The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1883-06-08

SAVIOR of the oblation ascended towards
heaven: "The Lord said in his heart,
will not again curse the ground any
more for mans sake; for the imagina.
ton of mans heart is evil from his
youth The evil, then, was not elm
mated, the passions were not weakened
the appetites were not overcome. Man
was no better than he had been, but
some disturbing element had been de-
stroyed. To put the question, whether
that disturbing element was the inter-
marriage OF the Adamite and Cainite,
is, it seems to me, to answer it in the
negative, even if we assume that the
deluge was universal. There must
have been some more special and over
wbelming wickedness and violence
than we can conceive to have been
possible between the descendants of
Adam .....
In furtherance of this view of the
case it should be observed that the
moving cause of the difficulty seems to
have been marriage and that marriage
or system of marriages, one out of
which violence and strife grew. 1t
does not seem reasonable or possible
that any such strife and violence could
have grown out of the marriages of
men and women, for marriage be-
tween men and women was lawful,
was Gods ordinance aud Therefore in
obedience to his commands. The
cause being marriage and not reasona-
bly, marriage between men and wom-
en-, even though they might have been
Adamites and Cainites, we must look
| for some other element of discord.
| ..... THE NEPHlLM.
Were there on the earth any beings
other than the offspring of Adam and
Eve? In answer to that question let
us read the first, second and fourth
verses of the sixth chapter of Gene
sis:
"And it came to pass, when men
began to multiply on the face of the
earth, and daughters were born unto
them, that the SONS of God saw the
daughters of men that they were fair (;
and they took them wives of all which
they chose. There were giants in the
earth in those days, and also after
that when the sons of God came in
unto the daughters of men, and they
bore children unto them, the same be-
came mighty men which were of old,
men of renown."
Here then we have, mingling in
this compound which we call humanity
first, the daughters of men; second,
the sons of God third, the Nephilim,
the giants:
The daughters of men are no other
than the descendants of Adam, wheth,
er direct or by the line of Cain, for
we are to remember that all of both
lines were destroyed, except the family
of Noah, who were preserved Oh ac:
count of the personal righteousness OF
Noah. We are also to observe that
the word used by the writer of the
original for God is "Elohim' and
therefore being a proper name of the
Deity, these male persons are not to be
supposed to be or considered to be
sons of chiefs or princes, but really
and actually what they are called, and
are some intelligent created beings
higher than man and distinct from
him. And, finally, that the Nephilim
are properly "Fallen ones" and moi
giants, if the word is taken as relating
simply to stature, and that the wore
translated "mighty men" "men of re
nown,' is gibborin, and that the glib
borim are the offspring of the mar
riages of the sons of God with tn,
daughters of men.
Who were the Nephilim The wore
is used, in my Judgment, to designate
those renegade, degraded, fallen an
gels or beings, elsewhere styled tn,
sons of God As if we were to say
"The sons of God married the daugh
ters of Adam" and in answer to
, word of incredulity the further remarl
is made, "There were fallen ones
,, Nephilim, in those days Fallen
, renegade sons of God, giants, perhaps
, in wickedness, who by violence seize
and took or by fraud seduced away tn
wives and daughters of the sons @
Adam including the descendants c
Cain, and styled their enforced inter
course marriage. Here, then, we hav
ample material for all the conditions c
= this great problem. Let us construc
|, the Biblical passage by its obviou
q meaning and it will stand thus:
\ "And it came to pass, when tn
: sons of Adam began to multiply o
6 the face of the earth and daughter
i were born unto them, that the sons {
: God-there were fallen ones on Il
I, earth in those days-saw that IL
y daughters of the sons of Adam wei
q fair, and they took them wives of sue
of them as they chose. And aft
these marriages when these sons
~ God came in unto their wives and the
! bare children unto them, the same b
. came gibborim, mighty men whi'
- were of old, men of renown."
d THE SONS OF GOD.
= 1t seems too plain for argument tn
'a :, these Nephilim, whoever and wh'
y ever they were, were the cause of ii
- disturbance. Were they angels, we
- they other created beings, higher
~ ~ lower, from heavenly places? or we
=, - they spirits cast out of heaven al
- who escaped with Satan from hel
., ., The designation seems to be of
" Order, In Job, those who come
+ regular course of duty to present the
- selves before the Lord are the sons
nn God, and Satan came also in the mi,
af of them. In antediluvian times t
~ phrase uniformly used in speaking
90 these earth-visiting heavenly inte
81 gences is "Sons of God" Afterwar
:" as a mere messenger, "the angel of |
ed Lord appeared unto Iagar," and
NJ der the same designation there
=" other similar manifestations. 1t is
until Second Samuel, IA, 20, o
| about I DlD Ntaaru hafnra Christ Al