In our own time the laborious and earnest investi-
gations of Charles Darwin have led the educated
orthodox to re-examine the " evidences " upon which
religious faith is based. Many of these alleged
evidences are found to be wholly untenable ; the very
foundation of beliefs that swayed myriads of minds
for centuries sink and collapse when tested by the
proven testimony of biological research. Honest
clergymen, such as Kingsley, find the new trend of
scientific opinion "most curious," and they are bound
to reckon with it in relation to the creeds that they
have vowed to defend. Kingsley speaks of the evolu-
tionary doctrine as conquering everywhere, " by the
sheer force of truth." Two hundred years ago
a canon of the Church who dared to suggest that



THE BEIGN OF IGNORANCE AND CBUELTY 85

** special creation " was possibly the conjectural ex-
planation of the origin of species, framed by untutored
minds, would have forfeited his stipend, and earned
the anathema of all believers. Nowadays this '' sheer
force of truth '* is penetrating the intellect of every
civilised nation, and the resistance offered to it is so
feeble that it counts for little.
The old faith and the morality born of it are at
their last stand. They have been tested by time;
they have been long upon trial, and the world is out-
growing them. It is no exaggeration that they are
rapidly giving place to the new. We who have closely
observed the signs and tendencies of the past twenty-
five years can already note a marked progression.
