4O EVOLUTION AND SOCIAL PROGRESS 



than whom there has been no more truly indepen- 

 dent mind in Europe. He well says : 



Whatever superficial unbelievers who understand nothing of 

 the certitude of our religious beliefs may say of it, it is undoubt- 

 edly true that, in proportion as the Christian's faith is sincere, in 

 like measure is he or she free from the uncertainties that dis- 

 turb the mind and paralyse the will. 



The Catholic scientist is sure of the truth of his faith. Those 

 who do not share his faith will perhaps say he is wrong. The 

 fact remains that the Church is certain his faith does not 

 deceire him, and that it cannot deceive him, and this certainty 

 is fortified in proportion as his faith grows stronger. He is 

 also certain, unquestionably certain, that the discovery of a ne<w 

 fact will never contradict his belief. Therefore the Christian 

 scientist who is disturbed as to the eventual future of science 

 is lacking either in faith or in scientific knowledge, or in both. 



The unbeliever, on the contrary, who has founded his philo- 

 sophical and religious theories on the shifting sands of personal 

 speculation or human authority, has no guarantee that they will 

 not be destroyed by the next discovery. If his theories are 

 sincere, so will be his desire to confirm them, his zeal to protect 

 them, and hence all the stronger will be for him the a priori 

 element that troubles the serenity of the scientific mind.* 



Here precisely has been the difficulty of the 

 materialist in modern science, who has sought by 

 every means in his power to confirm his precon- 

 ceived idea that nature must be explained without 

 God, and who too often has ruled out of court 

 whatever evidence might conflict with these ideas, 

 merely because it would render them untenable. 

 The Catholic believer labors under no such diffi- 

 culty. His mind is perfectly open to every evi- 

 dence. He does not seek to controvert it or to 



1 "Modernism," pp. 14, 15. 



