The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-11-06

community composed OF ulHeFehS race
and blood, to whom he and his descendants
impaired the knowledge Of the arts OK
civilized life" He also remarks: :,
"Time, place, and circumstances, all
combine to assure us that in this short mar.
rative we have the fountain-head and
source of this history of the civilization Of
the Chinese and other nations and tribes OF
High Asia" and he refers to "the date
of The Chinese emigration from the West, d"
which, rs fixed by their records, "cor-
responds closely to the Mosaic date OF the
Cainite civilization of the primitive inhabi.
tauts of the land of Nod, which would
have occurred about five hundred years
before that event"
Is not this view OF the history OF Cain,
after his sentence, more In harmony VIII
1 the divine record than the common
l opinion, that notwithstanding MS panlsii,
| ment "trom the presence OF Inc Lor9,
and his punishment, when conslssea IN nis
| 3,reT ,nth his o,on kindred and employed
| them in building a city? DR.. Clarke sup.
| noses there were female descendants OF
Adam at the time Cain went to the land OF
| Nod: and 1t is BY some supposed that Cam
married one of them. On such byrotheses
what becomes of the punishment de.
nounced against him? Can rational an
swer be given? He was no fugitive II he
dwelt In the city with his own kindred,
But it is said there are texts in the New
Testament which declare that Adam was
the progenitor OF all humanity. Let us eN-
anime them. o. Paul, in his address to the
Athcnians of Mars Hill, said, "God that
made the world, and all things therein,
and hath made of one blood all nations OF
men for to d,oeL on all the face Of the eGrth:"
50. Here the word translated " blood Is
said to be omitted in fourteen of the prlncl'
pal MSS. fromthc fifth to the eighth century,
including the Vatican and the AleXan-
drian. 1t is, however ,touudin the same num-
Der ranging from the fifth to the eleventh
century. Whether the word be interpolated
or not, it would seem that st. Paul employed
the phrase to denote the general unity Of hu-
mainly as creatures Of God who had mace
them all and not in the sense OF teaching
their unity as children of Adam. The sense
Is elucidated when he Immediately says
"as certain, also. Of your o,'n poets nave
said, for we are also his Cfsp7Mg." In Isl
Corinthians, XIV. %, he says, "1bcre ID orc
flesh of men, another flesh OF beasts; an
other of fishes. another Of birds" Sure ly no
one will hold that st. Paul meant 10 teach
that all the varieties Of beasts on the Sattn
descended from single pair nor '!i lnI
varieties OF birds, or OF fishes. Dean A,iotu
in his New Testament (yol. il. PIP. ieU-loi]
holds that the meaning is not "hath mace
If orc blood" but "caIScd every nalion
of one blood (sprung) TO dwell on all inc
face of the earlh;" which IS not coltIanlc-
tory of the coGXistence OF nations OF ahiel'
emit blood. DR.. Pye Smith. who has written
in support Of the doctrine oil the unlty Oh
mankind, observes, With rcGara 10 Acls
xviii. 26, it cannot be proved that 'onc
blood necessarily SlSnlncS ucscenI lioll
common anceStrv."
Paul was speaking to the Athenians,
who had an erroneous notion that they
were self-produced, and were aborlglnals
of mankind ; and the point OF the apos-
Ties argument seems to be that eUe'y ma
ton of men was made by the Creator that
all were his offspring, aud that the source
of their existence and the principle of their
life were derived from Him, in whom all
live, move, and have their being. In the
Latin NuIgute the text reads % Fectt que
er uno omlne genus h0nlnun, 7nhd61tdre
super untuersam .faciem te're :" the trans
latlon of which is, land hath made OF one
every race Of men to dwell on the lace o.!
the EARTH" In other words, every race OF
men descended from its one head) Gou
hath made to dwell on the earth.
Bit. whatever NAV be the true rendering
of the expression Of the Apostle, it can
scarcely be made more distinct than the en-
preston in Acts H., 5: f." Every nation under
heaven :" or the expression OF the same
APOSTLE in Colossians i. %: "Every crca-
tnre which is under heaven:' which are
both limited to the people of the countries
known to the Jews, and arc not to bc read
in their full literal import.
In Psalms viii, 4, we read this text ::
g What is man, that thou art mindful OF
him and the son of man, that thou viSitest
him?" st. Paul, in the second chapter OF
the Scptua:,iut but, as DR.. Clarke Oh
serves, the Greek is not SO emphatic as The
Hebrew he gives, in his note, the origi-
nal, and renders his translation thus ::
:. What is miserable man that thou remcm-
bcrest him: and the son of Il dam, that thou
yisitest him 20 DR.. Clarke says the varia-
ton of the terms in that original is rcry en-.
phatic. The idea, then, is that God has
remembered the miserable man and has
oistted the SON Of Adam. DR.. Clarke. IN
hoe loco, observes Some think
eminent men here Intended" The
Lord "visilcd'' Abram, the father OF
and through him all the families of the
earth. Genesis XIII, 1-3. When he was
ninety-nne years old God appeared TO him
and talked with him, saying, My
covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be Il
fltber of many natious; neither shall thy
name any more be called Abran, but thy
name shall he Abraham for father of
many nations have / made thee" Genesis
xvii, 1-5. This promise touching all the
families of the earth is without limitation,
aud the word translated families is the
same used in Genesis viii, 10, to designate
the various species Of animals that went
forth out of the ark. If more races Of men
existed ut the time of the promise than
| the Adamic, it would properly ill.,
cludc them all. The Apostle Paul,
| in Hebrews XII, Is, says of the Christ,
| as the great High Priest of mankind,
IS For verify he took not on him the na-
ture of angels, but he took on him the
| seed of Abraham; or, as the better trans"
| lation reads, Moreover. he doth not at all
take hold of angels, but of the seed of
Abraham he taketh hold" lie had respect
TO his covenant with Abraham, and sealed
it's fulfment in his blood for all the fami-
lies of mankind. ''And the Scripture,
heather through faith, preached before the
Gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee
shall all nations be blessed" Gal. iii. s.
Thus Abraham was made the head OF all
nations who should believe the Gospel.
1t is plain from the teachings OF the
Scriptures that all nations, whether de-
| sccnded from one or many heads, are sum-
moncd to the Gospel feast. The disciples
were commissioned to preach the glad til
dings to ''every creature" and one who
cannot err declared, "Ye shall be witnesses
unto me both in Jerusalem and in all
Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the utter
most part of the earth" Acts j., s.
| On the theory above suggested may not
| the revelations of science and the declara-
| tionS OF The Scriptures he harmonlZed? Is
| there any other tenable hypothesis that
admits OF such a reconciliation