The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1882-05-24

ASKS the Central Presbyterian 81" Did Adam
appear, some six or seven thousand years ago
as the Bible alleges full fedged or not?" It is
not certain that the Bible declares that man ap-
peared 5000 years ago and no longer or. If it
does, who shall declare there is no error of the
copysts, and no omissions? We neither make
the Bible our text book of geology or astrono-
my neither do we accept the theories of scien-
fists as to the worlds duration, as to which
every opinion differs from every other. We
have said this and more so often that we sup.
posed the opinion of the Christian at Work on
the matter was generally understood Christian
at Work.
Our greatly esteemed contemporary
fails, we think, to apprehend distinctly
our point. We do not undertake to fix
with accuracy the number of years that
have passed since the creation of man.
We think it was some 5000 or 1000
years ago; it cannot well have exceeded
5000 or 5000, making all allowance for
error of the copyists," There may be
some names omitted in the genealogical
tables; this is perfectly admissible; but,
allowing for this as well as the errors, we
cannot reasonably carry the Biblical chro-
nology back of 10000 years. The en-
Phasis of our remarks lay, however in
the question whether Adam appeared at
once as MAN in the full sense of the term e?
or whether our humanity was a process
of slow notifications through many in
tefVening imperfectly-human forms up to
the true man2
1t is very important, theologically, to
maintain that Adam was an iad5vidlaZ.
and not race; and that he was the first
5ndiUldual of the race. Whatever the
manner of his genesis, no man ever ap-
peared before him. He is presented to
us in the Bible as appearing on the scene
abruptly and fully-equipped in all the
attributes Of humanity. He is the head
and beginning Of the human race, and is
the first responsible moral agent who APP
pears on the earth. He was the federal,
organic source from which humanity pro-
ceeded, and in him humanity was put on
trial in the Garden Of Eden. He repre-
sented all his posterity, and when he fell,
sin entered into the life of humanity. In
him the race sinned and fell.
Now the admission of the hypothesis
that man was slowly evolved, by success
sive notifications, from some brute form,
would people the earth at the culmina-
ton of the process with a race of human
beings-and this race we are told by such
thinkers as lie Conte, was the Biblical
Adam. What becomes of our theology
on this hypothesis? Where is the fede
raj headship of Adam? What becomes
of Pauls declaration that by one man
sin entered into the world? On this
hypothesis there was race of beings not
quite human, preceding the Adamic ra, e
and at certain point, there was another
race of beings, preceding this, three parts
brute and one part human, and SO on
back to Professor Cope's newly discovered
AnaPtomorPhus homunculus-the lemu-
roid ancestor Of the whole line.
We do not at all attribute this way of
to the Christian at Work; but
it does appear to us, with all respect for
its uniformly earnest evangelical Spirit
that it expresses itself in O way calcula-
ted to unsettle sound opinions on this
subject.
Now it is important to add in this con.
nectiou that at the point where man APP
pears upon the earth, the evolution theo-
ry, as freely admitted by Virchow and
Tyndall, has utterly broken DOM.