The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1874-07-03
wHc VAS CAINs WIFE.

In reply tu the query of q correspond
cut through: th- New York Lsg}er a. TO
who Cain married. Henry Ward Bcecher
SAYS:
There = 40 gse1r' c. Gains court
ship or wedding. Iiuy-,vc- Interesting
To the parties themselves. It IS ar TO in
teresU To uS. except uuru TIE -upco>ft,on
that any people had been created. If
Adam and Eve We're the sole pro-pnitor<
of IN" race. then Cain anl Abel. il Is in
ferred. must have married their own
Sisters-a connection which is shocking
10 the SensibilitieS Of the whole race at a
subsequent state of development.
But many of the fathers OF the church
denied tl,at Adam and Eve. and their
children. were the only people on the
globe They affirmed that the text i'm
Genesis very plainly implies that there
We're other inhabitants besides Adams
family. They ailege that verse fourteen
of chapter four. of Genesis. plainly i'm
plies that the earth was widely popUia-
ted. For when God declared that Cain
should be driven from his family and
made a vagabOnd in the earth. Cain
deprecated the sentence. and plead that
every one that iindeth me shall sIay
me" 1t was plainly not his family con
nections that ne feared. for he desired
not to be driven from them. Who, then,
were these people whom Cain feared to
meet when he should have gone forth
into the earth.
1T is also reasoned by scholars that
the most natural method Of soothing his
fears, would have been to tell him:
There are no other people upon the
Instead of that the Lord Is represented
as falling in with Gains impression re
specting the population Of the world.
and that he set a mark upon Cain, lest
any finding him should Kill him. (Geu.
4:15l. Still further. Is it said that Cain
separated himself from his kindred,
went into the land of Nod east of Eden.
''and he built a city and called the name
of the city after the name of his son
Enoch.7 The fathers were patiently
asked: Where did the people come
from who lived in this city! That
would be an extraordinary state of things
which should have enabled Cain to fill
up Il city. however small, with his own
children, And it is inferred, Therefore,
that there were other people in the land
besides the immediate pOSterity of Adam
If Adam was the only prOgenitCr, Cain
must have married his sister. II there
We're other lines of people, other Adams
as it We're. then Cain might have mar
ried into other stock.
I'VE do not express any Judgment in
the matter We give our correspondent
the opinions that have been held in the
early days of the church, but with the
statement that all modern Christian
writers have rejected them
''But rs the origin of races has, in our
day, assumed an important scientific de
velopment, and as very many able scien-
fists hold a variety of original race
stocks, it Is interesting to know that
these views have been held before, and
upon Biblical grounds.
''But are there no more questions
about Cain. Does nobody wish to know
his wife's name. Does no one wish TO
know what the mark was which the
Lord affixed to Cain2 Does no one wish
to know how Cain died! Questions
must be scarce to leave such point un-
touched. If Cain is to be raised he sure
ly ought to be thoroughly dealt with -