For him the mine a thousand treasures brings; POPE. Being thus diftinguished by the goodnefs of the Almighty, let us distinguish ourfelves by our gratitude. Let it be our undivided aim, to glorify him, who has been at fo much expence to gratify us : and, in particular, let ingenuous youth hence learn to remember their Creator in the days of their youth." The common opinion is, that the creation took place in the fpring; and Milton, in faying that the Pleiades danced before the fun at the creation, plainly intimates the fame fentiment, because the conftellation Taurus (in whofe neck the Pleiades are fituated) rifes about the vernal equinox; hence thofe feven ftars are called by the Latins Vergilia. See Exer. on the Globes, 4th edit. According to moft chronologers, the world was created 4004 years B. C.; how old is it this prefent year 1810? Anf. 5814 years. No. 8. DELUGE.-The inhabitants of our earth, 'excepting Noah and his family, were deftroyed for their wickedness by a flood. This direful event is defcribed in the 6th, 7th, and 8th chapters of Genefis; Noah being, as the facred hiftorian relates," a juft man and perfect in his generation, found grace in the eyes of the Lord," and was preferved in the ark, as were alfo his family, and a certain number of beasts and birds to replenish the earth : # Of ev'ry beaft, and bird, and infect small, Came fev'ns, and pairs, and enter'd in, as taught Mean time down rufh'd the rain Impetuous, and continued till the earth No more was feen; the floating veffel fwum Uplifted, and fecure with beaked prow Rode tilting o'er the waves; all dwellings elfe Flood overwhelm'd, and them with all their pomp MILTON. See Chron. and Biog. Exer. 4th edit. Sept. 1, 5508 B. C. Upon Upon the affuaging of the waters; the ark" faft on the top of fome high mountain fix'd* ;" and Noah went forth and built an altar to Jehovah; receiving from the Lord, at the fame time, A cov'nant never to destroy The earth again by flood, nor let the fea Surpafs his bounds, nor rain to drown the world. MILTON. The token of this covenant was the " triple-colour'd bow," which, it is fuppofed, did not appear before the deluge; the earth prior to that æra being watered daily by a thick mift, and confequently there could be naturally no rainbow, which is made by the refraction of the fun's rays in the drops of falling rain; a discovery which we owe to the immortal Newton : Mean time refracted from yon' eastern cloud, The various twine of light, by thee disclosed THOMSON. There are alfo occafionally lunar rainbows. The moon, fays Mifs Williams, when we were on the mountains of Glaris, rifing behind us fuddenly, threw her bright beams on an immenfe vaporous mafs of pitchy dark clouds, and prefented to our gaze a perfect rainbow, chaftened in its colours by the foft reflection of lunar light t. See Chron. and Biog. Exer. Sept. 10, 1802. * The elevated fpot on which the ark rested is supposed to have been Ararat in Armenia; fometimes called the Gordyæan mountain. It is fituated weft of the Cafpian fea, about twelve leagues from Erivan, the capital of Perfian or Greater Armenia. + Tour in Switzerland, vol. ii. p. 67. Solar rainbows in our latitude are only feen in the mornings and evenings, when the fun is not much more than forty-two degrees high. In the more northern latitudes, where the meridian fun is not more than forty-two degrees high, they are also visible at noon. As the antediluvian world perifhed by the flood, fo fhall the prefent world, which we inhabit, be destroyed by fire; and fome eminent astronomers have imagined, that a comet will be the inftrument of this dreadful conflagration; when, as Shakspeare emphatically expreffes it, The cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous palaces, Or, agreeably to language ftill more awful, The heavens being on fire fhall be diffolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. 2 Pet. iii. 12. The deluge happened 2356 years B. C.; how long is that ago this prefent year 1810? Anf. 4166 years. No. 9. THE CALLING OF ABRAHAM*.-Abraham, the father and stock whence the faithful fprung, was the fon of Terah. He was defcended from Noah by Shem, and was born in the city of Ur, in Chaldea +. He died at the age of 175 years, and was interred in the cave of Machpelah, near the body of Sarah his first wife. Machpelah was near Hebron, which was about twenty miles fouthward of the fpot where the city of Jerufalem was afterwards built. Abraham denotes a father of a great multitude: his former name Abram, (See Gen. xvii. 5.) an high father. The + Chaldea, taken in a larger fenfe, included Babylonia; as in the prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. In a restricted fenfe, it denoted a province of Babylonia, towards Arabia Deferta; called in fcripture, The land of the Chaldeans. Ur is fuppofed to have been fituated near the river Euphrates, in about 32 degrees of North lat. province of Mefopotamia, a tract of land which lay between the Euphrates and the Tigris, is fometimes confounded with Chaldea. That fome part of Mefopotamia was occupied by the Chaldeans, feems to be confirmed by Acts vii. 2, 4. See the author's Scripture Maps. Abraham Abraham is faid to have been well fkilled in many fciences, and to have written feveral books. Jofephus informs us, that he taught the Egyptians arithmetic and geometry; and, according to other writers, he inftructed the Phoenicians, as well as the Egyptians, in aftronomy. This illuftrious patriarch, who, for his faith, piety, and obedience, was honoured with the high titles of the "father of the faithful, and the friend of God," was called to be the father of a chofen people 1921 years B. C. Him God the Moft High vouchfafed To call by vifion from his father's house, MILTON. Many of the inhabitants of the Eaft-Indies, not only Chriftians and Mahometans, but even the Indians and Infidels, have a traditionary knowledge of the patriarch Abraham, and fpeak highly in commendation of him. How long has the calling of Abraham preceded the prefent year 1810? Anf. 3731 years.) No. 10. SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MOSES*. Mofes, the great Jewish legiflator, was the fon of Amram and Jochebed, of the tribe of Levi. He was born in Egypt, in the N. E. part of Africa. In confequence of a murderous edict iffued by the tyrant and perfecutor Pharaoht, king of that country, he was, fhortly after his nativity, expofed upon the river Nile, in an ark of * The name Mofes imports being drawn up, or taken out of the Exodus ii. 10. water. + As juftice fhould be done even to a tyrant, we fhall quote a remark of the celebrated Dr. Jortin's refpecting Pharaoh. "This defpot (fays that learned writer), tyrant and perfecutor as he was, never compelled the Hebrews to forfake the religion of their fathers, and to adopt that of the Egyptians. Such improvements in perfecution, adds that great man, were reserved for Chriftians ! ! ! » bulrushes. bulrushes*. From this perilous fituation he was rescued by the humane daughter of the mercilefs defpot, who took him up, and nourished him for her own fon, and he became learned in all the wifdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds." See Exodus ii. and Acts vii. 21, 22. About the 80th year of his age, Mofes, after performing a number of miracles in Egypt, quitted that kingdom with 600,000 Ifraelites, befides children, who all miraculously paffed through the RED SEA; Whose waves o'erthrew Bufiris and his Memphian + chivalry MILTON. Having thus experienced the divine interpofition, the Ifraelites traverfed "the wild defert," and arrived at Mount SINAI, where God himself In thunder, lightning, and loud trumpets found, And fhadows, of that deftin'd feed to bruise MILTON. By bulrushes is fuppofed to be meant the papyrus, a reed which grew in the river Nile, with which they made ships or loops. See Ifaiah xviii. 2. + Bufiris is a name which was borne by many Egyptian princes. Memphis was a celebrated town of Egypt on the Western banks of the Nile; in its neighbourhood the famous pyramids were built. § Gofhen was the best and most fertile portion in the district of Ramefis, which bordered upon the banks of the Nile, near Heliopolis. It was given by Jofeph to his father and brother. Gen. xlvi. 11. In commemoration of this fignal deliverance, Mofes compofed a fong (fee Exodus ch. xv.), which has been faid to be the most ancient piece of poetry in the world, and is justly admired for its fublimity. In |