The True and False Theory of Evolution. Chauncey 1813-1893 Giles

of the false conclusions to which its ardent votaries have blindly rushed, will establish upon the basis of immutable law the principles which a superficial and partial knowledge assumes to have disproved. They will bring the Lord near to man as a personal and constant factor in the creation, instead of banishing Him from it. They will teach man how to see the Lord's love and wisdom and constant care for His children in all the works of His hands.

      Evolution has forced Christianity into a false position, or taken advantage of a false position already assumed, and with the adroitness of a special advocate, or the unconsciousness of the full force of its testimony, it has gained acceptance for witnesses which do not testify in its favor. This is a fact which should be clearly understood. For the want of it many misconceptions about the theory have gained credence. Many honest minds have been led to believe that it was established beyond doubt, and even its most ardent advocates seem to have been deceived by it. The essential principle of Evolution, which distinguishes it from all other theories, is that matter has no origin, and that it contains within itself all the substances and forces, and all the organic forms and qualities of plants, animals, and men. Growth, development, and progress of all kinds are cited as examples of Evolution, and proof of its essential principle. It evolves the spiritual and supernatural from dreams and natural phenomena of whose causes men in their undeveloped state were ignorant. The idea of God and the obligation to worship and obey Him are evolved from reverence and regard for ancestors who had been removed by death. All that the evolutionist needs to create a religion, a spiritual world, and a Supreme Being, is some hint or fancy of an ignorant savage. We have lectures on the evolution of the steam-engine, of the various sciences and of Revelation in the Sacred Scriptures. Indeed, evolution is driving the old words, progress, improvement, development, out of use and usurping their places. If it simply took their place and meaning, there would be no serious objection to the change. But it carries with it a principle or an assumption which does not belong to the common words, and then cites them as witnesses in favor of a doctrine which they never taught. There is a fallacy in this method of proof which has deceived many Christians, and probably many of ,the scientists themselves. Progress in knowledge upon any subject, natural or spiritual, is not the evolution of some indistinct hint or vague fancy about it. It is made by gaining new ideas; by the light of new truths which did not originate in the imperfect notions of ignorance. It is as impossible to evolve knowledge from ignorance as it is to gain light from darkness. Knowledge upon any subject is enlarged and perfected by more knowledge. The supposition that ignorance or error can by any process of increase or development or evolution, become truth, is as absurd as the doctrine of the creation of the universe out of nothing. Improvement in the arts and industries and methods of business and mechanical appliances is not the evolution of any principle or force that was inherent in them. It has been made by the application of truths and forces which were not in them. The promise and potency of the steam-engine do not exist in iron, or of a palace in clay and marble. A vast number of the facts which are cited in proof of evolution are of this nature. They are not germane to the subject, and should be ruled out of court.

      If we admit the premises that every step in the progress of creation is taken by causes which inhere in matter, and that the highest is evolved from the lowest, as power from inertia, life from death, there is no escape from the testimony of the facts. But we are not compelled to admit the premises or deny the facts. We admit, without hesitation or exception, that creation is a gradual process, in which natural means co-operate with other forces; that every step in it is connected and related as cause and effect; and still we emphatically deny the fundamental principle a Evolution. Gradual advancement by natural instrumentalities is not limited to any special theory of the first cause and origin of creation. It is valid against the doctrine of instantaneous creation by omnipotent fiat; but it applies with equal, if not more, convincing power to the idea of an intelligent, personal and Divine Author, who acts from the ends of infinite love, and creates and employs an infinite variety of means to accomplish His purposes. Those who believe in the Divine origin of the creation may frankly admit all the facts of the advocates of Evolution. They may even gratefully accept them as a most important service to religion, and beautiful illustrations of the methods of infinite wisdom, while they utterly repudiate the essential theory they are summoned to prove. The theory leaves out of account the most important factor, the constant presence and persistent action of the spiritual and Divine substances and forces from which matter itself and all its forces are evolved, and by which it is constantly moved to action and molded into form. Still we believe that the scientist has rendered an invaluable service to an intelligent and undoubting belief in the existence of a supreme, personal Being, by demonstrating the manifold, infinitely complex and orderly means by which He manifests His love and wisdom and attains His ends. The scientist himself is a most important agent in this work, and he is rendering a service to humanity of which he is wholly unconscious.

      There is another principle which has led to man misconceptions and errors concerning the constant agency of the Lord in the creation; and that is, the nature and, functions of law. Law is regarded as a force in itself; as having some independent and self-derived power of creating and destroying. Men talk of the laws of nature as though they were independent powers which controlled and guided all the movements of material substances. Even those who believe in the existence of an intelligent and personal Creator, practically admit that He has committed the universe of matter and mind to the government of certain laws, while He stands, as it were, aloof, like an inventor from his machine, and only interferes to prevent its destruction when it becomes deranged, or to destroy it when it ceases to perform the use for which he made it. Law is endowed with intelligence and power; and, in the minds of those who regard everything from a material point of view, and measure everything by the appearances of the senses, it is put in the place of the Creator. The Lord is banished from the universe, and law is elevated to His throne.

      But the truth is that law possesses no power, and consequently does no work. Law is simply the way in which an intelligent power acts. Civil law has no power of its own inherent in it. It is a direction of the manner in which the members of a community or nation must act. It points out their relations to one another, and makes known the penalties of violating them. It possesses no more power in itself than a machine or an iron railway. All its power lies in the minds of intelligent beings who enacted it. In the same manner the laws of matter and spirit are the ways in which the Creator works to accomplish His purposes. They are the paths in which He moves; the methods of His infinite wisdom, by which He attains the ends of His infinite love. Instead of banishing Him from the universe, therefore, they are the paths in which He enters it, and they are the evidence of His constant presence and active energy in creating and sustaining His works. Instead of removing Him to some immeasurable distance from men and nature, where He sits in solitary grandeur, contemplating an accomplished purpose, they are testimony presented even to the senses, that He is actively present in the least as well as in the greatest things, creating, sustaining, and perfecting His work. He is revealing to men His love and wisdom in the order, harmony, and infinite variety of His methods; in the beauty and grandeur of the universe, and the boundless wealth of His provision for human happiness. He is brought near to us. We see Him acting in every movement; we see Him working in every flower that blossoms, and in every human effort to enlighten and improve the condition of humanity.

      There are many fatal defects in the common doctrine of Evolution as a theory of creation. It sets out from a false position which enters into all its reasoning, and necessarily results in false conclusions. It makes that first which is last; mistakes effects for causes, and appearances for substantial truths. It deduces the greater from the less, the higher from the lower, power from inertia, organization from crude matter, reason from instinct, and instinct from attraction. It makes disorder the cause of order, and death the origin of life. If, compelled by the absurdity of their position and the violation of all logical and philosophical modes of reasoning, its apostles reluctantly admit the possibility of the existence of some power behind matter and distinct from it, they do not allow that this unknown Somewhat has any part in the work of creation. Consequently, so far as it relates to the theory, it is the same as though it did not exist.

      By this practical denial of an intelligent Creator, the essential factor in the creation is rejected, and the attempt is made to account for the existence of all things and beings without any purpose or adequate cause. This attempt to account for the creation without a Creator, is as irrational