118 LESSONS FROM NATURE. [CHAP. V. 



of the distinction between material and formal good 

 ness,&quot; though Mr. Darwin himself &quot;discusses the very 

 question at issue in a passage, well worth reading, and 

 also comes to a conclusion opposed to Mr. Mivart s axiom.&quot; 

 As I have said, this passage is not only referred to, but 

 quoted in the Quarterly Eeview. In that passage, how 

 ever, Mr. Darwin, though he notices, gives no evidence of 

 fully understanding my distinction, nor, though he notices an 

 objection, does he meet the difficulty in the least. Professor 

 Huxley seems to think that because Mr. Darwin has referred 

 to an objection, that that objection has thereby lost its force. 

 The objection, however, has not been refuted either by Mr. 

 Darwin or Professor Huxley, and hence it becomes probable 

 that, as I am convinced is the case, it cannot be refuted. 



We will turn now to the more serious misrepresentation of 

 which I have to complain. My critic exhibits me as com 

 mitting the absurdity of maintaining that no act can be 

 &quot; good&quot; unless it is done with deliberate and actual advert 

 ence in every instance as if I thought that a man must stand 

 still, consider and reflect in each case in order to perform a 

 meritorious action. He also implies that I am so unreason 

 able as to deny &quot; merit &quot; to actions done unreflectingly and 

 spontaneously from the love of God or one s neighbour. 



What I assert, however, is, that for an act to be &quot;good&quot; 

 it must be really directed by the doer to a good end, either 

 actually or virtually. The idea of good, which he has in the 

 past apprehended, must be influencing the man at the time, 

 whether he adverts to it or not, otherwise the action is not 

 moral. The merit of that virtue which shows itself even in 

 the spontaneous, indeliberate actions of a good man, results 

 from the fact of previous acts having been consciously di 

 rected to goodness, by which a habit has been formed. The 

 more thoroughly a man is possessed by the idea of goodness, 

 the more his whole being is saturated with that idea, the 

 more will goodness show itself in all his even spontaneous 

 actions, which thus will have additional merit through their 

 very spontaneity. Now this was actually expressed in the 



