whose office was threefold. 1st, They acted as notaries in the Councils of twenty-three; wrote portions of scripture for the phylacteries, and door-posts of houses; contracts, bills of divorce, &c." 2dly, They copied the scriptures for those who desired them, and took care that no errors crept into the text. The eight and forty cities, therefore, which were given from among the tribes, were so many schools or universities, in which they trained up the young for these purposes; for it should be recollected, that these scribes were either from among the priests or Levites. 3dly, They were the public and common teachers of the people, expounding the meaning of the sacred oracles to the people, and the nature of those traditions which were handed down by the elders. They had therefore two places of instruction; for they were often called upon to interpret the section of the law, or the prophets in the synagogues; and they expounded the traditions in the Bitmederesh, or schools of divinity in the neighbourhood of the synagogue." It was in reference to this last part of their duty, or that of teaching the people, that our Saviour said in Mark xii. 35, "How say the scribes that Christ is the son of David ?" Instancing the scribes only, (although the Pharisees, Sadducees, and even all the Jewish nation, held the same opinion,) because the scribes were the persons who sat oftenest in Moses' seat, and taught this doctrine to the people. Ezra was a person who fulfilled both the duties which were required of the scribes; for he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, and preached to the people.

C

a Lightfoot's Heb. and Talm. Exercit. on Matth. ii. 4.

b Lightfoot's Harm. of the Four Evang. part i. sect. 7. c Ezra vii. 6.

a

And the scribe of which our Saviour speaks, was one who was instructed to the kingdom of heaven, and brought out of his treasures things new and old. It is worthy of remark, however, that our Saviour's manner of teaching is said to have been different from theirs. For, in the first place, when they expounded scripture, they only told what this or the other doctor had said on the subject; explained the law by their traditions; and when the law and traditions were at variance, they taught that the traditions were to be preferred to the law but Christ resorted to no such authorities, called no man master, rejected their traditions, and restored the precepts to their primitive purity. In the second place, their teaching in their Bitmederesh, or schools of divinity, was commonly about external, carnal, and trivial rites; but his was about regeneration, repentance, faith, love, charity, self-denial, and the other weighty matters of the law and of the gospel. 3dly, Their teaching was often so various, and even so contradictory, that the people were at a loss what to follow; but his had a clearness and consistency that carried conviction along with it. 4thly, They were only servants, and with all their desire to do good, could not command success: Christ was a lord in his own house, and taught savingly so as to profit.c It was already noticed, that the scribes composed a third part of the Jewish sanhedrin.

As for the elders, they were different from the

a Matth. vii. 29.

b Lightfoot's Heb. and Talm. Exer. on Matth. vii. 29.

c Leusden's Philol. Hebræo-mixtus, diss. 23. Lightfoot's Harm. of the Four Evang. part iii. sect. 20.

scribes, for they were lay-men, deeply versant in the laws and usages of their country, whose judgment had great weight. They were commonly also chief men in the tribes, and composed the remaining third part of the sanhedrin.

The lawyers are commonly classed in the gospels with the Pharisees and Scribes, and derived their name, from their having devoted themselves to the study of the law, and teaching it to the people; but burdened with the load of their numberless traditions. Hence are they severely reproved by our Lord in Luke ii. 45-52.

As for the publicans, although they were rather a civil than religious class of men, yet they deserve to be noticed. Their office was to collect the tribute, which the Romans imposed upon Judea, after it became a Roman province; but it was an unpleasant task for the following reasons. In the first place, the Jews disliked to be accounted subject to the Romans, and, therefore, those who collected the tax (let them do it as impartially as they might) were considered as enemies to the independence and honour of the nation; and, 2dly, as the Roman revenues were often farmed to the highest bidder, that gave room for extortion and injustice, which, though bad in a foreigner, was accounted doubly criminal in a descendant of Abraham.

SECT. V.

Jewish Proselytes.

1st, Slaves embracing Judaism without obtaining their liberty. 2d, Proselytes of the gate: the seven precepts of Noah ; their conformity to the apostolic rescript in Acts xv. 20, 29. 3d, Proselytes of righteousness; their privileges; how initiated; their instruction, circumcision, and baptism. Children of these proselytes entitled to their privileges. Proselytes of righteousness on their admission offered a sacrifice, and changed their name. The Jews divide the history of proselytism into six periods; these mentioned.

ALTHOUGH the Jewish religion was peculiarly adapted to the Jewish nation, yet it was not confined to it, for leave was given them to make proselytes, and certain privileges were granted to those who became such.-Of the Jewish proselytes there were three classes: 1st, Those slaves who embraced Judaism without receiving their freedom; 2dly, The proselytes of the gate; and, 3dly, The proselytes of righteousness.

As for the slaves, who embraced Judaism without receiving their liberty, they were either natives of other countries, who came into the families of the Jews by conquest, or purchase, or gift; or they were the children of these natives. These quitted their heathen practices, and conformed to the religion of their masters, sometimes from necessity, and sometimes from choice. Of this kind was Eliezer of Damascus, the steward of Abraham's house, and to this does God compare Israel, when

a Gen. xv. 2, 3.

he says in Jer. ii. 14, "Is he a homeborn slave, why is he spoiled ?"

The proselytes of the gate were persons who, without undergoing circumcision, or observing the Mosaic ritual, engaged to worship the true God, and observe the seven precepts which were said to have been imposed on the children of Noah. The following is a list of these precepts: 1st, Of foreign worship, (y, ol obidè zerè,) in which was forbidden the worship of idols and false gods. 2d, Of blessing the name of God, (Ny, ol berekè eshem,) under which were comprehended the opposite sins of blasphemy, swearing, and perjury. 3d, Of the effusions of blood, (y, ol shephikut demim,) or the prohibition of murder. 4th, Of chastity, (y, ol gelui oruut,) de revelatione pudendorum, Deut. xxii. 15, 17, under which were forbidden fornication, adultery, incest, and unnatural copulations. 5th, Of theft, (any, ol egezel,) under which was comprehended every species of dishonesty. 6th, Of courts of judicature, ¡, ol edinin,) prescribing the nature and form of civil government, and the administration of justice. 7th, Of the members of living creatures, (y, ol aber men ehi,) de membro e vivo, in which was forbidden eating flesh with the blood, or things strangled. Such are the celebrated commandments of Noah, which the Jews so of ten mention, (although their authenticity has been called in question,) and which, according to them, composed a summary of religious duty to all mankind, before the giving of the law from Mount Sinai. But be they true or false, they laid the foundation of that distinction of proselytes, of

y