If it is found difficult to
realize this because the _image of God_ is connected (from the very
first) with the design of Man's life-form, still it is to be remembered
as an undeniable fact, that the form, though one assumed by God Himself
in the Incarnation, _is connected_ in structure and function with the
general animal (Mammalian) type, and that even the Adamic or spiritually
endowed man _may_, by neglecting the higher and giving way to the lower
nature, develop much of the purely bestial in himself. So that the bare
possibility of a pre-Adamite and imperfect man cannot be _a priori_
denied. More than that it is not necessary to say. Nor is it necessary
that any origin of man should be limited to six or eight thousand years
back. If the state of the text is such that a perfect chronology is
possible,[1] then all that the Bible goes back to chronologically is the
particular man Adam. And it is quite impossible that any scientific or
historical contradiction can arise therefrom.
[Footnote 1: It should be borne in mind that just as Revelation is often
absolutely silent on many points that mere curiosity would like to see
explained, so also, the Divine Author may have allowed parts of the
original text of Revelation to be so far lost or obscured as to leave
further points that _might_ have been once recorded, now doubtful.
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