278 EVOLUTION AND DOGMA. 



reader is referred to works which treat of these 

 topics ex professo. ' It suffices for our present pur- 

 pose to know the relation of Agnosticism to Evolu- 

 tion ; to know that a particular phase of Evolution 

 is so intimately connected with Agnosticism, that it 

 cannot be disassociated from it, to realize that 

 Agnosticism, and agnostic Evolution, are practically 

 as synonymous as are Atheistic Evolution and 

 Monism. It is enough for us to appreciate the fact 

 that Agnosticism and Monism are fundamentally 

 erroneous, to understand that both monistic and 

 agnostic Evolution are untenable and inconsistent 

 with the teaching of Theism and with the doctrines 

 of Christianity ; that they are illegitimate inductions 

 from the known data of veritable science, and utterly 

 at variance with the primary concepts of genuine 

 philosophy. We need, consequently, consider them 

 no further. Evolution, in the sense in which it is 

 held by the Monist and Agnostic, is so obviously in 

 positive contradiction to the leading tenets of 

 Theism, that it may forthwith be dismissed as not 

 only untenable, but as unwarranted by fact and 

 experiment, and negatived by the incontestable 

 principles of sound metaphysics and Catholic Dogma. 



1 See especially : "Agnosticism and Religion," by the Rev. 

 George J. Lucas, D.D.; chaps, in and iv of "The Great En- 

 igma," by W. S. Lilly, and the succinct and philosophical 

 " Agnosticism," by the" Right Rev. J. L. Spalding, D.D. The 

 reader will likewise find many valuable and suggestive pages in 

 Balfour's " Foundations of Belief," and in a review of this work 

 by Mgr. Mercier, in the Revue Neo-Scolastique, for October, 

 1895. 



