do. Hardly fifty years have
passed since scientific men began to attribute to the human race an
antiquity more remote than that assigned them by history and tradition.
At first these views met with general opposition, much as did the theory
of the present system of astronomy when it was first proclaimed. We
laugh now at the ignorant fear's and prejudices used to combat both.

It was claimed that the Bible taught that man had lived on the globe
scarcely six thousand years. The Bible is the book to which the
Anglo-Saxon mind clings with the greatest reverence. The memories of
childhood are associated with its pages, and its very appearance recalls
the prayers of long ago. It is not strange then that the Christian
world guards with jealous care against any thing which may be thought to
weaken the force of its statements.

But it is human nature to go to extremes: and, when we give our support
to one way of thinking, we find it difficult to be patient with those of
the contrary opinion.

Now, the researches of some of the most eminent men and learned divines
have amply shown, that there are no data given in the Scriptures on
which to base an estimate as to the antiquity of man. Happily the
Christian mind no longer shrinks from the conclusions reached by the
scientist: and, indeed, it is the contemplation of the stupendous
periods of Geological times, and the infinite greatness of the works of
Creation as disclosed by Astronomy, with the extreme lowness of man's
first condition as made evident by Archaeology, that lend new force to
the words, "What is man, that thou art mindful of him!"

The evidences on which we predicate an extreme antiquity for man are
necessarily cumulative. It is not from one source alone that we obtain
information, but from many. Eminent men in nearly every department of
knowledge have lent their aid to the elucidation of this subject. It can
only be understood by those who will fairly weigh the facts that modern
discoveries have unrolled before their eyes. There are many who have not
done this, and are consequently unable to project their mental vision
so far back into the very night of time, as is now demanded for the
beginning of man's first appearance on the earth. And, indeed, so
enormously has this period been extended--so far back does it require
us to go--that even the most enlightened investigator may well recoil in
dismay when he first perceives the almost infinite lapse of years that
are