442 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 
not the Evolution hypothesis. Steady yourselves, in its 
presence, upon that faith in the ultimate triumph of truth 
which was expressed by old Gamaliel when he said: "If it 
be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; if it be of man, it will 
come to naught." Under the fierce light of scientific 
inquiry, it is sure to be dissipated if it possess not a core of 
truth. Trust me, its existence as a hypothesis is quite 
compatible with the simultaneous existence of all those 
virtues to which the term "Christian" has been applied. 
It does not solve it does not profess to solve the ultimate 
mystery of this universe. Tt leaves, in fact, that mystery 
untouched. For, granting the nebula and its potential 
life, the question, whence they came, would still remain 
to baffle and bewilder us. At bottom, the hypothesis does 
nothing more than " transport the conception of life's 
origin to an indefinitely distant past." 
Those who hold the doctrine of Evolution are by no 
means ignorant of the uncertainty of their data, and they 
only yield to it a provisional assent. They regard the 
nebular hypothesis as probable, and, in the utter absence of 
any evidence to prove the act illegal, they extend the 
method of nature from the present into the past. Plere 
the observed uniformity of nature is their only guide. 
Within the long range of physical inquiry, they have never 
discerned in nature the insertion of caprice. Throughout 
this range, the laws of physical and intellectual continuity 
have run side by side. Having thus determined the 
elements of their curve in a world of observation and 
experiment, they prolong that curve into an antecedent 
world, and accept as probable the unbroken sequence of 
development from the nebula to the present time. You 
never hear the really philosophical defenders of the doctrine 
of Uniformity speaking of impossibilities in nature. They 
never say, what they are constantly charged with saying, 
that it is impossible for the Builder of the universe to alter 
His work. Their business is not with the possible, but 
the actual not with a world which might be, but with a 
world that is. This they explore with a courage not 
unmixed with reverence, and according to methods which, 
like the quality of a tree, are tested bv their fruits. Thev 
have but one desire to know the truth. They have but 
one fear to believe a lie. And if they know the strength 
of science^ and rely upon it with unswerving trust, they 
