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surface, but one vast ocean. In due time, however, by the divine volition, the continents and islands appeared, and the ocean receded into somewhat smaller limits. And being thus made into a terraqueous body, its earthy parts were by the Divine power soon clothed with vegetation. Yet up to this time it had been constantly cloudy. Day and night had succeeded each other, but the cause of either was not apparent. The Creator willed, and by the disappearance of the clouds from the atmosphere, the sun, moon, and stars, became visible. And now the earth being sufficiently enlightened, and the waters of the ocean sufficiently cooled, the various aquatic tribes were produced; next, those which inhabit the air; next, land animals; and last of all, man, appointed to rule the whole.

In considering the character of Moses's account, that which strikes my mind as forcibly as any thing else, is its perfect naturalness. Had he presented the various events in any other order than he has, a want of consistency in his description would have been quite apparent. Thus, if his statement had been, that man was created before the animals, we should at once perceive an incongruity in man's having dominion granted him over what did not exist. Had he told us that the animals were produced before the plants and trees, we might have wondered what the cattle subsisted on in the absence of vegetation. Had he related that vegetables and trees were made before the dry land appeared, we might well wonder where they were stored until they could be planted. These examples are sufficient to illustrate the position that the order of events presented by Moses in his brief narration, is the exact order of nature.

*. In conclusion, I observe that Moses's description of the primeval condition of the earth, and of the changes it underwent before becoming the habitation of man, was written more than thirty centuries before geology was ever studied as a distinct science. Yet his account when properly understood, is sustained by geology in all essential particulars; yea, it may be added that it conflicts with neither natural philosophy nor astronomy. Now that he, at that period, should have been able to write such an account, is, to say the least, a truly remarkable

fact, and, to me, it is a proof that he actually recei information on the subject from an authentic and perf ly reliable source-THE ALMIGHTY CREATOR HIMSELF.

J.

I

ART. XX.

The Unity of the Human Race.

I THINK it is commonly agreed that, so far as the Scr tures treat directly on the matter, they recognize the uni of the human race. The obvious doctrine of Moses, Genesis, is, that all men sprang from one pair; St. Pau at Athens, teaches that God "hath made of one blood a nations of men, to dwell on all the face of the earth; and this is the ground which is evidently pre-supposed b the rest of the inspired writers.

Some, however, have argued that Moses was inconsi tent with himself; that although he teaches that Ada was the father of all nations, or the first man, and Ev the first woman, yet he indirectly recognizes Pre-Adamites Where did Cain get his wife? Did he fear his parent would kill him? Did they need the mark set upon hin to know him as a murderer ? If Adam and Eve wer the only persons living, who composed his city? Thes questions lead people to conclude that east of Eden, in the land of Nod (vagabond) there must have dwelt another race or people. Among them Cain found his wife; they were the men who composed his city, and whose vengeance he feared, because, forsooth, he had killed his brother. What I have to say in reply to this is chiefly negative. I do not know but that Cain took his wife with him from Eden to Nod,-that the mark on him was one forbidding his parents killing him, rather than one of recognition, that he simply founded a city, or was the progenitor of a race to people it, rather than the builder or finisher of it.. It is hard to look back through the dust of six thousand years and see precisely how the thing

was. I am not a prophet, nor clairvoyant. We may conjecture, guess, speculate, relative to these points, but what do we know? We know, however, that Moses, inspired or not, was vastly in advance of his age and nation; that Jesus Christ always spoke of Moses with respect; and that Paul based his doctrine concerning the specific unity of the race on what he taught.1

If it is not too great a stride, let us come from Moses down to the present time. Let us cast our eye over the earth and see the nations as they are. How different, intellectually, morally, religiously, as well as physically. In four respects do they differ physically, viz.: in the color of the skin, the structure of the hair, in the forma tion of the skull and of the pelvis. So strikingly do men differ physically, that Blumenbach and Cuvier arranged them under the five following races: 1. The Caucasian race, of all colors, fair, florid, and dark,so named be cause it was supposed that the Caucasian range of mountains was their centre. 2. the Mongolian race, of olive complexion, whose seat was the great central elevated plain of Asia. 3. The Ethiopian race, of deep black complex. ion, those in Africa south of the Atlas range. 4. The Malay or Oceanic race, a little darker than the Mongoli. ans, the origin of which was a peninsula, but which inhabit a vast series of islands, scattered through the great

The librarian of the Prince of Condé, Isaac Peyrere, accused Moses of teaching the creation of two species of man. Dr. Good replies: "A cautious perusal of the Mosaic narrative will, I think, incontestibly prove, that the two accounts of the creation of man refer to one and the same fact, to which the historian merely returns, in the seventh verse of the second chapter, for the purpose of giving it a more detailed consideration; for it is expressly asserted in the fifth, or preceeding verse but one, as the immediate reason for the creation of Adam and Eve, that at that time there was not a man to till the ground;' while as to the existence of artificers, competent to the formation of the first rude instruments of husbandry, and a few patches of mankind scattered over regions adjoining that in which Cain resided, at the period of his fratricide, it should be recollected that this first fall of man by the hand of man did not take place till one hundred and twenty-nine years after the creation of Adam; for it was in his one bundred and thirtieth year that Seth was given to him in the place of Abel; an interval of time sufficient, especially if we take into consideration the pecular fecundity of both animals and vegetables in their primeval state, for a multiplication of the race of man to many thousand souls."Book of Nature, Harpers' Ed., p. 204.

ocean that stretches from Madagascar to Easter Is and 5th, the iron-rust, copper-colored savages of Ame Though these races are subdivided, and one race shades off into the other, yet the aforesaid classific is very convenient. Look at each race at its ce and there is no difficulty in distinguishing it from e other; but at the circumference of the circle the r blend.

Now the language, dress, manners, religious opini &c., which make the nations distinguishable, are of consequence, in respect to our topic. They are acqu peculiarities. But when we come to the formation their physical structure, we are told that it is not so ea accounted for. Says Professor Carpenter, (Human P siology, p. 71), "It has been a favorite idea, among th who wish to excuse the horrors of slavery and the ex pation of savage tribes, that the races thus treated mi be considered as inferior species, incapable of being rai by any treatment to our own elevation; and thus fall legitimately under the domination of superior races, j as the lower animals have been placed by the Creator subservience to man. This doctrine, which had its orig in a desire to justify as expedient what could not be fended as morally right, finds no support from scienti inquiries conducted in an enlarged spirit." But Carpe ter utters an opinion, not an oracle; and though his opi ion is entitled to great weight, and he gives strong re sons for it, men of equal research have taken the oth side of the question. A book has been lately compil from the writings of Agassiz and other distinguish naturalists, who take that side. Moses, they inform u gives a fair account of the origin of one race, but ho shall we account for the origin of the other four? N doubt, the work is learned and able; but I cannot co sider it otherwise than a scholar-like mistake. "Mankin is one," as Theodore Parker expresses it. Human natu is everywhere identical. Age, country, color, circun stance, condition-these modify the same element at th bottom. The races may be diverse, as my five finger but they are one as my hand is one.

But what reasons are there for believing that all me sprang from one parent stock? These: The averag

period of life is every where the same; the period of embryonic life the same; all are subject to the same diseases, sporadic, contagious, and epidemic. Furthermore, the different races are of the same instincts; amid all diversities, we find all the faculties of mind, reason, imagination, memory, judgment; our language is traced back to a common root; all races have a sense of dependence; they love, hate, hope, fear, and have some idea of gods, or a God, and a Providence.

There is an argument in favor of the unity of the race, that carries conviction to my mind, deduced from the story of the Jews. Eighteen hundred years ago these were of one color, one form, and of one country. Their hair, skull, pelvis, &c., were as nearly alike—so naturalists tell us as these parts are in any people. But how is it now? For eighteen centuries they have been scattered among the nations, a proverb and a byword. Persecuted people! Only Omniscience could reveal all the wrongs that have been heaped on them. Burned by the suns and fanned by the winds of all countries and climes, they have changed into as many colors as there are different races. Among the whites, they are white; among the blacks they are black; and so of all intermediate hues. Their hair has changed, the skull, the pelvis. This one fact, in my mind, settles the question, that the physical variations come, not because the races sprang from different progenitors, but because of different habits and climes.

Let us look especially at our difference of color, simply as a physiologist would view the matter. The skin of man is composed of three layers of membrane: the epidermis tissue, (that portion which is raised in case of a blister), the true skin, (cutis vera), and the epitheleum. Now mingled with the epidermic cells we find pigmentcells, the function of which is to secrete the paint,2 (rite mucosum), that gives the hue to different races of men.3 Let me quote Professor Carpenter again. (p. 133, &c.) :

2 Under some circumstances, this pigment becomes irregular in its secretion. Hence, it is not uncommon to see females, that are usually very light, the color of iron rust during gestation. Hence, also from causes that physiologists explain, there are white Negroes, spotted Negroes, and Europeans with black patches of skin.

3 Perhaps I ought to add, that in warm countries, the liver is excited to a more abundant secretion of bile than in colder ones, and that this

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