RELIGION. 



277 



safest conclusion seems to me that the whole subject is be- 

 yond the scope of man's intellect ; but man can do his duty." 



Again in 1879 he was applied to by a German student, in 

 a similar manner. The letter was answered by a member of 

 my father's family, who wrote : — 



" Mr. Darwin begs me to say that he receives so many let- 

 ters, that he cannot answer them all. 



" He considers that the theory of Evolution is quite com- 

 patible with the belief in a God ; but that you must remember 

 that different persons have different definitions of what they 

 mean by God." 



This, however, did not satisfy the German youth, who 

 again wrote to my father, and received from him the follow- 

 ing reply :— 



" I am much engaged, an old man, and out of health, and 

 I cannot spare time to answer your questions fully, — nor in- 

 deed can they be answered. Science has nothing to do with 

 Christ, except in so far as the habit of scientific research 

 makes a man cautious in admitting evidence. For myself, I 

 do not believe that there ever has been any revelation. As 

 for a future life, every man must judge for himself between 

 conflicting vague probabilities." 



The passages which here follow are extracts, somewhat 

 abbreviated, from a part of the Autobiography, written in 

 1876, in which my father gives the history of his religious 

 views : — 



" During these two years * I was led to think much about 

 religion. 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 unanswerable 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 con- 



* Oct. 1S36 to Jan. 1839. 



