phus affirms, that "Seth and his family were the first that made regular observations on the heavens, and on the courses and influences of the stars." So that we may reasonably suppose Astronomy, in or about A. M. 481, to have become organized, if not to an accurate, at least to a regular system; and to have been transmitted from that period. Others trace this science to A. M. 284; and Pliny, following Epigenes, dates it from A. M. 54, or, as he styles it, from all eternity. Had not the science attained to a great degree of perfection at the period alluded to, A. M. 481, Elmachinus would scarcely have stated, that about two centuries after, "Enoch measured the circular heavenly orb, and viewed all the constellations, and the twelve signs, in which the planets moved:" Nothing can be more repugnant to reason, than to suppose that Noah did not take with him into the ark the records of every science then known. And where were they subsequently so likely to be found as in Babylon, where the Chaldeans profess that they were buried during the flood. Thus the quotation from Cicero, which has been the subject of so much ridicule, is reduced to a simple assertion, that the contemplators of the heavenly bodies from Caucasus, were in possession of astronomical records from A. M. 481, until a. M. 1776; when, from an improved knowledge in that science, the Chaldeans at Babylon introduced a

to.

more perfect system, which was handed down so late as A. M. 2022; when the philosopher Callisthenes sent from Babylon into Greece, to inform his master Aristotle, that they had found regular astronomical observations for 1903 years back. One other reason might be adduced to prove that A. M. 481, or thereabouts, is the point of time alluded The Chaldeans, according to Berosus, date their earliest dynasties at 120 Zapot or 1200 years before the deluge. Now 120 Zapo are equal to 1182 Julian years; deducting that number from the year of the deluge 1656, the remainder, or 474, is probably the true epoch. For the Chaldeans evidently meant to infer that the astronomical observations were coeval with their dynasties. Mr. Maurice admits their early improvement in mathematical and astronomical knowledge to be wonderful; and their instruments, although stupendous, and of high antiquity, to be made with such exactness as to evince in the frabrication an intimate acquaintance with the elements of geometry, spherical trigonometry, and other sciences not then supposed to have been cultivated; and their instruments, tables, and calculations remain a superb and lasting monument of their early maturity in astronomical researches.Now, if this knowledge had not been acquired in the old world, how was it possible it should have attained to so high a state of perfection in the first

ages of the new world? "The system of the Hindus," he tells us " was established in æras of such unfathomable antiquity, that in their ignorance of the real author of the Vedas they have been attributed to Brahma, a visionary being, or to Menu, who if he was not Noah, was a being equally visionary." There Maurice is particularly unfortunate; for the Vedas are neither ascribed to the one nor the other, but to Brahm or the Eternal. And there is nothing more absurd, in believing that the Great First Cause, by whatever name adored, promulgated the precepts of religion and virtue to the first created under the name of Swayambhava, than in admitting that God walked with Adam in Paradise. This may be considered as a visionary distinction. The institutes compiled from the Vedas are attributed to the first Menu, and are supposed to have been pronounced by him 600 years before the birth of Noah, or the beginning of the second age. For were we, in deference to Mr. Bryant, to adopt a system as repugnant to reason, as it is subversive of truth, and admit, “the first year being absolute to denote A. M. 1657," or the first year after the flood, still that would avail little in support of the hypothesis, that if Menu was not Noah, he was a visionary being... Because the Antara of this Menu is accurately traced to the year B. C. 4002; or

according to Sir William Jones to 5788 years before the year of Christ 1788; and consequently could denote no other than Adam. The Sanscrit history of this Menu is wonderfully consonant with that given by the most ancient Hebrew authors, who treat of the first ages of the world. "In the present day of Brahma the first Menu was surnamed Swayambhava or the son of the Selfexisting*; and it is he, by whom the institutes of religious and civil duties are supposed to have been delivered. In his time the Deity descended at a sacrifice. By his wife Satarupa he had two distinguished sons and three daughters. This pair were created for the multiplication of the human species, after the new creation of the world, which the Brahmans call Vadma Calpiya or the Lotos creation." This account is given by Sir William Jones in his tract on Hindu Chronology, and is so far critically correct.

The present day of Brahma denotes that Calpa, or day, in which the transactions detailed in the Purana occurred. This Calpa consequently was the first. "In his time, the deity descended at a sacrifice," the sacrifice of Abel: "By his wife he had two distinguished sons;" Cain and Seth, Abel being dead, "and three daughters." Abal

* St. Luke calls Adam the son of God. Vide Chap. III. v. 38.

Pharagius says, that Eve brought forth twins, a son and a daughter, and she called the son Cain, and the daughter Azrum, called by another author Clinia; who adds that Eve brought forth two other twins, and that she wished Cain to marry Owain the sister of Abel, and Abel to marry Azrum the sister of Cain; and that on this account, the wrath of Cain was kindled against Abel, Azrum being more beautiful than Owain: that Adam ordered his sons to go up to the holy mount, and offer sacrifices to the Almighty, after which each should espouse his betrothed wife. At this time, says Eutychius, Satan put into the mind of Cain to kill his brother Abel, and marry his sister Azrum. That when the sacrifices were offered God descended in a flame of fire and accepted that of Abel, leaving the sacrifice of Cain untouched. Seth not having been born until after the murder of Abel, there were according to these authors two distinguished sons and three daughters of Adam. These two sons are placed equally by the Hebrews and Hindus at the head of two distinguished lines. By the former, the race of Seth are designated the sons of God, and the race of Cain the sons of man; by the Hindus, they are severally called the children of the Sun and Moon, or the greater and lesser light. These authors tell us that the first murder was in consequence of the superior beauty of Az