fo is the third perfon in the bleffed Trinity not less decifively revealed to us in the second. And the SPIRIT OF GOD moved upon the face of the waters. Calafio renders this paffage, Spiritus Dei motabut, &c.; but, as Dr. Patrick has rightly observed, this is not the exact meaning of the text; for, the original verb, tranflated moved, fhould be rendered brooded, upon the water: incubavit, as a hen broods over her eggs.* Thus, we fee, the Spirit ex It is tranflated by this very word in the Syriac verfion of the Hebrew text, as I find it in Walton's Polyglot. In the interlineary verfion of Pagninus, however, the verb "motabat" is ufed. It is remarkable how variously both the verb itself and the preceding noun are rendered in the feveral Eastern tranflations inferted in that elaborate work; and this variety has probably given rife to all the mistaken ideas of the Gentiles on the fubject. Thus, in the Samaritan verfion, it is rendered, "Spiritus Dei ferebatur fuper aquas ;" in which it agrees with the Septuagint and the vulgate Latin. From fome perverted notion of this kind, delivered traditionally down to the Indians, it has most likely arifen, that, in all the engravings defcriptive of the Indian colmogony, BRAHMA is reprefented floating on the abyss upon the leaf of the facred LOTOS. Thus, in that fpirited and beautiful ode of Sir William Jones to NARAYENA, which, literally tranflated, he obferves, means the Spirit moving on the water, we find the following remarkable stanza, in which is combined the idea both of the mundane egg and the Spiritus incubans. It will be remembered that Sir William, in this paffage, profeffes' to give the principles of the Indian cofmogony, as he found them difplayed in the two most venerable Sanfcreet productions of India, so often mentioned erted upon this occafion an active effectual energy; by that energy, agitating the vast abyfs, and mentioned hereafter, the MENUMSRITI, Or Inftitutes of Menu, and the SREE BHAGAVAT. Firft, an all-potent all-pervading found Bade flow the waters, and the waters flow'd, Then, o'er the vast expaníe, primordial wind Which grew in perfect thàpe an EGG refin❜d, But, heav'nly penfive, on the LOTOS lay, That bloffom'd at his touch, and fhed a golden ray. See the whole of this Hymn in the Afiatic MENU, I have frequently obferved, is the Indian NOAH, and therefore the inftitutes, remembered from Menu, may be of an antiquity little inferior to the great patriarch himself. I have gone deeply, at the commencement of my hiftory, into all the Oriental cofmogonies, but particularly into that of India. The refult, I truft, will be a proud, addition of ftrength and glory to the Mofaic system. Whether I fhall obtain readers for that portion of my work, or indeed any part of it, is yet doubtful with me; but, to prevent its being dull or tedious, I have endeavoured to infpirit that particular part with all the energy and animation that language can afford to dignify the loftieft fubject poffible to be and infufing into it a powerful vital principle. I fhall, hereafter, fhew at large how generally throughout all the Oriental nations, but espe cially in Hindostan, this notion of the Spiritus incubans was adopted; and whence, except from this primitive fource, can we deduce the doctrine of the wov newToyovov, or the primogenial egg, fo particularly noticed in the hymns attributed to the Grecian Orpheus? I have afferted, that, to each of the facred perfors in the Trinity, fuch names are applied, and fuch offences allotted, as are alone applicable to Deity. Of divine inherent power, creation itself is certainly one grand proof, be difcuffed, THE BIRTH OF NATURE AND OF MAN. I have traced the Orphean egg to its genuine fource, and I have fhewn that the primitive cærulean form of India (for fo NARAYEN IS painted) is no other than the great Egyptian Deity, CNEPH, who was represented, in their symbols, as a being of a dark blue complexion, and thrufting from its mouth the primeval egg, whence the world was generated. But, to proceed in reviewing the remaining variations in the Oriental verfions of the fecond verfe of the first chapter of Genefis. The Targum of Onkelos renders the words " Spiritus infufflabat," and the Arabic has " Venti Dei flabant," all which very much resembles what we read in Sanchoniatho's Phoenician Cofmogony, of the dark and turbid air agitating the gloomy chaos and the impregnating wind Colpia, a word which Bochart very justly supposes to be only a corruption of the Hebrew word Col-pi-jah, or the voice of God. Compare Walton's Polyglotta, tom. i. p. 2, edit. Lond. 1060, Cumber. land's Sanchoniatho, p. 14, and Bochart's Sacra Geog. lib. ii. c. 2, quarto edit. 1681. and the confounding of languages, which as certainly can only be the work of a Deity, is another. To thefe proofs it may be added, that prayer is exprefsly commanded in various parts of Scripture to be offered to each, and to each is feparately affigned the stupendous attribute of forgiveness of fins. Elohim, it has been remarked, feems to be the general appellation by which the triune Godhead is collectively distinguished in Scripture; and, though the auguft name of JEHOVAH in a more peculiar manner belongs to God the Father, yet is that name, in various parts of Scripture, applied to each perfon in the holy Trinity. The Hebrews confidered this name in fuch a facred light that they never pronounced it, and ufed the word ADONAï inftead of it.* It was, indeed, a name that ranked first among their profoundest cabala; a mystery fublime, ineffable, incommunicable! It was called TETRAGRAMMATON, or the name of four letters, and thofe letters are Jod, He, Vau, He, the proper pronunciation of which, from long difufe, is faid to be no longer known to the • Their making ufe of this particular word ADONAï, which is the plural of ADONI, and fignifies MY LORDS, is a circumftance not to be paffed over unnoticed, as it feems manifeftly allufive to a plurality in Deity. the Jews themselves. This awful name was first revealed by God to Mofes from the centre of the burning bush; and Jofephus, who, as well as Scripture, relates this circumstance, evinces his veneration for it, by calling it the name which his religion did not permit him to mention."* From this word, the pagan title of JAO and JOVE is, with the greatest probability, fuppofed to have been originally formed; and, in the golden verfes of Pythagoras, there is an oath still extant to this purpose, "By him who has the FOUR LETTERS." The Jews, unable to overthrow the evidence of our Saviour's miracles, with unparalleled audacity affert, that, when he was in the temple, he found out and stole this ineffable Tetragrammaton, deposited in its facred receffes, which he inferted into his thigh, between the fkin and the flesh, and, by virtue of this talifman, performed all the miracles which he wrought. As the name JEHOVAH, however in fome inftances applied to the Son and Holy Spirit, was the proper name of God the Father; fo is LoGos, in as peculiar a manner, the appropriated name of God the Son. The Chaldee paraphrafts tranflate Antiq. Judaic. lib. ii. cap. 5, p. 61. ↑ Tergantus. Vide Selden de Diis Syriis, Syntag. ii. c. I. |