WHAT IS EVOLUTION? 49 



selves to the Christian under two aspects thetheistic 

 and the atheistic or agnostic, for the two last are 

 practically the same. The theistic evolutionist holds 

 that God creates, but that created things may have 

 powers of spontaneous evolution, under laws whereby 

 they may pass into new and higher forms. The 

 atheist and the agnostic eliminate the idea of a 

 Creator, and reduce everything to the action of atoms 

 and forces supposed to be practically and inherently 

 omnipotent. They thus make of these atoms and 

 forces a supreme god, attributing to them the same 

 powers assigned by the theist to the Creator. It is 

 obvious, however, that many adherents of evolution 

 have no clear perception of the distinction between 

 these phases, or find it convenient to overlook its 

 existence, since we often find them hovering in 

 thought between the one and the other, or occupying 

 one or the other position indifferently, as the exigen- 

 cies of debate may require. 



It is also to be observed that either of these phases 

 of evolution may admit of modifications. One of the 

 most important of these arises from the distinction 

 between the idea of slow and uniform development 

 maintained by Darwin and others, and that of sudden 

 or intermittent evolution advocated by such evolu 

 tionists as Mivart and Le Conte. 



Viewing the matter in this light, it is evident that 

 neither the theological idea of creation nor the evo 

 lutionist notion, in either of its phases, can have any 



D 



