NATURE HAS NO POWER, ETC. 103 



manifestations of energy we call life are handed down 

 from generation to generation, as sacred fire in the 

 temple of vesta from one watcher to another. Science 

 may at some time teach us how to bring the chemical 

 constituents of protoplasm into that combination in 

 which they possess the faculty of starting the oxida- 

 tions under those conditions which characterize life; 

 then we shall have learnt to strike the vital match/ 

 (Martin, Human Body, p. 312.) 



I do not believe that life is handed down from 

 generation to generation. On the contrary the Crea- 

 tor strikes "the vital match' when each fertilized 

 ovum is formed; and every such human ovum is 

 directly and specially endowed by the Creator, with 

 the power to develop into a man or woman. 



Sec. 32. Nature has no Power to Gener- 

 ate a New Human Being; nor to 

 Evolve one from the Germ-Cell 



Nature is defined as : " The forces or processes 

 of the material world conceived of as an agency in- 

 termediate between the Creator and the world, pro- 

 ducing all organisms and preserving the regular order 

 of things; as in the old dictum, 'nature abhors a 

 vacuum.' In this sense, nature is often personified. " 

 (Cent. Die. 5, p. 3943.) It follows that "nature" 

 is not a substantial nor a material entity or thing, 

 like a man, a tree, or a stone; but is only a name for 



