330 THE NATURAL THEOLOGY OF THE FUTURE, [xm. 



All, it seems to me, that the new doctrines of Evolu- 

 tion demand is this. We ail agree, for the fact is 

 patent, that our own bodies, and indeed the body of 

 every living creature, are evolved from a seemingly 

 simple germ by natural laws, without visible action of 

 any designing will or mind, into the full organisation 

 of a human or other creature. Yet we do not say, on 

 that account : God did not create me ; I only grew. 

 We hold in this case to our old idea, and say : If there 

 be evolution, there must be an evolver. Now the new 

 physical theories only ask us, it seems to me, to extend 

 this conception to the whole universe : to believe that 

 not individuals merely, but whole varieties and races, 

 the total organised life on this planet, and it may be 

 the total organisation of the universe, have been 

 evolved just as our bodies are, by natural laws acting 

 through circumstance. This may be true, or may be 

 false. But all its truth can do to the natural theolo- 

 gian will be to make him believe that the Creator 

 bears the same relation to the whole universe as that 

 Creator undeniably bears to every individual human 

 body. 



I entreat you to weigh these words, which have 

 not been written in haste ; and I entreat you also, if 

 you wish to see how little the new theory, that species 

 may have been gradually created by variation, natural 

 selection, and so forth, interferes with the old theory 

 of design, contrivance, and adaptation, nay, with the 

 fullest admission of benevolent final causes I entreat 

 you, I say, to study Darwin's " Fertilisation of 

 Orchids " a book which (whether his main theory be 

 true or not) will still remain a most valuable addition 

 to natural theology. 



