Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1871-01-24
CAMS WIFE.
Henry Ward Beecher ON the Absorb
ing Problem.


From the New York Lsdger.l
If people do not ask questions, how
shall they get information2 Even II 1t
be only curiosity that prompts the ques-
ton. an answer may sometimes do good.
We don't suppose any human being
cares who Cain wife was, for any prac-
tical reason. There is no Anneke Jan
estate, we presume, dependent on it-no
title Of nobility that any one would be
likely to covet. But, then, in village,
where people are not so much in hurry
but that they can sit down and discuss
matter, many queer questions come up.
Here is one Of them, which has been on
our hands year, but, as IT has kept
through SO many ages, it is not likely to
spoil IN few months, and so here 1t Is;
peeember 18th, 1853.
Rev. Henry Ward Beeehsri
DEAR Sir = Please to inform me,
through the columns of the New York
Ledger. who Gains wife was, and OBJ
lige A READER OF THE LEDGER.
There is no record of Gains courtship
or wedding. However interesting 70 the
parties themselves, it is Of no inte-
rest TO us, except upon the supposl-
ton that the account in Genesis OF the
creation Of Adam was designed to ex-
clude the supposition that any people
had been created If Adam and Eve
were the sole progenitors Of the race,
then Cain and Abel, it is inferred, must
have married their own sisters-a con-
nection which is shocking to the sensi-
bilities Of the whole race, at a subse-
auent stage Of development
But many Of the fathers Of the church
denied that Adam and Eve, and their
children, were the only people on the
globe. They affirmed that the text in
Genesis very plainly implies that there
were other inhabitants besides Adam 5
I family. They allege that verse IA, chap
ter 4. Of Genesis, plainly implies that the
earth was already widely populated. For,
when God declared that Cain should be
driven out from his family, aud made a
vagabond in the earth, Cain deprecated
the sentence, and plead that every one
that findeth NE shall Stay me. 1t was
plainly not his family connections that
be feared, for he desired not to be driven
forth from them 1t was the people he
should meet when a wanderer in the
earth. Who, then, we're these people
whom Cain feared to meet when he
should have gone forth into the earthY
1t is also reasoned by scholars thai
the most natural method Of soothing his
fears would have been TO tell him
There are no other people on earth ex
cept your father children" Instead o
j Il 81 / Il fna n
With Gains impression respecting the
population Of the world, and that BE se
mark upon Cain, lest any finding him
should kill him. (Gen. 4: Is Still
further, it is said that Cain, separating
himself from his kindred, went TO tn
land Of Nod, east Of Edom, and b
!, builded a city, and called the name o
the city after the name Of his sol
= Enoeh.H The Fathers very pertinenilI
; asked, Where did the people come from
n that lived ia this city, ThGt would b
an extraordinary state OF things whiel
should have enabled Cain to fill up
Il city, however small, with his own chill
IT drenl And Il is inferred, therefore, tina
e there we're other people in the land be
sides the immediate pOsterity OF Adam
e If Adam was the only prOgenitor, Cai
e must have married his sister. II Their
? were other lines Of people, other Adams
. as it were, then Cain might have marie
into another stock.
We do not express any judgment !
e the matter. We give our eorresponder
n the opinions that have been held in th
= early days Of the church, but With "a
!, statement that almost al modern Chri
tan writer's have rejected them.
o But as the origin Of races has, IN OF
y day, assumed an important scientific d