intervention; the "Principia" +of Newton demonstrated that they are due to irresistible law. He then +affirmed that the earth and all the celestial bodies were created about +six thousand years ago, and that in six days the order of Nature was +settled, and plants and animals in their various tribes introduced. +Constrained by the accumulating mass of adverse evidence, he enlarged +his days into periods of indefinite length--only, however, to find that +even this device was inadequate. The six ages, with their six special +creations, could no longer be maintained, when it was discovered that +species, slowly emerged in one age, reached a culmination in a second, +and gradually died out in a third: this overlapping from age to age +would not only have demanded creations, but re-creations also. He +affirmed that there had been a deluge, which covered the whole earth +above the tops of the highest mountains, and that the waters of this +flood were removed by a wind. Correct ideas respecting the dimensions +of the atmosphere, and of the sea, and of the operation of evaporation, +proved how untenable these statements are. Of the progenitors of the +human race, he declared that they had come from their Maker's hand +perfect, both in body and mind, and had subsequently experienced a fall. +He is now considering how best to dispose of the evidence continually +accumulating respecting the savage condition of prehistoric man. + +Is it at all surprising that the number of those who hold the opinions +of the Church in light esteem should so rapidly increase? How can that +be received as a trustworthy guide in the invisible, which falls into so +many errors in the visible? How can that give confidence in the moral, +the spiritual, which has so signally failed in the physical? It is not +possible to dispose of these conflicting facts as "empty shadows," "vain +devices," "fictions coming from knowledge falsely so called," "errors +wearing the deceitful appearance of truth," as the Church stigmatizes +them. On the contrary, they are stern witnesses, bearing emphatic +and unimpeachable testimony against the ecclesiastical claim to +infallibility, and fastening a conviction of ignorance and blindness +upon her. + +Convicted of so many errors, the papacy makes no attempt at explanation. +It ignores the whole matter Nay, more, relying on the efficacy +of audacity, though confronted by these facts, it lays claim to +infallibility. + +SEPARATION OF CATHOLICISM AND CIVILIZATION. But, to the pontiff, no +other rights can be conceded than those he can establish at the bar of +Reason. He cannot claim infallibility in religious affairs, and +decline it in scientific. Infallibility embraces all things. It implies +omniscience. If it holds good for theology, it necessarily holds good +for science. How is it possible to coordinate the infallibility of the +papacy with the well-known errors into which it has fallen? + +Does it not, then, become needful to reject the claim of the papacy +to the employment of coercion in the maintenance of its opinions; to +repudiate utterly the declaration that "the Inquisition is an urgent +necessity in view of the unbelief of the present age," and in the name +of human nature to protest loudly against the ferocity and terrorism of +that institution? Has not conscience inalienable rights? + +An impassable and hourly-widening gulf intervenes between Catholicism +and the spirit of the age. Catholicism insists that blind faith is +superior to reason; that mysteries are of more importance than facts. +She claims to be the sole interpreter of Nature and revelation, the +supreme arbiter of knowledge; she summarily rejects all modern criticism +of the Scriptures, and orders the Bible to be accepted in accordance +with the views of the theologians of Trent; she openly avows her hatred +of free institutions and constitutional systems, and declares that those +are in damnable error who regard the reconciliation of the pope with +modern civilization as either possible or desirable. + +SCIENCE AND PROTESTANTISM. But the spirit of the age demands--is the +human intellect to be subordinated to the Tridentine Fathers, or to the +fancy of illiterate and uncritical persons who wrote in the earlier ages +of the Church? It sees no merit in blind faith, but rather distrusts it. +It looks forward to an improvement in the popular canon of credibility +for a decision between fact and fiction. It does not consider itself +bound to believe fables and falsehoods that have been invented for +ecclesiastical ends. It finds no argument in behalf of their truth, that +traditions and legends have been long-lived; in this respect, those of +the Church are greatly inferior to the fables of paganism. The longevity +of the Church itself is not due to divine protection or intervention, +but to the skill with which it has adapted its policy to existing +circumstances. If antiquity be the criterion of authenticity, the claims +of Buddhism must be respected; it has the superior warrant of many +centuries. There can be no defense of those deliberate falsifications of +history, that concealment of historical facts, of which the Church has +so often taken advantage. In these things the end does not justify the +means. + +Then has it in truth come to this, that Roman Christianity and Science +are recognized by their respective adherents as being absolutely +incompatible; they cannot exist together; one must yield to the other; +mankind must make its choice--it cannot have both. + +SCIENCE AND FAITH. While such is, perhaps, the issue as regards +Catholicism, a reconciliation of the Reformation with Science is not +only possible, but would easily take place, if the Protestant Churches +would only live up to the maxim taught by Luther, and established by so +many years of war. That maxim is, the right of private interpretation of +the Scriptures. It was the foundation of intellectual liberty. But, if +a personal interpretation of the book of Revelation is permissible, +how can it be denied in the case of the book of Nature? In the +misunderstandings that have taken place, we must ever bear in mind +the infirmities of men. The generations that immediately followed +the Reformation may perhaps be excused for not comprehending the full +significance of their cardinal principle, and for not on all occasions +carrying it into effect. When Calvin caused Servetus, to be burnt, he +was animated, not by the principles of the Reformation, but by those +of Catholicism, from which he had not been able to emancipate himself +completely. And when the clergy of influential Protestant confessions +have stigmatized the investigators of Nature as infidels and atheists, +the same may be said. For Catholicism to reconcile itself to Science, +there are formidable, perhaps insuperable obstacles in the way. For +Protestantism to achieve that great result there are not. In the one +case there is a bitter, a mortal animosity to be overcome; in the other, +a friendship, that misunderstandings have alienated, to be restored. + +CIVILIZATION AND RELIGION. But, whatever may be the preparatory +incidents of that great impending intellectual crisis which Christendom +must soon inevitably witness, of this we may rest assured, that the +silent secession from the public faith, which in so ominous a manner +characterizes the present generation, will find at length political +expression. It is not without significance that France reenforces the +ultramontane tendencies of her lower population, by the promotion of +pilgrimages, the perpetration of miracles, the exhibition of celestial +apparitions. Constrained to do this by her destiny, she does it with +a blush. It is not without significance that Germany resolves to rid +herself of the incubus of a dual government, by the exclusion of the +Italian element, and to carry to its completion that Reformation which +three centuries ago she left unfinished. The time approaches when +men must take their choice between quiescent, immobile faith and +ever-advancing Science--faith, with its mediaeval consolations, Science, +which is incessantly scattering its material blessings in the pathway +of life, elevating the lot of man in this world, and unifying the +human race. Its triumphs are solid and enduring. But the glory which +Catholicism might gain from a conflict with material ideas is at the +best only like that of other celestial meteors when they touch the +atmosphere of the earth--transitory and useless. + +Though Guizot's affirmation that the Church has always sided with +despotism is only too true, it must be remembered that in the policy +she follows there is much of political necessity. She is urged on by +the pressure of nineteen centuries. But, if the irresistible indicates +itself in her action, the inevitable manifests itself in her life. For +it is with the papacy as with a man. It has passed through the struggles +of infancy, it has displayed the energies of maturity, and, its work +completed, it must sink into the feebleness and querulousness of old +age. Its youth can never be renewed. The influence of its souvenirs +alone will remain. As pagan Rome threw her departing shadow over the +empire and tinctured all its thoughts, so Christian Rome casts her +parting shadow over Europe. + +INADMISSIBLE CLAIMS OF CATHOLICISM. Will modern civilization consent to +abandon the career of advancement which has given it so much power and +happiness? Will it consent to retrace its steps to the semi-barbarian +ignorance and superstition of the middle ages? Will it submit to the +dictation of a power, which, claiming divine authority, can present +no adequate credentials of its office; a power which kept Europe in a +stagnant condition for many centuries, ferociously suppressing by the +stake and the sword every attempt at progress; a power that is founded +in a cloud of mysteries; that sets itself above reason and common-sense; +that loudly proclaims the hatred it entertains against liberty of +thought and freedom in civil institutions; that professes its intention +of repressing the one and destroying the other whenever it can find the +opportunity; that denounces as most pernicious and insane the opinion +that liberty of conscience and of worship is the right of every man; +that protests against that right being proclaimed and asserted by law in +every well-governed state; that contemptuously repudiates the principle +that the will of the people, manifested by public opinion (as it is +called) or by other means, shall constitute law; that refuses to every +man any title to opinion in matters of religion, but holds that it is +simply his duty to believe what he is told by the Church, and to obey +her commands; that will not permit any temporal government to define +the rights and prescribe limits to the authority of the Church; +that declares it not only may but will resort to force to discipline +disobedient individuals; that invades the sanctify of private life, by +making, at the confessional, the wife and daughters and servants of one +suspected, spies and informers against him; that tries him without an +accuser, and by torture makes him bear witness against himself; that +denies the right of parents to educate their children outside of its own +Church, and insists that to it alone belongs the supervision of domestic +life and the control of marriages and divorces; that denounces "the +impudence" of those who presume to subordinate the authority of the +Church to the civil authority, or who advocate the separation of the +Church from the state; that absolutely repudiates all toleration, and +affirms that the Catholic religion is entitled to be held as the only +religion in every country, to the exclusion of all other modes of +worship; that requires all laws standing in the way of its interests +to be repealed, and, if that be refused, orders all its followers to +disobey them? + +ISSUE OF THE CONFLICT. This power, conscious that it can work no miracle +to serve itself, does not hesitate to disturb society by its intrigues +against governments, and seeks to accomplish its ends by alliances with +despotism. + +Claims such as these mean a revolt against modern civilization, an +intention of destroying it, no matter at what social cost. To submit to +them without resistance, men must be slaves indeed! + +As to the issue of the coming conflict, can any one doubt? Whatever +is resting on fiction and fraud will be overthrown. Institutions that +organize impostures and spread delusions must show what right they have +to exist. Faith must render an account of herself to Reason. Mysteries +must give place to facts. Religion must relinquish that imperious, that +domineering position which she has so long maintained against Science. +There must be absolute freedom for thought. The ecclesiastic must learn +to keep himself within the domain he has chosen, and cease to tyrannize +over the philosopher, who, conscious of his own strength and the purity +of his motives, will bear such interference no longer. What was +written by Esdras near the willow-fringed rivers of Babylon, more than +twenty-three centuries ago, still holds good: "As for Truth it endureth +and is always strong; it liveth and conquereth for evermore." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History of the Conflict Between +Religion and Science, by John William Draper + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT *** + +***** This file should be named 1185.txt or 1185.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/8/1185/ + +Produced by Charles Keller + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. 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D., LL. D. +PROFESSOR IN THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK, +AUTHOR OF +A TREATISE ON HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY, HISTORY OF THE INTELLECTUAL +DEVELOPMENT OF EUROPE, HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, +AND OF MANY EXPERIMENTAL MEMOIRS ON CHEMICAL +AND OTHER SCIENTIFIC SUBJECTS + + + + +PREFACE. + +WHOEVER has had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the +mental condition of the intelligent classes in Europe and +America, must have perceived that there is a great and +rapidly-increasing departure from the public religious faith, and +that, while among the more frank this divergence is not +concealed, there is a far more extensive and far more dangerous +secession, private and unacknowledged. + +So wide-spread and so powerful is this secession, that it can +neither be treated with contempt nor with punishment. It cannot +be extinguished by derision, by vituperation, or by force. The +time is rapidly approaching when it will give rise to serious +political results. + +Ecclesiastical spirit no longer inspires the policy of the world. +Military fervor in behalf of faith has disappeared. Its only +souvenirs are the marble effigies of crusading knights, reposing +in the silent crypts of churches on their tombs. + +That a crisis is impending is shown by the attitude of the great +powers toward the papacy. The papacy represents the ideas and +aspirations of two-thirds of the population of Europe. It insists +on a political supremacy in accordance with its claims to a +divine origin and mission, and a restoration of the mediaeval +order of things, loudly declaring that it will accept no +reconciliation with modern civilization. + +The antagonism we thus witness between Religion and Science is +the continuation of a struggle that commenced when Christianity +began to attain political power. A divine revelation must +necessarily be intolerant of contradiction; it must repudiate all +improvement in itself, and view with disdain that arising from +the progressive intellectual development of man. But our opinions +on every subject are continually liable to modification, from the +irresistible advance of human knowledge. + +Can we exaggerate the importance of a contention in which every +thoughtful person must take part whether he will or not? In a +matter so solemn as that of religion, all men, whose temporal +interests are not involved in existing institutions, earnestly +desire to find the truth. They seek information as to the +subjects in dispute, and as to the conduct of the disputants. + +The history of Science is not a mere record of isolated +discoveries; it is a narrative of the conflict of two contending +powers, the expansive force of the human intellect on one side, +and the compression arising from traditionary faith and human +interests on the other. + +No one has hitherto treated the subject from this point of view. +Yet from this point it presents itself to us as a living +issue--in fact, as the most important of all living issues. + +A few years ago, it was the politic and therefore the proper +course to abstain from all allusion to this controversy, and to +keep it as far as possible in the background. The tranquillity of +society depends so much on the stability of its religious +convictions, that no one can be justified in wantonly disturbing +them. But faith is in its nature unchangeable, stationary; +Science is in its nature progressive; and eventually a divergence +between them, impossible to conceal, must take place. It then +becomes the duty of those whose lives have made them familiar +with both modes of thought, to present modestly, but firmly, +their views; to compare the antagonistic pretensions calmly, +impartially, philosophically. History shows that, if this be not +done, social misfortunes, disastrous and enduring, will ensue. +When the old mythological religion of Europe broke down under the +weight of its own inconsistencies, neither the Roman emperors nor +the philosophers of those times did any thing adequate for the +guidance of public opinion. They left religious affairs to take +their chance, and accordingly those affairs fell into the hands +of ignorant and infuriated ecclesiastics, parasites, eunuchs, and +slaves. + +The intellectual night which settled on Europe, in consequence of +that great neglect of duty, is passing away; we live in the +daybreak of better things. Society is anxiously expecting light, +to see in what direction it is drifting. It plainly discerns that +the track along which the voyage of civilization has thus far +been made, has been left; and that a new departure, on all +unknown sea, has been taken. + +Though deeply impressed with such thoughts, I should not have +presumed to write this book, or to intrude on the public the +ideas it presents, had I not made the facts with which it deals a +subject of long and earnest meditation. And I have gathered a +strong incentive to undertake this duty from the circumstance +that a "History of the Intellectual Development of Europe," +published by me several years ago, which has passed through many +editions in America, and has been reprinted in numerous European +languages, English, French, German, Russian, Polish, Servian, +etc., is everywhere received with favor. + +In collecting and arranging the materials for the volumes I +published under the title of "A History of the American Civil +War," a work of very great labor, I had become accustomed to the +comparison of conflicting statements, the adjustment of +conflicting claims. The approval with which that book has been +received by the American public, a critical judge of the events +considered, has inspired me with additional confidence. I had +also devoted much attention to the experimental investigation of +natural phenomena, and had published many well-known memoirs on +such subjects. And perhaps no one can give himself to these +pursuits, and spend a large part of his life in the public +teaching of science, without partaking of that love of +impartiality and truth which Philosophy incites. She inspires us +with a desire to dedicate our days to the good of our race, so +that in the fading light of life's evening we may not, on looking +back, be forced to acknowledge how unsubstantial and useless are +the objects that we have pursued. + +Though I have spared no pains in the composition of this book, I +am very sensible how unequal it is to the subject, to do justice +to which a knowledge of science, history, theology, politics, is +required; every page should be alive with intelligence and +glistening with facts. But then I have remembered that this is +only as it were the preface, or forerunner, of a body of +literature, which the events and wants of our times will call +forth. We have come to the brink of a great intellectual change. +Much of the frivolous reading of the present will be supplanted +by a thoughtful and austere literature, vivified by endangered +interests, and made fervid by ecclesiastical passion. + +What I have sought to do is, to present a clear and impartial +statement of the views and acts of the two contending parties. In +one sense I have tried to identify myself with each, so as to +comprehend thoroughly their motives; but in another and higher +sense I have endeavored to stand aloof, and relate with +impartiality their actions. + +I therefore trust that those, who may be disposed to criticise +this book, will bear in mind that its object is not to advocate +the views and pretensions of either party, but to explain +clearly, and without shrinking those of both. In the management +of each chapter I have usually set forth the orthodox view first, +and then followed it with that of its opponents. + +In thus treating the subject it has not been necessary to pay +much regard to more moderate or intermediate opinions, for, +though they may be intrinsically of great value, in conflicts of +this kind it is not with the moderates but with the extremists +that the impartial reader is mainly concerned. Their movements +determine the issue. + +For this reason I have had little to say respecting the two great +Christian confessions, the Protestant and Greek Churches. As to +the latter, it has never, since the restoration of science, +arrayed itself in opposition to the advancement of knowledge. On +the contrary, it has always met it with welcome. It has observed +a reverential attitude to truth, from whatever quarter it might +come. Recognizing the apparent discrepancies between its +interpretations of revealed truth and the discoveries of science, +it has always expected that satisfactory explanations and +reconciliations would ensue, and in this it has not been +disappointed. It would have been well for modern civilization if +the Roman Church had done the same. + +In speaking of Christianity, reference is generally made to the +Roman Church, partly because its adherents compose the majority +of Christendom, partly because its demands are the most +pretentious, and partly because it has commonly sought to enforce +those demands by the civil power. None of the Protestant Churches +has ever occupied a position so imperious--none has ever had such +wide-spread political influence. For the most part they have been +averse to constraint, and except in very few instances their +opposition has not passed beyond the exciting of theological +odium. + +As to Science, she has never sought to ally herself to civil +power. She has never attempted to throw odium or inflict social +ruin on any human being. She has never subjected any one to +mental torment, physical torture, least of all to death, for the +purpose of upholding or promoting her ideas. She presents herself +unstained by cruelties and crimes. But in the Vatican-- we have +only to recall the Inquisition--the hands that are now raised in +appeals to the Most Merciful are crimsoned. They have been +steeped in blood! + +There are two modes of historical composition, the artistic and +the scientific. The former implies that men give origin to +events; it therefore selects some prominent individual, pictures +him under a fanciful form, and makes him the hero of a romance. +The latter, insisting that human affairs present an unbroken +chain, in which each fact is the offspring of some preceding +fact, and the parent of some subsequent fact, declares that men +do not control events, but that events control men. The former +gives origin to compositions, which, however much they may +interest or delight us, are but a grade above novels; the latter +is austere, perhaps even repulsive, for it sternly impresses us +with a conviction of the irresistible dominion of law, and the +insignificance of human exertions. In a subject so solemn as that +to which this book is devoted, the romantic and the popular are +altogether out of place. He who presumes to treat of it must fix +his eyes steadfastly on that chain of destiny which universal +history displays; he must turn with disdain from the phantom +impostures of pontiffs and statesmen and kings. + +If any thing were needed to show us the untrustworthiness of +artistic historical compositions, our personal experience would +furnish it. How often do our most intimate friends fail to +perceive the real motives of our every-day actions; how +frequently they misinterpret our intentions! If this be the case +in what is passing before our eyes, may we not be satisfied that +it is impossible to comprehend justly the doings of persons who +lived many years ago, and whom we have never seen. + +In selecting and arranging the topics now to be presented, I have +been guided in part by "the Confession" of the late Vatican +Council, and in part by the order of events in history. Not +without interest will the reader remark that the subjects offer +themselves to us now as they did to the old philosophers of +Greece. We still deal with the same questions about which they +disputed. What is God? What is the soul? What is the world? How +is it governed? Have we any standard or criterion of truth? And +the thoughtful reader will earnestly ask, "Are our solutions of +these problems any better than theirs?" + +The general argument of this book, then, is as follows: + +I first direct attention to the origin of modern science as +distinguished from ancient, by depending on observation, +experiment, and mathematical discussion, instead of mere +speculation, and shall show that it was a consequence of the +Macedonian campaigns, which brought Asia and Europe into contact. +A brief sketch of those campaigns, and of the Museum of +Alexandria, illustrates its character. + +Then with brevity I recall the well-known origin of Christianity, +and show its advance to the attainment of imperial power, the +transformation it underwent by its incorporation with paganism, +the existing religion of the Roman Empire. A clear conception of +its incompatibility with science caused it to suppress forcibly +the Schools of Alexandria. It was constrained to this by the +political necessities of its position. + +The parties to the conflict thus placed, I next relate the story +of their first open struggle; it is the first or Southern +Reformation. The point in dispute had respect to the nature of +God. It involved the rise of Mohammedanism. Its result was, that +much of Asia and Africa, with the historic cities Jerusalem, +Alexandria, and Carthage, were wrenched from Christendom, and the +doctrine of the Unity of God established in the larger portion of +what had been the Roman Empire. + +This political event was followed by the restoration of science, +the establishment of colleges, schools, libraries, throughout the +dominions of the Arabians. Those conquerors, pressing forward +rapidly in their intellectual development, rejected the +anthropomorphic ideas of the nature of God remaining in their +popular belief, and accepted other more philosophical ones, akin +to those that had long previously been attained to in India. The +result of this was a second conflict, that respecting the nature +of the soul. Under the designation of Averroism, there came into +prominence the theories of Emanation and Absorption. At the close +of the middle ages the Inquisition succeeded in excluding those +doctrines from Europe, and now the Vatican Council has formally +and solemnly anathematized them. + +Meantime, through the cultivation of astronomy, geography, and +other sciences, correct views had been gained as to the position +and relations of the earth, and as to the structure of the world; +and since Religion, resting itself on what was assumed to be the +proper interpretation of the Scriptures, insisted that the earth +is the central and most important part of the universe, a third +conflict broke out. In this Galileo led the way on the part of +Science. Its issue was the overthrow of the Church on the +question in dispute. Subsequently a subordinate controversy arose +respecting the age of the world, the Church insisting that it is +only about six thousand years old. In this she was again +overthrown The light of history and of science had been gradually +spreading over Europe. In the sixteenth century the prestige of +Roman Christianity was greatly diminished by the intellectual +reverses it had experienced, and also by its political and moral +condition. It was clearly seen by many pious men that Religion +was not accountable for the false position in which she was +found, but that the misfortune was directly traceable to the +alliance she had of old contracted with Roman paganism. The +obvious remedy, therefore, was a return to primitive purity. Thus +arose the fourth conflict, known to us as the Reformation--the +second or Northern Reformation. The special form it assumed was a +contest respecting the standard or criterion of truth, whether it +is to be found in the Church or in the Bible. The determination +of this involved a settlement of the rights of reason, or +intellectual freedom. Luther, who is the conspicuous man of the +epoch, carried into effect his intention with no inconsiderable +success; and at the close of the struggle it was found that +Northern Europe was lost to Roman Christianity. + +We are now in the midst of a controversy respecting the mode of +government of the world, whether it be by incessant divine +intervention, or by the operation of primordial and unchangeable +law. The intellectual movement of Christendom has reached that +point which Arabism had attained to in the tenth and eleventh +centuries; and doctrines which were then discussed are presenting +themselves again for review; such are those of Evolution, +Creation, Development. + +Offered under these general titles, I think it will be found that +all the essential points of this great controversy are included. +By grouping under these comprehensive heads the facts to be +considered, and dealing with each group separately, we shall +doubtless acquire clear views of their inter-connection and their +historical succession. + +I have treated of these conflicts as nearly as I conveniently +could in their proper chronological order, and, for the sake of +completeness, have added chapters on-- + +An examination of what Latin Christianity has done for modern +civilization. + +A corresponding examination of what Science has done. + +The attitude of Roman Christianity in the impending conflict, as +defined by the Vatican Council. + +The attention of many truth-seeking persons has been so +exclusively given to the details of sectarian dissensions, that +the long strife, to the history of which these pages are devoted, +is popularly but little known. Having tried to keep steadfastly +in view the determination to write this work in an impartial +spirit, to speak with respect of the contending parties, but +never to conceal the truth, I commit it to the considerate +judgment of the thoughtful reader. + + JOHN WILLIAM DRAPER + +UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK, +December, 1878. + + + +HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT BETWEEN RELIGION AND SCIENCE. + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE ORIGIN OF SCIENCE. + +Religious condition of the Greeks in the fourth century before +Christ.-- Their invasion of the Persian Empire brings them in +contact with new aspects of Nature, and familiarizes them with +new religious systems.-- The military, engineering, and +scientific activity, stimulated by the Macedonian campaigns, +leads to the establishment in Alexandria of an institute, the +Museum, for the cultivation of knowledge by experiment, +observation, and mathematical discussion.--It is the origin of +Science. + +GREEK MYTHOLOGY. No spectacle can be presented to the thoughtful +mind more solemn, more mournful, than that of the dying of an +ancient religion, which in its day has given consolation to many +generations of men. + +Four centuries before the birth of Christ, Greece was fast +outgrowing her ancient faith. Her philosophers, in their studies +of the world, had been profoundly impressed with the contrast +between the majesty of the operations of Nature and the +worthlessness of the divinities of Olympus. Her historians, +considering the orderly course of political affairs, the manifest +uniformity in the acts of men, and that there was no event +occurring before their eyes for which they could not find an +obvious cause in some preceding event, began to suspect that the +miracles and celestial interventions, with which the old annals +were filled, were only fictions. They demanded, when the age of +the supernatural had ceased, why oracles had become mute, and why +there were now no more prodigies in the world. + +Traditions, descending from immemorial antiquity, and formerly +accepted by pious men as unquestionable truths, had filled the +islands of the Mediterranean and the conterminous countries with +supernatural wonders-- enchantresses, sorcerers, giants, ogres, +harpies, gorgons, centaurs, cyclops. The azure vault was the +floor of heaven; there Zeus, surrounded by the gods with their +wives and mistresses, held his court, engaged in pursuits like +those of men, and not refraining from acts of human passion and +crime. + +A sea-coast broken by numerous indentations, an archipelago with +some of the most lovely islands in the world, inspired the Greeks +with a taste for maritime life, for geographical discovery, and +colonization. Their ships wandered all over the Black and +Mediterranean Seas. The time-honored wonders that had been +glorified in the "Odyssey," and sacred in public faith, were +found to have no existence. As a better knowledge of Nature was +obtained, the sky was shown to be an illusion; it was discovered +that there is no Olympus, nothing above but space and stars. With +the vanishing of their habitation, the gods disappeared, both +those of the Ionian type of Homer and those of the Doric of +Hesiod. + +EFFECTS OF DISCOVERY AND CRITICISM. But this did not take place +without resistance. At first, the public, and particularly its +religious portion, denounced the rising doubts as atheism. They +despoiled some of the offenders of their goods, exiled others; +some they put to death. They asserted that what had been believed +by pious men in the old times, and had stood the test of ages, +must necessarily be true. Then, as the opposing evidence became +irresistible, they were content to admit that these marvels were +allegories under which the wisdom of the ancients had concealed +many sacred and mysterious things. They tried to reconcile, what +now in their misgivings they feared might be myths, with their +advancing intellectual state. But their efforts were in vain, for +there are predestined phases through which on such an occasion +public opinion must pass. What it has received with veneration it +begins to doubt, then it offers new interpretations, then +subsides into dissent, and ends with a rejection of the whole as +a mere fable. + +In their secession the philosophers and historians were followed +by the poets. Euripides incurred the odium of heresy. Aeschylus +narrowly escaped being stoned to death for blasphemy. But the +frantic efforts of those who are interested in supporting +delusions must always end in defeat. The demoralization +resistlessly extended through every branch of literature, until +at length it reached the common people. + +THE PERSIAN EMPIRE. Greek philosophical criticism had lent its +aid to Greek philosophical discovery in this destruction of the +national faith. It sustained by many arguments the wide-spreading +unbelief. It compared the doctrines of the different schools with +each other, and showed from their contradictions that man has no +criterion of truth; that, since his ideas of what is good and +what is evil differ according to the country in which he lives, +they can have no foundation in Nature, but must be altogether the +result of education; that right and wrong are nothing more than +fictions created by society for its own purposes. In Athens, some +of the more advanced classes had reached such a pass that they +not only denied the unseen, the supernatural, they even affirmed +that the world is only a day-dream, a phantasm, and that nothing +at all exists. + +The topographical configuration of Greece gave an impress to her +political condition. It divided her people into distinct +communities having conflicting interests, and made them incapable +of centralization. Incessant domestic wars between the rival +states checked her advancement. She was poor, her leading men had +become corrupt. They were ever ready to barter patriotic +considerations for foreign gold, to sell themselves for Persian +bribes. Possessing a perception of the beautiful as manifested in +sculpture and architecture to a degree never attained elsewhere +either before or since, Greece had lost a practical appreciation +of the Good and the True. + +While European Greece, full of ideas of liberty and independence, +rejected the sovereignty of Persia, Asiatic Greece acknowledged +it without reluctance. At that time the Persian Empire in +territorial extent was equal to half of modern Europe. It touched +the waters of the Mediterranean, the Aegean, the Black, the +Caspian, the Indian, the Persian, the Red Seas. Through its +territories there flowed six of the grandest rivers in the +world--the Euphrates, the Tigris, the Indus, the Jaxartes, the +Oxus, the Nile, each more than a thousand miles in length. Its +surface reached from thirteen hundred feet below the sea-level to +twenty thousand feet above. It yielded, therefore, every +agricultural product. Its mineral wealth was boundless. It +inherited the prestige of the Median, the Babylonian, the +Assyrian, the Chaldean Empires, whose annals reached back through +more than twenty centuries. + +THE PERSIAN EMPIRE. Persia had always looked upon European Greece +as politically insignificant, for it had scarcely half the +territorial extent of one of her satrapies. Her expeditions for +compelling its obedience had, however, taught her the military +qualities of its people. In her forces were incorporated Greek +mercenaries, esteemed the very best of her troops. She did not +hesitate sometimes to give the command of her armies to Greek +generals, of her fleets to Greek captains. In the political +convulsions through which she had passed, Greek soldiers had +often been used by her contending chiefs. These military +operations were attended by a momentous result. They revealed, +to the quick eye of these warlike mercenaries, the political +weakness of the empire and the possibility of reaching its +centre. After the death of Cyrus on the battle-field of Cunaxa, +it was demonstrated, by the immortal retreat of the ten thousand +under Xenophon, that a Greek army could force its way to and from +the heart of Persia. + +That reverence for the military abilities of Asiatic generals, so +profoundly impressed on the Greeks by such engineering exploits +as the bridging of the Hellespont, and the cutting of the isthmus +at Mount Athos by Xerxes, had been obliterated at Salamis, +Platea, Mycale. To plunder rich Persian provinces had become an +irresistible temptation. Such was the expedition of Agesilaus, +the Spartan king, whose brilliant successes were, however, +checked by the Persian government resorting to its time-proved +policy of bribing the neighbors of Sparta to attack her. "I have +been conquered by thirty thousand Persian archers," bitterly +exclaimed Agesilaus, as he re-embarked, alluding to the Persian +coin, the Daric, which was stamped with the image of an archer. + +THE INVASION OF PERSIA BY GREECE. At length Philip, the King of +Macedon, projected a renewal of these attempts, under a far more +formidable organization, and with a grander object. He managed to +have himself appointed captain-general of all Greece not for the +purpose of a mere foray into the Asiatic satrapies, but for the +overthrow of the Persian dynasty in the very centre of its power. +Assassinated while his preparations were incomplete, he was +succeeded by his son Alexander, then a youth. A general assembly +of Greeks at Corinth had unanimously elected him in his father's +stead. There were some disturbances in Illyria; Alexander had to +march his army as far north as the Danube to quell them. During +his absence the Thebans with some others conspired against him. +On his return he took Thebes by assault. He massacred six +thousand of its inhabitants, sold thirty thousand for slaves, and +utterly demolished the city. The military wisdom of this severity +was apparent in his Asiatic campaign. He was not troubled by any +revolt in his rear. + +THE MACEDONIAN CAMPAIGN. In the spring B.C. 334 Alexander crossed +the Hellespont into Asia. His army consisted of thirty-four +thousand foot and four thousand horse. He had with him only +seventy talents in money. He marched directly on the Persian +army, which, vastly exceeding him in strength, was holding the +line of the Granicus. He forced the passage of the river, routed +the enemy, and the possession of all Asia Minor, with its +treasures, was the fruit of the victory. The remainder of that +year he spent in the military organization of the conquered +provinces. Meantime Darius, the Persian king, had advanced an +army of six hundred thousand men to prevent the passage of the +Macedonians into Syria. In a battle that ensued among the +mountain-defiles at Issus, the Persians were again overthrown. So +great was the slaughter that Alexander, and Ptolemy, one of his +generals, crossed over a ravine choked with dead bodies. It was +estimated that the Persian loss was not less than ninety thousand +foot and ten thousand horse. The royal pavilion fell into the +conqueror's hands, and with it the wife and several of the +children of Darius. Syria was thus added to the Greek conquests. +In Damascus were found many of the concubines of Darius and his +chief officers, together with a vast treasure. + +Before venturing into the plains of Mesopotamia for the final +struggle, Alexander, to secure his rear and preserve his +communications with the sea, marched southward down the +Mediterranean coast, reducing the cities in his way. In his +speech before the council of war after Issus, he told his +generals that they must not pursue Darius with Tyre unsubdued, +and Persia in possession of Egypt and Cyprus, for, if Persia +should regain her seaports, she would transfer the war into +Greece, and that it was absolutely necessary for him to be +sovereign at sea. With Cyprus and Egypt in his possession he felt +no solicitude about Greece. The siege of Tyre cost him more than +half a year. In revenge for this delay, he crucified, it is said, +two thousand of his prisoners. Jerusalem voluntarily surrendered, +and therefore was treated leniently: but the passage of the +Macedonian army into Egypt being obstructed at Gaza, the Persian +governor of which, Betis, made a most obstinate defense, that +place, after a siege of two months, was carried by assault, ten +thousand of its men were massacred, and the rest, with their +wives and children, sold into slavery. Betis himself was dragged +alive round the city at the chariot-wheels of the conqueror. +There was now no further obstacle. The Egyptians, who detested +the Persian rule, received their invader with open arms. He +organized the country in his own interest, intrusting all its +military commands to Macedonian officers, and leaving the civil +government in the hands of native Egyptians. + +CONQUEST OF EGYPT. While preparations for the final campaign were +being made, he undertook a journey to the temple of Jupiter +Ammon, which was situated in an oasis of the Libyan Desert, at a +distance of two hundred miles. The oracle declared him to be a +son of that god who, under the form of a serpent, had beguiled +Olympias, his mother. Immaculate conceptions and celestial +descents were so currently received in those days, that whoever +had greatly distinguished himself in the affairs of men was +thought to be of supernatural lineage. Even in Rome, centuries +later, no one could with safety have denied that the city owed +its founder, Romulus, to an accidental meeting of the god Mars +with the virgin Rhea Sylvia, as she went with her pitcher for +water to the spring. The Egyptian disciples of Plato would have +looked with anger on those who rejected the legend that +Perictione, the mother of that great philosopher, a pure virgin, +had suffered an immaculate conception through the influences of +Apollo, and that the god had declared to Ariston, to whom she was +betrothed, the parentage of the child. When Alexander issued his +letters, orders, and decrees, styling himself "King Alexander, +the son of Jupiter Ammon," they came to the inhabitants of Egypt +and Syria with an authority that now can hardly be realized. The +free- thinking Greeks, however, put on such a supernatural +pedigree its proper value. Olympias, who, of course, better than +all others knew the facts of the case, used jestingly to say, +that "she wished Alexander would cease from incessantly +embroiling her with Jupiter's wife." Arrian, the historian of the +Macedonian expedition, observes, "I cannot condemn him for +endeavoring to draw his subjects into the belief of his divine +origin, nor can I be induced to think it any great crime, for it +is very reasonable to imagine that he intended no more by it than +merely to procure the greater authority among his soldiers." + +GREEK CONQUEST OF PERSIA. All things being thus secured in his +rear, Alexander, having returned into Syria, directed the march +of his army, now consisting of fifty thousand veterans, eastward. +After crossing the Euphrates, he kept close to the Masian hills, +to avoid the intense heat of the more southerly Mesopotamian +plains; more abundant forage could also thus be procured for the +cavalry. On the left bank of the Tigris, near Arbela, he +encountered the great army of eleven hundred thousand men brought +up by Darius from Babylon. The death of the Persian monarch, +which soon followed the defeat he suffered, left the Macedonian +general master of all the countries from the Danube to the Indus. +Eventually he extended his conquest to the Ganges. The treasures +he seized are almost beyond belief. At Susa alone he found--so +Arrian says--fifty thousand talents in money. + +EVENTS OF THE CAMPAIGNS. The modern military student cannot look +upon these wonderful campaigns without admiration. The passage of +the Hellespont; the forcing of the Granicus; the winter spent in +a political organization of conquered Asia Minor; the march of +the right wing and centre of the army along the Syrian +Mediterranean coast; the engineering difficulties overcome at the +siege of Tyre; the storming of Gaza; the isolation of Persia from +Greece; the absolute exclusion of her navy from the +Mediterranean; the check on all her attempts at intriguing with +or bribing Athenians or Spartans, heretofore so often resorted to +with success; the submission of Egypt; another winter spent in +the political organization of that venerable country; the +convergence of the whole army from the Black and Red Seas toward +the nitre- covered plains of Mesopotamia in the ensuing spring; +the passage of the Euphrates fringed with its weeping- willows at +the broken bridge of Thapsacus; the crossing of the Tigris; the +nocturnal reconnaissance before the great and memorable battle of +Arbela; the oblique movement on the field; the piercing of the +enemy's centre--a manoeuvre destined to be repeated many +centuries subsequently at Austerlitz; the energetic pursuit of +the Persian monarch; these are exploits not surpassed by any +soldier of later times. + +A prodigious stimulus was thus given to Greek intellectual +activity. There were men who had marched with the Macedonian army +from the Danube to the Nile, from the Nile to the Ganges. They +had felt the hyperborean blasts of the countries beyond the Black +Sea, the simooms and sand-tempests of the Egyptian deserts. They +had seen the Pyramids which had already stood for twenty +centuries, the hieroglyph-covered obelisks of Luxor, avenues of +silent and mysterious sphinxes, colossi of monarchs who reigned +in the morning of the world. In the halls of Esar-haddon they had +stood before the thrones of grim old Assyrian kings, guarded by +winged bulls. In Babylon there still remained its walls, once +more than sixty miles in compass, and, after the ravages of three +centuries and three conquerors, still more than eighty feet in +height; there were still the ruins of the temple of cloud +encompassed Bel, on its top was planted the observatory wherein +the weird Chaldean astronomers had held nocturnal communion with +the stars; still there were vestiges of the two palaces with +their hanging gardens in which were great trees growing in +mid-air, and the wreck of the hydraulic machinery that had +supplied them with water from the river. Into the artificial lake +with its vast apparatus of aqueducts and sluices the melted snows +of the Armenian mountains found their way, and were confined in +their course through the city by the embankments of the +Euphrates. Most wonderful of all, perhaps, was the tunnel under +the river-bed. + +EFFECT ON THE GREEK ARMY. If Chaldea, Assyria, Babylon, presented +stupendous and venerable antiquities reaching far back into the +night of time, Persia was not without her wonders of a later +date. The pillared halls of Persepolis were filled with miracles +of art--carvings, sculptures, enamels, alabaster libraries, +obelisks, sphinxes, colossal bulls. Ecbatana, the cool summer +retreat of the Persian kings, was defended by seven encircling +walls of hewn and polished blocks, the interior ones in +succession of increasing height, and of different colors, in +astrological accordance with the seven planets. The palace was +roofed with silver tiles, its beams were plated with gold. At +midnight, in its halls the sunlight was rivaled by many a row of +naphtha cressets. A paradise--that luxury of the monarchs of the +East--was planted in the midst of the city. The Persian Empire, +from the Hellespont to the Indus, was truly the garden of the +world. + +EFFECTS ON THE GREEK ARMY. I have devoted a few pages to the +story of these marvelous campaigns, for the military talent they +fostered led to the establishment of the mathematical and +practical schools of Alexandria, the true origin of science. We +trace back all our exact knowledge to the Macedonian campaigns. +Humboldt has well observed that an introduction to new and grand +objects of Nature enlarges the human mind. The soldiers of +Alexander and the hosts of his camp-followers encountered at +every march unexpected and picturesque scenery. Of all men, the +Greeks were the most observant, the most readily and profoundly +impressed. Here there were interminable sandy plains, there +mountains whose peaks were lost above the clouds. In the deserts +were mirages, on the hill-sides shadows of fleeting clouds +sweeping over the forests. They were in a land of amber-colored +date-palms and cypresses, of tamarisks, green myrtles, and +oleanders. At Arbela they had fought against Indian elephants; in +the thickets of the Caspian they had roused from his lair the +lurking royal tiger. They had seen animals which, compared with +those of Europe, were not only strange, but colossal--the +rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, the camel, the crocodiles of the +Nile and the Ganges. They had encountered men of many complexions +and many costumes: the swarthy Syrian, the olive-colored Persian. +the black African. Even of Alexander himself it is related that +on his death-bed he caused his admiral, Nearchus, to sit by his +side, and found consolation in listening to the adventures of +that sailor--the story of his voyage from the Indus up the +Persian Gulf. The conqueror had seen with astonishment the ebbing +and flowing of the tides. He had built ships for the exploration +of the Caspian, supposing that it and the Black Sea might be +gulfs of a great ocean, such as Nearchus had discovered the +Persian and Red Seas to be. He had formed a resolution that his +fleet should attempt the circumnavigation of Africa, and come +into the Mediterranean through the Pillars of Hercules--a feat +which, it was affirmed, had once been accomplished by the +Pharaohs. + +INTELLECTUAL CONDITION OF PERSIA. Not only her greatest soldiers, +but also her greatest philosophers, found in the conquered empire +much that might excite the admiration of Greece. Callisthenes +obtained in Babylon a series of Chaldean astronomical +observations ranging back through 1,903 years; these he sent to +Aristotle. Perhaps, since they were on burnt bricks, duplicates +of them may be recovered by modern research in the clay libraries +of the Assyrian kings. Ptolemy, the Egyptian astronomer, +possessed a Babylonian record of eclipses, going back 747 years +before our era. Long-continued and close observations were +necessary, before some of these astronomical results that have +reached our times could have been ascertained. Thus the +Babylonians had fixed the length of a tropical year within +twenty-five seconds of the truth; their estimate of the sidereal +year was barely two minutes in excess. They had detected the +precession of the equinoxes. They knew the causes of eclipses, +and, by the aid of their cycle called Saros, could predict them. +Their estimate of the value of that cycle, which is more than +6,585 days, was within nineteen and a half minutes of the truth. + +INTELLECTUAL CONDITION OF PERSIA. Such facts furnish +incontrovertible proof of the patience and skill with which +astronomy had been cultivated in Mesopotamia, and that, with very +inadequate instrumental means, it had reached no inconsiderable +perfection. These old observers had made a catalogue of the +stars, had divided the zodiac into twelve signs; they had parted +the day into twelve hours, the night into twelve. They had, as +Alistotle says, for a long time devoted themselves to +observations of star-occultations by the moon. They had correct +views of the structure of the solar system, and knew the order of +the emplacement of the planets. They constructed sundials, +clepsydras, astrolabes, gnomons. + +Not without interest do we still look on specimens of their +method of printing. Upon a revolving roller they engraved, in +cuneiform letters, their records, and, running this over plastic +clay formed into blocks, produced ineffaceable proofs. From their +tile-libraries we are still to reap a literary and historical +harvest. They were not without some knowledge of optics. The +convex lens found at Nimroud shows that they were not +unacquainted with magnifying instruments. In arithmetic they had +detected the value of position in the digits, though they missed +the grand Indian invention of the cipher. + +What a spectacle for the conquering Greeks, who, up to this time, +had neither experimented nor observed! They had contented +themselves with mere meditation and useless speculation. + +ITS RELIGIOUS CONDITION. But Greek intellectual development, due +thus in part to a more extended view of Nature, was powerfully +aided by the knowledge then acquired of the religion of the +conquered country. The idolatry of Greece had always been a +horror to Persia, who, in her invasions, had never failed to +destroy the temples and insult the fanes of the bestial gods. The +impunity with which these sacrileges had been perpetrated had +made a profound impression, and did no little to undermine +Hellenic faith. But now the worshiper of the vile Olympian +divinities, whose obscene lives must have been shocking to every +pious man, was brought in contact with a grand, a solemn, a +consistent religious system having its foundation on a +philosophical basis. Persia, as is the case with all empires of +long duration, had passed through many changes of religion. She +had followed the Monotheism of Zoroaster; had then accepted +Dualism, and exchanged that for Magianism. At the time of the +Macedonian expedition, she recognized one universal Intelligence, +the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of all things, the most holy +essence of truth, the giver of all good. He was not to be +represented by any image, or any graven form. And, since, in +every thing here below, we see the resultant of two opposing +forces, under him were two coequal and coeternal principles, +represented by the imagery of Light and Darkness. These +principles are in never-ending conflict. The world is their +battle-ground, man is their prize. + +In the old legends of Dualism, the Evil Spirit was said to have +sent a serpent to ruin the paradise which the Good Spirit had +made. These legends became known to the Jews during their +Babylonian captivity. + +The existence of a principle of evil is the necessary incident of +the existence of a principle of good, as a shadow is the +necessary incident of the presence of light. In this manner could +be explained the occurrence of evil in a world, the maker and +ruler of which is supremely good. Each of the personified +principles of light and darkness, Ormuzd and Ahriman, had his +subordinate angels, his counselors, his armies. It is the duty of +a good man to cultivate truth, purity, and industry. He may look +forward, when this life is over, to a life in another world, and +trust to a resurrection of the body, the immortality of the soul, +and a conscious future existence. + +In the later years of the empire, the principles of Magianism had +gradually prevailed more and more over those of Zoroaster. +Magianism was essentially a worship of the elements. Of these, +fire was considered as the most worthy representative of the +Supreme Being. On altars erected, not in temples, but under the +blue canopy of the sky, perpetual fires were kept burning, and +the rising sun was regarded as the noblest object of human +adoration. In the society of Asia, nothing is visible but the +monarch; in the expanse of heaven, all objects vanish in presence +of the sun. + +DEATH OF ALEXANDER. Prematurely cut off in the midst of many +great projects Alexander died at Babylon before he had completed +his thirty-third year (B.C. 323). There was a suspicion that he +had been poisoned. His temper had become so unbridled, his +passion so ferocious, that his generals and even his intimate +friends lived in continual dread. Clitus, one of the latter, he +in a moment of fury had stabbed to the heart. Callisthenes, the +intermedium between himself and Aristotle, he had caused to be +hanged, or, as was positively asserted by some who knew the +facts, had had him put upon the rack and then crucified. It may +have been in self-defense that the conspirators resolved on his +assassination. But surely it was a calumny to associate the name +of Aristotle with this transaction. He would have rather borne +the worst that Alexander could inflict, than have joined in the +perpetration of so great a crime. + +A scene of confusion and bloodshed lasting many years ensued, nor +did it cease even after the Macedonian generals had divided the +empire. Among its vicissitudes one incident mainly claims our +attention. Ptolemy, who was a son of King Philip by Arsinoe, a +beautiful concubine, and who in his boyhood had been driven into +exile with Alexander, when they incurred their father's +displeasure, who had been Alexander's comrade in many of his +battles and all his campaigns, became governor and eventually +king of Egypt. + +FOUNDATION OF ALEXANDER. At the siege of Rhodes, Ptolemy had been +of such signal service to its citizens that in gratitude they +paid divine honors to him, and saluted him with the title of +Soter (the Savior). By that designation--Ptolemy Soter--he is +distinguished from succeeding kings of the Macedonian dynasty in +Egypt. + +He established his seat of government not in any of the old +capitals of the country, but in Alexandria. At the time of the +expedition to the temple of Jupiter Ammon, the Macedonian +conqueror had caused the foundations of that city to be laid, +foreseeing that it might be made the commercial entrepot between +Asia and Europe. It is to be particularly remarked that not only +did Alexander himself deport many Jews from Palestine to people +the city, and not only did Ptolemy Soter bring one hundred +thousand more after his siege of Jerusalem, but Philadelphus, his +successor, redeemed from slavery one hundred and ninety-eight +thousand of that people, paying their Egyptian owners a just +money equivalent for each. To all these Jews the same privileges +were accorded as to the Macedonians. In consequence of this +considerate treatment, vast numbers of their compatriots and many +Syrians voluntarily came into Egypt. To them the designation of +Hellenistical Jews was given. In like manner, tempted by the +benign government of Soter, multitudes of Greeks sought refuge in +the country, and the invasions of Perdiccas and Antigonus showed +that Greek soldiers would desert from other Macedonian generals +to join is armies. + +The population of Alexandria was therefore of three distinct +nationalities: 1. Native Egyptians 2. Greeks; 3. Jews--a fact +that has left an impress on the religious faith of modern Europe. + +Greek architects and Greek engineers had made Alexandria the most +beautiful city of the ancient world. They had filled it with +magnificent palaces, temples, theatres. In its centre, at the +intersection of its two grand avenues, which crossed each other +at right angles, and in the midst of gardens, fountains, +obelisks, stood the mausoleum, in which, embalmed after the +manner of the Egyptians, rested the body of Alexander. In a +funereal journey of two years it had been brought with great pomp +from Babylon. At first the coffin was of pure gold, but this +having led to a violation of the tomb, it was replaced by one of +alabaster. But not these, not even the great light-house, Pharos, +built of blocks of white marble and so high that the fire +continually burning on its top could be seen many miles off at +sea--the Pharos counted as one of the seven wonders of the +world--it is not these magnificent achievements of architecture +that arrest our attention; the true, the most glorious monument +of the Macedonian kings of Egypt is the Museum. Its influences +will last when even the Pyramids have passed away. + +THE ALEXANDRIAN MUSEUM. The Alexandrian Museum was commenced by +Ptolemy Soter, and was completed by his son Ptolemy Philadelphus. +It was situated in the Bruchion, the aristocratic quarter of the +city, adjoining the king's palace. Built of marble, it was +surrounded with a piazza, in which the residents might walk and +converse together. Its sculptured apartments contained the +Philadelphian library, and were crowded with the choicest statues +and pictures. This library eventually comprised four hundred +thousand volumes. In the course of time, probably on account of +inadequate accommodation for so many books, an additional library +was established in the adjacent quarter Rhacotis, and placed in +the Serapion or temple of Serapis. The number of volumes in this +library, which was called the Daughter of that in the Museum, was +eventually three hundred thousand. There were, therefore, seven +hundred thousand volumes in these royal collections. + +Alexandria was not merely the capital of Egypt, it was the +intellectual metropolis of the world. Here it was truly said the +Genius of the East met the Genius of the West, and this Paris of +antiquity became a focus of fashionable dissipation and universal +skepticism. In the allurements of its bewitching society even the +Jews forgot their patriotism. They abandoned the language of +their forefathers, and adopted Greek. + +In the establishment of the Museum, Ptolemy Soter and his son +Philadelphus had three objects in view: 1. The perpetuation of +such knowledge as was then in the world; 2. Its increase; 3. Its +diffusion. + +1. For the perpetuation of knowledge. Orders were given to the +chief librarian to buy at the king's expense whatever books he +could. A body of transcribers was maintained in the Museum, whose +duty it was to make correct copies of such works as their owners +were not disposed to sell. Any books brought by foreigners into +Egypt were taken at once to the Museum, and, when correct copies +had been made, the transcript was given to the owner, and the +original placed in the library. Often a very large pecuniary +indemnity was paid. Thus it is said of Ptolemy Euergetes that, +having obtained from Athens the works of Euripides, Sophocles, +and Aeschylus, he sent to their owners transcripts, together with +about fifteen thousand dollars, as an indemnity. On his return +from the Syrian expedition he carried back in triumph all the +Egyptian monuments from Ecbatana and Susa, which Cambyses and +other invaders had removed from Egypt. These he replaced in their +original seats, or added as adornments to his museums. When works +were translated as well as transcribed, sums which we should +consider as almost incredible were paid, as was the case with the +Septuagint translation of the Bible, ordered by Ptolemy +Philadelphus. + +2. For the increase of knowledge. One of the chief objects of the +Museum was that of serving as the home of a body of men who +devoted themselves to study, and were lodged and maintained at +the king's expense. Occasionally he himself sat at their table. +Anecdotes connected with those festive occasions have descended +to our times. In the original organization of the Museum the +residents were divided into four faculties--literature; +mathematics, astronomy, medicine. Minor branches were +appropriately classified under one of these general heads; thus +natural history was considered to be a branch of medicine. An +officer of very great distinction presided over the +establishment, and had general charge of its interests. Demetrius +Phalareus, perhaps the most learned man of his age, who had been +governor of Athens for many years, was the first so appointed. +Under him was the librarian, an office sometimes held by men +whose names have descended to our times, as Eratosthenes, and +Apollonius Rhodius. + +ORGANIZATION OF THE MUSEUM. In connection with the Museum were a +botanical and a zoological garden. These gardens, as their names +import, were for the purpose of facilitating the study of plants +and animals. There was also an astronomical observatory +containing armillary spheres, globes, solstitial and equatorial +armils, astrolabes, parallactic rules, and other apparatus then +in use, the graduation on the divided instruments being into +degrees and sixths. On the floor of this observatory a meridian +line was drawn. The want of correct means of measuring time and +temperature was severely felt; the clepsydra of Ctesibius +answered very imperfectly for the former, the hydrometer floating +in a cup of water for the latter; it measured variations of +temperature by variations of density. Philadelphus, who toward +the close of his life was haunted with an intolerable dread of +death, devoted much of his time to the discovery of an elixir. +For such pursuits the Museum was provided with a chemical +laboratory. In spite of the prejudices of the age, and especially +in spite of Egyptian prejudices, there was in connection with the +medical department an anatomical room for the dissection, not +only of the dead, but actually of the living, who for crimes had +been condemned. + +3. For the diffusion of knowledge. In the Museum was given, by +lectures, conversation, or other appropriate methods instruction +in all the various departments of human knowledge. There flocked +to this great intellectual centre, students from all countries. +It is said that at one time not fewer than fourteen thousand were +in attendance. Subsequently even the Christian church received +from it some of the most eminent of its Fathers, as Clemens +Alexandrinus, Origen, Athanasius. + +The library in the Museum was burnt during the siege of +Alexandria by Julius Caesar. To make amends for this great loss, +that collected by Eumenes, King of Pergamus, was presented by +Mark Antony to Queen Cleopatra. Originally it was founded as a +rival to that of the Ptolemies. It was added to the collection in +the Serapion. + +SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL OF THE MUSEUM. It remains now to describe +briefly the philosophical basis of the Museum, and some of its +contributions to the stock of human knowledge. + +In memory of the illustrious founder of this most noble +institution--an institution which antiquity delighted to call +"The divine school of Alexandria"--we must mention in the first +rank his "History of the Campaigns of Alexander." Great as a +soldier and as a sovereign, Ptolemy Soter added to his glory by +being an author. Time, which has not been able to destroy the +memory of our obligations to him, has dealt unjustly by his work. +It is not now extant. + +As might be expected from the friendship that existed between +Alexander, Ptolemy, and Aristotle, the Aristotelian philosophy +was the intellectual corner-stone on which the Museum rested. +King Philip had committed the education of Alexander to +Aristotle, and during the Persian campaigns the conqueror +contributed materially, not only in money, but otherwise, toward +the "Natural History" then in preparation. + +The essential principle of the Aristotelian philosophy was, to +rise from the study of particulars to a knowledge of general +principles or universals, advancing to them by induction. The +induction is the more certain as the facts on which it is based +are more numerous; its correctness is established if it should +enable us to predict other facts until then unknown. This system +implies endless toil in the collection of facts, both by +experiment and observation; it implies also a close meditation on +them. It is, therefore, essentially a method of labor and of +reason, not a method of imagination. The failures that Aristotle +himself so often exhibits are no proof of its unreliability, but +rather of its trustworthiness. They are failures arising from +want of a sufficiency of facts. + +ETHICAL SCHOOL OF THE MUSEUM. Some of the general results at +which Aristotle arrived are very grand. Thus, he concluded that +every thing is ready to burst into life, and that the various +organic forms presented to us by Nature are those which existing +conditions permit. Should the conditions change, the forms will +also change. Hence there is an unbroken chain from the simple +element through plants and animals up to man, the different +groups merging by insensible shades into each other. + +The inductive philosophy thus established by Aristotle is a +method of great power. To it all the modern advances in science +are due. In its most improved form it rises by inductions from +phenomena to their causes, and then, imitating the method of the +Academy, it descends by deductions from those causes to the +detail of phenomena. + +While thus the Scientific School of Alexandria was founded on the +maxims of one great Athenian philosopher, the Ethical School was +founded on the maxims of another, for Zeno, though a Cypriote or +Phoenician, had for many years been established at Athens. His +disciples took the name of Stoics. His doctrines long survived +him, and, in times when there was no other consolation for man, +offered a support in the hour of trial, and an unwavering guide +in the vicissitudes of life, not only to illustrious Greeks, but +also to many of the great philosophers, statesmen, generals, and +emperors of Rome. + +THE PRINCIPLES OF STOICISM. The aim of Zeno was, to furnish a +guide for the daily practice of life, to make men virtuous. He +insisted that education is the true foundation of virtue, for, if +we know what is good, we shall incline to do it. We must trust to +sense, to furnish the data of knowledge, and reason will suitably +combine them. In this the affinity of Zeno to Aristotle is +plainly seen. Every appetite, lust, desire, springs from +imperfect knowledge. Our nature is imposed upon us by Fate, but +we must learn to control our passions, and live free, +intelligent, virtuous, in all things in accordance with reason. +Our existence should be intellectual, we should survey with +equanimity all pleasures and all pains. We should never forget +that we are freemen, not the slaves of society. "I possess," said +the Stoic, "a treasure which not all the world can rob me of--no +one can deprive me of death." We should remember that Nature in +her operations aims at the universal, and never spares +individuals, but uses them as means for the accomplishment of her +ends. It is, therefore, for us to submit to Destiny, cultivating, +as the things necessary to virtue, knowledge, temperance, +fortitude, justice. We must remember that every thing around us +is in mutation; decay follows reproduction, and reproduction +decay, and that it is useless to repine at death in a world where +every thing is dying. As a cataract shows from year to year an +invariable shape, though the water composing it is perpetually +changing, so the aspect of Nature is nothing more than a flow of +matter presenting an impermanent form. The universe, considered +as a whole, is unchangeable. Nothing is eternal but space, atoms, +force. The forms of Nature that we see are essentially +transitory, they must all pass away. + +STOICISM IN THE MUSEUM. We must bear in mind that the majority of +men are imperfectly educated, and hence we must not needlessly +offend the religious ideas of our age. It is enough for us +ourselves to know that, though there is a Supreme Power, there is +no Supreme Being. There is an invisible principle, but not a +personal God, to whom it would be not so much blasphemy as +absurdity to impute the form, the sentiments, the passions of +man. All revelation is, necessarily, a mere fiction. That which +men call chance is only the effect of an unknown cause. Even of +chances there is a law. There is no such thing as Providence, for +Nature proceeds under irresistible laws, and in this respect the +universe is only a vast automatic engine. The vital force which +pervades the world is what the illiterate call God. The +modifications through which all things are running take place in +an irresistible way, and hence it may be said that the progress +of the world is, under Destiny, like a seed, it can evolve only +in a predetermined mode. + +The soul of man is a spark of the vital flame, the general vital +principle. Like heat, it passes from one to another, and is +finally reabsorbed or reunited in the universal principle from +which it came. Hence we must not expect annihilation, but +reunion; and, as the tired man looks forward to the insensibility +of sleep, so the philosopher, weary of the world, should look +forward to the tranquillity of extinction. Of these things, +however, we should think doubtingly, since the mind can produce +no certain knowledge from its internal resources alone. It is +unphilosophical to inquire into first causes; we must deal only +with phenomena. Above all, we must never forget that man cannot +ascertain absolute truth, and that the final result of human +inquiry into the matter is, that we are incapable of perfect +knowledge; that, even if the truth be in our possession, we +cannot be sure of it. + +What, then, remains for us? Is it not this--the acquisition of +knowledge, the cultivation of virtue and of friendship, the +observance of faith and truth, an unrepining submission to +whatever befalls us, a life led in accordance with reason? + +PLATONISM IN THE MUSEUM. But, though the Alexandrian Museum was +especially intended for the cultivation of the Aristotelian +philosophy, it must not be supposed that other systems were +excluded. Platonism was not only carried to its full development, +but in the end it supplanted Peripateticism, and through the New +Academy left a permanent impress on Christianity. The +philosophical method of Plato was the inverse of that of +Aristotle. Its starting- point was universals, the very existence +of which was a matter of faith, and from these it descended to +particulars, or details. Aristotle, on the contrary, rose from +particulars to universals, advancing to them by inductions. + +Plato, therefore, trusted to the imagination, Aristotle to +reason. The former descended from the decomposition of a +primitive idea into particulars, the latter united particulars +into a general conception. Hence the method of Plato was capable +of quickly producing what seemed to be splendid, though in +reality unsubstantial results; that of Aristotle was more tardy +in its operation, but much more solid. It implied endless labor +in the collection of facts, a tedious resort to experiment and +observation, the application of demonstration. The philosophy of +Plato is a gorgeous castle in the air; that of Aristotle a solid +structure, laboriously, and with many failures, founded on the +solid rock. + +An appeal to the imagination is much more alluring than the +employment of reason. In the intellectual decline of Alexandria, +indolent methods were preferred to laborious observation and +severe mental exercise. The schools of Neo-Platonism were crowded +with speculative mystics, such as Ammonius Saccas and Plotinus. +These took the place of the severe geometers of the old Museum. + +PHYSICAL SCIENCE IN THE MUSEUM. The Alexandrian school offers the +first example of that system which, in the hands of modern +physicists, has led to such wonderful results. It rejected +imagination, and made its theories the expression of facts +obtained by experiment and observation, aided by mathematical +discussion. It enforced the principle that the true method of +studying Nature is by experimental interrogation. The researches +of Archimedes in specific gravity, and the works of Ptolemy on +optics, resemble our present investigations in experimental +philosophy, and stand in striking contrast with the speculative +vagaries of the older writers. Laplace says that the only +observation which the history of astronomy offers us, made by the +Greeks before the school of Alexandria, is that of the summer +solstice of the year B.C. 432. by Meton and Euctemon. We have, +for the first time, in that school, a combined system of +observations made with instruments for the measurement of angles, +and calculated by trigonometrical methods. Astronomy then took a +form which subsequent ages could only perfect. + + +It does not accord with the compass or the intention of this work +to give a detailed account of the contributions of the +Alexandrian Museum to the stock of human knowledge. It is +sufficient that the reader should obtain a general impression of +their character. For particulars, I may refer him to the sixth +chapter of my "History of the Intellectual Development of +Europe." + +EUCLID--ARCHIMEDES. It has just been remarked that the Stoical +philosophy doubted whether the mind can ascertain absolute truth. +While Zeno was indulging in such doubts, Euclid was preparing his +great work, destined to challenge contradiction from the whole +human race. After more than twenty-two centuries it still +survives, a model of accuracy, perspicuity, and a standard of +exact demonstration. This great geometer not only wrote on other +mathematical topics, such as Conic Sections and Porisms, but +there are imputed to him treatises on Harmonics and Optics, the +latter subject being discussed on the hypothesis of rays issuing +from the eye to the object. + +With the Alexandrian mathematicians and physicists must be +classed Archimedes, though he eventually resided in Sicily. Among +his mathematical works were two books on the Sphere and Cylinder, +in which he gave the demonstration that the solid content of a +sphere is two-thirds that of its circumscribing cylinder. So +highly did he esteem this, that he directed the diagram to be +engraved on his tombstone. He also treated of the quadrature of +the circle and of the parabola; he wrote on Conoids and +Spheroids, and on the spiral that bears his name, the genesis of +which was suggested to him by his friend Conon the Alexandrian. +As a mathematician, Europe produced no equal to him for nearly +two thousand years. In physical science he laid the foundation of +hydrostatics; invented a method for the determination of specific +gravities; discussed the equilibrium of floating bodies; +discovered the true theory of the lever, and invented a screw, +which still bears his name, for raising the water of the Nile. To +him also are to be attributed the endless screw, and a peculiar +form of burning-mirror, by which, at the siege of Syracuse, it is +said that he set the Roman fleet on fire. + +ERATOSTHENES--APOLLONIUS--HIPPARCHUS. Eratosthenes, who at one +time had charge of the library, was the author of many important +works. Among them may be mentioned his determination of the +interval between the tropics, and an attempt to ascertain the +size of the earth. He considered the articulation and expansion +of continents, the position of mountain-chains, the action of +clouds, the geological submersion of lands, the elevation of +ancient sea-beds, the opening of the Dardanelles and the straits +of Gibraltar, and the relations of the Euxine Sea. He composed a +complete system of the earth, in three books--physical, +mathematical, historical--accompanied by a map of all the parts +then known. It is only of late years that the fragments remaining +of his "Chronicles of the Theban Kings" have been justly +appreciated. For many centuries they were thrown into discredit +by the authority of our existing absurd theological chronology. + +It is unnecessary to adduce the arguments relied upon by the +Alexandrians to prove the globular form of the earth. They had +correct ideas respecting the doctrine of the sphere, its poles, +axis, equator, arctic and antarctic circles, equinoctial points, +solstices, the distribution of climates, etc. I cannot do more +than merely allude to the treatises on Conic Sections and on +Maxima and Minima by Apollonius, who is said to have been the +first to introduce the words ellipse and hyperbola. In like +manner I must pass the astronomical observations of Alistyllus +and Timocharis. It was to those of the latter on Spica Virginis +that Hipparchus was indebted for his great discovery of the +precession of the eqninoxes. Hipparchus also determined the first +inequality of the moon, the equation of the centre. He adopted +the theory of epicycles and eccentrics, a geometrical conception +for the purpose of resolving the apparent motions of the heavenly +bodies on the principle of circular movement. He also undertook +to make a catalogue of the stars by the method of alineations-- +that is, by indicating those that are in the same apparent +straight line. The number of stars so catalogued was 1,080. If he +thus attempted to depict the aspect of the sky, he endeavored to +do the same for the surface of the earth, by marking the position +of towns and other places by lines of latitude and longitude. He +was the first to construct tables of the sun and moon. + +THE SYNTAXIS OF PTOLEMY. In the midst of such a brilliant +constellation of geometers, astronomers, physicists, +conspicuously shines forth Ptolemy, the author of the great work, +"Syntaxis," "a Treatise on the Mathematical Construction of the +Heavens." It maintained its ground for nearly fifteen hundred +years, and indeed was only displaced by the immortal "Principia" +of Newton. It commences with the doctrine that the earth is +globular and fixed in space, it describes the construction of a +table of chords, and instruments for observing the solstices, it +deduces the obliquity of the ecliptic, it finds terrestrial +latitudes by the gnomon, describes climates, shows how ordinary +may be converted into sidereal time, gives reasons for preferring +the tropical to the sidereal year, furnishes the solar theory on +the principle of the sun's orbit being a simple eccentric, +explains the equation of time, advances to the discussion of the +motions of the moon, treats of the first inequality, of her +eclipses, and the motion of her nodes. It then gives Ptolemy's +own great discovery--that which has made his name immortal-- the +discovery of the moon's evection or second inequality, reducing +it to the epicyclic theory. It attempts the determination of the +distances of the sun and moon from the earth--with, however, only +partial success. It considers the precession of the equinoxes, +the discovery of Hipparchus, the full period of which is +twenty-five thousand years. It gives a catalogue of 1,022 stars, +treats of the nature of the milky-way, and discusses in the most +masterly manner the motions of the planets. This point +constitutes another of Ptolemy's claims to scientific fame. His +determination of the planetary orbits was accomplished by +comparing his own observations with those of former astronomers, +among them the observations of Timocharis on the planet Venus. + +INVENTION OF THE STEAM-ENGINE. In the Museum of Alexandria, +Ctesibius invented the fire-engine. His pupil, Hero, improved it +by giving it two cylinders. There, too, the first steam-engine +worked. This also was the invention of Hero, and was a reaction +engine, on the principle of the eolipile. The silence of the +halls of Serapis was broken by the water-clocks of Ctesibius and +Apollonius, which drop by drop measured time. When the Roman +calendar had fallen into such confusion that it had become +absolutely necessary to rectify it, Julius Caesar brought +Sosigenes the astronomer from Alexandria. By his advice the lunar +year was abolished, the civil year regulated entirely by the sun, +and the Julian calendar introduced. + +The Macedonian rulers of Egypt have been blamed for the manner in +which they dealt with the religious sentiment of their time. They +prostituted it to the purpose of state-craft, finding in it a +means of governing their lower classes. To the intelligent they +gave philosophy. + +POLICY OF THE PTOLEMIES. But doubtless they defended this policy +by the experience gathered in those great campaigns which had +made the Greeks the foremost nation of the world. They had seen +the mythological conceptions of their ancestral country dwindle +into fables; the wonders with which the old poets adorned the +Mediterranean had been discovered to be baseless illusions. From +Olympus its divinities had disappeared; indeed, Olympus itself +had proved to be a phantom of the imagination. Hades had lost its +terrors; no place could be found for it. + +From the woods and grottoes and rivers of Asia Minor the local +gods and goddesses had departed; even their devotees began to +doubt whether they had ever been there. If still the Syrian +damsels lamented, in their amorous ditties, the fate of Adonis, +it was only as a recollection, not as a reality. Again and again +had Persia changed her national faith. For the revelation of +Zoroaster she had substituted Dualism; then under new political +influences she had adopted Magianism. She had worshiped fire, and +kept her altars burning on mountain-tops. She had adored the sun. +When Alexander came, she was fast falling into pantheism. + +On a country to which in its political extremity the indigenous +gods have been found unable to give any protection, a change of +faith is impending. The venerable divinities of Egypt, to whose +glory obelisks had been raised and temples dedicated, had again +and again submitted to the sword of a foreign conqueror. In the +land of the Pyramids, the Colossi, the Sphinx, the images of the +gods had ceased to represent living realities. They had ceased to +be objects of faith. Others of more recent birth were needful, +and Serapis confronted Osiris. In the shops and streets of +Alexandria there were thousands of Jews who had forgotten the God +that had made his habitation behind the veil of the temple. + +Tradition, revelation, time, all had lost their influence. The +traditions of European mythology, the revelations of Asia, the +time-consecrated dogmas of Egypt, all had passed or were fast +passing away. And the Ptolemies recognized how ephemeral are +forms of faith. + +But the Ptolemies also recognized that there is something more +durable than forms of faith, which, like the organic forms of +geological ages, once gone, are clean gone forever, and have no +restoration, no return. They recognized that within this world of +transient delusions and unrealities there is a world of eternal +truth. + +That world is not to be discovered through the vain traditions +that have brought down to us the opinions of men who lived in the +morning of civilization, nor in the dreams of mystics who thought +that they were inspired. It is to be discovered by the +investigations of geometry, and by the practical interrogation of +Nature. These confer on humanity solid, and innumerable, and +inestimable blessings. + +The day will never come when any one of the propositions of +Euclid will be denied; no one henceforth will call in question +the globular shape of the earth, as recognized by Eratosthenes; +the world will not permit the great physical inventions and +discoveries made in Alexandria and Syracuse to be forgotten. The +names of Hipparchus, of Apollonius, of Ptolemy, of Archimedes, +will be mentioned with reverence by men of every religious +profession, as long as there are men to speak. + +THE MUSEUM AND MODERN SCIENCE. The Museum of Alexandria was thus +the birthplace of modern science. It is true that, long before +its establishment, astronomical observations had been made in +China and Mesopotamia; the mathematics also had been cultivated +with a certain degree of success in India. But in none of these +countries had investigation assumed a connected and consistent +form; in none was physical experimentation resorted to. The +characteristic feature of Alexandrian, as of modern science, is, +that it did not restrict itself to observation, but relied on a +practical interrogation of Nature. + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIANITY.--ITS TRANSFORMATION ON ATTAINING +IMPERIAL POWER.--ITS RELATIONS TO SCIENCE. + +Religious condition of the Roman Republic.--The adoption of +imperialism leads to monotheism.--Christianity spreads over the +Roman Empire.-- The circumstances under which it attained +imperial power make its union with Paganism a political +necessity.--Tertullian's description of its doctrines and +practices.--Debasing effect of the policy of Constantine on +it.--Its alliance with the civil power.--Its incompatibility with +science.--Destruction of the Alexandrian Library and prohibition +of philosophy.--Exposition of the Augustinian philosophy and +Patristic science generally.--The Scriptures made the standard of +science. + + +IN a political sense, Christianity is the bequest of the Roman +Empire to the world. + +At the epoch of the transition of Rome from the republican to the +imperial form of government, all the independent nationalities +around the Mediterranean Sea had been brought under the control +of that central power. The conquest that had befallen them in +succession had been by no means a disaster. The perpetual wars +they had maintained with each other came to an end; the miseries +their conflicts had engendered were exchanged for universal +peace. + +Not only as a token of the conquest she had made but also as a +gratification to her pride, the conquering republic brought the +gods of the vanquished peoples to Rome. With disdainful +toleration, she permitted the worship of them all. That paramount +authority exercised by each divinity in his original seat +disappeared at once in the crowd of gods and goddesses among whom +he had been brought. Already, as we have seen, through +geographical discoveries and philosophical criticism, faith in +the religion of the old days had been profoundly shaken. It was, +by this policy of Rome, brought to an end. + +MONOTHEISM IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. The kings of all the conquered +provinces had vanished; in their stead one emperor had come. The +gods also had disappeared. Considering the connection which in +all ages has existed between political and religious ideas, it +was then not at all strange that polytheism should manifest a +tendency to pass into monotheism. Accordingly, divine honors were +paid at first to the deceased and at length to the living +emperor. + +The facility with which gods were thus called into existence had +a powerful moral effect. The manufacture of a new one cast +ridicule on the origin of the old Incarnation in the East and +apotheosis in the West were fast filling Olympus with divinities. +In the East, gods descended from heaven, and were made incarnate +in men; in the West, men ascended from earth, and took their seat +among the gods. It was not the importation of Greek skepticism +that made Rome skeptical. The excesses of religion itself sapped +the foundations of faith. + +Not with equal rapidity did all classes of the population adopt +monotheistic views. The merchants and lawyers and soldiers, who +by the nature of their pursuits are more familiar with the +vicissitudes of life, and have larger intellectual views, were +the first to be affected, the land laborers and farmers the last. + +THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY When the empire in a military and +political sense had reached its culmination, in a religious and +social aspect it had attained its height of immorality. It had +become thoroughly epicurean; its maxim was, that life should be +made a feast, that virtue is only the seasoning of pleasure, and +temperance the means of prolonging it. Dining-rooms glittering +with gold and incrusted with gems, slaves in superb apparel, the +fascinations of female society where all the women were +dissolute, magnificent baths, theatres, gladiators, such were the +objects of Roman desire. The conquerors of the world had +discovered that the only thing worth worshiping is Force. By it +all things might be secured, all that toil and trade had +laboriously obtained. The confiscation of goods and lands, the +taxation of provinces, were the reward of successful warfare; and +the emperor was the symbol of force. There was a social splendor, +but it was the phosphorescent corruption of the ancient +Mediterranean world. + +In one of the Eastern provinces, Syria, some persons in very +humble life had associated themselves together for benevolent and +religious purposes. The doctrines they held were in harmony with +that sentiment of universal brotherhood arising from the +coalescence of the conquered kingdoms. They were doctrines +inculcated by Jesus. + +The Jewish people at that time entertained a belief, founded on +old traditions, that a deliverer would arise among them, who +would restore them to their ancient splendor. The disciples of +Jesus regarded him as this long-expected Messiah. But the +priesthood, believing that the doctrines he taught were +prejudicial to their interests, denounced him to the Roman +governor, who, to satisfy their clamors, reluctantly delivered +him over to death. + +His doctrines of benevolence and human brotherhood outlasted that +event. The disciples, instead of scattering, organized. They +associated themselves on a principle of communism, each throwing +into the common stock whatever property he possessed, and all his +gains. The widows and orphans of the community were thus +supported, the poor and the sick sustained. From this germ was +developed a new, and as the events proved, all-powerful +society--the Church; new, for nothing of the kind had existed in +antiquity; powerful, for the local churches, at first isolated, +soon began to confederate for their common interest. Through this +organization Christianity achieved all her political triumphs. + +As we have said, the military domination of Rome had brought +about universal peace, and had generated a sentiment of +brotherhood among the vanquished nations. Things were, therefore, +propitious for the rapid diffusion of the newly-established--the +Christian-- principle throughout the empire. It spread from Syria +through all Asia Minor, and successively reached Cyprus, Greece, +Italy, eventually extending westward as far as Gaul and Britain. + +Its propagation was hastened by missionaries who made it known in +all directions. None of the ancient classical philosophies had +ever taken advantage of such a means. + +Political conditions determined the boundaries of the new +religion. Its limits were eventually those of the Roman Empire; +Rome, doubtfully the place of death of Peter, not Jerusalem, +indisputably the place of the death of our Savior, became the +religious capital. It was better to have possession of the +imperial seven hilled city, than of Gethsemane and Calvary with +all their holy souvenirs. + +IT GATHERS POLITICAL POWER. For many years Christianity +manifested itself as a system enjoining three things--toward God +veneration, in personal life purity, in social life benevolence. +In its early days of feebleness it made proselytes only by +persuasion, but, as it increased in numbers and influence, it +began to exhibit political tendencies, a disposition to form a +government within the government, an empire within the empire. +These tendencies it has never since lost. They are, in truth, the +logical result of its development. The Roman emperors, +discovering that it was absolutely incompatible with the imperial +system, tried to put it down by force. This was in accordance +with the spirit of their military maxims, which had no other +means but force for the establishment of conformity. + +In the winter A.D. 302-'3, the Christian soldiers in some of the +legions refused to join in the time-honored solemnities for +propitiating the gods. The mutiny spread so quickly, the +emergency became so pressing, that the Emperor Diocletian was +compelled to hold a council for the purpose of determining what +should be done. The difficulty of the position may perhaps be +appreciated when it is understood that the wife and the daughter +of Diocletian himself were Christians. He was a man of great +capacity and large political views; he recognized in the +opposition that must be made to the new party a political +necessity, yet he expressly enjoined that there should be no +bloodshed. But who can control an infuriated civil commotion? The +church of Nicomedia was razed to the ground; in retaliation the +imperial palace was set on fire, an edict was openly insulted and +torn down. The Christian officers in the army were cashiered; in +all directions, martyrdoms and massacres were taking place. So +resistless was the march of events, that not even the emperor +himself could stop the persecution. + +THE FIRST CHRISTIAN EMPEROR. It had now become evident that the +Christians constituted a powerful party in the state, animated +with indignation at the atrocities they had suffered, and +determined to endure them no longer. After the abdication of +Diocletian (A.D. 305), Constantine, one of the competitors for +the purple, perceiving the advantages that would accrue to him +from such a policy, put himself forth as the head of the +Christian party. This gave him, in every part of the empire, men +and women ready to encounter fire and sword in his behalf; it +gave him unwavering adherents in every legion of the armies. In a +decisive battle, near the Milvian bridge, victory crowned his +schemes. The death of Maximin, and subsequently that of Licinius, +removed all obstacles. He ascended the throne of the Caesars--the +first Christian emperor. + +Place, profit, power--these were in view of whoever now joined +the conquering sect. Crowds of worldly persons, who cared nothing +about its religious ideas, became its warmest supporters. Pagans +at heart, their influence was soon manifested in the paganization +of Christianity that forthwith ensued. The emperor, no better +than they, did nothing to check their proceedings. But he did not +personally conform to the ceremonial requirements of the Church +until the close of his evil life, A.D. 337. + +TERTULLIAN'S EXPOSITION OF CHRISTIANITY. That we may clearly +appreciate the modifications now impressed on +Christianity--modifications which eventually brought it in +conflict with science--we must have, as a means of comparison, a +statement of what it was in its purer days. Such, fortunately, we +find in the "Apology or Defense of the Christians against the +Accusations of the Gentiles," written by Tertullian, at Rome, +during the persecution of Severus. He addressed it, not to the +emperor, but to the magistrates who sat in judgment on the +accused. It is a solemn and most earnest expostulation, setting +forth all that could be said in explanation of the subject, a +representation of the belief and cause of the Christians made in +the imperial city in the face of the whole world, not a querulous +or passionate ecclesiastical appeal, but a grave historical +document. It has ever been looked upon as one of the ablest of +the early Christian works. Its date is about A.D. 200. + +With no inconsiderable skill Tertullian opens his argument. He +tells the magistrates that Christianity is a stranger upon earth, +and that she expects to meet with enemies in a country which is +not her own. She only asks that she may not be condemned unheard, +and that Roman magistrates will permit her to defend herself; +that the laws of the empire will gather lustre, if judgment be +passed upon her after she has been tried but not if she is +sentenced without a hearing of her cause; that it is unjust to +hate a thing of which we are ignorant, even though it may be a +thing worthy of hate; that the laws of Rome deal with actions, +not with mere names; but that, notwithstanding this, persons have +been punished because they were called Christians, and that +without any accusation of crime. + +He then advances to an exposition of the origin, the nature, and +the effects of Christianity, stating that it is founded on the +Hebrew Scriptures, which are the most venerable of all books. He +says to the magistrates: "The books of Moses, in which God has +inclosed, as in a treasure, all the religion of the Jews, and +consequently all the Christian religion, reach far beyond the +oldest you have, even beyond all your public monuments, the +establishment of your state, the foundation of many great +cities--all that is most advanced by you in all ages of history, +and memory of times; the invention of letters, which are the +interpreters of sciences and the guardians of all excellent +things. I think I may say more--beyond your gods, your temples, +your oracles and sacrifices. The author of those books lived a +thousand years before the siege of Troy, and more than fifteen +hundred before Homer." Time is the ally of truth, and wise men +believe nothing but what is certain, and what has been verified +by time. The principal authority of these Scriptures is derived +from their venerable antiquity. The most learned of the +Ptolemies, who was surnamed Philadelphus, an accomplished prince, +by the advice of Demetrius Phalareus, obtained a copy of these +holy books. It may be found at this day in his library. The +divinity of these Scriptures is proved by this, that all that is +done in our days may be found predicted in them; they contain all +that has since passed in the view of men. + +Is not the accomplishment of a prophecy a testimony to its truth? +Seeing that events which are past have vindicated these +prophecies, shall we be blamed for trusting them in events that +are to come? Now, as we believe things that have been prophesied +and have come to pass, so we believe things that have been told +us, but not yet come to pass, because they have all been foretold +by the same Scriptures, as well those that are verified every day +as those that still remain to be fulfilled. + +These Holy Scriptures teach us that there is one God, who made +the world out of nothing, who, though daily seen, is invisible; +his infiniteness is known only to himself; his immensity +conceals, but at the same time discovers him. He has ordained for +men, according to their lives, rewards and punishments; he will +raise all the dead that have ever lived from the creation of the +world, will command them to reassume their bodies, and thereupon +adjudge them to felicity that has so end, or to eternal flames. +The fires of hell are those hidden flames which the earth shuts +up in her bosom. He has in past times sent into the world +preachers or prophets. The prophets of those old times were Jews; +they addressed their oracles, for such they were, to the Jews, +who have stored them up in the Scriptures. On them, as has been +said, Christianity is founded, though the Christian differs in +his ceremonies from the Jew. We are accused of worshiping a man, +and not the God of the Jews. Not so. The honor we bear to Christ +does not derogate from the honor we bear to God. + +On account of the merit of these ancient patriarchs, the Jews +were the only beloved people of God; he delighted to be in +communication with them by his own mouth. By him they were raised +to admirable greatness. But with perversity they wickedly ceased +to regard him; they changed his laws into a profane worship. He +warned them that he would take to himself servants more faithful +than they, and, for their crime, punished them by driving them +forth from their country. They are now spread all over the world; +they wander in all parts; they cannot enjoy the air they breathed +at their birth; they have neither man nor God for their king. As +he threatened them, so he has done. He has taken, in all nations +and countries of the earth, people more faithful than they. +Through his prophets he had declared that these should have +greater favors, and that a Messiah should come, to publish a new +law among them. This Messiah was Jesus, who is also God. For God +may be derived from God, as the light of a candle may be derived +from the light of another candle. God and his Son are the +self-same God--a light is the same light as that from which it +was taken. + +The Scriptures make known two comings of the Son of God; the +first in humility, the second at the day of judgment, in power. +The Jews might have known all this from the prophets, but their +sins have so blinded them that they did not recognize him at his +first coming, and are still vainly expecting him. They believed +that all the miracles wrought by him were the work of magic. The +doctors of the law and the chief priests were envious of him; +they denounced him to Pilate. He was crucified, died, was buried, +and after three days rose again. For forty days he remained among +his disciples. Then he was environed in a cloud, and rose up to +heaven--a truth far more certain than any human testimonies +touching the ascension of Romulus or of any other Roman prince +mounting up to the same place. + +Tertullian then describes the origin and nature of devils, who, +under Satan, their prince, produce diseases, irregularities of +the air, plagues, and the blighting of the blossoms of the earth, +who seduce men to offer sacrifices, that they may have the blood +of the victims, which is their food. They are as nimble as the +birds, and hence know every thing that is passing upon earth; +they live in the air, and hence can spy what is going on in +heaven; for this reason they can impose on men reigned +prophecies, and deliver oracles. Thus they announced in Rome that +a victory would be obtained over King Perseus, when in truth they +knew that the battle was already won. They falsely cure diseases; +for, taking possession of the body of a man, they produce in him +a distemper, and then ordaining some remedy to he used, they +cease to afflict him, and men think that a cure has taken place. + +Though Christians deny that the emperor is a god, they +nevertheless pray for his prosperity, because the general +dissolution that threatens the universe, the conflagration of the +world, is retarded so long as the glorious majesty of the +triumphant Roman Empire shall last. They desire not to be present +at the subversion of all Nature. They acknowledge only one +republic, but it is the whole world; they constitute one body, +worship one God, and all look forward to eternal happiness. Not +only do they pray for the emperor and the magistrates, but also +for peace. They read the Scriptures to nourish their faith, lift +up their hope, and strengthen the confidence they have in God. +They assemble to exhort one another; they remove sinners from +their societies; they have bishops who preside over them, +approved by the suffrages of those whom they are to conduct. At +the end of each month every one contributes if he will, but no +one is constrained to give; the money gathered in this manner is +the pledge of piety; it is not consumed in eating and drinking, +but in feeding the poor, and burying them, in comforting children +that are destitute of parents and goods, in helping old men who +have spent the best of their days in the service of the faithful, +in assisting those who have lost by shipwreck what they had, and +those who are condemned to the mines, or have been banished to +islands, or shut up in prisons, because they professed the +religion of the true God. There is but one thing that Christians +have not in common, and that one thing is their wives. They do +not feast as if they should die to-morrow, nor build as if they +should never die. The objects of their life are innocence, +justice, patience, temperance, chastity. + +To this noble exposition of Christian belief and life in his day, +Tertullian does not hesitate to add an ominous warning to the +magistrates he is addressing-- ominous, for it was a forecast of +a great event soon to come to pass: "Our origin is but recent, +yet already we fill all that your power acknowledges--cities, +fortresses, islands, provinces, the assemblies of the people, the +wards of Rome, the palace, the senate, the public places, and +especially the armies. We have left you nothing but your temples. +Reflect what wars we are able to undertake! With what promptitude +might we not arm ourselves were we not restrained by our +religion, which teaches us that it is better to be killed than to +kill!" + +Before he closes his defense, Tertullian renews an assertion +which, carried into practice, as it subsequently was, affected +the intellectual development of all Europe. He declares that the +Holy Scriptures are a treasure from which all the true wisdom in +the world has been drawn; that every philosopher and every poet +is indebted to them. He labors to show that they are the standard +and measure of all truth, and that whatever is inconsistent with +them must necessarily be false. + +From Tertullian's able work we see what Christianity was while it +was suffering persecution and struggling for existence. We have +now to see what it became when in possession of imperial power. +Great is the difference between Christianity under Severus and +Christianity after Constantine. Many of the doctrines which at +the latter period were preeminent, in the former were unknown. + +PAGANIZATION OF CHRISTIANITY. Two causes led to the amalgamation +of Christianity with paganism: 1. The political necessities of +the new dynasty; 2. The policy adopted by the new religion to +insure its spread. + +1. Though the Christian party had proved itself sufficiently +strong to give a master to the empire, it was never sufficiently +strong to destroy its antagonist, paganism. The issue of the +struggle between them was an amalgamation of the principles of +both. In this, Christianity differed from Mohammedanism, which +absolutely annihilated its antagonist, and spread its own +doctrines without adulteration. + +Constantine continually showed by his acts that he felt he must +be the impartial sovereign of all his people, not merely the +representative of a successful faction. Hence, if he built +Christian churches, he also restored pagan temples; if he +listened to the clergy, he also consulted the haruspices; if he +summoned the Council of Nicea, he also honored the statue of +Fortune; if he accepted the rite of baptism, he also struck a +medal bearing his title of "God." His statue, on the top of the +great porphyry pillar at Constantinople, consisted of an ancient +image of Apollo, whose features were replaced by those of the +emperor, and its head surrounded by the nails feigned to have +been used at the crucifixion of Christ, arranged so as to form a +crown of glory. + +Feeling that there must be concessions to the defeated pagan +party, in accordance with its ideas, he looked with favor on the +idolatrous movements of his court. In fact, the leaders of these +movements were persons of his own family. + +CHRISTIANITY UNDER CONSTANTINE. 2. To the emperor--a mere +worldling--a man without any religious convictions, doubtless it +appeared best for himself, best for the empire, and best for the +contending parties, Christian and pagan, to promote their union +or amalgamation as much as possible. Even sincere Christians do +not seem to have been averse to this; perhaps they believed that +the new doctrines would diffuse most thoroughly by incorporating +in themselves ideas borrowed from the old, that Truth would +assert her self in the end, and the impurity be cast off. In +accomplishing this amalgamation, Helena, the empress-mother, +aided by the court ladies, led the way. For her gratification +there were discovered, in a cavern at Jerusalem, wherein they had +lain buried for more than three centuries, the Savior's cross, +and those of the two thieves, the inscription, and the nails that +had been used. They were identified by miracle. A true +relic-worship set in. The superstition of the old Greek times +reappeared; the times when the tools with which the Trojan horse +was made might still be seen at Metapontum, the sceptre of Pelops +at Chaeroneia, the spear of Achilles at Phaselis, the sword of +Memnon at Nicomedia, when the Tegeates could show the hide of the +Calydonian boar and very many cities boasted their possession of +the true palladium of Troy; when there were statues of Minerva +that could brandish spears, paintings that could blush, images +that could sweat, and endless shrines and sanctuaries at which +miracle-cures could be performed. + +As years passed on, the faith described by Tertullian was +transmuted into one more fashionable and more debased. It was +incorporated with the old Greek mythology. Olympus was restored, +but the divinities passed under other names. The more powerful +provinces insisted on the adoption of their time-honored +conceptions. Views of the Trinity, in accordance with Egyptian +traditions, were established. Not only was the adoration of Isis +under a new name restored, but even her image, standing on the +crescent moon, reappeared. The well-known effigy of that goddess, +with the infant Horus in her arms, has descended to our days in +the beautiful, artistic creations of the Madonna and Child. Such +restorations of old conceptions under novel forms were everywhere +received with delight. When it was announced to the Ephesians +that the Council of that place, headed by Cyril, had decreed that +the Virgin should be called "the Mother of God," with tears of +joy they embraced the knees of their bishop; it was the old +instinct peeping out; their ancestors would have done the same +for Diana. + +This attempt to conciliate worldly converts, by adopting their +ideas and practices, did not pass without remonstrance from those +whose intelligence discerned the motive. "You have," says Faustus +to Augustine, "substituted your agapae for the sacrifices of the +pagans; for their idols your martyrs, whom you serve with the +very same honors. You appease the shades of the dead with wine +and feasts; you celebrate the solemn festivities of the Gentiles, +their calends, and their solstices; and, as to their manners, +those you have retained without any alteration. Nothing +distinguishes you from the pagans, except that you hold your +assemblies apart from them." Pagan observances were everywhere +introduced. At weddings it was the custom to sing hymns to Venus. + +INTRODUCTION OF ROMAN RITES. Let us pause here a moment, and see, +in anticipation, to what a depth of intellectual degradation this +policy of paganization eventually led. Heathen rites were +adopted, a pompous and splendid ritual, gorgeous robes, mitres, +tiaras, wax-tapers, processional services, lustrations, gold and +silver vases, were introduced. The Roman lituus, the chief ensign +of the augurs, became the crozier. Churches were built over the +tombs of martyrs, and consecrated with rites borrowed from the +ancient laws of the Roman pontiffs. Festivals and commemorations +of martyrs multiplied with the numberless fictitious discoveries +of their remains. Fasting became the grand means of repelling the +devil and appeasing God; celibacy the greatest of the virtues. +Pilgrimages. were made to Palestine and the tombs of the martyrs. +Quantities of dust and earth were brought from the Holy Land and +sold at enormous prices, as antidotes against devils. The virtues +of consecrated water were upheld. Images and relics were +introduced into the churches, and worshiped after the fashion of +the heathen gods. It was given out that prodigies and miracles +were to be seen in certain places, as in the heathen times. The +happy souls of departed Christians were invoked; it was believed +that they were wandering about the world, or haunting their +graves. There was a multiplication of temples, altars, and +penitential garments. The festival of the purification of the +Virgin was invented to remove the uneasiness of heathen converts +on account of the loss of their Lupercalia, or feasts of Pan. The +worship of images, of fragments of the cross, or bones, nails, +and other relics, a true fetich worship, was cultivated. Two +arguments were relied on for the authenticity of these +objects--the authority of the Church, and the working of +miracles. Even the worn-out clothing of the saints and the earth +of their graves were venerated. From Palestine were brought what +were affirmed to be the skeletons of St. Mark and St. James, and +other ancient worthies. The apotheosis of the old Roman times was +replaced by canonization; tutelary saints succeed to local +mythological divinities. Then came the mystery of +transubstantiation, or the conversion of bread and wine by the +priest into the flesh and blood of Christ. As centuries passed, +the paganization became more and more complete. Festivals sacred +to the memory of the lance with which the Savior's side was +pierced, the nails that fastened him to the cross, and the crown +of thorns, were instituted. Though there were several abbeys that +possessed this last peerless relic, no one dared to say that it +was impossible they could all be authentic. + +We may read with advantage the remarks made by Bishop Newton on +this paganization of Christianity. He asks: "Is not the worship +of saints and angels now in all respects the same that the +worship of demons was in former times? The name only is +different, the thing is identically the same, . . . the deified +men of the Christians are substituted for the deified men of the +heathens. The promoters of this worship were sensible that it was +the same, and that the one succeeded to the other; and, as the +worship is the same, so likewise it is performed with the same +ceremonies. The burning of incense or perfumes on several altars +at one and the same time; the sprinkling of holy water, or a +mixture of salt and common water, at going into and coming out of +places of public worship; the lighting up of a great number of +lamps and wax-candles in broad daylight before altars and statues +of these deities; the hanging up of votive offerings and rich +presents as attestations of so many miraculous cures and +deliverances from diseases and dangers; the canonization or +deification of deceased worthies; the assigning of distinct +provinces or prefectures to departed heroes and saints; the +worshiping and adoring of the dead in their sepulchres, shrines, +and relics; the consecrating and bowing down to images; the +attributing of miraculous powers and virtues to idols; the +setting up of little oratories, altars, and statues in the +streets and highways, and on the tops of mountains; the carrying +of images and relics in pompous procession, with numerous lights +and with music and singing; flagellations at solemn seasons under +the notion of penance; a great variety of religious orders and +fraternities of priests; the shaving of priests, or the tonsure +as it is called, on the crown of their heads; the imposing of +celibacy and vows of chastity on the religious of both sexes--all +these and many more rites and ceremonies are equally parts of +pagan and popish superstition. Nay, the very same temples, the +very same images, which were once consecrated to Jupiter and the +other demons, are now consecrated to the Virgin Mary and the +other saints. The very same rites and inscriptions are ascribed +to both, the very same prodigies and miracles are related of +these as of those. In short, almost the whole of paganism is +converted and applied to popery; the one is manifestly formed +upon the same plan and principles as the other; so that there is +not only a conformity, but even a uniformity, in the worship of +ancient and modern, of heathen and Christian Rome." + +DEBASEMENT OF CHRISTIANITY. Thus far Bishop Newton; but to return +to the times of Constantine: though these concessions to old and +popular ideas were permitted and even encouraged, the dominant +religious party never for a moment hesitated to enforce its +decisions by the aid of the civil power-- an aid which was freely +given. Constantine thus carried into effect the acts of the +Council of Nicea. In the affair of Arius, he even ordered that +whoever should find a book of that heretic, and not burn it, +should be put to death. In like manner Nestor was by Theodosius +the Younger banished to an Egyptian oasis. + +The pagan party included many of the old aristocratic families of +the empire; it counted among its adherents all the disciples of +the old philosophical schools. It looked down on its antagonist +with contempt. It asserted that knowledge is to be obtained only +by the laborious exercise of human observation and human reason. + +The Christian party asserted that all knowledge is to be found in +the Scriptures and in the traditions of the Church; that, in the +written revelation, God had not only given a criterion of truth, +but had furnished us all that he intended us to know. The +Scriptures, therefore, contain the sum, the end of all knowledge. +The clergy, with the emperor at their back, would endure no +intellectual competition. + +Thus came into prominence what were termed sacred and profane +knowledge; thus came into presence of each other two opposing +parties, one relying on human reason as its guide, the other on +revelation. Paganism leaned for support on the learning of its +philosophers, Christianity on the inspiration of its Fathers + +The Church thus set herself forth as the depository and arbiter +of knowledge; she was ever ready to resort to the civil power to +compel obedience to her decisions. She thus took a course which +determined her whole future career: she became a stumbling-block +in the intellectual advancement of Europe for more than a +thousand years. + +The reign of Constantine marks the epoch of the transformation of +Christianity from a religion into a political system; and though, +in one sense, that system was degraded into an idolatry, in +another it had risen into a development of the old Greek +mythology. The maxim holds good in the social as well as in the +mechanical world, that, when two bodies strike, the form of both +is changed. Paganism was modified by Christianity; Christianity +by Paganism. + +THE TRINITARIAN DISPUTE. In the Trinitarian controversy, which +first broke out in Egypt--Egypt, the land of Trinities--the chief +point in discussion was to define the position of "the Son." +There lived in Alexandria a presbyter of the name of Arius, a +disappointed candidate for the office of bishop. He took the +ground that there was a time when, from the very nature of +sonship, the Son did not exist, and a time at which he commenced +to be, asserting that it is the necessary condition of the filial +relation that a father must be older than his son. But this +assertion evidently denied the coeternity of the three persons of +the Trinity; it suggested a subordination or inequality among +them, and indeed implied a time when the Trinity did not exist. +Hereupon, the bishop, who had been the successful competitor +against Arius, displayed his rhetorical powers in public debates +on the question, and, the strife spreading, the Jews and pagans, +who formed a very large portion of the population of Alexandria, +amused themselves with theatrical representations of the contest +on the stage--the point of their burlesques being the equality of +age of the Father and his Son. + +Such was the violence the controversy at length assumed, that the +matter had to be referred to the emperor. At first he looked upon +the dispute as altogether frivolous, and perhaps in truth +inclined to the assertion of Arius, that in the very nature of +the thing a father must be older than his son. So great, however, +was the pressure laid upon him, that he was eventually compelled +to summon the Council of Nicea, which, to dispose of the +conflict, set forth a formulary or creed, and attached to it this +anathema: "The Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church anathematizes +those who say that there was a time when the Son of God was not, +and that, before he was begotten, he was not, and that he was +made out of nothing, or out of another substance or essence, and +is created, or changeable, or alterable." Constantine at once +enforced the decision of the council by the civil power. + +A few years subsequently the Emperor Theodosius prohibited +sacrifices, made the inspection of the entrails of animals a +capital offense, and forbade any one entering a temple. He +instituted Inquisitors of Faith, and ordained that all who did +not accord with the belief of Damasus, the Bishop of Rome, and +Peter, the Bishop of Alexandria, should be driven into exile, and +deprived of civil rights. Those who presumed to celebrate Easter +on the same day as the Jews, he condemned to death. The Greek +language was now ceasing to be known in the West, and true +learning was becoming extinct. + +At this time the bishopric of Alexandria was held by one +Theophilus. An ancient temple of Osiris having been given to the +Christians of the city for the site of a church, it happened +that, in digging the foundation for the new edifice, the obscene +symbols of the former worship chanced to be found. These, with +more zeal than modesty, Theophilus exhibited in the market-place +to public derision. With less forbearance than the Christian +party showed when it was insulted in the theatre during the +Trinitarian dispute, the pagans resorted to violence, and a riot +ensued. They held the Serapion as their headquarters. Such were +the disorder and bloodshed that the emperor had to interfere. He +dispatched a rescript to Alexandria, enjoining the bishop, +Theophilus, to destroy the Serapion; and the great library, which +had been collected by the Ptolemies, and had escaped the fire of +Julius Caesar, was by that fanatic dispersed. + +THE MURDER OF HYPATIA. The bishopric thus held by Theophilus was +in due time occupied by his nephew St. Cyril, who had commended +himself to the approval of the Alexandrian congregations as a +successful and fashionable preacher. It was he who had so much to +do with the introduction of the worship of the Virgin Mary. His +hold upon the audiences of the giddy city was, however, much +weakened by Hypatia, the daughter of Theon, the mathematician, +who not only distinguished herself by her expositions of the +doctrines of Plato and Aristotle, but also by her comments on the +writings of Apollonius and other geometers. Each day before her +academy stood a long train of chariots; her lecture-room was +crowded with the wealth and fashion of Alexandria. They came to +listen to her discourses on those questions which man in all ages +has asked, but which never yet have been answered: "What am I? +Where am I? What can I know?" + +Hypatia and Cyril! Philosophy and bigotry. They cannot exist +together. So Cyril felt, and on that feeling he acted. As Hypatia +repaired to her academy, she was assaulted by Cyril's mob--a mob +of many monks. Stripped naked in the street, she was dragged into +a church, and there killed by the club of Peter the Reader. The +corpse was cut to pieces, the flesh was scraped from the bones +with shells, and the remnants cast into a fire. For this +frightful crime Cyril was never called to account. It seemed to +be admitted that the end sanctified the means. + +So ended Greek philosophy in Alexandria, so came to an untimely +close the learning that the Ptolemies had done so much to +promote. The "Daughter Library," that of the Serapion, had been +dispersed. The fate of Hypatia was a warning to all who would +cultivate profane knowledge. Henceforth there was to be no +freedom for human thought. Every one must think as the +ecclesiastical authority ordered him, A.D. 414. In Athens itself +philosophy awaited its doom. Justinian at length prohibited its +teaching, and caused all its schools in that city to be closed. + +PELAGIUS. While these events were transpiring in the Eastern +provinces of the Roman Empire, the spirit that had produced them +was displaying itself in the West. A British monk, who had +assumed the name of Pelagius, passed through Western Europe and +Northern Africa, teaching that death was not introduced into the +world by the sin of Adam; that on the contrary he was necessarily +and by nature mortal, and had he not sinned he would nevertheless +have died; that the consequences of his sins were confined to +himself, and did not affect his posterity. From these premises +Pelagius drew certain important theological conclusions. + +At Rome, Pelagius had been received with favor; at Carthage, at +the instigation of St. Augustine, he was denounced. By a synod, +held at Diospolis, he was acquitted of heresy, but, on referring +the matter to the Bishop of Rome, Innocent I., he was, on the +contrary, condemned. It happened that at this moment Innocent +died, and his successor, Zosimus, annulled his judgment and +declared the opinions of Pelagius to be orthodox. These +contradictory decisions are still often referred to by the +opponents of papal infallibility. Things were in this state of +confusion, when the wily African bishops, through the influence +of Count Valerius, procured from the emperor an edict denouncing +Pelagins as a heretic; he and his accomplices were condemned to +exile and the forfeiture of their goods. To affirm that death was +in the world before the fall of Adam, was a state crime. + +CONDEMNATION OF PELAGIUS. It is very instructive to consider the +principles on which this strange decision was founded. Since the +question was purely philosophical, one might suppose that it +would have been discussed on natural principles; instead of that, +theological considerations alone were adduced. The attentive +reader will have remarked, in Tertullian's statement of the +principles of Christianity, a complete absence of the doctrines +of original sin, total depravity, predestination, grace, and +atonement. The intention of Christianity, as set forth by him, +has nothing in common with the plan of salvation upheld two +centuries subsequently. It is to St. Augustine, a Carthaginian, +that we are indebted for the precision of our views on these +important points. + +In deciding whether death had been in the world before the fall +of Adam, or whether it was the penalty inflicted on the world for +his sin, the course taken was to ascertain whether the views of +Pelagius were accordant or discordant not with Nature but with +the theological doctrines of St. Augustine. And the result has +been such as might be expected. The doctrine declared to be +orthodox by ecclesiastical authority is overthrown by the +unquestionable discoveries of modern science. Long before a human +being had appeared upon earth, millions of individuals--nay, +more, thousands of species and even genera--had died; those which +remain with us are an insignificant fraction of the vast hosts +that have passed away. + +A consequence of great importance issued from the decision of the +Pelagian controversy. The book of Genesis had been made the basis +of Christianity. If, in a theological point of view, to its +account of the sin in the garden of Eden, and the transgression +and punishment of Adam, so much weight had been attached, it also +in a philosophical point of view became the grand authority of +Patristic science. Astronomy, geology, geography, anthropology, +chronology, and indeed all the various departments of human +knowledge, were made to conform to it. + +ST. AUGUSTINE. As the doctrines of St. Augustine have had the +effect of thus placing theology in antagonism with science, it +may be interesting to examine briefly some of the more purely +philosophical views of that great man. For this purpose, we may +appropriately select portions of his study of the first chapter +of Genesis, as contained in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth +books of his "Confessions." + +These consist of philosophical discussions, largely interspersed +with rhapsodies. He prays that God will give him to understand +the Scriptures, and will open their meaning to him; he declares +that in them there is nothing superfluous, but that the words +have a manifold meaning. + +The face of creation testifies that there has been a Creator; but +at once arises the question, "How and when did he make heaven and +earth? They could not have been made IN heaven and earth, the +world could not have been made IN the world, nor could they have +been made when there was nothing to make them of." The solution +of this fundamental inquiry St. Augustine finds in saying, "Thou +spakest, and they were made." + +But the difficulty does not end here. St. Augustine goes on to +remark that the syllables thus uttered by God came forth in +succession, and there must have been some created thing to +express the words. This created thing must, therefore, have +existed before heaven and earth, and yet there could have been no +corporeal thing before heaven and earth. It must have been a +creature, because the words passed away and came to an end but we +know that "the word of the Lord endureth forever." + +Moreover, it is plain that the words thus spoken could not have +been spoken successively, but simultaneously, else there would +have been time and change-- succession in its nature implying +time; whereas there was then nothing but eternity and +immortality. God knows and says eternally what takes place in +time. + +CRITICISM OF ST. AUGUSTINE. St. Augustine then defines, not +without much mysticism, what is meant by the opening words of +Genesis: "In the beginning." He is guided to his conclusion by +another scriptural passage: "How wonderful are thy works, O Lord! +in wisdom hast thou made them all." This "wisdom" is "the +beginning," and in that beginning the Lord created the heaven and +the earth. + +"But," he adds, "some one may ask, 'What was God doing before he +made the heaven and the earth? for, if at any particular moment +he began to employ himself, that means time, not eternity. In +eternity nothing transpires--the whole is present.' " In +answering this question, he cannot forbear one of those touches +of rhetoric for which he was so celebrated: "I will not answer +this question by saying that he was preparing hell for priers +into his mysteries. I say that, before God made heaven and earth, +he did not make any thing, for no creature could be made before +any creature was made. Time itself is a creature, and hence it +could not possibly exist before creation. + +"What, then, is time? The past is not, the future is not, the +present--who can tell what it is, unless it be that which has no +duration between two nonentities? There is no such thing as 'a +long time,' or 'a short time,' for there are no such things as +the past and the future. They have no existence, except in the +soul." + +The style in which St. Augustine conveyed his ideas is that of a +rhapsodical conversation with God. His works are an incoherent +dream. That the reader may appreciate this remark, I might copy +almost at random any of his paragraphs. The following is from the +twelfth book: + +"This then, is what I conceive, O my God, when I hear thy +Scripture saying, In the beginning God made heaven and earth: and +the earth was invisible and without form, and darkness was upon +the deep, and not mentioning what day thou createdst them; this +is what I conceive, that because of the heaven of heavens--that +intellectual heaven, whose intelligences know all at once, not in +part, not darkly, not through a glass, but as a whole, in +manifestation, face to face; not this thing now, and that thing +anon; but (as I said) know all at once, without any succession of +times; and because of the earth, invisible and without form, +without any succession of times, which succession presents 'this +thing now, that thing anon;' because, where there is no form, +there is no distinction of things; it is, then, on account of +these two, a primitive formed, and a primitive formless; the one, +heaven, but the heaven of heavens; the other, earth, but the +earth movable and without form; because of these two do I +conceive, did thy Scripture say without mention of days, In the +beginning God created the heaven and the earth. For, forthwith it +subjoined what earth it spake of; and also in that the firmament +is recorded to be created the second day, and called heaven, it +conveys to us of which heaven he before spake, without mention of +days. + +"Wondrous depth of thy words! whose surface behold! is before us, +inviting to little ones; yet are they a wondrous depth, O my God, +a wondrous depth! It is awful to look therein; an awfulness of +honor, and a trembling of love. The enemies thereof I hate +vehemently; O that thou wouldst slay them with thy two-edged +sword, that they might no longer be enemies to it: for so do I +love to have them slain unto themselves, that they may live unto +thee." + +As an example of the hermeneutical manner in which St. Augustine +unfolded the concealed facts of the Scriptures, I may cite the +following from the thirteenth book of the "Confessions;" his +object is to show that the doctrine of the Trinity is contained +in the Mosaic narrative of the creation: + +"Lo, now the Trinity appears unto me in a glass darkly, which is +thou my God, because thou, O Father, in him who is the beginning +of our wisdom, which is thy wisdom, born of thyself, equal unto +thee and coeternal, that is, in thy Son, createdst heaven and +earth. Much now have we said of the heaven of heavens, and of the +earth invisible and without form, and of the darksome deep, in +reference to the wandering instability of its spiritual +deformity, unless it had been converted unto him, from whom it +had its then degree of life, and by his enlightening became a +beauteous life, and the heaven of that heaven, which was +afterward set between water and water. And under the name of God, +I now held the Father, who made these things; and under the name +of the beginning, the Son, in whom he made these things; and +believing, as I did, my God as the Trinity, I searched further in +his holy words, and lo! thy Spirit moved upon the waters. Behold +the Trinity, my God!--Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost Creator of +all creation." + +That I might convey to my reader a just impression of the +character of St. Augustine's philosophical writings, I have, in +the two quotations here given, substituted for my own translation +that of the Rev. Dr. Pusey, as contained in Vol. I. of the +"Library of Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church," published at +Oxford, 1840. + +Considering the eminent authority which has been attributed to +the writings of St. Augustine by the religious world for nearly +fifteen centuries, it is proper to speak of them with respect. +And indeed it is not necessary to do otherwise. The paragraphs +here quoted criticise themselves. No one did more than this +Father to bring science and religion into antagonism; it was +mainly he who diverted the Bible from its true office-- a guide +to purity of life--and placed it in the perilous position of +being the arbiter of human knowledge, an audacious tyranny over +the mind of man. The example once set, there was no want of +followers; the works of the great Greek philosophers were +stigmatized as profane; the transcendently glorious achievements +of the Museum of Alexandria were hidden from sight by a cloud of +ignorance, mysticism, and unintelligible jargon, out of which +there too often flashed the destroying lightnings of +ecclesiastical vengeance. + + +A divine revelation of science admits of no improvement, no +change, no advance. It discourages as needless, and indeed as +presumptuous, all new discovery, considering it as an unlawful +prying into things which it was the intention of God to conceal. + +What, then, is that sacred, that revealed science, declared by +the Fathers to be the sum of all knowledge? + +It likened all phenomena, natural and spiritual, to human acts. +It saw in the Almighty, the Eternal, only a gigantic man. + +THE PATRISTIC PHILOSOPHY. As to the earth, it affirmed that it is +a flat surface, over which the sky is spread like a dome, or, as +St. Augustine tells us, is stretched like a skin. In this the sun +and moon and stars move, so that they may give light by day and +by night to man. The earth was made of matter created by God out +of nothing, and, with all the tribes of animals and plants +inhabiting it, was finished in six days. Above the sky or +firmament is heaven; in the dark and fiery space beneath the +earth is hell. The earth is the central and most important body +of the universe, all other things being intended for and +subservient to it. + +As to man, he was made out of the dust of the earth. At first he +was alone, but subsequently woman was formed from one of his +ribs. He is the greatest and choicest of the works of God. He was +placed in a paradise near the banks of the Euphrates, and was +very wise and very pure; but, having tasted of the forbidden +fruit, and thereby broken the commandment given to him, he was +condemned to labor and to death. + +The descendants of the first man, undeterred by his punishment, +pursued such a career of wickedness that it became necessary to +destroy them. A deluge, therefore, flooded the face of the earth, +and rose over the tops of the mountains. Having accomplished its +purpose, the water was dried up by a wind. + +From this catastrophe Noah and his three sons, with their wives, +were saved in an ark. Of these sons, Shem remained in Asia and +repeopled it. Ham peopled Africa; Japhet, Europe. As the Fathers +were not acquainted with the existence of America, they did not +provide an ancestor for its people. + +Let us listen to what some of these authorities say in support of +their assertions. Thus Lactantius, referring to the heretical +doctrine of the globular form of the earth, remarks: "Is it +possible that men can be so absurd as to believe that the crops +and the trees on the other side of the earth hang downward, and +that men have their feet higher than their heads? If you ask them +how they defend these monstrosities, how things do not fall away +from the earth on that side, they reply that the nature of things +is such that heavy bodies tend toward the centre, like the spokes +of a wheel, while light bodies, as clouds, smoke, fire, tend from +the centre to the heavens on all sides. Now, I am really at a +loss what to say of those who, when they have once gone wrong, +steadily persevere in their folly, and defend one absurd opinion +by another." On the question of the antipodes, St. Augustine +asserts that "it is impossible there should be inhabitants on the +opposite side of the earth, since no such race is recorded by +Scripture among the descendants of Adam." Perhaps, however, the +most unanswerable argument against the sphericity of the earth +was this, that "in the day of judgment, men on the other side of +a globe could not see the Lord descending through the air." + +It is unnecessary for me to say any thing respecting the +introduction of death into the world, the continual interventions +of spiritual agencies in the course of events, the offices of +angels and devils, the expected conflagration of the earth, the +tower of Babel, the confusion of tongues, the dispersion of +mankind, the interpretation of natural phenomena, as eclipses, +the rainbow, etc. Above all, I abstain from commenting on the +Patristic conceptions of the Almighty; they are too +anthropomorphic, and wanting in sublimity. + +Perhaps, however, I may quote from Cosmas Indicopleustes the +views that were entertained in the sixth century. He wrote a work +entitled "Christian Topography," the chief intent of which was to +confute the heretical opinion of the globular form of the earth, +and the pagan assertion that there is a temperate zone on the +southern side of the torrid. He affirms that, according to the +true orthodox system of geography, the earth is a quadrangular +plane, extending four hundred days' journey east and west, and +exactly half as much north and south; that it is inclosed by +mountains, on which the sky rests; that one on the north side, +huger than the others, by intercepting the rays of the sun, +produces night; and that the plane of the earth is not set +exactly horizontally, but with a little inclination from the +north: hence the Euphrates, Tigris, and other rivers, running +southward, are rapid; but the Nile, having to run up-hill, has +necessarily a very slow current. + +The Venerable Bede, writing in the seventh century, tells us that +"the creation was accomplished in six days, and that the earth is +its centre and its primary object. The heaven is of a fiery and +subtile nature, round, and equidistant in every part, as a canopy +from the centre of the earth. It turns round every day with +ineffable rapidity, only moderated by the resistance of the seven +planets, three above the sun--Saturn, Jupiter, Mars-- then the +sun; three below--Venus, Mercury, the moon. The stars go round in +their fixed courses, the northern perform the shortest circle. +The highest heaven has its proper limit; it contains the angelic +virtues who descend upon earth, assume ethereal bodies, perform +human functions, and return. The heaven is tempered with glacial +waters, lest it should be set on fire. The inferior heaven is +called the firmament, because it separates the superincumbent +waters from the waters below. The firmamental waters are lower +than the spiritual heaven, higher than all corporeal beings, +reserved, some say, for a second deluge; others, more truly, to +temper the fire of the fixed stars." + +Was it for this preposterous scheme--this product of ignorance +and audacity--that the works of the Greek philosophers were to be +given up? It was none too soon that the great critics who +appeared at the Reformation, by comparing the works of these +writers with one another, brought them to their proper level, and +taught us to look upon them all with contempt. + +Of this presumptuous system, the strangest part was its logic, +the nature of its proofs. It relied upon miracle-evidence. A fact +was supposed to he demonstrated by an astounding illustration of +something else! An Arabian writer, referring to this, says: "If a +conjurer should say to me, 'Three are more than ten, and in proof +of it I will change this stick into a serpent,' I might be +surprised at his legerdemain, but I certainly should not admit +his assertion." Yet, for more than a thousand years, such was the +accepted logic, and all over Europe propositions equally absurd +were accepted on equally ridiculous proof. + +Since the party that had become dominant in the empire could not +furnish works capable of intellectual competition with those of +the great pagan authors, and since it was impossible for it to +accept a position of inferiority, there arose a political +necessity for the discouragement, and even persecution, of +profane learning. The persecution of the Platonists under +Valentinian was due to that necessity. They were accused of +magic, and many of them were put to death. The profession of +philosophy had become dangerous--it was a state crime. In its +stead there arose a passion for the marvelous, a spirit of +superstition. Egypt exchanged the great men, who had made her +Museum immortal, for bands of solitary monks and sequestered +virgins, with which she was overrun. + + + +CHAPTER III. + +CONFLICT RESPECTING THE DOCTRINE OF THE UNITY OF GOD.--THE FIRST +OR SOUTHERN REFORMATION. + +The Egyptians insist on the introduction of the worship of the +Virgin Mary--They are resisted by Nestor, the Patriarch of +Constantinople, but eventually, through their influence with the +emperor, cause Nestor's exile and the dispersion of his +followers. + +Prelude to the Southern Reformation--The Persian attack; its +moral effects. + +The Arabian Reformation.--Mohammed is brought in contact with the +Nestorians--He adopts and extends their principles, rejecting the +worship of the Virgin, the doctrine of the Trinity, and every +thing in opposition to the unity of God.--He extinguishes +idolatry in Arabia, by force, and prepares to make war on the +Roman Empire.--His successors conquer Syria, Egypt, Asia Minor, +North Africa, Spain, and invade France. + +As the result of this conflict, the doctrine of the unity of God +was established in the greater part of the Roman Empire--The +cultivation of science was restored, and Christendom lost many of +her most illustrious capitals, as Alexandria, Carthage, and, +above all, Jerusalem. + + +THE policy of the Byzantine court had given to primitive +Christianity a paganized form, which it had spread over all the +idolatrous populations constituting the empire. There had been an +amalgamation of the two parties. Christianity had modified +paganism, paganism had modified Christianity. The limits of this +adulterated religion were the confines of the Roman Empire. With +this great extension there had come to the Christian party +political influence and wealth. No insignificant portion of the +vast public revenues found their way into the treasuries of the +Church. As under such circumstances must ever be the case, there +were many competitors for the spoils--men who, under the mask of +zeal for the predominant faith, sought only the enjoyment of its +emoluments. + +ECCLESIASTICAL DISPUTES. Under the early emperors, conquest had +reached its culmination; the empire was completed; there remained +no adequate objects for military life; the days of +war-peculation, and the plundering of provinces, were over. For +the ambitious, however, another path was open; other objects +presented. A successful career in the Church led to results not +unworthy of comparison with those that in former days had been +attained by a successful career in the army. + +The ecclesiastical, and indeed, it may be said, much of the +political history of that time, turns on the struggles of the +bishops of the three great metropolitan cities--Constantinople, +Alexandria, Rome--for supremacy: Constantinople based her claims +on the fact that she was the existing imperial city; Alexandria +pointed to her commercial and literary position; Rome, to her +souvenirs. But the Patriarch of Constantinople labored under the +disadvantage that he was too closely under the eye, and, as he +found to his cost, too often under the hand, of the emperor. +Distance gave security to the episcopates of Alexandria and Rome. + +ECCLESIASTICAL DISPUTES. Religious disputations in the East have +generally turned on diversities of opinion respecting the nature +and attributes of God; in the West, on the relations and life of +man. This peculiarity has been strikingly manifested in the +transformations that Christianity has undergone in Asia and +Europe respectively. Accordingly, at the time of which we are +speaking, all the Eastern provinces of the Roman Empire exhibited +an intellectual anarchy. There were fierce quarrels respecting +the Trinity, the essence of God, the position of the Son, the +nature of the Holy Spirit, the influences of the Virgin Mary. The +triumphant clamor first of one then of another sect was +confirmed, sometimes by miracle-proof, sometimes by bloodshed. No +attempt was ever made to submit the rival opinions to logical +examination. All parties, however, agreed in this, that the +imposture of the old classical pagan forms of faith was +demonstrated by the facility with which they had been overthrown. +The triumphant ecclesiastics proclaimed that the images of the +gods had failed to defend themselves when the time of trial came. + +Polytheistic ideas have always been held in repute by the +southern European races, the Semitic have maintained the unity of +God. Perhaps this is due to the fact, as a recent author has +suggested, that a diversified landscape of mountains and valleys, +islands, and rivers, and gulfs, predisposes man to a belief in a +multitude of divinities. A vast sandy desert, the illimitable +ocean, impresses him with an idea of the oneness of God. + +Political reasons had led the emperors to look with favor on the +admixture of Christianity and paganism, and doubtless by this +means the bitterness of the rivalry between those antagonists was +somewhat abated. The heaven of the popular, the fashionable +Christianity was the old Olympus, from which the venerable Greek +divinities had been removed. There, on a great white throne, sat +God the Father, on his right the Son, and then the blessed +Virgin, clad in a golden robe, and "covered with various female +adornments;" on the left sat God the Holy Ghost. Surrounding +these thrones were hosts of angels with their harps. The vast +expanse beyond was filled with tables, seated at which the happy +spirits of the just enjoyed a perpetual banquet. + +If, satisfied with this picture of happiness, illiterate persons +never inquired how the details of such a heaven were carried out, +or how much pleasure there could be in the ennui of such an +eternally unchanging, unmoving scene, it was not so with the +intelligent. As we are soon to see, there were among the higher +ecclesiastics those who rejected with sentiments of horror these +carnal, these materialistic conceptions, and raised their +protesting voices in vindication of the attributes of the +Omnipresent, the Almighty God. + +EGYPTIAN DOCTRINES. In the paganization of religion, now in all +directions taking place, it became the interest of every bishop +to procure an adoption of the ideas which, time out of mind, had +been current in the community under his charge. The Egyptians had +already thus forced on the Church their peculiar Trinitarian +views; and now they were resolved that, under the form of the +adoration of the Virgin Mary, the worship of Isis should be +restored. + +THE NESTORIANS. It so happened that Nestor, the Bishop of +Antioch, who entertained the philosophical views of Theodore of +Mopsuestia, had been called by the Emperor Theodosius the Younger +to the Episcopate of Constantinople (A.D. 427). Nestor rejected +the base popular anthropomorphism, looking upon it as little +better than blasphemous, and pictured to himself an awful eternal +Divinity, who pervaded the universe, and had none of the aspects +or attributes of man. Nestor was deeply imbued with the doctrines +of Aristotle, and attempted to coordinate them with what he +considered to be orthodox Christian tenets. Between him and +Cyril, the Bishop or Patriarch of Alexandria, a quarrel +accordingly arose. Cyril represented the paganizing, Nestor the +philosophizing party of the Church. This was that Cyril who had +murdered Hypatia. Cyril was determined that the worship of the +Virgin as the Mother of God should be recognized, Nestor was +determined that it should not. In a sermon delivered in the +metropolitan church at Constantinople, he vindicated the +attributes of the Eternal, the Almighty God. "And can this God +have a mother?" he exclaimed. In other sermons and writings, he +set forth with more precision his ideas that the Virgin should be +considered not as the Mother of God, but as the mother of the +human portion of Christ, that portion being as essentially +distinct from the divine as is a temple from its contained deity. + +PERSECUTION AND DEATH OF NESTOR. Instigated by the monks of +Alexandria, the monks of Constantinople took up arms in behalf of +"the Mother of God." The quarrel rose to such a pitch that the +emperor was constrained to summon a council to meet at Ephesus. +In the mean time Cyril had given a bribe of many pounds of gold +to the chief eunuch of the imperial court, and had thereby +obtained the influence of the emperor's sister. "The holy virgin +of the court of heaven thus found an ally of her own sex in the +holy virgin of the emperor's court." Cyril hastened to the +council, attended by a mob of men and women of the baser sort. He +at once assumed the presidency, and in the midst of a tumult had +the emperor's rescript read before the Syrian bishops could +arrive. A single day served to complete his triumph. All offers +of accommodation on the part of Nestor were refused, his +explanations were not read, he was condemned unheard. On the +arrival of the Syrian ecclesiastics, a meeting of protest was +held by them. A riot, with much bloodshed, ensued in the +cathedral of St. John. Nestor was abandoned by the court, and +eventually exiled to an Egyptian oasis. His persecutors tormented +him as long as he lived, by every means in their power, and at +his death gave out that "his blasphemous tongue had been devoured +by worms, and that from the heats of an Egyptian desert he had +escaped only into the hotter torments of hell!" + +The overthrow and punishment of Nestor, however, by no means +destroyed his opinions. He and his followers, insisting on the +plain inference of the last verse of the first chapter of St. +Matthew, together with the fifty-fifth and fifty-sixth verses of +the thirteenth of the same gospel, could never be brought to an +acknowledgment of the perpetual virginity of the new queen of +heaven. Their philosophical tendencies were soon indicated by +their actions. While their leader was tormented in an African +oasis, many of them emigrated to the Euphrates, and established +the Chaldean Church. Under their auspices the college of Edessa +was founded. From the college of Nisibis issued those doctors who +spread Nestor's tenets through Syria, Arabia, India, Tartary, +China, Egypt. The Nestorians, of course, adopted the philosophy +of Aristotle, and translated the works of that great writer into +Syriac and Persian. They also made similar translations of later +works, such as those of Pliny. In connection with the Jews they +founded the medical college of Djondesabour. Their missionaries +disseminated the Nestorian form of Christianity to such an extent +over Asia, that its worshipers eventually outnumbered all the +European Christians of the Greek and Roman Churches combined. It +may be particularly remarked that in Arabia they had a bishop. + +THE PERSIAN CAMPAIGN. The dissensions between Constantinople and +Alexandria had thus filled all Western Asia with sectaries, +ferocious in their contests with each other, and many of them +burning with hatred against the imperial power for the +persecutions it had inflicted on them. A religious revolution, +the consequences of which are felt in our own times, was the +result. It affected the whole world. + +We shall gain a clear view of this great event, if we consider +separately the two acts into which it may be decomposed: 1. The +temporary overthrow of Asiatic Christianity by the Persians; 2. +The decisive and final reformation under the Arabians. + +1. It happened (A.D. 590) that, by one of those revolutions so +frequent in Oriental courts, Chosroes, the lawful heir to the +Persian throne, was compelled to seek refuge in the Byzantine +Empire, and implore the aid of the Emperor Maurice. That aid was +cheerfully given. A brief and successful campaign restored +Chosroes to the throne of his ancestors. + +But the glories of this generous campaign could not preserve +Maurice himself. A mutiny broke out in the Roman army, headed by +Phocas, a centurion. The statues of the emperor were overthrown. +The Patriarch of Constantinople, having declared that he had +assured himself of the orthodoxy of Phocas, consecrated him +emperor. The unfortunate Maurice was dragged from a sanctuary, in +which he had sought refuge; his five sons were beheaded before +his eyes, and then he was put to death. His empress was inveigled +from the church of St. Sophia, tortured, and with her three young +daughters beheaded. The adherents of the massacred family were +pursued with ferocious vindictiveness; of some the eyes were +blinded, of others the tongues were torn out, or the feet and +hands cut off, some were whipped to death, others were burnt. + +When the news reached Rome, Pope Gregory received it with +exultation, praying that the hands of Phocas might be +strengthened against all his enemies. As an equivalent for this +subserviency, he was greeted with the title of "Universal +Bishop." The cause of his action, as well as of that of the +Patriarch of Constantinople, was doubtless the fact that Maurice +was suspected of Magrian tendencies, into which he had been lured +by the Persians. The mob of Constantinople had hooted after him +in the streets, branding him as a Marcionite, a sect which +believed in the Magian doctrine of two conflicting principles. + +With very different sentiments Chosroes heard of the murder of +his friend. Phocas had sent him the heads of Maurice and his +sons. The Persian king turned from the ghastly spectacle with +horror, and at once made ready to avenge the wrongs of his +benefactor by war. + +THE EXPEDITION OF HERACLIUS. The Exarch of Africa, Heraclius, one +of the chief officers of the state, also received the shocking +tidings with indignation. He was determined that the imperial +purple should not be usurped by an obscure centurion of +disgusting aspect. "The person of this Phocas was diminutive and +deformed; the closeness of his shaggy eyebrows, his red hair, his +beardless chin, were in keeping with his cheek, disfigured and +discolored by a formidable scar. Ignorant of letters, of laws, +and even of arms, he indulged in an ample privilege of lust and +drunkenness." At first Heraclius refused tribute and obedience to +him; then, admonished by age and infirmities, he committed the +dangerous enterprise of resistance to his son of the same name. A +prosperous voyage from Carthage soon brought the younger +Heraclius in front of Constantinople. The inconstant clergy, +senate, and people of the city joined him, the usurper was seized +in his palace and beheaded. + +INVASION OF CHOSROES. But the revolution that had taken place in +Constantinople did not arrest the movements of the Persian king. +His Magian priests had warned him to act independently of the +Greeks, whose superstition, they declared, was devoid of all +truth and justice. Chosroes, therefore, crossed the Euphrates; +his army was received with transport by the Syrian sectaries, +insurrections in his favor everywhere breaking out. In +succession, Antioch, Caesarea, Damascus fell; Jerusalem itself +was taken by storm; the sepulchre of Christ, the churches of +Constantine and of Helena were given to the flames; the Savior's +cross was sent as a trophy to Persia; the churches were rifled of +their riches; the sacred relics, collected by superstition, were +dispersed. Egypt was invaded, conquered, and annexed to the +Persian Empire; the Patriarch of Alexandria escaped by flight to +Cyprus; the African coast to Tripoli was seized. On the north, +Asia Minor was subdued, and for ten years the Persian forces +encamped on the shores of the Bosporus, in front of +Constantinople. + +In his extremity Heraclius begged for peace. "I will never give +peace to the Emperor of Rome," replied the proud Persian, "till +he has abjured his crucified God, and embraced the worship of the +sun." After a long delay terms were, however, secured, and the +Roman Empire was ransomed at the price of "a thousand talents of +gold, a thousand talents of silver, a thousand silk robes, a +thousand horses, and a thousand virgins." + +But Heraclius submitted only for a moment. He found means not +only to restore his affairs but to retaliate on the Persian +Empire. The operations by which he achieved this result were +worthy of the most brilliant days of Rome. + +INVASION OF CHOSROES Though her military renown was thus +recovered, though her territory was regained, there was something +that the Roman Empire had irrecoverably lost. Religious faith +could never be restored. In face of the world Magianism had +insulted Christianity, by profaning her most sacred +places--Bethlehem, Gethsemane, Calvary--by burning the sepulchre +of Christ, by rifling and destroying the churches, by scattering +to the winds priceless relics, by carrying off, with shouts of +laughter, the cross. + +Miracles had once abounded in Syria, in Egypt, in Asia Minor; +there was not a church which had not its long catalogue of them. +Very often they were displayed on unimportant occasions and in +insignificant cases. In this supreme moment, when such aid was +most urgently demanded, not a miracle was worked. + +Amazement filled the Christian populations of the East when they +witnessed these Persian sacrileges perpetrated with impunity. The +heavens should have rolled asunder, the earth should have opened +her abysses, the sword of the Almighty should have flashed in the +sky, the fate of Sennacherib should have been repeated. But it +was not so. In the land of miracles, amazement was followed by +consternation--consternation died out in disbelief. + +2. But, dreadful as it was, the Persian conquest was but a +prelude to the great event, the story of which we have now to +relate--the Southern revolt against Christianity. Its issue was +the loss of nine-tenths of her geographical possessions--Asia, +Africa, and part of Europe. + +MOHAMMED. In the summer of 581 of the Christian era, there came +to Bozrah, a town on the confines of Syria, south of Damascus, a +caravan of camels. It was from Mecca, and was laden with the +costly products of South Arabia--Arabia the Happy. The conductor +of the caravan, one Abou Taleb, and his nephew, a lad of twelve +years, were hospitably received and entertained at the Nestorian +convent of the town. + +The monks of this convent soon found that their young visitor, +Halibi or Mohammed, was the nephew of the guardian of the Caaba, +the sacred temple of the Arabs. One of them, by name Bahira, +spared no pains to secure his conversion from the idolatry in +which he had been brought up. He found the boy not only +precociously intelligent, but eagerly desirous of information, +especially on matters relating to religion. + +In Mohammed's own country the chief object of Meccan worship was +a black meteoric stone, kept in the Caaba, with three hundred and +sixty subordinate idols, representing the days of the year, as +the year was then counted. + +At this time, as we have seen, the Christian Church, through the +ambition and wickedness of its clergy, had been brought into a +condition of anarchy. Councils had been held on various +pretenses, while the real motives were concealed. Too often they +were scenes of violence, bribery, corruption. In the West, such +were the temptations of riches, luxury, and power, presented by +the episcopates, that the election of a bishop was often +disgraced by frightful murders. In the East, in consequence of +the policy of the court of Constantinople, the Church had been +torn in pieces by contentions and schisms. Among a countless host +of disputants may be mentioned Arians, Basilidians, +Carpocratians, Collyridians, Eutychians, Gnostics, Jacobites, +Marcionites, Marionites, Nestorians, Sabellians, Valentinians. Of +these, the Marionites regarded the Trinity as consisting of God +the Father, God the Son, and God the Virgin Mary; the +Collyridians worshiped the Virgin as a divinity, offering her +sacrifices of cakes; the Nestorians, as we have seen, denied that +God had "a mother." They prided themselves on being the +inheritors, the possessors of the science of old Greece. + +But, though they were irreconcilable in matters of faith, there +was one point in which all these sects agreed --ferocious hatred +and persecution of each other. Arabia, an unconquered land of +liberty, stretching from the Indian Ocean to the Desert of Syria, +gave them all, as the tide of fortune successively turned, a +refuge. It had been so from the old times. Thither, after the +Roman conquest of Palestine, vast numbers of Jews escaped; +thither, immediately after his conversion, St. Paul tells the +Galatians that he retired. The deserts were now filled with +Christian anchorites, and among the chief tribes of the Arabs +many proselytes had been made. Here and there churches had been +built. The Christian princes of Abyssinia, who were Nestorians, +held the southern province of Arabia--Yemen--in possession. + +By the monk Bahira, in the convent at Bozrah, Mohammed was taught +the tenets of the Nestorians; from them the young Arab learned +the story of their persecutions. It was these interviews which +engendered in him a hatred of the idolatrous practices of the +Eastern Church, and indeed of all idolatry; that taught him, in +his wonderful career, never to speak of Jesus as the Son of God, +but always as "Jesus, the son of Mary." His untutored but active +mind could not fail to be profoundly impressed not only with the +religious but also with the philosophical ideas of his +instructors, who gloried in being the living representatives of +Aristotelian science. His subsequent career shows how completely +their religious thoughts had taken possession of him, and +repeated acts manifest his affectionate regard for them. His own +life was devoted to the expansion and extension of their +theological doctrine, and, that once effectually established, his +successors energetically adopted and diffused their scientific, +their Aristotelian opinions. + +As Mohammed grew to manhood, he made other expeditions to Syria. +Perhaps, we may suppose, that on these occasions the convent and +its hospitable in mates were not forgotten. He had a mysterious +reverence for that country. A wealthy Meccan widow Chadizah, had +intrusted him with the care of her Syrian trade. She was charmed +with his capacity and fidelity, and (since he is said to have +been characterized by the possession of singular manly beauty and +a most courteous demeanor) charmed with his person. The female +heart in all ages and countries is the same. She caused a slave +to intimate to him what was passing in her mind, and, for the +remaining twenty-four years of her life, Mohammed was her +faithful husband. In a land of polygamy, he never insulted her by +the presence of a rival. Many years subsequently, in the height +of his power, Ayesha, who was one of the most beautiful women in +Arabia, said to him: "Was she not old? Did not God give you in me +a better wife in her place?" "No, by God!" exclaimed Mohammed, +and with a burst of honest gratitude, "there never can be a +better. She believed in me when men despised me, she relieved me +when I was poor and persecuted by the world." + +His marriage with Chadizah placed him in circumstances of ease, +and gave him an opportunity of indulging his inclination to +religious meditation. It so happened that her cousin Waraka, who +was a Jew, had turned Christian. He was the first to translate +the Bible into Arabic. By his conversation Mohammed's detestation +of idolatry was confirmed. + +After the example of the Christian anchorites in their hermitages +in the desert, Mohammed retired to a grotto in Mount Hera, a few +miles from Mecca, giving himself up to meditation and prayer. In +this seclusion, contemplating the awful attributes of the +Omnipotent and Eternal God, he addressed to his conscience the +solemn inquiry, whether he could adopt the dogmas then held in +Asiatic Christendom respecting the Trinity, the sonship of Jesus +as begotten by the Almighty, the character of Mary as at once a +virgin, a mother, and the queen of heaven, without incurring the +guilt and the peril of blasphemy. + +By his solitary meditations in the grotto Mohammed was drawn to +the conclusion that, through the cloud of dogmas and disputations +around him, one great truth might be discerned--the unity of God. +Leaning against the stem of a palm-tree, he unfolded his views on +this subject to his neighbors and friends, and announced to them +that he should dedicate his life to the preaching of that truth. +Again and again, in his sermons and in the Koran, he declared: "I +am nothing but a public preacher.... I preach the oneness of +God." Such was his own conception of his so-called apostleship. +Henceforth, to the day of his death, he wore on his finger a +seal-ring on which was engraved, "Mohammed, the messenger of +God." + +VICTORIES OF MOHAMMED. It is well known among physicians that +prolonged fasting and mental anxiety inevitably give rise to +hallucination. Perhaps there never has been any religious system +introduced by self-denying, earnest men that did not offer +examples of supernatural temptations and supernatural commands. +Mysterious voices encouraged the Arabian preacher to persist in +his determination; shadows of strange forms passed before him. He +heard sounds in the air like those of a distant bell. In a +nocturnal dream he was carried by Gabriel from Mecca to +Jerusalem, and thence in succession through the six heavens. Into +the seventh the angel feared to intrude and Mohammed alone passed +into the dread cloud that forever enshrouds the Almighty. "A +shiver thrilled his heart as he felt upon his shoulder the touch +of the cold hand of God." + +His public ministrations met with much resistance and little +success at first. Expelled from Mecca by the upholders of the +prevalent idolatry, he sought refuge in Medina, a town in which +there were many Jews and Nestorians; the latter at once became +proselytes to his faith. He had already been compelled to send +his daughter and others of his disciples to Abyssinia, the king +of which was a Nestorian Christian. At the end of six years he +had made only fifteen hundred converts. But in three little +skirmishes, magnified in subsequent times by the designation of +the battles of Beder, of Ohud, and of the Nations, Mohammed +discovered that his most convincing argument was his sword. +Afterward, with Oriental eloquence, he said, "Paradise will be +found in the shadow of the crossing of swords." By a series of +well-conducted military operations, his enemies were completely +overthrown. Arabian idolatry was absolutely exterminated; the +doctrine he proclaimed, that "there is but one God," was +universally adopted by his countrymen, and his own apostleship +accepted + +DEATH OF MOHAMMED. Let us pass over his stormy life, and hear +what he says when, on the pinnacle of earthly power and glory, he +was approaching its close. + +Steadfast in his declaration of the unity of God, he departed +from Medina on his last pilgrimage to Mecca, at the head of one +hundred and fourteen thousand devotees, with camels decorated +with garlands of flowers and fluttering streamers. When he +approached the holy city, he uttered the solemn invocation: "Here +am I in thy service, O God! Thou hast no companion. To thee alone +belongeth worship. Thine alone is the kingdom. There is none to +share it with thee." + +With his own hand he offered up the camels in sacrifice. He +considered that primeval institution to be equally sacred as +prayer, and that no reason can be alleged in support of the one +which is not equally strong in support of the other. + +From the pulpit of the Caaba he reiterated, "O my hearers, I am +only a man like yourselves." They remembered that he had once +said to one who approached him with timid steps: "Of what dost +thou stand in awe? I am no king. I am nothing but the son of an +Arab woman, who ate flesh dried in the sun." + +He returned to Medina to die. In his farewell to his +congregation, he said: "Every thing happens according to the will +of God, and has its appointed time, which can neither be hastened +nor avoided. I return to him who sent me, and my last command to +you is, that ye love, honor, and uphold each other, that ye +exhort each other to faith and constancy in belief, and to the +performance of pious deeds. My life has been for your good, and +so will be my death." + +In his dying agony, his head was reclined on the lap of Ayesha. +From time to time he had dipped his hand in a vase of water, and +moistened his face. At last he ceased, and, gazing steadfastly +upward, said, in broken accents: "O God--forgive my sins--be it +so. I come." + +Shall we speak of this man with disrespect? His precepts are, at +this day, the religious guide of one- third of the human race. + +DOCTRINES OF MOHAMMED. In Mohammed, who had already broken away +from the ancient idolatrous worship of his native country, +preparation had been made for the rejection of those tenets which +his Nestorian teachers had communicated to him, inconsistent with +reason and conscience. And, though, in the first pages of the +Koran, he declares his belief in what was delivered to Moses and +Jesus, and his reverence for them personally, his veneration for +the Almighty is perpetually displayed. He is horror-stricken at +the doctrine of the divinity of Jesus, the Worship of Mary as the +mother of God, the adoration of images and paintings, in his eyes +a base idolatry. He absolutely rejects the Trinity, of which he +seems to have entertained the idea that it could not be +interpreted otherwise than as presenting three distinct Gods. + +His first and ruling idea was simply religious reform--to +overthrow Arabian idolatry, and put an end to the wild +sectarianism of Christianity. That he proposed to set up a new +religion was a calumny invented against him in Constantinople, +where he was looked upon with detestation, like that with which +in after ages Luther was regarded in Rome. + +But, though he rejected with indignation whatever might seem to +disparage the doctrine of the unity of God, he was not able to +emancipate himself from anthropomorphic conceptions. The God of +the Koran is altogether human, both corporeally and mentally, if +such expressions may with propriety be used. Very soon, however, +the followers of Mohammed divested themselves of these base ideas +and rose to nobler ones. + +The view here presented of the primitive character of +Mohammedanism has long been adopted by many competent +authorities. Sir William Jones, following Locke, regards the main +point in the divergence of Mohammedanism from Christianity to +consist "in denying vehemently the character of our Savior as the +Son, and his equality as God with the Father, of whose unity and +attributes the Mohammedans entertain and express the most awful +ideas." This opinion has been largely entertained in Italy. Dante +regarded Mohammed only as the author of a schism, and saw in +Islamism only an Arian sect. In England, Whately views it as a +corruption of Christianity. It was an offshoot of Nestorianism, +and not until it had overthrown Greek Christianity in many great +battles, was spreading rapidly over Asia and Africa, and had +become intoxicated with its wonderful successes, did it repudiate +its primitive limited intentions, and assert itself to be founded +on a separate and distinct revelation. + +THE FIRST KHALIF. Mohammed's life had been almost entirely +consumed in the conversion or conquest of his native country. +Toward its close, however, he felt himself strong enough to +threaten the invasion of Syria and Persia. He had made no +provision for the perpetuation of his own dominion, and hence it +was not without a struggle that a successor was appointed. At +length Abubeker, the father of Ayesha, was selected. He was +proclaimed the first khalif, or successor of the Prophet. + +There is a very important difference between the spread of +Mohammedanism and the spread of Christianity. The latter was +never sufficiently strong to over throw and extirpate idolatry in +the Roman Empire. As it advanced, there was an amalgamation, a +union. The old forms of the one were vivified by the new spirit +of the other, and that paganization to which reference has +already been made was the result. + +THE MOHAMMEDAN HEAVEN. But, in Arabia, Mohammed overthrew and +absolutely annihilated the old idolatry. No trace of it is found +in the doctrines preached by him and his successors. The black +stone that had fallen from heaven--the meteorite of the +Caaba--and its encircling idols, passed totally out of view. The +essential dogma of the new faith--"There is but one God"--spread +without any adulteration. Military successes had, in a worldly +sense made the religion of the Koran profitable; and, no matter +what dogmas may be, when that is the case, there will be plenty +of converts. + +As to the popular doctrines of Mohammedanism, I shall here have +nothing to say. The reader who is interested in that matter will +find an account of them in a review of the Koran in the eleventh +chapter of my "History of the Intellectual Development of +Europe." It is enough now to remark that their heaven was +arranged in seven stories, and was only a palace of Oriental +carnal delight. It was filled with black-eyed concubines and +servants. The form of God was, perhaps, more awful than that of +paganized Christianity. Anthropomorphism will, however, never be +obliterated from the ideas of the unintellectual. Their God, at +the best, will never be any thing more than the gigantic shadow +of a man--a vast phantom of humanity-- like one of those Alpine +spectres seen in the midst of the clouds by him who turns his +back on the sun. + +Abubeker had scarcely seated himself in the khalifate, when he +put forth the following proclamation: + +In the name of the most merciful God! Abubeker to the rest of the +true believers, health and happiness. The mercy and blessing of +God be upon you. I praise the most high God. I pray for his +prophet Mohammed. + +INVASION OF SYRIA. "This is to inform you that I intend to send +the true believers into Syria, to take it out of the hands of the +infidels. And I would have you know that the fighting for +religion is an act of obedience to God." + +On the first encounter, Khaled, the Saracen general, hard +pressed, lifted up his hands in the midst of his army and said: +"O God! these vile wretches pray with idolatrous expressions and +take to themselves another God besides thee, but we acknowledge +thy unity and affirm that there is no other God but thee alone. +Help us, we beseech thee, for the sake of thy prophet Mohammed, +against these idolaters." On the part of the Saracens the +conquest of Syria was conducted with ferocious piety. The belief +of the Syrian Christians aroused in their antagonists sentiments +of horror and indignation. "I will cleave the skull of any +blaspheming idolater who says that the Most Holy God, the +Almighty and Eternal, has begotten a son." The Khalif Omar, who +took Jerusalem, commences a letter to Heraclius, the Roman +emperor: "In the name of the most merciful God! Praise be to God, +the Lord of this and of the other world, who has neither female +consort nor son." The Saracens nicknamed the Christians +"Associators," because they joined Mary and Jesus as partners +with the Almighty and Most Holy God. + +It was not the intention of the khalif to command his army; that +duty was devolved on Abou Obeidah nominally, on Khaled in +reality. In a parting review the khalif enjoined on his troops +justice, mercy, and the observance of fidelity in their +engagements he commanded them to abstain from all frivolous +conversation and from wine, and rigorously to observe the hours +of prayer; to be kind to the common people among whom they +passed, but to show no mercy to their priests. + +FALL OF BOZRAH. Eastward of the river Jordan is Bozrah, a strong +town where Mohammed had first met his Nestorian Christian +instructors. It was one of the Roman forts with which the country +was dotted over. Before this place the Saracen army encamped. The +garrison was strong, the ramparts were covered with holy crosses +and consecrated banners. It might have made a long defense. But +its governor, Romanus, betrayed his trust, and stealthily opened +its gates to the besiegers. His conduct shows to what a +deplorable condition the population of Syria had come. After the +surrender, in a speech he made to the people he had betrayed, he +said: "I renounce your society, both in this world and that to +come. And I deny him that was crucified, and whosoever worships +him. And I choose God for my Lord, Islam for my faith, Mecca for +my temple, the Moslems for my brethren, Mohammed for my prophet, +who was sent to lead us in the right way, and to exalt the true +religion in spite of those who join partners with God." Since the +Persian invasion, Asia Minor, Syria, and even Palestine, were +full of traitors and apostates, ready to join the Saracens. +Romanus was but one of many thousands who had fallen into +disbelief through the victories of the Persians. + +FALL OF DAMASCUS. From Bozrah it was only seventy miles northward +to Damascus, the capital of Syria. Thither, without delay, the +Saracen army marched. The city was at once summoned to take its +option--conversion, tribute, or the sword. In his palace at +Antioch, barely one hundred and fifty miles still farther north, +the Emperor Heraclius received tidings of the alarming advance of +his assailants. He at once dispatched an army of seventy thousand +men. The Saracens were compelled to raise the siege. A battle +took place in the plains of Aiznadin, the Roman army was +overthrown and dispersed. Khaled reappeared before Damascus with +his standard of the black eagle, and after a renewed investment +of seventy days Damascus surrendered. + +From the Arabian historians of these events we may gather that +thus far the Saracen armies were little better than a fanatic +mob. Many of the men fought naked. It was not unusual for a +warrior to stand forth in front and challenge an antagonist to +mortal duel. Nay, more, even the women engaged in the combats. +Picturesque narratives have been handed down to us relating the +gallant manner in which they acquitted themselves. + +FALL OF JERUSALEM. From Damascus the Saracen army advanced +northward, guided by the snow-clad peaks of Libanus and the +beautiful river Orontes. It captured on its way Baalbec, the +capital of the Syrian valley, and Emesa, the chief city of the +eastern plain. To resist its further progress, Heraclius +collected an army of one hundred and forty thousand men. A battle +took place at Yermuck; the right wing of the Saracens was broken, +but the soldiers were driven back to the field by the fanatic +expostulations of their women. The conflict ended in the complete +overthrow of the Roman army. Forty thousand were taken prisoners, +and a vast number killed. The whole country now lay open to the +victors. The advance of their army had been east of the Jordan. +It was clear that, before Asia Minor could be touched, the strong +and important cities of Palestine, which was now in their rear, +must be secured. There was a difference of opinion among the +generals in the field as to whether Caesarea or Jerusalem should +be assailed first. The matter was referred to the khalif, who, +rightly preferring the moral advantages of the capture of +Jerusalem to the military advantages of the capture of Caesarea, +ordered the Holy City to be taken, and that at any cost. Close +siege was therefore laid to it. The inhabitants, remembering the +atrocities inflicted by the Persians, and the indignities that +had been offered to the Savior's sepulchre, prepared now for a +vigorous defense. But, after an investment of four months, the +Patriarch Sophronius appeared on the wall, asking terms of +capitulation. There had been misunderstandings among the generals +at the capture of Damascus, followed by a massacre of the fleeing +inhabitants. Sophronius, therefore, stipulated that the surrender +of Jerusalem should take place in presence of the khalif himself +Accordingly, Omar, the khalif, came from Medina for that purpose. +He journeyed on a red camel, carrying a bag of corn and one of +dates, a wooden dish, and a leathern water-bottle. The Arab +conqueror entered the Holy City riding by the side of the +Christian patriarch and the transference of the capital of +Christianity to the representative of Mohammedanism was effected +without tumult or outrage. Having ordered that a mosque should be +built on the site of the temple of Solomon, the khalif returned +to the tomb of the Prophet at Medina. + +Heraclius saw plainly that the disasters which were fast settling +on Christianity were due to the dissensions of its conflicting +sects; and hence, while he endeavored to defend the empire with +his armies, he sedulously tried to compose those differences. +With this view he pressed for acceptance the Monothelite doctrine +of the nature of Christ. But it was now too late. Aleppo and +Antioch were taken. Nothing could prevent the Saracens from +overrunning Asia Minor. Heraclius himself had to seek safety in +flight. Syria, which had been added by Pompey the Great, the +rival of Caesar, to the provinces of Rome, seven hundred years +previously-- Syria, the birthplace of Christianity, the scene of +its most sacred and precious souvenirs, the land from which +Heraclius himself had once expelled the Persian intruder--was +irretrievably lost. Apostates and traitors had wrought this +calamity. We are told that, as the ship which bore him to +Constantinople parted from the shore, Heraclius gazed intently on +the receding hills, and in the bitterness of anguish exclaimed, +"Farewell, Syria, forever farewell!" + +It is needless to dwell on the remaining details of the Saracen +conquest: how Tripoli and Tyre were betrayed; how Caesarea was +captured; how with the trees of Libanus and the sailors of +Phoenicia a Saraeen fleet was equipped, which drove the Roman +navy into the Hellespont; how Cyprus, Rhodes, and the Cyclades, +were ravaged, and the Colossus, which was counted as one of the +wonders of the world, sold to a Jew, who loaded nine hundred +camels with its brass; how the armies of the khalif advanced to +the Black Sea, and even lay in front of Constantinople--all this +was as nothing after the fall of Jerusalem. + +OVERTHROW OF THE PERSIANS. The fall of Jerusalem! the loss of the +metropolis of Christianity! In the ideas of that age the two +antagonistic forms of faith had submitted themselves to the +ordeal of the judgment of God. Victory had awarded the prize of +battle, Jerusalem, to the Mohammedan; and, notwithstanding the +temporary successes of the Crusaders, after much more than a +thousand years in his hands it remains to this day. The Byzantine +historians are not without excuse for the course they are +condemned for taking: "They have wholly neglected the great topic +of the ruin of the Eastern Church." And as for the Western +Church, even the debased popes of the middle ages--the ages of +the Crusades--could not see without indignation that they were +compelled to rest the claims of Rome as the metropolis of +Christendom on a false legendary story of a visit of St. Peter to +that city; while the true metropolis, the grand, the sacred place +of the birth, the life, the death of Christ himself, was in the +hands of the infidels! It has not been the Byzantine historians +alone who have tried to conceal this great catastrophe. The +Christian writers of Europe on all manner of subjects, whether of +history, religion, or science, have followed a similar course +against their conquering antagonists. It has been their constant +practice to hide what they could not depreciate, and depreciate +what they could not hide. + +INVASION OF EGYPT. I have not space, nor indeed does it comport +with the intention of this work, to relate, in such detail as I +have given to the fall of Jerusalem, other conquests of the +Saracens--conquests which eventually established a Mohammedan +empire far exceeding in geographical extent that of Alexander, +and even that of Rome. But, devoting a few words to this subject, +it may be said that Magianism received a worse blow than that +which had been inflicted on Christianity; The fate of Persia was +settled at the battle of Cadesia. At the sack of Ctesiphon, the +treasury, the royal arms, and an unlimited spoil, fell into the +hands of the Saracens. Not without reason do they call the battle +of Nehavend the victory of victories." In one direction they +advanced to the Caspian, in the other southward along the Tigris +to Persepolis. The Persian king fled for his life over the great +Salt Desert, from the columns and statues of that city which had +lain in ruins since the night of the riotous banquet of +Alexander. One division of the Arabian army forced the Persian +monarch over the Oxus. He was assassinated by the Turks. His son +was driven into China, and became a captain in the Chinese +emperor's guards. The country beyond the Oxus was reduced. It +paid a tribute of two million pieces of gold. While the emperor +at Peking was demanding the friendship of the khalif at Medina, +the standard of the Prophet was displayed on the banks of the +Indus. + +Among the generals who had greatly distinguished themselves in +the Syrian wars was Amrou, destined to be the conqueror of Egypt; +for the khalifs, not content with their victories on the North +and East, now turned their eyes to the West, and prepared for the +annexation of Africa. As in the former cases, so in this, +sectarian treason assisted them. The Saracen army was hailed as +the deliverer of the Jacobite Church; the Monophysite Christians +of Egypt, that is, they who, in the language of the Athanasian +Creed, confounded the substance of the Son, proclaimed, through +their leader, Mokaukas, that they desired no communion with the +Greeks, either in this world or the next, that they abjured +forever the Byzantine tyrant and his synod of Chalcedon. They +hastened to pay tribute to the khalif, to repair the roads and +bridges, and to supply provisions and intelligence to the +invading army. + +FALL OF ALEXANDRIA. Memphis, one of the old Pharaonic capitals, +soon fell, and Alexandria was invested. The open sea behind gave +opportunity to Heraclius to reenforce the garrison continually. +On his part, Omar, who was now khalif sent to the succor of the +besieging army the veteran troops of Syria. There were many +assaults and many sallies. In one Amrou himself was taken +prisoner by the besieged, but, through the dexterity of a slave, +made his escape. After a siege of fourteen months, and a loss of +twenty-three thousand men, the Saracens captured the city. In his +dispatch to the Khalif, Amrou enumerated the splendors of the +great city of the West "its four thousand palaces, four thousand +baths, four hundred theatres, twelve thousand shops for the sale +of vegetable food, and forty thousand tributary Jews." + +So fell the second great city of Christendom--the fate of +Jerusalem had fallen on Alexandria, the city of Athanasius, and +Arius, and Cyril; the city that had imposed Trinitarian ideas and +Mariolatry on the Church. In his palace at Constantinople +Heraclius received the fatal tidings. He was overwhelmed with +grief. It seemed as if his reign was to be disgraced by the +downfall of Christianity. He lived scarcely a month after the +loss of the town. + +But if Alexandria had been essential to Constantinople in the +supply of orthodox faith, she was also essential in the supply of +daily food. Egypt was the granary of the Byzantines. For this +reason two attempts were made by powerful fleets and armies for +the recovery of the place, and twice had Amrou to renew his +conquest. He saw with what facility these attacks could be made, +the place being open to the sea; he saw that there was but one +and that a fatal remedy. "By the living God, if this thing be +repeated a third time I will make Alexandria as open to anybody +as is the house of a prostitute!" He was better than his word, +for he forthwith dismantled its fortifications, and made it an +untenable place. + +FALL OF CARTHAGE. It was not the intention of the khalifs to +limit their conquest to Egypt. Othman contemplated the annexation +of the entire North-African coast. His general, Abdallah, set out +from Memphis with forty thousand men, passed through the desert +of Barca, and besieged Tripoli. But, the plague breaking out in +his army, he was compelled to retreat to Egypt. + +All attempts were now suspended for more than twenty years. Then +Akbah forced his way from the Nile to the Atlantic Ocean. In +front of the Canary Islands he rode his horse into the sea, +exclaiming: "Great God! if my course were not stopped by this +sea, I would still go on to the unknown kingdoms of the West, +preaching the unity of thy holy name, and putting to the sword +the rebellious nations who worship any other gods than thee." + +These Saracen expeditions had been through the interior of the +country, for the Byzantine emperors, controlling for the time the +Mediterranean, had retained possession of the cities on the +coast. The Khalif Abdalmalek at length resolved on the reduction +of Carthage, the most important of those cities, and indeed the +capital of North Africa. His general, Hassan, carried it by +escalade; but reenforcements from Constantinople, aided by some +Sicilian and Gothic troops, compelled him to retreat. The relief +was, however, only temporary. Hassan, in the course of a few +months renewed his attack. It proved successful, and he delivered +Carthage to the flames. + +Jerusalem, Alexandria, Carthage, three out of the five great +Christian capitals, were lost. The fall of Constantinople was +only a question of time. After its fall, Rome alone remained. + +In the development of Christianity, Carthage had played no +insignificant part. It had given to Europe its Latin form of +faith, and some of its greatest theologians. It was the home of +St. Augustine. + +Never in the history of the world had there been so rapid and +extensive a propagation of any religion as Mohammedanism. It was +now dominating from the Altai Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean, +from the centre of Asia to the western verge of Africa. + +CONQUEST OF SPAIN. The Khalif Alwalid next authorized the +invasion of Europe, the conquest of Andalusia, or the Region of +the Evening. Musa, his general, found, as had so often been the +case elsewhere, two effective allies sectarianism and +treason--the Archbishop of Toledo and Count Julian the Gothic +general. Under their lead, in the very crisis of the battle of +Xeres, a large portion of the army went over to the invaders; the +Spanish king was compelled to flee from the field, and in the +pursuit he was drowned in the waters of the Guadalquivir. + +With great rapidity Tarik, the lieutenant of Musa, pushed forward +from the battle-field to Toledo, and thence northward. On the +arrival of Musa the reduction of the Spanish peninsula was +completed, and the wreck of the Gothic army driven beyond the +Pyrenees into France. Considering the conquest of Spain as only +the first step in his victories, he announced his intention of +forcing his way into Italy, and preaching the unity of God in the +Vatican. Thence he would march to Constantinople, and, having put +all end to the Roman Empire and Christianity, would pass into +Asia and lay his victorious sword on the footstool of the khalif +at Damascus. + +But this was not to be. Musa, envious of his lieutenant, Tarik, +had treated him with great indignity. The friends of Tarik at the +court of the khalif found means of retaliation. An envoy from +Damascus arrested Musa in his camp; he was carried before his +sovereign, disgraced by a public whipping, and died of a broken +heart. + +INVASION OF FRANCE. Under other leaders, however, the Saracen +conquest of France was attempted. In a preliminary campaign the +country from the mouth of the Garonne to that of the Loire was +secured. Then Abderahman, the Saracen commander, dividing his +forces into two columns, with one on the east passed the Rhone, +and laid siege to Arles. A Christian army, attempting the relief +of the place, was defeated with heavy loss. His western column, +equally successful, passed the Dordogne, defeated another +Christian army, inflicting on it such dreadful loss that, +according to its own fugitives, "God alone could number the +slain." All Central France was now overrun; the banks of the +Loire were reached; the churches and monasteries were despoiled +of their treasures; and the tutelar saints, who had worked so +many miracles when there was no necessity, were found to want the +requisite power when it was so greatly needed. + +The progress of the invaders was at length stopped by Charles +Martel (A.D. 732). Between Tours and Poictiers, a great battle, +which lasted seven days, was fought. Abderahman was killed, the +Saracens retreated, and soon afterward were compelled to recross +the Pyrenees. + +The banks of the Loire, therefore, mark the boundary of the +Mohammedan advance in Western Europe. Gibbon, in his narrative of +these great events, makes this remark: "A victorious line of +march had been prolonged above a thousand miles from the rock of +Gibraltar to the banks of the Loire--a repetition of an equal +space would have carried the Saracens to the confines of Poland +and the Highlands of Scotland." + +INSULT TO ROME. It is not necessary for me to add to this sketch +of the military diffusion of Mohammedanism, the operations of the +Saracens on the Mediterranean Sea, their conquest of Crete and +Sicily, their insult to Rome. It will be found, however, that +their presence in Sicily and the south of Italy exerted a marked +influence on the intellectual development of Europe. + +Their insult to Rome! What could be more humiliating than the +circumstances under which it took place (A.D. 846)? An +insignificant Saracen expedition entered the Tiber and appeared +before the walls of the city. Too weak to force an entrance, it +insulted and plundered the precincts, sacrilegiously violating +the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul. Had the city itself been +sacked, the moral effect could not have been greater. From the +church of St. Peter its altar of silver was torn away and sent to +Africa--St. Peter's altar, the very emblem of Roman Christianity! + +Constantinople had already been besieged by the Saracens more +than once; its fall was predestined, and only postponed. Rome had +received the direst insult, the greatest loss that could be +inflicted upon it; the venerable churches of Asia Minor had +passed out of existence; no Christian could set his foot in +Jerusalem without permission; the Mosque of Omar stood on the +site of the Temple of Solomon. Among the ruins of Alexandria the +Mosque of Mercy marked the spot where a Saracen general, satiated +with massacre, had, in contemptuous compassion, spared the +fugitive relics of the enemies of Mohammed; nothing remained of +Carthage but her blackened ruins. The most powerful religious +empire that the world had ever seen had suddenly come into +existence. It stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Chinese +Wall, from the shores of the Caspian to those of the Indian +Ocean, and yet, in one sense, it had not reached its culmination. +The day was to come when it was to expel the successors of the +Caesars from their capital, and hold the peninsula of Greece in +subjection, to dispute with Christianity the empire of Europe in +the very centre of that continent, and in Africa to extend its +dogmas and faith across burning deserts and through pestilential +forests from the Mediterranean to regions southward far beyond +the equinoetial line. + +DISSENSIONS OF THE ARABS. But, though Mohammedanism had not +reached its culmination, the dominion of the khalifs had. Not the +sword of Charles Martel, but the internal dissension of the vast +Arabian Empire, was the salvation of Europe. Though the Ommiade +Khalifs were popular in Syria, elsewhere they were looked upon as +intruders or usurpers; the kindred of the apostle was considered +to be the rightful representative of his faith. Three parties, +distinguished by their colors, tore the khalifate asunder with +their disputes, and disgraced it by their atrocities. The color +of the Ommiades was white, that of the Fatimites green, that of +the Abassides black; the last represented the party of Abbas, the +uncle of Mohammed. The result of these discords was a tripartite +division of the Mohammedan Empire in the tenth century into the +khalifates of Bagdad, of Cairoan, and of Cordova. Unity in +Mohammedan political action was at an end, and Christendom found +its safeguard, not in supernatural help, but in the quarrels of +the rival potentates. To internal animosities foreign pressures +were eventually added and Arabism, which had done so much for the +intellectual advancement of the world, came to an end when the +Turks and the Berbers attained to power. + +The Saracens had become totally regardless of European +opposition--they were wholly taken up with their domestic +quarrels. Ockley says with truth, in his history: "The Saracens +had scarce a deputy lieutenant or general that would not have +thought it the greatest affront, and such as ought to stigmatize +him with indelible disgrace, if he should have suffered himself +to have been insulted by the united forces of all Europe. And if +any one asks why the Greeks did not exert themselves more, in +order to the extirpation of these insolent invaders, it is a +sufficient answer to any person that is acquainted with the +characters of those men to say that Amrou kept his residence at +Alexandria, and Moawyah at Damascus." + +As to their contempt, this instance may suffice: Nicephorus, the +Roman emperor, had sent to the Khalif Haroun-al-Raschid a +threatening letter, and this was the reply: "In the name of the +most merciful God, Haroun-al-Raschid, commander of the faithful, +to Nicephorus, the Roman dog! I have read thy letter, O thou son +of an unbelieving mother. Thou shalt not hear, thou shalt behold +my reply!" It was written in letters of blood and fire on the +plains of Phrygia. + +POLITICAL EFFECT OF POLYGAMY. A nation may recover the +confiscation of its provinces, the confiscation of its wealth; it +may survive the imposition of enormous war-fines; but it never +can recover from that most frightful of all war-acts, the +confiscation of its women. When Abou Obeidah sent to Omar news of +his capture of Antioch, Omar gently upbraided him that he had not +let the troops have the women. "If they want to marry in Syria, +let them; and let them have as many female slaves as they have +occasion for." It was the institution of polygamy, based upon the +confiscation of the women in the vanquished countries, that +secured forever the Mohammedan rule. the children of these unions +gloried in their descent from their conquering fathers. No better +proof can be given of the efficacy of this policy than that which +is furnished by North Africa. The irresistible effect of polygamy +in consolidating the new order of things was very striking. In +little more than a single generation, the Khalif was informed by +his officers that the tribute must cease, for all the children +born in that region were Mohammedans, and all spoke Arabic. + +MOHAMMEDANISM. Mohammedanism, as left by its founder, was an +anthropomorphic religion. Its God was only a gigantic man, its +heaven a mansion of carnal pleasures. From these imperfect ideas +its more intelligent classes very soon freed themselves, +substituting for them others more philosophical, more correct. +Eventually they attained to an accordance with those that have +been pronounced in our own times by the Vatican Council as +orthodox. Thus Al-Gazzali says: "A knowledge of God cannot be +obtained by means of the knowledge a man has of himself, or of +his own soul. The attributes of God cannot be determined from the +attributes of man. His sovereignty and government can neither be +compared nor measured." + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE RESTORATION OF SCIENCE IN THE SOUTH. + +By the influence of the Nestorians and Jews, the Arabians are +turned to the cultivation of Science. --They modify their views +as to the destiny of man, and obtain true conceptions respecting +the structure of the world.--They ascertain the size of the +earth, and determine its shape. --Their khalifs collect great +libraries, patronize every department of science and literature, +establish astronomical observatories.--They develop the +mathematical sciences, invent algebra, and improve geometry and +trigonometry.--They collect and translate the old Greek +mathematical and astronomical works, and adopt the inductive +method of Aristotle.--They establish many colleges, and, with the +aid of the Nestorians, organize a public-school system.--They +introduce the Arabic numerals and arithmetic, and catalogue and +give names to the stars.--They lay the foundation of modern +astronomy, chemistry, and physics, and introduce great +improvements in agriculture and manufactures. + + +"IN the course of my long life," said the Khalif Ali, "I have +often observed that men are more like the times they live in than +they are like their fathers." This profoundly philosophical +remark of the son-in-law of Mohammed is strictly true; for, +though the personal, the bodily lineaments of a man may indicate +his parentage, the constitution of his mind, and therefore the +direction of his thoughts, is determined by the environment in +which he lives. + +When Amrou, the lieutenant of the Khalif Omar, conquered Egypt, +and annexed it to the Saracenic Empire, he found in Alexandria a +Greek grammarian, John surnamed Philoponus, or the Labor-lover. +Presuming on the friendship which had arisen between them, the +Greek solicited as a gift the remnant of the great library-- a +remnant which war and time and bigotry had spared. Amrou, +therefore, sent to the khalif to ascertain his pleasure. "If," +replied the khalif, "the books agree with the Koran, the Word of +God, they are useless, and need not be preserved; if they +disagree with it, they are pernicious. Let them be destroyed." +Accordingly, they were distributed among the baths of Alexandria, +and it is said that six months were barely sufficient to consume +them. + +Although the fact has been denied, there can be little doubt that +Omar gave this order. The khalif was an illiterate man; his +environment was an environment of fanaticism and ignorance. +Omar's act was an illustration of Ali's remark. + +THE ALEXANDRIAN LIBRARY BURNT. But it must not be supposed that +the books which John the Labor-lover coveted were those which +constituted the great library of the Ptolemies, and that of +Eumenes, King of Pergamus. Nearly a thousand years had elapsed +since Philadelphus began his collection. Julius Caesar had burnt +more than half; the Patriarchs of Alexandria had not only +permitted but superintended the dispersion of almost all the +rest. Orosius expressly states that he saw the empty cases or +shelves of the library twenty years after Theophilus, the uncle +of St. Cyril, had procured from the Emperor Theodosius a rescript +for its destruction. Even had this once noble collection never +endured such acts of violence, the mere wear and tear, and +perhaps, I may add, the pilfering of a thousand years, would have +diminished it sadly. Though John, as the surname he received +indicates, might rejoice in a superfluity of occupation, we may +be certain that the care of a library of half a million books +would transcend even his well-tried powers; and the cost of +preserving and supporting it, that had demanded the ample +resources of the Ptolemies and the Caesars, was beyond the means +of a grammarian. Nor is the time required for its combustion or +destruction any indication of the extent of the collection. Of +all articles of fuel, parchment is, perhaps, the most wretched. +Paper and papyrus do excellently well as kindling-materials, but +we may be sure that the bath-men of Alexandria did not resort to +parchment so long as they could find any thing else, and of +parchment a very large portion of these books was composed. + +There can, then, be no more doubt that Omar did order the +destruction of this library, under an impression of its +uselessness or its irreligious tendency, than that the Crusaders +burnt the library of Tripoli, fancifully said to have consisted +of three million volumes. The first apartment entered being found +to contain nothing but the Koran, all the other books were +supposed to be the works of the Arabian impostor, and were +consequently committed to the flames. In both cases the story +contains some truth and much exaggeration. Bigotry, however, has +often distinguished itself by such exploits. The Spaniards burnt +in Mexico vast piles of American picture-writings, an +irretrievable loss; and Cardinal Ximenes delivered to the flames, +in the squares of Granada, eighty thousand Arabic manuscripts, +many of them translations of classical authors. + +We have seen how engineering talent, stimulated by Alexander's +Persian campaign, led to a wonderful development of pure science +under the Ptolemies; a similar effect may be noted as the result +of the Saracenic military operations. + +The friendship contracted by Amrou, the conqueror of Egypt, with +John the Grammarian, indicates how much the Arabian mind was +predisposed to liberal ideas. Its step from the idolatry of the +Caaba to the monotheism of Mohammed prepared it to expatiate in +the wide and pleasing fields of literature and philosophy. There +were two influences to which it was continually exposed. They +conspired in determining its path. These were--1. That of the +Nestorians in Syria; 2. That of the Jews in Egypt. + +INFLUENCE OF THE NESTORIANS AND JEWS. In the last chapter I have +briefly related the persecution of Nestor and his disciples. They +bore testimony to the oneness of God, through many sufferings and +martyrdoms. They utterly repudiated an Olympus filled with gods +and goddesses. "Away from us a queen of heaven!" + +Such being their special views, the Nestorians found no +difficulty in affiliating with their Saracen conquerors, by whom +they were treated not only with the highest respect, but +intrusted with some of the most important offices of the state. +Mohammed, in the strongest manner, prohibited his followers from +committing any injuries against them. Jesuiabbas, their pontiff, +concluded treaties both with the Prophet and with Omar, and +subsequently the Khalif Haroun-al-Raschid placed all his public +schools under the superintendence of John Masue, a Nestorian. + +To the influence of the Nestorians that of the Jews was added. +When Christianity displayed a tendency to unite itself with +paganism, the conversion of the Jews was arrested; it totally +ceased when Trinitarian ideas were introduced. The cities of +Syria and Egypt were full of Jews. In Alexandria alone, at the +time of its capture by Amrou, there were forty thousand who paid +tribute. Centuries of misfortune and persecution had served only +to confirm them in their monotheism, and to strengthen that +implacable hatred of idolatry which they had cherished ever since +the Babylonian captivity. Associated with the Nestorians, they +translated into Syriac many Greek and Latin philosophical works, +which were retranslated into Arabic. While the Nestorian was +occupied with the education of the children of the great +Mohammedan families, the Jew found his way into them in the +character of a physician. + +FATALISM OF THE ARABIANS. Under these influences the ferocious +fanaticism of the Saracens abated, their manners were polished, +their thoughts elevated. They overran the realms of Philosophy +and Science as quickly as they had overrun the provinces of the +Roman Empire. They abandoned the fallacies of vulgar +Mohammedanism, accepting in their stead scientific truth. + +In a world devoted to idolatry, the sword of the Saracen had +vindicated the majesty of God. The doctrine of fatalism, +inculcated by the Koran, had powerfully contributed to that +result. "No man can anticipate or postpone his predetermined end. +Death will overtake us even in lofty towers. From the beginning +God hath settled the place in which each man shall die." In his +figurative language the Arab said: "No man can by flight escape +his fate. The Destinies ride their horses by night. . . . Whether +asleep in bed or in the storm of battle, the angel of death will +find thee." "I am convinced," said Ali, to whose wisdom we have +already referred--"I am convinced that the affairs of men go by +divine decree, and not by our administration." The Mussulmen are +those who submissively resign themselves to the will of God. They +reconciled fate and free-will by saying, "The outline is given +us, we color the picture of life as we will." They said that, if +we would overcome the laws of Nature, we must not resist, we must +balance them against each other. + +This dark doctrine prepared its devotees for the accomplishment +of great things--things such as the Saracens did accomplish. It +converted despair into resignation, and taught men to disdain +hope. There was a proverb among them that "Despair is a freeman, +Hope is a slave." + +But many of the incidents of war showed plainly that medicines +may assuage pain, that skill may close wounds, that those who are +incontestably dying may be snatched from the grave. The Jewish +physician became a living, an accepted protest against the +fatalism of the Koran. By degrees the sternness of predestination +was mitigated, and it was admitted that in individual life there +is an effect due to free-will; that by his voluntary acts man may +within certain limits determine his own course. But, so far as +nations are concerned, since they can yield no personal +accountability to God, they are placed under the control of +immutable law. + +In this respect the contrast between the Christian and the +Mohammedan nations was very striking: The Christian was convinced +of incessant providential interventions; he believed that there +was no such thing as law in the government of the world. By +prayers and entreaties he might prevail with God to change the +current of affairs, or, if that failed, he might succeed with +Christ, or perhaps with the Virgin Mary, or through the +intercession of the saints, or by the influence of their relics +or bones. If his own supplications were unavailing, he might +obtain his desire through the intervention of his priest, or +through that of the holy men of the Church, and especially if +oblations or gifts of money were added. Christendom believed that +she could change the course of affairs by influencing the conduct +of superior beings. Islam rested in a pious resignation to the +unchangeable will of God. The prayer of the Christian was mainly +an earnest intercession for benefits hoped for, that of the +Saracen a devout expression of gratitude for the past. Both +substituted prayer for the ecstatic meditation of India. To the +Christian the progress of the world was an exhibition of +disconnected impulses, of sudden surprises. To the Mohammedan +that progress presented a very different aspect. Every corporeal +motion was due to some preceding motion; every thought to some +preceding thought; every historical event was the offspring of +some preceding event; every human action was the result of some +foregone and accomplished action. In the long annals of our race, +nothing has ever been abruptly introduced. There has been an +orderly, an inevitable sequence from event to event. There is an +iron chain of destiny, of which the links are facts; each stands +in its preordained place--not one has ever been disturbed, not +one has ever been removed. Every man came into the world without +his own knowledge, he is to depart from it perhaps against his +own wishes. Then let him calmly fold his hands, and expect the +issues of fate. + +Coincidently with this change of opinion as to the government of +individual life, there came a change as respects the mechanical +construction of the world. According to the Koran, the earth is a +square plane, edged with vast mountains, which serve the double +purpose of balancing it in its seat, and of sustaining the dome +of the sky. Our devout admiration of the power and wisdom of God +should be excited by the spectacle of this vast crystalline +brittle expanse, which has been safely set in its position +without so much as a crack or any other injury. Above the sky, +and resting on it, is heaven, built in seven stories, the +uppermost being the habitation of God, who, under the form of a +gigantic man, sits on a throne, having on either side winged +bulls, like those in the palaces of old Assyrian kings. + +THEY MEASURE THE EARTH. These ideas, which indeed are not +peculiar to Mohammedanism, but are entertained by all men in a +certain stage of their intellectual development as religious +revelations, were very quickly exchanged by the more advanced +Mohammedans for others scientifically correct. Yet, as has been +the case in Christian countries, the advance was not made without +resistance on the part of the defenders of revealed truth. Thus +when Al-Mamun, having become acquainted with the globular form of +the earth, gave orders to his mathematicians and astronomers to +measure a degree of a great circle upon it, Takyuddin, one of the +most celebrated doctors of divinity of that time, denounced the +wicked khalif, declaring that God would assuredly punish him for +presumptuously interrupting the devotions of the faithful by +encouraging and diffusing a false and atheistical philosophy +among them. Al-Mamun, however, persisted. On the shores of the +Red Sea, in the plains of Shinar, by the aid of an astrolabe, the +elevation of the pole above the horizon was determined at two +stations on the same meridian, exactly one degree apart. The +distance between the two stations was then measured, and found to +be two hundred thousand Hashemite cubits; this gave for the +entire circumference of the earth about twenty-four thousand of +our miles, a determination not far from the truth. But, since the +spherical form could not be positively asserted from one such +measurement, the khalif caused another to be made near Cufa in +Mesopotamia. His astronomers divided themselves into two parties, +and, starting from a given point, each party measured an arc of +one degree, the one northward, the other southward. Their result +is given in cubits. If the cubit employed was that known as the +royal cubit, the length of a degree was ascertained within +one-third of a mile of its true value. From these measures the +khalif concluded that the globular form was established. + +THEIR PASSION FOR SCIENCE. It is remarkable how quickly the +ferocious fanaticism of the Saracens was transformed into a +passion for intellectual pursuits. At first the Koran was an +obstacle to literature and science. Mohammed had extolled it as +the grandest of all compositions, and had adduced its +unapproachable excellence as a proof of his divine mission. But, +in little more than twenty years after his death, the experience +that had been acquired in Syria, Persia, Asia Minor, Egypt, had +produced a striking effect, and Ali the khalif reigning at that +time, avowedly encouraged all kinds of literary pursuits. +Moawyah, the founder of the Ommiade dynasty, who followed in 661, +revolutionized the government. It had been elective, he made it +hereditary. He removed its seat from Medina to a more central +position at Damascus, and entered on a career of luxury and +magnificence. He broke the bonds of a stern fanaticism, and put +himself forth as a cultivator and patron of letters. Thirty years +had wrought a wonderful change. A Persian satrap who had occasion +to pay homage to Omar, the second khalif, found him asleep among +the beggars on the steps of the Mosque of Medina; but foreign +envoys who had occasion to seek Moawyah, the sixth khalif, were +presented to him in a magnificent palace, decorated with +exquisite arabesques, and adorned with flower-gardens and +fountains. + +THEIR LITERATURE. In less than a century after the death of +Mohammed, translations of the chief Greek philosophical authors +had been made into Arabic; poems such as the "Iliad" and the +"Odyssey," being considered to have an irreligious tendency from +their mythological allusions, were rendered into Syriac, to +gratify the curiosity of the learned. Almansor, during his +khalifate (A.D. 753-775), transferred the seat of government to +Bagdad, which he converted into a splendid metropolis; he gave +much of his time to the study and promotion of astronomy, and +established schools of medicine and law. His grandson, +Haroun-al-Raschid (A.D. 786), followed his example, and ordered +that to every mosque in his dominions a school should be +attached. But the Augustan age of Asiatic learning was during the +khalifate of Al-Mamun (A.D. 813-832). He made Bagdad the centre +of science, collected great libraries, and surrounded himself +with learned men. + +The elevated taste thus cultivated continued after the division +of the Saracen Empire by internal dissensions into three parts. +The Abasside dynasty in Asia, the Fatimite in Egypt, and the +Ommiade in Spain, became rivals not merely in politics, but also +in letters and science. + +THEY ORIGINATE CHEMISTRY. In letters the Saracens embraced every +topic that can amuse or edify the mind. In later times, it was +their boast that they had produced more poets than all other +nations combined. In science their great merit consists in this, +that they cultivated it after the manner of the Alexandrian +Greeks, not after the manner of the European Greeks. They +perceived that it can never be advanced by mere speculation; its +only sure progress is by the practical interrogation of Nature. +The essential characteristics of their method are experiment and +observation. Geometry and the mathematical sciences they looked +upon as instruments of reasoning. In their numerous writings on +mechanics, hydrostatics, optics, it is interesting to remark that +the solution of a problem is always obtained by performing an +experiment, or by an instrumental observation. It was this that +made them the originators of chemistry, that led them to the +invention of all kinds of apparatus for distillation, +sublimation, fusion, filtration, etc.; that in astronomy caused +them to appeal to divided instruments, as quadrants and +astrolabes; in chemistry, to employ the balance, the theory of +which they were perfectly familiar with; to construct tables of +specific gravities and astronomical tables, as those of Bagdad, +Spain, Samarcand; that produced their great improvements in +geometry, trigonometry, the invention of algebra, and the +adoption of the Indian numeration in arithmetic. Such were the +results of their preference of the inductive method of Aristotle, +their declining the reveries of Plato. + +THEIR GREAT LIBRARIES. For the establishment and extension of the +public libraries, books were sedulously collected. Thus the +khalif Al-Mamun is reported to have brought into Bagdad hundreds +of camel-loads of manuscripts. In a treaty he made with the Greek +emperor, Michael III., he stipulated that one of the +Constantinople libraries should be given up to him. Among the +treasures he thus acquired was the treatise of Ptolemy on the +mathematical construction of the heavens. He had it forthwith +translated into Arabic, under the title of "Al-magest." The +collections thus acquired sometimes became very large; thus the +Fatimite Library at Cairo contained one hundred thousand volumes, +elegantly transcribed and bound. Among these, there were six +thousand five hundred manuscripts on astronomy and medicine +alone. The rules of this library permitted the lending out of +books to students resident at Cairo. It also contained two +globes, one of massive silver and one of brass; the latter was +said to have been constructed by Ptolemy, the former cost three +thousand golden crowns. The great library of the Spanish khalifs +eventually numbered six hundred thousand volumes; its catalogue +alone occupied forty-four. Besides this, there were seventy +public libraries in Andalusia. The collections in the possession +of individuals were sometimes very extensive. A private doctor +refused the invitation of a Sultan of Bokhara because the +carriage of his books would have required four hundred camels. + +There was in every great library a department for the copying or +manufacture of translations. Such manufactures were also often an +affair of private enterprise. Honian, a Nestorian physician, had +an establishment of the kind at Bagdad (A.D. 850). He issued +versions of Aristotle, Plato, Hippocrates, Galen, etc. As to +original works, it was the custom of the authorities of colleges +to require their professors to prepare treatises on prescribed +topics. Every khalif had his own historian. Books of romances and +tales, such as "The Thousand and One Arabian Nights' +Entertainments," bear testimony to the creative fancy of the +Saracens. Besides these, there were works on all kinds of +subjects--history, jurisprudence, politics, philosophy, +biographies not only of illustrious men, but also of celebrated +horses and camels. These were issued without any censorship or +restraint, though, in later times, works on theology required a +license for publication. Books of reference abounded, +geographical, statistical, medical, historical dictionaries, and +even abridgments or condensations of them, as the "Encyclopedic +Dictionary of all the Sciences, by Mohammed Abu Abdallah. Much +pride was taken in the purity and whiteness of the paper, in the +skillful intermixture of variously-colored inks, and in the +illumination of titles by gilding and other adornments. + +The Saracen Empire was dotted all over with colleges. They were +established in Mongolia, Tartary, Persia, Mesopotamia, Syria, +Egypt, North Africa, Morocco, Fez, Spain. At one extremity of +this vast region, which far exceeded the Roman Empire in +geographical extent, were the college and astronomical +observatory of Samarcand, at the other the Giralda in Spain. +Gibbon, referring to this patronage of learning, says: "The same +royal prerogative was claimed by the independent emirs of the +provinces, and their emulation diffused the taste and the rewards +of science from Samarcand and Bokhara to Fez and Cordova. The +vizier of a sultan consecrated a sum of two hundred thousand +pieces of gold to the foundation of a college at Bagdad, which he +endowed with an annual revenue of fifteen thousand dinars. The +fruits of instruction were communicated, perhaps, at different +times, to six thousand disciples of every degree, from the son of +the noble to that of the mechanic; a sufficient allowance was +provided for the indigent scholars, and the merit or industry of +the professors was repaid with adequate stipends. In every city +the productions of Arabic literature were copied and collected, +by the curiosity of the studious and the vanity of the rich." The +superintendence of these schools was committed with noble +liberality sometimes to Nestorians, sometimes to Jews. It +mattered not in what country a man was born, nor what were his +religious opinions; his attainment in learning was the only thing +to be considered. The great Khalif Al-Mamun had declared that +"they are the elect of God, his best and most useful servants, +whose lives are devoted to the improvement of their rational +faculties; that the teachers of wisdom are the true luminaries +and legislators of this world, which, without their aid, would +again sink into ignorance and barbarism." + +After the example of the medical college of Cairo, other medical +colleges required their students to pass a rigid examination. The +candidate then received authority to enter on the practice of his +profession. The first medical college established in Europe was +that founded by the Saracens at Salerno, in Italy. The first +astronomical observatory was that erected by them at Seville, in +Spain. + +THE ARABIAN SCIENTIFIC MOVEMENT. It would far transcend the +limits of this book to give an adequate statement of the results +of this imposing scientific movement. The ancient sciences were +greatly extended--new ones were brought into existence. The +Indian method of arithmetic was introduced, a beautiful +invention, which expresses all numbers by ten characters, giving +them an absolute value, and a value by position, and furnishing +simple rules for the easy performance of all kinds of +calculations. Algebra, or universal arithmetic--the method of +calculating indeterminate quantities, or investigating the +relations that subsist among quantities of all kinds, whether +arithmetical or geometrical--was developed from the germ that +Diophantus had left. Mohammed Ben Musa furnished the solution of +quadratic equations, Omar Ben Ibra him that of cubic equations. +The Saracens also gave to trigonometry its modern form, +substituting sines for chords, which had been previously used; +they elevated it into a separate science. Musa, above mentioned, +was the author of a "Treatise on Spherical Trigonometry." +Al-Baghadadi left one on land-surveying, so excellent, that by +some it has been declared to be a copy of Euclid's lost work on +that subject. + +ARABIAN ASTRONOMY. In astronomy, they not only made catalogues, +but maps of the stars visible in their skies, giving to those of +the larger magnitudes the Arabic names they still bear on our +celestial globes. They ascertained, as we have seen, the size of +the earth by the measurement of a degree on her surface, +determined the obliquity of the ecliptic, published corrected +tables of the sun and moon fixed the length of the year, verified +the precession of the equinoxes. The treatise of Albategnius on +"The Science of the Stars" is spoken of by Laplace with respect; +he also draws attention to an important fragment of Ibn-Junis, +the astronomer of Hakem, the Khalif of Egypt, A.D. 1000, as +containing a long series of observations from the time of +Almansor, of eclipses, equinoxes, solstices, conjunctions of +planets, occultations of stars--observations which have cast much +light on the great variations of the system of the world. The +Arabian astronomers also devoted themselves to the construction +and perfection of astronomical instruments, to the measurement of +time by clocks of various kinds, by clepsydras and sun-dials. +They were the first to introduce, for this purpose, the use of +the pendulum. + +In the experimental sciences, they originated chemistry; they +discovered some of its most important reagents-- sulphuric acid, +nitric acid, alcohol. They applied that science in the practice +of medicine, being the first to publish pharmacopoeias or +dispensatories, and to include in them mineral preparations. In +mechanics, they had determined the laws of falling bodies, had +ideas, by no means indistinct, of the nature of gravity; they +were familiar with the theory of the mechanical powers. In +hydrostatics they constructed the first tables of the specific +gravities of bodies, and wrote treatises on the flotation and +sinking of bodies in water. In optics, they corrected the Greek +misconception, that a ray proceeds from the eye, and touches the +object seen, introducing the hypothesis that the ray passes from +the object to the eye. They understood the phenomena of the +reflection and refraction of light. Alhazen made the great +discovery of the curvilinear path of a ray of light through the +atmosphere, and proved that we see the sun and moon before they +have risen, and after they have set. + +AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. The effects of this scientific +activity are plainly perceived in the great improvements that +took place in many of the industrial arts. Agriculture shows it +in better methods of irrigation, the skillful employment of +manures, the raising of improved breeds of cattle, the enactment +of wise codes of rural laws, the introduction of the culture of +rice, and that of sugar and coffee. The manufactures show it in +the great extension of the industries of silk, cotton, wool; in +the fabrication of cordova and morocco leather, and paper; in +mining, casting, and various metallurgic operations; in the +making of Toledo blades. + +Passionate lovers of poetry and music, they dedicated much of +their leisure time to those elegant pursuits. They taught Europe +the game of chess; they gave it its taste for works of +fiction--romances and novels. In the graver domains of literature +they took delight: they had many admirable compositions on such +subjects as the instability of human greatness; the consequences +of irreligion; the reverses of fortune; the origin, duration, and +end of the world. Sometimes, not without surprise, we meet with +ideas which we flatter ourselves have originated in our own +times. Thus our modern doctrines of evolution and development +were taught in their schools. In fact, they carried them much +farther than we are disposed to do, extending them even to +inorganic or mineral things. The fundamental principle of alchemy +was the natural process of development of metalline bodies. "When +common people," says Al- Khazini, writing in the twelfth century, +"hear from natural philosophers that gold is a body which has +attained to perfection of maturity, to the goal of completeness, +they firmly believe that it is something which has gradually come +to that perfection by passing through the forms of all other +metallic bodies, so that its gold nature was originally lead, +afterward it became tin, then brass, then silver, and finally +reached the development of gold; not knowing that the natural +philosophers mean, in saying this, only something like what they +mean when they speak of man, and attribute to him a completeness +and equilibrium in nature and constitution--not that man was once +a bull, and was changed into an ass, and afterward into a horse, +and after that into an ape, and finally became a man." + + + +CHAPTER V. + +CONFLICT RESPECTING THE NATURE OF THE SOUL.-- DOCTRINE OF +EMANATION AND ABSORPTION. + +European ideas respecting the soul.--It resembles the form of the +body. + +Philosophical views of the Orientals.--The Vedic theology and +Buddhism assert the doctrine of emanation and absorption.--It is +advocated by Aristotle, who is followed by the Alexandrian +school, and subsequently by the Jews and Arabians.--It is found +in the writings of Erigena. + +Connection of this doctrine with the theory of conservation and +correlation of force.--Parallel between the origin and destiny of +the body and the soul.--The necessity of founding human on +comparative psychology. + +Averroism, which is based on these facts, is brought into +Christendom through Spain and Sicily. + +History of the repression of Averroism.--Revolt of Islam against +it.--Antagonism of the Jewish synagogues.--Its destruction +undertaken by the papacy.--Institution of the Inquisition in +Spain.--Frightful persecutions and their results.--Expulsion of +the Jews and Moors.--Overthrow of Averroism in Europe.--Decisive +action of the late Vatican Council. + + +THE pagan Greeks and Romans believed that the spirit of man +resembles his bodily form, varying its appearance with his +variations, and growing with his growth. Heroes, to whom it had +been permitted to descend into Hades, had therefore without +difficulty recognized their former friends. Not only had the +corporeal aspect been retained, but even the customary raiment. + +THE SOUL. The primitive Christians, whose conceptions of a future +life and of heaven and hell, the abodes of the blessed and the +sinful, were far more vivid than those of their pagan +predecessors, accepted and intensified these ancient ideas. They +did not doubt that in the world to come they should meet their +friends, and hold converse with them, as they had done here upon +earth --an expectation that gives consolation to the human heart, +reconciling it to the most sorrowful bereavements, and restoring +to it its dead. + +In the uncertainty as to what becomes of the soul in the interval +between its separation from the body and the judgment-day, many +different opinions were held. Some thought that it hovered over +the grave, some that it wandered disconsolate through the air. In +the popular belief, St. Peter sat as a door-keeper at the gate of +heaven. To him it had been given to bind or to loose. He admitted +or excluded the Spirits of men at his pleasure. Many persons, +however, were disposed to deny him this power, since his +decisions would be anticipatory of the judgment-day, which would +thus be rendered needless. After the time of Gregory the Great, +the doctrine of purgatory met with general acceptance. A +resting-place was provided for departed spirits. + +That the spirits of the dead occasionally revisit the living, or +haunt their former abodes, has been in all ages, in all European +countries, a fixed belief, not confined to rustics, but +participated in by the intelligent. A pleasing terror gathers +round the winter's-evening fireside at the stories of +apparitions, goblins, ghosts. In the old times the Romans had +their lares, or spirits of those who had led virtuous lives; +their larvae or lemures, the spirits of the wicked; their manes, +the spirits of those of whom the merits were doubtful. If human +testimony on such subjects can be of any value, there is a body +of evidence reaching from the remotest ages to the present time, +as extensive and unimpeachable as is to be found in support of +any thing whatever, that these shades of the dead congregate near +tombstones, or take up their secret abode in the gloomy chambers +of dilapidated castles, or walk by moonlight in moody solitude. + +ASIATIC PSYCHOLOGICAL VIEWS. While these opinions have +universally found popular acceptance in Europe, others of a very +different nature have prevailed extensively in Asia, and indeed +very generally in the higher regions of thought. Ecclesiastical +authority succeeded in repressing them in the sixteenth century, +but they never altogether disappeared. In our own times so +silently and extensively have they been diffused in Europe, that +it was found expedient in the papal Syllabus to draw them in a +very conspicuous manner into the open light; and the Vatican +Council, agreeing in that view of their obnoxious tendency and +secret spread, has in an equally prominent and signal manner +among its first canons anathematized all persons who hold them. +"Let him be anathema who says that spiritual things are +emanations of the divine substance, or that the divine essence by +manifestation or development becomes all things." In view of this +authoritative action, it is necessary now to consider the +character and history of these opinions. + +Ideas respecting the nature of God necessarily influence ideas +respecting the nature of the soul. The eastern Asiatics had +adopted the conception of an impersonal God, and, as regards the +soul, its necessary consequence, the doctrine of emanation and +absorption. + +EMANATION AND ABSORPTION. Thus the Vedic theology is based on the +acknowledgment of a universal spirit pervading all things. "There +is in truth but one Deity, the supreme Spirit; he is of the same +nature as the soul of man." Both the Vedas and the Institutes of +Menu affirm that the soul is an emanation of the all-pervading +Intellect, and that it is necessarily destined to be reabsorbed. +They consider it to be without form, and that visible Nature, +with all its beauties and harmonies, is only the shadow of God. + +Vedaism developed itself into Buddhism, which has become the +faith of a majority of the human race. This system acknowledges +that there is a supreme Power, but denies that there is a supreme +Being. It contemplates the existence of Force, giving rise as its +manifestation to matter. It adopts the theory of emanation and +absorption. In a burning taper it sees an effigy of man--an +embodiment of matter, and an evolution of force. If we +interrogate it respecting the destiny of the soul, it demands of +us what has become of the flame when it is blown out, and in what +condition it was before the taper was lighted. Was it a +nonentity? Has it been annihilated? It admits that the idea of +personality which has deluded us through life may not be +instantaneously extinguished at death, but may be lost by slow +degrees. On this is founded the doctrine of transmigration. But +at length reunion with the universal Intellect takes place, +Nirwana is reached, oblivion is attained, a state that has no +relation to matter, space, or time, the state into which the +departed flame of the extinguished taper has gone, the state in +which we were before we were born. This is the end that we ought +to hope for; it is reabsorption in the universal Force-- supreme +bliss, eternal rest. + +Through Aristotle these doctrines were first introduced into +Eastern Europe; indeed, eventually, as we shall see, he was +regarded as the author of them. They exerted a dominating +influence in the later period of the Alexandrian school. Philo, +the Jew, who lived in the time of Caligula, based his philosophy +on the theory of emanation. Plotinus not only accepted that +theory as applicable to the soul of man, but as affording an +illustration of the nature of the Trinity. For, as a beam of +light emanates from the sun, and as warmth emanates from the beam +when it touches material bodies, so from the Father the Son +emanates, and thence the Holy Ghost. From these views Plotinus +derived a practical religious system, teaching the devout how to +pass into a condition of ecstasy, a foretaste of absorption into +the universal mundane soul. In that condition the soul loses its +individual consciousness. In like manner Porphyry sought +absorption in or union with God. He was a Tyrian by birth, +established a school at Rome, and wrote against Christianity; his +treatise on that subject was answered by Eusebius and St. Jerome, +but the Emperor Theodosius silenced it more effectually by +causing all the copies to be burnt. Porphyry bewails his own +unworthiness, saying that he had been united to God in ecstasy +but once in eighty-six years, whereas his master Plotinus had +been so united six times in sixty years. A complete system of +theology, based on the theory of emanation, was constructed by +Proclus, who speculated on the manner in which absorption takes +place: whether the soul is instantly reabsorbed and reunited in +the moment of death, or whether it retains the sentiment of +personality for a time, and subsides into complete reunion by +successive steps. + +ARABIC PSYCHOLOGY. From the Alexandrian Greeks these ideas passed +to the Saracen philosophers, who very soon after the capture of +the great Egyptian city abandoned to the lower orders their +anthropomorphic notions of the nature of God and the simulachral +form of the spirit of man. As Arabism developed itself into a +distinct scientific system, the theories of emanation and +absorption were among its characteristic features. In this +abandonment of vulgar Mohammedanism, the example of the Jews +greatly assisted. They, too, had given up the anthropomorphism of +their ancestors; they had exchanged the God who of old lived +behind the veil of the temple for an infinite Intelligence +pervading the universe, and, avowing their inability to conceive +that any thing which had on a sudden been called into existence +should be capable of immortality, they affirmed that the soul of +man is connected with a past of which there was no beginning,, +and with a future to which there is no end. + +In the intellectual history of Arabism the Jew and the Saracen +are continually seen together. It was the same in their political +history, whether we consider it in Syria, in Egypt, or in Spain. +From them conjointly Western Europe derived its philosophical +ideas, which in the course of time culminated in Averroism; +Averroism is philosophical Islamism. Europeans generally regarded +Averroes as the author of these heresies, and the orthodox +branded him accordingly, but he was nothing more than their +collector and commentator. His works invaded Christendom by two +routes: from Spain through Southern France they reached Upper +Italy, engendering numerous heresies on their way; from Sicily +they passed to Naples and South Italy, under the auspices of +Frederick II. + +But, long before Europe suffered this great intellectual +invasion, there were what might, perhaps, be termed sporadic +instances of Orientalism. As an example I may quote the views of +John Erigena (A.D. 800) He had adopted and taught the philosophy +of Aristotle had made a pilgrimage to the birthplace of that +philosopher, and indulged a hope of uniting philosophy and +religion in the manner proposed by the Christian ecclesiastics +who were then studying in the Mohammedan universities of Spain. +He was a native of Britain. + +In a letter to Charles the Bald, Anastasius expresses his +astonishment "how such a barbarian man, coming from the very ends +of the earth, and remote from human conversation, could +comprehend things so clearly, and transfer them into another +language so well." The general intention of his writings was, as +we have said, to unite philosophy with religion, but his +treatment of these subjects brought him under ecclesiastical +censure, and some of his works were adjudged to the flames. His +most important book is entitled "De Divisione Nature." + +Erigena's philosophy rests upon the observed and admitted fact +that every living thing comes from something that had previously +lived. The visible world, being a world of life, has therefore +emanated necessarily from some primordial existence, and that +existence is God, who is thus the originator and conservator of +all. Whatever we see maintains itself as a visible thing through +force derived from him, and, were that force withdrawn, it must +necessarily disappear. Erigena thus conceives of the Deity as an +unceasing participator in Nature, being its preserver, +maintainer, upholder, and in that respect answering to the soul +of the world of the Greeks. The particular life of individuals is +therefore a part of general existence, that is, of the mundane +soul. + +If ever there were a withdrawal of the maintaining power, all +things must return to the source from which they issued--that is, +they must return to God, and be absorbed in him. All visible +Nature must thus pass back into "the Intellect" at last. "The +death of the flesh is the auspices of the restitution of things, +and of a return to their ancient conservation. So sounds revert +back to the air in which they were born, and by which they were +maintained, and they are heard no more; no man knows what has +become of them. In that final absorption which, after a lapse of +time, must necessarily come, God will be all in all, and nothing +exist but him alone." "I contemplate him as the beginning and +cause of all things; all things that are and those that have +been, but now are not, were created from him, and by him, and in +him. I also view him as the end and intransgressible term of all +things. . . . There is a fourfold conception of universal +Nature--two views of divine Nature, as origin and end; two also +of framed Nature, causes and effects. There is nothing eternal +but God." + +The return of the soul to the universal Intellect is designated +by Erigena as Theosis, or Deification. In that final absorption +all remembrance of its past experiences is lost. The soul reverts +to the condition in which it was before it animated the body. +Necessarily, therefore, Erigena fell under the displeasure of the +Church. + +It was in India that men first recognized the fact that force is +indestructible and eternal. This implies ideas more or less +distinct of that which we now term its "correlation and +conservation." Considerations connected with the stability of the +universe give strength to this view, since it is clear that, were +there either an increase or a diminution, the order of the world +must cease. The definite and invariable amount of energy in the +universe must therefore be accepted as a scientific fact. The +changes we witness are in its distribution. + +But, since the soul must be regarded as an active principle, to +call a new one into existence out of nothing is necessarily to +add to the force previously in the world. And, if this has been +done in the case of every individual who has been born, and is to +be repeated for every individual hereafter, the totality of force +must be continually increasing. + +Moreover, to many devout persons there is something very +revolting in the suggestion that the Almighty is a servitor to +the caprices and lusts of man, and that, at a certain term after +its origin, it is necessary for him to create for the embryo a +soul. + +Considering man as composed of two portions, a soul and a body, +the obvious relations of the latter may cast much light on the +mysterious, the obscure relations of the former. Now, the +substance of which the body consists is obtained from the general +mass of matter around us, and after death to that general mass it +is restored. Has Nature, then, displayed before our eyes in the +origin, mutations, and destiny of the material part, the body, a +revelation that may guide us to a knowledge of the origin and +destiny of the companion, the spiritual part, the soul? + +Let us listen for a moment to one of the most powerful of +Mohammedan writers: + +"God has created the spirit of man out of a drop of his own +light; its destiny is to return to him. Do not deceive yourself +with the vain imagination that it will die when the body dies. +The form you had on your entrance into this world, and your +present form, are not the same; hence there is no necessity of +your perishing, on account of the perishing of your body. Your +spirit came into this world a stranger, it is only sojourning, in +a temporary home. From the trials and tempests of this +troublesome life, our refuge is in God. In reunion with him we +shall find eternal rest--a rest without sorrow, a joy without +pain, a strength without infirmity, a knowledge without doubt, a +tranquil and yet an ecstatic vision of the source of life and +light and glory, the source from which we came." So says the +Saracen philosopher, Al-Gazzali (A.D. 1010). + +In a stone the material particles are in a state of stable +equilibrium; it may, therefore, endure forever. An animal is in +reality only a form through which a stream of matter is +incessantly flowing. It receives its supplies, and dismisses its +wastes. In this it resembles a cataract, a river, a flame. The +particles that compose it at one instant have departed from it +the next. It depends for its continuance on exterior supplies. It +has a definite duration in time, and an inevitable moment comes +in which it must die. + +In the great problem of psychology we cannot expect to reach a +scientific result, if we persist in restricting ourselves to the +contemplation of one fact. We must avail ourselves of all +accessible facts. Human psychology can never be completely +resolved except through comparative psychology. With Descartes, +we must inquire whether the souls of animals be relations of the +human soul, less perfect members in the same series of +development. We must take account of what we discover in the +intelligent principle of the ant, as well as what we discern in +the intelligent principle of man. Where would human physiology +be, if it were not illuminated by the bright irradiations of +comparative physiology? + +Brodie, after an exhaustive consideration of the facts, affirms +that the mind of animals is essentially the same as that of man. +Every one familiar with the dog will admit that that creature +knows right from wrong, and is conscious when he has committed a +fault. Many domestic animals have reasoning powers, and employ +proper means for the attainment of ends. How numerous are the +anecdotes related of the intentional actions of the elephant and +the ape! Nor is this apparent intelligence due to imitation, to +their association with man, for wild animals that have no such +relation exhibit similar properties. In different species, the +capacity and character greatly vary. Thus the dog is not only +more intelligent, but has social and moral qualities that the cat +does not possess; the former loves his master, the latter her +home. + +Du Bois-Reymond makes this striking remark: "With awe and wonder +must the student of Nature regard that microscopic molecule of +nervous substance which is the seat of the laborious, +constructive, orderly, loyal, dauntless soul of the ant. It has +developed itself to its present state through a countless series +of generations." What an impressive inference we may draw from +the statement of Huber, who has written so well on this subject: +"If you will watch a single ant at work, you can tell what he +will next do!" He is considering the matter, and reasoning as you +are doing. Listen to one of the many anecdotes which Huber, at +once truthful and artless, relates: "On the visit of an overseer +ant to the works, when the laborers had begun the roof too soon, +he examined it and had it taken down, the wall raised to the +proper height, and a new ceiling constructed with the fragments +of the old one." Surely these insects are not automata, they show +intention. They recognize their old companions, who have been +shut up from them for many months, and exhibit sentiments of joy +at their return. Their antennal language is capable of manifold +expression; it suits the interior of the nest, where all is dark. + +While solitary insects do not live to raise their young, social +insects have a longer term, they exhibit moral affections and +educate their offspring. Patterns of patience and industry, some +of these insignificant creatures will work sixteen or eighteen +hours a day. Few men are capable of sustained mental application +more than four or five hours. + +Similarity of effects indicates similarity of causes; similarity +of actions demands similarity of organs. I would ask the reader +of these paragraphs, who is familiar with the habits of animals, +and especially with the social relations of that wonderful insect +to which reference has been made, to turn to the nineteenth +chapter of my work on the "Intellectual Development of Europe," +in which he will find a description of the social system of the +Incas of Peru. Perhaps, then, in view of the similarity of the +social institutions and personal conduct of the insect, and the +social institutions and personal conduct of the civilized +Indian--the one an insignificant speck, the other a man--he will +not be disposed to disagree with me in the opinion that "from +bees, and wasps, and ants, and birds, from all that low animal +life on which he looks with supercilious contempt, man is +destined one day to learn what in truth he really is." + +The views of Descartes, who regarded all insects as automata, can +scarcely be accepted without modification. Insects are automata +only so far as the action of their ventral cord, and that portion +of their cephalic ganglia which deals with contemporaneous +impressions, is concerned. + +It is one of the functions of vesicular-nervous material to +retain traces or relics of impressions brought to it by the +organs of sense; hence, nervous ganglia, being composed of that +material, may be considered as registering apparatus. They also +introduce the element of time into the action of the nervous +mechanism. An impression, which without them might have forthwith +ended in reflex action, is delayed, and with this duration come +all those important effects arising through the interaction of +many impressions, old and new, upon each other. + +There is no such thing as a spontaneous, or self- originated, +thought. Every intellectual act is the consequence of some +preceding act. It comes into existence in virtue of something +that has gone before. Two minds constituted precisely alike, and +placed under the influence of precisely the same environment, +must give rise to precisely the same thought. To such sameness of +action we allude in the popular expression "common- sense"--a +term full of meaning. In the origination of a thought there are +two distinct conditions: the state of the organism as dependent +on antecedent impressions, and on the existing physical +circumstances. + +In the cephalic ganglia of insects are stored up the relics of +impressions that have been made upon the common peripheral +nerves, and in them are kept those which are brought in by the +organs of special sense-- the visual, olfactive, auditory. The +interaction of these raises insects above mere mechanical +automata, in which the reaction instantly follows the impression. + +In all cases the action of every nerve-centre, no matter what its +stage of development may be, high or low, depends upon an +essential chemical condition--oxidation. Even in man, if the +supply of arterial blood be stopped but for a moment, the +nerve-mechanism loses its power; if diminished, it +correspondingly declines; if, on the contrary, it be +increased--as when nitrogen monoxide is breathed--there is more +energetic action. Hence there arises a need of repair, a +necessity for rest and sleep. + +Two fundamental ideas are essentially attached to all our +perceptions of external things: they are SPACE and TIME, and for +these provision is made in the nervous mechanism while it is yet +in an almost rudimentary state. The eye is the organ of space, +the ear of time; the perceptions of which by the elaborate +mechanism of these structures become infinitely more precise than +would be possible if the sense of touch alone were resorted to. + +There are some simple experiments which illustrate the vestiges +of ganglionic impressions. If on a cold, polished metal, as a new +razor, any object, such as a wafer, be laid, and the metal be +then breathed upon, and, when the moisture has had time to +disappear, the wafer be thrown off, though now the most critical +inspection of the polished surface can discover no trace of any +form, if we breathe once more upon it, a spectral image of the +wafer comes plainly into view; and this may be done again and +again. Nay, more, if the polished metal be carefully put aside +where nothing can deteriorate its surface, and be so kept for +many months, on breathing again upon it the shadowy form emerges. + +Such an illustration shows how trivial an impression may be thus +registered and preserved. But, if, on such an inorganic surface, +an impression may thus be indelibly marked, how much more likely +in the purposely- constructed ganglion! A shadow never falls upon +a wall without leaving thereupon a permanent trace, a trace which +might be made visible by resorting to proper processes. +Photographic operations are cases in point. The portraits of our +friends, or landscape views, may be hidden on the sensitive. +surface from the eye, but they are ready to make their appearance +as soon as proper developers are resorted to. A spectre is +concealed on a silver or glassy surface until, by our necromancy, +we make it come forth into the visible world. Upon the walls of +our most private apartments, where we think the eye of intrusion +is altogether shut out and our retirement can never be profaned, +there exist the vestiges of all our acts, silhouettes of whatever +we have done. + +If, after the eyelids have been closed for some time, as when we +first awake in the morning, we suddenly and steadfastly gaze at a +brightly-illuminated object and then quickly close the lids +again, a phantom image is perceived in the indefinite darkness +beyond us. We may satisfy ourselves that this is not a fiction, +but a reality, for many details that we had not time to identify +in the momentary glance may be contemplated at our leisure in the +phantom. We may thus make out the pattern of such an object as a +lace curtain hanging in the window, or the branches of a tree +beyond. By degrees the image becomes less and less distinct; in a +minute or two it has disappeared. It seems to have a tendency to +float away in the vacancy before us. If we attempt to follow it +by moving the eyeball, it suddenly vanishes. + +Such a duration of impressions on the retina proves that the +effect of external influences on nerve-vesicles is not +necessarily transitory. In this there is a correspondence to the +duration, the emergence, the extinction, of impressions on +photographic preparations. Thus, I have seen landscapes and +architectural views taken in Mexico developed, as artists say, +months subsequently in New York--the images coming out, after the +long voyage, in all their proper forms and in all their proper +contrast of light and shade. The photograph had forgotten +nothing. It had equally preserved the contour of the everlasting +mountains and the passing smoke of a bandit-fire. + +Are there, then, contained in the brain more permanently, as in +the retina more transiently, the vestiges of impressions that +have been gathered by the sensory organs? Is this the explanation +of memory--the Mind contemplating such pictures of past things +and events as have been committed to her custody. In her silent +galleries are there hung micrographs of the living and the dead, +of scenes that we have visited, of incidents in which we have +borne a part? Are these abiding impressions mere signal-marks, +like the letters of a book, which impart ideas to the mind? or +are they actual picture-images, inconceivably smaller than those +made for us by artists, in which, by the aid of a microscope, we +can see, in a space not bigger than a pinhole, a whole family +group at a glance? + +The phantom images of the retina are not perceptible in the light +of the day. Those that exist in the sensorium in like manner do +not attract our attention so long as the sensory organs are in +vigorous operation, and occupied in bringing new impressions in. +But, when those organs become weary or dull, or when we +experience hours of great anxiety, or are in twilight reveries, +or are asleep, the latent apparitions have their vividness +increased by the contrast, and obtrude themselves on the mind. +For the same reason they occupy us in the delirium of fevers, and +doubtless also in the solemn moments of death. During a third +part of our life, in sleep, we are withdrawn from external +influences; hearing and sight and the other senses are +inactive,but the never-sleeping Mind, that pensive, that veiled +enchantress, in her mysterious retirement, looks over the +ambrotypes she has collected--ambrotypes, for they are truly +unfading impressions--and, combining them together, as they +chance to occur, constructs from them the panorama of a dream. + +Nature has thus implanted in the organization of every man means +which impressively suggest to him the immortality of the soul and +a future life. Even the benighted savage thus sees in his visions +the fading forms of landscapes, which are, perhaps, connected +with some of his most pleasant recollections; and what other +conclusion can be possibly extract from those unreal pictures +than that they are the foreshadowings of another land beyond that +in which his lot is cast? At intervals he is visited in his +dreams by the resemblances of those whom he has loved or hated +while they were alive; and these manifestations are to him +incontrovertible proofs of the existence and immortality of the +soul. In our most refined social conditions we are never able to +shake off the impressions of these occurrences, and are +perpetually drawing from them the same conclusions that our +uncivilized ancestors did. Our more elevated condition of life in +no respect relieves us from the inevitable operation of our own +organization, any more than it relieves us from infirmities and +disease. In these respects, all over the globe men are on an +equality. Savage or civilized, we carry within us a mechanism +which presents us with mementoes of the most solemn facts with +which we can be concerned. It wants only moments of repose or +sickness, when the influence of external things is diminished, to +come into full play, and these are precisely the moments when we +are best prepared for the truths it is going to suggest. That +mechanism is no respecter of persons. It neither permits the +haughtiest to be free from the monitions, nor leaves the humblest +without the consolation of a knowledge of another life. Open to +no opportunities of being tampered with by the designing or +interested, requiring no extraneous human agency for its effect, +out always present with every man wherever he may go, it +marvelously extracts from vestiges of the impressions of the past +overwhelming proofs of the realities of the future, and, +gathering its power from what would seem to be a most unlikely +source, it insensibly leads us, no matter who or where we may be, +to a profound belief in the immortal and imperishable, from +phantoms which have scarcely made their appearance before they +are ready to vanish away. + +The insect differs from a mere automaton in this, that it is +influenced by old, by registered impressions. In the higher forms +of animated life that registration becomes more and more +complete, memory becomes more perfect. There is not any necessary +resemblance between an external form and its ganglionic +impression, any more than there is between the words of a message +delivered in a telegraphic office and the signals which the +telegraph may give to the distant station; any more than there is +between the letters of a printed page and the acts or scenes they +describe, but the letters call up with clearness to the mind of +the reader the events and scenes. + +An animal without any apparatus for the retention of impressions +must be a pure automaton--it cannot have memory. From +insignificant and uncertain beginnings, such an apparatus is +gradually evolved, and, as its development advances, the +intellectual capacity increases. In man, this retention or +registration reaches perfection; he guides, himself by past as +well as by present impressions; be is influenced by experience; +his conduct is determined by reason. + +A most important advance is made when the capability is acquired +by any animal of imparting a knowledge of the impressions stored +up in its own nerve-centres to another of the same kind. This +marks the extension of individual into social life, and indeed is +essential thereto. In the higher insects it is accomplished by +antennal contacts, in man by speech. Humanity, in its earlier, +its savage stages, was limited to this: the knowledge of one +person could be transmitted to another by conversation. The acts +and thoughts of one generation could be imparted to another, and +influence its acts and thoughts. + +But tradition has its limit. The faculty of speech makes society +possible--nothing more. + +Not without interest do we remark the progress of development of +this function. The invention of the art of writing gave extension +and durability to the registration or record of impressions. +These, which had hitherto been stored up in the brain of one man, +might now be imparted to the whole human race, and be made to +endure forever. Civilization became possible--for civilization +cannot exist without writing, or the means of record in some +shape. + +From this psychological point of view we perceive the real +significance of the invention of printing--a development of +writing which, by increasing the rapidity of the diffusion of +ideas, and insuring their permanence, tends to promote +civilization and to unify the human race. + +In the foregoing paragraphs, relating to nervous impressions, +their registry, and the consequences, that spring from them, I +have given an abstract of views presented in my work on "Human +Physiology," published in 1856, and may, therefore, refer the +reader to the chapter on "Inverse Vision, or Cerebral Sight;" to +Chapter XIV., Book I.; and to Chapter VIII., Book II.; of that +work, for other particulars. + + +The only path to scientific human psychology is through +comparative psychology. It is a long and wearisome path, but it +leads to truth. + +Is there, then, a vast spiritual existence pervading the +universe, even as there is a vast existence of matter pervading +it--a spirit which, as a great German author tells us, "sleeps in +the stone, dreams in the animal, awakes in man?" Does the soul +arise from the one as the body arises from the other? Do they in +like manner return, each to the source from which it has come? If +so, we can interpret human existence, and our ideas may still be +in unison with scientific truth, and in accord with our +conception of the stability, the unchangeability of the universe. + +To this spiritual existence the Saracens, following Eastern +nations, gave the designation "the Active Intellect." They +believed that the soul of man emanated from it, as a rain-drop +comes from the sea, and, after a season, returns. So arose among +them the imposing doctrines of emanation and absorption. The +active intellect is God. + +In one of its forms, as we have seen, this idea was developed by +Chakia Mouni, in India, in a most masterly manner, and embodied +in the vast practical system of Buddhism; in another, it was with +less power presented among the Saracens by Averroes. + +But, perhaps we ought rather to say that Europeans hold Averroes +as the author of this doctrine, because they saw him isolated +from his antecedents. But Mohammedans gave him little credit for +originality. He stood to them in the light of a commentator on +Aristotle, and as presenting the opinions of the Alexandrian and +other philosophical schools up to his time. The following +excerpts from the "Historical Essay on Averroism," by M. Renan, +will show how closely the Sarscenic ideas approached those +presented above: + +This system supposes that, at the death of an individual, his +intelligent principle or soul no longer possesses a separate +existence, but returns to or is absorbed in the universal mind, +the active intelligence, the mundane soul, which is God; from +whom, indeed, it had originally emanated or issued forth. + +The universal, or active, or objective intellect, is uncreated, +impassible, incorruptible, has neither beginning nor end; nor +does it increase as the number of individual souls increases. It +is altogether separate from matter. It is, as it were, a cosmic +principle. This oneness of the active intellect, or reason, is +the essential principle of the Averroistic theory, and is in +harmony with the cardinal doctrine of Mohammedanism--the unity of +God. + +The individual, or passive, or subjective intellect, is an +emanation from the universal, and constitutes what is termed the +soul of man. In one sense it is perishable and ends with the +body, but in a higher sense it endures; for, after death, it +returns to or is absorbed in the universal soul, and thus of all +human souls there remains at last but one--the aggregate of them +all, life is not the property of the individual, it belongs to +Nature. The end of, man is to enter into union more and more +complete with the active intellect--reason. In that the happiness +of the soul consists. Our destiny is quietude. It was the opinion +of Averroes that the transition from the individual to the +universal is instantaneous at death, but the Buddhists maintain +that human personality continues in a declining manner for a +certain term before nonentity, or Nirwana, is attained. + +Philosophy has never proposed but two hypotheses to explain the +system of the world: first, a personal God existing apart, and a +human soul called into existence or created, and thenceforth +immortal; second, an impersonal intelligence, or indeterminate +God, and a soul emerging from and returning to him. As to the +origin of beings, there are two opposite opinions: first, that +they are created from nothing; second, that they come by +development from pre-existing forms. The theory of creation +belongs to the first of the above hypotheses, that of evolution +to the last. + +Philosophy among the Arabs thus took the same direction that it +had taken in China, in India, and indeed throughout the East. Its +whole spirit depended on the admission of the indestructibility +of matter and force. It saw an analogy between the gathering of +the material of which the body of man consists from the vast +store of matter in Nature, and its final restoration to that +store, and the emanation of the spirit of man from the universal +Intellect, the Divinity, and its final reabsorption. + + +Having thus indicated in sufficient detail the philosophical +characteristics of the doctrine of emanation and absorption, I +have in the next place to relate its history. It was introduced +into Europe by the Spanish Arabs. Spain was the focal point from +which, issuing forth, it affected the ranks of intelligence and +fashion all over Europe, and in Spain it had a melancholy end. + +The Spanish khalifs had surrounded themselves with all the +luxuries of Oriental life. They had magnificent palaces, +enchanting gardens, seraglios filled with beautiful women. Europe +at the present day does not offer more taste, more refinement, +more elegance, than might have been seen, at the epoch of which +we are speaking, in the capitals of the Spanish Arabs. Their +streets were lighted and solidly paved. The houses were frescoed +and carpeted; they were warmed in winter by furnaces, and cooled +in summer with perfumed air brought by underground pipes from +flower-beds. They had baths, and libraries, and dining-halls, +fountains of quicksilver and water. City and country were full of +conviviality, and of dancing to the lute and mandolin. Instead of +the drunken and gluttonous wassail orgies of their Northern +neighbors, the feasts of the Saracens were marked by sobriety. +Wine was prohibited. The enchanting moonlight evenings of +Andalusia were spent by the Moors in sequestered, fairy-like +gardens or in orange-groves, listening to the romances of the +story-teller, or engaged in philosophical discourse; consoling +themselves for the disappointments of this life by such +reflections as that, if virtue were rewarded in this world, we +should be without expectations in the life to come; and +reconciling themselves to their daily toil by the expectation +that rest will be found after death--a rest never to be succeeded +by labor. + +In the tenth century the Khalif Hakein II. had made beautiful +Andalusia the paradise of the world. Christians, Mussulmen, Jews, +mixed together without restraint. There, among many celebrated +names that have descended to our times, was Gerbert, destined +subsequently to become pope. There, too, was Peter the Venerable, +and many Christian ecclesiastics. Peter says that he found +learned men even from Britain pursuing astronomy. All learned +men, no matter from what country they came, or what their +religious views, were welcomed. The khalif had in his palace a +manufactory of books, and copyists, binders, illuminators. He +kept book-buyers in all the great cities of Asia and Africa. His +library contained four hundred thousand volumes, superbly bound +and illuminated. + +Throughout the Mohammedan dominions in Asia, in Africa, and in +Spain, the lower order of Mussulmen entertained a fanatical +hatred against learning. Among the more devout--those who claimed +to be orthodox-- there were painful doubts as to the salvation of +the great Khalif Al-Mamun--the wicked khalif, as they called +him--for he had not only disturbed the people by introducing the +writings of Aristotle and other Greek heathens, but had even +struck at the existence of heaven and hell by saying that the +earth is a globe, and pretending that he could measure its size. +These persons, from their numbers, constituted a political power. + +Almansor, who usurped the khalifate to the prejudice of Hakem's +son, thought that his usurpation would be sustained if he put +himself at the head of the orthodox party. He therefore had the +library of Hakem searched, and all works of a scientific or +philosophical nature carried into the public places and burnt, or +thrown into the cisterns of the palace. By a similar court +revolution Averroes, in his old age--he died A.D. 1193--was +expelled from Spain; the religious party had triumphed over the +philosophical. He was denounced as a traitor to religion. An +opposition to philosophy had been organized all over the +Mussulman world. There was hardly a philosopher who was not +punished. Some were put to death, and the consequence was, that +Islam was full of hypocrites. + +Into Italy, Germany, England, Averroism had silently made its +way. It found favor in the eyes of the Franciscans, and a focus +in the University of Paris. By very many of the leading minds it +had been accepted. But at length the Dominicans, the rivals of +the Franciscans, sounded an alarm. They said it destroys all +personality, conducts to fatalism, and renders inexplicable the +difference and progress of individual intelligences. The +declaration that there is but one intellect is an error +subversive of the merits of the saints, it is an assertion that +there is no difference among men. What! is there no difference +between the holy soul of Peter and the damned soul of Judas? are +they identical? Averroes in this his blasphemous doctrine denies +creation, providence, revelation, the Trinity, the efficacy of +prayers, of alms, and of litanies; he disbelieves in the +resurrection and immortality; he places the summum bonum in mere +pleasure. + +So, too, among the Jews who were then the leading intellects of +the world, Averroism had been largely propagated. Their great +writer Maimonides had thoroughly accepted it; his school was +spreading it in all directions. A furious persecution arose on +the part of the orthodox Jews. Of Maimonides it had been formerly +their delight to declare that he was "the Eagle of the Doctors, +the Great Sage, the Glory of the West, the Light of the East, +second only to Moses." Now, they proclaimed that he had abandoned +the faith of Abraham; had denied the possibility of creation, +believed in the eternity of the world; had given himself up to +the manufacture of atheists; had deprived God of his attributes; +made a vacuum of him; had declared him inaccessible to prayer, +and a stranger to the government of the world. The works of +Maimonides were committed to the flames by the synagogues of +Montpellier, Barcelona, and Toledo. + +Scarcely had the conquering arms of Ferdinand and Isabella +overthrown the Arabian dominion in Spain, when measures were +taken by the papacy to extinguish these opinions, which, it was +believed, were undermining European Christianity. + +Until Innocent IV. (1243), there was no special tribunal against +heretics, distinct from those of the bishops. The Inquisition, +then introduced, in accordance with the centralization of the +times, was a general and papal tribunal, which displaced the old +local ones. The bishops, therefore, viewed the innovation with +great dislike, considering it as an intrusion on their rights. It +was established in Italy, Spain, Germany, and the southern +provinces of France. + +The temporal sovereigns were only too desirous to make use of +this powerful engine for their own political purposes. Against +this the popes strongly protested. They were not willing that its +use should pass out of the ecclesiastical hand. + +The Inquisition, having already been tried in the south of +France, had there proved to be very effective for the suppression +of heresy. It had been introduced into Aragon. Now was assigned +to it the duty of dealing with the Jews. + +In the old times under Visigothic rule these people had greatly +prospered, but the leniency that had been shown to them was +succeeded by atrocious persecution, when the Visigoths abandoned +their Arianism and became orthodox. The most inhuman ordinances +were issued against them--a law was enacted condemning them all +to be slaves. It was not to be wondered at that, when the Saracen +invasion took place, the Jews did whatever they could to promote +its success. They, like the Arabs, were an Oriental people, both +traced their lineage to Abraham, their common ancestor; both were +believers in the unity of God. It was their defense of that +doctrine that had brought upon them the hatred of their +Visigothic masters. + +Under the Saracen rule they were treated with the highest +consideration. They became distinguished for their wealth and +their learning. For the most part they were Aristotelians. They +founded many schools and colleges. Their mercantile interests led +them to travel all over the world. They particularly studied the +science of medicine. Throughout the middle ages they were the +physicians and bankers of Europe. Of all men they saw the course +of human affairs from the most elevated point of view. Among the +special sciences they became proficient in mathematics and +astronomy; they composed the tables of Alfonso, and were the +cause of the voyage of De Gama. They distinguished themselves +greatly in light literature. From the tenth to the fourteenth +century their literature was the first in Europe. They were to be +found in the courts of princes as physicians, or as treasurers +managing the public finances. + +The orthodox clergy in Navarre had excited popular prejudices +against them. To escape the persecutions that arose, many of them +feigned to turn Christians, and of these many apostatized to +their former faith. The papal nuncio at the court of Castile +raised a cry for the establishment of the Inquisition. The poorer +Jews were accused of sacrificing Christian children at the +Passover, in mockery of the crucifixion; the richer were +denounced as Averroists. Under the influence of Torquemada, a + +Dominican monk, the confessor of Queen Isabella, that princess +solicited a bull from the pope for the establishment of the Holy +Office. A bull was accordingly issued in November, 1478, for the +detection and suppression of heresy. In the first year of the +operation of the Inquisition, 1481, two thousand victims were +burnt in Andalusia; besides these, many thousands were dug up +from their graves and burnt; seventeen thousand were fined or +imprisoned for life. Whoever of the persecuted race could flee, +escaped for his life. Torquemada, now appointed +inquisitor-general for Castile and Leon, illustrated his office +by his ferocity. Anonymous accusations were received, the accused +was not confronted by witnesses, torture was relied upon for +conviction; it was inflicted in vaults where no one could hear +the cries of the tormented. As, in pretended mercy, it was +forbidden to inflict torture a second time, with horrible +duplicity it was affirmed that the torment had not been completed +at first, but had only been suspended out of charity until the +following day! The families of the convicted were plunged into +irretrievable ruin. Llorente, the historian of the Inquisition, +computes that Torquemada and his collaborators, in the course of +eighteen years, burnt at the stake ten thousand two hundred and +twenty persons, six thousand eight hundred and sixty in effigy, +and otherwise punished ninety-seven thousand three hundred and +twenty-one. This frantic priest destroyed Hebrew Bibles wherever +be could find them, And burnt six thousand volumes of Oriental +literature at Salamanca, under an imputation that they inculcated +Judaism. With unutterable disgust and indignation, we learn that +the papal government realized much money by selling to the rich +dispensations to secure them from the Inquisition. + +But all these frightful atrocities proved failures. The +conversions were few. Torquemada, therefore, insisted on the +immediate banishment of every unbaptized Jew. On March 30, 1492, +the edict of expulsion was signed. All unbaptized Jews, of +whatever age, sex, or condition, were ordered to leave the realm +by the end of the following July. If they revisited it, they +should suffer death. They might sell their effects and take the +proceeds in merchandise or bills of exchange, but not in gold or +silver. Exiled thus suddenly from the land of their birth, the +land of their ancestors for hundreds of years, they could not in +the glutted market that arose sell what they possessed. Nobody +would purchase what could be got for nothing after July. The +Spanish clergy occupied themselves by preaching in the public +squares sermons filled with denunciations against their victims, +who, when the time for expatriation came, swarmed in the roads +and filled the air with their cries of despair. Even the Spanish +onlookers wept at the scene of agony. Torquemada, however, +enforced the ordinance that no one should afford them any help. + +Of the banished persons some made their way into Africa, some +into Italy; the latter carried with them to Naples ship-fever, +which destroyed not fewer than twenty thousand in that city, and +devastated that peninsula; some reached Turkey, a few England. +Thousands, especially mothers with nursing children, infants, and +old people, died by the way; many of them in the agonies of +thirst. + +This action against the Jews was soon followed by one against the +Moors. A pragmatica was issued at Seville, February, 1502, +setting forth the obligations of the Castilians to drive the +enemies of God from the land, and ordering that all unbaptized +Moors in the kingdoms of Castile and Leon above the age of +infancy should leave the country by the end of April. They might +sell their property, but not take away any gold or silver; they +were forbidden to emigrate to the Mohammedan dominions; the +penalty of disobedience was death. Their condition was thus worse +than that of the Jews, who had been permitted to go where they +chose. Such was the fiendish intolerance of the Spaniards, that +they asserted the government would be justified in taking the +lives of all the Moors for their shameless infidelity. + +What an ungrateful return for the toleration that the Moors in +their day of power had given to the Christians! No faith was kept +with the victims. Granada had surrendered under the solemn +guarantee of the full enjoyment of civil and religious liberty. +At the instigation of Cardinal Ximenes that pledge was broken, +and, after a residence of eight centuries, the Mohammedans were +driven out of the land. + + +The coexistence of three religions in Andalusia--the Christian, +the Mohammedan, the Mosaic--had given opportunity for the +development of Averroism or philosophical Arabism. This was a +repetition of what had occurred at Rome, when the gods of all the +conquered countries were confronted in that capital, and +universal disbelief in them all ensued. Averroes himself was +accused of having been first a Mussulman, then a Christian, then +a Jew, and finally a misbeliever. It was affirmed that he was the +author of the mysterious book "De Tribus Impostoribus." + +In the middle ages there were two celebrated heretical books, +"The Everlasting Gospel," and the "De Tribus Impostoribus." The +latter was variously imputed to Pope Gerbert, to Frederick II., +and to Averroes. In their unrelenting hatred the Dominicans +fastened all the blasphemies current in those times on Averroes; +they never tired of recalling the celebrated and outrageous one +respecting the eucharist. His writings had first been generally +made known to Christian Europe by the translation of Michael Scot +in the beginning of the thirteenth century, but long before his +time the literature of the West, like that of Asia, was full of +these ideas. We have seen how broadly they were set forth by +Erigena. The Arabians, from their first cultivation of +philosophy, had been infected by them; they were current in all +the colleges of the three khalifates. Considered not as a mode of +thought, that will spontaneously occur to all men at a certain +stage of intellectual development, but as having originated with +Aristotle, they continually found favor with men of the highest +culture. We see them in Robert Grostete, in Roger Bacon, and +eventually in Spinoza. Averroes was not their inventor, be merely +gave them clearness and expression. Among the Jews of the +thirteenth century, he had completely supplanted his imputed +master. Aristotle had passed away from their eyes; his great +commentator, Averroes, stood in his place. So numerous were the +converts to the doctrine of emanation in Christendom, that Pope +Alexander IV. (1255) found it necessary to interfere. By his +order, Albertus Magnus composed a work against the "Unity of the +Intellect." Treating of the origin and nature of the soul, he +attempted to prove that the theory of "a separate intellect, +enlightening man by irradiation anterior to the individual and +surviving the individual, is a detestable error." But the most +illustrious antagonist of the great com- mentator was St. Thomas +Aquinas, the destroyer of all such heresies as the unity of the +intellect, the denial of Providence, the impossibility of +creation; the victories of "the Angelic Doctor" were celebrated +not only in the disputations of the Dominicans, but also in the +works of art of the painters of Florence and Pisa. The +indignation of that saint knew no bounds when Christians became +the disciples of an infidel, who was worse than a Mohammedan. The +wrath of the Dominicans, the order to which St. Thomas belonged, +was sharpened by the fact that their rivals, the Franciscans, +inclined to Averroistic views; and Dante, who leaned to the +Dominicans, denounced Averroes as the author of a most dangerous +system. The theological odium of all three dominant religions was +put upon him; he was pointed out as the originator of the +atrocious maxim that "all religions are false, although all are +probably useful." An attempt was made at the Council of Vienne to +have his writings absolutely suppressed, and to forbid all +Christians reading them. The Dominicans, armed with the weapons +of the Inquisition, terrified Christian Europe with their +unrelenting persecutions. They imputed all the infidelity of the +times to the Arabian philosopher. But he was not without support. +In Paris and in the cities of Northern Italy the Franciscans +sustained his views, and all Christendom was agitated with these +disputes. + +Under the inspiration of the Dominicans, Averroes oceanic to the +Italian painters the emblem of unbelief. Many of the Italian +towns had pictures or frescoes of the Day of Judgment and of +Hell. In these Averroes not unfrequently appears. Thus, in one at +Pisa, he figures with Arius, Mohammed, and Antichrist. In another +he is represented as overthrown by St. Thomas. He had become an +essential element in the triumphs of the great Dominican doctor. +He continued thus to be familiar to the Italian painters until +the sixteenth century. His doctrines were maintained in the +University of Padua until the seventeenth. + +Such is, in brief, the history of Averroism as it invaded Europe +from Spain. Under the auspices of Frederick II., it, in a less +imposing manner, issued from Sicily. That sovereign bad adopted +it fully. In his "Sicilian Questions" he had demanded light on +the eternity of the world, and on the nature of the soul, and +supposed he had found it in the replies of Ibn Sabin, an upholder +of these doctrines. But in his conflict with the papacy be was +overthrown, and with him these heresies were destroyed. + +In Upper Italy, Averroism long maintained its ground. It was so +fashionable in high Venetian society that every gentleman felt +constrained to profess it. At length the Church took decisive +action against it. The Lateran Council, A.D. 1512, condemned the +abettors of these detestable doctrines to be held as heretics and +infidels. As we have seen, the late Vatican Council has +anathematized them. Notwithstanding that stigma, it is to be +borne in mind that these opinions are held to be true by a +majority of the human race. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +CONFLICT RESPECTING THE NATURE OF THE WORLD. + +Scriptural view of the world: the earth a flat surface; location +of heaven and hell. + +Scientific view: the earth a globe; its size determined; its +position in and relations to the solar system.--The three great +voyages.--Columbus, De Gama, Magellan.--Circumnavigation of the +earth.--Determination of its curvature by the measurement of a +degree and by the pendulum. + +The discoveries of Copernicus.--Invention of the +telescope.--Galileo brought before the Inquisition.--His +punishment.--Victory over the Church. + +Attempts to ascertain the dimensions of the solar +system.--Determination of the sun's parallax by the transits of +Venus.--Insignificance, of the earth and man. + +Ideas respecting the dimensions of the universe.--Parallax of the +stars.-- The plurality of worlds asserted by Bruno.--He is seized +and murdered by the Inquisition. + + +I HAVE now to present the discussions that arose respecting the +third great philosophical problem--the nature of the world. + +An uncritical observation of the aspect of Nature persuades us +that the earth is an extended level surface which sustains the +dome of the sky, a firmament dividing the waters above from the +waters beneath; that the heavenly bodies--the sun, the moon, the +stars--pursue their way, moving from east to west, their +insignificant size and motion round the motionless earth +proclaiming their inferiority. Of the various organic forms +surrounding man none rival him in dignity, and hence he seems +justified in concluding that every thing has been created for his +use--the sun for the purpose of giving him light by day, the moon +and stars by night. + +Comparative theology shows us that this is the conception of +Nature universally adopted in the early phase of intellectual +life. It is the belief of all nations in all parts of the world +in the beginning of their civilization: geocentric, for it makes +the earth the centre of the universe; anthropocentric, for it +makes man the central object of the earth. And not only is this +the conclusion spontaneously come to from inconsiderate glimpses +of the world, it is also the philosophical basis of various +religious revelations, vouchsafed to man from time to time. These +revelations, moreover, declare to him that above the crystalline +dome of the sky is a region of eternal light and +happiness--heaven--the abode of God and the angelic hosts, +perhaps also his own abode after death; and beneath the earth a +region of eternal darkness and misery, the habitation of those +that are evil. In the visible world is thus seen a picture of the +invisible. + +On the basis of this view of the structure of the world great +religious systems have been founded, and hence powerful material +interests have been engaged in its support. These have resisted, +sometimes by resorting to bloodshed, attempts that have been made +to correct its incontestable errors--a resistance grounded on the +suspicion that the localization of heaven and hell and the +supreme value of man in the universe might be affected. + +That such attempts would be made was inevitable. As soon as men +began to reason on the subject at all, they could not fail to +discredit the assertion that the earth is an indefinite plane. No +one can doubt that the sun we see to-day is the self-same sun +that we saw yesterday. His reappearance each morning irresistibly +suggests that he has passed on the underside of the earth. But +this is incompatible with the reign of night in those regions. It +presents more or less distinctly the idea of the globular form of +the earth. + +The earth cannot extend indefinitely downward; for the sun cannot +go through it, nor through any crevice or passage in it, Since he +rises and sets in different positions at different seasons of the +year. The stars also move under it in countless courses. There +must, therefore, be a clear way beneath. + +To reconcile revelation with these innovating facts, schemes, +such as that of Cosmas Indicopleustes in his Christian +Topography, were doubtless often adopted. To this in particular +we have had occasion on a former page to refer. It asserted that +in the northern parts of the flat earth there is an immense +mountain, behind which the sun passes, and thus produces night. + +At a very remote historical period the mechanism of eclipses had +been discovered. Those of the moon demonstrated that the shadow +of the earth is always circular. The form of the earth must +therefore be globular. A body which in all positions casts a +circular shadow must itself be spherical. Other considerations, +with which every one is now familiar, could not fail to establish +that such is her figure. + +But the determination of the shape of the earth by no means +deposed her from her position of superiority. Apparently vastly +larger than all other things, it was fitting that she should be +considered not merely as the centre of the world, but, in truth, +as--the world. All other objects in their aggregate seemed +utterly unimportant in comparison with her. + +Though the consequences flowing from an admission of the globular +figure of the earth affected very profoundly existing theological +ideas, they were of much less moment than those depending on a +determination of her size. It needed but an elementary knowledge +of geometry to perceive that correct ideas on this point could be +readily obtained by measuring a degree on her surface. Probably +there were early attempts to accomplish this object, the results +of which have been lost. But Eratosthenes executed one between +Syene and Alexandria, in Egypt, Syene being supposed to be +exactly under the tropic of Cancer. The two places are, however, +not on the same meridian, and the distance between them was +estimated, not measured. Two centuries later, Posidonius made +another attempt between Alexandria and Rhodes; the bright star +Canopus just grazed the horizon at the latter place, at +Alexandria it rose 7 1/2 degrees. In this instance, also, since +the direction lay across the sea, the distance was estimated, not +measured. Finally, as we have already related, the Khalif +Al-Mamun made two sets of measures, one on the shore of the Red +Sea, the other near Cufa, in Mesopotamia. The general result of +these various observations gave for the earth's diameter between +seven and eight thousand miles. + +This approximate determination of the size of the earth tended to +depose her from her dominating position, and gave rise to very +serious theological results. In this the ancient investigations +of Aristarchus of Samos, one of the Alexandrian school, 280 B.C., +powerfully aided. In his treatise on the magnitudes and distances +of the sun and moon, he explains the ingenious though imperfect +method to which he had resorted for the solution of that problem. +Many ages previously a speculation had been brought from India to +Europe by Pythagoras. It presented the sun as the centre of the +system. Around him the planets revolved in circular orbits, their +order of position being Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, +Saturn, each of them being supposed to rotate on its axis as it +revolved round the sun. According to Cicero, Nicetas suggested +that, if it were admitted that the earth revolves on her axis, +the difficulty presented by the inconceivable velocity of the +heavens would be avoided. + +There is reason to believe that the works of Aristarchus, in the +Alexandrian Library, were burnt at the time of the fire of +Caesar. The only treatise of his that has come down to us is that +above mentioned, on the size and distance of the sun and moon. + +Aristarchus adopted the Pythagorean system as representing the +actual facts. This was the result of a recognition of the sun's +amazing distance, and therefore of his enormous size. The +heliocentric system, thus regarding the sun as the central orb, +degraded the earth to a very subordinate rank, making her only +one of a company of six revolving bodies. + +But this is not the only contribution conferred on astronomy by +Aristarchus, for, considering that the movement of the earth does +not sensibly affect the apparent position of the stars, he +inferred that they are incomparably more distant from us than the +sun. He, therefore, of all the ancients, as Laplace remarks, had +the most correct ideas of the grandeur of the universe. He saw +that the earth is of absolutely insignificant size, when compared +with the stellar distances. He saw, too, that there is nothing +above us but space and stars. + +But the views of Aristarchus, as respects the emplacement of the +planetary bodies, were not accepted by antiquity; the system +proposed by Ptolemy, and incorporated in his "Syntaxis," was +universally preferred. The physical philosophy of those times was +very imperfect--one of Ptolemy's objections to the Pythagorean +system being that, if the earth were in motion, it would leave +the air and other light bodies behind it. He therefore placed the +earth in the central position, and in succession revolved round +her the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn; +beyond the orbit of Saturn came the firmament of the fixed stars. +As to the solid crystalline spheres, one moving from east to +west, the other from north to south, these were a fancy of +Eudoxus, to which Ptolemy does not allude. + +The Ptolemaic system is, therefore, essentially a geocentric +system. It left the earth in her position of superiority, and +hence gave no cause of umbrage to religious opinions, Christian +or Mohammedan. The immense reputation of its author, the signal +ability of his great work on the mechanism of the heavens, +sustained it for almost fourteen hundred years--that is, from the +second to the sixteenth century. + +In Christendom, the greater part of this long period was consumed +in disputes respecting the nature of God, and in struggles for +ecclesiastical power. The authority of the Fathers, and the +prevailing belief that the Scriptures contain the sum, of all +knowledge, discouraged any investigation of Nature. If by chance +a passing interest was taken in some astronomical question, it +was at once settled by a reference to such authorities as the +writings of Augustine or Lactantius, not by an appeal to the +phenomena of the heavens. So great was the preference given to +sacred over profane learning that Christianity had been in +existence fifteen hundred years, and had not produced a single +astronomer. + +The Mohammedan nations did much better. Their cultivation of +science dates from the capture of Alexandria, A.D. 638. This was +only six years after the death of the Prophet. In less than two +centuries they had not only become acquainted with, but correctly +appreciated, the Greek scientific writers. As we have already +mentioned, by his treaty with Michael III., the khalif Al-Mamun +had obtained a copy of the "Syntaxis" of Ptolemy. He had it +forthwith translated into Arabic. It became at once the great +authority of Saracen astronomy. From this basis the Saracens had +advanced to the solution of some of the most important scientific +problems. They had ascertained the dimensions of the earth; they +had registered or catalogued all the stars visible in their +heavens, giving to those of the larger magnitudes the names they +still bear on our maps and globes; they determined the true +length of the year, discovered astronomical refraction, invented +the pendulum-clock, improved the photometry of the stars, +ascertained the curvilinear path of a ray of light through the +air, explained the phenomena of the horizontal sun and moon, and +why we see those bodies before they have risen and after they +have set; measured the height of the atmosphere, determining it +to be fifty-eight miles; given the true theory of the twilight, +and of the twinkling of the stars. They had built the first +observatory in Europe. So accurate were they in their +observations, that the ablest modern mathematicians have made use +of their results. Thus Laplace, in his "Systeme du Monde," +adduces the observations of Al-Batagni as affording incontestable +proof of the diminution of the eccentricity of the earth's orbit. +He uses those of Ibn-Junis in his discussion of the obliquity of +the ecliptic, and also in the case of the problems of the greater +inequalities of Jupiter and Saturn. + +These represent but a part, and indeed but a small part, of the +services rendered by the Arabian astronomers, in the solution of +the problem of the nature of the world. Meanwhile, such was the +benighted condition of Christendom, such its deplorable +ignorance, that it cared nothing about the matter. Its attention +was engrossed by image-worship, transubstantiation, the merits of +the saints, miracles, shrine-cures. + +This indifference continued until the close of the fifteenth +century. Even then there was no scientific inducement. The +inciting motives were altogether of a different kind. They +originated in commercial rivalries, and the question of the shape +of the earth was finally settled by three sailors, Columbus, De +Gama, and, above all, by Ferdinand Magellan. + +The trade of Eastern Asia has always been a source of immense +wealth to the Western nations who in succession have obtained it. +In the middle ages it had centred in Upper Italy. It was +conducted along two lines--a northern, by way of the Black and +Caspian Seas, and camel-caravans beyond--the headquarters of this +were at Genoa; and a southern, through the Syrian and Egyptian +ports, and by the Arabian Sea, the headquarters of this being at +Venice. The merchants engaged in the latter traffic had also made +great gains in the transport service of the Crusade-wars. + +The Venetians had managed to maintain amicable relations with the +Mohammedan powers of Syria and Egypt; they were permitted to have +consulates at Alexandria and Damascus, and, notwithstanding the +military commotions of which those countries had been the scene, +the trade was still maintained in a comparatively flourishing +condition. But the northern or Genoese line had been completely +broken up by the irruptions of the Tartars and the Turks, and the +military and political disturbances of the countries through +which it passed. The Eastern trade of Genoa was not merely in a +precarious condition--it was on the brink of destruction. + +The circular visible horizon and its dip at sea, the gradual +appearance and disappearance of ships in the offing, cannot fail +to incline intelligent sailors to a belief in the globular figure +of the earth. The writings of the Mohammedan astronomers and +philosophers had given currency to that doctrine throughout +Western Europe, but, as might be expected, it was received with +disfavor by theologians. When Genoa was thus on the very brink of +ruin, it occurred to some of her mariners that, if this view were +correct, her affairs might be re- established. A ship sailing +through the straits of Gibraltar westward, across the Atlantic, +would not fail to reach the East Indies. There were apparently +other great advantages. Heavy cargoes might be transported +without tedious and expensive land-carriage, and without breaking +bulk. + +Among the Genoese sailors who entertained these views was +Christopher Columbus. + +He tells us that his attention was drawn to this subject by the +writings of Averroes, but among his friends he numbered +Toscanelli, a Florentine, who had turned his attention to +astronomy, and had become a strong advocate of the globular form. +In Genoa itself Columbus met with but little encouragement. He +then spent many years in trying to interest different princes in +his proposed attempt. Its irreligious tendency was pointed out by +the Spanish ecclesiastics, and condemned by the Council of +Salamanca; its orthodoxy was confuted from the Pentateuch, the +Psalms, the Prophecies, the Gospels, the Epistles, and the +writings of the Fathers--St. Chrysostom, St. Augustine, St. +Jerome, St. Gregory, St. Basil, St Ambrose. + +At length, however, encouraged by the Spanish Queen Isabella, and +substantially aided by a wealthy seafaring family, the Pinzons of +Palos, some of whom joined him personally, he sailed on August 3, +1492, with three small ships, from Palos, carrying with him a +letter from King Ferdinand to the Grand-Khan of Tartary, and also +a chart, or map, constructed on the basis of that of Toscanelli. +A little before midnight, October 11, 1492, he saw from the +forecastle of his ship a moving light at a distance. Two hours +subsequently a signal- gun from another of the ships announced +that they had descried land. At sunrise Columbus landed in the +New World. + +On his return to Europe it was universally supposed that he had +reached the eastern parts of Asia, and that therefore his voyage +bad been theoretically successful. Columbus himself died in that +belief. But numerous voyages which were soon undertaken made +known the general contour of the American coast-line, and the +discovery of the Great South Sea by Balboa revealed at length the +true facts of the case, and the mistake into which both +Toscanelli and Columbus had fallen, that in a voyage to the West +the distance from Europe to Asia could not exceed the distance +passed over in a voyage from Italy to the Gulf of Guinea--a +voyage that Columbus had repeatedly made. + +In his first voyage, at nightfall on September 13, 1492, being +then two and a half degrees east of Corvo, one of the Azores, +Columbus observed that the compass needles of the ships no longer +pointed a little to the east of north, but were varying to the +west. The deviation became more and more marked as the expedition +advanced. He was not the first to detect the fact of variation, +but he was incontestably the first to discover the line of no +variation. On the return-voyage the reverse was observed; the +variation westward diminished until the meridian in question was +reached, when the needles again pointed due north. Thence, as the +coast of Europe was approached, the variation was to the east. +Columbus, therefore, came to the conclusion that the line of no +variation was a fixed geographical line, or boundary, between the +Eastern and Western Hemispheres. In the bull of May, 1493, Pope +Alexander VI. accordingly adopted this line as the perpetual +boundary between the possessions of Spain and Portugal, in his +settlement of the disputes of those nations. Subsequently, +however, it was discovered that the line was moving eastward. It +coincided with the meridian of London in 1662. + +By the papal bull the Portuguese possessions were limited to the +east of the line of no variation. Information derived from +certain Egyptian Jews had reached that government, that it was +possible to sail round the continent of Africa, there being at +its extreme south a cape which could be easily doubled. An +expedition of three ships under Vasco de Gama set sail, July 9, +1497; it doubled the cape on November 20th, and reached Calicut, +on the coast of India, May 19, 1498. Under the bull, this voyage +to the East gave to the Portuguese the right to the India trade. + +Until the cape was doubled, the course of De Gama's ships was in +a general manner southward. Very soon, it was noticed that the +elevation of the pole-star above the horizon was diminishing, +and, soon after the equator was reached, that star had ceased to +be visible. Meantime other stars, some of them forming +magnificent constellations, had come into view--the stars of the +Southern Hemisphere. All this was in conformity to theoretical +expectations founded on the admission of the globular form of the +earth. + +The political consequences that at once ensued placed the Papal +Government in a position of great embarrassment. Its traditions +and policy forbade it to admit any other than the flat figure of +the earth, as revealed in the Scriptures. Concealment of the +facts was impossible, sophistry was unavailing. Commercial +prosperity now left Venice as well as Genoa. The front of Europe +was changed. Maritime power had departed from the Mediterranean +countries, and passed to those upon the Atlantic coast. + +But the Spanish Government did not submit to the advantage thus +gained by its commercial rival without an effort. It listened to +the representations of one Ferdinand Magellan, that India and the +Spice Islands could be reached by sailing to the west, if only a +strait or passage through what had now been recognized as "the +American Continent" could be discovered; and, if this should be +accomplished, Spain, under the papal bull, would have as good a +right to the India trade as Portugal. Under the command of +Magellan, an expedition of five ships, carrying two hundred and +thirty- seven men, was dispatched from Seville, August 10, 1519. + +Magellan at once struck boldly for the South American coast, +hoping to find some cleft or passage through the continent by +which he might reach the great South Sea. For seventy days he was +becalmed on the line; his sailors were appalled by the +apprehension that they had drifted into a region where the winds +never blew, and that it was impossible for them to escape. Calms, +tempests, mutiny, desertion, could not shake his resolution. +After more than a year he discovered the strait which now bears +his name, and, as Pigafetti, an Italian, who was with him, +relates, he shed fears of joy when he found that it had pleased +God at length to bring him where he might grapple with the +unknown dangers of the South Sea, "the Great and Pacific Ocean." + +Driven by famine to eat scraps of skin and leather with which his +rigging was here and there bound, to drink water that had gone +putrid, his crew dying of hunger and scurvy, this man, firm in +his belief of the globular figure of the earth, steered steadily +to the northwest, and for nearly four months never saw inhabited +land. He estimated that he had sailed over the Pacific not less +than twelve thousand miles. He crossed the equator, saw once more +the pole-star, and at length made land--the Ladrones. Here he met +with adventurers from Sumatra. Among these islands he was killed, +either by the savages or by his own men. His lieutenant, +Sebastian d'Elcano, now took command of the ship, directing her +course for the Cape of Good Hope, and encountering frightful +hardships. He doubled the cape at last, and then for the fourth +time crossed the equator. On September 7, 1522, after a voyage of +more than three years, he brought his ship, the San Vittoria, to +anchor in the port of St. Lucar, near Seville. She had +accomplished the greatest achievement in the history of the human +race. She had circumnavigated the earth. + +The San Vittoria, sailing westward, had come back to her +starting-point. Henceforth the theological doctrine of the +flatness of the earth was irretrievably overthrown. + +Five years after the completion of the voyage of Magellan, was +made the first attempt in Christendom to ascertain the size of +the earth. This was by Fernel, a French physician, who, having +observed the height of the pole at Paris, went thence northward +until be came to a place where the height of the pole was exactly +one degree more than at that city. He measured the distance +between the two stations by the number of revolutions of one of +the wheels of his carriage, to which a proper indicator bad been +attached, and came to the conclusion that the earth's +circumference is about twenty-four thousand four hundred and +eighty Italian miles. + +Measures executed more and more carefully were made in many +countries: by Snell in Holland; by Norwood between London and +York in England; by Picard, under the auspices of the French +Academy of Sciences, in France. Picard's plan was to connect two +points by a series of triangles, and, thus ascertaining the +length of the arc of a meridian intercepted between them, to +compare it with the difference of latitudes found from celestial +observations. The stations were Malvoisine in the vicinity of +Paris, and Sourdon near Amiens. The difference of latitudes was +determined by observing the zenith-distances, of delta +Cassiopeia. There are two points of interest connected with +Picard's operation: it was the first in which instruments +furnished with telescopes were employed; and its result, as we +shall shortly see, was to Newton the first confirmation of the +theory of universal gravitation. + +At this time it had become clear from mechanical considerations, +more especially such as had been deduced by Newton, that, since +the earth is a rotating body, her form cannot be that of a +perfect sphere, but must be that of a spheroid, oblate or +flattened at the poles. It would follow, from this, that the +length of a degree must be greater near the poles than at the +equator. + +The French Academy resolved to extend Picard's operation, by +prolonging the measures in each direction, and making the result +the basis of a more accurate map of France. Delays, however, took +place, and it was not until 1718 that the measures, from Dunkirk +on the north to the southern extremity of France, were completed. +A discussion arose as to the interpretation of these measures, +some affirming that they indicated a prolate, others an oblate +spheroid; the former figure may be popularly represented by a +lemon, the latter by an orange. To settle this, the French +Government, aided by the Academy, sent out two expeditions to +measure degrees of the meridian--one under the equator, the other +as far north as possible; the former went to Peru, the latter to +Swedish Lapland. Very great difficulties were encountered by both +parties. The Lapland commission, however, completed its +observations long before the Peruvian, which consumed not less +than nine years. The results of the measures thus obtained +confirmed the theoretical expectation of the oblate form. Since +that time many extensive and exact repetitions of the observation +have been made, among which may be mentioned those of the English +in England and in India, and particularly that of the French on +the occasion of the introduction of the metric system of weights +and measures. It was begun by Delambre and Mechain, from Dunkirk +to Barcelona, and thence extended, by Biot and Arago, to the +island of Formentera near Minorea. Its length was nearly twelve +and a half degrees. + +Besides this method of direct measurement, the figure of the +earth may be determined from the observed number of oscillations +made by a pendulum of invariable length in different latitudes. +These, though they confirm the foregoing results, give a somewhat +greater ellipticity to the earth than that found by the +measurement of degrees. Pendulums vibrate more slowly the nearer +they are to the equator. It follows, therefore, that they are +there farther from the centre of the earth. + +From the most reliable measures that have been made, the +dimensions of the earth may be thus stated: + + +Greater or equatorial diameter ............. 7,925 miles. +Less or polar diameter ......................7,899 " +Difference or polar compression ............. 26 " + + +Such was the result of the discussion respecting the figure and +size of the earth. While it was yet undetermined, another +controversy arose, fraught with even more serious consequences. +This was the conflict respecting the earth's position with regard +to the sun and the planetary bodies. + +Copernicus, a Prussian, about the year 1507, had completed a book +"On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies." He had journeyed to +Italy in his youth, had devoted his attention to astronomy, and +had taught mathematics at Rome. From a profound study of the +Ptolemaic and Pythagorean systems, he had come to a conclusion in +favor of the latter, the object of his book being to sustain it. +Aware that his doctrines were totally opposed to revealed truth, +and foreseeing that they would bring upon him the punishments of +the Church, be expressed himself in a cautious and apologetic +manner, saying that he had only taken the liberty of trying +whether, on the supposition of the earth's motion, it was +possible to find better explanations than the ancient ones of the +revolutions of the celestial orbs; that in doing this he had only +taken the privilege that had been allowed to others, of feigning +what hypothesis they chose. The preface was addressed to Pope +Paul III. + +Full of misgivings as to what might be the result, he refrained +from publishing his book for thirty-six years, thinking that +"perhaps it might be better to follow the examples of the +Pythagoreans and others, who delivered their doctrine only by +tradition and to friends." At the entreaty of Cardinal Schomberg +he at length published it in 1543. A copy of it was brought to +him on his death-bed. Its fate was such as he had anticipated. +The Inquisition condemned it as heretical. In their decree, +prohibiting it, the Congregation of the Index denounced his +system as "that false Pythagorean doctrine utterly contrary to +the Holy Scriptures." + +Astronomers justly affirm that the book of Copernicus, "De +Revolutionibus," changed the face of their science. It +incontestably established the heliocentric theory. It showed that +the distance of the fixed stars is infinitely great, and that the +earth is a mere point in the heavens. Anticipating Newton, +Copernicus imputed gravity to the sun, the moon, and heavenly +bodies, but he was led astray by assuming that the celestial +motions must be circular. Observations on the orbit of Mars, and +his different diameters at different times, had led Copernicus to +his theory. + +In thus denouncing the Copernican system as being in +contradiction to revelation, the ecclesiastical authorities were +doubtless deeply moved by inferential considerations. To dethrone +the earth from her central dominating position, to give her many +equals and not a few superiors, seemed to diminish her claims +upon the Divine regard. If each of the countless myriads of stars +was a sun, surrounded by revolving globes, peopled with +responsible beings like ourselves, if we had fallen so easily and +had been redeemed at so stupendous a price as the death of the +Son of God, how was it with them? Of them were there none who had +fallen or might fall like us? Where, then, for them could a +Savior be found? + +During the year 1608 one Lippershey, a Hollander, discovered +that, by looking through two glass lenses, combined in a certain +manner together, distant objects were magnified and rendered very +plain. He had invented the telescope. In the following year +Galileo, a Florentine, greatly distinguished by his mathematical +and scientific writings, hearing of the circumstance, but without +knowing the particulars of the construction, invented a form of +the instrument for himself. Improving it gradually, he succeeded +in making one that. could magnify thirty times. Examining the +moon, he found that she had valleys like those of the earth, and +mountains casting shadows. It had been said in the old times that +in the Pleiades there were formerly seven stars, but a legend +related that one of them had mysteriously disappeared. On turning +his telescope toward them, Galileo found that he could easily +count not fewer than forty. In whatever direction he looked, be +discovered stars that were totally invisible to the naked eye. + +On the night of January 7, 1610, he perceived three small stars +in a straight line, adjacent to the planet Jupiter, and, a few +evenings later, a fourth. He found that these were revolving in +orbits round the body of the planet, and, with transport, +recognized that they presented a miniature representation of the +Copernican system. + +The announcement of these wonders at once attracted universal +attention. The spiritual authorities were not slow to detect +their tendency, as endangering the doctrine that the universe was +made for man. In the creation of myriads of stars, hitherto +invisible, there must surely have been some other motive than +that of illuminating the nights for him. + +It had been objected to the Copernican theory that, if the +planets Mercury and Venus move round the sun in orbits interior +to that of the earth, they ought to show phases like those of the +moon; and that in the case of Venus, which is so brilliant and +conspicuous, these phases should be very obvious. Copernicus +himself had admitted the force of the objection, and had vainly +tried to find an explanation. Galileo, on turning his telescope +to the planet, discovered that the expected phases actually +exist; now she was a crescent, then half-moon, then gibbous, then +full. Previously to Copernicus, it was supposed that the planets +shine by their own light, but the phases of Venus and Mars proved +that their light is reflected. The Aristotelian notion, that +celestial differ from terrestrial bodies in being incorruptible, +received a rude shock from the discoveries of Galileo, that there +are mountains and valleys in the moon like those of the earth, +that the sun is not perfect, but has spots on his face, and that +he turns on his axis instead of being in a state of majestic +rest. The apparition of new stars had already thrown serious +doubts on this theory of incorruptibility. + +These and many other beautiful telescopic discoveries tended to +the establishment of the truth of the Copernican theory and gave +unbounded alarm to the Church. By the low and ignorant +ecclesiastics they were denounced as deceptions or frauds. Some +affirmed that the telescope might be relied on well enough for +terrestrial objects, but with the heavenly bodies it was +altogether a different affair. Others declared that its invention +was a mere application of Aristotle's remark that stars could be +seen in the daytime from the bottom of a deep well. Galileo was +accused of imposture, heresy, blasphemy, atheism. With a view of +defending himself, he addressed a letter to the Abbe Castelli, +suggesting that the Scriptures were never intended to be a +scientific authority, but only a moral guide. This made matters +worse. He was summoned before the Holy Inquisition, under an +accusation of having taught that the earth moves round the sun, a +doctrine "utterly contrary to the Scriptures." He was ordered to +renounce that heresy, on pain of being imprisoned. He was +directed to desist from teaching and advocating the Copernican +theory, and pledge himself that he would neither publish nor +defend it for the future. Knowing well that Truth has no need of +martyrs, be assented to the required recantation, and gave the +promise demanded. + +For sixteen years the Church had rest. But in 1632 Galileo +ventured on the publication of his work entitled "The System of +the World," its object being the vindication of the Copernican +doctrine. He was again summoned before the Inquisition at Rome, +accused of having asserted that the earth moves round the sun. He +was declared to have brought upon himself the penalties of +heresy. On his knees, with his hand on the Bible, he was +compelled to abjure and curse the doctrine of the movement of the +earth. What a spectacle! This venerable man, the most illustrious +of his age, forced by the threat of death to deny facts which his +judges as well as himself knew to be true! He was then committed +to prison, treated with remorseless severity during the remaining +ten years of his life, and was denied burial in consecrated +ground. Must not that be false which requires for its support so +much imposture, so much barbarity? The opinions thus defended by +the Inquisition are now objects of derision to the whole +civilized world. + +One of the greatest of modern mathematicians, referring to this +subject, says that the point here contested was one which is for +mankind of the highest interest, because of the rank it assigns +to the globe that we inhabit. If the earth be immovable in the +midst of the universe, man has a right to regard himself as the +principal object of the care of Nature. But if the earth be only +one of the planets revolving round the sun, an insignificant body +in the solar system, she will disappear entirely in the immensity +of the heavens, in which this system, vast as it may appear to +us, is nothing but an insensible point. + +The triumphant establishment of the Copernican doctrine dates +from the invention of the telescope. Soon there was not to be +found in all Europe an astronomer who had not accepted the +heliocentric theory with its essential postulate, the double +motion of the earth-- movement of rotation on her axis, and a +movement of revolution round the sun. If additional proof of the +latter were needed, it was furnished by Bradley's great discovery +of the aberration of the fixed stars, an aberration depending +partly on the progressive motion of light, and partly on the +revolution of the earth. Bradley's discovery ranked in importance +with that of the precession of the equinoxes. Roemer's discovery +of the progressive motion of light, though denounced by +Fontenelle as a seductive error, and not admitted by Cassini, at +length forced its way to universal acceptance. + + +Next it was necessary to obtain correct ideas of the dimensions +of the solar system, or, putting the problem under a more limited +form, to determine the distance of the earth from the sun. + +In the time of Copernicus it was supposed that the sun's distance +could not exceed five million miles, and indeed there were many +who thought that estimate very extravagant. From a review of the +observations of Tycho Brahe, Kepler, however, concluded that the +error was actually in the opposite direction, and that the +estimate must be raised to at least thirteen million. In 1670 +Cassini showed that these numbers were altogether inconsistent +with the facts, and gave as his conclusion eighty-five million. + +The transit of Venus over the face of the sun, June 3, 1769, had +been foreseen, and its great value in the solution of this +fundamental problem in astronomy appreciated. With commendable +alacrity various governments contributed their assistance in +making observations, so that in Europe there were fifty stations, +in Asia six, in America seventeen. It was for this purpose that +the English Government dispatched Captain Cook on his celebrated +first voyage. He went to Otaheite. His voyage was crowned with +success. The sun rose without a cloud, and the sky continued +equally clear throughout the day. The transit at Cook's station +lasted from about half-past nine in the morning until about +half-past three in the afternoon, and all the observations were +made in a satisfactory manner. + +But, on the discussion of the observations made at the different +stations, it was found that there was not the accordance that +could have been desired--the result varying from eighty-eight to +one hundred and nine million. The celebrated mathematician, +Encke, therefore reviewed them in 1822-'24, and came to the +conclusion that the sun's horizontal parallax, that is, the angle +under which the semi-diameter of the earth is seen from the sun, +is 8 576/1000 seconds; this gave as the distance 95,274,000 +miles. Subsequently the observations were reconsidered by Hansen, +who gave as their result 91,659,000 miles. Still later, Leverrier +made it 91,759,000. Airy and Stone, by another method, made it +91,400,000; Stone alone, by a revision of the old observations, +91,730,000; and finally, Foucault and Fizeau, from physical +experiments, determining the velocity of light, and therefore in +their nature altogether differing from transit observations, +91,400,000. Until the results of the transit of next year (1874) +are ascertained, it must therefore be admitted that the distance +of the earth from the sun is somewhat less than ninety-two +million miles. + +This distance once determined, the dimensions of the solar system +may be ascertained with ease and precision. It is enough to +mention that the distance of Neptune from the sun, the most +remote of the planets at present known, is about thirty times +that of the earth. + +By the aid of these numbers we may begin to gain a just +appreciation of the doctrine of the human destiny of the +universe--the doctrine that all things were made for man. Seen +from the sun, the earth dwindles away to a mere speck, a mere +dust-mote glistening in his beams. If the reader wishes a more +precise valuation, let him hold a page of this book a couple of +feet from his eye; then let him consider one of its dots or full +stops; that dot is several hundred times larger in surface than +is the earth as seen from the sun! + +Of what consequence, then, can such an almost imperceptible +particle be? One might think that it could be removed or even +annihilated, and yet never be missed. Of what consequence is one +of those human monads, of whom more than a thousand millions +swarm on the surface of this all but invisible speck, and of a +million of whom scarcely one will leave a trace that he has ever +existed? Of what consequence is man, his pleasures or his pains? + +Among the arguments brought forward against the Copernican system +at the time of its promulgation, was one by the great Danish +astronomer, Tycho Brahe, originally urged by Aristarchus against +the Pythagorean system, to the effect that, if, as was alleged, +the earth moves round the sun, there ought to be a change of the +direction in which the fixed stars appear. At one time we are +nearer to a particular region of the heavens by a distance equal +to the whole diameter of the earth's orbit than we were six +months previously, and hence there ought to be a change in the +relative position of the stars; they should seem to separate as +we approach them, and to close together as we recede from them; +or, to use the astronomical expression, these stars should have a +yearly parallax. + +The parallax of a star is the angle contained between two lines +drawn from it--one to the sun, the other to the earth. + +At that time, the earth's distance from the sun was greatly +under-estimated. Had it been known, as it is now, that that +distance exceeds ninety million miles, or that the diameter of +the orbit is more than one hundred and eighty million, that +argument would doubtless have had very great weight. + +In reply to Tycho, it was said that, since the parallax of a +body diminishes as its distance increases, a star may be so far +off that its parallax may be imperceptible. This answer proved to +be correct. The detection of the parallax of the stars depended +on the improvement of instruments for the measurement of angles. + +The parallax of alpha Centauri, a fine double star of the +Southern Hemisphere, at present considered to be the nearest of +the fixed stars, was first determined by Henderson and Maclear at +the Cape of Good Hope in 1832-'33. It is about nine-tenths of a +second. Hence this star is almost two hundred and thirty thousand +times as far from us as the sun. Seen from it, if the sun were +even large enough to fill the whole orbit of the earth, or one +hundred and eighty million miles in diameter, he would be a mere +point. With its companion, it revolves round their common centre +of gravity in eighty-one years, and hence it would seem that +their conjoint mass is less than that of the sun. + +The star 61 Cygni is of the sixth magnitude. Its parallax was +first found by Bessel in 1838, and is about one-third of a +second. The distance from us is, therefore, much more than five +hundred thousand times that of the sun. With its companion, it +revolves round their common centre of gravity in five hundred and +twenty years. Their conjoint weight is about one-third that of +the sun. + +There is reason to believe that the great star Sirius, the +brightest in the heavens, is about six times as far off as alpha +Centauri. His probable diameter is twelve million miles, and the +light he emits two hundred times more brilliant than that of the +sun. Yet, even through the telescope, he has no measurable +diameter; be looks merely like a very bright spark. + +The stars, then, differ not merely in visible magnitude, but also +in actual size. As the spectroscope shows, they differ greatly in +chemical and physical constitution. That instrument is also +revealing to us the duration of the life of a star, through +changes in the refrangibility of the emitted light. Though, as we +have seen, the nearest to us is at an enormous and all but +immeasurable distance, this is but the first step--there are +others the rays of which have taken thousands, perhaps millions, +of years to reach us! The limits of our own system are far beyond +the range of our greatest telescopes; what, then, shall we say of +other systems beyond? Worlds are scattered like dust in the +abysses in space. + +Have these gigantic bodies--myriads of which are placed at so +vast a distance that our unassisted eyes cannot perceive +them--have these no other purpose than that assigned by +theologians, to give light to us? Does not their enormous size +demonstrate that, as they are centres of force, so they must be +centres of motion-- suns for other systems of worlds? + +While yet these facts were very imperfectly known--indeed, were +rather speculations than facts--Giordano Bruno, an Italian, born +seven years after the death of Copernicus, published a work on +the "Infinity of the Universe and of Worlds;" he was also the +author of "Evening Conversations on Ash-Wednesday," an apology +for the Copernican system, and of "The One Sole Cause of Things." +To these may be added an allegory published in 1584, "The +Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast." He had also collected, for +the use of future astronomers, all the observations he could find +respecting the new star that suddenly appeared in Cassiopeia, +A.D. 1572, and increased in brilliancy, until it surpassed all +the other stars. It could be plainly seen in the daytime. On a +sudden, November 11th, it was as bright as Venus at her +brightest. In the following March it was of the first magnitude. +It exhibited various hues of color in a few months, and +disappeared in March, 1574. + +The star that suddenly appeared in Serpentarius, in Kepler's time +(1604), was at first brighter than Venus. It lasted more than a +year, and, passing through various tints of purple, yellow, red, +became extinguished. + +Originally, Bruno was intended for the Church. He had become a +Dominican, but was led into doubt by his meditations on the +subjects of transubstantiation and the immaculate conception. Not +caring to conceal his opinions, he soon fell under the censure of +the spiritual authorities, and found it necessary to seek refuge +successively in Switzerland, France, England, Germany. The +cold-scented sleuth-hounds of the Inquisition followed his track +remorselessly, and eventually hunted him back to Italy. He was +arrested in Venice, and confined in the Piombi for six years, +without books, or paper, or friends. + +In England he had given lectures on the plurality of worlds, and +in that country had written, in Italian, his most important +works. It added not a little to the exasperation against him, +that he was perpetually declaiming against the insincerity; the +impostures, of his persecutors--that wherever he went he found +skepticism varnished over and concealed by hypocrisy; and that it +was not against the belief of men, but against their pretended +belief, that he was fighting; that he was struggling with an +orthodoxy that had neither morality nor faith. + +In his "Evening Conversations" he had insisted that the +Scriptures were never intended to teach science, but morals only; +and that they cannot be received as of any authority on +astronomical and physical subjects. Especially must we reject the +view they reveal to us of the constitution of the world, that the +earth is a flat surface, supported on pillars; that the sky is a +firmament--the floor of heaven. On the contrary, we must believe +that the universe is infinite, and that it is filled with +self-luminous and opaque worlds, many of them inhabited; that +there is nothing above and around us but space and stars. His +meditations on these subjects had brought him to the conclusion +that the views of Averroes are not far from the truth--that there +is an Intellect which animates the universe, and of this +Intellect the visible world is only an emanation or +manifestation, originated and sustained by force derived from it, +and, were that force withdrawn, all things would disappear. This +ever-present, all-pervading Intellect is God, who lives in all +things, even such as seem not to live; that every thing is ready +to become organized, to burst into life. God is, therefore, "the +One Sole Cause of Things," "the All in All." + +Bruno may hence be considered among philosophical writers as +intermediate between Averroes and Spinoza. The latter held that +God and the Universe are the same, that all events happen by an +immutable law of Nature, by an unconquerable necessity; that God +is the Universe, producing a series of necessary movements or +acts, in consequence of intrinsic, unchangeable, and irresistible +energy. + +On the demand of the spiritual authorities, Bruno was removed +from Venice to Rome, and confined in the prison of the +Inquisition, accused not only of being a heretic, but also a +heresiarch, who had written things unseemly concerning religion; +the special charge against him being that he had taught the +plurality of worlds, a doctrine repugnant to the whole tenor of +Scripture and inimical to revealed religion, especially as +regards the plan of salvation. After an imprisonment of two years +he was brought before his judges, declared guilty of the acts +alleged, excommunicated, and, on his nobly refusing to recant, +was delivered over to the secular authorities to be punished "as +mercifully as possible, and without the shedding of his blood," +the horrible formula for burning a prisoner at the stake. Knowing +well that though his tormentors might destroy his body, his +thoughts would still live among men, he said to his judges, +"Perhaps it is with greater fear that you pass the sentence upon +me than I receive it." The sentence was carried into effect, and +he was burnt at Rome, February 16th, A.D. 1600. + +No one can recall without sentiments of pity the sufferings of +those countless martyrs, who first by one party, and then by +another, have been brought for their religious opinions to the +stake. But each of these had in his supreme moment a powerful and +unfailing support. The passage from this life to the next, though +through a hard trial, was the passage from a transient trouble to +eternal happiness, an escape from the cruelty of earth to the +charity of heaven. On his way through the dark valley the martyr +believed that there was an invisible hand that would lead him, a +friend that would guide him all the more gently and firmly +because of the terrors of the flames. For Bruno there was no such +support. The philosophical opinions, for the sake of which he +surrendered his life, could give him no consolation. He must +fight the last fight alone. Is there not something very grand in +the attitude of this solitary man, something which human nature +cannot help admiring, as he stands in the gloomy hall before his +inexorable judges? No accuser, no witness, no advocate is +present, but the familiars of the Holy Office, clad in black, are +stealthily moving about. The tormentors and the rack are in the +vaults below. He is simply told that he has brought upon himself +strong suspicions of heresy, since he has said that there are +other worlds than ours. He is asked if he will recant and abjure +his error. He cannot and will not deny what he knows to be true, +and perhaps--for he had often done so before--he tells his judges +that they, too, in their hearts are of the same belief. What a +contrast between this scene of manly honor, of unshaken firmness, +of inflexible adherence to the truth, and that other scene which +took place more than fifteen centuries previously by the fireside +in the hall of Caiaphas the high-priest, when the cock crew, and +"the Lord turned and looked upon Peter" (Luke xxii. 61)! And yet +it is upon Peter that the Church has grounded her right to act as +she did to Bruno. But perhaps the day approaches when posterity +will offer an expiation for this great ecclesiastical crime, and +a statue of Bruno be unveiled under the dome of St. Peter's at +Rome. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +CONTROVERSY RESPECTING THE AGE OF THE EARTH. + +Scriptural view that the Earth is only six thousand years old, +and that it was made in a week.--Patristic chronology founded on +the ages of the patriarchs.--Difficulties arising from different +estimates in different versions of the Bible. + +Legend of the Deluge.--The repeopling.--The Tower of Babel; the +confusion of tongues.--The primitive language. + +Discovery by Cassini of the oblateness of the planet +Jupiter.--Discovery by Newton of the oblateness of the +Earth.--Deduction that she has been modeled by mechanical +causes.--Confirmation of this by geological discoveries +respecting aqueous rocks; corroboration by organic remains.-- The +necessity of admitting enormously long periods of time. +--Displacement of the doctrine of Creation by that of Evolution-- +Discoveries respecting the Antiquity of Man. + +The time-scale and space-scale of the world are +infinite.--Moderation with which the discussion of the Age of the +World has been conducted. + + +THE true position of the earth in the universe was established +only after a long and severe conflict. The Church used whatever +power she had, even to the infliction of death, for sustaining +her ideas. But it was in vain. The evidence in behalf of the +Copernican theory became irresistible. It was at length +universally admitted that the sun is the central, the ruling body +of our system; the earth only one, and by no means the largest, +of a family of encircling planets. Taught by the issue of that +dispute, when the question of the age of the world presented +itself for consideration, the Church did not exhibit the active +resistance she had displayed on the former occasion. For, though +her traditions were again put in jeopardy, they were not, in her +judgment, so vitally assailed. To dethrone the Earth from her +dominating position was, so the spiritual authorities declared, +to undermine the very foundation of revealed truth; but +discussions respecting the date of creation might within certain +limits be permitted. Those limits were, however, very quickly +overpassed, and thus the controversy became as dangerous as the +former one had been. + +It was not possible to adopt the advice given by Plato in his +"Timaeus," when treating of this subject-- the origin of the +universe: "It is proper that both I who speak and you who judge +should remember that we are but men, and therefore, receiving the +probable mythological tradition, it is meet that we inquire no +further into it." Since the time of St. Augustine the Scriptures +had been made the great and final authority in all matters of +science, and theologians had deduced from them schemes of +chronology and cosmogony which had proved to be stumbling-blocks +to the advance of real knowledge. + +It is not necessary for us to do more than to allude to some of +the leading features of these schemes; their peculiarities will +be easily discerned with sufficient clearness. Thus, from the six +days of creation and the Sabbath-day of rest, since we are told +that a day is with the Lord as a thousand years, it was inferred +that the duration of the world will be through six thousand years +of suffering, and an additional thousand, a millennium of rest. +It was generally admitted that the earth was about four thousand +years old at the birth of Christ, but, so careless had Europe +been in the study of its annals, that not Until A.D. 627 had it a +proper chronology of its own. A Roman abbot, Dionysius Exiguus, +or Dennis the Less, then fixed the vulgar era, and gave Europe +its present Christian chronology. + +The method followed in obtaining the earliest chronological dates +was by computations, mainly founded on the lives of the +patriarchs. Much difficulty was encountered in reconciling +numerical discrepancies. Even if, as was taken for granted in +those uncritical ages, Moses was the author of the books imputed +to him, due weight was not given to the fact that he related +events, many of which took place more than two thousand years +before he was born. It scarcely seemed necessary to regard the +Pentateuch as of plenary inspiration, since no means had been +provided to perpetuate its correctness. The different copies +which had escaped the chances of time varied very much; thus the +Samaritan made thirteen hundred and seven years from the Creation +to the Deluge, the Hebrew sixteen hundred and fifty-six, the +Septuagint twenty-two hundred and sixty-three. The Septuagint +counted fifteen hundred years more from the Creation to Abraham +than the Hebrew. In general, however, there was an inclination to +the supposition that the Deluge took place about two thousand +years after the Creation, and, after another interval of two +thousand years, Christ was born. Persons who had given much +attention to the subject affirmed that there were not less than +one hundred and thirty-two different opinions as to the year in +which the Messiah appeared, and hence they declared that it was +inexpedient to press for acceptance the Scriptural numbers too +closely, since it was plain, from the great differences in +different copies, that there had been no providential +intervention to perpetuate a correct reading, nor was there any +mark by which men could be guided to the only authentic version. +Even those held in the highest esteem contained undeniable +errors. Thus the Septuagint made Methuselah live until after the +Deluge. + +It was thought that, in the antediluvian world, the year +consisted of three hundred and sixty days. Some even affirmed +that this was the origin of the division of the circle into three +hundred and sixty degrees. At the time of the Deluge, so many +theologians declared, the motion of the sun was altered, and the +year became five days and six hours longer. There was a prevalent +opinion that that stupendous event occurred on November 2d, in +the year of the world 1656. Dr. Whiston, however, disposed to +greater precision, inclined to postpone it to November 28th. Some +thought that the rainbow was not seen until after the flood; +others, apparently with better reason, inferred that it was then +first established as a sign. On coming forth from the ark, men +received permission to use flesh as food, the antediluvians +having been herbivorous! It would seem that the Deluge had not +occasioned any great geographical changes, for Noah, relying on +his antediluvian knowledge, proceeded to divide the earth among +his three sons, giving to Japhet Europe, to Shem Asia, to Ham +Africa. No provision was made for America, as he did not know of +its existence. These patriarchs, undeterred by the terrible +solitudes to which they were going, by the undrained swamps and +untracked forests, journeyed to their allotted possessions, and +commenced the settlement of the continents. + +In seventy years the Asiatic family had increased to several +hundred. They had found their way to the plains of Mesopotamia, +and there, for some motive that we cannot divine, began building +a tower "whose top might reach to heaven." Eusebius informs us +that the work continued for forty years. They did not abandon it +until a miraculous confusion of their language took place and +dispersed them all over the earth. St. Ambrose shows that this +confusion could not have been brought about by men. Origen +believes that not even the angels accomplished it. + +The confusion of tongues has given rise to many curious +speculations among divines as to the primitive speech of man. +Some have thought that the language of Adam consisted altogether +of nouns, that they were monosyllables, and that the confusion +was occasioned by the introduction of polysyllables. But these +learned men must surely have overlooked the numerous +conversations reported in Genesis, such as those between the +Almighty and Adam, the serpent and Eve, etc. In these all the +various parts of speech occur. There was, however, a coincidence +of opinion that the primitive language was Hebrew. On the general +principles of patristicism, it was fitting that this should be +the case. + +The Greek Fathers computed that, at the time of the dispersion, +seventy-two nations were formed, and in this conclusion St. +Augustine coincides. But difficulties seem to have been +recognized in these computations; thus the learned Dr. Shuckford, +who has treated very elaborately on all the foregoing points in +his excellent work "On the Sacred and Profane History of the +World connected," demonstrates that there could not have been +more than twenty-one or twenty-two men, women, and children, in +each of those kingdoms. + +A very vital point in this system of chronological computation, +based upon the ages of the patriarchs, was the great length of +life to which those worthies attained. It was generally supposed +that before the Flood "there was a perpetual equinox," and no +vicissitudes in Nature. After that event the standard of life +diminished one- half, and in the time of the Psalmist it had sunk +to seventy years, at which it still remains. Austerities of +climate were affirmed to have arisen through the shifting of the +earth's axis at the Flood, and to this ill effect were added the +noxious influences of that universal catastrophe, which, +"converting the surface of the earth into a vast swamp, gave rise +to fermentations of the blood and a weakening of the fibres." + +With a view of avoiding difficulties arising from the +extraordinary length of the patriarchal lives, certain divines +suggested that the years spoken of by the sacred penman were not +ordinary but lunar years. This, though it might bring the age of +those venerable men within the recent term of life, introduced, +however, another insuperable difficulty, since it made them have +children when only five or six years old. + +Sacred science, as interpreted by the Fathers of the Church, +demonstrated these facts: 1. That the date of Creation was +comparatively recent, not more than four or five thousand years +before Christ; 2. That the act of Creation occupied the space of +six ordinary days; 3. That the Deluge was universal, and that the +animals which survived it were preserved in an ark; 4. That Adam +was created perfect in morality and intelligence, that he fell, +and that his descendants have shared in his sin and his fall. + +Of these points and others that might be mentioned there were two +on which ecclesiastical authority felt that it must insist. These +were: 1. The recent date of Creation; for, the remoter that +event, the more urgent the necessity of vindicating the justice +of God, who apparently had left the majority of our race to its +fate, and had reserved salvation for the few who were living in +the closing ages of the world; 2. The perfect condition of Adam +at his creation, since this was necessary to the theory of the +fall, and the plan of salvation. + +Theological authorities were therefore constrained to look with +disfavor on any attempt to carry back the origin of the earth, to +an epoch indefinitely remote, and on the Mohammedan theory of the +evolution of man from lower forms, or his gradual development to +his present condition in the long lapse of time. + + +From the puerilities, absurdities, and contradictions of the +foregoing statement, we may gather how very unsatisfactory this +so-called sacred science was. And perhaps we may be brought to +the conclusion to which Dr. Shuckford, above quoted, was +constrained to come, after his wearisome and unavailing attempt +to coordinate its various parts: "As to the Fathers of the first +ages of the Church, they were good men, but not men of universal +learning." + +Sacred cosmogony regards the formation and modeling of the earth +as the direct act of God; it rejects the intervention of +secondary causes in those events. + +Scientific cosmogony dates from the telescopic discovery made by +Cassini--an Italian astronomer, under whose care Louis XIV. +placed the Observatory of Paris--that the planet Jupiter is not a +sphere, but an oblate spheroid, flattened at the poles. +Mechanical philosophy demonstrated that such a figure is the +necessary result of the rotation of a yielding mass, and that the +more rapid the rotation the greater the flattening, or, what +comes to the same thing, the greater the equatorial bulging must +be. + +From considerations--purely of a mechanical kind-- Newton had +foreseen that such likewise, though to a less striking extent, +must be the figure of the earth. To the protuberant mass is due +the precession of the equinoxes, which requires twenty-five +thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight years for its completion, +and also the nutation of the earth's axis, discovered by Bradley. +We have already had occasion to remark that the earth's +equatorial diameter exceeds the polar by about twenty-six miles. + +Two facts are revealed by the oblateness of the earth: 1. That +she has formerly been in a yielding or plastic condition; 2. That +she has been modeled by a mechanical and therefore a secondary +cause. + +But this influence of mechanical causes is manifested not only in +the exterior configuration of the globe of the earth as a +spheroid of revolution, it also plainly appears on an examination +of the arrangement of her substance. + +If we consider the aqueous rocks, their aggregate is many miles +in thickness; yet they undeniably have been of slow deposit. The +material of which they consist has been obtained by the +disintegration of ancient lands; it has found its way into the +water-courses, and by them been distributed anew. Effects of this +kind, taking place before our eyes, require a very considerable +lapse of time to produce a well-marked result-- a water deposit +may in this manner measure in thickness a few inches in a +century--what, then, shall we say as to the time consumed in the +formation of deposits of many thousand yards? + +The position of the coast-line of Egypt has been known for much +more than two thousand years. In that time it has made, by reason +of the detritus brought down by the Nile, a distinctly-marked +encroachment on the Mediterranean. But all Lower Egypt has had a +similar origin. The coast-line near the mouth of the Mississippi +has been well known for three hundred years, and during that time +has scarcely made a perceptible advance on the Gulf of Mexico; +but there was a time when the delta of that river was at St. +Louis, more than seven hundred miles from its present position. +In Egypt and in America--in fact, in all countries--the rivers +have been inch by inch prolonging the land into the sea; the +slowness of their work and the vastness of its extent satisfy us +that we must concede for the operation enormous periods of time. + +To the same conclusion we are brought if we consider the filling +of lakes, the deposit of travertines, the denudation of hills, +the cutting action of the sea on its shores, the undermining of +cliffs, the weathering of rocks by atmospheric water and carbonic +acid. + +Sedimentary strata must have been originally deposited in planes +nearly horizontal. Vast numbers of them have been forced, either +by paroxysms at intervals or by gradual movement, into all manner +of angular inclinations. Whatever explanations we may offer of +these innumerable and immense tilts and fractures, they would +seem to demand for their completion an inconceivable length of +time. + +The coal-bearing strata in Wales, by their gradual submergence, +have attained a thickness of 12,000 feet; in Nova Scotia of +14,570 feet. So slow and so steady was this submergence, that +erect trees stand one above another on successive levels; +seventeen such repetitions may be counted in a thickness of 4,515 +feet. The age of the trees is proved by their size, some being +four feet in diameter. Round them, as they gradually went down +with the subsiding soil, calamites grew, at one level after +another. In the Sydney coal-field fifty-nine fossil forests occur +in superposition. + +Marine shells, found on mountain-tops far in the interior of +continents, were regarded by theological writers as an +indisputable illustration of the Deluge. But when, as geological +studies became more exact, it was proved that in the crust of the +earth vast fresh-water formations are repeatedly intercalated +with vast marine ones, like the leaves of a book, it became +evident that no single cataclysm was sufficient to account for +such results; that the same region, through gradual variations of +its level and changes in its topographical surroundings, had +sometimes been dry land, sometimes covered with fresh and +sometimes with sea water. It became evident also that, for the +completion of these changes, tens of thousands of years were +required. + +To this evidence of a remote origin of the earth, derived from +the vast superficial extent, the enormous thickness, and the +varied characters of its strata, was added an imposing body of +proof depending on its fossil remains. The relative ages of +formations having been ascertained, it was shown that there has +been an advancing physiological progression of organic forms, +both vegetable and animal, from the oldest to the most recent; +that those which inhabit the surface in our times are but an +insignificant fraction of the prodigious multitude that have +inhabited it heretofore; that for each species now living there +are thousands that have become extinct. Though special formations +are so strikingly characterized by some predominating type of +life as to justify such expressions as the age of mollusks, the +age of reptiles, the age of mammals, the introduction of the +new-comers did not take place abruptly. as by sudden creation. +They gradually emerged in an antecedent age, reached their +culmination in the one which they characterize, and then +gradually died out in a succeeding. There is no such thing as a +sudden creation, a sudden strange appearance--but there is a slow +metamorphosis, a slow development from a preexisting form. Here +again we encounter the necessity of admitting for such results +long periods of time. Within the range of history no well-marked +instance of such development has been witnessed, and we speak +with hesitation of doubtful instances of extinction. Yet in +geological times myriads of evolutions and extinctions have +occurred. + +Since thus, within the experience of man, no case of +metamorphosis or development has been observed, some have been +disposed to deny its possibility altogether, affirming that all +the different species have come into existence by separate +creative acts. But surely it is less unphilosophical to suppose +that each species has been evolved from a predecessor by a +modification of its parts, than that it has suddenly started into +existence out of nothing. Nor is there much weight in the remark +that no man has ever witnessed such a transformation taking +place. Let it be remembered that no man has ever witnessed an act +of creation, the sudden appearance of an organic form, without +any progenitor. + +Abrupt, arbitrary, disconnected creative acts may serve to +illustrate the Divine power; but that continuous unbroken chain +of organisms which extends from palaeozoic formations to the +formations of recent times, a chain in which each link hangs on a +preceding and sustains a succeeding one, demonstrates to us not +only that the production of animated beings is governed by law, +but that it is by law that has undergone no change. In its +operation, through myriads of ages, there has been no variation, +no suspension. + +The foregoing paragraphs may serve to indicate the character of a +portion of the evidence with which we must deal in considering +the problem of the age of the earth. Through the unintermitting +labors of geologists, so immense a mass has been accumulated, +that many volumes would be required to contain the details. It is +drawn from the phenomena presented by all kinds of rocks, +aqueous, igneous, metamorphic. Of aqueous rocks it investigates +the thickness, the inclined positions, and how they rest +unconformably on one another; how those that are of fresh-water +origin are intercalated with those that are marine; how vast +masses of material have been removed by slow-acting causes of +denudation, and extensive geographical surfaces have been +remodeled; how continents have undergone movements of elevation +and depression, their shores sunk under the ocean, or sea-beaches +and sea-cliffs carried far into the interior. It considers the +zoological and botanical facts, the fauna and flora of the +successive ages, and how in an orderly manner the chain of +organic forms, plants, and animals, has been extended, from its +dim and doubtful beginnings to our own times. From facts +presented by the deposits of coal-coal which, in all its +varieties, has originated from the decay of plants--it not only +demon strates the changes that have taken place in the earth's +atmosphere, but also universal changes of climate. From other +facts it proves that there have been oscillations of +temperature,. periods in which the mean heat has risen, and +periods in which the polar ices and snows have covered large +portions of the existing continents --glacial periods, as they +are termed. + +One school of geologists, resting its argument on very imposing +evidence, teaches that the whole mass of the earth, from being in +a molten, or perhaps a vaporous condition, has cooled by +radiation in the lapse of millions of ages, until it has reached +its present equilibrium of temperature. Astronomical observations +give great weight to this interpretation, especially so far as +the planetary bodies of the solar system are concerned. It is +also supported by such facts as the small mean density of the +earth, the increasing temperature at increasing depths, the +phenomena of volcanoes and injected veins, and those of igneous +and metamorphic rocks. To satisfy the physical changes which this +school of geologists contemplates, myriads of centuries are +required. + +But, with the views that the adoption of the Copernican system +has given us, it is plain that we cannot consider the origin and +biography of the earth in an isolated way; we must include with +her all the other members of the system or family to which she +belongs. Nay, more, we cannot restrict ourselves to the solar +system; we must embrace in our discussions the starry worlds. +And, since we have become familiarized with their almost +immeasurable distances from one another, we are prepared to +accept for their origin an immeasurably remote time. There are +stars so far off that their light, fast as it travels, has taken +thousands of years to reach us, and hence they must have been in +existence many thousands of years ago. + +Geologists having unanimously agreed--for perhaps there is not a +single dissenting voice--that the chronology of the earth must be +greatly extended, attempts have been made to give precision to +it. Some of these have been based on astronomical, some on +physical principles. Thus calculations founded on the known +changes of the eccentricity of the earth's orbit, with a view of +determining the lapse of time since the beginning of the last +glacial period, have given two hundred and forty thousand years. +Though the general postulate of the immensity of geological times +may be conceded, such calculations are on too uncertain a +theoretical basis to furnish incontestable results. + +But, considering the whole subject from the present scientific +stand-point, it is very clear that the views presented by +theological writers, as derived from the Mosaic record, cannot be +admitted. Attempts have been repeatedly made to reconcile the +revealed with the discovered facts, but they have proved to be +unsatisfactory. The Mosaic time is too short, the order of +creation incorrect, the divine interventions too anthropomorphic; +and, though the presentment of the subject is in harmony with the +ideas that men have entertained, when first their minds were +turned to the acquisition of natural knowledge, it is not in +accordance with their present conceptions of the insignificance +of the earth and the grandeur of the universe. + + +Among late geological discoveries is one of special interest; it +is the detection of human remains and human works in formations +which, though geologically recent, are historically very remote. + +The fossil remains of men, with rude implements of rough or +chipped flint, of polished stone, of bone, of bronze, are found +in Europe in caves, in drifts, in peat- beds. They indicate a +savage life, spent in hunting and fishing. Recent researches give +reason to believe that, under low and base grades, the existence +of man can be traced back into the tertiary times. He was +contemporary with the southern elephant, the rhinoceros +leptorhinus, the great hippopotamus, perhaps even in the miocene +contemporary with the mastodon. + +At the close of the Tertiary period, from causes not yet +determined, the Northern Hemisphere underwent a great depression +of temperature. From a torrid it passed to a glacial condition. +After a period of prodigious length, the temperature again rose, +and the glaciers that had so extensively covered the surface +receded. Once more there was a decline in the heat, and the +glaciers again advanced, but this time not so far as formerly. +This ushered in the Quaternary period, during which very slowly +the temperature came to its present degree. The water deposits +that were being made required thousands of centuries for their +completion. At the beginning of the Quaternary period there were +alive the cave-bear, the cave-lion, the amphibious hippopotamus, +the rhinoceros with chambered nostrils, the mammoth. In fact, the +mammoth swarmed. He delighted in a boreal climate. By degrees the +reindeer, the horse, the ox, the bison, multiplied, and disputed +with him his food. Partly for this reason, and partly because of +the increasing heat, he became extinct. From middle Europe, also, +the reindeer retired. His departure marks the end of the +Quaternary period. + +Since the advent of man on the earth, we have, therefore, to deal +with periods of incalculable length. Vast changes in the climate +and fauna were produced by the slow operation of causes such as +are in action at the present day. Figures cannot enable us to +appreciate these enormous lapses of time. + +It seems to be satisfactorily established, that a race allied to +the Basques may be traced back to the Neolithic age. At that time +the British Islands were undergoing a change of level, like that +at present occurring in the Scandinavian Peninsula. Scotland was +rising, England was sinking. In the Pleistocene age there existed +in Central Europe a rude race of hunters and fishers closely +allied to the Esquimaux. + +In the old glacial drift of Scotland the relics of man are found +along with those of the fossil elephant. This carries us back to +that time above referred to, when a large portion of Europe was +covered with ice, which had edged down from the polar regions to +southerly latitudes, and, as glaciers, descended from the summits +of the mountain-chains into the plains. Countless species of +animals perished in this cataclysm of ice and snow, but man +survived. + +In his primitive savage condition, living for the most part on +fruits, roots, shell-fish, man was in possession of a fact which +was certain eventually to insure his civilization. He knew how to +make a fire. In peat- beds, under the remains of trees that in +those localities have long ago become extinct, his relics are +still found, the implements that accompany him indicating a +distinct chronological order. Near the surface are those of +bronze, lower down those of bone or horn, still lower those of +polished stone, and beneath all those of chipped or rough stone. +The date of the origin of some of these beds cannot be estimated +at less than forty or fifty thousand years. + +The caves that have been examined in France and elsewhere have +furnished for the Stone age axes, knives, lance and arrow points, +scrapers, hammers. The change from what may be termed the chipped +to the polished stone period is very gradual. It coincides with +the domestication of the dog, an epoch in hunting-life. It +embraces thousands of centuries. The appearance of arrow-heads +indicates the invention of the bow, and the rise of man from a +defensive to an offensive mode of life. The introduction of +barbed arrows shows how inventive talent was displaying itself; +bone and horn tips, that the huntsman was including smaller +animals, and perhaps birds, in his chase; bone whistles, his +companionship with other huntsmen or with his dog. The +scraping-knives of flint indicate the use of skin for clothing, +and rude bodkins and needles its manufacture. Shells perforated +for bracelets and necklaces prove how soon a taste for personal +adornment was acquired; the implements necessary for the +preparation of pigments suggest the painting of the body, and +perhaps tattooing; and batons of rank bear witness to the +beginning of a social organization. + +With the utmost interest we look upon the first germs of art +among these primitive men. They have left its rude sketches on +pieces of ivory and flakes of bone, and carvings, of the animals +contemporary with them. In these prehistoric delineations, +sometimes not without spirit, we have mammoths, combats of +reindeer. One presents us with a man harpooning a fish, another a +hunting-scene of naked men armed with the dart. Man is the only +animal who has the propensity of depicting external forms, and of +availing himself of the use of fire. + +Shell-mounds, consisting of bones and shells, some of which may +be justly described as of vast extent, and of a date anterior to +the Bronze age, and full of stone implements, bear in all their +parts indications of the use of fire. These are often adjacent to +the existing coasts sometimes, however, they are far inland, in +certain instances as far as fifty miles. Their contents and +position indicate for them a date posterior to that of the great +extinct mammals, but prior to the domesticated. Some of these, it +is said, cannot be less than one hundred thousand years old. + +The lake-dwellings in Switzerland--huts built on piles or logs, +wattled with boughs--were, as may be inferred from the +accompanying implements, begun in the Stone age, and continued +into that of Bronze. In the latter period the evidences become +numerous of the adoption of an agricultural life. + +It must not be supposed that the periods into which geologists +have found it convenient to divide the progress of man in +civilization are abrupt epochs, which hold good simultaneously +for the whole human race. Thus the wandering Indians of America +are only at the present moment emerging from the Stone age. They +are still to be seen in many places armed with arrows, tipped +with flakes of flint. It is but as yesterday that some have +obtained, from the white man, iron, fire-arms, and the horse. + +So far as investigations have gone, they indisputably refer the +existence of man to a date remote from us by many hundreds of +thousands of years. It must be borne in mind that these +investigations are quite recent, and confined to a very limited +geographical space. No researches have yet been made in those +regions which might reasonably be regarded as the primitive +habitat of man. + +We are thus carried back immeasurably beyond the six thousand +years of Patristic chronology. It is difficult to assign a +shorter date for the last glaciation of Europe than a quarter of +a million of years, and human existence antedates that. But not +only is it this grand fact that confronts us, we have to admit +also a primitive animalized state, and a slow, a gradual +development. But this forlorn, this savage condition of humanity +is in strong contrast to the paradisiacal happiness of the garden +of Eden, and, what is far in ore serious, it is inconsistent with +the theory of the Fall. + + +I have been induced to place the subject of this chapter out of +its proper chronological order, for the sake of presenting what I +had to say respecting the nature of the world more completely by +itself. The discussions that arose as to the age of the earth +were long after the conflict as to the criterion of truth--that +is, after the Reformation; indeed, they were substantially +included in the present century. They have been conducted with so +much moderation as to justify the term I have used in the title +of this chapter, "Controversy," rather than "Conflict." Geology +has not had to encounter the vindictive opposition with which +astronomy was assailed, and, though, on her part, she has +insisted on a concession of great antiquity for the earth, she +has herself pointed out the unreliability of all numerical +estimates thus far offered. The attentive reader of this chapter +cannot have failed to observe inconsistencies in the numbers +quoted. Though wanting the merit of exactness, those numbers, +however, justify the claim of vast antiquity, and draw us to the +conclusion that the time-scale of the world answers to the +space-scale in magnitude. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +CONFLICT RESPECTING THE CRITERION OF TRUTH. + +Ancient philosophy declares that man has no means of ascertaining +the truth. + +Differences of belief arise among the early Christians--An +ineffectual attempt is made to remedy them by Councils.--Miracle +and ordeal proof introduced. + +The papacy resorts to auricular confession and the +Inquisition.--It perpetrates frightful atrocities for the +suppression of differences of opinion. + +Effect of the discovery of the Pandects of Justinian and +development of the canon law on the nature of evidence.--It +becomes more scientific. + +The Reformation establishes the rights of individual +reason.--Catholicism asserts that the criterion of truth is in +the Church. It restrains the reading of books by the Index +Expurgatorius, and combats dissent by such means as the massacre +of St. Bartholomew's Eve. + +Examination of the authenticity of the Pentateuch as the +Protestant criterion.--Spurious character of those books. + +For Science the criterion of truth is to be found in the +revelations of Nature: for the Protestant, it is in the +Scriptures; for the Catholic, in an infallible Pope. + + +"WHAT is truth?" was the passionate demand of a Roman procurator +on one of the most momentous occasions in history. And the Divine +Person who stood before him, to whom the interrogation was +addressed, made no reply--unless, indeed, silence contained the +reply. + +Often and vainly had that demand been made before--often and +vainly has it been made since. No one has yet given a +satisfactory answer. + +When, at the dawn of science in Greece, the ancient religion was +disappearing like a mist at sunrise, the pious and thoughtful men +of that country were thrown into a condition of intellectual +despair. Anaxagoras plaintively exclaims, "Nothing can be known, +nothing can be learned, nothing can be certain, sense is limited, +intellect is weak, life is short." Xenophanes tells us that it is +impossible for us to be certain even when we utter the truth. +Parmenides declares that the very constitution of man prevents +him from ascertaining absolute truth. Empedocles affirms that all +philosophical and religious systems must be unreliable, because +we have no criterion by which to test them. Democritus asserts +that even things that are true cannot impart certainty to us; +that the final result of human inquiry is the discovery that man +is incapable of absolute knowledge; that, even if the truth be in +his possession, he cannot be certain of it. Pyrrho bids us +reflect on the necessity of suspending our judgment of things, +since we have no criterion of truth; so deep a distrust did he +impart to his followers, that they were in the habit of saying, +"We assert nothing; no, not even that we assert nothing." +Epicurus taught his disciples that truth can never be determined +by reason. Arcesilaus, denying both intellectual and sensuous +knowledge, publicly avowed that he knew nothing, not even his own +ignorance! The general conclusion to which Greek philosophy came +was this--that, in view of the contradiction of the evidence of +the senses, we cannot distinguish the true from the false; and +such is the imperfection of reason, that we cannot affirm the +correctness of any philosophical deduction. + +It might be supposed that a revelation from God to man would come +with such force and clearness as to settle all uncertainties and +overwhelm all opposition. A Greek philosopher, less despairing +than others, had ventured to affirm that the coexistence of two +forms of faith, both claiming to be revealed by the omnipotent +God, proves that neither of them is true. But let us remember +that it is difficult for men to come to the, same conclusion as +regards even material and visible things, unless they stand at +the same point of view. If discord and distrust were the +condition of philosophy three hundred years before the birth of +Christ, discord and distrust were the condition of religion three +hundred years after his death. This is what Hilary, the Bishop of +Poictiers, in his well-known passage written about the time of +the Nicene Council, says: + +"It is a thing equally deplorable and dangerous that there are, +as many creeds as opinions among men, as many doctrines as +inclinations, and as many sources of blasphemy as there are +faults among us, because we make creeds arbitrarily and explain +them as arbitrarily. Every year, nay, every moon, we make new +creeds to describe invisible mysteries; we repent of what we have +done; we defend those who repent; we anathematize those whom we +defend; we condemn either the doctrines of others in ourselves, +or our own in that of others; and, reciprocally tearing each +other to pieces, we have been the cause of each other's ruin." + +These are not mere words; but the import of this self-accusation +can be realized fully only by such as are familiar with the +ecclesiastical history of those times. As soon as the first +fervor of Christianity as a system of benevolence had declined, +dissensions appeared. Ecclesiastical historians assert that "as +early as the second century began the contest between faith and +reason, religion and philosophy, piety and genius." To compose +these dissensions, to obtain some authoritative expression, some +criterion of truth, assemblies for consultation were resorted to, +which eventually took the form of councils. For a long time they +had nothing more than an advisory authority; but, when, in the +fourth century, Christianity had attained to imperial rule, their +dictates became compulsory, being enforced by the civil power. By +this the whole face of the Church was changed. Oecumenical +councils--parliaments of Christianity--consisting of delegates +from all the churches in the world, were summoned by the +authority of the emperor; he presided either personally or +nominally in them--composed all differences, and was, in fact, +the Pope of Christendom. Mosheim, the historian, to whom I have +more particularly referred above, speaking of these times, +remarks that "there was nothing to exclude the ignorant from +ecclesiastical preferment; the savage and illiterate party, who +looked on all kinds of learning, particularly philosophy, as +pernicious to piety, was increasing; " and, accordingly, "the +disputes carried on in the Council of Nicea offered a remarkable +example of the greatest ignorance and utter confusion of ideas, +particularly in the language and explanations of those who +approved of the decisions of that council." Vast as its influence +has been, "the ancient critics are neither agreed concerning the +time nor place in which it was assembled, the number of those who +sat in it, nor the bishop who presided. No authentic acts of its +famous sentence have been committed to writing, or, at least, +none have been transmitted to our times." The Church had now +become what, in the language of modern politicians, would be +called "a confederated republic." The will of the council was +determined by a majority vote, and, to secure that, all manner of +intrigues and impositions were resorted to; the influence of +court females, bribery, and violence, were not spared. The +Council of Nicea had scarcely adjourned,--when it was plain to +all impartial men that, as a method of establishing a criterion +of truth in religious matters, such councils were a total +failure. The minority had no rights which the majority need +respect. The protest of many good men, that a mere majority vote +given by delegates, whose right to vote had never been examined +and authorized, could not be received as ascertaining absolute +truth, was passed over with contempt, and the consequence was, +that council was assembled against council, and their jarring and +contradictory decrees spread perplexity and confusion throughout +the Christian world. In the fourth century alone there were +thirteen councils adverse to Arius, fifteen in his favor, and +seventeen for the semi-Arians--in all, forty-five. Minorities +were perpetually attempting to use the weapon which majorities +had abused. + +The impartial ecclesiastical historian above quoted, moreover, +says that "two monstrous and calamitous errors were adopted in +this fourth century: 1. That it was an act of virtue to deceive +and lie when, by that means, the interests of the Church might be +promoted. 2. That errors in religion, when maintained and adhered +to after proper admonition, were punishable with civil penalties +and corporal tortures." + +Not without astonishment can we look back at what, in those +times, were popularly regarded as criteria of truth. Doctrines +were considered as established by the number of martyrs who had +professed them, by miracles, by the confession of demons, of +lunatics, or of persons possessed of evil spirits: thus, St. +Ambrose, in his disputes with the Arians, produced men possessed +by devils, who, on the approach of the relics of certain martyrs, +acknowledged, with loud cries, that the Nicean doctrine of the +three persons of the Godhead was true. But the Arians charged him +with suborning these infernal witnesses with a weighty bribe. +Already, ordeal tribunals were making their appearance. During +the following six centuries they were held as a final resort for +establishing guilt or innocence, under the forms of trial by cold +water, by duel, by the fire, by the cross. + +What an utter ignorance of the nature of evidence and its laws +have we here! An accused man sinks or swims when thrown into a +pond of water; he is burnt or escapes unharmed when he holds a +piece of red-hot iron in his hand; a champion whom he has hired +is vanquished or vanquishes in single fight; he can keep his arms +outstretched like a cross, or fails to do so longer than his +accuser, and his innocence or guilt of some imputed crime is +established! Are these criteria of truth? + +Is it surprising that all Europe was filled with imposture +miracles during those ages?--miracles that are a disgrace to the +common-sense of man! + +But the inevitable day came at length. Assertions and doctrines +based upon such preposterous evidence were involved in the +discredit that fell upon the evidence itself. As the thirteenth +century is approached, we find unbelief in all directions setting +in. First, it is plainly seen among the monastic orders, then it +spreads rapidly among the common people. Books, such as "The +Everlasting Gospel," appear among the former; sects, such as the +Catharists, Waldenses, Petrobrussians, arise among the latter. +They agreed in this, "that the public and established religion +was a motley system of errors and superstitions, and that the +dominion which the pope had usurped over Christians was unlawful +and tyrannical; that the claim put forth by Rome, that the Bishop +of Rome is the supreme lord of the universe, and that neither +princes nor bishops, civil governors nor ecclesiastical rulers, +have any lawful power in church or state but what they receive +from him, is utterly without foundation, and a usurpation of the +rights of man." + +To withstand this flood of impiety, the papal government +established two institutions: 1. The Inquisition; 2. Auricular +confession--the latter as a means of detection, the former as a +tribunal for punishment. + +In general terms, the commission of the Inquisition was, to +extirpate religious dissent by terrorism, and surround heresy +with the most horrible associations; this necessarily implied the +power of determining what constitutes heresy. The criterion of +truth was thus in possession of this tribunal, which was charged +"to discover and bring to judgment heretics lurking in towns, +houses, cellars, woods, caves, and fields." With such savage +alacrity did it carry out its object of protecting the interests +of religion, that between 1481 and 1808 it had punished three +hundred and forty thousand persons, and of these nearly +thirty-two thousand had been burnt! In its earlier days, when +public opinion could find no means of protesting against its +atrocities, "it often put to death, without appeal, on the very +day that they were accused, nobles, clerks, monks, hermits, and +lay persons of every rank." In whatever direction thoughtful men +looked, the air was full of fearful shadows. No one could indulge +in freedom of thought without expecting punishment. So dreadful +were the proceedings of the Inquisition, that the exclamation of +Pagliarici was the exclamation of thousands: "It is hardly +possible for a man to be a Christian, and die in his bed." + +The Inquisition destroyed the sectaries of Southern France in the +thirteenth century. Its unscrupulous atrocities extirpated +Protestantism in Italy and Spain. Nor did it confine itself to +religious affairs; it engaged in the suppression of political +discontent. Nicolas Eymeric, who was inquisitor-general of the +kingdom of Aragon for nearly fifty years, and who died in 1399, +has left a frightful statement of its conduct and appalling +cruelties in his "Directorium Inquisitorum." + +This disgrace of Christianity, and indeed of the human race, had +different constitutions in different countries. The papal +Inquisition continued the tyranny, and eventually superseded the +old episcopal inquisitions. The authority of the bishops was +unceremoniously put aside by the officers of the pope. + +By the action of the fourth Lateran Council, A.D. 1215, the power +of the Inquisition was frightfully increased, the necessity of +private confession to a priest--auricular confession--being at +that time formally established. This, so far as domestic life was +concerned, gave omnipresence and omniscience to the Inquisition. +Not a man was safe. In the hands of the priest, who, at the +confessional, could extract or extort from them their most secret +thoughts, his wife and his servants were turned into spies. +Summoned before the dread tribunal, he was simply informed that +he lay under strong suspicions of heresy. No accuser was named; +but the thumb-screw, the stretching-rope, the boot and wedge, or +other enginery of torture, soon supplied that defect, and, +innocent or guilty, he accused himself! + +Notwithstanding all this power, the Inquisition failed of its +purpose. When the heretic could no longer confront it, he evaded +it. A dismal disbelief stealthily pervaded all Europe,--a denial +of Providence, of the immortality of the soul, of human +free-will, and that man can possibly resist the absolute +necessity, the destiny which envelops him. Ideas such as these +were cherished in silence by multitudes of persons driven to them +by the tyrannical acts of ecclesiasticism. In spite of +persecution, the Waldenses still survived to propagate their +declaration that the Roman Church, since Constantine, had +degenerated from its purity and sanctity; to protest against the +sale of indulgences, which they said had nearly abolished prayer, +fasting, alms; to affirm that it was utterly useless to pray for +the souls of the dead, since they must already have gone either +to heaven or hell. Though it was generally believed that +philosophy or science was pernicious to the interests of +Christianity or true piety, the Mohammedan literature then +prevailing in Spain was making converts among all classes of +society. We see very plainly its influence in many of the sects +that then arose; thus, "the Brethren and Sisters of the Free. +Spirit" held that "the universe came by emanation from God, and +would finally return to him by absorption; that rational souls +are so many portions of the Supreme Deity; and that the universe, +considered as one great whole, is God." These are ideas that can +only be entertained in an advanced intellectual condition. Of +this sect it is said that many suffered burning with unclouded +serenity, with triumphant feelings of cheerfulness and joy. Their +orthodox enemies accused them of gratifying their passions at +midnight assemblages in darkened rooms, to which both sexes in a +condition of nudity repaired. A similar accusation, as is well +known, was brought against the primitive Christians by the +fashionable society of Rome. + +The influences of the Averroistic philosophy were apparent in +many of these sects. That Mohammedan system, considered from a +Christian point of view, led to the heretical belief that the end +of the precepts of Christianity is the union of the soul with the +Supreme Being; that God and Nature have the same relations to +each other as the soul and the body; that there is but one +individual intelligence; and that one soul performs all the +spiritual and rational functions in all the human race. When, +subsequently, toward the time of the Reformation, the Italian +Averroists were required by the Inquisition to give an account of +themselves, they attempted to show that there is a wide +distinction between philosophical and religious truth; that +things may be philosophically true, and yet theologically false-- +an exculpatory device condemned at length by the Lateran Council +in the time of Leo X. + +But, in spite of auricular confession, and the Inquisition, these +heretical tendencies survived. It has been truly said that, at +the epoch of the Reformation, there lay concealed, in many parts +of Europe, persons who entertained the most virulent enmity +against Christianity. In this pernicious class were many +Aristotelians, such as Pomponatius; many philosophers and wits, +such as Bodin, Rabelais, Montaigne; many Italians, as Leo X., +Bembo, Bruno. + +Miracle-evidence began to fall into discredit during the eleventh +and twelfth centuries. The sarcasms of the Hispano-Moorish +philosophers had forcibly drawn the attention of many of the more +enlightened ecclesiastics to its illusory nature. The discovery +of the Pandects of Justinian, at Amalfi, in 1130, doubtless +exerted a very powerful influence in promoting the study of Roman +jurisprudence, and disseminating better notions as to the +character of legal or philosophical evidence. Hallam has cast +some doubt on the well-known story of this discovery, but he +admits that the celebrated copy in the Laurentian library, at +Florence, is the only one containing the entire fifty books. +Twenty years subsequently, the monk Gratian collected together +the various papal edicts, the canons of councils, the +declarations of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, in a +volume called "The Decretum," considered as the earliest +authority in canon law. In the next century Gregory IX. published +five books of Decretals, and Boniface VIII. subsequently added a +sixth. To these followed the Clementine Constitutions, a seventh +book of Decretals, and "A Book of Institutes," published +together, by Gregory XIII., in 1580, under the title of "Corpus +Juris Canonici." The canon law had gradually gained enormous +power through the control it had obtained over wills, the +guardianship of orphans, marriages, and divorces. + +The rejection of miracle-evidence, and the substitution of legal +evidence in its stead, accelerated the approach of the +Reformation. No longer was it possible to admit the requirement +which, in former days, Anselm, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in +his treatise, "Cur Deus Homo," had enforced, that we must first +believe without examination, and may afterward endeavor to +understand what we have thus believed. When Cajetan said to +Luther, "Thou must believe that one single drop of Christ's blood +is sufficient to redeem the whole human race, and the remaining +quantity that was shed in the garden and on the cross was left as +a legacy to the pope, to be a treasure from which indulgences +were to be drawn," the soul of the sturdy German monk revolted +against such a monstrous assertion, nor would he have believed it +though a thousand miracles had been worked in its support. This +shameful practice of selling indulgences for the commission of +sin originated among the bishops, who, when they had need of +money for their private pleasures, obtained it in that way. +Abbots and monks, to whom this gainful commerce was denied, +raised funds by carrying about relics in solemn procession, and +charging a fee for touching them. The popes, in their pecuniary +straits, perceiving how lucrative the practice might become, +deprived the bishops of the right of making such sales, and +appropriated it to themselves, establishing agencies, chiefly +among the mendicant orders, for the traffic. Among these orders +there was a sharp competition, each boasting of the superior +value of its indulgences through its greater influence at the +court of heaven, its familiar connection with the Virgin Mary and +the saints in glory. Even against Luther himself, who had been an +Augustinian monk, a calumny was circulated that he was first +alienated from the Church by a traffic of this kind having been +conferred on the Dominicans, instead of on his own order, at the +time when Leo X. was raising funds by this means for building St. +Peter's, at Rome, A.D. 1517. and there is reason to think that +Leo himself, in the earlier stages of the Reformation, attached +weight to that allegation. + +Indulgences were thus the immediate inciting cause of the +Reformation, but very soon there came into light the real +principle that was animating the controversy. It lay in the +question, Does the Bible owe its authenticity to the Church? or +does the Church owe her authenticity to the Bible? Where is the +criterion of truth? + +It is not necessary for me here to relate the well known +particulars of that controversy, the desolating wars and scenes +of blood to which it gave rise: how Luther posted on the door of +the cathedral of Wittemberg ninety-five theses, and was summoned +to Rome to answer for his offense; how he appealed from the pope, +ill-informed at the time, to the pope when he should have been +better instructed; how he was condemned as a heretic, and +thereupon appealed to a general council; how, through the +disputes about purgatory, transubstantiation, auricular +confession, absolution, the fundamental idea which lay at the +bottom of the whole movement came into relief, the right of +individual judgment; how Luther was now excommunicated, A.D. +1520, and in defiance burnt the bull of excommunication and the +volumes of the canon law, which he denounced as aiming at the +subversion of all civil government, and the exaltation of the +papacy; how by this skillful manoeuvre he brought over many of +the German princes to his views; how, summoned before the +Imperial Diet at Worms, he refused to retract, and, while he was +bidden in the castle of Wartburg, his doctrines were spreading, +and a reformation under Zwingli broke out in Switzerland; how the +principle of sectarian decomposition embedded in the movement +gave rise to rivalries and dissensions between the Germans and +the Swiss, and even divided the latter among themselves under the +leadership of Zwingli and of Calvin; how the Conference of +Marburg, the Diet of Spires, and that at Augsburg, failed to +compose the troubles, and eventually the German Reformation +assumed a political organization at Smalcalde. The quarrels +between the Lutherans and the Calvinists gave hopes to Rome that +she might recover her losses. + +Leo was not slow to discern that the Lutheran Reformation was +something more serious than a squabble among some monks about the +profits of indulgence-sales, and the papacy set itself seriously +at work to overcome the revolters. It instigated the frightful +wars that for so many years desolated Europe, and left +animosities which neither the Treaty of Westphalia, nor the +Council of Trent after eighteen years of debate, could compose. +No one can read without a shudder the attempts that were made to +extend the Inquisition in foreign countries. All Europe, Catholic +and Protestant, was horror- stricken at the Huguenot massacre of +St. Bartholomew's Eve (A.D. 1572). For perfidy and atrocity it +has no equal in the annals of the world. + +The desperate attempt in which the papacy had been engaged to put +down its opponents by instigating civil wars, massacres, and +assassinations, proved to be altogether abortive. Nor had the +Council of Trent any better result. Ostensibly summoned to +correct, illustrate, and fix with perspicacity the doctrine of +the Church, to restore the vigor of its discipline, and to reform +the lives of its ministers, it was so manipulated that a large +majority of its members were Italians, and under the influence of +the pope. Hence the Protestants could not possibly accept its +decisions. + +The issue of the Reformation was the acceptance by all the +Protestant Churches of the dogma that the Bible is a sufficient +guide for every Christian man. Tradition was rejected, and the +right of private interpretation assured. It was thought that the +criterion of truth had at length been obtained. + +The authority thus imputed to the Scriptures was not restricted +to matters of a purely religious or moral kind; it extended over +philosophical facts and to the interpretation of Nature. Many +went as far as in the old times Epiphanius had done: he believed +that the Bible contained a complete system of mineralogy! The +Reformers would tolerate no science that was not in accordance +with Genesis. Among them there were many who maintained that +religion and piety could never flourish unless separated from +learning and science. The fatal maxim that the Bible contained +the sum and substance of all knowledge, useful or possible to +man--a maxim employed with such pernicious effect of old by +Tertullian and by St. Augustine, and which had so often been +enforced by papal authority--was still strictly insisted upon. +The leaders of the Reformation, Luther and Melanchthon, were +determined to banish philosophy from the Church. Luther declared +that the study of Aristotle is wholly useless; his vilification +of that Greek philosopher knew no bounds. He is, says Luther, +"truly a devil, a horrid calumniator, a wicked sycophant, a +prince of darkness, a real Apollyon, a beast, a most horrid +impostor on mankind, one in whom there is scarcely any +philosophy, a public and professed liar, a goat, a complete +epicure, this twice execrable Aristotle." The schoolmen were, so +Luther said, "locusts, caterpillars, frogs, lice." He entertained +an abhorrence for them. These opinions, though not so +emphatically expressed, were entertained by Calvin. So far as +science is concerned, nothing is owed to the Reformation. The +Procrustean bed of the Pentateuch was still before her. + +In the annals of Christianity the most ill-omened day is that in +which she separated herself from science. She compelled Origen, +at that time (A.D. 231) its chief representative and supporter in +the Church, to abandon his charge in Alexandria, and retire to +Caesarea. In vain through many subsequent centuries did her +leading men spend themselves in--as the phrase then +went--"drawing forth the internal juice and marrow of the +Scriptures for the explaining of things." Universal history from +the third to the sixteenth century shows with what result. The +dark ages owe their darkness to this fatal policy. Here and +there, it is true, there were great men, such as Frederick II. +and Alphonso X., who, standing at a very elevated and general +point of view, had detected the value of learning to +civilization, and, in the midst of the dreary prospect that +ecclesiasticism had created around them, had recognized that +science alone can improve the social condition of man. + +The infliction of the death-punishment for difference of opinion +was still resorted to. When Calvin caused Servetus to be burnt at +Geneva, it was obvious to every one that the spirit of +persecution was unimpaired. The offense of that philosopher lay +in his belief. This was, that the genuine doctrines of +Christianity had been lost even before the time of the Council of +Nicea; that the Holy Ghost animates the whole system of Nature, +like a soul of the world, and that, with the Christ, it will be +absorbed, at the end of all things, into the substance of the +Deity, from which they had emanated. For this he was roasted to +death over a slow fire. Was there any distinction between this +Protestant auto-da-fe and the Catholic one of Vanini, who was +burnt at Toulouse, by the Inquisition, in 1629, for his +"Dialogues concerning Nature?" + +The invention of printing, the dissemination of books, had +introduced a class of dangers which the persecution of the +Inquisition could not reach. In 1559, Pope Paul IV. instituted +the Congregation of the Index Expurgatorius. "Its duty is to +examine books and manuscripts intended for publication, and to +decide whether the people may be permitted to read them; to +correct those books of which the errors are not numerous, and +which contain certain useful and salutary truths, so as to bring +them into harmony with the doctrines of the Church; to condemn +those of which the principles are heretical and pernicious; and +to grant the peculiar privilege of perusing heretical books to +certain persons. This congregation, which is sometimes held in +presence of the pope, but generally in the palace of the +Cardinal-president, has a more extensive jurisdiction than that +of the Inquisition, as it not only takes cognizance of those +books that contain doctrines contrary to the Roman Catholic +faith, but of those that concern the duties of morality, the +discipline of the Church, the interests of society. Its name is +derived from the alphabetical tables or indexes of heretical +books and authors composed by its appointment." + +The Index Expurgatorius of prohibited books at first indicated +those works which it was unlawful to read; but, on this being +found insufficient, whatever was not permitted was prohibited--an +audacious attempt to prevent all knowledge, except such as suited +the purposes of the Church, from reaching the people. + +The two rival divisions of the Christian Church-- Protestant and +Catholic--were thus in accord on one point: to tolerate no +science except such as they considered to be agreeable to the +Scriptures. The Catholic, being in possession of centralized +power, could make its decisions respected wherever its sway was +acknowledged, and enforce the monitions of the Index +Expurgatorius; the Protestant, whose influence was diffused among +many foci in different nations, could not act in such a direct +and resolute manner. Its mode of procedure was, by raising a +theological odium against an offender, to put him under a social +ban--a course perhaps not less effectual than the other. + +As we have seen in former chapters, an antagonism between +religion and science had existed from the earliest days of +Christianity. On every occasion permitting its display it may be +detected through successive centuries. We witness it in the +downfall of the Alexandrian Museum, in the cases of Erigena and +Wiclif, in the contemptuous rejection by the heretics of the +thirteenth century of the Scriptural account of the Creation; but +it was not until the epoch of Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo, +that the efforts of Science to burst from the thraldom in which +she was fettered became uncontrollable. In all countries the +political power of the Church had greatly declined; her leading +men perceived that the cloudy foundation on which she had stood +was dissolving away. Repressive measures against her antagonists, +in old times resorted to with effect, could be no longer +advantageously employed. To her interests the burning of a +philosopher here and there did more harm than good. In her great +conflict with astronomy, a conflict in which Galileo stands as +the central figure, she received an utter overthrow; and, as we +have seen, when the immortal work of Newton was printed, she +could offer no resistance, though Leibnitz affirmed, in the face +of Europe, that "Newton had robbed the Deity of some of his most +excellent attributes, and had sapped the foundation of natural +religion." + +From the time of Newton to our own time, the divergence of +science from the dogmas of the Church has continually increased. +The Church declared that the earth is the central and most +important body in the universe; that the sun and moon and stars +are tributary to it. On these points she was worsted by +astronomy. She affirmed that a universal deluge had covered the +earth; that the only surviving animals were such as had been +saved in an ark. In this her error was established by geology. +She taught that there was a first man, who, some six or eight +thousand years ago, was suddenly created or called into existence +in a condition of physical and moral perfection, and from that +condition he fell. But anthropology has shown that human beings +existed far back in geological time, and in a savage state but +little better than that of the brute. + +Many good and well-meaning men have attempted to reconcile the +statements of Genesis with the discoveries of science, but it is +in vain. The divergence has increased so much, that it has become +an absolute opposition. One of the antagonists must give way. + +May we not, then, be permitted to examine the authenticity of +this book, which, since the second century, has been put forth as +the criterion of scientific truth? To maintain itself in a +position so exalted, it must challenge human criticism. + +In the early Christian ages, many of the most eminent Fathers of +the Church had serious doubts respecting the authorship of the +entire Pentateuch. I have not space, in the limited compass of +these pages, to present in detail the facts and arguments that +were then and have since been adduced. The literature of the +subject is now very extensive. I may, however, refer the reader +to the work of the pious and learned Dean Prideaux, on "The Old +and New Testament connected," a work which is one of the literary +ornaments of the last century. He will also find the subject more +recently and exhaustively discussed by Bishop Colenso. The +following paragraphs will convey a sufficiently distinct +impression of the present state of the controversy: + +The Pentateuch is affirmed to have been written by Moses, under +the influence of divine inspiration. Considered thus, as a record +vouchsafed and dictated by the Almighty, it commands not only +scientific but universal consent. + +But here, in the first place, it may be demanded, Who or what is +it that has put forth this great claim in its behalf? + +Not the work itself. It nowhere claims the authorship of one man, +or makes the impious declaration that it is the writing of +Almighty God. + +Not until after the second century was there any such extravagant +demand on human credulity. It originated, not among the higher +ranks of Christian philosophers, but among the more fervid +Fathers of the Church, whose own writings prove them to have been +unlearned and uncritical persons. + +Every age, from the second century to our times, has offered men +of great ability, both Christian and Jewish, who have altogether +repudiated these claims. Their decision has been founded upon the +intrinsic evidence of the books themselves. These furnish plain +indications of at least two distinct authors, who have been +respectively termed Elohistic and Jehovistic. Hupfeld maintains +that the Jehovistic narrative bears marks of having been a second +original record, wholly independent of the Elohistic. The two +sources from which the narratives have been derived are, in many +respects, contradictory of each other. Moreover, it is asserted +that the books of the Pentateuch are never ascribed to Moses in +the inscriptions of Hebrew manuscripts, or in printed copies of +the Hebrew Bible, nor are they styled "Books of Moses" in the +Septuagint or Vulgate, but only in modern translations. + +It is clear that they cannot be imputed to the sole authorship of +Moses, since they record his death. It is clear that they were +not written until many hundred years after that event, since they +contain references to facts which did not occur until after the +establishment of the government of kings among the Jews. + +No man may dare to impute them to the inspiration of Almighty +God--their inconsistencies, incongruities, contradictions, and +impossibilities, as exposed by many learned and pious moderns, +both German and English, are so great. It is the decision of +these critics that Genesis is a narrative based upon legends; +that Exodus is not historically true; that the whole Pentateuch +is unhistoric and non-Mosaic; it contains the most extraordinary +contradictions and impossibilities, sufficient to involve the +credibility of the whole--imperfections so many and so +conspicuous that they would destroy the authenticity of any +modern historical work. + +Hengstenberg, in his "Dissertations on the Genuineness of the +Pentateuch," says: "It is the unavoidable fate of a spurious +historical work of any length to be involved in contradictions. +This must be the case to a very great extent with the Pentateuch, +if it be not genuine. If the Pentateuch is spurious, its +histories and laws have been fabricated in successive portions, +and were committed to writing in the course of many centuries by +different individuals. From such a mode of origination, a mass of +contradictions is inseparable, and the improving hand of a later +editor could never be capable of entirely obliterating them." + +To the above conclusions I may add that we are expressly told by +Ezra (Esdras ii. 14) that he himself, aided by five other +persons, wrote these books in the space of forty days. He says +that at the time of the Babylonian captivity the ancient sacred +writings of the Jews were burnt, and gives a particular detail of +the circumstances under which these were composed. He sets forth +that he undertook to write all that had been done in the world +since the beginning. It may be said that the books of Esdras are +apocryphal, but in return it may be demanded, Has that conclusion +been reached on evidence that will withstand modern criticism? In +the early ages of Christianity, when the story of the fall of man +was not considered as essential to the Christian system, and the +doctrine of the atonement had not attained that precision which +Anselm eventually gave it, it was very generally admitted by the +Fathers of the Church that Ezra probably did so compose the +Pentateuch. Thus St. Jerome says, "Sive Mosem dicere volueris +auctorem Pentateuchi, sive Esdram ejusdem instauratorem operis, +non recuso." Clemens Alexandrinus says that when these books had +been destroyed in the captivity of Nebuchadnezzar, Esdras, having +become inspired prophetically, reproduced them. Irenaeus says the +same. + +The incidents contained in Genesis, from the first to the tenth +chapters inclusive (chapters which, in their bearing upon +science, are of more importance than other portions of the +Pentateuch), have been obviously compiled from short, fragmentary +legends of various authorship. To the critical eye they all, +however, present peculiarities which demonstrate that they were +written on the banks of the Euphrates, and not in the Desert of +Arabia. They contain many Chaldaisms. An Egyptian would not speak +of the Mediterranean Sea as being west of him, an Assyrian would. +Their scenery and machinery, if such expressions may with +propriety be used, are altogether Assyrian, not Egyptian. They +were such records as one might expect to meet with in the +cuneiform impressions of the tile libraries of the Mesopotamian +kings. It is affirmed that one such legend, that of the Deluge, +has already been exhumed, and it is not beyond the bounds of +probability that the remainder may in like manner be obtained. + +From such Assyrian sources, the legends of the creation of the +earth and heaven, the garden of Eden, the making of man from +clay, and of woman from one of his ribs, the temptation by the +serpent, the naming of animals, the cherubim and flaming sword, +the Deluge and the ark, the drying up of the waters by the wind, +the building of the Tower of Babel, and the confusion of tongues, +were obtained by Ezra. He commences abruptly the proper history +of the Jews in the eleventh chapter. At that point his universal +history ceases; he occupies himself with the story of one family, +the descendants of Shem. + +It is of this restriction that the Duke of Argyll, in his book on +"Primeval Man," very graphically says: + +In the genealogy of the family of Shem we have a list of names +which are names, and nothing more to us. It is a genealogy which +neither does, nor pretends to do, more than to trace the order of +succession among a few families only, out of the millions then +already existing in the world. Nothing but this order of +succession is given, nor is it at all certain that this order is +consecutive or complete. Nothing is told us of all that lay +behind that curtain of thick darkness, in front of which these +names are made to pass; and yet there are, as it were, momentary +liftings, through which we have glimpses of great movements which +were going on, and had been long going on beyond. No shapes are +distinctly seen. Even the direction of those movements can only +be guessed. But voices are heard which are as the voices of many +waters." I agree in the opinion of Hupfeld, that "the discovery +that the Pentateuch is put together out of various sources, or +original documents, is beyond all doubt not only one of the most +important and most pregnant with consequences for the +interpretation of the historical books of the Old Testament, or +rather for the whole of theology and history, but it is also one +of the most certain discoveries which have been made in the +domain of criticism and the history of literature. Whatever the +anticritical party may bring forward to the contrary, it will +maintain itself, and not retrograde again through any thing, so +long as there exists such a thing as criticism; and it will not +be easy for a reader upon the stage of culture on which we stand +in the present day, if he goes to the examination unprejudiced, +and with an uncorrupted power of appreciating the truth, to be +able to ward off its influence." + +What then? shall we give up these books? Does not the admission +that the narrative of the fall in Eden is legendary carry with it +the surrender of that most solemn and sacred of Christian +doctrines, the atonement? + +Let us reflect on this! Christianity, in its earliest days, when +it was converting and conquering the world, knew little or +nothing about that doctrine. We have seen that, in his "Apology," +Tertullian did not think it worth his while to mention it. It +originated among the Gnostic heretics. It was not admitted by the +Alexandrian theological school. It was never prominently advanced +by the Fathers. It was not brought into its present commanding +position until the time of Anselm Philo Judaeus speaks of the +story of the fall as symbolical; Origen regarded it as an +allegory. Perhaps some of the Protestant churches may, with +reason, be accused of inconsistency, since in part they consider +it as mythical, in part real. But, if, with them, we admit that +the serpent is symbolical of Satan, does not that cast an air of +allegory over the whole narrative? + +It is to be regretted that the Christian Church has burdened +itself with the defense of these books, and voluntarily made +itself answerable for their manifest contradictions and errors. +Their vindication, if it were possible, should have been resigned +to the Jews, among whom they originated, and by whom they have +been transmitted to us. Still more, it is to be deeply regretted +that the Pentateuch, a production so imperfect as to be unable to +stand the touch of modern criticism, should be put forth as the +arbiter of science. Let it be remembered that the exposure of the +true character of these books has been made, not by captious +enemies, but by pious and learned churchmen, some of them of the +highest dignity. + +While thus the Protestant churches have insisted on the +acknowledgment of the Scriptures as the criterion of truth, the +Catholic has, in our own times, declared the infallibility of the +pope. It may be said that this infallibility applies only to +moral or religious things; but where shall the line of separation +be drawn? Onmiscience cannot be limited to a restricted group of +questions; in its very nature it implies the knowledge of all, +and infallibility means omniscience. + +Doubtless, if the fundamental principles of Italian Christianity +be admitted, their logical issue is an infallible pope. There is +no need to dwell on the unphilosophical nature of this +conception; it is destroyed by an examination of the political +history of the papacy, and the biography of the popes. The former +exhibits all the errors and mistakes to which institutions of a +confessedly human character have been found liable; the latter is +only ton frequently a story of sin and shame. + +It was not possible that the authoritative promulgation of the +dogma of papal infallibility should meet among enlightened +Catholics universal acceptance. Serious and wide-spread dissent +has been produced. A doctrine so revolting to common-sense could +not find any other result. There are many who affirm that, if +infallibility exists anywhere, it is in oecumenical councils, and +yet such councils have not always agreed with each other. There +are also many who remember that councils have deposed popes, and +have passed judgment on their clamors and contentions. Not +without reason do Protestants demand, What proof can be given +that infallibility exists in the Church at all? what proof is +there that the Church has ever been fairly or justly represented +in any council? and why should the truth be ascertained by the +vote of a majority rather than by that of a minority? How often +it has happened that one man, standing at the right point of +view, has descried the truth, and, after having been denounced +and persecuted by all others, they have eventually been +constrained to adopt his declarations! Of many great discoveries, +has not this been the history? + +It is not for Science to compose these contesting claims; it is +not for her to determine whether the criterion of truth for the +religious man shall be found in the Bible, or in the oecumenical +council, or in the pope. She only asks the right, which she so +willingly accords to others, of adopting a criterion of her own. +If she regards unhistorical legends with disdain; if she +considers the vote of a majority in the ascertainment of truth +with supreme indifference; if she leaves the claim of +infallibility in any human being to be vindicated by the stern +logic of coming events--the cold impassiveness which in these +matters she maintains is what she displays toward her own +doctrines. Without hesitation she would give up the theories of +gravitation or undulations, if she found that they were +irreconcilable with facts. For her the volume of inspiration is +the book of Nature, of which the open scroll is ever spread forth +before the eyes of every man. Confronting all, it needs no +societies for its dissemination. Infinite in extent, eternal in +duration, human ambition and human fanaticism have never been +able to tamper with it. On the earth it is illustrated by all +that is magnificent and beautiful, on the heavens its letters are +suns and worlds. + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +CONTROVERSY RESPECTING THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNIVERSE. + +There are two conceptions of the government of the world: 1. By +Providence; 2. By Law.--The former maintained by the +priesthood.--Sketch of the introduction of the latter. + +Kepler discovers the laws that preside over the solar +system.--His works are denounced by papal authority.--The +foundations of mechanical philosophy are laid by Da +Vinci.--Galileo discovers the fundamental laws of +Dynamics.--Newton applies them to the movements of the celestial +bodies, and shows that the solar system is governed by +mathematical necessity.--Herschel extends that conclusion to the +universe.--The nebular hypothesis.--Theological exceptions to it. + +Evidences of the control of law in the construction of the earth, +and in the development of the animal and plant series.--They +arose by Evolution, not by Creation. + +The reign of law is exhibited by the historic career of human +societies, and in the case of individual man. + +Partial adoption of this view by some of the Reformed Churches. + + +Two interpretations may be given of the mode of government of the +world. It may be by incessant divine interventions, or by the +operation of unvarying law. + +To the adoption of the former a priesthood will always incline, +since it must desire to be considered as standing between the +prayer of the votary and the providential act. Its importance is +magnified by the power it claims of determining what that act +shall be. In the pre Christian (Roman) religion, the grand office +of the priesthood was the discovery of future events by oracles, +omens, or an inspection of the entrails of animals, and by the +offering of sacrifices to propitiate the gods. In the later, the +Christian times, a higher power was claimed; the clergy asserting +that, by their intercessions, they could regulate the course of +affairs, avert dangers, secure benefits, work miracles, and even +change the order of Nature. + +Not without reason, therefore, did they look upon the doctrine of +government by unvarying law with disfavor. It seemed to +depreciate their dignity, to lessen their importance. To them +there was something shocking in a God who cannot be swayed by +human entreaty, a cold, passionless divinity--something frightful +in fatalism, destiny. + +But the orderly movement of the heavens could not fail in all +ages to make a deep impression on thoughtful observers--the +rising and setting of the sun; the increasing or diminishing +light of the day; the waxing and waning of the moon; the return +of the seasons in their proper courses; the measured march of the +wandering planets in the sky--what are all these, and a thousand +such, but manifestations of an orderly and unchanging procession +of events? The faith of early observers in this interpretation +may perhaps have been shaken by the occurrence of such a +phenomenon as an eclipse, a sudden and mysterious breach of the +ordinary course of natural events; but it would be resumed in +tenfold strength as soon as the discovery was made that eclipses +themselves recur, and may be predicted. + +Astronomical predictions of all kinds depend upon the admission +of this fact--that there never has been and never will be any +intervention in the operation of natural laws. The scientific +philosopher affirms that the condition of the world at any given +moment is the direct result of its condition in the preceding +moment, and the direct cause of its condition in the subsequent +moment. Law and chance are only different names for mechanical +necessity. + +About fifty years after the death of Copernicus, John Kepler, a +native of Wurtemberg, who had adopted the heliocentric theory, +and who was deeply impressed with the belief that relationships +exist in the revolutions of the planetary bodies round the sun, +and that these if correctly examined would reveal the laws under +which those movements take place, devoted himself to the study of +the distances, times, and velocities of the planets, and the form +of their orbits. His method was, to submit the observations to +which he had access, such as those of Tycho Brahe, to +computations based first on one and then on another hypothesis, +rejecting the hypothesis if he found that the calculations did +not accord with the observations. The incredible labor he had +undergone (he says, "I considered, and I computed, until I almost +went mad") was at length rewarded, and in 1609 he published his +book, "On the Motions of the Planet Mars." In this he had +attempted to reconcile the movements of that planet to the +hypothesis of eccentrics and epicycles, but eventually discovered +that the orbit of a planet is not a circle but an ellipse, the +sun being in one of the foci, and that the areas swept over by a +line drawn from the planet to the sun are proportional to the +times. These constitute what are now known as the first and +second laws of Kepler. Eight years subsequently, he was rewarded +by the discovery of a third law, defining the relation between +the mean distances of the planets from the sun and the times of +their revolutions; "the squares of the periodic times are +proportional to the cubes of the distances." In "An Epitome of +the Copernican System," published in 1618, he announced this law, +and showed that it holds good for the satellites of Jupiter as +regards their primary. Hence it was inferred that the laws which +preside over the grand movements of the solar system preside also +over the less movements of its constituent parts. + +The conception of law which is unmistakably conveyed by Kepler's +discoveries, and the evidence they gave in support of the +heliocentric as against the geocentric theory, could not fail to +incur the reprehension of the Roman authorities. The congregation +of the Index, therefore, when they denounced the Copernican +system as utterly contrary to the Holy Scriptures, prohibited +Kepler's "Epitome" of that system. It was on this occasion that +Kepler submitted his celebrated remonstrance: "Eighty years have +elapsed during which the doctrines of Copernicus regarding the +movement of the earth and the immobility of the sun have been +promulgated without hinderance, because it was deemed allowable +to dispute concerning natural things, and to elucidate the works +of God, and now that new testimony is discovered in proof of the +truth of those doctrines--testimony which was not known to the +spiritual judges--ye would prohibit the promulgation of the true +system of the structure of the universe." + +None of Kepler's contemporaries believed the law of the areas, +nor was it accepted until the publication of the "Principia" of +Newton. In fact, no one in those times understood the +philosophical meaning of Kepler's laws. He himself did not +foresee what they must inevitably lead to. His mistakes showed +how far he was from perceiving their result. Thus he thought that +each planet is the seat of an intelligent principle, and that +there is a relation between the magnitudes of the orbits of the +five principal planets and the five regular solids of geometry. +At first he inclined to believe that the orbit of Mars is oval, +nor was it until after a wearisome study that he detected the +grand truth, its elliptical form. An idea of the incorruptibility +of the celestial objects had led to the adoption of the +Aristotelian doctrine of the perfection of circular motions, and +to the belief that there were none but circular motions in the +heavens. He bitterly complains of this as having been a fatal +"thief of his time." His philosophical daring is illustrated in +his breaking through this time-honored tradition. + +In some most important particulars Kepler anticipated Newton. He +was the first to give clear ideas respecting gravity. He says +every particle of matter will rest until it is disturbed by some +other particle--that the earth attracts a stone more than the +stone attracts the earth, and that bodies move to each other in +proportion to their masses; that the earth would ascend to the +moon one-fifty-fourth of the distance, and the moon would move +toward the earth the other fifty-three. He affirms that the +moon's attraction causes the tides, and that the planets must +impress irregularities on the moon's motions. + +The progress of astronomy is obviously divisible into three +periods: + +1. The period of observation of the apparent motions of the +heavenly bodies. + +2. The period of discovery of their real motions, and +particularly of the laws of the planetary revolutions; this was +signally illustrated by Copernicus and Kepler. + +3. The period of the ascertainment of the causes of those laws. +It was the epoch of Newton. + +The passage of the second into the third period depended on the +development of the Dynamical branch of mechanics, which had been +in a stagnant condition from the time of Archimedes or the +Alexandrian School. + +In Christian Europe there had not been a cultivator of mechanical +philosophy until Leonardo da Vinci, who was born A.D. 1452. To +him, and not to Lord Bacon, must be attributed the renaissance of +science. Bacon was not only ignorant of mathematics, but +depreciated its application to physical inquiries. He +contemptuously rejected the Copernican system, alleging absurd +objections to it. While Galileo was on the brink of his great +telescopic discoveries, Bacon was publishing doubts as to the +utility of instruments in scientific investigations. To ascribe +the inductive method to him is to ignore history. His fanciful +philosophical suggestions have never been of the slightest +practical use. No one has ever thought of employing them. Except +among English readers, his name is almost unknown. + +To Da Vinci I shall have occasion to allude more particularly on +a subsequent page. Of his works still remaining in manuscript, +two volumes are at Milan, and one in Paris, carried there by +Napoleon. After an interval of about seventy years, Da Vinci was +followed by the Dutch engineer, Stevinus, whose work on the +principles of equilibrium was published in 1586. Six years +afterward appeared Galileo's treatise on mechanics. + +To this great Italian is due the establishment of the three +fundamental laws of dynamics, known as the Laws of Motion. + +The consequences of the establishment of these laws were very +important. + +It had been supposed that continuous movements, such, for +instance, as those of the celestial bodies, could only be +maintained by a perpetual consumption and perpetual application +of force, but the first of Galileo's laws declared that every +body will persevere in its state of rest, or of uniform motion in +a right line, until it is compelled to change that state by +disturbing forces. A clear perception of this fundamental +principle is essential to a comprehension of the elementary facts +of physical astronomy. Since all the motions that we witness +taking place on the surface of the earth soon come to an end, we +are led to infer that rest is the natural condition of things. We +have made, then, a very great advance when we have become +satisfied that a body is equally indifferent to rest as to +motion, and that it equally perseveres in either state until +disturbing forces are applied. Such disturbing forces in the case +of common movements are friction and the resistance of the air. +When no such resistances exist, movement must be perpetual, as is +the case with the heavenly bodies, which are moving in a void. + +Forces, no matter what their difference of magnitude may be, will +exert their full influence conjointly, each as though the other +did not exist. Thus, when a ball is suffered to drop from the +mouth of a cannon, it falls to the ground in a certain interval +of time through the influence of gravity upon it. If, then, it be +fired from the cannon, though now it may be projected some +thousands of feet in a second, the effect of gravity upon it will +be precisely the same as before. In the intermingling of forces +there is no deterioration; each produces its own specific effect. + +In the latter half of the seventeenth century, through the works +of Borelli, Hooke, and Huyghens, it had become plain that +circular motions could be accounted for by the laws of Galileo. +Borelli, treating of the motions of Jupiter's satellites, shows +how a circular movement may arise under the influence of a +central force. Hooke exhibited the inflection of a direct motion +into a circular by a supervening central attraction. + +The year 1687 presents, not only an epoch in European science, +but also in the intellectual development of man. It is marked by +the publication of the "Principia" of Newton, an incomparable, an +immortal work. + +On the principle that all bodies attract each other with forces +directly as their masses, and inversely as the squares of their +distances, Newton showed that all the movements of the celestial +bodies may be accounted for, and that Kepler's laws might all +have been predicted-- the elliptic motions--the described areas +the relation of the times and distances. As we have seen, +Newton's contemporaries had perceived how circular motions could +be explained; that was a special case, but Newton furnished the +solution of the general problem, containing all special cases of +motion in circles, ellipses, parabolas, hyperbolas--that is, in +all the conic sections. + +The Alexandrian mathematicians had shown that the direction of +movement of falling bodies is toward the centre of the earth. +Newton proved that this must necessarily be the case, the general +effect of the attraction of all the particles of a sphere being +the same as if they were all concentrated in its centre. To this +central force, thus determining the fall of bodies, the +designation of gravity was given. Up to this time, no one, except +Kepler, had considered how far its influence reached. It seemed +to Newton possible that it might extend as far as the moon, and +be the force that deflects her from a rectilinear path, and makes +her revolve in her orbit round the earth. It was easy to compute, +on the principle of the law of inverse squares, whether the +earth's attraction was sufficient to produce the observed effect. +Employing the measures of the size of the earth accessible at the +time, Newton found that the moon's deflection was only thirteen +feet in a minute; whereas, if his hypothesis of gravitation were +true, it should be fifteen feet. But in 1669 Picard, as we have +seen, executed the measurement of a degree more carefully than +had previously been done; this changed the estimate of the +magnitude of the earth, and, therefore, of the distance of the +moon; and, Newton's attention having been directed to it by some +discussions that took place at the Royal Society in 1679, he +obtained Picard's results, went home, took out his old papers, +and resumed his calculations. As they drew to a close, he became +so much agitated that he was obliged to desire a friend to finish +them. The expected coincidence was established. It was proved +that the moon is retained in her orbit and made to revolve round +the earth by the force of terrestrial gravity. The genii of +Kepler had given place to the vortices of Descartes, and these in +their turn to the central force of Newton. + +In like manner the earth, and each of the planets, are made to +move in an elliptic orbit round the sun by his attractive force, +and perturbations arise by reason of the disturbing action of the +planetary masses on one another. Knowing the masses and the +distances, these disturbances may be computed. Later astronomers +have even succeeded with the inverse problem, that is, knowing +the perturbations or disturbances, to find the place and the mass +of the disturbing body. Thus, from the deviations of Uranus from +his theoretical position, the discovery of Neptune was +accomplished. + +Newton's merit consisted in this, that he applied the laws of +dynamics to the movements of the celestial bodies, and insisted +that scientific theories must be substantiated by the agreement +of observations with calculations. + +When Kepler announced his three laws, they were received with +condemnation by the spiritual authorities, not because of any +error they were supposed to present or to contain, but partly +because they gave support to the Copernican system, and partly +because it was judged inexpedient to admit the prevalence of law +of any kind as opposed to providential intervention. The world +was regarded as the theatre in which the divine will was daily +displayed; it was considered derogatory to the majesty of God +that that will should be fettered in any way. The power of the +clergy was chiefly manifested in the influence the were alleged +to possess in changing his arbitrary determinations. It was thus +that they could abate the baleful action of comets, secure fine +weather or rain, prevent eclipses, and, arresting the course of +Nature, work all manner of miracles; it was thus that the shadow +had been made to go back on the dial, and the sun and the moon +stopped in mid-career. + +In the century preceding the epoch of Newton, a great religious +and political revolution had taken place --the Reformation. +Though its effect had not been the securing of complete liberty +for thought, it bad weakened many of the old ecclesiastical +bonds. In the reformed countries there was no power to express a +condemnation of Newton's works, and among the clergy there was no +disposition to give themselves any concern about the matter. At +first the attention of the Protestant was engrossed by the +movements of his great enemy the Catholic, and when that source +of disquietude ceased, and the inevitable partitions of the +Reformation arose, that attention was fastened upon the rival and +antagonistic Churches. The Lutheran, the Calvinist, the +Episcopalian, the Presbyterian, had something more urgent on hand +than Newton's mathematical demonstrations. + +So, uncondemned, and indeed unobserved, in this clamor of +fighting sects, Newton's grand theory solidly established itself. +Its philosophical significance was infinitely more momentous than +the dogmas that these persons were quarreling about. It not only +accepted the heliocentric theory and the laws discovered by +Kepler, but it proved that, no matter what might be the weight of +opposing ecclesiastical authority, the sun MUST be the centre of +our system, and that Kepler's laws are the result of a +mathematical necessity. It is impossible that they should be +other than they are. + +But what is the meaning of all this? Plainly that the solar +system is not interrupted by providential interventions, but is +under the government of irreversible law--law that is itself the +issue of mathematical necessity. + +The telescopic observations of Herschel I. satisfied him that +there are very many double stars--double not merely because they +are accidentally in the same line of view, but because they are +connected physically, revolving round each other. These +observations were continued and greatly extended by Herschel II. +The elements of the elliptic orbit of the double star zeta of the +Great Bear were determined by Savary, its period being +fifty-eight and one-quarter years; those of another, sigma +Coronae, were determined by Hind, its period being more than +seven hundred and thirty-six years. The orbital movement of these +double suns in ellipses compels us to admit that the law of +gravitation holds good far beyond the boundaries of the solar +system; indeed, as far as the telescope can reach, it +demonstrates the reign of law. D'Alembert, in the Introduction to +the Encyclopaedia, says: "The universe is but a single fact; it +is only one great truth." + +Shall we, then, conclude that the solar and the starry systems +have been called into existence by God, and that he has then +imposed upon them by his arbitrary will laws under the control of +which it was his pleasure that their movements should be made? + +Or are there reasons for believing that these several systems +came into existence not by such an arbitrary fiat, but through +the operation of law? + +The following are some peculiarities displayed by the solar +system as enumerated by Laplace. All the planets and their +satellites move in ellipses of such small eccentricity that they +are nearly circles. All the planets move in the same direction +and nearly in the same plane. The movements of the satellites are +in the same direction as those of the planets. The movements of +rotation of the sun, of the planets, and the satellites, are in +the same direction as their orbital motions, and in planes little +different. + +It is impossible that so many coincidences could be the result of +chance! Is it not plain that there must have been a common tie +among all these bodies, that they are only parts of what must +once have been a single mass? + +But if we admit that the substance of which the solar system +consists once existed in a nebulous condition, and was in +rotation, all the above peculiarities follow as necessary +mechanical consequences. Nay, more, the formation of planets, the +formation of satellites and of asteroids, is accounted for. We +see why the outer planets and satellites are larger than the +interior ones; why the larger planets rotate rapidly, and the +small ones slowly; why of the satellites the outer planets have +more, the inner fewer. We are furnished with indications of the +time of revolution of the planets in their orbits, and of the +satellites in theirs; we perceive the mode of formation of +Saturn's rings. We find an explanation of the physical condition +of the sun, and the transitions of condition through which the +earth and moon have passed, as indicated by their geology. + +But two exceptions to the above peculiarities have been noted; +they are in the cases of Uranus and Neptune. + +The existence of such a nebulous mass once admitted, all the rest +follows as a matter of necessity. Is there not, however, a most +serious objection in the way? Is not this to exclude Almighty God +from the worlds he has made? + +First, we must be satisfied whether there is any solid evidence +for admitting the existence of such a nebulous mass. + +The nebular hypothesis rests primarily on the telescopic +discovery made by Herschel I., that there are scattered here and +there in the heavens pale, gleaming patches of light, a few of +which are large enough to be visible to the naked eye. Of these, +many may be resolved by a sufficient telescopic power into a +congeries of stars, but some, such as the great nebula in Orion, +have resisted the best instruments hitherto made. + +It was asserted by those who were indisposed to accept the +nebular hypothesis, that the non-resolution was due to +imperfection in the telescopes used. In these instruments two +distinct functions may be observed: their light-gathering power +depends on the diameter of their object mirror or lens, their +defining power depends on the exquisite correctness of their +optical surfaces. Grand instruments may possess the former +quality in perfection by reason of their size, but the latter +very imperfectly, either through want of original configuration, +or distortion arising from flexure through their own weight. But, +unless an instrument be perfect in this respect, as well as +adequate in the other, it may fail to decompose a nebula into +discrete points. + +Fortunately, however, other means for the settlement of this +question are available. In 1846, it was discovered by the author +of this book that the spectrum of an ignited solid is +continuous--that is, has neither dark nor bright lines. +Fraunhofer had previously made known that the spectrum of ignited +gases is discontinuous. Here, then, is the means of determining +whether the light emitted by a given nebula comes from an +incandescent gas, or from a congeries of ignited solids, stars, +or suns. If its spectrum be discontinuous, it is a true nebula or +gas; if continuous, a congeries of stars. + +In 1864, Mr. Huggins made this examination in the case of a +nebula in the constellation Draco. It proved to be gaseous. + +Subsequent observations have shown that, of sixty nebulae +examined, nineteen give discontinuous or gaseous spectra--the +remainder continuous ones. + +It may, therefore, be admitted that physical evidence has at +length been obtained, demonstrating the existence of vast masses +of matter in a gaseous condition, and at a temperature of +incandescence. The hypothesis of Laplace has thus a firm basis. +In such a nebular mass, cooling by radiation is a necessary +incident, and condensation and rotation the inevitable results. +There must be a separation of rings all lying in one plane, a +generation of planets and satellites all rotating alike, a +central sun and engirdling globes. From a chaotic mass, through +the operation of natural laws, an organized system has been +produced. An integration of matter into worlds has taken place +through a decline of heat. + +If such be the cosmogony of the solar system, such the genesis of +the planetary worlds, we are constrained to extend our views of +the dominion of law, and to recognize its agency in the creation +as well as in the conservation of the innumerable orbs that +throng the universe. + +But, again, it may be asked: "Is there not something profoundly +impious in this? Are we not excluding Almighty God from the world +he has made? + +We have often witnessed the formation of a cloud in a serene sky. +A hazy point, barely perceptible--a little wreath of +mist--increases in volume, and becomes darker and denser, until +it obscures a large portion of the heavens. It throws itself into +fantastic shapes, it gathers a glory from the sun, is borne +onward by the wind, and, perhaps, as it gradually came, so it +gradually disappears, melting away in the untroubled air. + +Now, we say that the little vesicles of which this cloud was +composed arose from the condensation of water-vapor preexisting +in the atmosphere, through reduction of temperature; we show how +they assumed the form they present. We assign optical reasons for +the brightness or blackness of the cloud; we explain, on +mechanical principles, its drifting before the wind; for its +disappearance we account on the principles of chemistry. It never +occurs to us to invoke the interposition of the Almighty in the +production and fashioning of this fugitive form. We explain all +the facts connected with it by physical laws, and perhaps should +reverentially hesitate to call into operation the finger of God. + +But the universe is nothing more than such a cloud--a cloud of +suns and worlds. Supremely grand though it may seem to us, to the +Infinite and Eternal Intellect it is no more than a fleeting +mist. If there be a multiplicity of worlds in infinite space, +there is also a succession of worlds in infinite time. As one +after another cloud replaces cloud in the skies, so this starry +system, the universe, is the successor of countless others that +have preceded it--the predecessor of countless others that will +follow. There is an unceasing metamorphosis, a sequence of +events, without beginning or end. + +If, on physical principles, we account for minor meteorological +incidents, mists and clouds, is it not permissible for us to +appeal to the same principle in the origin of world-systems and +universes, which are only clouds on a space-scale somewhat +larger, mists on a time-scale somewhat less transient? Can any +man place the line which bounds the physical on one side, the +supernatural on the other? Do not our estimates of the extent and +the duration of things depend altogether on our point of view? +Were we set in the midst of the great nebula of Orion, how +transcendently magnificent the scene! The vast transformations, +the condensations of a fiery mist into worlds, might seem worthy +of the immediate presence, the supervision of God; here, at our +distant station, where millions of miles are inappreciable to our +eyes, and suns seem no bigger than motes in the air, that nebula +is more insignificant than the faintest cloud. Galileo, in his +description of the constellation of Orion, did not think it worth +while so much as to mention it. The most rigorous theologian of +those days would have seen nothing to blame in imputing its +origin to secondary causes, nothing irreligious in failing to +invoke the arbitrary interference of God in its metamorphoses. If +such be the conclusion to which we come respecting it, what would +be the conclusion to which an Intelligence seated in it might +come respecting us? It occupies an extent of space millions of +times greater than that of our solar system; we are invisible +from it, and therefore absolutely insignificant. Would such an +Intelligence think it necessary to require for our origin and +maintenance the immediate intervention of God? + + +From the solar system let us descend to what is still more +insignificant--a little portion of it; let us descend to our own +earth. In the lapse of time it has experienced great changes. +Have these been due to incessant divine interventions, or to the +continuous operation of unfailing law? The aspect of Nature +perpetually varies under our eyes, still more grandly and +strikingly has it altered in geological times. But the laws +guiding those changes never exhibit the slightest variation. In +the midst of immense vicissitudes they are immutable. The present +order of things is only a link in a vast connected chain reaching +back to an incalculable past, and forward to an infinite future. + +There is evidence, geological and astronomical, that the +temperature of the earth and her satellite was in the remote past +very much higher than it is now. A decline so slow as to be +imperceptible at short intervals, but manifest enough in the +course of many ages, has occurred. The heat has been lost by +radiation into space. + +The cooling of a mass of any kind, no matter whether large or +small, is not discontinuous; it does not go on by fits and +starts; it takes place under the operation of a mathematical law, +though for such mighty changes as are here contemplated neither +the formula of Newton, nor that of Dulong and Petit, may apply. +It signifies nothing that periods of partial decline, glacial +periods, or others of temporary elevation, have been +intercalated; it signifies nothing whether these variations may +have arisen from topographical variations, as those of level, or +from periodicities in the radiation of the sun. A periodical sun +would act as a mere perturbation in the gradual decline of heat. +The perturbations of the planetary motions are a confirmation, +not a disproof, of gravity. + +Now, such a decline of temperature must have been attended by +innumerable changes of a physical character in our globe. Her +dimensions must have diminished through contraction, the length +of her day must have lessened, her surface must have collapsed, +and fractures taken place along the lines of least resistance; +the density of the sea must have increased, its volume must have +become less; the constitution of the atmosphere must have varied, +especially in the amount of water-vapor and carbonic acid that it +contained; the barometric pressure must have declined. + +These changes, and very many more that might be mentioned, must +have taken place not in a discontinuous but in an orderly manner, +since the master-fact, the decline of heat, that was causing +them, was itself following a mathematical law. + +But not alone did lifeless Nature submit to these inevitable +mutations; living Nature was also simultaneously affected. + +An organic form of any kind, vegetable or animal, will remain +unchanged only so long as the environment in which it is placed +remains unchanged. Should an alteration in the environment occur, +the organism will either be modified or destroyed. + +Destruction is more likely to happen as the change in the +environment is more sudden; modification or transformation is +more possible as that change is more gradual. + +Since it is demonstrably certain that lifeless Nature has in the +lapse of ages undergone vast modifications; since the crust of +the earth, and the sea, and the atmosphere, are no longer such as +they once were; since the distribution of the land and the ocean +and all manner of physical conditions have varied; since there +have been such grand changes in the environment of living things +on the surface of our planet--it necessarily follows that organic +Nature must have passed through destructions and transformations +in correspondence thereto. + +That such extinctions, such modifications, have taken place, how +copious, how convincing, is the evidence! + +Here, again, we must observe that, since the disturbing agency +was itself following a mathematical law, these its results must +be considered as following that law too. + +Such considerations, then, plainly force upon us the conclusion +that the organic progress of the world has been guided by the +operation of immutable law--not determined by discontinuous, +disconnected, arbitrary interventions of God. They incline us to +view favorably the idea of transmutations of one form into +another, rather than that of sudden creations. + +Creation implies an abrupt appearance, transformation a gradual +change. + +In this manner is presented to our contemplation the great theory +of Evolution. Every organic being has a place in a chain of +events. It is not an isolated, a capricious fact, but an +unavoidable phenomenon. It has its place in that vast, orderly +concourse which has successively risen in the past, has +introduced the present, and is preparing the way for a +predestined future. From point to point in this vast progression +there has been a gradual, a definite, a continuous unfolding, a +resistless order of evolution. But in the midst of these mighty +changes stand forth immutable the laws that are dominating over +all. + +If we examine the introduction of any type of life in the animal +series, we find that it is in accordance with transformation, not +with creation. Its beginning is under an imperfect form in the +midst of other forms, of which the time is nearly complete, and +which are passing into extinction. By degrees, one species after +another in succession more and more perfect arises, until, after +many ages, a culmination is reached. From that there is, in like +manner, a long, a gradual decline. + +Thus, though the mammal type of life is the characteristic of the +Tertiary and post-Tertiary periods, it does not suddenly make its +appearance without premonition in those periods. Far back, in the +Secondary, we find it under imperfect forms, struggling, as it +were, to make good a foothold. At length it gains a predominance +under higher and better models. + +So, too, of reptiles, the characteristic type of life of the +Secondary period. As we see in a dissolving view, out of the +fading outlines of a scene that is passing away, the dim form of +a new one emerging, which gradually gains strength, reaches its +culmination, and then melts away in some other that is displacing +it, so reptile-life doubtfully, appears, reaches its culmination, +and gradually declines. In all this there is nothing abrupt; the +changes shade into each other by insensible degrees. + +How could it be otherwise? The hot-blooded animals could not +exist in an atmosphere so laden with carbonic acid as was that of +the primitive times. But the removal of that noxious ingredient +from the air by the leaves of plants under the influence of +sunlight, the enveloping of its carbon in the earth under the +form of coal, the disengagement of its oxygen, permitted their +life. As the atmosphere was thus modified, the sea was involved +in the change; it surrendered a large part of its carbonic acid, +and the limestone hitherto held in solution by it was deposited +in the solid form. For every equivalent of carbon buried in the +earth, there was an equivalent of carbonate of lime separated +from the sea --not necessarily in an amorphous condition, most +frequently under an organic form. The sunshine kept up its work +day by day, but there were demanded myriads of days for the work +to be completed. It was a slow passage from a noxious to a +purified atmosphere, and an equally slow passage from a +cold-blooded to a hot- blooded type of life. But the physical +changes were taking place under the control of law, and the +organic transformations were not sudden or arbitrary providential +acts. They were the immediate, the inevitable consequences of the +physical changes, and therefore, like them, the necessary issue +of law. + +For a more detailed consideration of this subject, I may refer +the reader to Chapters I, II., VII, of the second book of my +"Treatise on Human Physiology," published in 1856. + + +Is the world, then, governed by law or by providential +interventions, abruptly breaking the proper sequence of events? + +To complete our view of this question, we turn finally to what, +in one sense, is the most insignificant, in another the most +important, case that can be considered. Do human societies, in +their historic career, exhibit the marks of a predetermined +progress in an unavoidable track? Is there any evidence that the +life of nations is under the control of immutable law? + +May we conclude that, in society, as in the individual man, parts +never spring from nothing, but are evolved or developed from +parts that are already in existence? + +If any one should object to or deride the doctrine of the +evolution or successive development of the animated forms which +constitute that unbroken organic chain reaching from the +beginning of life on the globe to the present times, let him +reflect that he has himself passed through modifications the +counterpart of those he disputes. For nine months his type of +life was aquatic, and during that time he assumed, in succession, +many distinct but correlated forms. At birth his type of life +became aerial; he began respiring the atmospheric air; new +elements of food were supplied to him; the mode of his nutrition +changed; but as yet he could see nothing, hear nothing, notice +nothing. By degrees conscious existence was assumed; he became +aware that there is an external world. In due time organs adapted +to another change of food, the teeth, appeared, and a change of +food ensued. He then passed through the stages of childhood and +youth, his bodily form developing, and with it his intellectual +powers. At about fifteen years, in consequence of the evolution +which special parts of his system had attained, his moral +character changed. New ideas, new passions, influenced him. And +that that was the cause, and this the effect, is demonstrated +when, by the skill of the surgeon, those parts have been +interfered with. Nor does the development, the metamorphosis, end +here; it requires many years for the body to reach its full +perfection, many years for the mind. A culmination is at length +reached, and then there is a decline. I need not picture its +mournful incidents-- the corporeal, the intellectual +enfeeblement. Perhaps there is little exaggeration in saying that +in less than a century every human being on the face of the +globe, if not cut off in an untimely manner, has passed through +all these changes. + +Is there for each of us a providential intervention as we thus +pass from stage to stage of life? or shall we not rather believe +that the countless myriads of human beings who have peopled the +earth have been under the guidance of an unchanging, a universal +law? + +But individuals are the elementary constituents of +communities--nations. They maintain therein a relation like that +which the particles of the body maintain to the body itself. +These, introduced into it, commence and complete their function; +they die, and are dismissed. + +Like the individual, the nation comes into existence without its +own knowledge, and dies without its own consent, often against +its own will. National life differs in no particular from +individual, except in this, that it is spread over a longer span, +but no nation can escape its inevitable term. Each, if its +history be well considered, shows its time of infancy, its time +of youth, its time of maturity, its time of decline, if its +phases of life be completed. + +In the phases of existence of all, so far as those phases are +completed, there are common characteristics, and, as like +accordances in individuals point out that all are living under a +reign of law, we are justified in inferring that the course of +nations, and indeed the progress of humanity, does not take place +in a chance or random way, that supernatural interventions never +break the chain of historic acts, that every historic event has +its warrant in some preceding event, and gives warrant to others +that are to follow.. + +But this conclusion is the essential principle of Stoicism--that +Grecian philosophical system which, as I have already said, +offered a support in their hour of trial and an unwavering guide +in the vicissitudes of life, not only to many illustrious Greeks, +but also to some of the great philosophers, statesmen, generals, +and emperors of Rome; a system which excluded chance from every +thing, and asserted the direction of all events by irresistible +necessity, to the promotion of perfect good; a system of +earnestness, sternness, austerity, virtue--a protest in favor of +the common-sense of mankind. And perhaps we shall not dissent +from the remark of Montesquieu, who affirms that the destruction +of the Stoics was a great calamity to the human race; for they +alone made great citizens, great men. + +To the principle of government by law, Latin Christianity, in its +papal form, is in absolute contradiction. The history of this +branch of the Christian Church is almost a diary of miracles and +supernatural interventions. These show that the supplications of +holy men have often arrested the course of Nature--if, indeed, +there be any such course; that images and pictures have worked +wonders; that bones, hairs, and other sacred relics, have wrought +miracles. The criterion or proof of the authenticity of many of +these objects is, not an unchallengeable record of their origin +and history, but an exhibition of their miracle-working powers. + +Is not that a strange logic which finds proof of an asserted fact +in an inexplicable illustration of something else? + +Even in the darkest ages intelligent Christian men must have had +misgivings as to these alleged providential or miraculous +interventions. There is a solemn grandeur in the orderly progress +of Nature which profoundly impresses us; and such is the +character of continuity in the events of our individual life that +we instinctively doubt the occurrence of the supernatural in that +of our neighbor. The intelligent man knows well that, for his +personal behoof, the course of Nature has never been checked; for +him no miracle has ever been worked; he attributes justly every +event of his life to some antecedent event; this he looks upon as +the cause, that as the consequence. When it is affirmed that, in +his neighbor's behalf, such grand interventions have been +vouchsafed, he cannot do otherwise than believe that his neighbor +is either deceived, or practising deception. + +As might, then, have been anticipated, the Catholic doctrine of +miraculous intervention received a rude shock at the time of the +Reformation, when predestination and election were upheld by some +of the greatest theologians, and accepted by some of the greatest +Protestant Churches. With stoical austerity Calvin declares: "We +were elected from eternity, before the foundation of the world, +from no merit of our own, but according to the purpose of the +divine pleasure." In affirming this, Calvin was resting on the +belief that God has from all eternity decreed whatever comes to +pass. Thus, after the lapse of many ages, were again emerging +into prominence the ideas of the Basilidians wad Valentinians, +Christian sects of the second century, whose Gnostical views led +to the engraftment of the great doctrine of the Trinity upon +Christianity. They asserted that all the actions of men are +necessary, that even faith is a natural gift, to which men are +forcibly determined, and must therefore be saved, though their +lives be ever so irregular. From the Supreme God all things +proceeded. Thus, also, came into prominence the views which were +developed by Augustine in his work, "De dono perseverantiae." +These were: that God, by his arbitrary will, has selected certain +persons without respect to foreseen faith or good works, and has +infallibly ordained to bestow upon them eternal happiness; other +persons, in like manner, he has condemned to eternal reprobation. +The Sublapsarians believed that "God permitted the fall of Adam;" +the Supralapsarians that "he predestinated it, with all its +pernicious consequences, from all eternity, and that our first +parents had no liberty from the beginning." In this, these +sectarians disregarded the remark of St. Augustine: "Nefas est +dicere Deum aliquid nisi bonum predestinare." + +Is it true, then, that "predestination to eternal happiness is +the everlasting purpose of God, whereby, before the foundations +of the world were laid, he hath constantly decreed by his +council, secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those +whom he hath chosen out of mankind?" Is it true that of the human +family there are some who, in view of no fault of their own, +Almighty God has condemned to unending torture, eternal misery? + +In 1595 the Lambeth Articles asserted that "God from eternity +hath predestinated certain men unto life; certain he hath +reprobated." In 1618 the Synod of Dort decided in favor of this +view. It condemned the remonstrants against it, and treated them +with such severity, that many of them had to flee to foreign +countries. Even in the Church of England, as is manifested by its +seventeenth Article of Faith, these doctrines have found favor. + +Probably there was no point which brought down from the Catholics +on the Protestants severer condemnation than this, their partial +acceptance of the government of the world by law. In all Reformed +Europe miracles ceased. But, with the cessation of shrine-cure, +relic-cure, great pecuniary profits ended. Indeed, as is well +known, it was the sale of indulgences that provoked the +Reformation--indulgences which are essentially a permit from God +for the practice of sin, conditioned on the payment of a certain +sum of money to the priest. + +Philosophically, the Reformation implied a protest against the +Catholic doctrine of incessant divine intervention in human +affairs, invoked by sacerdotal agency; but this protest was far +from being fully made by all the Reforming Churches. The evidence +in behalf of government by law, which has of late years been +offered by science, is received by many of them with suspicion, +perhaps with dislike; sentiments which, however, must eventually +give way before the hourly-increasing weight of evidence. + +Shall we not, then, conclude with Cicero, who, quoted by +Lactantius, says: "One eternal and immutable law embraces all +things and all times?" + + + +CHAPTER X. + +LATIN CHRISTIANITY IN RELATION TO MODERN CIVILIZATION. + +For more than a thousand years Latin Christianity controlled the +intelligence of Europe, and is responsible for the result. + +That result is manifested by the condition of the city of Rome at +the Reformation, and by the condition of the Continent of Europe +in domestic and social life.--European nations suffered under the +coexistence of a dual government, a spiritual and a +temporal.--They were immersed in ignorance, superstition, +discomfort.--Explanation of the failure of Catholicism--Political +history of the papacy: it was transmuted from a spiritual +confederacy into an absolute monarchy.--Action of the College of +Cardinals and the Curia-Demoralization that ensued from the +necessity of raising large revenues. + +The advantages accruing to Europe during the Catholic rule arose +not from direct intention, but were incidental. + +The general result is, that the political influence of +Catholicism was prejudicial to modern civilization. + + +LATIN Christianity is responsible for the condition and progress +of Europe from the fourth to the sixteenth century. We have now +to examine how it discharged its trust. + +It will be convenient to limit to the case of Europe what has +here to be presented, though, from the claim of the papacy to +superhuman origin, and its demand for universal obedience, it +should strictly be held to account for the condition of all +mankind. Its inefficacy against the great and venerable religions +of Southern and Eastern Asia would furnish an important and +instructive theme for consideration, and lead us to the +conclusion that it has impressed itself only where Roman imperial +influences have prevailed; a political conclusion which, however, +it contemptuously rejects. + +Doubtless at the inception of the Reformation there were many +persons who compared the existing social condition with what it +had been in ancient times. Morals had not changed, intelligence +had not advanced, society had little improved. From the Eternal +City itself its splendors had vanished. The marble streets, of +which Augustus had once boasted, had disappeared. Temples, broken +columns, and the long, arcaded vistas of gigantic aqueducts +bestriding the desolate Campagna, presented a mournful scene. +From the uses to which they had been respectively put, the +Capitol had been known as Goats' Hill, and the site of the Roman +Forum, whence laws had been issued to the world, as Cows' Field. +The palace of the Caesars was hidden by mounds of earth, crested +with flowering shrubs. The baths of Caracalla, with their +porticoes, gardens, reservoirs, had long ago become useless +through the destruction of their supplying aqueducts. On the +ruins of that grand edifice, "flowery glades and thickets of +odoriferous trees extended in ever-winding labyrinths upon +immense platforms, and dizzy arches suspended in the air." Of the +Coliseum, the most colossal of Roman ruins, only about one-third +remained. Once capable of accommodating nearly ninety thousand +spectators, it had, in succession, been turned into a fortress in +the middle ages, and then into a stone-quarry to furnish material +for the palaces of degenerate Roman princes. Some of the popes +had occupied it as a woollen-mill, some as a saltpetre factory; +some had planned the conversion of its magnificent arcades into +shops for tradesmen. The iron clamps which bound its stones +together had been stolen. The walls were fissured and falling. +Even in our own times botanical works have been composed on the +plants which have made this noble wreck their home. "The Flora of +the Coliseum" contains four hundred and twenty species. Among the +ruins of classical buildings might be seen broken columns, +cypresses, and mouldy frescoes, dropping from the walls. Even the +vegetable world participated in the melancholy change: the +myrtle, which once flourished on the Aventine, had nearly become +extinct; the laurel, which once gave its leaves to encircle the +brows of emperors, had been replaced by ivy--the companion of +death. + +But perhaps it may be said the popes were not responsible for all +this. Let it be remembered that in less than one hundred and +forty years the city had been successively taken by Alaric, +Genseric, Rieimer, Vitiges, Totila ; that many of its great +edifices had been converted into defensive works. The aqueducts +were destroyed by Vitiges, who ruined the Campagna; the palace of +the Caesars was ravaged by Totila; then there had been the +Lombard sieges; then Robert Guiscard and his Normans had burnt +the city from the Antonine Column to the Flaminian Gate, from the +Lateran to the Capitol; then it was sacked and mutilated by the +Constable Bourbon; again and again it was flooded by inundations +of the Tiber and shattered by earthquakes. We must, however, bear +in mind the accusation of Machiavelli, who says, in his "History +of Florence," that nearly all the barbarian invasions of Italy +were by the invitations of the pontiffs, who called in those +hordes! It was not the Goth, nor the Vandal, nor the Norman, nor +the Saracen, but the popes and their nephews, who produced the +dilapidation of Rome! Lime-kilns had been fed from the ruins, +classical buildings had become stone-quarries for the palaces of +Italian princes, and churches were decorated from the old +temples. + +Churches decorated from the temples! It is for this and such as +this that the popes must be held responsible. Superb Corinthian +columns bad been chiseled into images of the saints. Magnificent +Egyptian obelisks had been dishonored by papal inscriptions. The +Septizonium of Severus had been demolished to furnish materials +for the building of St. Peter's; the bronze roof of the Pantheon +had been melted into columns to ornament the apostle's tomb. + +The great bell of Viterbo, in the tower of the Capitol, had +announced the death of many a pope, and still desecration of the +buildings and demoralization of the people went on. Papal Rome +manifested no consideration, but rather hatred, for classical +Rome, The pontiffs had been subordinates of the Byzantine +sovereigns, then lieutenants of the Frankish kings, then arbiters +of Europe; their government had changed as much as those of any +of the surrounding nations; there had been complete metamorphoses +in its maxims, objects, claims. In one point only it had never +changed--intolerance. Claiming to be the centre of the religious +life of Europe, it steadfastly refused to recognize any religious +existence outside of itself, yet both in a political and +theological sense it was rotten to the core. Erasmus and Luther +heard with amazement the blasphemies and witnessed with a shudder +the atheism of the city. + +The historian Ranke, to whom I am indebted for many of these +facts, has depicted in a very graphic manner the demoralization +of the great metropolis. The popes were, for the most part, at +their election, aged men. Power was, therefore, incessantly +passing into new hands. Every election was a revolution in +prospects and expectations. In a community where all might rise, +where all might aspire to all, it necessarily followed that every +man was occupied in thrusting some other into the background. +Though the population of the city at the inception of the +Reformation had sunk to eighty thousand, there were vast crowds +of placemen, and still greater ones of aspirants for place. The +successful occupant of the pontificate had thousands of offices +to give away--offices from many of which the incumbents had been +remorselessly ejected; many had been created for the purpose of +sale. The integrity and capacity of an applicant were never +inquired into; the points considered were, what services has he +rendered or can he render to the party? how much can he pay for +the preferment? An American reader can thoroughly realize this +state of things. At every presidential election he witnesses +similar acts. The election of a pope by the Conclave is not +unlike the nomination of an American president by a convention. +In both cases there are many offices to give away. + +William of Malmesbury says that in his day the Romans made a sale +of whatever was righteous and sacred for gold. After his time +there was no improvement; the Church degenerated into an +instrument for the exploitation of money. Vast sums were +collected in Italy; vast sums were drawn under all manner of +pretenses from surrounding and reluctant countries. Of these the +most nefarious was the sale of indulgences for the perpetration +of sin. Italian religion had become the art of plundering the +people. + +For more than a thousand years the sovereign pontiffs had been +rulers of the city. True, it had witnessed many scenes of +devastation for which they were not responsible; but they were +responsible for this, that they had never made any vigorous, any +persistent effort for its material, its moral improvement. +Instead of being in these respects an exemplar for the imitation +of the world, it became an exemplar of a condition that ought to +be shunned. Things steadily went on from bad to worse, until at +the epoch of the Reformation no pious stranger could visit it +without being shocked. + +The papacy, repudiating science as absolutely incompatible with +its pretensions, had in later years addressed itself to the +encouragement of art. But music and painting, though they may be +exquisite adornments of life, contain no living force that can +develop a weak nation into a strong one; nothing that can +permanently assure the material well-being or happiness of +communities; and hence at the time of the Reformation, to one who +thoughtfully considered her condition, Rome had lost all living +energy. She was no longer the arbiter of the physical or the +religious progress of the world. For the progressive maxims of +the republic and the empire, she had substituted the stationary +maxims of the papacy. She had the appearance of piety and the +possession of art. In this she resembled one of those +friar-corpses which we still see in their brown cowls in the +vaults of the Cappuccini, with a breviary or some withered +flowers in its hands. + +From this view of the Eternal City, this survey of what Latin +Christianity had done for Rome itself, let us turn to the whole +European Continent. Let us try to determine the true value of the +system that was guiding society; let us judge it by its fruits. + +The condition of nations as to their well-being is most precisely +represented by the variations of their population. Forms of +government have very little influence on population, but policy +may control it completely. + +It has been very satisfactorily shown by authors who have given +attention to the subject, that the variations of population +depend upon the interbalancing of the generative force of society +and the resistances to life. + +By the generative force of society is meant that instinct which +manifests itself in the multiplication of the race. To some +extent it depends on climate; but, since the climate of Europe +did not sensibly change between the fourth and the sixteenth +centuries, we may regard this force as having been, on that +continent, during the period under consideration, invariable. + +By the resistances to life is meant whatever tends to make +individual existence more difficult of support. Among such may be +enumerated insufficient food, inadequate clothing, imperfect +shelter. + +It is also known that, if the resistances become inappreciable, +the generative force will double a population in twenty-five +years. + +The resistances operate in two modes: 1. Physically; since they +diminish the number of births, and shorten the term of the life +of all. 2. Intellectually; since, in a moral, and particularly in +a religious community, they postpone marriage, by causing +individuals to decline its responsibilities until they feel that +they are competent to meet the charges and cares of a family. +Hence the explanation of a long-recognized fact, that the number +of marriages during a given period has a connection with the +price of food. + +The increase of population keeps pace with the increase of food; +and, indeed, such being the power of the generative force, it +overpasses the means of subsistence, establishing a constant +pressure upon them. Under these circumstances, it necessarily +happens that a certain amount of destitution must occur. +Individuals have come into existence who must be starved. + +As illustrations of the variations that have occurred in the +population of different countries, may be mentioned the immense +diminution of that of Italy in consequence of the wars of +Justinian; the depopulation of North Africa in consequence of +theological quarrels; its restoration through the establishment +of Mohammedanism; the increase of that of all Europe through the +feudal system, when estates became more valuable in proportion to +the number of retainers they could supply. The crusades caused a +sensible diminution, not only through the enormous army losses, +but also by reason of the withdrawal of so many able-bodied men +from marriage-life. Similar variations have occurred on the +American Continent. The population of Mexico was very quickly +diminished by two million through the rapacity and atrocious +cruelty of the Spaniards, who drove the civilized Indians to +despair. The same happened in Peru. + +The population of England at the Norman conquest was about two +million. In five hundred years it had scarcely doubled. It may be +supposed that this stationary condition was to some extent +induced by the papal policy of the enforcement of celibacy in the +clergy. The "legal generative force" was doubtless affected by +that policy, the "actual generative force" was not. For those who +have made this subject their study have long ago been satisfied +that public celibacy is private wickedness. This mainly +determined the laity, as well as the government in England, to +suppress the monasteries. It was openly asserted that there were +one hundred thousand women in England made dissolute by the +clergy. + +In my history of the "American Civil War," I have presented some +reflections on this point, which I will take the liberty of +quoting here: "What, then, does this stationary condition of the +population mean? It means, food obtained with hardship, +insufficient clothing, personal uncleanness, cabins that could +not keep out the weather, the destructive effects of cold and +heat, miasm, want of sanitary provisions, absence of physicians, +uselessness of shrine-cure, the deceptiveness of miracles, in +which society was putting its trust; or, to sum up a long +catalogue of sorrows, wants, and sufferings, in one term--it +means a high death-rate. + +"But more; it means deficient births. And what does that point +out? Marriage postponed, licentious life, private wickedness, +demoralized society. + +"To an American, who lives in a country that was yesterday an +interminable and impenetrable desert, but which to-day is filling +with a population doubling itself every twenty-five years at the +prescribed rate, this awful waste of actual and contingent life +cannot but be a most surprising fact. His curiosity will lead him +to inquire what kind of system that could have been which was +pretending to guide and develop society, but which must be held +responsible for this prodigious destruction, excelling, in its +insidious result, war, pestilence, and famine combined; +insidious, for men were actually believing that it secured their +highest temporal interests. How different now! In England, the, +same geographical surface is sustaining ten times the population +of that day, and sending forth its emigrating swarms. Let him, +who looks back, with veneration on the past, settle in his own +mind what such a system could have been worth." + +These variations in the population of Europe have been attended +with changes in distribution. The centre of population has passed +northward since the establishment of Christianity in the Roman +Empire. It has since passed westward, in consequence of the +development of manufacturing industry. + + +We may now examine somewhat more minutely the character of the +resistances which thus, for a thousand years, kept the population +of Europe stationary. The surface of the Continent was for the +most part covered with pathless forests; here and there it was +dotted with monasteries and towns. In the lowlands and along the +river-courses were fens, sometimes hundreds of miles in extent, +exhaling their pestiferous miasms, and spreading agues far and +wide. In Paris and London, the houses were of wood daubed with +clay, and thatched with straw or reeds. They had no windows, and, +until the invention of the saw-mill, very few had wooden floors. +The luxury of a carpet was unknown; some straw, scattered in the +room, supplied its place. There were no chimneys; the smoke of +the ill-fed, cheerless fire escaped through a hole in the roof. +In such habitations there was scarcely any protection from the +weather. No attempt was made at drainage, but the putrefying +garbage and rubbish were simply thrown out of the door. Men, +women, and children, slept in the same apartment; not +unfrequently, domestic animals were their companions; in such a +confusion of the family, it was impossible that modesty or +morality could be maintained. The bed was usually a bag of straw, +a wooden log served as a pillow. Personal cleanliness was utterly +unknown; great officers of state, even dignitaries so high as the +Archbishop of Canterbury, swarmed with vermin; such, it is +related, was the condition of Thomas a Becket, the antagonist of +an English king. To conceal personal impurity, perfumes were +necessarily and profusely used. The citizen clothed himself in +leather, a garment which, with its ever-accumulating impurity, +might last for many years. He was considered to be in +circumstances of ease, if he could procure fresh meat once a week +for his dinner. The streets had no sewers; they were without +pavement or lamps. After nightfall, the chamber-shatters were +thrown open, and slops unceremoniously emptied down, to the +discomfiture of the wayfarer tracking his path through the narrow +streets, with his dismal lantern in his hand. + +Aeneas Sylvius, who afterward became Pope Pius II., and was +therefore a very competent and impartial writer, has left us a +graphic account of a journey he made to the British Islands, +about 1430. He describes the houses of the peasantry as +constructed of stones put together without mortar; the roofs were +of turf, a stiffened bull's-hide served for a door. The food +consisted of coarse vegetable products, such as peas, and even +the bark of trees. In some places they were unacquainted with +bread. + +Cabins of reeds plastered with mud, houses of wattled stakes, +chimneyless peat-fires from which there was scarcely an escape +for the smoke, dens of physical and moral pollution swarming with +vermin, wisps of straw twisted round the limbs to keep off the +cold, the ague-stricken peasant, with no help except shrine-cure! +How was it possible that the population could increase? Shall we, +then, wonder that, in the famine of 1030, human flesh was cooked +and sold; or that, in that of 1258, fifteen thousand persons died +of hunger in London? Shall we wonder that, in some of the +invasions of the plague, the deaths were so frightfully numerous +that the living could hardly bury the dead? By that of 1348, +which came from the East along the lines of commercial travel, +and spread all over Europe, one-third of the population of France +was destroyed. + +Such was the condition of the peasantry, and of the common +inhabitants of cities. Not much better was that of the nobles. +William of Malmesbury, speaking of the degraded manners of the +Anglo-Saxons, says: "Their nobles, devoted to gluttony and +voluptuousness, never visited the church, but the matins and the +mass were read over to them by a hurrying priest in their +bedchambers, before they rose, themselves not listening. The +common people were a prey to the more powerful; their property +was seized, their bodies dragged away to distant countries; their +maidens were either thrown into a brothel, or sold for slaves. +Drinking day and night was the general pursuit; vices, the +companions of inebriety, followed, effeminating the manly mind." +The baronial castles were dens of robbers. The Saxon chronicler +records how men and women were caught and dragged into those +strongholds, hung up by their thumbs or feet, fire applied to +them, knotted strings twisted round their heads, and many other +torments inflicted to extort ransom. + +All over Europe, the great and profitable political offices were +filled by ecclesiastics. In every country there was a dual +government: 1. That of a local kind, represented by a temporal +sovereign; 2. That of a foreign kind, acknowledging the authority +of the pope, This Roman influence was, in the nature of things, +superior to the local; it expressed the sovereign will of one man +over all the nations of the continent conjointly, and gathered +overwhelming power from its compactness and unity. The local +influence was necessarily of a feeble nature, since it was +commonly weakened by the rivalries of conterminous states, and +the dissensions dexterously provoked by its competitor. On not a +single occasion could the various European states form a +coalition against their common antagonist. Whenever a question +arose, they were skillfully taken in detail, and commonly +mastered. The ostensible object of papal intrusion was to secure +for the different peoples moral well-being; the real object was +to obtain large revenues, and give support to vast bodies of +ecclesiastics. The revenues thus abstracted were not infrequently +many times greater than those passing into the treasury of the +local power. Thus, on the occasion of Innocent IV. demanding +provision to be made for three hundred additional Italian clergy +by the Church of England, and that one of his nephews--a mere +boy-- should have a stall in Lincoln Cathedral, it was found that +the sum already annually abstracted by foreign ecclesiastics from +England was thrice that which went into the coffers of the king. + +While thus the higher clergy secured every political appointment +worth having, and abbots vied with counts in the herds of slaves +they possessed--some, it is said, owned not fewer than twenty +thousand--begging friars pervaded society in all directions, +picking up a share of what still remained to the poor. There was +a vast body of non-producers, living in idleness and owning a +foreign allegiance, who were subsisting on the fruits of the toil +of the laborers. It could not be otherwise than that small farms +should be unceasingly merged into the larger estates; that the +poor should steadily become poorer; that society, far from +improving, should exhibit a continually increasing +demoralization. Outside the monastic institutions no attempt at +intellectual advancement was made; indeed, so far as the laity +were concerned, the influence of the Church was directed to an +opposite result, for the maxim universally received was, that +"ignorance is the mother of devotion." + +The settled practice of republican and imperial Rome was to have +swift communication with all her outlying provinces, by means of +substantial bridges and roads. One of the prime duties of the +legions was to construct them and keep them in repair. By this, +her military authority was assured. But the dominion of papal +Rome, depending upon a different principle, had no exigencies of +that kind, and this duty accordingly was left for the local +powers to neglect. And so, in all directions, the roads were +almost impassable for a large part of the year. A common means of +transportation was in clumsy carts drawn by oxen, going at the +most but three or four miles an hour. Where boat-conveyance along +rivers could not be had, pack-horses and mules were resorted to +for the transportation of merchandise, an adequate means for the +slender commerce of the times. When large bodies of men had to be +moved, the difficulties became almost insuperable. Of this, +perhaps, one of the best illustrations may be found in the story +of the march of the first Crusaders. These restraints upon +intercommunication tended powerfully to promote the general +benighted condition. Journeys by individuals could not be +undertaken without much risk, for there was scarcely a moor or a +forest that had not its highwaymen. + +An illiterate condition everywhere prevailing, gave opportunity +for the development of superstition. Europe was full of +disgraceful miracles. On all the roads pilgrims were wending +their way to the shrines of saints, renowned for the cures they +had wrought. It had always been the policy of the Church to +discourage the physician and his art; he interfered too much with +the gifts and profits of the shrines. Time has brought this once +lucrative imposture to its proper value. How many shrines are +there now in successful operation in Europe? + +For patients too sick to move or be moved, there were no remedies +except those of a ghostly kind--the Pater-noster or the Ave. For +the prevention of diseases, prayers were put up in the churches, +but no sanitary measures were resorted to. From cities reeking +with putrefying filth it was thought that the plague might be +stayed by the prayers of the priests, by them rain and dry +weather might be secured, and deliverance obtained from the +baleful influences of eclipses and comets. But when Halley's +comet came, in 1456, so tremendous was its apparition that it was +necessary for the pope himself to interfere. He exorcised and +expelled it from the skies. It slunk away into the abysses of +space, terror-stricken by the maledictions of Calixtus III., and +did not venture back for seventy-five years! + +The physical value of shrine-cures and ghostly remedies is +measured by the death-rate. In those days it was, probably, about +one in twenty-three, under the present more material practice it +is about one in forty. + +The moral condition of Europe was signally illustrated when +syphilis was introduced from the West Indies by the companions of +Columbus. It spread with wonderful rapidity; all ranks of +persons, from the Holy Father Leo X. to the beggar by the +wayside, contracting the shameful disease. Many excused their +misfortune by declaring that it was an epidemic proceeding from a +certain malignity in the constitution of the air, but in truth +its spread was due to a certain infirmity in the constitution of +man--an infirmity which had not been removed by the spiritual +guidance under which he had been living. + +To the medical efficacy of shrines must be added that of special +relics. These were sometimes of the most extraordinary kind. +There were several abbeys that possessed our Savior's crown of +thorns. Eleven had the lance that had pierced his side. If any +person was adventurous enough to suggest that these could not all +be authentic, he would have been denounced as an atheist. During +the holy wars the Templar-Knights had driven a profitable +commerce by bringing from Jerusalem to the Crusading armies +bottles of the milk of the Blessed Virgin, which they sold for +enormous sums; these bottles were preserved with pious care in +many of the great religious establishments. But perhaps none of +these impostures surpassed in audacity that offered by a +monastery in Jerusalem, which presented to the beholder one of +the fingers of the Holy Ghost! Modern society has silently +rendered its verdict on these scandalous objects. Though they +once nourished the piety of thousands of earnest people, they are +now considered too vile to have a place in any public museum. + +How shall we account for the great failure we thus detect in the +guardianship of the Church over Europe? This is not the result +that must have occurred had there been in Rome an unremitting +care for the spiritual and material prosperity of the continent, +had the universal pastor, the successor of Peter, occupied +himself with singleness of purpose for the holiness and happiness +of his flock. + +The explanation is not difficult to find. It is contained in a +story of sin and shame. I prefer, therefore, in the following +paragraphs, to offer explanatory facts derived from Catholic +authors, and, indeed, to present them as nearly as I can in the +words of those writers. + + +The story I am about to relate is a narrative of the +transformation of a confederacy into an absolute monarchy. + +In the early times every church, without prejudice to its +agreement with the Church universal in all essential points, +managed its own affairs with perfect freedom and independence, +maintaining its own traditional usages and discipline, all +questions not concerning the whole Church, or of primary +importance, being settled on the spot. + +Until the beginning of the ninth century, there was no change in +the constitution of the Roman Church. But about 845 the Isidorian +Decretals were fabricated in the west of Gaul--a forgery +containing about one hundred pretended decrees of the early +popes, together with certain spurious writings of other church +dignitaries and acts of synods. This forgery produced an immense +extension of the papal power, it displaced the old system of +church government, divesting it of the republican attributes it +had possessed, and transforming it into an absolute monarchy. It +brought the bishops into subjection to Rome, and made the pontiff +the supreme judge of the clergy of the whole Christian world. It +prepared the way for the great attempt, subsequently made by +Hildebrand, to convert the states of Europe into a theocratic +priest-kingdom, with the pope at its head. + +Gregory VII., the author of this great attempt, saw that his +plans would be best carried out through the agency of synods. He, +therefore, restricted the right of holding them to the popes and +their legates. To aid in the matter, a new system of church law +was devised by Anselm of Lucca, partly from the old Isidorian +forgeries, and partly from new inventions. To establish the +supremacy of Rome, not only had a new civil and a new canon law +to be produced, a new history had also to be invented. This +furnished needful instances of the deposition and excommunication +of kings, and proved that they had always been subordinate to the +popes. The decretal letters of the popes were put on a par with +Scripture. At length it came to be received, throughout the West, +that the popes had been, from the beginning of Christianity, +legislators for the whole Church. As absolute sovereigns in later +times cannot endure representative assemblies, so the papacy, +when it wished to become absolute, found that the synods of +particular national churches must be put an end to, and those +only under the immediate control of the pontiff permitted. This, +in itself, constituted a great revolution. + +Another fiction concocted in Rome in the eighth century led to +important consequences. It feigned that the Emperor Constantine, +in gratitude for his cure from leprosy, and baptism by Pope +Sylvester, had bestowed Italy and the Western provinces on the +pope, and that, in token of his subordination, he had served the +pope as his groom, and led his horse some distance. This forgery +was intended to work on the Frankish kings, to impress them with +a correct idea of their inferiority, and to show that, in the +territorial concessions they made to the Church, they were not +giving but only restoring what rightfully belonged to it. + +The most potent instrument of the new papal system was Gratian's +Decretum, which was issued about the middle of the twelfth +century. It was a mass of fabrications. It made the whole +Christian world, through the papacy, the domain of the Italian +clergy. It inculcated that it is lawful to constrain men to +goodness, to torture and execute heretics, and to confiscate +their property; that to kill an excommunicated person is not +murder; that the pope, in his unlimited superiority to all law, +stands on an equality with the Son of God! + +As the new system of centralization developed, maxims, that in +the olden times would have been held to be shocking, were boldly +avowed--the whole Church is the property of the pope to do with +as he will; what is simony in others is not simony in him; he is +above all law, and can be called to account by none; whoever +disobeys him must be put to death; every baptized man is his +subject, and must for life remain so, whether he will or not. Up +to the end of the twelfth century, the popes were the vicars of +Peter; after Innocent III. they were the vicars of Christ. + +But an absolute sovereign has need of revenues, and to this the +popes were no exception. The institution of legates was brought +in from Hildebrand's time. Sometimes their duty was to visit +churches, sometimes they were sent on special business, but +always invested with unlimited powers to bring back money over +the Alps. And since the pope could not only make laws, but could +suspend their operation, a legislation was introduced in view to +the purchase of dispensations. Monasteries were exempted from +episcopal jurisdiction on payment of a tribute to Rome. The pope +had now become "the universal bishop;" he had a concurrent +jurisdiction in all the dioceses, and could bring any cases +before his own courts. His relation to the bishops was that of an +absolute sovereign to his officials. A bishop could resign only +by his permission, and sees vacated by resignation lapsed to him. +Appeals to him were encouraged in every way for the sake of the +dispensations; thousands of processes came before the Curia, +bringing a rich harvest to Rome. Often when there were disputing +claimants to benefices, the pope would oust them all, and appoint +a creature of his own. Often the candidates had to waste years in +Rome, and either died there, or carried back a vivid impression +of the dominant corruption. Germany suffered more than other +countries from these appeals and processes, and hence of all +countries was best prepared for the Reformation. During the +thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the popes made gigantic +strides in the acquisition of power. Instead of recommending +their favorites for benefices, now they issued mandates. Their +Italian partisans must be rewarded; nothing could be done to +satisfy their clamors,. but to provide for them in foreign +countries. Shoals of contesting claimants died in Rome; and, when +death took place in that city, the Pope claimed the right of +giving away the benefices. At length it was affirmed that he had +the right of disposing of all church-offices without distinction, +and that the oath of obedience of a bishop to him implied +political as well as ecclesiastical subjection. In countries +having a dual government this increased the power of the +spiritual element prodigiously. + +Rights of every kind were remorselessly overthrown to complete +this centralization. In this the mendicant orders were most +efficient aids. It was the pope and those orders on one side, the +bishops and the parochial clergy on the other. The Roman court +had seized the rights of synods, metropolitans, bishops, national +churches. Incessantly interfered with by the legates, the bishops +lost all desire to discipline their dioceses; incessantly +interfered with by the begging monks, tho parish priest had +become powerless in his own village; his pastoral influence was +utterly destroyed by the papal indulgences and absolutions they +sold. The money was carried off to Rome. + +Pecuniary necessities urged many of the popes to resort to such +petty expedients as to require from a prince, a bishop, or a +grand-master, who bad a cause pending in the court, a present of +a golden cup filled with ducats. Such necessities also gave +origin to jubilees. Sixtus IV. established whole colleges, and +sold the places at three or four hundred ducats. Innocent VIII. +pawned the papal tiara. Of Leo X. it was said that he squandered +the revenues of three popes, he wasted the savings of his +predecessor, he spent his own income, he anticipated that of his +successor, he created twenty-one hundred and fifty new offices +and sold them; they were considered to be a good investment, as +they produced twelve per cent. The interest was extorted from +Catholic countries. Nowhere in Europe could capital be so well +invested as at Rome. Large sums were raised by the foreclosing of +mortgages, and not only by the sale but the resale of offices. +Men were promoted, for the purpose of selling their offices +again. + +Though against the papal theory, which denounced usurious +practices, an immense papal banking system had sprung up, in +connection with the Curia, and sums at usurious interest were +advanced to prelates, place. hunters, and litigants. The papal +bankers were privileged; all others were under the ban. The Curia +had discovered that it was for their interest to have +ecelesiastics all over Europe in their debt. They could make them +pliant, and excommunicate them for non-payment of interest. In +1327 it was reckoned that half the Christian world was under +excommunication: bishops were excommunicated because they could +not meet the extortions of legates; and persons were +excommunicated, under various pretenses, to compel them to +purchase absolution at an exorbitant price. The ecclesiastical +revenues of all Europe were flowing into Rome, a sink of +corruption, simony, usury, bribery, extortion. The popes, since +1066, when the great centralizing movement began, had no time to +pay attention to the internal affairs of their own special flock +in the city of Rome. There were thousands of foreign cases, each +bringing in money. "Whenever," says the Bishop Alvaro Pelayo, "I +entered the apartments of the Roman court clergy, I found them +occupied in counting up the gold-coin, which lay about the rooms +in heaps." Every opportunity of extending the jurisdiction of the +Curia was welcome. Exemptions were so managed that fresh grants +were constantly necessary. Bishops were privileged against +cathedral chapters, chapters against their bishops; bishops, +convents, and individuals, against the extortions of legates. + +The two pillars on which the papal system now rested were the +College of Cardinals and the Curia. The cardinals, in 1059, had +become electors of the popes. Up to that time elections were made +by the whole body of the Roman clergy, and the concurrence of the +magistrates and citizens was necessary. But Nicolas II. +restricted elections to the College of Cardinals by a two- thirds +vote, and gave to the German emperor the right of confirmation. +For almost two centuries there was a struggle for mastery between +the cardinal oligarchy and papal absolutism. The cardinals were +willing enough that the pope should be absolute in his foreign +rule, but the never failed to attempt, before giving him their +votes, to bind him to accord to them a recognized share in the +government. After his election, and before his consecration, he +swore to observe certain capitulations, such as a participation +of revenues between himself and the cardinals; an obligation that +lie would not remove them, but would permit them to assemble +twice a year to discuss whether he had kept his oath. Repeatedly +the popes broke their oath. On one side, the cardinals wanted a +larger share in the church government and emoluments; on the +other, the popes refused to surrender revenues or power. The +cardinals wanted to be conspicuous in pomp and extravagance, and +for this vast sums were requisite. In one instance, not fewer +than five hundred benefices were held by one of them; their +friends and retainers must be supplied, their families enriched. +It was affirmed that the whole revenues of France were +insufficient to meet their expenditures. In their rivalries it +sometimes happened that no pope was elected for several years. It +seemed as if they wanted to show how easily the Church could get +on without the Vicar of Christ. + +Toward the close of the eleventh century the Roman Church became +the Roman court. In place of the Christian sheep gently following +their shepherd in the holy precincts of the city, there had +arisen a chancery of writers, notaries, tax-gatherers, where +transactions about privileges, dispensations, exemptions, were +carried on; and suitors went with petitions from door to door. +Rome was a rallying-point for place-hunters of every nation. In +presence of the enormous mass of business-processes, graces, +indulgences, absolutions, commands, and decisions, addressed to +all parts of Europe and Asia, the functions of the local church +sank into insignificance. Several hundred persons, whose home was +the Curia, were required. Their aim was to rise in it by +enlarging the profits of the papal treasury. The whole Christian +world had become tributary to it. Here every vestige of religion +had disappeared; its members were busy with politics, +litigations, and processes; not a word could be heard about +spiritual concerns. Every stroke of the pen had its price. +Benefices, dispensations, licenses, absolutions, indulgences, +privileges, were bought and sold like merchandise. The suitor had +to bribe every one, from the doorkeeper to the pope, or his case +was lost. Poor men could neither attain preferment, nor hope for +it; and the result was, that every cleric felt he had a right to +follow the example he had seen at Rome, and that he might make +profits out of his spiritual ministries and sacraments, having +bought the right to do so at Rome, and having no other way to pay +off his debt. The transference of power from Italians to +Frenchmen, through the removal of the Curia to Avignon, produced +no change--only the Italians felt that the enrichment of Italian +families had slipped out of their grasp. They had learned to +consider the papacy as their appanage, and that they, under the +Christian dispensation, were God's chosen people, as the Jews had +been under the Mosaic. + +At the end of the thirteenth century a new kingdom was +discovered, capable of yielding immense revenues. This was +Purgatory. It was shown that the pope could empty it by his +indulgences. In this there was no need of hypocrisy. Things were +done openly. The original germ of the apostolic primacy had now +expanded into a colossal monarchy. + +NEED OF A GENERAL COUNCIL. The Inquisition had made the papal +system irresistible. All opposition must be punished with death +by fire. A mere thought, without having betrayed itself by +outward sign, was considered as guilt. As time went on, this +practice of the Inquisition became more and more atrocious. +Torture was resorted to on mere suspicion. The accused was not +allowed to know the name of his accuser. He was not permitted to +have any legal adviser. There was no appeal. The Inquisition was +ordered not to lean to pity. No recantation was of avail. The +innocent family of the accused was deprived of its property by +confiscation; half went to the papal treasury, half to the +inquisitors. Life only, said Innocent III., was to be left to the +sons of misbelievers, and that merely as an act of mercy. The +consequence was, that popes, such as Nicolas III., enriched their +families through plunder acquired by this tribunal. Inquisitors +did the same habitually. + +The struggle between the French and Italians for the possession +of the papacy inevitably led to the schism of the fourteenth +century. For more than forty years two rival popes were now +anathematizing each other, two rival Curias were squeezing the +nations for money. Eventually, there were three obediences, and +triple revenues to be extorted. Nobody, now, could guarantee the +validity of the sacraments, for nobody could be sure which was +the true pope. Men were thus compelled to think for themselves. +They could not find who was the legitimate thinker for them. They +began to see that the Church must rid herself of the curialistic +chains, and resort to a General Council. That attempt was again +and again made, the intention being to raise the Council into a +Parliament of Christendom, and make the pope its chief executive +officer. But the vast interests that had grown out of the +corruption of ages could not so easily be overcome; the Curia +again recovered its ascendency, and ecclesiastical trading was +resumed. The Germans, who had never been permitted to share in +the Curia, took the leading part in these attempts at reform. As +things went on from bad to worse, even they at last found out +that all hope of reforming the Church by means of councils was +delusive. Erasmus exclaimed, "If Christ does not deliver his +people from this multiform ecclesiastical tyranny, the tyranny of +the Turk will become less intolerable." Cardinals' hats were now +sold, and under Leo X. ecclesiastical and religious offices were +actually put up to auction. The maxim of life had become, +interest first, honor afterward. Among the officials, there was +not one who could be honest in the dark, and virtuous without a +witness. The violet-colored velvet cloaks and white ermine capes +of the cardinals were truly a cover for wickedness. + +The unity of the Church, and therefore its power, required the +use of Latin as a sacred language. Through this, Rome had stood +in an attitude strictly European, and was enabled to maintain a +general international relation. It gave her far more power than +her asserted celestial authority, and, much as she claims to have +done, she is open to condemnation that, with such a signal +advantage in her hands, never again to be enjoyed by any +successor, she did not accomplish much more. Had not the +sovereign pontiffs been so completely occupied with maintaining +their emoluments and temporalities in Italy, they might have made +the whole continent advance like one man. Their officials could +pass without difficulty into every nation, and communicate +without embarrassment with each other, from Ireland to Bohemia, +from Italy to Scotland. The possession of a common tongue gave +them the administration of international affairs with intelligent +allies everywhere, speaking the same language. + +Not without cause was the hatred manifested by Rome to the +restoration of Greek and introduction of Hebrew, and the alarm +with which she perceived the modern languages forming out of the +vulgar dialects. Not without reason did the Faculty of Theology +in Paris re-echo the sentiment that, was prevalent in the time of +Ximenes, "What will become of religion if the study of Greek and +Hebrew be permitted?" The prevalence of Latin was the condition +of her power; its deterioration, the measure of her decay; its +disuse, the signal of her limitation to a little principality in +Italy. In fact, the development of European languages was the +instrument of her overthrow. They formed an effectual +communication between the mendicant friars and the illiterate +populace, and there was not one of them that did not display in +its earliest productions a sovereign contempt for her. + +The rise of the many-tongued European literature was therefore +coincident with the decline of papal Christianity; European +literature was impossible under Catholic rule. A grand, a solemn, +an imposing religious unity enforced the literary unity which is +implied in the use of a single tongue. + +While thus the possession of a universal language so signally +secured her power, the real secret of much of the influence of +the Church lay in the control she had so skillfully obtained over +domestic life. Her influence diminished as that declined. +Coincident with this was her displacement in the guidance of +international relations by diplomacy. + +CATHOLICITY AND CIVILIZATION. In the old times of Roman +domination the encampments of the legions in the provinces had +always proved to be foci of civilization. The industry and order +exhibited in them presented an example not lost on the +surrounding barbarians of Britain, Gaul, and Germany. And, though +it was no part of their duty to occupy themselves actively in the +betterment of the conquered tribes, but rather to keep them in a +depressed condition that aided in maintaining subjection, a +steady improvement both in the individual and social condition +took place. + +Under the ecclesiastical domination of Rome similar effects +occurred. In the open country the monastery replaced the +legionary encampment; in the village or town, the church was a +centre of light. A powerful effect was produced by the elegant +luxury of the former, and by the sacred and solemn monitions of +the latter. + +In extolling the papal system for what it did in the organization +of the family, the definition of civil policy, the construction +of the states of Europe, our praise must be limited by the +recollection that the chief object of ecclesiastical policy was +the aggrandizement of the Church, not the promotion of +civilization. The benefit obtained by the laity was not through +any special intention, but incidental or collateral. + +There was no far-reaching, no persistent plan to ameliorate the +physical condition of the nations. Nothing was done to favor +their intellectual development; indeed, on the contrary, it was +the settled policy to keep them not merely illiterate, but +ignorant. Century after century passed away, and left the +peasantry but little better than the cattle in the fields. +Intercommunication and locomotion, which tend so powerfully to +expand the ideas, received no encouragement; the majority of men +died without ever having ventured out of the neighborhood in +which they were born. For them there was no hope of personal +improvement, none of the bettering of their lot; there were no +comprehensive schemes for the avoidance of individual want, none +for the resistance of famines. Pestilences were permitted to +stalk forth unchecked, or at best opposed only by mummeries. Bad +food, wretched clothing, inadequate shelter, were suffered to +produce their result, and at the end of a thousand years the +population of Europe had not doubled. + +If policy may be held accountable as much for the births it +prevents as for the deaths it occasions, what a great +responsibility there is here! + +In this investigation of the influence of Catholicism, we must +carefully keep separate what it did for the people and what it +did for itself. When we think of the stately monastery, an +embodiment of luxury, with its closely-mown lawns, its gardens +and bowers, its fountains and many murmuring streams, we must +connect it not with the ague-stricken peasant dying without help +in the fens, but with the abbot, his ambling palfrey, his hawk +and hounds, his well-stocked cellar and larder. He is part of a +system that has its centre of authority in Italy.. To that his +allegiance is due. For its behoof are all his acts. When we +survey, as still we may, the magnificent churches and cathedrals +of those times, miracles of architectural skill--the only real +miracles of Catholicism--when in imagination we restore the +transcendently imposing, the noble services of which they were +once the scene, the dim, religious-light streaming in through the +many-colored windows, the sounds of voices not inferior in their +melody to those of heaven, the priests in their sacred vestments, +and above all the prostrate worshipers listening to litanies and +prayers in a foreign and unknown tongue, shall we not ask +ourselves, Was all this for the sake of those worshipers, or for +the glory of the great, the overshadowing authority at Rome? + +But perhaps some one may say, Are there not limits to human +exertion--things which no political system, no human power, no +matter how excellent its intention, can accomplish? Men cannot be +raised from barbarism, a continent cannot be civilized, in a day! + +The Catholic power is not, however, to be tried by any such +standard. It scornfully rejected and still rejects a human +origin. It claims to be accredited supernaturally. The sovereign +pontiff is the Vicar of God upon earth. Infallible in judgment, +it is given to him to accomplish all things by miracle if need +be. He had exercised an autocratic tyranny over the intellect of +Europe for more than a thousand years; and, though on some +occasions he had encountered the resistances of disobedient +princes, these, in the aggregate, were of so little moment, that +the physical, the political power of the continent may be +affirmed to have been at his disposal. + +Such facts as have been presented in this chapter were, +doubtless, well weighed by the Protestant Reformers of the +sixteenth century, and brought them to the conclusion that +Catholicism had altogether failed in its mission; that it had +become a vast system of delusion and imposture, and that a +restoration of true Christianity could only be accomplished by +returning to the faith and practices of the primitive times. This +was no decision suddenly arrived at; it had long been the opinion +of many religious and learned men. The pious Fratricelli in the +middle ages had loudly expressed their belief that the fatal gift +of a Roman emperor had been the doom of true religion. It wanted +nothing more than the voice of Luther to bring men throughout the +north of Europe to the, determination that the worship of the +Virgin Mary, the invocation of saints, the working of miracles, +supernatural cures of the sick, the purchase of indulgences for +the perpetration of sin, and all other evil practices, lucrative +to their abettors, which had been fastened on Christianity, but +which were no part of it, should come to an end. Catholicism, as +a system for promoting the well-being of man, had plainly failed +in justifying its alleged origin; its performance had not +corresponded to its great pretensions; and, after an opportunity +of more than a thousand years' duration, it had left the masses +of men submitted to its influences, both as regards physical +well-being and intellectual culture, in a condition far lower +than what it ought to have been. + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +SCIENCE IN RELATION TO MODERN CIVILIZATION. + +Illustration of the general influences of Science from the +history of America. + +THE INTRODUCTION OF SCIENCE INTO EUROPE.--It passed from Moorish +Spain to Upper Italy, and was favored by the absence of the popes +at Avignon.--The effects of printing, of maritime adventure, and +of the Reformation--Establishment of the Italian scientific +societies. + +THE INTELLECTUAL INFLUENCE OF SCIENCE.--It changed the mode and +the direction of thought in Europe.--The transactions of the +Royal Society of London, and other scientific societies, furnish +an illustration of this. + +THE ECONOMICAL INFLUENCE OF SCIENCE is illustrated by the +numerous mechanical and physical inventions, made since the +fourteenth century.--Their influence on health and domestic life, +on the arts of peace and of war. + +Answer to the question, What has Science done for humanity? + + +EUROPE, at the epoch of the Reformation, furnishes us with the +result of the influences of Roman Christianity in the promotion +of civilization. America, examined in like manner at the present +time, furnishes us with an illustration of the influences of +science. + +SCIENCE AND CIVILIZATION. In the course of the seventeenth +century a sparse European population bad settled along the +western Atlantic coast. Attracted by the cod-fishery of +Newfoundland, the French had a little colony north of the St. +Lawrence; the English, Dutch, and Swedes, occupied the shore of +New England and the Middle States; some Huguenots were living in +the Carolinas. Rumors of a spring that could confer perpetual +youth--a fountain of life--had brought a few Spaniards into +Florida. Behind the fringe of villages which these adventurers +had built, lay a vast and unknown country, inhabited by wandering +Indians, whose numbers from the Gulf of Mexico to the St. +Lawrence did not exceed one hundred and eighty thousand. From +them the European strangers had learned that in those solitary +regions there were fresh-water seas, and a great river which they +called the Mississippi. Some said that it flowed through Virginia +into the Atlantic, some that it passed through Florida, some that +it emptied into the Pacific, and some that it reached the Gulf of +Mexico. Parted from their native countries by the stormy +Atlantic, to cross which implied a voyage of many months, these +refugees seemed lost to the world. + +But before the close of the nineteenth century the descendants of +this feeble people had become one of the great powers of the +earth. They had established a republic whose sway extended from +the Atlantic to the Pacific. With an army of more than a million +men, not on paper, but actually in the field, they had overthrown +a domestic assailant. They had maintained at sea a war-fleet of +nearly seven hundred ships, carrying five thousand guns, some of +them the heaviest in the world. The tonnage of this navy amounted +to half a million. In the defense of their national life they had +expended in less than five years more than four thousand million +dollars. Their census, periodically taken, showed that the +population was doubling itself every twenty-five years; it +justified the expectation that at the close of that century it +would number nearly one hundred million souls. + +KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. A silent continent had been changed into a +scene of industry; it was full of the din of machinery and the +restless moving of men. Where there had been an unbroken forest, +there were hundreds of cities and towns. To commerce were +furnished in profusion some of the most important staples, as +cotton, tobacco, breadstuffs. The mines yielded incredible +quantities of gold, iron, coal. Countless churches, colleges, and +public schools, testified that a moral influence vivified this +material activity. Locomotion was effectually provided for. The +railways exceeded in aggregate length those of all Europe +combined. In 1873 the aggregate length of the European railways +was sixty-three thousand three hundred and sixty miles, that of +the American was seventy thousand six hundred and fifty miles. +One of them, built across the continent, connected the Atlantic +and Pacific Oceans. + +But not alone are these material results worthy of notice. Others +of a moral and social kind force themselves on our attention. +Four million negro slaves had been set free. Legislation, if it +inclined to the advantage of any class, inclined to that of the +poor. Its intention was to raise them from poverty, and better +their lot. A career was open to talent, and that without any +restraint. Every thing was possible to intelligence and industry. +Many of the most important public offices were filled by men who +had risen from the humblest walks of life. If there was not +social equality, as there never can be in rich and prosperous +communities, there was civil equality, rigorously maintained. + +It may perhaps be said that much of this material prosperity +arose from special conditions, such as had never occurred in the +case of any people before, There was a vast, an open theatre of +action, a whole continent ready for any who chose to take +possession of it. Nothing more than courage and industry was +needed to overcome Nature, and to seize the abounding advantages +she offered. + +ILLUSTRATIONS FROM AMERICAN HISTORY. But must not men be animated +by a great principle who successfully transform the primeval +solitudes into an abode of civilization, who are not dismayed by +gloomy forests, or rivers, mountains, or frightful deserts, who +push their conquering way in the course of a century across a +continent, and hold it in subjection? Let us contrast with this +the results of the invasion of Mexico and Peru by the Spaniards, +who in those countries overthrew a wonderful civilization, in +many respects superior to their own--a civilization that had been +accomplished without iron and gunpowder--a civilization resting +on an agriculture that had neither horse, nor ox, nor plough. The +Spaniards had a clear base to start from, and no obstruction +whatever in their advance. They ruined all that the aboriginal +children of America had accomplished. Millions of those +unfortunates were destroyed by their cruelty. Nations that for +many centuries had been living in contentment and prosperity, +under institutions shown by their history to be suitable to them, +were plunged into anarchy; the people fell into a baneful +superstition, and a greater part of their landed and other +property found its way into the possession of the Roman Church. + +I have selected the foregoing illustration, drawn from American +history, in preference to many others that might have been taken +from European, because it furnishes an instance of the operation +of the acting principle least interfered with by extraneous +conditions. European political progress is less simple than +American. + +QUARREL BETWEEN FRANCE AND THE PAPACY. Before considering its +manner of action, and its results, I will briefly relate how the +scientific principle found an introduction into Europe. + +INTRODUCTION OF SCIENCE INTO EUROPE. Not only had the Crusades, +for many years, brought vast sums to Rome, extorted from the +fears or the piety of every Christian nation; they had also +increased the papal power to a most dangerous extent. In the dual +governments everywhere prevailing in Europe, the spiritual had +obtained the mastery; the temporal was little better than its +servant. + +From all quarters, and under all kinds of pretenses, streams of +money were steadily flowing into Italy. The temporal princes +found that there were left for them inadequate and impoverished +revenues. Philip the Fair, King of France (A.D. 1300), not only +determined to check this drain from his dominions, by prohibiting +the export of gold and silver without his license; he also +resolved that the clergy and the ecclesiastical estates should +pay their share of taxes to him. This brought on a mortal contest +with the papacy. The king was excommunicated, and, in +retaliation, he accused the pope, Boniface VIII., of atheism; +demanding that he should be tried by a general council. He sent +some trusty persons into Italy, who seized Boniface in his palace +at Anagni, and treated him with so much severity, that in a few +days he died. The succeeding pontiff, Benedict XI., was poisoned. + +The French king was determined that the papacy should be purified +and reformed; that it should no longer be the appanage of a few +Italian families, who were dexterously transmuting the credulity +of Europe into coin--that French influence should prevail in it. +He Therefore came to an understanding with the cardinals; a +French archbishop was elevated to the pontificate; he took the +name of Clement V. The papal court was removed to Avignon, in +France, and Rome was abandoned as the metropolis of Christianity. + +MOORISH SCIENCE INTRODUCED THROUGH FRANCE. Seventy years elapsed +before the papacy was restored to the Eternal City (A.D. 1376). +The diminution of its influence in the peninsula, that had thus +occurred, gave opportunity for the memorable intellectual +movement which soon manifested itself in the great commercial +cities of Upper Italy. Contemporaneously, also, there were other +propitious events. The result of the Crusades had shaken the +faith of all Christendom. In an age when the test of the ordeal +of battle was universally accepted, those wars had ended in +leaving the Holy Land in the hands of the Saracens; the many +thousand Christian warriors who had returned from them did not +hesitate to declare that they had found their antagonists not +such as had been pictured by the Church, but valiant, courteous, +just. Through the gay cities of the South of France a love of +romantic literature had been spreading; the wandering troubadours +had been singing their songs--songs far from being restricted to +ladye- love and feats of war; often their burden was the awful +atrocities that had been perpetrated by papal authority-- the +religious massacres of Languedoc; often their burden was the +illicit amours of the clergy. From Moorish Spain the gentle and +gallant idea of chivalry had been brought, and with it the noble +sentiment of "personal honor," destined in the course of time to +give a code of its own to Europe. + +EFFECT OF THE GREAT SCHISM. The return of the papacy to Rome was +far from restoring the influence of the popes over the Italian +Peninsula. More than two generations had passed away since their +departure, and, had they come back even in their original +strength, they could not have resisted the intellectual progress +that had been made during their absence. The papacy, however, +came back not to rule, but to be divided against itself, to +encounter the Great Schism. Out of its dissensions emerged two +rival popes; eventually there were three, each pressing his +claims upon the religious, each cursing his rival. A sentiment of +indignation soon spread all over Europe, a determination that the +shameful scenes which were then enacting should be ended. How +could the dogma of a Vicar of God upon earth, the dogma of an +infallible pope, be sustained in presence of such scandals? +Herein lay the cause of that resolution of the ablest +ecclesiastics of those times (which, alas for Europe! could not +be carried into effect), that a general council should be made +the permanent religious parliament of the whole continent, with +the pope as its chief executive officer. Had that intention been +accomplished, there would have been at this day no conflict +between science and religion; the convulsion of the Reformation +would have been avoided; there would have been no jarring +Protestant sects. But the Councils of Constance and Basle failed +to shake off the Italian yoke, failed to attain that noble +result. + +Catholicism was thus weakening; as its leaden pressure lifted, +the intellect of man expanded. The Saracens had invented the +method of making paper from linen rags and from cotton. The +Venetians had brought from China to Europe the art of printing. +The former of these inventions was essential to the latter. Hence +forth, without the possibility of a check, there was intellectual +intercommunication among all men. + +INVENTION OF PRINTING. The invention of printing was a severe +blow to Catholicism, which had, previously, enjoyed the +inappreciable advantage of a monopoly of intercommunication. From +its central seat, orders could be disseminated through all the +ecclesiastical ranks, and fulminated through the pulpits. This +monopoly and the amazing power it conferred were destroyed by the +press. In modern times, the influence of the pulpit has become +insignificant. The pulpit has been thoroughly supplanted by the +newspaper. + +Yet, Catholicism did not yield its ancient advantage without a +struggle. As soon as the inevitable tendency of the new art was +detected, a restraint upon it, under the form of a censorship, +was attempted. It was made necessary to have a permit, in order +to print a book. For this, it was needful that the work should +have been read, examined, and approved by the clergy. There must +be a certificate that it was a godly and orthodox book. A bull of +excommunication was issued in 1501, by Alexander VI., against +printers who should publish pernicious doctrines. In 1515 the +Lateran Council ordered that no books should be printed but such +as had been inspected by the ecclesiastical censors, under pain +of excommunication and fine; the censors being directed "to take +the utmost care that nothing should be printed contrary to the +orthodox faith." There was thus a dread of religious discussion; +a terror lest truth should emerge. + +But these frantic struggles of the powers of ignorance were +unavailing. Intellectual intercommunication among men was +secured. It culminated in the modern newspaper, which daily gives +its contemporaneous intelligence from all parts of the world. +Reading became a common occupation. In ancient society that art +was possessed by comparatively few persons. Modern society owes +some of its most striking characteristics to this change. + +EFFECTS OF MARITIME ENTERPRISE. Such was the result of bringing +into Europe the manufacture of paper and the printing-press. In +like manner the introduction of the mariner's compass was +followed by imposing material and moral effects. These were--the +discovery of America in consequence of the rivalry of the +Venetians and Genoese about the India trade; the doubling of +Africa by De Gama; and the circumnavigation of the earth by +Magellan. With respect to the last, the grandest of all human +undertakings, it is to be remembered that Catholicism had +irrevocably committed itself to the dogma of a flat earth, with +the sky as the floor of heaven, and hell in the under-world. Some +of the Fathers, whose authority was held to be paramount, had, as +we have previously said, furnished philosophical and religious +arguments against the globular form. The controversy had now +suddenly come to an end--the Church was found to be in error. + +The correction of that geographical error was by no means the +only important result that followed the three great voyages. The +spirit of Columbus, De Gama, Magellan, diffused itself among all +the enterprising men of Western Europe. Society had been hitherto +living under the dogma of "loyalty to the king, obedience to the +Church." It had therefore been living for others, not for itself. +The political effect of that dogma had culminated in the +Crusades. Countless thousands had perished in wars that could +bring them no reward, and of which the result had been +conspicuous failure. Experience had revealed the fact that the +only gainers were the pontiffs, cardinals, and other +ecclesiastics in Rome, and the shipmasters of Venice. But, when +it became known that the wealth of Mexico, Peru, and India, might +be shared by any one who had enterprise and courage, the motives +that had animated the restless populations of Europe suddenly +changed. The story of Cortez and Pizarro found enthusiastic +listeners everywhere. Maritime adventure supplanted religious +enthusiasm. + +If we attempt to isolate the principle that lay at the basis of +the wonderful social changes that now took place, we may +recognize it without difficulty. Heretofore each man had +dedicated his services to his superior--feudal or ecclesiastical; +now he had resolved to gather the fruits of his exertions +himself. Individualism was becoming predominant, loyalty was +declining into a sentiment. We shall now see how it was with the +Church. + +INDIVIDUALISM. Individualism rests on the principle that a man +shall be his own master, that he shall have liberty to form his +own opinions, freedom to carry into effect his resolves. He is, +therefore, ever brought into competition with his fellow-men. His +life is a display of energy. + +To remove the stagnation of centuries front European life, to +vivify suddenly what had hitherto been an inert mass, to impart +to it individualism, was to bring it into conflict with the +influences that had been oppressing it. All through the +fourteenth and fifteenth centuries uneasy strugglings gave a +premonition of what was coming. In the early part of the +sixteenth (1517), the battle was joined. Individualism found its +embodiment in a sturdy German monk, and therefore, perhaps +necessarily, asserted its rights under theological forms. There +were some preliminary skirmishes about indulgences and other +minor matters, but very soon the real cause of dispute came +plainly into view. Martin Luther refused to think as he was +ordered to do by his ecclesiastical superiors at Rome; he +asserted that he had an inalienable right to interpret the Bible +for himself. + +At her first glance, Rome saw nothing in Martin Luther but a +vulgar, insubordinate, quarrelsome monk. Could the Inquisition +have laid hold of him, it would have speedily disposed of his +affair; but, as the conflict went on, it was discovered that +Martin was not standing alone. Many thousands of men, as resolute +as himself, were coming up to his support; and, while he carried +on the combat with writings and words, they made good his +propositions with the sword. + +THE REFORMATION. The vilification which was poured on Luther and +his doings was so bitter as to be ludicrous. It was declared that +his father was not his mother's husband, but an impish incubus, +who had deluded her; that, after ten years' struggling with his +conscience, he had become an atheist; that he denied the +immortality of the soul; that he had composed hymns in honor of +drunkenness, a vice to which he was unceasingly addicted; that he +blasphemed the Holy Scriptures, and particularly Moses; that he +did not believe a word of what he preached; that he had called +the Epistle of St. James a thing of straw; and, above all, that +the Reformation was no work of his, but, in reality, was due to a +certain astrological position of the stars. It was, however, a +vulgar saying among the Roman ecclesiastics that Erasmus laid the +egg of the Reformation, and Luther hatched it. + +Rome at first made the mistake of supposing that this was nothing +more than a casual outbreak; she failed to discern that it was, +in fact, the culmination of an internal movement which for two +centuries had been going on in Europe, and which had been hourly +gathering force; that, had there been nothing else, the existence +of three popes--three obediences--would have compelled men to +think, to deliberate, to conclude for themselves. The Councils of +Constance and Basle taught them that there was a higher power +than the popes. The long and bloody wars that ensued were closed +by the Peace of Westphalia; and then it was found that Central +and Northern Europe had cast off the intellectual tyranny of +Rome, that individualism had carried its point, and had +established the right of every man to think for himself. + +DECOMPOSITION OF PROTESTANTISM. But it was impossible that the +establishment of this right of private judgment should end with +the rejection of Catholicism. Early in the movement some of the +most distinguished men, such as Erasmus, who had been among its +first promoters, abandoned it. They perceived that many of the +Reformers entertained a bitter dislike of learning, and they were +afraid of being brought under bigoted caprice. The Protestant +party, having thus established its existence by dissent and +separation, must, in its turn, submit to the operation of the +same principles. A decomposition into many subordinate sects was +inevitable. And these, now that they had no longer any thing to +fear from their great Italian adversary, commenced partisan +warfares on each other. As, in different countries, first one and +then another sect rose to power, it stained itself with cruelties +perpetrated upon its competitors. The mortal retaliations that +had ensued, when, in the chances of the times, the oppressed got +the better of their oppressors, convinced the contending +sectarians that they must concede to their competitors what they +claimed for themselves; and thus, from their broils and their +crimes, the great principle of toleration extricated itself. But +toleration is only an intermediate stage; and, as the +intellectual decomposition of Protestantism keeps going on, that +transitional condition will lead to a higher and nobler state +--the hope of philosophy in all past ages of the world--a social +state in which there shall be unfettered freedom for thought. +Toleration, except when extorted by fear, can only come from +those who are capable of entertaining and respecting other +opinions than their own. It can therefore only come from +philosophy. History teaches us only too plainly that fanaticism +is stimulated by religion, and neutralized or eradicated by +philosophy. + +TOLERATION. The avowed object of the Reformation was, to remove +from Christianity the pagan ideas and pagan rites engrafted upon +it by Constantine and his successors, in their attempt to +reconcile the Roman Empire to it. The Protestants designed to +bring it back to its primitive purity; and hence, while restoring +the ancient doctrines, they cast out of it all such practices as +the adoration of the Virgin Mary and the invocation of saints. +The Virgin Mary, we are assured by the Evangelists, had accepted +the duties of married life, and borne to her husband several +children. In the prevailing idolatry, she had ceased to be +regarded as the carpenter's wife; she had become the queen of +heaven, and the mother of God. + +DA VINCI. The science of the Arabians followed the invading track +of their literature, which had come into Christendom by two +routes--the south of France, and Sicily. Favored by the exile of +the popes to Avignon, and by the Great Schism, it made good its +foothold in Upper Italy. The Aristotelian or Inductive +philosophy, clad in the Saracenic costume that Averroes had given +it, made many secret and not a few open friends. It found many +minds eager to receive and able to appreciate it. Among these +were Leonardo da Vinci, who proclaimed the fundamental principle +that experiment and observation are the only reliable foundations +of reasoning in science, that experiment is the only trustworthy +interpreter of Nature, and is essential to the ascertainment of +laws. He showed that the action of two perpendicular forces upon +a point is the same as that denoted by the diagonal of a +rectangle, of which they represent the sides. From this the +passage to the proposition of oblique forces was very easy. This +proposition was rediscovered by Stevinus, a century later, and +applied by him to the explanation of the mechanical powers. Da +Vinci gave a clear exposition of the theory of forces applied +obliquely on a lever, discovered the laws of friction +subsequently demonstrated by Amontons, and understood the +principle of virtual velocities. He treated of the conditions of +descent of bodies along inclined planes and circular arcs, +invented the camera-obscura, discussed correctly several +physiological problems, and foreshadowed some of the great +conclusions of modern geology, such as the nature of fossil +remains, and the elevation of continents. He explained the +earth-light reflected by the moon. With surprising versatility of +genius he excelled as a sculptor, architect, engineer; was +thoroughly versed in the astronomy, anatomy, and chemistry of his +times. In painting, he was the rival of Michel Angelo; in a +competition between them, he was considered to have established +his superiority. His "Last Supper," on the wall of the refectory +of the Dominican convent of Sta. Maria delle Grazie, is well +known, from the numerous engravings and copies that have been +made of it. + +ITALIAN SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. Once firmly established in the +north of Italy, Science soon extended her sway over the entire +peninsula. The increasing number of her devotees is indicated by +the rise and rapid multiplication of learned societies. These +were reproductions of the Moorish ones that had formerly existed +in Granada and Cordova. As if to mark by a monument the track +through which civilizing influences had come, the Academy of +Toulouse, founded in 1345, has survived to our own times. It +represented, however, the gay literature of the south of France, +and was known under the fanciful title of "the Academy of Floral +Games." The first society for the promotion of physical science, +the Academia Secretorum Naturae, was founded at Naples, by +Baptista Porta. It was, as Tiraboschi relates, dissolved by the +ecclesiastical authorities. The Lyncean was founded by Prince +Frederic Cesi at Rome; its device plainly indicated its +intention: a lynx, with its eyes turned upward toward heaven, +tearing a triple-headed Cerberus with its claws. The Accademia +del Cimento, established at Florence, 1657, held its meetings in +the ducal palace. It lasted ten years, and was then suppressed at +the instance of the papal government; as an equivalent, the +brother of the grand-duke was made a cardinal. It numbered many +great men, such as Torricelli and Castelli, among its members. +The condition of admission into it was an abjuration of all +faith, and a resolution to inquire into the truth. These +societies extricated the cultivators of science from the +isolation in which they had hitherto lived, and, by promoting +their intercommunication and union, imparted activity and +strength to them all. + +Returning now from this digression, this historical sketch of the +circumstances under which science was introduced into Europe, I +pass to the consideration of its manner of action and its +results. + +INTELLECTUAL INFLUENCE OF SCIENCE. The influence of science on +modern civilization has been twofold: 1. Intellectual; 2. +Economical. Under these titles we may conveniently consider it. + +Intellectually it overthrew the authority of tradition. It +refused to accept, unless accompanied by proof, the dicta of any +master, no matter how eminent or honored his name. The conditions +of admission into the Italian Accademia del Cimento, and the +motto adopted by the Royal Society of London, illustrate the +position it took in this respect. + +It rejected the supernatural and miraculous as evidence in +physical discussions. It abandoned sign-proof such as the Jews in +old days required, and denied that a demonstration can be given +through an illustration of something else, thus casting aside the +logic that had been in vogue for many centuries. + +In physical inquiries, its mode of procedure was, to test the +value of any proposed hypothesis, by executing computations in +any special case on the basis or principle of that hypothesis, +and then, by performing an experiment or making an observation, +to ascertain whether the result of these agreed with the result +of the computation. If it did not, the hypothesis was to be +rejected. + +We may here introduce an illustration or two of this mode of +procedure: + +THEORIES OF GRAVITATION AND PHLOGISTON. Newton, suspecting that +the influence of the earth's attraction, gravity, may extend as +far as the moon, and be the force that causes her to revolve in +her orbit round the earth, calculated that, by her motion in her +orbit, she was deflected from the tangent thirteen feet every +minute; but, by ascertaining the space through which bodies would +fall in one minute at the earth's surface, and supposing it to be +diminished in the ratio of the inverse square, it appeared that +the attraction at the moon's orbit would draw a body through more +than fifteen feet. He, therefore, for the time, considered his +hypothesis as unsustained. But it so happened that Picard shortly +afterward executed more correctly a new measurement of a degree; +this changed the estimated magnitude of the earth, and the +distance of the moon, which was measured in earth-semidiameters. +Newton now renewed his computation, and, as I have related on a +previous page, as it drew to a close, foreseeing that a +coincidence was about to be established, was so much agitated +that he was obliged to ask a friend to complete it. The +hypothesis was sustained. + +A second instance will sufficiently illustrate the method under +consideration. It is presented by the chemical theory of +phlogiston. Stahl, the author of this theory, asserted that there +is a principle of inflammability, to which he gave the name +phlogiston, having the quality of uniting with substances. Thus, +when what we now term a metallic oxide was united to it, a metal +was produced; and, if the phlogiston were withdrawn, the metal +passed back into its earthy or oxidized state. On this principle, +then, the metals were compound bodies, earths combined with +phlogiston. + +SCIENCE AND ECCLESIASTICISM. But during the eighteenth century +the balance was introduced as an instrument of chemical research. +Now, if the phlogistic hypothesis be true, it would follow that a +metal should be the heavier, its oxide the lighter body, for the +former contains something--phlogiston--that has been added to the +latter. But, on weighing a portion of any metal, and also the +oxide producible from it, the latter proves to be the heavier, +and here the phlogistic hypothesis fails. Still further, on +continuing the investigation, it may be shown that the oxide or +calx, as it used to be called, has become heavier by combining +with one of the ingredients of the air. + +To Lavoisier is usually attributed this test experiment; but the +fact that the weight of a metal increases by calcination was +established by earlier European experimenters, and, indeed, was +well known to the Arabian chemists. Lavoisier, however, was the +first to recognize its great importance. In his hands it produced +a revolution in chemistry. + +The abandonment of the phlogistic theory is an illustration of +the readiness with which scientific hypotheses are surrendered, +when found to be wanting in accordance with facts. Authority and +tradition pass for nothing. Every thing is settled by an appeal +to Nature. It is assumed that the answers she gives to a +practical interrogation will ever be true. + +Comparing now the philosophical principles on which science was +proceeding, with the principles on which ecclesiasticism rested, +we see that, while the former repudiated tradition, to the latter +it was the main support while the former insisted on the +agreement of calculation and observation, or the correspondence +of reasoning and fact, the latter leaned upon mysteries; while +the former summarily rejected its own theories, if it saw that +they could not be coordinated with Nature, the latter found merit +in a faith that blindly accepted the inexplicable, a satisfied +contemplation of "things above reason." The alienation between +the two continually increased. On one side there was a sentiment +of disdain, on the other a sentiment of hatred. Impartial +witnesses on all hands perceived that science was rapidly +undermining ecclesiasticism. + +MATHEMATICS. Mathematics had thus become the great instrument of +scientific research, it had become the instrument of scientific +reasoning. In one respect it may be said that it reduced the +operations of the mind to a mechanical process, for its symbols +often saved the labor of thinking. The habit of mental exactness +it encouraged extended to other branches of thought, and produced +an intellectual revolution. No longer was it possible to be +satisfied with miracle-proof, or the logic that had been relied +upon throughout the middle ages. Not only did it thus influence +the manner of thinking, it also changed the direction of thought. +Of this we may be satisfied by comparing the subjects considered +in the transactions of the various learned societies with the +discussions that had occupied the attention of the middle ages. + +But the use of mathematics was not limited to the verification of +theories; as above indicated, it also furnished a means of +predicting what had hitherto been unobserved. In this it offered +a counterpart to the prophecies of ecclesiasticism. The discovery +of Neptune is an instance of the kind furnished by astronomy, and +that of conical refraction by the optical theory of undulations. + +But, while this great instrument led to such a wonderful +development in natural science, it was itself undergoing +development--improvement. Let us in a few lines recall its +progress. + +The germ of algebra may be discerned in the works of Diophantus +of Alexandria, who is supposed to have lived in the second +century of our era. In that Egyptian school Euclid had formerly +collected the great truths of geometry, and arranged them in +logical sequence. Archimedes, in Syracuse, had attempted the +solution of the higher problems by the method of exhaustions. +Such was the tendency of things that, had the patronage of +science been continued, algebra would inevitably have been +invented. + +To the Arabians we owe our knowledge of the rudiments of algebra; +we owe to them the very name under which this branch of +mathematics passes. They had carefully added, to the remains of +the Alexandrian School, improvements obtained in India, and had +communicated to the subject a certain consistency and form. The +knowledge of algebra, as they possessed it, was first brought +into Italy about the beginning of the thirteenth century. It +attracted so little attention, that nearly three hundred years +elapsed before any European work on the subject appeared. In 1496 +Paccioli published his book entitled "Arte Maggiore," or +"Alghebra." In 1501, Cardan, of Milan, gave a method for the +solution of cubic equations; other improvements were contributed +by Scipio Ferreo, 1508, by Tartalea, by Vieta. The Germans now +took up the subject. At this time the notation was in an +imperfect state. + +The publication of the Geometry of Descartes, which contains the +application of algebra to the definition and investigation of +curve lines (1637), constitutes an epoch in the history of the +mathematical sciences. Two years previously, Cavalieri's work on +Indivisibles had appeared. This method was improved by Torricelli +and others. The way was now open, for the development of the +Infinitesimal Calculus, the method of Fluxions of Newton, and the +Differential and Integral Calculus of Leibnitz. Though in his +possession many years previously, Newton published nothing on +Fluxions until 1704; the imperfect notation he employed retarded +very much the application of his method. Meantime, on the +Continent, very largely through the brilliant solutions of some +of the higher problems, accomplished by the Bernouillis, the +Calculus of Leibnitz was universally accepted, and improved by +many mathematicians. An extraordinary development of the science +now took place, and continued throughout the century. To the +Binomial theorem, previously discovered by Newton, Taylor now +added, in his "Method of Increments," the celebrated theorem that +bears his name. This was in 1715. The Calculus of Partial +Differences was introduced by Euler in 1734. It was extended by +D'Alembert, and was followed by that of Variations, by Euler and +Lagrange, and by the method of Derivative Functions, by Lagrange, +in 1772. + +But it was not only in Italy, in Germany, in England, in France, +that this great movement in mathematics was witnessed; Scotland +had added a new gem to the intellectual diadem with which her +brow is encircled, by the grand invention of Logarithms, by +Napier of Merchiston. It is impossible to give any adequate +conception of the scientific importance of this incomparable +invention. The modern physicist and astronomer will most +cordially agree with Briggs, the Professor of Mathematics in +Gresham College, in his exclamation: "I never saw a book that +pleased me better, and that made I me more wonder!" Not without +reason did the immortal Kepler regard Napier "to be the greatest +man of his age, in the department to which he had applied his +abilities." Napier died in 1617. It is no exaggeration to say +that this invention, by shortening the labors, doubled the life +of the astronomer. + +But here I must check myself. I must remember that my present +purpose is not to give the history of mathematics, but to +consider what science has done for the advancement of human +civilization. And now, at once, recurs the question, How is it +that the Church produced no geometer in her autocratic reign of +twelve hundred years? + +With respect to pure mathematics this remark may be made: Its +cultivation does not demand appliances that are beyond the reach +of most individuals. Astronomy must have its observatory, +chemistry its laboratory; but mathematics asks only personal +disposition and a few books. No great expenditures are called +for, nor the services of assistants. One would think that nothing +could be more congenial, nothing more delightful, even in the +retirement of monastic life. + +Shall we answer with Eusebius, "It is through contempt of such +useless labor that we think so little of these matters; we turn +our souls to the exercise of better things?" Better things! What +can be better than absolute truth? Are mysteries, miracles, lying +impostures, better? It was these that stood in the way! + +The ecclesiastical authorities had recognized, from the outset of +this scientific invasion, that the principles it was +disseminating were absolutely irreconcilable with the current +theology. Directly and indirectly, they struggled against it. So +great was their detestation of experimental science, that they +thought they had gained a great advantage when the Accademia del +Cimento was suppressed. Nor was the sentiment restricted to +Catholicism. When the Royal Society of London was founded, +theological odium was directed against it with so much rancor +that, doubtless, it would have been extinguished, had not King +Charles II. given it his open and avowed support. It was accused +of an intention of "destroying the established religion, of +injuring the universities, and of upsetting ancient and solid +learning." + +THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. We have only to turn over the pages +of its Transactions to discern how much this society has done for +the progress of humanity. It was incorporated in 1662, and has +interested itself in all the great scientific movements and +discoveries that have since been made. It published Newton's +"Principia;" it promoted Halley's voyage, the first scientific +expedition undertaken by any government; it made experiments on +the transfusion of blood, and accepted Harvey's discovery of the +circulation. The encouragement it gave to inoculation led Queen +Caroline to beg six condemned criminals for experiment, and then +to submit her own children to that operation. Through its +encouragement Bradley accomplished his great discovery, the +aberration of the fixed stars, and that of the nutation of the +earth's axis; to these two discoveries, Delambre says, we owe the +exactness of modern astronomy. It promoted the improvement of the +thermometer, the measure of temperature, and in Harrison's watch, +the chronometer, the measure of time. Through it the Gregorian +Calendar was introduced into England, in 1752, against a violent +religious opposition. Some of its Fellows were pursued through +the streets by an ignorant and infuriated mob, who believed it +had robbed them of eleven days of their lives; it was found +necessary to conceal the name of Father Walmesley, a learned +Jesuit, who had taken deep interest in the matter; and, Bradley +happening to die during the commotion, it was declared that he +had suffered a judgment from Heaven for his crime! + +THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. If I were to attempt to do justice +to the merits of this great society, I should have to devote many +pages, to such subjects as the achromatic telescope of Dollond; +the dividing engine of Ramsden, which first gave precision to +astronomical observations, the measurement of a degree on the +earth's surface by Mason and Dixon; the expeditions of Cook in +connection with the transit of Venus; his circumnavigation of the +earth; his proof that scurvy, the curse of long sea-voyages, may +be avoided by the use of vegetable substances; the polar +expeditions; the determination of the density of the earth by +Maskelyne's experiments at Scheliallion, and by those of +Cavendish; the discovery of the planet Uranus by Herschel; the +composition of water by Cavendish and Watt; the determination of +the difference of longitude between London and Paris; the +invention of the voltaic pile; the surveys of the heavens by the +Herschels; the development of the principle of interference by +Young, and his establishment of the undulatory theory of light; +the ventilation of jails and other buildings; the introduction of +gas for city illumination; the ascertainment of the length of the +seconds-pendulum; the measurement of the variations of gravity in +different latitudes; the operations to ascertain the curvature of +the earth; the polar expedition of Ross; the invention of the +safety-lamp by Davy, and his decomposition of the alkalies and +earths; the electro-magnetic discoveries of Oersted and Faraday; +the calculating- engines of Babbage; the measures taken at the +instance of Humboldt for the establishment of many magnetic +observatories; the verification of contemporaneous magnetic +disturbances over the earth's surface. But it is impossible, in +the limited space at my disposal, to give even so little as a +catalogue of its Transactions. Its spirit was identical with that +which animated the Accademia del Cimento, and its motto +accordingly was "Nullius in Verba." It proscribed superstition, +and permitted only calculation, observation, and experiment. + +INFLUENCE OF SCIENCE. Not for a moment must it be supposed that +in these great attempts, these great Successes, the Royal Society +stood alone. In all the capitals of Europe there were Academies, +Institutes, or Societies, equal in distinction, and equally +successful in promoting human knowledge and modern civilization. + + +THE ECONOMICAL INFLUENCES OF SCIENCE. + +The scientific study of Nature tends not only to correct and +ennoble the intellectual conceptions of man; it serves also to +ameliorate his physical condition. It perpetually suggests to him +the inquiry, how he may make, by their economical application, +ascertained facts subservient to his use. + +The investigation of principles is quickly followed by practical +inventions. This, indeed, is the characteristic feature of our +times. It has produced a great revolution in national policy. + +In former ages wars were made for the procuring of slaves. A +conqueror transported entire populations, and extorted from them +forced labor, for it was only by human labor that human labor +could be relieved. But when it was discovered that physical +agents and mechanical combinations could be employed to +incomparably greater advantage, public policy underwent a change; +when it was recognized that the application of a new principle, +or the invention of a new machine, was better than the +acquisition of an additional slave, peace became preferable to +war. And not only so, but nations possessing great slave or serf +populations, as was the care in America and Russia, found that +considerations of humanity were supported by considerations of +interest, and set their bondmen free. + +SCIENTIFIC INVENTIONS. Thus we live in a period of which a +characteristic is the supplanting of human and animal labor by +machines. Its mechanical inventions have wrought a social +revolution. We appeal to the natural, not to the supernatural, +for the accomplishment of our ends. It is with the "modern +civilization" thus arising that Catholicism refuses to be +reconciled. The papacy loudly proclaims its inflexible +repudiation of this state of affairs, and insists on a +restoration of the medieval condition of things. + +That a piece of amber, when rubbed, will attract and then repel +light bodies, was a fact known six hundred years before Christ. +It remained an isolated, uncultivated fact, a mere trifle, until +sixteen hundred years after Christ. Then dealt with by the +scientific methods of mathematical discussion and experiment, and +practical application made of the result, it has permitted men to +communicate instantaneously with each other across continents and +under oceans. It has centralized the world. By enabling the +sovereign authority to transmit its mandates without regard to +distance or to time, it has revolutionized statesmanship and +condensed political power. + +In the Museum of Alexandria there was a machine invented by Hero, +the mathematician, a little more than one hundred years before +Christ. It revolved by the agency of steam, and was of the form +that we should now call a reaction-engine. This, the germ of one +of the most important inventions ever made, was remembered as a +mere curiosity for seventeen hundred years. + +Chance had nothing to do with the invention of the modern +steam-engine. It was the product of meditation and experiment. Ia +the middle of the seventeenth century several mechanical +engineers attempted to utilize the properties of steam; their +labors were brought to perfection by Watt in the middle of the +eighteenth. + +The steam-engine quickly became the drudge of civilization. It +performed the work of many millions of men. It gave, to those who +would have been condemned to a life of brutal toil, the +opportunity of better pursuits. He who formerly labored might now +think. + +Its earliest application was in such operations as pumping, +wherein mere force is required. Soon, however, it vindicated its +delicacy of touch in the industrial arts of spinning and weaving. +It created vast manufacturing establishments, and supplied +clothing for the world. It changed the industry of nations. + +In its application, first to the navigation of rivers, and then +to the navigation of the ocean, it more than quadrupled the speed +that had heretofore been attained. Instead of forty days being +requisite for the passage, the Atlantic might now be crossed in +eight. But, in land transportation, its power was most strikingly +displayed. The admirable invention of the locomotive enabled men +to travel farther in less than an hour than they formerly could +have done in more than a day. + +The locomotive has not only enlarged the field of human activity, +but, by diminishing space, it has increased the capabilities of +human life. In the swift transportation of manufactured goods and +agricultural products, it has become a most efficient incentive +to human industry + +The perfection of ocean steam-navigation was greatly promoted by +the invention of the chronometer, which rendered it possible to +find with accuracy the place of a ship at sea. The great drawback +on the advancement of science in the Alexandrian School was the +want of an instrument for the measurement of time, and one for +the measurement of temperature--the chronometer and the +thermometer; indeed, the invention of the latter is essential to +that of the former. Clepsydras, or water-clocks, had been tried, +but they were deficient in accuracy. Of one of them, ornamented +with the signs of the zodiac, and destroyed by certain primitive +Christians, St. Polycarp significantly remarked, "In all these +monstrous demons is seen an art hostile to God." Not until about +1680 did the chronometer begin to approach accuracy. Hooke, the +contemporary of Newton, gave it the balance-wheel, with the +spiral spring, and various escapements in succession were +devised, such as the anchor, the dead-beat, the duplex, the +remontoir. Provisions for the variation of temperature were +introduced. It was brought to perfection eventually by Harrison +and Arnold, in their hands becoming an accurate measure of the +flight of time. To the invention of the chronometer must be added +that of the reflecting sextant by Godfrey. This permitted +astronomical observations to be made, notwithstanding the motion +of a ship. + +Improvements in ocean navigation are exercising a powerful +influence on the distribution of mankind. They are increasing the +amount and altering the character of colonization. + +DOMESTIC IMPROVEMENT. But not alone have these great discoveries +and inventions, the offspring of scientific investigation, +changed the lot of the human race; very many minor ones, perhaps +individually insignificant, have in their aggregate accomplished +surprising effects. The commencing cultivation of science in the +fourteenth century gave a wonderful stimulus to inventive talent, +directed mainly to useful practical results; and this, +subsequently, was greatly encouraged by the system of patents, +which secure to the originator a reasonable portion of the +benefits of his skill. It is sufficient to refer in the most +cursory manner to a few of these improvements; we appreciate at +once how much they have done. The introduction of the saw-mill +gave wooden floors to houses, banishing those of gypsum, tile, or +stone; improvements cheapening the manufacture of glass gave +windows, making possible the warming of apartments. However, it +was not until the sixteenth century that glazing could be well +done. The cutting of glass by the diamond was then introduced. +The addition of chimneys purified the atmosphere of dwellings, +smoky and sooty as the huts of savages; it gave that +indescribable blessing of northern homes--a cheerful fireside. +Hitherto a hole in the roof for the escape of the smoke, a pit in +the midst of the floor to contain the fuel, and to be covered +with a lid when the curfew-bell sounded or night came, such had +been the cheerless and inadequate means of warming. + +MUNICIPAL IMPROVEMENTS. Though not without a bitter resistance on +the part of the clergy, men began to think that pestilences are +not punishments inflicted by God on society for its religious +shortcomings, but the physical consequences of filth and +wretchedness; that the proper mode of avoiding them is not by +praying to the saints, but by insuring personal and municipal +cleanliness. In the twelfth century it was found necessary to +pave the streets of Paris, the stench in them was so dreadful At +once dysenteries and spotted fever diminished; a sanitary +condition approaching that of the Moorish cities of Spain, which +had been paved for centuries, was attained. In that now beautiful +metropolis it was forbidden to keep swine, an ordinance resented +by the monks of the abbey of St. Anthony, who demanded that the +pigs of that saint should go where they chose; the government was +obliged to compromise the matter by requiring that bells should +be fastened to the animals' necks. King Philip, the son of Louis +the Fat, had been killed by his horse stumbling over a sow. +Prohibitions were published against throwing slops out of the +windows. In 1870 an eye-witness, the author of this book, at the +close of the pontifical rule in Rome, found that, in walking the +ordure-defiled streets of that city, it was more necessary to +inspect the earth than to contemplate the heavens, in order to +preserve personal purity. Until the beginning of the seventeenth +century, the streets of Berlin were never swept. There was a law +that every countryman, who came to market with a cart, should +carry back a load of dirt! + +Paving was followed by attempts, often of an imperfect kind, at +the construction of drains and sewers. It had become obvious to +all reflecting men that these were necessary to the preservation +of health, not only in towns, but in isolated houses. Then +followed the lighting of the public thoroughfares. At first +houses facing the streets were compelled to have candles or lamps +in their windows; next the system that had been followed with so +much advantage in Cordova and Granada--of having public +lamps--was tried, but this was not brought to perfection until +the present century, when lighting by gas was invented. +Contemporaneously with public lamps were improved organizations +for night-watchmen and police. + +By the sixteenth century, mechanical inventions and manufacturing +improvements were exercising a conspicuous influence on domestic +and social life. There were looking-glasses and clocks on the +walls, mantels over the fireplaces. Though in many districts the +kitchen-fire was still supplied with turf, the use of coal began +to prevail. The table in the dining-room offered new delicacies; +commerce was bringing to it foreign products; the coarse drinks +of the North were supplanted by the delicate wines of the South. +Ice-houses were constructed. The bolting of flour, introduced at +the windmills, had given whiter and finer bread. By degrees +things that had been rarities became common--Indian-corn, the +potato, the turkey, and, conspicuous in the long list, tobacco. +Forks, an Italian invention, displaced the filthy use of the +fingers. It may be said that the diet of civilized men now +underwent a radical change. Tea came from China, coffee from +Arabia, the use of sugar from India, and these to no +insignificant degree supplanted fermented liquors. Carpets +replaced on the floors the layer of straw; in the chambers there +appeared better beds, in the wardrobes cleaner and more +frequently-changed clothing. In many towns the aqueduct was +substituted for the public fountain and the street-pump. Ceilings +which in the old days would have been dingy with soot and dirt, +were now decorated with ornamental frescoes. Baths were more +commonly resorted to; there was less need to use perfumery for +the concealment of personal odors. An increasing taste for the +innocent pleasures of horticulture was manifested, by the +introduction of many foreign flowers in the gardens--the +tuberose, the auricula, the crown imperial, the Persian lily, the +ranunculus, and African marigolds. In the streets there appeared +sedans, then close carriages, and at length hackney-coaches. + +Among the dull rustics mechanical improvements forced their way, +and gradually attained, in the implements for ploughing, sowing, +mowing, reaping, thrashing, the perfection of our own times. + +MERCANTILE INVENTIONS. It began to be recognized, in spite of the +preaching of the mendicant orders, that poverty is the source of +crime, the obstruction to knowledge; that the pursuit of riches +by commerce is far better than the acquisition of power by war. +For, though it may be true, as Montesquieu says, that, while +commerce unites nations, it antagonizes individuals, and makes a +traffic of morality, it alone can give unity to the world; its +dream, its hope, is universal peace. + +MEDICAL IMPROVEMENTS. Though, instead of a few pages, it would +require volumes to record adequately the ameliorations that took +place in domestic and social life after science began to exert +its beneficent influences, and inventive talent came to the aid +of industry, there are some things which cannot be passed in +silence. From the port of Barcelona the Spanish khalifs had +carried on an enormous commerce, and they with their +coadjutors--Jewish merchants --had adopted or originated many +commercial inventions, which, with matters of pure science, they +had transmitted to the trading communities of Europe. The art of +book-keeping by double entry was thus brought into Upper Italy. +The different kinds of insurance were adopted, though strenuously +resisted by the clergy. They opposed fire and marine insurance, +on the ground that it is a tempting of Providence. Life insurance +was regarded as an act of interference with the consequences of +God's will. Houses for lending money on interest and on pledges, +that is, banking and pawnbroking establishments, were bitterly +denounced, and especially was indignation excited against the +taking of high rates of interest, which was stigmatized as +usury--a feeling existing in some backward communities up to the +present day. Bills of exchange in the present form and terms were +adopted, the office of the public notary established, and +protests for dishonored obligations resorted to. Indeed, it may +be said, with but little exaggeration, that the commercial +machinery now used was thus introduced. I have already remarked +that, in consequence of the discovery of America, the front of +Europe had been changed. Many rich Italian merchants and many +enterprising Jews, had settled in Holland England, France, and +brought into those countries various mercantile devices. The +Jews, who cared nothing about papal maledictions, were enriched +by the pontifical action in relation to the lending of money at +high interest; but Pius II., perceiving the mistake that had been +made, withdrew his opposition. Pawnbroking establishments were +finally authorized by Leo X., who threatened excommunication of +those who wrote against them. In their turn the Protestants now +exhibited a dislike against establishments thus authorized by +Rome. As the theological dogma, that the plague, like the +earthquake, is an unavoidable visitation from God for the sins of +men, began to be doubted, attempts were made to resist its +progress by the establishment of quarantines. When the Mohammedan +discovery of inoculation was brought from Constantinople in 1721, +by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, it was so strenuously resisted by +the clergy, that nothing short of its adoption by the royal +family of England brought it into use. A similar resistance was +exhibited when Jenner introduced his great improvement, +vaccination; yet a century ago it was the exception to see a face +unpitted by smallpox-- now it is the exception to see one so +disfigured. In like manner, when the great American discovery of +anaesthetics was applied in obstetrical cases, it was +discouraged, not so much for physiological reasons, as under the +pretense that it was an impious attempt to escape from the curse +denounced against all women in Genesis iii. 16. + +MAGIC AND MIRACLES. Inventive ingenuity did not restrict itself +to the production of useful contrivances, it added amusing ones. +Soon after the introduction of science into Italy, the houses of +the virtuosi began to abound in all kinds of curious mechanical +surprises, and, as they were termed, magical effects. In the +latter the invention of the magic-lantern greatly assisted. Not +without reason did the ecclesiastics detest experimental +philosophy, for a result of no little importance ensued--the +juggler became a successful rival to the miracle-worker. The +pious frauds enacted in the churches lost their wonder when +brought into competition with the tricks of the conjurer in the +market-place: he breathed flame, walked on burning coals, held +red-hot iron in his teeth, drew basketfuls of eggs out of his +mouth, worked miracles by marionettes. Yet the old idea of the +supernatural was with difficulty destroyed. A horse, whose master +had taught him many tricks, was tried at Lisbon in 1601, found +guilty of being, possessed by the devil, and was burnt. Still +later than that many witches were brought to the stake. + +DISCOVERIES IN ASTRONOMY AND CHEMISTRY. Once fairly introduced, +discovery and invention have unceasingly advanced at an +accelerated pace. Each continually reacted on the other, +continually they sapped supernaturalism. De Dominis commenced, +and Newton completed, the explanation of the rainbow; they showed +that it was not the weapon of warfare of God, but the accident of +rays of light in drops of water. De Dominis was decoyed to Rome +through the promise of an archbishopric, and the hope of a +cardinal's hat. He was lodged in a fine residence, but carefully +watched. Accused of having suggested a concord between Rome and +England, he was imprisoned in the castle of St Angelo, and there +died. He was brought in his coffin before an ecclesiastical +tribunal, adjudged guilty of heresy, and his body, with a heap of +heretical books, was cast into the flames. Franklin, by +demonstrating the identity of lightning and electricity, deprived +Jupiter of his thunder-bolt. The marvels of superstition were +displaced by the wonders of truth. The two telescopes, the +reflector and the achromatic, inventions of the last century, +permitted man to penetrate into the infinite grandeurs of the +universe, to recognize, as far as such a thing is possible, its +illimitable spaces, its measureless times; and a little later the +achromatic microscope placed before his eyes the world of the +infinitely small. The air-balloon carried him above the clouds, +the diving- bell to the bottom of the sea. The thermometer gave +him true measures of the variations of heat; the barometer, of +the pressure of the air. The introduction of the balance imparted +exactness to chemistry, it proved the indestructibility of +matter. The discovery of oxygen, hydrogen, and many other gases, +the isolation of aluminum, calcium, and other metals, showed that +earth and air and water are not elements. With an enterprise that +can never be too much commended, advantage was taken of the +transits of Venus, and, by sending expeditions to different +regions, the distance of the earth from the sun was determined. +The step that European intellect had made between 1456 and 1759 +was illustrated by Halley's comet. When it appeared in the former +year, it was considered as the harbinger of the vengeance of God, +the dispenser of the most dreadful of his retributions, war, +pestilence, famine. By order of the pope, all the church-bells in +Europe were rung to scare it away, the faithful were commanded to +add each day another prayer; and, as their prayers had often in +so marked a manner been answered in eclipses and droughts and +rains, so on this occasion it was declared that a victory over +the comet had been vouchsafed to the pope. But, in the mean time, +Halley, guided by the revelations of Kepler and Newton, had +discovered that its motions, so far from being controlled by the +supplications of Christendom, were guided in an elliptic orbit by +destiny. Knowing that Nature bad denied to him an opportunity of +witnessing the fulfillment of his daring prophecy, he besought +the astronomers of the succeeding generation to watch for its +return in 1759, and in that year it came. + +INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES. Whoever will in a spirit of +impartiality examine what had been done by Catholicism for the +intellectual and material advancement of Europe, during her long +reign, and what has been done by science in its brief period of +action, can, I am persuaded, come to no other conclusion than +this, that, in instituting a comparison, he has established a +contrast. And yet, how imperfect, how inadequate is the catalogue +of facts I have furnished in the foregoing pages! I have said +nothing of the spread of instruction by the diffusion of the arts +of reading and writing, through public schools, and the +consequent creation of a reading community; the modes of +manufacturing public opinion by newspapers and reviews, the power +of journalism, the diffusion of information public and private by +the post-office and cheap mails, the individual and social +advantages of newspaper advertisements. I have said nothing of +the establishment of hospitals, the first exemplar of which was +the Invalides of Paris; nothing of the improved prisons, +reformatories, penitentiaries, asylums, the treatment of +lunatics, paupers, criminals; nothing of the construction of +canals, of sanitary engineering, or of census reports; nothing of +the invention of stereotyping, bleaching by chlorine, the +cotton-gin, or of the marvelous contrivances with which +cotton-mills are filled--contrivances which have given us cheap +clothing, and therefore added to cleanliness, comfort, health; +nothing of the grand advancement of medicine and surgery, or of +the discoveries in physiology, the cultivation of the fine arts, +the improvement of agriculture and rural economy, the +introduction of chemical manures and farm-machinery. I have not +referred to the manufacture of iron and its vast affiliated +industries; to those of textile fabrics; to the collection of +museums of natural history, antiquities, curiosities. I have +passed unnoticed the great subject of the manufacture of +machinery by itself--the invention of the slide-rest, the +planing-machine, and many other contrivances by which engines can +be constructed with almost mathematical correctness. I have said +nothing adequate about the railway system, or the electric +telegraph, nor about the calculus, or lithography, the airpump, +or the voltaic battery; the discovery of Uranus or Neptune, and +more than a hundred asteroids; the relation of meteoric streams +to comets; nothing of the expeditions by land and sea that have +been sent forth by various governments for the determination of +important astronomical or geographical questions; nothing of the +costly and accurate experiments they have caused to be made for +the ascertainment of fundamental physical data. I have been so +unjust to our own century that I have made no allusion to some of +its greatest scientific triumphs: its grand conceptions in +natural history; its discoveries in magnetism and electricity; +its invention of the beautiful art of photography; its +applications of spectrum analysis; its attempts to bring +chemistry under the three laws of Avogadro, of Boyle and +Mariotte, and of Charles; its artificial production of organic +substances from inorganic material, of which the philosophical +consequences are of the utmost importance; its reconstruction of +physiology by laying the foundation of that science on chemistry; +its improvements and advances in topographical surveying and in +the correct representation of the surface of the globe. I have +said nothing about rifled-guns and armored ships, nor of the +revolution that has been made in the art of war; nothing of that +gift to women, the sewing-machine; nothing of the noble +contentions and triumphs of the arts of peace--the industrial +exhibitions and world's fairs. + +What a catalogue have we here, and yet how imperfect! It gives +merely a random glimpse at an ever-increasing intellectual +commotion--a mention of things as they casually present +themselves to view. How striking the contrast between this +literary, this scientific activity, and the stagnation of the +middle ages! + +The intellectual enlightenment that surrounds this activity has +imparted unnumbered blessings to the human race. In Russia it has +emancipated a vast serf- population; in America it has given +freedom to four million negro slaves. In place of the sparse dole +of the monastery-gate, it has organized charity and directed +legislation to the poor. It has shown medicine its true function, +to prevent rather than to cure disease. In statesmanship it has +introduced scientific methods, displacing random and empirical +legislation by a laborious ascertainment of social facts previous +to the application of legal remedies. So conspicuous, so +impressive is the manner in which it is elevating men, that the +hoary nations of Asia seek to participate in the boon. Let us not +forget that our action on them must be attended by their reaction +on us. If the destruction of paganism was completed when all the +gods were brought to Rome and confronted there, now, when by our +wonderful facilities of locomotion strange nations and +conflicting religions are brought into common presence--the +Mohammedan, the Buddhist, the Brahman-modifications of them all +must ensue. In that conflict science alone will stand secure; for +it has given us grander views of the universe, more awful views +of God. + +AMERICAN AND FRENCH REVOLUTIONS. The spirit that has imparted +life to this movement, that has animated these discoveries and +inventions, is Individualism; in some minds the hope of gain, in +other and nobler ones the expectation of honor. It is, then, not +to be wondered at that this principle found a political +embodiment, and that, during the last century, on two occasions, +it gave rise to social convulsions--the American and the French +Revolutions. The former has ended in the dedication of a +continent to Individualism--there, under republican forms, before +the close of the present century, one hundred million people, +with no more restraint than their common security requires, will +be pursuing an unfettered career. The latter, though it has +modified the political aspect of all Europe, and though +illustrated by surprising military successes, has, thus far, not +consummated its intentions; again and again it has brought upon +France fearful disasters. Her dual form of government--her +allegiance to her two sovereigns, the political and the +spiritual--has made her at once the leader and the antagonist of +modern progress. With one hand she has enthroned Reason, with the +other she has re-established and sustained the pope. Nor will +this anomaly in her conduct cease until she bestows a true +education on all her children, even on those of the humblest +rustic. + +SCIENCE AND CIVILIZATION. The intellectual attack made on +existing opinions by the French Revolution was not of a +scientific, but of a literary character; it was critical and +aggressive. But Science has never been an aggressor. She has +always acted on the defensive, and left to her antagonist the +making of wanton attacks. Nevertheless, literary dissent is not +of such ominous import as scientific; for literature is, in its +nature, local--science is cosmopolitan. + +If, now, we demand, What has science done for the promotion of +modern civilization; what has it done for the happiness, the +well-being of society? we shall find our answer in the same +manner that we reached a just estimate of what Latin Christianity +had done. The reader of the foregoing paragraphs would +undoubtedly infer that there must have been an amelioration in +the lot of our race; but, when we apply the touchstone of +statistics, that inference gathers precision. Systems of +philosophy and forms of religion find a measure of their +influence on humanity in census-returns. Latin Christianity, in a +thousand years, could not double the population of Europe; it did +not add perceptibly to the term of individual life. But, as Dr. +Jarvis, in his report to the Massachusetts Board of Health, has +stated, at the epoch of the Reformation "the average longevity in +Geneva was 21.21 years, between 1814 and 1833 it was 40.68; as +large a number of persons now live to seventy years as lived to +forty, three hundred years ago. In 1693 the British Government +borrowed money by selling annuities on lives from infancy upward, +on the basis of the average longevity. The contract was +profitable. Ninety-seven years later another tontine, or scale of +annuities, on the basis of the same expectation of life as in the +previous century, was issued. These latter annuitants, however, +lived so much longer than their predecessors, that it proved to +be a very costly loan for the government. It was found that, +while ten thousand of each sex in the first tontine died under +the age of twenty-eight, only five thousand seven hundred and +seventy-two males and six thousand four hundred and sixteen +females in the second tontine died at the same age, one hundred +years later." + +We have been comparing the spiritual with the practical, the +imaginary with the real. The maxims that have been followed in +the earlier and the later period produced their inevitable +result. In the former that maxim was, "Ignorance is the mother of +Devotion in the latter, "Knowledge is Power." + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE IMPENDING CRISIS. Indications of the approach of a religious +crisis.--The predominating Christian Church, the Roman, perceives +this, and makes preparation for it.--Pius IX convokes an +Oecumenical Council--Relations of the different European +governments to the papacy.--Relations of the Church to Science, +as indicated by the Encyclical Letter and the Syllabus. + +Acts of the Vatican Council in relation to the infallibility of +the pope, and to Science.--Abstract of decisions arrived at. + +Controversy between the Prussian Government and the papacy.--It +is a contest between the State and the Church for +supremacy--Effect of dual government in Europe--Declaration by +the Vatican Council of its position as to Science--The dogmatic +constitution of the Catholic faith.--Its definitions respecting +God, Revelation, Faith, Reason.--The anathemas it +pronounces.--Its denunciation of modern civilization. + +The Protestant Evangelical Alliance and its acts. + +General review of the foregoing definitions, and acts.--Present +condition of the controversy, and its future prospects. + + +PREDOMINANCE OF CATHOLICITY. No one who is acquainted with the +present tone of thought in Christendom can hide from himself the +fact that an intellectual, a religious crisis is impending. + +In all directions we see the lowering skies, we hear the +mutterings of the coming storm. In Germany, the national party is +arraying itself against the ultramontane; in France, the men of +progress are struggling against the unprogressive, and in their +contest the political supremacy of that great country is wellnigh +neutralized or lost. In Italy, Rome has passed into the hands of +an excommunicated king. The sovereign pontiff, feigning that he +is a prisoner, is fulminating from the Vatican his anathemas, +and, in the midst of the most convincing proofs of his manifold +errors, asserting his own infallibility. A Catholic archbishop +with truth declares that the whole civil society of Europe seems +to be withdrawing itself in its public life from Christianity. In +England and America, religious persons perceive with dismay that +the intellectual basis of faith has been undermined by the spirit +of the age. They prepare for the approaching disaster in the best +manner they can. + +The most serious trial through which society can pass is +encountered in the exuviation of its religious restraints. The +history of Greece and the history of Rome exhibit to us in an +impressive manner how great are the perils. But it is not given +to religions to endure forever. They necessarily undergo +transformation with the intellectual development of man. How many +countries are there professing the same religion now that they +did at the birth of Christ? + +It is estimated that the entire population of Europe is about +three hundred and one million. Of these, one hundred and +eighty-five million are Roman Catholics, thirty-three million are +Greek Catholics. Of Protestants there are seventy-one million, +separated into many sects. Of Jews, five million; of Mohammedans, +seven million. + +Of the religious subdivisions of America an accurate numerical +statement cannot be given. The whole of Christian South America +is Roman Catholic, the same may be said of Central America and of +Mexico, as also of the Spanish and French West India possessions. +In the United States and Canada the Protestant population +predominates. To Australia the same remark applies. In India the +sparse Christian population sinks into insignificance in presence +of two hundred million Mohammedans and other Oriental +denominations. The Roman Catholic Church is the most widely +diffused and the most powerfully organized of all modern +societies. It is far more a political than a religious +combination. Its principle is that all power is in the clergy, +and that for laymen there is only the privilege of obedience. The +republican forms under which the Churches existed in primitive +Christianity have gradually merged into an absolute +centralization, with a man as vice-God at its head. This Church +asserts that the divine commission under which it acts comprises +civil government; that it has a right to use the state for its +own purposes, but that the state has no right to intermeddle with +it; that even in Protestant countries it is not merely a +coordinate government, but the sovereign power. It insists that +the state has no rights over any thing which it declares to be in +its domain, and that Protestantism, being a mere rebellion, has +no rights at all; that even in Protestant communities the +Catholic bishop is the only lawful spiritual pastor. + +It is plain, therefore, that of professing Christians the vast +majority are Catholic; and such is the authoritative demand of +the papacy for supremacy, that, in any survey of the present +religious condition of Christendom, regard must be mainly had to +its acts. Its movements are guided by the highest intelligence +and skill. Catholicism obeys the orders of one man, and has +therefore a unity, a compactness, a power, which Protestant +denominations do not possess. Moreover, it derives inestimable +strength from the souvenirs of the great name of Rome. + +Unembarrassed by any hesitating sentiment, the papacy has +contemplated the coming intellectual crisis. It has pronounced +its decision, and occupied what seems to it to be the most +advantageous ground. + +This definition of position we find in the acts of the late +Vatican Council. + +THE OECUMENICAL COUNCIL. Pius IX., by a bull dated June 29, 1868, +convoked an Oecumenical Council, to meet in Rome, on December 8, +1869. Its sessions ended in July, 1870. Among other matters +submitted to its consideration, two stand forth in conspicuous +prominence--they are the assertion of the infallibility of the +Roman pontiff, and the definition of the relations of religion to +science. + +But the convocation of the Council was far from meeting with +general approval. + +The views of the Oriental Churches were, for the most part, +unfavorable. They affirmed that they saw a desire in the Roman +pontiff to set himself up as the head of Christianity, whereas +they recognized the Lord Jesus Christ alone as the head of the +Church. They believed that the Council would only lead to new +quarrels and scandals. The sentiment of these venerable Churches +is well shown by the incident that, when, in 1867, the Nestorian +Patriarch Simeon had been invited by the Chaldean Patriarch to +return to Roman Catholic unity, he, in his reply, showed that +there was no prospect for harmonious action between the East and +the West: "You invite me to kiss humbly the slipper of the Bishop +of Rome; but is he not, in every respect, a man like yourself--is +his dignity superior to yours? We will never permit to be +introduced into our holy temples of worship images and statues, +which are nothing but abominable and impure idols. What! shall we +attribute to Almighty God a mother, as you dare to do? Away from +us, such blasphemy!" + +EXPECTATIONS OF THE PAPACY. Eventually, the patriarchs, +archbishops, and bishops, from all regions of the world, who took +part in this Council, were seven hundred and four. + +Rome had seen very plainly that Science was not only rapidly +undermining the dogmas of the papacy, but was gathering great +political power. She recognized that all over Europe there was a +fast-spreading secession among persons of education, and that its +true focus was North Germany. + +She looked, therefore, with deep interest on the Prusso-Austrian +War, giving to Austria whatever encouragement she could. The +battle of Sadowa was a bitter disappointment to her. + +With satisfaction again she looked upon the breaking out of the +Franco-Prussian War, not doubting that its issue would be +favorable to France, and therefore favorable to her. Here, again, +she was doomed to disappointment at Sedan. + +Having now no further hope, for many years to come, from external +war, she resolved to see what could be done by internal +insurrection, and the present movement in the German Empire is +the result of her machinations. + +Had Austria or had France succeeded, Protestantism would have +been overthrown along with Prussia. + +But, while these military movements were being carried on, a +movement of a different, an intellectual kind, was engaged in. +Its principle was, to restore the worn-out mediaeval doctrines +and practices, carrying them to an extreme, no matter what the +consequences might be. + +ENCYCLICAL LETTER AND SYLLABUS. Not only was it asserted that the +papacy has a divine right to participate in the government of all +countries, coordinately with their temporal authorities, but that +the supremacy of Rome in this matter must be recognized; and that +in any question between them the temporal authority must conform +itself to her order. + +And, since the endangering of her position had been mainly +brought about by the progress of science, she presumed to define +its boundaries, and prescribe limits to its authority. Still +more, she undertook to denounce modern civilization. + +These measures were contemplated soon after the return of his +Holiness from Gaeta in 1848, and were undertaken by the advice of +the Jesuits, who, lingering in the hope that God would work the +impossible, supposed that the papacy, in its old age, might be +reinvigorated. The organ of the Curia proclaimed the absolute +independence of the Church as regards the state; the dependence +of the bishops on the pope; of the diocesan clergy on the +bishops; the obligation of the Protestants to abandon their +atheism, and return to the fold; the absolute condemnation of all +kinds of toleration. In December, 1854, in an assembly of +bishops, the pope had proclaimed the dogma of the immaculate +conception. Ten years subsequently he put forth the celebrated +Encyclical Letter and the Syllabus. + +The Encyclical Letter is dated December 8, 1864. It was drawn up +by learned ecclesiastics, and subsequently debated at the +Congregation of the Holy Office, then forwarded to prelates, and +finally gone over by the pope and cardinals. + +ENCYCLICAL LETTER AND SYLLABUS. Many of the clergy objected to +its condemnation of modern civilization. Some of the cardinals +were reluctant to concur in it. The Catholic press accepted it, +not, however, without misgivings and regrets. The Protestant +governments put no obstacle in its way; the Catholic were +embarrassed by it. France allowed the publication only of that +portion proclaiming the jubilee; Austria and Italy permitted its +introduction, but withheld their approval. The political press +and legislatures of Catholic countries gave it an unfavorable +reception. Many deplored it as likely to widen the breach between +the Church and modern society. The Italian press regarded it as +determining a war, without truce or armistice, between the papacy +and modern civilization. Even in Spain there were journals that +regretted "the obstinacy and blindness of the court of Rome, in +branding and condemning modern civilization." + +It denounces that "most pernicious and insane opinion, that +liberty of conscience and of worship is the right of every man, +and that this right ought, in every well-governed state, to be +proclaimed and asserted by law; and that the will of the people, +manifested by public opinion (as it is called), or by other +means, constitutes a supreme law, independent of all divine and +human rights." It denies the right of parents to educate their +children outside the Catholic Church. It denounces "the +impudence" of those who presume to subordinate the authority of +the Church and of the Apostolic See, "conferred upon it by Christ +our Lord, to the judgment of the civil authority." His Holiness +commends, to the venerable brothers to whom the Encyclical is +addressed, incessant prayer, and, "in order that God may accede +the more easily to our and your prayers, let us employ in all +confidence, as our mediatrix with him, the Virgin Mary, mother of +God, who sits as a queen upon the right hand of her only-begotten +Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in a golden vestment, clothed around +with various adornments. There is nothing she cannot obtain from +him." + +CONVOCATION OF THE COUNCIL. Plainly, the principle now avowed by +the papacy must bring it into collision even with governments +which had heretofore maintained amicable relations with it. Great +dissatisfaction was manifested by Russia, and the incidents that +ensued drew forth from his Holiness an allocution (November, +1866) condemnatory of the course of that government. To this, +Russia replied, by declaring the Concordat of 1867 abrogated. + +Undeterred by the result of the battle of Sadowa (July, 1866), +though it was plain that the political condition of Europe was +now profoundly affected, and especially the relations of the +papacy, the pope delivered an allocution (June 27, 1867), +confirming the Encyclical and Syllabus. He announced his +intention of convoking an Oecumenical Council. + +Accordingly, as we have already mentioned, in the following year +(June 29, 1868), a bull was issued convoking that Council. +Misunderstandings, however, had now sprung up with Austria. The +Austrian Reichsrath had adopted laws introducing equality of +civil rights for all the inhabitants of the empire, and +restricting the influence of the Church. This produced on the +part of the papal government an expostulation. Acting as Russia +had done, the Austrian Government found it necessary to abrogate +the Concordat of 1855. + +In France, as above stated, the publication of the entire +Syllabus was not permitted; but Prussia, desirous of keeping on +good terms with the papacy, did not disallow it. The exacting +disposition of the papacy increased. It was openly declared that +the faithful must now sacrifice to the Church, property, life, +and even their intellectual convictions. The Protestants and the +Greeks were invited to tender their submission. + +THE VATICAN COUNCIL. On the appointed day, the Council opened. +Its objects were, to translate the Syllabus into practice, to +establish the dogma of papal infallibility, and define the +relations of religion to science. Every preparation had been made +that the points determined on should be carried. The bishops were +informed that they were coming to Rome not to deliberate, but to +sanction decrees previously made by an infallible pope. No idea +was entertained of any such thing as free discussion. The minutes +of the meetings were not permitted to be inspected; the prelates +of the opposition were hardly allowed to speak. On January 22, +1870, a petition, requesting that the infallibility of the pope +should be defined, was presented; an opposition petition of the +minority was offered. Hereupon, the deliberations of the minority +were forbidden, and their publications prohibited. And, though +the Curia had provided a compact majority, it was found expedient +to issue an order that to carry any proposition it was not +necessary that the vote should be near unanimity, a simple +majority sufficed. The remonstrances of the minority were +altogether unheeded. + +As the Council pressed forward to its object, foreign authorities +became alarmed at its reckless determination. A petition drawn up +by the Archbishop of Vienna, and signed by several cardinals and +archbishops, entreated his Holiness not to submit the dogma of +infallibility for consideration, "because the Church has to +sustain at present a struggle unknown in former times, against +men who oppose religion itself as an institution baneful to human +nature, and that it is inopportune to impose upon Catholic +nations, led into temptation by so many machinations, more dogmas +than the Council of Trent proclaimed." It added that "the +definition demanded would furnish fresh arms to the enemies of +religion, to excite against the Catholic Church the resentment of +men avowedly the best." The Austrian prime-minister addressed a +protest to the papal government, warning it against any steps +that might lead to encroachments on the rights of Austria. The +French Government also addressed a note, suggesting that a French +bishop should explain to the Council the condition and the rights +of France. To this the papal government replied that a bishop +could not reconcile the double duties of an ambassador and a +Father of the Council. Hereupon, the French Government, in a very +respectful note, remarked that, to prevent ultra opinions from +becoming dogmas, it reckoned on the moderation of the bishops, +and the prudence of the Holy Father; and, to defend its civil and +political laws against the encroachments of the theocracy, it had +counted on public reason and the patriotism of French Catholics. +In these remonstrances the North-German Confederation joined, +seriously pressing them on the consideration of the papal +government. + +On April 23d, Von Arnim, the Prussian embassador, united with +Daru, the French minister, in suggesting to the Curia the +inexpediency of reviving mediaeval ideas. The minority bishops, +thus encouraged, demanded now that the relations of the spiritual +to the secular power should be determined before the pope's +infallibility was discussed, and that it should be settled +whether Christ had conferred on St. Peter and his successors a +power over kings and emperors. + +INFALLIBILITY OF THE POPE. No regard was paid to this, not even +delay was consented to. The Jesuits, who were at the bottom of +the movement, carried their measures through the packed assembly +with a high hand. The Council omitted no device to screen itself +from popular criticism. Its proceedings were conducted with the +utmost secrecy; all who took part in them were bound by a solemn +oath to observe silence. + +On July 13th, the votes were taken. Of 601 votes, 451 were +affirmative. Under the majority rule, the measure was pronounced +carried, and, five days subsequently, the pope proclaimed the +dogma of his infallibility. It has often been remarked that this +was the day on which the French declared war against Prussia. +Eight days afterward the French troops were withdrawn from Rome. +Perhaps both the statesman and the philosopher will admit that an +infallible pope would be a great harmonizing element, if only +common-sense could acknowledge him. + +Hereupon, the King of Italy addressed an autograph letter to the +pope, setting forth in very respectful terms the necessity that +his troops should advance and occupy positions "indispensable to +the security of his Holiness, and the maintenance of order;" +that, while satisfying the national aspirations, the chief of +Catholicity, surrounded by the devotion of the Italian +populations, "might preserve on the banks of the Tiber a glorious +seat, independent of all human sovereignty." + +To this his Holiness replied in a brief and caustic letter: "I +give thanks to God, who has permitted your majesty to fill the +last days of my life with bitterness. For the rest, I cannot +grant certain requests, nor conform with certain principles +contained in your letter. Again, I call upon God, and into his +hands commit my cause, which is his cause. I pray God to grant +your majesty many graces, to free you from dangers, and to +dispense to you his mercy which you so much need." + +THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT. The Italian troops met with but little +resistance. They occupied Rome on September 20, 1870. A manifesto +was issued, setting forth the details of a plebiscitum, the vote +to be by ballot, the question, "the unification of Italy." Its +result showed how completely the popular mind in Italy is +emancipated from theology. In the Roman provinces the number of +votes on the lists was 167,548; the number who voted, 135,291; +the number who voted for annexation, 133,681; the number who +voted against it, 1,507; votes annulled, 103. The Parliament of +Italy ratified the vote of the Roman people for annexation by a +vote of 239 to 20. A royal decree now announced the annexation of +the Papal States to the kingdom of Italy, and a manifesto was +issued indicating the details of the arrangement. It declared +that "by these concessions the Italian Government seeks to prove +to Europe that Italy respects the sovereignty of the pope in +conformity with the principle of a free Church in a free state." + +AFFAIRS IN PRUSSIA. In the Prusso-Austrian War it had been the +hope of the papacy, to restore the German Empire under Austria, +and make Germany a Catholic nation. In the Franco- German War the +French expected ultramontane sympathies in Germany. No means were +spared to excite Catholic sentiment against the Protestants. No +vilification was spared. They were spoken of as atheists; they +were declared incapable of being honest men; their sects were +pointed out as indicating that their secession was in a state of +dissolution. "The followers of Luther are the most abandoned men +in all Europe." Even the pope himself, presuming that the whole +world had forgotten all history, did not hesitate to say, "Let +the German people understand that no other Church but that of +Rome is the Church of freedom and progress." + +Meantime, among the clergy of Germany a party was organized to +remonstrate against, and even resist, the papal usurpation. It +protested against "a man being placed on the throne of God," +against a vice-God of any kind, nor would it yield its scientific +convictions to ecclesiastical authority. Some did not hesitate to +accuse the pope himself of being a heretic. Against these +insubordinates excommunications began to be fulminated, and at +length it was demanded that certain professors and teachers +should be removed from their offices, and infallibilists +substituted. With this demand the Prussian Government declined to +comply. + +The Prussian Government had earnestly desired to remain on +amicable terms with the papacy; it had no wish to enter on a +theological quarrel; but gradually the conviction was forced upon +it that the question was not a religious but a political +one--whether the power of the state should be used against the +state. A teacher in a gymnasium had been excommunicated; the +government, on being required to dismiss him, refused. The Church +authorities denounced this as an attack upon faith. The emperor +sustained his minister. The organ of the infallible party +threatened the emperor with the opposition of all good Catholics, +and told him that, in a contention with the pope, systems of +government can and must change. It was now plain to every one +that the question had become, "Who is to be master in the state, +the government or the Roman Church? It is plainly impossible for +men to live under two governments, one of which declares to be +wrong what the other commands. If the government will not submit +to the Roman Church, the two are enemies." A conflict was thus +forced upon Prussia by Rome--a conflict in which the latter, +impelled by her antagonism to modern civilization, is clearly the +aggressor. + +ACTION OF THE PRUSSIAN GOVERNMENT. The government, now +recognizing its antagonist, defended itself by abolishing the +Catholic department in the ministry of Public Worship. This was +about midsummer, 1871. In the following November the Imperial +Parliament passed a law that ecclesiastics abusing their office, +to the disturbance of the public peace, should be criminally +punished. And, guided by the principle that the future belongs to +him to whom the school belongs, a movement arose for the purpose +of separating the schools from the Church. + +THE CHURCH A POLITICAL POWER. The Jesuit party was extending and +strengthening an organization all over Germany, based on the +principle that state legislation in ecclesiastical matters is not +binding. Here was an act of open insurrection. Could the +government allow itself to be intimidated? The Bishop of Ermeland +declared that he would not obey the laws of the state if they +touched the Church. The government stopped the payment of his +salary; and, perceiving that there could be no peace so long as +the Jesuits were permitted to remain in the country, their +expulsion was resolved on, and carried into effect. At the close +of 1872 his Holiness delivered an allocution, in which he touched +on the "persecution of the Church in the German Empire," and +asserted that the Church alone has a right to fix the limits +between its domain and that of the state--a dangerous and +inadmissible principle, since under the term morals the Church +comprises all the relations of men to each other, and asserts +that whatever does not assist her oppresses her. Hereupon, a few +days subsequently (January 9, 1873), four laws were brought +forward by the government: 1. Regulating the means by which a +person might sever his connection with the Church; 2. Restricting +the Church in the exercise of ecclesiastical punishments; 3. +Regulating the ecclesiastical power of discipline, forbidding +bodily chastisement, regulating fines and banishments granting +the privilege of an appeal to the Royal Court of Justice for +Ecclesiastical Affairs, the decision of which is final; 4. +Ordaining the preliminary education and appointment of priests. +They must have had a satisfactory education, passed a public +examination conducted by the state, and have a knowledge of +philosophy, history, and German literature. Institutions refusing +to be superintended by the state are to be closed. + +These laws demonstrate that Germany is resolved that she will no +longer be dictated to nor embarrassed by a few Italian noble +families; that she will be master of her own house. She sees in +the conflict, not an affair of religion or of conscience, but a +struggle between the sovereignty of state legislation and the +sovereignty of the Church. She treats the papacy not in the +aspect of a religious, but of a political power, and is resolved +that the declaration of the Prussian Constitution shall be +maintained, that "the exercise of religious freedom must not +interfere with the duties of a citizen toward the community and +the state." + +DUAL GOVERNMENT IN EUROPE. With truth it is affirmed that the +papacy is administered not oecumenically, not as a universal +Church, for all the nations, but for the benefit of some Italian +families. Look at its composition! It consists of pope, cardinal +bishops, cardinal deacons, who at the present moment are all +Italians; cardinal priests, nearly all Italians; ministers and +secretaries of the Sacred Congregation in Rome, all Italians. +France has not given a pope since the middle ages. It is the same +with Austria, Portugal, Spain. In spite of all attempts to change +this system of exclusion, to open the dignities of the Church to +all Catholicism, no foreigner can reach the holy chair. It is +recognized that the Church is a domain given by God to the +princely Italian families. Of fifty-five members of the present +College of Cardinals, forty are Italians--that is, thirty-two +beyond their proper share. + +The stumbling-block to the progress of Europe has been its dual +system of government. So long as every nation had two sovereigns, +a temporal one at home and a spiritual one in a foreign +land--there being different temporal masters in different +nations, but only one foreign master for all, the pontiff at +Rome--how was it possible that history should present us with any +thing more than a narrative of the strifes of these rival powers? +Whoever will reflect on this state of things will see how it is +that those nations which have shaken off the dual form of +government are those which have made the greatest advance. He +will discern what is the cause of the paralysis which has +befallen France. On one hand she wishes to be the leader of +Europe, on the other she clings to a dead past. For the sake of +propitiating her ignorant classes, she enters upon lines of +policy which her intelligence must condemn. So evenly balanced +are the two sovereignties under which she lives, that sometimes +one, sometimes the other, prevails; and not unfrequently the one +uses the other as an engine for the accomplishment of its ends. + +INTENTIONS OF THE POPE. But this dual system approaches its +close. To the northern nations, less imaginative and less +superstitious, it had long ago become intolerable; they rejected +it summarily at the epoch of the Reformation, notwithstanding the +protestations and pretensions of Rome, Russia, happier than the +rest, has never acknowledged the influence of any foreign +spiritual power. She gloried in her attachment to the ancient +Greek rite, and saw in the papacy nothing more than a troublesome +dissenter from the primitive faith. In America the temporal and +the spiritual have been absolutely divorced--the latter is not +permitted to have any thing to do with affairs of state, though +in all other respects liberty is conceded to it. The condition of +the New World also satisfies us that both forms of Christianity, +Catholic and Protestant, have lost their expansive power; neither +can pass beyond its long-established boundary-line--the Catholic +republics remain Catholic, the Protestant Protestant. And among +the latter the disposition to sectarian isolation is +disappearing; persons of different denominations consort without +hesitation together. They gather their current opinions from +newspapers, not from the Church. + +Pius IX., in the movements we have been considering, has had two +objects in view: 1. The more thorough centralization of the +papacy, with a spiritual autocrat assuming the prerogatives of +God at its head; 2. Control over the intellectual development of +the nations professing Christianity. + +The logical consequence of the former of these is political +intervention. He insists that in all cases the temporal must +subordinate itself to the spiritual power; all laws inconsistent +with the interests of the Church must be repealed. They are not +binding on the faithful. In the preceding pages I have briefly +related some of the complications that have already occurred in +the attempt to maintain this policy. + +THE SYLLABUS. I now come to the consideration of the manner in +which the papacy proposes to establish its intellectual control; +how it defines its relation to its antagonist, Science, and, +seeking a restoration of the mediaeval condition, opposes modern +civilization, and denounces modern society. + +The Encyclical and Syllabus present the principles which it was +the object of the Vatican Council to carry into practical effect. +The Syllabus stigmatizes pantheism, naturalism, and absolute +rationalism, denouncing such opinions as that God is the world; +that there is no God other than Nature; that theological matters +must be treated in the same manner as philosophical ones, that +the methods and principles by which the old scholastic doctors +cultivated theology are no longer suitable to the demands of the +age and the progress of science; that every man is free to +embrace and profess the religion he may believe to be true, +guided by the light of his reason; that it appertains to the +civil power to define what are the rights and limits in which the +Church may exercise authority; that the Church has not the right +of availing herself of force or any direct or indirect temporal +power; that the Church ought to be separated from the state and +the state from the Church; that it is no longer expedient that +the Catholic religion shall be held as the only religion of the +state, to the exclusion of all other modes of worship; that +persons coming to reside in Catholic countries have a right to +the public exercise of their own worship; that the Roman pontiff +can and ought to reconcile himself to, and agree with, the +progress of modern civilization. The Syllabus claims the right of +the Church to control public schools, and denies the right of the +state in that respect; it claims the control over marriage and +divorce. + +Such of these principles as the Council found expedient at +present to formularize, were set forth by it in "The Dogmatic +Constitution of the Catholic Faith." The essential points of this +constitution, more especially as regards the relations of +religion to science, we have now to examine. It will be +understood that the following does not present the entire +document, but only an abstract of what appear to be its more +important parts. + +CONSTITUTION OF CATHOLIC FAITH. This definition opens with a +severe review of the principles and consequences of the +Protestant Reformation: + +"The rejection of the divine authority of the Church to teach, +and the subjection of all things belonging to religion to the +judgment of each individual, have led to the production of many +sects, and, as these differed and disputed with each other, all +belief in Christ was overthrown in the minds of not a few, and +the Holy Scriptures began to be counted as myths and fables. +Christianity has been rejected, and the reign of mere Reason as +they call it, or Nature, substituted; many falling into the abyss +of pantheism, materialism, and atheism, and, repudiating the +reasoning nature of man, and every rule of right and wrong, they +are laboring to overthrow the very foundations of human society. +As this impious heresy is spreading everywhere, not a few +Catholics have been inveigled by it. They have confounded human +science and divine faith. + +"But the Church, the Mother and Mistress of nations, is ever +ready to strengthen the weak, to take to her bosom those that +return, and carry them on to better things. And, now the bishops +of the whole world being gathered together in this Oecumenical +Council, and the Holy Ghost sitting therein, and judging with us, +we have determined to declare from this chair of St. Peter the +saving doctrine of Christ, and proscribe and condemn the opposing +errors. + +"OF GOD, THE CREATOR OF ALL THINGS.--The Holy Catholic Apostolic +Roman Church believes that there is one true and living God, +Creator and Lord of Heaven and Earth, Almighty, Eternal, Immense, +Incomprehensible, Infinite in understanding and will, and in all +perfection. He is distinct from the world. Of his own most free +counsel he made alike out of nothing two created creatures, a +spiritual and a temporal, angelic and earthly. Afterward be made +the human nature, composed of both. Moreover, God by his +providence protects and governs all things, reaching from end to +end mightily, and ordering all things harmoniously. Every thing +is open to his eyes, even things that come to pass by the free +action of his creatures." + +"OF REVELATION.--The Holy Mother Church holds that God can be +known with certainty by the natural light of human reason, but +that it has also pleased him to reveal himself and the eternal +decrees of his will in a supernatural way. This supernatural +revelation, as declared by the Holy Council of Trent, is +contained in the books of the Old and New Testament, as +enumerated in the decrees of that Council, and as are to be had +in the old Vulgate Latin edition. These are sacred because they +were written under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. They have +God for their author, and as such have been delivered to the +Church. + +"And, in order to restrain restless spirits, who may give +erroneous explanations, it is decreed--renewing the decision of +the Council of Trent--that no one may interpret the sacred +Scriptures contrary to the sense in which they are interpreted by +Holy Mother Church, to whom such interpretation belongs." + +"OF FAITH.--Inasmuch as man depends on God as his Lord, and +created reason is wholly subject to uncreated truth, he is bound +when God makes a revelation to obey it by faith. This faith is a +supernatural virtue, and the beginning of man's salvation who +believes revealed things to be true, not for their intrinsic +truth as seen by the natural light of reason, but for the +authority of God in revealing them. But, nevertheless that faith +might be agreeable to reason, God willed to join miracles and +prophecies, which, showing forth his omnipotence and knowledge, +are proofs suited to the understanding of all. Such we have in +Moses and the prophets, and above all in Christ. Now, all those +things are to be believed which are written in the word of God, +or handed down by tradition, which the Church by her teaching has +proposed for belief. + +"No one can be justified without this faith, nor shall any one, +unless he persevere therein to the end, attain everlasting life. +Hence God, through his only-begotten Son, has established the +Church as the guardian and teacher of his revealed word. For only +to the Catholic Church do all those signs belong which make +evident the credibility of the Christian faith. Nay, more, the +very Church herself, in view of her wonderful propagation, her +eminent holiness, her exhaustless fruitfulness in all that is +good, her Catholic unity, her unshaken stability, offers a great +and evident claim to belief, and an undeniable proof of her +divine mission. Thus the Church shows to her children that the +faith they hold rests on a most solid foundation. Wherefore, +totally unlike is the condition of those who, by the heavenly +gift of faith, have embraced the Catholic truth, and of those +who, led by human opinions, are following, a false religion." + +"OF FAITH AND REASON.--Moreover, the Catholic Church has ever +held and now holds that there exists a twofold order of +knowledge, each of which is distinct from the other, both as to +its principle and its object. As to its principle, because in the +one we know by natural reason, in the other by divine faith; as +to the object, because, besides those things which our natural +reason can attain, there are proposed to our belief mysteries +hidden in God, which, unless by him revealed, cannot come to our +knowledge. + +"Reason, indeed, enlightened by faith, and seeking, with +diligence and godly sobriety, may, by God's gift, come to some +understanding, limited in degree, but most wholesome in its +effects, of mysteries, both from the analogy of things which are +naturally known and from the connection of the mysteries +themselves with one another and with man's last end. But never +can reason be rendered capable of thoroughly understanding +mysteries as it does those truths which form its proper object. +For God's mysteries, in their very nature, so far surpass the +reach of created intellect, that, even when taught by revelation +and received by faith, they remain covered by faith itself, as by +a veil, and shrouded, as it were, in darkness as long as in this +mortal life. + +"But, although faith be above reason, there never can be a real +disagreement between them, since the same God who reveals +mysteries and infuses faith has given man's soul the light of +reason, and God cannot deny himself, nor can one truth ever +contradict another. Wherefore the empty shadow of such +contradiction arises chiefly from this, that either the doctrines +of faith are not understood and set forth as the Church really +holds them, or that the vain devices and opinions of men are +mistaken for the dictates of reason. We therefore pronounce false +every assertion which is contrary to the enlightened truth of +faith. Moreover, the Church, which, together with her apostolic +office of teaching, is charged also with the guardianship of the +deposits of faith, holds likewise from God the right and the duty +to condemn 'knowledge, falsely so called,' 'lest any man be +cheated by philosophy and vain deceit.' Hence all the Christian +faithful are not only forbidden to defend, as legitimate +conclusions of science, those opinions which are known to be +contrary to the doctrine of faith, especially when condemned by +the Church, but are rather absolutely bound to hold them for +errors wearing the deceitful appearance of truth. + +THE VATICAN ANATHEMAS. "Not only is it impossible for faith and +reason ever to contradict each other, but they rather afford each +other mutual assistance. For right reason establishes the +foundation of faith, and, by the aid of its light, cultivates the +science of divine things; and faith, on the other hand, frees and +preserves reason from errors, and enriches it with knowledge of +many kinds. So far, then, is the Church from opposing the culture +of human arts and sciences, that she rather aids and promotes it +in many ways. For she is not ignorant of nor does she despise the +advantages which flow from them to the life of man; on the +contrary, she acknowledges that, as they sprang from God, the +Lord of knowledge, so, if they be rightly pursued, they will, +through the aid of his grace, lead to God. Nor does she forbid +any of those sciences the use of its own principles and its own +method within its own proper sphere; but, recognizing this +reasonable freedom, she takes care that they may not, by +contradicting God's teaching, fall into errors, or, overstepping +the due limits, invade or throw into confusion the domain of +faith. + +"For the doctrine of faith revealed by God has not been proposed, +like some philosophical discovery, to be made perfect by human +ingenuity, but it has been delivered to the spouse of Christ as a +divine deposit, to be faithfully guarded and unerringly set +forth. Hence, all tenets of holy faith are to be explained always +according to the sense and meaning of the Church; nor is it ever +lawful to depart therefrom under pretense or color of a more +enlightened explanation. Therefore, as generations and centuries +roll on, let the understanding, knowledge, and wisdom of each and +every one, of individuals and of the whole Church, grow apace and +increase exceedingly, yet only in its kind; that is to say +retaining pure and inviolate the sense and meaning and belief of +the same doctrine." + +Among other canons the following were promulgated. + +"Let him be anathema-- + +"Who denies the one true God, Creator and Lord of all things, +visible and invisible. + +"Who unblushingly affirms that, besides matter, nothing else +exists. + +"Who says that the substance or essence of God, and of all +things, is one and the same. + +"Who says that finite things, both corporeal and spiritual, or at +least spiritual things, are emanations of the divine substance; +or that the divine essence, by manifestation or development of +itself, becomes all things. + +"Who does not acknowledge that the world and all things which it +contains were produced by God out of nothing. + +"Who shall say that man can and ought to, of his own efforts, by +means of, constant progress, arrive, at last, at the possession +of all truth and goodness. + +"Who shall refuse to receive, for sacred and canonical, the books +of Holy Scripture in their integrity, with all their parts, +according as they were enumerated by the holy Council of Trent, +or shall deny that they are Inspired by God. + +"Who shall say that human reason is in such wise independent, +that faith cannot be demanded of it by God. + +"Who shall say that divine revelation cannot be rendered credible +by external evidences. + +"Who shall say that no miracles can be wrought, or that they can +never be known with certainty, and that the divine origin of +Christianity cannot be proved by them. + +"Who shall say that divine revelation includes no mysteries, but +that all the dogmas of faith may be understood and demonstrated +by reason duly cultivated. + +"Who shall say that human sciences ought to be pursued in such a +spirit of freedom that one may be allowed to hold as true their +assertions, even when opposed to revealed doctrine. + +"Who shall say that it may at any time come to pass, in the +progress of science, that the doctrines set forth by the Church +must be taken in another sense than that in which the Church has +ever received and yet receives them." + +THE EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE. The extraordinary and, indeed, it may +be said, arrogant assumptions contained in these decisions were +far from being received with satisfaction by educated Catholics. +On the part of the German universities there was resistance; and, +when, at the close of the year, the decrees of the Vatican +Council were generally acquiesced in, it was not through +conviction of their truth, but through a disciplinary sense of +obedience. + +By many of the most pious Catholics the entire movement and the +results to which it had led were looked upon with the sincerest +sorrow. Pere Hyacinthe, in a letter to the superior of his order, +says : "I protest against the divorce, as impious as it is +insensate, sought to be effected between the Church, which is our +eternal mother, and the society of the nineteenth century, of +which we are the temporal children, and toward which we have also +duties and regards. It is my most profound conviction that, if +France in particular, and the Latin race in general, are given up +to social, moral, and religious anarchy, the principal cause +undoubtedly is not Catholicism itself, but the manner in which +Catholicism has for a long time been understood and practised." + +Notwithstanding his infallibility, which implies omniscience, his +Holiness did not foresee the issue of the Franco-Prussian War. +Had the prophetical talent been vouchsafed to him, he would have +detected the inopportuneness of the acts of his Council. His +request to the King of Prussia for military aid to support his +temporal power was denied. The excommunicated King of Italy, as +we have seen, took possession of Rome. A bitter papal encyclical, +strangely contrasting with the courteous politeness of modern +state-papers, was issued, November 1, 1870, denouncing the acts +of the Piedmontese court, "which had followed the counsel of the +sects of perdition." In this his Holiness declares that he is in +captivity, and that he will have no agreement with Belial. He +pronounces the greater excommunication, with censures and +penalties, against his antagonists, and prays for "the +intercession of the immaculate Virgin Mary, mother of God, and +that of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul." + +Of the various Protestant denominations, several had associated +themselves, for the purposes of consultation, under the +designation of the Evangelical Alliance. Their last meeting was +held in New York, in the autumn of 1873. Though, in this meeting, +were gathered together many pious representatives of the Reformed +Churches, European and American, it had not the prestige nor the +authority of the Great Council that had just previously closed +its sessions in St. Peters, at Rome. It could not appeal to an +unbroken ancestry of far more than a thousand years; it could not +speak with the authority of an equal and, indeed, of a superior +to emperors and kings. While profound intelligence and a +statesmanlike, worldly wisdom gleamed in every thing that the +Vatican Council had done, the Evangelical Alliance met without a +clear and precise view of its objects, without any +definitely-marked intentions. Its wish was to draw into closer +union the various Protestant Churches, but it had no +well-grounded hope of accomplishing that desirable result. It +illustrated the necessary working, of the principle on which +those Churches originated. They were founded on dissent and exist +by separation. + +Yet in the action of the Evangelical Alliance may be discerned +certain very impressive facts. It averted its eyes from its +ancient antagonist--that antagonist which had so recently loaded +the Reformation with contumely and denunciation--it fastened +them, as the Vatican Council had done, on Science. Under that +dreaded name there stood before it what seemed to be a spectre of +uncertain form, of hourly-dilating proportions, of threatening +aspect. Sometimes the Alliance addressed this stupendous +apparition in words of courtesy, sometimes in tones of +denunciation. + +THE VATICAN CONSTITUTION CRITICISED. The Alliance failed to +perceive that modern Science is the legitimate sister--indeed, it +is the twin-sister-- of the Reformation. They were begotten +together and were born together. It failed to perceive that, +though there is an impossibility of bringing into coalition the +many conflicting sects, they may all find in science a point of +connection; and that, not a distrustful attitude toward it, but a +cordial union with it, is their true policy. + +It remains now to offer some reflections on this "Constitution of +the Catholic Faith," as defined by the Vatican Council. + +For objects to present themselves under identical relations to +different persons, they must be seen from the same point of view. +In the instance we are now considering, the religious man has his +own especial station; the scientific man another, a very +different one. It is not for either to demand that his +co-observer shall admit that the panorama of facts spread before +them is actually such as it appears to him to be. + +The Dogmatic Constitution insists on the admission of this +postulate, that the Roman Church acts under a divine commission, +specially and exclusively delivered to it. In virtue of that +great authority, it requires of all men the surrender of their +intellectual convictions, and of all nations the subordination of +their civil power. + +But a claim so imposing must be substantiated by the most +decisive and unimpeachable credentials; proofs, not only of an +implied and indirect kind, but clear, emphatic, and to the point; +proofs that it would be impossible to call in question. + +The Church, however, declares, that she will not submit her claim +to the arbitrament of human reason; she demands that it shall be +at once conceded as an article of faith. + +If this be admitted, all bar requirements must necessarily be +assented to, no matter how exorbitant they may be. + +With strange inconsistency the Dogmatic Constitution deprecates +reason, affirming that it cannot determine the points under +consideration, and yet submits to it arguments for adjudication. +In truth, it might be said that the whole composition is a +passionate plea to Reason to stultify itself in favor of Roman +Christianity. + +With points of view so widely asunder, it is impossible that +Religion and Science should accord in their representation of +things. Nor can any conclusion in common be reached, except by an +appeal to Reason as a supreme and final judge. + +There are many religions in the world, some of them of more +venerable antiquity, some having far more numerous adherents, +than the Roman. How can a selection be made among them, except by +such an appeal to Reason? Religion and Science must both submit +their claims and their dissensions to its arbitrament. + +Against this the Vatican Council protests. It exalts faith to a +superiority over reason; it says that they constitute two +separate orders of knowledge, having respectively for their +objects mysteries and facts. Faith deals with mysteries, reason +with facts. Asserting the dominating superiority of faith, it +tries to satisfy the reluctant mind with miracles and prophecies. + +On the other hand, Science turns away from the incomprehensible, +and rests herself on the maxim of Wiclif: "God forceth not a man +to believe that which he cannot understand." In the absence of an +exhibition of satisfactory credentials on the part of her +opponent, she considers whether there be in the history of the +papacy, and in the biography of the popes, any thing that can +adequately sustain a divine commission, any thing that can +justify pontifical infallibility, or extort that unhesitating +obedience which is due to the vice-God. + +One of the most striking and vet contradictory features of the +Dogmatic Constitution is, the reluctant homage it pays to the +intelligence of man. It presents a definition of the +philosophical basis of Catholicism, but it veils from view the +repulsive features of the vulgar faith. It sets forth the +attributes of God, the Creator of all things, in words fitly +designating its sublime conception, but it abstains from +affirming that this most awful and eternal Being was born of an +earthly mother, the wife of a Jewish carpenter, who has since +become the queen of heaven. The God it depicts is not the God of +the middle ages, seated on his golden throne, surrounded by +choirs of angels, but the God of Philosophy. The Constitution has +nothing to say about the Trinity, nothing of the worship due to +the Virgin--on the contrary, that is by implication sternly +condemned; nothing about transubstantiation, or the making of the +flesh and blood of God by the priest; nothing of the invocation +of the saints. It bears on its face subordination to the thought +of the age, the impress of the intellectual progress of man. + +THE PASSAGE OF EUROPE TO LLAMAISM. Such being the exposition +rendered to us respecting the attributes of God, it next +instructs us as to his mode of government of the world. The +Church asserts that she possesses a supernatural control over all +material and moral events. The priesthood, in its various grades, +can determine issues of the future, either by the exercise of its +inherent attributes, or by its influential invocation of the +celestial powers. To the sovereign pontiff it has been given to +bind or loose at his pleasure. It is unlawful to appeal from his +judgments to an Oecumenical Council, as if to an earthly arbiter +superior to him. Powers such as these are consistent with +arbitrary rule, but they are inconsistent with the government of +the world by immutable law. Hence the Dogmatic Constitution +plants itself firmly in behalf of incessant providential +interventions; it will not for a moment admit that in natural +things there is an irresistible sequence of events, or in the +affairs of men an unavoidable course of acts. + +But has not the order of civilization in all parts of the world +been the same? Does not the growth of society resemble individual +growth? Do not both exhibit to us phases of youth, of maturity, +of decrepitude? To a person who has carefully considered the +progressive civilization of groups of men in regions of the earth +far apart, who has observed the identical forms under which that +advancing civilization has manifested itself, is it not clear +that the procedure is determined by law? The religious ideas of +the Incas of Peru and the emperors of Mexico, and the ceremonials +of their court-life, were the same as those in Europe--the same +as those in Asia. The current of thought had been the same. A +swarm of bees carried to some distant land will build its combs +and regulate its social institutions as other unknown swarms +would do, and so with separated and disconnected swarms of men. +So invariable is this sequence of thought and act, that there are +philosophers who, transferring the past example offered by +Asiatic history to the case of Europe, would not hesitate to +sustain the proposition--given a bishop of Rome and some +centuries, and you will have an infallible pope: given an +infallible pope and a little more time, and you will have +Llamaism--Llamaism to which Asia has long, ago attained. + +As to the origin of corporeal and spiritual things, the Dogmatic +Constitution adds a solemn emphasis to its declarations, by +anathematizing all those who bold the doctrine of emanation, or +who believe that visible Nature is only a manifestation of the +Divine Essence. In this its authors had a task of no ordinary +difficulty before them. They must encounter those formidable +ideas, whether old or new, which in our times are so strongly +forcing themselves on thoughtful men. The doctrine of the +conservation and correlation of Force yields as its logical issue +the time-worn Oriental emanation theory; the doctrines of +Evolution and Development strike at that of successive creative +acts. The former rests on the fundamental principle that the +quantity of force in the universe is invariable. Though that +quantity can neither be increased nor diminished, the forms under +which Force expresses itself may be transmuted into each other. +As yet this doctrine has not received complete scientific +demonstration, but so numerous and so cogent are the arguments +adduced in its behalf, that it stands in an imposing, almost in +an authoritative attitude. Now, the Asiatic theory of emanation +and absorption is seen to be in harmony with this grand idea. It +does not hold that, at the conception of a human being, a soul is +created by God out of nothing and given to it, but that a portion +of the already existing, the divine, the universal intelligence, +is imparted, and, when life is over, this returns to and is +absorbed in the general source from which it originally came. The +authors of the Constitution forbid these ideas to be held, under +pain of eternal punishment. + +In like manner they dispose of the doctrines of Evolution and +Development, bluntly insisting that the Church believes in +distinct creative acts. The doctrine that every living form is +derived from some preceding form is scientifically in a much more +advanced position than that concerning Force, and probably may he +considered as established, whatever may become of the additions +with which it has recently been overlaid. + +In her condemnation of the Reformation, the Church carries into +effect her ideas of the subordination of reason to faith. In her +eyes the Reformation is an impious heresy, leading to the abyss +of pantheism, materialism, and atheism, and tending to overthrow +the very foundations of human society. She therefore would +restrain those "restless spirits" who, following Luther, have +upheld the "right of every man to interpret the Scriptures for +himself." She asserts that it is a wicked error to admit +Protestants to equal political privileges with Catholics, and +that to coerce them and suppress them is a sacred duty; that it +is abominable to permit them to establish educational +institutions. Gregory XVI. denounced freedom of conscience as an +insane folly, and the freedom of the press a pestilent error, +which cannot be sufficiently detested. + +But how is it possible to recognize an inspired and infallible +oracle on the Tiber, when it is remembered that again and again +successive popes have contradicted each other; that popes have +denounced councils, and councils have denounced popes; that the +Bible of Sixtus V. had so many admitted errors--nearly two +thousand--that its own authors had to recall it? How is it +possible for the children of the Church to regard as "delusive +errors" the globular form of the earth, her position as a planet +in the solar system, her rotation on her axis, her movement round +the sun? How can they deny that there are antipodes, and other +worlds than ours? How can they believe that the world was made +out of nothing, completed in a week, finished just as we see it +now; that it has undergone no change, but that its parts have +worked so indifferently as to require incessant interventions? + +THE ERRORS OF ECCLESIASTICISM. When Science is thus commanded to +surrender her intellectual convictions, may she not ask the +ecclesiastic to remember the past? The contest respecting the +figure of the earth, and the location of heaven and hell, ended +adversely to him. He affirmed that the earth is an extended +plane, and that the sky is a firmament, the floor of heaven, +through which again and again persons have been seen to ascend. +The globular form demonstrated beyond any possibility of +contradiction by astronomical facts, and by the voyage of +Magellan's ship, he then maintained that it is the central body +of the universe, all others being in subordination to it, and it +the grand object of God's regard. Forced from this position, he +next affirmed that it is motionless, the sun and the stars +actually revolving, as they apparently do, around it. The +invention of the telescope proved that here again he was in +error. Then he maintained that all the motions of the solar +system are regulated by providential intervention; the +"Principia" of Newton demonstrated that they are due to +irresistible law. He then affirmed that the earth and all the +celestial bodies were created about six thousand years ago, and +that in six days the order of Nature was settled, and plants and +animals in their various tribes introduced. Constrained by the +accumulating mass of adverse evidence, he enlarged his days into +periods of indefinite length--only, however, to find that even +this device was inadequate. The six ages, with their six special +creations, could no longer be maintained, when it was discovered +that species, slowly emerged in one age, reached a culmination in +a second, and gradually died out in a third: this overlapping +from age to age would not only have demanded creations, but +re-creations also. He affirmed that there had been a deluge, +which covered the whole earth above the tops of the highest +mountains, and that the waters of this flood were removed by a +wind. Correct ideas respecting the dimensions of the atmosphere, +and of the sea, and of the operation of evaporation, proved how +untenable these statements are. Of the progenitors of the human +race, he declared that they had come from their Maker's hand +perfect, both in body and mind, and had subsequently experienced +a fall. He is now considering how best to dispose of the evidence +continually accumulating respecting the savage condition of +prehistoric man. + +Is it at all surprising that the number of those who hold the +opinions of the Church in light esteem should so rapidly +increase? How can that be received as a trustworthy guide in the +invisible, which falls into so many errors in the visible? How +can that give confidence in the moral, the spiritual, which has +so signally failed in the physical? It is not possible to dispose +of these conflicting facts as "empty shadows," "vain devices," +"fictions coming from knowledge falsely so called," "errors +wearing the deceitful appearance of truth," as the Church +stigmatizes them. On the contrary, they are stern witnesses, +bearing emphatic and unimpeachable testimony against the +ecclesiastical claim to infallibility, and fastening a conviction +of ignorance and blindness upon her. + +Convicted of so many errors, the papacy makes no attempt at +explanation. It ignores the whole matter Nay, more, relying on +the efficacy of audacity, though confronted by these facts, it +lays claim to infallibility. + +SEPARATION OF CATHOLICISM AND CIVILIZATION. But, to the pontiff, +no other rights can be conceded than those he can establish at +the bar of Reason. He cannot claim infallibility in religious +affairs, and decline it in scientific. Infallibility embraces all +things. It implies omniscience. If it holds good for theology, it +necessarily holds good for science. How is it possible to +coordinate the infallibility of the papacy with the well-known +errors into which it has fallen? + +Does it not, then, become needful to reject the claim of the +papacy to the employment of coercion in the maintenance of its +opinions; to repudiate utterly the declaration that "the +Inquisition is an urgent necessity in view of the unbelief of the +present age," and in the name of human nature to protest loudly +against the ferocity and terrorism of that institution? Has not +conscience inalienable rights? + +An impassable and hourly-widening gulf intervenes between +Catholicism and the spirit of the age. Catholicism insists that +blind faith is superior to reason; that mysteries are of more +importance than facts. She claims to be the sole interpreter of +Nature and revelation, the supreme arbiter of knowledge; she +summarily rejects all modern criticism of the Scriptures, and +orders the Bible to be accepted in accordance with the views of +the theologians of Trent; she openly avows her hatred of free +institutions and constitutional systems, and declares that those +are in damnable error who regard the reconciliation of the pope +with modern civilization as either possible or desirable. + +SCIENCE AND PROTESTANTISM. But the spirit of the age demands--is +the human intellect to be subordinated to the Tridentine Fathers, +or to the fancy of illiterate and uncritical persons who wrote in +the earlier ages of the Church? It sees no merit in blind faith, +but rather distrusts it. It looks forward to an improvement in +the popular canon of credibility for a decision between fact and +fiction. It does not consider itself bound to believe fables and +falsehoods that have been invented for ecclesiastical ends. It +finds no argument in behalf of their truth, that traditions and +legends have been long-lived; in this respect, those of the +Church are greatly inferior to the fables of paganism. The +longevity of the Church itself is not due to divine protection or +intervention, but to the skill with which it has adapted its +policy to existing circumstances. If antiquity be the criterion +of authenticity, the claims of Buddhism must be respected; it has +the superior warrant of many centuries. There can be no defense +of those deliberate falsifications of history, that concealment +of historical facts, of which the Church has so often taken +advantage. In these things the end does not justify the means. + +Then has it in truth come to this, that Roman Christianity and +Science are recognized by their respective adherents as being +absolutely incompatible; they cannot exist together; one must +yield to the other; mankind must make its choice--it cannot have +both. + +SCIENCE AND FAITH. While such is, perhaps, the issue as regards +Catholicism, a reconciliation of the Reformation with Science is +not only possible, but would easily take place, if the Protestant +Churches would only live up to the maxim taught by Luther, and +established by so many years of war. That maxim is, the right of +private interpretation of the Scriptures. It was the foundation +of intellectual liberty. But, if a personal interpretation of the +book of Revelation is permissible, how can it be denied in the +case of the book of Nature? In the misunderstandings that have +taken place, we must ever bear in mind the infirmities of men. +The generations that immediately followed the Reformation may +perhaps be excused for not comprehending the full significance of +their cardinal principle, and for not on all occasions carrying +it into effect. When Calvin caused Servetus, to be burnt, he was +animated, not by the principles of the Reformation, but by those +of Catholicism, from which he had not been able to emancipate +himself completely. And when the clergy of influential Protestant +confessions have stigmatized the investigators of Nature as +infidels and atheists, the same may be said. For Catholicism to +reconcile itself to Science, there are formidable, perhaps +insuperable obstacles in the way. For Protestantism to achieve +that great result there are not. In the one case there is a +bitter, a mortal animosity to be overcome; in the other, a +friendship, that misunderstandings have alienated, to be +restored. + +CIVILIZATION AND RELIGION. But, whatever may be the preparatory +incidents of that great impending intellectual crisis which +Christendom must soon inevitably witness, of this we may rest +assured, that the silent secession from the public faith, which +in so ominous a manner characterizes the present generation, will +find at length political expression. It is not without +significance that France reenforces the ultramontane tendencies +of her lower population, by the promotion of pilgrimages, the +perpetration of miracles, the exhibition of celestial +apparitions. Constrained to do this by her destiny, she does it +with a blush. It is not without significance that Germany +resolves to rid herself of the incubus of a dual government, by +the exclusion of the Italian element, and to carry to its +completion that Reformation which three centuries ago she left +unfinished. The time approaches when men must take their choice +between quiescent, immobile faith and ever-advancing +Science--faith, with its mediaeval consolations, Science, which +is incessantly scattering its material blessings in the pathway +of life, elevating the lot of man in this world, and unifying the +human race. Its triumphs are solid and enduring. But the glory +which Catholicism might gain from a conflict with material ideas +is at the best only like that of other celestial meteors when +they touch the atmosphere of the earth--transitory and useless. + +Though Guizot's affirmation that the Church has always sided with +despotism is only too true, it must be remembered that in the +policy she follows there is much of political necessity. She is +urged on by the pressure of nineteen centuries. But, if the +irresistible indicates itself in her action, the inevitable +manifests itself in her life. For it is with the papacy as with a +man. It has passed through the struggles of infancy, it has +displayed the energies of maturity, and, its work completed, it +must sink into the feebleness and querulousness of old age. Its +youth can never be renewed. The influence of its souvenirs alone +will remain. As pagan Rome threw her departing shadow over the +empire and tinctured all its thoughts, so Christian Rome casts +her parting shadow over Europe. + +INADMISSIBLE CLAIMS OF CATHOLICISM. Will modern civilization +consent to abandon the career of advancement which has given it +so much power and happiness? Will it consent to retrace its steps +to the semi-barbarian ignorance and superstition of the middle +ages? Will it submit to the dictation of a power, which, claiming +divine authority, can present no adequate credentials of its +office; a power which kept Europe in a stagnant condition for +many centuries, ferociously suppressing by the stake and the +sword every attempt at progress; a power that is founded in a +cloud of mysteries; that sets itself above reason and +common-sense; that loudly proclaims the hatred it entertains +against liberty of thought and freedom in civil institutions; +that professes its intention of repressing the one and destroying +the other whenever it can find the opportunity; that denounces as +most pernicious and insane the opinion that liberty of conscience +and of worship is the right of every man; that protests against +that right being proclaimed and asserted by law in every +well-governed state; that contemptuously repudiates the principle +that the will of the people, manifested by public opinion (as it +is called) or by other means, shall constitute law; that refuses +to every man any title to opinion in matters of religion, but +holds that it is simply his duty to believe what he is told by +the Church, and to obey her commands; that will not permit any +temporal government to define the rights and prescribe limits to +the authority of the Church; that declares it not only may but +will resort to force to discipline disobedient individuals; that +invades the sanctify of private life, by making, at the +confessional, the wife and daughters and servants of one +suspected, spies and informers against him; that tries him +without an accuser, and by torture makes him bear witness against +himself; that denies the right of parents to educate their +children outside of its own Church, and insists that to it alone +belongs the supervision of domestic life and the control of +marriages and divorces; that denounces "the impudence" of those +who presume to subordinate the authority of the Church to the +civil authority, or who advocate the separation of the Church +from the state; that absolutely repudiates all toleration, and +affirms that the Catholic religion is entitled to be held as the +only religion in every country, to the exclusion of all other +modes of worship; that requires all laws standing in the way of +its interests to be repealed, and, if that be refused, orders all +its followers to disobey them? + +ISSUE OF THE CONFLICT. This power, conscious that it can work no +miracle to serve itself, does not hesitate to disturb society by +its intrigues against governments, and seeks to accomplish its +ends by alliances with despotism. + +Claims such as these mean a revolt against modern civilization, +an intention of destroying it, no matter at what social cost. To +submit to them without resistance, men must be slaves indeed! + +As to the issue of the coming conflict, can any one doubt? +Whatever is resting on fiction and fraud will be overthrown. +Institutions that organize impostures and spread delusions must +show what right they have to exist. Faith must render an account +of herself to Reason. Mysteries must give place to facts. +Religion must relinquish that imperious, that domineering +position which she has so long maintained against Science. There +must be absolute freedom for thought. The ecclesiastic must learn +to keep himself within the domain he has chosen, and cease to +tyrannize over the philosopher, who, conscious of his own +strength and the purity of his motives, will bear such +interference no longer. What was written by Esdras near the +willow-fringed rivers of Babylon, more than twenty-three +centuries ago, still holds good: "As for Truth it endureth and is +always strong; it liveth and conquereth for evermore." + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT BETWEEN RELIGION AND SCIENCE *** + +This file should be named hcbrs10.txt or hcbrs10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, hcbrs11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, hcbrs10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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