ally possible, indeed, is such an analogy; and if
that can now be found in Biogenesis, Christianity in its most central
position secures at length a support and basis in the Laws of Nature.

Up to the present time the analogy required has not been forthcoming.
There was no known parallel in Nature for the spiritual phenomena in
question. But now the case is altered. With the elevation of Biogenesis
to the rank of a scientific fact, all problems concerning the Origin of
Life are placed on a different footing. And it remains to be seen
whether Religion cannot at once reaffirm and re-shape its argument in
the light of this modern truth.

If the doctrine of the Spontaneous Generation of Spiritual Life can be
met on scientific grounds, it will mean the removal of the most serious
enemy Christianity has to deal with, and especially within its own
borders, at the present day. The religion of Jesus has probably always
suffered more from those who have misunderstood than from those who have
opposed it. Of the multitudes who confess Christianity at this hour how
many have clear in their minds the cardinal distinction established by
its Founder between "born of the flesh" and "born of the Spirit?" By how
many teachers of Christianity even is not this fundamental postulate
persistently ignored? A thousand modern pulpits every seventh day are
preaching the doctrine of Spontaneous Generation. The finest and best of
recent poetry is colored with this same error. Spontaneous Generation is
the leading theology of the modern religious or irreligious novel; and
much of the most serious and cultured writing of the day devotes itself
to earnest preaching of this impossible gospel. The current conception
of the Christian religion in short--the conception which is held not
only popularly but by men of culture--is founded upon a view of its
origin which, if it were true, would render the whole scheme abortive.

Let us first place vividly in our imagination the picture of the two
great Kingdoms of Nature, the inorganic and organic, as these now stand
in the light of the Law of Biogenesis. What essentially is involved in
saying that there is no Spontaneous Generation of Life? It is meant that
the passage from the mineral world to the plant or animal world is
hermetically sealed on the mineral side. This inorganic world is staked
off from the living world by barriers which have never yet been crossed
from within. No change of substance, no modif