The Democrat-sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1906-1935, 1908-10-22

ana fOunu tnau tney ul ussuheu eo"e
thing TO begin with. The nebulor hy-
potbesls, 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-
pothesis, creates a universe. Well,
have a right to assume and ] prefer
to assume Designer back of the de-
sign, a Creator back Of creation. and,
no matter how long you draw out the
process of creation, so long as God
stands back of 1t you cannot shake
my faith in Jehovah. In Genesis 1t Is
written that in the beginning COD
created the heavens and the eartn, anu
I can stand on that proposition until
find some theory of creation that goes
further back than "the beginning"
I do not carry the doctrine or evo-
luton as far as some do. l have not
yet been able to convince myself that
man is ]ineal descendant of the low
er animals. do not mean to find fault
with you II you want to accept 1t. All
I mean to say Is that, while you may
trace your ancestry back to the mon
key IL 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 mind as we'll as body and
soul as we'll as mind. The mind Is
greater than the body, and the soul Is
greater than the mind, and 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
! II 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 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, l would prefer the first,
for If we can chase the germ OF lire
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 as 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
germ Of life and endowed it with
power to develop into all that we see
today. But / object to the Darwinial
theory until more conclusive proof Il
produced, because / fear we shall lose
the consciousness Of Gods presence II
our daily life If we must assume tha
through all the ages no spiritual force
has touched the life Of man or shapec
the destiny of nations, But there Il
another objection. The Darwinian the
| OTy EcpISStulS iiuh po ASoNAAAANo ~~-'
present perfection by the operation Of
the law of hate-the merciless law by
which the strong crowd out and XII
off the weak. II this is the law of oul
DEVELOPMENT, then, If there Is any logi'
that can bind the human mind, WI
shall turn backward toward the beas
In proportion as we substitute the Law
of love. How can hatred be the law O
DEVELOPMENT when nations have ad
vanced in proportion as they have de
parted from that law and adopted tn
law of love?
But while l do not accept the Dar
winian theory shall not quarrel witt
you about 1t. / refer to 1t only to re
mind you that 1t does not solve tn
l mystery of life or explain human prog
ress. / fear that some have accepte
it in the hope of escaping from tn
miracle, but why should the miracl
frighten us? 1t bothered me once, an
am inclined to think that 1t Is one
the test questions with the Christian.
> Why Shouldn't Miracles Be Performed
' Christ cannot be separated from tn
q miraculous. His birth, his ministra
+ tIons and his resurrection all involv
/ the miraculous, and the change whic
y his religion works in the human heal
= is q continuing miracle. Eliminate tn
8 miracles and Christ becomes merely
t human being and his gospel Is strippe
$ of divine authority.
@ The miracle raises two questions
o Scan God perform miracleT an
: "Would he want tor The first Is eas
n to answer. A God who can make
/, world can do anything he wants to d
It with 1t. The power to perform Mrs
= cles Is necessarily implied In the pow
|, er to create. But would God want
d perform miracle? This Is the que
o ton which has given most of the tro'
It BILE. The more | have considered
the less inclined am to answer In III
% negative. To say that God would NJ
- perform miracle Is to assume mol
IS intimate knowledge of Gods plans an
? purposes than / can claim to have.
D. VIII not deny that God does perforl
IS a miracle OF may perform one merel
10 because ! do not know how or why I
does 1t. The fact that we are constan
l. ly learning of the existence OF ne
l. forces suggests the possibility th'
Q. God may op6sate through forces y
p unknown to as, and the mysteri
I with which we deal every day wal
O. me that faith is as necessary as sigh
70 Who would have credited a centul