Q. E. D. | Page 7

differences are innate
or inherent in the things themselves, we must naturally endeavor to find
out why and how they are different; and no matter how far we go along
this road we are always headed in the direction of stark materialism. On
the other hand, to say that the "properties" of the atoms are not inherent
in themselves, but are imposed on them by an external ceaselessly
acting power, the will of the Creator, would be in full accord with
Biblical theism; and then we might naturally say that the ultimate
particles of which matter is composed may well be regarded as alike
and mere duplicates of one another. And this, as we have seen, is just
what modern discoveries in radioactivity are teaching us regarding the
make-up of the substances that we call matter.
But an objection at once arises. How can these primordial units of
which matter is composed behave so differently, if they are really alike,
mere duplicates of one another?
We may not as yet be able to tell just why and how; but we have in the
cells of which all plants and animals are composed an analogy which is
almost perfect, if not quite.
These component units of organic matter, the individual cells, as will
be explained later, seem physically and even chemically mere

duplicates of one another. They may not all be of the same size; but
they are all composed of protoplasm, and the protoplasm of plants
cannot be distinguished from that of animals by any physical or
chemical tests known to modern science. The protoplasm in the brain
of a bird is the same as that in its toes; and no metaphysical subtilties
about heredity have ever explained why the one does a different work
from the other. The plain fact is that different cells, composed of
identical protoplasm and structurally alike, _act very differently_; and
there is no scientific reason based on innate properties that gives us
even a glimmer of a reason why. We have searched a long time along
this road; but there is no prospect of finding an explanation; we are
merely running up a _cul-de-sac_ with no view beyond. From the
materialistic point of view, nobody knows why protoplasm acts as it
does, least _of all, why some masses of protoplasm act one way, and
exact duplicates act differently_. But if, on the other hand, we look
beyond the facts and methods of physics and chemistry, and even
beyond the most plausible theories of genetics, we can readily explain
this remarkable action of the cells as the result of the will of an ever
acting, omniscient, almighty God. Certainly nothing else is adequate to
explain the behavior of living cells.
In a very similar way we must reason regarding the ultimate units of
matter, call them what we will, electrons, corpuscles, or units of
electricity. If these are mere duplicates of each other, as science now
teaches, they not only indicate by this identity that they are
"manufactured articles," as was long ago pointed out of the atoms and
molecules, but they also indicate with all the force of a demonstration
that nothing but an ever present omniscient Intelligence could keep
these duplicates from always acting the same under similar external
forces. If gold and carbon, iron and oxygen are at bottom composed of
particles that are mere duplicates of each other, as seems to be the case,
how can these elements and the six dozen or more others maintain their
individuality throughout nature as we know they do, even in the far
distant stars, except by the sleepless care of an Intelligence whose
Word is as effective in one part of the universe as in another, and to
whose Word these particles of matter can show no inertia and no
disobedience, because they have no powers or properties except what
He has imparted? This doctrine of the homogeneousness of matter is

the antithesis of materialism. It is consistent only with the doctrine of
an almighty and ever present God, and like many other facts which
have been developed by modern scientific discoveries, it confirms the
other primal doctrine of a literal Creation "in the beginning."
VI
The conclusion which our minds are forced to draw from the facts
presented in this chapter is not doubtful, nor is it difficult to state.
Matter is not now being brought into existence by any means that we
call "natural." And yet the facts of radioactivity very positively forbid
the past eternity of matter. Hence, the conclusion is syllogistic: matter
must have originated at some time in the past by methods or means
which are equivalent to a real Creation.
Thus far, at least, the record of Genesis is confirmed: "In the beginning
God created."

II
THE ORIGIN OF