recognised as one of
the states or kingdoms of the world. We have now to trace a despised and
obscure race in almost every region of the world. We are called back,
indeed, for a short time to Palestine, to relate new scenes of revolt,
ruin, and persecution. Not long after the dissolution of the Jewish
state it revived again in appearance, under the form of two separate
communities--one under a sovereignty purely spiritual, the other partly
spiritual and partly temporal, but each, comprehending all the Jewish
families in the two great divisions of the world. At the head of the
Jews on this side of the Euphrates appeared the Patriarch of the West;
the chief of the Mesopotamian communities, assumed the striking but more
temporal title of Resch-Glutha, or Prince of the Captivity.

That Judaism should have thus survived is one of the most marvellous of
historic phenomena. But, for the most part, the populous cities beyond
the Jordan, the dominions of Agrippa, and Samaria escaped the
devastation; and, according to tradition, the sanhedrin was spared in
the general wreck.

After a brief interval of peace for the Jews scattered through the world
during the reign of Nerva, their settlements in Babylonia, Egypt,
Cyrene, and Judea broke out in rebellion against the intolerant
religious policy of the otherwise sagacious and upright Trajan. Great
atrocities were committed by revolting Jews in Egypt, and the
retaliation was terrible. It is said that 220,000 Jews fell before the
remorseless vengeance of their enemies. The flame spread to Cyprus,
where it was quenched by Hadrian, afterwards emperor. He expelled the
Jews from the island. When Hadrian ascended the throne, in 117 A.D., he
issued an edict which was tantamount to the total suppression of
Judaism, for it interdicted circumcision, the reading of the law, and
the observance of the Sabbath.

At this momentous juncture, when universal dismay prevailed, it was
announced that the Messiah had appeared. He had come in power and glory.
His name fulfilled the prophecy of Balaam. Barcochab, the Son of the
Star, was that star which was to "arise out of Jacob." Wonders attended
on his person; he breathed flames from his mouth which, no doubt, would
burn up the strength of the proud oppressor, and wither the armies of
the tyrannical Hadrian. Above all, Akiba, the greatest of the rabbins,
the living oracle of divine truth, espoused the claims of the new
Messiah; he was called the standa