164 LIFE OF 



The second letter was addressed to Nicholas, Baron 

 Mengden, a German University student, in whom the 

 study of Darwin's books had raised religious doubts. It 

 is dated June 5, 1879. The following is a re-translation 

 of a German translation : 



"I am very busy, and am an old man in delicate 

 health, and have not time to answer your questions fully, 

 even assuming that they are capable of being answered 

 at all. Science and Christ have nothing to do with each 

 other, except in so far as the habit of scientific investiga- 

 tion makes a man cautious about accepting any proofs. 

 As far as I am concerned, I do not believe that any 

 revelation has ever been made with regard to a future 

 life ; every one must draw his own conclusions from 

 vague and contradictory probabilities." 



It should be added that he was greatly averse to every 

 form of militant anti-religious controversy, and always 

 deprecated it He would have been the last to desire 

 that his words should be quoted as of scientific authority, 

 or as being more than the results of his own thought on 

 questions which were not the subject of his life study. 

 Let those who think that his having expressed these 

 views is a regrettable blow to orthodox Christianity, set 

 against it the enormous service Darwin did to reasonable 

 natural theology by giving an intelligible key to the ex- 

 planation of the universe. And let all men remember 

 that genuine honesty such as Darwin's cannot possibly 

 hinder the interests or the spread of truth. His declara.- 

 tion that "man can do his duty," implies his convictior f 



