"I was surprised when I saw the declaration of the Roman Catholic prelates, of whose opinions I wish to speak with all possible respect; and I think I never read, during thirty-five years of my experience, any public document which filled me with so much surprise as that which insisted that the Roman Catholic youth ought not to hear lectures on geology or history except from Roman Catholic professors (hear, hear)."—Extract of Sir Robert Peel's speech of Tuesday.
... One should suppose that a mind long habituated to elevated scientific pursuits could not leave the brilliant path of his researches, and so far forget his subject as to fling gratuitous ridicule on the political and religious feelings of others; the connexion between minerals and politics, the crust of the earth and Catholic doctrine, is so remote, that no one expects to have them classed together by the lecturers, or written on the same page by the scholars in geology ; yet before the conclusion of this letter I hope to prove, that more sectarian prejudice, and more virulent misrepresentations of Catholic doctrine, and the Catholic name, are circulated by the geologists of our times than by our bitterest polemical opponents. And this unexpected rancour is not confined to the humbler class of these writers, but has dangerously spread itself among the brightest names on the records of modern science of every department.
And the Catholic has not alone to fear the concealed or the open hostility of those professors and writers, they are the avowed enemies of common Christianity; and if public censure be not awakened against their absurd theories, and their attacks on religion (under the disguise of science), Deism and Infidelity may farther extend their incurable cancer.
The Earl of Bridgewater dying in the year 1829, bequeathed £8,000 to the writers of certain subjects set forth in his will. The President of the Royal London Society had the controul of the money. Eight scholars in the different sciences were employed as writers—four clergymen and four laymen —all of whom, I believe, are Fellows of College. Rev. William Kirby was engaged to write the first volume on " the habits, the instinct, and the history of animals."
This subject, one should think, seems quite out of the sphere of religious controversy; yet, strange to say, Mr. Kirby devoted 105 pages of royal octavo to biblical criticism! and in almost every page treats Catholic principles with ridicule. This gentleman wrote the first volume of the work; and in page 44, after having copiously hinted at Catholic errors, he mentions " the evil effects of a superstitious and bigoted adherence to the letter, and not to the spirit, of the Scriptures." He continues—" In the dark ages, anterior to the Reformation, superstition occupied the seat of true and rational religion ; the armed hand of authority was lifted up against all such as endeavoured to interpret Scripture on just and reasonable grounds. Every such effort was rejected, was reprobated ex cathedra, and persecuted as a dangerous and pestilent heresy. Thus every avenue to the discovery of truth in religion and science was attempted to be closed. This evil spirit it was that proscribed the system of Copernicus, and, because it was contrary to the letter of the Scriptures, persecuted Gallileo." Who could think that the writer before us was discussing the instinct of animals in the above quotations ? Could this reverend gentleman be " selected" to lecture before a Catholic auditory ?
The Rev. Dr. Chalmers wrote the second volume of this work. His subject was " The adaptation of external nature to the moral constitution of man." He devotes 42 pages to the discussion of the mental feelings of conscience; he sets it forth as the supreme judge of human actions—the interpreter of the Scriptures, and then quotes Sir James Mackintosh, who doubts whether conscience be inherent or acquired by the processes similar to our other acquired feelings.
Here the reverend doctor seems to set aside an essential principle in ethics—namely : that right conscience is a copy of the natural laws as existing in the mind of God; impressed by Him on the human soul in lines as deeply marked as his pencilling on the human countenance, and, in its broad principles, independent of human institutions. But, in the mind of the doctor, all these things are nothing more than the laws of mechanics; and a soul possessing the knowledge of God is the same process as a mind instructed in the arts of agriculture!! Verily, my lords, the regnum geologicum is a strange institution ! Here, again, is another scientific writer on"' external nature," who clearly makes his fling at the authority of the Catholic Church, and concludes by a proposition of most monstrous import—namely : discussing the reasonableness of conscience, being acquired by " processes" of society; that is, whether it be a set of thoughts, similar to the ideas acquired by the knowledge of chemistry and astronomy—or other "processes" of mental feeling. So much for Dr. Chalmers being a fit person to lecture Roman Catholic students on the beauties of "external nature."
Next comes Charles Babbage, Esq., who wrote the ninth volume of this work, called " A Fragment." He writes on "the expansion of beds of granite on time—and on a machine which he calls 'a calculating machine ;' " yet, strange, one of his most remarkable sections is devoted to "miracles ! !" "The object (he says, page 93, 9th volume) of the present chapter is to show that miracles are not deviations from the laws assigned by God for the government of matter and mind but that they are the exact fulfilment of laws much more extensive than those we suppose to exist."
Here, again, is a gentleman writing on "granite," and one of his first chapters is directed to the subject of miracles: and from his views it appears that the miracles of our Lord were the established laws of matter and mind; that they arose from a fixed system of government, and were of course quite independent of the free will of the Redeemer, or the gratuitous grace of his Godlike mercy. Verily, if this gentleman be a lecturer on " granite," the Bishops of the Catholic Church ought to have the exclusive claim of preventing him from lecturing on the subject of miracles. But the writing of this gentleman is the subject of melancholy reflection— it shows the awful absurdity into which men will rush when discussing subjects which they have not studied. Mr. Babbage goes further : in page 101 he compares a miracle to a " re-entering curve of four dimensions," and actually gives the elements of this curve: by shifting the " constants" of this curve he makes it end in a point after various changes, which point contains the elements of all the truths of this varying curve.
This elementary point, containing as it does all the various subsequent changes of the curve, is (in his mind) an exact illustration of ordinary elementary facts in nature, succeeded by larger developments of higher facts (called miracles), but which are not miracles in reality, but diversified instances of mere extended natural machinery! Was there over published such monstrous conceit as to reduce miracles to a formula in algebra— to a curve of four dimensions.
Hence the miracles of of our Lord, which were the omnipotent seal of his mission; are only a set of new natural facts, and are related to the ordinary facts just in the same ratio as the " Data" of Euclid are related to the First Book—or an advanced problem in biquadratric equations, to arithmetical progression; in a word, miracles in the opinion of this scientific gentleman, are the "algebraic geometry" of nature, and are merely higher developments of the laws that regulate agriculture and mechanics ! Was anything so monstrous ever committed to type before ? And Mr. Babbage need not have had re course to this unnecessary display of algebraic geometry. The centre of the circle may be made to extend itself on similar principles, and by shifting diameter, axis, directrix, it may be developed through all the truths of the conic sections; but this plan would not show the display of the "four dimensions!" Verily Mr. Babbage is rather a dangerous writer on " granite !"
Mr. Lyell, too, in page 70 of the first volume of his work, introduces "the faculty of Sorbonne" in the, usual style of the geologists. He cites one of the passages in Buffon's theory of the earth, which was condemned by the Sorbonne as contrary to the "creed of the church."
The passage is as follows :
" The waters of the sea have produced the mountains; the waters of the heavens reducing all to a level, will at last deliver the whole land over to the sea, and the sea successively prevailing over the land will leave dry, new continents like those which we now inhabit."
Mr. Lyell now triumphantly (as he thinks) points out the new continents as dry, being of secondary formation (as he supposes), and thus sneers at that creed which could advocate a philosophical false hood. He amuses the reader very much in the same page by exhibiting the monks in the middle ages as practising on the credulity of the people of Sicily, and alarming their dupes with the fears of the end of the world. He cites the preamble of title deeds of lands bestowed on them under the terror of this delusion, and then points out the 16th century as the age which dispelled all the vulgar prejudices of the past centuries. He continues—" The era, it is true of the expected millenium had passed away, and for 500 years after the fatal hour, when the annihilation of this planet had been looked for, the monks remained in the undisturbed enjoyment of such grant of land (in Sicily) bequeathed to them by pious donors, ....
A very remarkable work has been written by a clergyman, the Rev. L. Vernon Harcourt, entitled, " Doctrine of the Deluge;" and is dedicated to the Archbishop of York. I have never read such a work as this. Like all works on geology, the ridicule thrown on Catholic doctrine forms the principal part of the treatise; but this gentleman differs from the others whom I have quoted by the very remarkable coarseness of his language and his insinuations.
In vol. 2, page 50—" In Galt's Life of Byron, (he says) it is mentioned, that on the first evening of new moon, the Athenian maidens, who are anxious to get husbands, put a little honey, a little salt, and a piece of bread on a plate, which they lay on the east bank of Illyssus, near the stadium, and muttering some words to the effect, that fate may send them a handsome young man, return home, and long for the charm. However little these maidens maybe conscious of what they are doing, these offerings are in effect a sacrifice to Venus (for a statue formerly stood on the spot), but the Church of Rome, in a more especial manner, lends her sanction to the inheritance of idolatry. In Sicily, at Enna, according to Livy, the spot in the whole island regarded with the most religious veneration, the temple of Prosperine, is said to have been built, the scene of her rape being the borders of a lake five miles off, and Ceres came from her temple to pay an annual visit to her daughter. The same custom prevails; for the Madonna is removed from the Chiesa Della Madre to that of the Padri Reformati every year, and makes a stay of fifteen days, during which time a great concourse of people assembles, and feastings are held on the plain: it is evident the Virgin Mary has in this case succeeded not only to the honours, but even to the name of Ceres. In another instance she partakes of her lunar dignity, for Ceres was the name of the moon." This quotation speaks for itself, and demonstrates that the reverend gentleman not only has forgotten the subject of "the Deluge." but has not recollected the decency which ought to belong to his profession.
In page 64 he is very amusing on " the candles that burn on our altars, as being a remnant of ancient Paganism." In page 65 he is rather comical on Irish "blessed wells."
In page 496 he is very facetious on penances performed on sharp stones, climbing rugged rocks, fasting all night to blot out their sins, &c.
In page 497, he becomes perfectly comic on " St. Kevin's Bed," where pregnant women go to perform penance.—Lough Derg forms a prominent part of this amusing lecture on "the Deluge ;" and the rev. gentleman concludes this lecture on geology, by the following extract from his scientific treatise :—"So easily does that Proteus superstition shift its aspect, and yet remain the same, whether the object of veneration, be Noah, Baal or Christ ! !" I shall not add one word to this flagitious insult, and I had almost said, blasphemous category—may I hope that this reverend gentleman may not be appointed professor of geology in the mixed education system ?
But it may be asked, are there no exceptions to these professors of geology ? Hear Baron Cuvier, the father of this sect of men—the founder and the completer of the first museum in the world—an English mile in length—who has not seen it at Paris ? Hear this eminent man the son of geology, from whose light and power all the minor geologists live and move— hear him. I shall prove that a more cowardly or meaner bigot never lived than this pink of geologists.
In his work on " The Theory of the Earth," it is impossible to read one page of that work without seeing that he considers the deluge as a mere natural fact. Not a word ever appears of this terrific visitation being the consequence of the anger of God— and while stones, minerals, bones, insects, ferns, fossils, deposits, are introduced as evidences and witnesses of this Deluge, the text of Moses is never once noticed in confirmation of the received belief of the whole world. He leaves no argument untouched that could prove this catastrophe the result of established physical causes:—and thus the authority of inspiration—the Old Testament, the basis of the new law—is of such little weight as not even to form an ingredient in the calculation. True, he alludes to Moses occasionally, but not as an infallible authority; on the contrary, he tries to account for the Deluge, and the various appearances on the surface of the earth, by every imaginable natural cause. In one passage he seems to think that if the Pole of the Earth revolved with greater velocity round the Pole of the Ecliptic, it might produce the geological phenomena. And, en passant, this proves the remarkable fact, that, however accomplished the Baron has been in geology, &c., he is not quite so finished in physical astronomy—as the motion he cites could not, under any known laws, produce any sensible change under the circumstances alluded to.
In page 418 the Baron becomes witty on original and actual sin of mankind, and quotes (in the name of a third person) " Ovid's Metamorphisis" to prove the flood to be a mere theological fable—this is the unmistakeable drift of his language. " Jupiter (says the Baron) took counsel with himself whether he should destroy the sinful world by fire or water, and at length decided for water. May he not then be justly considered the author of these appearances as Saturn, who devoured his children ?" And then follows the quotation :
" Jamque erat in totas sparsurus fulmina terras,
Tela reponuntur, manibus fabricata Cyclopum,
Pæna placet diversa, genus mortale sub undis Perdere,
et ex omni nimbos dimittere cælo."
[ Google Translate:
And when he was in act to hurl his thunderbolts the earth,
The weapons are stored, made by the hands of the Cyclops,
He preferred a different punishment, Destroy the human race beneath the waves,
from every quarter of the heavens, and to put her away.]
The next work of the Baron is, perhaps, not surpassed in its bigotry. The work is entitled " A Discourse on the Revolutions of the Globe." In page 28 he is exceedingly amusing in quoting the former systems of geology, and in his humour it is impossible not to observe the infidel cast of his satire. "Whiston (says he) supposed that God created the earth with the atmosphere of one comet, and deluged it with the tail of another ; the heat that remained from its origin excited all men to sin— thus, all were drowned except the fishes, which had, apparently, passions less unruly."
Can any one read this quotation without observing the levity with which the mystery of original punishment is treated. And that idea is only surpassed by the indecent jest which is carried on against the majesty of God by the sneers with which the name of " Sin" is brought forward. But the Baron will explain himself in clearer language before the close of this letter.
In page 108, in speaking on the various fabulous accounts of the history of the earth, he says—" But what is still more certain is that all which preceded their arrival could only have been supplied by unfounded inventions, similar to those of the monks of the middle ages."
In speaking of our Lord, it is painful sometimes to see the familiar flippancy with which he introduces His name; and it is clear to the most superficial observer, that a larger amount of his consideration is evinced for the historical than the mediatorial character of the Redeemer. He mentions his name perpetually in his chronological calculations, with the same unceremonious familiarity as the names of Herodotus or Diodorus Siculus. But hear his attack on the priesthood in his treatise on geology. In page 112, he begins by calling the attention of the reader to the influence of the priesthood in the Pagan times. The Brahmin priests: the Hindoos ; the Indian; the Theban; the Egyptian ; the Chinese; all the priests of the old world are made to pass in review, as instances of priestly influence; having thus raised the temper of the reader to this sacredotal power, he concludes in page 118 :—"This wretched state of historical knowledge is owing to the subjection of the people to an hereditary priest hood who enforced a worship monstrous in external form and cruel in most of its precepts, and who alone had the privilege of writing, preserving, and explaining the sacred books. Any absurd tale in vented to give fame to a shrine of privilege—legends calculated to inspire a deeper homage for their caste, was of more importance to them than all the facts of authenticated history. With respect to the sciences, they might have cultivated astronomy which gave them the name of astrologers ; mechanics which assisted them in elevating monuments, signs of their power : they might encourage mechanical arts, which contribute to their luxury and the splendour of their temples; but they would look with dread on history which would inform mankind of their mutual relations."
Now let us hear the conclusion of this geological lecture on the Indians—like the postscript of a letter, the whole mind and will of the Baron appear in the last sentence—" What we observe in India, we might expect to find in every country in which a priesthood constituted like that of the Brahmins, established in similar countries, assumed a controul over the mass of the people."
Here is the father of the geologists, and I ask, can anything equal the rancour of the above quotation, except the cowardice of the language in which it is uttered ? No one can read the last sentence of that quotation without observing that the idea contained in it is the very principle of the present French system of education. All "controul over the mass of the people" is nearly taken away from the priesthood, and the result is, that the French mind will soon be as much under the controul of the French government as the French navy, steering wherever they direct, according to orders.
I shall for the present conclude these quotations, hoping that I have succeeded in proving that the sect of geologists are the most prejudiced, the most unsparing opponents of the Catholic Church. I have only glanced at the enormous heap of misrepresentation compiled by these men; but if your lordships should consider it all necessary, I can place a mass of evidence on this subject before Sir Robert Peel with which he seems perfectly unacquainted. In fact when I take up works on geology, or, indeed, any other department of science, I am surprised, if abuse and satire, and sneers be not often resorted to against the Catholic faith. The words "Reformation," "Roman idolatry," " the dark ages," "the monks," form a sort of chorus in which all these men unite at the end of each paragraph.
Each party may have a different part to sing in the various departments of science, and that part being once concluded, they are all sure to fall in together, and join in the chorus of " the monks of the dark ages."
.....
I have the honour to be, my lords, with profound respect, your lordships' obedient servant,
D. W . CAHILL.
Prospect House Seminary, Blackrock.
Morning Chronicle 12 November 1845,
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