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other I have met with; and therefore I shall confine myself to slightly noticing the uses to which it may be applied, and the method of its application. But first, anticipating the remark, that while it is tediously copious upon those early periods of history which are usually considered as uninteresting, and unnecessary, it has not been proportionably communicative with respect to the more popular æras, which are indeed the most prominent features of the science, I beg to observe, that although the expediency of laying some restrictions upon our researches into the records of antiquity is generally acknowledged, the circumscribing line between what is useful, and what superfluous, does not seem to have been marked with equal distinctness. It cannot prove satisfactory to the reflecting mind, to consider the annals of a nation, or people, uninteresting, merely because they relate to times the farthest removed from our own. The work of Creation had scarcely ceased, when that of Redemption began, (for "the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world") both, therefore, equally relate to every descendant of Adam. Wherever a human creature has been found, there has the eye of Providence regarded, and the hand of Providence directed, the course of events. In this view of the subject, the early periods of ancient history would be equally interesting with those of modern times, could we with equal confidence rely upon the truth of their records; and it is only where this is wanting, that the historical student can be justified in rejecting the records of early times.-This, and not the imaginary claims of political importance, should direct our researches into the chaos of historical matter with which our libraries teem, and in which life is too short to permit of our indiscriminately wandering, perhaps to the neglect, and waste, and even profanation of the intellectual "talents" committed to

our trust.

But in this view of things it may be asked, how can we admit the claims of all human beings to a share of our con

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sideration and interest, upon the ground of their having in common with ourselves one Creator, and one Redeemer, when it is proved upon the evidence of both profane and sacred writers, that myriads of human beings in the early ages (and indeed in every age of the world) have lived without the knowledge of their Creator, and died without that of their Redeemer? In reply it may be observed, that "a man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps" (Prov. xvi. 9.); and that, whether man be conscious of the divine guidance or not. "He himself made man from the beginning, and left him in the hands of his counsel." (Eccles. xv, 14.) To all, certain "talents" have been committed; and as divine wisdom alone can decide how much has been given, so nothing less can estimate how much will be required. We are not to weigh the responşibility of others, by our own; in all ages and countries of the world, the component parts of religion have been faith and practice, and it is by the relative proportion of these to each other, that we are to judge of the spiritual state of our fellow creatures. Thus much however has been revealed to us, that God "giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek the Lord if haply they might feel after him, though he be not far from every one of us; for in him we live, and move, and have our being." (Acts xvii. 25-28.) His eyes were over the heathen, though the heathen saw him not.-He guided their steps, he received the prayers which in sincerity and truth they offered to their idols, and their oracles were subject to his direction ;*

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The most ancient oracles in the Heathen world, were unquestionably dictated by the Spirit of TRUTH; for God never left himself unwitnessed by his extraordinary interpositions, as well as by the ordinary dispensations of his Providence."-Hales's Analysis, vol. iii. p. 498.

and we may suppose that could we be made acquainted with the real history of every nation of antiquity, we should find continual proof that God has, in all ages, been "no respecter of persons, but that in every nation, he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him.” (Acts x. 34, compare Rom. ii. 12.) But in addition to the proofs to be found in the inspired writings that "the ways of God are equal," (Ezek. xviii.; Jer. xxxv. 15-19), let us enquire how far the chosen people of God, the Israelites, were really favoured above the heathen; or rather, how far they benefited by the distinction afforded by the divine favour in the knowledge of the attributes of God, as revealed by the law and the prophets. Did the knowledge or law of God avert from them the temporal punishment of their individual sins? Did they suffice to make them "wise unto salvation?" Did the moral code of the Decalogue, or the holy ordinances of the Levitical service, or its numerous sacrifices, supersede the necessity for the one great sacrifice of atonement which has been made for all the sons of Adam? (1 Cor. xv. 22.) On the contrary, is not the law declared to have been for the knowledge, not remission of sin? (Rom. iii. 20.; Ezek. xx. 25.); and if it was written on "stone" for the Jews, was it not promised to be written "in the hearts" of the Gentiles; (Jer. xxxi. 33.; Ezek. xi. 19-22.) The shadow only was confined to the Jews, the substance was extended to the whole world. Was it not those very Israelites for whose rebellious obduracies the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness, they doing by anticipation, what sinners now do by retrospection, viz. "crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame" by their sinful or negligent lives? and as they served at that time for an example of God's goodness, do they not now manifest his truth and his justice, as revealed by his prophets? Have they not been "removed into all the kingdoms of the earth," Deut. xxviii. 25.) and scattered among all people from the one end of the earth

even unto the other?" (ver. 64.) have they not been made "an astonishment, a proverb, and a bye word among all nations?" (ver. 28, 37. Isa. 65.) What would it have availed all the nations of antiquity to have had similar advantages, if they had made no other use of them than was made by the Jews? A strict examination into the moral government of God, will be the clearest vindication of his moral justice, and the amplest proof, that "with whatsoever measure the creatures of God mete withal, it shall be measured unto them again." With respect to the larger portion of divine guidance and direction afforded to the Jews by the means of prophets, let it be remembered that such direction was always proportioned to the "talents" committed to the trust of the "workmen" in question. To the Jews much more was given than to the Gentiles, and consequently from them, much more was required; and we find that the abuse of the light that was afforded them, excited the anger of God, who, by the mouth of his prophet Jeremiah, draws a striking comparison between the fidelity of the Heathens to their false Gods, and the fickleness and defection of the Israelites under the clearest evidence of divine jurisdiction. (Jer. ii. 10. &c.) And let us observe also how little the insincere Israelite had the advantage over the illiterate Heathen in the guidance of the prophets; (Ezek. xiv.) and a farther instance of the divine approbation of consistency in faith and practice. (Jer. xxxv.) Indeed the general tenor of the prophetical writings, proves God to have been "a God afar off" as well as "a God at hand:" (Jer. xxiii. 23.) both Jews and Heathens contributed to illustrate the grand scheme of redemption by God's FREE GRACE; for while the law proved to the Jews that no man can be saved by his own righteousness, the fallibility of human reason was shewn in the Heathens. (1 Cor. i. 21.) Let us not therefore consider as "common or unclean" what we have reason to believe "God has cleansed," nor reject as uninteresting or unimportant the annals of our fellow

creatures, of whatever age or country." Judge nothing before the time until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of hearts," (I Cor. iv. 5.); for" who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea he shall be holden up, for God is able to make him stand." (Rom. xiv. 4.)

Having shewn the claims which ancient history has to our attention, it is necessary to consider the obstacles which obstruct our researches into it. These may be comprised, 1st, in the scantiness of the accounts that have descended to us of the occurrences of the early ages: 2nd, in the distorted medium of fiction and fable through which we view them: 3rd, in the disagreement of authors as to their chronological arrangements : * 4th, in the destructive tendency of conquest, by which some of the most important records have been destroyed. Wherever these obstacles have interposed in a way to exclude the possibility of arriving at a certain conclusion, I have judged it expedient to leave a blank, rather than insert a doubt; the early Tables will therefore appear to furnish little information; and in

"The mazes of the labyrinth of Profane History, are to the full as abstruse and intricate, as the mysteries of Revelation; and whosoever attempts to develope the tales and reveries of Sanchoniatho and Be rosus, Manetho and Herodotus, will find them as hard to be understood, as hard to be interpreted, and as hard to be reconciled to each other, and to the truth of history, as the profound prophecies of Jacob, Balaam, and Moses ; the sublime visions of Isaiah, Daniel, and the Apocalypse.- (Hales's Analysis, vol. iii. p. 8 of the Preface). The unknown and fabulous times as distinguished from the historical, by that great chronologer Parro, furnish a choice of difficulties ' to the chronologer, the antiquary, and the historian. We remark in the Extravagant Gods, Demigods, and Heroes of the remotest antiquity, a strange confusion of names and titles. Frequently the same name denotes different persons, at different times; and as frequently, the same persons, the same times, and the same events, are disguised under different names, fables, and fictions.”—P. 16.

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