ORIGIN OF SPECIES. 43 



will and pleasure, and as His agents to be the 

 means of communicating life."* The same 

 language might be applied, without the altera- 

 tion of a word, to the origin of species, if it 

 were indeed true that new kinds as well as 

 new individuals were created by being born. 

 The truth is, that the argument which has so 

 often been employed to elevate our conception 

 of the wisdom hid in secondary causes, is an 

 argument which only gains increasing strength 

 and force in proportion to the number and 

 involution of these causes, and to the extent 

 and scope of their effects. If it does not 

 diminish, but only augments the wonder of 

 Organic Life, that it has been so contrived 

 as to be capable of propagating itself, neither 



* Charge, 1867. 



