philosophers, in a laborious work, has recorded all the great phenomena of nature, earthquakes, meteors, comets, and eclipses, which his indefatigable industry could collect. Both the one and the other have omitted to mention the greatest phenomenon, to which the mortal eye has been witness since the creation of the globe. A distinct chapter of Plny is devoted to eclipses of an extraordinary nature and unusual duration: but he contents himself with describing the singular defect of light which followed the murder of Cæsar, when, during the greatest part of the year, the orb of the sun appeared pale and without splendour.' The sentences printed in italic are those in which the sceptical historian has had recourse to those misrepresentations which unhappily pervade too many of his splendid pages. On this passage we remark, cognised and mentioned as FACTS by that acute adversary of Christianity, Celsus; who would not have made such an admission, if he could have possibly denied them.? In addition to the preceding observations, we may state that many good and solid reasons may be assigned why profane writers have not made mention of the darkness at the crucifixion, which, it is now generally admitted, was confined to the land of Judæa. The most obvious is, that they might have no sufficient information of it. The provinces of the Roman empire were very extensive, and we find, in general, that the attention of writers was chiefly confined to those which were nearest to the metropolis. The ancient historians and biographers are remarkably concise, and seldom stop to mention occurrences, which, although they may FIRST, That the eclipse being confined to Judæa, its immedi- have happened during the times of which they write, have ate effects could not necessarily have been experienced by Se-no relation whatever to their main subject. This was their neca or Pliny, neither of whom could have been on the spot in general rule, and there is no reason for which it should be the reign of Tiberius, when the eclipse took place; nor can it be violated merely to indulge the caprice of the captious, or proved, that they had immediate information from all parts of satisfy the scruples of the petulant. There is no more reason the globe as soon as any extraordinary phenomenon had taken in the nature of the thing itself why the testimony of proplace. fane writers should be called for to support the sacred than SECONDLY, Neither Pliny nor Seneca have left any works that the sacred should be called for to support the profane. We correspond to the historian's pompous description. Seneca does may then retort the argument, and in our turn ask the hisnot treat on eclipses at all, in the passage referred to;2 he speaks torian, and those who have lately circulated his false account indeed of earthquakes, but only in a very cursory manner, and of the progress of Christianity, how they can credit the does not instance more than four or five, because his object was accounts given by Paterculus, Pliny the elder, Valerius evidently not to write a history of them, but to investigate their John take not the least notice of them? But let it be supMaximus, and Seneca, when Matthew, Mark, Luke, and symptoms, causes, and prognostics. The same remark applies posed that the Roman writers had received information of to Pliny with respect to earthquakes. They are mentioned only the fact in question, it is most probable that they would to introduce philosophical observations. The historian, there- have considered it as a natural occurrence, being accustomed fore, has but very feeble props to support his assertion. We may reasonably imagine, that if Seneca and Pliny have recorded all to earthquakes and darkness for whole days together, in the great phenomena of nature, they must of course have ex-consequence of the eruptions of Mount Vesuvius. Or, plored the Grecian and Roman histories, which were immedi- posing that they had believed it to be a preternatural darkness, would it have been consistent with their principles as ately open to their inquiries. Now, let us try an experiment as heathens to have mentioned it? They must plainly have to what they have derived from those sources with respect to foreseen what great advantage would have been given to eclipses. Do they mention the total eclipse of the sun, when the Christianity by it. Their readers would naturally have celebrated plague happened at Athens, in the first year of the been led to inquire into the character of the extraordinary Peloponnesian war? Do they mention the solar eclipse on the person, at whose death the laws of nature were infringed, day when the foundations of Rome were laid? Do they men- and this inquiry, as it would have opened a more complete tion the eclipse foretold by Thales, by which a peace was effected view of the new dispensation, must have led to their conbetween the Medes and the Lydians? It would be too tedious version. Hence we collect a very satisfactory reason for and useless to ask for many others, which might be mentioned their silence. Supposing that they knew the fact, and from without any fear of our questions being answered in the affir- motives of policy suppressed it, their silence furnishes as strong a proof of its truth, as their express testimony could possibly have done. mative. THIRDLY, The distinct chapter of Pliny, in which, according to the historian's lofty representation, we should expect to find the subject of eclipses exhausted by its full and elaborate detail, consists of only eighteen words, the purport of which is, that "eclipses of the sun are sometimes of extraordinary duration; such as that which took place on the death of Cæsar, and during the war with Antony, when the sun appeared pale for nearly a year."3 sup Upon the whole, we may venture boldly to assert, that even if this fact be destitute of support from profane writers, it is a deficiency which may easily be dispensed with. We believe many things upon the evidence of one credible witness. But in the case before us, we have no less than three, whose knowledge of the fact was never denied, whose veracity is indisputable, and integrity not to be impeached. LASTLY, This miraculous preternatural darkness did not pass So plainly are the characters of truth marked upon their without notice. Omitting the supposed attestation of it by Phle-writings, that every person of common discernment must see gon (a pagan chronologist who wrote during the reign of the them, and he who is not satisfied as to the certainty of what emperor Hadrian, and whose testimony is cited by Tertullian, they relate, must give up all pretensions to a sound judgment, Origen, and Eusebius), and also the supposed mention of it by and be abandoned to the incurable obstinacy of his own Thallus (who lived in the second century), which is cited by Ju- forlorn scepticism.8 lius Africanus, a writer of great eminence and probity, who An example taken from English history will confirm and lived at the beginning of the third century; we may remark illustrate the preceding observations. No one in our days, that there are two other testimonies not founded on the state- who has read the whole history of the popish plot in Charles ments of Phlegon and Thallus, which unequivocally confirm the Second's time, with any candour and attention, believes the evangelical history of the darkness at the crucifixion, viz. it. The incoherence, and every way incredible circumstances those of Tertullian and Celsus. In his Apology for the Chris- of the whole deposition, together with the infamous charactians, which was addressed to their heathen adversaries, Tertul-ters of the witnesses, preclude an assent. Yet, a circumlian expressly says, “At the moment of Christ's death, the light mundbury Godfrey-happened to give it an air of probability. stance to this day unaccounted for-the murder of Sir Eddeparted from the sun, and the land was darkened at noon-Yet he would be thought injudicious to the last degree, who day; WHICH WONDER IS RELATED IN YOUR OWN ANNALS, AND IS PRESERVED IN YOUR ARCHIVES TO THIS DAY." If the account of this extraordinary darkness had not been registered, Tertullian would have exposed both himself to the charge of asserting a falsehood (which charge was never brought against him), and also his religion to the ridicule of his enemies. It is further particularly worthy of remark, that the darkness and earthquake at the crucifixion are both explicitly reDecline and Fall, vol. ii. p. 379. 2 Nat. Quæst. lib. vi. c. 1. Op. tom. iv. pp. 309-312. edit. Bipont. 4to. • See Lardner's Works, vol. vii. pp. 370-387. 8vo. ; or vol. iv. pp. 58-67 should thence be inclined to favour the evidence of Titus Oates. The case before us is opposite, indeed, but parallel. Christianity stands supported by evidences of the most unexceptionable nature; yet the circumstance of Seneca's and Pliny's silence concerning the eclipse or preternatural darkness (admit it only for argument's sake) is unaccountable. The evidence of the Gospel is, however, by no means shaken, nor will be shaken, till it can be proved that we must be able to account for every thing in an event, before we admit the testimony of the event itself. In short, there is no history in the world more certain and See Origen contr. Celsum, lib. ii. § 55. p. 94. • Kett's Bampton Lectures, Notes and Authorities, pp. xxiv.-xxxii. indubitable than that contained in the Christian Scriptures, | Every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians. This which is supported by the concurring testimony,-not to hatred of theirs against shepherds is confirmed in a very singusay of so many men, but of so many different nations, di- lar manner by a very ancient mummy now at Paris, beneath vided, indeed, among themselves in other particulars, but all the buskins of both whose feet is painted a shepherd, bound uniting to confirm the truth of the facts related in the Gos-with cords. pels. And, therefore, even though the Christian institution had perished with the apostles, and there were not in the world at this day so much as one Christian, we should have the most unquestionable evidence that the persons and actions recorded in the Gospels, and attested by the concurring voice of all nations, really existed in the country of Judæa during the reign of Tiberius, as the evangelists have assured us.' I. The Mosaic narrative of the deluge confirmed by the Apamean medal.-II. Various Passages of Scripture confirmed by Egyptian Hieroglyphics.-III. The account of Pharaoh-Necho's war against the Jews (2 Chron. xxxv. 20-24.) confirmed by Herodotus, and by an ancient Egyptian tomb discovered and explored by M. Belzoni.—IV. Acts xiii. 7. confirmed by a medal proving that Cyprus was at that time under the government of a proconsul.-V. Acts xvi. 11, 12. confirmed by a coin of Macedonia Prima.VI. Acts xvi. 14. confirmed by an inscription.—VII. Acts xvii. 23. confirmed by inscriptions.-VIII. Acts xix. 35. confirmed by a medal of the city of Ephesus.-IX. The Triumphal Arch of Titus, at Rome.-Application of this sort of evidence. THERE remains yet one more class of collateral testimonies to the credibility of the facts recorded in the Bible, which is not less important and decisive than the series of evidence of profane historians given in the preceding pages These testimonies are furnished by ancient coins, medals, and inscriptions on marbles; which have survived the wreck of time, and are extant to this day. These remains of an tiquity are allowed to be among the most important proofs of ancient history in general; and they afford satisfactory confirmation of many particulars related in the Scriptures. The most remarkable of these we now proceed to submit to the consideration of the reader. I. The MOSAIC NARRATIVE OF THE Deluge Is confirmed by a coin struck at Apamea in the reign of Philip the elder. On the reverse of this medal is represented a kind of square chest, floating upon the waters: a man and woman are advancing out of it to dry land, while two other persons remain within. Above it flutters a dove, bearing an olive branch; and another bird, possibly a raven, is perched upon its roof. In one of the front panels of the chest is the word NOE in ancient Greek characters.2 II. Various passages in the Old Testament are confirmed by the successful researches of Dr. Young, Mr. Salt, M. Champollion, M. Coquerel, and other eminent scholars, in deciphering the hitherto illegible hieroglyphics, which are still extant on ancient Egyptian monuments. To adduce a few instances out of many which might be offered : 1. Several ages before the time of Sesostris, the shepherd kings, whom every circumstance proves to have been of Scythian origin, invaded and conquered almost the whole of Egypt, about the year 2082 before the Christian æra, and in the time of the patriarch Abraham. The princes of the eighteenth dynasty (the Theban), whose chief was Thoutmosis I., the first sovereign after the shepherd kings, erected the most ancient edifices of Thebes and Egypt. Thoutmosis was adored as a god, under the name of Amenothph, because he had delivered Egypt from the shepherds; the recollection of whose tyranny was odious to the Egyptians and to the kings of that dynasty, to which the Pharaoh, mentioned in the latter part of the Book of Genesis, belongs. In Gen. xlvi. 34. Joseph tells his brethren that 1 Edwards, on the Authority, &c. of Scripture, vol. i. pp. 400—420. Macknight's Truth of the Gospel, pp. 305, 306. 313. 2 Bryant's Analysis of Ancient Mythology, vol. iii. pp. 46, 47. 8vo. edit. In the fifth voluine, pp. 289-313. he has satisfactorily vindicated the genuineness of the Apamean medal. Seven or eight of these medals are known to be extant, the genuineness of which is acknowledged by Eckhel, the most profound of all modern numismatologists. See his Doctrina Nummorum Veterum, tom. iii. pp. 132. 140. 3. The two first Pharaohs mentioned in the Bible, one of whom was contemporary with Abraham (Gen. xii. 15.), and the other with Joseph (Gen. xxxvii. 36.), were both of the Theban or Diospolitan dynasty. In the arrangements of their court we may recognise the style and Egyptian customs which were reestablished after the expulsion of the shepherd kings. In Exod. i. 11. 14. mention is made of the vast structures, in the building of which the Egyptians imbittered the lives of the Israelites with hard bondage; and it was precisely the sovereigns of that dynasty, who distinguished themselves by the erection of gigantic monuments. The granite columns and apartments of the palace at Karnac, several temples in Nubia, the great sphinx of the pyramids, and the colossal obelisk of St. John of Lateran, attest the power of Thoutmosis III. the Moeris of the Greeks. Amenophis II. erected the colossal statue which attracted the superstitious curiosity of the Romans. Ramses (or Rameses) II. caused the superb obelisks at Luxor to be erected. M. Champollion read the names of all these sovereigns on the inscriptions of monuments. The Pharaoh, under whose reign Moses was born, was Ramses IV. surnamed Mei-Amoun, that is, the Friend of Ammon; who left numerous edifices built by the children of Israel, whom he so cruelly oppressed. He caused the vast palace of Medinet-Abou to be erected, as well as the temple situated towards the southern gate of Karnac. The sarcophagus of this monarch is preserved in the Louvre at Paris. This contemporary of Moses must have swayed the Egyptian sceptre more than forty years, since the Hebrew legislator passed forty years at his court, and a long time afterwards, is said (as quoted by Josephus) that this identical Ramses Mei-Amoun that the king of Egypt died. Now, it appears from Manetho reigned sixty-six years and two months. Are not these unexpected agreements between sacred and profane history evident proofs of truth? Who then has falsified the ancient lists of Egyptian dynasties, the lists written on papyrus, and the ruins uttered by a Christian, named Stephen (Acts vii. 18. et seq.,) of Egypt, to make them agree so well with a few sentences and with a few lines written by a Jew named Moses 5 Lastly, the Pharaoh, who witnessed the ten plagues inflicted on the Egyptians, was Ramses V., surnamed Amenophis, the last sovereign of the eighteenth dynasty, and the father of Sesostris. His name is legible on several parts of the palace of Karnac, which was decorated by him. sexes in ancient Egypt are almost always composed of the names 3. M. Champollion has shown that the proper names of both of gods or goddesses. In Gen. xli. 45. we read that Pharaoh gave to Joseph in marriage "the daughter of Potipherah, priest of On." (Potipherah is constantly written Putiphar in the Coptic version of the Scriptures.) On is Heliopolis, the city of the sun, so termed by the Greeks. Petephré, in Egyptian, means that which belongs to ré, or the sun. M. Champollion has demonstrated that shré or ré denotes the sun, in the Egyptian language. Thus the hieroglyphic text completely confirms the book of Genesis.6 4. In 1 Kings xi. 40. we read that Jeroboam arose and fled into Egypt, unto Shishak king of Egypt; and in 1 Kings xiv. 25. and 2 Chron. xii. 2., that, in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. The head or chief of the twenty-second dynasty (the Bubastite) is by Manetho called Sesonschis or Sesonchosis; and on one of the colonnades which decorate the first court of the great temple (or palace, as it has also been called) of Karnac, there are two royal legends or inscriptions, on one of which M. Champollion read, in phonetic (or vocal hieroglyphic) characters, the words,—— Amon-mai-Sheshonk; the well beloved of Amon (or the sun) Sheshonk. If we bear in mind the peculiar genius of the ancient oriental languages, which, neglecting the vowels as least important, adhere only to the skeletons of words, that is to say to the consonants, it is impossible not to be struck with the identity of the Egyptian name Sheshonk with the letters of the Hebrew word p SHISHаK or SHESHаK, and to recognise in him Pharaoh who is named Shishak by the sacred historian. In the same temple or palace, M. Champollion also beheld Sesonchis dragging at the feet of the Theban Trinity (Amon, Mouth, and Kons) the chiefs of more than thirty conquered nations, among whom he found written in letters at full length 1OUDAHMALEK, the king of Judah, or of the Jews. It is further worthy of remark that the dates read by this accomplished antiquary are expressed precisely in the same manner as we read in the Bible; In the fifth year, on the fifth day of the month, &c. This similitude of phraseology is very striking.3 QUERED THEM, AND AFTER THE BATTLE HE TOOK CADYTIS, A LARGE CITY OF SYRIA. And having reigned in the whole sixteen years, he died, and left the throne to his son Psammis.5 The historian, who was better acquainted with Egypt than with Judæa, has here put Magdolus, a city of Lower Egypt, for Megiddo, a city of Judæa, and has further confounded the He. brews with the Syrians. Cadytis is again mentioned by Hero dotus," as "belonging to the Syrians of PALESTINE,” and “as a city not less than Sardes;" so that there is no doubt that he intended Jerusalem. "Here Kaduri is evidently taken from the Syriac Kadutha signifying the Holy,' from the Hebrew p (KаDUSHан), which is found inscribed on ancient Jewish shekels in the Samaritan character; in modern Hebrew characters, thus, nip a obørn (JeRUSALEM HA-KADUSнан), Jerusalem the Holy" the historian affixing a Greek termination, and calling the metropolis of Palestine Cadytis. We now come to the researches of M. Belzoni in the tomb of Psammethis or Psammis, the son of Pharaoh-Necho. 5. Lastly, in 2 Kings xix. 9. and Isa. xxxvii. 9. we read that the king of Assyria heard tidings of Tirhaka, king of Ethiopia; who is most probably the Pharaoh mentioned in Isa. xxxvi. 6. The hieroglyphic name Tarak, the Taracus of the Greeks (the third king of the twenty-fifth dynasty of Manetho, who terms him an Ethiopian), was read by M. Champollion on many monuments; and Mr. Salt, without any intercourse with him, having observed that the Egyptians wrote the names of their Greek sovereigns in hieroglyphic characters, as well as those of the Roman emperors, conceived the ingenious idea of inquiring whether they might not have followed the same practice with regard to the inscriptions of the Ethiopian monarchs who preceded those two dynasties. His researches were crowned with success; and he discovered in phonetic characters the name TIRAKA, in two places on an inscription from behind a small propylæon or portico at Medinet-Abou, and in two other inscriptions from Birkel in Ethiopia. This Tiraka or Tirhaka, therefore, is the king of Ethiopia mentioned in the Scriptures as having come out to fight against Sennacherib king of As-Jews, and might be taken for the portraits of those who, at this syria.1 III. The account of the WAR, CARRIED ON BY PHARACHNECHO AGAINST THE JEWS and Babylonians (which is related in the second book of Chronicles), is confirmed by the testimony of the Greek historian Herodotus, and especially by the recent discoveries of the late enterprising traveller, M. Belzoni, among the tombs of the Egyptian sovereigns. The following is the narrative of the sacred historian, in 2 Chron. xxxv. 20-24. In one of the numerous apartments of this venerable monument of ancient art, there is a sculptured group describing the march of a military and triumphal procession with three different sets of prisoners, who are evidently Jews, Ethiopians, and Persians. The procession begins with four red men with white kirtles followed by a hawk-headed divinity: these are Egyptians apparently released from captivity, and returning home under the protection of the national deity. Then follow four white men in striped and fringed kirtles, with black beards, and with a simple white fillet round their black hair; these are obviously day, walk the streets of London. After them come three white men with smaller beards and curled whiskers, with doublespreading plumes on their heads, tattooed, and wearing robes or mantles spotted like the skins of wild beasts; these are Persians or Chaldæans. Lastly come four negroes with large circular ear-rings, and white petticoats supported by a belt over the shoulder; these are Ethiopians. Among the hieroglyphics cóntained in M. Belzoni's drawings of this tomb, the late Dr. Young, who was pre-eminently distinguished for his successful researches in archæology, succeeded in discovering the names of Psammis, and of Nichao (the Necho Herodotus, lib. ii. c. 159. vol. i. p. 168. edit. Oxon. 1809. Rennell's After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho, king of Egypt, came up to fight against Charchemish, by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him. But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war; for God commanded me to make haste; forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not. Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away, for I am sore wounded. His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. And again in xxxvi. 1-4. Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father's stead in Jerusalem; Jehoahaz was twenty-and-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. And the king of Egypt put him down at Jerusalem, and condemned the land in an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold. And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jeru-nish captivity had made a dispersion of that people over all the East, it salem, and turned his name to Jehoiakim. AND NECHO TOOK JEHOAHAZ HIS BROTHER, AND CARRIED HIM INTO EGYPT. These passages prove the power and conquests of PharaohNecho; and if we turn to Herodotus we shall find a wonderful agreement with many of the particulars. Now Necos was the son of Psammeticus, and reigned over Egypt; it was he who began the canals, &c. and he employed himself in warlike bursuits, building galleys, both on the Mediterranean and on the Red Sea, the traces of his dock-yards still existing; and these he used when he had occasion for them. AND NECOS JOINED BATTLE WITH THE SYRIANS IN MAGDOLUS, AND CON1 M. Champollion has engraved this royal legend in his Précis du Système Hieroglyphique des anciens Egyptiens. Planches, et explication (Paris, 1824. 8vo.), Plate, No. 116, and description, pp. 12, 13. Champollion, Septième Lettre, p. 35. Coquerel, Biographie Sacreé, tom. iv. p. 221. Lettre, p. 30. Rev. Prot. p. 18. Greppo, Essai sur le Systéme Hierolgyphique de M. Champollion le Jeune, pp. 171, 172 Paris, 1929. Salt's Essay on Dr. Young's and M. Champolliou's Phonetic System of Dr. Hale's Sacred Chronology, vol. i. p. 425. (second edition); Bp. Walton's Biblia Polyglotta, tom. i. Apparatus de Siclorum Formis, pp. 36. 38. Dr. Prideaux-having referred to Herodotus's account of Pharaoh-Necho's expedition, and capture of Kaduris, or Cadytis, and also to the historian's concise description of it-says, "By which description this Cadytis tains of Palestine, and there was then no other city in those parts which could be none other than Jerusalein. For that it is situated in the mouncould be equalled to Sardis but that only; and it is certain from Scripture that after this battle Necho did take Jerusalem; for he was there when he made Jehoiakim king. There is, I confess, no mention of this name either in the Scriptures or Josephus. But that it was, however, called so in the time of Herodotus by the Syrians and Arabians, doth appear from this, that it is called by them and all the eastern nations by no other name but one of the same original, and the same signification, even to this day. For Jerusalem is a name now altogether as strange to them as Cadytis is to us. They all call it by the name Al-Kuds, which signifies the same that Cady tis doth, that is, Holy: for from the time that Solomon built the temple at Jerusalem, and it was thereby made to all Israel the common place of their religious worship, this epithet of the Holy was commonly given unto it. And therefore we find it thenceforth called in the sacred writings of the Old (Neh. xi. 1. 18. Isa. xlviii. 2. lii. 1. Dan. ix. 24.); and so also in several Testament Air Hakkodesh, that is, the City of Holiness or the Holy City places of the New Testament. And this same title they give it in their coins. For the inscription of their shekels (many of which are still exgoing current among the neighboring nations, especially after the Babylo tant) was Jerusalem Kedushah, that is, Jerusalem the Holy; and this coin carried this name with them, and they from thence called this city by both names, Jerusalem Kedushah, and at length, for shortness' sake, Kedushah only, and the Syrians (who in their dialect usually turned the Hebrew sh into th) Kedutha. And the Syriac, in the time of Herodotus, being the only language that was then spoken in Palestine (the Hebrew having no more been used there or any where else, as a vulgar language, after the Babylonish captivity), he found it when he travelled through that country to be called there, in the Syriac dialect, Kedutha, from whence, by giving in his history, which he wrote about the time that Nehemiah ended his it a Greek termination, he made it in the Greek language Kaduris or Cadytis twelve years' government at Jerusalem. And for the same reason, that it was called Kedusha or Kedutha in Syria and Palestine, the Arabs in their language called it Bait Almokdes, that is, the Holy Buildings, or the Holy City, and often with another adjective of the same root and the same signification, Bait Alkuds, and at length simply Akuds, that is, the Holy, by which name it is now called by the Turks, Arabs, and all other nations of the Mahometan religion in those parts." (Prideaux's Connection of the History of the Old and New Testament, sub anno 610. vol. i. pp. 80, 81. ninth edition, 1725.) 8 See M. Belzoni's "Narrative of the Operations and recent Discoveries within the Pyramids, Temples, Tombs, and Excavations in Egypt and Nubia," &c. pp. 242, 243. (4to. London, 1820); and also Nos. 4, 5, and 6, of his folio Atlas of Plates illustrative of his Researches. The subjects of these plates were also exhibited in the very interesting model of the Egyptian tomb, exhibited by M. Belzoni, in 1821-22. of the Scriptures and Necos of Herodotus). And M. Cham- | under this character, particularly one, which explicitly states that pollion, jun. who read the name of this prince on several statutes, Julius Cæsar himself bestowed the dignity and privileges of a subsequently ascertained that he was Pharaoh-Necho II. the colony on the city of Philippi, which were afterwards confirmed sixth king of the twenty-sixth dynasty.2 and augmented by Augustus. This medal corroborates the character given to the city by Luke, and proves that it had been a colony for many years, though no author or historian but himself, whose writings have reached us, has mentioned it under that character.? IV. Acts xiii. 7. is confirmed by a coin, proving that the island of Cyprus was at that time under the government of a proconsul. VI. In Acts xvi. 14. we read that Lydia, a dealer in purple from Thyatira, had settled at Philippi. VII. In Acts xvii. 23. Paul tells the Athenians that, as he passed through their city and beheld the objects of their worship, he found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD (AгNNETN OEN). In the passage referred to, the evangelist Luke, relating the transactions of Paul in Cyprus, gives to Sergius Paulus, the Roman governor of that island, the Greek title of Arduraros, which was applied only to those governors of provinces who Now it is remarkable that, among the ruins of Thyatira, there were invested with proconsular dignity. "And on the suppo- is an inscription extant, which was originally made by the corsition that Cyprus was not a province of this description, it has poration of dyers (it concludes with the words O1 BADEIZ,—the been inferred, that the title given to Sergius Paulus in the Acts dyers), in honour of Antonius Claudius Alphenus, a distinof the Apostles was a title that did not properly belong to him.guished man in the reign of Caracalla. Hence we learn that A passage indeed has been quoted from Dion Cassius,3 who, the art and trade of dying purple were carried on in that city. speaking of the governors of Cyprus, and some other Roman provinces, applies to them the same title which is applied to Sergius Paulus. But as Dion Cassius is speaking of several Roman provinces at the same time, one of which was certainly governed by a proconsul, it has been supposed, that for the sake of brevity he used one term for all of them, whether it applied to all of them or not. That Cyprus, however, ought not to be excepted, and that the title which he employed, as well as St. Luke, really did belong to the Roman governors of Cyprus, appears from the inscription on a coin belonging to Cyprus itself, and struck in the very age in which Sergius Paulus was governor of that island. It was struck in the reign of Claudius Cæsar, whose head and name are on the face of it; and in the reign of Claudius Cæsar St. Paul visited Cyprus. It was a coin belonging to the people of that island, as appears from the word KYПIPION on the reverse; and, though not struck while Sergius Paulus himself was governor, it was struck, as appears from the inscription on the reverse, in the time of Proclus, who was next to Sergius Paulus in the government of that island. And on this coin the same title, ANOTПATOZ, is given to Proclus, which is given by St. Luke to Sergius Paulus." That Cyprus was a proconsulate is also evident from an ancient inscription, of Caligula's reign (the predecessor of Claudius), in which Aquilius Scaura is called the proconsul of Cyprus.5 No altar with this inscription has come down to our times; but we know, from the express testimony of Lucian, that there And the occasion of this was such an inscription at Athens. altar being erected, in common with many others bearing the same inscription, is thus related by Diogenes Laertius:-The Athenians, being afflicted with a pestilence, invited Epimenides to lustrate their city. The method adopted by him was, to carry several sheep to the Areopagus; whence they were left to wander as they pleased, under the observation of persons sent to attend them. As each sheep lay down, it was sacrificed on the By this ceremony, it is said, the spot to the propitious God. city was relieved; but, as it was still unknown what deity was propitious, an altar was erected to the unknown God on every spot where a sheep had been sacrificed.? On the architrave of a Doric portico at Athens, which was standing when that city was visited about sixty years since by Dr. Chandler and Mr. Stuart (the latter of whom has given an engraving of the portal), is a Greek inscription to the following purport::-"The people" [of Athens have erected this fabric] "with the donations to Minerva Archegetia" [or the Conductress] by the god Caius Julius Cæsar and his son the god Augustus, when Nicias was archon." V. In Acts xvi. 11, 12. Luke says, "We came..... to" Philippi, which is the chief of that part of Macedonia, and a colony. This passage, which has greatly exercised the ingenuity of critics and commentators, may, more correctly, be thus rendered :-Philippi, a city of the first part of Macedonia, or of Macedonia Prima. This is an instance of minute accuracy, which shows that the author of the Acts of the Apostles actually lived and wrote at that time. The province of Macedonia, it is well known, had undergone various changes, and had been divided into various portions, and particularly four, while under the Roman government. There are extant many medals of the first province, or Macedonia Prima, mostly of silver, with the inscription MAKEAONËN ПРOTн, or, the first part of Macedonia, which confirm the accuracy of Luke, and at the same time show his attention to the minutest particulars. It is further worthy of remark, that the historian terms Philippi a colony. By using the term xxx (which was originally a Latin word, colonia), instead of the corresponding Greek word arra, he plainly intimates that it was a Roman colony, which the twenty-first verse certainly proves it to have been. And though the critics were for a long time puzzled to find any express mention of it as such, yet some coins have been discovered, in which it is recorded 1 See the Atlas of Engravings to Belzoni's travels, plates 1 to 5. p. 13. a Hist. Rom. lib. 54. p. 523. ed. Hanoviæ, 1600. Over the middle of the pediment was a statue of Lucius Caesar, with this inscription :-"The people" [honour] "Lucius Cæsar, the son of the emperor Augustus Cesar, the son of the god." There was also a statue to Julia, the daughter of Augustus, and the mother of Lucius, thus inscribed :-"The Senate of the Areopagus and the Senate of the Six Hundred" [dedicate this statue to] "the goddess Julia, Augusta, Providence." These public memorials supply an additional proof of the correctness of Paul's observations on the Athenians, that they were too much addicted to the adoption of objects for worship and devotion. They were not, indeed, singular in worshipping the reigning emperor; but flattery could not be carried higher than to characterize his descendants as deities, and one of them (who was most infamous for her profligacy) as no less a deity than Providence itself.10 VIII. In Acts xix. 35. the pures, recorder, chanceller, or town-clerk of Ephesus,-in order to quell the tumult which had been raised there by Demetrius and his workmen, who gained their livelihood by making silver shrines or models of the temple of Diana in that city, says to the Ephesians, What man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana? The original word, NE KOPON, is very emphatic, and proBp. Marsh's Lectures, part v. pp. 85, 86. An engraving of the abovenoticed coin may be seen in Havercamp's edition of the Thesaurus Morel-perly signifies a person dedicated to the service of some god or lianus, in the plate belonging to p. 106. Gruteri Corpus Inscriptionum, tom. i. part ii. p. ccclx. no. 3. edit. Grævii. Amst. 1707. Of this medal there are engravings in the fragments annexed to Calmet's Dictionary, no. cclxxiii. plate i. no. 6. and in Taylor's Geographical Index to the Holy Scriptures, article Macedonia, plate no. 7. In no. 8. of the same plate is a medal of the second Macedonia, or Macedonia Secunda. There is no medal published of the third Macedonia, but one of the fourth Macedonia has been engraved by Wielhamer, in his Animadversiones in Nummos, &c. p. 44. no. 11. Vienna, 1738. They have been described by Eckhel (Doctrina Numm. Vet. tom. ii. p. 64), Raschie (Lexicon Rei Nummariæ, tom. iii. col. 39-41.), and Mionnet. (Description de Médailles Antiques, tom. i. pp. 456, 457.) Mr. Combe has described seven of Macedonia Prima in his "Nummorum Veterum Populorum et Urbium qui in Museo Gulielmi Hunter asservantur, Descriptio," p. 179. No coins of Macedonia Tertia have yet been discovered. goddess, whose peculiar office it was to attend the temple and see that it was kept clean; that, at the proper seasons, it was beautified and adorned; and that nothing necessary to the splendour of his or her worship was at any time wanting. Spanheim, De Usu et Præstantia Numismatum, dissert. ii. pp. 105, 106. Fragments to Calmet, no. cclxxiii. plate i. no. 5. Sir George Wheeler has given the entire inscription in his Journey into Greece, book iii. p. 233. (Lond. 1672); and his companion, Dr. Spon, has given the same inscription, illustrated with philological notes, in his Miscellanea Erudite Antiquitatis, pp. 112, 113. Diogenes Laertius, in Epimenide, 1. i. c. 10. § 3. (tom. i. pp. 117-119. ed. Longolii.) 10 Dr. Chandler's Travels in Greece, pp. 101, 105. Taylor's Geographical Index to the Bible, article Athens. gious worship, which is contained in the Old Testament. In Originally, indeed, this word signified nothing more than a | description of certain vessels used by the Jews in their reli sweeper of the temple, and answered nearly to our sacristan, or, perhaps, churchwarden: in process of time the care of the temple was intrusted to this person, and at length the NEKOPOI, or Neokoroi, became persons of great consequence, and were those who offered sacrifices for the life of the emperor. Whole cities took this appellation, and Ephesus had this prerogative above the other cities in Asia Minor; though some of them, as Smyrna, Laodicea, and Pergamus, disputed the primacy with her. There are extant, in various cabinets, numerous medals, in which the appellation of NEOKOPOX is given to the city of Ephesus in particular, with the several inscriptions of EOEXION ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ, Brand ΔΙΣ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ, Γ or ΤΡΙΣ and s or ΤΕΤΡΑKIZ NENKOPAN; intimating that the Ephesians had borne the office of Neōkoroi to the temples erected in honour of the Roman emperors for the first, second, third, and fourth times. Of the medals referred to, a catalogue has been given by M. Rasche, to whose learned work the reader is referred.2 Not to multiply unnecessary examples,-in the valuable cabinet of the British Museum there is a rare bronze medal of the emperor Caracalla, whose head is on the obverse; and on the reverse, of which the following is an accurate representation, the conquered country appears as a desolate female sitting there are four temples; the uppermost of which (on the left It would not have been difficult to adduce numerous addihand) is the the temple of the Ephesian Diana, whose figure ap- tional testimonies from medals and inscriptions, which have pears in the centre. Opposite to it is the temple of Esculapius; been collected and described by various learned modern traand the two other temples, beneath, are those of Geta and Cara-vellers, who have explored Greece and Asia Minor; but the calla. The inscription ПIPOTON ACIAC EDECION A. NEOK. length to which this chapter has already unavoidably extendintimates that the Ephesians, the chief [people or citizens] of ed forbids the production of further evidences of this kind. Asia, had for the fourth time been Ne koroi in honour of those Stronger testimonies than these it is impossible to bring for emperors. Such is the nature of the coincidence furnished by the credibility of any fact recorded in history, even of the imthis medal (even if there were no others extant), that it is suffi-portant transactions which have taken place in our own days cient of itself to establish the authenticity of the work, in which has been a party. Yet, notwithstanding this cloud of witon the continent of Europe, and to which the British nation the coincidence is found. Besides the testimony furnished by this nesses, it has lately been affirmed that the facts related in the medal (which has never before been engraved), there is extant at Ephesus an ancient Greek inscription, on a slab of white marble, Christ was a mythological character, and that the four Gosscriptures of the New Testament never happened; that Jesus which not only confirms the general history related in Acts xix., pels are mere fabrications and romances. With as much truth but even approaches to several sentiments and phrases which occur in that chapter.3 IX. Lastly, the triumphal arch erected at Rome by the senate and Roman people in honour of the emperor Titus, (which structure is still subsisting, though greatly damaged by the ravages of time), is an undeniable evidence to the truth of the historic accounts, which describe the dissolution of the Jewish state and government, and also relate the conquest of Jerusalem. This edifice likewise corroborates the Philip Rubenius has written a learned Diatribe de Urbibus Neocoris, which the reader will find in Grævius's Thesaurus Antiquitatum Romana. rum, tom. xi. pp. 1350-1365. Rasche, Lexicon Rei Nummariæ, vol. ii. columns 650-662. 666-670. a The following is Dr. Chandler's translation of it :-"To the Ephesian Diana. Inasmuch as it is notorious that, not only among the Ephesians, but also every where among the Greek nations, temples are consecrated to her, and sacred portions; and that she is set up, and has an altar dedicated to her, on account of her plain manifestations of herself; and that, besides the greatest token of the veneration paid her, a month is called after her name; by us Artemision, by the Macedonians and other Greek nations, and in their cities, Artemision; in which general assemblies and Hieromenia are celebrated, but not in the holy city, the nurse of its own, the Ephesian goddess: the people of Ephesus deeming it proper, that the whole month called by her name be sacred and set apart to the goddess, have determined by this decree, that the observation of it by them be altered. Therefore it is enacted, that in the whole month Artemision the days be holy, and that nothing be attended to on them, but the yearly feastings, and the Arte-i. misiac Panegyris, and the Hieromenia; the entire month being sacred to the goddess; for, from this improvement in her worship, our city shall receive additional lustre, and be permanent in its prosperity for ever." The person who obtained this decree appointed games for the month, augmented the prizes of the contenders, and erected statues of those who conquered. His name is not preserved, but he was probably a Roman, as his kinsman, who provided this record, was named Lucius Phænius Faustus. The feast of Diana was resorted to yearly by the lonians, with their families. Dr. Chandler's Travels in Asia Minor, p. 134. The original Greek inscription is printed in Dr. C.'s Inscriptiones Antique, p. 13. no. xxxvi. See the Vignettes in Vol. II. Part III. Chap 1. Sect. II. The best engravings of the arch of Titus are to be found in Hadrian Reland's treatise. trajecti, 1716. 8vo. Tolerably well executed copies of Reland's plates may be De Spoliis Templi Hierosolymitani, in Arcu Titiane Romæ conspicuis. Ulseen in Schulze's Compendium Archæologia Hebraicæ, tab. i. ii. iii. p. viii.x. Dresdæ, 1793, 8vo. and also in the Fragments annexed to Calmet's Dictionary, no. cciii. pp. 14-17. The destruction of Jerusalem is also said to be commemorated by an ancient inscription to the honour of Titus, who, by his father's directions and counsels, had subdued the Jewish nation, and destroy ed Jerusalem, which had never been destroyed by any princes or people before. This assertion, however, is contrary to historical truth; for Pompey had conquered the Holy City. The following is the inscription alluded to: IMP. TITO. CÆSARI. DIVI.VESPASIANI. F. VESPASIANO, AUG. PONTIFICI. MAXIMO. QUOD. PRÆCEPTIS. PATRIS. CONSILISQUE. ET. It is, however, proper to remark, that some doubts have been entertained concerning the genuineness of this inscription. The diligent antiquary, Gruter (from whom we have copied it), acknowledges that it is not known where this inscription stood; and that Scaliger is of opinion, that it was the invention of Onufrio Panvinio. See Gruteri Inscriptiones Antiquæ, tom. p. ccxliv. no. 6. and Gronovius's Thesaurus Antiquitatum Romanarum, tom. iii. p. 111. The assertion of the writer above alluded to was taken, without acknowledgment, from Volney, who first made it at the close of his "Ruins of Empires," and who was refuted by the late Rev. Peter Roberts, in a learned volume, entitled "Christianity Vindicated, in a Series of Letters addressed to Mr. Volney, in answer to his Book called 'Ruins."" 8vo. London, 1800. This is only one instance, out of many, that might be adduced, of the total destitution of candour in the opposers of revelation, who continue to re-assert the long-since refuted falsehoods of former infidels, as if they had never before been answered. |