Or all the visitations of Divine Providence upon a guilty world, earth. quakes are among the most awful. Our country has been, since its settlement hitherto, comparatively free from the disastrous effects of these convulsions; though the inhabitants have been occasionally terrified by slight or more threatening motions of the earth. The winter pas! has been distinguished by the number, fre. quency, and extent of the earthquakes. On the 16th of December last, numerous shocks were felt in all the southern and western parts of the union. It is ascertained that the earth was shaken with more or less violence from New York to the Flor idas, and from the Atlantic to the Mississippi. From the violence of the convulsions on that river, it is probable that an immense tract of country to the westward experienced similar effects. In Charleston, (S.C.) and many other places, the motion of the earth was sufficient to ring the church bells, and the shocks were rapid in succession for three or four days. On the Mississippi the shocks were many times repeated, and with such violence that forest trees were broken off instantly by the vibratory motion, the banks of the river fell in, and its bed was raised in many places so as to form a multitude of new isl ands.

All the boats on the river were in imminent danger of being sunk, and several moored by the shore were buried with their crews by the crumbling banks. The ground opened in many places to a great depth, and shut again with violence. Sulphureous steams issued from the bed of the river and from apertures in the earth. The greatest effects of the earthquakes were between 100 and 200 miles below the mouth of the Ohio. Eighty-nine distinct shocks were counted in seven days from the 16th.

On the 7th of February other very severe shocks were felt in the southern and western states. The clergy of Charleston, (S.C.) recom

mended a day of public fasting and prayer, which was observed on

the 13th.

At New Madrid on the Mississippi a considerable tract of land was inun dated by the overflowing of the river and the sinking of the land. The town of New Madrid was rendered uninhabitable, and deserted by the people.

On the 26th of March a most tremendous series of shocks was experienced at Laguira and Carraccas in South America Many hundreds, (if not thousands,) of the inhabitants were instantly hurried into eternity. The churches were open and contained many worshippers, as it was the eve of Good Friday. Of 40 churches in Laguira 38 were demolished, and the whole city, with the exception of a few houses, was destroyed. To prevent contagion the dead bodies were dragged from the ruins, and burned, or sunk in the sea. Caraccas is said to have contained 40,000 inhabitants, and Laguira 25,000.

Many serious reflections occur te the mind while considering these awful events. One of the most useful, as well as the most obvious is, that for aught we are able to tell, the people of our own towns and cities, the people of Boston for instance, are continually as much exposed to be overwhelmed with an earthquake, as the people of Laguira were a few months ago Whenever it pleases God, he visits the sins of mankind with the most terrible judgments, however careless or confident the victims of his displeasure may be. It is not because our iniquities do not provoke the Divine anger that we are spared, while others are buried under their fallen dwellings.

NEW YORK SCHOOL FUND.

FROM a report made to the Governor of the state of New York by a com mittee appointed for that purpose, it appears that the amount of the school fund of that state on the 11th ult. was $558,464:69; and that the revenue of this fund for the current year is estimated at $45,216:94.

III. To recite a series of Testimonies concerning this great convulsion of the world.

These testimonies I will endeavor to arrange in the best order, which their own nature, and my circumstances will permit. My circumstances will not allow me to spend much time in this employment; and the nature of the testimonies themselves is such, as to forbid a clear and accurate arrangement.

The first class of testimonies, which I shall select, will respect the state of things, preceding the deluge.

Berosus, the Chaldean; Manetho, the Egyptian; Hieronymus, the Phoenician; Hesiod, Histiaus, Hecataus, and Hellanicus, among the Greeks; declare the life of the first men to have lasted a thousand years.

Catullus records, and describes, the prevailing belief of the general corruption of men, after the state of original innocence was past.

That men anciently existed, of a larger size than at present, JoVOL. IV. New Series.

sephus testifies generally; and declares, that their bones were found in his own time.

Gabinius declarès such bones to have been found by Sertorius in Mauritania.

Phlegon declares, that such bones were found in Dalmatia, and in the Cimmerian Bospho

rus.

Pausanias declares, that such bones were shown at Pisa, and at the city of Asopus in the tenple of Esculapius.

Philostratus declares many such bones to have been uncovered by the rains at Pallene.

Pliny declares, that a skeleton, or body of a man, standing, was discovered in Crete by the parting asunder of a mountain, which some thought to be Orion, and others Ation.

Both Pliny and Solinus testify to a report, that the body of Orestes, when dug up by the command of the oracle, was found to measure seven cubits.

Stephanus writes, they say that Iconium was the city of Annacus, (Enochus,) who lived 300 years; and that the inhabitants of the

67

place where he lived, asking how long he would live, were answered, that after his death they would all die. Upon which the Phrygians entered into a great mourning; whence was derived the proverb, "Annacum flere;" to weep for Annacus; applied to those, who gave themselves up to excessive lamentation. The deluge under Deucalion, having come, they all perished.

A very ancient author, a fragment of whom is preserved by Suidas, says, that Annacus was a person of great antiquity, prior to the time of Ducalion. He is said to have been a king; who, foreseeing the approaching deluge, collected all people together, i. e. all the people of the vicinity; and led them to a temple, where he offered up his prayers for them; accompanied by many

tears.

Hermogenes, writing concern ing the Phrygians, says, that Cannacas foresaw the flood; and carnestly prayed the Gods to avert the calamity.

The second class of testimonies, which I shall allege, will immediately respect the Deluge itself.

Bochart observes, that the story of the deluge has spread through all nations.

Howard observes, that all men have retained a memory of the deluge; and the Tatars and Arabians have preserved the names of those, who escaped from it, and of several of their posterity. These two nations were never conquered, nor mixed; and like the Jews, have kept their original manners, and extensively preserved genealogies. Their accounts were totally in

dependent of the Jewish history.

Again, that Noah was preserved from the deluge in an ark, or ship, and even his very name, as in the Hebrew, was known and repeated, by all the nations from China to the Mediterranean, and the Baltic. In all these traditions we find some, and by comparing them may colfect all, the articles of the Mosaic account of the deluge. These traditions are independent, because they are applied to fables, belonging to each nation.

Again, the precise number of ten generations, as asserted by Moses, is repeated by nations the most distant; the Chinese; the Persians; by Sanchoniathon a Phænician; by Berosus, a Chaldaan, by the Egyptians; the Tatars; and the Arabians. The two last give to most of the antediluvian patriarchs the same names, which are given to them in Genesis.

Sir William Jones observes, that the Persians believe in a universal deluge; that the first Purana of the Hindoos, contains an account of the deluge; and that the Chinese declare the world to have been overflowed by a deluge, which covered the whole earth; then subsided, and separated the higher age of the world from the lower.

Josephus says, that the history of the deluge was to be met with in the writings of all nations, who treated of the first ages. He expressly particularizes Berosus, Hieronymus of Egypt, Mnascas, Abydenus, Melo, and Nicolaus Damascenus; and declares, that it was recorded by many others.

The account of Abydenus, taken from the archives of the