That these races intermingle and cross indefinitely is sufficient proof that they are only varieties, and by no means distinct species.——Yet this of itself does not prove that all men have descended from one first man—Adam. For the Lord had power to create five or ten Adams, each the head-center of as many distinct races, yet all, of the one species, man. So far therefore as respects the creative power of God or the constitution of man, this is an open question: What then are the facts?
1. The Scriptures imply with the strongest form of implication that the Adam of Genesis is the father—the one only father—of the whole human race. The narrative of the creation; of the fall; and of the first promise of redemption—all imply this. Paul implies it in those passages in which he compares the ruin of the race through the one man Adam with the salvation provided for the race through the greater second Man, Jesus Christ. The strong passages are Rom. 5: 12–19 and 1 Cor. 15: 21, 22.
2. The diversities of race may be accounted for as produced by either or both of two causes; (a.) Climatic influences; (b.) Sporadic, abnormal peculiarities, appearing suddenly, and perpetuating themselves by inheritance.
3. The geographical distribution of the race from one head-center, Adam, is certainly possible. There is some reason to suppose that the relative position of the seas, oceans, and continents at their points of nearest approach may have been different in the earlier ages from the present.
4. The proofs of a common language from which all known human languages have been derived conspire to sustain the common origin of all the human family.
This list of proofs might be extended and the argument from these points greatly expanded.
On the subordinate question whether Noah was the common ancestor of all the races living since his day, the answer turns mainly on the point of the universality of the deluge; or rather, on this precise point—Did the deluge destroy all the living men except those saved with Noah in the ark?
This question will be considered in its place.