jects. And these notions are found everywhere amongst mankind, and in general less interfered with in proportion to the simplicity of a people: so that if the Getes are found in any sense αθανατίζοντες, we are not to suppose they derived their notion from Indian, Egyptian, or Grecian philosophy, any more than that the American Indians have so derived it; but that in their case, as in that of some other tribes of the same general family, the convictions of nature and the inheritance of ancient tradition, had been less exposed to the debasement of physical theories than among the people with whom Herodotus and other Greeks had been more familiar: unless indeed it should appear that these tribes had also enjoyed the instructions of teachers, such as are represented by the half Mythic Orpheus, or by Zalmoxis, who revived and gave additional energy to this portion of their creed.

CHAPTER VI.

MOSAIC REVELATION.

SOME

Revelation

OMEWHERE about 400 years before Mosaic the period assigned to the Trojan war, when Egypt had again received its ancient dynasty, and after fruitless chastisements, had eagerly returned to its former "wallowing in the mire;" when Assyria and Babylon were approaching the acme of prosperity, and sinking in their religion to the sublunary world; when the Pelasgi and Hellenes were taking up their positions on the Mediterranean coasts, and cultivating a language destined to be the vehicle of religious philosophy to the heathen world; a fresh Revelation from Heaven, attested by a series of signs and wonders in the presence of a vast population, the fame of which pervaded surrounding nations, was given to the sons of Israel, who were constituted a kingdom of priests to the human race.

This revelation affirmed authoritatively all that was true of the ancient traditions, it committed to monumental materials what had been written on the heart, and had faded thence, and made the most important additions to the human knowledge of the nature and

In the Amphyctionic council.

Solomon.

attributes of God, and his relation and disposition towards mankind. It was there and then (as Bunsen himself remarks) that history was born, a history over which in this case a marvellous Providence has watched to keep it in its purity, and to preserve it in safety amid all the wonderful changes of the fate of the people to whom it was entrusted.

After the lapse of about 500 years, when Greece had united its counsels, but had almost entirely transformed its ancient traditions into seductive forms, when the Epos with its marvellous power had recommended every form of immorality by the example of its David and gods; the Jewish state had also attained its acmé. Its experience, recorded with a faithfulness which concealed none of the faults and crimes of the people or its most eminent men, in which rebuke is abundant, but praise is rare; presents a series of lessons divinely adapted for the instruction of states and individuals in all ages1.

This then may be regarded as almost, if not entirely, the midnight of heathenism, as far as relates to the remains among them of

'That the narrative of the Pentateuch is a faithful record of absolutely historical events no unsophisticated mind can doubt. Yet there seems no reason why they should not also have been intended to have all the instructive value of myths. The ancient Israelites became in this way according to St Paul, τύποι ήμων.

the divine light of their traditions.

In a

moral point of view they had to sink still lower, because they had to abuse higher privileges.

of the

But in the Holy Land a meridian glory Condition shone, which, in all respects, was calculated Hebrew to attract the attention of surrounding nations. of the

people and character

Hebrew

Considered as an external manifestation of revelation.

the Divine presence and goodness this Theocracy was, perhaps, in itself, more illustrious than any condition of any people which has ever existed. Its power was established, and its frontier defended from the Taurus on the North, the Euphrates on the East, Arabia Petræa and its ports on the Red Sea in the South. It stood in remarkable relations of friendship with a people who were at that time to the civilized world what Britain is at the present day.

It had not only acquired to exuberant wealth, in which all the richest countries of the world contributed to its glory, but to a high condition of mental cultivation. Science and literature had attained that exalted form which both assume when in unison with the sublimest subject which can occupy and inspire the soul of man. Nature was studied in all its extent, not as a mere collection of physical facts, still less as a set of physical theories, but as the productions of Him for

whose sake, as well as for their own, they were thought worthy of being studied and admired. "O Lord! how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast Thou made them all,” said the father of that philosophical prince, who had carried his investigations into all the departments of nature.

Philosophy, in its noblest sense, was encouraged and taught by the highest authority—the result of patient observation, of farseeing experience, and of Divine instruction. Poetry, with all the aids of its handmaid harmony, took for its subjects those themes which at once exalt and purify the soul. And, apart from the sacredness of its themes and the Divine inspiration of its doctrines, the sacred poetry of the Hebrews which flourished from that period has all the highest attributes which have ever been found in productions of that kind.

Those parts only of this literature have come down to us which appear to have been consecrated to religious use, and which formed an important part of their liturgy. But it is quite impossible, with the thousand songs of Solomon himself, and other writings of this kind, resulting from the encouragement of so great an example, that a vast amount of valuable literature should not have existed at this time, and attracted the atten