the conversations of all men both Jews and Christians to the open aspect of the world Then let not Israel see our present Christian nakedness let not Jacob say I came to them in want but they relieved me not I was hungry a stranger and destitute and they would not take me in but on the contrary like the rich Glutton they commanded me to be beaten and driven forth of their gates and this was all I heard Here is nothing for you And this I can confirm that last September there was a Jew whose name was Jobak Ben Daniel born in Skeydam a place in the Netherlands and taken amongst others in a Dutch-Vessel being with the rest set ashore here at London and a Londoner who thought himself no small Neophytus in Learning having before in the Poultry once examined hlm of his country being in other kind of habit then the Flemmings and having an old Armenian now residing in London in his company who can speak sufficient English and being thereof satisfied as also of his religion did not only withhold his own miserable hands from giving him alms but withstood the charity of some others saying where-ere he met him Give him nothing he is a cursed Jew But if God do not change his rotten heart he will have the same answer Go thou cursed for I know thee not I have no mercy for thee Ah friends God hath not blinded Israel for a while nor broken them off that any man should boast but that rather we ought as the saith to behold the goodness and the long-suffering of God to usward and that with great humility reverence and thankful affection towards the Lord for this his distinguishing mercy The voice of our Saviour it is said was not heard in the streets but the noise of our cruelty is gone forth into all the solitary places where these poor Jews inhabit nay I am assured that the name of an English man makes them afraid The Lord Christ would not scorn the smallest reed but our Nation hath despised the Lords day of small things He came to give life unto dry bones but we beat them to powder He came to look after that which had been so many years lost but our Ancestors caused them to flie into the secret holes of the rock But and if these things will not cause some fellow-feeling in them that read this book to take part with the sufferings of Zion to weep with Titus the heathe◠over or with Constantine that vertuous Christian to pray for them c. I do yet hope that by way of exhortation I may move the most obdurate spirit and that for these reasons 1. Because that in the time of our Saviours being on earth the whole scope and drift of his words and actions was chiefly to this purpose as he told the Jews that they through him might be saved These things saith he speaking of the way by which we must pass into the kingdom of heaven I Jesus I your dear Saviour say that you poor outcasts might be saved And though he knew all things and needed not the help of any man and therefore was not in the leastwise ignorant how their deliverance was yet afar off yet he like an obedient Son would make known to them what he came into the world for to do even his Fathers will and therefore thus and thus he communed with them about their worship and conversation nothing more then what did tend to their future estate Where is the Christian now like unto that true and faithfull servant who hideth not his masters talent in the earth but doth traffique with it that the poor blind Jews may be called from darkness to light The Apostle Peter bids us that as every one hath received even so let him minister let him distribute his gifts and graces in fulness of love one man bearing his brothers burden and this is part of the communion of Gods chosen people But 2. we ought to use our whole strength to do them good because that by their fall salvation came to the Gentiles Oh that now I could speak home unto all that read this It was for our sakes that they hated Christ refused the Gospel and became enemies to the truth that we might be brought to the knowledge of him that is able to save to the utmost It not this argument enough to perswade us the Lord hath for a season deprived them of their oracles and their former glory and hath laid them aside which were once his people that we stupid and blind idolaters might be grafted into the true Olive tree to stand before the Lord and to be made partakers of their priviledges Herein consisteth much of the mysterie of our redemption that when we were aliens and without hope even them Christ dyed for us We had no right to the promises of old as the Jews but were that cursed seed that were forbidden to enter into the Congregation But now the third and last motive shall be from that benefit which wil arise to us Gentiles by means of their conversion Now where is the man of our dayes but will be desirous and willing as David saith to behold or rather receive anything as is good Now I say although we here in England and in some other adjacent Countries have plenty of knowledg and of the means of grace yet when their conversion happens we shall see and know far more clearly then we do For mark but the Apostle expression in Rom. 11.12 How much more their fulness as if he should have said At the cuting off Israel great were the riches which arrived to the Gentiles but what light and what riches shall there be when the Israelites shall say Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord Thus in the original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Paul speaks hyperborically as if he were not able to conceive what an exceeding plenty there will be of knowledge then shall every vessel of the Lords house be filled with holiness even then when God makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth And now that Scripture will be fulfilled in Zech. 8. and the last verse Thus saith the Lord of Hosts in that day ten men out of all languages of the nations shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew saying We will go with you for we have heard that God is with you I wll write a little of this Scripture Thus saith the Lord of hosts This is that strong and mighty name by which God was not known amongst his own people for a long season and being so full of majesty and terror who dares read it without trembling In that day it shall come to pass that is when the Morning-star shall arise upon their souls and the Day-spring from on high shall visit them as it hath done some of the Americans this is that day of their joy and gladness a day of good tidings it will not be a day of thunder nor
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
God hath said it that he will not lose one of them though a small grain a microcosm indeed so little that proud looks take no notice of him Like unto some expressions of a Blade in the late wars that when he hath been shewn a poor Highlander to run towards a dike to save his life from out of the battel he would say that he was such a poor rogue not worth murdering that he would forbear to run him through Even so are the Jews become despicable in the eyes of many prophane Christians but the living God hath sworn by himself that he will renew his covenant with them and give them a heart of flesh ready to receive any impression that may please him the Searcher of all hearts to put upon it although for the present ignorance and blindness hath so overshadowed their understanding as that they are insensible of their condition and of their unbelief This is that time which all good Christians should long to behold for then when God shal1 change their vile spirits though for the most part ignorantly vile then and not till then it will be that Israel will loath himself for all his abominations so that God will accept them for a sweet smelling savor and give such pleasant rest in their borders so that they shall be afraid of the nations no longer but God will be a wall of fire round about them a God that never sleeps nor slumbers but is the living God and now because he lives he is able to know and to hear the groanings of his people and because he is the Lord he changeth not and therefore both they and we are not consumed nor cut off from the earth for as Zanchy saith In Deo nihil est quod non sit ipse Deus Now the Lord doth and hath promised speaking of the idle Shepherds of his flock which did lead his people astray both before in and after the captivity under the Chaldeans that in that day meaning their day of restauration he would set over them but one Shepherd even my servant David This is that much desired time for here by David we do understand Christ as it is often in Scripture-sense rehearsed So that now when they shall accept their Saviour for their King God promiseth that they shall never more be a prey to the heathen Indeed to day not only Turks and Infidels but also many hypocritical Christians do serve themselves of them and prey upon them But because of these things let not men affirm them to be utterly rejected untill they have well and cautiously understood that blessed Apostle of our Lord S. Paul who cries out in Rom. 11. after a strange manner What then hath God cast away his people As if he should have said taking the Context immediately preceding What because my Country-men were a rebellious and stiffnecked people and did withstand and turn the deaf ear unto the former Prophets hath God therefore utterly forsaken them is there no more sacrifice for sin belonging to Israel He doth thus answer himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if he had said No it is impossible or it cannot be For he shews the reason of it because their stumbling was not such as could cause a total falling away There are indeed some men though but few here amongst us in England who by pinning their unusual charity upon old Father Origen's authority do believe that the redemption purchased by our Saviour will at the last extend it self even unto the damned but the truth of this I will not dispute But however if the Origenists do account of it as a sin to leave the Devils without hope I am sure it is a far greater sin for any to leave the Jewes in a state of despairing No they have indeed fallen with a great discent from their original condition but yet do but see in the second chap. of Luke and there old Simeon prophesieth that Behold this Child is set for the fall and rising up of many in Israel Here the just man foresaw that Jesus Christ would be a stone of stumbling unto many of them but yet he should be laid a chief corner-stone tryed and precious for the rising of many again in Israel and though they fall they shall arise And doubtless Jesus Christ is a stumbling block not only to many Jewes but also to the curious sophisters of the world whose wisdom the Apostle S. Paul writing to the Grecians and not to the Jewes at that time said God would confound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore asks them by way of exprobration What does become of you smooth-tongued Corinthians is not your wisdom meer foolishness with God So that for all their present reproaches God will at the last exalt his people Israel above other Nations He will the Text saith yet chuse the foolish and despicable things of Jacob and have mercy on the things that are not which are such as mortal men just wordlings and no more dare not say that they have a being And of this sort are the ten Tribes who in some sense nay carnal reason affirmeth not to be Yet these nothings as you say God will prefer before the worldly-wise before the mighty and noble things of this sinful age and then will that promise be fulfilled in Jer. 19.22 how that from that time forward they shall know and that of a truth that the Lord their God is with them and so to abide for ever It may be now they know that God is with them although it be but darkly or behind the vail For though they did in the wilderness perceive only in the daytime a thick cloud yet they did believe that their God was there as well as in the pillar of fire by night Israel hath yet a little faith though I fear England hath less and they have so great assurance by what former mercies they have received from the Lord that shortly they shall not see as through a lattice but as Job sayes cum his meis oculis so with their very eyes they shall see the desires of their souls accomplished So in Jer. 30.11 For I am with thee saith the Lord to save thee yea though I make a full end of all nations yet will I not make a full end of thee Now here is a gracious promise that God will be unto them as the saving Angel that did hasten and pull Gods people out of the midst of fire and brimstone which fell upon that wicked City This is a faithful saying That although the Lord should scatter us with the rest of the Nations and should give us the fruits of our doings in fury yet he will not destroy them alluding to the plagues of Egypt that although they conversed one amongst another yet not one plague would seize upon them It will be the same case once more and then what a terror will it be for all Jew contemners to behold Israel in such felicity and themselves in so
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