Alexander Winchell Adamites and Preadamites

Annotation

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. Not so the contemporaries of Peyrerius. Even where two or more different meanings of the text were equally grammatical and legitimate, that was held to be the true meaning which accorded best with current beliefs. An alternative interpretation, when once promulgated, was held to be divine truth, as absolute and authoritative as if no other interpretation were possible. Per haps the well-established infallibility of the church had an interest in consistency. No matter if it concerned a fact of a purely sci entific or secular character, the verdict was held as binding on the conscience as if the church had been in possession of all pos sible science.