sitive
discoveries in the future compelling us to put further back the date of
man's first appearance upon earth, we have to suppose a beginning before
the time of Adam, we are reminded that there is an allusion in the sixth
chapter of the book called Genesis to "the sons of God" and the
"daughters of men." Now this passage cannot conceivably refer to angels;
nor can we ignore its existence, however doubtful we may feel as to its
meaning.[2]

[Footnote 1: I take these figures from Mr. R.S. Pattison.]

[Footnote 2: The text which speaks of God making "of one blood all
nations for to dwell on the face of the earth," would naturally apply to
the races existing when the speaker uttered the words: it would be as
unreasonable to press such a text into the service of _any_ theory of
the creation of man, as it was absurd for the Inquisition to suppose
that the Psalmist, when asserting that God had made the "round world so
fast that it could not be moved," was contradicting the fact of the
earth's revolution round the sun.]

It can hardly be denied that such a text opens out the _possibility_ of
an earlier race than that of Adam; in that case the creation of Adam
would be detailed as the creation of the direct progenitor of Noah,
whose three sons still give names (in ethnological language) to the main
great races of the earth, with whom exclusively the Bible history is
concerned, and especially as the direct progenitor of that race of whom
came the Israelites, and in due time the promised seed--the Messiah. I
do not say this _is_ so, nor even that I accept the view for my own
part; I only allude to the possibility, without ignoring any of the
difficulties--none of which, however, are insuperable--which gather
round it.

It is certainly a very remarkable fact that all about this region in
which the Semitic race originated, traditions of Creation somewhat
resembling the account in Genesis, the institution of a week of seven
days, and a Sabbath or day of rest from labour, existed from very early
times; and with these traditions, a belief in distinct races, one of
which owned a special connection with, or relation to, the Creator. Here
I may appeal to the work of Mr. George Smith and his discoveries of
tablets from the ancient libraries of Assyria. Originally, the country
to which I have alluded consisted of Assyria in the centre and Babylonia
to the south; while to the east of Assyria was a country partly plain
and partly hi