bsence of the doctrines of original sin, total depravity,
predestination, grace, and atonement. The intention of Christianity,
as set forth by him, has nothing in common with the plan of salvation
upheld two centuries subsequently. It is to St. Augustine, a
Carthaginian, that we are indebted for the precision of our views on
these important points.

In deciding whether death had been in the world before the fall of Adam,
or whether it was the penalty inflicted on the world for his sin,
the course taken was to ascertain whether the views of Pelagius were
accordant or discordant not with Nature but with the theological
doctrines of St. Augustine. And the result has been such as might
be expected. The doctrine declared to be orthodox by ecclesiastical
authority is overthrown by the unquestionable discoveries of modern
science. Long before a human being had appeared upon earth, millions of
individuals--nay, more, thousands of species and even genera--had died;
those which remain with us are an insignificant fraction of the vast
hosts that have passed away.

A consequence of great importance issued from the decision of the
Pelagian controversy. The book of Genesis had been made the basis of
Christianity. If, in a theological point of view, to its account of the
sin in the garden of Eden, and the transgression and punishment of Adam,
so much weight had been attached, it also in a philosophical point
of view became the grand authority of Patristic science. Astronomy,
geology, geography, anthropology, chronology, and indeed all the various
departments of human knowledge, were made to conform to it.

ST. AUGUSTINE. As the doctrines of St. Augustine have had the effect of
thus placing theology in antagonism with science, it may be interesting
to examine briefly some of the more purely philosophical views of that
great man. For this purpose, we may appropriately select portions of
his study of the first chapter of Genesis, as contained in the eleventh,
twelfth, and thirteenth books of his "Confessions."

These consist of philosophical discussions, largely interspersed
with rhapsodies. He prays that God will give him to understand the
Scriptures, and will open their meaning to him; he declares that in
them there is nothing superfluous, but that the words have a manifold
meaning.

The face of creation testifies that there has been a Creator; but at
once arises the question, "How and when did he make heaven and earth?
They coul