The laws of
nature were to him the eternal Word of God.
"His repugnance to Darwinism grew in great part from his apprehension of
its atheistical tendency,--an apprehension which I confess I cannot
share; for I forget not that these theories, now in the ascendent, are
maintained by not a few devout Christian men, and while they appear to
me unproved and incapable of demonstration, I could admit them without
parting with one iota of my faith in God and Christ. Yet I cannot but
sympathize most strongly with him in the spirit in which he resisted
what seemed to him lese-majesty against the sovereign of the universe.
Nor was his a theoretical faith. His whole life, in its broad
philanthropy, in its pervading spirit of service, in its fidelity to
arduous trusts and duties, and in its simplicity and truthfulness,
bespoke one who was consciously fulfilling a mission from God to his
fellow-men."
The words "evolution" and "Darwinism" are so often in this country, but
not in Europe, used interchangeably, that it is conceivable that Dr.
Peabody could retain his faith in God, and yet admit the doctrine of
evolution. But it is not conceivable that any man should adopt the main
element of Mr. Darwin's theory, viz., the denial of all final causes,
and the assertion, that since the first creation of matter and life, God
has left the universe to the control of unintelligent physical causes,
so that all the phenomena of the plants and animals, all that is in man,
and all that has ever happened on the earth, is due to physical force,
and yet retain his faith in Christ.
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