The Bible Echo, vol. 8

September 15, 1893

“Evolution and the Gospel” The Bible Echo 8, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

Years ago, when the subject of evolution began to be generally discussed, the prevailing idea was that it was wholly an infidel scheme in opposition to the Bible. Now, however, things have greatly changed, and we find that evolution is believed and defended by the greater number of religious teachers, and is regarded as an essential part of religion. Indeed, the minister who does not believe in evolution to some extent, is considered greatly behind the times. They feel that it would be dangerous to their reputation as scholars, if they should not agree with the men who have given their whole lives to the study of science. BEST September 15, 1893, par. 1

Besides, it is claimed that no mere “layman” has any right to express an opinion upon matters purely scientific. The lordly position is taken that the dictum of “scientists” ought to be received without question by common men. But as evolution has to deal with the very fundamental teachings of the Bible, that is the same as saying that none but a privileged class may form a just opinion on all matters of faith. This is the very spirit of the papacy, which will not allow that common people can decide matters of faith for themselves, but that they must accept the decision of their leaders. But this is a thing that GOD never designed that any man should do. No man on earth has a right to assume the control of another man’s judgment and conscience, and no man has any right to allow another man to so control him. BEST September 15, 1893, par. 2

“The head of every man is CHRIST.” 1 Corinthians 11:8. The promise of the new covenant is, “They shall all know Me, from the least to the greatest.” Hebrews 8:11. No man on earth is or ever was wise enough and good enough to stand in the place of CHRIST to any other man; and no man on earth is so poor and uneducated that he needs another man to stand between him and the LORD, to interpret the will of GOD to him. BEST September 15, 1893, par. 3

When CHRIST was on earth, “the common people heard Him gladly,” for the reason that they could understand Him. Even the children pressed around Him to catch the gracious words that came from His lips. Those same words are in the Scriptures. In them CHRIST is speaking to the humble, believing soul as clearly and as plainly as when He was in Judea. The Bible is the living word of the living GOD. It is able to make a man “wise unto salvation;” to make him “perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” And it reveals CHRIST, who is “the fulness of GOD.” Therefore it is a complete revelation, and perfectly adapted to all time. It is inexhaustible. BEST September 15, 1893, par. 4

Now while it is true that the ordinary man cannot follow the scientists through all the mazes of argument by which they reach their conclusions, and it is fortunate that he cannot, it is true that he can take those conclusions when they are stated in plain English, and by comparing them with the Bible can tell whether or not they are true. If this were not true, then there would be no other alternative but an infallible pope, for it is evident that the people cannot trust every man who may want to teach them. Scientific teachers, like purely religious teachers, differ greatly, and so there must be an infallible teacher to decide among them. But the Lord has provided for this, not in the person of any man, but in the Holy Spirit, which is freely given to all who believe. Thus no man is left to follow blindly the dictum of some other man. BEST September 15, 1893, par. 5

AUTHORITATIVE STATEMENTS OF EVOLUTION

In the month of April, Professor Henry Drummond delivered a course of lectures in Boston, U.S.A., before the Lowell Institute of that city, taking the Evolution of Man as his subject. Those lectures were quite fully reported in the current numbers of the British Weekly, from which we shall quote. Professor Drummond is a religious teacher of prominence, and is also a teacher of science, so that in his utterance we have the latest and best theories of evolution from a religious point of view. Let the reader decide whether it is possible for a man to be a believer in the theory of evolution and a believer in the Bible at the same time. BEST September 15, 1893, par. 6

The Professor began his first lecture by saying that he proposed to introduce his hearers to “a few of the more recent facts bearing upon the account of man.” That when the evolutionist speaks of the “ascent of man,” he refers to the man spiritually as well as physically, is shown by the following statement concerning man:- BEST September 15, 1893, par. 7

“Should his pedigree prove to be related in undreamed-of ways to that of all other things in nature, ‘all other things’ have that to gain by the alliance, which philosophy and theology have often wished to dower them with, but could never lawfully do. Every step in the proof of the oneness in an evolutionary process of this divine humanity of ours, with all lower things in nature, is a step in the proof of the divinity of all lower things. If evolution can be proved to include man, the whole scheme of nature from that moment assumes a new significance. The beginning can then be interpreted from the end, and the end from the beginning. All that is found in the product must be put into the process.” BEST September 15, 1893, par. 8

This is in direct contradiction of the Bible, which declares that “GOD hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.” Ecclesiastes 7:29. These “inventions” are not the discoveries of good things, but the products of the “inventors of evil things,” (Romans 1:30), on which the LORD takes vengeance. Psalm 99:8. Evolution speaks of man as ascending; the Bible speaks of him as having fallen. Which is true? And remember that evolution is entirely independent of faith. It applies to all men and to all things alike. So that while the Bible teaches that men have fallen, and that only through faith in CHRIST can they rise, evolution teaches that man has never fallen, but has always been ascending. BEST September 15, 1893, par. 9

Evolution, however, discounts the Bible entirely. If, as Professor Drummond says, “the beginning must be interpreted from the end, not the end from the beginning,” then the record of the creation and fall of man, as related in Genesis, is of no use to us. According to evolution, therefore, even as set forth by a professed Christian teacher, the Bible is not a guide to us, but is to be interpreted by human science. In that case, there would be really no need for the Bible, since the science which interpreted the Bible must be amply sufficient of itself, and the study of the Bible would become merely an unnecessary pastime. BEST September 15, 1893, par. 10

Take the above statement, that “all that is found in the product must be put into the process,” and put it with the following: “Men begin to see undeviating ethical purpose in this world, a tide, than from eternity has never turned, making for perfectness. In that vast procession of nature, that vision of all things from the first of time, moving from low to high, from incompleteness to completeness, from imperfection to perfection, the moral nature recognises in all its height and depth the eternal claim upon itself.” What do they teach? This, that man is his own saviour. Not only that, but that every man will be saved; evolution is universalism. Still more, they teach that everything that is in all men is good; for if there is from the beginning a steady tide working in all nature, making for perfectness and all that is in the product must be put into the process, then it follows that perfectness has been in all men from the very beginning. That is just what evolution means,-an unfolding. Therefore all that the Bible says is evil in man, evolution says is only undeveloped good; and that is simply the teaching of Spiritualism. So evolution is Spiritualism. But let us note further. BEST September 15, 1893, par. 11

Mr. Drummond says:- BEST September 15, 1893, par. 12

“The supreme message of science to this age is that all nature is on the side of the man who tries to rise. Evolution, development, progress are not only on her programme, these are her programmes. For all things are rising, all worlds, all planets, all stars and suns. An ascending energy is in the universe, and the whole moves on with one mighty idea and anticipation. The aspiration in the human mind and heart is but the evolutionary tendency of the universe becoming conscious. Darwin’s great discovery, or the discovery which he brought into prominence, is the same as Galileo’s-that the world moves. The Italian prophet said it moves from west to east; the English philosopher said it moves from low to high. And this is the latest and most splendid contribution of science to the faith of the world.” BEST September 15, 1893, par. 13

With the above, contrast the following declarations of men who spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost; “Thou, LORD, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands; they shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed.” Hebrews 1:10-12. BEST September 15, 1893, par. 14

“For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of GOD. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth together in pain until now.” Romans 8:20-22. BEST September 15, 1893, par. 15

“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken away.” Isaiah 64:6. BEST September 15, 1893, par. 16

Immediately after the last quotation from Professor Drummond, that the discovery of evolution-the movement from low to high-come the following words: “The discovery of a second motion in the earth has come into the world of thought only in time to save the world from despair.” BEST September 15, 1893, par. 17

What does that mean? It can mean nothing but that the gospel, which has been in the world for ages, gives man no hope, but on the contrary has plunged the race into despair. The gospel provides a perfect salvation for all, if they will accept it; yet a professed Christian says that evolution, which means the salvation of all in spite of themselves, is the only thing that stands between man and despair. Can there be any doubt that evolution is only one manifestation of antichrist? BEST September 15, 1893, par. 18

Which shall we take as a basis for our faith-the “latest contribution of science,” or the word of the LORD? BEST September 15, 1893, par. 19