Adamites And Preadamites

In 1655 a small book appeared in Paris, which had for its title ihe unheard-of subject," Pre-Adamites." It was written in Latin, and its full title was as follows: Pne-Adamite, sive Exercitatio super Versibus duodecimo, decimo tertio et decimo quarto, capitis quinti EpistoUe D. Pauli ad Romanes, quibus inducuntur Primi Homines ante Adamum conditi." The book appeared anonymously; and those acquainted with the spirit of the dominant ecclesiasticism of that date will readily divine the motive of its author. It very '.' soon became known, however, that it was written by La Peyrere, a Dutch ecclesiastic, whose name when Latinized was Peyrerius. The work was an attempt to prove from biblical authority that men must have lived on the earth before Adam. Within a year appeared its complement, from the pen of the same author, in which the whole subject was newly argued and more thoroughly discussed. This was a "Theological System based on the Hypothesis of PreAdamites." The two works may now occasionally be found in one volume. The Syracuse University possesses a copy.