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 separation 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 shew-bread, 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 the Spoils of the Temple of Jerusalem *, the drawings for which were made at Rome, upwards of a century since, when the

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.

triumphal Arch of Titus (which has been mentioned in p. 28. 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 rased 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 of

fered 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 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 syna

gogues 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. SCRIPTURES, the Law was divided into Paraschioth or Sections, and the Prophets into Haphtoroth or Portions of which a brief notice has already being given in page 105.