Evolution is defined by Professor Le Conte as “continuous progressive change, according to certain laws, and by means of resident forces.” Religion has been defined by an English divine as “the life of God in the soul of man.” It is my object to show that the Christian religion is itself an evolution; that is, that this life of God in humanity is one of continuous progressive change, according to certain divine laws, and by means of forces, or a force, resident in humanity. The proposition is a very simple one; illustrated and applied, it may help to solve some of the problems which are perplexing us concerning the Bible, the church, theology, social ethics, and spiritual experience.

All scientific men to-day are evolutionists. That is, they agree substantially in holding that all life proceeds, by a regular and orderly sequence, from simple to more complex forms, from lower to higher forms, and in accordance with laws which either now are or may yet be understood, or are at all events a proper subject of hopeful investigation. The truth of this doctrine I assume; that is, I assume that all life, including the religious life, proceeds by a regular and orderly sequence from simple and lower forms to more complex and higher forms, in institutions, in thought, in practical conduct, and in spiritual experience.