"the impos

created the first moneron. No one can prove sibility of such a process." We offer a new theory: The first moneron was the deteriorated descendant of a fallen archangel, who, after his lapse into moral sin, was forced by the inexorable laws of nature to evolve downward till he could degenerate no further without suffering annihilation; thenceforth, he was permitted to evolve upward, and, having already succeeded in reaching the estate of man, is inspired with the hope that after millenniums of ages he may recover his primeval glory. "The impossibility of such a process can, in fact, never be proved." We can even speculate in reference to the moneron, whose existence has so troubled scientists. It was let down to the earth from the moon by a spider's web, at a time when the conditions of life and the laws of gravitation were "entirely different" from what they now are. "At that time," this spontaneous descent, "which is now perhaps no longer possible, may have taken place." Can an evolutionist prove the impossibility of such a process. Our hypothesis is that some abiogenists have been dealing so long with minute forms of life, and have become so desirous of proving that "the lowest imaginable organism" evolved spontaneously from lifeless. matter, that the smallest argument assumes importance under their microscopic inspection.

If it shall be proved that abiogenesis is credible, it will still be competent for the teleologist to affirm: God is not eliminated from the problem. Until it is shown that the molecular arrangement constituting life is not an expression of the Divine will, ample basis remains for the assertion: Its origination in this way may have been a part of the original plan. Atheism will find it difficult to substantiate its oft repeated claim.

Evolutionists have made some damaging admissions:

Prof. W. Stanley Jevons has said:

"I cannot for a moment admit that the theory of evolution will alter our theological ideas. . . . I believe that the eye was gradually developed; but the ultimate result must have been contained in the aggregate of causes; and these, as far as we can see, were subject to the arbitrary choice of the Creator.". Principles of Science, vol. ii. pp. 461, 462.

Prof. Haeckel acknowledges:

"Most naturalists of the present day are inclined to give up the attempt at explanation of the genesis of life, and take refuge in the miracle of inconceivable creation."—History of Creation, vol. i. p. 327.

Again:

"The theory that man has developed out of lower, and in the first place out of ape-like animals, is a deductive law."—History of Creation, vol. ii. p. 357.

So also is the theory that he has developed from inert matter by spontaneity. This age, however, demands a careful generalization from well ascertained facts, and will not be satisfied with an endeavor to determine facts, especially in the domain of science, by an a priori process of reasoning.

As we have already seen, Prof. Huxley concedes:

"If the hypothesis of evolution is true, living matter must have arisen from not-living matter."

Spontaneous generation must have occurred, therefore, or evolution is a baseless fabric.

But he frankly admits:

"The present state of knowledge furnishes us with no link between the living and the not-living, . . . there is not a shadow of trustworthy direct evidence that abiogenesis does take place, or has taken place, within the period during which the existence of life on the globe is recorded."

Then the theory of evolution rests on an insecure foundation.

We close with two brief quotations:

Prof. Joseph Cook says very justly:

"The chasm between the not-living and the living forms of matter is the fathomless abyss at the rugged edge of which every traveler on atheistic or agnostic roads at last lifts his foot over thin air.”—Biology, p.41.

Prof. Heinrich Frey says:

"A deep abyss separates the inorganic from the organic, the inanimate from the animate . . . Is it possible, then, to bridge over this gulf? We answer: No, at the present time."

CHAPTER XI.

MATTER; ITS ESSENCE.

HAVING aided the reader, as is hoped, in entertaining the conviction that the origin of man, of plants, and of animals, necessitates belief in the existence of an Intelligent First Cause-even though one concedes that evolution may have taken place in these three provinces-we enter upon a more extended theme: Matter; its essence, its properties, its forms, its changes, its origin.

It is known that advanced advocates of evolution are not content with confining its operations to the vegetal and animal kingdoms. They assert that it explains changes in the material universe; indeed, those evolutionists who are materialists insist that all the changes which take place in the two kingdoms of life are due to purely physical causes. Evolution is exalted to the throne of the cosmos, and is not recognized as an agency in the hand of an Intelligent Personality. Consequently, in order to lay a foundation for the belief that "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," and that "In Him we live, move, and have being," it is necessary to enter upon a discussion of the problems. imprisoned in the term matter. To a consideration of these we invite the reader in this chapter and in the three succeeding chapters.

The human mind, from time immemorial, has been

engaged in endeavoring to solve the mysteries connected with matter, force, life, mind, and spirit. It would be presumption to affirm that success has rewarded these labors; and scarcely less presumptuous to predict that a solution of these tantalizing enigmas will be furnished ere long. On the other hand, to deny that progress has been made, or to question whether the knowledge we now possess is either more accurate or more firmly established than that of former times, is to confess culpable ignorance. In solving the perplexing problems, the human intellect has made advances, especially in the last fifty years. Secrets, which since the dawn of time have lain concealed within the recesses of nature, have been wrested from her grasp and made subservient to the interests of humanity. Many problems bequeathed to us by buried generations have been solved. Not all have, however; and it is our present purpose to enumerate some of the unsolved, and possibly insolvable, mysteries which environ us. We confine ourselves, in this and the four succeeding chapters, to the difficulties— and of these the more superficial—which are imprisoned in the terms matter, force, motion, life, mind, spirit, personality, space, time, etc.

MATTER.

What is matter? This question has received no satisfactory answer, and probably never will. Apparently, no adequate answer is possible. We may conceive of it as an indefinable something in which a certain set of qualities inhere, and may designate that something as an essence having a probable existence; but scientists do not pretend to understand this essence, nor do they claim that it has been, or can be, defined