UNIVERSITY

CALTHUANIA

SERMON I.

THE ORIGIN OF MANKIND.

AND hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the time before appointed, and

the bounds of their habitation. -ACTS xvii. 26.

IT is the design of this discourse to trace the origin of mankind, and exhibit the evidences there are of their having sprung from but one stock. This is the subject introduced by the text. The truth of the declaration which it contains will appear, if we consider,

1. The great similarity which is visible among the various nations of the earth. Here many points of resemblance deserve particular notice.

The first is, that they all have the same exterior form. The nations of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, bear a very great resemblance to each other in this respect. They have the same number of eyes and ears, the same number of hands and feet, and nearly the same shape, size, features and countenance. This similarity among all nations plainly indicates that they have sprung from one blood; for if they had originated from different sources, there is no doubt but they would have discovered it, by a greater diversity in their forms, features, and limbs.

All nations resemble each other in their mode of moving. They all walk erect. This is owing to nature, and not to habit or custom; for no nation has ever been discovered, however barbarous and uncivilized, who have walked in any other than an erect posture; which is a mode of walking peculiar to the human species, and which seems to point out their dignity and superiority above all other creatures that move upon the earth. Ovid, a heathen poet, takes notice of this peculiarity in his description of the creation of man. He says, "When other

animals look down towards the earth, man only is endowed with a countenance erected towards heaven, that he may contemplate on God, and behold the heaven from whence he originated."

All nations resemble each other in the use of speech, or power of articulation. Although every nation has a distinct language of their own, yet they all agree in this, that they have a language which can be written, spelt, and articulately pronounced. But none of the lower species have the power of speech or articulation. The sounds they make, by which they express their feelings, cannot be written, spelt, or articulately pronounced. Speech is a prerogative that all nations possess, by which they are able to express that brotherhood which subsists between them, by virtue of deriving their origin from one blood, or the same common stock. Indeed, naturalists tell us that no animals have organs fitted for speech or articulation, and that mankind resemble each other in this important respect, by the mere gift of nature.

All nations resemble one another in their intellectual powers and faculties. The most savage and uncultivated nations appear to possess the same native powers of the mind, that the most civilized and polished nations possess. The natives of Africa and America have discovered such ingenuity, taste, and learning in those branches of knowledge, which individuals among them have had opportunity to cultivate, that the natives of Europe and Asia have no reason to deny or be ashamed of their blood-relation to them. Nothing is wanting to raise the most stupid and ignorant people to a level with the most refined, but a proper culture of their minds. All nations are by nature very nearly equal, at least as equal as brethren of the same family commonly are; which is a strong evidence of their originating from the same common stock.

One nation resembles another in their moral dispositions, as well as their intellectual powers. They are all equally involved in the same corruption and depravity of heart. It is as true of nations as of individuals, that "they have all gone out of the way, there is none that doeth good, no, not one." It is true, indeed, that the same moral corruptions do not equally prevail among all nations. But there is no greater difference in their national vices, than what naturally results from their laws, education, employments and circumstances. And as these have varied from age to age, so the same nations have varied in their national criminality and guilt; which proves that the same native propensity to sin, equally possesses all nations at all times. This is not strange, if all nations have originated from the same corrupt fountain; but it is very

strange and unaccountable, on the supposition of their having different originals.

All nations resemble one another in their birth, growth, decay, and dissolution. They all come into the world in the same feeble and helpless condition. While infants they are wholly dependent on others for sustenance and protection. Their growth is very slow and gradual. They are many years in coming to maturity of size, strength, and activity. They are continually liable to fatal casualties and accidents. Or if they escape these, old age infallibly brings on a dissolution, and reduces them to the dust of death. Now since mankind resemble one another in so many important respects, it is natural to conclude, that they have derived their origin from one blood or common stock.

2. It will farther appear, that all nations have sprung from one and the same source, if we consider the ignorance in which they have generally been involved for many ages past. According to the account that ancient nations have given of themselves, they were once in a state of profound ignorance and barbarism. They had no written laws, nor civil compacts. Common usage or custom was their only rule in their civil and public concerns. And after they began to have some few laws, they were not written, but promulgated only by their bards or poets, who were their principal legislators. Nor were they less ignorant in arts, than in laws. The Egyptians, Persians, Phoenicians, Greeks, and several other nations, acknowledge that their ancestors were once without the use of fire. In consequence of this, they lived on raw flesh and the natural productions of the earth, having no household utensils by which they could dress their food. Not knowing the use of fire, they could neither refine brass nor iron, nor any other metals, nor make instruments to cultivate the earth. They could not raise grain, nor convert grain into meal, nor meal into bread. They were necessarily ignorant of all the useful. And they were still longer ignorant of the sciences. There were no regular physicians till after the time of Moses. The Egyptians had a custom of exposing the sick in places of public resort, where every person was required to acquaint himself with the situation of the sick, and tell what he knew to be the best remedies in such cases as appeared. sciences of philosophy, astronomy, and even common arithmetic, were almost unknown. The most ancient nations could not count farther than ten; and this they learnt by counting their fingers. Hence all nations have counted by tens, for which no other reason appears, but their learning to enumerate by their fingers.

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Having considered the ignorance of ancient nations, let us now consider the slow progress they have made in knowledge, learning and civilization. It is more than four thousand years since the Flood; and in all that time mankind have had opportunity of making improvements in all kinds of knowledge. But in all that long period they have brought neither laws nor government, neither arts nor sciences, very near to even human perfection. And many nations are still sunk in gross ignorance, notwithstanding the great and rapid advances some more modern nations have made in every species of the useful and elegant arts and sciences. This slow progress of knowledge in the world, affords a strong presumption that all nations have sprung from one single family. It must have been a work of time, and of great labor and difficulty, for mankind to spread over almost the whole surface of the earth. While any people are removing from place to place, and at great distances, they cannot cultivate the arts and sciences, but rather lose some of the knowledge they had before removing. And this will appear still more evident, if we consider the manner in which the knowledge of arts, laws, and government has spread among different parts of the world. No one nation can boast of having originated all their own arts and literature. These have been gradually handed down from age to age, from one nation to another. We derived our knowledge in letters, laws, and the arts of living, from Britain. Britain derived her knowledge from France and other nations. France, and indeed all Europe, derived their knowledge in the arts of life and literary improvements from Rome. The Romans we know derived their learning and refinement from Greece. And the Greeks derived much of their knowledge in the sciences and arts from the Phoenicians and Egyptians. Cadmus carried the alphabet from Phoenicia into Greece. In a word, letters, laws and arts may be traced up to the Chaldeans, Egyptians, Phoenicians, and Chinese. These undoubtedly were the first nations after the Flood, that formed themselves into a fixed and civilized state, and had leisure to make improvements in the arts of living. Now, if we put all these things together, we must see reason to conclude that all nations are but so many branches of one and the same family. Nor can we account for these things, if different nations are different species, and derive their origin from different sources. On this supposition, we might have expected that they would have differed much more from one another in their civil, literary and moral improvements, than we find they have done from time immemorial. If they had actually sprung from different originals, we might have expected that some would

have been vastly older than others; that some would have been acquainted with many things which others were totally ignorant of; that some would have originated all their own arts and sciences; and that some would have kept themselves entirely unconnected with the rest of the world. This leads. me to observe,

3. That it is evident that all nations have originated from one blood, because the farther back we trace their origin, the more they become blended together and mixed into one. There is no nation but the Jews that appears unmixed. The, English, French, Spaniards, Germans, and indeed all the nations of Europe are so blended, that none of them can trace out their national origin. Our nation will be soon mixed with almost every other nation on earth, and then it will be very difficult to trace the origin from whence we sprang. All tradition, monuments and history, unite in reducing all nations to one original family; nor is there a possibility of proving more than one original stock from whence all nations have proceeded. If different nations have originated from different sources, it is very strange that not one of them has been able to retain the knowledge of their distinct origin. But if they are all of one blood, it is not strange that every nation has lost the knowledge of the distinct branch of the great family from whence they descended. They separated gradually; sometimes of choice; sometimes for convenience; and sometimes of necessity, being captivated by a foreign nation, and necessarily mixed among them. It is by no means strange that they should not mark, nor remember the various means and causes of their gradual separations. But if differentnations are different species, and have derived their origin from different sources, it is strange that they have not been able and disposed to retain the knowledge of their different originals, and that they are now obliged to acknowledge their relation to each other, and are incapable of disproving it. This amounts very nearly to demonstration, that they are all of one blood, and the offspring of one and the same family. Though nothing more needs to be said to establish this fact, yet since some have denied it and raised several objections against it, I will examine their weight and pertinency.

Some have said it was impossible for one family to spread over all the world, as we find the nations of the earth have done. To this I reply,

1. That it was easy for one family to scatter into any inhabitable parts of the earth where they could travel by land. The natives of this country can travel hundreds or thousands of miles, as individuals, or tribes, in a very short time. The

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