I am no Hindu, but I hold the doctrine of the Hindus concerning a future state to be incomparably more rational, more pious, and more likely to deter… - William Jones

On parent knees, a naked new-born child,
Weeping thou sat'st while all around thee smiled;
So live, that sinking in thy last long sleep,
Calm thou mayst smile, while all around thee weep.

Jones himself was emphatic that the "primeval events" of the construction of the Tower of Babel and the subse- quent scattering of the original monolanguage into different tongues "are described as having happened between the Oxus and Euphrates, the mountains of the Caucus and the borders of India, that is within the limits of Iran." There was no doubt about this, since "the Hebrew narrative [is] more than human in its origin and consequently true in every substantial part of it." Therefore, "it is no longer probable only, but absolutely certain, that the whole race of man proceeded from Iran, whence they migrated at first in three great colonies [those of Shem, Japhet, and Ham]; and that those three branches grew from a common stock" (Jones ] 1792, 486-487).

Either the first eleven chapters of Genesis, all due allowances being made for a figurative Eastern style, are true, or the whole fabrick of our national religion is false.