The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-07-01
ANOTHER TRIBUTE.

I Church"
 The purpose of the lectures which make up this volume-given before the Lowell Institute in Boston during the winter of 19O0- 1901-was ito answer the inquiry whether, through the science of the century which was then passing away, the coming age might enter into richer possession of the spiritual faiths which have been mans heritage | through all the centuries" The writer believes rightly that no faith can or ought to survive which does not allow us to accept the teach l ing of nature. As convinced evolutionist he says that 'the assurance of faith cannot be maintained from a fortified critical position outside the province of evolutionary science; it may be won by positive participation in the work of the scientific world"
 Without being prepared to acknowl- edge that the evolutionary theory Occu- pies a higher level of certainty than that of the best working hypothesis now available, we agree most heartily with the writer that the theory must be taken into reckoning by theologians- not to modify the truths of revelation, but to adjust their presentation to what are, for good or i'll, the forms of thought of intelligent men and women to-day That the theory of evolution has revo- lutionized thought, and rendered much apologetic meaningless, cannot truly be | denied.
 1 We are grateful for this noble effort to exhibit the fact, which is becoming increasingly apparent as the decades go by, that, if the evolutionary hypothe- sis is true, it assists rather than flinders our faith in what was once for all de- | livered to the saints. We detect some points wherein the writer seems 10 fall short of a full acceptance of truths which we consider to be involved in revelation, but the general trend of his argument is constructive and eXceed- l ingly helpful.
 | One of the merits of the book is the richness and accuracy of scientific knowledge which it displays The illus trations drawn from physical research are very numerous and very illuminat- ing. In fact very few apologetical treatises can be compared with it for excellence and richness in this regard. We feel it to be our duty to commend the work to all thoughtful churchmen, as one of the most valuable and healthy contributions to apologetics which have appeared in recent years
 After an excellent description of the new point of view afforded by evolu- tionary science, and an exposition of the thought that evolution. assuming it's truth, is a process of revela- ton as we'll as of biological develop ment, the writer shows that evolution, as accepted by the best scientists, indi- cates progressive trend or "direc- tion." His description of the develop ments which occur in living cells is very fine, The direction is shown to have intellectual and moral character with growing articulateness of meaning. Then follows a fine illustration of this rational trend in an exposition of the place of beauty in evolution. The on- ward march of development is shown to be concerned in it's earlier stages with development of the species at the ex- pense of individuals, but to issue after due preparation in the evolution of the individual. Henceforth the individual comes to have increasing worth. al- though not apart from social relation. This increasing worth seems to point on to permanence of individuals, i. e., to personal immortality.
 The writer discusses the presence of retrogression in evolution, and in this connection endeavors to give mans fall, t.z -41 tnlo tf1 development. We do not feel sure that he has altogether avoided the idea which he rejects in terms-that of fall upward-but his endeavor to reconcile a real fall, real sin, with his belief that the fall is a factor in upward develop ment is suggestive and worth consider ing carefully. His idea that in no case does retrogression involve fall outside the sphere of onward evolution needs more discussion before it's bearing on revealed truth can be finally determin- ed. He proceeds to notice the presence of restorative principles in natural evo- lution, and at this and one or two other points betrays a tendc 1cy to blur the necessary distinction between the nat ural--at any given stage-and what is supernatural to that stage of develop ment, and therefore indicative of invo- lution from above The term supernat- ural is of course relative to a given na- ture or stage in nature. No nature can evolve to a higher nature without be- coming supernatura to its previous na- ture; and, no matter how gradually this may take place, such progress upward involves supernatural involution-i. e.. supernatural to previous nature, and if the step upward is sudden or phenom- enal. miraculous.
 The book closes with two chapters on the trend to completion in nature; and the consequent predictive value of un- finished nature-predictive of a spirit ual product, the glorified man who is to enter upon the Divine fellowship to- wards which he already aspires.
 FRANCIS J. HALL
 FRESH AIR EXCURSION.