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THE JEWS.

COXXXYV.

JHE pEws.

  
 
    

1S [HE Jews were still living
f S in their own land. They
had a king to rule over
them named Herod; but
they and their king were
under the power of the emperor of
Rome. The Romans were a very
ambitious and powerful people; and
they were now masters of almost
all the world.

The Jews kept their feasts, and
their sacrifices; but most of them
served God only outwardly; they
had no love, no faith, in their hearts.
Some of these Jews were called
Pharisees.

The Pharisees kept the law of
Moses, and attended to all the
ceremonies which he had com-
manded ; and because they did this,
they thought themselves very good,
and boasted of their goodness, and
stood in the street making long
prayers, “to be seen of men.” But
they had no real love to God.
They trusted in their own right-
eousness for salvation, not in the
blood and righteoysness of Christ;
and therefore they could not be ac-
cepted by God. Jesus told his dis-
ciples, that if their righteousness
was not greater than the righteous-
ness of the Pharisees, they could

 

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not enter Heaven; our own good-
ness will never take us there.

Others of Jews were called Sad-
ducees. They were wicked men,
They disbelieved many things which
are written in the Bible, saying that
there is no resurrection; neither
angel nor spirit; but that, when we
die, we shall pass quite away, and
never live again.

But there were a few of the Jews
who truly loved God, and read his
word, and believed in it.. They read
at Christ the Messiah should
come}; gmey knew that the time was
now very near, and they were wait-
ing and wishing for his appearance.

We, who are living now in a
Christian country, have much more
knowledge than the Jews had before
Christ came. We have more of the
Scriptures to read; we have the
New Testament, which tells us so
much of Jesus, and of the way to
Heaven. But if we only read of
Christ, and do not love Him; if we
only say we are the people of God,
and do not serve Him with our
hearts, then we are not better than
the Pharisees. God looks at the
heart; and if ¢hat is not renewed
by the Holy Spirit, we cannot be
ready for Heaven.