account, peculiarly valuable, takes notice of the person who was saved along with his sons from the flood, having been, after his preservation, driven away from Armenia, whence he retired to the mountainous parts of Syria. Abydenus, after giving an account of the deluge from which Xisuthrus, the Chaldean Noah, was saved, con cludes with asserting, in exact concurrence with Berosus, that the ark first rested on the mountains of Armenia, and that its remains were used by the natives as a talisman. Eusebii Præp. Evang. lib. i. c. 12, and lib. ix. c. 19. And Plutarch de Solert. Animal. v. 2., mentions the dove, being sent out of the ark, and returning to it again, as an intimation to Deucalion that the storm had not yet ceased. Sir W. Jones, speaking of one of the Chinese fables, says," Although I cannot insist with confidence, that the rainbow mentioned in it alludes to the Mosaic narrative of the flood, nor build any solid argument on the divine person NIU-va, of whose character, and even of whose sex, the historians of China speak very doubtfully; I may nevertheless assure you, after full inquiry and consideration, that the Chinese believe the earth to have been wholly covered with water, which, in works of undisputed authenticity, they describe as flowing abundantly, then subsiding, and separating the higher from the lower age of mankind; that the divisions of time from which their poetical history begins, just preceded the appearance of FO-HI, in the mountains of China; but that the great inundation in the reign of YAO, was either confined to the low lands of his kingdom, if the whole account of it be not a fable, or if it contains any allusion to the flood of Noah, has been ignorantly misplaced by the Chinese annalists." Asiat. Research. vol. ii. Diss. on the Chinese. The account given by Plutarch of the Egyptian Osiris, affords some

grounds for imagining, that he also is the same person with Noah. He is said to have been a husbandman, a legislator, and a zealous advocate for the worship of the gods. Typhon having conspired against him, and, by a stratagem, having prevailed on him to enter into an ark, which was immediately closed on him; he, in this situa tion, floated down the Nile into the sea. Now as, according to Plutarch, Typhon is merely a mythological person expressive of the ocean, this tradition evidently signifies nothing more than that the character denominated Osiris was in danger from the sea, and that he escaped. by entering into an ark. Nor is it undeserving of notice, that he is said to have entered this vessel on the seventeenth of the month Athyr, which precisely agrees with the day of the Patriarch's embarkation, previous to the commencement of the deluge. Plut. de Isid. et Osiris. p. 356, &c. Plato also mentions, that a priest of Sais declared to Solon, that, previous to the partial deluges of Ogyges and Deucalion, a universal one had taken place, in which the original constitution of the earth was considerably altered. Timæus, p. 23. It is no doubt true, that Diodorus Siculus, Bib. Hist. lib. i. asserts, that the Egyptians maintained the flood of Deucalion to have been universal; but this discrepancy must appear, to every one who attends to the confusion which frequently pervades different accounts of the very same event, insufficient to invalidate the position, that the Egyptians did believe in a deluge that was universal. A similar belief prevailed among such of the ancient Persians as professed to hold their religion in its ancient purity, though some sects among them denied it entirely, and others maintained it was only partial. Zoroaster is said to have affirmed, that such a catastrophe was occasioned by the wickedness and diabolic arts of a person called

*

Malchus; and, according to another of their authors, Noah himself dwelt in the mountain from which the waters of the deluge burst forth, though, by the same writer, an absurd tradition is mentioned of the particular place from which they issued. * *Still more coincident even than this with the Mosaic account, is the Grecian history of the deluge, as preserved by Lucian, a native of Samosata on the Euphrates; and his authority is the more incontrovertible, on account of his being an avowed derider of all religions. The antediluvians, according to him, had gradually become so hardened and profligate, as to be guilty of every species of injustice. They paid no regard to the obligation of oaths; were insolent, inhospitable, and unmerciful. For this reason they were visited with an awful calamity. Suddenly the earth poured forth a vast quantity of water, the rain descended in torrents, the rivers overflowed their banks, and the sea rose to a prodigious height: so that "all things became water," and all men were destroyed, except Deucalion. He alone, for the sake of his prudence and piety, was reserved to a second generation. In obedience to a divine monition, he entered, with his sons and their wives, into a large ark, which he had built for their preservation; and immediately swine, and horses, and lions, and serpents, and all other animals which live on earth, came to him by pairs and were admitted into the ark. There they became perfectly mild and innoxious, their natures being changed by the gods, who created such a friendship between them, that they all sailed peaceably together, so long as the waters prevailed over the surface of the globe. **** Scarcely less remarkable is the Hindoo tradition, with which we shall conclude this induction of testimonies to the reality of the deluge.

It

grounds for imagining, that he also is the same person with Noah. He is said to have been a husbandman, a legislator, and a zealous advocate for the worship of the gods. Typhon having conspired against him, and, by a stratagem, having prevailed on him to enter into an ark, which was immediately closed on him; he, in this situation, floated down the Nile into the sea. Now as, according to Plutarch, Typhon is merely a mythological person expressive of the ocean, this tradition evidently signifies nothing more than that the character denominated Osiris was in danger from the sea, and that he escaped by entering into an ark. Nor is it undeserving of notice, that he is said to have entered this vessel on the seventeenth of the month Athyr, which precisely agrees with the day of the Patriarch's embarkation, previous to the commencement of the deluge. Plut. de Isid. et Osiris. p. 356, &c. Plato also mentions, that a priest of Sais declared to Solon, that, previous to the partial deluges of Ogyges and Deucalion, a universal one had taken place, in which the original constitution of the earth was considerably altered. Timæus, p. 23. It is no doubt true, that Diodorus Siculus, Bib. Hist. lib. i. asserts, that the Egyptians maintained the flood of Deucalion to have been universal; but this discrepancy must appear, to every one who attends to the confusion which frequently pervades different accounts of the very same event, insufficient to invalidate the position, that the Egyptians did believe in a deluge that was universal. A similar belief prevailed among such of the ancient Persians as professed to hold their religion in its ancient purity, though some sects among them denied it entirely, and others maintained it was only partial. Zoroaster is said to have affirmed, that such a catastrophe was occasioned by the wickedness and diabolic arts of a person called

*

Malchus; and, according to another of their authors, Noah himself dwelt in the mountain from which the waters of the deluge burst forth, though, by the same writer, an absurd tradition is mentioned of the particular place from which they issued. * * Still more coincident even than this with the Mosaic account, is the Grecian history of the deluge, as preserved by Lucian, a native of Samosata on the Euphrates; and his authority is the more incontrovertible, on account of his being an avowed derider of all religions. The antediluvians, according to him, had gradually become so hardened and profligate, as to be guilty of every species of injustice. They paid no regard to the obligation of oaths; were insolent, inhospitable, and unmerciful. For this reason they were visited with an awful calamity. Suddenly the earth poured forth a vast quantity of water, the rain descended in torrents, the rivers overflowed their banks, and the sea rose to a prodigious height: so that "all things became water," and all men were destroyed, except Deucalion. He alone, for the sake of his prudence and piety, was reserved to a second generation. In obedience to a divine monition, he entered, with his sons and their wives, into a large ark, which he had built for their preservation; and immediately swine, and horses, and lions, and serpents, and all other animals which live on earth, came to him by pairs and were admitted into the ark. There they became perfectly mild and innoxious, their natures being changed by the gods, who created such a friendship between them, that they all sailed peaceably together, so long as the waters prevailed over the surface of the globe. **** Scarcely less remarkable is the Hindoo tradition, with which we shall conclude this induction of testimonies to the reality of the deluge. It