WHAT IS DARWINISM? 71 



increasingly probable. The taint of atheism which, in 

 Dr. Hodge's view, leavens the whole 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 

 whatsoever 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. Not 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 

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

 " Darwin's own testimony," to the purport 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 th same class by 

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



