

v MR. DARWIN'S CRITICS 129 



"Now, considering how extremely recent are 

 these biological speculations, it might hardly be 

 expected a priori that writers of earlier ages 

 should have given expression to doctrines 

 harmonising in any degree with such very 

 modern views ; nevertheless, this is certainly 

 the case, and it would be easy to give numerous 

 examples. It will be better, however, to cite one 

 or two authorities of weight. Perhaps no writer 

 of the earlier Christian ages could be quoted whose 

 authority is more generally recognised than that 

 of St. Augustin. The same may be said of the 

 mediaeval period for St. Thomas Aquinas: and 

 since the movement of Luther, Suarez may 

 be taken as an authority, widely venerated, 

 and one whose orthodoxy has never been ques- 

 tioned. 



" It must be borne in mind that for a consider- 

 able time even after the last of these writers no 

 one had disputed the generally received belief as 

 to the small age of the world, or at least of the 

 kinds of animals and plants inhabiting it. It 

 becomes, therefore, much more striking if views 

 formed under such a condition of opinion are 

 found to harmonise with modern ideas con- 

 cerning ' Creation ' and organic Life. 



" Now St. Augustin insists in a very remarkable 

 manner on the merely derivative sense in which 

 God's creation of organic forms is to be under- 

 stood ; that is, that God created them by conferring 



VOL. II K 



