xiv EVOLUTION AND DOGMA. 



purpose of the first six chapters of this book is to 

 show that such views are unwarranted ; that Evolu- 

 tion, far from being of recent date, is a theory whose 

 germs are discernible in the earliest dawn of philo- 

 sophic thought. In the two following chapters are 

 given, in brief compass, some of the principal argu- 

 ments which are usually adduced in favor of, or 

 against, Evolution. These chapters, together with 

 those which precede them, constitute Part First of 

 the present volume ; Part Second being wholly 

 devoted to the consideration of the third topic, 

 namely, Evolution in its relation to Catholic 

 Dogma. For avowed Christians, to whatever creed 

 they may belong, the subject relates to matters of 

 grave import and abiding interest, and this import 

 and interest, great as they are from the nature of the 

 theme itself, have been enhanced a hundred fold 

 by the protracted and violent controversies to which 

 Evolution has given rise, no less than by the many 

 misconceptions which yet prevail, and the many 

 doubts which still remain to be dissipated. 



Can a Catholic, can a Christian of any denomi- 

 nation, consistently with the faith he holds dear, be 

 an evolutionist ; or is there something in the theory 

 that is so antagonistic to faith and Scripture as to 

 render its acceptance tantamount to the denial of 

 the fundamental tenets of religious belief ? The 

 question, as we shall learn, has been answered both 

 affirmatively and negatively. But, as is evident, the 

 response cannot be both yea and nay. It must be 

 one or the other, and the query now is, which an- 

 swer is to be given, the negative or the affirmative ? 



