EVOLUTION AND THE MINISTRY.
THE popular clergy have, in these days, wandered far away from the example of Paul, to say nothing of the example of Jesus Christ. Paul, the peer of the learned of his time, declared, when among those who made philosophy a religion, that he determined to "know nothing among them, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified." But we do not find this true of popular religious leaders of the present time. A ministers' meeting recently held in San Francisco furnished evidence of this wide difference between Paul's preaching and Paul's study, and the preaching and study of the popular clergy of to-day. One of the attending ministers started a brisk discussion by introducing some "questions for information concerning evolution." The questions were so framed as to show that the questioner did not believe in evolution, or was averse to it. Because of this fact, a spirited discussion arose, showing that the speakers were prepared to defend the evolutionary theory. The questions were not answered, because they were viewed as objections to the statements embodied in them. Treated as such, they are reported to have brought forth doctrines of Darwinian evolution and various forms of theistic evolution, the last form of belief finding many supporters. With that condition among the clergy, it is inevitable that the infidelity of Darwinianism should permeate their teachings and the people taught. It is proper to ask such why they continue to stand in Christian pulpits, seeing that they are seeking to turn the truth of God into a lie. Like a cancerous growth, evolution is feeding upon the vitals of the popular church. Like a roily river, it is eating away the foundations of those buildings which have not been securely built upon the Rock. Again we ask the question which Christ asked, "When the Son of Man cometh, will He find faith on the earth?" It is well to remember those other words of the Saviour, "Every plant which My heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up." Nowhere in the Bible, even by inference, can the plant of evolution be found. With every other deception of the enemy, it will soon be rooted up and consumed, and those who tie themselves to it in preference to the Word of God will perish with it. It is one of the pitfalls of Satan, and no minister of the Gospel of Christ will allow himself to dally with it.