seas; and let fowl multiply in the earth. ing and the morning were the fifth day. And the even "And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind; and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind. And God saw that it was good." Such is the sublime and simple account of the origin of all life on our earth, from the word of the Eternal Lord and Giver of Life. To Him let every thing that hath life give praise. Amen. THE ERRORS OF EVOLUTION. DARWINISM. THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. In examining the Errors of Evolution we have considered the notion of the self-origination of plants and animals by the spontaneous motions of the molecules of the matter composing them. We have seen that such a mode of the origin of life is impossible; and that the theory is self-contradictory and absurd. In the present writing we proceed to examine the theory of the development or evolution of all the various orders and species of plants and animals, from a few primeval germs. This idea is a very ancient superstition. It was banished from Christendom by the Bible account of the creation of distinct species directly by God. The way for the return of this old heathenism was prepared by the belief in the possibility of the transmutation of species in transubstantiation. It was re-introduced in Europe by De Maillet, Oken, Lamarck, and the author of The Vestiges of Creation. But it owes its present popularity to the late Mr. Charles Darwin, whose theory has supplanted those of all his predecessors. We shall, therefore, confine our attention to it, for if it be shown to be erroneous, none of its less probable and possible competitors can stand. Mr. Darwin gives the following abstract of his theory and argument (Origin of Species, p. 404): "As this whole volume is one long argument, it may be convenient to the reader to have the leading facts and inferences briefly recapitulated. That many and serious objections may be advanced against the theory of descent with modifications, through variation and natural selection, I do not deny. I have endeavored to give them their full force. Nothing at first can appear more difficult to believe than that the more complex organs and instincts have been perfected, not by means superior to, though analogous with, human reason, but by the accumulation of innumerable slight variations, each good for the individual. possessor. Nevertheless this difficulty, though appearing to our imagination insuperably great, cannot be considered real if we admit the following propositions, namely, that all parts of the organization and instincts offer at least individual differences; that there is a struggle for existence leading to the preservation of profitable deviations of structure or instinct; and lastly, that gradations in the state of perfection of each organ may have existed, each good in its kind. The truth of these propositions cannot, I think, be disputed." After stating that the causes of the origin of variations in domestic animals are the changes produced by domestication in their conditions of life, and our cherishing of improved varieties, he says, in his résume (Origin of Species, p. 411): "There is no reason why the principles which have acted so efficiently under domestication, should not have acted under nature. In the survival of favored individuals and races, during the constantly recurring struggle for existence, we see a powerful and constantly acting form of selection. The struggle for existence inevitably follows from the high geometrically rate of increase which is common to all organic beings. |