342 THE STORY OF THE EAETH AND MAN. 



may, nay, in all probability would be, part of a plan 

 of which some parts would approach very near to him 

 in structure or functions. After his creation, spon- 

 taneous culture and outward circumstances may have 

 moulded him into varieties, and given him many 

 different kinds of speech and of habits.. These 

 points are so obvious to common sense that it would 

 be quite unnecessary to insist on them, were they 

 not habitually overlooked or misstated by evolu- 

 tionists. 



The creation hypothesis is also free from some of 

 the difficulties of evolution. It avoids the absurdity 

 of an eternal progression from the less to the more 

 complex. It provides in will, the only source of 

 power actually known to us by ordinary experience, an 

 intelligible origin of nature. It does not require us to 

 contradict experience by supposing that there are no 

 differences of kind or essence in things. It does not 

 require us to assume, contrary to experience, an in- 

 variable tendency to differentiate and improve. It 

 does not exact the bridging over of all gaps which 

 may be found between the several grades of beings 

 which exist or have existed. 



Why, then, are so many men of science disposed to 

 ignore altogether this view of the matter ? Mainly, I 

 believe, because, from the training of many of them, 

 they are absolutely ignorant of the subject, and from 

 their habits of thought have come to regard physical 

 force and the laws regulating it as the one power in 

 nature, and to relegate all spiritual powers or forces, 



