CHAPTER I

EVOLUTION AND CREATION

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THE doctrine of Evolution as propounded by some of its teachers, and the doctrine of Creation as proclaimed in the Bible, have not yet been reconciled, and so far as never be brought into harmony. They are irreconcilable. But we must carefully distinguish. There are two theories of Evolution, which though very similar in form are yet different in spirit. One of them is atheistic in its nature and tendency, though it may not profess to be so, while the other is only agnostic. The former does not hesitate to affirm that "C matter is eternal," and that "man in his totality is a result of the interaction of organism and environment through countless ages of time." The latter, with more caution and philosophical reverence, refrains from making any such dogmatic declaration regarding the origin of matter

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I

and mind. While both theories maintain that the whole process of Evolution is the manifestation of a power absolutely inscrutable to the intellect of man, they differ in this, that while the one would probably agree with Lucretius that that power is inherent in matter, and that "Nature is seen to do all things spontaneously of herself, without the meddling of the gods ;" the other contents itself with believing that the power which operates through all natural laws, and in all visible phenomena, is "unknown and unknowable." The one view gives no place to either God or Creation, while the other merely says that the origin of things is an impenetrable mystery.

The atheistic theory of Evolution is neither truly scientific in its construction nor satisfying in its conclusions. While despising the faith of the Christian, those who hold this theory fondly cherish a faith of their own, a faith which has no manifest foundation, either in fact or in reason. When they declare, for instance, that "matter is eternal," they are not stating a certainty which they know, but only an idea which they have conceived and accepted. The idea

entertained is altogether a matter of faith, and the faith is astounding, for the mere fact that matter exists does not prove that it has always existed. As Herbert Spencer truly says in his First Principles, p. 31, "The assertion that the universe is self-existent does not really carry us beyond the cognition of its present existence, and so leaves us with a mere restatement of the mystery." Life too is visible everywhere in its manifold activities and manifestations, but when the theorist declares that life is inherent in matter and therefore eternal, he is not stating what he knows, but only what he believes; and the belief is amazing, for spontaneous generation is absolutely unknown. Reason and Will also are immense powers in humanity universally manifested; but when the atheistic evolutionist tells us that "even the human understanding is itself a result of the play between organism and environment through cosmic ranges of time," he is not stating what he knows, but only propounding an hypothesis which he has intellectually wrought out or adopted. And the hypothesis is astonishing, for there is no certain proof that matter has ever evolved itself into

mind and become in man an intelligent personality, with consciousness, freedom of thought and self-determining power of action. And if he ascends still higher into the moral sphere, and finds there, not only reason and will, but conscience also, and an almost universal consciousness of guilt, what has he to say concerning these? Denying as he does the reality of sin against God, and regarding evil in every form as only defect, or good in the process of making, he sees no need of a Saviour from guilt and no necessity for any Divine intervention in human affairs. This utter materialism is not a gospel of reason grounded on fact, but only a mere belief founded on speculation; and instead of being a message of hope and comfort to sorrowing, suffering and dying mortals, who through manifold tribulations and distresses are passing away like shadows into the great hereafter, it is only a declaration of dreary hopelessness and gloomy despair. If everything comes out of matter, is only matter, and is destined to return to matter, then there can be no God and no Saviour, no Immortality, and no Heaven. Necessity and Decay are the supreme forces of the

universe, and the end of all earthly glory and happiness is the grave. This atheistic theory, however, is more and more clearly recognised by our foremost men of science and wisest philosophers to be altogether untenable. They are coming to see and acknowledge that the world is fashioned and governed by spirit, and not by matter. As Professor Drummond says truly in his Ascent of Man, p. 429, "Evolution is not progress in matter; matter cannot progress. It is a progress in spirit, in that which is limitless, in that which is at once most human, most rational and most Divine. Evolu

tion is nothing but the Involution of Love, the revelation of Infinite Spirit, the Eternal Life returning to itself."

The agnostic evolutionist, on the other hand, declares, that the origin of things is an insoluble problem. In saying this he goes further than he ought, for what is insoluble to him may not be insoluble to another, and he leaves no space for either a Divine Revealer or a Supernatural Revelation, neither of which can be impossible if the great First Cause the Fontal Force and Supreme Spirit—is God. But the difference be