But here the work of strict
inductive science ends. It cannot show just how or when life or the
various kinds of life did originate, it can only show _how it did not_.
It destroys forever the fantastic scheme of a definite and precise order
in which the various types of life occurred on the globe, and thus it
_leaves the way open_ to say that life must have originated by just such
a literal Creation as is recorded in the first chapters of the Bible.
But this is as far as it can be expected to go. It is strong evidence in
favor of a direct and literal Creation; but it furnishes this evidence
by indirection, that is, by demolishing the only alternative or rival of
Creation that can command a moment's attention from a rational mind.
_But if life is not now being created from the not-living, if new kinds
of life are not now appearing by natural process, if above all we cannot
prove in any way worthy of being called scientific that certain types of
life lived before others, if in fine man himself is found fossil and no
one fossil can be proved older than another or than that of man himself,
why is not a literal Creation demonstrated as a scientific certainty for
every mind capable of appreciating the force of logical reasoning?_
VIII
CREATION AND THE CREATOR
I
We need not here attempt to discuss the existence or even the nature of
God.
Pages:
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133