all Miracles to God, and urges his own, both in general and separately, as an absolute and authentic proof, both of the sole divinity of Jehovah, and of his own mission; which he could not justly have done, if his opposers performed miracles, and even the same with his. On the other hand, it has been urged, that Moses describes the works of the magicians in the very same language as he does his own, (Exod. vii. 11, 12. chap. v. 22. chap. viii. 7.) and hence it is concluded, that they were equally miraculous. To this objection it is replied, that it is common to speak of professed Jugglers, as doing what they pretend and appear to do; but that Moses does not affirm that there was a perfect conformity between his works and those of the magicians, but they did _so_, or in like manner, using a word which expresses merely a general similitude; and he expressly refers all they did, or attempted in imitation of himself, not to the invocation of the power of dæmons, or of any superior beings, but to human artifice and imposture. The original words, translated _enchantments_, (Exod. vii. 11, 22. and chap. viii. 7, 18.) import deception and concealment, and ought to have been rendered, _secret slights_ or jugglings. Our learned writer farther shews, that the works performed by the magicians did not exceed the cause, or human artifice, to which they are ascribed. Farmer’s _Diss._ on Miracles, 1771, chap. 3. § 3. chap. 4. § 1. (See MAGII.) MAGI, OR MAGEANS, A title which the ancient Persians gave to their wise men or philosophers. The learned are in great perplexity about the word _magus_, μαγ ος. Plato, Xenophon, Herodotus, Strabo, &c. derive it from the Persian language, in which it signifies a priest, or person appointed to officiate in holy things; as _druid_ among the Gauls; _gymnosophist_ among the Indians; and _Levite_, among the Hebrews. Others derive it from the Greek μεγας, great; which they say, being borrowed of the Greeks, by the Persians, was returned in the form μαγος; but Vossius, with more probability, brings it from the Hebrew ‏הגה‎ _haga_, to meditate; whence ‏מהגים‎, maaghim, in Latin, meditabundi, q. d. people addicted to meditation. Magi, among the Persians, answers to σοφοι, or φιλοσοφοι, among the Greeks; _sapientes_, among the Latins; _druids_, among the Gauls; _gymnosophists_, among the Indians; and _prophets_ or _priests_ among the Egyptians. The ancient _magi_, according to Aristotle and Laertius, were the sole authors and conservators of the Persian philosophy; and the philosophy principally cultivated by them, was theology and politics; they being always esteemed as the interpreters of all law, both divine and human; on which account they were wonderfully revered by the people. Hence, Cicero observes, that none were admitted to the crown of Persia, but such as were well instructed in the discipline of the _magi_; who taught τα βασιλικα, and showed princes how to govern.