LORD and SAVIOUR, yËSUS CHRIST. poffible pains to obftrufl than in the un- dertaking ; and, by corrupting the officers of Cyrus, prevailed fo far, That the work was interrupted for a confiderable time. After fome years, the Jews obtained ajrefh decree fromDarius, the third Perfian king from Cyrits, and the temple was finifhed and dedicated. But the city ofJerufalem lay in a ruinous condition, and the Jews remained under great contempt and various difcouragements, for about fixty years. At the end of this time, Divine Providence appeared for them, and raifed them up a friend in the perfon of Artaxerxes Long* menus, the Ahafuerus of the Scriptures. This prince, having exaltedaJewifh young lady, named Either, to be his queen, was a confiant favourer, of the Jews ; and fent Ezra, a prieft of greet learningand piety, from the Perfian court, to reform the abufes, and fettle the diforders that had arifen among them. And, in a few years afterwards, by the intereft of the queen, he fent his cup- bearer Nehemiah, to re- build the walls ofJerufalem, and continue and perfeft the reformationwhich Ezrahad begun. In the carrying on of this work, the Jews met with great oppofition from the Samaritans; and hence there arofe a mortal hatred between the two people. The Samaritans, in the contefl, werechiefly fupported by Sanballat the governor of Samaria; who having married his daughter to Manaffeh, the fon of the Jewifh high- prieft, prevailed fo far on Darius Nothus, the fucceffor OfArtaxerxes, that'he obtain- ed from him a grant to build a temple on mount Gerizim, near Samaria ; and `to make his fon-in -law high -prieft thereof. This was accordinglyeffefted, and intro- duced a change in the Samaritan religion for whereas they had, till now, only wor- {hipped the God of Ifrael, in conjunftiòn with-theirother deities, they now conform- ed themfelves to theworfhip ofthe true God 9 only, according to the law of Mofes, which was daily read in their new témple : from this time, the Cities of Samaria became places Of refuge for thofe Jews Who had been guilty of fuch crimes-as expofed them to punifhment,and thither theyfled to efcape the 'arm of juftice: Hence, in procefs of time, arofe a mongrel people, betwixt the Jews and Samaritans. The quarrel between them and the regular Jews ëontinued, and their hatred to each other remained at it's higheft pitch. And though John Hyrcanus, the fon of Simon Maccabees, deftroyed their temple, yet they continued a feparate worfhip from the .Jews. They acknow- ledged the authority of no other Scripture, than the five hooks of -Mofes, 'which they kept in a charatler peculiar to themfelves, faid'to be the old Hebrew chárafter, which was in ufe amongft the Jews before the Babylonilh captivity. Though they were remarkable for their flriftnefs in the obfer- vance of the rules of the law, yet they were more deteflable to the Jews, than were the heathen nations. When Jerufa- lemwas deftroyed by the Romans, about feventy years after the birth of CHRIST, whenthe temple was burnt,, and thewhole nation difperfed, the Samaritans remained in poffeffron of their country, and there they continue to this day. Such was theRateof religion'amongft the Jews, at the time of the birthof CHRtsT; nor were their morals in any refpea fupe- rior. Their religion chiefly confifted in externals, and, by their traditions, they ex- plained away molt of the excellent precepts of the moral law. Their great men were privately guilty of the molt fcandalous vices ; nor can it be fuppofed that the common people were more regular in their condur, or that they Ihould efcape the general corruption which univerfally pre- vailed in the land. No. t, C H A P T E R
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