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(q.v.), and the most eminent members of the highpriestly families. Joseph of Arimathea is called a counselor (Mark xv. 43; Luke xxiii. 50; Gk. bouleutes; boula occurs in Josephus, Ant., XIX., iii. 3 for the council itself). The high priest Caiaphas appears as president in the process against Jesus (Matt. xxvi. 3, 57) and the high priest Ananias (Acts xxiii. 2, xxiv. 1) in the time of Paul.

The traditional Jewish view was that a supreme court was created in the time of Moses, and that the great sanhedrin was its legitimate successor; but, though learned and diligent attempts have been made in modern times to defend this view, success has not attended them. Even if Jehoshaphat erected a supreme court which lasted till the exile (a doubtful fact; II Chron. xix.), such a judicatory did not exist in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, or it would have left some traces in the reports concerning the activities of these men. At the head of the community then were the "elders of the Jews" (Ezra v. 5, vi. 7, 14), also known as "princes" (Ezra ix. 1, 2, x. 8; Neh. ix. 38). From these "princes" was formed an aristocratic senate, at the head of which stood the hereditary high priest; and this body was known as the gerousia (from Gk. ger6n, "old man"), which appears under this name first in a writing of Antiochus the Great (Josephus, Ant., XII., iii. 3). The letter of Jonathan the Maccabee to the Spartans (I Mace. xii. 6) begins: "Jonathan the high priest, and the gerousia (senate) of the nation," etc., while I Mace. xii. 35 speaks of "the elders of the people" as called together. But there is no testimony as to the exact significance of the gerausia under the Maccabean kings, though it is probable that it continued to exist. Such continuance would easily explain the division by Gabinius (57-55 B.c.) of the Jewish territory into five districts ruled by synedria or synodoi (Josephus, Ant., XIV., v. 4; War, I., viii. 5), a division set aside by Caesar in 47, when to the sanhedrin at Jerusalem was given general jurisdiction over the entire land (cf. Josephus, Ant., XIV., ix. 3-5), before which Herod appeared and on which he afterward took bloody vengeance, although the sanhedrin continued to exist under his rule (Josephus, Ant., XV., vi. 2). Under Roman rule through procurators the sanhedrin had naturally great importance, receiving recognition even from Jews not in Palestine. Because of the singular significance, after the exile,of the law for Jewish life, the importance of the sanhedrin as the highest theological and national court of justice continually increased, and before it were decided causes which affected the entire civil life of the Jews.

Jewish tradition is summarized in the Talmudic tract Sanhedrin, the data from which supplement well the scanty data obtainable from other sources. It makes clear that the membership was seventyone, and it seems probable that the lesser sanhedrin had a membership of twenty-three. The place of session seems according to some reports to have been a hall inside the fore-court of the temple (Sanhedrin, xi. 2), but was really outside the court and to the west, as described by Josephus (below)

members are called bouleutai, "counselors," and the body itself bolds, "council." Josephus calls the

place of assemblage boule or bouleuterion (War, V., iv. 2, VI., vi. 3). The tract Chagiga, ii. 2, makes two Pharisees, heads of schools, normally the president and vice-president, and J. Levy and D. Hoffmann (see bibliography) have defended this view. But the testimony of the New Testament and of Josephus is decisive that the high priest was always the presiding officer. (H. L. STltnc$.)

with Germ. tranal. are in L. Goldschmidt, Der babylon. Talmud, vii. 1-610, Berlin, 1903.

Israel, ii. 380-396, Leipsic, 1855; J. Levy, in Monataschrii/t fur Geschichte and Wisaenaehaft des Judentums, 1855, pp. 266-274, 301-307, 339-358; J. M. Jost, Geachichte des Judenthuma, i. 120-128, 270-285, 403 sqq., ii. 13 sqq., 25 sqq., Leipsic, 1857-58; J. Langen, in TQ, 1862, pp. 411463; A. Kuenen, Over de SamenRelling van hel Sanhedrin, Amsterdam, 1866; J. Derenbourg, H iat. de la. Palestine, pp. 83-94, 465-468, Paris, 1867; D. Hoffmann, Der oberate Gerichtahof in der Stadt des Heiligthuma, Berlin,

1878; Stapfer, in Revue de th6ologie et de philosophie, 1884, pp. 105-119; H. Gritz, Geschichte der Juden iii. 100 sqq., Leipsie, 1888; Blum, Le Synhedrin ou grand conseil de J&uaalem, Strasburg, 1889; I. Jelski, Die innere Einr(ehtung des groasen Synedriona zu Jerusalem, Breslau, 1894; A. Hausrath Neuteatamentliche ZeitgescichEe, i. 63-72, Heidelberg, 1873, Eng transl., Hiat. of N. T. Times, London, 1895 M. Sulzberger, The Am ha-Aretz, the Ancient Hebrew Parliament; a Chapter in the constitutional History of ancient Israel, Philadelphia, 1910; Scharer, Geaehichte, ii. 188-214 Eng transl., Il., i. 163 sqq.; DR. iv. 397 102; BB, iv. 484014; JE, xi. 4114.

SANKEY, IRA DAVID: Methodist lay evangelist; b. at Edinburgh, Lawrence County, Pa., Aug. 28, 1840; d. in Brooklyn Aug. 14, 1908. He entered business at New Castle, Pa., 1855-71, and was active as choir-leader, Sunday-school superintendent, and president of the Young Men's Christian Association; met D. L. Moody (q.v.) in 1870 at the international convention of that body at Indianapolis. He joined Moody in 1871 at Chicago and for years was associated with him in joint revival work in the United States and abroad, his part being singing solos, conducting the singing of the assembly, composing "Gospel hymns," and rendering assistance in the inquiry-meetings. In later years he also lectured. In 1903 he lost his eyesight. He compiled Gospel Hymns (1875-95), and Sacred Songs and Solos (London, 1873, and often), of which over 50,000,000 copies were sold; translations have been made into many languages. He composed also many popular songs, of which are "There were ninety and nine," and "When the mists have rolled away." He is author of My Life and the Story of the Gospel Hymns and of Sacred Songs and Solos (Philadelphia, 1907).