, 1874-02-15

in the Moral Universe.
Both Mill md Greg apply to the question the
common test, that the welfere Of Man, in1mo,
iiate or remote, is the end aimed at: but Eyolu
tion suggests different one.
May not Man himself be but factor in some
! Divine scheme Of which ne hare no conception
May ho not be merely 9 transitoTy figure on the
| worlds stage, destined to be superseded by some
his ape-liko ancestor? There is, porhapa. con
ceit enough yet in the world to prevent this tho
ory from meeting with instant acceptance; but,
to those who arc forever Iest1essly turning from,
aud whittier is my destination ?" this solution ia
! confidently offered as covering tue whole case,
although it may not suit their peculiar cast OF
mind. II man is the product Of unnumbered eyolu-
tions OF lower forms Of life, wlAt warrant have no
| for believing that the process is now ut m end !?
Ages hence. when ho shall have been. with BIZ,
Civilizations aud his Religions, oblltezated from
tho worlds history tho Infinitely superior beings
who have succeeded him will dig up his bones,
together with those Of the orang, the gorilla,
tho chimpanzeo. and the Glbhon, and classify
| them
ALL As EXTINCT MoSKEYs,-
I mover perhaps dreaming OF tho vast difference
which one OF theae monkeys once assumed 10
separate him from tue others.
| An argument sometimes brought forward By
| those who believe that tho method Of Evolution
is God's method, is that the idea that all tho
! forms Of extinct life which archaeological re-
! searches havo brought to light havo perishcd
utterly, leaving no representatives behind, is not
consonaut with the idea Of Divine Economy in
| Nature. II their descendants do not to-day e1-
ist under forms changed to adapt them to
changed conditions Of existence On the earth. AZ
it passes through it's successive phases, then it
| would seem that there hnye been many instances
ofcreative fats In thonature OF mere experiments,
which, after trial Of longer or shorter dura-
ton, have been abandoned Such view is, Of
course, incompatlble with the attribute Of
Omniscieucc. This reasoning is very plausible,
but is it sound II SO, how shall wo explain
something that is going on before our Own
eyes-tbe gradual
EXTINCTION OF TIE RED MAS7
The Indian race IS manifestly doomed to die
out At no distant day; and, Us it does not as
simulate with any other race, few generations
nfter tho last Red Man has periahcd will suffice
to obliterate whateyer slight impress may have
been made upon surviving rsces By contact with
him. What Office was his upon tho Garth?
What Indispensable portion OF the Divine
Economy has 1t been his to fulfill?
What is true Of the Indian ia probably true
Of ali the inferior races OF men. Contnct With
Caucasian civilization ~ means ultimate ez~
unquestionnby the fato in storo for
the abcrigines Of. tho Sandwich Is
lands. Capt. Cook, less than hundred
Tears ago. estimated their number at 40o. o.000.-
number now reduced, BY one century Of Cau-
The history of the Sandwich Islanders since
tho cirilizing process began upon them fur
nishes q
CURIOUS PROBLEM N ETHICS.
Insepnrable from the nature OF our Christian
Civilization, and taking root along with them in
any new soil. nre Tho civilized vices. In the
case of the Sandwich Islander, tho vices soon
dominate. That is equivalent to sar1ng that
Christianity, which cau1ot be discovered from
Civilization, cannot furnish to its converts
thn 1nferInr Of ~ennnn8 to
successfully combat the vices it has, in meas-
urc nssjsted to transplant. It may be ques-
toned whether it is desirable to Introduce
Christianity among such . people. if it IL sought
to justify it upon plea that it is for their bene
fit. Ultimately it e1tinguishes them in toto
nnd some OF its immediate effects arc fraught
with such disastrous results that it may
we'll be doubted it they arc connterbalauced
By any benefits as decided. For instance. the
almost promiscuous intercourse which prevailed
Anaopg tho sexes may Or may not have been in
contravention OF Divine low. as civilized and
Christianized Nations bold it to be. At any
rate, its evils wero purely 1norat ones, and. 81
the natives reasoned. wholly unconscious OF any
infraction Of moral law, their guilt, il they wero
guilty, remained unpunished- The advent OF
Christian Civilization among them, while it did
not sufficiently Impress them to obiterato this
habit, or evil if you chose, entailed upon it q
punishment hitherto unknown: tho physical
deterioration Of tho race,-a fact attested by
every observant traveller to the Islands.
But the theory Of Evolution does not con6ne
itself to the Physical Universe. It supplies .
method Of criticism in History and in Litera-
tu1e, which must, In tho end, prove
DESTRUCTIVE TO MANY DooMAs AND TRADITIONS
now passing current, which OWE their currency,
in great measure, to the fact that their origin
is at present lost IN tho obscurity Of tho past
Once their origin is shown, and their place
assigned in the Evolutionary process of the
human intellect; and especially whom is shown
the constantly y-recurring similarity Of it's phases
among bodies of men widely separated, their
inevitable tendency to evolve substantially the
liar stages OF deyelopment,-a your once sa-
cred dogmns mud traditions lose their force and
drop into oblivion.
Some ono has said that tho history Of nntion
is the history Of it's great meu,-History thus
becoming mere thread upon Which suppositi-
tious pearls OF biography are strung Undoubt-
edly this is the theory upon which nearly all the
histories Of the past haYe been writtcn, and as
undoubtedly it is destined to be superseded BY !
:he Evolutionary method, in which hero-worship
but not perhaps as type. Of the histories OF tho
future, may be taken A1r. Herbert Spcncer's !
" Descriptive Sociology" as applied to tho his
tory Of England.
The Evolutionary method Of study has also
been applied to tbs history of religion, but in
imperfect manner IS yet. Nevertheless, such !
works as Max Mueller's "Scence Of Religion |
show the beginnings OF m inquiry into Z fruit
ful field for investigation. itan, in all ages and
clmeB, has been an animal dominated BY a be-
liot in Something powerful for good and evil, e2-
lsting above and beyond him and, according to
tbs state Of his progress, has constructed d
theory Of his relationship to the unseen Power
to which, under varying forms, ho has paid !
worship. Buddhism offered some striking par
alcIs to Christianity, both in its teachings and |
in the life OF its founder; but Buddhism,
Confucianism, aud other re- !
Gsions which now exert powerful influence
oVer millions OF the human race, ere, SO far "a !
we can geo, destined to meet the fate Of the In
1ian the process Of Evolution will drop them |
ont. IS
APPARENTLY USELESS FACTORS.
Tho dominant religion OF the dominant races
will, in time, send them to the wall.
Christianity is pte-eminently an EyolntionaI |
:clgion, and the Bible ia sttiEing record Of it's
progress. No religious belief has ever yet |
:rystalized into 3 permanent form, and mono
ever will The radical error Of Theo1ogans has
lways been to assume that sucn capitalization
lad taken place, and hence to resist the ineyita-
2la tendency toward q natural development in.
my religious system,-a development only in
harmony With all other progress.
That the process Of Evolution in religious be-
ief ia not suspended at tho Present day, must bo
,atent to every candid observer. The most
r~F fo }Hn- xk.