The Arkansaw traveler., 1883-05-05
,BEECHER.
The Famous Divine Delivers His New Lecture, :" Evolution and Rev
 olution.'
iChicago Tribune.

1tnlTdi tiuSlC ndil Was Hiicu lASl ilisUt with fashionable and popular audience. to hear the Rev. Henry Ward Beeoher deliver his new lecture on Evolution and Revolution" Some of the more or ,hodox of his hearers occasionally wineed under the influence Of his startling asser- ticns. but soon .orgo, their as;onishment under the influence of the charm of his rhetoric. and were iresisibly carried along by the curren, of his logic. until they iorgo, their prejudice. and )oined in ;he general applause.
 Thomas K. heeeheF introduced ,he lee iurer, in the following words Ladies and gentlemen have the honor and he pleasure of introducing to your iavor- able regard my young brother. the mos; famous heretic of the age. Applause, l
 The distinguished divine spoke as fol- lows:
 The subject on which an 10 speak tonight. is one of some difficulty for d promiscuous audience, in that. to some extent, it turns on subjects which are sci entihc, and out of the region of ordinary reading and investigation. do not pro- pose to prove the doctrine of evolution. nor to attempt such an exposition of i, as would be made by any professor O. sci enlist. but only so far to allude to i, as to lay the foundation for the real discus sion of the evening namely: Granted ail that sae extremest views of evolution demand. will il work change destruction of great christian doctrines That 1t will work revolution in philosophy. we know :: that 1t has largely revolutionizcd science, is an ind:sputable fact that i, is to throw light upon political economy. upon na- iional life and development, there can be TO doubt, if Il holds successfully the grounds which seem to have been won by II. Will lit change our conceptions of God. of man, of destiny: and if so. to take them away, or to enlarge them. purify them of barbarisms, and establish them on solid grounds of science.
 What is evolution. In its briefest form. it may be said to be theory of gradual creation. as distinguished from theory of immediate creation. The old view. founded upon certain passages of scripture. rhetorical and poetical, believed that everything was made at once, and by the positive command of God, '' Let there be light, anl there was light" He commanded, and 1t stood fast. There is something sublime and dramatic in this conception of supernatural power, and this has been the undisturbed belief for ages, that everything, the earth itself. was wheeled into existence by divine command; that all the vegetable king dom lay in book of design before God. and He commanded the grass, and shrub, and tree, and they sprang out, as an architect draws the plan of house, and straightway i, comes into being: that all insects, that the fish of the sea, that all reptiles, that all the four-fooied beasts of he wilderness, or in domestici,y, came into life upon the special ordinance and commands of God. the creator.
 Ina, is the old view. The new view does t away entirely. It transfers the di- vine feat from individual and immediate creation, to the general design of God, lying far back in ye, obscure and unde- veloped causes, in the nature of things which He had implanted-generic. as distinguished from special. To begin a, the remotest days, Il Is held that the ether. impalpable, invisible, has in it se- creted inherent elements by which it gradually passes through changes 10 con- densed forms, to fluids, at last to solidity, @NsN Ns~Af " 6sa4~AbAS, S@0 'A1s Ny%so- pean changes, it becomes 1t for the lower forms of life in vegetation l; afterwards, the fish tribes then the tribes in which are ranked the vermin, as it were then the four-footed beasts: and last, man: and that that same tendency to unfold is not only among nations and men, but in every element ofreligion, in every element of social life. in every governmental element; so thai. as tree first starts from . single seed, throwing down its roots, up its stem, branch after branch, in steady succession and evolution, until it comes to the period ofipeness, and shows then it's Rowers, and it's fruit, and its seed, and at last is con- summated by a series of continuous un- foldings-so the whole world has been, so man has been. Now, this doc;Jne has itself been subject 10 evolution. as all great discoveries of truths are. II had its infancy when a few men, such as Newton and Calilleo had the honor ol being the great heresics Of the;r age. esanHsuu <roxv, .k kssx S.i