The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1885-03-25
For the Central Presbyterian.
Of" Natural Law in the Spiritual
World

w Or1Q.
Prof. Drummond defines his subject
very precisely phenomena but laws,
not analogies but identity.
"The natural laws, as the law of con-
tinuity might we'll warn us, do not stop
with the visible and then give place to a
new set of laws bearing strong simili-
tude to them. The laws of the invisible
are the same laws, projections of the nat
ural not supernatural Up. 1D.
This doctrine he protects against a
seeming disregard of the personal rela-
ton with God; of the presence of mys-
terry; of the new laws which appear in
each higher kingdom of the differences
in the substances acted on; of the invisi-
bility Of natural laws in higher spheres
The result is in many respects salts
factory, and its originality of thought
and novelty of subject have ensured the
book wide circulation Old doctrines
appear In new light, and are freshened
by the change; fears of conflict are in
many cases dissipated and stern scrip
tural truth is taught to scientific men In
their own dialect. The necessity of the
new birth, backsliding, the death of the
soul, growth in grace, modification of the
flesh, eternal life, completeness in Christ,
likeness to Him, Journalism, and the dis
tlnctve features OF the new life are set
forth In a luminous, captivating style.
One cannot resist consciousness of in
justice in passing the many excellent
features of this book with so slight no
tice and If a review were contemplated
the injustice would be real: to enlarge
on these would, however, exhaust the
space and leave the purpose OF the writer
unaccomp lished.
There are certain features of Professor
DrummonG's theory which are of more
than doubtful value, and on some points
serious criticism seems unavoidable So
far as these are purely scientific or phil
osophical, mere mention must suffice.
Thus the illustration OF degeneration
from the sightless eyes of the mole and
the fish of the Mammoth Cave, depends
for its value on Mr.. Darwin interpreta-
ton of rudimentary organs as parts afro.
phied by disuse, while they may as plau-
sibly be viewed as rudiments or begin
nings rather than remnants (ArgylD
Principal Dawson too, in recent paper,
criticises the authors picture of the her
mit-crab (Semi Parasitlsm) as "carica-
ture" and especially Objectionable"
Nor is it necessary to enter on the ques.
ton whether another kingdom should be
interposed between the organic and the
spiritual (p 409) Suffice it that if Bio
genesis separate the organic from the in
organic, 1t also separates the animal from
the man. Consciousness Is not self.con
sciousness. The gulf may not be as wide
as between the conscious and the uncon.
scious, but it is as deep, and no process
of evolution can span it.
These are unimportant as compared
with another objection which is both
scientific and practical-scientiic in that
the theory ignores in many cases the facts
on which it should be constructed, prac-
teal in the nature of these facts, sin
To the author the scheme OF nature in
cludes three Kingdoms, inorganic, organic,
and spiritual the third following the
second in sequence as orderly as the Sec
ond follows the first, kingdom utilizing
the materials of both the kingdoms be-
meath it, containing their laws and above
all, accounting for these lower kingdoms
in legitimate way and complementinR
them in The only known way" (p. 400
The distinction between them "a Chris
tian and non ChristiaD) is the same as
that between the organic and the inor-
ganic, the living and the dead. The
natural man belongs essentially to this
present order Of things; he is endowed
simply with high quality Of the natural
animal life" Opp 81, 82) "The mineral
remains in the inorganic world until it is
seized upon by something called life
ontside the inorganic world; the natural
man remains the natural man, until a