THE LESSON OF EVOLUTION 21 



useless to any being who did not possess a moral 

 sense ; for its only use is to cultivate morality. The 

 exercise of this free-will by ignorant man leads to 

 much injustice on the earth ; but that is part of his 

 education ; and no doubt the end will be found to 

 justify the means. 



Now, we cannot think that the evolutionary process, 

 of which I have given you a mere sketch, is confined 

 to the earth alone. We must suppose that whatever 

 may be the object for which the solar system was 

 called into existence, it is for the same purpose that 

 the various stellar systems exist. And in all proba- 

 bility, long after the sun is cold and dark, other stellar 

 systems, each in its turn, will take up the development 

 of life and mind. But they also in time will become 

 cold and lifeless, until at last the process, so far as it 

 is connected with the Material Universe, will be over. 

 But is it not possible that evolution may still go on 

 after life has perished ? This is a point to which I 

 will return presently. 



DESIGN IN NATURE 



Evolution is evidently due to the action of mind. 

 There are some who still maintain an opposite view, 

 but I think that their numbers are fast diminishing. 

 It seems to me that no one who has a competent 

 knowledge of biology and palaeontology can possibly 

 accept the doctrine that living organisms are the out- 

 come of chance. Darwin distinctly repudiated the 

 idea and thought that variation in animals and plants 

 could not be explained by a mechanical theory of the 



