460 The Doctrine of Evolution. 



upon our brief terrestrial experience, can demonstrate, there 

 lies on every side a region with regard to which Science can 

 only suggest questions. As Goethe so profoundly says : 



" Willst du ins Unendliche streiten, 

 Geh' nur im Endlichen nach alien Seiten." * 



It is of surpassing interest that the particular generalization 

 which has been extended into a universal formula of evolu- 

 tion should have been the generalization of the development 

 of an ovum. In enlarging the sphere of life in such wise as 

 to make the whole universe seem actuated by a single prin- 

 ciple of life, we are introduced to regions of sublime specu- 

 lation. The doctrine of evolution, which affects our thought 

 about all things, brings before us with vividness the concep- 

 tion of an ever-present God not an absentee God who once 

 manufactured a cosmic machine capable of running itself 

 except for a little jog or poke here and there in the shape of 

 a special providence. The doctrine of evolution destroys the 

 conception of the world as a machine. It makes God our 

 constant refuge and support, and Nature his true revelation ; 

 and when all its religious implications shall have been set 

 forth, it will be seen to be the most potent ally that Chris- 

 tianity has ever had in elevating mankind. 



* [" If thou wouldst press into the infinite, go but to aU parts of the finite."] 



