history, and we speak of their original dispensation, as the Jewish dispensation. From Josephus, however, it would appear, that the name of Jews was but seldom used for the ancient people of God, either collectively, or otherwise, till after the return from the 70 years captivity at Babylon.* Till then they were called Children of Israel, or Israelites, from Israel, or Jacob, the son of Isaac, and grandson of Abraham, the founder of the nation.

They were likewise called Hebrews, from Heber, one of the progenitors of that patriarch, and of the fourth generation from Noah.† Nor did

* But that it was sometimes so used, is plain from Jeremiah, who uses that name in a general sense about the time of the destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar, long before the period spoken of by Josephus. And, indeed, as the descendants of Judah were the predominant part of all Jacob's progeny, and as they were in possession of the metropolis, (viz. Jerusalem) and the seat of the temple of the Lord, it is no wonder that their denomination should readily be applied to the whole nation and professors of the same form of religion.

†The general custom of naming the people after the head of the family, and "the division of the earth" which is said to have taken place in the days of Heber's two sons, Peleg and Joktan, (Gen. x. 25.) seem to render it more probable, that the name of Hebrew was derived from the patriarch Heber, than from the circumstance of Abraham's passing over the river Euphrates; yet this last is the opinion of some Jewish authors, who conceive, that this denomination does not derive from Noah's descendant of that name, for to them it appears strange to affix Eber, for

they then only lose the name of Hebrews, but also the Hebrew language, which is allowed by many to have been the first spoken by man.* Having partly, though perhaps involuntarily, adopted the language of the people among whom they dwelt, the pure Hebrew was thereby changed into a compound of Chaldee and Hebrew, which is now known by the name of Syriac, and which, under the name of Hebrew, the modern Jews learn at school as we do the Latin and the Greek.† The characters also were changed; those now in use are generally believed to be the Chaldaic, then introduced by Ezra. The old Hebrew characters were those of the Phoenicians, now called the Samaritan, because the Samaritan Pentateuch is written in them.

the source of a generical name, in preference to Shem or Arphaxad. They rather ascribe the name to the circumstance of Abraham's coming originally from y Eber, i. e. the other side of the river which he crossed in coming from Haran; and observe, that we never meet with any designation of himself or family thereby previous thereto.

* On the other hand, some doubt whether we have any remains of the primitive language of men, and are inclined to leave it in uncertainty, as the Scriptures are silent on the subject. Sir William Jones is of opinion that it is entirely lost; and traces all the languages now in the world from the Hindoo, the Syriac, and the Tartarian, as their three roots.

I am aware that this opinion is warmly controverted by the Jews, who, though they admit that the use of pure Hebrew was lost in a very considerable degree during the Babylonish captivity previous to Ezra, that is to say, as a living language, yet insist, that the Bible is the only source of modern Hebrew.

In our Saviour's time, the language spoken by the Jews was mixed and made up of the dialects and idioms of the several nations that surrounded them, particularly of the Chaldeans, Syrians, and Arabians in this he delivered all his instructions, and held all his discourses.

The letter written by the German Jews residing in England to their foreign brethren, recommending Dr. Kennicott to their protection and assistance' in his Biblical pursuits, and published by him in his "Dissertatio Generalis," (p. 66.) is a curious specimen of the language of modern Jews, when they attempt to express modern, and, in respect to them, foreign ideas, in the Hebrew language. They look upon the points as an indispensible part of the Hebrew: and, with regard to their pronunciation of it, "they differ so much among themselves, that the German Jews can scarcely be understood by the Italians and Levantines; but there are none of them that speak more clearly and agreeably to the rules of grammar than the Italians."*

RISE, PROGRESS, AND HISTORY.-When, soon after the flood, almost all nations had already sunk into the grossest idolatry, it pleased God to call Abraham, a person of eminence, but

* Leo of Modena's History of the Present Jews throughout the World, p. 66; but his translator, Mr. Ockley, conceives, that his author is prejudiced in favour of his countrymen, and observes, that the pronunciation of the Spanish Jews is allowed to be the best.

then probably an idolater, that with him, and his posterity, the knowledge of the one true God, and of true religion, should be preserved in the world. Him God called from Haran into Canaan, where, in token of the promises then made him, he appointed circumcision, and commanded him and all his sons to be circumcised in all generations. With Abraham then, Judaism may, in some sense, be said to have begun; but it was not till the giving of the law on Mount Sinai, that the Jewish economy was established, and that to his posterity was committed a dispensation which was to distinguish them, ever after, from every other people upon earth.

Their history, both before and during their settlement in Canaan, the land of promise, is well known, or may be found in the Old Testament, and the writings of Josephus, their countryman and historian, who was present at the last siege of their city.* The most remarkable periods in it are, the call of Abraham;-the giving of the law by Moses;-their establishment in Canaan under Joshua, the successor of Moses;-the building of the temple by Solomon ;-the division

*Josephus was a native of Jerusalem, descended from the kings of Judah, and born of parents belonging to the priesthood; and he is generally allowed to be an historian of the greatest care, and most rigid veracity, insomuch that the learned Joseph Scaliger, gives him this character: "Diligentissimus xas pirarnbesaros omnium Scriptorum Josephus." -Prolegom. ad Opus de Emendat. Tempor. p. 16. Ed. Genev. 1629.

of the nation into the two kingdoms of Judah and Israel, in the reign of Rehoboam;-their seventy years captivity in Babylon;-their return under Zerubbabel; their persecution and murder of Jesus Christ, whom Christians believe to be the Messiah, the Lord of Glory ;-and, in consequence of this, the destruction of their city and temple by the Emperor Titus, A. D. 70. From that time, to the present day, they have been without a common country,-without a temple,-without a sacrifice,-without a prophet,-without a common leader, or protector,-and, as was predicted respecting them, have ever been “an astonishment, a proverb, and a by-word," among all nations whither the Lord hath scattered them. They are spoken of by several heathen authors, as Diodorus Siculus, Justin, and Tacitus, whose narratives respecting them, though a mixture of truth and falsehood, serve not a little to confirm the Mosaic history.*

The miseries which they sustained from famine, from pestilence, from the assaults of the Romans, and from the implacable fury of contending parties among themselves, during the last siege of their city, far surpass, in horror, every account of any other siege in the records of the world. The city was taken, burned to

* Diod. Sicul. lib. i.; Justin. lib. 36, c. 2.; Tacit. Hist. lib. v.

† See a very striking summary of the events of those "days of vengeance," and of the completion of every particular in