302 THE GENESIS OF SPECIES [Chap. 



Others have supposed that by " evolution " was ne- 

 cessarily meant a denial of ])ivine action, a negation of 

 the providence of God. They have therefore conihated 

 the theory of " evolution " in the imagined interest of 

 religion. 



It appears then that Christian thinkers are perfectly free 

 to acce})t the general evolution theory. But are there any 

 theological authorities to justify this view of the matter 'i 



Kow, considering how extremely recent are these l)io- 

 logical speculations, it might hardly be expected a 2)7iori 

 that writers of earlier ages should have given expression 

 to doctrines harmonizing in any degree with such very 

 modern views,^ nevertheless this is certainly the case, and 



1 It seems almost strange that modern English thought should so long 

 hold aloof from familiar conmiunion ^vith Christian writers of other ages 

 and countries. It is rarely indeed that ac(|uaintan('e is shown with such 

 authors, though a bright example to the contrary was set by Sir Williaui 

 Hamilton. Sir Charles Lyell (in his " Principles of Geolog}%" 7th edition, 

 p. 35) speaks with approval of the early Italian geologists. Of Vallisneii 

 he says, " I return with pleasure to the geologists of Italy who pivceded, 

 as has been already shown, the naturalists of other countries in their 

 investigations into the ancient history of the earth, and who still main- 

 tained ;i decided pre-eminence. They refuted and ridiculed the jihysico- 

 theological systems of liurnet, AVhiston, and Woodward ; wliile Vallisneri, 

 in his comments on the Woodwardian theory, remarked how much the 

 interests of religion, as well as of those of sound philosophy, had suffered 

 by per[>etually mixing ujt the sacred writings with questions of jdiysical 

 .science." Again, he (piotes the Carmelite friar Generelli, who, illustrating 

 Moro before th«' Academy of Cremona in 1749, strongly opj>osed those who 

 would introduce the supernatural into the domain of nature. "I hold in 

 utter abomination, most learned Academicians, those systems which are 

 ])uilt with their foundations in the air, and cannot be propped uj) without 

 a miracle, and I undertake, with the assistance of Moro, to explain to you 

 how these marine monsters were transported Into the mountains by natural 



causes." 



Sir Charles Lyell notices with exemplar}' impartiality the spirit of 

 intolerance on both sides : how in France, Builon, on the one hand, was 



