WJIAT IS DARWimSMf 271 



increasingly probable. The taint of atlieism which, in 

 Dr. Hodge's view, leavens the w^hole lump, is not in- 

 herent in the original grain of Darwinism — in the 

 principles posited — but has somehow been introduced 

 in the subsequent treatment. Possibly, when found, 

 it may be eliminated. Perhaps there is mutual mis- 

 apprehension growing out of some ambiguity in the 

 use of terms. "Without any intention, purpose, or 

 cooperation of God." These are sweeping and effect- 

 ual words. How came they to be applied to natural 

 selection by a divine who professes that God ordained 

 w^hatsoever cometh to pass ? In this wise : " The 

 point to be proved is, that it is the distinctive doctrine 

 of Mr. Darwin that species owe their origin — 1. Not to 

 the original intention of the divine mind ; 2. JSTot to 

 special acts of creation calling new forms into exist- 

 ence at certain epochs ; 3. Not to the constant and 

 everywhere operative efficiency of God guiding physi- 

 cal causes in the production of intended effects ; but 4. 

 To the gradual accumulation of unintended variations 

 of structure and instinct securing some advantage to 

 fheir subjects " (page 52). Then Dr. Hodge adduces 

 " Darwin's own testimony," to the pui-port that natu- 

 ral selection denotes the totality of natural causes and 

 their interactions, physical and physiological, repro- 

 duction, variation, birth, struggle, extinction — in short, 

 all that is going on in Nature ; that the variations 

 which in this interplay are picked out for survival are 

 not intentionally guided ; that " nothing * can be 

 more hopeless than the attempt to explain this simi- 

 larity of pattern in members of the same class by 

 utility or the doctrine of final causes" (which Dr. 



