Candidates for communion with them were in probation for three years, and when fully admitted, they were required to bind themselves to worship God, to practise justice, to conceal none of their mysteries from any of the society, and to communicate them to no other, even to save their lives. They despised riches, and held their property common; they were remarkably abstemious, ate at a common table, and were extremely plain in their apparel.

5. The Scribes among the Jews were not a particular sect, but transcribers of the sacred books; also persons who addicted themselves to literary pursuits: they were interpreters of the law and instructors of the people.

6. The Herodians were not so much a religious sect as a political party. They complied with many heathen practices to ingratiate themselves with Herod and his patrons the Romans.

7. The Galileans, or Gaulonites, appear to have been a turbulent political party among the Jews, rather than a religious sect. Their first leader was Judas, the Gali lean, Acts v. 37.

8. The Libertines, Acts vi. 9. were such Jews or proselytes as were free citizens of Rome, having a synagogue in Jerusalem peculiar to themselves.

CH. X.-HERESIES AND SECTS MENTIONED IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.

Ir will be evident to every reader of the New Testament, that during the apostolic age many pernicious heresies infested the infant churches. Some of them were introduced by judaizing teachers, who wished to incorporate the Levitical ceremonies with the simplicity of the gospel. Others arose from a false philosophy which was borrowed from the heathen, and which the apostle denounces as vain deceit, Col. ii. S. To draw up a detailed account of these pagan principles, would be unsatisfactory in itself and unsuitable to this work; yet it seems indispensable to give some short notices concerning the chief of them.

1. The Nicolaitanes have been supposed to have had Nicolas, one of the seven deacons, for their leader in false doctrine and immorality: but this seems contrary to his character, as declared by the evangelists, Acts vi. and we have no evidence that Nicolas, the deacon, ever departed from the faith of the gospel. These corrupters of religion were a kind of practical antinomians; they allowed themselves to participate in the sacrifices of the idolaters, and indulged in the vilest impurities, to the scandal of their profession, and to the destruction of their souls.

2. The Antichrists mentioned by the apostle, 1 John ii. 18. were certain heretical teachers, whose principles contradicted the true doctrines of the gospel. They were called Ebionites, from one Ebion; Cerinthians, from one Cerinthus ; and Gnostics, from gnosis, a Greek word signifying knowledge. Simon Magus, Acts viii. 9-24. is said to have been the parent of these heresies. It is difficult to ascertain precisely what doctrines these heretics taught; some making a distinction between Jesus and the Christ; some denying the divine nature of our Lord, and others his humanity; some rejecting his vicarious_atonement, and all disregarding his holy precepts. To refute and destroy their pernicious absurdities, the apostle John was inspired to write his gospel and epistles, testifying the proper Godhead, the real manhood, and the propitiatory sacrifice of our Lord and Saviour. John i. 1–3. 14. 1 John i. 1, 2. ii. 18—24. iii. 1. 3. 9, 10.

3. The Stoics, Acts xvii. 18. were pagan philosophers, the founder of whose sect was Zeno, who flourished about 350 years before the christian era. They affected a perfect indifference to both pleasure and pain, professing to believe that all things are governed by an irresistible necessity called fate, which was superior to the will of all their gods.

4. The Epicureans were another sect of philosophers, who were the disciples of Epicurus, an Athenian, who flourished about 300 years before the christian era. They taught principles the very opposite to the Stoics; they

ascribed all things to chance, and considered pleasure as the chief good.

CH. XI. FULFILLED Prophecies of the Bible.

THE evidence arising from the fulfilment of prophecy that the Bible was given by divine inspiration, is at once edifying to the believer and confounding to the infidel. "God in his goodness hath afforded to every age sufficient evidence of his truth. Miracles may be said to have been the greatest proofs of revelation to the first ages, who saw them performed. Prophecies may be said to be the great proofs of revelation to the last ages, who see them fulfilled." It does not comport with the design of this little manual to embrace all the predictions of the Bible: nor even the principal of those which relate to all the momentous subjects of prophecy. Those which relate to our Lord Jesus Christ alone would require a whole volume. It is designed to notice, and that as briefly as possible, only a few of those relating to nations and countries, the fulfilment of which is remarkable, and the proofs of which are manifest to all observers, even in our own days. For further information the reader is referred to Keith on the Evidence of Prophecy.

SECTION I.-THE ARABS.

The Arabs claim their descent from Ishmael, the son of Abraham. Concerning him, an angel of the Lord announced to his mother, before his birth: "I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. Behold thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; his hand shall be against every man, and every man's hand against him and he shall dwell in the presence of his brethren," Gen. xvi. 10-12.

The divine promise concerning Ishmael has been wonderfully verified. In a few years the family of Ishmael was so increased, that in Gen. xxxvii, we read of Ishmaelites trading into Egypt. His posterity was

multiplied exceedingly in the Hagarenes, probably so called from his mother Hagar; in the Nabatheans, who had their names from his eldest son Nebaioth; in the Itureans, so called from his son Itur; and in the Arabs or Saracens, who overran a great part of the world, and who remain to this day a numerous people. Ishmael himself subsisted by rapine in the wilderness; and his posterity, in every succeeding age, infested Arabia and the neighbouring countries by predatory incursions. Every petty chief, in his own district, considers himself a sovereign prince; and though seemingly divided, they are all united in a sort of league. They live in a state of continual war with the rest of the world, generally robbers by land and pirates by sea. And, as they have been such enemies to the rest of mankind, it can excite no surprise, that, in return, mankind have always been enemies to them. In every age, travellers have been obliged to traverse their country in caravans or large companies, with arms for their protection, and, to defend themselves from the assaults of these freebooters, to march with their sentinels, to keep watch like an armyso literally has the prediction been fulfilled, "his hand shall be against every man."

As to that part of the prediction which declares, "he shall dwell (or tabernacle) in the presence of his brethren," it has been remarkably fulfilled. The country of Ishmael is situated in that part of the globe where society originated, and the first kingdoms were formed. The greatest empires of the world arose and fell around them. They have not been secluded from correspondence with foreign nations, and thus through ignorance and prejudice remained attached to simple and primitive manners. In the early period of their history, they were united as allies to the most powerful monarchs of the east under Mohammed they carried their arms over the most considerable kingdoms of the earth: through successive ages the caravans of the merchant, and the companies of Mohammedan pilgrims, passed regularly over their deserts; even their religion has undergone several total changes. Yet all these circumstances, which it

might be supposed would have subdued the most stubborn prejudices, and have changed the most inveterate habits, produced no effect upon the Arabs; they still preserve, unimpaired, a most exact resemblance to the first descendants of Ishmael.

A sensible and penetrating eye-witness, after having lately visited an Arab camp, and examined their peculiarities, writes-" On the smallest computation, such must have been the manners of these people for inore than three thousand years." Thus in all things verifying the predictions given of Ishmael at his birth, that he in his posterity should be a wild man, and continue to be so, though they shall dwell for ever in the presence of their brethren. And that an acute and active people, surrounded for ages by polished and luxurious nations, should, from their earliest to their latest times, be still found a wild people dwelling in the presence of their brethren, as we may call these nations, unsubdued and unchangeable, is indeed a standing miracle-one of those mysterious facts which establish the truth of prophecy.

SECTION II.THE JEWS.

Moses, the appointed deliverer and venerable lawgiver of the Israelites, and many also of the prophets who succeeded him, foretold the future condition of the Jews. With a wonderful exactness they predicted their calamities and dispersion on account of their wickedness; and their preservation and ultimate recovery through sovereign mercy and divine goodness. Moses, foreseeing their apostacy and iniquities, wrote, by the direction of the Holy Spirit, the following among many other similar passages. "If ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments; and if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant; I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries into desolation; and I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you; and your land shall be desolate. And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a by-word, among all the