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no corporeal essence compared with him.That God is the beginning and end of all things, and shall eternally subsist.-(5.) That

THE modern jews are dispersed over every kingdom in the world, and in spite of the miseries they have suffered, still look down upon all nations, and consider themselves God alone ought to be wor

as the favourites of heaven.

The jews commonly reckon but thirteen articles of their faith. Maimonides, a famous jewish rabbi, reduced them to this number when he drew up their confession about the end of the eleventh century, and it was generally received. All the jews are obliged to live and die in the profession of these thirteen articles, which are as follow:-(1.) That God is the creator of all things; that he guides and supports all creatures; that he has done every thing; and that he still acts, and shall act during the whole eternity. (2.) That God is one there is no unity like his. He alone hath been, is, and shall be eternally our God.-(3.) That God is incorporeal, and cannot have any material properties; and

shipped, and none beside him is to be adored.-(6.) That whatever has been taught by the prophets is true.-(7.) That Moses is the head and father of all contemporary doctors, of those who lived before or shall live after him.

(S.) That the law was given by Moses.-(9.) That the law shall never be altered, and that God will give no other.(10.) That God knows all the thoughts and actions of men.

(11.) That God will regard the works of all those who have performed what he commands, and punish those who have transgressed his laws. (12.) That the Messiah is to come, though he tarry a long time.-(13.) That there shall be a resurrection of the dead when God shall think fit.t The modern jews adhere Bayley's Dictionary. + Basnage's History of the Jews, pp. 110-115,

still as closely to the Mosaic dispensation, as their dispersed and despised condition will permit them. Their service consists chiefly in reading the law in their synagogues, together with a variety of prayers. They use no sacrifices since the destruction of the temple. They repeat blessings and particular praises to God, not only in their prayers, but on all accidental occasions, and in almost all their actions. They go to prayers three times a day in their synagogues. Their sermons are not made in hebrew, which few of them now perfectly understand, but in the language of the country where they reside. They are forbidden all vain swearing, and pronouncing any of the names of God without necessity. They abstain from meats prohibited by the Levitical law; for which reason whatever they eat must be dressed by jews, and after a manner peculiar to themselves. As soon as a child can speak, they teach him to read and translate the bible into the language of the country where they live. In general they observe the same ceremonies which were practised by their ancestors in the celebration of the passover. They acknow ledge a two-fold law of God, a written and an unwritten one: the former is contained

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in the pentateuch, or five books of Moses; the latter, they pretend, was delivered by God to Moses, and handed down from him by oral tradition, and now to be received as of equal authority with the former. They assert the perpetuity of their law, together. with its perfection. They deny the accomplishment of the prophecies in the person of Christ; alleging that the Messiah is not yet come, and that he will make his appearance with the greatest worldly pomp and grandeur, subduing all nations before him, and subjecting them to the house of Judah. Since the prophets have predicted his mean condition and sufferings, they confidently talk of two Messiahs; one, Ben-Ephraim, whom they grant to be a person of a mean and afflicted condition in this world; and the other, BenDavid, who shall be a victorious and powerful prince.

The jews pray for the souls of the dead, because they suppose there is a paradise for the souls of good men, where they enjoy glory in the presence of God. They believe that the souls of the wicked are tormented in hell with fire and other punishments; that some are condemned to be punished in this manner for ever, while others continue only for a limited time; and this they

call purgatory, which is not different from hell in respect of the place, but of the duration. They suppose no jew, unless guilty of heresy, or certain crimes specified by the rabbins, shall continue in purgatory above a twelvemonth; and that there are but few who suffer eternal punishment."

Almost all the modern jews are pharisees, and are as much attached to tradition as their ancestors were; and assert that whoever rejects the oral law deserves death. Hence they entertain an im placable hatred to the Caraites, a sect among the jews, who adhere to the text of Moses and the word of God; reject ing the rabbinistical interpre tation and cabala. The number of the Caraites is small, in comparison with the rabbins; and the latter have so great an aversion to this sect, that they will have no alliance, or even conversation with them: and if a Caraite should turn rabbinist, the other jews would not receive him.

There are still some of the sadducees in Africa, and in several other places; but they are few in number: at least there are but very few who declare openly for these opi

nions.

There are to this day some remains of the ancient sect of the Samaritans, who are zealous for the law of Moses, but are despised by the jews, because they receive only the pentateuch, and observe different ceremonies from theirs. They declare they are no sadducees, but acknowledge the spirituality and immortality of the soul. There are numbers of this sect at Gaza, Damascus, Grand Cairo, and in some other places of the east ; but especially at Sichem, now called Naplouse, which is risen out of the ruins of the ancient Samaria, where they sacrificed not many years ago, having place for this purpose Mount Gerizim.f

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With regard to the ten tribes, the learned Mr. Basnage supposes they still subsist in the east, and gives the following reasons for this opinion:-(1.) Salmanassar had placed them upon the banks of the Cha boras, which emptied itself into the Euphrates. On the west was Ptolemy's Chalcitis, and the city Carra; and therefore God has brought back the jews to the country whence the patriarchs came. On the east was the province of Gan zan, betwixt the two rivers Chaboras and Saocoras. This

Orckley's History of the Jews, p. 233.

Their doctrines are similar to those of the ancient Pharisees,
See the Introduction to this Work.

Collier's Historical Dictionary.

was the first situation of the tribes but they spread into the neighbouring provinces, and upon the banks of the Euphrates. (2.) The ten tribes were still in being in this country when Jerusalem was destroyed, since they came in multitudes to pay their devotions in the temple.-(3.) They subsisted there from that time to the eleventh century, since they had their headsofthe captivity and most flourish ing academies.(4.) Though they were considerably weakened by persecutions, yet travellers of that nation discovered abundance of their brethren and synagogues in the twelfth and fourteenth centuries. (5.) No new colony has been sent into the east, nor have those which were there been driven out.-(6.) The history of the jews has been deduced from age to age, without discovering any other change than what was caused by the different revolutions of that empire, the various tempers of the governors, or the inevitable decay in a nation, which only subsists by toleration. We have therefore reason to conclude that the ten tribes are still in the east, whither God suffered them to be carried. If the families and tribes are not distinguishable, it is impossi

ble it should be otherwise in so long a course of ages and afflictions which they have passed through. In fine, says this learned author, if we would seek out the remains of the ten tribes, we must do it only on the banks of Euphrates, in Persia, and the neighbouring provinces.

It is impossible to fix the number of people the jewish nation is at present composed of: but yet we have reason to believe there are still near three millions of people who profess this religion; and, as their phrase is, are witnesses of the unity of God in all the nations in the world.*

The jews, however, since the destruction of Jerusalem, have never been able to regain the smallest footing in the country of Judea, nor indeed in any country on earth, though there is scarcely any part of the globe where they are not to be found. They continue their expectations of a Messiah to deliver them from the low estate into which they are fallen: and notwithstanding their repeated disappointments, there are few who can ever be persuaded to embrace christianity. In many countries, and in different ages, they have been terribly massacred; and, in general, have been better treated by maho

· Basnage, pp. 227—746, &c.

metans and pagans than by christians. It is said, that in Britain the life of a jew was formerly at the disposal of the chief lord where he lived, and likewise all his goods. So strong also were popular prejudices and suspicions against them, that in the year 1348, a fatal epidemic distemper raging in a great part of Europe, it was reported that they had poisoned the springs and wells; in consequence of which a million and a half were cruelly massacred. In 1493 half a million of them were driven out of Spain, and fifteen thousand from Portugal. Edward the first, of Eng

land, seized upon all their real estates, and banished them for ever from the kingdom. The expulsion was so complete, that no traces of the jews occur in England till long after the reformation.†

The sufferings of the jews have been less in the last century, than in any former one since their dispersion. France has allowed them the rights of citizens, which induces numbers of the most wealthy jews to fix their residence in that country. Poland is about granting them great privileges and immunities. England, Holland, and Prussia, toler ate and protect them. Spain,

*Encyclopædia, vol, ix. p. 143.

See a particular account of the sufferings and revolutions which the jews have met with in England, in the Monthly Magazine for 1796.

In Berlin the jews are now enjoying singular honours, as inen of genius and study. The late Moses Mendelsohn, by the force of his reasoning, has been surnamed the jewish Socrates; and by the amenity of his diction, the jewish Plato. Bloch, a jewish physician, was the first naturalist of the age: Herz is a professor, with four hundred auditors; Mainon, a profound metaphysician. There are jewish poets and jewish artists of eminence, and which perhaps exist no where but in Berlin, a jewish academy of sciences, and jewish literary journal, composed in hebrew. (See Vaurier, or the Sketches of the Times, vol. ii. p. 249.)-A large number of jews at Berlin, heads of families, of respectable character, have subscribed and published a letter to Mr. Teller, provost of the upper consistory, (the department of government which has the superintendence of ecclesiastical affairs) in which they declare, that being convinced the laws of Moses are no longer binding upon them, as not being adapted to their circumstances at this day, they are willing and ready to become christians, as far as relates to the moral doctrines of christianity, provided they shall not be required to believe the miraculons part of the christian creed, and above all, the divinity of Jesus Christ; and provided they may be admitted to enjoy all the rights and privileges enjoyed by the members of the established religion. Their confes sion of faith would be something less than Socinianism, but approaching nearly to it. They ask Mr. Teller's advice on this plan, and whether he thinks it practicable? Mr. Teller has published au answer, in which he informs them that they do well to believe as much of christianity as they can; and that if they cannot in conscience believe more, they do well to profess it: but as to the question whether their fragment of faith ought to

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