THE IRISH
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD.
SEPTEMBER, 1865.
DR. COLENSO AND THE OLD TESTAMENT.
NO. IV.
Who is there amongst our readers that has not at some time in his life stood upon the sea-shore to watch the rising tide? Two mighty powers meet, as it were in conflict, and each in its turn seems for a time to prevail. Wave rolls after wave, but each again recedes as if baffled in the struggle and exhausted by the effort. At one moment the waters gain upon the land; then in the next the land wins back all that it had lost; and sometimes even more besides. It is only when some prominent landmark is reached, which a little while ago stood high and dry upon the beach, that we can no longer entertain a doubt of the sure and steady progress of the advancing flood.
Such, as it seems to us, is the conflict which it is the lot of our age to witness between the flood-tide of infidelity and the Established Church in these countries. The one is aggressive, the other is struggling hard to hold its own. On both sides the contest is carried on with energy and power. To a casual observer it might perhaps seem that the fortunes of each are almost equal, and the victory uncertain. But to one who extends the range of his vision and takes in the distant landmarks, it is plainly evident that one by one they are fast disappearing, and that the waves of infidelity are sweeping, slowly indeed, but irresistibly, over the face of the Established Church.
In the person of Dr. Colenso they have reached at length the episcopal bench. His brethren, it is true, have taken the alarm, and have made a show of resistance, but they only demonstrate their own weakness. Like Canute of old, they command the waters to advance no further, but their command is vain and
fruitless. The great flood is still coming in, and they who but yesterday were considered, from their high position, far removed from danger, are to-day surrounded by the waves. In this perilous crisis the Catholic Church alone affords a home of undisturbed tranquillity to its children, a safe refuge to the stranger. It stands indeed in the midst of the danger, but its walls are too strong to be shaken, its foundation too solid to be undermined. It has been built by its Divine Founder on a rock, and the rain may descend, and the floods come, and the winds blow and beat upon that Church, but it falleth not. We have the promise of God, that her enemies shall not prevail against her; and therefore we may look out from our impregnable fortress upon the surging billows with the same calm sense of security as Noah had when he looked out from the window of the ark on the waters of the deluge. But though God had resolved that Noah should be saved from destruction whilst all around were perishing, yet Noah was not saved without the toil and labour of his own hands. And so, too, though by a decree of God, error cannot prevail against His Church, yet has he ordained that the true faith should be ever defended by human skill and industry. We hope, therefore, our readers will pardon us if we return once again to the charges which Dr. Colenso has brought against the truth of the Bible.
The increase of the children of Israel in Egypt, as represented in the Mosaic narrative, is Dr. Colenso’s favourite objection. It is dressed out with the most elaborate ingenuity and care. It is set forth with even more than his usual confidence. It is held up as, in itself, sufficient to destroy the historical character of the whole narrative. By this objection, therefore, we may fairly suppose that he is willing to stand or fall. We have already pointed out two fundamental errors in the data from which it is deduced; many others yet remain, which we now proceed to expose.