60 KELIGION. [Oh. IIL 



drinking, and in the propagation of the species, &c. ; or by 

 both means combined, as in the search for food. But pain or 

 suffering of any kind, if long continued, causes depression and 

 lessens the power of action, yet is well adapted to make a 

 creature guard itself against any great or sudden evil. Plea- 

 surable sensations, on the other hand, may be long continued 

 without any depressing effect ; on the contrary, they stimulate 

 the whole system to increased action. { Hence it has come to 

 pass that most or all sentient beings have been developed in 

 such a manner, through natural selection, that pleasurable 

 sensations serve as their habitual guides^. We see this in the 

 pleasure from exertion, even occasionally from great exertion 

 of the body or mind, — in the pleasure of our daily meals, and 

 especially in the pleasure derived from sociability, and from $ 

 loving our families. The sum of such pleasures as these, 

 which are habitual or frequently recurrent, give, as I can 

 hardly doubt, to most sentient beings an excess of happiness 

 over misery, although many occasionally suffer much. Such 

 suffering is quite compatible with the belief in Natural Selec- 

 tion, which is not perfect in its action, but tends only to render 

 each species as successful as possible in the battle for life 

 with other species, in wonderfully complex and changing 

 circumstances. 



" That there is much suffering in the world no one disputes. 

 Some have attempted to explain this with reference to man by 

 imagining that it serves for his moral improvement. But the 

 number of men in the world is as nothing compared with that 

 of all other sentient beings, and they often suffer greatly with- 

 out any moral improvement. This very old argument from 

 the existence of suffering against the existence of an intelligent 

 First Cause seems to me a strong one; whereas, as just re- 

 marked, the presence of much suffering agrees well with the 

 view that all organic beings have been developed through 

 variation and natural selection. 



", "At the present day the most usual argument for the existence 

 of an intelligent God is drawn from the deep inward conviction 

 and feelings, which are* experienced by most persons. 



" Formerly I was led by feelings such as those just referred 

 to (although I do not think that the religious sentiment was 

 ever strongly developed in me), to the firm conviction of the 

 existence of God and of the immortality of the soul. In my 

 Journal I wrote that whilst standing in the midst of the 

 grandeur of a Brazilian forest, 'it is not possible to give an 

 adequate idea of the higher feelings of wonder, admiration, and 

 devotion which fill and elevate the mind.' I well remember 



