estates. But what liberty did Judas mean? the liberty of executing their own laws? No, but an enthusiastic liberty of calling no man master, acknowledging no other ruler than God, and paying no taxest. Josephus expressly calls this man's opinion madness", and a change of their ancient laws and institutions; and informs us, that it was the beginning of a new sect among the Jews, the prevalency of which sect at length ended in the destruction of their city and templey. Some of the Jews, who gave too much ear to the doctrine taught by this man, and his companion Sadoc the Pharisee, and others, who knew not what a Roman census or enrolment was, were at first uneasy ; but, being per

Ἠπείγετο ἐπὶ ἀποστάσει, τήν τε ἀποτίμησιν οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἡ ἄντικρυς δουλείαν ἐπιφέρειν λέγοντες, καὶ τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἐπ ̓ ἀντιλήψει παρακαλοῦντες τὸ ἔθνος. Antiq. 1. 18. c. 1. §. I. p. 792. 1. 5.

* Μόνον ἡγεμόνα καὶ δεσπότην τὸν Θεὸν ὑπειληφόσι, θανάτων τε ἰδέας ὑπομένειν παρηλλαγμένας ἐν ὀλίγῳ τίθενται, καὶ συγγενῶν τιμωρίας καὶ φίλων, ὑπὲρ τοῦ μηδένα ἄνθρωπον προσαγορεύειν δεσπότην. Ibid. §. 6. p. 794. 1. 6. Ἰούδας—εἰς ἀπόστασιν ἐνῆγε τοὺς ἐπιχωρίους, κακίζων, εἰ φόρον τε Ρωμαίοις τελεῖν ὑπομένουσι, καὶ μετὰ τὸν Θεὸν ἴσουσι θνητοὺς δεσπότας. De Bell. Jud. l. 2. c. 8. §. τ.

u

̓Ανοίᾳ τε τῇ ἐντεῦθεν ἤρξατο νοσεῖν τὸ ἔθνος. Antiq. 1. 18. c. 1. §. 6. Ρ. 794. 1. 14.

* Οὕτως ἄρα ἡ τῶν πατρίων κίνησις καὶ μεταβολὴ μεγάλας ἔχει ῥοπὰς τοῦ ἀπολουμένου τοῖς συνελθοῦσιν. Ibid. §. 1. p. 792. 1. 30.

ν Ἦν δὲ οὗτος, σοφιστὴς ἰδίας αἱρέσεως, οὐδὲν τοῖς ἄλλοις προσεοικώς. De Bell. Jud. l. 2. c. 8. §. 1. Εἴ γε καὶ Ἰούδας καὶ Σάδδουκος τετάρτην φιλοσοφίαν ἐπείσακτον ἡμῖν ἐγείραντες, καὶ ταύτης ἐραστῶν εὐπορηθέντες, πρός τε τὸ παρὸν θορύβων τὴν πολιτείαν ἐνέπλησαν, καὶ τῶν αὖθις κακῶν κατειληφότων ῥίζας ἐφυτεύσαντο τῷ ἀσυνήθει πρότερον φιλοσοφίας τοιάσδε. Antiq. 1. 18. c. 1. §. 1. p. 792. l. 32. Vid. et l. 15—30. Méxpı dù καὶ τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐνείματο πυρὶ τῶν πολεμίων ἥδε ἡ στάσις, 1. 29. Ληστηρίων δὲ μεγάλων ἐπιθέσεσι καὶ διαφθοραῖς ἀνδρῶν τῶν πρώτων, 1. 20. The Latrones and Sicarii were of this sect. Vid. de Bell. Jud. 1. 7. c. 8. §. 1, 2. et c. 10. §. 1.

suaded by Joazar the high priest, they came into it without further hesitation".

It is further objected, that although the Jews were allowed the liberty of their own laws, yet the execution of them was in the hands of the Romans; that the Roman governor sat as judge, and by the advice of assessors, skilled in the Jewish laws, gave

sentence.

In answer to this, it is fully evident from what has been already said, that where the Romans allowed a people the liberty of their own laws, they also allowed them their own magistrates. Thus was it not only in the freest places, such as Nemausus and Massilia, but where the liberty granted was more restrained, as in Asia and Sicily, which appears from the express words of Tully, that have been already quoted. That thus also it was in Ju

Judas stirred up the Jews to rebellion, telling them that the Roman census would bring nothing less than plain servitude upon them; and had he gone no further than this, his sentiments were exactly the same with those of the senate themselves, which we have before quoted from Livy. Οἱ δὲ, καίπερ τὸ κατ' ἀρχὰς ἐν δεινῷ φέροντες τὴν ἐπὶ ταῖς ἀπογραφαῖς ἀκρόασιν, ὑποκατέβησαν τοῦ εἰς πλέον ἐναντιοῦσθαι, πείσαντος αὐτοὺς τοῦ ἀρχιερέως Ιωαζάρου.—καὶ οἱ μὲν, ἡττηθέντες τοῦ Ἰωαζάρου τῶν λόγων, ἀπετίμων χρήματα, μηδὲν ἐνδοιάcartes, Antiq. 1. 18. c. 1. §. 1. p. 791, fin.

a Huber. Diss. l. 1. c. 5. §. 7. p. 29, 30. Lardn. Cred. vol. 1. P. 152, fin.

b Quod civis Romanus a Siculo petit, Siculus judex datur, &c. in Ver. 1. 2. §. 13. Sibi libertatem Græci censent datam, ut Græci inter se disceptent suis legibus. Ad Attic. 1. 6. ep. 1. p. 909. a fin. Græci exultant quod peregrinis judicibus utuntur, p. 909. b. pr. Omnes suis legibus et judiciis usæ avtovouía adeptæ revixerunt. Ibid. ep. 2. p. 911. a. med. I think it is evident from these last words of Tully, that unless they had the administration of the laws in their own hands, i. e. had their own judges as well as

dæa, even in capital cases, Pilate himself is witness. He says to the Jewish magistrates in the case of our

their own laws, the Greeks did not esteem it to be airovouía. And I doubt not but the same may be made fully to appear from the use of the word in Greek authors. Nothing is more certain than that the possessing αὐτονομία is of the same import as νόμοις χρῆσθαι τοῖς ἰδίοις. But how can a people be said to have the use of their own laws that have not the administration of them in their own hands? If others administer them, it is possible, indeed, the people may have the benefit of them, but they cannot be said to have the use of them; it is others that use them in their behalf. When Polybius says, Απέδωκαν δὲ καὶ Φωκαιεῦσι τὸ πάτριον πολίτευμα, Livy expresses it thus, Et ut legibus antiquis uterentur, permissum. No one will dispute that the Greek of Polybius implies the administration of their laws. Livy judges it to be equivalent to say, the use of their laws. Vid. Excerpt. Leg. 36. p.844. fin. et Liv. 1. 38. c. 39. It is also certain that the words exevbepía and avrovoμía are promiscuously used by Greek authors as signifying one and the same thing. Thus Diodorus Siculus, what he calls aurovoμíav, p. 296, A. he calls êλevtepíav, p. 297, pr. And it is certain that he meant hereby that the Sardinians had their own magistrates as well as their own laws. And Josephus, when he tells us that the Jews petitioned that their country might be annexed to the province of Syria, because they earnestly desired autovouíav, expresses it in one place by the word ἐλευθερία, μάλιστα μὲν ἐπιθυμοῦντες ἐλευ θερίας, καὶ ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων στρατηγῷ τετάχθαι. Antiq. 1. τ7. c. 9. 5. 4. prop. fin. One article of the peace after the second Punic war was, according to Polybius, that the Carthaginians eoi kaì vóμois Xpñobaι Tois idlas. This in Livy is expressed thus: Ut liberi legibus suis viverent. Vid. Polyb. 1. 15. p. 705. Liv. 1. 30. c. 37. That the Romans granted the privilege of having their own magistrates to all those places to which they granted exevbepía, or to be free states, is fully evident from the words of Tully before quoted: Omitto jurisdictionem in liberam civitatem, contra leges senatusque consulta. In Pison. And when it is said in the places above cited that liberty was taken away from the Lycians, Rhodians, and Cyzicenians, because they had imprisoned and put to death Roman citizens, did not this liberty consist in having their own magistrates as well as their own laws? Why were the an

Saviour, Take ye him, and judge him according to your law. And afterwards, the Jews not being able to prove the sedition and treason of which they had accused him, to the satisfaction of Pilate, he says, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him. I, having heard the cause, cannot perceive that he has committed any crime worthy of death. If he be an offender against your law, take him and punish him yourselves, as you think he deserves.

There was so great a difference between the Roman and Jewish laws, that Tacitus avers they were just contrary the one to the othere. And it is very certain that many things were by the Jewish laws made capital crimes, which were by the Romans esteemed most innocent; such in particular as sabbath-breaking, enticing to idolatry, worshipping the host of heaven, the having a familiar spirit, or being a wizard, and blasphemyf. And there were other things punished with death by the Jews, which, although not reckoned innocent, yet met with a more favourable treatment among the Romans; such as

cient municipia said to be more free than the colonies, (vid. Aul. Gell. l. 16. c. 13.) but because they had their own magistrates and their own laws? How otherwise could they have been republics distinct and separate from the Roman people? Vid. Fest. in voc. municeps.

e Moses, quo sibi in posterum gentem firmaret, novos ritus contrariosque cæteris mortalibus tradidit. Profana illic omnia, quæ apud nos sacra; rursus concessa apud illos, quæ nobis incesta. Hist. 1. 5. n. 4.

f Numb. xv. 35. Deut. xiii. 5-9. xvii. 2—5. Levit. xx. 27. xxiv. 16. Misna, tit. Sanhed. c. 7. Vid. Seld. de Syned. 1. 2. c. 13. §. 4. p. 1501.

incest, adultery, sodomy, &c. Is it in the least probable that a Roman governor would put such laws as these in execution, so directly contradictory to his own sentiments of things? When the Jews told Pilate, that by their law Jesus ought to be put to death, because he made himself the Son of God", we find that it made not the least impression on him to the disadvantage of our Saviour. He was far from thinking this a crime deserving of death. When therefore he was prevailed with, against his own conscience, to execute him, it was not for any offence against the Jewish law, but for the pretended crime of sedition and treason against the Roman state. In like manner, when a Roman soldier had torn the sacred books, adding blasphemy and scoffs to what he was doing, Cumanus the governor would fain have screened him from the punishment denounced against such in the law of Moses, not judging it a crime that merited death1. These instances sufficiently confirm the foregoing reasoning, and make it fully evident, that had the execution of the Jewish laws been left to the Roman governor, the punishments denounced would in many, I think I may say most cases, have been wholly omitted, or very much lessened.

The instance last mentioned may possibly be thought by some k a proof that the Jews had not

s Levit. xx. 10-16. Deut. xxii. 13-21. Seld. de Syned. p. 1501. 1. 38. §. 2, 3. ff. ad Leg. Jul. de Adult. Voet. in Pand. 1. 48. tit. 5. n. 20. Vinn. in Instit. de pub. Judic. §. 4. n. 2. Pauli Sent. 1. 2. tit. 26. §. 12—15. cum notis; et l. 5. §. 4. n. 10. in Scult. Jurisp. vetus.

h John xix. 7.

i Jos. Antiq. 1. 20. c. 4. §. 4.

k Vid. Lard. Cred. vol. 1. p. 159.