divine mission of Moses should be proved by its peculiar evidence, before the truth of the antecedent facts can be decidedly admitted, because the credibility of the facts recorded in this history must always chiefly rest on the authority of their

"the opening of Beresith or Genesis, than which a more sublime passage from the first "word to the last never flowed or will flow from any human pen-'In the beginning "God created the earth, and the earth was void and waste, and darkness was upon the "face of the deep, and the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters; and God "said, Let light be, and light was.'-The sublimity of this passage is considerably "diminished by the Indian paraphrase with which Menu, the son of Brama, begins his "address to the sages who consulted him on the formation of the universe:

"This world (says he) was all darkness undescribable, undistinguishable, altogether as in profound sleep, till the self-existent irresistible God, making it manifest with "five elements and other glorious forms, perfectly dispelled the gloom: he desiring to "raise up various creatures by an emanation from his own glory, first created the "waters and impressed them with a power of motion-by that power was produced a "golden egg, blazing like a thousand suns, in which was born BRAHMA, self-existing, "the great parent of all rational beings. The waters are called Nara, since they are "the offspring of Nera or Iwara, and thence was Narayana named, because his first ayana or moving was upon them. That which is the invisible cause eternal, self"existing but unperceived, becoming masculine from neuter, is celebrated among all "creatures by the name of Brahma; that God having dwelled in the egg through "revolving years, himself meditating on himself, divided it into two equal parts, and "from these halves formed the heavens and the earth, placing in the midst the subtle "ether, the eight points of the world, and the permanent receptacle of waters."

66

"To this curious description with which the Manaya Sastra begins, I cannot refrain "(says Sir William) from subjoining the four first verses of the Bhagavat, and which "are believed to have been pronounced by the Supreme Being to Brahma. The fol"lowing version is most scrupulously literal:

Even I was at first, not any other thing, that which exists unperceived, supreme;

' afterwards I am that which is, and he who must remain am I.

Except the first cause, whatever may appear and may not appear in the mind, know that to be to the mind, máyá, (or delusion) as light to darkness.

As the great elements are in various beings, entering yet not entering, (that is,

'pervading, not destroying) thus am I in them, yet not in them.

Even thus far may enquiry be made by him who seeks to know the principle of ⚫ mind in union and separation, which must be every where, always.'

"Wild and obscure (says Sir William) as these ancient verses must appear in a "naked verbal translation, it will perhaps be thought by many, that the poetry or my"thology of Greece and Italy afford no conceptions more awfully magnificent; yet the 'beauty and simplicity of the Mosaic diction are unequalled."

I may be permitted to add, that these verses seem to have been composed by some one acquainted with the character in which Jehovah describes himself to the Jewish Lawgiver, I am that I am—I am hath sent you.

At the close of this most interesting dissertation, Sir William Jones remarks: 'I am "persuaded that a connexion subsisted between the old idolatrous nations of Egypt,

inspired Historian, which I have here endeavoured to establish I trust, therefore, this Work will be found one distinct and unmutilated system, embracing the full extent of the subject it professes to discuss.

I will, however, candidly confess, the great cause why I nave not attempted to comply with the suggestions of my very respectable but certainly partial friends, is my inability to do so. The work they prescribe is on a subject of great importance and extent, and on which the daily increasing knowledge of Oriental literature and history, and the extension of physical and geological discoveries are perpetually throwing new light. To

“India, Greece, and Italy, long before they emigrated to their respective settlements, "and consequently before the birth of Moses;-but the truth of this proposition will in "no degree affect the truth and sanctity of the Mosaic history; which if confirmation "were wanted, it would rather serve to confirm.

"The Divine Legate, educated by the daughter of a king, and in all respects highly "accomplished, could not but know the mythological system of Egypt; but he migh "have condemned the superstitions of that people, and despised the speculative absur"dities of their priests, though some of their traditions concerning the creation and the "flood were grounded on truth. Who was better acquainted with the mythology of "Athens than Socrates? who more accurately versed in the Rabbinical doctrines than "Paul? who possessed clearer ideas of all ancient astronomic systems than Newton? "in whom could the Romish Church have had a more formidable opponent than Chil"lingworth, whose deep knowledge of its tenets rendered him so competent to dispute "them? in a word, who more exactly knew the abominable rites and shocking idola"tries of Canaan, than Moses himself? yet the learning of these great men only in"cited them to seek other sources of truth, piety, and virtue, than those in which they "had long been immersed. There is no shadow then of foundation for an opinion that "Moses borrowed the first nine or ten chapters of Genesis from the literature of Egypt. "Still less can the adamantine pillars of our Christian faith be moved by the result of any debates on the comparative antiquity of the Hindoos and Egyptians, or of any "inquiries into the Indian theology." For the remainder of this interesting article, I refer to the Work itself.

* On this subject, my countryman and friend, the celebrated Mr KIRWAN, has distinguished himself; vide his Essay on the primitive State of the Globe and its subsequent catastrophe, in the 6th volume of the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, p. 233; and his three Essays in support of it, in the beginning of the 8th vol.-Vide also the Rev. Mr Graydon's curious memoir on the fish inclosed in stone in Mount Bolca, vol. 5. p. 281.

As to the universality of the deluge. I believe there is now no material difference of opinion among naturalists; it is supported by phenomena which carry with them decisive conviction. I will not presume to say that the formation of the earth from the

treat such a subject superficially, would be neither creditable nor useful. To examine and discuss it with any moderate dogree of accuracy, would demand much research, much labour, and much time; and I have no prospect of leisure for such a Work, were I even in other respects competent to it.

In truth, these Lectures which I now venture to submit to the public, have been composed with so many interruptions, and amidst so many avocations, as have. I am sensible, produced many inaccuracies of style which a careful revision might have enabled me to avoid; and too often, I fear, have prevented me from supporting my conclusions with as full an induction of facts,

primitive chaos to the habitable state, has been yet so clearly explained by geologists, that we can appeal to any one theory as decidedly proved and clearly coincident with the Mosaic account; but sure I am, there is no theory decidedly proved and clearly contradictory to that account. The study of mineralogy (I do not think it is hitherto entitled to the name of science) is scarcely yet more than fifty years standing; that of geology is still more modern. Let us not then rashly decide that either the Neptunian or the Volcanic theory is clearly proved, or that the credit of Scripture depends upon the admission of either. We certainly are not yet competent to decide the exact mode and order of the divine operations, in which Almighty Power must have proceeded in creating and preparing this world for the use of man. Possibly we may never be competent to ascertain it. A power must then have been exerted very different, at least, in the mode and degree of its operation, from that by which the ordinary course of nature is now conducted, and this last alone is the subject of our present observations. This I am sure of, that the progress of natural history, and the discovery of any laws of nature to which it may lead, will never be found ultimately subversive of the truth of Revelation. But prejudice, presumption, and rashness, may give plausibility and currency to conclusions apparently inconsistent with the truth of Scripture, and shake the faith of those in whom such dispositions prevail. Against such causes of error, I would earnestly warn my readers. Time was, when papal authority declared the theory of the earth's motion was so subversive of revealed religion, that the Jesuits, who commented on the Principia of Newton, prefixed to the 3d Volume the following declaration:

Newtonus in hoc libro, Telluris mota Hypothesin assumit, Autoris propositiones aliter explicari non poterant nisi eadem quoque facta Hypothesi. Hinc alienam coacti sumus gerere personam; cæterum latis a summis Pontificibus contra Telluris motum decretis nos obsequi profitemur

Let this declaration stand as a monument of the rashness of supposing Scripture at war with a philosophic theory. The decrees of the Popes did not stop the motion of the earth, nor has this overturned the Christain faith, though it may have shaken Papal infallibility.-Such, I am persuaded, will always be the final event. "Opinionum commenta delet dies, naturæ (et Revelationis) judicia confirmat.”

and as great a variety of illustrations and authorities, as might have been adduced. But 1 trust these defects have not extended to the essential parts of the Work, and that my general system of reasoning may be approved by the friends of virtue and piety. For that system I hold myself strictly responsible. No man has a right to trifle with the eternal interests of his fellow-creatures, and produce unweighed conjectures and crude opinions on such a subject as that of the following Work. For such presumptuous temerity, no pressure of business can apologize, and no display of learning or talents could atone. I would not indeed have noticed a circumstance so unimportant to the reader as my pri

I beg leave to subjoin a remarkable instance of this, in the celebrated objection atvanced with such confidence by Mr BRYDONE and others, to disprove the Mosaic account of the period when the world was formed, which allows not quite 6,000 years to have yet elapsed, while these philosophers thought they had found a full proof that at least 14,000 had elapsed. So that these philosophers complain, that Moses hangs as a dead weight upon them, and blunts all their zeal for inquiry. Their proof is this:* "The "Canonico Recupero, who is engaged in writing the history of Mount Etna, has dis"covered a stratum of lava, which flowed from that mountain (according to his opinion) "in the time of the second Punic war, or about two thousand years ago. The stratum "is not yet covered with soil sufficient for the production of either corn or vines. It "requires then, says the Canon, two thousand years at least to convert the stratum of "lava into a fertile field. Now in sinking a pit near Jaci, in the neighbourhood of “Etna, they have discovered evident marks of seven distinct lavas, one under the "other, the surfaces of which are parallel, and most of them covered with a thick bed "of rich earth. Now the eruption which formed the lowest of these lavas (if we may "be allowed, says the Canon, to reason from analogy) flowed from the mountain at "least 14,000 years ago.

"In answer to this argument it might be urged, in the first place, that the Canon "has not established his main fact, that the lava in question is the identical lava which Diodorus Siculus mentions to have flowed from Etna in the second Carthagenian "war. And in the next place, it may be observed, that the time necessary for con "verting lavas into fertile fields must be very different, according to the different con "sistencies of the lavas, and their different situations with respect to elevation and "depression, or their being exposed to winds, rains, and other circumstances (as for "instance, the quantity of ashes deposited over them after they had cooled,) &c. &c. just as the time in which heaps of iron flag which resembles lava) are covered with "verdure is different at different furnaces, according to the nature of the flag and "gituation of the furnace. And something of this kind is deducible from the account

* Vide Watson's Apology, in Letters to Mr Gibbon, from p. 169 to 174.

b

vate avocations, but from my anxious wish that the deficiencies of the advocate may not be mistaken on this occasion for proofs of weakness in the cause, which I am fully persuaded is the cause of truth and heaven; a cause which might have been maintained with more advantage even by me, but for the unfavourable circumstances to which I allude.

But I have said too much of myself and of my Work. I cannot however commit it to my readers without anxiously reminding them, that the effect of every species of religious instruction, and consequently of this, depends much more on the disposition prevalent in the heart of those to whom it is addressed, than on

"of the Canon himself, since the crevices of this famous stratum are really full of rich "good soil, and have pretty large trees growing upon them. But (says Bishop Watson) "if all this should be thought not sufficient to remove the objection, I will produce the "Canon an analogy in opposition to his analogy, and which is grounded on more cer"tain facts.

"Etna and Vesuvius resemble each other in the causes which produce their erup"tions, in the nature of their lavas, and in the time necessary to mellow them into soil "fit for vegetation; or if their be any slight difference in this respect, it is probably "not greater than what subsists between different lavas of the same mountain.

"This being admitted, which no philosopher will deny, the Canon's analogy will prove just nothing at all, if we can produce an instance of seven different lavas (with "interjacent strata of vegetable earth) which have flowed from Mount Vesuvius within "the space not of 14,000, but of somewhat less than 1700 years, for then according to our analogy, a stratum of lava may be covered with vegetable soil in about 250 years, "instead of requiring 2000 for that purpose.

"The eruption of Vesuvius which destroyed Herculaneum and Pompeii, is rendered "still more famous by the death of Pliny, recorded by his nephew in his letter to Taci"tus: this event happened A. D. 79. But we are informed by unquestionable autho"rity,* that the matter which covers the ancient town of Herculaneum is not the pro"duce of ONE eruption only, for there are evident marks that the matter of six eruptions "has taken its course over that which lies immediately over the town, and was the cause "of its destruction. These strata are either of lava or burnt matter, WITH VEINS OF

"GOOD SOIL BETWEEN THEM.

"You perceive, says the Bishop, with what ease a little attention and increase of "knowledge may remove a great difficulty; but had we been able to say nothing in "explanation of this phenomenon, we should not have acted a very rational part, in "making our ignorance the foundation of our infidelity, or suffering a minute philoso "pher to rob us of our religion."

"See Sir William Hamilton's remarks upon the nature of the soil of Naples and its neigh"bourhood, in the Philos. Trans. Vol. 61. p. 7."