Evolution 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



226 



more recalled, with numbering man among 

 the beasts, and leveling his body with the 

 duafe. But he who reads for himself the his- 

 tory of creation as it is written by the hand 

 of evolution will be overwhelmed by the 

 glory and honor heaped upon this creature. 

 To be a man, and to have no conceivable suc- 

 cessor; to be the fruit and crown of the 

 long past eternity, and the highest possible 

 fruit and crown ; to be the last victor among 

 the decimated phalanxes of earlier exist- 

 ences, and to be nevermore defeated; to be 

 the best that Nature in her strength and 

 opulence can produce; to be the first of that 

 new order of beings who, by their dominion 

 over the lower world and their equipment 

 for a higher, reveal that they are made in 

 the image of God to be this is to 'be ele- 

 vated to a rank in Nature more exalted than 

 any philosophy or any poetry or any theol- 

 ogy has ever given to man. DRUMMOND As- 

 cent of Man, ch. 3, p. 115. ( J. P., 1900.) 



1099. EVOLUTION INTERPRETED 

 AS BLANK MATERIALISM Modern scien- 

 tific thought is called upon to decide be- 

 tween this hypothesis [of evolution] and an- 

 other; and public thought generally will 

 afterwards be called upon to do the same. 

 But, however the convictions of individuals 

 here and there may be influenced, the proc- 

 ess must be slow and secular which com- 

 mends the hypothesis of natural evolution 

 to the public mind. For what are the core 

 and essence of this hypothesis? Strip it 

 naked, and you stand face to face with the 

 notion that not alone the more ignoble forms 

 of animalcular or animal life, not alone the 

 nobler forms of the horse and lion, not alone 

 the exquisite and wonderful mechanism of 

 the human body, but that the human mind 

 itself emotion, intellect, will, and all their 

 phenomena were once latent in a fiery 

 cloud. Surely the mere statement of such a 

 notion is more than a refutation. But the 

 hypothesis would probably go even farther 

 than this. Many who hold it would prob- 

 ably assent to the position that, at the pres- 

 ent moment, all our philosophy, all our po- 

 etry, all our science, and all our art Plato, 

 Shakespeare, Newton, and Raphael are po- 

 tential in the fires of the sun. We long to 

 learn something of our origin. If the evolu- 

 tion hypothesis be correct, even this unsat- 

 isfied yearning must have come to us across 

 the ages which separate the primeval mist 

 from the consciousness of to-day. I do not 

 think that any holder of the evolution hy- 

 pothesis would say that I overrate or over- 

 strain it in any way. I merely strip it of 

 all vagueness, and bring before you, un- 

 clothed and unvarnished, the notions by 

 which it must stand or fall. TYNDALL 

 Fragments of Science, vol. ii, ch. 8, p. 130. 

 (A., 1897.) 



1100. EVOLUTION INVOLVES 

 MORE THAN NATURAL SELECTION 



Morality Rooted in the Foundations of the 

 Universe. In such a universe [controlled 



solely by the struggle for life and survival 

 of the fittest] we may look in vain for any 

 sanction for morality, any justification for 

 love and self-sacrifice; we find no hope in 

 it, no consolation; there is not even dignity 

 in it, nothing whatever but resistless all- 

 producing and all-consuming energy. Such 

 a universe, however, is not the one in which 

 we live. In the cosmic process of evolution, 

 whereof our individual lives are part and 

 parcel, there are other agencies at work be- 

 sides natural selection, and the story of the 

 struggle for existence is far from being the 

 whole story. I think it can be shown that 

 the principles of morality have their roots 

 in the deepest foundations of the universe, 

 that the cosmic process is ethical in the pro- 

 foundest sense, that in that far-off morning 

 of the world when the stars sang together 

 and the sons of God shouted for joy, the 

 beauty of self-sacrifice and disinterested love 

 formed the chief burden of the mighty 

 theme. FISKE Through Nature to God, pt. 

 ii, ch. 4, p. 78. (H. M. & Co., 1900.) 



1101. EVOLUTION, MAN KNOWS 

 THAT IT IS A PROCESS Intelligently Co- 

 operates with It. Man differs from every 

 other product of the evolutionary process in 

 being able to see that it is a process, in 

 sharing and rejoicing in its unity, and in 

 voluntarily working through the process 

 himself. If he is part of it he is also more 

 than part of it, since he is at once its spec- 

 tator, its director, and its critic. DRUM- 

 MOND Ascent of Man, p. 12. (J. P., 1900.) 



1 1 02 . EVOLUTION, MATERIALISTIC 



A Pillar without a Capital A Process 

 without a Purpose Christianity Supplies 

 the Goal. Hitherto evolution had no fu- 

 ture. It was a pillar with marvelous carv- 

 ing, growing richer and finer towards the 

 top, but without a capital; a pyramid, the 

 vast base buried in the inorganic, towering 

 higher and higher, tier above tier, life above 

 life, mind above mind, ever more perfect in 

 its workmanship, more noble in its sym- 

 metry, and yet withal so much the more 

 mysterious in its aspiration. The most cu- 

 rious eye, following it upwards, saw noth- 

 ing. The cloud fell and covered it. Just 

 what men wanted to see was hid. The work 

 of the ages had no apex. But the work be- 

 gun by Nature is finished by the Supernat- 

 ural as we are wont to call the higher 

 natural. And as the veil is lifted by Chris- 

 tianity it strikes men dumb with wonder. 

 For the goal of evolution is Jesus Christ. 

 DRUMMOND Natural Law in the Spiritual 

 World, essay 8, p. 280. (H. Al.) 



1 1 03. EVpLUTION NOT ACCOUNT- 

 ED FOR To give an account of evolution, 

 it need scarcely be remarked, is not to ac- 

 count for it. No living thinker has yet 

 found it possible to account for evolution. 

 DRUMMOND Ascent of Man, int., p. 4. ( J. P., 

 1900.) 



