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cause_n	know_v	lord_n	time_n	3,131	5	3.5997	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B04456	Vindiciæ Judæorum, or A letter in answer to certain questions propounded by a noble and learned gentleman, touching the reproaches cast on the nation of the Jevves; wherein all objections are candidly, and yet fully cleared. By Rabbi Menasseh Ben Israel a divine and a physician.	Manasseh ben Israel, 1604-1657.	1656 (1656)	Wing M381; Thomason E.880[1]; Interim Tract Supplement Guide 482.b.3[7]	31,719	45

what end was he first circumcised If it shall be said it was out of hatred to the Christians it appears rather to the contrary that it proceeded from detestation of the Iewes or of them who had newly become proselytes to embrace the Iewes religion Surely this supposed pranck storied to be done in popish times looks more like a piece of the reall scene of the Popish Spaniards piety who first baptiz'd the poor Indians and afterwards out of cruel pity to their souls inhumanely butchered them then of strict-law-observing Iewes who dare not make a sport of one of the seales of their covenant 11. Our captivity under the Mahumetans is farre more burdensome and grievous then under the Christians and so our ancients have said it is better to inhabit under Edom then Ismael for they are a people more civill and rationall and of a better policie as our nation have found experimentally For excepting the nobler and better sort of Iewes such as live in the Court of Constantinople the vulgar people of the Iewes that are dispersed in other countries of the Mahumetan Empire in Asia and Africa are treated with abundance of contempt and scorn It would therefore follow that if this sacrificing of children be the product and result of hatred that they should execute and disgorge it much more upon the Mahumetans who have reduced them to so great calamity and misery So that if it be necessary to the celebration of the Passeover why do they not as well kill a Mahumetan But although the Iewes are scattered and dispersed throughout all those vast territories notwithstanding all their despite against us they never yet to this day forged such a calumnious accusation Wherefore it appeares plainly that it is nothing else but a slander and such a one that considering how the scene is laid I cannot easily determine whether it speak more of malice or of folly certainly Sultan Selim made himself very merry with it when the story was related him by Moses Amon his chief Physicyan 12. If all that which hath been said is not of sufficient force to wipe off this accusation because the matter on our part is purely negative and so cannot be cleared by evidence of witnesses I am constrained to use another way of argument which the Lord blessed for ever hath prescribed Exod. 22. which is an oath wherefore I swear without any deceit or fraud by the most high God the creatour of heaven and earth who promulged his law to the people of Israel upon mount Sinai that I never yet to this day saw any such custome among the people of Israel and that they doe not hold any such thing by divine precept of the law or any ordinance or institution of their wise men and that they never committed or endeavoured such wickednesse that I know or have credibly heard or read in any Jewish Authours and if I lie in this matter then let all the curses mentioned in Leviticus and Deuteronomy come upon me let me never see the blessings and consolations of Zion nor attain to the resurrection of the dead By this I hope I may have proved what I did intend and certainly this may suffice all the friends of truth and all faithfull Christians to give credit to what I have here averred And indeed our adversaries who have been a little more learned and consequently a little more civill then the vulgar have made a halt at this imputation Iohn Hoornbeek in that book which he lately writ against our nation wherein he hath objected against us right or wrong all that he could any wayes scrape together was notwithstanding ashamed to lay this at our door in his Prolegomena pag. 26. where he sayes An autem verum sit quod vulg ò in historiis legatur c. i.e. whether that be true which is commonly read in histories to aggravate the Iewes hatred against the Christians or rather the Christians against the Iewes that they should annually upon the preparation of the Passeover after a cruell manner sacrifice a Christian child privily stollen in disgrace and contempt of Christ whose passion and crucifixion the Christians celebrate I will not assert for truth as well knowing how easy it was for those times wherein these things are mentioned to have happen'd especially after the Inquisition was set up in the Popedome to forge and fain and how the histories of those ages according to the affection of the writers were too too much addicted and given unto fables and figments Indeed I have never yet seen any of all those relations that hath by any certain experiment proved this fact for they are all founded either upon the uncertain report of the vulgar or else upon the secret accusation of the Monks belonging to the inquisition not to mention the avarice of the informers wickedly hanquering after the Iewes wealth and so with ease forging any wickednesse For in the first book of the Sicilian constitutions tit 7. we see the Emperour Frederick saying Si vero Iudaeus vel Saracenus sit in quibus prout certò perpendimus Christiano cum persecutio minus abundat ad praesens but if he be a Iew or a Saracen against whom as we have weighed the persecution of the Christians do much abound c. thus taxing the violence of certain Christians against the Iewes Or if perhaps it hath sometimes happened that a Christian was kill'd by a Iew we must not therefore say that in all places where they inhabit they annually kill a Christian Child And for that which Thomas Cantipratensis lib. 2. cap. 23. affirms viz. that it is certainly known that the Iewes every year in every province cast lots what city or town shall afford Christian bloud to the other cities I can give it no more credit then his other fictions and lies wherewith he hath stuffed his book Thus farre Iohn Hoornbeek 13. Notwithstanding all this there are not wanting some histories that relate these and the like calumnies against an afflicted people For which cause the Lord saith He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of my eye Zach. 2.6 I shall cursolarily mention some passages that have occurred in my time whereof I say not that I was an eye witnesse but onely that they were of generall report and credence without the least contradiction I have faithfully noted both the names of the persons the places where and the time when they happened in my continuation of Flavius Josephus I shall be the lesse curious therefore in reciting them here In Vienna the Metropolis of Austria Frederick being Emperour there was a pond frozen according to the cold of those parts wherein three boyes as it too frequently happens were drowned when they were missed the imputation is cast upon the Jewes and they are incontinently indicted for murthering of them to celebrate their Passeover And being imprisoned after infinite prayers and supplications made to no effect three hundred of them were burnt when the pond thawd these

shall be blessed in Abraham and in his seed not onely spiritually and in the knowledge of the one first cause but also that at this time they shall enjoy temporall and earthly blessings by vertue of that promise And so in the time of the second temple they offered up sacrifice for their confederate nations as may appear by these ensuing instances In Megilat Tahanit cap. 9. it is reported that when Alexander the great at the instigation of the Samaritans that inhabited mount Gerizim went with a resolution to destroy the temple Simeon the just met him in the way and amongst divers reasons that he urged to divert him from his purpose told him this is the place where we pray unto God for the welfare of your self and of your kingdome that it may not be destroyed and shall these men perswade you to destroy this place The like we find in the first book of the Maccabees cap. 7.33 and in Iosephus his Antiq. lib. 12. cap. 17. when Demetrius had sent Nicanor the Generall of his army against Jerusalem the Priests with the Elders of the people went forth to salute him and to shew him the sacrifice which they offered up to God for the welfare of the King In the same history lib. 2.3 and in Josephus Gorionides lib. 3. cap. 16. we may read that Heliodorus Generall to Selencus came to Jerusalem with the same intent Onias the High-priest besought him not to destroy that place where they prayed to God for the prosperity of the King and his issue and for the conservation of his kingdome In the first Chapter of Baruch the disciple of Jeremiah we find that the Iewes who were first carried captive into Babylon with Iechonias made a collection of money according to every ones power and sent it to Jerusalem saying Behold we have sent you money wherewith ye shall buy offerings and pray for the life of Nebuchadnezzar and for the life of Baltasar his sonne that their dayes may be upon earth as the dayes of heaven and that God would give us strength and lighten our eyes that we may live under their shadow that we may long do them service and find favour in their sight The Iewes in Asia did the same as is reported by Josephus Gorionides lib. 3. cap. 4. they sent letters with a present to Hircanus the High-priest desiring that prayers might be made for the life of Augustus Caesar and his companion Marcus Antonius Philo Judaeus in the book of his Embassage to Caius making mention of a letter which Caius sent requiring his statue to be set up in the sacred temple and Agrippa's answer thereupon unto the said Emperour reports that there were these words in it viz. The Iewes sacrifice for the prosperity of your Empire and that not onely upon their solemn feasts but also every day The like is recorded by Josephus lib. 2. cap. 9. De bello Judaico the Iewes said to Petronius Generall to the Emperour Caius we daily offer up burnt offerings unto God for the peace of the Emperour and the whole people of Rome And in his second book against Apion he sayes we Hebrews have allwayes accustomed to honour Emperours with particular sacrifices Neither was this service ever entertained unthankfully as appears by the decree of Cyrus Ezra 6.3 where also Darius commands that of the Kings goods even of the tribute expences should be ●orth-with given unto the Elders of the Iewes c. and that which they had need of both young bullocks and rammes and lambs for the burnt-offerings of the Lord of heaven and wheat salt wine and oyl c. that they might offer sacrifices of a sweet savour unto the God of heaven and pray for the life of the King and of his sonnes The same also was commanded afterwards by Artaxerxes who also conferred liberally many large gifts as well towards the building of the temple as the maintaining of the sacrifices As for Alexander the great he lighted down out of his chariot and bowed himself at the feet of the High-priest desiring him to offer up sacrifice to God on his behalf And who can be ignorant of Ptolomy Philadelphus how richly he endowed the temple as is recorded by Aristeas Nor did Antiochus king of the Greeks unlike this when by a publick edict he forbid that any stranger should enter the temple to prophane that place which the Hebrews had consecrated to religion and divine worship Josephus lib. 12. cap. 3. Demetrius did the like Josephus lib. 13. cap. 5.6 To which may be added that when they of Ierusalem contended with them of Samaria about the honour and dignity of the temple before Alexander the great the Ierusalem Priest in his plea urged that this temple was ever had in great reverenee by all the Kings of Asia and by them enricht with sundry splendid and magnificent gifts In the second book of Iosephus against Apion we read that Ptolomy Euergetes when he had conquered Syria offered up Eucharisticall sacrififices not to idols and false Gods but to the true God at Ierusalem according to the manner of the Iewes Pompey the great as is mentioned by Iosephus de bello Iudaico lib. 1. cap. 5. durst not spoyl no nor so much as touch the treasures of the temple not because as Tully in his Oration for Plancius supposeth to whom Augustine in his book de civitate Dei assentos he feared lest he might be thought too avaritious for this seems in comparison very ridiculous and childish for military law would soon have acquitted him for this but because of the reverence to the place with which his mind was so affected Philo Iudaeus p. 102. 6. relates a letter of Agrippa's where he writes that Augustus Caesar had the temple in so great reverence that he commanded a sacrifice of one bullock and two lambs to be offered up every day out of his own revenues And his wife Iulia Augusta adorn'd it with golden cups and basons and many other costly gifts Neither did Cleopatra Queen of Egypt fall short of her liberallity Tiberius throughout the 22 years of his Empire commanded sacrifices to be offered up unto God out of his own tribute The like did Nero till the unadvised rashnesse of Eleazar in refusing his sacrifice alienated the mind of the Emperour that he became the cause of a bloudy persecution And by all this we may the better interpret that 11 verse of the 1. chap. of Malachy who flourisht in the second temple The words are From the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name and a pure offering for my name shall be great among the heathen saith the Lord of hosts For besides that the heathens termed the the temple the house of the great God Ezra 5.8 they and their Monarchs and Emperours both of Persia Grece and Rome desired as we have heard to have

nothing but to praise God and to ask spirituall and temporall blessings and by our service and worship implore the divine benevolence protection and defence THE FIFTH SECTION BUt forrasmuch as it is reported that we draw and seduce others to our religion c. 1. Never unto this day in any part hath this been suspected where the Iewes are dispersëd nor can it find place here Truly I have held friendship with many great men and the wisest and most eminent of all Europe and also they came to see me from many places at my house and I had many friendly discourses with them yet did not this give occasion to make us suspected of any such things Yea Gaspar Barleus the Virgill of our time and many others have written many verses in my commendations which I mention not for vain glory farre be it but for vindication of my innocent repute 2. By our rituall books we are clear of this seducing For if any man offer to become a Iew of what Nation soever he be before we receive him and admit him as a member of our Synagogue we are bound to consider whether he be moved by necessity to do it or if it be not for that he is in love with some of our nation or for any other worldly respect And when we find no reason to suspect him we have yet another obligation upon us which is to let him know the penalties he subjects himself unto if he breaketh the Sabbath or eateth bloud or fat which is forbidden Levit. 3.17 or disannulleth any precept of the Law as may be seen in the Targum upon Ruth And if he shew himself constant and zealous then is he admitted and protected Wherefore we do not seduce any one but contrarily avoid disputing with men concerning religion not for want of charity but that we may as farre as it is possible avoid scandall and hate and for this cause we refuse to circumcise them that come to us because we will give no offence Yea I have known some that for this cause have circumcised themselves And if Ferdinand and Isabella King and Queen of Castile did make an order to expell the Iewes because they seduced many Christians and some of the Nobility to become Iewes this was but a pretence and colour for their tyranny and onely as it is well known having no other thing to object against us Truly I do much commend that opinion not onely of Osorius de rebus Immanuelis but of our Flavius Iosephus the most famous of all Historians which he relates in his history of his own Life At that time saith he there came unto me two Noble men of the Trachomites subjects of the king bringing with them horsemen with arms and money These when the Iewes would compell to be circumcised if they would live amongst them I would not suffer them to trouble them maintaining that every man ought to serve God of his own free will and not be forced thereto by others For should we do this thing saith he it might make them repent that ever they fled unto us And so perswading the multitude I did abundantly afford unto these men their food according to their diet Truly this was an action worthy or a noble and wise man and worthy of imitation for defending common liberty leaving the judgement and determination to God alone The Spanish Inquisitions with all their torments and cruelties cannot make any Iew that falls into their power become a Christian For unreasonable beasts are taught by blowes but men are taught by reason Nor are men perswaded to other opinions by torments but rather on the contrary they become more firm and constant in their Tenet THE SIXTH SECTION HAving thus discussed the main exceptions I will now proceed to smaller matters though lesse pertaining to my faculty that is to businesse of Merchandise Some say that if the Iewes come to dwell here they will draw unto themselves the whole Negotiation to the great damage of the naturall Inhabitants I answer that it hath been my opinion alwayes with submission to better judgements that it can be no prejudice at all to the English Nation because principally in transporting their goods they would gain much by reason of the publick payments of customes excise c. Moreover they would alwayes bring profit to the people of the land as well in buying of commodities which they would transport to other places as in those they would trade in here And if by accident any particular person should lose by it by bringing down the price of such a commodity being dispersed into many hands yet by that means the Commonwealth would gain in buying cheaper and procuring it at a lesser rate Yea great emolument would grow to the naturall Inhabitants as well in the sale of all provision as in all things else that concern the ornaments of the body Yea and the native Mechanicks also would gain by it there being rarely found among us any man that useth any such art 2. Adde to this that as our nation hath sailed into almost all parts of the world so they are alwayes herein profitable to a nation in a readinesse to give their opinions in favour of the people amongst whom they live Beside that all strangers do bring in new merchandises together with the knowledge of those forreign Countries wherein they were born And this is so farre from damnifying the natives that it conduces much to their advantage because they bring from their countryes new commodities with new knowledge For the great Work-Master and Creatour of all things to the end to make commerce in the earth gave not to every place all things but hath parted his benefits amongst them by which way he hath made them all wanting the help of others This may be seen in England which being one of the most plentifull countries that are in the world yet wanteth divers things for shipping as also wine oyl figs almonds raisins and and all the drougs of India things so necessary for the life of man And besides they want many other commodities which are abundant in other countries with more knowledge of them though it be true that in my opinion there is not in the world a more understanding people for most Navigations and more capable of all Negotiation then the English Nation are 3. Farther there may be companies made of the natives and strangers where they are more acquainted or else Factors All which if I be not deceived will amount to the profit of the natives For which many reasons may be brought though I cannot comprehend them having alwayes lived a sedentary life applying my self to my studies which are farre remote from things of that nature 4. Nor can it be justly objected against our Nation that they are deceivers because the generality cannot in any rationall way be condemned for some particulars I cannot excuse them all nor do I think but there may be some deceivers amongst them as well