Remarks by the Rev. D. Macfarlane, Dingwall.
PREACHING to his congregation on Sabbath, 18th December last, from the text—“For we know that, if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Cor. v. 1), Rev. D. Macfarlane made reference to the evolution theory of the origin of man, and contrasted it with the Bible account on the subject.
The Apostle Paul, he said, wrote this epistle from Rome. He was a prisoner there, and expected to be put to death soon for preaching Christ as the only Saviour of sinners. While thus standing on the brink of eternity, he looked forward into the world of spirits with hope of being admitted into the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, immediately after he had left the earthly house. The body is a house inhabited by the reasonable and immortal soul, that lives and acts as a disembodied spirit till the resurrection. One reason, among others, why the body of man is called an earthly house is that it was formed of the dust of the ground (Gen. ii. 7). This was opposed to the evolution theory of the origin of man, even with regard to his body.
According to that theory all animals, including man, evolved from Protoplasm—the first form of life. Among the many links of connection between man and Protoplasm evolutionists mention the Monkey, which, they say, was the grandfather of the first man! There was a “missing link,” and they were not yet able to say who was the father, or where he was; but they were hopeful that science would some bright day find him out in his hiding place. They appeal to science in support of this view of the origin of man. But science has never yet discovered that, among the lower animals, one kind produced a different kind from itself in nature and habit. This was an established fact in science. A fish produced a fish after its kind; a bird produced a bird after its kind; a horse produced a horse after its kind; a monkey produced a monkey after its kind, and so on. This held true also in the vegetable kingdom. The vine did not produce figs, and the fig tree did not produce grapes, but each bore fruit after its kind. The evolution theory was atheistical in its origin and tendencies. It was devised by infidels to account for the creation without the Creator. It was closely connected with the atomic theory regarding the inorganic or mineral part of the world, which means that this beautiful world came to what it is by chance. He could not see how any man who held that theory could free himself from the charge of infidelity.
Now, man did not derive any part of his being from the lower animals. All the other animals were created before him. But when God created man He did not form any part of him of them. Nor his body; for “the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground” (Gen. ii. 7): nor his natural life; for God breathed that life into him, and he became a living soul. He did not derive his reasonable soul from them; God immediately endowed him with that part of his nature, which exalted him above, and distinguished him from the lower animals. And withal, man was created in God’s own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, whereby he was qualified to glorify and enjoy God, the end for which he was created. He was the last part of creation, and was the crown thereof. He stood alone, separate in his noble nature from all other living creatures on earth. There was no meet companion to be found for him among the other animals. And when God provided a help-meet—a wife for him—where did He find her? He did not find her among the lower animals, nor did He evolve her from them. He took her out of the man himself—a reasonable creature, as distinct from the lower animals as her husband was.
This was, the speaker said, the true account of the origin of man. But the evolutionists persisted in claiming that they descended from the lower animals. If so, they should not be tolerated in the society of human beings. They should keep to their own company, and especially the company of the grandfather—the monkey, who would attend to their needs and wants till their undutiful missing father turned up. Proceeding, Mr. Macfarlane spoke of the dissolution of the body—sin being the cause of death—the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, and the certainty there was that the souls of all true believers would enter heaven at death. He urged upon all the duty of examining themselves as to their right to heaven, their title to it, and their meetness for it. Christ’s redemption gave the right, sonship gave the title, and perfect holiness gave the meetness.