MONISTIC EVOLUTION I45 



that conception to which we apply instinctively the name of 

 God. 



Thus these evolutionists, like many others in 

 America and in England, find a modus vivendi be 

 tween evolution and theism. They have committed 

 themselves to an interpretation of Nature which may 

 prove fanciful and evanescent, and which certainly 

 up to this time remains an hypothesis, ingenious and 

 captivating, but not fortified by the evidence of facts. 

 But in doing so they are not prepared to accept the 

 purely mechanical creed of the monist or to separate 

 themselves from those ideas of morality, of religion, 

 and of sonship to God which have hitherto been the 

 brightest gems in the crown of man as the lord of 

 this lower world. Whether they can maintain this 

 position against the monists, and whether they will 

 be able in the end to retain any practical form of 

 religion along with the doctrine of the derivation of 

 man from the lower animals, remains to be seen 

 Possibly before these questions come to a final issue 

 the philosophy of evolution may itself have been 

 1 modified or have given place to some new phase of 

 thought. 



In some places there are in Haeckel s book 

 touches of a grim humour which are not without 

 interest, as showing the subjective side of the monis 

 tic theory, and illustrating the attitude of its professors 

 to things held sacred by other men. For example, 

 the following is the introduction to the chapter headed 



K 



