388 A YEAR IN BRAZIL. 



have been adduced almost ad nauseam ; but I earnestly recom- 

 mend all students to examine the theories of natural selection and 

 survival of the fittest, together with the extravagant demands of 

 their exponents, and to consider whether the opposing theory of 

 special creation may not, at least, be as tenable and workable. 



How can men believe in, or even consider as possible, the 

 calmly propounded theories of evolutionists who have gone beyond 

 Darwin, and who present, as their well-weighed conclusions, the 

 statement that every existing organism has evolved by chance 

 from one primordial germ, and that the first particle of animated 

 matter was " the fortuitous concourse of atoms " ? 



At least, the yawning and insuperable gulfs which exist between 

 certain families cannot, to my mind, be bridged over by any 

 theory but the axiom of special creations, at certain periods, 

 however remote. 



Mr. Darwin has said,* "It is those who know little, and not 

 those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that 

 problem will never be solved by Nature." 



Therefore I plead again for moderation in the expression of 

 ideas, both from scientists and theologians. But I contend that, 

 at least, we must start with the fundamental doctrine of a Supreme 

 Being, Who is, by infinite condescension, in personal relation to 

 every one, and Who, while He makes wonderful revelations of His 

 power and omnipresence in the natural world every movement 

 of which is the object of His care reveals Himself in a far more 

 transcendent and miraculous manner to man, who is conformed to 

 His likeness, and " in Him we live, and move, and have our being." 

 I conclude with an extract from Professor P. J. van Beneden's 

 work on " Animal Parasites : 



" All the mutual adaptations are pre-arranged, and, as far as 

 we are concerned, we cannot divest ourselves of the idea that the 

 earth has been prepared successively for plants, animals, and man. 

 When the Creator first elaborated matter, He had evidently that 

 being in view who was intended at some future day to raise his 

 thoughts to Him and do Him homage. . . . The artist who 

 tempers the clay from which to make his model has already 

 conceived in his mind the statue which he is about to produce. 

 * " Descent of Man," vol. i. p. 3. 



