The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-01-07
EOOLLSH TALE

the lower animals, and that this doctrine
Is now taught in our best colleges.
The Chicago Interior notices the dis
cusslon which has sprung up on the
subject, and after saying in substance
that it does not agree with the hide
pendent; that it believes the creation
of man occupied the brief time which
any plain reader would infer from read
ing the text adds that it is all, how
ever matter of little moment. 1t re-
marks
If any opponent of Christianity should come
to us and prove to us that God occupied mil
llon OF years IN shaping and animating the dust
OF the ground, we should merely turn to him and
ask, We'll, what of it? He has not told us how
He did it, nor how long the time was that He
employed. This is not said by way of hedging
against the effect of such demonstration upon
the Christian faith. Such demonstration is
impossible, in the very nature of things. 1t
would require the proof of negative proposition
which lies In a region beyond the reach of anv
such proof. But we say it to show how idle Is
the rationalistic enginery, and how futile it
would be against Christianity even if it accom-
pllshed all that is claimed for it, So far from
loosenlng the foundations of the fortress. these
theories do not even drive in the outer line of
theological pickets and it is a gross Injustice
not to say worse, for the defenders of Christian.
lty to tell these young college students, who are
under evolutionistic instruction, that our foun-
cations are so suspicious and unreliable We
do not hold our title to immortality and to the
precious truths of the gospel by any such feeble
tenure They shine brighter in the best lights
OF science to-day than they did in the night of
ignorance five hundred years ago, and they will
continue to shine"
This is alive do not mean to be dis
courteous foolish 1t does make
difference whether man was gradually
evolved from the lower animals, as the evo-
Iutionists teach. Let us see if it does not.
If evolution be true as to man, then in
the tertiary age and the early quater-
nary human beings began to crop out
from some lower animal forms, and grad
ually multitude of anthropoidal speci-
mems appeared upon the earth, part
monkey, part man, By a process Of i'm
provement, these forms were gradually
shaded off into veritable human beings
like those whose remains are found in
the older bone-caves of Europe We arc
the descendants of these progenitors.
Now can the Interior reconcile this
with the story of the Fall, and the doc
trine of Original Sin? VIII the Interior
inform us what becomes of the Fede-
raj Headship Of Adam under such state
of facts? If this evolution doctrine is
true, how did sin enter into the world,
and how did it happen that all of us
who are alive to-day are sinners?
Again, how shall this evolution doc
trine be reconciled with the longevity of
Adam? Did our Simian ancestors live
$50 years?
What is the meaning of the Apostles
declaration, By one man sin entered
into the world? And if sin did not en-
ter by one man, and the story Of the Fall
be all unscientifc land false then what
about "the second Adam and the
Atonement?
Just let the theologians concede this
point to the scientists, and they will have
us exactly where they want us. After
IhtJ nave ODldlneu Iue concession tnat
the evolution of man does not touch any
Christian doctrine, then their philoso-
pliers will proceed to show by irrefrag-
able logic that it has upset every Chris
tan doctrine-and that the whole science
of Christian Theology is a humbug.
There is no scientific evidence that man
was evolved from the lower animals, and
it is important to make this appear for
thousands are asserting Cike the Tade-
pendent and our current popular litera-
ture) that the thing is fact, and that
the old Bible ideas are false And at
this juncture, persons that ought to know
better, like the editors Of the INTERIOR
come forward and say, " Oh, it makes no
diference-let them prove; it has no
bearing one way or the other on our the
ology."
Let it be once proved, and you will see
whether it has any bearing or not. The
interior would be run as a secular paper
in a month