A Poser | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jan 12, 1882

A Poser.

The Rev. Mr. Osborn, in a recent speech in England, said: Allusion has been made to the progress of infidelity in these times. Some of the lecturers occasionally met with their match. Some time since he heard of a man who went down to Lancashire or Yorkshire, and delivered a lecture on evolution or development. He endeavored to show that every form of excellence was developed from some inferior species of the same genus, and to account for the existence of man in the same way. He said: "You go and stand by the side of a pool of water perfectly bright, pure, and clear; go a little while after, and you will find it getting thick; go again, and it will be green and putrid; go again, and there will be a number of little creatures popping about in the form of tadpoles; go again, and you will see these tadpoles cutting their capers in the shape of frogs." By that time he had got as far as he could, and he did as parsons sometimes do when they do not know what else to do; he said, "And so on." Whereupon a man in the audience got up and said; "Yes, I think I see what you mean; but can you tell us how long we should have to stand by the pond before we should see a man pop up?"