The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1913-01-28
RELIGIOUS
WORLD
\OAH AND THE DIVINE.
E.CGENICS.
Tie International sunday school Les
-On for February = i. The Flood.
Gen. G:9.!2: 7:l1-34.
(By WILLIAM +. ELLIS.)

\ bbig little word IS moving out OF
the scientific journals into the daily
newspapers, and creeping into the
speech Of cultivated people. h is
~.eugenics." or the science of being
we'll born. or of race betteTment. 1t
stands fof the big Idea that society
owes it tn itself TO improve the stock
of mankind. There is a sound basis
for the principle. though it often runs
out in faddish and foolish notions.
II Is really no new idea: God has
been busy with the science of uni
versal ~eugenics since the beginning Of
time.
The story of Noah is but a little
study in Gods school Of e%ugenicS.
For the divine economy has eve had
regard TO the illness Of the race. In
His WI way and in His own time
God has eliminated the unfit. II pro-
vided for the dominance in life OF the
peoples who come nearest to repre-
senting His idea. All Of human his
tory is a series Of experiments in
universal eugenics. We may read the
rise and fall of nations by the light
OF this Greek word: since it is clear
that there has been an Overruling
n omniscient Providence that has
lifted up nations that were worthy to
rule Inc put them aside when they
became unit. That process is still
going on.
4 Long Look at the Human Race.
A distinguished British scientist
celebrated his eightieth birthday a
f weeks ago by declaring that
ere had been practically no IN
provement in the human race in
seven thousand years, OF course he
was testing with the facts. 1t may
be true-and it is significant that it
was a famous eyolutionist who ut
tered these p~essimistic words-that
the human body and brain and char
scter are essentially no more capable
man they were millenniums ago, bat
1t Is u~ndeniable that new ideals have
come TO dominate humanity. The
man who says that the world is no
better than in the days when the
many toiled as slaves under the ash
OF the few in the valleys Of the Tigris
ana Euphrates, and when life was
cheap n the will of the king was
supreme. is ignorant Of the steadily
growing idealism and humanitarian
ISM or the race. New conceptions OF
human rights and human liberty have
become domlnant; mans vision Of JUS
tice has ~broadened: mercy Is a bet
Ter understood word: the constant
state OF wal has given way % a reign
or normally peaceful civilization. This
~noIe world In our own day is Oming
anew under the sway Of the idealistn
OF Jesus.
Ihe sittings OF the centuries are
sun continuing. We have seen. within
the Lifetime Of every reader Of these
words. once powerful nations pass
mo positions OF marked inferiority.
wne,e IS spain. that once ruled the
world! What is left Of the Turks
proud power? Who now sings the
song OF Persian Imperialism? In the
very regions Of the Noah story the
'raFefer finds the Arabs along tho
rivers a degenerate. diseased and dis
appearing people. The great problero
or european politics today is a prob-
EN- OF the pre-eminence OF Slavism or
uernanism. The e few decades
WI, determine which is the more AT
~ dominate the map of Europe. The
reVerent student OF history is we'll on
tent to watch the processes Of Tho
years assured that they are the Ger
taih winnowings OF the Almighty who
20 having His way with mankind, even
~ wnen He precipitated the floods
upon the MeSopOtamian valleys.
the Fact Of the Flood.
mere is no doubt about 2 great
n"ou early IN the history Of the hu-
ma race, somewhere near it's nl.c.
OF beginning. The Babylonian tablets
tel! the story: Chinese literature
noios It; central Asia cherishes tho
uadition: the North American In
u'ahs. who probably came from the
same region. bear "a legend OF STINT
'sr purport. The late President ITar.
per sets forth the historicity Of tha
ueiuge as follows: "e
we may reSard The deluee as a
nistorica! Tact preserved in a multi-
tuue OF forms, an actual and ter,;hIa
went which made so powerful an
IMPRESSION upon the imaginations of
vne nrst parents Of our species that
the'r descendants could never foroet
II. rms cataclysm took place no.,
me primitive cradle of mankind and
previous to the separation Of ths
families from whom the nr;nc;na
races were to descend The deI,~.
was a tact: 1t was a part Of a e,ea,
plan; its recOrd as handed down e.
US IN the Hebrew Scriptures is tn,
one clear. distinct account. and wher
otmpared with the other account
years on its face the Indications o.
its divine origin" .
Little Ideas Of the World.
mere Is no need to hel;av. ~.
.he world that was submerged wa.
the world We now know. II is to IA
remembered that the Genesis stor