The Epistle of St. Jude was written by the apostle, who was also called Lebbaeus and Thaddaeus, he was the brother of James the Less, and excepting in the catalogue of the apostles, is only once mentioned in the Gospels. (John chap. 14, verse 22). The Revelation of John the divine, was written by the same Evangelist and Apostle who wrote the Gospels and Epistles bearing that name. The Revelation is a prophetical book, and was written by St. John, during his banishment to the isle of Patmos, in the time of Domitian. St. John is supposed to have been the youngest of the Apostles, and to have survived all the rest. He died at Ephesus in Asia Minor, in the third year of the emperor Trajan's reign, A. D. 100.--The Apostles were twelve good men, whom Jesus chose to be the ministers of his gospel. They were entrusted with the power of working miracles: and their names were, Simon Peter, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus (called also James the Less,) Thaddeus whose sirname was Jude, Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot.--After the death of Judas Iscariot who betrayed our Saviour, Matthias was chosen in his stead. The Disciples of Christ, were those who learned of him as their master. Thus, my dear, I have given you a short account of all the books contained in the sacred volumes. I will now mention to you, a few of the principal Jewish sects, and then proceed to some description of the history of that people. There does not appear to have been any difference of religious opinions among the Jews, till after the cessation of prophecy: most of them sprang up, subsequent to the return from the Babylonian captivity. The Scribes are not usually considered as a religious sect: they were writers of the law, and often perverted the meaning of the text, instead of explaining it. "Scribes," "doctors of the law," and "lawyers," were only different names for the same class of men. The Pharisees believed in the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the dead, and in a future state of rewards and punishments. "Trusting in themselves that they were righteous," they despised the rest of mankind, were entirely destitute of humility towards God, and paid more attention to outward ceremonies than to the duties of moral virtue. The Sadducees denied the resurrection of the dead, and the immortality of the soul; therefore, confining all their hopes to this present world, they devoted themselves to its pleasures, and only punished the crimes which disturbed the public tranquillity. The Nazarites, of whom we read in the Old and New Testament, were persons either devoted to God by their parents, or who devoted themselves for life, or for a limited time. The only three instances of Nazarites devoted to God by their parents before their birth, are Sampson, Samuel, and John the Baptist. The Herodians were partizans of Herod the Great.