Dr Benham's Leetures

Southland Times, Issue 19114, 3 August 1903, Page 4

Dr Benham's Leetures

; -;. : -y", :-:jZo'y^r :: 'Z Z' : tf y'l- -:.- '■. " ZZZ ,,•"-.: ■ : ■. ■•.'■ ;v ' ' j t ?To nh&; KditorrY Y'T~ Sir.^-As there are difierencea^ as to dof grS^in -which the Weory; oF the evoluS or ffiasr hr heW-by its /it is ■ necessary to' consider Ythem, ■;*?£** would be unjust to assume that-: all oV£v Hd^&eT; r Huxley.- ttßdaoine other_of the chierlrabbis of the ; docttfne.:r do^not SXJ .and s* may be- termed "Deists." Otbeis . per S that they can play .tbe part of-Mr- Pa«ing-b.oth-ways rand- hold both.^Christiajiity : :amU eycJutipru "must -then- be ; recognised :^n^.it^beld bv* sbmto' inconsistent, f :Christi.<vnfl> ;! .W ; maEy^l)ei9ts;««Qi^^Algw>stiCs; ant^a; ,Io» . Atheists ; v but finder .rf every ;variety ,;, rt > : eitner - implies -atheism or tends t,c,. it. ■;■,. elusion iu«st- aflßSgM^ In_^- " mb6t moderate lorm?aßYbel<%*yj' ■ some - mbnd and some religions ouinisters.^it is most :: -inttdioiis^ aad dangerous>beca^e many people are apt to. think_ there can ™*n™dahger- in! it^heff taught y. by those whom they, , esteem, as the^. spiritual pastors - and. - teachers.- ■ -V^PP'; I ' -' there are .not a few;,sucl^ ,men daVs" -in 'jail 1 the churches, -'•as.:, we- -maK lea>u--byYYxea^gYthe; newspiper^.YYr Y myself -have, Ijeard-- it : Yspokeh oi. either approvingly or. apolcgeticaUy^ from? two pulpruran .th^to^n some ytara -ago. Kit- needs.; no argument! to" -prove 5 Yevblution^ under >^every variety ia utterly opposed Yto Christianity, If man -has worked ; bis -«»£-• jUP: throueh- = brute/ creatlouYto-to:;presfiiit ; condition, instead, of being a fallen .^rnaii and a sinner, ie must be; accounted a very meritorious creature ; and. there is no place left for the; doctrine °1 .^Jfi} 1 " of man. T redempti6ii,;Yand:justifacation throuch the atonement made by the Son of God and Son of Man. . The danger from Deistsc- is .-much less, v because :. ail people know they are hot Cnristjans, aad- so -are :on .their guards As regards)! agnostics and. atheists,: the Cdahger ' nr still -less; befcaUse their tenets . are: ;■■: calculated to: alarm* and disgust all-i; who have had any religious teaching^ or^any; sense ..; of : their resposibility: to, their .Creator, or any ; belief iio..*^ ; judgment to Y come.Y A& to YwhicbY class ;I)r~ JSenhani r belongs '.to it is ; npt for --meYtb say,-, and I have no wish.vtb- judge-.him ;. : :but.<i;have ■■-•■'"• a >rfght to judge* his.-doetrines .and/.theories, and ,tb.: expose ; the /evUs.that. ; must Inevitably" result they .be gencral- : .-t7' ly : acpMJte^-»nd'a«ted &n.~' f-^.-Jx. ■■■', i JBriefly: stated.- his teaching: is. that man originated . from an anraßtralaorgaaiism -■'-.■-- generated spontaneously;; in a boiling sea, ■■-.■ and. Ulat under Ymore -or less ■* favourable - ■ conditions this ' ancestral -organism .developed or produced: other -organisms <>f an -- improved* kind, and -these :.ih turn prbdu^^xo^rs^mote ' lessi improved, and^that -from -the^Griginal^ahcestral -or~ ganism by different lines oTldesCent' wefe evolved bbth^ihe ish&npanzeej^pe aud ; man- himself, both having- a common ancestor. Anyone caft see^yunless he is mentally or morally blind; "that this teaching is blank atheism ; '.-'jas- a philo-sophy-it iis'-bid'a"^par\ with YinlfliYdl- the negro child, Topay, in Mrs Bcecher Stowe'sr'tjncle Tom's :Cabih^'.^ When Y.Misi Ophelia asks : "Bo you know who made you?'' she replies;. /;'Npbody ; as I knows on. I 'spects I.growed." Atheism means without God in tho -,Wortd^ and instead of enlarging q%- ther "results c of; such a condition " b'f Human society, I may refer'ihy readersjib ,Ythe -'J^postUt^OPaui. MeBcriptfon of the-ieathen world, inY the Ist chapter: of his 'Epistles to thq'Jloinans, 'Though the heatlwii knewYQod, or iinight have inowh Hun .'through YHis works,, they, like-bur present-diy pfefeudb-philor eophers, became vain in resonings^ mid whilst professing themiselveSi ao be.wise, ' - became ;fools,>and changed {the glory of : the^incorruptible God into ; *ho likeneas of ■ an image of cowuptiWe-inan, . and"- pf ttoasta and creeping things, the, result .of.which was extreme wicfiednesa and,. m.oral,. degradation. Thero is . ahalogjr between the dodhgs of the heathens: ■> and those 1 ; "of Youi* - Ymoaeru"' Y^'evolutionists, tbonghliiot a 'complete, sameness, .and in our day - all: ' the ■'■'; vices.7named ; byY St. Paul may not ensue, .Man'Ywas created Y-Y'' in the image and glory ofJGod, -a -'pei> : leet and jsinless creature, r but our ' eyo-v lutionists would fain change this .glory; into shame and rcorruption;. by- assuming thajt Yman / briglihated from . ah.' 'ancestral organism, -which, •'.'.^^after ; ,passing Ythrbugh the of various Y cbrr.uptible -creatures,, creeping things, -beasts ahd iapes,^ eventually - became i.."--a* man, but a man. ' had been educated •: in therni without any knowledge, of: God or " a sense of responsibility to a Creator in whoih he lived '-and breathed "and had his- life; and -devoid of any-lqnowledge'Of- .-■ sin or' fear of "a. hei«after.VY.YWhea, "the - Y sceptical : and -: even - atheistical^teacbihgs of the French Ehcyclop'aedista, 'siich * as Cohdorect, and Voltaire, -were largely. &%-■, ■:■ cepted 'in-Pratfce, the" .civilised': world had? a foretaste of what" must' b'e the result" v of a general acceptance of .Darv^in's athe- . Y istical teachings, and aft^r bne';.ofY'two .: geher a tions had' been Y e<luc'ate;d;^ ;ih ;-them'.; That "Under such teacbingY metf Y would have no sense: o| responisibUity to ;G.OdY or sen"s6 r df' sin.'Tor fear i}i jhdgment,' ; is "■ plain Yftbm ,what 'is .said by the leading; : men "who are disciples; of • I»ar wihj:> and' X.. will conclude with .'a '* = quotatidD.- fromi Y Huxiey':- : T : ''Mah "the ahimai; fii Jact .has., : sporked his way .to' the' headship of the sentient world, and has become th£ sup-. Yerb animal he is- ini virtue of-his -'.'"sucr' 5 Ycess in^ithe struggle for -existence.: , .The : £6nditioins"- having-: f been -of oaiYceirtain -for-.' - - dor, man's: orgfwrfstttion~rlias r etajustcd it--1 self -4o -them^ better --thah-^that-Ofir^'-hißv r the -.Cpsbifc 'strife. YYPor r ":!: : Bis ; successful progress as -far as, .the" sav-. age : stater> Yiihari 3iaa /been, largelyjt . indebted to :~ those" "qualities which Y-he . : ahares with the : ape .and the „tiger> in jJrbpprtibnY'aa Oneix ; ( haye. pfts|ed ; frohi; anarchy 'to"- social br*ganisati6ii; and Y in proportion %» civilisation, hiis gfowh' Y-in - ':. worth, these deeply ingrained j serviiceable qualities liave" become -defects; -In f 'the manner of successful persons, '.. Ycivilised man' . would , gladly kick down . itbe ladder^ by which he has climbed;; he woulil^:ba r only too pleased to see the' np© 1 • •andtiger die. But they decline itoYsuitMs"convenience, and "the unwelcome intrusion of these boon companions,, of his youth into tha ranged • existence -of civilised life, "adds pains and griefs innumerable and immeasurably great to those which the Cosmic process necessarily brings in. the mero animal-: Y in fact. : ci\alised-;man brands -all- these ape <vnd- ;; tige*--prjomptings>:with Ytho^name-pfsbi?. He^-i'hrlishes':- hian^ ' of - the-" a'cts* which p "r. $o w. from as crimes, Yahd in ,; ej^iremekcases; <he does"^ his \ best^ to put , '.ah . ; end: tbYthe shrxivalYof - the-^test ofYfbraner days by axe and .rope. "i— l am, ; £c;> : SAMUPIi'HOI?GBSI?SON. ;YJuly 27th; 1903; m'/'-'^v