The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-10-10

IL WIS ht tnS DeIlOu InaJ was con
fused by the different theories OF crea
tion. But examined these theories
and found that they all assumed some
thing TO begin with. The nebular by
pothesis, for instance, assumes that
matter and force existed matter IL
particles infinitely fine and each par
tlcle separated from every other pal.
tlcle by space infinitely great. Begin
ming with this assumption, force work.
ing on matter, according to this by.
pothesis, creates universe. Well, |
have right to assume and prefer
TO assume q Designer back of the de.
sign, Creator back of creation. and
no matter how long you draw out the
process OF creation, so long as God
stands back of II you cannot shake
my faith I'm Jehovah. In Genesis It Il
written that In the beginning God
created the heavens and the earth and
can stand on that proposition until |
find some theory Of creation that goes
further back than "the beginning"
do not carry the doctrine Of evo.
luton as far as some do. have not
yet been able to convince myself that
man Is lineal descendant of the low.
er animals. do not mean to find fault
with you II you want to accept II. All
l mean to say is that, while you may
trace your ancestry back to the mon.
key II you find pleasure or pride In do.
ing SO, you shall not connect me with
your family tree without more evil
dence than has yet been produced IL
Is true that man In some physical
qualities resembles the beast, but man
has a mind as well as body and a
soul as well as mind. The mind Is
greater than the body, and the soul is
greater than the mind, and l object 10
having mans pedigree traced on one.
third of him only, and that the lowest
third.
One does not escape from mystery,
however, by accepting this theory, for
1t does not explain the origin of life.
When the follower of Darwin has
traced the germ of life back to the
lowest form IN which Il appears. and
10 follow him one must exercise more
that scientists differ. Some believe
that the first germ OF life came from
another planet, and others hold that 1t
was the result of spontaneous genera
ton.
If | were compelled TO accept one Of
these theories, would prefer the first,
for IL we can chase the germ of life
Off this planet and get it out into space
we can guess the rest OF the way and
no one can contradict us, but IL we ac.
cept the doctrine of spontaneous gen
Grafton we cannot explain why sponta-
neous generation ceased TO act after
the first germ was created.
Go back rs far as we may, we can.
not escape from the creative act. and
1t Is just as easy for me TO believe that
God created man as he is as to believe
that millions of years ago he created
germ OF life and endowed 1t with
power 10 develop into all that we see
today. But I object to the Darw!nlan
theory until moro conclusive proof Is
produced, because ! fear we shall lose
the Consciousness of Gods presence In
our daily life IL we must assume that
through all the ages no spiritual force
has touched the life OF man or shaped
the destiny Of nations But there is
another objection. The Darwinlan the.
ory represents man as reaching his
present perfection by tho operation OF
the law OF hate-thc mcrcilcss law by
which the strong crowd out and kin
or the weak. If this is the law of our
development, then, IL there Is any logic
that can bind the human mind. we
shall turn backward toward the beast
In proportion as we substitute the law
of love, How can hatred he the law of
development when nations have ad-
yanced in proportion as they have de-
parted from that law and adopted the
law of love?
But while | do not accept the Dar-
wlnlan theory / shall not quarrel with
you about It, | refer 10 II only TO re-
mind you that It does not solve the
mystery OF life or explain human prog
ress. fear that some have accepted
II In the hope of escaping from the
miracle, but why should the miracle
frlghten us? 1t bothered me once. and
] am inclined to think that it is one OF,
the test questions with the Christian.
Why Shouldn't Miracles Be Performed2
Christ cannot be separated from the
miraculous. His birth. his mlnlstra-
lions and his resurrection all involve
the miraculous, and the change which
his religion works in the human heart
is continuing miracle. Eliminate the
miracles and Christ becomes merely a
human being and his gospel Is stripped
of divine authority.
The miracle raises two questions,
Can God perform mlracleT and
would he want to-" The first Is easy
TO answer. A God who can make II
world can do anything he wants to do
with II. The power TO perform mira
cles Is necessarily implied In the pow
er TO create. But would God want TO
perform Il miracle? This is the Ques-
tlon which has given most of the trou,
Bile. The more have considered 1t
the less inclined am to answer In the
negative. 10 say that God would not
perform miracle is to assume a more
intimate knowledge of Gods plans and
purposes than ! can claim TO have.
will not deny that God does perform