457 
That language was, of course, of the same family as the 
language of his descendants, the Hebrews. The language, 
therefore, of Adam must have been inflectional, and originated 
within the last 6,000 years, and was not developed from a 
monosyllabic or agglutinate language. The agglutinate 
languages must, therefore, have had a different origin ; for no 
one has ever suggested the possibility of an agglutinate or 
monosyllabic language being derived from an inflectional. It 
may be said that the diversity of languages may be accounted 
for as having originated within the last 4,000 years by the con- 
fusion of language at Shinar. But a consideration of the tenth 
and eleventh chapters of Genesis will show that the dispersion 
at Shinar was a tribal separation of the three families of Shem, 
Ham, and Japhet, for the carrying out of the divine purposes 
declared concerning them through their father Noah, and was 
caused by the disruption of the primitive language into the 
three families of inflectional languages — the Semitic, the 
Japhetic, and the Hamitic — all of which were at one time in 
existence, and two of which remain to the present day, to 
attest the truth of the miracle. The inflectional family of 
language has existed since the creation of Adam, and was, no 
doubt, one of those special gifts conferred upon him, and 
through him, on his race, as a necessary qualification for the 
great work of replenishing or civilizing the earth, in which 
they are still engaged. 
Let these principles prevail, and let the voice of the 
mysterious opening pages of our Bible be thus heard in the 
discussion of such questions as the origin of species, of the 
races of mankind, and of their languages ; and their sound 
will go forth with a power and authority never before known. 
The philosopher has hitherto been endeavouring to construct 
primeval history from the relics of the remote past, comparing 
them with existing phenomena, ignoring altogether that 
strange primeval history of our race which has been written 
and preserved, in a wondrous manner, for our learning. And 
why ? Chiefly, if not wholly, because the sacred record has 
been interpreted to pronounce dogmatically that the Adam of 
Genesis, who came into the world 6,000 years ago, was the 
first born, and progenitor after the flesh, of all mankind, from 
the highly civilized European to the low and abject Hottentot 
and Bushman, instead of that section of it represented by the 
Caucasian, whose mission it was to increase, and multiply, and 
replenish the earth. This erroneous construction is so opposed 
to all well-ascertained and settled physical and linguistic facts, 
as to have been destructive of the authority of that portion of 
the Scriptures in the estimation of the philosopher. Let the 
