there is much reason to believe, that they originated in those periods, which poets and philosophers have spoken of as the silver age, an age in which an Asiatic people were spiritually intelligent, because they studied interior truths, and were acquainted with those outer things in nature, which were the symbols of them; an age, therefore, in which mankind would speak of spiritual subjects, by means of those things which they knew to be their representatives in the world.

Without extending these remarks, it is evident, that the earliest narratives of antiquity were written in a style that was highly figurative; and this was a peculiarity belonging, not to the history of one nation merely, but to all which have any pretensions to a record of their origin. Upon what principle, then, can this character be denied to that early history in the Bible, which precedes the time of Abram? It cannot be because the literal sense of those documents is plain and easily to be comprehended: for when viewed as actual history, they are full of great and astounding difficulties, which no learning that has hitherto been exercised upon them, has been capable of satisfactorily explaining. If the genius of the people who lived in remote antiquity, was such as we have indicated, and if those narratives were produced among them, then they must have partaken of that genius; if they did not, they could not have been serviceable to them, nor instrumental in transmitting to posterity any just notions of that disposition and general turn of mind, by which they were distinguished.

Every one admits, that the minds of mankind during the purity of the Adamic periods, were influenced by very interior and elevated sentiments: the affections of their wills were, doubtless, directed towards the Lord, and their understandings were enlightened by thoughts concerning Him. In such an intellectual condition, nature must have been a sort of mirror, reflecting internal and spiritual ideas. It is easy to conceive, that such minds would regard the worldly things by which they were surrounded, as the symbol of some internal state, spiritual experience, or heavenly ideas, belonging to the Lord and his kingdom. This, indeed, would enable them

"To look through Nature up to Nature's God;"

and behold, in all its objects, the expressive types of spiritual realities. To such minds, creation must have been a rich display of objects, representing interior things pertaining to the Creator.

When the people, distinguished by such a state, spoke of natural things, their ideas concerning them would, as it were, recede, and give place to spiritual conceptions. When they undertook to describe spiritual and holy subjects, they would select and arrange, for that purpose, such temporal and natural objects, as they knew would accurately represent them. If these views are correct, and we think they are admissive of satisfactory proof, then, it is evident, that the literal sense of documents, constructed on this principle, was only a kind of vehicle for the signification of something else, and that their genuine meaning must have laid within it, as a jewel within its casket.

If such a people undertook to record the moral and spiritual things which they experienced, according to the successive series in which they had transpired, it seems plain, that they would do it by the arrangement of representative objects into a historical form. Such, we conceive, to have been the genius of the people, among whom the first eleven chapters of Genesis were produced, and such the circumstances which influenced their construction; those documents, therefore, are not to be understood according to their literal sense, they being factitious history, intending to express, by correspondence and representation, only internal and spiritual things.

Distinguished authority for these views could be cited, and much corroborative evidence and reasonings proceeded with; but it is not convenient to lengthen these remarks. Enough may have been said, to commend the subject to the careful consideration of those who may be interested in such an inquiry. It shows the principles on which the following work has been written, and to that the reader is respectfully referred for additional testimony and illustration. The religious connections of the writer, will know the source whence these opinions have been suggested; to them, therefore, no explanation on this head is necessary; and, it is presumed, that those who may be favorably impressed with them, after the perusal of the work, will find no difficulty in going directly to the same spring.

It may, perhaps, be necessary to offer some explanation of the circumstances which have led to this publication; and, also, to apologize for defects, which might not have occurred, if it had been produced independently of them.

The materials for this work were, for the most part, originally collected and arranged in the form of eight lectures, which were

delivered in Preston, to crowded audiences, with some advantages to the church of which the writer is a member. These circumstances led to a request for redelivering them in an adjoining town, which, on being done, excited there also, favorable attention. Parts of them were afterwards delivered in the metropolis, and in two of the largest provincial towns in the kingdom. In all these cases, intimations of approbation were conveyed to him, and a desire expressed for their publication. But as they were written only for the purpose of oral publicity, and doubtless owed much of the indulgent reception with which they met, to the "living voice," he did not think them adapted for the press, and, on that account, waived the suggestion for printing them. But the request having been renewed on two or three occasions, and urged upon him by several judicious friends, he was induced to entertain the subject; he was, likewise, encouraged to yield to those solicitations from other causes. He knew that they had been instrumental in rescuing from disbelief, some who had long been doubting the truth of revelation; also, that they had afforded others more satisfactory evidence of the divine origin and character of the early chapters of Genesis, than they had previously possessed; and also, that they had assisted many, in consolidating their faith in the holiness and sanctity of God's Holy Word. As these advantages, under the Divine Providence, had arisen from their oral delivery, he was induced to hope, that their publication might be followed by some further usefulness, and therefore, consented to the suggestion of his friends. He is not aware that there is any similar publication extant; and this led him to think that such a work might be generally acceptable to his own religious connections, as well as being, in some measure, serviceable to the public at large. Such are the circumstances which have led to the present publication, and it is hoped, that it may supply, however feebly, something for an unoccupied niche in the edifice of true religious literature.

But as to the execution. It was felt that their character, as lectures, and in some cases, their sermon-like structure, would not be so attractive, or so generally acceptable, as some other form that might be adopted. Hence it was determined to avoid, as far as convenient, the preaching portions of the discourses, and rearrange the matter into the shape in which it now appears. But to do this was not unattended with difficulties. For the sake of the judgments of those, at whose suggestions the publication was

undertaken, the original features of the work could not be entirely sacrificed, and yet, with the view of providing something that might survive a mere temporary interest, some change was necessary. To accomplish both these objects, he has been compelled to admit some blemishes in arrangement, some peculiarities of treatment, and a few repetitions: for these, the indulgence of the reader is requested. The notes are fresh matter, which it is hoped will add to the usefulness of the work.

For the general scope and design of this publication, he has no apology to offer, no indulgence to ask, no solicitude to express: feeling assured, that a plain enunciation of spiritual truth has been aimed at, and sincerely believing in the religious soundness of the grounds which have been taken for it, he is content to leave the result in the hands of that wise Providence, which, in superintending the greatest things of the universe, does not overlook the minutest efforts of men.

In conclusion, it may be observed, that if this work had been written for his own religious connections merely, the author would, in many instances, have adopted another mode of treatment and expression; but as it was designed for more general use, he has considered it proper to avoid, so far as convenient, all the appearances of technicality, and to present the subjects in as popular a form, as he thought their recondite character would permit.

The Postdiluvian History to the call of Abram, is eminently interesting, and should this work prove acceptable, the author will feel encouraged to undertake its elucidation in a similar volume.

PRESTON, November 25, 1850.

ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION. -GENERAL STRUCTURE OF THE NARRATIVE. "As to the particular form in which the descriptive narrative (of creation) is conveyed, we merely affirm that it cannot be History—it may be Poetry." -Rev. BADEN POWELL, M.A., F.R.S., F.L.S., F.G.S., Savilian Professor of Geometry in the University of Oxford. Art. "Creation," in Kitto's Biblical Cyclopædia.

IN order correctly to understand the written documents of antiquity, it is necessary to know something of the genius of the people, among whom they were produced. Without this information, we are liable to great mistakes. Very different styles of writing have prevailed among the same nations, at different periods of their existence; and the deeper we penetrate into their mental history, the less literal and more poetic shall we find their methods of expression to have been. This fact is not to be disregarded, in prosecuting the inquiry we have now before us. It bears forcibly upon the point. And this leads us to ask, Whether Antediluvian History, as contained in the Bible, was written in accordance with that historical and grammatical criticism, with which it has been common, in modern times, to interpret it? We think not. The record of creation has been found to give way before the discoveries and demands of science. The genius of a matter-of-fact people, is not the precise thing, by which to judge of the literary productions of a period essentially interior and poetic. And therefore, we may again ask, Whether this peculiar condition of mind, which prevailed during the early periods of our race, when these remarkable documents were originally produced, may not have induced them to describe mental existences and moral processes, in a historical form? May not the rise of the human mind, out of inactivity and darkness, and its successive advancement into a state prolific with intelligence and virtue, have been described by such a people as the creation of a world? May not the intellectual sentiment and living affection, which are successively developed during such a process, have been considered by them, as so many days of the Divine Work? We think it highly