The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-03-10
HINTS ON DARWIN's OPINIONS.

new interest IN the great NaturallSt'S
opinions. 1t is said that the English
edition has already reached a sale of
5000 copies and the work has also had
extensive circulation in this country.
Darwin was marvelously patient and
successful revolutioniser Of thought in
scientific realms, and there are many
who regard his theory and philosophy
of the natural world as fatal not only
to Christianity, but also atheistic in its
teachings. No matter what view is
taken, it must necessarily be of great
interest to know the attitude which so
great thinker and profound reason
er in the natural realm maintained
toward Christianity, revelation and
other matters of theology.
In Mr.. G. T. Bettany's life of Darwin
in the ''Great Writers" series, publish
ed by Walter Scott, London, 1887, we
find two letters which were written,
without view to publication, and pub
lished after his death without the
authorization of his representatives.
These letters are very interesting, and
we give them here The first was
written by Darwin in 1878, to Dutch
gentleman, w. D. Decides, who wrote
to ask Darwin his opinion on the ex-
istence of God. Darwin responds
cit is impossible to answer your
question briefly; 1 am not sure that
could do so even if 1 wrote at some
length. But 1 may say that the i'm
possibility of conceiving that this grand
and wondrous universe, with our con-
scious selves, arose through chance,
seems to me our chief argument for the
existence of God; but whether this is
an argument Of real value, have never
been able to decide. l am aware that
if we admit the first cause, the mind
still Graves to know whence it came and
how it arose. Nor can I overlook the
difficulty from the immense amount of
suffering through the world. 1 am
also, induced to defer to certain ex-
tent, to the judgment of many able
men who have fully believed in God ;
but here, again, 1 see how poor an
argument this is. The safest conclu-
sion seems to be that the whole subject
is beyond the scope Of mans intellect,
but man can do his duty"
1t is easy to see from the above that
Darwin recognized the weakness of
atheism, and would not range himself
decisively on the side of those who say
there is no God. He evidently thought
that, on the whole, it was more reason
able to believe in creator of "this grand
and wondrous universe" and "our con-
scious Selves than to take the position
that it and we arose from chance. But
he doubted the value of the argument by
which the existence of God was affirm
ed. He finds refuge in the mystery that
surrounds the subject, while recogniz
ing the fact that this belief in God has
been the judgment of many able men.
The letter is mainly valuable as exhib-
iting the position of the great thinker
on profound subject, and how little
inclined he was to any assumption in
the premises. If he was not personal
ly convinced of the existence of God,
he certainly had little sympathy with
those who dogmatically denied the
divine existence.
The second letter of Darwin was ad-
dressed to Nicholas Mengdon, Ger
man university student, in whom the
study of Darwin books had raised
religious doubt. 1t was written in 1879
and the following is re-translation of
the German translation
g ain very busy, and am an old
man in delicate health, and have not
time to answer your questions fully,
even assuming that they are capable of
being answered at all. Science and
Christ have nothing to do with each
other, except in so far as the habit of
scientific investigation makes a man
cautious about accepting any proofs.
As far as 1 am concerned, 1 do not
believe that any revelation has ever been
made with regard to future life every
one must draw his own conclusions
from vague and contradictory probable
tiles"
This letter is more positive than the
former. Darwin unhesitatingly writes
himself down as deist, believing that
no revelation has been made. But, as
Mr.. Bethany observes, she would have
been the last to desire that his words
should be quoted as scientific authority,
or as being more than the results of
his own thought on the questions
which were not the subject of his life's
study" We draw the conclusion that
Darwin unlike many, indeed, we
might say the majority of scientific
thinkers, was not at all interested in
theological problems, or the philosophi-
cal considerations which enter so
largely into the domain of modern |
thought. He was simply a naturalist,
interested in the beginnings of life on
this planet,-delving for facts, and in
vestigating with great patience the
domain of the natural world. Beyond