. The story of the earth and man [microform]. Geology; Paleontology; Man; Géologie; Paléontologie; Homme. 340 THE STORY OP THE EARTH AND at once, fully formed, by a special miracle, instead of supposing it to be slowly elaborated through countless ages of evolution. To Darwin the doctrine of crea- tion is but " a curious illustration of the blindness of preconceived opinion.^' " These authors/' he says, " seem no more startled at a miraculous act of creation than at an ordinary birth; but do they really believe that at innumerable periods in the earth's history, certain el
. The story of the earth and man [microform]. Geology; Paleontology; Man; Géologie; Paléontologie; Homme. 340 THE STORY OP THE EARTH AND at once, fully formed, by a special miracle, instead of supposing it to be slowly elaborated through countless ages of evolution. To Darwin the doctrine of crea- tion is but " a curious illustration of the blindness of preconceived opinion.^' " These authors/' he says, " seem no more startled at a miraculous act of creation than at an ordinary birth; but do they really believe that at innumerable periods in the earth's history, certain elemental atoms have been commanded sud- denly to flash into living tissues ?'' Darwin, with all his philosophic fairness, sometimes becomes almost Spencerian in his looseness of expression; and in the above extract, the terms " miraculous,'' " innumer- able," ^' elemental atoms," " suddenly," and " flash," all express ideas in no respect necessary to the work of creation. Those who have no faith in evolution as a cause of the production of species, may well ask in return how the evolutionist can prove that creation must be instantaneous, that it must follow no law, that it must produce an animal fully formed, that it must be miraculous. In short, it is a portion of the policy of evolutionists to endeavour to tie down their oppo- nents to a purely gratuitous and ignorant view of creation, and then to attack them in that position. Wliat, then, is the actual statement of the theory of creation as it may be held by a modern man of science ? Simply this; that all things have been produced by the Supreme Creative Will, acting either directly or through the agency of the forces and materials of His own Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Dawson, J. W
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