fices with which we are acquainted, but rather to have declined." On the same ground Dr. Schliemann asserts "that of the five towns unearthed on the site of Troy the two undermost were by far the most advanced in civilization."

One of the most melancholy and at the same time fascinating histories is that of the civilization of Peru, four hundred years previous to the conquest of the Spaniards.

The multiplication of such recitals is not needed to declare a tendency to deterioration in nations when left to themselves. What is true of the individual is true of the race; the neglect of selfcontrol means depravity. Civilization is but the result of purity of life. Sin is sure to cause degeneration in man or men. Neglect of righteous laws ends in ruin. The nation or the kingdom that will not serve God "shall utterly perish."

Professor Bowen in his characterization of this truth says, "In support of the opposite doctrine, that savagery has arisen through degradation from a former happier state, we cite the undeniable fact, that Eastern Europe, and Western and Central Asia are strown with the wrecks of empires and civilizations that have perished; and that most of the barbarous races which now exist afford evidence

through traditions, of the possession of ingenious tools and implements which they are evidently incompetent to invent, or through other manifest external indications, that their progenitors were vastly wiser and more cultivated than they."

Against such facts there stands out another and a brighter; national civilization has always resulted from contact with a higher ideal from without. It was a contact with the missionaries from the South that began the reformation of character in the fierce and bloody races of men that swept Europe from their Northern homes. It was this subtle power of a new life that transformed the ferocious Normans into "the foremost race of Christendom." The darkness began to scatter upon the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. But what was true in English history is always the law. "History," says Mr. Merivale, "has no example to offer us of any successful attempt, however slight, to introduce civilization amongst savage tribes in colonies, or in their vicinity except through the agency of religious missionaries." "Civilization" is not a Scripture word, but it is a Bible product. The tendency is clear; all progress has resulted from contact with some nobler natures. Just as Rome was the pupil of

Greece, and Greece of Egypt, even so all progress has been inspired from without.

These three facts, then, may be emphasized: no savage nation has civilized itself; nations left to themselves have degenerated; all progress of nations has resulted from an outside inspiration. Historically and philosophically these statements are true premises leaving the conclusion that as man has not the power to educate himself — for if he possesses such power it is presumed he will exercise it — he must receive a higher instruction.

It is with the race as with children; they need education or the development of which they are capable, but still more they need an instructor. We are not created with innate knowledge, but with the power to know when the truth is revealed to us. Says Mr. Froude, "We allow ourselves to think of Shakespeare, or of Raphael, or of Phidias as having accomplished their work by the power of their individual genius; but greatness like theirs is never more than the highest degree of perfection which prevails widely around it, and forms the environment in which it grows. No such single mind in contact with the facts of nature could have created a Pallas, a Madonna, or a Lear."

It is but a step further in this direction to ask :

what is the environment in which God has placed the race of men? Since among the nations there

has always been a dependence upon some highest teacher, does that highest teacher need a higher instruction than man can himself give?

When Mr. Buckle asserts that the civilization of Europe is largely caused and governed by its climate, he asserts that the elevation of society-civilization is not possible in man except from the working of some outside force. Stuart Mill has thus spoken, "The contest between the morality which appeals to an external standard, and that which grounds itself on internal conviction, is the contest of progressive morality against stationary; of reason and argument against the deification of mere opinion and habit." Thus do the widest possible varying schools of thought substantially agree that while man has within him the power to perceive truth, the truth must be externally given for him to perceive it.

What is man? It is the Scriptural and the rational philosophy that he is possessed of two distinct natures; the lower or animal, and the higher or spiritual. Thus Paul speaks of dragging about "the body of this death." So also he recognizes the law of evil present in him when he would do

good; "I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members." It is possible for the spiritual to become degraded by the supremacy of the fleshly passions; but it is our duty to keep the body in subjection to the spiritual.

Over against this doctrine of the degeneration of men, however, stands the Scriptural truth of the necessity of regeneration, involving as it does a superhuman help.

In the line of this higher nature we recognize the functions of reason, conscience and will. Man is essentially a spiritual being abiding for a few short years in the fleshly body as a temporary dwelling. All unreasonable deeds, deeds against conscience, and willful, are degrading and destructive. It is the moral and spiritual life, therefore, that claims the chiefest attention.

All history is proof of the fact, that a neglect of this spiritual law, or an opposition to it, degrades a race as it does the individual; while at the same time obedience to the higher law elevates the race as it does the individual. The drunkard's spiritual nature is degraded with his body; but from the very moment when he chooses virtue his