[Footnote 1: Second Edition, 1871.]
The points I would call attention to are the following:--
(I) That as natural selection will only maintain changes that have been
_beneficial_ to the creature, it is contrary to such a law, if acting
entirely by itself, that that there should be developments (not being
mere accidental deformities, &c.) disadvantageous to the creature. And
yet the world is full of such.
(2) That there are forms which cannot be accounted for on the
evolutionist supposition, that they were gradually obtained by a series
of small changes slowly progressing towards a perfect structure. They
would be of no use at all unless produced _at once and complete_.
(3) That natural selection, as apart from a Divine Designer, altogether
fails to account for _beauty_, as distinguished from mere brilliancy or
conspicuousness, in nature. Whereas, if we suppose the existence of a
beneficent Creator, who has moral objects in view, and cares for the
delight and the improvement of His creatures,[1] and looking to the
known effects on the mind of beauty in art and in nature, the existence
is at once and beyond all cavil explained.
[Footnote 1: "He hath made everything _beautiful_ in his time" (Eccles.
iii. II).]
(4) That we have positive evidence against _uncontrolled_ evolution
(uncontrolled by set plan and design i.
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