Page:Evolution and Natural Selection in the Light of the New Church.djvu/4

4 elements, such as oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, etc. Thus it supposes that the power of progressive development resides entirely in the inert material substances, and, therefore, that mind is but a development—a form and combination of matter and force. (A believer in the Darwinian theory once said to the writer that a grape which he was then eating might become the germ of a future thought.) Therefore this theory does not, and indeed cannot, deﬁne how or why "matter," and the "laws" which pervade and control matter, ﬁrst came into existence. It does not explain the origin or primary cause of that "life" which aniinates each organized form. It does not account for the varied modiﬁcations of external form and interior structure, nor for the perfect adaptation of every part of each organism to accomplish its own special work in the economy of Creation. And it in no way accounts for the existence of those spiritual and mental faculties and aspirations which distinguish man from all other created things. Neither conscience, freedom, with its moral responsibility, the immortality of the human soul, trust in the Divine Providence, nor belief in God as our Heavenly Father ﬁnd any place in its cold and heartless philosophy. Successful struggle for existence and "survival of the ﬁttest" is therefore, according to this theory, the only end of man's automatic and irresponsible actions.

The New Church philosophy asserts that all things are continually sustained by an all-loving, all-wise Creator—preservation being perpetual creation: the external form and interior structure of each created thing being so constituted as to be ﬁtting recipients of that life which unceasingly proceeds from God. This inflowing life is modiﬁed in its manifestation according to its recipient forms, and