Out of the matter and force God made, working to the law God made, there slowly developed the nebulæ, the suns, the planets.
Out of the same matter and force, changed in form by the working of God's laws, there slowly developed the single-celled jelly-like creature from which, by the working of God's laws, all other forms of life have since evolved.
Out of matter and force, working to God's laws, man has been evolved.
Is there any step in the long march of evolution from the first creation of matter and force to the evolution of man, when the jelly speck, or the polyp, or the fish, or the reptile, or the beast, or the ape, or the man, had power to change, or to assist, or to resist the working of the laws God made?
Is there any step in the long march of evolution, any link in the long chain of cause and effect, when any one of the things or beings evolved by law working on matter and force could by act or will of their own have developed otherwise than as they did?
Is it not plain that man has developed into that which he is by slow evolution of matter and force, through the operation of divine laws over which he had no more control than he now has over the revolution of the suns in their orbits?
How, then, can we believe that man is to blame for being that which he is?
Is there any quality of body or of mind that has not been inevitably evolved in man by the working of God's laws?
You are not going to tell me that I am answerable or blame-able for the nature of matter and force, nor for the operations of God's laws, are you?
You will not suggest that I am responsible for the creation: so long ago, and I so new, so weak, so small!