The Penn's Grove record., 1908-09-04

trace YOUR dICeSly pdCk ~ Tie Hull
key if 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 1t
is true that man in some physical
qualities resembles the beast, but man
has a mind as well as a body and a
soul as well as a mind. The mind is
greater than the body, and the soul is
greater than the mind, and l object to
having mans pedigree traced OF one
third of him only, and that the lowest
third.
One does not escape from mystery,
however, by accepting this theory, for
it 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 it appears, and
to follow him n 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
ton.
If I were compelled to accept n Of
these theories, / would prefer the first,
for if 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 If 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 as far rs we may, we can
not escape from the creative act, and
it 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
a germ of life and endowed it with
power to develop into all that we see
today. But I object to the Darwinian
theory until more conclusive proof is
produced, because 1 fear we shall lose
the consciousness of Gods presence in
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
DRY 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 u
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 adj
vanced in proportion as they have de-
parted from that law and adopted the
law of love?
But while ] do not accept the OAR
winian theory 1 shall not quarrel with
you about it. / refer to it only to re-
mind you that it does not solve the
ress. 1 fear that som have accepted
it in the hope Of escaping from the
miracle, but why should the miracle
brighten us? 1t bothered me once, and
1 am inclined to think that it is n of
the test questions with the Christian.
Why Shouldn't Miracles Be Performed?
Christ cannot be separated from the
miraculous. His birth, his ministra-
lions and his resurrection all involve
the miraculous, and the change which
his religion works in the human heart
is a continuing miracle. Eliminate the
miracles and Christ becomes merely a
bum ~ hosnn md hiC n0cna1 ic cfrinnQd
of divine authority.
The miracle raises two questions,
"Can God perform a miracle?" and
"Would he want to?" The first is easy
to answer. A God who can make a
world can do anything he wants to do
with it. The power to perform mira
cles is necessarily implied in the pow
er to create. But would God want to
perform a miracle? This is the ques-
ton which has given most of the trou-
BILE. The more 1 have considered it
the less inclined l am to answer in the
negative. To say that God would not
perform a 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
a miracle or may perform one merely
because l do not know how or why he
does it. The fact that we are constant
ly learning Of the existence of new
forces suggests the possibility that
God may operate through forces yet
unknown to US, and the mysteries
with which we deal every day warn
me that faith is as necessary as sight.
Who would have credited a century
ago the stories that are now told of
the wonder working electricity? Fol
ages man had known. the lightning,
but only to fear it. Now this invisible
current is generated by a la made
machine, imprisoned in a man made
wire and made to do the bidding of
rious than many of the things with
now deals. 1t is simply
different.
1t is sometimes said that God could
not suspend N of his laws without
stopping the universe, but do we not
suspend or overcome the law of gray
itation every day? Every time we
move a foot or lift a weight we EN-
porarily interfere with the operation
of the most universal of natural laws,
and yet the world is not disturbed.
Science has taught US so nan
that we are tempted to con-
clude that we know everything, but
there is really a great unknown which
Is still unexplored, and that which we
learned ought to increase our
rather than our egotism.
Science has disclosed some of the ma
chinery of the universe, but science
has not yet revealed to us the great
secret-the secret of life. 1t is to be
found in every blade of grass, in every
insect, in every bird and in every ami
NAL, as well as in man. Six thousand
years of recorded history, and yet we
know no more about the secret of life
than they knew in the beginning. We
live, we plan, we have our hopes, our
foo nc md unf IN I. @Ix1---