peremptorily from the brutes. Nor are these supreme superiorities self-elaborated: "it is HE that hath made us, and not we ourselves." There is indeed a species of self-jugglery by long and patient persistence in which this truth may cease to be seen. "The theory of transmutation of species has met with some degree of favour from many naturalists, from their desire to dispense, as far as possible, with the repeated intervention of a First Cause. Doubts are engendered in the student's mind as to whether species may not be equally unreal [with genera]. He is probably first struck with the phenomenon that some individuals are made to deviate widely from the ordinary type by the force of peculiar circumstances. How far, he asks, may such

variations extend in the course of indefinite periods of His first opinions are now fairly un

time? settled,

he is in danger of falling into any new and visionary doctrine which may be presented to him; for he now regards every part of the animate creation as void of stability, and in a state of continual flux. Henceforth his speculations know no definite bounds; he gives the rein to conjecture, and fancies that the outward form, internal structure, instinctive faculties, nay, that reason itself, may have been gra

dually developed from some of the simplest states of existence that all animals, that man himself, and the irrational beings may have had one common origin; that all may be parts of one continuous and progressive scheme of development; in fine, he renounces his belief in the high genealogy of his species, and looks forward, as if in compensation, to the future perfectibility of man, in his physical, intellectual, and moral attributes.”* Is this sketch of the pantheist's progress a portrait or a prophecy? Certain it is that Mr. Darwin makes boast that he met a Mentor, and has led captive a disciple.

59. Till this eminent authority shall himself recall and cancel expressions of opinion than which none sounder or more sensible are associated with his name, we may pardonably, notwithstanding, ascribe Mr. Darwin's vaunt to the self-deceptive eagerness of precarious speculation to impress into its service influential support. But the "Origin of Species," beyond all doubt,

Hence we

* Lyell's Principles of Geology, B. III. Ch. ii. Compare-"Judgeing from the past we may safely infer that not one living species will transmit its unaltered likeness to a distant futurity. may look with some confidence to a secure future of equally inappreciable length. And as Natural Selection works solely by and for the good of each being, all corporeal and mental endowments will tend to progress towards perfection."-Darwin, p. 489. "I have reason to believe that one great authority, Sir C. Lyell, from further reflection entertains grave doubts," &c. p. 311.

has made proselytes of note elsewhere: nay, it has been hailed with plaudits, and paraded with rapture, befitting the most blessed of revelations. "A work has now appeared by a naturalist, of the most acknowledged authority, Mr. Darwin's masterly volume, which now substantiates, on undeniable grounds, the very principle so long denounced by the first naturalists, the origination of new species by natural causes: a work which must soon bring about an entire revolution of opinion in favour of the self-evolving powers of nature." 111* Suppose, by way of antidote to "celebrated divines," we imbibe a small dose of the Positive Philosophy. "All organisms may be regarded as having been produced by each other, if we only dispose the environment with that freedom and prodigality so easy to the artless imagination of Lamarck. The falsehood of this hypothesis is now so fully admitted by naturalists that I need only briefly indicate where its vice resides. Though the solicitation of external circumstances certainly does change the primitive or

* Even Professor Jowett, who can write in such a different tone at other times, expresses himself thus: "It is possible, and may one day be known as others say, that the supply of links which are at present wanting in the chain of animal life may lead to new conclusions respecting the origin of man."-Essays and Reviews, p. 349.

ganization by developing it in some particular direction, the limits of the alteration are very narrow.

To regard the introductory animal as containing, not only all the tissues, but all the organs and systems of organs, is incompatible with anatomical comparison.

Human intervention, affording, as it does, the most favourable case for alteration of the organism, has done nothing more than alter some of the qualities, without touching any of the essential characters of any species; no one of which has ever been transformed into any other. No modification of race, nor any influences of the social state, have ever varied the fundamental and strongly marked nature of the human species. Thus, without straying into any useless speculations about the origin of the different organisms, we rest upon the great natural law that living species tend to perpetuate themselves indefinitely, with the same chief characteristics, through any exterior changes compatible with their existence. We may now

proceed on the conception that the great biological series is necessarily discontinuous. The transitions may ultimately become more gradual, in process of discovery, but the stability of species makes it certain that the series will always be composed of clearly dis

It

tinct terms separated by impracticable intervals." 112 is thus that the arch-atheist of our century uplifts his chastising voice to apprise defenders of the faith, in their alacrity of surrender, that they are parting with the keys of an unimperilled citadel!

60. It is not the office of Palæontology to minister answers to the deepest and most anxious questionings of the human spirit. And yet it will render no slight or superfluous service if it supply, in an age like this, a pedestal and a socket for truth still more majestic and more concerning than its own. We may concede to Mr. Jowett that religion has as little to hope as to fear from antiquarian explorings on the Tigris or the Nile. 113 But

it

may be that monuments not made with hands have a more sure word of prophecy committed to their inviolate keeping, and sculptured on their imperishable walls. If there be a religion which plants on the lips of its disciples an acknowledgment of the Divine Name-All-wise, All-merciful, All-quickening—" Wisdom, Love, Might” -such in indivisible attribute, such also in distinctive manifestation, there are foreshadowings of that same faith, neither faint nor fancy-born, in the changeless creed of nature. If the religion ascribe to the Creator of the world a capacity of living interest in his intel