CHAPTER XIIL 



Organic Evolution. 



TT has been shown in the preceding chapters of this book 

 ^ that human civilization is the result of growth and devel- 

 opment and that there was a time in the age of man when 

 civilization did not exist; that every aid that man has called 

 into use to assist him in his struggle for existence may be 

 traced to its proximate or ultimate origin. In the regular 

 sequence of a story of Evolution what has heretofore been 

 written should follow what shall be written in the subse- 

 quent pages, but the transposition of the subject matter has 

 been purposely made as a means of clarity and as a founda- 

 tion for better understanding the laws of Nature working 

 through the Plan of Evolution. 



In entering upon a discussion of the evidences of Organic 

 Evolution, we are brought face to face with the questions 

 that have disturbed the minds of so many millions of per- 

 sons, namely: What was the plan of creation? Was it, as 

 taught in the ancient Hebrew writings, an act of God that 

 extended over a period of six days? Or was it an act of 

 God that has extended over many millions of years i! 



The late William Jennings Bryan who believed in the 

 "Special Creation" plan, in his lectures used these words: 

 "If it could be shown that man, instead of being made in 

 the image of God, is a development of beasts, we would 

 have to accept it regardless of its effect, for truth is truth 



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