St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-12-22
MORTAL EVOLUTION.
Rev. William Wilkinson Combats
Several Theories Valiant,y.

several theories tailantiy.
Rev. William Wilkinson, at ST. An
drew's Episcopal church yesterday, in
his sermon on the text, What Is Man?"
said man, in his original state. has been
the fruitful object of study in all his
toric time. Varied and conflicting have
been the views held by able men: some
have said man, at the first, was pos
sessed of greater power of every kind
than we know to-day: that his vision
was clearer, his faculties more alert and
his reasoning more subtle. Others that
man was but poor creature as COM
pared with what we now know him to
be. 1t is safe to say that the ages have
taught the race many things in every
the perfect original theory arose,
and was maintained. 1t makes, in the
theolOgian's view, mans degradation
complete, and heightens the idea, as he
wrongly Supposes. OF his redemption.
There is a nobler view. If | stand on
plain and see an oak tree in all its ma
jestic beauty, it is not less an object of
service or of pleasure because 1t is
known to have sprung from an acorn,
but it is rather an object of increased
interest; so with man, if, by Observa-
ton. experiment, defeat. disaster, or
struggle and triumph he has widened
his vision of this and other worlds, near
and far, material, mental, spiritual. so
much greater is man, and his destiny
SO much the more marvellous. At
first this little world was to him
large place, but he knew little of it:
then it stood still. The telescope showed
him how wrong this opinion was. The
microscope also told him how complex
are things which he had thought SIM
pie; that design is the order, even in
things which he had thought accidental.
And so larger mental power came to
be evolved. Man was a greater being
than ever before. This led to growth
in other ways-to ideas of higher kind
in regard to enjoyment, dignity. The
time was when the harp stood for all
best in music, the throne for all which
most enlightened men made heaven.
TO the savage green fields and
game stood for the same But all
this had to be changed as mems
conceptions of moral things i'm
proved. until now we see that the
leaders Of one age. It's greatestsmen, did
deeds which another age reprobates,
No man could to-day live an hour as
the men of renown openly lived in an
cient times without prompt arrest and
swift punishment. What is the mean
ing of all this? Is it that man is to be
destroyed? Not so. There is no de-
struction in nature; only change. Is
man, for whom the world was made. to
be an exception? No. Is there to be
an eye ana no light, an;ear and no sound.
heart and no love? Is the toll of ali
the ages to be lost. No. What is the
meaning of all progress of the race? 1t
is promise and prophecy that man
will go on in his path, till he finds his
full perfection in God who made
him. All this can be shown from
the things we see. That which we
might have looked for is that which is
needed, and iIf the joy OF Christmas we
celebrate revelation of what the law
of mans being is, what his destiny will
be. 1t is not the dead past we sing; it
is the new, ever-growing present, full
of hope and resplendent with glory,
from lower to higher things, from mat
ter to mind, from temporal to spiritual,
that we arc moving. Such has been,
such will be the fact. Jesus Christ
makes all this to flash forth upon the
world anew in this festive time.