temperament, however, which strives after a high 

 ideal, be this ever so imaginative, illusive, or im- 

 possible, it seems to me is just as much the out- 

 come and instrument of evolution as is the more 

 practical impulse of the struggle for food, pro- 

 tection, and the necessities of life generally, all 

 of which serve the great object of preserving and 

 improving the species. 



I am quite prepared to find that many take 

 what they may call a " higher " view ; but I must 

 confess that to me nothing seems more magnifi- 

 cent and sublime than the inexorable and, what 

 astronomers and geologists would term, " sec- 

 ular " processes which have been elaborating the 

 great scheme of constructive evolution from all 

 eternity, on to an infinite future into which our 

 limited and finite vision is powerless to penetrate, 

 even in speculation. 



Of one thing I feel sure and upon it I have no 

 misgivings. It is that nothing I may say can en- 

 danger the truth. The truth must always stand, 

 however it may be assailed. 



When the divinity student said that in free dis- 

 cussion there was danger to truth, the professor 



JI2 



