urch men in the
other world was so great that human attention was diverted just as far
as possible from concerns of all kinds with the stage of existence
through which man is passing here and now. As a consequence, there has
been the feeling that from the earliest time the Church was opposed to
science and scientific education, partly because this represented a
rather compelling diversion from other-worldly interests, but mainly
because it gave men control over natural forces which made life more
comfortable, raised men up in their own estimation and was opposed to
the spirit of humble faith best suited to the adherents of
Christianity. Hence it is concluded that there was always a Church
policy of deliberate opposition to science and indeed to all
intellectual development. This attitude is often declared to be best
represented by the expression attributed to one of the Fathers of the
Church, "Heaven lies open to the simple of mind, the little ones of
the earth, and the ignorant bear it away better than those who are
proud of intellect."

Any such impression with regard to the Fathers of the Church as to the
establishment of a policy of opposition to science and education is
quite erroneous and entirely contrary to the general trend of their
writings, even though it may be apparently substantiated by
expressions taken at random from the writings of the Fathers at
moments when they were emphasizing the truth that has always been so
manifest, that from the knowing ones of earth,--and our use of the
word knowing in the phrase is not complimentary,--especially from
those who are conceited in their knowingness, many things are
concealed that are revealed to those who are simple of heart and mind.
It has seemed worth while, however, to devote an appendix to this
subject of the real attitude of the Fathers to science. As Father
Leahy, in his "Astronomical Essays," Boston (Washington Press, 1910),
has answered Professor White's assumptions on this subject with a
knowledge of the Fathers I could not hope to emulate, I have preferred
to avail myself of his permission to quote him at length.

{485}

"By the Fathers we understand in general the Christian writers in
the Church's early history. In the West the period may be held to
have terminated with Isidore of Seville of the seventh century, and
in the East with John of Damascus of the eighth. The important
writers of this epoch number between fifty and a hundred, an