nce, and to indicate the possibility of bringing
about an honourable _modus vivendi_ between the two. How far the three
bishops speak as accredited representatives of the Church is a
question to be considered by and by. Most assuredly, I am not
authorised to represent any one but myself. But I suppose that there
must be a good many people in the Church of the bishops' way of
thinking; and I have reason to believe that, in the ranks of science,
there are a good many persons who, more or less, share my views. And
it is to these sensible people on both sides, as the bishops and I
must needs think those who agree with us, that my present observations
are addressed. They will probably be astonished to learn how
insignificant, in principle, their differences are.

It is impossible to read the discourses of the three prelates without
being impressed by the knowledge which they display, and by the spirit
of equity, I might say of generosity, towards science which pervades
them. There is no trace of that tacit or open assumption that the
rejection of theological dogmas, on scientific grounds, is due to
moral perversity, which is the ordinary note of ecclesiastical
homilies on this subject, and which makes them look so supremely silly
to men whose lives have been spent in wrestling with these questions.
There is no attempt to hide away real stumbling-blocks under
rhetorical stucco; no resort to the _tu quoque_ device of setting
scientific blunders against theological errors; no suggestion that an
honest man may keep contradictory beliefs in separate pockets of his
brain; no question that the method of scientific investigation is
valid, whatever the results to which it may lead; and that the search
after truth, and truth only, ennobles the searcher and leaves no doubt
that his life, at any rate, is worth living. The Bishop of Carlisle
declares himself pledged to the belief that "the advancement of
science, the progress of human knowledge, is in itself a worthy aim of
the greatest effort of the greatest minds."

How often was it my fate, a quarter of a century ago, to see the whole
artillery of the pulpit brought to bear upon the doctrine of evolution
and its supporters! Any one unaccustomed to the amenities of
ecclesiastical controversy would have thought we were too wicked to be
permitted to live. But let us hear the Bishop of Bedford. After a
perfectly frank statement of the doctrine of evolution and some of
its obvious conseq