they were allowed to enter it. Markets were held here for the sale of incense, salt, animals, and every other article necessary for the Jewish sacrifices. Here also sat the money-changers. (Matt. xxi. 12, 13. Mark xi. 1517.) This court was surrounded by a range of porticoes, or cloisters, one of which was called Solomon's Porch. (John x. 23. Acts iii. 11.) The south-east corner of the roof of this portico is supposed to have been the pinnacle, whence Satan tempted Christ to precipitate himself. (Mat. iv. 5.)

Within the court of the Gentiles stood the Court of the Israelites, divided into two parts, or courts, the outer one being appropriated to the women, and the inner one to the men. The Court of the Women was separated from that of the Gentiles, by a low stone wall, or partition, of elegant construction, on which stood pillars at equal distances, with inscriptions in Greek and Latin, importing that no alien should enter into the holy place. To this wall Saint Paul most evidently alludes in Eph. ii. 13, 14. In this court was the Treasury, mentioned in Mark xii. 41, and John viii. 20.

From the court of the women, which was on higher ground than that of the Gentiles, there was an ascent of fifteen steps into the inner, or men's court; and so called because it was appropriated to the worship of the male Israelites. In these two courts, collectively termed the court of the Israelites, were the people praying, each apart by himself, for the pardon of his sins, while Zechariah was offering incense within the sanctuary. (Luke i. 10.)

Within the court of the Israelites was that of the priests, who alone were permitted to enter it: thence twelve steps ascended to the Temple, strictly so called, which consisted of three parts, viz.: the Portico, the outer Sanctuary, and the Holy Place.

1. In the Portico were suspended the splendid votive offerings, made by the piety of various individuals, which are alluded to in Luke xxi. 5. Similar offerings were common in the temples of the heathen. From this porch,

2. The Sanctuary, or Holy Place, was separated from the holy of holies by a double veil, which is supposed to have been the veil that was rent in twain at our Saviour's

crucifixion; thus emblematically pointing out that the seperation between Jews and Gentiles was abolished, and that the privilege of the high priest was communicated to all mankind, who might thenceforth have access to the throne of grace through the one great Mediator, Jesus Christ. (Heb. x. 19-22.)

This corresponded with the Holy Place in the Tabernacle. In it were placed the Golden Candlestick, the Altar of Incense, and the Table of Shew-Bread, which consisted of twelve loaves, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. In the Hebrew, these loaves are collectively termed, Bread of the faces; because each loaf, being square, had, as it were, four faces or sides. Various fanciful delineations have been given of these articles: in the vignette at the head of this section, is represented the form of the Golden Candlestick, as it was actually carried in the triumphal procession of the Roman General, Titus ; and the following engraving exhibits the table of shewbread, with a cup upon it, and with two of the sacred

trumpets, which were used to proclaim the year of Jubilee, as they were also carried in the same triumph. They are copied from the plates in Reland's Treatise on he

Spoils of the Temple of Jerusalem,* the drawings for which were made at Rome, upwards of a century since, when the triumphal arch of Titus (which has been mentioned in p. 23, supra,) was in a much better state of preservation than it now is.

3. The Holy of Holies was twenty cubits square. No person was ever admitted into it but the high priest, who entered it once a year on the great day of atonement. (Exod. xxx. 10. Levit. xvi. 2. 15. 34. Heb. ix. 2—7.)

This most magnificent temple, for which the Jews cherished the highest veneration, was utterly destroyed by the Romans, A.M. 4073, (A.D. 73,) on the same day of the same month in which Solomon's temple had been razed to the ground by the Babylonians

SECTION III. Of the High Places, Proseuchæ, or Oratories, of the Jews.

I. The HIGH PLACES, which are frequently mentioned in the Old Testament, were places appropriated to divine worship, in groves, woods, or mountains, first by the patriarchs, and afterwards by the heathen idolaters, by whom they were made the scenes of the most diabolical and impure rites. As the Canaanites, among whom the Israelites lived, were eminently addicted to this idolatrous worship, after a place had been assigned for the worship of God, it became unlawful to offer sacrifices upon these high places, or any where else, but in the place that God did choose. Hence it is that the conduct of the Israelites, both kings and people, in offering sacrifices even after the erection of the temple, is so frequently reprobated in the books of Kings and Chronicles. They were indeed removed by several pious kings, and particularly by Josiah, after whose time they are not mentioned in sacred history.

II. Though public worship was forbidden to be offered in any but the appointed place, yet mention is made, in Scripture, of places built for private devotion, and resorted to for that purpose only. These have been termed

De Spoliis Hierosolymitani in Arcu Titiano Romæ Conspicuis. The first edition was printed at Utrecht, in 1716, 8vo.; the second, with a preliminary dissertation and notes, by Professor Schultze, in 1765, 8vo.

PROSEUCHE, or Oratories. From the proseucha, (so it should be rendered in Luke vi. 12,) where our Lord spent a whole night in prayer, being erected on a mountain, it is probable that these edifices were the same as the High Places already noticed. The Jews, who were resident in heathen countries, appear to have erected them in sequestered retreats, commonly on the banks of rivers, or on the sea-shore. The proseucha, or oratory at Philippi, where the Lord opened the heart of Lydia, that she attended unto the things which were spoken by Paul, was by a RIVER SIDE; (Acts xvi. 13, 14. 16;) the Jews being accustomed, before prayer, to perform an ablution.

SECTION IV.-On the Synagogues of the Jews.

The SYNAGOGUES were buildings in which the Jews assembled for prayer, reading and hearing the sacred Scriptures, and other instructions. Though frequently mentioned in the historical books of the New Testament, their origin is not very well known; and many learned men are of opinion that they are of recent institution. In the time of the Maccabees, synagogues became so frequent that they were to be found in almost every place in Judæa. Maimonides says, that wherever any Jews were, they erected a synagogue. Not fewer than four hundred and eighty are said to have been erected in Jerusalem, previously to its capture and destruction by the Romans. In the evangelical history we find, that wherever the Jews resided, they had one or more synagogues, constructed after those at Jerusalem. It does not appear that the synagogues had any peculiar form of structure: there were, however, various officers whose business it was to see that the duties of religion were decently performed therein. These were, 1. The RULERS OF THE SYNAGOGUE, (Luke xiii. 14. Mark v. 22.) of whom there appear to have been several: they regulated all its concerns, and gave permission to persons to preach. 2. Next to the Ruler of the Synagogue was an officer, whose province it was to offer up public prayers to God for the whole congregation; hence he was called Sheliach Zibbor, or the ANGEL OF THE CHURCH, because, as their messenger, he spoke to God for them. Hence also, in Rev. ii., iii. the ministers

of the Asiatic churches are termed angels. 3. The Chazan appears to have been a different officer from the Sheliach Zibbor, and inferior to him in dignity. He seems to have been the person, who, in Luke iv. 20, is termed the MINISTER, and had the charge of the sacred books; and whose office it was to hand the book of the law to the person who was to read it, and return it to its place.

The service performed in the synagogue consisted of three parts, viz.: prayer, reading the Scriptures, and preaching, or exposition of the Scriptures.

1. The first part of the Synagogue service is PRAYER; for which some learned men have thought that the Jews had liturgies, in which are all the prescribed forms of synagogue-worship. Though the eighteen prayers, used by the modern Jews, are of great antiquity, yet they cannot be referred to the time of Jesus Christ.

2. For the more commodious READING OF THE SCRIP TURES, the Law was divided into Paraschioth, or Sections, and the Prophets into Haphtoroth, or Portions; of which a brief notice has already been given in page 79.

3. The third and last part of the synagogue service is, EXPOSITION OF THE SCRIPTURES, and PREACHING to the people. The first was performed at the time of reading them, and the other after the reading of the law and the prophets. In Luke iv. 15-22, we have an account of the service of the synagogue in the time of Christ; who appears to have taught the Jews in both these ways. From this passage we learn that when Jesus Christ came to Nazareth, his own city, he was called out, as a member of that synagogue, to read the haphtoroth, that is, the section or lesson out of the prophets for that day; which appears to have been the fifty-first haphtoroth, and to have commenced with the first verse of Isa. lxi. Further, he stood up (as it was customary, at least for the officiating minister to do, out of reverence for the word of God) to read the scriptures; and unrolled the manuscript (or opened the volume, as it is rendered in Luke iv. 17,), until he came to the lesson appointed for that day; which having read, he rolled it up again (or closed the book, verse 20,) and gave it to the proper officer; and then he sat down and expounded it, agreeably to the usage of the Jews. The ancient books, being written on parchment, or vellum, and similar flexi