178 



SV(i!E ETHNOLOGIC A E. 



ry, yet the simultaneous effort of many minds is fast bringing us toward 

 an accurate science. 



Yet there are obstacles in the way. Unfortunately, no subject in- 

 volves so many ulterior considerations of a momentous and exciting 

 character. It is difficult to approach it with a mind not pre-occupied by 

 fixed opinions and even stubborn prejudices. I have felt this myself, 

 and have seen it in others. Our supercilious contempt for those we 

 deem inferior to us, rouses us to resistance, when our absolute parity is 

 asserted. The inherent disposition to find a reason to gloss over with 

 a color of right the wrong we daily practice, may also influence us. On 

 the other hand, the denial of the unity of the great family of man strikes 

 a blow, at first sight so serious, at our cherished religious and social 

 principles, that we can scarcely come with calmness to its consideration. 

 It appears little less than profanation, that, when our hearts are opened 

 toward our great brotherhood, and Reason (Vernunft) combines with rev- 

 elation to proclaim the truth of the sentiment, the mere physical philos- 

 opher, based on his narrow islet of the Understanding (Verstand) should 

 hold out to us his dry bone or shred of rete mucosinn, and ask us, on 

 their authority, to negate the evidence we believe to be the highest. Yet 

 we should recollect, that, if his islet is narrow, it stands firm amidst an 

 ocean of illusion, with its foundation far down in the central depth. 

 Nature cannot lie. It is "the art of God," and a mode of operation of 

 the Spirit of Truth. Our proper inquiry is first, is the alleged fact real- 

 ly fact, and if so, are the deductions drawn from it, legitimate } In or- 

 der to the first inquiry, we must have free and unoccupied minds, and I 

 believe, that, if we bring them to this subject, we will find nothing in 

 the results of ethnological investigations to militate with the Christian 

 theory of the parity and fraternity of the whole race. I could not pre- 

 tend to discuss so ample a topic in a few disjointed notices, even had I 

 the ability to do it. My object is merely to throw out a few sugges- 

 tions from time to time, none of which will probably have the charm of 

 novelty, except to those whose reading on the subject has been limited. 



One of the primary doctrines taught us is the origin of all men from 

 a single pair, whose seat was somewhere in Central or North-Western 

 Asia. The question arises, does the Bible teach beyond dispute, this 

 doctrine } There are those who doubt, and even those who deny it. 

 Among the former I may mention Mr. Lawrence, (JYat. Hist, of Man,) 

 and among the latter, Bory de St. Vincent, who denies that the Negros 

 and Australians are a part of the '■'■race JidamiqueP'' Voltaire and his 

 school, who also take the latter view, are not to be regarded as men of 

 science, and have therefore, no authority. Among the earliest specula- 



