16 RELIGION AND SCIENCE. 



with all other human faculties, from an act of special crea- 

 tion; the other that it, in common, with the rest, arose by a 

 process of evolution. If we adopt the first of these alterna- 

 tives, universally accepted by our ancestors and by the im- 

 mense majority of our contemporaries, the matter is at once 

 settled: man is directly endowed with the religious feeling 

 by a creator; and to that creator it designedly responds. 

 If we adopt the second alternative, then we are met by the 

 questions — What are the circumstances to which the genesis 

 of the religious feeling is due ? and — What is its office ? We 

 are bound to entertain these questions; and we are bound 

 to find answers to them. Considering all faculties, as we 

 must on this supposition, to result from accumulated modifi- 

 cations caused by the intercourse of the organism with its 

 environment, we are obliged to admit that there exist in the 

 environment certain phenomena or conditions which have 

 determined the growth of the feeling in question; and so 

 are obliged to admit that it is as normal as any other faculty. 

 Add to which that as, on the hypothesis of a development of 

 lower forms into higher, the end toward which the pro- 

 gressive changes directly or indirectly tend, must be adapta- 

 tion to the requirements of existence ; we are also forced to 

 infer that this feeling is in some way conducive to human 

 welfare. Thus both alternatives contain the same ultimate 

 implication. We must conclude that the religious sentiment 

 is either directly created, or is cieated by the slow action of 

 natural causes; and whichever of these conclusions we 

 adopt, requires us to treat the religious sentiment with re- 

 spect. 



One other consideration should not be overlooked — a 

 consideration which students of Science more especially 

 need to have pointed out. Occupied as such are with estab- 

 lished truths, and accustomed to regard things not already 

 known as things to be hereafter discovered, they are liable 

 to forget that information, however extensive it may be- 

 come, can never satisfy inquiry. Positive knowledge does 



