so that many, perhaps most of them, remained behind. They had a ruler and magistrates from their own number, with power to judge and punish, as appears from the apocryphal history of Susanna. Those who returned to their own land were governed by Zerubbabel or Sheshbazzar, and Joshua the high-priest, (Ezra ii. 8. and iv. 3; Hag. ii. 4, and Zech. iii. 8, and iv. 6,) and afterwards by Ezra and Nehemiah, whose proceedings are particularly recorded. With their histories, the Old Testament closes, giving indications which confirm the accounts of uninspired writers, that the Jews were subject to the Roman government, as well as to the earlier monarchs of Persia and Syria. The high-priests exercised the authority, both civil and ecclesiastical, assisted by the council of the Sanhedrim, whose power was increased and established, so that the government was in fact an oligarchy, being vested in a few chief leaders. The oppressions of the Syrian rulers led to attempts at self-defence, and the rising of the Maccabees, after three hundred years had passed, who, in some respects, imitated the proceedings of the judges of old. That house governed for one hundred and twenty-six years, until the dispute between Hyrcanus and his brother Aristobulus, led to the subjugation of Judæa under the power of the Romans, who continued Hyrcanus in his office as high-priest, but gave the government to Antipater, an Idumæan proselyte. He was succeeded by his son Herod, in whose family the chief power remained until it was taken from them and given to a Roman deputy. The true Shiloh, the Prince of Peace, even the Lord Jesus Christ, had now come, and the sceptre was departed from Judah. Even this slight reference to the history of preceding times will show that the faith of true believers among the Jews in all ages, had respect to the promised Messiah, the only Mediator between God and man. "E'en they who dragg'd to Shinar's fiery sand, Till'd with reluctant strength the stranger's land; This nerv'd the warrior's heart, this steel'd the martyr's soul." Such has not been the case with their descendants in later ages, during the centuries that have elapsed since the Ro mans destroyed their city, A.D. 70. Time would fail to tell the ridiculous and blasphemous legends which have gained credence among the Rabbinical Jews, and which describe the Almighty God as existing in a human form ;as playing with the leviathan; as daily occupied in studying the law; in administering justice, and providing food for mankind, according to certain fixed rules; as weeping, groaning, and roaring, interpreting literally the figurative style of prophecy; and taking little or no care of the Gentile world. All these wrong notions may be fitly summed up in one sentence of the Psalmist, "Thou thoughest that I was altogether such an one as thyself, but I will reprove thee." The false and wicked traditions of the rabbins respecting the history of our blessed Redeemer are best suppressed. The Jewish views as to a future state are also gross and sensual, and closely allied to the fables of Mohammedanism, rather than to the representations of Scripture; Psa. xvii. 15; xlix. 15; Isa. xxxiii. 17-24. The Roman government was in many respects oppressive to the Jewish nation, but it was their own continued obstinacy and wilful rejection of Christ and his salvation which hastened their destruction. Being now left to themselves, they became a prey to the sinful dissensions and excesses which ended in the ruin of their city and temple, A.D. 70. After the destruction of Jerusalem, the Sanhedrim, or Jewish council, continued to exist. It was settled at Tiberias, and governed the people by its influence, drawing still closer the bondage of traditional observances which took the place of the temple worship and sacrifices, the chief rabbi ruling the nation instead of the high-priest. The Eastern Jews afterwards chose another head, whom they termed the Prince of the captivity, and, in secret, the destruction of their enemies was predicted, by the name of the Edomites. But our limits forbid any attempt to trace the varying fortunes of the Jews who were dispersed throughout the Roman empire, and have remained scattered to the present time. The regular establishment of synagogues, wherever the Jews have been allowed to settle, has formed particular points for union and intercourse through the whole community, while their regular maintenance of men learned in the law, to keep up a course of instruction for youth, has also preserved them separate from the people among whom they dwelt. Every duty and pursuit of life, every hour of the day, was subjected to some special observance; among which, daily lamentations for the degraded state of their nation assisted in keeping up the distinction by which the Jew was still held in subjection to his spiritual guides. About A.D. 260, the Mishna, or written code of traditional law, proceeded from the school of Tiberias, and by furnishing interpretations to the Mosaic law, supplied a new code to the Jewish nation, which itself was not long afterwards overlaid by the Gemara, a sort of additional code, these together composing the Talmud, and containing a set of adjudged rules or cases to guide or mislead the Jews still farther from the principles of Scripture. In later times, many of the Jews have cast off this mental bondage, and while some have resolved to keep close to the Old Testament alone, and are thus placed within the reach of the efforts of Christian friends, like the scribe to whom Jesus could say, “Thou art not far from the kingdom of God,” Mark xii. 34 others have quite renounced all religious professions, and devoted themselves to the cares and pleasures of this life, like too many of the nominal Christians around them. This is very much the case where popery and irreligion prevail, and the expression, "he lives like a Christian," has become proverbial among the more rigid, to denote a profligate and irreligious character. This state of carelessness is common, though not peculiar, to the Jews now settled in England. Until the last few years the Jews of Poland and Germany were far superior to most of their brethren in strictness and outward decorum, and some of the most bigoted still continue to reside in those lands. Farther particulars as to the modern descendants of Israel may be found in a little work entitled "The Jew, in this and other Lands," published by the Religious Tract Society. : Having lost the fear of God, they are enslaved to the dread of evil spirits, who, they say, are constantly exerting influence to injure them, and regularly frequent the synagogues to hear sermons. They believe that if they do not rise betimes in the morning, and immediately wash themselves, the evil spirits are sure to get hold upon them, for their prayers have only power to keep these enemies in check for a certain number of hours. All these rules show that they trust to their own strength, and they have also many charms and "curious arts," which are foolishly supposed to be useful. The condition of Jewish females is especially degraded. They are not always, even in the present day, taught to read, for it is considered unnecessary for them to study the law. In the synagogues, also, the women are confined to their own latticed gallery, and can see or hear little of the public worship below. How different from the direction of Moses, Deut. xxxi. 12. The male children begin to learn the Hebrew text at five years, but, from the age of ten, the Talmud and its commentaries are chiefly studied. Although the labours of Christian ministers and teachers among the Jews have, in many cases, been crowned with success, yet still, as a body, they remain insensible to the sin of their nation in crucifying the Lord of glory, and rather regard their dispersed and wretched state as a punishment for other offences. They continue to await the coming of the Messiah, who, as some of them say, is sitting in disguise as a beggar at the gates of Rome. Others look for two Messiahs, the one suffering and the other triumphant. Thus the children of Israel have abode many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice but they shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days. On the annual return of the date of the destruction of their temple some of the Jews have long been accustomed to assemble near its site, to mourn over its ruins, and read the book of Lamentations. To this occasion the following lines refer: "Where yon sad ruin crowns Moriah's steep, BOAZ AND THE KINSMAN OF RUTH AT THE GATE OF THE CITY. CHAPTER XIII. COURTS OF JUSTICE. WHILE mankind remained in the small divisions of families or tribes, the father of the family, or head of the tribe, possessed and exercised the authority of a judge. All quarrels or complaints would be brought before him, or decided by him as the legal ruler. When these bodies of men became more numerous, or the head proved infirm, others would be appointed to discharge his duties, which, by degrees, in every community, led to some method for the regular administration of justice. In the patriarchal times, we find many proofs that matters were thus decided, and when the first stage of society was passed, it appears that judgment was regularly given in public, usually at the gate of the city, which was the place of chief resort and passage. All public business in the East seems to have been transacted there, for which purpose spaces were left at the gate, where buildings were often erected. Abraham bargained for his purchase of a sepulchre at the gate of the city of Hebron, Gen. xxiii. 10. Hamor and his son negotiated with Jacob and his sons at the gate of the city, Gen. xxxiv. 24. The |