sidering themselves as a free people, under the immediate government of God, they bore with impatience the taxes imposed by the Romans, and even questioned whether it were "lawful to pay tribute to Cæsar." The Publicans were generally Jews, who, farming the customs of the Romans, were too often led by motives of avarice to be extortioners also; and the people could ill endure these rigorous exactions from their brethren, who thus appeared to join with the Romans in endeavouring to entail perpetual subjection upon their nation, or at least in making the yoke more galling and oppressive; besides, the necessary dealings and connection of the Publicans with the Gentiles, which the Jews held to be unlawful, cast a peculiar odium upon the whole body; and thus we find our Saviour was reproached for being 66 a friend of Publicans and Sinners."

VIII. The Essenes (k) appear to have been an enthusiastic sect, never numerous, and but little known ; directly opposite to the Pharisees with respect to their reliance upon tradition, and their scrupulous regard to the ceremonial law, but pretending, like them, to superior sanctity of manners. They existed in the time of our Saviour; and though they are not mentioned in the New Testament, they are supposed to be alluded to by St. Paul, in his Epistles to the Ephesians, and Colossians, and in his first Epistle to Timothy. From the account given of the doctrines and institutions of this sect by Philo and Josephus, we learn that they believed in the immortality of the soul; that they were absolute predestinarians; that they observed the seventh day with peculiar strictness; that they held the Scriptures in the highest reverence, but considered

(k) Michalis says that Essenes is an Egyptian word, signifying the same as Oɛpaπevraι in Greek.

them as mystic writings, and expounded them allegorically; that they sent gifts to the temple, but offered no sacrifices; that they admitted no one into their society till after a probation of three years; that they lived in a state of perfect equality, except that they paid respect to the aged, and to their priests; that they considered all secular employments as unlawful, except that of agriculture; that they had all things in common, and were industrious, quiet, and free from every species of vice; that they held celibacy and solitude in high esteem; that they allowed no change of raiment till necessity required it; that they abstained from wine; that they were not permitted to eat but with their own sect; and that a certain portion of food was allotted to each person, of which they partook together, after solemn ablutions. The austere and retired life of the Essenes is supposed to have given rise to monkish superstition (1).

IX. Proselytes are mentioned in Scripture in contradistinction to Jews, and they are represented by antient Jewish writers, and by some modern Christian divines, as divided into two sorts; Proselytes of the Gate, and Proselytes of Righteousness, or, of the Covenant. The Rabbis give a long account of the different ceremonies of initiation of these two classes. It is allowed that the Jewish nation was gradually made up of two descriptions of people, those who were descended from Abraham, and those who, being originally Gentiles, were naturalized, and considered as Jews after a certain number of generations, which seem to have been less or more, according to the merit, and other circumstances, of their respective nations. "Certain it is the law made a difference between one nation and another, as to what is called 'entering into (1) Eus. Hist. Eccl. lib. 2. cap. 17.

the congregation of the Lord (m).' Edomites and Egyptians had this privilege in the third generation; though their immediate children were excluded, their grand-children were admitted. An Ammonite or Moabite was excluded even " to the tenth generation,' saith the law, or, as it is added, for ever,' which the Jews take to be explanatory of the tenth generation (n)." Those who contend for these two sorts of Proselytes, define a Proselyte in general to be a person who, being a Gentile by birth, came over to the Jewish religion, in whole or in part. Those who took upon themselves the obligation of the whole law, are supposed to have been called Proselytes of Righteousness, or of the Covenant, and were entitled to the same privileges as the seed of Abraham, though these adopted children were considered as inferior to those who were children by birth. The Proselytes of the Gate are said to have been such Gentiles as were permitted by the Jews to dwell among them, and were admitted to the worship of the God of Israel, and the hope of a future life, but did not engage to observe the whole of the law; these were not circumcised, nor did they conform to the Mosaic rites and ordinances, being obliged only to observe the laws which the Jews call the seven precepts of Noah (o); they were, however,

(m) The received opinion concerning "entering into the congregation of the Lord" is, that it signifies being permitted to bear any office in the Jewish commonwealth; but the Rabbis assert that Proselytes were excluded from many civil advantages and privileges, to which the Israelites by descent were entitled.

(n) Jennings's Jewish Antiquities.

(o) These were, according to the Rabbis, 1st, to abstain from idolatry; 2dly, from blasphemy; 3dly, from murder; 4thly, from adultery; 5thly, from theft; 6thly, to appoint just and upright judges; 7thly, not to eat the flesh of any animal cut off while it was alive. Maimonides says that the first six of these precepts

66

allowed to offer up their prayers in the temple and in the synagogues, but not to enter farther into the temple than the outer court, which was called the court of the Gentiles; and in the synagogues they had places assigned them separate from the Jews themselves (p). The term Proselytes of the Gate is derived from an expression frequent in the Old Testament, namely, "the stranger that is within thy gates;" but I think it evident that "the strangers" were those Gentiles who were permitted to live among the Jews under certain restrictions (q), and whom the Jews were forbid 'to vex or oppress," so long as they lived in a peaceable manner. I must own that there appears to me no ground whatever in Scripture for this distinction of Proselytes of the Gate and Proselytes of Righteousness. According to my idea, Proselytes were those, and those only, who took upon themselves the obligation of the whole Mosaic law, but retained that name till they were admitted into the congregation of the Lord as adopted children. Gentiles were allowed to worship, and offer sacrifices to the God of Israel, in the outer court of the temple (r); and some of them, persuaded of the sole and universal sovereignty of the Lord Jehovah, might renounce idolatry without embracing the Mosaic law; but such persons appear to me never

were given to Adam, and the seventh to Noah; but they are not even mentioned by Onkelos, Philo, or Josephus.

(p) Naaman the Syrian, Cornelius the centurion, the Æthiopian eunuch, and the "devout men," mentioned in the Acts, are considered by Godwin, Benson, and many others, as Proselytes of the Gate.

(9) They were to abstain from idolatry; they were not to blaspheme the God of Israel; and they were to observe the Jewish sabbath.

(r) Josephus mentions Alexander the Great, Antiochus and Ptolemy, as having all worshipped, and offered sacrifices, in the temple at Jerusalem.

to be called Proselytes in Scripture, or in any antient Christian writer (s).

X. The Karaites have their name from the Chaldee word Kara, Scriptura Sacra, because they adhered to the Scripture as the whole and only rule of faith and practice, admitting the authority of tradition only when it agreed with the written word of God. Upon the dissension between Hillel, the president of the Sanhedrim, and Shammai, the vice-president, about thirty years before Christ, their respective scholars formed two parties, and took different names. Those who adhered to Scripture only were called Karaim, or Scriptuarii, and were followers of Shammai; and those who were zealous for the traditions taught by the Scribes or Rabbis, were called Rabbanim, Rabbanists, and were followers of Hillel. The Karaites, however, justly boasted the high antiquity of their principles, as being the followers of Moses and of the prophets, in opposition to human tradition; but when the doctrines of the Rabbis were generally adopted among the Jews, the Karaites were considered as schismatics. They seem to have remained for some time in obscurity; but about the year of our Lord 750, Anan, a Jew of Babylon, of the stock of David, and Saul his son, both men of learning, publicly disclaimed the authority of the traditionary doctrines of the Talmud, asserted the Scriptures to be the sole rule of faith, and became heads of the Karaites or Scriptuarii, who again grew into repute, and increased in numbers. There are now some of this sect in Poland and Russia, but they chiefly reside in Turkey and Egypt; few or none are to be

(s) "I do not believe that the notion of two sorts of Jewish Proselytes can be found in any Christian writer before the 14th