The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1884-10-15
For the Central Presbyterian.
Was 1t Organic Dust =?

The question in the Evolution discus
sion as at first propounded was: Was
adams body evolved from the loaOer ami
mails? The Board hold to this question
and allow the affirmative to be taught.
The question as recently stated by Prof.
Woodrow is Was Adam'S body made
of organic or inorganic dust 2 That the
two questions are not the same is perfect
ly plain.
The shortest method with these and all
other statements of the question is to
prove from God word that Adams body
was created out of inorganic dust.
l. The word "dust" is used in the Eng
lish Scriptures 107 times. In 90 of these
passages the word undoubtedly means in
organic matter. Look and see.
l. OF the 9 passages whose face-mean-
ing does not prove the inorganic nature
of the "dust, l quote Mum. xiii: 10
"Who can count the dust of Jacob" Of
course "dust" here refers to the children
of Jacob; but does the idea refer to the
constitution of their bodies, or to their
number? The quoting of the parallel
passage in Gen. xxi II, ought to settle
this point: "In multiplying will null
tiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven,
and as the sand which is upon the sea
shore. Who can count the sand of ia
cob?
8. Of the remaining s, the word "dust"
in two of them indicates the low condi-
ton of man as compared with the high
and holy God. Gen. xviii 27-Abraham
said, "I have taken upon me to speak
unto the Lord, which am but dust and
ashes" Here the word certainly refers
to his humility rather than to the compo-
sition of his body. The other passage of
like import is in Ps. 1903: 14-"He re-
membereth that we are dust" If the
word here points to anything else besides
humility, it indicates an origin from. in
organic rather than organic materials.
4. Three of the remaining passages re-
fer to the food OF the serpent. Gen. iii !:
Dust shalt thou eat all the days of
thy life" Isa lxv: 25-"And dust shall
be the serpents meat" Mich vii: II
"They shall lick the dust like serpent"
Says Dr. Woodrow in the Address, (p.
$3.50, "The food of serpents then as now
consisted of the same substance, flesh and
blood" The inference intended to be
drawn is this: Here is an instance where
" dust" must mean "fesh and blood :"
in those passages which speak of the Gre
alton Of man, may it not also mean flesh
and blood-the flesh and blood of lower
animals? l answer:
~ The passage from Micah gives a
fgurative meaning to the whole descrip-
ton. The Lords enemies shall lick the
dust like a serpent, they shall move out
of their holes like worms of the earth.
How do serpents lick dust? AS worm
crawls out Of his hole 1t ia figure of
degradation, and inorganic dust must be
the realistic basis of the figure.
(2) If the serpent were real, the dust
was real according to the ordinary use of
language, that is, inorganic. But who
can say that the serpent does not eat
some dust in eating its flesh and blood !?
This is the view Of some German common.
tators.
g. But the serpent was certainly the
Devil in the guise of a serpent. So to
make the "dust" mean literally "Aesh
and blood is to make flesh and blood
the devils meat. But to make it sym
bolical of subsection and degradation,
even as worm crawls upon the ground
is to make these passages teach the cast
ing down of Satan. To make "the ser
pen" real reptile and the "dust real
flesh and blood is to make the whole
weight of the curse descend upon the in
strument, the, reptile, without saying
anything about the Devil, the real author
of the ruin
s. This leaves us only three passages
to dispute about. Gen. ii 7, "And the
Lord God formed man of the dust of the
ground" Gen. iii 49, In the sweat of
thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou
return unto the ground for out of it
vast thou taken; for dust thou art, and
unto dust shalt thou return" Eccle. xii ::
Z, "Then shall the dust return to the
earth as it was and the spirit return
unto God who gave it. Now can the
word dust in these passages endure to
be made to mean organic materials
o. To do so is to give the word a
meaning which it nowhere else in the
Scriptures can endure-as we have seen.
a. To do so is to transgress the good
and well-founded law Of Interpretation
the us1ls Loquend. Ninety.nine persons
out OF every hundred in all ages of the
world would say that "dust, and espe-
cially e" dust Of the ground" means inor-
ganic matter.
81 The maintenance Of this interpre-
tation amounts to the regTess1ls 0d 5ntjni-
tIn1 and consequently od obsuTduD1. 1t
goes this way Adams body was made