genealogical tree of nine generations, whose fabulous ages comprise all the matter of interest put forth by its diverging branches. They are all described as paying the debt of nature by death, except Enoch, who "walked with God, and he was not, for God took him."

No glossary is extant calculated to give an explanation to the names of the nine antediluvians. They probably formed a sacred catalogue, which bore a mythical allusion to their respective characters, as is exemplified in the first, who is called Adam, or Man, and in the last, whose Noachian appellation is significant of the flood. By this rule the name of Enoch, whose age is represented as enduring for 365 years, may have borne an analogy to the period of time comprised in 365 days, during whose progress the year walked with God, and at the completion of its circuit, it was figuratively said to be taken by God, as God took Enoch.

If we refuse to contemplate these nine antediluvians as mythical creations, we are driven to the necessity of causing them to be supremely wicked, without having the authority of one single accusation brought against them during their lengthened term of sojourn on the earth. We must next proceed to justify the assumption by the Creator of the character of a human being, whose patience becomes exhausted, and whose passion instigates him to destroy the creatures he had made. But if the previous relation of the five mythical generations of Cain instructs us that to each of them was assigned some special gift as civilized beings,

-to one the knowledge of architecture,-to another an acquaintance with pastoral life, to a third a scientific attainment in music,-to a fourth an intro

duction into the manufacturing arts,—and to a fifth an induction into the sublime science of divinity,then there is foundation for the inference that the names of the nine antediluvian descendants of Adam had probably a reference both to positive and to abstract science.

That no traces remain of this portion of sacred literature, cannot be a matter of surprise, when we reflect upon the loose, disjointed, and complex character of its various narratives, arising, doubtless, from the cause we have on more than one occasion alluded to, namely, the frequency with which these books were destroyed, and the smallness in the number of persons competent to reproduce them from memory.

Recapitula

mentary on the Three Scriptural Legends.

Having concluded the transcription of tion of Com- the three scriptural legends on the Creation, the reader's judgment will decide whether they can be received according to their literal sense, or whether as mythical writings. A rapid survey will be placed before him in each of these senses, and, in the first place, we shall treat them as mythical productions, designed, through the instrumentality of figurative language, to convey instruction on the following important subjects :The legend of the seven days teaches,—

1st. The existence and power of God.

2nd. The blessing of Dominion, or mind, bestowed on man.

man.

3rd. The duty of work by man.

4th. The duty of rest and of thanksgiving by

The second legend teaches,―

1st section. The moral duty of marriage.

2nd section. The existence of good and evil. 3rd section. The existence of crime and death. And Lastly. The demonstration of the progressive ad. vancement of the human family, from the savage to the civilized state, who then began to exhibit the perception of the religious principle.

The third legend was probably an expansion of the same subject as that which occupied the third section of the second legend, demonstrating the gradual illumination of the human mind by the advancement of knowledge.

To those who are not disposed to receive these writings as mythical productions, but who have been taught to read them as the narrative of literal events, supernaturally communicated to Moses, we will direct their search in the legislator's writings, to the passage in which he speaks of the reception of this divine communication. They are, probably, legends of great antiquity, because the author betrays ignorance of the laws by which the Creator governs the universe, which could not be, if they were inspired productions.

But, strange as it may seem, there exists in society a class of persons known by the name of ascetics, who are unduly rigid in devotions, and in sacerdotal mystifications, and who believe these writings to possess an allegorical allusion to the sinfulness of the union of the sexes. Hence is derived the authority for the establishment of the monastic institutions, which deform the Roman Church. The religious houses which enclose within their walls exclusive communities of the male sex, and exclusive communities of the female, condemned, by solemn vows, to a state of

celibacy, and separated from, and denied all intercourse with, society, exhibit this diseased condition of the human mind. The number of these persons of sour and acrid affections is fortunately few. This assumed sinfulness is at variance with the order of the system of the Creator, and with the fixed laws He has established in the constitution of his creatures, for their propagation and increase.

Another class of fanatics would place implicit belief in the narrative of the anger of the Creator, and of his cursing the Earth on account of man's disobedience. The story of the forbidden fruit bears a strong analogy to the heathen legend of the golden apple, and is, probably, modelled from that myth. But if man were created an innocent being by the God of perfection, perfection in the Creator, and innocency in the created, would resist disobedience, and would render disobedience absolutely impossible.

In point of fact, every object in creation is strictly obedient. Each pursues, and cannot diverge from, the path of duty assigned to it in accordance with its organization. We have previously stated that man is one of the numerous agents of the creative power, and that he is working out the fixed designs proposed in his creation. That these designs are replete with wisdom, and abounding in goodness, is a position as little to be doubted, as that man is permitted to attain as deep an insight into the systematic plans of his Creator, as is consistent with the present condition of his restricted organization, and beyond this point he cannot advance; but the fables of antiquity would plunge him into the depths of doubt, into which he would sink, without the hope of escape.

THE SCRIPTURAL LEGEND PREPARATORY TO THE

FLOOD.

Gen. vi. 1-22.

We continue our transcription from the sacred text, the next in succession being the sixth chapter of Genesis, with an accompanying commentary.

The Scrip

preparatory

to the Flood.

"And it came to pass, when men began tural Legend to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh; yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them, the same became mighty men, which were of old, men of renown. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth; both man and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. These are the generations of Noah; Noah was a just man, and perfect in his generations; and Noah walked with God. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and