354 THE CASE AGAINST EVOLUTION 



who were not competent to discriminate between theory and 

 fact. The sequel has been a wholesale abandonment of re- 

 ligious and moral convictions, which has ruined the lives and 

 blighted the happiness of countless victims. 



Has it been worth while, we may well ask of the propound- 

 ers of this theory, to sacrifice so much in exchange for so 

 little? The solid gain to natural science has been negligible, 

 but the consequences of the blow unfairly dealt to morals 

 and religion are incalculable and beyond the possibility of 

 repair. ''Morals and Religion," says Newman, "are not rep- 

 resented to the intelligence of the world by intimations and 

 notices strong and obvious such as those which are the founda- 

 tion of physical science. . . . Instead of being obtruded on our 

 notice, so that we cannot possibly overlook them, they are 

 the dictates either of Conscience or of Faith. They are faint 

 shadows and tracings, certain indeed, but delicate, fragile, 

 and almost evanescent, which the mind recognizes at one 

 time, not at another, discerns when it is calm, loses when it 

 is in agitation. The reflection of sky and mountains in the 

 lake is proof that sky and mountains are around it, but the 

 twilight or the mist or the sudden thunderstorm hurries away 

 the beautiful image, which leaves behind it no memorial of 

 what it was. . . . How easily can we be talked out of our 

 clearest views of duty; how does this or that moral precept 

 crumble into nothing when we rudely handle it! How does 

 the fear of sin pass off from us, as quickly as the glow of 

 modesty dies away from the countenance! and then we say 

 'It is all superstition.' However, after a time, we look around, 

 and then to our surprise we see, as before, the same law of duty, 

 the same moral precepts, the same protest against sin, appear- 

 ing over against us, in their old places, as if they had never 

 been brushed away, like the Divine handwriting upon the wall 

 at the banquet." ("Idea of a University," pp. 513-515.) 



Had evolutionary enthusiasts adhered more strictly to the 

 facts, had they proceeded in the spirit of scientific caution, 

 had they shown, in fact, even so much as a common regard 



