The Washington times., 1894-06-10
Lay Sermons for
Sunday Reading

| is TRUTH
To this shallow refuge OF a sneeringly feeble
dialectIcism there remains the simple declar-
alton that "God is TRUTH" which seems to be
but the primal declaration Of the finality OF
| Spinozer, that 'there can be but one res COM
pleta, or concrete fact" At all events, We
may conclude that any newly discovered and
accepted truth can only be fragment, or
rather segment OF the complete circle OF
truth. and, therefore. must ultimately be
made to fit into perfect conjunction with all
other segments. Also, that the acceptance OF
any new truth involves all the consequences
OF acceptance and adoption; and if conflict
seems to arise between the new and the old,
it can be stayed by no peace platitudes; it is a
| fight unto death. The new must be elected,
or the old must either find its point Of con-
junction with the new or perish as long
| cherished assumption of truth. So every new
discovery comes, mot to bring peace. but
sword" And this is the sword that "pierces
even to the dividing asunder OF soul and
spirit"
1t is certain that the ancients-the Hindoo,
the Chaldean, the Egyptian, the Greek-knew
! of the rotundity OF the earth as an astro-
nomical necessity, as such knowledge was
necessary to their divisions OF time and their
calculation of ecipses; but we have no EVIL
dence OF their having known it geographic
caily. Under the papal Punishment of mathe-
matics in the MEDIEVAL age OF darkness even
the astronomical recognition was forgotten
| in Christendom until Copernicus, Calico,
and Bruno insisted upon the supremacy OF
the divine reason over churchly assumption,
ana paid the penalty with their lives Tor the
revival of an immortal idea.
When this new factor had found place Tor
itself again in the thinking principle of man,
| it still required further demonstration, and
| Columbus sailed west from land to land.
Here was another step taken. Then came
the next necessary thought: If this is globe
OF water and land, it must have its eastern
conjunction as well as It's western; there can
be no gaps. And with this thought that must
work itself into act, Magellan and his follow
ers gave an outline to geographical knowi-
edge by their voyages Of circumnavigation.
| While this demonstration worked its legltl-
| mate revolution in scientific thought, as well
| as the social and political status, the Church
changed not. The reluctant assent OF silence
and its share OF pecuniary results was the ex-
tent OF its recognition.
FIFTY years ago Darwin wrote in dismay to
| his friend Hooker that the old theory of spe-
cihc creation, that God made all species apart
and introduced them into the world one by
| one, was melting away before his eyes. One
of the last books ON Darwinism, that Of Al
fred Wallace, has in its opening chapter
these words. "The whole scientific and lit
erary world. even the whole educated public,
accepts as n matter OF common knowledge
the origin of species from other like species
by the ordinary process Of natural birth"
| II Mr.. Wallace is correct, ana even cur
| sorry glance at current literature would inai-
| cate fbat ha ia then il follows that tleOl-
| ogy must accept evolution as the law OF crea-
ton in order to still include the scientific
and literary world" also the "whole edu-
Gated public" within its circle of influence;
| and If il accepts evolution it must make n
place for it in its teaching-must take the
consequences of this adoption. 1t must be
ready to admit the spirit of the message
which Professor Drummond sent to the par
| lament OF religions at Chicago:
| ''Genesis was not scientific but reli-
| gious book, and there being no science there,
| theologians put it there. and this attempt to
reconcile it would seem to be u mistake. Gen
| esis is n presentation OF one or two great
elementary truths of the childhood of the
world. 1t can only be read in the spirit in
| which it was written, with its original pur-
pose in view and its original audience. Its
object was purely religious, the point being
not how certain things were made, which is a
! question for science, but that God made them.
L
the soul. The misfortune is there is no one
to announce in the name of theology that the
controversy between science and religion is
at an end. Evolution has swept over the re-
| ligious conception OF origin and has left it
untouched except for the better. There is
but one theory OF creation In the field and
that is evolution. Evolution instead of being
opposed to creation assumes creation. Law
| is not the cause of the order of the world. but
the expression of it. The protests of
| science against theism are directed not
against true theism, but against its supersti-
tions and irrational forms, which it is the
business of science to question. Or, as Ruskin
| said: You have to guard against the dark
ness of two opposite prides-the pride Of
faith, which imagines that the character Of
! the deity can be proved by its convictions,
and the pride of science. which imagines that
the deity can be explained by its analysis
! "Instead of robbing the world of God, sci
ence has done more than all the PHILOSOPHERS
and natural theologies to sustain the theistic
! conception. 1t mas made it impossible for
| the world to worship any other God. The
sun and the moon and the stars have been
| found out; science has shown US exactly what
| they are. No man can worship them any
more. II by searching it has not found God
| it has found place for God. AS never be-
fore from the purely physical side of things
| it has shown there is room in the world for
| God. 1t has given us more godlike God.
| The new energies in the world demand u will
and an ever present will. To science God
no longer made the world and then withdrew
He pervades the whole. Under the old, God
| was nonresident God. an occasional won-
| der-worker. Now He is always here
Professor Drummond is an enthusiastic
Christian as well as profound scientist. He
| says again:
what is the object of Christianity? 1t is the
| evolving of men, the making OF higher and
better men in higher and better world.
| That is also the object of evolution, what
| evolution has been doing since time began.
| Christianity is the further evolution. 1t is
evolution reinforced by all the moral and
| spiritual forces that have entered the world
and cleaved to humanity through Jesus the
Christ. Beginning with stones and chrystals,
passing to plants and animals, evolution
| finally reaches man. The great moral facts,
the moral forces SO lar rs they arc proved to
| exist the Christian consciousness so far as 1t
is real. must come within its scope. Human
! history is US much part OF it as natural his
tory. The supreme message of science to this
age is that all nature is on the side of the man
who tries to rise. Evolution. development.
and progress are not only on her programme.
These are her programme: For all things are
rising, all worlds, all planets, all stars. ali
suns. An ascending energy is the universe,
and the whole moves on with one mighty
ideal and Interpretation. The aspiration of the
human mind and heart is but the evolutionary
tendency of the universe. Darwins great dis
covery or the discovery he brough: into promi-
ncnce. is the same as that of Calico. that the
world moves. The Italian prophet says it
moves from west to east The English philos-
opher say it moves from low to high"-
''As in tho days of Calico, there are many
now who do not see that the world moves
men to whom the world is an endless plane,
prison fixed in purposeless universe, where
untred prisoners await their unknown fate. 1t
is not the mOnotony Of life that DESTROYS: il is