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ADDRESS PREPARED BY WILLIAM JENNINGS
BRYAN JUST BEFORE HIS DEATH
(Continued from Last Week)
“Our second indictment is that the
evolutionary hypothesis carried to its
logical conclusion, disputes every vi¬
tal ♦’ruth of the Bible. Its tendency,
natural, if not inevitable, is to lead
who really accept it, first to ag¬
nosticism and then to atheism. Evo¬
lutionists attack the truth of the Bi¬
ble, not openly at first, but by using
weazel words like ‘poetical,’ ‘symbol
ical’ and ‘allegorical’ to suck the
meaning out of the inspired record
of man’s creation.
'We call as our first witness
Charles Darwin. He began life a
Christian. On page 39, Volume I, of
the Life and Letters of Charles Dar
win, by his son, Francis Darwin, he
says, speaking of the period from
jejjy 1828 to 1831 “I did not then in the
doubt the strict and literal truth
of every word in the Bible.’ On page
412 of volume II of the same publi
cation, he says, ‘When I was
ing the facts for ‘The Origin’my be
lief in what is called a personal God
was as firm as that of Dr Pusey
ftmself.’It may be a surprise to your
honor and to you, gentlemen of the
jury, as it was to me, to learn that
Darwin spent three years at Cam¬
bridge studying for the ministry.
“This was Darwin as a young man ’
before he came under the influence
of the doctrine that man came from
a lower order of animals. The change
wrought in his religious views will be
found in a letter written to a German
youth in 1879 and printed on page
277 of volume I of the life and let
ters above referred to. The letter be
gins: ‘I am much engaged, an old
ran, and out of health, and I cannot
pare time to answer your questions
fully—nor indeed can they be an
swered Science has nothing to do
with Christ except in so far as the
habit of scientific research makes a
^Fr nan cautious in admitting evidence,
myself I do not believe there
ever has been any revelation. As for
a future "life, every man must judge
for himself between conflicting vague
probabilities.’
Science Breeds Atheism
“Note that ‘science has nothing to
do with Christ except in so far as
the habit of scientific research makes
a man cautious in admitting evi
dence.’ Stated plainly that simply
means that ‘the habit of scientific re
search makes one cautious in accept
ing the only evidence that we have of
Christ’s existence mission teachings namely!
crucifixion and resurrection,
the evidence found in the Bible. To
make this interpretation of his words
the only possible one, he adds, ‘for
myself, I do not believe that there
ever has been any revelation’ In re
jecting the Bible as a revelation from
God he rejects the Bible’s conception
of God and he rejects also the super¬
natural Christ of whom the Bible,
and the Bible alone, tells. And, it will
be observed, he refuses to express
any opinion as to a future life.
“Now let us follow with his son’s
exposition of his father’s view’s as
they are given in extracts from a bi
ography written in 1876. Here is Dar
win’s language as quoted by his son:
wii8, <“ ‘During these two years (October,
to January, 1839) I was led to
think much about religion. Whilst on
board the Beagle I was quite ortho
dox and I remember being heartily
laughed at by several of the officers for'
(though themselves orthodox)
quoting the Bible as an unanswerable
authority on some point of morality.
When thus reflecting, I felt compell
ed to look for a first cause, having an
intelligent mind in some degree ana¬
logous to man; and I deserved to be
called an atheist. This conclusion was
strong in my mind about the time, as
far as I can remember, when I wrote
the “Origin of Species; it is since
that time that it has very gradually,
with many fluctuations, become
weaker. But then arises the doubt
can the mind of man which has, as I
ffrily believe, been developed from
mind as low as that possessed by the
lowest animals, fee trusted when it
draws such grand conclusions?
Mystery Insoluble I
“ ‘I cannot pretend to throw the
least light on such abstruse oroblems.
The mystery of the beginning of all
things is insoluble by us; and I, for
one , must be content to remain an
agnostic.’ ,
“When Darwin entered upon b ; s
scientific career he was ‘quite ortho
and quoted the Bible as an unan
swerable authority on some point of
morality.’ Even when he wrote 'The
Origin of Species,’ the thought of ‘a
first cause, having an intelligent mind
in some degree analogous to man,’
was strong in his mind. It was after
t^st time that ‘very gradually, with
many fluctuations,’ his belief in God
became weaker. He traces this decline
for us and concludes by telling ug
that he cannot pretend to throw the
least light on such abstruse problems
_the religious problems above refer
red to. Then comes the flat state
ment that he ‘must be content to re¬
main an agnostic;’ and to make clear
what he means by the word agnostic,
he says that ‘the mystery of the be
ginning of all things is insoluble by
us,’—not by him alone, but by every
body. Here we have the effect of evo
lution upon its most distinguished
i exponent; it led him from an ortho
dox Christian, believing every word
of the Bible, and in a personal God,
down and down and down to helpless
arid hopeless agnosticism.
“But there is one sentence upon
which I reserved comment__it throws
light upon his downward pathway,
‘Then arises the doubt, can the mind
of man which has, as I fully believe,
been developed from a mind as low as
that possessed by the lowest animals,
be trusted when it draws such grand
conclusions?’
"Here is the explanation; he drags
man down to the brute level, and
then, judging man by brute stan
dards, he questions whether man’s
mind can be trusted to deal with God
and immortality!
Reason for Fear
“How can any teacher tell his stu
dents that evolution does not tend to
destroy his religious faith? How can
an honest teacher conceal from his
students the effect of evolution upon
Darwin himself. And is it not strang-|
still that preachers who advocate
evolution never speak of Darwin’s
l° ss faith, due to his belief in evo
lution? The parents of Tennessee
have reason enough to fear the effect
of evolution on the minds of their
children. Belief in evolution cannot
bring to those who hold such a ho
lief and compensation for the loss of
faith in God, trust in the Bible, and
belief in the supernatural character
°f Christ. It is belief in evolution
that has caused so many scientists
and so many Christians to reject the
miracles of the Bible, and then give
up, one after another, every vital
truth of Christianity. They finally
cease to pray and sunder the tie that
binds them to their Heavenly Father.
“The miracle should not be a
stumbling block to any one. ft raises
but three questions: First, could God
perform a miracle? Yes, the God who
created the universe can do anything ,
He wants to with it. He can tempo-1
rarily suspend any law that He has
made or He may employ higher laws
that we do not understand. I
“Second: Would God perform a
miracle? To answer that question in
the negative one would have to know
about God’s plans and '
more purposes
than a finite mind can know, and yet
some are so wedded to evolution; that
they deny that God would perform a
miracle merely because a miracle is
inconsistent with evolution.
If we believe that God can per- ]
for m a miracle and might desire to
do so, we are prepared to consider
w > tb open mind the third question;
namely, did God perform the miracles
recorded in the Bible. The same evi
dence that establishes the authority
of the Bible establishes the truth of
the record of miracles performed,
Romanes’ Confession !
"Now let me read to the honorable
court and to you, gentlemen of the
jury, one of the most pathetic con-1
fusions that has come to my notice. ;
George John Romanes, a distinguish
ed biologist, sometimes called the sue- j
cessor of Darwin, was prominent ,
enough to be given extended space in
b °th the Encyclopedia Britanica and
Encyclopedia Americana. Like Dar-1
win, he was reared in the orthodox
faith, and like Darwin was led away
from it by evolution (see “Thoughts
on Religion,” page 180) for 25 years
be could not pray. Soon after he be
came an agnostic, he wrote a book
entitled A Candid Examination of
Theism,” publishing it under the as
sumed name, “Physicus. ln this book
^ see P a *? e 29, “Thoughts on Religion)
he says:
‘“And for as much as I am far
from being able to agree with those
wbo affirm that twilight doctrine of
the ‘new faith’ is a desirable substi
tute for the waning splendor of “the
old.” I am not ashamed to confess
that with this virtual negation of
God the universe to me has lost its
s0ld °f loveliness; and although from
henceforth the precept to “work while
ib is day” will doubtless but gain an
intensified force from the terribly
intensified meaning of the words that
“the night cometh when no man can
work,” yet when at times I think, as
think at times I must, of the appal
ling contrast between the hallowed
glory of that creed which once was
mine, and the lonely mystery of ex
istence as now I find it—at such
-
THE LEADER-TRIBUNE, PORT VALLEY, GA., THURSDAY, AUGUST, 20, 1925.
times I shall ever feel it
to avoid the sharpest pang of
my nature is susceptible.’
| think “Do of these the crime evolutionists they commit stop
I t be y * ake I udb ou t the hearts
i n,en and women aad lead them
! ' n ^° 11 starless night? What
! ! can they ‘the find hallowed in robbing glory a human of
* n K
creed’ that Romances once
and in substituting ‘the lonely
tery ot existence’ as he found it?
Gan tbe fathers and mothers of Ten
nessee be blamed for trying to
tect their children from such a trage
d y ‘
Crimes Compound
“If any one has been led to com
plain of the severity of the punish
ment that hangs over the defendant,
let him compare this crime and its
mild punishment with the crime for
which a greater punishment is pre
scr ‘ b ed. What is the taking of a few
dollars from one in day or night in
comparison with the crime of leading
ono awa >' from God and awa >' from
christ?
“Shakespeare regards the robbing
0, ’ e °f his good name as much more
grave than the stealing of his purse,
Bllt we have a higher authority than
Shakespeare to invoke in this connec
tion - He who s I ,ake as never man
spake, thus describes the crimes that
are committed against the young. It
is impossible but that offenses will
come; Bub woe unto hin% through
whom they come. It were better for
b ' m bbat a millstone were hanged
about h,s neck - and he be cast lnto
the sea - tban that he should offend
one of these little ones/
“Christ did not overdraw the pic
ture - wbo is able to set a price u l ,on
the life of a child—a child into whom
a mother has poured her life and for
whom a father has labbred. What
,na y a noble life mean to the child it
self - to the parents and to the world.
“ And , it must be remembered that
we can measure the effect on only
that P art of life which is spent on
earth; we have no way of calculating
the etiect on that infinite ciicle of
b ^ e °f which existence here is but a
small arc. The soul is immortal and
religion leads with the soul; the logi
eal effect of the evolutionary hy
pothesis is to undermine religion and
thus affect the soul. I recently re
ceived a list of questions that were to
be discussed in a prominet eastern
school for women. The second question
,n the llst read > Is religion an abso
lest 'ent function that should be allow
ed to atrophy quietly, without or us
in * the passionate prejudice of out
worn superstition?’ The real attack
of evolution, it will be seen, is not
u P on orthodox Christianity, or even
upon Christianity, but upon religion—
the most basic fact in man’s existence
and the moat Practical thing . life,
m
More Evidence
“ But 1 have some more evidence of
tbc effect of evolution upon the life
of tbose who acce Pt it and try to har
monize their thought with it.
“James H. Le ba, a professor of
psychology at Bryn Mawr college,
Pennsylvania, book entitled published ‘Belief a few In years God
ago a
and Immortality.’ In this book he re
* ates bow be secured the . . of
opinions
scientists as to the existence of a per
sonal God and a personal immortali
He used a volume entitled ‘Amer¬
ican Men of Science,’ which he says,
included the names of ‘practically
every American who may properly be
called a scientist.’ There were 5,500
names in the book - He selected 1 ’ 000
as representative of the 5,
b0 °- and addressed them personally.
Most of them, he said, were teachers
in schools of higher learning. The
were kept confidential. Upon
received, ... he asserts , that ,
answers
over half of them doubt or deny the
exlstence of a personal God and a
ers °nal immortality, and he asserts
unbelief increases in proportion
prominence, the percentage of un
being greatest among the most
P rornlner| t- Among biologists, be
’ n a personal God numbered
than 31 per cent ’ wbBe believers
in a personal immortality numbered
37 per cent.
“He also questioned the students in
colleges of high rank and from
answers received, 97 per cent
which were from students hetween
18 arul 2(> ’ foun d that unbelief in
from 15 per cent in the fresh
class up to 4b to 45 per cpat :
^ the J who graduated. On,
230 of thls - book we read <the |
statistics show that young
enter college, possessed of the
still accepted, more or less
... in the average , home of ,
an< ^> ana £ r adually abandon the j
* na ^ Christian beliefs. This
from beBef to unbe]ie f b e at- i
to tbe influence of the per- 1
b ' gb cuB ' ur e under whom they
Tennessee Patient
'The people of Tennessee have
patient enough; they acted none .
too soon. How can they expect
protect society, and even the
from the deadening influence of
nosticism and atheism if they
the teachers employed by taxation to
poison the minds of the youth with
j this destructive doctrine? And re
'member, that the law has not here
■ tofore required the writing of the
word ‘poison’ on poisonous doctrines,
The bodies of our people are so valu
able that druggists and physicians
must be careful to properly label all
poisons; why not be us careful to pro
tect the spiritual life of our people
from the poisons that kill the soul?
“There is a test that is sometimes
used to ascertain whether one sus
pected of mental infirmity is really
insane. He is put into a tank of wa
ter and told to dip the tank dry
while a stream of water flows into
the tank. If he has not sense enough
to turn off the stream, he is ndjudg
ed insane. Can parents justify them
selves if, knowing the effect of belief
in evolution, they permit irreligious
teachers to inject skepticism and in
fidelity into the minds of their chil
dren?
“Do bad doctrines corrupt the
als of students? We have a case in
point. Mr. Darrow, one of the most
distinguished criminal lawyers in our
land, was engaged about a year ago
in defending two rich men’s sons who
were on trial for as dastardly a mur
der as was ever committed. The older
one, ‘Babe’ Leopold, was a brilliant
student, 19 years old. He was an evo
lutionist and an atheist. He was also
a follower of Nietzsche, whose books
he had devoured and whole philoso
i P b y he had adopted. Dr. Darrow
ma de a plea for him, based upon the
influence that Nietzsche’s philosophy
had exerted upon the boy’s mind.
Here are extracts from his speech:
Defense of ‘Babe -
“Babe took to philosophy . . He
’ in this he became
grew up way; en
amoured of the philosophy of
sc he. Your honor, I have read almost
everything that Nietzsche ever wrote.
A man of wonderful intellect; the
most original philosopher of the last
century. A man who made a deeper
imprint on philosophy than any other
m an within a hundred years, whether
right or wrong. More books have
| )eon written about him than prob
ably all the rest of the philosophers
in a 100 years. More college profes
sors have talked about him. In a way,
he has reached more people, and still
he has been a philosopher of what we
m ight call the intellectual cult.
“He wrote one book called ‘Beyond
the Good and Evil,’ which was a crit
icism 0 f all moral precepts, as we
understand them, and a treatise that
the intelligent man was beyond good
an d evil, that the laws for good and
the laws for evil did not apply to
anybody who approached the super
man. He wrote on the will to power,
“I have just made a few short ex
tracts from Nietzsche that show the
things that he (Leopold) has read,
and these are short and almost taken
a t random. It is not how this would
affect you . It is not how it would
affect ine. The question is, how it
would affect the impressionable, vi
sionary, dreamy mind of a boy—a
boy who should never have seen it
too early for him.
Quotation from Nietzsche: “Why |
SO soft, oh, my brethren? Why so
so ft, so unresisting and yielding?
Why is there so much disavowal and
abnegation in your heart? Why is
there so little fate in your looks? For
all creators are hard and it must
.seem blessedness unto you to press
your hand upon milleniums and upon |
wax. This new table, oh, my breth- |
ren, I put over you: Become hard. To
be obsessed by moral consideration
, low grade , of , .
presupposes a very in
tellect. We should substitute for mo
rality the will to our own end, and j
consequently to the means to accom
plish that. A great man, a man whom
nature has built up and invented in
a grand style, is colder, harder, less
cautious and more free from the fear
of public opinion. He does not pos
se ss that virtues which are compati
ble with respectability, with being re¬
spected, nor any of those things
which are counted among the virtues
() f the herd.’
Found in Universities
“Mr. Darrow says “That the super¬
ma n, a creation of Nietzsche has per
meated every college and university
in the civilized world.
“‘There is not any university in
the world where the professor is not I
familiar with Nietzsche, not one . . .
Some believe it and some do not be
lieve it. Some read it as I do and take
it theory, dream, ...
as a a a vision, mix
ed with good and bad, but not in any i
way related to human life. Some take
it seriously . . . There is not a uni- j
in the world of high stan- '
any
ar( j where the professors do not tell
you about Nietzsche and discuss him,
where the books are not there.’
ll l If this boy is to blame for this ’i
did he get it? Is there any
blame attached because
took Nietzsche’s philosophy
and fashioned his life upon it?
there is no question in this case
what that is true. Then who is
blame? The university would be
to blame than he is; the scholars
the world would be more to
than he is. The publishers of
world . . . are more to blame than
is. Your honor, it is hardly fair
hang a 19-year-old boy for the
osophy that was taught him at
university. It does not meet my
of justice and fairness to visit
his head the philosophy that has
taught by university men for
years.’
«. . In fairness to Mr. Darrow,
think I ought to quote two more
agraphs. After this bold attempt
' excuse the student the ground
on
he was transformed from a
meaning youth into a murderer by
philosophy of an atheist and on
j further ground that this
i was in the libraries of all the
and discussed by the
some adopting the philosophy
1 some rejecting it—on these
grounds he denies that the
should l>e held responsible for
j the taking scholars of human in the life. universities He charges
j j responsible than the boy,
more
I that the universities were more
ponsible than the boy, because
furnished such books to the
and then he proceeds to
| the universities and the
leaving nobody responsible. Herp
Mr. Darrow’s language:
Darrow’s Words
<< < Now, I do not want to be
understood about this. Even for
sake of saving the lives of my clients
I do not want to be dishonest and
tell the court something that I do
honestly thing in this case. I do
think that the universities are to
blame. I do not think they should be
responsible. I do not think,
ever, that they are too large, and that
they should keep a closer watch, if
possible, upon the individual.
But you cannot destioy thought.
because, forsooth, some brain may be
deranged by thought. It is the duty
of the university, as I conceive it, to
be the greatest storehouse of the wis
dom of the ages, and to have its
dents come there and learn and
choose. I have no doubt but what it
has meant the death of many, but
that- we cannot help.’
This is a damnable philosophy,
and yet it is the flower that blooms
on the stalk of evolution. Mr. Darrow
thinks the universities are in duty
bound to feed out this poisonous stuff
to their students, and when the stu
dents become stupified by it and com
mit murder, neither they nor the uni
versities are to blame. I am sure,
your honor, and getlemen’ of the
jury, that you agree with me when I
protest against the adoption of any
such a philosophy in the state of
Tennessee. A criminal is not relieved
from responsibility merely because
he found Nietzsche’s philosophy in a
library which ought not to contain it.
Neither is the university guiltless if
it permits such corrupting nourish
ment to be fed to the souls that are
entrusted to its care. But, go a step
farther, would the state be blameless
if it permitted the universities under
its control to be turned into training
schools for murderers? When you get
back to the root of this question, you
will find that the legislature not only
had a right to pprotect the students
from the evolutionary hypothesis but
was in duty bound to do so.
Another 1 reposition
While on this subject, let me cal!
your attention to another proposition
embodied in Mr. Darrow’s speech. He
said that Dicky i t Loeb, u +v, the younger
boy, had read trashy novels, of the
blood and thunder sort. He even went
so f ar as bo commen d an Illinois sta
tute which forbids minors reading
stories of crime. Here is what Mr.
Darrow said: ‘We have a statute in
f /u5 \ f'll-rlD T ex v \
N \ I A u)T-tlE
f/ \\ \ AT T E M ' ■ r<
//
/J
i
X or
0\
rpet < .
Respect your mirror.
It will never frown on you if
we are given the care of your
clothing—Suits, Dresses, etc.
Our reputation is maintained by
painstaking SERVICE.
W. M. JOHNSON
Phone 76
this state, passed only last year, if I
recall it, which forbids minors read¬
ing stories of crime. Why? There is
only one reason; because the legisla¬
ture in its wisdom thought it would
have a tendency to produce these
thoughts and this life in the boys
who read them.’
“If Illinois can protect her boys,
why cannot this state protect the
boys of Tennessee? Are the boys of
Illinois more precious than yours?
“But to return to the philosophy
of the evolutionist. Dr. Darow said:
“I say to you seriously that the par
ents of Dicky Loeb are more
sible than he, and yet few boys had i
better parents.” . . . Again, he says, |
I know that one of two things hap
pened to this boy; that this terrible
crime was inherent in his organism ■
and came from some ancestor or that
it came through his education and
his training after he was born.” He
j thinks the boy was not responsible
j for anything; his guilt was due, ac
cording to this philosophy, either to
heredity or to environment.”
“But let me complete Mr. Darwin’s
philosophy based on evolution, He
says; “I do not know what remote
ancestor may have sent down the
seed that corrupted him, and I do not
, know through how many ancestors
; it may have passed until it reached
Dicky Loeb. All I know is, it is true
and there is not a biologist in the
world who will not say I am right. ’ I
From Brute to Man
it Psychologists who build upon evo¬
lutionary hypothesis teach that man
is nothing but a bundle of character¬
istics inherited from brute ancestors.
That is the philosophy which Mr.
Darrow applied in this celebrated
( criminal “Some remote ances
, case.
tor”—he does not know how remote
—“sent down the seed that corrupted
him.” You cannot punish the ances
tor—he is not only dead but, accord¬
ing to the evolutionists, he was a
brute and may have lived a million (
years ago. And he says that all the j
biologists agree with him—no wonder
so small a per cent of the biologists,
according to Leuba, believe in a per
j I sonal “This God. is the quintessence of evolu
tion, distilled for us by one who id¬
lows that doctrine to its logical con
elusion. Analyze this dogma of dark
ness and death. Evolutionists say that
back in the twilight of life a beast,
name and nature unknown, planted a
murderous ' seed and that the impulse 1
that originated . in . that seed throbs
FRESH
Tender and Juicy
WITH A
FLAVOR
SO GOOD
AT
POOLE’S ™ e d r
You find them all the time—
BARBECUE
W EINERS and
HAMBURGERS
(f JfeB J*'
m f
iL EV u
fJ. m
rmiM Jin mi
?pTtl|y B *•
i fej'qlnk frii ri
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forever in the blood of the brutfl’f
descendants, inspiring killings innum*
erable, for which murderers arc not
responsible because coerced by a
fate fixed by the laws of heredity. It
is an insult to reason and shocks the
heart. That doctrine is as deadly as
leprosy; it may aid a lawyer in a
criminal case, but it would, if gener*
ally adopted, destroy all sense of
responsibility and menace the morals
of the world. Abrute, they say, can
predestine a man to crime, and yet
they deny that God incarnate in the
flesh can release a human being from
bondage or save him from ances*
sins. No more repulsive doctrine
was ever proclaimed by man; if all
biologists of the world teach the
Mr. Darrow says they
may heaven defend the
of our land from their impious
(Coninued Next Week)
ST. ANDREW’S CHURCH
Episcopal
Holy Communion, 7:30 a. m.
Church School, Mr. J. W. Robinson,
Mr. William Wood, Asst. Supt.
a. m.
Morning prayer, 11:00 a. m.
Evening Prayer, 7:30 p. m.
Welcome all.
E. J. Saywell, Pastor
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