priests of Egypt, that, during the course of CHAP. their astronomical obfervations, the fun had V. four times varied from his ufual courfe, having twice rifen in the Weft, and twice fet in the Eaft". Whether this account may not poffibly have a double reference, both to the miracle which took place in the days of Jofhua, and to the fun's going back ten degrees upon the dial-plate of Ahaz, may perhaps admit of fome degree of conjecture.

The conqueft of the land of Canaan feems to be another event, which was partially at least known to the Gentiles. When Joshua had fubdued that country, many of its inhabitants, if the testimony of Suidas and Procopius may be depended upon, fled into Africa, and erected columns, ftill extant in the days of those authors, bearing the following infcription; "We are Ca"naanites, who have been driven from our native land by the robber Joshua ©.

Under this clafs may also be arranged

Herod. lib. ii. c. 142.

< Suid. Lex. vox Xavaar. et Procop. de Bello Vandal. lib. ii. c. 10.

the

SECT. the narrative of Herodotus refpecting king 1. Sennacherib; which, however disguised and perverted by the Greek Hiftorian, too nearly coincides with the Scriptural account of the defeat of that prince, to leave any just grounds for doubting their original identityd. Notwithstanding these exceptions however, it may ftill be afferted in general terms, that we are not to expect any frequency or certainty of coincidence between the traditions of Paganism, and the history of the children of Ifrael fubfequent to the death of Mofes.

1.

Traditions

Noah and

his three fons.

I. As fuch evident traces of the Scriprefpecting tural account of the deluge occur in the records of almost every Pagan nation, fo the history of the Patriarch, who escaped from its waters, being neceffarily connected with that event, is likewife accurately preferved. We have already feen him defcribed under the various names of Xifuthrus, Deucalion, and Satyavrata ; each of whom was faved from deftruction, in a manner ftrictly refembling the prefervation of Noah. Other traditions, how

d Herod. Hift. lib. ii. c. 141. See alfo Prideaux's Connection.

ever,

V.

ever, respecting the Patriarch and his three CHAP. fons are extant, in which as no direct mention is made of the catastrophe of the deluge, they will properly come under confideration in this divifion of the fubject.

1. There are so many points of refemblance between Noah, and the ancient deity Saturn, that one can scarcely avoid concluding them to be one and the fame perfon. In the Theogony of Hefiod, Saturn is faid to be the fon of the heaven and of the earth, while the Ocean is affigned to him as a brother: but Plato intimates that all the Gods (and confequently Saturn must be included) were fprung from the Ocean and Tethys. Whichever of thefe genealogies be adopted, it is remarkable, that the Ocean bears a confpicuous part in the tradition: and, if we confider it as an allufion to the deluge, it will be feen, with how much propriety the ancient mythologists reprefented all their deities, as bearing fome relation to it. The peculiar fymbol of Saturn was a ship, in which he is faid to have efcaped into

e Theog. v. 126, 137.

f Plat. Cratylus, p. 276.

SECT. Italy: but this emblem, like the Baris of I. Egypt, most probably related to a nobler voyage, and to a more wonderful escape; when an incorrigible world was cut off in the midst of their wickedness, and when the church of God was confined within the narrow limits of the ark. Saturn is likewise usually represented with a scythe in his hand; and is celebrated as a skilful husbandman, and as the first planter of vineyards. In all these refpects his character fufficiently agrees with that of Noah.

One circumftance indeed is mentioned in his hiftory, the unworthy treatment, that his father Coelus, or the Heavens, experienced from him, which perhaps it may not be quite fo eafy to reconcile with the Scriptural account of Noah". Nevertheless, if it be taken in an allegorical fenfe, the awful event of the deluge may perhaps

"Cauffa ratis fupereft; Thufcum rate venit in amnem "Ante pererrato falcifer orbe Deus.

V.

fufficiently explain it. Obedient to the CHAP. command of the Almighty, the waters, gradually rifing from the central abyss, encroached upon the ancient limits of the material heaven, or the atmosphere, and thus curtailed it of its former extent. Hence we are informed, in the metaphorical language of Hefiod, that it was the earth, which brought this calamity upon the heavensk.

The very appellation of Saturnus feems to point out the perfon, who was venerated under the name of that deity. Like the titles of the other moft ancient Gods of Greece and Rome, we muft feek for the origin of his name, not in the western, but in the eastern languages. It will there be found, that no Satur-Nuh literally fignifies, the hidden Noah, thus denominated from his having been concealed in the ark amidst the ravages of the de

i I venture to say, curtailed it, in the strict philofophical fenfe of the word; as will fufficiently appear to any one, who has confulted Catcott's Theory refpecting the causes of the deluge, one of the principal of which he supposes to be, a portion of the atmosphere forced into the central abyfs, and expelling its waters to the furface of the globe.

* Theog. v. 159. et deinceps.

VOL I.

luge.