v Election^ a Fact of Nature. 73 



the world is ordered on a basis of inequality ; in the 

 organic world, as Darwin has shown, it is of inequality 

 of favoured races that all progress comes ; and 

 we have seen that history shows the same to be 

 true of the human and spiritual world. All human 

 progress is due to elect human individuals ; elect not 

 only to be a blessing to themselves, but still more to 

 be a blessing to multitudes of others. Any superi- 

 ority, whether in the natural or in the mental and 

 spiritual world, becomes a vantage-ground for gaining 

 a greater superiority. Of the origin of these superi- 

 orities we know but little ; in the language of science 

 they are ascribed to accidental spontaneous variation 

 a phrase which candidly confesses our ignorance but 

 in the language of faith they are ascribed to the 

 guidance of Divine Providence. It is the method of 

 the Divine government, acting in the provinces both 

 of Nature and of Grace, that all benefit should come 

 to the many through the elect few. 



" So here," some reader will perhaps exclaim, " we 

 have the discarded doctrine of election brought back 

 in a scientific disguise ! " 



No, not the theological dogma of election. The 

 so-called doctrine is a fact of nature not a revealed 

 truth, but an observed fact and true of the natural 

 world, irrespectively of the spiritual world. But all 

 who, even in the vaguest way, accept the prophetic 

 character of the history which began with Abraham 

 and led up to Christ, must perceive that the Divine 

 method of progress in that history was to influence 



