Twelve Patriarchs, to whom they all owe their Birth, and from thofe Twelve Patriarchs to Ja cob who had but one Brother called Efau ; and from these Two Brothers, to Isaac Brother to Ishmael, and from thefe to Abraham, ; and if we follow the fame Line downwards, we fhall find at first, Abraham who is but a fingle Perfon, and from Abraham we defcend to Ishmael and Ifaac, from these to Jacob and Efau, from Facob to the Twelve Patriarchs; from these last to Twelve Tribes, and from every Tribe, to almost an infinite number of Perfons whereof it is compofed; fe it whereupon 'tis very natural to make the followonly thing Reflections.

from d

and A

and

peakin

e in the

thew

ed to

The firft is, that in the Succeffion of Genera

ne as tions, the Branches are more numerous than the Stock; otherwife we should not fee fo many defcended from one Man, and confequently there being at prefent but a finite number of Branches, twould be altogether abfurd to acknowledge

Time;

whe

ledge int

g to the an infinity of Stocks.

The Second is, that in the Succeffion of Gene

meerly the rations, the further the diftance of time is, at which you place the Head of any People, the more numerous will that People be found; and

ock, and

made fen the nearer their Head is, the lefs will the numtis obferber of that People be; and if the Multitude inof Generates proportionably to the diftance at which

ace its Principic

The
Subject is

then 'tis evi

place the

can

Qu

must neceffarily acknowledge, either one only to our Co

grace and Stup

Line, or many Lines; or to express my felf more clearly, it must be allowed, that all People of the World defcended from one Man, whom afterwards we may suppose, if we please, to have had Ancestors even to infinity; or elfe that there are many Succeffions of Generations independent of one another, or divers Succeffions from different Stocks.

we look back As of, and Firmen who ge s of the

e paffed du df Generat

& Fint Pa

We cannot reasonably affirm the latter; First, because as far as we can look back into Hiftory, we find that Nations are derived one from another, or from fome common Father. And Secondly, Because if one only infinite Succeffion of Generations, must have produced an infinite number of Men, many the like Succeffions that had no common tye or connexion, must needs have produced a much greater effect.

Grotius.

There are none befides the Americans who feem at first to have a different Original from the rest of Mankind, because we are still to learn what Road they could take in order to inhabit that great Continent which we call the New World But what should hinder us from re ceiving the Conjecture of a Learne Man, who will have it, that Men p fed from Norway into Ifeland an Ise situated wards the Northern part of America, and fr Ifeland into Greenland, the name of that par America which lies next to that Ife? And deed we cannot comprehend what should b reason why the Inhabitants of the Old W are Polite and Civilized, and those of the World Barbarous and Savage, if we own to be as ancient as the other; whereas i fuppofe that the Americans take their rife

the Inhabitants of our Continent, we may impute their Ignorance and Stupidity to the lateness of their Establishment,

But if we look back, though to an Hundred Thousand Ages off, and find at last one Man and one Woman who gave life to all the prefent Inhabitants of the World; how could an Eternity have paffed during which there was a Sticeflion of Generations, and yet this Eternity, or this eternal Succeffion of Generations have produced no more than one Man and one Woman, which are the First Parents of Mankind?

Let the Incredulous make what Hypothefies they please, 'tis unquestionably true, That the Succeffion of Generations occafion'd the propagation of Mankind, and that it ftill ferves continually for = the peopling the Earth we inhabit. By this means it is come to pafs, that the Family of one Man which was formerly lodged in a few Tents, is now fpread over all the World, and from the abundance of Inhabitants, came Colonies and Plantations. But fuppofe the number of Men fhould increase every Year but one, by the continual Succeffion of Generations, all the Earth muft neceffarily have already Inhabitants, (If I may : one upon another; fince Eternity.

Twould be in vain to happen fuch Accidents and lick Societies, a Perfons, fince.. and Disorders whi the number of Pt. ftantly increafing,

tim

and its

up

Years; for Example, which is the time we can fpeak of with the most certainty.

fone of the es or labour in vain

World is far ancient or to be, be Che ad the Sphere, and end

CHA P. IX.

m thence that of Ages for

That there are certain Marks of Novelty in of it; and tha

Human Society, which prove the Existence

of God.

BUDT

or even Moles

of the Wo

it to be.

was at that

on is no

the contrac

UT though all thefe Confiderations (hould not overthrow the Idea we might have of the Eternity of Mankind, 'tis but cafting our Eyes upon Arts and Sciences, Laws and Governments, Commerce and Hiftories, and we shall fee in the Marks of their Novelty, that of the Society of Men.

bally an

and d

Befor

Philofophy, which confifts in the Study of natural things, and fuch as relate to manners is fo new, that before Pythagoras his time, there was no mention of it among the Greeks. Seneca in one passage of his Works, fays, that Wisdom had not been known above a Thousand Years; and Socrates boasted he conjur'd it down from Heaven, because he was the first who from Contem plation reduced it to practice.

Thales was the first who taught the Greeks ftronomy, and according to Diogenes Laertius, wrote his Life, he had it from the Egyptians, thefe from the Chaldeans, who are fo well kn for the Inventors of that Science that an the Ancients, the Word Chaldean is taken f Aftrologer.

S

we ca

The Author therefore of the System of Pre-Adamites, does but labour in vain, when to evince that the World is far ancienter than 'tis comhonly thought to be, he fhews us the Compofition of the Sphere, and endeavours to demonftrate from thence, that there was need of a great number of Ages for the invention of all the parts of it; and that 'twas impoffible that Arabam or even Mofes fhould have known it, if the Antiquity of the World were not greater than we imagin it to be. For who told him that Afronomy was at that time arrived to that degree of perfection 'tis now brought to? Who knows not on the contrary

that it

ting was gradually and infenfibly Plin. Lib. 8. Gimproved? Thales obferved the

the

fhall Eclipfes, and could foretel when they would happen. Before his time, when ever People faw an Eclipfe, they were in as great a Fright and Confternation, as if they had

of

ers B

expected a total diffolution of

Plutarch in the Life Nature, Armies ftopt their Fu- of Nicias.

Ty, and durft not enter upon

any action, 'till many Days after they were paf

$; fed

vet we are

And though the Art of Phyfick feems more necellary to Mankind than Aftro as well acquainted with the rife and progrefs of that. Herodotus tells us, that formerly People carried their Si defired thofe t

knew of any

tried the Prefor
to the Cenfor ba
where they had be