Around us there is the presence of evil. The devil is at work. But in a loud voice I say: GOD IS STRONGER.

We must, however, acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man with all his noble qualities... still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin.

It is mere rubbish thinking, at present, of origin of life; one might as well think of origin of matter.

If numerous species, belonging to the same genera or families, have really started into life all at once, the fact would be fatal to the theory of descent with slow modification through natural selection.

Descent being on my view the hidden bond of connexion which naturalists have been seeking under the term of the natural system.

That there is much suffering in the world no one disputes. Which is more likely, that pain and evil are the result of an all-powerful and good God, or the product of uncaring natural forces? The presence of much suffering agrees well with the view that all organic beings have been developed through variation and natural selection.