PRE-ADAMITES, or Men that are supposed to have lived before Adam. Those that think the World to have been eternal, and that it has been several times renew’d, pretend, that there were formerly Men before Adam, and this Opinion is to be found among several of the Antients. Clemens Alexandrinus, for Example, in his Book call’d Hypotyposes, held the Eternity of Matter, the Metempsychosis, and that there were several Clem. Alex. apud Phot. Cod. 83.Worlds before Adam. Julian the Apostate was of Opinion, that there were many Men created at the Beginning ; and this is also the Sentiment of many of the Mahometans.Simon, Lettres choisies, t. 3. p. 36. The Author of the Book Cozai speaks of some ancient Records, wherein mention is made of Janbuzar, Zagrit, and Roane, who lived before Adam. ‘Tis said there, that Janbuzar was Adam’s Master. The Rabbi Abrar assures us, that Jafar Jonan of the Turks, who lived about the Year 770, was a Pre-Adamite; since he maintain’d, that there had been three Adams before him who is mention’d by Moses; and there should be still seven others, since the World was to undergo so many Renovations.
The Jews, at least some of them, are suspected to maintain the Opinion of the Pre- Adamites. Some pretend, a That Moses himself, has taught, that there had been two Worlds ; because he began the Book of Genesis by the Letter Beth,1 which is the second Letter of the Alphabet, and stands for two. An ancient and famous Rabbin holds,2 That God created seven Things before the Universe ; the Law, Hell, Paradise, the Throne of his Glory, the Sanctuary, the Name of Messiah, and Repentance ; all which is founded upon some Passages of Scripture, which ascribe Eternity to those Things. Maimonides suspected this Rabbin to fall in with the Opinion of Plato, who held the Eternity of the World. La Peirere pretended, That his System of the Pre-Adamites Systém. Theolog. part. 1. l. 3. c. 3.was taught by the Rabbins, and he quotes several of them in his Favour. But it must be acknowledged, that the Generality of the Jews are against him, and maintain the Creation as an Article of Faith.
The Opinion, That there were Men before Adam, is common among the Orientals. Bibl. Orient. p. 56. col. 2.Giafar Sadick, one of the twelve Imans, being asked if there was any other Adam before ours ; made answer, That there had been three before him, and that there will be still seventeen after him. And when he was asked, If God would create other Men, after the End of the World ; he replied, Wou’d you have the Kingdom of God remain empty, and his Power idle ? That God has been Creating through his whole Eternity, is a pretty general Idem p. 311. col. 1.Opinion among the Musulmen ; That the Pyramids of Egypt were rais’d before Adam, by Gian-ben-Gian, Universal Monarch of the World, in those Ages that were before this first Man. They assure us, Idem. p. 820, col. 1, 2.That there have been forty Solymans, or Universal Monarchs of the Earth, who reigned successively for the Course of a great many Ages before the Creation of Adam. All these pretended Monarchs govern’d each over Creatures of their own Species, who were different from those of Adam’s Posterity, tho’ they were rational, as Men are ; some of ‘em had several Heads, others many Arms, and some were composed of many Bodies : Their Heads were still more extraordinary, some resembling those of an Elephant, others those of a Buffalo, or a Boar, or other Animals more monstrous. Such are the Dreams of the Oriental Mythologists.
In the last Age, La Peirere revived this Opinion of the Pre-Adamites : He says,3 That God created Men in great Numbers, in all Parts of the World, long before the Creation of Adam. According to him, the first Men are those from whence proceeded the Gentiles ; and Adam was Father of the chosen Race, or of the Jewish Nation ; That Moses had no Design to trace the Original of Mankind in general, but only of the Hebrews, from whence he derived his Birth ; and speaks of other Nations, but only as they have some Relation to the Jewish Affairs. He likewise asserts, That Noah’s Deluge was not Universal, and that it only extended to such Countries as were inhabited by the Race of Adam : That Adam having transgressed the Commandments of God, introduced Sin into the World, and infected all his Posterity with it ; but that the Gentiles, being descended from the Pre-Adamites, and not having received the Law, or any Commandment from God, did not fall into Prevarication, tho’ their Lives were not exempt from Crimes ; but these Crimes were not imputed to them : These might be called the Faults of Matter, with which God was not offended, because of the Ignorance of those who committed them.
We would not here be at much Pains to refute so wild and monstrous an Hypothesis : The Reader may see what we have said upon Genesis ii. 7. and such Writers as have expresly written against this Author. He renounced his Error, and lived in Retirement with the Fathers of the Oratory at Notre-dame des Virtus,4 near Paris, where he died. His Treatise of the Pre-Adamites was first printed in Holland in 1652; and since that, has been reprinted several times.
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