[Footnote 3:  I dare not decide upon the age of those buildings, nor consequently affirm that Jesus taught in any of them.  How great would be the interest attaching to the synagogue of Tell-Houm were we to admit such an hypothesis!  The great synagogue of Kefr-Bereim seems to me the most ancient of all.  Its style is moderately pure.  That of Kasyoun bears a Greek inscription of the time of Septimus Severus.  The great importance which Judaism acquired in Upper Galilee after the Roman war, leads us to believe that several of these edifices only date back to the third century—­a time in which Tiberias became a sort of capital of Judaism.]

[Footnote 4:  2 Esdras viii. 4; Matt. xxiii. 6; Epist.  James ii. 3; Mishnah, Megilla, iii. 1; Rosh Hasshana, iv. 7, etc.  See especially the curious description of the synagogue of Alexandria in the Talmud of Babylon, Sukka, 51 b.]

[Footnote 5:  Philo, quoted in Eusebius, Praep.  Evang., viii. 7, and Quod Omnis Probus Liber, Sec. 12; Luke iv. 16; Acts xiii. 15, xv. 21; Mishnah, Megilla, iii. 4, and following.]

[Footnote 6:  [Greek:  Archisunagogos].]

[Footnote 7:  [Greek:  Presbyteroi].]

[Footnote 8:  [Greek:  Huperetes].]

[Footnote 9:  [Greek:  Apostoloi], or [Greek:  angeloi].]

[Footnote 10:  [Greek:  Diakonos].  Mark v. 22, 35, and following; Luke iv. 20, vii. 3, viii. 41, 49, xiii. 14; Acts xiii. 15, xviii. 8, 17; Rev. ii. 1; Mishnah, Joma, vii. 1; Rosh Hasshana, iv. 9; Talm. of Jerus., Sanhedrim, i. 7; Epiph., Adv.  Haer., xxx. 4, 11.]

[Footnote 11:  Inscription of Berenice, in the Corpus Inscr.  Graec., No. 5361; inscription of Kasyoun, in the Mission de Phenicie, book iv. [in the press.]]

[Footnote 12:  Matt. v. 25, x. 17, xxiii. 34; Mark xiii. 9; Luke xx. 11, xxi. 12; Acts xxii. 19, xxvi. 11; 2 Cor. xi. 24; Mishnah, Maccoth, iii. 12; Talmud of Babylon, Megilla, 7 b; Epiph., Adv.  Haer., xxx. 11.]

With the extreme activity of mind which has always characterized the Jews, such an institution, notwithstanding the arbitrary rigors it tolerated, could not fail to give rise to very animated discussions.  Thanks to the synagogues, Judaism has been able to sustain intact eighteen centuries of persecution.  They were like so many little separate worlds, in which the national spirit was preserved, and which offered a ready field for intestine struggles.  A large amount of passion was expended there.  The quarrels for precedence were of constant occurrence.  To have a seat of honor in the first rank was the reward of great piety, or the most envied privilege of wealth.[1] On the other hand, the liberty, accorded to every one, of instituting himself reader and commentator of the sacred text, afforded marvelous facilities for the propagation of new ideas.  This was one