cording to the letter of the Divine law. Our Lord includes them with the Pharisees, (Matt. xxiii, 2,) as sitting in Moses' seat, assuming the authority of the legislator to themselves, but binding heavy burdens, and laying them on men's shoulders, teaching the commandments of men, jangling and disputing about verbal interpretations and trivial matters, instead of explaining and urging the Divine precepts.

The office of scribe among the modern Jews is important. As the copies of the Scriptures used in their public worship must be written, not printed, there is employment for them; and the following account of one of these copyists, by Henderson, shows the absurd and superstitious observances required to be practiced by these men; which, under pretense of preserving accuracy, and promoting respect to the Divine word, has done much to prevent its circulation. While at Dubno, in Russia, Dr. Henderson wished to obtain some Hebrew manuscripts, and was conducted to the house of a sepher or scribe. On the table before him was an open roll, from which he was copying; parchment and writing implements were lying about. He gave a minute account of the rules he was required to observe, which are the same now as 1,300 years ago, when they were prescribed in the Talmud. The skins used must be those of clean animals, and prepared only by Jews. When cut even, and sewed together by thongs of the same material, they are divided into columns, the breadth of which must not exceed half their length. Before the scribe begins, and after every interruption, he must compose his mind, that he may write under a due impression of the sanctity of the words he is transcribing. He must copy with the utmost exactness; if any letter be wrongly placed, or wrongly shaped in the original, he must copy the blunder. Any of his faults may be corrected if amended within thirty days, but not afterwards; if altered subsequently, the copy is stigmatized as " 'posel," or forbidden. When writing the name of Jehovah, the scribe must not leave off till it is finished, even though a king should enter the room, nor may he begin it with a fresh dip of ink; he must supply his pen when writing the first letter of the preceding word. This scribe exhibited the appearance of a man worn down by the observance of these and other minute rules. For a

copy of the law written fairly, he asked about ten pounds. To the intrinsic value and spiritual beauty of the law of the Lord he appeared totally insensible. The outward beauty of these transcripts of the Pentateuch sometimes is very great the letters appear as uniform and regular as if printed; and this exactness, though carried to such an extent as often to be frivolous, has been the means of keeping the Divine law pure and unaltered through more than thirty centuries.

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The LAWYERS and DOCTORS OF THE LAW were the same as the scribes. The titles, Rab, Rabbi, or Rabban, signified great, or master, and were given to learned men among the Jews. In later times, they were conferred as degrees are in our universities, and with much ceremony. A key was delivered as a symbol of the power and authority conferred, and the rabbi wore it as a badge of this honor; also a book of tablets was given to him, symbolical of diligence in his studies. Rabban was the highest of these titles: it was regularly ascribed to only seven of the principal Jewish doctors, one of whom was Gamaliel. Rabboni, the title by which Mary called our risen Lord, (John xx, 16,) signified the same. To omit the title of rabbi, was the grossest affront to any one on whom it had been conferred. Our Lord forbade his disciples to use it, that they might not assume to themselves power over the consciences of men, or set up for infallible guides, Matt. xxiii, 8.

The RULERS were chief priests, and of course from the tribe of Levi. The ELDERS were chiefs of other tribes.

The SAMARITANS were a sect or division of the Israelites, formed by the union of the idolatrous colonies, planted in Israel by the Assyrian conquerors, with the inhabitants of the land. See 2 Kings xvii, 24-41, where their origin, as well as the idols they worshiped, are particularly mentioned. After the captivity, Nehemiah began a reform, see chap. v, when some of the Jews, who had married heathen wives, went to the Samaritans and settled among them. One of these was Manasseh, a son of the high priest, who persuaded the Samaritans to renounce many of their idolatries, and built a temple on Mount Gerizim, where rites were celebrated resembling the worship at Jerusalem. In the days of our Lord, the hatred between the Jews and Samaritans was at its height. They had no dealings with each

other, John iv, 9. They opposed each other when passing through their respective countries, (Luke ix, 52, 53,) and the title of " Samaritan" was applied to our Lord by the Jews, as including or implying all that was bad, John viii, 48,

The GALILEANS were a political faction in Galilee, who resisted the Roman power, and sought religious liberty by force of arms, in the time of Augustus. The ZEALOTS and SICARII, or murderers, (Acts xxi, 38,) were similar bodies of political enthusiasts, shortly before the destruction of Jerusalem.

The KARAITES are a sect among the modern Jews who require particular notice. They reject the vain traditions of the Pharisees, and aim at keeping closely to the letter of the Mosaic law. Some writers think that they existed in the time of our Lord, and that the scribe mentioned Mark xii, 28, was of this class. The Scottish missionaries to the Jews, in 1839, made many inquiries respecting these Karaites, and found that a word from them is trusted more than the bond of another Jew. Many of them are found in Turkey and the East, and a colony of 4,000 of them have long been settled in the Russian Crimea, where they are peaceably employed in agriculture. It is said that they have no enmity to the followers of Jesus, and are probably descended from some of the ten tribes, who took no part in the crucifixion of Christ. Their chief rabbi, or priest, is always considered to be a cohen, that is, a lineal descendant of the house of Aaron. On one occasion, when the emperor of Russia wished them to serve as soldiers, they obtained exemption, as being some of his best subjects, to whose charge no crime had been laid during six hundred years. In Poland it is said that no Karaite has deserved punishment during four centuries. Their name, which means textualists, was at first a term of reproach, but they now regard it as an honor, and call themselves the children of the Bible.

CONCLUSION.

THE laws and polity of the Jewish nation show the wisdom, happiness, and safety of attending to the Divine commands; also the folly, misery, and punishment of disobedience; and thus they afford a lesson to every individual, family, and community. The history of the Jews, since their dispersion, as well as their present condition, adds much to the impressiveness of the admonition. They are unable to observe the first part of the ceremonial law, while destitute of a temple and a priesthood; yet, not discerning the more excellent way, (2 Cor. iii, 15,) and obstinately rejecting the truth as it is in Jesus, they still keep up its repulsive and prohibitory observances, and unite with them many vain traditions and commandments of men. Yet these have been made the means of preserving them as a distinct and separate people, in a state that is a standing miracle, left in mercy to convince men of the truth of Scripture, and conveying undeniable outward and visible evidence to all those who are not influenced by spiritual considerations. This is the more remarkable, as every tribe among their oppressors and conquerors has long since mingled with the mass of nations; the Jews alone exist as a distinct people, unchanged in their habits, and the Persians, who restored them to their own land, still continue to exist as a nation. Thousands and millions of the Jewish race have from time to time been absorbed among the Gentiles, have ceased to be Jews: thus, it is evident that the separation of the body of the people is owing to the perpetual interposition of the Divine providence in fulfillment of the prophecies of Scripture, and not from any physical or natural circumstances preventing them from being mixed with others, when their distinguishing customs and habits as a people are laid aside. Who that rightly considers this fact, can for a moment hesitate to give full credence to those prophecies which declare the happiness of this people, when they shall at length look on Him whom they have pierced?

The sufferings of the Jews as a nation, through many succeeding centuries, fully show that the word of God is perfectly true and faithful, both in its threatenings and its

promises. It is a savor of death unto death, or of life unto life. The principles by which the Israelites of the present day are actuated, show how blindly those err who regard only the letter and not the spirit of the best and wisest institutions; and how speedily the first must be mistaken and forsaken, if the latter be not kept continually in view, while, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, they are going about to establish their own righteousness. Yet, the Jewish principles, in their present distorted and mangled state, retain much that is instructive, much that is valuable; they show how glorious the fabric once was which now is so great, so impressive, even in its ruins. All is now cold and lifeless, like some ancient time-worn mansion, which only shows what its former glories have been; the full tide of life which once animated its now deserted walls and crumbling towers, has been withdrawn. No longer it affords a refuge for the wanderer, a shelter for the helpless, a defense for the oppressed; though the lines of its outward walls remain the same, it is only an abode for wild animals, a dwelling-place for the birds and beasts of the field, and even the noisome and unclean remain there undisturbed : "Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.'

Vitringa has truly remarked, "In the land of Canaan, where the Israelites dwelt, as in the land and garden of the Lord, there were two trees, of life and death, the latter of which it was the part of wisdom to shun. Moses declares (Deut. xxx, 15) that he had set before them good and evil, life and death. The cause of death was the idolatry, with its carnal delights and impure lusts, which prevailed among the heathen of that period. To these the mind of the Israelites was prone; and, indeed, the impiety, the profane thoughts of God, the self-righteousness derived from acts of a carnal worship of God under the old dispensation, and other things of a like kind, which exposed the Israelites to the danger of death, bore a resemblance to the tree of death or of knowledge, which things were opposed to a tree of life, that is, a compliance in faith with the commands of God, such a compliance proving the possession of life derived from Christ, who is its sole author under every dispensation. But the Israelites stood not in this state of prosperity and happiness; they suffered themselves to be seduced by the devil, first into the practice of idolatry, to