THE truth of the Mosaic history of the deluge is confirmed by the tradition of it, which universally obtained. If such an event had ever happened, it is natural to expect that some traces of it will be found in the records of Pagan nations, as well as in those of Scripture. Indeed it is scarcely probable, not to say possible, that the knowledge of so great a calamity should be utterly lost to the rest of the world, and should be confined to the Jewish nation alone. We find, however, that is by no means the case: a tradition of the deluge, in many respects coinciding with the Mosaic account of it, has been preserved almost universally among the ancient nations. It is indeed a very remarkable fact concerning the deluge, that the memory of almost all nations ends in the history of it, even of those nations which were unknown till they were discovered by enterprising voyagers and travelers; and that the traditions of the deluge were kept up in all the rites and ceremonies of the Gentile world. And it is observable that the farther we go back, the more vivid the traces appear, especially in those countries which were nearest to the scene of action. The reverse of this would happen if the whole were originally a fable. The history would not only be less widely diffused, but, the more remote our researches, the less light we should obtain; and however we might strain our sight, the objects would by degrees grow faint, and the scene would terminate in clouds and darkness. Besides, there would not have been that correspondence and harmony in the traditions of the different nations, which so plainly subsisted among them: now this could not be the result of chance, but must necessarily have arisen from the same history being universally acknowledged. These evidences are derived to us from people who were of different ages and countries, and, in consequence, widely separated from each other; and, what is extraordinary, they did not know, in many instances, the purport of the data which they transmitted, nor the value and consequence of their intelligence. In their mythology they adhered to the letter, without considering the meaning; and acquiesced in the hieroglyphic, though they were strangers to the purport of it. With respect to ourselves, it is a happy circumstance, not only that these histories have been transmitted to us, but also that, after an interval of so long a date, we should be able to see into the hidden mystery, and from these crude materials to obtain such satisfactory truths. We now proceed to notice a few of the most striking of these traditional narratives.
Thus Berosus, the Chaldean historian, following the most ancient writings, as Josephus affirms, has related the same things as Moses of the deluge, and of mankind perishing in it, and likewise of the ark in which Nochus, the restorer of the human race, was preserved, being carried to the summit of the Armenian mountains. Hieronymus, the Egyptian, who wrote the antiquities of the Phoenicians, Nicolaus of Damascus, and many others, mention these things, as Josephus also testifies. Further, there is a fragment preserved of Abydenus, an ancient Assyrian historian, in which mention is made of the deluge being foretold, before it happened, and of the birds being sent forth three different times to see whether the earth was dried, and of the ark being driven into Armenia. He and others agree with Moses in the main circumstances, but in lesser particulars sometimes adulterate the truth with fabulous mixtures. Alexander Polyhistor, another ancient historian, is cited by Cyril, of Alexandria, together with Abydenus, and both to the same purpose. He says that in the reign of Xisuthrus (the same as Noah) was the great deluge; that Xisuthrus was saved, Saturn having predicted to him what should happen, and that he ought to build an ark, and, together with the fowls and creeping things, and cattle, to sail in it.
Among the Greeks, Plato mentions the great deluge, in which the cities were destroyed, and useful arts were lost; and suggests that there was a great and universal deluge before the particular inundations celebrated by the Grecians. He plainly thought that there had been several deluges, but one greater than the rest. Moreover, it was the tradition of the Egyptians, as Diodorus informs us, that most living creatures perished in the deluge, which was in Deucalion's time. Ovid's description of Deucalion's flood is so well known and remembered by every scholar, that it is needless to point out its identity with Noah's flood, to any one who has received the least tincture of letters. Plutarch, in his treatise of the sagacity of animals, observes, that a dove was sent out by Deucalion, which, entering into the ark again, was a sign of the continuance of the flood, but afterward flying away, was a sign of serene weather. Homer also plainly alludes to the particular of the rainbow, by calling it a sign or token to men, teras meropon anthropon.
Lucian mentions more than once the great deluge in Deucalion's time, and the ark which preserved the small remnant of human kind. He describes also the particulars of Deucalion's flood after the example of Noah's flood: the present race of men was not the first, but the former generation was all destroyed; this second race sprang from Deucalion: the former was a wicked and profligate generation, for which reason this great calamity befell them; the earth gave forth abundance of water, great showers of rain fell, and the rivers increased, and the sea swelled to such a degree that all things were water, and all men perished: Deucalion alone was left for a second generation, on account of his prudence and piety; and he was preserved in this manner; he built a great ark, and entered into it, with his wife and children, and to him swine, and horses, and lions, and serpents, and all other creatures which the earth maintains, came in pairs: he received them all, and they hurt him not; on the contrary, there was by divine instinct great friendship among them, and they sailed altogether in the same ark, as long as the water prevailed. At the beginning, and in the conclusion, he professes to have received this account from the Grecians, so that he cannot be suspected of borrowing it from Scripture.
The orthodox among the ancient Persians believed in a deluge, and that it was universal, and overwhelmed the whole earth. Similar traditions have prevailed in the East among the Hindoos, Burmans, and Chinese; of these, the tradition of the Chinese is particularly worthy of note, as it not only refers, both directly and indirectly, to the deluge itself, but also to the cause of it. The same tradition of a general flood is also to be traced among the ancient Goths and Druids, as well as among the Mexicans, Peruvians, Brazilians, and Nicaraguans; to whom may be added the very lately discovered inhabitants of Western Caledonia, the Cree Indians, in the polar regions of North America, the Otaheitans before their conversion to Christianity, and also the Sandwich Islanders.
181From these very evidences it is manifest, that the heathens were well acquainted with all the leading circumstances of the universal deluge; that their traditions (though largely blended with fable) bear a striking resemblance to the narrative of Moses; and that the moral certainty of that great event is established on a basis sufficiently firm to bid defiance to the cavils of skepticism. Instead, therefore, of asserting (as it has recently been asserted, contrary to all the evidence furnished by natural and civil history) that we have no sufficient evidence to induce us to believe that the deluge ever took place—“let the ingenuity of unbelief first account satisfactorily for this universal agreement of the pagan world, and she may then, with a greater degree of plausibility, impeach the truth of the scriptural narrative of the deluge.”
Notwithstanding all these testimonies, the Mosaic history of the deluge has been objected to, as an improbable event, contrary to matter of fact.—Horne's Introduction. (To be continued.)