DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8#0061
( GO )
Shall we extol the wisdom of a Plato, the ethics of
A Socrates, the theorems of a Pythagoras; admire the
ingenious mechanic invention!* of an Archimedes, the
mathematical improvements of a Λ^η Culen and a New-
ton; and refuse to allow such excellent endowments of
mind, to be a participation of similar talents, bestowed
by Heaven on those Sons of God ? Shall we say that the
memorial of traditions, which flowed from a wisdom
and knowledge inspired into the human mind, at first,
not by a superstitiously deified Minerva, but by the
eternal living God, was less promptly embraced, less
assiduously cultivated by antediluvian favorites of the
sciences ; than the diminished portions of it were, in
after ages, by men, whose lives were contracted within
the span of a century ; and whose mental faculties were
more or less narroWed, by the first impressions of su-
perstition and vice ? Why set bounds, then, to our ideas
of the consequent superexcellence of antediluvian
paragons, and not rather exult that, at least, one useful
specimen of them, the Pyramid in question, remains to
us out of the general wreck of many others by the deluge?
It is very apparent, this Pyramid, either by the
tleluge, or some other agency, has suffered dilapidation,
as before observed: and has been stripped of it's former
coat ; and now exibits to view the coarse gradations of
rough stones of an enormous size, which have struck
Pliny, and other visitors with amazement, at the con-
templation of such ponderous magnitudes, elevated to
so great a height. Now without running into the
absurd supposition, some have indulged in, concerning'
Adam's lofty stature ; we know from Scripture, some
of the antediluvian descendants of Adam were giants;
the offspring, indeed, of the sons of God, by their
marriage»
Shall we extol the wisdom of a Plato, the ethics of
A Socrates, the theorems of a Pythagoras; admire the
ingenious mechanic invention!* of an Archimedes, the
mathematical improvements of a Λ^η Culen and a New-
ton; and refuse to allow such excellent endowments of
mind, to be a participation of similar talents, bestowed
by Heaven on those Sons of God ? Shall we say that the
memorial of traditions, which flowed from a wisdom
and knowledge inspired into the human mind, at first,
not by a superstitiously deified Minerva, but by the
eternal living God, was less promptly embraced, less
assiduously cultivated by antediluvian favorites of the
sciences ; than the diminished portions of it were, in
after ages, by men, whose lives were contracted within
the span of a century ; and whose mental faculties were
more or less narroWed, by the first impressions of su-
perstition and vice ? Why set bounds, then, to our ideas
of the consequent superexcellence of antediluvian
paragons, and not rather exult that, at least, one useful
specimen of them, the Pyramid in question, remains to
us out of the general wreck of many others by the deluge?
It is very apparent, this Pyramid, either by the
tleluge, or some other agency, has suffered dilapidation,
as before observed: and has been stripped of it's former
coat ; and now exibits to view the coarse gradations of
rough stones of an enormous size, which have struck
Pliny, and other visitors with amazement, at the con-
templation of such ponderous magnitudes, elevated to
so great a height. Now without running into the
absurd supposition, some have indulged in, concerning'
Adam's lofty stature ; we know from Scripture, some
of the antediluvian descendants of Adam were giants;
the offspring, indeed, of the sons of God, by their
marriage»