settled at last in a land which is called Judæa, where they built a city, named at first Hierosyla, from their robbing the temples, but afterwards they changed its name to Hierosolyma (o)." Apion also acknowledged that Moses and the Jews came out of Egypt into Judæa, although he placed the Exodus much later than it really was (p). Procopius (q), Suidas (r), and Moses Choronensis (s), mention the famous inscription of Tangier, set up by the Canaanites who were driven out of Palestine by Joshua: "We are those exiles that were governors of the Canaanites, but have been driven away by the robber Joshua, and are come to inhabit here." Moses Choronensis mentions also an Armenian family or tribe, descended from one of the Canaanitish exiles, the manners of which country they still retained. The opposition of the Egyptian magicians to the miracles of Moses was mentioned by Numenius, the Exodus by Palemon, and the tablets of stone and the Hebrew rites in the verses ascribed to Orpheus (t).

(0) Lib. 1. contr. Ap.

Eupo

(p) Lib. 2. contr. Ap.

(4) He lived in the sixth century after Christ.

(r) He is supposed to have lived in the tenth century. He has preserved many fragments of much more antient authors in his Lexicon.

(s) He lived in the fifth century. (t) Gray's Note, p. 97. 3d edit.

Eupolemus said, that Moses exercised the office of a prophet almost forty years, and related the history of Abraham nearly as it is recorded in Genesis (u). Several nations claimed Abraham as their ancestor, and his name and history were celebrated by many eastern writers. In the decree issued by the magistrates of Pergamus, fortyfour years before Christ, there is the following passage: "Our ancestors were friendly to the Jews, even in the days of Abraham, who was the father of all the Hebrews, as we have also found it set down in our public records (r)." Aristotle considered the Jews as derived from the Indian philosophers, which is a remarkable proof of his opinion of their high antiquity, and of the accuracy of his investigation, as the Indians have been most satisfactorily traced to Chaldæa as their parent country. Berosus (y), who collected the antient Chaldæan monuments, and published treatises of their astronomy and philosophy, gave an account in his history of a man among the Chaldæans, in the tenth generation after the flood, "who was righteous, and great, and skil

(u) Eus. Præp. Ev. lib. 9. cap. 17.

(x) Jos. Ant. lib. 14. cap. 10.

ful

(y) Berosus flourished in the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus.

ful in the celestial science ()," which character agrees with that of Abraham, who is said by Josephus to have taught the Egyptians astronomy and arithmetic, of which sciences they were utterly ignorant before his time (a). The account also given by Berosus of the ten generations between the Creation and the Flood, the preservation of Noah or Xisuthrus in the ark, and the catalogue of his posterity, accord with the Mosaic history. Moses Choronensis, the Armenian historian before referred to, mentioned these and many other circumstances, which equally agree with the narration of Moses; and in particular he confirms the account of the Tower of Babel, from the earliest records belonging to the Armenian nation. In the time of Josephus there was a city in Armenia, which he calls Aroßarngiov, or the place of descent; it is called by Ptolemy, Naxuana; by Moses Choronensis, Idsheuan; and at the place itself it was called Nach-idsheuan, which signifies the first place of descent. This city was a lasting monument of the preservation of Noah in the ark, upon the top of that mountain at whose

foot

(z) Jos. Ant. lib. 1. cap. 7. Eus. Præp. Evang. lib.9. cap. 16.

(a) Jos. Ant. lib. 1. cap. 8. The recent discovery of the old Chaldæan sphere seems to place this assertion beyond the possibility of doubt. Vide Maurice's History.

foot it was built, as the first city or town after the Flood (b). Moses Choronensis also says, that another town was related by tradition to have been called Seron, or the place of dispersion, on account of the dispersion of the sons of Xisuthrus from thence (c). Nicolaus of Damascus related, in the fourth book of his history, that Abraham reigned at Damascus (d); that he had come thither as a stranger, with an army, from a country above Babylon, called the Land of the Chaldæans; that after a short time, going thence with his multitude, he fixed his habitation in a country which was then called Canaan, and now Judæa, where his numerous descendants dwelt, whose history he writes in another book (e). To this enumeration of authorities from the remains of early writers, in which the facts, as related by Moses, may be evidently discerned, although in general they are mixed with fable, many others might be added. And whether we consider the information to be found in the later works of learned

(b) Jos. Ant. lib. 1. cap. 3.

(c) Note to Whiston's Josephus, b. I. c. 3.

(d) Haran, where Abraham first settled, after he left Ur, was a part of Syria, of which Damascus was afterwards the principal city.

(e) Jos. Ant. lib. 1. cap. 7.

learned men, as derived from the Jewish Scriptures, or from other sources, the credit of the Mosaic history will perhaps be equally established, since they quoted from earlier authors. For let it be remembered, that Josephus appeals to the public records of different nations, and to a great number of books extant in his time, but now lost, as indisputable evidence, in the opinion of the heathen world, for the truth of the most remarkable events related in his history, the earlier periods of which he professes to have taken principally from the Pentateuch.

Of the many traditions according with the Mosaic history, which prevailed among the antient nations, and which still exist in several parts of the world, the following must be considered as singularly striking (f): That the world was formed from rude and shapeless matter by the Spirit of God; that the seventh day was a holy day (g); that man was created perfect, and had the dominion given him over all the inferior animals; that there had been a golden age, when man, in a state of innocence, had open intercourse with heaven;

(f) Vide Stillingfleet, and Maurice.

(g) Many antient testimonies concerning the observance of the seventh day will be found in Whiston's Josephus, vol. 4. Index 1st.; and in Archbishop Usher's Letters.