50 ESSAYS IN PHILOSOPHY 



we shall have found the entrance to the path toward 

 the demonstration of God. For the survey and the 

 tracing of that path, this is neither the place nor 

 the occasion. 1 



VII 



Let us turn back now to the point struck upon 

 near our beginning, — to the question, Is evolution 

 consistent with the Christian religion .-' It is a trite 

 question now, perhaps overworn ; and probably very 

 many readers think that it is already settled in the 

 affirmative. Yet it is a question of the utmost 

 pertinence, and ought to be pushed to a decisive 

 but discriminating answer. There are those who 

 are only too ready with an answer decided enough, 

 but unfortunately they are of two opposed extremes. 

 Both parties are of one mind as to the incompati- 

 bility of Christianity and evolution ; but while the 

 one says that all evolution must therefore be anath- 

 ema, the other jeeringly retorts, " So much the 

 worse, then, for your religion ! " And the loose 

 verdict of the times is doubtless in favour of what- 

 ever can be made to appear as the cause of sci- 

 ence. The trouble with such disputants is, that 

 their assertions are far more decided than discrimi- 

 nating, and so are not in any final sense decisive. 

 We may justly claim, however, that the outcome of 



1 For one form of the argument here alluded to, see pp. 351-359, below. 



