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that would not apply to sink the progeny of the European of 
the present day, dwelling for a few centuries in Africa or 
Australia, to the level of the uncivilized aborigines of those 
countries? These are some of the considerations that have 
proved stumbling-blocks in the way of the mere philosophers 
to a recognition of the authority of Scripture history ; and it 
will be well for the cause of Biblical truth that they should be 
removed, by confining the primeval records of the Old 
Testament to the history of the man created in the image of 
God, and his race. Thus it is that the doctrine of the plurality 
of race is established by the primeval history of Adam's race, 
which has been preserved for us in the Book of Genesis. We 
may add that it is also in accordance with the great doctrines 
of the atonement, redemption, and justification by and through 
the second Adam, and with all that has been written by the 
prophets and apostles of things that were, and are, and are to 
be. But this is not the time, or perhaps the place, to discuss 
so large and important a subject. 
Another question, somewhat allied to the last under con- 
sideration, has occupied the attention of philosophers, whose 
solution is also unattainable by unaided human research and 
reasoning* — the origin of language. Some contend that the 
various families of language throughout the earth have had a 
common origin, while others insist that they have had a 
variety of origins. It is admitted by those who uphold the 
unity of language, that all attempt to jprove a common origin 
is vain and futile ; the utmost that can be maintained is the 
possibility of a common origin. This is the proposition of 
Boeghtlink, and approved of by Max Muller and Bunsen, all 
of them strong advocates for the possibility of all languages 
having had a common origin. The question, therefore, is not 
to be solved by human reason ; and we may be permitted to 
consult the pages of Scripture to ascertain the true state of 
the case. 
Those who uphold the unity of languages on scientific prin- 
ciples maintain that the order in which they came into exist- 
ence was, that the agglutinate languages of central and 
northern Asia, the earliest member of which was the Chinese 
monosyllabic, were the first, and were followed by the family 
of inflectional languages, which comprise the Indo-European 
and Semitic languages — the languages of civilization and. 
literature. The more perfect were developed from the less 
perfect. Such is the basis on which the theory of a common 
origin of languages rests. Is it confirmed by Scripture ? 
Adam had a language in the Garden of Eden. The circum- 
stance is specially noted in the second chapter of Genesis. 
