The Truth of the Christian Religion with Jean Le Clerc's Notes and Additions. Hugo Grotius

Age, famous among the Indians, (g)

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      as Strabo remarks. (a) Mai-<43>monides takes notice, that (b) the History of Adam, of Eve, of the Tree, and of the Serpent, was extant amongst the idolatrous Indians in his Time: And there are many (c) Witnesses in our Age, who testify, that the same is still to be found amongst the Heathen dwelling in Peru, and the Phillippine Islands, People belonging to the same India; the Name of Adam amongst the Brachmans; and that it was reckoned (d) Six Thousand Years since the Creation of the World, by those of Siam. (e) Berosus in his History of Chaldea, Manethos in <44> his of Egypt, Hierom in his of Phoenicia, Hestiaeus, Hecataeus, Hillanicus in theirs of Greece; and Hesiod among the Poets; all assert, that the Lives of those who descended from the first Men, were almost a thousand Years in length; which is the less incredible, because the Historians of many

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      Nations, (particularly (a) Pausanias and (b) Philostratus amongst the Greeks, and (c) Pliny amongst the <45> Romans) relate, that (d) Mens

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      Bodies, upon opening their Sepulchres, were found to be much larger in old time. And (a) Catullus, after many of the <46> Greeks, relates, that divine Visions were made to Men before their great and manifold Crimes did as it were, hinder God and (b) those Spirits that attend him, from holding any Correspondence with Men. We almost every where (c) in the Greek and (d) Latin Historians, meet with the Savage Life of the Giants, mentioned by Moses. And it is very remarkable concerning the Deluge, that the Memory of almost all Nations ends in the History of it, even those Nations which were unknown till our Forefathers discovered them: (e) So that Varro calls all that the unknown Time. <47> And all those

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      Things which we read in the Poets wrapped up in Fables, (a Liberty they allow themselves,) are delivered by the ancient Writers according to Truth and Reality, that is, agreeable to Moses; as you may see in Berosus’s (a) History of Chaldea, (b) Abydenus’s of <48><49> Assyria, (c) who mentions

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      the Dove that was sent out of the Ark; and in Plutarch from the Greeks; (a) and in Lucian, who says, that in Hierapolis of <50> Syria, there

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      was remaining a most antient History of the Ark, and of the preserving a few not only of Mankind, but also of other living Creatures. The same History was extant also in (a) Molo and in (b) Nicolaus Damascenus; which latter names the <51> Ark, which we also find in the History of Deucalion in Apollodorus: And many Spaniards affirm, that in several (c)

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      Parts of America, as Cuba, Mecho acana, Nicaraga, is preserved the Memory of the Deluge, the saving alive of Animals, especially the Raven and Dove; and the Deluge it self in that Part called Golden Castile. (a) That Remark of Pliny’s, that Joppa was built before the Flood, discovers what Part of the Earth Men inhabited before the Flood. The Place where the Ark rested after the Deluge (b) on the Gordyaean Mountains, is evident from the constant Tradition of the Armenians from all past Ages down (c) to this <52> very Day. (d) Japhet, the Father of the Europeans, and from him, Jon, or, as they formerly pronounced it, (e) Javon of the Greeks, and

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      (a) Hammon of the Africans, are Names to be seen in Moses, (b) and Josephus and others observe the like <53> Footsteps in the Names of other Places and Na-<54>tions. And which of the Poets is it, in which we

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      <55><56> do not find mention made of the (a) Attempt to <57> climb

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      the Heavens? (a) Diodorus Siculus, (b) Strabo, (c) <58> Tacitus, (d) Pliny,

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      (a) Solinus speak of the Burning of Sodom. (b) Herodotus, Diodo-<59>rus (c),

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      Strabo (a), Philo Byblius (b), testify the ancient Custom of Circumcision, which is confirmed by those Nations (c) descended from Abraham, not only Hebrews, but also (d) Idumaeans, <60> (e) Ismaelites, (f) and others.

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      The History of <61> Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, agreeable with Moses, (a) was extant of old in (b) Philo Byblius out of Sanchuniathon, in (c) Berosus, (d) Hecataeus, (e) <62> Damascenus, (f) Arta panus, Eupolemus,

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      Demetrius, and partly (a) in the antient Writers of the Orphick Verses; and something of it is still extant in (b) Justin, out of Trogus Pompeius. (c) By almost <63> all which, is related also the History of Moses, and his principal Acts. The Orphick Verses expressly mention (d) his being taken

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      out of the Water, and the two Tables that were given him by God. To these we may add (a) Polemon. (b) And <64> several Things about his coming out of Egypt, from the Egyptian Writers, Manetho, Lysimachus, Chaeremon. Neither can any prudent Man think it at all credible, that Moses, (c) who had so many Enemies, not only of the Egyptians, but also of many other Nations, as the (d) Idumaeans, (e) Arabians, and (f) Phoenicians, would venture to relate any thing concerning the Creation of the World, or the Original of Things, which could be confuted by more antient Writings, or was contradictory to the antient and received Opinions:

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      or that he would relate any thing of Matters in his own Time, that could be confuted by the Testimony of many <65> Persons then alive. (a) Diodorus Siculus, and (b) <66> Strabo, and (c) Pliny, (d) Tacitus, and after them (e) Dionysius Longinus, (concerning Loftiness of Speech) make

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      mention of Moses. (a) Besides the <67> Talmudists, (b) Pliny, and (c) Apuleius, speak of Jamnes and Mambres, who resisted Moses in Egypt. (d) Some things there are in other Writers, and many things amongst the (e)

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      Pythagoreans, <68> about the Law and Rites given by Moses, (a) Strabo and Justin, out of Trogus, remarkably testify concerning the Religion and Righteousness of the ancient Jews: So that there seems to be no need of mentioning what is found, or has formerly been found, of Joshua and others, agreeable to the Hebrew Books; seeing that whoever gives Credit to Moses (which it is a Shame for any one to refuse) cannot but believe those famous Miracles done by the Hand of God; which is the principal Thing here aimed at. Now that the Miracles of later Date, such as those of (b) Elijah, Elishah and others, should not be Counterfeit, there is this further Argument; that in those Times Judaea was become more known, and because of the Difference of Religion, was hated by the Neighbours, who could very easily confute