CHAPTER XIX. 485 tiens, and which they pretend to be dictated fromGod to Moses, was not compiled and put together till above a hundred years after the time of Christ, by Rabbi Judah Hakkadesh : And this mishaah, together with their comments on these things, are called the talmud. Note, There are two talmuds ; that of Jerusalem, which was complete about three hundred years after Christ ; and that of Babylon, about five hundred years : But each of them have the same mishnah, though with different comments, which com- ments are called the gemara. S. Q. Who were the chief teachers of this secondary law or traditions ? A. Antigonus of Socho was the first of them, who being an eminent scribe in the law of God, was president of the sanhedrim, or senate of the elders at Jerusalem, great master of the Jewish school, and a teacher of righteousness to the people, and ofthese traditions. Afterward all the teachersor doctors of the Jewish law were, in the New Testament, some- times called scribes, sometimes lawyers, or those who sat in Moses's seat. 9. Q. What special honour was paid to these men ? A. Besicles other respects spewed them by the people, who called them Rabbi, and highly'esteemed them, it was out of these doc- tors, that the great sanhedrim, or council of seventy-two, was chosen to govern the whole nation ; and the lesser council of twenty-three, which was in every city of Judea. Note, These were called rulers, or elders, or counsellors ; such were Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, and Gamaliel. Note, here also. That in the Jewish talmudical books, or their fabulous writings, on which we cannot depend, we are told, that about this time one Sadoc mistook the doctrine of Antigo- nus of Socho, his master, who taught, that " we ought not to serve God in a servile, manner, merely with respect to the re- ward : And inferred from hence, that there were no rewards after this life, and begun the sect of the Sadducees ; though it may be justly doubted whether this, and other dangerous doc- trines of this sect, arose so early among the Jews. 10. Q. Since the Jews were dispersed into so many coun- tries, did they not acquaint the Gentiles with their religion ? A. Yes ; for Ptolemy Soter set up a college of learned men at Alexandria, in Egypt, and began a library there; whichPtolemy Philadephus, his youngest son and successor, improved to one hundred thousand volumes : This prince is reported to have commanded the Hebrew law to be translated into Greek, to add to this library of his, that the gentiles might read it, and accord- ingly it was done. Note, This college of learned men was encoúraged, and the library increased by several Ptolemies successively, till it arose to seven hundred thousand books ; both these things made Alexandria a famous place of residence and resort for learned
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