8 



that, whether our Creator chose to bring our body to its present 

 state of completeness by a process nearly as long as that by 

 which He fitted the earth for our abode or fashioned it accord- 

 ing to the counsel of His own will, by the word of His power, 

 when " He spake and it was done, commanded and it stood 

 fast/' in either case, He is our Maker, whether the process of 

 making has been long or short.* 



This, however, must not be taken as an acknowledgment 

 of the correctness of the theory in question, which we do not 

 accept because of the difficulties and contradictions which it 

 involves. First, we have no authentic example of such trans- 

 mutation as this theory requires, so that it is as yet mere 

 theory. Then, we find that we have at present existing almost 

 every conceivable variety of life, from the simple sack up to 

 man, and we see no case in which these lower forms are 

 passing into the higher. Darwin himself informs us that the 

 earth-worms have retained their lowly but useful position 

 from the first till now ; nor can we conceive of the existence 

 of sufficient intelligence in the lower forms to attain, or even 

 aspire after, a higher. How could the simple sack, whose 

 power of absorption extends over its whole surface, discern 

 the advantage of tentacula, a mouth, and an alimentary canal ? 

 and, if he knew their benefit, how could he proceed to their 

 production ? 



The sum of the whole, then, is: 1. Pure materialism is 

 impossible. 2. Of evolution we have no proof and no authentic 

 example. 3. Creation, pure and simple, is the only doctrine 

 that meets and removes every difficulty and covers the whole 

 case ; while it is impossible to prove it false. Adopting the 

 mechanical maxim of following the line of least resistance, we 

 accept the infinite Creator, as attested and proved to us by 

 the whole assemblage of mundane facts. We are His creatures 

 in His world, sustained by His constant providence, and there- 

 fore we are accountable to Him. 



A notable confirmation of this accountability we have in the 

 faculty of conscience, which is possessed by all men. This 

 power or faculty is an immediate perception or intuition of 

 duty, which, although in nearly all cases it is capable of con- 

 firmation by subsequent processes of reasoning, is not the 

 result of reasoning in the first instance, but springs at once 



* This conclusion is the more necessary, as the accepted description of 

 the origin or cause of evolution is, " The tendency in any given direction 

 which gives a greater chance of life to the individual, but with which the 

 will or the intelligence of the individual has nothing to do." 



