260 
grandeur in this view of life with its several powers, having 
been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms, or 
into one ; and that whilst this planet has gone cycling on 
according to the fixed laws of gravity, from so simple a 
beginning, endless forms, most beautiful and most wonderful, 
have been and are evolved/'’ 
34. This passage, even from its apparent clearness and sim- 
plicity, has caused many very erroneous notions as to what is 
Mr. Darwin’s real doctrine. Contrast the passage quoted with 
the following, taken from the Preface to the same work : — 
ce As many more individuals of each species are born than can 
possibly survive ; and as, consequently, there is a frequently 
recurring struggle for existence, it follows that any being, if it 
vary, however slightly, in any manner profitable to itself, under 
the complex and sometimes varying conditions of life, will have 
a better chance of surviving, and thus be naturally selected.” 
35. We are now, mark, on Mr. Darwin’s own line. Natural 
selection, as explained by him in the last paragraph, is the 
corner-stone of his entire theory, — it is the backbone of 
Darwinism. And yet what are we told? If so and so occurs, 
then the species will have a better chance of surviving. There 
cannot be here a superintending Creator, for He trusts nothing 
to chance ; neither can creation be thus carried out by law 
according to the evolution theory ; for a Divine law must be 
perfect — unchangeable, irrevocable. It cannot contain within 
it the elements of chance. 
36. At page 64 of the same work Mr. Darwin writes : — 
“ Where many species of a genus have been formed through 
variation, circumstances have been favourable to variation; and 
hence we might expect that the circumstances would generally 
be still favourable to variation. On the other hand, if we look 
at each species as a special act of creation, there is an apparent 
reason why more varieties should occur in a group having 
many species than in one having few.” 
37. But surely a potentially- endowed plasm — or laws im- 
planted in matter by the Creator for the purpose of evolution 
— would not differ from those which would be the result of 
special creation ? We have, therefore, Mr. Darwin’s own word 
that he does not intend to avail himself of either of the above 
alternatives. 
38. On page 157 of the same work, however, Mr. Darwin 
states explicitly, “ I have hitherto sometimes spoken as if the 
variations so common and multiform in organic beings under 
domestication, and in a lesser degree in those in a state of 
nature, had been due to chance. This, of course, is a wholly 
incorrect expression, but it serves to acknowledge plainly our 
