The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-02-09
CHURCH OF THE MESSIAH.

evolution the Law OF Ltfe"-Th1s age
the Infancy OF tho World-Sermon by
the Rev. Henry Powers.
The Rev. Henry Powers, pastor Of the Church OF
the Messiah, Thirty-ourth street and Park avenue,
selected as his theme yesterday morning, "EyOiu.
ton the Law OF Life,' his text being l. John, ill.,,
O. In part-'Tt doth not yet appear what We shall
be"-and the reason IL, Mr.. Power said, 1t cannot
yet appear In the nature Of things, for the time Is
not yet, the conditions are not adequate, the de-
velopment has not progressed far enough for this
manifestation to be made. since man does not
come suddenly to the maturity Of his powers, as
Minerva sprang, full-orbed and In pan0ply CON-
plete, from the brow Of Jove.
In common with ell the works OF God man is
subject to the law OF evoution-t e., his lie is a
progressive one; "nrst that which Is natural, then
that which Is SPIRITUAL; ''nrst the blade, then the
ear then the full corn in the carr 1--WE all,r says
the apostle, "beholding, as In a mirror the glory
OF the Lord, are changed from glory TO glory as by
the Spirit OF the Lord.n The words are wondrousy
applicable to the whole history OF man; for, in the
world, as In splendid mirror. we see procession
OF images, suggesting an eternal beauty and
power from which they dow. But when we con-
ader our own life we ind that even ourselves are
ssdcn stun as dreams are made on" changing
from moment TO moment OF admiration or terror,
Joy or fear, in the waves Of the same light that
makes Tue mtTTOFcu SCENE. Iudt WHICH eutHcS
without shines within US also. The knowledge,
feeling, desire and seltcontrol into which we
grow come to US mwardly by the power Of the
same endless life that shows itself in the
VISION OF CREATION.
OF course 1t does not follow that God Is nature
and nature Is God, for it Is with something more
than poetic insight that Mr.. Tennyson asks
Is not the vision He-hougn he be not that which He
seemsf
And again
If could see and hear this vision
were it not Her
And again, in his contemplation Of Hower in
the crannied wall
What you are, root and all, and all in all,
| should know what God and man is.
That is. God is the one In the many; the funess
in each thing making it ga part and proportion OIL
one wondrous WHOLE" And SO, no doubt, II we
could know the ''alr' of the simplest flower we
should know the all of the universe. Yet God Is
! not that which seems or is seen-viz., division,
distinctness and individual life. There are rela-
! tions and forms OF thought which serve to mani
fest God. They are not God for In the totally Of
things these vanish away.
law OF life in everything we mean not God but the
method OF Gods manifestations we mean the i'm
m REVi within Limited area by the phenomenal
succession OF all things and events, which begins
In vagueness and ends IN denniteness and order,
and such an infinite variety OF forms as alone can
be accounted for by the assumption oil transcend
ent whole from which they spring. Evolution Is q
progression from the simple to the complex; rom
what Is homogeneous, or what is the same kind,
to what is Heterogeneous or OF different KIND. 1t
Is completely coming out or simplicity, heterO-
geneity coming from what is homogeneous. Here
is an acOrn-a simple seed. cut 1t open and find
it very much alike throughout plant 1t IN the
earth, and presently q change takes place. The
seed puts forth a germ. There has been dir
ferentiation or action Of reparation at work. so
that the acorn Is seen not as a homogeneous mass
but heterogeneous growth Instead. The seed
continues 70 grow until 1t Is evolved into the stem
leaves; and Just so long this process goes on It
Is advancing from the simple to the complex state
Of being Now, what undertake to say is that
this Law Of evolution
RULES THE UNIVERSE
OF God; that IT has BEEN Is now, and ever shall be
the method OF His wise and bene1cent action in
and through 1t all; that not by spasmodic effort
at widely separated periods OF time does God Gre
ate and then desert his creatures, but by the
steady potency OF His indweling power ne forms
and makes complete the objects OF His love, and
links them all together from the lowest to the
highest, in one grand chain OF manifested life. And
the proof OF this assertion Is the facts OF the
ton as they are known to us In the realms OF both
mind and matter. Take, first, the knowledge We
have OF the planetary spheres-the stars and
worlds and suns that roll in the blue vault above.
30 called, which is now the accepted theory OF the
genesis or the universe, because it explains she
be true, then In the very beginning OF things we
md this law OF progress by evolution, the simplest
aery we gst the vartv OF manv U %ord
Look now at this world we live on, and take the
pictured panorama OF It's genesis, which Is found
at the commencement OF our Bible Leaving out
all minor details what Is It for substance that we
there read First that there was time when
the earth was without form and void,n was a
great mass OF homogeneous pulp or photoplasm
or whatever we may choose to call 1t, ana very
much In the state, In act In which science tells US
the world has certainly Deen at some remote
period Of time. Then we read that "the Spirit OF
God moved upon the face OF the waters" and our
latest authorities tell Us that
MOTION IS THE BEGINNING
Of all progress, the science OF all DEVELOPMENT
Next we learn that light and heat appear in con-
nectlon with fertility and vegetation, and the
differentiation OF life and we at last come to know
that heat and light are only modes OF motion.
And so the account goes on, tracing the
progress OF the worlds development through
the organization OF classes and orders
and species among fishes, reptiles, birds and
beasts. until the elimination s found In man. and
age on age has elapsed before the process Is
brought so far. But what was man when he frst
appeared UPON tots planet Aodern science tells