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    ( Concluded from p . 506 . ) 6 . It is to be lamented that , in the prosecution of our inquiry into the authenticity and credibility of the prophetical books of the Old Testament , so little information can be collected from works published before the translation of those books into the Greek language : but this circumstance can

    scarcely excite our surprise , if we consider how imperfectly acquainted Heathen writers were with the history of the Jewish nation prior to the time of Christ . Josephus , in the first book of his Treatise against Apion , has some judicious remarks upon this subject , in which he proves the superior accuracy of the Jewish historians in every thing relating to the affairs of the Jewish nation , and of the Eastern world generally . The ignorance of Heathen writers , indeed , is never more conspicuous than when they are

    led incidentally to advert to circumstances which occurred in Judea before the events which led to the last Jewish war . With just as much reason , however , might it be contended that the historical books of the Old Testament are undeserving of credit , because many of the accounts contained in them are not corroborated by the testimony of Heathen historians , as that the book ? of the prophets are spurious productions , because they appear to have been but little known to the earlier Greek writers . The silence of

    these writers is mainly attributable to the absence of all direct intercourse between the inhabitants of Greece and those of Palestine . Had the Jews been a maritime people , like the Egyptians and Phenicians , the case might have been different ; but obstacles were intentionally thrown in the way of foreign commerce by the Mosaic institutions , and it was the regular if not the invariable policy of the Jewish rulers to prevent rather than encourage intercourse with foreign nations . * There were , however , many Greek

    works existing in the time of Josephus , and probably some centuries later , in which distinct mention was made of the Jews , but few of these have descended to our own times . Among other writers Josephus enumerates Clearchus , a celebrated pupil of Aristotle , who introduces an account of the Jews into his treatise , " De Somno , " and Hecataeus of Abdera , who published a separate work concerning them . He likewise mentions Agatharcides , Theophilus , Theodotus , Mnaseas , Aristophanes , Hermogenes ,

    Euhemerus , Conon and Zopyrion , as having made occasional allusions to the history and customs of the Jews ; but observes , that their information is not always to be strictly depended upon , because they had no means of obtaining access to the books of the Jewish people . He adds , however , that Demetrius Phalereus , and the elder Philo , together with Eupolemus , have not greatly deviated from the truth in their description of circumstances connected with

    the Jewish history , and that the errors into which they have fallen must be placed to the account of ignorance rather than intentional misrepresention f Alexander Polyhistor , who is placed by Priestley and Lempriere in the year 88 B . C , relates , according to Eusebius , J " that Nebuchadnezzar , king of the Babylonians , having been made acquainted with Jeremiah ' s prophecy concerning the destruction of Jerusalem , entreated Astibares , king of the

    * Joseph . Contra A p . Lib . i . C . xii . ; Michaelta ' s Commentaries on the Mosaic Law , Vol . I . Book ii . Chap . v . Art . 37—39 . f Contra Ap . Lib . i . C . xxiii . I Prepaiatio Kvangelica , Lib . ix . C . xxxix .

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    CANONICAL AUTHORITY OF THE BOOKS OF THE PROPHETS .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1827, page 657, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1800/page/25/