XX 



EVOLUTION AND DOGMA. 



midday sun, when the skeptic sees an interrogation 

 point at the end of every proposition, and when un- 

 certainty and mystery hover over so much we should 

 like to know it behooves us, I say, to realize, that 

 we must have recourse to everything that is calcu- 

 lated to dispel the darkness with which we are sur- 

 rounded, and to relieve the harrowing doubts with 

 which so -many of our fellow men are oppressed. 

 But more than this. Important as it is for us to 

 bear in mind that we live in an age of doubt and 

 disquietude, it is none the less important for us not 

 to lose sight of the fact that our lot is cast in an age 

 of dissent and conflict. 



Religion is assailed on all sides; principles we 

 hold most dear are treated with contumely and 

 scorn, and the very foundations of belief in a 

 personal Creator, and in the immortality of the soul, 

 are systematically attacked by the enemies of God 

 and His Church. If, then, we would accomplish 

 anything in the conflict which is now raging so 

 fiercely all around us, it is imperative that we should 

 provide ourselves with the most approved means of 

 attack and defense, and that we should be able not 

 only to guard the stronghold of the faith, but that 

 we should likewise be equipped and ready to meet 

 our enemies out in the open. In these days of 

 Maxim guns, old worn-out blunderbusses are worse 

 than useless. To attempt to cope with the modern 

 spirit of error by means of antiquated and discarded 

 weapons of offense and defense, were as foolish as 

 to pit a Roman trireme or a mediaeval galley against a 

 modern steel cruiser or the latest type of battleship. 



