246 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



action, by which inorganic substances have been combined, creating 

 above all the law of life, the mysterious law which j^lainly contains 

 such wonderful possibilities within itself, and thus providing for the 

 ultimate development of all the many wonders of nature. 



What conception of foresight and purpose can rise above that 

 which imagines all history gathered as it were into one original crea- 

 tive act from which the infinite variety of the universe has come and 

 more is coming even yet ? 



And yet again, it is a common objection to Paley's and similar 

 arguments that, in spite of all the tokens of intelligence and benefi- 

 cence in the creation, there is so much of the contrary character. How 

 much there is of apparently needless pain and waste ! And John Stu- 

 art Mill has urged that either we must suppose the Creator wanting in 

 omnipotence or wanting in kindness to have left his creation so im- 

 perfect. The answer usually given is that our knowledge is partial, 

 and, could we see the whole, the objection would probably disappear. 

 But what force and clearness are given to this answer by the doctrine 

 of evolution, which tells us that we are looking at a work which is not 

 yet finished, and that the imperfections are a necessary part of a large 

 design the general outlines of which we may already trace, but the 

 ultimate issue of which, with all its details, is still beyond our percep- 

 tion ! The imperfections are like the imperfections of a half-com- 

 pleted picture not yet ready to be seen ; they are like the bud which 

 will presently be a beautiful flower, or the larva of a beautiful and 

 gorgeous insect ; they are like the imperfections in the moral charac- 

 ter of a saint who nevertheless is changing from glory to glory. 



To the many partial designs which Paley's " Natural Theology " 

 points out, and which still remain what they were, the doctrine of 

 evolution adds the design of a perpetual progress. Things are so 

 arranged that animals are perpetually better adapted to the life they 

 have to live. The very phrase which we commonly use to sum up 

 Darwin's teaching, the survival of the fittest, implies a perpetual 

 diminution of pain and increase of enjoyment for all creatures that 

 can feel. If they are fitter for their surroundings, most certainly they 

 will find life easier to live. And, as if to mark still more plainly the 

 beneficence of the whole work, the less developed creatures, as we 

 have every reason to believe, are less sensible of pain and pleasure ; 

 so that enjoyment appears to grow with the capacity for enjoyment, 

 and suffering diminishes as sensitivity to suffering increases. And 

 there can be no doubt that this is in many ways the tendency of 

 nature. Beasts of prey are diminishing ; life is easier for man and 

 easier for all animals that are under his care : many species of ani- 

 mals perish as man fills and subjugates the globe, but those that re- 

 main have far greater happiness in their lives. In fact, all the pur- 

 poses which Paley traces in the formation of living creatures are not 

 only fulfilled by what the Creator has done, but are better fulfilled 



