138 EVOLUTION AND NATURAL THEOLOGY. 



inexplicable in the theory of Direct Creation, 

 but leads us at once to ask why, if everything 

 has been created independently, God should 

 have cast all objects into so very few moulds ? 

 Especially should we ask this if we believe the 

 assertion so often made, and so ill-grounded, 

 that God created the Universe mainly for His 

 own glory, a selfish and paltry motive that we 

 are certainly not warranted in attributing to the 

 Almighty. Had the world been created merely 

 for display, we should have no reason to expect 

 any unnecessary unity of plan in nature, but 

 rather that while every organism was fully 

 adapted for its own surroundings, it would be 

 altogether independent in design of every other, 

 existing or fossil. If the doctrine of Special 

 Creation be true, the Argument from Design, 

 the keystone of Natural Theology, and there- 

 fore the groundwork of all religion, becomes 

 wholly indefensible. 



We know that many species have become 

 extinct, but so complicated are the interactions 

 of one species on another, that the extinction of 

 even one form would necessitate the immediate 

 creation of another to fill its place, provided 

 that species were immutable, and originated 



