Chorog. on

gives a remarkable Inftance in one Hieronymus, who though he were Governor of Syria, and wrote a Book of the Succeffors of Alexander, and lived at the fame time with Hecatæus, yet never vouchsafed to speak of the Jews, of whom Hecateus wrote a particular Book: But the Works of him, and of many other Greek Authors, are now loft, which were written concerning the Jews, the Fragments whereof are ftill to be feen in Jofephus, Clem. Alexandrinus, Eufebius, and others. Of thofe whose Works remain, Herodotus, relating the Victory of Pharaoh Necho, in the Battel at Megiddo, calls Jerufalem, Cadytis; by a small (b) Light variation, as (b) Dr. Lightfoot has obferved, St. Mark for Kedofha, that is, the Holy City, the ufual c. 3. §.6. denomination of that City. Strabo mentions Strab. 1.16. Mofes and the ancient Jews with commendaDiodor.Sic. tion. Diodorus Siculus names Mofes amongst the chief Law-givers of ancient Times. Pliny Hift. 1. 5. lays, ferufalem was the most famous City, not only of Judæa, but of the whole East. Tacit. Hift. Tacitus himself gives this teftimony of the Jews, That they worshipped the Supreme, Eternal, Immutable Being. But above all, (i)S.Aug. Varro, (i) the learnedeft of the Romans, much 1.4. c. 31. approved their way of Worship, as being free from that Idolatry which he could not but diflike in the Heathen Religion. And it is generally agreed by all, that the Religion of the Jews was received all over the World; and, (k) Ibid. as Seneca (k) express'd it, Vici victoribus leges 1.6.c.11. dederunt. II. There

1. I.

Plin. Nat.

C. 14.

1. 15.

Civit. Dei,

1.1. C. 3.

II. There have been always remaining divers Memorials and Remembrances of the True Religion amongst the Heathen. The Flood of Noah and the Ark (1) were generally (1) Jofeph, taken notice of by Heathen Hiftorians; and Antiquit. the Flood of Deucalion was (m) plainly tran(m) Lu fcribed from that of Noah. Jove is a plain cian. de depravation of the word Jehovah; and Dio- Deâ Syr. dorus Siculus faid (n) that Mofes received his (n) Diod. Laws from the God 'Ia, which is another Sic.l.1. variation from it. And this proves the Antiquity of the Heathen Tradition concerning the True God; fince the Jews,of latter times would not fpeak the name themselves, much lefs communicate it to others. Apollo Clarius being confulted to know who the God Jao was, anfwered, That he is the Supreme God of all, (as Macrobius (o) informs us, from Cor- () Ma nelius Labeo :) which both fhews, that the turn. 1. 1. Heathen had knowledge of the God Jehovah, c. 18. and that the Oracles themfelves were fometimes forced to confefs Him to be the Supreme God, though obfcurely, and under fome difguife, to amuse those to whom their Anfwers were returned; as here Apollo would have him believed to be Bacchus. The Tetragrammaton, or Jehovah, is likewife fuppofed to be meant by the Tetractys of Pythagoras; and Ἐλελεῦ, a word ufed in Songs and Acclamations, has a plain allufion to Alleluia, especially with the addition of is, as ἐλελεῦ ἰδ.

crob Sa

Fur, Nat,

From a learned and large Account of ()seld.de Mr. Selden's (p) upon this Subject, it appears, Gent. that there was a general Obfervation amongst 1.3.c. is the Heathen, of one Day in Seven; thought

length of Time and corruption of Manners.
had greatly obfcured or quite blotted out the
remembrance of the Original Inftitution; or
Superftition had by degrees affigned other
Reasons for it and this is fufficient to recon-
cile fofephus and other Authors with what
he brings, which feems to imply the contrary.
It has been proved by feveral, and is generally
agreed by learned Men, that many of the
Rites among the Egyptians and other Nations
were the fame with thofe appointed by the
Law of Mofes, or very like them. But fome
would have it, that Mofes took these Rites
from those Nations, without any Proof, or
poffibility of Proof, that I can perceive. For
how fhould it be proved, when we have no
Writings or Memorials of thefe Nations fo an-
cient as thofe of Mofes by many Ages
we read in the Scriptures, that feveral Laws
were enjoin'd the Jews, because they were
contrary to the Idolatrous Practices of the
Heathen, but never find the leaft intimation
that any were given them in imitation of the
Gentile Worship: and it is unreasonable to
imagine that they fhould have Laws appointed
in contradiction to the Idolatrous Worfhip-
pers, and others at the fame time in compli
ance with them, when they were by a mira-
culous

And

culous Providence feparated and diftinguished from the Idolatrous Nations, and kept forty Years in the Wilderness, to hinder them from all communication with them, and to cure them of the pronenefs which they had to imitate them. If it be fuppofed, that the Jews, who were hated and despised by other Nations, would be very unlikely to be imitated by them: it may be obferved, that they were not always thus defpifed, nor among all Nations, but they were better esteemed till the latter Ages of their Government; and then the reafon of their being ill thought of, was, because they were fingular in the principal Points of Worthip, and refolute and zealous in the obfervation of it, and would make no compliances with the Heathen World; for they preferved themselves free from all Idolatry after their Captivity in Babylon. But however hated and contemned they might be; yet the fame Authors who acquaint us with it, express their own fence, rather than the fence of the rest of Mankind: for at the fame time they tell us, that they gained every where Profelytes. The Greeks were likewife ever defpifed by the Romans, but ever imitated; and we have now an Example of a neighbour Nation, which is generally both imitated and spoken against. And there can be no other reasonable account given of the Agreement of fo many other Nations with the Jews, in their Rites and I 4 Customs,

7

C. 27.

(r) Orig.

Vid. Grot.

Exped. a

Customs, but that these Nations, in the times of Solomon, or fome time after, during the flourishing estate of the Kingdoms of Judah and Ifrael, or perhaps after the Captivity, and fince the Difperfion of the Hebrews, had conformed themselves to them.

A Tradition, of the manner of the Paffage of the Ifraelites through the Red Sea, was re(9) Apud tained among the People of Heliopolis, related Eufeb.Pra- by (q) Artapanus. Miracles were fometimes par. 1. 9. wrought among the Heathen, by the Invocation of the God (r) of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; contra Celf and thefe and other Hebrew Names, as Ze 1. & 4 baoth, and Adonai, were commonly used by ad Matth. the Gentiles, in their Incantations and Exor xii. 27. cifms, which they retained by Tradition, (Trigant, though they knew not the meaning nor oride Chrift. ginal of them. Those who first travell'd into pud Sinas, China, (s) found Hebrews there, who called 1.1. c. 11. themfelves Ifraelites, but knew not the Name (1) Tof. A- of Jews; they were difperfed in divers Procofta Hift. vinces, and read the Pentateuch in the He1, 5. C. 27. &1.c.2. brew Tongue, in their Synagogues, without () Ler, Points. The obfervation of New Moons, Years Hifi. Na of Jubilee, and Circumcifion, was found among vig.inBraf. the Americans, and an infinite number of CerePet. Mart. monies and Customs (fays (t) Acofta) which reDec.6.c.4. fembled the ancient Law of Mofes. They had (w) Horn. likewife (u) a Tradition of Noah's Flood. Horde Orig. Americ. nius acknowledgeth (w) that the Name of Praf.& 1.2. Jofeph was in ufe among the Americans, and C.10, 81.4. that they frequently mention'd the word Al

C. 16.

&