the tithes of the increase of the land, as a reward for their service in the tabernacle. Num. xviii. 20, 32.

The PROPHETS were the divines, the philosophers, the instructors, and the guides of the Hebrews in piety and virtue. They generally lived retired, in some country retreat, or in a sort of community, where they and their disciples were employed in study, prayer, and labour. Their habitations were plain and simple. Eli'sha quitted his plough when Elijah called him to the prophetic office. 1st Kings, xix. 20. Zechari'ah (xiii. 5,) speaks of one who is no prophet but a husbandman. A'mos says (vii. 14,) he is no prophet, but a herdman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit.

Elijah was clothed with skins, and girded with a girdle of leather. 2d Kings, i. 8. Isa'iah wore sackcloth, that is, a course rough habit of a dark brown colour, which was the ordinary clothing of the prophets. Zechari'ah says (xiii. 4,) speaking of the false prophets, who imitated externally the true prophets of the Lord, that "they should not wear a rough garment to deceive." Eli'sha refuses the rich presents of Na'aman the Syrian, and drives away from his presence Geha'zi, who had received them. The angel gave to Elijah only bread and water for a long journey. 1st Kings, xix. 6. Obadi'ah, governor of Ahab's household, gave bread and water to the prophets whom he fed in the caves. 1st Kings, xviii. 7.

The prophets were not observers of celibacy; Sam'uel had children; and Isaiah had a wife, called the prophetess, viii. 3. Hose'a (i. 2, &c.) received orders to marry. But there were no women, or wives, in the societies of the prophets.

The title Seer occurs principally, if not exclusively, under the regal government of Israel, and appears to denote one appointed to record the events of the reign. Samuel in this sense was the first seer, or acknowledged official writer of annals. Gad, "David's seer;" He'man, "the king's seer;" Iddo," the seer;" and Jed'uthun, “ the king's seer," all seem to have occupied the post of regal historiographer. The writings of these seers are quoted in several parts of the Old Testament, under the title of the Books of the Prophets, and referred to as authoritie for certain histories.

The usual way by which God communicated his will to the prophets was by inspiration; but not unfrequently by dreams and visions. Peter (Acts, x. 11,) fell into an ecstasy at noon-day, and had a revelation importing the call of the Gentiles. The Lord appeared to Abraham, to Job, and to Moses, in a cloud, and delivered his will to them. His voice was sometimes articulately heard. He spoke to Moses in the burning bush, and on Mount Sinai, and to Samuel in the night.

From the time of Moses to that of Mal'achi, there flourished, during a period of more than one thousand years, a continued succession of prophets. Those whose writings have been transmitted to us in the Old Testament, are generally divided into two classes, the greater and the lesser, there being four of the former and twelve of the latter. The Jews assert that Daniel cannot properly be placed among the prophets, because (say they) he lived in the splendor of temporal dignities, and led a kind of life different from the other prophets.

Type signifies a person or thing, that prefigures something to come. The types of the Saviour were numerous, and he is the great anti-type, the substance of all figures and shadows.

A Covenant is an agreement between two or more parties. There are various covenants mentioned in Scripture; the principal of which are the Old Covenant, or Jewish Dispensation, and the New Covenant, or Christian Dispensation. Dispensation means the dealing of God with his creatures.

A Parable is a figurative or historical representation of the truth, illustrating something we do not know, by a statement of something we do know, to impress it more strongly on the mind.

Many of the expressions used in Scripture can only be properly understood by a reference to the customs in ancient times. When it is promised to him that overcometh, that the Lord will give him a white stone (Rev. ii. 17), the meaning is explained by the custom of those times, that when any person accused of crimes against the state, was tried by the suffrage of the citizens, they voted for his acquittal by a white stone, and for his condemnation by a black one. The term, therefore, implies a full

acquittal or justification. Our Lord says, "the son of man shall be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matt. xii. 40), whereas, he rose on the third day; but it was common with the Jews to reckon a part of a period of time as the whole; and the fact exactly accorded with the prediction, according to their usual mode of expression.

After the return of the Jews from captivity, and before the time of our Lord, they became divided into various religious parties. Of these RELIGIOUS SECTS, in the time of our Saviour, the Pharisees, or Separatists, held the first place, in point of numbers, riches, and power. They laid claim to superior sanctity; and as they were rigid and ostentatious in their observance of the most minute points of the ceremonial law, they obtained with the people a high reputation for devotion and piety. "They trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others." Luke, xviii. 9. They are supposed to have ex isted as a sect at least 150 years before Christ came. They wore broad Phylac'teries, and also enlarged the borders or fringes of their garments. In addition to the written law, they held the traditions as equally obligatory, which they said had been delivered to Moses on Mount Si'nai, and by him communicated to seventy elders, who transmitted them to posterity.

The Sadducees, so called from Sa'doc their founder, though a distinguished sect among the Jews, were far inferior to the Pharisees in number and influence. They maintained that the soul was mortal and died with the body; and that there was no resurrection, and no future state. They rejected the traditions of the Pharisees, but observed the written law with the utmost rigour. This sect probably arose a few years before the Pharisees.

The Hero'dians shaped their religion to please Her'od, complying with many heathen practices, and opposing the Pharisees. They may be considered rather as a political party, favouring the claims of Herod and the Romans, than a religious sect.

The Samaritans were the descendants of the nations whom the kings of Assyria settled in the country of the ten tribes, and who were intermixed with some of the people of Israel. They admitted the divine authority of

the Pen'tateuch, and although their religion was a compound of Ju'daism and Heathenism, they did not worship idols. There was great enmity between them and the Jews.

The Grecians, or Hel'lenists, were Jews or Proselytes, who, having generally resided in other countries, spoke only the Greek language, and used the Greek version of the Scriptures in their synagogues. They were thus distinguished from the Jews of Jude'a, who spoke a dialect of the Hebrew. By the Greeks, are in general meant all the idolatrous Gentiles. The Jews applied the name of Gentiles to all nations but their own, and the Greeks being the most celebrated of the Gentiles near Judea, that name came to be applied to the whole.

The Libertines were freed men of Rome, who, being Jews or Proselytes, had a synagogue or oratory for themselves.

The Sto'ics were a sect of heathen philosophers, who prided themselves in an affected indifference to pleasure or pain. They professed to consider virtue as its own reward, and maintained that all events were determined by fate, and not by the direction of the Divine Being. They held that a wise man ought to be free from all passions.

The Epicure'ans were a sect of heathen philosophers, who ascribed all things to chance, and considered pleasure as the chief good; but Epicu'rus asserted that there was no pleasure except in virtue.

The Galileans were a turbulent seditions sect among the Jews, who refused subjection to any other nation, and who by degrees swallowed up almost all other sects. Probably the Zealots were of this sect.

Gnostics is a term which does not occur in Scripture, but as it denotes a class of Heretics who appeared early in the Christian church, and who are repeatedly alluded to in the New Testament, it may be proper briefly to notice their errors. Those who combined the fancies of the oriental philosophy with Christianity were denominated Gnostics, a term derived from a Greek word signifying knowledge. They received only so much of the great truths of Christianity as coincided with their own notions of philosophy.

The Nicola'itans held many of the opinions of the Gnostics. CALMET-JONES-BICKERSTETH.

SECTION II.

HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE GEOGRAPHY:

CONTAINING HISTORICAL NOTICES OF THE VARIOUS COUN TRIES IN EUROPE, WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THEIR

CAPITALS.

Compiled from MALTE-BRUN, BELL, and various

other sources.

I.-England.

GREAT BRITAIN is divided into two unequal parts by the river Tweed, the Cheviot Hills, and the Solway Frith. England, the southern and larger portion, is in general level and highly cultivated, abounding in fertile fields. rich meadows, and waving woods. Its gentle undulatina plains, interspersed with castles and rural palaces, present many scenes of great opulence and beauty. Wales is wild and romantic, abounding in bleak mountains, with many beautiful vallies, and quiet villages. In manufactures, commerce, and maritime power, England is the first nation in the world. The principal manufacture is cotton, the annual exports of which amount to £37,000,000, sterling; —those next in importance, are woollen, cutlery, and silk.

When the Romans invaded Britain, 55 B. C., they found it divided into a number of petty independent states; which want of union facilitated the conquest of the country. The southern part of the island continued a Roman province for about four hundred years. When the distresses of the empire compelled the Romans to withdraw their armies, the defenceless Britons, unable to repel the furious inroads of their northern neighbours, the Scots and Picts, had recourse to the Saxons for assistance. but by inviting over these warlike tribes, they only subjected themselves to a new master. The Saxons took