New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-05-11
EVOLUTION VS.. GODS PERSONALITY.
TN, R>r C,o n Ckser,r D. D. al ds,oeidnos HaH

Tho rnrsonolty and divine righteousness OF Christ,
said he. are here assumed by Himself constituting
the whole subject OF the Old Testament Scriptures But
the Old Testament Scriptures were then, as they are
now, the only known and accorded reality OF dlVihe
revelation in the world. The humanity and divinity OF
Christ as personal reality are the interviewer warp
and wool of that revelation the Word OF God The d.
vine personality OF Christ is demonstrated anu Tue ui-
porance OF divine revelation Itself Is presented as
wholly consisting IN its disclosures concerning Him. or
in other words the whole Of God; revelation 10 mankind
absorbed the being and character OF the LORD Jesus
Now the claim OF such personality strikes the pnos9pn
of evolution dead at the outset. For this method ol
modern infdety admits neither personality III Goa nor
truth in the Lord Jesus 1t removes God from al r9aon
of our knowledge or belief as our creator anu t %
fact Is, II is not natural force nor natural
selection that has the directive agency Of the the
These philosophers do in fact beyond all contradiction
deny the personality Of God In denying his creative
natural selection In his stead the directive agency OF
the universe. They allow nothing for our God but
and commanding idea OF our own existence Is tnat
of conscious acting personality ana t9a ,de' WI
am God is my Creator and Father, and the euucatlOn
that God PROVIDES Tor us @ mo- more sec
and know by consciousness merely, as through grass
and Know as we are known is an education accustom
ing to the observance and acknowledgment OF HIS
presence, and Of our personal accountability TO
Him. "Thou God seest me-" is one OF the
earliest school maxims or our race, tho DOS pos
as the master But in Christ this begun education OF
the race il completed and In seeing Hin have seen
God so far as lie can be seen and Of through
the vail OF bodily organization. No man hath seen God
at any time. The Only Begotten son, who IA IN the
whole revelation disclosed by Christ III the Old Tesla
ment was revelation OF Himself aud OF God III HIM
SELF the object OF that revelation Drawing asIie tno
vail from the Old Testament from the face OF Moses,
Christ there. 1t was meant that we shond see
HIM there and he changed by behodinS His glory into
HIS image for so our education Is competed lor tue
World A on me TGE %S Ta to
teach in them and out OF them tue Things concerning
Himself.
The personality Of God can be denied. You have
never proved It. The eternity OF reribuon can be de-
MED. You have never proved tnat; ion must i've
through eternity Of suffering in order 10 prove either
your theory Of evolution and OF believing nothing
which and experience do not Justify But CHRIST
cruced proves both. The principles demonstrated IN
that transaction prove heaven and hell. and tho soul OF
man forever existent IN one or the Other ana Chrst
having como into the world the manifestation Of the
Fathers love In order TO seek and TO save the O5t
through ana unbeei you are now to be Justified ana
saved from all your former unOehe anu sllI tnrousu
faith him You offered this complete redemption,
after partial experience OF rum; partial because II
God acceded to the demands OF your un9c' tS
and granted to You the privilege or imposed the
deonstPation YOU must every one OF you be lost for
ever because otherwise the blessed regenerang prln-
could never by any possibility Be wrought IN yoh ana
nothing could be possible for YOU through the ages OF
endless evolution only the desOitlOh Oh the eNpe
rionce OF being forsakcn OF God, because your own
chosen philosophy made IT Impossible that you snonu
| ever know Him forgivnG Father aud savior
Therefore God not only comes near 10 us In Clrst Dut
embraces and recOpciles IL TO himself in Christ And
therefore this philosophy OF evolution that forbds our
believing IN God as loving personal Cfeatol also
renders Impossible to believe In Him Us new creating
Savior. aud makes it impossible, or would make H.
if everybody could be persuaded TO leap into hat Gu
impos.lble that ever soul should be saved Whatever
withdraws God from US or Us from God. Is contrary 10
nature and against lis true ana best dayelOpment
as creatures for whom the first great necessity is that OF
an intelligent OF our dependence on Coo and our
some phases of evolution YOU may endeavor to recon-
ellie with belief in God Creator at Tablc
distance and by infinite succession OF causes only th5
that does not supply The deficiency prevent the eject
OF the untruth. Cod gives Us a pleasant Cod not an
omuip.eScnt attribute merely Cots ieyeaton III inc
Old Testament and in Christ Is that OF present new
Grating interpOsilg sympdthizng prOvdential God
and Father AGOd who appeared mlloh ACES ago,
aud acted but never since Is n0t my fathor nor eau
atherly and mothery Here, then, this philosophy
spOs every believer in 49, however you may attempt 70
ana tho Word OF God. You cannot DO it: Aud why
should you 40 IT. I1e D9Gi' t90 9E''n mi Gd
and injurious as the poetry, inc T1nsgenden
{ deprive F yGS Of Of p'T{Hs but %
You ali that you need. by natural exultaton aud self
cxpausion into God Gods word brings God very near
10 u.s. does not carry away through ages past 10
nd Col. He is not far from us but near to every one
of US And He is as far of as lie Is near. Do not I'll
heaven and earth saith the Almighty How suOlmey
these shafts OF the light of Gods onnpresence are shot
forth into the chaos OF mems systems OF philosophy IL
! Inc Bible had been intended for nothing else but to
! oppose this falsehoOd OF the unknown, uhAnoWaQle,
and mpersOna 1t could hardly have been constructed
definitely or appropriately for that. or aSan; IL
1t had been intended to demonstrate SPECIAL gre
Of by the Almighty, as OF creature Idue ~ MS
own moral image, 10 dwell Win himself piftaker Oh
his own divine nature ana Dssseuness oLeNei Al VrPo
si.iOn the madness Ot the teachings OF EVOutlO1
that man, OF all other realities OF the UNIVERSE was the
least created at all being last Vi a anu @
from the creative touch aud sympdty OF Dey ~ IN
calcuable millions OF ages, ana equally incdieuaoie
millions of separate species, separate ana YET ans
tOua, through all those; so that even though the mr.
embryOlc particle OF pr0OplasIn demonstrated DJ PfO
Huxley through the miscrOSSopG might nav ieS tuo
touch of creative power the last PERFECTION OF the
infinite series could NOT the sOul OF ndh cOu NOT anu
vet might be a soul might be that supernatural pro-
duct essence OF thinking SOUL as the last eiort OF
the conservative correlation and conversion OF force
darling suddenly across inc gun never oIioe DrluRet
between matter and spirit; u the BLDG had been ln
and provide an andOte beforehand against its foreseen
mischief, it could hardly have been constructed more
Sow the latest assumption of these scientific teachers
that there is God because nature has no need OF
him, Nature good enough and capable enough Of run
nng force OF steam power and It's eternal generation
without him. Nature can take care Of herself by di-
| receive agency OF natural selection and moderate
tendency TO variation providing FOR new species and
croWdlng down the old when this cycle Is fulfilled 10
| give place 10 survivors, But what becomes of the
axiom that nature never jumps chasnsf what can be
impossible chasm If the interval between uhreas0
Ous moral sense OF man be not such chasmf Yet the
according to Prof. Helmhoz, produce, life, soul,
reason, aud all things that exist suppose We could
get all the molecules OF matter together just as they
started first hand from nature" Prof Tyndall asks
would the result be without supernatural power
| sentient human being think it would" Aud Prof
Huxley that If he could have been himself exist
ent observer Of the gOngs OF nature. infinite
computation. he might have and known the be-
ginnngs of life from natural material forces. OF course
who think thus flor this Is not reasoning from facts
indeed is reasoning at ALL but only cOniecture
must conclude TO be the only known God, and
the evolution OF natural force the only providence OF
God.
Charles Babbage years ago applied the Intensity
and accuracy Of mathematical reasoning to tue eXpo-
sion of the sophstry OF Hume In regard to the improb
ability Of miracle. He proved IL was more PROBABLE
under the existing positions thousand To one. Mr.
BaDbages calculating engine was profound marvel or
mathematical science and intelligence acting III tho
direction OF known mathematical necessity ana GER
tainty IL must the same way through prac-
teal eternity, and would be found acting through all
known periods and combinations OF numbers And this
can be demOnstraed but the demonstration cannot DO