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endeavour to obtain them for the sake of the wealth they brought with them . 4 . Our Rabbins teach ( say they ) that Proselytes , and Sodomites hinder the coming of the Messias . " Again , € * Proselytes are as a scab to Israel . "
3 rdly . I wish for an exposition of the thirty-first verse in this passage . * ' Now is the judgment of this world , now the prince of this world will be cast out . "
The readers of the Repository will , I doubt not , feel obliged to any of your correspondents , who will favour them with observations on any of these subjects . H . T .
P . S . I find it difficult to reconcile the opinion given by your learned Correspondent Solomon Bennett , in p , 222 of the present vol . that " during the whole great period of the second temple , the numerous synagogues and
colleges of Hebrews of the great dispersion , had nothing to do with the sacrifices of the temple at Jerusalem , " with the testimony of several ancient and approved authorities on Jewish affairs . A variety of proofs might be collected of the veneration which the
whole Hebrew nation had for the temple at Jerusalem . Philo , ( who was of Alexandria ) in his book against Flaceus , prefect of Egypt , in the beginning of Caligula ' s reign , says , " One country does not contain the Jewish people , they being extremely numerous , for which reason there are of them in all
the best and most flourishing countries of Europe and Asia , all esteeming for their metropolis the holy city , in which is the sacred temple of the Most High God . " And in a letter of Agrippathe Elder , to Caligula , he says ,
interceding for Jerusalem , " If you grant my request in favour of my native place , you will be a benefactor not to one city only , but to thousands of cities in every part of the world ; for scarcely any country of note can be mentioned , in which there are not
Jewish inhabitants . " In another place Philo says , 4 C One thing we desire instead of all others , that no novelty be introduced into the temple , but that
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it be preserved such as we received it from our forefathers . If we cannot obtain this , we yield ourselves , to be destroyed , that we may not live to see a greater evil than death . " "This great
zeal expressed by foreign Jews towards the temple of Jerusalem , is not consistent with the independence and freedom from the sacrificial law , attributed to them by your Correspondent . Indeed , from all that can be collected
from the ancient history of Judaism , it should appear , that the Jews of the dispersion were never excused from any part of the ceremonial law whilfct the temple remained , except so far rts distance of place made the fulfilment of it impossible . Thus , although it
was certainly impossible for Jews from Rome , &c . to appear before the Lord three times a year ; and the young and the indigent were likewise necessarily prevented from taking such a journey ; yet from all that appears , and
especially from the great concourse of Jews from foreign parts at the great festivals , I am led to think , that it was accounted disgraceful if ' not a mark of impiety , for any adult Jew , of sufficient substance , not to go up to Jerusalem at certain intervals to attend
upon the temple worship . And ; although it was impossible to bring from a distance their sheep and cattle , to sacrifice them at the altar of the temple , there can , I think , be little doubt that
on their arrival they purchased such animals , and such meat-offerings , as the law enjoined them to present in sacrifice . Philo relates , that the Jews of Rome sent money , instead of
firstfruits , by their own officers , to Jerusalem . And the first-fruits must certainly be included in every definition of sacrifices . Many other facts might be brought forward both from Josephus and from the Acts of the Apostles , a book which , as an historical
record of Jewish affairs , may probably be deemed by your learned Correspondent worthy of some attention , independently of its merits as a relation of the planting of the Christian religions But what has been said seems sufficient . H . T .
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488 Biblical Criticism- —^ Observation ? on John xii . &S - ^ S 2 .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1817, page 488, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2467/page/40/
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