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Benjamin not only for the Jews in Europe but also for all the families or tribes of Israel when this proverb shall be out of date The Lord liveth which brought the Israelites out of Egypt But now The Lord liveth which brought the children of Israel from the land of the North c. But when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
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
many years reformation Truly it would be praise-worthy that any ingenious hand would but take the pains to shew the world as it were in a glass how far Christians in these times do degenerate from that good old way in which the Primitive Churches did go how far short we come of them in our holy conversation in our love unto Christ as also towards the brethren in our self denial in our zeal to do and suffer for God and in our longing after the Jewish conversion Or rather are we not in these dayes become foolish in our vain conversation undervaluing of Christ and haters of our brethren Are we not to day the greatest self-seekers throughout the Universe Do we not shrink if we only hear a whispering of a persecution And whom scarce amongst us do we find to have any bowels towards this poor lost sheep of Israel They could weep to behold the least deformity either in or upon the outward Temple but we have not a few tears to shed because of those ugly monsters of sin which do inhabit in our souls that ought to be the temples of the Holy Ghost Surely God will hear their mourning and as the voice of their cry did come up to heaven in the time of their Egyptian slavery so doubtless God will yet cause this voice to be heard as of old I have seen I have seen the affliction of my people c. I say the time when this will be I dare not justly affirm but the certainty of it I will affirm And therefore if the Lord do not this year or at this time bring such a Rebel home to himself and shew him his old vileness wherein it may be he hath walked for many years stubbornly and kicked against free grace and the tender compassion of a loving and patient God yet we do not say it is impossible for this man to attain heaven Then let no man so foolishly conjecture and say that if Israel be not converted before such a time they never will for the times and seasons are in the Lords own free disposing and he doth many times make that his great day of vengeance an opportunity which is the season of his peoples highest calamity and when according unto humane reason we think it is too late there is no time better in the eyes of the Lord. Then this is great arrogance in them that are of this Epicurean faith And shall a wicked man who lives under the means because as yet a wicked man upon this account neglect the means Shall he not rather consider how the Lord worketh grace in the hearts of men by degrees as something while babes and then in youth and so upwards untill a man come to be a father in Christ So that if either Jews or Christians will have any thing of God they must not only beg but wait for it because blessed are all those that wait for the appearing of the Sun of righteousness in their hearts by a lively faith And though the Jews do send forth never so many cryes Eastward yet having done all they can they must resign up their wills and affections unto him that is able to help them who hath set the sea its bounds and hath purposed a time for all things and as it pleaseth him he will order a ransom for Israel and deliverance for Judah Now lest here should be any stumbling-block laid I do many times distinguish the Tribe of Judah from the rest because I do find in many places of the Scripture where it pleaseth the Holy Ghost to write them several and that both the houses in one place in another both the families shall return as also where it is said I will make the two nations one nation and they shall be no more divided For the text saith that Israel was carried far from their brethren and that there they remain unto this day It is written in the present tense Only that there may be no want of encouragement for any of Gods people to hinder or despair in their seeking of them and that therefore doth belong so sweet a promise to these in a far country I will bring one place of Scripture more that I know not how to escape because of the good tidings that it bears in the front of it Deut. 4.29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God thou shalt find him if so with all thy heart and with all thy soul c. But if from the place where thou sojournest in thy captive estate even from Tubal and Jaran even from the cities of the Medes thou shalt seek or diligently enquire after the Lord and thy God casting far from thee those false gods which thou dost now worship being no other then the works of mens hands and so call upon the Lord that brought thee out of Egypt with a mighty arm whom the meek Prophet Moses out of his tender and loving compassion nameth thy God O Israel though for the present thou do worship such as neither see hear eat nor smell Now I say if when God shall put into Israels heart to consider his vile abominations and to cry unto him with all their heart he doth here promise to be found of them And now that you may take notice of the moving cause of this his loving kindness it is in the next verse For the Lord thy God is a merciful God he will not forsake thee c. This is that which makes drooping Jacob to hold up his head and to possess a little strength and hope wherewith he is able to undergo all the afflictions which a tender and loving Father layeth upon him And therefore they will use this expression It is good for us that we are afflicted But 2. for Calvin and those great writers about his time they were but in the dark as concerning the restauration of Jacob but only amongst other matters did lay it down as a part of their belief how that the Jews in the last dayes should be made a most glorious nation And so Proston and Perkins with the most of our times speak carelesly of it as if it were a matter of controversie And therefore you may observe that on the Lords day in publike prayers some Ministers will use some few expressions concerning them by way of petition which they conceive to be enough as declaring that they are of the same judgment Yet I am confident that many of you do not care to have them inhabit amongst us but if a little trouble in the flesh come or when a small matter of that root of evil hath been demanded which might accrue to their transportation over into England you have passed that antient but sarcacious censure on them That they were a noisom and a burdensom generation I shall pass this by because we say Sat verbum sapienti But thirdly I shall prove the verity of my Proposition from the present faith and hope of Israel And 1. From their words
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
practice and lives without God in the world if knowing of God as he pretends yet notwithstanding does not study to glorifie him as God but in his works does deny him But in Zech. 12.10 In that day I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Ierusalem the spirit of prayer and supplication and they shall look on him whom they have pierced and mourn over him c. In that day that is when Ierusalem shall be a cup of trembling to all the Nations round about and shall be like a torch of fire in a sheaf Now it is well known unto most men who are at all skilfull in the Scriptures that they never were as yet a terror unto any people since they were led away captive by Nebuzaradan into Chaldaea But ever since that time they have been tributaries unto one or other or else by the good providence of God it may be they have had rest for a time as they have in some places at this day But it was and is an unquiet and doubtful rest and at this time they are in bondage with their children under people and nations which neither they nor their fathers have known and therefore this time is still for to come But secondly God will pour out upon them the spirit of prayer and this will be as miraculous in their eyes as it was amongst those in the Acts which had not so much as heard of the Holy Ghost but yet it shall be so powerfull a spirit that when the Lord hath breathed it on their souls it will make all rough places plain and the parched ground shall then bring forth pleasant fruit Indeed so long as the heart is rocky and stubborn the aquaduct or conduit-pipe thereof will be stopped whereby grace should be conveighed to the souls of poor sinners but when the word of the Lord which is sharper then a two-edged sword shall beat upon this same that is harder then the neather milstone it doth presently change its nature milstone it doth presently change its nature even contrary to nature like unto Moses his causing of water to proceed out of the barren rock This is part of those effects which the terrible voice of a holy God produceth in an unholy people so as to think the time past of formality too too much for to spend so vainly And now all old things will be done away and all things will become new in their hearts and this will be the initial of the Hebrews regeneration I am perswaded that those which live to see these days of Israels glorious defence will cry out and that with the same amazement as the Jewes said of Paul Was not this he so Were not these they which did so hate Christ and now they do preach Christ and as the primitive Christians were exceeding joy-full to hear that the Gentiles had received the Gospel and were baptized even so I doubt not but all good Christians will rejoice to hear and to see what great salvation Israel hath obtained But thirdly another sweet effect of this good spirit of God is by causing them to look upon him whom they and we have pierced And though they shall do this with an eye of faith yet intimating as if they now beheld their King and their daily expected Jesus suspending on the Cross and their fathers nailing of him and themselves piercing and thrusting his sides through with the spears of sin And here is faith going out from them before repentance for they are perswaded and doe believe that which they now deny and then they begin to look up Christward with teares in their eyes resipiscentiam agentes and mourn over him with a bitter weeping and mourning like unto the mourning of Hadradrimmon every family apart It will be more then a tear-shedding lamentation yea rather it will be a heart-affecting and an-inexpressible sorrow too unconceivable for any but those who have tasted how gracious the Lord is It will be as I conceive that same sorrow which the holy Apostle deemed unlawful to be repented of because it is only a quick passage out of a barren Kedar into a fruitful Canaan No man can come to the Manziel of Goa before he pass the dangerous shoals of Quiloa And then they shall turn to the Lord with their whole heart and then God will make good that promise I will and you shall and none shall then dare to disquiet Israel any more But the true worship of God in Christ will be established amongst them and then they shall be called the faithful and chosen people the true worshippers of the Father in spirit and in truth And in Jer. 31. what sweet expressions do we find concerning their future estate as in the 9 verse saith the Lord With weeping and with supplications will I lead them in the wilderness God did not thus lead them nay they were then for the most part so far from entreating the Lord for any mercy as that they did demand for this thing and that vanity and that in a murmuring manner so that the Lord did make a great slaughter amongst them for their many prevarications wherewith they provok'd the eys of his jealosie to anger against them And the Lord promiseth further that he will cause them to walk in a streight way wherein they shall not stumble Indeed formerly so long as they did or as any man doth walk loftily and proudly they were and any man is more apt to fall and stumble then he which with the Publican useth to look low and carry his heart humble before the Lord but it shall be otherwise Now God having promised to be their guide and that in a streight way surely there needs not the least distrust for Israel to have concerning their Elohim and Adonai and this is great matter of hope and comfort to Israel that when as in the dayes of old God calling them the fewest in number amongst all the Nations did yet love them above all Nations with a peculiar distinct love So though they themselves doe at this present day conceive that there is no people so scarce the Aramaspi except yet God doth still own them and doth acknowledge Ephraim to be his first-born and therefore he promiseth to be a Father to him But 2. I shall clear it a little by shewing you the consent of the Fathers in believing of this truth And first Augustine writeth Quomodo adhuc mors christi apud Judaeos maledicta est sed proculdubio Deus illuminabit oculos eorum salvos fierent in die salutis That is that although the death of Christ unto this day is held accursed amongst the Jews yet doubtless in the fulness of time God will open their eyes and bring them home to himself even then when he shall take away their sins and put his law in their inward parts then and not till then is their hour of salvation 2. John Chrysostome saith in his book which he wrote against
the Jews in respect of their cruelty unto Christ and only in an affectionate way about pa. 73. That notwithstanding all those curses with which he had already out of the word of God threatned them yet saith he Tanquam talis est calamitosa desolatio in domo Judaica Dei nos Christiani expectamus eorum conversionem certam acceptionem For the present saith he there is great desolation made amongst Gods antient holy people so that most men do for their blind and ignorant but horrid offence committed against the Son of the everliving God despitefully handle them yet saith he we Christians do believe that they shall be converted and received again into the favor of God in Christ and therefore do we longingly expect and wait for it I might here shew the great difference between the Christ-like and heavenly affections of the Primitive Fathers and the cold world-like affections of the men of our dayes But that shall be brought in its proper place 3. Effrem Syrus whom Jerom doth so much extoll in his Catalogue of the Fathers for so merciful a man to all such as he did not see in as prosperous a condition as himself so that Jerom terms him in one place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man full of Divine actions Effrem the Divine writing on the small continuance of the persecution in comparison of that everlasting crown of joy which all Gods Saints and servants should possess after this miserable and frail life did in one of his Epistles to the Christians in Phaenicia entreat them not like others of the world but according to their profession to use all possible means to relieve and succour the outcasts of Israel saying that notwithstanding their hardness of heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they have the same hope as we have although for the present they possess not the same Christian faith for how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard with such opened ears and hearts as the Lord ere it be long will give unto them Ambrose saith Quid pet is O Judaee Deus tribuet tibi panem aeternam qui dat omnibus illum rogantibus quotidie dat semper dat O Jew saith he what is it thou wouldst beg of God do but ask him and he will give thee bread everlasting who giveth daily and always giveth Observe now when this Father had reckoned up those Nations which had the least hope in or knowledge of God then he bringeth in the Jews at the latter end of the barbarous Nations and they lived not neither do live without God yet he thought and that judiciously how that they were furthest off Christ because of the full calling of the Gentiles to be first accomplished and therefore saith Would the forsaken Jew but beg of God and the Lord would give unto him of that bread of life which whosoever eats of shall never hunger more Indeed this Father comes far short of Effrem in his charity towards Israel and writes as if so be the Jews had the least reason of all Nations to expect any favor from the hands of the merciful God Jerom saith in his book de Temp. Quod nec Judaei nec Christiani repentè benefaciunt nec convertuntur ideo Judaei nondum Christiani sunt in nomine vero in re ipsa erunt That is how neither Jew nor Christian onely by his profession are suddenly for the most made new creaturesi and therefore because the Jews as yet have not attained the names of Christians yet let no man doubt but that they will be converted and brought back into that true and good old way in the which Enoch Shem Noah Abraham Isaac Jacob Moses and Job with the rest of the Patriarchs walked even according to the mind of God who though they lived so long before Christ came in the flesh yet by Faith they saw his day and were glad even so although Israel will not see Christ in the flesh being he hath already offered up himself upon Cross one Sacrifice to serve for ever yet as sure as the Lord liveth who did once in their fathers remembrance cause the Sun to stand still over Gibeon and the Moon over Aialon which unto this day is a matter of great experience amongst the Jews I say so sure will the Lord perswade them nay he will constrain them to believe that he which for the present they call Ben-Ioseph was that true Emmanuel Ben-David who came and went up and down in the world doing good being meek and lowly riding on an Asse through the streets of their old City Ierusalem These things they do now deny but ere long they shall believe with joy unexpressible and cry Hosanna to the Son of David as if he now were riding before them bearing palms in their hands or rather grace in their hearts saying with the Samaritans We have not only heard by the report and sound of the Gentile Christians but now our own eyes have beheld the salvation of our God And as we may find at this day written in great letters at Rome one of the notable statutes of Lu. Aemilius how that Omnes Dii peregrini è civitate ejiciantur so at this great restauration they will throw away and detest not only out of their present habitations but also out of their hearts all strange and contrary opinions which for the present they do after various manners possess As in Persia they rely for the most part upon the belief and religion of the Bramin Merchants and so in the East-Indies but here in Europe they do give far more earnest heed unto their present book which they call the Gemara in which are written those secreta ac fines temporum spoken of in the book of Esdras whom they now have in special request above others of the Prophets A name and matter as they believe which doth surpass their old Talmud and yet they say at the presence of their King it shall vanish and decay expecting a third edition which will be delivered unto them by the hands of Elias Alluding as I suppose unto that third part which the Lord saith he will bring through the fire pure and burnisht without the least dross amongst them So that in our dayes to shew and testifie how that they are of those true Jews indeed and not of the sect spoken of in the Revelations as we read in the holy oracles viz. in Haggai that when such as had formerly seen the glory of the first Temple did now behold the glory of the second they wept and was it not because God had ecclipsed their old splendor seeing they would not hearken unto the word of his power they would none of his counsel but despised all his reproof by striving to put the evll day far from them I would that English-men had but such Jewish eyes to perceive and hearts to understand how far short we come of our former nick-named Puritanical glory notwithstanding all our talk of so
their parents not being able to help themselves these unnatural bruits will convey them to some places in the inland where they are sure they may be Lions food This I have learned from credible people but sure they are not all so horrible vile in that large Continent Although it is spoken in the foregoing verse that of all or amongst all the sons which she hath educated there is none no not one Christian people in the whole world that will so take her by the hand as to raise her from that sad and deplorable condition in which she now abides And yet this I will say for my own Countrymen that there is no Nation but respects her better then we doe Constantine Magnus that worthy British Christian Emperor excepted who it 's historied by Eusebius Pamphilus that he commended the care that his mother had of their antient City and that great respect they bare unto Pilate for that they found it left in writing by him that Jesus was the King of the Jews and thereupon they used much cost and pains to build up the waste places of Zion But 2. such a man doth not respect them as his equals he doth not esteem of any value those sweet apprehensions that the Prophet Malachi had of some in those dayes that did scorn their brethren Saith he Have we not all one Father Did not one God create us all c. And truly with him there is no respect of persons there is no difference between Jew nor Grecian but as they were all under wrath as in Adam all dyed so they are all one under Christ and in matters of salvation for hath not Christ broken down the mid-wall of partition Did not the Lord Christ whilst he was upon earth check his Disciples for their contending who was the greatest Are not these his holy expressions One is the Father and are not ye all brethren Why then do we revile them and mock at them as the gazing-stock of the whole earth Let us but consider that the Lord chose them for his heritage long before us even then when we Gentiles were all subjects under the Prince of the air and were led bond slaves by him at his pleasure being no otherwise termed by the Apostle St. Paul then children of disobedience whose eyes the god of this world had blinded So that I may say from the same Apostle in Rome 3.3 What if some of them did not believe doth that make void the faith of God No God forbid For God hath reserved them of the Election to enjoy full as glorious eternity as the believing Gentiles shall in the life to come It is true some of them did harden their hearts and refused to hear him that came to them that it might be fulfilled what was written that when our Saviour came to his own they received him not And therefore because that God had known this people more then others in giving them the oracles and the true worship and so appropriating them as his own though indeed all are but in a more especial manner they upon this account he will undoubtedly and extraordinarily punish them for their sins and prevarications and so indeed he hath But 3. such a Jew-scorner is hereby become guilty of the breach of the 6 Command and so I will prove him a real murderer 1 Ep. John v. 13. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer and so in Mat. 5. He that calleth his brother fool shall be in danger of hell-fire Now I say here is not only his hatred but also his reproachful words and his sordid comparisons tearmed murder So that this nominates such a man as backbites and reviles the Israelites either ways to be one of those manslayers for which men Christ dyed Now when such a man useth this petition in the Lords prayer Forgive us as we forgive others he knoweth not the true meaning of that which he doth outwardly and hypocritically express He can upbraid and taunt the Jews with his own proper qualities he saith they crucified their Saviour and pierced the Lord of life and I say that there is not one sin that he commits but does crucifie the Son of God afresh And that I may yet more convince such a one of his arrogancie self-love his hatred of others his offending the weak Jews his envy wrath strife and the like with which companions the Apostle saith no man shall ever enter into heaven I will therefore shew the world how far such a nominal Christian doth surpass an Hebrew in cruelty 1. In that it was but one time and therefore but one singular act of theirs when they did hurt and crucifie their Messiah but he doth it daily and which is the worst of all cruelties and abominated amongst the most barbarous is that when the Jews had wounded Christ he does cut and keep the wound open and thereby our blessed Saviour bleeds afresh The heathen dealt far better with their enemies but he more wretchedly and that not with an enemy but to raise the sin higher with him that was his best friend But 2. in that the Jews only at that time pierced his body with a spear but this man by sinning doth vex his righteous soul he doth as much as in him lies crucifie the Godhead of our most blessed Saviour So as that the Scripture distinguisheth these two for such hainous actions and calleth them not only a grieving of but a will therein contained to quench and totally to extinguish that most holy spirit of God wherewithall the true servants of God are sealed unto the day of redemption But 3. and chiefly all Christians in finning do far exceed and surpass Jews in cruelty in this particular respect that when as we know and it is the main article of our faith that that same Jesus Christ whom the Jews with violent hands did take and crucifie was the only true Saviour of the world yet we cease not to crucifie him against knowledge and this sin of all others is so inexpressibly grievous as the Jews would have abhorred to have committed Are not the words clear in 1 Cor. 2.8 For had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory But because of unbelief it was therefore hid from their eyes so that they then knew it not but Christians knowing their masters will and not doing it shall be beaten with many stripes Where God hath sowed and planted but especially where he hath done such things for his vineyard as he saith What could I have done more there doubtless he will expect fruit but it must be better then backbiting hatred evil speaking or the like or else he will cast such vines into fire unquenchable there shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth Let us then not be deceived with our vain and frivolous boasting against the lopt branches for God will not be any longer mocked but he is now at this present time going about to unfold and to expose
in no wise understand it for it is written in the Evangelists that he spake to them in parables and in dark sayings only to fulfill the Scripture that Israel seeing him yet should not see nor hearing should understand For when Christ told the Jews of raising the destroyed Temple in three dayes time he made it not clear to them for he then spake of the Temple of his body and upon that the Hebrews being not able to apprehend his true meaning it seemed but as a vain saying to them But for the matter in that place where the Lord did affirm he was before Abraham there was their great mistake Now they meant according to their knowledg of Christ as he took upon him the humane nature sin only excepted but he meant according unto his eternal Godhead who was that Lamb slain from the foundation of the world Now it is said in the Evangelist St. John that when they heard these sayings they were offended and cryed out Who can hear it and thereupon many of his Disciples were so foolish as that they revolted from Christ This was a greater default in them then in the Jews which made our Saviour wonder and say to the twelve Will ye go away also And notwithstanding their present detestations of so base a relapse yet we know that when he came to suffer his Disciples ran their way and left him Then if a Christians faith may be so tottering no marvail the Jews did not then accept him for their Messiah But chiefly our Saviour did drive at this that he might beat the Jews off from their own self-righteousness and hypocritical works and for this cause they said he came to destroy and to abrogate the Law of Moses that he would sit at meat with Publicans and sinners do cures on the Sabbath-day and the like But the last and greatest hinderance of their belief next unto Gods purpose was in that he whom they believe is or will be God with them was or should be capable of suffering death Wherefore said the Jews if the King of Israel let him save himself So that the most ready amongst them to believe on Christ when he came to suffer did then fall away as in the 24 of Luke v. 21. But we trusted it had been he who should have redeemed Israel And herein consisted the invalidity of their Thesis they did not firmly believe but only supposed that this was he Their faith was as little or rather less then the faith of Thomas but Iesus Christ calleth that a blessed faith which is the substance of things only hoped for But as I say all along so now Gods time it seems is not as yet come and therefore his justice must and will be fully satisfied before mercy will extend unto any man We all know that if God should not punish for sin it would much derogate from his holiness which attribute God doth so excell in as it is said he hateth to look upon sin and without the participation of which no soul can enter into glory And further it was requisite and just that the Lord should so punish Israel because that whom he loveth he chasteneth and when God doth suffer any one to go on in his sins unpunished it argues that he lies under the heavy sentence of Gods displeasure The Apostle St. Paul had never found out that good way not of Damascus but that which leads to eternal happiness if the Lord had not first struck him blind So his brethren the Jewes must not go to their journies end without crosses and persecutions for it is not only a narrow way but it is a perillous way a pass scarce passable by reason of those many tribulations and various trials that the faithfull meet withall in their pilgrimage and therefore great is the wisdom of God which goes along with their captivity Then let not Christians that think they stand boast nor be high-minded As there was no Cedar in Lebahon but was liable to lopping so there is no Christian so tall nor steady but may fall into most gross and scandalous enormities yea so low as that God may seem to have forsaken him for a season as he hath the Jews For is not this written for eternity to consider on how notwithstanding all the good deeds of Hezekiah yet he was branded or rather clouded with this exprobration That he rendred not unto the Lord according unto what he had received And was not this the reason of Israels dejection and present rejection because the Scripture saith he rejected and put far away from him all the Lords benefits Jesurun had enough nay rather too much of the mercies of God except he had made better improvement of them then to kick and spurn against God and his holy Word Certainly the Lord doth not give any man riches or shew any man mercy that thereby he should rebell Should we sin because grace aboundeth God forbid Nay rather with Saul we should admire the exceeding riches of free-grace that such bondmen as the Israelites in Egypt were and that such great sinners as we are should obtain the least crum of mercy This is indeed was their misery that they knew not that it was God that did draw them as it were with bonds of love neither studied for to know And for this cause hath the Lord cast them down so low that nothing can raise them out of their blind and undone estate but the omnipotent word of the Lord which resurrection or restauration will be accomplished by taking away those scales of unbelief which hang before their eyes For they are not yet arrived to Damascus neither as yet is Ananias come to them They are not thither come because there is none as yet that do take this blind creature by the hand whereby to guide her and he that will enlighten the dark minds of their understanding even the Glory of Israel hath not as yet given charge to the Angel of his presence for their salvation It is said in one of the Prophets Will the Lion roar when he hath caught the prey and hath enough and will not the Grape-gatherers leave the gleanings So that from this allusion which the Lord by the mouth of the Prophet sent unto the Jews formerly is much talked on amongst them even at this day so that they say the Lord will not be always angry with them but he will remember the covenant which he made with their fathers God will leave a remnant to possess the desolate and waste places such as he hath reserved for his own purpose such as can stand and admire to remember the dayes of old whose hearing the sad relation of their fathers so many hundred years living in darkness for that horrid doleful saying of theirs at the crucifixion of their King his blood be upon us and our children will make their ears to tingle O foolish people and unwise that should by their hardness of heart and stubborness of mind produce
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