Religious thought subject to the law of evolution; three main stages 351 I. _Conception of God_--The three stages shown--(1) Anthropomorphism--(2) Absentee landlordism--(3) Immanence 351 II. _Question of First and Second Causes_--The three stages shown here--(1) All is First Cause but man-like--(2) Distinction of first and second causes introduced--(3) Identification of these 354 III. _General and Special Providence_--The same three stages shown and the same outcome--viz., identification 355 IV. _Natural and the supernatural_--The same stages and the same final identification--Question of miracles 355 V. _Question of design or mind in Nature_--The same three stages and the same solution shown here--Confusion in the minds of modern writers 357 VI. _Question of mode of creation_--Old and new views contrasted 358 CHAPTER VIII. RELATION OF EVOLUTION TO THE IDEA OF THE CHRIST. Comparison of organic with human evolution--The idea of the first is _man_, of the second is the _Christ_--Definition of the Christ as _ideal man_--The Christ ought to differ from us in a superhuman way--Shown by several illustrations--The Christ, as ideal man, a true object of rational worship--The ideal of organic evolution comes _at the end_--Ideal of human evolution must come _in the course_--Objection that there are many partial ideals answered--Relative vs. absolute moral ideal. 360 CHAPTER IX. THE RELATION OF EVOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM OF EVIL. The difficulty of the problem--The light on it by evolution-- Evil must be based on the constitution of Nature and therefore universal--Some of its forms 365 (1) _Physical evil in animal kingdom_--Condition of organic evolution is struggle with an apparently inimical environment --In its course it seems evil--Looking back from the end it is good. 365 (2) _Physical evil in relation to man_--Necessary condition of social evolution is also struggle with a seeming evil environment--But looking back from the end this evil is also seen to be good--Without it man would never have emerged from animality. 366