CHAP. XI.] HIS OPINION OF DARWINISM. 131 



joined operations of the labourers in religion and science, that truth may 

 prevail. 



For the last five-and-forty years I have been a regular attendant at St. 

 Paul's Cathedral, and consequently have heard most of the preachers of 

 mark in the metropolis of this century. It is clear to any rational mind 

 there is error in the pulpit : one affirms, another denies, whilst it is 

 the property of truth ever to remain unchanged, and to stand the test 

 of fair inquiry. 



And further on we read 



Those who love their church, and view it as an inestimable blessing 

 to mankind, most earnestly wish that the pastors should so discipline 

 their own minds by knowledge that they might appeal to the minds of their 

 hearers from the general law to the particular instance, and from the par- 

 ticular instance to the general law, for the teachings of religion and science 

 must be identical when both are true. It is a lamentable fact, but never- 

 theless one which admits of no contradiction, that religion, as frequently 

 taught in the pulpit, is not the religion of the mass of the congregation of 

 ordinary knowledge and intelligence. Religion is often brought forward in 

 a form positively distasteful to the minds of many. The omnipotence of 

 God, and the importance of His almighty laws, are neglected for human 

 traditions and mediaeval superstitions. This very serious position cannot 

 long remain without danger to the community, for reason and religion are 

 one, and cannot be divided ; and, above all things, it is of paramount im- 

 portance that religious teachings, involving as they do the laws of God, 

 should be in every minute particular based on absolute purity and 

 unswerving truth. 



And in another part 



Every good follower of religion must admit that the time which ought 

 to be spent in the elucidation of the moral laws of God to regulate actions, 

 is frequently spent in discussions of the propriety of frivolous garments, or 

 the vain conduct of idle ceremonies, and on the discourse on vain supersti- 

 tions, till those who pretend to be teachers show that they ought to be 

 taught, as they bring the doctrines of religion into contempt. 



On Darwinism, or the gradual development of the higher 

 animals from the lower, he writes : 



There appear to be some persons who imagine that every conceivable 

 f orm of organic being is produced by chance, or a fortuitous concurrence 

 of atoms; and of these all which are not suitable for surrounding cir- 

 cumstances perish, and only those which are suitable for the circum- 

 stances live. 



When we regard the intricate complexity of many parts of organic 

 beings, to say nothing of the requisite relation of one organic being to 

 another, as for instance an insect to a flower, it requires a much stronger 

 exercise of faith than such persons themselves would like to admit, when 

 they adopt a theory of chance where infinite contrivance and wisdom 

 seem so clearly to manifest themselves. 



K 2 



