The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1908-10-15


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 hy-
pothesis, for instance, assumes that
matter and force existed, matter in
particles Infinitely fine and each par
tlcle separated from every other par
ticle by space Infinitely great. Begin
ming with this assumption, force work
ing on matter, according to this hy-
pothesls, creates a universe. Well, l
have right to assume and I 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
stnnds back of 1t you cannot shake
my faith I'm Jehovah. In Genesis 1t Is
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. 1 have not
yet been able to convince myself that
man is a lineal descendant of the low
er animals. do not mean to find fault
with you II you want to accept It All
1 mean to say is that, while you may
trace your ancestry back to the mon
key If you find pleasure or pride In do
ing SO, you shall not connect me with
your family tree without more evi-
dence than has yet been produced. 1t
is true that man In some physical
qualities resembles the beast, but man
has a mind as well as body and
soul as well as a mind. The mind Is
greater than the body, and the soul is
greater than the mind, and 1 object to
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 1t appears, and
to follow him one must exercise more
faith than religion calls for, he finds
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
tlon.
If were compelled to accept one Of
these theories, would prefer the first,
for IL we can chase the germ Of life
of this planet and get it out into space
we can guess the rest of the way and
| no one can contradict us, but II we Rc-
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 as 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 it with
power to develop into all that we see
today. But / object to the Darwinian
Theory until more conclusive proof is
produced, because 1 fear we shall lose
the consciousness of Gods presence la
our daily life If 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 Darwinian the
ory represents man as reaching his
present perfection by the operation OF
the law of hate-the merciless law by
which the strong crowd out and kin
Off the weak. If this is the law of our
development, then, If 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 be the law OF
development when nations have ad'
vanced in proportion as they have de.
parted from that law and adopted the
law OF loye2
But while 1 90 not accept the Oar.
winian theory I shall not quarrel with
you about It. I refer to it only to re.
mind you that 1t 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
am inclined to think that 1t Is one OF
the test questions with the Christian.
Why shouidn't Miracles Be Performed
Christ cannot be separated from the
miraculous. His birth, his ministra
tons and his resurrection all involve
the miraculous, and the change which
his religion works In the human heari
Is a continuing miracle. Eliminate the
miracles and Christ becomes merely q
human being and his gospel Is stripped
of divine authority.
The miracle raises two questions
"Can God perform a miracleT and
"Would he want tor The first is easy
to answer. A God who can make 9
world can do anything he wants to dc
with 1t. The power to perform mira
cles is necessarily implied in the pow
er to create. But would God want Il
/ perform a miracle? This is the ques
ton which has given most of the trou
BILE. The more have considered Il
the less inclined l am to answer in the
negative. To say that God would mo-
perform miracle is to assume a more
intimate knowledge Of Gods plans and
purposes than l can claim to have,
will not deny that God does perform
a miracle or may perform one merely
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