The Relation of Science and Religion.pdf - Online Christian Library

142 SCZBNCE AND RELIGION.tions of life." Such a metaphorical representationattributing to nature different processes,such as scrutinizing, rejecting, preserving, andworking, considerably aids us by pointing tothe intellectual conditions involved in the acceptanceof the theory of evolution. To thisit may suffice if there be added the closingpassage in our author's work on species, indicatinghis view of the relation of all to thesupernatural. It is in these words-" Thus,from the war of nature, from famine and death,the most exalted object which we are capableof conceiving,* namely, the production of thehigher animals, directly follows. There isgrandeur in this view of life, with its severalpowers, having been originally breathed bythe Creator into a few forms or into one; andthat whilst this planet has gone cycling onaccording to the fixed law of gravity, from sosimple a beginning endless forms most beautifuland most wonderful have been, and arebeing evolved." -f- On this passage, Schmidthas remarked-" In this concession, Darwinhas certainly been untrue to himself; and itsatisfies neither those who believe in the con-* Referring to organized being.- j Origin of Species, p. 577.