LECTURE V 



man's primitive state 



At the close of my last lecture I referred to the 

 combination in catholic doctrine of the antithetic 

 truths of inherited moral incapacity, on the one hand, 

 and of individual freedom and responsibility on the 

 other hand; also to the fact that the one is to be held 

 without prejudice to the other, if we would hold either 

 in its catholic meaning. This illustrates a principle 

 of vital importance — one of which I made use in my 

 first lecture,^ but which demands especial emphasis 

 during the rest of our discussions. I shall therefore 

 make a few remarks upon it before undertaking the 

 task of this lecture, which is to compare the evolution- 

 ary theory with the catholic doctrine of man's prim- 

 itive state. 



The principle referred to is this: that, owing to the 

 complexity of truth and the multiplicity of its aspects, 

 no single proposition concerning fundamental rela- 

 tions can be regarded as capable of describing ade- 

 quately the realities with which it is concerned. Every 

 such proposition, whether theological or physical, 

 describes a partial aspect of reality, and its inadequacy 

 must be assumed in maintaining its truth. It may be 



1 See pp. 27-33, above. 

 ISO 



