J 
■feftival, when but very few of that perfuafion were abroad ; 
and, when the, foldiers burft open the doors of the houfes, 
the riches which (truck their view were the means of hav¬ 
ing the unfortunate Hebrew nation ; they difcontinued 
the carnage to think only of plunder ; the trinkets with 
which the women were adorned were torn from them, and 
they were expofed to all kinds of outrage. The plunder 
then became general; ferocious cries were followed by a 
death-like (Hence ; the ftreets were filled with men and 
■women palling in all directions with their booty, and in 
the courfe of three hours there was not the houfe of a Jew 
which was not (tripped to the bare walls. There are few 
cities in Europe, of equal extent, which contain fio much 
wealth as Algiers. It is generally agreed, that the plun¬ 
der carried off was immenfe. 
Thus have the unfortunate Jews continued to be fcat- 
tered, contemned, perfecuted, and enflaved, among almoft 
all nations, not mixed with any in the common manner, 
but as a body diitinCt by themfelves. While they are 
(landing witneffes cf the dreadful guilt of his murder, 
and of the truth of his divine predictions, they continue 
obftinate rejeCtors of Jel'us ; and' contrary to all means, 
liarlh or gaining, they improve their ancient ceremonies 
and covenant relation to God, as a means of hardening 
themfelves in their unbelief. About A. D. 1650, three 
hundred rabbins, and a multitude of other Jews, alfembled 
in the plain of Ageda in Hungary, and had a ferious dif- 
pute, whether the Mefiiah was come ? and whether Jefus 
of Nazareth was he ? Many feemed in a fair way to be¬ 
lieve the truth ; but the popilh doCtors prefent, by their 
mad extolling of the papal power, the wor(hip of the Vir¬ 
gin Mary and other faints, prevented it, and ilrengthened 
their prejudice againft the Chriltian faith. At prefent, 
their number is computed to be three millions ; one of 
which refides in the Turkilh empire 300,000 in Perfia, 
China, India on the eaft and weft of the Ganges, or Tar¬ 
tary ; and 1,700,000 in the reft of Europe, and Africa, 
and in America. 
The hiltory of this fingular race of mankind affords a 
peculiar fubjeCt for philofophical fpecplation. However 
blended with other national focieties, they ftill retain their 
primitive cuftonts. Banilliment, profcription, and tor¬ 
ture, have alternately been let loofe on them, with their 
attendant horrors, in every country on the earth ; but no 
alteration has it produced on the body at large; and the 
only national change of manners which they have under¬ 
gone appears to have taken place at their final difperfion. 
Before that time, their moft honourable employment, ex¬ 
cept that of the priefthood, was agriculture ; mercantile 
purfuits were then confidered menial; but now how dif¬ 
ferent ? how changed the fcene ! Difperfed over the whole 
world, they aft as "merchants, and nothing but merchants. 
Though this has been, in a great meafure, a matter of com- 
pulfion, in confequence of their inability in many coun¬ 
tries to become landholders; yet it is not wholly lo. 
They might rent land as well as houfes, if they were dif- 
pofed to cultivate the ground ; but it is contrary to then- 
policy. It feems more honourable, in the opinion of the 
lower clafs, to buy and fell an old hat, or a pair of (hoe- 
ftrings, than to apply to any mechanical employment. 
The opulent alfo are influenced by the feme principle; 
after having accumulated riches by the inferior branches 
of commerce, they at laft rife to the fummit, and become 
the principal dealers in the money-market; of which, in 
a body, they can almoft command the control. Tbefe 
obfervations are applicable to them wherever they refide. 
Whatever the cuftonts of the national inhabitants may be, 
it makes no difference in their manners. Whether they 
affociate amongft the Chinefe, or the Gentoos, the Maho¬ 
metans, or Chriftians, ftill they are the fame; the univerfal 
negociators of bufinel's between man and man. The.com- 
merce of the oriental parts of the world is principally 
conduced by thefe people; the Mahometans being too 
indolent to undertake the fatigue of it. The Jews are 
met with in all the trading cities from. Baffora to Hin- 
E W. 807 
dooftan, and hence gradually diftributed, though not fo 
numeroufly, over the greateft part of Afia. In all parts 
of Africa, from Egypt to Abyfiinia, along the coafts of 
the Mediterranean lea, and from Ethiopia to Morocco, 
we find them as numerous, and engaged in commercial 
affairs, as in every other country. But of all places, the 
Turkilh dominions have had the greateft number of them, 
until Europe had attained a (late of civilization, during 
the eighteenth century, which was unknown to former 
times. Conftantinople feems to have favoured them more 
than any other place; there was neither nobleman or 
merchant, Muffulman or Chriftian, who had not one of 
them in his pay, either as chief fteward, or as negotia¬ 
tor of all his affairs both at home and abroad. Then- 
knowledge of different languages renders them ufeful as 
interpreters on all occafions. They obtained alfo the pri¬ 
vilege of printing their books in that capital. At Thef- 
jfalonica, in Greece, they had alfo eftabliftied printings 
prelfes; fo that their books, which were before this time 
very fcarce and dear, were difperfed every where, and 
bought at an eafy rate. 
As thefe people enjoyed fo many privileges in the Turk¬ 
ilh empire, it may very properly be afked, why Judea, that 
once delightful country, under the fame government, 
(hould have comparatively but few inhabitants of their 
nation? The true reafon feems to be, that all its fertile 
dreams of milk and honey were evaporated, and their 
love for it had cooled in proportion. But their excufe 
for their averfion to it is curious 1 they generally believe 
that the city of Jerufalem is to be deftroyed by a fire from 
heaven at the coming of the Mefiiah; which is to be im¬ 
mediately l’ucceeded by a miraculous rain, which will ex- 
tinguilh it; for the purpofe of purifying the holy city, 
both with fire and water, from the pollutions which the 
Chriftian6, Mahometans, and Heathens, have committed 
in it. They alfo inform us that the fear of being in¬ 
volved in that dreadful conflagration and deluge, is the 
only motive which prevents them from refiding there. But, 
from whatever caufe it has originated, it is certain that 
no confiderable number of Jews have refided in Jerufalem, 
or any other parts of Paleftine, during feveral centuries 
pad. Atkins's Hiji. cf the Ifraelites. 
The Jews were always very anxious for preferving their 
genealogies entire and uninterrupted ; and this care on 
their part affords an argument of confiderable impor¬ 
tance with refpeft to the accomplifhment of thofe ancient 
prophecies that pertain to the Melfiah. Accordingly, in 
their facred writings we find genealogies carried on for 
above 3500 years. It is obferved (Ezraii. 62.) that fuch 
priefts as could not produce an exact genealogy of their 
families were not permitted to exercife their functions. 
Jofephus fays that they had, in his nation, an uninter¬ 
rupted fuccefiion of priefts for 2000 years ; that the priefts 
were particularly careful to preferve their-genealogies, 
not only in Judea, but alfo in Babylonia and Egypt; 
and that, wherever they were, they never married below 
themfelves, and had exact genealogical tables prepared 
i’rom thofe authentic documents which were kept at'Je¬ 
rufalem, and to which they had recourfe; and that, in ait 
their wars, perfections, and calamities, they always were 
diligent in fecuring thofe documents, and in renewing 
them from time to time. Jerome fays, that the Jews know 
fo perfectly the genealogies, that they can repeat all the 
names from Abraham to Zerubbabel as eafily as their 
own. Neverthelefs, fince the war cf the Romans againft: 
the Jews, about thirty years after the death of our Sa¬ 
viour, and fince their entire difperfion in the reign of 
Adrian, the Jews have loft their ancient genealogies; and 
perhaps there is not even one of the facerdotal race who. 
can produce authentic proofs of his genealogy. This^ 
circumftance has been alleged by Chriftian writers as a 
prefumptive proof of the actual advent of the Mefiiah, 
whofe genealogy, correfponding to ancient predictions, 
the Jews are no longer able to trace. 
Such Jews as received the gofpel in the apoftolic age a 
retained 
