480 A SHORT VIEW OF SCRIPTURE HISTORY. ties, both among the Jews and Gentiles ; Acts xvii. 1, 2. and xix. 8. 14. Q. What is meant by proselytes of the gate ? A. Those gentiles who renounced idolatry, and received the know- Mtge and the worship of the one true God the God of Israel ; and, as some affirm, they received also the rules of abstaining from blood, and things strangled, and things offered to idols, which were forbidden ; Acts xv. 20, 29. to the gentile converts to christianity. Note, These rules, with a few others, have been usually called the seven precepts of Noah, which the Jews make as ne- cessary for all the world to obey, as the law of Moses was for them i awl doubtless, the laws given to Noah, were given to all the world, because all sprang from him. 15. Q. Why were they called proselytes of the gate ? A. The word proselyte signifies one that embraces a new reli- gion ; and they were called proselytes of the gate, because they were suffered to live within the gates of the Jews, ac- cording to the expression in the fourth commandment, The stranger which is within thy gates. They were also permitted by the Jews to enter the outer court of the temple, called the court of the Gentiles, when that was built, and to worship God there i but they were excluded from the gate of the inner court. Note, These are they who in the book of the Acts of the apostles are supposed by some to be called the devout persons, and those who feared God, &c. Acts x.17. and xiii. 50. and xvii. 4. and xiii. 16. Among these was the chief harvest of the first christian converts ; though there might be many persons too, who worshipped the one true God, who were under no prose- lytism to the Jewish church. 16. Q. What were the other sort of proselytes ? A. They were such Gentiles as consented to be circumcised, and obliged themselves to practise all the law of Moses ; Gal. v. 3. therefore they were called proselytes of righteousness : they were taken into the Jewish nation, and united with them ; and were also Calledproselytes of the temple, because they were admitted by the Jews into the inner courts. Note, This distinction of proselytes has been supported by the common opinion for near two hundred years; but since it is said to have no better foundation than the Babylonish talmud, it is doubted by some learned men, whether there were any prose- lytes, either under the Old Testament or New Testament, besides those who were circumcised and complete. 17. Q. Having heard this particular account of synagogues and proselytes, proceed now to say what was the last act of Nehemiales reformation which we read in scripture. A. 'That he turned out Manasseh, the son or grandson of the high-
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