THE PUKP08E OF DIVEKSITY 423 



out studying or com2:)relieu(]iiig the steps hy which it may be 

 approached. 



I venture to hope that in the present volume, and especially 

 in the last six chapters, I have satisfied most of my rc^aders 

 that the vast life-world, with its myriad forms, each one 

 originating in a single cell, yet growing, by cell-division, into 

 such marvels of variety, of use, and of beauty, does absolutely 

 require some non-mechanical mind and power as its efficient 

 cause. To such onlv mv further ar":ument will be directed. 



My first point is, that the organising mind which actually 

 carries out the development of the life-world need not bo in- 

 finite in any of its attributes — need not be what is usually 

 meant by the terms God or Deity. The main cause of the 

 antagonism between religion and science seems to me to be 

 the assumption by both that there are no existences capable 

 of taking part in the work of creation other than blind forces 

 on the one hand, and the infinite, eternal, omnipotent God on 

 the other. The apparently gratuitous creation by theologians 

 of a hierarchy of angels and archangels, with no defined duties 

 but that of attendants and messengers of the Deity, perhaps 

 increases this antagonism, but it seems to me that both ideas 

 are irrational. If, as I contend, we are forced to the assump- 

 tion of an infinite God by the fact that our earth has developed 

 life, and mind, and ourselves, it seems only logical to assume 

 that the vast, the infinite chasm between ourselves and the 

 Deity is to some extent occupied by an almost inlinite scries 

 of grades of beings, each successive* grade having higher and 

 higher powers in regard to the origination, the development, 

 and the control of the universe. 



If, as I here suggest, the whole* purport of the material 

 imiverse (our universe) is the development of spiritual beings 

 who, in the infinite variety of their natures — what we term 

 their characters, — shall to some extent reflect that infinite 

 variety of the whole inoriranic and orijanie worlds through 

 which they have been developed; and if we further suppose 



