calling." And this involves no passivity, but expressly predicates its opposite. "Effectual calling is the work of God's almighty power and grace, whereby (out of his free and especial love to his elect, and from nothing in their moving him thereunto) he doth in his accepted time invite and draw them to Jesus Christ, by his word and Spirit; savingly enlightening their minds, renewing and powerfully determining their wills, so as they (although in themselves dead in sin) are hereby made willing and able, freely to answer his call, and to accept and embrace the grace offered and conveyed therein." Elsewhere,"effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ; yet so as they come most freely, being made willing by his grace.' 2) A worse objection is taken from what is apprehended an express asseveration of passivity in regeneration.

d as

Now that the subject is passive in adoption, justification, and election, is not disputed. If he is active in sanctification, why not in regeneration. If in the progress, why not in its commencement? The standards referred to say that the subject "is altogether passive therein, UNTIL"-mark it! i. e. BEFORE regeneration or effectual calling. What is the inference? Why that in it, he is not passive, whatever he may be BEFORE it, and " until" the change occurs.

ARTICLE XI.

ANTE-COLUMBIAN HISTORY OF AMERICA. DIGHTON ROCK, -LANGUAGE OF SKRELLINGS, ETC.

By Rev. A. B. Chapin, New Haven, Conn.

-THE publication of the Antiquitates Americanae, etc. has justly been considered an important era in the study of the early history of this country. But though few doubt the accuracy of the conclusions drawn by the Northern Antiquarian Society, many are disposed to question the soundness of some of the premises from which those conclusions are drawn. The two doubtful points, are the Dighton Rock Inscription, and the names of the Indians, given by the Northmen. We propose to consider both of these points as briefly as may be, to ascertain, if

possible, how much reliance can be placed upon these supposed facts.

In regard to the first, the Assoonet, or Dighton Rock inscription, Mr. Schoolcraft, (Am. Bib. Rep. April 1839, p. 444,) supposes "the event recorded to be one of importance in Indian history; and the characters, hieroglyphics of the Algic stamp.” But this applies only to the hieroglyphics, and in order to account for the letters and numerals which occur among the hieroglyphics, he supposes, "that some idle boy, or more idle man, added them in sport.' In other words, he believes the inscription to be the work of the Indians, and "the letters and numerals" to be a forgery. That the Indians did not inscribe the letters is plain. Either, then, they are a forgery, or must have been made by some other people. The Northern Antiquarian Society suppose them to have been the work of the Northmen; Mr. Schoolcraft and some others attribute them to the moderns. To which they probably belong, it is our purpose

now to inquire.

·The Antiquitates gives nine copies of this inscription, made at different times, and by different persons. The last was made in 1830, by order of the Rhode Island Historical Society, and is a perfect copy of the inscription, as it now exists. That contains the following letters and numerals, in the order and relative position here indicated, except that the Þ (Th) is not quite in a line with the other letters.

Between the P and O is a rude sketch of a person, as in the "View" given in the last number of the Repository. Note, that the P is not found on that View, nor is it in all respects an accurate copy. The other copies were made as follows. 1680. Rev. Mr. Danforth. This copy includes but a part of the inscription, and does not cover the place where the letters and numerals occur. Mr. D." observes in relation to the inscription, that there was a tradition current with the oldest Indians [in 1680 and before], that there came a wooden house and men of another country in it, swimming upon the river Assoonet, who fought the Indians with mighty success." (Antiq. Am. p. 374.)

1712.

Rev. Dr. Mather. President Stiles said of this, "A bad copy." In the place where the letters and numerals are now found, this has IXI П.

1730. Rev. Dr. Greenwood, Professor at Cambridge. This is a mere sketch, but has XXX.

1768. Mr. Sewall, Prof. at Cambridge, assisted by Thomas Danforth, William Baylies, and Daniel Cobb. Mr. Winthrop, Prof. of Mathematics at Cambridge in 1774, in a letter of that date, says: "This [Mr. Sewall's] is the most exact copy of the inscription ever taken." He says also, "I went to see this rock above thirty years ago, and again last spring," and adds, "it is certain it was made before the English came to this country." (Antiq. Am. pp. 375, 376.) This copy has XXXI M and Þ.

1790.

1788. Mr. James Winthrop. This is less perfect than the preceding, in almost every respect. It has, IXXX N. Dr. Baylies and Mr. Goodwin. This is more full than any of the preceding. It has, TXXXI M, Þ, and OR. 1807. Mr. Kendall. This copy has FXXXI M and ORINX. 1812. Mr. Gardener. This has only XXX, N and O.

We see, therefore, that there is a general agreement among all the copies, as to the existence of the numerals at least. It should also be observed, that all the copies of the inscription, represent the numerals as contiguous. Consequently there must have been three X's on the copy of 1712, and two I's, on that of 1730, because it is impossible that any letters could have been inscribed between those given by Dr. Mather. We have then, in 1712, IXXXI, and П, which differs but slightly from TXXXI and 4 found in the copy of 1830. But if this were not so, we have the evidence of Professor Winthrop, that the copy of 1768, was the best copy of the inscription, as it existed more than thirty years before, that is, as early as 1740; and this copy has XXXI and M, omitting only the first letter I, and the cross-bar of the last character, of what is now found. But the first letter must have existed in 1768, because an I existed in 1730, and the letter itself in 1790. And all these had such an appearance of antiquity, as early as 1740, as to leave no doubt on the mind of Mr. Winthrop, that they were made" before the English came to this country." In 1790, the whole of the first line of the inscrip

SECOND SERIES, VOL. II. NO. III.

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tion, as it now exists, was found by Dr. Baylies and Mr. Goodwin. But this adds nothing to what we had before, except a cross-bar, on the top of the first, and through the middle of the last character. All of the characters in the first line, must therefore have existed as they are now found, more than one hundred years, and then bore such evident marks of antiquity, as to be thought more ancient than the settlement of the country by the whites.

In regard to the meaning or value of these characters, it should be remarked, that the first, F, is a common form of the letter C, among the Northmen in the middle ages. The last character M, is evidently a combination of letters, and appears to include the three following, to wit: NAM. It has all the lines necessary to compose these, and cannot well be made to include any other letter. The inscription, therefore, is, CXXXI NAM. If this be a genuine work of the Northmen, then those letters should have some meaning in Icelandic, which was the language of those adventurers. And such is the fact. Nam, is the first or third person singular of the past tense of the Icelandic verb at nema, to take, hold, possess, and signifies took, held, or possessed. The numerals CXXXI, in Icelandic, would denote either 131, or 151, as the Northmen had two kinds of hundreds, the common, or lesser hundred (=100,) and the larger, or as they called it, storrhundrede, (=120). If this latter be the true value of C, then the value of all the numerals would be 151, which was the number of men that Thorfinn had, when he landed at Vinland, or more properly, these numerals denote the precise number of men which Thorfinn had when he landed at Vinland, according to the history of Thorfinn, whatever might be the value of the hundred. The oldest manuscript account of the voyage to, and settlement in this place, says they had when they left Greenland, in all "40 manna ok hundras" forty and a hundred men. (Antiq. p. 137. Hist. Thorf. c. 7.) And another manuscript à century and a half later says, “fjörutigi manna annars hundraðs," forty and an hundred men. (Antiq. p. 169). And another manuscript has, "rl manna oc c.” (Antiq. p. 385). And we learn from the same history, (c. 8. p. 143,) that Thorhall with eight men, left Thorfinn, before his arrival at Vinland. He had, therefore, upon his arrival at that place, “rrri manna oc c,” thirty-one and an hundred men, according to the manuscripts, and CXXXI. according to the Assoonet Rock inscription. The value of "the

hundred," therefore, no way affects this question, and need not be considered in this place. This, in connection with the person sketched, and against whom the numerals in question are placed, would seem clearly to indicate that the person sketched, together with CXXXI others, took possession of, or possessed the place where the inscription is found, and made the inscription in the Icelandic tongue, in commemoration of that event. We are conducted thus far, by facts which seem to us, to be above just suspicion; and when we connect these with the acknowledgement, that Vinland was probably in this vicinity, we cannot possibly resist the conviction, that the view taken of this subject by the Northern Antiquarian Society is the true

one.

We have thus far left out of consideration the name inscribed on this rock; but even this we think has inore in its favor, than against it. The is on the copy of 1768, which is vouched for as early as 1740, by Prof. Winthrop. The O and R are on the copy of 1790, and that of 1807, adds, INX. But in 1830, an F is found between the R and I, and consequently it was omitted by Mr. Kendall. It also turns out, that what Mr. Kendall took to be an X, was an ancient form of the S; and the shape of the O, is such as was used some seven or

eight hundred years ago. Added to this, the letters and numerals occupy the central part of the inscription; but do not interfere at all with the hieroglyphics. Consequently, if the letters and numerals are later than the hieroglyphics, then a place was left unoccupied in the centre of the hieroglyphics, sufficiently large to receive them. In order, therefore, to make out the forgery of the letters and numerals, we are obliged to suppose numerous things altogether unlikely and improbable. How came it to pass, we would ask, that just space enough was left to receive this inscription? And how came the forger to make his inscription correspond with a history, the very existence of which, was at that time unknown? How came he to hit upon the very name of the man who commanded the company that settled at Vinland? or to ascertain the precise number of men that were with him? And how came he to describe this in the Icelandic tongue? and in characters peculiar to the age of Thorfinn? All this we are obliged to suppose was done" by some idle boy, or more idle man," or else we must allow them to be very ancient, and probably genuine ves