the primitive state of the earth, and the fubfequent deluge, taken, as it is faid, from the most antient annals of Ethiopia. The passage is quoted in the Flora Saturnisans of Henckel (Paris Ed. 1760.) from the works of Rammazini, and is as follows - Narrat quidam fapiens Abyfinus in antiquiffimis Ethiopia annalibus defcriptam effe hiftoriam perditionis humani generis, et difruptionis totius terræ. In mundi fcilicet primordiis fuiffe terram multo acceptiorem, quam nunc eft, ac cœlo proximiorem, perfecte rotundam, fine montibus, ac vallibus, totam tamen intùs cavernofam, ad inftar fpongiæ, hominefque in illa habitantes ac æthere puriffimo gaudentes jucundum ævum duxiffe; terra inarata optimas fruges et fructus ferente. Cùm autem poft diuturnum fæculorum fluxum, homines fuperbia elati, a prisca illa bonitate defciviffent, deos iratos terram adeo valide concuffiffe, ut major illius pars intra proprias cavernas defederit, hoc pacto aquam in latebrofis receffibus ante conclufam, expreffam violenter fuiffe, atque ita fontes, flumina, lacus, et mare ipfum ortum duxiffe, eam vero terræ portionem quæ intra has cavernas non decidiffet, fed reliqua elatior ftetiffet, montium formam exhibuiffe; infulas porro P 3 porro et fcopulos in medio mare nihil aliud effe, nifi fegmenta terræ cavernofæ ab illo totius terrenæ molis præcipiti cafu fuperftitis. I HAVE produced this curious paffage, not merely as a proof of there having been a fingular tradition of a deluge, fubfifting amongst the antient inhabitants of Æthiopia; but to fhew how great a resemblance it bears to the hypothefis, which Burnet has adorned with all the elegance of pure Latinity in his Theoria Telluris. The primitive earth, according to Burnet, was round, without mountains, without valleys, without a fea, built upon an abyfs of waters; by the falling of this cruft of earth into the abyfs, the deluge was occafioned, a sea, and mountains, and rocks, and islands were formed. No words need be employed in fhewing how all this coincides with the tradition of the Æthiopians expreffed in the preceding quotation. AN LETTER FIRST. SIR, IT T would give me much uneasiness to be reputed an Enemy to free inquiry in religious matters, or as capable of being animated into any degree of perfonal malevolence against those who differ from me in opinion, On the contrary, I look upon the right of private judgment, in every concern respecting God and ourselves, as superior to the controul of human authority; and have ever regarded free difquifition, as the best mean of illuftrating the doctrine, and establishing the truth of Christianity. Let the followers of Mahomet, and the zealots of the church of Rome, fupport their feveral religious fyftems by damping every effort of the human intellect to pry into the foundations of their faith; but never can it become a Chriftian, to be afraid of being afked a reason of the faith that is in him; nor a Pro |