The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-03-11
QUESTIONS or RELIGION.


To THE EDITOR OF TIL SUN-Sir; One ot
your correspondents charges Prof. Mivart with
Inconsistency because. as he AYERS, none OF the
discoveries 81 modern science renders various
Scriptural statements more improbable now
than they have been since DR., Mivart. more
than fifty years ago. became a member OF tho
Catholic Church"
| maintain. on the contrary. that most Of the
important discoveries in geology. biology.
archaeology. assyriology, Ne, so far as they have
any bearing upon Biblical literature. havo been
made during tho period referred to. For ex-
ample, when Sir Charles Lyell published the
early editions OF hlS Principles OF Geology he
did not believe In a great antiquity Tor tho
human racc, Nobody, whether professional
scientist or layman. saw anv reason to doubt
the Scrlptural chronology. which puts tho
creation Of the first man some four
thousand years before tho Christian era
Tor about six thousand years. according
to the SeptuagintL But proofs are now
abundant that man must have existed on the
earth for ages antecedent to that time. In his
students Elements Of Geology" lyell de-
rlares that the 5000 or 1000 years Of the his
tOrical period do not furnish ia with any APP
preciablo measure for calculating The number
Of centuries and Sir John Evans. who pre-
sided at the meeting of the British Associa-
ton for thu Advancement OF Science held at
Toronto II short time ago. saws Ancient Stone
Implements" =. G12l that the mind is almost
lost In amazrment at the vista Of antiquity dis
played" Many other eminent biologists and
a~rchpologists give similar testimony.
According 10 Genesis. at tho time Of the
building Of Pahel In the third millennium To-
fore m" Christian era the whole earth was OF
one language and of one speech" and it was
| owing TO the Divine dIspIeasure at the erection
, Of the tower that there came a diversity of
tongues. Recent remarkable discoveries In
Bahylonia. Egypt ard elsewhere have utterly
disprovci this childish story. As Prof. Miyart
rightly observes. the 'alsehood o' tho histori-
cal narration IL a certainty practically as great
as that oi the equality Of the angles at the base
Of an isosceles triangle" Tho inaccuracy OF
many ~ the incidents recorded ia the Book "
Daniel has been sim larry demonstrated
Fifty years ago there were people who re-
gardel the anthroponorphic conception Of the
| Deity In the early chapters ct Genesis as dis
honoring. hut they dit not know. a. we now
know positively. that tn" whole story Of the
Fall. Of Babel and the Flood Is "A gross pagan
legend which the early Hebrews derived from
the Babylouians and Assyrians: md that. be-
ginning with Adam" the common term for
man. there l. hardly proper name in any
Of these narratives that Is not directly or
Indirectly OF BabylonIan origin. Indeed, there
are entire passages. such as The Lord smelled
a sweet SAVIOUR" 0Gen vii. a. which are
absolutely Identical with the wording OF the
tablets and cylinders discovered in 1924.
which are now in the Department OF Oriental
Antiquities in the British Museum. the most
interesting feature Of the collection being a
n cylindrical seal with a picture of the FAN.
THE SvN was emuhatically RICH, when il de-
clarcd that modern science and Christian dog
matte theology are ~antagonistir and irrecon-
cilatle. and that Cardinal Vaughan and Prof.
Mivart can make no terms with each other.
NEW lOKR, March |. IECTOR.