272 PRESENT-DAY RATIONALISM 



If omnipotence be regarded as an attribute of God ; 

 then we can see it practically conferred on protoplasm. 



To judge by the past and present, it is not too much 

 to say, Given but a single speck of living protoplasm 

 together with its nucleus, nothing more is wanted, from 

 which the whole of the animal kingdom, including man, 

 and the vegetable also, past, present and future, has 

 been, is being and will be evolved. 



The " creative capacity " of protoplasm is practically 

 infinite. It has perpetually evolved structures with all 

 the appearances of design. Hence the belief in God as 

 the First Cause behind the veil of the Living World is 

 based on inductive evidence of a very high order indeed.^ 



With regard to Freedom and Immortality, these will 

 form the subject-matter of other chapters. 



The matters dealt with in this chapter are most ably 

 discussed by the late Auguste Sabatier in his Religions 

 of Authority and The Religion of the Spirit (Rook iii., 

 chap, iv.), Williams & Norgate. The reader might also 

 profitably consult Pfleiderer's Evolution and Theology 

 and other essays (A. & C. Black), especially No. ix., 

 "Is Morality without Religion Possible or Desirable?" 

 In this he points out both the untenability as well as 

 the impossibility of such ethics as Secularists and 

 Rationalists profess being accepted permanently by the 

 masses without any religious sanction. 



' I make no apology for repeating this and other arguments for em- 

 phasis sake; as a friend says " You would make Theism stand or fall by 

 Darwinism". It stands on a far wider basis than Adaptation ; but I am 

 not concerned at present with other lines of induction. 



