A.04 THE ORIGIN OF MAN.

THE ORIGIN OF MAN.
It is somewhat late in the day for man to raise questions as to whence he sprang, and yet nothing should surprise us in this period of the world's dotage. Is man a being distinct in nature and character from every other, or is he simply an improvement upon something else? Is he a being divinely created, or is he instead an animal who has struggled through various forms up to his present status; in fulfillment of a mysterious law which no one pretends to completely understand? Such are the questions which are being gravely discussed in the twentieth century. Even in religious circles these questions are considered legitimately debatable.
For those who fear God there is but one way in which to get light upon these matters. So important is it that man should understand what he is and whence he came, that it is only reasonable to suppose that God Himself has somewhere spoken upon the subject. This proposition can only appear unreasonable in the eyes of those who doubt or deny that there is a God at all. Now we hold in our hands a book called "the Bible" which comes to us with the highest possible claims. It demands our attention and obedience as a revelation from our Maker and Judge, and it warns us with the utmost gravity of the consequences of turning a deaf ear to its voice. The first book in the Bible goes by the name of Genesis, which means "beginning." It is thus God's account of the beginning of things — heaven, earth, beasts, man, etc. Seeing the exceeding value and importance of such a book, and seeing too that apart from it we have absolutely no light at all as to the origin of things, it is not surprising that the enemy should labour to discredit Genesis in every possible way. But foolish indeed are they who yield to the fell destroyer in so momentous a particular.
We turn to the book of Genesis therefore in order to learn the truth as to the origin of our race, being fully persuaded that we can learn it in no other way. The conflicting theories of philosophers, ancient and modern, and the egregious folly frequently expressed by them (one generation of philosophers holding up to ridicule the theories of other generations of the same breed) serve to prove that outside of Genesis everything is shifting sand.
Man was created on the sixth day — last of all the works of God. The work of the sixth day (as that of the third) was in two parts, first cattle etc., then man (Genesis 1:24-31). In connection with the latter there was divine consultation. "Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness." When lower creatures were required it sufficed to say: "Let the waters bring forth . . . let fowl fly," etc., and the creatures required were forthwith alive upon the scene. The grave consultation recorded in Genesis 1:26 should of itself suggest to the most cursory reader that now a being of a different order from all others was to be brought into the world. Man is thus a distinct and independent creation, having no link whatever with beast, fish, or fowl. "Created" is repeated three times in Genesis 1:27, as if the Spirit of God would be beforehand with his rebuke of evolutionist absurdity. Moreover, Adam was the FIRST man. The whole structure of Holy Scripture falls to the ground if there were really men before, or independent of, Adam; for the entire volume of inspiration revolves around two men — the fallen first man Adam, and the peerless Second Man, the Lord Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:45-47). One man and one stock is God's account of our race and its head. "He hath made of one blood all nations of men ....we are the offspring of God" (Acts 17:26-29). Such was the elementary lesson administered by Paul to the learned heathen in Athens.
The truth of Creation and the theory of Evolution cannot subsist together. There is nothing in common between them. He who holds to the one must needs despise the other. The Evolutionist would do well to ask himself, did the Son of God leave His glory to die for an improved ape? The question has only to be stated to be rejected with holy abhorrence. The Scripture truths of Creation and Redemption both forbid the Evolutionist's foolish dream. Whatever its pretension to superior learning, Evolution is a degrading lie of Satan, designed to hide from man his true relationship to his Maker, and to destroy in him all sense of responsibility, thus ensnaring him into excess of sin to his eternal ruin.