Tacitus, Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, Herschel, &c. without calling up feelings of affection and regard towards the nations that gave them birth; but the names of the sages of our nation, who were once justly styled, by common consent, Sapientissimi,' are passed over in silence; they are never thought of; very few think it worth their while to explore their invaluable writings, having imbibed the idea that all Jewish productions, without exception, are full of absurdities." The Israelite would say, "Why do you blend the name Jew with the idea of Judaism, (as for this reason you despise our literature,) which is not the case with any individual of any other nation? Socrates, by universal consent, wears the crown of reputation for wisdom, more than any other ancient philosopher; yet his degraded state of mind, as far as religion was concerned, as proved by his sacrificing a cock to Esculapius, at the last hour of his life, is not taken into consideration to counterbalance his subtle disputations, profound inquiries, acute reasonings, and admirable discoveries."

"Had but Christian students," the Israelite would say, "paid more attention to Jewish literature, their illusion would have been soon dissipated; they would have found that the Jews have a remarkable love for the pursuit of learning, or, using the words of a Christian Doctor of Divinity, (who spent 22 years amongst Jews, and in the study of their literature,) that they are 'Acute, disputatious, with a profound love of learning, and an uncontrolable energy in the pursuit of knowledge. Such is their general character."* Had but the literature of my nation been as much studied as that of the Gentile nations, many more illustrious Hebrews would enjoy universal renown, which ought to be their portion in common with the sages of all other nations; and the mention of their names would likewise excite nothing but feelings of love and respect for the nation that gave them birth.”

* See Dr. M'Caul's "Sketches of Judaism and the Jews," page 3.

"Had Greece produced not only her own statesmen, orators, philosophers, and poets, but those of all other nations put together, what had even such a concentration of genius and learning been compared with the productions of our nation? Many of our nation," the Jew would say, "were fathers in literature before any of the present nations, especially those of Europe, had their existence. Mr. James Finn, who is himself a Christian, observes in his 'Sephardim*: 'To estimate their value in this respect, we must travel back, by an astounding climax, through the Gemara and Mishnah, the Hellenic Jewish writings of Josephus, Philo, the New Testament, the Septuagint, and the Maccabees: through the minor prophets to Nehemiah, who wrote 140 years before Xenophon; to Isaiah, 700 years before Virgil; to Proverbs and Psalms, 1040 years before Horace; to Ruth, 1030 years previous to Theocritus; and to Moses, above 1000 years the predecessor of Herodotus.'

"And the Israelites were alone in the popular diffusion of elementary literature. Before even entering the promised land, at a time when some would persuade us they were a wild horde of degraded and fugitive slaves, their legislator could address them in this manner: "These words which I command thee this day......thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes, and thou shalt write them upon the posts of thine house, and upon thy gates......and when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, what mean the testimonies, &c. It was long before a Greek lawgiver could have proclaimed such an ordinance with any chance of being obeyed by the whole congregation.' But, alas! no nation was ever more despised, scorned, and cruelly and universally insulted and persecuted than ours. With the aid of several celebrated Rabbies, we can trace

* A very able work, full of important information. The Author has availed himself of Mr. Finn's extensive research.

Hebrew literature to Shem, Noah's son, who, according to them, was head of an academy which he erected on Mount Tabor, in which he taught theology, jurisprudence, and astronomy, and to which his grandson, Eber, succeeded him." Josephus bears testimony to this statement, for he says: "God afforded them [the patriarchs] a longer time of life on account of their virtue, and the good use they made of it in astronomical and geometrical discoveries, which would not have afforded them the time of foretelling the periods of the stars, unless they had lived six hundred years; for the great year is completed in that interval."* Cassini remarks on the above quotation: "This period, whereof we find no intimation in any monument by any other nation, is the finest period that ever was invented; for it brings out the solar year more exactly than that of Hipparchus and Ptolemy, and the lunar year within about one second of what is determined by modern astronomers. If the ante-deluvians had such a period of six hundred years, they must have known the motions of the sun and moon more exactly than their descendants knew them some ages after the flood." (Enc. Britannica.) Scipio Sgambati, in his work entitled "Archivorum Veteris Testamenti, seu de Scriptoribus Hebraicis," asserts that "Shem was the author of a treatise on medicine, of which a manuscript in Hebrew was preserved in the library of the then (1600) Elector of Bavaria. Though no enlightened Jew would demand implicit faith in such an assertion, yet it would corroborate his argument, that the idea of Shem being at the head of an academy would not have been incredible to the ancients." The Jew would also be able to prove to his companions that our patriarch Abraham was one of his disciples, and the ceremonies

* See Jos. Ant. lib. 1, 3, 7. Doubtless Josephus and his contemporary astronomers had a fair knowledge of the solar system, but we have no right to say that the people at large had the same knowledge, for the tenor of Scripture would prove the contrary.

which he observed at his sacrifices had been communicated to him by Shem and Heber, his tutors. In proof of his assertion he would quote Josephus, who, in his "Antiquities of the Jews," lib. 1, cap. 6, informs us that the Jews were originally called Hebrews from Heber, and this derivation is decidedly the most correct one, though some of the moderns displayed great reasoning powers to prove that they were called Hebrews because of their progenitor Abraham, who passed over* the Euphrates, for Shem is also called "the father of all the children of Eber, or of all the Hebrews," (Gen. 10. 21,) long before Abraham passed the Euphrates, just as the disciples of the prophets were called "sons of the prophets." It is more than probable, therefore, that Abraham was the first that was called Hebrew, because he was a disciple of Heber, and was very zealous in promulgating the learning he obtained from him; as the zealous followers of Plato are called Platonists, of Aristotle, Aristotelians, &c.

The frequent communication which Noah had with God, and the age that he attained, doubtless were conducive to his obtaining a thorough knowledge of true philosophy and science, which he communicated to Shem, and Shem to Heber. Of the last frequent mention is made. The Arabs call him "Hud," and venerate him as a prophet. We find in the Alcoran a whole chapter devoted to a sermon addressed by the prophet Hud to the nations, in which it is said that the chief occupation of this patriarch was to promote religious truths. Abraham having been instructed by him was, therefore, the first who was emphatically called "y"the Hebrew," or disciple of Heber. It is true the Septuagint renders y or Hebrew, repárns passenger; but the Jew, who is well acquainted with its merits, will be able to produce many instances where the translators mistook a Hebrew appelative for a proper name.

* Some derive Hebrew from the verb Abar, to pass over.

The Jew would also easily demonstrate to his companions, that our patriarch Abraham was the principal teacher, both in religious truths and secular learning, and that he had many disciples. It would be worth while noticing here Ben Zimra's remarks on the words, "And the souls that they had gotten [Heb. made] in Haran." (Gen. 12. 5.) In B'raishith Rabbah, ch. 39, we find the following: "Rabbi Eleazar-ben-Zimra saith, If all those who have ever existed in this world, were assembled to create even a fly, they could not bestow life on it; and the Scripture speaks of making souls! But these are the converts whom they reclaimed; and the word "made," is used to wy teach us, that whosoever reclaims a soul from idolatry, to the worship of God, is as he had created him anew." Josephus, by a reference to other historians, corroborates this statement. In his "Antiquities," lib. 7. 2, we find the following: "Berosus mentions our father Abraham without naming him when he says thus: 'In the tenth generation after the flood, there was among the Chaldeans a man righteous, and great, and skilful, in the celestial science.' But Hactæus does not more than barely mention him; for he composed and left behind him a book concerning him. And Nicolaus of Damascus, in the fourth book of his history, says thus: 'Abram reigned at Damascus, being a foreigner, who came with an army above Babylon, called the land of the Chaldeans. But after a long time he got him up, and removed from that country also with his people, and went into the land then called the land of Canaan, but now the land of Judea."" In ch. 8. 2, of the same book, we find the following: "He [i.e. Abraham] communicated to them [i.e. Egyptians] arithmetic, and delivered to them the science of astronomy; for, before Abram came into Egypt, they were unacquainted with those parts of learning; for that science came from the Chaldeans into Egypt, and from thence to the Greeks also."