ADAM said to have written to Agbarus, king of Edessa, in answer to a request from that monarch that he would come to heal a disease under which he laboured. Some few historians have maintained the genuineness of these letters, but most writers, including the great majority of Roman Catholic divines, reject them as spurious; and there is good reason to believe that the whole chapter of Eusebius which contains these documents is tself an interpolation. ACTS OF THE APOSTLES, SPURIOUS. Of these several are extant, others are lost, or ADAM 23 23 Let us make man [Adam] in our image;' (i. 27), And God created the man [the Adam] in his own image.' The next instance (ri. 7) expresses the source of derivation, a character or property; namely, the material of which the human body was formed: And the Lord God [Jehovah Elohim] formed the man [the Adam] dust from the ground [the adamah]. The meaning of the primary word is, most probably, any kind of reddish tint, as a beautiful human complexion (Lam. iv. 7); but its various derivatives are applied to different objects of a red or brown therefore, is an appellative noun made into a hue, or approaching to such. The word Adam, the other instances in the second and third chapproper one. It is further remarkable that, in all ters of Genesis, which are nineteen, it is put with the article, the man, or the Adam. originally employed for this purpose, the very AD'AD is the name of the chief deity of the cries of human beings herding together in a con- ADAD-RIM'MON, properly HADAD-RIMMON (a garden of pomegranates), a city in the valley of Jezreel, where was fought the famous battle between King Josiah and Pharaoh-Necho (2 Kings xxiii. 29; Zech. xii. 11). Adad-rimmon was afterwards called Maximianopolis, in honour of the emperor Maximian. It was seventeen Roman miles from Cæsarea, and ten miles from Jezreel. A'DAH (adornment, comeliness): 1. one of the wives of Lamech (Gen. iv. 19); 2. one of the wives of Esau, daughter of Elon the Hittite (Gen. xxxvi. 4). She is called Judith in Gen. xxvi. 34. AD'AM, the word by which the Bible designates the first human being. It is evident that, in the earliest use of language, the vocal sound employed to designate the first perceived object, of any kind, would be an appellative, and would be formed from something known or apprehended to be a characteristic property of that object. The word would, therefore, be at once the appellative and the proper name. But when other objects of the same kind were discovered, or subsequently came into existence, difficulty would be felt; it would become necessary to guard against confusion, and the inventive faculty would be called upon to obtain a discriminative term for each and singular individual, while some equally appropriate term would be fixed upon for the whole kind. Different methods of effecting these two purposes might be resorted to, but the most natural would be to retain the original term in its simple state, for the first individual: and to make some modification of it by prefixing another sound, or by subjoining one, or by altering the vowel or vowels in the body of the word, in order to have a term for the kind, and for the separate individuals of the kind. This reasoning is exemplified in the first applications of the word before us: (Gen. i. 26), thesis which, apart from all testimony of revelarious reflection. There are other animals, besides man, whose organs are capable of protion, must appear unreasonable to a man of seducing articulate sounds, through a considerable range of variety, and distinctly pronounced. How, then, is it that parrots, jays, and starlings have not among themselves developed an artisive generations, and improved it, both in the culate language, transmitted it to their succesmany generations? Those birds never attempt life-time of the individual and in the series of process on the part of their trainers, and they to speak till they are compelled by a difficult never train each other. necessity of the case, it seems an inev table con- be the universal speech of mankind till after the any families of men which were not involved in the crime of the Babel- builders, they would almost certainly retain the primeval language. The longevity of the men of that period would be a powerful conservative of that language against the slow changes of time. That there were such exceptions seems to be almost an indubitable inference from the fact that Noah long survived the unholy attempt. His faithful piety would not have suffered him to fall into the snare; and it is difficult to suppose that none of his children and descendants would listen to his admonitions, and hold fast their integrity by adhering to him: on the contrary, it is reasonable to suppose that the habit and character of piety were established in many of them. The confusion of tongues, therefore, whatever was the nature of that judicial visitation, would not fall upon that portion of men which was the most orderly, thoughtful, and pious, among whom the second father of mankind dwelt as their acknowledged and revered head. If this supposition be admitted, we can have no difficulty in regarding as the mother of languages, not indeed the Hebrew, absolutely speaking, but that which was the stock whence branched the Hebrew, and its sister tongues, usually called the Shemitic, but more properly, by Dr. Prichard, the Syro-Arabian. It may then be maintained that the actually spoken names of Adam and all the others mentioned in the antediluvian history were those which we have in the Hebrew Bible, very slightly and not at all essentially varied. It is among the clearest deductions of reason, that men and all dependent beings have been created, that is, produced or brought into their first existence by an intelligent and adequately powerful being. A question, however, arises of great interest and importance. Did the Almighty Creator produce only one man and one woman, from whom all other human beings have descended?-or did he create several parental pairs, from whom distinct stocks of men have been derived? The affirmative of the latter position has been maintained by some, and, it must be confessed, not without apparent reason. The manifest and great differences in complexion and figure, which distinguish several races of mankind, are supposed to be such as entirely to forbid the conclusion that they have all descended from one father and one mother. The question is usually regarded as equivalent to this: whether there is only one species of men, or there are several. But we cannot, in strict fairness, admit that the questions are identical. It is hypothetically conceivable that the Adorable God might give existence to any number of creatures, which should all possess the properties that characterize identity of species, even without such differences as constitute varieties, or with any degree of those differences. But the admission of the possibility is not a concession of the reality. So great is the evidence in favour of the derivation of the entire mass of human beings from one pair of ancestors, that it has obtained the suffrage of the men most competent to judge upon a question of comparative anatomy and physiology. The animals which render eminent services to man, and peculiarly depend upon his protection, ADAM are widely diffused- the horse, the dog, the hog, the domestic fowl. Now of these, the varieties in each species are numerous and different, to a degree so great, that an observer ignorant of physiological history would scarcely believe them to be of the same species. But man is the most widely diffused of any animal. In the progress of ages and generations, he has naturalized himself to every climate, and to modes of life which would prove fatal to an individual man suddenly transferred from a remote point of the field. The alterations produced affect every part of the body, internal and external, without extinguishing the marks of the specific identity. A further and striking evidence is, that when persons of different varieties are conjugally united, the offspring, especially in two or three generations, becomes more prolific, and acquires a higher perfection in physical and mental qualities than was found in either of the parental races. From the deepest African black to the finest Caucasian white, the change runs through imperceptible gradations; and, if a middle hue be assumed, suppose some tint of brown, all the varieties of complexion may be explained upon the principle of divergence influenced by outward circumstances. The conclusion may be fairly drawn, in the words of the able translators and illustrators of Baron Cuvier's great work:- We are fully warranted in concluding, both from the comparison of man with inferior animals, so far as the inferiority will allow of such comparison, and, beyond that, by comparing him with himself, that the great family of mankind loudly proclaim a descent, at some period or other, from one common origin.' Thus, by an investigation totally independent of historical authority, we are brought to the conclusion of the inspired writings, that the Creator hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth' (Acts xvii. 26). We shall now follow the course of those sacred documents in tracing the history of the first man, persuaded that their right interpretation is a sure basis of truth. At the same time we shall not reject illustrations from natural history and the reason of particular facts. It is evident upon a little reflection, and the closest investigation confirms the conclusion, that the first human pair must have been created in a state equivalent to that which all subsequent human beings have had to reach by slow degrees, in growth, experience, observation, imitation, and the instruction of others: that is, a state of prime maturity, and with an infusion, concreation, or whatever we may call it, of knowledge and habits, both physical and intellectual, suitable to the place which man had to occupy in the system of creation, and adequate to his necessities in that place. Had it been otherwise, the new beings could not have preserved their animal existence, nor have held rational converse with each other, nor have paid to their Creator the homage of knowledge and love, adoration, and obedience; and reason clearly tells us that the last was the noblest end of existence. Those whom unhappy prejudices lead to reject revelation must either admit this, or must resort to suppositions of palpable ab ADAM surdity and impossibility. It is to be observed that there are two narratives at the beginning of the Mosaic records, different in style and manner, distinct and independent; at first sight somewhat discrepant, but when strictly examined, perfectly compatible, and each one illustrating and completing the other. The first is contained in Gen. i. 1, to ii. 3; and the other, ii. 4, to iv. 26. case with the Scripture history generally, they As is the consist of a few principal facts, detached anecdotes, leaving much of necessary implication which the good sense of the reader is called upon to supply; and passing over large spaces of the history of life, upon which all conjecture would be fruitless. In the second of these narratives we read, 'And Jehovah God formed the man [Heb. the Adam], dust from the ground [ha-adamah], and blew into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living animal' (Gen. ii. 7). Here are two objects of attention, the organic mechanism of the human body, and the vitality with which it was endowed. living animal' sets before us the ORGANIC LIFE which man cannot create nor restore, which of the animal frame, that mysterious something baffles the most acute philosophers to search out its nature, and which reason combines with Scripture to refer to the immediate agency of have our being.' the Almighty-in him we live, and move, and words, God created man in his own image: in The other narrative is contained in these the image of God created he him; male and (resemblance, such as a shadow bears to the female created he them' (Gen. i. 27). The image object which casts it) of God is an expression which breathes at once archaic simplicity and the most recondite wisdom; for what term could the most cultivated and copious language bring forth more suitable to the purpose? It presents to us man as made in a resemblance to the author of his being, a true resemblance, but faint and shadowy; an outline, faithful according to its capacity, yet infinitely remote from the reality: a distant form of the intelligence, wisdom, power, rectitude, goodness, and dominion of the beings with which he is connected man stands in Adorable Supreme. the place of God. We have every reason to To the inferior sentient think that none of them are capable of conceiving a being higher than man. All, in their different ways, look up to him as their superior; the ferocious generally flee before him, afraid to encounter his power, and the gentle court his in serving and pleasing him. protection and show their highest joy to consist degenerate state it is manifest that if we treat the domesticated animals with wisdom and kindEven in our faithful. ness, their attachment is most ardent and Thus had man the shadow of the divine do The attribute of power was also given to him, in minion and authority over the inferior creation. his being made able to convert the inanimate objects and those possessing only the vegetable life, into the instruments and the materials for supplying his wants, and continually enlarging his sphere of command. ance with those substances and their changeful them. The mechanical material, formed (moulded, or arranged, as an artificer models clay or wax) into the human and all other animal bodies, is called dust from the ground.' This would be a natural and easy expression to men in the early ages, before chemistry was known or minute philosophical distinctions were thought of, to convey, in a general form, the idea of earthy matter, the constituent substance of the ground on which we tread. human and every other animal body was formed, To say, that of this the is a position which would be at once the most easily apprehensible to an uncultivated mind, and which yet is the most exactly true upon the highest philosophical grounds. We now know, from chemical analysis, that the animal body is composed, in the inscrutable manner called or ganization, of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitro-trative epistles; gen, lime, iron, sulphur, and phosphorus. Now all these are mineral substances, which in their various combinations form a very large part of the solid ground. The expression which we have rendered comprised in this image of God;' and not only Above all, moral excellence must have been beauty and glory. The Christian inspiration, forming a part of it, but being its crown of is to take place on this side eternity, casts its than which no more perfect disclosure of God light upon this subject: for this apostle Paul, in urging the obligations of Christians to perfect holiness, evidently alludes to the endowments of the first man in two parallel and mutually illusknowledge after the image of HM that created him; the new man which, after [according to] the new man, renewed in GOD, is created in righteousness and true holiness' (Col. iii. 10; Eph. iv. 24). In this perfection of faculties, and with these · ADAM designating of the animals with which he was connected, by appellative words which would both be the help of his memory and assist his mental operations, and thus would be introductory and facilitating to more enlarged applica tions of thought and language. We are further warranted, by the recognised fact of the ancedotal and fragmentary structure of the Scripture history, to regard this as the selected instance for exhibiting a whole kind or class of operations or processes; implying that, in the same or similar manner, the first man was led to understand something of the qualities and relations of high prerogatives of moral existence, did hu- | man nature, in its first subject, rise up from the creating hand. The whole Scripture-narrative implies that this STATE of existence was one of correspondent activity and enjoyment. It plainly represents the DEITY himself as condescending to assume a human form and to employ human speech, in order to instruct and exercise the happy creatures whom (to borrow the just and beautiful language of the Apocryphal Wisdom') 'God created for incorruptibility, and made him an image of his own nature' (Wisd. Sol. ii. 23). The noble and sublime idea that man thus had his Maker for his teacher and guide, pre-vegetables, earthy matters, the visible heavens, cludes a thousand difficulties. It shows us the and the other external objects to which he had simple, direct, and effectual method by which a relation. the newly formed creature would have communicated to him all the intellectual knowledge, and all the practical arts and manipulations, which were needful and beneficial for him. The next important article in this primeval history is the creation of the human female. The narrative is given in the more summary manner in the former of the two documents :'Male and female created he them' (Gen. i. 27). It stands a little more at length in a third document, which begins the fifth chapter, and has the characteristic heading or title by which the Hebrews designated a separate work. This, the book of the generations of Adam. In the day God created Adam; he made him in the likeness of God, male and female he created them; and he blessed them, and he called their name Adam, in the day of their being created' (ver. 1, 2). The second of the narratives is more circumstantial: And Jehovah God said, it is not good the man's being alone: I will make for him a help suitable for him.' Then follows the passage concerning the review and the naming of the inferior animals; and it continues- but for Adam he found not a help suitable for him. And Jehovah God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man [the Adam], and he slept: and he took one out of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place: and Jehovah God built up the rib which he had taken from the man into a woman, and he brought her to the man.' Religious knowledge and its appropriate habits also required an immediate infusion: and these are pre-eminently comprehended in the image of God.' On the one hand, it is not to be supposed that the newly created man and his female companion were inspired with a very ample share of the doctrinal knowledge which was communicated to their posterity by the successive and accumulating revolutions of more than four thousand years: and, on the other, we cannot imagine that they were left in gross ignorance upon the existence and excellencies of the Being who had made them, their obligations to him, and the way in which they might continue to receive the greatest blessings from him. It is self-evident that, to have attained such a kind and degree of knowledge, by spontaneous effort, under even the favourable circumstances of a state of negative innocence, would have been a long and arduous work. But the sacred narrative leaves no room for doubt upon this head. In the primitive style it tells of God as speaking to them, commanding, instructing, assigning their work, pointing out their danger, and showing how to avoid it. All this, reduced to the The next particular into which the sacred dry simplicity of detail, is equivalent to saying history leads us, is one which we cannot apthat the Creator, infinitely kind and condescend-proach without a painful sense of its difficulty ing, by the use of forms and modes adapted to their capacity, fed their minds with truth, gave them a ready understanding of it and that delight in it which constituted holiness, taught them to hold intercourse with himself by direct addresses in both praise and prayer, and gave some disclosures of a future state of blessedness when they should have fulfilled the condition of their probation. An especial instance of this instruction and infusion of practical habits is given to us in the narrative: Out of the ground Jehovah God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto the man, to see what he would call them' (Gen. ii. 19). This, taken out of the style of condescending anthropomorphism, amounts to such a statement as the following: the Creator had not only formed man with organs of speech, but he taught him the use of them, by an immediate communication of the practical faculty and its accompanying intelligence; and he guided the man, as yet the solitary one of his species, to this among the first applications of speech, the and delicacy. It stands thus in the authorized version: And they were both naked, the man and his wife; and were not ashamed' (ii. 25). The common interpretation is, that, in this respect, the two human beings, the first and only existing ones, were precisely in the condition of the youngest infants, incapable of perceiving any incongruity in the total destitution of artificial clothing. But a little reflection will tell us, and the more carefully that reflection is pursued the more it will appear just, that this supposition is inconsistent with what we have established on solid grounds, the supernatural infusion into the minds of our first parents and into their nervous and muscular faculties, of the knowledge and practical habits which their descendants have had to acquire by the long process of instruction and example. We have seen the necessity that there must have been communicated to them, directly by the Creator, no inconsiderable measure of natural knowledge and the methods of applying it, or their lives could not have been secured; and of moral and spiritual knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness,' such a ADAM measure as would belong to the sinless state, and would enable them to render an intelligent and perfect worship to the Glorious Deity. It seems impossible for that state of mind and habits to exist without a correct sensibility to proprieties and decencies which infant children cannot understand or feel; and the capacities and duties of their conjugal state are implied in the narrative. Further, it cannot be overlooked that, though we are entitled to ascribe to the locality of Eden the most bland atmosphere and delightful soil, yet the action of the sun's rays upon the naked skin, the range of temperature through the day and the night, the alternations of dryness and moisture, the various labour among trees and bushes, and exposure to insects, would render some protective clothing quite indispensable. From these considerations we feel ourselves obliged to understand the word arom in that which is its most usual signification in the Hebrew language, as importing not an absolute, but a partial or comparative nudity, a stripping off of the upper garment, or of some other usual article of dress, when all the habiliments were not laid aside; and this is a more frequent signification than that of entire destitution. If it be asked, Whence did Adam and Eve derive this clothing? we reply, that, as a part of the divine instruction which we have established, they were taught to take off the inner bark of some trees, which would answer extremely well for this purpose. If an objection be drawn from Gen. iii. 7, 10, 11, we reply, that, in consequence of the transgression, the clothing was disgracefully injured. Another inquiry presents itself. How long did the state of paradisiac innocence and happiness continue? Some have regarded the period as very brief, not more even than a single day; but this manifestly falls very short of the time which a reasonable probability requires. The first man was brought into existence in the region called Eden; then he was introduced into a particular part of it, the garden, replenished with the richest productions of the Creator's bounty for the delight of the eye and the other senses; the most agreeable labour was required to dress and to keep it,' implying some arts of culture, preservation from injury, training flowers and fruits, and knowing the various uses and enjoyments of the produce; making observation upon the works of God, of which an investigation and designating of animals is expressly specified; nor can we suppose that there was no contemplation of the magnificent sky and the heavenly bodies: above all, the wondrous communion with the condescending Deity, and probably with created spirits of superior orders, by which the mind would be excited, its capacity enlarged, and its holy felicity continually increased. It is also to be remarked, that the narrative (Gen. ii. 19, 20) conveys the implication that some time was allowed to elapse, that Adam might discover and feel his want of a companion of his own species, a help correspondent to him.' These considerations impress us with a sense of probability, amounting to a conviction, that a period not very short was requisite for the exercise of man's faculties, the disclosures of his happiness, and the service of adoration which he could pay to his Creator. But all these considerations are strengthened by the recollection that they attach to man's solitary state; and that they all require new and enlarged application when the addition of conjugal life is brought into the account. The conclusion appears irresistible that a duration of many days, or rather weeks or months, would be requisite for so many and important purposes. Thus divinely honoured and happy were the progenitors of mankind in the state of their creation. The next scene which the sacred history brings before us is a dark reverse. Another agent comes into the field and successfully employs his arts for seducing Eve, and by her means Adam, from their original state of rectitude, dignity, and happiness. Among the provisions of divine wisdom and goodness were two vegetable productions of wondrous qualities and mysterious significancy. the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil' (Gen. ii. 9). It would add to the precision of the terms, and perhaps aid our understanding of them, ii we were to adhere strictly to the Hebrew by retaining the definite prefix: and then we have 'the tree of the life' and the tree of the knowledge.' Thus would be indicated THE particular life of which the one was a symbol and instru ment, and THE fatal knowledge springing from the abuse of the other. At the same time, we do not maintain that these appellations were given to them at the beginning. We rather suppose that they were applied afterwards, suggested by the events and connection, and so became the historical names. We see no sufficient reason to understand, as some do, the tree of life,' collectively, as implying a species, and that there were many trees of that species. The figurative use of the expression in Rev. xxii. 2, where a plurality is plainly intended, involves no evidence of such a design in this literal narrative. The phraseology of the text best agrees with the idea of a single tree, designed for a special purpose, and not intended to perpetuate its kind. Though in the state of innocence, Adam and Eve might be liable to some corporal suffering from the changes of the season and the weather, or accidental circumstances; in any case of which occurring, this tree had been endowed by the bountiful Creator with a medicinal and restorative property, probably in the way of instantaneous miracle. We think also that it was designed for a sacramental or symbolical purpose, a representation and pledge of the life, emphatically so called, heavenly immortality when the term of probation should be happily completed. Yet we by no means suppose that this tree of the life' possessed any intrinsic property of communicating immortality. In the latter view, it was a sign and seal of the divine promise. But, with regard to the former intention, we sec nothing to forbid the idea that it had most efficacious medicinal properties in its fruit, leaves. and other parts. Such were called trees of life by the Hebrews (Prov. iii. 18; xi. 30; xiii. 12; xv. 4). The tree of the knowledge of good and evil' might be any tree whatever; it might be of any |