Geo. Long, a denizen of the underworld, a victim of strong drink, cocaine, opium and morphine, ruined in body and soul, was redeemed and freed from these desperate vices, and made a successful soul-winner for Christ.

These are a few of that "mult.i.tude that no man can number" who have been delivered from the power of sin, and have overcome by faith in Jesus.

If evolution be true it should be no hindrance but a great help. How many drunkards have been saved by a belief in evolution, and how many have been greater soul winners by such belief? How many criminals have been saved by acceptance of the theory? Many have been made criminals, unbelievers, infidels, agnostics and atheists by it; how many have been made Christians? Can any one be named who has been made a more earnest and successful soul winner, or a sweeter saint, by espousal of the doctrine? If one blank page were set aside for a list of all victims of sin and vice and crime, who were redeemed by faith in evolution, the s.p.a.ce would be wasted. Is there any comfort in it to the dying, any help to the living? Would any evolutionist preacher read to the dying, the so-called cla.s.sic pa.s.sage from Darwin, showing that every living thing on the tangled bank came from one germ without any a.s.sistance from G.o.d? Is there any choice pa.s.sage in all their books, fit to be read to the dying, or to a man in trouble, or in need of salvation? Is there anything to put hope in the breast, or inspire a man to a holy life? Anything to lift up a man sodden with sin, and redeem him from the fetters that bind him?

To give up the tested power of the gospel and to accept instead, the worthless guesses of evolution, ruinous in life and powerless in death, would be a sorry exchange indeed.

44. EV. AIDS INFIDELITY AND ATHEISM

Many evolutionists frankly declare that the purpose of evolution is to destroy belief in G.o.d, or his active control of his creation. Prof.

H. F. Osborn, of N. Y., a leading evolutionist, says, "In truth, from the period of the earlier stages of Greek thought, _man has been eager to discover some natural cause of evolution, and to abandon the idea of supernatural intervention in the order of nature_." Other evolutionists openly announce their antagonism to the Bible and Christianity. Clarence Darrow, in the Tenn. trial, called Christianity a "fool religion."

Darwinism has been declared an attempt to eliminate G.o.d and all evidence of design and to subst.i.tute the old heathen doctrine of chance. With this announced purpose in view, we are not surprised to learn from Prof. J. H. Leuba that one-half the professors teaching it did not believe in G.o.d nor the immortality of the soul; and that there is a rapid increase in the number of students who have discarded Christianity as they progress in their course,--Freshmen, 15%; Juniors, 30%; Seniors, 40 to 45%. Children of Christian homes, taught to believe in G.o.d and Jesus Christ, are led into infidelity and atheism rapidly, as they progress in their course. It makes one shudder to think what the future will be, if atheism and infidelity are taught in the guise of science. And the statistics show that evolution is one of the most fruitful sources of unbelief. What the students are taught today, the world will believe tomorrow. How great the havoc caused by a comparatively few infidel or atheistic professors!

Dr. C. W. Elliott, a Unitarian, announced with apparently great glee, that already the young men and young women do not believe the story of the creation of Adam and Eve. The leaders of Bolshevist Russia said to Dr. Sherwood Eddy, with brutal frankness, "The Communist party, the only party allowed in Russia, is 100% atheistic. If a man believes in G.o.d, he can not be a member of the party." Russia is an example of a country where atheism is taught in the public schools, and we are moving all too fast in the same direction. The Red Army shot to death 500,000 men in Russia. The horrors of the French Revolution may be outdone, if we do not awake to our danger. Russia is cursed with a doctrine offensive alike to the Christian, the Jew, the Mohammedan and even the deist. In America the same condition may be brought about, more stealthily and more effectually in the name of science. Indeed, the Russian atheists feel the necessity of adopting the American method as more effective. An a.s.sociated Press dispatch of Dec. 24, 1924, states that Zinovieff, a Soviet leader, admitted that the Communists had gone too far in their efforts to establish atheism by _force_, but he adds, "_We shall pursue our attacks on Almighty G.o.d in due time, and in an appropriate manner. We are confident we shall subdue him in his empyrean. We shall fight him wherever he hides himself_.... I have been informed that not only young Communists, but Boy Scouts, are mocking people who are religious. I have also been told that _groups of Boy Scouts have even imprisoned whole congregations in church while they were worshipping_! Our campaign against G.o.d and religion must be carried out in a pedagogic way, not by violence or force." Do we want such a situation in America? We are drifting that way.

Evolution has no quarrel with atheism, agnosticism, modernism, or any other species of infidelity. _Its quarrel is with Christianity and the Bible_. Why should we wish to harmonize Christianity with evolution, when the theory can not possibly be true? Prof. Newman says, "Readings in Evolution," p. 8, "Contrary to a widespread idea, evolution (in what sense?) is by no means incompatible with religion (Christianity?).... The majority of thoughtful theologians (whew!) of all creeds are in accord with the evolution idea."

Dr. W. W. Keen says, "I believe in G.o.d and evolution." An infidel, a deist, even a heathen can say that. To harmonize evolution with Christianity is quite a different problem. Prof. Coulter, of Chicago University, endeavors to show where "religion and evolution meet."

But the "religion" is the religion of the infidel, not of the Christian. How can a theory which denies the creation of Adam and Eve and any intervention and control by the Creator, be harmonized with Christianity?

Rev. F.E. Clark, President of the World C.E., says, "The Darwinian theory, whatever it may be called today, has doubtless unsettled many minds. A hazy agnosticism has often taken the place of strenuous belief." He is in a position to know.

A beloved friend, president of a prominent college, an evolutionist and a modernist, in a letter to the writer, claimed that evolution is nearest the truth, and those who believe it are nearest to "Him who is the Way, the Truth and the Life." If this is true, how many evolutionists are more spiritual, more earnest, and more successful on that account, in winning souls to Christ?

No doubt many have been made infidels and atheists. How many souls have been won to Christ by Osborn, Newman, Conklin, Darrow, Lull, Shull, Scott, Coulter, Metcalf, Kellogg, Nutting, Thompson, Castle, Chapin, and all other prominent evolutionists? If evolution is nearest the truth, the number of their converts to Christ should be greatly increased. We await the information, which we do not have at hand, to see if the contention of our friend is correct.

Mrs. Aimee Semple McPherson preaches daily in the Angelus Temple, Los Angeles, Cal., which seats 5300 people. Often standing room is at a premium. Many souls are saved (over 14,000 in 1924), and thousands are healed in answer to prayer. What a tremendous loss to humanity, if the gospel of Christ had not saved her from the infidelity and atheism of evolution! She writes as follows of her conversion: "The writer went to one of the services being held in my home town, by the Irish evangelist, Robert Semple, and entered the meeting _practically an infidel, having studied Darwinism, atheistic theories until faith in G.o.d's word was shaken_. Never will those moments be forgotten. One could feel the power of G.o.d, the moment one entered the building. Such singing, hands uplifted, faces radiant, such Amens and Hallelujahs, such power and fervor back of every word that was spoken, such exaltation of the deity of Christ, the necessity and power of the atoning blood, the second Coming of Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit to energize and get the believer ready for his coming, gripped and stirred the heart.... Never, never, can the writer forget that hallowed hour, when, kneeling by a Morris chair in the home of a friend, early in the morning, with uplifted arms, she prayed and felt for the first time, the tremendous inflowing power of the Holy Ghost."

Behold, the power of evolution to ruin, and of Christ to save!

Evolutionists are, as a rule, modernists; and modernists are evolutionists, and are reckless in their zeal to destroy the faith of the young committed to their care. We select the following 3 ill.u.s.trations from a single article in the PRESBYTERIAN:

1. "A father sat _in this office_, a minister above middle life, his eyes full of tears, and his soul full of groans, as he told how he had sent his son, who had been an orderly Christian boy, to a supposedly Christian college. When the boy returned home, after graduation, he informed his father that through instruction received, he had lost his faith, and believed none of those things he had been taught at home. The father was so shocked and overcome he could make no reply, but asked his son to kneel and pray with him as they used to do. The son refused, and said he no longer believed in prayer."

2. "A good Christian father desired to give his young daughter the best educational advantages. She planned to be a missionary. He sent her to a well-known college, considered Christian. This college had a Bible chair, but of the destructive, critical type. The young student absorbed what she was taught. She lost all reverence for the Bible and rejected it. She entirely lost her faith which she had learned from her father and mother. She gave up her mission plans, and developed into a Socialist. When about to graduate, she wrote her father frankly, that she had given up the faith he had taught her, and she was going to live with a man without marriage, as she did not believe in marriage; The father visited her and protested. She smiled and called him an old fogy. She only consented to marriage when threatened with the civil law."

3. "Another case reported to us by another father:--His son, attending a so-called Christian college, reported that one of the professors declared that they and himself were hypocrites, because they attended chapel every morning where they were told that if they believed and did such things, they would some day go to another world and play on a harp. But if they did not, they would burn. This he declared was all bosh. Then he called attention to the teachings in the college, that _man in his body developed from a lower animal, but that man had no soul."_

Yet some colleges and universities ask Christian people to give large sums, with no guarantee that evolution, infidelity and atheism will not be taught. Is it any wonder that Christian parents tremble while their sons and daughters run the gauntlet of infidel professors?

45. EV. WARS WITH CHRISTIANITY

Evolution leads to infidelity and atheism, and is therefore a foe to Christianity. It denies the doctrine of special creation, and opposes the religion of the Christian, the Jew and the Mohammedan. Why should not all these religions unite against the false and unsupported theory that would make havoc of them all?

If evolution could be shown reconcilable with Christianity it would be lifted into respectability, but what would be the gain to Christianity? The Christian religion is reconcilable with all true science, and hails every true science with joy. The church loves true science, but hates a lie that poses as the truth. Christianity is readily reconcilable with the true sciences of Astronomy and Chemistry, but we do not try to reconcile it with the corresponding false sciences of astrology and alchemy. Why should we be concerned about such a reconciliation, since all the evidence offered in favor of evolution is not worthy of serious consideration? The facts hotly contest every guess. There is no conflict between Christianity and science. But evolution is not science. It is not knowledge. It is not truth. It is not proved. It is not certain. It is not probable. It is not possible. How can the serious student escape the conviction that evolution has not one chance out of a thousand, or even out of a million, to be a possible theory, and none whatever to be a probable or proven theory? It offers not one convincing argument. The evidence against the theory shows that it has not yet been proven and never can be.

The present population of the globe shows the unity of man in the days of Noah, and that the human race could not have begun 2,000,000 years ago, nor 1,000,000, nor 100,000, nor even 10,000. And no evidence that the evolutionist can bring to bear _now or hereafter_ can ever set aside this mathematical demonstration. This one argument is sufficient to shatter evolution, if there were no more. But the whole fifty arguments in this book rush to the support of this one. They all harmonize with the Bible statements, but not one of them with the false and baneful theory of evolution. And no erroneous guess that they can make will escape mathematical detection. Why should we gratify the clamor of evolutionists, and seek to reconcile Christianity with a theory so manifestly false? To be worthy of acceptance, it must satisfactorily answer every one of the fifty arguments in this book and many more. Can it do so?

Evolution carried to a logical conclusion would destroy every thing precious to the heart of a Christian. It denies the real inspiration of the Bible. It makes Moses a liar. It denies the story of creation, and subst.i.tutes an impossible guess. It denies miracles, the providence of G.o.d, the creation of man and beast, and G.o.d's government and control of the world. It laughs at the Virgin Birth and makes Christ a descendant of the brute on both sides. It denies his deity, his miracles, his resurrection from the dead. It joins hands with agnosticism, modernism, and other forms of infidelity and atheism and gives them the strongest support they have ever had. All these hail evolution's advent with exceeding great joy. It has the closest affinity with the wildest and worst theories ever proposed.

Its writers and proponents turn infidel and atheist. Its teachers and advocates lose their belief in G.o.d and the immortality of the soul. The young men and women who are taught, abandon the faith of their fathers and join the forces of unbelief. To be sure, some are saved by inconsistency, and still maintain their faith, but the havoc is great. It would strip Christ of his Deity, reduce him to the dimensions of a man, and make his religion powerless to save. The men who tore the seamless coat from the dying Christ did a praiseworthy act, in comparison to those who would strip him of his deity and glory, for these are the garments of G.o.d!

The ruffians at the foot of the cross gambled for a mere human garment, but there are evolutionists who would "trample under foot the blood of the Son of G.o.d, and count it an unholy thing." Those who would rob the world's redeemer of his power and divinity, while speaking patronizingly in praise of his human traits, do but insult him with the vilest slander, which makes the derision of Calvary seem like praise.

We were not surprised to learn that, in the Tenn. trial, evolution was defended by agnostics, who made their chief attack on the Bible and revealed religion; and the school, the home and religion were defended by men of high Christian character. Had Mr. Darrow as earnestly defended Christianity and Mr. Bryan as earnestly opposed it, millions would have held up their hands in astonishment. But the alignment was natural, and opened the eyes of mult.i.tudes to the fact that evolution is a friend to infidelity and a foe to Christianity.

Their objection to prayer during the sessions of the Court shows that they hated what G.o.d loves.

Christianity withstood ten fiery persecutions, lasting 300 years, at the hands of the Roman Empire, the mistress of the world. The church was purified, and grew and multiplied. Numerous heresies arose but all yielded to the truth. Sin and corruption, formality and worldliness, failed to hinder the triumphant march of the church of G.o.d.

Infidelity made a fierce attack in the eighteenth century in its own name, and lost. But the most dangerous attack ever made is on, by evolution claiming the name of science and modernism claiming the name of religion. This f. a. d. is truly for a day. G.o.d will win. Truth will live and error will die. But too many precious souls will be lost unless the world awakes to see its danger soon.

Mr. Bryan, in his last message, said: "Christ has made of death a narrow starlit strip between the companionship of yesterday and the reunion of tomorrow. Evolution strikes out the stars, and deepens the gloom that enshrouds the tomb.".... "Do these evolutionists stop to think of the crime they commit when they take faith out of the hearts of men and women and lead them out into a starless night?"

Evolution wars with the religion of the Jews also. It attacks the Old Testament, dear alike to Christian and Jew. The Jews were the chosen people of G.o.d, and have played a large part in the history of the world. We gladly clasp hands with them against the common foe. David speaks for Jews and Christians in the 8th Psalm. In contrast to evolution, which degrades man to the level of the brute, he declares that man is but a little lower than G.o.d, (Heb. Elohim). The revisers had the courage so to translate it. David under inspiration wrote better than he knew, and in absolute harmony with modern science:

"When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man (how great must he be) that thou are mindful of him (among thy great and marvelous works)?

And the son of man that thou are a companion to him? For thou hast made him but little lower than G.o.d, and crownest him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet; all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatsoever pa.s.seth through the paths of the seas." All animals confess the dominion of man since the strongest and fiercest flee from his face. Who would prefer the "string of stuff" that would place man below the brute, to the lofty description of the Hebrew Psalmist placing him a little lower than G.o.d?

Hon. William J. Bryan, when attending the Presbyterian General a.s.sembly in Columbus, Ohio, in 1925, enclosed, in a letter to the writer, a copy of his address in John Wanamaker's Church, Philadelphia, on evolution and modernism, from which we select the following:

"All the modernists are evolutionists and their hypothesis of creation gives man a brute ancestry and makes him the apex of a gradual development extending over millions of years. This hypothesis contains no place for, and has no need of, a plan of salvation. It is only a step from this philosophy to the philosophy of the atheist who considers man 'a bundle of tendencies inherited from the lower animals,' and regards sin as nothing more serious than a disease that should be treated rather than punished. One of the gravest objections to the doctrine of the modernists is that it ignores sin in the sense in which the Bible describes sin. Modernists ignore the cause of sin, the effects of sin, and the remedy for sin. They worship the intellect and overlook the heart, 'out of which are the issues of life.' No evangelical church has ever endorsed a single doctrine of the modernists.

"Evolution is the basis of modernism. Carried to its logical conclusion, it annihilates revealed religion. It made an avowed agnostic of Darwin (see in his 'Life and Letters' a letter written on this subject just before his death); it has made agnostics of millions and atheists of hundreds of thousands, yet Christian taxpayers, not awake to its benumbing influence, allow Darwinism to be injected into the minds of immature students, many of whom return from college with their spiritual enthusiasm chilled if not destroyed.

"When we protest against the teaching of this tommy-rot by instructors paid by taxation, they accuse us of stifling conscience and interfering with free speech. Not at all; let the atheist think what he pleases and say what he thinks to those who are willing to listen to him, but he cannot rightly demand pay from the taxpayers for teaching their children what they do not want taught. The hand that writes the pay check rules the school. As long as Christians must build Christian colleges in which to teach Christianity, atheists should be required to build their own colleges if they desire to teach atheism.

"With from one to three millions of distinct species in the animal and vegetable world, not a single species has been traced to another. Until species in the animal and vegetable world can be linked together, why should we a.s.sume without proof that man is a blood relative of any lower form of life? Those who become obsessed with the idea that they have brute blood in their veins devote their time to searching for missing links in the hope of connecting man with life below him; why do they prefer a jungle ancestry to creation by the Almighty for a purpose and according to a divine plan? Why will they travel around the world to find a part of a skull or remnants of a skeleton when they will not cross the street to save a soul?

"How can intelligent men and women underestimate the Christ? He is no longer a wandering Jew with a few followers; He is the great fact of history and the growing figure of all time--there is no other growing figure in all the world today. Men--the greatest of them--rise and reign and pa.s.s away; only CHRIST reigns and remains. They shall not take away our Lord. The Christian Church will not permit the degrading of its founder; it will defend at all times, everywhere and in every way, the historical Christ. It believes that 'there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.' No diminutive Messiah can meet the religious need of the world today and throughout the centuries. Christ for all and forever, is the slogan of the church. There has been apostasy in every age; attacks upon Christianity have been disguised under cloaks of many kinds, but it has withstood them all--'The hammers are shattered but the anvil remains.' The church will not yield now; it will continue its defense of the Bible, the Bible's G.o.d and the Bible's Christ until 'every knee shall bow and every tongue confess.'

"While it resists the attacks upon the integrity of G.o.d's Word and the divinity of the Saviour, it will pray that those who are now making the attack may come under the influence of, and yield their hearts to, Him whose call is to all, whose hand is all power and who promises to be with His people 'always, even unto the end of the world,' The Apostles' Creed which has expressed the faith of the Christian Church for so many centuries shall not be emasculated by modernism.

"'Faith of our fathers! living still In spite of dungeon, fire and sword; O how our hearts beat high with joy Whene'er we hear that glorious word-- Faith of our fathers! holy faith, We will be true to thee till death'!"

46. CAMOUFLAGE OF TERMS

During the late world war, objects were concealed and the enemy deceived, by "camouflage." Many undertake to deceive or to hide their meaning by a camouflage of terms. These terms are chosen to conceal or deceive. Terms that suggest advance, improvement, learning, science, etc., are used to describe unworthy theories, beliefs and movements. It is an unfair trick to win and often meets with undeserved success.

EVOLUTION in the sense of growth and development, is true of a part of animal and plant life, and in this sense is undisputed. Some speak of the growth of a child and of all progress, as evolution. In the sense at issue, it means the development of all the 3,000,000 species of animals and plants, from one or a few primordial germs, without design or intelligence, or the aid of a Creator. A distinguished surgeon declares that evolution from the monkey is mere non-sense but that life is a constant evolution,--two senses in the same sentence. Such confusion of meaning brings science into disrepute. The meaning is shifted to suit.