"dued by the Ifraelites, who had been fo long "flaves to the Egyptians." Allow me to make, as I go along, a fhort reflection or two on this prophecy, and the completion of it, as they ftand recorded in the Pentateuch, out of many that might be made. The terms of the prophecy then are not very clear and the curfe pronounced in it contradicts all our notions of order and of juftice. One is tempted to think, that the patriarch was ftill drunk; and that no man in his fenfes could hold fush language, or pafs such a sentence. Certain it is, that no writer but a Jew could impute to the economy of divine providence the accomplishment of fuch a prediction, nor make the Supreme Being the executor of fuch a curfe. : Ham alone offended, Chanaan was innocent; for the Hebrew and other doctors who would make the fon an accomplice with his father, affirm not only without, but against, the exprefs authority of the text: Chanaan was however alone curfed and he became, according to his grandfather's prophecy, a fervant of fervants," that is, the vileft and the worst of flaves (for I take thefe words in a fenfe, if not the most natural, the moft favourable to the prophecy, and the leaft abfurd) to Shem, though not to Japhet, when the Ifraelites conquered Paleftine; to one of his uncles, not to his brethren. Will it be faid-it has been faidthat where we read Chanaan, we are to understand Ham, whofe brethren Shem and Japhet were? At this rate, we fhall never know what we read: as these critics never care what they fay. Will it be faid this has been faid too that Ham was punifhed in his pofterity, when Chanaan was curfed, and. his defcendants, werd exterminated? But who does. not fee that the curfe, and the punishment, in this cafe, fell on Chanaan and his pofterity, exclufively of the reft of the pofterity of Ham; and were therefore the curfe and punishment of the fon, not of the father, properly: The defcendants of Mefraim, another of his fons, were the Egyptians: and they. were fo far from being fervants of fervants to their coufins the Shemites, that thefe were fervants of fervants to them, during more than fourfcore years. Why the posterity of Chanaan, was to be deemed an accurfed race, it is eafy to account; and I have mentioned it juft now. But it is not fo easy to account, why the pofterity of the righteous Shem, that great example of filial reverence, became flaves to another branch of the family of Ham.. It would not be worth while to lengthen this tedious letter, by fetting down any more of the contents of the hiftory of the Bible. Your Lordship may please to call the fubftance of it to your mind, and your native candour and love of truth, will ob. lige you then to confefs, that thefe facred books do not aim, in any part of them, at any thing like univerfal chronology and hiftory. They contain a very imperfect account of the Ifraelites themfelves; of their fettlement in the land of promife, of which, by the way, they never had entire, and scarce ever peaceable poffeffion; of their divifions, apoftafies, repentances, relapfes, triumphs, and defeats, under the occafional government of their judges, and under that of their kings; of the Galilean and Samaritan captivities, into which they were carried by the the kings of Affyria, and of that which was brought on the remnant of this people when the kingdom of Judah was deftroyed by thofe princes who governed the empire founded on the union of Nineveh and Babylon. These things are all related, your Lordship knows, in a very fummary and con-. fufed manner: and we learn fo little of other nations, by these accounts, that if we did not borrow fome light from the traditions of other nations, we fhould fcarce underftand them. One par ticular obfervation, and but one, I will make, to fhew what knowledge in the hiftory of mankind,, and in the computation of time, may be expected from these books. The Affyrians were their neighbours, powerful neighbours, with whom they had much and long to do. Of this empire therefore, if of any thing, we may hope to find fome fatisfactory accounts. What do we find? The Scripture takes no notice of any Affyrian kingdom, till just before the time when profane history makes that empire to end. Then we hear of Phul, of Teglath-Phalaffer, who was perhaps the fame perfon, and of Salmana fer, who took Samaria in the twelfth of the æra of Nabonaffer, that is, twelve years after the Affyrian empire was no more. Senacherib fucceeds to him, and Afferhaddon to Senacherib. What fhall we fay to this apparent contrariety? If the filence of the Bible creates a ftrong prefumption against the firft, may not the filence of profane authority create some against the second Affyrian monarchs? The pains. that are taken to persuade, that there is room enough between Sardanapalus and Cyrus for the second, will not refolve the difficulty. Something much more more plaufible may be faid, but even this will be hypothetical, and liable to great contradiction. So that, upon the whole matter, the Scriptures are fo far from giving us light into general hiftory, that they increase the obfcurity even of thofe parts to which they have the nearest relation. We have therefore neither in profane nor in facred authours fuch authentic, clear, diftinct, and full accounts of the originals of ancient nations, and of the great events of thofe ages that are commonly called the first ages, as deferve to go by the name of history, or as afford fufficient materials for chronology and: history. I might now proceed to obferve to your Lordship how this has happened, not only by the necessary confequences of human nature, and the ordinary courfe of human affairs, but by the policy, artifice, corruption, and folly of mankind. But this would be to heap digreffion upon digreffion, and to prefume too much on your patience. I shall therefore content myself to apply these reflections on the state of ancient history to the study of history, and to the method to be obferved in it; as foon as your Lordship has rested yourself a little after reading, and I after writing fo long a letter. LETTER LETTER IV. I. That there is in history fufficient authenticity to render it ufeful, notwithstanding all objections to the contrary. II. Of the method and due reftrictions to be observed in the fludy of it. WE HETHER the letter I now begin to write will be long or fhort, I know not but I find my memory is refreshed, my imagination warmed, and matter flows in fo faft upon me, that I have not time to press it clofe. Since therefore you have provoked me to write, you must be content to take what follows. I have obferved already that we are apt naturally to apply to ourselves what has happened to other men, and that examples take their force from hence as well thofe which history, as thofe which experience, offers to our reflection. What we do not. believe to have happened therefore, we shall not thus apply and for want of the fame application, fuch examples will not have the fame effect. An-, tient history, fuch ancient hiftory as I have described, is quite unfit therefore in this refpect to answer the ends that every reasonable man fhould propofe to himfelf in this ftudy; becaufe fuch antient hiftory will never gain fufficient credit with any reasonable man. A tale well told, or a comedy or a tragedy well wrought up, may have a momentary effect upon the mind, by heating the imagination, furprizing |