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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:—1l. 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.” 
