the Prophets who immediately fucceeded him, flourished nearly a thousand years before any of the Greek philofophers.

The Books, which compofe the Canon of the Jewish Scriptures, have the concurrence of all antiquity in favour of their originality. They were delivered to the Hebrews in their own language, with every mark of genuinenefs, by the perfons, whose names they bear; and thefe perfons, by recording contemporary events, conftantly appealed to well-known proofs of their regard to truth. The prophetical Books in particular contain the evidences of their infpiration, as well as of the integrity and piety of their authors. The external proofs are clear and strong, as well as the internal ; in confequence of which all thefe Books have always been preferved with the greateft care, and have been held in the higheft veneration.

It is no lefs curious than important to remark the traditions preferved in the Pagan world, which confirm the truth of the Pentateuch, or the five books written by Mofes. The tenet of Thales, the great philofopher of Miletus, that water was the firft element; the doctrine of Pythagoras, that the univerfe was created from a fhapelefs mafs of matter; the opinions, that the world was formed by an almighty Power, who gave to man the dominion over the inferior animals; and that man in his primeval ftate was innocent and happy, may be traced back to the earliest times. Many other

parts

parts of Grecian mythology, as well as the traditions prevalent among the various nations of the earth, and particularly among the inhabitants of the vast continent of Afia, agree with the Mofaical account of the creation. Noah, the ark, and the dove, are circumftances of tradition in almoft all parts of the world, and the Flood is the epoch from which is dated the origin of all records'.

The beginning of Ovid's Metamorphofes reads very much like a free poetical verfion of the first chapters of the Book of Genefis, adapted to the tafte of the Romans. Ovid defcribes the creation of the world by an almighty power out of a rude and unorganifed mafs, called chaos, that is, the earth without form and void of Mofes. Ovid defcribes the fuperiority given to man over all other animals, and his innocent and happy ftate in the golden age, when the earth brought forth fpontaneously the moft delicious fruits for his fubfiftence; what is this but Adam in the garden of Eden? When the race of men became depraved and finful, the Supreme Being destroyed them by a deluge with the exception only of one guiltless pair, Deucalion and Pyrrha. They are preferved upon a mountain; allufive to that where the ark of Noah refted after the flood. The effort of the

Aquam effe,

* Cicero thus reprefents the opinion of Thales. initium rerum, Deum autein eam mentem quæ ex aqua cuncta fingeret." Cicero de Nat. Deorum, l. i. c. xxv. This comes very clofe to the Mofaic account: The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. Gen. i,

giants to fcale the heavens, is evidently a ftory founded upon the attempt to build the tower of Babel. Many other refemblances might be pointed out, but thefe may be fufficient to prove the fource from which the defcriptions of the Poet muft have been originally derived.

The Chaldeans preferved the hiftory of their Xifurus, who was the Noah of Mofes. The Egyptians afferted, that Mercury had engraved his doctrine upon columns, which had refifted the violence of a deluge. The Chinese hiftorians record, that Peyrun, a mortal beloved and protected by the Gods, faved himself in a veffel from the general inundation. The Hindoos fay that the waters of the ocean spread over the furface of the whole earth, except one mountain to the north-that one woman with, feven men faved themselves on this mountain with certain plants and animals. They add, in fpeaking of their God Vishnou, that at the deluge he transformed himself into a fifh, and conducted the veffel which preferved the relics of the human race. This veffel is likewise a fubject of tradition in the northern parts of the world.

: That the facrifice of animals was neceffary to appease the offended gods, was a religious tenet very general and very antient. The account of the long lives of the Patriarchs is confirmed by writers of various countries. Their primitive manners, and their mode of performing facrifices, and offering prayers to the great Author of nature on

the

the fummits of mountains, and in the retirements of groves, agree with the defcriptions of Homer, and many other early writers. Zoroafter, the great teacher of the ancient Perfians, derived from the Books of Mofes the firft principles of his religion, his ceremonial laws, his account of the creation, of the firft parents of mankind, of the Patriarchs, and particularly of Abraham, whofe pure religion he profeffed to restore.

In the attributes and characters of the Heathen gods may be found allufions to the ancient expreffions of the Hebrew Scriptures. In the cuftoms, laws, and ceremonies of many other nations may be traced a refemblance to the Mofaical inftitutions. In the accounts of the deities of the Pagans, and the early heroes and benefactors of mankind, particularly in those which adorn the pages of Grecian hiftory, are reprefented many of the Patriarchs and illuftrious perfons of Scripture. Many principles of the most eminent philofophers, many fictions of the moft celebrated poets, both of Greece and Rome, and many inftitutions of the moft renowned Heathen lawgivers, cannot fail, by their circumftances of resemblance, to direct our attention to the great Legiflator of the Jews. The moit venerable and ancient traditions of the world feem to contain the parts of one original and uniform fyftem, which was broken by the difperfion of the primeval families after the deluge, and corrupted by the revolutions of ages. They were the ftreams, which flowed

through

through the various countries of the earth, from the great fource of Mofaical hiftory.

Jofephus, the Jewish hiftorian, flourished in the reign of the emperor Vefpafian. He was a perfon of great learning and eminence, and conducted his inquiries with fingular diligence, induftry, and care. He corroborates the teftimony of the facred writers, and illuftrates their truth; as he not only gives a regular detail of the moft remarkable tranfactions of the Jews, but introduces confiderable notices of all thofe people, with whom they formed alliances, or carried on wars. In his treatife against Apion, he expofes the contradictions, which occurred in the Egyptian, Chaldean, and Phenician records; vindicates the authority of the Jewish Scriptures; defcribes the care, which was taken in their prefervation; and ftates their fuperior pretenfions; more particularly in point of antiquity, to the res pect and reverence of mankind.

II. The Proofs of their authenticity.

The fupport given by the earliest Heathen writers to the records of Scripture is very ftrong. The fragments of Sanchoniathon, the moft ancient hiftorian of Phenicia, who is fuppofed to have flourished not long after the death of Mofes, confirm the Scriptural account of the origin of the world, and of many perfons and places mentioned in the Pentateuch