great influence in the time of Jeremiah." After the return from the Babylonian captivity, when "the people were settled as of old"," the supreme power was again lodged in the great council or sanhedrim, which, as we have seen, continued to exercise its judicial office till the national polity was totally destroyed by the Romans. THE land of Canaan, so named from Canaan, the son of Ham, whose posterity possessed this land, as well as Egypt or Mizraim, lies in the western part of Asia, between latitude 31° and 34°. Its boundaries were, to the north, Cole-Syria; to the west, the Mediterranean Sea; to the east, Arabia Deserta; and to the south and south-west, Arabia Petræa and Egypt. Its extent was about 200 miles from north to south (that is, from Dan to Beersheba), and its breadth about 100. It was divided into two unequal parts, of which the western was considerably the greater, by the river Jordan, which rises in the mountains of Hermon (a branch of the mountains of Libanus), and running south through the lake of Gennesareth, or "the Sea of Tiberias or Galilee," after a course of 150 miles loses itself in the Lacus Asphaltitis, a Jer. xxxvi. xxxvii. xxxviii. ↳ Isaiah, i. 26. Ezra, vii. 25. x. 7-14. с See an excellent little work entitled "The Geography of the Holy Land," with references, which serve as a key to "The Map of Palestine," by the Rev. J. C. Wigram, (late) Secretary to the National Society for promoting the Education of the Poor."-EDITOR. or the Dead Sea. This last lake, or sea, was also called "the Sea of the Plain," and occupies the place where Sodom and Gomorrha formerly stood. The country to the east of the Jordan was given, as has been related, to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh. The kingdom of Moab lay to the south of Reuben; the kingdom of Ammon to the east of Gad; and the mountains of Hermon bounded Manasseh to the north-east, beyond which lay Trachonitis and Ituræa. West of the Jordan, to the north, were placed Naphthali, on the river, and Asher, which bordered on Phonicia and the Mediterranean. Zabulon and Issachar had inland districts; but the other half tribe of Manasseh and Ephraim reached from the sea to the river. Dan (upon the coast) and Benjamin were south of Ephraim, and north of Simeon and Judah. The country allotted to Simeon bordered upon the Mediterranean, and extended to Egypt; but the Philistines, who inhabited the coast, were never entirely driven out of their possessions. country of Judah bordered upon the Dead Sea, which separated it from the kingdom of Moab (for both Simeon and Judah lay considerably more south than the tribe of Reuben), and adjoined the mountainous country of Idumæa, or Edom, and Arabia Petræa, to the south. Jerusalem, or Hierosolyma, the capital, supposed to have been the Salem of Melchisedek, stood partly in the territory of Benjamin, but was allotted to Judah, "the chief among the tribes of Israel.” After the return The from the Babylonian captivity, the eastern division was called Peræa, (more properly the country which had belonged to Reuben and Gad, for the northern part, sometimes called Gaulonitis, was included in the district of Trachonitis,) and the western part was divided into Galilee to the north, Judæa to the south, and Samaria in the middle. Judæa proper extended from the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean to Egypt, and included the countries of Benjamin, Dan, and Simeon, besides that of Judah. The whole country was also called Palestine, from the Philistines, who, inhabiting the western coast, were first known to the Romans, and being by them corruptly called Palestines, gave that name to the country; but it was more commonly called Judæa, as the land of the Jews. Since our Saviour's advent it has been called the Holy Land; but in modern writers all distinction is frequently lost in the general name of Syria, which is given to the whole country east of the Mediterranean, between the sea and the desert. PART I. CHAPTER THE FOURTH. OF THE JEWISH SECTS. I. OF THE SCRIBES. -II. OF THE PHARISEES.- THE SADDUCEES. THE HERODIANS. OF THE PUBLICANS. VIII. OF THE ESSENES. - X. OF THE KARAITES. III. OF - V. OF VII. IX. OF I. It is universally agreed, that while the spirit of prophecy continued, there were no religious sects among the Jews, the authority of the prophets being sufficient to prevent any difference of opinion. a The sects which afterwards prevailed among them sprang up gradually, and it is diffi a This assertion should be received, perhaps, with some degree of caution. Unhappily, the Jewish people were not always ready to subject themselves to the teaching of even their greatest prophets, and it is as easy to conceive of the existence of many varieties of opinion among them while a living prophet was warning them of their danger, or reproving them for their ignorance, as of the rise of error when they had the whole volume of prophecy perpetually placed before them. The earliest historical evidence which we have of the existence of sects is afforded by Josephus, who says, Antiquities, xiii. v. 9., when speaking of a period about 150 years before Christ, “At this time there were three sects among the Jews, who had different opinions concerning human actions; the one was called the sect of the Pharisees; another the sect of the Sadducees; and the other the sect of the Essenes." And soon after he mentions, that Hyrcanus left the party of the Pharisees for that of the Sadducees, who are supposed by Dean Prideaux to have gone no further at that time, in their opposition to the common belief, than the rejection of the traditions of the elders, as contrary to the pure interpretation of the law. - EDITOR. cult to ascertain the time of their origin with precision; but as almost all of them seem to have arisen from the doctrines taught by the Scribes after the return from the Babylonian captivity, it will be useful to give some account of that class of persons, though they are not usually considered as a religious sect themselves. The Scribes are mentioned very early in the sacred history, and many authors suppose that they were of two descriptions, the one ecclesiastical, the other civil. It is said, "Out of Zabulon come they that handle the pen of the writera;" and the Rabbis state, that the Scribes were chiefly of the tribe of Simeon; but it is thought that only those of the tribe of Levi were allowed to transcribe the Holy Scriptures. These Scribes are frequently called "wise men," and "counsellors;" and those who were remarkable for writing well were held in great esteem. In the reign of David, Seraiah, in the reign of Hezekiah, Shebna, and in the reign of Josiah, Shaphan, are called Scribes, and are r nked with the chief officers of the kingdom; and Elishama the Scribe, in the reign of Jehoiakim, is mentioned among the princes. We read also of the "principal Scribe of the host" or army; and it is probable that there were Scribes in other departments of the state. Previous to the Babylonian captivity, the word Scribe seems to have been ap |