Chapter XVII: Appendix: Reflections

In the preceding pages I have endeavored to develop a scientific argument pure and simple. Yet I do not feel called upon to apologize in any way for attempting now to show the connection between an inductive scheme of Geology as set forth in the body of this work and the religion of Christianity; though my remarks along this line must necessarily be very brief.

The most fundamental idea of religion is the fatherhood of God as our Creator. The only true basis of morality lies in our relationship to Him as His creatures. During the latter half of the nineteenth century the Biblical idea of a creation at some definite and not very remote period in the past became much modified by reason of certain theories of evolution, which explained the origin of plants and animals as the result of slow-acting causes, now in operation around us, prolonged over immense ages of time. These theories, though built up wholly on the current Geology as a foundation, were yet supposed to be firmly established in science, and after a spirited discussion among biologists for a few years, were almost universally accepted in some form or other by the religious leaders of Christendom. And though the "Theistic Evolution" of recent years may be supposed to have modified somewhat the stern heartlessness of pure Darwinism, it still leaves the Christian world quite at variance with the old Pauline doctrines regarding good and evil, creation, redemption, the atonement, etc.

And these are not the only effects of the general acceptance of these ideas as an explanation of the origin of things. We see their moral effects in the generation now coming on the stage of action--men educated in an atmosphere of Evolution, and accustomed from youth to the idea that all progress, whether in the individual or the race, is to be reached only by a ceaseless struggle for existence and survival at the expense of others. In the words of Sir William Dawson, these doctrines have "stimulated to an intense degree that popular unrest so natural to an age discontented with its lot ... and which threatens to overthrow the whole fabric of society as at present constituted."[95]

This popular and perfectly natural application of the evolution doctrine to every-day life is certainly intensifying, as never before, the innate selfishness of human nature, and, in every pursuit of life, embittering the sad struggle for place and power. Perhaps no other one cause and result serve more plainly to differentiate the present strenuous age from those that have gone before. The hitherto undreamed-of advantages and creature comforts of the present day, instead of tending toward universal peace and happiness, are apparently only giving a wider range to the discontent and depravity of the natural human heart. So much so, that any one familiar with the history of nations cannot but feel a terrible foreboding creep over him as he faces the prospect presented to-day by civilised society the world over.

The only remedy for the many and increasing evils of our world is the old-fashioned religion of Christ and His apostles. And this applied, not to the state, but to the individual. The soul-regenerating truths of Christianity have always, wherever given a proper test by the individual, resulted in moral uplift and blessing. Ecclesiastical policies and ideas have always, wherever allowed to influence civil legislation, resulted in oppression and tyranny.

What has Geology to do with all this? It has much to do with it. Correct ideas of geology will remove a great many vain notions--I had almost said superstitions--regarding our origin, which now pass under the name of science. And in thus removing false ideas it =leaves the ground cleared= for more correct ideas regarding =creation=, and thus for truer concepts of =morality=, the old idea of "must" and "ought" based on our relation to God as His creatures.

Mark the words I have used. =Inductive Geology can never prove creation.= It may remove obstructions which have hitherto obscured this idea, but this is the utmost limit of any true science. Inductive Geology removes forever the succession-of-life idea, and thus may =suggest= the only seeming alternative, viz., Creation as the definite act of the Infinite God. Before this awful yet sublime fact, with all the fogs of evolution and metaphysical subtleties cleared away, the human mind stands to-day as never before within historic times.

With a fairly complete knowledge of the chemical make-up of protoplasm, with a good acquaintance with the life history and reproduction of living cells, we yet =know nothing of the origin of life=. With a good working knowledge of variation, hybridization, etc., =we know nothing of the origin of species=. While with a fairly good understanding of the present geographical distribution of species, and of where their fossils occur in the rocks, we are =profoundly ignorant of any particular order= in which these species originated on our globe, or whether they all took origin at =approximately one and the same time=. In short, having reached out along every known line of investigation, until we have apparently reached the limits of the human powers in investigation and research, twentieth century science must stand with uncovered head and bowed form in presence of that most august thought of the human mind, "=In the beginning God created=."

And yet, personally, I am firmly convinced that the origin of life and of our cosmos, was according to law, and the laws of nature. As has been said, How could the origin of nature be contrary to nature? How could the origin of present forms and conditions be in any way at variance with the laws by which these forms or conditions are maintained? And while I do not consider it a very promising field of research, we ought to have no more reluctance, _per se_, to considering the manner in which the first cell or the first species was formed, than the way in which a chicken is produced from the egg. Of course in either case we must have the materials, and some outside Cause to originate the conditions and conduct the process; they both require the immanent presence and fostering care of the great Creator.

In this connection I beg leave to quote somewhat at length from my book, "Outlines of Modern Science and Modern Christianity."

"We are getting no nearer the real mystery in the case by saying that all the tissues of the chick are built up by the protoplasm in the egg. The protoplasm in the toes is the same as that in the little creature's brain. Why does the one build up claws and the other brain cells? Does memory guide these little things in their wonderful division of labor? But they all started from one original germ cell, hence they all ought to have the same memory pictures. Or have they entered into a mutual-benefit arrangement, like the members of a community, as Haeckel would have us believe, each contributing by actual desire and effort, I suppose, an individual share to the general progress of the whole?--No; they have all the appearance of being mere automata working at the direct bidding of a Master Mind. Every step of the process needs a Creator, just as much as the first cell division. In the words of one of the highest of scientific authorities, 'We still do not know why a certain cell becomes a gland-cell, another a ganglion-cell; why one cell gives rise to a smooth muscle-fibre, while a neighbor forms voluntary muscle;' and this also 'at certain, usually predestined, times in particular places.'[96] And in the same way the idea of a Creator would not be disposed of, even if we could possibly hit upon the probable process of world-formation. We would not, by understanding the process, really get at the cause of the phenomena, any more than we do now at the real cause of life. From the scientific method the real mystery remains as much behind the veil as ever before." (pp. 111, 112.)

Again I quote from this same work:

"The origin of organic nature could not well have been otherwise than by natural process. Do we understand all natural processes? At some time life was not in existence on our globe. All agree that it had a beginning. Even if created by the great Creator, the living was at some time formed from the not-living or the not-material. It does not take even Huxley's famous 'act of philosophic faith' to believe that. So that, in spite of all the haze that has been thrown about this question, the Biblical creation of the organic from the inorganic is no more contrary to, or even outside of, natural law than is evolution....

"But see what we avoid. According to the Bible, death in even the lower animals (and consequently all misery and suffering: the less is included in the greater) is only the result of sin on the part of man, the head of animated nature, a reflex or sympathetic result, if you will. But with evolution we have countless millions of years of creature suffering, cruelty, and death before man appeared at all, cruelty and death that ... have no moral meaning at all, save as the work of a fiend creator, or a bungling or incompetent one."[97]

The author then gives a quotation from LeConte, illustrating the extremely various ways in which matter and energy act on the different planes of their existence, while "The passage from one plane upward to another is not a gradual passage by sliding scale, but at one bound. When the necessary conditions are present, a new and higher form of force at once appears, like birth into a higher sphere.... It is no gradual process, but sudden, like birth into a higher sphere."[98]

The argument then proceeds as follows:

"The living at some time originated from the not-living. =We call it creation.= Can any one find a better name? It is preposterous to call it a process of development or evolution due to the inherent properties of the atoms, and effected by them alone. And yet it is doubtless as much according to 'natural law' as are the invariable and exact combinations of chemistry. We do not understand the ultimate reasons for chemical affinity any more than we do for gravitation. They are only expressions of the methodical, order-loving mind of Deity. Creation was only another action of the same mind, and we are not really finding any new difficulty when we say that the processes or the reasons for creative action are beyond our comprehension. When we can really solve some of the myriad problems right before our eyes, it will be time enough to complain about creation being incomprehensible or contrary to 'natural law.'

"Well, then, remembering that, even according to Huxley's 'act of philosophic faith,' the origin of the living from the not-living must at some time have taken place according to natural law, =why should we suppose that such a process was confined to one example=? If, when the young planet 'was passing through physical and chemical conditions which it can no more see again than a man can recall his infancy,' the 'necessary conditions' were favorable for one such creation of life, =why not a few billion=? Would the production of a few billion such beginnings of protoplasm be any less 'natural' than of one alone? Remember, however, that both the arrangement of these 'necessary conditions,' as well as the endowing of matter with these 'properties,' not only requires a cause, but this cause must be intelligent, for there is indisputable design in this first origin of life.... The food for a developing embryo might, for aught that we know, be conveyed to it direct from the ultimate laboratories of nature, and it thus be built up by protoplasm in the usual way, without the medium of a parent form--other than the great Father of all. Or would it be any less according to natural law to believe that a bird passed through all the usual stages of embryonic development from the not-living up to the full-fledged songster of the skies =in one day=--the fifth day of creation? And =if one example, why not a million=? For, remember that the youthful earth was then passing through strange conditions, 'which,' as Huxley says, 'it can no more see again than a man can recall his infancy.'"[99]

Omitting some remarks about embryology, I continue this quotation as follows:

"But what 'law' would be violated in this springtime of the world if, instead of twenty years or so for full development, the first man passed through all these stages =in one day=--the sixth of creation week? He might as well have originated from the not-living as the evolutionist's first speck of protoplasm, for he certainly now starts from a mass of this same protoplasm, identical, as we have seen, in all plants and animals.

"And by originating thus, he would escape that horrible heritage of bestial and savage propensities which he would get through evolution, a heritage that would make it not his fault, but his misfortune, that sin and evil are in the world, and which would also shift the responsibility for the evidently abnormal condition of 'this present evil world' off from the creature to the Creator, and change to us His character from that of a loving Father, fettered by no conditions in His creation, to that of either a bungling, incompetent workman or a heartless fiend; for, though I am almost ashamed to write the words, the god of the evolutionist must be either the one or the other." (p. 121.)

* * * * *

=With an appreciation nurtured by centuries of study of God's larger book, baffled often though she has been, and disappointed many times in the words she has endeavored to spell out, Science to-day proclaims its subject, its title page, which she has now at last deciphered, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."

FOOTNOTES:

[95] "Modern Ideas of Evolution," p. 12.

[96] "_Nature_," May 23, 1901, pp. 75, 76.

[97] "Outlines," etc., p. 116.

[98] "Evolution and Religious Thought," pp. 314-316.

[99] "Outlines," etc., p. 119, 120.

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Transcriber's Note:

Punctuation has been standardised, in particular, missing periods have been supplied where obviously required. All other original errors and inconsistencies have been retained, except as follows; (the first line is the original text, the second the passage as currently stands):

must less of the co-existing faunas of other
much less of the co-existing faunas of other

which it discusses from a purely scientfic
which it discusses from a purely scientific

works of Dana, Le Conte, Prestwich, and Geikie
works of Dana, LeConte, Prestwich, and Geikie

of looking into the =geneology of an idea=.
of looking into the =genealogy of an idea=.

history of science did a stranger halucination
history of science did a stranger hallucination

we know they are today in "recent" deposits
we know they are to-day in "recent" deposits

The author then gives a quotation from Le Conte,
The author then gives a quotation from LeConte,

But is is equally evident that each successive
But it is equally evident that each successive

dominated Mediaeval scolasticism and made it
dominated Mediaeval scholasticism and made it

The Glacian Nightmare and the Flood,
The Glacial Nightmare and the Flood,

larger species is the _Titnichthys clarki
larger species is the _Titanichthys clarki

happening in our modern homogenous world is enough
happening in our modern homogeneous world is enough

widespread numulitic limestones of the Eocene
widespread nummulitic limestones of the Eocene

of organic creation on the instal ment plan,
of organic creation on the instalment plan,

Numulites or Mammals positively were not living
Nummulites or Mammals positively were not living

here and there to make this incredible thicknss,
here and there to make this incredible thickness,

about 1830 it came to the recognized, other
about 1830 it came to be recognized, other

the bison is today absolutely extinct,
the bison is to-day absolutely extinct,

See Le Conte, "Evol. and Religious Thought,"
See LeConte, "Evol. and Religious Thought,"

they are directed rather to the empyrical method
they are directed rather to the empirical method

fitting "like a glove" on the preceeding.
fitting "like a glove" on the preceding.

Le Conte, "Evol. and Rel. Thought," pp. 33, 34
LeConte, "Evol. and Rel. Thought," pp. 33, 34

and spcial monographs in German and French.
and special monographs in German and French.

But to incrase this antiquity by saying
But to increase this antiquity by saying

Lions and monkys, hippopotami and crocodiles,
Lions and monkeys, hippopotami and crocodiles,

and rhinoceroces, now live beneath the palms,
and rhinoceroses, now live beneath the palms,

scientists who can elaborate geneological trees of descent
scientists who can elaborate genealogical trees of descent

have taken for these excedingly numerous
have taken for these exceedingly numerous

the Pleistocene Mammals and the middle Tertiary flora
the Pleistocene mammals and the middle Tertiary flora

literature is fairly innundated with new names;
literature is fairly inundated with new names;

a noted paiaeontologist for finding a pupa
a noted palaeontologist for finding a pupa

the theories of the igenous origin of the crystalline rocks
the theories of the igneous origin of the crystalline rocks

went to school toegther, served in the same wars,
went to school together, served in the same wars,

=or are now to be found iiving in our modern world=
=or are now to be found living in our modern world=

e.g. gratolites and numulites
e.g. gratolites and nummulites

these Davonian and other rocks are absolutely
these Devonian and other rocks are absolutely

it cannot save the Alps, Juras and Appenines
it cannot save the Alps, Juras and Appennines

without leaving abundant and indellible marks
without leaving abundant and indelible marks

which it can no more see again than a can can recall
which it can no more see again than a man can recall

and yet refuse the =evidently complemntary= dposits
and yet refuse the =evidently complementary= deposits

pages of the ordinary text-boks.
pages of the ordinary text-books.

these is no telling what hosts of similar facts
there is no telling what hosts of similar facts

but so far as the text-boks tell us are
but so far as the text-books tell us are

as recent as the numulitic limestones of the Eocene
as recent as the nummulitic limestones of the Eocene

[Footnote 2: "Old Red Sandstone," pp. 48-221-2.]
[Footnote 2: "Old Red Sandstone," pp. 48, 221-2]

for thousands of skletons are found in localities
for thousands of skeletons are found in localities

is easily understod as the survival of the notion,
is easily understood as the survival of the notion,

the dim past, and all these semitropical plants had
the dim past, and all these semi-tropical plants had

=better established than the post-Piiocene submergence.="
=better established than the post-Pliocene submergence.="

example described by Helm, already spoken of,
example described by Heim, already spoken of,

The former is qulet easily answered:
The former is quite easily answered:

=race extinction alone= that appals the mind.
=race extinction alone= that appalls the mind.

which in the hands of Copernicus and Galilio,
which in the hands of Copernicus and Galileo,