THE SPECIAL-CREATION-HYPOTHESIS. 345 



nature wliicli they profess to entertain. If infinite power 

 was to be demonstrated, then, either by the special creation 

 of eveiy individual, or by the production of species after a 

 method akin to that in which individuals are produced, it 

 would be better demonstrated than by the use of the two 

 methods which the hypothesis assumes to be necessary. And 

 if infinite goodness was to be demonstrated, then, not only 

 do the provisions of organic structure, if they are especially 

 devised, fail to demonstrate it ; but there is an enormous 

 mass of them which iniply malevolence rather than bene- 

 volence. 



Thus, however regarded, the hypothesis of special creations 

 turns out to be worthless — worthless by its derivation ; 

 worthless in its intrinsic incoherence ; worthless as absolutely 

 without evidence ; worthless as not supplying an intellectual 

 need ; worthless as not satisfying a moral want. We must 

 therefore consider it as counting for nothing, in opposition 

 to any other hypothesis respecting the origin of organic 

 beings. 



23 



