Oriental Literature, 39 



nre of a nature widely different; that the whole 

 jargon of the Vugs, or grand periods, and, conse- 

 quently, all those presumptuous assertions of the 

 Brahmans, relative to the earth's antiquity, have 

 no foundation but in the great solar and lunar 

 cycles, or planetary revolutions. " 2 



Very rich and curious information has also been 

 derived from late oriental inquiries, which serves 

 at once to illustrate and confirm the scripture doc- 

 trine of the Trinity. One of the most learned and 

 accurate orientalists of the age considers the fol- 

 lowing facts as decisively established by recent in- 

 vestigations, viz. " First, that in the Sephiroth, or 

 three superior splendours of the ancient Hebrews, 

 may be discovered the three hypostases of the 

 Christian Trinity; secondly, that this doctrine 

 flourished through nearly all the empire of Asia, 

 a thousand years before Plato was born; and, 

 thirdly, that the grand cavern-pagoda of Elephanta, 

 the oldest and most magnificent temple in the 

 world, is neither more nor less than a superb temple 

 to a Tri-une God." If the doctrine of the Trinity 

 be contained in the Old Testament scriptures, as 

 it certainly is; and if some knowledge of this stu- 

 pendous mystery of our holy religion were con- 

 veyed to the faithful in the earliest times, which 

 we may safely presume to have been the case; then 

 it was natural that some ideas of this doctrine, 

 more or less distinct, and connected with a greater 

 or less portion of fable, should be found, as the re- 

 sult of tradition, in most nations of the world. 

 That this is really the case, the learned have long 

 had increasing reason to believe. But the inquiries 

 of the eighteenth century, and especially those in- 

 stituted in the east, have rendered this truth more 

 indisputably apparent than ever, and have thus 



* See Maurice's Indian Antiquities^ and his History of Hindostan. 

 VOL. II. N 



