Page:The World's Most Famous Court Trial - 1925.djvu/331

Rh " to suck the meaning out the inspired record of man's creation.

We call as our first witness Charles Darwin. He began life a Christian. On page 39, Vol. 1 of the Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, by his son, Francis Darwin, he says, speaking of the period from 1828 to 1831, "I did not then in the least doubt the strict and literal truth of every word in the Bible." On page 412 of Vol. II of the same publication, he says, "When I was collecting facts for 'The Origin' my belief in what is called a personal God was as firm as that of Dr. Pusey himself." It may be a surprise to your honor and to you, gentlemen of the jury, as it was to me, to learn that Darwin spent three years at Cambridge studying for the ministry.

This was Darwin as a young man, before he came under the influence of the doctrine that man came from a lower order of animals. The change wrought in his religious views will be found in a letter written to a German youth in 1879, and printed on page 277 of Vol. I of the Life and Letters above referred to. The letter begins: "I am much engaged, an old man, and out of health, and I cannot spare time to answer your questions fully—nor indeed can they be answered. Science has nothing to do with Christ, except insofar 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."

Note that "science has nothing to do with Christ, except insofar as the habit of scientific research makes a man cautious in admitting evidence." Stated plainly, that simply means that "the habit of scientific research" makes one cautious in accepting the only evidence that we have of Christ’s existence, mission, teaching, crucifixion and resurrection, namely the evidence found in the Bible. To make this interpretation of his words the only possible one, he adds, "For myself, I do not believe that there ever has been any revelation." In rejecting the Bible as a revelation from God, he rejects the Bible's conception of God and he rejects also the supernatural Christ of whom the Bible, and the Bible alone, tells. And, it will be observed, he refuses to express any opinion as to a futurefuture. [sic]

Now let us follow with his son's exposition of his father's views as they are given in extracts from a biography written in 1876. Here is Darwin’s language as quoted by his son:

"During these two years (October, 1838, to January, 1839) 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. When thus reflecting, I felt compelled to look for a first cause, having an intelligent mind in some degree analagousanalogous [sic] to man; and I deserved to be called an atheist. This conclusion was strong in my mind about the time, as far as I can remember, when I wrote the 'Origin of Species'; it is since that time that it has very gradually, with many fluctuations, become weaker. But then arises the doubt, can the mind of man, which has, as I fully believe, been developed from a mind as low as that possessed by the lowest animals, be trusted when it draws such grand conclusions?

"I cannot pretend to throw the least light on such abstruse problems. The mystery of the beginning of all things is insoluble by us; and I for one must be content to remain an agnostic."

When Darwin entered upon his scientific career he was "quite orthodox and quoted the Bible as an unanswerable authority on some point of morality." Even when he wrote "The Origin of Species," the thought of "a first cause, having an