No.
WltKN DID ADAM I.IVK?
4!tt
WHEN DTD ADAM LTV El
Tito length of timu since the human
race lnudo its appearance upon tlio earth
is a subject ofmuch inquiry among scion
title men. None pretend that a precise
answer can bo given , and hence the whole
range oT our knowledge, as far us it re.
latcs to tlio problem, ts resorted to for an
approximate solution. In itself, the mut
ter may not seem of much importance;
yet connected with it are questions in re
ligion and philosophy on which there is
much discussion at the present day.
Some investigators estimate the period
of time in question at several hundred
thousand years. This view is held, though
not exclusively, by the advocates of Dar
winism; for others, holding the same
opinion, claim that it conflicts with the
evolution hypothesis. Another class or
inquirers, basing their arguments on the
statements of Sacred Writ, claim that a
much shorter period will meet all the re
quirements or the case.
When an old opinion is attacked, we
ought not to abandon it until plainly
shown that the new belief is the more
probable. So in this instance, as the
shorter period has been the more general
ly received, it is legitimate for us to seek
to prove that it is not also the more tena
ble. In view of the attacks made on 1Mb.
lical chronology, and the misunderstand
ings with which it is apprehended, wc
purpose to notice a few facts which ap.
pear to support it.
We must first remember that the dates
which the Bible lurnishes do not afford,
any more than others, suflicicnt data for
computing the time that bus elapsed since
the creation of man. Hence, all the com
putations that have been made arc but
approximate, none having authoritative
value. The chronology of Usher, found
on the margins of the English Bible, pla.
cs 4004 years between the creation of Adam
and the birth of Christ. But this has long
been discarded by the learned, being con.
troverled by facts And yet Home contin
ue to assail it as if it were claimed as an
inspired part of the Bible. The chronol
ogy of Hales, which makes the same ep
och 5411 yours in length, is more accurate,
though considered too short ; yet the
speculation which would extend this to
a vastly greater length is not, we think,
warranted by facts.
Ethnology presents quite evident proof
of a great centre of population in Western
Asia, from which, at various times, in
part historical, people spread out in all
directions. Europe seems first to have
been peopled by Turanians. Of thesu,
the Basques of the Pyrenees, and the
Finns and Lapps of northern Europe arc
the only present representatives. Later
came the Celts and Gneco.Latin nations,
and later still, the Germans, Sclavcs, and
Huns. In Asia the Hindoos and Chinese,
though very long settled in their respec
tive countries, have preserved some indi
cation of an eastward migration. America
seems to have received an influx from the
east at a very early day, and later acces
sions from the opposite direction. Some
of the Pacific nations seem to have been
peopled quite .recently, and nearly all na
lions bear evidence of having migrated
from other places.
The race has a dispersive tendency, which
in early times, was perhaps stronger than
at present. Diversity of race, the preva.
lence of war, and nomadic habits, opera,
ted powerfully to facilitate the peopling of
the earth. If all mankind were once in
the hunter state, and evolutionists uphold
this view, the circumstance would alone
be a powerful cause, for a savage depen-
pendent on the chase requires a large tcr-
ritory for his support. Now when we
consider the steady increase in population
during the present century, of Europe
and America, it is evident that a few thcu
sand years arc amply sufllcient to allow
for the peopling of the world, even admit,
ting the fact that some countries once con.
taincd a greater population than at pres
ent. If the race is half a million years old,
nothing short of almost constant war and
u:i
H
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