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Natural Selection—A Creationist's Idea
Supplemental Reading | |
Paul G. Humber
IMPACT
No. 283, January 1997
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According to Loren C. Eiseley, Benjamin Franklin Professor of Anthropologyand the History of Science at the University of Pennsylvania before hisdeath, "the leading tenets of Darwin's work—the struggle for existence,variation, natural selection, and sexual selection—are all fullyexpressed" in a paper written by creationist Edward Blyth in 1835 [1](emphasis added). Unlike Darwin, however, Blyth saw natural selection as apreserving factor rather than as "a potentially liberalizing" one. Accordingto this under-appreciated naturalist, the conserving principle was "intendedby Providence to keep up the typical qualities of a species." Atypicalvariations, to use Eiseley's words, led to the animal's "discovery anddestruction."[2]
Eiseley, not a creationist, wrote that "Blyth is more than a Darwinianprecursor, that he is, instead, a direct intellectual forebear...." InEiseley's estimation, Blyth "belongs in the royal line ... one of theforgotten parents of a great classic." On the same page, Eiseley alsoaffirmed that "Darwin made unacknowledged use of Blyth's work." [3] Editor Kenneth Heuer concluded, "this is Eiseley's discovery." Darwin had"failed to acknowledge his obligation to Blyth." [4] He did acknowledge others(and even Blyth peripherally), but, as Eiseley demonstrates persuasively,Darwin for some reason chose not to credit creationist Blyth with the keyelement in his theory—natural selection. In addition to providing the reader with a chapter on Edward Blyth writtenby contemporary Arthur Grote, Dr. Eiseley furnished essays written by thecreationist himself—essays that most assuredly were read by CharlesDarwin. They originally appeared in The Magazine of Natural History in 1835,1836, and 1837. Examples of how this naturalist honored his Creator areprovided. In the first, The Varieties of Animals (pp. 97-111), Blyth considered, amongother things, changes in animal coloration. The mountain hare, for example,becomes white in winter, "hardly to be discerned upon the snow." On the samepage Blyth wrote:
| There has been, strangely enough, a difference of opinion among naturalists,as to whether these seasonal changes of color were intended by Providence asan adaptation to change of temperature, or as a means of preserving thevarious species from the observation of their foes, by adapting their huesto the color of the surface.... The fact is, they answer both purposes;and they are among those striking instances of design, which so clearly andforcibly attest the existence of an omniscient great First Cause.[5]
| | It is sad that such language would be disallowed from many if not all naturejournals today—especially if written by a living naturalist. It isrefreshing, however, to read of a naturalist who credits the Creator withconcern for His creatures. Words of the Creator Himself come to mind:
| Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hastnot labored, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perishedin a night: And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein aremore than six score thousand persons that cannot discern between their righthand and their left hand; and also much cattle? [6] (Jonah 4:10,11) (Emphasisadded.)
| | The next essay [7] reveals a naturalist's heart bent in reverence before hisCreator:
| It is the grand and beautiful, the sublime and comprehensive system whichpervades the universe, of which the sun and planets are but a portion, andwhich, to return to ornithology, is so well exemplified in the adaptation ofthe ptarmigan to the mountain top, and the mountain top to the habits of theptarmigan; which suits the ostrich to the arid desert, the woodpecker to theforest, and the petrel to "the far sea wave." It is the majestic andadmirable system by which all nature works so beautifully together, and towhich all that our external senses reveal appertains. It is the systemwhich, exquisite and intensely interesting in all its minutest details, is,if possible, even more so in its complicated relation; by which, by theunity of design pervading which, all is demonstrable to be the workmanshipof one omnipotent and all-foreseeing providence, under the beneficentdispensation of whom naught that ever exists or occurs stands isolated andalone, but all conduce and work admirably together for the benefit of thewhole; by whose all-wise decree it is ordained, that, while the lofty andsterile mountain peak attracts the clouds, which in winter, in consequence,precipitate themselves upon it in the form of snow, it should cause itselfto become clad in the hue of all others the most calculated to prevent itsinternal temperature from being farther reduced, and itself from therebybecoming an increased source of cold by radiation to all around; while, atthe same time, the concretion of snow itself, instead of deluging thecountry round with superfluous moisture, is thus retained for a time uponthe heights, not only to shelter the more tender organized productions ofthe mountain from severer cold, but also to furnish, by the action of thesummer sun, a due supply of water, when needed, to the fountains and rillswhich irrigate and fertilize the more level country; there having done itspart, to flow on to the mighty reservoirs of the ocean, again to arise inclouds, and to fulfill again its appointed rounds, with perpetual neverceasing energy, while the world endures. [8]
| | | Dr. Eiseley wrote that "Edward Blyth was one to remember the color and shapeof a darting bird or a fox going over a hedge. He saw things hiding,shifting, changing. He had what today we would call a photographic memory."[9] He also stated explicitly that Blyth was "a special creationist." [10] An evolutionist himself, Eiseley viewed Blyth as laboring under an"eighteenth-century limitation upon organic divergence which blinded so manyearly nineteenth-century thinkers." [11] Who really are the blind, however?Geneticists know that there are definite boundaries to divergence. Try asthey might, evolutionists cannot change one species into a viable other;they still have blind trust that it occurred many times in the past,however. In Blyth's third essay, Psychological Distinctions Between Man and OtherAnimals, the author wrote that animals "evince superhuman wisdom, because itis innate, and therefore, instilled by an all-wise Creator. Indeed, theunpremeditated resource of animals, in cases of emergency, is oftentimesdecidedly superior to that of man; and why? Because they need not experiencefor their guide, but are prompted to act by intuition." Again, how very out-of-place these words would seem if appearing in secularpublications today! Evolution is a religion for many, and departures fromthis godless orthodoxy are not generally tolerated. Reference to the"all-wise Creator" violates the godless orthodoxy of evolution. The apostle Paul wrote long ago that men wickedly suppress the truth. [12] Why Darwin did not credit Edward Blyth more generously may not be known by usuntil He who unlocks the secrets of men's hearts returns and exposes all.Eiseley made a strong case, however, that Darwin benefited from Blythespecially in one key area but apparently chose not to credit the naturalistfor this key insight. Dr. Henry M. Morris wrote, "Although he was bound to know of thenatural-selection writings of both Paley and Blyth, Darwin gave them nocredit for their contribution to his own misuse of their perfectlyappropriate use of natural selection." [13] One could conjecture that Darwin,knowing Blyth to be a special creationist, did not want to associate hisdoctrine with anything that could be understood within a creationistframework of thought. Creationists have had and still have little problem with the tenets ofnatural selection. Small variations having survival benefit within createdkinds, such as coloration of peppered moths or differently shaped beaks, nomore disprove creation than fossils in sedimentary rocks disprove auniversal flood. The Creator not only displays tremendous variety of kindsbut also enormous variety within created kinds. How to transmute from onespecies to another is the problem, however. It was impossible for Darwin toget past that barrier, and it is just as impossible today. As has been noted, Blyth wrote of an "all-wise Creator" and the "omniscientgreat First Cause." This Creator and First Cause, the Lord Jesus Christ,will return someday and reveal what has been hidden. He said, "Fear them nottherefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; andhid, that shall not be known." [14] The Bible says that "Therefore judgenothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to lightthe hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of thehearts."[15] "Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight:but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we haveto do." [16] As Blyth intimates, however, the Creator is also compassionate in Hisdealings. Not only does He make it possible for animals to adapt "as a meansof preserving the various species from the observation of their foes," asBlyth wrote (above), but He supremely extended Himself in love andcompassion toward us who are made in His image. Knowing our rebellioushearts, He bore our sins on the cross, giving us a covering—His cloak ofpure righteousness. May the greatest Naturalist, who arrays the flowers of the field with moreglory than that of Solomon, touch many more hearts, not only with thewonders of His intricate creation, but also with the preciousness of Hisbounteous love.
| References
[1] Loren Eiseley, Darwin and the Mysterious Mr. X (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1979), p. 55. Return to Text
[2] Ibid., p. 56. Return to Text
[3] Ibid., p. 59. Return to Text
[4] Ibid., p. x. Return to Text
[5] Ibid., p. 108. Return to Text
[6] Jonah 4:10, 11. Return to Text
[7] Seasonal and Other Changes in Birds, pp. 112–140. Return to Text
[8] Ibid., pp. 116–117. Return to Text
[9] Ibid., p. 49. (Edward Blyth's sister wrote of him, "Never was any youth more industrious; up at three or four in the morning, reading, making notes, sketching bones, coloring maps, stuffing birds by the hundreds, collecting butterflies, and beetles — teaching himself German sufficiently to translate it readily, singing always merrily at intervals," p. 170.) Return to Text
[10] Ibid., p. 68,69. Return to Text
[11] Ibid., p. 54. Return to Text
[12] Romans 1:18. Return to Text
[13] Henry M. Morris, The Long War Against God (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989), p. 158. Return to Text
[14] Matthew 10:26. Return to Text
[15] I Corinthians 4:5. Return to Text
[16] Hebrews 4:13. Return to Text
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"Vital Articles on Science/Creation"
January 1997
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