A DA M I T E S — A ND P R EA DA M ITES , L D A LE! A NDER WI NCHE LL , L . S! R ACUSE , N . ! o H N T R O B E R T j _ . S . 1 878 . P r ic e . 1 5 C e n t s . l a M 0 A Po p u lar D isc u ss1o n t C O NC E R N I N G T h e R e m o te R e p re s e n ta tiv e s o f th e H u m a n S p e c ie s a n d the ir R e l a ti o n to the l i l A d a m B i b c a . —E \f A E! A N ER WI NCHE LL D L D LL , . , ’ P m ’x mr o Geolo a n d 20510 in S raczzxf Un iversz v a n d o H is/01 7m l fi f gy 57 y é , f ’ Geo/Ogy a zz a 2051050! in 171 8 V [O riginally pub lished in the Northern Christian A dvoca te ! S ! SE N ! R A C U , . H N T B E T S . J O . R O R 1 878 . NE P R I NTED B! M A STE RS STO , S SE N ! . ! R A C U , . t t t mmqr trai Eqraiamiis, H A PT C E R I . A S A A I D T H M A N G C O U S U C . 1 6 b oo k in I n 55 a small appe ared Paris , which had for i ts t itle “ ” - f - m o . n the unheard subj ect , Pre Ada ite s I t was writte in Latin , ' ’ ' an d i ts full title was as follows : P ree szz ’e E x ercz tatzo ' ’ ' ' ' ’ su er Vfrszbus duaa z mo dfcz mo l eriza ef (Zed /120 uarto (tipith uz n fl p a , q , / g ’ ’ ' ’ ‘ to/ e P a n/i a R I/1072 ul y : z mzu zmzu r P rz m m n : E zs ( D . d O 05 l c i H o i g p , g te A dana /m 5071 0975 b oo k an . The appeared anonymou sly ; and those acqu ainted with the sp irit o f the domin an t eccl esiasticism r o f that date w il l readily divine the motive of its au thor . I t ve y b P e rere soon became known , howeve r , that it was writ ten y La y , w a e P r riu e e s. a D u tch ecclesiastic , hose n ame when L tiniz d was y The work was an attemp t to p rove from bib lical au thority that a men m u st have lived on the earth before Adam . Within a year p are o f p e d its complement , from th e p en the same au tho r , in which ‘ th e whole subj ect was newly argued an d more tho ro ughly disc ussed. This was a “ Theol ogical Sy stem based on the Hypothesis of Pre tw o ma Adam ites . The works y now occasionally be foun d in l . on e vo ume T he Syracuse University po ssesses a copy . o f The following year a book appeared in London , the title r o f t o f a - A damitre which is a literal t anslat ion hat Pr e , bu t it Th ol ic um o f Pe rerius inclu des al so th e Systema e og y . In the undeveloped stage of scientific inqu i ry existi ng tw o and 0 a quarte r cen tu rie s ago , it is ce rtain that no in vestigation res p ect ’ ing l re - Adamites coul d have been cond ucted o n t rue anth r o p o A DA MI TE S A ND ! P R E AD A MI TE S 4 . I n logical princ iples . Europe the B ible was the sou rce and basi s f Whatever the o all belief. ecclesiastical au thorities had accepted i t l Whatever an d san ctione d was h eld o be taugh t by the B i b e . the ecclesiastical au thorit ies did not understand the B ible to teach w as of den ou nced as h eresy . The me aning the B ible was ext racte d o f accord ing to th e canon s grammar . Th ere are doctors high i n au thority amongst u s at this day , who maintain that grammatical structu re an d H ebre w u sage are s uffici en t to l igh t the way to the f f t I meanin g o th e dark est passages o revel a ion . suppose a knowl edge o f Hebrew h istory an d u sages is admitted to shed its ligh t u pon int erp retation , becau se the text i s generall y occu pied with W J ewish affairs . Bu t the in sp ired ri ters have sometimes plu nged into the mid st o f th e p rofou n d an d mysteriou s facts of science all our know l ed e o f why n ot , then , summon g to the task evoking th e o f ! I and m ean ing th e t ext m ain tain , again st the n arrow pern i cions dogm a that the B ibl e i s sufficient everywh ere to interpre t a o n t u n itself, th t , the con rary , it was ordained to be in te rpreted der the c o ncen trate d l igh t o f all the learn ing which has been - I created by a God given in telligence in man . believe that the all t Bibl e w as writ ten for tim e , an d t ha its mean ing is so deep an d so rich that the accumulated l earn ing of the latest generation o f m n e will be un able to exhau st it . tw o No t so the contemporaries of P eyrerius . Even whe re or more diffe ren t m ean in gs of the tex t were e qu ally grammatical an d legitimate , th at was hel d to be th e tru e m eaning which accorded s be t wi th cu rren t bel iefs . An al ternat ive interpretation , when once promulgated , was h eld to be d ivine tru th , as absolute and au thoritat ive as if n o oth er in terp retation were possible . Per haps th e well -establ ished in fallibility of the chu rch had an interest No in con sistency . m atte r if i t concerned a fact of a pu rely sci en tific o n or secular character , the verdict was hel d as bindin g the conscience as if the chu rch had been in possession of all p o s sible scien ce . According to th e evidence t ill then available for the formation “ u of op inion , it had been hel d th at Adam was absol tely th e fi rst be in g th at could be calle d a man ; an d that he w as create d in of the possession a cul tu re such as we call enligh ten ed . From . to time immemorial , biblical scholars had u nderstood th is be th e 5 A SA GA CIO US D UT CH MAN . f on o . meaning Genesis I t was , therefore , only bibl ical grou nds - a th at P eyre rius based the n ew doctrin e o f Pre Adam ites . S t . P u l to o f 1 2th was held teach the existence men before A dam , in the , 1 3 th and i 4 th ve rses of th e 5th chapter of h is ep istl e to th e R 0 o n e man s , Wherefore , as by man sin en tered into the world , etc Now i t is no part o f my pu rpose to exh ibit th e scrip tu ral argu — o n men t one side o r the other . M any of m y readers can d o that u better than I . My p rpose is to bring forward certain scien tific a l eave e x e esis f cts having a bearing on th at qu est ion , an d to g to summon these importan t facts legitimately to its aid . Bu t th e P e reriu s o f writin gs of y p ossess , in the p resen t statu s sc ience , an x to e t rao rdin ary interest . H e was th e first promulgate to the o f - of world the idea Pre Adam ites . T he fi rst en un ciator the ide a was p rompte d only by bibl ical considerat ion s , and he has given at l east an ou tl ine of t he scriptural argu men t in support o f the h o f hypot esis .