I.

SECT. at the fame time to own its reluctance and averfion. It will readily acknowledge their importance, but it will view them in the light of a task, rather than that of a pleafure; and fubmit to the requifite labour, more from an expectation of future benefit, than from any profpect of immediate gratification. But the fatigue, attendant upon the ftudy of antiquity, is relieved by an unceasing variety, and diminished by the charms of perpetual novelty. The lure of present pleasure is added to the anticipation of distant advantage; and, while every faculty experiences the powerful stimulus of unfated curiofity, the purfuit is dignified by a consciousness that its object is not devoid of utility to the interests of literature.

Nor is this defire of contemplating the deeds of other times merely an acquired tafte, confined to fome particular age or country: it is a difpofition of the mind, which equally characterizes a period of rudeness, and an age of civilization. The romantic fables indeed of a barbarous people are gradually rejected by progreffive fcience, and the wild uncertainty of tra

I.

dition is fucceeded by the laborious accu- CHAP. racy of patient investigation: but the ruling principle of curiofity ftill remains unaltered, though the faculties of the human mind are directed to an end more worthy of reason. As learning increases, legendary abfurdities vanish; and the religious opinions, the customs, the origin, and the architecture of our predeceffors in various parts of the globe, all ferve in their turns to arreft the attention, and to exercise the ingenuity of the antiquary. Even those, who have no inclination to fubmit to the fatigue of accurate fcrutiny, will readily avail themfelves of the labours of others, and peruse with pleasure the minute hiftorical detail, or examine with eagerness the well fupported hypothefis. Let it however be remembered, that the life and the abilities of man were never defigned by Providence to be folely employed in profecuting conjectures, which can ferve no other purpose, than that of gratifying a vain curiofity. The Chriftian fcholar will endeavour to make every literary pursuit, in which he is engaged, tend, if poffible, to promote the glory of his Creator, and the best, the religious interefts of mankind. In the folemn

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SECT. lemn hour of retribution, an hour not very 1. far distant from any of us, every purfuit, and every action, which has not, either mediately or immediately, had a reference to the one thing alone abfolutely needful, will then appear lighter than vanity itself.

The ftudy of antiquity, if properly directed, may justly claim no contemptible rank in the service even of Religion. Every hiftorical fact is entitled to a greater or a lefs degree of our belief, according as it is more or lefs fupported by concurrent teftimony, and more or lefs ftamped with the marks of internal veracity. We are not accustomed to judge, how far a tranfaction is probable or improbable, by the circumstance of its being more or less remote from our own times; but we take into confideration the credit due to its hiftorian, the coincidence of his narration with that of other authors, and the evidence which arifes from its internal credibility. Hence we perpetually admit or reject the works of different writers, without being in the leaft influenced by the mere antiquity, or the mere latenefs of the period in which they flourished; and the valuable remains

of

of claffical history are received as authen- CHAP. tic, while the fabulous legends of the mid- I. dle ages are juftly configned to obscurity and contempt. In many narratives, even of modern date, we are obliged to depend folely upon the affertions of the compiler; and we admit by much the greatest part of ancient history entirely upon the fuppofed fidelity of the writer. We stop not to inquire, how far his detail is fupported by the testimony of others; nor do we demand any other mark of internal credibility, than the unguarded fimplicity of truth. Civilization was once at fo low an ebb, that the fcience of the whole world centered almost exclufively in the petty republics of Greece. That country was doubtlefs indebted to other nations, and borrowed largely from the more ancient refearches of Egypt and Phenicia : but the writings produced in those other nations

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"The chief and moft ancient hiftories among the "Greeks were only a corruption of the history of elder "nations, especially Phenicia and Egypt: for of these two "Philo Byblius, the Tranflator of the ancient Phenician "Hiftorian, Sanchoniathon, faith, they were, wahaIOTATOI TWV Βαρβαρων, παρ' ὧν και οἱ λοιποι παρελαβον ανθρωποι, the moft an"cient of all the barbarians, from whom the others derived their theology; which he there particularly inftanceth in." Stillingfleet, Orig. Sac. B. I. C. 2..

SECT. have, for the most part, either entirely peI. rifhed, or have been handed down to us

only through the medium of Greek literature. As we approach nearer to modern times, that most decifive fpecies of evidence, concurrent teftimony, gradually increases. The fame facts are related by unconnected historians, in different countries, all far advanced in civilization; and the image of truth is thus ftamped indelibly upon the feveral narratives.

The moft ancient records now extant are those of the Jewish nation, and the feries of events detailed in them extends even to the creation itself. The account of those early and fingular transactions-is given with an unexampled brevity, and an unaffected fimplicity. The hiftorian appears to be equally free from the love of praise, and the defire of exaggeration. Inftead of labouring to extend his fubject, he feems ftudioufly to contract it; and inftead of adopting the luxuriant language of allegory, he is remarkable for the majestic plainness of his expreffions. The undoubted antiquity of the Pentateuch, and the high veneration in which it has ever been held by the pofterity of Ifrael, cannot