es eee ee ee Pee Fe 
118 THE VERDICT OF HISTORY. 
Egypt. The finest examples of East Indian architecture 
are the oldest. Gothic art was not a slow development 
but came to utter perfection in its earliest examples,—as 
in the Cathedral of Amiens. 
Evolution represents the history of our race as a con- 
stant climb, from brute or near-brute beginnings, to ever 
higher forms of civilization, until the heights which our 
race has reached in the present century were attained. 
In reality, the reverse process, a constant and invariable 
process of degeneration characterizes the history of na- 
tions and peoples. Where Christianity entered as a fac- 
tor, as in the history of Western Europe and in the results 
of Christian missions in heathen lands, we can indeed 
observe a rise out of barbaric or savage conditions to 
refinement and culture. But only where the Christian 
gospel is preached, was the natural process of decay, of 
degeneration, interfered with. Elsewhere, that is to 
say, where purely natural forces were given free play, 
mankind has declined physically, mentally, spiritually. 
All civilizations illustrate this law of decay. Wilhelm F. 
Griewe, in his “Primitives Suedamerika’ (Cincinnati, 
1893), summarizes his observations on the South Ameri- 
can continent as follows: ‘““The Malaysian aborigines of 
South America, in a period of 3,000 years, failed to ad- 
vance in development. The Japanese discoverers of Peru 
testify that they found the natives in-a condition of ex- 
treme decay ; within a period of 1,500 years they had made 
no progress but had retrogressed. ‘When the Spaniards 
came, they described the natives of Chile and Argentina 
in such a manner that it is quite evident how little these 
tribes had progressed in 3,000 years. The Araucanians 
of Chile have, even in historic times, greatly degenerated ; 
they have lost the very meaning of many words; retain- 
ing the shell, they have lost the kernel. In Peru, the age 
of heroic deeds and wonderful architecture was followed 
