half a lesson on Monday morning, and the other half on Thursday morning; and this same whole lesson they read on the sabbath, both morning and afternoon; Acts xv. 21. We are told that reading the law was a custom of ancient times on the sabbath; and when reading of the prophets was added to that of the law, they observed the same order in it.

6 Q. What were their hours of the daily prayer?

A. At the time of morning and evening sacrifice and incense; Luke i. 9, 10. Acts iii. 1. "While Zacharias was offering incense, the people were praying in the court: And Peter and John went up to pray in the temple at this time." To these hours they conformed their prayers in the temple, and in their synagogues, and usually too in their own houses. Note, The Jews supposed that the offering up of the daily sacrifices, and the burning of incense at the same time, were designed to render God propitious to them, and make their prayers acceptable; and for this reason they conformed their times of prayer to these hours. So David prays; Psalm cxli. 2. "Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense," &c. And Rev. viii. 4, 5. “And the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hands."

7 Q. Had they any other season of prayer besides these two?

A. The Jews inform us, that besides these they had a prayer at the beginning of night, while the evening sacrifice was left burning on the altar. Thus, by their three prayers in a day, they imitated the ancients. David prayed morning, noon, and evening; Psalm lvii. 17. Daniel prayed three times a day; Dan. vi. 10.

8 Q. Who ministered in the service of the synagogue?

A. The priests and levites were consecrated to the service of the temple, but for the services of the synagogue, persons of any tribe were appointed by some elders of that town, who were called rulers of the synagogue. So our Saviour, being of the tribe of Judah, read and expounded in the synagogue; Luke iv. 16. So after the reading the law and the prophets, Paul and Silas were engaged in preaching, when the master of the synagogue asked them for a word of exhortation for the people; Acts xiii. 15.

9 Q. But were there not other places of prayer distinct from the synagogues? A. The synagogues were sometimes called prayer-houses, yet there were prayerhouses called proseuchai, which differed from synagogues in three respects. 1. Synagogues were built for public worship, but these places of prayer for any one's private devotions occasionally. 2. Synagogues were covered houses, but the places of prayer were courts or inclosures with walls, and open to the sky. 3. Synagogues were chiefly in towns or cities, the prayer-houses in open fields, or on mountains: Such are mentioned where our Saviour spent a whole night in the prayer-house, as it should be translated; Luke vi. 12. and thither pious persons resorted, and prayer was wont to be made; Acts xvi. 13, 16.

10 Q. Is there any certainty that there were any synagogues before this time? A. That there were some places of assembly for divine things in the land of Israel, before the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by Nebuchadnezzar, seems pretty plain from Psalm lxxiv. 7, 8. "They have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land." Though they might be but very few, and not established by any authority, nor so constantly attended as afterward. And yet, considering that the Jews fell so frequently into idolatry before, and had so few copies of the law, it is questioned by some

learned men, whether there were any such synagogues at all in the land of Israel till after the Babylonish captivity.

11 Q. What eminent and remarkable service was done by these public places of worship?

A. It is supposed that frequent public readings of the law in the synagogues, after that time, were a special means to excite and preserve in the people of the Jews, that universal and perpetual hatred of idolatry, to which they were so shamefully prone before; and it did also diffuse and maintain the knowledge of true religion and virtue in the land.

12 Q. Were these synagogues built any where besides in Judea?

A. When the Jews were afterwards scattered abroad into various nations, they built places of worship for themselves wheresoever the rulers of the country would permit them.

13 Q. Of what advantage were these synagogues to the heathens, or afterward to christianity?

A. It was by means of these synagogues that the heathens, where the Jews were dispersed, came to know the true God, and some general principles of virtue and piety, and became proselytes of the gate; and by these public places and seasons of worship, there was afterwards an opportunity given to publish the gospel of Christ by the apostles, both among the Jews and gentiles; Acts xvii. 1, 2. and xix. 8.

14 Q. What is meant by proselytes of the gate?

A. Those gentiles who renounced idolatry, and received the knowledge and the worship of the one true God, the God of Israel; and, as some affirm, they received also the rules of abstaining from blood, and things strangled, and things offered to idols, which were forbidden, Acts xv. 20, 29. to the gentile converts to christianity.

Note, These rules, with a few others, have been usually called the seven precepts of Noah, which the Jews make as necessary for all the world to obey, as the law of Moses was for them: And doubtless, the laws given to Noah, were given to all the world, because all sprang from him.

15 Q. Why were they called proselytes of the gate?

A. The word proselyte signifies one that embraces a new religion; and they were called proselytes of the gate, because they were suffered to live within the gates of the Jews, according to the expression in the fourth commandment, The stranger which is within thy gates. They were also permitted by the Jews to enter the outer court of the temple, called the court of the gentiles, when that was built, and to worship God there; but they were excluded from the gate of the inner court.

Note, These are they who in the book of the Acts of the Apostles are supposed by some to be called the devout persons, and those who feared God, &c. Acts x. 17. and xiii. 50. and xvii. 4. and xiii. 16. Among these was the chief harvest of the first christian converts; though there might be many persons too, who worshipped the one true God, who were under no proselytism to the jewish church.

16 Q. What were the other sort of proselytes?

A. They were such gentiles as consented to be circumcised, and obliged themselves to practise all the law of Moses; Gal. v. 3. therefore they were called proselytes of righteousness: They were taken into the jewish nation, and united with them; and were also

called proselytes of the temple, because they were admitted by the Jews into the inner

courts.

Note, This distinction of proselytes has been supported by the common opinion for near two hundred years; but since it is said to have no better foundation than the Babylonish talmud, it is doubted by some learned men, whether there were any proselytes, either under the Old Testament or New Testament, besides those who were circumcised and complete.

17 Q. Having heard this particular account of synagogues and proselytes, proceed now to say what was the last act of Nehemiah's reformation which we read in scripture? A. That he turned out Manasseh, the son or grandson of the high-priest, for marrying the daughter of Sanballat the Horonite; Nehem. xiii. 28.

18 Q. What did Sanballat do with his son-in-law, Manasseh, on this occasion?

4. He procured a grant from Darius Nothus, who was now king of Persia, to build on mount Gerizim, near Samaria, a temple like that at Jerusalem, and to make Manasseh, his son-in-law, the high-priest of it.

19 Q. What was the consequence of this practice?

A. Samaria thenceforth became the refuge of the rebellious Jews, who were called to account for breaking the sabbath, eating unclean meats, or were found guilty in sinning against the law in any remarkable instances.

20, Q. What change was wrought hereby among the Samaritans ?

A. Their first original was from some eastern heathens who were planted there by the king of Assyria, after the captivity of Israel; but when, on several occasions, the Jews flocked to them, it made a considerable change in their religion; for though, before they worshipped the God of Israel, in conjunction with other gods, 2 Kings xvii. 24-41. they now cast off their idolatry: And since a temple was built amongst them, in which the jewish service was performed, and the law of Moses read publicly, they came much nearer to the worship of the true God, prescribed in scripture.

21 Q. Did not the Jews love them the better on this account?

A. No, by no means; but they hated them grievously: The enmity which began from the opposition which they the Samaritans made to the Jews in their rebuilding Jerusalem and the temple, was so exceedingly increased by their sheltering all the rebellious Jews, that the Jews at Jerusalem published the bitterest curse against them that ever was denounced against any people.

22 Q. What miseries were contained in this curse?

A. The Jews forbid all communication with the Samaritans, declared all the fruits of their land, and their cattle unclean; excluded them from being ever received as proselytes, and barred them, as far as possible, from having any portion in the resurrection of the dead to eternal life.

23 Q. What appearance of this great enmity do we find in the New Testament?

A. This seems to be confirmed by the words of scripture; John iv. 9. “The Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans:" And the woman of Samaria asked our Saviour, "How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me who am a woman of Samaria?” And when the Jews would give the worst name they could to our Saviour, they said, "Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil;" John viii. 48.

SECTION II.

OF THE JEWISH AFFAIRS UNDER THE PERSIAN AND GRECIAN MONARCHIES.

1 QUESTION.

How were the Jews governed after the death of Nehemiah?

Answer. We find not any more particular governors of Judea made by the kings or emperors of Persia; but Judea seems to be made subject to those whom the Persian kings made governors of Syria; and that under them the regulation of affairs was committed to the high-priest; so that he had all the sacred authority, and the civil power also, in a good measure, under the Syrian governor.

2 Q. Did the high-priests continue their regular succession as the eldest of Aaron's family?

A. This succession was sometimes interrupted by the emperors of the world, or their deputed governors of the provinces, appointing another person to take that office. 3 Q. What is the first remarkable instance of that kind?

A. When Johanan, or Jonathan, the son of Joiada; Nehem. xii. 11. had possessed the royal priesthood several years, Bagoses, the governor of Syria, appointed his younger brother Jeshua to depose him, and take the priesthood; upon which there was a tumult in the inner court of the temple, and Johanan slew Jeshua there..

4 Q. How did Bagoses, the governor, resent this?

A. He entered into the inner court of the temple, though the Jews forbid him, as being unclean; but he told them he was purer than the dead carcase of him whom they had slain there; and imposed on the priests a fine of about thirty-one shillings for every lamb that was offered throughout the year.

5 Q. What was the next more famous difficulty and deliverance which the Jews met with?

A. They were most remarkably saved from the oppression and resentment of Alexander the Great, who was king of Macedonia in Greece, when they had refused to assist him in the siege of Tyrus.

6 Q. In what manner were they delivered?

A. When Alexander marched against Jerusalem, designing to punish the Jews on this account, Jaddua the high-priest, the son of Johanan, being directed by a night vision, met the conqueror in his priestly robes, with the other priests attending him in proper habits, and all the people in white garments: Alexander being struck with this sight, saluted the high-priest with a religious veneration, embraced him, entered Jerusalem in a friendly manner, and offered sacrifice to God in the temple for his late victories.

7 Q. How came Alexander so suddenly to change his purpose, and behave himself with so much mildness?

A. Alexander declared that he himself, in Macedonia, had seen this very same person, thus habited, in a night vision, encouraging him to pursue his expedition against the Persians, and promising him success.

8 Q. What further favours did Alexander shew the Jews?

A. When Jaddua, the high-priest, had shewn him the prophecies of Daniel; parti

cularly chap. viii. 21. where the he-goat is interpreted to be the king of Grecia, who should conquer the Medes and Persians, and chap. xi. 3. he bid the Jews ask what they had to desire of him: And, according to their request, he granted them the liberty of their own laws and religion, and a freedom from tribute or taxes every seventh year, because then they neither sowed nor reaped.

9 Q. Did Alexander succeed in his following wars, and his attempts against the Persian empire, according to the jewish prophecy?

A. When he departed out of Judea and Palestine, he marched into Egypt, which speedily submitted to him: There he built the city Alexandria, and peopled it with several nations, among whom were many Jews, to whom he gave the same privileges as to his own Macedonians. The next spring he hastened to find out Darius Codomannus, king of Persia, whom he had routed once before, and he now vanquished him in a final decisive battle near Arbela, and became master of the Persian empire.

10 Q. How long did he reign after this battle?

A. He went on and conquered India; but in five years time he fell into such a riot and drunkenness that put an end to his life; though others say he was poisoned.

11 Q. What became of the Jews after Alexander's death?

A. A little after the death of Alexander, four of his generals divided his empire, who were the four horns of the he-goat mentioned by the prophet Daniel, which grew up after breaking of the first horn; Dan. viii. 22. and xi. 4. And the Jews fell under the dominion of Ptolemy, afterwards surnamed Soter, who had Egypt, Arabia, Cole-Syria, and Palestine, or the land of Israel, for his share.

Here it may be observed, that as Ptolemy had Egypt, Palestine, &c. for his share, so Cassander had Macedonia and Greece; Lysimachus had Thrace and Bithynia, and some other provinces thereabout; Seleucus had Syria, and the northern and eastern provinces in Asia. Thus was the empire of Alexander the Great divided among his generals.

SECTION III.

OF THE JEWISH AFFAIRS UNDER PTOLEMY SOTER, PTOLEMY PHILADELPHUS, AND PTOLEMY PHILOPATOR, KINGS OF EGYPT. OF THE GREAT SYNAGOGUE, THE JEWISH TRADITIONS, THEIR MISHNAH AND TALMUD; AND OF THE SEPTUAGINT TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE

INTO GREEK.

I QUESTION.

How did Ptolemy, king of Egypt, deal with the Jews?

Answer. Ptolemy designing to make Alexandria, which was built by Alexander, in Egypt, his capital city; he persuaded a multitude of Jews to settle there, granting them the same privileges as Alexander had done before him: Whence it came to pass, that Alexandria had a great number of Jews still flocking to it.

2 Q. What remarkable story is related of one Mosollam, a Jew, who followed Ptolemy about this time?

A. When a certain soothsayer, or cunning man, advised a jewish troop of horse, in which Mosollam rode, to stand still, upon the sight of a bird in the way, and told them, they should either go backward or forward as that bird took its flight; the Jew, being a