Gladstone on Genesis 251 



h5'pothesis that the present condition of nature has 

 been eternal. 



"So far as that limited revelation of the nature of things, 

 which we call scientific knowledge, has yet gone, it tends, 

 with constantly increasing emphasis, to the belief that, not 

 merely the world of plants, but that of animals ; not merely 

 living things but the whole fabric of the earth ; not merely our 

 planet but the whole solar system, not merely our star and its 

 satellites, but the millions of similar bodies which bear witness 

 to the order which pervades boundless space and has endured 

 through boundless time, are all working out their predestined 

 courses of evolution." 



The second h^^pothesis is familiar to us in the sacred 

 records of many religions and in the Hebrew Script- 

 ures. Most of these have a fundamental similarity, 

 inasmuch as they oflfer pictures in which the mode 

 and order of creation are given in the minutest detail 

 and with the simplest kind of anthropomorphism ; in 

 which the Creator is represented with familiar human 

 characteristics. But these general considerations, so 

 obvious now that we have learned to read the Bible 

 narrative without passion or prejudice, were not plain 

 to the early opponents of evolution, and it was neces- 

 sar}'^, step by step, to shew not only that the narrative 

 in Genesis could not be reconciled with known facts 

 if it were accepted in its literal meaning, but that the 

 most strained interpretation of the language failed to 

 bring it into accordance with scientific truth. Mr. 

 Gladstone was the latest and most vigorous of those 

 who attempted to reconcile Genesis with modern 

 knowledge, and in his controversy with Huxley he 

 brought to bear all the resources of an acute intellect 

 trained by long practice in the devices of argument 

 and inspired by a lofty if mistaken enthusiasm. In 

 the course of his argument he wrote : 



