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HISTORY OF THE JEWS.

BOOK I.

THE PATRIARCHAL AGE.

Prefatory Remarks-Life of Abraham Isaac-Jacob-Progress of Civilization-Observations on the Patriarchal History.

THE Jews, without reference to their religious belief, are among the most remarkable people in the annals of mankind. Sprung from one stock, they pass the infancy of their nation in a state of servitude in a foreign country, where, nevertheless, they increase so rapidly, as to appear on a sudden the fierce and irresistible conquerors of their native valleys in Palestine. There they settle down under a form of government and code of laws totally unlike those of any other rude or civilized community. They sustain a long and doubtful conflict, sometimes enslaved, sometimes victorious, with the neighbouring tribes. At length, united under one monarchy, they gradually rise to the rank of a Dowerful, opulent, and commercial people. Subsequently weakened by internal discord, they are overwhelmed by the vast monarchies which arose on the banks of the Euphrates, and transplanted into a foreign region. They are partially restored, by the generosity or policy of the Eastern sovereigns, to their native land. They are engaged in wars of the most romantic gallantry, in assertion of their independence, against the Syro-Grecian successors of Alexander. Under Herod, they rise to a second era of splendour, as a dependant kingdom

of Rome: finally, they make the last desperate re sistance to the universal dominion of the Cæsars. Scattered from that period over the face of the earth -hated, scorned, and oppressed, they subsist, a numerous and often a thriving people; and in all the changes of manners and opinions retain their ancient institutions, their national character, and their indelible hope of restoration to grandeur and happiness in their native land. Thus the history of this, perhaps the only unmingled race, which can boast of high antiquity, leads us through every gradation of society, and brings us into contact with almost every nation which commands our interest in the ancient world; the migratory pastoral population of Asia; Egypt, the mysterious parent of arts, science, and legislation; the Arabian Desert; the Hebrew theocracy under the form of a federative agricultural republic, their kingdom powerful in war and splendid in peace; Babylon, in its magnificence and downfall; Grecian arts and luxury endeavouring to force an unnatural refinement within the pale of the rigid Mosaic institutions; Roman arms waging an exterminating war with the independence even of the smallest states; it descends, at length, to all the changes in the social state of the modern European and Asiatic nations.

The religious history of this people is no less singular. In the narrow slip of land inhabited by their tribes the worship of one Almighty Creator of the Universe subsisted, as in its only sanctuary. In every stage of society, under the pastoral tent of Abraham, and in the sumptuous temple of Solomon, the same creed maintains its inviolable simplicity. During their long intercourse with foreign nations in Egypt and Babylon, though the primitive habits and character of the Hebrew nation were greatly modified, and perhaps some theological notions engrafted on their original tenets, this primary distinction still remains; after several periods of almost

ABRAHAM.

total apostacy, it revives in all its vigour. Nor is this merely a sublime speculative tenet, it is the basis of their civil constitution, and their national character. As there is but one Almighty God, so there is but one people under his especial protection, the descendants of Abraham. Hence their civil

Their

and religious history is inseparable. The God of the chosen people is their temporal as well as spiritual sovereign; he is not merely their legislator, but also the administrator of their laws. land is his gift, held from him, as from a feudal liege-lord, on certain conditions. He is their leader in war, their counsellor in peace. Their happiness or adversity, national as well as individual, depends solely and immediately on their maintenance or neglect of the divine institutions. Such was the common popular religion of the Jews, as it appears in all their records, in their law, their history, their poetry, and their moral philosophy. Hence, to the mere speculative inquirer, the study of the human race presents no phenomenon so singular as the character of this extraordinary people; to the Christian, no chapter in the history of mankind can be more instructive or important, than that which contains the rise, progress, and downfall of his religious ancestors.

Abraham, the Father of the Faithful, holds an eminent place in all oriental tradition, not only among the Jews, but likewise among the Persians, Arabians, and perhaps the Indians. It is difficult to say how far these legends may have been propagated by the Mahometan conquests, for our knowledge of the history and literature of Eastern nations, anterior to the Hegira, is still limited and unsatis factory. The Arabian accounts of Abraham, adopted into the Koran, are no doubt much older than Mahomet; but whether they were primitive traditions, or embellishments of their authentic history, originating among the Jews themselves, is a

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