CREATION BY EVOLUTION 



natural creation. But such a belief cannot be held by enlight- 

 ened persons who have really studied and appreciated the 

 evidences of man's evolution. Such persons know well that 

 every human being bears in his body the marks of his animal 

 origin, and that the human embryo shows that man's ances- 

 tors were once water-breathers and later hairy quadrupeds 

 before they became men ; yet this knowledge need not destroy 

 belief in the dignity of man nor in the existence of God. 



It is a curious fact that many persons who are seriously dis- 

 turbed by scientific teachings as to the evolution or gradual 

 development of the human race accept with equanimity the 

 universal observations as to the development of the human 

 individual. The animal ancestry of the race should be no 

 more disturbing to philosophical and religious beliefs than 

 the germinal origin of the individual, yet the latter is a fact 

 of universal observation, which cannot be relegated to the 

 domain of theory and which cannot be successfully denied. 

 If we admit the fact of the development of the entire individ- 

 ual from the egg, surely it matters little to our religious 

 beliefs to admit the development or evolution of the race 

 from some animal ancestor; for who will maintain that a 

 germ cell is more complex, more perfect, or more intelligent 

 than man's nearest relative in the animal world? 



If the idea of the evolution of a species is atheistic, as 

 some persons assert, so is the idea of the development of an 

 individual, for individual development involves the same 

 principles as race evolution. If one concedes the fact of 

 individual development according to natural laws and with- 

 out supernatural suspension of those laws, one might as well 

 concede the fact of evolution without supernatural creation, 

 so far at least as its effect on theology is concerned. It is 

 surprising that the so-called "Fundamentalists" have not 

 denied the development of the individual as they deny 



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