Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/83

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 65 execution of the divine will had seldom been retarded CHAP, by the weakness of humanity. With the other nations ^^' they were forbidden to contract any marriages or alli- ances ; and the prohibition of receiving them into the congregation, which in some cases was perpetual, al- most always extended to the third, to the seventh, or even to the tenth generation. The obligation of preaching to the gentiles the faith of Moses, had never V been inculcated as a precept of the law, nor were the jews inclined to impose it on themselves as a voluntary duty. In the admission of new citizens, that unsocial people was actuated by the selfish vanity of the Greeks, rather than by the generous policy of Rome. The de- scendants of Abraham were flattered by the opinion, '^^ that they alone were the heirs of the covenant; and they were apprehensive of diminishing the value of their inheritance, by sharing it too easily with the strangers of the earth. A larger acquaintance with mankind extended their knowledge without correctinsf their prejudices; and whenever the God of Israel ac- quired any new votaries, he was much more indebted to the inconstant humour of polytheism than to the active zeal of his own missionaries '. The reliijion of Moses seems to be instituted for a particular country, as well as for a single nation ; and if a strict obedience had been paid to the order, that every male, three times in the year, should present himself before the Lord Jehovah, it would have been impossible that the jews could ever have spread themselves beyond the narrow limits of the promised land ™. That obstacle was indeed removed by the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem ; but the most considerable part of the Jewish religion was involved in its destruction ; and the pagans, who had long wondered at the strange report ' All that relates to the Jewish proselytes has been very ably treated by Basnage, Hist, ties Juifs, 1. vi. c. 6, 7. "■ See Exod. xxxiv. 23; Deut. xvi. 16; the commentators, and a very sen- sible note in the Universal History, vol. i. p. 603. edit. fol. VOL. II. F