The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-06-13
EVOLUTION =, REGENERATION.
The Scientific Basis for the Bible Doc
trine, "Ye Must Be Born Again.
Gods Law of Development-Every New Order
a New Creation-Tne Spiritual Man Not
Evolved from the Natural

avenue VI. Il. Church. June IL
Text--Psalms xxxvi, 9-"For with thee is the foun-
tain u lfc."
A sudden outburst Of brilliant light dazzles
the eye and confuses thought. The splendid
achievements Of physical science in modern
times have so dazzled and confused multitude
Of people who had no fixed opinions that they
are ready to believe anything that comes to them
Endorsed by the name of a favorite scientist.
But there is nothing more misleading than the
confounding of theories with facts. The scien-
tifc theory touching this problem of life is evo-
Independently, it is materialism. Now,
in the. first place, desire to call
your attention to the historical fact
that this doctrine or theory that the
phenomena of sensation and thought are the re-
suit of atomic combinations and that there is
no substance in the universe but matter is as
old at least the fourth century before the Chris
tian era Demoeritus. the founder of the atomic
theory died 36l years before the birth of Christ
Nineteen years before his death Epicurus was
born, who elaborated the theory of materialistic
philosophy, to the essential principles of which
its modern scientific advocates have made no
additions. Owing, perhaps, to the overshadow
ing influence of the higher philosophy Of Arts
totle aud Hlato, and the supernal truths of
Christianity. it did not exert much influence over
the human mind or have any part in the progress
of human thought, until the writings of Hobbies
and the sensational philosophy of Locke opened
the way for the movement towards materialism
that manifested itself in the eighteenth century.
In the second place. we know that modern scien
lists are divided on this question of evolution;
that while there are many profound thinkers
and leading minds of the age supporting it,
ify nf liSha MI an of
in Europe and America oppose It. In
the third place, it is well for us to know that
there is some truth in the theory. We know
that there is a most intimate relation between
the soul and the body; that the soul is known
to us only as connected with the body that it is
developed along with the powers and capacities
Of the body; that it is dependent on the body for
much Of its knowledge and enjoyment and that
the body stands at the head OF long series of
life manifestations, and that the organized ma
terial structure is essential to the highest per
lection and glory Of man-these are facts which
neither psychology nor Christianity denies
While the scientists keep to the work of I'M
folding the marvellous secrets Of nature, we will
sit at their feet and learn, and wonder, and ad-
nlire, but whenever they begin to trespass upon
other branches Of knowledge by speculation,
we must ask by what route do you come hither?
By the way Of evolution we are told. Yes,
evolution IS thu word sounded by the great quar-
terlies, echoed by the monthly magazines, re
echoed by ten thousand weekly and daily news
papers, aud championed by great pulpiteers.
The reverherations are caught up in every nook
and corner, and the hool-boy, when you
ask who made your will glibly
answer evolution Evolution is the Trojan horse,
in whose bowels concealed force of materiaistc
scientists. armed with fire mist" atoms
natural selection and 'protopiasm," have been
transplanted into the camp OF the believers in
God and Immortality.
Now, we do not unquafedly deny evolution.
That there is theory of evolution which is
true is accepted and firmly held by those who
deny materialism. But that the materalstc
theory of evolution, beginning with material
atoms and their inherent forces, asking for moth
ing more to account for the universe, we deny.
The theory that soul is product of matter in
any sense whatever or that it is so dependent
upon this material organism, which it in
habits, that. when the organism dissolves,
thought, feeling and volition die, as music dies
when the harp is broken, we deny upon the basis
of facts
facts of science and discovery can be clearly
shown to demonstrate this theory of develop
ment. For no one has yet shown, in any de-
partTnent of Gods works, the development of
anything above its own original 1t is Gods
plan to superadd, He does not bring out indi-
rectly by hidden or ndwelling forces, but He
creates new form when He needs higher. In
the beginning He created each days work dis
tinct work. with separate scrutiny and indi-
vidual verdict The living things of earth were
not developed from living things in the waters.
He made and completed each thing after its kind.
He has law OF development, but it is not for
the development Of one kind from another, but
for each kind TO develop itself to its own limit of
perfection, not to become something else. And
this is true, despite the seeming mystery of
worm. cocoon and moth. The same elements
enter into the minerals, vegetables and animals.
Differing in the quantities which they commin-
glo and combine. but they differ more in some
thing else The stone can never become veg
etable, nor the vegetable an animal;
each has its own peculiar function,
which is fulfilled by its being itself and not by
something else The mineral disintegrates and
its elements enter into vegetable composition,
but the stone. Of the highest order, is lower
than the lowest herb gand vegetable mold, and
the elements Of the vegetable may be incorpo
rated in the forms of the animal, but the lowest
form of animal life outranks the highest and
noblest OF the vegetable This is the fact
Nowhere in all history, never in all observation,
has the higher come from the lower by the de-
velopment of what was in the lower, but always
and invariably has the higher and nober been
achieved by the addition of something wanting
in the class below.
There is an apparent link by which the orders
are related to each other. but something more
than development is needed to make the one
from the other The step which is the dividing
line between all orders, and which marks the
limit which they cannot pass Is just as absolute
as though there were no seeming correspond
ence or relation of the one above to
the one below. The one is limited
in its development to its own class,
and Gods universal law forbids that it should
ever, under any circumstances become anything
else. The grades Of life and of formation,
which science has declared TO be the observed
order in creation, accord with the account given
in Genesis of the plan of the worlds construc-
ton God made the rocks flied as they are
with fossils and all the varied forms of vegetable
and animal life. 1t is ali creative. whether it be
the slow outcome of thousand ages from the
~ ffay or ha h,trcf IF
created beauty IN the twinkling of an eye, or
the flashing of n star. God, who created, has
marked out the boundaries of each class and
determined the scope of its power, as surely as
He has given line and limit.to the surging sea
So, in the spiritual kingdom, there is an indica
tion of the same process in the growth of man;
his highest is made possible not by the mere
development OF what is in him, but by the i'm
parting of something higher. There is a nat
ural and there is spiritual manhood. The