296 DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION 



as an attribute of the supreme powers and of human in- 

 dividuals also. Let us see how these beliefs appear in 

 characteristic systems of religion. 



In all forms of Christianity the central idea is the con- 

 ception of a triple unity personified as God. He is re- 

 garded as the Creator who has made all things and who 

 demands reverence from his subjects. He is the Author 

 and Finisher of the faith as well as the sole Cause of the 

 universe itself. Much of this element is directly derived 

 from Judaism, the progenitor of Christianity ; but a dif- 

 ference consists in the triple nature of the supreme being 

 according to the newer creed. As the original and su- 

 preme being, God is not only the Creator, but the watch- 

 ful Judge as well, demanding reverent obedience to the 

 laws of the world in which he has placed man, and im- 

 posing sacrifices and penitential observances when his 

 mandates have been disobeyed. As the God of Mercy 

 he is incarnated in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, and 

 offered as a vicarious sacrifice for sinners who are thus 

 enabled to escape the penalties they would otherwise 

 have suffered. As the Holy Ghost, God is the vaguely 

 personified ultimate source of the higher and nobler 

 elements of human thought, aspiration, and life in gen- 

 eral. The second basic tenet of Christianity is that of 

 human responsibility to God, to whom man is related 

 as the created to a creator, as a subject to a ruler, and as 

 one saved to his redeemer. The institutions of sacrifice 

 and ritual are outward signs of human subjection to God 

 himself and to his laws, according to which the universe 

 is conceived to operate. Finally, Christianity teaches 

 that just as God in his single and triune form is eternal, 

 so the soul of man is immortal, with or without its 



