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 American continent as follows: "The Malaysian
aborigines of South America, in a period of 3,000 years, failed to
advance in development. The Japanese discoverers of Peru testify that
they found the natives in a condition of extreme 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; retaining the shell, they have lost the kernel. In Peru,
the age of heroic deeds and wonderful architecture was followed by decay,
--religious, moral, intellectual decay. The population was all but
destroyed by vices and cruelty. Their neighbors, the Chibchas, likewise
described an arc which ended in devil-worship. Similarly, the history of
the Botokudes is degeneration, vice, atrocities. The negro tribes in the
north and east of South America record no progress, but, on the other
hand, sank into abominations, slavery, cannibalism. Where, then, is
there support for the evolutionary theory, with its assumption of an
upward trend from a brute condition to civilized and cultured life?
Everywhere in primitive South America we see before our very eyes the
process of decline and decay. Also the religious idea became obscured.
Some of these tribes had an original monotheism. They recognized a
supreme creator of all things and gave him various names. But the
spiritual character of their knowledge of God was gradually obscured,
God was dragged into the sphere of sense and lower divinities were
associated with Him,--a downward development which absolutely contradicts
the Darwinian hypothesis. From an original, pure, spiritual worship to
gross idolatry,--that is the religious decay which in the world outside
the Bible meets us everywhere, also among the original races of South
America."

Thus in the history of human society, we observe, unless the divine power