364 
I say we may fairly expect, since we find acceptable and 
accepted worshippers of God from the days of Abel downwards, 
through the line of Enoch and Noah, and not ceasing till, in the 
time of Abraham, when already some XII. or XIII. Dynas- 
ties had reigned over Egypt, we read of Melchizedek, King of 
Salem, Priest of the Most High God, El Elioun ; of which 
title of the Supreme we find the reminiscence in the work of 
the Phenician Sanchoniatho,* * * § 
HXtovv Ka\ovfj,evoc"Y\pi<yTOQ, 
mixed up by this author with many fables, but the Elioun of 
Melchizedek seems truly to have been the Most High ! 
There is nothing in the Bible to lead to the conclusion that 
these accepted worshippers were gathered together in a church 
capacity. Indeed, it is very evident that this was not the case 
in reference to Abraham and Melchizedek. The father of the 
faithful and the King of Salem do not appear to have met 
each other on more than one occasion, and the priesthood of 
the latter must have been exercised in a nation akin to the 
Egyptians.f 
Whilst so much of light and truth lingered amougst the 
Amorites, were the Egyptians during the long period of 
XII. Dynasties, computed at 2,000 years, altogether devoid of 
such a blessing ? It is hard to think so. 
Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? And will it 
not appear that He left not Himself without a chain of wit- 
nesses throughout the period, be it longer or shorter, already 
referred to ? 
Early Witness to the Truth and Early Idolatry. 
Dr. Chwolson has gathered together a number of interesting 
quotations from Eastern writers, to which it may be difficult to 
assign any reliable historical authority ; but as far as I can see, 
allusions to the contest between the true religious worshippers 
who rested on the traditional foundation (angeborne Anlage)\ 
of a faith derived through Noah from the earliest times, and 
those who boasted themselves as free-thinkers, is probable 
enough. These latter said that their doctrine ( Ssabismus ) 
consisted in freedom from the fetters of men (in dem Freisein 
von der Fessel der Menschen ) , § and yet they accepted the au- 
* Cory, Ancient Fragments , p. 8. 
t Isiris and Canaan were “ brothers ” (sec above). 
+ Dr. D. Chwolson, Die Ssabier und der Ssabismus , vol. ii.pp. 419, 420. 
Petersburgh, 1856. 
§ Unsrc Lchrc ist das eigne Vcrdienst. 
