word of God which I mentioned in the Revelations where the Angel preacheth unto every kindred and tongue I dare not exempt the very Cannibal-Indians called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or man-devourers Yea surely before these mens day of judgment cometh the Gospel will be made known by one means or other although for the present the most part as is supposed of this new American world remaineth in total obscurity It may be that the instruments that the Lord will make use of for their conversion are some of them yet unborn And therefore the Prophet Isaiah saith And the Isles shall wait for thy Law They doe grope in the dark as yet and God knows when their time is covenient the Lords wayes are unsearchable And therefore an old Portuguise could take notice of the great wisdom of God that even against wind and stream the Lord did carry one of their Carracks being bound for Carthagena to load with bars of silver unto a Barbarian Island to which they never deemed to have arrived who by this means are now become joyful hearers and doers of the world of God So that the Isles must wait Gods time and he will teach them his statutes Now some perhaps will say But does not the Apostle write that the Gospel hath already been preached unto all the world It is true that so far as men were to be found I do believe the preaching of the Gospel did then extend it self But further to clear this we doe find this recorded That although Thomas the Apostle chose Parthia Matthew Ethiopia Bartholomew India wherein to preach glad tidings yet the middle India being inhabited of many rude and barbarous nations did not receive the least knowledge of the Christian faith until the good reign of Constantine the Great which was almost 300 years after St. Pauls writing And therefore it is true and well called the whole known world But for this part of the world by some called the New-world considering its large bounds was never known unto any Age that we can read of untill some hundreds of years since Christ And therefore our best Geographers call a great part of it Terra incognita But above all these things I should think that this joyful newes from neer that most excellent Nation of China namely from Formosa that rich East-Indian Island of many thousands of them their forsaking the worshipping of idols and their happy conversion to Christian faith should take men off from those vain words that the day of consummation of all things is at hand If God doe this by the Heathens do you think that God will not doe much more for his antient people although for the present many of them heathenized Shall Israel despair because God bath hidden his face a while in the cloud Perhaps some curious Momus may repine and say that the conversion of those neer China to the faith was instrumentally accomplished by the Popish faction and therefore they are in no better condition then when they did worship the Devil and his suggestions To this I shall only use the Apostle S. Pauls moderate answer in such a case That whether in truth or in pretence so Christ be preached I doe rejoice yea and I will rejoice But that this Conversion of the Formosan Indians was not to the Popish but the Reformed Christian religion it is thus testified by Alvarus a Jesuite himself in his Relation of China par 1. chap. 2. printed at Rome 1643. Molto sent convertin ma alla fede Calvinistica c. that is Many were converted speaking of Formosans but saith he to the Calvinistical faith induced by Holland Ministers and lived vertuously Thus affirms Alvarus the Jesuite He that is one of the chosen and faithful servants of God although Christ be preached to the Infidels by dissembling Jesuites yet will joy and be glad abundantly and would beg of God that he would in this self-seeking age raise up the affections of his Saints and servants to use the whole body and soul in the propagating of the Gospel and that they may thereby as well of Jews as Gentiles adde unto the number of the Church such as shall be saved For doubtless let all the Devils in hell contribute their whole strength to the impediting of this work already begun in the Indies yet God will never leave it untill he hath performed all his promises made in the Scripture both to the Jew and Gentile Oh what great consolation should this be to those that cry How long Lord shall be the desolations of thy Zion when they have it confirmed to them that such secure and lofty Idolaters should by the mercy of God be brought so humble as to see their own baseness and be ashamed of their own doings and now doe begin to worship the true God that made the heaven the earth and the sea with all that therein are This is that Imperial Monarch who doth account of all the world but as slaves in comparison of them This is that potent people that entitle themselves in their regal denominations Lord of the world and son of heaven This is that most curious people from whom this Western world received their art of Printing Needle-work and other rare Sciences and now doe receive from us that most excellent and supernatural science to know the onely true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent And this is a mercy indeed which should make us to cry out with the Apostle Oh the depth of the riches of the love of God how unsearchable are his wayes and his judgments past finding out And that the Lord should so far prefer mercy before his judgment that he did not to this people as he did to Tyre and Zidon and other lofty places and nations but in stead of overthrowing these careless livers declared unto them the glad tidings of repentance and remission of sins Therefore whosoever it is that does determine seasons and times I desire him to look to it for although God doe reveal himself in great measure in these our days yet there were never more deceitful suggestions in the world then are now according to the prediction of our blessed Saviour that such dayes would come But in so doing a man doth rob God of his prerogative which to him doth alone belong to know the times and seasons and to know the approach of that great and terrible day of the Lord who shall then unmask all false Prophets and separate the sheep from the goats But to the main business in hand it now stands me in stead to prove the calling of the Jews to be a sound truth and no fancie And first for Scripture in Dent. 32.26 I said I would scatter them into corners and make their remembrance to cease from among men c. Now here by this men will generally grant that Israel is dispersed and driven into far countries Now for their return I will first cite that place in Jer. 16. Behold I will
eorum gemitum audiebat Vos verò eorum filii servitutem passi fuere spiritualem ter quadringentis annis insuper necdum liberati eritis tamdiu negligitis Dominum vehementer supplicare qui ne procul sit ab unoquoque invocante Nonne ista optatio maledicta vestra satisque satis descendit in gentem Hebraeorum Sanguis ejus super nos super filios nostros Apud nos hodie restat quiequam vestrae gentis honoratissimus propter fidem ejus qui assidue pro vobis orat ut Dominus Deus ipse jam loqueretur sat est ut vos adhuc credatis in illo qui non vidit corruptionem Jesus de Nazareth quem patres vestri inique tanquam ignare occiderunt qui cum incarnatus fuit secundum illam praedictionem Moysis Deut. 18.15 multis modis tanquam Moysen vestrum optimum Prophetam per cujus legem non potestis justificari â caecitate cordum vestrorum Iterum patres vestri resistiterunt illum sicut olim Moysen ipsi atque vos miseri aestimantes ejus Impostorem Nonne nunc impleta fuit isthaec prophetia Isa 53. v. 12. Et cum sceleratis reputatus est Paupertas ejus parentum scandalum fuit vestris patribus Vid. idem caput Non est species ei nec decor Et paulo post Nec reputavimus eum Eam humilitatem in ejus conversatione ne omnino patres vestri afficiebant Vid unum exemplum Zach. 9.9 Jesus Rex vester qui potens fuit in opere sermone coram Deo omni populo magnus in benefactis multos curavit à languoribus spiritibus malis caecis multis dâ—navit visum mortuos resurgit Vid. Isa 42. v. 7. Qui cum moriturus fuit quasi agnus coram Todentese obtumescet non aperiet os suum Circa quod tempus omnia oracula Ethnicorum cessabant responsum dare velum Templi scissum est in duo à summo usque deorsum tunc illum invenerunt crederunt qui non quaesierunt Omnia haec è contra patres vestri O Judaei viderunt at non corda habuerunt in illo credere necdum vos miseri sed in revera erant isti contemptores Vid. Habac. 1. v. 5. Atque vos similiter usque in praesentem diem Nos Christiani credimus auroram vestram evangelicam appropinquare sin diligenter Scripturas scrutamini perspicuè videbitis vestram miserrimamque conditionem tenebrosam tanto prope tempus sit vestrae redemptionis quanto alterutroque conversatis de fide Christiana Denique vehementer desidero ut hoc libellum maxime de decem Tribubus significans publicatur legatur in omnibus vestris Synagogis atque nos interdum orabimus nostrum vestrum Elohim corda vestra obdurata aperire oculos vestros illuminare ut aspicietis in illum quem confixistis plangatis eum quasi planctum super unigenitum Atque it a precatur humilis Autor J. J. Philo-Judaeus On the Author ADamion medany bray Jehuds doozey audack kabilai Na choggea ke Paderan Gusta lubim colloomes baddas San gouste bin Jausep nike haran san shoocorey cohoddaw Wise men do marvel why thou lov'st the Jews Invalid Nation sick through th'worlds abuse Whose fathers deem'd th' Egyptian bondage sore But thou believ'st their present bondage more And when thou read'st of Joseph's diligence Thou didst affect such glorious providence R. B. In Authorem Hic juvenis bene scit quae sunt mihi dicere nova Quod petit ex Domino plura futura sciet Syrii nec Graeci Perses nec Tartari gentes Quos loquitur verò sunt Hebraei digni pati Qui Lebanon steteraÌ„t habitaÌ„t nunc vallibus imis Heu nunc impleÌ„tum est O scelerate nefas Haebrei tum vellint Christo dare cuspide vulnus Mox hunc spectabunt magno dolore Regem Israel optatus periturus propè juvandus Dixit interea O! cum precibusque rogo Guil. Wadring ' St. Ph. The lost Sheep return'd EXOD. 4.31 And the people believed and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and that he had looked upon their afflictions then they bowed their heads and worshipped JERVSALEM once the Metropolis of Judaea where that famous warrior King David and after him his most prudent son King Solomon did reside called the perfection of beauty and the joy of the whole earth and unto which did resort the most noble families of all the then known world And above all she did chiefly excell in her pure worship without the which there was no soul under heaven accounted happy Which said City is now after many overturnings according unto that place the chief residence of a Turkish Infidel called the languishing Zion and the by-word of Nations and to the heart-breaking of the Israelites hath for its religion erected in it the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet Now although I do conceive this to be no news to any one that can but well read English yet I was willing in the beginning of my Discourse to insert it because that notwithstanding we have in this latter age seen so many and so great examples of the almighty power of God in the change of our Government and such unlooked for alterations yet there are some men amongst us that notwithstanding the testimony of holy Writ do believe that the present sad estate of Judah will never change for better and that our faith concerning the return of supposed lost Israel is grounded upon an uncertain and sandy foundation I shall therefore by that help which by almighty God to me is given and to the furthest extent of my own ability First lay down their two grand objections against them Secondly I shall lay down these two Propositions 1. That the Jewes shall be called and converted to the Christian religion 2. That not only the two Tribes but in the same manner those remaining in the world that are of the other ten Tribes and whose present being I doubt not but to make known to all that read this And in the next place as indeed is the most sure testimony I will make this good and infallible 1. By the Divine oracles 2. By the consent of some antient Fathers and modern late writers 3. I shall to make sure work bring several strong confirmations from the present faith and hope of Israel as their Gemara doth at this day hold it forth as also from the good and hopeful expressions that I my self have by way of converse received from some able native Hebrews here in London And then by way of humble submission to more ripe and knowing wits I shall lay down my weak opinion how this Jewish conversion must be accomplished And lastly I shall use all the strong motives that my weak capacity will afford me by the which I would excite all my native Country-men to use much study in the safe-guarding and bringing home this poor straid sheep of
Israel The first objection is by a sort of men more rationable then the other sort such as the Father terms moralized and well disposed Christians which ut ipsi volunt do speak and act according to truth and for my part I do believe it is only out of dark zeal But for a more apt and infallible definition let us but nominate them as Origen well spake Ii sunt qui accipiunt isthaec verba secundum literam quae occidit c. Such they are as do only take the literal part of Scripture for the true sense thereof who I am sure would be very unwilling to receive that sentence in the 3. of John v. 18. in the same manner But thus they object That the Lord sent them this certain sign of his displeasure by the mouths of the Prophets that violence shall take hold of you and I saith the Lord will consume you utterly so that none of you shall remain So now where the Lord doth seem to give his people bils of divorce and to root them out from among the rest of the world there these men take it for a firm consequence that those cannot be capable of a Christian conversion whom the Text saith shall not have a being To this I answer When God doth by his servants pronounce his sentence of judgment against a Nation City or Family it is not always an act of his absolute decreeing will for if so there had been no more hope for Israel and if God had absolutely and irrevocably decreed the destruction and utter desolation of Niniveh that great city within forty days time He would not have repented him of the evil which he had determined against it So in Hos 8.11 the Lord saith How shall I deliver thee up Ephraim c. My repentings are kindled together Here now God had threatned to cut Israel off from the land and to make them a spoil for the enemy but he cryeth out How shall I do it As if so be the Lord had no will nor pleasure in the doing of it God did always delight in mercy more then in sacrifice And therefore on the contrary I answer That these expressions of God are part of his declarative will wherein I see much of divine wisdome how that God doth oftentimes work mightily upon the spirits of his own people by way of terror So that if a man do scan many of the Lords expressions he shall perceive them to be no other then conditional much like unto the blessings promised for holiness and curses threatned for sin disobedience Deu. 28. And we often find many good actions produced in men by the Lords displaying his banner of justice over their heads and that both in the inward and the outward man As for proof this produced much even in Ahab that ungodly King who before he met with his enemy the Prophet as he called him went on in an arrogant way devising mischief against the people of God but no sooner came this word to Ahabs eares Thus saith the Lord but it made his haughty naughty heart to stoop for the Text saith that he walked softly As also such was that power which did accompany the preaching of Jonah that it caused the heathen King to call for the most solemn Fast that ever we do read of in the Scripture But above these we may behold the great wisdom of God in those great effects which the threats of the Lord have produc'd in the hearts of many men For it made Manasseh that ungodly King to pray earnestly and to beg pardon of the Lord for all his grievous transgressions And such was the story of Nathan that it made David to grow more watchful I will but make mention of one more and then I hope that all objectors of this sort will be satisfied and that is Hezekiah to whom the Lord did send Isaiah the Prophet to tell the King that he should die and not live Now do but mark the force of these words although delivered to him by the mouth of a mortal man it follows immediately that he turned his face to the wall and prayed and upon this the merciful and only wise God prolonged his days in the land B. Augustine writing on this place affirmeth that novit Dominus mutare sententiam si peccator noscit emendare vitam So that God notwithstanding his first message sent unto the King Austin saith was ready to forgive him and to alter the sentence upon this condition that he would grow more fervent in holiness For as our natural parents are careful to discern the temper and constitution of their children whereby they become very skilful to educate them after various manners some will take learning of any other art sooner by way of perswasion whereas some will not without often chastisement and reproof So our spiritual Father that omniscient and mighty discerner of the hearts of all men doth use the most wise and best way of dealing towards his children for some he doth wooe and draw as with cords of a man and bands of love and others he doth threaten as he did the Israelites only that they might turn to him For the Lord hath sworn that he would have no man to perish nor no hard heart to be cast away but that all might know the truth This makes a Rebel oftentimes become a trusty humble subject under the Lord of mercy The second Objection it by a sort of people that have been very potent amongst us here in England until now of late men of most wide fancies like unto those termed Quakers They do now object and say That what was promised is already fulfilled and that some Jews there were which did believe in the name of Christ and were saved And these men being as they imagine super-humane and super institutiones do affirm that the end of the world is usque ed finem even at the very doors But to answer this I shall do it negativelyâ— For to say that which was promised concerning Israel is already happened is false By the Scripture in Rev. 14.6 it is written That an Angel did fly through the midst of heaven having the everlasting Gospel for to preach unto them that dwell on the earth and to every nation kindred tongue and people Now the blessed Apostle S. Paul to shew as it were in a mysterie the glorious estate of his Countrymen he saith it shall not come until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in Which if I do make clear not as yet to have come to pass then I hope there is no man so Momus-like that will deny but the Jewes may as yet be called But first we may be convinced by that blessed and thrice happy conversion of so many blind Heathens in America that did never so much as hear of a Jesus Christ nor the Gospel before and as I am certified their number of converted ones daily do increase So that we must not clip nor diminish the
send for many fishers saith the Lord and they shall fish for them and afterwards I will sexd for many hunters and they shall hunt for them from every mountain and from every hill and out of the boles of the rocks Now if this had been spoken of the captivity under Nebuzaradan they needed not this seeking and hunting living peaceably under the King of Babylon's yoke that he put upon them but without doubt it is meant by that last and cruel captivity under Vespasian and Titus of which Josephus so writes that it makes me to tremble Then indeed they were fain to fly to the mountains and in so doing they did receive the counsel of our Saviour and their Saviour where he saith Then let them that are in Judea flee into the Mountains So that I do confess how that since that time they have seen in what holes they might put their heads but now they shall know that their Redeemer liveth how Jesus Christ whom their Fathers crucified was so full of pitty that the did advise them knowing what sad days would come upon them to take the safest course in such an evil time whereby doubtless many did escape whose successors remain in some unknown as to the eys of the world places where the Lords fishers and hunters will find them out And then it follows in the 30. of Jeremiah and the 17. For I will restore health unto thee and I will heal thee of thy wounds saith the Lord because they called thee an outcast saying this is Sion whom no man seeketh after Here is a gracious promise for them and oh that it might work upon us here in England for we above all the barbarous Nations do not regard them but are indeed suum cuique every man for his own private ends the Lord grant that this be not one reason of our present divisions as also of our former miseries It had fared better with the Arabians those subtâ—le inhabitants of Kedar if they had done that which was their duty and as the Lord commanded them which was to hide the Jews and to be a covert unto them in the day of slaughter and not to have delivered and betrayed the outcasts into the hands of the spoyler but oh miserable that we that pretend to have the greatest knowledge of God in Christ and to follow the actions of Christ which he did upon Earth that we I say should rather add to their affliction and mocking at their tribulation should pass by saying This is Sion whom no man regardeth and if we do not here use the self-same expressions we tolerate and countenance the same actions like the proud Levite who though he knew and saw the sad estate of the wounded man yet passed by that is he would not use any possible means to help him out of his misery nor we the Jews out of theirs we do exceed the Turk in his instant cruelty he will I am afraid as concerning this matter arise up in judgement against us and although he hate all Nations himself excepted and is termed by the School-men flagellum humani generis and that the Scriptâ—re in the seventh of Ezekiel and twenty fourth verse is now and not until now come to pass while the Turk possesseth their houses which indeed are those worst of the Heathen there spoken of such as Alexander called a bruit-like Nation because that men were never able to conquer nor civilize them by reason of that unpassable sandy Desart of Zim now Arabia Deserta Yet I say this people shew them more mercy and favour then we do and suffer them not only as sojourners to live peaceably amongst them but have given them one whole Town in the Island of S. Maura within the Hellespont and a great part of Salonica So that I am fully perswaded that if it were not for such good natured Catamites and Pagans our Christian charity is so base and horrid that we would scarce leave a Jew upon the face of the earth But in Jer. 31.17 There is hope in thine end saith the Lord and thy children shall come again to their own border Exitus acta probat This is that Scripture which is so often in their mouths and this is that time which they long to see even to dwell again in their own border Which thing I might fafely consult about for that I have good Scripture for it as in Zach. 12.6 But I will resign up my judgment in that business to the present Jewish faith who for very grief because many of them live not to see those dayes they will although decrepit with old age both men and women even at this day carry their parents and friends bones with them and there they will wait in their own country untill death do begin to seize on them and then they will die with such exceeding alacrity that it causeth admiration But as in another place so the end is not yet God hath not as yet finished his whole work upon Mount Zion it is but yet a little while and He that will come shall come and will not tarry Czek 11.17 19. Then saith the Lord I will gather you from among the heathen and then none shall make you afraid Here in Europe the Jewes lie like the grape-gleanings of the Vintage for there the Lord findeth one in that Town abased and scoffed at by all that meet him another in this place it may be weary of his life for that he seeth not the expectation of his years as yet to be reveal'd unto him So in one part of Asia here a city or place the inhabitants of which perhaps for the most part are all Jewes and then in another place you shall have them prohibited as in Pera Sestos and in other places amongst the heathen Now this being considered I believe how that all men will say that these had need of an all-seeing eye to gather them out of the secret places of the earth and out of the holes of the rock there where the vultures eye hath not perceived Ezek. 34.16 I saith the Lord will seek that which was lost and bind up that which was broken and strengthen that which was sick Indeed let us enquire after the Jewish present condition for if ever Israel was lost it is now especially when we remember how great a people they were and how small they now are in the view of those people who do deem the world to be of little more compass then they know but if they were fled to the uttermost most parts of the sea thither can and will the Lords arm help them and release them There is not so vast a difference by far between the heavens and the earth as there is between Gods knowledg and mans weak understanding And it is true that men must seek and search for many things before they can possess them but where we read in the Scripture of the Lords seeking any man or thing it is meant that God will
find or bring that back which in mans capacity was lost Now Bernard writing of Gods omniscience saith Scrutari hoc temeritas credere verô pietas c. And therefore it follows that the Lord having found this scattered and lost sheep of Israel he will in the next place take it up and bring it home in his arms and that with great glory to his holy name like the Prodigal that was loft but is now found that was dead but is now alive which is the great cause of much joy amongst the Angels in heaven It had been better for us if our predecessors had not driven them out of England doubtless the Lord will not leave punishing of us untill we do leave remembring of their faults freely to forgive them and to forget even by receiving of them again to inhabit amongst us For is it not the Proverb Humanum est errare But perhaps some may say Let them come where they will they grow richer then you can do although you taxe them highly For this I do confess that I find one place where it is said in Ezek. 11.18 how that let Israel sojourn where they will being thither dispersed by the providence of God and notwithstanding the Lord was exceeding wroth with them yet he promiseth for to be a little sanctuary to them but it is not here meant of an Italian fabrick built of wood and stone only made for to shelter manslayers from the vertue and righteousness of the law of God which is that he that sheds mans blood by man shall his blood be shed But it is in short that their God will be a covert to them and a hiding place for them until his indignation be overpast He will provide either an outward Hester to help them in time of trouble or else his own arm will save them And so the Father saith well At favor in magno saepe dolore later So that if God had no more mercy nor respect to them then man I do believe where they would be driven away by reason of that present incredulity and God-mistrusting thoughts which are in the hearts of English Protestants I wonder what is become of our Publike Faith whereby our Nation did once submit unto the providence and various dispensations that happened-amongst us Now I say that if we are the people of God and if we do love God surely all things yea even the increase of Jewish riches will work together for our good But were our Saviour upon earth again here preaching amongst us certainly he would call us a faithless generation for our actions as concerning this do testifie that we live in most flavish fear of the worlds inconstancie and mutability and are so perplexed at any outward cross far more then the degenerate Turks are at this day By this we may see for all the specious and glossie pretence of Christians now adayes the paucity of Job-like or Micah-like spirits that will trust God with their lives as well as their estates This is now a great sign of an hypocrite when he dares trust in God no longer then he is showring down earthly blessings on his head but if the Lord do but hide himself in a cloud a while presently he distrusts God and it is in vain to serve him c. But 3 saith the Lord I will strengthen that which was sick Truly was ever any people sicker is any sorrow like unto their sorrow The whole head was sick and the heart also waxed feeble The remembrance of former dayes is enough even to deject them into an utter estate of mourning and lamentation What we that once at whose making mention of the Nations trembled and shook and now to be servile and subject to the proud and scoffing wills of uncircumcised infidels Oh this is that which strikes deep into their affections She that was great among the Nations and Princess among the people is now become tributary Ah poor Israel that now where-ever thou art thou beholdest not any of the sons of men to smile there is none that will appear to comfort thee And therefore with thy Countryman Jeremiah we may cry out Vnto whom shall we liken thee But be of good cheer this is testified of thee that he which did wound thee will also cure thee He only is able to bind the broken-hearted and he will strengthen the feeble knees But for England I shall say nothing but hard-hearted for I cannot otherwise call her when although our Saviour speaking of the good downright Samaritan which being only for our example in this case left this precept behind him saying Do ye likewise As if so be he should have said You that think to have a share in my glory you will in your converse and in your comerce whilst you are in this world often meet with many of my poor sick despised ountrymen and therefore be sure that you let no opportunity slip but doe as this man did as soon as you see them have compassion on them And as God shall shew men mercy in the day of blackness even so let Christians shew mercy to the poor ignorant Jews I am sure there never was more need then now even when they are ready to despair their habitation is become desolate so that she is called by the Prophet but as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers and that all men know to be but very disconsolate But in Amos 9.9 Thus saith the Lord for lo I will sift the house of Israel with a sive but the least grain shall not be lost God will not cast away the very poor of his flock It may be they shall have anguish of soul for a time in all nations and be tossed and shaken to and fro as sometimes it would trouble any Christian heart but to know of their troubles how that on a sudden you shall have by the instigation of some malicious spirits a decree come forth by one Prince or other that within 2 or 3 days time all Hebrews shal be banished such a town or place and then oh miserable what wringing of hands what sighs and sobs will come from these poor creatures what supplicating of Princes giving all to the very clothes of their backs that they may have but a poor village to shelter them in As now the King of Poland will have them prohibited from coming or dweling any longer in Vkrain The Lord knows how ill gotten these riches are meerly for no other end then to extort mony or goods from them which although many times they scarce have yet if not they must expect banishment And next unto this will I adjoin that hellish sarcasm of a German Christian who some years ago boasted That as the Heathens did act their tragedies in the Theatre with Christians and beasts so the Nobles in some parts of Germany made up their sports and pastimes by the abusing some Jews or other And thus let men brag over them and use them as they will yet their
Sun that great luminary of heaven is never at rest untill it hath refreshed all the dark corners of the earth it must run over Europe and America as well as Africa and Asia so this glorious Son of God will never cease nor slack his arm untill he hath effected that Christian freedom spoken of in the 8. of John not only for Judah and Benjamin not only for the Jews in Europe but also for all the families or tribes of Israel when this proverb shall be out of date The Lord liveth which brought the Israelites out of Egypt But now The Lord liveth which brought the children of Israel from the land of the North c. But when the Lord comes to be the God of all the families that is all the Tribes of Israel he faith he will be their God and they shall be his people Here is Gods omnipotencie seen in taming the proudest hearts on earth This will break a way in the desart not only of sandy Persia but of the ston̄y and solitary place of unbelief for in Ezek. 37. saith the Lord I will make the house of Judah and the children of Israel his fellows one nation and they shall no more be divided Now here is a double promise first a return of their captivity and then of their scepter they shal now be a nation which lately were not a nation and shall no more hear the voice of a stranger the time is at hand when neither the might of the Chaldeans nor wisdom of the Grecians their mortal enemies nor fox-like policie of the Romans nor cruelty of the English shal terrifie them but they shall have one King to rule over them all even Jesus Christ and then Ephraim will say what have I to do anymore with idols though as yet they do much defile themselves therewith in Persia and in the Indies Now I say we may shrewdly conjecture of American Israelites but of a certain for Merchants in the former Countries there are none more numerous then Hebrew merchants residing and trading continually in divers Port-towns in Asia as also in divers other Countries in the South by Lybia and other remote parts of Africk And in the 39 of Ezekiel the Lord saith I will bring back again the captivity of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel Take notice I will do it but when why even then when they have born their shame Ah Lord when will it once be shall shame take hold on them for ever They have been many generations without a King true Priest or Prophet surely Shiloh shal come and rejoice in their hearts as wel as he doth already in ours that in the administration of all his 3 offices 1. as a King when the Lord shal reign over them in mount Zion henceforth and for evermore Then David my servant shall rule over them Here is the Kings certain government I will rule in righteousness and in truth And here is the peoples willing and delectable subjection and obedience not like the Grecians who at this day when need requireth serve the Grand Signior more out of slavish fear then with any love they bear to him or his people But thus the Iewes say we will call on the name of the Lord our God is it not the day of Gods power wherein they shall be a willing people like soft wax or like the servants of the Centurion ready to obey the Lord and receive any impressions which God shal put on the souls of his people 2. As a Priest he will shew them after what manner he did offer up himself once upon the Cross for all men and he will intercede with the Lord for them and so by his own merits he will blot out all their offences and remember their sins no more but will make them a sweet smelling favour in the presence of the Lord by sprinkling their hearts with his own most precious blood and in stead of punishing them for their fathers cruelty towards him he will save them for his names sake 3. As a Prophet he will cause the law to go out of Zion and his statutes out of Iudah he will preach to them the glad tidings of repentance He will instruct them in all manner of Gospel and Christian not Pharisaical righteousness and point unto them saying This my people is the way that leadeth unto life walk in it He will by this means convince them though dead in unbelief when he shall make them to hear the voice of the Son of God that so by awaking from that deadly sleep of incredulity they may having eares hearken unto that powerful call of Jesus Christ by which he raised Lazarus from the grave that so by their hearing and doing of that whch they hear they may attain unto eternal life and therefore doubtless God will have mercy on the whole house of Israel But I do desire that I may not be mistaken for I dare not affirm that meaning of the Apostles in the Romans how that all Israel shall be saved nor this president to be of so large extent as that the whole twelve Tribes shall be saved no nor yet one whole Tribe but thus I do believe that all Israel the true Israel according to the spirit shall be saved eternally And thus far confident I am the whole house of Israel that is all the twelve Tribes as many as are then in the world remaining shall see the salvation of the Lord and have the Christian faith amongst them as plentiful as we have it So that as amongst our selves we are none of us able to distingnish who is a true child of God who an hypocrite even so God hath concluded them all in unbelief that he might have mercy over all For as Chrysostome faith of understanding of the Word of God Nil opus est syllogismis so the Apostle James if he had thought that only two Tribes would be called to the faith why then did he write unto the other ten in this manner James to the twelve Tribes scattered abroad greeting Certainly no man dares deny but they are of Adam as well awe and therefore they may safely expect to have as much benefit for ought I know by the death of Christ who is the true second Adam as we for we know and that by woful experience how that many times the name of a Christian profits a man nothing So that if you ask any man here in England as he passeth by Are you a Christian do you believe on the name of Jesus Christ his answer will be immediately Why do you take me to be a Jew Though it may be he is one of the prophanest wretches living But let me tell such a man that he comes far short of a Jew although he makes him far inferior to himself No the Jewes do abhominate to do wickedly and to commit his crimes Their chiefest sins are either of ignorance or of omission but he is a meer Atheist in his
such a heavy curse which hath faln heavy upon so many generations Yet the Jews at this day omitting what is past profess unto us Christians that they have still great hopes and are fully perswaded that they shall yet be a most holy people unto God pure and without spot or blemish And therefore as Aquinas saith Spes confert ad actionem vel operationem is I am sure fulfilled in the Jews for that there never was more searching of the Prophets then there is at this day amongst them never more frequent calling upon God never were there such longings after him whom their souls will dearly love as to day as yet never any of their predecessors as I can find for above these sixteen hundred years were so willing to converse and commune with us Christians about their Messiah Time was and that of late years if a Christian did but mention Christ unto them they would shun his company though sometimes to their own damage Therefore let us rejoice at this and willingly spend some time to further the building of this Temple not made with hands and the Lord will questionless reward us It would be well if that England would but now do as the Apostle writes of them For verily saith he it hath pleased them of Achaia and Macedonia to make a certain contribution for the poor Saints which are at Jerusalem Now as the Apostle doth here write to another Church he bringeth this in that it might be their example of well-doing I say that it would be worthy of eternal remembrance and commendation if the Supreme of this Nation would be pleased as the Apostle saith that is to be very willing thereto so as to entertain these poor and as yet unchristianized Hebrewes whose debtors as he saith we truly and indeed are I know not of a truth the business between the Dutch and Portugals in Brasile but perhaps there being a many Jews they may be exposed to the elements And then let us know here in England that God doth yet strive with us who can well help them without us and hath put one opportunity more of doing good into our hands if we will but lay hold of it If not I shall apply the words of Mordecai to Esther unto our Nation thus saying For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time then shall their enlargement and deliverance arise from another place to the Jews but thou and thy fathers house shall perish c. So that if we do not now work whilst it is day and whilst we may help them and for which we may have cause to bless God and to comfort our selves with that saying of Paul For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel and that we have that honour before all the Nations in the world so that through the assistance of our Lord we may be instruments of Israels resurrection and restauration Yet if we shall now forbear to put our helping hands to so glorious and just an employment and cry out with the sluggard for a little more quiet a little more folding the hands then let us be sure that their salvation will come from some other Nation who the Text saith shall be as thorns in our eyes and help to destroy us on all sides And besides this we know not whose turn may be next that may be forsaken of God in these ticklish and perillous times Is it not good to be found well doing even our Lords business which is to use all our might and strength for the bringing of dark souls into the true way Jesus Christ our Saviour saith If ye love me feed my lambs and love the brethren It is not promised to any man that he shall go to heaven by all faith and no works which are the fruits of the true faith of the Son of God For as Gregorius saith Nil juvat nomen bonum reclamante conscientiâ That to have a notional faith and to bear the name of a Christian without acting like a Christian And for a Moralist that payeth every man his own and cometh constantly to the publick Ordinances and perhaps hath unto this day lived with good conscience and unblameable towards all men this is all good who makes one form of prayer to be his diuturnal sacrifice it may be to his dying day and therewith is content and quiets himself and hopes therewith to appease God never striving to proceed further indeed having not the Spirit of God who leads the chosen with suitable supplications and gives unto them the spirit of prayer not of the one onely prayer of such a Minister although it may be at that time suitable I say such a man leaneth but upon a broken reed this lazie progress of his will never bring him to heaven but such a mans conscience will one day tell him he is never the better for his faith But for the present his conscience may sleep like the Laws quae nunquam moriuntur and it may be the man thinks he hath love and charity enough but as for the Jews they are no kin to him Yet let him be assured with Augustine that quà m nihil notum in terra tam nihil ignotum in coelo how that God doth take special notice of all his carriage as well to wards them as the Christians I said before that we had all one Father and are we not all brethren Then let us look to it that we may not become guilty of that dreadful curse of our Saviours for not takeing in of the poor strangers But rather so order our steps everyman in his own sphere that we may give up the account of our talents not with fear but great joy So that the Lord will certainly withold that day of gloominess wherein he will judge the world notwithstanding the vain opinions of some of our days till all the servants of the most High both Jews and Gentiles are sealed and when God hath called them home unto his kingdom of marvailous light and given them the assurance of their faith and hope and how they shall then be secure from those great plagues that are about to come upon all the wicked of the world I say then there shall be silence in heaven and not before then will the Spirit say come and the Bride say come even then let every true Christian say come If any one that would truly further the coming of our Lord to judgment and does desire that those evil dayes spoken of and predicted by him might be shortned let him first study how to further their conversion because the other cannot be accomplished untill all the elect and chosen Hebrews be made vessels ready prepared to abide for ever in those heavenly mansions above When that day of slaughter begins to appear the Lord will bring all Nations down into the valley of Jehoshaphat and there he will plead with them Now for what is it but the Lords calling unto account those of all Nations that have scattered his heritage even Israel amongst all Nations of the world and dealt treacherously with them by selling them and misusing them The wiseman Solomon saith that a prudent man foreseeth a danger and prevents it Now here the wise God only for our good and that we may prevent our suffering with the rest of the world does forewarn us as he did Niniveh Then had not we better in times of mercy before the evil day come upon us to help the Israelites now whilest we may doe it for it will nor be thanks-worthy to doe it by constraint because the most wicked of men when Gods judgments light upon them will then begin to doe good This cometh only from slavish fear and will not stand us in stead in that great day of Jezreel And therefore let us bethink our selves what a heavy curse did fall upon Tyre and Sidon because they sold the children of Judah even the Lords own people unto the Grecians As also what great mercy in times of calamity God hath shewn and will still shew to all those that will help to redeem the poor captives and shew them what proffers and invitations Jesus Christ holdeth forth to their nation Certainly God which hath promised is also able to fulfill his words and we see that in the revolutions of time and throughout every generation one promise or other hath either its dawning or else its meridian and therefore I am perswaded their restauration will be the next However it cannot be far off for God hath sworne that he will make this people more glorious then other Nations and he that beareth record hath set to his seal that God is true Heaven and earth may pass away but his words no not the least tittle thereof shall fall to the ground He is not as man that he should lye but He is the Amen the faithful and true Witness the beginning of the Creation who will shortly come and shake all Nations But if some adamantine spirits will not yet give way to their transportation let others that have well-grounded hope weep with the Prophet Jeremiah in secret places for such mens pride and let their eyes run down with tears because the Lords flock remain in captivity and in an unconverted condition even unto this day FINIS