The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1874-03-12
Gains wife.

ciiu s WIG
IfpcopIe do hot ask questions how
shall they get information Even ii 1t
he only curiosity that prompts the qnes-
ton, an answer may sometimes 90
rnods We don't suppose any human
being cares who Gains wife, was tor
any practical reason. There Is no
Anncke Jams estate, we presume, ae-
pendent on it-no title of nobility tina,
any one would be likely to covet. But
then, in a village where people are not
so mach in hurry but that they can Sit
down and discuss matter, many queer
aucstions come M. Here is one OF them,
which has been, on our hands year,
bnt it has kept through SO many ages,
it is not likely to spoil in a few MONTHS
and so here it is:
So DEC. 18th, 1869.
Rev. Henry Ward Bsecher-Dcar
Sir: Please TO inform me, through the
columns Of the New York ledger, who
Gains wife was and obiiSe
A READER OF TIE LEDGER.
There is no record of Gains court
shin or wedding. However interesting
10 thc parties themselves, it is of no in
1ercst TO Us, except upol. the snpposition
that any people had been created. II
Adam and Eve were the sole progenl-
tors of the race, then Cain and Able, 1t is
inferred, must have married their own
sistcrs-a connection which is shocking
to the scasioilities of the whole race, at
q subsequent 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
adams family. They :,llege that verse
Ii of chapter / of Genesis, plainly I'M
plies that the earth was already widely
populated For when God declared that
,'..ia should be driven oat from his fami-
jy and made IA vagabOnd in the earth,
Cain deprecated the sentence, and plead
that "cvery che that fnde;h me shall!
slay me-" IL was plainly not MS taml-
iyconnec;icns that he feared, for he desir-
ed not 10 be driycn forth from them. IL
was the people he should meet when Il
wunderer in the earth. Who, then, Were
these people whom Cain feared TO n'ee'
when ne should have gone forth lAtc
the earth!
II is also reasoned by scholars that
the most natural method CT soothing
his fears wou!j lISve been to tell Ein !:
There are no other people upon the
earth except Your fathers children
Instead OF that, the Lord is represent
ed as falling in with Gains impression
respecting the population Of the world,
and t,.a. lie SC; "a mark upon Cain, !eS'
any finding him should Kill him. (Gen.
! :I5.O S,i.l further, it said that Cain, sep
ar!t;ng himself from his kindred, went
To the land OF Nod, East OF Edom, sand
he builcd city and called the name OF
the city after The n:me This son Enoch. !"
The Fathers very rer;inently 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 mp a
city, however small, with his own chill
drcn. And il is inferred, therefore,
that there were other people in the land
besides the Immediate posterity ofAdam.
II Adam was the only progenitor, Cain
li:aSt have Gafflei EiS StStSt' II tHSAS
were other lines of people, other Adams
is it were then Cain might have mar
red into another stock.
We DO not express any Judgment IN
the matter. We give our correspondent
the opinions that have been held in the
carly days of the church, but with the
statement that almost all modern Chris
,ian writer's have rejected them.
But as tie origin of races has, in our
day, assumed AN important scientific
development, and as very many able
scientists hold TO variety of original
race stocks, it is interesting to know
that those views have been held before,
and upon supposed Biblical grounds.
But are t.lere no more questions about
Cain? Does nobody wish TO know his
wife's nSme2 Does no ore wish TO
know what the mark Was which the
Lord affixed to Cain! Does no one
Wish to know how Cain died Cues
tions must be scarce TO leave such points
untouched. If Cain is to be raised, he
surely ought TO be thoroughly dealt with.
-Beecher in v. Y. Ledger.