5. It may here be observed, that we cannot, with any degree of consistency, suppose the Mosaical years to be lunar ones; for in that case, those, who attained to the greatest age, will fall considerably short of what many even in our own days have reached. Nor will it be very easy, if the computation be made by years of such a description, to point out the particular period, when that mode of reckoning is to cease. The ages of the Patriarchs are regularly enumerated, even beyond the days of Jacob; and, if lunar years be still used, the absurdity will be evident. In that case, the old age of Abraham, when his son was born by a special intervention of heaven, will amount to something more than eight solar years. VIII. Profane authors seem also to have been well acquainted with the existence of men of a gigantic stature, who flourished at an early period of the world, and who were inured to deeds of rapine and violence. Thus Sanchoniatho mentions, that from Genos, who has been esteemed the same as the scriptural Cain, were descended sons of vast height and bulk, whose names were given to the mountains on which they first seized: and he speaks of them, as having sprung up during a period of universal corruption and shameless depravity.' Thus likewise Hesiod describes the race of men who lived during the brazen age, as fierce, strong, warlike, and insolent their hearts were of adamant; their Euseb. Præp. Evan. lib. i. c. 10. corporeal power was immense; and their nervous arms, firmly knit to their broad shoulders, were irresistible.' Thus too Ovid places the giants before the deluge; and represents them, as being a lawless race, who were stained with blood, and who dared to wage war even with the gods themselves.2 IX. According to Moses, there were ten generations from Adam to Noah, reckoning both inclusive. This circumstance also was not unknown to the Gentiles. Berosus, Abydenus, and Alexander Polyhistor, all agree in reckoning ten descents from the Chaldèan Alorus to Xisuthrus, who was saved in an ark from the waters of a general deluge.' The Hindoos celebrate ten antediluvian children of Brahma; and represent them as being succeeded by seven Rishis or Menus, who, with an eighth person the head of their family, escaped in a ship when the whole world was inundated. They place likewise in the tenth generation from Adima and Ioa a righteous prince named Prithu; who, like Saturn and Noah, is represented as being a husbandman." Sometimes again they describe Adima as being the parent of ten sons, among seven of whom he divided the world, three out of Hesiod. Oper. et Dier. lib. i. ver. 144. 2 Ovid. Metam. lib. i. ver. 151. 3 Syncell. Chronog. p. 30, 38, 39. the number having embraced the eremetical life.' Here the ten successive patriarchs are erroneously made brethren, though the sum total of them is still accurately preserved. The same error, originating however from the same primeval source, occurs also in the mythology of the old Atlantians. According to Plato, the island Atlantis was divided among the ten sons of Neptune, who governed it with joint authority. The first inhabitants of the country were remarkable for their piety: but they afterwards degenerated, and became guilty of all sorts of violence and impurity. At length, as the due punishment of their wickedness, they were overwhelmed, together with their island, by the waves of the ocean. Atlantis then must clearly be the antediluvian world; and, if so, the ten sons of Neptune, who governed it previous to its submersion, must be the ten antediluvian generations. The opinion is confirmed, both by the gradual deterioration of manners ascribed to its inhabitants, and by an old tradition preserved by Cosmas Indico-Pleustes, that Noah formerly dwelt in it, and that, when it sank, he sailed in an ark to the continent.❜ X. These are the principal coincidences, which occur between the sacred and profane accounts of the antediluvian period. 1 Some are certainly of a nature so remarkable, Asiat. Res. vol. viii. p. 286. 2 See my Dissert. on the Cabiri. vol. ii. chap. 9. Ibid. that it is impossible to avoid being struck with them; and, if others appear less obvious, they may be omitted without weakening the testimony of the remainder. There will still be a sufficient degree of evidence to prove, that all ancient history, whether it be sacred, or whether it be profane, uniformly relates the very same facts. The sole difference is, that the one, because inspired, is plain, simple, and unadorned; while the other has mingled traditional absurdities with real events, and has thus weakened its own credibility. Scripture serves to explain profane History, and profane History confirms and demonstrates the authenticity of Scripture. Thus even pagan traditions may be made subservient to the cause of truth, religion, and happiness. VOL. I G CHAP. IV. PAGAN ACCOUNTS OF THE DELUGE. Ir is perfectly agreeable to those notions of retributive justice, which we have early been in the habit of forming, that, while mercy is extended to the humble and the faithful, a continued perseverance in resolute wickedness, and an habitual contempt of God's commandments, should terminate in a signal example of vengeance upon the impenitent. Exactly conformable to this idea is the Scriptural account of the deluge. The old world is said to have gradually arrived at such a pitch of wickedness, that God destroyed it by a supernatural influx of waters. One family alone was excepted, which, on account of its exemplary piety and steady adherence to the cause of religion, was saved from the general calamity. Now, if this event ever really happened, it is natural to expect that some traces of it will be found in the records of pagan nations, as well as in those of holy Scripture. The magnitude and singularity of the circumstance, if it be indeed agreeable to truth, must have left such an impres |