Chauncey Giles

“ When we rise to a higher plane of the creation, and under the guidance of the observant, keen-eyed, faithful scientist, we discover the universal presence of the law of heredity, the power of natural selection, and the influence of environment in securing endless diversity in constant unity, we see a higher and more beautiful manifestation of the Divine purpose, and a more wonderful exhibition of Divine love and wisdom. ”

“ All the attractions and repulsions, all the combinations and decompositions; all the motions and changes of place and form are the effects of spiritual and Divine forces. When we talk of the forces and work of nature we speak according to the appearance. Nature has no force, and consequently can do no work.
I state this truth as clearly and emphatically as possible, because the whole doctrine of evolution, as it is set forth by those who regard it only from the material side, is based on the assumption that matter has some power of its own, even if it does not possess all power. ”

“ Creation is not the evolution of matter. It is the evolution of the purposes or ends of the Divine love by means of material substances. The Lord created them for that purpose. Love is the only protoplasm. Matter is to the Creator as clay to the potter. He creates it, shapes it to His idea; He organizes it into forms adapted to the performance of His use. The essential and most potent factor in the creation of living forms is life itself. Life only can give life. Death cannot create life; inertia cannot give birth to power. The formless cannot create forms. ”

“ When, therefore, the scientist takes us back into primeval ages, and shows us the elemental forms of matter, as ether, or gas, or fluid, commingling or rushing asunder in wild chaotic fury, gradually subsiding into rock and metal, we admit the facts so plainly recorded in the structure and substance of the earth. But we say that all these movements, combinations, and formations were the effects of the spirit of God brooding over these inorganic dead elements, selecting, arranging, combining, and fixing them in forms suitable for the foundation of the kingdoms of nature and human beings. ”

“ Theologians and scientists both fall into the same error when they regard law as an efficient cause. The idea that creation is an instantaneous work; that the material universe was created out of nothing by the exercise of omnipotent power, has been a fruitful source of errors and absurdities, and has had a powerful influence in driving observing and intelligent men to the opposite absurdity that matter is eternal, and "contains within itself the promise and the potency of every form and quality of life." ”

“ It is of no consequence how long and complicated the chain of cause and effect may be, it must begin in a First Cause, who can be no other than the Creator, and every link in the chain must be forged by Him. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" is the uniform declaration of all things so far as their voice can be heard, and when their voice is silent we must listen to the voice of God. ”

“ You will see that we take into account some very different and much mightier forces than the materialist. Here dwelling together in mutual embrace is inert matter, and within it the plastic Divine substance with constant endeavor to give life to death, the human form which is the form of life, to inorganic matter which is the form of death; and between them all the substances and forms intermediate between the highest and the lowest, between God and the rock. Here is power in its origin; here is the force which keeps all things in motion and holds all things in its embrace. ”

“ The sun does not lose its power and influence over the earths created from it. It still sustains its children, and cherishes them in its bosom. It gives, them light and heat, and helps them to bring forth from their own cold and inert substance the organized forms of life. The finer and more subtle substances of the sun still penetrate the gross bodies of earth and mineral, draw particle to particle, and tend to keep them in a state to be acted upon and to respond to the action of spiritual forces. ”

“ Facts with which every one is familiar are summoned to testify to a theory to which they have no relation. The development of the steam-engine, the improvements in the forms and qualities of plants and animals, the advancement of society in its various forms, are claimed as examples of this theory of evolution. Every one acknowledges the facts, but does not discover the fallacy of attributing them to evolution. They are not examples of the theory. In all cases the improvement is effected by forces which do not belong to matter. ”

“ Are we pointed to the crystal and shown how its forms prophesy of organization, of plant, and animal, we delight to recognize the fact, and rejoice to see the evidence of the Divine purpose even in the lowest forms of matter. The Lord does not leave Himself without a witness of His final purpose in the creation, and of His presence and power in the dead elements of matter. The rock did not purify itself, select its finest substances, and combine them into the diamond, ruby, and emerald. ”

“ We can see man at his work; the Lord is invisible. Suppose no human instrumentality in the construction of an engine could be discovered, but every process could be seen from first to last by which the structure was completed, might we not conclude that it was evolved from metal and wood by some power inherent in them? ”

“ The New Church gives us a doctrine of the creation which is not open to any of the objections which have been urged against the opinions and theories of the materialist or theologian, which accepts all the facts discovered by scientists, and still declares in the most positive manner that all creation is a gradual work, due to a personal, intelligent, and constantly acting Divine Being, who is the source of all power, life, and existence. ”

“ The fact that He employs means, that creation is an infinite web of causes and effects, constantly weaving, excites our curiosity, awakens our interest, makes us familiar with His thought and methods, and we feel at home in His universe. ”

“ The creation culminates in man. He is the final end or purpose of the Creator, and everything tends to the realization of this purpose. Man is created in the image and likeness of God that he may be able to consciously receive and enjoy the Divine love, that there may be a reciprocal union between the creature and the Creator. ”

“ Natural causes are regarded in some way as independent causes, and not merely as instrumental in the same sense that the hammer and saw and pen are instruments, having no power in themselves of accomplishing human purposes. ”

“ A law of nature is simply a universal method of the Lord's operation in nature; it is the way in which the forces constantly emanating from Him operate to produce their effects. Whether these forces originate in nature and are of and from her, or have their constant source in a Divine Being by whom they are exerted, does not touch the fact that they are simply the ways in which causes produce their effects. ”

“ But theologians have stopped with the bare assertion of the fact of creation. It has been generally taught and accepted as true, that the universe was created but of nothing by a spoken word, by an Almighty fiat. ”

“ It is regarded as in some way derogatory to the Divine wisdom that creation should be a gradual work, and advance by distinct and orderly steps. Evolution seems to many Christians as well as scientists to take the work out of the Lord's hands and commit it to general laws, which have some power in themselves to create and sustain. Men talk about the laws of gravitation, of chemical affinity, of natural selection, and of heredity as though they were independent forces. ”

“ They are passive, and consequently fit substances to be the subjects of life and to be molded into its forms. The process of creating earths from suns which comes within the sphere of human knowledge, is precisely analogous to that by which the spiritual sun and the spiritual heavens were created, and we can gain from this lowest plane, of the creation some true knowledge and idea of how the whole work was accomplished, because the Lord always works like Himself in the smallest as well as in the largest things. It is the general opinion of scientists that the earths were evolved from the suns. ”

“ The material universe is evolved from Himself, by distinct steps gradually descending until the ultimate basis of life is reached. Every degree in this descent contains within itself all the higher and prior degrees, and they exist together in simultaneous order in every earth and mineral. Now let us begin the ascent and see by what steps it is taken and what means and forces are employed in taking it. ”

“ The common idea has been, and is still maintained with great persistence that creation was instantaneous, without methods, order, processes, and the chain of causes and effects; that power was in some way stored up in matter, in plants, animals, and men, and a kind of independent existence given to them. ”

“ But we can see man in his work, and we know the means by which he accomplishes his purposes. In every case we know that the purpose or end originates in the mind; that it takes form there, and that it is a plastic mental power, which selects, fashions, arranges, and combines material substances into a whole suited to its purpose. ”

“ No being or thing can communicate what it does not possess. If matter is dead it cannot give birth to life. It is of no consequence how much time is given to it, through how many changes it may pass, it acquires no power by them. ”

“ If we are told how the rocky and barren strata of the earth's crust are broken by contraction, subsidence, and upheavals, disintegrated by cold and heat, and ground to fine powder by wind and wave, we gladly accept the information; we know it is true, for we see the process going on before our eyes every day. ”

“ These substances are Divine in their nature and origin. They become spiritual as they recede from their source and form the atmospheres and earths of the spiritual world. They become a world distinct by itself, composed of spiritual substances and possessing all the excellences that belong to spirit. It is a mental world where the objects are thoughts, the forces are love in an infinite variety of forms. It is a world in which their environment is determined by the inhabitants, and consequently is perfectly adjusted to them. ”

“ That this was the necessary order of creation we have the most convincing reasons for believing. It is the order of infinite wisdom, and, therefore, must be necessary and perfect. We have also the testimony of our own observation and experience. The mineral kingdom is the basis of the vegetable kingdom. It provides it a basis on which it can rest, and supplies it with substances out of which the Lord can organize its forms. The animal kingdom rests on the vegetable kingdom, which contains the substances that the Lord has used to create animals. Man rests upon all these kingdoms. ”

“ We can see another process of the Divine order going on constantly before our eyes, which will help us to understand the more hidden and powerful spiritual causes which are constantly operating in the creation. ”

“ It is as though we should acknowledge that a watch could not make itself; that there must be some power outside of it which had a hand in the work, that might have given some assistance in its creation ”