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II.

greatest of deities. In a fimilar manner CHAP. the Hindoos, though they might not precisely be acquainted with the very name of Jehovah, were yet not ignorant of its purport. They afcribed the work of creation to THAT WHICH IS', the felf-existing Being, the uncaused cause of all things.

XI.

Ufe of the

originating

firft grand

creation.

XI. With regard to the particular number of days which were employed in the fabbath creation of the world, it has been already from the shewn, that the ancient Persians and Etru- week of the rians were not unacquainted with it. The ufe of the fabbath, and the divifion of time into weeks, which can only be accounted for on the fuppofition of a remote tradition of the grand week of the creation, seems to have pervaded nearly every part of the globe. Eufebius, in his Præparatio Evangelica, cites feveral of the ancient poets, who speak of the feventh day as being holy; Hefiod and Homer both unite in afcribing to it a degree of fuperior fanctity; and Callimachus afferts, that upon it all things were finished". The fabbath is said

3

Φραζέο τον παντων ὑπατον Θεον εμμεν' ΙΑΟ. SELD. de Dis Syr. Synt, ii. cap. I.

t Exod. iii. 14.

η Αλλα και την ἑβδομην ἱεραν,

ου μόνον

F 3

οἱ Εβραιοι, άλλα και οι

*EA

I.

SECT. to have been obferved among the ancient inhabitants of Arabia, previous to the era of Mahomet; confequently, although that Impoftor confirmed the observation of fuch an ordinance, he could not be faid to have first enjoined it to his followers, from the knowledge which he poffeffed of the books of Mofes*. Thus also the natives of Pegu affemble together, for the purposes of devotion, on one fixed day in every week"; and the people of Guinea reft from their accustomed occupations of fishing and agriculture, every feventh day throughout the year2.

As for the divifion of time into weeks, it extends from the Chriftian ftates of Europe to the remote fhores of Hindoftan, and has equally prevailed among the Jews

Έλληνες ισασι, 2 ท
σας κόσμος κυκλειται των ζωογονούμενων
και φυομενων ἁπαντων. Ησιοδος μεν εν έτω περι αυτης λεγει,
Πρώτος ενη, τετρας τε, και έβδομη ιερον ήμαρ.

Και Όμηρος,

̔Εβδομαδη δ' ηπειτα κατηλυθεν ἱερον ημας.
Ναι μην και Καλλίμαχος ὁ ποιητης γραφει,
Εβδομαδη δε εην, και οἱ ετετυκτο ἅπαντα.

EUSEB. Præp. Evang. lib. xiii. cap. 13.

- * Purch. Pilgrimage, b. iii. c. 2.

y Ibid. b. v. c. 5.

z Ibid. b. vi. c. 15.

and

II.

and the Greeks, the Romans and the Goths; CHAP. nor will it be eafy to account for this unanimity upon any other fuppofition, than that which is here adopted.

Even the Mofaical method of reckoning by nights instead of by days has prevailed in more than one nation. The polished Athenians computed the fpace of a day from funset, to funfet; and from a fimilar cuftom of our Gothic ancestors, during their abode in the forefts of Germany, words expreffive of fuch a mode of calculation have been derived into our own' language. The fame cuftom, as we are informed by Cefar, prevailed among the Celtic nations. "All the Gauls," fays he, "conceive themselves to be fprúng from "father Dis, and they affirm it to have "been handed down to them by the "Druids. For this reafon, they measure "time not by the number of days, but of

a Eos (fcil. Athenienfes) a fole occafo ad folem iterum " occidentem omne id medium tempus unum diem effe dicere." AUL. GELL. Noct. Attic. lib. iii. cap. 2.

b" Nec dierum numerum, ut nos, fed noctium compu"tant (fc. Germani). Sic conftituunt, fic condicunt. Nox "ducere diem videtur." TAC. de Mor. Germ, c. II.

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nights. Accordingly, they obferve their birth-days, and the beginnings of months " and years, in fuch a manner, as to cause "the day to follow the night." We may perhaps here likewise, in the imaginary descent of the Gauls, trace the fame general tradition, which has spread itself fo widely, of all things being fprung from night and darkness.

The result of the whole inquiry is, that the accurate resemblance between the Mofaical account of the' creation, and the various cofmogonies of the Heathen world, fufficiently fhews, that they all originated from one common fource; while the ftriking contrast between the unadorned fimplicity of the one, and the allegorical turgidity of the others, accurately distinguishes the infpired narrative from the distorted tradition.

a Cæf. de Bell, Gall. lib. vi. cap. 18.

СНАР.

CHAP. III..

PAGAN ACCOUNTS OF THE PERIOD BETWEEN
THE CREATION AND THE DELUGE. I. PA-
RADISE. II. THE FALL. III. THE SERPENT.
IV. TRADITIONS OF THE PROMISED MES-
SIAH. V. CAIN AND ABEL. VI. LONGE-
VITY OF THE PATRIARCHS. VII. GIANTS.
VIII. NUMBER OF GENERATIONS BE-

TWEEN ADAM AND NOAH.

THE events, which took place between Pagan ac

counts of

between
the creation
and the de-

luge.

the creation of the world and the deluge, the period are buried in such remote antiquity, that we are not to expect any very methodical and accurate account of them among the Pagan nations. Their annals feldom extended beyond the catastrophe of the flood, which formed an almost impenetrable barrier to the excurfions of curiofity; yet, notwithstanding this circumstance, the antediluvian history of Mofes will be found obfcurely recorded in many profane traditions.

I. The Author of the Pentateuch, after having defcribed the procefs of the creation, informs us, that man was placed by

the

1.

Paradife.

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