worship which they paid to the golden calf. (Exod. xxxïï. 19.) The Amalekites danced after their victory at Ziklag (1 Sam. xxx. 16.), and Job makes it part of the character of the prosperous wicked (that is, of those who, placing all their happiness in the enjoyments of sense, forget God and religion), that their children dance. (Job xxi. 11.) The dancing of the profligate Herodias's daughter pleased Herod so highly, that he promised to give her whatever she asked, and accordingly, at her desire, and in compliment to her, he commanded John the Baptist to be beheaded in prison. (Matt. xiv. 6—8.)

SECTION III.

ON THE SCIENCES OF THE HEBREWS.1

I. Origin of the Sciences.-II. History, Genealogy, and Chronology. -III. Arithmetic, Mathematics, Astronomy, and Astrology.—IV. Surveying.-V. Mechanic Arts.-VI. Geography.-VII. Physics, Natural History, and Philosophy.-VIII. Medicine.-IX. Notice of some particular Diseases mentioned in the Scriptures, viz. 1. Disease of the Philistines; -2. Of King Saul;-3. Of King Jehoram;-4. Of King Hezekiah;-5. Of Nebuchadnezzar'; 6. Palsy ;-7. The Disease of Job;-8. Issue of Blood;—9. Blindness;-10. Demoniacal Possessions.

I. WHEN the arts had been reduced by long practice and meditation to fixed and definite rules, they were succeeded by the sciences; which in fact are nothing more than the reduction, into a more regular and philosophic form, of those rules and theories, which have been ascertained and approved by inquiry and practice. We are able to discover the beginnings, the indistinct vestiges of the sciences in very remote periods; and in some nations more strikingly than in others. The Egyptians, and Babylonians excelled in scientific knowledge all others. The Arabians also are favourably mentioned in this respect. (1 Kings iv. 30.; also the Edomites, Jer. xlix. 7.) The Hebrews became renowned for their intellectual culture in the time of David, and especially, of Solomon, who is said to have surpassed all others in wisdom; a circumstance, which was the ground of the many visits, which were paid to him by distinguished foreigners. (1 Kings v. 9-14.) His example, which was truly an illustrious one, was beyond question imitated by other kings. The literature of the Hebrews was limited chiefly to ethics, religion, the history of their nation, and natural history; on which last subject, Solomon wrote many treatises, no longer extant. The Hebrews

1 This section is taken principally from Mr. Upham's Translation of Jahn's Archæologia Biblica, Andover, Massachussetts, (1823) part i. chapters 6 and 12. In the accounts of diseases, Dr. Mead's Medica Sacra has chiefly been followed

made but little progress in science and literature after the time of Solomon. During their captivity, it is true, they acquired many foreign notions, with which they had not been previously acquainted: and they, subsequently, borrowed much both of truth and of falsehood from the philosophy of the Greeks. The author of the book of Wisdom, with some others of the Jewish writers, has made pretty good use of the Greek philosophy. It is clear, notwithstanding this, that the Jews after the captivity fell below their ancestors in respect to History; as the published annals of that period are not of a kindred character with those of the primitive ages of their country.

II. That the art of Historical Writing was antiently much cultivated in the East, the Bible itself is an ample testimony; for it not only relates the prominent events, from the creation down to the fifth century before Christ, but speaks of many historical books, which have now perished; and also of many monuments erected in commemoration of remarkable achievements and furnished with appropriate inscriptions. These monuments are denominated by various names, as 7, 17. The Babylonians also, the Assyrians, the Persians, and Tyrians, had their Historical Annals. Among the Egyptians, there was a separate order, viz. the priests, one part of whose duty it was, to write the history of their country. In the primitive ages the task of composing annals fell in most nations upon the priests, but at a later period, the king had his own secretaries, whose special business it was to record the royal sayings and achievements. The Prophets among the Hebrews recorded the events of their own times, and, in the earliest periods, the Genealogists interwove many historical events with their accounts of the succession of families. Indeed, it should not be forgotten, that antient history generally partakes more of a genealogical, than a chronological character. Hence the Hebrew phrase for genealogies,

50, is used also for history (Gen. vi. 9. x. 1.); and hence no epoch, more antient than that of Nabonassar, is any where found. In the Bible, however, this defect, in regard to a regular chronological system, is in a manner compensated by the insertion in various places of definite periods of time, and by chronological genealogies. In giving a concise account of the genealogy of a person, the Hebrews, as well as the Arabs, took the liberty to omit, according to their own pleasure, one or more generations. (Ruth iv. 1822. Ezra vii. 1-5. Matt. i. 8.) It was considered so much of an honour, to have a name and a place in these family annals, that the Hebrews, from their first existence as a nation, had public genealo

שוטר שוטרים gists, denominated

Not only the Hebrews, but, if we may credit Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus, the Egyptians also, assigned a certain period to a gene ration. According to their estimation, three generations made an hundred years. In the time of Abraham, however, when men lived to a greater age, an hundred years made a generation. This is clear from Gen. xv. 13. 16. and from the circumstance, that Abraham,

Isaac, and Jacob dwelt two hundred and fifteen years in the land of Canaan, and yet there were only two generations.

III. ARITHMETIC, MATHEMATICS, ASTRONOMY, AND ASTROLOGY. 1. Arithmetic. The more simple methods of arithmetical calculation are spoken of in the Pentateuch, as if they were well known. The merchants of that early period, must, for their own convenience, have been possessed of some method of operating by numbers. And that they were able to do it, to some considerable extent, may be argued from the fact, that they had separate words, viz. and 7, for so large a number as 10,000.

2. Mathematics.-By this we understand Geometry, Mensurations, Navigation, &c. As far as a knowledge of them was absolutely required by the condition and employments of the people, we may well suppose, that knowledge actually existed; although no express mention is made of them.

3. Astronomy.-The interests of agriculture and navigation required some knowledge of astronomy. An evidence, that an attempt was made at a very early period, to regulate the year by the annual revolution of the sun, may be found in the fact, that the Jewish months were divided into thirty days each. (See Gen. vii. 11. viii. 4.) In astronomy, the Egyptians, Babylonians, and Phoenicians exibited great superiority. We are informed, there were magicians or enchanters in Egypt (Exod. vii. 11. Lev. xx. 27. xix. 31. Deut. xviii. 20.), denominated in Hebrew, because they computed eclipses of the sun and moon, and pretended to the people, that they produced them by the efficacy of their own enchantments. Some of the constellations are mentioned by name in Job ix. 9. xxxviii. 31, 32. Isa. xiii. 10. Amos v. 8. 2 Kings xxiii. 5.

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4. Astrology. It is by no means a matter of wonder, that the Hebrews did not devote greater attention to astronomy, since the study of astrology, which was intimately connected with that of astronomy, and was very highly estimated among the neighbouring nations (Isa. xlvii. 9. Jer. xxvii. 9. 1. 35. Dan. ii. 13. 48.), was interdicted to the Hebrews. (Deut. xviii. 10. Lev. xx. 27.) Daniel, indeed, studied the art of astrology at Babylon, but he did not practise it. (Dan. i. 20. ii. 2.) The astrologers (and those wise men mentioned in Matt. ii. 1. et seq. appear to have been such) divided the heavens into apartments or habitations, to each one of which apartments they assigned a ruler or president. This fact developes the origin of the word, Beλou, by, or the Lord of the (celestial) dwelling. (Matt. x. 25. xii. 24.27. Mark iii. 22. Luke xi. 15-19.)

IV. Measures of Length are mentioned in Gen. vi. 15, 16. A knowledge of the method of measuring lands is implied in the account given Gen. xlvii. 20-27. Mention is made, in the books of Job and Joshua, of a line or rope for the purpose of taking measurements, . It was brought by the Hebrews out of Egypt, where, according to the unanimous testimony of antiquity, Surveying

first had its origin, and in consequence of the inundations of the Nile, was carried to the greatest height. It was here, as we may well conclude, that the Hebrews acquired so much knowledge of the principles of that science, as to enable them, with the aid of the measuring line above mentioned, to partition and set off geographically the whole land of Canaan. The weights used in weighing solid bodies, (Gen. xxiii. 15, 16.) provided they were similar to each other in form, imply a knowledge of the rudiments of stereometry.

V. The Mechanic Arts.-No express mention is made of the mechanic arts; but that a knowledge of them, notwithstanding, existed, may be inferred from the erection of Noah's ark, and the tower of Babel; also from what is said of the Egyptian chariots, in Gen. xli. 43. xlv. 19. 1. 9. and Exod. xiv. 6, 7.; and from the instruments used by the Egyptians in irrigating their lands. (Deut. xi. 10.) It is implied in the mention of these, and subsequently of many other instruments, that other instruments still, not expressly named, but which were of course necessary for the formation of those which are named, were in existence.

VI. Geography-Geographical notices occur so frequently in the Bible, that it is not necessary to say much on this point; but see Gen. x. 1-30. xii. 4-15. xiv. 1-16. xxviii. 2-9. xlix. 13., &c. Perhaps, however, it deserves to be repeated, that, in the time of Joshua, the whole of Palestine was subjected to a geographical division. (Josh. xviii. 9.) It is evident then, from their geographical knowledge, as well as from other circumstances already mentioned, that there must have existed among the Hebrews, the rudiments, if nothing more, of mathematical science.

VII. Physics, or Natural Philosophy, has secured but little attention in the East. A knowledge of the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, or the science of Natural History, was always much more an object of interest. Solomon was an illustrious pattern of knowledge and wisdom; and his skill in this science is sufficiently indicated, when we are told that he spake of trees, from the cedartree that is in Lebanon, even to the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowls, and of creeping things, and of fishes. (1 Kings iv. 33.)

Traces of Philosophy strictly so called, that is, the system of prevailing moral opinions, may be found in the book of Job, in the 37th, 39th, and 73d Psalms, also in the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, but chiefly in the apocryphal book of Wisdom, and the writings of the son of Sirach. During the Captivity, the Jews acquired many new notions, particularly from the Mehestani, and appropriated them, as occasion offered, to their own purposes. They at length became acquainted with the philosophy of the Greeks, which makes its appearance abundantly in the book of Wisdom. After the captivity, the language in which the sacred books were written, was no longer vernacular. Hence arose the need of an interpreter on the sabbatic year, a time when the whole law was read; and also on the sabbath in the synagogues, which had been recently erected, in order

to make the people understand what was read. These interpreters learnt the Hebrew language at the schools. The teachers of these schools, who, for the two generations preceding the time of Christ, had maintained some acquaintance with the Greek philosophy, were not satisfied with a simple interpretation of the Hebrew idiom, as it stood, but shaped the interpretation, so as to render it conformable to their philosophy. Thus arose contentions, which gave occasion for the various sects of Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes. In the time of our Saviour, divisions had arisen among the Pharisees themselves. No less than eighteen nice questions, if we may believe the Jewish Rabbins, were contested, at that period, between the schools of Hillel and Shammai. One of which questions was an inquiry, "What cause was sufficient for a bill of divorce?" If the Shammai and Hillel of the Talmud are the same with the learned men mentioned in Josephus, viz. Sameas and Pollio, who flourished thirty-four years before Christ, then Shammai or Sameas is undoubtedly the same with the Simeon who is mentioned Luke ii. 25-35., and his son Gamaliel, so celebrated in the Talmud is the same with the Gamaliel mentioned Acts v. 34. xxii. 3.

Antiently, learned men were denominated among the Hebrews D', as among the Greeks they were called dopo, that is, wise men. In the time of Christ, the common appellative for men of that description was ygauuartus, in the Hebrew, a scribe. They were addressed by the honorary title of Rabbi,, that is, great or master. The Jews, in imitation of the Greeks, had their seven wise men, who were called Rabboni, . Gamaliel was one of the number. They called themselves the children of wisdom; expressions which correspond very nearly to the Greek propos. (Matt. xi. 19. Luke vii. 35.) The heads of sects were called fathers (Matt. xii. 27. xxiii. 1—9.), and the disciples, DT, were denominated sons or children. The Jewish teachers, at least some of them, had private lecture rooms, but they also taught and disputed in synagogues, in temples, and in fact, wherever they could find an audience. The method of these teachers was the same with that, which prevailed among the Greeks. Any disciple who chose might propose questions, upon which it was the duty of the teachers to remark and give their opinions. (Luke ii. 46.) The teachers were not invested with their functions by any formal act of the church or of the civil authority; they were self-constituted. They received no other salary than some voluntary present from the disciples, which was called an honorary, T, HONORARIUM. (1 Tim. v. 17.) They acquired a subsistence in the main by the exercise of some art or handicraft. That they took a higher seat than their auditors, although it was probably the case, does not follow, as is sometimes supposed, from Luke ii. 46. According to the Talmudists they were bound to hold no conversation with women, and to refuse to sit at table with the lower class of people. (John iv. 27. Matt. ix. 11.) The subjects, on which they taught, were numerous, commonly