3 
150 MR. DARWIN’S CRITICS wal 
to follow reason and fact in singleness and honesty — 
of purpose, wherever they may lead, in the sure 
faith that a hell of honest men will, to him, be 
more endurable than a paradise full of angelic 
shams. 
Mr. Mivart asserts that “without a belief in a 
personal God there is no religion worthy of the 
name.” This is a matter of opinion. But it may 
be asserted, with less reason to fear contradiction, — 
that the worship of a personal God, who, on Mr. 
Mivart’s hypothesis, must have used language 
studiously calculated to deceive His creatures and — 
worshippers, is “no religion worthy of the name.” 
“Incredible est, Deum illis verbis ad populum 
fuisse locutum quibus deciperetur,” is a verdict in 
which, for once, Jesuit casuistry concurs with the 
healthy moral sense of all mankind. 
Having happily got quit of the theological 
aspect of evolution, the supporter of that great 
truth who turns to the scientific objections which 
are brought against it by recent criticism, finds, to 
his relief, that the work before him is greatly 
lightened by the spontaneous retreat of the enemy 
from nine-tenths of the territory which he occu- 
pied ten years ago. Even the Quarterly Reviewer 
not only abstains from venturing to deny that 
evolution has taken place, but he openly admits 
that Mr. Darwin has forced on men’s minds “a 
eg aia s 
recognition of the probability, if not more, of 
