SOME DIFFICULTIES OF .EVOLUTION. 



95 



De, W. Woods-Smyth wrote: — I am glad to get a glimpse of 

 T)r. Schofield's paper. I am an evolutionist, because, like Hceckel. 

 I found it in the Bible. The succession of living organisms revealed 

 by geology agrees with* the doctrine of evolution, and that succession 

 is absolutely in harmony with Genesis i. as far as the Scripture goes. 

 The Bible alleges the earth to be an efficient cause in the bringing 

 forth of living organisms. In the Hebrew the word is in the causa- 

 tive voice — this denotes all that the earth stands for, namely, the 

 life given to it by God, the environment, natural selection, etc. ]\Ian 

 by his feeble powers and limited vision, by his use of selection, lias 

 produced varieties which, had they been found in Nature, would have 

 been placed not simply in different species, but in different genera. 

 Man, by experiments on a few organisms has produced varieties of 

 organisms which arc inherited through generations, and the per- 

 manency of the new characters, which are inherited, depends upon 

 the length of time they have been subject to changed conditions. 

 Natural selection works on many millions of organisms, and through 

 long millions of ages — hence its achievements. True natural selec- 

 tion alone cannot produce a species of living organism. No more 

 can its Biblical correlative, election, alone produce a Christian, 



The elect of Christ and Darwin are ever the Overcomers. The 

 point is by what means do they overcome ? Nietzsche, in his nar- 

 row soul, thought of might, power, force ; this was a mistake. The 

 great saurians excelled in strength the mammals, but the mammals 

 by more brains and alertness of body were the overcomers. The 

 earlier gigantic mammals excelled in strength their later congeners, 

 yet the later overcame and displaced them by more efficient adjust- 

 ments. Man has the dominion over all creatures, but not by might 

 or force ; and Christ overcomes by the revelation of the love of God 

 and the majesty of Him who loves. 



Note by Dr. Schofield on Dr. Woods-Smyth's remarks : If evolution 

 means only succession it is too vague for controversy. Neither water 

 nor earth were efficient causes of animal life, for God had to create 

 and make every living creature. I do not consider natural selection 

 and God's election as correlatives. Might, power, force, is not 

 confined by Nietzsche and others to what is physical. 



