l, virtually "to dethrone the
Creator."

Ludwig Weis, M. D., of Darmstadt, says it is at present "the mode" in
Germany (and of course in a measure here), to glorify Buddhism.
Strauss, he adds, says, "Nature knows itself in man, and in that he
expresses the thought which all Idealism and all Materialism make the
grand end. To the same effect it is said, 'In Man the All comprehends
itself as conscious being (comes to self-consciousness); or, in Man the
absolute knowledge (Wissen, the act of knowing) appears in the limits of
personality.' This was the doctrine of the Buddhist and of the ancient
Chinese." Thus, as Dr. Weis says, "in the nineteenth century of the
Christian era, philosophers and scientists have reached the point where
the Chinese were two thousand years ago."

The only way that is apparent for accounting for evolution being
rejected in 1844, and for its becoming a popular doctrine in 1866, is,
that it happens to suit a prevailing state of mind. It is a fact, so far
as our limited knowledge extends, that no one is willing to acknowledge
himself, not simply an evolutionist, but an evolutionist of the
Darwinian school, who is not either a Materialist by profession, or a
disciple of Herbert Spencer, or an advocate of the philosophy of Hume.

There is another significant fact which goes to prove that the denial
of design, which is the "creative idea" of Darwinism, is the main cause
of its popularity and success. Professor Owen, England's greatest
naturalist, is a derivationist. Derivation and evolution are convertible
terms. Both include the denial that species are primordial, or have each
a different origin; and both imply that one species is formed out of
another and simpler form. Professor Owen, however, although a
derivationist, or evolutionist, is a very strenuous anti-Darwinian. He
differs from Darwin as to two points. First, as to Natural Selection, or
the Survival of the Fittest. He says that is inconsistent with facts and
utterly insufficient to account for the origin of species. He refers the
origin of species to an inherent tendency to change impressed on them
from the beginning. And second, he admits design. He denies that the
succession and origin of species are due to chance, and expresses his
belief in the constant operation of creative power in the formation of
species from the varied descendants of more generalized forms.[48] He
believes "that all living things have been produced by such law (of