[page 1]

Copy.

Manuscript of a sermon preached by the Bishop of Carlisle at Westminster Abbey on the Sunday (May 1st, 1882) after the death of Charles Darwin

[page 2]

Colossians II, part of v.10

Complete in Him

Amongst other solemn words which were uttered upon the solemn occasion which filled this Church with mourners on Wednesday last were these. "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." Those words, if accepted fully, and prounced firmly must often require the exertion of strong faith. To acknowledge that God has in wisdom and in love taken away some one whose life seemed to be unspeakably precious, and whose death is an unspeakable bereavement to a family, or a disaster to a nation, or a loss to the world – this is no easy thing for a thoughtful and honest man or woman to do. Neither do I think that our heavenly Father, who knows our infirmities and above all who knows that "it is He that hath made us and not we ourselves", will be extreme to mark what is done amiss if we candidly confess that our hearts will not unreservedly accept and our lips distinctly pronounce the words. It is one thing for the reason to say that all things are under the government of an allwise and righteous Ruler and that therefore whatever is is right; it is another thing for the heart and feelings to yield a full assent. It is one thing for a believing soul to take its stand upon the revelation which God has made of Himself; it is another thing to stifle such feelings as those, which, on a notable occasion, called forth the touching complaint and lamentation, "Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died!"

But there is a portion of the funeral sentence quoted by me just now, which perhaps on most occasions is almost forgotten by the side of that other which speaks of bereavement and loss: "the Lord hath taken away": there can be no question concerning that part of the assertion: the living man is gone: his earthly joys and sorrows and labours and troubles have come to an end: upon him "the night" has come "in which no man can work": and the Lord has done it: you may look, and of course you do look, to secondary causes: a constitution impaired by study, or an inherited infirmity, or a severe cold caught by imprudent exposure, or the natural decay of age, or a railway accident, or what not: any one of these may be the immediate cause of the assembling of a sorrowful group at the burial of one who is gone: but if this world be under the government of a supreme Ruler, still more if that Ruler be one without whom not a sparrow falls to the ground, then when you have cleared away all the veils which the material conditions of human existence have interposed between you and God, you must come to the ultimate truth that it is He and no other who has "taken away". But the certainty of this truth and the painful manner in which a funeral brings it home to us, should not prevent us from realizing that other side of the truth, - that God was the original giver of that which has been taken away: surely as we walk round this Church and look at the monuments which

[page 3]

it contains, memorials of great poets, and great statesmen, and great discoverers, and great commanders, and patriots, and philanthropists, - memorials of the great and good in all the varied forms in which greatness and goodness happily manifest themselves in this world which contains so much that is neither great nor good, - surely the impression made upon our minds must be, that these great and good men are nothing else but the gift of God: Shakespeares and Newtons would be inconceivable in a world that was not governed by a loving Father: I do not know upon what principle such gifts are given, any more than I know why it is that monsters in human from have been permitted from time to time to lay waste God's earth and to spread misery amongst God's creatures: but if I try to devise a theory of man and his origin and his destiny, which shall not involve belief in an Almighty and All-merciful God, it is man himself that stands as the greatest and most insuperable difficulty in the way: great and good men seem to me to postulate the existence of an all-great and all-good God: and so when I see in Westminster Abbey the memorials of those whom God has taken away, I forget the loss in the recollection of the original gift: the congregation of such memorials in a house dedicated as this house is, in a house which we call emphatically the house of God, the giving back the mortal remains to be deposited in this hallowed spot "in the sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life" – all this seems to emphasize the truth, that good and great men are in a very real sense the best gift of God. "The Lord gave: blessed be the name of the Lord".

Such remarks as those which I have been making might perhaps be not unsuitable in connection with any interment within the walls of this Church. To me at least they seem to contain essentially Westminster Abbey thoughts: something of the kind must I think almost of necessity suggest itself as part of the manifold contemplations which seem to grow spontaneously within the walls of this solemnly suggestive building. But I conceive that it is a duty necessarily imposed upon him who occupies this pulpit today, that he should say something more, immediately bearing upon the funeral of last week and upon him whose mortal remains were then deposited with so much honour and by so many mourners. It is always a difficult and delicate task to speak concerning the departed: besides the wellknown maxim which tells us that we should say concerning the dead nothing but what is good, there is the duty also of saying nothing but what is true, what is necessary, what is wise, what is profitable. It is obvious that in the present instance the always difficult task is not less difficult than usual.

Let me just say in the first place and in general how much I think that the interment of the remains of Mr. Darwin in Westminster Abbey is in aacordance with the judgement if the wisest of his countrymen. It would have been

[page 4]

an unfortunate thing if it had been supposed, that he himself or those dearest to him recognized an incompatibility between the results of his scientific studies and the solemn committal with prayer and thanksgiving to the ground of that mortal material frame which had done its work. It would have been unfortunate if anything had occurred to give weight and currency to the foolish notion which some have diliggently propagated, but for which Mr. Darwin was not responsible, that there is a necessary conflict between a knowledge of nature and a belief in God. On the other hand, it was a happy thing, and of good augury for our country, of good augury perhaps for the world, that it should be thought suitable to bury the remains of the most conspicuous man of science in this generation with the fullest expressions of Christian hope, that no objection should be offered by those who had the power of objection, and that the course so taken should commend itself to the conscience of the country. A distinguished man who was present at the funeral remarked to me, that as he witnessed the ceremony he felt thankful for his native land: "had this death", said he, "occurred in France, no priest would have taken part in the funeral, or if he had, no scientific man would have been present." I imagine that there was much of mournful truth in this remark: thank God that no such remark would be possible as applied to England! God grant that such possibility may never arise!

This is not the place nor this the occasion, nor am I competent, to speak of Mr. Darwin's position and merits as a man of science: moreover, the accurate evaluation of the position and merits of every remarkable man must be left chiefly to posterity: time alone can try the real strength of a reputation. For us however, it is sufficient to observe, that beyond all doubt and question Mr. Darwin has been the means of producing a greater change in the current of thought on certain subjects than any other man: he did it by perfectly legitimate means: he observed nature with a strength of purpose, and a pertinacity, and an honesty, and an ingenuity, which have never been surpassed, and upon his observations he based his hypotheses and theories: he was fully within his right in doing so: time will test the correctness of his results: some may become established, some may prove untenable: the laws which Kepler thought he had discovered did not all survive: Descartes' vortices have passed into oblivion: Newton's hypothesis concerning light has yielded to that which he thought he had weighed and found wanting: but meanwhile it is thus by careful questioning of nature and by freedom of speculation and acute suggestion that true knowledge grows and thrives: we may be quite certain that a theory with a flaw in it will sooner or later cease to be a theory: a baseless hypothesis will sooner or later be seen to be baseless: those who are not scientific themselves, - and the mass of manking never can be, - but who imagine that the progress of science involves dangers to truths, which to the mass of mankind are immeasurably precious, need not be overanxious and unhappy: speculations

[page 5]

unless they contain truth will never be longlived, and if they do contain truth then they have in them a life which nothing can destroy and with which no wise man would wish to interfere.

Thus much in general as suggested by the memory of the illustrious dead. In particular may I say how much we may all learn from the example which he has given us in the duties of life. I think it is generally the case with great men, that while there is much in them which ordinary folks can only admire at a distance, - in fact if this were not the so the great men would not be great, nor the ordinary men ordinary, - there are also subsidiary qualities which help to constitute the great man's greatness and which, nevertheless, the ordinary man may admire and imitate. And taking this view of Mr. Darwin how admirable was his devotion to the one great work of his life: he gave himself to the study of nature with all his heart and sould and strength: in a coarse worldly sense he had nothing to gain by it: nay much of his work seems to have cost him not only labour but suffering, and his first great scientific journey is said to have entailed weakness of health through his whole life. Is there nothing to be learnt from such steady devotion and industry?. And then like other great men he seems to have ben conspicuous for modesty: fancying that other men could do as much as himself if they only tried, reminding one somewhat of Newton when he maintained that the chief difference between himself and other men was that he took more trouble to think about things than they. And then so calm, and apparently living in an atmosphere so much removed from the storms of passion an controversy: what a lesson there is here: no doubt it is more easy to be calm in the regions of natural science and observation, than in those of politics or theology or morals: but politicians and theologians may very well in their more exciting fields of controversy take example from the dignified composure with which such men as Darwin pursue their work. Moreover the particular form which Mr. Darwin's studies assumed prevented him from enjoying the calm retired peace which belongs to many branches of science: the views concerning evolution connected with his name, have not unasttually given rise to more excited feelings and caused more terror and alarm than perhaps any that were ever propagated: but I do not know that his temper was ever moved by this, and he never appeared before the public as one who felt aggrieved. I may add that though many attacks have been made upon religious truth in his name, he never made such himself, nay I have every reason to believe that such attacks had not his sympathy but were contrary to his most solemn convictions.

I cannot but think that a touching mark of greatness is to be found th the subject of his last scientific publication. Who has not read with wonder and delight the volume upon earth-worms? How many of us had realized before we read that work the marvellous agency of these humble creatures?. Who would have thought that the crowing effort of one who had searched all nature,

[page 6]

and had been bold enough to speculate concerning the descent of man, would be a laborious investigation of the habits, and the part in the general economy of nature, of the lowliest and nearly the least attractive amongst the creatures of God?

            A brave, simple-hearted, truth-loving man: one whom I knew only by his writings and through common friends, and concerning whom thus known I have ventured to make the few remarks which I have now offered to you. I have said that I think like other great men he has presented to us in his life and his works, points of character and conduct which we may well admire and imitate, though we ourselves may have no title to greatness, and though also we do not accept as necessarily great and good everything which a great man may have said or done. But I cannot be content to leave the subject at the point at which we have no arrived: like the prophet of whom we heard in the first lesson of this afternoon, I feel that I must speak the words which God bids me to speak, and that He has bidden me to speak not merely concerning natural science or the greatness of scientific men, but concerning Jesus Christ, His only Son our Lord. I have picked up a few words from the second lesson which seem to me to express in appithy and pointed way exactly that which has forced itself upon our minds this afternoon. Mr. Darwin has gone to his rest: his grave has received every honour that an Englishman's grave can receive: I who have been invited to preach here this afternoon have endeavoured to deal respectfully with his memory: but there will be and must be for a long time to come connected with his name, not merely the thought of a remarkable scientific epoch, but also the thought of an intense emphasis given to the question, What is the relation in which natural science stands to religious faith? This is no new question: it is one which is inherent in the very substance of thought and speculation: it is one of a number of questions which are always alive, but which sometimes seem to be in a condition of suspended animation, and then burst forth into impetuous life, like a volcano which has been quiescent for a while. Of course, it is impossible even to attempt to answer questions of this kind in a few sentences of a sermon: but I wish to suggest, or rather to remind you, not only that religious faith rests upon foundations which no physical discoveries can impair, but also that positive knowledge and religious belief are not antagonistic but more properly supplemental the one to the other. I believe, - I am sure that you all believe, - such intellects as those which were given to Newton and to Darwin were given for the purpose of being applied to the examination of the universe which God created and made: I cannot conceive the constitution of that man's mind who does not feel uplifted and triumphant and joyous, when he realizes the great steps which man has made in comprehending the secrets of this wonderful creation of which he himself is the crown: but if I am told that because Newton discovered gravitation therefore I can dispense with the Apostles' Creed, and that having got the works of Darwin, I may burn my Bible, I reject the conclusion

[page 7]

as not only illogical and monstrous, but as contradicting a voice within me which has as much right to be heard as my logical understanding. I reject the conclusion, because I am certain that to accept it or anything like it would be to permit myself to be "spoiled, robbed, beggared, by philosophy and vain deceit", according to the language of St. Paul which we heard this afternoon. I am not only a being who can investigate the secrets of nature, and bend nature's forces to my purposes, and perform wonders of ingenuity, but I am a being who can suffer pain, can feel sorrow, can commit sin: I have a moral nature which is as much and as truly a fact as is my intellect: I meet with experiences in this poor sinful anomalous world, which are just as true, just as necessary to be taken into consideration in forming a philosophy, just as important – or it may be ten thousand times more so – to the vast mass of mankind, as any truth which natural science can reveal: and God as I believe has recognized this side of my nature and my experience by taking human flesh and becoming man – "The Word became flesh". "God so loved the world, that He sent His only begotten Son". Do not try to deprive me of that blessed truth: they who hold it, who live upon it, who believe that they would be infinitely hopelessly pitiably poor without it, have no desire to speak lightly of other truths, but only they feel that they cannot give up this – "Complete in Him": those few emphatic words of S. Paul seem to me exactly to meet the case: the knowledge of Christ supporting, supplementing, completing all other knowledge: ministering to wants which would be otherwise overwhelming: binding up wounds which human knowledge cannot heal: giving rest to weary souls which have sought rest elsewhere and have not been able to find it.

            Oh! my Christian bretheren, if the worldwide fame of such men as Newton and Darwin makes us wonder at the princely intellects with which they and other chiefs of the human race have been endowed, - if by the tribute of a nation's homage at their open graves we bear our testimony to their greatness, and thank God for His mighty gift, - if we feel that mankind in general and our own dear land in particular is enriched and glorified by the possession of such men, - let us also be reminded by their return to dust that we need some knowledge which they cannot give us. No human light can illuminate the other side of the grave: the mystery of man's infinite being defies the treatment of all human calculus: the knowledge which man's soul requires is only "complete in Him", whom God has sent into the world in order that knowing him we may know the Father.

"This is life eternal, that we might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent".

Grant us grace and power to know Thee! Amen.

[page 8]

Copy.

Manuscript of a sermon preached by the Bishop of Carlisle at Westminster Abbey on the Sunday (May 1st, 1882) after the death of Charles Darwin

[page 9]

Colossians II, part of v.10

Complete in Him

Amongst other solemn words which were uttered upon the solemn occasion which filled this Church with mourners on Wednesday last were these. "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." Those words, if accepted fully, and pronounced firmly must often require the exertion of strong faith. To acknowledge that God has in wisdom and in love taken away some one whose life seemed to be unspeakably precious, and whose death is an unspeakable bereavement to a family, or a disaster to a nation, or a loss to the world – this is no easy thing for a thoughtful and honest man or woman to do. Neither do I think that our heavenly Father, who knows our infirmities and above all who knows that "it is He that hath made us and not we ourselves", will be extreme to mark what is done amiss if we candidly confess that our hearts will not unreservedly accept and our lips distinctly pronounce the words. It is one thing for the reason to say that all things are under the government of an allwise and righteous Ruler and that therefore whatever is is right; it is another thing for the heart and feelings to yield a full assent. It is one thing for a believing soul to take its stand upon the revelation which God has made of Himself; it is another thing to stifle such feelings as those, which, on a notable occasion, called forth the touching complaint and lamentation, "Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died!"

But there is a portion of the funeral sentence quoted by me just now, which perhaps on most occasions is almost forgotten by the side of that other which speaks of bereavement and loss: "the Lord hath taken away": there can be no question concerning that part of the assertion: the living man is gone: his earthly joys and sorrows and labours and troubles have come to an end: upon him "the night" has come "in which no man can work": and the Lord has done it: you may look, and of course you do look, to secondary causes: a constitution impaired by study, or an inherited infirmity, or a severe cold caught by imprudent exposure, or the natural decay of age, or a railway accident, or what not: any one of these may be the immediate cause of the assembling of a sorrowful group at the burial of one who is gone: but if this world be under the government of a supreme Ruler, still more if that Ruler be one without whom not a sparrow falls to the ground, then when you have cleared away all the veils which the material conditions of human existence have interposed between you and God, you must come to the ultimate truth that it is He and no other who has "taken away". But the certainty of this truth and the painful manner in which a funeral brings

[page 10]

it home to us, should not prevent us from realizing that other side of the truth, - that God was the original giver of that which has been taken away: surely as we walk round this Church and look at the monuments which

it contains, memorials of great poets, and great statesmen, and great discoverers, and great commanders, and patriots, and philanthropists, - memorials of the great and good in all the varied forms in which greatness and goodness happily manifest themselves in this world which contains so much that is neither great nor good, - surely the impression made upon our minds must be, that these great and good men are nothing else but the gift of God: Shakespeares and Newtons would be inconceivable in a world that was not governed by a loving Father: I do not know upon what principle such gifts are given, any more than I know why it is that monsters in human from have been permitted from time to time to lay waste God's earth and to spread misery amongst God's creatures: but if I try to devise a theory of man and his origin and his destiny, which shall not involve belief in an Almighty and All-merciful God, it is man himself that stands as the greatest and most insuperable difficulty in the way: great and good men seem to me to postulate the existence of an all-great and all-good God: and so when I see in Westminster Abbey the memorials of those whom God has taken away, I forget the loss in the recollection of the original gift: the congregation of such memorials in a house dedicated as this house is, in a house which we call emphatically the house of God, the giving back the mortal remains to be deposited in this hallowed spot "in the sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life" – all this seems to emphasize the truth, that good and great men are in a very real sense the best gift of God. "The Lord gave: blessed be the name of the Lord".

Such remarks as those which I have been making might perhaps be not unsuitable in connection with any interment within the walls of this Church. To me at least they seem to contain essentially Westminster Abbey thoughts: something of the kind must I think almost of necessity suggest itself as part of the manifold contemplations which seem to grow spontaneously within the walls of this solemnly suggestive building. But I conceive that it is a duty necessarily imposed upon him who occupies this pulpit today, that he should say something more, immediately bearing upon the funeral of last week and upon him whose mortal remains were then deposited with so much honour and by so many mourners. It is always a difficult and delicate task to speak concerning the departed: besides the wellknown maxim which tells us that we should say concerning the dead nothing but what is good, there is the duty also of saying nothing but what is true, what is necessary, what is wise, what is profitable. It is obvious that in the present

[page 11]

instance the always difficult task is not less difficult than usual.

Let me just say in the first place and in general how much I think that the interment of the remains of Mr. Darwin in Westminster Abbey is in accordance with the judgement if the wisest of his countrymen. It would have been

an unfortunate thing if it had been supposed, that he himself or those dearest to him recognized an incompatibility between the results of his scientific studies and the solemn committal with prayer and thanksgiving to the ground of that mortal material frame which had done its work. It would have been unfortunate if anything had occurred to give weight and currency to the foolish notion which some have diligently propagated, but for which Mr. Darwin was not responsible, that there is a necessary conflict between a knowledge of nature and a belief in God. On the other hand, it was a happy thing, and of good augury for our country, of good augury perhaps for the world, that it should be thought suitable to bury the remains of the most conspicuous man of science in this generation with the fullest expressions of Christian hope, that no objection should be offered by those who had the power of objection, and that the course so taken should commend itself to the conscience of the country. A distinguished man who was present at the funeral remarked to me, that as he witnessed the ceremony he felt thankful for his native land: "had this death", said he, "occurred in France, no priest would have taken part in the funeral, or if he had, no scientific man would have been present." I imagine that there was much of mournful truth in this remark: thank God that no such remark would be possible as applied to England! God grant that such possibility may never arise!

This is not the place nor this the occasion, nor am I competent, to speak of Mr. Darwin's position and merits as a man of science: moreover, the accurate evaluation of the position and merits of every remarkable man must be left chiefly to posterity: time alone can try the real strength of a reputation. For us however, it is sufficient to observe, that beyond all doubt and question Mr. Darwin has been the means of producing a greater change in the current of thought on certain subjects than any other man: he did it by perfectly legitimate means: he observed nature with a strength of purpose, and a pertinacity, and an honesty, and an ingenuity, which have never been surpassed, and upon his observations he based his hypotheses and theories: he was fully within his right in doing so: time will test the correctness of his results: some may become established, some may prove untenable: the laws which Kepler thought he had discovered did not all survive: Descartes' vortices have passed into oblivion: Newton's hypothesis concerning light has yielded to that which he thought he had weighed and found wanting: but meanwhile it is thus by careful questioning of nature and by freedom of speculation and acute suggestion that true knowledge

[page 12]

grows and thrives: we may be quite certain that a theory with a flaw in it will sooner or later cease to be a theory: a baseless hypothesis will sooner or later be seen to be baseless: those who are not scientific themselves, - and the mass of mankind never can be, - but who imagine that the progress of science involves dangers to truths, which to the mass of mankind are immeasurably precious, need not be overanxious and unhappy: speculations unless they contain truth will never be longlived, and if they do contain truth then they have in them a life which nothing can destroy and with which no wise man would wish to interfere.

Thus much in general as suggested by the memory of the illustrious dead. In particular may I say how much we may all learn from the example which he has given us in the duties of life. I think it is generally the case with great men, that while there is much in them which ordinary folks can only admire at a distance, - in fact if this were not the so the great men would not be great, nor the ordinary men ordinary, - there are also subsidiary qualities which help to constitute the great man's greatness and which, nevertheless, the ordinary man may admire and imitate. And taking this view of Mr. Darwin how admirable was his devotion to the one great work of his life: he gave himself to the study of nature with all his heart and soul and strength: in a coarse worldly sense he had nothing to gain by it: nay much of his work seems to have cost him not only labour but suffering, and his first great scientific journey is said to have entailed weakness of health through his whole life. Is there nothing to be learnt from such steady devotion and industry?. And then like other great men he seems to have been conspicuous for modesty: fancying that other men could do as much as himself if they only tried, reminding one somewhat of Newton when he maintained that the chief difference between himself and other men was that he took more trouble to think about things than they. And then so calm, and apparently living in an atmosphere so much removed from the storms of passion and controversy: what a lesson there is here: no doubt it is more easy to be calm in the regions of natural science and observation, than in those of politics or theology or morals: but politicians and theologians may very well in their more exciting fields of controversy take example from the dignified composure with which such men as Darwin pursue their work. Moreover the particular form which Mr. Darwin's studies assumed prevented him from enjoying the calm retired peace which belongs to many branches of science: the views concerning evolution connected with his name, have not unnaturally given rise to more excited feelings and caused more terror and alarm than perhaps any that were ever propagated: but I do not know that his temper was ever moved by this, and he never appeared before the public as one who felt aggrieved. I may add that though many attacks have been made upon religious truth in his name, he never made such

[page 13]

himself, nay I have every reason to believe that such attacks had not his sympathy but were contrary to his most solemn convictions.

I cannot but think that a touching mark of greatness is to be found in the subject of his last scientific publication. Who has not read with wonder and delight the volume upon earth-worms? How many of us had realized before we read that work the marvellous agency of these humble creatures?. Who would have thought that the crowing effort of one who had searched all nature, and had been bold enough to speculate concerning the descent of man, would be a laborious investigation of the habits, and the part in the general economy of nature, of the lowliest and nearly the least attractive amongst the creatures of God?

            A brave, simple-hearted, truth-loving man: one whom I knew only by his writings and through common friends, and concerning whom thus known I have ventured to make the few remarks which I have now offered to you. I have said that I think like other great men he has presented to us in his life and his works, points of character and conduct which we may well admire and imitate, though we ourselves may have no title to greatness, and though also we do not accept as necessarily great and good everything which a great man may have said or done. But I cannot be content to leave the subject at the point at which we have no arrived: like the prophet of whom we heard in the first lesson of this afternoon, I feel that I must speak the words which God bids me to speak, and that He has bidden me to speak not merely concerning natural science or the greatness of scientific men, but concerning Jesus Christ, His only Son our Lord. I have picked up a few words from the second lesson which seem to me to express in a pithy and pointed way exactly that which has forced itself upon our minds this afternoon. Mr. Darwin has gone to his rest: his grave has received every honour that an Englishman's grave can receive: I who have been invited to preach here this afternoon have endeavoured to deal respectfully with his memory: but there will be and must be for a long time to come connected with his name, not merely the thought of a remarkable scientific epoch, but also the thought of an intense emphasis given to the question, What is the relation in which natural science stands to religious faith? This is no new question: it is one which is inherent in the very substance of thought and speculation: it is one of a number of questions which are always alive, but which sometimes seem to be in a condition of suspended animation, and then burst forth into impetuous life, like a volcano which has been quiescent for a while. Of course, it is impossible even to attempt to answer questions of this kind in a few sentences of a sermon: but I wish to suggest, or rather to remind you, not only that religious faith rests upon foundations which no physical discoveries can impair, but also that positive knowledge and religious belief are not antagonistic but more properly supplemental

[page 14]

the one to the other. I believe, - I am sure that you all believe, - such intellects as those which were given to Newton and to Darwin were given for the purpose of being applied to the examination of the universe which God created and made: I cannot conceive the constitution of that man's mind who does not feel uplifted and triumphant and joyous, when he realizes the great steps which man has made in comprehending the secrets of this wonderful creation of which he himself is the crown: but if I am told that because Newton discovered gravitation therefore I can dispense with the Apostles' Creed, and that having got the works of Darwin, I may burn my Bible, I reject the conclusion as not only illogical and monstrous, but as contradicting a voice within me which has as much right to be heard as my logical understanding. I reject the conclusion, because I am certain that to accept it or anything like it would be to permit myself to be "spoiled, robbed, beggared, by philosophy and vain deceit", according to the language of St. Paul which we heard this afternoon. I am not only a being who can investigate the secrets of nature, and bend nature's forces to my purposes, and perform wonders of ingenuity, but I am a being who can suffer pain, can feel sorrow, can commit sin: I have a moral nature which is as much and as truly a fact as is my intellect: I meet with experiences in this poor sinful anomalous world, which are just as true, just as necessary to be taken into consideration in forming a philosophy, just as important – or it may be ten thousand times more so – to the vast mass of mankind, as any truth which natural science can reveal: and God as I believe has recognized this side of my nature and my experience by taking human flesh and becoming man – "The Word became flesh". "God so loved the world, that He sent His only begotten Son". Do not try to deprive me of that blessed truth: they who hold it, who live upon it, who believe that they would be infinitely hopelessly pitiably poor without it, have no desire to speak lightly of other truths, but only they feel that they cannot give up this – "Complete in Him": those few emphatic words of S. Paul seem to me exactly to meet the case: the knowledge of Christ supporting, supplementing, completing all other knowledge: ministering to wants which would be otherwise overwhelming: binding up wounds which human knowledge cannot heal: giving rest to weary souls which have sought rest elsewhere and have not been able to find it.

            Oh! my C.B. if the worldwide fame of such men as Newton and Darwin makes us wonder at the princely intellects with which they and other chiefs of the human race have been endowed, - if by the tribute of a nation's homage at their open graves we bear our testimony to their greatness, and thank God for His mighty gift, - if we feel that mankind in general and our own dear land in particular is enriched and glorified by the possession of such men, - let us also be reminded by their return to dust that we need some knowledge which they cannot give us. No human light can illuminate the

[page 15]

other side of the grave: the mystery of man's infinite being defies the treatment of all human calculus: the knowledge which man's soul requires is only "complete in Him", whom God has sent into the world in order that knowing him we may know the Father.

"This is life eternal, that we might know Thee, the only true God, and J.C., whom Thou hast sent".

Grant us grace and power to know Thee! Amen.

[page 16]

Copy.

Manuscript of a sermon preached by the Bishop of Carlisle at Westminster Abbey on the Sunday (May 1st, 1882) after the death of Charles Darwin

[page 17]

Colossians II, part of v.10

Complete in Him

Amongst other solemn words which were uttered upon the solemn occasion which filled this Church with mourners on Wednesday last were these. "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." Those words, if accepted fully, and pronounced firmly must often require the exertion of strong faith. To acknowledge that God has in wisdom and in love taken away some one whose life seemed to be unspeakably precious, and whose death is an unspeakable bereavement to a family, or a disaster to a nation, or a loss to the world – this is no easy thing for a thoughtful and honest man or woman to do. Neither do I think that our heavenly Father, who knows our infirmities and above all who knows that "it is He that hath made us and not we ourselves", will be extreme to mark what is done amiss if we candidly confess that our hearts will not unreservedly accept and our lips distinctly pronounce the words. It is one thing for the reason to say that all things are under the government of an allwise and righteous Ruler and that therefore whatever is is right; it is another thing for the heart and feelings to yield a full assent. It is one thing for a believing soul to take its stand upon the revelation which God has made of Himself; it is another thing to stifle such feelings as those, which, on a notable occasion, called forth the touching complaint and lamentation, "Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died!"

But there is a portion of the funeral sentence quoted by me just now, which perhaps on most occasions is almost forgotten by the side of that other which speaks of bereavement and loss: "the Lord hath taken away": there can be no question concerning that part of the assertion: the living man is gone: his earthly joys and sorrows and labours and troubles have come to an end: upon him "the night" has come "in which no man can work": and the Lord has done it: you may look, and of course you do look, to secondary causes: a constitution impaired by study, or an inherited infirmity, or a severe cold caught by imprudent exposure, or the natural decay of age, or a railway accident, or what not: any one of these may be the immediate cause of the assembling of a sorrowful group at the burial of one who is gone: but if this world be under the government of a supreme Ruler, still more if that Ruler be one without whom not a sparrow falls to the ground, then when you have cleared away all the veils which the material conditions of human existence have interposed between you and God, you must come to the ultimate truth that it is He and no other who has "taken away". But the certainty of this truth and the painful manner in which a funeral brings

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it home to us, should not prevent us from realizing that other side of the truth, - that God was the original giver of that which has been taken away: surely as we walk round this Church and look at the monuments which it contains, memorials of great poets, and great statesmen, and great discoverers, and great commanders, and patriots, and philanthropists, - memorials of the great and good in all the varied forms in which greatness and goodness happily manifest themselves in this world which contains so much that is neither great nor good, - surely the impression made upon our minds must be, that these great and good men are nothing else but the gift of God: Shakespeares and Newtons would be inconceivable in a world that was not governed by a loving Father: I do not know upon what principle such gifts are given, any more than I know why it is that monsters in human from have been permitted from time to time to lay waste God's earth and to spread misery amongst God's creatures: but if I try to devise a theory of man and his origin and his destiny, which shall not involve belief in an Almighty and All-merciful God, it is man himself that stands as the greatest and most insuperable difficulty in the way: great and good men seem to me to postulate the existence of an all-great and all-good God: and so when I see in Westminster Abbey the memorials of those whom God has taken away, I forget the loss in the recollection of the original gift: the congregation of such memorials in a house dedicated as this house is, in a house which we call emphatically the house of God, the giving back the mortal remains to be deposited in this hallowed spot "in the sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life" – all this seems to emphasize the truth, that good and great men are in a very real sense the best gift of God. "The Lord gave: blessed be the name of the Lord".

Such remarks as those which I have been making might perhaps be not unsuitable in connection with any interment within the walls of this Church. To me at least they seem to contain essentially Westminster Abbey thoughts: something of the kind must I think almost of necessity suggest itself as part of the manifold contemplations which seem to grow spontaneously within the walls of this solemnly suggestive building. But I conceive that it is a duty necessarily imposed upon him who occupies this pulpit today, that he should say something more, immediately bearing upon the funeral of last week and upon him whose mortal remains were then deposited with so much honour and by so many mourners. It is always a difficult and delicate task to speak concerning the departed: besides the wellknown maxim which tells us that we should say concerning the dead nothing but what is good, there is the duty also of saying nothing but what is true, what is necessary, what is wise, what is profitable. It is obvious that in the present

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instance the always difficult task is not less difficult than usual.

Let me just say in the first place and in general how much I think that the interment of the remains of Mr. Darwin in Westminster Abbey is in accordance with the judgement if the wisest of his countrymen. It would have been an unfortunate thing if it had been supposed, that he himself or those dearest to him recognized an incompatibility between the results of his scientific studies and the solemn committal with prayer and thanksgiving to the ground of that mortal material frame which had done its work. It would have been unfortunate if anything had occurred to give weight and currency to the foolish notion which some have diligently propagated, but for which Mr. Darwin was not responsible, that there is a necessary conflict between a knowledge of nature and a belief in God. On the other hand, it was a happy thing, and of good augury for our country, of good augury perhaps for the world, that it should be thought suitable to bury the remains of the most conspicuous man of science in this generation with the fullest expressions of Christian hope, that no objection should be offered by those who had the power of objection, and that the course so taken should commend itself to the conscience of the country. A distinguished man who was present at the funeral remarked to me, that as he witnessed the ceremony he felt thankful for his native land: "had this death", said he, "occurred in France, no priest would have taken part in the funeral, or if he had, no scientific man would have been present." I imagine that there was much of mournful truth in this remark: thank God that no such remark would be possible as applied to England! God grant that such possibility may never arise!

This is not the place nor this the occasion, nor am I competent, to speak of Mr. Darwin's position and merits as a man of science: moreover, the accurate evaluation of the position and merits of every remarkable man must be left chiefly to posterity: time alone can try the real strength of a reputation. For us however, it is sufficient to observe, that beyond all doubt and question Mr. Darwin has been the means of producing a greater change in the current of thought on certain subjects than any other man: he did it by perfectly legitimate means: he observed nature with a strength of purpose, and a pertinacity, and an honesty, and an ingenuity, which have never been surpassed, and upon his observations he based his hypotheses and theories: he was fully within his right in doing so: time will test the correctness of his results: some may become established, some may prove untenable: the laws which Kepler thought he had discovered did not all survive: Descartes' vortices have passed into oblivion: Newton's hypothesis concerning light has yielded to that which he thought he had weighed and found wanting: but meanwhile it is thus by careful questioning of nature and by freedom of speculation and acute suggestion that true knowledge

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grows and thrives: we may be quite certain that a theory with a flaw in it will sooner or later cease to be a theory: a baseless hypothesis will sooner or later be seen to be baseless: those who are not scientific themselves, - and the mass of mankind never can be, - but who imagine that the progress of science involves dangers to truths, which to the mass of mankind are immeasurably precious, need not be overanxious and unhappy: speculations unless they contain truth will never be longlived, and if they do contain truth then they have in them a life which nothing can destroy and with which no wise man would wish to interfere.

Thus much in general as suggested by the memory of the illustrious dead. In particular may I say how much we may all learn from the example which he has given us in the duties of life. I think it is generally the case with great men, that while there is much in them which ordinary folks can only admire at a distance, - in fact if this were not the so the great men would not be great, nor the ordinary men ordinary, - there are also subsidiary qualities which help to constitute the great man's greatness and which, nevertheless, the ordinary man may admire and imitate. And taking this view of Mr. Darwin how admirable was his devotion to the one great work of his life: he gave himself to the study of nature with all his heart and soul and strength: in a coarse worldly sense he had nothing to gain by it: nay much of his work seems to have cost him not only labour but suffering, and his first great scientific journey is said to have entailed weakness of health through his whole life. Is there nothing to be learnt from such steady devotion and industry?. And then like other great men he seems to have been conspicuous for modesty: fancying that other men could do as much as himself if they only tried, reminding one somewhat of Newton when he maintained that the chief difference between himself and other men was that he took more trouble to think about things than they. And then so calm, and apparently living in an atmosphere so much removed from the storms of passion an controversy: what a lesson there is here: no doubt it is more easy to be calm in the regions of natural science and observation, than in those of politics or theology or morals: but politicians and theologians may very well in their more exciting fields of controversy take example from the dignified composure with which such men as Darwin pursue their work. Moreover the particular form which Mr. Darwin's studies assumed prevented him from enjoying the calm retired peace which belongs to many branches of science: the views concerning evolution connected with his name, have not unnaturally given rise to more excited feelings and caused more terror and alarm than perhaps any that were ever propagated: but I do not know that his temper was ever moved by this, and he never appeared before the public as one who felt aggrieved. I may add that though many attacks have been made upon religious truth in his name, he never made such

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himself, nay I have every reason to believe that such attacks had not his sympathy but were contrary to his most solemn convictions.

I cannot but think that a touching mark of greatness is to be found th the subject of his last scientific publication. Who has not read with wonder and delight the volume upon earth-worms? How many of us had realized before we read that work the marvellous agency of these humble creatures?. Who would have thought that the crowing effort of one who had searched all nature, and had been bold enough to speculate concerning the descent of man, would be a laborious investigation of the habits, and the part in the general economy of nature, of the lowliest and nearly the least attractive amongst the creatures of God?

            A brave, simple-hearted, truth-loving man: one whom I knew only by his writings and through common friends, and concerning whom thus known I have ventured to make the few remarks which I have now offered to you. I have said that I think like other great men he has presented to us in his life and his works, points of character and conduct which we may well admire and imitate, though we ourselves may have no title to greatness, and though also we do not accept as necessarily great and good everything which a great man may have said or done. But I cannot be content to leave the subject at the point at which we have no arrived: like the prophet of whom we heard in the first lesson of this afternoon, I feel that I must speak the words which God bids me to speak, and that He has bidden me to speak not merely concerning natural science or the greatness of scientific men, but concerning J.C. His only Son our Lord. I have picked up a few words from the second lesson which seem to me to express in a pithy and pointed way exactly that which has forced itself upon our minds this afternoon. Mr. Darwin has gone to his rest: his grave has received every honour that an Englishman's grave can receive: I who have been invited to preach here this afternoon have endeavoured to deal respectfully with his memory: but there will be and must be for a long time to come connected with his name, not merely the thought of a remarkable scientific epoch, but also the thought of an intense emphasis given to the question, What is the relation in which natural science stands to religious faith? This is no new question: it is one which is inherent in the very substance of thought and speculation: it is one of a number of questions which are always alive, but which sometimes seem to be in a condition of suspended animation, and then burst forth into impetuous life, like a volcano which has been quiescent for a while. Of course, it is impossible even to attempt to answer questions of this kind in a few sentences of a sermon: but I wish to suggest, or rather to remind you, not only that religious faith rests upon foundations which no physical discoveries can impair, but also that positive knowledge and religious belief are not antagonistic but more properly supplemental

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the one to the other. I believe, - I am sure that you all believe, - such intellects as those which were given to Newton and to Darwin were given for the purpose of being applied to the examination of the universe which God created and made: I cannot conceive the constitution of that man's mind who does not feel uplifted and triumphant and joyous, when he realizes the great steps which man has made in comprehending the secrets of this wonderful creation of which he himself is the crown: but if I am told that because Newton discovered gravitation therefore I can dispense with the Apostles' Creed, and that having got the works of Darwin, I may burn my Bible, I reject the conclusion as not only illogical and monstrous, but as contradicting a voice within me which has as much right to be heard as my logical understanding. I reject the conclusion, because I am certain that to accept it or anything like it would be to permit myself to be "spoiled, robbed, beggared, by philosophy and vain deceit", according to the language of St. Paul which we heard this afternoon. I am not only a being who can investigate the secrets of nature, and bend nature's forces to my purposes, and perform wonders of ingenuity, but I am a being who can suffer pain, can feel sorrow, can commit sin: I have a moral nature which is as much and as truly a fact as is my intellect: I meet with experiences in this poor sinful anomalous world, which are just as true, just as necessary to be taken into consideration in forming a philosophy, just as important – or it may be ten thousand times more so – to the vast mass of mankind, as any truth which natural science can reveal: and God as I believe has recognized this side of my nature and my experience by taking human flesh and becoming man – "The Word became flesh". "God so loved the world, that He sent His only begotten Son". Do not try to deprive me of that blessed truth: they who hold it, who live upon it, who believe that they would be infinitely hopelessly pitiably poor without it, have no desire to speak lightly of other truths, but only they feel that they cannot give up this – "Complete in Him": those few emphatic words of S. Paul seem to me exactly to meet the case: the knowledge of Christ supporting, supplementing, completing all other knowledge: ministering to wants which would be otherwise overwhelming: binding up wounds which human knowledge cannot heal: giving rest to weary souls which have sought rest elsewhere and have not been able to find it.

            Oh! my C.B. if the worldwide fame of such men as Newton and Darwin makes us wonder at the princely intellects with which they and other chiefs of the human race have been endowed, - if by the tribute of a nation's homage at their open graves we bear our testimony to their greatness, and thank God for His mighty gift, - if we feel that mankind in general and our own dear land in particular is enriched and glorified by the possession of such men, - let us also be reminded by their return to dust that we need some knowledge which they cannot give us. No human light can illuminate

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the other side of the grave: the mystery of man's infinite being defies the treatment of all human calculus: the knowledge which man's soul requires is only "complete in Him", whom God has sent into the world in order that knowing him we may know the Father.

"This is life eternal, that we might know Thee, the only true God, and J.C. whom Thou hast sent".

Grant us grace and power to know Thee! Amen.