340 ORGANIC EVOLUTION CONSIDERED 



of' larger opportunities is a divine assurance of a 

 future life. Change is not annihilation, but the 

 unfolding of the universal plan* 



In the chapter on Design in Nature I have called 

 attention to the comparatively uniform temperature 

 of the earth during the whole geological period, cov- 

 ering possibly fifty millions of years, without which 

 life could not have existed. A change of only a few 

 degrees in the climate of the earth would destroy all 

 living things. 



We have seen that the movements of the earth and 

 the inclination of its axis to the ecliptic are favorable 

 to the existence of living organisms. 



As indicating design, I have dwelt with emphasis 

 on the fact that the simple substances which consti- 

 tute the earth are of such kinds and are found in 

 such relative quantities as not only to render life pos- 

 sible, but also to contribute to the well-being of man 

 as an intelligent and moral agent. I look upon the 

 concurrence of all these things, according to any 

 theory of chance, as being entirely impossible. The 

 conditions that must be fulfilled before living beings 

 are possible are so complex that nothing short of the 

 wisdom of a Supreme Intelligence could have pro- 

 duced them. 



1 have claimed that the existence of man with his 

 wonderful physical structure and his marvelous 

 powers of mind, whether he was created suddenly or 

 by the slow process of evolution, is unmistakable evi- 

 dence of the existence of God. The question as to 

 the length of time involved in his creation does not 

 .affect the question of design in his creation. 



The adaptation of man physically and mentally to 

 na t ur e — of man as a being of unfolding desires and 

 growing intelligence— has been dwelt upon. 



