EVOLUTION AND THE HIGHER HUMAN LIFE 311 



practical one. It is that, however much we may concern 

 ourselves with ultimate matters, our immediate duties 

 are here and now, and we cannot escape them without 

 giving up our right to a place in nature. We are taught 

 by science that we live under the control of certain funda- 

 mental biological, social, and ethical laws ; we might well 

 wish that they were otherwise, but having recognized 

 them we have no recourse save to obey them. Evolu- 

 tion as a complete doctrine commands every one to live 

 a life of service as full as hereditary endowments and 

 surrounding circumstances will permit. Thus we are 

 taught that the immediate problems of life ought to con- 

 cern us more than questions as to the ultimate nature 

 of the universe and of existence. 



Every one can find something worth while in the les- 

 sons of evolution, summarized in the foregoing state- 

 ments. The atheist, who declines to personify the ulti- 

 mate powers of the universe, may, nevertheless, find 

 direction for his life in the principles brought to light by 

 science. The agnostic, who doubts the validity of many 

 conventional dicta that may not seem well grounded, 

 can also find something to believe and to obey. Finally, 

 the orthodox theist of whatever creed may discover co- 

 gent reasons for many of his beliefs like the Golden Rule 

 previously accepted through convention ; and he must 

 surely welcome the fuller knowledge of their sound basis 

 in the materials and results of comparative analytical 

 study. To every one, then, science and evolution offer 

 valuable principles of life, but great as their service has 

 been, their tasks are not yet completed, and cannot be 

 completed until the end of all knowledge and of time. 



