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geography, and many of the abstract sciences are indebted to the 
Arabians, it not for their birth, at least for their support and pro- 
tection, when they were abandoned by all the states of Europe. 
“ The writings of Moses have hitherto been considered as the 
oldest in the world; but in the preface to the Code of Gentoo 
Laws, we are told of a curious history of India composed four 
thousand years ago, and from thence tracing mankind upwards, 
through several millions of years. This, and all the rest that is 
delivered concerning the great antiquity of the annals of India, 
you and I may probably be disposed to consider as a mere fable; 
but there are many, neither profligate in their manners, nor desti- 
tute of talents, who have not the same veneration for the writings 
of Moses that we have; and they may consider the Indian annals 
delivered down by the ancient Brahmins, to be as authentic as 
those of the Bible; at least they will be perplexed with an uneasy 
scepticism, from which nothing but a further examination into the 
Indian writings can free them. God forbid, that the search of 
truth should be discouraged for fear of its consequences! The con- 
sequences of truth may be subversive of systems of superstition; 
but they never can be injurious to the rights, or well founded 
expectations of the human race. We believe the Scriptures, and 
our hopes of eternal life are built on their truth; but we trust, that 
no faith can be acceptable to God which is not grounded on rea- 
son; and as reasonable beings, we wish not to entertain any hopes, 
the foundations of which can be shaken by the most rigid inquiry 
into the history of mankind. 
“ But the antiquity of the Indian annals is not the only cir- 
cumstance which seems to militate against the Mosaic history; we 
