TWO PATHS, ONE GOAl,. 



89 



of man to set his will to the difficult task of contending with 

 the forces of liis nature, and on the weakness of his will in the 

 presence of those forces." 



The doctrine of evolution is discussed in two lectures marked 

 by a thorough knowledge of the leading points of evolutionary 

 teaching ; and he proceeds to point out tliat it is not incon- 

 sistent with the account given in Genesis of the formation of 

 the habitable world and its inhabitants, man included. He 

 recognises the very natural difficulty so many religious men 

 were feeling as to tlie acceptance of this doctrine, and shows 

 with much insight how the great argument from Design is not 

 weakened, indeed, that it is strengthened and widened by that 

 doctrine. He refers to the growing adherence to evolutionary 

 thought which was to be seen in 1884, and which is still more 

 marked in 190.3. He w^isely commences the discussion of 

 evolution by reminding us that its essential basis is that 

 endless change of events, and flux of all things around us, 

 the old iravra pel of Heraclitus. Evolution or transformation is 

 writ large on the broad face of Nature, and many go so far as 

 to say that it is bound up with every phenomenon, that it 

 extends from star to soul, and ranges through all between ; 

 indeed, that it is co-extensive wdth all existence. Temple, 

 however, accepts the general truth of the doctrine of evolution 

 and its congruity with the teacliing of Scripture ; reserving the 

 important provinces of the Divine and human will from its 

 unlawful approach. 



Supernatural Power. 



The supreme difficulty of the subject, the apparent collision 

 of Science with the claim to supernatural power is boldly faced, 

 and is dealt with very much as it has been by others in past 

 ages, and latterly especially by the late Duke of Argyll in 

 certain of liis works. The claim to work miracles, he main- 

 tains, is parallel to the freedom of the will of man. Different 

 aspects are borne by miracles at the time of their performance 

 from that wdiich they bear in the light of modern scientific 

 investigation. The suggestion is made that our Lord's miracles 

 of healing and His Eesurrection may have been parts of a great 

 hitherto unknown law by which God works, and which will 

 eventually be ascertained to be in accordance with scientific 

 reason. If Science were at some future time to be able to 

 show that, though the miraculous facts of the Bible historv 

 happened exactly as they were reported and yet were the 

 result of natural causes, this would not affect their character 



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