φαύλων αιδίω τιμωρια χολάζεσθαι : Every soul is immortal, those of the good only enter into another body, but those of the bad are tormented with everlasting punishment*. From whence it has been pretty generally concluded, that the resurrection they held was only a Pythagorean one, namely, the transmigration of the soul into another body; from which they excluded all that were notoriously wicked, who were doomed at once to eternal punishment; but their opinion was, that those who were guilty only of lesser crimes were punished for them in the bodies into which their souls were next sent.

It is supposed, that it was upon this notion the disciples asked our Lord, "Did this man sin, or his parents, that he was born blind?" John ix, 2; and that some said, Matth. xvi, 14, Christ was "John the Baptist, some Elias, others Jeremias, or one of the prophets +."”

This was undoubtedly the opinion of the Pythagoreans+, and Platonists §, and was embraced by some among the Jews; as by the author of the book of Wisdom, who says, "that being good, he came into a body undefiled," chap. viii, 20. Nevertheless, it is questioned by some persons, whether the words of Josephus, before quoted, are a sufficient evidence of this doctrine of the metempsychosis being received by the whole sect of the Pharisees; for μεταβαίνειν εις ετερον σωμα, passing into another or different body, may only denote its receiving a body at the resurrection; which will be another, not in substance, but in quality; as it is said of Christ at his transfiguration, το είδος τε προσωπε αυτε ετερον, « the fashion of his countenance was" another, or, as we render it, was altered," Luke ix, 29.

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As to the opinion, which some entertained concerning our Saviour, that he was either John the Baptist, or Elias, or Jeremias, or one of the prophets, Matth. xvi, 14, it is not

* De Bell. Judaic. lib. ii, cap. viii, sect. xiv, p. 166.

+ See Prideaux's Connect. part ii, book v, sub anno 107 before Christ, vol. iii, p. 479, 480, tenth edit. London, 1729.

↑ Diogen. Laert. de Vitis Philosoph. lib. viii, de Vitâ Pythag. segm. xiv, et not. Aldobrandini in loc. vol. i, p. 499, edit. Amstel. 1692.

§ Plato in Phædro. p. 1223, B, C, D, E, edit. Ficin. Francof. 1602; et Diogen. Laert. de Vitis Philos. lib. iii, de Vitâ Platonis, segm. lxvii, vol. i, p. 204, 205.

ascribed to the Pharisees in particular; and if it were, I do not see how it could be founded on the doctrine of the metempsychosis; since the soul of Elias, now inhabiting the body of Jesus, would no more make him to be Elias, than several others had been, in whose bodies the soul of Elias, according to this doctrine, is supposed to have dwelt since the death of that ancient prophet, near a thousand years before. Besides, how was it possible any person that saw Christ, who did not appear to be less than thirty years old, should, according to the notion of the metempsychosis, conceit him to be John the Baptist, who had been so lately beheaded? Surely this apprehension must be grounded on the supposition of a proper resurrection. It was probably, therefore, upon the same account, that others took him to be Elias, and others Jeremias. Accordingly, St. Luke expresses it thus, "others say, that one of the old prophets is risen from the dead," Luke ix, 19.

It may further be observed, that the doctrine of the resurrection, which St. Paul preached, was not a present metempsychosis, but a real future resurrection, which he calls "the hope and resurrection of the dead," Acts xxiii, 6. This he professed as a Pharisee, and for this profession the partizans of that sect vindicated him against the Sadducees, ver. 7-9. Upon the whole, therefore, it appears most reasonable to adopt the opinion of Reland, though in opposition to the sentiments of many other learned men, that the Pharisees held the doctrine of the resurrection in a proper sense*.

Thus far their doctrinal opinions appear to have been agreeable to the scripture, excepting that one grand principle, that the traditions of the fathers came from God, and were at least upon an equal foot with the sacred writings. This was the root, the #pwTOV YEudos, of various errors; from hence proceeded most of the corrupt practical dogmata of this sect: Which we are now,

2dly, to consider. Hence, they gave so erroneous an in

* Reland. Antiq. Hebr. part ii, cap. ix, sect. xiv, p. 278, third edit. Traject. Bat. 1717. Concerning the improbability of the Pharisees having beld the doctrine of the metempsychosis in our Saviour's time, see Buddei Historia Eccles. Vet. Testament. tom. ii, per. ii, p. 1203.

terpretation of many texts of scripture, explaining them according to their traditions; which was the occasion of their transgressing the commandments of God, and making them of none effect, Matt. xv, 3-6.

Hence they fell into many very superstitious practices, in which they placed a great part of their religion; such as frequent washing their hands and their household furniture, beyond what the law required, Mark vii, 3, 4; fasting twice a week, Luke xviii, 12; and, if we may credit the Talmud, practising many painful austerities and mortifications, whipping themselves, lying upon flints and thorns, and knocking their heads against walls till they made them bleed*.

Hence being busied about trifles, and taken up with a multitude of rites and ceremonies, they forgot and neglected the great duties of morality. Thus, while they were superstitiously exact "in tything mint, anise, and cummin, they overlooked the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith," Matt. xxiii, 23; and by thus placing their religion in things wherein true religion does not consist, they in a manner lost all notion of spiritual piety and godliness, and became the most finished hypocrites among the Jews. Pharisees and hypocrites are often joined together in the gospel history, and several instances of their hypocrisy mentioned, namely, their fasting, almsgiving, and making long prayers in the synagogues, and even in corners of the streets, on purpose 66 to be seen of men," and to gain their applause; and "for a pretence, the better to cover their secret wickedness," Matt. vi, 2, 5, 16; xxiii, 5—7, 14. In short, they placed the whole of religion in outward ceremonial observances, and therefore took no pains or care to get their hearts purified: they freely indulged their pride and malice, and all other sorts of spiritual wickedness: on which account they are compared by our Saviour to whited sepulchres, Matt. xxiii, 27; and because they were very exact in their ritual observances, in which they abounded beyond others, they looked upon themselves to be more religious, and

Mish. tit. Sotah, cap. iii, sect. iv, sub fin. cum not. Bartenor et Wagenseil. Sotah, excerpt. Gemar. cap. iii, sect. xi; Drusius de Tribus Sectis, lib. ii, cap. xiv, p. 71, first edit. p. 253, edit. Trigland; Buxtorf. Synag. Judaic. cap. xxv, p. 521-523, third edit. Basil, 1661. See Epiphanius, hær. xvi, sect. i, tom. i, p. 33, 34, edit. Petav.

the peculiar favourites of Heaven, and therefore " they trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others," Luke xviii, 9; and their pride being thus fed, they affected pre-eminence, and expected a greater share of respect than others, Matt. xxiii, 6, 7. From the same criminal principle they "made broad their phylacteries, and enlarged the borders of their garments," ver. 5.

The phylacteries, called by the Jews

tephillin, are

little scrolls of parchment, in which are written certain sentences of the law, enclosed in leather cases, and bound with thongs on the forehead and on the left arm. They are called in Greek φυλακτήρια, from φυλαίω, custodio, either because they were supposed to preserve the law in memory, or rather, because they were looked upon as a kind of amulets or charms to keep them from danger. Godwin gives an account from the rabbies of the sentences of the law written in the phylacteries, and the manner of writing and folding them up, which is sufficiently exact*. I shall only observe, that the making and wearing these phylacteries, as the Jews still do in their private devotions, is owing to a misinterpretation of those texts, on which they gound the practice, namely, God's commanding them "to bind the law for a sign on their hands, and to let it be as frontlets betwixt their eyes," &c., Deut. vi, 8. This precept evidently refers to the whole law of Moses, and not to the particular sentences which they wrote in their phylacteries, see ver. 6. The command of writing and binding this law as a sign upon the hands, and as frontlets betwixt the eyes, ought doubtless to be understood metaphorically, as a charge to remember it, to meditate upon it, to have it as it were continually before their eyes, and to conduct their lives by it; as when Solomon says, concerning the commandments of God in general, "bind them about thy neck, write them upon the table of thy heart," Prov. iii, 1, 3; vi, 21. The precept, therefore, which we are now considering, to" bind the words of the law for a sign upon the hands, and as front

* See Maimon. Tephillin, seu de Phylacteriis, Wagenseil, Sotah, excerpt. Gemar. cap. ii, sect. ii, not. x, p. 397–418, Altdorf. 1674; and Surenhusii Tabula de Phylacteriis, prefixed to the first volume of his edition of the Mishna.

+ See Le Clerc on Exod. xiii, 9.

lets betwixt the eyes," Deut. vi, 8, is to be explained by the sentence which precedes it, "These words, which I commanded thee this day, shall be in thine heart." In like manner it is said elsewhere, "Ye shall lay up my words in your hearts and in your souls," chap. xi, 18. However, the Jews understanding the foregoing precept, not metaphorically, but literally, wrote out the several passages wherever it occurs, and to which it seems to refer, and bound them upon their foreheads and upon their arms.

It seems the Pharisees used to "make broad" their phylacteries. This some understand of the knots of the thongs by which they were fastened, which were tied very artificially in the form of Hebrew letters; and that the pride of the Pharisees induced them to have these knots larger than ordinary, as a peculiar ornament. Others supposed they affected to wear the phylacteries themselves very large, as if they contained more of the law than was commonly worn by their neighbours, and were therefore a testimony of their extraordinary affection for it. It is imagined by some persons, that the phylacteries are alluded to in the book of the Revelation, chap. xiii, 16, where the subjects of antichrist are said to be distinguished by "a mark on their right hands and on their foreheads *."

The Pharisees are further said to " enlarge the borders of their garments," тa nρaσteda тWY μatiwy, see Matt. xxiii, 5, before cited. These xpared were the n tsitsith, the fringes which the Jews are, in the book of Numbers, commanded to wear upon the borders of their garments, Numb. xv, 38, 39. The targum of Onkelos calls them cheruspedhin, which hath so near an affinity with the Greek word xpaσredov, that there is no doubt but it signifies the same thing; which is, therefore, an evidence, that the xparreda were the tsitsith. These were worn by our Saviour, as appears from the following passage of St. Matthew, Behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve

* See a large account of the superstition of the Jews concerning the phylacteries in Ainsworth on Exod. xiii, 9; Buxtorf's Synag. Judaicâ, cap. ix, and Lexic. Talmud. in Voc. ban. Consult, also, on this subject, Spenceri Dissert. de Nat. et Orig. Phylact. ad Calcem. tom. ii, de Legibus, edit. Cantab. 1727.