The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1880-09-30
Pre- Adamites.
BY MRS. VI. 4 c., OF EW BERN.

Descend from a Single Par! In which he
took the position that the chronological differ
ences between the white and black race
rendered it impossible that both could be
descended from Adam and asserted that a
careful reading of Scripture would show that
there were other races OF men IN existence
at the time Cain killed Abel. As these
papers excited some little discussion. your
readers will perhaps be interested in the fact
that ) {. Griggs 4 Co., Of Chicago. have
recently published a book called "Preadam
ties, FROM the pen OF Prof. Alexander Win
chell, who fills the chair of Geology and
Paleontology in the University OF Michigan,
In which he discusses the question OF the ex-
istence Of man prior TO Adam, In both its
Biblical and scientific aspect. and shows the
impossibility of the negro being the descend
ant of Ham.
Although he asserts that all statements 10
the book Of Genesis which relate To uues
tions touching the order Of the natural world,
save the enunciatlon of the supernatural
origin of all things fall under tue legiti-
mate cogDizance Of what we c.ll science =
and that The test Of their truth l ust arse
from Investigations of the strictly scientific
Ordor, he does not assume a position hos
tile to the Bible, and deyotes a chapter to
the proof that pr~eadamltlsm is neither in
consisted with Scripture nor with ortho-
ooAN. = Ao1' hot Inv VI viva
ton OF Adam, though maintaining he had a
human father and mother. nor does he im,
pair the unity Of mankind he only re-
moves the incredibility of that doctrine as
grounded in the descent of negroes and Aus
tralians from Noah and Adam.
Though not recognizing Adam as the
starting point of the humanity, he does rot
picture man as risen from the organic grade
Of a brute. but only shows he was in exis
-. -. 49, &c.. ...'" G a. ~
brews, and that his derivation from an OIL
der stock is essentially and literally the ere
alton OF Adam. He does not maiutain the
plurality of origins, or even plurality Of
species but simply that Adam is descended
from the black race, not the black race
frsm Adam.
The defence OF this position does not
rest, he says. as it once did. on the purely
linguistic Interpretation Of the Bible; as
the facts of race histories and the discov
cred laws Of animal life, past and present,
support the conclusion that the descent of
the black races from Ham is equally unscrip-
tural and unscientifc.
DR.. Mott, who, like Agassiz, opposed the
Darwinian theory when first published,
said in conversation not long before his
death, put the first germ far enough back
and | can accent the theory" Prof. Win
chell holds pretty much the same doctrine ;
ali mankind, according ts him, are descen-
dants Of one primoidial human germ. which
was developed. evolved, or geaetcnUy cTea-
ted as the earth gradually became suited to
the existence of man; general progress in
the organic world having been always co
ordinsted by progress in the inorganic.
Structural degradation being contrary to
the law Of nature, where there is no such
/ thing as the transformation from the more
NJ - - IA.- Ah~ NJ
gro, Australian, Hottentot and Papuan races
being structuraliy inferior to, must neces
sarily be older than the white race, which
is the consummate flower instead Of the root
OF the genealogical tree of mankind.
1t would be impossible to do justice 20
DR.. Winchell's treatment of his subject in
either in its scientific or Biblical aspect in
the short space Of a newspaper article, but
a few words are necessary to show what he
calls its Theological consequences" which
be frankly acknowledges he regards as unim-
portant. though interesting.
Orthodoxy holds that the atonement j.
retroactive at least 1000 years; why not,
saws our author, a few thousand years far
there .'Redemption,'' says DR.. MCausland.
lis no more dependant upon the lineai de
scent Of all mankind from Adam, than it is
dependant upon their lipeal descent from
Abraham, the father of the faithful"
Bishop Marvin, Of the Methodist Church
South. saws in his book. The Work of
Christ I'VE should expect to fiud re
demption q central fact. reaching in its ef
feet. the utmost limit Of being in space and
Duration Would not this, asks Winchell
..be a provision tor the poor p~readamites?'
.Why not. says DR.. Whedon in the Meth
Odist Ouarterly Reuicr, accept, if need be
the preadamic man. The unity of the race
10 - ba fprthpr cave sthp unity nf nature
a unity in the moral Identification with Ad-
am, and a unity in the atoniDg power of the
death of Christ
"A theology" says DIR. Winchell, which
has borne with the suggestion that redemp-
tive grace reaches throughout a universe.
cannot, without qualification, recoil from
the suggestion that it embraces all the hu
man population Of a single world. |! it
could reach a more remote ancestry than
ADAM
That the Lord God formed man of the
dust Of the ground" does not imply that
Adam was moulded by hands or called into
existence from the condition of dust in
a single day, while the formation of woman
from a rib Of Adam is simply al alleeory.
The word Adam in the first chapter Of
Genesis, eur author is inclined to think, is
employed only as q common substantive to
signify man. But the same word nevertl,e-
less, in the later documents becomes the
proper name of that particular man who
stood at the bead Of the Hebrew line. I'm
no sense of the term was Adam q D. tmjtre
man He appeared af,erthe race from which
be divaricated had lived many thousands
of yeas, and attained thf results OF long
experience and culture.
GoLDsBoRo MESSENGER TTEMs.-We are
requested to announce that Col. Henry G..
Williams. of Wilson, will not permit his
name to go before the democratic Congress
sional Convention Of the 2nd District for
the nomination. The contest had narrowed
down to Messrs. w Fl. Kitchen and II. q.
Williams, and the withdrawal of the latter
90 ntleman's name. and Of Col. Green.
whose card wc publish elsewhere, leaves
the field alene 70 Capt. Kitchen, unless
some new names he brought forward, and
present indie ,tions point TO him as the nom
inee. should the convention deem it advisa-
BILE 20 make nomination.--Our ire