The record-union., 1897-12-21

to it, and Pantheism has no place for a
supernatural new birth.
| He further says (p. 362): AS the hui
man spirit pre-exrsted in embryo in an
imals, slowly developing through all
geological times until it came to birth
and Immortality in man, so the Divine
/ Spirit is in embryo in man in various
degrees of development, and comes to
/ birtn and completion of Divine life in
| the Christ"
! Manifestly the long, constant and in
tense study of the phenomena Of ma
ture, many of which are mysterious,
and but little known as yet, has rem
dered Professor LIE Conte incapable of
accurately noting spiritual phenomena
or spiritual causes and effects. Lest
l should be considered as unfairly
treating the Professor, ] quote his
statement concerning the progress Of
life. He says:
"All life progress is by minute
changes through resident forces" And
! further he says (p. 3l3), speaking of
| the immortal spirit: WAS it some new
thing added at once out of hand, or did
| it grow out of something already ex-
! listing in animals? This last, we are
persuaded is the only tenable view
l believe that the spirit of man
was developed out of the anin1a, or con-
scious principle Of animals, and that
this again was developed out of the
lower forms of life force, and this in
its turn out of the chemical and phys
ical forces of nature"
This is just as a materialist would
state the case. 1t is a singular fact
that lie Conte and Drummond are not
only opposed by many Christian evo-
lutionists, but even Huxley has con-
tended against some of their positions
Huxley says: Il hear much of the
ethics of evolution. 1 apprehend that
in the broadest sense of evolution there
neither is nor can be any such thing.
The notion that the doctrine of evolu-
tion can furnish a foundation for NOR
ais seems to me to be an illusion which
has arisen from the unfortunate am
biguity of the term 'fttest' in the for
mula Survival of the fittest' We COM
monty use 'fittest' in a good sense, with
an understood connotation of best and
best we are apt to take in its ethical
sense. But the fittest' which survives
in the struggle for existence may be,
and often is, the ethically worst"
Then, in an article in the Popular
Science Monthly for December, 1894,
he says: 'sThe practice of that which
Is ethically best--what we call goodness
or virtue-involves a course of conduct
which, in all respects, is opposed to that
which leads to success in the cosmic
struggle for existence. In the place Of
ruthless self-assertion it demands self
| \, tir1cr Ny-
treading down, all competition, it re-
quires that the individual shall not
merely respect, but shall help his fell
lows; its influence is directed, not so
much to the survival of the fittest, as to
the fitting of as many as possible to
survive Let us understand,
once for ALL that the ethical progress of
society depends, not on initiating the
cosmic process, still less in running
away from it, but in combating it.
So, if all things are to be accounted
for by evolution, we must invent new
kind of evolution directly opposed to
the cosnic evolution to account for
moral progress and perfection.
But let US now consult Drummond.
He says: When evolution comes to be
worked out along it's great natural
lines It may be found to provide for
all that religion assumes, all that phi
losophy requires, and all that science
proves And further he says: THE
spiritual to our vision emerges from
the natural, or is conveyed upward by
the natural" (p. 262)
| This magician, having we'll accus-
toned US to surprises, goes back to Gre
alton and begins the cosmos with two
atoms of fire mist, having mutual at
traction and chemical affinity, and says
they could combine" and says of these
| two atoms, Gradually by attraction
of affinity the primitive pair of atoms
absorb third, and a fourth, and a
! fifth, until a family of atoms is raised
UP which possessed properties and
powers altogether new, in virtue of
which it holds within its grasp the con-
quest and servitude Of all surrounding
units"
This. you observe, is perfectly reck-
/ less statement. He says: THE leading
actors in this stupendous reformation
are two in number, mutual attraction
| and chemical affinity" And that 'it
| is the mystery of nature that between
| the loftiest spiritual nights and the
! lowliest physical depths there should
seem to run a pathway which the in
tellect of man may climb (223)
! And further he says: 'It is one of
the most astounding facts of modern
science that the. first embryonic abodes
of moss and fern and pine, of shark
and crab and coral polyp, of lizard,
leopard, monkey and man, are so ex-
actly similar that the highest powers
! of mind and microscope fail to trace
the smallest distinction between them" !"
(62)
| A little while ago it was believed that
/ the life-cell was very simple, but now
! it is known to be very complex So, of
| the embryo above referred to, doubt
| less when we know more than we do
now there will be discovered radical
/ differences