288 Proofs of Evolution. 



of man's evolutionary origin is seriously mentioned. Com- 

 paratively few as yet accept all that is implied in the doc- 

 trine of Evolution. Nevertheless, it is bound up in one 

 way or other with nearly every branch of human knowledge. 

 The word is in every mouth. The fact connects itself 

 with every known phenomenon. The greatest foe to the 

 development theory has naturally been the church ; because 

 if Evolution is true, theology must be reconstructed in accord- 

 ance with the principle of the supremacy of law and the 

 impossibility of its violation by the intrusion of miracle. 

 Not until there are more Scientific and Ethical Associa- 

 tions, and not until schools and colleges teach the doctrine 

 of Evolution, will it become imbedded in the thought and 

 life of the masses. 



It may be, and often has been, asked, " Of what use is 

 all this knowledge ? What is the practical benefit of be- 

 lieving that man began life as a Moneron, and by strict at- 

 tention to business has worked himself up to his present 

 high estate — ' the paragon of animals ' ? " In the first place, 

 all this is worth knowing for truth's own sake, since every 

 truth contains the germ of good, and wherever it leads, all 

 may safely follow. But the practical benefit which the 

 knowledge of Evolution conveys, influences man in all rela- 

 tions of life, as an individual and as a member of society. 

 First of all, it teaches him the great lesson of reliance 

 upon law — that all things are the result of growth and de- 

 velopment ; that the present is the child of the past, the 

 simple the germ of the complex. It teaches the impossi- 

 bility of the fortuitous and the miraculous, — that if we ex- 

 pect effects, we must set in motion adequate causes ; that to 

 live wisely and well, we must adjust ourselves to the 

 natural and rational. 



While it does not take away one rational hope, Evolution 

 sweeps into oblivion all the childish fables of the past ; it 

 points to a new heaven and a new earth ; it bids us awake 

 from our pretty dream of the supernatural, and work in, 

 with and through Nature, if we would make the wilderness 

 of woe and wrong to blossom as the rose. It has unified 

 all science and given learning a new force and meaning. 

 It has added vastly to the sum of knowledge, and to the 

 aggregate of human happiness. 



In all its branches and bearings, it directly tends to enlarge 

 and intensify human love and sympathy, and so stimulates 



