Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1890-10-14
OK CREATION AND EVOLUTION.

On CREATION AND EVOLUTION.
1T IS curious to observe how the
sages Of the world, in their specula'
tions upon the origin and gOyetn'
ment Of the unlvcrse have shifted
ground at various times.
The inspired narrative Of Moses
opens up with the brief statement
that ain the beginning God
made the heavens and the
earth, declaration which
reveals st least three important
facts, impossible OF discovery and
proof by any known msthod OF rea-
sonIn-. It tells thai tHeae vas a
besinxng; that the universe was
made, and that the maker is God
! Tor, rather, the Gods, Eiolill. The
details Of the stupendOus work, that
is, now everything was made, have
never been revealed beyond the
mere statement that God spoke, and
creation was effected. We are lei
10 infer that in this beginning, "
God, the Eternal, was surrounded
with mighty messengers who,at His
supreme command, were able and
willing to execs7s the divine ideas
that wereexpressed in the command,
and which they gave comprehen-
sible form in the existing creation.
The statements Of Moses concern
ing creation might well have been
taken 70. granted by any true phil
osopheT; they might have been
made the foundation Of any real
system OF speculative philosophy.
Had they been accepted rs the first
axioms, the world would by this
time have been far advanced In n
kno xle,ige Of the truth. As it is,
it appears that the world has been
moving farther away from the truth
al the time.
The old accounts OF the creation
given by heather philosophers and
preserved in the sagas Of the people
are crude enough and yet stand
very near the truth in some partic-
ulars. When, for instance, the
Chinese represent their god, Pan
kOU che, as 4 little man who, with
hammer and chisel, hewed the globe
out Of chaos, broke the granite
crusts and carved his way through
every obstacle, until the earth, by
his interchangeable diligence, had
been reduced to 4 habitable world,
they have at least preserved two I'M
por;ant truths: That the creation
was affected by a personal being, and
that it is in the result Of personal
diIigent efforts.
Ideas somewhat similar TO these We
fad in the ancient scandinavian
mythology. Thor drives through
space on his rumbling vehicle and
with the mighty blows OF his ham
mer breaks his way through chaotic
nature, while, with his thunder
bolts, he sets the forces in motion on
which creation depends. Under the
direction OF the '-Al- father rs he
Is called, this thunder god and his
fell5w-gois fight the evil powers
and plan the present world. making
it Il. habiatisn for men, in whose
afiairs they take lively inieres, un-
til the time OF the conscmniation Of
everything.
In all the ancient mythologies we
trace the truth more or less plainly
expressed, that creation is the
WORK Of intelligent beings,
even II the details are very
much below ourpresent conceptions.
There is always some matter ex-
isting out Of which personal gods
organize or arrange the visible
world. In this the heathens al
though without the light Of the
Bible always believed, in n crude
way, one Of the truths expressed by
the inspired record.
As We, however, draw nearer our
own age, We find the "Chrlstian''
philosophers, who pride themselves
upon being the only ones favored
with the true knowledge Of things,
gradually drop out Of the phllosO-
ply, the truth, that the worlds We're
formed or organized out OF already
existing matter. The ''Christian"
sages are satisfied with the indis-
tinct idea that the universe has been
made out Of nothing. They have
retained the idea Of n personal Gre
atOr, partially adopting the fret part
Of the inspired statement: "God
Tor Sois) made the heavens and the
earth" But the act Of creation it.
self they hold to have consisted
in the uttering OF words. God,
they hold, spoke, and as He formed
His words one by one, these alb
stractiOns, as it were, called the in
finite variety Of concrete objects
into existence, one by one, where
there previously was no,hing-an
absolute vacuum. 1t is needless 10
make any CONNIE MT upon the quail
ties OF a mind that can be satisfied
with such an idea. but it is very
curious 20 notice tina. the Chris
tian" sages are just one step further
away from the revealed truth than
were the trainers OF the heather
mythologies.
To our own age belongs the dubi-
Gus honor Of having re:rogrlded
another step, inasnuch rs it Is BE-
coming more and more popular to
ascribe the iormltion OF the worlds
10 Evolution. The philosophy Of
evolution discaris the idea Of 4
personal Creator altogether. 1t sees
no intelligent design in the mag
structures Of the universe.
IL supposes the existence Of matter
and an inherent force by which the
motions have been caused
and Whereby the present forms
have been effected.
Il Is indeed 4 matter Of serious
that the world has at
last been requested to accept as the
result OF the closest Investigations
by the acutest thinkers, that there
is no creator at al, that the origin
atOr Of The universe either does not
exist, or, what practically amounts