XII.] THEOLOGY AND EVOLUTION. 293 



thy of mention) between " evolution " and the cooperation 

 of the Divine will; while the same " evolution" has been 

 shown to be thoroughly acceptable to the most orthodox 

 theologians who repudiate the intrusion of the supernatural 

 into the domain of Nature. A more complete harmony 

 could scarcely be desired. J 



But, if we may never hope to find, in physical Nature, 

 evidence of supernatural action, what sort of action might 

 we expect to find there, looking at it from a theistic point 

 of view ? Surely an action the results of which harmonize 

 with man's reason, 49 which is orderly, which disaccords with 

 the action of blind chance and with the " fortuitious con- 

 course of atoms " of Democritus ; but at the same time an 

 action which, as to its modes, ever, in parts, and in ultimate 

 analysis, eludes our grasp, and the modes of which are dif- 

 ferent from those by which we should have attempted to 

 accomplish such ends. 



Now, this is just what we do find. The harmony, the 

 beauty, and the order of the physical universe are the themes 

 of continual panegyrics on the part of naturalists, and Mr. 

 Darwin, as the Duke of Argyll remarks, 5 ' " exhausts every 

 form of words and of illustration by which intention or men- 

 tal purpose can be described," 51 when speaking of the won- 

 derfully complex adjustments to secure the fertilization of 

 orchids. Also, we find coexisting with this harmony a 

 mode of proceeding so different from that of man as (the 

 direct supernatural action eluding us) to form a stumbling- 



49 " All science is but the partial reflection, in the reason of man, of 

 the great all-pervading reason of the universe. And the unity of science 

 is the reflection of the unity of Nature and of the unity of that supreme 

 reason and intelligence which pervades and rules over Nature, and from 

 whence all reason and all science is derived." (Rev. Baden Powell, 

 " Unity of the Sciences," Essay i., ii., p. 81.) 



60 " The Reign of Law," p. 40. 



51 Though Mr. Darwin's epithets denoting design are metaphorical, 

 his admiration of the result is unequivocal, nay, enthusiastic ! 



