MODERN EVOLUTION. 



173 



during his lifetime told us that while the varying 

 circumstances and modes of life caused his judg- 

 ment to often fluctuate, and that while he had never 

 been an atheist in the sense of denying the existence 

 of a God, " I think," he says, " that generally (and 

 more and more as I grow older) but not always, an 

 agnostic would be the most correct description of 

 my state of mind." The chapter on Religion, 

 although a part of the autobiography, is printed 

 separately in the Life and Letters. As the following 

 quotation shows, it is interesting as detailing a few 

 of the steps by which Darwin reached that suspen- 

 sive stage. 



Whilst on board the Beagle I was quite orthodox, and I 

 remember being heartily laughed at by several of the officers 

 (though themselves orthodox) for quoting the Bible as an un- 

 answerable authority on some point of morality. I suppose it 

 was the novelty of the argument that amused them. But I 

 had gradually come by this time — i.e., 1836 to 1839 — to see 

 that the Old Testament was no more to be trusted than the 

 sacred books of the Hindoos. The question, then, continually 

 rose before my mind, and would not be banished — is it credi- 

 ble that if God were now to make a revelation to the Hindoos 

 he would permit it to be connected with the belief in Vishnu, 

 Siva, etc., as Christianity is connected with the Old Testament .? 

 This appeared to me utterly incredible. 



By further reflecting that the clearest evidence would be 

 requisite to make any sane man believe in the miracles by 

 which Christianity is supported — and that the more we know 

 of the fixed laws of Nature the more incredible do miracles be- 

 come — that the men at that time were ignorant and credulous 

 to a degree almost incomprehensible by us, that the Gospels 

 can not be proved to have been written simultaneously with 



