The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-03-15

of the gulf between civilized man and the
nrutes. or Is more certain that whether from
them or not he Is assuredly not OF them
No one Is less disposed to think lightly of
the present dignity, or despairingly of the
future hopes or the only consciously intelli-
gent denizen Of this world. We are indeed
told by those who assume authority in
these matters that the two sets of
opinions are Incompatible, and that the
brutes involves the EQUALIZATION and degra-
datton OF the former. But is this really SO?
Could not a sensible child refute by sensi-
bic the shallow rhetoricians
VINO would force this conclusion upon us?
Is IL, indeed. true that the poet or the phi
losopher, or the artist whose genius is the
glory of his age is degraded from his high
estate by the undoubted historical probable
ity, not to say certainty, That he is the d.
rect descendant of some naked and bestial
savage, whose intelligence was just suffi-
cicnt to make him a little more cunning
than the fox. and by so much more danger
Gus than the tiger? Or is he bound to howl
and grovel on all tours because of the who'll
ly unquestionable fact that he was once an
egg. which no ordinary power OF discrim-
dog? Or is the philanthropist or the saint
to give up his endeavors TO lead a noble
life because the simplest study of mans
nature reveals at its foundations all the
selfish passions and fierce appetites OF the
merest q~uadruped? is mother love vile be-
cause a hen shows it or fidelity base be-
cause dogs possess itg
MAN AN ANIMAL.
MAR is an animal. He has ascended
from a lower animal. But he is something
UNNECESSARILY more than an animal. How
did he get this something more? At what
stage in his existence was it implanted in
him? In what way? Now, on this point
also the church has never agreed. Through
out the history of the church theoiogians
have been divided in opinion. There are
four general answers to this question. The
first is known as creationism. 1t is the
doctrine that into every man at some stage
of his existence, presumptively at the time
OF his birth, Gcd, by a miraculous or super
natural act, implanted the divine spirit.
The second is a traducianiSm. 1t is the
doctrine that at some period in the history
Of the human race God breathed the breath
OF yours and mine. and that we have In
herited that spark of the breath OF life
through the ages. The. third is evolu-
tionism-the doctrine that this higher
life OF man, this moral, this ethical,
this spiritual nature has been evolved,
developed by natural processes, as
the higher order of life has in other respects
been developed by natural processes. And
the fourth is the doctrine known as con-
ditional immortality; that all men have not
veloped and made vital in men only as by
faith they lay hold on God, and that there
are to-day scores and hundreds. of thou
sands of men upon the earth that to all
intents and purposes are little higher than
the animals, and will sink back into the
amman ana Will uudly become extinct. NOW,
what 1 want to impress on you here to-
night is, whichever Of these views you hold,
you still may. hold that. mar is two men.
You may think the divine element was
implanted at birth, or you may think it
was implanted in the race at a certain time
and inherited. or implanted in a certain eject
circle-in those who chose TO take it-by
special act Of grace. or you may believe
it comes through evolutionary process,
gradually growing out of that which is
you and / are to-day men and women, we
have moral life. Religion has to do with
what is and what is to be. 1t leaves science
to deal with the past. AS in the process of
evolution man comes into this higher life,
he comes under the laws Of the higher life.
The law of the higher nature always con-
trolls when in the process of evolution the
lower passes into the higher stage. When the
inorganic is taken up into the plant and
made vegetable, it becomes subject to the
law of vegetable life, and If it does not obey
the law of vegetable life 1t sinks back into
the inorganic-that is, it dies. When the
table becomes animal-that IS. it becomes
subject to the law of the animal life. The
COW does not become grass, but the grass
becomes cow, and, being cow, becomes part
of the animal existence and subject to the
laws of animal life, and If the laws Of ami
NAL life are not obeyed. If they are disre-
which was life sinks back into the inorganic
again-that is, it dies.
MANS DEVELOPMENT.
Now when in the process of development,
man rises out of the animal stage and be-
comes a man, when he comes into the condi-
ton in which he knows the moral truth and
sees it and is conscious of it, he comes under
the law of the moral life, as the vegetable
comes under the law OF the vegetable, as the
animal comes under the law of the animal.
The human, just the moment it passes the
invisible boundary line and becomes human
comes under the law of the human-1hat is,
n ~ I.wv~ s - -
and wrong. Moral law is dependent, there
fore, upon moral development. What is
right for one is wrong for another. and
what is wrong for one is right for another.
What is right one stage OF development be-
comes wrong when one has passed into a
higher state OF development. The law Of
spiritual, and We all recognize the fact.
Gluttony is seen in a man; it is not seen in
a hog. The more he eats and the fatter he
gets the better the breed. That is what he
is for. But when man comes, he is to subor-
dinate the appetite to reason, and IL he does
not he goes back into that animal condition
from which he had partly emerged. 1t is
not wrong for a bee to spend all his life
in hiving honey for others to have when
he is dead and gone. But men are made
for something better, and if a man
spends all his energy in heaping up millions
dropped back into the conditions of the hive.
Ii is not wicked for a bull dog to fight. The
more pugnacious he is the better bull dog he
Is: But 1t is wrong for a man to fight. save
conscience and for noble ends. Prize fight
ing is legitimate enough among bull dogs.
but 1t Is not proper for men. 1t is right for
a peacock 10 spread his tail hat everybody
may admire him. a peacock Is not a sinner,
but n dude is. AS men thus rise from the
lower plane up into the state In which they
become conscious of moral law they come
under hat moral law. We come TO Mount
Sinai when we come to the sense of right
and wrong. Violation OF this law is sin,
and sin is fall, and fall is downward. not
upward. Did Adam fall 5000 years ago? 1
do not know, and l desire TO say it reyer-
emily. l do not care. If / found the story Of
a garden with fruit. which, if man ate 1t,
would make him immortal, and fruit which,
If he ate it. would give him a consciousness
of good and evil, with a serpent which
talked to him and with a God who walked
in the garden, If i found that in Greek liter
allure, or Morse literature, I would say, That
is beautiful fable; 7 wonder what truth /
can find in that fable? And / do not see
any reason why, finding it in Hebrew liter
ture, we should not say, That is beauti-
full fable. j wonder what truth is in
that fable? Does that deny inspiration?
No! Truth is more than fact. and God
uses the imagination and the fancy as we'll
as the historical faculty to reveal truth to
not / do not know, but this / know, / have
fallen. Every time my appetite has gotten
the better of my reason. every time my pas
sion has surged beyond my control, every
time / have cared more for the opinion of
my fellow-men than / have cared for right
eousness and honor and truth, every time
/ have been more eager to get than I have
been to beStow-every such time / have
fallen back into some kind of an animal;
4-A.-- - r~.. No.. hrtl16>~ .nrA.-. 49,