GENERAL NATURE OF THE SUBJECT 15 



it is true, may be imperfect, either by reason of the 

 brevity of the record to which he trusts, or of his own 

 imperfect knowledge of its contents, but they give to 

 historical and archaeological inquiry an interest and 

 importance which they could not otherwise possess. 1 



The earth has indeed, especially in our own time, 

 and under the impulse of Christian civilisation, made 

 wonderful revelations as to its early history, to which 

 we do well to take heed, as antidotes to some of the 

 speculations which are palmed upon a credulous world 

 as established truths. We have now very complete 

 data for tracing the earth from its original formless 

 or chaotic state through a number of formative 

 and preparatory stages up to its modern condition ; 

 but perhaps the parts of its history least clearly 

 known, especially to general readers, are those that 

 relate to the beginning and the end of the creative 

 work. The earlier stages are those most different 

 from our experience and whose monuments are most 

 obscure. The later stages on the other hand have 

 left fewer monuments, and these have been compli- 

 cated with modern changes under human influence. 

 Besides this, it is always difficult to piece together the 

 deductions from merely monumental evidence and 



1 It is an interesting fact that the pecuniary means, the skill and 

 labour expended in research in the more ancient historic regions, have 

 to so large an extent been those of Christians interested in the Bible 

 history. Yet some litterateurs ; who have contributed nothing to these 

 results, attempt to distort and falsify them in the interest of an un- 

 historical and unscientific criticism, and even to taunt the Bible as 

 adverse to archaeological inquiry. 



