Let it be premised in the outset that this distinction of race is one of _variety_ and not of _species_. It sits upon the surface and does not penetrate to the inner nature. All these races have the same anatomical structure; the same physical organs; and what is far more, the same intellectual and moral nature. Every-where they exhibit the common effects of the fall of Adam; the same depravity of moral nature; the same common need of redemption by Christ.――――These are cardinal traits and tests. What is the color of the skin compared with the stamp of God’s image upon the very nature itself? 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. CHAPTER V. THE SABBATH.