64 RELIGION. [ch. m. 



vantageous nor disadvantageous to the possessor) of all 

 beings have been developed through natural selection, or 

 the survival of the fittest, together with use or habit, will 

 admit that these organs have been formed so that their pos- 

 sessors may compete successfully with other beings, and 

 thus increase in number. Now an animal may be led to 

 pursue that course of action which is most beneficial to the 

 species by suffering, such as pain, hunger, thirst, and fear ; 

 or by pleasure, as in eating and drinking, and in the propa- 

 gation of the species, &c. ; or by both means combined, as 

 in the search for food. But pain or suffering of any kind, 

 if long continued, causes depression and lessens the power 

 of action, yet is well adapted to make a creature guard it- 

 self against any great or sudden evil. Pleasurable sensa- 

 tions, on the other hand, may be long continued without 

 any depressing effect ; on the contrary, they stimulate the 

 whole system to increased action. Hence it has come to 

 pass that most or all sentient beings have been develoj)ed in 

 such a manner, through natural selection, that pleasurable 

 sensations serve as their habitual guides. We see this in the 

 pleasure from exertion, even occasionally from great exer- 

 tion of the body or mind, in the pleasure of our daily 

 meals, and especially in the pleasure derived from sociabili- 

 ty, and from loving our families. The sum of such pleas- 

 ures as these, which are habitual or frequently recurrent, 

 give, as I can hardly doubt, to most sentient beings an 

 excess of happiness over misery, although many occasionally 

 suffer much. Such suffering is quite compatible with the 

 belief in Natural Selection, which is not perfect in its 

 action, but tends only to render each species as successful 

 as possible in the battle for life with other species, in 

 wonderfully complex and changing circumstances. 



" That there is much suffering in the world no one dis- 

 putes. Some have attempted to explain this with reference 

 to man by imagining that it serves for his moral improve- 

 ment. But the number of men in the world is as nothing 

 compared with that of all other sentient beings, and they 

 often suffer greatly without any moral improvement. This 

 very old argument from the existence of suffering against 

 the existence of an intelligent First Cause seems to me a 

 strong one; whereas, as just remarked, the presence of 

 much suffering agrees well with the view that all organic 

 beings have been developed through variation and natural 

 selection. 



