“And GOD said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the face of the earth. So GOD created man in His own image, in the image of GOD created He him; male and female created He them.” Genesis 1:26, 27. “And the Lord GOD formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Genesis 2:7. “For Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and has crowned him with glory and honour.” Psalm 8:5. The Revision has it, “Thou hast made him but little lower than GOD.” This is what the LORD says; what does evolution say? Read the following:-BEST October 1, 1893, par. 1

“Nature husbands all it gains. A momentum won is never lost. Each platform reached by the human embryo in its upward course represents the embryo of some lower animal which in some mysterious way has played part in the pedigree of the human race, which may itself long since have disappeared, from off the earth, but is now and for ever built into the inmost being of man. These lower animals, each in its successive stage, have stopped short in their development; man has gone on.”BEST October 1, 1893, par. 2

Why this contradiction should occur in evolution; why the dog and the monkey should not go on developing into men, and finally into gods, the evolutionists do not explain. But read farther:-BEST October 1, 1893, par. 3

“The single cell, the first definite stage which the human embryo attains, is still the adult form of countless millions both of animals and plants. Just as in modern America the millionaire’s mansion-the evolved form-is surrounded by labourers’ cottages,-the simple form,-so in nature, living side by side with the many celled higher animals, is an immense democracy of unicellular artisans. These simple cells are perfect living things. The earth, the water, and the air, teem with them everywhere. They move, they eat, they reproduce their like. But one thing they do not do-they do not rise. These organisms have, as it were stopped short in the ascent of life. And long as evolution has worked upon the earth, the vast numerical majority of plants and animals are still at this low stage of being. So minute are same of these forms, that if their one-roomed huts were arranged in a row, it would take twelve thousand to form a street a single inch in length.... Yet as there was a period in human history when none but cave-dwellers lived in Europe, so there was a time when the highest forms of life upon the globe were these microscopic beings. It is a general scientific fact, however, that over the graves of these myriad aspirants the animal man has risen.”BEST October 1, 1893, par. 4

If there were any such thing as the evolution of which the Professor speaks, then these microscopic beings would in turn become men, just the same as those others did in the ages past. The acknowledged fact that the microscopic forms “do not rise,” should be sufficient to show the baselessness of the whole evolution fabric. Indeed, Professor Drummond, for all of his positiveness in regard to evolution, admits that “part of this embryological argument is at present founded on analogy,” and still further, that “evolution is after all a vision.” It is a creature of the imagination. The Professor says that “No one asks more of evolution at present than permission to use it as a working theory. Without some hypothesis no work can ever be done.” But the work that is done with this hypothesis is only evil. A fact is surely more valuable for working than an hypothesis; and the Bible furnishes as with facts, with which righteousness may be worked.BEST October 1, 1893, par. 5

THE ORIGIN OF EVIL

The Bible says that “by one man sin came into the world, and death by sin.” Romans 5:12. What does evolution say?BEST October 1, 1893, par. 6

Let it be remembered that the argument is that man has in his structure the characteristics of all the lower animals out of which he has been evolved. Contrary to the common supposition, however, Professor Drummond says that “it is not to be supposed that man is descended from any existing ape.” In fact, the Professor is impartial in his distribution of honours, and gives all the animals a chance. The fishes come in also, the fact that in man there is a connection between the ear and the throat being evidence to his mind that man has brought the remnants of gills as a legacy from his fish ancestors. With this statement the reader can understand what follows on the problem of evil:-BEST October 1, 1893, par. 7

“If man inherits the gill slits of a shark, is it unscientific to expect that he will also inherit the spirit of a shark? ...If man inherits the head of a tiger or a bear, shall not some blood of the tiger or the bear run in his veins? and if the temptation is to let these loose in his family life, are the means for helping him to check it a thing of laughter? It is not to be supposed that his animal past has left nothing more in man than material relics. A father leaves his son his money, his home, his business, his material likeness, it may be, and physical constitution. But these are nothing. His chief legacy is his mind and soul. What mind and soul, what disposition and nature an animal has, that it has partly left in man.”BEST October 1, 1893, par. 8

Does the reader detect any lack of harmony between this statement and that of the Scripture? The Bible tells us that the serpent, “which is the devil and Satan,” beguiled Eve, and that she induced Adam to partake of the forbidden fruit. Adam was not deceived, therefore his was the greater sin. Thus “by one man sin came into the world.” But evolution, according to the latest and best exposition, tells us that sin came into the world of human beings through all the lower animals. Which will the reader accept?BEST October 1, 1893, par. 9

Do you think that this is not a very serious matter, after all? Then consider the further statement that “the problem really is not how sin came into the world, but how to get it out,” and the statement that if science can even in part diagnose the disease, that is a step toward removing it. “If we saw how vestiges disappeared in the animal world, that knowledge might accelerate the disappearance of evil.”BEST October 1, 1893, par. 10

Thus we see that the gospel is wholly ignored as a means of salvation. The disappearance of evil becomes simply a matter of training and education and environment. But the Bible tells us that JESUS CHRIST has been set forth for the remission-the sending away-of sin. It is by faith, and not simply by education and training. “There is none other name under heaven given among risen, whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:12. It is not possible for a man to be an evolutionist and at the same time believe the Bible. The very name contradicts the Bible narrative of the fall of man, and thereby denies the necessity for the Gospel. Our views on evolution will doubtless be thought very antiquated. That may be the case; we shall not stop to dispute it, but simply to ask a candid decision of the question as to whether evolution does not contradict the Bible.BEST October 1, 1893, par. 11

THE CHARGE AGAINST EVOLUTION

The charge is this: that it is one of the devil’s means of undermining the gospel, or rather to undermine the sense of need of the gospel, on the part of men. The only result of its teachings can be an increase of wickedness. And this danger is augmented by the fact that so many men in high position in the church have taken up with it.BEST October 1, 1893, par. 12

How does it tend to evil? In this way: As noted above, it teaches that everything naturally tends to rise. It teaches that the perfection which is sure to be seen at the last, exists in every man; so that everything in man is really good, and that evil is only undeveloped good. Therefore there cannot possibly be any incentive on the part of those who are consistent in their belief of evolution, to lay hold of the gospel of CHRIST.BEST October 1, 1893, par. 13

Moreover evolution if true would do away with the possibility of any judgment day, or of any punishment for sin. For just as the jelly-fish is not to blame for being a jelly-fish, and the undeveloped cell is not to blame for being only a cell, so, if evolution were true, the man who is all deformed by evil habits is not to be held responsible for them. This is the direct teaching of Spiritualism, which is only evolution under another name.BEST October 1, 1893, par. 14

Evolution, by directly contradicting the Bible, lessens its hold upon men; indeed, it cuts them entirely loose from it. Thus they have no safeguard against sin; for the word of GOD hidden in the heart is the only protection against sin. The record of the fall of man, as given in the Bible, being declared untrue, the necessity for the sacrifice of CHRIST is also denied, and thus the entire gospel is cast aside as a myth. The Bible teaches that the gospel is the power of GOD unto salvation, to every one that believes; but evolution teaches that it itself is the power of nature unto salvation of every one, whether he believes or not.BEST October 1, 1893, par. 15

It virtually teaches that whatever is is right. Evolution being the law of nature, and all the good that can ever be developed in man, being in him all the time, it follows, as Spiritualists tell us, that all a man has to do is to follow the inclinations of his own heart. But “out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness; all these evil things come from within, and defile the man.” Mark 7:21-23. Therefore the man who with all his heart believes in the theory of evolution will act out all the evil that Satan can suggest to him. Surely, “He that trusteth his own heart is a fool.”BEST October 1, 1893, par. 16

September 15, 1893

October 15, 1893