At this point Paley’s argument from natural theology, that so much impressed Darwin in his youth, becomes very little convincing, and our reason is bound to conclude that the humble explanation of natural selection does have the disarming semblance of the truth.

Common descent

The publication of the Origin of Species was an immediate success, and the theory of evolution by natural selection was recognized from the start as one of the greatest triumphs of the human mind. At his death, in fact, Darwin was buried in Westminster Abbey, near great thinkers of the past such as Newton and Hume, even if his theory was regarded a danger to religion.
It has been said that there is a paradox in these honours because Darwin did not invent the idea of evolution nor that of natural selection, as he himself openly states in the Historical Sketch that he wrote for the 6th edition of the Origin of Species. As for evolution, Darwin admits without hesitation Lamarck’s priority: “Lamarck was the first man whose conclusions on the subject excited much attention. This justly-celebrated naturalist...upholds the doctrine that species, including man, are descended from other species.” With equal fairness, Darwin adds that the idea of natural selection had already been proposed by William Wells in 1813 and by Patrick Matthew in 1831 (another precursor was Edward Blyth in 1835).
In reality, what deeply impressed people was not the idea of natural selection as such, but the abyssal divide that emerged between the simplicity of the idea and the enormity of its consequences. With an ordinary mechanism Darwin arrived at extraordinary conclusions, and these were so radical that nobody could remain indifferent. There is therefore no paradox in the success of the book and in the honours bestowed on his author.