What was the splendour of the Princes of the Captivity, and what was the condition of the Jews in the East?

A. D. 522.

During this period, the Princes of the Captivity obtained a degree of splendour and authority, unrivalled among the Jews since the destruction of Jerusalem. The tribute which was paid to the prince by the Jews under his controul, must have been very great from the almost regal magnificence of his court, and proves that many of his people must have been possessed of no inconsiderable opulence. And although violent persecutions were occasionally raised against the Jews by the Persian monarchs, in one of which the Prince of the Captivity for the time being, and the president of his council, were ignominiously hanged upon a bridge, yet there is reason to believe, that their aggregate numbers greatly increased, and that they found their way into the remotest countries of the East, to India, to Tartary, and even to China. At the same time, in every place they retained their distinctive opinions, peculiarities, and manners; their attachment to the ritual of the law was undiminished; they cherished the expectation of the advent of the Messiah; and whether on the shores of the Pacific or Atlantic Oceans, whether among the Magi and remote idolaters of the East, or among the Christian nations and barbarous hordes of the West, their principles and their prejudices were professed with inflexible pertinacity, the festivals of their religion were celebrated with the same order, and they remained every where monuments of the righteous vengeance, and yet of the preserving providence, of their

God.

SECTION III.

THE JEWS IN ASIA, SPAIN, AND FRANCE.

WHAT treatment did the Jews receive from Mohammed?

WHEN the false prophet Mohammed had commenced the subjugation of the East and the propagation of the principles of the Koran at the point of the sword, the Jews soon felt the full force of his hatred, and were called to endure the most barbarous inflictions of his cruelty. He denounced them as betrayers A. D. 624. and murderers of the prophets, and a people justly cursed by God for their violation of his sabbaths and laws. Upwards of a century before the birth of Christ, the Jews were numerous in Arabia, they founded a kingdom in Yemen, and even when

A. D. 521. their power was comparatively broken, they maintained their independence in separate and formidable tribes. But the success of Mohammed involved if not their extermination, the vast diminution of their numbers; and had his successors in the Caliphate imitated his example, the horrors of the age of Titus and of Adrian would have been revived.

What was the state of the Jews under the Caliphs?

The Caliphs extended their protection to the Jews, the Prince of the Captivity was recognized as the vassal of the sovereigns of Bagdad, their schools abundantly flourished, and official duties both of dignity and responsibility were sometimes committed to their care. But the scene was soon reversed. The real or imaginary riches of the Jews, excited the cupidity of the Oriental sovereigns; Hezekias, the last of the Princes of the Captivity was, in the eleventh century, put to an ignominious death; the Babylonian schools were closed, and every despot regarded the unhappy Jews as the legitimate victims of cruelty or avarice.

Did the Jews afterwards flourish in the East?

In most of the cities of the East, they carried on a considerable trade; although in Jerusalem and Judæa, but a very few of their number were permitted to drag on a miserable existence, in Mohammedan Egypt, they were both wealthy and numerous; the king of Chozar, a Tartarian region, is said to have been converted to their faith, and to have established their religion; and amidst all the tremendous revolutions which have continually agitated Mohammedan empires, and have so often changed the geography of the world, the Jews have been so remarkably preserved, undiminished in their numbers, that it is impossible not to acknowledge the special providence of God.

What has been the history of the Jews among the Orientals to the present day?

A. D. 1666.

When they were proscribed in almost every country in Europe, they were permitted to find an asylum in the Ottoman dominions; the Jew was treated with greater complacency than the Greek, and was permitted in comparative security to carry on his operations of usury or commerce. In other Mohammedan countries, however, the Jews have sustained the severest persecutions. In Persia, in the reign of Abbas the Second, it was determined that the whole Jewish nation should be destroyed, the massacre began at Ispahan and extended through all the provinces of the kingdom, and in three years every Jew had either fled from the country, or embraced Islamism, or was slain. They seem soon to have recovered from this dreadful blow, and they are now found in every trading city from the Persian Gulph to Georgia, from the Indies to the Mediterranean Sea.

What is the general character of the history of the Jews in Europe?

The history of the Jews in Europe is replete with "mourning, lamentation, and woe.'

Recite the history of the Jews in Spain.

In SPAIN, as early as the seventh century, the most cruel and abominable laws, especially in the twelfth

council of Toledo, were enacted against the Jews. But when the Moors hurled the Gothic kings from the Spanish throne, the Jews were permitted to participate in the riches and glory of the conquerors; they were allowed to assume the official dignities of the state; they translated the Talmud into the Arabic language for the convenience of their schools; and their unfettered commerce enabled them to increase their importance and opulence. The imprudence of a Jew in the Moorish capital of Grenada, who attempted to gain proselytes from the mosque to the synagogue, aroused the vindictive rage of the Mohammedans; the Christian monarchs of Spain soon followed the sanguinary example, and the whole kingdom was deluged with blood. By the persuasions and bigotry of the clergy, and by the avaricious cupidity of the princes, incessant persecutions were excited; and the Jews were maimed, tortured, and butchered as though they were completely alienated from the common rights of humanity. When Ferdinand and Isabella united the provinces of Spain in one great monarchy, the Jews were abandoned to the accursed, horrible, and infernal tribunal of the inquisition; they were taken by thousands to the dungeon, and by hundreds to the stake; their miseries were multiplied beyond all precedent and all description; at length they A. D. 1492. were commanded either to embrace the Catholic faith or to leave the kingdom in four months; they chose, with magnanimity most admirable and extraordinary, to endure any sufferings rather than abandon the religion of their fathers; their property, their homes, their synagogues, eight hundred thousand Jews sacrificed to their principles; the most infamous barbarities were perpetrated upon the unhappy multitude, and the calamity may be compared with the capture of Bither or the destruction of Jerusalem. The abominable and cruel bigotry which has ever since prevailed in Spain, has rendered it impossible for the Jews to increase in any considerable numbers, or publicly to make a profession of their faith.

Recite the history of the Jews in France.

Regulations appear to have been made respecting the Jews in FRANCE from the reign of Clovis the

A. D. 1234,

founder of the monarchy. Childebert forbade them to appear in the streets of Paris from A. D. 540. Thursday in the holy week until Easter Sunday, and the same law was enacted in the same year by the council of Orleans. The early sovereigns of France, particularly Chilperic and Dagobert, endeavoured to ingratiate themselves with the clergy and the people by the persecution of the Jews, although they were protected and even favoured by some of the kings of the race of Charlemagne. Thus the physician and confidant of Louis the Debonnaire was a Jew, and the easiest way to gain the royal favour was to apply through his medium. But the Jews were soon involved in the most dreadful calamities. In the reign of Philip Augustus, all their immovable goods were confiscated, their movables were ordered to be sold, and they were commanded to quit the kingdom. But twenty years afterwards, so useful and necessary had they made themselves to their oppressors, that they were suffered to return, and some new laws were made to regulate their usurious and commercial transactions. In the reign of Louis IX. commonly called St. Louis, their miseries again became intolerable; one third of all debts due to them was annulled; in Paris and in other cities of the kingdom, the populace rose upon them and many were slain; they were intirely banished from Brittany; as many of their sacred books as could be burnt were committed to the flames, and a brand of degradation was affixed to their dress. In the reign of Philip the Fourth, they were again expelled the kingdom, while the greatest part of their possessions was ruthlessly seized by their oppressors. When Louis the Tenth succeeded to the throne, they were permitted to purchase their return for twelve years; but they were soon afterwards exposed to the murderous brutalities of gangs of peasants, who under the name of shepherds, massacred them from one end of the kingdom to another. At one place, Chinon, a hundred and sixty were burnt alive at the same time. A third time they were expelled, and a third time they were permitted to return, to be exposed to the most cruel and tyrannical exactions. After, however, a long series of dreary and miserable years, and after thousands of Jews had been destroy