The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1868-04-15
ANSWER TO ARIEL.

for it would often require the exclusion OF
topics upon which discussion and information
are most needed.
We must here FIRST call attention to the
learned argument introduced to explain why
the Canaanites were destroyed and their land
given to the Israelites Ariel says it was be-
cause these Canaanites were mulattoes. The
reason for this belief is that the Jebusite and the
Ammonite aud other families of the Canaanltes
have the sufix of ne to their names. He says,
The progeny of the horse and ass species Is
never cLtSSed with either its father or mother,
but is called mule, but represents neither. =
So the progeny of son of God and de-
Scendaut of Adam and Eve, with the negro,
a beast, is not claSSed with or called by thu
name OF either Its father or mother, but /.
an "ite.' But what becomes OF all this pro
found Hebrew learning when the reader is tolu
that the Hebrew, &c, which belongs to thu
names of those same tribes just mentioned,
and is translated by the 'Sufhx OF ite, y belongs
also to the word translated lSrdeliteS? So
then according to this the Israelites also are
proved to be beasts! By ike sophistries he
tries TO show that the inhabitants OF SodOu
aud Gomorah were muIattoes We should
rather says he asserts it without a particle Of
proof.
He tells US at this point in the discussion,
wherein consisted the righteousness of Abra
ham, aud Noah, and Lot, and wherein consists
the righteousness of the Jews of the present
day. 1t consists in keeping from Geostly
alliances He asserts that when Abraham
commanded his children and his household
after him, so that they might keep the'way Of
the Lord, he was simply excepting Adam :
race pure" from miscegenatiOn, and this, he
says, is the mission the Jews are to this day
fulfilling" That Is they have the righteous
ness OF their father Abraham" They art
keeping the way of the Lord Speaking OF
Noah and Lot, ne asks, What kind of right
eOusneSS was it that was thus preached by
such menu The answer he gives is that
l" frail and sinful in the moral sense as they
were, yet being perfect in their genealogies
from Adam and Eve, they could still be his
being right in keeping from beastly alliances -
From this it would follow that by the same
mode Of lite can We Gentiles become righteous
before God, and not by faith 10 Jesus Christ.
Aud so the Bible has made u great mistake in
telling us that it was through Abraham faith
he was counted as righteous According to
this the most righteous people before God in
the world were the Scribes aud Pharisees; a
fact, however, which the OmniScient Jesus did
not discover. 1t remained for this great He.
brew scholar in the 10Th Century to find it out.
In the ceremonial laws of Moses, Lev. xxi:
l7-2l, there Is a law in reference to men "hav.
ing fat nose" Ariel says-"this includes
the whole negro race, and expressly excludes
them from coming to his altar for any act OF
worship" Not many of these negroes among
us will be found in such besotted iguorace of
the Scriptures as to blunder in this style II
negroes have no souls what need to make a
law prohibiting beasts from worshipping God?
Any one reading the passage will find it con.
tainS regulations fur LhG 1lAls aloae,-t the
Of Aaron; that outside or his family the most
perfect white man of any tribe except that OF
Levi was excluded FROM the service spoken of !;
and that within that tribe not only the man
with fat nose e. e, a nose either accidentally
or naturally deformedl should be debarred.
but the blind, the lame, the dwarf and Others
also.
And now when the writer of this pamphlet
,o,,,a, 70 S,,p, ~, al hi, ,rooJarf,l ,ro;,. W.,
hear him say, p. 45-"The intelligent cannot
fail to discover who was the tempter in the
garden of Eden. 1t. was beast, a talking
beast, &c, that is it was negro. So then
when the Bible speaks of that old Serpent
the Devil, it ought to read, according to the
discovery of Ariel, that old negro the devil -
But we venture to suggest another difficulty
The curse God pronounced upon the tempter
was-"Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust
shalt thou eat all the days of thy life" Now
if this old serpent was negro, Ariel is undel
obligation to explain how it is he is found
walking about over the world erection his
feet instead of his belly. If he says the Ian
guage is 6gurative and means only that he
should be degraded, it only plunges the writer
into another difficulty For if degraded, his
degradation was among the beasts, of which he
was one at that time But Ariel, after that
deep-sighted classification of animals under
which naturalists will hereafter have to put
down the cat, as a genera ofa species Of aa,-
mails, :" informs US that the negro is the no
hest Of the beast creation" But if he was
THAT old serpent, the devil it is certain the
curse put him down at the bottom of the scale
of beasts thou art cursed GJore all cutie,
AMI oJore ereIy beast Of the field" Tue most
deeply degraded in the scale of beasts at the
top!
So much for the Biblical arguments of thi,
pamphlet. Enough has been adduced to show
that the ignorance of the writer is about il
proportion to his impudence aud dogmatism,
aud that he is unworthy of any confidence.
If it would not consume too much time, OF
we're worth the trouble Of further pursuit, hi
attachments in physical science to which he
makes high preten>ions might be as easily dis
credited. There is a single point to which a
brief attention may be given, inasmuch a.
great stress has been laid upon it, and some
private inquiry has been made for explanation
1t may be stated thus: We have reason to
believe that neither Noah nor any of his eight
sons who went into the ark was negro; how
then do we account for his existence upon the
earth?
To this inquiry we answer
l. If no satisfactory account can be given,
it concludes nothing against the idea of the
unity of the human race, and that the negro
belongs to it. Many things exist, and there
are afhrmations which may be made concern
INC them with the utmost certainty. where