WHAT IS DARWINISM? 3 



The Scriptural Solution of the Problem of the 



Universe. 



That solution is stated in words equally sim- 

 ple and sublime : " In the beginning God 

 created the heavens and the earth." We have 

 here, first, the idea of God. The word God 

 has in the Bible a definite meaning. It does ^ 

 not stand for an abstraction, for mere force, for 

 law or ordered sequence. God is a spirit, and 

 as we are spirits, we know from consciousness 

 that God is, (1.) A Substance; (2.) That He 

 is a person ; and, therefore, a self-conscious, 

 intelligent, voluntary agent. He can say I ; 

 we can address Him as Thou ; we can speak of 

 Him as He or Him. This idea of God per- 

 vades the Scriptures. It lies at the foundation 

 of natural religion. It is involved in our relig- 

 ious consciousness. It enters essentially into 

 our sense of moral obligation. It is inscribed 

 ineffiiceably, in letters more or less legible, on 

 the heart of every human being. The man 

 who is trying to be an atheist is trying to free 

 himself from the laws of his being. He might 

 as well try to free himself from liability to 

 hunger or thirst. 



The 'God of the Bible, then, is a Spirit, infi- 



