FIFTY YEARS OF DARWINISM 55 



scene of the same poignant contrast, was torn by 

 the same dramatic conflict. 



We have passed through one of the world's 

 mighty bloodless revolutions; and now, standing 

 on the further side, we survey the scene and are 

 compelled to recognize pathos as the ruling 

 feature. 



The sublime teachings which so profoundly 

 transformed mankind were given by Him who 

 came not to bring peace on earth but a sword. 

 And so it is in all the ages with every high cre- 

 ative thought which cuts deep into " the general 

 heart of human kind." It must bring when it 

 comes division and pain, setting the hearts of the 

 fathers against the children and the children 

 against the fathers. 



The world upon which the thoughts of Dar- 

 win were launched was very different from the 

 world to which were given the teachings of Gal- 

 ileo and the sublime discoveries of Newton. The 

 immediate effect of the first, although leading to 

 the bitter persecution of the great Italian, was 

 restricted to the leaders of the Church; the influ- 

 ence of the second was confined to the students of 

 science and mathematics, and was slow in pene- 

 trating even these. Nor did either of these high 

 achievements of the human intellect seriously 

 affect the religious convictions of mankind. It 

 was far otherwise with the teachings of the Origin 

 of Species; for in all the boundless realm of phi- 

 losophy and science no thought has brought with 



