282 From Matter to Man. 



" The creation and perfecting of man is the goal 

 towards which nature's work has all along from the 

 beginning been tending, the chief object of that 

 creative activity which the physical universe every- 

 where reveals." 



That this is not a joke, or an exceptionally puerile 

 idea by some fatuous dreamer, is evidenced by a 

 Gifford Lecturer* in Glasgow using last year (1897) 

 words almost identical as follows: — "Man is not 

 merely one of the infinite number of effects produced 

 by Divine causality, but he is the effect which explains 

 all the rest ; the end in view of the Creator in all his 

 creative work." That such bathos should be addressed 

 seriously to an intelligent audience in this enlightened 

 age speaks volumes for the ignorance of a Glasgow 

 audience. To the lecturer and his listeners, the world 

 is still the centre of the universe, and the sun, moon, 

 and stars still make obeisance to this Benjamin of a 

 planet. 



It was natural enough at the cradle of the race 

 that man in his vanity and ignorance should imagine 

 the universe to be a theatre solely for the evolutions 

 of our planet, and the earth a stage solely for the 

 comedy and tragedy of human' life. But the advance 

 of science disposed of these flattering notions by reveal- 

 ing that amidst the myriad stars of space there were 

 few planets more insignificant than ours ; while our 



* These valuable Lectureships are rapidly degenerating into a travesty 

 on their founder's intentions, for they are already virtual sinecures for 

 superannuated parsons and senile metaphysical professors. 



