Page:Studies in the Scriptures - Series I - The Plan of the Ages (1909).djvu/171

 The exhuming of ancient buried cities reveals a knowledge of the arts and sciences in ages past which is surprising some of the philosophers of this so-called "Brain Age." The ancient methods of embalming the dead, of tempering cop- per, of making elastic glass and Damascus steel, are among the achievements of the remote past which the brain of the present age, with all its advantages, is unable either to com- prehend or to duplicate.

Going back four thousand years to about Abraham's time, we find the Great Pyramid of Egypt an object of wonder and amazement to the most learned scientists of to-day. Its construction is in exact accord with the most advanced attainments of this " Brain Age " in the sciences of Mathe- matics and Astronomy. It teaches, positively, truths which can to-day be only approximated by the use of modern instruments. So striking and clear are its teachings that some of the foremost astronomers of the world have unhesi- tatingly pronounced it to be of divine origin. And even if our " Brain Age M evolutionists should admit that it is of divine arrangement, and that its wisdom is superhuman, they must still admit that it is of human construction. And the fact that in that remote day any set of men had the men- tal capacity to work out such a divine arrangement as very few men to-day would be capable of doing with a model before them, and with all modern scientific appliances at hand, proves that our " Brain Age" develops more self- conceit than circumstances and facts warrant.

If, then, we have proven that the mental capacity of to- day is not greater than that of past ages, but probably less, how shall we account for the increase of general knowledge, modern inventions, etc. ? We trust we shall be able to show this reasonably and in harmony with Scripture. The inven- tions and discoveries which are now proving so valuable, and which are, considered proof that this is the "Brain

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