The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1885-07-11
Written for the CHIEF.
JEWISH HlSTORY-ANTEDlLU-
WAN.
TCOntinued.1


| An authentic account of the creation of
the world and of the primitive state of
| mankind is to be found only in the Bible.
There we are Informed by Moses, the most
ancient of all historians, that in the begin
ming God created the earth, the celestial
bodies and all things both animate and in
animate; and that He created one man and
| woman, named Adam and Eve and placed
them in a garden or paradise situated in
the land of Eden. According to the best
chronologers the creation of the world was
accomplished in the year 1904 A. G. Adam
and Eve soon transgressed the commands
of God, and were therefore expelled from
thoir delightful abode.
Adam and Eve had two sons whose names
were Cain and Abel. Cain the elder was n
bush and man and Abel was a shepherd.
Cain was Of vicious, Abel of virtuous
disposition. Hence the worship of Abel
was more acceptable to the Lord than that
of Cain. Instgated by. envy and malice,
Cain killed his brother, when they we're to-
gether in the field For this atrocious
crime he was severely punished by the Lord
and became ga fugitive and vagabond
upon the EARTH"
One of the most remarkable circum-
stances Of the former world is the longveity
of the people. Adam lived $50 years, Seth
912 years, Jared 962 years, Methuselah 500
years, Noah $50 years. In process of time
Hi ,.I,o Il,oI \
was resolved to destroy them by a deluge.
Amid the general corruption and de.
pravity of the human race one virtuous
man was found, Noah, the son of La1nech.
Jealous for the reformation of men, he be-
came teacher Of righteousness to the de-
generate and vicious people among whom
he lived, and employed both his counsel
and authority to reclaim them. And God
commanded Noah to build great ship
called an ark and to put into it his wife, his
three sons and their wives, and also few
males and females of every species of liv-
ing things. that they might be saved from
the general esluge which would shortly
overwhelm the whole earth and extirpate
all creatures. The flood continued $50 days
and then gradually subsidized Noah and
his family and all the animals went out of
the ark, (2343. A. O. and in process of
time they multiplied and spread over the
surface of the earl as ~ low See them.
OF the literary and scientific attainments
of the antediluvians we know very little.
| From the Moses account they do not ap-
pear to have been very great. Moses has
briefly Informed Us what was the origin of
various customs and arts, and has recorded
| the names Of their inventors. Lamech, the
son of Cain, gave the first example Of po-
| Iygamy. Cain built the first city and intro-
duced the use of weights aud measures.
| One of Gains grandeons g was the father of
such as dwell in tents, and of such as have
cattle" JubeI invented music. Tubal Cain
the arts Of forging iron and casting brass,
and woman called Naamah the art of
! spinning and weaving. Their religious rites
We're few and SiHc pie: they worsaipped God
| by prayer and sacrifices of certain animals.
!, The remembrance Of the three sons OF
Noah, the f-st founders os the nations of
the earth after the dei1ga, has been pre-
served among he several nat o:a., i.ecsaa.ied
from them. .1aohet peopiea ts.s greater