112 THEOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS 



mutters to some extent upon the horizon, and occa- 

 sional flashes of polemical lightning accentuate the 

 importance of carefully distinguishing in our discus- 

 sions between catholic doctrines and purely scholastic 

 opinions touching the subject with which we are con- 

 • cerned. I am endeavouring to deal with the bearing 

 jof the evolutionary theory upon certain catholic doc- 

 /trines. I am not concerned to defend speculative 

 / views or to vindicate any particular school in theology. 



The chief doctrines which have been thought to be 

 ] affected by the evolutionary hypothesis are those of 

 itheistic teleology, creation, biblical^ inf allibih ty, and 

 (man's primitive state and fall. These lectures have 

 reference primarily to man's primitive state and fall; but 

 I do not think that I shall be guilty of an unwarranted 

 digression if I devote part of this lecture to a brief con- 

 sideration of the bearing of the evolutionary hypothesis 

 upon the other doctrines which I have mentioned. 



(a) Christian theism, in fact every form of belief 

 in a personal God, is closely bound up with the evi- 

 dences of design which are apparent in the visible 

 universe. St. Paul declares the imphcit conviction 

 of righteous men of every age when he says that the 

 invisible things of God, "since the creation of the world 

 are clearly seen, being perceived through the things 

 that are made, even His everlasting power and divin- 

 ity."^ It is true that passing modes of thought often 



1 Rom. i. 20. 



