m LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. GIF"T OF Mrs. SARAH P. WALS WORTH. Received October, ccessions No . Class No. LECTURES ON SCRIPTURE FACTS BY THE REV. WILLIAM BKNGO COLLYER, D,D. Monumentum sere perennius, Regalique situ Pyramidum altius; Quod noa imber edax, non Aquilo impotens Possit diruere, aut innumerabilis Annorum series^ et fuga temporum UHJVBR.SITT HOR, BOSTON: PRINTED AND SOLD BY SAMUEL T. ARMSTRONG, No. 50, CORNHILL, 1813 TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THOMAS LORD ERSKINE, LORD HIGH CHANCELLOR. MY LORD, IF flattery be essential to a Dedication, I shall never write one: but in the present instance I have the satisfaction of believing that an attempt at adulation would be as disgusting to your Lordship, as I feel it would be unworthy the dignity of the subject of this volume, and degrading to me as a minister of the sanc- tuary. It would be easy to tell your Lordship that I admire your talents, and that the world admires them too: this would not be adulation; but it would be a tribute unconnected with the cause of Christianity, and I shall therefore wave it altogether. Permit me, then, to remind your Lordship, that you descend from an ancient and noble House, which piety has dis- tinguished as well as rank; and that in various branches of your family, religion has shed a lustre more dazzling and more glorious than the radiance of nobility. Providence has placed your Lordship high in the sphere of society; and it is in your power to do much to serve the cause of revealed truth. With the confidence inspired by your public and admirable de- fence of Christianity; and with the affection kindled by the distinguished honour I have enjoyed in the friendship of an illustrious Relative; I presented, in an early stage of this work, an outline of it to your Lord- ship, and received from you a note, authorizing me to assume the sanction of your name in the eyes of the public, and expressing, in your own energetic language, your persuasion of the infinite value of ''Revelation, without whose hopes and consolations, all human dis- tinctions are nothing." Under these auspices the work was carried on, and is now brought to a conclu- sion: and I have the honor to present to your candor, with my most grateful acknowledgments, the offspring of your own indulgent patronage. It is my sincere and earnest desire, that the power of that Religion, the evidences of which your judgment approves, may be the consolation of your heart; that its influence may shed a divine light upon the elevated orbit in which you move; and that its unfading honors may be your future recompense, when the distinctions of rank shall indeed be lost, and when the only nobility allow- ed will consist in an alliance with HIM, who in the days of his pilgrimage upon the earth, had not where to lay his head. I have the honor to remain, \\ith high consideration, MY LORD, Your Lordship's much obliged and most obedient servant, WILLIAM BENGO COLLYER. BLACKHEATH HIM,, 7-V, r,,i807. PREFACE. a IT would be an unprecedented act, to send 'into the world, without a preface, a work of the magnitude of this volume; and 1 am glad to avail myself of the per- mission and of the opportunity which custom not merely allows, but prescribes, to say something respect- ing the succeeding Lectures, before they are dismissed to the candor of the public, which could not be said in the course of their delivery. The history of the publication is simply as follows. It was suggested to me about five years 'since, in a cursory conversation, that it would be a desirable thing to produce a confirmation of the facts recorded in the sacred writings, from contemporary historians, so far as these could be obtained; and where the re- moteness of scriptural narrations stretched beyond the chronology of heathen compositions, to adduce such fragments of antiquity as time has spared to us, so far as they bear any relation to events transpiring at the earliest periods. It was justly observed, that while many and successful efforts have been made, and are daily making, to elucidate and defend the doctrines and the precepts of Christianity, the facts recorded in the Bible have not been placed in the same advanta- geous point of view. Some have perhaps been deter- red by the toil necessary to collect such testimonies, to select from the mass evidences which are more prom- inent than others, and to discriminate such portions of heathen records as mingle truth with iable, to dctcc: t> and expose the one, and to produce and enforce the other. It is also probable that not a few have de- clined to adventure upon this plan, because it is so un- like the usual and popular modes of pulpit discussion. Thus while the citadel of revealed religion has been ably an^zealousiy defended, the out-works have been abandoned, or at least overlooked; and the posts where some veterans of old times fought, have, since their removal by death, remained unfilled. Upon re- volving this conversation in my mind, I felt that the remark was important, and I began seriously to think of undertaking the proposed discussionjust so far as it might be useful to my own congregation, and would not interfere with the other arrangements of my min- isterial labors. My first object was to discover by whom the ground had been trodden before me. I well recollected that Grotius had expressly set apart a portion of his treatise on the Truth of the Christian Religion, to the consideration of Foreign Testimonies: and in that useful little volume will be found many of the authorities produced in the following pages. But Grotius has written in Latin, and is not, therefore, accessible to an English reader. He lias been trans- lated; but the plan proposed forms a very small part of his production; and the whole work can only be considered as an epitome of the Evidences of Chris- tianity, where tiie principal arguments in its favor are enumerated and stated, but never dilated, and seldom more than barely named. Various have been the productions which tend to this point, under the sanc- tion of such illustrious names as lYideaux, Lardner, Briant, Stillin^nVet, Pearson, Doddridge, and others. But these ail enter only into a part of my scheme . elueiJ.'itc a particular portion of the sacred writ- ings, or advert in general terms to the stability of the whole. Above all it appeared to me that there was yet wanting a work, which might interweave foreign testimonies to the truth of Scripture history, with the discussion of the history itself; which might admit gen- eral and important remarks with a selected subject; and which might relieve the barrenness and languor of mere discussion, and of a series of extracts from heathen writers; by assuming the shape and the ardor of pulpit and popular addresses. Such was the design of the Lectures now submitted to the public, and it would ill become me to conjecture how far I have succeeded in filling up the outline. The plan was sketched for the use of my own congregation; and delivered in my own pulpit. It was afterwards desir- ed by some, who perhaps thought too favorably of the execution, that it should be brought into a larger circle; and the Lectures were accordingly delivered during two winters in London. By the importunity of the same persons, the work is now committed to the press; and time must decide (while I anxiously wait its decision) whether I have done well or ill in yielding my private opinion of the demerits of the execution, to their flattering prepossessions in favor of its utility. Respecting the work itself, I have little to add to the remarks which will be found to introduce the first Lecture. Using freely different writers, I have also candidly acknowledged my obligations to them, I have carefully read over, and have endeavored faithful- ly to translate the passages produced from antiquity: and separating them from the body of the work, I have preserved their original form for the use of the scholar who may choose to hear them speak their own language, and yet might be unwilling to take the trcub- B le to hunt them down through various works, in notes at the end of each Lecture. I have subjoined a list of the names of the principal writers quoted in this work, and have placed over against their names the periods in which they flourished. The list of errata in the work appears large, but will be found in few instan- ces to affect the sense: the principal errors in it are the substitution of one Greek letter for another in various instances. I will venture to affirm that its magnitude has not arisen from my indolence; and the candid Reader will know how to make allowance for imper- fections in sending out such a volume as the succeed- ing one, especially when the correction of the press rested with myself alone; and was performed amid weekly and daily, public and private, pressing engage- ments.* I expect to derive much advantage from our public organs of criticism; and to candid criticism, crit- icism such as it ought always to be, willing to allow a merit as well as a defect, to point out a beauty as well as a fault, I shall always bow with respect, and shall always, be happy to avail myself of its corrections and of its advice. If I could write a faultless volume, I must possess more than human powers: if I have pro- duced one which shall be useful to the cause of truth and religion (and such was my design,) I shall rejoice in my general success; and, I hope, be willing to listen with gratitude to the candor which discovers to me where I have failed. W. B. C. BLACKHEA.TH.HILL, March 20, 1807. * It was judged unnecessary in this edition to print the notes in their . -iff/form; but a translation of all of them and references to the ori- tfinnU will be found, either in the Lectrres when; tho quotations are made, or in their order at the end of the volume. The Errata mentioned above have been carefully corrected in this edition AM. En. CONTENTS. LECTURE 1. PAGE 7-41. INTRODUCTORY THE NECESSITY OF A DIVINE REVELATION. Jr E, xi, 79. Apology for the undertaking. Statement of 'he plan of the Lectures-Mode of discussion proposed, by an appeal to the heathen world Their ignorance of the nature and attributes of God Commence- ment of man's errors Source of polytheism --Rise of imai;e worship-. Visible objepts-. -heroes- benefactors- deified Impurity of 'heir -wor- shipSacrifice of human victims- Contrasted with Christianity - '; in it- civil institutions- -their defective morals-- their s;. stems too refined for the multitude- Universal adaptation of Christinn'ny --Their uncenainiy respecting- the future, instanced by Homer and by Pan! at Athens - Rev- elation has removed these difficulties- I'.iid -my anticipates annihilation - Objections against Kevelation refuted-- Stare of man without it deplora- bleexpectation of Socrates-'-Revelunon possible, probable, found in ihe Bible alone. LECTURE II. PAGE 42 r 4. THE CREATlON-^-THAT THE MOSAIC ACCOUNT OF IT IS THE ON- LY RATIONAL ONE WHICH WE HAVE RECEIVED. GEN. i. 1. The province of sense, of reason, and. of faith* Incite* ments to inquire into the origin of all things -all ages have attempted it---The several opinions of mankind reduced to Two First, that the world was produced by chanceexamined on acknowledged principles refuted by Cicero - Appeal to the human frame, and the conversion of GalenHypothesis of the Egyptians--a disfigured copy of Moses hypo- thesis of modern philosophy Second opinion, that the world is eternal- By whom held Refuted by the world's mutability by philosophical and astronomical laws^by history by ;he arts and sciences by the or- igin of nations Objection raised from some recent discoveries in volca- nic irruptions considered tradition of the creation universal The being of a God inferred, and our connexion with him exhibited Mosaic ac- count of the Creation Dr. Geddes Light created Longinus Work. of the six days Inquiries answered respecting primeval light astron- my sxlent of the Creation ihe six days the information of Moses. LECTURE III. PAGE 75103. THE DELUGE. GEN- vn, 11 24. 2 PET. in, 5 7. Ruins apostasy of man pro- gress of vice antediluvian longevit) Union between the sons of God and the daughters of men Giants State of the world at the time of the Deluge Plan of the Lecture The fact established By the general con-sent of all nations Testimonies of Abydenus Berosus, Lucian re* 2 10 CONTENTS. mark of Grotius By the existence of marine productions on land Hy- pothesis of volcanic irruptions examined objections of Button and others opposed Hypotheses "of Burnet, IVhiston,' M. de la Pryme, and St. Pierre statedEffected by Divine interposition Objections, respecting the ark, America, ir.fants, and the rainbow, answered Improvement appeal to the last judgment. LECTURE IV. PAGE 104131. THE DESTRUCTION OF BABEL, THE CONFUSION OF LANGUAGE, THE DISPERSION OF THE PEOPLE, AND THE ORIGIN OF NA- TIONS. GEN. xi, 1 9 OBADIAH, 3 & 4. Noah's mingled emotions, of pity, of gratitude, and of faith The fear of man impressed upon brutes, and the law for murder Noah's failing his death genealogy of his des- cendants his predictions Nimrod the' original tongue Situation of Shinar Building of Babel its design and form Imagery of the Bible Confusion of language, what? Dispersion of the people, how effected Origin of nations supposed uncertain Ancient testimonies Fable of the giants one of the Sybils Abydenus Inquiries \\hether the at- tempt was criminal? whether man would have separated without a change of language? whether language would have changed without a. miracle: Improvement Our errors spring from the pride of our hearts appeal to Nebuchadnezzar and to Belshazzar Prosperity often ex- rebellion There can be no security when God is our enemy . LECTURE V. PAGE 131--163. THE DESTRUCTION OF SODOM AND GOMORHAH. GE.V. xix. 1526. 2 PET. ii, 6. Domestic scenes of Genesis-- f rastcd with profane writers-. -the patriarchal tents welcomed Abraham. introduced Idolatry of his country triumphs of faith titles of Abra- ham his infirmity in Egypt his memorials of gratitude liis separation from Lot the battle of Siddim, and Lot rescued Mrlchisedt c Inter- view with Jehovah Religious worship to be guarded Domestic con- tenlion---Hagar's Might prediction respecting Ishmael Circumcision, and Abraham's name changed Three angels visit him --Goe fiitu.-i'.\ the Si.hj.jrt stated in its ex- cording to the Scripture- h;stor\ --Cliai actrr of the- -They murmur for water Manna and quails sent a fresh sup- f water. i distinguished They .siih.luc Amalek '1 ho ijiven Contrast be', -uul Calvary-- J hj Golden Calf the vjl report ol Can. .an .\ general eitni'ii-ration of su- , tribute to liis memoi-y J(.-hua liationol Israel s::,ted --Tlu-y puss Jordan- - The lhoW( r of stones, in and mo ' til Foreign testimonies Positive e\ i- ro the mot . Jtory kt large --from Ari- tobulus, thf Orpine ver . ! Siculus, I'lmy, Tacit' ippas, and the 1'ocis in grncral---Tt.st imony >( CONTENTS. 13 Publicity of the Law adherence of tlie Je\vs to it- its perfectionim- possibility of impo.sition--.So also of the miracles of the journey Cus- toms of the Jews, perpetuated to tins hour, refer to these events Rea- son for the reservation of the Canaanites aspect oi the whole to the Messiah Objections that the conduct of the Israelites was immoral 'hut h was cruel that the instruments us.ed to punish these nations were improper refuted- ImproremeBt the harmony and success of the designs of God contrasted wiih human fluctuations- he presides in the. councils of princes It is pleasant to see the gradual devclopement of his plans it will be delightful in heaven to review the whole. LECTURE X. PJCJ2262 292. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE JEWS INCLUDING THE THEOCRA- CY AND MONARCHY, TO THE BUILDING OF SOLOMON*S TEM- PLE! WITH A CONFIRMATION OF SOME SUBORDINATE FACTS. 1 SAM. viii, 6-lC> & 19, 20. Ac rs vu. 44 -48. HEB. xi. 32 54 Revelation to he examined with reverence, with caution, and with caw- dor Retrospection the subject stated An inquiry ino the rise of government The parental and the patriarcha' Nimrocl Origin of mon- archy Selection of Israel Theocracy -derivation of the term Three- fold relation of God to the Hebrews Distinction of the terms, statutes, commandments, judgments, and testimonies Scripture epithets expres- sive of God's choice of the Jews Appointment of their rulers ^amuel and his sons Expiration of the Theocracy; and in what sense? Monar- chy of the Jews The change of government displeasing to God and why? Saul anointed his alienation from God David brought to court his friendship with Jonathan Saul and his sons slain? David's lamen- tationHis succession, his character, and his trials His design to build a temple The monarchy traced to its close absorbed in the spiritual reign of Jesus Solomon'' s temple Evidences respecting it God's pres- ence unconfined Subordinate Scripture facts confirmed-- Gideon's ac- tions by Sanrchoniathon Jepthai's vow, by the story of Iphigenia --Samp- son's foxes, in Ovid's Roman feasts --Delilah's treachery, in the story of the daughter of Nisus---The strength and valor of Sampson, in the la- bors of Hercules The vic'ory of David over the Syrians, by Nichelaus Damascenus--The taking of Jerusalem, and the destruction of Senacha- rib's army, by Herodotus - The Translation of Elijah, in tlie story of Phaeton Jojnah's preservation by the whale, is related of Hercules by Lycophron, and by yEneus Gazeus The dearth in the days of Ahab, by. Menander and \he tire from Heaven v,hich consumed Elijah's sac- rifice, by Cypria/, and by Julian- -Conclusion-. -Christ compared with Solomon, LECTURE XI. PAGE 2,3319- THE CAPTIVITIES OF ISRAEL AND OF JUDAH. 2 KINGS xvn. 1 - 6. 2 CHRO*. xxxvi. 14 21. The history of en.- pires is the record of the human heart The Bible makes us acquainted with MEN- --Cautions arising from Solomon's fall --Succession of Keho- boam, and division of the kingdom- -The captivity of Israel, when? and l >y \vhomN--Sumaritaris. -Cause of the captivity-. -MtnandcT's testimoM -- 14 CONTENTS. Man's abuses of pv/er---contrasted with the Benevolence of the Deity- i Ti,( ten tribes - Inferences- The Messiah was the great object of the Old Testament dispensation- -The very existence of the Jews de- penned upon their connexion with the Suvior-.-The captivity of Judah, \vher.? and by whom? Intermediate events- -The reading- of the roll Nebuchadnezzar's first vision explained by Daniel* Total ruin of Jerusa- lem-. -Description of Babylon -Its wallsThe bridge and banks of the river -Canals -Palace, hanging gardens, and temple- -Nebuchadnezzar's pride and fall; related in his decree ---Obscurely hinted in Abydcnus.-- Confirmed by Herodotus Asserted by Josephus Gathered from Ptole- my's Canon--- His reign and works mentioned by Berosus, Megasllxenes, Diocles, and Philoatratus- Evil Merodach succeeds h-m Then Nt-rii^. lasser Then Helshazz'ar Babylon taken by Cyrus-- The Jews restored - -Improvement The facility with which God can punish nations- Ele- vation sometimes bestowed upon the worst of characters- -The power of the .wicked limited War a dreadful cursc---Let us seek a better world! LECTURE XII. PAGE 320347. THE LIFE, DEATH, RESURRECTION, AND ASCENSION OF JESUS CHRIST, PROVED AS MATTERS OF FACT. LUKE n, 1-7. 1 Cou. xv, 3--S. 2 Pet. i, 16. -Sublimity ftllied to terror-- God alike great in every point of view --The former dispensa- tion has yielded to one more simple and more spiritual The obscurity of antiquity left bchind---The subject stated It relates to facts transpiring in the zenith of the glory of Rome -Expectations of the world at this period Extract from Virgil's Pollio --compared with Isaiah's predictions -.-Ti-anquillitv of all nutions--The decree of Augustus --Conjectures iting- this tax, and its extent Inns of the East--- Poverty of the Sa- vin'r's birt!)--lt is announced to the Shepherds. ..Journey of the Magi who they were---tbe star which conducted them-- their country "Testi- monies of Pliny and Chalcidius to this circumstance --Cruelty of Herod lence that Christ had been in EgyptTestimony of Josephus res- pec'.ing him-- Julian, Porphyry, and Celsus allow his works His death Acts of Pilateasserted by Justin Marur and Tertullian - Manner of it mentioned by Tacitus and by Lucian Miracles attending his death Darkness supernatural -- Testimony of Phlegon-- of Suidas--und the re- mark of l)i.)f.ysius the Areopa^ite-- -Burial of the Savior .-Evidences of the rcs'in-ectiou-.-PK a of the guards answered in seven different \\ , ^ii;;:---Tes'imony rtf l : iiny to the early worship of Christ* General evidences of Quadn.'us- -Ttrrtullian, and Amoblos--. Improvement Jlev guiding Siar-.-in its nature - in it:; sou:x'j--in i^s object-'-and in its issue. LECTI in; MIL -348 , THE CHARACTER OF THE WHITKHS O AND NE\V VI S. 1 Jon s I. 1 . H !'. at'd ,!ated 'J I of tie Old ai ' CONTENTS. 15 of all nations They wore for the most part eye-witnesses of the facts which they recorded What they did not see they derived from the most r.ertain evidences Their integrity Their impartiality Their candor I'lifii- wisdom Their holiness Their lives contrasted with those of their opponents Their motives disinterested proved by their actions and by their preaching Their testimony respecting- themselves They believed what they taught proved by their sufferings Tlu-y were guided by that which t'hey preachedproved by the correspondence of their lives They could not be deceived in the facts which they re- late They would not deceive proved from their acknowledged charac- tersand from their criminality, supposing it possible Their views stated, and their prejudices Their appeals considered The concession of .their enemies Improvement The allowances to be made in reading the scriptures and the spirit in which they should be consulted. LECTURE XIV. PAGE 377 39r. THE UNSEARCHABLE GOD: OR, AN ATTEMPT TO PROVE AN ANALOGY BETWEEN THE RELIGION OF NATURE AND THAT OF THE BIBLE, BY SHEWING THAT THE SAME OBSCURITY WHICH OVERSHADOWS REVELATION, EQUALLY OVERSPREADS NATURE- AND PROVIDENCE. JOB xxxvi. 14 Man*, a needy dependent creature in his infancy his childhood his youth his manhood his death Kevelution meets him on the terms of his nature Magnitude, beauty, and wisdom, com- parative terms Limitation or hum an powers Created minds swallow- ed up in the Deity The subject slated God unsearchable in the works of creation Ignorance of man in early ages Progress of philosophy Our present ignorance of the planetary system Attempts to reach the poles -frustrated Our ignorance of the minutiae of nature, and of the structure of the human frame God unsearchable in providence Its mys- teries relative to empires The assistance of Revelation Its perplexi- ties relative to individuals Partial illumination from the Bible Our ig- norance of the invisible worlds These were once unknown altogether Their existence is now clearly proved in the Scriptures Their nature iu general is ascertained But few particulars respecting them have - pired God unsearchable in the word of Revelation Its general truth? exhibited Its promises Concession respecting its difficulties: bin in this very point consists its arfalogy with nature and providence These all are but partial views of the Deity The thunder of his power is ceivable Illustrations Conclusion. Writers quoted, or refej^red /o, in the coitrtte of tht Lectures, with their respective dates. ORPHEUS Hesiod Homer Sanchoniathan Xenophanes Herodotus}^ Plato Aristotle Diodes Abydenus Megasthenes Menander Strato Lampsacenus Lycophrou Manelho Aristobulus Diodorus Siculus Cicero Trogus Pompeius Catullus Virgil Nicholnus Demascenus Suidas Ovid Strabo Apion Philo about .Lucanus Seneca Pliny the elder Solinus Joscphus died Pliny the younger Plutarch Juvenal /Elian Justin Justin Martyr Luciun Origcn Clemens Alexandrinus Philostratus Ocellus Lucanus Cyprian B. C. A.D. 1000 Chalcidius in the third cer i- . 900 tury 850 Arnobios 300 . 760 Porphyry 304 620 Eusebius 342 484 Julian 363 413 P .,. 7 f Alexandria 386 . 348 3 of Jerusalem 444 . 322 Epiphanius died 403 321 yEneus Gazeus 490 300 Alexander Trallianus 520 298 293 . 288 276 Hermippas ~\ Numenius | Eupolcmus J 261 124 MODERNS. . 44 43 Pearson 1600 . 41 Grotius 1645 40 Usher 1655 - 18 Milton 1674 A. D. Addison 1719 6 Rollin 1741 . 11 Saurin 17 Burnet . 25 Whist on 35 M. de la Prvmr . 50 Taylor . 65 Prideaux 65 Hrvant . 80 Shaw 81 Pocoke 93 Volney 103 IJi.ssolius 119 Allix 128 DmVlridge . 140 Home 148 Poole 163 Bruce ^ . 180 Watson 200 Geddcs . 220 Burn 241 h>t. Pierre 250 Ancient Universal History 258 Humph rys's Annotations 273 Encyclopedia liri tannicu 276 LECTURES ON SCRIPTURE FACTS. LECTURE I. INTRODUCTORY THE NECESSITY OF A DIVINE REVELATION. JOB XI, 7 9. Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thoufind out the Almighty unto perfection? It is high as heaven, what canst thou do? deeper than hell, what canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea! JL o enlarge the sphere of knowledge, and to increase the sum of happiness in the present world, is an object worthy the attention of every friend of human nature; and the effort, ev 7 en should it fail, deserves the appro- bation and the applause, of wise and good men: but to provide consolation against the severest moments of trial, to disperse the cloud which hangs over "the valley of the shadow of death," and to conduct the immortal spirit safe to the throne of the invisible God, is a pur- pose far more sublime, and an exertion of still greater utility. To shed lustre over a few years, or to live in remembrance a century or two, and then to be forgotten, is comparatively of small importance: yet for this the scholar labors, and the hero endures hard- ship this is the summit of human ambition, and the boundary of its most sanguine expectations. To shine on the roll of science, to pluck honors which fade like 3 18 tlie flower of the field, while you gather them, or to sparkle among the favorites of fortune, is of little avail to man, who must soon resign to the merciless grasp of death, even the sceptre of the world, were it committed to his possession. Yet these things are sought amid re- peated disappointments; and the golden bait is received with increased avidity, although barbed with anguish and sorrow. But who regards the silent finger of reli- gion pointing to an inheritance above the stars, prom- ising splendors which shall never expire, and waiting to crown the man, who obeys her gracious admoni- tions, with honor, glory, and immortality? When I remember the occasion on which I stand before this large assembly, and the awful engagement which, at the solicitation of many among you, I have undertaken I shrink from my subject, and enter up- on the discussion ol it with "fear and trembling." To throw down the gauntlet, and to enter the list with win- ning and attractive fashion, is a bold and daring effort. Jt will be admitted that this is a day of prevailing infidel- ity; and surely it will also be allowed, that it is the duty of every man, who sustains the sacred office of a Chris- tian minister, to "contend earnestly for the faith once iV.ivered to the saints," and to "give a reason for the hope that is in him." On this principle the Lecturer presumes to offer his mite to the Lord of the Treasury towards the support of this great and common cause. It may be asked, why hoary ;ti^ should not rather en- ter upon this arduous work? Would to God that more efforts NVLMC inaiJr on tin- part of able and faithful miu; ruble for years and for litera- ture, against the common enemy! ThorcP' against $keptk*ftnv, will dowelltora- 19 member, that the opposite cause is not supported alto- gether, or tor the most part, by years, experience, and learning. No, these are far from being exclusively our opponents: The young, the inexperienced, and the illit- erate, have united with the sage and the philosopher, against the claims and obligations of revelation. While. even school-boys daringly renounce asystem which they have not examined, which they cannot, alas! appreciate, and embrace one which they do not understand, may it not be permitted to a young man to say something in favor of a volume, which, if lie should not succeed in defending it, he can truly say he admires and loves? Let the wise and the learned rouse to action, and pro- duce their "strong reasons"! shall be among the first to sit at their feet: but upon persons of my own age, I feel that I have a peculiar claim; I trust that they will hear me with candor and respect; and for them principal- ly I have suffered this engagement to be announced to the public. Let youth be opposed to youth, age to age, talent to talent. Let the enemies of revelation know, that we can ascend to their eminence, or sink to their level. Let it be seen, that some are growing up to support the Redeemers kingdom, while others finish their course, and are gathered to their fathers. It may be said, that so many have undertaken this cause, and acquitted themselves so ably,that neither any thing new can be advanced, nor is it indeed necessary. It is readily granted, that I am to tread in a beaten track; but while skepticism continues to press upon us old objections in new forms, we must follow their ex- ample in refuting those objections: and it is as necessary as it ever was to oppose the standard of truth to that of error, so long as our adversaries determine to keep the field, and to maintain the combat. So far from flattering 20 myself that I am striking out a new path, I shall profes- sedly set before you^ from time to time, such arguments* and testimonies as I am able to collect from others; and shall freely use every author that may be servicable to the cause which I attempt to defend. And if I shall be able to set an old argument in a new light, or even to bring one to remembrance only, I shall be satisfied to be regarded a compiler of evidences, rather than a cre- ator of them; I shall be amply rewarded for my labor, nor will you regret your attendance. When however, I recollect, that we all gather our stores of knowledge from the writings or conversation of others; that the experience and observation of the wisest of men could furnish him with comparatively little intelligence, were it never permitted to advance beyond its own imme- diate sphere; and when in addition to these considera- tions, I remember that every man has his own train of thinking, and a mode of expression peculiar to himself, I flatter myself that all which shall be said, will not be h ' ' wed, if all is not exclusively my own; and that som viy be advanced in the course of these lec- tures, which, if it should not surprise by its novelty, may be candidly received for its justness, and attract by its simplicity and sinceri It will be proper, in a lew vv s to state the im- mediate purpose of these lectu: the object of the plan which I am about to - it is simply to meet skepticism on its own ground in relation to first principles. Is it ass-rtcd that the facts recorded in this volume have no evidence? We shall endeavor to prove that they are furnished with all th- evidence which events so remote can have, and which reason ought to require of time. Is it said that Christianity is a modern invention? On the contrary, if our pur- 21 pose be established, it will appear as old as the creation. Is the authority of the scriptures questioned? We vv produce other testimonies. Is its history condemn* i as absurd? We shall attempt to shew that it is perfect- ly rational; and that all evidences weighed, and all circumstances considered, it is clear that events could not have taken place otherwise than as they are re- corded. Is it objected, that it claims support from mi- racles? It will follow from our representations, if they are made with the strength and clearness which we de- sire, that such a book, so written, and so supported, could it be proved to be false, would be of itself a greater miracle than any which appears upon its pag- es. The facts which it records, are the immediate sub- jects of examination in the present course of lectures; and these will be considered in connexion with their history, and confirmed by foreign and ancient testi- mony, under the following arrangement. 1. The present lecture, which is merely introducto- ry, will be an attempt to prove the necessity of a divine Revelation. 2. The Creation: that the Mosaic account of it is the only rational one which we have received: 3. The Deluge: 4. The destruction of Babel, the confusion of lan- guage, the dispersion of the people, and the origin oi nations: 5. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha: 6. The history of Joseph; which will bring us to the close of Genesis: 7. Intermediate Lecture: a scriptural representation of the nature and destination of man: 8. The slavery and deliverance of Israel in Egypt: 9. The journey of the Israelites in the wilderness: 21 their establishment in Canaan; and the circumstances attending these events: 10. The government of the Jews; including the the- ocracy and monarchy, to the building of Solomon's Temple; with a confirmation of some subordinate facts recorded in the scriptures. 11. The captivities of Israel and Judah: 12. The life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, proved as matters of fact: 13. The character of the writers of the Old and New Testament: 14. Concluding Lecture the unsearchable God; or, an attempt to prove an analogy between the reli- gion of nature and that of the Bible, by shewing that the same obscurity which overshadows revelation, e- qually overspreads nature and providence. The present subject of discussion is, THE NECESSITY OF A DIVINE REVELATION. A fair trial of the powers of human reason was made during that long and dreary period in which the scriptures were confined within tlie walls of Jerusalem, and the world at large was left in the unmolested ex- ercise of all the means furnished by nature and philo- sophy, to conduct the mind to God. To that period we shall therefore recur; and shall endeavor to ascer- tain what were the discoveries made by the most enlightened among the Heathens, respecting the na- ture of Deity, the relation which he bears to us, the obligations under which \ve, are laid to him, the con- sequences of death, the secrets of futurity, and all those things which an; so interesting to man, as an immor- tal being. It is fair to judge of the powers of nature and of reason, from the eik"jb produced by their agency, 23 when they were left altogether to themselves. It is unfair in the advocates of skeptiscism to avail them- selves of the superior intelligence afforded by revela- tion, and to usi3 this knowledge against the volume from which they derived it. It is not possible to de- termine with any degree of precision, what discove- ries the unassisted light of reason is capable of mak- ing, while it is aided, and indeed absorbed, by the su- perior illumination of revealed religion; it must there- fore be admitted, that a fair and accurate investigation of its powers, can only be made by looking at it as it really appeared when it was seen alone. We ask with confidence, whether at that period of the world, when science unveiled all her splendors, and irradia- ted the discovered globe from pole to pole; when phi- losophy sat upon her throne enjoying the zenith of her power; and when reason had attained the meridi- an of her glory; a system more honorable to God, more adapted to the wants and the felicity of man, and more productive of moral excellence, than that which is suggested in the Scriptures, was produced? We defy skepticism to answer in the affirmative. Did the mild philosophy of Socrates and of Plato; did the elegant mind of Cicero; did all the heathen philoso- phers in their combined exertions, ever produce such affecting elucidations of divine goodness, such consol- ing demonstrations of divine mercy, such delightful discoveries of life and immortality? They never did. And \ve shall attempt to prove to you the necessity of a divine revelation from the state of the world, at that very period when these eminent persons flourished. We shall not cause to pass before you, rude and bar- barous nations; but we shall bring to the test scientific Greece, learned and polite Athens, polished, proud, imperial Rome. We solicit your attention to 24 I. THEIR SUPERSTITIONS AND RITES OF WORSHIP: II. THEIR CIVIL INSTITUTIONS AND THEIR DEFEC- TIVE MORALS: III. THEIR UNCERTAIN CONJECTURES IN RELATION TO FUTURITY. I. THEIR SUPERSTITIONS AND RITES OF WORSHIP. And in contemplating the state of religion during the boasted reign of reason and philosophy, we can- not but be struck with their ignorance of 1. THE NATURE AND THE ATTRIBUTES OF GoD. When man was left to wander over this wide globe without one cheering ray to guide his feet, the light of nature excepted, the progression of erroneous conclu- sions founded upon one false principle was rapid and extensive. He beheld this fair world covered with ev- ery thing necessary to his existence, and to his enjoy- ments. Spring enchanted all his senses: a summer's sun poured hie glories around him: autumn furnished his table; and experience taught him to secure her bounty in his rude habitation, while the blasts of winter howled round his dwelling, and spread desola- tion over the plains. He perceived that these seasons regularly returned, and that they departed in their or- der, lie concluded that they had their appointed pe- riods; and this suggested to him the conviction of a supreme, over-ruling Intelligence. In every nation, and in every age, the conception of the being of a God, uted itself to the human mind; and an Atheist ,i monster even in the days of heathenism. He had no clear conception, however, of spirit distinct from matter; and therefore conjectured that this God might be Visible. HF.RK COMMENOKH ins ERRORS. He looked around in search of this great first cause. H< Id the sun as he performed his apparent journey rid the globe. When his beams were tempered with gentleness, it was spring: when they poured their most fervid radiance upon the earth, it was summer: their continued vivification produced the maturity of autumn; and their total absence, or partial influence, the storms and the gloom of winter. But, when he re-appeared, the snow dissolved, rivers flowed afresh, and the face of nature was renewed. Of all the ob- jects around him. which could be so likely to be the God of nature? or, in the eye of philosophy itself, what presented so perfect a resemblance of the Deity? The Persian raised him an altar, and bowed with fervor before his shrine. But the sun was not the only benefactor of man. Night spread her mantle over him. and he sought re- pose. The moon lighted him from his labor, and dif- fused a silvery, partial illumination upon the face of creation, which before her rising was enveloped in per- fect obscurity. In her appearance she resembled the ruler of the day; and the conclusion was irresistible,, thai she ought to divide with him the honors of wor- ship. Thus while the sun scorched the head of the adoring Persian: the worshippers of the moon rent the air with shouting, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians." Still but two of the hosts of heaven were considered, The smaller appearances of light, kindled in the skies, during the absence of the sun, were deemed of the same nature, and supposed to answer the same purpo- ses, with the larger; and it was at length inferred that they also should be remembered as objects of adora- tion; although possibly subordinatdy to the others, as they were inferior in glory. HENCE SPRANG POLY- THEJSM. The arts and sciences in the mean time advanced: 4 and while they were erecting tor themselves splendid habitations, they thought that their deities ought to de- rive some honor from the enlargement of useful knowl- edge. Temples arose, and altars were elevated. There the worshipper adored his supposed deity with greater convenience. A resemblance of his God occurred to his mind, as desirable. The idea was eagerly adopt- ed. On some altars the fire flamed, as the purest em- blem of the sun. Others copied the figure of the wax- ing moon, and described a crescent. Others adored the resemblance of a star.* But the Egyptian ever ready in symbols, considered the qualities of his deities; and whether they were energy or fervor as in the sun, or gentleness and softness as in the moon, he represented them by the unbending strength of manhood, or the mild, dignified chastity of the woman. When the mind had once seized the counterpart of its imaginary god in nature, there quickly sprang up an Apollo, and a Hercules,and a Diana. HERE AROSE IMAGE- WORSHIP. Nor did human infatuation end here. Every object around them was deified. The heavens, the air, the sea, the very earth, were adored under the names of Ju- piter, Juno, Neptune, and Cybele. The catalogue was swelled to infinity! Their fellow men whom they either feared or loved, were exalted to heavenly dominion. A conqueror deluged the world in blood. Desolation attended his footsteps. The wreath with which he bound his forehead was nurtured in the field of slaugh- ter, and washed in the tears of widows and orphans, Sighs filled the floatings of his banner; and he drove his chariot with fro/en insensibility over the slain in the midst of the battle. He was a curse to the earth, and execrated by the nations. He enlarged indeed Acts vli, 4>. 27 the limits of his empire; but every inch of ground add- ed to his own dominions, was an encroachment upon those of his neighbors, and was purchased at the ex- pense of the heart's blood of his contemporaries. Af- ter his death, dazzled by his exploits, his infatuated subjects paid him divine honors, and placed him among their worthless deities. One man taught his countrymen to cast seed into the ground, after it had been broken up, and thus to cause "the little one to become a thousand:" and he was worshipped as pre- siding over the fruits of the earth. Another availed himself of the cloudless atmosphere of Babylon, and ascending a lofty tower, made early observations on the heavenly bodies: he was adored as the king of heaven. A third by dint of attention, foretold the re- turn of periodical winds; and he w ? as worshipped as having charge of the storms, under the name of ^Eolus. A fourth crossed the ocean, and in a frail bark com- mitted himself to the mercy of the winds and waves. Both the hero and his ship were instantly translated to the skies; and at this hour a constellation in the hea- vens bears their name, and keeps the daring enter- prise in remembrance. While a fifth discovering me- dicinal virtues in plants, and applying them with suc- cess in certain cases, became the god of medicine, was said to unpeople the grave, and was adored under the name of Esculapius.* To pursue the subject, would be useless and wearisome; every part of the heavens, the earth, the air, the sea, and the supposed infernal world, w r as crowded with deities; and every succeed- ing tyrant, as the first act of his reign, gave his merci- less predecessor a place among the gods. While they all professedly admitted that there was * See note 1, at the end of the Volume. one supreme being who presided over their multiplied divinities, and held them all in subjection, they per- petually disagreed on the point to whom this honor belonged; and the supreme deity of one country, held only a subordinate place in another. Respecting the attributes of the objects of their wor- ship, they discovered unequalled ignorance and impi- ety. We are compelled to draw a veil over the prin- ciples and operations of these pretended deities; for the tale is too gross to recite in the ear of modesty; and the picture could not meet the eye, without calling up a blush of shame, sorrow, and indignation, on the cheek of innocence. Who must not shudder with horror when he reads, that thfese sons of reason and philosophy, ascribed to the holy and invisible God, un- 'iness, and every detestable vice?* We will pass on from the nature and number of their deities, to con- sider, 2. TiiEiB WORSHIP OF GOD. Their religious adora- tion, so called, was such as would have been better suited to the house of an harlot, than to the temple of God. Lasciviousness was sanctioned, encouraged, and practised, under the holy and venerable name of reli- gion. The more infamous the rites, the more accept- able were they supposed to be to the Deity. The apostle Paul has delineated in strong colors, the affect- ing depravity of that dreary and comfortless period. "B-rause when they knew God. they glorified him ': Ir.'t became vain rt was dark - he wise they became , ,ind <; ihr uncorruptible God, M ' riS The Y ' MCiibed in I , their nr^rwnr 4eity 29 into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanne: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and wor- shipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever, amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections." The whole of this awful and well-founded accusa- tion, which contains in it things not to be so much as named among us, is given in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, from the twenty-first verse to the end. And he who has read the Satires of Juvenal, or is at all acquainted with the history of those times, cannot dispute for a moment the fidelity of the apos- tle's testimony. It is the first principle of our nature to believe the existence of a God; and the first dictate of oor reason, that, admitting this existence, we are bound to serve him, to obey him, and to sacrifice whatever we hold most dear to his demand. This is the dictate of reason, assisted or unassisted by the light of revelation. The Bible has directed this conviction to a proper ob- ject; and has specified the sacrifice which we should make, and the offering which duty requires us to pre- sent, when it says, "I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." When "darkness covered the earth, and gross darkness the people," the self- same principles were held; but alas! they were not directed to a right object! It is affecting to see the wretched and ignorant sons of men obeying the dictates of rea- son on this point, and, convinced that sacrifices ought to be presented to the Deity, concluding that he was 30 "altogether such an one as themselves," and forming a false estimate of his character and perfections, offering ail that was most precious to them, to the extinction of parental feeling, and in contempt of the voice of humanity. See yonder Druid, with fierceness glaring in his eyes, and the consecrated branch in his hand, polluting thy soil, O Britain! with the ashes of hundreds of victims consumed in an enormous image! But soft we promised to produce examples only from polish- ed nations, and from empires at the zenith of their glo- ry. And we shall not have read far in the pages which record the brightest splendors of antiquity, before we find the "pitiful w r oman," offering her first born for her "transgression, the fruit of the body for the sin of the soul;" the mother "forgetting her sucking child," and "ceasing to have compassion upon the son of her womb." My heart fails me, and the blood curdles in my veins with horror, when I recollect that it was a custom common among the Carthaginians to sacrifice children to Saturn. The statue of that idol was of brass, and formed with extended arms; but so con- structed, as to suffer whatever was placed upon them, to fall into a fierce fire; ilaming in a furnace at the foot of the image. The trembling parent approached with a countenance of ease which ill concealed the anguish of the heart, and presented his child. The distracted mother imprinted, with a parched lip, a last kiss upon the blooming cheek of her smiling infant. The fero- cious pr'u.^t, clothed in scarlet, received the uncon- sciou- babe from the maternal embrace; and placing it on the arms of this infernal image, it fell into the inc. At that instant the drums wore beat, and the air rang with acclamations from the surrounding multi- i ud<\ to cover the agony of the bereaved parents, and 31 to drown the shrieks of the consuming victim! On one occasion,* two hundred children of the first fami- lies in Carthage were thus immolated! and on their an- nual sacrifices, those who had no children were accus- tomed to purchase those of the poor for this horrible purpose, t These are thy boasted triumphs, O reason! May God graciously preserve to us the teachings of the scriptures! At this mournful review of the blood-stained trophies of cruel and inexorable superstition, surely every pa- rent must feel the necessity, and value the blessing of a divine Revelation! Hail Christianity! It was thine to teach us "a more excellent way:" it was thine to over- throw the altars erected to an "unknown God," and defiled with human blood: it was thine to do away the impure rites which cannot be named without a blush, for the weakness and the wickedness of human nature: it was thine to roll the dark protentous cloud from the understanding: it was thine to demand the peaceful, noble sacrifice of the body by the crucifixion of its lusts and passions! And it is a reasonable service; for it is consonant with the purest dictates of reason: it is not a grievous service: it violates no principle of nature: it tortures no feeling of humanity. It is the only reason- able service which man can offer, and which is wor- thy the acceptance of Deity: yet which, but for the light of Revelation, had never been discovered. Thy peace-speaking voice requires no blood to be shed; for the "sacrifice for sin" has already been presented in the death of Jesus Christ: it requires no mortification of our feelings but such as are depraved, and which were introduced into the mind by sin; but which are * When Agalhocles was about to besiege Canhag-e. f Plutarch de Supcrsthior.e. See tUso note 2, at the end of the volume. 32 net the genuine feelings of humanity, because they were not implanted in the day when God made man <; in his own image.' 7 The only slaughter demanded on thy altar, is that of vice and immorality, of a bitter, unforgiving spirit, of a proud, imperious, untractable disposition, of a useless, ungodly life! But we passion to another review of the state of the heathen world; and argue the necessity of a divine rev- elation, from II. THEIR CIVIL INSTITUTIONS; AND THEIR DEFECTIVE MORALS. 1. THEIR CIVIL INSTITUTIONS. V r ice was tolerated; the principles of humanity were violated; and parental feelings tortured. Suicide was esteemed the strongest mark of heroism; and the perpetrators of it, who ought to have been branded with everlasting infamy, were celebrated by their historians and poets, as men of supe- 1 rior minds. Implacable hatred to enemies was deemed a virtue; and an unforgiving spirit was cherished, and esteemed manly fortitude. Hamilcar, the father of Hannibal, caused his child, at the age of nine years, to swear, that he would never be reconciled to the Ro- mans. The infamous traffic with human blood was permitted in its utmost extent; and, alas! is continued this day among nations professedly Christian: although the mild and gentle precepts of the gospel plead aga it; and religion and humanity unite their voices to demand of the oppressor, "What hast thon (i The voice of thy brother's blood crieth from UK* ground!" IVriii;: -ion wu-' given to the citizens, on ns, to kill their slaves. One of the \vis- Uurs i.f the heathen world, commanded that all children should I- ;:- longed only to rompmmd bodies; and that si/.e and weight were the only properties of" atoms; or roughness and smoothness, resulting from their configuration. f Plastir. 49 ii infinity of worlds, some of which are at every point of time produced, as others perish? But if this accidental concourse of atoms can make a world, why does it never form a portico, an house, a temple, a city, which might certainly be effected with much greater ease?" * Let us for a few moments select a part of the crea- tion of God as a full answer to the absurd system under consideration, and as an indisputable evidence of infi- nite skill and of omnipotent agency. We are about to turn your reflections upon yourselves. Contem- plate your own body: observe the union of its several parts, and their adaptation to the particular purposes for which they were designed. Mark the composition and configuration of the whole. What grace in move- ments! what beauty of countenance! what endless diver- sity of feature! what incomparable workmanship is per- ceptible in the whole frame! You discover bones,marvel- lously united, presenting a skeleton of the human form: iibres and nerves, tine and delicate in the extreme: mus- cles, possessing incredible strength, and singularly dis- posed: vessels, through which the stream of life flows, complicated, and branched into every part of the body: n spirit, at an unknown moment, and in an unsearch- ale manner, superadded to give impulse to the whole machine. In consequence of every volition of the mind, this and the other muscle is in motion: but no one can define the union between matter and spirit: and philosophy in vain attempts to lay her finger upon the spring which agitates the vibrations of ten thou- sand invisible fibres. The whole mass of blood is per- petually circulating through every channel, and return- ' Cic. e!e nut. c!e or. ii, 3f, 7 50 ing to the heart black and improper for the purposes of life, till it has undergone an instantaneous chemical change, which is effected in the lungs by the air, and it flows on purified to pursue its unwearied course. If the air inhaled be unsuitable to perform this process, and unable to effect this change, immediate death is the inevitable consequence. Air, which has lost its elasticity in mines and similar places, or which is im- pregnated with mortal particles, has this sudden and awful influence upon the human frame. Who, with the smallest pretensions to reason, can affirm or believe that such complex machinery is the production of chance? Galen, a celebrated heathen, w r as converted from atheism by contemplating an human skeleton, persuaded that workmanship so exquisite, and design so manifest, demonstrated the existence of a Creator. Yet is this human frame but a very small part of the divine agency. Tiie same skill is visible in every, the meanest, insect, submitted to our inspection. The Egyptians maintained the irrational system un- der consideration; and One should imagine that a more complete refutation could 'not be made, than their own statement of it. Diodorus Siculus has preserved it, and we submit it to your examination. "At the commencement of all things, the elements of the heavens and the earth were blended, and they wore an uniform appearance. But afterwards these parts separated from each other, the world assumed the shape which we now behold, and the air received its perpetual motion. The fire ascended highest be- cause the lightness of its nature impelled it upwards; and for the same reason the sun and the j-tais move in an invariable circle. But tiiat part which was gross and muddy, as also the fluid, sank down into one 51 place, by the force of gravity. These elements per- petually floating and rolling together, from their mois- ture produced the sea, while from their more solid particles sprang the earth, as yet extremely soft and miry. But in proportion as the light of the sun began to shine upon it, it became solid; and the surface of it fermented by the warmth extracting its moisture, swelled, and exuded putrescences, covered over with, a kind of thin skins, such as may still be observed in marshy or boggy places, when, the earth having been cool, the air is heated suddenly, and not by a gradual change. These putrescences, formed after this man- ner from the moisture of the earth extracted by the warmth, by night \vere nourished from the clouds spread all around, and in the day were consolidated by the heat. At length when these embryos were ar- rived at their perfect growth, and the membranes by which they were enclosed were broken by the warmth, all sorts of living creatures instantly appeared. Those that had a larger proportion of heat in their natures, became birds and soared on high. Those that were of a gross and terrestrial kind, became reptiles and animals confined to the ground. While those who drew the most of their qualities from moisture, were gathered into an element corresponding with their natures, and became fish."* It is scarcely possible to conceive of any thing more confused, inexplicable, and uh philosophical, than this hypothesis. Yet even in this account, deformed as it is by alterations, disguised by absurdity, and clouded with obscurity, something of the Mosaic system may be traced, which renders it probable that it might orig- * Diod. Sic. Lib. I. 52 inally have sprang from his representation of chaos, There is this essential difference: he makes order and beauty to arise out of confusion and deformity under the forming, superintending hand of Deity: they as- cribe it all to the agency of chance. When I speak of the Mosaic hypothesis, I would be understood to prefix his name to the scriptural system, only because he committed to writing the tradition of the genera- tions which preceded him up to the birth of time, and not to insinuate that he was the inventor of the ac- count contained in the first chapter of Genesis. On the present occasion, and in the discussion of the present subject, I trust that it will be deemed suf- ficient if I merely mention a more modern hypothesis. It remained for the philosophers of the eighteenth cen- tury to discover that the earth and the other planets were originally parts of the sun, struck off from that immense body by the concussion of comets, and whirled into infinite space, by the rapidity of their mo- tion acquiring their spherical form, and assuming their present appearance. It may be thought that this ac- "count of the creation evinces the fertility of their im- aginations; but it may also be questioned whether it will place the laurel upon their heads, as accurate rra soners, or as illumined and sound philosophers. Yet these are the men who arrogate to themselves the claim to reason, a;ul who condemn as supersti- tious and irrational, all who, rejecting their crude and ;h to the plain, concise, and luminous account, traiuiinittrd to us by IV], But it is time that we should puss on to the ccmsiclt r- ation of the remaining hypothesis, viz. 53 II. THAT THE WORLD IS ETERNAL. Many celebrated names among the ancients sup- ported this opinion; of whom were Ocellus, Liicanus, Aristotle, the later Platonists, and Xeno|>hanes, the founder of a sect called the Eleatic. Plato himself ac- knowledged that the world was created by the hand of God. It was more over supported by many mod- ern philosophers; among whom we may number, Spinoza, Amalric, and Abelard; not to name those of our own day, some of whom hold the eternity of the world in its full sense; and. others assign to it an antiquity much more remote than the scriptural ac- count will allow. The heathen poets at large counte- nanced the former opinion, which proves that the popular sentiment of the Pagan world was, that what we deem creation, sprang from a chaos of which they appear to have no correct notion, under the influence of mere chance.* There are several modifications of the hypothesis of the world's eternity: but we feel it our duty to as- sign the reasons which appear to us to overthrow it rather than to state the several senses in which it was held. 1. A valuable svritert has laid it down as an axiom, that if any thing be eternal it is also self-existent and immutable. For a being is the same with all its prop- erties taken together. We can have "no conception of any substance distinct from all the properties in which they inhere." On this principle, if any property be removed or destroyed, a part of that being would necessarily perish; which is inconsistent with its being * See note 2, at the end of the volume. | l)oddr!dge's Lectures, xxiv, Part II, page 47. Demonstration connected with the preceding chain of propositions. 54 necessary, and subverts its eternity as a whole. It can- not be said,that it is impossible for alterations to be made on the face of this globe, when its several parts are in- cessantly changing; and the inference, allowing this fact, is against its eternity. 2. The same ingenious author has collected and enumerated at length, t several philosophical and as- tronomical objections against this system. These have been urged by various writers; and we shall be satisfied with simply naming them. They are found- ed upon those immutable laws of nature by which the several parts of this grand system act in unison, so far as they have been discovered, and are comprehensible to us, and which are acknowledged by the world at large. They are to this effect: That the projectile force of the planets is continually diminishing, therefore, had the present system of things been eternally the same, they would long since have fallen into the sun. That the sun itself is continually losing some of its light,how- ever small the proportion may be; and of course must have been utterly extinguished. That as the sun and the fixed stars are supposed to attract each other, they must, ere this, have met in the centre of gravity com- mon to the whole universe. That as many substances are constantly petrifying and ossifying, the whole earth must have undergone the same change. And that as hills are continually subsiding, the surface of the whole globe must, ages ago, have been reduced to a level: for if it be urged that the numbers of those so subsiding are counter-balanced by others which we may suppose to have been raised by earthquakes and other violent convulsions, we answer that the numbers so raised f See Dodclridgc's Lccturr, Part II, page 4750. Quarto edition. 55 must be small compared with those reduced: not to say, that mountains raised by earthquakes are for the most part hollow, and arc therefore naturally more dispo- sed to subside and fall in. This hypothesis supposes that all mountains with which we are now acquainted, are the effects of earthquakes, (admitting that the ori- ginal ones, through the effects of time, had been level- led, which would doubtless have been the case had the world been eternal;) a supposition so absurd, that we need only appeal to such mountains as the Alps, the Peak of Teneriffe, and others, to overthrow it. Many others have been proposed, but we cheerfully leave these hypothetical speculations to the learned and the curious, the philosopher and the naturalist, and pass on to other considerations which we deem more important and more satisfactory. 3. We have no credible history of transactions more remote than six thousand years from the present time. The Chinese, the Egyptians, the Chaldeans, and the Phenicians, have all laid claim to much high- er antiquity; but in bringing these pretensions to the teet, it is clearly manifest that they do not deserve the credit which they demand. Their chronology is so absurdly extended, as to exceed the bounds of pro- bability, and to excite suspicion in respect of the facts themselves, which are the subjects of their calculations. It has been stated, and rendered probable by the learn- ed writers of the Universal History, in their account of the Tartars and the Chinese, that a great part of China was very thinly peopled so late as the year before Christ six hundred and thirty-seven, when the Scythians, under the conduct of Madyes, made an irruption into Upper Asia. We have a singular fact to state, which will prove that their boasted antiquity 56 really falls within the limits of the Mosaic chronology. For the evidence which we are about to produce, we are indebted to the discoveries of modern astron- omy. The Chinese have ever made a point of insert- ing in their calendars remarkable eclipses, or conjunc- tions of the planets, together with the name of that em- peror in whose reign they were observed. To these events they have also affixed their own dates. There is a very singular conjunction of the sun, moon, and several planets, recorded in their annals as having ta- ken place almost at the very commencement of their remote history. The far famed Cassini, to as- certain the fact, calculated back, and decisively proved, that such an extraordinary conjunction actually did take place at China, on February the twenty-sixth, two thousand and twelve years before Christ. This falls four hundred years after the flood, and a little after the birth of Abraham.* Here are two important facts as- certained. The one is, that the Chinese are an ancient nation, although perhaps not at that time a very large one; and the other, that their pretensions to antiquity beyond that of Moses are unfounded: because this event, which they themselves represent as happening near the beginning of their immense calculations, falls far \vithinthehistory and chronology of the scriptures. The Egyptians pretended in like manner tu 4 iin exact narration for some myriads of years. Their inaccuracy is demonstrable from a plain matter of fact. M ;IV : , rrmminrMid a small and well composed Officer's l\itif,J>!; t " writ Urn by MOW living, and pcrsoiKilly kr.oun to me? Ii i.- published ,l:u-fac' is recorded in "this lilt'.- : ivor of llu- liil.: en. Theftylcof writing adopted is ai dives and i ' 57 *They professed to preserve the records of other ancient nations as well as of their own; and their evident falla- cy in relation to other empires, marks the dcpendance which we ought to place in their history respecting themselves; and proves that we should receive their calculations with great caution, and under considerable limitations. When Alexander entered with his victo- rious army into Egypt, the priests professed to shew him out of their sacred annals an account of the Mace- donian and Persian empires through a period of eight thousand years: while it appears from the best histor- jbal accounts, that the Persian empire was not then three hundred years old: nor had the Macedonian been founded quite five centuries. In order to establish their chronology, they make their first kings, on their own calculations, reign above twelve hundred years -each; and for the same reason the Assyrians make their nionarchs reign above forty thousand years. We might adduce a variety of similar instances of unbound- ed license in the pretensions of the Chaldeans, Pheni- eians, and some other nations. But it is unnecessary to pursue the inquiry farther. Such extravagance de- feats its own purposes; since no dependance can be placed upon calculations so chimerical.* 4. We are able to ascertain the periods when the most useful arts and sciences were invented; which j'ould not- be done with certainty, had the world been eternal, because many of them would have been invol- ved and buried in the mist of extreme antiquity. Mark the progress of science. Observe how soon it arrives at the perfection of which it is capable! What elucida- tion the revolution of a few ages throws upon theories * See Pearson on the Creed: page 58 CO. Folio edition ofl59. Con- sult also SiilLingfleei's Origins ISacrse. 8 58 previouslyobscure! In the lapse ofcomparatively a very few years, the hand of time uncovers a fund of knowl- edge, which was veiled in perplexity and uncertainty. How many useful arts are invented, and how many interesting discoveries are made in the course of a sin- gle century! Calculate upon the most tardy progress of the arts imaginable, and determine whether those of which we are now in possession are at all equal to that which we might reasonably expect, if the world had been eternal, and if human genius and industry had been gradually, however slowly, penetrating the dark- ness, and dispersing the cloud of ignorance? If it be urged that floods, and fires, and wars, with ten thou- sand nameless hypothetical desolations, may have de- stroyed a multitude of useful inventions; we answer, that the number of these must have been prodigious indeed, and absolutely inconceivable, to produce a de- vastation of the arts which should be able to counter- balance the inventions of science, \\hicb, on the suppo- sition of the world's eternity, might be expected. Nor could we with such facility determine the periods when these useful arts were discovered, if the chronology of the world really extended far beyond the Mosaic his- tory. Admit that the world were twenty thousand years old: we should necessarily be in uncertainty with i ro ard to the rise of the most simple and useful inventions, because of their extreme antiquity. The fact, on the contrary, is simply this: that the necessaries and con- \enicnces of life, civilization and commerce, the inven- tions of the arts and sciences, the letters which we use, language which we speak, have all known origin- als, may all be traced back to their first authors, and these all fail far within the circle of six thousand yc; while none are found to exceed it no, not onr 59 5. In the same manner we are able to trace the or- igin of different nations; which we could not do with certainty had the world been eternal. We can look back to the beginning of the greatest empires of the present day; and we can also mark the rise, the merid- ian splendor, and the decline of those which preceded them, till we arrive at a certain point beyond which we know nothing; and this point extends to about the standard assigned in the Mosaic account of the crea- tion. Should earthquakes and floods be again plead- ed as having destroyed nations as well as sciences, and thus reducedthe world to a second infancy if any had remained,we might naturally conclude that the most useful arts had been preserved, and that some wrecks of mighty nations would have survived the desolation, at least, to tell the tale of woe to succeeding genera- tions. But a system begins to be in danger, when those who maintain it are reduced to the necessity of supposing things which might, or might not, happen where probabilities arc against them and when if their arguments are admitted, the slender causes they assign, are in themselves inadequate, to the production of effects so extensive as they wish to establish. 6. It may be necessary to notice a modern objection which has been urged against the Mosaic chronology; and which is designed to prove, that if the world be not eternal, it may still claim a much higher antiquity than is allowed in the Bible. It is in substance as fol- lows:* * These objections to the Mosaic chronology are stated and refuted very much at large in the Encyclopaedia Britunnica, article Earth. To th * urriter of th.s article I am indebted for the statement given above; anl for the mos; part I have adhered to his language as best conveying his thoughts up m the subject. iu "In pits or openings of ground in the neighborhood of Vesuvius and JEtna, beds of lava have been discov- ered at considerable depths below each other; and these in some places are covered with successive strata of vegetable mould. These different strata have pro- ceeded, it is said, from an equal number of irruptions from the mountain. Ten or twelve successive strata, overlaid with soil, have been discovered in the bowels of the earth; and it is strongly asserted, that, by dig- ging deeper, many more might be found. It is ASSUM- ED that a thousand years at least are necessary to the production of a soil sufficient for the nourishment and growth of vegetables upon these volcanic lavas. If this be granted, and twelve such strata have been discovered, the antiquity of the earth is immediately swelled to, at least, twelve thousand years: which is more than double the Mosaic chronology. This, then, is the point upon which the whole controversy turns; and the answers that have been given to this objection may be laid down in the following order: 1. It is granted, by those who have written upon this subject, that some lavas are very solid, and others much less so. The one, of course, resists the opera- tions of time much longer than the other. This also is admitted. 2. They have not determined of which sort the la- vas in question are, which is a material inquiry: since, if a thousand years were rcquiu'd for the more solid, a much less time would be necessary for the farina- ceous. 3. Soil gradually increases l.y decayed vegetables, and the sediments O!"M.OUS ai.d rain: the, thickness or thinness of the soil must ti determine whether a greater or less time has been employed in the accu- 61 mulation: but these writers have not informed us of the dimensions of these subterraneous vegetable strata another material circumstance in the calculation. 4. Volcanic ashes and muddy water arc sometimes thrown out, designed, as it should seem, by nature to repair the sterility occasioned by the lava; and these ought to be taken into the account, as materially as sisting quickness of vegetative soil. 5. They have, however, furnished us with the fol- lowing fact. The town of Herculaneum was destroy- ed by an irruption in the ninety-seventh year of the Christian era. 'There are evident marks, that the matter of six irruptions,' say they, 'has taken its course over Herculaneum; for each of the six strata of lava is covered with a vein of good soil. 7 Here then, we have their own authority for six strata of good soil accumu- lated in less than seventeen hundred years: which, sup- posing them of equal thickness, instead of a thousand years, leaves us not three hundred for the production of each." At best, then, this objection is hypothetical merely; and upon the testimony of the objectors, a thousand years are not only unnecessary to the production of such strata, but six of them have actually been formed in less than seventeen hundred years; or less than three hundred for each: and we therefore see no solid reason to induce us to sacrifice the chronology of Moses, to the uncertain doctrine of vegetable strata. We produce only one other consideration against the opinion of the world's eternity; and that appears to us of very great importance: 6. If the world is eternal, how has the tradition of its beginning every where prevailed, although under different forms, among nations both barbarous and 62 civilized? We leave the skeptic who disputes the Mo- saic history, and the philosopher who asserts the eter- nity of the world, to answer this inquiry it is not our business. The fact cannot be denied. Not only is it to be found among the refined nations of antiquity, but barbarians who then chased, and savages who stiii pursue, the wild and brute inhabitants of their own inaccessible forests, had, and yet have, some tradition of the creation of all things. It is not merely in Eng- land's metropolis, that infidelity is encountered with the history of the beginning of the world; tradi- tions of it are to be met with on the plains of Indostan, on the banks of the Ganges, and among every tribe and every nation, from the line of the equator to the circle of both the poles. It forms a part of every re- ligion in the known world. Every country, although, perhaps, claiming an antiquity higher than we allow, and supposing the world to have been produced by chance, does nevertheless admit that it had a beginning. This was the universal doctrine of the heathen world; excepting that some of their philosophers, from the love of novelty, or the pride of distinction, disavowed the public sentiment. It was the common faith of all na- tions, and remains so. We appeal to the Phenician histories, to the- Indians, and to the Egyptians. We read it in Linus, in Hesiod, in Orpheus, in Aratus, in Thales, and in a variety of Greek writers too large to lay before you; all of whom embrace the idea that the world was created, and not eternal. From these, the Romans borrowed the same doctrines. Ovid, \vho closely transcribed these opinions from the Greeks, has given a long and eloquent description of the formation of the heavens, and the earth, and its several inhab- 63 itants.* We repeat our question, how was it possible for the tradition of a beginning to the world, to be so universally prevalent, and so universally received, through every age, if it were indeed eternal? From these representations we now wish to deduce a most interesting and important inference; and to es- tablish a truth which lies at the foundation of all relig- ion, natural and revealed THE BEING OF A GOD. If we have in any respect succeeded in overturning the two hypotheses which have now passed under review: if the world be not the production of chance, and if it be not eternal; it follows, that it must have been created in order to which there must have been an infinite Architect. We have seen human reason led into labyrinths, from which it could not be extri- cated but by the friendly assistance f Revelation. To the eye of nature, all is obscurity. We have received decisive evidences from notorious facts, that when an investigation of these subjects has been attempted by men of the first talents, independently of this infallible guide, the mortifying and inevitable result has been, bewildered systems, trembling uncertainty, clashing, contradictory theories. "There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen: the lion's whelps have not trodden it, nor hath the fierce lion passed by it." These secret paths are the operations of Gocl, sought out by those who love him, and discovered only by the direction of his word, and the agency of his Spirit. Admit the being of a God, and all is clear and luminous. Every difficulty vanishes: for what cannot Omnipotence perform? * Mrfam, Lib. 1. See tlie quotation, note 4. :i' 1!^ en.l of Uie 04 "The fool hath said in his heart there is no God. 7> Can he deserve a milder name who holds his irration- al creed? All nature proclaims his existence; and every feeling of the heart is responsive to its voice. The in- stant we begin to breathe, our connexion with God is commenced, and it is a connexion which cannot be dissolved for evex. All other unions are formed for a season only: time will waste them: death will de- stroy them: but this connexion looks death in the face, defies the injuries of time, and is commensurate with the ages of eternity. The moment we are capa- ble of distinguishing between good and evil, our res- ponsibility to God is begun it commences with the dawn of reason, it looks forward to the judgment seat as its issue. At every period, and under every circum- stance of human life, man still draws his existence from the "Fountain of life:" he may be cut off from society, but cannot be separated from God: he may renounce his fellow men, but never can burst the bonds of obligation by which he is held to his Maker, till he shall have acquired the power to extinguish that immaterial principle within him, which can never be subjected to decay or to dissolution. The last sigh which rends the bursting heart, terminates the corres- pondence between man and man; but strengthens tin- union between God and man. All the springs of en- joyment and of existence, are hidden in the Deity, and Ihe fates of the human race are suspended in the bal anccs sustained by his unshaken arm. It is an object of the first magnitude, to learn something of the IK- ing. with whom we stand thus intimately and insepar- ably connected: who is light and warmth in the sun, softness in the breeze, power in the tempest, and tht* principle which pervades and animates, which regu Jatcs and sustains universal nature: but to deny his ex 65 istence, is the madness of desperation, and the temeri- ty of presumption: of all insanity, it is the worst; and of all ingratitude, it its the deepest. I see him rolling the planets in their orbits, controlling the furious ele- ments, and stretching an irresistible /sceptre over all things created. 1 see the globe suspended, and trem- bling in his presence; and the kingdoms of this world, absorbed in his empire, rising to distinction, or falling into irrecoverable desolation, according to the counsel of his will. JMy heart is not at ease. I am instruct- ed, but not tranquillized. The infinity of God over- whelms rne: his majesty swallows me up: his inflexi- ble justice and purity fill me with dismay: his power makes me afraid. It is this volume which first brings me acquainted with hi mas God, and afterwards as a friend: which represents him at once the Creator and Redeemer of the human race; and while his attributes command my admiration, his mercy forbids my terror. TIIC MOSAIC ACCOUNT OF THE CREATION remains to be briefly examined. He conducts us at once to this great Architect: "In the beginning GOD created the heavens and the earth." He represents the earth, after its creation, as a dark fluid, and an unform- ed chaos, or mass of matter, which in six days God reduced to order, and disposed in its present form. "'And the earth was without form, and void, and dark- ness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." A modern critic* has translated this passage, "a vehement wind oversweeping the surface of the waters." He founds his criticism upon the circumstance that the Hebrew * Dr. "Geildes. 66 language calls "thunder the voice of God; a great wind his breath; the clouds his habitation, his chari- ot; the lightnings and winds his ministers and messen- gers, &c." and the possibility of rendering the words SD^n^K rTH either the spirit of God, or the wind of God, which he translates, a mighty wind. He produces va- rious quotations from the scriptures, in which T\T\ must be rendered wind, and accumulates much criti- cism to prove that this is the primary sense of the original word, and of the terms usually employed in translating it. An equal number of passages might easily be extracted from the sacred writers, in which rrn would bear no other translation than spirit. Nei- ther is it quite clear that rm signifies spirit only in a secondary and metaphorical sense: since by their ar- rangement of explanatory terms, lexicographers seem divided upon the subject.t Respecting DVTJK there can be but one opinion; and while our translators have preserved the literal rendering of the words, the translation proposed is confessedly justified only on its resemblance to some Hebrew phrases, the corres- pondence of which may or may not be admitted. This premised, I object further to the rendering "a vehe- ment \vind," because a very beautiful idea suggested by the literal reading of the words is lost in that, adopted by this critic: an idea which is so well expres- sed by our inimitable poet,* who was himself well versed in the original language of the Sacred Scriptures; and who in his beautiful address to the Holy Spirit, says, f P.irklin-sl rrives, as its primary sense, <."> in inotir.r,,- \vliirh corres- ponds with Dr. Geddrs's opinion: yet in his translation ot Gi-n. i, '2, P;nk. hurst renders I IK- words "the spirit nf the Alt-ivi;" Siockins gives, as the primary sense-, s/.iritus, then vent us, &c. II<\v luilc cun be inferred from verbal criticism! > Milton. 67 "Thou from the first Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread, Dove-like, satst brooding' on the vast abyss, And madstit pregnant. 1 * But it was impossible to maintain the simple transla- tion, without admitting a doctrine, which this critic could not reconcile with the religious principles which he had adopted, the personality of the Holy Spirit;t and he therefore substituted one which did not clash with his sentiments: and on the same principle I prefer the common reading of our Bibles, because it accords with a system which appears to me both rational and scriptural, and which does include the personality of this divine Agent; and because the words are by our translators literally rendered. The first thing which appeared was light; the separ- ation of which from darkness, was the work of the first day. "And God said, let there be light; and there was light." A more simple and more literal translation is, u Be light; and light was." This very passage, in its connexion, has been marked by the ele- gant Longinus, as a specimen of the true sublime.^ Nor did it escape the observation of the psalmist, who has well expressed it. "He spake, and it was done: he commanded, and it stood fast." On the second day, God made an expansion: for so the Hebrew word jrp*l which our translators have rendered "firmament," implies. It is derived from a root which signifies " outstretching," and corresponds with that beautiful passage in Isaiah xl, 22. "It is he f Dr. Gedcles Iras said, "those who have found in this passage the person of the r,ui.Y GHOS i, have been very little versed in the language ot the East; and paid very little attention to the construction of the text." So easy is it to dea* in bold and unqualified assertions, and call them critical remarks. Surel} he forgot thai Milton was an Hebrew schix'ur of no common standard. t See note 5, at the end of the volume. 68 that slretchdh out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in." It is the atmosphere which surrounds our globe, and which possesses density sufficient to sustain the waters above it. Its design said Moses, is, "to divide the waters that are above this firmanent" or atmosphere, "from the waters that are under this expansion." This atmos- phere is perpetually drawing up particles of water, till they accumulate, and become too heavy for the air to sustain them, and fall in showers of rain. On the ihird day, the earth was drained, and the waters which before triumphed over its surface, were gathered into one grand receptacle. The land appear- ed, dry and fit for vegetation received the name <*Earth" and produced, at the Divine command, herbs, plants, trees, and all the endless varieties of the vegetable world, bearing their several seeds and fruits, according to their different kinds. The congregated waters he called "seas;" and drawing boundaries around them, he said "Hitherto shall ye come, but no farther; and here shall your proud waves be stayed." On \\\Q.fourth day, the sun and moon were formed, and placed in the heavens to illuminate the earth, to distinguish between day and night; to divide, and to rule the revolving seasons of the year. 4w He made the btars also." On the fifth day, were created fishes, and the swarming, multiform inhabitants of the hoary dr< j>. the fowls of heaven, and whatsoever ilieth in the ( x- pansion above us: these all were produced from the waters. On the xhrlh dity, were formed all terrestrial ani- mals. Thru also MAN, his hist, best work, was -fash- ioned" from the "dust of the earth," and animated 69 with "a living soul." Of man he formed the WOMAN; "to be an help meet for him." 'Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, ami all the host of them." And "God rested from lii work, and blessed the seventh day^ and sanctified il," as a sabbath to the man and to his posterity. Such is the Mosaic account of the creation, leading us up to God as the Creator and Disposer of all things; affording, beyond controversy, the most rational of the hypotheses presented to you; and while it has left the way open for philosophic inquiries, it has not said any thing to gratify vain curiosity. We will attend to some few questions which have been often suggested from this representation of the beginning of all things, and conclude this Lecture, which has already been drawn out to a great length. 1 . What was the light that made its appearance be- fore the creation of the sun? In considering this ques- tion, which cannot be solved, and which is a matter of opinion altogether, various conjectures have been formed. Some have called it elemental fire. Some have supposed that it resembled the shekinah. A sim- ilar representation of it is made by our immortal bard: ' 'Let there be light,' said God, and forthwith light Ethereal, first of things, quintessence pure, Sprung from the deep, and from her native cast To journey through the airy gloom began, Spher'd in a radiant cloud, for yet the sun Was not; she in a cloudy tabernacle Sojourn M the while-"* The critic, to whom we have before referred, suppos- es it to have been u an emanation of the same sun that still enlightens us; and which, although it had not yet appeared in its full glory, yet shed sufficient Par. Lost, book vii, 1.C43--249. 70 light through the dense atmosphere, to make the sur- face of the terraqueous globe visible."! But as I ieel inclined to give implicit credit to the Mosaic account, in its literal signification, which affirms that the sun and moon were made on tinefourth day, and that k 'God commanded the light to shine out of darkness" on the first, I should rather imagine it to be the same parti- cles of light diffused, which were afterwards collected into one body the sun.J But of these various opin- ions the reader will judge for himself. 2. Does the Mosaic account oppose the present sys- tem of astronomy? The language of the scriptures expresses simply the appearance of things, and neither sanctions nor opposes any system of philosophy. It has left the road of knowledge and research perfectly open; and neither forbids, nor adopts, the hypotheses of those who have explored the heavens, and with laborious and useful skill, developed the laws by which the great system, of which this globe constitutes a part, seems to be regulated. When in common language we say "the sun rises, and sets" we do not mean to oppose the Newtonian, or any other astronomical system, but merely to express the apparent motion of this grand luminary. It is the beauty of the scriptures, that their language is perfectly conformable to our ideas, and therefore on most subjects falls within the grasp of our comprehension. And we ought to recollect that the d( sign of this volume is not to develope the laws of nature, but to lead us along the narrow path which t DP (".(-deles' Crit. Kern, on Gen. c, i.Arr. 3, vol. I. p. 14; quarto. i I do nol profi-so '<> ol!cr ibis hypotlu : of cbjrctif/M and dif- fic"!'y;bu' it is the best, \vliir h occurs to me, and is allowable vvheie n.ereK hypothetical* I :>ni happy to l.tar that this thought corresponds \\nli one suirjrcstcd in Mr. Fuller's conmviuioy -on Genesis, just published; winch, t vcl h;d ;m op- poriunity of consulting. 71 conducts to heaven; not to guide our feet through the orbits of planets, but to direct them to the throne of the invisible God. 3. Does the Mosaic account of the creation extend to the universe at large? This is an inquiry which cannot be decided. Some have concluded that the earth, the sun, and the moon, only belong to this histo- ry. Others restrict it to the solar system. Others extend it to the wide universe. The circumstances of the creation, as related by Moses, apply principally to the globe which we inhabit. The sun and the moon are mentioned as formed at the same period, and are evidently included in the account, because of their connexion with, and advantage to the earth. But the phrase, "He made the stars also" seems to advert to the great universe; and may lead us to presume, that the creation of all things was effected at one and the same time. 4. In what sense are we to understand the term "six days" as literal, or as allegorical? A critic,* whom we have had occasion to mention more than once, boldly pronounces it "a beautiful mythos, or philo- sophical fiction." Some of the ancient Christian Fa- thers esteemed it allegorical. I confess, however, that my reverence for this volume, makes me very reluc- tant to resolve into allegory, any thing which wears the appearance of a fact on its pages; much more so, to venture to call it a fable. The following reasons de- termine me in concluding, that Moses designed it as a statement of facts, and that we ought to understand the phrase, "six days." in its literal sense: The seventh day was instituted as a Sabbath, that in it the man might rest from his labor, and more im- mediately serve his gracious Creator; and the reason, * Dr. Geddes. the only reason, assigned for it in the promulgation of the law was, that "in six days the Lord made heav- en and earth, the sea and all that in them is; where- fore the Lord blessed the seventh day, and hallow- ed it." Thisis the reason always produced, when the institu- tion of the Sabbath is at all named; and in consequence of it, the seventh day was observed, till the resurrec- tion of Christ on the first day of the week: when, in perpetual remembrance of this great and glorious event, theirs/ day became the Christian sabbath, and the seventh was laid aside. The apostle who wrote to the Hebrews, quotes this passage from Genesis, in the second chapter, and at the fourth verse, of his epistle: u And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. 57 In his reasoning up- on this passage, he makes no one remark, which dis- covers the least approximation to an allegorical inter- pretation; much less did he seem to regard it as "a beautiful mythos:" on the contrary, every thing which he says throughout that chapter, appears to ascertain very clearly, that he understood the phrase, "six days" used by Moses, in its literal sense. 5. Can any reason be assigned for the number of days fixed upon, and occupied in this great work? Certainly not. We dare not attempt to fathom the divine designs; nor is the Deity to be jud.;c'd at a hu- man tribunal. Perhaps (for what can be offered but conjecture?) he carried on his work in progression, and ix days for the performance of that, which he could have effected, had he been so disposed, in an in- t, to shew that he is a u God of order and not of confusion." It is thus also, that he works in provi- dence, and in grace. His plans arc gradually develop ed; his wisdom gradully manifested; his will gradually 73 accomplished; his designs gradually completed. And possibly he chose only six days; to demonstrate his unbounded power, that could perform so immense a work in so short a space of time. 6. How could Moses be fitted to give an account of the creation? There can be no difficulty in answer- ing this question, if it be allowed that he was divinely inspired: but we may account for his ability to record the circumstances of the creation in a way which will be more satisfactory to the wavering. It is no improbable conjecture, that in the earliest ages of the world, God communicated his will to pious individuals, and per- mitted them to transmit it to others by oral tradition: for in those days the longevity of man favored this mode of conveyance. It will be admitted, that Ad- am, could not be ignorant of the circumstances of the creation. With Adam, Methuselah lived two hundred and forty-three years: withMethuselah,Shern the son of Noah, lived about ninety-seven years; and with Shem, Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, lived fifty years, ac- cording to the chronology of the history of Genesis, On this calculation, no more than three persons, Me- thuselah, Shem, and Jacob, were necessary to trans- mit this account, together with the knowledge and worship of God, from Adam to the time when the children of Israel went down into Egypt, through a period of two thousand two hundred and thirty-eight years. It is easy to conceive how it came into the hand of Moses: for his grandfather, Amram, lived a considerable time, both with Joseph, the son of Jacob, and with the Jewish lawgiver, the writer of this history, himself. When the life of man was shortened, and the nations had become corrupt through idolatry, oral tradition was no longer a safe vehicle or convey- 10 ft ance; and God therefore communicated a revelation of his mind and will, which was committed to writing. In retracing the outline of the preceding Lecture; and contrast ing the scriptural relation of the beginning of all things with other hypotheses; I trust, that the proposition, announced for elucidation this day, has been established: THAT THE MOSAIC ACCOUNT OF THE CREATION, IS THE ONLY RATIONAL ONE WHICH WE HAVE RECEIVED. "Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth; wherein dwelleth righteousness." LECTURE Hf, THE DELUGE. GEN. VII, 11 24. In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the sec- ond month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem. and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and NoaWs wife, and the three wives of his sons with them into the ark: They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth up- on the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort. And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the Lord shut him in. And the flood was forty days upon the earth and the waters increased, and bare up the ark; and it was lift up above the earth. And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth: and the ark went upon the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly up- on the earth: and all the high hills, that were un- der the whole heaven, were covered* Fifteen cubits 76 upward did the wafers prevail ; and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died, that moved upon the earth, both of fowl and of cattle, and of beast, and of evert/ creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth y and every man. All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed up- on the earth, an hundred and fifty days. 2 PET. in, 5 7. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water. Where- by the world that then was, being overflovced with water, perished. But the heavens and the earth which arc now. by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment, and perdition of ungodly men. IT is impossible to read the history of empires which once gave laws to the world, to trace the sources of their gradual decay, and to contemplate them in ruins, without emotions of pity and regret. The man who visits the spot where ancient imperial Rome stood, and held through many successive ages a boundless dominion over the commotions of the world, and finds only thesad monuments of decayed greatness, must pos- sess IV( iii^s peculiar to himself, if no melancholy sen- sations arise in his heart to accord with the desolations- 77 without. Where her awful senate convened, time strides over the ruin,and writes on the broken triumphal arch, "The glory is departed/' The traveller, as he sits upon a prostrate pillar, hears no sound but the pas- sing wind, as it sighs along the weed-encompassed por- tico of some mouldering temple. The amphitheatre, once crowded with the masters of the globe, now shel- ters the bat, and the serpent; and affords an asylum to the owl from the glare of noonday. Who, that has an heart to feel, can wander among the crumbling ves- tiges of ancient grandeur, without dropping a tear over the scene of desolation, and exclaiming, "So sets the sun of earthly majesty, to rise no more for ever?" But the destruction which now demands our atten- tion, is of much wider extent, and of infinitely greater magnitude. Not a city, nor an empire, but a world in ruins, is the subject of contemplation. A new and awful view of Deity is conveyed to the mind. We behold him, not descending in mercy wafted on the wings of angels, amid the full chorus of heaven, to spread his golden compasses over the vast abyss, and to describe the circle of the earth; calling universal nature from discord and chaos; lending radiance to the sun, and immensity to the spheres; impressing his image up- on man; constituting him lord of the creation; placing the diadem of glory upon his head, and the sceptre of authority in his hand: but we contemplate the offended Majesty of Heaven, arrayed in vengeance; terrible in fury; clothed in all the thunder of his power; arming the elements against his adversaries; and opening the dreadful artillery of his wrath upon a guilty world. When God completed the creation, ne beheld in the harmony and magnificence of his work, the perfect transcript of his own vast design, and pronounced the 78 whole, and all its several parts, "very good." By an early act of disobedience, man broke the law of his Maker; and not only cancelled the bond of his own happiness, but blotted the hand-writing of Deity in the volume of nature. The fall of man, as a point of doc- trine, comes not within the department of this course of Lectures: it is our business simply to insist upon it as a fact recorded in the Scriptures,which ten thousand different and fatal effects produced by it, tend to estab- lish. To this fact, as a source, must be traced up every calamity which wrings a tear from the eye, every pang which extorts a groan from the heart, and every stroke of mortality which descends upon our connex- ions. Sin having found its way into the world, was followed by death and a long train of attendant miser- ies. The yawning tomb presented itself to the man at the end of this valley of tears, and the grave was the termination of his fondest hopes: to the earliest race of men, as to us, it was the limit to the longest period of existence. A life of "nine hundred sixty and nine years," like a summer's day, had its dawn, its morn- ing, its meridian, its decline: it yielded to the lengthen- ing shadows of the evening; and gradually sunk into the gloom of a midnight silent and impenetrable. Who will be able to set boundaries to vice? When the floodgates are once opened, who shall presume to check the torrent, or attempt to stay the impetuosity of the rushing waters? The rivulet, increased in its course by the constant accession of innumerable, tri- butary stcsams, swells into a flood, and roils a deep, si- lent, resistless river, which is at length lost in the bos- om of the ocean. Such was the progression of iniqui- ty. Small in its beginning; it rapidly augmented, till it had covered the whole earth. A'Jan added sin to 79 sin, till the measure of his transgression was full, and the long-slumbering wrath of heaven burst over unsheltered head. He who can think lightly of sin, and wantonly or deliberately walk in the paths of temptation, resembles a man who suffers his little bark to approach the circumference of a whirl-pool: at first the vessel glides on in gentle, wide, and almost im- perceptible, circumvolutions: continually, however, ap- proaching the centre, and bearing the wretch thither with increased velocity, till in defiance of effort, the vi- olence of the current prevails, and all is ingulfed in the illimitable abyss. Before the subject, which is to occupy our present attention, is considered at large, the intermediate his- tory, which demands elucidation, ought to pass in re- view before us. One of the most extraordinary cir- cumstances, attending the antediluvian history, is the astonishing duration of human life in those days, con- trasted with the brevity of our own. Some have con- jectured, that the years ascribed to these first men, were lunar, and not solar. To consider them as months, would release us from one difficulty, but it must involve us in another still more considerable. Among other objections, the following may be deem- ed unanswerable: First, this calculation reduces their lives to a shorter period than our own: Secondly, some of them must have been fathers under, or about, six years of age: Thirdly, it contracts the interval be- tween the creation and the deluge, to considerably less than two hundred years even admitting the larger cal- culation of the Septuagint.* ^ The common calculation settles the date of the flood at lf>56 years after the creation; but the Septuagint places it in the year of the world so The account of this longevity, however, is not res- tricted to the Mosaic history: but is corroborated by various ancient writers. Upon this subject, Josephus enumerates the testimonies of Manetho, Berosus, Mo- chus, Hestaeus, Jerome the Egyptian; the writers of the Phenician antiquities, Hesiod, Hecataeus; Hellani- cus, Acusilaus, Ephorus, and Nicholas, who generally agreed that Hhe ancients lived a thousand years."* We have accumulated these names to shew, that these men either were in possession of traditions relating to this fact, upon which their assertions are founded; or that they borrowed them from Moses: and in ei- ther case our purpose is answered. For if they receiv- ed them from prevalent traditions, it will be granted that these traditions had originally some foundation in fact; and they correspond with the sacred history. But if they borrowed them from Moses, two points are gained on our part, ft is proved, on this principle, that such a man as Moses did really exist; that his writings were then extant; that they were in substance what they now are; and that they bear an antiquity more remote than these, which are allowed to be the most ancient of the heathen writers. It is proved fur- ther, that his history was highly esteemed; and that it was supposed, by these writers, to contain facts. Whether they drew from Moses, or from tradition; and whether their testimony sprang from his narra- tion, or from any other source; either way, the Mosa- ic account of these early ages, is corroborated by the oldest fragments of antiquity. Various inquiries have been agitated respecting the principles on which we may reasonably account for at the cmlof the volume. 81 this longevity; and it will be readily granted that the an- swers attempted are founded upon opinion only. Some have imputed it to the temperance of the antedi- luvians, and their simplicity of diet. Others have im- agined that it arose from the superior excellence of their fruits, or some peculiar salubrity in the herbs of those days. A third class of philosophers have stated, that it proceeded from the strength of their stamina, or first principles of bodily constitution; that they had an organization more vigorous, and a frame more ro- bust. This has been admitted, by some, to be a concurrent, but not a sole and adequate cause: since Shem, who was born before the flood, and, it is to be presumed, had therefore all the strength of an antedi- luvian constitution, fell short of the age of his fathers three hundred years. In addition, therefore, to natural bodily energy, it is probable that there was a tempe- rature of the air; and an adaptation of the general state of the earth, to the production of this extraordina* ry longevity, which temperature was destroyed by the Deluge. But there is no way of completely answering such inquiries, but by referring immediately to the will and power of Him, who is "wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working?' Moses relates also an union which took place be- tween the family of Seth and the descendants of Cain: for so we interpret the phrase, "Sons of God," and "daughters of men." It is generally believed that the sons of Seth had, till that time, preserved the wor- ship of God, with correspondent purity of life, while it is agreed that the posterity of Cain were given over to "vile affections;" and on this supposition the fitness of the terms used, and the propriety of their applica- tion to the respective parties, will not be disputed. This 11 iatal union totally destroyed the principles of holiness which a part of the human race had preserved from extinction; and when from this commerce sprang 'mighty men,'" and "men of renown/' "the" whole Dearth wab" quickly "filled with violence." "There were," also, "giants in the earth in those days." We understand the term literally, as implying, not merely men of violence, but of extraordinary bulk and stature. And why should this account be disputed, when con- firmed by so many ancient writers? Pausanias, Philo- stratus, Pliny, and others, speak decidedly of the re- mains of gigantic bodies discovered in their days.* ik Upon the rending of a mountain in Crete, by an earthquake/' says this last mentioned natural historian, "there was found standing upright a gigantic body." Josephus speaks of bones seen in his days, of a magni- tude that almost exceeded credibility. Even Homer, who wrote three thousand years ago, speaks, from tra- dition, that, in his "degenerate days," the human frame was dwindled down into half its size. It is not necessa- ry to contend, nor is it intimated in the Mosaic account, that the bodies of men in general were of such prodi- gious dimensions: all that we wish to prove is, that -there were giants in those days;" that there were, prob- ably, many of them; and that this scriptural relation is abundantly confirmed by profane historians. At this time, fraud and injustice, rapine and violence, according to the sacred writer, extended themselves >V. ~>, 4'.o. edit. Gvolm.s Dr. (ii-ddcs' Criliri-m n (ii-n.vi, in \viiich li JUMlScb ;r opj. " i tli:it tat< ('. abivi-; hut,:is it appears to the \\r.ti/r)f ;lcjc I . "iu-,\\ !,;< l> It n i.ilu upon ilieverucily oi Muts, us an liikUmun; uiul cicstioys liis claim to inspiration. S3 not gather a confirmation of his statement, from their deposition? Who that is conversant with th<> 1-ibles of the heathen poets, may not extract this truth from the cumbrous mass of fiction by which it is overwhelmed. A golden age gradually degenerating into an iron one, has been sung by a thousand bards, whose silent harps have long since mouldered away with the ashes of their masters! Which of the ancient poets, did not cel- ebrate these times? or deplore their extinction? Catul- lus* has stated this fact nearly in the terms used by Moses; and has amplified his expressions so largely, as to present almost a commentary upon the sixth chap- ter of Genesis. Ovidt tells the sarre tale; and repre- sents his injured justice driven from men by the hand of rapacity, and seeking shelter in her native heavens. Amidst this general depravity, \vas issued a solemn declaration from heaven; "My spirit shall not always strive with man." Yet was not sudden and silent destruction, commissioned to destroy the guilty. The patience and pity of God, were manifested even in his rising indignation. Enoch and Noah were "preach- ers of righteousness;" and a space of one hundred and twenty years was allotted to the offenders for repent- ance. Enoch, in the mean time, was received into heaven "without tasting of death;" and Noah having closed his unavailing ministry, entered into the ark, constructed according to the pattern given by God himself with his family, and the pairs of all living ani- mals. For the world they "were eating and * In his Epithalamium of Peleus and Thetis: see rote 2, at the end t;i the volume. -f- Victa jacct p:etas; el virgo csjde madentes Ultima coelestum terras Astrca veliquil. OviSsMax- Faith flies! and pie'v in exile mourns; And justice, lie re oppressM, to heuv'u relu.ru$_* 86 Josephus alludes, Bcrosus adds, "It is reported that part of the ship now remains in Armenia, on the Gor- dyasan mountains;* and that some bring thence pitch, which they use as a charm. "t Lucian speaks of a very remote history of the ark, laid up in Hierapolis of Syria; and the account which, according to him, the Greeks gave of the deluge is as follows: "That the first race of men were self-willed, perpetrating many crimes, regardless of oaths, inhos- pitable, uncharitable: for which cause, great calami- ties fell upon them. For suddenly the earth threw out much water: a deluge of rain fell from heaven: rivers overflowed exceedingly; and the sea itself over- spread the globe to that degree, that all things were overwhelmed by the water, and the whole of mankind perished. Deucalion alone remained, the source of another generation, on account of his prudence and piety. He was preserved thus: In a great ark, which he had prepared, he placed his wives, and his children, and entered also himself. After them went in bears, and horses, and lions, and serpents, and all other living creatures upon the face of the earth, by pairs. He received all these animals, which had no power to injure him, but were extremely familiar, being over- ruled by Divine influence. These all floated togeth- er, in the same ark, so long as the waters were upon the earth. '^ We have already remarked, that the same person was intended by a diveisity of names; and Grotius says, that u Seisithrus, Ogyges, and Deucalion, are all Same as Moses calls Ararath. See Grotius do Writ. UcTig. Christ. $ 16 notes. jjoseplnis roiiti'. Appion, primo; ct Antiq. His lib i. cap. 4. U.ncian, lihro dc IX-u. S.rn, -t dc t:m/o v-m v is ,\\n > quo'l 87 names signifying, in other languages, the same as No- ah does in the Hebrew, the language in which Moses wrote."! Now it is a fact well known, that the an- cient writers, in copying from any original, did not give in their translation the names used in that original: but changed them for some other that had the same meaning in the language into which they translated them, as the original names had in that, from which they transcribed, For instance, Alexander the histo- rian, writing concerning Isaac in Greek, does not ad- here to the original name, but calls him Gelota (FeAwra) or "Laughter:" which is the interpretation of the He- brew name Isaac; and was given him by Sarah in re- membrance of some circumstances relating to his birth. Thus, by the different names used in the accounts which different nations give of the deluge, the same person is intended and that person is Noah. Dio- dorus says, it is the tradition of the Egyptians, that 'Deucalion's was the universal deluge." Plato cor- roborates this testimony by saying, "that a certain Egyptian priest, related to Solon, out of their sacred books, the history of the universal deluge; which took place long before the partial inundations known to the Grecians." There is another remarkable coinci- dence and correspondence with the Mosaic account: the very day fixed by Moses as the beginning of the deluge, agrees exactly with the day in which, Plu- tarch tells us, Osiris went into the ark, the seventeenth of Athyr; which is the second month after the au- tumnal equinox, the sun then passing through Scor- pio. It is thus that the evidence of the universal del. uge, in this particular branch of it, corresponds with fGrotius de Ve;it. Relig-. Christ. IS notes; where also these ex- tracts from Lucian and oU.trs, arc quoted at leng'h, whL rnativ similifr 88 that of the creation: that it is equally the subject of tradition; and that tradition, varying a little in circum- stance, is equally prevalent over the face of the whole earth. This tact is farther proved by, 2, TllE EXISTENCE OF VAST QUANTITIES OF MA- RINE PRODUCTIONS UPON THE TOPS OF MOUNTAINS, AND UNDER THE SURFACE OF THE GROUND, TO CON- SIDERABLE DEPTHS, OVER THE WHOLE EARTH, AND AT ALL DISTANCES FROM THE SEA The earthquake that shakes the towering palace, and the proud battlements of the city to the ground, rends the bosom of the earth, and discloses the shells and teeth of fish the bones of animals entire or partial vegetables evi- dently transported thither from their respective ele- ments, by some grand and universal commotion, affect- ing at one and the same time, the sea and the dry land, and destroying the limits of their mutual separ- ation. This was considered as a decisive argument till the recent hypotheses of some modern philosophers have furnished an evasion of its force. t It has been proved that volcanoes are capable of forming moun- tains of very considerable magnitude: that the fire of them lies deep, and often below the waters of the ocean itself. On this account, marine substances may be found at all depths HI these volcanic mountains, and yrt afford no proof of a deluge. There would be some weight in this argument if these marine sub- stances were found only in the neighborhood of vol- canoes: but with all its plausibility, it is incapable of universal application. It may be thought to account for marine substanceslying deep in volcanic mountains, or lands stretching along the borders of the ocean, and liable to volcanic irruptions: but it will furnish no sat- pir William Hamilton. 89 isfaetory reason for their existence in an inland coun- try, free from volcanoes, and hundreds of miles dis- tant from the sea. There are also appearances of des- olation presented in nature, which cannot be accounted for, even on the supposition of earthquakes; nor be deemed the consequence of any convulsion, less pow- erful than that of an universal deluge. Another hypothesis is levelled against the system which we espouse. Some philosophers have supposed, that a perfect transposition of the order of things has taken place: that what is land was once sea: and that where the ocean rolls his proud waves, the earth pre- sented her fair and cultivated face.* If this, indeed, was the case, as the sea is liable to the same volcanic irruptions, the existence of marine productions, on ev- ery part of the globe, may be accounted for, without the admission of an universal deluge: since we may easily imagine, that when the waters retreated, they left some of their spoils, deeply implanted, behind. The observations which we have made, and are capable of making, in the contracted sphere of our personal knowl- edge and the changes which are effected on the face of nature, in the narrow circle of the few years allot- ted to us may not perhaps be deemed any thing: but those of ages and generations long si nee roiled by, and which are recorded on the faithful page of impartial history, ought to be duly appreciated. The inroads which the sea has made upon the land, recorded by those who have measured and watched its boundaries, in the remembrance of our fathers, have been compar- atively inconsiderable: nor will any authentic history of the most remote periods, furnish us with matters of fact to justify, or even to countenance, an hypothesis Buffbn. 12 go so extravagant. Every instance which can be produ- ced of the ground gained by the waves upon the shores of the globe, is so trifling, and the conquest was so slowly acquired, that the system proposed must sup- pose an antiquity of the world, very little different, as it respects the objections that lie against it, from the hypothesis which maintains its eternity; the answer to which fell under the department of the preceding Lec- ture. This wild opinion, moreover, seems to suppose islands only the tops of mountains: but over the whole face of our present continents is there no such moun- tain, or chain of mountains, in shape or extent, as our native country whose hoary cliffs stretch their bar- riers wide and firm, frowning defiance equally upon the waves which assault her shores, and the power ot" nations who insult her majesty? On the whole, we think, that only on the principle of an universal del- uge can the existence of marine productions found scattered wide, and buried deep, over the whole globe, be accounted for: since the theory which supposes the retreat of the ocean from our present earth, and that which rather suggests, than asserts, that all dry land was thrown up from the bottom of the sea, by volcan- ic, subterraneous fires, are equally preposterous and ir- rational. Now, the waters were long enough upon the earth, according to the Mosaic account, for shell- fish to breed on land, and to increase from spawn to their full size; the action of the waters upon the earth would greatly soften it; and the spoils of the deep, at, and before, the retreat of the waters, would be deeply i bed, and covered by the perforated and broken soil. There appears to us to be but one way of determining upnn this point: the Mosaic history is so express, that either an universal deluge must be admitted, or the 91 whole narration rejected. Had the deluge been only partial, some winged animals might have niu.ie their escape from it, since it gradually and progressively ex tended; and time was consequently afforded them for flight from the encroaching waters: but it is said, "all flesh died, that moved upon the earth, both of fowl and of cattle." And if the waters were restricted to only a portion of the earth, a constant miraculous power must have been exerted to keep them at an el- evation so immense, as to cover all the high hills of the immersed part, from running off into the sea, supposing the sea to have preserved its usual level. Nor is it easily ascertained, how far the human race had spread themselves over the face of the earth, or the degree in which man had multiplied. When, therefore, we speak of the Deluge, we mean an universal flood; and mean to distinguish it from the partial inundations which from time to time have laid waste particular countries; and which, in more remote ages, were preserved in remembrance by the heathen poets. II. We pass on to present you with a selection of a few, from the innumerable HYPOTHESES BY WHICH IN- GENIOUS WRITERS HAVE ATTEMPTED TO ACCOUNT FOR IT. * To all who have written upon this subject, the grand difficulty appears to have been, the prodigious quantity of waters requisite to such a deluge as that described by Moses. There are two sources whence the sacred historian deduces them: "the fountains of the great deep were broken up; and the windows of heaven were opened.' 7 The proportion of water necessary to 02 constitute an universal deluge, has been by some esti- mated at eight oceans; while others* have computed it at not less than twenty two. The inquiry then is, What did Moses intend by 'the fountains of the deep?" and are these united with "the windows ot heaven,"' sufficient to cause an inundation so immense? 1. Dr. BuRNETf supposes the world to have been perfectly round, without mountains or any irregularity of surface, incrusting a globe of waters, which he calls the central abyss. He imagines that this exterior cov- ering of earth, was broken at the time of the deluge, and sunk down beneath the prevailing waters. This system, it is necessary to observe, opposes the narra- tive of Moses, which asserts, that "all the high hills were covered." 2. Mr. WHISTON'J; imputes the whole to the interpo- sition and agency of a comet: descending in the plane of the ecliptic towards the sun, and passing just before the earth on the first day of the deluge. He also con- cludes that there is an abyss of waters under the sur- face of the earth; and supposes the influence of this body would produce a strong tide on the waters both above and under the earth, which would increase in proportion to the nearness of its approach. Those, particularly, encircled within the globe, would form an elliptical figure so much larger than their former spher- ical one, that, unable to oppose a resistance equal to its pressure, the surface of the earth would burst; which lu! asserts is the meaning of the phrase-, 4k the fountains of the L>T<-;it deep were broken up.' 1 He further supposes, that, in its descent, the comet involv- Dr. K.--1. | Ti 11'iris Theoria Sacra.. .' ' trth: also, the cause of the dc.luge dcmoncira- ted. 93 cd the earth in its atmosphere and tail for a considera- ble time; and the quantity of water left behind, when rarified by the sun, would descend in violent rains; which he imagines is intended by the opening of '-the windows of heaven." The succeeding heavy rains, recorded by Moses, enduring an hundred and fifty days, he attributes to a second similar immersion, on its return. In withdrawing these destructive waters from the face of the ruined world, he supposes a ve- hement wind to have arisen, which dried up a part, forced more through the clefts out of which they issued, and deposited the remainder in the bed of the ocean; which he imagines not to have existed before. The uncertainty of every calculation respecting comets, and the possibility that their tails and atmospheres are streams of electric fluid, and not aqueous vapors, ren- der this ingenious theory very questionable. 3. M. DE LA PRYME,* concludes that the antediluvian world resembled the present one: but that the deluge was effected by violent earthquakes, breaking up its whole surface absorbing continents, islands, and the whole of the then dry land, correspondent portions of earth emerging from the antediluvian sea. Three objections rise against this theory: 1. The Mosaic history says nothing of earthquakes. 2. Amid commotions so terrible as those which must necessarily be caused by the sinking of the earth, the ark itself could not have been preserved without miracle. 3. Earthquakes op- erate suddenly and violently: but the Bible affirms that the flood came on gradually, although irresistibly. 4. The eloquent and ingenious ST. PiEiiRE.t imag- ines that the deluge may be accounted for on the sup- * See Enclyclopedia Britannica article Deluge. v Etudes de la Nature. Tome 1., Etude IV. position, that on the year in which this, great event took place, the action of the vertical sun, was not con- fined to that portion of the globe, which is contained between the tropics, but was carried over the accumu- lated mountains of ice, at the northern and southern poles: which extraordinary circumstance, he thinks easily and naturally explained, by supposing that the earth, instead of preserving the parallel position of its poles, presented each of them, alternately, to the sun's verticle beams. It seems impossible to form any hypothesis free from difficulty: and each of those stated, bearing a greater or less degree of probability, supposes, what in fact every theory must allow, an immediate interposition of divine power and agency. Admit only the fact, that HE who made the world, destroyed it by water; and he could be at no loss for means to accomplish his awful design. The quantity of water required is im- mense: but not impossible to be raised.* Who has descended to his central storehouse? or seen the maga- zine of his rain and hail, treasured up against the day of wrath? Who can affirm that God has not a sufti- cient quantity of water in the earth for this grand pur- pose? It has been proved, that no less than one thou- sand six hundred gallons of water have been exhaled from one awe of land, and dispersed into the air, in twelve of the hottest hours of a summer's day, and when thciv hud been no rain for above a month, and the earth \vas parched by continual heat!"* Besides, the sucrecl writer is consistent with himself. He repre- the earth originally covered, in its unformed state, with water, till the voice of God said, "Let the Sec note C, if) this Lecture at the cwl nf thr volume, j Sec nub. 7, at ilic end oi'tlie volume. 95 waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so."t If this theory be just, then is the deluge effected only by reducing the earth to its primeval state, and giving it over again to the dominion of the waters. Admit only, from the reasoning of the first part of this Lecture, the fact of a deluge; and from the second, the hand of Omnipotence in the production of it; and there can be no difficulty which does not melt away under his resistless operations. Had there been no deluge, it were difficult to account for the universal traditions respecting it: still more so, to explain the appearances presented in the face of nature itself. It was impossible for Moses to impose the belief of it upon the Jews, appealing as he did to the names found in the line of their immediate ancestors, and fixing a certain era for this wonderful event. Many of them were well acquainted with the contemporaries of Joseph: Joseph with the particulars of the life of Abraham: and Abraham lived in the days of the sons of Noah. Now the Jews must have received tradi- tionary accounts of every remarkable event, handed down through successive generations, in other chan- nels besides the writings of Moses. Had his history clashed with these traditions, they could not have failed to observe it; and had he attempted to impose a fable upon them, they could not have failed to detect it. And such a detection at the commencement of his history, could not have failed to weaken, in the minds of his contemporaries especially, the authority and validity of the whole. But we must notice * Gen. i, 9- III. SOME OBJECTIONS. RAISED AGAINST Tl ACCOUNT. OBJECTION 1, is raised against THE ARK ITSELF. many have supposed it too small for the purposes assigned to it. We might have presumed, had not Moses informed us, that a vessel so constructed, so de- signed, and so employed, could not have sprang from mere human contrivance. The length of it was three hundred cubits; the breadth, fifty; the height, thirty. The difficulty is to determine what was the exact measure of this cubit. Some fearing that the ark would not be sufficiently capacious for its destination, if measured by the common cubit, have enlarged its dimensions to extravagance. It is generally agreed, however, that they were common cubits: one of which, although formerly estimated at eighteen of our inches, is now allowed to contain twenty two. Ac- cording to this measurement, the ark must have been, in length 547 2- 10 English feet; in breadth, 91 2-10; in in height 54 2-10; and its solid contents amount to over 2,730.781: almost double what it would be by tiu- former computation. The form of it was an ob- square, with a ilat bottom, and a sloped roof, rai.-t':l a cubit in the middle. It had neither sails, nor rudder; and was admirably adapted to float steadily on the water, without rolling, which might have en- jrrcd the lives of the animals: but it was unfit to endure ;i boislerous sea. It consisted of three stories: eiich >f which might be about eighteen feet high; and tied into numerous apartments. It was, without doubt, so formed, as to admit a proper propor- tion of li'jjit. and air, on the sides; although the par- ticular construction of the windows, is not mentioned. The whole seems to have had another covering, be- tor sides the roof; probably made of skins, like that of the tabernacle. Noah is said, after the flood, to have removed the "covering of the ark;" which cannot be supposed to be the roof, but something drawn over it, like the covering of the tabernacle; which is also expressed by the same Hebrew word; and such a cov- ering was probably used to defend the windows.* 1 Upon this estimate, the ark appears to be sufficiently Jarge and commodious, for the purposes for which it was constructed. OBJECTION 2, arises from THE DIFFICULTY OF AC- COUNTING FOR THE PEOPLING OF AMERICA; AN FROM THE SUPPOSED IMPOSSIBILITY OF WILD CREA- TURES OF ALL KINDS EXISTING IN ONE PLACE. With regard to the latter of these difficulties, it is removed, if we suppose, what is at least probable, that there might be such a temperature of air before the deluge., as was suited to the constitution of every animal. Respecting the difficulty of peopling America, it is neither impossible nor improbable, after the pattern afforded them in the ark, that some sort of a vessel or flotilla should be constructed, which would be suffi- ciently strong to convey them, by a north-east pas. sage, to their destination. The greater difficulty is, the existence of wild creatures, and mischievous ani- mals: which men neither would, nor could transport; unless some restraint had been laid upon their ferocity, similar to that which existed while they remained in the ark. But the modern geographical discoveries have removed the weight of this objection. The straits which divide North America from Tartary, are so narrow, as to admit a very easy passage from one " This account and calculation is principally extracted from Anr Univ. Hist vol. i, c. 7o/i the Deluge. 13 98 continent to the other; and it is not injpossible that they might even have been united by an isthmus which time and the waves, in their combined influ- ence, have demolished.* OBJECTION 3, has been urged against THE DESTRUC- TION OF INFANTS AMONG THE INHABITANTS OF THE OLD WORLD. We shall not attempt to develope the reason why the Almighty permits devastation among children: but we will venture to affirm, that this is no objection against the Deluge itself, as a fact, any more than against the existence of earthquakes, which equally bury infants in their ruins. There is an equal propriety in urging it against the one fact, as the other; and if it will not be admitted as an objection in the one instance, neither ought it to be pressed as a difficulty in the other. Those who oppose the fact on this ground, affirm that it is "contrary to the justice of God." We contend, with a learned writert, that "they have no right, in fairness of reasoning, to urge any apparent deviation from moral justice, as an argument against revealed religion; when they do not urge an equally apparent deviation from it as an argument against natural religion. They reject the former, and admit the latter, without considering, that, as to their objection, "they must stand or fall together;" because the apparent deviation is the same in both cases. OBJECTION 4, respects THE RAINBOW. The reason- ing adopted is as follows: The same causes must al- ways produce the same effects; consequently it is an absurdity in the Mosaic relation, to speak of the rain- bow, as formed after the flood, and as the sign of a * The read, r may consult on this subject, Dodd. Lect. pt. vi. 8, under prop. cxix. p. 3^0, 351, 4io edit. f bishop Walton, in his excellent Aptlofyfor the Bible. 99 covenant then made. We grant that the rainbow is a phenomenon necessarily resulting from the nature of light, and the form and situation of falling rain: yet this objection may be answered two ways; 1. Some have supposed that the earth, like the gar- den of Eden, was watered before the Deluge, not by rain, but by mist; in which case, no rainbow could exist. 2. The accouot of Moses does not directly assert, that the rainbow was then first formed; but merely that God appealed to it as a seal to his covenant, "I do set my bow in the clouds; and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth."* The language may, without constraint; be understood to imply, that the rainbow did exist before: but that now, for the first time, it is appealed to, and appointed, as the seal of a covenant. We shall detain your attention farther, only while we attempt, IV. TO IMPROVE THE SUBJECT. How can we better succeed in this great object, than by pressing upon your consideration, the solemn event which the apostle, in the words read at the commence- ment of this Lecture, has connected with it? a The heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word, are kept in store, reserved unto fire, against the day of judgment, and perdition of ungodly men." , Carry forwards, therefore, your attention, and your thoughts, to this "great and terrible day of the Lord." You are interested in it; and it is inseparable from the subject which you have been contemplating. Are men insensible of its approach? So were they of the threatening destruction hovering over the days of No.- * Genesis ix, 13. 100 alh; till one boundless scene of ruin opened upon tbeif distracted sight, and swept them at once from life and hope for everi Are those derided, who patiently wait the accomplishment of the divine promise, and expect the revelation of the Lord from heaven? It is no new thing. The world have ever been blind to their best interests; have ever sported with their own ruin. When Noah laid the first beams of his ark across each other, it is probable he did it amid the insulting shouts of an hardened multitude. The building advanced. Some admired the structure: some derided his plan: some charged him with enthusiasm, or with insanity: more were lost in sensuality; and all united in the desperate resolution, to bury his admonitions in the grave of oblivion. Still he entreated: still they spurn- ed his instructions: still the edifice rose day after day: still the voice of gaiety was echoed on every side. With strange infatuation, they stopped their ears; and refused to "listen to the voice of the charmer," who solicited them with unwearied perseverance, and rea- soned 4i so wisely." The roof is at length covered in. The danger becomes every hour more imminent. He presses his warnings upon them with increased energy: but, pointing to the unclouded sky, they laugh him to scorn, and load his ministration with contempt. It is closed! The last exhortation has been given; ami I r has wiped the last tear of insulted tenderness from his cheek. Ye blind, insensible mortals! what charm has *holden your eyes," that ye cannot see? Discern ye not the cloud that gathers over yonder mountain? The brute creation see it; anil hasten for shelter to the irk. The family of Noah close the procession; they have entered their rd'upr; and even now Hhe door is '" Oh! it is too late! fraught with heavy ir . ioi nation, the tempest lowers fearfully. Every "face gathers blackness." Yet scarcely is it perceived, before a new scene of ruin presents itself. Ah! there is no escaping the hand of God! The skies pour an unabat- ing torrent. An hollow groan is heard through uni- versal nature, deploring the impending destruction. The birds and beasts which remain, excluded from the ark, scream and howl in the woods, whither they had fled for shelter. The sea assaults the shore: the restriction of heaven is removed: it passes its ancient boundaries: its triumphs already over the plains, and gains upon the hills. The ark floats upon its bosom. The despairing multitude fasten upon it an eye of dis- traction: they implore in vain the assistance of the prophet whom they had despised, and whose pitying eyes are again suffused with unavailing tears. He can bear it no longer. He retires to the innermost recesses of his vessel. In the phrenzy of despair, parents clasp their children to their cold bosoms, and flee to the highest mountains. Where else could they resort for shelter? for the boundless sea saps the foundation of the firmest edifices. What is their desperation as the waves approach the summit! It is equally impossible tct descend, to rise higher, or to escape. They have pro- longed a miserable existence, a few hours, only to sink at last! It is all in vain! "The waters prevail exceed- ingly: every high hill is covered; and fifteen cubits"' over their loftiest summits, the flood rises in haughty triumph! Do you turn pale at this sad relation? Ah! weep not for these, "but weep for yourselves!" Do you blame their blindness and infatuation? Behold, the finger of conscience points to you; and its voice pro- nounces of you individually, "Thou art the 102 Arc there not "scoffers in these last days, walking af- ter their lusts and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." Oh! this is wilful ignorance this is incor- rigible obstinacy! The great event, discussed this night, stands upon firm evidence; and it is the pledge of that second desolation to which we ought to be looking forwards. Are there not triilers with the long suffer- ing of God; who presume upon his patience, and his mercy; and slumber in the arms of thoughtless sensu- ality? Let these remember, that judgment procrastina* ted, is not indignation removed: that the storm, rising slowly, accumulates more strength and fury than a sudden, transient blast. "The day of the Lord will come" will come '-as a thief in the night!" Man, re- tiring weary from the labors of the day, and slumber- ing under the mantle of darkness, shall be scared from his sleep, "to sleep no more," by the roar of a thousand thunders, and the crash of dissolving worlds! Darkness shall reign at intervals, for the last time: and death shall lay down his sceptre for ever! Shaking off the fetters of sleep and of mortality, the man looks around him with an inquiring, distracted eye. Great God! what scenes of despair, and of ruin, present themselves! What language shall describe the horror of that day, in the contemplation of which, imagination fail.-. Kings, starting from their couch of down, or bursting from their tombs of marble, shall reluctantly resign the sceptres of their burning empires! With what unutter- able dismay will they gaze upon the globe itself, as it rolls along infinite space, blasted, and consuming by the lighteni ngs of heaven! 103 Oh! it is no fable! we urge upon you no idle imagi- nation! Already the day approaches it is even "nigh at hand" "the judge standeth at the door!" The arch- angel is preparing to blow that blast, which shall "shake terribly" not only the earth, "but also heaven!" The glorified saints are looking forwards with "earnest expectation" to that day; and the spirits of the slaugh- tered redeemed cry, from under the altar, "How long, O Lord, how long!" All things are hastening to be placed under the feet of the Savior. "And then com- eth the end" the last, great day the day that shall disclose * "A God in grandeur -ant! a world on fire!" LECTURE IV. THE DESTRUCTION OF BABEL, THE CONFUSION .OF LANGUAGE, THE DISPERSION OF THE PEO- PLE, AND THE ORIGIN OF NATIONS. GEN. XI. 1 9. And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journey ed from the east, that they found a plain in the laiM of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us build us a ciiy and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people i* one, and they have all one language; and this they btgin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go 'to, let us go down, and there confound their Ianguage 9 that they may not understand one anoUic^s speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon tlie face of all the earth: and they left off tQ build the city. Therefore is the name of it call- ed Babel, because //icLoRD did there confound the language of all the earth:-* and from thence did the \ AMD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the cart If. 105 OBAD1AH 3 & 4. The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? Though thou exalt thyseff as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will 1 bring thee down, saith the LORD. WE left Noah floating, with his family, upon the bosom of an overwhelming deluge, which had ex- haasted the fountains of the deep, to wash away the stains of guilt from the surface of the earth. We are now to accompany this favored family, from the ark that preserved them, to the wasted, deserted plains,, once more visible. What an interesting picture, does the sacred historian present, to the eye of the imagin- ation! Behold, an altar erected a family surrounding it the rainbow extending its sublime arch across the face of heaven and the Eternal himself appealing to it, as the seal of a gracious covenant and a pledge of security to the human race! On the one hand, may be seen the ark on the elevation of Mount Ararath: on the other, strewed thick and sad, the mournful re- mains of those who had perished by the waters. All is silent while the patriarch adores his omnipotent Preserver; and presents his sacrifice, with the mingled emotions of pity, of gratitude, and of faith. Of PITY. Could he view the scene of desola- tion around him, without suffering one tear of com- passion to fall? Impossible! And well might a patri- arch's bosom entertain this divine and generous prin- ciple, when she takes up her residence, a welcome guest, in heaven! She throws her softest tints over 14 106 those blissful regions, without impairing either their beauty or their tranquillity; and sheds her sweetest balm upon their inhabitants, without destroying either their happiness or their repose. Her lily is interwoven with the roses which form celestial garlands; and her drops of compassion mingle with the tears of exqui- site delight, which glitter in immortal eyes. She takes up her lasting abode in the bosom of the Son of God. She conducted the Savior through every trying scene which he witnessed in his passage through this valley of tears. "He wept with those that wept;" and "in all our afflictions he was afflicted." She accompani^ him every step of his journey; and placed her chap- let of cypress upon his conquering head, when he ex- pired on Calvary. In proportion as we possess the spirit of Jesus, we shall become the companions of pity. She will teach us to bind up the broken heart: to wipe away the tear from the eye of sorrow, and to pour the oil and the wine of sympathy, into the wound- ed bosom. O Religion! how have thy adversaries slandered thee, when they represent thee, as harden- ing the heart! Christianity instructs us to "love our enemies:" teaches those to weep, who never wept be- fore; softens the obdurate spirit; melts down the fero- cious disposition; controls the furious passions; quick- ens the sensibilities of nature; transforms the instru- .ts of cruelty, into implements of husbandry; be- comes the strongest, and most permanent, bond of society; and, in every point of view, meliorates the condition of humanity. Of GRATITUDE. As the patriarch had seen, with