288 THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860. 



(2.) I have gradually learnt to see that it is just as noble 

 a conception of Deity, to believe that He created primal 

 forms capable of self development into all forms needful pro 

 tempore and pro loco, as to believe that He required a fresh 

 act of intervention to supply the lacunas which He Himself 

 had made. I question whether the former be not the loftier 

 thought. 



Be it as it may, I shall prize your book, both for itself, 



and as a proof that you are aware of the existence of such a 



person as 



Your faithful servant, 



C. KlNGSLEY. 



[My father's old friend, the Rev. J. Brodie Innes, of Milton 

 Brodie, who was for many years Vicar of Down, writes in the 

 same spirit : 



" We never attacked each other. Before I knew Mr. Darwin 

 I had adopted, and publicly expressed, the principle that the 

 study of natural history, geology, and science in general, 

 should be pursued without reference to the Bible. That the 

 Book of Nature and Scripture came from the same Divine 

 source, ran in parallel lines, and when properly understood 

 would never cross 



" His views on this subject were very much to the same effect 

 from his side. Of course any conversations we may have had 

 on purely religious subjects are as sacredly private now as in 

 his life ; but the quaint conclusion of one may be given. We 

 had been speaking of the apparent contradiction of some sup- 

 posed discoveries with the Book of Genesis ; he said, ' you 

 are (it would have been more correct to say you ought to be) 

 a theologian, I am a naturalist, the lines are separate. I en- 

 deavour to discover facts without considering what is said in 

 the Book of Genesis. I do not attack Moses, and I think 

 Moses can take care of himself.' To the same effect he wrote 

 more recently, ' I cannot remember that I ever published a 



