Page:Evolution and Theological Belief R. V. Chamberlin 1911.pdf/4

4 and processes as nothing short of pure materialism. But the theologians after the first onslaught began gradually to see that they had been guilty of a great folly, and that the establishment of the doctrine could have nothing to do fundamentally with the essentials of their faith. Today it is not only accepted by nearly all educated and enlightened Christians, but it is by them wrought with great power into the higher and more beautiful construction of Christianity.

While the theory of descent seemed for a time to many to do away with creation and the necessity of a Creator altogether, the same thing has been true of various other laws of nature at the time of their first effective enunciation. That the earth is spherical, that the sky is not made of metal, that the earth moves about the sun, that it is very old, that granite and related rocks had once been in a molten state that Jerusalem is not at the precise center of the earth's surface as stated by Ezekial—each of these views in turn was shown to be unscriptural and was thought to militate against religion and was accordingly opposed for a time by Christian theologians. Thus with reference to the motion of the earth Father Inchofer wrote in 1631: "The opinion of the earth's motion is of all heresies the most abominable, the most pernicious, the most scandalous; argument against the immortality of the soul, the existence of God, and the incarnation should be sooner tolerated than an argument to prove that the earth moves." And Luther says: "People give ear to an upstart astrologer who strove to show that the earth revolves . . . this fool wishes to reverse the entire science of astronomy . . . but Scripture tells us that Joshua commanded the sun to stand still and not the earth . . . but certain men have concluded that the earth moves

. . . now it is want of honesty and decency to assert such notions publicly and the example is pernicious. It is the part of a good mind to accept the truth as revealed by God and to acquiesce in it."

As a further example, the law of gravitation may be cited. This is something so different from the views that had prevailed up to the time of its enunciation that it seemed to "remove God from the course of Nature." There is no room for doubt that the establishment of this law was the chief ground of the widespread scepticism of the eighteenth century; and the eminent sceptics, such as Voltaire, did not fail to make seemingly effective use of it in their efforts to justify themselves and to undermine faith. It seemed to many to establish the self-sufficiency of the universe and to render untenable the view that it was sustained by God. Yet we have now so thoroughly adjusted ourselves to the idea of gravitation as a means of sustentation in the universe that Christians could not think of going back to the narrower, indefinite, and mysterious views of the earlier period and feel that their religion and ground for faith have been much strengthened rather than weakened by the new conception.

Thus it is clear that evolution is not alone among the teachings of science which have been looked upon immediately following their first general establishment or promulgation as substantiating Naturalism. A little thought shows, in fact, that the relationship of the doctrine to Naturalism Is precisely the same as that of any other law of nature. It is in exactly the same position as gravitation; and one is the equivalent of Naturalism no more than the other. Evolution does not add at all to the general argument for Naturalism. It is merely the latest link in the same chain that science from the first has been forging. From

the beginning science has been revealing law and order in Nature; evolution in effect merely extends what had been established and universally accepted for the inorganic in its assertion of a reign of order and law in the living world. Just as we passed through the crises involved in the enunciation of the rotundity and movements of the earth, and of gravitation, and emerged in every way lifted and strengthened, so we have nearly left forever behind the uncomprehending opposition that has flooded and raged about evolution. A settled calm has appeared and only here and there do we yet feel the weakened impact of a far-reflected wave, coming to where one by one the few remaining members oi an opposition a generation late say with Archdeacon Farrer: "We should consider it disgraceful and humiliating to try to shake it (evolution) by an ad captandum argument, or by a clap-trap platform appeal to the unfathomable ignorance and unlimited arrogance of a prejudiced assembly. We should blush to meet it with an anathema or sneer." Those who feel the pressure of the wave echo again the far-brought words of Dr. Ryle: "To suppose that a person must either renounce his confidence in the achievements of scientific research or abandon his faith in Scripture is a monstrous perversion of Christian freedom." When we see men still so unhappily bound with prejudice and tradition that they are blind to the beauties and light of the grandest conception that science has yet won for man, we sorrow, and in sympathy again recall the plea that the unhappy Castelli made to the pope who was about to inflict punishment upon Galileo for his demonstration of the movements of the earth: "Your Holiness, nothing that can be done can now hinder the earth from moving."