English
Whether there be a probability, that many of their genuine histories have been purposely destroyed, with a view to promote the designs of religious ini- posture, and rivet more firmly the chains 6f superstition, is a point not here to be determined. 09 While from a review of the subjedl which has now been discussed, a conclusion may justly be formed, that the exuberance of national vanity has prompted mankind to impose on themselves and others, in a degree exa£tly proportioned to the poverty of their historical evidence j another conclusion may also be suggested, that astrono- mical calculations when applied to ascertain dates, are not so infallible a criterion as many are inclined to imagine.. That they have not, in some instances, successfully elucidated obscurities in ancient chrbnology, it is impossible to. deny. They may have enabled an eminent astronomer to correft an important error with respe£l to, the battle of Salamis, and the illustrious Newton to settle with probability the time of theArgonautic expedition. But. whenever we attempt, by this . torch, to explore the doubtful abyss of profane history, let us beware, lest by attrafting the vapours which issue from it, this feeble light should itself expire, and involve us in palpable and impenetrable gloom. The question proposed by the venerable sage, here recurs with singular propriety, •" knowest thou the ordinances of heaven, canst thou set the dominion thereof in the ezirth" ? Is it for the finite comprehension of man to ascertain, precise- f3 79 ■ lyj the laws by which the heavenly bodies are governed, or to say, whether that Power whichr at first formed them from nothing, may not alter; or suspend their operatioiis ? It is yet undecided, whether the Course of the equinoftial precessions which forms the basis of these computations^ proceeds with a slower niotion than in former times, or whether the difference in the calculation of ancient astrono- rners, originated in their own defe£live observa- tion.' It is yet undecided, since the true length of the solar year is of .comparatively recent dis- covery, -whethei: the difference in the calculation qf past ages, resulted from their ignorance, which, if we consider the early perfeStion of astrdnomical ; science, is not very credible ; or whether this difference should be assigned to some concussion, which our planet has suffered, and which may have occasioned a variation in its annual revolu- tipn." ,, While these difficiilties rem^ain unresolved , (and is human wisdom competent satisfafilqrily to resolve them ?) astronomy can be safely applied to ancient chronology, then. only, wh'en better criteria fark . * Aceording to the supposition of M. Le GentiL i ^ .According to the supposition of Wbitton, 71 With still less success have these computations - been applied to invalidate the only historical narrative, which, indeptendently of the stamp of divine authority, presents a rational account of the formation of the universe, of the creation of man, and of the infant state of the world ; which, in accurapy of description, not less than in sub- , limity of language, stands unrivalled. In vain have they b^en applied to invalidate that everlast- ing covenant, which was established before the foundations of the world were laid, before "the" morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." In vain have they been applied to invalidate that covenant, which, as it had a retrospe£l to the period before creation existed, shall receive its full and glorious ac- complishment when creation shall be no more j when. the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall withdraw her shining, and the stars shall fall from* heaven : for thus it's Almighty author has declared concerning it ; " heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away," DISCOURSE III. •ON tHE CdERESPONDENCE OF THE BRAHMINICAL EECOKDS, WITH THE MOSAICAL ACCOUNT OF THE DELUGE. The former subje3 resumed — Positive proofs of the agreement of the Brahminical records, with the Mosaical History — Generalproofs of the Deluge in India in common witA other nations — In the Three first Avathra's -. — The History oj Cashmire — Proofs (fthe Deluge in India as diversified from those if other Nations — Vindication of the Pu- ranasfrotn the charge of Interpolation by Christians. DISCOURSE III. ON THE CbEEESPONfiENCF OF THil BRAHMINICAL BECOEDS, WITH THE MOSAICAL ACCOUNT OF THE DELUGE. , ■ Genesis, c. 7- v, 25, And every liping creature 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. OOME observations were offered In the pre- ceding discourse, by which the pretensions of the Hindoo nation, to an antiquity, far beyond the limits which any records of authentic history assign to the age of the world, were shown to be groundless ; and by which the sacred chronology was vindicated froni those objeftions, which have been raised against it, from a literal inter- pretation of the fiftitious calculations, contained in the aystems of orierital astronomy. The false- hoodof these pretensions has been exposed, on a 76 general view of the subjeft, by arguittents fami- liar and intelligible to all, without entering into minute detail, or bringing forward those scientific proofs, which are too abstruse to admit of popular illustration. To have introduced such a disquisition, may;, zt firsts appear an unneeess&ry task ; since weak indeed must that cause be, whose ^ advocates designedly recur, for its support, to arguments, which from their nature must be founded on an yncertain basi?. Conscious must those advocates feel of their own danger, who shelter themselves under the security which darkness affords, before they point their weapons at that fabric which they labour to subvert, and who owe their safety only to the difficulty of dete£lion. But since objeftions drawn from this source have been urged by every art of subtle insinuation, since they have been> fortified by the naost elabo- rate ve^soning,. and recommended by novelty of illustration as well as boldness of conje£lure, an attempt to demonstrate their fallacy cannot he deemed useless or unseasonable..' Hitherto indeed those opponents of the sacred biatory, , who have chosea their place ot attack on It the hoUoW and trfeacherbuS ground of the Sanlcril records^ have found no reason to boast of thei^ success : since far frpm discovering a situation advantageous to their operations, as they fondly expe£ted, it has proved insecure and haaardt)us to themselves. The partisans df infidelity, who,, with all the ardour which sanguine hope and fcertainty of success inspire, had triumphantly anticipaftd that the foundations of the Mosaic and Evangelipal histories would be weakened by. the discovery of this unexplored mine of ancient literature, have experienced, to their mortification and regret, that it forms a part of that impenetra- ble rock on which the fabric of Christianity is raised, and against which, the secret attacks of tmbelief, or the violent assaults of pei-secution, ■sb^ll never prevail. The predi£tion, which they some years since, uttered with the most unr^erved confidence, that the Christian faith cbuld nev# survive another century, unless strengthened by some nev^ proofs, a predi'ftion founded on a principle equally false and flattering, has been entirely defeated by the evetot. Nor ca,n vefe- forbear to refer to the gracious intention of divine providence, that this additional and donvincing evidence from oriental literature, should be dis- covered, at a period, when our religion has been assailed under every larai which invention c^ 78 supply; both by grave arid systematic opposi-r tion, and by the lighter weapons of sarcasm and ridicule, , From the nature of the subjeft which was discussed on a preceding occasion^the arguments, which were urged in support of the scriptural history, could b^ only negative. They tould only prove, but they prove most'irrefragably, that the romantic dreams of astronomical mythology can never affeft the truth of a narrative, so remark- ably consistent, as that of the Hebrew historian. They clearly tend to demonstrate, that we can have no other certain guide to direft our steps through the otherwise inextricable labyrinth of ancient chronology. They shew, that all the l;iistorical fragments, and all the traditional ac- counts of profane antiquity, in their purest state, ftgree with the fa£ls w^ich he has related ; and that they, do not agree, but deviate farthest from him, wherever they have been corrupted by iiation^l vanity/or obscured through length of 4ime. They shew, that with respefit to events, supposed to have taken place in Asia and Egypt, ^ not more than ', two thousahd years before the ' Chfistian aera, the historical page . teems with doubts and contradiftions : that with respefl; to .events, which may have,vpassed in any other past 79 of the world, it presents an unmeaning blank ; and the indubitable conclusion resultitig from this fa£t is, that the greatest portion of the globe was then either uninhabited, or cbntained' only a few scattered' tribes of wandering barbarians. They shew, that although before this limited period, the licentious pencil of eastern mythology has attempted to delineate, imaginary scenes, •shifting i,nfinfinite succession ; yet that the aftors in them are likewise imaginary personages, dif- .