, possibly transmitted from the antediluvian civilization. Even
the art of printing was almost discovered, as we may infer from the
stamping of letters on tiles. With all this material progress, however,
there had been a steady decline in spiritual religion as well as in
morals,--from which fact we infer that men if left to themselves,
whatever truth they may receive from ancestors, will, without
supernatural influences, constantly decline in those virtues on which
the strength of man is built, and without which the proudest triumphs of
the intellect avail nothing. The grandest civilization, in its material
aspects, may coexist with the utmost debasement of morals,--as seen
among the Greeks and Romans, and in the wicked capitals of modern
Europe. "There is no God!" or "Let there be no God!" has been the cry in
all ages of the world, whenever and wherever an impious pride or a low
morality has defied or silenced conscience. Tell me, ye rationalists and
agnostics! with your pagan sympathies, what mean ye by laws of
development, and by the _necessary_ progress of the human race, except
in the triumphs of that kind of knowledge which is entirely disconnected
with virtue, and which has proved powerless to prevent the decline and
fall of nations? Why did not art, science, philosophy, and literature
save the most lauded nations of the ancient world? Why so rapid a
degeneracy among people favored not only with a primitive revelation,
but by splendid triumphs of reason and knowledge? Why did gross
superstition so speedily obscure the intellect, and infamous vices so
soon undermine the moral health, if man can elevate himself by his
unaided strength? Why did error seemingly prove as vital as truth in all
the varied forms of civilization in the ancient world? Why did even
tradition fail to keep alive the knowledge of God, at least among
the people?

Now, among pagans and idolaters Abram (as he was originally called)
lived until he was seventy-five. His father, Terah, was a descendant of
Shem, of the eleventh generation, and the original seat of his tribe was
among the mountains of Southern Armenia, north of Assyria. From thence
Terah migrated to the plains of Mesopotamia, probably with the desire to
share the rich pastures of the lowlands, and settled in Ur of the
Chaldeans. Ur was one of the most ancient of the Chaldean cities and one
of the most splendid, where arts and sciences were cultivated, where
astronomers watched the hea