same in Egypt. Their priests renounced all worldly affairs. They led a very serious and retired life, wholly employed in the service of the gods, and the study of wisdom. They spent the day in the offices of religion; and the night in mathematical contemplations, for so they called the study of the heavens. They were the only historians. So the most antient Roman histories were the annals of their high-priests.

We see in Scripture history the character of their authors. It appears that they were very serious and very wise men; old, and of great experience, and well informed of what passed. There is neither vanity, nor flattery, nor affectation, in them to shew their wit: whereas all these foibles are to be discovered in the Greeks; every one of whom had liberty to write, and most of them aimed at nothing but their own glory, or that of their nation. The Hebrew historians do not set down their own names; nor do they ever conceal any circumstance that appears disadvantageous to themselves, or their sovereigns. They that wrote the history of David have been as particular in the account of his greatest crime as in any of his most righteous actions.

They make neither preface nor transition; they only relate facts in a sclear a manner as possible without any mixture of reasoning or reflections. But if we examine well, we shall find that they chose the facts, which were proper for their purpose, with wonderful judgment: and this makes their stories very short; though, upon important

occasions, they enter into the most exact detail, and set the action before the reader's eyes in very lively colours. It is plain they leave out reflections and exaggerations on purpose, by their knowing so well how to apply them in discourses where they have a mind to work upon the passions. So Moses, in Deuteronomy, makes use of the strongest and most expressive figures to magnify and expatiate upon what he had only plainly related in the preceding books. Thus the prophet Isaiah barely relates the defeat of Sennacherib,' after having exaggerated, when he foretold it, in a style that is truly poetical.

The Hebrews were not less to be admired in all their other ways of writing. Their laws are written with clearness and brevity. Their maxims of morality are contained in short sentences, adorned with agreeable figures, and expressed in a concise style; for all this serves to make them remembered. In fine, the poetry is sublime, the descriptions lively, the metaphors bold, the expressions noble, and the

This observation of the judicious Abbé is fully justified by several relations in the Old Testament; but particularly by that in 1 Sam. iv. 12-17, where a man of Benjamin, who had escaped from the army, announced to the High-Priest, Eli, the total overthrow of the Israelites by the Philistines. "Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there has been also a great slaughter among the people; and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phineas, are dead, and the ark of GOD is taken." What an amazing detail of facts in a few words. An ordinary writer would at least have spent a whole page in detailing these particulars.

* Isaiah xxxvi. 1, &c. compared with xxxvii. 37, 38.

figures wonderfully varied. But it would require whole books to treat of their eloquence and poetry in such a manner as they deserve.

Though they wrote by Divine inspiration, I do not think it necessary to impute all their eloquence to it. They were only inspired to speak truth, and to make use of no word that was unfit to declare the mysterious designs of GoD: but for any thing more, the Holy Ghost made use of their natural manner of expression. This is plain from the different styles of the prophets, and still more so from the likeness they all bear to the most antient profane writers. Homer, Herodotus, Hippocrates, tell a story in the same way. Hesiod's instructions are written in the like manner. The elegies of Theognis and Solon resemble the exhortations of Moses and the prophets. We see in Pindar, and the choruses of Tragedians, great boldness and variety of poetry; and the more antient the Greek authors are, the more they resemble the Hebrews, both in the distinction of style, according to the nature of the work, and in their conciseness and propriety of expression.

d

People may imagine that the Hebrews wrote in this manner by the pure strength of their genius; and that the goodness of their judgment prompted them to reject what was not suitable to the design of any work, and to make use of what was fittest

* See Bishop Lowth's Dissertation, and his Preliminary Discourse to his Translation of the Prophet Isaiah.

"Demostb. de Fals. Leg, et alibi.

to instruct or affect. For my own part, when I see that they never fail to observe a difference of style, and they apply all the ornaments of true eloquence so properly, I am rather inclined to believe they had already some rules, taken from the experience of their fathers, either in writing or by tradition among the learned. We must not imagine that the Greeks invented eloquence and poetry: the greatest share they had in it was giving names to the figures, and framing all that artificial language in which the knowledge of grammarians and rhetoricians consisted, but which alone never made either orators or poets. The rudiments of the art were discovered long before; for the world was not young at that time: it had existed nearly three thousand years before Solomon, and it is nearly three thousand since. Before his time men's lives were long, and there had been no inundations of barbarians in the countries where arts and sciences had their origin.

CHAP. XII.

The Politeness of the Israelites.

TO return to the common sort of the Hebrews. As they were so well instructed, and born in a country where people are naturally ingenuous,

they could not fail of being polite

for we are not

to suppose that inconsistent with a country life and bodily labour. The example of the Greeks plainly proves the contrary. I mean by politeness here, in general, whatsoever distinguishes us from barbarous nations: on one side, humanity and civility, demonstrations of friendship and respect in the common transactions of life; and on the other, prudence in business, address and propriety of behaviour, and all that comes under the denomination of good conduct.

As to civility, the Greeks, living for the most part in commonwealths, were so jealous of their liberty that they treated one another as equals; and their compliments went no farther than shewing esteem and friendship, in which the Romans imitated them. The civilities of the eastern people came nearer to ours, and were more respectful. They called those Lords whom they had a mind to honour, made vows of obedience to them. and bowed themselves to the earth before them, which the Scripture calls adoring or worshipping.

The Hebrews did so even before they had kings, as early as the time of the Patriarchs: which proceeded, in all likelihood, from the customs of the neighbouring people, who had long been subject to masters. It was not reckoned ill manners to say thou and thee to each other; all the antients spoke in that manner, and most nations still do so. It was not till about the decay of the Roman empire that the plural began to be used in speaking to

one person.