The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1888-06-03

louS ideas about man body being created
Immediately from the dust of the ground.
May there not be an evolution that will con-
sist with the truth of Gods word2 believe
the Bible, every word Of il, and | am COM
PEELED from my reading TO believe that 1t is
probably true that in the process of ages man
was evolved, rs TO his body, from some lower
animal. When | go out from this seminary
| will have to meet this question. II is dis
cussed in almost every scientific work, and
has many believers, therefore, for my own
sake, and the sake Of our holy re-
ligion, | must be able 10 harmonic
evolution and Scripture. BY the chair you
occupy you are bound togiye me instruction
ON this subject Should the doctor answer
ioung man, | know nothing about the
matter. II Is the universal understanding
of our church that the declaration of Gods
word is that man, As to his body, was created
of inorganic dust, and you must 20 believe.
And suppOsc.the young man were 10 say,
Doctor is il true that this is the universal
understanding OF the church? How docs Or.
McCosh stand? How does Prof. lctOmptc
stand? How does Prof Robert Flint stand?
How does Prof Drummond aud hosts Of
Others stand! Or going out of the PpsAy-
tcrian church, but keeping within the
church Of Christ there is Prof. Asa Gray,
Alex. Agassiz, Prof. Packard, the two Dinas,
Marsh, Ncrrill, Brewer Hcilprim, Cape,
Leidy and Lewis II is taught In the Uni
vorsity Of Virginia, Of Georgia, AMI many
Others, and almost all scientific thinkers and
writers the world over are cyolutiousts.
Last, but not least, VIM. T.. Gladstone, the
most colossal figure that now bcstridcs this
world, ina recent answer "a that top water OF
intidelity Bob lngcrspll who asserted that
"Mr. Darwin's discoveries carried Ia
their legitimate conclusion would destroy
the creeds and sacred Scriptures OF
mankind, said: "On what ground aud for
what reason is the system OF Darwin fatal To
the Scriptures and 10 crtcds? | DO not enter
into the question whether IL has passed from
the stage Of working hypothesis into that OF
demonstration, but will assume IL either
way for the argument Ii Mr.. lngersoll
means 30 say that Darwin's theory will
sweep away revealed religion, | reply that
the moral history Of man in it, principal
stream, has been distinctly an evolution
from the first until now and that the
succinct though grand account Of the crci-
ton In Genesis j. singularly accorjant with
the same idea but is wider than parNiuism,
since il includes in the grand progression
the inanimatc world a. well a. The history
of organisms. II, pursucs Mr. Gladstone,
"lngcrsoll means Ia say that Thoism will be-
swept away by Dlrwinism, | wish to say
that, long before Darwin, that most cautious
most robust and most comprehensive ~ our
philosophers Bishop Butler (Augiugy, page
2 chapter - said: N pride causes a. 10
deem il an indignity that our race should
have proceeded Dy Propagation from nn
ascending scale 81 inferior organisms, why
should IL be more rppulsiyc idea a. have
sprung, Immediately from something less
than man, In brains and body, than to have
been fashioned according 10 the expression
IN Gen. IT,, :, out Of the dust Ut thg
ground? There arr halls aud galleries
Of introduction IN q palace, but none
In n cottage aud the arrival 81 the creative
work at lbs climax, through an cycr-nspring
preparatory series, rather than 10y transition
at a step from the inanimaic mould uf earth
may tend rather Ia magnify than Ia lower
the creation Of man ON his physical side.
Darwinsm, further says Mr. O.,
insists upon creation 10y stcps-nothing by
strides or leaps. All from portoplasm up a.
Shakespeare, aud again all from primal night
aud chaos up to purtoplusm. | Il, not say
this il proycn, but does II teach that u the
passage from pure reptile Ia pure bird b.
achieved by aspiring over chasm, this i'm
plies aud requires creation, but that u rep
tile passes into bird and (rudimcntnll into
finished bird by thousand slight but just
disccrnablc notifications, that each NJ these
is 70 small that they are not entitled Ia
name 10 lofty, may he set down a. any cause
or no cause, M We please, ] should suppose
II misombly unphilusophical to trust the
distinction between creative and uon-Crc-
atyc functions as a sample cumulative DIS
tiuction. A respects The subjective
effect ON the human mind, creation in
small. when closely regarded. awakens reason
90 admiring wonder, not less than creation
In great. And ~ regards that function itself
90 me Il appears no less than ridiculous 10
hold that the broadly outlined aud large
advan, - II the so-callcd MUslisms arr crca.
tions but that the refined and stcnlthy on
wand steps of Darwinism are only maniac
turcd, aud rclcratc the question, ui course,
into ohscurity, insignifcancc or oblivion.
But docs not reason rcquiw ~ Ia ~ iudlcr,
20 turn the tables on the adversary and 10
contend that evolution, by how much II
binds more closely together the myriad
ranks Of the living age, and of all other or
dcrs, by go much the more consideration en-
.nuses and enhances the true argument NJ
design, aud the entire thCisiic pusitionf
When the connection between tsopamto
structurcsD has been established. and ~ g.
tablishcd that the points ol transition are
almost o. indisccrnablc o. the passage from
day 10 night, then, indeed each proceeding
stage j. a prophecy II the following, each
succeeding one is memorial ~ the past,
aud throughout the unmeasumhlo series.
every single number ~ u ish witness "a OIL
81 the rest. "Now, Professor says the stu
dent, "what do You say a. ihis' What viii
YOU DO with itY' SuppIsc the professor
! should reply to this Young man,
stand by your Bible, ~ inter.
prctcd by your church standards, and
/ YOU arc safe True replies the student.
''bui. sir. Is there any Interpretation u our
standards which forbids my holding 10 the
| theory Of some Kind ofcyolutiun? Time was,
professor. when the fathers 81 the church be.
/ iicycd the carth 30 bc fat aud quldrnnginr
| In the Sixth century, according o. Cpma-
/ lndicoplcustcs the true orthodox system ~
geography was that the earth u n quhdmn.
/ gular plane, extending 40 days from east
/ aud west, and exactly half ns much north
/ aud SOUTH that ID l. incloscd by mountains
I on which the sky rests That those on the
I north side. higher than the 0thcn, by inter.
ccpting the rays ~ the sun, produces night
/ and thus ~ plane il tilicda little from north
| to south, and hence the Euphrios, TiTr
and other rivers running southwark, are
| mpid. while the Nile. having 10 run up hill
! has necessarily very slow current The
| venerable llcdc. in the Seventh century tells
/ us that the creation WIS accomplished in Xix
/ DAYS. aud that the earth " its center aud
/ primary object. so tho Saint Augustine
/ said. Il was impossible that there should be
/ inhabitants ON the opposite side 81 The earth,
since no such race Il recorded IN
| Scripture among the defendants 81
Adam And this was advanced ~ the
/ unansweable argument against the sphcr.
/ lefty II the earth, towit That in the day Of
| Judgment men on the other side 0f the globe
/ could not see the Lord descending through
the air." And 1actantius asks, d u possible
that men can be ~ absurd ~ t0 believe that
the crops aud trees on the other side NJ the
/ earth hang doWuWard nul that men have