The Irish standard., 1909-01-09
CLAIMS NO AUTHORITY TO TEACH ANY SYsTE
The Great Controversialist Exposes the Falaces in
sumptions of His Antagonist and Riddle.
the Sophisms.

Cdr. Crnpsey took up some OF the
branches Of science the Church had
taught in the early days. when it held
itself an infallible tencher---thc as
tronomy OF the Church that had
taught that the world was tho CEN
ter of the universe, but which now ac-
repted what the personal intelligence
OF man had searched out, that the sun
was the center OF the solar universe; F;
geology, In which the Church raush1
that the world was 1000 years old"
Knowing DR.. Crapsey personally we
do not believe for a moment that he
would Intentionally misstate tho doc
Lrjnes Of tho Church or her attitude ir,
relation to the sciences, for the pur-
pose Of helping along his argument.
writes Fr. Lambert III the n. Y. Free
mans Journal. He simply uses sup
posed facts, believed by himself in
common with, his hearers. and refers
to them as matters about which there
is no question. In this both he and
his hearers are the victims Of false his
tory. Like too many others, ho stands
en- the beach, and rakes in and nppro-
PIRATES and uses without due scrutiny
the driftagc that floats on the current
f history. For his failure to invesu-
gate his nccumuative hotsam and to
rt.jt ct the false and preserve the truG
he is Of course responsible.
Take for instance in the above ex-
tract "Dr. Crapsey took up some Of
the branches of science the Church had
taught in the early days, when It held
itself an infalliblc teacher"
This leaves a false impression Tho
Church never taught or claimed All
tlcrity to teach any branch of SCI
tnoc. She claims and has always
claimed to be the only divinely ap-
pointed and commissioned teacher of
divinely revealed truth--faith and
mmnls.
Again. "'T,he astronomy Of the
Church that had taught that the world
was the center OF the universe"
The Church has not now and rover
had an astronomy. The present Co
rernican heliocentric system is not
fcrs, although excogitated by one OF
her pious members. She neither ap-
to the industrious student the prob
lens Of physical science.
Again: '.rhe Church has never "ac-
&C pied what the personal intelligence
VI man mad searched out, that the sun
is the centre Of the solar universe"
The intelligence Of man" has
cut several systems or as
t-onomy; 1t is tho oldest Of the scien-
ccs. The Chinese, the Cl,aldeans, the
;iindoos, the Egyptians and the
Greeks. ell had their systems, AMI
most of them have them still, and
would say with DR.. Crapsey that 'The
Intelligence Of man had searched them
out" And they were just as curtain
II their correctness as Dr. Crapsey
is Of the system now in vogue, Il sys-
tenn that has never been demonstrat-
ell.
The scientist Pythagoras, five hund-
lred years before the Christian era, cx-
cogitated a system of astronomy.
discovered another, Pto-
cmy, in the second century # the |
Christian era, devised another which
was held and taught by the scien-
lists until the 10th century, that is. |
over twelve hundred years. They all
believed it to be the true system, the
asst word Of science uttered by "thc
Of ran" All previous
systems were ridiculed by the profess |
sora as superstitions and mons snsi-
'a!, just as the Ptolemaic system is
as false by the professors
scientific Of today.
Then came Ntclas Koppernjsk, bet