86 Evolution and its Consequences 



consequence of writing on such a subject under such circum- 

 stances follows of course. 



I think that it must now be plain to all readers from 

 the passages referred to, that there is perfect freedom for even 

 the very strictest Christians, not only as regards the question 

 of the six days, but also with respect to the full doctrine of 

 Evolution. 



Professor Huxley, indeed, must know well that, in addition 

 to the authority of approved writers of ancient and modern 

 times, there is a living authority in the Church. That 

 authority, moreover, is ready at any moment to condemn 

 heresy in the published expressions of any of her children, 

 and certain to detect it; the question as to such views as 

 Evolution being tenable, solvitur amhulando. The Professor 

 congratulates himself prematurely on the ' spontaneous retreat 

 of the enemy from nine-tenths of the territory which he 

 occupied ten years ago.' Not one step backwards has been 

 taken by the enemy Professor Huxley seems to detest above 

 alL In proof of this I can refer to the Eamhler of March 

 1860, wherein a position was at once taken up which is sub- 

 stantially identical with that which I maintain now. 



A word as to what I cannot but consider the very regret- 

 table animus which Professor Huxley displays in this matter. 

 We have been accustomed to hear again and again the 

 assertion that men of science differ from the devotees of 

 theology, in that they enter on their inquiries oequo animo, 

 free from prejudice,^ and desirous only of truth. Believers 

 have been warned, usque ad nauseam, that a wish to beheve 

 vitiates all their arguments. But what weight can we attach 

 to Professor Huxley's conclusions when he tells us, with 

 regard to the doctrine of Evolution, that 'the position of 

 complete and irreconcilable antagonism which, in his 

 opinion, it occupies to the Catholic Church, is "one of its 



1 See Professor Tyndall's Fragments of Science, p. 167. 



