THE UNITY OF THE HUMAN RACES.

(Review of Agassiz's Theory of the Races.)

His exegesis is as curious as his logic. He asserts triumphantly that the Bible is solely an account of the white race, and makes no reference at all to the other, and, as he terms them, the non-historical races. We should be glad to know how he has discovered that Adam and Noah belonged to the white race at all. The best critics have been unable to discover any evidence for it from Scripture; and scientific grounds, we are disposed to think, indicate the primitive type as intermediate between the white and the black. But, however this may be, the assertion that the Bible sanctions the original plurality of the races is amazing. Is it not expressly affirmed, that before the creation of Adam there was not a man to till the ground? That when he was created, man (the generic term always used to denote the whole human race) was created? That he was the head of the human race-the one by whom sin and death entered the world? If, then, the non-historical races sin and die, have they not these proofs of their connection with Adam? Is not Eve called the mother of all living? And did Moses know of no other living races but the white one? Does he not expressly declare (Deut. xxxii. 8,) that the divided nations of the earth are the sons of Adam? Does he not refer the Ethiopian and Egyptian races to Noah through his sons Cush and Mizraim? Is not the physical characteristic of the Cushite unequivocally intimated when it is said that he cannot change his skin? Did not Christ expressly endorse this when he taught monogamy from the original unity of the race in Adam and Eve; and when, to fulfil the prophecies respecting Ethiopia, China, (Sinim,) and the islands of the Sea, he commanded his disciples to go and preach the Gospel to every creature? And can words declare it, if Paul's did not, when in opposition to the Athenian doctrine of a separate, autochthonal creation for Attica, he declares that God has made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the face of the whole earth? Is not the entire Bible-teaching about sin, the moral government of God, the fall of man, and redemption in Christ, based on this assumption? If we exclude the non-historic races from all connection with Adam, must we not, by the express language of Paul, ("as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive,") also exclude them from all connection with Christ? And if, on the contrary, they are expressly affirmed to be connected with Christ, does not this also affirm their connection with Adam? Must not a cause that requires such exegesis as this be pressed for support?

That Professor Agassiz was aware how wide and deep was the sweep of his views, is apparent from his fling at mock philanthropy; his assertion of the original aud necessary inferiority of the African race; his avowed inability to decide what is the best education that can be given them; and his magisterial denunciation of the injudiciousness of the attempt to force the peculiarities of our present white civilization on all the nations of the world. The plain meaning of all this is, that the benevolent and missionary operations of the church, in their application to any other than the white race, are foolish and futile attempts to traverse the immutable ordination of the Creator.

We cannot trust ourselves to speak of sentiments like these as perhaps they really deserve. There is something in this cold-blooded and haughty

assignment of more than half the human race to a doom of hopeless, irreversible degradation, for time and eternity, and this by the very act and arrangement of their original creation, from which the Christian heart recoils with indignation and disgust. We thank God that the nations sitting in darkness are not left to the tender mercies of human philosophy, and that its endorsement is not needed to warrant us to go forth into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.

And we know of no more unanswerable argument for the absolute unity of the race than that furnished by the very phenomena that call for and warrant the efforts so sneeringly derided by the learned Professor! Alas! the same sad proofs of brotherhood in sin and sorrow, of common parentage and common fall, of depravity transmitted by universal and hereditary taint, meet us in every race. The same wail of remorseful sorrow comes up in mysterious plaint from all; the same mournful memories of primeval purity now soiled and dishonoured; the same gleaming visions of an Eden innocence that has faded away, leaving only these mute longings after its unforgotten brightness; the dire and terrific phantoms of guilt that come forth to awe and affright; the same deep yearnings after the unseen and the eternal in the soul's deepest stirrings; and the same sublime hopes that shoot upward to the "high and terrible crystal,". —are found alike in every race of every hue. The unspeakable gift of Christ and him crucified, is as wide in its efficacy as these mournful symptoms of malady. The lofty intellects of a Pascal and a Newton do not grasp it with a keener relish and a deeper sympathy than the besotted Caffre in the lonely wilds of Africa, or the crouching Pariah in the steaming jungles of India. The Cross is that wondrous talisman that calls forth from every adventitious guise the universal manhood and brotherhood of the races. And when the lowliest African is "born again" in that heavenly birth that links into a a new and holier unity the fallen descendants of the first Adam, he is found to exult with as pure a gladness as the honoured heir of the proudest and noblest blood. O! it is this blessed fact that stands in lofty and indignant rebuke of that cold and cruel philosophy, that would wrest from the humble and the oppressed the only boon that is beyond the grasp of an unfeeling avarice. It is for this reason that we contend so earnestly against this vamping up of the old infidel theories of Voltaire. It is because. we believe that its general reception will not only undermine the authority of the Bible, but also cut the sinews of the noblest charities, and the purest pieties, of our age; sink the unfortunate and degraded into a deeper and more hopeless degradation; give a plausible plea to cruelty and avarice to rivet tighter the fetters of oppression, and fling a pall of despairing gloom over the brightest visions of the future, unfolded on the canvas of prophecy; it is for these reasons that we oppose the theory with such earnestness and warmth.

But having shown, as we think unanswerably, that the old and admitted principles of natural history require us to regard the varieties of the human race as belonging to the same species, and having shown that the last and most ingenious evasion of this argument is an utter failure, we may sit down content with what the Word of God has clearly asserted, and the vast majority of the first naturalists of the world have believed that men

were not the offspring of diverse origins, but that God has made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the face of the whole earth.-Foreign Review.

Our Open Page.

FOREKNOWLEDGE AND FATE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE DEFENDER.

DEAR SIR, As you have opened a page for all sides of the question, I venture to address you on a subject which I cannot reconcile. Mr. Spurgeon, who represents a large class, and who is creating a great sensation at the present time, has asserted that all men are elected at birth either for bliss or torment, and that one who is born for heaven, however much he may deviate from the right path for a time, must be finally brought into the fold of Christ by the guardian angel destined to watch over him from the commencement of his existence; at the same time the rev. gentleman charges the non-elect with refusing to partake of the eternal glory offered to them, and denounces them accordingly. Without adverting farther to this glaring inconsistency, I will proceed to what appears to me to be equally difficult of comprehension. Mr. Spurgeon's views infer a foreknowledge by the Creator of all future events, and lead to the idea of a system in the Divine government of the universe; if such be the case, the Almighty must have had a definite plan in the formation of the world and its inhabitants, which could not be deviated from, consequently he must have known, and indeed pre-arranged the actions of men, rendering them thus absolute creatures of necessity. Hence what is termed the fall of man, must have been a part of the plan of creation, and if all men through Adam are cursed, then must all men be born expressly and intentionally to be cursed. In support of this theory we are supposed to have prophecies of events which are to take place up to the end of the world. On the other hand, if we look at the Old Testament, it would appear that God is supposed to have no fore knowledge of events as the promises there held out are all conditional, and only to be fulfilled in the event of man doing as he was commanded. The beginning of Genesis shows this to be the case, for man was promised eternal life if he abstained from eating the fruit of a certain tree, and his disobeying the commandment he had received, frustrated at once all the designs of his maker. This theory, however, destroys the omnipotence of the Almighty by reducing his intellect in a manner to the level of our own, for if he did not know the developments of his own creation, he could have had no plan whatever, and must have left everything to chance. In this way there can be no appointed time for anything, and the prophecies can have no meaning, or at least their fulfilment must be very doubtful.

If the doctrine of election be true, we must throw free-will on one side, and indeed man's free-will under any circumstances appears to be very limited, it is more physical than moral. We may eat, drink, laugh, sing, walk, &c., or refuse to do so, (or at least we appear to be able to do so,) but when the mind is concerned, the case is very different, belief is the result of conviction, and a man cannot believe but according to that conviction which depends moreover almost entirely on circumstances over which he has no control. There are undoubtedly many of the most zealous protestants who would be equally eager in the cause of Roman Catholicism, had they been brought up in it, and learned to regard it in a different light; the same may be observed of Mahometanism, and every other creed. I have known believers in the Trinity become Unitarians, and simply because they were accidentally thrown into the society of persons of that belief; had they never heard of a new faith, they would still have been under the influence of their earlier impressions, consequently every man's be

assignment of more than half the human race to a doom of hopeless, irreversible degradation, for time and eternity, and this by the very act and arrangement of their original creation, from which the Christian heart recoils with indignation and disgust. We thank God that the nations sitting in darkness are not left to the tender mercies of human philosophy, and that its endorsement is not needed to warrant us to go forth into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.

And we know of no more unanswerable argument for the absolute unity of the race than that furnished by the very phenomena that call for and warrant the efforts so sneeringly derided by the learned Professor! Alas! the same sad proofs of brotherhood in sin and sorrow, of common parentage and common fall, of depravity transmitted by universal and hereditary taint, meet us in every race. The same wail of remorseful sorrow comes up in mysterious plaint from all; the same mournful memories of primeval purity now soiled and dishonoured; the same gleaming visions of an Eden innocence that has faded away, leaving only these mute longings after its unforgotten brightness; the dire and terrific phantoms of guilt that come forth to awe and affright; the same deep yearnings after the unseen and the eternal in the soul's deepest stirrings; and the same sublime hopes that shoot upward to the "high and terrible crystal," are found alike in every race of every hue. The unspeakable gift of Christ and him crucified, is as wide in its efficacy as these mournful symptoms of malady. The lofty intellects of a Pascal and a Newton do not grasp it with a keener relish and a deeper sympathy than the besotted Caffre in the lonely wilds of Africa, or the crouching Pariah in the steaming jungles of India. The Cross is that wondrous talisman that calls forth from every adventitious guise the universal manhood and brotherhood of the races. And when the lowliest African is "born again" in that heavenly birth that links into a a new and holier unity the fallen descendants of the first Adam, he is found to exult with as pure a gladness as the honoured heir of the proudest and noblest blood. O! it is this blessed fact that stands in lofty and indignant rebuke of that cold and cruel philosophy, that would wrest from the humble and the oppressed the only boon that is beyond the grasp of an unfeeling avarice. It is for this reason that we contend so earnestly against this vamping up of the old infidel theories of Voltaire. It is because. we believe that its general reception will not only undermine the authority of the Bible, but also cut the sinews of the noblest charities, and the purest pieties, of our age; sink the unfortunate and degraded into a deeper and more hopeless degradation; give a plausible plea to cruelty and avarice to rivet tighter the fetters of oppression, and fling a pall of despairing gloom over the brightest visions of the future, unfolded on the canvas of prophecy; it is for these reasons that we oppose the theory with such earnestness and warmth.

But having shown, as we think unanswerably, that the old and admitted principles of natural history require us to regard the varieties of the human race as belonging to the same species, and having shown that the last and most ingenious evasion of this argument is an utter failure, we may sit down content with what the Word of God has clearly asserted, and the vast majority of the first naturalists of the world have believed that men

were not the offspring of diverse origins, but that God has made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the face of the whole earth.-Foreign Review.

Our Open Page.

FOREKNOWLEDGE AND FATE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE DEFENDER.

DEAR SIR, As you have opened a page for all sides of the question, I venture to address you on a subject which I cannot reconcile. Mr. Spurgeon, who represents a large class, and who is creating a great sensation at the present time, has asserted that all men are elected at birth either for bliss or torment, and that one who is born for heaven, however much he may deviate from the right path for a time, must be finally brought into the fold of Christ by the guardian angel destined to watch over him from the commencement of his existence; at the same time the rev. gentleman charges the non-elect with refusing to partake of the eternal glory offered to them, and denounces them accordingly. Without adverting farther to this glaring inconsistency, I will proceed to what appears to me to be equally difficult of comprehension. Mr. Spurgeon's views infer a foreknowledge by the Creator of all future events, and lead to the idea of a system in the Divine government of the universe; if such be the case, the Almighty must have had a definite plan in the formation of the world and its inhabitants, which could not be deviated from, consequently he must have known, and indeed pre-arranged the actions of men, rendering them thus absolute creatures of necessity. Hence what is termed the fall of mau, must have been a part of the plan of creation, and if all men through Adam are cursed, then must all men be born expressly and intentionally to be cursed. In support of this theory we are supposed to have prophecies of events which are to take place up to the end of the world. On the other hand, if we look at the Old Testament, it would appear that God is supposed to have no fore knowledge of events as the promises there held out are all conditional, and only to be fulfilled in the event of man doing as he was commanded. The beginning of Genesis shows this to be the case, for man was promised eternal life if he abstained from eating the fruit of a certain tree, and his disobeying the commandment he had received, frustrated at once all the designs of his maker. This theory, however, destroys the omnipotence of the Almighty by reducing his intellect in a manner to the level of our own, for if he did not know the developments of his own creation, he could have had no plan whatever, and must have left everything to chance. In this way there can be no appointed time for anything, and the prophecies can have no meaning, or at least their fulfilment must be very doubtful.

If the doctrine of election be true, we must throw free-will on one side, and indeed man's free-will under any circumstances appears to be very limited, it is more physical than moral. We may eat, drink, laugh, sing, walk, &c., or refuse to do so, (or at least we appear to be able to do so,) but when the mind is concerned, the case is very different, belief is the result of conviction, and a man cannot believe but according to that conviction which depends moreover almost entirely on circumstances over which he has no control. There are undoubtedly many of the most zealous protestants who would be equally eager in the cause of Roman Catholicism, had they been brought up in it, and learned to regard it in a different light; the same may be observed of Mahometanism, and every other creed. I have known believers in the Trinity become Unitarians, and simply because they were accidentally thrown into the society of persons of that belief; had they never heard of a new faith, they would still have been under the influence of their earlier impressions, consequently every man's be