The Red Cloud chief., 1888-01-27

mon brought up under religious in
iuenccs. When he began the cours,
Of speculation and investigation as t.
the origin of species. which resulted IN
the publication Of the theory now uni
versally known ~ Darwinism. the ten
dency of these speculations WIS t.
undermine his religious beliefs. These
had all along been traditional rather
than personal. and 10 under
mine them was perhaps no
hard thing. He did rot give
much time to spcculations on other
than scientific subjects. and when his
opinion was asked on religious qnes-
tions he gave it with modesty. as thai
of one who was no authority. Bu'.
nevertheless. he did give it to many
persons. and ut some length.
1t may be said. in a word. that dur
ing his later years Darwin wavere
between theism and agnosticism. A
times one form of belief was upper
most. and again the other would al
most convince his Judgment. 1t was
purely n mental process with hin =
balancing OF probabilities with 4 cam
did and truth lowing spirit-but with
a mind that had never been influenced
by personal faith III Jesus. The
ono consideration that always
staggered him and kept him
from Il total abandonment of religion
was. to use has own words. 'rhe cx-
IRENE difficulty. or rather impossible
ty, of %conceiving thi, immense aud
wonderful universe. including man.
with his wonderful capacity of look
ing far backwards and far into fnturi-
;y.: rs the result Of blind chance or
necessity. "Wlcn thus rejecting" he
adds. Il feel competed to look to Il FRS:
Cause. having IN intelligent mind in
some degree analogous to that OF
man; and l deserve to be called g
thcist."
II this was the conclusion of \ mind
in lis usual workings sinSularly cam
did and ~cOloricss. absolutely with
out bias in favor of religion.
and strongly basel against it
by his scientific beliefs. may
it rot be confidently assumed that
the same consideration will have an
| even greater weight with men for
| all time to come: The argument is
indeed unanswerablc. Irresistible. and
must compel the surrender of minds
tina. are open to conviction. Mr..
| John S uart NJ II. in his posthumOus
| Essays on Eeit2iOn. advis's theologi-
| ans to stick to the ar 'unrnt from de-
sign. And though Darwinism ha,
been hailed in some quarters as de-
structive to theology. the case of OAR
win himself shows c~Oic,u'ively that
such is far from being true.
1t is. indeed. impossible to believe
| that men with sound intellects will
ever come to tine point where they are
| able honestly 20 accept the theory thai
the universe is the work of bind
chance. To assume that the %primorlial
matter and force from which all
things (by tho theory have been
4 ucNclODcus CbutstiICt ttti uC'h-
selves the promise and potencI'of all
that is or is to be. is only to push the
! difficulty bac:S q step. Tic fundamen-
tai assumption Of science is that every
effect must have al adequate caus-.
and the cause Of mind n MT be
any thing Inferior to mind. This con-
victiOn ran not loose it, hold on man
kind with tho advance of knowledge.
for it Is n cOnyiciio that is closely
bound up with the validity of al
knowledge. If out faculties arc to be
trusted Oh any point. if we really know
any thing with certain'y. we may be
certain to precisely that degree that
there is a F rst Cause Of all existing
things. TIE value for o hers of the
fluctuations in belief experienced by u
man like Darwin is in the emphasis
that they lay OF this.-N Y Eram-
iner
CA0IHE Gel ECTlONS