Primeval man : an examination of some recent speculations.

  • Argyll, George Douglas Campbell, Duke of, 1823-1900.
Date:
1884
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Primeval man : an examination of some recent speculations. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    case, but slowly and gradually, and yet completely. When once this fact is clearly apprehended—whenever we become familiar with the idea that Creation has had a History, we are inevitably led to the conclusion that Creation has also had a Method. And then the further question arises,—What has this method been ? It is perfectly natural that men who have any hopes of solving this question should take that supposition which seems the readiest; and the readiest supposition is, that the agency by which new species are created is the same agency by which new individuals are born. The difficulty of conceiv- ing any other compels men, Lf they are to guess at all, to guess upon this foundation. Such is the origin and genesis of all the theories of Development, of which Mr. Darwin's hypothesis is only the latest form. It is not in itself inconsistent with the Theistic argument, or with belief in the ultimate agency and directing power of a Creative Mind. This is clear, since we never think of any difficulty in reconciling that belief with our knowledge of the ordinary laws of animal and vegetable repro- duction. Those laws may be correctly, and can only be ade- quately, described in the language of religion and theology. He who is the alone Author and Creator of all things, says the present Bishop of Salisbury, does not by separate acts of creation give being and life to those creatures which are to be brought forth, but employs His living creatures thus to give effect to His will and pleasure, and as His agents to be the means of communicating life, * The same language might be applied, without the alteration of a word, to the origin of species, if it were indeed true that new kinds as well as new individuals were created by being born. The truth is, that the argument which has so often been employed to elevate our conception of the wisdom hid in sec- ondary causes, is an argument which only gains increasing strength and force in proportion to the number and involution of those causes, and to the extent and scope of their effects. If it does not diminish, but only augments the wonder of Organic Life, that it has been so contrived as to be capable of propagat- ing itself, neither would it diminish that wonder, but rather enhance it to an infinite degree, that Organisms should be * Charge, 1867.