vi PREFACE. 



Then as to the natural theological questions which 

 (owing to circumstances needless now to be recalled 

 or explained) are here throughout brought into what 

 most naturalists, and some other readers, may deem 

 undue prominence, there are many who may be inter- 

 ested to know how these increasingly prevalent views 

 and their tendencies are regarded by one who is scien- 

 tifically, and in his own fashion, a Darwinian, philo- 

 sophically a convinced theist, and religiously an ac- 

 ceptor of the " creed commonly called the Nicene," 

 as the exponent of the Christian faith. 



" Truth emerges sooner from error than from con- 

 fusion," says Bacon; and clearer views than com- 

 monly prevail upon the points at issue regarding 

 " religion and science " are still sufficiently needed to 

 justify these endeavors. 



BOTANIC GARDEN, CAMBRIDGE, MASS., June, 1376. 



