The origin of force and life in the universe is a great puzzle to
materialistic scientists. In the azoic period of our earth there was no
life on it. The living creatures now on the earth must, therefore, have
had some origin. That origin is not due to spontaneous generation,
according to the testimony of the most enlightened scientists, Professor
Haeckel to the contrary notwithstanding. The various vital
manifestations and exhibitions of force in the universe are due to some
cause. The intuitions of mankind, as well as the teachings of science,
declare there must be a cause lying behind the universe which has
produced it.
Two great philosophies contend for the mastery in the solution of the
problem of life. Materialistic philosophy seeks to account for the
origin of all things on principles which deny the existence of God, the
Creator, and which make man wholly a material being. Christianity
declares that the God of the Bible is behind the universe as its cause.
The only things which materialists recognize as having any existence in
the universe are matter and force. If force be used in the sense of mind
or spirit, which it is not in this case, I have no objection to this
statement. One of the first elementary lessons in material philosophy is
the _inertia_ of matter. Being at rest matter has no power to set itself
in motion. Being in motion it has no power to put itself at rest. It is
moved by a force which is in no sense an attribute of matter. Since the
earth is in motion and teems with life, that motion and life must be due
to force, which is the only remaining existence in the universe. As a
cause lying behind the universe, this force is denominated the unknown
force.
Prior to and in the azoic age we have nothing in the universe but matter
and force, and according to Mr. Spencer, not only an unknown force, but
also an unseen and an unknowable force. Subsequent to the azoic period
and now we have the earth full of life, intelligence and religion due
to the unknown force. This unknown, unseen and unknowable force may be
studied in the light of its manifestations and effects, Mr. Spencer to
the contrary notwithstanding. Since all effects are contained in their
causes, the universe as an effect must have been and must be contained
in the great unknown force as its cause. The characteristics which mark
the effect must mark the cause also. If the stream be fresh water, the
fountain which sends it forth must be fresh water also; for the stream
is contained in the fountain. If there be no fountain there can be no
stream. If there be no cause there can be no effect. If there be no
involution there can be no evolution. The stream can not rise higher
than its fountain. The universe now contains life. The unknown force
must also contain life; for all effects are contained in their causes.
The universe has in it mind. The unknown force must have mind; for all
effects are contained in their causes. The universe has in it goodness
and religion. So must the unknown force possess goodness and religion;
for all effects are contained in their causes. The unknown cause of all
things must possess mind, intelligence, goodness, holiness, else these
things could not have proceeded from the unknown cause. "_Ex nihilo
nihil fit_" is still true. But life, mind, energy, holiness, are
attributes of the God of the Bible. Whenever science divests the unknown
force of these attributes which characterize Jehovah, she has left a
cause wholly inadequate to the production of the universe. Whenever she
invests the unknown force with life, power, intelligence and goodness,
she has set up the God of the Bible.
Again, man is possessed of a mind and a religious element in his nature.
If man's origin be due to the monkey or the tadpole, then the monkey or
the tadpole must have a mind and a religious nature; for all effects are
contained in their causes. The monkey must have a mind superior to that
of Newton's, and the tadpole must be more religious than man; for the
stream can not rise higher than its fountain!
Man has a religious element in his nature. That element seeks to be
satisfied religiously, as the eye instinctively seeks for light, the
ear for sound, or the body for food. Until the constitutional elements
of man's nature are changed, he will instinctively seek for a God
capable of satisfying this element of his being. This part of man is
satisfied in the Bible and in the God of the Bible. Hence I conclude
that the race as a race will never go into atheism.
As for myself, I heartily believe and fully accept the statement of the
inspired bard of Israel concerning the problem of force and life: "With
thee is the fountain of life." God the author of life and the source of
all the force in the universe. I do not for one moment believe the
teaching of my learned skeptical professor of physiology, Sanford E.
Chaillei, that life is the result of organization; that digestion is a
chemical process; and that animal heat and force result from this
process. His favorite illustration was the steam engine. The fuel in the
fire-box generated the heat which made the water in the boiler boil, and
thus the _steam force_ was produced that moved the boat on the river.
But, unfortunately for this illustration the Professor always left out
of the consideration the fireman. No amount of fuel and water would ever
generate force sufficient to turn a wheel without a fireman to light the
fuel. So no amount of bread and meat in a man's stomach would ever
generate enough force to produce a single blood corpuscle without the
vital force to set in motion and keep up the process of digestion and
assimilation. Without a God to endow the body with this vital force,
there would be none, and consequently no digestion and no animal heat or
physical force. If animal life and force result from organization and
chemical digestion, a chemist could make a dead body live, where the
organs are not destroyed, by putting food into the stomach and giving it
time to chemically digest, which it would do in a short time, but it
will neither produce animal heat nor support life. If digestion is a
chemical process, the chemist ought to be able to take bread and meat
and make a red blood corpuscle, which he can not do. Digestion and
assimilation are _vital_ processes. The vital force always eludes the
test of the chemist; but that force is always present in the living
animal economy. The chemist can purchase every ingredient that enters
into the composition of bone except the vital force, without which he
can not make an inch of bone. The making of bone is a vital process
which takes place only in the living animal economy. No physician can
possibly have a correct physiological theory of the cure of disease who
ignores the presence and power and office of the vital force in the
human system.
The body of man was formed of the dust of the ground according to Moses,
and no mistake; Mr. Ingersoll to the contrary notwithstanding. Moses
further says that the Lord God "breathed into his nostrils the breath of
life, and man became a living soul." According to this author, life did
not result from organization. What the Almighty breathed into his
nostrils was not atmospheric air; for the air was in his nostrils before
Jehovah breathed the breath of life into them, and yet it did not make
this body live. Using the term breath in the sense of air that we
breathe, the old adage that "men die for the want of breath" is not
true; for the body dead is surrounded with the same air as when it was
living. When the Creator breathed the breath of life into the
newly-formed body, and man became a living soul, he imparted more to it
than simply air; and when the body dies, something more than simply air
or breath has departed from it. Solomon was wiser than the average wise
acre or the conceited materialistic doctor when he said concerning
death: "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the
spirit shall return unto God who gave it." "The body without the spirit
is dead," says Inspiration. It is the presence of this spirit in the
human body, imparted to it by the Almighty, which vitalizes the body,
which produces the vital force, by which force the body is builded and
its operations carried on.
As the Creator formed the body of the first man of the dust of the
ground, and vitalized it by breathing into it the breath of life, and
endowed it with a living germ and vital force by which, under proper
circumstances, it reproduces itself; so God said: "Let the earth bring
forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit
after his kind, _whose seed is in itself_, upon the earth." The seed has
in it a germ of life and a hidden vital force which heat, moisture and
the soil have the capacity of developing, so that it reproduces itself.
Every vital manifestation of this seed is the result of vital force with
which the Creator has endowed every perfect seed. This force in the
animal and vegetable kingdoms produces vital manifestations.
Chemical and other physical forces never produce vital manifestations.
"Gravity is that species of force by which all bodies or particles of
matter in the universe tend toward each other." The reason why bodies
are drawn towards each other in this manner is because God has endowed
them with a force which compels them to act in this way. To call it the
force of gravity is no explanation of either the origin or nature of
this force. To say that gravity makes the apple fall down instead of up
is a polite way of expressing one's ignorance of such questions. To say
that nature makes a seed grow, that nature heals a wound, is only to
make a show of learning. God made the worlds and upholds them by the
power of his word. God energizes nature. All the physical and vital
forces of the universe are but the manifestation of his power. God has
endowed all things that grow with the germ of life. Atheistical
philosophy starts without God and ends without him. It seeks for
spontaneous generation, but never finds it. It would have a stream
without a fountain, and an effect without a cause, and a world without a
Creator. I have no use for any theory of life, or of medicine, which
denies the existence of God, whom I regard as the source of all the
forces in the universe. Nature is only the manifestation of his power
and wisdom. There is nothing supernatural in the universe unless it be
God himself. All the wonderful phenomena of the human body are the
result of a living force with which he has endowed it, and are to be
explained, if explained at all, by a better knowledge of the intentions
and workings of this force. This knowledge will be obtained by a more
careful study of nature, by a more intimate acquaintance with him and
his works. Anatomically, physiologically, and intellectually, "man is
fearfully and wonderfully made"; and every wonderful thing connected
with him is worthy of our careful consideration.
_Kokomo, Ind._
"ALLEGED CONTRADICTIONS."