368 



SO. Not less incredible, and equally unsupported by facts, is 

 the theory of evolution, as propounded by Mr. Darwin, but in 

 which he was preceded by Lamarck. A little nomad becomes 

 a monkey — a monkey develops into an ape, and the ape into 

 a man ! The wonder to my mind is why the principle should 

 have failed to operate for so many thousands of years. Was it 

 only a limited liability ? If not, why should we not now see 

 instances of this progressive development? 



81. There are at least two facts fatal, in my opinion, to this 

 theory. One is the Deluge, of which we have lately received 

 proof on testimony irrespective of Scripture. The other is the 

 fact that the world will one day be burned up by the agency of 

 iire. This, of course, is a matter of faith, resting solely on 

 Divine testimony. 



32. The difference between special creation and the theory 

 of evolution is just this. A belief in the supernatural is essential 

 to the narrative of Scripture ; a belief in the fortuitous con- 

 course of atoms operating by inherent power, and will, and 

 wisdom, is essential to the acceptance of evolution by natural 

 selection. The statements of the Bible are founded on the 

 fact that God is the Almighty Sovereign of His creatures — that 

 He can alone create, and He alone destroy — that He is the 

 present mover as well as the original maker, and that through 

 every corner of the universe " He giveth [that is, is giving'] 

 to all life, and breath, and all things.^^ (Acts xvii. 25.) 



Mr. Darwin and Lamarck withdraw the Creator from the 

 constant superintendence of His own laws, the execution 

 being vested in the laws themselves. 



33. There can be no doubt that the love and wisdom of God 

 are displayed by what we call laws, but to suppose that they 

 possess intrinsic powers of action irrespective of the constant 

 vigilance of the Lawgiver is a form of materialism unworthy 

 even of the dim lights of Pagan philosophy. It has been 

 eloquently observed by Professor Balfour, that ^^we cannot 

 but honour the man, who, by his genius and talent, has been 

 enabled to develop one of the great laws of Nature, and who 

 feels, and acknowledges that he has been the humble instru- 

 ment to lift the veil, to a certain extent, which conceals the 

 working of the Almighty; but we have no sympathy with that 

 discoverer in science, who, puffed up with intellectual supe- 

 riority, puts the laws which he has elucidated in the place of 

 the Cr^eator, whose personality nad ever-working Omnipresence 

 he ignores.^'* 



* Manual of Botany. 



