DARWINISM AND THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. in 



lenged to give a theory of human nature, would have to repre- 

 sent it as if it were a modern ironclad built in water-tight com- 

 partments. 



In contrast, then, with these three classes we take the case of 

 an ordinary Churchman with perhaps something more than the 

 ordinary intellectual and speculative interests, and certainly with 

 more knowledge of what is de fide and what is not, than most 

 Churchmen possess ; a man who rejects the modern panacea of 

 indefiniteness, and refuses, even though he might claim the pre- 

 cedent of a Homeric goddess, to throw over the battle-field " a 

 nimbus of golden mist" to cover the retreat or defeat of a 

 favorite hero. Such a man, accepting Darwinism, will expect 

 not only that a reconstruction, or at least a resetting, of his be- 

 liefs will be necessary, but also that real effort, moral and intel- 

 lectual, will be required for the work. No new truth can, with- 

 out effort, be related with the truth already appropriated by the 

 mind, and the wider and more far-reaching the truth the greater 

 the effort which will be required. This is why the in-rush of new 

 truth means unsettlement, and perhaps, in the reconstruction, a 

 renouncing of something which has been associated with sjoiritual 

 truth, though not of the essence of the truth itself. 



Dr. Asa Gray, the American botanist, writing to Mr. Darwin 

 about the " Origin of Species," * says : " It is refreshing to find a 

 person with a new theory who frankly confesses that he finds 

 difficulties, insurmountable at least for the present. I know 

 some people who never have any difficulties to speak of." 



In attempting to answer the question we have proposed to 

 ourselves, we do not profess to be of the number of those happy 

 or unhappy people who have " no difficulties." We can, at most, 

 hope to remove some difficulties which are more apparent than 

 real, and, with regard to others, to suggest hints which have 

 helped us, in the hope that they may be of use to others : 



1. The first difficulty which will probably occur to any one is 

 this : Darwinism offers an explanation of the origin of species. 

 How is this reconcilable with the first article of the creed, the 

 first sentence of the Bible ? A man of average intelligence will 

 not hesitate long here, unless the issue has been confused for 

 him by the one-sided statements of ignorant partisans. For 

 science neither says, nor professes to say, anything about the 

 ultimate origin of things. Mr. Darwin says : " I believe that all 

 animals are descended from at most only four or five progeni- 

 tors, and plants from an equal or less number, f. . . All the 

 organic beings which have ever lived on this earth may be de- 

 scended from some one primordial form." J And he adds, " There 

 is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having 



* " Life and Letters," ii, p. 66. \ " Origin of Species," p. 424. % Ibid., p. 425. 



