New-York tribune., 1874-09-21
NATTER NOT INHERENTLY CREATIVE.


MATTER NOT INHERENTLY CREATIVE.
A SERMON BY THE REV. A. A. MINER d. d., PREsi-
prST OF TUFTS CoLLHGE-PRoF TYNDALIs
CONCLUSIONS REVIEWED.
Tn the Church of the Divine Paternity, mt
Flfh-ave and Forty-hfth-st.. the Rev. A. A. Miner d.
d. President OF Tufts College. one OF the delegates 10
the Uniyersast General Convention, preached yeser
day morning. assaing the assumption Of modern sci
ensts that life. in all its mufarous FORMS s evolved
from the inherent properties Of matter, and showing
that above and beyond all physical forms and manfesta
tons there Is spiritual intelligence OF which matter Is
only the medium. the whole universe as the term lin
niles displaying unity Of design which cannot be ac
counted hypothesis OF the tendency TO deVe
opment which is claimed to exist In primary matter. he
took as his the First Epistle Of Timothy VI 2O-o
Timothy keep that which is committed to thy trust
avoiding profane and vain babblings and opposons OF
sc,ence falsely called which some protesting, have
erred concerning the faith Grace be with thee Amen
whatever teaching. he said, placed the Bible on
level In the main with all other books removed the
foundations OF faith in God and divine revelation Ihe
Deism Of the nth and 18th centuries declared tna
the Bible was not inspired. nor was any other book
the Thesm Of the 10th century admitted that the Boe
as spired and that so other books 80 that by
these hypothesis shorn OF the fact OF dSne
authority IN Revelation But both OF these remanded us
10 the revelation OF God in Nature, and bade us worship
Him in the light of natural religion. IL had been
reserved to another class OF skeptics to assault even
that position and the inquiry which their theories sug
esied was DO revelations OF modern science tnrealen
ssbe foundation Of Christian hopel Is the universe
The problem was whether this universe could be e1-
planned on the basis OF the assumption OF tendency 10
fevelopment In primary matter. Mr. Darwin enarging
the thought of his namesake's teachings had enaeav
ored to explain how from the endeneles OF every Io
~ ter to take upon themselves the forms OF organic
life. we found the key to life but Mr. Iyndsn hsa
closed only door that had been hitherto eit open
anIz of
ing when be had reached the very margin OF ehpeIl
mental facts to leap the vast aDy oeIweeu & oso d @
sustain the conclusion drawn from them ana inteTes
inc "a were the discoveries OF such men as Huxley OAR
o Tvndal and their compeers 1t might be that In tue
domain OF science not less than IN that oi reglon d
damental things had been assumed that tne ~
had taken upon themselves, In the Judgneat
~ their authors more OF the character OF SCIENTIFIC
VI ,mnnsraion rno, than rightfuy belonged to them.
Mr. Spencer had shown US bow matter was evoiyea
IN organic forms in the least resistance III tue
IN which matter moves but he had not shown us how
here was that least resistance No explanation was
given of the organic shapes when appear III te UNI
Serse Of God; there only statement Of the Incl
fact Of the ways which these forms OF develop
ment proceeded Assuming that evolution was III lhe
dTecton OF the least resistance the question was How
~ ,Sa there IS the least resistancel Darwin claimed
that there had unbroken series that lie was
ersded mar from common germs the varied forms OF
orSanic life proceeded; variety OF germnal life,
hut q common organic power from when pS tno hVuL
actions of climate meteorological influences, training,
discipline and various circumstances unknown to sci
ence the varied forms of the present creation
of God appeared Tyndal went one step urthef ana
closed the door which Darwin left open for the energy
aud efficiency OF creative power leaving US strons
presumption that there no God, but all the supposed
fnteigence and power the universe were lodged pr
marly IN matter which Is independent ana eV0yea
from one common source. These facls assumed tnag
science was partly fact and partly hypothesis. On,
douotedly there various grades OF ile amman anu
them and there might be a great difference between the
lost species and between animals oil the hlghes RANK anu
man vet on the theory OF steady development from the
lower 10 the higher all that middle ground should be
ned up Following that line oil argument we must DC,
Iieye that every rank OF being has It's fundamental
rn from which IL is evolved its maturity, keeping
ali its own kind steadily In view to It's own purpose
known to evolve life within ITSELF aud to the expert
mens the galvanlc current ana the microscope Oh
which il rested Dr. Miner said, nrs that scenlhc men
were by no means agreed that fundamental conditions
of life had been found aud therefore ne argued the
supposed result might be owing To the preservation OF
the primary germ matter ltself aud, secondly, that
even II the fact were established Dsyonu al e9ntto.
rniyersal generalization. From the names OF
those scientists whom he naa u.entoneu ho,vnS ns
that every Of organic lie sprung from ITS own
broadcast over the earth that Agassiz confirmed all
the general teaching the subject with TINS exception
lie came from a single pair OF the same kind. he SUP
posed that several pairs or Tue same KIND IL
INTO each other that it was impossible for human
science TO mark the boundary between them. Inat
might be SO; while there was limit TO human skill
in Classification, it did not follow that there was no line
OF ~ S i e tended 70 csrry out unity Of
design the development OF IT'S own speees FOR ex-
ample we nd the oak developing like the maple,
or tne maple like the linden And with animal
lfe-every individual came from germ or its own
kind ha wing its own idiosyncratic character and when
il dd the forms OF others 1t did not rest in
them but moved on toward It's own speclnc generic
form and there only did IL rest.
IL was true that the organ Of the mind,
but very different fact from that involved III
the proposition that mind fruitage OF the brain
While there undoubtedly an intimate relation be-
tween mind and the system or In other words
we're the outgrowth the flower aud frmtaQe Of the
brain. There evidence that the black mold Of
the earth grew up and circulated through fhe vital
organs of our ply economy exhalng the
OF thought that delights the world Such hypothesis
The speaker dwelt on this branch OF the subject illus
trating 1t by reference to the water wheel oI mill
Tine wheel the machinery In motion, but .t was not
the motive power. Ii thought the product of
would be developed steadily like the
rrowth OF grain. and there would be none OF
The special efforts OF mind that the world has witnessed
INDEPENDENT OF the physical condition ofthe body and
have occasoned death. THIS showed the primary fact OF
mind affectiou, and emotion were evolved and when
We turned the fact tnat the brain was the organ OF
the mind found that IT was no more than the fact
that we could accomplish what our physical powers
made possible that IT was we ourselves that accom-
Dr. Minet then proceeded argue the principle
that higher forms Of attraction dominate the
ton was the law Of cohesion and above the law OF
cohesion that OF chemical attraction and higher still
which the black mold Of the earth was drawn
up into forms Of organic vegetable and animal
70 take on these forms Of life why did II not do
spontaneously aud universally But there was no such
power IN the soil ITSELF Ihe acorn hau 10 De planted IN
order TO produce the oak and this single example ne
sad would hold good in the whole field Of vegetable
grow tb and a similar Illustration touching animal life
brought us up to himself. With reference
70 human life, Tyndalps explanation that
we were subjected TO sensations, these sensa-
lions assocang together gave breath repetltions
of these evolving thought and thus step by step the
nossbility Of the human soul brought into exist
ence But should be remembered that there must be
heng before any sensation could be felt thirsty
received pleasure in drinking glass OF cold water but
the pleasure incidental to tue sensation; II
assumed that love OF pleasure was the motive,
how could we explain the first draughti IL
Was not the telescope OF the astronomer nor
the microscope Of the naturalist, which the gories
of the heavens and the wonders OF nature the
ave OF man ITSELF but the spiritual power which lay
AS we'll Dile hag of