EXCURSIONS OF AN EVOLUTIONIST 



star courses in its mighty orbit, and not a spar- 

 row falls to the ground. Matthew Arnold once 

 summed up these two propositions very well, 

 when he defined God as " an eternal Power, not 

 ourselves, that makes for righteousness." This 

 twofold assertion, that there is an eternal Power 

 that is not ourselves, and that this Power makes 

 for righteousness, is to be found, either in a 

 rudimentary or in a highly developed state, in 

 all known religions. In such religions as those 

 of the Eskimos or of your friends, the Amazu- 

 lus, Mr. President, this assertion is found in a 

 rudimentary shape on each of its two sides, 

 the speculative side and the ethical side ; in such 

 religions as Buddhism or Judaism, it is found 

 in a highly developed shape on both its sides. 

 But the main point is that in all religions you 

 find it in some shape or other. 



I said, a moment ago, that modern civilized 

 men will all acknowledge that this two-sided 

 assertion in which all religions agree is of far 

 greater importance than any of the superficial 

 points in which religions differ. It is really of 

 much more concern to us that there is an eter- 

 nal Power, not ourselves, that makes for right- 

 eousness, than that such a Power is onefold or 

 threefold in its metaphysical nature, or that we 

 ought not to play cards on Sunday or to eat 

 meat on Friday. No one, I believe, will deny 

 so simple and clear a statement as this. But it 

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