The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1876-12-02
EVOLUTION.

EVOLUTION.
appeared an editorial headed Evolution" the
writer of which without the temerity to deny the
truth OF Christianity, would still show us that he
is bold enough to assert a belief in a theory which
" may appear to be inconsistent with the Biblical
version of the creation of the animal kingdom"
He acknowledges that the creation of Adam de
moro out of dust, and OF Eve out of one of his ribs,
according to the Book of Genesis, is inconsistent
with the theory he would uphold that the age of
the world according to Scripture, and its age ac-
cording to Science, are wholly discrepant, and
that the discrepancy bears heavily against the
truth of those portions of the Bible, at least, from
which the inference relating to time is derived
and yet he would with the most manifest incon-
s%istency assert the existence of harmony between
the Evolution hypothesis and a Christianity that
would mean nothing except as based upon the
truth of the Biblical history of creation. " If ye
believe not Moses and all the Prophets, neither
will ye believe though one should be raised from
the dead" And how can an expressed disbelief
in them be consistent with a belief in Christ,
whose coming was foretold by the Prophets, and
to whom Christ himself refers in no other terms
than would indicate them as truthful Messengers
from God?
The Evolution hypothesis gives us no reason to
believe in the scheme of salvation through a
Mediator and Redeemer but, on the contrary,
the immutable law which it recognizes as perVad-
ing the Universe precludes the possibility of mira
Gle, upon which the authenticity of the Bible en-
tirely depends. Appeal to miracle was the testi-
mony with which Christ sought to impress the
human mind with the reality of his divine origin
and mission and, if we deny one belief the other
must of necessity fall with it.
1t is perhaps, here, relevant to say, that the
most distinguished assertors of the evolution hy-
pothesis who have made their names heard in
every land, such as Herbert Spencer, and Huxley,
and Tyndall, and a host of others, make not the
least pretence to a belief in it's compatibility with
the doctrines of revealed religion. Revelation
tells us that man in the beginning was created
upright and in the image of his Maker; and that
instead of proceeding onward and upward from
this fair and high beginning, he sinned and be-
came degraded and lost, and hence it was neces'
sary for his recovery and restoration from his lost
estate, that a second dispensation be granted to
him, wherein it was the special work of the
"Second Adam that &" happier man TO
restore and regain the blissful seat - Of the
fallen race.
The theory of development gives us so different
an idea of the Creation as to make it, in the
usually accepted sense of the term, no creation at
all, accounting for difference in structure by no
immediate fiat of the Almighty, but by accidental
subsection to the influence OF never varying laws.
AS enunciated by the abettors of this doctrine,
We have the following concise summary of their
viaurc in room ri fO tho Dr0neSa concerned from
the pen of DR.. Draper:
Starting from q solitary cell, development
takes place, and, according as extraneous forces
may be brought into action, variable in their ma
ture. and differing in their intensity, the resulting
organism will differ. If such language may be
used, the aim of Nature is to reach a certain ideal
model or arehetype. AS the passage toward this
ideal model is more or less perfectly accomplished,
form after form, in varied succession, arises. The
original substratum or material is in every instance
alike for it matters not what may be the class of
animals or plants, the primordial germ, as far as
investigation has gone, is in every instance the
same The microscope shows no difference, but.
on the contrary, demonstrates the identity Of the
first cell, which if it passes but a little way on its
forward course, ends in the obscure cryptogamic
plant, or, if it runs forward toward reaching the
archetype, ends in the production of man. The di-
versity ofform that is eventually presented, depends
then, not upon the constitution or aspect of the
primitive cell, but upon the influence of the many
surrounding agencies to which it is exposed.
Organic beings are, therefore, the
materialized embodiment of what must take place
through the action of given forces, of a given in
tensity, and under given conditions on an evolv-
ing cell and though it may suit the purposes of
description to classify them into orders, general
species, or other subdivisions, it must never be
forgotten that these are artificial fctions, and have
no real foundation in nature
Now there may not be positive atheism in
volyed in this belief but what possible interest
is it to man to know that the mere existence of
a Great First Cause is not Incompatible herewith,
since it gives him no guarantee that his soul is to
live after him but every reason tie suppose
on the contrary, that he is no more immortal than
SO the beasts that PERISH
To overcome the difficulty which besets the idea
of mans immortality. we have either to accord to
each individual creature, without regard to its
position in the scale of creation, a capability of