The ablest scientists hold to the unity of the race, and in this they are in accord with Scripture, which declares that the Creator "hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth" (Acts 17:26), and that the "free gift comes upon all men to justification to life." Climatic variations extending over long periods account for physical differences. The negro is the descendant of Ham, the head of one of the three great divisions of the human race. He was the progenitor of the Egyptians, the Cushites and the African nations, and his descendants were the founders of great empires in Ethiopia, Babylonia, Arabia, Abyssinia and, according to some authorities, in a considerable part of Asia, as far as the Euphrates and the Persian Gulf. No one has the slightest warrant for asserting that the negro has not a soul. Christian converts from Cyrene in Upper Libya were among those who were identified with the formation of the first Gentile church in Antioch. Mark the evangelist labored during a large part of his missionary career in Africa. Simon, who bore our Saviour's cross (Matt. 27:32), was a Cyrenian and a native of Libya. The Copts, who were active in the early days of Christianity, were a mixed race, chiefly negro. The Coptic Christian Church is one of the oldest in existence and possesses some of the most valuable early Christian manuscripts.
