states that Hecatæus wrote a book concerning Abraham, which was extant in his time, though it is now lost. 1 A X. That Moses was not a mythological person (as has recently been affirmed, contrary to all history), but a real character and an eminent legislator, we have already shown in a preceding page. To the testimonies there adduced, we may add, that the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, and their miraculous passage of the Red Sea, is attested by Berosus, Artapanus, Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, Numenius, Justin, and Tacitus. Of these, the testimonies of Artapanus and Diodorus are particularly worthy of notice. According to Artapanus, the Heliopolitans gave the following account of the passage of the Red Sea: "The king of Egypt, as soon as the Jews had departed from his country, pursued them with an immense army, bearing along with him the consecrated animals. But Moses having by the divine command struck the waters with his rod, they parted asunder, and afforded a free passage to the Israelites. The Egyptians attempted to follow them, when fire suddenly flashed in their faces, and the sea, returning to its usual channel, brought an universal destruction upon their army." similar tradition, though less minutely particular, is mentioned by Diodorus, as subsisting even at the time when he wrote. He relates, that among the Ichthyophagi, the natives of the spot, a tradition is given, which is preserved from their ancestors, that by a great ebb of the waters, the whole bosom of the gulph became dry, disclosing its weeds, the sea rolling upon the opposite shore. But the bare earth having been rendered visible from the very bottom of the abyss, the tide returning in its strength restored the passage once more to its former condition.” 4 Nor is the old tradition of the country even yet extinct. According to a learned and respectable modern traveller, the inhabitants of Corondel and its neighbourhood (on the eastern side of the Red Sea) to this day preserve the remembrance of the deliverance of the Israelites; which event is further confirmed by the Red Sea being called, by the Arabian geographers, the sea of Kolzum, that is, of destruction." 5 "The very country indeed, where the event is said to have happened, bears testimony in some degree to the accuracy of the Mosaical narrative. Still is the scriptural Etham denominated Etti; the wilderness of Shur, the mountain of Sinai, and the country of Paran, are still known by the same names ; and Marah, Elath, and Midian are still familiar to the ears of the Arabs. The grove of Elim 1 Josephus, Ant. Jud. lib. i. c. 7. Eusebius, Præp. Evang. lib. ix. c. 17—23. The passages above referred to are given at length in Mr. Faber's Hora Mosaicæ, vol. i. pp. 174-186. 2 See pp. 58, 59. supra. 3 Eusebius, Præp. Evang. lib. ix. c. 27. This circumstance (Mr. Faber remarks) of the Egyptians being struck with lightning, as well as being overwhelmed by the waves, is mentioned in Psál. lxxvii. 17., although unnoticed in the Pentateuch. 4 Diod. Sic. lib. iii. c. 39. (vol. iii. p. 279. edit. Bipont.) 5 Dr. Shaw's Travels in Barbary and the Levant, vol. ii. pp. 99, 100. Edinb. 1808. 6 Niebuhr's Travels, vol. i. pp. 189. 191. yet remains; and its twelve fountains have neither decreased nor diminished in number, since the days of Moses." 1 XI. Further, the heathen writers borrowed images from the accounts communicated in the Scriptures, and attributed to their deities distinctions similar to those which are ascribed to the Divine Majesty, when God manifested himself to the world. Thus, both poets and historians represented the heathen deities to be veiled in clouds, as Jehovah appeared. Many of their religious institutions were likewise evidently derived from the Mosaic appointments, as that of marriage and the observance of stated days, particularly of the sabbath, among the Greeks and Romans, and, indeed, among almost all nations. The rite of circumcision, which was appointed by God as a sign of a distinctive covenant with Abraham, and designed to be expressive of spiritual purity 2, was adopted by several nations not descended from that patriarch, as the Egyptians, Colchians, and others. 3 There are likewise other particulars in which the Greeks and Romans appear to have borrowed customs from the Jews. Thus Solon, conformably to the Jewish practice, decreed that the time of the sun setting on the mountains should be deemed the last hour of the day. This law was copied into the laws of the twelve tables, and observed by the Romans; whose laws concerning the inheritance and adoption of children, retribution in punishment of corporeal injuries, and other points, seem to have been framed on principles sanctioned by Moses: and traces of resemblance between the Hebrew and Roman codes, are still to be discovered in the Institutes of Justinian. The Jewish custom of orphan girls marrying their next of kin, also obtained among the heathens. The appropriation of a tenth part of the spoils, of the produce of lands, and of other things, to religious purposes, is mentioned by many pagan writers. Lycurgus distributed the possession of lands by lot, and rendered them inalienable. Those feasts, in which servants were put on an equality with their masters, were apparently borrowed from the Jews, and from 1 Faber, vol. i. pp. 189–191. See also Huet's Demonstratio Evangelica, prop. iv. vol. i. pp. 73.—153., where very numerous additional collateral testimonies are given to the credibility of the Mosaic writings. 2 Compare Gen. xvii. 12. Rom. ii. 28, 29. Phil. iii. 3. 9 A modern opposer of the Bible has affirmed, contrary to all history, that the Jews borrowed the rite of circumcision from the Egyptians. From an obscure passage in Herodotus, who wrote several hundred years after Moses, (and who collected his information from the Egyptian priests, whose extravagant claims to antiquity have long since been refuted), some learned men have conjectured that the Hebrews derived it from the Egyptians; but conjectures are not proofs. Indeed, so little dependence can be placed on the historical traditions of the Egyptians, the falsehood of which has been exposed by Sir John Marsham, that it is more than probable that the Egyptians derived it from the Hebrews or Ishmaelites; although, at this distance of time, it is impossible to account for the way in which circumcision became established among the Egyptians. It is, moreover, worthy of remark, that the practice of this rite among the Hebrews differed very considerably from that of the Egyptians. Among the former, it was a religious ceremony performed on the eighth day after the birth of the male child; but among the latter it was a point of mere decency and cleanliness, and was not performed until the thirteenth year, and then upon persons of both sexes. See Marsham's Chronicus Canon Ægyptiacus, and Spencer, de Legibus Hebræorum. the feast of tabernacles: and the reverence, which the Jews paid to the state of the moon, also influenced the Lacedemonians, who are supposed to have been early connected with the Jews; and who, in consequence of their superstition, having delayed the march of their army till after the new moon, were thus deprived of participating in the honour of the celebrated battle of Marathon, as they did not arrive till the day after it had taken place. ' The preceding statements and facts are surely sufficient to satisfy any candid inquirer, that the principal facts related in the books of Moses do not depend upon his solitary testimony; but that they are supported by the concurrent voice of all nations. Upon what principle can this coincidence be accounted for, if Moses had not been a real person, and if the events recorded by him had not actually occurred? XII. Many other things, which the Old Testament relates to have happened, subsequently to the giving of the law until the Babylonish captivity, are to be found among profane writers. A few of these shall be adduced; - Thus, the circumstance of Jephthah's devoting his daughter, gave rise to the story of Iphigenia being sacrificed by her father Agamemnon. The story of Scylla having cut off the purple lock of her father Nisus, king of Megara, and given it to his enemy, Minos, (with whom he was then at war,) and by that means destroyed both him and his kingdom, was in all probability taken from the history of Sampson's being shaved. When Herodotus, the father of profane history, tells us, from the priests of Egypt, that their traditions had informed them, that in very remote ages, the sun had four times departed from his regular course, having twice set where he ought to have risen, and twice risen where he ought to have set,—it is impossible to read this most singular tradition, without recollecting the narrative in the book of Joshua, which relates, "That the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day;" and the fact related in the history of Hezekiah, "that the sun went back ten degrees, on the dial of Ahaz." The priests of Egypt professed to explain the revolutions of the Nile, the fertility of their country, and the state of public health, by the influence of the sun; and, therefore, in mentioning the unexampled traditional phenomena alluded to, they adverted to a circumstance, which to them appeared as remarkable as the facts themselves, that those singular deviations of the sun from his course, had produced no sensible effects on the state of the river, on the productions of the soil, on the progress of diseases, or on deaths. The circumstances are not mentioned in the same form by Joshua and Herodotus, but they are in substance the same in both the narratives. And, supposing the traditions to have been founded on facts, it can scarcely be doubted that they relate to the same events; especially when we recollect, that where so much was ascribed to the influence of the sun, such remarkable deviations from the course of ordinary experience, could not fail 1 Dr. Gray's Connection between Sacred and Profane Literature, vol. i. pp. 187–193. Huet, Demonstratio Evangelica, ut supra. 1 3 to be handed down through many ages. Eupolemus and Dius, as quoted by Eusebius and Grotius, mention many remarkable circumstances of David and Solomon, agreeing with the Old Testament history2; and Herodotus has a remarkable passage which evidently refers to the destruction of the Assyrians in the reign of Hezekiah, in which he mentions Sennacherib by name. As we advance further to the Assyrian monarchy, the Scripture accounts agree with the profane ones rectified; and when we descend still lower to the æra of Nabonassar and to the kings of Babylon and Persia, who are posterior to this æra, and are recorded in Ptolemy's canon or series of them, we find the agreement of sacred and profane history much more exact, there being certain criteria in profane history for fixing the facts related in it. And it is remarkable, that not only the direct relations of the historical books, but also the indirect mention of things in the prophecies, correspond with the true chronology; which is an unquestionable evidence for their genuineness and truth. The history contained in the Old Testament is throughout distinct, methodical, and consistent; while profane history is utterly deficient in the first ages, and full of fictions in the succeeding ages; and becomes clear and precise in the principal facts, only about the period when the Old Testament history ends: so that the latter corrects and regulates the former, and renders it intelligible in many instances which must otherwise be given up as utterly inexplicable. How then can we suppose the Old Testament history not to be genuine and true, or a wicked imposture to be made, and not only continue undiscovered, but even to increase to a most audacious height in a nation, that, of all others, kept the most exact accounts of time? It is further worthy of remark, that this same nation, who may not have lost so much as one year from the creation of the world to the Babylonish captivity, as soon as they were deprived of the assistance of the prophets, became the most inaccurate in their methods of keeping time; there being nothing more erroneous than the accounts of Josephus and the modern Jews, from the time of Cyrus to that of Alexander the Great: notwithstanding that all the requisite aids might easily have been borrowed from the neighbouring nations, who now kept regular annals. Whence it appears that the exactness of the sacred history was owing to divine assistance. To the preceding considerations and facts we may add, that the manners of the persons mentioned in the Scriptures are characterised by that simplicity and plainness, which is also ascribed to the first ages of the world by pagan writers, and both of them concur to prove the novelty of the then present race, and consequently the deluge. 4 XIII. Lastly, the fertility of the soil of Palestine, which is so frequently mentioned in the Scriptures, is confirmed by the unanimous 1 Herodotus, Euterpe, pp. 144, 145. edit. Vallæ. 2 Eusebius, Præp. Evang. lib.ix. c.30-34. 39-41. Josephus, Ant. Jud. lib. viii. c. 2. 3 Lib. ii. c. 141. It is noticed again, infra, Appendix, No. III. Sect. VII. 4 The various proofs of the facts above stated may be seen in Dr. Edwards on Scripture, vol. i. pp. 193–223. Sir H. M. Wellwood's Discourses, pp. 18, 19. Hartley on Man, vol. ii. p. 116. testimony of antient writers', as well as of most, if not all, the travellers who have visited that country.2 Its present reduced and miserable state, therefore, furnishes no ground for the objection which the opposers of revelation have raised against the Bible, Were Palestine to be as well inhabited and as well cultivated as formerly, its produce would exceed all calculation. Besides these attestations from natural and profane history, we may consider the Jews themselves, as bearing testimony to this day, in all countries of the world, to the truth of their antient history, that is, to the truth of the Old and New Testaments. Allow this, and it will be easy to see how they should still persist in their attachment to that religion, those laws, and those predictions which so manifestly condemn them, both in past times and in the present. Suppose, however, that any considerable alterations have been made in their antient history, that is, any such alteration as may answer the poses of infidelity, and their present state will be inexplicable. 3 pur 2. TESTIMONIES OF PROFANE WRITERS TO THE CREDIBILITY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. I. Testimonies of Jewish and Pagan authors to the account of princes and governors mentioned in the New Testament. II. Testimonies to the character of the Jewish Nation, which are either directly mentioned or incidentally alluded to therein. - III. Similar Testimonies to the character of Heathen Nations.-IV. Testimonies of Jewish adversaries to the name and faith of Christ.-1. Of Josephus.-2. Of the Talmuds.-V. Testimonies of heathen adversaries to the character of Jesus Christ.- 1. Pontius Pilate.-2. Suetonius.-3. Tacitus.-4. Pliny the younger.—5. Elius Lampridius.-6. Celsus.-7. Porphyry.-8. Julian.-9. Mohammed.-Testimonies of heathen adversaries to the doctrines, character, innocency of life, and constancy of the First Christians in the profession of their faith.-1. Tacitus, confirmed by Suetonius, Martial, and Juvenal. 2. Pliny the younger and Trajan. 3. Celsus. 4. Lucian. 5. Epictetus, Marcus Antoninus, Galen, and Porphyry.-6. Julian. VI. Refutation of the objection to the credibility of the Scripture history, which has been raised from the silence of profane historians to the facts therein recorded.- That silence accounted for, by the facts.-1. That many of their books are lost. -2. That others are defective.. 3. That no profane historians now extant take notice of all occurrences within the period described by them. 4. Reasons why they would slight the facts relating to Jesus Christ as fabulous.- Result of the preceding facts and arguments. No history in the world is so certain as that related in the Old and New Testament. --- - STRIKING as is the evidence for the credibility and truth of the facts and events related in the Old Testament, furnished by natural 1 See Josephus, Ant. Jud. lib. v. c. 1. § 21. lib. xv. c. 5. §. 1.; De Bell. Jud. lib. iii. c. 3. § 2, and Hecatæus in Josephus, contr. Apion. lib. i. § 22.; Pliny, Hist. Nat. lib. v. c. 17.; Tacitus, Hist. lib. v. c. 6. ; Justin, lib. xxxvi. c. 3. ; and Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. xiv. c. 26. 2 See particularly the testimonies of Maundrell and Dr. Shaw, collected in Dr. Mac. knight's Harmony, vol. i. discourses vi. and vii. Dr. E. D. Clarke's Travels, part ii. pp. 520, 521. 4to.; or vol. iv. pp. 283-285. 8vo. edit. See also Vol. III. Part I. Chap. II. § IX. infra, 3 Hartley on Man, vol. ii. p. 117. |