The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1898-08-24

home in comfortable quarters. Did
they die because they were not as
fit to live as we who survived? All!
no; not the Survival of tho fittest."
How has 1t been in the families of
the world? How was it with the child
physically the strongest, intellectually
the brightest, in disposition tie kind
est? Did that child die because it was
not as fit to live as those of your fam
lily that survived? Not "the survival
of the fittest." In all communities
some of the noblest, grandest men
dying in youth, or in mid-life. while
some of the meanest and most con-
temptible live on to old age. Not "the
survival of the fittest."
But to show you that this doctrine
is antagonistic to the Bible and to
common sense l have only to prove to
you that there has been no natural
progress. Vast improvement from
another source, bat mind you, no nat
ural progress. Where is the fine horse
in any of our parks whose picture of
eye and name and nostril and neck
and launches is worthy of being com
pared to Jobs picture of horse as he
thousands of years ago heard it paw
and neigh and champ its bit for the
battle? Pigeons of to-day not so wise
MS the carrier pigeons of 500 years ago
pigeons that carried the mails from
army to army and from city to city;
one of them flung into the sky at
Rome or Venice landing without ship
or railtrain in London. Look at the
great animals that walked the earth in
olden times-animals compared with
which in size our elephant is a cat
monsters of olden times that swan
the deep, compared with which our
whale is minnow. Comics have
learned nothing about climbing and
the hounds nothing about hunting,
and the ostrich nothing about hatch
ing, and the condor nothing about fly
ing, and the owl nothing about music
al cadences for six thousand years.
Not particle of progress.
And as to the human race, so far as
mere natural progress is concerned,
once there were men ten feet high;
now the average is about five feet six
inches. 1t started with men living two
hundred, four hundred, eight hun
dred, nine hundred years, and now
thirty years is more than the average
of human life. Mighty progress we
have made, haven't we? 1 went into
the cathedral at York, England, and
the best artists in England had just
been painting window in that ca
thedral, and right beside it was win
dow painted four hundred years ago,
and there is not a man on earth but
would say that the modern painting of
the window by the best artists of
England is not worthy of being com
pared with the painting four hundred
years ago right beside it. Vast i'm
provement, as 1 shall show you in a
minute or two, but no natural evo-
luton.
What is remarkable about this thing
is, it is all the time developing its dis
honesty. In our day it is ascribing
this evolution to Herbert Spencer and
Charles Darwin. 1t is a dishonesty.
Evolution was known and advocated
hundreds of years before these gentle.
men began to be evolved. The Phoe-
nicians thousands of years ago de-
clared that the human race wobbled
out of the mud. Democritus, who lived
AGO years before Christ-remember
that-knew this doctrine of evolution
when he said: Everything is com,
posed of atoms, or infinitely small ele.
ments, each with a definite quality
form, and movement, whose inevitable
union and separation shape all differ.
ent things and forms, laws and efforts
and dissolve them again for new com
binations. The gods themselves and
the human mind originated from such
atoms. There are no casualties. Every.
thing is necessary and determined by
the nature of the atoms which have
certain mutual affinities, attractions
and repulsions." AnoXimander cen
turies ago declared that the human
race started at the place where the sea
saturated the earth.
l am not a pessimist but an op
timist. do not believe everything il
going to destruction: 1 believe every
thing is going on to redemption. But
it will not be through the infdel doc
trine of evolution, but through oul
glorious Christianity which has eff
fected all the good that has ever beer
wrought and which is yet to recon
struct all the nations.
What is that in the offing? shiI
gone on the rocks at Cape Hatteras
The hulk is breaking up, crew and
passengers are drowning. The storm
is in full blast and the barometer il
still sinking. What does that shiI
want? Development. Develop hel
broken masts. Develop her broker
rudder. Develop her drowning crew
Develop her freezing passengers. De
velop the whole ship? That is all il
wants. Development. Oh, make {
mistake. What that ship wants is {
life-boat from the shore. Leap into it
you men of the life station. Pull
away to the wreck. Steady there!
Bring the women and children first tc
the shore. Now the stout men. WraI
them up in fannels, and between theil
chattering teeth you can pour resto
ration.
Well, my friends, our world is OF
the rocks. God launched it wei
enough, but through mispilotage ant
the storms of six thousand years
it has gone into the breakers. Wha
does this old ship of the world want
Development? There is enough ole
evolution in the hulk to evolve another