have passed away like the bones of modern races in the soft warm earth of 
those sunny regions. Thus, the fact that the relics of the earliest races are 
only discovered in northern regions, is, to my mind, not merely in harmony 
with Scripture, but is one of the greatest proofs that the Scriptures are true. 
For, as men travelled on, their remains would thus be found in the very order 
in which we now find them. I can see no difficulty in all this ; and I 
think that if the discussion takes this line it will make our evening more 
profitable than if we take up all kinds of incidental points arising out of the 
paper, such as the question of the great antiquity of man, or twenty other 
things which might be named. We should then have more unity in our 
discussion. AVe should then be able to see how really and truly the early 
dawn of civilization is harmonious with the discoveries, even of the latest 
archaeologists. (Cheers.) 
Mr. D. Howard. — It seems to me that the last speaker has called attention 
to a very important point, — the special method in which this subject requires 
to be treated. The main question at issue between the men of a certain school 
and the Christian is, whether the natural course of man’s progress is upward 
or downward. AVe cannot too clearly keep before us what we mean by 
civilization : there are two very different things called by that name recorded 
in Genesis, — the civilization of Cain and the civilization of Seth. It is not 
by accident that they are thus brought together. They are two entirely 
different civilizations, that may come together or not, more often not, — the 
material and the moral. As for some of the philosophers who speak about 
the progress of mankind, I wish they were a little more logical ; is there any 
proof, not only that an ape can develop into a man, but even that the ape- 
like man can ever raise himself in the scale of humanity ? Is not the whole 
tendency of a degraded race to further degradation ? There is only one 
thing that can civilize a race that is thoroughly degraded, and that is religion. 
There is nothing wonderful in any degree of ape-likeness in man, for man has 
a natural physical resemblance to the animal, and there is no doubt that if 
the moral nature is degraded, the animal nature gains prominence. It 
should be regarded as a compliment to some men to call them beasts, 
seeing that the beasts have so much the advantage of them. This only 
shows, however, that man is but the wreck of what he ought to be, and is 
not fulfilling his mission. But the question before us is, is there any proof 
that the paleolithic or neolithic man ever improved his position in the 
world l We do find that certain great races have maintained their position, 
and they have been those whose religion has been the purest. The possi- 
bilities of improvement that we find in the Aryan and in some other races is 
surely not unconnected with the fact that their religion, poor at the best, was 
yet not utterly corrupt. The corrupt races have died out, and the religious 
races have risen. All this is comprehensible enough if we believe the 
history of Genesis. There is time enough, oven in our chronology, to 
explain all that has really been proved about pre-historic man. Hypothesis 
