IV. 

 METHOD OF CREATION. 



There exist on the earth at present from a million 

 to a million and a half species of animals and vege- 

 tables,* and it is commonly believed that the number 

 of extinct forms is many times greater than the liv- 

 ing. These organic beings ai'e divided into kingdoms, 

 sub-kingdoms, classes, orders, genera, species and 

 varieties. 



It is taught by evolution, that beginning with proto- 

 plasm, derived by spontaneous generation from in- 

 organic matter, the process of evolution, acting 

 through secondary agencies alone, has, from this 

 primordial protoplasm by ordinary generation and by 

 processes strictly natural, but in no case supernatural, 

 derived the countless multitude of animal and vege- 

 table species that have appeared upon the earth. 

 The primordial protoplasm was the parent from 

 which all organic beings have descended. 



Spontaneous generation being strictly a natural 

 process, a process so rare, according to some authors, 

 that we need not expect it to be repeated, the exist- 

 ence of all organic species, including man, was sus- 

 pended on the production of life by strictly natural 

 processes which are still in operation, but which are 

 persistently refusing to produce a similar result. 



If there is an intelligent Creator, it would seem that 

 he carried rashness to the verge of destruction when 



* The Interpretation of Nature, by N. S. Shaler, p 149. 

 4 49 



