The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-07-06
The meeting closed with the benedictfon.

ana wntle HIS Kingdom grows
Fresh honor shall adorn His crown.
And shame conf0und his foes
The meeting closed with the benedictfon.
cal Story OF the Origin OF Man Recon-
ciled with the Darwinian Theory o.
A Bible Before Our Bible-The Miracu-
lous and tho Logical.
To THE EDITOR OF THE HERALD
Perhaps there is no subject which, before our
| times, was received with such implicit faith or
which, at the present date, Is so complete stun
bling block tothe orthodox as the narrative Of the
| origin OF man In the Old Testament, contrasted
| with the account which Is being rendered to MS by
our principal scientists. The time has now nearly
| gone by when the salt OF the earth can afford to
| sneer either at the demonstrations OF acquired
knowledge or the theories and even the probabili-
ties deduced fairly from them as ''mere carnal
reasoning:" for, II the majority OF these erro-
neous. we can render only blind obedience, and
not what Is expected from us-namely, treason
| able SERVICE"
The object OF the following remarks is to endeavor
in some measure to reconcile to suggest reasons
which appear to favor the reconcement of the
| Bible account Of the origin and fall Of man with
| that held by large class Of scientific men. / al
| Jude to
TIE DARwNIAN THEORY,
rather the evolution theory, of the origin Of man
and by consequence of other animals. That theory
appears to be in the second stage OF development
| in the average American mind enunciated by Sir
Charles Lyel when he said that every truth Of this
nature required to pass through three distinct
phases-nrst, it is not true; second, It
is contrary to religion; third, everybody
knew 1t before. One thing has been
very observable all through the contest upon
this point which Is, that while the scientifically
ignorant have been presumptuously funny over
the whole argument those who knew anything
more Of natural history and the other sciences
beyond what Is drawn from popular natural his
tory and science in popular popular magazines, however
| drawn from arguments with this tendency, have
never either felt inclined to sheer or to laugh
who have advanced and who maintain these
theories have fair probability on their side; and
upon it," the ignorant, scientifically concerned,
forget that, for every complete poser which they
can advance on the orthodox SIDE the evolutlonists
theirs. The whole history OF the struggle OF science
vs. the biblical account Of the creation has uni
| unanimous; or, In other words, the holders by
strict Interpretation have found out that
| they had been occupying earthworks which should
never have been occupied, or rather more
| accurately, which the time had come round to
abandon: The narrative OF the Garden of Eden
| and what happened there, as 1t used to be inter-
preted IN the Bible or literally rendered, is an i'm
| possibility to many who obey its injunctions The
theory OF that narrative being an allegory, in
tended to teach necessary truth to man. has often
been advanced, but, in so far as know, never In
| the connection indicated below. In what follows
| will endeavor to prove to what extent plain
derinR can be given to the biblical account taking
| the evolution theory Of the origin Of man as
basis; and am the more encouraged to do this
when recolect that
,.vo 10, that, TN TUE s OTHER SIDE IN. NINA.
premise my remarks BY the confession that It Is
purely Hypothetical or, II you will, speculative.
TACT that the Bible account Of the order Of creation
Is fully borne out by the demonstration OF science
o most remarkable TACT, when human accounts
| are cOnsdered-we must remember that in many
things, in our present state, II Is impossible for
man not only fully to comprehend them, but to
comprehend more than mere approximation to
them. We experience the same thing in a simpler
form when we endeavor to enlighten children upon
many Of the abstruse subjects OF social lie; which
teaching to them Is the best (however lmperfect)
| which the circumstances admit Of and our
can contain, OF which would benefit them. To
endeavor to tell them all We know would be to tell
| them nothing, or to lead them astray. there
is one truth demonstrated by modern science
It is the fact that man as species Is compare
4 lively OF an extreme age and the evolution theory
ton was one OF comparative childhood In so far as
a simplicity of ideas was concerned. Language
| and the memorials OF the earlier stage OF the
| species which possess point to this conclusion.
| In the main the history Of man which possess is
one OF progress And bhlicists insist that there
A BIBLE BEFORE OUR BIBLE
| and the natural inference Is that 1t was simpler
! one and Is Included In the present form which we
possess. The idea forces Itself upon us that the
narrative OF our first parents and the Garden of
Eden is the true tale OF what took place In mans
moral condition. told by himself In the earlier ages,
/ rather told In his own words and familiar ideas.
yhe spirit OF God might choose and might be ex-
tive condition as much as In the more advanced
/ comprehension OF later period.
BIBLE FoRUHE RED INDIAN
| OF to-day, apart from external influences we
| might expect to contain very simple ideas and
! language and is 1t certain that after a sort they
| nave not the remnants OF one ? II such did exist
| might we not expect to find II cOuched In some
what similar phraseoogyS Having served its pur-
| should know at that time IL has been allowed TO
| remain; and Is not this the case also with much
first partook OF the knowledge OF good and evil his
higher nature was drawn aside by the objects In
to % The y SaS S ss
by the fruit. We have the fruit always with
US and the serpent 70 point tine way TO US
have had clearer meaning to those who
did not possess the thousandth part OF
the light which we are supposed to possess, when
rendered with their Interpretation. There has
never been any miraculous Interpretation OF the
Scriptures tu :. which we know anything about rom
Those destitute OF these languages required to
wait for that Interpretation and require TO wait
to-day, and so, perhaps, must we, In reference to
the language OF original ideas. But n the Bible
was given first 70 man when in nude state we
uilSHt eAptCt Htnpie anu, Wndt 10 us WOuu De- .
peculiar revelation. That portion OF the Scrip
lures may require translation out OF the original
dialect OF thinking and knowing. Have we the
key or do we suppose that we havef May its dis
covery In full not lie In the future as much as the
discovery did once that the earth moves round the
sun : Even the account OF the origin OF the sexes,
which Is at first sight opposed to natural
science may have hidden and yet very simple
explanation. Having thus brought the theory OF
evolution into a juxtapostion OF thought from
which, At first sight, 10 appears 80 divergent,
leave the subject with your thoughtful and scen.
ti1c readers. HOMO.
A Church for the People.