SCIENCE AND LIBEEAL THEOLOGY 55 



scientific men. Now in matters of science I am for no sort 

 of compromise between progression and non-progression, 

 which is retrogression ; but I should be sorry to see anything 

 done that would countenance a belief amongst the outsiders 

 that our scientific differences influenced our religious views — 

 and this would be a very legitimate inference if your memorial 

 was signed wholly or chiefly by men of one way of thinking, in 

 such matters as ' Origin of Species,' ' Age of Man,' &c, &c. 



I confess however to have an almost morbid aversion for 

 clique or sectarianism, the spirit of which is around us every- 

 where and may be evoked at any moment. In the present 

 excited state of the public mind, I think that our rushing 

 into the conflict would do more harm than good : we should 

 be listened to more calmly a few months hence, when the 

 futile attempts of the narrow minded shall have demon- 

 strably failed ; and then I shall gladly sign a memorial 

 addressed to the Essayists, thanking them for what they 

 have done and requesting a Second Series of Essays. 



Royal Gardens, Kew : March 4, 1861. 



My dear Lubbock, — I am sorry you cannot be at Linnean 

 on Thursday, for I should have liked to meet you and talk 

 over this affair of the Essays and Keviews ; also because I 

 wanted you to be at meeting in evening: 



I should really be glad to join in any effectual method 

 of carrying out your object ; but I think we should be well 

 assured before we start that our plan will be really successful. 

 I assure you I by no means supposed that the names you 

 sent me were either all you had, or all you were likely to get ; 

 they were enough, and more than enough, I thought, to 

 prevent a large body of Naturalists, &c, from signing at all, 

 and I still think that a memorial that embodied the views of a 

 moiety only of a class, and that moiety itself a sub-class, would 

 be prejudicial both to the cause and the interests of science 

 at this particular juncture. If taken by the Essayists for 

 more than it was worth it might urge some of them on to 

 some premature step, as leaving the Church, a course which 

 I am not prepared to say I wish to see any of them follow ; 

 if for less than it was worth, its object would be by so much 

 defeated. 



I thoroughly sympathise with the Essayists, and their 

 Essays to a very great extent. I would extend to both even 



