Thibodaux minerva. [volume] (Thibodaux, La.) 18??-1858, 1854-07-22
ssAge of the Patriarchs.'

cage of the Patriarchs."
Editors Minerua: Your last weeks paper con-
taius an extract under the head of cage of the
Patriarchs," which, by calling in question the
zoaqepity of the antediluyians, denies the Mos
aical antiquity of the world.
few words will be sufficient, it is hoped, to
correct any hurtful impression made by the un-
warranted assumptions and Wfda insinuations
of this writer who ventures to put himself IN
antagonism to Sir Isaac Newton, DIR. Lardner,
and the great body Of the learned, both dead
and living, respecting the ages of men before
the flood.
That the years mentioned in the Scriptures,
were either solar or lunar years, varlng but
little in length from our own, can be established
it seems to me, beyond all. rational doubt.
The civil year of the Jews, the Greeks, and
many other nations we are informed by history,
was regulated partly by the Sun and partly by
the Moon. The year of the ancient Egyptians
consisted of exactly 365 days But Messrs.
Editors, you will search history long time before
you will find any record of year consisting
of only three months" Must we receive as
historic verities, the vagaries, the mere assump-
tons, of this DR.. Van Orden, or any fellow neo-
phyte? | confess | have but little regard for
those men who disturb the graves OF old
caaaky against the Bible. We are compelled to
witness, ever now and then, the exhumation of
some of these oft-refuted and almost forgotten
objections to Christianity, which. after being
clothed in the drapery ofmodern pseudo-sclence,
are banded about, as though some new light had
burst upon the world. But have digressed.
Josephus in his s:Anfguities," confirms the
Mosaical account of the duration of human life
in the early ages Of the world, by appealing to
the traditional accounts of other nations. He
saws. &c have for witnesses to what have said
all who have written antiquities both among the
Greeks and Barbarians; for Menetho, who
wrote the Egyptian History, and Berosus, who
collected the Chaldean Monuments, and others,
relate that the ancients Hped thousand gears. ="
Dr. Kitto, who is reputed one of the first
Biblical scholars living, says, fThe longevity OF
the primeval generations, is corroborated by
many ancient traditions We find similar &C.
counts in the records of China and Heindustan.
Extending not beyond the flood, the Chinese
annals give to the eighth generations following
Noah, nearly the same duration as the Hebrew
Historian. And Hoang-tee. who reigned in
China 730 years after the flood, is described as
remarking the gradual decline OF the term OF
human life, and as inquiring how it came to
pass, that the lives of the ancients so long,
and the life of man so short, in the age in which
he 1lVeu Inc Institutes VI Mcuu, dIso, Stible
that in the first ages after the food, the life of
man extended to 400 years. 90 But" says the
writer upon whose article I have taken the
liberty to animadvert. ssit would be altogether
inexplicable why the life of man should have
been shortened one half Immediately after the
food'' And so will any man involve himself
in " inexplicable' difficulties who ignors the
teachings of history, substitutes his own intul-
tons for the induetions of sound philosophy, and
swings off from the safe mornings of Revelation.
But the erplication Of fact, and the denial OF
it, are by no means IDENTICAL. There are mul-
titudes of acknowledged facts which utterly
battle all our power of comprehension. What
then? Does truth cease to be truth?
And will man deny Biblical statement,
corroborated by history and tradition, because,
forsooth, it does not adjust itself to his notions
of things! And yet there are reasons for
primeval longevity, which have been satisfactory
to most persons, such as ~ natural causes;
(2) the more speedy replenishing of the earth,
and (3) for the more efectual preservation OF
the knowledge Of God and religion.
After all, the difficulty, so far as any real
difficulty exists, must be resolved into the will
and power of God.
That iudicious commentator, DR.. Thos. Scott
says, So The power of God alone could preserve
the curious fabric of the human body for the
few years now Allotted to us; and the same
power would suffice to preserve it to the age of
Methuselah, or forever
Yours respectfully, FRIEND OF TRUTH.
Thibodaux, July 10, 1854.