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observation of such an ordinance, he could not be said to have first enjoined it to his followers from the knowledge which he possessed of the books of Moses. Thus also the natives of Pegu assemble together, for the purposes of devotion, on one fixed day in every week: and thus the people of Guinea rest from their accustomed occupations of fishing and agriculture, every seventh day throughout the year.3

2. As for the division of time into weeks, it extends from the Christian states of Europe to the remote shores of Hindostan, and has equally prevailed among the Jews and the Greeks, the Romans. and the Goths; nor will it be easy to account for this unanimity upon any other supposition, than that which is here adopted.

XII. Even the Mosaical method of reckoning by nights instead of by days, has prevailed in more than one nation.

4

The polished Athenians computed the space of a day from sunset to sunset; and from a similar custom of our Gothic ancestors, during their abode in the forests of Germany, words expressive of such a mode of calculation have been derived into óur own language. The same custom, as we are informed by Cesar, prevailed among the Celtic

Purch. Pilgrim. b. iii. c. 2,

2 Ibid. b. v. c. 5.

3 lbid. b. vi. c. 15.

4 Aul. Gell. Noct. Attic. lib. iii. c. 2.

5 Tacit. de Mor. Germ. § 11. We still use the expressions fortnight and sc'nnight, or fourteen nights and seven nights.

nations. All the Gauls, says he,

conceive themDis, and they

selves to be sprung from father affirm it to have been handed down to them by the Druids. For this reason, they measure time not by the number of days, but of nights. Accordingly, they observe their birth-days and the beginnings of months and years, in such a manner, as to cause the day to follow the night.'

XIII. The result of the whole inquiry is, that the accurate resemblance between the Mosaical account of the creation, and the various cosmogonies of the Heathen world, sufficiently shews, that they all originated from one common source; while the striking contrast, between the unadorned simplicity of the one and the allegorical turgidity of the others, accurately distinguishes the inspired narrative from the distorted tradition.*

1 Cæs. de Bell. Gall. lib. vi. cap. 18.

2 It may be proper here to observe, that the ancient pagans did not admit any proper creation of the world. What we' from Scripture esteem its creation, they believed to be only its reproduction from a deluge anterior to that of Noah. Hence their cosmogonies are perpetually intermingled with allusions. to the flood. See my Origin of Pagan Idolatry, book i, c. 1. § 1. 4, 5, 7. c. 2, 5. book iii. c. 4.

CHAP. III.

PAGAN ACCOUNTS OF THE PERIOD BETWEEN THE CREATION AND THE DELUGE.

THE events, which took place between the creation of the world and the deluge, 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 seldom extended beyond the catastrophè of the flood, which formed an almost impenetrable barrier o the excursions of curiosity; yet, notwithstanding this circumstance, the antediluvian history of Moses will be found obscurely recorded in many profane traditions.

I. The Author of the Pentateuch, after having described the process of the creation, informs us, that man was placed by the Deity in the garden of Paradise.

This favoured portion of the earth is represented, as containing within itself every external object capable of conferring happiness. The beauty of its scenery, the salubrity of its climate, the variety

and excellence of its fruits, all contributed to the beatitude of the first pair; and tended to elevate their thoughts to that Being, who was the author and contriver of such numerous blessings. Considered in this point of view, it was equally a delightful residence for man and a magnificent natural temple consecrated to the service of God. Its very name conveyed the idea of happiness and pleasure; which can only exist in their full perfection, when the will of man thoroughly coincides with the will of God, and when obedience is not a painful act of self-denial.

The beauty of the garden of Paradise cannot be conveyed to our minds in a stronger light, than by considering, that heaven itself is frequently designated by this very appellation. To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise, was the consolatory promise of our blessed Saviour to the penitent thief. If, therefore, we are taught, to use the words of a late pious prelate, that heaven resembles the garden of Eden, it seems fair and reasonable to conclude, that the garden of Eden resembled heaven, and was, from the beginning, intended to do so: that, like the temple under the Law and the church under the Gospel, it was, to its happy possessors, a place chosen for the residence of God; a place designed to represent and furnish them with ideas of heavenly things; a place sacred to contemplation and decotion: in one word, it was the primitive temple and church, formed and consecrated for the use of man in his state of innocence. There, undisturbed by care and as yet unassailed by temp

tation, all his faculties perfect and all his appetites in subjection, he walked with God as a man walket h with his friend, and enjoyed communion with heaven though his abode was upon earth. He studied the works of God, as they came fresh from the hands of the workmaster; and in the creation, as in a glass, he was taught to behold the glories of the Creator. Trained, in the school of Eden by the material elements of a visible world, to the knowledge of one that is immaterial and invisible, he found himself excited by the beauty of the picture to aspire after the transcendant excellence of the divine original.

Such was the Paradise of Scripture; and from it the Heathens derived that belief in a state of pristine integrity and that idea of the peculiar sacredness of groves, which prevailed so universally among them.

1. A notion appears to have been very widely diffused, that mankind formerly lived in complete happiness and unstained innocence; that spring reigned perpetually, and that the earth spontancously gave her increase.

Immediately after the birth of man, says Hesiod, the golden age commenced, the precious gift of the immortals who acknowledged Cronus as their sovereign. Mankind then led the life of the gods, free from tormenting cares, and exempt from labour and sorrow. Old age was unknown ; their limbs were braced with a perpetual vigour ;

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Bp. Horne's Serm. vol. i. P. 68.

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