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was driven to the side of a mountain. He then quitted it, attended by his wife, children, and the pilot. Xisuthrus immediately paid his adorations to the earth; and, having built an altar, offered sacrifices to the GoDS. Then Xisuthrus, and those who came with him out of the vessel, disappeared; and were deeply lamented by those who were in it. They heard his voice in the air, informing them, that on account of his piety he was translated to live with the Gods, together with his wife, children, and pilot. Having heard these words, they offered sacrifices to the GoDs; and taking a circuit, came into Babylonia. The place, where these things happened, was Armenia. The remains of the vessel are now to be seen on

one of the Corcyraan mountains in that country; and people, at times, scrape off the bitumen, with which it was overspread, for amulets.

Diodorus Siculus says, "the Egyptians declare the flood of Deucalion to have been univer.

sal."

Pliny says, it reached to Italy. Varro calls the time between the first man and the deluge ignotum; that between the deluge and the first Olympiad, fabulosum; and that between the first Olympiad

and his own time historicum."

The Ocean was made the father of all things by the Greeks, and other Heathen Nations, because the deluge preceded all things known by them.

The Waterer, or Aquarius, in the Zodiac, is said by Hegesianax to be Deucalion; because, while he reigned, so great a flood of water poured from the heavens,

that there was a deluge on the earth.

Porphyry says, the Sun was often exhibited as a man, sailing on a float: and Plutarch testifies, that this was a customary mode of exhibiting the Sun. Jamblichus, also, describes the Sun as sitting upon the Lotos, and sailing in a vessel.

The ancient coins of Eryx have on one side a Janus Bifrons or double-faced Janus, and, on the other a dove: i. e. Noah looking back on the world destroyed, and forward on the world renewed.

On a coin struck at Apamea, in Phrygia, on the river Marsyas, anciently named KibwTos, or the Ark, is delineated an ark, with two persons looking out of it. Over it is a dove sitting; and under that another flutter

woman.

ing, and holding in its mouth a a branch. Upon the side of the ark, underneath the persons who are in it, is the word, NOE: Noah. Before the ark is a man, following a Both appear to have just quitted the ark, and to have arrived on the he had met with three of these dry land. Falconerius says, that coins: the first, in the collection of the duke of Tuscany; the second, in that of the Cardinal Ottoboni; the third, the property of Augustino Chigi, nephew of Pope Alexander VII.

first over the Lesser Asia, and The Celtic nations, who spread afterwards over all the southern parts of Europe, and over Great believed the existence of the Britain and Ireland, universally deluge.

black people, who inhabit the mountains of Habesh, bordering

Bruce informs us, that the

the southwestern side of the Red Sea, live, during the dry season, in the vallies beneath them; and, during the rainy season, retire to these mountains, where they live in caves, dug in the solid rocks. They declare, that they descend ed from Cush, the father of Nimrod; and say, that their ancestors made these caves, after the deluge, from an apprehension, that the earth might be overflowed again.

Many Spanish writers, particularly Acosta and Herrera, declare, that traditions existed concerning the deluge, of the preservation of animals, and of the raven, and dove, sent forth out of the ark, in the island of Cuba, and in the provinces of Mechoacan and Nicaragua, in New Spain.

Among the traditionary testimonies of this event, still remaining, is a historical Mexican picture. In this picture is an ark, containing a number of persøns. Several other persons are exhibited as having left it, and as walking out through the water, in which it swims, towards the shore.

The Mohekaneews, who inhabited this country from the Potowmac to the St. Lawrence, and, except the country of the Iroquois, from the Atlantic near and probably quite, to the Pacific, had a very ancient tradition, that their country was once drowned, together with all its inhabitants, except one Powaw and his wife. The tribes of this nation, who lived in the eastern part of New England, supposed these two persons, foreseeing the flood, to have fled to the White Mountains, and there to have been preserv ed. From them, the tradition

says, the country was repeopled.

Universally, wherever tradition goes back to ancient times, it records the existence of the deluge. I will add one more testimony, and conclude this part of my subject.

In the first Purana of the Hindoos it is declared that Menu or Nuh (Noah,) was informed by Heri, the preserver of the universe, that there would be in seven days a deluge, by which the world would be destroyed; and that a large vessel should be previously sent to him by Heri. He was directed to take all medicinal herbs, and all seeds, and then accompanied by seven saints, encircled by pairs of all brute animals, to enter the spacious ark, where he was to continue safe from the flood until it should abate; and was promised protection, and preservation, by Heri. At the time appointed, the sea, overwhelming its shores, deluged the whole earth; and was augmented by showers from immense clouds. The vessel approached at the appointed time; and Menu having conformed to the directions of Heri, entered it, with the seven saints, (the chiefs of the Brahmins,) and together with them was preserved.

The third class of traditions, which I shall recite, will immediately respect Noah himself.

This patriarch is remembered under many names. Among them his own is retained by several nations of the East.

It is a remark of Grotius, that Sisithrus, Xisuthrus, Deucalion, Ogyges, and Noah, all signify the same thing, in different languages.

Philo Judaus says, that the Greeks call that person Deuca

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That Saturn was Noah, is taught by Bochart, Bryant, Jones, and others; and with the strongest appearance of probability, for the following reasons.

1st. He and his wife Rhea were children of Oceanus; or born of the Ocean.

2dly. He was a husbandman, and the first that taught agriculture; and was thence called by the Latins, "Sator," i.e. the planter, or sower.

3dly. He was the original planter of vines.

4thly. The coins, struck to his honor, had on the reverse a ship.

5thly. He was esteemed the author of time. In more explicit language, time was supposed to commence at his birth.

6thly. He lived to a very great age.

7thly. He was styled king of the world; particularly of the former world. See the 63d epigram of Martial.

8thly. In his reign there was entire and universal peace. 9thly. All men are said at this period to have been equal. 10thly. He is said to have devoured all his children, except three: i. e. in plain language, all mankind were destroyed in his time, except his three sons.

11thly. To these three he is said to have distributed the

world.

12thly. He is said to have ruined all things:. which were, however, restored with vast increase: i.e. all things were in his time ruined and restored.

13thly. He is said to have been guilty of drunkenness.

14thly. He was styled the Father of Gods and men; and sometimes, of mortal men only. The Heathen Gods were men, and descendants of Noah.

15thly. As a man, and a ruler, he was eminently just.

16thly. In his time, styled the golden age, the world was undivided, and mankind were happy.

Phoroneus is another name of Noah in the Greek traditions. This will appear from the following particulars.

1st. Phoroneus was styled the Father of Gods and men; and sometimes of mortal men only. 2dly. He was styled the first of mortals.

3dly. He was said to have lived in the time of the deluge. 4thly. To have been the first, who built an altar;

5thly. The first, who collected men together;

6thly. The first, who gave laws, and distributed justice;

7thly. The person, who distributed mankind, by families over the earth; and

8thly. The first king upon

earth.

Accordingly Syncellus declares, that there is nothing in the Grecian history of the world before the time of Phoroneus.

There are, in many nations, various traditions concerning Noah, under different names, or titles. These traditions preserve, and agree in, many real particulars of his history. For example, they represent him as preserved in an ark; as being in a state of darkness, or distress; (a fact which seems to have left a very deep impression on his early descendants;) as, allegorically in a state.

of death; as receiving a new life, called a second life, or birth; as the first born of mankind; as being antediluvian, and postdiluvian; and sometimes, as being in an intermediate state between these; as the father of mankind; as a king; and as king of the whole earth.

Apollodorus, having mentioned Deucalion as consigned to an ark, says, that, when he quitted it, he sacrificed immediately to the God, who had preserved him. Apollonius Rhodius says of Deucalion, that he first built cities; that he reverenced the Immortals anew; or in plainer language that he renewed the worship of God; and that he first reigned over men.

Noah was called Oan and Oannes (the Dove,) by Abydenus and Alexander Polyhistor.

Oannes, the first person, mentioned in the symbolical history of Berosus, is said by Helladius to have been born of the Mundane Egg. This Egg is supposed to have been an emblem of the ark, containing all the world of mankind. Hence Protogonos, or Noah, is said to have been Royεvns, diQunc; born of an Egg, and possessed of two natures.

Of Oannes Berosus says, that he shewed himself to mankind in the very first year; that is, of the renewed earth:

That he was a preacher of justice, or righteousness; and a general instructor, and benefac

tor:

That he had appeared in two different states:

That he informed mankind of what happened in early times, even to the creation, and the chaotic state of things; and told them, that there was originally

one vast abyss, inhabited by myriads of hideous beings; that all these were annihilated at the creation of the world; that a set of rational beings succeeded them, who were able to bear the light; that the Deity also formed the stars, the sun, the moon, and the five planets; and that then mankind became wicked, and were destroyed, except Xisu thrus and his friends; that Oannes · gave mankind a knowledge of right and wrong; that he instructed them in every science; that he directed them to found temples and to reverence the Gods; that he taught them to distinguish the different sorts of seeds, to collect fruits, and to provide against futurity; and instructed mankind so fully, that nothing could be added afterward.

The confinement of Noah in the ark for so long a period, and his reappearance in the world after the deluge had vanished, was commemorated in the religious rites of various nations; particularly in Canaan, Egypt, and Greece. In the Eleusinian mysteries the attendants used to lament a person, who was lost, with great affliction, and many tears and cries. At length a priest appeared, and told them to be of good courage; for the Deity, whom they lamented as lost, was preserved.

SACRILEGE.

To the Editor of the Panoplist.

SIR,

The following thoughts on Sacri-, lege are submitted to your disposal.

SACRILEGE is the act of unjustly appropriating to selfish and se

cular purposes, property which is set apart for sacred uses. It is the opposite of that disposition which is made of wealth, when it is taken from its common employment and devoted to the service of God. In all instances where sacrilege is committed, property is perverted from the end which its owner intended it should answer.

Thus when an opulent man exhibits his Christian liberality, by endowing an institution for the promotion of true religion, and for the defence of the faith once delivered to the saints, it is the hand of sacrilege which employs the gift in the propagation of corrupt religious sentiments, or simply for the advancement of mere human science. Thus also the donor's intention is defeated, if the property which he has consecrated to the extension of the Gospel in the Pagan world, is alienated to serve any other purpose, however desirable such purpose may appear to the pride and ambition of a worldly mind.

However unusual sacrilege may at first be considered, a little attention to the conduct of men will discover it, in all its deformity. We need not look to the open defier of his Maker, who boldly invades the temples of God, and robs them of their consecrated furniture, to find the man guilty of sacrilege. But to any one, who withholds from Christ the property which is given to be expended for the enlargement and purity of his Church, the voice of heaven speaks in the language of Nathan to David, Thou art the man. VOL. IV. New Series.

From the moment that a gift, whether large or small, is cast into the treasury of the Lord, it is no longer man's; and it is sacrilege to pervert a farthing of the sacred deposit. The pos

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sessor has only given back to God the substance which was bestowed by his kind Providence; and it is now stamped with the inscription, Holy to JEHOVAH. Should not he tremble who can presume to move a finger, in an attempt to rob God? It is by the instrumentality of human exertions and generosity that God has determined to maintain his cause on earth, and to build his spiritual temple. Hence the exertion of beneficence is every where inculcated in the Bible. To do good and to communicate forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. He that giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord. Men are poor in a temporal and in a spiritual sense. Multitudes are in want of daily bread, but how much greater multitudes are not yet provided with the bread which came down from heaven? It is a noble, disinterested act to consecrate wealth for the support and diffusion of that Gospel which the Son of God came into the world to publish: but very selfish and unworthy are those measures, which frustrate the freewill-offering of pious munificence, and divert it from this sublime object, to the purposes of private emolument and gratification. Whether the crime of sacrilege has more of impiety and ingratitude toward God, or of injustice and unkindness toward man, it is difficult to de

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