If we be mere particles of matter, self-existing, or derived from the great whole, or entirely material, springing from the earth and returning thereto again, and that the less of this world's goods we have the better--let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.

      I must correct an allusion of my opponent to the Levitical priesthood. I observed that the consecration of this priesthood was designated to be the most effectual commemorative monument, because it was compelling the passions of the people to attest and perpetuate the remembrance of the fact of their redemption from Egypt. The destroying angel passed over the land, and destroyed the first-born of [242] man and beast belonging to the Egyptians, and the Israelites to a man escaped. To perpetuate the memory of this, God claimed the first-born of that nation in all time coming. Subsequently, in lieu of the first-born, one tribe of the twelve was set apart. This tribe was to receive so much real estate, and be supported by the whole nation. And I have asked, Would any nation, except under divine coercion, have submitted to such an exaction as this upon their time and their real and personal property? [Mr. Owen says, Yes, all nations have done it.] Mr. Campbell resumes--I have asked if any nation would have submitted to such a heavy taxation as this in support of their religion, had they not been absolutely certain of its divine origin and authority? Mr. Owen says. Yes, they have all done it. Well, now, this assertion will not prove that the first nation did it without a divine authority. They set the example--and we can easily test the principle whether nations will, without good reasons, submit to such imposts, by bringing the case within our own experience. Let, then, such an experiment be attempted in this country, and it will soon be discovered that it would be impossible to induce us to support a religion so onerous, without affording the most incontrovertible evidence of its divine authority. Mankind part with money and property for religious uses only when conscientiously convicted of a divine obligation. To exact it from them without presenting some plausible grounds for such authority, requires compulsion. And however easy it may be to perpetuate such a usage, it never could have commenced without the strongest evidence of divine authority. But to test this matter, I appeal to universal experience, and to the impossibility of instituting such a custom now.

      I protest against Mr. Owen's objecting to any part of these writings as fact, without acknowledging the whole of them as fact. Does he believe that there was an Aaron or a tribe of Levi? If so, on the same authority he must believe that there was a Moses and twelve tribes, led by him through the Red Sea. It is unfair to garble the document, admitting the truth of one part and objecting to the truth of another. He must take it all or none. Does my opponent believe that there were Levites; that there were a Moses, an Aaron, and a Levitical priesthood; that the nation were convened at Sinai, received the law there attested, and that there was a place of deposit, a sacred chest, first in the tabernacle and then in the temple, containing a copy of this law? Does he believe these things? And if he does, why not believe all the other facts? I repeat that it is neither a fair nor a manly style of reasoning, [243] to take a part of these facts and found arguments upon them, without receiving the whole.

      Mr. Owen has given us his definition of the term millennium, but will give us no definition of fact, and says he knows nothing about heaven--neither will he take any notice of the document which I presented to him. I wish you to bear in mind that he pretermits all notice of this document.

      Fact is derived from factum. It means that which is done. Now it is not a fact that I have two eyes. This is not a fact,but a truth. It is a fact that I rose up or sat down. Anything I may have done is a fact. No speculation can be a fact. It may be a fact that a man expressed such an opinion; but the opinion itself is no fact. It is a fact that Mr. Owen conceived these twelve positions, wrote them, expressed or read them; but the twelve opinions, assertions, or propositions are not facts.

      Christianity is a positive institution--an institution built upon facts. So was Judaism. The Christian facts are all matters of record. The record of testimony is the object of faith. Hence faith requires testimony, testimony concerns facts, and facts require a witness. The historian records facts. The philosopher speculates upon opinions or abstract truths. Mr. Owen's system is the system of a philosopher; it is not the work of a historian. He confounds speculations, assertions, laws of nature, and facts; and from a fondness for the term fact he calls all his views facts. His propositions may or may not be truths; but facts they cannot be. If I could correct Mr. Owen's misapplication and erroneous use of this single term, it might tend to dissolve the charm, and dissipate the illusion which his sportive fancy throws over all his lucubrations.

      There are yet remaining a few documents which I desire to read, in further support of the proposition that the Jewish scriptures are corroborated by all ancient historic writers. There is not only no counter testimony, but a strong concurrence of testimony in attestation of the facts recorded by Moses. We penetrated into very remote antiquity, in order to illustrate this accordance, and we proved that Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus are reconciled by a reference to Moses; and that these three writers mutually explain and support each other.

      There is one consideration which is worthy to be kept continually before our minds in this investigation, and that is, the advanced state of civilization in the country when the Jewish religion was first propounded. We must bear in mind that Moses was surrounded by acute, learned, and sagacious enemies, when he led the children of Israel out [244] of Egypt. But we must go further back into antiquity in order to show that the most ancient traditions confirm the Mosaic account of the creation, deluge, etc.

      "As to the history of Berosus, the substance of it, as it is given us by Abidenus Apollodorus and Alexander Polyhister, is to this purpose: That there were ten kings of Chaldea before the flood; Alorus, Alasparus, Amelon, Amenon, Metalarus, Daorus, Aedorachus, Amphis, Oliartes, Xisuthrus. That Xisuthrus was warned in a dream, that mankind was to be destroyed by a flood on the 15th day of the month Dæsius, and that he should build a sort of ship, and go into it with his friends and kindred, and that he should make a provision of meat and drink, and take into his vessel fowls and fourfooted beasts; that Xisuthrus acted according to the admonition; built a ship, and put into it all that he was commanded, and went into it with his wife and children, and dearest friends. When the flood was come, and began to abate, Xisuthrus let out some birds, which finding no food nor place to rest upon, returned to the ship again. After some days he let out the birds again, but they came back with their legs daubed with mud. Some days after, he let them go the third time, but then they came to the ship no more. Xisuthrus understood hereby, that the earth appeared above the waters, and taking down some of the boards of the ship, he saw that it rested upon a mountain. Some time after, he, and his wife, and his pilot went out of his ship, to offer sacrifices to the gods, and they were never seen by those in the ship more. But the persons in the ship, after seeking him in vain, went to Babylon. The Xisuthrus here mentioned was evidently Noah. And Berosus supposes from Alorus to Xisuthrus ten generations, and so many Moses computes from Adam to Noah."¹

      This is the Chaldean history concerning their own nation. They wished to trace themselves up to the commencement of time, and gave an account of the ten patriarchs before the flood, making Noah one of their kings.

      "The history of Sanchoniatho is to this effect: That the first mortals were Protogonus and Æon; that by these were begotten Genus and Genea; the children of these were Phos, Pur, and Phlox; and of these were begot Cassius, Libanus, Antilibanus, and Brathys. Memrumus and Hypsuranius were descended from these, and their children were Agreus and Halieus; and of these were begotten two brothers, one of them named Chrysor and Hæphæstus; the name of the other is lost. From this generation came two brothers, Technites and Autochthon, [245] and of them were begotten Agrus and Agrotus; Amynus and Magus were their children, and Misor and Sydec were descended of Amyrms and Magus. The son of Misor was Taautus or Tyoth. This is the Phœnician genealogy of the first ages of the world, and it requires no great pains to show how far it agrees with the accounts of Moses. The first mortals mentioned by Sanchoniatho, and called Protogonus and Æon, were undoubtedly Adam and Eve; and his Misor, the father of Taautus, is evidently the Mizraim of Moses. From Protogonus to Misor, Sanchoniatho computes eleven generations, and from Adam to Mizraim Moses makes twelve; so that Sanchoniatho falls short of Moses only one generation, and this, I conceive, happened by his not having recorded the flood."²

      "The Chinese have been supposed to have records that reach higher than the history of Moses; but we find by the best accounts of their antiquities that this is false. Their antiquities reach no higher than the times of Noah, for Fohi was their first king. They pretend to no history or memoirs that reach up higher than his times; and by all their accounts, the age of Fohi coincides with that of Moses' Noah. Their writers in the general agree, that Fohi lived about 2952 years before Christ. The author of Mirandorum in Sina et Europa computes him to reign but 2847 years before our Savior; and Alvarez Sevedo places his reign not so early, imagining it to be but 2060 years; and all these computations agree well enough with the times of Noah; for Noah was born, according to Archbishop Usher, 2948 years, and died 2016 years before Christ; so that all the several computations about Fohi fall pretty near within the compass of Noah's life. But we shall hereafter see many reasons to conclude Moses' Noah, and the Chinese Fohi, to be the same person."³

      "The first king of China was Fohi; and as I have before observed that Fohi and Noah were contemporaries at least, for there are many reasons, from the Chinese traditions concerning Fohi, to think him and Noah the same person. First, they say Fohi had no father, i. e., Noah was the first man in the post-diluvian world; his ancestors perished in the flood, and no tradition thereof being preserved in the Chinese annals, Noah or Fohi, stands there as if he had no father at all. Secondly, Fohi's mother is said to have conceived him encompassed in a rainbow; a conceit very probably arising from the rainbow's first appearing to Noah, and the Chinese being willing to give some account of his original. Thirdly, Fohi is said to have carefully bred seven sorts of creatures, which he used to sacrifice to the Supreme Spirit of [246] heaven and earth; and Moses tells us that Noah took into the ark, of every clean beast by sevens, and of the fowls of the air by sevens; and after the flood Noah built an altar, and took of every clean beast, and every clean fowl, and offered burnt-offerings. Fourthly, the Chinese derive the name of Fohi from his oblation; and Moses gives Noah his name upon account of the grant of the creatures for the use of man, which he obtained by his offering. Lastly, the Chinese history supposes Fohi to have settled in the province of Xeusi, which is the north-west province of China, and near to Ararat, where the ark rested."⁴

      We would occupy (said Mr. Campbell) many hours in the production of such documents as these, which are the most ancient in the world, all corroborating the Mosaic account:

      "Not only has it proved impossible to overthrow any of the numerous facts which the scriptures record, but, on the contrary, they are confirmed, in a very striking manner, by the traditionary accounts of all nations.

      "In answer to Mr. Hume's assertion, that the books of Moses are 'corroborated by no concurring testimony,' Dr. Campbell replies--'As little, say I, invalidated by any contradictory testimony; and both for this plain reason, because there is no human composition that can be compared with this in respect of antiquity. But though this book is not corroborated by the concurrent testimony of any coeval histories, because, if there ever were such histories, they are not now extant; it is not therefore destitute of all collateral evidence. The following examples of this kind of evidence deserve some notice. The division of time into weeks, which hath obtained in many countries, for instance, among the Egyptians, Chinese, Indians, and northern barbarians--nations whereof some had little or no intercourse with others, and were not even known by name to the Hebrews--the tradition which in several places prevailed concerning the primeval chaos from which the world arose--the production of all living creatures out of water and earth, by the efficacy of a Supreme Mind--the formation of man last of all, in the image of God, and his being vested with dominion over the other animals--the primitive state of innocence and happiness--the subsequent degeneracy of mankind--their destruction by a flood, and the preservation of one family in a vessel. Nay, which is still stronger, I might plead the vestige of some such catastrophe as the Deluge, which the shells and other marine bodies that are daily dug out of the bowels of the earth, in places remote from the sea, do clearly exhibit to us. I might urge the traces, which still remain in ancient [247] histories, of the migration of people and of science from Asia, (which hath not improperly been styled the cradle of the arts) into many parts both of Africa and Europe. I might plead the coincidence of these migrations, and of the origin of states and kingdoms, with the time of the dispersion of the posterity of Noah.'

      "Respecting the division of time into weeks, Dr. Campbell remarks: 'The judicious reader will observe, that there is a great difference between the concurrence of nations in the division of time into weeks, and their concurrence in the other periodical divisions, into years, months, and days. These divisions arise from such natural causes, as are everywhere obvious; the annual and diurnal revolutions of the Sun, and the revolution of the Moon. The division into weeks, on the contrary, seems perfectly arbitrary; consequently, its prevailing in distant countries, among nations which had no communication with one another, affords a strong presumption that it must have been derived from some tradition (as that of the creation) which hath been older than the dispersion of mankind into different regions."

      "To this last article may be added, that the whole of the fifteen southern constellations yield their testimony to the ten first chapters of Genesis. First the constellation of the Ship: secondly, the Altar, with its vast body of fire and smoke ascending near the Triangle, the remarkable Egyptian symbol of Deity: thirdly, the Sacrificer: fourthly, the Beast about to be sacrificed: fifthly, the Raven: sixthly, the Cup of libation: seventhly, eighthly, and ninthly, the greater and lesser Dog, and the Hare, situated so near to Orion, the great and iniquitous hunter both of men and beasts. The whole of the remaining constellations of the southern hemisphere are composed of aquatic objects or animals, and may be considered as pointedly allusive to a general deluge.

      "Traditions more or less distinct, which corroborate the facts recorded by Moses, and which prove the common origin of mankind, are found, on the whole, to be uniform in all parts of the world. They have not only been verbally handed down, but have subsisted in the religious observances and practices of all nations. These are not confined to the old world, but extend also to the new. The first discoverers of America observed there a reverence for the Sabbath, and an acquaintance with many of the appointments of the Mosaic institution, and of the early history of the world. The contents of some of their manuscripts are curious in a high degree. One is a cosmogony, which contains a tradition of the mother of mankind having fallen from her first state of happiness and innocence; and she is generally [248] represented as accompanied by a serpent. We find also the idea of a great inundation overwhelming the earth, from which a single family escaped on a raft. There is a history of a pyramidal edifice raised by the pride of men, and destroyed by the anger of the gods. The ceremony of ablution is practiced at the birth of children. All these circumstances, and many more, led the priests who accompanied the Spanish army at the time of the conquest, to the belief, that at some very distant epocha, Christianity, or at least Judaism, had been preached in the new continent. I think, however, says Mr. Humboldt, I may affirm, from the knowledge we have lately acquired of the sacred books of the Hindoos, that, in order to explain the analogy of these traditions, we have no need to recur to the western part of Asia, since similar traditions, of high and venerable antiquity, are found among the followers of Brama, and among the Shamans of the eastern Steppes of Tartary."

      "The institution of sacrifice, which, to Mr. Hume appeared absurd, and which certainly did not originate from what is called the light of nature, has been found in every part of the world.

      "Whether we consult the religion of the Greeks, the Goths, or the Hindoos, we everywhere meet with a mediatory deity, engaged in combat with an envenomed serpent. And a belief that the place of punishment is full of serpents, equally pervades the Gothic, the Persian, and the Hindoo mythologies. Can any one imagine that such unlikely combinations, unaccountable except on the ground of a common descent and revelation from God, for instance, that of a Triune God, could have accidentally found a place among men originally separate and remote from each other?

      "Traditions have been traced over the globe of the creation--of the Sabbath day--of Paradise--of the fall of man--of the serpent--of the promised Messiah--of Cain and Abel--of the longevity of the Patriarchs--of the number of generations between Adam and Noah--of the Deluge--of the dove sent out by Noah--of the rainbow as a sign--of the number of persons preserved in the ark--of Noah and his three sons--of the tower of Babel--of Sodom and Gomorrah, with a variety of circumstances respecting these particulars.

      "The great tower in the temple of Belus at Babylon, is supposed to have been the same which was built there at the confusion of tongues. As described by Strabo, it was one of the most wonderful works in the world. Although it fell short of the greatest of the Egyptian pyramids (which was a square of seven hundred feet on every side, while this was but of six hundred), yet it far exceeded it in the height; the perpendicular measure of that pyramid being four hundred and [249] eighty-one feet, and that of the tower six hundred. It is particularly attested by several authors to have been all built of bricks and bitumen, as the scriptures tell us the tower of Babel was. Herodotus says that the going up to it was by stairs on the outside, round it. When Alexander took Babylon, Calisthenes the philosopher, who accompanied him hither, found they had astronomical observations for 1903 years backward from that time; which carried up the account as high as the one hundred and fifteenth year after the flood, which was within fifteen years after the tower of Babel was built.

      "Concerning Sodom and Gomorrah, Tacitus relates, that a tradition still prevailed in his days, of certain powerful cities having been destroyed by thunder and lightning; and of the plain in which they were situated having been burnt up. He adds, that evident traces of such a catastrophe remained. This historian concludes with expressing his own belief in this awful judgment, derived from an attentive consideration of the country in which it was said to have happened. In a similar manner Strabo, after describing the nature of the lake Asphaltis, adds, that the whole of its appearance gives an air of probability to the prevailing tradition, that thirteen cities, the chief of which was Sodom, were once destroyed and swallowed up by earthquakes, fire, and an inundation of boiling sulphureous water.

      "The account which Lucian (a professed scoffer at all religions, who lived in the second century), has given of the tradition of the flood, in his Dialogues, is as follows: Having visited the temple of Hierapolis, he says, 'The popular story is, that this temple was founded by Deucalion, the Scythian, in whose time the great flood is said to have happened. I was no stranger to the account of it by the Greeks, which is as follows:' 'Not one of us now living is descended from the original race of men, who all perished; and we, numerous as we are, are no other than a second race sprung from Deucalion. The Aborigines, we are informed, were apt to be very arrogant, full of mischief, and continually transgressing the laws, inhospitable to strangers, deaf to supplications, and would say or swear anything, in which offenses they were overtaken by the severity of justice. The earth on a sudden opened its sluices, heavy showers of rain came down, the rivers swelled, the sea rose till the waters everywhere prevailed, and every mortal was drowned except Deucalion alone, whose discretion and piety were such that he was spared and became the father of a new generation. Having a large chest, he put his wives and children in it, and then went into it himself; which was no sooner done, than there came to him boars, and horses, and lions, and serpents, and in [250] short every species of land animals all in pairs. He took them all in; and Jupiter had ordered it so, that they neither did him nor one another the least injury, but lived and sailed together in perfect harmony, during the continuance of the flood, all in the same chest.' This I was told by the Greeks. In addition to which the Hierapolitans relate, that a large chasm was provided in their country to absorb the water; and that Deucalion, after seeing it thus disposed of, raised altars and built a temple to Juno, over the chasm. It was but a small hole in the earth when I saw it; but how much larger it might have been formerly, when it held so much, I cannot take upon me to say. However, as a proof of what they advance, water is brought twice in the year, from the sea to the temple, not only by the priests, but from the whole country far and near, by Syrians, Arabians, and great multitudes beyond the Euphrates. It is emptied in the temple, and runs into the opening below, which, small as it is, takes in such a quantity as is truly amazing. This, it seems, was a law of Deucalion, to perpetuate the memory of his deliverance from the general calamity.'

      "Various Pagan historians speak of Moses, the lawgiver of the Jews: Diodorus Siculus calls him a man of most superior wisdom and courage. He mentions the departure of Israel from Egypt; of their advancing into Palestine, and seizing upon a number of cities, particularly Jerusalem. He speaks of their worship, their tribes, their code of laws, by which they were kept separate from every other people; of the priesthood appointed in one family; of judges, instead of kings, being appointed to decide all controversies among them; of the superior authority being vested in the chief priests; and that Moses concluded the volume of his laws with claiming for them divine inspiration. Strabo also mentions various particulars respecting Moses. Eupolimus likewise celebrates him as being the first wise man, and the inventor of letters, which the Phœnicians received from the Jews, and the Greeks from the Phœnicians."

[COD 242-251]