[...]... the brute, the wing of the bird, the flipper of the whale, and the fin of the fish; and the endeavor to adapt itself to the water caused the bird to develop a fin, as by a similar process the fore-leg of brutes developed into the human arm and hand For our present consideration, we need not distinguish between atheistic and theistic evolution, as the latter is subject to the fundamental objections urged... born, plants as well as animals; and the majority die premature deaths They kill each other in a thousand different ways; they starve each other by some consuming the food that others want; they are destroyed largely by the powers of Nature by cold and heat, by rain and storm, by flood and fire There is thus a perpetual struggle among them which shall live and which shall die; and this struggle is tremendously... they come to be what they are? Questions about the nature of the universe in which we live have been asked from the very beginning The moment the human mind began to reflect the notion that the vegetation which covers the earth, the animals which inhabit it, the rocks and hills, the mountains and valleys which constitute its physical features, may have undergone changes in past time, and that all the. .. all the phenomena which constitute the animal, vegetable and mineral worlds as they now exist, are but modifications of other forms which have had their day and their philosophy, the idea of development became prominent The early Greek philosophers were the first to attempt answers to these problems Many of them held that all things natural sprang from what they called the original elements— fire, air,... the highest form, was the result Others believe that there is such an essential difference between plants and animals that the latter could not have come from the former, that there must be a new start on the animal side of life Therefore they claim that when the evolutionary development of matter reached a certain stage, God appeared on the scene and endowed certain forms with the principle of animal... evolution The extreme evolutionists hold that all the power and potency of the universe was stored up in that primordial cell, and that all things have been worked out without any superintending agency other than the forces resident in matter Every operation of God is ruled out, or deemed unnecessary This is sometimes called atheistic evolution The theistic evolutionist ("theistic" from "theism," the belief... "head-quarters." An an excursus in the subject of Pedagogy, I have treated in my Seminary lectures the past years, under the head of natural sciences, the argument against evolution, and the outlines of these lectures have furnished the framework for the present volume It is hoped that especially our young men and women who take courses at our universities will examine the case against the fascinating and in some... adopted the definition of evolution The hypothesis entered a new phase through Charles Darwin's epochmaking work: "The Origin of Species." The keynote of Darwin's theory is Natural Selection, by which term the development of all living forms is referred to the working of certain laws which in the reproduction of plants and animals preserved those individuals which were best fitted to survive the struggle... till it reaches the maximum degree of utility On the other hand, individuals presenting unfavorable peculiarities will be ruthlessly destroyed (Survival of the Fittest), [tr note: sic punctuation] The basis of the theory then is that animals and plants multiply very rapidly and, second, that the offspring always vary slightly from the parents, though generally very closely resembling them Mr Alfred... working of resident forces for the development of the universe, the earth, the sun, and the starry heavens Also the development of society, of religion, morals, politics, art, and mechanical inventions is accounted for on the theory that there are forces which, acting according to certain laws, have through many changes made human life and institutions as we see them today The doctrine of Evolution briefly .