342 INVOLUTION. 



aspiration of the natural order should we not find at 

 last a universal religion — a religion congruous with 

 the whole past of Man, at one with Nature, and with 

 a working creed which Science could accept ? 



The answer is a simple one : We have it already. 

 There exists a religion which has anticipated all these 

 requirements — a religion which has been before the 

 world these eighteen hundred years, whose congruity 

 with Nature and with Man stands the tests at every 

 point. Up to this time no word has been spoken to 

 reconcile Christianity with Evolution, or Evolution 

 with Christianity. And why? Because the two are 

 one. What is Evolution? A method of creation. 

 What is its object? To make more perfect living 

 beings. What is Christianity? A method of crea- 

 tion. What is its object? To make more perfect 

 living beings. Through what does Evolution work? 

 Through Love. Through what does Christianity 

 work? Through Love. Evolution and Christianity 

 have the same Author, the same end, the same spirit. 

 There is no rivalry between these processes. Chris- 

 tianity struck into the Evolutionary process with no 

 noise or shock; it upset nothing of all that had 

 been done ; it took all the natural foundations pre- 

 cisely as it found them ; it adopted Man's body, mind, 

 and soul at the exact level where Organic Evolution 

 was at work upon them ; it carried on the building by 

 slow and gradual modifications ; and, through pro- 

 cesses governed by rational laws, it put the finishing 

 touches to the Ascent of Man. 



No man can run up the natural lines of Evolution 

 withoul coming to Christianity at the top. One holds 

 no brief to buttress Christianity in this way. But 



