_The Power that makes for Righteousness._
Although it was the Darwinian theory of natural selection which
overthrew the argument from design, yet--as I have argued in another
place--when thoroughly understood it will be found to replace as much
teleology as it destroys.[24] Indeed, the doctrine of evolution, in
all its chapters, has a certain teleological aspect, although it does
not employ those methods which in the hands of the champions of final
causes have been found so misleading. The doctrine of evolution does
not regard any given arrangement of things as scientifically explained
when it is shown to subserve some good purpose, but it seeks its
explanation in such antecedent conditions as may have been competent to
bring about the arrangement in question. Nevertheless, the doctrine
of evolution is not only perpetually showing us the purposes which
the arrangements of Nature subserve, but throughout one large section
of the ground which it covers it points to a discernible dramatic
tendency, a clearly-marked progress of events toward a mighty goal.
Now it especially concerns us to note that this large section is just
the one, and the only one, which our powers of imagination are able
to compass. The astronomic story of the universe is altogether too
vast for us to comprehend in such wise as to tell whether it shows any
dramatic tendency or not.[25] But in the story of the evolution of life
upon the surface of our earth, where alone we are able to compass the
phenomena, we see all things working together, through countless ages
of toil and trouble, toward one glorious consummation. It is therefore
a fair inference, though a bold one, that if our means of exploration
were such that we could compass the story of all the systems of worlds
that shine in the spacious firmament, we should be able to detect a
similar meaning. At all events, the story which we can decipher is
sufficiently impressive and consoling. It clothes our theistic belief
with moral significance, reveals the intense and solemn reality of
religion, and fills the heart with tidings of great joy.
The glorious consummation toward which organic evolution is tending
is the production of the highest and most perfect psychical life.
Already the germs of this conclusion existed in the Darwinian theory
as originally stated, though men were for a time too busy with other
aspects of the theory to pay due attention to them. In the natural
selection of such individual peculiarities as conduce to the survival
of the species, and in the evolution by this process of higher and
higher creatures endowed with capacities for a richer and more varied
life, there might have been seen a well-marked dramatic tendency,
toward the _dénouement_ of which every one of the myriad little acts of
life and death during the entire series of geologic æons was assisting.
The whole scheme was teleological, and each single act of natural
selection had a teleological meaning. Herein lies the reason why the
theory so quickly destroyed that of Paley. It did not merely refute it,
but supplanted it with explanations which had the merit of being truly
scientific, while at the same time they hit the mark at which natural
theology had unsuccessfully aimed.
Such was the case with the Darwinian theory as first announced. But
since it has been more fully studied in its application to the genesis
of Man, a wonderful flood of light has been thrown upon the meaning of
evolution, and there appears a reasonableness in the universe such as
had not appeared before. It has been shown that the genesis of Man was
due to a change in the direction of the working of natural selection,
whereby psychical variations were selected to the neglect of physical
variations. It has been shown that one chief result of this change
was the lengthening of infancy, whereby Man appeared on the scene as
a plastic creature capable of unlimited psychical progress. It has
been shown that one chief result of the lengthening of infancy was the
origination of the family and of human society endowed with rudimentary
moral ideas and moral sentiments. It has been shown that through
these coöperating processes the difference between Man and all lower
creatures has come to be a difference in kind transcending all other
differences; that his appearance upon the earth marked the beginning
of the final stage in the process of development, the last act in the
great drama of creation; and that all the remaining work of evolution
must consist in the perfecting of the creature thus marvellously
produced. It has been further shown that the perfecting of Man
consists mainly in the ever-increasing predominance of the life of the
soul over the life of the body. And lastly, it has been shown that,
whereas the earlier stages of human progress have been characterized
by a struggle for existence like that through which all lower forms of
life have been developed, nevertheless the action of natural selection
upon Man is coming to an end, and his future development will be
accomplished through the direct adaptation of his wonderfully plastic
intelligence to the circumstances in which it is placed. Hence it has
appeared that war and all forms of strife, having ceased to discharge
their normal function, and having thus become unnecessary, will slowly
die out;[26] that the feelings and habits adapted to ages of strife
will ultimately perish from disuse; and that a stage of civilization
will be reached in which human sympathy shall be all in all, and the
spirit of Christ shall reign supreme throughout the length and breadth
of the earth.
These conclusions, with the grounds upon which they are based, have
been succinctly set forth in my little book entitled "The Destiny of
Man viewed in the Light of his Origin." Startling as they may have
seemed to some, they are no more so than many of the other truths which
have been brought home to us during this unprecedented age. They are
the fruit of a wide induction from the most vitally important facts
which the doctrine of evolution has set forth; and they may fairly
claim recognition as an integral body of philosophic doctrine fit to
stand the test of time. Here they are summarized as the final step in
my argument concerning the true nature of theism. They add new meanings
to the idea of God, as it is affected by modern knowledge, while at the
same time they do but give articulate voice to time-honoured truths
which it was feared the skepticism of our age might have rendered dumb
and powerless. For if we express in its most concentrated form the
meaning of these conclusions regarding Man's origin and destiny, we
find that it affords the full justification of the fundamental ideas
and sentiments which have animated religion at all times. We see Man
still the crown and glory of the universe and the chief object of
divine care, yet still the lame and halting creature, loaded with a
brute-inheritance of original sin, whose ultimate salvation is slowly
to be achieved through ages of moral discipline. We see the chief
agency which produced him--natural selection which always works through
strife--ceasing to operate upon him, so that, until human strife shall
be brought to an end, there goes on a struggle between his lower and
his higher impulses, in which the higher must finally conquer. And in
all this we find the strongest imaginable incentive to right living,
yet one that is still the same in principle with that set forth by the
great Teacher who first brought men to the knowledge of the true God.
As to the conception of Deity, in the shape impressed upon it by our
modern knowledge, I believe I have now said enough to show that it is
no empty formula or metaphysical abstraction which we would seek to
substitute for the living God. The infinite and eternal Power that is
manifested in every pulsation of the universe is none other than the
living God. We may exhaust the resources of metaphysics in debating
how far his nature may fitly be expressed in terms applicable to the
psychical nature of Man; such vain attempts will only serve to show
how we are dealing with a theme that must ever transcend our finite
powers of conception. But of some things we may feel sure. Humanity is
not a mere local incident in an endless and aimless series of cosmical
changes. The events of the universe are not the work of chance,
neither are they the outcome of blind necessity. Practically there
is a purpose in the world whereof it is our highest duty to learn
the lesson, however well or ill we may fare in rendering a scientific
account of it. When from the dawn of life we see all things working
together toward the evolution of the highest spiritual attributes of
Man, we know, however the words may stumble in which we try to say
it, that God is in the deepest sense a moral Being. The everlasting
source of phenomena is none other than the infinite Power that makes
for righteousness. Thou canst not by searching find Him out; yet put
thy trust in Him, and against thee the gates of hell shall not prevail;
for there is neither wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the
Eternal.