88 REPORT — 1866. 



tions. As each cliemical compound (say nitric oxide) remains in its given condi- 

 tion, -without chanp:e, till ciicnmstanccs have culminated to favour and induce a 

 chau'^e, which then takes place, not by slow gradation, but by sudden start, to 

 some other definite compound (say nitrous or nitric acid), so the several animal 

 forms may remain fixed till the conditions for a change, which conditions may be 

 external to themselves, are complete. Thus the change may take place, and not 

 bv slow gradations, but by sudden start, by something resembling a new creation, 

 and their definite and clearly distinct form, or species, is produced. Thus, as 

 complementary and similar to the laws of uniformity in design and variety in 

 detail, we may suppose to work on together the laws of gTadation and internip- 

 tion — by the one the living ladder is shaped and bound together as a whole ; by 

 the other the steps are preseived distinct, /. e. the individuality of the species is 

 given and retained. 



At any rate, whatever be the law and forces which effect and regulate the evo- 

 lution of species, they are probably of the same kind as those which are operating 

 in the inorganic world. The orderly and definite manner in which forms and fea- 

 tures and specific characters are given and preserved in the one instance may be 

 assumed to be of the same nature as in the other ; and we must probably refer the 

 fixed animal and vegetable types to influences identical with, or similar to, those by 

 which the forms are assigned to crystals and the stratification is given to rocks, 

 by which the geological epochs have been determined and the boundaries of our 

 jilanetary and solar systems have been set. One cannot but think that it may be 

 within the power of man to work out and to comprehend, in some degree at least, 

 the principles by which these breaks in the organic and inorganic works, constitut- 

 ing as they clearly do an important feature in the plan of creation, ate brought 

 about and regidated. 



The pendulum of opinion on this great question (the question of working by 

 general law, or working by special interferences) may be expected long to swing 

 to and fro ere it rests upon a settled conclusion. In the meantime it will help to 

 keep the wheels of science going and add fresh knowledge to our heap. 



And let us not shrink from the free, bold, fair discussion of these and other kin- 

 dred subjects under an apprehension that the}" are calculated to lower the religious 

 elements and shake the faith. Such discussions, and the thoughts which gi-\e 

 rise to them, are a necessity, an inevitable result of advancing science, which it is 

 as impossible to stop as the progTess of time itself; and that which is inevitable 

 must be accepted. 'Twould show a want of faith to resist it. Knowledge may be 

 man's trial ; but that applies to knowledge of all kinds, of that which is esteemed 

 good as well as of that which is esteemed evil. Certainlj- the fruit of its tree 

 brings responsibility ; but responsibility is man's highest dignity, and opens one of 

 the avenues to the tree of life. Theological zeal and scientific zeal are both good, 

 and representatives of good elements in man's nature — the element of faith and the 

 element of thoiight. Both should cooperate in tlie work of purifying and eleva- 

 ting the character ; indeed the one cannot advance safely without the other. Still 

 they will now and then come into collision and threaten to rmdermine one 

 another, needing forbearance and discretion to restore their harmony. One cause 

 of the occasional outbursts of the odium tJieolor/icuni is, I think, due to a fault 

 on the side of the theologians. Not satisfied with, or distrusting the really unas- 

 sailable position on which their future stands, with its foundations deep laid in 

 man's consciousness and God's work, they have endeavoured to raise outworks 

 on the shifting ground of natural science, by drawing arguments from analogy, 

 by associating special views of creation and resm-rection with true religious belief, 

 and by insisting on certain literal interpretations of the physical medium through 

 which spiritual truth has been conveyed to us. Hence each unfolding of the 

 material laws is liable to be regarded with suspicion, lest it should sap the foun- 

 dations that have been thus unwisely propped. Religious arguments drawn from 

 the physical world are very liable to prove two-edged swords cutting both ways 

 according to the manner in which they are wielded, or staffs that penetrate the 

 hands of those that lean upon them. Theology may rest safe upon her own posi-. 

 tion. and watch with confidence and satisfaction the advancing waves of science, 



