English
H,ence the old Egyptian notioUj that at the Qjxd of; tjjijpty-six thpusandl y^rs, every ipan was 4# to resume &ir the circumstances of his present life, whidh were to happen exafilly the same in every cotitingency. Hence the opinron of a- moral renovation of the world, and the restitution ' of' all things to theif' original purity. Hence those fifilJtious seras of the Brahmins and Man- darins, their periods of millions of years, and' the worlds which they assert are already past, and will'succeed each other in endless rotation. The vanity, incidental to all nations, of claiming a celestial descent, has induced them toconceal theit^ origin in unfathomable antiquity ; and this dewre has- been aided by nothing so much, as by conclusions drawn from these- faiicrful calcula- tions; ' When the light of true history becomes indistinfti and when even the fertile stores whicb mythology has supplied, are exhausted ; it is by these, that periods of immense duration are form- ed, which increase the amount of time to an extent, as boundle'Ss as the human imagination. That these periods' are too artificially constructed to be real, hafs been almost uhivefSaHy admitted ; and few* have attempted to carry them to that extravagant height, which can only be reconciled: with the Idea of the' eternity of the world. Btit some of these' epochs ' have appeared to be so clearly established, ^ and to be founded on such' 47- indisputable, authority, as to furnish a strong ground of obje£lioh against the : chronological system, which the Mosaical history establishes, and which other historical fragments of profane antiquity, corrobdrate. Different degrees of Cre- dibility have also been attached to the computa- tions of different nations. While the cakulatioris of the Egyptians, and of the Chinese, have been generally given up, as untenable, many of the astronQ|aical jeras of the Indian Brahmins have been supposed to display an accuracy, which could not have taken place, unless they had been founded onaftual observation. The astonishing progress of the ancient Indians in science, frotn which their descendants have so far degenerated, appears to indicate the superior accuracy of their system. Their astronomy is found to be more correft the higher we ascend, and its inferiority is the most evident, as we approach- the present times : in its original perfeftion it claims a decided superiority over the system of any other oriental nation. To any,a;ssumptions of superior knowledge, or of early civilization, which India may make, the advocates for the.truthof the Mosaical history are by no means disposed to objefl: : because, wheh understood with proper limitations, they afford 4S the strongest confirmation of its veracity." They shew that we must look for the first dawnings of intelle£lud light, in the countries adjacent to the spot, which the concurrent voice of history and tradition represents, as the first abode of man, and the theatre on which the memorable events, that occurred in the infancy- of the postdiluvian world, were trajisafted. They demonstrate the arrogant, and unfounded preterisionsof the Greeks and Romans, who represent their ancient pro- genitors as the immediate descendants of heaven; and who arrogate to. themselves the honor of being the inventors of science, as well as the arbiters of taste. The falsehood of these preten- sions is clearly discernible, from the history of the progress of knowledge, and from the early refine- ment ef oriental philosophy. If Greece could once boast of her Athens, India still preserves the remains of her Benares, where the doftrines of the Egyptian school were, perhapSi understood and taught, long before they were heard from the lips of Pythagoras and Plato. In the Institutes of Menu we discover traces of enlc^rged policy and legislative wisdom, which would not disgrace the laws of Solon, and iLyCurgus ; and these were promulgated at a time, when the Grecian states were hordes of wandering barbarians. It is to the East that we are indebted for the grand ^9 ©utlines of Ihose metaphysical and political theo- ries, whichi: being transfused into the writings 'of the Grecian sages, are still perused with avidity and regarded with veneration^ But while we thus willingly concede the palm of priority 'to oriental science in point of time, a different estimation must be formed^; concerning its present comparative importance in i point of Teal utility. Though the learning and diligence of/ Europeans have been long emplpyedin un- ravelling the mythology of the East ; yet nothing has been found , in it, which should induce us to prefer the fables of the Hindoos, to the fables of the Greeks. They have confirmed what was before known ; they have illustrated what was before obscure ; they have reduced, to greater certaihty, what was before doubtful : but; it is difficult to explain in what respefil they have added to the stock of original information. . ,; [ On^the astronomical systems of any eastern nation still less reliance can be, placed. Wbere- ever their calculations have been applied to ascertain dates, a:nd to the reftification of chro- nological errors, they have been discovered to b^ either false, or so interwoven with allegory, that l^tlQ credit can be attached to any dedu£ti@ens, "E 80 "which depend solely on their authority. Neither have they been found to contain any new dis- coveries, which can deprive the Grecian sages of their merited celebrity. The earliest observations of any accuracy, which were made in Egypt, were those taken by the Greeks of Alexandria, less than three hundred years before the Christian asra ; and yet it is this nation which pretends, that during the immense period of its existence, the stars have four times changed their courses, and that the sun has twice set in the East. Even the account of the astronomical observations, which Calisthenes is reported to have transmitted to Aristotle from JBabylon, has been reprobated by many eminent writers as fabulous. If the calculations of the Indian Brahmins appear more exaft, yet they are not sufficiently correft to establish any certain conclusions, and still less to invalidate the authority of the only autheiltic history of the world. The Grecians were the first praflical astronomers to whose observations we are indebted ; and the science of the Egyptian, of the Chaldsean, or even of- the Indian school, would have been involved in enigma and ob- scurity, if it had not been refleOied to us, by the labors of Ptolemy and Hij^archus. Since however the Brahminical chronology ap- 51 pears to be more speciously fabricated than any other scheme; since the reality of some of' its seras has been Supported /by the ■ most elaborate aTgumieiits ; and since its general authenticity has been defended with a view to ■ weaken the foundations of the> Christian ' faith, it will be proper to enquire wHat degree of credit may fairly be attaehdd to their computatidns. ■ It may be lUseful'^to distinguish between those aerasi which are allowed to be formed by retrogfiade calculation from an assumed period, and those which are asserted to be^ founded on afitual ob- servation. It may be necessary tb examine what arguments may be deduced, first from external, and then from internal evidence, to prove the credibility of their present system;- or whether a strong presumption does not arise, that their ancient chronology has suffered a material altera- tlon, and is of comparatively recent origin. • If the journal of Megasthenes had been pre- served entire from the ^reck of time, a valuable accession of information would have been sup- plied, to that which we already possess, on the science and literature of the ancient Brahmins. From a long iTesideric'e. in the centre of India, his opportunities of acquiring intelligence must have been considerable j while the history and aii- e2 ~ 52 tiquities of Jhe ; inhabitants w^re the peculiar obje£ts of his attention. Those Grecian writeiSj who have written i on Indian affairs, have amply availed theniselves ; of :,hig, labors > and indeefd appear to }>ave done little more than transcribe his expressions, r His diligence in collefting, and his veracity in reciting, what he learnt, are tinim- peach^d. If he should be found in some instan- pes to have reported contradiftions, and impos- sibilities, i they are not to be. imputed to the invention of fancy, nor tjo the suggestions of deliberate falsehood. They are fables, which he received from the Brahmins themselve;s, as un- dowbted truths j and however the serious repeti- tion of: them may be thought to take from his judgment,. jit still leaves him in possession of his fidelity. From the few scattered fragments of his works, which have been preserved in the writings of otheriauthors, it a^ppears, not only that he is en- tirely silent respeifting the present extravagant scherae.ofBrahminical chronology ; but he dis- tin£tly. affirms, that the Indians did not, at that time, car'ty back their antiquity from their reign- ing nionarch to their original founder farther than above six thousand years before the invasion of Alexandcr.i, The Veracity of Megasthenes, as he ' Arrian. Indic. c. 9. 53 is thus cited by, Arrian, h the mqre strongly con- firmed, since his statement i^ not conveyed in terms of loose apui unsupported assertion, hut, he specifies the exa£l nunpber of sovereigns who go- verned India during this period. If tljjeHindoos had ajjserted the same claims to jinfathomable antiquity, as they alledge .at present, is it iiot highly probable that they ; wo!*ld hawe bjeen as eager to proclaim them, as they are at this day ?