reduced into a Roman province, and the people were laid under a direct tax to the state. To this tribute the Jews submitted with the utmost reluctance; and it gave rise to several tumults and insurrections. Our Saviour expressly enjoined upon them the obligation to pay it, in which he was followed by his inspired apostles, Matt. xxii. 17-21; Rom. xiii. 8; 1 Pet. ii. 13.

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III. The collectors of the Roman taxes in Judea are well known to every reader of the New Testament under the appellation of Publicans. Of these there appear to have been two kinds: the collectors of the taxes, and the receivers general. Of the latter order was Zaccheus, who is called a " chief publican," Luke xix. 2. From the extortion and rapacity which was too generally practised by the inferior order of these officers, added to the odium which attached to such an employment in the estimation of the Jews, they were held in the utmost contempt; so that a "publican,” and a sinner," or a notoriously profligate character, were synonymous terms in the time of our Saviour. Nor were they more respected by the heathen themselves. For Theocritus being once asked, which was the most cruel of all beasts, replied, that among the beasts of the wilderness, they were the bear, and the lion; among the beasts of the city, they were the publican and the parasite. The Pharisees would hold no sort of communication with the Publicans, which may explain Matt. xviii. 17-" Let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican.” It is even said they would not allow them to enter the temple, or synagogues, to partake of the public prayers, offices of judicature, or to give testimony in a court of justice. Neither would they receive their presents at the temple, any more than the price of blood, of prostitution, or of any thing of the like nature.*

* Lightfoot, Hor. Heb. Matt. v. 46; Whitby on Matt. ix. 11; Godwyn's Moses and Aaron, B. i. ch. 2; Michaelis on the Laws of Moses, vol. iii. pp. 1–19; Jennings' Jewish Antiquities. b. ii. ch. 2.

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CHAPTER IV.

SACRED LAWS OF THE JEWS, AND THEIR

SANCTIONS.

I. The MORAL LAW.. II. The CEREMONIAL LAW Designed, 1. To teach the doctrines of Religion in a sensible and impressive manner. 2. To preserve the Israelites from Idolatry. 3. To prepare them for a better dispensation.-III. ECCLESIASTICAL PUNISHMENTS.

THE laws of the Jews are of three kinds, the Moral, Ceremonial, and Judicial. Of the Judicial, we have already treated, in discussing their political antiquities.

I. Of the MORAL LAW, it is not necessary that we should enter into an investigation, since it was not peculiar to this people, but of universal obligation, and given, as founded in the very nature of man, at his first creation. We may be allowed to observe, however, that as the ceremonial and judicial laws had their proper sanction in temporal rewards and punishments, so the moral law had from the beginning its sanction in future rewards and punishments. And so actually had it at the very time it was promulgated from Sinai, and on the same evidence that had been given to Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and all the pious patriarchs. We meddle not with the dispute, how far the doctrine of a future state entered into the design of the Mosaical law, as a constituent part of that dispensation. It is sufficient for us at present to know, that the Hebrews did not remain ignorant of these future rewards and punishments, under their ritual; and did actually believe them, from the common principles which made these doctrines the faith of their forefathers, and the belief of all the nations of the earth. Could they not learn, for instance, and did they not infer (as Lowman has justly observed *), from the translation of Enoch, the obedience of

* Rationale of the Jewish Ritual, p. 323, &c.

Noah, and the faith of Abraham, that God is a rewarder of them who diligently seek him? When God appeared to Moses, and sent him to deliver the children of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt, he revealed himself under this title, "I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob," Ex. iii. 6. These were all dead, and had not received the promises, yet God makes himself known by the name of their God. If the Hebrews, therefore, believed the immortality of the soul, as we see they did; if they believed God was the rewarder of those who diligently seek him, as they conceived their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, had done, without receiving the promises; might they not hence conclude, that "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living;" and that He, as their God, who had promised to be their exceeding great reward, would give them an inheritance in his heavenly city, and crown them with immortality in that better country after which they sought, that is, an heavenly? This being premised, we proceed to notice—

II. THE CEREMONIAL LAW.*. Some writers on Jewish antiquities have thought, that the ceremonial laws were merely arbitrary, and that the reasons of them were only to be sought for in the will of God, which he has not chosen to reveal; making them thereby to differ essentially from the Christian institutions, which are said to be “rational milk,” and “a rational service," 1 Pet. ii. 2; Rom. xii. 1. But this is surely derogatory to the character of God, and hurtful to that obedience which he required. And there are sufficient indications of the design of the Jewish ritual to render manifest its utility, and induce us to study it with the closest attention.Let us attend to it, therefore, particularly, and see what the intention of Jehovah was in giving it to the Jews. There are three ends which it evidently served. It taught the leading doctrines of religion, in a sensible and impressive manner; it served as a fence against idolatry; and prepared the minds of its subjects for a brighter dispensation.

1. It taught the Jews the leading doctrines of religion, in a sensible and impressive manner. Thus, it taught the unity of God, by having only one presence; one most holy place, as the seat of that presence; one altar, at which all the priests were to minister, and all the sacrifices to be offered (Lev. xvii. 1-9); and only one tabernacle and temple dedicated to that one Jehovah, the Creator of all things, of what power or

For the following exposition we are indebted to Dr. Brown, who has made a judicious abridgment of Lowman, with occasional selections from other writers of acknowledged celebrity,

dignity soever they were conceived to be. And, as it taught the unity of God, so it also taught the doctrine of a general providence. The throne in the tabernacle and temple was only the figure of his throne in the heavens; and the daily sacrifices, the burnt offerings appointed for the sabbaths every week, for the new moons every month, and for the feast of trumpets, on the first day of the civil year, were all intended to impress the Israelites with a deep sense of the superintending care of God, at all times and in all places.-Nor did the ceremonial law inculcate a general providence only; it also taught the particular interest which Jehovah took in the works of his hands; for the whole of it encouraged every Hebrew to ask every blessing from Jehovah as his God; and to fear the evils denounced on disobedience, as inflicted by him. Indeed, every sacrifice and offering were constant evidences of this truth, and encouragements to this hope: for they taught that, while God superintended the general affairs of the universe, he took a particular interest in the family of Abraham. The Hebrew worship also taught the necessity of holiness in every worshipper: for, if we consider the directions for consecrating the tabernacle and temple, for hallowing the sanctuary, for purifying and consecrating the Priests and Levites, that they might be hallowed to minister before Jehovah, we shall easily observe, that they all taught holiness to the Lord. Indeed, nothing unholy or unclean was allowed to approach the presence, till cleansed by the washings and sacrifices it directed; and such purity in lesser matters inferred a holiness of a higher nature, and taught the importance of being holy, as God is holy, as well as of being holy, because He is so.Let it only be remarked further, on this part of the subject, that the ceremonial law was sanctioned by rewards and punishments. temporal, indeed, in their nature, but well adapted to enforce their observance.

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2. A second use of the ceremonial law was, to preserve the Israelites from idolatry; and this it did in various ways. (1.) By removing the principles that supported it; viz. ignorance of the true character of God, and ascription of divine honours to inferior intelligences. From the just notions it gave the Israelites of God and his government, it taught them that all other gods besides him were false, vain idols, the works of men's hands. It shewed that those beings whom the heathen worshipped, of whatever nature or character, were but the creatures of the one Jehovah, and subject to him. It taught that God was the fountain of all their blessings, and that he alone gave rains and fruitful seasons; and,

by so doing, it prevented them from falling into the error of worshipping inferior intelligences, as the guardians and benefactors of mankind. It allowed of no such thing as inferior divine worship, but represented God as a jealous God, who would not give his glory to another, nor his praise to graven images. In these ways, then, it removed the principles which served to support the practice of idolatry.

(2.) By giving them a ritual of their own, every way fitted to their circumstances. At the time it was promulged, they were in such circumstances (the nations around them having all sensible objects of worship), that if it had not then pleased God to appoint them a ritual, and by that to make them a separate nation and people, it seems morally impossible to have kept them from idolatry; and then the knowledge and worship of the true God must have been lost in the world. The same reasons which made a ritual convenient, and, in their circumstances even necessary, made a full ritual as convenient and necessary; such as should reach to every part of worship, as it was intended to be a hedge against idolatry every way. The numberless variety of ceremonies has often been remarked; and, to a superficial observer, all, or at least the most of them, appear to no purpose.__ But let him reflect on the consequences of one less minute. They would have supplied its defects by amendments of their own, and, notwithstanding their own law, would have borrowed from their neighbours what they imagined had not been sufficiently provided for by their own lawgiver. Thus the law would have failed in one of its designs-to prevent their falling into idolatry. A people so fond of ceremonies as the Jews were, would have been uneasy and impatient without them: and when they saw that their neighbours had rites for every occasion, they would either have adopted them for their own use, or have invented others of their own imagination of equal danger, or of worse consequence. Another circumstance respecting the Hebrew ritual was, that it was uniformly held out as preferable to every other. From their long abode in Egypt, it is easy to conceive the Jews well acquainted with, and even fond of Egyptian ceremonies. Their reputation, antiquity, and confirmation by miracles, esteemed true, would all add some weight to this assertion. It became, therefore, any rule, if it was to guard them against its influence, to come recommended by a higher authority than the considerations of antiquity, the use of the wisest people, or even the oracles of demons.Accordingly, we find it recommended as the law of God himself, and given to them as his peculiar people. Hence the