mankind at large, but rendered them useful to all who wish to read so as to understand. Some of these have been addressed to the infidel, others to the scholar, and some to the plain unlettered christian. The number of the latter, it is true, has not been great; but what is deficient in quantity, is supplied by the very accurate information they impart. Such works want only to be generally known, to become universally esteemed. In the first rank of such writers, the Abbé Fleury, and Father Lamy, stand highly and deservedly distinguished; the former by his treatise entitled Mœurs des Israelites, (the book now before the reader) and the latter by his well known work, called Apparatus Biblicus. The former is allowed by competent judges to be the most accurate and useful treatise on the subject ever published. In 1756 the Mœurs des Israelites was translated by the Rev. Ellis Farneworth, and dedicated to the bishop of Litchfield and Coventry. How it was received I cannot tell, being long before my time; but if it sold in proportion to the merit of the work, and the fidelity of the execution, a considerable number must soon have been disposed of.-When I first thought of preparing a new edition of this work for the public, I intended to retranslate the original; but on reading over the translation of Mr. Farneworth, I was satisfied that a better one, on the whole, could scarcely be hoped for. In general the language is simple, pure, and elegant; and both the spirit and unction of the original are excellently preserved. I therefore made no scruple to adopt it, reserving to myself the liberty to correct what I thought amiss, and to add such notes as I judged necessary to the fuller elucidation of the work. As some judicious friends thought the original work rather too concise, and hinted that several useful additions might be made to it on the same plan, I was naturally led to turn to Father Lamy for materials; whose work, above mentioned, I considered as ranking next to that of the Abbé Fleury. From Mr. Bundy's edition, much of the fourth part of the present volume is extracted. Those points which I thought the Abbé had treated too concisely to make intelligible, I have considered more at large; and some subjects of importance, which he had totally omitted, I have here introduced. To the whole I have added a copious index, by which any subject discussed in the work may at once be referred to. I have now reason to hope, that every serious Christian, of whatever denomination, will find this volume a faithful and pleasant guide to a thorough understanding of all the customs and manners, civil and religious, of that people to whom GoD originally entrusted the sacred oracles. Without a proper knowledge of these, it is impossible to see the reasonableness and excellency of that worship, and of those ceremonies, which God himself originally established among the Israelites; and by which he strongly prefigured that glorious revelation under which we have the happiness to live. The late excellent bishop of Norwich, Dr. Horne, recommends this work in the following terms. "This little book contains a concise, pleasing, and just account of the manners, customs, laws, polity, and religion of the Israelites. It is an excellent introduction to the reading of the Old Testament, and should be put into the hands of every young person." DisCOURSES, val. i. This recommendation will have its due weight, both with the learned and the pious. TO THE SECOND EDITION. THE former edition of this work has been received by the British public, with such flattering marks of approbation as are highly honourable to the memory of its excellent author. In no common case has the public opinion been more correctly formed, nor more unequivocally expressed. The Editor too has had his share of the public approbation; and takes this opportunity of acknowledging his grateful sense of the praise bestowed on his part of the work. Actuated solely by the desire of doing good to his countrymen, and especially to the plain unlettered christian, he undertook a work from which he neither expected nor received any kind of emolument. He has, however, been amply rewarded by the satisfactory consciousness of having endeavoured to promote the study of those living oracles which testify of Jesus; and the conviction that his labour has been crowned with success. When he found from the rapid sale of the first, that a second edition would soon be called for, believing the work susceptible of still farther improvements, and consequently of being more useful to the public, he determined to spare no pains to render it fully worthy of that patronage, by which it had been already so highly favoured. Having now accomplished his design, as far as circumstances would permit, he thinks it proper to inform the reader what has been done, in order to furnish him with additional pleasure and instruction. 1. The translation has been collated with three copies of the original: the first edition published by the Abbé, Paris, 1681. 12mo. the Paris edition of 1736, 12mo. with additional references; and that in the OPUSCULES de M. l'Abbé FLEURY, tome i. à Nismes, 1780, 5 vols. 8vo. This collation has given rise to innumerable alterations and improvements of the translation. 2. The references, not only to the Scriptures, but also to the Greek and Latin writers, have been collated with the authors themselves, and a multitude of errors have been corrected which had been increasing with every edition of the work. 3. To render these references more serviceable to the reader, many of them have been produced at full length, accompanied with an English translation, where the matter appeared to be of considerable importance. 4. A great variety of notes have been added, to illustrate and confirm what is advanced in the text, and to make the meaning more easy to be understood. 5. Some supplementary chapters have been inserted, viz. On the Hebrew poetry.—Instruments of music among the ancient Hebrews.-Hindoo and Mohammedan fasts, purifications, &c. to illustrate those of the ancient Jews.-A short history of the ancient and modern Samaritans, which was certainly a desideratum in the former editions; together with a short sketch of the present state of the Jews, and a copy of their ancient Liturgy. 6. To the work, a Life of the Author is prefixed, which had not been done in the former English editions, and which, though short, will, it is hoped, serve to bring the reader more particularly acquainted with the amiable spirit of this excellent man. On the whole, the editor hopes the work will now more effectually answer the purpose for which it was formed, viz. to render the study of the Bible improving and delightful; and thus, especially to the young and inexperienced, prove an antidote against deism, irreligion, and impiety of all sorts. For, he thinks it would be impossible, even for a prejudiced mind to read over the history of this ancient people, and compare their political and ecclesiastical state with that of any other nation upon earth, without being convinced, that they had statutes and judgments, such as no other people could boast of, and such as the human mind could never have devised for itself; in short, that God was among them of a truth, and that THEY were the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. · ADVERTISEMENT TO THE THIRD EDITION. IN this new edition, I have carefully revised the whole work; added many notes for the farther elucidation of the different subjects; given a new arrangement of the Appendixes, which I have placed, not at the end of the chapters to which they refer, but at the end of that part of the work written by the Abbé Fleury. Some of these, especially that on the Hebrew poetry, I have new modelled and enlarged, and given a more copious index than before; and have printed the work in the 8vo form, with a larger letter, particularly for the benefit of elderly persons. I send, therefore, the Manners of the Israelites, a third time in to the public, with increasing claims on that attention and benevolence which have already been so signally exerted in its behalf. The notes which I have borrowed from Mr. Farneworth, I have marked with E. F. LONDON, March 25, 1809. |