ny of them were afterwards translated, with little variation, by the Greeks, in their system of Geography. In the tenth chapter of Genesis, Moses had traced to their original, all the inhabitants of the earth, from the Caspian and Persian seas, to the extreme Gades; and recorded at once the period, and the occasion of their dispersion.

This fact, and the conclusions from it which are thus incontrovertibly established, by the newly acquired knowledge of the Sanscrit language, were contended for, and strongly enforced, by Bochart and Stillingfleet; who could only refer to oriental opinions and traditions, as they came to them through the medium of Grecian interpretation.

To the late excellent and learned president of the Asiatic society, we are chiefly indebted for the light thrown from the east upon this important subject. Avowing himself to be attached to no system, and as much disposed to reject the Mosiac history, if it were proved to be erroneous, as to believe it, if he found it confirmed by sound reasoning and satisfactory evidence, he engaged in these researches, to which his talents and situation were equally adapted; and the result of his laborious inquiries into the chronology, history, mythology,

x Sir William Jones.
Kk

and languages of the nations, whence infidels have derived their most formidable objections, was a full conviction, that neither accident nor ingenuity, could account for the very numerous instances of similar traditions, and of near coincidence in the names of persons, which are to be found in the bible, and in ancient monuments of eastern literature.

Whoever is acquainted with Maurice's history, and with the Asiatic researches, published at Calcutta, cannot but have observed that the accounts of the creation, the fall, the deluge, and the dispersion of mankind, recorded by the nations upon the vast continent of Asia, bear a strong resemblance to each other, and to the narration of the sacred history; and evidently contain the fragments of me original truth, which was broken by the dispersions of the patriarchal families, and corrupted by length of time, poetic fictions, and idolatry.

From this universal concurrence on this head, one of these things is necessarily true; either that all these traditions must have been taken from the author of Genesis, or that the author of the book of Genesis made up his history from some, or all such traditions as were already extant; or, lastly,

that he received his knowledge of past events from revelation. Were then all these traditions taken from the Mosiac history? It has been shown by Sir William Jones, and in Maurice's history, that they were received too generally, and too early to make this supposition even possible; for they existed in different parts of the world in the very age when Moses lived.

Should it become a question whether the Mosaic History was composed from the traditions then existing, it may be answered, that it is certain the Chaldeans, the Persians, the most ancient inhabitants of India, and the Egyptians, all possessed the same story; but, by the time of Moses, they had wrapped it up in their own mysteries, and disguised it by their own fanciful conceits. And surely, no rational mind can believe, that if Moses had been acquainted with all the mystic fables of the east, as well as of Egypt, he could, out of such an endless variety of obscure allegory, by the pow er of human sagacity alone, have discovered their real origin; much less that from a partial knowledge of them, he could have been able to discover the facts which suit and explain them all.

His plain recital however of the Creation, the fall, the deluge, and the dispersion of mankind, has unquestionably developed that origin, and

brings to light those facts; and it therefore follows, not only that his account is the true one, but there being no human means of his acquiring the knowledge of it, that it was, as he asserts it to have been, revealed to him by God himself".

These discoveries induce the compiler, to notice an observation which has been sometimes made upon classical education, that in reading Horace, and the works of the heathen poets, there was a danger of christian purity being corrupted, by heathenish impurity; but as we can now bring proof, that the false religion of heathens, was borrowed from the true religion of revelation, and is a witness to its authority, this ought to confirm us in the truth and prevent our being drawn into evil.

At the dispersion of Babel, every man would carry along with him some traditions of the Creation, of the origin of man, and of antediluvian events, as well as of the flood. These would be related with greater or less degrees of correctness and perspicuity, according to the information and memory of the persons who spoke of them; and, in those countries where hieroglyphical representation so much prevailed, we may conclude, that those who, from conjecture and imagination, could best fill up the blanks of intelligence, would be most regarded. This would naturally give rise to

abundance of invention, and to the picture being, in divers respects, much as the painter pleased, or as he thought would suit the taste of the times.

Bishop Warburton refers the origin of letters to the Egyptian hieroglyphics. He states, upon the authority of ancient writers, that, "throughout many of the early ages of the world, there was a regular gradation of improvement, in the manner of conveying ideas by signs; that pictures were first used as the representatives of thoughts; and, in process of time, that alphabetical characters were substituted, as an easier and more compendious mode of communication, than the vague use of arbitrary marks."

Moses, the great lawgiver of the Jews, brought letters, with the rest of his learning, from Egypt; and he simplified their forms, in order to prevent the abuse to which they would have been liable, as symbolic characters, among a people so much inclined to superstition as the Jews. From the Jews, this alphabetical mode of writing passed to the Syrians and Phoenicians, or was common to them at the same time.

The learned author of the Elements of General Knowledge, remarks: "By tracing the variety of languages and alphabets to one source, we simplify