In throwing together my remarks on the Natural History of Creation, I shall propose to myself two or three objectives, to which I shall endeavour as much as possible to limit your attention.
In the first place, one object I have in view will be to show that in the History of Creation, the history of all that has been created, whether of the mineral, the vegetable, or the animal kingdom, there has been PROGRESS; - that all creation has commenced in comparatively simple forms, and that these have gradually become more complicated. In the second place, I wish to point out that this progress of creation in the three kingdoms of nature has had prospectively in view the welfare and the happiness of ma. In the third place, I shall endeavour to point out to you that man’s spiritual nature or reason is obedient to the same law of progress, or may be brought under and viewed from the idea of progress.What we mean by progress, as applied to Natural History, is something different from the ordinary use of the term. It involves two ideas: the idea first of time – of a series of events, taking place in time; and secondly, the idea of the relation of certain imperfect creations, organisms, beings, to some more perfect – ideal type.
Quotation from: The Natural History of Creation By Edwin Lankester, 1848
