Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 66:262 (Apr 1909)
Article: The Mistakes Of Darwin And His Would-Be Followers
Author: Anonymous

BSac 66:262 (April 1909) p. 332

The Mistakes Of Darwin And His Would-Be Followers

[The writer of this article would by no means depreciate the service which Darwin has rendered in simplifying our conceptions of the movements of the forces involved in the origin of species, analogous to the work which Copernicus performed in simplifying our conceptions of the movements of the heavenly bodies. But this is so generally acknowledged that it would be needless here to dwell upon it. In evidence that the writer has an adequate understanding of the theory of Natural Selection, it is pertinent, however, to say that an article by him (published in the Bibliotheca Sacra in 1876), stating the theory and the arguments supporting it, was declared, in a letter from Mr. Darwin, to be “powerfully written and most clear.”—Ed.]

Darwin’s reasoning concerning the origin of species by means of natural selection is from beginning to end hypothetical. His effort is to establish a theory respecting a fact which is beyond the reach of observation. In this respect it is like the theory of gravitation. The soundness of his reasoning and the reasonableness of his conclusions are dependent upon the reality of the facts which he assumes to be proved and the correctness of the inferences which he draws from them. In the indiscriminate laudation of his work, natural to the hundredth anniversary of his birth, the public is in danger of being led into some serious errors. Darwin was by no means infallible. Even he himself did not have unwavering confidence in his own conclusions, especially respecting the question of design in nature. In a letter to one of his correspondents, after declaring his belief that the universe was “not the result of chance,” he adds:—

BSac 66:262 (April 1909) p. 333

“But then with me the horrid doubt always arises whether the convictions of man’s mind, which has been developed from the mind of the lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy. Would any one trust in the convictions of a monkey’s mind, if there are any convictions in such a mind?”1

We may well inquire whether a mind of such lowly origin as Darwin supposes his to be can be more confident in its conclusions concerning the origin of species than it is concerning the origin of the universe. It would seem to be as reasonable to remain an agnostic respecting the origin of species by natural selection as in respect to the existence of design in nature.

The exaggerated estimate which Darwin’s eulogists assign to the lawful influence of his theory upon theological thought is largely due to ignorance of the theory itself and of the sandy foundation upon w...