captivity must be gathered together by repentance ye shall never be delivered seeing that you are alwaies a rebellious people and of a stiffe neck Iew Heare what Ezechiel saith I will doe it not for your sakes O house of Israel c. and he saith I will bring you out from amongst the people c. And againe hee saith in the Law I will remember them for my first covenant c. From this wee think that for the goodnesse of God and righteousnesse of the Fathers and not for our own righteousnesse we shall come out of captivity Wee see also how the Rabbies have been perplext here whether they should come out of captivity by repentance or not Wherefore Rabbi Iohanan saith that the sonne of David shall not come but in a generation which is wholly just or in a generation which is wholly guilty of sin And Rabbi Eleiser saith if the Israelites shall make repentance they shall immediately be delivered seeing it is written returne yee backsliding children To which Rabbi Ioshua doth answer was it not now said ye are sold for nought c. Here we see that our fathers were doutful whether we should be delivered from banishment by repentance or not because the sayings of Scripture do seem to disagree amongst themselves which difference shall be thus composed that many Israelites shall bee converted by repentance after that they have seene the signes of deliverance and therefore it is said hee saw that there was not a man that did repent untill hee saw the beginning of the salvation and notwithstanding some remaining wicked and rebellious shall come out with the multitude of repenting Israelites and shall dye in the journey and shall not enter into the Land of Israel Christian Tell mee I pray you what signes shall be in the gathering together of your dispersion Iew The first signe of our salvation shall be this That the peo of this world shall fall and we shall rise and the people shall be as it were bound before our face that no man dare lift a hand or foot unlesse he first fall down and humble himself before our presence And the reason of this is although the judgements of God have come upon us yet we cease not to follow him knowing that his judgements are good and when his judgements do come into the earth then the inhabitants of the world are instructed and learn to do justice for because of them the world stands If we remembred the name of other gods amongst our enemies under whom wee live wee might bee delivered from their oppression might be in dignity and magnificence as well as they but because we refuse to do this we suffer afflictions which hurt us not but we are purified by them and our sinne is consumed that not any reliques or any spots doe remain in us and when God doth chastise us in this captivity for our sins we cease not to hope in him neither do we despaire but that in his own time we may be delivered Christian And why I beseech you have your Rabbies appointed you so many bounds which now are all past and your Messias is not yet come neither have you any hope that he will come Iew Our Rabbies were much troubled and disquieted therefore they set some neare bound lest the common people should despaire and cast off their hope of freedome Christian Thus your Rabbies doe seduce the simple Iewes who live amongst you by saying expect a little while there and expect a little while there and behold you have no salvation nor redemptiō But tel me another sign and tell me what shall be when your redemption shal come Iew The Israelites shall not fall away as other Nations who shall so much be abolisht that even the remembrance of their name shall not remaine but the Israelites shall be so re-united amongst the Nations that in every place they shall bee one people although now they are banisht and cast out into every part of the world for in the latter daies they shall returne to their dignity and shall be greater than all the Nations of the earth for then shall judgement draw nigh that the wicked may bee abolisht who are amongst them And this shall be that day when the Lord will send his Angell to cleare the way before the congregation of the banished lest they should find in their way any adversary and evill encounter but because the end of the banishment is not revealed neither explained in the book of Daniel when it is said because the sayings are shut up and sealed untill the time of the end therefore 't is said in Malachi for he shall suddenly come no man knowing the day of the comming of the Lord who is King Messias and Angell of the Testament or the Angell of the Testament is spoken of Elijah Moreover that day shall be like fire purifying the rust from the silver for so the wicked shal be separated from the godly and the wicked shall fall away and the residue shall remaine just for that day shall bee a day of judgement when the Lord shall doe judgement between the wicked and the godly the godly shall be his inheritance and hee shall have mercy upon them that the evill touch them not which shall consume the wicked and they shall see the good of Ierusalem and the peace of Israel all the daies of their life to wit theirs who then shal be alive in the congregation of the dispersion when the redeemer shall come in their daies And the Lord shall raise those that shall not be alive from the dead namely the just that they may see the peace of Israel and God shall send Elijah the Prophet for the good of Israel and shall bring back again his soul which did ascend into Heaven to a body formed like his first body for his first body was turned into earth and every element did passe into its element and after that hee hath quickned him in body onely he shall send him to Israel before the day of judgement to admonish the Fathers and likewise the children that they should turne themselves to God with the whole heart and they which shall repent they shall be delivered from the day of judgement Christian Thou hast told mee strange things that even the dead in the comming of the Messiah shall live againe and Elias shall returne and the just shall see their redeemer the Messias and they shall rejoice with him but these things shall be in the second and last comming of the Messias that is in the end of the world and not in his first comming as you thinke and if you vouchsafe to heare I will tell you something concerning the resurrection of the dead and I will tell you the truth We read in Isa. Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise awake and sing yee that dwell in the dust for thy dew is as
number 1335 be accomplisht Iew Some say that number is extended to the year of the world 6118 which is the 2367 year of Christ For first they counted 1290 daies to that time when they laid down the abomination of desolation after the destruction of the temple according to the words of Daniel and afterwards they began to number 1335 daies But they who went before us did not receive this supputation but every man laboured to finde out some account which might agree with their daies And after this manner thou shalt finde with our Rabbies of good memory many divers bounds which are al past for they were carefull to finde out some neere bound lest the common people should despaire because redemption was suspended Christian And so your Rabbies doe alway seduce you saying behold at this time the Messias shall come and when that that is past again they say at that time he shall come How will yee believe these lying words Consider you have no hope and salvation is deferred from you and God is departed from you and you have no consolation not a prophet nor vision therefore be converted acknowledge your Saviour and our Saviour our Lord Christ Iew Neither have wee had from the beginning of the second Temple a Prophet or vision but in those daies when the Messias shall begin to grow Then prophecies and visions shall be multiplied But at this time all vision and prophecie is sealed for the end of the vision of the Prophets hath respect wholly to the growing of the Messias Kingdome When hee shall come we shall have great consolations so that al the daies of our captivity shall bee counted as a little moment as it is written I have left thee a little moment and in great mercies I wil gather thee Christian Vision and prophecy is shut up from your eies but not from our eies for we are all taught of God and the mysteries of the Kingdome of God are revealed to us and if you also will believe in our Lord Christ you may enter into the Kingdome of God Iew Wee cannot beleeve in your Christ because hee was a Magician and all his miracles were wrought by the Magick Art and therefore he was judged to death as the Lord God taught us and because hee brake the Sabbath and said hee was a God therefore the Iewes slew him Christian Hold your peace knave and doe not so reproach our Saviour but if you will at another time I will come to you that wee may speake more of this matter Who knows peradventure thou wilt acknowledge the truth and receive our Gospell Iew I am content that according to your pleasure you come to me but speak nothing to me of your bad tidings Christian Take heed to your selfe that you say not bad tidings but good tidings for it is a manifestation of the goodness of God which came to us by Christ the Redeemer of the world But why doe you so refuse to heare the Gospell and why doe you shun the light and will set in darknesse Is it not written concerning the light of the Gospell the people which did walke in darkenesse saw a great light and to them which dwell in the shadow of death light hath shined Iew This is the reason why I will not heare because Iesus your Messias was an evill man and his speeches were fained and the glorious God saw that hee would seduce the world and would set himselfe forth for God and for that God hath said that men should die but Iesus ought to bee hanged upon the Crosse that so all that should come into the world might see that hee was not God Moreover none of the Prophets hath prophecied frō that time wherin Christ being crucified was hang'd up none of Israel neither any of the Nations because a lying spirit did so much prevail in the world that there was no place for the spirit of prophecie But also we suffer al these tribulations and this very long captivity because that wicked man was borne of us and in our land who made himselfe God and seduced the whole world Christian All those evils which you Iewes suffer came not upon you because of our Christ because he said that he was God and the son of God but rather for this because your fathers slew him and crucified him a holy man and just the Saviour of the world who did no evill neither was deceit found in his mouth Behold this holy man your fathers slew and numbered him with the wicked and ye all allow this fact to this very day and therefore ye shall never find grace in the eies of God unlesse ye return from that evill way and acknowledge our Lord Iesus Christ whom ye in contempt do call Ieschim Vnless you beleeve in him you shall all perish and shall goe downe to hell Behold I have foretold it you shall not finde other salvation in heaven and in earth and for this cause seeke the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is neere Forsake your unbelieving heart and returne to the Lord and he will have mercy on you and to our God for hee will abundantly pardon you Be not like your fathers who hardned their faces more than a rocke and would not returne to the Lord but dealt wickedly against the Lord the God of their fathers who delivered them to be spoiled as you see it at this day I beseech you harden not your necks as you have done hitherto but give your hands to the Lord and acknowledge that Christ is sent for the salvation of all men who shall beleeve in him the Lord our God is gratious and mercifull who will not turne away his face from you if yee returne to him Iew You shal never perswade me to receive your faith and believe in your Christ for that which you beleeve no reason can comprehend neither any man understand For how shal I beleeve that the Creator of heaven and earth and all things that are in them shut himselfe up in the wombe of a Iewish Virgin grew nine moneths and was borne a child and afterward increased in stature and was delivered into the hands of his enemies who condemned him with the judgement of death slew him on the Crosse and yee afterward say and beleeve that he lived again and returned to his former state neither the mind of a Iew neither can any man comprehend this therefore you spend your words in vaine seeing that these things have no likelihood of truth Christian Knowest thou not that nothing is unpossible to God verily all those things which you have now mentioned are in the Prophets but wrapt in the covering of words for thus saith the Prophet Isaias Behold a virgin shall conceive and beare a son and shall call his name Immanuel And in another place hee saith Hee was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was
the dew of herbs and the earth shall cast out the dead Where he signifies the second comming of the Messias to judgement when God himselfe in the day of judgement shall raise the dead to life The same is also in the Prophecy of Daniel and many of them that sleepe in the dust of the earth shall awake that is the resurrection of the dead to life shall be common to all the just and the wicked shall also receive their bodies but to be punished in them and in their soules and dye perpetually Moreover when the Prophet saith thy dead hee directs his speech to God and then a voice shall come from heaven and shall say to them awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust So when he saith they dew he speakes figuratively to God for as the dew doth quicken and cause the herbes to grow up so the dew of divine power shall quicken the dead and the earth shall cast forth her dead that is God shall condemne the wicked and thrust them out into hell but the just shall goe with Christ into eternall life and then the present world shall have an end and the elect shall be with God in the Kingdome of heaven for ever and ever but the wicked shall be shut up together with the devill into hell from whence they shall never be delivered as it is said in the same place some shall awake to eternall life but some to reproaches and to perpetuall abomination Behold this is our faith concerning the resurrection of the dead and so also our holy Prophets have taught Iew Our Rabbies also have taught us how we should beleeve but after another manner for they have said the resurrection of the dead shall bee for all the just and for some wicked for the Lord shal cast forth those that be dead that is the wicked to the earth but that cannot give them life Moreover the dead which then the Lord shall raise to life shall not differ from other men in the use of humane life for they shall have a free choice of good and evill for therefore he saith some to eternall life but some unto reproaches and eternall abomination untill at length they come into contempt and a continuall consummation that no part of good shall come to them but even as the Prophet saith at that time the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord Then the abundance of divine knowledge shal so much increase that the faith of God shall never be wanting neither shall man bee changed but to good and to perfection and many Iewes say these things shall be before the daies of the Messias at which time miracles without number shal come to passe Christian And here you likewise erre seeing all these miracles are fulfilled already some few excepted which shall come to passe in the second comming of the Messias namely in the end of the world when God and the Messias shall come to judge the quick and the dead for the Messias is come already and hath quickned the dead some from a corporall death some from a spirituall death At this day Idols have ceas'd in the world as it is written The earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord for all Nations professe at this day one God At this day much people walk to the house of the God of Iacob which is the congregation of the faithfull beleeving in Christ who also figuratively are called the spirituall Ierusalem At this day the wolfe remaines with the Lamb that is the wicked and devourer with the meeke and doth not hurt him Peace also was through the whole world in those daies when Christ was born for then one man namely Octavianus did reigne over the whole world in peace But in the world to come which is the kingdome of Christ there shall bee peace without end now the Ports of Ierusalem are open that every one that will may enter and the mountain of the Lord is established upon the top of the mountaines and is lifted above the hils To day in the heavenly Ierusalem which is the City of beleevers in Christ who is already come a voice of weeping and mourning shall no more bee heard there but beleevers in Christ shall remaine there not onely five hundred yeares but for ever But yee Iewes do not understand this word as Isaias hath prophecied the Ox knoweth his owner and the Asse his Masters crib but Israel doth not know my people doth not consider as if hee should say they would not understand and walke in a right way interpreting places of Scripture according to their owne fancies knowing that their words are defended by no truth as I will explaine below where they say Christ shal have sons and daughters And is it not written in the Thalmud in the Treatise Nisa that the Messias shall not come till the soules bee perfected from the body that is brought out of that closet from whence the soules shall come which are created for they so call the body Know therfore their words are empty and foolish when they frame expositiōs of things to come for they doe it to triumph and obstinately to remain in their errour lest if they repented and stood off from their purpose they should lie under shame and disgrace but they themselves confesse they dare not for the people sing a recantation for otherwise they should be killed because they have so blinded the eyes of the common people with their false consolations But I know you Iewes doe object to us Christians that this gave occasion to your so tedious banishment because Iesus being born of the seed of David of the Iewes made himselfe God and drew many of the people to him who beleeved in him which neverthelesse is a very bad errour with you and your ancestors Did they not kill him for it and hang him upon a tree if they had done well God ought rather to hasten their redemption for that fact even before the end of their banishment were come especially seeing they had fulfilled that command Thou shalt root out evill from the midst of thee and did hee not promise this very thing to them by Moses Moreover if the words of Christ were lies why did not God send some Prophet or vision as he did in the daies of the Kings when they worshipped Baal and other Idols admonishing them to abstaine from that vanity and did reprove them But forasmuch as this hath not been done we may conclude that his words and deeds were true and just Blessed therefore is the man who puts his trust in the Lord and in his Christ and whose confidence the Lord is for the time wherein he hopes in him and in the Messias sent in the second house I have other Arguments which I could bring proving the Messias to be already come but I think it needlesse to alledge more here seeing I have cited those
the iniquity of Israel but in the month Nisan they shall be delivered which month also before when they were delivered out of Egypt was the beginning of redemption they shall come forth before Nisan and shall ascend towards the land of promise but in the first day of that moneth the building of the Temple shall bee finisht and they shall dedicate the Altar in that day and when they shall be in their journy God shall judge them in the desert as it is written As I live saith the Lord God I will bring you out from the people and will gather you together out of the Nations in which you have been scattered and will lead you into the desert of the people and will judge you there face to face as as I judged your fathers in the desert of the Land of Egypt the meaning of which place is this When I shall bring you forth out from the people I will not lead you to the land of Israel untill I shall judge you in the desert of the people for there I will take vengeance of you and will destroy the rebellious and every wicked one whom I shal find amongst you I will take my judgement of you in the place where no man shall bee found to passe or repasse lest the Nations should see your evill and should rejoice over you but he saith face to face that is between mee and between you onely without any mediatour Christian Shall then all the Nations beleeve in one God Iew Divers faiths shall not then be in the world as now but a chosen language shall returne to the people that all may call upon the Name of the Lord and may serve him with one shoulder for then shall be fulfilled that which is written To gather together all nations that they may come and see my glory I will set a signe amongst them and I will send forth the rest of them to the Gentiles that they may shew my glory and bring all your brethren from all Nations a gift to the Lord on horses and chariots as if he should say I will cause all nations to come with Gog and Magog and see my glory wherewith I will be glorified among them and I will cause the remnant to goe into all Nations and declare my glory among the Gentiles who have not come to Ierusalem and when they shall heare that great miracle which God hath done in the Tents of Gog and Magog they shall bring the sons of Israel on horses and chariots for a gift to the Lord and they shall bring them honourably apparelled set on horses and chariots and the seed of Israel shall continue all the daies of the world neither shall the Israelites ever perish or be led into banishment out of their owne land as those Nations thought who came with Gog and Magog to besiege Ierusalem who thought to lead away Israel and blot out their name Again the Prophet saith and all flesh shall come and worship before my face saith the Lord for all that are left of all the Nations shall come every yeare to Ierusalem to worship the King of Heaven and celebrate the feast of Tabernacles He saith evidently the Feast of Tabernacles which battell of Gog and Magog shall bee in that time Also the Nations shall come from every part of the world to seek the peace of Israel bringing a gift to her A gift as it is written Thus saith the Lord behold I give to her namely Ierusalem peace as a river and the glory of the Gentiles as a flowing stream not that it shall hurt like an overflowing flood but as an overflowing flood comes unawares so glory shall suddenly come to them that is the riches of the Gentiles and all the daies of the world the Nations of the world shall serve Israel and the Israelites shall have dominion over their enemies and they shall revenge that bondage which the Gentiles have abused in their servitude all the daies of the captivity and now also all the Nations who doe not serve the Iewes are the debitors of death and worthy of banishment as it is written in Isaiah Arise shine for the Nation and Kingdome that will not serve thee shall perish therefore all the time that they serve the Israelites they have a strong hope as it is said And strangers shall stand and feed thy sheep and the children of strangers shall bee thy husbandmen and thy vine-dressers Whence it appeares you ought to serve us every houre to fulfill that which is said the greater shall serve the lesser It is also written with you that Saint Iohn hath said the Iewes are to be honoured for our salvation came from them Christian That last is false because it is not written in the booke of Iohn that ye Iewes are to be honoured by the Christians but thou hast added that to the words of our Messias who said it not But yet you have not told me who is Gog and who is Magog and when their battel shall be against the Israelites Iew Magog is a name of a Nation and Gog the name of the King reigning in that Nation But Magog came of the sons of Iaphet and behold they say that from the daies of Alexander King of the Greeks the posterity of Magog have been shut up in the end of the north whom Alexander shut up there within the mountaines whence they have not gone forth hitherto but they shall goe forth in the time of salvation after that Israel is gone out of captivity for so wee have found it written that Alexander the Macedonian shut up Gog and Magog within great and high mountains out of which there is no egresse but in one place onely where hee made a very strong building whose wals are of Iron that no man can goe forth thence also in that wall hee hath made by wonderfull industry iron men who continually as it were with hammers and axes doe smite upon the wall that the men who are within the wals may thinke that building is to be continued and fortified for ever that none of them may ever go forth and that building shall not be broken neither shall any passage be made until that great and terrible day come when it shall please the Lord that they may goe forth thence for then mountaines shall be throwne down and the steep places shall fall and every wall shall fall to the ground for thus saith the Lord God behold I am against thee O Gog and I will bring thee forth all thine army horses and horsemen and all of them clothed with all sorts of armour even a great company with bucklers and shields all of them handling swords Persia Ethiopia and Lybia with them all of them with shield and helmet Gomer and all his bands the house of Togarma of the north quarters ver. 14 15. In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely thou shalt know it and shalt come out of
thy place from the north parts thou and many people with thee and thou shalt come up against my people Israel as a cloud to cover the land ver. 19,20 And in that day there shall be a great shaking in the Land of Israel so that the fishes of the sea and the fowls of the heaven and the beasts of the field and all creeping things that creep upon the earth and all the men that are upon the face of the earth shall shake at my presence and the mountains shall be throwne downe and the steep places shall fall and every wall shall fall to the ground and I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains saith the Lord God every mans sword shall be against his brother Christian These words of the Prophet are wonderful but pursue your discourse and declare what you know Iew It follows And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood and I will rain upon him and his bands and upon the many people that are with him an overflowing raine and great hailstones fire and brimstone Thus wil I magnifie my selfe and sanctifie my selfe and I will bee knowne in the eyes of many Nations and they shall know that I am the Lord Againe saith the Lord behold I am against thee Gog and I will smite thee and punish thee with six plagues and will cause thee to come up from the north parts and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand Thou shalt fall upon the mountaines of Israel thou and all thy bands and the people that is with thee I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured Behold he saith in that great war shall be a great tumult to which Zachary alludeth who in his prophecy speaketh thus The mountaine of Olives shall be rent also every mans sword shall bee against his brother in that tumult of the Lord neither shall be left of them but the sixt part of the multitude and they shall goe to all Nations to declare the glory of the Lord amongst the Nations that they come not against Ierusalem or hee shall judge them with six judgments namely plague blood overflowing raine hail-stones fire and brimstone But what he saith fishes of the sea and foules of heaven know that is spoken hyperbolically to shew the greatnesse of the tumult which shall be Christian Why understand you that which is spoken of the fishes of the sea c. hyperbolically but expoundest the other part of the prophecy according to the letter and where I pray you is it written that Alexander King of the Greeks shut up the sons of Magog within the mountaines but continue that prophecie as you have begun Iew Againe Ezechiel saith And they that dwell in the Cities of Israel shall goe forth and shall set on fire and burne the weapons both the shield and the bucklers the bows and the arrowes and the hand-staves and the speares and they shal burne them with fire seven yeares they shall take no wood out of the field neither cut downe any out of the Forrests for they shall burne the weapons with fire that is they shall not need to cut downe trees out of the woods but the weapons of warre shall suffice Moreover he saith ver. 11. And it shall come to passe at that day that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel the vally of the passengers on the East of the Sea and it shall stop the noses of the passengers there shall the house of Israel bury them to the end that they may cleanse the land seven moneths the stinke of the dead shall cause those that passe by that way to stop and shut their noses from that very evill stink and the people of the land shall be emploied in the burying of them seven moneths also the Nations who came to worship shall goe forth out of Ierusalem into the vally of Iehosaphat to see the carcasses of the army of Gog and Magog who dealt wickedly against the Lord And though the house of Israel doe bury them that they may cleanse the earth seven months 't is possible that they may see in those seven months the judgement of those wicked men for they shall see their carcasses full of wormes gnawing them and fire burning in them as it is written They shall go forth and see the carcasses of those men who have done perversely against me for their worme shall not dye neither their fire be extinguisht Christian You have hitherto multiplied words of divers things I would have you repeat to me those things in a compend which you have alledged here and above Iew I will doe it and give you 15 answers 5 out of scripture and 5 out of the Caball and 5 by clear demonstration Of the 5 which are brought out of Scripture this is the first It is written that all shall bee gathered together from the foure parts of the world to come to Ierusalem and not a remnant or one of them shall remaine in a strange land and I will gather them to their own land and will leave none of them there any more c. but in the daies of the second Temple they of Israel were not gathered together but as it is written the whole congregation together was forty and two thousand three hundred and threescore and for our comfort it is written that the Israelites shall be gathered together in the day of salvation from these Isles from Elam from Sinear and Homath But in the time of the first house we do not find that one of them was transported to the Isles of the sea and by consequent none was to be brought back from hence Christian There is no truth in your mouth who at your own pleasure doe pervert the Scriptures for the mentioned places of Scripture are to be understood of the gathering together of the Babylonish dispersion concerning which we find it thus written Remember I beseech thee the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses saying if ye transgresse I will scatter you abroad among the Nations but if ye turn unto me and keep my commandements and do them though there were of you cast out to the utmost parts of the heaven yet will I gather them from thence and will bring them to the place that I have chosen to set my name there But if you object that the Lord said in Ezekiel I will gather them together to their own land and will not leave any of them but in the time of Ezra all the Israelites did not returne to their owne land I answer that is not true for Ezra saith and all the Israelites dwelt in their Cities Moreover that is to be noted which is written in Deuteronomie concerning
the living for the transgression of my people was he smitten and he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death because he had done no violence neither was any deceit in his mouth Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him hee hath put him to griefe when thou shalt make his soule an offering for sin he shall see his seed he shal prolong his daies and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands He shall see of the travell of his soule and shall be satisfied by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many for he shall bear their iniquities Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide the spoile with the strong because hee hath poured out his soule unto death and hee was numbred with the transgressors and hee bare the sinne of many and made intercession for the transgressors You see here what Isaiah the Prophet hath said concerning the death of the Messias how he should die for our sins that he might save our soules and might lead us into the Kingdome of heaven and that he should see his seed and should prolong his daies and truly the pleasure of the Lord hath had a prosperous successe in his hand Forasmuch as his name hath been magnified in the whole earth and you who slew him are disperst throughout all the nations your house is desolate and you are become of the people of God not the people of God and of Gods peculiar inheritance an abomination in the eies of God and of the sons of God the sons of Belial But on the contrary they who beleeve in God and in his Christ these are the people the possession and the sons of God and they shall never see death because after this world sin shall not bee and by consequent neither death which is the punishment of sin Iew Our Masters speak far otherwise of these things for they say in the time of the Messias the earth shal be filled with the knowledge of the Lord because of the plentifull pouring forth of God whereby he shall then bow himselfe downe to the world neither shall faith be then corrupted neither shall man be changed but to good and to perfection It is also likely that then the dead shall not rise but they who have been just the wicked shall remain in death some few excepted And truly you have now seen that innumerable miracles shall be wrought in the time of the Messias as I have shewed you and because all these are not yet come to passe wee beleeve not in your Christ but doe expect our redeemer neither doe we despaire though many and great tribulations doe meet us in this our moderne captivity Christian You and your Rabbies do err very much for al these wonderfull things concerning which you have spoke to me are fulfilled already some few excepted which shall bee wrought in the second comming of Christ that is in the end of the world when Christ shall come to judge the quick and the dead for our Christ hath raised some dead from a corporall death and some from a spiritual death At this day Idolatry is taken out of the world and the earth is full of the knowledge of the Lord because all people doe at this day confesse one God Now many people doe goe to enter into the house of the God of Iacob which is the Church of beleevers in Christ Now the wolfe dwels with the lambe that is the ungodly man and the destroier with the meeke and hee doth not hurt him Moreover there was peace through the whole world in those daies when our Christ was born for one man namely Octavianus did then reign over the whole world in peace and in the world to come there shall be peace without end Now the gates of Ierusalem are open that is the Church of the faithfull is open and every man of each sex man and woman old man and young man rich and poor Iew and Gentile whosoever will may enter in Also the mountaine of the Lords house is prepared on the top of the mountaines and is lifted above the hils At this day in Ierusalem among beleevers the voice of weeping and mourning is no more heard because they have consolation here and they expect in the world to come joy which shall never bee taken from them There men shall live not only five hundred or a thousand yeares but for ever and ever Iew I understand not your words because you speake figuratively and not according to the letter of the Scripture Christian This is that which the Lord hath said by the Prophet The ox knows his owner and the asse his Masters crib but Israel doth not know my people doth not consider Likewise Moses saith the Lord shall smite thee with madness blindnesse and astonishment of hearth and thou shalt grope at noon day as the blinde man gropeth in darkness and thou shalt not prosper in thy daies Iew This is the punishment wherewith God doth chastise us for our sin but he will not throw off his people for ever Christian What is that your sinne for which this banishment which now you suffer so long after the second house is so much prolonged beyond the banishment of the first house since that it is sufficiently manifest of the greatnesse of the sins which the Kings of Iuda did and yet for them the time of banishment was not prolonged but two and fifty yeares but in the second house they did not worship Idols and neverthelesse the captivity endures wonderfull long Iew I answer you to this doubt thus The sins wch they cōmitted in the time of the first house were very grievous that even then it was decreed that the second Temple should not stand but seventy whole weeks and then againe they should suffer punishment and should beare the iniquity of their fathers to the end of the redemption as it is explained in the end of Daniel which present captivity in which wee now are is for the sins which the Israelites committed before the Babylonish captivity Christian This your answer is vaine for the sonne shall not bear the iniquity of his father if hee bee not a follower of his fathers wickednesse but I will heare what Daniel saith concerning that captivity Iew Behold he speaks after this manner Blessed is he that waites and comes to a thousand three hundred and thirty five daies but a yeare is as a long day And againe a day is a little yeare Likewise there is a certaine place found in the earth where almost a whole yeare is but one day For example there is a place where the day takes up six months and the night challengeth to it selfe the remnant of time there I say a yeare consists of one day So Daniel called dayes yeares because he would have his words shut up and sealed Christian And when shall the mentioned
years under the Law and 2000 yeares under the Messias then it should returne to its owne rudenesse But now the 2000 yeares of the Law and besides many above a thousand are past and your Messias is not yet come as ye Iewes say There is also another sign that the Law of Moses was given for a time because the Prophet saith remember the law of Moses my servant hee doth not say doe the law of Moses as if hee should say In the time of the Messias remember the law of Moses because then all things which are written in the law of Moses concerning the Messias shall be fulfilled for the offerings and sacrifices of oxen and sheep did foreshew the sacrifice of the Messias when he was led forth for a sacrifice and as a sheep which before the shearers is dumb so opened he not his mouth but with his blood hee hath washt us from our sins and hath cleansed away our iniquities Now therefore O Iewes I turne my selfe to you Behold yee pray morning and evening in all your prayers that the Messias and the Redeemer may bee sent to you and ye stand in the feast of propitiation from the evening to the morning crying and praying with your whole heart and your whole strength to the Lord that hee would heare you and send you the Messias but there is no change of your state there is none who understands your prayers or who opens the gates of heaven and takes you out of this life and much lesse who sends your Messias yea to speake somewhat more nothing is seen nothing is heard there is no voice or vision which may tell you the comming of the Messias And behold the property of the blessed God is to heare the prayers of the just and it is impossible according to your assertion who say your faith is true that there hath not been some just in all these generations which have been from the daies of the desolation of the Temple to this present that the blessed God hath not heard their praier and hath sent them the Messias for their merits or that some signe hath not been revealed to them or vision shewed or voice heard whence they might have a sign of his comming Furthermore for what cause doe you thinke the Messias doth so long defer his comming that he doth not redeem you How can hee in this so long time see your tribulations which yee suffer in this banishment and doth not deliver you out of your tribulations neither executes judgement against your enemies why doth hee suffer you so to wander through the deserts as sheep without a pastour and have not any certain dwelling why hath he cast you from him now so many yeares and doth not remember you with God Truly when formerly hee chastised your fathers for their sin presently after they confest and praied and humbled themselves before him in their captivity presently I say hee delivered them although they had even committed Idolatry and offended against the law of Moses had polluted the sabbath and solemnities had broke the covenant of Abraham yet I say notwithstanding these when they repented and did confess their sins forthwith he heard their prayers he repented of the evil inflicted upon them he delivered them and every day sent them the Prophets to comfort them in their banishment yea when before they were certified of the end of their captivity to wit that they should bee in captivity but seventy yeares but the present captivity is now prolonged beyond a thousand and five hundred yeares and it is certaine that in the second house they did not worship Idols neither committed they so much as one of those transgressions which they committed in the first house but neither in this captivity is any man found who worships Idols as they did in former daies and neverthelesse not any consolation or the voice of any oracle doth appeare or is made known What therefore is that your sin for which this captivity after the second house continues so long beyond the captivity of the first house except that ye would not receive and heare the Messias the Saviour when hee came to your land but did persecute him even to death yea when your fathers saw his miracles and terrible works such as no man ever did yet they would not beleeve on him and therefore neither for them neither for you shall ever any propitiation ever be made but being cast forth ye shal lie in the dark and shadow of death ye shall perish for ever unlesse yee bee converted and confesse him Measure for Measure Iew This captivity shall endure to the end of redemption to purge away the sin of our fathers as it is declared in the end of Daniel blessed is he that waites and shall come to one hundred thirty five daies By daies understand yeares as if he should say for the sins which they committed in the first house before the captivity of Babel the mentioned time must be expected c. Christian I have said even now that it is a great error among you to think the Sonne doth beare the iniquity of his father although he hath not committed his Sin seeing the Scripture saith plainly the sons shall not dye for the fathers c. And againe it is written Visiting the iniquity of the fathers unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate mee Where hee meanes that God doth not visit iniquity but unto the fourth generation and how many thousand generations doe you thinke are past to this present time Behold now from the time of the destruction of the Temple and City not only a thousand three hundred and thirty five yeares but many more are past and your fathers expected the Messias about the end of those yeares for so they interpreted the mentioned place of Daniel and neverthelesse your Messias is not yet come neither hath removed from you the punishments of this very long captivity Iew This captivity is prolonged for the transgression which the Israelites did in the second house making themselves gods as Jesus the Apostles and other Saints did who all were Jewes and did perversely interpret the sayings of the Prophets concerning Jesus and made him as it were a perpetual Idol for this the Israelites are almost perpetuated in this so long captivity Christian Doubtlesse no man is ignorant how very grievously the Kings of Judea and Israel sinned in the first house who ordained Priests for the worship of Idols and cleane destroyed the true worship of God and nevertheless they were in captivity but seventy yeares But in the modern captivity they who have acknowledged Christ and have called him the son of God have not denied God but they saw the workes of God in Christ and said this is the son of God But if they had erred in this yet for this they had not denyed God which seeing it is thus why is this your captivity so wonderderfully prolonged