2 THE WHENCE AND THE WHITHER OF MAN 



age, and Borne of rottenness begotten of sin. But 

 each of them, you will say, left a priceless heritage to 

 the immortal race. But if Greece and Boine and a 

 host of older nations, of which History has often for- 

 gotten the very name, have failed and died, can any- 

 thing but ultimate failure await the race ? Is human 

 history to prove a story told by an idiot, or does it 

 " signify " something ? Is the great march of human- 

 ity, which Carlyle so vividly depicts, " from the inane 

 to the inane, or from God to God ? ' 



This is the sphinx question put to every thinking 

 man, and on his answer hangs his life. For according 

 to that answer, he will either flinch and turn back, or 

 expend every drop of blood and grain of power in urg- 

 ing on the march. 



To this question the Bible gives a clear and emphatic 

 answer. "God created man in his own image," and 

 then, as if men might refuse to believe so astounding a 

 statement, it is repeated, " in the image of God created 

 he him." When, and by what mode or process, man 

 was created we are not told. His origin is condensed 

 almost into a line, his present and future occupy all 

 the rest of the book. Whence we came is important 

 only in so far as it teaches us humility and yet assures 

 us that we may be Godlike because we are His handi- 

 work and children, " heirs of God and joint heirs with 

 Christ of a heavenly inheritance." 



Now has Science any answer to this vital question? 

 Perhaps. But this much is certain ; it can foretell the 

 future only from the past. Its answer to the question 

 tvhither must be an inference from its knowledge as to 

 whence we have come. The Bible looks mainly at the 

 present and future ; Science must at least begin with 



