before Christ, and taught that God as Creator organized or fashioned the world out of matter that had existed from eternity. From the advanced spiritual conception concerning God, it has been questioned whether this knowledge did not spring from contact with the Hebrew slaves that had been sold by the Phoenicians into Greece.

In view of the facts above stated-the geographical position; the conviction that the underlying principles of their law were eternal; the prevailing testimony as to the influence of such knowledge upon outside peoples-we may well turn to the testimonies of experts in their judg ment touching the influence of the Hebrew upon the Grecian law.

Grotius, that prodigy of learning in the seventeenth century, founder of the system of International Law, says: "The most ancient Attic laws, whence in after times the Roman were derived, owe their origin to Moses' laws."

The same great authority in his treatise on War and Peace expresses again his opinion: "Who may not believe, that, seeing the law of Moses had such an express image of the divine will, the nations did well in taking their laws thence? Which that the Grecians did, especially the Attics, is credible.

Whence the Attic laws and the Roman twelve tables, which sprang thence, bear so much similitude with the Hebrew laws."

Sir Matthew Hale, in his history of English Common Law, declares: "Among the Grecians, the laws of descent resemble those of the Jews." The same great authority thus speaks concerning the antiquity of Moses' writings: "Many millions of books that have been written since Moses' time have been lost. Much more those books which were written antecedent to Moses' time; and the truth is, that the preservation of the books of Moses entire unto this day, when so many of a far later date are lost, is to be attributed to the special providence of Almighty God."

Schlegel, in his "History of Literature," thus voices his careful conviction: "The Mosaic writings possess this advantage over all other Oriental works; they alone present to our view the wellhead of truth in its original purity and clearness."

This same authority furthermore says: "This account of Moses is so confirmed to us by all the monuments and testimonies of antiquity to which we have access, is so extended and strengthened by every inquiry which we pursue, that it is well entitled to be viewed as the foundation of all

historical truth. The two component parts of our revelation, the Mosaic and the Christian, form in different ways the two central points of the history of the human race. Christianity gave to the whole civilized world of the Romans a new creed, new manners and new laws. The Mosaic remains on the other hand can alone enable us to occupy the right position from which all other wisdom of the Eastern nations should be surveyed." Secondly the influence of the Grecian laws upon the Roman. To discuss this point at length or with any special minuteness, seems hardly necessary, especially when we recall the similarity of the two literatures in their general themes. Grecian thought is easily discerned in the most finished writers of the Roman period. If as regards mythology, philosophy and fiction, there can be no dispute as to this statement, then surely there will be no doubt as to the influence of the legislation of the Grecian Republic upon that of the great empire that succeeded it in power.

Cicero declares that the "Twelve Tables were borrowed from the legislation of Greece. Gibbon, in his monumental history, quotes the statements of Livy and Dionysius, that the deputies of Rome visited Athens in the administration of Pericles;

and that the laws of Solon were incorporated into the Twelve Tables. Notwithstanding the historian's doubts upon this point, he yet acknowledges a casual resemblance in principle, while he refers to proofs that some of the principles of the tenth table agree with Moses and Solon.

Thirdly from the relations of the Hebrew and Grecian codes, and their reputed influence upon the Roman laws, we naturally turn to the Roman code in its relation to the common law of the present time. One of the grandest monuments of the power of the human intellect was given in the Roman Law. Its growth, with all its imperfections, has been like that of an oak that knows no decay. It was worthy the careful research of Gibbon in his justly celebrated forty-fourth chapter. Its inconsistencies only serve to magnify the inherent strength that has held it up in view of the centuries. In the habits and thoughts of men truth and error have always clashed, the power of the one being always tested in its elimination of the other. To illustrate the belief in witchcraft crept into the code through the Pagan superstition of the Lombards, but it was not eradicated from the law until the eighteenth century; the law at length purifying itself from excrescences.

In considering the sources of the Roman code, we are not to forget that other influences than Hebrew and Grecian were at work in its formation. The Star of Bethlehem shone upon the Roman fields. The world's Christ paid tribute to Cæsar. The Roman Governor affixed his seal to the tomb of Him who had been crucified. In the Epistle to the Romans, Paul says: "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation."

Is it possible that this uplifting agency would have left no impressions upon the life and customs of the Empire? In this respect, history has

Roman law carries

no uncertain evidence to give. with itself statutes coined from this new power that was turning the world upside down. We briefly note the reasons for such a change, as shown in the growth of the famous Code.

For centuries the Twelve Tables were compelled to bear the weight of new statutes enacted by senates and kings until three thousand brass plates containing these decrees were deposited in the capitol. Kings, calling themselves amenable to no superior tribunal, enacted decrees for the empire. This incoherent mass of materials early demanded and received codification under three