"of earlier prophets?" and he afterwards adds that "to the mutilated words of the patriarchal "church, the Greek Philosophers were probably "indebted for those fragments of the patriarchal "creed from which they drew the just notions "which we find scattered in their writings of the "immortality of the soul, a future retribution, the "unity of the Divine substance, and even of the "trinity of persons.

And to no other source can

we refer the expectation that prevailed in the "heathen world at large, of a great personage "to arise in some part of the East for the general "advantage of mankind."

It will be admitted that the very subjects, as to which the learned Bishop conceived that the heathen world must have acquired their knowledge of them, from fragments of true prophecy preserved beyond the pale of the Jewish church, are, in fact, to be found in the book which is now under our consideration.

The simple terms in which the trinity is described, as the "Lord of Spirits, the Elect one, "and the Power that was over the waters on that

day," express most forcibly the meaning of their

author, but it is in vain that we seek to trace in these expressions any resemblance in terms, to those used by the Jewish Prophets, to those of the new Testament, or to the explanations of the early Christian Church; and yet there is no subject with respect to which a similarity of terms would more probably be employed.

Thus also as to the Messiah's coming, we find predicted the synchronism of the day, when "the "elect one shall sit on his throne," with the period at which "those who have been destroyed "in the desert, and who have been devoured by "the fish of the sea and by wild beasts, shall "return and trust in the day of the elect one, "for none shall perish in the presence of the "Lord of Spirits, nor shall any be capable of

"perishing." Enoch ge 40.

Now although this harmonizes most exactly with the recognized predictions of the Apocalypse, yet there is no trace of imitation discoverable; while the general description of the Messiah's coming is such as might easily have been perverted into a mistaken expectation of an immediate and temporal kingdom.

If then, the preservation of prophecy from the earliest times be generally admissible,-and if the subjects of this book are such as a learned writer, who wrote before it was discovered, conjectured would be found in the most ancient Prophecies; we may next enquire whether there are any circumstances from which the probability of the preservation of this particular prophecy may be . inferred, when we take into consideration the situation, and former state, of the country in which it has been found.

And here I must observe that there is no question, whether a prophecy of Enoch ever existed or not, because this is sufficiently proved by the quotation made by St. Jude.

On that passage Cave says," Utcumque fuerit "et undecunque illa habuerit Judas, sufficit nobis a sancto spiritu illa consignata, ut verissima, et in canonicis libris inserta esse."

"The only question therefore is, whether we "have here the prophecy so quoted, or whether "we are to consider its preservation as too im

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'probable to be believed, or its corruptions so

"extensive as to destroy the whole of its authority,

"or finally, whether this quotation has been in"serted in a comparatively modern composition."

If we suppose it to have originated among the later Jews, or to have been preserved only by them in Palestine, or during their dispersion over Asia, and their captivity at Babylon; it certainly appears very improbable that, in that case, the writing should have been lost, or that it should have been preserved in the country which had, of all others, the least communication with Palestine or Egypt.

That it was known, although not generally known among the Jews of earlier times, I do not doubt; nor do I think it improbable that they had a chief share in preserving it: but it may have been preserved by such of the dispersed among the heathen, as had not sufficient access to Grecian literature, to prevent the loss of the book; nor sufficient communication with the learned men who used that language, to impart to them a general knowledge of these or other Hebrew writings.

We know indeed, that in the time of Herodotus, so little was understood of the course of the

Nile, or of the country in which its sources were to be found, that the historian, who was content to acquire information from the Priests of Egypt as to every matter in which they could instruct him, yet went himself to Elephantina in order to acquire some information on this subject.

Whether we look to any earlier or later period, (previous to the second century of the Christian æra), it appears that the chief communications between the two countries were those of hostile aggression or of careful defence; a state of things most opposite to the probable transmission of any documents, such as that of which we are now speaking; for such transmission, requiring some community of religious knowledge, must also require some approach to that similarity of opinion which can only result from unrestrained or constant intercourse.

Supposing indeed the fact, that the book in question were brought in early times, from whatever point it might come, into Ethiopia, it must be admitted that scarcely any other country can be pointed out, which, independent of national circumstances, is from its geographical position,