Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1872-04-24
THE CHRONICLE
From the Phr geological Journal.
THE TRUE MEANING OF ADAM.

luG CdIiN CudDlcIb Vi NCAAGclrt udc xiv
en- il an importance aud an interest
that it would not otherwise have pos
sessed; and perhaps no question would
ever have arisen as to its meaning or
application had it not been for the
recent discoveries of geOlOgists; or
the researches Of ethnologists in re-
gard to the time which Scriptural
chronology acOrds for the various
d changes, divergences, and varieties Of
!; the human race.
i The sir days of creation presented
9 the first great difficulty; as all the
: evidences of Geology so manifestedly
/. provided that the stupendOus phe-
: nomena of the creation of the universe
never could have been accomplished
9 in so short time, therefore the stu
dent in theology sought for new modes
of explanation, by which to recon-
cile this language with the facts Of
science; and this has been attempted
In various ways, whether successfully
or not, may yet be undetermined
But now a new question has arisen in
regard to Adam-as to whether he
was the first created man, or whether
there We're pre-Adamic races? Re-
cent discoveries of human remains in
formations OF the earth antedating
the oldest Scriptural chronologies by
many thousands of years, as well as
the argument founded on the very
early and widespread diffusion of the
different cOlored races, found in every
known region of the earth, have CIV
en- rise to doubts as TO whether, six
thousand years, Adam could have
been the first created man The evil
dence in opposition to this now be-
come so strong as to make il necessary !
To revise and correct the impressions |
which have hitherto been so indelibly |
impressed upon the mind in regard |
to the extent and application of its |
meaning, and to endeavor to show |
that Adam was not the first man, but /
the first SUhite man; that he stands |
for the type of the Caucasin race,
allowing that the Mongolian, Indian,
and Negro might have been in exis-
tence for thousands, or even tens of
thousands, of years previously. This
/ is the drift of an article in the OctO-
Der number of ScTi6ner's Monthly,
under the heading of WAS Adam the
First Man ?" And it is this question
which we now propose to consider.
In taking this position, the writer
has certainly said all that could be
c@AAN III cQBBOAL VI II anu II |
were no adverse considerations in the
way, it might with much apparent
reason be concluded, that the point I
was not only well taken, but also well
sustained. But there is really so
much conflicting testimony, and so
many erroneous assumptions in the
way, as to entirely invalidate the '
whole superstructure of the argument '
and show that the right vein has not .
been struck. In the first plOce, TO 8
maintain the theory that Adam is I
meant the progenitor of the tOhite race 1
alone, and make the Biblical record e
agree with scientific facts, it is neces- c
sary to assume that the flood was local. |
and not universal; that is, only spread /
over that region of the earth desert
bed by the late DR.. Pye Smith as (
Lying between the Caucasian ridge. e
the Caspian Sea, and Tartary on the i
north, the Persian and Indian seas on
the south, and the high mountain C
ridges which run at considerable dis
tsnces on the eastern and western q
flank; and that this wall of waters, q
which covered the tops of these noun il
tain, stood some three miles high q
during the duration of that food a.
and that Noah had to build an ark, il
and collected into it pairs, and septu- n
Piles, of all the animals upon the earth; h
or it may be only that part OF the G.
earth-to save them from being o.
drowed; when yet he and they, by re- "
firing 10 the other side of the noun ''
tains, would not have been disturbed b
by the food at all : But this theory B
Adam makes it necessary 81
that the food should only be local: D
for had it been universal, as is the n
obvious meaning of the liberal sense q
Of the text, 1t would have afforded less Il
than two thousand years to the time fJ
Of the Christian era, for all the diver es
yency and multiplication of races bl
which existed at that time. What in
ever might be meant by adam, if the 10
whole human race had perished in "a
he flood, except Noah and his three 50
,Ons, and their wives, the question m
would resolve itself, not into Adam, "
1ut into Noah 1. c., was he the pro- bl
yenitor of all the families of the Ii
,arth? H
This, the writer in the above article OF
would never maintain; so that what n
.ver weight there might be in any of &C
lis other arguments, they would all n'
Iterly fail if the flood were universal. ia
But, waving this consideration, there Al
GEMS to be no possible ground for so 10
the recorded history of ms
nan in Genesis as TO allow fany pre- ~
xistiDg race; as from the time the th
arth was "without form, and void," ne
connected history is given of each IN
nd every successive creation, whether so
f vegetable or animal, up TO Adam %
nd Eve, previous to which it would so
eem utterly impossible TO suppose ma
hat men of Other eolors could have 10
xisted; the more especially, too, as it Oh
) distinctly declared, that previous to GS
his time there was not a man to till no
he ground" and, indeed, such has as
yer been the uniform understanding In
{ this narrative according to its liter WI
l construction, both by Jew and an
,hristiah; and there does not appear WI
D be the slightest warrant for sup I'M
Osing there were, or could at that lee
me have been, any previously exist sld
lg races upon the eaTthi and nothing see
ut the pres ure produced by tine in Gu
of EthnOlogy and GeOlo- RAJ
Y would ever have suggested so inn IN
rObable Of not impossible) an idea. TAI
{ is unQuestinnably true, that the q
iscOveries in science are constantly ln'
new explanations and in as
ofthe Scriptural record; Al
ut unless they are consistent with !
ther statements in the same vOiums IuI
hey can have no weight. Among ira
ther efforts TO reconcile Genesis with 1"
eology, it is stated By the above ne
ritter, that some theologIans infer no
that the Mosaic chronology is incor- ON
.et. They put back the flood at least aoC
n thousand years, and the creation IN
Adam ten thousand years before Vol
le food But there is nothing in up'
le text that will warrant any such OF
Oerty; the Septuagint version, which siV
the longest that can be claimed, hai
ould give but S97 years more than gre
ie version of Archbishop Usher; and tur
It Geology, it is admitted without ate
lestion, places mans existence on adv
e earth many thousands of years Il
,fore the time which the longest of rae
lr Biblical chronologies afford. Yet the
is said, I'VE must bold fast to ali ano
e declarations of the Bible. They the
e the utterances of inspired truth" ing
nd any divergence which may exist call
tween the two records, the Book of enc
ature and the Book of Revelation, alls
attempted to be reconeiled by say anu
haf G.T GnATo--