which perfectly define his theological position, and entitle his words to be taken without attenuation or apology, as the exponents of that position.

ART. IV.-ISAAC LA PEYRERE AND HIS BOOK, THE PRÆADAMITES.

As

In the year 1655, there was printed in the city of Amsterdam, without the name either of author or publisher, a book entitled *Praeadamitae, sive exercitatio super versibus XII, XIII et XIV capitis V epistolae D. Pauli ad Romanes, quibus inducuntur primi homines ante Adamum conditi; also Systema Theologicum ex Praeadamitarum hypothesi. might be supposed, a volume appearing with such a title, in an eminently controversial age, made no little stir. The audacious novelty of the thesis of the book aroused much theological zeal, which has sometimes been excited even by a less adequate cause. Numerous refutations,† by Protestants as well as by Catholics, soon appeared. Although the book was published anonymously, and even the printer thought it prudent to withhold his name, yet it soon became known that the author was Isaac La Peyrere, a Frenchman and a follower of the Prince of Condé.

He was born at Bourdeaux in 1594,+ and was reared a Protestant and a Calvinist. His family was of no mean rank, and

* It was published in two forms, 4to and 12mo, and is not even now a very rare book. There is good bibliographical authority for the statement that an English translation was issued in London in 1656.

The writer of this sketch has seen only two of these refutations; one by J. C. Dannhawerus, Professor at Strasburg, entitled Praeadamita utis, sive fabula primorum hominum ante Adamum cauditorum explosa-a very whimsical book; the other by Philip le Prieur, under the title of Animadversiones in librum Praeadamitarum, contains a sober and learned argument.

J. P. Niceron in his Mémoires pour servir a l'histoire des hommes illustres dans la république des lettres, 43 vols. Paris, 1729-41, has been the most diligent collector of all that is known concerning Peyrere.

his elder brother was an eminent advocate, and published a Hand-book of Legal Decisions which passed through several editions and was much used in the South of France, where the Parliament of Bourdeaux had jurisdiction. It is not known for what profession Peyrere was educated. It is certain that he knew little Greek and no Hebrew; and though he prided himself upon his acquaintance with Latin, yet the style of his works written in that language is not very good. Little is known of his early life. He seems to have entered the service of the Prince of Condé (the father of Louis de Bourbon, commonly called "the great Condé") when quite young, and he followed the fortunes of the family to the last. In what capacity he was employed is not recorded, but it is probable that he was a kind of private secretary. In 1643 he published his first work, entitled Du Rappel des Juifs,* which shows the fondness for curious speculation displayed so strikingly in the Prae-Adamitae.

In the following year he was attached, through the interest of his patron, to the suite of M. Thuillerie, ambassador of France to the Court of Denmark. While in Copenhagen he composed two narratives† afterwards published, in which he recounted the matters he had learned about Iceland and Greenland, regions at that time comparatively unknown.

This book, like most books of the kind, maintains that the Jews will be restored to the temporal blessings which they enjoyed before their rejection. They will regain possession of the Holy Land, and God will raise up for them a king more righteous and victorious than any former ruler. This King will not be Christ, but a temporal monarch, and moreover King of France, as is proved by four reasons: 1. Because the titles "Most Christian" and "eldest son of the Church" have been given to the King of France par excellence. 2. Because it is to be presumed, that as the King of France has power against the King's evil which afflicts the bodies of the Jews, he will have power also over the obstinacy and unbelief which possess their souls. 3. Because the emblem of France is the lily, and in the Scriptures the beauty of the Church is compared to the beauty of the lily. 4. Because France will be the land in which the Jews will seek refuge from persecution and become Christians; for France is a free country and whosoever touches it is free. (See Memoires of Niceron. Vol. XII, p. 73.)

Bayle calls these narratives "curious enough," but Niceron says that they are both "curious and valuable, and that Peyrere no where in them seems the visionary which he appeared in his other works."

In 1653* when the Prince of Condé deserted his country and retired to Belgium, Peyrere followed him. Some time afterwards he went to Amsterdam, and there procured the printing of his book, the Prae-Adamites. Upon his return from Holland he was sent by the Prince to Namur. Here he remained six months, when on Christmas, 1655, the bishop of the diocese published a censure of his book. Although the author was not named in the condemnation, yet Peyrere began to feel some apprehension for his personal safety, and hastened to place himself under the protection of his master. While waiting letters at Brussels in February, 1656, thirty armed men rushed into his chamber and carried him off to the Tower of Turemberg. He was told that this was done by the authority of the great Vicar of the Archbishop of Mechlin, and soon the Vicar came to the Tower to see him, but was so berated by the indignant Peyrere that he did not show himself again. The Prince of Condé made, or appeared to make, great exertions to procure his release, but the Archduke Leopold professed to be unable to interfere, on the ground that Peyrere was a prisoner of the ecclesiastical power. At length after the somewhat sudden death of the Vicar, he was released on the condition that he should go to Rome, abjure his heresy, and submit himself to the Pope. He was well received by Alexander VII., who gave him, as was usual in such cases, into the charge of an ecclesiastic to help him weed out his errors and dress up his retraction. The Pope, it is said, offered to provide him.

* He does not seem to have remained a long time in Denmark, and soon after his return to France he went, under the orders of Condé, a journey into Spain. Nothing is known in regard to the object of this journey and it would scarcely deserve mention except for a circumstance connected with it which he narrated at Rome to the Abbé Nicaise. He told the Abbé that during this journey he fell to thinking upon a proposition in Euclid, which so engrossed his thoughts and was pursued with such application that he became sick and was like to die. The anecdote possesses interest because it illustrates Peyrere's fondness for all kinds of curious problems. (See Niceron. Vol. XII, p. 71.)

This, together with his petition [deprecatio] to the Pope, was published at Rome in 1657, and afterwards at Frankfort in 1658, under the title, I. Peyrerii Epistola ad Philotimum, qua exponit rationes propter quas ejuraverit sectam Calvini, etc. et Deprecatio I. Peyrerii ad papam Alexandrum VII, etc.

with a place, but he preferred to return to the great man whom he had served so long. In 1659, when Condé made his peace with the Court of France and returned to his native land, he appointed Peyrere his private librarian.

The salary attached to this post being very small, he afterwards obtained permission to retire to the Seminaire de Nôtre Dame des Vertus under the direction of the Fathers of the Oratory. Here he remained until his death, retaining the title of Librarian to the Prince, and drawing the little pension which had been assigned to him. His time was occupied in discussion with friends and in literary labor; but he published nothing except a new edition of the Apology for his conversion, and a collection of letters addressed to the Count de La Suze, urging that gentleman to embrace the Catholic faith. He supplied also copious notes for a new translation of the Holy Scriptures undertaken by the Abbé de Marolles. The printing of this version had proceeded through the twenty-second chapter of Leviticus, when d' Harlay, Archbishop of Paris, caused it to be examined by one William Martin, a converted Calvinist and a man of learning, who reported that it contained innumerable errors, and it was accordingly suppressed. So far as the notes were concerned, the world, doubtless, lost much that was curious, if not very much that was valuable. Peyrere died in his quiet retreat in the year 1676 at the age of eighty

two.

Having given this brief sketch of Peyrere's career, we now turn to the argument of the book, whose advent made so much. stir. Peyrere founds his theory on that passage of the Scriptures, which has in all ages furnished matter for theological speculation, the fifth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. The words of the thirteenth verse, "for until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there was no law," is made the keystone of the argument. "The law," in this passage, he contends, cannot mean the law given to Moses, but the law given to Adam. For the Apostle is speaking of the great transgression which brought sin and death into the world; and the law mentioned in the context is obviously related to that transgression. Law and transgression are corre

lative terms, so that the conditions which fix the one must determine also the other. The transgression of which the Apostle speaks was committed by Adam; but the law of Moses was given to the Jews and transgressed by the Jews alone. Hence the law is not that which was given to Moses, but that which was given to Adam; and it was by the transgression of this law that all man were made sinners and death passed upon the race. And this the Apostle directly confirms by the words: "Sin is not imputed where there is no law." "For," says Peyrere, "I cannot understand, by the most careful thinking, how it can be proved that sin was not imputed during the time which elapsed from Adam to Moses. Every event in that period shows that there was imputation of sin. Why did Cain fear when he had slain his brother, saying: 'My iniquity is to great for pardon.' Why should pardon be refused, if iniquity was not to be imputed to him? Why was Judah unwilling to stain his hands with the blood of his brother Joseph, or what was the stain which he feared, if it was not imputation? Abraham's faith was imputed to him for righteousness, and the imputation of faith presupposes the imputation of sin." In this way the sacred history is made to afford proof that sin was imputed to man from Adam to Moses. But if sin was not imputed until the law, it follows that the law referred to by the Apostle is the law revealed to Adam. And this law, the grand primal law, or law of laws, is called, per excellentiam, the law.

Having settled this question of interpretation, Peyrere is prepared to define the periods of time which the language of the passage clearly implies: the first, before the law: the second, after the law. The first is described in the words, "for until the law, sin was in the world," etc.; but the law here mentioned is the law given to Adam, and consequently the time referred to is a period prior to the creation of Adam. During this period, according to the testimony of the Apostle, there was sin in the world; for there was sin even to the law, though there was no imputation of sin. It must be admitted, therefore, that men existed before Adam, who indeed sinned,