George St Clair

Darwinism and Design; Or, Creation by Evolution George St Clair

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1873. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... chapter vi. the wisdom of the almighty seen in evolution. § 1. Grandeur in the View. Carrying in our minds a correct idea of what is meant by creation, have we lost anything by adopting the Theory of Evolution? Mr Darwin says, There is grandeur in this view of life with its several powers having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms, or into one; and that whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning, endless forms, most beautiful and most wonderful, have been and are being evolved.1 If this view of the origin of the first living forms were the only one to which the theory of evolution could point, there would at least be no difficulty in the way of our argument; for, as pointed out by a Quarterly reviewer,2 it would be impossible to suppose that the Creator of the rudimental germ, which was to produce as its issue this existing world, could, after myriads of years, awake out of sleep and be astonished at the actual result. The primary design must be credited with the whole of the final issue; intention in nature having once existed, the test of the amount of that intention is not the commencement, but the end; not the first low organism, 1 Origin of Species. Conclusion. 2 Quart. Rev., July 1869; art. "The Argument of Design." but the climax and consummation of the whole. But though Mr Darwin's view of the origin of life on the globe is consistent with the origin of species by Natural Selection, it can have no place in the general doctrine of Evolution, unless it be explained so as to mean that the first living forms were evolved from inorganic matter. Let us suppose that they were so evolved; and besides admitting that species ...