The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-06-30
THE PROBLEM OF CREATION.
Providence in It's Relation to the Nat
ural Laws Of the Universe.
Fallacy ofthe Scientific Theory of The Origin
Of Matter-God Visible Only to Faculties
Diyerging Upon the Divine.
New York Special.


Evolution and Religion which woald then be
printed in book form, and in the fall he proposed
taking up some of the deeper questions MS to the
whole truth Of religion. The sermon to-day was
the sixth in the series. The topic was Design
and Evolution
ITO whom will We liken Me- and mako Me eqnal.
XVI. s.
There is TO attempt in the Hebrew Scriptures
to give definite form to God, strict analysis,
nor any comprehensive theory, MS we speak of
things in modern timcs-the philosophy OF
things. There is no philosophy Of God made
known in the Bible, any more than there is
science in nature. Science is the recognition Of
things pre-existng by men; and philosophers and
theologies are the consciousness ana the Intel
lectual view of men respecting the facts that
exist in the Bible.
1t was expressly forbidden, indeed, that there
should be any form given TO God. They were
not to be allowed to make images, and the spirit
of it is just as strong against pictures. 1t de-
grades God in the mind and ina gination Of men
to limit Him by forms and matter There Is. TO
be sure, addressed, not to the senses, but to tho
imagination, some form given to God by de-
scriptions of Isaiah, Daniel, John. the apocalyp-
tic writers; but even then there was no very
definite form, but sublime indehnitcness, so
that probably every Imagination sees differently.
There was The description of will, the quality
of disposition the attribute of power and glory,
but they were all diffused through time and
space, and with indefinite outlines The word
pictures in Isaiah and Daniel, and the revelation
of John, though descriptions they are symbols
nd ~
at once reduced by art to definite form not only
lost all their beauty, but are worse than
grotesque; they are ridiculous as any
man may see on looking at Van Eycks
pictures of the German school of the
lamb with seven eyes and ten horns, holding
something in his split hoof which represents the
hand. Indeed, even as symbol, and magma
lively considered, it is all we do to read those
symbols of the prophets and apocalyptlc writer's,
but to reduce them to absolute form is preposter-
Gus.
And the same thing we see in literature, The
Aries of Shakespeare are charming when they
are read. but ridiculous when they acted. IL 10
something that is so subtle and belongs to so
high and tenuous an atmosphere that we can rot
bear it in flesh and blood form; and the same
thing is found in Scripture. Personality,
however, running through every phase Of
human knowledge, purposes, persuasive Force
emotion, the tides and moods duress, fore
sights, control, design, providence, special and
universal, together with those fountains of
emotion from which spring all those affections
and all those heroic dispositions in which
the whole world worship in this great man
these are all Scripture revelations Of God al
ways the Scripture development of God, which
conforms to the fact of infnity and to the I'M
searchable in time and in space. 1t is then re-
markable that the process of scientific unfold
ing finds itself in close analogy with this mode
of treatment of the Divine Being, and men think
that because theology has changed its whole
method, which made up God on arithmetical
PLAN and exactly described all his attributes and
located them and their functions and articulated
every part, until they had got complete me-
chanical and imaginary god-that anything that
changes the idea Of God in the popular mind and
renders it more simple and less unsearchable
must be wandering away from the truth. 1t is
going back toward truth; going back toward the
divine nature. The formulation Of the divine
nature where it becomes definite, CRYSTALLINE,
philosophic, is n perpetual affront to the method
of Gods revelation, whether in Scripture or in
science
Science at length, is tending to relieve tho
world of the OSCILLATIONS Of the Greek philos-
ophy and Of the hard and organic materialism
of the Roman mind, and Of the ignorant analysis
and Guibbling refnements of the school men and
of medieval logic It's not without reason, then,
that Christian men have looked upon the tend
ency of science to destroy the beliefs Of men in
certain fundamental notions of God with appre-
hension and alarm.
The question Of design has been supposed to
be overthr0wn by the inevitable tendencies %
science The reality OF the general and special
providence Of God has been supposed to be in
compatible with the deductions of science. The
scope and use Of prayer have been ridiculed by
science The possibility of miracles. ending in
the impossibity of that greatest of all, the i'm
carnation of Jesus Christ-all these have troubled
men of faith. and without any reason; without
any just reason.
at least TO discuss two of those matters. The
question of design in creation, and the question
of general and special providence, as they
stand related, not to Scripture testimony alone,
but as they stand related to what we now know
of the course of natural law in this world. The
theistic view think--that is the view Of Mr.
Haeckel, one of the ablest scientists Of Ger
many, though not altogether the safest to
trust the view that this world needs no God
that it has in itself provision for all the phenom
that have taken place-instead of simplify
ing matters and relieving US, makes matters still
more difficult to comprehend Atheism taxes
credulty great deal more than even the most
superstitous notions do There is nothing in
human experience which can furnish O basis for
believing the origin and the progress of the
world gifts own self without an external infu-
ence Time and matter being given and certain
laws established. then the world. to be sure
could be unfolded. as it is taught by evolution,
but where was the matter and where were the
laws that directed it through the uncountable
periods and gave to it system, gave to it
progress; gave to it direction, not only but gave
to it organic symmetry No man can believe
that things happen of themselves There is
always prior force to effect and that is
wrought into the very, / mad almost
said, common sense of mankind, and
perhaps i might quite say Of that
term. so much abused common sense But the
origin of matter what matter u.s. we do not
know any better than do what tho spirit ID,
the mind, the soul We are absolutely ignorant
- =. ~