I.

SECT. the general corruption. At length the avenues to divine mercy were clofed, and those wretched victims of fin were fealed up in final impenitence. The elements waited to receive their commands from God, and the whole world trembled upon the verge of unexpected deftruction. Suddenly the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. A tremendous flood deluged the furface of the globe, and every foul perished, except the household of one pious Patriarch. Inclosed within a capacious ark, this favoured family remained secure amidst the wreck of universal nature, perfectly free from the least danger, because under the immediate protection of Omnipotence.

The waters at length abated, and Noah along with his offspring prepared to quit the ark, in which they had been preserved. The cultivation of the earth, and the planting of vineyards, firft engaged their attention; but the harmony of the new world was foon disturbed by the wickednefs of Ham. His unworthy treatment of his aged father called down a curfe upon the head of Canaan, while the piety of Shem

and

and Japhet procured a prophetic bleffing CHAP. for their pofterity.

In a short time, the descendants of Ham, unmindful of the late judgments of God, corrupted themselves under the conduct of Nimrod the fon of Cufh. With a view of laying the foundation of an univerfal tyranny, and of preventing themselves from" being fcattered over the earth, like the children of Shem and Japhet, they prepared to build a city and a tower; but their impious design was frustrated by a miraculous interference of heaven, and they were doomed to the very condition, against which they had attempted to guard.

The natural tendency to evil, fo deeply

I have here followed the hypothefis of Mr. Bryant, which fuppofes that the children of Shem and Japhet were not engaged in this rebellion against heaven, but that it was confined to the defcendants of Ham. See Analysis, vol. iii. p. 19, 26. Some perfons have maintained, that the words, 8) should not be rendered, "Whofe top may "reach unto the heavens," but fimply, " Whose top was to "the heavens," in other words, " dedicated to the worship "of the material heavens." How far the prepofition will bear the sense of dedication, I will not take upon me to decide. The word commonly used, when that is imported, is certainly not, but or . See Gen. viii. 20, with various other paffages of Scripture.

rooted

I.

SECT. rooted in the human breaft, foon produced 1. a general diffufion of wickedness and ido

latry. The glorious orb of day withdrew the devotion of mankind from him who created it, and the worship of the host of heaven became almost universally prévalent. In thefe circumftances, God was pleased to take Abraham under his peculiar guidance, and to prove his faith by a va riety of trials. A fignal example of divine vengeance is recorded to have taken place in his days. Certain cities of Canaan having filled up the measure of their abominations, a torrent of fulphureous fire defcended from heaven, and utterly confumed them; while the tract of country, in which they were fituated, was converted into a noisome and stagnant lake.

From Abraham was defcended, in a direct line, the patriarch Joseph. A number of providential events confpired together to throw him into the high situation of prime minifter to the king of Egypt, and a dreadful famine of seven years produced the migration of his whole family into that country. Here, in procefs of time, they multiplied to fuch a degree, as to excite the jealousy of the reigning monarch. A most

I.

iniquitous fcene of tyranny enfued, when CHAP. Mofes was raised up by God to be the deliverer of his brethren. A feries of miraculous plagues inflicted by the hand of the prophet, at length forced the reluctant prince to consent to the departure of the Ifraelites. Soon however, repenting of his constrained permiffion, he purfued them as far as the waters of the Red Sea; which, in obedience to the divine command, opened a paffage through its waves for Mofes and his followers, but returning immediately to its accustomed channel, overwhelmed Pharaoh and his Egyptians.

These are some of the principal circumftances recorded in the Pentateuch; and they are faid to have happened in the earlieft ages of the world: but the fingularity of the events, and the remote period to which they are afcribed, seem to give us, as reasonable beings, an undoubted right to examine their claim to veracity. A blind acquiefcence in received opinions is required as a duty only by fuperftition and imposture; genuine Chriftianity difdains the lurking artifices of deceit, and founds

SECT. her empire no lefs upon the allegiance of 1. the understanding, than upon the fubjugation of the paffions.

obferva

tions.

Preliminary Perhaps no method of ascertaining the authenticity of the books of Mofes is more striking or more convincing, than to bring together into one point of view the various traditions of Paganism, and to compare them with the history contained in the Pentateuch. The refemblance between them, in many instances, is so wonderfully accurate, that the neceffity of a formal and laboured comparison is almost precluded. A bare statement of facts is fufficient to fix the attention, and to convince the understanding of any unprejudiced inquirer. This however is not always the cafe. Truth is frequently blended with fiction, or obfcured with allegory; her form is fometimes feverely mutilated, and fometimes unnaturally dilated; fhe is often nearly buried beneath a load of extraneous matter, and her features perpetually vary with the varying mythologies of different countries. Hence, it is abfolutely neceffary, that fome rules of interpretation fhould be laid down, which may enable us

to