The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-03-07
rRIBUNE-sArURDAY MORNING,

merce! The very lightnings have been
turned into flying Mercurys to carry
the thoughtmessages Of this busy
Drained master, the oceans whitened
with his sails. the continents covered
with his net works OF railways and
canals, barren deserts changed into
vineyards and palm groves and orange
orchards, the Wyshapely Quarries of
granite and OF marble transformed into
palaces and statute-crowned temples to
body forth his riDest culture and most
holy thought
"'rhe influence Of the human will has
had even a wider circuit assigned to
1t. Many Of US have known instances
Of weak wills being overawed by
stronger ones, and the domination be-
ing SO absolute as for the time being
to actually blot out every distinctive
trace Of personality and suspend in
divldual responsibility. Not one Of US
but has felt, time and again, the in
direct power of anothers will reaching
us through channels Of argument. per-
suasive kindling OF the fancy. eloquent
appeal, shrewd suggestion, or show Of
appreciative sympathy. There are {.
thousand avenues to the heart. a thous-
and ways to arouse the conscience, in
flame passion, fill the chambers Of the
soul with dread alarms. and these are
discovered and utilized by positive and
aggressive souls athirst for wealth.
power or prestige. Society has Its born
leaders. Individuality and responsible
free choice are with the vast majority
still retained. but 1t is through these
multiform influences Of personal char
acter that the life Of the worlds sub
tile social organism is, under pre-es-
70 hIi Sbal Sni,ifno1 lauS rppulafpl n nd
maintained.
Thus we see that at the touch OF the
human will all Nature is plastic. that
every facility has seemingly been pro-
vided for It's efficient interference.
Think you that. in Il world where so
many doors have been 80 invitingly
left open for the will of the creature
to enter and occupy. the will of the
Creator has been studiously excluded?
Can science, which has SO conclusively
proved the one. consistently deny the
6ther?".
Iy.-DIVINE INTERVENTION.
Coming to his second proposition. that
God not only can interfere In nature.
but that He has actually interfered
again and again. the author accepts
the doctrine OF evolution so far as 1t
finterprets facts. but trips 1t In a SEN
tence insofar as 1t denies the existence
of an omn!scient and active Guiding
Hand. Those who affirm" says he.
that In this unfolding (Of the evolu-
tionary processes and results) there are
no evidences Of the active presence of
an intelligent personal will power are
confronted by seemingly insuperable
objections which science itself has fur
nished. Science discloses a law of in
ertia so far-reachng that not a single
particle of matter In all the wide uni
Verse can set itself In motion. 1t also
discloses that there is not a single par
ticle that Is now at rest. Whence that
mighty initial impulse that thrilled
through space and IL still felt after the
lapse of untold ages peopIing the heav-
ems with whirling worlds"
Science alone discloses that matter Is
made up Of sixty-four or more different
kinds of atoms, each enclosing within
its walls a force peculiar to Itself, and
unalterable by any revealed human or
natural power. IF there was once a
time, as every evOlutionist not only con-
cedes. but stOutly contends, when ev-
cry atom was precisely like every 9TH
er and not single one had the faintest
touch of attractive or repellent or af-
flnitive force. through what instrument
tdllly III SoIIlc DdSt, lIc
asks. did these elemental forces, these
individualized something's. find birth
and an abiding place within infinitesim-
al and indestructible walls OF matter?"
This question Mr.. kinsley arnrms that
science cannot answer. Over its SOlu-
ton hangs a veil whose hiding folds
no hand on earth has pOwed to lift, ex-
cept the reverent hand of faith"
However, this Is not sciences only
perplexity. 1t admits now that it cam
not uphold its former hypothesis that
under certain conditions vitality might
spring by spontaneous generation from
dead matter. Science can make an ar
tificial egg, exactly like, In chemical in
gradients, the real ovum of the fowl;
yet in the latter only is the potentiality
of life. There Is today no scientist who
can prove that germinal force Is prop
erty inherent In matter. All must agree
that it is IAN organizing impulse intro
duced from without. separable at any
time from the mass over which for a
season it is made dominant, the pro-
duct Of personal creative will whose
impalpable thought 1t Is commissioned
to incarnate into living form"
Not only are the evolutionists utterly
unable to account for the presence of
life, its sub b-division into 1000 differ
ton Of bodily organs; but they are COM
pletely stumped when brought into view
of the ever-recurring phenomena of in
stinct Why. for example. does the
spider build its web with an ease and
nicely surprising the finest architec-
tural achievements of man? or the
sluggish fish detect coming danger and
dart to the remOtest retreat with an
intuitive accuracy not parallcled even
by reasoning humans? Last of all. how
Is evolution going to account for spiri-
tual self-consciousness within man. ex-
cept upon the hypothesis of an intelli-
gent and sympathetic First Cause?
In concluding this subdivision of his
subject. which We have very imperfect
ly summarized. the author is led to re-
mark that facts brought to light by
modern scientific investigation and
closely analyzed by modern scientific
methods are daily diffusing and deep
ening the belief among the candid and
thoughtful tina. the progress through
the ages from the simple to the COM
plex, from amorphic matter to a peo-
pied world, has been something more
than methodic, self-Originated, and
self-sustained evolution of elements
held hidden in matter from all eternity,
that absolutely new forces have from
time to time been introduced from with
out through direct creative flats of a
personal will, the old forces, inside their
limitations, being. as the work pro-
gressed. utilized, when found available,
simply as avenues for ushering in the
new"
v.-DOES GOD CARE?
There probably come times to every
man when, under the spell of the over
whelming and almost incomprehensibie
sense Of Gods universally, he Is wont
to ask himself the question, After all.
does God really care for me, an meal
culably minute and insignificant atom
In the great universe over which He