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teen alfo a fubjcft of difcuflion. This has been mod gene- 

 rally fiippofed to be tlie autumnal equinox, which is the 

 sera from which the year anciently commenced. 



According to Blair, in his firft chronological table, Adam 

 and Eve were created on Friday the 28th Otlober, ante ChryJ, 

 4004; and Adam died 3074 ante Chrijl, at the age of 930 

 years. 



Another fuhjeft of inquiry hai been the place where 

 Adam was created, and in which his firft. habitation was 

 affigned him. See Eden. 



A confidemble difference of opinion has prevailed with 

 refpedl to the vigour of Adam's intclleftual faculties, and the 

 degree of knowledge which he pofTefTcd at the time of his 

 formation. We may reafonably imagine, that, as our fird 

 parents were created in an adult ftate, they were imn^ediately 

 capable of the full exercife of their natural powers and facul- 

 ties : and there is a certain dignity of intcllecl:, as well as 

 rectitude of will, that is probably implied in the exprefllons 

 <' our image," and " our hkenefs," in which God is faid 

 to have created them. Mr. Shuckford, however, (Creation, 

 &c. of Man, p. 74, &c. ) refers this expreflion to the llruc- 

 ture of his body, which was fupsrior to that of other living 

 •creatures, agreeably to Ovid's defcription, Os hoiiv.m fuhVime 

 ckJit. — Metam. or to Cicero's (De Leg. lib. i.) Figuram 

 corporis hal'ihm et aptam tngcn'io humano ded'it, ^r. : — And 

 lie fuppofes, that this is an Hebrew form of fpeech, 

 which refers to God whatever is mod excellent in its 

 kind. He adds, that this expreflion denotes his deligna- 

 tion for immortality, fo that fin introduced death. But 

 whatever were Adam's original powers, without exer- 

 cife, and without experience, his aftual knowledge mull 

 have been, in a very confiderable degree, reftrlfted and partial. 

 It feems, therefore, unreafonable and unnecefiaiy to fuppofe, 

 that he was endowed with a much greater comprehenfion 

 and vigour of mind, and with a greater compafs of know- 

 ledge tlian any of his defecndants ; and that he was, in real 

 attainment, as well as in capacity of improvement, little in- 

 ferior to higher orders of beings. The knowledge that was 

 adapted to his condition, and that was fubfervient to imme- 

 diate ufe, was without doubt communicated to him at his 

 firft formation : and as he had no native prejudice, and no 

 irregular propenfity or bias to miflead him, he poffefTed pe- 

 culiar advantages tor extending his knowledge, and more 

 cfpecially his moral improvement. But as religious prin- 

 ciples, devout affeftions, and virtuous difpofitions are efta- 

 blifhed and ftrengthened by exercife and difcipline, it may 

 be luppofed that, v.ithout fome fupcrnatural defence and 

 afliftance, which his hillory does not mention, he would be 

 liable to be feduced and overeome by a temptation, w'lieh 

 the maturity of habit, and the wifdom of experience might 

 bave enabled him to withftand. See Fall ai AL-m and Ori- 

 ginal Sim. 



Adam pofleded, without doubt, the ncce:Taiy powers of 

 articulation, and the faculty of fpeech ; but in the exercife 

 of thefe faculties he mull have been puzzled and perplexed ; 

 nor is it eafy to conceive, that the few words of which even 

 the fcanty vocabulary that ferved his neeefiities confilled, 

 could have been invented by him, nor the ftamina of that 

 language, whieli was afterv.-ards enlarged and improved, 

 coild have been devifed by him without a fupcrnatural com- 

 munication. See Language. 



How long our firft parents continued in parr.dife before 

 or after their fall is a queftion, for the folution of which we 

 have no fufficient evidence, nor indeed a/e fuch queftions of 

 any real importance. It is probable, that they were not 

 removed to any great diftance, and that they found fcope 

 <nouijh for thdr attention and labour near the fpot where 



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they Were firft fettled, and from which they were excluded, 

 according to the literal acceptation of tlie feripture-hillory. 

 The fcriptures give ua no information as to tlie place where 

 Adam was buried. St. Jerome inclines to tlie opinion of 

 thofe who think, that he was buried at Hebron, in the 

 cave of Machpelah, afterwards bought by Abraham for a 

 burying-place. The caftern Chriftians fay, that he gave 

 orders to have his body embalmed, and depofitcd in a cave 

 on the top of a mountain, which cave was called Al-kenur, 

 from an Arabic word which fignitles to lay up privately ; 

 and it is alleged, that this order was given to prevent his 

 pofterity from worftiipping his relics. It is added, that he 

 ordered his body to be placed in the midft of the earth, be- 

 caufe thence Ihould proceed his falvation, and that of hit 

 pofterity. The primitive fathers generally believed, that he 

 died in the place where Jernfalem was afterwards built, and 

 that he was interred on Mount Calvary, on the fpot where 

 Chrift was citicified ; and where a chapel was erefted in 

 honour of liim. Some of the Arabians inform us, that he 

 was buried on mount Aboucais, near Mecca ; biu- the an- 

 cient Perfians fay, that he was buried at Serendib, where 

 his corpfe was guarded by lions at the time of the war of 

 the giants. 



As to the reveries and fables of Jewllli Rabbins and Maho- 

 metan writers, thc)' arc fcarcely worthy of being recited. A« 

 a fpecimen, however, the following particulars may be fiib- 

 joined. 



Some of the Rabbins fay, that Adam was diftinguifticd 

 by his perfonal beauty, and that God, before he formed 

 him, aflumed an human body, after the pattern of which 

 he was created. They alfo pretend, that iiis llaturc wa» 

 fo gigantic, that it reached even to the heavens, and ex- 

 tended from one end of the world to the other ; and that it 

 was reduced after his tranfgrefTion, firft to the meafure of 

 100 ells ; and, as others fay, to 1000, or 900 cubits, which 

 was done at the requcft of the angels, who were terrified at 

 his enormous ftature, or who were envious and jealous on 

 this account. Thus they pretend lie was able to paf« 

 through the ocean, which feparatcd Eden from thc other 

 parts of the world. Similar to this is the defcription given 

 of Polyphemus by Virgil, jEn. 1. iii. v. 6(14. and of Orion. 

 ^n. 1. X. V. 763. Writers of this clafs aflert, that Adam 

 was at firft both male and female ; and that he confifted of 

 two bodies joined together by the Ihouklers, and that Eve 

 was formed by merely feparating thc one body from the 

 other. But more abfurd even than this is the opinion of 

 Paracelfus, (vid. Vofiium de Philof. c. ix.) Negabal primot 

 parentis ante lapfum hahu':[fe partes generatiom hominis necef- 

 J'arias : creJel/al pojiea accejfiffc., tit Jlnimam gii'turi. Thc 

 Jews, in order to exalt the importance of the rite of cir- 

 cnmcifion, affirm, that Adam was created in this ftate, and 

 that one part of his tranfgreffion confifted in his attempt to 

 obliterate' the traces of it. Some of them have alfo ima- 

 gi?.ed, that Eve v.-as the forbidden fruit, and that Cain wa« 

 the produftion of the ferpent, &c. 



The Mahometan writers, in their account of the crea- 

 tion, and firft ftate of man, blend many fables with the par- 

 ticulars, which they feem to have borrowed from thc Jewiftl 

 fcriptures. They fay, that Azrael, notwithftanding the pre- 

 intimation which he had received of Adam's rebellion, exe- 

 cuted the conimifllon for creating him, though tlie other 

 angels to whom it was propofed ■fiad declined the ofiicc, and 

 for this reafon he was called the angel of death. The earth of 

 which he was formed was, as they fay, carried into Arabia, 

 to a place near Mecca, where it was prepared by the angels, 

 and fafiiioned into the human form by God himfelf. The 

 angel Eblis, afterwards the devil, dreading a fuperior, 

 C c 2 ucat;^ 



