Page:Evolution and Natural Selection in the Light of the New Church.djvu/3

Rh things. During the process of Creation, as each succeeding form was created in the spiritual world, or, in other words, evolved from the Divine Mind, so they were clothed with, or embodied in, corresponding material substances and forms; all created things, from lowest to highest, being distinct but progressive links in the Divine method and plan of Creation. Thus, though there undoubtedly was in Creation a progressive development from the earliest and simplest to the latest and highest forms, yet this progression was from within outwards, and not from without inwards; that is, from internal to external, and not from external to internal. All things are created and continually controlled by the Love and Wisdom of God, according to a Divinely perfect plan and ﬁxed laws, and for a Divine end, this end being the creation of man, and the formation of the human race into an angelic heaven.

In the former case it is as if a child with its play-box of bricks, or an ignorant mason without any knowledge of architecture, were to lay brick upon brick, and, by some chance or law inherent in the bricks, they succeeded in constructing—evolving or developing—a magniﬁcent cathedral. In the latter case it is as if a clever architect resolves to build a cathedral, and, by a process of spiritual and mental affection and thought, he ﬁrst builds in his mind the entire structure; then, according to a deﬁnite plan and ﬁxed laws, he directs the masons, and, brick by brick, stone by stone, evolves the ﬁnished structure, with its sculptured arches, its traceried windows, and its graceful spire.

The Darwinian theory involves the assertion, that man is but a sentient automaton—the mechanical combination, crystallization, or interaction and afﬁnity of certain