Evolution | Page 2

is presented in
the following chapters. I realize that they, as well as intelligent readers
generally, may not meet with confidence the statements of a theologian
on a scientific question, least of all when he essays to treat such a
question from the standpoint of science. He is presumed to be at home
in theology, but a stranger in the domain of geology, astronomy, and
biology. It is for the purpose of obtaining a hearing at all that these
introductory remarks are written. But the argument must stand on its
own merits. The writer will now retire to the background. The facts
shall speak.
TH. G.

EVOLUTION.
CHAPTER ONE.
An Outline of the Theory. Definition.

Evolution is a name comprehending certain theories which seek to
account for all operations of nature as carried on according to fixed
laws by means of forces resident in nature. Prof. J. LeConte of the
University of California defines evolution as: "Continuous progressive
change according to certain laws and by means of resident forces."
Evolution is a theory, a philosophy, it is not a science. The theory is
called organic evolution in its relation to living forms (plant and animal
life), cosmic evolution, inasmuch as attempts have been made to
account by certain laws and the working of resident forces for the
development of the universe,--the earth, the sun, and the starry heavens.
Also the development of society, of religion, morals, politics, art, and
mechanical inventions is accounted for on the theory that there are
forces which, acting according to certain laws, have through many
changes made human life and institutions as we see them today.
The doctrine of Evolution briefly stated, is as follows: That in some
infinitely remote period in the past, how or from whence science does
not affirm, there appeared matter and force; that within matter and in
association with force there also appeared a primordial cell, how or
from whence no man knoweth, in which there was a spark of life; and
that from this cell all things animate have emerged, being controlled by
certain laws variously stated by various evolutionists; that these laws in
connection with the modifying influences of environment
(surroundings,--soil, climate, etc.) account for and explain the various
species that have existed in the past and now exist upon earth, man
included. That there are no gaps in the process but that there is
demonstrable a steady ascent from lower to higher (simple to more
complex) forms of life, until man is reached, the acknowledged highest
product of evolution.
The extreme evolutionists hold that all the power and potency of the
universe was stored up in that primordial cell, and that all things have
been worked out without any superintending agency other than the
forces resident in matter. Every operation of God is ruled out, or
deemed unnecessary. This is sometimes called atheistic evolution.
The theistic evolutionist ("theistic" from "theism," the belief in a

personal God) makes place for God in the beginning and all along the
line of development, as overlooking the process, perhaps reinforcing
and to a certain extent directing the energy, but not interfering with the
fixed law or rule of evolution. According to theistic evolution, God did
not create plants and animals as separate species (as related in Genesis
1) but created matter as a crude form and placed it under certain laws,
by which this matter was, during untold ages, gradually evolved into
worlds. That out of this matter, called inorganic, plants came into
existence, from some germ or property existing in matter. The origin of
animal life is explained in various ways by the so-called theistic
evolutionists. Some hold that the primordial plant life contained
potentially the lowest and simplest principles of animal life, and from it
the simplest animal forms were evolved; that from these latter were
evolved forms a little higher, until, after long ages, all the gradations
were passed through until man, the highest form, was the result. Others
believe that there is such an essential difference between plants and
animals that the latter could not have come from the former, that there
must be a new start on the animal side of life. Therefore they claim that
when the evolutionary development of matter reached a certain stage,
God appeared on the scene and endowed certain forms with the
principle of animal life, in its lowest elements. These lowest forms of
animal life then entered upon a series of evolutionary growth, each
lower form evolving one a little more complex, each series gaining the
use of and developing organs which existed essentially in the lower
form but were small, imperfect, and useless, because not needed. Thus
the hand and arm in man are structurally or essentially the same as the
leg of the brute, the wing of the bird,