The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1885-03-25


$50, 3SD. This blending of scientific
and religious truth involves to the ordi
nary reader a confusion of terms which
to the author are doubtless distinct, and
a conflict with that scriptural theology
which the author so earnestly believes.
The radical distinctions of the spiritual
world" (p. 21) do not appear. The spirit
ual world can be said to follow in or
derby sequence" the organic only so far
as its inhabitants retain their original
knowledge, righteousness, and holiness !;
a fall from this destroys the continuity
with the organic; and even so far, only
human inhabitants can be said to "util-
ize the materials of the organic and the
inorganic, while pure spirits have no APP
parent connection with these. The au-
thor, however, does not so restrict his
meaning; he includes not only those
originally holy but those born of the Holy
Spirit. He means the kingdom of grace,
and apparently Identifies those in it by
nature and those by grace. Yet Adamic
man and renewed man stand on different
footings before G and, granting that
the spiritual follows the organic in one
sense we may not concede it IN the other.
The kingdom of grace does not follow the
organic as this the inorganic. 1t is not
merely another step in process OF evo-
luton. Grace is no part of nature or OF
natures original order or energy. 1t
does not utilize the material of the
organic as this that of the inorganic.
The force by which men are renewed is
not merely new form of that energy by
which the processes of life are carried on.
There is also play on the phrase
natural man" which may denote either
an original or an actual state. In trees
and birds, the natural state is both orig
inal and actual for with minor modifca-
tions, they are as God created them in
man it means only actual state for he is
not as God created him. He has ceased
frcm his original state. He Is natural
because he is no longer spiritual. Origi-
nal and actual are no more synonymous
in mans case than sin and holiness, and
term which covers both senses is liable
to abuse. The author cannot seriously
mean that man is endowed simply with
high quality Of the natural animal life"
We must believe that he recognizes the
penal character of mans natural state
and sees In it the ruins OF spiritual life,
and not only high quality of animal
lite. We may not argue, therefore, from
the limitations of birds which are origi-
nal, to all the limitations of man, some
OF which are penal. The likeness is APP
parent only.
Sin is breach of continuity. 1t gives
evolution and vitiates every theory which,
like the authors, would pass in orderly
sequence" from the organic to the spirit.
ual. The spiritual world receives the
natural man not by utilizing the mate
rails of corrupt on but by creating him
a new man In Christ Jesus. The fall
marked the abrupt termination of the
original plan-or process of evolution, If
the author chooses-ot human life. I'll
turned man downwards, and if this direc-
ton is to be reversed, a plan, new to us
and beyond human wisdom, must be de-
vised. 1t must be based too not on crea-
ton, bnt on the promise of the seed and
recognize catastrophe changes both In
" organism and environment"
The author is too earnest too evangel-
icai In his theology to accept conse-
Juences like these. Indeed, he mentions
the sudden and hopeless barrier (p
405) interposed by theology between the
natural and the spiritual" and the ca
tastrophe" introduced by. Christianity
Up. 1867; the fundamental distinctions
of Christianity from the world below it
Up. 394) the gulf between the natural
and the spiritual compared to which
that between the organic and the inor-
ganic is hairs breadth" (p. 92); but
we are dealing with the theory and not
with the man, and we fail to discern the
of these distinctions where they
are most vital. 1t seems ungracious to
find fault when the theory lends such
impressive emphasis to certain aspects OF
truth but integrity of doctrine out
weighs in value emphasis OF any one part.
1t Is dangerous to teach unconverted
men that they differ from Christians as
the stone from the tree, lest they con-
clude that their responsibility is no
greater than the stones.
The effect of this theory upon our
views Of divine truth can only be referred
to. The author likens our ignorance of
things spiritual to the minerals ignor-
ance of plant life it is not an arbitrary
spell but scientific necessity Opp. II, !
78). If 30, mans ignorance is no fault
of his, and Gods revelation is not of
grace but an original necessity of our
being. Man surely is dead to the voice
Of God in a sense very different from
that in which the plant is dead to the
r 4 L. T.