THE OEIGIN OF MAN 43 



Letters," he says: " I am much engaged, an old man, 

 and out of health, and I cannot spare time to answer 

 your questions fully — nor indeed can they be an- 

 swered. Science has nothing to do wdth Christ, ex- 

 cept in so far as the habit of scientific research makes 

 a man cautious in admitting evidence. For myself, I 

 do not believe that there ever has been any revelation. 

 As for a future life, every man must judge for himself 

 between conflicting vague probabilities." It will be 

 seen that science, according to Darwin, has nothing to 

 do virith Christ (except to discredit revelation w^hich 

 makes Christ's mission known to men). Darwin him- 

 self does not believe that there has ever been any reve- 

 lation, which, of course, excludes Christ. It will be 

 seen also that he has no definite views on the future 

 life — " every man," he says, " must judge for himself 

 between conflicting vague probabilities f' 



It is fair to conclude that it was his own doctrine 

 that led him astray, for in the same connection (in 

 "Life and Letters") he says that when aboard the 

 Beagle he was called " orthodox and was heartily 

 laughed at by several of the officers for quoting the 

 Bible as an unanswerable authority on some point of 

 morality." In the same connection he thus describes 

 his change and his final attitude: " When thus reflect- 

 ing I feel compelled to look to a First Cause, having 

 an intelligent mind in some degree analogous to that 

 of man; and I deserve to be called a Theist. This 

 conclusion was strong in my mind about the time, as 

 far as I can remember, when I wrote the * Origin of 

 Species'; and it is since that time that it has very 



