were finished, that Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying, Take this book of the Law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee (e)." In many subsequent books of the Old Testament, the Pentateuch is repeatedly quoted, and referred to under the name of "The Law," and "The Book of Moses;" and in particular we are told "that Joshua read all the words of the Law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel (ƒ).” From which passage it is evident, that the Book of the Law, or Pentateuch, existed in the time of Joshua, the successor of Moses. In the New Testament also the writing of the Law, or Pentateuch, is expressly ascribed to Moses: "Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, we have found him of whom Moses in the Law, and the Prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph (g)." In a variety of passages in the Gospels, Acts, and Epistles, Moses is evidently considered as the author of the Pentateuch (h), and every one of the five books is quoted as written by him (i). And it is material to remark, as of itself a sufficient proof of the Inspiration of the Pentateuch, that Christ called the words of Exodus and

(e) Deut. c. 31. v. 24, &c. No person who had forged the Pentateuch, or even written it in a subsequent age from existing materials, would have inserted these passages, which must have excited inquiry, and have caused the fraud to be detected.

f) Joshua, c. 8. v. 34 and 35.

(g) John, c. 1. v. 45.

(h) Luke, c. 24. v. 27. John, c. 5. v. 46. Acts, c. 15. v. 21. 2 Cor. c. 3. v. 15. Heb. c. 7. v. 14.

(i) Matt. c. 19. v. 7. Mark, c. 12. v. 19 and 26. Luke, c. 20. v. 28 and 37. Rom. c. 10. v. 5. Heb. c. 8. v. 5.

Deuteronomy the words of God himself: "God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and thy mother; and he that curseth father or mother, let him die the death (j)." And upon another occasion, Christ confirmed the divine authority of every part of the Pentateuch; "Think not that I am come to destroy the Law and the Prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil for verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law, till all be fulfilled (k)."

It may be observed, that we have the strongest possible negative testimony to the truth of the Mosaic history. The laborious Whiston asserts, and in support of his assertion appeals to a similar declaration of the learned Grotius, "That there do not appear in the genuine records of mankind, belonging to antient times, any testimonies that contradict those produced from the Old Testament; and that it may be confidently affirmed, there are no such to be found (1)." We are not, however, confined to negative testimony; for it would be easy to bring forward nearly demonstrative evidence to prove the positive agreement of antiquity with the narrative of the sacred historian; but I can only briefly mention some of the leading facts, concerning which the most antient histories and earliest traditions very remarkably coincide with the Pentateuch, and refer to other authors for farther confirmation of this important point. The departure of a shepherd people out of Egypt, who were not originally Egyptians, but who, after being compelled to work in the quarries

(j) Compare Matt. c. 15. v. 4. with Ex. c. 20. v. 12. and Deut. c. 5. v. 16. In the parallel passage of St. Mark, c. 7. v. 10. these precepts are called the words of Moses.

Matt. c. 5. v. 17 and 18.

Grot. lib. 3. sect. 13, 14, and 16. Whiston, Josephus, Index, 1.

for some time, left it under the direction of Osarsiph or Moyses (which latter word signifies, in the Egyptian language, a person preserved out of the water) (m), and were pursued over the sandy desert as far as the bounds of Syria, was particularly mentioned by Manetho, Chæremon, Lysimachus, and others. Manetho (n), who wrote his history from the antient Egyptian records, in speaking of the Jews, said also, "It was reported that the priest, who ordained the polity and the laws of this people, who afterwards settled in Judæa, was by birth of Heliopolis; but that those laws were made, not in compliance with, but in opposition to, the customs of the Egyptians (o)." Chæremon, who likewise wrote an Egyptian History, mentioned Moses as a scribe, and as an Egyptian priest. The account which Lysimachus gave was very extraordinary; he said, "that a people, infected with the leprosy, left Egypt by the advice of one Moyses, who charged them to have no kind regards for any man, but to overthrow all the altars and temples of the gods they should meet with, and travel till they came to a place fit for habitation; which they accordingly did; and following him across the desert, 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 (p)." 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 (q). Procopius (r), Suidas (s), and Moses Choro(m) Jos. Ant. lib. 2. cap. 9. sect. 6.

(n) He lived about 260 years before Christ. Jos. lib. 1. contr. Ap.

(p) Lib. 1. contr. Ap.

Lib. 2. contr. Ap.

He lived in the sixth century after Christ.

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

nensis (t), 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 (u). 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 (w). 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, forty-four 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 (x)." 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 (t) He lived in the fifth century. (u) Gray's Note, p. 97. third edit. (w) Eus. Præp. Ev. lib. 9. cap. 17. (r) Jos. Ant. lib. 14. cap. 10.

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

In the

great, and skilful in the celestial science (z);" 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. time of Josephus there was a city in Armenia, which he calls Aroßarηolov, 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 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

(*) 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.

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

(c) Note to Whiston's Josephus, b. 1. c. 3.

(d) Haran, where Abraham first settled, after he left Ur, was

a part of Syria, of which Damascus was afterwards the principal