CREATION BY EVOLUTION 



spending to Man the Breeder, his characteristically Dar- 

 winian answer was that the Struggle for Existence implied 

 a process of sifting, which he called Natural Selection. Test- 

 ing all things and holding fast that which is good or fit: 

 that has been the evolutionary method! 



These few examples should make plain the nature of the 

 argument for evolution. It is what is called a cumulative 

 argument. All the lines of facts meet in the same conclu- 

 sion — the present is the child of the past. There is no con- 

 flicting evidence; every new discovery points in the same 

 direction. On many sides we find striking facts, which 

 become luminous when we see them in the light of the evolu- 

 tion-idea. But without that light they are worse than 

 puzzling. All the facts conspire toward the conclusion that 

 animate nature has come to be as it is by a continuous natural 

 process, comparable to that which we can study in the history 

 of domesticated animals and cultivated plants. But we do 

 not give a satisfying account of what has taken place until 

 we can state all the factors that have operated, and that is 

 the subject of the much-debated detailed theories of evolu- 

 tion, like Darwinism and Lamarckism. And even if we were 

 agreed about the factors we should still have to inquire into 

 the meaning or significance of the whole. But that is a 

 religious question. 



All Enriching Outlook 



Another great reason why we must be evolutionists will 

 come as a surprise to some people. The evolutionist outlook 

 is one that lightens the eyes and enriches us. We are 

 impoverishing ourselves if we shut out the light of evolution. 

 Let us consider three points only. 



1. The evolution-idea gives the world of animate nature 

 a new unity. All living creatures are part and parcel of a 



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