PT. n. Mr. Darwin and Mr. Buckle. 83 



however, that the very essence of his doctrine con- 

 sists in its sufficiency to account for the existence of 

 all the diversified forms of Life by the independent 

 operation of secondary causes. I have no wish to 

 invoke in opposition to him any spirit of intolerance 

 or hostility. I have remarked, in a previous passage, 

 that true Science is irresistible, and that it must be 

 accepted, with all its consequences, wherever fully 

 established. But where these consequences are so 

 momentous (not to say awful) to all those principles 

 upon which mankind have reposed, we must be 

 permitted to scrutinise them in no very friendly 

 spirit. There is no use in disguising the matter, or 

 in shrinking from those conclusions which unavoid- 

 ably follow from Mr. Darwin's writings. They are 

 totally subversive of religion a pious Darwinian 

 would be a contradiction in terms all those hopes 

 which are identified with that sacred sentiment, all 

 those restraints which our feeling of accountability 

 to Heaven enjoins, would be swept away: amoral 

 revolution would be effected, and that revolution 

 would be subversive, not constructive. 



Has Mr. Darwin succeeded in establishing his 

 theory upon a basis of proof which must convince 

 the understanding ? To me it does not appear that 



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