The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-04-21
The ASCENT OF MAN
Sermon of Rev. ]. D. Reid Of the
First Liberal Church.
TOA LARGE CONGREGATION
There Are Two Accounts of the
Origin of Mantle Definition
of Evolution as Applied
to This Case.

Great Falls, April 19.-Rev. John d.
Reid of the First Liberal church of
Great Falls took for his subject this
morning 1.-The Ascent of Man" A
large congregation was present and the
speaker received the closest attention
Of the assemblage. Following is a
synopsis of the sermon:
II. John 3:2. Now are we the sons of
God and 1t doth not yet appear what
we shall be-" This is an unconscious
statement of the law of evolution in its
highest application. 1t affirms the di-
vine quality and potency of the life
principal interest in the human SOUL
There are two accounts of the origin
of man which lead to widely different
thoughts about him and about the di-
vine purpose concerning him. We are
familiar with the old story of Adam
and Eve and the garden of Eden.
They had everything they wanted ex-
cept a record. So they started in to
make one-and made it. They meddled
with what was none of their business
and made a mess of 1t. AS a conse-
uence matters are so bad for their
descendants, the world is so IRENE
diably lost and ruined, that only by an
extraordinary provision of divine grace
and that conditioned on the most puz-
zling terms of acceptance, can any of
us ever hope to be reinstated in the
divine favor and given permission to
enjoy in another world what we have
forfeited in this?
That is the old story. The new story
of science tells us that man and the
world he lives in have come to be what
they are from very crude and un-
promising beginnings. The garden Of
Eden was not the early home OF the
race. There is more of Eden in the
world to-day than ever before. We
may accept as substantially true the
scientific account The evidence in its
favor is cumulative. 1t means well,
and more and more commends itself 20
our intelligence.
And this new story utterly discredits
the notion of a lost and ruined world,
and so renders obsolete the fantastic
plan of salvation" by means of which
the thwarted design of the Creator was
patched up. 1t lays an adequate foun-
dation for the extension of the theory
of development, or evolution, into the
sphere of moral and spiritual life. This
gives us, in place of the fall of man,
the ascent of man. and makes saliva
ton to be simply the realization by
man of his noblest possibilities-that
is, the salvation of every man is meas
ured by the degree in which he iden-
titles himself with the uplifting pro-
cess of the race.
Broadly speaking, evolution may be
defined as a theory of development.
From all that is known on the sub
ject, we are justified in accepting the
statement that all forms of life are
derived from lower forms Hence evo-
luton assumes an ascending scale of
life. The application of the evolution
airy hypothesis in the spiritual realm is
most suggestive and fruitful. Man did
not begin as more of a man than he is
now. and then fall. He was in his
origin infinitely less than he is now.
He has not fallen, but risen, and he is
still on the upgrade. This puts him
as a moral being into a different cate
CORY from the seed of Adam" of the
old theology. Sin is no longer disobe-
dience to commandment" 1t is the
violation of the laws of our being,
whereby this upward tendency Is re-
tarded or arrested. The laws of our
being are divine laws. We are not the
subjects of an external government;
but we are the inheritors of divine
life, and by virtue of that we have.
within ourselves, an infinite capacity of
expansion and growth. Thus the evo-
luton of the soul is a divine process,
divine method.
The main service of evolution as ap-
piled to the problems of life and des-
tiny lies in its reasonable and hopeful
suggestiveness. 1t lights up some dark
places, relieves some perplexities and
furnishes some good reasons for our
faith in the eternal goodness. 1t helps
us to see a little way into the divine
plan of the universe. We understand
it better than we did before and it
seems to US more divine. The me-
chanical devices and arbitrary de
crees" of a narrow theology vanish,
and though we cannot yet read, and
possibly can never read, the mystery at
the heart of things, 1t is no longer an
irrational, a soulless mystery.
This much at least we can make out:
That all things are ordered in love
Not indeed the love whose main care
is to make everything easy and pleas
ant for US. Evolution makes possible
a noble view of man and the divine
purpose in his life than that 1t shows
him as a being for whose sake infinite
pains have been taken, and conse.
quently as a being of such worth that
he can well afford to take some pains
on his own account. That is, the love
which encompasses us is love that
seeks our highest good, which works
TO make the most of US.
In the old story pain is regarded
wholly as an evil. The theory is that
il was introduced into the world by
the sin of man. 1t is the punishment,
the retributive Judgment" for our
sins. But we know that the innocent
suffer with the guilty; that some Of
the least deserving people escape COM
paratively untouched; that some of the
noblest have for their portion the bit
terest cup. The new story makes pain
a part of the great plan of things. 1t
indicates its beneficent Office in the di-
vine economy. 1t does not fully ex-
plain il. for il does not yet lie in hui
man wisdom TO do that. But IL does
throw light on the dark problem. Ii
does set forth a stronger reason for
the faith that Good viii be the final
goal Of i'll" In the light of evolution
we look at the history of man and see
that the ills Of his lot have spurred
him on to whatever advances he has
made In our own experience we may
learn that the hard conditions Of life
lay US under necessity 10 employ our