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THE TESTIMONY

OF

PROFANE ANTIQUITY

TO THE ACCOUNT GIVEN BY MOSES OF PARADISK

AND

THE FALL OF MAN.

IN the early ages of the world, there happened certain events so momentous in their nature, and so important in their results, as to attract the attention of all who lived upon the earth at that time; and in consequence, they became objects of attention ever afterwards.

The traditionary history of each of these wonderful occurrences descended from generation to generation, and however from distance of time, and other causes, it might vary in minor particulars, retained always its most striking features. At length a divine revelation was given, perfect of course in all its parts, and bearing on every line the impress of its Almighty Author. This signal favour of provi

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dence was appropriated to one peculiar people; and for the wisest reasons, other nations were left destitute of so unspeakable a blessing. Yet every tribe, in the meanwhile, preserved, with the most religious reverence, its own accounts of what had happened in past ages; and these various traditions, as gathered from the best writers of antiquity, being found to possess a striking agreement in their main outline, with the inspired history, afford singular but important proof of its genuineness and authenticity.

What a learned author has remarked respecting the traditions of the deluge, and its subsequent circumstances, will apply to almost all others. "It is observable, that the further we go back the more vivid the traces of the truth appear, especially in those countries which were nearest the scene of action. But the reverse of this would happen, if the whole were originally a fable. The history would not only be less widely diffused, but the more remote our researches, the less light we should obtain; and however we might strain our sight, the objects would by degrees grow faint, and the scene terminate in clouds and darkness. Besides this, there would not be that correspondence and harmony in the traditions of

different nations, which we see so plainly to subsist. This could not be the result of chance, but must necessarily have arisen from the same history, being universally acknowledged."*

The report of any extraordinary fact must have arisen from some quarter or other; and when or wheresoever it was first published, the relation of it would naturally excite curiosity in the first hearers, and lead them diligently to inquire into the truth of it. Now if they had discovered that the report was false, or groundless, the history would have been immediately discredited, and the narrator and his narrative been no more heard of. But when traditions are found to prevail universally, we may feel morally certain that the events to which they refer did actually happen; and though these oral and uninspired accounts may differ in subordinate details, more or less from the inspired and true one, confessedly prior to them all, we may assert of the relators of them what Scaliger has said of the Greek historians: "that they ought rather to be pitied for not having had the advantage of more authentic antiquities and records to set them exactly right, than to forfeit their authority for such deviations from the

* Bryant's Analys. Ancient Mythol. vol. iii. p. 433.

truth of the story, as render their confirmation 'of the sacred history much stronger, because much less to be suspected, than if they agreed with it in every circumstance," so that the very inconsistencies of heathen history are thus made to bear an unwilling witness to the truth, and perfection of the account given by Moses.* It may be proper to offer a few observations, by way of introduction, on the causes of that mixture and confusion of traditionary memorials, which is found to exist throughout mythology. Sometimes traditions relating originally to one personage, are attributed to another, or even to two or three different characters; or,

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* Catcott on the Deluge, pp. 76, 79. And to this may be added, Bishop Huet's argument of common consent, after the manner of Aristotle. "Quæ plurium ergo demerentur fidem, majorique omnium admittuntur consensu, clariora ea esse et certiora fatendum est. Adeo ut quod de probabilibus dixit Aristoteles, de veris merito dici possit, vera nempe esse, тa δοκουντα πᾶσιν η τοις πλειστοις, η τοις σοφοις, και τουτοις, η τοις πᾶσιν, η τοις πλείστοις, η τοις μαλιστα γνωριμοις, και Evdokos. Arist. Topic. lib. i. cap. 1. Nam cum ait, vera esse τα δι' αυτών εχοντα την πιστιν nempe apud homines fidem habere vult. Quæ igitur apud plures homines habebunt fidem, veriora esse necesse est.-Dem. Evang. Præf. p. 5. To the same purpose, Joseph. lib. i. contra Apion. Cicero Tusc. Quæst. lib. i. Omnium consensus naturæ vox est. And Seneca's Epist. 117; Apud nos veritatis argumentum est aliquid omnibus videri.

on the contrary, the histories of several persons, famous in antiquity, are all crowded together, and one hero or prophet is made the exclusive actor of the whole.*

It should be remembered, in the first place, that the distance of the period, in which some of the earlier transactions recorded in sacred Scripture, took place, is from us immense, and therefore it would be absurd to look for entire consistency in the uninspired accounts of those transactions. There were probably no writings anterior to the time of Moses, and even the invention (if it may so be called) of letters themselves, appears to have its origin and date from Mount Sinai. The tables of the law were there written with the finger of God; and Eupolemus, together with other gentile writers, confirms the fact, that Moses was the first instrument of conveying to the world the inestimable art of representing ideas by visible characters, and giving to language itself a durability before unknown.

Until this memorable era, and indeed among most nations for a long time after, hieroglyphics were among the principal means of preserving

* The most ancient mythologists seem, in a measure, to have been aware of this.-Phornut. de Nat. Deo. apud Gale, p. 37. et al.

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