Qtnurnr~ta
m~tnln!ltral :!Intttl}ly
Continuing
LEHRE UNO VVEHRE
MAGAZIN FUER Ev.-LuTH. HOMILETIK
THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLy-THEOLOGICAL MONTHLY
Vol. IX December, 1938 No. 12
CONTENTS
Pap
A Course in Lutheran Theology. Th. Engelder _______________________ 881
The Arrival of the Saxons in St. Louis. w. G. Polack ___ .___________ 905
The Pastor and Foreign Missions. A_ M. Rebwinkel _____________ . ___ 908
The U. L. C. A. and the Doctrine of Inspiration. W. Arndt _______ 917
Predigtentwuerfe fuer die Evangelien der Thomasius-
Perikopenreihe ______________________ . __________________________ ________________ 924
Miscellanea ___________ . ___________ ... ___________________________ . ________________________ .___ 935
Theological Observer. - Kirchlich-Zeitgeschichtliches ___________ 940
Book Review. - Literatur ____________________________________________________ ._______________ 953
EIn Prediger muss nlcht aIle1n wei-
den, also dass er die Schafe unter-
weise. wle sIe rechte Christen sollen
seln. sondem auch daneben den Woel-
fen weh1"en, dass sie die Schafe nlcht
angrelfen und mit falscher Lehre ver-
fuehren und Irrtum elnfuehren_
Luthe1"_
Es lst keln Ding. das die Leute
mehr bel der Kirche behaelt denn
die gute Predigt. - Apologia, Arl. 24.
If the trumpet give an uncertain
sound who shall prepare hlmself to
the battle? - 1 C01".14, 8.
Published for the
Ev. Luth. Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States
CONCORDIA PUBLlSIDNG BOUSE, St. Louis, Mo.
940 Theological Observer - mtclJlicf)~.8eitgefcf)iclJtriclJe!l
Theological Observer - ~trdjndj:.8cttgefdjidjtHdje~
I. )(mrrika
Statement in Connection with the Revised Constitution of the New
York State Constitutional Convention. (Issued by the Albany District
Evangelical Lutheran Pastoral Conference, Missouri Synod.) -In con-
nection with the proposed revision of the New York State Constitution,
particularly at this time with regard to the amendment which would
provide bus transportation for parochial, or religious, schools of any
churches, we submit the following statement:
1. Our interest is merely that of American and Lutheran citizens who
feel constrained, also by the very history of their Church, to contend for
the clean and clear separation of Church and State.
The framers of the Constitution did well indeed to write into it the
principle of separation of Church and State. It is a distinctly American
issue, which, however, is also Scriptural. It is one of the most precious
possessions and heritages of America, for which she may be justly
grateful. History (present-day history in Europe not excluded) shows
conclusively that confusion and violation of this principle has led to
sorrow and hardship, damage and destruction. And both the Church
and the State suffer through mingling of Church and State.
2. vVe are convinced that such measures as support of parochial
0\11(1 religious schools by State or Federal funds, requesting State money
to supply text-books, for example, or as the Constitutional Convention
recommended, running busses to church-schools, are the beginning of
the ultimate and complete overthrow of the principle of the separation
of Church and State. We realize well enough that the State benefits by
the Church's schools and that Christian citizens supporting these schools
carry an extra tax burden, but we contend for the clean cleavage of Church
and State nevertheless, also in this respect, for it is the only sound course
to follow. We, the Lutheran Church of the Missouri Synod, have several
thousand parochial schools, but we are convinced that we should not ask
the State to support them.
The position of all American as well as Christian citizens, of what-
ever church-body, should be clear and decisive. Parochial, or religious,
schools are private schools and should ask nothing of public treasuries.
It may seem insignificant to divert small sums of public money for
denominational, or sectarian, purposes, but experience has shown that
beginnings must be resisted. Once the principle of demanding the c1ear-
cut separation of Church and State is surrendered, the complete usurpa-
tion of public money for religious purposes will be inevitable.
3. We submit further that so vital a matter as requesting State
money for church-schools (running busses for them) should be clearly
stated in the amendment on which the voters are to voie on November 8.
The ordinary voter will hardly know, when and if he votes for Amend-
ment 1, that he is also voting for such a controversial matter as bus
transportation.
Theological Observer - .Ritd)lid)~{leitgefd)id)tIid)e~ 941
The same vagueness, or lack of definiteness, applies to the Eighth
Amendment, which provides for social-welfare services to be extended
alike to denominational as well as the public schools. The Constitution
as revised does not clearly state what may be included in social welfare
for parochial, or religious, schools. The State is already, and has been,
pledged to the support of the health and physical well-being of needy
children, whether Jewish, Protestant, or Catholic, since they are Amer-
ican children and a vital part of the nation and public welfare.
Why does not the revised Constitution speak definitely or set limits
as to what is implied or meant? Does it mean, for example, maintaining
clinics in our Lutheran, Catholic, Jewish, Episcopalian, and other schools?
It could be argued, for instance, that a good summer vacation is essential
to health and welfare; therefore it could be argued again that the State
Ehould pay the expenses of Episcopalian, Jewish, Lutheran, Catholic, etc.,
children at the respective camps during summer.
Section 8 of Article VII, on State finances, indicates what hidden
powers and dangers there are in this part of the revised Constitution.
It reads: "Subject to the limitations on indebtedness and taxation, noth-
ing in this Constitution contained shall prevent the Legislature from
providing . . . for health and welfare services for all children, either
directly or through subdivisions of the State, including school districts."
We are informed that this sweeping provision is open to such wide
interpretation that legal authorities have advised it will enable the
Legislature to provide funds for building and equipping all kinds of
private and religious schools, paying salaries, and provide for various
services which the churches or schools may consider necessary, under the
guise or claim of "welfare services" or "educational purposes." If the
Constitution does not permit such interpretation, why not say it? Why
not say what we mean?
It is easily foreseen how far-reaching such a broad, vague, and
indefinite section in the Constitution may be. And if it is argued that
bus transportation is also a matter of health and welfare, then, of course,
there will be no end to the limits of the demands made on the State.
The State favors religion as a whole without discrimination, as for ex-
ample, through tax exemption. It is already pledged to support the
health and welfare of all needy children who apply. Let well enough
alone.
What straddling of the issue of Church and State separation leads to
is apparent from the grant of seventeen (17) acres of land to Christian
Brothers' Academy (Roman Catholic), and the grant of St. Margaret's
Hospital (Episcopalian), both on New Scotland Avenue, in Albany, N. Y.
It leads to discrimination. For, by the same token, Jews, Methodists,
Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Adventists, Lutherans, Mennonites,
Russellites, Mormons, Quakers, Shakers, etc., - and who will name them
all? - could ask for land, property, payment of salaries, etc. Further-
more, if Church and State are not kept separate and the churches ask for
and accept support from the State, then the church-bodies must not be
surprised if the State interferes or has something to say. What happened
in Germany and Spain, for example, and elsewhere can happen here.
Finally, it is a historical fact that both Church and State fared best where
942 Theological Observer - .Ritd)lid)<3eitgefd)id)md)e~
they were kept ·separate. Here in America, for instance, the Roman
Catholic Church, the Lutheran, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Methodist,
.and other churches, developed to a greater extent than in any similar part
.of the world in a similar period of time. Let the churches beware of the
danger they invite and the deadening formality that comes through
State-subsidized or -regimented religion. If we do not watch the begin-
nings, we do not know what the end will be. It may lead to blood
and tears.
If we need public health clinics, let the children of all schools be
brought to them and thus be serviced. But for this we do not need
a revision in the Constitution, that is, a revision with inherent unlimited
·or undefined power. THE ALBANY DISTRICT EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN
PASTORAL CONFERENCE, MISSOURI SYNOD
Signed by its members: Otto C. Busse, Karl Schleede, Herman M.
Mohr, Lloyd A. Hasselbach, Harold Johnson, Louis J. Roehm, Ernest L.
Witte, Theodor A. Schulze, Elmer F. Giese, G. Albert Schulze, Paul G.
Prokopy, Martin Duchow, James F. Taylor. Released at Albany, N. Y.,
October 10, 1938. Endorsed October 11, 1938, by the Evangelical Lutheran
Pastoral Conference of the Atlantic District, Missouri Synod, assembled
in conference at Brooklyn, N. Y., October 10-12, 1938.
Church Statistics. - The religious papers draw attention to the com-
pilations of Dr. H. C. Weber published in the Christian Herald with
respect to the strength of our various religious denominations and their
increase or decrease in membership during the last year. One of our
exchanges summarizes the chief facts thus: "There are 42 Protestant
bodies having a membership of over 50,000. These reported a total net
gain of 356,005 during the past year and a present membership of
35,879,311. The Roman Catholic Church gained 491,549 and now has
21,322,688. If only members over thirteen years of age are counted, the
Protestant bodies gained a few more, 386,210, while the Roman Catholic
gain is turned into a loss of 464,742. These last figures must be con-
;sidered as containing a considerable element of conjecture. If they mean
anything,-and Dr. Weber is a very careful man, who, though he cannot
do the impossible, can come as near the facts as anyone, - they mean
that the Roman Church lost nearly half a million among its adults but
came out with a favorable total by adding nearly a million children to
its rolls. Protestant churches, on the other hand, have gained consider-
ably more than a third of a million adults but have actually fewer chil-
·dren on the church books by 30,000 than a year ago." A.
Convention of the U. L. C. A. - In its convention at Baltimore, Md.,
October 5-12, nearly 550 delegates of the U. L. C. A. gathered. The
election of officers resulted in the reelection of the president, secretary,
and treasurer, Drs. Knubel, Greever, and Miller, respectively. A good
deal of attention was given to the matter of intersynodical relations and
the Declaration of the commission negotiating with other synods on the
Word of God and the Scriptures. The News Bulletin of the National
Lutheran Council says: "Though there was evident an almost unanimous
.agreement on the part of the assembled delegates that Lutherans of
America are one in faith and that they ought to march shoulder to
shoulder in the cause of Christ, rather vigorous expression was given
Theological Observer - ~itdjndj~.8eitgefdjidjtIidje~ 943
to the point that the initiative in future intersynodical negotiations,
ought to come from the other branches of Lutheranism. Voice was
given to the prevailing attitude that the United Lutheran Church has
been constantly disappointed in its overtures to other bodies. Spokes-
men declared that they would like above all else to proceed together
in active fellowship and cooperation with all Lutherans, but that, unless
their advances received friendly encouragement, the Church would not
be deterred in its determination to march forward alone."
At the meeting it was reported that the universal appeal conducted
by the Board of American Missions in celebration of the twentieth an-
niversary of the Church had netted more than $410,000. It was pre-
dicted that this sum "will increase to more than one million dollars by
the time of the 1940" convention. The Board of Foreign Missions could
report that in the past decade it had been able to wipe out a deficit of
nearly half a million dollars.
Concerning the new pension plan the News Bulletin reports: "The
present plan of the Church provides that all ministers share alike in re-
ceiving benefits. The new plan proposes that pastors and congregations.
each contribute to the fund five per cent. of the pastor's salary. The
retirement age would be fixed at sixty-five years; but retirement at that
age would be voluntary. For totally or partially disabled, pensions would
be provided and also pensions for widows and orphaned minors. The
plan will go into effect when five hundred of the 3,500 congregations of
the United Lutheran Church have accepted its provisions. The con-
vention, however, voted to refer that plan back to a special committee
with instructions to restudy it and present a plan whereby equal pen-
sions would be paid to all."
Concerning control of the seminaries it was resolved that the owner-
ship should remain with the individual synods which own the institu-
tions at present, but that a commission of theological education should
be appointed controlling the curricula, standards of scholarship, and
kindred affairs. - The proposed budget of two million dollars was ac-
cepted. In the last two years the income was $3,161,628 and the expenses
$3,025,658. The next convention is to be held in Omaha, Nebr.
Missourians will assure the U. L. C. A. that their unwillingness to
establish fellowship with this body is not due to an extreme fondness of
isolation but to the earnest desire to prove loyal to the Word of their
heavenly Master. A.
Bible Presbyterian Church. - Followers of the late Dr. Machen, who
withdrew from the Presbyterian Church a few years ago, have apparently
settled their dispute with Church and State authorities over nomenclature
by formally organizing as the "Bible Presbyterian Church."
Lutheran Companion
Progress of the Mi.nor Sects. - Nobody can look about him in the
cities and villages of our country without observing that denominations
which are often referred to as "little sects," like the Nazarenes and other
Pentecostal bodies, are spreading at a very rapid rate. In the Christian
Century of August 24 a member of the Board of Home Missions of the
Congregatinal and Christian Churches, Mr. Thomas Alfred Tripp, dis-
94,1 Theological Observer - mtd)Hd)';Seitgcfd)id)Uid)es
cusses this point under the heading "Shall the Holy Rollers Win the
Farmers?" He says: "In broad outline, the more mature Protestant
churches are not proving very effective in holding poor farmers, low-
income renters, share-croppers, rural-relief clients, and village 'slum'
dwellers. Meanwhile the newer Holy Roller sects are springing up and
growing rapidly among these disadvantaged folk everywhere. There are
of course notable exceptions to this general picture, but in the main it
is a correct one." The author holds that the more well-to-do and the
less privileged groups do not mix, as a rule. One of the evils affecting
the farmers, according to Mr. Tripp, is what is called tenancy, or the
short period which a renter stays in a certain community. "Tenancy
often, if not usually, involves poverty, and because they have not clothes
that are good enough, many of these people refuse to enter the churches
owned and operated by the well-to-do." Others, according to Mr. Tripp,
simply declare that they do not find a message for themselves in the old
churches.
Mr. Tripp continues: "Can mature Protestantism meet this dilemma?
Some radicals say, 'No. We must start class churches for the disadvan-
taged.' A few conservatives, on the other hand, while expressing the
opinion that it is an impossible task, suggest that the mature Protestant
churches should seek to win the higher cultured groups and let the
Holy Rollers cultivate the masses. 'We cannot get the two classes to-
gether in our lodges and bridge clubs,' they argue. 'Why try to do so
in the church?'" He very correctly observes: "If our churches are
determined to limit themselves to the 'best people,' - usually those with
money, bouTgeois culture, and family tree, - they are signing their own
death-warrant, because the 'best people,' under this definition, constitute
a class that is becoming smaller with the years. Besides, we cannot
but feel that if our Protestantism were endued with essential Chris-
tianity, it would give a sensitivity to the needs of the disadvantaged
and the drawing power which could reach across cultural lines with
more effectiveness than a card club." He concludes: "If we are unwilling
or unable to perform our duty toward the unfortunate rural peoples,
we can only be deeply thankful that the little sects stand, even if in-
adequately, between us and a completely secularized countryside."
Our comment is that the situation plainly indicates the social gospel
is not the power of God unto salvation. If we are not blind and can
still read the handwriting on the wall, we shall earnestly pray God to
keep us in the footsteps of St. Paul, preaching Jesus Christ, and Him
crucified. A.
FlIDdirunentalism on the March. - Under this heading Rev. Dr. Paul
W. Rood, president of the World's Christian Fundamentals Association,
reports in the Sunday-school Times (Sept. 25, 1938) an increasing interest
in Christian confessionalism among American church-members. The
meeting of the association was held in Waterloo, Iowa, last May, and
among the speakers were Dr. W. B. Riley, militant and able Fundamen-
talist leader, Dr. W. L. Wilson, Dr. Robert G. Lee of Memphis, Tenn., and
Dr. Dan Gilbert, author of Crucifying Christ in OUT Colleges and other
anti-Modernism books.
Theological Observer - Sl'itd)lid)~3eitgefd)id)md)es 945
Of his long report we quote the following statements: "The presence
of many young preachers who are determined to be faithful to the Lord
brought joy to our hearts." - "Another reason for the extraordinary
Waterloo Convention was the deep spiritual hunger manifested by so
many convention visitors. One minister told an audience of eighteen
hundred people that his church was going to have a new minister as
a result of this convention. It was a time of spiritual renewal and re-
freshing." - "Evangelism was a predominant note. Tract distribution,
personal and public evangelism, were constantly emphasized. We were
not only contending for the faith, but also propagating it." - "The theme
of the convention, Fundamentalism on the MaTch! was not only on every
speaker's lips but in every speaker's heart, and the whole convention
was moved and'swayed by the theme. In no other convention have we
seen such enthusiasm, love, loyalty, unity, aggressiveness, and deter-
mination. We went forth from Waterloo determined to organize the
twenty million Fundamentalists of America into city, county, and State
associations, to provide a fellowship for all evangelical believers and an
opportunity to express themselves unitedly in an effort to evangelize
the nation and the world during the next decade. We serve notice on
Communists, Modernists, evolutionists, and compromisers that Funda-
mentalism is on the march. We urge the twenty million Funda-
mentalists of the nation to stand together and march together and work
together and pray together for a nation-wide revival that will save our
nation from debacle and bring multitudes to the Christ of Calvary and
the empty tomb. Satan has instigated a great forward movement to
capture the world by evolution in the realm of philosophy, by Com-
munism in the realm of political economy, and llii:odernism in the realm
of religion. Christ is calling His followers to rally to the banner of the
cross and aggressively, sacrL"icially, and speedily to give every man,
woman, and child in the world at least one opportunity to accept Christ
as Savior and Lord. Christ is on a march around the world and is
looking for followers who will catch His vision, exemplify His spirit,
and follow His eXaInple. Many have received a vision of Christ and
heard His call, and consequently - Fundamentalism is on the MaTch!"
'The Fundamentalist groups in our country are greatly controlled by
religious enthusiasm. But if in spite of this and other faults they show
so much boldness in witnessing against the plague of Modernism, should
not we Lutherans excel the more in clearly and courageously confessing
the vital truths of salvation which the divinely inspired Bible sets forth
for the salvation of sinners redeemed by Christ's blood? J. T. M.
The Protestant .!Episcopal Church and the ReE<[)I:med .!Episcopal
Church !Conferring on UnIon. - According to an article by Bishop
Wilson in the Living Chm'ch the two bodies mentioned, represented by
commissions, held a conference with a view to healing the breach which
has kept them apart. Bishop Wilson is a rnember of the Protestant
Episcopal commission on Approaches to Unity. On the origin and present
status of the Reformed Episcopal Church, Bishop Wilson says: "It will
be remembered that the Reformed Episcopal Church broke away from
our own Church in 1873 at the time when the 'ritualistic controversy'
was disfiguring the ecclesiastical landscape. The only serious doctrinal
60
946 Theological Observer - .reitd)lidhgeitgefd)id)md)e~
issue was the use of the term 'regeneration' in the office for Holy
Baptism. The Rt. Rev. Dr. George D. Cummins, Assistant Bishop of Ken-
tucky, led the secession and resigned from the House of Bishops. The
break has persisted down to the present day. The Reformed Episcopal
Church is small in numbers, totaling about 8,000 communicants, with ap-
proximately 65 clergy. Their work is all east of the Mississippi River,
with headquarters in Philadelphia. They have some work among the
Negroes in South Carolina and a small foreign field in India. They
operate a theological school in Philadelphia." Concerning the point on
which Episcopalians are most sensitive, the bishop writes: "There appears
to be little reason for questioning their orders. Bishop Cummins was one
of our own bishops, and he consecrated two new bishops for the
Reformed movement before he was deposed from our ministry. They
have been very careful to observe their episcopal orders. On one oc-
casion, when they were reduced to two bishops, they invited in a
Moravian bishop to make up the third in conferring orders on newly
elected bishops. At times in the past they have received ministers
from non-Episcopal churches into their own ministry with no ad-
ditional ordination, and there is a provision for such reception in
their prayer-book. But they assured us that there were no such in-
stances in their ministry at the present time. At the close of the con-
ference it would have been hard to find reasons which would justify
the continuance of our present division." The action which Bishop
Wilson advocates is indicated in these words: "Recognizing certain points
of non-agreement, could we not erect a formal concordat by which we
would (following the example of our Methodist brethren) come together
under the generous title of 'the Episcopal Church,' of which the Reformed
Episcopal would be one part and the Protestant Episcopal another part?
We would each retain our corporate titles for legal purposes and would
each conduct our own internal affairs just as we do now. But there
would be full intercommunion. Our bishops would share in the con-
secration of their bishops and theirs in ours. Their bishops would be
invited to sit in our House of Bishops and ours in theirs. Clergy could
move freely back and forth, accepting the calls to parishes in either
direction, and communicants would be received without discrimination.
Their candidates for holy orders could attend our seminaries, and vice
versa. We would each carryon our work in our own way and let the
intermingling solve its own problems over a period of years." The
article announces that another meeting will be held. A.
Hi'ief Items. - Writing in the Presbyterian, Dr. Charles A. Anderson,
president of Tusculum College, Tenn., says: "We must not overlook the
fact that the Presbyterian Church as well as many other denominations
is facing a threatened oversupply of ministers. It has been reported in
a New York paper that 'a canvass of the 289 presbyteries in the General
Assembly showed there were 376 unemployed clergymen.'''
St. Paul's Chapel is the oldest church-building now standing in New
York City. It was the second chapel to be erected by the mother church
of Trinity when the growth of the parish necessitated still another edifice.
The first chapel was St. George's, built on Beekman Street near Trinity
Church in 1748, no longer standing. The present St. George's Church,
Theological Observer - ~ird)nd)"3eitgefd)id)md)e.!l 947
in Stuyvesant Square, grew out of that early chapel of Trinity. The
original building of Trinity Church itself was erected in 1696. This
was destroyed by fire in 1776 and rebuilt in 1788-1790 and again in
1839-1846. . .. St. Paul's Chapel was built in 1764-1766. In addition the
Living Church, from which the above is taken, remarks that two pews
are of special interest, that occupied by George Washington and another
one occupied by Governor Clinton.
From Bridgeport, Conn., comes the interesting news that the Epis-
copal church of that place will open a parochial school called st. John's
Day-school. The rector says: "Conditions now prevalent reveal the
necessity of religious-training education for children in addition to
public-school education. St. John's will attempt to supply that need."
TIlls is said to be the first Episcopal parochial school in Connecticut.
The government authorities in Greece forbid non-Orthodox mission-
aries to enter that country. The intention is not to bar visiting clergymen
of other denominations but to prevent proselytizing. The action is said
to be aimed especially at the propaganda of the RusseIlites.
Hyde Park Baptist Church, Chicago, has two pastors, one a Baptist,
who devotes himself chiefly to the administrative and educational aspects
of the work, the other, an Evangelical minister, holding in that denomina-
tion the status of a local elder, who looks chiefly after the preaching.
Strange to say, it is reported that the church has prospered under this
dual leadership. It practises what is called "open membership." Evidently
the tests that have to be met to become a member are not too exacting.
In Moscow the last Protestant church has now been closed. Its name
was Church of Peter and Paul, and it was used by a German congrega-
tion. Its pastor, Rev. Strick, had been removed two years ago, but the
members assembled there every Sunday seeking edification. The last
Polish Catholic church had been closed a few days before, and all Greek
churches have suffered the same fate. It seems that some "orthodox"
churches are still permitted to hold services. A.
Sir Ambl'ose Fleming Argues against Evolution. - In the current
numbers of the Sunday-school Times Sir Ambrose Fleming, M. A., D. Sc.,
F. R. S., emeritus professor of Electrical Engineering of the University
of London, president of the Victoria Institute or Philosophical Society
of Great Britain, and bearer of a long string of other honorary and
honorable titles, presents a series of four most interesting and instructive
antievolutionistic articles ("What Is the Theory of Organic Evolution?"
"The Divine Origin of the Bible"; "The Contrasted Creeds of Scripture
and Science"), of which the first ("Science - True and False") appeared
in the issue of October 30 (1938). Briefly expressed, he means to show
in these articles why he, as a scientist and Christian, cannot accept the
theory of evolution. Criticizing the "hypothesis of absolute uniformity,"
which he classifies among the "unconfirmed or imperfectly ascertained
scientific hypotheses," he writes, among other things: "We know by
large experience that there is an extensive uniformity in natural
948 Theological Observer - stircl)HcI)".8eitgeja)icl)tlicl)es
phenomena, which means that things happen in the same way at all
times. If it were not for this general uniformity in nature, we should
never know what may happen, and all human and animal life on this
earth would be impossible. But now the 'scientific hypothesis of absolute
continuity' goes far beyond this truth of the general uniformity in natural
phenomena. It asserts that there has never been any difference in degree
or mode of happening in the events in nature in the past from that
which we obseTve at present. But there are many things which show
that this assumption of absolute continuity in nature is not true. For
instance, a vast amount of exact scientific research has shown that we
cannot produce any living organism, animal or plant, except from a
previously living animal or plant. There is no possibility of spontaneous
generation. We cannot generate from non-living matter the smallest
particle of living matter. This is an established truth of science. But if
this is so, then it follows that at some time in some far distant past
there must have been a supernatural creation of living beings by a
Creative Power. - There is also another thing that cannot be spontane-
ously produced, and we call it energy. Heat is a form of energy. There
are many forms in which energy makes its appearance, as, for instance,
in the form of light or as an electric current. We find by scientific
experiment that we can convert one form of energy into other forms,
but we cannot in these changes alter the total amount of the ene"l"gy.
We can change it from energy of motion into heat or light or electric
current, but we cannot increase or decrease the total amount of the
energy in the smallest degree. It follows therefore that at some time
in the past there must have been a fi"l"st production of creation of energy
'which is not taking place now, - The same is true of material substances.
What we call the mass, or, in common language, the weight, cannot be
changed. We can put together various kinds of substances and by what are
called chemical changes alter them into other substances; but the total
weight remains the same. We cannot by any chemical actions alter the
total mass. The inevitable conclusion from these scientific facts is that
neither life nor energy nor matter is now being generated spontane-
ously, and hence at some past time there must have been some acts of
creation by which matter, energy, and life came into existence. One
of the most illustrious of the scientific men of the last century in
England was the late Lord Kelvin. He said on one occasion: 'Science
positively demands creation'; and all facts we know endorse and sup-
port this conclusion."
What Sir Fleming here expounds is of course nothing new nor any-
thing complex in apologetic science; still such testimonies by savants
bear repetition as long as our aggressive proponents of evolution continue
to lEGe their erroneous claiEls in the name of scientific truth. Sir
Ambrose Fleming is a reliable authority to quote against evolution, and
the Sunday-school Times has done well in securing his witness against
infidelity. J. T. M.
The London JF'reethinkel's' Conference. - After opposition from the
churches, some of whose members asked Parliament to stop the con-
ference from opening, the Vlorld Union of Freethinkers opened its con-
gress in London. A psychologist, a biologist, an archeologist, and other
Theological Observer - .I1itcl)!idJ