and, 4. Eber, the fon of Selah:-but Mizraim, the founder of the Egyptian monarchy, was defcended likewife from the fame patriarch in only the fecond generation; viz. 1. Ham, being another fon of Noah; and, 2. Mizraim, the fon of Ham:-nay, even Nimrod, the founder of the Babylonian kingdom in Chaldea, was prior to Eber; for he was defcended likewife from the fame patriarch, in only the third generation; viz. 1. Ham, being the fon of Noah; 2. Cub, the fon of Ham; and, 3. Nimrod, the fon of Cufh: fo that their generations and establishments may be more visibly deduced from the four following Tables, taken from the chronological index to the Holy Bible.

1

* Reifkius, the commentator on Cluver, 404, fays, "Japbetum, Noachi filium, qui primus gentium Græcarum conditor, apud Phoenices, aut Egyptios, ipfis Græcis innotuit, variato paulùm nomine lande, aut mutato:"-but Japheth is allowed by all historians to have peopled Europe, not Africa, in which Egypt is fituate: it feems therefore more probable, that Mizraim, the younger fon of Ham, was the founder of Egypt, and not Japheth; for Ham, and his pofterity, peopled Africa, of which Egypt, or the land of Ham, is a principal part; and Japheth, and his pofterity, peopled Europe; notwithstanding the fimilarity

The countries now, which thefe different defcendents, nations, and people, are faid to have inhabited, and first of all colonized, may be feen in the following Table:

1

Thus have we feen that Eber, from whom the Hebrews are defcended, is almoft 'equal in time, tho' fomething inferior in defcent, to Nimrod, the founder of the Chaldean race; and much inferior to Mizraim, the founder of the Egyptian monarchy: which makes it the more remarkable, that fome editions of the Bible fhould tell us in the chronological dates, placed in their margins, that Nimrod began to exalt himself, circiter, about 2218; which is only one year bcfore the birth of Reu, in 2217; but this is most probably a tranfpofition of the prefs; viz. 2218 instead of 2281, the very year in which Eber, the grandfather of Reu, was born; for it is fcarce poffible to fuppofe, that a perfon of fo haughty and afpiring a difpofition as Nimrod (the third in defcent) is always reprefented, fhould not have given fome earlier proofs of his ambition, than to have deferred the time of his beginning to exalt himself, till Eber (the fourth in defcent) fhould have been 63 years of age.

But the misfortune is, there is but little dependence.to be had in the chronology

-10

of

of events so very remote*: and to convince us ftill farther of the truth of this affertion, we find that Eber was born in the year 2281 before Chrift; but thofe authors tell us, that the kingdom of Egypt was founded by Mizraim in 2188, which is no less than 93 years after the birth of Eber: that date therefore for the foundation of Egypt is very probably wrong; though it is the fame with the date given by Monf. Rollin: for we cannot fuppofe, that Mizraim, the second in defcent, fhould not have been able to have established a kingdom in those early ages of the world, when he had nobody to oppofe him, till Eber, the fourth in descent (or as the index afferts, the fifth in defcent) fhould have been 93 years of age: nay, what is ftill more remarkable is, that the Oxford quarto Bible of 1712, and the Cambridge quarto Bible of 1762, in the chronological index, fhould call Mizraim the grandson of Ham; whereas it ought to have been printed either Mizraim, the fon of Ham; or Mizraim, the grandson of Noah.

The time then for his fettling a colony in Egypt, could not poffibly have been fo late as the year 2188; for that would be only three years before the birth of Serug in 2185, who was the great-great-great grandfon of Arphaxad, the grandfon of Noah; which Arphaxad is in the fame degree of defcent from that patriarch with Mizraim himself; Arphaxad being the fon of Shem, and Mizraim the fon of Ham; that date therefore ought perhaps to have been printed 2288, not 2188; and then the Egyptian monarchy would have been founded by Mizraim about 7 years before Nimrod began to exalt himself, or 41 before he built Babylon; and not 59 years after it, according to their account; particularly when we confider that Mizraim, the founder of Egypt, was uncle to Nimrod, the founder of Babylon; and therefore the nephew can scarce be fuppofed to have established a kingdom 30 years before his uncle, though he might about 41 years

after him.

From the Hebrew, let us now turn our thoughts on the antiquity of the Greek language.

We find by the chronological Tables to the Universal Antient Hiftory, that the Egyptians, about the time of Abraham, colonized Greece, under Egialeus, who founded the kingdom of Sicyon fo early as the year 2079 before Chrift, which is about 83 before the birth of Abraham in 1996; or 159 before his descent into Egypt in 1920 +-and that they fent another colony into Greece, under Inachus,

As the ftudies of Geography and Aftronomy ought to be conjoined; fo ought thofe of History and Chronology to walk hand in hand; for facts without dates are at beft but unedifying inftruction; thus, .for inftance, to tell us that fuch a tranfaction was performed, or that fuch an event happened, without telling us at the fame time the period when it was performed, and the date when it happened, is really giving us but very flender information: it is thro' the want of attending to this ufeful part of writing in our earliest hiftorians, that we find fo great a difference in the account of fubfequent writers; thus fome have affirmed, that an eminent perfon performed fuch an exploit, or invented fuch an art; without telling us the time when, or the place where: others tell us that fuch an event happened, or fuch a battle was fought; without ever mentioning the date of either; and if the dates are mentioned, they fometimes differ fo widely, as to render the truth of thofe events very much fufpected, or the veracity of the authors themselves very much doubted: but by fixing the chronology of any action, and telling us the precife time, when such an event happened, they give as it were a fanction to their narration, and ftamp it with the authority of time.

+ Urbem ipfam Sicyonem Abrahami temporibus conditam narrat hiftoria :-Poftremò; quum variis antè affecti cladibus effent Sicyonii, ipfam urbem terræ motus ad folitudinem et vaftitatem redegit.Bunon in Cluver, 410. This city antiently stood to the Weft of Corinth.

to

to Argos, about the year 1856.-That Ogyges likewife founded Thebes in Baotia, in the year following, viz. 1855-and that a third colony from Egypt, under Cecrops, established the kingdom of Athens in 1582, fome fay 1571; or rather, according to others, 1556 years before Chrift.

It would be impoffible to fay what the Greek language was at thofe early periods; but, whether it was fpoken (it certainly could not be written) with that elegance, purity, and perfection, which is found in the writings of their orators, poets, and hiftorians, after the taking of Troy, may be very easily conjectured and most probably it was not; but this we may without any controverfy be affured of, that at the times of Homer, which was about 1000, or 900 years before Chrift, or 277 after the fiege of Troy, it was then undoubtedly fpoken, and we find it undoubtedly written, or left to be written, by that great poet, with fuch fublimity and elegance, as have rendered his works so justly admired even to this very day.

To convince us then of the great antiquity of the Greek language, let us just take a review of this argument:-Homer is faid to have lived about 1000, or 900 years before Chrift; therefore it can hardly be fuppofed, from what has been here advanced, that the Greek language was then in its infancy; fince his writings are allowed to be the standard of Greek epic poetry: that language then must have subsisted for many centuries, before it could have arrived at that perfection of ftile, that harmony of numbers, and that loftinefs of expreffion, which are to be found in the writings of Homer: two or three centuries only before his own times would carry us up no higher, than the period of those transactions, which are the great fubjects of his Iliad and Odyssey; the taking of Troy, and the adventures of Ulyffes, after that catastrophe; which happened about 277 years before his own birth: but the kingdom of Sicyon had been founded in 2079 before Chrift, which is 895 years before the taking of Troy, or 1172 before Homer; fo that the arrangement of these numbers will appear thus:

From the founding the kingdom of Sicyon, to the fiege of Troy

From the fiege of Troy to the times of Homer
From Homer to the birth of Alexander

From the birth of Alexander to that of Chrift

Bef. Chrift.

895

277

551

356

The year in which Troy was taken

From the founding the kingdom of Sicyon to the birth of Christ
From the birth of Chrift to the present age

Total number of years from Sicyon to the prefent times

years.

So long a period has elapfed, fince Greece was first of all colonized :--now, let any one of our antiquaries, or etymologists, point out to us a period earlier than the taking of Troy, or than even the times of Homer, in which the Celtic, Gaulish, Welsh, Saxon, Teutonic, or Icelandic tongues, were spoken, or written with greater elegance, purity, and perfection, than the Greek was, at either of those early periods: nay, even tho' a manuscript might at any time hereafter be found, 5

written