as those who
have any thing new or extraordinary in their Characters, or Ways of
living. For this reason I have often amused my self with Speculations on
the Race of People called _Jews_, many of whom I have met with in most
of the considerable Towns which I have passed through in the Course of
my Travels. They are, indeed, so disseminated through all the trading
parts of the World, that they are become the Instruments by which the
most distant Nations converse with one another, and by which Mankind are
knit together in a general Correspondence: They are like the Pegs and
Nails in a great Building, which, though they are but little valued in
themselves, are absolutely necessary to keep the whole Frame together.

That I may not fall into any common beaten Tracks of Observation, I
shall consider this People in three Views: First, with regard to their
Number; Secondly, their Dispersion; and, Thirdly, their Adherence to
their Religion: and afterwards endeavour to shew, First, what Natural
Reasons, and, Secondly, what Providential Reasons may be assigned for
these three remarkable Particulars.

The _Jews_ are looked upon by many to be as numerous at present, as they
were formerly in the Land of _Canaan_.

This is wonderful, considering the dreadful Slaughter made of them under
some of the _Roman_ Emperors, which Historians describe by the Death of
many Hundred Thousands in a War; and the innumerable Massacres and
Persecutions they have undergone in _Turkey_, as well as in all
Christian Nations of the World. The _Rabbins_, to express the great
Havock which has been sometimes made of them, tell us, after their usual
manner of Hyperbole, that there were such Torrents of Holy Blood shed as
carried Rocks of an hundred Yards in Circumference above three Miles
into the Sea.

Their Dispersion is the second remarkable Particular in this People.
They swarm over all the _East_; and are settled in the remotest Parts of
_China_: They are spread through most of the Nations of _Europe_ and
_Africk_, and many Families of them are established in the
_West-Indies_: not to mention whole Nations bordering on
_Prester-John's_ Country, and some discovered in the inner Parts of
_America_, if we may give any Credit to their own Writers.

Their firm Adherence to their Religion, is no less remarkable than their
Numbers and Dispersion, especially considering it as persecuted or
contemned over the Face of the whole Earth. This is likewise the mor