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 ^BI 7 ^ FELLOW OF SEVERAL LEARNED SOCIETIES. 
 
 LO3VD OW. 
 1831. 
 
THE 
 
 TRUTH 
 
 REVELATION, 
 
 DKMONSTRATKD 
 
 an 
 
 EXISTING MONUMENTS, SCULPTURES, 
 GEMS, CflTJin-i i\MI MEDALS. 
 
 FELLOW OF SEV 
 
 ARNED SOCIETIES. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, & GREEN ; 
 
 HATCHARD, PICCADILLY-, SEELEY, FLEET STREET? & HOLDS- 
 
 WORTH & BALL, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD. 
 
 MDCCCXXXI. 
 
Whitley & Booth, Printers, 
 Halifax. 
 
TO 
 
 THOMAS CHALMERS, D. D. 
 
 PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY, 
 
 IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH, 
 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 I well remember that you favoured, with appro- 
 bation, the skeleton of my original plan, which I have waved 
 in favour of the present class of evidence; and, though more, 
 limited in its design, it possesses, in a greater degree, the features 
 of novelty. 
 
 May I beg you to accept the present efforts in a Cause 
 which is dear to both, as a pledge of my unfeigned admiration 
 of your successful exertions in the sacred cause of Truth. That 
 you may be long spared, by the goodness of Providence, the 
 undaunted chieftain in the tented-field of the Christian warfare, 
 is the sincere desire of, 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 Your faithful and obedient Servant, 
 
 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 November 1, 1831. 
 
" Goe, little booke ! thyself present, 
 As child whose parent is unkent ; 
 And when thou art past jeopardie, 
 Come tell me what was said of me, 
 And I will send more after thee." 
 
 SPENSER. 
 

 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 THE design, originally proposed, was intended to em- 
 brace a much more varied and extensive range than 
 these pages present. A connected and condensed view 
 was contemplated of the various classes of evidence which 
 had been, from time to time, brought forward by the ad- 
 vocates of Divine Truth, accompanied with an analysis 
 on inductive grounds of their power, and such original 
 remarks as had satisfactorily impressed my own mind. I 
 soon, however, found that I had entered upon too exten- 
 sive and excursive a field, but which, though abandoned, 
 I still feel persuaded might, if judiciously managed, 
 be of considerable service to the cause of Truth. I 
 know not what may be the case with others, but for my 
 own part I best relish a perspicuous delineation of truth, 
 condensed, viewed under different aspects, and consi- 
 dered in diversified relations. I like the lineaments bold, 
 prominent and palpable the features standing forward 
 in sublime relief, without being shaded by the diffuse 
 reveries or phantasies, or much writing of injudicious 
 advocates. In the hands of such writers the truth suffers 
 an eclipse : the simplicity and beauty of the air are lost 
 amid the intricacies and perplexities of the variation. 
 
 The class of evidence for the Truth of Revelation, un- 
 folded in the sequel, appears to me more striking and 
 novel than many others, and it is because I think it has 
 either been too much neglected, or but too partially 
 insisted on, that I have selected it. It has certainly 
 b 
 
lacked that favouritism to which, in my humble opinion, 
 it is most richly entitled it seems to me also to be of a 
 character well adapted to the present generation, restless 
 and clamorous about "something new," as were the 
 Athenians eighteen centuries ago. Modern discoveries 
 seem to have intoxicated the mind, and reeling in its 
 own assumed consequence, it may be heard to mutter 
 " Who is the LORD that I should serve him ?" This is 
 a condition of the mind but little adapted for the 
 reception of the sober realities of truth, which speak to 
 the understanding ; our object is to prove that genuine 
 science gives no countenance to such unnatural whims 
 and fancies such abortions of the brain. I readily grant 
 that " the natural man is in enmity with GOD," a truth 
 as demonstrative as any other proposition ; all that we 
 mean to assert is, that literature and science, in their 
 native excellency, disown such an illegitimate offspring. 
 Besides, we trust the fruits of our present enquiry may, 
 in some measure, meet the urgent call of the human in- 
 tellect, which declares in these bold times, that it can 
 be satisfied with nothing less than the stern and un- 
 compromising scrutiny of inductive truth. Such a test 
 is here propounded, while the original generalization is 
 finally abandoned to others better qualified for the task. 
 To books generally which refer to the Prophecies, I 
 have no friendly feeling. Unless much caution and acute 
 discrimination be exercised, the question may "suffer 
 loss." To rend the curtain which veils the councils of 
 heaven in the vista of futurity, in my apprehension, 
 savours no little of impiety. " Secret things belong to 
 GOD ; those that are revealed belong to us and to our 
 children." These remarks are made by way of apology, 
 for having long neglected the perusal of Keith's 
 
Vll 
 
 excellent work on Prophecies fulfilled. It is a most 
 judicious compendium, wherein the enlightened re- 
 searches of modern travellers are adduced, and turned 
 to excellent account. As these existing monuments 
 most powerfully and satisfactorily speak for themselves, 
 and demonstrate the Truth of Revelation in language 
 which no sophistry can evade, we can cheerfully recom- 
 mend the work in question as one which renders it 
 unnecessary for us to appeal to this class of illustration. 
 It is not akin to the labours of many of the seers and 
 interpreters of modern times ; it takes more substantial 
 ground ; to my mind it is conclusive, and calculated 
 to produce conviction in every honest mind. It is de- 
 monstration, and must hurl atheism itself from its 
 impious throne, for surely none but JEHOVAH, who 
 " sees the end from the beginning,'' and with whom the 
 past, present, and future, are but a point of unity, could 
 have foretold the facts and phenomena which have been 
 registered, from time immemorial, in the Chronicles of 
 Heavenly Truth, and with such remarkable particulari- 
 ty, and such microscopic minuteness, in the detail of the 
 several incidents ; and, all this too not in ambiguous lan- 
 guage amhiguas vocex, or couched in terms that may 
 be doubtful. The evidence, as to the minutiae of these 
 remarkable details too, seems to have been the attesta- 
 tions of numerous travellers, chiefly in recent times. 
 To this gradual accumulation, diversified minds and in- 
 dependent authorities have contributed ; some of these 
 have been infidels, who have, in the facts witnessed, 
 unwittingly cast their mite into the treasury of evidence. 
 Succeeding pilgrims have observed facts overlooked by 
 their predecessors, to whom the requisite opportunity 
 had been wanting. The pyramid of truth, thus built 
 
Vlll 
 
 up by the aggregate strength of many minds, forms 
 a structure of power impregnable to the assaults of 
 flimsy wit, or maddened sophistry, and altogether such 
 as none can gainsay or controvert. These wonderful 
 facts are stamped with a literality and precision which, 
 when compared with the lucid and descriptive language 
 of Scripture, cannot fail to astonish and delight. It 
 must be cheering to the lover of truth the Christian 
 to find, that, under whatever aspect the evidence and 
 ground of his exalted hopes are tried, they " come forth 
 like gold." In perusing this work, and diligently 
 comparing, as I had already done, the combined testi- 
 monies of these eminent travellers, Sir R. Ker Porter, 
 M. M. Buckingham, Keppel, Mignan, and others, and 
 the researches of Mr. Rich, on the ruins of Babylon, 
 in the Mines d' orient, not to mention a host of pre- 
 ceding travellers it struck me as remarkable, that 
 while the scenes of ruin which they visited were most 
 faithfully described in the Records of Prophecy, without 
 adding to or diminishing the force, accuracy, or minute 
 colouring of its honest language, others again seem 
 unconsciously to have breathed, by affinity with these 
 scenes, the very atmosphere of Scripture, and echoed 
 the tone of inspiration. Even infidels, like the apostate 
 Saul, when brought within the mournful sphere of their 
 desolations, have, by the resistless force of truth, borne 
 reluctant testimony to the Heavenly Record, while we 
 exclaim in astonishment, as we gaze, " are these also 
 among the prophets ?" 
 
 The ground of evidence I have now ventured to 
 occupy, seems to be of a kind equally conclusive and 
 satisfactory, and even more likely to reach the lofty 
 pretensions of well bred science^ and such individuals as 
 
IX 
 
 may not condescend to scrutinize the overwhelming 
 evidence of demonstration presented in the palpable 
 events of prophetic denunciation. The enquiry is 
 curious, novel, and deeply imbued with interest. These 
 legible memorials of time long elapsed, the transcript 
 of wonderful events, are durable as adamant, and per- 
 manent as brass. They form a legend which all " who 
 run may read," though one which, if we mistake not, 
 instead of occupying the high vantage ground it ought 
 to have possessed, has only been hitherto considered a 
 subordinate link in the chain of evidence. Some writers 
 on Coins and Medals, Pinkerton for instance, have 
 treated with a sneer, the evidence derived from the 
 Jewish Shekel and the Coins of the Lower Empire. It 
 is true the impress on Coins of the Lower Empire is 
 rude, as are the Shekel and the Jewish Currency under 
 Agrippa, but this does not diminish their value as 
 Medallions of history. Many Coins of high antiquity, 
 the Sassanian, for instance, are barbarous in the ex- 
 treme, but are certainly not on that account to be 
 rejected from a complete cabinet which would equally 
 welcome the antique Leaden Money with that of 
 " Kimmeridge Coal," and in which the Leather Money of 
 Numa, however rude, would be hailed as an acquisition. 
 Dr. Walsh has, in his interesting little work, done 
 much in the way of evidence collected from Coins and 
 Medals, as illustrating the early history and progress of 
 Christianity chiefly in connection with Coins of the 
 Lower Empire. It is only to be regretted that he has 
 bestowed so much attention on the idle fooleries of the 
 gnostics, in our opinion altogether unworthy the space 
 he has occupied in the discussion. I have grappled 
 with the question of Revelation on a broader basis. 
 b3 
 
X ! 
 
 It should, however, be observed in this place, that I 
 have neither time nor inclination for any elaborate dis- 
 quisition had I ability for the task ; and nothing of the 
 kind will be found. Meya B</3>uQv jtxsya xaxov a great 
 book is a great evil, is a conviction with which my mind 
 has been long thoroughly imbued. My object has 
 been to collect facts, still existing mementos, which any 
 one may consult for himself: as far as possible the 
 figures may be considered faithful fac similes of the 
 originals ; and though I am free to confess, that my 
 researches in quest of illustration have cost me not a 
 little anxious labour, I must also admit that the task 
 has been a very delightful one Labor ipse voluptas, 
 and as the proofs rose before me in review, " I thanked 
 GOD and took courage." The evidence has been most 
 satisfactory to my own mind, and I most devoutly hope 
 it may be found equally so to others. It appears, to 
 me at least, altogether incontrovertible, and of such a 
 nature as to impel conviction, and will, doubtless, 
 yield satisfaction where the mind is honest and docile, 
 and willing to receive information on the most important 
 question which can animate its hopes, or engage its 
 affections. It is just such a species of evidence as the 
 most stern and rigorous demands for demonstration 
 have reason to be satisfied with. It is of a stamp even 
 superior to mathematical authority, high and lofty 
 though its proud pretensions be. These things tell 
 their own tale they are seen and read of all men, and 
 are written in a species of universal language "Par- 
 thians and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in 
 Mesopotamia and in Judea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus 
 and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in 
 the parts of Libya, about Cyrene, and strangers of 
 
XI 
 
 Rome, Jews and Proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, all 
 hear in their own tongues the wonderful works of 
 GOD." There is no room here for the charge of inter- 
 polation and artificial interpretation; the legend has 
 nothing to do with phraseology, and belongs not to any 
 kindred or tongue ; our proofs are tangible inscriptions 
 contemporaneous with the events they record, nor can 
 sophistry elude their force, or pervert their meaning. 
 We know not what higher species of evidence can be 
 wished for, or demanded. Our eyes may see, our hands 
 may handle them. We wrestle not with mere opinion, 
 but grapple with matters of fact, attested by the senses. 
 
 It may be objected that some of these may be forge- 
 ries, such as were the Paduan Medals. To this it may 
 be replied, that they are obtained under a great variety 
 of different circumstances, and from a multitude of 
 independent sources. As to the Paduan Medals, the 
 original dies are, we believe, in one of the museums of 
 Paris ; nor is it doubted that these were copies from 
 rare originals actually existing. 
 
 The speculations of the geologist have changed their 
 form and dimensions like a Proteus, and almost as 
 rapidly as the hues of the chameleon ; happily, how- 
 ever, his wild eccentricities have not overturned the 
 mountains of the globe ; and our appeal is to them, to 
 their legend and durable inscription. A theory, it is 
 true, may not be able to account for all phenomena ; 
 but it is equally true, that a solitary fact, counter to its 
 dicta, is sufficient to overturn it. We point, there- 
 fore, to monuments and inscriptions in the live rock, 
 in &itu, that are still fresh and legible, though ancient 
 as the patriarchal and the prophetic age, bearing the 
 autograph of some of the earliest events in the Biblical 
 
History of man. The Babylonian and Persepolitaii 
 characters have not, it is true, been yet deciphered, 
 but the task is by no means hopeless ; and when the 
 key shall be found to unlock these records of antiquity, 
 there can be little doubt that some of the historical 
 incidents of the Sacred Volume will be elucidated and 
 confirmed. The hieroglyphic symbols of aboriginal 
 Egypt, down to a very recent period, seemed to be as 
 unpromising as could well be imagined ; but the seal 
 of its mystery is broken, and from this mystic source a 
 new and unexpected confirmation of Sacred Writ has 
 been obtained. As time rolls on, new accessions of 
 proof are unfolded ; these will accumulate age by 
 age, continually, as Providence lifts the veil, until, in 
 the fulness of time, they shall merge into one mighty 
 and irresistible blaze of truth, which will consume all 
 the cobwebs of sophistry, and for ever confound the 
 infidel. 
 
 We hold that the sign manual of truth is appended 
 to such deeds and documents as these, and require only 
 the same test as we are wont to apply in our researches 
 in pursuit of physical truth. In the following pages 
 our object has been to condense and to collect into a 
 focus, what appeared to us scattered rays of remark- 
 able evidence, only regretting, though we can most 
 conscientiously say we have not been wanting in 
 diligence in collecting materials from every practicable 
 and accessible source, that they are, after all, more 
 limited than we could wish. If our present attempt 
 should meet a favourable reception, neither time, appli- 
 cation, nor expense, shall be withheld to swell the 
 amount of evidence and demonstration, under a firm 
 conviction that there remain, still "greater things than 
 
Xlll 
 
 these" in reversion some tangible memorial, it may be, 
 of every fact mentioned in the Biblical Record. The 
 researches of discovery are not yet finished; many a 
 wonder may yet be revealed to the keen scrutiny of 
 man. It is not yet enough, nor has restless enterprize 
 completed its task. On the other hand, should our 
 present labours not meet with a hearty welcome, we 
 shall most willingly and cheerfully resign our task into 
 abler hands. 
 
 Let it not be forgotten, that the present attempt is 
 the unaided effort of a solitary private individual, whose 
 means are cramped, and whose influence is very limited; 
 but, if one hedged about with so many difficulties, and 
 whose sphere of usefulness is so contracted, can do so 
 much, what may not be expected from another, who, to 
 ability and zeal, and unfettered by any kind of re- 
 striction, could add both influence and means ? And 
 still more, what might be the result of the combined 
 researches of many kindred minds ? 
 
 Our wish has been to meet the infidel and the sceptic 
 on the wide arena of modern science, of which he talks 
 so loudly and boasts so much. We much mistake, in- 
 deed, if the literary and scientific sceptic has it all his 
 own way. Mere verbiage will not give the disputant, 
 in this arena, the palm of victory. Some more sterling 
 chivalry must distinguish the victor. Sarcasm and 
 sophistry are games for fools, but are altogether inad- 
 missible in the Athenian school of genuine science. 
 Wit and ribaldry will riot break the lance of truth. 
 These sorry warriors must come into the field equipped 
 with different armour if they hope to win. 
 
 The sceptic and the infidel have no right to play the 
 Procrustes in the republics of literature and science ; 
 
XIV 
 
 1 
 
 we, therefore, deny them a licence to apply to the pal- 
 pable language of truth, the rack and inquisition of 
 their sophistry. We have traversed the different realms 
 of modern science, and, whatever may have been our 
 attainments, we do trust, we are not over confident 
 that we can give a " reason" for the principle that con- 
 stitutes the main spring of our happiness. 
 
 " What is Truth ?" said pusilanimous and versatile 
 Pilate, while it stood personified before him in all its 
 glorious attributes; but, like alight shining in a dark 
 place, the darkness comprehended it not. Truth is 
 an immutable and immortal thing, like its almighty 
 Author it is " without variableness or the least shadow 
 of turning. " It is a reflected ray from the Father of 
 Lights, and like its heavenly Source, it is " the same yes- 
 terday, to-day, and for ever." Time cannot impair its 
 lustre, or tarnish its beauty. It springs brighter from the 
 wave. "Great floods cannot drown it." The Christian 
 may well rejoice in his hope, rooted in such a Paradise 
 as is the Tree of Life. That hope is founded on a rock 
 which no tempest can successfully assail. Into this 
 heavenly Palmyra "the righteous flee and are safe." 
 When they are chased by the enemy, this is their 
 " strong hold as prisoners of hope." 
 
 Modern science and research, if our reason and our 
 senses do not alike deceive us, give no colour or pretext 
 to the artifices of scepticism or infidelity. Their as- 
 sumptions rest on false grounds ; postulata, which, we 
 hesitate not to say, are a bold inversion of the canons of 
 inductive science, and framed in despite and defiance 
 of the maxims of those great teachers of science and 
 master-spirits of humanity, Newton and Bacon. We 
 hate idolatry of every kind, and above all, that of talent 
 
XV 
 
 and intellect, while we honour, respect and admire, 
 the precepts of truth, however lowly be the source 
 whence they emanate. These, however, were " mighty 
 men " on the Gilboa mountains of philosophic truth ; 
 they were as sober and circumspect, as they were pro- 
 found in wit and genius : we would gladly sit at their 
 feet, and listen to their instructions. It is the Christian, 
 above all men on earth, who is "in his right mind." 
 
 The times in which we live are of no ordinary 
 character; and what may follow there is now no 
 prophet to tell us. The canon of Scripture is closed, 
 and the heavenly Roll, in which our destinies are 
 written, is entrusted to us, and to our children; we 
 do well to take heed to its admonitions ; it has all the 
 emphasis of a voice from heaven, and its enunciation is, 
 
 THUS SAITH THE LORD. 
 
 The champions of truth are summoned to the field, 
 and loftier ground must now be occupied than has ever 
 yet been taken. The great Armageddon of infidelity 
 seems rapidly to approach. The spirits of men are 
 restless and convulsed. Thrones are tottering and 
 empires are ruined "men's hearts failing them for 
 fear."' Thus, however, saith the Spirit of Eternal 
 Truth, " knowledge shall be the stability of thy times." 
 Yes! religious knowledge is the pillar of our security 
 our " mountain that standeth strong. " It is the high 
 hill of our comforts and our happiness, far exalted above 
 the storms that agitate the lower world. A serene sky 
 illuminated by the Sun of Righteousness above our heads, 
 we have nothing to fear, though the lightnings flash 
 and the thunders roll beneath us. Eternity and a world 
 to come are no trifles in the eye of right reason, and in 
 the estimation of the imperial and noble aspirant for 
 
xvi 
 
 " glory, honour, and immortality." Man was not made 
 in vain, with such prospects as these ; and the Christian 
 need not fear to explore the " valley of the shadow of 
 death," with the Safety-lamp of heaven in his hand. 
 
 We have, it has been noticed, visited the regions of 
 science, studied in her schools, conversed with her philo- 
 sophers, walked through her avenues, and cultivated 
 her fields; we have interrogated the oracles of nature, 
 and solicited a distinct and positive reply to the ques- 
 tion, whether the elements of hostility to revealed Truth 
 were contained in them ? One and all returned a 
 negative, and an amen to Lord Bacon's maxim, " the 
 books of Nature and Revelation mutually illustrate 
 each other." The root of the matter is to be sought 
 for, therefore, in the heart, not in the head, the pride 
 of humanity the would-be interpreter of nature's laws 
 and phenomena. " Ye shall be as gods, " said the wily 
 tempter to the too credulous pair in Eden's Elysium, 
 ambition kindled at the thought, and the crown of 
 innocence fell to the ground : the same seeds of disease 
 still rankle in the moral frame. These truths, however, 
 shall endure when the pillars of the universe totter, and 
 the " mountains be removed and there be no place found 
 for them." 
 
 " Go, little book, heaven be thy guide." 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Preliminary Remarks < 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Creator History of Creation Age of the WorldNatural 
 Chronometers Hieroglyphics of Egypt 13 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Fall of Man Remarks on Phrenology The Mythology of 
 Paganism 49 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Deluge Historical and Traditionary Proofs Geological Evi- 
 dence of the Circumfusion of the Diluvial Waters, and 
 comparatively recent Epocha of the Event 82 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Phenomena of Caves enclosing Diluvial Mud and Organic Remains 
 The Bird of Noah Dromedary The Rainbow Gigantic 
 Remains Concluding Geological Remarks 136 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Dispersion The Tower of Babel 170 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The Call of Abraham Birth of Moses Exode and Pilgrimage -.187 
 
XV111 
 
 1 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Tables of Stone Elevation of the Brazen Serpent The Samaritans. 199 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Shibboleth Samson Brook Elah Captivity of the Ten Tribes 
 by Shalmaneser The Invasion by Shishak, King of Egypt 
 Daniel : 214 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Remarks on Miracles The Spirit of Prophecy Modern Judaism 
 The Sacred Code of the Jews Retrospect The Eve of 
 Christianity 224 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 The Advent ,of the Messiah The Divinity of Jesus Christ 
 The Crucifixion 240 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Illustrations of the Acts of the Apostles The Destruction of 
 Jerusalem by Titus Vespasian Conclusion 264 
 
TRUTH OF REVELATION. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 WHEN we reflect on ourselves and our relation to the 
 external world, we are lost in a labyrinth of uncertainty, 
 and there is no Ariadne's clue to guide our footsteps. 
 The scenes around amaze by their astonishing variety, 
 captivate by their beauty, and enchant by their har- 
 mony. Power, wisdom, and goodness, pervade the 
 wondrous plan. The sun of yesterday rises again 
 and decorates the same landscape we saw before ; yet, 
 since the charm continues day by day, its magic is 
 forgotten; and because our enjoyments are uninter- 
 rupted, we are insensible to the blessings that are 
 profusely strewn around us. Our inquisitive mind 
 naturally wishes for more information than we can 
 glean from the mere routine of common observation. 
 Hurried on by an impetuous and restless curiosity, we 
 have recourse to those instruments with which the 
 genius of our species has supplied us in ransacking the 
 records of creation, and interrogating her phenomena. 
 Our wonder increases with every step of advance ; and 
 
 A 
 
2 
 
 l 
 
 we, who before considered ourselves as the Teraphim of 
 creation, in the extended knowledge which the telescope 
 reveals, at length find ourselves almost " less than the 
 least of all." Anxious for intelligence respecting the 
 author of these things we interrogate the oracles of 
 nature, and hear a voice from their mysteries attesting 
 a supreme Creator, invested with the high attributes of 
 infinite and supreme excellence; and whose power, 
 wisdom, and goodness, are unlimited in extent, unaf- 
 fected by the vicissitudes of time, and boundless as the 
 range of eternity. That great and glorious Being we 
 call " GOD BLESSED FOR EVER." It is only " The 
 FOOL, who hath said in his heart, there is no GOD." 
 It is this " fool " who hath made the unique discovery 
 of an effect without a cause. It is he who affects the 
 possession of all knowledge for that which he knows 
 not, for aught that he can tell, may be the GOD that 
 we adore. Intelligence and design are stamped in 
 living and legible characters on every phenomenon 
 around us, and such must emanate from ari all-sufficient 
 Source. Conscience lifts up her voice and would wor- 
 ship GOD, though " an evil heart of unbelief " will 
 not have HIM ' ' to reign over it." 
 
 The Creator of the material world, must be altogether 
 in himself independent of matter and its mutations, and 
 transcendently more so than he who finishes "a work on 
 the wheels" is superior to his workmanship. We cannot 
 say here, as in the carved work of Mulciber, " materiam 
 superabit opus," for both the material and the workman- 
 ship are alike wonderful ; and he who made them is all- 
 perfect " without variableness or the least shadow of 
 turning." Accepting the existence of a supreme and im- 
 mutable Creator as a self-evident proposition, and that 
 reason and argument would alike be lost on " fools," our 
 attention will be chiefly confined to the mere theist ; who, 
 though he admits this position without hesitation, is, ne- 
 vertheless, an infidel, or sceptical as to the all-important 
 question of a Revelation from GOD. 
 
 Nature, it has been stated, as with a living voice, 
 attests the being of GOD, and reflects, as from a mirror, 
 
3 
 
 his power, wisdom, and goodness. Vince, in his " Con- 
 futation of Atheism, " has said, " If things happen 
 oftener than they ought to do by our own calculations, 
 there is a probability in favour of design, and a ruling 
 Intelligence ; and if several independent circumstances 
 co-operate to produce a beneficial result, it is then en- 
 creased to the compound ratio of all the probabilities,"* 
 or in other words, to a certainty. The sum of the 
 whole matter, therefore, is appositely expressed in the 
 language of professor Playfair : " The only explanation 
 that remains, is, that all this is the work of intelligence 
 and design, directing the original constitution of the 
 system, and impressing such motions on the parts as 
 were calculated to give stability to the whole." t With 
 this partial information, the voice and the vision end. 
 The intimation tends only to excite still more our 
 interest and curiosity "we would acquaint ourselves 
 with him and be at peace." To the question which 
 affects us so deeply, "How can man be just with GOD?" 
 the oracles of nature respond not; and like the pro- 
 phets of Baal, on Mount Carmel, we may "call from 
 morning even until noon," but there is "no voice, 
 nor any that answers." The note of interrogation is 
 followed by a blank. We may put on the ephod of 
 philosophy and summon to our aid the auxiliaries of 
 reason ; but the almighty Author of nature answers 
 neither by Urim nor Thummim, nor voice nor vision. 
 The necessity of revelation, through some other chan- 
 nel, becomes obvious, in order to set at rest mental 
 inquietude, and supply the hiatus of our anxious in- 
 quiries. The man who is careless or uninterested in 
 these things, must either be a fool or a madman : we, 
 indeed, altogether dispute his pretensions to the cha- 
 racter of a reasonable being, however loudly he may talk 
 about that gifted being, mind, and its attainments in 
 science and art. 
 
 That the good Being, who has created all things by his 
 
 * Vince's Confutation of Atheism, 1807. 
 
 f Outlines of Natural Philosophy, vol. II. 1815. 
 A 2 
 
4 
 
 omnipotent fiat, should satisfy the reasonable anxieties 
 of the creature to whom he has given this natural restless- 
 ness concerning the things that " belong to his peace/' is 
 just what we might expect, and what, accordingly, the 
 most credible testimony declares has been done: for there 
 is a remarkable volume circulating in our world, distin- 
 guished by the high and bold pretensions of an immediate 
 Revelation from GOD. It is entitled, by way of eminence, 
 the BIBLE, or THE BOOK, and it certainly merits the em- 
 phatic name which has, by universal acclamation, been 
 awarded to it. It is a diamond which refracts the rays 
 of Truth. The privilege of quenching our thirst at this 
 sacred fountain of wisdom, is one for which we cannot be 
 too grateful. In reply to our categories, it is satisfactory 
 and complete ; it satisfies all our wants and wishes ; and, 
 leaving every thing else immeasurably behind, invests 
 our aching temples with the diadem of happiness, and 
 puts into our hands the palm of victory over doubts and 
 fears death and the grave. The BIBLE, however, 
 summons not forth that deep awe and profound venera- 
 tion, which its sacred pages are eminently calculated to 
 excite and inspire. The haughty soul of man regards not 
 the voice of GOD in the Oracles of Truth, and it is deaf 
 and dead to the heavenly charmer. Abused though 
 our advantages be, it is by no means a common-place 
 volume, however lightly it may be esteemed by thought- 
 less, listless man. And what are the thoughts of 
 man touching these things, but those of the proud and 
 haughty Syrian ? " Are not Abana and Pharphar, rivers 
 of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel?" 
 Without a Revelation, man is like a mariner tempest- 
 tossed, without a chart : reason is his compass, but its 
 variations must be rectified. There is one who wills not 
 that he should perish, and he is " able and willing to 
 save." Unaided by this Directory, "without are doubts, 
 and within are fears;" and if man be not altogether 
 insensible to his best interests, or intoxicated with the 
 bubbles that flicker around him, and burst in the sun- 
 beam, he will flee to the city of refuge, " whose walls 
 are salvation." 
 
On these paramount inquiries the character of GOD, 
 his will to us, our relation to him, and our destiny in 
 " another and a better world," the gifted Document, 
 whose authenticity we advocate, supplies us with most 
 complete and satisfactory information, while it restrains 
 an impertinent and impious curiosity. " Indited under 
 the influence of him, to whom all hearts are known, and 
 all events foreknown, they suit mankind in all situations, 
 grateful as the manna which descended from above and 
 conformed itself to every palate. The fairest produc- 
 tions of human wit, after a few perusals, like gathered 
 flowers, wither in our hands, and lose their fragrancy ; 
 but these unfading plants of Paradise, become, as we 
 are accustomed to them, still more and more beautiful ; 
 their bloom appears to be daily heightened, fresh odours 
 are emitted, and new sweets extracted from them. He 
 who hath once tasted their excellencies will desire to 
 taste them yet again ; and he who tastes them oftenest 
 will relish them the best."* 
 
 The importance of the inquiry, which lies before us, 
 being admitted by every rational mind, it may not be 
 altogether out of place, in these desultory remarks, to 
 glance at the general character of the infidel ; and here 
 we are at a loss which of these most excites our astonish- 
 ment the knowledge he must pretend to possess, (for 
 assuredly that must be a range of intellect little short of 
 infinite, which could on legitimate grounds enter the 
 field against the evidences of Revelation,) or his excessive 
 vanity, shining through a flimsy veil of frivolity and 
 wit. But sophistry is not the weapon that either 
 sober reason or sound philosophy would employ ; and 
 sarcasm and wit are not argument. With these ignoble 
 and disingenuous characters we scorn to combat. We re- 
 quire that the maxims of inductive science be transferred 
 to the question of Revealed Truth. We ask not a petitio 
 principii for ourselves, and none, therefore, have a right 
 to demand the concession from us. Now, according to 
 Lord Bacon's precepts, a theory, to be true, must be 
 
 * Bishop Home. 
 A3 
 
G 
 
 incompatible with no specific fact ; and though it may 
 not be able to account for all the phenomena, a solitary 
 fact, counter to what it presupposes, is, in itself, suffi- 
 cient to overturn it. We fear our modern geologists 
 will quail before their rigid exactions, and these archi- 
 tects of worlds hide their diminished heads. Too much 
 deference, we think, has been paid to genius men of 
 vast acquirements in literature, or art and science. 
 The metaphysician too often "darkens counsel" by 
 mysticism: there are "wheels within wheels," as in 
 Ezekiel's vision, at the river Chebar ; and the mathe- 
 matician is too much absorbed in his abstractions to 
 know any thing else. In our converse with the world, 
 we have been surprized at the extraordinary limitation 
 of the mere mathematician's knowledge. Confined to a 
 little Goshen of his own, and hemmed in on every side 
 with lines of demarcation, he is content to crow, Et)pjxa, 
 when the problem is solved. Mr. Lawrence seeks the 
 mind among the convolutions of the brain the living 
 among the dead. He tells us, by a species of catachresis, 
 that " the mind is built up" of cerebral developements ; 
 but he, least of all men, can say, / have found it. Greater 
 errors are no where committed than among men of deep 
 research and profound knowledge, when they forsake 
 the legitimate path of science, and enter the regions 
 of conjecture, or leave their own familiar track, and the 
 individual topic that has been the idol of their minds, 
 to enter some other province some terra incognita, 
 where a new train of investigation, altogether foreign to 
 their course of study, is required. A profound astronomer 
 may be a very indifferent chemist; and Mr. Lawrence 
 may be a skilful anatomist and an excellent surgeon, 
 and yet utterly ignorant of any one of the numerous 
 classes of evidence by which Revelation is substantiated. 
 A James Watt may be conversant with mechanics in 
 all their multifarious movements and momenta, and be 
 baffled were the question to turn on the secretion of a 
 pearl, or that of the Tyrian purple. A man's opinion 
 in Biblical Science is not to be estimated by his powers 
 of mind, as displayed in some individual branch of 
 
human knowledge, or even in several, but as t 
 concentrated on it as a distinct and specific topic, 
 range of mind may sweep far and wide, and yet, in 
 reference to our present question, be as helpless as 
 the opinion of a little child ; and the rays of truth may 
 fail to flash conviction because they fall on a darkened 
 understanding, and are lost in their absorption : " I 
 found," says Dr. Beattie, " that the infidel philosophy 
 was not what the world imagined it to be, but a 
 frivolous, though dangerous system of verbal subtilty, 
 which it required neither genius nor learning, nor taste, 
 nor knowledge of mankind, to be able to put together ; 
 but only a captious temper, an irreligious spirit, a mo- 
 derate command of words, and an extraordinary degree 
 of vanity and presumption."* And such we have 
 found it to be in our intercourse with mankind. It 
 has been stated, that men may live infidels, but that 
 conscience will take the alarm as " the king of terrors" 
 makes his approach. Doubtless, this is a period in 
 which men will reflect if they will ever think at all. We 
 would not, however, attach an undue consequence to 
 so sudden a change ; we do not desire to rest on so 
 questionable and flimsy a basis. There is such a thing 
 as "judicial blindness ;" and we believe numbers " die 
 as the fool dieth," but this does not alter the case. 
 Hume gave play to his facetious powers at the hour of 
 death. Was that the act of a reasonable man, or of 
 a reflecting mind ? With all his philosophy he could 
 not prove, that the termination of his existence here, 
 involved the absolute negation of being ; while such a 
 farewell was an extraordinary recognition of friendship 
 a strange acknowledgment for a term of being, 
 which, though brief, had certainly been productive, to 
 him, of some enjoyment. A lunatic would behave 
 better in an hour like this. It is without a parallel 
 
 " From Macedonia's madman to the Swede." 
 Or shall we defend his sanity and his character at the 
 
 * The Immutability of Truth. 
 
expense of his creed, and remind our readers of the 
 school-boy, "whistling aloud to bear his courage up ?" 
 
 Man is responsible for his belief or he is not account- 
 able at all, because actions spring from belief as their 
 source : and if the idea of accountability be excluded, 
 the present scene ceases to be one of probation there is 
 no " judgment to come," nor any one " to require it at 
 his hands." We would not, however, be understood 
 as investing reason with a papal infallibility, or setting 
 it above " all that is called GOD and worshipped." It 
 must be admitted that reason is not gifted with infinite 
 attributes, and to set up her image on a shrine and fall 
 down before her is only another version of pagan rites. 
 Reason " grows with our growth, and strengthens with 
 our strength" it has childhood and maturity. The 
 mental daring of a Newton seems, indeed, to have sur- 
 passed the ordinary limits of humanity, and we are by 
 no means prepared to determine the ultimate range of 
 its capability. The reason of centuries ago was more 
 circumscribed in its range than the intellect of the pre- 
 sent day, because it had fewer materials at hand ; its 
 horizon was more bounded, and consequently its know- 
 ledge; but it has no pretensions to infinite knowledge and 
 universal thought, though some would make it supplant 
 "the High and Lofty ONE that inhabiteth eternity." 
 That it is a wonderful being, and its achievements vast 
 and stupendous, we should be the very last to dispute or 
 deny ; but, that it has not attained, and never can attain 
 the possession of all possible knowledge, we accept as 
 an axiom which is altogether incontrovertible. The 
 more we know, the humbler will our pretensions be, 
 since we shall then see more distinctly that we have, 
 indeed, but " seen in part.'' It is this conviction which 
 brings the mind to its proper level, and causes it to take 
 that attitude which best becomes it ; thereby making it 
 the readier recipient of truth. Humility is the pearl 
 and the ruby of its attire. When we find symbols of 
 pride and vanity in the walks of science, we may indulge 
 a well-grounded suspicion that the attainments which 
 they hide are shallow and superficial : what made a 
 
Newton humble, need not make us proud. The analogy, 
 in reference to Revealed Truth, is complete, and pre- 
 cisely such as we should expect it to be. 
 
 We of course take for granted, that there is such a 
 thing as TRUTH, that it may be discovered, and that 
 its source must be GOD. As every ray which emanates 
 from the " Father of Lights " must be pure, so it must 
 also be immutable ; over it, time and its casualties can 
 have no control ; it must be also susceptible of universal 
 application. The sun shines not for Britain merely, but 
 a world so the gift of Revelation is intended for the 
 great family of man. In the sagas of the Scalds in 
 the koran of Mahomet in the puranas and vedas of 
 India, we see here and there glimpses of truth, but 
 shaded and eclipsed with error, while fable is impressed 
 on every line. Neither the shasters of the modern 
 Hindoo, nor of ancient Mexico, in past ages, contain 
 elements of good. Evil spirits of perplexity and 
 doubt hover over and around them ; a " darkness 
 that might be felt" enveloped them. Do we want 
 palpable attestation, that " the world, by wisdom, knew 
 not GOD ?" We appeal to the capital of Greece the 
 atmosphere of a Phidias and a Praxiteles ATHENS, the 
 seat of all that was sublime in science and literature, or 
 gifted in art, and where genius itself seemed "free- 
 born." PAUL, before he ascended the Acropolis, and on 
 the plain overshaddowed by the proud Parthenon, that 
 gem of the graces, had, however, discovered an altar 
 with this inscription, "AENHST-Q @E<Q;"as if a 
 PANTHEON were not enough for the Athenians, and 
 left their doubts unsatisfied. But lest the Heavenly 
 Legend, which reveals the important fact, should as yet 
 be questioned, we shift the evidence to the pictured 
 imagery which is exhibited in the hieroglyphics of the 
 valley of Beben el Malook, in the Thebais ; and the 
 temple of Karnac, that mythology in masquerade, of 
 which a faithful portrait and specimen are exhibited in 
 Plate III. fig. 19, copied from the cerements of an 
 Egyptian mummy, realizing, to its full amount, the 
 accusation brought against the Pagan world, by the 
 
10 
 
 great " apostle of the Gentiles," they " became vain 
 in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was dark- 
 ened ; professing themselves to be wise, they became 
 fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible GOD 
 into an image made like to corruptible man, and to 
 birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things."* 
 Such, however, was the mythology of the capital of 
 ancient Egypt, the far-famed Heliopolis, the city 
 of the sun. The Roman satirist could taunt these 
 blinded votaries with the bitter sarcasm, that their 
 gods grew in their gardens. The religion commonly 
 known under the name of Christianity, from its heavenly 
 Founder, has lost none of its radiance since it arose, 
 eighteen centuries ago, in the little land of Jewry. It is 
 as lovely, and as bright as when Judea caught its rising 
 beams. It has not lost one constituent of its glory ; it 
 is still the pearl of great price, and the ( merchantman' 
 now who would realize its purchase, even at the expense 
 of all else besides, would act a prudent part, and, in the 
 acquisition, possess a rich inheritance. Christianity 
 alone keeps pace with the progress of knowledge and 
 the stream of time ; and, even in this inferior sense, 
 may be said to be " the light of the world." It is a 
 plastic principle adapted to every shade of life its 
 lighter graces as well as its penseroso to every charac- 
 ter and condition, in every age and every country. She 
 is a heavenly guide, and has never betrayed an honest 
 confidence. Wherever sincerely welcomed, she has made 
 that people wiser, better, and happier : no other reli- 
 gion on earth will bear this test conforming itself to 
 every one, exalted or obscure the sage and " the way- 
 faring man" in prosperity or adversity sickness or 
 health in every vicissitude, and in every clime. She 
 is herself alone, unrivalled, and sways the sceptre of 
 righteousness, while she wears the Alithea, or breast- 
 plate of TRUTH. 
 
 There is one peculiar circumstance which should 
 not be overlooked in this estimate of her manifold 
 
 * Romans i. 21, &c. 
 
II 
 
 excellencies. She can illuminate the humblest mind 
 with joy and gladness, invest it with " a peace which 
 the world cannot give/' and impart a conviction of 
 its power, and an impression of its truth, as palpable 
 as the man of science can receive from the attestation 
 of his senses in an affair of physics. 
 
 The man of intellect would justly dispute the 
 pretensions of the mere sensualist to judge of his en- 
 joyments, because the sensualist has no capacity to 
 appreciate the luxuries of a mind endowed with intel- 
 lectual powers, and whirling in the chariot of thought 
 through the mazes of creation. In like manner we 
 may dispute the right of a mere philosopher to judge 
 of a principle which is altogether beyond his province : 
 the wisdom of salvation may be felt and enjoyed 
 independent of the wisdom of intellect. It is a distinct 
 and independent principle, of the mechanism of which 
 the possessor alone is a competent judge, while it is 
 perfectly compatible with intellectual attainments. It 
 will chasten and refine them, and impart a glow and a 
 grandeur to them which must be felt in order to be 
 appreciated. Had the case been otherwise, GOD, who 
 is no "respecter of persons," would have had respect 
 alone to intellect, and let " the poor go empty away." 
 But it was the peculiar excellence of the Christian 
 religion, that while it gave " a new commandment " to 
 men, " the poor had the gospel preached unto them." 
 
 In that venerable volume, called the BIBLE, we 
 have a faithful history of humanity, written under the 
 guidance of Heavenly Truth, and without any mixture 
 of error. We see ourselves here in our true colours ; and 
 while conscience bears record, as a faithful witness, she 
 would hide herself, conscious of guilt, among the trees 
 of the garden when she hears the voice of the ETERNAL 
 calling upon her, for obedience to his Law In this Record 
 we find, too, the standard of immutable rectitude, so 
 that we are left without excuse should we wilfully 
 " compare ourselves with ourselves, or measure ourselves 
 by ourselves," however excusable they may be to whom 
 " the Word of this Salvation" has not yet been sent, and 
 
12 
 ) 
 
 who, "being without the law, are a law unto themselves" 
 " their conscience witnessing with them." 
 
 In the Chronicles of Heaven we perceive the Old 
 Dispensation, like a mighty river, emerging from the 
 fountain of creation, and rolling its noble tide along, 
 until, in the fulness of time, it falls into the New, 
 while their united streams are, at last, absorbed in the 
 ocean of eternity. The Old Dispensation is prospective, 
 and points forward to the New as its accomplishment, 
 while the latter proclaims the high announcement, " It 
 is finished." Like the cherubim which hovered over 
 the " ark of the covenant,'' they looked toward each 
 other both upon the MERCY SEAT, where, from above, 
 an unutterable form, the symbol of the Divine presence, 
 constantly attested that the place was "holy ground." 
 
CHAP. II. 
 
 THE CREATOR HISTORY OP CREATION AGE OF THE 
 
 WORLD NATURAL CHRONOMETERS HIEROGLYPHICS 
 OF EGYPT. 
 
 BEFORE we enter on the records of creation, and the 
 testimonies by which the authenticity of the Sacred Vo- 
 lume is substantiated, it may be interesting to quote the 
 character it unveils of the SUPREME ARCHITECT, THE 
 LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, HE is THE HIGH AND LOFTY 
 
 ONE THAT INHABITETH ETERNITY, WHO DWELL- 
 
 ETH IN THE HlGH AND HOLY PLACE, WHOSE NAME 
 
 is HOLY. Heavenly voices, issuing from before the 
 throne, are heard to exclaim, HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, 
 LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, WHICH WAS, AND is, AND is 
 TO COME: HOLY AND REVEREND is HIS NAME, 
 
 ONE DAY IS, WITH HIM, AS A THOUSAND YEARS j AND 
 A THOUSAND YEARS AS ONE DAY : FROM EvERLAST- 
 
 ING TO EVERLASTING, GOD: WHOSE NAME ALONE is 
 JEHOVAH. His power is infinite : HE MAKETH THE 
 
 CLOUDS HIS CHARIOT, AND RIDETH UPON THE WINGS 
 
 OF THE WIND : HE COMMANDETH THE SUN, AND IT 
 
 RISETH NOT, AND SEALETH UP THE STARS : HE IS 
 
 CLOTHED WITH LIGHT AS WITH A GARMENT : WlTH 
 
 HlM IS TERRIBLE MAJESTY : WHO HATH MEASURED 
 
 THE WATERS IN THE HOLLOW OF HIS HAND, AND 
 METED OUT THE HEAVENS WITH A SPAN, AND COM- 
 PREHENDED THE DUST OF THE EARTH IN A MEASURE, 
 AND WEIGHED THE MOUNTAINS IN SCALES, AND THE 
 
 HILLS IN A BALANCE, THE NATIONS ARE AS THE 
 
 DROP OF A BUCKET, AND ARE COUNTED AS THE SMALL 
 B 
 
14 
 1 
 
 DUST OF THE BALANCE : BEHOLD HE TAKETH UP 
 
 THE ISLES AS A VERY LITTLE THING. 
 
 These are truly sublime symbols, although they but 
 faintly shadow forth the Majesty of the I AM, whose 
 " throne is high and lifted up/' filling immensity, nor 
 can we fully comprehend the emphasis implied in "that 
 glorious and fearful Name," JEHOVAH. The tetragrama- 
 ton, or four-lettered Name of GOD VH TP is always 
 contemplated, by the devout Jew, with ineffable awe it 
 is never pronounced ; a solemn pause succeeds and the 
 eyes are veiled the instant it is revealed on the Sacred 
 Roll. GOD is not less to be adored and recognized amid the 
 meteoric blaze of Sinai, than in the whispers of creation. 
 It was so with Elijah, while fleeing for his life, through 
 the wilderness in the province of Judah, "a great 
 and strong wind rent the mountains and brake in pieces 
 the rocks before JEHOVAH, but JEHOVAH was not in 
 the wind; and after the wind, an earthquake, but 
 JEHOVAH was not in the earthquake ; and after the 
 earthquake a fire, but JEHOVAH was not in the fire; 
 and after the fire, a STILL SMALL VOICE, and it was so, 
 when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his 
 mantle and went out and stood in the entering in of 
 the cave."* 
 
 The history of creation is introduced with inimitable 
 grandeur by the inspired Hebrew cosmogonist : it is 
 unparalleled and peerless a gem from the antique and 
 Longinus might well quote it as his text in illustration 
 of the true sublime. The rich treasure in which this 
 record is found, is enjoyed by millions, else its language 
 should be cited in proof on our humble page, though our 
 translation, however excellent, falls infinitely short of 
 the original. 
 
 It appears from the annals of creation, recorded in 
 Genesis, that light was summoned into being, in rela- 
 tion to our globe, at a very early period, as a witness 
 on the first demiurgic day, to attest the glories of the ani- 
 mated panorama when it heaved with life and motion, 
 
 1 Kings, xix. 11, &c. 
 
15 
 
 under the fiat of OMNIPOTENCE ; and it may have been 
 localized in the orb of the sun, refulgent over the " even- 
 ing and the morning" even of this period of the hexae?ne- 
 ron, as described by the diurnal revolution of the earth on 
 its axis. It is true, the sun and moon became only visible 
 for the first time from the surface of the earth on the 
 fourth day : at this period the alternation of day and 
 night were first defined by the terminal line of light 
 and shade. Hitherto the " firmament" had not been 
 circumfused around the globe, nor had the separation 
 of the waters taken place; and the earth must have 
 been enveloped in a dense shroud of vapour which the 
 solar ray could not pierce. An eminent meteorologist 
 having proved the necessity of the turbid state of the 
 aqueous atmosphere, previous to the creation of the 
 firmament, makes the following acute and judicious 
 remarks : 
 
 "The 'complicated and beautiful contrivances, by 
 which the waters are collected " above the firmament," 
 and are at the same time "divided from the waters 
 which are below the firmament," are inferior to none of 
 those adaptations of INFINITE WISDOM, which are per- 
 petually striking the inquiring mind, in the animal and 
 vegetable kingdoms. Had it not been for this nice 
 adjustment of conflicting elements, the clouds and 
 concrete vapours of the sky would have reached from 
 the surface of the earth to the remotest heavens ; and 
 the vivifying rays of the sun would never have been 
 able to penetrate through the dense mists of perpetual 
 precipitation. 
 
 " Nor can I here refrain from pointing out a confir- 
 mation, which incidentally arises, of the Mosaic account 
 of the creation of that atmosphere whose wonders we 
 have been endeavouring to unravel. The question has 
 been asked, How is it that light is said to have been 
 created on the first day, and day and night to have 
 succeeded each other, when the sun has been described 
 as not having been produced till the fourth day ? The 
 sceptic presumptuously replies, this is a palpable con- 
 tradiction, and the history which propounds it must be 
 
 B2 
 
false. But, Moses records that God created on the 
 first day, the earth covered with water, and did not till 
 its second revolution upon its axis, call the firmament 
 into existence. Now one result of the previous inquiry 
 has been, that a sphere unequally heated and covered 
 with water, must be enveloped in an atmosphere of 
 steam, which would necessarily be turbid in its whole 
 depth with precipitating moisture. The exposure of 
 such a sphere to the orb of day would produce illumi- 
 nation upon it ; that dispersed and equal light, which 
 now penetrates in a cloudy day, and which indeed is 
 " good : " but the glorious source of light could not 
 have been visible from its surface. On the second day, 
 the permanently-elastic firmament was produced, and we 
 have seen that the natural consequences of this mixture 
 of gaseous matter, with vapour, must have been, that 
 the waters would begin to collect above the firmament, 
 and divide themselves from the waters which were 
 below the firmament. The clouds would thus be con- 
 fined to definite plains of precipitation, and exposed to 
 the influence of the winds, and still invisible sun. The 
 gathering together of the waters on the third day, and 
 the appearance of dry land, would present a greater 
 heating surface, and a less surface of evaporation, and 
 the atmosphere during this revolution would let fall its 
 excess of condensed moisture ; and upon the fourth day 
 it would appear probable, even to our short-sighted 
 philosophy, that the sun would be enabled to dissipate 
 the still-remaining mists, and burst forth with splen- 
 dour upon the vegetating surface. So far, therefore, is 
 it from being impossible that light should have appeared 
 upon the earth before the appearance of the sun, that 
 the present imperfect state of our knowledge, will 
 enable us to affirm, that, if the recorded order of creation 
 be correct, the events must have exhibited themselves 
 in the succession which is described. The argument 
 therefore recoils with double force in favour of the 
 inspiration of an account of natural phenomena which, 
 in all probability, no human mind, in the state of 
 knowledge at the time it was delivered, could have 
 
17 
 
 suggested ; but which is found to be consistent with 
 facts that a more advanced state of science and expe- 
 rience have brought to light. If, however, it were 
 reasonable to expect that the ways of God should in all 
 cases be justified to the knowledge, or rather the igno- 
 rance, of man, the boldest philosopher might well pause 
 before he applied the imperfect test of a progressive 
 philosophy to the determination of the momentous 
 questions involved in these considerations."* 
 
 Prior to the creation of vegetation the emphatic word 
 season would have been an inapposite term, because 
 the periodic vicissitudes implied in it could have had 
 no affinity. In like manner, as yet there had been no 
 animated" form to which "days and years" could strictly 
 apply as the metre of age ; accordingly, it was not until 
 "the earth brought forth grass," and became instinct 
 with the glow of botanical glory, that these measures of 
 time were introduced into the system. Light might 
 have been otherwise located or diffused, on the first day, 
 to bear witness to the sublime progression of creative 
 power. It might have been scattered over the confused 
 elements of matter, emerging from the womb of time, 
 as a secondary agent, commissioned to promote their se- 
 paration and subsequent constitution. In some localized 
 form, apart from the orb of the sun, light might have 
 arisen over the axal revolution of the earth, divided 
 the day from the night in periodic times, and not 
 have been transferred to the splendid station of one of 
 the foci of an ellipsis until the fourth diurnal revolution. 
 Hence it is evident, that though the earth had begun to 
 move on its axis, and the relative evening and morning 
 been already described, the globe might not, until now, 
 have commenced its march in the plane of the ecliptic. 
 When the transference of light took place, the sa- 
 cred historian tells us, that the luminaries of heaven, 
 " the greater to rule by day, and the lesser to rule by 
 night," divided more specifically the day from the night, 
 
 * J. F. Daniell. " Meteorological Essays." London, 8vo. 
 p. 131, &c. 
 
 B3 
 
and were " for signs, and seasons, and for days, and for 
 years." The "firmament" had now been established, 
 and "divided the waters which were under the firma- 
 ment from the waters which were above the firmament." 
 The transfer of light, to its present station in the solar 
 system, had taken place ; and the earth, which before 
 had only revolved on its axis, began its journey in the 
 plane of the ecliptic, obedient to the astronomical laws 
 discovered by Kepler, and resulting from the combined 
 powers of the attraction of gravitation and a projectile 
 force perpendicular to that of the sun. " The sun and 
 moon were now lights in the firmament to give light 
 upon the earth." The alternation of day and night, 
 and vicissitude of the seasons were firmly established 
 days and years, signs and seasons were provided for. 
 
 When creation stood a finished monument, erected 
 to the glory of the Creator, and emerged in all "the 
 majesty of loveliness," we are informed that "the 
 morning stars sang together." When the earth took 
 its station in the sky no discord marred the heavenly 
 orbs ; the stars in the celestial hemisphere still moved 
 isochronous in their orbits, describing the paths assigned 
 to them, and preserving equal eras in equal times, 
 which find their measure and expression in the vibration 
 of a musical string, or that of a pendulum moving in a 
 cycloid. Respecting the nature of light, we have no 
 knowledge ; one thing, however, seems certain, that it 
 is entirely unconnected with the dark nucleus it serves 
 to envelope a fact apparently obvious in the macula', 
 occasionally observable on the luminous disc of the sun. 
 Well might other stars "sing together" as they rose 
 over the morning of a finished creation; and well might 
 those glad spirits, who witnessed the magnificent scene, 
 and the grandeur and glory of the celestial machinery, 
 strike their harps, and " shout for joy." Modern as- 
 tronomy seems to render it more than probable, that 
 the solar system, of which we form a part, is advancing 
 toward the constellation Herculis ; and, moreover, that 
 the whole hemisphere of stars moves round some com- 
 mon centre. Here may that ALMIGHTY BEING, who 
 
19 
 
 is "higher than the highest," have stretched the cur- 
 tains of his "Pavillion;" and here, though "the heaven 
 of heavens cannot contain him," may his apocalyptic 
 throne be set, while myriads of worlds revolve around, 
 as so many moving miracles of that power "who spake 
 and it was done, and commanded and all things stood 
 fast." 
 
 When we survey the act of creation, it seems obvious, 
 that the creative fiat was followed by instant obedience; 
 matter started into being when the voice of the CREA- 
 TOR vibrated on the TOHU BOHU, and became conscious 
 from the infusion of living principles ; distinct and 
 definite periods marked the succession of creation. On 
 the third day the earth was adorned with a carpet of 
 vegetation ; there was fruit in the vine, and the pome- 
 granate budded ; the lilies of the field were clothed, the 
 palm tree flourished, and the cedar spread out its roots 
 like Lebanon. The sunbeam having played on the leafy 
 and flowery scene, "redolent of beauty;" the realms of 
 zoology were peopled ; and the creation of man, " in the 
 image of GOD," was the key-stone of the arch the last 
 link of completed creation. GOD gave them his benedic- 
 tion ; the sacred pause of the "sabbath" succeeded ; and, 
 in order that it should be an immutable memorial, the 
 CREATOR "rested on the seventh day;" and, by his own 
 example, put an impress on it which man may violate at 
 his peril, thus stamped, there can be no appeal. It will 
 be seen that vegetation had unlocked its buds, and the 
 sunbeam had shed its influence over it, before animal life 
 had yet breathed either by lungs or gills. Now the dis- 
 coveries of modern chemistry have clearly demonstrated 
 that animal being, from almost its termo monas up to its 
 more complex organization and perfect developement, 
 yield, night and day, carbonic acid gas, which, though it 
 would destroy life if re-absorbed, supplies nutrition for 
 vegetation. The functions of the plant, decompose the 
 compound gas, appropriate the carbon, and, during day, 
 impart to the deteriorated atmosphere the principle of 
 animal vitality, in oxygene its other constituent. In 
 animal life carbonic acid is elaborated without interims- 
 
20 
 ) 
 
 sion ; but this compound gas is only the produce of 
 vegetation, when the sunbeam is withdrawn ; its spe- 
 cific gravity is so great that it falls to the ground unless 
 buoyancy be imparted to it by an increment of tempera- 
 ture, so that its evolution, in either case, by night, is 
 null, being condensed by the cooling process which goes 
 on at this period, while nocturnal dews would also absorb 
 it. It is different with what the animal functions 
 supply by day, for heat will give it a buoyant wing, and 
 it would rise in the atmosphere ; the winds, or aerial 
 currents, would mingle the principles of deterioration 
 and of consequent suffering, so that if there were no 
 compensation balance to restore the lost salubrity, ulti- 
 mate destruction would supervene and "chaos come 
 again." Vegetation, therefore, by the issue of oxygene 
 in the sunbeam, becomes the fountain of atmospheric 
 salubrity. The antidote was established before the 
 aerial poison was elaborated or had emanated. Thus, 
 vegetable and animal forms act and re-act on each 
 other ; their dependance is reciprocal ; the one cannot 
 say to the other, " I have no need of thee." The whole 
 phenomena of creation, as detailed in the annals of the 
 Mosaic cosmogony, are fraught with wonder, and dis- 
 play a remarkable harmony, when compared with facts 
 which modern science has substantiated, and which, 
 therefore, may be adduced in evidence of the truth of 
 these Oracles of Heaven. None but OMNISCIENCE 
 could have described, at this remote era of antiquity, 
 a structure and conditions that should perfectly cor- 
 respond with the discoveries effected, by mental sagacity, 
 in a more mature stage of its existence ; and which 
 could be only, at best, obscurely conjectured by inter- 
 vening ages; now, however, become palpable as the 
 evidence of the senses and of science. All this may 
 well make us wary of sporting our scepticism on some 
 other questions, which, though we may not fully compre- 
 hend at present, a higher measure of intellect, in the 
 progress of time, may entirely explain. If, as far as our 
 investigation can reach, we see things clearly in the ma- 
 jority of cases, it is surely reasonable to give credit for the 
 
21 
 
 lesser circumstances in what remain, since a time may 
 come, when, compared with our present accession of 
 knowledge, the luminous triumphs of the mind may 
 be as " the light of seven days" " and that day fully 
 declare it." 
 
 No one can read the record of creation without being 
 impressed with the conviction, that matter and motion 
 were instantaneous acts of Almighty Power. The cor- 
 rect solution of the descriptive phenomena resolves 
 itself into the opinion of Sir Isaac Newton, as its true in- 
 terpretation : " God, in the beginning, formed all mate- 
 rial things in moveable particles ; variously associating 
 and composing them, in the first creation, by his intelli- 
 gent counsels ; and setting them in the order most con- 
 ducive to the end for which he formed them, with respect 
 to size, figure, space, and all other properties" From 
 this postulate there can be no warrantable philosophical 
 dissent. Matter was instantaneously created by the 
 fiat of the Supreme Being ; and, we presume that Mr. 
 Granville Penn's masterly argument cannot be success- 
 fully assailed on legitimate grounds. The circumfu- 
 sion of a chaotic fluid for unnumbered ages, with a 
 gradual deposition of rocks from its bosom, is a fiction 
 as wild as the manwantaras of Menu, from which 
 fabulous source it may have originally sprung. It is 
 equally inconsistent and absurd to endeavour to give 
 a new version to the periods of the demiurgic days. 
 We may torture time, but IOM, by all the rules *of 
 criticism, can never be made to signify aught else than 
 a natural day j and though "a thousand years are as 
 one day, and one day as a thousand years," in the sight 
 of GOD, as has been stated, were we to grant that they 
 are to be understood as undefined and indefinite periods, 
 "the sequel of error would be endless:" there must be 
 a pause somewhere, and this must not be left to be de- 
 ciphered by mere imagination. Geologists are generally 
 a sceptical race ; but whether such scepticism rests on 
 a philosophical basis, we may well question. These 
 chronologists of the world's age are constantly petition- 
 ing their idol CHRONOS for immense measures of time ; 
 
22 
 
 l 
 
 their eras may be called definite infinitudes : affecting to 
 distinguish periods, they will, however, condescend to no 
 specific measurement. Time is stretched on the rack of 
 invention to supply their pre-conceived notions and fan- 
 ciful conjectures with a measuring reed; and after all, it is 
 " the line of confusion stretched over the stones of empti- 
 ness." It has been very properly asked, ' ' Who is to grant 
 it (Time) ; or what would be the value of the grant, if it 
 were conceded ? Would it make the thing true ?" Un- 
 questionably not ; and the sceptical geologist, when the 
 concession is made, is just as near his object as before. 
 Language is the symbol of thought, and should be that 
 of truth ; after making every allowance for metaphorical 
 phrase, we cannot legitimately permit its introduction 
 where truth propounds an historical event. With every 
 concession as to an indefinite extension of time, the infidel 
 geologist will still remain an infidel. Those who grant 
 the question to this personage, only tamper with infide- 
 lity, while the geologist chuckles, in the meanwhile, over 
 his neophyte. An infidel geology is anxious to carry 
 us back to a state of being anterior to that described in 
 the Sacred History ; and, with unauthorized effrontery, 
 presents us with a series of revolutions which have no 
 foundation, whatever, in. truth : the cycles of these re- 
 volutions, in the estimation of its votaries, demand the 
 arithmetic of infinites, and an endless series of cataclysma 
 and renovation, as we find in the fabulous annals of India. 
 The six demiurgic days must, by the touch of this necro- 
 mantic talisman, immediately expand into myriads of 
 ages. Now all this is more than we dare grant, and much 
 more than a sober and right-minded philosophy will re- 
 quire. After these requirements are conceded, we shall 
 find the conclusions of some writers on geology to be little 
 else than a modification of the monstrous idea of De- 
 mailet, who would gravely persuade us, that the human 
 being began his career as a.fah, it may be, for aught he 
 defines to the contrary, an oyster or a cockle : certainly 
 an amusing whim, though no very flattering type in the 
 physiology of man's creation. Indeed, we could refer to 
 the early edition of an introductory work on geology, 
 
which advocates dogmas of a somewhat similar com- 
 plexion ; as if man had passed through a series of avatars, 
 the last of which was reserved for the genius of Lord 
 Monboddo to discover. Some have fancied, that in the 
 stratification of the globe, and in imbedded organic re- 
 mains, there was all the evidence of history for the pro- 
 gressive developement of organic life, in the eccentric 
 views we have already glanced at ; and, that from the 
 wreck of an antecedent formation, swept away by an 
 overwhelming cataclysm, a new race, of a more perfect 
 organization, arose, like a phenix, as their substitute. 
 How the destruction of a race of zoophytes should give 
 rise to fishes, birds, and other animals of a more per- 
 fect and complex organization, it is not quite so easy 
 to discover. That the imperfect should become the 
 prototypes of beings more perfect and better organized, 
 and that the latter should be the necessary sequence 
 of the ruin of the former, is novel enough, but is not 
 the less nonsense. In this odd dogma it was altogether 
 forgotten, that these types of primeval time remained 
 hermetically sealed up in the solid rock ; and that all the 
 varied forms of animal organization, from the polype up 
 to man, co-exist, and have ever been contemporaneous. 
 It has been supposed that the order of the Mosaic 
 account of creation was stamped in the living rock, and 
 might be read in the fossils which are found there, 
 from the lower red sandstone to the tertiary series ; 
 and, in the formations which are deemed the most an- 
 cient, no organic remains, rounded pebbles, or carbon- 
 aceous matter being found, some accept as a proof that 
 they were prior in existence to those that contain them ; 
 and if this is found an invariable rule, followed by no 
 exception ; if there be super added a crystalline structure, 
 to which the agents now in operation are unequal, the 
 position may be reasonably granted ; but it is by no 
 means so evident, that any class of organic remains 
 should determine the comparative age of the stratifica- 
 tion of the globe. Dr. Fleming and Mr. Lyell have, 
 accordingly, found organic remains of t fisk in the old red 
 sandstone, in Perthshire, which is pronounced to be 
 
24 
 j 
 
 "' decidedly older than the coal and mountain lime- 
 stone of Fifeshire." The vertebra also of a saurian, or 
 an animal belonging to the class of lizards, has been dis- 
 covered in the mountain limestone of Northumberland. 
 These facts, with many others, render altogether nuga- 
 tory the hypothesis of the precedence of the simpler 
 forms of animal organization. Exceptions like these are 
 fatal to the dreams of those theorists who would rind 
 the record of creation transcribed in the rock ; on which 
 assumptions they have, however, raised the plea of their 
 petition for time. 
 
 Insects are rarely found in a fossil state, and their 
 discovery is comparatively recent. This was the case 
 with birds ; but the organic remains of birds have 
 been found in Kirkdale Cave, Gibraltar, and else- 
 where. Prior to these discoveries it had been believed 
 that birds came into existence at a later period in the 
 order of creation, and were altogether subsequent to the 
 epocha at which other animals were swept away, the 
 impress of whose anterior living existence their organic 
 remains attest. The researches of modern geology have 
 proved the assumption altogether premature, and future 
 discoveries, in all probability, will sweep away much of 
 the dogmatism that has interwoven itself among the spe- 
 culations of geologists. The fossil world has revealed no 
 organic remains of quadrumanous animals ; but it by 
 no means follows, that they may not yet be found ; and 
 precisely the same process of reasoning applied by Mr. 
 Lyell to this question, applies, in full force, to that of 
 man. 
 
 It is really extraordinary to reflect on what a slender 
 basis many a geological theory rests. In looking into the 
 communications of Dr. Hutton, we feel almost persuaded 
 that the structure of graphic granite contributed not a 
 little to his geogony. Dr. Knight seems, in our opinion, 
 to have been mainly indebted for his " Theory of the 
 Earth," to the diffusion of a portion of powdered granite 
 in water, arid its subsequent subsidence, forming a me- 
 chanical deposit, as might have been expected, of particles, 
 agreeable to the ratio of their relative densities. One of 
 
these world builders, and whose work on the subject is 
 before the public,, shewed us a flint, having, as its nu- 
 cleus, a univalve shell ; and this, in his view, was a 
 sufficient datum for his theory of the formation of a world. 
 Such are some of the flimsy materials of a few modern 
 geological theorists ; and these are even moderate com- 
 pared with the wild speculations of their predecessors. 
 For myself, I am free to confess my obligations to the 
 masterly disquisitions of Mr. Granville Penn, whose 
 sound deductions and philosophical reasoning appear to 
 me to be altogether unanswerable, and of a character 
 satisfactory and complete. I am, by no means, prepared 
 to say, that he is infallible throughout; but the opinion 
 may be safely hazarded, that he has brought geology to 
 the requisite test, and prescribed the proper rules by 
 which it may be legitimately tried. The interminable 
 reign of a chaotic ocean, circumfusing the globe, he has 
 fully proved, in my mind, to be as unreasonable in its 
 assumptions as it is repugnant to the principles of 
 Revealed Truth and genuine science. Creation implies, 
 in its very nature, an instant act ; and it is surely most 
 compatible with the dictates of sound reason, to believe 
 that the first creation was not a slow process, carried 
 on through a succession of ages, but the prompt obedi- 
 ence of nature to the mandate of an omnipotent fiat. 
 The succession of periods, in the order of creation, in 
 organized being, implies acts in which the process of 
 time seems to enter ; but this refers to the veil being 
 gradually withdrawn from the scene of creation, and the 
 introduction of determinate eras, " as sequence and 
 succession," to measure the evolutions of natural phe- 
 nomena. Time is only a relative term, and is altogether 
 inapplicable to the Supreme Being. That the primitive 
 rocks, which form the solid skeleton of the globe, were 
 deposited by degrees, after a long and dreary night of 
 chaotic darkness, it would be absurd to believe. The 
 phenomena presented on the respective " days " of 
 creation were creative acts, with which time could not 
 co-operate, and therefore must be altogether indepen- 
 dent of the succession implied in the term. The most 
 
26 
 j 
 
 learned in Hebrew literature affix no other meaning to 
 the word, IOM, used by the sacred historian, than that 
 of a natural day ; and the hebdomedal return of the 
 SABBATH is a permanent memorial, transmitted from 
 the most distant age of a venerable antiquity, to perpe- 
 tuate its true and legitimate meaning. It requires no 
 great penetration to perceive to what a tissue of 
 absurdity the fourth section of the decalogue would be 
 reduced, if we are to suppose that the six demiurgic 
 days were indefinite periods, instead of natural days. 
 Respecting the original creation of organized beings, 
 Mr. Granville Penn supplies some pertinent remarks, 
 and applies, with considerable force and effect, the same 
 process of reasoning to the construction of the rocky 
 materials of the globe. " Common sense discerns," says 
 this acute writer, " that creation alone could give origin 
 of existence, or Jirst formation, to that which before did 
 not exist ; it discerns, that there can be no intermediate 
 stage or degree between non-existence, and existence, 
 and therefore no graduality in passing from the one 
 state to the other. To the mode of creation, we cannot 
 therefore ascribe that mode of succession to which we 
 give the name of time. The action of creation, was 
 therefore effected without the mediation of time, and 
 consequently, in that mode which we express when we 
 exclude all notion of the mediation of time ; namely, 
 immediately, that is instantaneously or suddenly. 
 
 " If a bone of the Jirst created man now remained, 
 and were mingled with other bones pertaining to a 
 generated race; and if it were to be submitted to 
 the inspection and examination of an anatomist, what 
 opinion and judgment would its sensible phenomena 
 suggest, respecting the mode of its first formation, and 
 what would be his conclusion ? If he were unapprised 
 of its true origin, his mind would see nothing in its 
 sensible phenomena but the laws of ossification ; just 
 as the mineral geology 'sees nothing in the details of 
 the formation of minerals, hut precipitations, crystalliza- 
 tions, and dissolutions.' He would, therefore, naturallv 
 pronounce of this bone, as of all the other bones, that 
 
27 
 
 its 'fibres were originally soft,' until, in the shelter of 
 the maternal womb, it acquired 'the hardness of a car- 
 tilage, and then of bone,' that this effect 'was not 
 produced at once, or in a very short time,' but ( bij 
 degrees ;' that, after birth, it increased in hardness 'by 
 the continual addition of ossifying matter, until it ceased 
 to grow at all.' 
 
 "Physically true as this reasoning would appear, it 
 would nevertheless be morally and really false. Why 
 would it be false ? Because it concluded,, from mere 
 sensible phenomena, to the certainty of a fact which 
 could not be established by the evidence of sensible 
 phenomena alone ; namely, the mode of the first form- 
 ation of the substance of created bone. 
 
 " Let us proceed from animal to vegetable matter ; 
 and let us consider the first created tree, under which 
 the created man first reposed, and from which he gather- 
 ed his first fruit. That tree must have had a stem, or 
 trunk, through which the juices were conveyed from the 
 root to the fruit, and by which it was able to sustain 
 the branches upon which the fruit grew. 
 
 "If a portion of this created tree now remained, and 
 if a section of its wood were to be mingled with other 
 sections of propagated trees, and submitted to the 
 inspection and examination of a naturalist; what opinion 
 and judgment would its sensible phenomena suggest to 
 him, respecting the mode of its first formation ; and 
 what would be his conclusion ? If he were unapprised 
 of its true origin, his mind would see nothing in its sen- 
 sible phenomena, but the laws of lignification ; just as 
 the mineral geologist sees nothing in the details of the 
 formations of primitive rock, but 'precipitations, crystal- 
 lizations and dissolutions' He would, therefore, natu- 
 rally pronounce of it, as of all the other sections of wood, 
 that its 'fibres' when they first issued from the seed, 
 'were soft and herbaceous ;' that they 'did not suddenly 
 pass to the hardness of perfect wood,' but ( after many 
 years;' that the hardness of their folds, 'which indicate 
 the growth of each year,' was, therefore, effected only 
 'by degrees ;' and that, ' since nature does nothing but 
 
28 
 j 
 
 by a progressive course, it is not surprising that its 
 substance acquired its hardness only by little and little.' 
 
 "Physically true as the naturalist would here appear 
 to reason ; yet his reasoning, like that of the anatomist, 
 would be morally and really false. And why would it 
 be false ? For the same reason ; because lie concluded, 
 from mere sensible phenomena, to the certainty of a fact 
 which could not be established by the evidence of 
 sensible phenomena alone ; namely, the mode of the first 
 formation of the substance of created wood." 
 
 According to the chronology of the Hebrew version, 
 the creation of the globe took place 5835 years from the 
 present date, or 400-4 years before the Christian era. 
 At the epocha of creation, by this calculation, the great 
 axis of the ellipsis of the earth's orbit coincided with 
 the line of the equinoxes. At the vernal equinox the 
 earth was at the farthest point of her elliptic orbit, and 
 at the autumnal equinox, when the earth may have 
 commenced its revolution in the plane of the ecliptic, it 
 was at its nearest point of approach to the elliptic focus. 
 The period of revolution and elliptic orbit were equali- 
 zed with respect to the seasons ; or, in other words, the 
 lapse of days and hours for each hemisphere, (for the 
 period preceding the vernal equinox, and for that 
 which succeeded it, comprising each six months,) were 
 precisely alike. By Dr. Hales' chronology, the period 
 of creation is stated at 541 1 years before the era of Chris- 
 tianity. The deductions of this celebrated chronologist, 
 have, however, been stated to be founded on an error of 
 Abulpharagius, though they have been accepted by 
 many as a correct estimate. The Samaritan version 
 makes the age of the world, 6075, and the Septuagint, 
 7220 years. The ancient method of calculating by 
 letters, considered as numerals, may be naturally sup- 
 posed productive of error, and will account for the 
 discrepancies. Dr. Pritchard seems to have reconciled 
 the Egyptian chronology with that of the Scriptures., 
 from which it seems indeed to have been originally 
 derived. Sir Isaac Newton and Dr. Halley endeavoured 
 to reconcile the discrepancies referred to, by astronomi- 
 
29 
 
 cal calculations, and succeeded to a considerable extent ; 
 but the causes of the errors in the Samaritan and Greek 
 text being unknown, the task involved much intricacy. 
 When the complexity of the question is estimated, and 
 its liability to fallacy, with the independent sources 
 which must be reconciled, it is rather remarkable that 
 the error is not of wider extent. 
 
 We never attached much consequence to Mr. De 
 Luc's natural chronometers for determining the age of 
 the world, such as the rapid encroachment of the sands 
 of the desert, and the Talus formed of the debris of the 
 rocks among the vallies of the Alps ; all which pheno- 
 mena may be modified by circumstances. But to claim 
 a high antiquity for our globe from the extraordinary 
 premises which some have assumed, is quite sufficient to 
 excite our astonishment. We particularly allude to an 
 attempt to determine the age of the world from the 
 process of petrifaction in the piles of Trajan's Bridge, 
 and Brydone's story about the alternations of lava and 
 earth on the flanks of Etna. The term petrifaction is 
 very equivocal, and has been too vaguely and indiscri- 
 minately applied. Sometimes it is used to mean nothing 
 more than a calcareous or silicious deposition or crust 
 investing the organic remain, and which simply en- 
 velopes it without the substance enclosed undergoing 
 any material decomposition, or indeed any change at 
 all ; but this is very different from those cases wherein 
 the organic remain has been altogether substituted or 
 supplanted by new calcareous or silicious matter, the 
 form remaining as perfect as the impress of a seal. 
 The travertino, on the Anio, near Tivoli, which we 
 have diligently examined, is an abundant and very 
 remarkable deposit ; the concentric shells of calcareous 
 matter are moulded on roots or twigs ; the wood be- 
 comes soft, and moulders away, as if affected with dry 
 rot ; it bears a resemblance to some other "petrifying 
 springs," which deposit, on their rising into day, a sub- 
 carbonate of lime. It is altogether different, however, 
 with the chalcedonic envelopes of Iceland and other 
 silicious depositions ; for the form alone is not merely 
 c 3 
 
so 
 
 preserved but the substance itself is hermetically sealed 
 up, and preserved from the agencies of decay. Moss 
 agates afford a familiar example of this description. No 
 definite idea can, therefore, be formed from what are 
 called petrifactions, unless their nature is clearly defined, 
 together with the circumstances under which they are 
 found, and the agencies which have affected and 
 changed them in themselves altogether contingent, 
 they vary from time to time, and are modified and con- 
 trolled by a variety of causes. 
 
 Nothing, certainly, can be deduced from the process 
 and progress of petrifaction, as to the date or history 
 of creation. The deposition of calcareous matter, from 
 the thermal waters of San Vignone, near Radicofani, in 
 Tuscany, amounts to six inches of solid travel lino in 
 twelve months. In quarrying this limestone, Roman 
 tiles have been found at a depth of five or six feet ; and 
 we have the drawing of a Celt, an ancient warlike wea- 
 pon, so called, excavated from the limestone rock, in 
 Coalbrooke Dale, at a depth, as we were informed, of 
 sixteen feet. The calcareous deposit at San Filippo, 
 near Acquapendente, is still more remarkable. It has 
 been ascertained that a solid mass of limestone, thirty 
 feet in thickness, has actually been formed in about 
 twenty years. A hard stratum of travertino, a foot thick, 
 is obtained from these thermal springs in the course of 
 four months. The magnitude of the calcareous mass, 
 which has been formed by these waters on the flanks of 
 the hill, down which the current descends, amounts to a 
 mile and a quarter in length, and one-third of a mile in 
 breadth, the thickness being estimated at two hundred 
 and fifty feet. Now as the flow of the waters is uniform, 
 it is evident that this gigantic calcareous structure has 
 been reared within a period of little more than EIGHTY 
 YEARS ; and, for any thing we know to the contrary, 
 there may be other agencies, more powerful and rapid, at 
 work, at the present period ; or, at any rate, at some 
 epocha of the past. Near Civita Vecchia, is a hot spring, 
 which deposits alternate beds of a yellow travertino, and 
 a white granular rock, not distinguishable from statuary 
 
31 
 
 marble. In the vicinity of the spring, this formation is, 
 in some places, about six feet thick. In the plains of 
 Hungary, horizontal beds of travertino, including recent 
 fresh water shells, are being constantly formed, arid 
 sufficiently indurated to be used as a building material. 
 We would add to these a similar deposition of calcareous 
 matter, which is in process of formation in the " Walker 
 mine," near Newcastle, which possesses some curious 
 features of a rather unusual character : it duly regis- 
 ters its own age ; becomes a singular chronometer 
 or calendar of time ; and, from its inscription of lines, 
 has been called the " Sunday or Walker Almanack." 
 A fragment from the cabinet of the author is correctly 
 delineated, Jig. 24, PLATE III. During the operations 
 of mining, the water is rendered dark and turbid, and 
 the laminae then deposited are of a dark hue; those 
 streaks which are of a light tint are nocturnal depositions, 
 when the miners cease from working; the double space, 
 of a light colour, distinguishes the Sundays, and thus 
 curiously indicates the several weeks ; while a diminu- 
 tion in the number of the dark lines, which denote the 
 working days, and corresponding increase of light space, 
 exhibit occasional holidays, with the miners' cessation 
 from work. Thus, a silent register has been kept in 
 nature's book, in the " Walker mine," and the deposi- 
 tion exhibits palpable proofs of a natural chronometer. 
 Twenty weeks are enrolled in a deposition of 4^ inches 
 in thickness ; this amounts to one foot, nearly, in twelve 
 months ; and since creation, calculating by the Hebrew 
 text, it would have reared, (had it commenced at that 
 epocha. and continued uniform,) a mountain 5835 feet 
 high. Nor is this equal to the deposit of the thermal 
 waters of San Filippo, already referred to, which would 
 have formed, in the same period, an alpine structure 
 as lofty as the great St. Bernard ; and, we have no reason 
 to restrict similar agencies to such limits. These facts 
 prove the absurdity of the foolish speculation of f und- 
 ing chronometric data on the silicified process of the 
 exterior of the piles of Trajan's Bridge, by the waters 
 of the Danube. Silicious petrifactions are sometimes 
 
slow, sometimes rapid : the case in question belongs to 
 the former ; and the phenomena of the geysers of Ice- 
 land, in the silicilied basin, into which the waters descend, 
 present examples of the latter, in the chalcedony, opal, 
 and scinter, of which the basins are composed. It would 
 be just as wise to raise a calculation on a pile driven 
 into the earth, in which no silicifying process, whatever, 
 goes on, and assume from thence, an undefinable and 
 indeterminable period for the deposition of any sensible 
 portion of silicious matter. As for Brydone's tale 
 charged on the canon Ricupero, it is not likely that any 
 thing of the kind was ever promulgated ; though 
 Brydone would have been glad of any plea, however 
 absurd or erroneous, to have supported his infidel 
 notions, even at the expense of exposing the friend, 
 under whose hospitable roof he was so kindly treated, 
 to censure or to ruin. And, after all, it was only the 
 mere opinion of Ricupero, even supposing he was weak 
 enough to hazard so silly an idea. The legend is as 
 follows : On digging a pit on the flank, or at the foot 
 of Etna, seven strata of lava were discovered, superim- 
 posed on each other with intervening layers of decom- 
 posed earth. It was assumed, that it required a period 
 of 2000 years for the lava to become thus decomposed 
 at the surface ; therefore, seven times 2000 amounted 
 to fourteen thousand years. Now according to D'Au- 
 buisson, the lava of Etna, of 1157, is covered with 
 twelve inches of vegetable earth, proceeding from its 
 own decomposition ; and that of 1 329, is covered 
 with eight inches of decomposed matter. We have, 
 personally, examined the subterranean recesses of Her- 
 culaneum and its volcanic covering, and presume it affords 
 sufficient evidence of the absurdity of such sweeping 
 deductions ; but we may rest safely on Sir Wm. 
 Hamilton's examination. Within a period of 1700 
 years, six eruptions of lava have, at stated periods, 
 rolled over that which originally overwhelmed the city : 
 veins of decomposed matter intervene between these 
 strata. But Dr. Daubeny has proved, on the spot, that, 
 the tale of this stratified "well of Ricupero, is altogether 
 
33 
 
 a fable. He visited, in person, this well at Aci Reale. 
 The vegetable mould, assumed to intervene, turns out to 
 be a ferruginous tuffa, such as is produced by a shower 
 of volcanic ashes, consolidated by rain, or by a con- 
 temporaneous eruption of hot water. Indeed, the vol- 
 canic eruption which overwhelmed Herculaneum, called 
 lava, is merely consolidated ashes, composed of pumice- 
 stone, lapillo, &c. Similar mistakes have been often 
 made, and require to be rectified. We have observed 
 no chronometers in lavas or their decomposition to 
 warrant any such visionary phantasies, though we have 
 especially examined, and with tolerable attention, the 
 volcanic phenomena of the Neapolitan territory, in 
 detail. 
 
 The hieroglyphics of the obelisks and temples of 
 Egypt, and the mystic characters of tombs and mum- 
 mies ; and especially of the famous planisphere brought 
 from the temple of Dendera, seem to have excited 
 imagination to roam over the vastness of ages and 
 interminable periods of time; and all this because, 
 without being possessed of a cipher to read their 
 symbols, they seemed scarce to belong to our world; 
 or, if they did, they pushed back the era of their history 
 to a period the mind scarce dared to explore ; and 
 Count Forbin, if we remember right, assigned FORTY 
 THOUSAND YEARS as a moderate calculation for their 
 antiquity. But all this latitudinarian speculation 
 broke under the touch of truth, like a bubble on the 
 stream ; and the conceit now serves for pastime, at the 
 expense of his penetration and judgment. The Count, 
 could he have anticipated modern discoveries in hiero- 
 glyphic literature, would have been more cautious and 
 circumspect. The frequent bouleversement of geological 
 speculations, and revolutions in the theories of geologists, 
 should read us a wholesome lesson, and teach them to 
 check the reins of imagination, and put some restraint 
 on the lapse of time. We happily now have a few excel- 
 lent books on geology ; for instance, that of Mr. Lyell, 
 Foreign Secretary to the Geological Society, which forms 
 a judicious arrangement of valuable and interesting facts. 
 
34 
 I 
 
 Mr. Lyell does not speculate much, and progresses 
 with caution ; though it is not difficult to perceive, that 
 he, like his brethren, would be glad to prefer a petition 
 for time, under an impression, that the Mosaic cos- 
 mogony does not give full play to the indefinite mea- 
 sures of time required by a sceptical geology. The 
 most unaccountable part of the matter is this, that in- 
 dividuals, such as Mr. Poulet Scrope, whose researches 
 chiefly have had to do with volcanic phenomena, should 
 have been so extravagant in their demands ; when the 
 agent operates on so extensive a scale, and is so sudden, 
 powerful, and frequent, as to change the entire features 
 of a country in a few short hours ; and, in illustration 
 of which, Mr. Lyell introduces so many remarkable ex- 
 amples. The lapse of time, according to the Hebrew 
 text, between the epocha of creation and the circumfu- 
 sion of the waters of an universal deluge ; and the 
 ages that have rolled away since that great event, seem 
 altogether sufficient to account for present appear- 
 ances in the stratification of the globe, and the pheno- 
 mena of organic remains, as we hope to be able to 
 prove ; though, from our being a Fellow of the Geolo- 
 gical Society, it may expose us to the charge of heresy, 
 and its members exclaim, " there is treason in the 
 camp." We advocate the truth, however, at the ex- 
 pense of every other consideration. Superadd to the 
 circumstance of an universal deluge, the phenomena of 
 extensive, as well as more limited local catastrophes, 
 both in the antediluvian and postdiluvian era, and there 
 will appear no necessity for the impulsion of time 
 beyond the boundary of its legitimate history. It is 
 found, that since the recession of the diluvial waters, 
 " the gathering together of the waters, called seas," have 
 shifted their original scites. Practical geology has in its 
 researches clearly proved the comparatively recent form- 
 ation of our present continents ; and, that their origin 
 cannot be traced farther back than the era ascribed in 
 the Biblical Records to the deluge. The alveus or great 
 bed of the ocean, now usurps the place of the former 
 " dry land ;" and, if we wanted further evidence, as to 
 
35 
 
 local catastrophes of considerable extent and duration, 
 and in comparatively modern times, we have a very re- 
 markable example and decided proof of the fact, in the 
 Temple of Jupiter Serapis. " This celebrated monu- 
 ment of antiquity," says Mr. Lyell, " affords, in itself 
 alone, unequivocal evidence, that the relative level of 
 land and sea has changed twice at Puzzuoli, since the 
 Christian era, and each movement, both of elevation and 
 subsidence, has exceeded twenty feet." Our own per- 
 sonal observations on the spot have amply confirmed 
 Mr. Lyell's conclusions ; the appearance of the cir- 
 cumambient strata, coupled with the honeycombed 
 appearance of the still standing columns of cipolino 
 marble, commencing at a specific altitude, the work of 
 pholades, (from whose cellular cavities, indeed, we have 
 picked some of the shells,) prove the deduction to de- 
 monstration, and become a register and metre of the 
 events. That these perforations have been effected in 
 the present position of the columns, and of which Monte 
 Pelegrino, in Sicily, affords so remarkable an example, 
 there can be no doubt whatever ; and we may add, that 
 we have seen the work of a living pholas, in a fragment 
 of indurated limestone from Bridlington Harbour. This 
 extraordinary tunnel is effected by a mechanical act on 
 the part of the animal, Somewhat in the manner of the 
 "centre-bit" employed by the cooper, its shell being 
 altogether passive in the act. It had been assumed that 
 the achievement was accomplished by the secretion of 
 acid matter, in which it seems to have been forgotten 
 that an acid which would have dissolved the marble, 
 must also have dissolved the shell of the pholas. 
 
 The most interesting researches in literature, in 
 modern times, are those which have embraced hiero- 
 glyphic symbols. The inquiries into the hieroglyphic 
 literature of ancient Egypt, seem to have mainly 
 originated with the late Dr. Thomas Young, who has 
 exhibited sufficient proofs of his indefatigable and 
 laborious exertions. This is said without the slightest 
 intention to detract from the honour of M. Champollion, 
 whose extensive investigations and interesting disco- 
 
veries have been as warmly welcomed by the public as 
 they have been gratefully appreciated ; but in neither 
 case more so than the importance and the interest of 
 the research demanded. It appears clearly ascertained 
 that the hieroglyphics of aboriginal Egypt, as we find 
 them pourtrayed on the walls of the tombs of the kings, 
 and the temples of Karnac, Dendera, &c., and sculptured 
 on obelisks and sarcophagi, together with the paintings 
 and inscriptions of the sycamore coffins, bandages of 
 mummies, and those of Papyri, are transcriptions of 
 the sacred or hieratic characters of the priesthood of 
 Egypt. This, in all probability, was the sole medium 
 of expressing their mysteries, though it does not appear 
 to have been altogether confined to the expression of 
 mythological rites, ceremonies, and belief. Fortunately, 
 there appears to have been another character called the 
 enchorial, in common use, and which M. Champollion 
 calls demotic, or popular, which seems to have been 
 employed in interpretation ; and to these, the ancient 
 Greek character has been discovered in addition ; the 
 last forming a convenient key for deciphering both ; 
 and thus constructing an alphabet of hieroglyphic cha- 
 racters, which has, accordingly, been done both by Dr. 
 Young and M. Champollion. It is, therefore, much to 
 be regretted, that the hieroglyphics which Denon copied 
 from the walls of the temple of Karnac and elsewhere, 
 are not correct or faithful representations of the originals, 
 and of course become altogether useless in the question 
 of Egyptian literature. Those copied on the spot, by 
 M. Champollion, during his recent visit to Egypt, and 
 fac similes taken from specimens actually existing in 
 this country, or at Paris, are alone to be credited. The 
 exorbitant antiquity supposed to be attached to these 
 inscriptions, had, down to a comparatively recent period, 
 induced a belief, that the question was for ever lost in 
 the night of ages, and that no key could be found for 
 their solution, in such Greek and Roman inscriptions 
 as were sometimes discovered in their immediate vi- 
 cinity. The discovery of the Rosetta-stone, when 
 digging for the foundations of Fort St. Julian, supplied 
 
37 
 
 at once the cipher and the solution; and this interest- 
 ing trophy now reposes in the British Museum, a 
 legend that all may read. On this fragment of the 
 pillar of Rosetta, there are the hieroglyphic characters, 
 as well as the enchorial and ancient Greek, in so many 
 distinct bands* three distinct inscriptions, as was 
 the case with that which Pilate caused to be affixed to 
 the cross, "Hebrew, Greek, and Latin." Nor is the 
 celebrated Rosetta-stone a solitary memorial of this 
 triple inscription. The fragment of the obelisk found 
 in the Isle of Philae, has the same pictured language, 
 accompanied by the enchorial and Greek characters ; 
 and it has been from the aid of the triple inscription, 
 that the problem has been solved. We possess a 
 fragment of papyrus with both hieratic and enchorial 
 characters ; and among some papyri, submitted by Mr. 
 Grey to Dr. Young, there were found three Egyptian 
 conveyances in the enchorial character, with separate 
 registries, in very legible Greek, on the margin. That 
 the Greek was really designed as a translation, is 
 evident from the circumstance, that in the inscription 
 on the Rosetta-stone, Mr. Akerblad had pointed out, 
 at the end of the hieroglyphical inscription, the three 
 first numerals, I. II. and III. respectively, where 
 the Greek has "the first and the second," the end 
 being broken off. The Egyptian hieroglyphics, there- 
 fore, may be considered a written language in symbolic 
 characters, somewhat intermediate between the picture- 
 writing of the ancient Mexicans and the modern Chinese 
 characters. We have deemed it necessary to preface 
 these observations, to shew that the evidence deduced 
 from hieroglyphic inscriptions is not fanciful, but alto- 
 
 * The most curious part of the history of this remarkable 
 monument of antiquity, consists in the accidental discovery, 
 by Champollion, among a number of manuscripts, brought to 
 Paris by M. Casati, of one which considerably resembled in 
 its preamble the enchorial text of the pillar of Rosetta ; and 
 the value of which discovery was much enhanced by the 
 existence of a Greek translation of the same manuscript, 
 brought by Mr. Grey to London 
 
 D 
 
38 
 J 
 
 gether inductive ; and it is important that a distinct 
 understanding of the degree of credit attached to them 
 should be clearly defined. The following remarks are 
 made by Dr. Young, as the results of his inquiries 
 into Egyptian literature, through the medium of these 
 hieroglyphic characters. " I must acknowledge, that 
 my respect for the good sense and accomplishments 
 of my Egyptian allies by no means became more pro- 
 found as our acquaintance became more intimate : on 
 the contrary, all that Juvenal, in a moment, as might 
 have been supposed, of discontent, had held up to 
 ridicule of their superstitions and depravity, became, 
 as it were, displayed before my eyes as the details of 
 their mythology became more intelligible."* It is 
 amusing to observe the folly displayed in the specula- 
 tions of some of those individuals who had examined 
 the hieroglyphic documents before these mystic symbols 
 were clearly deciphered by the enlightened zeal of Dr. 
 Young and M. Champollion. According to Kircher, 
 they all contained metaphysical dogmas or mythological 
 mysteries ; but it seems to have been with him equally 
 the same, whether he began to read the lines, at the 
 commencement or the opposite end : and by Palin's 
 account, it was merely necessary to translate the Psalms 
 of David into Chinese, and write them in the ancient 
 characters of that language, in order to re-produce the 
 Egytian papyri that are found with the mummies. 
 " The mathematicians," says Dr. Young, " of France, 
 and the metaphysicians of England, have continued to 
 argue upon elements which it was impossible either to 
 prove or disprove ; while the fortuitous coincidences of 
 some accidental results, with the collateral testimony of 
 history or of astronomy, have been forced into the 
 service of the delusion, as evidences of the truth of the 
 hypotheses from which they had been deduced. Nor are 
 these amusements, even at this moment, discontinued, 
 by some persons, who have shown themselves capable of 
 
 * Discoveries in Hieroglyphical Liteiature. London, 1823, 
 Hvo. p. 19. 
 
39 
 
 doing better things." As the geologist is now attending 
 more to fact and less to speculation, so the genius of 
 literature is conducting her inquiries with more calm 
 and sober thought into the arcana of Egyptian learning. 
 Let us not overlook the fact, that these mystic symbols 
 were not disused entirely until a much more recent 
 date than is generally supposed. Even on the coins of 
 the apostate Julian, in the fourth century, we observe 
 the deified bull, the obverse having Julian's head ; and 
 in the reverse of another, the cynocephalus or dog-head- 
 ed anubis, with the caduceus and sistrum. 
 
 Nothing can more decidedly expose the eccentric 
 follies of the human mind, than the speculations in 
 which it indulged, respecting the celebrated zodiacs of 
 Esneh and Dendera. The period prescribed by Sacred 
 Chronology was set at defiance ; imagination took wing, 
 and rioted, without restraint, in the regions of conjecture 
 and obscurity ; and by recording its whims and fancies, 
 has reared a monument on which is inscribed its disgrace: 
 but, if it should serve as a beacon to caution other 
 adventurers from risking the credit of their mental 
 sagacity, it will be not altogether unprofitable. Cal- 
 culations were made, and conjectures were formed ; 
 these calculations were reconsidered and discovered 
 to be erroneous, while conjecture was supplanted by 
 the discoveries of truth. Hypotheses, multiplied on 
 hypotheses, have only displayed the errors of intel- 
 lect : subsequent discoveries have rooted up these idols 
 of the mind, and exposed their authors to ridicule. 
 Under these mysterious sculptures and paintings the 
 names of PTOLEMY, CLEOPATRA, TRAJAN, and others, 
 have been most clearly deciphered. While M. Letronne 
 was engaged in researches on the several structures of 
 the temples of Egypt, M. Champollion the younger 
 was deciphering the hieroglyphic inscriptions, and both 
 were conducted to the same result : others, at the same 
 time, by an accurate study of the style of the sculptures 
 and architecture, increased the evidence, which was 
 further confirmed by manuscripts and mummies brought 
 from Egypt. By several methods of induction, it is 
 
 D2 
 
40 
 
 l 
 
 indubitably proved, that these two famous zodiacs, 
 which had excited the wonder of the world, and for 
 the high antiquity of which there had been so stout a 
 contest, are certainly posterior to the era of Christianity. 
 Of a similar description is the plate of gold found under 
 the foundation of one of these temples, which it had 
 been pretended was anterior to the Hebrew cosmogonist. 
 It has a Greek inscription, however, on which the 
 names of Ptolemy and Berenice are distinctly legible. 
 The zodiac brought from Egypt, by M. Calliaud, may 
 be considered of no greater antiquity than the nine- 
 teenth year of the reign of Trajan. 
 
 Some remarks, as a lesson of caution, against receiving 
 the speculations of men of eminent attainments in sci- 
 ence, instead of the sterling deductions of calm and 
 sober truth, may not be out of place ; and may present 
 a curious portraiture of the errors of the understanding, 
 when bewildered by the ig nis faiuus of romance and 
 imagination. It would require a volume to particularize 
 the assumptions, and deductions from false premises, 
 which the history of these planispheres present ; we 
 shall, therefore, confine our attention to a very few. 
 M. Fourier, a celebrated mathematician, affected to 
 discover in one of the zodiacs, an astronomical repre- 
 sentation of the state of the heavens at the heliacal 
 rising of sirius, the sun being in the constellation 
 cancer ; and his inference was, that these symbolical 
 figures were intended to adumbrate the epocha of the 
 inundation of the Nile. Subsequent investigations have 
 convinced him of his folly and his error : and his silence 
 proclaims the triumph of truth. Dupuis referred the con- 
 struction of the zodiac of Dendera to the epocha of the 
 renovation of the solsticial period, about thirteen thousand 
 years before our era ! Burckhardt was of opinion, that 
 the temple of Dendera must have been constructed four 
 thousand years ago ; but, he adds " On ne peut se 
 tromper, que de tres pen de siecles sur cette espace 
 immense." Visconti considers the zodiac as a work of 
 the Greeks ; and Delalande observes, that the Grecian 
 sphere, such as we find it described by Eudoxus and 
 
41 
 
 Aratus, carries us about 1300 years before our era. 
 Thus, Eudoxus may be readily believed to have carried 
 it into Egypt. It is, therefore, very natural, according 
 to Delalande, that we should find the sphere of Eudoxus 
 pourtrayed in the zodiac of Dendera. M. Halma is 
 among the most moderate in his calculations on the 
 question of the zodiac: he launches forth a violent 
 tirade against Dupuis, ridicules the idea of the Egyp- 
 tians being astronomers, and treats with no measured 
 courtesy, the folly of those who took the trouble to bring 
 the viltanous black stone into Europe, and disturb its 
 repose in the ceiling of the temple of Dendera, where, 
 for aught he cared, it might have for ever remained. 
 M. Biot, an acute geometrician, viewing the planisphere 
 as an astronomical document, concluded that the era 
 of its erection might be about 71 6 years A. C. ; and 
 Alexander Lenoir, considering it as a simple calendar, 
 assigns its antiquity to a period of 770 years A. C. 
 
 So far from the interesting researches which have been 
 made in hieroglyphic literature at all impugning the 
 truth of the Scriptural Chronology, in reference to the 
 age of the world and of man, they strongly confirm its 
 evidence. In Egyptian architecture there appears to be 
 three distinct epochas : the most ancient possesses a style 
 and character altogether peculiar, and is characterized 
 by simplicity in its form, and an expression not unna- 
 tural or strained. The finest specimens of this earliest 
 epocha of Egyptian architecture, are exemplified in the 
 palaces of Karnac, Luxor, &c. in the Thebais ; and in 
 the temple of Isamboul, in Nubia. The temples of 
 Edfou and Dakke belong to the second epocha of Egyp- 
 tian art ; and that of Dendera, to the third and most 
 recent. Besides the style of architecture, the alphabet 
 of phonetic hieroglyphics enables us to read on the 
 Egyptian monuments, of the earliest epocha, the names 
 of the ancient kings of Egypt : on those of the second, 
 the names of the Greco-Egyptian kings and queens ; 
 and in the structure of the third, and last period, the 
 entire legends of the Roman emperors, from Augustus 
 down to Antoninus Pius, inclusive. It has, in this 
 D 3 
 
42 
 1 
 
 manner, been decidedly proved, that the great temple 
 of Dendera, from whence the famous planisphere was 
 obtained, and which had excited so much stir, and occa- 
 sioned so much fruitless metaphysical and mathematical 
 speculation, belongs decidedly to the third and last 
 period of the art ; and so far from its being so very 
 ancient as had been supposed, it is, in reality, one of the 
 most modern structures in Egyptian architecture. In all 
 the copies which had been made of the hieroglyphics by 
 the French commission, as well as by modern travellers, 
 M. Champollion the younger, has deciphered the names 
 of Roman emperors ; such as those of Augustus, Tiberius, 
 Claudius; and chiefly those of Nero and Domitian, 
 under whose reigns the greater part of the sculptures 
 of the temple of Dendera seem to have been made. The 
 tuphonium of this structure appears to have been of even 
 a still more recent date, and belongs to the reign of 
 Antoninus Pius. The only edifice among the ruins of 
 Dendera, (called also Tentyris or Tentyra,) which is of 
 considerable antiquity, is the small temple of Isis, be- 
 hind the great temple, and which is consecrated to the 
 Egyptian Venus. This structure exhibits the royal 
 legends of Pharaoh Rameses-Meiamoun, the grandfather 
 of Sesostris. The most ancient sculptures of this edifice 
 do not carry us further back than the reign of Cleopatra 
 and Ptolemy-Neocsesar ; all the rest belong to the pe- 
 riod of the Roman dominion. A Greek inscription, 
 indeed, with Roman names, and that of one of the 
 Caesars, was found sculptured on the exterior cornice of 
 the portico of the great temple ; and another, on the 
 Eastern entrance, repeated over each of the listcls of 
 the cornice. 
 
 It is thus clearly demonstrated, that the temple of 
 Dendera, which once contained the circular zodiac, 
 (now in Paris) and of which a fac simile is now before 
 us, is certainly not anterior to the reign of Augustus, 
 or the Christian era ; nor is it to be supposed, that the 
 celebrated zodiac is more ancient than the temple, of 
 which it was intended to be the ornament ; which de- 
 duction is amply confirmed by the hieroglyphic legends 
 
43 
 
 which are sculptured on the same stone which forms 
 the zodiac itself, and in which the imperial Roman 
 title, AOTKPTP, (Autocrator,) appears in phonetic 
 hieroglyphics. M. Champollion the younger, from the 
 circumstance of the simple title being alone enclosed in 
 the cartouche, ( a somewhat oval enclosure, which con- 
 tains the imperial names and titles ; and, indeed, is the 
 distinguishing feature of royal names,) assigns it to Nero, 
 whose Medals, struck in Egypt, bear, simply as their 
 inscription, the word Autocrator. According to the 
 same distinguished authority, the circular zodiac, as well 
 as all the other zodiacs of Egypt, are merely horoscopes, 
 or astrological themes, either of the nativity of an em- 
 peror, or of the foundation of the temple ; and are not, 
 properly speaking, of an astronomical nature. It may 
 here be proper to add, that by a horoscope, is to be un- 
 derstood the point of the zodiac which coincides with 
 sun-rise. M. Letronne has promulgated an opinion 
 similar to that of Champollion, and thus expresses him- 
 self. " Nous pouvons, regarder comme un point de fait, 
 que tous les Zodiaques d'Egypte ont ete executes a 
 1'epoque romaine. Ces monumens sont tous entiere- 
 ment ou principalement astrologiques, dresses d'apres 
 les principes d'une pretendue science que 1'Egypte avait 
 vu naitre, d'apres le systeme de representation dont les 
 Egyptiens avaient 1'habitude, et par les precedes d'un 
 art qui n'avait pas sensiblement varie." 
 
 The epocha of the Egyptian zodiacs is also inferred 
 from the style of the sculpture, as well as the astrono- 
 mical interpretation of the emblems which compose 
 them. The examination of the inscriptions which are 
 in Greek characters, together with the phonetic hiero- 
 glyphics sculptured in the temples where these zodiacs 
 have been discovered, prove that none of them are 
 anterior to the Roman dominion in Egypt. There is 
 still another interesting corroboration of these important 
 deductions, in the discovery of a zodiac on the cere- 
 ments of a mummy, evidently expressive of a natal 
 theme. These proofs, collected from several diversi- 
 fied sources, amount to demonstration, and set the 
 
44, 
 
 question for ever at rest. Thus has truth triumphed, 
 and the Biblical Records have reaped fresh laurels in 
 the keen scrutiny of a contested chronology, just as in 
 geological science, the hopes of the infidel have withered. 
 
 We have no certain account of the period in which the 
 pyramids were constructed, or for what purpose they 
 were built : some have supposed they were intended as 
 places of sepulture ; and, therefore, are to be considered 
 as mausoleums. The late Dr. E. D. Clarke was of 
 opinion, that one of these piles enshrined the body of 
 Joseph, who rode in the second chariot of Egypt, and 
 whose remains, obedient to his last request, were re- 
 moved at the exode. The inner chambers of the one 
 which has been explored, afford no key to the solution ; 
 nor does it appear certain that it ever contained a human 
 body. It was much more likely to have enclosed the 
 sacred bull, if it ever contained any thing at all. The 
 sarcophagi, in the British Museum, if they have not 
 been monolithic temples, which seems to us most proba- 
 ble, were certainly sufficiently capacious to enshrine this 
 chief figure in their idolatry. The attempt to derive 
 the term pyramid from a Hebrew root, appears to us 
 forced. We think it much more probable that it springs 
 from the Greek TIvp -fire; and that instead of its 
 Hebrew appellative, " Grave of the Dead," it is rather 
 to be considered as an altar, connected with pyrolatry, 
 from whence the sacred fire ascended, as in ancient 
 Mexico : nor is it at all improbable, that it may, like the 
 altar which Joshua built in Mount Ebal, to the North 
 of Sichem, have been " plastered over with plaster," and 
 had the creed of their mythology recorded on it in hieratic 
 symbols. For any thing we know to the contrary, these 
 structures may have been contemporaneous with the 
 patriarchal age, or of the Pharaohs ; or they may have 
 been of the era of the Ptolemies. The literature of 
 hieroglyphics may eventually solve this question. 
 
 We have not considered it at all necessary to introduce 
 the question of Indian chronology : it is so entwined with 
 fabulous legends, that a key, to what truth it contains, 
 is not easily found. The high antiquity once claimed 
 
45 , 
 
 for it, turns out to be a mere farce ; and Colonel Mark 
 Wilks, who has distinguished himself in the literature 
 of the East, informed us, he had, in his researches, in- 
 variably found, that neither their literature, science, 
 nor arts, had any just pretensions to a high antiquity. 
 The Hindoos, like the Egyptians, have a train of 
 fabulous gods, and demi-gods, figuring away in the 
 legends of their mythology, prior to the deluge; but 
 sober science has to deal with a different succession of 
 terrestrial being. The gigantic excavations in the gra- 
 nitic mountains of Elora, forming the temples of Indra 
 and Visvacarma,* and other temples and dwellings; 
 with those of Karli, Elephanta, and Salsette ; seem, in 
 their majestic grandeur, to dispute with the pyramids, 
 a title to overpowering effect, without the slightest pre- 
 tence to any useful purpose whatever. Effect seems to 
 have been the design kept in view, in order to overawe 
 the devotee, by the unearthly majesty of giant forms. 
 These excavations somewhat resemble those of the vast 
 Necropolis of ancient Idumea. Not to trace out other 
 resemblances, it may be mentioned, that in the Keylas, 
 (or Paradise,) an insulated temple, hewn out of the 
 Elora mountains, among the various figures, there is 
 Bhavani sitting on a Lotus, (Kumala,) conspicuously 
 displayed ; and in which it requires no discrimination to 
 discern the Harpocrates, or Arueris of Egyptian my- 
 thology. The Lotus may be also seen on the seat of the 
 Colossus of Gournou. The massive forms of Indian 
 architecture are the precise character of that of Egypt. 
 Add to these remarks the fact, that during the expe- 
 dition into Egypt, the Bombay Siphauees, (Sepoys) 
 forming part of the army which proceeded by the Red 
 Sea and Suez, recognized many of the mythological 
 figures ; for instance, the bull, and some stone figures 
 of serpents. It is even added, that they welcomed these 
 as old acquaintance, and fell down and worshipped : 
 while their officers were told by them, that the ancient 
 
 * This enormous excavation penetrates 130 feet into the 
 mass of the granitic rock. 
 
46 
 
 i 
 
 people of Egypt must have been Hindoos Whether 
 the aborigines of Egypt borrowed their mythological 
 characters from the plains of Hindostan, or the Hindoos 
 from the country of Osiris, it is, at least, certain that 
 both must have had a common origin ; and we have just 
 seen what degree of credit is to be placed in the high 
 antiquity once claimed for Egypt : her pyramids and 
 temples, her tombs and obelisks. The same reasoning 
 applies to the obelisks of Axum, and the most ancient 
 pagodas of India. Dr. Grotefend, of Frankfort, has 
 succeeded in translating some of the cuneiform, (nail- 
 headed, or arrow-headed) characters, from the ruins of 
 Persepolis, and one from those of Pasargadae. These 
 characters seem to be very ancient, and by comparing 
 their form and arrangement, with those of the quartz 
 crystals, in the feldspar ground of graphic granite, in 
 some specimens in our cabinet, we have been much 
 struck with their resemblance. There is a specimen of 
 Persepolitan characters on a fragment of stone, brought 
 from the ruins of Persepolis, in the British Museum : 
 they are precisely similar to those of Nineveh and 
 Babylon. A specimen of the cuneiform letters found 
 among the ruins of Nineveh, has been described by 
 Mr. Rich ; and specimens of Babylonian bricks are in 
 the British Museum. There is also* a beautiful cylinder 
 from the ruins of Babylon, in Trinity College Library, 
 Cambridge, where we have examined it with interest. 
 According to the interesting researches of Dr. Grotefend, 
 what had been considered three species of Babylonian 
 writing, are only varieties of writing the same charac- 
 ters ; there being, in reality, only one distinct kind of 
 Babylonian cuneiform writing. It is, we think, worthy 
 of particular remark, that the inscriptions deciphere'd 
 by Dr. Grotefend, are of the times of Cyrus, Darius 
 liystaspis, and Xerxes. We believe M. Champollion 
 is engaged in the same interesting question, which we 
 cannot doubt will, in its solution, cast a new light over 
 the Scripture Chronicles. 
 
 As to the Jegends of Indian deities, and pretensions 
 to antiquity, the entire routine is a mass of fable, with 
 
oTS* 
 
 47 % 
 
 ^* A OJL~* 
 
 a faint combination of truth, rendered almost orJfcjjjnW JP QR*^J? 
 by the tissue of absurdities with which it is perplext 
 Mr. Seely makes the following remarks on the adven- 
 tures of the deities, which compose that interminable 
 theme, the Hindoo Pantheon. "It is one of those, 
 that, after the deepest research and closest investigation, 
 produces neither amusement nor information, being 
 monstrous lies and fabled impostures from beginning to 
 end, as I know by the experience of many a weary and 
 ill-spent day of study."* We may yet refer, by way of 
 corroboration, in the sequel of this work, to some of the 
 ancient books of the Hindoos ; but we feel surprised 
 that Mr. Lyell, after passing sentence of condemnation 
 on cosmogonies, and protesting against the identification 
 of the objects of geology with those of cosmogony, should, 
 immediately enter on the cosmogonies of India and 
 Egypt, and quote some extracts from the institutes of 
 Menu, as translated from the Sanscrit by Sir W. Jones, 
 to which that distinguished oriental scholar had assign- 
 ed an antiquity of about 880 years A. C. These 
 extracts seem to have been made with some complacency, 
 because they treat of a vast succession of periods, each 
 of which is composed of an interminable length, "and 
 creations and destructions of worlds innumerable." 
 Some of these passages, though " mysterious," possess, 
 it would appear, "much grandeur of conception and 
 sublimity of diction ;" but it is admitted there are 
 "puerile conceits and monstrous absurdities." Were 
 we in search of sublimity and grandeur, truth and 
 beauty, we should at once abandon these fabulous 
 sources of error and romance, and proudly appeal to the 
 BIBLE ; in the full radiance of which the most splendid 
 rays of poetry and pagan literature, with all their romance 
 and fiction, suffer an overwhelming eclipse ; but that 
 Volume of Truth amuses not our fancy with " a long 
 succession of periods, each of the duration of many 
 thousand ages," and " creations also and destructions o'f 
 worlds innumerable." We by no means suppose that 
 
 * Wonders ot Elora. London, 1825, 8vo p. 132. 
 
48 
 
 1 
 
 this is a reason for Mr. Lyell's omission in regard to the 
 Sacred Volume, which seems, however, by some accident, 
 to have been overlooked. It does not, indeed, propound 
 " a system of geology," as has been stated, but it cer- 
 tainly records facts which cannot be separated from the 
 annals of legitimate geological science. The data we 
 possess are altogether insufficient for the construction 
 of a system of geology and such an attempt, is just as 
 absurd, in the present state of our knowledge, as an 
 endeavour to make a rope of sand. 
 
 " The connection," says Sir Wm. Jones, " of Mosaic 
 history with that of the Gospel, by a chain of sublime 
 predictions, unquestionably ancient, and apparently ful- 
 filled, must induce us to think the Hebrew narrative 
 more than human in its origin, and consequently true in 
 every substantial part of it." 
 
CHAP. III. 
 
 THE FALL OF MAN REMARKS ON PHRENOLOGY THE 
 MYTHOLOGY OF PAGANISM. 
 
 THERE is no Biblical evidence of RAIN having ever 
 fallen to water the earth, in antediluvian history, nor 
 is there the least necessity to suppose it indispensible. 
 There are many parts of the earth which are never 
 visited by a shower, and the abbreviation of human life, 
 may be partly dependant on a change in the hygrome- 
 tric character of the circumfused atmosphere. The 
 Hebrew prophet informs us, " There went up a mist 
 from the earth, and watered the whole face of the 
 ground;" a simple and beautiful solution of the phe- 
 nomena of evaporation, and the formation of dew : the 
 latter reserved for the genius of Dr. Wells to demon- 
 strate, though the fact had already been unequivocally 
 recorded in the Volume of Truth. We have been de- 
 lighted with the various gems of scientific truth, which 
 we have met with, scattered up and down the Volume of 
 Inspiration ; but our limits do not permit the digression, 
 else we presume the evidence that could be collected 
 from this source alone, would put the infidel to the 
 blush, if, indeed, the infidel be a man of science. In 
 illustration we might adduce the following paragraph: 
 " The rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full ; 
 to the place whence they came, thither they return 
 again." It requires some skill in science to yield a ready 
 assent to the truth, the literal truth, which this beauti- 
 ful description implies. Thus, too, is it with the sublime 
 E 
 
50 
 | 
 
 expression : " HE weighed the hills in scales, and the 
 the dust in a balance," " and measureth the seas in the 
 hollow of his hand " but, who does not now see embodied 
 in that language, the theory of definite proportions, on 
 which is founded the scale of chemical equivalents ? It 
 has been proved beyond doubt, that all material forms 
 are constituted by weight and measure, and aggregated 
 and adjusted according to fixed and determinate laws. 
 
 The fall of man is a terrible event in the history of 
 the species. It is related with affecting brevity, and with 
 all the simple emphasis of truth. The inspired historian 
 informs us that " The LORD GOD planted a garden 
 eastward in Eden ; and there he put the man he had 
 formed. " The CREATOR, by a mysterious process, 
 created Eve to be the partner of the prototype of our 
 species, and share with him in the delights of "the 
 garden of the LORD." The Deity held converse with 
 his creature, man ; and man rejoiced in his heavenly 
 Friend, and walked with his MAKER amid the flowery 
 scenes of creation, and all the varied blessings which 
 a beneficent and bountiful Providence had profusely 
 bestowed. The precise situation of this lovely spot 
 cannot now be ascertained. The waters of the deluge 
 have, it is probable, obliterated all traces of Eden's 
 beauties ; and the ocean may now roll over the place 
 where Eden was. So long as the crown of innocence 
 was seated on his brow, and " Holiness to the LORD" 
 was the sacred motto which sparkled in the halo that 
 encircled it "it was well with him." The range of 
 enjoyment was ample, and the cup of blessing full. 
 
 Paena metusque aberant : 
 
 Ver erat aeternum, 
 
 natos sine semine flores. 
 
 Man was a free agent, and a test of fidelity was propound- 
 ed : the duty of obedience to the acts of a heavenly 
 legislation would be crowned with immortal life ; a 
 "hope blooming with immortality" was the price of his 
 obedience. Disobedience would be followed by the 
 forfeiture of the friendship of GOD, and all communica- 
 
51 
 
 tions of heaven ; from that instant the seeds of mortality 
 were to be infused into his frame ; man " should surely 
 die/' and his posterity feel the shock of their progenitor's 
 disobedience to the ALMIGHTY. But this assurance seems 
 to have been " like an idle tale, which they believed 
 not." In all this arrangement we can see nothing but 
 wondrous condescension. The test was simple, and 
 the task was easy. Only one tree of Eden's glorious 
 variety was forbidden : the principle of EVIL, however, 
 under the insidious form of a serpent, seduced the credu- 
 lous pair from their allegiance to their CREATOR. They 
 were not ignorant of the consequences which an act of 
 disobedience to the mandate of their Maker would 
 entail ; and GOD had, in his heavenly conduct to these 
 his creatures, given them no cause for distrust, no plea 
 for doubt. The colloquy bet wen the tempter and the 
 tempted is full of sophistry ; and the consequence in 
 the tempted forcibly displays "an evil heart of unbelief." 
 " The serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely 
 die." "For GOD doth know that in the day ye eat 
 thereof, then your eyes shall be opened ; and ye shall 
 be as gods, knowing good and evil." The fatal chord 
 was touched ; and man, by an act of treason and rebel- 
 lion, forfeited his allegiance, and "fell in the first 
 transgression." 
 
 We are perfectly aware that this fearful transaction 
 has been considered metaphorical or figurative a flourish 
 of orientalism ; but the Bible no where deceives us, 
 and the event detailed is perspicuous and palpable. It 
 would be curious to know by what mental process 
 these kind of reveries have been acquired, or by what 
 special act of revelation such important knowledge has 
 been communicated. The Jews understood it as a 
 literal event, and do now receive it as such ; it was so 
 understood in the apostolic age. Nothing but a bold 
 inversion of the principles of reasoning, and a vain 
 conceit founded on the rash assumption, that we are 
 wiser than HE who made us, could have dared to go 
 such lengths : and why stop here, and not apply the 
 same unwarrantable dogmatism to the entire fabric of 
 E 2 
 
*f 
 
 revelation ? the Creation, the Deluge ; in a word, the 
 Exode and Pilgrimage of the Jews through the wilder- 
 ness of the peninsula of Sinai, to Palestine, together with 
 their whole history. Metaphorical, indeed ! A new edi- 
 tion of Berkeley's Idealism ! We may well demand from 
 these new illuminati the test of discrimination between 
 the palpable figure and the shadow : some safety-clue 
 to guide us through the woven web of the reality of 
 circumstances, and the metaphor of imagery. In one of 
 the MS. papyri, discovered in Herculaneum, the author 
 sports some speculations of this kind in respect to 
 the heroes of Homer, whom he considers allegorical. 
 Agamemnon was ether ; Achilles, the sun ; Helen, the 
 earth ; Paris, the air ; Hector, the moon ; and so on. 
 Of a similar nature were the arabesque notions of 
 Pere Hardouin in the last century ; who, after a pro- 
 found study of antiquity, made the notable discovery, 
 that the whole world was the dupe of extravagant 
 imposture. According to him, Homer and Virgil, 
 Cicero and Demosthenes, never existed but in fancy ; 
 Rome and Greece had never conquered or enlightened 
 the world ; the chefs-d'ouvres of the genius of antiquity, 
 were only decoys to deceive posterity; and so we were 
 desired to believe that all these things were the work of 
 some clever monks of the middle ages. Apparently 
 following in the footsteps of this eccentricity, Sir 
 William Drummond wrote a work entitled CEoiPUS 
 JUDAIC us, in which we were gravely assured, that the 
 entire structure of the Old Testament was metaphorical, 
 and astronomically emblematic. According to Sir 
 William Drummond's views, the twelve children of 
 Jacob (Israel) were merely the TWELVE SIGNS OF THE 
 ZODIAC ; and the Israelites fleeing before the men of 
 Ai, the SUN CUTTING the PLANE OF THE ECLIPTIC. 
 These were, indeed, notable discoveries, that might 
 well excite "our special wonder." The truth of the 
 matter is, that on the petitio princ'ipu assumed by Sir 
 William Drummond, we might come to any conclusion 
 however ridiculous or absurd ; and, accordingly the 
 author of the (Eoipus ROM ANUS shews as clearly, that 
 
the TWELVE CJESARS were the twelve signs of the 
 zodiac, and consequently must have been the twelve 
 children of Jacob, on Sir William Drummond's princi- 
 ples ; and, that CAESAR PASSING THE RUBICON is only 
 another version of the children of Israel fleeing before 
 the men of Ai. But, waving the consideration of such 
 trash, what, we may well ask in astonishment, are we 
 to think of Sir William Drumrnond's pretensions to 
 astronomical science, on which he founds such sweeping 
 and monstrous absurdities, when we PERSONALLY 
 KNOW that Sir William Drummond, after smarting 
 under the severe and just censures of the " Quarterly 
 Review," submitted a copy of that work, full of MS. 
 marginal notes, to a celebrated astronomer on the con- 
 tinent of Europe, in order to have his errors rectified, 
 and his blunders adjusted. In the possession of this 
 astronomer, (as distinguished as any that the science 
 can boast of) we saw this copy ; and were at the same 
 time assured, that he had found it to be a tissue of 
 astronomical errors from beginning to end. 
 
 The Westminster Review, not long ago, in its advo- 
 cacy of a sceptical geology, made the following absurd 
 and preposterous remark: "whether there are any 
 unquestionable physical proofs of the Mosaic deluge, or 
 not, is a question far from settled ; but even should 
 there be none, we cannot see how that is to affect our 
 belief in the record of the historian. It is a moral and 
 not a physical fact which is here meant to be inculcated 
 the destruction of a sinful race !" This is quoted to 
 shew the counterfeit which some men will venture to 
 promulgate as genuine currency. It would, however, 
 be too much to expect common sense to believe, that a 
 deluge could destroy a sinful race by the operation of 
 moral causes, without constituting a physical fact. 
 Well, indeed, might it be said of this proposition of the 
 reviewer, that " it wears to the understanding as rich a 
 livery of solemn nonsense as any that have fallen under 
 his lash." Happily, for all these flights of fable and 
 romance, inductive philosophy propounds a test : of 
 this description was that proposed for the idealism of 
 
54 
 
 Bishop Berkeley ; namely, to cast himself headlong 
 from one of the arches of London Bridge, and trust to 
 his idol to save him. We should have made short work 
 with Pere Hardouin, by simply leading him to the 
 house once tenanted by Salust, in Pompei, exhumed 
 after a lapse of seventeen centuries ; and having point- 
 ed to the name C. SALVSTIVS, inscribed on the door 
 post, there left him to ruminate. This would have 
 been a simple argumentum ad hominem ; and, where 
 the question is susceptible of this kind of argument, it 
 is generally convincing. Our readers will remember, in 
 illustration, the solution of the notable problem touch- 
 ing motion, " a body cannot move where it is, and it 
 cannot move where it is not, ergo there can be no such 
 thing as motion :" Q. E. D. In order to demonstrate 
 the fallacy of this proposition, an individual rose from 
 his chair, walked across the room, and thus afforded 
 palpable proof, that a body could move from one place to 
 another ; ergo, there was such a thing as motion. Ab- 
 surd as these things, abstractedly considered, appear 
 to us ; yet, of such materials are composed many of the 
 opinions that have made the world stare and wonder ; 
 such is HUME'S ESSAY ON MIRACLES. 
 
 Hitherto Eden's happy pair had known only GOOD ; 
 they had surely ample evidence that their CREATOR was 
 a genuine benefactor, since not one ingredient of happi- 
 ness had been withheld. "What could he have done more 
 to his vineyard ?" Amid all this latitude of happiness, 
 it was a natural inference that no "good would have 
 been withheld ;" but man would know EVIL, though 
 the knowledge might be purchased at the expense of 
 immortal life, and the friendship of heaven. Had it 
 been a hard task, something might have been put in on 
 the part of sophistry, by way of plea : but man is left 
 without excuse. " The gold has become dim, and the 
 most fine gold changed." The act of criminality was 
 much aggravated by the very simplicity of the test 
 of obedience. Let those who delight to harp on the 
 string of the " dignity of man," remember Eden. We 
 consider it is not "a light thing" to sin with a high 
 
55 
 
 hand, and transgress the commandments of GOD. Some 
 there are who think that the crime was slight, and the 
 punishment too severe. It will be perceived, we think, 
 very differently. The sophistry, by which they endeavour 
 to support their views, proves too much for them. Since 
 the test of obedience involved no severity, and was in 
 itself easy of fulfilment, the crime of apostasy was there- 
 by enhanced. The magnitude of the crime is not to be 
 measured by the nature of the test, but by the fact, that 
 it involved a direct act of disobedience to the commands 
 of GOD ; and, we presume, none will contend that the 
 CREATOR has not full right to the allegiance and obedi- 
 ence of his creatures. The CREATOR was no hard 
 task-master, and he had surely a right to expect obedi- 
 ence from the creature of his power and his providence. 
 No sophistry can evade the conclusion, that he was 
 justly chargeable with treason and rebellion against his 
 GOD. The temptation was not long continued, but it 
 was too successful ; the pearl of his happiness was dis- 
 solved in the perilous experiment, and the link which 
 united him to GOD, dissevered. Besides these consider- 
 ations, there was a motive of another kind superadded to 
 the act of obedience. His posterity should enjoy the bene- 
 fits which obedience to the law of GOD secured; or should 
 suffer in the act of rebellion, if his allegiance were for- 
 feited. Now a good man's benevolence is not entirely 
 absorbed in self ; the interests, the immortal interests 
 of those dependant on him, would be a powerful plea 
 with him, and might produce a pause in his conduct, 
 which might guarantee their safety, even though he put 
 his own in jeopardy. The history of the event seems, 
 in our humble view, compatible with what an inductive 
 science would teach, right reason approve, and altoge- 
 ther consistent with the conduct and government of a 
 just and good Being infinite in purposes of mercy, and 
 fraught with the attributes of holiness. It was meet 
 that a test should be propounded to try the allegiance 
 of the creature to the CREATOR. Man was a FREE 
 AGENT, and therefore became accountable ; for the 
 freedom of his will was not interfered with. It was, 
 
therefore, an act of wilful disobedience,, in its most 
 aggravated form. It was giving GOD the lie, who had 
 clearly informed him of the consequences; but he yielded 
 on the very first suggestion of " a lying spirit." The 
 dictates of conscience were despised, and reason trampled 
 on by " an evil heart of unbelief." This seems the 
 simple portraiture of an historical event, and as such 
 we mean to consider it, while we think every unsophis- 
 ticated mind will yield acquiescence. We are aware 
 that it will be attempted to attenuate the delinquency, 
 by shifting part of the blame from the tempted to the 
 tempter ; but this proxy plea will not avail : it would 
 be scouted in a court of justice. Had there been no 
 temptation, there could have been no fall no test of 
 obedience no proof of free agency nor of the nature 
 of man's relation to GOD no accountability. There 
 could have been no palpable test of man's belief or faith, 
 and of the proof of man's constant dependance on the 
 strength of an omnipotent arm. The absolute necessity, 
 therefore, of the test of man's obedience, must seem 
 sufficiently obvious. The only objection that can be 
 made by the most obdurate infidel, in full defiance of 
 an inductive philosophy, is, that we should suffer in the 
 fall of our prototype. Right reason must, at once per- 
 ceive, however, that if we are branches of a common 
 root, and if that root be tainted either with physical or 
 moral disease; we, as connected branches, must suffer, as 
 naturally as cause and effect succeed each other. An 
 act of rebellion, the frightful magnitude of which 
 we have adverted to, would leave a permanent impress 
 and record of its virulence, both on the moral powers, 
 and physical frame, as connected with it, and, which 
 would, therefore, suffer in consequence. The mark of 
 punishment would remain a living legend of the act 
 of transgression. And, alas ! " the whole head is sick, 
 and the whole heart is faint." Conscience, and the record 
 of observation, attest the truth, that all is not right with 
 humanity, and that some terrible catastrophe has befallen 
 it : it is not with it as in times past. The authority 
 of every age, and the testimony of a world, proclaim 
 
57 
 
 these tidings to the ear of reason; and reason admits an 
 attestation so universal. Even the heathen world is 
 heard to say, 
 
 " Video meliora proboque, 
 
 Deteriora sequor." 
 
 While Paul, who embodies this admission in a more 
 full and palpable form, only reflects a truth, which it 
 requires an unusual share of infidelity to oppose. "The 
 good which I would, I do not : but the evil which I 
 would not, that I do." There are some who will say 
 any thing; but, it requires more than an ordinary share 
 of fool-hardiness to array the mind in opposition to a 
 fact which is as evident as the fact of existence, that 
 the offspring does suffer the penalty of the parents' 
 crime, in disease entailed, or a debilitated constitu- 
 tion ; and shall we dare, in this case " to charge GOD 
 foolishly ?" GOD is GREAT, and he his merciful. Here 
 is a demonstrable fact, which proves the postulate. 
 Unless some dreadful evil has befallen our race, how 
 shall we account, on the principles of either the mercy or 
 justice of GOD, for the agony and the death of children ; 
 since these are innocent victims, as far as actual 
 personal guilt is involved. The fact is notorious, and 
 common as the visitations of pain and death. Here is 
 evidence founded on "experience," as Hume calls it, 
 and which lays even his sophistry in the dust. The 
 reality of pain and death would even dissolve the airy 
 idealism of Berkeley, and reduce it to its invisible 
 elements. We, however, as firmly believe that the 
 "fulness of time" will develope a more splendid monu- 
 ment to the Divine goodness than if man had never 
 sinned. 
 
 Let, on the other hand, the important motive which 
 was altogether set at nought in this melancholy defec- 
 tion, and desertion from the standard of good, weigh 
 with man in the intromissions of life and intercourse of 
 society, namely, " that no man liveth for himself, and 
 no man dieth for himself;" that he is not at liberty 
 to do evil, and " he is not his own ;" that he lives not 
 for himself alone, but for others; the operation of that 
 
58 
 
 motive would completely change the aspect of the 
 moral world. In Eden it would have saved him from 
 ruin, and the consequence of the most flagrant turpitude 
 that ever stained the annals of crime. 
 
 We shall next proceed to inquire what further evi- 
 dence we have within ourselves, independent of the 
 monitor conscience, and the amount of testimony from 
 other sources of attestation Among the fictions of the 
 poets, and the fables of the East, we cannot fail to dis- 
 cern the fatal truth so clearly and unequivocally pour- 
 trayed in the Sacred Records. The golden age, 
 
 que vindice nullo, 
 
 Sponte sua sine lege fidem, rectumque colebat j" 
 
 that happy period, when "righteousness and peace 
 embraced each other." We read of a man formed of 
 clay, animated by a spark from heaven ; of a female 
 adorned by the graces and gifted with all the charms 
 of beauty ; and of a fatal casket, which, being opened by 
 her, sent forth over the face of the world a direful train 
 of evils ; but amid these calamities, was a reservation 
 of hope, that a time would come when all would be well 
 again, and man restored to the blessings of the golden 
 age, which had, in a fatal moment, been forfeited. These 
 adumbrate the great event which we have been consi- 
 dering. The classic will also remember, The Garden of 
 the Hesperides, and the Golden Apple ; The Vale of 
 Tempe ; The Paradise of Phaneas, and the flo^a^st-Tos- 
 of Strabo. The Brahmins believe and teach, that man is 
 a fallen being. The same fact is admitted by the entire 
 pagan world, both in times past and present ; while the 
 universality of sacrifices is a palpable attestation to the 
 truth of the position ; they can on no account be other- 
 wise explained, and are a proof that the fact is fully 
 acknowledged, and by universal consent. The same 
 thing is conceded in the necessity of intercession in 
 the Genii averranci of the Egyptian mythology, and the 
 Penates, or Dii inter ces sorts, of Rome and Greece : 
 all of which are connected with the same belief that 
 made Micah cling to his teraplnm or telesms ; and 
 
59 
 
 when they were stolen, to raise the bitter cry, "Ye 
 have taken away my gods which I made, and what 
 have I more ?" 
 
 We are by no means disposed to go to the full extent 
 to which phrenologists have proceeded ; and, while we 
 are decidedly of opinion, that there is some truth in the 
 case, we cannot but believe, that the minute numes or 
 districts into which they have mapped the head, (and 
 which too, in many instances, seem gratuitous and fan- 
 ciful,) expose their views to ridicule and question. 
 This, however, is an abuse not legitimately chargeable 
 on the question itself, which seems to be based in truth 
 as far as our observations have been carried. Truth 
 may suffer very materially by injudicious opposition to 
 what may, in due time, be established on the surest in- 
 ductive grounds. Phrenology may, or may not fall ; 
 if it be true it never can. The Bible, being THE TRUTH, 
 must remain intact by the whimsical inductions which 
 may be laid to the charge of phrenology ; but if there 
 be truth in phrenology, we are quite sure that this 
 truth will only be another ray of evidence. We are 
 surprised that Mr, Godwin, in his recent work, entitled 
 " Thoughts on Man," &c. should have reiterated some 
 charges which we had considered altogether obsolete, and 
 which seemed to have been completely answered long 
 ago. We advert to the charges of materialism and fa- 
 talism : but, if phrenology involved either the one or the 
 other, we should not hesitate on its instant rejection. Mr. 
 Godwin seems to consider it a modification or extension 
 of Lavater's physiognomy ; and to be estimated in a 
 similar relative value with chiromancy, augury, and 
 astrology : and truly, if it belongs to the same class as 
 these, the sooner " the quackery," as he calls it, is got 
 rid of the better: but if it be true, the author of "Caleb 
 Williams," will not find it an easy task to overturn it. 
 The advice of Gamaliel was excellent we recommend 
 the consideration of it to Mr. Godwin : " if this counsel 
 or this work be of men it will come to nought ; but if 
 it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it." Truth is mighty 
 and will prevail. " It is all a system of fatalism," 
 
60 
 
 gays our author ; but we inpy safely cause his own lan- 
 guage to recoil on himself, in reference to this charge 
 it is " founded upon arbitrary assumptions and confident 
 assertion." Certainly," says Mr. Godwin, " many of 
 Gall's organs are a libel upon our common nature." We 
 have already quoted Paul, (no mean authority in this 
 matter,) as admitting the existence of principles acting 
 in opposition to his better reason " a law in his mem- 
 bers warring against the law of his mind." A legiti- 
 mate phrenology says no more, in our opinion, than the 
 Scriptures have already taught us, and what every man 
 must feel, namely, that there do exist evil propensi- 
 ties ; but, amid the ruin of fallen nature, there is still 
 sufficient evidence in the existence of better principles 
 intellectual faculties, which are living legends that 
 incontestibly prove, "GoD made man upright, though 
 he has sought out for himself many inventions :" that 
 though " the gold has become dim," there seems to have 
 been a period in his history when he walked with GOD 
 amid the garden of creation, enjoyed his favour, and held 
 converse with his great Benefactor. What do these 
 propensities prove, but that " when we would do good, 
 evil is present with us. " Had there been no manifesta- 
 tions of better principles of action, which, (when suffered 
 by the will to operate,) were sufficient to counteract 
 these adverse and evil propensities, there might have 
 been some pretence for the charge of fatalism ; as the 
 case, however, stands, there is none whatever. In the 
 manifestations called veneration, benevolence, firmness, 
 and the like, we perceive that " GOD has not left him- 
 self without a witness," that " he made man upright." 
 We, therefore, see no danger whatever in the truth 
 being known ; but we do see serious danger arising from 
 its inhibition. We are not called on to wage war with 
 the abuse of principles, but with the legitimate exercise 
 of reason on the deductions of truth ; and when any con- 
 ceit is brought forward that might impugn the Volume of 
 Revelation, we cannot do better than apply the observ- 
 ation of Dr. Johnson on Brydone's commentary on the 
 Canon Ricupero's notice of the stratification of the lava: 
 
61 
 
 cc Shall all the accumulated evidence of the history of 
 the world ; shall the authority of what is unquestionably 
 the most ancient writing, be overturned by an uncertain 
 remark such as this?" 
 
 We really can see no ground for any charge of evil 
 on the question of phrenology. The mind, distinct 
 from matter, and altogether an independent immate- 
 rial being, proclaims its existence by the manifestation 
 of distinct organs ; and what does this teach ? simply 
 that mind can put its impress on matter, and is, there- 
 fore, superior to it in power. These manifestations 
 prove that we are richly gifted by GOD. Whether 
 the boon, bequeathed by the Divine "Giver of every 
 good," (the existence of which afford sufficient evidence 
 of the benevolence of our CREATOR,) be improved or 
 not, does not affect the question. The creature becomes 
 chargeable with a dereliction of duty by suffering these 
 talents to run to waste, and is responsible for their non- 
 improvement. Lawrence asks, "Where is the soul of 
 the foetus?" And thus, by cunning tact, shifts the onus 
 probandi from his own shoulders, by a question he has 
 no right to propose, when he must feel conscious he 
 cannot prove the negation. We, however, do not flinch 
 from the challenge ; we take up the gauntlet, and, on 
 the principles of a science, which he professes to believe, 
 meet his haughty demand. No sooner is the child born 
 into the world, than the manifestations, which are called 
 cerebral developements, strike the senses : and ere yet 
 the infant's mind has been unfolded to the external 
 world, the bias of its future character may be read : cir- 
 cumstances may change or modify these, but the ' ' root 
 of the matter" is in them : to us this appears to be a 
 sufficient rejoinder. Long before the mind can give 
 evidence hy its activity in mental research it hangs out 
 its insignk\ in proof of its existence. Its non-manifesta- 
 tion by mental sagacity in affairs of thought, therefore, 
 is no evidence of its absence. The eye is the telescope by 
 which the mind takes cognizance of the beauties of exter- 
 nal nature : that the mind uses it as a medium for the 
 acquirement of this notice, is no proof against the absolute 
 
62 
 
 independence or non-materiality of the noble prisoner, 
 which a material frame encloses and confines. Just so 
 it is with other senses, in relation to the organs by which 
 their knowledge is acquired. That mind should operate 
 on matter is only a proof of its independence of, and 
 superiority to it, and may be safely admitted. Phreno- 
 logy seems to require no more. The organs of benevolence, 
 veneration,, and other kindred organs, will keep in check 
 and subordination the inferior principles and propen- 
 sities ; and even these last, when touched by the re- 
 moulding influence of the HOLY SPIRIT, can be turned 
 into a happier channel, and act in a new direction. Thus 
 affected and operated upon, the organ of "combative- 
 ness" may employ its powers ''to fight the good fight 
 of faith," the Christian's warfare. Paul affords an 
 admirable example of this description. In the early 
 part of his remarkable history, by his own account, 
 he bitterly persecuted the first Christians; "being ex- 
 ceedingly mad against them," said he, in his noble 
 defence before Agrippa and Festus, " I persecuted them 
 even unto strange cities." Arrested, at length, in his 
 career, we perceive this noble genius contend for " the 
 faith which he once laboured to destroy." How are we 
 to account for this remarkable change, which really 
 seems equal to a new creation ; and of which those who 
 are at all conversant with the world, must have seen 
 numerous examples? when even the man becomes a 
 miracle to himself. By the principles of phrenology the 
 solution does not seem difficult. The existence of evil 
 propensities are proved ; and they are made to operate 
 in a way altogether at antipodes with their former ten- 
 dency, demonstrating the control of a power possessed 
 of opposite attributes, altogether superior to, and infinite- 
 ly above them : this is a demonstrated fact : it is not 
 special pleading that we employ. We might extend 
 the same principles of reason to the other organs, such 
 as acquisitiveness, which might be changed to seek 
 earnestly that "wisdom which is from above;" and if cau- 
 tiousness be superinduced a fear lest we " sin against 
 GOD :" thus too with others. There are some who 
 
63 
 
 would degrade our species to a level with quadru- 
 manous animals,* and view man as a kind of polished 
 ape, or enlightened baboon. Happily, however, the 
 facial angle may be safely appealed to; and phrenology 
 comes in with her testimony, to shew that in man there 
 is something superadded to animal nature, and which 
 bears its evidence on his manly brow. What saith the 
 Scriptures ? " The LORD GOD formed man of the dust 
 of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath 
 of life, and man became a living soul." There is some- 
 thing more elaborate here, so to speak, than in the act 
 of creation in reference to the inferior animals. As we 
 grant it to be quite legitimate to draw our illustration 
 from every ostensible source of information, we may 
 quote pagan evidence to our purpose, 
 
 " Os homini sublime dedil : coelumque tueri 
 Jussit, et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus." 
 
 And here the heathen poet soars far above the philosophy 
 of Monboddo, as he also is more in accordance with the 
 spirit of enlightened reason, and the dictates of genuine 
 science. We are, therefore, free to confess, that in 
 phrenology, such as we understand it, we can discover 
 nothing that opposes the sublimeprinciples of Revelation, 
 but rather the reverse. From some extent of observation, 
 we have found that it carries the elements of truth ; 
 and our remarks on human nature verify many of its 
 principles. We ridicule the extent to which it has been 
 carried, and feel persuaded, that not a few of the 
 too multiplied organs will be displaced from the " little 
 Goshens" they now occupy, and still the main features 
 continue the \\rne. Our opinion has not been founded on 
 slight grounds, and we are not in the habit of thinking 
 by proxy. We fully, therefore, concur with the justice 
 of Mr. Combe's remarks : " If we have ascertained that 
 the system is founded in nature, we are safe to conclude 
 
 * It is clearly demonstrated that the upright posture in the 
 ouran outan is an unnatural one ; and Dr. Trail has proved 
 that in the female, this attitude would produce abortion. 
 F2 
 
64 
 
 that the knowledge of it cannot lead to harm. This is 
 the proper answer to those persons who allege that it 
 teaches fatalism and materialism, unless it can be shewn 
 that the knowledge of truth necessarily leads to evil. 
 No inquiry is made into the nature, essence, or substance 
 of the mind or soul itself. Phrenology teaches a know- 
 ledge of the works of the CREATOR ; and, as his works 
 are wisely and perfectly made, the legitimate presump- 
 tion is, that those who see danger in a knowledge of 
 them, are mistaken in their views. Every objection 
 that the system is dangerous, presupposes its connexion 
 with error. The answer to such an objection, therefore, 
 is the demonstration of its truth. If it were false, 
 human ingenuity might certainly discover and point 
 out the evil consequences to which it would lead; but, 
 if it be true, no human intelligence is entitled to con- 
 demn it." 
 
 The diversified mythologies of mankind aiford suffi- 
 cient evidence to the memorable event of Eden. Obscure, 
 though the glimmerings of truth seem to be, they can 
 still be traced in characters sufficiently legible; and 
 however they may be distinguished in other features, 
 and subsequent periods of their history, they bear ample 
 proof that their source and origin are the same. In the 
 mythologies of Budha and Brahma, we find strong 
 attestations of some of the most distinguishing features 
 of the early history of mankind ; and, when separated 
 from fable, are remarkably confirmatory of the Biblical 
 Record. It would be truly absurd to suppose that the 
 Hebrew legislator "drew his narrative through Egyptian 
 conduits, from the primeval fountains of Indian litera- 
 ture." The information obtained through such a turbid 
 medium, would have presented a very different aspect 
 to what we find recorded, as the circumstantial charac- 
 teristics of the antediluvian age. Tradition may be 
 easily supposed to have been founded on an unbroken 
 series of attestation from the patriarch and his family 
 who survived the catastrophe of the deluge, and who 
 might have scattered the elements of truth over the 
 eastern hemisphere ; but the atmosphere of oriental 
 
65 
 
 literature is one, altogether unfavourable for the pre- 
 servation of the simple beauties of truth. Poetry, the 
 cradle of fable, and all its arabesque drapery, casts a 
 tinselled veil over her form. It requires something more 
 than such an atmosphere can afford, to those who breathe 
 it, to rise above it, and separate truth from error. The 
 sun, which imparts that illumination, must be above the 
 turbid firmament where truth and fable are so inti- 
 mately combined, in order to promote their separation. 
 The mental vision, beclouded with error, cannot be 
 expected, without some superadded power, to "shuffle 
 off its coil" and rise above the darkness which perplexes 
 it. The mind cannot be supposed to act in opposition 
 to itself: with an equipoise of truth and error, and the 
 will inclined to the latter, by what talisman did it dis- 
 entangle itself and rise superior to the world around it, 
 and all its millions? Certainly, the record of antediluvian 
 history might be preserved by a living link, which con- 
 nected it with a postdiluvian age j and, though we do 
 not know the species of register which transmitted so 
 faithfully the history of the human family from its pro- 
 totype to the last of the antediluvian race, it is altoge- 
 ther credible, and may be reasonably believed. This 
 would be more decidedly and specifically secured by the 
 protracted periods of antediluvian age. The patriarch, 
 who witnessed both the one and the other, was a very 
 appropriate vehicle to perpetuate the information, and 
 preserve the annals of the past. He was the channel, 
 through which ^his stream of knowledge flowed from the 
 one world which was destroyed, to the other which yet 
 remains. The ark was the repository in which the 
 archives of a former world were preserved ; and, by the 
 descendants of the patriarch, these memorials would be 
 dispersed hither and thither. In process of time, the 
 details would become exceedingly obscure ; poetry and 
 fable would trouble the waters, so that truth would only 
 faintly sparkle through the abyss of creative imagination. 
 It is immaterial whether we believe that the Hebrew 
 prophet, instructed of GOD, was enabled to collect the 
 gems of scattered truth from the rubbish in which they 
 
 F3 
 
66 
 
 were imbedded,, or obscured,,and set them in the diadem 
 of a pure and spotless theism ; or, that the truth was im- 
 mediately communicated., in one effulgent vision, to the 
 prophet's mind: we prefer the latter. Brought up in the 
 court of Pharaoh the protege of the daughter of a king 
 he was nursed in the superstitions of Egypt, and cradled 
 amid her idolatries; but he rose far above them. His 
 father-in-law was one of the priests of Heliopolis ; so 
 that if his learning and attainments were commensurate 
 with his opportunities, he must have been truly what 
 the Scriptures describe him to be, " learned in all the 
 arts of the Egyptians." Initiated into the ritual of 
 Egyptian mythology, and from his family connexion 
 with Jethro, thoroughly instructed in the literature and 
 science of Egypt, which must have been the almost ex- 
 clusive prerogative of her hierarchy ; we perceive this 
 favourite of fortune, suddenly emancipating himself from 
 the thraldom of his situation, denuding himself of all 
 the advantages secured by a Pharaoh, become a volun- 
 tary exile in the land of the stranger, illuminated by a 
 pure theism, and inculcating its precepts with a steady 
 purpose. His institutes remain in evidence ; and, 
 compared with the masquerade of Egyptian deities, arid 
 the entire paraphernalia of the mythology of that coun- 
 try, it is so dissimilar in every part of it, as to form a 
 striking and bold contrast as distinct as contrarieties 
 as opposed as the sunbeam to Erebus "Hyperion to 
 a Satyr." That such a clear and luminous system should 
 be drawn or should emerge from the legends of eastern 
 fable, is not likely ; nor can it gain an easy credit. The 
 Hebrew prophet obtained it at once from a pure source, 
 and it has, ever since, been preserved unmixed with the 
 streams of error. Had Juvenal, without cause, written 
 bitter things against the Egyptians, as the following 
 keenly testifies, 
 
 " Porrum et cepe nefas violare ac frangere morsu. 
 O sanctas gentes, quibus ho3c nascuntur in hortis 
 Numina !" 
 
 he could have been confronted by the evidence which 
 we fortunately now. possess ; but these credentials sub- 
 
tf?. w ' 
 
 stantiate, to their fullest extent, the charges of tfiSstJck* * ( 
 man satirist. From whatever source Moses obtaine< 
 the materials for his history of the primeval world, it is 
 not conceivable that Egypt supplied the medium of in- 
 formation: and the Indian legends, when accurately 
 considered, do not give the slightest countenance to the 
 supposition, that the materials of his history, much less 
 his theogony, could have flowed from thence. There 
 must have been some common source ; and seeing how 
 infinitely that of the Hebrew prophet transcends all 
 of them, we are compelled to believe, that he was led 
 by the Spirit of truth immediately and directly to its 
 fountain. Ever since, by good Providence, the hea- 
 venly flame has been preserved, and transmitted down 
 to the present period. It presents itself fearlessly to 
 the lynx-eyed investigation of severe induction and a 
 philosophy exalted in its merits by time. We trace 
 this luminous line through the flux of ages, with thick 
 and palpable darkness on the right hand and on the 
 left: this clearly demonstrates an over-ruling Provi- 
 dence, else the darkness would have broken in, and 
 overshadowed it. We may expect some faint traces 
 in the regions of the East, of the events so clearly 
 thus brought to view ; but let us not forget, that it 
 is by this very Light that we are enabled to dis- 
 cover these vestiges of truth, and separate them ; while 
 they, on the other hand, operate as powerful auxili- 
 aries to corroborate the Sacred Record, and prove, 
 in terms too palpable to be misinterpreted, what would 
 have been the fate of the TRUTH, had GOD abandoned 
 it to the imaginations of men, " whose foolish hearts 
 are darkened." 
 
 We can imagine that fable may possess a nucleus of 
 truth, and that this truth may have suffered an eclipse, or 
 at best be dimly seen through the fogs and mists which 
 have condensed upon it ; but we cannot comprehend 
 how error can rectify itself, or truth be disentangled 
 from a turbid sea of perplexity and uncertainty, by 
 the bewildered mind, itself struggling with doubts and 
 the darkness of error. In order to enable it to rise 
 
6H 
 
 above this its native mediunj, it must receive a buoyancy 
 from a source independent of, and altogether above it- 
 self. As a mythology, which enjoined the worship 
 of LEEKS and ONIONS, is obviously a channel through 
 which the sublime theism of the Old Testament could 
 never have flowed to the divine legate ; so it is equally 
 a wild conceit to suppose that such a system could have 
 proximately come from the legends of eastern fable. 
 Can an impure fountain send forth a pure stream ? On 
 the principles of causation, the fountain of MARAH will 
 only supply the waters of bitterness. A pure spring 
 will supply a stream pure in its elements, but this 
 may be rendered turbid in process of time by contin- 
 gencies, which may either disturb its course, or in- 
 fuse into it the principles of opacity. The Egyptians 
 have left behind them their credentials sculptured 
 in the obdurate rock or hermetically sealed up in the 
 cerements of the tomb ; we have, therefore, no neces- 
 sity to draw our information indirectly from Juvenal, 
 but directly from themselves, as the mummy holds 
 immediate intercourse with us by virtue of the papyrus 
 in his withered hand. This mythological document in- 
 forms us too, mournfully, of the dark mysteries through 
 which he contemplated a future state of existence, and 
 of the doubts and fears with which the spirit had to 
 struggle : shadows, clouds and darkness fell upon it. 
 The entire transcription of the funeral ritual of the 
 Egyptians, (parts of which are found in mummy-cases,) 
 extended to more than fifty feet in length. This was 
 the chart of the soul in its adventures through the val- 
 ley of the shadow of death. We have already cited the 
 opinion of Dr. Young, as founded on his researches into 
 the literature of ancient Egypt, so that there can be no 
 doubt about the matter. Their monuments remain, and 
 we can now read their inscriptions for ourselves ; yet, 
 with the brighter lamp of truth in our hand, the " thick 
 darkness" will be felt more palpably than in the "olden 
 time before us." Hume's joke about Charon's fare did 
 no credit to his understanding ; it only supplied a proof 
 how much he preferred fable to truth " darkness to 
 
69 
 
 light :" the piece of gold, between the lips of the mum- 
 my, supplies the commentary. 
 
 When we take a calm survey of the heathen world we 
 can discover no pleasing images on which the mind can 
 pause with delight. While wandering among the in- 
 teresting models of the " tombs of the kings," (some 
 years ago,) exhibited by Belzoni, in London, after his 
 return from exploring the subterranean recesses of their 
 originals, the vision of the son of Buzi, in Chaldea, 
 flashed forcibly on our mind : " Behold every form of 
 creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the 
 idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed upon the walls 
 round about," " Son of man, hast thou seen what the 
 ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every 
 man in the chambers of his imagery ?"* Whether we 
 survey the mythology of Egypt, Budha, or Brahma 
 Greece or Rome we see evidence that cannot be con- 
 troverted, that there is inculcated the worship of de- 
 mons, and the " doctrines of devils." In the mythology 
 of Egypt we perceive the urosi or basilisks bearing the 
 symbols of divine life ; and in that of Budha, the nagas 
 or snake gods. 
 
 In the pagan world, " every hill was Olympus, and 
 this Olympus heaven ; every valley Erebus, and every 
 prince a god." Whatever light dawned on some 
 master-spirits of the heathen world, " was light from 
 heaven." Nor is it, in many instances, difficult to 
 descry the luminous point from whence the ray is- 
 sued : what, for instance, is the TO aura of Plato, 
 but a fragment of the tetragrammaton of the Hebrew 
 prophet ? 
 
 It may be interesting to select, by way of illustration, 
 one of the most gifted spirits which the pagan world 
 presents, as a decisive proof that " the world by wisdom 
 knew not GOD." It is, however, necessary, for the pur- 
 pose of elucidation, to observe, that the worship of de- 
 vils is inculcated and enjoined by the doctrines of Bud- 
 hism ; and we perceive a cock in one hand of the devil, 
 
 * Ezek. viii. 10, 12. 
 
70 
 
 called CaUoo-coomdre, as well as in that of the demon 
 Rirey : so that even SOCRATES appears to have been a 
 worshipper of demons. Mr Upham, in his " History 
 and Doctrine of Budhism," has supplied us with the 
 picture of an actual scene from the woods of Ceylon, 
 affording a melancholy portraiture of the "gross dark- 
 ness" which brooded over, and still covers the heathen 
 world. We quote his own words as affording an irre- 
 sistible evidence of the melancholy fact " However 
 high," says our author, " his intellectual attainments, 
 philosophy could not lift her greatest follower, (So- 
 crates,) at his death, above the standard of the hum- 
 blest disciple of the Budha when sacrificing a cock to 
 the Bali, or planetary influences, as he lay languishing 
 under sickness amid the woods of Ceylon : we see the 
 same vow and offering, the same tribute to the deity, 
 as marked the last hours of Socrates : uncovering his 
 head, for his head was covered that nothing might 
 trouble him, ( Crito,' says Socrates, (these were his 
 last words,) ' we owe a cock to Esculapius ; discharge 
 this vow for me, and do not forget it/ A midnight 
 scene which was witnessed in the forest of Ceylon, 
 wherein a magical practitioner was addressing the 
 sparkling host of heaven, ' the Bali,' in behalf of an 
 unfortunate individual languishing under sickness, will 
 demonstrate how precisely this last act of the greatest 
 philosopher of the Athenian school sprung from the 
 same root of doctrine as that of the sick Singalese/'* 
 
 Yes! THESE BE THY GODS ! O PAGANISM! As W6 
 
 consider the mythology of Budha anterior to that of 
 Brahma, (and there is no evidence for believing that 
 this source could supply materials for the theism of the 
 Scriptures,) we need not consult its offspring, Hinduism. 
 Our opinion, therefore, entirely coincides, it will be 
 perceived, with that of M. Benjamin Constant, which 
 we shall simply detail in his own words : " I/apparition 
 et la duree du theisme juif dans un temps et chez un 
 peuple egalement incapable d'en concevoir 1'idee et de 
 
 * London, Ackerman, 1828, folio edit. p. 13. 
 
71 
 
 la conserver, sont a nos yeux des phenomenes qu' on ne 
 saurait expliquer par le raisonnement. Le theisme qui 
 s'y amalgamoit avec le pantheisme, ressembloit pen a la 
 notion de 1'unite de Dieu, telle que les livres hebreux 
 nous la presentent, simple, claire, etablissant entre la 
 Divinite et les hommes des rapports moraux. Ce dernier 
 caractere constitue la difference essentielle qui separe 
 ces deux especes de theisme "* 
 
 From our preceding remarks it will be perceived that 
 we may naturally expect some gleams of truth, sparkling 
 like fire-flies amid the wilderness of paganism. The fol- 
 lowing extract from a literal translation of a portion of the 
 Maha-wansi, one of the most revered of the sacred books 
 of Budhism, and considered as a faithful transcript of the 
 doctrines of the devotees of Budha, is given by Mr. Up- 
 ham. It presents an interesting corroboration of some of 
 the most remarkable events and circumstances which cha- 
 racterize the antediluvian age " At that time all beings 
 lived an assankaya of years; no sin was there in the world: 
 the immense duration of their life caused men to forget 
 their birth, and be unmindful of their death ; they knew 
 not the infirmities of life, nor the miseries of the world. 
 They derided the very deities, as these were not the 
 fortunate partakers of such a length of days ; so that 
 at that time the life of mankind in this world outlasted 
 the existence of the gods. Irrational animals had also 
 their kings in those days ; the narration of these facts 
 appears in the ancient histories. " In the sequel we have 
 the translation of the king Maha-mandatoo Chackra- 
 warty-raja : " This king having enjoyed great happiness 
 in the world of mankind, ascended in that state of life 
 to the world of the gods." We cannot fail to discern 
 here several remarkable circumstances, having a distinct 
 reference to events recorded in Scripture history : the 
 protracted lives of antediluvians ; the rationality of 
 inferior creation, in which we may discover the serpent 
 of Eden speaking with man's voice ; the sinless nature 
 
 * De la Religion Consideree dans la Source, &c. Tome II. 
 p. 219, &c. 
 
72 
 
 of man before the fall; plan's subsequent rebellion, 
 arid the depravity of the world ; Enoch "walking with 
 GOD," and his translation from earth to heaven, that he 
 should not " see death." It may be necessary to inform 
 our readers that a sanka or assankaya of years, is an 
 incredible number of years ; an immensely long period. 
 An assanka is represented by a unit followed by sixty- 
 three ciphers; such as are the periods of geological 
 theories. 
 
 In the Hindoo cosmogony, according to Maurice, there 
 is a description of creation recorded, which lias some 
 obscure features of resemblance to that of the Mosaic 
 history; and in the personification of Narain or Narayan, 
 in the mythology of Budhism, one of the features of 
 creation is presented to us, since the name Narain 
 literally signifies "moving upon the waters :" while the 
 fall of man from a state of primeval innocence and en- 
 joyment, in the Satya Yug, or age of perfection, forms 
 the basis of the metempsychosis of India, of which that 
 of Egypt is the counterpart. In one of Mr. Upham's 
 plates, we have a representation of Pciyay and Ritta, 
 the latter presenting a twig with three leaves, or a 
 flower, which the former seems to reject ; the figures 
 are surrounded by the symbols of the zodiac. It is not 
 difficult to recognize here a reference to the first pair. 
 In one of the most ancient pagodas of India, is a figure 
 of Chreeshna* one of the avatars of Vishnu, trampling 
 on the crushed head of a serpent, the kali-naga, or 
 black snake it is his triumph. In another figure, the 
 serpent is seen compassing Chreeshna with its folds, 
 and biting his heel. In all this, and much more, we 
 cannot fail to perceive adumbrated the remarkable pre- 
 diction which accompanied the fall of man; "The seed 
 
 * A contemptible ignorance has, in its foolishness, endea- 
 voured to inculcate an idea that the affix, CHRIST, applied to 
 the MESSIAH, is a similar word to Chreeshna ! The former is an 
 appellation which belongs to our SAVIOUR, as "King of kings ;" 
 whereas Chreeshna signifies black or blue, and is applied 
 to the dark complexion of this idol of the Hindoo mythology. 
 What strange rhythmical ideas some individuals possess! 
 
of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head." Amid 
 the shadowy forms that peopled the heathen mythology 
 we observe abundant proofs of the same extraordinary 
 description. In the maha-wansi of Budhism, the vedas 
 and puranas of Hinduism, and the theogony of Hesiod, 
 the same facts are enrolled. In the mythology of Egypt 
 the serpent bears an important character : represented 
 in an upright form, it enters into all its rites and cere- 
 monies. In Apollo and Hercules, Thor and Chreeshna, 
 the event of triumph is adumbrated, and cannot 
 be mistaken. In ages the most distant, and lands the 
 most remote, the same belief seems to have been infused 
 into their mythology, and perpetuated from age to age. 
 We remember to have been considerably interested in 
 examining the war-helmet of, we believe, a New Zealand 
 chief, in which was found a talisman, and the bruised 
 head of a serpent, folded up. When we examine ancient 
 coins and medals, we shall find that, in many cases, the 
 serpent cuts no inconspicuous figure. We are by no 
 means disposed to go so far as Mr. Deane has gone, in 
 his ingenious work on "The Worship of the Serpent;" 
 for many circumstances induce us to think that a num- 
 ber of these symbols are connected with the elevation of 
 the brazen serpent in the wilderness a question which 
 shall be considered in its proper place. Among the 
 coins of Augustus, however, figured by Dr. King, 
 (Fig. XVIII.) is a very remarkable one. It represents 
 a female with a mural crown, a palm branch in her 
 hand, and a dove by her side; she is trampling on 
 a serpent. In the Tyrian coin, of which we present 
 a fac simile, a serpent appears 
 twisted round a tree: conical 
 mounds, or perhaps petrce am- 
 brosiance, are seen on each side ; 
 and on what may be called the 
 exergue of the coin, or that part 
 of it which is out of the field, 
 may be seen Hercules's dog, and 
 the shell from which the famous 
 Tyrian purple was extracted ; 
 G 
 
74 
 
 which appears to have been of different kinds, prin- 
 cipally belonging to the genera Murex and Buccinum ; 
 for Tyrian coins seem to represent different shells. The 
 legend of the discovery of this imperial dye will be 
 readily recalled to mind. It was imparted to the lips 
 of a dog which had devoured the shell- fish on the 
 shore : the purple stain being accidentally observed by 
 his master. 
 
 It cannot be out of place here to advert to the chro- 
 nology of the Hindoos, about the antiquity of which so 
 much has been said. According to the judicious remarks 
 of M. Joinville, it is in the precepts not in the history of 
 the religions of Brahma and Budha, that we are to 
 decide the question of priority between them. Accord- 
 ing to the Budhists the world existed from all eternity ; 
 their calculations, therefore, relate entirely to the trans- 
 migrations of Gaudma, (whose living representative is 
 the Lama in Tibet) from the time he first thought of 
 becoming Budha, until he merged into Nirwana. There 
 are, however, traces of Brahminical calculations to be 
 discovered in those of Budha. The Brahmins calcu- 
 late the antiquity of the globe on a most extravagant 
 scale, and this shoots into an epocha immensely pro- 
 longed. In the assumption of the astronomical periods, 
 on which they profess to found their calculations, they 
 have cunningly displayed some ingenuity. " The 
 Brahmins and Budhists," says Joinville, " are equally 
 bigoted and extravagant, with this difference, that in 
 t}*e former religion, are found very deep ideas of astro- 
 nomy, in the latter NONE. I have, till now, searched in 
 vain for an instructive work in Singalese, relative to 
 the heavenly bodies ; and have found only uninteresting 
 speculations on the influence of the stars upon the affairs 
 of the world. The Brahmins respect fire, the Budhists 
 do not. The former eat of no animal, the latter are 
 restricted only to the not partaking of the flesh of nine, 
 of which the ox is the principal. I am rather of opinion, 
 upon a comparison of the two religions, that that of 
 Budha is the more ancient." Then follow his reasons, 
 which seem powerful. " The religion of Budha, having 
 
75 
 
 extended itself, in very remote times, through every 
 part of India, was, in many respects, monstrous and 
 unformed. An uncreated world and mortal souls are 
 ideas to be held only in an infant state of society ; and 
 as society advances such ideas must vanish : a fortiori, 
 they cannot be established in opposition to a religion 
 already prevailing in a country, the fundamental articles 
 of which are the creation of the world and the immorta- 
 lity of the soul. Ideas in opposition to all religion, 
 cannot gain ground, or at least cannot make head, when 
 there is already an established faith ; whence it is fair 
 to infer, that if Budhism could not have established 
 itself among the Brahmins, and if it has been established 
 in their country, it must be the more ancient of the 
 two." In the astronomical systems of both the Budhists 
 and Brahmins we see the number 432 selected as the 
 ground of their periodic numbers : other traits of resem- 
 blance may be discovered; and since "the Budhists 
 were possessed," according to our author, "of astronomy 
 before the Brahmins ; and as both religion and astrono- 
 my are united, is it not probable that the religion of the 
 Budhists is the more ancient ?" These remarks are 
 extremely interesting, and the question is important ; 
 for the Brahminical calculations in astronomy must be 
 posterior to the schism that separated the devotees of 
 Brahma from that of Budhism, which seems to have 
 been the parent stock ; and in that case the high anti- 
 quity the Hindus claim entirely vanishes. In the Asiatic 
 Researches there will be found many solid reasons for 
 believing that the religion of the Brahmins was grafted 
 on Budhism, and that the Brahmins are the later sect, 
 and the reformers. The devotees of Budha and Brahma 
 have ever maintained towards each other, an inextin- 
 guishable hatred and antipathy ; remarkably resembling 
 that bitter animosity and jealousy which existed between 
 the Jews and Samaritans at the commencement of the 
 Christian era ; and this hostile schism between the fol- 
 lowers of these two great sects of Indian mythology, may, 
 providentially, be the means of deciding the question of 
 their chronology with a precision which could not be 
 
76 
 
 otherwise obtained. Whep we consider, with regard to 
 this question, the extracts which have already been made 
 from the Maha-wansi> there seems to be an evidence of 
 some simple reference to early events connected with 
 genuine history ; a fact, which in our view of the case, 
 goes far to confirm the priority of the mythology of 
 Budha ; and when, in the progress of oriental literature, 
 we shall have more clearly deciphered the Singalese 
 writings, we may gain information of importance on its 
 more ancient history; and especially of that eventful 
 period when the Brahmins expelled the Budhists from 
 the Peninsula of India, and the latter became thence- 
 forth located in Ceylon. The source and origin of this 
 quarrel, still remaining in full force, will solve the 
 interesting problem, and reduce the Brahminical pre- 
 tensions, which are so "cunningly devised," to the limits 
 of truth and the precincts of legitimate history. The 
 only tangible epocha of antiquity which the Budhists 
 can pretend to claim, will not carry us further back than 
 1000 years before the Christian era. Sakia, or Xaca 
 Sinka, according to the Chinese, is placed 1029 A. C. 
 The Thibetian accounts make the era of this Budha still 
 more recent. In the annals of Magadan princes, a change 
 of dynasty, connected with religious opinions, took place 
 about 1000 years A. C.; and, according to the authority 
 of Sir William Jones, and the Sanscrit inscription at 
 Budha Gaya, a Budha was born 1014 A. C. The 
 Budha Gaudma, who may be singled out as the most 
 distinguished founder of the faith of Budhism, and 
 whose adventures (in the harlequinade pantomime of 
 Wessanlara, and the 550 changes of his metempsy- 
 chosis,) cut so conspicuous a figure in the Singalese 
 mythology, and are seen in their "chambers of imagery, 
 pourtrayed on the walls round about," cannot claim a 
 more distant epocha than 550 years A. C. This is the only 
 tangible graft on the parent stock of ancient Budhism. 
 Mr. Upham remarks, that " Budhism is in itself a pri- 
 mitive doctrine of parallel pretensions with Brahminism; 
 that the latter faith recognizes its earlier doctrine, and 
 incorporates its author with its philosophy ; that the 
 
77 
 
 fatal wars which drove Budhism from India, originated 
 in the principles which we trace in the revival of the 
 present system of the doctrine of Budha ; and that the 
 most important link therein, is manifestly the doctrine 
 of metempsychosis ; a principle alike subsisting both in 
 the anterior eras, and in the present Budha- verouse, or 
 law of Gaudma." 
 
 " Turning your eyes," says that eloquent and accom- 
 plished scholar, Sir William Jones, "in idea, to the 
 North, you have on your right many important king- 
 doms in the eastern peninsula : the ancient and won- 
 derful empire of China, with all her Tartarian depen- 
 dencies ; and that of Japan, with the cluster of precious 
 islands in which so many singular curiosities have too 
 long been concealed. Before you lies that prodigious 
 chain of mountains, which formerly, perhaps, were a 
 barrier against the violence of the sea; and beyond 
 them the very interesting country of Tibet, and" the 
 vast regions of Tartary." Over these immense territo- 
 ries, together with those beyond the Ganges, the Bur- 
 mese empire, and the kingdoms of Siam, Cambodia, 
 and Cochin-China, did the religion of Budhism once 
 extend arid hold the nations in subjection ; and though 
 Hinduism now sways, in these countries, the mytholo- 
 gical sceptre of Brahma, it is not difficult to decipher 
 the ancient tenets of the parent belief. Mackenzie, in 
 describing a temple of Budha at Villigaam, mentions, 
 among the figures of the mythological paintings, a large 
 white elephant ; and we know how remarkably attached 
 to the monopoly of this animal is the king of Siam, who 
 covets no title more lofty than that of the " king of the 
 white elephants :" with whom, the possession of a white 
 elephant by a neighbouring potentate, would be the 
 tocsin for war ; and whose fourfooted estate seem to 
 be fed in " lordly dishes," having their food served up 
 to them in golden vessels, and their feet bathed in sil- 
 ver basins. The states of Indo-China admit their hav- 
 ing received their arts and religion from the kingdom 
 of Ceylon. There can be no doubt that Mexican my- 
 thology was connected, in one of the epochas of its his- 
 G 3 
 
78 
 
 tory at any rate, with that bf Budha. We are inclined 
 to attach little respect to the wild fictions and extrava- 
 gant legends of the eastern mythologies, or to the moral 
 qualities or mental attainments of the disciples of 
 Budha or Vishnu, who would consider the relics of a 
 Budha as the spolia opima of conquest; and for the 
 possession of " the holy tooth of Gaudma" would pro- 
 voke an exterminating war. We hold in low estima- 
 tion the astronomy which teaches that, in an eclipse of 
 the moon, a mighty dragon devours it ; but is induced 
 to let the morsel go in consequence of the hideous yells 
 of ignorance. We think that geography little worth 
 which teaches that the world is a flower, of which India 
 is the blossom or golden chalice, and other countries 
 the foliage ; neither are we inclined to attach confi- 
 dence to the barometrical or geometrical measurement 
 which assigns to the mountains of Mem an altitude of 
 twenty thousand miles; nor to the chronology which 
 ascribes to the first joque or age of the world, a duration 
 of thirty-two millions of years ; and to the life of man, 
 in this period, a range of one hundred thousand years : 
 his stature, too, being of corresponding dimensions, 
 namely, twenty-one cubits, or thirty-seven feet nearly. 
 These seem quite in character, and altogether conform- 
 able to the legends of the puranas and the fables of 
 Bidpai. 
 
 The caves of Elora are in harmony with the land of 
 elephants. The legends of fable are peopled with 
 tenants of an unearthly size and mould. Interminable 
 periods and awful forms of gigantic majesty bespeak the 
 tone and temper of fable. Just as, when we ascend 
 some lofty eminence, our shadow, falling on the man- 
 tle of mists which hover round the mountain, adum- 
 brates a terrific and gigantic form ; so, the legends of 
 the past, when reflected from an opaque mass composed 
 of the mists of superstition, seem to shadow forth 
 beings like Ossian's ghosts " dim forms of uncircum- 
 scribed shade." Let an enlightened philosophy take up 
 ihejulakas, (the chief books of the Budhists.) and the 
 institutes of Menu, admitted by the Brahmins to con- 
 
79 
 
 tain their purest code, and which embrace their veda,?, 
 and puranas, (theistic and philosophic works,) and 
 compare them with the Sacred Volume ; the well- 
 informed mind will be at no loss about coming to a 
 decision. The rays which fall on the shasters of the east, 
 from the lamp of truth, only discover to us, " a dark- 
 ness which might be felt," deeper than that which 
 brooded over the land of Egypt, when " no man knew 
 his brother." 
 
 The astronomical tables of the Hindoos, about which 
 infidelity had been so busy, and which it had hailed as 
 a triumph to its cause, must, from our premises, rest on 
 debatable ground, and render the notions of M. Bailly 
 and his commentator, Play fair, very suspicious. There 
 can be no doubt of Playfair's infidelity ; but, it is truth 
 that is the question at issue ; and we, therefore, over- 
 look the sneer about "superstition." It seems that 
 Playfair avowed his conviction of the accuracy and soli- 
 dity of M. Bailly 's calculations and reasonings, which, 
 according to him, made the observations on which the 
 Hindoo chronology were formed, 3000 years before the 
 Christian era ; but, according to Delarnbre, notwith- 
 standing these pretensions of Playfair, (which lead us to 
 infer that he had absolutely verified, by positive calcu- 
 lations, Bailly 's results,) he had not even discovered a 
 gross error in the divisor, which neutralized the entire 
 conclusions. This is a very serious impeachment of 
 Playfair; but truth has reluctantly extorted it from 
 Delambre, who had no friendly feelings toward the 
 question of Revelation ; and whose evidence, therefore, 
 cannot be suspected. Laplace, in his Systeme du Monde, 
 in reference to these tables of Indian chronology, says, 
 that they are NOT of high antiquity, and tells us, more- 
 over, that one of the epochas is necessarily fictitious, and 
 the other not grounded on observation. None, at all 
 acquainted with Laplace's works, will believe that he 
 was much removed from downright atheism ; at least, 
 his " System of the World," and " Theory of Probabili- 
 ties," seem to carry too lamentable proofs of this mise- 
 rable defection ; unless the figures he makes to dance 
 
80 
 
 at the close of the formerlwork are to be accepted as 
 the Deity. Delambre observes of Bailly "he never 
 writes but to prop a system framed beforehand ; he 
 glances slightly over the writings of the ancients, read- 
 ing them in bad translations ; and runs over all the cal- 
 culations, in order to pick out obscure passages which 
 may lend some countenance to his ideas." This por- 
 trait of Bailly, drawn by one of his own countrymen, 
 is not a very liattering one. 
 
 " Fas est ab hoste doceri." 
 
 Cuvier's remarks are very interesting and conclusive : 
 " The whole system of the Indian tables, so elaborately 
 conceived, falls to pieces of itself, now that it has been 
 proved that this epocha was adopted from calculations 
 retrospectively made, the result of which is false. Mr. 
 Bentley has discovered that the tables of Tirvalour, on 
 which the assertions of Bailly were principally founded, 
 must have been computed towards the year 1281 ; and 
 that the Sourya-Siddhanta, which the Brahmins esteem 
 their most ancient scientific treatise on astronomy, 
 pretending that it was given by revelation more than 
 twenty millions of years since, could have been com- 
 posed only seven hundred and sixty-seven years before 
 our own period." We have also the authority of Mr. 
 Davis, who has diligently examined the Hindoo astro- 
 nomical writings, and who confirms the conclusion, that 
 they are founded on a retrograde calculation, exactly as 
 our Julian period has been. M. Delambre thus con- 
 cludes his remarks on the subject : " It appears, there 
 does not exist, at present, a single Hindoo book which 
 can possess an antiquity higher than one thousand three 
 hundred years, if it makes the slightest mention of 
 these enormous periods; and none of the romances 
 called puranas, date farther back, from the present 
 time, than six hundred and four years, while some of 
 them are more modern still." Thus has the frost-work 
 of the Hindoo chronology dissolved in the sunbeam of 
 truth, and left the Biblical chronology triumphantly 
 victorious. We are warranted, therefore, exultingly to 
 
81 
 
 quote the conclusion of Sir William Jones, as a safe 
 sequel. " There is no shadow, then, of a foundation 
 for an opinion, that Moses borrowed the first nine or 
 ten chapters of Genesis from the literature of Egypt ; 
 still less can the adamantine pillars of our Christian 
 faith be moved by the result of any debates on the com- 
 parative antiquity of the Hindus and Egyptians, or of 
 any inquiries into the Indian theology. " 
 
 
CHAP. IV. 
 
 THE DELUGE HISTORICAL AND TRADITIONARY PROOFS 
 
 GEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF THE CIRCUMFUSION OF 
 
 THE DILUVIAL WATERS, AND COMPARATIVELY RE- 
 CENT EPOCHA OF THE EVENT. 
 
 THERE is no event which has left such terrible phy- 
 sical monuments behind it as the DELUGE. The ves- 
 tiges of the circumfusion of the mighty deep are thickly 
 scattered over the surface of the globe ; are seen in the 
 ruin of rocks, and in their embodied organic remains. 
 The quarry reveals " the secrets of their prison-house ;" 
 and the sea, while it washes away some projecting cliff, 
 and transports the wreck to fill up the bed of the ocean, 
 thus becomes the means of discovering to us some or- 
 ganic form that may have lived in an antediluvian age : 
 or, some volcanic shock, in its messenger the earth- 
 quake, has upheaved, from the depths of the ocean, a 
 monument where we may read the story of the past : 
 the same terrific agency rends the mountain, and thus, 
 in its fracture, exposes 'its history to the scrutiny of the 
 geologist. No fact can be better substantiated than a 
 universal deluge, which has rolled its impetuous waters 
 over the globe, and inundated both hemispheres. " Y-a- 
 t-il eu un temps ou le globe a ete entierement inonde ? 
 Cela est physiquement impossible?"* So wrote the 
 flippant Voltaire ; but if there is one truth in physical 
 science better established than another, it is the fact 
 which this petulant and flimsy spirit thus presumes to 
 impugn. 
 
 * Dictionnaire Philosophique. Art. "Inundation." 
 

 In our geological inquiries we must ever carefully 
 distinguish the great cataclysm to which we refer, from 
 such local catastrophes as have, both in antediluvian 
 ages, and the periods of time that have rolled away since 
 that eventful epocha, left sufficient impressions of their 
 power. We may not be able to weigh the evidence in 
 the balance of a rigorous induction, in such a manner as 
 to be able to apportion the amount due to each of these ; 
 but until this can be done, no geologist whatever has a 
 right to adjudicate the terms of formation to any of the 
 rocky features of the globe. Mr. Lyell stoutly contends 
 that the same causes which are now in operation, have 
 operated in times that are past; and we may safely 
 grant the point for which he argues. Within the pre- 
 cincts of the Christian era, considerable districts on the 
 surface of the earth, have undergone an entire change ; 
 and desolation has spread far an wide. Only a few 
 weeks ago, a new island emerged from the waves of 
 the Mediterranean, on the coast of Sicily, from a depth 
 of upwards of 70 fathoms. Its circumference is a mile 
 and a half, and its elevation from 200 to 250 feet. We 
 are indeed too apt to underrate the power of an oceanic 
 wave, or the action of subterranean fire. Let us not more- 
 over forget, that there may have been heretofore, agents 
 that no longer exist, and though they have left enough 
 to attest their terrible power, supply no key to a solu- 
 tion of the precise species of agency concerned ; and it 
 is also very possible that even the same causes that 
 operate now, may have operated with tenfold vigour, 
 and in greater frequency in primeval times, than in our 
 age, and within the limits of the Christian era. That 
 organic remains were observed, and recognized as such, 
 in earlier times than we are aware, seem to us probable. 
 Let us take, for instance, the following remark from the 
 book of Job, as a proof of the kind to which we refer ; 
 " Dead things are formed from under the waters, with 
 the inhabitants thereof:"* and unless this refers to 
 organic remains, we know not its meaning. Should it 
 
 * Job xxvi. 5. 
 
84 
 
 prove to be the case, it majy well put to shame the fool- 
 ish fancies of some of the dreams of even the sixteenth 
 century ; when a Professor of Anatomy considered some 
 elephant's tusks, found near Puglia, as mere lusus na- 
 lurce. That the vases of Monte Testaceo were acci- 
 dental earthy concretions, was a very natural inference 
 and sequel to such an antecedent. 
 
 Before we proceed to adduce evidence, from geologi- 
 cal discoveries, in proof of the universality of the 
 Noachian deluge, and its comparatively modern date, 
 (compared with the speculations of the votaries of a 
 science yet crude and unformed, and as yet in its in- 
 fancy,) we wish it distinctly to be understood, that 
 with hypotheses and opinions we have nothing to do ; 
 and still less are we careful to attend to rash and pre- 
 sumptuous conclusions which have not the slightest 
 tangible evidence in their support. We contend that 
 the facts of geology are insufficient to constitute the 
 structure of a system. We read the organic emblems 
 of the rock, and lind them confirmatory of the great 
 catastrophe which overwhelmed a ruined world ; but 
 we nowhere find that they give countenance to those 
 repeated revolutions, and as repeated renovations, 
 which some suppose necessary. These rash assump- 
 tions have been the bane of true philosophy, and have 
 impeded the advance of truth. Geologists are not 
 agreed among themselves ; and, so long as this is the 
 case, they cannot expect to gain implicit credit with 
 others. We have lived to see numerous changes rung 
 on geological theories; and, if we compare some au- 
 thors with themselves, in their first and last editions, we 
 can scarcely credit the identity of the persons. Even 
 Cuvier has abandoned former notions in consequence of 
 recent discoveries; and both M. Cuvier and Mr. Lyell 
 are sometimes found to withhold their assent to the an- 
 nouncement of facts because they seem to threaten their 
 preconceived views: the former, in reference to the 
 quarries of Kosritz ; and the latter, with respect to the 
 existence of pachydermata in determinate strata. Pro- 
 fessor Sedgewick, the present President of the Geological 
 
85 
 
 Society, has said of the author of " A New System of 
 Geology," that he is neither able to be the expositor of 
 the opinions of others, nor to propound a system of his 
 own. Not only has the same geological phenomena 
 undergone different revisions, as to exposition in the 
 hands of others, but have actually suffered various 
 changes in the hands of the same individual. Opinions 
 propounded with all the solemnities of truth, and pro- 
 claimed to the world with the authority of an oracle, 
 have vanished before the progress of discovery ; and, 
 no pursuit, in which man has engaged, has suffered 
 greater changes, or undergone greater revolutions, than 
 geology even by the testimony of eminent geologists : 
 we allude particularly to Mr. Greenough and Professor 
 Sedgwick. The dicta of no branch of research is to be 
 received with greater suspicion, or merit severer scru- 
 tiny, than those set forth by many geologists. A brighter 
 day, however, seems to dawn over a most interesting 
 and fascinating pursuit. Fact is now supplanting fancy, 
 and theories are scattered to the winds. Under this 
 new aspect, its progress may be slow, but its advance 
 will be sure 
 
 The general belief which has prevailed among all 
 nations, respecting the great event of the deluge, so 
 clearly and fully described in the Archives of Truth, is 
 very remarkable. It mingles with the legends of every 
 nation under heaven ; in countries the most remote ; 
 and whose striking diversity of language seems to 
 impose a decided interdict on any interchange of com- 
 munication. The Hindoo and the Mexican, the Greek 
 and the Roman, all attest and acknowledge a penal 
 flood, which has swept their forefathers away, and con- 
 signed them to destruction. Such a memorable fact as 
 this, proves beyond a doubt, that this traditionary legend 
 must have been originally obtained from one and the 
 same source of information : we thus trace these rays 
 of tradition to a common centre, though its date has been 
 lost sight of Tradition is always troubling the stream 
 of truth, and interfering with its simplicity, by ad- 
 ventitious additions; but the uniformity of the main 
 H 
 
86 
 
 circumstances of the deluge, in " every kindred and 
 tongue," is an unequivocal testimony to the truth of the 
 event. The very fact, that every nation tells its own story 
 about it, conformably to the peculiarities which distin- 
 guish its annals, (though the epocha of the event be con- 
 signed to the darkness of distant ages,) sufficiently attests 
 that it must have been communicated before the nations 
 " were scattered and peeled," when their language and 
 their name were one : but, though tradition has not 
 preserved the record of the epocha, the Annals of Hea- 
 venly Truth reconcile the facts, and determine, with 
 clearness and precision, the date and history of the event. 
 The circumstantial details of this remarkable event are 
 very satisfactorily recorded in the venerable document, 
 whose claim to all acceptance as a register of truth, is so 
 clear and decisive. The world had become guilty before 
 GOD. Fratricide had long before stained the annals of 
 the primeval world. Crime pressed on crime, as wave 
 succeeds to wave ; the moral beauty of that world which 
 the CREATOR had surveyed on its completion, and pro- 
 nounced good, was marred by the ravages of evil. Man 
 became an apostate from his GOD, rose in rebellion, and 
 defied HIS legislation : " His thoughts were only evil, 
 and that continually." The holiness and justice of 
 heaven required a terrific monument to be perpetu- 
 ated to the end of time, written in the adamantine 
 rock, and stamped in the frame- work of the globe ; to 
 be seen and read of all men : evidence to a world, 
 that " GOD will not be mocked. " The symbols which 
 are so clearly seen in the organic remains of a former 
 world ; the register of its wreck and ruin, cannot be 
 obliterated while the mountains remain, and the earth 
 endures. Earthquakes may overturn the pyramids, or 
 overwhelm the temples of Egypt, or the pagodas of 
 Hindustan be swept away by an inundation of the 
 Ganges; but these awful legends will remain until the 
 period of the ECPYROSIS, for which they are reserv- 
 ed ; "When the heavens shall pass away with a great 
 noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat ; 
 the earth also, and the works that are therein shall 
 
87 
 
 be burnt up :"* and, it is a remarkable fact that the 
 chemical elements of that very agent (water) which 
 was employed in the destruction of an antediluvian 
 world, have in modern times been proved adequate to 
 this. No mineral substance can resist the energy of a 
 flame the elements of which are the constituents of 
 water. Platinum, one of the most refractory of the 
 metals, enters into fusion before it, the diamond burns 
 away, and plumbago rises in vapour ; thus it is proved 
 beyond all question, that " the elements can melt with 
 fervent heat." So that, as the late Dr. Clarke remark- 
 ed, we almost see in this fact a physical illustration of 
 " the rape of Proserpine by Pluto, from the Fountain 
 of Cyane. " 
 
 The deep delinquency of man before his MAKER is 
 thus described, and the terms are fearfully expressive : 
 " GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the 
 earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his 
 heart was only evil continually." It is added, " the 
 earth also was corrupt before GOD, and the earth was 
 tilled with violence." The " goodliness" of creation was 
 tarnished, and its beauty " consumed." The sentence of 
 destruction went forth, and " GOD said unto Noah, the 
 end of all flesh is come before me, for the earth is filled 
 with violence through them : and behold I will destroy 
 them with the earth." In this language there is some- 
 thing more implied, we think, than a cursory observation 
 might suppose. " The whole creation groaned" under a 
 load of guilt. We are cautious in speculating on ques- 
 tions for which we possess insufficient data. It is diffi- 
 cult to determine how the inferior creation had " become 
 corrupt ;" but it seems to be connected with, or refer 
 to, the laws of their original creation ; yet, to us, there 
 really do seem to be some palpable proofs, in the evi- 
 dence revealed by the exhumation of organic remains, 
 of some dislocation in the links of being, and the order 
 and harmony of creation even in inferior animals 
 " violence" done to those distinctive lines of demarca- 
 
 * 2 Pet. iii. 10. 
 H 2 
 
88 
 
 tion, by which the variou^ tribes of animals are pre- 
 served separate, and distinct. There seems, some- 
 how, to be a violent rupture of those laws which 
 were imposed on them, for " that which is against na- 
 ture." We do not advert here to gigantic remains, 
 merely as such, but to the incongruous union of animal 
 forms : " chimeras and gorgons dire," on which the 
 laws of GOD seem to have put a restraint, that nothing 
 might, with impunity, change that order of creation 
 which, in the beginning, his wisdom had pronounced 
 "good." Among other organic remains which might 
 be mentioned, we may cite, by way of illustration, the 
 ichthyosaurus or lizard fish, and the plesiosaurus. Per- 
 haps, however, the most wonderful specimen, of this 
 description, is the pterodactylus or winged lizard, con- 
 necting, by an extraordinary link, birds and reptiles. 
 Professor Buckland thus describes this strange fossil 
 production : " In size and general form, and in the dis- 
 position and character of its wing, this fossil genus, 
 according to Cuvier, somewhat resembled our modern 
 bats and vampires; but had its beak elongated, like 
 the bill of a woodcock, and armed with teeth, like the 
 snout of a crocodile ; its vertebrae, ribs, pelvis, legs and 
 feet, resembled those of a lizard ; its three anterior fin- 
 gers terminated in long hooked claws, like that on the 
 forefinger of the bat ; and over its body was a covering 
 neither composed of feathers, as in the bird, nor of hair, 
 as in the bat, but of scaly armour, like that of an igua- 
 na : in short, a monster, resembling nothing that has 
 ever been seen or heard of upon earth, excepting the 
 dragons of romance and heraldry. Moreover, it was, 
 probably, noctivogous and insectivorous, and in both 
 these points resembled the bat ; but differed from it in 
 having the most important bones in its body constructed 
 after the manner of those of reptiles. With flocks of 
 such like creatures flying in the air, and shoals of no 
 less monstrous ichthyosauri and plesiosauri swarming 
 in the ocean, and gigantic crocodiles and tortoises crawl- 
 ing on the shores of the primeval lakes and rivers air, 
 sea, and land, must have been strangely tenanted in 
 
89 
 
 those early periods of our infant world." The ichthyo- 
 saurus deviates from the saurian or lizard. It resem- 
 bles a fish in its vertebral column. The paddles are 
 intermediate between feet and fins. " It has the snout 
 of a dolphin, the teeth of a crocodile, the head and ster- 
 num of a lizard, the swimmers of a whale, and the ver- 
 tebrae of a fish." The plesiosaurus somewhat resembles 
 the crocodile, but has a double number of vertebrae ; the 
 neck is like the body of a serpent, and the head is that 
 of a lizard ; it has no feet, but swimmers like a whale, 
 or paddles like a turtle. The celebrated fossil of 
 Maestricht belongs to this class of beings ; the name 
 mosasaurus has been assigned to it; its extreme length 
 is computed to be nearly twenty-six feet ; and, from 
 tfye structure of the tail, it seems to have been designed 
 for a marine purpose : at one period it was supposed to 
 be a crocodile, at another time a lizard, and finally a 
 cetaceous animal or a fish. Another fossil body, some- 
 what intermediate between the crocodile and that class 
 of lizards called monitors, but of very inferior size com- 
 pared with the mosasaurus, has received from Cuvier 
 the name of geosaurus. The fossil organic body called 
 megalosaurus, is of a gigantic lizard-like form, and com- 
 puted by Dr. Buckland to be from thirty to forty feet in 
 length : it combines the characteristics of the monitor 
 and crocodile. 
 
 Inferior creation did suffer, along with man, in the 
 cataclysm of the deluge ; but its tribes might have 
 reaped corresponding advantages, had he sustained his 
 innocence. They formed part of man's estate, and must 
 necessarily suffer in the ruin of man's inheritance, as is 
 even now the case in secular affairs. In the wreck of 
 fortune, the integrity of property is destroyed, and the 
 materials which contributed to happiness are disorder- 
 ed. There certainly seems to have been some terrible 
 defection from the law of their being. We cannot fail 
 to observe checks or reins imposed on animal nature, 
 which the inferior tribes of creation, in their native 
 haunts and wilds, do not seem to violate ; which even 
 when interfered with by the agency of man, cannot 
 H 3 
 
90 
 
 progress beyond one link.-J-" Hitherto and no farther." 
 Hybridism is a positive infraction of the laws of Na- 
 ture. It is thus that the uniformity of creation is not 
 defaced, or its links dissevered. Not only does the 
 aspect of the material world extinguish the wild and in- 
 coherent notion of a fortuitous congregation of atoms, 
 and dance of dust, but indisputably proves the constant 
 preservation of the beautiful and wondrous structure, 
 which originated in the first creation from intelligence 
 and design. The oak that flourishes in our forest is as 
 the oak of Eden. The cedar of Lebanon is but a scion 
 of that cedar which was first planted by an Almighty 
 hand; "All things continue until now;" fac similes 
 of their antitypes, as they flourished in grandeur and 
 in beauty at the close of a magnificent and beautiful 
 creation. The type transmitted from age to age, shall 
 continue until time shall be no longer, to attest creative 
 power, wisdom, and goodness. The stability of material 
 things is a record of the immutability of JEHOVAH ; 
 and since no new forms start up around us, to startle 
 and amaze, we have a sufficient assurance that the 
 Creator is the " GOD of order, and not of confusion." 
 
 From what has been said, we need not be surprised 
 should we find entire races of nondescripts extermin- 
 ated ; and such as have no living analogues in existing 
 genera and species. We mention these things incident- 
 ally, and merely as ideas that have, in our geological 
 researches, flashed across our own mind, without at all 
 being anxious to give them a prominent place ; just as we 
 have adverted to the subject of phrenology, en passant, 
 indifferent as to its rejection or belief, and solely with 
 a view to prove that it is not so terrible as some, without 
 investigation, have considered it to be ; that it has been 
 assailed by ridicule, is not a warrant for despising the 
 claims it urges on attention. Time may discover an 
 error in judgment, and inform us that we have been 
 deceived ; when that error is discovered, it will be soon 
 enough to cast phrenology from us, but as it may also 
 contain the constituents of truth, let it receive the audi- 
 ence it seeks. Let us never forget that any thing may 
 
91 
 
 be turned into ridicule, and that this has been the fate 
 of the greatest discoveries that have ever dawned on the 
 world of intellect, or benefited mankind. Ridicule, 
 therefore, is not the test of truth. 
 
 While the foregoing remarks are submitted as sub- 
 jects for reflection, and subsequent investigation, we are 
 by no means prepared to limit the trophies of future 
 research, which may eventually reveal the living ana- 
 logues of many genera and species which have been too 
 hastily pronounced to be extinct. Modern discovery has 
 unfolded strange sights, and its torch is not extinguished. 
 We may only mention the clamyphorus, or shield bearer; 
 the ikan dugong, or mermaid of the Indian seas ; and above 
 all, the six-legged animal of Stronsay, and the ornitho- 
 rhynchus paradoxus* of New Holland. A few years ago 
 the trigonia was pronounced to be an extinct genus, but its 
 living analogue has since been found on the coast of New 
 Holland. The sentence of extermination had also already 
 been passed on the pentacrmus, when Mr. Thompson dis- 
 covered a living species, the pentacrmus europceus, in the 
 
 * This anomalous animal possesses a very remarkable struc- 
 ture. It is distinguished from all mammiferous animals yet 
 known, by the extraordinary formation of the jaws, which 
 closely resemble the broad flat bill of a duck ; covered like the 
 latter with a soft membrane supplied with nerves, as an organ 
 of taste ; and serrated also like the bill of a duck, at the lateral 
 edges. Its feet are provided with webs, which, in the front 
 ones, project beyond the claws, and can therefore be expanded 
 or folded up like a fan. No trace of mammae can be detected 
 in either sex. There is a spur on the hind leg of the male of 
 this curious animal, which it has been asserted possesses the 
 property of injecting poison into the wound it inflicts, similar 
 to what takes place in respect to that of the poisonous fang of 
 a serpent. We have been informed, however, that Mr. Joshua 
 Brookes, by a careful inspection, has not been able to discover 
 any poisonous sac; or hollow duct connected with a gland. 
 Our own particular examination of the structure of the spur 
 has not detected any aperture or sulcus: we are therefore in- 
 clined to believe that this is a mistake. The habitation of this 
 wonderful creature is on the verge of the lakes in the vicinity 
 of Botany Bay. 
 
92 
 
 Cove of Cork ; and a living analogue of the pentacriium 
 has also been ascertained to exist on the coast of Barba- 
 does. Modern research is perpetually adding new species, 
 and even new genera, both of plants and animals, to the 
 former acquisitions of the mind, and enhancingthe amount 
 of the captive spoils of human enterprize Counterparts 
 in magnitude, equivalent to the gigantic structure of the 
 mammoth, may not be found in the genus to which it 
 belongs ; but our globe has still its terra incognita. 
 The discovery in 1818, by Dr. Arnold, in the Island of 
 Sumatra, of that magnificent Titan of the vegetable 
 kingdom, the Rafflesia Arnoldi, is too recent an event 
 to be forgotten. The human mind had scarcely ever 
 conceived of such a flower: the circumference of the 
 full expanded flower is nine feet, its nectarium cal- 
 culated to hold nine pints, the pistils are as large as 
 cows' horns, and the entire weight of the blossom com- 
 puted to be 15fts. Temple, in his recent travels in 
 Peru, states that he shot a condor, and from notes taken 
 on the spot, gives us the following dimensions of its 
 size. " When the wings are spread, they measure forty 
 feet in extent from point to point ; the feathers are 
 twenty feet in length, and the quill part eight inches in 
 circumference." This certainly draws largely on our 
 credulity, and seems almost to realize the fabled Roc of 
 Sinbad ; but we do not know that we are authorized to 
 reject it. In the year 1?19> a condor was shot in France : 
 the extent of wing, from tip to tip, when fully expanded, 
 was eighteen feet. A quill feather of one from Chili, mea- 
 sured twelve feet four inches ; the diameter of this quill 
 was half an inch, and the extent of wing sixteen feet. 
 The least of these certainly far exceeds the dimensions 
 of the lammergyer or bearded griffin of the Alps. 
 
 Wherever we turn our eyes, the fame of the deluge 
 meets us : " There is no speech nor language where its 
 voice has not been heard :" " Its line is gone out 
 through all the earth, and its words to the end of the 
 world."* The four divisions of the globe have heard 
 
 * Ps. xix. 3, 4. 
 
93 
 
 of this event, and have told it to their " children's chil- 
 dren." Lucian, from the archives of Hierapolis, gives 
 an account of the deluge, the main features of which do 
 not materially differ from the details of the prophet of 
 the Hebrews. He tells us that Deucalion was the only 
 one saved ; that it was on account of his piety ; that 
 this was effected by means of a great ark, which he and 
 his wife occupied ; that there were also therein, along 
 with them, goats, horses, lions, serpents, and such other 
 animals as live on land two of each; that all were 
 rendered harmless, and all floated in one ark, \apvatia, 
 as long as the waters prevailed. Plutarch mentions 
 the dove which was dispatched by the patriarch from 
 the ark. This author states, that the dove, being sent 
 from the ark and returning, became a certain index of 
 the prevalence of the tempest ; but, its flying away 
 proved that the storm had ceased. Juvenal thus re- 
 cords the event of the deluge and the ark : 
 
 " Ex quo Deucalion nimbis tollentibus aequor 
 Navigio montem ascendit, sortesque poposcit, 
 Paulatimque anima caluerunt mollia saxa .'" 
 And Ovid thus speaks of it : 
 
 " Hie, ubi Deucalion (nam caetera texerat aequor) 
 Cum consorte tori parva rate vectus adhsesit 
 Corycidas nymphas, et numina mentis adorat. 
 The Mexicans believe, that the original pair, from whom 
 their ancestors sprung, were saved from the deluge by 
 floating on a raft. We give 
 the fac simile of a medal, in 
 second brass, which refers to 
 this belief. It is one of the 
 coins of Pertinax. By the stars 
 over the figures, we infer 
 their deification. Indeed, there 
 is no difficulty in identifying 
 the patriarch and his wife with 
 the Osiris and Isis of Egyp- 
 tian mythology ; and it seems 
 to us, that the figures, which Mr. Rich has copied from 
 a Babylonian brick, refer to the same fact. The Boat 
 
94 
 
 Bans is a conspicuous figure in the mythology of Egypt. 
 In the most ancient book of the Chinese, which is called 
 choukingy mention is made of one of their deified per- 
 sonages, named Yao, who is there represented as draw- 
 ing off the waters of the deluge, which had rendered 
 impassible the lower levels, submerged the lower hills, 
 bathed the skirts of the highest mountains, and risen 
 up to the heavens. Yao is antedated at about 41 66 
 years, or thereabouts, before the present period, which 
 remarkably coincides with the chronology of the Sacred 
 Volume. M. Cuvier has an interesting and apposite 
 observation in reference to the epocha of the deluge : 
 " Is it possible," says this distinguished philosopher, 
 " that mere accident should afford so striking a result 
 as to unite the traditional origin of the Assyrian, In- 
 dian, and Chinese monarchies to the same epocha of 
 about 4000 years from the present time ? Could the 
 ideas of nations who possessed almost no natural affini- 
 ties ; whose language, religion, and laws, had nothing 
 in common ; could they conspire to one point did not 
 truth bring them together?" We shall, before ad- 
 ducing geological facts in confirmation of an universal 
 deluge, advert to the celebrated Apamean medals ; 
 one of these, (Plate II, fig. 15,) is that of the elder Philip; 
 and the other, (Plate II, fig. 17,) of Pertinax : in the 
 former, it is extremely interesting to observe, that on 
 the front of the ark is the name of Noah, NHE, in Greek 
 characters. The design of these medals remarkably 
 corresponds, though the legends somewhat vary. In 
 both we perceive the ark floating on the water, contain- 
 ing the patriarch and his wife, the dove on the wing, 
 with the olive branch ; and the raven perched on the 
 ark. The medals, also, represent Noah and his wife 
 on terra firma, in an attitude of devotion for their 
 safety. On the pannel of the ark, in the coin of Per- 
 tinax, there is the word NHT.QN, perhaps a provincial- 
 ism from Macros', an island, or Ne'o>, to swim. In the ex- 
 ergue of this medal we read, distinctly, AFIAMEHN, 
 as we do also in that of the other ; the first syllable ter- 
 minating the first line. The genuineness of the Apa- 
 
mean medals is confirmed beyond all doubt by the 
 researches of the learned Mr. Bryant. Ortelius recog- 
 nizes six cities of this name ; the most celebrated was 
 Apamea, in Syria ; next to which was that of Phrygia, 
 called also Cibolus, or Kibotos, as a surname; the 
 Greek word Ki/3o>Tor, signifying an ark or hollow vessel. 
 This city was built on the river Marsyas, near which, 
 tradition states, the ark finally reposed. Accordingly, 
 we find on a medal, struck in honour of the emperor 
 Adrian, the inscription, AIlAME-QN KIB.QTO2 
 MAPI2I A, or "the ark and the Marsyas of the Apame- 
 ans." There were numerous traditions commemorating 
 this event ; and several cities, while they boasted of the 
 distinction, appealed to it in proof of their antiquity. 
 This Apamea, which ranked in importance next to 
 Ephesus, is doubtless that to which these medals refer. 
 The surname would not, in all probability, have been 
 adopted on an insufficient and unsubstantial basis. Be- 
 sides these, however, there was a city bearing this name 
 in Bithynia ; and, according to Strabo, another in Me- 
 dia, Our representations in the plate are copied from 
 Sequin's " Selecta Numismata Antiqua." 
 
 We may, therefore, state, that the evidence on this 
 question is universal and conclusive. The Chaldeans, 
 Phoenicians, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, Goths, and 
 Druids, Persians, Hindoos, Burmese, Chinese, Mexi- 
 cans, Peruvians, Brazilians, Nicaraguans, the inhabi- 
 tants of Western Caledonia, the Otaheitari and Sand- 
 wich Islanders; all have recorded the event of the 
 deluge, and it is incorporated in their annals. This 
 universal testimony is wonderful, and we should think 
 amply sufficient to satisfy the most sceptical mind. 
 Josephus says, in reference to this event, " Now all the 
 writers of the barbarian histories make mention of this 
 flood, and of this ark ; among whom is Berossus the 
 Chaldean. For when he was describing the circum- 
 stances of the flood, he goes on thus : ' It is said, there 
 is still some part of this ship in Armenia, at the moun- 
 tain of the Cordyaeans ; and that some people carry off 
 pieces of the bitumen, which they take away, and use 
 
96 
 
 chiefly as amulets, for the Averting of mischiefs.' Hie- 
 ronymus the Egyptian also, who .wrote the Phoenician 
 antiquities, and Mnaseas, and a great many more, make 
 mention of the same. Nay, Nicholas of Damascus, in 
 his ninety-sixth book, hath a particular relation about 
 them ; where he speaks thus : ' There is a great moun- 
 tain in Armenia, over Minyas, called Boris, upon which 
 it is reported, that many who fled at the time of the 
 deluge were saved ; and that one who was carried in an 
 ark, came on shore upon the top of it ; and that the re- 
 mains of the timber were a great while preserved. This 
 might be the man about whom Moses, the legislator of 
 the Jews, wrote.' "* 
 
 It has been supposed that the ark rested on Mount 
 Ararat in Armenia : Josephus countenances this view 
 of it, and it is interesting to observe, that the name of 
 the Armenian city where it has been supposed the 
 ark at last grounded, signifies the Place of Descent, from 
 the Greek aTropa-rvisiov ; others have, however, urged 
 that it rested upon Mount Caucasus, near Apamea, in 
 Phryuia, from the circumstance that in Genesis xi. 2, 
 the sons of the patriarch are represented as journeying 
 westward from the place of descent, and Mount Ararat 
 in Armenia being west of this country. The language of 
 the sacred writer does not particularly define the ques- 
 tion. Mount Ararat, according to Morier, is at once 
 awful in its elevation, and beautiful in its form. Sir 
 Robert Ker Porter describes this celebrated mountain 
 as divided, by a chasm of about seven miles wide, into 
 two distinct "peaks, called The Great and The Little 
 Ararat, and is of opinion that the ark finally rested in 
 this chasm. This pleasing and elegant writer gives a 
 beautiful description of Ararat. " I beheld Ararat in 
 all its amplitude of grandeur. From the spot on which 
 I stood, it appeared as if the hugest mountains of the 
 world had been piled upon each other, to form this one 
 sublime immensity of earth, and rock, and snow. The 
 icy peaks of its double heads rose majestically into the 
 
 * Antiq. Book I. Chap. iii. 
 
97 
 
 clear and cloudless heavens ; the sun blazed bright upon 
 them, and the reflection sent forth a dazzling radiance 
 equal to other suns. This point of the view united the 
 utmost grandeur of plain and height, but the feelings I 
 experienced while looking on the mountain are hardly 
 to be described. My eye, not able to rest for any length 
 of time on the blinding glory of its summits, wandered 
 down the apparently interminable sides, till I could no 
 longer trace their vast lines in the mists of the horizon ; 
 when an inexpressible impulse immediately carrying my 
 eye upwards again, refixed my gaze on the awful glare 
 of Ararat ; and this bewildered sensibility of sight, be- 
 ing answered by a similar feeling in the mind, for some 
 moments I was lost in a strange suspension of the powers 
 of thought." 
 
 Though we have distinctly stated, that all which 
 geologists say is by no means to be taken for granted, 
 and without examination, yet we are not to be understood 
 as attempting to impress a belief that geology is not a 
 worthy science, or that its legitimate pursuit is to be 
 lightly esteemed. The reverse of all this is the fact : we 
 know not, within the compass of human knowledge, in 
 physical science, a more curious or more interesting 
 subject of research. The legend of an antediluvian age 
 is unfolded for our inspection, and shall we feel no 
 anxiety to know the flora and the fauna, the botany 
 and the zoology, which adorned and peopled the ages of 
 primeval history, the wreck, superinduced by the 
 action of a universal deluge, which destroyed our fore- 
 fathers, and marred the features of the globe? It is 
 appalling, indeed, to gaze on the monuments of crime, 
 and read in the organic remains of a former world, the 
 punishment of guilt ; but that lesson may be an inter- 
 esting one ; and as we gaze, we may " stand in awe." 
 The fearful ruin of an antediluvian world presents us 
 with some hideous and gigantic forms. It cannot be 
 expected that we should enter on any thing like a 
 geological discussion ; simply because such a question, 
 insulated from every other topic, would occupy more 
 than could be comprised within the limits of this little 
 r 
 
98 
 
 volume. While we profess 1 the highest respect for the 
 valuable researches of a Cuvier, a Brongniart, a Buck- 
 land, a Sedgwick, a Greenough, a Lyell, and many 
 others, we consider that they are not infallible. We 
 much esteem the interesting facts which they have 
 presented, but their deductions may not always corres- 
 pond with the legitimate requirements of inductive 
 truth ; and, it is admitted on all hands, that our ad- 
 vancement in geology must extend very far beyond our 
 present attainments, before we have any right to think 
 about the structure of a theory. Geology was formerly 
 called " a system of paradoxes." Is it consistent with 
 induction to overlook the only authentic record of the 
 infant history of the world, and yet introduce eastern 
 fables, because they happen to exceed the limits pre- 
 scribed by the Mosaic cosmogony, and dance to the tune 
 of millions of years ; and that because such a term of 
 years has been pre-conceived to be necessary? This takes 
 for granted the thing that remains to be proved, and is 
 in direct variance with the maxims of inductive science. 
 It will be time enough to grant the requirement when 
 positive and substantial facts shall have proved it to be 
 necessary ; but we deny the concession on the mere dic- 
 tum of pre-conceived opinion, or bold assumption. We 
 cannot establish our premises better than by referring to 
 geologists themselves. Are not the proteus forms of 
 geological speculations, systems of geology, and theories 
 of the world, at this moment, the laughing-stock of 
 well-informed men? Cuvier pays a well merited com- 
 pliment to Professor Buckland for steering his bark 
 of observation clear of these whirlpools of fantastic 
 opinions, in which so many have perished. M. Cuvier 
 calls this distinguished geologist, " a philosopher, who 
 does honour to geology by precise and consistent obser- 
 vations, as well as by the steadiest opposition to random 
 hypotheses;" and in'geology these "random hypotheses" 
 have been almost as numerous as the authors who have 
 written on this branch of science. Nothing can be 
 more opposed to true science, than to pronounce on the 
 priority of formation, or the comparative age of rocks, 
 
99 
 
 from either their structure or the organic remains they 
 present : the entire question remains just as it was. 
 M. Alexandre Brongniart thus propounds his opinion : 
 "In those cases where characters derived from the 
 nature of the rocks are opposed to those which we 
 derive from organic remains, I should give the prepon- 
 derance to the latter." This seems to us to imply an 
 admission, that nothing definite can be inferred from 
 the nature of the rocks ; moreover, that between the na- 
 ture of the rock and the organic remains there may be a 
 palpable discrepancy; and that these may even be at com- 
 plete antipodes with each other. The event has proved, 
 from what we have already mentioned, that no evidence 
 as to priority can be obtained from the nature of the fossil 
 remains displayed in particular strata. In addition to 
 what has been said on this subject, we may further 
 state, that encrinites, entrochites, and pentacrinites, are 
 found in clay slate, grauwacke, transition limestone, 
 alpine limestone, lias, muschelkalk, and chalk. It may 
 be reasonably asked how these three species of fossils 
 could indicate any particular formation, when they are 
 found in so many types and structures of rocks "alto- 
 gether different ? If they would go to prove any thing 
 at all, it would be that of a contemporaneous formation ; 
 but certainly not distinct epochas. The same observa- 
 tion applies to madrepores, belemnites, &c. which are 
 equally diversified in their abodes. It follows, there- 
 fore, that they afford no clue whatever either as to "the 
 order of creation," or priority in the question of the 
 " epochas of formation." We find the same evidence 
 when we take up the fossil bones of quadrupeds in their 
 more complete and perfect organization. To this in- 
 teresting topic we shall again recur. We, therefore, infer 
 as a matter of fact, that the theory of successive deve- 
 lopement is founded in error. Certain organic remains 
 have been considered peculiar to certain formations, at 
 once supplying data to determine the identity of such 
 formations in remote countries, and becoming a chrono- 
 meter to determine the relative epochas of formations ; 
 but, this is altogether illusory; and yet these have been 
 
100 
 
 propounded with an effrontery sufficient to overawe, for 
 a time, the disciple of truth. These errors, though 
 now completely exploded, are still, however, by some, 
 promulgated at the present moment as truths. " It is," 
 says Mr. Lyell, in a foot note, "an encouraging cir- 
 cumstance, that the cultivators of science in our own 
 country, have begun to appreciate the true value of the 
 principles of reasoning most usually applied to geologi- 
 cal questions:" he then adverts to the expression, a 
 geological logician, used by the President of the Geo- 
 logical Society, in an address to its members, and adds 
 " a smile was seen on the countenances of some of 
 the audience, while many of the members, like Cicero's 
 augurs, could not resist laughing; so ludicrous appeared 
 the association of geology and logic." It is almost 
 unnecessary to say, that however the doctrine of repeated 
 destruction, and as repeated creation, might coalesce 
 with the slumbers and waking hours of the mythology 
 of Menu, it laid the axe to the very root of the Volume 
 of Revelation. Those have been greatly deceived who 
 expected to see the order of creation registered in the 
 rocks of the globe ; who supposed that zoophites were 
 historic medallions of the most ancient formations ; 
 that other rocks, agreeably to their presumed relative 
 age, carried the series from this point upwards, until it 
 terminated in the more perfect types of organization dis- 
 played in quadrupeds; and that all these had been swept 
 away before the creation of quadrumanous animals and 
 of man, just as if the destruction of inferior tribes was 
 the necessary pioneer for monkeys and humanity. It did 
 so happen, however, that other animals, in their fossil 
 remains, had accidentally escaped the first epocha of 
 ruin, and found their apotheosis in those epochas of 
 destruction which succeeded. Insects and birds had 
 not been found, and until they were discovered, their 
 recent creation was dogmatically asserted. Worlds 
 of living beings alternating with worlds of death ; 
 destruction and death supervening before the crea- 
 tion of man and the first transgression, were the 
 opinions of geologists. On the principles of mere 
 
. 
 
 101 
 
 theistic philosophy, how is this to be reconciled ? Play- 
 fair makes an attempt, and a sorry attempt it is. " The 
 inhabitants of the globe," says he, " like all other 
 parts of it, are subject to change It is not only the 
 individual that perishes, but whole species, and even, 
 perhaps, genera are extinguished :" "a change in the 
 animal kingdom seems to be a part of the order of 
 nature." This process of reasoning will not satisfy the 
 mind : Revelation, however, gives every satisfaction. 
 There are many doubts which may be reasonably 
 entertained by the honest inquirer after geological 
 truth. M. Cuvier's osteological knowledge is un- 
 rivalled : the simple fragment of a bone supplies this 
 eminent naturalist with a sufficient datum wherewith 
 to determine its owner, as well in respect to size as 
 its place in the system of zoology : thus, from only a 
 few fossil bones of that great clawed species of sloth, 
 called the megalonix, an entire animal has been built 
 in idea ; and so on with others, where a single bone has 
 contributed to the aerial fabric. We make no mention 
 of building up an antediluvian fossil from pieces obtained 
 here and there, some on the Continent and some in 
 Britain ; but, on the supposition of an anomalous struc- 
 ture like that of the ichthyosaurus or plesiosaurus, this 
 reasoning would scarcely be warranted ; and in conse- 
 quence of inferences of a similar kind, Professor Buck- 
 land now entertains doubts whether the birds' bones, 
 (or rather what were called so) found in the Stonesfield 
 quarry, may not be rather supposed to belong to the 
 flying reptile which we have already described. 
 
 When we survey the rocky features of the globe, we 
 observe a marked diversity in their structure and con- 
 formation. Sometimes they are presented in horizon- 
 tal beds or strata, and parallel with respect to each 
 other, like the leaves of a book ; at other times, this 
 order of superposition is changed for vertical masses 
 without form, and altogether void of stratification; 
 sometimes these vertical masses rest on rocky strata, 
 the latter maintaining a perfectly horizontal plane, 
 being more or less inclined : occasionally, we find the 
 i 3 
 
;' 102 
 
 ' ' strati cathm forming a mantle for the central unstrati- 
 fied mass, which seems to have burst through the in- 
 cumbent strata, and now overtops them. 
 
 There are other interesting phenomena exhibited, 
 which claim equal attention. Some rocks are crystalline 
 in their structure, and others present simply the fea- 
 tures of mechanical deposition, more or less consolidated 
 and indurated We also perceive that one class of rocks 
 is entirely free from organic remains, carbonaceous 
 matter or rounded pebbles ; another class exhibits them 
 very sparingly, and sometimes peculiarly ; a third class 
 presents fossil remains, lacustrine or marine, in great 
 abundance and vast variety ; and, in a fourth class, we 
 discover fossil remains of birds, quadrupeds, quadru- 
 manous animals and man. These have been divided 
 and subdivided according to the whim or fancy of the 
 respective writers; but, when it is considered that 
 there is scarcely a single geological opinion which has 
 maintained its ground, we should be cautious in draw- 
 ing inferences, or adopting any specific classification ; 
 since such an arrangement may be totally overturned 
 in the progress of discovery. Generalization is the 
 safest ground to occupy in an uncertain and variable 
 science. No doubt classification and arrangement are 
 necessary, and perhaps essential for the promotion of 
 the important inquiries which geology has in view ; but 
 let not an artificial scheme be made to supply the place 
 of nature's truth, or be reverenced as an infallible oracle 
 of appeal. The celebrated Werner, of Freyberg, cha- 
 racterized the petralogy of the earth, under several 
 great divisions : I. The PRIMITIVE CLASS, compre- 
 hending granite, gneiss, mica slate, clay slate, &c. ; II. 
 THE TRANSITION CLASS, which embraces graitrvacke, 
 old red sandstone, mountain limestone, &c. ; III. FL^JTZ 
 (otjlat} CLASS, embracing magnesian limestone, oolitic 
 formation, (or calcareous freestones) new red sandstone, 
 chalk, &c. ; IV. THE NEWEST FL^TZ CLASS, which 
 includes alluvial formations ; and finally, V. VOLCANIC 
 ROCKS. Those assumed by Professor Sedgwick, as 
 the Third Class, comprising the secondary formations 
 

 103 
 
 of England, correspond with the fleetz rocks of Werner. 
 The Fourth Class of Sedgwick, called tertiary deposits, 
 including the Isle of Wight, Paris, and London "Basins," 
 agrees in its order with the alluvial rocks, forming the 
 Fourth Class of Werner ; while volcanic rocks, &c. with 
 alluvial formations, are arranged by Professor Sedgwick, 
 so as to correspond with Werner's Fifth Class. The 
 order in which we have placed these various classes, 
 have been assumed to correspond with their relative 
 ages ; the First Class being as it were, the foundation 
 stones of the globe ; and the other reared on them, in 
 the order of superposition, determined by this classifica- 
 tion ; the Fifth Class being the top stone of the rocky 
 structure of the earth. 
 
 In the Primitive Class, there are no organic remains 
 whatever ; but the character of the rock is indeterminate. 
 Granite and trap rocks often pass into each other, by such 
 imperceptible shades, as not to be distinguished with- 
 out difficulty. The coarse-grained has been supposed 
 anterior in formation to fine-grained granite. Whether 
 granite has ever been found stratified does not seem, as 
 yet, a settled point ; nor is it even determined, whether 
 or not it has been found incumbent on other rocks. 
 Orbicular granite, and graphic granite, are beautiful 
 varieties : we have an elegant specimen of the former, 
 from Corsica (its locality) ; and have seen specimens of 
 the latter from the Peninsula of Sinai. Talcy slate, 
 clay slate, and gneiss, possess no determinate order of 
 superposition. Under particular and various circum- 
 stances, superior stratified rocks may assume th'3 appear- 
 ance of inferior stratified rocks ; notwithstanding all 
 this, we think one fact sufficiently clear : primitive 
 rocks, whether stratified or unstratified, and which have 
 never been found to contain organic remains, are the 
 original rocks of creation ; all fossiliferous rocks are, on 
 the other hand, posterior formations ; either local, and 
 as such antediluvian or postdiluvian ; or, the product of 
 the action of diluvian waters. Rocks, that are crystal- 
 line and of a chemical structure, must have been formed, 
 under different circumstances, from such as are non- 
 
104 
 
 crystalline, yet mechanical \n their deposition. Conglo- 
 merated rocks, formed of the debris of particular rocks, 
 must be posterior in formation to those rocks, the frag- 
 ments of which compose them. A vein shooting through 
 a rock, may be contemporaneous with that rock ; but if 
 one vein traverse another, as a metallic vein passing 
 through a lapideous one, that which bisects it, must be 
 of a later date than that which is bisected, though the 
 period of time may be inconsiderable : copper veins 
 traversing those of tin, aiford an example. Rocks which 
 contain no organic remains must have either been form- 
 ed before those that contain them, or under circumstances 
 altogether diiferent : at any rate, rocks enveloping or- 
 ganic remains must have been formed posterior to the 
 existence of such organic remains. In the former case, 
 if they superadd a crystalline structure, and in no in- 
 stance whatever are found to contain organic remains 
 of any kind, or under any circumstances, we may safely 
 admit them to be the genuine rocks of the primitive 
 creation, and monuments of the OMNIPOTENT FIAT. 
 From what has already been stated, fossil remains afford 
 no key whatever to the question which involves the solu- 
 tion of the relative age of rocky formations ; we must, 
 therefore, abandon the intelligence they are supposed to 
 afford, which is altogether equivocal, and is as changeable 
 as the movement of the figures on a chess board. We may 
 merely state, generally, in order that the question may 
 be fairly brought before our readers, that, in the clay 
 slate of Snowden, organic remains are rare. The Dudley 
 fossil, (as it has been called,) or trilobite, occurs in grau- 
 wacke limestone, &c. Fossil wood, or vegetable remains, 
 frequently of a tropical character, and encrinites, are 
 found in the great coal formation ; these belong to the 
 transition series. The oolitic formation, called some- 
 times the jura limestone, and lias, or magnesian lime- 
 stone, contain ammonites, belemnites, corals, lizards, 
 t fishes, and vegetable remains. These form the third 
 class. Primitive rocks have a crystalline appearance : 
 transition rocks are less crystalline than the former, and 
 flcelz rocks may be considered altogether mechanical de- 
 
105 
 
 posits. Primitive rocks are generally more lofty than 
 transition rocks ; and the latter are more inclined than 
 the flaetz. Flsetz rocks are less elevated than the tran- 
 sition series, and are much more horizontal. Sometimes 
 they are traversed in various directions by metallic and 
 other veins, and are occasionally distorted or dislocated 
 by vertical walls of basalt or whinstone, called by 
 miners, faults, dykes, or troubles ; which produce what 
 is called a shift : on one side the strata are considerably 
 elevated, and the line of continuity being thus broken, 
 the miner incurs much labour and expense before he 
 can recover the lost vein. 
 
 The volume of geology reveals to us many interesting 
 and remarkable phenomena. There appear to be entire 
 genera and species of animals, which have (as far as our 
 researches have gone) no living analogues ; and we must 
 consult the records of geology if we would extend our 
 knowledge of the wonders of creation, because these 
 being now extinguished, their counterparts can be found 
 nowhere else. In the exhibitions of geological pheno- 
 mena, we are further presented with combinations of 
 incongruities which are without their types, even in the 
 wildest creations of imagination : when monstrous pseu- 
 do-saurians in mockery of the laws of congruity, "grinned 
 horrible," and the pterodactylus, in defiance of the laws 
 which regulate zoology in postdiluvian ages, floated on 
 wing through the aerial abyss. Nor does the interest 
 terminate here: we find gigantic beings so immense 
 that the tenants of our present world are Lilliput to 
 Brobdingnag ; gigantic ferns and reeds of monstrous 
 growth whistled in winds that our tornado, compared 
 with them, for aught we know, might be considered as 
 only a zephyr's sigh ; the trees of the forest " were 
 so high that they were dreadful," and, had there been 
 clouds, and they descending as low as the stratus 
 does sometimes now, would have interfered with their 
 meteorology ; mammoths, and mastodons, and mega- 
 theriums peopled the forests ; lizards were like our 
 crocodiles tapirs (palaeotherium) like our elephants, 
 and the megalonix (a gigantic sloth) was as large as our 
 
106 
 
 rhinoceros ; while in the Wioplotherium we have an 
 animal with a tail composed of twenty-two vertebrae, 
 which exceeds the length of its body, the thickness 
 being proportionally enormous. Surely a science which 
 reveals the beings that existed in the world before the 
 flood, in forms as palpable as the skeleton can make 
 them, has no slight pretensions or claim on a world's 
 reflection. Some of these organic remains are wonderful, 
 others extremely beautiful, and all are interesting. 
 
 I. INSECTS. Among the discoveries of geology, fossil 
 insects are comparatively rare. They are found in the 
 coal shale of the oolitic series of Yorkshire, and in the 
 older coal slate, along with vegetable deposits. Their 
 beautiful preservation in amber is well known. Among 
 the most interesting discoveries of this kind, is a col- 
 lection of fossil insects, found near Aix, in Provence : 
 they are all of European forms, and, it is believed, 
 have living analogues in existing genera : with the soli- 
 tary exception of one, none of the species are aquatic. 
 They were found in marl stone. 
 
 II. BIRDS are also of rare occurrence. The cele- 
 brated flying reptile, (pterodactylus) has been found 
 both in the lias of Dorsetshire, which belongs to the 
 third class of formation ; and in the tertiary beds of the 
 famous Paris basin, which belong to the fourth class of 
 formation. It has been computed that birds are iive 
 times more numerous now than mammalia. From this 
 it has been hastily concluded, that in an antediluvian 
 era, this order was reversed. Bones of birds are found 
 in the oolite, and ferruginous sandstone, in the third 
 class. In the gypsum quarries of the Paris formation, 
 ten species of birds have been found. Bones of birds 
 have also been found in the breccia of Gibraltar, the 
 diluvium of Kirkdale cave, and in other diluvia forma- 
 tions which are supposed still more recent than the 
 preceding. 
 
 III. FISHES are numerous in fossil representatives, 
 and are common to various formations. Fossil flshes 
 are found to accord, more than other organic remains, 
 with existing genera and species : indeed, we are not 
 
107 
 
 aware that any have been found that are without their 
 living analogues. The product of various seas are 
 jumbled together in one indiscriminate mass. Monte 
 Bolca is a fruitful source of beautifully preserved fossil 
 fishes, some fine specimens of which we were enabled 
 to obtain when at Verona. Of one hundred ascertained 
 fossil fishes in Bozza's Collection, four had their living 
 analogues in the seas of Polynesia ; of sixty-two species 
 of fishes in the Jardin des Plantes, twenty-eight were 
 considered to be European, fourteen to belong to Indian 
 seas, two to African, thirteen to South American, and 
 five to North American seas : one hundred and five 
 species M. de Saussure thus disposes of, thirty-two 
 European, thirty-nine Asiatic, three African, eighteen 
 South American, and eleven North American. This 
 distribution cannot, however, be received as accurate, 
 or otherwise than as an approximation. Those assigned 
 to European seas are, in all probability, too limited. 
 This indiscriminate assemblage of fishes, from the four 
 quarters of the globe, appears to us quite conclusive as 
 to the fact of a universal deluge ; for unless the waters 
 had circumfused the globe, and 
 
 ** Omnia pontus erant : Deerant quoque littora ponto j" 
 
 how could they have assembled together ? 
 
 IV. AMPHIBIA. Mr. Coneybeare is of opinion, that 
 eleven or twelve distinct species of crocodiles, monitors, 
 &c occur in secondary strata, and in as many different 
 geological scites, commencing with the new red sand- 
 stone. In this sandstone, in a quarry near Lochmaben, 
 in Dumfrieshire, there is distinct evidence that it must 
 have been traversed by living quadrupeds, while in 
 a soft state inferred to be the crocodile or the tortoise : 
 and which, from a series of experiments, made by 
 Dr. Buckland, with a living tortoise on a sand bank, is 
 supposed to have been left by that animal before the 
 sixty or seventy feet of solid strata with which it is now 
 covered had been superimposed. On one surface there 
 were no less than four separate tracks of as many 
 different kinds of animals. This discovery, though at 
 
108 
 
 complete variance with pre-conceived ideas in geology, 
 we consider extremely interesting, as proving the 
 existence of quadrupeds before this formation of the new 
 red sandstone, which belongs to the third class. Saurians 
 are also formed in the lias, and upwards to the 'London 
 clay.' These saurians are of gigantic dimensions, and 
 incongruous forms ; they scarcely find analogues in liv- 
 ing saurians. We have already adverted to the ichthy- 
 osaurus, plesiosaurus, and megalosaurits, c. Among 
 these may be included the iguanodon, (so called from 
 its supposed resemblance to the iguana,) which is stated 
 to be a gigantic herbivorous reptile, and inferred to 
 have been, like the cayman or alligator, an animal which 
 frequented primeval fresh water lakes and rivers ; 
 though, according to our present notions, it is not so evi- 
 dent how an herbivorous animal could be an inhabitant 
 of lakes or rivers. Its teeth are of a very remarkable 
 structure, being serrated on the edges, and grooved 
 on the surface. It has been supposed to be sixty feet 
 long, and to have had a small horn on the forehead, 
 somewhat resembling the smaller one of the rhinoceros : 
 but the measurement rests on a fragment. This 
 gigantic fossil is found in the Tilgate stone. The 
 vertebra? of another saurian has been more lately found 
 in the Portland stone, near Oxford : it is double the 
 size of that of the iguanodoti, and four times that of 
 the mastodon. The Stonesfield slate contains a most 
 remarkable association. In this formation, are marine, 
 amphibious, and terrestrial animals, associated with 
 terrestrial, lacustrine, and marine plants, together with 
 birds and insects all reposing together in a bed not 
 exceeding six feet in thickness. " Tell us, ye who best 
 can tell," how could these have been brought together, 
 except by a cause which at once invaded the sea, " the 
 dry land," and the regions of the atmosphere : for, had 
 not the "windows of heaven been opened," insects 
 would not have been precipitated from the "bosom of the 
 air." In the sandstone of Tilgate Forest we find a 
 proof of the same kind: fossil remains of turtles, birds, 
 .shells, and tropical vegetation, are blended in one 
 
109 
 
 indiscriminate mass of confusion, with the leptorynchus, 
 iguanodon, plesiosatirus, and megalosaurus. 
 
 Of mammiferous animals, the bones of whales are 
 found in the marine deposits of Norfolk, &c. ; and Cuvier 
 has enumerated ten fossil species of the seal. 
 
 V. FOSSIL VEGETATION consists of palms, tree ferns, 
 cacti, euphorbias, canes, reeds, and grasses most of 
 them having living analogues in tropical vegetation, and 
 some truly gigantic : there are, also, fossil remains of 
 fruit, and seed vessels in the coal shales of Yorkshire, 
 and these are found abundantly in the * London clay' at 
 Sheppey. 
 
 VI. ZOOPHYTES, &c. The ' Dudley fossil' or trilo- 
 bite, which, however modern research has proved to be 
 by no means the exclusive property of the Dudley lime- 
 stone, remains as yet without its living analogue. Belem- 
 nites are concamerated shells with siphunculi passing 
 through the partitions as in the nautilus : their true 
 character seems to have been determined by the late 
 Mr. Miller, of Bristol, who published a valuable work 
 on the ' Crinoidse.' These are found in various formations 
 from lias to chalk. The lily encrinite is a beautiful 
 fossil. There is an exquisite specimen in the Rooms of 
 the Geological Society, perhaps the finest and most 
 entire in existence. According to Mr. Parkinson, the 
 lily encrinite is formed of nearly thirty thousand distinct 
 bones. It is supposed to be characteristic of what has 
 been called the muchelkalk, (a kind of shelly limestone,) 
 a formation unknown in this country. 
 
 "The organic remains of the secondary strata," says 
 Mr. Lyell, "in general, consist of coral and marine shells: 
 of the latter the British strata (from the inferior oolite 
 to the chalk inclusive,) have yielded about six hundred 
 species. Vertebrated animals are very abundant, but 
 they are almost entirely confined to fish and reptiles : 
 some remains of cetacea, have however, also been met 
 with in the oolitic series of England, and the bones of 
 two species of warm blooded quadrupeds, of extinct 
 genera, allied to the opossum. The occurrence of one 
 individual of the higher classes of mammalia, whether 
 
 K 
 
110 
 
 marine or terrestrial, in the^e ancient strata, is as fatal to 
 the theory of successive developement, as if several 
 hundreds had been discovered."* This we consider 
 correct and acute reasoning. 
 
 VII. FOSSIL QUADRUPEDS. Fossil ruminants are 
 such as find their living analogues in genera and sub- 
 genera, at present most common in northern climes 
 as the mnsk ox, reindeer, and elk; while the fossil 
 pachydermata,^ of the largest orders of animals, as the 
 elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, and tapir, find their 
 analogues in those that range between the tropics. The 
 bones of the elephant or mammoth are most abundant. 
 Until the recent discovery of the mastodon on the banks 
 of thelrawadi, its locality had been confined to America. 
 Nearly forty species of extinct pachydermata have been 
 found in the superior deposits of the environs of Paris, and 
 among them a new genus, called, by Cuvier, palceotheri- 
 um ;\ also another, which has been named anoplotherium, 
 which literally signifies an unarmed wild beast : it was 
 found in the gypsum quarries of Paris. The fossil elk 
 has been found in Ireland, Isle of Man, and more lately, 
 as we have heard, in Shropshire: it occurs in peat, 
 marl, and gravel. We particularly investigated the 
 shell marl formation of Ballaugh, in the Isle of Man : 
 it is sixteen feet deep in the centre, and a peat bog is 
 incumbent over it. While we were in the Isle of Man, 
 some years ago, a fine and entire skeleton was dug up : 
 the antlers measured eleven feet from tip to tip : on 
 breaking some of the horns in the quarry, we found the 
 interior cancelli full of blue earthy phosphate of iron ; 
 the peroxyde of the metal having filtered through 
 the incumbent strata, and by decomposing the earthy 
 phosphate, formed a metallic phosphate. The most in- 
 
 * Principles of Geology. London, 8vo. 1830. p. 150. 
 
 t Pachydermata, thick skinned quadrupeds, (such as the 
 elephant, rhinoceros, &c.) each foot having more than two 
 toes ; with incisive teeth in both jaws. 
 
 I Palseotherium, (ancient wild beast) allied to the tapir, 
 but gigantic in size. 
 
Ill 
 
 teresting circumstance, however, connected with these 
 remains, was a coin of Ethelred, which was discovered 
 with the fossil bones. There were also a considerable 
 quantity of fragments of flints, which seemed, to us, as 
 having been intended for arrow heads ; but more rude 
 than the neatly formed arrow heads, called, in Scotland, 
 elf-stones sometimes found in bogs. The authority 
 which communicated to us the fact of the coin's having 
 been found, is above all suspicion. By M. Cuvier's 
 researches, it would appear, there has been an excess of 
 ruminantia, such as the ox, deer, &c., preserved, com- 
 pared with carnivora, such as the hyaena, &c. the prin- 
 cipal loss having fallen on the latter, compared with the 
 present numerical distribution of animals. The remark 
 of this great authority is highly valuable. It is inter- 
 esting, as connected with this fact, to notice the com- 
 mand given to Noah : " Of every clean beast thou 
 shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female ; 
 and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and 
 his female."* We may reasonably infer that the latter 
 division included the carnivora, and the numerical dif- 
 ference will thus be satisfactorily accounted for. 
 
 We believe that no quadrumanous animals, such as 
 the ape or monkey, have ever been found fossil in the great 
 formations of the globe ; but it by no means follows 
 from hence that the discovery is not yet to come. Qua- 
 drumanous animals are entirely tropical, having their 
 dwelling in trees. One of the most important of recent 
 discoveries in geology is the fact of the bones of the 
 MAMMOTH having been found at North Cliff, in York- 
 shire, in a formation entirely lacustrine ; while all the 
 land and fresh water shells in this formation, (thirteen 
 in number,) have been accurately identified with species 
 and varieties now existing in that county. Bones of the 
 bison, whose habitat is now a cold, or at any rate, a 
 temperate clime, have been found in the same place. 
 That these quadrupeds, and the indigenous species of 
 shells found along with them, had a contemporaneous 
 
 * Gen. vii. 2. 
 
 K2 
 
112 
 
 existence in Yorkshire, (a fact which Mr. Lyell justly 
 considers to be of vast importance in geological science,) 
 has certainly been demonstrated by the Rev. W. V. 
 Vernon, who had a pit sunk to the depth of upwards of 
 two hundred feet through undisturbed strata, in which 
 the organic remains of the mammoth were found im- 
 bedded, together with shells, in a deposit which seems 
 to have resulted from tranquil waters. Mr. Vernon 
 considers these phenomena as proving that there has 
 been but little, if any, change of temperature in the 
 climate of Britain, since the mammoth lived there.* 
 Dr. S9houw, of Copenhagen, had come to similar con- 
 clusions as to the climate of Palestine, from calculating 
 the mean temperature necessary for the growth of the 
 palm. The date palm is as successfully cultivated now 
 in Palestine, as in the earliest period of which we have 
 any account. " The city of palms," or Jericho, was so 
 called from the groves of palms in its vicinity ; while 
 pagan historians amply confirm what Sacred History 
 has so unequivocally described. Thus there seems no 
 legitimate ground to suppose, either that mammoths 
 were non-contemporaneous with fossil remains of exist- 
 ing genera and species; or, that the climate of the 
 globe has materially changed since the era in which 
 mammoths lived. The indiscriminate mixture of the 
 higher types of organization with the lower types of 
 animal formation, bids defiance to their being legi- 
 timately considered as a test in the decision of the 
 question of the comparative age of rocks. The date 
 of formations cannot, therefore, be determined from 
 any particular description of organic remains, because 
 the same organic remains are found in other strata 
 and other formations. The obvious inferences from 
 these premises are, 1. The theory of the successive 
 developement of animal forms has not the shadow of 
 proof; 2. The various types of organization were con- 
 temporaneous ; and as they now are, so they have ever 
 been; 3. That geological facts, so far from countenancing 
 
 * Phil. Mag. Sep. 1829, &c. 
 
113 
 
 an entire change of climate, prove the very reverse ; 
 and it follows, therefore, 4. That tropical vegetation 
 and tropical zoology, the organic wreck of which has 
 come from every quarter of the globe, must have been 
 transported by the violent action of the currents of an 
 universal deluge, which has certainly circumfused the 
 globe. 
 
 We have already distinctly stated, that though the 
 earth has been visited with a general and universal de- 
 luge, which has submerged both hemispheres, there have 
 been also numerous local catastrophes in both the ante- 
 diluvian era and in postdiluvian times. Of the latter 
 class of phenomena, the " Paris Basin," as it has 
 been called, affords a remarkable example ; it seems to 
 have been alternately invaded by the sea, and by the 
 waters of a lake there appear to have been three ma- 
 rine depositions, while three seem to be fresh water 
 formations. The lowest of these is a basis of chalk, 
 containing regular beds of dark flints; this is assumed to 
 be the ancient marine formation ; and it contains shells: 
 the univalve shells found here, however, have no regular 
 or distinct spires. Incumbent on this substratum, is 
 I. a deposition composed of sandstone, and plastic clay 
 readily yielding when impressed ; and lignite, a kind of 
 fossil wood. The shells here seem to be a mixture of 
 marine and fresh water, but are in distinct depositions. 
 This fact proves that the sea had invaded the land; on 
 its overflow the lacustrine or fresh water shells would 
 perish, and be enveloped in the subsidence of the foreign 
 matter, mechanically suspended; while marine shells 
 would supply their place, and these, be either trans- 
 ported by the tidal current in an incipient stage of 
 growth, in the form of spawn, or more mature. The fresh 
 water shells, which have been defined as such, much ex- 
 ceed in number such as are of a marine origin. It must, 
 however, be confessed, that it is not quite so easy to draw 
 the line of distinction between the one and the other, 
 as might be at first sight imagined. M. Beudant has 
 proved that the inhabitants of fresh water lakes may be 
 gradually inured to a salt water medium. Indeed the 
 
 K3 
 
114 
 
 annual migration of the salmon from the sea to the river, 
 is a fact allied to the same class of phenomena. We 
 remember a phenomenon of a similar kind ; and which, 
 if we mistake not, is mentioned in the statistical account 
 of Scotland, of a sea plaice having been found in an 
 inland fresh water lake : we know, personally, the fact 
 as stated to have been perfectly correct. Generally, 
 however, a sudden commixture of salt and fresh water 
 would be fatal to the inhabitants of the latter. Water 
 taken from a river, as the Thames, Neva, or Ganges, 
 immediately above the influence of the tide, cannot be 
 well preserved at sea, and soon becomes corrupt, because 
 the mollusca borne on the marine wave perish in the 
 conflicting stream of fresh water which blends with it. 
 There is another fact, of considerable interest, which 
 will perhaps serve to explain the deposition of fresh 
 water and marine shells. Salt water is of greater specific 
 gravity than fresh water ; and river water, it has been 
 clearly ascertained, is borne bodily upwards on the 
 marine wave in every tide : such is the case, for instance, 
 with the river Dee, at Aberdeen, as clearly ascertained 
 by Mr. Stevenson, Civil Engineer. Whether the flux 
 and reflux of the ocean were, in antediluvian times, 
 subject to the same periods of duration as they now are, 
 cannot perhaps be determined ; but a change of period 
 here would operate in producing phenomena exhibiting 
 characters very dissimilar, in cases like these, compared 
 with those now in operation ; and as, for aught we know 
 to the contrary, such may have been the case, it should 
 induce us not to draw our inferences too hastily from 
 things that do appear. We do not believe that the axis 
 of rotation was changed at the deluge. Laplace, in his 
 " Systeme du Monde/' has endeavoured to shew that the 
 rotation of the earth on its axis in past times could not have 
 materially differed from the present ; this, however, must 
 ever perhaps remain an undetermined point. We have 
 already glanced at the distribution of temperature, which 
 certainly appears to have remained unchanged in our 
 postdiluvian world, since the deluge, which overwhelm- 
 ed the globe ; and as far back as historical documents 
 
115 
 
 extend, or the evidence adduced by Mr. 
 There is, therefore, good reason to believe 
 thermal lines, or lines of equal temperature, have been 
 precisely the same as they now are. II. On the formation 
 adverted to, reposes a coarse limestone ; also sandstone : 
 fossil shells are found therein, and they are referred 
 to marine production. The superior stratum is, III. a 
 formation which it has been concluded is that of fresh 
 , water : it is composed of silicious limestone, containing 
 sea and fresh water shells ; a kind of connecting stratum, 
 or junction link, explicable on the principles already 
 adverted to. This introduces gypsum, remarkable for 
 the bones it contains : these are palseotheriums, anoplo- 
 theriums ; carnivorous and various other mammiferse ; 
 several species of birds, reptiles, and lish. The fresh 
 water marls contain fossil remains of palms, fish, and 
 fresh water shells. The marine gypsum and marls con- 
 tain marine shells and fragments of crustaceee, &c. This 
 leads us to the IV. which is a marine formation, in the 
 ascending series. It is composed of sandstone, limestone, 
 and marine marls. This limestone imbeds sea shells. 
 To these succeed V. the third and last fresh water 
 formation, which includes marls and the millstones called 
 burstones, (so valuable for that purpose). The best 
 burstones contain no organic remains whatever. In this 
 formation, are found fossil shells which possess living 
 analogues, almost all of them having counterparts in the 
 genera now inhabiting the lakes and marshes of France : 
 altogether there have been found in the beds of the 
 Paris Basin, not less than twelve hundred species of 
 testacea. These interesting depositions are overtopped 
 by formations having diluvial and alluvial characters. 
 
 The Paris Basin forms an interesting legend of past 
 times : these various formations are explicable on the 
 principle of local convulsions, and the entire number 
 may be of an antediluvian character, while the diluvial 
 depositions are the consequences of the deluge ; and the 
 alluvial, the action of recent and postdiluvial changes 
 now in operation. Even Mr. Lyell says, " The strata 
 of the Paris Basin are partly of fresh water origin, and 
 
116 
 
 filled with the spoils of the land. They have afforded 
 a great number of skeletons of land quadrupeds, but 
 these relics are confined almost entirely to one small 
 member of the group, and their conservation may be 
 considered as having arisen from some local and acci- 
 dental combination of circumstances." It has been cus- 
 tomary to group together with the Basin of Paris, those 
 of the Isle of Wight and London, as if they were indi- 
 viduals belonging to the same family and had a contempo- 
 raneous formation. This, however, is an entire mistake. 
 The substratum of chalk is found in all of them ; but 
 gypsum and its mammiferae, c. is to be found neither 
 in the Basin of the Isle of Wight nor in that of London. 
 In the London Basin are found organic remains of ele- 
 phants, hippopotami, &c. 
 
 It has been often asserted that MAN, from never 
 having been found in the state of a fossil, must needs 
 belong to a creation comparatively recent, as the com- 
 mencement, perhaps, of what Mr. Lyell would call a 
 "geological cycle ;" which, however, we confess our in- 
 ability to comprehend : and if there is one more decided 
 attempt to strike at the very foundation of Revelation 
 than another, it is this ; but, it is not more repugnant 
 to Revelation than to sound philosophy and right reason, 
 nor is there a single fact that can be brought forward to 
 warrant such an assertion. Suppose that nothing of the 
 kind had really been found, would it not be rash in the 
 present infant stage of geological science, to infer that 
 such may not be found ? and yet this has been received 
 among geologists as a species of axiom; when the 
 vast diluvial beds of clay and gravel, and the superior 
 strata in Asia, shall have been explored, it will be time 
 enough to venture on such a conclusion ; but to hazard 
 this opinion at present, is of a piece with the sweeping 
 assumptions of geologists from first to last. Sacred 
 History and profane writers agree that the cradle of the 
 human race was in the East, and in a geological point 
 of view, at any rate, that quarter of the globe is a 
 complete terra incognita. The very record of creation 
 presupposes an universal distribution of vegetation, and 
 
117 
 
 of the tribes of inferior animals all over the globe. But 
 it was not so with man, he was solitary, and confined to 
 a little Goshen of his own. We are not warranted to 
 think that the human family was as multiplied and dis- 
 persed as some have supposed, or had increased to any 
 thing like the extent, it has been assumed. Besides, 
 man is a gregarious being, and his diluvial wreck may 
 be discovered in some vast charnel deposits in districts 
 yet unexplored. We pity the evasive shifts to which 
 those who reject Revelation are reduced in considering 
 this question. Let us take Mr. Ly ell's remarks. "But 
 another and a far more difficult question may arise out 
 of the admission that man is comparatively of modern 
 origin. Is not the interference of the human species, (!) 
 it may be asked, such a deviation from the antecedent 
 course of physical events, that the knowledge of such 
 a fact tends to destroy all our confidence in the uniform- 
 ity of the order of nature both in regard to time past 
 and future ? If such an innovation could take place 
 after the earth had been exclusively inhabited for thou- 
 sands of ages by inferior animals, why should not other 
 changes as extraordinary and unprecedented happen 
 from time to time ? If one new cause was permitted to 
 supervene, differing in kind and energy from any before 
 in operation, why might not others have come into ac- 
 tion at different epochs ? Or what security have we that 
 they may not arise hereafter ? If such be the case, how 
 can the experience of one period, even though we are 
 acquainted with all the possible effects of the then ex- 
 isting causes, be a standard to which we can refer all 
 natural phenomena of other periods ?" Now these are 
 certainly very heavy reasons, and entirely neutralize 
 Mr. Lyell's assumptions, (for they are no better) ; while 
 our author, in these very admissions, becomes suicidal to 
 the whole drift of the argument for which his volume 
 was written. The title of this certainly otherwise in- 
 teresting volume is this ; "Principles of Geology, being 
 an attempt to explain the former changes of the earth's 
 surface, by reference to causes now in operation." Let 
 us examine how Mr. Lyell meets his own inferences. 
 
118 
 
 " Now these objections" says he, " would be unanswer- 
 able, if adduced against one, who was contending for the 
 absolute uniformity throughout all time of the succession 
 of sublunary events." Then follows an assurance that 
 he is not disposed to indulge in the philosophical reve- 
 ries of the Egyptian and Greek sects. He, however, 
 says nothing about those of India : shall we call Mr. 
 Lyell a " geological logician,'' and is this to be accepted 
 as a specimen ? If Revelation is to be encountered with 
 this kind of logic, it may be safely met with pity and 
 contempt. 
 
 It is a very curious circumstance, that geologists 
 have so contrived to overlook all evidence of the exist- 
 ence of the fossil remains of man, that the discovery of 
 the gallibi, or human skeletons, found imbedded in a 
 grey limestone in the island of Guadaloupe, does not 
 even receive an incidental remark. Some attempt, it 
 is true, has been made to set aside the important fact, 
 and to consider it a mere modern incrustation, refer- 
 rable to the commencement of the last century. Those 
 who with us have attentively examined this fossil re- 
 main, cannot, we think, be quite so easily persuaded 
 that it is so ; and such opinions are by no means recon- 
 cileable with the facts which Mr. Kcenig has detailed in 
 the Transactions of the Royal Society, for 1814. Or- 
 ganic remains more completely fossilized it were not 
 easy to find ; and they are certainly much less equivo- 
 cally so than many to which this character is granted 
 without reserve. When men are determined to reject 
 facts because they militate against pre-conceived ideas, 
 they will do so at all hazards ; accordingly, this has 
 been done in reference to the human skulls which have 
 been found associated with the remains of the rhino- 
 ceros, hyaena, lion, c., and consolidated in the lime- 
 stone rock of Kosritz. In one quarry, (winters) the 
 human bones were found eight feet below those of the 
 rhinoceros, and twenty-six feet below the surface. But 
 because many species of bones of recent animals have 
 been found with human remains in the gypsum quar- 
 ries, these are presumed to be of later origin than 
 
119 
 
 those in the limestone. " I am far from thinking," says 
 M. Schlotheim, in reference to the organic remains of 
 man in the caves of Kb'sritz, " the explanations satis- 
 factory which I have attempted of these phenomena, 
 and am disposed to consider the human bones to be of 
 a later epoch than the larger land animals of the an- 
 cient world ; all other reported cases of human remains 
 accompanying the bones of beasts of prey have not been 
 confirmed." This is a specimen of geological logic, in 
 reference to our question; accordingly, Dr. Buckland, 
 while he readily admits that M. Schlotheim's hypothe- 
 sis is altogether unsatisfactory, coalesces in the opinion, 
 " that the human bones are not of the same antiquity 
 as those of the antediluvian animals that occur in the 
 same caves with them. " These afford good examples of 
 geological logic, the petitio principii being first as- 
 sumed, facts are made to pay homage to fancy and 
 whim. Since these may be antediluvian remains, for 
 aught that can be proved to the contrary, Dr. Buckland 
 is not warranted to say, (except as a " geological logi- 
 cian") that " the case of Kosritz affords no exception to 
 the general fact, that human bones have not been dis- 
 covered in any of those diluvial deposits which have 
 hitherto been examined." In June, 1829, M. Cordier 
 read, before the Academy of Sciences, part of a memoir 
 addressed to him by M. de Christol, Secretary of the 
 Natural History Society of Montpellier ; this interest- 
 ing communication related to two caves that had been 
 recently discovered in the Department of the Gard, 
 which contained bones. It appears that these caves 
 were discovered by M. M. Dumas and Bonause : one 
 is situated at Pondre, and the other at Jouvignargue, 
 near Sommieres. M. de Christol seems to have ex- 
 amined them with considerable care and attention ; 
 and from an acute examination of the specimens ob- 
 tained by digging, is convinced that they exhibit incon- 
 testable evidence of a mixture of human bones with 
 bones of mammiferae belonging to extinct species. Ac- 
 cording to M. de C. the organic remains of animals 
 mixed with those of man belong to the hyaena, badger, 
 
120 
 
 bear, stag, aurochs, ox, horse, wild boar, and rhinoceros. 
 Some of the bones, according to M. de Christol, bear 
 evident marks of hyaenas' teeth ; and the album grcecum 
 of these animals was also discovered in the caves. 
 M. Cordier seems to consider these facts as very im- 
 portant. Besides these instances, human bones" have 
 been found in the caves of Bize, near Narbonne. 
 Some of the bones, being apparently of much more re- 
 cent origin than any fossils hitherto discovered, seem to 
 connect, it is said, the present geological period with 
 that which preceded historical records. It is stated, 
 that at Bize, in the same beds, are found human bones 
 mixed with bones of extinct species, all possessing the 
 same physical and chemical characters. These bones are 
 entire, and bear no evidence of their having been gnawed; 
 while there is also the entire absence of large carnivo- 
 ra, which, had such been found there, in a fossil state, 
 might have had all the blame of having carried in these 
 bones. Professor Jameson admits that if M. de Chris- 
 tol's discovery be correct, it is more in favour of a mix- 
 ture of human bones with the remains of antediluvian 
 animals, than the evidence of the caves near Narbonne ; 
 and Mr. Lyell promises, in his forthcoming volume, to 
 bring a little " geological logic" to play on the caves of 
 Bize. We have only to state, in addition, that a grotto 
 has been lately discovered near Palermo, the capital of 
 Sicily, by Sig. Bernardi, containing considerable re- 
 mains of human bones, as well as those of hippopotami, 
 mammoths, and other mammiferae. Numerous other 
 instances might be added; but these are, perhaps, 
 the least equivocal: and if the phenomena can, by 
 possibility, be explained away in any manner, geologists 
 will not listen to any thing which may threaten this 
 their favourite hypothesis for it has no right whatever 
 to the name of a theory Vox et preterea nihil: it is 
 now their favourite pet. The theory of successive de- 
 velopement has been wrested from the grasp of the geo- 
 logist, and he will not part, without a severe struggle, 
 with the non-contemporaneous existence of man in an 
 early epocha of the world. This is a point for which, 
 
121 
 
 without any legitimate grounds, he so stoutly contests. 
 Though we are not easily satisfied with evidence, we 
 are free to confess that the foregoing circumstances, 
 in conjunction with others, are to our mind perfectly 
 conclusive. As the point is one of first rate im- 
 portance, we cannot abandon, in this place, the op- 
 portunity of adverting to the caverns in the transition 
 limestone near Torquay, which were first announced 
 toward the beginning of 1825 ; particularly as we have 
 seen an immense assemblage of the bones of the hyaena, 
 tiger, elephant, rhinoceros, elk, hippopotamus, &c., 
 in the possession of a gentleman who has diligently 
 explored the cavern called "Kent's Hole," in which 
 they were found. In Pixy's Hole, the upper stratum 
 of stalagmite was cut through, and there was discovered 
 on the lower excavation, charcoal, pottery, flint knives, 
 &c. ; and the individual referred to, informed us, that, 
 in the very middle of the stalagmite, in "Kent's Hole," 
 which was about eight inches thick, there was found 
 a piece of wood with a ledge on one side, resembling 
 a sandal, it was completely embedded animal mat- 
 ter was also found ; and in Pixy's Hole, a black 
 layer, apparently manganese, was discovered in the 
 mud, about four feet from the surface, and running in 
 a direction parallel to it for a distance of twenty or 
 thirty feet. Here we have works of art belonging to 
 the aborigines of Britain, and in the middle of the 
 stalagmite. Bones are also found frequently incrusted, 
 and in some instances, teeth have been discovered, half in 
 the mud and half in the incrustation of stalagmite. It 
 has been stated, and with some shew of truth, that 
 the substratum of stalagmite is antediluvian, and the 
 superstratum postdiluvian : the intermediate mud is 
 diluvial, and the reliquiae being in relief, the stalagmite 
 would incrust and embed them. 
 
 In opposition to the numerous revolutions, not 
 merely local and confined, but universal, which geolo- 
 gists have been in the habit of taking for granted, it 
 affords some relief to find that there are honoura- 
 ble exceptions: among these may be mentioned Mr. 
 
 L 
 
122 
 
 Granville Perm, and Mr. Young, of Whitby, who think, 
 with us, that one universal deluge is quite sufficient to 
 account for the facts and phenomena of geology ; and 
 to suppose any thing more, is a positive infraction of 
 Sir Isaac Newton's celebrated maxim, that if one 
 explanation is sufficient, it is superfluous and unneces- 
 sary to assume more. Besides these authorities, it is 
 cheering to learn that M. Constant Prevost has lately 
 laid before the Academy of Sciences, a treatise on the 
 great geological question, Whether the continents, 
 which are now inhabited, have or have not been repeat- 
 edly submerged? This author maintains firmly, in 
 opposition to modern geologists, that there has been 
 only one great inundation of the earth ; and that the 
 various remains of animals and plants, which have 
 given rise to the supposition of successive inunda- 
 tions, have floated to the places where they are now 
 occasionally found. Every successive investigation, 
 and every new discovery weaken the speculations of 
 geologists ; which are, at the present moment, only, at 
 best, "a bowed wall and a tottering fence:" and 
 though they may, for a little longer, be able to satisfy 
 themselves on the principles of " geological logic," we 
 doubt whether they will be able to convince others. 
 None, who are capable of reflecting, will be disposed to 
 abandon Revelation, the credibility of which is adamant 
 at every link, for the fooleries of a sceptical geology ; 
 and if there are any, who, on a calm survey of geological 
 facts, can discover a solitary one counter to the palpa- 
 ble truths of the Mosaic cosmogony, his opinion is at 
 antipodes with our own ; we view things through 
 media that are altogether different. Truth will in- 
 stantly convince us. Fable and romance, however 
 playful and amusing, we treat as idle tales, not worthy 
 of the least attention from the votary of scientific truth. 
 The circumfusion of the waters of the deluge has 
 been already stated, and nothing seems to be better 
 substantiated and established than the fact in question. 
 The language of the Sacred Volume is clear and deci- 
 sive on this point. " The waters prevailed exceedingly 
 
on the earth ; and all the high hills that were under the 
 whole heaven were covered. Fifteen cubits upwards 
 did the waters prevail, and the mountains were covered." 
 The attestations to this fact, in organic remains, are 
 universal, and completely conclusive. In Italy entire 
 skeletons of whales have been found at an elevation of 
 not less than one thousand two hundred feet above the 
 level of the Mediterranean. In a letter of the 5th May, 
 1830, to the Asiatic Society of Calcutta, M. Gerard 
 states, that he had collected shells among the snowy 
 mountains of the frontiers of Thibet : some of them were 
 obtained on the crest of a pass, seventeen thousand feet 
 above the level of the sea. Here were also found 
 fragments of rock, bearing impressions of shells, de- 
 tached from the contiguous peak rising far above the 
 elevated level : generally, however, it would appear, 
 that the rocks from whence these shells were collected, 
 rise to an altitude of about sixteen thousand feet ; one 
 cliff was no less than a mile in perpendicular height 
 above the nearest level. M. Gerard continues, " Just 
 before crossing the boundary of Sudak into Bassalier, 
 I was exceedingly gratified by the discovery of a bed of 
 fossil oysters clinging to the rock as if they had been 
 alive."* No doubt many of the rocks are in more sub- 
 lime relief now, than they were in the antediluvian 
 world. The subsidence of the land and lower levels, and 
 the action of submarine currents would scoop out deep 
 vallies ; and no doubt, much that is now ' ' dry land," 
 once formed the bed of the ocean. Alpine struc- 
 tures have emerged from the deep, and volcanoes 
 have heaped up elevations on mountains already lofty 
 and sublime ; as Cotopaxi, Antisana, and Tunguragua, 
 amid the range of the Cordilleras of the Andes. The 
 Geological Society has a series of ammonites from India. 
 These fossils are objects of adoration to the Hindoos : 
 they fall on the S.W. side of the Himala mountains 
 from an altitude which exceeds that of perpetual con- 
 gelation : they are picked up by the natives, and religi- 
 
 * Asiatic Register. 
 L 2 
 
124 
 
 ously preserved, being concealed as much as possible 
 from the scrutiny of Europeans. Mont Perdu, among 
 the Appenines, which rises to an altitude of eleven thou- 
 sand feet above the sea's level, encloses an innumerable 
 multitude of testacea : and Humboldt found sea-shells 
 among the Andes, fourteen thousand feet above the 
 level of the ocean. At Touraine, on the Continent, is a 
 bed of shells which extends nearly twenty-seven miles, 
 having a depth of twenty feet. Monte Bolca contains 
 upwards of one hundred species of fish from the four 
 quarters of the earth, and collected together in one 
 immense assemblage. 
 
 It is quite refreshing to quote the simple narrative of 
 the deluge as described by the inspired prophet, after 
 considering the perplexing and conflicting speculations 
 of geologists. In the seventh chapter of Genesis, we are 
 informed, that the patriarch and his family went into 
 the ark which was prepared, and along with them such 
 animals as were to be preserved to replenish the new 
 earth, which was to emerge from the waters of the 
 deluge. " It came to pass," says the sacred historian, 
 " after seven days, that the waters of the flood were 
 upon the earth : in the six hundredth year of Noah's 
 life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the 
 month, the same day were all the fountains of the great 
 deep broken up, and the windows ( or floodgates ) of 
 heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth 
 forty days and forty nights." "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 upon the earth ; 
 and all the high hills that were under the whole heaven 
 were covered. Fifteen cubits upwards did the waters 
 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 every creeping thing that 
 creepeth upon the earth, and every man : all in whose 
 nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry 
 

 125 
 
 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 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 upon the earth an hundred 
 and fifty days."* This description of a catastrophe, 
 which is attested by the universal consent of mankind, 
 and confirmed by the testimony of geological phenomena, 
 is, though brief, a very circumstantial and explicit ac- 
 count. We have already shewn, that, in the organic 
 remains of the antediluvial world, which have been dis- 
 covered through the researches of the practical geolo- 
 gist, fossil types of "fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, 
 and of every creeping thing, and of man," remain in 
 attestation of the fact. That these have been the fruit 
 of modern research is a remarkable confirmation, by an 
 independent testimony, of the important and awful 
 truths developed in the Sacred Narrative. The fact that 
 fossil fishes, which have living analogues in the four 
 quarters of the globe, now separated by distinct lines of 
 demarcation, are found collected together in one place, 
 is a decisive proof that the universal tide, which had 
 circumfused the globe, must have been the medium of 
 transport no other supposition will account for the 
 phenomenon. This fossil assemblage bears all the im- 
 press of a medallion destined to perpetuate the event 
 of the deluge to the remotest posterity. Tropical animals 
 and tropical plants, whose fossil remains are found far 
 distant from the soil that gave them birth, must have 
 been swept away by a mighty flood which overwhelmed 
 the land, and rushed onward to other regions, loaded 
 with the spolia opima of the tropics. We by no means 
 doubt that there may have been, in former times, ani- 
 mals, and perhaps plants, indigenous to temperate and 
 polar regions, not now extant, and whose prior exist- 
 ence can only be ascertained by their fossil types ; but 
 irrespective of this admission, the great diversity of 
 
 * Genesis vii. 10, &c. 
 L 3 
 
126 
 
 zoological and botanical forms clearly determines that 
 all these could not have coexisted in any one determin- 
 ate and specific clime ; and the only inference is, that 
 they must have been brought from afar by a cause simi- 
 lar to that which congregated the fossil fishes. We have 
 also adverted to facts which prove, incontestably, that 
 " the high hills that were under the whole heaven were 
 covered." It does not affect the question, whether we 
 believe that the Himala, Andes, and Alps, were in such 
 sublime relief in an antediluvian world, as they now are ; 
 the fact that organic remains are found in all of them, 
 however highly elevated, excepting only the Primitive 
 Class, proves the position as far as it is susceptible of 
 proof from this class of evidence. There are many 
 causes which will account for the superior elevation of 
 individual mountains, and even a continuous chain of 
 mountains. The vast power of the submarine volcano, 
 in elevating mountains from the unfathomable depths 
 of the ocean, presents us with sufficient evidence of an 
 agent adequate to such great events ; and it seems high- 
 ly probable that volcanic energy is now far more feeble 
 than in an early period of the world. The numerous 
 vents by which that energy is expended by division, 
 may be supposed sufficient to account for a diminution 
 of power the continued operation of volcanic action 
 would be ever increasing the number of those vents, 
 and in the same ratio would their subterranean energy 
 be attenuated. Antisana, Jorullo, Cotopaxi, and Tun- 
 guragua, have doubtless added many "cubits to their 
 stature," as well as Etna and its congeners. The 
 denudation of valleys by the action of diluvial cur- 
 rents would increase the previous relief, as the boulders 
 of granite pitched on the mountains of the Jura, and 
 transported from their aboriginal scite and birthplace 
 among the aiguilles of Mont Blanc, seem sufficiently to 
 prove. 
 
 In giving full effect to the operation of volcanic 
 action, we must not be supposed as inclined to a belief, 
 that volcanoes afford any evidence of a central fire : On 
 the contrary, we think their products sufficiently attest 
 
127 
 
 that they are by no means so deeply seated as many 
 believe. The seat of volcanoes may be based on the 
 primitive rocks; but there seems to us to be no grounds 
 whatever to suppose them below primitive rocks. We 
 are aware that Hutton and his disciples contend for a 
 central fire, but that is no reason why TRUTH should 
 be sacrificed. Cordier and others have endeavoured to 
 prove, that the temperature of the earth increases with 
 the depth to which the miner penetrates; but even 
 had a uniform ratio given plausibility to such an 
 assumption, there seem to be incidental causes which 
 would contribute their part to the increment referred 
 to, irrespective of the circumstance that the temperature 
 of the atmosphere would increase with the increase 
 of density, which density would affect subterranean 
 springs. The greatest depth, however, to which the 
 miner has been conducted by his operations, may be 
 considered so superficial, compared with the radius or 
 semidiameter of the globe, that it would be utter folly 
 to assume any datum from such premises. From some 
 curious and interesting researches, by Mr. Robert 
 Ware Fox, in the mines of Cornwall, we have an 
 interesting solution of this increase of temperature 
 altogether irrespective of volcanic action. Mr. Fox, 
 from a belief that there existed a connexion between 
 electric action in the interior of the earth and the 
 arrangement of metalliferous veins ; and, that on 
 this electric action depended the progressive increase 
 of temperature in the strata of the globe, as we 
 descend from the surface of the earth, instituted a 
 series of experiments to determine the question. Ac- 
 cordingly, considerable electrical action was discovered 
 in the Huel Servel mine. Mr. Fox's inferences are, 
 that the intensities of heat and electricity, and conse- 
 quently of magnetism, increase in proportion to the 
 depths of the strata under the surface of the earth. 
 We have already stated, that we feel surprised that any 
 one, conversant with volcanic phenomena, should claim 
 vast and indefinite measures of time, as Mr. Poulet 
 Scrope has done for the basaltic formations of Auvergne. 
 
128 
 
 There has, however, been discovered, in one of the libra- 
 ries at Rome, a letter from Sidonius Apollinaris, in the 
 fifth century, to Mamertus, which refers to the then 
 active volcanic action in this district. 
 
 There is a fact stated in Scripture of considerable im- 
 portance when considered in this relation: "the fountains 
 of the great deep were broken up:" this unequivocally 
 implies the issue of torrents from the bosom of the 
 globe ; and it seems, to us, more likely that the 
 nucleus of the earth is an abyss of water than a lake 
 of fire, however the latter view of it might coalesce 
 with Buffon's notion, of which that of Hutton was a 
 more elaborate transcript. The synchronous mention 
 of the fountains of the great deep, along with the flood- 
 gates of heaven, is very remarkable, and seems to refer 
 the effect to a uniform cause. The SUPREME BEING, 
 if we may be permitted to hazard an opinion, seems to 
 have accomplished this great event, by effecting a vast 
 change in the DENSITY of the atmosphere ; to this 
 circumstance we are inclined to refer, as a secondary 
 agent in the fiat of deity, the rush of the waters from 
 the recesses of the earth, "when they brake forth as if 
 they had issued out of the womb." This increased 
 density, in the first creation, might be the ' bars and 
 doors" referred to in the Book of Job.* In pursuing 
 our inquiries, we shall perceive that this greater 
 density of the atmosphere, in an antediluvian world, 
 will account for the gigantic size of the animals and 
 plants, whose fossil remains, modern times have reveal- 
 ed to us. It would also account for an increased 
 temperature in climate ; and perhaps, too, be connected 
 with the extended term of human life in the antedilu- 
 vian world ; since a diminished density, would be ac- 
 companied with, not only a change of temperature, but 
 a change in the kygrmnetric character of the atmosphere. 
 Such an increase of density presupposes the absence of 
 clouds and of rain in the primeval world, while its 
 attenuation would account for the deluge of waters, 
 
 * Job xxxviii. 10. 
 
129 
 
 which would then descend from the aerial medium ; 
 and on the completion of the purposes for which this 
 mighty catastrophe was designed, clouds, for the first 
 time, would be seen suspended from on high ; and for 
 the first time also, would the "bow of promise in the 
 storm " be " set in the heavens," and be seen by the 
 patriarch. Had it been seen before, its being seen 
 again could not, in itself, be an apt symbol of peace, 
 and pledge of security. We have stated, that there is 
 no mention, in Sacred History, of rain having fallen in 
 the antediluvian world ; and, from the greater mass of 
 water that would be suspended in an atmosphere pos- 
 sessing an increase of density, with the total absence of 
 clouds secured by that increased density, nothing would 
 interfere, except winds, with the formation of dews, 
 which would be, from these combined circumstances, 
 very copious and uniform. It may be asked, and the 
 question has certainly been often put, What has become 
 of the surplus water of the deluge ? We have already 
 stated, that the mountainous chains, which diversify 
 the surface of the globe, may be now much higher than 
 they were in antediluvian times ; but if they really be 
 not, the fossils they embed are sufficient proof that they 
 must have been submerged ; and though we were 
 altogether unable to account for the disappearance of 
 the waters, the fact of the circumfusion of these waters, 
 and the palpable proofs that both hemispheres of the 
 globe have been simultaneously submerged, cannot be 
 controverted. However, when we reflect on the im- 
 mense expenditure of water which has entered as 
 water of crystallization into the composition of fossili- 
 ferous rocks, and diluvial and alluvial strata, it will 
 account satisfactorily for a vast proportion if not the 
 entire quantity. The electricity of the earth, and 
 perhaps that of the heavens, may have, in like manner, 
 been incessantly in operation in resolving the subterra- 
 nean waters, and the atmospheric vapour, into gaseous 
 constituents. Though the waters only ie prevailed on 
 the earth for one hundred and fifty days," it by no 
 means follows, that, when they were "assuaged," or 
 
130 
 
 began " to abate," they were so soon reduced to their 
 present limits. Centuries might have rolled away 
 before they had contracted their bounds to the dimen- 
 sions that now restrain them. Seeing that a universal 
 deluge is confirmed by testimony of the most satisfactory 
 and complete kind, a very obvious question arises, How 
 did the patriarch gain the extraordinary intimation of 
 the coming deluge and prepare such a remarkable 
 medium of escape from the catastrophe ? There is no 
 other conceivable method of accounting for it but by a 
 direct and positive communication from the ALMIGHTY 
 CREATOR. Calmet has some very pertinent remarks 
 connected with this question. " The labour (of con- 
 structing the ark) was long ; this was not the work of 
 a day ; he must have forek now n so astonishing an event 
 a considerable time previous to its actual occurrence. 
 Whence did he receive this foreknowledge ? Did the 
 earth inform him, that at twenty, thirty, forty years' 
 distance it would disgorge a flood ? surely not. Did 
 the stars announce that they would dissolve the terres- 
 trial atmosphere in terrific rains? surely not. Whence, 
 then, had Noah his foreknowledge ? Did he begin to 
 build when the first showers descended ? This was too 
 late. Had he been accustomed to rains formerly why 
 think them now of importance ? Had he never seen 
 rain what could induce him to provide against it? 
 Why this year more than last year ; why last year 
 more than the year before? These inquiries are direct: 
 we cannot flinch from the fact. Erase it from the 
 Mosaic records ; still it is recorded in Greece, in Egypt, 
 in India, and in Britain: it is registered in the very 
 sacra of the pagan world." " It implies a communica- 
 tion from GOD to man." "By faith, Noah being 
 warned of GOD of things never seen as yet in pious 
 fear prepared the ark (Kibotos) to the saving of his 
 family by which he condemned the world." 
 
 All geologists are agreed on the question of the re- 
 cent formation of our continents, and they cannot be 
 justly considered older than the period assigned, by 
 Sacred Chronology, to the deluge. Dolomieu, an acute 
 
geologist and observer of nature, was of opinion, that a 
 great catastrophe had taken place after the birth of the 
 primitive rocks, and before that of the other classes of 
 formation. Mr. Greenough holds deserved authority 
 in geological matters ; and his excellent work, we be-r 
 lieve, first aroused geologists from their cosmological 
 slumbers, by shewing them that many doubts might be 
 reasonably entertained on questions which had gained 
 acceptance with too pliant a credulity ; and that all 
 was not so finally settled as geologists ("good easy 
 men !") had been led to suppose. This author, in re- 
 ference to Dolomieu's opinion, observes : " Without 
 assenting to every part of this doctrine, I cannot but 
 consider the almost universal occurrence of conglomer- 
 ate and grauwacke on the confines of what are called pri- 
 mitive rocks as one of the most important and striking 
 facts yet established in geology : it seems to prove, that, 
 at the epoch at which these beds were formed, a deluge 
 took place." This, Mr. Greenough supposes to have been 
 more ancient than the deluge described in Scripture, 
 and to which last was to be ascribed the " present out- 
 line of the earth ; " but it may be very properly asked, 
 in the words of Mr. Young, whose excellent work on 
 the Geology of Yorkshire is now before us, "Why may 
 we not regard it as the very same ? The beds alluded 
 to seem to mark the extent to which the primeval strata 
 were dissolved by the deluge."* This excellent author 
 mentions a remarkable break and dislocation at Peak, 
 where a dreadful convulsion seems to have occurred, 
 and where the quantity of subsidence is estimated at 
 not less than three hundred feet. "Life," says M. Cuvier, 
 " has been often disturbed on this earth by terrible 
 events : calamities, which at their commencement have, 
 perhaps, moved and overturned, to a great depth, the 
 entire outer crust of the globe ; but which, since these 
 first commotions, have uniformly acted at a less depth, 
 and less generally. Numberless living beings have been 
 the victims of these catastrophes ; some have been de- 
 
 * A Geological Survey, &c. 4to. 1828, p. 346. 
 
132 
 
 stroyed by sudden inundations, others have been laid 
 dry in consequence of being instantaneously elevated. 
 Their races even have become extinct, and have left no 
 memorial of them, except some small fragments which 
 the naturalist can scarcely recognize. Such are the 
 conclusions which necessarily result from the objects 
 that we meet with at every step of our inquiry, and 
 which we can always verify from examples drawn from 
 almost every country. Every part of the globe bears 
 the impress of these great and terrible events so dis- 
 tinctly, that they must be visible to all who are qualified 
 to read their history in the remains which they have 
 left behind." The force of these truths demands our 
 ready assent ; we only contend that there is no evidence 
 whatever in the facts presented to us, of more than one 
 general and mighty deluge, though there be sufficient 
 proof of local catastrophes, both referrable to the 
 primeval history of the globe, and to postdiluvian 
 times. Modern geologists have, at length, consented to 
 ascribe to the Noachic deluge, the formation which 
 they designate by the term diluvium, for " by such an 
 agency," say they, " alone can these phenomena be ac- 
 counted for :" though it be qualified thus, "there appears 
 ample evidence of the frequent occurrence of similar 
 catastrophes, the consequence of inundations more or less 
 extensive: that to which we refer was, therefore, the 
 last of these revolutions." This is a specimen of "geo- 
 logical logic." We consider the Noachic deluge universal 
 and general, and therefore independent of " inundations 
 more or less extensive ;" an expression which can only 
 be considered as applicable to local catastrophes, how- 
 ever extended they may be considered. At Castle 
 Rising, near to Lynn Regis, in Norfolk, where the 
 sea is making rapid encroachments on the land, in sink- 
 ing a short time ago for water, there were found at a 
 depth of six hundred feet, horns perfectly straight, sup- 
 posed to be those of the unicorn : these were two feet 
 long, an inch in circumference, and hollow ; the me- 
 dullary substance seemed to be petrified. In prosecuting 
 these discoveries, there were further found, at a depth 
 
133 
 
 of six hundred and forty feet, numerous oysters with the 
 shells half open ; and at a depth of six hundred and 
 sixty feet from the surface, a large oak tree was met 
 with j it was black, and of a hard texture. According 
 to M. de la Beche, the depth of diluvium in Jamaica, is 
 about eight hundred feet ; and in Switzerland it has 
 been estimated at more than six hundred feet. This di- 
 luvium is composed of the detritus of rocks, with clay, 
 sand, gravel and other ruin. Diluvial formations contain 
 the organic spoils of mammiferce, both ruminantia and 
 carnivora, in great abundance. Respecting this diluvium, 
 Dr. Buckland, from the numerous interesting facts which 
 he has accumulated, and presented in his valuable work, 
 titled RELIQUIAE DILUVIAN.E, comes to the following 
 conclusions: "All these facts, whether considered col- 
 lectively or separately, present such a conformity of 
 proofs tending to establish the universality of a recent 
 inundation of the earth, as no difficulties or objections 
 that have hitherto arisen, are in any way sufficient to 
 overrule;" and "which, without the admission of a 
 universal deluge, it seems not easy, nay utterly impos- 
 sible, to explain." As to the chronology of this epocha, 
 Professor Buckland states it to be that of Holy Writ. 
 Our author seems to have shaken the creed of Baron 
 Cuvier, who gives way to the facts substantiated by Dr. 
 Buckland; "Je reviens," says M. Cuvier, "done a 
 1' idee que Je n avois ose embrasser aulrefois ; celle que 
 ces depots des breches osseuses ont ete formes aux depens 
 de la population contemporaire des rhinoceros et des 
 elephans fossiles," "les breches osseuses paroissent 
 aujourd'hui sous un point de vue d' un interet tout 
 nouveau," &c. &c. An admission which is very credit- 
 able to the candour and integrity of this distinguished 
 naturalist. We have only further to adduce the opinion 
 of Mr. Greenough, in reference to the same interesting 
 question : " The order of things," he observes, " imme- 
 diately preceding the deluge, resembled the present 
 order, and was suddenly interrupted by a general flood, 
 which swept away the quadrupeds from the continents, 
 tore up the solid rocks, and reduced the surface to a 
 M 
 
134 
 
 state of ruin : but this disorder was of short duration. 
 The mutilated earth did not cease to be a planet ; ani- 
 mals and plants similar to those which had perished, 
 once more adorned its surface ; and nature again sub- 
 mitted to the regular system of laws which has continued 
 uninterrupted to the present day." It is of considerable 
 importance in the present inquiry to notice the opinion 
 of the Baron Humboldt on the temperature of the globe. 
 The primitive world, he observes, unveils to us a dis- 
 tribution of organic forms which is in opposition to 
 the present existing state of climates. Various have 
 been the hypotheses propounded for the solution of the 
 problem, as the advance of a comet, a change in the 
 obliquity of the ecliptic, the increase of solar intensity, 
 and the like. But these opinions have been insufficient 
 to satisfy all parties. Humboldt leaves the axis of the 
 rotation of the earth just as it now is, nor does he ven- 
 ture to reduce the intensity of the solar heat. He 
 conceives that there exist in each planet, independently 
 of its relations to a central body, and of its astronomi- 
 cal position, numerous causes of the developement of 
 heat ; such as the chemical processes of oxidation, 
 precipitation, and changes of capacity in bodies ; an 
 augmentation of the electro-magnetic intensity, or the 
 communication between the internal and external parts 
 of the globe, through the medium, for instance, of 
 volcanoes. This ingenious view may certainly serve to 
 explain some local phenomena which are independent of 
 the transport of the debris of rocks and organic wreck, 
 by the waters of the deluge. The diamond, both in India 
 and the Brazils, as well as the precious stones of Ceylon, 
 are found in diluvial gravel. 
 
 Alluvium is a term employed to express those com- 
 paratively modern accumulations of sand, earth, &c., 
 resulting from causes now in common and constant 
 operation. Dr. Fleming, a distinguished naturalist, in 
 opposition to the hypotheses advanced by Baron Cuvier 
 and Dr. Buckland, is inclined to attribute the extinction 
 of such early quadrupeds as are sometimes found blended, 
 as it were fortuitously, with more recent species, in al- 
 
135 
 
 luvium. not to the deluge, but to the destructive influ- 
 ence of the chase. 
 
 As the security of the full complement of animals 
 was guaranteed in the ark, " to keep seed alive upon the 
 face of all the earth" it would seem that none were 
 finally extinguished except incongruous and monstrous 
 forms, or such whose variation of structure can be ac- 
 counted for, very satisfactorily, on the principles of di- 
 versity of clime, and a change of density in the atmos- 
 phere at the deluge, with a corresponding one in its 
 thermometric and atmometric character. In reference to 
 the first of these, we may compare, for instance, the 
 Asiatic with the African elephant; the gavial or crocodile 
 of the Ganges with the crocodile of the Nile and the 
 cayman of South America. 
 
CHAP. V. 
 
 PHENOMENA OF CAVES ENCLOSING DILUVIAL MUD AND 
 ORGANIC REMAINS THE BIRD OP NOAH DROME- 
 DARY THE RAINBOW GIGANTIC REMAINS CON- 
 CLUDING GEOLOGICAL REMARKS. 
 
 HOWEVER geologists may speculate, shift their 
 ground as to the age of the world, and assume nu- 
 merous revolutions, opinion seems now to be tolerably 
 unanimous as to the chronology of a terrible deluge 
 of waters by which the earth has been entirely in- 
 undated ; and it is not pretended to have been prior to 
 that recorded by the legislator of the Jews. Professor 
 Buckland has the capital merit of this triumph in 
 geology ; and it is enhanced by the reluctance with 
 which favourite dogmas were parted with, and the slow 
 assent with which it was embraced. ' ' In the whole 
 course," says this writer, " of my geological travels, 
 from Cornwall to Caithness, from Calais to the Carpa- 
 thians, in Ireland or in Italy, I have scarcely ever gone 
 a mile without finding a perpetual succession of deposits 
 of gravel, sand, or loam, in situations that cannot be 
 referred to the action of modern torrents, rivers or 
 lakes, or any other existing causes ; and with respect 
 to the still more striking diluvial phenomenon of drifted 
 masses of rocks; the greater part of the northern 
 hemisphere, from Moscow to the Mississipi, is described 
 by various geological travellers, as strewed on its hills 
 as well as valleys, with blocks of granite and other 
 rocks of enormous magnitude, which have been drifted 
 (mostly in a direction from north to south) a distance 
 
 
137 
 
 sometimes of many hundred miles from their native 
 beds, across mountains and valleys, lakes and seas, by a 
 force of water which must have possessed a velocity to 
 which nothing, that occurs in the actual state of the 
 globe, affords the slightest parallel." We have only 
 further to adduce the testimony of M. Cuvier, second 
 to none in the determination of this important geologi- 
 cal question : " I conclude with M. M. Deluc and 
 Dolomieu, that if there be any fact well established it 
 is this, that the surface of our globe has suffered a great 
 and sudden revolution, the period of which cannot be 
 dated further back than five or six thousand years. 
 This revolution has, on the one hand, engulfed and 
 caused to disappear the countries formerly inhabited 
 by men, and the animal species at present best known ; 
 and on the other, has laid bare the bottom of the vast 
 ocean, thus converting its channel into the now habita- 
 ble earth." Nothing, whatever, can overturn this evi- 
 dence. Mr. Penn's conclusions also deserve considerable 
 attention ; they are thus expressed : " This globe has 
 undergone two, and only two, general changes or revolu- 
 tions of its substance ; each of which was caused by the 
 immediate will, intelligence, and power of GOD, exercis- 
 ed upon the work which he had formed, and directing 
 the laws or agencies which he had ordained within it 
 " That by the first change or revolution, (that of 
 gathering the waters into one place, and making the 
 dry land appear,) one portion or division of the surface 
 of the globe was suddenly and violently fractured and 
 depressed, in order to form, in the first instance, a 
 receptacle or bed for the waters universally diffused 
 over that surface, and to expose the other portion, that 
 it might become a dwelling for animal life; and yet 
 with an ulterior design, that the receptacle of the 
 waters should eventually become the chief theatre of 
 animal existence, by the portion first exposed experi- 
 encing a similar fracture and depression, and thus 
 becoming, in its turn, the receptacle of the same waters, 
 which should then be transfused into it, leaving their 
 former receptacle void and dry. 
 M 3 
 
138 
 
 "That this first revolution took place before the 
 existence, that is, before the creation of any organized 
 being. 
 
 "That the sea, collected into this vast fractured 
 cavity of the globe's surface, continued to occupy it 
 during 1656 years, (from the creation to the deluge;) 
 during which long period of time, its waters acted 
 in various modes, chemical and mechanical, upon the 
 several soils and fragments which formed its bed ; and 
 marine organic matter, animal and vegetable, was 
 generated and accumulated in vast abundance. 
 
 " That after the expiration of those 1 6'56 years, it 
 pleased GOD, in a second revolution, to execute his 
 ulterior design, by repeating the amazing operation by 
 which he had exposed the first earth, and by the dis- 
 ruption and depression of that first earth, below the level 
 of the first sea, to produce a new bed, into which the 
 waters descended from their former beds, leaving it to 
 become the theatre of the future generations of man- 
 kind. 
 
 " That this present earth, was that former bed. 
 
 " That it must, therefore, necessarily exhibit manifest 
 and universal evidence of the vicissitudes which it has 
 undergone ; viz. of the vast apparent ruin, occasioned 
 by its first violent disruption and depression; of the 
 presence and operation of the marine fluid, during the 
 long interval which succeeded; and in its ultimate 
 retreat." 
 
 It seems, to us, not improbable that the inhabitants 
 of the antediluvian world were engulfed in the vortex 
 of the new oceanic beds, with the exception of some 
 few, whose fossil remains are scattered here and there 
 to confound, as it were, the scepticism of the geologist. 
 
 Before we enter on the interesting evidence afforded 
 by the phenomena of caverns, we may quote the lan- 
 guage of Scripture, in reference to the subsidence of 
 the diluvial waters. " And GOD remembered Noah, 
 and every living thing; and all the cattle that was with 
 him in the ark: and GOD made a wind to pass over the 
 earth ; and the waters assuaged : the fountains also 
 
139 
 
 of the deep, and the windows of heaven were stopped ; 
 and the rain from heaven was restrained: and the 
 waters returned from off the earth continually : and 
 after the end of the hundred and fifty days, the waters 
 were abated. And the ark rested, in the seventh 
 month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the 
 mountains of Ararat. And the waters decreased con- 
 tinually (were in going and decreasing) until the tenth 
 month : in the tenth month, on the first day of the month 
 were the tops of the mountains seen." Before we proceed 
 to a brief notice of caverns containing organic remains, it 
 may be well to remark, that the dimensions assigned to 
 the ark seem altogether sufficient for the important pur- 
 pose for which it was destined. By the calculations of 
 Dr. Arbuthnot it was eighty-one thousand and sixty-two 
 tons. In extent it must have been longer than St. 
 Paul's Cathedral from E, to W-, and about fifty-four 
 feet high. According to Snellius the ark must have 
 been nearly half an acre in area. 
 
 The phenomena of caves present us with conclusive 
 and irresistible testimony on the question of a univer- 
 sal deluge, certainly not referable to an epocha prior 
 to that which Sacred Chronology assigns to the Noachic 
 deluge. No sophistry, however subtile, can resist this 
 evidence ; nor the most mischievous infidelity with- 
 stand it. Professor Buckland, in his interesting and 
 delightful work, " The Reliquiae Diluvianse," has pre- 
 sented us with such a body of evidence, as to put for 
 ever to silence " the gainsaying of foolish men. " We 
 consider this work, indeed, as one of the most sterling and 
 valuable contributions to this science in modern times ; 
 and, though we by no means coincide with many of the 
 opinions of this eminent geologist, the facts are stated 
 in so clear and luminous a manner, as to leave us at 
 liberty to accept or reject the inferences he draws from 
 them. Both on the continent and in this country caves 
 have been found, the floors of which are carpeted with 
 diluvial mud, full of the spoils of organic remains of 
 animals, savage and tame ; and generally hermetically, 
 so to speak, sealed up from the agencies of decay by an 
 
140 
 
 incrustation of stalagmite which has been formed in 
 process of time by the infiltration of water, containing 
 calcareous matter, from the roof of the cavern. Wher- 
 ever these caves are met with they present so remarkable 
 a uniformity, that the contemporaneous introduction of 
 the organic spoils they contain, is entirely referable to 
 one and the same cause. Thus the depth of stalagmite 
 in "Kent's Hole," and Kirkdale Cave, in England, 
 remarkably correspond with that of the stalagmite 
 which forms a cerement for the bones in the caves of 
 Scharzfeld, Bauman's Hohle, Biel's Hb'hle, and Gailen- 
 reuth, on the continent of Europe. 
 
 The caves in question occur in LIMESTONE ; and that 
 of Kirkdale belongs to the oolitic series. That these 
 caves were antediluvian, there can be no doubt. It 
 seems altogether unnecessary for us to advert to any of 
 the opinions which have been adopted to explain the 
 use to which these caves have been subservient: the 
 only hypothesis which demands particular attention is 
 that of the author of " Reliquiae Diluvianse," whose 
 opinion must ever claim deference and respect. Before 
 proceeding to this question, however, Mr. Granville 
 Penn's idea of their formation requires mention. He 
 is of opinion, that the animal spoils were enveloped in 
 calcareous matter during the prevalence of the deluge, 
 and that gaseous matter being developed during the 
 process of decay, the soft calcareous mass would expand 
 and a cavern be formed in its interior ; that in fact, 
 
 " The earth hath bubbles as the water hath, 
 And these are of them." 
 
 This is sufficiently ingenious, but cannot be substantiated; 
 because the chief and indispensable condition necessary 
 for such an effect is altogether excluded ; namely, the 
 contact of atmospheric air. In the case supposed by 
 Mr. Penn, the animal matter would be as completely 
 sealed up, as the mummy in its sycamore coffin. Under 
 such circumstances, decay and decomposition would be 
 prevented in both cases. The orifices of the dens are 
 generally, it is true, too small to admit the entire skele- 
 
141 
 
 tons of the larger animals, but the diluvial waters would 
 introduce them piecemeal. Entire skeletons of larger 
 animals have, however, been found under such condi- 
 tions ; that of the rhinoceros, for instance, in the Dream 
 Cave, near Wirksworth, Derbyshire. The very exist- 
 ence of any orifice, however small, would be fatal to Mr. 
 Penn's conclusion. A tolerable idea of the nature of these 
 caves may be formed by inspecting the sections of two 
 of them in Plate III. Fig. 22 is a section of Kirkdale 
 Cave, in Yorkshire, and Fig. 23 that of Gailenreuth, in 
 Franconia. The diluvial mud is seen represented in 
 both ; and in each, the diluvium contains a multitude of 
 organic remains : in both these limestone caverns, sta- 
 lactites are observed to depend from the roof, and a crust 
 of stalagmite to invest the floor of the caves. To the 
 same class of phenomena, and of contemporaneous origin, 
 must be referred the breccia of the caves at Gibraltar ; 
 of which Major Imrie has given a very interesting ac- 
 count. It is concluded that the formation here is of two 
 distinct eras, and of this conclusion there can be no 
 doubt, from the fact, that in the concretion at the base 
 of the rock, below King's Lines, which concretion con- 
 sists of pebbles of the prevailing calcareous rock, there 
 was found part of a green glass bottle, at a considerable 
 depth under the surface. As it is altogether impossible 
 to do justice to the interesting question of antediluvian 
 caves, which would require an exclusive volume, we 
 must be content with a mere glance at a limited num- 
 ber, and three shall be selected for this purpose ; namely, 
 the Cave of Gailenreulh, and those of Kilhloch and of 
 Kirkdale. The Cave of GAILENREUTH is very interest- 
 ing, not onlv for the quantity of the organic remains 
 contained in it, but for the high state of preservation in 
 which they are found : diluvial mud and pebbles are 
 found mixed up with the bones interspersed through 
 the mud, and these are interposed, as represented in 
 the plate, between the floor of the native rock and the 
 stalagmitic covering which is superimposed. On the 
 crust of stalagmite being penetrated, there is revealed 
 a bed of brown diluvial loam and pebbles, mixed with 
 
angular fragments of rock, bones, and teeth. The 
 entire depth of the diluvium was not ascertained by 
 Professor Buckland, but it exceeds four feet. The 
 quantity of bones which the cavern contains is immense. 
 According to this distinguished author, the phenomena 
 presented by the Cave of Gailenreuth, are in entire 
 harmony with the caves of England. Dr. B. concludes 
 that the cavern must have been an antediluvian den of 
 wild beasts : but, according to his description of the 
 cave, there is no evidence whatever of its ever having 
 been used for such a purpose by antediluvian animals. 
 The diluvial mud, the rounded pebbles, the angular 
 fragments of rocks, and the organic wreck, however, 
 prove indisputably, that the animal remains and mud, 
 &c., must have been washed into the cave by a diluvial 
 wave. The Cave of KUHLOCH is remarkable for the 
 black animal matter which it contains. Dr. Buckland 
 describes this single cavern as equal in its dimen- 
 sions to the interior of a large church: "There are 
 hundreds of cart-loads," says this interesting writer, 
 " of black animal dust entirely covering the floor, to a 
 depth which must average, at least, six feet; and 
 which, if we multiply this depth by the length and 
 breadth of the cavern, will be found to exceed five 
 thousand cubic feet. The whole of this mass has been 
 again and again dug over, in search of teeth and bones, 
 which it still contains abundantly, though in broken 
 fragments. The state of these is very different from 
 that of the bones we find in any of the other caverns, 
 being of a black, or more properly speaking, dark um- 
 ber colour throughout, and many of them readily crum- 
 bling under the finger into a soft dark powder, resem- 
 bling mummy powder, and being of the same nature as 
 the black earth in which they are embedded. The 
 quantity of animal matter accumulated on this floor is 
 the most surprising and the only thing of the kind I 
 ever witnessed ; and many hundred, I may say thou- 
 sand individuals must have contributed their remains 
 to making up this appalling mass of the dust of death. 
 It seems, in great measure, to be derived from commi- 
 
143 
 
 ,nuted and pulverized bone ; for the fleshy parts of ani- 
 mal bodies produce, by their decomposition, so small a 
 quantity of permanent earthy residuum, that we must 
 seek for the origin of this mass principally in decayed 
 bones."* We cannot assent to Dr. Buckland's opinion, 
 that this black animal matter proceeded from the bones 
 of the animals which had perished. It is admitted that 
 bones are found, or, at any rate, fragments of bones, 
 among this immense mass of animal carbon : and if so, 
 how came it to pass that they were not reduced to the 
 same state of disintegration as the dust that embeds 
 them ? It is admitted that this animal earth has been 
 stirred up, " again and again," in quest of the bones it 
 envelopes ; and which earth, indeed, is used as manure 
 by the neighbouring peasantry : this fact will account 
 for the state of the fragments : let it be remembered, 
 too, that phosphate of lime, the solid matter of bones, is 
 white, certainly neither black nor of a dark umber colour. 
 The black animal matter is chiefly, there can be little 
 doubt, derived from the decay of the animal muscle ; 
 the gelatinous cement of the bone could not furnish a 
 sufficient supply for such an enormous mass as is pre- 
 sented in this charnel cavern. The bones would neces- 
 sarily be stained with the carbonaceous matter in contact 
 with them. Dr. Buckland, whose favourite theory is, 
 that these caves were the dens of wild beasts and who, 
 of course, believes this to be one of the number under 
 the impression that the Cavern of Kiihloch was an an- 
 tediluvian bears den, gives us the following curious 
 calculation : " I have stated," says he, " that the total 
 quantity of animal matter within this cavern cannot be 
 computed at less than five thousand cubic feet : now, 
 allowing two cubic feet of dust and bones for each in- 
 dividual animal, we have, in this single vault, the re- 
 mains of at least two thousand five hundred bears, a 
 number which may have been supplied in the space of 
 one thousand years, by a mortality at the rate of two 
 and a half per annum." A very natural question arises 
 
 * Reliq. Diluv. Lond. 1823, 4to. p. 138 
 
144 
 
 1 
 
 Is this animal dust indeed that of BEARS? and on 
 this question we may be fairly allowed to indulge our 
 doubts. There is not the slightest evidence adduced to 
 suppose, that the Cave of Kuhloch had ever been a den 
 for bears. The most difficult part of the question is, 
 the presence of the black animal matter, and its absence 
 in Kirkdale, &c. The unusual state of decay of the 
 bones and teeth, in this black earth, Dr. Buckland is 
 inclined to attribute to the exposed state of the cavern, 
 resulting from its large entrance and contiguity to the 
 atmosphere. We are inclined to attribute the entire 
 phenomena more to the absence of the crust of sta- 
 lagmite, and the non-infiltration of water from the 
 roof of the cavern. The constant action of streams 
 of water, impregnated with calcareous matter, in the 
 Cave of Kirkdale and Gailenreuth, &c., it is obvious, 
 would first separate and wash away the animal muscle 
 from the bones; and finally, by investing the solid bones 
 with a stalagmitic crust, preserve their integrity. The 
 absence of such infiltrations in the case of Kuhloch, 
 affords an easy solution. Besides all this, from the 
 large mouth of the cavern, the bodies of animals, in a 
 state of comparative integrity, would be washed, by the 
 influx of the diluvial tide, into the cave ; whereas, from 
 the contracted dimensions of the opening of the caves 
 of Kirkdale, Gailenreuth, Baumaris Hbhle, &c., the 
 organic remains, as is proved to be the case, would onlv 
 be transported into the interior, piecemeal or in frag- 
 ments, as far as regards the larger animals. It is thus 
 evident, that we might naturally expect to find a much 
 greater mass of animal muscle collected together in this 
 cavern. The brown diluvial loam, at any rate, refers 
 the phenomena to the Noachic deluge. 
 
 The celebrated Cave of KIRKDALE, near Kirby Moor- 
 side, in Yorkshire, must not be overlooked: its phenomena 
 are interesting in a high degree ; and Professor Buckland 
 has the chief merit of having investigated its contents 
 with great industry and indefatigable attention ; he has 
 described it with remarkable precision and particularity ; 
 and, indeed, his valuable communications, on the subject, 
 

 145 
 
 to the Royal Society, in 1822, gave it considerable 
 eclat ; and public attention was roused and excited, in 
 an extraordinary manner, to the wonderful phenomena 
 it developed. This cavern has been explored by num- 
 bers : among others, Messrs. Gibson, Salmond, Young, 
 &c. Mr. Gibson, it would appear, collected not less 
 than three hundred canine teeth of the hyaena ; and Dr. 
 Buckland estimates the total number of hyaenas, of 
 which there is evidence, at not less than two or three 
 hundred. It is the opinion of this eminent geologist, 
 that Kirkdale Cave has been an antediluvian hyaena 
 den ; but the arguments adduced appear, to us, altoge- 
 ther inconclusive. The fossil bones which have been 
 found in Kirkdale Cave, are those of the hyaena, tiger, 
 bear, wolf, fox, weasel, elephant, rhinoceros, hippopota- 
 mus, horse, ox, deer, rabbit, (or hare) water rat, mouse, 
 and birds. That hyaenas should leave fragments of 
 / water rats, mice, and birds, is not likely; and it is 
 more difficult still to account for the manner in which 
 these animals came by the spoils of tigers, and bears ; 
 and, above all, the fragments of packydermata, as of the 
 elephant, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus : nor is it very 
 likely they would devour their own species to such an 
 extent. The birds, the organic remains of which were 
 found in Kirkdale, appear to be the raven, pigeon, lark, 
 a small kind of duck, and a bird about the size of the 
 thrush. 
 
 Dr. Buckland observes, that he has information of 
 about ten elephant's teeth having been found, and that 
 most of these teeth are broken. Could the jaws of 
 even a hyaena crack an elephant's tooth ? It is hard to 
 be believed. Our author has seen six molar teeth of 
 the hippopotamus, and at least fifty of those of the 
 rhinoceros, admitted to have belonged to aged animals. 
 Dr. Buckland thus concludes: "It must appear pro- 
 bable, from the facts discovered, particularly from the 
 comminuted state and apparently gnawed condition of 
 the bones, that the Cave of Kirkdale was, during a 
 long succession of years, inhabited as a den of hyaenas, 
 and that they dragged into its recesses, the other animal 
 
 N 
 
146 
 
 bodies whose remains are found mixed indiscriminately 
 with their own." There are many and serious objections 
 to this hypothesis, irrespective of the fact that the 
 hyaena now exclusively inhabits a tropical region : nor 
 do the habits of the modern hyaena at all warrant such 
 a conclusion. Dr. Buckland considers the inference as 
 almost amounting to certainty by his discovery of the 
 calcareous excrement, (or rather what has been suppo- 
 sed so) called album grcecum, and adjudged to be that 
 of the hyasna : but why may it not also have been that 
 of some other carnivora, whose fossil remains are mixed 
 with those of the hyaena ? It is true this animal may be 
 greedy of bones beyond others ; but it does not appear 
 to us quite so obvious, how, this being granted, so many 
 bones should be strewed around And lie neglected. As 
 for the album grcccum, though some of it may have 
 belonged to the hyaena, part might have appertained to 
 the tiger, &c., and have been liberated from the intes- 
 tinal canal on the decomposition of the body. The only 
 remaining tangible ground for Dr. Bucklarid's opinion, 
 is the fractured bones which are concluded to be 
 cracked and gnawed by the said hyaenas : " the jaw 
 bones also, even of the hyaenas, are broken to pieces 
 like the rest." Our author says : " In all the caves both 
 teeth and bone are in an equal state of high preserva- 
 tion, and shew that their fracture has been the effect of 
 violence and not of natural decay." On this subject 
 there can be no dispute : the only question is respecting 
 the agency by which it has been effected; and it 
 appears, to us, far more likely to have been accomplished 
 by the violence of the waters of the deluge and the sharp 
 points and angles of the rocks against which the flux of 
 the tide would impel them. Dr. Buckland's reasoning, 
 though extremely ingenious and interesting, appears to 
 us altogether unsatisfactory ; and the comparative view 
 given of the recent marks of the teeth effected by a 
 living hyasna at Oxford, and those supposed to have 
 been made by antediluvian hyaenas from Kirkdale Cave, 
 given in Plate XXIII of his work, are very fanciful and 
 inconclusive. We have examined, with considerable 
 
147 
 
 attention, bones from Kirkdale Cave, and also from 
 Kent's Hole, supposed to have been gnawed by hyaenas ; 
 but we are free to confess, that, to us, at least, there 
 seems to be no evidence to warrant Dr. Buckland 's con- 
 clusion. " In many of the most highly preserved speci- 
 mens of teeth and bones," says the Professor, "there is a 
 curious circumstance, which, before I visited Kirkdale, 
 had convinced me of the existence of the den, viz. a 
 partial polish and wearing away to a considerable depth, 
 of one side only." This appears, in several cases, to 
 amount to more than one fourth of the entire thickness 
 of the bone. This ingenious author observes : "I can 
 imagine no other means than the repeated touch of the 
 living hyaena's foot and skin, by which this partial 
 wearing away and polish can have been produced." 
 Our opinion cannot coalesce in this conclusion : and 
 M. Cuvier, abandoning Dr. B's idea, attributes the 
 phenomenon to the action of water. The continual 
 dropping of the water from the roof of the cavern would 
 produce this precise effect ; and there is no need, what- 
 ever, to suppose such an agency, as Dr. B. has advanced 
 hypothetically, when there is already one now in opera- 
 tion every way equal to this purpose. The specimen 
 represented by Dr. Buckland * can be explained in no 
 other way, as any one must be fully satisfied who will 
 inspect the plate. The continued action of this water 
 would first obliterate all the animal muscle investing the 
 bones, and produce that polish and those cavities, &c., 
 before the stalagmitic crust would invest the bones 
 and cere them. We think that it would be no great 
 difficulty to substantiate this position. We cannot do 
 better than quote our friend Mr. Young's valuable and 
 judicious remarks on this question, with which our own 
 opinion generally coincides 
 
 "Masses of animal matter might be floated at the 
 deluge, from the equatorial regions to this part of 
 the globe ; yet we agree with Professor Buckland in 
 thinking, that animals now peculiar to Asia or Africa, 
 
 * Plate V. Fig. 1. 
 
 N 2 
 
148 
 
 might live here before the deluge. We also assent to 
 his opinion, that the cave was shut up by the deposition 
 of the alluvial beds, at that era, and that the relics 
 which it contained are all antediluvian. We do not, 
 however, see any force in the arguments which he 
 employs, to persuade us that the cavern was an antedi- 
 luvian den. 
 
 "The Professor's description of the cave and its 
 contents is generally correct ; but there are a few of 
 his statements that are erroneous. He alleges, that 
 the bones were covered and preserved by the mud : but 
 many of the bones were partially, and others wholly, 
 exposed on the surface of the mud ; and the relics so 
 exposed, were usually found in the best state of pre- 
 servation. He supposes, that the bones which have 
 one side smooth, and the other rough, had stuck fast in 
 the floor of the cave, where the side that was uppermost 
 was polished by the feet of the hyaenas, in going to and 
 fro ; but, as far as we can learn, no bones of this kind, 
 nor any other, were found sticking to the rocky floor. 
 How, indeed, could they be fixed there, when there 
 was no soft substance for them to stick in ; the mud, by 
 the Professor's own account not being introduced till the 
 deluge ? The truth is, all the bones of this kind appear 
 to have been found lying loose on the surface of the 
 mud, not fixed under it ; the exposed side being that 
 which was smooth and fresh, while the side touching 
 the mud was rough, discoloured, and often partially 
 decomposed. This statement we make, both from our 
 own observations, and on the authority of Mr. Salmond, 
 who explored the cave more carefully than any other 
 individual. Dr. B. is also greatly mistaken, when he 
 asserts, that, "in the interior of the cave, there was not 
 a single rolled pebble, nor one bone, or fragment of 
 bone, that bears the slightest mark of having been rolled 
 by the action of water." A great many of the bones, 
 indeed, particularly of those found at the entrance of 
 the cave, had scarcely any appearance of being water- 
 worn; but by far the greater part of the relics, especially 
 those extracted from the interior recesses of the cave, 
 
149 
 
 were decidedly water-worn. In examining on the spot 
 a large heap of bones and fragments which had just 
 been brought out from the remote branches, we could 
 not find one specimen that was not water- worn ; and 
 some fragments were so rounded and smoothed as to 
 resemble pebbles. We saw also a few real pebbles 
 from the cave, and sand is said to have been met with 
 in some parts among the mud. Several rounded frag- 
 ments, and a pebble or two, are in the Museum. In a 
 similar cavern in the Manor Vale, near Kirkby Moor- 
 side, we found both sand, gravel, and decayed vegetable 
 matter, though no animal remains were there discovered. 
 Besides, we ought to consider, that in the bottom of the 
 diluvian ocean, as in that of the present, there might 
 be spots were mud prevailed, as well as others where 
 sand and gravel predominated. On this head, we may 
 also add, that the fact, of which we were eye-witnesses 
 that the bones from the furthest recesses of the cave 
 were all obviously worn and rounded, while those from 
 the entrance were but partially so, directly favours our 
 hypothesis, and opposes the idea of their being polished 
 by the feet of the hyaenas ; for, according to our view, 
 the bones that were drifted furthest into the cave would 
 be the most worn, whereas, according to the Professor's 
 theory, the smoothest bones ought to have been found 
 in the entrance, the grand thoroughfare where the 
 hyaenas most frequently trode. 
 
 "Some of Dr. Buckland's collateral proofs of his 
 theory appear to be the offspring of fancy, rather than 
 the result of accurate observation. Such are his argu- 
 ments drawn from the broken state of the marrow bones, 
 and the curved fractures of some of them. The 
 marrow or hollow bones are the very bones that we 
 might expect to find broken, by whatever agent they 
 were demolished; and a curved fracture might be 
 produced by dashing against the ledge of a rock, as 
 readily as by the bite of a hyaena's jaws, with which he 
 supposes the curvature to correspond. Among the 
 many hundreds of bones which we examined, we never 
 saw any vestige of the gnawings of hyaenas, which he 
 
 N3 
 
150 
 
 speaks of, nor any marks of the action of teeth, save 
 only of the teeth of Time. 
 
 " His proofs of the existence of successive generations 
 in the cave are equally fanciful. The drifted animal 
 matter might be expected to contain relics of beasts in 
 various states, young and old, weak and strong ; but 
 the difference observed in their state of preservation, is 
 less owing to these variations, than to their favourable 
 or unfavourable position in the cave. Some of the 
 teeth and bones, exposed to the action of water, were 
 much decayed, and almost black; while others, occupy- 
 ing more favourable positions, were remarkably fresh. 
 
 " There are several of the phenomena of the cave, 
 which the den theory does not satisfactorily explain. 
 It does not account for the fact of our finding no entire 
 skeleton of even one of the hyaenas. The assertion, 
 that they all fled to the mountains, on the rising of the 
 waters, is a mere gratuitous assumption, contrary to the 
 probabilities of the case ; for it is far more likely, that 
 they would flee into the recesses of the cave, especially 
 as some of these recesses are considerably higher than 
 the entrance. 
 
 " The great disproportion of teeth in the collection 
 does not, as Dr. B. alleges, militate against the idea 
 of their being drifted in ; for when masses of animal 
 matter were floating or drifting about, the most ponder- 
 ous parts, such as teeth, would be most likely to 
 descend to the bottom, and be lodged in hollows or 
 chasms. The fact alluded to, militates most against 
 his own theory ; particularly as it regards the teeth of 
 the elephant, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus. The en- 
 trance of the cave was too strait to admit the head of 
 one of these animals ; and the pachydermata have such 
 short and stiff necks, that it would be no easy task for 
 the hyaenas to behead their carcases. Unless the 
 hyaenas were actuated by sentiments of glory, they 
 would be more likely to carry off their legs, than to 
 attempt to pull their jaws to pieces, and bear off their 
 ponderous teeth as a kind of spolia opima. The grinder 
 of a large elephant, such as we have seen fragments of 
 
151 
 
 from the cave, would be a most unlikely morsel for a 
 hyaena to chew ; nay, it appears impossible, that an 
 elephant's grinder could be broken into such splinters, 
 by the force of a hyaena's jaws. 
 
 " But there are other difficulties opposed to the den 
 theory. It does not account for the fact, that some 
 bones or fragments were found in the sides of the cave, 
 near the roof; unless we suppose that the Kirkdale 
 hyaenas were very playful, and amused themselves by 
 tossing up bones, and lodging some of them on the 
 shelves of the rock. The fact is easily explained, on 
 the supposition that the relics were drifted in ; as the 
 jerking of the water would throw up some of the bones, 
 and leave them in crevices. 
 
 " A stronger objection to Professor Buckland's 
 notions, arises from the discovery of so many broken 
 bones of birds, rats, mice, weasels, and other small 
 animals, among the relics. Granting that hyaenas might 
 feed on such small creatures, for lack of better prey, is 
 it credible that they would tear their little carcases to 
 pieces, break their bones, and scatter them all over the 
 den ? Supposing that the hyaenas would make a prey of 
 a mouse as well as of an elephant, and feed on a rat as 
 greedily as on a rhinoceros, can we imagine, that they 
 would take the trouble to convey such minute creatures 
 into their den ? Or, if we grant that a hyaena might 
 scamper home with a couple of rats or mice in his 
 mouth, would a creature of such "omnivorous appetite" 
 have patience to dissect them, to break and gnaw their 
 bones and to suck out the marrow ? Would he not 
 rather snap them up like shrimps, at one morsel ; and 
 leave us no chance of finding any of their relics in the 
 den, except as forming a component part of the balls of 
 album grcecum ? "* 
 
 We may now merely add to these observations, that 
 a remarkable mass of remains was discovered in a bed 
 of diluvial loam, covering gypsum quarries, at Tiede, 
 near Brunswick. These organic remains were crowded 
 
 * A Geological Survey, &c. 2nd. edit. 4to. 1828. p 302. 
 
152 
 1 
 
 together within a space not exceeding ten feet square. 
 Among them were eleven tusks and thirty molar teeth 
 of elephants : one of the tusks was not less than four- 
 teen feet long; and with these were various bones 
 and teeth of the elephant, rhinoceros, horse, ox, and 
 stag. Having enumerated the organic remains found 
 in Kirkdale Cave, it may be mentioned, that those 
 found in the caves of Plymouth, are traced to the 
 hyaena, tiger, bear, wolf, fox, rhinoceros,* ox, and deer. 
 In the caves of Paviland, near Swansea, the organic 
 remains belong to the hyaena, bear, wolf, fox, elephant, 
 rhinoceros, ox, and deer ; while the breccia, at Gibral- 
 tar, supplies evidence of the wreck of the tiger, horse, 
 ox, deer, rabbit, water rat, mouse, and birds : and at 
 Kb'sritz, near Leipsic, there are entombed organic frag- 
 ments of the hyaena, tiger, bear, rhinoceros, horse, ox, 
 and deer. 
 
 We have already stated, that we are not anxious to 
 give too much importance to the " natural chronome- 
 ters" of De Luc, Kirwan, and others ; but we cannot 
 approve of Mr. Lyell's stigmatizing the valuable re- 
 searches of these individuals, on this subject, as " pre- 
 sumption." They believed Revelation to be true, and 
 therefore naturally expected to find, in the works of the 
 CREATOR, its chronology verified. The silt left on the 
 invasion of the land of Egypt by the periodical inun- 
 dation of the Nile, as well as the formation of deltas, 
 present no proper data for the solution of so difficult and 
 complicated a problem. They are reduced to the same 
 uncertainty as those already referred to. Immense, 
 however, are the agents in operation, even now, in 
 changing the great features of the globe. It has been 
 estimated, that the weight of foreign matter daily trans- 
 ported, by the waters of the Ganges, into the Indian 
 
 * Mr. Whidby announced the discovery, in 1814, of the 
 remains of a rhinoceros embedded in a mass of clay, in the 
 solid limestone, near Plymouth. No opening connected with 
 it could be traced ; its enclosure, therefore, must have been 
 contemporaneous with the limestone which formed its matrix. 
 
153 
 
 ocean, during the monsoons, would be equal to seventy- 
 four times the weight of the great pyramid of Egypt ; 
 and Ferrara estimated the enormous river of lava which 
 rolled from the crater of Etna, in l66?> at one hundred 
 and forty millions of cubic yards. 
 
 It is extremely interesting to remark, that the sta- 
 lagmite on the floor of Kirkdale Cave, at one angle, 
 (see Plate III, fig. 22.) and beneath the diluvium and 
 its organic remains, (concluded by Dr. Buckland to be 
 an antediluvian deposit,) is about one half the thickness 
 of that incumbent over the diluvium, and which is post- 
 diluvial. A precisely similar fact is presented in Kent's 
 Hole, near Torquay, already referred to. If we suppose 
 that the infiltration of calcareous matter, in solution, 
 commenced at the creation or some centuries afterwards, 
 this would exactly correspond with the Mosaic chrono- 
 logy, double the period which had elapsed before having 
 passed away since the deluge. 
 
 Having now examined the phenomena presented by 
 antediluvian caves, we shall quote the interesting account 
 which the Sacred Volume supplies us, of the singular 
 messenger employed by the patriarch, to procure inform- 
 ation as to the state of the diluvial waters; "And it 
 came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened 
 the window of the ark which he had made : and he sent 
 forth a raven, which went to and fro, (in going forth 
 and returning) until the waters were dried up from off 
 the earth. Also, he sent forth a dove from him to see 
 if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground : 
 but the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and 
 she returned unto him into the ark ; for the waters 
 were on the face of the whole earth. Then he put 
 forth his hand, and took her and pulled her (caused her 
 to come) in unto him into the ark. And he stayed yet 
 other seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out 
 of the ark : and the dove came in to him in the even- 
 ing ; and lo ! in her mouth was an olive leaf, plucked 
 off. So Noah knew that the waters were abated from 
 off the earth. And he stayed yet other seven days, and 
 sent forth the dove which returned not again unto him 
 
154 
 
 This narrative, though simple in its style, 
 is expressive and beautiful. There is an eloquent charm 
 which; while it touches the chords of truth, makes the 
 heart respond to the tale. The raven would find sufficient 
 for its carnivorous appetite in the flotage of the animal 
 remains, on the briny flood, and would return to roost 
 on the ark ; but it was far different with Noah's bird, 
 so long as the waters prevailed, there could be no pause 
 for her weary wing, and the messenger would return to 
 the ark. So soon, however, as the subsidence of the waters 
 had permitted the olive to emerge, a sprig was plucked 
 off, and borne to the patriarch in triumph. Emphatic 
 symbol of peace ! Commemorated through ages, it is 
 still the symbol of peace. Along with the fig tree and 
 vine, it is associated as the emblem of man's inheritance, 
 and in the geography of its locality, the patriarch would 
 hail the plane on which it flourished, and from which 
 it was borne, as the place of his former abode. The 
 dove would return, though the olive had emerged, be- 
 cause no food had as yet been provided. How long this 
 ambassador of peace was absent, we cannot tell : we are 
 only informed that the dove returned in the evening. If 
 the winged messenger was despatched early in the day, 
 it is not improbable that the delightful trophy was ob- 
 tained from Mount Olivet where, according to the late 
 Dr. Clarke, " the olive still vindicates its parental soil." 
 In considering the question of the geographical distribu- 
 tion of plants, this would likely be the nearest olive 
 plane from the mountains of Armenia. It may be re- 
 marked also, that the olive remarkably synchronizes 
 with the habits of the dove ; since, according to Dr. 
 Chandler, in his Travels in Greece, as soon as the olive 
 matures its berries, vast numbers of doves, among other 
 birds, repair for food to the olive groves. It cannot be 
 irrelevant to remind our readers of the habits of the 
 cohimba tabeUaria, or the carrier pigeon, so called from 
 the office to which it has been applied, viz. that of carry- 
 ing letters, in the Levant, c. Those of Mesopotamia 
 
 * Genesis viii. *>, &c. 
 
155' 
 
 are the most famous in the world, and the Babylonian 
 carrier pigeon is employed even on ordinary occasions 
 at Bagdad. The geographical locality, therefore, of 
 the carrier pigeon, it is interesting to remember, is in 
 the vicinity of those very mountains where the ark 
 finally rested. With us, the carrier pigeon is an exotic, 
 and is now acclimated, or naturalized. Carrier pigeons 
 fly at the rate of fifty miles an hour. "Napoleon," the 
 name of one of the carrier pigeons which were despatch- 
 ed from London a short time ago, at four o'clock A. M., 
 reached Liege, in France, about ten o'clock in the day. 
 Mr. Audubon states his having shot the passenger pigeon 
 (columba migrator m) in America, and found in its 
 stomach, rice, which could not have been obtained with- 
 in a distance of eight hundred miles. 
 
 Of all the animals in the ark, none was so well adapt- 
 ed to the patriarchal life as the CAMEL, and none so 
 qualified to traverse the desert, or bear the privations to 
 which it is there exposed. We might naturally expect, 
 therefore, that the patriarch would not part with its 
 valuable servitude, and accordingly find that for the 
 camel no jubilee trumpet ever announced the year of 
 release. The dromedary, it is admitted by all natural- 
 ists, has never had its prototype in a savage and untamed 
 state, in postdiluvian times. The camel, therefore, re- 
 mains a living medallion of the truth of the floating of 
 the ark, and its imprisonment there. The Bactriaii 
 camel, or two haunched camel, is found in a wild state, 
 and has been so recognized from the earliest times, in 
 Usbec Tartary, the ancient Bactria, in Tibet, and 
 near the frontiers of China. The dromedary, (camelus 
 dromedarius) or camel with one haunch, has ever re- 
 mained the domestic servant, attached to the service of 
 man. The Arabs call the camel, the ship of the desert. 
 The dromedary, from ^po^os", a courier, is used as a 
 beast of burden in Syria and Babylonia, arid the country 
 along the boundary of Africa, from Abyssinia to the 
 kingdom of Morocco. This interesting animal subsists 
 on the thorny shrubs of the desert, where other animals 
 would perish, and the privations to which it is occasion- 
 
156 
 
 ally subjected, are remarkable ; it chiefly lives on the 
 camel's thorn, (hedysarum alhagi* ) which bears crim- 
 son flowers. 
 
 From what has been already stated, it must have been 
 remarked, that it seems to us very probable, that the 
 density of the atmosphere was changed at the deluge, hav- 
 ing been considerably attenuated, nor can this inference 
 be regarded in the light of mere speculation ; there seems 
 sufficient evidence that it really must have been so. 
 The rainbow appearing for the first time the abbrevi- 
 ation of human life, and the diminished size of animal 
 and vegetable forms, all seem to require this condition. 
 Far be it from us to doubt the direct interposition of 
 JEHOVAH in this catastrophe, but GOD sometimes em- 
 ploys secondary agents to effect his designs. "I do set," 
 says the ALMIGHTY, "my bow in the cloud, and it 
 shall be for a token of the covenant between me and the 
 earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud 
 over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud ; 
 and I will remember my covenant, which is between 
 me and you, and every living creature of all flesh : and 
 the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all 
 flesh."t It cannot be reasonably supposed, that the 
 rainbow ever appeared before the deluge, nor from our 
 previous remarks, is it at all necessary to suppose it. 
 Had the patriarch seen this beautiful phenomenon in an 
 antediluvian world, its recurrence after the deluge could 
 not have been a symbol of security, since, though the 
 spectacle had been already witnessed, the deluge had 
 supervened ; but it was a new phenomenon, the conse- 
 quence of the altered condition of the atmosphere, and 
 was perhaps the result of a superadded law. The 
 design implies stipulations of a somewhat similar de- 
 
 * The Arabs use this lowly shrub for an extraordinary pur- 
 pose. In spring the stem is divided near the root, and the seed 
 of the water melon is dropped into the cleft ; the seed soon 
 grows, and the parasite bears abundance of water melons. 
 
 t Genesis, ix. 13, &c. 
 
157 
 
 scription, and even pagan testimony might be cited as 
 concurring in this view of it. 
 
 Ev ve(pt $TWpi%e rspxs 
 
 " Jove's wondrous bow of three celestial dies, 
 Plac'd, as a sign to man, amidst the skies." 
 
 As connected with this part of the question, it may be 
 stated, that Sir W. Herchell found that the coloured 
 rays of the prismatic spectrum possessed different de- 
 grees of calorific power. A delicate thermometer placed 
 in the violet ray, rose 2 Farenheit. The average of the 
 
 freen amounted to 2 .25, and that of the red 4 .58-h. 
 ir Henry Englefield and M. Berard have confirmed 
 these results. The singular disposition of the colours in 
 the tabernacle in the wilderness, as well as in the tem- 
 ple at Jerusalem, and the invariable order in which they 
 are always represented in the Sacred Volume, seem to 
 imply something more than a happy incident or remark- 
 able coincidence, " blue, purple, and scarlet ;" the two 
 limits of the spectrum blending centrally their colours 
 into one. This seems to symbolize the "bow in the 
 cloud," which appeared on the recession of the diluvial 
 waters emblem of the divine beneficence and forbear- 
 ance. The very covering of the sacred ornaments bears 
 the same interesting relation : " Goats' skins dyed red 
 and kyacintkine, or violet skins," as the Hebrew text 
 implies, and which the Septuagint expresses. The badger 
 was unknown to Palestine, and even the Greeks and 
 Romans had not a name to express it by ; moreover, the 
 badger was an unclean animal, and being forbidden by 
 the precepts of the Mosaic code of laws, could not, there- 
 fore, be deemed a proper covering for the sacred and 
 costly ornaments of the tabernacle. There is, therefore, 
 something extremely interesting and apposite in the 
 disposition and arrangement of the colours. It is not 
 too much to suppose,, that these might involve both an 
 isoteric and exoteric meaning ; that is, have a popular 
 
 * II. xi. v. 28. 
 
158 
 
 design while they involved *a philosophic truth. The 
 Hebrew prophet himself might be indeed ignorant of 
 the full amount of its philosophy ; but it must be -ever 
 kept in view, that the whole proceeded immediately 
 from JEHOVAH, according to " the pattern showed in 
 the mount." It was the interesting pledge that " cold 
 and heat," and " summer and winter," should not hence- 
 forth cease ; and are not the comparative temperatures 
 of the blue and red, interesting and expressive symbols 
 of the difference of temperature in summer and winter ? 
 In our conchological inquiries it has struck us as re- 
 markable, that the colouring matter of the purpura, 
 from which the Tyrian dye was obtained, passes through 
 a series of changes on exposure to the sunbeam, almost 
 similar to the order referred to, "blue, purple, and 
 crimson," before it settles into a permanent colour. 
 The quippoes, a series of knotted cords, and of " diverse 
 colours," which seem to have adumbrated the ancient 
 annals of Peru, might be adduced in illustration, but 
 we are rather anxious to act with caution and circum- 
 spection, than engage in fruitless speculation. That all 
 these things, however, had a specific meaning, and an 
 admirable design, there can be no doubt whatever. 
 
 The gigantic size of some of the antediluvian animals, 
 judging from their organic remains, involves a question, 
 as we conceive, of remarkable interest. Of these, the 
 most celebrated are the mammoth, mastodon, megathe- 
 rium, and megalonyx. The bones of fossil elephants and 
 mammoths are remarkably prevalent ; and, perhaps, no 
 organic remains are more profusely scattered throughout 
 the diluvium of the earth. They are found on the banks 
 of the Tiber, and in the VaF id' Arno ; in the Cave of 
 Kirkdale, and in those of Germany, and elsewhere ; 
 in fact, in all climes and regions of the globe. " In all 
 Asiatic Russia," says Pallas, "from the Don or the 
 Tanais to the extremity of the promontory of Tchutchis, 
 there is not a single stream, a single river, (above all, 
 of those which flow through the plains,) en the banks or 
 in the beds of which there are not found some bones of 
 elephants, or of other animals, strangers to the climate." 
 
159 
 
 It would appear, indeed, that the ivory, in a state of 
 remarkable preservation, proceeding from this source, 
 has long been a considerable article of commerce in 
 Siberia. The most extraordinary discovery of this kind 
 was that of the entire body of an elephant, at the mouth 
 of the Lena, at its junction with the Frozen Ocean. It 
 seems to have been preserved under an enormous super- 
 structure of ice, and the flesh, which slill remained 
 attached to the bones, served as food for the bears, 
 wolves, and dogs of the natives. It was covered with 
 long black hair, and a reddish sort of wool. About 
 thirty pounds of this wool and hair were collected from 
 the earth. The tusks were nine feet long, and the head, 
 merely, weighed upwards of four hundred pounds. The 
 entire skeleton now remains in the Academy of Sciences, 
 at St. Petersburgh. An elephant, almost entire, was 
 also discovered on the banks of the Alaseia, which runs 
 into the Frozen Ocean beyond Indigirska. Fossil bones 
 of elephants are extremely common in Siberia ; and a 
 large island, in the Icy Sea, opposite the embouchure of 
 the Lena and Indigirska, has been described as entirely 
 composed of the organic remains of the elephant, buffalo, 
 and rhinoceros. Near to Behring's Straits, according to 
 Kotzebue, there is a small island where ivory^ obtained 
 from the tusks of fossil elephants, is so common as to be 
 used for the most ordinary purposes by the natives. 
 The fossil elephant, which has been called mammoth by 
 the Russians, seems to have been from fifteen to eighteen 
 feet in altitude, and to have been clothed with a thick 
 wool of about five inches long, of a fawn colour, and to 
 have possessed a mane of long stiff hair. The tusks 
 appear to have been large and arched, somewhat spirally, 
 upwards. Its organization, though different from both 
 the Asiatic and African elephant, approached more 
 nearly to the former. 
 
 The elephant which was destroyed, some time ago, 
 at Exeter 'Change, was perhaps the largest ever intro- 
 duced into Europe. In the skeleton, which has been 
 constructed from its bones and which is very perfect, 
 the head is thirteen feet from the ground, being eight 
 
160 
 
 inches higher than the skeleton in the Museum of 
 Comparative Anatomy in the Jardin des Plantes. The 
 bones weighed eight hundred and seventy six pounds, 
 and the skin seventeen hundred weight. The mammoth 
 or fossil elephant of the Lena, it will be thus perceived, is 
 of gigantic dimensions compared with that of Exeter 
 'Change. It is worthy of particular notice, in this place, 
 that the BEHEMOTH, of Scripture, whose natural history 
 is so particularly described in the Book of Job, remark- 
 ably corresponds with the circumstances under which 
 the mammoth has been found in this country : we have 
 already described its being discovered in a lacustrine 
 deposit in Yorkshire. The structure of its teeth prove 
 the mammoth to be precisely what the Scriptures say of 
 the behemoth: "He eateth straw like the ox:" "he 
 lieth under the shady trees in the covert of the reed and 
 fens ; the shady trees cover him with their shadow ; the 
 willows of the brook compass him about." * If we 
 suppose that this lacustrine deposit is that of a local 
 catastrophe, the association is very remarkable, and 
 illustrative of its natural habitat, which is precisely that 
 of the Sacred Volume. 
 
 The MASTODON, though not higher than the mam- 
 moth is, otherwise, of still greater dimensions. Its 
 fossil bones were first found on the banks of the Ohio. 
 The mastodon, though different from the elephant, still 
 possesses some features of resemblance ; its peculiarity 
 chiefly consists in the enormous size of the molar teeth, 
 which, however, are fewer in number than those of the 
 elephant. Other species have been found elsewhere, 
 as in the Val' d' Arno ; and in South America, in the 
 Camp de Gcants, near Santa Fe de Bagota, at an eleva- 
 tion of seven thousand eight hundred feet above the 
 level of the sea. Humboldt also found them at the 
 height of seven thousand two hundred feet, near the 
 volcano of Imbaburra. An almost entire skeleton of the 
 fossil mastodon has been discovered, in America, near 
 Long Branch. It was found in a marsh, much nearer 
 
 * Job, xl. 15. 
 
161 
 
 the ocean than any of those previously discovered, and 
 is, perhaps, among the most perfect of those hitherto 
 exhumed. Fossil bones, together with shells and wood, 
 have also been found on the banks of the Irawadi, in the 
 East. Among the bones, two new species of the mastodon 
 were discovered ; one of them was equal in size to the 
 mastodon of Ohio, and the other approached that of the 
 Asiatic elephant. There are also four species of the 
 fossil rhinoceros, all apparently differing from any living 
 species. This new fruit of enterprise, which attended 
 the British mission to Ava, is interesting, as having 
 discovered another locality for the mastodon, which had 
 been hitherto supposed exclusively confined to America. 
 Turquoises are considered to be rragments of the teeth 
 of the mastodon, the colouring matter being derived 
 from the blue phosphate of iron on the principle already 
 adverted to, in reference to the marl pit of Ballaugh. 
 
 In the MEGATHERIUM and MEGALONYX, which seem 
 distinct species, we have extinct animals, whose habits 
 appear to have allied them to the sloth ; but of a gigan- 
 tic size, being nearly that of the rhinoceros. Their 
 limbs terminated in five toes, and some of these were 
 provided with enormous claws : their thick ossified skin 
 seems to have been imbricated : from the structure of 
 their teeth, vegetables and roots appear to have been 
 their food. These animals have been hitherto found 
 only in America. Crocodiles have been discovered with 
 fins, but without feet ; and marine lizards as large as 
 whales. Mr. Bullock mentions his having seen, near 
 New Orleans, the organic remains of an enormous cro- 
 codile, which, by the measurement of the right side of 
 the under jaw, he calculated to be one hundred and 
 fifty feet long ! It is supposed that this animal, when 
 alive, must have been twenty-five feet in circumference 
 round the body. The ribs measure nine feet along the 
 curve, and are three inches thick ; while the cranial 
 bone weighs one thousand two hundred pounds, and 
 exceeds twenty feet in its extreme length. We have 
 already adverted to the iguanodon. One of these enor- 
 mous marine lizards may have been the LEVIATHAN, 
 o 3 
 
162 
 
 described in such vivid characters in the Book of Job.* 
 The luminous path described by his movement through 
 the deep, refers distinctly to a marine animal. Still, 
 however, it may have been indigenous to some gulf or 
 delta, from its participating somewhat of an amphibious 
 character. 
 
 These gigantic forms may be adduced as an evidence 
 either of a vastly prolonged term of existence, or an 
 altered density in the incumbent atmosphere, or of both 
 together. Some animals, even now, increase in size 
 with an increase of age. There is now being exhibited, 
 in London, the skeleton of a whale, (balcena mysticelus) 
 which was found floating off the coast of Belgium, 
 about twelve miles from Ostend, on the 3rd of Nov. 
 1827. Cuvier and others have estimated the age of 
 this animal at about a thousand years. The fingers of 
 the side fins are completely ossified. The following are 
 its dimensions: the entire length of the skeleton is 
 ninety-five feet ; length of the head, twenty- two feet ; 
 length of the vertebral column, sixty-nine feet and a 
 half; number of vertebrae, sixty-two. The entire weight 
 of the animal, when found, was two hundred and forty- 
 nine tons : quantity of oil extracted from the blubber, 
 four thousand gallons : weight of the skeleton, seventy 
 thousand pounds. Such an occurrence in postdiluvian 
 times is, however, rare; while, in antediluvian ages, the 
 law seems to have been general, and the phenomenon 
 common. 
 
 The several phenomena to which we have referred, 
 such as the breaking up of the fountains of the great 
 deep, the tremendous deluge which descended from the 
 heavens, the phenomena of the rainbow, the abbreviation 
 of human life, together with the gigantic remains which 
 we have just adverted to, all tend to confirm the sup- 
 position of an altered density. The transition, in re- 
 ference to the inmates of the ark, was comparatively 
 gradual ; and the animal system would conform itself 
 to the change, as it is known to accommodate itself to 
 
163 
 
 vast elevations, such as Mont Blanc, Chimbora9O, and 
 the Himala ; and though the summits of the latter have 
 not been attained, Humboldt and Gerard have gained 
 elevations at least from four to five thousand feet higher 
 than Mont Blanc. The descent into deep mines, and 
 in the diving bell, proves the same fact. 
 
 Doubtless the impressions of geological botany are 
 often tropical and sometimes gigantic : the tidal wave 
 of the deluge swept from afar and brought with it the 
 trophies of ruin ; and the vegetation of other lands 
 and distant climes supplied the materials that com- 
 plete the picture of' desolation. The curious fact, 
 however, that a change in the density of the at- 
 mosphere would satisfactorily account for this gigantic 
 feature presented in antediluvian botany, has been over- 
 looked by geologists. A diminished pressure and an 
 attenuated atmosphere would lessen the size. Thus 
 we leave a plant in the valley, and we meet its^/ac simile 
 even in variety, on the summit of some alpine cliff, 
 five thousand feet above the level of the sea : its botani- 
 cal characters are the same, and its visage that of its 
 fellow in the valley ; but it is a dwarf it is the very 
 miniature of that we left so far below. Professor Dob- 
 reiner, of Jena, has made this the subject of direct ex- 
 periment. Two glass vessels were employed, each of 
 the capacity of three hundred and twenty cubic inches ; 
 and two portions of barley were sown in parts of the 
 same earth, and moistened in the same degree : they 
 were placed one in each vessel. The air was now ex- 
 hausted in one, till reduced to the pressure of fourteen 
 inches of mercury ; and condensed in the other till the 
 pressure equalled fifty-six inches. Germination took 
 place in both nearly at the same time, and the leaflets 
 appeared of the same green tint; but, at the end of 
 fifteen days the following differences existed : the shoots 
 in the rarified air were six inches long, but from nine 
 to ten inches in the condensed air. The former were 
 expanded and soft; the latter rolled round the stem, 
 and nearly solid : the former were wet on their surface, 
 especially toward their extremities; the latter were 
 
164 
 
 nearly dry. The same fact applies to the elucidation 
 of gigantic animal forms. 
 
 Perhaps we may be charged with being too severe on 
 geologists ; let us, be therefore, clearly understood : we 
 most gratefully receive from their hands, as a valuable 
 boon, the interesting facts discovered by the practical 
 geologist ; but we cannot, and dare not surrender the 
 charter of our hopes to reveries the most fantastical, 
 and speculations the most wild and eccentric. Some 
 there are who fancy they surrender little or nothing 
 by conceding such important points to bold and 
 unwarrantable demands. We think differently : we 
 contend for the integrity of the truth with those who 
 would dare to mutilate the Sacred Record. Truths are 
 propounded in the Sacred Volume ; we believe them 
 to be the gift of divine communication ; and while we 
 rejoice to find that geological facts substantiate these 
 truths to their full amount, we cannot consent to part 
 with them for the unauthorized visions of those, who 
 from the strata of the earth, 
 
 " Extract a register, by which " they " learn, 
 That HE who made it, and revealed its date 
 To Moses, was mistaken in its age." 
 
 Let us take Professor Sedgwick's admissions, and see 
 whether we have not sufficient reason to withhold our 
 amen to geological theories : " It might be supposed 
 that the red sandstone and the conglomerate were 
 formed during some short period of confusion, produced 
 by the dislocation of older rocks ; that after a time the 
 sea again became tranquil ; and the fossils of the lias 
 were called into being, upon the ruins of an older world, 
 by a new fiat of creative power ! But in France and 
 Germany, (in the region of the Vosges, and on the 
 banks of the Neckar,) we meet with a solution of our 
 difficulties : between the magnesian limestone and the 
 lias, we have three great formations, each characterized 
 by its suite of fossils! Between the deposition of the 
 coal measures, and the lias of the West of England, 
 there were completed at least Jive great geological 
 
165 
 
 periods, each distinguished by Us own group of animals, 
 and each, therefore, probably continued during a long 
 succession of ages" We frankly confess our utter 
 inability to reconcile these extraordinary opinions with 
 the facts, literally propounded for our belief, in the 
 cosmogony of Moses; and those who will cede the 
 credibility of the Sacred Annals, corroborated by an 
 overwhelming mass of testimony, to such visionary 
 fancies, hold, we fear, the Sacred Volume with too 
 loose a hand we envy not their tenure. 
 
 " Non equidem invideo : miror magis :" 
 
 " Man," says the editor of a popular work, " in com- 
 parison of many other races of animated beings, the 
 creature of yesterday, is not warranted in thinking that 
 this globe was called into existence at the same hour 
 when he began to hold dominion over it." The reasons 
 assigned " for conscientiously assuming the great anti- 
 quity of the earth" are these: "the evidences are so 
 strong, that our reason cannot withhold its assent ; and 
 secondly, because our conviction appears to conduct us 
 onward to an enlarged idea of the wisdom and power of 
 the great Author of the universe." To the same effect, 
 as to the non-contemporaneous existence of man, are 
 the words of Mr. Lyell : " It is never pretended that 
 our race co-existed with the assemblage of animals and 
 plants, of which all the species are extinct." We have 
 only to observe, that we pity, sincerely pity, those who 
 cannot perceive in these opinions a direct impeachment 
 of the Truth of Revelation : but we choose rather to 
 contend for the question as a physical truth, and on this 
 broad basis insist, that, among the facts and phenomena 
 of geology, there is not a solitary proof that can be 
 brought forward to impugn the literality of the Sacred 
 Records of the creation and the deluge. From a diligent 
 and attentive examination of geological facts, and a per- 
 sonal investigation of many of the great phenomena of 
 rocks, we can as conscientiously declare our conviction, 
 to the contrary of that of the writers whose sentiments 
 we have quoted. One would imagine;, either that some 
 
166 
 i 
 
 special revelation lias been made to geologists, or that 
 they have discovered some chronometer of the age of 
 the world from which all the rest of mankind has been 
 excluded. But unless they can not merely boast of these 
 possessions, but shew to us that they possess them, we 
 shall hold fast by what the volume of nature teaches, 
 and not venture one step beyond what she expressly 
 propounds and we are authorized to believe. The second 
 reason assigned for the belief, is a very remarkable one : 
 for if the high antiquity of the globe is proclaimed by 
 nature as a physical truth, our consent is claimed and 
 must be surrendered, whatever be the amount of our 
 ulterior ideas, and whether the announced truth hap- 
 pens to chime with our imagined a priori sentiments, 
 touching the Supreme Being, or not. On this princi- 
 ple, if the higher antiquity of the world synchronizes 
 best with our conceptions of the Supreme Being, the 
 more extended the date of its commencement the better : 
 and would not a change, rung on its eternity, be to 
 such a mind a loftier and more welcome note ? The 
 mere subsequent allusion to astronomy proves nothing. 
 Unless the eternity of the world is advocated, there 
 must have been a period when it began to revolve in the 
 regions of space ; and, this being granted, it amounts 
 to the same thing, whether it began yesterday, or a 
 million of years ago. " A thousand years are in the 
 sight of GOD as one day; " and the converse of this 
 is equally true: "one day is as a thousand years." 
 Retrograding into the back ground of the lapse of time, 
 and causing the first point of motion, in the revolution 
 of the globe to recede, cannot enhance the sublimity of 
 our conceptions. On such a supposition, every succeed- 
 ing age, that rises in the vista of futurity, should 
 ascend in the scale of grandeur, in reference to their 
 ideas of the infinite CREATOR ; for the farther removed 
 from the point of creation, the more just and noble 
 would become their conceptions of the " I AM, who 
 inhabiteth Eternity." We do not profess to understand 
 these novelties in the process of reasoning. In our 
 astronomical pursuits and telescopic survey of the 
 
167 
 
 heavens, we are free to confess, that we have been often 
 overpowered by their wondrous majesty j and, lost in 
 the vastness of the spectacle, have worshipped " in the 
 temple not made with hands: " but we cannot see what 
 all this has to do with a simple geological question, 
 which must be decided by fact, not fiction by truth, 
 not romance which, though the novelty and wildness 
 may make us wonder, may, after all, fail to convince. 
 To conceive of a world in a wilderness for ages before 
 man, "homo sapiens," the most elaborate prodigy of 
 this world's wonders, was created, and for whose use 
 every thing concurs to prove it was destined, is a 
 proposition too monstrous to be believed. So beautiful 
 a mansion so long untenanted by its lord ! We are not 
 now considering other worlds and other forms of 
 existence, but simply the question of this " great globe 
 and all that it inherit." To such an extent have some 
 geologists gone, that they have even made it a question, 
 seriatim, whether a fossil shell has ever yet been 
 found having a living analogue in any existing species ! 
 Either fashionable geological theories, or Revelation 
 must be abandoned as untenable. Geological facts and 
 Revelation perfectly harmonize. If man did not exist 
 along with extinct species of other animals found in 
 diluvium, and admitted on all sides to correspond with 
 the Mosaic deluge, then must the Volume which teaches 
 the reverse statement, be false; and on the former view 
 of it, man may have sprung from the waves of the deluge 
 as Brahma did from Vishnu while he reposed in the 
 flower of the Lotus which floated on the waters : or did 
 man emerge from its mud ; like a phoenix, from the or- 
 ganic ruin of a world destroyed ? We have considered it 
 more honest and manly to meet the question fully. We 
 frankly confess our utter inability to reconcile geological 
 reveries with the plain and simple facts propounded in 
 Scripture. Let our readers make their election, and de- 
 termine for themselves, which is most agreeable to the 
 spirit of inductive science. 
 
 Had geology any pretensions to maturity, we should 
 not wonder ; but it is only a bantling of some quarter 
 
168 
 j 
 
 of a century old. Let us pursue the concessions of the 
 writer we have just quoted, and see whether there be in 
 geology any ground for such crude assertions. "Twenty 
 years are not yet passed away since M. M. Cuvier 
 and Brongniart first published their researches on the 
 geological structure of the Paris Basin. The innu- 
 merable details exhibited in. their various essays,, the 
 beautiful conclusions drawn from unexpected facts, 
 the happy combination of mineralogical and zoological 
 evidence ; the proofs of successive revolutions, till then 
 unheard of in the physical history of the earth ; all these 
 things combined, not merely threw new light on a sub- 
 ject before involved in compc ative darkness, but gave 
 new powers and new names f induction to those who 
 should, in after times, attempt any similar investiga- 
 tions." Again, " much remains to be done, before the 
 structure of the various formations of the British Isles 
 can safely be appealed to, as one of those complete mid- 
 dle terms of comparison, by help of which the disjointed 
 fragments of a former world may, in imagination, be 
 reunited. Respecting the perplexing phenomena of the 
 crag-beds, on the coast of Suffolk, we are greatly defi- 
 cient in information. The accounts of all our tertiary 
 strata, however excellent at the time they were writ- 
 ten, must be entirely remodelled. Even the history of 
 the oolitic series, (the boast of English geology, and the 
 type, to which foreign naturalists are attempting to con- 
 form some of their own secondary rocks,) is defective. 
 The history of our coal formations is not yet perfect. 
 The association of the coal and mountain limestone of 
 Northumberland has not been well explained. The great 
 corresponding deposits of Cumberland are undescribed." 
 Can it be believed, that these are the sentiments of one 
 of the very first of modern geologists ? and, if such be 
 his confession, is it too much to be cautious in accepting 
 the propositions of " geological logic ?" or can it be 
 said, that our remarks are more severe than just ? We 
 by no means complain of the contributions made by 
 modern geologists to science ; they have been industri- 
 ous and indefatigable; but we protest against their 
 
169 
 
 bringing forward unsupported speculations, which di- 
 rectly contradict the records of Scripture. When geo- 
 logists present for our belief their propositions, we had 
 better put the simple question which one of the S9avans 
 of the Royal Society at length bethought himself of, in 
 reference to the witty monarch's problem of the weight 
 of the tub and the fish : " Is it so ?" This is a very 
 reasonable demand ; and a denial of the request would 
 be suspicious. We are not, we believe, what is called a 
 " Hutchinsonian, " and scarcely know what the term 
 means. Truth is alone the object of our diligent pur- 
 suit ; and our opinion may be received with less suspi- 
 cion, when it is remembered, that the result of our 
 present inquiry forms no^ tecessary or essential part of 
 our avocations, excepting^ far as every one is deeply 
 interested in this paramount of all possible questions. 
 
 The geologist requires us to surrender the first links 
 of the chain of Revelation. " Be it known, however, 
 that we are not careful to answer him in this matter ;" 
 " neither will we fall down nor worship the image 
 which he hath set up." Surely it is not too much, that 
 we first require from the geologist a test by which we 
 may be able to discriminate between literal facts and 
 metaphorical tropes, that we may be enabled to examine 
 and estimate the pretensions of his dicta. Mr. Lyell 
 talks about geologists "who desire to pursue the science 
 according to the rules of inductive philosophy." Such 
 an one we fear may indeed be accounted a rara avis. By 
 some of our readers it may be supposed, that we have 
 devoted too large a portion of our volume to the evidence 
 derived from geology; but, alas! we know full well, 
 that among geologists there is a sad preponderance of 
 scepticism, which we can only account for by their 
 having got entangled in the meshes of a net of their own 
 device; and we, therefore, have felt anxious to place the 
 simple facts of geology before our readers, as far as our 
 limits permitted ; which, after all, however, must ne- 
 cessarily be considered a mere outline. 
 
CHAP. VI. 
 
 THE DISPERSION THE TOWER OF BABEL. 
 
 SOON after the diluvial waters had subsided, the 
 Sacred Narrative informs us, that Noah became a 
 husbandman and planted a vineyard. Having indulged 
 to excess, the patriarch, it is recorded, became insensible. 
 We have alluded to this event because Sir Wm. Jones 
 succeeded in discovering the fact here mentioned in the 
 Padma-puran of Hindustan, of which he has given a 
 translation: nor can the identity of Satyavarman and 
 Noah be doubted. This circumstance, therefore, is 
 thus singularly accredited by testimony as independent 
 as it is unsuspicious, and the lapse of time was not so 
 considerable as to render doubtful its being secured by 
 tradition. It is as follows : " Satyavarman, being con- 
 tinually delighted with devout meditation, and seeing 
 his sons fit for dominion, laid upon them the burden of 
 government, whilst he remained honouring and satisfy- 
 ing the gods, and priests, and kine. One day, by the 
 act of destiny, the king, having drunk mead, became 
 senseless and lay asleep naked : then was he seen by 
 C'harma, and by him were his two brothers called, to 
 whom he said, what now has befallen ? In what state 
 is this our sire ? By those two was he hidden with 
 clothes, and called to his senses again. Having re- 
 covered his intellect, and perfectly knowing what had 
 passed, he cursed C'harma, saying, Thou slialt be the 
 servant of servants ; and since thou wast a laughter in 
 their presence, from laughter shalt thou acquire a name. 
 
171 
 
 Then he gave to Sherma the wide domain, on the south 
 of the snowy mountains, and to Jyapeti he gave all on 
 the north of the snowy mountains ; but he, by the 
 power of religious contemplation, attained supreme 
 bliss." The identity of this detail with that recorded 
 in the ninth chapter of Genesis, cannot be doubted. 
 
 We are informed in a subsequent chapter, that " the 
 whole earth was of one language and of one speech. 
 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east 
 (or eastward) that they found a plain in the land 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 city, 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."* The 
 simplicity and perspicuity ' observable throughout the 
 Sacred Records are two of the principal features of 
 truth. It presents itself unveiled to the scrutiny of the 
 world, while facts confirm its title to all acceptance. 
 In process of time, the descendants of the patriarch 
 " became vain in their imaginations and their foolish 
 heart was darkened." That city, and that tower, in 
 the ruins of Babylon and the Birs Nimroud, remain 
 monuments of their folly and impiety. Their language 
 which was one, was '-'confounded," and they were 
 scattered over the face of the world: confusion is 
 written in the very name, Babylon ; and we find, in 
 -every country, memorials of a common offspring. " The 
 LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face 
 of all the earth ; and they left off to build the city. 
 Therefore is the name of it called Babel ; because the 
 LORD did there confound the language of all the earth; 
 and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad 
 upon the face of all the earth." Without entirely 
 consenting to the uncouth monosyllabic intonations, 
 into which that distinguished orientalist, the late Dr. 
 
 * Genesis xi. 1, &c. 
 
172 
 
 Murray, considered all languages under heaven finally 
 reducible, numerous circumstances concur to prove, 
 that in one period of the earth's history, the nations 
 were of "one language and of one speech." We cannot 
 otherwise account for the universality of the tradition of 
 the deluge. This information must needs have been 
 acquired before the language of the earth was " con- 
 founded" and the "nations were scattered and peeled." 
 However difficult we may find it to account for the 
 distribution of mankind over the globe, the fact adverted 
 to, determines, firm as the rock of truth, the dispersion 
 from an original stock, and a language once common to 
 all ; while it decidedly negatives the extremely foolish 
 and unphilosophical dogma once, at any rate, entertain- 
 ed, of distinct races of the human species having sprung 
 from as many separate originals. GOD, in his providence, 
 makes "the wrath of man to praise him;" and this 
 remarkable event became the means of populating the 
 renovated earth. Celebrated philologists seem to have 
 considered the diversified languages of the globe as 
 having sprung originally from one simple type. When 
 we consider the simplicity of the structure of the letters, 
 as well as the alphabet, in some languages, compared 
 with the more complicated and confused letters and 
 alphabets of other nations, we may reasonably infer, 
 that there may have been, originally, a simple basis, 
 when the nations of the earth and their language were 
 one ; and that the complexity observable in some cases, 
 is an evidence that peculiar circumstances have produced 
 the confusion. This view of it is corroborated by the 
 remarkable fact, that some individuals seem to have 
 acquired a common key to almost every language: such 
 as Dr. Murray, Professor Lee, and others ; not to 
 mention that remarkable philological phenomenon, 
 Roberts Jones, of Liverpool. Facts like these attest a 
 common root, and that the diversified languages of the 
 earth possess some simple key or cipher. The characters 
 of Persepolis, Nineveh, and Babylon, are remarkably 
 simple in their structure, and so are those called Vir- 
 gular. The Hebrews possessed a simple character, 
 

 173 
 
 and their alphabet had a corresponding feature; on 
 the other hand, the Chinese have an elaborate alpha- 
 bet, and characters of the most complicated structure, 
 which seem built up of those of Babylon or Persepolis. 
 The Hebrew and Samaritan letters differ very incon- 
 siderably, the characters in the former being square, 
 and in the latter having a slight curve, as may be seen 
 by referring to the letters on the Shekel. While other 
 nations have almost entirely changed their language 
 and the form of their letters, (of which our own country 
 is a remarkable example) the written and expressed 
 language of the Hebrews seem to have undergone little 
 or no change. The awe and reverence with which 
 they regarded the Sacred Writings contributed to this 
 remarkable preservation ; the whole being overruled by 
 Divine Providence. By comparing the characters in 
 which the Pentateuch has been written for instance, 
 the M.S. brought from India by Dr. Claudius Buchan- 
 nan, and in all probability more than two thousand 
 years old with modern Hebrew, there seems to be no 
 perceptible difference. This unchangeable peculiarity 
 in the structure of the Hebrew characters from the 
 earliest period of the world's history, has often forcibly 
 impressed our mind as having no parallel, save in 
 the unvarying aspect of that unchanged people whose 
 records they are ; they seem to wear the impress of 
 their sacred and immutable original. 
 v We are inclined to consider Druidical monuments as 
 existing mementos of the event of the dispersion. Litkoi, 
 or single pillars, mounds, cairns, cromlechs, laggan-stones, 
 and Druidical circles, together with the sculptured 
 obelisk, and the far-famed pyramid, all spring from a 
 common source. These remarkable monuments are not 
 confined to " one kindred or tongue." They are found 
 on the plains of Hindustan as well as on the plains of 
 Egypt; in Mexico, and on the continent, as well as 
 in the " islands of the sea." The surface of the British 
 islands is studded with these legends of patriarchal 
 times. In Ireland and England, Scotland and its isles, 
 the islands of Anglesey and of Man, these lithoi or rude 
 
174 
 
 stones abound; and in all tfhese monuments may be 
 inferred an identity of origin. The pillar that Jacob 
 erected on his journey to Padan-aram, as a memorial 
 to the Deity, as well as that which was reared be- 
 tween him and his father-in-law, in the Mount of 
 Gilead, are instances of similar erections in patriarchal 
 times. Of the same description was the sepulchral 
 stone which Jacob raised over the grave of his beloved 
 Rachel, on the road to Bethlehem. Such, too, was the 
 stone which Samuel set up between Mizpeh and Shen. 
 All these were to commemorate some remarkable event ; 
 some vow or some promise a remembrancer or memo- 
 rial of gratitude or of grief. Sometimes it recorded 
 a solemn invocation to the Deity; at other times it 
 served as the memorial of a compact between con- 
 tracting parties, as was that in Mount Gilead. That 
 which Samuel raised " under Bethcar, " was to 
 commemorate a signal victory over the hosts of the 
 Philistines, in which Deity had visibly interposed for the 
 armies of Israel. From these simple and rude pillars, up 
 to the trilithons and circular arrangements of stones, at 
 Aubery, and on Salisbury Plain, we may trace the 
 same identity of belief which reared the Stonehenge on 
 the plains of Gilgal, and the circular temple on Mount 
 Gerizim. They were branches of a common root; 
 ramifications of a common stream. This dispersion, of 
 which the Druidical stones and circular temples in Great 
 Britain seem to be existing monuments, must have 
 taken place before the call of Abraham : the institution 
 of the rite of circumcision seems to afford a palpable 
 proof of this. This was entirely confined to the Hebrews, 
 as the lineal descendants of the "father of the faithful :" 
 and this institution is preserved inviolate until now. 
 We consider the Druidical rites and ceremonies as 
 decidedly proving a patriarchal origin, which, though 
 corrupted and shaded by human errors and depravity, 
 carry in them the type of patriarchal times, as described 
 in the Volume of Inspiration. The religion of the 
 Druids has suffered an eclipse ; and it is only from the 
 monuments they have left behind them, and a few 
 
175 
 
 obscure circumstances gleaned here and there, that we 
 are enabled to form even a faint outline of their history. 
 The British Druids are mentioned in the Annals of 
 Tacitus, and in the Commentaries of Caesar ; but 
 nowhere do we find the slightest allusion to the rite of 
 circumcision having been practised among them. This 
 distinction preserved the Hebrew line of ancestry. In 
 this they were " diverse from all other nations. " And, 
 as in the days of our SAVIOUR, they boasted that 
 "Abraham was their father," so they now continue to 
 assert their lineage by sustaining and perpetuating the 
 same painful rite. 
 
 The great emporium of the Druidical religion seems 
 to have been Britain ; and the temples of AUBERY and 
 STONEHENGE proclaim that it must once have been, 
 indeed, a powerful sway. Stonehenge, in Wiltshire, is 
 a monument of British antiquity altogether unique : it 
 is splendid in its ruin and magnificent in its decay. 
 This Druidical temple, now a mass of dilapidated gran- 
 deur, is composed of two circular and two elliptical 
 ranges of upright stones, with horizontal ones capping 
 the outer circle; the whole being encompassed by a 
 circumvallation of earth. The diameter of the area 
 wit&in the vallum, is nearly three hundred feet. The 
 total number of stones appears to have been one hun- 
 dred and nine. Thirty of these stones formed the ex- 
 terior circle ; forty composed the inner circle ; fifteen 
 were employed in the first, and nineteen in the second 
 ellipsis. There is also a massive stone in the centre, called 
 the altar stone, and is fifteen feet long. " The grandest 
 part of Stonehenge is the outermost ellipse, consisting 
 of five separate pairs of trilithons, or two large upright 
 stones, with a third on the top as an impost. These 
 stones are more regular in their shapes, and more care- 
 fully formed, than those of the outer circle. The inte- 
 rior oval consisted of nineteen upright stones without 
 imposts." " By its vast extent, its peculiar character, 
 quite distinct from the temples of upright stones found 
 in various parts of the British islands and other coun- 
 tries of Europe, and even on the Asiatic coast of the 
 
176 
 
 Black Sea, it is justly entitled to be considered as one 
 of the wonders of antiquity."* " The altar," says Cooke, 
 " is a blue, coarse, and firm marble, and designed to 
 resist fire ; it is placed a little above the focus of the 
 upper end of the ellipsis." According to Dr. Stukeley, 
 the ancient name of Stonehenge, namely, Choir Gaur, 
 might be rendered, grand choir, or great church. As a 
 Hebraism, it would signify the circular high place for 
 the convocation or assembly of the people ; and thus cor- 
 respond with that of Gilgal, on the east of the Jordan, 
 where Samuel went yearly, and where Saul was crown- 
 ed king of the Hebrews. The temple of Aubery seems 
 remarkable as well on account of the etymon of the 
 name, Abiri, signifying the MIGHTY ONES, as its singu- 
 lar form, which allies it with some Egyptian hierogly- 
 phic figures, conjoining the serpent and the circle. 
 According to Dr. Stukeley, the figure of the temple at 
 Aubery is that of a winged serpent. The outer part of 
 the grand circle is a vast vallum or mound, with a very 
 deep ditch in the inside. It is forty-five cubits (about 
 eighty feet) broad: its diameter is seven hundred and 
 fifty cubits : its circumference two thousand two hun- 
 dred and fifty cubits ; and the enclosed area comprises 
 twenty-two acres. Within this was formed another 
 circle of one hundred enormous stones, set upright, 
 fifteen to seventeen feet high, and nearly as much broad ; 
 within this great circle were two minor ones, each com- 
 posed of two concentric circles, each circle further 
 included several upright stones, &c. Immense avenues 
 of upright stones conducted to the head of the serpent, 
 and in an opposite direction terminated in the supposed 
 tail ; the via sacra, which led to the two concentric 
 circles, forming the head, of rude stones, extended more 
 than a mile, and was formed of similar upright stones. 
 An avenue composed of two rows of upright stones also 
 represented the tail. The entire number of stones ori- 
 ginally employed in this stupendous work has been 
 computed at six hundred and fifty-two ; and each rude 
 
 * Turner's England and Wales : No. 7. 
 
177 
 
 mass of rock was truly colossal in its dimensions. Dr. 
 Stukeley mentions one of these stones, which when 
 broken to pieces, "supplied twenty good loads." That 
 these were Druidical temples there does not seem the 
 least reason to doubt. On opening some of the neighbour- 
 ing burrows, cells have been found wherewith the Arch- 
 druid cut down the mistletoe of the oak. The associa- 
 tion of the oak with the mysteries of Druidical religion 
 is very remarkable. The Supreme Being appeared to 
 the patriarch Abraham by the oak of Moreh ; Jacob 
 buried Rebecca's nurse beneath an oak; and Joshua 
 raised a stone pillar under an oak that was by the 
 sanctuary. From hence the oak entered into heathen 
 mysteries, and was consecrated to Jupiter: Homer 
 celebrates the oaks of Dodona. Thus, too, grove worship 
 had a place in patriarchal times : "Abraham planted a 
 grove in Beersheba, and called there on the LORD, THE 
 EVERLASTING GOD." In consecrated groves, and open 
 temples, did the patriarchs worship the SUPREME 
 BEING, whom "the heaven of heavens cannot contain." 
 In the deep solemnities of adoration, under such circum- 
 stances, there is something awful and sublime with no 
 roof save the vault of heaven, " a building not made 
 with hands" the mind would be deeply impressed; 
 and, perhaps, king Solomon had an allusion to this 
 worship, in the sublime prayer he offered up at the 
 dedication of the temple. Amid the deep recesses of 
 the grove, the soul would feel, as it were, overshadowed 
 by the more immediate presence of the Deity, and be 
 led to exclaim with the patriarch at Bethel : " How 
 dreadful is this place ! This is none other than the 
 house of GOD, and this is the gate of heaven."* Grove 
 worship, and that " on high places," there is sufficient 
 evidence to prove, was practised by the Druids: Lucan 
 in reference to them, expressly says, 
 
 " Nemora alta remotis 
 
 Incolitis lucis." 
 
 Though imperfectly acquainted with the worship of the 
 * Genesis, xxviii. 17. 
 
178 
 
 Druids, we can trace man}'* circumstances connected 
 with it, which refer distinctly to patriarchal times 
 no doubt mingled with heathen superstitions and idol- 
 atries. It seems to have been so peculiar" that Caesar, 
 in his Commentaries, particularly stigmatizes it on this 
 very account. 
 
 The Druids, according to Caesar, presided in matters 
 of religion, had the care of public and private sacrifices, 
 and interpreted the will of the gods. They had the 
 direction and education of the youth, by whom they 
 were held in great honour ; and being supreme judges, 
 their decision was final in all controversies. He also 
 states, that they were all under the control of an 
 Arch-druid, never took up arms, were exempt from 
 taxes, and military service ; and enjoyed all manner of 
 immunities. " It is one of their principal maxims, that 
 the soul never dies; but after death passes from one 
 body to another ; which, they think, contributes greatly 
 to exalt men's courage, by disarming death of its terrors. 
 They leach many things relating to the stars and their 
 motions, the magnitude of the world and our earth, the 
 nature of things, and the power and prerogatives of the 
 immortal gods." Caesar expressly states that they 
 immolated human victims; and that when criminals 
 were wanting, the innocent were sacrificed. The most 
 interesting remark in the Commentaries of Caesar, 
 includes a belief, attributed to the Druids, that nothing 
 can atone for the life of man but the life of man. 
 " Pro vita hominis nisi vita hominis reddatur, non 
 posse aliter Deorum immortalium numen placari, arbi- 
 trantur." Caesar also observes, " they compute the 
 time by nights, not by days ; and in the observance of 
 birth-days, new moons, and the beginning of the year, 
 always commence the celebration from the preceding 
 night." Thus, according to Caesar, the Druids exer- 
 cised supreme jurisdiction in all matters, both civil and 
 ecclesiastical. The computation of time from evening 
 to evening is the order of creation, (" and the evening 
 and the morning") : and it is thus that the modern Jew 
 calculates his new moons and his sabbaths from sunset 
 
179 
 
 to sunset. The sixth of the Noachidce expressly en- 
 joins the administration of justice. Tacitus, in his 
 " Annals," says, in reference to the Druids, on the in- 
 vasion of Britain by the Romans, " a garrison was there- 
 after established over the vanquished, and the groves 
 cut down by them, dedicated to sanguinary and detesta- 
 ble superstitions: for there they sacrificed captives, 
 and upon their altars, as an oblation, spilled human 
 blood. There, in order to discover the will of the gods, 
 they consulted the entrails of men : practices of cruelty 
 accounted holy by them." With the authorities of 
 Caesar and Tacitus we cannot rescue these aborigines of 
 Britain from the charge of offering up human sacrifices, 
 though some have endeavoured to exculpate them. In 
 this respect there is, we fear, too close a resemblance 
 to similar horrid practices in Ancient Mexico. We 
 shudder at the terrific idols of the Aztecks, the gods of 
 Montezuma : well, indeed, might a moloch, that re- 
 quired such holocausts of human victims, be called 
 Tetzahuitl, or the terrific. The Budhist demon that 
 haunted the tombs, and lived upon the dead, seems the 
 very zero of ferocity compared with this personification 
 of horror. Compared, indeed, with the ferocity of the 
 ancient priests of Mexico, that of the tiger and the con- 
 dor seems gentle and merciful. Grove worship is, as we 
 have stated, attributed to the Druids by Lucan ; and 
 Tacitus tells us that the groves were cut down. We 
 examined a place of this kind, near Penrith ; and the 
 gigantic pillars in its enclosure clearly determined, in 
 our opinion, the use to which it had once been appro- 
 priated. Successive ages had witnessed the repeated 
 fall of the hamadryads of the forest ; but their scions 
 had perpetuated their woodland ancestry. Whether 
 Druidical worship was connected with pyrolatry, we 
 have no datum to determine : that it embraced Tsabaism, 
 or the worship of the host of heaven, seems clear from 
 Caesar : and in the Volume of Truth we find how prone 
 men were " to depart from the living GOD," to worship 
 the Tsebaoth, instead of HIM who made them, The 
 JEHOVAH TSEBAOTH, " The Lord of Hosts." This 
 
180 
 
 idolatry is described in a way sufficiently clear in the 
 vision of one of the prophets : "Between the porch and 
 the altar were about five and twenty men, with their 
 backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces 
 toward the east ; and they worshipped the sun toward 
 the east."* Taking the Commentaries of Caesar as our 
 guide in this investigation, the Druids seem to have 
 believed in the doctrine of the metempsychosis. This 
 and the form of the temple at Aubery, seem to connect 
 them with Egyptian mythology; but from the absence of 
 hieroglyphic symbols, and covered temples, it seems 
 sufficiently evident that priority must be conceded to 
 the Druidical religion. We have already adverted to 
 the sick Singalese and his adoration of the Baali, or host 
 of heaven. The following injunction seems to involve 
 this as being an early idolatrous practice : " Thou shalt 
 call ME no more Baali."^ The mythology of the east, 
 and that of the Druids, it is evident, sprung from one 
 source. It is not improbable that sacrifices were offered 
 up, or fires kindled on eminences at stated times, as 
 on new moons or other high festivals ; and the cairns 
 scattered here and there may attest the chosen spot. 
 Numerous have been the opinions advanced on the 
 subject of vitrified forts : their antiquity, however, is 
 lost in the darkness of ages ; but our opinion inclines 
 very much to the supposition, that they were connected 
 with the mythology of the Druids. We have particu- 
 larly investigated one of these at Craig Phadrick, near 
 Inverness. Intense, indeed, seems to have been the 
 heat to which these vitrified masses were once sub- 
 jected. Perhaps on these spots, holocausts of human 
 victims were offered up to the moloch of the Druids, as 
 was the case in the seven times heated furnace, on the 
 plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. In both 
 cases, vitrified masses still attest the horrid sacrifice. 
 Without entering further into the question of Druidical 
 worship, we think that it bears sufficient evidence of a 
 patriarchal origin, in which its elements may be recog- 
 
 * Ezek. viii. 16. t Hosea ii. 16, 
 
181 
 
 nised, though obscured and disfigured by the miserable 
 defection and depravity of the human race. The German 
 kirche, and the Scotch kirk, seem analogous to a Saxon 
 word of similar import, and all apparently of Celtic 
 origin, kir-roch signifying a circle. Thus we may trace 
 the circular, roofless Pantheon of Rome, and the Abiri 
 and Choir Gaur of Britain, to the " altar and twelve 
 pillars" which Moses erected near Sinai, and the Stone- 
 henge which Joshua constructed on the plains of Gilgal, 
 after the passage of the Jordan. One of the most in- 
 teresting circumstances connected with the worship of 
 the Druids was their veneration for the mistletoe. We 
 shall again advert to this circumstance, and merely add a 
 few remarks on this parasitic plant, as it may serve to 
 illustrate what we shall have to advance in the sequel. 
 
 Of this extraordinary parasite, viscum album, mistle- 
 toe, or as it was formerly called, misseldine, Dr. Borlase, 
 speaking of the Druids, says, that they deified it, and 
 were not to approach it but in the most devout and 
 reverential manner. Toward the end of the year they 
 went in solemn procession to gather it from the oak, 
 (where, however, it is seldom found,) to present it to 
 Jupiter, with an invitation to all the world to assist at 
 the ceremony. The Druids had it in the most sacred 
 veneration, called it the universal remedy, and held their 
 sacrifices and religious feasts under the oak whereon it 
 grew, leading two white bulls, never yoked ; when the 
 priest, clothed in white, ascending, cut it with a golden 
 hook, while a white garment was spread beneath to receive 
 it ; of this they made a potion considered an antidote 
 to poisons, &c. This plant, being of a bright yellow, 
 Virgil compares to the celebrated golden bough of the 
 sibyl. He places the mistletoe on an evergreen. It 
 is most frequently met with on the apple; and in 
 orchards becomes, when frequent, in all probability 
 a serious evil. It is also found on the hawthorn, pear, 
 mountain-ash, arid rarely on the oak. It has been found, 
 too, on the ash, hazel, and maple. This singular plant 
 is supposed to be the passport of ^Eneas. While the 
 true mistletoe, I'oranthus europeus, flourishes on the 
 Q 
 
182 
 
 oaks on the mountains of Araldia, our mistletoe, viscum 
 album, in classic Greece, takes up its. abode in the silver 
 fir. All our parasites, except this, are without leaves, 
 and in their fullest vigour in summer. But, when the 
 denuded apple-tree has not a leaf, symbol of life, and 
 stands exposed, a naked trunk, the nursling of the storm, 
 the mistletoe flourishes and flowers. 
 
 That the scite of ancient Babylon, on the banks of 
 the Euphrates, is that determined by Major Rennell, 
 M. M. Rich, Keppel, Mignan, Buckingham, Sir Robert 
 Ker Porter, and other eminent travellers, there can be 
 no doubt. The only difference of opinion seems to be 
 in reference to the Temple of Belus, and the ancient 
 Tower of Babel. Captain Mignan, considers the " El 
 Mujellibah," or the overturned, as the Temple of Belus; 
 and in this belief he is supported by the late Major 
 Rennell. The sides of this vast ruin face the four 
 cardinal points : the following are Captain Mignan's 
 measurements : north side, two hundred and seventy- 
 four yards ; south, two hundred and fifty-six yards ; 
 east, two hundred and twenty-six yards; and west, 
 two hundred and forty yards. This pile seems to have 
 been constructed of kiln-burnt, and sun-burnt bricks, 
 rising irregularly to the altitude of one hundred and 
 thirty-nine feet at the S. W., and sloping toward the 
 N. E., where the altitude of the ruin is one hundred 
 and ten feet. Our author describes the top as strewed 
 over with broken and unbroken bricks, which are 
 thirteen inches square by three inches thick ; many of 
 these exhibited the arrow-headed character. Pottery, 
 bitumen, vitrified bricks, shells, and glass, he describes 
 as equally abundant.* The Honourable George Keppel 
 says, in reference to the Mujelibe : " We stepped on 
 pieces of alabaster, and on vitreous substances. Vast 
 numbers of entire kiln-burnt bricks, which were all 
 fourteen inches square and three inches thick, were 
 inscribed with these unknown arrow-headed characters, 
 appearing to have been recently stamped rather than 
 
 * Travels in Chaldea, London, Svo. 1829, p. 165. 
 
183 
 
 having undergone the action of four thousand years. 
 The great buildings of Babylon appear to have been 
 built with sun-burnt bricks, and coated with bricks 
 burnt in the furnace."* We cannot, however, help 
 thinking, that, notwithstanding there may be some 
 difficulty in determining the question at issue, we 
 must look to the Birs Nimroud, rather than to the 
 Mujelibe, as the ruins of the Temple of Belus and 
 Tower of Babel. The interesting researches of that 
 estimable individual, the late Claudius James Rich, 
 Esq., the E. I. Co.'s Resident, at the Court of the 
 Pacha of Bagdad, seem to carry conviction with them. 
 His first " Memoir on the Ruins of Babylon " appeared 
 in the Mines d' Orient. Mr. Buckingham, subsequently 
 determined the question more fully, by causing an 
 excavation to be made, by which a more accurate idea 
 of the structure was obtained. Mr. Buckingham ob- 
 serves, (vol. II. p. 380,) " The Tower of Belus was a 
 pyramid, composed of eight separate stages, successively 
 rising above and retiring within each other. To all 
 these features the Birs perfectly correspond." "The 
 form of its ascent is pyramidal ; and four of the eight 
 stages of which its whole height was composed, are to be 
 distinctly traced on the N. and E. sides, projecting 
 through the general rubbish of its face." These investi- 
 gations seem fully to corroborate Mr. Rich's view of it, 
 which is more completely substantiated in his " Second 
 Memoir on the Ruins of Babylon." In Mr. Rich's 
 excavations, at the Mujelibe, there was found " a 
 wooden coffin, containing a skeleton in a state of high 
 preservation. Under the head of the coffin was a round 
 pebble ; attached to the coffin on the outside a brass 
 bird, and inside an ornament of the same material, 
 which had apparently been suspended to some part of 
 the skeleton. These, could any doubt remain, place 
 the antiquity of the skeleton beyond all dispute."t 
 
 * Personal Narrative, London, 8vo. Second Edition, 2 vols., 
 , 1827, vol. I, p. 179. 
 
 t Memoir, &c. London, 8vo. Second Edition. 1816, p. 33. 
 Q2 
 
184 
 
 Among the rubbish the skeleton of a child was also 
 found. These facts seem to militate against our ac- 
 cepting the Mujetibe as the Temple of Belus. From 
 Herodotus we learn that the Temple of Belus was the 
 same as the Tower of Babel. According to Strabo, the 
 Sepulchre of Belus was a pyramid of one stadium in 
 height. The Tower of Babel, assuming five hundred 
 feet for a stadium, would have a circumference of two 
 thousand feet ; that is, five hundred feet square. The 
 total circumference of the Birs Nimroud, is found to be 
 two thousand two hundred and eighty-six feet; and 
 that of the Mujelibe, two thousand one hundred and 
 eleven feet. It is evident, from so near a correspond- 
 ence, the question must be determined by other data 
 than the measurement of the base of these mounds. 
 We have, (in Plate III. fig. 25,) represented the 
 appearance of the Birs Nimroud, as given by Mr. Rich, 
 in his very interesting Memoir in the Mines d' Orient ; 
 though the artist has, inadvertently, given the summit a 
 finished appearance which it does not possess. It is a mas- 
 sive ruin, cleft from the top. Mr. Rich thus describes its 
 first appearance : " It burst at once upon our sight in 
 the midst of rolling masses of thick black clouds, par- 
 tially obscured by that kind of haze, whose indistinctness 
 is one great cause of sublimity; while a few strong 
 catches of stormy light, thrown upon the desert in the 
 back ground, served to give some idea of the immense 
 extent and dreary solitude of the waste in which this 
 venerable ruin stands."* Mr. Rich's reasons appear, to 
 us, altogether conclusive in the decision of this question, 
 notwithstanding the distinguished authority of Major 
 Rennell. Mr. Rich describes this wonderful ruin as con- 
 sisting of a mound of an oblong figure, the total circum- 
 ference of which is seven hundred and sixty-two yards. 
 On the eastern side, it is cloven by a deep furrow, and is 
 not more than fifty or sixty feet high. " On the western 
 side," says Mr. Rich, "it rises in a conical figure to 
 the elevation of one hundred and ninety-eight feet ; 
 
 * Memoir, 1816, p. 35. 
 
185 
 
 and on the summit is a solid pile of brick, thirty-seven 
 feet high by twenty-eight broad, diminishing in thick- 
 ness to the top, which is broken and irregular, and rent 
 by a large fissure extending through a third of its height. 
 It is perforated by small square holes disposed in rhom- 
 boids. The fire-burnt bricks, of which it is built, have 
 inscriptions on them ; and so admirable is the cement, 
 which appears to be lime mortar, that, though the 
 layers are close together, it is difficult to discern what 
 substance is between them : it is nearly impossible to 
 extract one of the bricks whole. The other parts of the 
 summit of this hill are occupied by immense fragments 
 / of brick- work, of no determinate figure, tumbled together 
 and converted into solid vitrified masses, as if they had 
 undergone the action of the fiercest fire, or been blown 
 up with gunpowder, the layers of brick being perfectly 
 discernible ; a curious fact, and one for which I am 
 utterly incapable of accounting." * To the same re- 
 markable phenomena, Mr Buckingham bears testimony: 
 "The appearance of these masses," (Birs Nimroud,) 
 says this traveller, "and the fissure in the partition of 
 the wall which still remains erect, furnish reasons to 
 believe, that^re was used as an agent of destruction in 
 this edifice, not a fire-temple, as supposed ; as, in that 
 case, the vitrified appearance would have been seen as 
 well in the standing part of the wall as in that which 
 is fallen, and in both only in the interior surface of the 
 enclosure which the fire might be supposed to have 
 occupied ; and what natural Jire could be made to bear 
 on such a fabric? "t which for strength, seems like one 
 solid block. There does not seem any other method of 
 accounting for the present condition of these remarkable 
 ruins, but that they were destroyed by fire from heaven. 
 It will, perhaps, be remembered by our readers, that 
 soon after the erection of Nelson's Monument on the 
 banks of the Clyde, that pyramid was struck by light- 
 
 * Memoir, 1816, p. 36. 
 
 t Travels in Mesopotamia, &c. 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1827, 
 vol. II. p. 373. 
 
 Q 3 
 
186 
 
 ning, and rent, for a considerable extent, downward 
 from its summit : the fissure and ruin still remain. This 
 remark is made in corroboration of the belief, that light- 
 ning, in all probability was, in the hands of the Supreme 
 Being, the instrument employed for the destruction of 
 this sublime and magnificent ruin. There is quite suffi- 
 cient proof, in the molten masses of ruin scattered on 
 the plains, of furnaces having been used, similar to that 
 described in Daniel, as a "burning fiery furnace," into 
 which the three Hebrew youths were cast by the savage 
 orders of Nebuchadnezzar, when it was heated " seven 
 times more than it was wont to be heated." Sir Robert 
 Ker Porter found, in the vicinity of the Birs, lumps of 
 black vitrified matter; and concludes that these may 
 have belonged to furnaces. He also instances a tradition 
 among the natives respecting the great triangular mound 
 to the east of the Birs ; namely, that, by order of Nim- 
 rod, Abraham was here cast into a furnace. "The 
 furnaces used," says Sir R. K. Porter, " for the making 
 fire-burnt brick, might have been very opportune to 
 execute the mad judgments of Nimrod or Nebuchad- 
 nezzar."* We cannot, therefore, taking all the evidence 
 with which ancient and modern travellers have supplied 
 us, form any other opinion than that expressed by Mr. 
 Rich, that the Birs Nimroud was, in all probability, the 
 "Tower" which the descendants of Noah erected on the 
 plains of Shinar. " Let us build us a city and a tower, 
 whose top may reach to heaven, and let us make us a 
 name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the 
 whole earth" a structure that might "lift its top to 
 the skies" an elevated monument of the pride and 
 prowess of man the wonder of ages. Mr. Rich thinks 
 that an extraordinary interference by miraculous agency 
 might make them persist in adhering to this spot for 
 the erection of a monument to their leader Belus ; nor 
 is it unnatural to suppose, when their consternation had 
 ceased, that this might have been the case. 
 
 * Travels in Georgia, Persia, &c. 2 vols. 4to. London, 1822, 
 vol. II. p. 329. 
 
CHAP. VII. 
 
 THE CALL OF ABRAHAM BIRTH OP MOSES - EXODE 
 AND PILGRIMAGE. 
 
 ABRAHAM, a native of the city of Ur, in Chaldea, 
 now called Orfah, was selected, by the ALMIGHTY, from 
 an idolatrous nation, to preserve on the earth the know- 
 ledge, and perpetuate the worship of the true GOD. 
 For this purpose it was, that the father of the faithful 
 was summoned forth from among the ignicolists of Ur, 
 that this heavenly spark might be kept alive, and that 
 he might offer a purer sacrifice to the GOD of Truth, 
 whom those around him knew not, and of whom the 
 flame that ascended from the altar of these fire worship- 
 pers was but; a faint symbol. It is delightful to trace 
 this new star, in the patriarchal hemisphere, through its 
 luminous track, and the bright promises of which it was 
 the harbinger. Illuminating the darkness of that idolatry 
 through which it moved, it at length set, rejoicing in the 
 heavenly vision of a MESSIAH to come. Mahomedans 
 hold the name of Abraham in reverence and respect ; and 
 the Emperor Severus was anxious to enshrine him 
 among his gods. Among the legends which respect 
 Abraham, the following, whether true or fictitious, is as 
 interesting as it is beautiful : " As Abraham was walk- 
 ing by night from the grotto, where he was born, to the 
 city of Babylon, he gazed on the stars of heaven, and 
 among them" on the beautiful planet Venus. ' Behold,' 
 said he within himself, ' the God of the universe ! ' but 
 the star set and disappeared, and Abraham felt the 
 
188 
 
 Lord of the universe could not thus he liable to change. 
 Shortly after, he beheld the moon at the full : ' Lo ! ' 
 he cried, 'the Divine Creator! the manifest Deity!' 
 but the moon sank below the horizon, and Abraham 
 made the same reflection as at the setting of the evening 
 star. All the rest of the night he passed in profound 
 rumination ; at sunrise he stood before the gates of Ba- 
 bylon, and saw the whole people prostrate in adoration. 
 f Wondrous orb/ he exclaimed, ' thou surely art the 
 Creator and Ruler of all nature ! but thou, too, hastest 
 like the rest to thy setting ! neither then art thou my 
 Creator, my Lord, or my God !' " 
 
 One of the most remarkable circumstances connected 
 with the life of this distinguished character, is the de- 
 struction of the " cities of the plain," for their dreadful 
 criminality; and the DEAD SEA wears such palpable 
 evidence of the visitation of heaven, that even the wild 
 Arab avoids the spot as he would the pestilence, and 
 shudders on his approach to its brink. We cannot do 
 better than cite the words of a recent traveller, with 
 whose description, indeed, every one who has visited the 
 scene, entirely concurs: "Whoever has seen the Dead 
 Sea will ever after have its aspect impressed on his me- 
 mory : it is, in truth, a gloomy and fearful spectacle. 
 The precipices in general descend abruptly into the 
 lake ; and, on account of their height, it is seldom agi- 
 tated by the wind. Its shores are not visited by any 
 footstep, save that of the wild Arab, and he holds it in 
 superstitious dread." " The precipices around Sinai are 
 savage and shelterless ; but not like these, which look as 
 if the finger of an avenging God had passed over their 
 blasted fronts and recesses, and the deep at their feet, 
 and caused them to remain for ever as when they first 
 covered the guilty cities." 
 
 Every line in the patriarch's life is a history of in- 
 terest ; but we must leave " the father of the faithful," 
 and now simply glance at two facts connected with 
 Joseph, one of twelve sons the lineage of Jacob, sur- 
 named ISRAEL, a prince of GOD. Israel was a stranger 
 in Canaan, the country where he sojourned. Joseph, by 
 
189 
 
 the mysterious providence of heaven, and whose history 
 is detailed with inimitable pathos by the sacred writer, 
 became, at length, governor of Egypt, and rode in 
 Pharaoh's second chariot. Joseph acknowledged to his 
 brethren, that the good hand of his GOD had been with 
 him, and that all had been overruled for good. " Ye 
 Xhought," said Joseph to them, "evil against me ; but 
 GOD meant it unto good, to bring to pass as it is this 
 day, to save much people alive." "A famine" is repre- 
 sented as being " sore in the land" of Canaan, and that 
 "the people fainted by reason of the famine." It is 
 also stated, "And the famine was over all the face of 
 the earth." "And all countries came into Egypt to 
 Joseph for to buy corn, because that the famine was so 
 sore in all lands."* Now, it is of importance to remark 
 that there is a passage in ancient Chinese history which 
 refers to a dreadful famine prevailing in that country ; 
 and it is quite evident that this distinctly alludes to 
 the very famine which is represented in Sacred His- 
 tory, as " sore in all lands." As connected with this, 
 and Pharaoh's dream interpreted by Joseph, wherein 
 " seven good ears of corn" were representative of " the 
 seven years of great plenty, throughout all the land of 
 Egypt," we give a fac simile of an ancient 
 Egyptian coin, remarkable for the reaper's put- 
 ting forth his sickle, and the seven ears of corn 
 he is about to reap. Whether this had a re- 
 ference to the event of abundance when tl 
 " corn in Egypt," though famine in other lands can- 
 not be determined ; it is, however, by no means void 
 of interest, since it appears not improbable that this 
 fact may have been intended to be commemorated by it. 
 It is further worthy of remark, that when Joseph's 
 father and his brethren came into Egypt, and were 
 about to be presented to the king, they were instructed 
 to say, that they were " shepherds ;" which secured to 
 them the fertile land of Goshen, where they afterwards 
 " had possessions, and grew and multiplied exceedingly." 
 
 * Gen. xli. 56, &c. 
 
190 
 1 
 
 The reason assigned for this statement is a remarkable 
 one : " every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyp- 
 tians." This singular fact seems to have been corrobo- 
 rated by M. Champollion, in his researches into the 
 ancient monuments of Egypt; and he is of opinion 
 that it is not difficult to recognize the hyksos, or 
 ' shepherd kings,' who had made predatory excursions 
 into the territories of the Egyptians, and conquered 
 the land, but from which they were afterwards ex- 
 pelled : they are depicted on these monuments, as pros- 
 trate under the footstools of the Pharaohs, as in Joshua, 
 x. 24 : " Come near, and put your feet upon the necks 
 of these kings. And they came near, and put their feet 
 upon the necks of them." So far was this bitter enmity 
 carried against these hyksos, that the lowest of the 
 people had their figures wrought into the soles of their 
 sandals ; that, at least, their effigies might be trampled 
 under foot : this enmity they even carried to the tomb, 
 and they are thus represented on the bandages of mum- 
 mies.* These royal shepherds are represented as pos- 
 sessed of red hair, blue eyes, and covered only with an 
 undressed hide wrapped loosely about them ; in all 
 probability they were of Scythian extraction. 
 
 The Book of Exodus receives its name from the ex- 
 ode of the children of Israel from the land of Egypt : 
 there having arisen a king in that country, who, it is 
 stated, "knew not Joseph," nor remembered his services. 
 The Israelites were subjected to the most grievous 
 servitude. They were slaves, painfully oppressed by the 
 task-masters of Egypt ; so that, this country was em- 
 phatically called " The house of bondage." In the person 
 of Moses, GOD raised up, a valiant champion of their 
 cause ; and when his advocacy, before Pharaoh, accom- 
 panied "by signs and miracles," failed to procure a 
 rescue, he led them, triumphantly, forth from the midst 
 of their enemies. This Moses was a Hebrew. The king 
 
 * There is now a mummy at Paris which singularly illus- 
 trates this fact : a shepherd, bound with cords, is painted be- 
 neath the buskins of the mummy. 
 
191 
 
 had issued a mandate, that all the Hebrew male children 
 should be cast into the Nile. The daughter of Levi, 
 however, happily succeeded in concealing her infant son 
 for three months; at the expiration of this period, 
 vhen ' ' she could no longer hide him," we are informed, 
 that she "took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed 
 it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein : 
 and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink." Here the 
 ark, or little boat, formed of bulrushes, was discovered 
 by Pharaoh's daughter and her maidens, when they 
 repaired (as seems to have been the custom,) to the 
 brink of the Nile. This protege of the king's daughter 
 was thus rescued from peril, and called, at her instance, 
 MOSES, i. e. drawn out. The child, thus saved, was 
 immediately recognized as belonging to the Hebrews, 
 and committed, it appears, to his own mother the 
 nursling of Providence. In Plate III. fig. 21, we have 
 given a representation, copied from Belzoni's sketches 
 from the tombs of the kings. The hawk-headed 
 infant seems quite characteristic of the infant Moses. 
 The hawk's head was indicative, among Egyptian 
 hieroglyphics, of discernment, acute penetration and 
 judgment: the little ark, or boat, in which he is 
 confined, is of the precise description of those em- 
 ployed for navigating the Nile, in ancient times ; 
 and is now used in navigating the Tigris and the 
 Euphrates, and even the rivers of Abyssinia. Thus 
 we read, in the prophetic Records, of " vessels of bul- 
 rushes on the waters." An Abyssinian traveller has 
 informed us, that these boats of bulrushes are con- 
 structed by attaching bundles of a species of papyrus, 
 (cyperus niloticus,) to a keel of acacia- wood, and uniting 
 them at top, in the way represented in the figure; 
 when the vessel is afterwards pitched within and with- 
 out with bitumen. Moses formed too prominent a 
 figure in the annals of Egypt to be omitted in its hiero- 
 glyphic history : indeed, we can collect as much from 
 the authorities of Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, Tacitus, 
 and others. We have only further to add here, as an 
 interesting corroboration respecting the structure of 
 
192 
 
 some names mentioned in Sacred History, in connexion 
 with Egypt, that the researches already made, in Egyp- 
 tian literature, amply confirm them. M. Champolfion 
 and others have shewn that the proper names of both 
 sexes, in ancient Egypt, are often compounded of the 
 names of Egyptian deities In the hieratic text, re, or 
 shre, signifies the sun: thus, Joseph's father-in-law, 
 Potipherah/was priest or prince of On, or Heliopolis, 
 (city of the sun}. Petephre, in hieroglyphic literature, 
 signifies that which belongs to the sun, or re. This 
 serves to shew, from what unexpected sources we may 
 receive, as it were accidental, illustrations of the truths 
 propounded in the Scriptures. Unexplored treasures 
 of evidence may yet open on the world ; gradually, it 
 may be, as seem to be the designs of Providence ; yet, 
 at length, fully : and it appears to us very remarkable, 
 that the evidence unfolded in proof of the truth and 
 authority of Revelation, in the times in which we now 
 live, is precisely of thai description which fully meets 
 the temper and tone of the philosophy and literature of 
 the age ; that scepticism and infidelity are met in the 
 spirit of a progressive philosophy, and on the vantage 
 ground of inductive science. If we reject Revelation, 
 it is not for want of evidence ; we remain without ex- 
 cuse, and are fully chargeable with the consequences 
 which that rejection entails. 
 
 It forms no part of our present plan to discuss the 
 remarkable adaptation of the wonders which Moses, in 
 obedience to the commands of GOD, and gifted from on 
 high with preternatural powers, to prove his divine em- 
 bassage, wrought in the presence of the court of Pha- 
 raoh. On these exhibitions of divine power, well might 
 " the heathen be cast down in their own eyes," when 
 the utter helplessness of the deities they adored, was 
 thus so conspicuously displayed. " Bel boweth down, 
 Nebo stoopeth," before the LORD GOD of the captive 
 Hebrews. " No other god can deliver after this sort."* 
 
 In like manner, we should think it no difficult task 
 
 * Dau. iii. 29. 
 
, 193 
 
 to prove, how wise and well adapted were all the 
 institutions of the Divine appointment, promulgated to 
 the Israelites through the medium of the priest of their 
 profession, the leader of their armies, their counsellor 
 and their judge, in obedience to, and under the guidance 
 and direction of the theocracy of heaven. It must 
 suffice for the present, th**t we simply advert to some 
 incidents that occurred on their pilgrimage to the pro- 
 mised land, as supplying proofs in conformity with the 
 design of our little volume. Heathen writers and local 
 tradition perpetuate the events recorded in the Sacred 
 Narrative, and we can even trace this perpetuity in 
 the names of places in the districts where these events 
 occurred. So that this v?ry etymology becomes a per- 
 manent register of the facts. 
 
 Having passed the Red Sea, the Israelites wandered 
 three days in the wilderness of Shur, but found no wa- 
 ter. They came at length to Marah, " but they could 
 not drink of the waters o* Marah, for they were bitter, 
 therefore the name of it was called Marah."* Burckhardt 
 describes a well called Howard " the water of which 
 is so bitter that men cannot drink it ; and even camels, 
 if not very thirsty, refuse to taste it." No doubt this is 
 the Marah of Moses : what the plant was which Moses 
 was directed to cast into these waters we cannot tell ; 
 but " the waters were made sweet" in consequence of 
 it. Forskal mentions a plant which he states possesses 
 the property in question. Be this as it may, the know- 
 ledge of this peculiar virtue was pointed out to Moses 
 by a special communication. We confess we were much 
 surprised at reading, in Mr. Milman's History of the 
 Jews, a note connected with this event, from which 
 we learn, that a medical friend of his had subjected 
 to analysis some water brought to this country from 
 a fountain called Marah, ("but probably not that of 
 Burckhardt's Howara"). This specimen is described as 
 possessing " a slightly astringent and bitterish taste." It 
 is stated, that chemical examination shows these qualities 
 
 * Exodus xv. 23. 
 
 R 
 
194 
 
 to be derived from the selenite or sulphate of lime it holds 
 in solution ; " if, therefore," it is added, " any vegetable 
 substance, containing oxalic acid, were thrown into it, 
 the lime would speedily be precipitated, and the bever- 
 age rendered agreeable and wholesome !" Now, we have 
 merely to remark on this extraordinary solution, that 
 it is the first time we have heard that an astringent and 
 bitterish taste can by possibility be imparted to water 
 by an impregnation of sulphate of lime, though that 
 character would be acquired by the presence of sulphate 
 of magnesia, &c. It is certainly true that oxalic acid 
 would decompose sulphate of lime; and it is equally true 
 that some plants contain it ; such, for instance, as the 
 oxalis acetosella; though we are not aware that this plant 
 is indigenous to Palestine. This plant, however, is not 
 a tree, as stated in Scripture, nor a shrub bearing a 
 berry, as suggested by Burckhardt, even though the 
 analysis of Mr. Milman's medical friend had been en- 
 titled to the least attention. We are sorry to have to 
 say, that we perceive much in this " History of the 
 Jews" which subjects the author to considerable cen- 
 sure ; we mean, an awkward attempt to impute to 
 natural causes what cannot be solved, but by the direct 
 interposition of a Divine hand. The entire phenomena 
 connected with that remarkable people imply all this, 
 and cannot by possibility be solved without such a sup- 
 position. 
 
 The Israelites thereafter pitched their tents in an 
 oasis, distinguished by the beautiful association of 
 " twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm 
 trees."* By the united testimony of travellers, Elim, 
 where these wells and palm-trees were found, is still 
 recognized by similar interesting features. No less than 
 nine of these wells still remain to attest the spot, and 
 the seventy palm-trees have become thousands. 
 
 The following chapter is occupied with an account of 
 a singular phenomenon : the fall of MANNA. This re- 
 markable and providential supply is thus described : 
 
 * Exodus xv. 27. 
 
195 
 
 " When the dew that lay was gone up, behold upon the 
 face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as 
 small as the hoar-frost, on the ground." We are further 
 told, that " when the sun waxed hot it melted;" and when 
 preserved until the following day it became corrupt, 
 and " bred worms. " To preserve the extra measure 
 which they collected on the sixth day, Moses directed 
 that on that day of the week they were " to bake and 
 seethe" what should be required on the morrow, as on the 
 sabbath none should fall. It is further added, "And 
 the house of Israel called the name thereof manna : and 
 it was like coriander-seed, while; and the taste of it was 
 like wafers made with honey"* Such are the curious 
 and interesting particulars supplied by the Sacred Text. 
 It is well known that a substance is used in medicine 
 under this name, chiefly obtained from the Calabrias, 
 and is collected from the leaves of the ornus rotundifolia, 
 (fraxinus ornus, of Linnaeus,) and a somewhat similar 
 substance obtains in the onion ; but from its purgative 
 qualities, it is sufficiently obvious that the manna of the 
 Scriptures is altogether different. According to Seetzen, 
 Wortley Montague, Burckhardt, and other travellers, a 
 natural production exudes from the spines of a species 
 of tamarix, in the peninsula of Sinai. It condenses be- 
 fore sunrise, but dissolves in the sunbeam. " Its taste," 
 it is added, " is agreeable, somewhat aromatic, and as 
 sweet as honey. It may be kept for a year, and is only 
 found after a wet season." The Arabs collect it and use 
 it with their bread. In the vicinity of Mount Sinai, 
 where it is most plentiful, the quantity collected in the 
 most favourable season does not exceed six hundred 
 weight. The author of the "History of the Jews" has 
 a note to the following effect: "The author, by the 
 kindness of a traveller, recently returned from Egypt, 
 has received a small quantity of manna ; it was, how- 
 ever, though still palatable, in a liquid state, from the 
 heat of the sun. He has obtained the additional curious 
 fact, that manna, if not boiled or baked, will not keep 
 
 * Exodus xvi. 14. and 31. 
 
 R2 
 
196 
 
 more than a day, but becorries putrid and breeds mag- 
 gots. It is described as a small round substance, and is 
 brought in by the Arabs in small quantities mixed with 
 sand."* It would appear from these very interesting 
 facts, that this exudation, which transpires from the 
 thorns or leaves of the tamarix, is altogether different 
 from the manna of the manna-ash. We cannot doubt, 
 from the entire coincidence in every respect, that the 
 manna found in the wilderness of Sinai by the Arabs 
 now, is identical with that of the Scriptures. That the 
 minute particulars recorded should be every whit verified 
 by modern research and discovery, is worthy of great 
 attention. As Moses directed Aaron to " take a pot 
 and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up 
 before the LORD, (in the ark,) to be kept for the genera- 
 tions of Israel," as a memorial; so the remarkable 
 phenomenon remains in evidence of the truth of the 
 narrative. The miracle, however, remains precisely as it 
 was. There is sufficient to appeal to, as an existing and 
 perpetual memorial to all generations. The MIRACLE, 
 from which there can be no appeal, and which allows of 
 no equivocation, consisted in its ample abundance, in its 
 continued supply, and its complete intermission on the 
 sacred day of rest. Nutritious substances have fallen 
 from the atmosphere in some countries; such, for ex- 
 ample, was that which fell a few years ago in Persia, 
 and was examined by Thenard. It proved to be a nu- 
 tritious substance referable to a vegetable origin. We 
 have before us, at the moment of writing these pages, 
 a small work, printed at Naples in 1793, the author 
 of which is Gaetano Maria La Pira ; it is entitled, 
 "Memoria sulla pioggia della Manna," &c. : and describes 
 a shower of manna which fell in Sicily, in the month of 
 September, 1792. The author, a Professor of Chemistry, 
 at Naples, gives an interesting account of the circum- 
 stances under which it was found, together with a 
 variety of interesting particulars, some of which we 
 shall select, and we do so to prove that a similar sub- 
 
 * History of the Jews, vol. I. p. 92. 
 
197 
 
 stance may have an aerial origin, though carried up in 
 the first instance, it may be, by the process of evapora- 
 tion ; this would considerably modify the product. On 
 the 2fith September, 1792, a fall of" manna took place 
 at a district in Sicily, called Fiume grande ; this sin- 
 gular shower lasted, it is stated, for about an hour and 
 a half. It commenced at twenty-two o'clock, according 
 to Italian time, or about five o'clock in the afternoon : 
 the space covered with this manna seems to have been 
 considerable. A second shower covered a space of thirty- 
 eight paces in length, by fourteen in breadth. This 
 second shower of manna, which took place on the follow- 
 ing day, was not confined to the Fiume grande, but 
 seems to have fallen in still greater abundance in another 
 place, called Santa Barbara, at a considerable distance : 
 it covered a space of two hundred and fifty paces in 
 length, by fourteen paces in breadth. An individual, 
 named Giuseppe Giarrusso, informed Sig. G. M. La Pira, 
 that about half-past eight o'clock, A. M., he witnessed 
 this shower of manna, and described it as composed of 
 extremely minute drops, which, as soon as they fell, 
 congealed into a white concrete substance ; and the 
 quantity was such, that the whole surface of the ground 
 was covered, and presented the appearance of snow: 
 the depth, in all cases, seems to have been inconsider- 
 able. This aerial manna was somewhat purgative, 
 when administered internally; and the chemical analysis 
 of it seemed to prove, that its constituents, though some- 
 what different from that obtained from the ornus rotun- 
 difolia* did not materially differ from the latter in its 
 constituents. We give Sig. La Pira's description of its 
 appearance: being of a white colour, and somewhat granu- 
 lar or spherical, it seems to have had some resemblance, 
 externally, to that of the Scriptures ; but it is not stated 
 
 * Also the oak y ilex, chesnut, &c. , though less abundant and 
 more rare than on the leaves of the manna-ash. The ordinary 
 manna collected in Sicily, comes from districts in the Val 
 Demone and the Val di Mazzara, at some distance from the 
 localities where this aerial manna fell. 
 R3 
 
198 
 
 that it became corrupt on bding preserved : " Questa 
 sostanza zuccherina nella massima parte e caduta in 
 forma di minutissima arena bianca : Osservata colla lente 
 non vi si ravvisa alcuna forma regolare, ma vi si scorge 
 una figura il piu delle volte sferoidale, e talora anche per- 
 fettamente sferica : I grani maggiori non eccedono di 
 linea di diametro : Posti sul vetro ed osservati colla lente 
 si veggono semi-trasparenti : Non hanno alcun aspetto 
 grasso o umido, ma bensi un' apparenza del tuto secca, 
 ed alquanto polverosa ; da cio nasce quel panno, che si 
 forma sulla superficie interna delle bottiglie di cristallo 
 nelle quali ci conservano."* 
 
 At the rock, in Horeb, called Meribak, Moses mira- 
 culously supplied the people with water. He smote 
 the rock, and an abundant stream immediately issued : 
 this extraordinary source of supply is now dried up, 
 but there is still left sufficient evidence to confirm the 
 fact. It will suffice for our purpose that we quote, in 
 corroboration, the description of an eye-witness and re- 
 cent traveller: "We came to the celebrated rock of 
 Meribah. It still bears striking evidence of the miracle 
 about it ; and it is quite isolated in the midst of a nar- 
 row valley, which is here about two hundred yards 
 broad. There are four or five fissures, one above the 
 other, on the face of the rock, each of them about a foot 
 and a half long, and a few inches deep. What is re- 
 markable, they run along the breadth of the rock, and 
 are not rent downwards; they are more than a foot 
 asunder, and there is a channel worn between them by 
 the gushing of the water. The Arabs still reverence 
 this rock."t Dr. Clarke only spoke the truth when he 
 asserted that the BIBLE was the best itinerary that the 
 traveller in Palestine could possess. 
 
 * " Memoria," &c. In Napoli, 1793, p. 23. 
 
 t Letters from the East, 2 vols. Lond. Second Edit. 1826, 
 vol. I. p. 226. 
 
UNIVERSITY 
 .V; 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 TABLES OF STONEELEVATION OP THE BRAZEN 
 SERPENT THE SAMARITANS, 
 
 AFTER the promulgation of the law from Sinai, in 
 order that it should be stamped by Divine authority, 
 and have all the sanction of a signet from heaven, we 
 are informed, at the close of the thirty-first chapter of 
 Exodus, that GOD "gave unto Moses, when he had 
 made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, 
 two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the 
 Jinger of GOD." In a subsequent part of the narrative, 
 we are supplied with a more circumstantial detail: "the 
 tables were written on both their sides, on the one side 
 and on the other were they written. And the tables 
 were the work of GOD, and the writing was the writing 
 of GOD, graven upon the tables."* It becomes us not to 
 speculate on this sublime transaction, nor to pry, with too 
 curious an eye, into the more immediate intercourse of 
 Deity with his creature ; but it cannot be out of place, 
 to endeavour to obtain a more just and accurate concep- 
 tion of this autograph of heaven than may be generally 
 entertained, provided it be in harmony with the Sacred 
 Text. We are possessed of a small fragment of Hebrew 
 granite, brought to this country by the late Burckhardt 
 from Sinai ; and if we are correctly informed, it obtains 
 in that celebrated mountain. To this singular and 
 beautiful species of granite we have already alluded. 
 
 * Exodus xxxii. 15, &c. 
 
200 
 
 We are told, that not only were the tables the work 
 of GOD, but the writing was the writing of GOD. If a 
 conjecture may be hazarded on a subject so sacred, we 
 may suppose, that these tables were composed of Hebrew 
 granite, the "work of GOD," in the sublime fiat of 
 creation. The linear arrangement of the crystals of 
 quartz, and their beautiful parallelism, are very" striking 
 features; and, as we are told that "the tables were 
 written on both their sides," it may perhaps tend to 
 elevate our views above common place ideas, to suppose 
 that these crystals, which have a striking resemblance 
 to Persepolitan or Babylonian characters, under the 
 Almighty fiat became expressive of his law in the 
 arrangement of the decalogue. Granite is a primitive 
 rock one of the original rocks of creation or founda- 
 tion stones of the globe. These heavenly characters 
 being constituent parts of the granite, would thus 
 appear on both sides of the tables of stone, and could 
 not be obliterated but with the destruction of the stone 
 itself. Granite is a durable and adamantine rock, and 
 thus the whole became a symbol of the permanence and 
 stability of the sacred characters of the law of GOD. 
 That "not one jot nor one tittle should pass away" until 
 "the mountains be removed and there be no place found 
 for them." In reference to the awful manifestations of 
 the DIVINE BEING on mount Sinai, Mr. Milman ob- 
 serves : " The mountain seems to have shewn every 
 appearance of a volcanic eruption : blazing fires, huge 
 columns of smoke, convulsions of the earth." This author 
 has wisely added, "yet a most philosophical observer has 
 decided, from the geological formation of the mountain, 
 that it has never been subject to the agency of internal 
 fire." We may further state, that a granitic mountain 
 is not that description of rock in which we may reason- 
 ably expect to find volcanic agency. 
 
 Passing over much that is of sublime interest in the 
 ornaments of the tabernacle, which were moulded and 
 arranged agreeable to the "pattern shewed in the 
 mount," together with the rites and ceremonies enjoined 
 by the Levitical laws and ordinances, and the ministra- 
 
201 
 
 tions of the sacrifices and orders of priesthood, we shall 
 consider a remarkable event in the pilgrimage of the 
 Hebrews, inflicted as a punishment for their distrust of 
 that PROVIDENCE who had so frequently and so signally 
 interposed on their behalf who had "not left himself 
 without a witness," and "led them by a way they knew 
 not." "Fiery serpents" visited the Hebrews, " and they 
 bit the people, and much people of Israel died." On 
 the repentance of this stubborn race, Moses, their leader, 
 was directed to "make a fiery serpent and set it upon a 
 pole : and it shall come to pass, that every one that is 
 bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live." "And Moses 
 made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole; and it 
 came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when 
 he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived."* This remark- 
 able circumstance was an expressive symbol of that 
 eventful scene which should, in the fulness of time, be 
 unfolded on the summit of Calvary. On this point we 
 are not left in suspence, since the Sacred Text is clear 
 and explicit : "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the 
 wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up ; 
 that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but 
 have everlasting life." We need not, therefore, appeal 
 to the authority of commentators, such as L. Capellus, 
 Grotius, Bochart, and others. Amid the various systems 
 of mythology, which have engrossed the heathen world, 
 the serpent seems to have borne a conspicuous part. 
 There are three remarkable incidents in the Sacred 
 Volume, which involve the adjunct of the serpent: the 
 fall of man, the transmutation of the rod of Moses 
 into a serpent, and the remarkable fact before us. 
 Mr. Deane, in an interesting work, entitled, " The 
 Worship of the Serpent traced throughout the World, 
 and its Tradition referred to the Events in Paradise," 
 &c., concludes, that "in most, if not in all the civilized 
 countries where the serpent was worshipped, some fable 
 or tradition, which involved his history, directly or in- 
 directly, alluded to the fall of man in Paradise, in 
 
 * Numbers xxi. 6, &c. 
 
202 
 
 which the serpent was concerned." That the principle 
 of evil, with whose temptation this 'catastrophe is con- 
 nected, should have ever become an object of adoration by 
 man, is an extraordinary circumstance ; yet it is, never- 
 theless, a fact, that the tempter is even now worshipped 
 by a tribe, near Merdan, &c., called the Yezedees. 
 The Yezedees, from Singar, will not even name the 
 tempter, and hold his name in the utmost reverence. 
 We are inclined to believe, that, though serpent-wor- 
 ship may be connected with Paradise in some cases, 
 it refers, in others, to the circumstance to which we 
 have alluded, namely, the elevation of the brazen ser- 
 pent. Spanheim gives a medal of Antoninus Pius, on 
 which are represented two serpents in deadly feud, one 
 being evidently the victor : whether this may indirectly 
 refer to the rod of Moses and those of the magicians of 
 Egypt, cannot be determined ; but the serpent is com- 
 monly associated with 
 Esculapius. We give 
 a fac simile of a me- 
 dal of Antoninus Pius, 
 copied by M. Spon in 
 his work, entitled, " Re- 
 cherchesCurieuses d'An- 
 tiquite "* In this medal 
 Esculapius is represent- 
 ed under the form of a j 
 serpent, about to leave! 
 the prow of a vessel and 
 
 take up his abode on an 
 
 island in the Tiber. The river deity approaches to 
 welcome his advent. This legend is connected with 
 the ravages of the plague at Rome. The recovery of 
 health being thus ascribed to Esculapius. It "has 
 occurred to us as being remarkable for its association 
 of the serpent with a branch. We have already ad- 
 verted to the mistletoe, as used by the Druids, and 
 its supposititious virtues as a catholicon, or universal 
 
 * Page 53J. 
 
203 
 
 remedy. The " tree of life" is mentioned in reference 
 to the transaction in the Garden of Eden. The great 
 naturalist of Holy Writ also names the tree of life. We 
 have the branch introduced to us in the vista of pro- 
 phecy ; and in the visions of the Apocalypse, there is an 
 allusion to " the tree of life," where it is added, " the 
 leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." 
 " Lo !" says the prophet, " they put the branch to their 
 nose. "* We do not consider that we are at all fanciful 
 in referring this association of the serpent, especially 
 when connected with the staff of Esculapius or the 
 wand of Hermes, to the event in the wilderness; or 
 when, in the symbol of the serpent, connected with the 
 deified Esculapius, we perceive a distinct connexion 
 with and reference to the elevation of the brazen ser- 
 pent. Living serpents were preserved in some of the 
 temples dedicated to Esculapius. Even in the Acro- 
 polis of Athens a live serpent was kept. On Greco- 
 Egyptian coins serpents are often introduced ; and on 
 coins of the Lower Empire they are equally frequent. 
 Sometimes these snakes or serpents are crowned with a 
 human head, apparently that of Serapis, &c. On a 
 coin of Gordianus, in our possession, the reverse pre- 
 sents a serpent on an altar, to which a human figure is 
 presenting a basin : and such symbols are by no means 
 infrequent. In Plate III, fig. 19, to which we have 
 already referred, the serpent, in an upright form, re- 
 presents Thoth, the Egyptian Hermes or Mercury. 
 The caduceus of Hermes, symbolical of Canaan, besides 
 the globe and wings which surmounted it and the triple 
 leaf which encircled its stem, was occupied by two ser- 
 pents which embraced the rod in their folds. In one 
 of the coins of Augustus, which we shall give in the 
 sequel, the caduceus of Mercury is elevated by a figure 
 recumbent at an altar. From time immemorial the 
 serpent has embraced the staff of Esculapius the em- 
 blem of healing ; and we remember to have noticed this 
 ensign, in fresco, on one of the houses of Pompei, 
 
 * Ezek. viii. 17. 
 
204 
 
 precisely such as it is now sometimes adopted as the 
 symbol of medicine or of pharmacy ; and to the same 
 source must be referred symbolic representations, per- 
 petuated to our times by similar associations, down to 
 the restorative virtues still ascribed to the flesh of the 
 viper, and the elixir excellencies of the acqua di vipere 
 which we found still in high repute in the pharmaco- 
 poeia of Naples. It is melancholy to find, that the 
 Hebrews, when they reverted to idolatry, to which they 
 seem to have ever been too prone, worshipped the 
 serpent as well as changed " the glory of the incorrup- 
 tible GOD" into " the similitude of a calf that eateth 
 hay." Thus we are told, that Hezekiah, king of Judah, 
 " removed the high places, and brake the images 
 (statues,) and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces 
 the brazen serpent that Moses had made; for unto 
 those days, the children of Israel did burn incense to it, 
 and he called it Nehushtan," (a piece of brass or copper.) 
 On the other hand, we readily admit that ophiolatry, 
 in the majority of cases, may be traced still farther back, 
 and referred "to the fall of our prototype. We have 
 already given a representation of a Tyrian coin, which 
 may be considered of the era of Alexander the Great. 
 In this medal we have the serpent associated with the 
 tree, as it were the tree of life encircled by the folds 
 of the principle of evil ; and on each side of the tree, 
 are the petrce ambrosia?. According to Dr. Stukeley, 
 in his remarks on Stonehenge, the Tyrian Hercules 
 (Melcarthus) ordered Tyre to be built where the petrae 
 ambrosise stood. These are represented as two moveable 
 rocks standing by an olive tree. It appears that these 
 stones were consecrated by pouring oil on them as in 
 patriarchal times. Such moveable stones were called, 
 by the Greeks, living stones; and, in all probability, they 
 somewhat resembled the laggan-stones of the Druids. 
 The oil of roses, the ancient ambrosia, was employed, by 
 the heathen, for this libation. Jacob, at Bethel, "took the 
 stone that he had put for his pillow, and set it up for a 
 pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it." All these, there- 
 fore, it is obvious, sprung from one and the same channel. 
 
205 
 
 We have already adverted to the urei or deified basilisks 
 of Egyptian mythology, and the nagas of Budhism. 
 The hierogram, which united the winged serpent and 
 circle ; and a variety of combined symbols, in which the 
 serpent formed a part, are more difficult to decipher; but 
 the worship of the serpent, in combination with trees, 
 seems to have been very prevalent ; and even in the 
 seventh century, in Italy, some natives of Lombardy 
 were found to worship a tree and a golden viper. It is 
 singular that dracontic figures are represented on the 
 base of the golden candlestick on the Arch of Titus, at 
 Rome, having very much the same appearance as the 
 figures on ancient Chinese porcelain valued by the 
 virtuoso, if we mistake not, as an undeniable proof of 
 considerable antiquity. The serpent cuts no inconspi- 
 cuous figure among gnostic emblems. In sculptures 
 and on coins the serpent is often observed entwined 
 round a pole, and sometimes with the legend, 2.QTHP, 
 a saviour, preserver, or deliverer. We cannot help 
 associating this with the brazen serpent which so 
 forcibly reminds us of MESSIAS, THE BRANCH, who 
 was "to deliver his people from their sins" and his 
 own invocation, "Look unto ME, and be ye saved." 
 All these, therefore, seem to point to that hap'py period, 
 when, 
 
 "Occidet et serpens, et fallax herba veneni, 
 Occidet." * 
 
 A sect of the gnostics, from their worship of the serpent, 
 were called ophites. This reptile was a constituent of 
 the gnostic abrasax, and formed a frequent symbol 
 in gnostic amulets. From being the type or symbol, 
 that might direct the eye of faith to " the glory that 
 was to be revealed," it became, itself, the object of 
 worship, and was so interwoven with the fooleries of 
 the gnostics, that those heathens who were incapable of 
 judging between the pure and hallowed principles of the 
 " New Religion," and its abuse by a vicious and 
 
 * Virg. Pollio, 
 s 
 
206 
 
 degraded superstition, taunted the early Christians 
 with this as being an object of their worship ; just as 
 scoffers at heavenly truth, now, combine Christianity 
 with its false friends and mal-appropriation ; as if 
 the abuse of the principle were legitimately chargeable 
 on the principle itself ; and, forgetting that the princi- 
 ple is by no means accountable for its perversion by 
 a distempered imagination, or being employed by a 
 bad man to cunning artifice or deep design. That 
 Pagans should not be able to reason better we need not 
 wonder ; but that we, in these times, should find men 
 that dare to charge, on what is itself "altogether 
 lovely," the hideous deformities of evil, does no credit 
 to their understanding ; and they are in this case, not 
 one whit better than the heathens of old. 
 
 When Joshua had passed the Jordan, he directed that 
 twelve stones, taken from the bed of the river, should 
 be set up on the plains of Gilgal these were according 
 to the number of the tribes of Israel. The reason as- 
 signed for this procedure, is mentioned in a subsequent 
 verse of the same chapter : " That this may be a sign 
 among you, that when your children ask their fathers in 
 time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones ? 
 Then shall ye answer them, That the waters of Jordan 
 were cut off* before the ark of the covenant of the LORD ; 
 when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were 
 cut off : and these stones shall be for a memorial unto 
 the children of Israel for ever."* It may be of importance 
 to remark, that the Cutheans are stated, in the Itinerary 
 of Benjamin of Tudela, to offer sacrifice on Mount 
 Gerizim, on an altar constructed with the stones brought 
 from the bed of the Jordan by the Israelites, at the 
 command of Joshua. Captains Irby and Mangles dis- 
 covered ruins on Mount Gerizim, which might have 
 been those of the ancient Samaritan synagogue. On 
 Mount Ebal, Dr. Richardson observed an old ruined 
 fort, but did not ascend. Ebal and Gerizim, among 
 the mountains of Israel, on the plains of Jericho, it will 
 
 * Joshua iv. 6, 7. 
 
207 
 
 be remembered, were the mountains from which the 
 "blessings" and the "cursings" were to be pronounced. 
 In the twenty-seventh chapter of Deuteronomy we have 
 these facts related. The blessings were promulgated 
 from Gerizim, and the cursings from Ebal, similar to 
 the manner in which the Manx laws are now proclaim- 
 ed, sub die, from the Tinwald Mount, in the Isle of Man; 
 a practice of extreme antiquity. It will also be remem- 
 bered that Joshua built an altar in Mount Ebal, after the 
 passage of the Jordan.* There can be no doubt that 
 Ebal here should be Gerizim, and that the Jewish Pen- 
 tateuch, in this respect, must yield to the authority of the 
 Samaritan copy. Instead of Ebal the Samaritan text 
 has Gerizim; and it has been clearly ascertained by Dr. 
 Kennicott, that it should be so. The Samaritans con- 
 tend that the Jews, from enmity to them, and because 
 they worshipped there, put Ebal the mountain of curs- 
 ing, instead of, what it should be, Gerizim the mountain 
 of blessing. The text and antiquity clearly assign the 
 palm to the Samaritans. The Mount Gerizim was that 
 where the blessings were pronounced; and it is certainly 
 much more probable that the altar constructed by Joshua 
 should be reared on that spot, than on the mountain of 
 cursing. It is worthy of remark, that this altar was to 
 be composed "of whole stones, over which no man 
 hath lifted up any iron."t These, therefore, perfectly 
 correspond with the structures of Stonehenge and Au- 
 bery. The heathen temples and altars were constructed 
 of hewn stones ; and these being unhewn, would distin- 
 guish the altars of the true GOD from those of idolatrous 
 nations. 
 
 It cannot be impertinent to state, that the Samaritans 
 are descended from an intermixture of the ten tribes 
 with Gentile nations. This, of course, rendered them 
 obnoxious to the Jews, who were so zealous to maintain 
 an uncorrupted lineage. This was very natural ; for, 
 irrespective of the direct command of GOD, it afforded 
 the means for tracing the lineal descent of the ex- 
 
 * Joshua viii. 30. f Joshua viii. 31. 
 
 s 2 
 
208 
 
 pected MESSIAH. These people were not, therefore, 
 permitted by the untainted Jews, to aid them in the 
 erection of the second temple, on their return from the 
 Babylonish captivity ; because those who had thus in- 
 termarried and mingled with the Gentiles around them, 
 "could not shew their father's house, nor their seed, 
 (pedigree) whether they were of Israel."* In conse- 
 quence of this rejection, and other causes of animosity, 
 the Samaritans (so called from the city of Samaria, the 
 ancient capital of Israel,) erected a temple on Gerizim, 
 and there offered up their sacrifices on " the mountain 
 of blessing," as prescribed by the Mosaic law. The 
 district of Samaria was originally occupied by the two 
 tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. This was the cause 
 of that rooted animosity and bitter enmity which pre- 
 vailed eighteen centuries ago, between the Jews and 
 Samaritans : a hostility which remains in full force ; for 
 the SAMARITANS STILL EXIST, as well as the Jews, and 
 are separated by as broad lines of demarcation now, as 
 they were at the commencement of the Christian era. 
 The Samaritans recognize only the Pentateuch, since this 
 schism had taken place before the Sacred Writings were 
 collected into one volume. It is of importance to ob- 
 serve, that the Samaritan Pentateuch has a remarkable 
 correspondence with the copy of the Pentateuch pre- 
 served by the Jews ; indeed, in all important particulars 
 these independent copies agree. This very feud and 
 hostility have, therefore, been the guarantee of its in- 
 tegrity. No less than seventeen MSS. of the Samaritan 
 text are known to exist : six of these are in the Bodleian 
 Library, at Oxford, and one in the Cottonian Library, 
 in the British Museum. 
 
 The copies of the Pentateuch, which the Samaritans 
 still preserve, are in the ancient Hebrew characters. 
 The modern Samaritans inhabit a district in Palestine, 
 called Naplouse, the ancient Neapolis or Sichem, be- 
 tween Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. They are now 
 few in number, and do not consist, altogether, of more 
 
 * Neb. vii. 61. 
 
209 
 
 than thirty families, or two hundred souls. Preserving, 
 with singular fidelity, their ancient worship, they still 
 remain attached to the Mosaic ritual, and only inter- 
 marry among each other. Their Pentateuch and alphabet 
 still remain unchanged, and both exhibit marks of their 
 original antiquity. At this moment, these Samaritans 
 are a faithful and true witness, and a living monument 
 of that ancient Samaritan temple, which was contem- 
 poraneous with our Saviour's abode on earth, the rival 
 of that at Jerusalem, This interesting race has been 
 frequently visited since the sixteenth century, and 
 recently by M. Sylvestre de Sacy. In the fourth chapter 
 of John, we have a remarkable and interesting interview 
 between a female of Samaria and our SAVIOUR. This 
 event took place near Sychar, a city of Samaria, at a 
 well, called "Jacob's well," where the women of the city 
 were wont to repair to draw water. "How is it," said 
 the woman, "that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of 
 me, which am a woman of Samaria ? for the Jews have 
 no dealings with the Samaritans."* This singular 
 observation proves the extent to which the animosity 
 was carried. The rival Temples of Gerizim and Jerusa- 
 lem are next adverted to : " Our fathers worshipped in 
 this mountain; and ye say that in Jerusalem is the 
 place where men ought to worship." t We have already 
 mentioned, that according to Joshua's command, the 
 rude stones, brought from the bed of the river, were 
 pitched in Gilgal, in the east border of Jericho ; and to 
 this temple, the foundation of that raised in Gerizim, 
 Samuel went yearly to assist at the great annual con- 
 vocation. The woman of Samaria, therefore, was right 
 in her observation, that their fathers had been ac- 
 customed to worship in the neighbouring mountain 
 of Gerizim. The Samaritans, as well as the Jews, 
 notwithstanding the defection of the former, had about 
 this period, it is evident from the sequel, been anxious- 
 ly expecting the MESSIAH ; and it is remarkable, 
 that the Samaritans appear to have had more just and 
 
 * John iv. 9. f John iv. 20. 
 s3 
 
210 
 
 settled notions on this important question, than the 
 Pharisaical Jews of that period, notwithstanding the 
 proud boast of their untainted descent from Abraham. 
 The Samaritans of Sychar admitted without scruple, 
 the claims of the MESSIAH, and tendered him that cour- 
 teous reception, which appears to have been accepted : 
 "We have heard him ourselves," said they, "and know 
 that this is, indeed, the CHRIST, the Saviour of the 
 world." * Though they could not appeal to the prophets, 
 or even to the Psalms which so minutely describe the 
 circumstances under which he should appear, yet an 
 idea of a prince that was to wield the sceptre and wear 
 the crown of temporal dominion, seems not to have 
 been entertained by them. It was sufficient for them 
 that he was " sent to the lost house of Israel. " Their 
 hopes and expectations were, no doubt, based on the 
 prophetic declaration of the dying patriarch, t which was 
 so perspicuous and explicit. In this there was nothing 
 to warrant temporal sovereignty: on the contrary, 
 something different from temporal dominion is plainly 
 implied, and to which the " Sceptre of Judah " should 
 give place. They seemed eager to hail a period when 
 the unhappy schism which prevailed should be healed, 
 a rallying point for the "gathering of the people." 
 From what has been observed, the Samaritans, having 
 lost their line of ancestry, had nothing to guide their 
 inquiries in the question of lineal descent; the obser- 
 vation of the female of Samaria was, therefore, very 
 apposite and natural : "I know that MESSIAS cometh, 
 which is called CHRIST ; when he is come, he will tell 
 us all things." Our SAVIOUR'S credentials seem to 
 have been every way satisfactory to the inhabitants of 
 Sychar these "outcasts of Israel; " and they appear, 
 in some degree, to have received him into " honest 
 hearts." The passage to which we have adverted, in 
 reference to " the Star of Jacob," which should arise in 
 after-times, is quite conclusive against the infidelity of 
 modern Jews. It is not doubted, and cannot be denied, 
 
 * John iv. 42. f Genesis xlix. 10. } John iv. 25. 
 
that the tribes are confounded, and that their lineage & 
 lost: the kingdom is departed from them, and ICHABOD 
 written on the walls of their synagogue. When we 
 have pressed this prophetic announcement on modern 
 Jews, they have answered " THAT is THE STRONG- 
 HOLD OF THE CHRISTIAN." The best informed among 
 them begin now to doubt ; and some have taken refuge 
 in scepticism. Their rabbies try, by a contemptible 
 sophistry, to evade the conclusion of this irresistible 
 argument; but we have never received any thing in 
 the shape of a rational reply. This passage is chronicled 
 in the Pentateuch, a volume which, above all others, 
 the Jew, in every age, has preserved and regarded with 
 intense veneration. Some, contriving to overlook the 
 notorious fact connected with this prediction, that the 
 sceptre is departed from Judah, still cling to a MESSIAH 
 to come : and we were not a little surprised, when we 
 pressed the question by what means this expected 
 Prince was to be recognized as " the very Christ ?" to 
 receive an answer similar to that of the woman of Sama* 
 ria, and nearly couched in the same words : " When he 
 is come he will tell us all things." We have adverted 
 to the ancient Hebrew or Samaritan character, as 
 differing from the square Chaldee or modern Hebrew. 
 In Plate II., fig. 13, is a fac simile of a half-shekel: 
 we now give a correct portrait of a silver shekel in our 
 
 possession; of the genuineness of which there is not the 
 slightest doubt. Around the censer (or thuribulum) 
 with incense, are the words SCHEKEL ISRAEL The 
 
Shekel of Israel; and on the reverse is a BRANCH 
 with the words JEROUSCHALAIM HAKEDOSCHA Jeru- 
 salem, the Holy. It is interesting to compare this 
 censer with that on the golden table in the has relief 
 of the Arch of Titus at Rome, represented in Plate 
 II., tig. 1 1 ; the resemblance is certainly very striking. 
 Whether the foliage is to be considered as representing 
 the opobalsamum ; or the rod of Aaron which blossomed, 
 and was deposited, as well as the golden vessel which 
 contained a specimen of the manna which fell in the 
 wilderness, in the ark or sacred depository of the tables 
 of the law ; must be left to conjecture. Our opinion is, 
 that it refers to the Branch announced in prophecy, 
 whose leaves where for the healing of the nations. The 
 shekel, in the days of Josephus, was somewhat larger 
 than the ancient shekel. Those with Samaritan inscrip- 
 tions are assigned to a period some centuries before the 
 Christian era. The Jews do not appear to have ever 
 coined gold; hence the double shekels, shekels, half- 
 shekels, &c., are in silver. The legends are similar in 
 all of them, but the symbols are somewhat varied. On 
 some Jewish coins, about the time of Agrippa, and 
 whose name appears on a few of them, there are 
 branches, grapes, ears of corn, a canopy, &c., all having 
 a reference to the ceremonies prescribed in the ritual of 
 their religion. The letters appear extremely uncouth 
 and barbarous. On no genuine Jewish coin do we ever 
 meet with any figures of men or animals. This was in 
 strict conformity with the prescription of the Decalogue. 
 We are not, by any means, inclined to consider this 
 shekel as being issued by the Samaritans of Sichem. As 
 the ancient Samaritan character places its date at some 
 centuries before the Christian era, (and we are well ac- 
 quainted with the characters employed by the Jews in 
 the first century,) it is not likely that the Samaritans 
 would inscribe their shekel, "Jerusalem, the holy" since 
 that was the very bone of contention between them and 
 the Jews. It is worthy of remark, that the Arabic name 
 of Jerusalem, is EL KHODS "the Holy." 
 
 Our readers will remember the beautiful parable of 
 
213 
 
 the good Samaritan) and his kindness and compassion 
 for the wounded stranger, " who fell among thieves/' 
 on his journey from Jerusalem to Jericho. Sichem or 
 Sychar, the district of the Samaritans, and which they 
 now inhabit, is about forty miles from Jerusalem. Jeri- 
 cho is about nineteen miles from the capital of Judea ; 
 and, as it was in the first century, so the intervening 
 country still remains infested by banditti. Sir Frederick 
 Henniker, as late as 1 820, on his journey from Jerusa- 
 lem to Jericho, was way-laid, attacked by a band of 
 predatory Arabs, and plundered. He was stripped 
 naked, and left severely wounded ; and in this state was 
 carried to Jericho. 
 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 SHIBBOLETH SAMSON BROOK ELAH CAPTIVITY OF 
 
 THE TEN TRIBES BY SHALMANESER THE INVASION 
 
 BY SHISHAK, KINO OF EGYPT DANIEL. 
 
 THE quarrel which took place between " the men of 
 Ephraim" and those of Qilead, recorded in the twelfth 
 chapter of the Book of Judges, is alluded to in this 
 place, as affording a curious instance of a peculiarity 
 in pronunciation being propounded as a test of discri- 
 mination between the men of Ephraim and the men of 
 Gilead, who, it would seem, spoke the same language, 
 but could not pronounce a particular word alike. If the 
 individual denied his being an Ephraimite, he was de- 
 sired to repeat the word Shibboleth, and if he did not 
 pronounce it aright, he stood condemned : " Then said 
 they unto him, Say now Shibboleth ; and he said Sibbo- 
 leth : for he could not frame to pronounce it right. 
 Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of 
 Jordan."* It is a singular fact that a district of 
 Polish Jews cannot, at this day, pronounce the word 
 Shibboleth, but always say, Sibboleth. One of these 
 Polish Jews is, at the present moment, a reader in a 
 synagogue, at Bristol, where we have heard him. 
 
 The remarkable history and adventures of Samson oc- 
 cur in the chapters immediately succeeding ; and it may 
 not be irrelevant to mention, that Mr. Seely seems to 
 have been struck with a representation, among the tem- 
 ples of Elora, in which he almost recognized a distinct 
 
 * Judges xii. G. 
 
215 
 
 allusion to the circumstances attending the death of this 
 chieftain. It refers to an avatar, wherein Nursing seems 
 issuing from a pillar. " It strongly," says Mr. Seeley, 
 " reminded me of Samson ; great muscular power, shoul- 
 ders and breast broad, pressing against the pillar and 
 grasping it with his large hands, his countenance wild 
 and threatening."* If we compare this with Judges 
 xvi. 29, 30, the similarity seems to be remarkable; and 
 the events in Biblical History, issuing through channels 
 barbarous and polluted, might be supposed, in many 
 cases, to have supplied, traditionally, heathen mythology 
 with materials for its deities and demigods, and the ex- 
 travagant fables which shroud them. The following is 
 another specimen of this kind : " Vira Budra is seen 
 holding in his uplifted hand, Raj Duz, while a sword is 
 held with the other to slay him. It is a striking resem- 
 blance of the judgment of Solomon."t 
 
 David's encounter with Goliath, the champion of the 
 Philistines, is mentioned in 1 Samuel xvii. : and in the 
 40th verse is described the simple armour with which 
 the shepherd boy, Jesse's son, repaired to the con- 
 test. Many a thirsty pilgrim, as he passes through 
 the valley of Elah, on the road from Bethlehem to Jaffa, 
 (Joppa,) has drunk of "the brook in the way" that very 
 brook from whence the minstrel youth "chose him five 
 smooth stones." " Its present appearance," says a recent 
 traveller, " answers exactly to the description given in 
 Scripture ; the two hills on which the armies stood, en- 
 tirely confining it on the right and left. The valley is 
 not above half a mile broad. Tradition was not required 
 to identify this spot. Nature has stamped it with ever- 
 lasting features of truth. The brook still flows through 
 it in a winding course, from which David took the 
 smooth stones." 
 
 We have before us a pamphlet descriptive of an an- 
 tique Hebrew medal, in the possession of Mr. Lyon ; J 
 it is to be regretted that the plate which illustrated it 
 
 * Wonders of Elora, p. 181. f Ibid, p. 185. 
 J Explanation, &c. London, 1810. 
 
216 
 
 is lost, and we are, therefore, unable to judge of its 
 merits, as far as a fac simile representation of the medal 
 would authorise an opinion, as to its claims to a high 
 antiquity. It appears to have been found in the year 
 1809, by a peasant, when digging in a ruin near Hun- 
 tingdon, and to have, at length, fallen into the hands of 
 a Hebrew scholar, who has published this account of it. 
 The legend on one side is, " The LORD is the Keeper of 
 Israel, the mighty King in Jerusalem." In the centre 
 there is said to be a cup representing that which con- 
 tained the omer of manna, On the right side is 
 the mitre, (cether, a crown,) and on the left, the horn, 
 (shophar, a horn,) both denoted by their initial letters. 
 On the reverse of this medal is the legend, " The 
 Shekel of David, left in the Treasury of Zion, in the 
 Temple." In the centre is a representation of Aaron's 
 rod ; on the right is the king's crown ; and on the left 
 the vessel containing the ancinting oil : both distin- 
 guished by initial letters. Whether this shekel was 
 deposited by the royal minstrel, whose name it bears, 
 in the sanctuary, as a memorial, must be a question, 
 sub umbra : it seemed, to us, however, sufficiently in- 
 teresting to merit the tribute of a passing notice. 
 
 It is recorded in 2 Kings, xvii. o, and xviii. 1 0, that 
 Shalmaneser, the king of Assyria, carried Israel away 
 captive during the reign of Hoshea, the son of Elah, 
 who was then king in Samaria : " The king of Assyria 
 took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and 
 placed them in Halah and in Habor, by the river of 
 Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes." This captivity 
 of the ten tribes is confirmed by the discoveries of re- 
 cent travellers, from sculptures, in the live rock, on the 
 mountains of Be-sitoon, on the borders of Ancient 
 Assyria. In Plate III, fig. 18, we have given a correct 
 representation of this curious and interesting sculpture, 
 copied from Sir Robert Ker Porter's very valuable 
 work. We have omitted the aerial figure to whom the 
 captives seem to be presented by Shalmaneser; and 
 which figure may be supposed either to represent his 
 father, Tiglath Pileser ; or the " god of the clouds." In 
 
217 
 
 the Hon. George KeppelTs Personal Narrative these 
 sculptures are alluded to.* According to this author, 
 it seems to have some allusion to queen Esther plead- 
 ing before Ahasuerus ; but, as Mr. Keppell saw these 
 figures at too great a distance to form any distinct idea 
 of them, we must give up this unsupported idea to the 
 opinion supplied by Sir R. Ker Porter, who has given 
 a complete and accurate representation, copied with 
 sufficient care, on the spot, and at imminent personal 
 hazard. The Babylonian characters attest their high 
 and venerable antiquity ; and the toute ensemble gives 
 no countenance whatever to Mr. Keppell's extraordi- 
 nary inference. Sir R. Ker Porter informs us,t that he 
 encountered great difficulty in making even this copy ; 
 and that to have copied accurately all the Babylonian 
 or arrow-headed inscriptions would* have occupied him 
 more than a month. W,e still hope, however, that this 
 may be done ; and sincerely wish, with Sir R. Ker 
 Porter, " that the indefatigable scholars now engaged 
 in the study of these, apparently the oldest letters in 
 the world, may at last succeed in bringing them to an 
 intelligible language. In that case, what a treasure- 
 house of historical knowledge would be unfolded here, 
 (Be-sitoon,) and in the vale of Merdasht !" This in- 
 vestigation, we have stated, is partially begun, and 
 with some promise of success ; still, however, it cannot, 
 as yet, be otherwise regarded than as " a sealed book." 
 These sculptures, Sir R. K. P. states, are chiselled in 
 a mountain called Be-sitoon : " At the foot of Be-sitoon, 
 we see a rocky platform, cut out of the foot of the 
 mountain, evidently intended to support a temple; but, 
 at a point something higher up than the rough gigantic 
 forms just described, in a very precipitous cleft," ap- 
 peared the sculpture, which our author has so carefully 
 copied, notwithstanding the danger he ran in obtaining 
 even an insecure footing. The first figure in the chain 
 wears the Median habit, like the leaders of the guards 
 at Persepolis. The second figure is distinguished by a 
 
 * Vol. II. p. 82. f Ib. pp. 154, 155. 
 
 T 
 
218 
 
 bent bow. The third, larger and taller, may be de- 
 signed, according to Sir R. K. Porter, to represent the 
 king of Assyria. The costume is that of regal dignity 
 as exhibited in the has reliefs of Persepolis, &c. The 
 suppliant figure, and the first in the other chain on 
 the right, are much injured by time. The third of the 
 chain, or the fourth figure of the group of captives, has 
 the skirt of the garment covered with arrow-headed 
 characters. The last of the series wears a more flowing 
 beard and a high pointed cap, somewhat like a mitre 
 perhaps to represent the house of Levi. Above the 
 head of each are specific compartments, in the arrow- 
 headed character ; perhaps descriptive of each captive 
 the heads of the ten tribes of Israel: and below them, 
 are two lines in the same arrow-headed character, 
 running the whole extent of the group. After this 
 description which we have given, almost in the words 
 of the author, there cannot be a doubt of his conclusion, 
 that this sculpture refers to the total conquest of Israel, 
 and the captivity of the ten tribes, by Shalmaneser, 
 king of Assyria, and the Medes. The first attack upon 
 the dominions of Israel was by Arbaces, or Tiglath 
 Pileser, the father of Shalmaneser ; who. instigated by 
 Ahaz, king of Judah, conducted the expedition into 
 Samaria, the country of the ten tribes. In the royal 
 figure, among those in the sculpture, we discern a 
 representation of Shalmaneser, followed by the two 
 leaders of his armies, of the dominions of Assyria and 
 Media. The double bonds of the captives may denote 
 the double crime of which they had been supposed 
 guilty. Tiglath Pileser had spared them before ; and 
 this new revolt might have been considered to conjoin 
 an act of ingratitude. 
 
 In reference to the willow and the streams of 
 Babylon, where the Hebrews remembered Zion so 
 mournfully, Sir Robert Ker Porter states, that " the 
 banks of the Euphrates were hoary with reeds, and the 
 grey osier willows were yet there on which the captives 
 of Israel hung their harps," and wept in the land of 
 the stranger. The salix babylonica, or the weeping 
 
219 
 
 willow, in its geographical range, sweeps through the 
 plains of Judea, and by the ruins of Babylon, from the 
 verge of the Mediterranean to the frontiers of Japan 
 a lovely line of beauty the Niobe of vegetation ! Sad 
 memorial of the mournful march of the captive Hebrews. 
 It is, we think, a very striking circumstance, that these 
 countries should even now retain such unchanged linea- 
 ments of their ancient history. Time seems to linger, or 
 move slowly on ; as if the wheels of nature stood still, 
 and paused at the mournful sight of departed grandeur 
 and buried magnificence BABYLON in ruins! "MENE! 
 GOD hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it."! 
 Mr. Rich has given us a sketch of a spade copied from 
 a Babylonian brick found near El Kasr, and detached 
 from a mass of ruin, in all probability, on the very scite 
 of Nebuchadnezzar's pensile gardens ; and he remarks, 
 that it is almost a fac simile of the spade used at this 
 very day in Chaldea. 
 
 In 2 Chron. chap. xxxv. and xxxvi., we find that 
 Necho, or Pharaoh-Necho, made war on the Jews and 
 Babylonians ; and that Josiah, who then reigned in 
 Jerusalem, went forth to meet him. In the unequal 
 conflict this pious prince was mortally wounded by the 
 archers ; and was buried in the sepulchres of his fathers 
 at Jerusalem. Apart from the verification of this war 
 by Herodotus, it seems confirmed by the researches of 
 the late Mr. Belzoni in the valley of Beban el Malook, 
 near Thebes. Whether the tomb discovered by Belzoni 
 be that of the Pharaoh-Necho of Scripture or not, there 
 appears a procession of captives of different nations ; 
 and among these figures the captive Jew may be easily 
 distinguished, by his garb and physiognomy. We have 
 copied, from Mr. Belzoni's Plate, the figure in question. 
 See Plate II. fig. 6. 
 
 In further elucidation of the important evidence 
 which has been derived from hieroglyphic literature, 
 we may now advert to the siege of Jerusalem, during 
 the reign of Rehoboam, the son and successor of Solo- 
 man, by Shishak, the king of Egypt. "So Shishak, 
 king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem, and took 
 T 2 
 
220 
 
 away the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the 
 treasures of the king's house; he took all."* M. 
 Champollion, whose interesting researches in Egyptian 
 literature cannot be too highly estimated, has, in his 
 recent visit to Upper Egypt, discovered a sculpture at 
 Karnac, of considerable importance in Biblical History. 
 Shechousis, or Shishak, is discovered dragging the chiefs 
 of thirty nations before his deities. His name is in- 
 scribed, over the figure, in hieroglyphics. Among the 
 captives is Rehoboam, with the Jewish expression of 
 countenance and form ; and the inscription is JOUDAHA 
 MELEK King of the Jews. The names of ZERAH, the 
 Ethiopian ; TIRHAKA ; So ; and others, mentioned in 
 the annals of the Jews, have been also deciphered. In 
 truth, the accumulated and still accumulating proofs of 
 evidence have been as remarkable, as they have been 
 unexpected ; and, in the annals of wonder, there does 
 not exist a more extraordinary phenomenon, at this 
 moment, than the INFIDEL. 
 
 Daniel was one of the Hebrew captives, carried to 
 Babylon, in the year 606, A. c. and in the fourth year 
 of the reign of Jehoiachin, king of Judah. Daniel 
 was eminently pious, and unflinchingly devoted to the 
 service of the true GOD, (in which noble attachment 
 nothing could daunt his soul nothing terrify him into a 
 dereliction of his duties) ; and this honourable testimony 
 was borne even by his wicked adversaries : " We shall 
 not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find 
 it against him concerning the law of his GOD." They 
 had already tried this, and the reluctant testimony had 
 been wrung : ''They could find none occasion nor fault; 
 forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any 
 error or fault found in him. "t Daniel was as wise as 
 he was good, and cast the wisdom of the magi of Chal- 
 dea into complete eclipse. Though he outlived the 
 Babylonish captivity, this distinguished character, in all 
 probability, died at Shushan, in the province of Elam, 
 in Babylonia, and in the palace which he occupied, as 
 
 * 2 Chron. xii. 9 t Dan. vi. 4, 5. 
 
governor of the provinces. Among the most remarkable 
 circumstances in the life of Daniel, was that of being 
 cast into the lions den, because he would not relax in 
 his wonted supplications to his GOD. Though the writing 
 was signed, and the decree had passed and received the 
 royal signet, and Daniel knew the circumstance, yet he 
 also knew, that " greater was HE who was for him, than 
 all they who were against him." "He went into his 
 house ; and, his windows being open in his chamber to- 
 ward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times 
 a-day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his GOD, as 
 he did aforetime. " Nor did he disguise his solemn du- 
 ties : his enemies assembled, and " found Daniel praying 
 and making supplication before his GOD."* The punish- 
 ment prescribed was severe, and Daniel was cast into 
 the DEN OP LIONS, where he was preserved unhurt by 
 the GOD he adored. This wonderful event we consider 
 fully substantiated by the combined testimony of Sir 
 Robert Ker Porter, Captain Mignan, Mr. Keppell, and 
 others, in the curious evidence supplied by their disco- 
 veries. Daniel, it will be remembered, occupied the 
 third chariot of Babylon. Plate II. fig. 10, is a colossal 
 statue of a lion, standing over a pedestal, and under- 
 neath appears to be a prostrate human figure. Mr. Rich 
 describes it as composed of " a kind of grey granite, and 
 of rude workmanship ; in the mouth was a circular 
 aperture, into which a man might introduce his fist." 
 This statue, now much mutilated, appears to have been 
 seen by Beauchamp : Mr. Keppell has called this colossal 
 mass, black marble. As it was found near the ruins of 
 the Kasr, or Western Palace, it perhaps once stood over 
 one of the gates. Daniel was governor of Babylon, as 
 well as of Susa or Shushan. Plate II, fig. 5 and 1, are fac 
 similes of silver coins, copied by Sir R. K. Porter, from 
 the originals, discovered along with other coins, in an 
 earthen vessel, which was fished up from the Euphrates, 
 close to the ruins of the palace. The castellated struc- 
 tures, exhibited on the reverse, seem to refer to the same 
 
 * Dan. vi. 10, 11. 
 T 3 
 
222 
 
 building ; and it is remarkable that both appear to be 
 constructed over dens of wild beasts. The combat with 
 a lion on the obverse of fig. 5, and the charioteer in that 
 of fig. 7, appear to us to refer to the history of Daniel. 
 The judgment of the reader must determine whether 
 our views are warranted or not. Fig. 8, in Plate II. is 
 copied from Captain Mignan's interesting work, of which 
 it forms the frontispiece. It is that of an engraved gem, 
 dug from the ruins of Babylon by Captain Mignan him- 
 self. It represents a human figure standing on two 
 sphinxes, and combating two fierce animals. The fea- 
 tures are those of a Jew ; and a comparison may be made 
 with fig. 6 of the same Plate, already described, as copied 
 from the tombs of the Egyptian kings, as a captive 
 Jew the cap, &c. as well as the contour of the coun- 
 tenance, are remarkably similar. In Plate III. fig. 20, 
 is a representation of a relic from Susa or Shushan, which 
 is of white marble, said to have been discovered near 
 the tomb of the prophet Daniel. Sir Robert Ker Porter 
 gives the following account of it : " It does not exceed 
 ten inches in width and depth, measures twenty in 
 length, and is hollow within as if to receive some de- 
 posit. Three of its sides are cut in bas relief, two of 
 them with similar representations of a man apparently 
 naked excepting a sash round his waist, and a sort of 
 cap on his head : his hands are bound behind him. The 
 corner of the stone forms the neck of the figure, so that 
 its head forms one of its ends. Two lions in sitting 
 postures appear on either side at the top, each having a 
 paw on the head of the man. "* There can be no doubt 
 that the Book of Daniel is the work of that prophet ; 
 part of which was written in the Chaldee letter ; and if 
 we mistake not, this portion is still retained in Chaldee 
 characters among the MSS. of the synagogue. 
 
 The sentence of the ALMIGHTY, emblazoned on the 
 walls of the palace of Babylon, which registered the 
 fate of BeJshazzar, was deciphered by the skill of Da- 
 niel. Part of this sentence is thus interpreted: "TEKEL; 
 
 * Travels, &c. Vol. II. p. 416. 
 
223 
 
 Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found want- 
 ing."* We may refer to Plate III. fig. 19, for an 
 interesting illustration of the allusion. Here, it will be 
 perceived, is the balance in which the actions of the in- 
 dividual have been weighed ; and we have only further 
 to remark, that the former Mogul kings were, on their 
 ascending the throne, literally weighed. Thevenot gives 
 an account of this curious affair in his time. The balance 
 wherein this seems to have been performed, is described 
 as being rich. The chains of suspension were of gold, 
 and the two scales, studded with precious stones, also of 
 gold, as well as the beam, &c. The king, richly attired 
 and shining with jewels, goes into one of the scales of 
 the balance, and sits on his heels. Into the other are 
 put little bales, said to be full of gold, silver, and jewels, 
 or of other costly materials. These little bales are 
 described to be often changed. 
 
 * Daniel v. 27. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 REMARKS ON MIRACLES THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY. 
 
 MODERN JUDAISM THE SACRED CODE OF THE 
 
 JEWS RETROSPECT THE EVE OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 THOUGH we have passed over the question of MIRA- 
 CLES, as not coming within the legitimate design of our 
 remarks, it may be pardoned if we cast a transient 
 glance on a subject, at which infidels have often dis- 
 charged their missiles. We consider that as their sophistry 
 is not sound, neither are their inferences warrantable. 
 Their flimsy cobwebs resemble kindred gossamer float- 
 ing in the air, which must fall to the ground, because 
 their buoyancy is without support. Hume's "Essay 
 on Miracles," is founded on assumptions which are a 
 direct violation of inductive truth: the premises on 
 which his sophistry is reared, are altogether false ; and 
 reason and science must reject them as untenable. An 
 argument, therefore, which has nothing wherewith to 
 support itself, must fall to pieces. There is, no doubt, 
 cunning in it ; but truth would despise such unworthy 
 means conduct more honourable is her line of pursuit. 
 This infidel defines a miracle to be " a transgression of 
 the laws of nature ;" and, in consequence of this petitio 
 principii, founds the following conclusion: "Belief 
 is founded upon and regulated by experience. Now, 
 we often experience testimony to be false, but never 
 witness a departure from the order of nature. That 
 men may deceive us when they testify to miracles, is, 
 therefore, more accordant with experience, than that 
 nature should be irregular ; and hence there is a ba- 
 
225 
 
 lance of proof against miracles ; a presumption so 
 strong, as to outweigh the strongest testimony." The 
 whole of this contemptible sophistry amounts to this : 
 miracles are contrary to the laws of nature ; therefore, 
 the strongest testimony goes for nothing. And is this 
 philosophy? Is it, in fact, right reason or common 
 sense? Our senses, in some cases, have not judged 
 accurately, or have been mistaken; therefore, their 
 testimony is good for nothing in all cases whatever 
 their evidence is delusive in every case : and our senses 
 can afford us no correct information with them it is all 
 deception and delusion. And this is the philosophy of a 
 man, who has been the very idol of infidelity. Truly 
 idolatry is at a loss for statues to fill her shrines, when 
 this image is set up for the homage of the mind. It is 
 of importance to inquire, whether this definition of a 
 miracle be well founded. As we are altogether igno- 
 rant of the illimitable resources which are at the dis- 
 posal and under the supreme direction of JEHOVAH, we 
 consider the usual assumptions on this question to be 
 scarcely warranted. They are, however, these : a 
 miracle is contrary to the established order of things. 
 It is a deviation from the laws which constitute that 
 system of being, called nature, and which are essential 
 to the order, harmony, and uniformity so conspicuously 
 displayed in the manifestations of creation. Let it ne- 
 ver be forgotten, however, that the treasures of the 
 power, wisdom, and goodness of GOD, are replenished 
 with ample means to fulfil all his purposes : infinite in 
 extent, and boundless in variety, are the agencies which 
 await his summons and are ready to obey his will. As 
 we are not possessed of all knowledge, there may be 
 innumerable powers of which we can form no supposa- 
 ble idea. Let us not forget, that, as in providence, so 
 in creation, there are " wheels within wheels." It is 
 not presumed, for a moment, that Deity may not, for 
 purposes of infinite wisdom, sometimes suspend, modify, 
 or control those laws which he has impressed on crea- 
 tion ; and we may be perfectly aware, that, should it 
 be done, it would be in perfect accord with goodness 
 
226 
 
 and mercy our guarantees for good ; or, for the vindi- 
 cation of that justice which is essentially connected 
 with his holiness. Nor does it at all follow, that those 
 laws, which were established at the beginning, were to 
 possess an inflexibility which no circumstance nor event, 
 in the futurity of time, should ever change. GOD, who 
 saw the end from the beginning, doubtless formed his 
 plan for the government of creation on a sublime ba- 
 sis, and of incomprehensible extension. Deity, in the 
 vista of his prescience, would provide ample means for 
 the changes that should follow, subservient to particu- 
 lar and important ends. But we may be permitted to 
 state, that, for aught we know to the contrary, a miracle 
 may neither be a suspension of the laws of nature, nor 
 contrary to them ; but, rather, something superadded to 
 the primitive laws with which creation was originally 
 invested, issuing from the unlimited resources and at 
 the command of GOD. A miracle may be altogether 
 independent of the laws of nature, or those which we 
 call so, and with the operation of which we are more 
 familiar : or, a miracle may be an extension or modifi- 
 cation of a previous law. We do not proclaim this view 
 of the matter as with the voice of an oracle. We may 
 be in error ; but, as, for aught we know, this may have 
 been the case, in some instances, at least, if not in all, 
 we have no right to propound it as an axiom, that a 
 miracle is, indeed, a suspension of any of the laws of 
 nature, or contrary to the established order of things. 
 We cannot see the extent or measure of the laws of 
 GOD, nor take cognizance of their infinite variety; and, 
 shall we bound the power, wisdom and goodness of the 
 Deity by what we see and know ? Surely not. This 
 would be presumption in the extreme. This would be 
 to impose the finite measuring-reed of human compre- 
 hension on the infinitude of the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY. 
 We think that it requires no great penetration to 
 discern, that objections to miracles are couched in that 
 very spirit which would dethrone Deity altogether, and 
 reduce HIM to a level with ourselves ; it is one of the 
 wheels of pagan machinery one of the secret springs 
 
227 
 
 of idolatry; and we cannot wonder that it should finally 
 conduct some sceptical minds to atheism. 
 
 In order to illustrate our views on this subject, we 
 may refer to a few of the miracles recorded in the Old 
 Testament, without at all impugning the better counsel 
 of those who may believe, that miracles may be a coun- 
 teraction of the laws of nature in all cases : our views 
 have to deal with Infidels ; and it is to contest the 
 question on their assumptions, that we take up our po- 
 sition. As we defy them to prove, that a miracle does, 
 in its very nature, imply a contradiction of the laws of 
 nature, or something contrary to them, and cannot im- 
 ply any thing else ; we have ventured an opinion, that 
 a miracle does not necessarily and essentially imply 
 this. For aught they can tell, the original laws of 
 creation may remain precisely as they were and now 
 are ; and a miracle may be altogether independent of 
 those laws, and involve the question of a new law su- 
 peradded to the natural course of events, and provided 
 in the councils of heaven for the contingencies of time. 
 That GOD, who " made a decree for the rain, and pre- 
 pared a way for the lightning of the thunder," (which 
 laws were, in all probability, imposed after the deluge,) 
 has many other laws in store, of which we know no- 
 thing. 
 
 The meteoric stones which fell from heaven, and de- 
 stroyed the enemies of Israel, in the way "going down to 
 Beth-horon,"* is perfectly consistent with the establish- 
 ed course of events. We can, indeed, remember the 
 time when the fall of meteoric stones was accounted 
 altogether fabulous, and unworthy of being considered a 
 subject within the range of legitimate science. Such a 
 topic was ridiculed as spurious, or regarded as a phan- 
 tom a tale only meet for the legends of the East, or 
 the fables of Greece or Rome. There is now, however, 
 nothing better established in the circle of science, or 
 more certain among the range of physical truths, though 
 it forms a problem more difficult in its solution, than 
 
 * Joshua x. 1 1 . 
 
228 
 1 
 
 almost any other, with our limited notion of the laws 
 of physics. Still the fact is indisputable. The miracle, 
 therefore, did not consist in the fall of these aerolites, 
 but the time and place, when and where it happened. 
 The meteoric stones fell not on the camp of Joshua, but 
 on the enemies of that celebrated leader ; and it caused 
 their discomfiture at a period which manifested that 
 the GOD of the armies of Israel was their " shield and 
 buckler." The same process of reasoning may be applied 
 to the extraordinary phenomenon which occurred sub- 
 sequent to this event, when Joshua said, in the sight of 
 Israel, " Sun ! stand thou still upon Gibeon ; and thou, 
 Moon, in the valley of Ajalon."* It does not at all fol- 
 low from this, we think, that the earth ceased to revolve 
 on its axis. We are informed simply that " The sun 
 stood still, and hasted not to go down about a whole 
 day." We know that by the laws of refraction, the 
 image of the sun appea'rs above the horizon in the 
 morning, before the sun has yet scaled its plane ; and in 
 the evening, the sun has really set, when it seems still 
 to linger above the horizon. It is merely necessary to 
 suppose, the intervention of a dense refracting medium, 
 and the miracle would be produced, irrespective of the 
 earth's diurnal motion. Indeed, we prefer this view of 
 it, because the miracle is then more local and more 
 special. The same process of reasoning applies to the 
 miracle in the case of Hezekiah, and the phenomenon 
 which appeared on the dial of Ahaz : " He brought the 
 shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone 
 down in the dial of Ahaz."t A superadded refraction, 
 the consequence of the intervention of an appointed 
 denser medium, would solve this. There is, therefore, 
 no necessity to suppose a recoil in the earth's orbit, and 
 the miracle remains in the same bold relief as before. We 
 may extend this to the case of Elijah, when providen- 
 tially supplied with food by the ravens, " evening and 
 morning, at the brook Cherith."J That the raven should 
 be the messenger of such food, morning and evening, is 
 
 * Jos. x. 12 t 2 Kings xx. 11. $ 1 Kings xvii. 6. 
 
229 
 
 a fact quite compatible with the known habits of this 
 carnivorous bird, but the miracle consisted in this being 
 deposited at the prophet's feet. Just so it was with the 
 blossoming of Aaron's rod. This was certainly a re- 
 markable phenomenon ; but it might, nevertheless, have 
 been one compatible with the laws of nature. The 
 leaves of bryophylum calycinum, after they are detached 
 from the shrub, will, at each indentation yield a plant ; 
 and this curious vegetation we have preserved for 
 twelve months subsequent to the removal of these 
 leaves from the parent stem. The epidendrum flos 
 aeris, and a great variety of analogous phenomena, 
 might be cited in addition. There was, therefore, no 
 violation of the laws of vegetable physiology, in this 
 case ; but the miracle consisted in a transference of the 
 phenomenon to the individual case of the almond rod, 
 in which the event has never been observed. 
 
 Apart from these considerations, a very natural in- 
 quiry may arise : Are we fully acquainted with these 
 laws, so as to be able to sit in judgment on them, and 
 define them accurately ? We hold it to be an axiom, 
 that there is no such thing as an anomaly in the sight 
 of GOD, however convenient the term may be to us, 
 who use it, to conceal an ignorance we are unwilling to 
 confess. We may consider the laws of nature such, as 
 might be represented by a continuous succession of 
 events, where the chain of being is perpetuated, uni- 
 formly, without any dislocation in its concatenation. 
 Suppose, however, we carry our minds back to some 
 period before the discovery of the planet Uranus, by Sir 
 Wm. Herschell ; it would, then, have been concluded, 
 from " experience," that all the planetary orbs moved 
 in one specific direction ; and it would, then, also have 
 been inferred, that any deviation from this order of na- 
 ture, would have been a violation of those laws by which 
 their movements were regulated. In process of time, 
 however, it was discovered, that we had not reached the 
 boundary of the solar system. The planet Uranus was 
 discovered; and, subsequently, several moons, as at- 
 tendant satellites, were descried by the telescope ; but 
 u 
 
230 
 
 what was extraordinary, two of these moons, the first dis- 
 covered, were found to move in a direction contrary to 
 that of all the other heavenly bodies in the solar system, 
 whether primary or secondary. We could single out, 
 from almost every department of nature, CONTRARIE- 
 TIES, or " anomalies,'' of a similar description : thus, the 
 ornithorynchus paradoxus has no mammae ; or, at least, 
 none have hitherto been discovered. Vegetation, again, 
 is full of singularities or ellipticities, which may be 
 called deviations from the laws of vegetable physiology. 
 We do not, indeed, know a department of nature that 
 is entirely free from exceptions to those general laws 
 which we have pre-supposed essential to the conserva- 
 tion of that beautiful system of which they form a part. 
 Thus, in conchology, shells, generally, are the habita- 
 tions of testaceae ; but, this is, by no means, always the 
 case : for the reverse of this happens in some instances. 
 In the latter, instead of the animal inhabiting the shell, 
 the shell inhabits the animal: thus, the dolabella of 
 Lamarck, and the bulla aperta, and helix haliotoida 
 of Linneus, afford examples, wherein the shell is em- 
 bedded in the animal, and the animal is wrapped, like 
 a mantle round it. Sometimes the shell is a mere plate 
 or escutcheon, as in the Umax or slug ; and in the beau- 
 tiful argonauta vitrea, it is a case or pouch which con- 
 tains some of the organs. Again, in almost every case, 
 we find the spires of shells in one determinate direction, 
 their mouths opening to the left hand ; but, though ex- 
 tremely rare, there are remarkable exceptions to this 
 rule: in these contrarieties, the whirls are reversed, 
 and the involutions are to the right : for example, the 
 murex perversus Lin. We also find instances of this 
 kind among the Linnean genera of helix, strombus, and 
 others. When the chank shell, turbinella of Lamarck, 
 is found to possess this very curious character, it is 
 highly prized by the natives of India. A chank shell, 
 with an opening to the right, is, indeed, rarely obtained; 
 but, when found, always sells for its weight in gold. 
 The Singalese are very desirous to gain possession of 
 the chank shell, with the right twist or whirl ; because, 
 
231 
 
 they fancy that it is the symbol of the toes of Budha's 
 footstep. From these incidental remarks it will be per- 
 ceived, that our notion of the invariability, which we have 
 presumed to ascribe to the laws of nature, is not so de- 
 finite as to include these, so-called, anomalies. 
 
 Mr. Keith's excellent work on Prophecy has an- 
 ticipated what we might have urged on that interesting 
 question, and entirely superseded the necessity of our 
 saying a word on the subject. We had been long 
 engaged in collecting, from enlightened travellers and 
 from every source accessible to us, evidence confirmatory 
 of the wonderful completion of prophecy. All this, 
 however, we gladly wave in favour of a work which 
 merits our commendation ; and which, we think, will 
 also satisfy the inquirer after truth. The spirit of 
 prophecy must have of necessity, flown from a source 
 altogether superhuman. This conclusion is irresistible. 
 The force of truth, in these events, must put infidelity 
 to the blush. Atheism cannot stand before this blaze 
 of radiance from heaven it is consumed. We would 
 not be suspected "to build on another man's found- 
 ation;" and the hiatus in this part of our evidence, 
 must, therefore, be attributed to the proper cause : we 
 leave it in able hands; and, if our humble meed of 
 approbation is of any value, it is awarded, with pleasure 
 to the little work in question : jealousy has no place in 
 our mind : we hail its excellent author as making com- 
 mon cause with us in a warfare which is sterling and 
 noble. We have already stated, that we are not friendly 
 to the general tone and temper of writers on prophecy. 
 Our opinion is precisely that of Sir Isaac Newton's, 
 which we cannot do better than quote : " The folly of 
 interpreters," says this distinguished individual, " hath 
 been to foretel times and things by this prophecy, as if 
 GOD designed to make them prophets. By this rashness 
 they have not only exposed themselves but brought the 
 prophecy also into contempt. The design of GOD was 
 much otherwise. He gave this (the apocalypse) and the 
 prophecies of the Old Testament, not to gratify men's 
 curiosities, by enabling them to foreknow things ; but, 
 u 2 
 
1 
 
 that, after they were fulfilled, they might be inter- 
 preted by the event." 
 
 The Jews are at this moment a living monument, 
 and miracle in attestation of the truth of Revelation. A 
 simple volume serves instead of country and of king. 
 It is their code of laws and their directory for heaven. A 
 pilgrim people, "strangers and sojourners on the earth" 
 weary wanderers, dispersed over the face of the globe, 
 sighing for their beloved Jerusalem, with "their faces 
 thitherward ;" and, breathing the fond wish, that the 
 valley of Jehoshaphat may be their last abode. M. 
 Massias has an interesting remark connected with this 
 subject. "As long as a remnant of Jews shall exist, 
 the Jewish people will exist : each of them is a living 
 exemplar. The Jew is neither European, nor Asiatic, nor 
 African ; he is neither a republican nor yet monarchical; 
 in all places, he is ever the Jew and nothing but a 
 Jew."* This remarkable people has remained the same 
 in all ages ; and are, now, as distinct and peculiar, even 
 in their physiognomy, as when Moses was their leader, 
 and Aaron their priest : 
 
 " Even in their ashes live their wonted fires." 
 
 Jerusalem, " the city of their fathers' sepulchres, lieth 
 waste," and "the adversary hath laid his hand upon all 
 her pleasant things." The bittern, by long proscription, 
 symbol of desolation, stalks lonely amid the silent wastes 
 of Judea ; and the breeze whistles mournfully among her 
 ruined cities. " Their beautiful house, where their fathers 
 worshipped, is burnt up with fire, and all their pleasant 
 places are laid waste." The sacred fire is extinguished on 
 their altar, and the daily sacrifice is taken away. " The 
 sceptre is departed from Judah." Numerous memorials of 
 their wonderful history, however, still remain, like the 
 pillars of Palmyra, amid the desert of their desolations. 
 On the Tigris, between Bagdad and Bussora, is the Se- 
 pulchre of Ezra, the sephor, or scribe of the law of 
 
 * Massias " Rapport de la nature, de 1* homme," &c. Tome 
 III. p. 171. 
 
233 
 
 GOD ; and to the south-west of Hellah, is the tomb 
 of the prophet Ezekiel. Ecbatana, one of the cities 
 in which the Jews were placed in their captivity, is 
 still inhabited by a rabbi and Jews, to the number 
 of four hundred houses. Amid all the misery that 
 oppresses them, in the regions of Chaldea, the tombs 
 of Mordecai and of Esther are still cherished with 
 fond and affectionate care. Though the register of 
 their defection, and credentials of their disgrace, the 
 Jews, nevertheless, preserve this memorable volume 
 with pious care, and regard it with reverential awe. 
 This isolated race, the exiles of Judea, in despite of 
 time or distance, still worship " the GOD of their 
 fathers ; " and still conform strictly to the severe 
 prescriptions of the law of Moses. We would summon 
 the infidel to behold the modern Jew, and wonder at 
 miracles no more, for this is, surely, experience I The 
 Jews and Samaritans have each their own copies of the 
 Pentateuch ; and, though in hostility, the integrity of 
 the Sacred Text remains unimpaired. To what an 
 extent this hostility had arrived, in the first century, 
 we may collect from an expression made use of by the 
 Jews to our Saviour : "we know that thou art a Sama- 
 ritan, and hast a devil."* 
 
 Towards the close of the last century, there was 
 discovered the remnant of a Jewish colony in China, 
 which is stated to have sprung from seven hun- 
 dred families of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and 
 Levi ; having escaped thither after the destruction of 
 Jerusalem, by Titus Vespasian, They now amount to 
 about six hundred souls, and are located at Cai-song-fu, 
 about one hundred and fifty miles from Pekin. These 
 emigrants from Jerusalem carried with them the Old 
 Testament, which was preserved for eleven centu- 
 ries. About this period, however, a fire broke out, 
 which destroyed their synagogue and its manuscripts. 
 These MSS. were substituted by a copy of the Penta- 
 teuch possessed by a Jew, who died at Canton. Not 
 
 * John ix. 48. 
 u 3 
 
234 
 
 1 
 
 only the synagogue, but individuals also were supplied 
 with transcripts from this copy. Independent of this 
 Pentateuch, these Jews had, fortunately, preserved 
 copies of the greater part of the remainder of the Old 
 Testament, from the conflagration of the twelfth 
 century ; and from an inundation of the river Hoango, 
 in 1446. Among these fragments are portions of the 
 Chronicles, Nehemiah, Esther, Isaiah, Jeremiah, 
 Daniel, and of seven of the minor prophets. Some of 
 these are nearly complete, while others are more limited 
 fragments. The Books of Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 
 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and the Psalms, are entire. 
 
 By far the most interesting researches in that quarter 
 of the world, are those of the late Dr. Claudius 
 Buchanan, who found in Hindustan, in the year 1808, 
 a society of Syriac Christians, among the superstitions 
 of Hindu idolatry. Their copies of the Scriptures, 
 were all in manuscript ; but the most interesting fact, 
 in reference to our present question, was the dis- 
 covery of a colony of Jews in the vicinity of Cochin. 
 These were divided into black and white Jews, who 
 reported that their fathers had fled thither after the 
 destruction of Jerusalem. Dr. Buchanan concluded, 
 that the black Jews in Malabar, who could not, from 
 their complexion, be distinguished from Hindus, were 
 of much higher antiquity ; and in all probability, had 
 found their way thither after the period of the first 
 dispersion by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. From 
 these black Jews, Dr. Buchanan obtained an entire 
 copy of the Pentateuch, which was found in an old 
 record chest, belonging to the synagogue. That in- 
 teresting document is now in the University Library, 
 at Cambridge, where we have seen it. This manuscript, 
 which contains the entire Pentateuch, composes a 
 roll forty-eight feet long, and appears, to us, to be 
 written on goats' skins dyed red. It is, perhaps, 
 two thousand years old ; and we may observe, is 
 little, if at all, different from the genuine received text, 
 a further proof of the authenticity of that Record of 
 which it is a copy. The testimony, that the Pentateuch 
 
235 
 
 was written by Moses is altogether of the most conclu- 
 sive kind. Its style, its careful transmission from age 
 to age, the numerous independent authorities which 
 corroborate this, such as the Samaritans, the Jews of 
 the eastern hemisphere, and those of the western 
 hemisphere ancient and modern separated by barriers 
 that have remained impassible for many centuries - 
 Pagan evidence all proclaim the authenticity of the Sa- 
 cred Code of the Jews, beyond doubt or appeal. There 
 is in the British Museum, among the Harleian MSS., a 
 beautiful copy of the Hebrew Pentateuch ; it is care- 
 fully transcribed on forty brown African skins. 
 
 The extraordinary care which the Jews observe in the 
 transcription of their sacred books, especially of the 
 Pentateuch, is not the least remarkable feature in that 
 wonderful people. The MS. rolls, in their synagogues, 
 of which we have seen some beautiful specimens, are 
 preserved with uncommon care in an ark or coffer ; and 
 when the roll containing the law is exposed and held up 
 to the gaze of the congregation, it forms a spectacle of 
 unusual solemnity. There are no less than EIG^Y- 
 EIGHT RULES in the rabbinical laws, for the transcription 
 of the Pentateuch. These copies are made by sacred 
 scribes, called sephorim, set apart for this especial pur- 
 pose. The skins on which the Pentateuch is transcribed, 
 are those of a clean animal (agreeably to the law of 
 Moses). These skins are carefully prepared, by parti- 
 cular individuals appointed for this end. The ink must 
 also be prepared after a particular manner ; and the pen 
 must be made from a quill taken from the wing of a 
 clean bird. A certain number of letters and words must 
 fill the individual line ; and each column must also con- 
 sist of a certain number of lines. Even an imperfectly 
 formed letter, much more a superfluous one, would en- 
 tirely vitiate the copy ; and the reader in the synagogue, 
 on such a discovery, would not hesitate to cast it away 
 from him. The tetragrammaton, or sacred name of GOD, 
 is written with the deepest awe and solemnity, with a 
 new pen devoted to this exclusive purpose. The letters 
 
236 
 l 
 
 of that glorious name * are also of a larger size than the 
 rest of the MS. In transcribing the " Oracles of GOD," 
 the sephor or scribe must commence his task in the full 
 enjoyment of health, and must rise from it before lassi- 
 tude supervenes. For these interesting particulars we 
 are indebted to an intelligent Hebrew. It is also wor- 
 thy of notice that no fragments of the MS. sacred 
 Records, are suffered to be improperly used or scattered 
 about ; they are carefully collected, and like Jeremiah's 
 roll, cut to pieces, and consumed. This is also the 
 practice in the east : " And it came to pass, that when 
 Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the 
 penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, 
 until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on 
 the hearth."t 
 
 In Plate II. fig. 1 6, is a representation of a mazuza, 
 in our cabinet, presented to us by a Hebrew, with a 
 strict injunction, that it should on no account be used, 
 but with the greatest care, nor on any occasion that 
 might compromise a proper and religious use of it. The 
 MS. is exquisitely written on vellum, by a sephor, under 
 all the conditions prescribed for the transcription of the 
 Pentateuch, of which it forms a part. It is really a 
 manuscript gem ; and as such was highly prized. The 
 mazuza is so called from mazuzoth, the door-post, to 
 which it is affixed, in literal obedience to the injunction, 
 
 * By the third commandment, the Hebrews were strictly 
 enjoined not to use that mysterious name, which denotes the 
 eternity of GOD, familiarly. It is, consequently, never found 
 in any Hebrew writings, except in HOLY WRIT. The four 
 letters which compose the word, which we translate JEHOVAH, 
 are made to signify, He was He is He will be. We have 
 already stated that this name is never pronounced by the 
 reader in the synagogue, much less in familiar conversation : 
 ADONAI, Lord, is always substituted. It is interesting to re- 
 mark, in connexion with this, that a Brahmin will not pro- 
 nounce the name of the ALMIGHTY, without drawing down 
 his sleeve, and placing it on his mouth with fear and trembling. 
 
 t Jer. xxxvi. 23. 
 
237 
 
 " And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of 
 thine house, and upon thy gates."* Our mazuza is 
 enclosed in a neat tin case ; a square opening discovers 
 the Hebrew word, TSADDAI, all-bountiful, which is 
 written on the back of the mazuza. A slip of transpa- 
 rent horn, serving as a miniature window, discovers this 
 word only ; a moveable piece of tin, which serves as a 
 kind of blind, conceals the opening. Thjs is nailed to 
 the door-post, where it remains a fixture ; the pious 
 Jew, morning and evening ; and in his " going out and 
 coming in," puts his finger on it, and repeats a short 
 prayer. This is especially the case before he sets out on 
 a journey, and on his return. The MS. in our mazuza, 
 is from Deuteronomy vi. 4. " Hear, O Israel ; The 
 LORD our GOD is one LORD. And thou shalt love the 
 LORD thy GOD with all thine heart, and with all thy 
 soul, and with all thy might." The facts we have enu- 
 merated, are proofs of additional guarantees for the 
 integrity of the Sacred Volume of the Jews the "Old 
 Testament" of the CHRISTIAN. 
 
 The Jews are the librarians of the Christian ; and the 
 latter appeals to the Book of the Jews, in proof that to 
 JESUS CHRIST " gave all the prophets witness ; " and 
 that, in this MIGHTY PRINCE, all things are fulfilled. 
 The Canon of Scripture is now closed. The Jewish 
 Scriptures terminate with the last of all the prophets. 
 The "New Testament" proclaims, with silver trump, 
 
 "A GREATER THAN A PROPHET IS HERE." In looking 
 
 back on the remarkable events with which the Old Tes- 
 tament is fraught, we perceive one great object steadily 
 kept in view : a legacy from heaven, preserved amidst 
 the fluctuations of time, and the storms of contending 
 nations and even that highly favoured people, to 
 whom this sacred deposit was entrusted, often them- 
 selves plunged into idolatry. A little ark "it is a 
 little one ! " guided safely, by the Governor of the 
 universe, through a whirlpool! with a ScyUa on the 
 right hand, and a Chqrybdis on the left. All the rays 
 
 * Deut. xi. 20. 
 
238 
 1 
 
 of the Old Testament point to some great event, as 
 their focus and centre. The whole of the Mosaic ritual, 
 with all its ceremonies, adumbrated "greater things 
 than these." The sacred minstrels struck a note that 
 had never been heard before ; and the prophets saw, 
 afar off, a wondrous sight, and proclaimed a jubilee of 
 " peace and good will to man." Patriarchs shouted for 
 joy, to see, from the Pisgah of Revelation, the goodly 
 vision ; and their note of exultation was echoed by a 
 noble host of prophets, priests, and kings, until it 
 merged in that GLORIOUS BEING who embodied, in 
 himself, the united names of Prophet, Priest, and King. 
 Clouds and darkness were dissipated; the shadows 
 which obscured the landscape, were rolled up like a 
 
 Scroll; AND ALL WAS LIGHT. 
 
 Augustus assumed the purple twenty-seven years 
 before the Christian era. In his reign, the event- 
 ful period, looked and longed for, at length arrived. 
 Throughout the range of the civilized world, the voice 
 of war was mute. The gates of Janus, in the imperial 
 city, were closed. Caesar Augustus, wreathed with the 
 laurels of victory, at length enjoyed the repose of peace. 
 The world was in anxious, earnest expectation of some 
 wonderful event ; the oracles and sybils became instinct 
 with prophetic mutterings of a new dawn in human 
 affairs; and Virgil, in his Pollio, could awaken the echoes 
 of the heathen world by seraphic notes, stolen from the 
 sacred bard of the Hebrews : 
 
 " Jam nova progenies coelo demittitur alto." 
 
 nee magnos metuent armenta leones. 
 
 Ipsa tibi blandos fundent cunabula flores." 
 
 We present two fac similes of medals, struck in the 
 reign of Augustus. One commemorates that universal 
 peace which prevailed at this auspicious period happy 
 presage of the advent of the PRINCE OF PEACE. The 
 other seems more than belongs to Paganism. " Peace 
 over all the world," and " the salvation of the human 
 race" The latter is interesting, as connected with a 
 
239 
 
 statement, that Augustus actually reared an altar with 
 this remarkable inscription : 
 
 " Ara primogeniti Dei." 
 
 The spot is still pointed out, at Ara Cceli, in Rome. 
 This circumstance receives some countenance from the 
 legend of one of these medals ; nor is this inscription 
 confined to one medal, since it is seen on several of those 
 of Augustus. 
 
CHAP. XI. 
 
 THE ADVENT OP THE MESSIAH THE DIVINITY OF 
 JESUS CHRIST THE CRUCIFIXION. 
 
 THE Old Dispensation having completed its purpose, 
 a new era arose ; that era, which " prophets and kings 
 desired to see, but were not able." The advent of the 
 Messiah was announced to the world by John the Bap- 
 tist's preaching repentance, in the wilderness of Judea. 
 There had not arisen a greater prophet than John. He 
 came " in the spirit and power of Elias ;" with all the 
 austerity of an anchorite; for " his raiment was of camel's 
 hair j and a leathern girdle about his loins ; and his meat 
 was locusts and wild honey." His incessant cry was, 
 REPENTANCE. " Then went out to him, Jerusalem 
 and all Judea, and all the region about Jordan, and 
 were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins."* 
 Such was the messenger which the last of the prophets 
 of the Old Testament had announced ; and such was 
 the morning star, that ushered in the dawn of the SUN 
 OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. John's career was, however, short. 
 He pointed to JESUS of Nazareth, while he told his fol- 
 lowers, "Hs must increase, but I must decrease." Soon 
 after John had lifted up his voice, and said, " Behold 
 the Lamb of GOD, that taketh away the sins of the 
 world," this illustrious harbinger of the Messiah, was 
 seized by Herod, who then occupied the throne of Ju- 
 dea, and beheaded in prison. It was not meet that 
 JESUS CHRIST should sustain any rivalry. The lesser 
 
 * Malt. iii. 5, 6. 
 
241 
 
 light suffered an eclipse, and the Greater Light reigned 
 LORD of the " new heavens." 
 
 It seems probable, from several considerations, that 
 the Gospel of Matthew was originally written in the 
 Syro-Chaldaic tongue; a language, which, it is not 
 improbable, our SAVIOUR spoke. We draw our con- 
 clusions from the words, ^<p(pa9 (" be thou opened,") 
 TaXiOa KOU.UI ( "maiden, arise !") and others. We 
 preface this, by way of remark, connected with an event 
 mentioned by Matthew, as announcing, in a distant re- 
 gion, the birth of JESUS CHRIST. A new star took its 
 place in the sky, and became the celestial sign and 
 telegraph to eastern MAGI, who hailed it as the symbol 
 of that event, which the world anxiously expected. We 
 are aware this beautiful phenomenon has been usually 
 and generally ascribed to some meteor in the regions of 
 the atmosphere. We cannot, however, subscribe to such 
 an opinion. In the Sacked Text, it is denominated a 
 star, and not a meteor. It seems, in our view of the 
 matter, little short of the ridiculous, to suppose that 
 these wise men, who were, doubtless, astronomers, should 
 have been the sport of an ignis fatuus, or Will o'the wisp; 
 or leave their country, which was, perhaps, Parthia, 
 in pursuit of a meteoric bubble. The narrative is simple 
 and concise, but sufficiently explicit : " Behold, there 
 came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, 
 Where is he that is born King of the Jews ? for we have 
 seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him."* 
 Let it be remembered, in the first place, that it was of 
 a permanent character ; and from the vast distance at 
 which it was visible to these eastern magi, it is utterly 
 impossible that it could have been a meteor, floating in 
 the lower regions of the atmosphere ; considered alto- 
 gether apart from the incredible magnitude that this 
 supposes. We believe the greatest extent of distance at 
 which bolides have ever been seen, does not exceed fifty 
 or sixty miles ; at which distance, it would appear, 
 Humboldt perceived fire-balls in South America. It is 
 
 * Matt, ii ], 2. 
 
242 
 
 equally incredible to suppose it to have been of the 
 nature of an aurora. We cannot ascribe ignorance of 
 astronomy to these wise men; they came from the very 
 regions of astronomical science ; and we may well believe 
 them to have been conversant with the phenomena of 
 the heavens. To mistake a star, in the celestial hemi- 
 sphere, for a meteor, is, therefore, out of the question. 
 To those, indeed, whose views are at issue with our own, 
 as to the DIVINE DIGNITY of the illustrious person, whose 
 birth it announced from afar, it must be a matter ofi?i- 
 dijference, whether it was a new star which took its 
 station in the heavens for the first time, or a blaze of 
 meteoric light : but the question with us, at any rate, is 
 not a matter of indifference. On this auspicious night, 
 were not the heavens opened over the shepherds, on the 
 plains of Bethlehem ? and did not a celestial messenger 
 from the high court of heaven, surrounded by " a mul- 
 titude of the heavenly host," announce "the good tidings 
 of great joy :" " Unto you is born this day, in the city 
 of David, a SAVIOUR, which is CHRIST THE LORD?" Why 
 this ado, if the event was unworthy of being signalized 
 all over the southern hemisphere, by a new creation ; or 
 another world, from causes occult to us, being brought into 
 view ? It appears that this star is recorded by Chalcidius. 
 The truth then seems to be this. These distinguished 
 individuals perceived, for the first time, a new star in 
 the west ; and supplying a place in the heavens unoccu- 
 pied before. The Assyrian magi might have been in 
 possession of the Book of Daniel ; nor is it at all impro- 
 bable that they may have heard of Balaam's remarkable 
 prediction, uttered in the presence of Balak king of 
 Moab : " There shall come a star out of Jacob, and a 
 sceptre shall rise out of Israel."* Obedient to the hea- 
 venly vision, they pursued their pilgrimage westward, 
 having ascertained that the zenith of this beautiful star 
 was in the direction of Jerusalem. When the magi 
 arrived at the capital of Judea, the anxious interrogation 
 was put, " Where is he that is born King of the Jews, 
 
 * Numbers xxiv. 17. 
 
243 
 
 for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to 
 worship him ?" They could have easily ascertained that 
 the zenith of this new star was at or near Jerusalem, 
 but it became a more difficult problem to determine its 
 precise zenith point in the heavens. On this extraordi- 
 nary inquiry, we are told that Herod " was troubled, 
 and all Jerusalem with him." Herod having convoked 
 the chief priests and scribes, asked them "where CHRIST 
 should be born." On consulting the records of prophecy, 
 they found it thus written in the Book of Micah, " Thou, 
 Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the 
 thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth 
 unto me that is to be ruler in Israel ; whose goings forth 
 have been from of old, from everlasting."* This an- 
 nouncement was distinct and definite, and on receiving 
 the intelligence, they departed from the capital ; "and, 
 lo ! the star which they saw in the east, went before 
 them, till it came and stood over where the young child 
 was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with ex- 
 ceeding great joy." After they had left the city, they 
 recognized the same star, and were glad to find its zenith 
 was still before them, and had not been passed. Thus 
 the phenomenon and the prophetic announcement had 
 perfectly corresponded; for they finally discovered that 
 the precise zenith point was over the place, where the 
 young child was. We are informed that this was at an 
 inn, and as the caravansaries of the east are generally 
 insulated, and apart from towns or cities, this would 
 enable the eastern magi to determine the spot with more 
 precision. When they discovered the remarkable object 
 they were in quest of, confident from all that they had 
 seen and heard, that there was something more than 
 met the eye, " they fell down and worshipped him ; and, 
 when they had opened their treasures, they presented 
 unto him gifts ; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh."t 
 This event is not mentioned by the other evangelists. 
 The fact that the Gospel of Matthew was written in the 
 Syro-Chaldaic tongue, is a curious circumstance in this 
 
 * Micah v. 2. f Matt. ii. 11. 
 x 2 
 
244 
 
 question, and may be connected with the episode of the 
 adoration of the magi. These wise men may have come 
 from the mountains of Iran, in search of a prince in the 
 royal line of Judah. When we consider that the fame of 
 Solomon was spread abroad throughout all lands, and 
 combine with this circumstance the long captivity of the 
 Jews in the Medo-Persian empire, we need not wonder 
 that the Pagan nations around should have caught a 
 spark of the celestial fire. The captive Hebrews could 
 shew that their captivity had not been untold by their 
 prophets ; and that the same voice which had foretold 
 things that had already come to pass, had also announced 
 that a star should arise in the kingdom of Israel. 
 
 We know that new stars have made their appearance 
 in the heavens from time to time ; and, having glowed 
 in the firmament for awhile, have, from causes unknown 
 to us, at length disappeared. A brilliant star, described 
 by Tycho Brahe, made its appearance in the constella- 
 tion of Cassiopeia. Its lustre increased for some time, 
 then faded away, and is not now to be seen. How long 
 this beautiful vision of the western star adorned the 
 firmament, we cannot tell; perhaps it continued to 
 illuminate the heavens during our SAVIOUR'S abode on 
 earth, and became invisible on the night of the cruci- 
 fixion and would thus serve as a celestial telegraph, to 
 announce to these magi, if yet alive, or to those who 
 succeeded them, that the " Star of Jacob" had already 
 set on the world.* 
 
 * We have felt considerable pleasure in discovering 1 , in an 
 old work, by Piscatore, that a similar view of the phenomenon 
 had been taken by that author, who distinctly adverts to a 
 new star which had made its appearance in his time. " Ille 
 nuper natus. o rsy^Qelf. Adverbium supplevimus ad sen- 
 tentise perfectionem. Ejus stellam. dvrov rov darspa. Hoc 
 est, stellam qua nativitas ejus nobis est a Deo patefacta. Hanc 
 stellam fuisse novam, et in hoc ipsum a Deo conditam, judi- 
 cari potest e singular! ejus motu, qui indicatur infra, vers. 9. 
 Talis nova stella conspecta fuit nostro tempore, anno Domini 
 1572. In Oriente. g'v rri avaroXyj. Adverbium, in ortu 
 scilicet sol is. Id est, in regione Oriental i. Metonyrnia ad- 
 
245 
 
 The character of the Prince of Peace is unique, and 
 is altogether superhuman. We are perfectly acquainted 
 with the state of the world when this illustrious being 
 appeared on the earth. We can weigh the amount of 
 the wisdom of the heathen world. We know the beau 
 ideal of their most gifted minds ; and can fully esti- 
 mate the intellectual attainments of their greatest and 
 best philosophers ; but JESUS of Nazareth as infinitely 
 transcended all of them, as the palm-tree does the re- 
 cumbent shrubs ; or the sun the lesser twinklings of 
 the night: the one is of the earth, and attests its origin ; 
 the other is " the LORD from heaven." Our Saviour 
 had no counterpart in the age in which he lived, and 
 partook not of the impress of the times. His character 
 and conduct were insulated and unrivalled. It was a 
 beautiful though a short lived vision of heaven on 
 earth. The religion he promulgated had never been 
 imagined in the most sublime dreams of human perfec- 
 tion among the sophists of the world. Plato had, 
 indeed, concluded, that if men were to be guided 
 to celestial bliss, it must be by a visit from heaven. 
 Our Saviour is as exalted above the tone and temper 
 of the era he adorned, as if he had altogether belonged 
 to another world, and another state of being. His 
 religion was at complete antipodes with the mythologies 
 of the world. He promulgated "a new commandment," 
 of which that world had never heard, and of which it 
 never could have thought: "Love your enemies; do 
 good to them that hate you ; and pray for them that 
 despitefully use you and persecute you." Well might 
 the heathen rejoin, " this is a hard saying." But JESUS 
 CHRIST conspicuously illustrated this sublime precept 
 in his own bright example; and left that splendid 
 exemplar for his followers to copy. The theme, how- 
 ever, is interminable, and our design is limited : but 
 we cannot dismiss the question without recording our 
 humble suffrage to the Supreme Divinity of JESUS 
 
 juncti." Anal y sis Logica Evangel ii Secundum Matthseum : 
 
 Herbornae 1594. 
 
 x 3 
 
246 
 
 CHRIST. We cannot otherwise reconcile the attest- 
 ations of the Sacred Volume. In our view, they are 
 altogether complete and decisive on the question ; and, 
 as far as our opinion extends, from some degree of careful 
 reading, much reflection, and a sincere and ardent love of 
 and attachment to TRUTH, irrespective of the systems 
 and sentiments of any man on earth, we rest on the 
 Supreme Divinity of the SAVIOUR of the world as 
 elucidating every thing, and reconciling all into one 
 beautiful, consistent, and harmonious focus. It is the 
 meridian line of the chart of the CHRISTIAN, toward 
 which all the other lines converge : it is the sun of the 
 system of Christianity, which casts a flood of light and 
 radiance over all its provinces; and by which every 
 thing is illuminated : it is " the golden hinge by which 
 earth revolves on heaven." If we separate this essential 
 feature, we can see in the Old Testament nothing but 
 a strange and confused assemblage of wheels and move- 
 ments, utterly inexplicable, and altogether without 
 design or end; but when the Supreme Divinity of 
 our SAVIOUR is admitted, this otherwise unaccountable 
 machinery wears the impress of design, and seems 
 working "for good. It, then, appears to be the great 
 machine of Providence, put in motion by an arm that is 
 almighty, and fraught with displays of omnipotent wis- 
 dom. We think the question reduces itself into a very 
 limited compass. Biblical criticism has, in our opinion, 
 been altogether triumphant in this question ; and we 
 may safely leave it to enjoy its laurels. Except in the 
 views we sustain, we cannot perceive the use of the Old 
 Testament as a directory ; for, if it be metaphorical, 
 or, in other words deceptive, (and assuredly if our 
 SAVIOUR is not Supremely Divine, more effectual means 
 for deception could not have been devised,) of what 
 service is it as a standard of appeal, in a ques- 
 tion which, of all others, concerns us most? and 
 which we are expressly told, is what we are to consider 
 a safe guide in this matter. "To him gave all the 
 prophets witness ;" while the Psalms shadow forth "the 
 great mystery of godliness GOD manifested in the 
 
247 
 
 flesh." Indeed, the question propounded by our SA- 
 VIOUR to the Jews, seems to have been an argument to 
 which they never pretended to reply : "If David call 
 him LORD, how is he then his son?" We, of course, 
 dismiss the incomprehensible and mysterious views pro- 
 pounded for our belief by what are called Arians, 
 as not only above, but contrary to REASON a created 
 creator, "by whom all things were made that are made," 
 must be given up as absurd and preposterous. It is a 
 dogma which cannot be entertained now, and we are 
 only surprised that such a notion could ever have floated, 
 in times that are past, through the dreams of imagina- 
 tion. All the attributes of GOD are assigned, without 
 reserve to JESUS CHRIST. The very tetragrammaton 
 is directly applied: " JESUS CHRIST the same yesterday, 
 to-day, and for ever." He declared himself to be the 
 I AM. The Jews expressly understood this claim to be 
 set up, and took up stones to stone him for blasphemy, 
 (agreeably to the command of Moses) "because thou 
 being a man," observed they, "makest thyself GOD." 
 This very fact has been one of the stumbling blocks to 
 Jews in all ages, against the claims of MESSIAH; and in 
 this respect, they have the same unchangeable fixidity, 
 now, that they had at the period referred to. The cele- 
 brated Jewish philosopher, MOSES MENDELSOHN, in his 
 correspondence with Lavater, expressed the highest 
 veneration for the Author of the Christian Religion. 
 That it was a perfect character, and unobjectionable 
 "IF he had not accepted of the homage due to the MOST 
 HIGH only." ! * JESUS CHRIST "knew what was in 
 man," and "needed not that any should testify" this to 
 him ; and we may be well assured, that the key which 
 can unlock the human heart, hangs alone at the girdle 
 of OMNISCIENCE. The whole of the Sacred Volume 
 testifies that JESUS CHRIST, as he is our Creator, our 
 Shepherd and Preserver, so he is to be our Judge. These 
 Scriptures, also, attest his underived existence His 
 
 * " Wenn er nicht die Ehre der Aubethung, die dem einigen 
 Jehovah gebuehrt, nicht angemaszt haette !" 
 
248 
 
 1 
 
 Omnipotence, Omnipresence, and Omniscience these, 
 and his Holiness, Justice, Goodness, Mercy, and Truth, 
 seem, to us, so palpably proclaimed, that "all who run 
 may read." These characters seem to emblazon the 
 Sacred Page, and appear to be infused into every line. 
 They are, indeed, to our apprehension, the very soul 
 which animates the mass, and gives it life and motion. 
 If the attributes we have enumerated be not those of 
 Deity, we know not where they are to be found. Our 
 SAVIOUR wrought his miracles, which were altogether 
 PECULIAR, in his own name, and in the person of an 
 underived authority " I will. " The case, however, was 
 far otherwise with his apostles : IN THE NAME OF JE- 
 SUS OF NAZARETH, was the charm of their invocation. 
 Celsus, the Epicurean philosopher, in the second cen- 
 tury, admits that the apostles performed miracles, but 
 ascribes it to the use of certain names. Origin sets him 
 right on this question that name being JESUS OF NA- 
 ZARETH. That these honest and faithful men repudi- 
 ated the belief of an inherent power in themselves, and 
 acknowledged that it was in the all-prevailing name of 
 JESUS CHRIST they were enabled to accomplish such 
 stupendous effects, we may be fully persuaded by re- 
 ferring to the scenes at the "beautiful" gate of the 
 temple at Jerusalem ; and at Lystra, in Asia Minor. 
 That Peter wrought miracles, Julian is forced to con- 
 fess. To deny the Supreme Divinity of JESUS CHRIST, 
 appears, to ns, to run counter to the whole genius of 
 Christianity : nor is there any legitimate middle path 
 between the cardinal doctrine of the Divinity of CHRIST 
 and the absolute rejection of Revelation. The grand 
 doctrine of the atonement, like a golden thread, seems 
 so interwoven in its tissue, that if it be withdrawn the 
 whole fabric falls into shreds. Viewed in relation to that 
 question, the Divinity of our SAVIOUR seems to be, in 
 the eye of reason, essentially pre-requisite. No man 
 can save himself, much less " give a ransom for his 
 brother :" and we profess not to comprehend the novel 
 doctrine that would rear an altar to the mercy of GOD 
 on the ruins of his justice ; which, springing, as an 
 
249 
 
 inevitable sequence, from his truth and holiness, can- 
 not be insulated from them. It has been rightly said, 
 that the objections which have been raised to this 
 doctrine, are " cavils, which derive all their force not 
 from the superior wisdom of their authors, but solely 
 from the inadequacy of human reason to the full com- 
 prehension of heavenly mysteries. But still there is a 
 simple grandeur in the fact, that GOD has set forth his 
 Son to be a propitiation, sufficient to silence the impo- 
 tent calumnies of sophistry."* As far as the Scriptures 
 are suffered to speak out, there is no ambiguity, in our 
 mind, whatever ; and we should esteem it, altogether, 
 a work of supererogation to make citations in proof: we 
 appeal, at once, to the fountain of truth ; to the Sacred 
 Text, in its integrity, as a perfect whole. We cannot 
 doubt the result, if the individual sits down to the task, 
 as he ought to do, in the docile spirit of a disciple of 
 inductive science, with his mind unprepossessed with 
 fantastic notions, with which that mind may have 
 been preoccupied.. It is impossible, (common sense 
 and right reason alike determine this,) that we can 
 form any a priori opinion, either on the nature of a 
 Revelation from GOD, or his modus existendi. Indeed, 
 in such a case, if reason can solve the problem for us, 
 we cannot see the use of Revelation at all. It is not 
 a reasonable act that we should make up our minds 
 beforehand on the kind of revelation we are "entitled to 
 expect" We MUST SIT WHERE MARY SAT. Mere 
 verbal subtilty is very suspicious. It was the weapon 
 of Hume's sophistry. The evangelist, John, in the 
 most clear and unequivocal language, ascribes Supreme 
 Divinity to JESUS CHRIST, as THE WORD. The apos- 
 tate Julian admits this ascription of the evangelist, as 
 a fact which was altogether incontrovertible; unlike 
 those in our own times, who deny this vital principle. 
 Julian, it is true, imagined it very extraordinary, and 
 considered John to have been very simple for propound- 
 ing such a doctrine ; it never, however, occurred to him, 
 
 * Robert Hall. 
 
250 
 
 1 
 
 that John meant any other thing but -what he had said, 
 and asserted : that part of the question is quite a mo- 
 dern discovery. The Mahometans call our Saviour 
 Ourah Allah "the word of GOD" and admit that he 
 went alive to heaven. The adoration of the magi has 
 been mentioned ; even the Mantuan Bard, in his Pollio, 
 seems to express something more than humanity : 
 
 " Nee Deus hunc mensa " 
 
 The testimony of Josephus, the Jewish historian, is 
 equally conclusive : " Now there was, about this time, 
 Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; 
 for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such 
 men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over 
 to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gen- 
 tiles. He was Qhe] Christ. And when Pilate, at the 
 suggestion of the principal men among us, had con- 
 demned him to the cross, those that loved him at the 
 first did not forsake him ; for he appeared to them alive 
 again the third day ; as the divine prophets had fore- 
 told these and ten thousand other wonderful things 
 concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named 
 from him, are not extinct at this day."* This is a very 
 short, but a very important evidence. The genuineness 
 of this passage has been, indeed, questioned ; but it is 
 established in the most clear and satisfactory manner. 
 In the Ambrosian Library, at Milan, there is a very 
 ancient MS. of Josephus, on vellum, wherein this pas- 
 sage forms part of the text. Thus, also, Pliny, in his 
 celebrated letter to the emperor, Trajan, written only 
 eleven years after John had, in the " Apocalypse," closed 
 the canon of Scripture, observes, "they (the Christians,) 
 were wont, on a stated day, to meet together before 
 it was light, and to sing an hymn to Christ as to a 
 god." The recognition of the Divinity of CHRIST is here 
 attested by this profane writer in the most clear and 
 unequivocal terms ; and the evidence, on all sides, 
 appears, to us, incontrovertible and conclusive. We 
 
 * Josephus, Book XVIII. chap. iii. sec. 3. 
 
251 
 
 cannot imagine on what principles those, who have de- 
 termined to reject the capital doctrine of the Divinity 
 of JESUS CHRIST, can do away with the interjection of 
 Thomas, whose scepticism seems to have been suffi- 
 ciently inflexible, until convinced by irresistible evi- 
 dence. To convert this exclamation into a parenthetic 
 subauditur, is one of the most extraordinary sophisms 
 we have ever met with in the whole course of our read- 
 ing ; and we think that contemptible evasion, with many 
 others, is very well exposed by a writer* brought up 
 in their own schools, and long their zealous advocate ; 
 but, at length, convinced that the truth lay in the oppo- 
 site direction, he has, in his " Second Thoughts," con- 
 fessed his error, and made this expose, which does 
 credit to his honesty and integrity. The protomartyr, 
 Stephen, knew better than these new illuminati, in 
 whom he believed, and that JESUS CHRIST was able to 
 keep " that which was committed to him :" " LORD 
 JESUS," said the expiring martyr, " receive my spirit." 
 " The spirit shall return to GOD who gave it." John, 
 in the Apocalypse, had announced that JESUS CHRIST 
 was the " Alpha and the Omega" " the first and the 
 last." As the stream is purest the nearer we approach 
 its fountain ; so we find, that the early Christians, who 
 fell martyrs to the cause, in the persecutions of pagan 
 Rome, under the emperors in the first and second cen- 
 turies ; or those who died in " the faith once delivered 
 to the saints," rejoiced to echo their confidence in the 
 notes of the exile of Patmos. A recognition of this be- 
 lief we find often inscribed, by their surviving friends, 
 on their tombs, which thus remain legends as witnesses 
 to the truth. The following is an epitaph of this kind, 
 where we perceive two palm 
 branches, the simple emblems 
 of martyrdom, in evident allu- V^-vn^n'/K" A' 
 sion to Rev. vii. 9 ; They "stood \jNJ^U/lVII. 
 before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with 
 white robes, and palms in their hands." This epitaph 
 
 * Charles Elton, Esq. of Bristol. 
 
252 
 
 contains the name, Petronia. Among the coins of Dr. 
 King, in the " Nummi Familiar. Roman." there is one 
 with this name in the legend, representing a female figure 
 with one knee bent to the ground : it belongs to the 
 first century. The central monogram combines the two 
 first letters of the Greek name, XPI2TO2 : as X, 
 (chi,) and P, (rho,) with A, (alpha,} on one side ; and 
 <w, (omega t ) on the other ; an evident acknowledgment 
 of the Divinity of our SAVIOUR. We find the same 
 recognition on the coins of CONSTANTIUS, MAGNKNTIUS, 
 DECENTIUS, JOVIAN, and others ; whereon the sacred 
 monogram occupies the entire field on the reverse of 
 the coin ; and the A and & are arranged as in our wood 
 cut, on each side. We are aware that Gibbon has 
 stated, that the emperor, CONSTANTIUS, did not recog- 
 nize this belief: but this assertion is like many of his 
 other assertions, when the subject of CHRISTIANITY is 
 the theme, void of truth; for we have, in the coin of 
 CONSTANTIUS,* a flat contradiction to Gibbon's state- 
 ment. 
 
 From a calm and dispassionate survey of the evidence 
 on every hand, we have come to this conclusion, that if 
 there be one truth in the Scriptures more clearly revealed 
 than another, it is the Supreme Divinity of JESUS 
 CHRIST. The fact is decisive, whether we reject it or 
 not. Surely if Deity has revealed his modus existendi 
 to man, we may reasonably presume, that we should 
 find it to be something above the grasp of a finite 
 understanding ; that a priori, we might expect some- 
 thing extraordinary and wonderful, and what reason 
 could not be expected to penetrate. We talk about 
 human knowledge, and the conquests of the understand- 
 ing; but, alas! how helpless are these, when concentrated 
 on that wonderful, one word JEHOVAH. The differ- 
 ence between Socinus and his followers, and those who 
 assert the Divinity of CHRIST, is merely this : they 
 think that it is not a difficult matter to define DEITY ; 
 
 * Plate II. fig. 12, is this reverse, on a coin dug up at Mai- 
 ton, in Yorkshire. 
 
we, on the contrary, consider that his name is, what he 
 announced it to be, SECRET ; and are fully confident, 
 that Paul was right and knew much better than they, 
 when he said, " Great is the mystery of godliness, GOD 
 manifested in the flesh." It is true they have charged 
 upon us a creed of their own fabrication ; but we do 
 not acknowledge it. This fiction of theirs is, that three 
 are one, and one is three : and it may suit the purpose 
 of such as are accustomed to receive assertions as proof, 
 or possess a spirit similar to those whom the Scriptures 
 describe as, " believing a lie ; " and who " receive not 
 the truth in the love of it." All that we say is simply 
 this : we believe that GOD exists, in the modus which 
 he has announced in the Scriptures ; and, that he may 
 be THREE in a sense altogether different from that in 
 which he is ONE. Now this is the extent of our belief 
 on this all important question ; and, we further main- 
 tain, that this is not contrary to reason ; and, moreover, 
 contend that there is all the difference in the world 
 between what transcends the limited powers of reason, 
 and what is at complete antipodes with it or in other 
 words, contrary to it. We have already stated, that 
 reason is neither infinite nor yet possessed of all know- 
 ledge ; and, if this is granted, and granted it must be 
 on the soundest axioms of inductive science ; then, we 
 deny that it has a right to assume the prerogative of 
 Deity, and impugn the doctrine, that GOD cannot exist 
 under that form in which he has certainly declared, in 
 our opinion, he does exist, in that very Volume which 
 they, too, affect to receive as a Revelation from GOD. 
 Truly this inconsistency far surpasses our limited com- 
 prehension. It is also true, that they monopolize the 
 name Unitarian a mere " ruse de guerre " as if we 
 disbelieved the UNITY of the DIVINE BEING: but 
 this is most disingenuous, to say the least of it. The 
 fact is simply this they worship reason j we despise 
 the deification ; and, confessing our inability to compre- 
 hend the modus of the Divine existence, we credit the 
 testimony of his Revelation, while our reason kneels in 
 humble adoration of the GOD of the Scriptures of 
 Y 
 
254 
 
 1 
 
 Truth. Among the numerous extraordinary pheno- 
 mena of Socinianism, two circumstances are worthy 
 of a passing notice. We had supposed that the great 
 distinguishing characteristic of the Scriptures, was 
 their IMMUTABILITY ; that they did not change with 
 the seasons, or with changing man j nay, in our sim- 
 plicity, we had concluded that this feature was essential 
 to the character of TRUTH. It appears, however, that 
 THEIR IMPROVED VERSION of the " New Testament," 
 in the several editions it has passed through, has actually 
 changed its hues like the chameleon. Let the Jirst and 
 last " editions " be compared. This variability belongs 
 not to truth, the standard of which, in its very nature, 
 is WITHOUT CHANGE. The other remarkable feature in 
 this modern religion, is the incessant acclamation that 
 follows when it can number among its neophytes indi- 
 viduals a little elevated above the common walks of 
 intellect. Even a Joanna Baillie, comes in for a share 
 of their hosannas ! Now, looking first at the genius of 
 Christianity, and then on such a line of conduct, we 
 must say, the contrast is very striking; and would raise 
 in our minds strong suspicions and distrust, that, by 
 whatever name it might be called, it cannot be the 
 religion of JESUS CHRIST ; because, the poor were 
 especially remembered, formed its chief excellence, 
 and were the loveliest gem in its coronet a feature 
 which was, "to the Jews, a stumbling block, and to 
 the Greeks, foolishness. " This conduct wears, in our 
 estimation, the same livery of pride, which, when the 
 REDEEMER was at the feast of Tabernacles, eagerly 
 asked "HAVE ANY OP THE RULERS OR THE PHARISEES 
 BELIEVED ON HIM ? " The opinions and sentiments of 
 Paul, who gloried in the " atonement," and that divine 
 righteousness which made it the pearl of great price, 
 were as opposed to the new discoveries, which Socinian- 
 ism has made in these latter times, as light is to 
 darkness. No marvel, then, that her votaries should 
 have done the utmost to depreciate the talents and 
 discrimination of the " great apostle of the Gentiles." 
 That line genius had always been celebrated, both as a 
 
255 
 
 rhetorician and logician ; and been cited and appealed 
 to in all ages, as affording splendid examples of both : 
 the remarkable discovery was made, however, a few 
 years ago, that they and we had been altogether mis- 
 taken; and that Paul was neither the one nor the other. 
 This astounding discovery is an emanation from the 
 schools of Socinianism. These extraordinary announce- 
 ments, they may be well assured, are startling; and 
 perplexing to the disciple in his search after TRUTH. 
 
 Were we to put the question, as a proposition in 
 science, there seems quite sufficient in the modus ex- 
 istendi, of the very lowest tribes of animation, to baffle 
 the comprehension and confound the boasted wit and 
 knowledge of this deified reason, even at the very 
 threshold of zoology. It is not long ago since a physician 
 discovered a remarkable circulation in the eel ; its 
 systole and diastole being altogether independent of 
 the contraction and dilatation of the heart ! The siren 
 lacertina is truly amphibious: it has both lungs and 
 branchice, or gills ; it can live either wholly out of the 
 water, when the lungs play and the branchiae are 
 quiescent ; or in the water, when the lungs are in a state 
 of repose, and the branchiae are put in motion: these 
 are duplex existences in one and the self-same system 
 of being. How wonderful, again, is that remarkable 
 animal, the polype, ( hydra viridis Lin.,) generally 
 found attached to the lemna or duckweed, in ditches ; 
 and by no means rare. We may turn it inside out, as 
 we would a glove it makes no difference ; the one 
 serves as well for a stomach, to receive its food, as the 
 other did. If we decapitate the animal, a new head 
 grows on the trunk, and the head pushes forth a new 
 trunk : if we cut it transversely or longitudinally, each 
 divided part becomes a whole, and assumes an indepen- 
 dent existence. Here, the division of a system of 
 existence does not destroy that existence alter et 
 idem. Discovery is incessantly at work, and constantly 
 introducing new and extraordinary phenomena; and 
 the higher our advances, and the more refined our 
 
 Y2 
 
256 
 
 1 
 
 science, the more wonderful are the. conquests of the 
 mind in these respects. We may merely single out 
 one more illustration, as it is among the latest of these 
 discoveries in zoology: we allude to the case of the 
 planaria torva, as detailed in the experiments of Dr. 
 James Rawlins Johnson. He cut off the head of a full 
 sized planaria below the eyes ; a new head was repro- 
 duced in a few days. He cut off this second head; a new 
 one was again regenerated ; a third, fourth, fifth, and 
 sixth experiment met with the same success. Among 
 a vast number of experiments, equally extraordinary, 
 he divided many other planariee into six, and even 
 eight parts : each portion retained its vitality, and set 
 about reproducing as much of a new body as was re- 
 quired to restore it to the form of the perfect animal of 
 which it had once formed a component part. Our 
 author then dissected wedge-shaped pieces out of the 
 heads of other planarise, which were speedily reproduced; 
 and, according to the depth and breadth of these pieces, 
 a new eye would be produced, making three eyes ; or 
 two new eyes, making in all four eyes; and if the 
 incision was very deep, in that case the parts would 
 branch off and form two perfect heads. These are very 
 wonderful ; and, if our understanding is perplexed, and 
 our reason puzzled at these things, what shall we say 
 to their arrogance, when they presume to pass judg- 
 ment on the modus existendi of GOD. The lesson which 
 the volume of nature teaches, is humility; and the lesson 
 which Revelation teaches, is, in like manner, humility. 
 Pride is not taught in the school of CHRIST : the docility 
 of a little child is best calculated for the attainment of 
 "that wisdom which is from above." The modus existendi 
 of the CREATOR can find no analogy in the works of 
 creation: when the problem of these wonders of creation 
 is solved, it will be soon enougli to speculate on " that 
 which is UNSEEN, and ETERNAL." We should not have 
 adverted to this great question, at all, had we not 
 conscientiously believed, that, it seems a matter of 
 little moment whether we believe Revelation or not 
 
257 
 
 without it : for if REASON has settled the question, in- 
 dependent of Revelation, the latter would be useless ; 
 or, is Revelation only a mere codicil added to reason 
 which is divine ? 
 
 As to the personal appearance of the SON OP GOD, in 
 his humanity, there has been some contention ; and 
 tradition has not been idle. We think it by no means 
 improbable, that some of the early Jewish converts 
 might be desirous to possess a memorial of their LORD, 
 in a medal which might bear an impress of his " visage j" 
 and, that such medals did exist, though both Celsus 
 and Origen might be ignorant of them. In these re- 
 mote periods, even in the paintings and sculptures of 
 Thebes, much more in those of Greece and Rome, their 
 statues and pictures were correct likenesses, and were 
 multiplied without reserve. Besides, there was another 
 source which might supply such a medal, altogether 
 irrespective of the early Christians. Scarcely an event 
 occurred, of great moment, that was not commemorated 
 on a coin or medal. So remarkable a history of events 
 as those which occurred in Judea, would not pass by, 
 we may be perfectly sure, without some such commem- 
 oration. It is highly probable, that the governor of 
 Judea would send to Tiberius, and the Roman senate, 
 a representation of the illustrious individual who was 
 the author of that " new religion," which, according to 
 their own account, had "turned the world upside 
 down." A series of such medals, from which we 
 might be able to draw some definite conclusion, on a 
 subject certainly curious, would be interesting. In 
 Plate III. fig. 27, is a correct representation, from a 
 cast in our possession, taken by a friend from a bronze 
 medal in the Ash mole Library, at Oxford. On the 
 obverse, on the collar, is the word MESSIAS ; and on 
 the reverse, the words may, perhaps, be rendered, 
 "Nought can be ascribed to thee, O! ELOHIM, of the 
 fiery indignation which covered him." In Plate I. 
 fig. 1, is a fac simile from a silver medal, in the same 
 Library, from a cast also in our possession, and obtained 
 
 Y3 
 
258 
 
 1 
 
 at the same time with the other : it may be compared 
 with that of Plate III. fig. 26, and our wood-cut the 
 absence of the nimbus, or halo, which encircled the 
 heads of saints in the seventh century, affords some 
 presumption of its priority to that period. Fig. 26, 
 Plate III., is a faithful copy of an antique brass medal 
 found near Cork, in 1812, on the site of an ancient 
 monastery, contemporaneous with the introduction of 
 Christianity into Ireland : on the obverse, the first 
 letter of the Hebrew alphabet is interesting. Some 
 have considered, that aleph, here, is to be considered 
 a numeral, and may denote that it was struck in the 
 first year after the resurrection ; and the letters on the 
 other side, to be the Hebrew name for JESUS. A friend 
 of ours, however, objects to this partition of the letters, 
 and observes, that it is the very word by which, 
 according to ancient prophecy, GOD was to be known in 
 Gospel-times ; namely, ISHI. This solution seems at 
 once interesting and satisfactory. Different translations 
 have been published in Mr. England's ingenious pam- 
 phlet, descriptive of the Cork medal. We submitted 
 this, as well as our own cast, to our friend, who is 
 better conversant in Hebrew than we pretend to be : 
 the first part of the legend on the field of the reverse, 
 he reads, " Messiah, (or Christ,) the King, came in 
 peace ; " and this seems to be the concurrent reading of 
 the numerous scholars to whom the medal has been 
 submitted. In our cast, the latter half, on the reverse, 
 our friend translates, " And man, man was made life: " 
 thus corresponding with Hottinger's silver medal : it 
 would appear, however, that some copies read, " And 
 GOD man was made life ; " which is, perhaps, the 
 original reading : some copies have, " And light from 
 man was made life." The latter part of the Cork medal, 
 our ingenious correspondent thinks, may be translated, 
 "And the mighty man was made life." The following 
 is a fac simile from a bronze medal, in the valuable 
 collection of C. Rawson, Esq. Halifax; to whose cour- 
 tesy and kindness we are indebted for it. It is interesting 
 
259 
 
 to compare these with one another : obtained from 
 sources altogether independent of each other, they 
 still appear to have been derived from one original. 
 
 Dr. Walsh gives us, in his Essay on Early Coins and Me- 
 dals, a representation of a similar medal, obtained from a 
 Polish Jew, at Rostoc, in Germany. Rowland, in his 
 " Mona Antiqua," 1 702, has described a similar medal, 
 and given a sketch of it. This medal was found at the 
 ancient Druidical circle of Brin-gwin. There are, how- 
 ever, no letters on the obverse ; and the legend on the 
 reverse, is considerably different. The celebrated medal, 
 we have thus imperfectly described, has been the sub- 
 ject of curious research among antiquarians for three 
 hundred years. It was seen by Theseus Ambrosius, at 
 Rome, in the pontificate of Julius II, the predecessor of 
 Leo X. It was even then considered an object of interest 
 and curiosity. It is interesting to consider this medal 
 in connexion with the celebrated letter of Lentulus to 
 Tiberius and the Roman senate, with which descrip- 
 tion it seems remarkably to correspond. In rejecting 
 documents such as these, we may be guilty of an 
 unwarrantable scepticism. We do not see why this 
 should not have been taken ; but we see many reasons to 
 believe that such a representation of the SAVIOUR might 
 have been copied. Mr. Bagster, to whose valuable 
 Biblical publications the world is so much indebted, has 
 published a beautiful print, on steel, from a piece of 
 ancient tapestry, in his possession, being a profile of our 
 
260 } 
 
 SAVIOUR, said to have been taken from an emerald, 
 once in the treasury of Constantinople, and given as a 
 ransom for the emperor's brother, taken captive by 
 the Christians. Mr. Martin has copied this, on a very 
 reduced scale, for our title page, from Mr. Bagster's 
 print. There are other medals with the SAVIOUR'S 
 portrait ; such as that of Basilius and Constantinus, and 
 some subsequent to these ; but, those which have 
 obtained our more especial notice, we presume, may 
 justly claim a much higher antiquity. The correspond- 
 ence, &c., with Abgarus, the king of Edessa, are of a 
 more doubtful character. 
 
 In Plate III. fig. 28, we give a fac simile of the 
 reverse of a very rare and valuable medal of Tiberius, 
 for which we are indebted to the friendly courtesy of 
 H. H. Williamson, Esq., of Greenway Bank, (New- 
 castle, Staffordshire,) in whose interesting collection of 
 coins and medals it is. This medal, all antiquarians 
 agree, was struck by Tiberius upon the event of the 
 destruction of the thirteen cities of Asia, by the earth- 
 quake which took place at the time of our SAVIOUR'S 
 crucifixion. On the obverse, is the head of Drusus, 
 without laurel, and the legend, "NERO CLAUDIUS 
 DRUSUS GERMANICUS IMP." On the reverse, Nero 
 Claudius Drusus, is seen sitting robed in a curule chair, 
 with various spoils disposed around him ; holding in his 
 right hand a branch, and in his left a scroll of parch- 
 ment. The legend on the reverse, is " Ti. CLAUDIUS 
 CESAR AUG. P. M. T. R. P. IMP. P. P." This medal 
 is so extremely rare, that Matthew Dean, Esq., Dr. 
 Mead, Snelling, and others, valued it at twenty 
 pounds ; or, at the option of the possessor. 
 
 Some suppose that the earthquake, which took place 
 at the SAVIOUR'S crucifixion, was felt over all the 
 world a supposition extremely probable : others confine 
 it to the land of Judea. Dreadful must have been the 
 convulsion which rent the veil of the temple from top 
 to bottom a fact mentioned by Josephus. St. Cyril, 
 of Jerusalem, says, that the rocks of Mount Calvary, 
 which were rent by this earthquake, were still evident 
 
261 
 
 and pointed out in his time. Orosius considers this 
 earthquake to have been the very same which over- 
 turned the twelve cities of Sardis, Magnesia, Masthene, 
 JEge, Hierocsesaria, Philadelphia, Temolus, Cyma, 
 Myrinia, Apollonia, and Hyrcania ; to which Eusebius 
 adds Ephesus. Pliny and Strabo describe this earth- 
 quake to have been the most dreadful ever felt. Tiberius 
 began to reign, A. D. 14, and died A. D. 37, or four years 
 subsequent to the resurrection of CHRIST. At the period 
 of this earthquake he must have been 73 years old ; and 
 the appearance of the head, on the obverse of the medal, 
 (the reverse of which we have given,) is that of age. 
 It may be also stated, that there were other medals 
 struck, in acknowledgment of the care which Tiberius 
 took in rebuilding the cities of Asia, destroyed by this 
 earthquake. On the obverse, the emperor is represented 
 sitting in a curule chair, as in the one given, with the 
 legend CIVITATIBUS ASI^E RESTITUTIS; and, on the re- 
 verse, the legend merely TIBERIUS CAESAR DIVI AUG. 
 FILIUS AUGUSTUS. PONT. MAX. TRIE. POT. xxi. 
 The event of a dreadful earthquake is thus attested; 
 and this is the only period to which we can reasonably 
 refer this earthquake. Tiberius died four years subse- 
 quent to the crucifixion of our SAVIOUR ; and we no- 
 where read of the destruction of the cities of Asia prior 
 to this dreadful tragedy. From combined testimony 
 Christian, Jewish, and Pagan a terrible earthquake 
 occurred at the crucifixion : the rocks were convulsed 
 and torn ; the veil of the temple of Jerusalem was rent 
 in twain ; and thirteen of the finest cities of Asia, over- 
 turned. We also collect, from Pagan authorities, that 
 the loss of life was great, because the earthquake occur- 
 red when it was dark. If the preternatural darkness 
 extended over the eastern hemisphere and it is likely 
 it would extend as far as the effects of the earthquake 
 were felt in Asia, at any rate there is a curious cir- 
 cumstantial corroboration of the event. It was at the 
 ninth hour, or three o'clock in the afternoon, when our 
 SAVIOUR said, "It is finished;" and, "cried with a 
 loud voice, and gave up the ghost:" at this moment 
 
262 
 
 l 
 
 the earth shuddered, and nature heaved in agony. In 
 Matthew xxviii. 2, it is stated, that there had been a 
 GREAT earthquake. That there was darkness over all the 
 land, and a great earthquake, is also recorded by Phle- 
 gon, the Tralian, freeman to Adrian. Tralium was 
 not far from Palestine : and when one of the oracles 
 was consulted on the subject of this darkness, it is re- 
 corded to have replied " Either the GOD of nature is 
 suffering, or he sympathizes with one who does." 
 Why did the sun put on such deep mourning an 
 eclipse which the heavens had never witnessed before ? 
 Why did the temple tremble and an invisible hand 
 rend the veil which concealed the " Holy of holies ?" 
 Why did the earth rock so dreadfully ? Let the cen- 
 turion, and they who were with him, give their evi- 
 dence : " TRULY THIS WAS THE SON OP GOD." 
 
 The DOCTRINES of Christianity do not come within 
 the pale of our present design. Their motto is expressed 
 in that which was inscribed on the mitre of the high 
 priest. In the mirror of Christianity we at once see 
 what manner of persons we are, and what manner of 
 persons we ought to be. The celestial sign, which we 
 read on heaven's escutcheon, is, GOD is LOVE. Its in- 
 fluence is divine: it realizes the prophetic scene in 
 the valley of vision ; and, like a fibre placed under the 
 prismatic spectrum, glows in a vesture of the beau- 
 tiful tint which falls upon it. In a Persian proverb, a 
 piece of scented clay is made to say " I was a despica- 
 ble piece of clay ; but I was, sometime, in the com- 
 pany of the ROSE." Just so is it with human nature, 
 under the influence of Christianity. 
 
 As our little volume will close with a few attestations 
 to the value of the Scriptures, on the part of its friends, 
 it may not be amiss to finish this chapter with evidence 
 from some of its bitterest and most malignant ENEMIES, 
 extorted from them by the force of TRUTH. 
 
 1. ROUSSEAU. " The Religion of CHRIST has brought 
 morality to greater purity and perfection, than ever it 
 was advanced by all the philosophers and sages of 
 antiquity." 
 
263 
 
 2. BOLINGBROKE. " The Gospel of CHRIST is one 
 continued lecture of the strictest morality, of justice, 
 benevolence, and universal charity." 
 
 3. GIBBON. " Our curiosity is naturally prompted to 
 inquire by what means the Christian faith hath obtained 
 so remarkable a victory over the established religions of 
 the east ? To this inquiry an obvious and satisfactory 
 answer may be returned, that it was owing to the con- 
 vincing evidence of the DOCTRINE itself, and to the ruling 
 PROVIDENCE of its great Author." 
 
CHAP. XII. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 
 
 THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM BY TITUS VES- 
 PASIAN CONCLUSION. 
 
 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES appear to have been 
 written by the evangelist, Luke ; and this treatise, as 
 well as his Gospel, seems to have been dedicated to 
 THEOPHILUS. It is likely that this was the real name 
 of an individual, and not assumed. There is a coin, 
 bearing this very name, EOOIAE, which literally 
 signifies a lover of GOD. It is our intention since 
 this Book of "The Acts" is an historical detail, and thus 
 susceptible of proof, from the kind of evidence which 
 forms our more immediate design to offer, for consider- 
 ation, a few facts by way of illustration. In chap. xi. 
 26, it is stated, that "the disciples were called Christians 
 first in Antioch." This interesting connexion of the 
 Christian name with Antioch reminds us of a beautiful 
 expression made use of by the apostle : "which hope we 
 have, as an anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast, 
 entering into that within the veil." It seems, to us, 
 extremely probable, that the expression has an allusion 
 to the armorial ensign of Antioch, ("cujus fuit anchora 
 signum.") The anchor, on Selucian medals, marks the 
 coins struck at Antioch, where an anchor was said to have 
 been found on digging the first foundation of the city. 
 Among the symbols, which were few and simple, that 
 appear on the tombs of the early Christians, the anchor 
 is most conspicuous. This and a branch of palm ; an 
 olive- wreath, and a lamp, seem to have completed with 
 
265 
 
 the sacred monogram> expressive of the name of CHRIST, 
 combined with the alpha and omega all the affecting 
 emblems which decorated their " narrow house." Such 
 was "the faith once delivered to the saints." This 
 faith was the anchor of their hope the palm of victory 
 over "the last enemy:" their olive branch of peace the 
 lamp of their path. They believed that JESUS CHRIST 
 was their alpha and their omega ; and their faith rested 
 in confidence on his assurance: " Because I lix r e, ye shall 
 live also." We confess +hat we are charmed with the 
 silent eloquence of these simple but expressive symbols. 
 
 In Acts xiii. 7> it is stated, that Barnabas and Paul 
 found favour with Sergius Paulus, who is called, deputy 
 of the isle of Paphos or Cyprus. Proclus succeeded 
 Sergius Paulus as proconsul in the government of the 
 island ; and a coin, bearing the name of Proclus, has 
 been discovered with the very word, ANTfIATO2,, 
 deputy, which had been applied by Paul to Sergius Paulus. 
 
 It is stated, in chap. xvi. 12, that the apostle went 
 from Neapolis " to Philippi, which is the chief city of 
 that part of Macedonia, and a colony ;" or rather, as it 
 might be more correctly translated, " Philippi, a city of 
 the first part of Macedonia, or Macedonia prima." It 
 appears, that under the Roman government, Macedo- 
 nia was divided into several provinces, (at least four.) 
 We now give a fac simile of a coin bearing the words 
 MAKEZlON^N HPaTHS, 
 or Macedonia Prima. On some 
 others, the word KOA.QNIA 
 occurs, and this is in precise con- 
 formity with the Sacred Text. By 
 the evidence derived from a coin, 
 it appears that Julius Caesar be- 
 stowed the privileges peculiar to a 
 Roman colony, on the city of Phi- 
 lippi. In this city, we are told in a subsequent verse, 
 that the apostles found LYDIA, a " seller of purple," and 
 who is described to have been, originally, of "the city of 
 Thyatira." It is a curiojis circumstance that among the 
 ruins of Thyatira, an inscription has been found with 
 z 
 
266 
 
 l 
 
 the words OI BA^EIS, or the dyers, referring to the 
 art of dyeing purple, as forming a branch of commerce 
 in the city of Thyatira. The double dyed purple of 
 Tyre, called DIBAPHA, was a very costly affair. A pound 
 of this precious dye could not be bought for one thou- 
 sand denarii, or more than thirty pounds sterling. When 
 we take into consideration, the length of the imperial 
 robes and mantles, they must have been very expensive. 
 It would hence seem that Lydia must have possessed 
 considerable resources, to have maintained such an 
 expensive branch of art, and therefore of some consider- 
 ation in the city of Philippi. 
 
 In our Plate, which serves for a frontispiece, fig. 4, we 
 have given an exact copy of an ancient brass medallion, 
 once in the possession of the late H. Rooke, Esq. of 
 Mansfield, Notts. It was discovered near Newstead 
 Priory, the seat of the late Lord Byron, in the year 
 1775, by some labourers. The nimbus, or glory, round 
 the head, on the obverse, militates against the supposi- 
 tion that it can be dated farther back than the seventh 
 century. The head, however, is fine, and seems charac- 
 teristic. The legend, which occupies the entire field on 
 the reverse, appears to have been taken from the vulgate 
 of Psalm Ixviii. 27> &c. This Priory was founded by 
 Henry II, for canons regular of the Augustine order. 
 Paul is here called Adoloscentulus, having sprung from 
 Benjamin, the youngest tribe in mentis excessu, descrip- 
 tive of his excessive zeal. This medallion seems to have 
 been worn as a pendant. 
 
 In the nineteenth chapter we have an account of a 
 singular tumult at Ephesus, raised at the instigation of 
 Demetrius a silversmith, and "the craftsmen" of that 
 celebrated city, who seem to have reaped considerable 
 emolument by supplying " silver shrines" for the temple 
 of the Paphian goddess ; whom, it was said, "Asia, and 
 all the world worshipped." An outcry was made against 
 the apostles, for bringing their goddess into disrepute, 
 or rather, doubtless, the "craft by which they had 
 their wealth. " Amid this confusion, in order to appease 
 the populace, the town clerk proclaimed, that every 
 
267 
 
 body knew that Ephesus was "a worshipper" (rather 
 NE.QKOPON a distinction assumed by several 
 cities,) "of the great goddess, Diana." We give the 
 fac simile of a coin of Ephesus, 
 bearing the precise word used by 
 Luke, and which may be trans- 
 lated temple-keeper, or sacristan. 
 
 The rescript of the letter to the 
 Asiatic churches has been called 
 in question ; or, if admitted, as- 
 signed to Antoninus Pius, rather 
 than to Marcus Antoninus. In 
 Plate II. fig. 9> is a coin of the former prince, which is 
 unfavourable to such a supposition. It seems votive on 
 the part of l ' the pious Ephesians " for some immunities 
 conferred on their temple, seen in the back ground, with 
 a cypress ; while Jupiter the thunderer, extending the 
 quiescent bolt toward the temple, is pouring down the 
 vial of his wrath on a prostrate figure likely the sym- 
 bol of Christianity. The radiated crown implies divinity. 
 
 When Paul had returned from Asia to Jerusalem, he 
 had nearly become the victim of popular fury. Being 
 led into "the castle," he prefaced his defence by stating, 
 that he was " a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia a citizen 
 of no mean city." We have given a coin of Tarsus ; and 
 it bears sufficient evidence, from the architecture of the 
 structure represented on it, and its designation of a 
 metropolis, that it must have been a city of considerable 
 distinction. Other coins, too, afford palpable proof, that 
 the fine arts, here, must have been considerably ad- 
 vanced. The coins of Tarsus are remarkable, according 
 to Froelick, for a kind of perspective in 
 the figures represented. We have in- 
 cidental proofs in Paul's writings, that 
 he was a native of Cilicia, from peculiar 
 provincialisms of expression, called Ci- 
 Licisms. There is a remark, connected 
 with the "great apostle of the Gen- 
 tiles," which may be made in reference to an observation 
 recorded in chap. xxii. 25, 28, wherein Paul claimed the 
 z2 
 
268 
 1 
 
 of a Roman citizen, being a -native of Tarsus : 
 " The chief captain answered, With a great sum ob- 
 tained I this freedom. And Paul said, / was free born." 
 It is worthy of notice, here, that among the Roman 
 colonies some had jus CIVITATIS, the right of Roman citi- 
 zens. Pliny calls Tarsus a free city ; and Dion Cassius 
 says, its inhabitants were friendly to Julius Caesar ; and 
 on his account, to Augustus: no doubt they would, 
 therefore, enjoy peculiar privileges. According to Dion 
 Cassius, this privilege, "which had formerly been bought 
 at a great price, became so cheap, at last, that it was 
 commonly said, a man might be made a Roman citizen 
 for a few pieces of broken glass." 
 
 We have, next, to direct attention to the adventure 
 which followed Paul's shipwreck on the island of Malta, 
 or Melita ; and now give an ancient coin of that island, 
 
 in illustration. On the obverse is the representation of 
 Isis, wherein the Egyptian contour of visage is suffi- 
 ciently marked ; the emblems are those of Isis. On 
 the reverse, we have an Egyptian figure, with aflagellum 
 and sickle : all which shews, in a way sufficiently clear, 
 the source of their mythology. When the viper fastened 
 on Paul's hand, the people of the island seem to have 
 expected, from the virulence of this deadly reptile, that 
 " he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly " 
 and it was observed by them, " no doubt this man is a 
 murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet 
 vengeance suffereth not to live." In their view of it, 
 Isis had sent her avenger, the asp, (which is often asso- 
 ciated with her,) to take vengeance on the criminal. 
 " When they saw, however, no harm come to him, they 
 
269 
 
 changed their minds, and said, he was a god." He 
 had thus shewn, that he defied the vengeance of Isis, 
 and consequently was superior to their goddess. This 
 seems, we think, a simple and obvious solution. When 
 the disciples received their commission from JESUS 
 CHRIST, it was promised them, that " no deadly thing" 
 should have power to hurt them. Death almost imme- 
 diately follows the wound inflicted by some venomous 
 serpents such as the tic polonga. 
 
 In 2 Cor. xi. 32, it is stated, that " in Damascus, 
 the governor, under Aretas the king, kept the city of 
 the Damascenes with a garrison." We give a fac simile 
 of a coin of Damascus, on which 
 this very name occurs as the king. 
 The word, 0>IAEAAHNO2, 
 we may suppose, refers to his at- 
 tachment to the Helenistic Jews, 
 which may be inferred from his 
 anxiety to apprehend Paul. If, 
 however, the letters, A P, are to 
 be considered as indicating the 
 date, and to be calculated from the era of the Seleucidae, 
 it must be 160 A.C. This, however, is an unsettled 
 point ; and it suffices us to know, that there were seve- 
 ral kings of Damascus of this name. In connexion 
 with Damascus, we may quote the following remark, 
 from a modern traveller : " In the city of Damascus, 
 there is a street still called, Straight, and where Paul 
 is, with reason, said to have lived. It is entered by 
 the road from Jerusalem. It is as straight as an arrow, 
 a mile in length, broad, and well paved." 
 
 From the mount of Olives our Saviour, on one 
 memorable occasion, "beheld the city of Jerusalem, 
 and wept over it." He had already foretold, that 
 there should "not be left one stone upon another that 
 should not be thrown down." How literally that event 
 was verified in the destruction of Jerusalem, by Titus 
 Vespasian, history proclaims, and existing monuments 
 record. This terrible calamity, both Tacitus and Jose- 
 phtis have described ; and the Arch of Titus, at Rome, 
 z 3 
 
spoils of the temple of Jerusalem : 
 DLESTICK, with its 
 
 270 
 
 of which we have given a representation in our first 
 Plate, fig. 2, still affords, in its falling splendour, a 
 memorial to the truth of this fact. In Plate II. fig. 11, 
 is a copy from the bas reliefs, with which it is deco- 
 rated : our figure is copied from " The Architectural 
 Remains of Rome."* This triumphal Arch of Titus, 
 designed to commemorate the taking of Jerusalem, 
 was erected on the via sacra, which commenced at the 
 Circus Maximus, and extended to the Capitol, The 
 sides of the arch-way are decorated by bas reliefs : on 
 the south side is seen the triumphal entry into Rome ; 
 and on the opposite side is shewn the procession of 
 captive Jews, " with staves in their hands," bearing the 
 
 the GOLDEN CAN- 
 SEVEN BRANCHES; the GOLDEN 
 TABLE, and the CENSER ; the SILVER TRUMPETS, &c. 
 There can be no doubt that these are exact representa- 
 tions of the sacred furniture of the temple, and also 
 complete models of those which decorated the tabernacle 
 in the wilderness, agreeably to the " pattern shewed in 
 the mount." This interesting arch is now fast fal- 
 ling into ruin ; and when we were at Rome, the 
 bas reliefs were much defaced. In Plate I. fig. 3, is a 
 fac simile of a cast, in our cabinet, taken from a fine 
 "Judea capta," discovered a few years ago at Gloucester. 
 On the obverse, is the head of Vespasian ; and on the 
 reverse, the " daughter of Zion," weeping beneath the 
 palm-tree; with emblems of the captive spoils of Judea. 
 The following is a fac simile j 
 from a silver denarius off 
 Vespasian, in our posses- 
 sion, illustrative of the cap- 
 ture of Judea; and still 
 more literally expressive of I 
 the attitude of grief, and of the language of the 
 Prophet : " She being desolate, shall sit upon the 
 ground."^ " How is she become as a widow ! she that 
 
 * Taylor and Cressy, Folio, London, 1821, p. 1. 
 f Isaiah, iii. 26. 
 
271 
 
 was great among the nations, princess among the pro- 
 vinces, how is she become tributary ! "* 
 
 Let it not be presumed that these great events were 
 done in a corner. No : they embraced a wide sphere : 
 Galilee, Judea, Decapolis, Idumea, and from beyond 
 Jordan; from Tyre and Sidon. Among the many 
 books which have perished amidst the wrecks of time, 
 it is rather wonderful that so much has been preserved 
 Justin Martyr, about one hundred years after the 
 crucifixion, in his dispute with Crescens, appeals to the 
 acts of Pontius Pilate, in reference to the sufferings and 
 death of CHRIST. About fifty years afterwards, Ter- 
 tullian tells the governor of Rome, that Tiberius had 
 received from Palestine, in Syria, an account of JESUS 
 CHRIST, and had not only protected the Christians, but 
 would have enshrined him among the deities had not 
 the senate refused their consent. Severus, also, wished 
 to enroll JESUS CHRIST among his gods. Tertullian was 
 deeply versant with the Roman laws, and no stranger to 
 the records of imperial Rome. Whether the asserted 
 correspondence with Agbarus, the king of Edessa, was 
 true or not, certain it is that such a document was found 
 among the archives of the city. 
 
 The census, ordered by Augustus Caesar, is mention- 
 ed by Tacitus, Suetonius, and Dion Cassius. The 
 new star is recorded by Chalcidius. The slaughter of 
 innocents, by Herod, is mentioned by Macrobius. 
 Celsus admits that our SAVIOUR had been in Egypt. 
 Tacitus records that Pontius Pilate was governor of 
 Judea, and that our SAVIOUR was accused before him, 
 condemned and crucified. That many miraculous cures 
 were performed by CHRIST, is a fact confessed by 
 Julian, Porphyry, and Hierocles. That our SAVIOUR 
 foretold things that came to pass, is attested by 
 Phlegon. Other facts, and circumstances of a similar 
 kind, we have already stated. 
 
 It is as false to say, that Christianity rose in a dark 
 age, as to assert, that none but ignorant individuals 
 
 * Lamentations, i. 1. 
 
272 j 
 
 embraced the cause. Many there were, no doubt, who 
 "knew not the wrath of Achilles; " but, there were 
 also numbers, who were as distinguished in rank as 
 they were in the literature and science of the age : 
 Aristides, the Athenian sage, embraced Christianity, 
 convinced of its numerous attestations and overpower- 
 ing truth. Joseph, of Arimathea, was a member of 
 the Jewish sanhedrin ; Nicodemus, too, was a ruler of 
 the Jews ; Dionysius was of the Areopagus, the high 
 court of Athens ; and Flavius Clemens, was a member 
 of the Roman senate ; and, before he died, consul of 
 Rome. Tertullian manfully told the Roman governors, 
 that their corporations, councils, armies, tribes, compa- 
 nies the palace, the senate, and the bar were filled 
 with Christians; and Arnobius asserts, that men, of 
 the first-rate talents, orators, grammarians, rhetoricians, 
 lawyers, physicians, and philosophers, turned from 
 paganism to embrace the standard of the cross. 
 
 We have a long and unbroken chain of evidence, 
 which connects John, the divine, with Constantine : 
 nor have we the loss of one link to lament. John lived 
 till 100 ; Polycarp, his disciple, lived till 16? ; Irenaeus, 
 the disciple of Polycarp, lived till 202. These suffered 
 the martyr's fate ; when Origen sprung up in the 
 Christian school of Alexandria, and " fought the good 
 fight of faith" till 254. Numerous and diversified 
 streams issued from these fountains of truth ; and the 
 tide swelled onward, in irresistible grandeur. 
 
 This condensed summary we have partly derived 
 from Addison ; and, when all circumstances are con- 
 sidered, it is extraordinary that even so much evidence 
 should have been left on record in the annals of Pagan 
 Rome ; for, we find that the most memorable circum- 
 stances have often been passed over by the ancients 
 with the most unaccountable indifference, even in the 
 works of the more enlightened periods. Pliny makes no 
 mention, whatever, of the destruction of Herculaneum 
 and Pompeii large and populous cities. Even Tacitus 
 merely glances at the event in these words : " Haustae 
 aut abrutae urbes" cities were consumed or buried. 
 
273 
 
 Suetonius is silent as to the cities, though the eruption 
 is incidentally mentioned. Martial has a slight allusion 
 to them; and Dion Cassius, about one hundred and fifty 
 years after Pliny, adverts to the traditional account of 
 them. "A multitude of things," says Montfaucon, "are 
 daily found out, which have been hitherto unobserved 
 and not mentioned ; such as the temple of Mithras, in 
 the Viminal vale, of which not one word is met with 
 in authors." 
 
 In reference to the FACTS of Christianity, we can 
 cite, as testimony, the following PROFANE WRITERS, 
 whom by a strange perversion of reason, some may con- 
 sider as more substantial than the evidence of what 
 they designate interested witnesses. We appeal, therefore, 
 to TACITUS, MARTIAL, JUVENAL, SUETONIUS, PLINY, 
 ADRIAN, XIPHILINUS, LUCIAN, DION CASSIUS, CELSUS, 
 PORPHYRY, and JULIAN. As to the precepts of the 
 Christian religion, WE have the Book itself, and surely 
 can, with our enlightened judgment, form a more 
 accurate opinion than those who were plunged in the 
 vortex of idolatry and superstition, and over whom it 
 had just dawned in all its overpowering splendour. 
 Besides, we have had the "experience" of ages, and 
 the lapse of eighteen centuries. We have already cited 
 the evidence of three enemies. Nothing can be MORE 
 CERTAIN than these things, though some might wish 
 them untrue ; but to set about to deny them, is just 
 about as foolish as to call in question any physical truth 
 which the senses have attested, though there have been 
 some sufficiently insane to deny their own existence. 
 To reason with such aberrations of intellect, would be 
 just as foolish as whistling a lullaby to the winds. To 
 those who imagine, that there may be, after all, 
 something in Hume's designing artifice, and cunning 
 sophistry, though they may be unable to comprehend it, 
 we can safely recommend to their perusal an excellent 
 pamphlet, entitled, " Historic Doubts relative to Napo- 
 leon Buonaparte."* 
 
 * Oxford, 1827, 3rd. Edition, 8vo. 
 
274 } 
 
 Few events have been more celebrated than the 
 Vision of Constantine, on the Milvian bridge, before 
 his memorable battle with Maxentius. Eusebius 
 relates the circumstance as verified by the personal 
 communication of the emperor himself to the historian. 
 Constantine was marching with his troops against Max- 
 entius, and had prayed to heaven for direction, when 
 he saw, soon after mid-day, a large luminous cross in 
 the heavens, directly over the sun, with these words 
 on it TOTTO NIK A IN HOC VINCE: "By this 
 conquer." Such is the vision as detailed by Constantine. 
 Whatever opinion may be formed on the subject, it is, 
 at any rate, certain, that, at this period, he renounced 
 idolatry, embraced the Christian religion, and had a 
 particular standard made for the use of his army : 
 thenceforth called the LABARUM. The first standard of 
 this kind was formed of costly materials : Eusebius, 
 who saw it, gives a minute account of it : the sacred 
 monogram of CHRIST was emblazoned on the field : the 
 ensign consisted of a long spear, richly gilt, with a cross 
 bar, also gilt : from the point of this spear rose a crown, 
 or coronet, of gold and precious stones ; from each end 
 of the cross bar was also suspended a kind of small flag, 
 or tassel, of superb workmanship, adorned with gold 
 and costly gems, of indiscribable beauty ; these tas- 
 sels were each of the same length with the cross bar, 
 and with the monogram, the latter being enclosed be- 
 tween them as in the midst of a square area. This 
 description is, doubtless correct. In Plate III. fig. 29, 
 is the reverse of one of the coins of Constantine, in 
 which is represented the sacred standard, and fig. 30 
 represents the Labarum carried before the emperor, 
 Jovian, who is seated on horseback, pointing to it as 
 his pioneer, followed by a victory. There still exists, 
 in the island of Corfu, the front of a temple erected for 
 Christian worship by the emperor, Jovian, two hundred 
 and sixty-four years after the canon of Scripture was 
 closed, with a Greek inscription still remaining to com- 
 memorate the event. In Plate II, fig. 14, is the reverse 
 of a silver denarius of Valentinian, containing the 
 
275 
 
 Labarum ; since this figure, however, was executed, 
 we have obtained a much more perfect one. 
 
 The radiance of Christianity sheds a glow of beauty 
 on the objects upon which it falls, but can acquire lus- 
 tre from none. It shines not by a reflected splendour, 
 for it is illuminated by the Sun of Righteousness ; and 
 by that Light have the wisest and best of men walked 
 safely, adored its source, and acknowledged its guid- 
 ance. These lessons of immortality can receive no new 
 ornament from the most magnificent genius, or the most 
 gifted mind, in any age ; though Christianity can strew 
 our path with flowers, and fix a rainbow in our sky. 
 We shall add the sentiments of a few distinguished 
 writers in reference to the Scriptures ; not for the pur- 
 pose of sustaining the pillars of truth : No ! these pillars 
 rest on " the rock of ages. " Truth requires no adven- 
 titious aid. We do it to confront the infidel on the 
 basis of literature and science. What, we ask, has a 
 Mirabeau, or a Condor cet ; a Volney, or a Voltaire ; a 
 Hume, or a Gibbon, done to benefit or bless mankind, 
 apart from self, and irrespective of the meteor, fame ? 
 Shall we contrast these individuals with a NEWTON, a 
 HOWARD, a JENNER, a SICARD, a MASON GOOD, and 
 myriads more of " the excellent ones of the earth ?" It 
 is not difficult to see to which side the balance will in- 
 cline. These men were luminaries in the hemispheres 
 of science and of philanthropy, and their memories will 
 be cherished and esteemed when the worthless names of 
 Mirabeau, Condorcet, and Voltaire, shall have been 
 consigned to contempt and oblivion. We, of course, 
 take no note of Paine, and his followers whippers-in 
 to a knot of scorpions. 
 
 SIR MATTHEW HALE. "I have been acquainted 
 with men and books : I have had long experience in 
 learning and in the world. There is no book like the 
 BIBLE for excellent learning, wisdom, and use ; and it 
 is want of understanding in them who think or speak 
 otherwise." 
 
276 } 
 
 HONOURABLE ROBERT BOYLE. " THE BIBLE, that 
 matchless book ! It is impossible we can study it too 
 much, or esteem it too highly." 
 
 JOHN LOCKE. " Study "the HOLY SCRIPTURES ; 
 especially the NEW TESTAMENT : therein are contained 
 the words of eternal life. It has GOD for its author, 
 salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of 
 error, for its matter." 
 
 JOHN MILTON. lf There are no songs comparable 
 to the songs of Zion ; no orations equal to those of the 
 prophets ; and no politics like those which the Scrip- 
 tures teach." 
 
 SAMUEL JOHNSON. (On his death-bed, to a by- 
 stander.) " Young man ! attend to the advice of one 
 who has possessed some degree of fame in the world, 
 and who will shortly appear before his Maker. Read 
 the BIBLE every day of your life." 
 
 SIR WILLIAM JONES. (Written on the last leaf of 
 his Bible.) " I have regularly and attentively read the 
 HOLY SCRIPTURES, and am of opinion that this Volume, 
 independently of its divine origin, contains more sub- 
 limity and beauty, more pure morality, more important 
 history, and finer strains of poetry and eloquence, than 
 can be collected from all other books, in whatever age 
 or language they may have been composed." 
 
 LORD BACON. " There never was found, in any age 
 of the world, either philosopher, or sect, or law, or dis- 
 cipline, which did so highly exalt the public good as the 
 CHRISTIAN FAITH." 
 
 " Before thy mystic altar, HEAVENLY TRUTH, 
 I kneel in manhood, as I knelt in youth. 
 Thus let me kneel, till this dull form decay, 
 And life's last shade be brightened by thy ray : 
 Then shall ray soul, now lost in clouds below, 
 Soar without bound, without consuming glow."* 
 
 * Sir William Jones 
 
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