ore subtle exhibition of
nature's infinite capacity for evolving fresh forms of life, and that is
all. It is man himself who paints a distorted picture of himself on the
surface of things, who reads his own passions and desires into nature,
and then admires a marvel created by himself. To he who correctly
visualises the process of the evolution of deity, the existence of God
is hardly to-day a question for discussion. There is a discussion only
of the history of the belief, and in that is found its strongest
condemnation.

CHAPTER VII.

THE DISHARMONIES OF NATURE.

It has already been indicated that it is not really necessary, in order
to prove design, to establish the fact that the design is perfect or
that it exhibits complete goodness. It is enough that there be design.
Its moral quality or value is quite another question. Nevertheless, it
will be as well to deal with this latter aspect of the subject, and to
see what kind of "plan" it is that nature does exhibit, even assuming
the existence of some design.

Now it is evident that if there be design in nature, and if the design
is the expression of a single supreme mind one quality of that plan
should be unity. The products should, so to speak, dovetail into each
other in such a way that they work together, and even harmonise with
each other. But this is, notoriously, not the case. If from one point of
view there is a certain harmony throughout the world of living beings in
virtue of which life is preserved, it is at least equally true that from
another point of view the harmony is one of destruction. And in the end
death wins. Sooner or later death overtakes all forms of life, while in
the grand total of living beings born into the world, a far larger
number perish than can reach maturity. Wasted effort is the mildest
judgment that can be passed upon these abortive attempts. And not only
does death eventually win in the case of each individual, and against
which may be set the consideration that in the economy of nature death
plays a part in the development of life, but eventually death will, if
we are to trust science, reap a sweeping and universal triumph by the
consummation of terrestrial conditions that will render the maintenance
of life impossible.

Or, again, the relations of species are clearly not what we have a right
to expect in the working out of a reasonably wise and benevolent plan.
It is a general truth that, with the exception of a few