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B U S I N E S S
June 1926
T H E K I N G ’ S
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Three Vital Questions Answered Whence Came Matter? What is Life and Whence Came It? I f a Man Die Shall He Live Again ? RHODES S. BAKER Attorney-at-Law, Dallas, Texas. Synopsis of First Installment, “ WHENCE CAME MATTER?" “Moféenles, the Building Blocks of Motter’ ; " 1he Pedigree of the Molecule": “ The Mysterious Atom"; "The Limitations of Knowledge"; “ The Eternity of Matter"; “ The Science of the Scientists"; “ The Satisfactory Answer of Scripture. II. WHAT 18 LIFE, AND WHENCE CAME IT? HE second question grows out of the first. Some matter possesses a property or quality which we call “ Life.” It Is truly matter— so much water, so much lime, so much_ phosphorus, so much mineral, so much gas. Yet, it Is also alive, and because It is alive it is unlike matter, which is not alive. Today it Is simply matter, but tomorrow life takes hold of it and It becomes a flower which buds and blossoms, a giant forest tree, a kong-bird, a Caruso with his golden voice filling the soul with melody and emotion. Because they are alive, men and women exist; as such they love and hate, eventually life departs, and then, simply because life is gone, all of these marvelous creatures are again simply matter. What is life— where did it come from? Searching for the Source of Life We will again go to the scientists, because they tell us that they have studied life. The earth’s strata tell stories of vast periods of time and the scientists tell us they have searched there for the story of life. They have explored the seas that in their caverns more might be learned about the origin of life. The forests have been brought under the microscope and have been tested in every way, in order that their secrets concerning life’s origin might be revealed. Animal life in its vast range has been the subject of count less patient studies and experiments that therein more knowledge of life’s processes might be discovered. Surely, if the origin of life is to be found in matter itself, the sci entists can tell us where to find it. Their answer to our question as to the origin of life is even more interesting and less satisfying than their answer as to the origin of matter. They declare that life appeared upon the earth in comparatively recent periods— long after matter itself, but that no man knows whence life comes, nor whither it goeth. They say that they have proved its fairly recent advent into the world, through their studies of the rocks and the stories which the rocks record. Life, they say, is some quality which has come into matter from out side of matter, yet has no existence apart from matter. Life does not exist upon the earth disassociated from mat ter. To the mind of the scientists, life apart from matter is not imaginable. The foundation element is always mat ter. No microscope can reveal life itself; no gauge can measure it; no scale can weigh it. The physical body of man may be dissolved by the laboratory processes into its primary elements, but if life is in the man he is something
IVe know that The King’s Business_-Family have been eagerly awaiting this second install ment of Mr. Baker’s unqnszverable argument for the fundamental doctrines of our faith,— and particularly for the resurrection of the body of Christ and of the believer,— from the fact that the Bible alone gives a satisfactory answer to the questions which science is con fessedly unable to solve. We have a few extra copies, jof the May issue containing the first installment which we will be glad to send as the first number of a six months’ trial sub scription at 50 cents. Act promptly.
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more than matter. He is something different from matter. He is matter— plus. Probing the Protoplasm The scientists are able to watch life’s processes. They are able to tell us what is the ultimate physical unit of liv ing matter. They call this unit of living matter “ proto plasm." They are able to watch the protoplasm, at home, in its element. They tell us that the living primary cell of life is a substance with well-recognized chemical and phy sical factors. It is animated matter. It has body, moisture, consistency, fermentation. It has that strangest of quali ties, wholly intangible, the ability to grow, to reproduce itself, to take food from its earthly environment. But what is it? Every attempt to analyze it has failed. If in the pro cesses of analysis the observer crowds the life cell too closely, it dies. Death means that this strange thing which we call life slips out of its material tenement and the empty tenement becomes« again simply matter. But even then it is the corpse of a once living cell and has its own individu ality and personality. The scientists tell us that the protoplasms of all living matter__vegetable and animal— are superficially alike, and yet Intrinsically unlike. They are alike, in that their chem ical constituents are substantially alike. They are unlike iq that each individual protoplasm has its own individuality! its own law of individual growth apd its own vitality. Just as no two leaves in the forest are exactly alike, and no two peas in the pod are exactly alike, and no two of the smallest insects are exactly alike, and no two human beings are exactly alike, so there ia.no complete likeness between any two life cells. There is no standardized protoplasm. The Law of the Life Cell On the other hand, each protoplasm lives under one unchanging law— it must reproduce after its kind. The life cell of a man will make a man and no other creature. The life cell of the ape will make an ape and no other creature. The life cell of the fish will make a fish and no other creature. The life cell of the plant will make its individual species and no other creature. To reproduce after its kind, and only after its kind, if it reproduces at all, is its unchanging and unchangeable destiny. Life cells have other and stranger qualities. Each indi vidual cell is itself constantly changing and ageing. The stuff is alive. Although composed of matter, it has life in it. It runs its race and dies. We can think of it, figuratively, as eating, drinking, breathing. The scientists can watch the life journey of the protoplasm and can stand at its
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