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HEATHEN MYTHOLOGY: 
 
 CORROBORATIVE OR ILLUSTRATIVE OF 
 
 HOLY SCRIPTURE. 
 
HEATHEN MYTHOLOGY 
 
 CORROBORATIVE OR ILLUSTRATIVE OF 
 
 HOLY SCRIPTURE. 
 
 BY 
 
 / 
 
 HUGH BARCLAY, LL.D 
 
 LATF. SHERIFF SUBSTITUTE AT PERTH. 
 
 GLASGOW : 
 MORISON BROTHERS, 99 BUCHANAN STREET. 
 
 1884. 
 
GLASGOW : ROBERT MACLEHOSE. 
 
 Printer to the Universit\-. 
 
PREFATORY NOTE. 
 
 What is contained in the following pages was 
 written and delivered many years ago in the 
 shape of public lectures. It was afterwards 
 published in separate portions in the Christian 
 Treasury, and is now, with some additions, 
 set forth in collected form. 
 
 Perth, ist February, 1884. 
 
 The above date was chosen by the lamented author himself 
 some time before his death. 
 
THE LATE 
 SHERIFF BARCLAY, LL.D, 
 
 It may not be amiss to preface this little volume 
 with a few memorial words respecting its highly 
 esteemed author, who died while it was passing 
 through the press. 
 
 He was the seventh child and fourth son of Mr. 
 John Barclay, a merchant in Glasgow, and was 
 born in that city on the i8th January, 1799. He 
 was named after his uncle, Hugh Hay, of Paris 
 House, Perthshire — the name being a family one. 
 One of his earliest and most vivid remembrances 
 was that of a visit paid to this relative, and of 
 having been driven to Perth, across the old Bridge 
 of Earn, to see the volunteers of those days at 
 exercise on the North Inch. It was his first 
 glimpse of the city in which the larger portion of 
 his life was spent, and by which he came to be 
 held in such just honour and regard. He received 
 his education at different schools in Glasc^ow, and 
 
S TJie late S J ler iff Barclay, LL.D. 
 
 was throughout distinguished by his diligence and 
 proficiency. The fondness for work rather than 
 play was already manifested by him. In due 
 course he was enrolled as a student of the Uni- 
 versity, and attended the Latin, Greek, and Logic 
 classes — taking also a prominent part in the work 
 and discussions of the students' debating society. 
 During the period of his university attendance, and 
 with the view of qualifying himself for the legal 
 profession, he entered the ofhce of an eminent city 
 lawyer, where he continued for five years, learning 
 whatever was to be learned, and winning regard 
 and confidence by his industry, cleverness, and 
 faithfulness. Having then spent a short time in 
 Edinburgh in further professional study and pur- 
 suits, he returned to Glasgow in 1821, and, after 
 passing a most creditable examination, was ad- 
 mitted a member of the Faculty of Procurators. 
 Subsequently, and while still studying for the 
 Bar, he became the junior partner of a firm 
 (Russell & Barclay), in which capacity he gave 
 such proof of his remarkable powers and abilities 
 as attracted the notice of those in authority, and 
 brought about his speedy advancement to the 
 bench. In 1826 he married Margaret Buchanan 
 — daughter of Mr. William Buchanan, Merchant 
 — with whom it was given him to spend a long 
 
The late Sheriff Barclay, LL.D. 9 
 
 and happy union of fifty-seven years, and by 
 whom he is survived. 
 
 The general features of character and disposi- 
 tion — which were more distinctly shown and 
 developed in a more prominent position, and in 
 the enjoyment of enlarged opportunities — were 
 from the first to be seen and recognised in 
 him. He could not confine himself to mere 
 practice. While faithful to, he was able to 
 look beyond the demands and details of, his pro- 
 fession. He evinced a lively sympathy with the 
 intellectual movement, which at this period had 
 begun, and was leading to the foundation of 
 Mechanics' Institutes and the like, as well as with 
 that loftier and stronger sense of duty on the part 
 of men one towards another which was being 
 called forth. Eager in the pursuit of knowledge, 
 he attended various courses of lectures, while he 
 took a zealous part in Sabbath School and 
 Mission work — work which was then a new thing, 
 and in which he specially enjoyed the fellowship 
 and co-operation of Mr., now Sir, James Watson, 
 his life-long friend. He was in the habit of re- 
 verting with satisfaction to those days of early 
 enthusiasm and disinterested effort, no less than 
 of professional success, and cheerful social inter- 
 course. The memory of them was pleasant to 
 
10 The late Sheriff Barclay, LL.D. 
 
 him. He was besides warmly attached to his 
 native city. In his " RambHng Recollections " he 
 has given a most interesting account of its old 
 aspects, streets, and buildings ; its old customs 
 and ways. But while he thus recalled its past, he 
 could also rejoice in its present — the multiplied 
 evidences of its increase and prosperity — the con- 
 trast of what had come with what had gone. 
 
 In 1829 he was appointed by Sheriff-Principal 
 M'Neil — afterwards Lord Colonsay — to the office 
 of Sheriff-Substitute at Dunblane. His appoint- 
 ment to such an office at the early age of thirty 
 is a proof of the reputation he had already 
 achieved. It may be believed that the change 
 from the active duties of a profession, and the 
 stir of a large city, to the comparative repose of 
 the judicial bench in the little cathedral town 
 was at first somewhat trying to him. Yet he had 
 learned, wherever he was, to find employment. 
 He soon showed, and he never ceased to take, an 
 interest in the history of the beautiful district 
 where his lot had thus for a time been cast ; while 
 the further professional study in which he was 
 enabled to engage, and the judicial experience 
 gained during this short season of quiet, must 
 have been a valuable preparation for the duties 
 of the important position awaiting him. In the 
 
The late Sheriff Barclay, LL.D. u 
 
 autumn of 1833, he was promoted to the office 
 of Sheriff-Substitute at Perth, which he held for 
 half a century, and in which, as has been re- 
 marked, "he won for himself a name and fame 
 of national dimensions." 
 
 The duties of the Perth Sheriff Court are of 
 no light order. A multiplicity of cases comes 
 before it. But Sheriff Barclay, in dealing with 
 them, never failed to exhibit the highest judicial 
 qualities, combined with his inborn activity and 
 vigour. His work was never in arrear. His deci- 
 sions commanded confidence, and were rarely 
 reversed. His relations with the members of the 
 local bar were of the kindliest description. And 
 his abilities were shown not only in his conduct of 
 the business of the Court, but likewise in the valu- 
 able law treatises which he published. These 
 dealt most successfully with various matters of 
 interest, while the chief of them, his '' Digest of the 
 Law of Scotland," etc., took its place as a standard 
 work. The University of Aberdeen marked their 
 sense of its value by bestowing on him the well- 
 merited degree of LL.D. 
 
 It has been said of him in this connection by one 
 whose opinion is well worth recording, " His 
 reputation as the lawyer and judge rests upon too 
 soHd a basis for ephemeral appreciation. His 
 
1 2 The late Sheriff Barclay, LL.D. 
 
 books on jurisprudence have long been acknow- 
 ledged as storehouses of reliable information, and 
 safe guides in practice, while his able and ex- 
 haustive judgments showed how he could blend 
 the rigorous exercise of law with the sound dictates 
 of common sense. His judicial notes, chaste and 
 elegant in diction, sparkled with epigrammatic 
 sallies ; and in reading them one was apt to forget 
 that the stern realities of litigation were involved 
 in the elucidation." 
 
 But by the community generally Dr. Barclay, 
 while honoured as a judge, was regarded rather as 
 a friend and benefactor. Naturally and rightly so. 
 For he was ready unto every good work, helpful in 
 every worthy cause. A warmly attached member 
 and office-bearer of the Church of Scotland, he was 
 always willing to be associated with the members 
 of other churches in deeds and offices of Christian 
 charity and philanthropy. No request for his aid 
 in the furtherance and advocacy of what promised 
 to be of service to his fellov/-men was refused, if 
 he could possibly meet it. While his practical 
 wisdom was of much avail in the guidance and 
 direction of the various benevolent institutions in 
 the city, his presence on the platform at the 
 friendly conference or re-union was eagerly soli- 
 cited and joyously welcomed. He was ready, 
 
The late Sheriff Barclay, LL.D. 13 
 
 felicitous, and eloquent of speech, with the telling 
 anecdote or illustration ever at hand to give force 
 to what he said. Of abundant humour, it was a 
 humour never caustic or capable of causing pain to 
 others, but genial, bright, and kindly. His meet- 
 ing with the pupils of the Sabbath, public, and 
 Industrial Schools — of which last he had from 
 their commencement been a steadfast advocate 
 and supporter — were invariably most happy and 
 successful. He was always — what active men 
 often fail to be — in sympathy with the young 
 His voice, beyond that of any other, had a charm 
 and cheer for them. They felt that out of the 
 abundance of the heart he spake to them. Yet 
 not less happy was he in speaking to older people 
 — whatever the special form in which he sought to 
 benefit them — whether by conveying instruction or 
 salutary counsel. Many of the addresses which he 
 delivered on social and other matters have been 
 given to the world in more permanent form. 
 
 He took great pleasure in the study of Biblical 
 subjects. He did not claim to have made original 
 investigations — his busy life did not admit of such 
 a thing — but he had read much and widely in con- 
 nection with them. The results of his readiner 
 were often set forth in such lectures as are here 
 reproduced. No doubt some of the conclusions to 
 
14 The late Sheriff Barclay, LL.D. 
 
 which he had been led, and which at the time were 
 held to be well established, may appear less certain 
 in the light of later research ; but he never failed 
 to show clearly what, as he apprehended it, was 
 the actual state of a question or controversy. And 
 the mere printed page can furnish but a faint idea 
 of his ability and success in lecturing, of his liveli- 
 ness and tact, of his skill in arresting and securing 
 attention, and of the increased interest which, by 
 means of the remark or observation of the mo- 
 ment, he imparted to what he had written. These 
 things live in the memory of those who were 
 privileged to listen to him. 
 
 It may be added that expression was in various 
 ways given to the feelings cherished towards him, 
 and to the sense of the valuable services he had 
 rendered. On the 22nd Dec, 1868, at a large 
 meeting presided over by Lord Kinnaird, Lord 
 Lieutenant of the county, he was presented with 
 his portrait, painted by a distinguished artist, while 
 a handsome presentation of plate, &c., was made 
 to Mrs. Barclay. On completing his jubilee as a 
 sheriff, he was entertained to dinner in the County 
 Hall — the chair being occupied by Lord Adam — 
 and received numerous congratulatory addresses. 
 And it was felt after all that these and other 
 tributes were but faint recognitions of what was 
 
TJie late Sheriff Barclay, LL.D. 15 
 
 due to one, who had set such an example of 
 integrity, diligence, and unselfishness. 
 
 In October, 1883, after a rather severe illness, 
 and by advice of his medical, and other friends, 
 he resigned his judicial office. It was remarked 
 at the time that he was " the oldest member of 
 the Glasgow Faculty, the oldest Sheriff-Substitute 
 in Scotland, and the oldest judge in Britain." He 
 himself recorded that it had been " his great privi- 
 lege to co-operate with ten Sheriff Principals ; that 
 he had known fourteen successive Lord Provosts 
 of Perth ; that he had lived during the reign of four 
 sovereigns, and had the honour, on 14th June, 1837, 
 of proclaiming at the cross of Perth, the accession 
 of Her Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria." It was 
 fondly hoped that when freed from the duties and 
 responsibilities of office, he might still be spared 
 for a little while. Nor did the expectation seem 
 unwarranted. He had made a favourable re- 
 covery. He had resumed as if with increased 
 energy and relish, many of his labours of benefi- 
 cence. He was also meditating the republication 
 of several of his earlier works and addresses. But 
 on Saturday, the 25th January last, he was seized 
 with paralysis, and gradually became weaker, until 
 on the 1st February he peacefully passed away — 
 having just completed his 85th year. 
 
1 6 The late Sheriff Barclay, LL.D. 
 
 The intimation of his death was received with 
 deep regret throughout the country. In the city 
 where he had so long dwelt, every heart was 
 touched as by a sense of personal loss. His re- 
 mains were borne to the grave amid manifold 
 and touching tokens of respect, and sorrow. He 
 had filled a place all his own. He had been to 
 those that knew him what no one else, in their 
 day, could be. 
 
HEATHEN MYTHOLOGY: CORROBORATIVE 
 OR ILLUSTRATIVE OF HOLY SCRIPTURE. 
 
 I. THE CREATION. 
 
 Let us in Imagination go to the summit of some 
 alpine height, whose lofty peak looms far in misty 
 outline, on which rests the first dawn of rising sun, 
 and which receives the last ray from its ocean bed. 
 There, from some flinty rock, struck not by He- 
 brew Prophet, but by the Almighty Creator of 
 heaven and earth, wells forth a crystal spring. 
 Now it glides silently down the declivity, then 
 leaps from rock to rock, or slowly meanders 
 amidst mossy banks enamelled with many and 
 lovely flowers, blushing unseen to human eye, 
 ''wasting their sweetness on the desert air." Reach- 
 ing the valley it assumes the distinctive character 
 of a stream, and gains a name, still moving onward 
 with rapid pace, or with sluggish wave. It may 
 divide itself into separate channels, again to be 
 
1 8 Heathen Mythology : Corroborative or 
 
 united with increased volume ; other lesser streams 
 pay tribute to its majesty, and pour their liquid 
 contributions into its accumulated current. For a 
 while some such streams refuse to mingle their 
 waters, and for a distance may be distinguished 
 by their colour. The river for a time may dis- 
 appear underground, again to issue to the light 
 of day, or be held back in the expanse of inland 
 sea ; here it may issue forth with altered name and 
 character, and pent up between giant rocks ; or 
 there it may leap the mighty cataract, and surge 
 in the gigantic whirlpool underneath. Some rivers 
 are more extended in their course, and pass through 
 many kingdoms, and divers tongues are spoken on 
 their banks. Often they form provincial bounda- 
 ries, and too often in the world's eventful history 
 have their waters been crimsoned with blood in 
 cruel and often vain attempts of aggrandisement 
 or encroachment by the powerful on the territory 
 of the weak. Finally, however, let their course be 
 long or short, direct or tortuous, they all reach the 
 ocean. Some enter it with such a mass of waters 
 as in themselves form a sea ; others by several 
 mouths empty their stores into the great cistern 
 of waters. One character they have in common. 
 Their origin is on land, and their final termination 
 is sea. 
 
Illustrative of Holy Scripture. 1 9 
 
 " Time writes no wrinkle on thine azure brow. 
 Such as creation's dawn beheld, thou rollest now ; 
 ■jf ***** -j^ 
 
 Thou glorious mirror, where the Almighty's form 
 Glasses itself in tempests." 
 
 The parallel may be easily drawn in the history 
 of mankind. Men of philosophical minds, too often 
 gainsaying the holy book of Revelation, have writ- 
 ten much about several centres of creation, and 
 thereby have sought to explain the varieties of the 
 human species. But laying aside, for the moment, 
 the divine authority for the unity of race and com- 
 mon origin of humanity, there is no tradition to 
 support such crude imaginations, and all such 
 theories are exposed to far greater and more for- 
 midable objections than the simple Scripture testi- 
 mony they vainly attempt to supersede. 
 
 The common tradition in favour of unity of race 
 is supported by eminent philosophers and physiolo- 
 gists. All seeming objections, arising from variety 
 in the species, assuredly will be, if they have not 
 already been, overcome by the patient investigations 
 of the learned. By certain eminent men the diver- 
 sity of race has been supposed to have had its 
 origin at the dispersion at Babel, when the Creator, 
 not merely by the confusion of tongues, but by 
 some physical change of body, fitted the dispersed 
 tribes to dwell in different climes. This theory is 
 
20 Heathen MytJiology : Corroborative or 
 
 so far supported by the fact of humanity fainng" 
 under three great divisions, answering to the three 
 sons of Noah, whose names are held to indicate 
 white, red, and black. In like manner Sir William 
 Jones and other philologists trace all diversity of 
 languages to three distinct sources — Sanscrit, 
 Arabic, and Slavonic, or Tartarian. By a school of 
 anthropology all changes have been ascribed to the 
 gradual operation of climate and the long-continued 
 oppression by one race of other kindred races, it 
 having pleased the great Creator, doubtless for wise 
 and most benevolent purposes, to dye the skin of 
 the one with a darker tint or a yellower shade than 
 others of more favoured climes. 
 
 The traditions of mankind trace humanity up to 
 one common source from which have been derived, 
 in many streams, the nations of earth ; some for a 
 time of slender numbers and of small repute, others 
 in mighty volume; some mingled and lost with 
 other nationalities, or now progressing with the 
 slow advance of peace and anon with fearful re- 
 volutionary leap. One nation, or rather " peculiar 
 people," has alone for ages preserved its identity 
 as the " People of God " ; scattered and peeled 
 amongst the nations, it has never ceased to main- 
 tain its peculiar characteristics, and doubtless is 
 upheld as the amalgam, which in God's own time 
 
Illustrative of Holy Scripture. 2 1 
 
 is once more to render mankind one in faith as 
 they are one in blood, when there shall be 
 
 " One land, one home, one friend, one faith, one law : 
 Its Ruler, God — its practice, righteousness — 
 Its life, peace ; for the one true faith we pray : 
 There is but one in heaven, and there shall be 
 But one on earth, the same which is in heaven." 
 
 We proceed to inquire whether, in the traditions 
 of heathen mythology, there are to be found state- 
 ments in harmony with the divine record of the 
 creation and fall of man. Now these statements 
 are found in nations far remote from what may be 
 called "the land of the Bible," and in records so 
 ancient that they could not be derived from the 
 Jews or their sacred writings. As might be ex- 
 pected, they are uniformly mixed with the alloy of 
 human imperfection, distorted and disfigured ac- 
 cording to the vain imagination of fallen humanity. 
 They are not seen in the clear mirror of Scripture 
 record, but as if through the prism of man's un- 
 sanctified reason, often separating what God had 
 put together, and colouring the pure light of heaven, 
 according to the taste or fancy of His erring crea- 
 tures. How gracious in God to provide for His 
 Church and people " a sure word of prophecy" "as 
 a lamp to our feet and a light to our path." 
 
 On the primal fact of creation the Mosaic record 
 
22 Heathen Mythology : Corroborative or 
 
 is short and simple. Enough to satisfy him who, 
 by faith, is assured that " God created the worlds* 
 but leaving nothing to gratify idle curiosity or 
 encourage perplexing inquiries. Fuller in his 
 "Marvels of Science" has truthfully said, " Witl:- 
 out this history the world would be in total dark- 
 ness, not knowing whence it came, or whither it 
 goeth. In the first page of Genesis a child may 
 learn more in one hour, than all the philosophers 
 of the world learned without it, in a thousand 
 years. The Mosaic narrative, while describing the 
 grand incidents of the creation, is less a history 
 than a religions exercise, apprising us that all things 
 had a beginning, and that beginning was with God. 
 It shows us our origin and our mission, and points 
 out in precise and unmistakeable terms the debt of 
 worship, obedience, and service which we owe to 
 our Maker. The work of creation receives but a 
 cursory glance, just to set forth the supremacy of 
 its Author ; but the history of man, to whom 
 addressed, is related at large, and the various 
 epochs of his career are faithfully and carefully 
 noted. In short, the account given by Moses is a 
 lesson not in science but in religion, appealing by 
 its simple dignity to the understanding, while it 
 carries conviction to the minds of the enlightened 
 and the wise." 
 
Ilhtstrative of Holy Scripture. 23 
 
 The introductory sentence in the Bible announces 
 the great fact, " In the beginning God created the 
 heavens and the earth"; or, as it is said, the original 
 might have been better rendered, " the sit-bstance 
 of the heavens and the earth." The existence of 
 God is assumed, and that He was the Creator is 
 declared. A beginning is affirmed, but ivJien that 
 was is veiled as much as when shall be the end. 
 Then follows the simple announcement, " The earth 
 was without form and void (or rather invisible and 
 unfinished), and darkness was upon the face of the 
 deep ; and the Spirit of God moved upon the face 
 of the waters (or abyss)." 
 
 We now turn to heathen mythology, and select 
 a few from the many traditional statements of 
 Cosmogony, or the generation of the world. The 
 oldest writings extant, except Holy Scripture, are 
 fragments of the books of Sanchoniatho, who is 
 thought to have lived before the Trojan war, or 
 from ten to twelve centuries before Christ. This 
 ancient writer records the opinions of the Phoeni- 
 cians as to the creation thus — " The beginning of 
 all things was a dark and confused windy air, or a 
 breeze of thick air, and a chaos turbid and black, 
 and these were unbounded, and for a long series of 
 ages destitute of form." We next quote from 
 Berosus, who wrote from records preserved in the 
 
24 Heathen MytJiology : Corroborative or 
 
 temple of Belus at Babylon : " There was a time in 
 which there existed nothing but darkness and an 
 abyss of waters." In the Laws of Manu which 
 contain the mythology of Hindostan, it is said that 
 " The universe existed only in the first divine idea, 
 yet unexpanded, as if involved in darkness undis- 
 coverable by Reason and undiscovered by Revela- 
 tion, as if it was wholly immersed in sleep. But 
 the self-existing power, having willed to produce 
 various beings from his own divine substance, first 
 with a thought created the waters." " He framed 
 the heaven above and the earth beneath ; He gave 
 birth to time and the divisions of time, to the stars 
 also and to the planets." The following passage is 
 from the Vedas, or the four oldest books of the 
 Hindoo religion : — " The Supreme Being alone 
 existed ; afterwards there was a universal darkness; 
 now the watery ocean was produced ; then did the 
 Creator, Lord of the Universe, rise out of the ocean, 
 and successively framed the sun and moon, which 
 govern day and night, whence proceed the revolu- 
 tions of years." In Persian mythology, their god 
 Orinnzd created the world in six different intervals 
 of unequal endurance, but the whole amounting 
 exactly to a solar year; and the subjects of creation 
 in each successive period nearly coincide with the 
 Mosaic account, especially that man was made in 
 the sixth period. 
 
Illustrative of Holy Scripture. 2 5 
 
 It will be thus seen that, in all these references, 
 chaos, darkness, water, and light followed precisely 
 in the order of the Mosaic narrative. Similar ex- 
 tracts might have been given from Gothic and 
 Scandinavian traditions, and from the writings of 
 Hesiod, Aristotle, Orpheus, Plato, Ovid, and other 
 ancient authors. We cannot close these corrobora- 
 tive evidences without alluding to the wild ravings 
 of a modern school, which denies the existence of 
 a Creator, but maintains the theory of evolution, 
 thus falling far short of anything like a sensible 
 solution of difificulties. We extract a few sentences 
 from one of the most eminent leaders of the mate- 
 rialistic school — Professor Lorenz Oken of Zurich. 
 In the strange and transcendental language of 
 the Professor, " The eternal is the nothing of nature. 
 There exists nothing but nothing — nothing but the 
 eternal. God is a rotating globe. The world is 
 God rotating — the whole universe is material — is 
 nothing but matter, for it is the primary act re- 
 peating itself eternally on its centre. The universe 
 is a rotating globe of matter ; there is no dead 
 matter, it is alive through its being — through the 
 eternal that is in it. Matter has no existence in 
 itself, but it is the eternal only that exists in it. 
 Everything is God that is there, and without 
 God there is absolutely nothing. Everything 
 
26 Heathen Mythology : Corroborative or 
 
 that is, is material. Now, however, there is nothing 
 that is not, consequently there is everywhere 
 nothing immaterial." Moleschott, another of the 
 same school, writes, " Man is produced from wind 
 and ashes. The action of vegetable life called him 
 into existence. Thought consists in the motion of 
 matter ; it is a translocation of the cerebral sub- 
 stance. Without phosphorus there can be no 
 thought, and consciousness itself is nothing but an 
 attribute of matter." Czolbe, also of the mate- 
 rialistic school, describes man as being nothing 
 more than a mosaic figure made up of different 
 atoms, and mechanically combined in an elaborate 
 shape. The words of Socrates might be well 
 applied to such unmeaning language: "All is quite 
 dark and obscure by the unassisted light of nature, 
 and we never can attain to certain knowledge save 
 by a revelation from Him who cares for us." 
 
 II. DIVISION OF TIME— THE SABBATH. 
 
 In the Mosaic record each section or division of 
 time is thus announced : " And the evening and 
 the morning was the day." There need be no 
 difficulty in respect of the word " day," used as 
 language of accommodation. Let it ever be remem- 
 bered that the word is used with regard to God, 
 with whom " one day is as a thousand years, and a 
 
Illustrative of Holy Scripture. 27 
 
 thousand years as one day." As darkness preceded 
 light, the natural mode of reckoning is from dark- 
 ness to light. The Jews accordingly, in whatever 
 part of the world they are cast, observe this primeval 
 reckoning, especially with regard to their Sabbath, 
 which they reckon from sunset on the Friday night 
 until sunset on Saturday. This reckoning is not 
 confined to the Jews. It was adopted by the 
 refined Athenians, as well as the barbarous Goths 
 in the forests of Germany, and also by the Celtic 
 nations. Even with ourselves, though adopting 
 another reckoning, we use the same language, recog- 
 nising the ancient division of time. Our modern 
 reckoning from twelve o'clock noon to the same 
 hour at midnight is entirely arbitrary, and depends 
 on no natural phenomenon. On whatever hour of 
 the day we make an appointment, or convene 
 a meeting — if on the week following, we say 
 " se'night " or seven nights ; if on the second week, 
 we use the term fortnight, or fourteen nights. 
 
 A strong confirmation of the authenticity of the 
 divine record is to be found in the universality of 
 the seventh or Sabbath day. Simple is the divine 
 record, and beautiful in its simplicity. " On the 
 seventh day God ended His work which He made, 
 and He rested on the seventh day from all the work 
 which He made ; and God blessed the seventh day^ 
 
28 Heathen Mythology : Corroborative or 
 
 and sanctified it." Every other division of time is 
 regulated by celestial phenomena observable by our 
 senses. The day is marked by the alternation of 
 darkness and light, according to the diurnal rotation 
 of the earth on its axis. The month is equally re- 
 cognised by the lunar courses. Indeed, the word 
 " moon " signifies, the measure, as is still more 
 apparent in the Latin term " mejisisy The year is 
 fixed by the revolution of the earth around its 
 central orb with its succession of seasons. But the 
 seven days division depends solely on positive or 
 arbitrary law ; and it never could have entered into 
 the mind of man to invent this seventh division of 
 time. It must have come down in the stream of 
 time. " We find," writes Goguet, " the use of this 
 period among all nations without any variation in 
 the form of it. The Israelites, Assyrians, Egyptians, 
 Indians, Arabians, and all the nations of the East 
 have in all ages made use of a week consisting of 
 seven days. We find the same custom among the 
 ancient Romans, Gauls, Britons, Germans, the 
 nations of the North, and of America." From the 
 fact of the seventh epoch being the completion of 
 the great work of creation, the number seven in all 
 languages has been held to be the figure of comple- 
 tion or perfection. Not only in Scripture is it thus 
 symbolized. Hesiod declares that the "seventh day 
 
Ilhcstrative of Holy Scripture. 29 
 
 is holy." Homer writes, " Then came the seventh 
 day — that is sacred ; " and at another place, " It was 
 the seventh day, wherein all things were finished.'* 
 Linus, a Greek poet, repeats the same sentiment : 
 " The seventh day is among the best things ; the 
 seventh day is the nativity of all things ; the seventh 
 is amongst the chief; and the seventh is the perfect 
 day." Callimachus writes, " In seven all things 
 were perfected, in the starry heavens which appear 
 in their orbs throughout the rolling year." Eusebius 
 writes, " Almost all the philosophers and poets ac- 
 knowledge the seventh day as holy." Plato records 
 " the seventh day as a festival to every nation." 
 Josephus affirms, " No city of Greek or barbarians 
 can be found which does not acknowledge a seventh 
 day's rest from labour." Piazzi Smyth, the Astrono- 
 mer-Royal, has found in the Pyramids of Egypt 
 traces of a sevenfold division of time, with the 
 seventh specially marked. Even the nomenclature 
 of the heathen, still affixed to the days of the week, 
 bears evidence of the sanctity of the seventh day as 
 being set apart for the worship of their principal 
 deity — the sun. All physiologists are agreed that 
 both to man and beast occasional rest is an absolute 
 necessity, and what is required is a seventh day. 
 The lately-deceased Bianconi, who had the largest 
 stock of horses in Ireland for carriage, by resting 
 
30 HeatJien Mythology : Corroborative or 
 
 his enormous stud on Sabbaths, proved that the 
 endurance of their lives, and their fitness for labour, 
 were greatly enhanced in comparison to others who 
 refused to give their animals the same indulgence. 
 He is reported to have said, " I have always found 
 by giving my horses rest on the Sunday I have got 
 more work out of them, and saved, at least, twelve 
 per cent, at the end of the year by giving the horses 
 as well as the men a Sunday's rest." We have an 
 opposite fact. When France, under the blasting 
 influence of infidelity, worshipped Reason as God 
 in the person of a profligate woman, and wrote 
 '' No God " on its churches, and " Death an eternal 
 sleep " on its cemeteries, with blind consistency it 
 endeavoured to blot out all traces of religion by 
 substituting a tenth instead of a seventh day's rest. 
 In vain did the votaries of infidelity strive to cancel 
 this relic of paradise and antepast of heaven. Let 
 Britain read the sad result, and tremble if she dares 
 to tread the same fatal path. The reign of terror 
 ensued. Men became fiends. The fields of France 
 were steeped in blood. The Sabbath of the seventh 
 day was foremost in heralding in more peaceful 
 times. May it not still be matter of grave reflection 
 whether with regard to that fair but unhappy 
 country its disregard to the holy Sabbath, making 
 it a day of politics and pleasure, has not some con- 
 
Illustrative of Holy Scripture. 3 1 
 
 nection with its disasters from without, and dissen- 
 sions within ? Their political assembhes and 
 amusements are chiefly held on Sabbath, and 
 almost all their defeats in recent wars were 
 sustained on the Sabbath. How striking the com- 
 ment on the text, ** Him that honoureth Me I will 
 honour." We are sorry to find in our own country 
 the same practice prevailing — having mass meetings 
 on the Lord's day ; and the great cry, countenanced 
 in influential quarters^ is to have museums and all 
 public places open on Sabbaths as well as week 
 days. It is worthy of remark, that the only two 
 grand institutions which we can trace to Paradise 
 are marriage and the Sabbath. No observing 
 person can look to passing events but must remark, 
 that of all institutions these are the two which are 
 chiefly made the objects of attack by the infidel and 
 the secularist. It has been truthfully as well as 
 beautifully said, " The Sabbath is the golden clasp 
 which binds together the volume of the week." 
 
 We desire to dwell somewhat more at length on 
 the two Edenic ordinances, which have come down 
 to our time, and will assuredly endure (rudely 
 assailed though they now are) until the end of this 
 world. These are the divine institution of the 
 Sabbath and the holy ordinance of matrimony. As 
 to the latter, on marriage depends the growth and 
 
32 HeatJien Mythology : Corroborative or 
 
 prosperity of nations with their moral and spiritual 
 wellbeing. It is gradually passing from the sphere of 
 a sacred and religions ceremony into a mere civil 
 contract. No longer is the intention " or purpose 
 of marriage " solemnly proclaimed in the house of 
 prayer, in time of public worship. A mere notice is 
 given on a street-board in the same way as all 
 manner of soft and hard goods are exposed for sale 
 by public roup, or intimation made of dogs being 
 lost and found. Instead of the ceremony being 
 celebrated in church, as uniformly required in Eng- 
 land (and by the Directory of public worship, equally 
 required in Scotland), it may now be performed 
 at any time and at any place. Indeed, the cere- 
 mony may be transacted by the parties themselves 
 without the interference of minister or magistrate. 
 No longer is it viewed as a divi^ie and religions 
 ordinance whereby the parties become one, united 
 in every interest until death parts them. It is not 
 now the maxim, " What therefore God hath joined 
 together let not man put asunder." The marriage 
 union is viewed somewhat in the light of a mercan- 
 tile partnership, or joint-adventure, or as forming a 
 connection of master (or it may be mistress) and 
 servant. The forbidden degrees announced in Holy 
 Writ are scoffed at and endeavoured to be set aside 
 by Act of Parliament. Not being married in tJic 
 
Illustrative of Holy Scripture. 33 
 
 Lord, and without a divine blessing on the union, 
 what sad results follow ! We cannot read our 
 daily newspapers without mournfully perusing 
 accounts of wife-beating, and often wife-murder. 
 Desertions and elopements of one or other of the 
 spouses and neglect of their offspring are only too 
 frequent occurrences. Not long ago an Act of Parlia- 
 ment was requisite in England to obtain a divorce 
 which was only within the reach of the rich. Now, a 
 court in England has been instituted for divorce 
 cases. In Scotland we read of the vastly increasing 
 number of divorce suits in our Court of Session, in 
 which all ranks and classes of society are included. 
 It has nearly come to this, that a man may, as in 
 ancient times, give a bill of divorcement to his wife 
 and put her away. So, too, children say to their aged 
 parents, ** Corban, it is a gift by whatsoever thou 
 mightest be profited by me." Instead, as in ages gone 
 by, of children being proud to venerate and support 
 their aged parents, they frequently cast them on the 
 cold mercies of the Poor-Law^ Board, and leave them 
 to terminate their days within the walls of a poors- 
 house. 
 
 On the Sabbath question a united attack is now 
 made on that holy day, and we regret to discover 
 in the ranks of the foemen those calling themselves 
 
 Christians — nay, Christian ministers. In all large 
 
 c 
 
34 Heathen Mythology : Corroborative or 
 
 towns numerous shops are open, and trafific 
 proceeds as on secular days. Political and mass 
 meetings are held on that blessed day of rest. 
 Already in our streets on the Lord's day youths, 
 and men too, are engaged in the gambols and 
 sports of the week. Not long since in Glasgow 
 a body of police making a foray on a party playing 
 foot-ball in the public green, and capturing the 
 object of play, found to their horror that it was 
 a human skull. It could not have been its fitness 
 for the sport, as it wanted elasticity. It seemed to 
 show their derision of death, and mockery alike of 
 mortality and immortality. The present movement 
 is not for the opening of mission-churches and halls, 
 but for the opening of museums, libraries, picture- 
 galleries, and gardens. The plea for this inroad on 
 the Sabbath is to raise the taste of the masses. It 
 is easy to see that those who would frequent these 
 resorts are men whose tastes are already refined, 
 and who can and do visit them any week day. 
 Nothing but the Gospel can raise mankind from 
 sin and misery and uplift them to the higher sphere 
 of intellectual, moral, and spiritual culture. Should 
 the movers succeed in their limited attempts to 
 secularize the hours of the Sabbath, we must 
 expect, at no distant period, the opening of the 
 theatre, circus, and dancing-saloon inevitably to 
 
Illustrative of Holy Scripture. 35 
 
 follow. These will be more attractive to the masses, 
 and assuredly will tend more to degrade than to 
 elevate the population. Large meetings of the 
 anti-Sabbatarians have been lately held. At a 
 meeting in Glasgow, numbering some thousands, 
 an eminent scientific professor had the hardihood to 
 deny that Christ is the '* Lord of the Sabbath." He 
 announced, without contradiction, that man is 
 '' Lord of the Sabbath," and so may change it to the 
 Monday or abolish it altogether if he choose. 
 
 We are not of the number who view the Sabbath 
 as a day of gloom only to be celebrated by a solemn 
 dirge. It is a day of peaceful joy^ because it pro- 
 claims " Christ is risen." It is a day of rest from 
 zvorldly employments, but a day of work of the 
 highest enjoyment. The true Christian, instead of 
 finding it a weariness, finds it pass too swiftly, and 
 that he has not gained time for all the sacred and 
 spiritual work he desired to have accomplished. 
 
 One word to the sons of toil and labour: — Listen 
 not to the siren strains of those who would rob you 
 of your Sabbath under pretence of being your 
 friends. Depend upon it they will give you a stone 
 for bread and a serpent iox ^Jish. If they succeed, it 
 will be that seven days' work will be exacted for six 
 days' wage. It will be worse than Egyptian bond- 
 age. The tale of bricks will be demanded, but the 
 
36 Heathen Mythology : Corroboi'aiive or 
 
 straw wherewith to burn them will be denied, and 
 the labourers left to provide fuel for themselves. 
 Bishop Bickerseith has beautifully and truthfully 
 remarked, " There is but a step between the never 
 hearing a Sabbath -bell, or never entering a church, 
 or never joining in public worship, and being con- 
 firmed in irreligion." Another author has well 
 observed, '' The Sabbath is God's special gift to the 
 working man, and one of its chief objects is to pro- 
 long his life and preserve efficient his working tone. 
 It replenishes the spirit, the elasticity, and vigour 
 which the last six days' work have drained away, 
 and supplies the force which is to fill the six days 
 succeeding, and in economy of existence it answers 
 the same purpose as, in the economy of income, is 
 answered by a savings bank. The savings bank 
 of man's existence is the weekly Sabbath." Another 
 author has said, ''He who forgetteth the Sabbath of 
 the Lord is on the highway to forget the Lord of 
 the Sabbath." Just as prayer maketh a man give 
 over sinning, so sinning makes a man give over 
 praying. Philip Henry well remarked, " Oh, if a 
 well-spent Sabbath be not heaven, it is assuredly 
 the way to it." Old Herbert has beautifully as 
 well as truthfully written — 
 
 " O day, most calm, most bright ! 
 The fruit of this, the next world's bud, 
 
IlliLstrative of Holy Scripture. 37 
 
 The indorsement of supreme delight, 
 Writ by a friend, and with his blood, 
 The couch of time, care's calm and bay, 
 The week were dark but for thy light ; 
 Thy torch doth show the way." 
 
 III. THE GARDEN OF EDEN. 
 
 The Mosaic record states very briefly that man 
 was made " after the image of God " — a holy and 
 happy being. Every previous act of creation was 
 attributed simply to God. Before the future ten- 
 ant of the fair creation is made, a divine council 
 is held, and " God said. Let us make man in our 
 image." Each act of creative power is summed 
 up with the divine approval, " God saw that it was 
 goodr But when the final one was completed 
 the superlative is added, " And God saw every 
 thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very 
 good." 
 
 Then it is recorded, " The Lord God planted a 
 garden eastward in Eden ; and there He put the man 
 whom He had formed," " to dress it and keep it." 
 It thus seems that man was not formed in Eden, 
 but put or placed therein to test his obedience. 
 God then pronounced to him as the simple rule of 
 life, " Of every tree of the garden thou mayest 
 freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good 
 
38 Heathen Mythology : Corroborative or 
 
 and evil, thou shalt not eat of it ; for in the day 
 that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." The 
 restriction is evidence at once of the sovereignty of 
 the Creator, and the free will and responsibility of 
 the creature. The Scripture proceeds to record, 
 that man, deceived by the devil embodied in the 
 serpent, violated the commandment, forfeited his 
 high destiny, incurred the penalty of death at once 
 spiritual and corporeal, and was therefore " sent 
 forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground 
 from whence he was taken." But, at the same 
 time, there was given the promise of redemption, in 
 that " the seed of the woman should bruise the 
 head of the serpent (or devil)." We are led to the 
 belief that this the first promise of the Saviour was 
 fully made known to the original pair. This is 
 shown by the early sacrificial lamb offered by 
 Abel, and the declarations of Scripture, that Christ 
 Jesus was '* the lamb slain from the foundation of 
 the world." 
 
 All nations of antiquity have a tradition of a 
 golden age, followed by one called the iron age. 
 Berosus represents the life-blood of Divinity to 
 have been incorporated into the body of the first 
 man ; and he adds, " On this account it is that 
 mankind are rational and partake of divine know- 
 ledge." The Hindoo mythology represents that 
 
Illustrative of Holy Scripture. 39 
 
 ''God having divided His own substance, His 
 mighty power became half-male and half-female." 
 Adim, according to Sir William Jones, In San- 
 scrit means "the first." The Persians give the 
 name Adamah to the first man. Sale states 
 that this word In Persian means "red earth," 
 which forms a singular coincidence with the Mo- 
 saic record that man was made from the earth, 
 and that at death " he was to return to the 
 ground, for out of it was he taken : for dust he 
 was, and unto dust should he return." Indeed, 
 our own English words " human " and " humanity " 
 have the same analogy from JmimiSy the ground. 
 The like root Is found in the name Esau and Edom. 
 The sacred record of man's origin — both cor- 
 poreally, or from the dust, and spiritually — is re- 
 concilable with reason. " And the Lord God 
 formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed 
 into his nostrils the breath of life ; and man became 
 a living soiiW Fearfully and wonderfully was 
 man formed. The spiritual essence came directly 
 and Immediately from God. So, too, Jesus, before 
 He left this earth, " breathed on the disciples, and 
 said, Receive ye the Holy Ghost." The truth is 
 shown In the common language of every nation, 
 and in our own vocabulary In such words as 
 "Inspire," " expire," " inspiration," and such like. 
 
40 HcatJicn Mythology : Corroborative or 
 
 How defiant of reason, and how repugnant to all 
 authority or tradition, the wild speculations of the 
 development scheme, which traces creation to the 
 whirl of atoms in space, and man, in his origin, to 
 the molluscs or sponges — reaching the penult stage 
 in the monkey and gorilla, and which refers all 
 mental efforts to the action of phosphorus, similar 
 to the ignis fatuus, or " will of the wisp," of the 
 marsh. 
 
 The garden of Eden finds place in the traditions 
 of all ancient nations. Subsequent portions of 
 Scripture bear immutable evidence of a garden or 
 grove having been the original seat of man. "Abra- 
 ham planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there 
 on the name of the Lord the everlasting God." In 
 progress of time, however, as shown by the same 
 traditions, heathen nations planted groves, and 
 made them the temples of false gods, and scenes of 
 cruel rites. Hence the oft-repeated commands to 
 cut down the groves of the vanquished nations. 
 The Jews were commanded " not to plant a grove 
 of any trees near unto the altar of the Lord their 
 God." The prophets repeatedly denounce the 
 grove worship of the Gentile nations. Isaiah 
 especially is very pronounced on this — " They shall 
 be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and 
 ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have 
 
Illustrative of Holy Scripture. 41 
 
 chosen." With a very obvious allusion to Eden, 
 the prophet speaks of those " who sanctify them- 
 selves and purify themselves in the gardens behind 
 one tree in the midst!' Strabo, the heathen his- 
 torian, records that " all sacred places, even where 
 no trees were to be seen, were nevertheless called 
 groves." Hence the " Academic grove." Indeed, 
 light and grove have a common parentage — hence 
 the saying, '' Luciis a non lucendol' interpreted to 
 mean " light from darkness," though strictly mean- 
 ing " the grove without light." Arab legends dis- 
 course of a garden in the east, on the summit of a 
 mountain of Jacinth, inaccessible to man — a garden 
 of rich soil and equable temperature, well watered, 
 and abounding with trees and flowers of rare 
 colours and fragrance. There is a Hindoo tradition 
 that " in the middle of the seven continents of the 
 Puranas is the golden mountain of Meru, which 
 stands like the seed-cup of the lotus of the earth. 
 On its summit is the vast city of Brahma, renowned 
 in heaven and encircled by the Ganges, which, 
 issuing from the foot of Vishnu, washes the lunar 
 .orb, and falling thence from the skies, is divided 
 into four streams that flow to the four corners of 
 the earth. In this abode of Divinity is the grove 
 of Inda ; there, too, is the JanibiL tree, from whose 
 fruits are fed the waters of the Jambu river, which 
 
42 HcatJien Mythology : Corroborative or 
 
 gives life and immortality to all that drink thereof." 
 The Chinese have a tradition of " an enchanted 
 garden on the summit of a high chain of mountains 
 farther north than the Himalaya. The fountain of 
 immortality, which waters these gardens, is divided 
 \nio four streams — the fountains of the great spirit 
 Tychin." The Zend books mention a region called 
 Heden, and the place of Zoroaster's birth is called 
 Hedenesh. The four rivers in two of these tradi- 
 tions form a very striking coincidence to the four 
 rivers mentioned in the Mosaic account, and one of 
 which is still known in the east, and again appears 
 in the last portion of Holy Scripture. The purpose 
 of this strange mention of river names may have 
 been intended to show that the place of probation 
 was on earth, and not, as was once supposed, that 
 man like the apostate angels had been cast out 
 from heaven. The Bible students cannot but be 
 led to the description of heaven in the Apocalypse, 
 with " its pure river of water of life, and on either 
 side the tree of life, which bare all manner of fruits; 
 and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the 
 nations." 
 
 Philostratus mentions that there was a Phoe- 
 nician colony at Cadiz, where there was a beau- 
 tiful garden, in which were two peculiar trees. 
 No female was allowed to enter that garden, be- 
 
Illtistrative of Holy Scripture. 43 
 
 cause of some tradition that with her sex was the 
 origin of evil. It had a temple guarded by lions, 
 and three altars to Poverty, Manual Labour, and to 
 Hercules or the Saviour. The garden of the Hesper- 
 ides is a beautiful illustration of the Mosaic record. 
 That garden was said to have been surrounded by 
 high mountains, and could only be entered by the 
 Son of the High God. The golden apples, which 
 hung on a mysterious tree, were guarded by a 
 nymph, with the aid of a Dragon or Serpent. 
 Hercules, the deliverer, killed the Serpent, and 
 carried away the apples, but not without the aid of 
 Atlas, who was fabled to bear the heavens on his 
 shoulders. Hercules sent Atlas to bring the apples, 
 and in the meantime undertook the task of sup- 
 porting the heavens. A group of ancient statu- 
 ary recovered from Rome represents a tree with 
 rich fruit hanging thereon, and a serpent inter- 
 twined among the branches, and Hercules seated 
 under them between two nymphs. 
 
 Our own country still has the traces of grove- 
 worship in the Druldlcal circles. These temples 
 were surrounded by thick groves where human 
 sacrifices were offered in the vain attempts to ex- 
 piate sin. The very name Druid is derived from 
 the oak ; and the mistletoe, so essential to Christ- 
 mas festivities, is a parasite of the oak. The 
 
44 HeatJieii AfytJiology : Corroborative or 
 
 Christmas tree proclaims the ancient belief that 
 man's fall and restoration were intimately connected 
 with a tree, which in its latter view bestows varied 
 gifts on man. When Christianity superseded the 
 rites of the grove-worship there were not wanting 
 memorials of these on Gothic architecture. The 
 cathedral with its lofty roof, its gigantic pillars, 
 leafy capitals, interlaced windows, admitting "a dim 
 religious light," are all reminiscences of the ancient 
 grove. 
 
 A very striking tradition of the creation and fall 
 of man is given by J. G. Kohl in " Kitchi-Gami, or 
 Wanderings around Lake Superior," translated in 
 i860. He mentions the following singular tradi- 
 tions amongst the Red Indians : — " The first man 
 and woman were placed in a garden rich with all 
 manner of fruit. They ate, and lived there for days 
 and years in pleasure and happiness : and the 
 Great Spirit often came to them, and conversed 
 with them. * One thing,' He said, ' I warn you 
 against. Come hither. See, this tree in the middle 
 of the garden is not good. In a short time this 
 tree will blossom and bear fruits which look very 
 fine and taste very sweet, but do not eat of them, 
 for if you do so you will die.' One day, however, 
 when the woman went walking: in the garden she 
 heard a very kindly and sweet voice say to her, 
 
Ilhisirative of Holy Scripture. 45 
 
 ' Why dost thou not eat of this beautiful fruit ? It 
 tastes splendidly.' She resisted for some time. 
 The voice was repeated. The fruit smelled 
 pleasantly, and the woman licked it a little. At 
 length she swallowed it entirely, and felt as if 
 drunk. When her husband came to her soon after 
 she persuaded him also to eat of it. He did so, 
 and also felt as if drunk. But this scarce had 
 happened ere the silver scales with which their 
 bodies had been covered fell off ; only twenty of 
 these scales remained on, but lost all their brilliancy 
 — ten on the fingers, and ten on the toes. They 
 saw tJiemselves to be quite jmcovered, and began to 
 be asJiained^ and witJidrezv Jiurriedly into the bushes 
 of the garden!' 
 
 THE FORBIDDEN TREE OR FRUIT. 
 
 There is a wide-spread tradition, existing in most 
 countries, to the effect that it was an apple which 
 was the object of temptation and the occasion of 
 the fall of man. Indeed, there are some who have 
 persisted in alleging that Scripture itself declares 
 that very fact.^ There are certainly strange hints 
 in common language of some such authorized re- 
 ference to this peculiar fruit. " The apple of dis- 
 
 ^ It is somewhat remarkable that the Romans should have 
 a word for '■^ apple " and ^^ evif'' not greatly unlike. 
 
46 Heathen Mythology : Corroborative or 
 
 cord " is a well-known phrase. The " apples of 
 Sodom," which find place in Holy Writ, and are 
 not unknown in Syria, are received tokens of sin 
 and vanity. Anatomists as a class may not always 
 have been under the influence of Scripture, yet from 
 all antiquity a certain protuberance on the throat 
 has received from them the name of " Poimtm 
 Adarnil' or the Apple of Adam, as if the deceptive 
 fruit had been difficult for our first parents to 
 swallow. In the valuable collection of hierogly- 
 phics published by the Egyptian Society, and 
 edited by Dr. Thomas Young, there is a facsimile 
 of a tablet found in the Temple of Osiris at Philae, 
 which must have been of an age anterior to the era 
 of Abraham, and therefore long before the publica- 
 tion of the Pentateuch or books of Moses. On this 
 tablet there is represented the whole scene of the 
 temptation and fall. The tree is exhibited — the 
 man and woman stand by, with the fruit in their 
 hands — the serpent erect and winged, and not as 
 now on its belly. Above the tree is the unmistak- 
 able word " The Pomegranate." The beauty of 
 this fruit may be inferred, from the description 
 given in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, which could 
 have been written with no theological tendency. 
 " The Granatnni or common pomegranate rises 
 with a tree stem, branching numerously all the 
 
Illustrative of Holy Scripture. 47 
 
 way from the bottom, growing eighteen or twenty 
 feet high, with spear-shaped, narrow, opposite leaves, 
 and the branches terminated by most beatttifiil^ 
 large red flowers, succeeded by large, rounded 
 fruit as big as an orange, having a hard rind filled 
 with soft pulp and numerous seeds." Dr, Thom- 
 son, in his admirable volume " The Land and the 
 Book," in describing the pomegranate, says, " The 
 fruit is as sweet to the taste, as it is pleasant to the 
 eye." There could not have been a more direct 
 and yet undesigned reference to the description 
 given in Genesis of the fruit' of the tree of know- 
 ledge of good and evil — " good for food and plea- 
 sant to the eyes." One remarkable fact is, that 
 both the ball-shaped flowers and the fruit are of 
 a blood-red colour, so much so, that it was used by 
 the ancients to dye scarlet, and even in modern 
 times it gives the tinge to morocco leather. The 
 Egyptians used the pomegranate as an essential 
 in their funeral rites. The most remarkable fact 
 is the oft-repeated reference to the pomegranate in 
 Scripture imagery, as well as its actual place in the 
 Temple furniture and the priestlygarments. Even in 
 the wilderness, where the tree had no place, Moses 
 was commanded to frame the golden candlestick 
 as an emblem of the Church of the future. It was 
 surrounded with knops and flowers. "A knop, 
 
48 Heathen Mythology : Corroborative or 
 
 under two branches of the same " — this repeated 
 three times — ''according to the six branches going 
 out of it, their knops and their branches were of 
 the same ; all of it was of one beaten work of pure 
 gold." It is agreed, that the knops were pome- 
 granates. Then, when ancient Israel had fixed 
 their dwelling in the Land of Promise, and the 
 Temple was erected and richly furnished, the 
 chains which ornamented the two great pillars 
 had one hundred pomegranates ; and four hun- 
 dred pomegranates were interwoven with the 
 wreaths which surrounded the chapiters of the 
 pillars. So with the robe of the priesthood. "The 
 robe of the ephod was to be all blue (the emblem 
 of purity from the vault of heaven), and beneath, 
 upon the hem of the robe, the command was to 
 have pomegranates of blue and of purple, and of 
 scarlet round about the hem thereof, and bells of 
 gold between them round about — a golden bell 
 and a pomegranate — a golden bell and a pome- 
 granate upon the hem of the robe round about." 
 These may have been a fitting forecast or type 
 of sin and salvation — the fall and recovery — Para- 
 dise lost and Paradise regained. If the apple and 
 pomegranate have thus been received popularly as 
 emblems of the fall and consequent sin, so equall}- 
 have people acknowledged flowers and bells to be 
 
Illustrative of Holy Scripture. 49 
 
 tokens of salvation and of the resurrection. Bells 
 have ever been in use to call people to the House 
 and worship of God, and flowers were often the 
 burden of prophecy and the theme of our Re- 
 deemer, and still are in many churches made use 
 of for decorations. Bells have, in the cause of 
 superstition, been consecrated and baptised. So 
 flowers are invariably received as tokens of the 
 resurrection, and are frequently strewn on the 
 coffins and graves of the departed. 
 
 Dr. Mason states that the Karens, inhabiting the 
 mountains and valleys of the interior of Burmah, 
 have traditions of the Creation, the temptation, the 
 fall, and the dispersion of nations, both in prose and 
 verse nearly identical with the narrative given in 
 the Bible. We give a portion bearing on the section 
 of which we are now treating. " In ancient times 
 God created the world. All things were minutely 
 ordered by Him. He appointed the fruit of trial. 
 He gave minute orders. Satan deceived two per- 
 sons. He caused them to eat of the fruit of trial. 
 When they ate the fruit of trial, they became subject 
 to sickness, old age, and death. Had they obeyed 
 and believed God, we should not have been sub- 
 jected to sickness; we should have prospered in our 
 doings. Had they obeyed and believed Him we 
 should not have been poor." 
 
50 Heathen Mythology : Corroborative or 
 
 The Scripture student cannot but notice the 
 coincidence of the temptation offered successfully 
 to our first parents, and again, but unsuccessfully, 
 by the same Tempter to the second Adam. Both 
 were threefold — " good for food, pleasant to the 
 eyes, and to make one wise." " The lust of the 
 flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" 
 (i John ii. 1 6). In the case of our divine Redeemer 
 these were presented separately and much more 
 intensified, and under circumstances where resist- 
 ance seemed likely to be much less strong than in 
 the case of our first parents. The grant was most 
 ample — " Of eve^y tree of the garden thou mayest 
 freely eat." The restriction was the slightest — but 
 guarded by most express sanction of death. " But 
 of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou 
 shall not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest 
 thereof thou shalt surely die." It is well to remark 
 the seductive art of the Tempter. His words were 
 not at the first a denial of the restrictive grant, but 
 merely a question of curiosity to induce doubt. The 
 woman, in listening to the voice of the Seducer, 
 gave the opportunity. She artfully restricted the 
 grant by striking out the words ''every'' and ^'freely \' 
 and as mankind still are doing, she increased and 
 intensified the restriction by adding the words, 
 ''neither shall j^^ toiceh it,'' and instead of the posi- 
 
Illustrative of Holy Scripture, 5 1 
 
 tive penalty, "thou shall surely die," the penalty is 
 modified into the probable, still clung to by many 
 in modern times, " lest ye die." The Tempter, em 
 boldened by the tokens of success, at once assumes 
 the character of " liar from the beginning, and father 
 of it," by the bold assertion, " ye shall not surely 
 die." 
 
 THE SERPENT. 
 
 The Serpent, in ancient as well as in modern times, 
 has been held as having some intimate and mysteri- 
 ous connection with the introduction of sin into the 
 world and the fall of man. The animal is repeatedly 
 noticed in Scripture as the arch enemy of God and 
 man— >the old Serpent. God appearing in the 
 burning bush first sealed the commission to Moses 
 by his rod being transformed into a serpent, and 
 re-transformed to the rod, which afterwards was 
 the symbol of power in dealing with Pharaoh, and 
 which was still made use of by the modern necro- 
 mancer. The same miracle was the first wrought 
 by Moses before the haughty monarch of Egypt, 
 but which his magicians (Jannes and Jambres 
 amongst the chief) were enabled by some mysteri- 
 ous agency to imitate. Serpents were sent as the 
 instruments of punishment on the idolatrous Israel- 
 ites in the wilderness, whilst, at the same time, an 
 
52 Heathen Mythology : Corroborative or 
 
 image was held up as the object of recovery through 
 faith, and by the Redeemer shown to be typical of 
 Himself. "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in 
 the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be 
 lifted up." The very symbol, in after times, was, in 
 its turn, made by the Israelites an object of idolatrous 
 worship. The brief account of the fall sets forth that 
 " the serpent was more subtile than any beast of 
 the field which the Lord God had made." Our 
 divine Redeemer gives the animal as the emblem 
 of wisdom. A power was given to the apostles to 
 overcome serpents, and, in exercise of that power, 
 the apostle to the Gentiles in Melita or Malta, with 
 ease threw the viper which had fastened on his 
 hand into the fire. In heathen eyes he was at once 
 raised from being suspected as a murderer to the 
 character of a god. So, when we turn to heathen 
 mythology and tradition, we find the serpent con- 
 tinually introduced. The Egyptians made it an 
 object of worship, whilst with other ancient nations, 
 it was held as the type of the evil principle. In 
 some of the tablets in the temple of Osiris in Egypt, 
 there are frequent representations of serpents. 
 Captain Eraser thus describes a tablet found on one 
 of the tombs of the kings in ancient Thebes : " Eve 
 stands in parley with a serpent, and next to her 
 stands a god with a sharp arrow piercing a serpent's 
 
Ilhistrative of Holy Scripture. 5 3 
 
 head." In another tablet, copied by Sir Gardiner 
 Wilkinson, is a woman who thus pierces the head 
 of the serpent. In ancient mythology Bacchus was 
 worshipped as the first planter of trees and gardens. 
 On his festivals his image was placed on a car 
 drawn by lions, leopards, and other beasts of prey, 
 in obvious allusion to the original subjection of all 
 animals to the supremacy of man. The attendants 
 were accustomed to carry serpents, and to shout in 
 jubilation, " Evoe ! Evoe P' In the temple of Apollo 
 at Delphi every seventh day was a festival in which 
 the priests chanted a hymn in honour of the serpent. 
 In the temple of Belus at Babylon there was an 
 image of the goddess Rhea, and near her were very 
 large serpents in silver, thirty talents each in weight ; 
 and an image of Juno, holding in her right hand 
 the head of a serpent. Mercury, the messenger of 
 the gods, had two serpents entwined around his 
 caduceus or wand, ^sculapius, the god of physic, 
 had a staff which a serpent embraced, and that 
 animal is still the armorial sign of the medical 
 profession. The three Furies, whose duty it was to 
 scourge the wicked, had snakes twisted in their 
 hair. Serpent- worship existed in the religion of 
 the Persians and Brahmins. The dragon is the 
 standard of the Chinese, and the same honour is 
 given to that animal in Japan. The coins of ancient 
 
54 Heathen Mythology : Corroborative or 
 
 Tyre have the same effigy. The serpent had a 
 place in Druidical worship, and has been found in 
 the Indian idolatry of Central America. In every 
 country there are found legends of mighty serpents 
 with deeds of bloody cruelty, and places are still 
 marked as dragons' caves and dragons' dens. The 
 Church records prove, that on certain days people 
 were wont to visit such places, and to propitiate the 
 supposed being who held mysterious power in the 
 district. So, too, some of our most noble families 
 have traditions of being ennobled because of their 
 slaying some dragon, the terror of the vicinity. 
 Saint George of England won his spurs and his 
 saintship by the slaughter of a mighty dragon. 
 We must observe that the animal, as now seen, is 
 under the curse, eating dust and moving on its 
 belly. It is said by scholars that the words Seraph, 
 Serpent, and Satan all own the same root, denoting 
 that they are winged creatures, and so the serpent 
 may have been at the time of the temptation. It 
 is to be presumed that the arch enemy of man 
 would for a time assume the form most suitable by 
 its beauty for the purpose of seduction. The ser- 
 pent is above all animals now hated, shunned and 
 destroyed by man. Concealed in herbage (the 
 " snake in the grass ") the heel of man is the object 
 of its venomous attack, while the life of the animal 
 
Illustrative of Holy Scripture. 5 5 
 
 seems to be In its head, which is the object of man's 
 attack in destroying his assailant. It is undoubted 
 that the animal possesses some mysterious mesmeric 
 power, which has at some distance an influence 
 through its eyes to bring birds within its grasp. 
 Scripture refers to serpent-charmers. These are 
 well known in India, and by the power of music 
 bring serpents from their holes, and by some 
 mysterious power grasp and capture them in the 
 manner that the rat-catcher prosecutes his calling 
 in other regions. A returned missionary from 
 India has narrated, that on one occasion, when a 
 party was assembled, a little child was left to enjoy 
 itself on the floor of the bungalow. The mother's 
 attention became directed to her infant playing 
 with some object projecting from the wall of reeds. 
 The mother, on approaching her child, was terrified 
 to find the little one playing with the head of a 
 large deadly cobra, whose body was concealed 
 within the reedy wall. A more apt illustration of 
 the sacred text could scarcely be found than such 
 an incident, illustrative of Gospel times, when 
 " the sucking child shall play on the hole of the 
 asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the 
 cockatrice's den " (Isaiah xi. 8). 
 
S6 HeatJien Mythology : Corroborative or 
 
 THE CREATION AS EXEMPLIFIED IN THE GREEK 
 AND LATIN CLASSICS. 
 
 Hitherto we have selected traces of traditions 
 relative to creation, existing amongst ancient and 
 uncivilized nations, far distant from what is known 
 as the " land of the Bible." We now gather the 
 like traces from the classics of the more modern 
 and civilized nations of Greece and Rome. It is 
 often noticed, that Palestine, in respect of its cen- 
 tral situation, was admirably suited for sounding 
 throughout all the earth the glad tidings of gospel 
 salvation. The Old Testament record was en- 
 trusted to the Jews, and their language was one 
 little familiar to others ; but situated as they 
 were in so advantageous a position between the eas- 
 tern and western hemispheres, there can be little 
 question that they became the instruments of 
 divulging the sacred truths first intrusted to them 
 as to the creation of this globe, and of man, its 
 temporary occupant. Perhaps, for the like end, 
 the captivities of the Israelites were designed by 
 the Almighty for still farther carrying truth into 
 distant parts of the earth. It cannot be supposed, 
 but that Daniel and his companions left their impress 
 on the people of Babylon, and that all were made 
 to feel that God was with them, and the only true 
 
Illustrative of Holy Scripture. 57 
 
 God. Still more, when under the wonderful coun- 
 sels of Providence, the Hebrew books, hitherto 
 much of a sealed record, were in Egypt translated 
 into Greek — then the most common language in 
 the world — the learned of all nations eagerly 
 sought to enrich themselves with the ample stores 
 of history, to be found nowhere else. The Sep- 
 tuagint, translated from the Hebrew about 280 
 years before the birth of our Saviour, helped in 
 many ways to make known His advent.^ It was 
 from such information that the wise men of the east 
 learned the time of the birth of Him who was to 
 be the Saviour of the world, and also the region 
 of His birth. It may be here remarked, that 
 such facts as that of Greek being the adopted ver- 
 sion of the New Testament, and the derisive in- 
 scription over the Cross of Jesus being set forth 
 in three languages, as well as the miracle of 
 tongues on the day of Pentecost, appear to pro- 
 claim that the gospel was no longer confined 
 to the Jews, but was for " all people that on 
 earth did dwell." It is not to be wondered at, 
 therefore, that the learned men of Greece and 
 
 ^ The translation received the name of Septuagint because, 
 according to a wide-spread tradition, seventy-two learned 
 men were said to have been engaged on the translation from 
 Hebrew to Greek. 
 
58 Heathen My tJiology : Con-oborative or 
 
 Rome eagerly sought out the salient points of 
 the Mosaic record, and worked them up with their 
 debased mythology, and their multitudinous deities, 
 whose names, like that of the Evil One himself, 
 were legion. Their number indeed was so great, 
 that there was a division into superior and inferior, 
 and the latter were so numerous that they had to 
 be classified into divisions. Orpheus reckoned the 
 number of superior deities alone at 365. But 
 Varro enumerated 300 Inferiors, and Hesiod com- 
 puted 30,000 deities hovering above the earth in 
 the air. Paul thought it not unworthy of his 
 noble argument on Mars Hill, to quote, from the 
 hymn of Cleanthes to Jupiter, evidence that their 
 own poets confessed that man was made in the 
 image of God. The ease with which men were 
 made to pass from the region of the terrestrial 
 into that of the celestial, is seen by the barbarians 
 of Melita (Malta), when they viewed Paul at one 
 moment as a murderer, but in the next looked 
 upon him as a God; or when Paul and Barnabas 
 were at Lystra, the people, because of the miracle 
 done on the cripple, " lifted up their voices, saying, 
 ' The gods are come down to us in the likeness 
 of men;' and they called Barnabas Jupiter, and 
 Paul Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker. 
 Then the priest of Jupiter brought oxen and gar- 
 
Illustrative of Holy Scripture. 59 
 
 lands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice 
 with the people." Scholars have remarked, that 
 the 4th eclogue of Virgil to Pollio, is a literal 
 translation of various passages of Isaiah. 
 
 The Supreme God, by the ancients, was held to 
 be " father of gods and men " ; by the Greeks 
 called Zeus (God) ; by the Romans Jupiter. It 
 is worthy of remark, that the proper name Jupiter 
 appears incapable of regular declension, and crops 
 out in the genitive as jfovis, a direct recognition 
 of the Hebrew Jehovah. The Greeks recognised 
 three divinities united into one Supreme God. 
 Thus both the Greeks and Romans gave appel- 
 lations to the Supreme Deity, answering very 
 nearly to the attributes ascribed in Scripture to 
 the .true God — especially " Optimus Maximus " — 
 the Best and Most High. "Jupiter Tonans " or 
 the thunderer, was his prerogative and favourite 
 appellation, hence a thunderbolt or flint stone were 
 the symbols of his power. In the words of Job, 
 " God directeth His voice under the whole heaven,, 
 and His lightning into the ends of the earth. 
 After it a voice roareth : He thundereth with the 
 voice of His excellency ; and He will not stay 
 them when His voice is heard. God thundereth 
 marvellously with His voice; great things doeth He 
 which we cannot comprehend." In both Greece 
 
6o Heathen Mythology : Corroborative or 
 
 and Rome, Jupiter was represented as "determin- 
 ing the course of all human affairs." He foresaw 
 the future, and the events happening in it were the 
 results of his will (Smith's Classical Dictionary). 
 As Lord of heaven, white was his colour, white 
 animals were sacrificed to him, white horses drew 
 his chariot, and his priests were arrayed in white. 
 
 Pandora bears a very remarkable likeness to 
 mother Eve. She was supposed in the classic age 
 to be \\\Q first woman on earth. When Prometheus 
 had stolen fire from heaven, Zeus, in revenge, caused 
 his son Vulcan, the god of fire, " to make a woman 
 out of earth, who by her charms and beauty should 
 bring misery upon the human race. One god 
 adorned her with beauty, another bestowed upon 
 her boldness and cunning, and so she was called 
 Pandora, or ' the All-gifted,' as each of the gods 
 had given her some power by which she was to 
 work the ruin of man " (Smith). She became the 
 wife of Prometheus. In his house there was a 
 closed jar or box, which he by Zeus was forbidden 
 to open ; " but the curiosity of woman could not 
 resist the temptation to know its contents, and 
 when she opened the lid, all the evils incidental to 
 humanity poured out and spread over the earth. 
 She had only time to shut down the lid and prevent 
 the escape of HopeT There can be no better 
 
Illustrative of Holy Scripture. 6 1 
 
 recognition of the fall of man than this with its 
 accompanying- woes, but still with the hope of sal- 
 vation, to be accomplished by the seed of the woman 
 in the fulness of time. Vulcan, the god of fire, and 
 of smiths, obviously has its root from Tubal Cain, 
 omitting the first syllable and changing the b into a 
 V, not uncommon in ancient languages, and thus we 
 have the Scripture name. So too, Achilles, invul- 
 nerable all but the heel, because held by his mother 
 when plunged into the river Lethe, in order to 
 render him proof against all weapons of warfare. 
 We shall only add amongst many other recogni- 
 tions of Scripture in the Roman Pantheon, some 
 slight allusion to Hercules, by the classics supposed 
 to be the saviour of man. Hercules being the son 
 of Zeus or Jupiter, consequently was the Son of God. 
 On the day of his birth, his father boasted of his 
 becoming the father of a hero who was to rule over 
 the nations. A hostile god sent two serpents to the 
 cradle of the child to destroy him, but with his 
 infant hand he strangled both. The twelve labours of 
 this imaginary deity are often recognised in classic 
 pages, and amongst these are the destruction of a lion, 
 the hydra, and many other monsters. The purifica- 
 tion of the Augean stables, or rather byres, with the 
 accumulated filth of 3000 oxen for 30 years, by 
 diverting a river to sweep them clean, is one of his 
 
62 Heathen Mythology : Corroborative or 
 
 greatest achievements. This allusion would almost 
 lead to the conclusion, that much of the character 
 of this imaginary divinity was founded on portions 
 of the prophecy of Isaiah, foretelling the glory of 
 gospel times. The strangest part in his drama of 
 life is, that having by an enemy been poisoned by 
 a garment which stuck to his skin and exposed him 
 to excruciating pain, he voluntarily laid himself on 
 a pile of wood and desired it to be set on fire. 
 ''When the pile was burning, a cloud came down 
 from heaven, and amid peals of thunder, carried him 
 to Olympus, where he was honoured with immor- 
 tality " (Smith). Were it not undoubted that these 
 delusions were received and embalmed in poetry, 
 long before the advent of our Redeemer, they might 
 have been supposed to have been written after His 
 advent and ascension. Infidel writers have been 
 anxious to convert the book of Isaiah from pro- 
 phecy into history, and to assign its date, at least 
 the date of the later portion, to a recent period. 
 But there is, in any case, ascertained evidence of 
 the Evangelical prophet having written his book 
 centuries before the birth of the Redeemer. 
 
 Before leaving this' section dealing with the Crea- 
 tion, we may shortly notice some evidence derived 
 from the signs of the Zodiac and the constellations. 
 So much did this appear, that Volney and Dupuis, 
 
Illustrative of Holy Scripture. 6^ 
 
 two leading French Infidels, while acknowledging 
 the fact, argued that mankind had taken their 
 theology from the starry vault of the firmament, 
 and not that the firmament was the impress of 
 revealed theology. It is not surprising that in early 
 ages, when written records were unknown or scanty, 
 mankind should symbolize great truths in the 
 canopy of the heavens. So in the words of the 
 Psalmist, " The heavens declare the glory of God, 
 and the firmament shezveth His handiwork ; day 
 unto day tUtereth speech, and night unto night 
 shezveth knowledge. There is no speech nor language 
 where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone 
 out through all the earth, and their zvords to the end 
 of the world." Accordingly, in the Book of Job, 
 the most ancient portion of the Bible, there is a 
 distinct recognition of constellations, by the very 
 names under which they are known in modern 
 astronomy. The Pyramids of Egypt bear unmis- 
 takeable evidence of astronomical science in the 
 world's early youth. The Chinese and other nations 
 have distinct records of eclipses and comets, remote 
 in pre-historic times. The stars which form a con- 
 stellation do not at once give the figure, but require 
 lines to be drawn from one star to another, thus 
 grouping them together. Libra is thus made to 
 symbolize the justice of God. Scorpio is death. 
 
64 Heathen Mythology : Corroborative or 
 
 Sagittarms represents the conqueror of death in 
 the figure of Scorpio. Hercules, or the Saviour, is 
 represented as treading on a dragon's head. Capri- 
 cor?ms represents the sacrificial goat. Aquarius is 
 the symbol of the Holy Ghost poured out as water. 
 Pisces, the fishes, has always been the symbol of the 
 Church. Similar symbols may be found in the 
 blessings of Jacob on his twelve sons, as recorded in 
 the 49th chapter of Genesis, especially Leo in the 
 Lion of the tribe of Judah. Virgo has often been 
 recognised as a wonderful symbol of the Christian 
 creed. Though prostrate on the ground, her high 
 estate is shown by her having wings. She holds in 
 one hand ears of corn, emblems of the chosen seed ; 
 in the other hand she raises the palm of future 
 victory. 
 
 There is an apparent solemn, yet delightful 
 analogy between Paradise lost and Paradise re- 
 gained, for thus saith the Scriptures, " By one man 
 (the first Adam) sin entered into the world, and 
 death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for 
 that all have sinned. For as by one man's dis- 
 obedience many were made sinners, so as by the 
 obedience of one (the second Adam) shall many be 
 made righteous." Our high estate was lost in a 
 garden, Eden. It was mainly regained in a garden, 
 Gethsernane. A tree was the chief instrument of 
 
Illustrative of Holy Scj'lptiire. 65 
 
 the loss — the tree of good and evil. A tree was 
 the chief centre of salvation — the cross of Christ 
 At the crucifixion the serpent — the devil — was 
 permitted for a time to bruise the heel of the seed 
 of the woman, but, blessed be God, Jesus forever 
 bruised the head of the enemy of God and man. 
 The earth had been cursed for man's original sin, 
 " thorns and thistles " did it thereafter yield ; but 
 even the earth seemed saved from the curse, thorns 
 being made the crown of our Redeemer. It was, 
 indeed, by sinful men placed in derision, but by 
 God it was the palm of victory over sin and death. 
 The river, issuing from Paradise parted into four 
 streams to water the earth. In the new earth there 
 is one river, " the pure river of the water of life, 
 clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of 
 God and of the Lamb." In Eden there was only 
 one tree of life, with but another, the tree of know- 
 ledge of good and evil ; but in the heavenly para- 
 dise there is no tree of knowledge of good and evil, 
 for evil is unknown, and temptation has no 
 longer power. The only knowledge is to know 
 Christ, whom to know is life eternal. In the 
 new Jerusalem there is symbolized in the midst 
 of the street, and on either side of the river, 
 the tree of life, which bore twelve manner of 
 fruits, and yielded her fruit every month, and 
 
66 Heathen MytJwlogy : Corroborative or 
 
 the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the 
 
 nations. 
 
 " A fairer Paradise is founded now 
 For Adam, and his chosen sons, whom thou 
 A Saviour art come down to reinstall 
 Where they shall dwell secure, when time shall be 
 Of tempter and temptation without fear." '^ 
 
 So sung Milton, but still more graphically did 
 Pollok sing in his " Course of Time," Book 11. : — 
 
 " Man sinned ; tempted, he ate the guarded tree, 
 Audacious, unbelieving, proud, ungrateful, 
 He ate the interdicted fruit, and fell ; 
 And in his fall, the universal race ; 
 For they in him by delegation were, 
 In him to stand or fall, to live or die. 
 
 " That Jesus, Son of God, of Mary born 
 In Bethlehem, and by Pilate crucified 
 On Calvary, for man thus fallen and lost, 
 Died ; and, by death, life and salvation bought, 
 And perfect righteousness, for all who should 
 In His great name believe. 
 
 " To God, to Him that sits upon the throne 
 On high, and to the Lamb, sing honour, sing 
 Dominion, glory, blessing sing, and praise ! 
 When man had fallen, was ruined, hopeless, lost, 
 Messiah, Prince of Peace, Eternal King, 
 Died, that the dead might live, the lost be saved." 
 ^ " Paradise Regained," Book IV., 613-617. 
 
Ilhisti'ative of Holy Scripture. 6/ 
 
 THE DELUGE. 
 
 The drama of this eventful world may appropri- 
 ately be divided into three stupendous acts. The 
 first terminated with the deluge. The only authen- 
 tic record of this is to be briefly found in three 
 chapters of Genesis. With the deluge the curtain 
 rises on the second stage of the world's existence. 
 Mankind was again limited to a single family, from 
 which source were to flow out anew the diversified 
 nations of the earth. With Ararat commenced the 
 second great epoch of humanity, and it closed with 
 the scene of Gethsemane and Calvary. The passage 
 from the first to the second exhibits a stupendous 
 display of divine justice, yet mingled with mercy to 
 the faithful few. The transition to the third has 
 still the element of justice, but far surpassing that 
 is the wondrous proclamation of love and mercy to 
 sinful and fallen man, at once fulfilling and magni- 
 fying the law and making it honourable. We are 
 all actors in this the final scene of the world's 
 history. We are assured that it shall likewise 
 terminate. The curtain shall finally descend to 
 rise on a new and better because a perfectly holy 
 world, without termination, " world without end." 
 The wJien may be guessed, but with the wise 
 characteristic of Scripture prophecy the exact date 
 
6S Heathen MytJwlogy : Corroborative or 
 
 has been, and is likely ever to be, matter of doubt 
 and dispute. The ancient advice is still a sound 
 one, that would-be prophets should protract the 
 fulfilment of their vaticinations beyond the likely 
 period of their own lives, lest they live to experience 
 the foolish rashness of their soothsaying. Our natal 
 day is to us the genesis of the world, and our death 
 its doom. Our last day is to us the last of time, in 
 which our connection with this fleeting world is for 
 ever dissevered. 
 
 " Trust no future, howe'er pleasant ; 
 Let the dead past bury its dead. 
 Act — act in the living preseiit, 
 Heart within and God o'erhead." 
 
 As might reasonably be expected, the traditions 
 of the deluge are found to be more minute and 
 widely difl"used than those of the creation of the 
 world and the fall of man. The account of the 
 Edenic expulsion must have come down from sire 
 to son until it reached the little crew of the ark. 
 The longevity of the antediluvian race rendered the 
 links in the chain of communication few in number. 
 We are apt greatly to miscalculate the number of 
 generations between two points of ancient history. 
 Ask any man suddenly how many generations 
 existed between the creation and the deluge ; or 
 again, from that event till the birth of Christ ; and 
 
Illustrative of Holy Scripture. 6g 
 
 once more, from that blessed event till the present 
 time ; or from any historic event in the world's 
 history until to-day ; — it is likely that the person 
 so asked unintentionally will give a far greater num- 
 ber than on severer thought will be found to be 
 the fact. We especially are apt to measure the 
 term of man's existence in antediluvian times 
 by the limited threescore and ten, the span of life 
 in later ages. The long term of life allotted to the 
 antediluvians may have been designed to afford 
 easy transmission of facts, before their reduction 
 into written records, as well as to advance the plan 
 of the Almighty of multiplying the human race. 
 It, however, affords sad evidence that long life, if 
 not spent in holiness and the service of God, 
 becomes a curse instead of a blessing. We have 
 the fact that there was but one link between Adam 
 and Noah and his sons. Methuselah was a con- 
 temporary of Adam for many years, and of Noah 
 for a nearly equal number. The traditions of the 
 fall came down to Moses through only six persons 
 — Methuselah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, and 
 Amram. Illustrative of the erroneous measure of 
 time often assumed we may give some modern 
 instances. Some few years ago there was a well- 
 known citizen in Glasgow, aged 88, known from his 
 writings as to ancient Glasgow by the name of 
 
70 HeatJieji Mythology : Corroborative or 
 
 Senex. His fellow-citizens invited him to a banquet, 
 and it was noticed in the public papers at the time, 
 that if his ancestors, who were a long-lived race, 
 had severally attained his age, the twenty-second of 
 the upward series must have been in life before the 
 Christian era. So it may be mentioned that the 
 writer of this paper, when himself a boy, has often 
 conversed with persons who remembered in their 
 childhood the rebellion of 1745. He, when a boy, 
 knew an aged man, then a highly-respected iron- 
 monger in Glasgow, who, when an apprentice smith, 
 was compelled, in 1736, to use a sledge-hammer to 
 break open the door of the Heart of Mid-Lothian 
 or Edinburgh Jail, that Captain Porteous might 
 meet his doom at the hands of the murderous and 
 mysterious mob. From his participation in the riot 
 the young lad had to leave Edinburgh and there- 
 after make Glasgow his abode. 
 
 It may be well to notice that Scripture frequently 
 ' makes reference to numerous records now regarded 
 as unnecessary since the sure word of prophecy has 
 been given in its entirety and integrity. There are 
 upwards of twenty references to books and records 
 now lost or unknown, though we are not without 
 hope that through the researches now in progress 
 in the east, some vestiges of these may be found. 
 Thus the fifth chapter of Genesis clearly refers to a 
 
Illustrative of Holy Scripture. 71 
 
 prior record commencing '' This is the Book of the 
 generations of Adam." Indeed, some eminent 
 biblical scholars, from internal evidence, are of 
 opinion that the first four chapters of Genesis were 
 the work of Adam or Seth. There is the radical 
 change of the name of the Almighty from God to 
 the Lord God. In the same way the narrative of 
 the deluge may first have been recorded by Noah 
 himself, or Shem, and repeated by Moses. The 
 oft-repeated " these are the generations " point in 
 that direction. These suppositions receive no small 
 corroboration from precise quotations given by Jude 
 of the prophecies of Enoch, the seventh from Adam. 
 Whether language was a divine gift of God or of 
 human invention, it cannot but be believed that 
 mankind, at an early age, acquired the art of 
 recording passing events. We find that there were 
 instructors of '* every artificer in brass and iron," 
 and in "handling the harp and organ," and even 
 the art of poetry is found in the lament or dirge of 
 Lamech. We can scarcely suppose but that some 
 mode of perpetuating events must have existed 
 before the deluge. 
 
 Before entering into the fertile field of heathen 
 traditions, it may be well to notice how frequently 
 the great fact of the deluge is referred to in Scrip- 
 ture itself. Our belief in this, therefore, does not 
 
/^ 
 
 Heathen Mythology : Corroborative or 
 
 rest solely on the brief account given by Moses. It 
 is once referred to by Isaiah (chapter liv. verse 9), 
 twice by Ezekiel (chapter xiv. verses 14 and 20). 
 Our Divine Redeenaer recognises the fact on two 
 occasions (Matthew xxiv. verses 37-39, Luke xvii. 
 26, 27) ; the Apostle Peter refers to it three times ; 
 and Paul, or the inspired author of the Epistle to 
 the Hebrews, once (chapter xi. 7). 
 
 So many and so various are the references to the 
 deluge in the traditions of nations, that, amongst 
 the multitude, it is difficult to select. We shall 
 commence with the Pantheon, or the Deities of 
 ancient nations. It is apparent that the chief 
 origin of idolatry Avas hero-worship. Men who 
 had long and wisely filled a principal place in the 
 history of a people were naturally, in the estima- 
 tion of their fellow-countrymen, supposed to be 
 alive in some semi-exalted state of being, still in- 
 terested, and with greater power to operate, in the 
 matters they had left behind. So, on the interces- 
 sion of their former countrymen, they were sup- 
 posed to exercise power to protect and regulate 
 the affairs of kingdoms. In this way we are 
 enabled to trace the person of Noah amongst the 
 Deities of antiquity. He appears as Osiris, Ty- 
 phon, Bacchus, Saturn, Uranus, Deucalion, Minos, 
 Janus. These rank in the first or chief class of 
 
Illustrative of Holy Scripture. 73 
 
 Divinities, and that among nations far distant the 
 one from the other aUke in space on the world's 
 surface as in the tide of history. 
 
 Osiris, the chief God of ancient Egypt, was so 
 named as " the many-eyed^ His symbol was an 
 eye and a sceptre, emblems of omniscience and 
 omnipotence. TypJion was represented as having 
 formed an ark or coffer of beautiful workmanship. 
 He invited Osiris to enter — Typhon shut him in 
 and threw the ark on the sea, but it was cast ashore 
 by the waves. Bacchus^ when attacked by his ene- 
 mies, took refuge on the sea, where, according to 
 some traditions, he was miraculously preserved by 
 a Sea Deity, but, according to other traditions, his 
 life was preserved in an ark. He afterwards 
 taught men to cultivate the vine, the leaves of 
 which always form the chaplet of his image. He 
 also educated men to manufacture the juice of the 
 grape, which would have been well, had it ranked 
 amongst the unknown or lost arts, as truly then 
 "ignorance would have been bliss." Sattirn and 
 his wife Rhea were born on the ocean. Hence a 
 ship has ever been his symbol. He is also repre- 
 sented as the common parent of mankind. He 
 had three sons, Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto, 
 amongst whom was divided the earth. To Jupiter 
 was assigned the land, to Neptune the sea, and to 
 
74 Heathen Mythology : Corroborative or 
 
 Pluto the region of the lost. The Egyptians styled 
 one of his sons Ammon, who it was said made his 
 old father drunk with honey mead, and in that 
 state bound and mutilated him. Scripture readers 
 will here recognise the reference to the mysterious 
 deed of the father of Canaan. Deticalion was pre- 
 served in an ark, from which he sent out a dove to 
 discover if the waters had abated. 
 
 The recognition of the fact of the Deluge is to 
 be found in the names, rites, and temples of the 
 Pagan world. The Temple of Osiris was at TJieba, 
 or TJiebes, in Egypt. Theba is the Hebrew name 
 for ark. In the religious ceremonies of this deity, 
 a ship formed the prominent object, and was car- 
 ried about in religious processions. From Her- 
 culaneum there has been recovered a picture of a 
 female carrying on her shoulders a square box of 
 a remarkable shape. The word denoting ark oc- 
 curs frequently in ancient classics — either as CJielos 
 — Kibotiis — Area — Larnax. It is remarkable that 
 in Scripture the word rendered ark in the sixth 
 chapter of Genesis, only occurs once again, in 
 recording the ark of bulrushes which hid the 
 infant Moses, who was to be the deliverer of 
 his people. In the sacking of Troy, Eurypylus 
 had an ark, which contained the image of Bacchus. 
 On attempting to look into the secret chest he was 
 
Illustrative of Holy Scripttcre. 7 5 
 
 struck blind. An obvious reference to the people 
 of Bethshemesh for a like impious curiosity. There 
 is extant an ancient coin struck in the reign of 
 Philip the Elder, in the city of Apamea, in Phrygia, 
 which anciently was called Kibotiis or the ark. 
 On the reverse is represented a square machine 
 floating on water, and inside a man and woman. 
 Two birds are seen, one has in its bill a small 
 branch of a tree, underneath there are three Greek 
 letters, N O E. Though this has by some scholars 
 been disputed, yet Faber, Home, and Taylor agree 
 in the letters. 
 
 We proceed to select passages from ancient hea- 
 then writers regarding the Deluge. The earliest 
 record extant is the Chaldean, copied by Berosus 
 from the archives of the Temple of Belus at Baby- 
 lon. He writes — " Chronus appeared to Xionthius 
 in a vision, and warned him that upon the fifteenth 
 day of the month Dsecius there would be a flood 
 by which mankind would be destroyed. He en- 
 joined him to build a vessel and take with him 
 into it his friends and relations, and everything 
 necessary to sustain life, together with the difl'erent 
 animals, both birds and quadrupeds, and trust him- 
 self fearlessly to the deep. After the flood had 
 been upon the earth and was in time abated, he 
 sent out birds from the vessel, which, not finding 
 
76 Heathen MytJiology : Corroborative or 
 
 any food nor any place whereupon they might rest 
 their feet, returned to him again. After an inter- 
 val of some days he sent them forth a second time^ 
 and they now returned with their feet tinged wnth 
 mud. He made a trial a third time with these 
 birds, but they returned to him no more, from 
 whence he judged that the surface of the earth 
 had appeared above the waters." 
 
 Our next quotation is abridged from Lucian, an 
 ancient Greek writer — "This generation, and the 
 present race of men were not the first, for all these 
 of that former generation perished. But these are 
 of a second race, which increased from a single 
 person, named Deucalion, to its present multitude. 
 The men were of a violent and ferocious temper^ 
 and guilty of every sort of lawlessness, therefore a 
 great calamity befel them. The earth suddenly 
 poured forth a vast body of water, heavy torrents 
 of rain descended, the rivers overflowed their banks, 
 and the sea rose above its ordinary level, until the 
 whole world was inundated, and all that were in it 
 perished. In the midst of the general destruction 
 Deucalion alone was left to another generation on 
 account of his extraordinary wisdom and piety. 
 Now this preservation was thus effected. He 
 caused his sons and their wives to enter into a 
 large ark which he had provided, and afterwards 
 
Illustrative of Holy Scripture. 77 
 
 went into it himself. But while he was embarking, 
 swine, and horses, and lions, and serpents, and all 
 other animals that live upon the face of the earth, 
 came to him in pairs. These he took in with him, 
 and they injured him not, but on the contrary the 
 greatest harmony subsisted between them through 
 the influence of the Deity. Then they all sailed 
 together in one ark so long as the water prevailed." 
 
 In one of the sacred books of the Parsees there 
 is the following passage — " The world having been 
 corrupted by Ahriman, the Evil One, it was 
 necessary to bring over it a universal flow of 
 waters, that all impurity might be washed away. 
 Accordingly the rain came down, in drops as large 
 as the head of a bull, until the earth was wholly 
 covered, and all the creatures of the evil one 
 perished, and then the flood gradually subsided ; 
 and first the mountains,and next the plains appeared 
 once more." Similar passages have been trans- 
 lated by Sir William Jones from the first Purana 
 or sacred book of Hindostan. The ancient records 
 of China have the like allusion to a great catas- 
 trophe, wherein it is said, " The earth fell to pieces, 
 and the waters enclosed within its bosom burst 
 forth with violence and overflowed it." 
 
 On this section of our subject we add passages 
 from Ovid, the Roman poet, who died in the 17th 
 
y8 Heathen Mythology : Corroborative or 
 
 year of the Christian era. He describes the flood 
 at great length, as sent by Jupiter in vengeance on 
 a wicked race. He describes the ruin caused by 
 the waters in these words : — 
 
 " The bearded corn beneath the burden bends, 
 Despondent clowns deplore their perished grain, 
 And the long labours of the year are vain." 
 
 The escape of Deucalion is thus recorded : — 
 
 " A mountain of stupendous height there stands 
 Between the Athenian and Boeotian lands, 
 The bound of fruitful fields, while fields they were, 
 But then a field of waters did appear ; 
 High on the summit of this dubious cliff 
 Deucalion wafting moved his little skiff ; 
 He with his wife were only left behind, 
 Of perished man, they two of human kind. 
 The most upright of mortal man was He, 
 The most sincere and holy woman She." 
 
 We have given several traditions, collected from 
 many ancient nations, in corroboration of the brief 
 Scripture record of the deluge or flood. The most 
 cogent of .all is of recent discovery, and amounts to 
 something like an actual record rather than tradi- 
 tion, and recorded many centuries before the era of 
 Moses. It has been matter of thankfulness, that 
 when men of eminence vainly seek to attack the 
 divine record with '' science, falsely so-called," the 
 
Illustrative of Holy Scripture. 79 
 
 Divine Author of the Word has in mercy opened up 
 a rich and almost inexhaustible store-house of cor- 
 roborative evidence of pre-historic facts. Nineveh 
 and other ancient cities have been disentombed 
 from their slumber of ages, and disclose new and 
 irresistible proofs of the facts briefly recorded in the 
 divine page. The statement we are about to make 
 as to a record of the flood was some time ago first 
 announced to a large public meeting of the Bible 
 Archaeological Society held in London. The dis- 
 tinguished Sir Henry Rawlinson was in the chair^ 
 and men of the greatest eminence in philosophy 
 and science formed the audience. The Essayist 
 was the profound antiquarian, the lately deceased 
 Dr. George Smith of the British Museum. His 
 subject was " On a Cuneiform inscription describing 
 the Deluge." The lecturer, in the course of exam- 
 ining many tablets brought from Nineveh, Avith 
 great labour and pains, from their fragmentary 
 nature, and the difficulty in deciphering them, at 
 length discovered a full though distorted record of 
 the Flood. There have been a vast number of 
 tablets or cylinders discovered in the ruins of the 
 Royal Palace in Nineveh, and amongst the number, 
 though somewhat mutilated, was a record of the 
 Deluge. It was obvious from many allusions, that 
 some of these records were not originals, but 
 
8o HeatJien Mythology: Corroborative or 
 
 " squeczesl' or transcripts of still more ancient 
 tablets. Occasionally the copyist has remarked, 
 " Here the original is defective." The lecturer, 
 with others skilled in such lore, had come to the 
 decided conclusion that the originals were of a date 
 coeval with Noah, and probably had been written 
 by himself, or under his direction, during the 350 
 years of his life, after the Flood. In Genesis x. 10, 
 we read of the city of Eroch — by Ptolemy it is 
 called Orchse, and now is known as Warka. It 
 undoubtedly owed its erection to Nimrod, who 
 flourished 2,000 years before Christ, or 4,000 years 
 ago. Between Nineveh and Eroch, in the days of 
 their greatness, there must have been much inter- 
 course. The Royal Library of Nineveh, it is 
 thought, possessed no fewer than 20,000 of these 
 ancient records engraved on tablets of baked clay. 
 These tablets are fortunately of a much more 
 enduring material than ancient manuscripts or 
 modern books. In the opinion of those best able 
 and entitled to judge, several of them are held 
 to be reprints of more ancient records. If the 
 Nineveh record be taken as the date, we have 
 evidence of the great event of the deluge recorded 
 upwards of 3,000 years ago. Or if we go back, as 
 eminent archaeologists declare we are entitled to 
 do, then not less than forty centuries have passed 
 
IllusU'ative of Holy Scripture. 8 1 
 
 in the world's history since the fact was originally 
 recorded on those tablets. Dr. George Smith, 
 aided by other eminent archaeologists, has with 
 great labour first put in entirety the broken frag- 
 ments of tablets and then deciphered these ancient 
 records. It is obvious that the task has been faith- 
 fully performed, but it is also apparent that in the 
 copy a difficulty had been found even by the 
 Nineveh transcribers, and still more by Dr. Smith 
 and his compeers. It will thus appear that sen- 
 tences are not completed, and chasms are left in 
 their structure. It is also shown that even in the 
 early era of Nineveh the mythology of the heathen 
 had to some extent forced itself into history. We 
 must therefore acknowledge with gratitude to God, 
 that at a later period of time, under divine guidance, 
 Moses gave for all time a ** sure word," without 
 unnecessary details, but enough to record the 
 salient points of the great event, its object, and 
 results. 
 
 As to the general outline of the details of the 
 history as obtained from these broken cylinders or 
 tablets, it is recorded in detached sentences — ist, 
 That the Gods spake to a man and said, " Make a 
 great ship for thee and I will destroy the sinners 
 and life." — 2nd, That " He was to cause to go in 
 the seed of all life to preserve them. — 3rd, '' The 
 
82 Heathen MytJwlogy : Corroborative or 
 
 vessel was to be 600 cubits in length, 60 cubits in 
 breadth and height." — 4th, "He was to pour bitumen 
 over the outside and inside." — 5th, " He fixed an 
 altar for offering — oxen were slaughtered." — 6th, 
 " All my male and female servants, the beasts of 
 the field and the animals of the field, I caused them 
 to go up." — 7th, A flood came in the night ; " I will 
 cause it to rain heavily from heaven." " I entered 
 into the midst of the ship and shut the door." "A 
 storm arose from the horizon of heaven extending 
 and wide." " It thundered, we went over moun- 
 tains and plains, the flood reached the heaven. 
 Bright earth was to a waste turned, all life was 
 destroyed: brother saw not brother." — 8th, On "the 
 sevetitJi day was a calm, the storm and all the 
 tempest quieted. The sea He caused to dry, and 
 the tempest ended. The whole of mankind like 
 reeds, — their corpses floated. I opened the window 
 and the light broke in. I sat still and over my 
 refuge came peace." — 9th, " To the country of Niser 
 went the ship, the mountain of Niser stopped it. 
 On the sevcntJi day I sent forth a Dove and it left 
 and went, and a resting-place it did not find, and 
 it returned." I sent forth a swallow, and it left but 
 returned. I sent forth a raven and it left. The 
 corpses it saw and did eat, and swam and wandered 
 away. I sent forth the animals to the four winds. 
 
Illustrative of Holy Scripture. Z'i^ 
 
 I poured out a libation, I built an altar on the peak 
 of the mountain. — lOth, " When His judgment was 
 accomplished, Bel went up to the ship. He took my 
 hand and brought me out. He caused to bring my 
 wife to my side. He purified the country. He 
 established in a coveftant, and took the people." — 
 I ith, " He said the cry of the man alarms — this do, 
 this scarlet cloth place on his head, and the day he 
 ascended the sides of the ship, his wife placed the 
 scarlet cloth on his head." 
 
 After the essayist had given other numerous 
 extracts from the records, of which the preceding 
 are only a few, he proceeded to show how far these 
 coincided with, or disagreed from, or were supple- 
 mentary to, the brief but sacred record given in 
 Genesis. The records agree — ist, That the sinful- 
 ness of man was great. — 2nd, That the flood was 
 sent as a punishment for sin. — 3rd, That a man or 
 a family were saved in a ship. — 4th, That the man 
 was directed to construct the vessel according to 
 measurements. — 5th, That it had only one door and 
 one window. — 6th, That it was pitched without and 
 within. — 7th, The seventh or Sabbath day was 
 recognised. — 8th, The ship rested on a mountain. — 
 9th, Birds were sent out to discover if the waters were 
 abated. — loth. An altar and sacrifices were estab- 
 lished in the ark, and again, on being delivered 
 
84 Heathen Mythology : Corroborative or 
 
 therefrom, — facts not recorded in the sacred volume, 
 but extremely probable. — nth, A covenant was 
 made on the delivery. There are several remark- 
 able incidents introduced in the tables which do 
 not appear in Genesis, such as the saved few setting 
 up stones in commemoration of the awful judgment, 
 which very likely had reference to the tower of 
 Babel. The scarlet cloth, typical of the blood of 
 atonement, is a remarkable feature in the tables, 
 especially when it is again found as the token of 
 safety to Rahab, the saved of Jericho, from destruc- 
 tion in a future age. There are some minor dis- 
 crepancies between the human and divine records, 
 but which only tend to show how speedily tradition 
 becomes vitiated, and the natural inclination of 
 humanity to exaggerate and distort events, to suit 
 its proud and vain imaginations. 
 
 The essayist closed his observations with remark- 
 ing that " This account of the Deluge opened a new 
 field of inquiry, on the early part of the Bible 
 History. The Cuneiform inscriptions are now 
 shedding new light on many questions, and supply- 
 ing material which future scholars have to work 
 out. It would be a mistake to suppose that, with 
 the translation and commentary on an inscription 
 like this, the matter is ended. Beneath the mounds 
 and ruined cities of Chaldea, now awaiting explora- 
 
Illustrative of Holy Scripture. 85 
 
 tion, lie, together with older copies of this Deluge 
 text, other legends and histories of the earliest 
 civilization of the world." 
 
 The chairman (Sir Henry Rawlinson) guaranteed 
 " the accuracy of Dr. Smith's translations. He 
 wished to explain to the meeting, that, although 
 the tablets found in the ruins of Nineveh dated only 
 from the age of Sardanapalus in the 8th or 7th 
 century before Christ, yet they were copies of much 
 more ancient documents." 
 
 Mr. Gladstone (Premier) made a speech of great 
 weight. In moving a vote of thanks to Dr. Smith 
 he remarked, " We are like children with an enor- 
 mous pattern map broken up into a thousand pieces, 
 in which the ingenuity and learning of men like 
 your President, and Vice-President, and the gentle- 
 men here to-night, by degrees, ascertain the proper 
 spot for this or that particular fragment, then after 
 a time another is added to the first discovered, and 
 so we go on point by point, until at last, I believe, 
 the result will be that we shall be permitted to 
 know a great deal more than our forefathers have 
 known, with respect to the early history of mankind, 
 and perhaps the most interesting and the most 
 important of all portions of the various history of our 
 race, with reference to the weighty interests which 
 are involved either for science or even for religion." 
 
S6 Heathen MytJiology : CofToboraiive or 
 
 Attention may here be called to an unfinished 
 paper in a number of the " Life and Work " 
 magazine. It is from the pen of the late Dr. Robert 
 Jamieson, of Glasgow. That distinguished clergy- 
 man had long devoted his time and talents to 
 Oriental studies. In this fragment, so far, Dr. 
 Jamieson narrates the successful labours of Dr. 
 George Smith, but unfortunately death prevented 
 Dr. Jamieson from completing his treatise. He 
 argues that the date of the broken Monhush 
 tablet is at least 2,000 years before the birth of our 
 Redeemer, and that has been ascertained to be a 
 fragment of a Chaldean account of the Deluge. 
 
 There are two questions connected with the 
 deluge which have long been the subject of dispute 
 amongst eminent scholars, and which, so far from 
 being yet satisfactorily settled, we believe never in 
 time will be solved. The first question is, whether 
 the deluge ^m^.'s, partial, and limited to some eastern 
 section of the world, or whether it was general, en- 
 circling the whole of the terrestrial globe t The 
 second question is the particular mode of operation, 
 whether general or partial, by which the flood was 
 produced 1 It will be admitted that the solution 
 of either question is nowise essential to divine 
 revelation — the grand and sole object of which is 
 man's salvation through a Redeemer. It must ever 
 
IlliLstrative of Holy Scripture. 8/ 
 
 be recollected that the Bible was not given to teach 
 science, or any other department of mere human 
 knowledge. We have formerly quoted the words 
 of an eminent author — " That the narratives given 
 by Moses are lessons not in science but in religion 
 — less a history than a religions exercise!' The 
 Archbishop of York, in his Bampton lectures, ob- 
 served that " in religion God has given us truths 
 not to satisfy our reason but to guide our practice!' 
 The late Professor Crawford, speaking of the mys- 
 teries of revelation, well observed " that the system, 
 like the constitution and course of nature, is a 
 scheme imperfectly comprehended by us, and con- 
 sequently that some things contained in it may 
 seem to our limited minds not easily reconciled, 
 but which, did we more thoroughly know, might be 
 found to be perfectly consistent with the divine 
 perfections." 
 
 All we have to learn from the divine record is 
 \!i\(^ fact of the deluge, be it general or partial. The 
 fact remains the same in either way, and is likewise 
 wholly independent of its mode of operation. The 
 frequent use in the Scripture record of the deluge, 
 as well as in its other historical details, of the well- 
 known figure of speech {syfiecdoche),wh.QVQ the whole 
 is taken for a part, and general terms are made use 
 of, merely to denote the greatness of particulars, is 
 
S8 Heathen Mythology : Corroborative or 
 
 readily admitted. Taking the end and object of the 
 event, there can be no reasonable doubt that the 
 means would be commensurate with the end ; j^et, 
 as with all the works of the Almighty, without any 
 waste of power or work of supererogation. Un- 
 necessary expenditure and complexity of power is 
 often characteristic of man. Simplicity and economy 
 are characteristic of all the works of God. If, 
 then, the sinful race of man were at that early age 
 of humanity co-extensive with the world, we would 
 with all humility consider the deluge to be equally 
 co-extensive, so as to effect its object. But if the 
 range of the sinful population were circumscribed, 
 so might the remedy be equally limited, and in 
 either way the truthfulness of the divine record be 
 wholly undisturbed. In support of the general 
 theory we have such distinguished scholars as Drs. 
 Hamilton and Edwards, of America, and our own 
 painstaking Kitto. The theory was also latterly 
 and very ably advocated by the late Dr. Manson of 
 Perth. On the other hand, for a partial d^^Xw^^ we 
 have such distinguished men as Poole, Stillingfleet, 
 Pye Smith, and Hugh Miller. The question is 
 curious, but little for edification, and considering 
 that the deluge was miractdous, it is futile to 
 attempt to explain the miracle on natural principles 
 or laws ; and it will be found much less difficult to 
 
IlliLstrative of Holy Scripture . 89 
 
 conceive of the waters extending over the whole 
 circumference of the globe than covering a limited 
 area. The fact of birds of the air being part of 
 the consignment lends an argument to the uni- 
 versality of the flood. It is somewhat remarkable 
 that the only two birds named are the raven and 
 the dove, which are of the most common kind 
 throughout the world. With reference to the 
 second question many ingenious theories have 
 been invented as to the mode of operation ; but, as 
 has been said, being a miracle, the ordinary laws 
 of nature are superseded. The Christian will be 
 content with the beautiful simplicity of the Scrip- 
 ture narrative. " The fountains of the great deep 
 were broken up, and the windows (or rather the 
 floodgates) of heaven were opened." The balance 
 of the liquid element and the division made on 
 the second great day or epoch of creation, when 
 God '' divided the waters which were under the 
 firmament from the waters which were above the 
 firmament," were thus disturbed. He once more, 
 as at the dawn of creation, caused that the earth 
 should " become void, and the Spirit of God moved 
 upon the face of the waters." 
 
 A critical objection has been urged as to the ade- 
 quacy of the ark to contain, together with food, for 
 so long a period so great a variety of animals as 
 
90 Heathen Mythology : Corroborative or 
 
 are found throughout the world. We are very apt 
 to form a too limited idea of the size of the ark 
 and too great a conception of the number of its in- 
 mates. It must have been with some purpose that 
 the exact proportions of the vessel are recorded. 
 Dr. Hales, by a minute calculation, has proved that 
 the ark was no less than 42,413 tons burden, which 
 on calculation would carry 20,000 men. We are 
 also apt to overrate the number of animals necessary 
 to replenish the earth. The words of Scripture 
 clearly distinguish between the genera or species — 
 *' fowls after their kind, and cattle after their kin d 
 and every creeping thing of the earth after his 
 kind" It is a well-known fact that animals, by 
 change of climate and food, and especially by 
 cross-breeding, eventually vary their character. 
 Buffon even in his day calculated that 200 or 250 
 pairs of quadrupeds were sufficient for all the 
 varieties of animal life falling under that class. 
 Later discoveries have greatly limited this range. 
 Sir Charles Lyell states, "■ It is a well-known and 
 established fact that, through a variety of causes, 
 from one original stock an almost endless variety 
 has sprung up which are manifestly of one species^ 
 On the authority of Darwin, " Naturalists are 
 generally agreed that all the varieties of pigeons, 
 and they are numerous and great, are descendants 
 
Illustrative of Holy Scripture. 91 
 
 from the rock pigeon." Some Bible critics have 
 perhaps unnecessarily argued for an additional 
 creation of animals after the deluge. They rest 
 their argument on the very peculiar words used in 
 the covenant blessing, which was " with Noah and 
 his seed after him, and with every living creature 
 that is with him ; from all that go out of the ark, to 
 every beast of the earth!' This reading is further 
 sought to be supported by a passage in Psalm civ., 
 verses 29 and 30, which has an obvious reference 
 to the deluge, and proceeds thus — " Thou hidest 
 Thy face, they are troubled : Thou takest away 
 their breath, they die, and return to their dust. 
 Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are created : and 
 Thou renewest tJie face of the earth!' A curious and 
 interesting fact may be mentioned as to the minute 
 statement of the measurements of the ark. In the 
 first place, it is remarkable how particular details 
 are given as to dates during the whole history 
 of the ark, especially as denoted by weeks or Sab- 
 baths. This is the uniform test of truth. Falsehood 
 delights in generalities to shun detection, but truth 
 courts investigation by specialities. This renders 
 probable what was formerly said, that the record 
 may have been originally written by Noah himself, 
 or Shem, who was with him in the ark. But the 
 fact is, that the relative proportions of the diluvian 
 
92 Heathen Mythology : Corroborative or 
 
 vessel are now well ascertained to be the true pro- 
 portions of a sound sailing vessel. It has been 
 stated that Mr. Scott Russell, the eminent engineer, 
 built the " Great Eastern " according to the precise 
 rule laid down by divine direction to Noah. " It is 
 said that, like the antediluvians, many, whilst this 
 leviathan ship was in progress of building, mocked 
 and predicted that it would be found unmanageable 
 when exposed to the tempest ; it has, on the con- 
 trary, passed through fearful tempests without the 
 least injury. No other vessel could be obtained of 
 capacity to lay the various submarine cables which 
 have united distant lands by the closest ties. Other 
 vessels built on very different models, and deemed 
 to be of vast strength, and constructed by greatest 
 skill, have been found unfit for the strain of tem- 
 pest, and in much less severe storms than what the 
 Great Eastern has triumphantly passed scathless 
 through, have successively been wrecked, and much 
 national and individual loss been suffered.^ 
 
 A difficulty has arisen, and been ably discussed, 
 as to whether the rainbow had existence previous 
 to the Deluge, or whether it was only then ap- 
 
 ■^ It is, perhaps, not generally known that the eminent 
 engineer now named is the son of a worthy Relief clergyman, 
 recently deceased, who long ministered in the village of Errol 
 in Perthshire. 
 
Illustrative of Holy Scripture. 93 
 
 pointed or set apart as a sign of the Covenant. It 
 has been argued that the celestial phenomenon, 
 being the result of natural laws existing previous 
 to the Deluge, it could give no assurance that such 
 a catastrophe should not again overwhelm the 
 earth. By some learned men it has been sup- 
 posed possible, nay probable, that there attended 
 this great revolution of elements a change in the 
 atmospheric canopy of the earth affecting the re- 
 frangible power of light in time of much rain. It 
 has been proved that some of the planets of our 
 system are altogether destitute of atmospheric 
 girdles, and that others have more or less density 
 and rareness of ether, and in this respect have varied 
 between different periods of observation. Then as 
 to the operation of light we have contending theo- 
 ries. The seeming paradox in the Mosaic record 
 that light was created four days or periods of time 
 before the sun, supposed to be its source and foun- 
 tain, has been explained by the fact that the sun 
 itself is a dark mass, and does not create, but only 
 regulates, the fiery element with which it is sur- 
 rounded, thus agreeing with the divine record as 
 being set *' to rule the day.' The supposition of 
 these philosophers gains support from several pas- 
 sages of holy writ. Thus, before the fall it is re- 
 corded that " the Lord God Jiad 7wt caused it to 
 
94 HeatJien Mythology: Corroborative or 
 
 rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to 
 till the ground. But there went tip a mist from 
 the earth, and watered the whole face of the 
 earth." Again, after the fall, another change on 
 the earth is indicated by the words, ** Cursed is the 
 ground for thy sake, in sorrow shalt thou eat of it 
 all the days of thy life ; thorns, also, and thistles 
 shall it bring forth unto thee, and thou shalt eat 
 the herb of the field." It is significant that our 
 Redeemer was crowned at the crucifixion with 
 thorns, as indicative of bearing the curse imposed 
 on the ground for man's sake. Another change in 
 natural law appears to have occurred at the Deluge. 
 This is marked by the great diminution of the age 
 of man, reduced at once from many hundreds to 
 the term of 120 years. This may have had its 
 cause in an atmospheric change detrimental to 
 longevity, seeing that old age had been proved to 
 have a tendency to sin and forgetfulness of the 
 living God, in whom " we live, move, and have our 
 being." Then there is a declared change of ali- 
 mentary dietary law. It would appear that prior 
 to the flood men were vegetarians, and that ani- 
 mals were only slain in sacrifice. After the flood 
 it is announced that " Every moving thing that 
 liveth shall be meat for you, even as the green 
 herb have I given you all things." It cannot but 
 
Illustrative of Holy Script?ire. 95 
 
 be observed that whilst God has always made 
 ample provision for human sustenance, there is 
 ever some restriction, however small, to establish 
 His sovereignty, and the free will and responsi- 
 bility of man. Of every tree of the garden our 
 first parents might freely eat, but of only one tree 
 were they forbidden to eat, on the penalty of 
 death. So, too, with the additional grant of 
 animal food there was the one restriction, " But 
 flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood 
 thereof, shall ye not eat." Indeed, some divines 
 have supposed and acted on the conviction that 
 the same restriction is imposed under the New 
 Testament. Some eminent Christians, both cleri- 
 cal and lay, have refused to partake of hare soup 
 or fowls strangled. They found their objection 
 on certain passages in the Acts of the Apostles. 
 But on a close examination, these passages will 
 be found connected with meats offered to idols, 
 and with the obscene orgies generally practised at 
 such pagan feasts. 
 
 It is not necessary to hold that the rainbow was 
 created after the Deluge to mark that event, and 
 give an assurance that it should no more return 
 to devastate the earth. It is agreed by scholars 
 that the words, " I do set my bow in the clouds," 
 can, with equal propriety, be rendered " I do ap- 
 
96 Heathen Mythology : Corroborative or 
 
 point or set apart'' my bow in the cloud, to be a 
 sign or token of the covenant between me and 
 man. Numerous instances occur in Scripture of 
 natural and even artificial objects being set apart 
 as signs and memorials of events which had hap- 
 pened, and prophecies of what was to occur in the 
 future. Let it be remembered that the fact re- 
 mains that, whatever was the era of the creation 
 of the celestial arch, it still proclaims hope and 
 assurance that the earth never again will be con- 
 signed to a watery tomb, but that floods are tem- 
 porary and local. So, too, it brings comfort and 
 hope to the afflicted and sorrowing; and the darker 
 the cloud and the denser the pitiless rain, the 
 brifjhter shines the token of the Covenant. 
 
 ^fc>' 
 
 *' Triumphal arch that fill'st the sky, 
 When storms prepare to part, 
 I ask not proud philosophy 
 To teach me what thou art. 
 
 For, faithful to its sacred page. 
 Heaven still rebuilds thy span, 
 
 Nor lets the type grow pale with age 
 That first spake peace to man." 
 
 Campbell. 
 
 The important subject of the Deluge cannot 
 be well concluded without noticing that whilst its 
 waters effectually swept the world from the pos- 
 
Illustrative of Holy Scripture. C)y 
 
 session of sinners, it was powerless, as was soon 
 evidenced, to cleanse from sin. That required an 
 element much more precious and potent — even the 
 blood of God's own Son, Vv'hose name, by Heaven's 
 decree, was Jes2is, "because He should save His 
 people from their sins ;" not only from its conse- 
 quences in penalty and punishment, but from its 
 power and doiitinion. The existence of sin so soon 
 after its merited judgment and punishment is sig- 
 nificantly expressed in the words, " The wickedness 
 of man was great in the earth, and every imagina- 
 tion of the thoiigJits of his Jicart was only evil con- 
 tinually,'' with the addition that this evil was ''from 
 his youth.'' To escape from the consequences, rather 
 than from sin itself, many have been, and are, the 
 devices of man. Some in the pride of reason 
 sought, and seek, to build intellectual towers, 
 which they vainly imagine may " reach unto 
 heaven.'' Others, in their self-righteousness, have 
 attempted, by their own efforts, to climb mountains 
 more steep and high than Ararat. But all have 
 failed, and all such efforts have proved abortive. 
 The Ark of the Covenant, planned in the counsels 
 of Omnipotence, with its one door (Jesus), and its 
 one window (the Holy Spirit), alone affords a re- 
 fuge for the sinner seeking to escape alike from 
 the penalty and the power of indwelling sin. The 
 
98 HeatJicn Mythology : Corrobo7^ative or 
 
 invitation* is still as direct as in the days of Noah, 
 " Come, thou and all thy house, into the ark." God 
 is still as willing now as then to shut in those who 
 have sought Jesus as the only remedy for sin and 
 refuge for sinners. Let none imitate the ante- 
 diluvian, and with the Ark of the new Covenant 
 daily before his eyes, come too late and find the 
 door shut ag^ainst him. 
 
 'fc.' 
 
 " Free was the offer, free to all, of life 
 And of salvation, but the proud of heart, 
 Because 'twas free, would not accept, and still 
 To merit wished^ and choosing, thus unshipped, 
 Uncompassed, unprovisioned, and bestormed, 
 To swim a sea of breadth immeasurable, 
 They scorned the goodly bark, whose wings the breath 
 Of God's eternal Spirit filled, for heaven, 
 That stopped to take them in, and so were lost." 
 
 Two relics or symbols of the Deluge remain to 
 this day, and are eminently fitted to add to the 
 historical corroboration of the fact in the traditions 
 of ancient nations. These reminiscences are the 
 more interesting because emblematical of the de- 
 liverance of the saved and of the mercy of God. 
 The divine record sets forth that the messenger of 
 safety to the crew of the ark was a Dove, with its 
 pledge of restored peace and love to the world after 
 the war of waters. The Olive Branch, " newly 
 
Illustrative of Holy Scripture. 99 
 
 plucked off," was not a stray vestige or waif of 
 former destruction. Thus it is that we discover 
 that in every age and lanti the dove has ever been 
 and still is the emblem of Love, and an olive branch 
 the emblem of Peace. There is nothing in the 
 gentle animal or the humble plant which could 
 recommend either of them to the nations of earth 
 as such emblems, in preference to many birds of 
 splendid plumage and melodious song, or to plants 
 of finer mould, more gorgeous colour, or agreeable 
 odour. The general reception of bird and plant as 
 emblems and types of great principles and grand 
 ideas can only have originated in some great event 
 in which our common humanity had a deep and 
 lasting interest. There is also an instructive truth 
 in the name of the Dove. Its equivalent in ancient 
 times was Jonah or Jonas, and in our own age John 
 and Joanna. The prophet who carried the message 
 of peace to Nineveh, about to be overwhelmed in 
 destruction for iniquity (but how is untold), was 
 appropriately Jonah, and a vegetable w^as the 
 instrument to teach him that his God was a God of 
 mercy. He, again, who was the messenger of glad 
 tidings to a sinful and lost w^orld, and the forerunner 
 of Him w4io came to seek and save, had also the 
 dove-like name of John, and that by express divine 
 command, contrary to the desires and expectations 
 
1 00 Heathen Mythology : Corroborative or 
 
 of kindred, whose family record had no such familiar 
 name. The Saviour of the world, on the presenta- 
 tion in the Temple, paid not the rich man's offering 
 of the lamb of the first year, but came under the 
 merciful provision for the poor, " If the mother be 
 not able to bring a lamb, then she shall bring two 
 turtle doves or two young pigeons." So, too, when 
 the Holy Ghost descended on the Redeemer standing 
 on the banks of Jordan, the Spirit was represented 
 " like unto a dove." The dove was given by the 
 Saviour to his disciples and to the Christian world 
 as the emblem of all that is gentle, meek, and lovely 
 in character. The beloved disciple \\\\o lay on the 
 bosom of the Redeemer, and knew more than any 
 of the apostles the mind of Jesus, whose epistles 
 breathe love throughout, and whose last words are 
 said to have been "Love one another," who before 
 his departure was privileged to catch a glimpse of 
 heaven and see the " Bow round about the throne" 
 — his name was John. \Mien Peter made the noble 
 declaration of Christ's Messiahship, our Saviour 
 immediately addressed him, not as Simon Peter or 
 Cephas, but as "Simon Barjona, or Son of the DoveT 
 It is to be remarked that two of the four Evangelists 
 — messengers of gospel or glad tidings, with beauti- 
 ful feet on the mountains bringing glad tidings of 
 great jo)' — arc named John, for Mark, the second of 
 
Illustrative of Holy Scripture. loi 
 
 the holy quaternion, was John, surnamed Mark. 
 Seeing thus the remarkable Scriptural application 
 of the name John as token of Love and Peace, it is 
 strange that that name alone has been always 
 thought unfortunate for Kings and Popes, so that 
 when any who bear this gentle name assumed the 
 crown or tiara, it was necessary that the name 
 should be discarded, and one assumed thought to 
 be more fortunate for such perilous distinctions. 
 It may be mentioned as somewhat singular that 
 the discoverer of America was named Columbus or 
 the dove, and he who introduced Christianity into 
 Scotland had the same dove-like name Columba, 
 and that the seat of his residence was the isle of 
 lona, which might be read as John. 
 
 The other emblem or sign commemorative of the 
 Deluge is the Bow or Rainbow. The divine record 
 is brief but majestic in its brevity of this seal of the 
 Noahic covenant — '' I do set my bow in the cloud, 
 and it shall be for a token of a covenant between 
 me and the earth. And it shall come to pass when 
 I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall 
 be seen in the cloud ; and the water shall no more 
 become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow 
 shall be in the cloud, and I will look upon it, that I 
 may remember the everlasting covenant between 
 God and every living creature of all flesh that is 
 
102 Heathen Mythology : Corroborative or 
 
 upon the earth." It is to be observed that this is 
 the first time that the word covenant (bargain) 
 occurs in Holy Writ. It is universally believed 
 that the Bow mentioned in the record is the Rainbow. 
 Nothing- would be more likely to occur to the 
 postdiluvians, especially when convinced of national 
 sin, when rain fell in unusual quantities, than that 
 divine justice was again to occasion to them a 
 watery grave. This is especially thought to have 
 been the object of the dwellers in Shinar, when 
 they said one to the other, " Go to, let us build us a 
 city and a tower, zuhose top may i^each unto heaven.'' 
 Be this as it may, Josephus, the Jewish historian, 
 observes that Noah was afraid, since God had 
 determined to destroy mankind, lest he should 
 drown the earth every year, but that God, in answer 
 to his sacrifice and prayer, promised, *' If I shall 
 send at any time tempests of rain in an extra- 
 ordinary manner, be not affrighted at the largeness 
 of the showers, for the waters shall no more over- 
 spread the earth. But I will give you a sign that I 
 have left off my anger by my bow." The promise 
 of seed time and harvest as regular as day and 
 night was an appropriate assurance of no general 
 deluge, and in fact has been realized, since a partial 
 famine in one part of the globe was always found 
 to be coincident with a sujDcrabundancc of cereal 
 
Ilhistrative of Holy Scripture. 103 
 
 grain \\\ another section of the earth's surface. It 
 is seldom noticed how appropriate the sign of the 
 Rainbow is to the promise of no general submersion 
 of the earth in a watery gulf The heavenly arch 
 is never seen except when sudden and heavy rains 
 fall on any special locality ; then the beautiful span 
 in heaven's canopy may assure the most timid 
 heart that at no distant place there is a region 
 where no rain descends and where the torrent is 
 unfelt. The sun displays its great power by paint- 
 ing on the watery curtain its magic tints, with all 
 the gorgeous beauty of creation's colouring — emblem 
 of the Christian Church — " Unity in diversity, and 
 diversity in unity." 
 
 " When the waves that burst o'er a world accursed 
 
 Their work of wrath had sped ; 
 And the Ark's lone few, the tried and true, 
 
 Came forth among the dead. 
 With the wondrous gleams of my braided beams 
 
 I bade their terrors cease. 
 As I wrote on the roll of the storm's dark scroll 
 
 God's covenant of peace." 
 
 It is not surprising that the Rainbow has passed 
 among all nations as the symbol of Hope. The 
 proverbs of ancient nations testify to this. In 
 China, Tohi, who is supposed to have been the 
 founder of the celestial nation, is fabled to have 
 
104 HeatJien Mythology, etc. 
 
 been the son of a daughter of Heaven and conceived 
 by her, being encircled by a Rainbow. The ancient 
 Scandinavian mythology has the sublime idea that 
 the Rainbow is the bridge which spans and connects 
 earth with heaven. All classic poets revel in allusion 
 to the Rainbow as a sign given by God to man, by 
 heaven to earth. Homer writes — 
 
 " Splendour diffusing as the various bow. 
 Fixed by Saturnian Jove in showery clouds ; 
 A sign to mortal vicing ^ 
 
 Virgil to the same effect — 
 
 " These envied rites Saturnian Juno views, 
 And sends the goddess of the various bow." - 
 
 So, too, the undoubtedly ancient but unquestionably 
 apocryphal Book of Ecclesiasticus calls on man to 
 " look upon the Rainbow, and bless Him that 
 made it. It is very beautiful in its brightness. 
 It encompasseth the heavens about with the circle 
 of its glory, the hands of the Most High have 
 displayed it" (Ecclesiasticus, xliii. 12, 13). 
 
 ' " Ilias," xi., 27. - "^neidos," v., 605. 
 
 ROinZRT MACLEHOSE, PRINTER TO THE UNI\'ERSITY. 
 
DATE DUE 
 
 nmuo 19 
 
 fS 
 
 
 
 
 W.I. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 GAVLOKO 
 
 
 
 PRINTEDINU.S.A.