The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-02-05

The theory pushed too far. And there is the in
evftahle reaction from, all extremes Are we ready
to believe that the soft spot the top OF baby
head is the degenerate remains OF dlsused eye, or
that the vermiform appendix is the atrophied re-
mains of the caude appendage of prehistoric man
which has retired inside from the gaze OF an unsym-
pathetic civilizationS Must conclude since bats
produce badness and prepared foods render teeth
unnecessary and civilized conditions do not require
so keen sense of smell, that the future man will
oe a badheaded, toothless, noseless creature, or
that the trolley car and automobile will dispense
with human legs, or that a race OF pianists will be
born with finger for each key of the instrument or
that students will appear with enormous heads and
eyes that only at reading distance that tribe
ot postmen will develop into shape mainly OF two
long legs and enough merely to reach the door
bell and the mail bag or that humpbacked porters
will arise with enormous length of arms and breadth
of backf Who but an old bachelor like Henry
Drumplond could see in the dreaded grasp OF baby
fingers the lingering relic Of the Simian grip by
which hairy forbears swung themselves from
limb TO limb OF the forest'
Fortunately there is always a corrective regulator
or balance wheel in the common sense OF mankind
which says to runaway theory thus far and no
farther" And that safe middle ground OF adjust
ment has been reached. With materialistc evo-
luton and its impersonal matter and motion be-
hind the universe, and with agnnstic evolution with
its unknowable creator religion exist only at
war. But thcistic evolution and orthodox theology
seem to have concluded peace There is room for
each in the territory OF faith, Theistic evolution
puts the God of the Bible behind the star mist and
sees him imminent through law in all creation and
conduct of the universe. 1t recognizes the miracles
and accepts the oraclcs of God as our book of
origins 1t receives the Scriptures, though allowed
proper liberty in their Interpretation. The Copper
nican discovery did not destroy the astronomy OF
the Bible, nor Newtons law its physics, nor Column
bus voyage its geography. and the biologists ham,
mer or the nebulous theory of creation have not
shaken the first chapter of Genesis. otherwise
impaired the integrity of the Scriptures.
The question is largely one of nomenclature.
Why should religion quarrel with her sister science
if the latter chooses to say biogenesis instead OF
conversion in naming the change from sin to right
eousness, il she prefers describe the loss OF the
higher faculties OF the human spirit from disuse or
improper Use by the word degeneration, it she
behods the virtues and vices of the fathers appear
ing unto the third and fourth generation and calls
it hcrcdity. when the inheritance reappears after
Il generation two she terms it atavism, or when
she declares that the doctrine familiar to the fol-
lowers of John Wesley in theory and to us all in
practice, backsdng, reverson type, when she
declares that her creed substitutes the survival of
the iittest for the perseverance of the saints-a-
ways provided that unto these terms she reads that
same spirit of simple faith and deveHt life which
have ever marked the reverent and honest seeker
after truth,
The greatest scholars to-day are reverent of re-
vealed truth and are found in the ranks of the
churches. And the most devoted religionsts of the
day are apprecatve of the methods and achieve
ments of all true science.
The conflict between them is apparent or exists
only among the mperfectly informed members of
each camp.
81
nightly in the minds of men than to-day