The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1886-04-22
THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN.

THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN.
Views of Distinguished Theologian on n
Very Mixed Question.
The Rev. DR.. A. A. Hodge, professor
of theology in the Princeton Theological
Seminary, is now delivering course of
lectures in Philadelphia, in which he is
presenting his views on the topics discuss.
ed.
The subject of recent lecture was
"The original state Of Man." The fol"
lowing extracts may be of interest to the
general reader:
The answer the Bible gives as to the
origin of man is very explicit and very
plain, and yet it does not satisfy all
questions. And I want to say, and say
it like man who has devoted his life to
systematic theology, if any class of uell
have ever erred in the direction which ].
am going to speak about to-day, systemat'
ic theologians have erred when they
mapped out so sharply. 1t is one thing
to stand faithfully by what God says; ii
is another thing to draw inferences from
what God says. Our principles, as Prot
estants, make US deal with the Bible
alone, and not with systems of divinity,
and not with in nferences from what the
Bible says.
Now the Bible asserts, in the first
place, that God made the body of man
out of the dust of the earth. The ques'
tions which arise are, What do we mean
by "made," and what do we mean by
"dust of the earth ?" Obviously we do
not mean absolute creation. The only
instance of this absolute creation that we
find recorded in Scripture is in the first
verse. "In the beginning" in the abso-
lutte beginning which marks the emer.
gence of time out of eternity, which
marks the first step in order Of creation
under the conditions of time and space.
"In the beginning God created" gave
origin, being, to all the elements out OF
which the Stellar Universe is formed.
First it is the great Eternal; afterwards
you have "Chaos." :"
y
The immediate creation is the making
all things out of nothing by the word OF
His power, but the mediate creation is
the making of new things out Of old
things; that is, the building up of new
things out of old elements; new entities
new species, the origination of new forms.
new constitutions, and of the elements OF
which they are built. The Bible says
God made man out of the dust Of the
earth. He first makes dust, and then
He makes man out of it. So God is the
entire maker of man. 1t would be very
childish to put literal meaning to this
word dust, which is translated from the
Hebrew, another language. 1t does not
mean simply "dust;" you could not
make man out of common clay, because
it does not contain all the elements
which constitute man. When you an
alyze the body of man, you find it con-
sists of lime, phosphorus, iron, carbon,
nitrogen, hydrogen aad a great many
other elements. These do not all exist
in clay. What is meant ID that God
made man out of pre-. existing elements
which God had himself first created
These are everywhere; they are in the
atmosphere; they are in the water; they
are in the soil, and they we're ever pres
ent from the time of the first creation
existing, possessing qualities with which
God originally endowed them, and it is
out of these existing elements o.
the material universe that God formed
by his own power and will, the body o.
man.
Man is a living, breathing thing; but
the points clearly taught are that God
made the body by his power out of pre-
existing material, and that he created
the soul by his power and put it into the
body.
Now what do the learned men o.
science say about this? First, as to the
antiquity Of man. Undoubtedly human
remains have been discovered under con
ditions in which it is impossible to believe
that God created man only six thousand
years ago. I have no doubt of that.
have no doubt you will have to extead
the time of creation back farther than
six thousand years. But remember thai
God never said he created Adam six
thousand years ago. Our chronology
exists in two forms, that of Usher and
that of Hales, and it differs by thou
sand years. Two scholars taking up this
chronology have made the difference
simply by following out the genealogical
tables.
1 am sure you will think with me that
my colleague, DR.. Green, of Princeton
as an interpreter of the Old Testament
is conservative, and as much to be relied
upon in the interest of historic truth as
any man living. I can remember when
his book on the Pentateuch appeared
In note with regard to two passages as
TO the time the Bible gives in certain
utterances, he said, "The time between
the creation of Adam and ourselves
might have been; for all we know from
the Bible to the contrary, much longer
than it seems" l was in Princeton, in
my fathers study. l was living then in
Allegheny. can we'll remember my
father walking up and down, and saying,
"What relief that is to me that he