For the structural difference might not
require such a separate origin; while the mental difference, affording
objections of a different class, will not allow of _any_ such evolution
at all. That there is _some_ connection between man and the animal
cannot be denied, and consequently, in the absence of fuller
information, very little would be gained by insisting on the purely
_physical_ development question. The Bible states positively that the
man Adam (as the progenitor of a particular race, at any rate) was a
separate and actual production, on a given part of the earth's surface.
All that we need conclude regarding that is that there is nothing known
which entitles us to say, "This is not a fact, and therefore is not
genuine revelation."
[Footnote 1: No. 331, July, 1885, p. 223.]
Moreover, as to the question of the possibility of human development
generally, there are certain considerations which directly support our
belief. For example, directly we look to the characteristic point, the
gift of intellect, we can reasonably argue that the action of a Creator
is indispensable. The entrance of consciousness and of reason, however
elementary, marks something out of all analogy with the development of
physical structure, just as much as the entrance of Life marked a new
departure in no analogy with the "properties" of inorganic matter.
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