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the feventh day at least to the æra of the deluge. Without dwelling on these circumstances in which the account of Tacitus agrees with thofe already confidered, I fhall only further observe, that in what he fays concerning the people being in danger of perishing by thirft, and the means by which they obtained relief, we may trace feveral of the facts recorded in Scripture, but blended together and mingled with fiction. Here there is an obvious allufion to what we are told concerning the Ifraelites travelling three days before they found water, as well as to their murmuring and dejection on this account. In the ftory concerning the rock fhaded with wood, we have evidently a mixture of the circumftances related in Scripture, concerning the rock which was fmitten by Mofes, and the twelve fountains of Elim, where there were threefcore and ten palm-trees".

The names of none of the Egyptian magicians are mentioned in the Pentateuch. But, from what the Apostle Paul fays concerning " Jannes and Jam"bres withstanding Mofes b," there is no reason to doubt, that the names of these perfons, as being the chief of the magicians, and fome other particulars concerning them, not recorded in Scripture, had been preferved among the Jews by tradition. Their names indeed are found in the Chaldee paraphrafe of the Pentateuch. Jonathan thus renders Exod. vii. Tr. " Jannes and "Jambres, Egyptian magicians, alfo did in like manner, by the muttering of their inchant

* Exod. xv. 27.

b 2 Tim. iii, &.

"ments.

"ments." The names of these magicians are also mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud, in the book of Zohar, in Schalfcheleth, and in Tanchu

ma a

But it deferves our particular attention, that these magicians feem to have been nearly as well known to heathen writers. Eufebius quotes a paffage from Numenius, an ancient Pythagorean philofopher, which not only attefts the fcriptural account concerning the oppofition of these magicians, but plainly fhews a general belief, that Egypt, by the inftrumentality of Mofes, had been vifited with severe plagues. "Jannes and Jam"bres," he says, "fcribes of the religion of Egypt,

at the time that the Jews were expelled from "that country, were univerfally deemed inferior to none in acquaintance with magical arts. "They were therefore both chofen, by the com

mon consent of the Egyptians, to oppose them“selves to Mufæus," for thus Mofes is fometimes called by the Greeks," the leader of the Jews,

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a man whose prayers were remarkably preva"lent with God. Thefe perfons were reckoned "able to remove the calamities which Mufæus "had brought upon Egypt ." Eufebius gives a fimilar teftimony from Artapanus, who calls them "priests above Memphis," relating, that the king "threatened them with death, if they did not "perform things equal to those done by Mofes d." Pliny, whofe information has been lefs diftinct, E 2 mentions

a Vid. Fabric. Cod. Apoc. V. T. p. 816.-819. Buxtorf. Lex. Talm. c Apud. Eufeb. Præpar. lib. viii. c. 9. d Id. lib. ix. c. 27.

P 945.
– Μουσαίος.
(Fabr. Cod. Apoc. V. T. vol. i. p. 817.)

mentions Mofes and Jamnes as Jewish magicians. Apuleius alfo introduces Joannes, who is generally allowed to be the fame as Jannes, among the chief magicians 1.

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Artapanus, already mentioned, in his work concerning the Jews, gives the following relation: "Mofes was fhut up in prifon by Nechephres, "the king of the Egyptians, because he demand"ed the liberation of the Ifraelites. By night, "the prifon being opened by the will of God, he "went forth, entered into the royal palace, stood "before the fleeping monarch, and awaked him. He, being astonished at what had taken place, "commanded Mofes to tell him the name of that "God who had fent him. Mofes, approaching "the ear of the king, told him this name. Upon "hearing it, the king was ftruck dumb; but, "when Mofes laid hold of him, he revived c.” The leading circumftances here mentioned are entirely different from thofe recorded in the facred hiftory. There feems indeed to be an allufion to what was done by Mofes, in declaring to Pharaoh the name of JEHOVAH, as the "God of "the Hebrews ;" and to Pharaoh's calling for Mofes and Aaron by night. But what especially deferves our notice, is, that the paffage affords a fatisfactory proof of a general tradition among the heathen, that Mofes had wrought miracles in the prefence of the king of Egypt, and even fuch as particularly affected himself.

a Hift. Nat. lib. xxx. c. I. andrin. Strom. lib. i. p. 252.

b Apolog. II.
d Exod. v. 1.-3.

The

c Ap. Clem. Alex

e Exod. xii. 31.

The learned Allix has obferved, that the memory of the deftruction of the firft-born was preferved among the Egyptians till after the birth of Chrift. "For till then," he says, " they used "to mark with red their sheep, their trees, their "houses and lands, the day before the paffover, "as one may fee in Epiphanius; which cuftom "could proceed from no other cause, than from "the Egyptians fear of the like plague and mortality, that was once inflicted upon their fore"fathers; and from the hope of preventing it by fuch a kind of talifman, whereby they thought Mofes had formerly faved the Ifrael"ites harmless from that great plague, only by fprinkling the blood of the lamb of the paff" over on the upper door-poft of their houfesa."

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Allix does not quote the place, and I have not been able to find it in Epiphanius. But, at any rate, I would not lay much ftrefs on this teftimony, as it does not fo properly belong to the present argument, being that of a Chriftian writer. Nor does it appear, that his evidence is fupported by that of any other witness.

I proceed, therefore, to fubjoin the teftimony of two heathen writers, with refpect to the miraculous paffage of the Red Sea. Artapanus, as quoted by the celebrated Alexander Polyhiftor, fays, that the Egyptian priefts were not agreed, whether the fea was divided by a fupernatural power, or whether Mofes and the Ifraelites only croffed over a small nook of it at low water, hitting the E 3 time

a Reflections on the Books of Scripture, vol. i. p. 157, 150..

time fo well, that Pharaoh, following their example, perished in the attempt. This writer

informs us, the priests of Heliopolis adopted the former opinion, and thofe of Memphis the lat

ter a.

According to Diodorus Siculus, a heathen hiftorian of great character, the Ichthyophagi, who dwelt along the coafts of the Red Sea, towards the farther end of it, had a conftant tradition, that that fea had been formerly divided by a ftrong wind; and that the waves being parted into two heaps, the bottom, which was left naked, had appeared full of verdure b.

THUS it appears, both from the internal evidence of the facred books, and from collateral teftimony, that there is no reafon to doubt the truth of thofe miraculous events, which are recorded concerning the Ifraelites, in the firft period of their history as a nation. I have formerly obferved, that there is as little reafon to doubt the fcriptural account of those prior events, which more immediately concern mankind in general. We may justly infer the truth of the one from that of the other. As it appears unquestionable, that the religion contained in the books of Mofes was given by God, being attefted by those wonderful works which we have already confidered; the truth of the facred hiftory, as far as it refpects events of an earlier date, follows as a natural and neceffary confequence. It is incredible, that God fhould

a Eufeb. Præpar. lib. iv. cap. 27.

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b Lib. iii. c. 3..

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