80 EVOLUTION AND SOCIAL PROGRESS 



away the agnosticism of Darwin, which grew at 

 the same time that he also lost his appreciation 

 for art and beauty. So much we gather from 

 his self-confessions. Yet to him, as to so many 

 others who have never possessed the light of 

 faith, the universe simply remained an insoluble 

 mystery, if we are to trust his own words. He 

 does not deny, but merely confesses his utter in- 

 ability to decide upon a question to which he had 

 never given the necessary consideration. Writing 

 to Fordyce, in 1879, he says of this subject: 



What my own views may be is a question of no consequence 

 to anyone but myself. But, as you ask, I may state that my 

 judgment often fluctuates. In my own extreme fluctuations I 

 have never been an atheist in the sense of denying the existence 

 of God. T 



Nothing, therefore, could be more untrue and 

 more unhistorical than to confuse Darwinism with 

 materialistic evolution whose first tenet is the 

 utterly false statement that evolution has dis- 

 proved the existence of a Creator. No such foolish 

 arrogance ever asserted itself in the mind of Dar- 

 win. Quite correctly he says, when this ques- 

 tion of religion is absurdly forced upon him for 

 judgment, as if his position as a scientist could 

 possibly render him an authority in such mat- 

 ters: "I feel in some degree unwilling to express 

 myself publicly on religious subjects as I do not 



T Charles Darwin, "Life and Letters." I, p. 274, same ed. 



