The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1885-06-01
EVOLUTION AND RELIGION
The Second of Henry Ward Heecher's
Projected Ten Sermons.

The Second of Henry Ward Seecher's
Projected Ten Sermons.
New York, May 31.-The second of Beech
er's projected ten sermons upon Evolution
and Religion" was delivered to a large audi
ence In plymouth church this morning. The
sermon was read from manuscript. Hesaid in
part "that the whole world and entire universe
are the creation of God Is the testimony of the
Bible with the Jews and Christian. Rut how
he made them, whether by direct force of cre-
alive will or by gradual changes is by no means
so well agreed upon. But the world is not
chance, not creative fermentation, not self
development 1t is the product of an intelli-
gent being and of Divine will. We have
two records OF creative energy: One shows
how man was unfolded by the inspiration of
Gods nature, and the other is record or
revelation of physical state of Divine thought
in unfolding the history of matter. One is
Gods thought in the evolution OF natural
forces and the other in the evolution of mind.
1t 10 the Old Testament and the New in a sci
entitic sense and no one should turn in scorn
from the literature of the rocks written in the
hand of God all over the world. The ten
commandments written on stone are only a
paragraph in the book of nature. Science is
the translation of Gods revelation. There is
as much or more infdelity in regard to history
science has 9nfolded as in regard to the book.
Both revelations are of God, and they are to
be intelligently understood, united and har-
monized. The men who decipher the hierogly-
phics OF God ought to be honored and encour-
aged, but the bigoted theologists, ignorant
pietists and Jealous churchmen rail at these
adventurous surveyors of Gods handiwork
When men pretend to be inspired of God and
with grins and shallow ridicule, with veteran
jests and unproductive reasoning, enact feats
OF monkey in trying to prove that man did
not originate with that animal, we seem
likely to have internal evidence that such
was the case. (Laughter.)
1t is urged that science is unrine, and il will
not do to rest upon that, and that there will be
time to consider it when it becomes GER
tainty. Well, how is itwith the book? Is its
record any more stable than the record Of the
rocks? Theology seems like broom y ith in
finite splinters. If theologians attempt to
pour rdicule on legitimate doctrines; if scien-
t1hc investigation is less trustworthy than rev.
elstion, say no ground can be less tenabls.
Some call evolution pseudo.science, and
laugh to scorn the idea that man descended or
assembled from the monkey. The descent of
man from anthropoid apes is only hypothesis,
pressed by multitude of probabilities. It
throws light upon many problems in history
and life gained in no other way. [ incline not
to the belief but to the supposition that man is
an analogy to the rest of Gods work.
At what time and by what methods
he left behind his fellows and stood
on the spiritual ground that now separates him
from brutes is unknown. But it does not
change the destiny and moral grandeur of man
10 nold tne evolution OF the human from an in
ferior race, for evolution is q method Of crea-
tion accepted by the scientific world and few
venture to doubt it, while ninety.nine per
cent. OF the working, semitic men use this
theory and do not doubt its validity. They
are divided as to its causes and results, but ev-
cry decade brings them more and more to a
common belief, and without it all science
would fall back into unalloted atoms. 1t is
taught in all our schools and another genera
ton will regard it as the Capernacean theory
of astronomy or Newtonian theory of gravita-
tion.
Evolution is held by such Christian men of
science as Dana, gCongregationalst; LcCout,
of Presbyterians and Scotch Presbyterian at
that; Asa Gray, an Episcopalian; Mivart, a
Roman Catholic; Wallace, a Christian Spirit
ualist and by the Bishop of London. 1t will
oblige theology to be reconstructed, but it will
take away no ground OF true religion.