82 EVOLUTION AND DOGMA. 



word, all these facts, in their natural connection, pro- 

 claim aloud the one God, whom we may know, adore 

 and love ; and natural history must, in good time, 

 become the analysis of the thoughts of the Creator 

 of the universe, as manifested in the animal and 

 vegetable kingdoms, as well as in the inorganic 

 world." 1 



Evolution. 



As against the doctrine of separate and successive 

 creations, we have, as already stated, the theory of 

 the origin of species by derivation. But as in the 

 creational doctrine there are different views respect- 

 ing the manner in which species appeared, so, like- 

 wise are there, according to Evolution, different 

 hypotheses regarding the origin and development of 

 the divers forms of organized beings. 



In the first edition of his " Origin of Species " 

 Darwin expresses the belief that all " animals have 

 descended from at most only four or five progeni- 

 tors, and plants from an equal or lesser number." 

 In the second edition of his work he arrives at quite 

 a different conclusion and infers that " probably all 

 organic beings which have ever lived on the earth 

 have descended from some one primordial form, 

 into which life was first breathed by the Creator." 



The majority of evolutionists, who admit the 

 existence of a personal God, accept the Darwinian 

 view that all the forms of life at present existing in 

 the world are derived, by the agency of natural 

 forces and the influence of environment, from 



1 P. 205 ; cf., also, chaps, x and xvi, of Agassiz' " Methods 

 of Study in Natural History." 



