5

that St. Stephen speaks of him as having been "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians;" that a general tradition to this purpose has prevailed among the Jews from the most ancient times; that in reducing Aaron's golden calf to powder, he shewed great chemical skill; that his account of the creation discovers an extensive acquaintance with nature; and that his laws abound with moral wisdom. To this it has been added, that Moses, during the forty days in which he was upon the mount with God, Hesides the written code, received also an oral or traditionary law, since called the Cabbala, and that he taught this concealed doctrine to persons selected out of all the tribes of Israel, by whom they were transmitted to posterity. Some have even asserted that he wrote books, now lost, from which Pythagoras and Plato drew a great part of their doctrine: the authority of Eusebius has often been quoted in support of this assertion, in a passage where he mentions, on the credit of Jewish tradition, several theological and philosophical tenets of Moses, and amongst the rest, his opinion concerning the immortality of the soul.

With respect to the evidence from testimony, on this subject, it is easy to see that it may all be traced up to Philo, who will have little credit with those who remark how exactly he has adapted his account of the opinions of Moses to the philosophy of the times in which he lived, and how egregiously he mistakes in supposing learned men to have come from Greece, at a period when Greece was in a state of barbarism. The judgment of Clemens Alexandrinus, and other Christian fathers, upon this question, is of little weight; for they were induced to accommodate their idea. of the wisdom of Moses to the model of the Greek philosophy, by an opinion which they took up, without examination from the Jews, that all the genuine wisdom which was found among the Heathens, had passed over to them from the Hebrews, and was originally derived from Divine revelation. Little stress is to be laid upon the account given of Moses by St. Stephen, since the learning which he ascribes to him was only that of the Egyptians at the time when he flourished, which, as we shall afterwards see,

Acts vii. 22.

6 Exod. xxxii. 20. Deut. ix. 21. 7 Demon. Evan. 1. iii. c. 2.

was confined within very narrow limits. The skill which Moses discovered in the affair of Aaron's golden calf was probably not chemical, as many have supposed, but merely mechanical; for nothing farther can with certainty be inferred from the scripture account of this transaction, than that Moses ordered the calf, which had been made an object of idolatry, to be cut into small pieces, and thrown into an adjoining river, whence the Israelites were, at that time, supplied with water; probably, that, as often as they should fetch water from this stream, they might be reminded of their offence. In delivering laws and institutions to the Jews, Moses is to be considered, not as a philosopher, but in the higher character of minister and representative of Jehovah, by whose immediate authority their nation was governed. As to the traditionary law, which the Jewish writers suppose to have been the ground of their Cabbala, if it were not a mere invention of later times, it must have been given by Divine revelation, and can furnish no argument in defence of the philosophy of Moses. Much less can any argument for this purpose be derived from writings which are confessedly lost, and which have not been proved to have ever existed.

Solomon, in the Jewish scriptures, has the first place assigned him among the wise men of the East. But the later Jewish writers, not satisfied with this general encomium, have advanced the most extravagant assertions concerning his wisdom. They have not scrupled to say, that Aristotle pillaged his doctrine from the writings of Solomon. A bold assertion of this kind might have been endured from a people, whose vanity has always been equal to their ignorance; but that learned men of later times should adopt so absurd an opinion, is truly wonderful. Yet an English writer, of no mean name in the republic of letters, has maintained, that Aristotle and Theophrastus learned natural history; Hippocrates, medicine; the Stoics, ethics; and Pythagoras and Plato, the Symbolical philosophy from Solomon. Others have supposed him to have known the use of the mariner's compass, and to have been acquainted with the doctrine of the circulation of the blood,10 and with

Gale, Phil. Gener. §. 8.

8

Fuller's Sacred Miscel. b. iv. ch. 19. 10 Corn. Bontekoe de Vit. hum, p. ü. § 10. Witșii. Miscel. Sac. t. ii. ex. 13. § 24.

other anatomical discoveries. And Pineda, a Jesuit," has gone so far as to ascribe to Solomon the perfect knowledge of every modern, as well as ancient science. Upon all this it is sufficient to remark, that had Solomon been thus wonderfully enlightened, it must have been by Divine revelation, and not by philosophy; and that the wisdom which is attributed to him in scripture 12 was not speculative science, but that practical wisdom which was necessary to qualify him for the offices of government.

Daniel takes the next place among the wise men of Israel. From the particulars related concerning him in the book which bears his name, some have concluded, that he was an eminent teacher of the Chaldean philosophy, and a great master of all the wisdom of the East. It has even been said, that he was acquainted with the whole circle of Aristotelian learning.13 All this, however, is founded upon mere conjecture: for we have no certain information concerning this prophet except from his own writings; and these only relate, in general terms, that he was well furnished with that kind of wisdom, which served to obtain him influence, and procure him esteem and confidence in the court of Babylon, and that, besides this, he was endowed with miraculous powers from heaven.

In the history of the Jews, frequent mention is made of their prophets; and a great part of the Jewish Scriptures consists of prophecies: but these prophets appear in no other light than as good men supernaturally illuminated, for the purposes of instructing and admonishing the Jewish people, and predicting the great events which were to befal them. We are also informed, that there were, among the Hebrews, schools, in which the prophets presided, and gave instructions to their disciples; but we are not to imagine that these schools were colleges of philosophers, or, as some have done, 14 to apply our modern idea of an academical life to these institutions. As the prophets were employed in delivering the will of God to the people, and in inculcating upon them the principles, and inspiring them with the sentiments of religion, by means of sacred hymns accompanied with music, so it was, doubtless, the busi

11 De Rebus Solom. Mogunt. 1613. 12 1 Kings iii. 9-11. iv, 29, 13 Horn. Hist. Phil. I. v. c. 20. Huet. Dem. Ev. Pr. iv. p. 278, 14 Altingii Hist. Ebr. Acad. p. 281.

ness of the schools to train up young men, who were devoted to the priesthood, for the same offices. The account which the sacred writings give of the schools of the prophets in Kirjath-jearim and Ramoth-Gilead, 15 is far from conveying any idea of a philosophical seat of learning. We do not mean to assert, that the ancient Hebrews were destitute of learning; 16 we only maintain, that it was of a very different kind from that philosophy which we meet with in later ages. Their learned men were chiefly occupied in explaining the Mosaic law, and in inculcating principles of religion, and precepts of morality, drawn from the pure fountain of Divine revelation. The sacred Odes or Psalms of David afford an excellent specimen of Hes brew learning. They every where breathe the spirit of sublime piety, but discover no traces of abstract philo sophy.

We shall conclude our view of the state of philosophy among the Hebrews in the words of an eminent English writer: "It is well known that the Hebrews never excelled in mathematical or philosophical learning, or liberal arts, nor were ever distinguished by any ingenious disco veries. Whence Appollonius passes this severe judgment upon them, that they are to be ranked among the most stu pid barbarians, and are perhaps the only people who have never produced any single invention. Their ancient insti tutions, called Schools of the Prophets, were not so much intended for the purpose of instruction in the circle of the sciences, after the manner of modern schools, as for that of training up youth for discharging the prophetic and priestly functions. No nation or country upon the face of the earth has abounded so much with prophets and inspired men one might almost imagine, that some Divine virtue resided even in the soil and climate of Judea." 17 *

16 1 Kings iv. 11.

15 1 Sam. x. 5. xix. 18. 2 Kings ii. 3—5. 17 T. Burnetii Archæologia. Phil. I. i. c. 7. Joseph. contr. Apion, l. ii. *Vidend. Albert. Fabricii Cod. Vet. T. Buddæi Hist. Phil. Hebr. Spencer. de Legibus Hebr. Dickinson. Phys. Vet. c. xx. Altingii Hist. Acad. Heb. Witsius de Prophetis. Hornii. Hist. Phil. 1. v. Gialæ Phil. Gent. 1. i. Maii Diss. de Phil. Job. Reeman. Ant. Lit. Ægypt. 1. i. Baumgarten's notes on Ant. Univ. History, v. i. note 327.

CHAP. III.

OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE CHALDEANS.

AMONG the eastern nations, the most ancient people, next to the Hebrews, who appear to have been acquainted with philosophy, (using the term in its more relaxed sense) are the Chaldeans. For, although the Egyptians have claimed the honour of being the more ancient nation, and contended that the Chaldeans were an Egyptian colony, and consequently derived all their learning from Egypt, there is reason to believe, that the kingdom of Babylon, of which Chaldea was a part, flourished before the Egyptian monarchy: whence it is probable, that with respect to knowledge, the Egyptians were rather indebted to the Chaldeans, than the Chaldeans to the Egyptians. There is little room, however, to doubt, that Chaldea had, from the most remote times, its own preceptors, and was not indebted for its wisdom to any other country.

2

There were, it must be owned, amongst the Chaldeans themselves, fabulous accounts of the antiquity of their learning. When Alexander became possessed of Babylon, Aristotle, who was desirous of making the Asiatic expedition subservient to philosophy, requested Callisthenes to inform himself concerning the origin of science in Chaldea: for, at that time, the Chaldeans boasted that their ancestors had continued their astronomical observations through a period of 470,000 years. 3 Callisthenes, through the interest of Alexander, examined into the grounds of this report, and found that the Chaldean observations reached no farther backward than 1903 years. If this term be subtracted from 4383, the year of the Julian period in which Babylon was taken, these observations will appear to have commenced in the year of the Julian period 2480, or 2234 years before the Christian era. And even these are not mentioned by Ptolemy, who takes notice of no Chaldean observations prior to the Nobonasserian era, which commenced in the 3967th of the Julian period, or

1 Pompon. Mela de Situ Orbis, I. i. c. 9. p. 21. Ed. Gron. Plin. N. Hist. 1. v. c. 9. 2 Conf. Diodor. Sicul. 1. ii. Porphyr. apud Simplic. Comment. in Aristot, de Cœlo, l. ii. Cicero de Divin l. i,