The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-05-26
Mr.. BEECHER ON EVOLUTION.
knowledge of God Derived from Mans
Moral Experience and Intuition.
The Human Race Began at Very Low, but
Not the Lowest Point, and Cannot Now BE
Connected with the Lower Animals.
New York Special, 2lth.

Plymouth Church was crowded to its utmost
capacity to-day, in view of the commencement
of Mr.. Beechers series of sermons on Evolution
in Religion Aisle seats and extra chairs filed
every available space, and even the pulpit stairs
were blockaded. Mr.. Beecher selected as his
texts:
And this is life eternal that they might kow thee,
the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast
sent.-John xvii, 3.
But grow in grace and in the knowledge Of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Chrst.-II Peter. ill., 10.
lie said: Eternal life through the knowledge
OF God as made known in Jesus Christ--is there
anything beyond that in the aspiration of devout
and earnest menl Gods likeness and immortal
ity-what has all the world to offer higher,
nobler than thatl To know God-can it be done9
The very questions which excite the thinking
world to-day more than overland they have al
ways fingered in the atmosphere of thought-are
of such nature as these: Is there God, per
sonal, creative, sustaining, governingl If yes,
then is it possible for the human mind to prove
His existence9 Can we no. more than hope or
dreaml If there be God, is it possible for the
limited intelligence of man to understand His
ture or His dispositions
In reply to all these the Holy Scriptures teach
that there is personal conscious, intelligent
God; that the scope of His whole nature does not
lie beyond the reach of the human mind, but
that enough of the divine will and disposition
may be known to constitute ground and reason
for alteration, and love, and obedience to His
will, whether that will be made known by the
natural and material world, or by the moral ex-
periences of man in society.
In this discourse pass by the question Of the
nature, if l might say so, the structural idea of
God. and in the spirit of my text consider how
mankind may to knowledge of God by
growth in grace.
1t is simply exposition Of the truth that
the knowledge of God is to be derived chiefly
from the moral experience and the moral intui-
ton of mankind. Evolution in moral experience
is the ground and reason of evolution in the
knowledge OF God. The knowledge Of God is
not simply announced to 1t does
not fall upon US as the rain falls upon
the plants, nor as the light shines on the visible
things of creation, The knowledge of God in
its elemental forms l. developed in first and
its application to the divine nature is gradually
unfolded in us afterwards. suspect that men
at large suppose that God made Himself known
to men simply by declaring to them what He
was, and that it was enough for God to say, Il
am eternal. | am all powerful. I am holy.
wise, just and good" and that thatwas the end
of it, or rather the beginning of a true knowl-
edge. But shall show that it was impossible
that any such thing as that should take place.
For, although there was, and abundantly, the
annunciation of Gods own disposition, purposes,
will and nature yet they were made afterward,
and in consequence cf foregoing experience in
human Kind, which enabled them to understand
| Him when He spoke.
| 1t is true that he explicitly declares his will
and disposition to mankind, but only after man
kind had, by unfolding, by development, made
| it possible for them to understand the divine
or ac mi terra fY1ra 10
dependent upon the alphabet, each letter of
which is nothing in itself, but when under prop
er combination spells out all knowledge and all
wisdom so all moral elements are dependent
upon a certain alphabet, and that alpha is the
faculties of the human soul. 1t is by the COM
bination of them that come to the true
knowledge of things spiritual and divine
The question of the origin Of man is in many
respects yet uncertain and debatable 1t is by
no means proved that he was evolved from the
inferior mammalian world, though many posi-
lively believe it, Whatever analogies or proba-
billties there may be, and there many, there
is yet no demonstration, or anything thatlooks
like absolute proof nor do | see yet how any
bridge can be constructed over the abyss
between man and his ancestors, if
such there We're in the animal, in
| an absolute certainty. But that the human race
| began at a very low point, as compared with
! civilized and Christian men, there can scarcely
| be doubt. There is a difference between say
|
! or evo!ution but that the human kind entered
/ the world, not at the top Of perfection in golden
! age, but at the very bottom, and In the age of
/ clay and iron, can hardly be doubted by anyone
who has made himself acquainted with modern
| scientific research 1t is not necessary, there
fore, that VIC should push the origin of the race
below the line of mammals into the inferior
! tribes.
There is no reason why it should not go there.
if it did, but we do not need to assume that view
of the matter 1t is sufficient to say that, far
| as the primitive men were concerned, they en-
tered life in the lowest savage or barbaric condi-
| TONS
1t is almost an absolute certainty that tho hui
man race appeared on earth long periods before
there was any such chronology as the church has
| hitherto held. The 5000 years Of Archbishop
Usher dwndle into a mere comma, compared
| with the geologic certainties OF this matter.
| In other words, thereis believed to have been
tens of thousands of years that men were i'm
! creasing on earth before there is any account OF
| their occupation, laws, institutions of develop
ment, in arts of living in knowledge or in NOR
/ atty. There is vast desert in antiquity whore
races were developing themselves before real
! history TURKS its eyes upon them. The i'm
| portance of this lies in the fact that in this pri
| mary stage the race was developing these moral
| elements which would make it possible for men
| to understand the moral character of God. It
| was period of incubation. We know that IL is
! impossible to instruct the line of animals next
! below man. the most intelligent of them. We
know it is impossible to instruct the lower tiers
| of nen by the development of the higher There
| is a gulf fixed between the higher knowledges OF
/ human civilization and tho lower range OF bar
/ barrie ideas that is as wide as that between the
| rich man and Abraham.
| 1t is not possible to convey to an inferior
| being the character and emotions OF the su-
| perior, unless there has been developed IN the
! inferior elemental forms of that knowledge which
| it is attempted TO convey.
] YOU can't make a man understand justice who
has never learned to be just. You cannot make
! a naturally filthy brute OF savage man under.
stand the beauty OF order aud cleanliness until
he has learned something himself of it, Ami
mails understand some physical truths in com
mon with man, but the sphere of common under
standing is very small, and at stephan rises to
higher elements. even in those things common TO
him and the most intelligent animals. Men and