Thus, again, man is born of Nature into a higher nature. He therefore alone is possessed of two natures--a lower, in common with animals, and a higher, peculiar to himself. The whole mission and life-work of man is the progressive and finally the complete dominance, both in the individual and in the race, of the higher over the lower. The whole meaning of sin is the humiliating bondage of the higher to the lower. As the _material_ evolution of Nature found its goal, its completion, and its significance in man, so must man enter immediately upon a higher _spiritual_ evolution to find its goal and completion and its significance in the ideal man--the Divine man. As spirit, unconscious in the womb of Nature, continued to develop by _necessary_ law until it came to birth and independent life in man, so the new-born spirit of man, both in the individual and in the race, must ever strive by _freer_ law to attain, through a newer birth, unto a higher life. CHAPTER V. THE RELATION OF GOD TO MAN. In the two preceding chapters we have discussed the relation of God to Nature and of man to Nature. There is still another relation, if possible, of still more vital importance to us, viz., the _relation of God to man_. This, of course, introduces the question of revelation--a subject which I approach with some reluctance. I feel I am treading on holy ground, and must do so with shoes removed. If it be asked, How is evolution concerned with the subject of revelation? I answer Evolution emphasizes and enforces the reign of law taught by all science, and makes it at last _universal_. Many conclude, therefore, that, if evolution be true, a belief in the possibility of any form of revelation is irrational. I do not think this follows, and I will give my reasons. I do so, however, very briefly, because we are not yet ready to formulate our views except in the most general way. If man be indeed something more than a higher species of animal; if man’s spirit be indeed a spark of Divine energy individuated to the point of self-consciousness and recognition of his relation to God; if spirit embryo, developing in the womb of Nature through all geological time, came to birth and independent spirit-life in man, and thus man alone is a _child of God_ as well as a product of Nature--if all this be true, then it is evident that this wholly _new_ relation requires also a wholly different mode of Divine operation. If God operates on Nature only by regular processes, which we call _natural laws_, then he _must_ operate on spirit in a different and a more direct way, and this we call _revelation_. If to the student of Nature it is inconceivable that He should operate on Nature except by natural laws (for this is the name we give to His chosen mode of operation there), then to the student of theology it is equally inconceivable, if our view of man be true, that He should not operate on spirit in some more direct and higher way, i. e., by revelation.