EARLIER THEORIES CONNECTED WITH EVOLUTION. 47 



the rocks, and absolutely infallible in so far as 

 our apprehension of it (always of course, 

 limited by our knowledge) is correct; whereas, 

 if we regard Inspiration as a communication 

 received from higher beings, through inter- 

 mediate agencies, it will always be limited by 

 the imperfections of both the communicants 

 and recipients, and must therefore be neces- 

 sarily opposed to infallibility. It may well be 

 doubted whether Absolute Truth could be com- 

 municated to us at all, or even if it could, 

 whether it could possibly be made intelligible 

 to us. 



It is impossible to doubt any longer that men 

 existed on the earth for thousands of years 

 before the Biblical chronology, nor have we any 

 reason to suppose that the race as a whole, has 

 retrograded. Serpents, organised as at present, 

 existed long before the date assigned to Adam ; 

 and although perhaps derived originally from 

 four-legged creatures of some kind, cannot have 

 been suddenly deprived of their legs (to say 

 nothing of their power of speech, as asserted 

 by Josephus, who certainly gives us the ortho- 

 dox Jewish interpretation of the passage in his 

 day) ; if only because every gradation between 



