historians and mythologists of different countries; and traces of it are to be particularly found in the sacred rites of Egypt and of Greece.

It will appear from many circumstances in the more ancient writers, that the great patriarch was highly reverenced by his posterity. They looked up to him as a person peculiarly favoured by heaven, and honoured him with many titles, each of which had a reference to some particular part of his history. They styled him Prometheus, Deucalion, Atlas, Theuth, Zuth, Xuthus, Inachus, Osiris, &c. When there began to be a tendency toward idolatry, and the adoration of the sun was introduced by the posterity of Ham, the title of Helius, the sun, among others, was conferred upon him; they called him also Meen, and Man, which signifies the moon, the reason of which will appear hereafter: hence some of the descendants of the patriarch are denominated children of the sun, the moon, &c. Noah was the inventor of fermented liquors, whence he was denominated Zeuth, which signifies ferment, rendered Zeus by the Greeks.

Among the people of the East the true name of the patriarch was preserved; they called him Noas, Naus, and sometimes contracted Nous; and many places of sanctity and many rivers had been denominated from him. Anaxagoras, of Clazomenæ, had been in Egypt, and had there obtained some knowledge of this personage. He spoke of him by the name of Noas or Nous. In Eusebius, Hist. Syn. 374. we are informed, "The disciples of Anaxagoras say, that Nous is by interpretation the deity Dis, or Dios...they likewise esteem Nous the same as Prometheus.' He then proceeds to show why they looked upon Nous to have been Prometheus; because he was the renewer of mankind, and was said to have fashioned them again after they had been in a manner extinct.

Near the temple of Eleusinian Damater, in Arcadia, were two vast stones called Petroma; one of which was erect, and the other was laid over and inserted into the former. There was a hollow place in the upper stone, with a lid to it. In this, among other things, was kept a kind of mask, which was thought to represent the countenance of Damater, to whom these stones were sacred. I mention this circumstance, because there was a notion among the Phineata, who were the inhabitants of this district, that the goddess came into these parts in an age very remote, even before the days of Naos or Noah, Pausan. viii. 630.

Suidas has preserved from some ancient author a curious memorial of this wonderful personage, whom he affects to distinguish from Deucalion, and styles Nannacus. "Nannacus was a person of great antiquity, prior to the time of Deucalion. He is said to have been a king, who, foreseeing the approaching deluge, collected every body together, and led them to a temple, where he offered up his prayers for them, with many tears. There is likewise a proverb about Nannacus, applied to persons of

great antiquity." Stephanus gives great light to this history, and supplies many deficiencies. He says, "The tradition is, that there was formerly a king named Annacus, the extent of whose life was above three hundred years. The people who were of his neighbourhood and acquaintance had inquired of an oracle how long he was to live; and there was an answer given, that when Annacus died,* all mankind would be destroyed. The Phrygians, upon this account, made great lamentations; from whence arose the proverb, the lamentation for Annacus, made use of for people or circumstances highly calamitous. When the flood of Deucalion came, all mankind was destroyed, according as the oracle had foretold.” It is, I think, manifest that Annacus and Nannacus, and even Inachus, relate to Noachus, or Noah: his name has been rendered very unlike itself by having been lengthened with terminations, and otherwise fashioned according to the idiom of different nations : and not only these, but the histories of Deucalion and Prometheus have a like reference to the patriarch. However the story may have been varied, the principal outlines plainly point out the person who is alluded to in these histories; the person preserved is always mentioned as being preserved in an ark; he is described as being in a state of darkness, which is represented allegorically as a state of death. He then obtains a new life, which is called a new birth, and is said to have his youth renewed. He is on this account looked upon as the first born of mankind; and both his antediluvian aud postdiluvian states are commemorated, and sometimes the intermediate is also spoken of. Diodorus calls him Deucalion; he says, "In the deluge which happened in the days of Deucalion, almost all flesh died." Apollodorus, having mentioned Deucalion consigned to an ark, takes notice, upon his quitting it, of his offering up an immediate sacrifice to the god who delivered him. As he was the father of all mankind, the ancients have made him a person of very extensive rule, and supposed him to have been a king. He is described as a monarch of the whole earth, at other times reduced to a petty king of Thessaly. He is mentioned by Hellanicus in the latter capacity; who speaks of the deluge in his time, and of his building altars to the gods. Apollonius Rhodius supposes him to have been a native of Greece, according to the common notion; but he gives so particular a description of him, that the true history cannot be mistaken. From him we may learn that the person represented was the first of men, through whom religious rites were renewed, and civil polity established in the world ; none of which circumstances are applicable to any king of Greece. We are assured by Philo, that Deucalion was Noah. "The Grecians," says he, de Præmio et Poena, vol. ii. p. 412. " call the person Deucalion,

• The ancients estimated the life of Noah or Osiris to his entrance into the ark; the interval in the ark was esteemed a state of death, and what ensued was looked upon as a second life and a renewal of nature.

but the Chaldeans style him Noe, in whose time there happened the great eruption of waters." The ChalThe Chaldeans likewise mention him by the name of Xisouth

ros.

That Deucalion was unduly adjudged by the people of Thessaly to their country solely, may be proved from his name occurring in different parts of the world, and always accompanied with some history of the deluge. The natives of Syria laid the same claim to him. He was supposed to have founded the temple at Hierapolis, where was a chasm, through which the waters after the deluge were said to have retreated, Lucian. de Dea Syria, p. 883. He was likewise reported to have built the temple of Jupiter at Athens; where was a cavity of the same nature, and a like tradition that the waters of the flood passed off through this aperture, Pausan. l. i. p. 43. However groundless the notions may be of the waters having retreated through these passages, yet they show what impressions of this event were retained by the families who first emigrated from the original seat of human residence, who introduced some history of it wherever they came. As different nations succeeded one another, and time produced a mixture of generations, they varied the history, and modelled it according to their notions and traditions; yet the groundwork was always true; and the event for a long time universally commemorated. Josephus, who seems to have been a person of extensive knowledge, and versed in the history of nations, says, that this great occurrence was to be met with in the writings of all persons who treated of the first ages. He mentions Berosus of Chaldea, Hieronymus of Egypt, who wrote concerning the antiquities of Phenicia; also Mnasea, Abydenus, Melon, and Nicolaus Damascenus, as writers, by whom it was recorded; and adds, that it was taken notice of by many others.

As we proceed toward the east, we shall find the traces of this event more vivid and determinate than those of Greece, and more conformable to the accounts of Moses. Eusebius has preserved a most valuable extract to this purpose from Abydenus, which was taken from the archives of the Medes and Babylonians. This writer speaks of Noah as a king, whom he names Seisithrus, and says that "the flood began upon the fifteenth day of the month Desius; that during the prevalence of the waters Seisithrus sent out birds, that he might judge if the flood had subsided: but that the birds, not finding any resting place, returned to him again. This was repeated three times, when the birds were found to return with their feet stained with soil; by which he knew that the flood was abated. Upon this he quitted the ark, and was never more seen of men, being taken away by the gods from the earth. Aby denus concludes with a particular, in which all the Eastern writers are unanimous; that the place of descent from the ark was in Armenia; and

speaks of its remains being preserved a long time," Euseb. Præp. Evang. 1. ix. c. 12. Plutarch, de Solert. Animal. vol.ții. mentions the Noachic dove, and its being sent out of the ark.

But the most particular history of the deluge, and the nearest of any to the account given by Moses, is to be found in Lucian. He was a native of Samosata, a city of Commagene upon the Euphrates; a part of the world where memorials of the deluge were particularly preserved; and where a reference to that history is continually to be observed in the rites and worship of the country. His knowledge, therefore, was obtained from the Asiatic nations, among whom he was born, and not from his kinsmen the Helladians, who were far inferior in the knowledge of ancient times. He describes Noah under the name of Deucalion; and says, "The present race of mankind are different from those who first existed; for those of the antediluvian world were destroyed. The present world is peopled from the sons of Deucalion, having increased to so great a number from one person. In respect to the former brood, they were men of violence, and lawless in their dealings. They regarded not oaths, nor observed the rites of hospitality, nor showed mercy to those who sued for it. On this account they were doomed to destruction; and for this purpose there was a mighty eruption of waters from the earth, attended with heavy showers from above; so that the rivers swelled, and the sea overflowed, till the whole earth was covered with a flood, and all flesh drowned. Deucalion alone was preserved to repeople the world. This mercy was shown to him, on account of his justice and piety. His preserva. tion was effected in this manner; he put all his family, both his sons and their wives, into a vast ark which he had provided, and he went into it himself. At the same time animals of every species, boars, horses, lions, serpents, whatever lived upon the face of the earth followed him by pairs: all which he received into the ark, and experienced no evil from them; for there prevailed a wonderful harmony throughout, by the immediate influence of the Deity. Thus were they wafted with him, as long as the flood endured." After this he proceeds to mention that, upon the disappearing of the waters, Deucalion went forth from the ark, and raised altars to God: but he transposes the scene to Syria, where the natives pretended to have very particular memorials of the deluge.

Most of the authors who have transmitted to us these accounts, at the same time inform us, that the remains of the ark were in their days to be seen upon one of the mountains of Armenia. Aby denus particularly says, in confirmation of this opinion, that the people of the country used to get some small pieces of the wood, which they carried about by way of amulet. And Berosus mentions that they scraped off

the asphaltus, with which it had been covered, and used it in like manner for a charm. And this is so far consonant to truth, as there was originally about the ark some ingredient of this nature. For when it was completed by Noah, he was ordered finally to secure it both within and without with pitch or bitumen. Some of the fathers, how truly informed I cannot say, seem to insist upon the certainty of the fact, that the ark in their time was still in being. The ophilus, ad Autol. I. iii. p. 390. says expressly, that the remains were to be seen upon the mountains of Aram, or Armenia. And Chrysostom appeals to it as to a thing well known: "Do not," says he, "those mountains of Armenia bear witness to the truth; those mountains where the ark first rested? and are not the remains of it preserved there even unto this day?" De perfecta Charit. vol. vi. 748.

We for the present take leave of Mr. Bryant, while we refer to testimony that memorials of the deluge are to be found in that ancient nation, perhaps the most ancient nation on earth, the empire of China; as also in India, America, &c.

The learned have supposed that Fohi, the first emperor and founder of the Chinese monarchy, was Noah. The following are the reasons thereof; which show at the same time obscure memorials of the event of which we are treating. The account is from Whiston's Chronology, p. 60. who refers to Martiuii Hist. Sinica, p. 21; Le Compte's Memoirs of China, and to Couplet.

1st, The Chinese histories say, Fohi had no father; which agrees well enough with Noah, because the memory of his father might be lost in the deluge, and so give occasion to this fable, that he had no father at all.

2dly, The same histories affirm that Fohi's mother conceived him as she was encompassed with a rainbow, which seems an imperfect tradition concerning the first appearance of the rainbow to Noah after the

flood.

3dly, The character and appellation of Fohi among the Chinese, agrees mighty exactly with what the Scriptures affirm of Noah. Fohi, says Le Compte, the first emperor of China, "Carefully bred up seven sorts of creatures which he used to sacrifice to the supreme spirit of heaven and earth. For this reason some called him Paohi, that is, oblation."

4thly, The Chinese histories affirm that Fohi settled in the province of Xensi, which is the most northwest province of China, and very near to mount Caucasus, upon which the ark rested, and from which Noah must descend to go thence into China.

These circumstances make it very probable that Fohi, the founder of the Chinese monarchy, was the same person with Noah in the Scripture.

Sir W. Jones, in the Asiatic Researches, says, "Now, although I cannot insist with confidence that the rainbow in the Chinese fable alludes to the Mo

saic narrative of the flood, nor build any solid argument on the divine personage 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, like the Hindoos, 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 division of TIME, from which their poetical history begins, just preceded the appearance of Fohi on the mountains of Chin; but that the great inundation in the reign of Yao, was either confined to the lowlands of his kingdom, if the whole account of it be not a fable; or if it contain any allusion to the flood of Noah, has been ignorantly misplaced by the Chinese annalists." We next produce the testimony of India.*

*******

This epitome of the first Indian history now extant, appears to me very curious and important; for the story, though whimsically dressed up in the form of an allegory, seems to prove a primeval tradition in this country of the universal deluge described by Moses, and fixes, consequently, the time when the genuine Hindoo chronology actually begins.

It may be necessary to remark how near the name of Menu is to the Arabic pronunciation of Noah's name, vis. Nuh; and probably it was so pronounced by the Hebrews: as also that the Grecian Minos, between whom and Menu, which is Menus in the nominative case, there are many agreements, probably also refers to Noah.

In another of the sacred books of India, the Padma Puran, we meet with further corroborative evidence of the truth of this history. Sir W. Jones says, it is minutely exact. The similarity between it and part of the Scripture account is astonishing. It must either have been borrowed from the Bible, or the original tradition has been preserved so far, nearly as it is by Moses.†

As great stress is laid by some on the pretensions of the Hindoos to antiquity higher than the Mosaic account of the flood, it may not be amiss to introduce in this place a short quotation from the Asiatic Researches, relative to their calculations.

"As a proof that no reliance can be placed on the pretensions of the Hindoos to such high antiquity as they make, it is only necessary to state their exaggerations on other enumerations.

The circumference of the earth is said to be 500,000,000 yojanas, or 2,456,000,000 British miles. The mountains are asserted to be 491 British miles high.

See extract from sir W. Jones, FRAGMENT, No. 20.
See FRAGMENT, No. 19, Indian History.

King Nanda is said to have possessed above 1,584,000,000l. sterling in gold coin alone; his silver and copper coin and jewels exceeded all calculation: his army consisted of 100,000,000 men.' Dr. Hyde, in his Historia Religionis veterum Persarum, p. 171. writes thus:

"The orthodox among the ancient Persians believe a deluge, and that it was universal, and overwhelmed the whole earth. But as they have various opinions concerning all those things which are of such remote antiquity, they differ somewhat among themselves, and run into fables. For Ibn Shabna, in his book De Primis et Postremis, asserts, that there are some among the Magi who deny a deluge; others, he says, acknowledge it; but say that it was not universal, and that it did not reach beyond the top of a mountain near Hulvan, a city situated between the confines of Assyria and Persia. From the opinion of Zoroaster they maintain, that there had not been a deluge, neither had the world been drowned, but for the iuiquity and diabolical wiles of that most wicked of mortals, Malcus. In the book Pharh. Sur. the famous mountain, where Noah dwelt when the waters of the deluge broke out from it, is mentioned; and ZalaCupha is said to be the name of the old woman, out of whose oven the waters first issued."

The American Indians likewise have their traditions concerning the deluge. Acosta, in his History of the Indies, b. i. c. 25. speaks thus generally: "They make great mention of a deluge, which happened in their country but we cannot well judge if this deluge were the universal, whereof the Scripture makes mention, or some particular inundation of those regions where they are. Some expert men say, that in those countries are notable signs of some great inundation.... and the Indians say, that all men were drowned in this deluge... Others report that six, or I know not what number of men, came out of a certain cave by a window, by whom men first began to multiply."

Herrera, Decad. 1. b. ix. c. 11. informs us, that "The people of Cuba knew that heaven, the earth, and other things had been created; and said they had much information concerning the flood, and that the world had been destroyed by water, by three persons that came three several ways. Men of above seventy years of age said, that an old man, knowing the deluge was to come, built a great ship, and went into it, with his family, and abundance of animals; that he sent out a crow, which did not return, staying to feed on dead bodies; and afterward returned with a green branch; with other particulars, as far as Noah's sons covering him when drunk, and of the other son's scoffing at him; adding that the Indians. descended from the latter, and therefore had no coats or clothes: but that the Spaniards, descending from the other that covered him, were therefore clothed and had horses. What has been here said, was told by an Indian above seventy years of age to Gabriel

de Cabrera, who one day quarrelling with him, called him dog; whereupon he asked him, why he abused him, and called him dog, since they were brethren, as descending from the two sons of him that made a great ship."

The same author relates, that the inhabitants of Castilla del Oro, in Terra Firma, said, "That when the universal deluge happened, one man, with his wife and children, escaped in a canoe, and that from them the world had been peopled."

Speaking of the Peruvians, the same author says, Decad. 3. "The ancient Indians reported, they had received by tradition from their ancestors, that many years before there were any Incas, kings, at the time when the country was very populous, there happened a great flood; the sea breaking out beyond its bounds, so that the land was covered with water, and all the people perished. To this the Guancas, inhabiting the vale of Xausca, and the natives of Chiquito in the province of Collao, add, that some persons remained in the hollows and caves of the highest mountains, who again peopled the land. Others of the mountain people affirm, that all perished in the deluge, only six persons being saved on a float, from whom descended all the inhabitants of that country."

Nieuhoff relates that the inhabitants of Brazil have some knowledge remaining of a general deluge, it being their opinion that all mankind were extirpated by a general deluge, except one man and his own sister, who being with child before, they by degrees repeopled the world.

We now with pleasure return to Mr. Bryant. Such, says he, was the Gentile history of the deluge: varied indeed, and in some measure adapted to the prejudices of those who wrote; yet containing all the grand circumstances with which that catastrophe was attended. The story had been so inculcated, and the impressions left upon the minds of men were so strong, that they seem to have referred to it continually, and to have made it the principal subject of their religious institutions.

Part of the ceremony in most of the ancient mysteries consisted in carrying about a kind of ship or boat; which custom, upon due examination, will be found to relate to nothing else but Noah and the deluge. The ship of Isis is well known; and the celebrity. among the Egyptians, whenever it was carried about in public. The name of this, and of all the navicular shrines, was Baris; for it was the very name of the mountain, according to Nicolaus Damascenus, on which the ark of Noah rested; the same as Ararat in Armenia; we may be assured, then, that the ship of Isis was a sacred emblem; in honour of which there was among the Egyptians an annual festival. It was in after times admitted among the Romans, and set down in their calendar for the month of March. The former, in their descriptions of the primary deities, have continually some reference to a ship or

float. They oftentimes, says Porphyry, Euseb. Præp. describe the sun in the character of a man sailing on a float. And Plutarch observes, to the same purpose, Isis et Osiris, that they did not represent the sun and the moon in chariots, but wafted about in floating machines. In doing which they did not refer to the luminaries; but to a personage represented under those titles. The sun, or Orus, is likewise described by Jamblicus as sitting upon the lotus, and sailing in a vessel.

The same memorial is to be observed in other countries, where an ark or ship was introduced in their mysteries, or carried about upon their festivals. Pausanius, l. vii. gives a remarkable account of a temple of Hercules at Eruthra, in Ionia; which he mentions as of the highest antiquity, and very like those of Egypt. The deity was represented upon a float, and was supposed to have come thither in this manner from Phenicia. Aristides, Orat. Smyrn. mentions, that at Smyrna, upon the feast called Dionusia, a ship used to be carried in procession. The same custom prevailed among the Athenians at the Panathenæa; when what was called the sacred ship, was borne with great reverence through the city to the temple of Damater of Eleusis. At Phalerus, near Athens, there were honours paid to an unknown hero, who was represented in the stern of a ship.

It is said of Lamech, that he received great consolation at the birth of his son; and that he prophetically called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us, concerning our work, and toil of our hands; because of the ground, which the Lord hath cursed. Agreeable to this the name of Noah was by the Grecians interpreted rest and comfort. See Hesych. This seems to have been alluded to at the Eleusinian mysteries. Part of the ceremony was a night scene, attended with tears and lamentations, on account of some person who was supposed to have been lost; but at the close, a priest used to present himself to the people, who were mourning, and bid them be of good courage; for the deity, whom they lamented as lost, was preserved; and that they would now have some comfort, some respite, after all their labour. To which was added, what is equally remarkable, "I have escaped a calamity, and have met with a better portion." This was the same rite as that called in Canaan the death and revival of Adonis, or Thammuz, who was the Osiris and Thamas of Egypt. If the reader will turn to Ezek. viii. 13. he will find the Jews engaged in these mysteries. See Jul. Firmicus, p. 45; Demosth. De Cor. p. 568.

All the mysteries of the Gentile world seem to have been memorials of the deluge, and of the events which immediately succeeded. They consisted, for the most part, of a melancholy process; and were celebrated by night, with torches, Plutarch, Isis et Osiris, in commemoration of the state of darkness in which the patriarch and his family had been involved.

The first thing at these awful meetings was to offer an oath of secrecy to all who were to be initiated; after which they proceeded to the ceremonies. These began with a description of chaos; by which was signified some memorial of the deluge. Of these rites we have an account in the Orphic Argonautica, v. 11. "After the oath had been tendered to the Musta, we commemorated the sad necessity by which the earth was reduced to its chaotic state. We then celebrated Cronus, through whom the world after a term of darkness enjoyed again a pure serene sky: through whom was produced Eros, the rainbow, that twofold, conspicuous, and beautiful being." The poet adds afterward, that Eros had the name of Phanes because he was the first remarkable object that appeared to the eye of man, in consequence of this great event. Egypt abounded with allusions to this history. The tears of Isis are represented as very mysterious; they are said to have flowed whenever the Nile began to overflow the country. The overflowing of that river was the great source of affluence to the people; and they looked upon it as their chief blessing: yet it was ever attended with mystical tears and lamentations. This was particularly the case at Coptos, where the principal deity was Isis. Lutatins Placi dus, in Stat. Theb. I. v. 265. imagines that the tears and lamentations of the people were to implore an inundation; and the tears of Isis, according to Pausanias, were supposed to make the river swell. But all this was certainly said and done in memorial of a former flood, of which they made the overflowing of the Nile a type.

Plutarch says, Isis et Osiris, p. 356. concerning Osiris going into the ark, that it was to avoid the fury of Typhon; [the Arabs to this day call the flood al tufan;] and that it happened on the 17th day of the month Athyr, when the sun was in Scorpio. Now it is to be observed, that there were two festivals, at opposite parts of the year, established by the Egyptians on account of Osiris being thus enclosed; one in the month of Phamenoth, which they termed the entrance of Osiris into the moon; the other, of which I am here speaking, was on the same account, but in autumn. This was the enclosing and fastening of Osiris in his tomb or ark, in memory of his having been in his life time thus concealed; which ark they termed Selene, and other nations Minoa, the moon; the reason of which will shortly be seen. Plutarch describes the season very precisely, when Osiris was supposed to have been thus confined. It was in the month Athyr, on the 17th day of that month; when the Etesian winds were passed; when the overflowing of the Nile had ceased, and the country became dry; at the time of year when the nights grow long, and the days are upon the decline, darkness now increasing. It was, in short, upon the seventeenth day of the second month after the autumnal equinox, when the sun passes through Scorpio; Isis et Osiris, p. 366.