The continuous creation : an application of the evolutionary philosophy to the Christian religion

Front matter

REFERENCE LIBRARY

DATE

TITLE

Preface

“ An inevitable revolution,” says Matthew Arnold, “ of which we all recognize the beginnings and signs, but which has really spread, perhaps, farther than most of us think, is befalling the religion in which we have been brought up.”

Dr. Theodore T. Munger declares the “ showing the possibility of thinking under the principle of evolution and also as Christian believers” to be “the most imperative work now pressing upon religious teachers who are able to discern the signs of the times, and who would serve their day and generation.”

The writer of this volume conceives the inevitable revolution to be part of that evolution by which God continues the higher processes of creation. He also conceives not only the possibility of thinking under the principle of evolution, and at the same time as a Christian believer, but he thinks he perceives that before long it will be found impossible to think clearly in any other way.

Perhaps no apology is needed for the somewhat free use made of the works of Professors LeConte and Fiske ; the occasional use made of the works of

Vlll

PREFACE.

Professor Tyndall and Edward Clodd, of Bushnell, Beecher, Munger, Maurice, and others ; and that not always with specific acknowledgment. The acknowledgment is made wherever the author is conscious of his debt, and yet the debt is far greater than he could thus indicate, since it is in the writings of such men he traces some lines of that on-going creation by which God more and more reveals Himself.

October, 1889.

Contents

•

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Evolution 1

I. Evolution

On the 24th of November, 1859, Mr. Charles Darwin’s book on “ Origin of Species ” issued from the press.1 The edition consisted of 1250 copies, and all the copies were sold the first day. Before the end of the same year a second edition of 3000 copies was published. And it may therefore be said that the new era in philosophy began about the year 1860, or a little more than a quarter of a century ago.

Two centuries earlier, by the publication of the “Principia,” Sir Isaac Newton announced to the world that theory of the relations of things in space known as the law of universal gravitation. The “ Principia ” was issued in 1687. Three years later the theory was adopted by St. Andrews College, twelve years later by Cambridge, and seventeen years later by Oxford. But the French mathematicians did not fully adopt these views until after half a century.

It will readily be seen upon reflection that there were grave difficulties in the way of the acceptance of such a theory, because the foundations of philosophies, time-honored and all-authoritative, would be 1 Darwin’s Life and Letters .

THE CONTINUOUS CREATION .

sapped, and the religious teachings of many centuries would have to be in part reconsidered, if not abandoned. But although the difficulties were enormous, the theory in due time commanded universal assent, and became the basis of all subsequent work in the domain which it covers.

So far as the theory of universal gravitation is related to our present purpose, we may conceive of men as gazing at the heavens and asking why the moon occupied its station ; why the sun and stars continued in their places. And the observers would answer, each according to his philosophy. One would say that the situation of the heavenly bodies with relation to the earth and each other is determined purely by chance. Another would recoil in horror from such a basis of thought, and declare that the sun, moon, and stars are where they are because God, the Creator, has put them there, and they remain in their places because He so ordains. Newton touched not upon the answers given by such observers, but simply announced a law which governs in all cases. He threw the question, as to why the heavenly bodies are where they are, back of another question which he succeeded in answering. He demonstrated that there is in nature a law. If an apple hanging upon the bough of a tree is dislodged, it will fall to the earth by the shortest path. Every one already knew the fact ; he, however, was the first to give this explanation of it, that the descent of the apple is determined by an universal law. By the same law the sun occupies his station, and all the stars of the abyss are where they are.

But it was no part of his function to answer the other question as to why the law existed. Every one

EVOLUTION .

would be compelled to answer that for himself. The one who believed in chance might still continue to believe in chance, and that the law was the operation of chance ; — and the one who believed in the Almighty God would refer the law to His wisdom. Apparently, therefore, the discovery of the theory of universal gravitation left the religious opinions of people where it found them. The man who believed in God might continue so to believe, and the atheist might continue to be an atheist. Yet Newton’s discovery, or invention, had a profound effect upon all thought, religious and non-religious, because it introduced, as no other and previous discovery had done, the idea of the universal reign of law. No doubt the idea had been growing before Newton formulated it, but he did formulate it so that the idea, which had been nebulous and ineffective, now took tangible form, and became a great power.

The old way of thinking may be illustrated by the oldest way of thinking, as shown, for instance, in the Homeric tales and other similar ancient writings. A philosophy underlies all such tales. The ancient man had a most crude and imperfect theory of causation. There was, to be sure, an order, in accordance with which things usually went on, but there was nothing settled or stable about it. If anything out of the ordinary occurred, the ancient man said it was on account of the interference of some superior being. War was somewhat out of the usual course, and therefore it was assumed that it was partly the result of some feeling in the minds of various celestial intelligences. There was jealousy, or revenge, or love, or lust in the minds of gods and goddesses to account for wars. Was there a great storm at sea?

THE CONTINUOUS CREATION.

A goddess is in a bad temper, and wishes to scatter the fleet and drown the followers of some favorite of another goddess. She accordingly repairs to the being who has charge of the winds and induces him to let them out of their ordinary confinement, to have a frolic over the sea. Is there a cessation of the storm ? It is because the god who has control of the sea is aroused by the unusual clamor, and stirs himself up to see what the matter is, and he drives the winds back to their prison. All things considered, that was the easiest philosophy for the ancient man, in his poverty of information of facts and laws.

With the experience of the race, this philosophy was gradually undermined, leaving traces of its power only in the least intelligent of the inhabitants of the earth. And this experience at last formulated itself in Newton’s proclamation of universal law.

I suppose all men understand the law of gravitation, stated as universal in its operation, to be simply a theory, provided to account for the facts which come under our observation. I think I may say that it has been demonstrated, or pointed out to be true, but, strictly speaking, it has not been proved. It cannot be proved, because we have not access to universal facts, but only to a small range of facts. The farther we go in our search for facts, the more we are convinced that the law is universal. But it cannot be proved, in the absolute sense of proof, that an apple dislodged from the bough of a tree in the north star would fall by the shortest path to the ground. If an unbeliever declared that the apple sailed off like a thistle-down, or that it went up like a balloon, or remained stationary, just as it was before, the only way to convert him from the error of his thinking would be to convince

EVOLUTION .

him of the application of the theory of gravitation to all facts which are in the range of our observation. Then he would feel at liberty, or even forced, to believe that the apple falls in the north star, or anywhere else, as it does on the earth.

Permit me to apprise you of the fact that Sir Isaac Newton made an immense inference, a perfectly prodigious assumption, in his theory of gravitation. And we all cordially assent to it. The assumption was that all bodies attract each other directly as their masses, and inversely as the squares of their distance. Some bodies do. We now have an overwhelming conviction that all bodies do. But our conviction is perhaps as much the result of faith, i. e., faith in the uniformity of nature, as of anything.

To sum up the effects of Newton’s announcement in brief : It answers the question as to the relation of things in space, as e. g ., the relation of the earth to the sun, to the moon ; the relation of all the bodies of our solar system to each other, as determined by the law of the attraction of gravitation. The apple falls, the earth falls, the sun falls, and the remotest and the greatest globe falls, toward a centre of attraction.

Perhaps it may be asked what all this has to do with evolution. This. It is the proper and necessary antecedent of evolution. As Professor LeConte has pointed out in his admirable book, “ Evolution, and its Relation to Religious Thought,” the law of gravitation is the theory of the relation of things in space ; and the law of evolution is the theory of the relation of things in time. Time and space are the two terms connected with all scientific thought.

It is evident to the student who considers the history of evolution that when once the universality of law is

THE CONTINUOUS CREATION .

established concerning the relation of things in space, the next step will be the establishment of the corresponding principle concerning the relations of things in time.

I wish particularly to call your attention to this, — that the doctrine of evolution is no new thing in the world. People have noticed evolution as long as they have noticed anything of an intricate and complex nature. The idea is contained in an exceedingly ancient Egyptian myth, of a mundane egg from which all things successively emerge. Some of the Greek philosophers 1 taught a doctrine akin to evolution, as did Lucretius in his famous poem “ Concerning the Nature of Things ; ” but of course that was the guess-work of speculation, and that the speculation of those who were very ignorant of the facts of nature.

But more than that. The actual process of evolution has been noted commonly from the earliest times; noted just as the law of gravity was noted. Those who saw the fall of the apple and pondered upon it saw also the growth of plants, and contemplated the development of the bird from the egg. But apparently the universality of the law of gravitation and of the corresponding law of development did not dawn upon the mind of the world until the days of Newton and of Darwin. And permit me to say here that an evolutionist is not the one who believes there is such a process as evolution. All people do believe that, and always have ; but the one who believes the law of evolution is as universal as the law of gravitation is

1 All Greek philosophers who treated Cosmology at all held an evolutionary theory of the universe. The idea of fiat creation was absolutely unknown to them. Lucretius is conspicuous as a materialistic evolutionist.

EVOLUTION.

an evolutionist. And I venture the prediction that within a quarter of a century the theory of evolution will occupy the same place in the material philosophy of the world that the law of gravitation has had for the past century and a half. And it will occupy a place immensely greater, because it takes hold upon all finite life. Sixteen years ago Professor Youmans wrote substantially this : “ Darwin, Huxley, Mivart, Haeckel, Cope, Spencer, may be at fault, but in common with a large and increasing body of scientific men they are all agreed as to one thing, that evolution is a great established fact, a wide and valid induction from the observed facts of nature, the complete elucidation of which is the grand scientific task of the future.” But in sixteen years great changes have come. And during that period the doctrine of evolution has gained ground every moment.

Now, what is evolution, and why should it be discussed from a Christian pulpit ?

The first question is answered briefly, — to be expanded later, — and in answering it, I will employ the definition of Professor LeConte, as sufficiently accurate for our purpose. Evolution is (1) continuous progressive change, (2) according to certain laws, (3) by means of resident forces. In other words, evolution tells us, not who created us and all things, but how we and all things are created. Or, that the process of creation is not complete, but is continuously in operation ; that creation is according to certain laws, and can be studied only in the light of those laws ; that creation goes on by powers and forces not absent from the thing created, and therefore not by means of a fiat of a Being separate from His works.

Certainly, if this is true, it must have a profound

THE CONTINUOUS CREATION.

effect upon religious feelings, and will surely bring about a great modification of religious philosophy ; and therefore it is something to which the Christian ministry of to-day ought to give the most earnest heed.

If it is true, it cannot be dismissed easily, as being apart from religion, for it already occupies a prominent place in Christian thought ; indeed the feeling is increasing that it is divinely intended to serve as a great illumination upon important matters, heretofore shrouded in mystery.

But is it true ? The evidence in its favor is already overwhelming. Let me quote from the author, Professor LeConte, of whom the “ Christian Union ” says : “ He is a devout Christian believer ; he is also a radical evolutionist.” He says: “ We are confident that evolution is absolutely certain. Not indeed, evolution as a special theory, — Lamarckian, Darwinian, Spencerian, — for these are all more or less successful modes of explaining evolution ; nor evolution as a school of thought, with its following of disciples,

— for in this sense it is still in the field of discussion,

— but evolution as a law of derivation of forms from previous forms ; evolution as a law of continuity, as a universal law of becoming. In this sense it is not only certain, it is axiomatic.”

For my own part, the teachings of the Christ, the life that He lived, the death that He died, are of more profound interest than any theory of creation could be.

Of more profound interest to all of us are the truths which make for righteousness and moral well-being than the truths of science and scientific philosophy. But the thoughts which have obtained concerning

EVOLUTION .

Christ and His religion are inevitably changing, by reason of the great discoveries of modern times ; and I cannot but conceive that this change is part of the divine creation. While the Christian religion is itself indestructible, the philosophy of it changes as the outlook of men increases.

In 1850 Carlyle wrote, perhaps not wisely, but suggestively : 44 The Present Time, youngest born of

Eternity, child and heir of all the past times, with their good and evil, and parent of all the future, is ever a new era to the thinking man, and comes with new questions and significance, however commonplace it looks. To know it, and what it bids us do, is ever the sum of knowledge for all of us. . . .

“ There must be a new world, if there is to be a world at all ! That human things in our Europe can ever return to the old sorry routine, and proceed with any steadiness or continuance there, this small hope is not now a tenable one.”

Yes, we are entering a new world of religious thought, and of religious endeavor therefore. The old is passing away — has, in fact, to many passed away. By unmistakable voices we are invited to enter the 44 New Era,” from which it is impossible for God to be absent.

I utter but the commonplace of the thought of a multitude of sincere Christian men when I say that revelation has not been completed in the past ; that it goes on with increase, and multiplies itself ; it must multiply itself, according to the law which promises that the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.

II. The Continuous Creation

“These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew ; for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.” — Genesis ii. 4, 5.

It has been remarked in connection with the present interest in the subject of evolution, that it is not so important for us to consider how we came to be what we are, as to consider what we actually are, and how we may become changed for the better. It is true. There is nothing of which we ought to be so solicitous as our actual condition. We certainly ought to realize that we are responsible beings, that we are bound by every consideration of righteousness to be rid of wrong of all forms and to cleave to that which is good. But the claim of evolution is that it offers a help to us, by showing us how we came to be what wTe are. It makes more clear to us the process, following which we may the more thoroughly cooperate with our Creator in His design to bring us out of darkness into light, and out of sin into righteousness.

I therefore invite you to think of the continuous creatioq.

The story of creation has been told in various ways, since first rational beings were able to put their thoughts upon the subject into language. And it was

THE CONTINUOUS CREATION .

natural that the subject should engage the attention of the more thoughtful of mankind, in every age. Did the earth, our dwelling place, always exist ; or did it come into existence at some period ? And if it did come into being at some definite period, how was it produced? Of course we are all familiar with the theory of creation which has obtained in the Christian world since the earliest age of Christianity, and which was held by the Hebrews from an earlier time. This theory has been understood to be plainly taught in the opening chapter of the Bible.

It may be stated thus : About six thousand years ago there was no earth. And not only so, but there was no sun and no star. But about six thousand years ago the Almighty God, in the exercise of unlimited power and wisdom, made the earth. At first the earth was without form, a waste place, and was covered with darkness. Then God created light. That was the first day. The next day God created the sky, — the firmament as it was called. The inference would be that there was no sky before the second day, just as there was no earth before the first day. The third day God created the dry ground, or, at least, He separated between the ground and the water; and He caused grass, herb, and fruit tree to spring up. Fourth day, the sun and moon, for the purpose of giving light upon the earth. Fifth day, water creatures and birds. Sixth day, cattle and all beasts and creeping things, and man. There is a process, but such a swift process that it is like magic. All done within six days of the usual length.

But of late, the geologist, seeking for what information was possible to him, in the various rocks which make up the surface of the earth, has shown quite conclusively that the earth was not made in a day. The relations of the various layers of rocks which overlie each other, and the fact that they contain shells of once living animals, convince him that the earth was a very long time in formation. Of course Infinite Power could have made fossil trilobites, and shells of a thousand kinds, like some of those we find upon the beach of the sea, and could have embedded them in the rocks, and then could have made different rocks on top of these and put different shells in them, and so on. But we do not now stop to inquire what Infinite Power could do, because we have not the time to spend in such thought, but we inquire what Infinite Power did. Accordingly the geologist has convinced the intelligent portion of the world, beyond a perad venture, that immense and even incalculable ages were required to bring the earth to its present condition. It is not worth while to follow the details of the formidable proof the geologist offers ; suffice it to say that it is entirely satisfactory to intelligence. To the criticism that this teaching of geology is contradictory of the teachings of the Biblical story, it is answered that the Genesis account is entirely silent upon the whole subject of the creation of the globe ; that before the historic account begins there may have been an eternal process going on for all that the story says to the contrary. Now, so much of the story of creation as was based upon the notion that the earth is but a few thousands of years old has been entirely abandoned by intelligent persons. Geology has shown the earth in its different periods of construction, — as in the molten state, as in the less heated stage, as in the frozen stage. It has pointed out that plants must have existed millions upon millions of years ago, because

THE CONTINUOUS CREATION.

it finds their shape embedded in the rocks which were upon the surface of the earth far back in antiquity. Geology is the record which the Creator made of His work as He went along with it.

Wherefore, the old story of creation, as it was told for many centuries, can be told no longer. At least, j so far as the antiquity of our globe is concerned. The old knowledge has been displaced by the new and more perfect knowledge.

But some one might say: “This is all very good and true ; we are convinced that the earth (minus animal and vegetable life) was a long time in process of construction ; but can we not believe that God took the earth in hand some few thousands of years ago and fitted it up for the residence of man, making first the vegetation, then the animals, and then man? ” It is obvious, from the discoveries of geology, already spoken of, that vegetation was on the earth countless ages ago. Also that animals were the inhabitants of the earth, not only a few thousands of years ago, but perhaps millions of centuries ago. Moreover, we behold a thing well worthy our attention in this old earth. As we approach the beginning of life on the planet, we meet comparatively simple forms of life. There was a period when no life existed. Beginning from that, and marching upward through the staircase of recorded facts, we discover, first, the simplest forms, such as the algae , among the plants, and the monera among animals. The age which has left such record of itself we call the Eozoic. That is the dawn-life. Then come ferns and fishes. Then the pine-tree and the reptile. Then the tree with a true leaf, and the mammal. Then the sort of vegetation and animal life which now exists. All this is an advance, — it

THE CONTINUOUS CREATION.

shows an upward movement of life. It is a process of change from the simple to the complex. And this of itself would show that the process of creation has been an exceedingly slow process ; that since it has proceeded from the simple to the complex, therefore there has been a method or law controlling it. In other words, — we do most indubitably find by the aid of geology, that certainly up to a few thousands of years ago creation has been a continuous process. It was all the time a process of change. And the change was from the lower to the higher. So much I suppose is not doubtful to any one who has had the intelligence to examine the matter at all.1

Now according to the old story of creation, — the story which was told some of us in our childhood, — God appeared upon the scene six or seven thousand years ago, and proceeded to make plants and animals and man, each plant and animal according to a definite species, complete and perfect, and in each species was lodged the power to perpetuate itself to the end of the world. Perhaps it would be a caricature of the notion to say that God selected certain clay, or such material, and out of some of it made horses and dogs and camels, and the like, and set them going. And that He made each complete of its kind. Yet that is substantially the idea of the old story. And after all that was done, God took dust of the ground, and by fiat, or something like it, formed man. If that is what was done, all the preceding process lasting for ages, and proceeding in an orderly manner, upon an ascending scale of life, is suddenly interrupted, and becomes, in fact, of no account whatever.

But there is absolutely no proof that such a thing occurred.

1 Edward Clodd, Story of Creation.

THE CONTINUOUS CREATION.

I am perfectly aware that I will be asked by some one if I, as a believer in the Christian religion, have ever taken the trouble to read the first and second chapters of the Bible, which is understood to be the standard of truth to be believed by the Christian.

Well, yes, I have read that account, and with serious attention, and I fail to find in it any warrant for the story which has occupied the ground so long. As Professor Maurice has pointed out, the refutation of the old story of creation lies on the very surface of the first two chapters of Genesis. For after everything has been made, and all well made, so that it is pronounced good, and after man has been placed at the summit of all, we are told in so many words that we are reading the book of the generation of heaven and earth, when they were made, in the day in which the Lord God made them, and every herb of the field before it was in the earth, and all the grass of the field before it sprang up, for God had not rained on the earth, and there was not a man to cultivate it. That is to say, after the creation was finished, and pronounced very good, there was neither grass, herb, nor man. We are therefore forced to the conclusion that in the mind of the writer of this wonderful passage, the first chapter of Genesis gives us the creation in its fullness, as it was in the mind of its Creator, perfect and complete.1

And then we begin upon the concrete, actual creation in its process. The perfect, as it lies in the Infinite Mind, is to be reached, not at once, as has been assumed, but by a long course of ascending work. Like a palace which, before it is builded, before a shovelful of earth had been thrown out for its foun- 1 Patriarchs and Laic givers of the Old Testament.

THE CONTINUOUS CREATION.

elation, is nevertheless shown upon the elevation of the architect, a beautiful and perfect structure ; so the sacred writer conceives of the creation as complete in the mind of its Architect and Builder, before it is begun (in Genesis i.). And after the work is begun, also like the work of the construction of a palace, there ensues the confusion and the disorder, and the rubbish of the process (in subsequent chapters).

According to the old story of creation, which was based upon no facts, but only upon a misinterpretation of revelation, God made man at one stroke, not as a sculptor makes a statue, not as an inventor makes a machine, but as the magician makes his prodigy. Accordingly, God is no constant and necessary factor of creation, but is a being who may be dispensed with, except for occasional irruptions into our region of space, to perform wonders. Now, in place of such a conception, evolution offers a far nobler one ; and produces an array of facts, ever increasing in bulk and significance, to substantiate it. The process of change which goes on generation after generation, and age upon age, is creation. The Creator does not act as a magician, suddenly, as by mere impulse, but as the steady Eternal Energy, and ever according to that purpose which we begin to consider. If we start at some low stage of life, as e. g ., the mollusk, in which there is little differentiation of organ, because about the only function of the creature is to absorb nutriment, we pass on to the vertebrate, the creature with a bony structure within its body (in. distinction from the crustacean and the insect, with the chitine shell enclosing and supporting the soft parts of the body) ; we pass on from the vertebrate, whose home is the water, to the reptile, whose home is the water and the land ; to the bird, whose home is the water, the land, and the air ; to the mammal, whose home is exclusively the land, and whose locomotion is provided for by the possession of four legs ; to the mammal so modified that the function of the anterior legs is changed, by being more and more used as arms ; to the erection of the structure, bent parallel to the surface of the earth, so that it becomes vertical to the surface of the earth, and so we at last meet man, the structure of whose body is the result of a series of modifications extending from the hazy, infinite past, and in whom creation finds its crown and glory. This is the story of creation, which is being told to-day, a story supported by so many facts, that books are hardly numerous enough to chronicle them. And it supplants a story which is like a mist in the morning, as unsubstantial as a dream.