YIII. 



WHAT IS DARWINISM? 1 

 (THE NATION, May 23, 18T4.) 



THE question which Dr. Hodge asks he promptly 

 and decisively answers : " "What is Darwinism ? it is 

 atheism." 



Leaving aside all subsidiary and incidental matters, 

 let us consider 1. What the Darwinian doctrine is, 

 and 2. How it is proved to be atheistic. Dr. Hodge's 

 own statement of it cannot be very much bettered : 



" His [Darwin's] work on the ' Origin of Species ' does not 

 purport to be philosophical. In this aspect it is very different 

 from the cognate works of Mr. Spencer. Darwin does not specu- 

 late on the origin of the universe, on the nature of matter or of 

 force. He is simply a naturalist, a careful and laborious ob- 

 server, skillful in his descriptions, and singularly candid in deal- 

 ing with the difficulties in the way of his peculiar doctrine. He 



set before himself a single problem namely, How are the fauna 







1 " What is Darwinism ? By Charles Hodge, Princeton, N. J." New 

 York : Scribner, Armstrong & Co. . 1874. 



"The Doctrine of Evolution. By Alexander Winchell, LL. D., etc." 

 New York : Harper & Brothers. 1874. 



"Darwinism and Design; or, Creation by Evolution. By George 

 St. Glair." London : Hodder & Stoughton. 1873. 



" Westminster Sermons. By the RCT. Charles Kingsley, F. L. S., 

 F. G. S., Canon of Westminster, etc." London and New York : Mac- 

 millan & Co. 1874. 



