and I will follow you for I have many things in my heart to speak to you and now for a long time I have not entred the house of any Iew What doth that white circle signifie which I see written on the wals round about the chamber having this inscription tarry without thou Lilith Iew We by this circle drive away the Devill lest he enter and hurt the infant newly borne for our Rabbies say that Lilith is a certaine Ghost having the shape of an abortive born of an impure birth saving that he hath wings Christian Thou tellest me strange things but goe on and tell me what more your Masters write concerning this thing Iew I will Know therefore that our wise men judge thus that Adam the first parent begat devils spirits and ghosts and you shall be constrained to bee of their opinion forasmuch as we finde not those creatures in the number of the other workes of creation but many of these have a bodie and a soule they are multiplied and die as other men and againe there are many spirits which are created without a body and of these it is said which the Lord created that hee might make which were not yet made but created such were those Devils whose soules hee had created but did not make their bodies because the Sabbath was at hand and the Lord was forc'd to rest from all his works which hee had created that hee might make but those which are created with a body and a soule as men proceeded from him then came Lilith to Adam hee not knowing for he had not a body by which hee might bee knowne and did preserve his seed from him But Adam was created from the beginning and devils and spirits and ghosts proceeded from him which we draw from this Adam was an hundred and thirty yeares old and begat in his likenesse and image whereby is signified that he begat not in his likeness and image untill the hundred and thirteth yeare Gen. 5.5 Christian Declare to mee better the mentioned text of Scripture which the Lord created that he might make because I understand it not according to your words Iew The Scripture saith thus which the Lord created that he might make and not thus which the Lord created and made to signifie that God created al things by a certain word and was not tired nor weary for he did not make but created all things by a certaine vvord out of nothing speaking to them as to Artificers that they should bring forth things out of themselves as vvhen he said let the earth bring forth let the vvaters bring forth therefore the Scripture saith vvhich the LORD created that hee might make that is commit to others that they might make them but hee did determine and told how all things should bee made After this sort is the creation of Devils who were created in the even of the sabbath as our wise men of good memory have recorded The holy day shone upon them and their making was not altogether finished but were sent into the aire imperfect partly communicating with man and partly with Angels They eate and drinke they increase in off-spring as men they flie through the aire they ascend and steale away things within a garment and for the most part their speeches are lies neither dare they appeare in the sight of God seeing it is written the wicked shall not dwell with thee and when it is said in Genesis Gen. 36. 24. that Anas found Iemim in the desert hee would signifie Devils wherefore Iemim is writ without Iod to signifie that the Devils were left imperfect after the six daies of creation for the holy day of the Sabbath began to enter and hence it is that they shun the Sabbath as it is written in Exodus Exod. 12. 42. it is a night of observations to you to wit that you should beware of those injurious spirits on the Sabbath no Devill or other evill assault need be feared for they all flie to the dark mountains neither doe they appeare all the Sabbath day because that is the holy day and they are unclean but when the Sabbath is ended they returne to fall upon men and hurt them and therefore we say let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us Psal. 90. 17. which Psalme is against Devils and hath that commendation that by it we may put to flight those noxious spirits who are called the snares of the sons of men as it is written Psal. 91. 10. evill shall not be devised against thee neither shall the rod approach thy Tabernacle and because those Devils were made of Adam the first parent in those hundred and thirty yeares wherein hee was sequestred from his wife being made I say of his seed therefore they are called the snares and plagues of men and the mentioned Psalme and the 91 Psalme doth conteine a hundred and thirty sayings with this verse with length of daies thou shalt satisfie him c. and Adam left this calamity to his posterity as it were by right of inheritance that when at night they had felt the flux of nature from thence Devils hurtfull and malitious to men are born Therefore the Law saith thou shalt beware of every evill thing to wit lest man in the day time take in any spirits which in the night may cast him into uncleannesse by Belial's meanes who is called an evill eye and he appeareth sometimes in the shape of a woman is also called Lilith that is a night-ghost Moreover wee must observe that those faunes who are so engendred of the seed of man when the man dies who is their father they all meet together to touch and defile him and therefore our wise men have commanded us to make circles about the man and remember certain words whereby they are put to flight and dare not enter the circle to touch the funerall Moreover they have taught us to make seven circles to drive away seven troops of hurtfull angels which there met together which they gather from hence because it is written Iob 5.19 in six troubles he shall deliver thee and in the seventh evill shall not touch thee Evill that is Belial for they flie away from those circles wherefore those circles must bee made by the grave that presently after the writing of them they may put in the carkasse into the grave and no delay at all be made in letting downe the coffin lest any evill touch it Christian This is great folly in you Iewes yea madnesse of heart when you affirme that God left any creature unperfect or uncomplete seeing it is written in the worke of creation The Heaven and the Earth were finished and all the host of them Gen. 2.2 and in another place it is said The worke of the Creator is perfect Deut. 32. 4 if that bee true how dare you say God made any work imperfect do you think the hand of the Lord is shortned that he
cannot finish any thing or that he wants power that he cannot bring to an end any certaine work But verily your tongue speaks a lie and your mouth doth meditate perversenesse it conceives labour and bringeth forth vanity you erre after the same manner in the whole heaven when you say the Moon from the beginning was equall with the Sun But I desire to heare you tell me what your wise men write of this matter Iew The Scripture saith thus the Lord made two great lights and afterwards it saith a greater light and a lesser light where wee must note that the lights from the beginning were equal in brightnesse but God lessened one and the reason why it was diminisht in its light was pride and unjust accusation or complaint for it is written evill shall not dwell with thee and he that telleth lies shall not tarry in thy sight Truly there is nothing more hatefull before God then an unjust complaint As it is written he that slanders his neighbour in secret him will I destroy and who hath eies lifted up and a proud heart him I cannot behold and because the Moone did complaine of her fellow God humbled her you ask me how she complained I 'll tell you see saith shee it is not meet that it should be said of thee that thou couldst not make divers sons Then saith God to her goe thou and be lesse in light therefore the Moon was confounded and diminisht in light for her sin and when hee shewed himselfe mercifull to her and gave the opening of the mouth to the penitent and to those that converted themselves from their whole heart to him shee was received into favour Our wise men being moved by this have writ that man should never cease to make repentance and should not say my iniquity is greater than can be remitted but if hee be converted the Lord receives him as it is written the Lord desires not the death of a sinner Ezek. 33.11 Christian Thou hast done well in concluding that repentance is shadowed out by the diminishing of the Moone for the story thou hast told mee is a parable and not the truth as many of you have falsely thought for the Moone hath not life soule or spirit whereby she might love or hate but God hath created it from the beginning a lesser light to rule the night and hath not diminisht it as you falsely assert But heare what the Prophet saith thus saith the Lord Ier. 10. 2. learne not according to the way of the Gentiles and be not afraid of the signes of heaven as the Gentiles feare them Behold the Gentiles beleeved such things who knew not the living God Moreover it is not written that the Moon did envy the Sun and did desire to rule in the world why therefore do you believe such things which the Philosophers never thought who affirme that the Moone hath no light of her selfe but receives her brightnesse from the Sun as doe all the stars for the Sunne alone is light of it selfe and hence it is that the Moon and Starres have lesse light than the Sun which may easily bee demonstrated from the eclipse of the Moone when the earth hinders the beames of the Sunne from touching the body of the Moone and if you desire to heare I 'll tell you in short the cause of the eclipse of the Moon Forasmuch as the Moone of it selfe hath no light but receives its splendor from the Sun know that these two lights alwaies in the middle of the Month do stand one against another and though the earth be in the middle yet because the body of the Moon for the most part doth bow down either towards the north or towards the south the shadow of the earth cannot hinder the beames of the Sunne from touching inlightning the Moon But when the Moone in the time of the opposition is in the point of the head of the Dragon or neer to wit twelve degrees lower the Moon is darkned sometimes wholly sometimes in part according as it is more or lesse distant from the mentioned head which I will not here discusse in many words therefore I will turn my selfe to another thing You say that the Iewes shall celebrate a great Feast in the latter times in which they shall eat one common Oxe which in the meane while is fed in a certaine great mountaine and Leviathan that is a great fish salted from the beginning of the world and kept for the just and they shall drinke wine from the first six daies reserved together with the grapes I desire to know from you if this be true Iew It is true our wise men speak of the Leviathan that hee was slain immediately after the first six daies for the scripture saith that God created great whales and without doubt there was two of them but God slew the one namely the female and did season it with salt and reserves it for the just This we gather from hence because the Text hath tanimin with one jod and not with two and peradventure for this cause it is not written in the fifth day and it so came to passe as in the other two daies because that existence was unperfect by reason of the killing the of female wch doth not want a mystery It is moreover written in Isaiah In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish Leviathan the piercing Serpent even Leviathan that crooked Serpent and hee shall slay the Dragon that is in the sea You see the Scripture speaks of one Whale neither was it Gods will that he by bringing forth young should multiply himself in the sea for otherwaies no man could go to sea without danger Againe it is written in the 104 Psalme 26. There is that Leviathan whom thou hast made to play therein the Prophet saith that in the singular number and masculine gender therefore the female was kill'd especially seeing it is manifest that at the first God created male and female concerning the Feast it is written canst thou draw out Leviathan with an hook or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down hee who made him can make his sword to approach unto him c. And it is written the companions shall prepare him for a banquet and the Merchants shall divide him amongst them Moreover God planted a Garden of pleasure And againe it is written The branch of my plantations shall be the work of my hands that I may be glorified signifying a Garden of the best fruits And I pray you who shall eat these truly now they are eat by none but are reserved for the just against the time to come Christ You make mee laugh when you bring Scripture authorities and interpret them according to your folly understanding them according to the letter whē notwithstanding they are Metaphors It is true God created great Whales but 't is fals that he presētly slew the female
forsomuch as at this day great Whales are found in the sea that is the greatest fishes that devour the lesser therefore powerfull Kings are compared to Whales who afflict and oppresse the poore but the Lord can easily slay them although in strength they bee not inferiour to the Whales of the sea this is the mind of Ezekiel Moreover whereas you assert one of the Whales was slaine by God you are constrained to say Ionas was swallowed up by one seeing there was not another in the sea But heare what the Prophet writes of himselfe and the Lord prepared a great fish to devoure Ionah The Lord brought not a great fish or that Whale from the end of the world which was left in the beginning of the world but that Whale which by providence was found in that sea this the Lord did ordaine to swallow up Ionah And if you object a Whale or Leviathan and a great fish are unlike I answer that is not true seeing the Rabbies do expound the word tannim for a great fish do you think that fish was a little one which swallowed up Ionah and kept him alive three daies and three nights in his belly What you bring out of the Psalmes I shortly avoid thus there the singular number is taken for the plurall which you know is frequent in the Hebrew as a man oxe sheep c. Moreover you deprave that place brought out of Iob for the Lord doth not say there the companions shall eat the Leviathan but he speaks after this manner shall the companions and associates make a banquet of him or shall the Merchants divide him amongst them after the manner of those who buy fishes and divide them into parts and that place may have this interpretation Will the companions dig a pit to draw him thither out of the sea by their hissing and take him doe you see how unhappily the Fathers have understood and expounded that place this also is very false and a great errour amongst you that the just in the world to come shall eat temporall food and corporall bread the flesh of beasts and fish herbs and corn of which bread is made which we need in this life where wee grow and doe beget an off-spring and doe renew that which is appaired in our body by the adjection of meat But in the world to come and resurrection of the dead it is farre otherwaies with us for then man shall be by the resurrection a new creature and renewed upon their former bones like that vision in Ezekiel when the Lord God did raise up his people saying I will lay sinews upon you and will bring up flesh upon you and will cover you with skin and put breath in you and ye shall live Wherfore your Rabbies have said in the secrets of the Law that there is in the neibe a very stiffe bone which being put in the fire is not hurt by it and being put into the ground doth not putrifie and they affirm the resurrection of the body doth increase by that So also it is in Genesis and the Lord madeâ— made I say upon the bone sinewes flesh and skin and breathed into her the breath of life and brought her to Adam thaâ— by this mystery he might foreshew although man shoulâ— dye yet hee should rise in the same body and should be madâ— a building of nerves bones and flesh joined together which should not be dissolved wherefore Adam called her bone of my bone because the resurrection of man should be in his first bones of eternall life Then the just no longer shall eat corporall bread which doth not free from death neither drink wine which the earth doth bring forth but shall eate the bread of Angels that is as the just shall live in the spirit as Angels so they shall eate food which shal not putrifie nor perish neither shall the elect of God want any longer the light of the Sun by day neither shall the Moone give them light by night but the Lord shall be a perpetuall light to them and their God shall bee their glory and they shal then eat spiritual fruits because eye hath not seen those things which God will doe for them who wait upon him See Isaiah concerning this place in the 60 chap. above mentioned thou shalt find many things in the text which are not to bee understood according to the bare sense of the letter as you erroneously doe for the most part but in spirit and in truth if in the future world according to your errour there were bodily eating there should be also death and consequently another resurrection which is false and a great errour for it is sowne in this world a mortall body and shall rise in the resurrection of the just immortall for they shall then be as the Angels of God which are in heaven and shall never die And to conclude you now see that those men are witlesse who say that the just in the future world shall eat a common Oxe and that salted Whale and shall drinke wine which Paradice brought forth seeing that the just in the future world shall not live in the earth but in the heavens with God Blessed is the man who shall eate bread in the Kingdome of God But I will propound another question to you and I desire you to answer me to it The question is this why doe not you Iewes believe in in our Messias seeing that in him all the prophecies are fulfilled which are written concerning him in the Law and the Prophets but do make your faces more hard than a rock yea though with open eies you see there is no salvation in the earth for the people who walk in darknesse and see no light Iew If I would answer peradventure you would be displeased but who being so provok'd can refrain speaking especially seeing the zeale of the house of the Lord hath eaten mee up and the reproaches of them who reproach God are fallen upon me You aske why wee believe not in the Messias neither receive him as you doe to wch I answer you thus In your Christ the words of the Prophets are not fulfilled which they did foretell concerning the Messias neither are the mysteries of the Law fulfilled although wee know the time of his comming is not far off and therefore through all generations they which are of the seed of David with great desire do expect in their daies the comming of salvation and the time of the King Messiah Christian And why I pray you doth that your Messias so long delay his comming to deliver you out of your tribulations in which you are or how can GOD himselfe see for this so long time your calamity which you suffer in this captivity and doth not deliver you out of your troubles executing judgement upon your enemies why doth he suffer you so to wander through the world as sheep which have no
City shall bee built to the Lord c. and at length concluding hee adds it shall not be pluckt up nor thrown down any more for ever And Isa. saith it shall come to passe in the last daies that the mountaine of the Lords house shall bee established in the top of the mountains This is the mountaine of the Lord which Abraham did shew and shall be exalted above the hils alluding to Isaac who called it a field but by that which is added the mountaine of the house of God hee would signifie the house of Iacob of which hee saith in another place Come yee and let us go up to the mountaine of the Lord to the house of the God of Iacob which shall remaine firm Moreover the Scripture in Genesis hath shewed to us these 3 houses when it thrice makes mention of the place where the lodging of Iacob is described in the place of the house of God for you find it there that Iacob came to the place tooke the stones of the place and slept in that place he hapned into that place when the Sun was set whereby was signified the destruction of the first house He gathered the stones of the place being scattered in the destruction of the first Temple and laid them under his head being to rest upon them all night whereby is signified the building of the second Temple which should not continue long but because he slept quietly there a third Temple was also signified in which they being without strength shall againe bee refreshed and shall rest in their beds and every man shall sit under his owne vine and under his owne fig-tree without all feare Christian I can heare you no longer in this businesse you so much wrest your selfe and the Scripture of God and doe sharpen your wit to pervert the word of God for this exposition which you have brought is unmeete and very unfit for the purpose being upheld by no foundation especially forsomuch as the Prophet hath spoke so plainly that latter house as if hee should say that house which you see with your eies that last shall be in greater glory than the first if he had said the latter house and had not added that you might have some appearing reason although that place which you bring concerning the three fathers is not agreeable to our purpose therefore wee finde a first and a second house but we find not a third Iew What you write concerning the first and second house is this if the Israelites had not sinned they should not have had but the first Temple and it should have been worthy to be builded by the hand of God according to that Thy hands have establisht the sanctuary of the Lord but because they sinned they were the cause why that Temple was built by the hands of men as also the second and hence it is that they had no firmnesse according to that they labour in vain who build it and the Lord himselfe shall by himselfe build Ierusalem and fulfill that Scripture thy hands have established the sanctuary of the Lord and that I will be to thee a fiery wal round about thee and for a glory in the midst of thee And then also shal the saying of our Prophet be confirmed the glory of this latter house shall bee greater than of the first and hee hath not said of the second than of the first Christian You multiply words and cite many places of Scripture but beside the purpose if sinnes were the cause of the desolation of the first and second Temple the third Temple which you expect shall never be built because you sinne without ceasing and ye say that because of your sins the Messias defers his comming If this be true this your third Temple shall never be built which you say shall be and shall be built by the hands of God whereof notwithstanding neither the Scripture nor the Prophets doe make mention but yee out of your owne braine have invented this opinion to seduce the simple Iew If the truth doth not stand for us how I pray was that latter house in greater glory than the former Christian I will tell you and I have told you already for this cause the second house was greater than the first because the Lord of the Temple came into his Temple as the Prophet Malachi did Prophecy Behold I send my Angell and hee shall prepare the way before my face and the Lord shall suddenly come to his Temple whom ye seek and the angell of the Testament whom ye desire behold he commeth saith the Lord of Hosts This prophecy without all deniall doth agree with the King Messias who hath come and was seen of men as I shewed above even now Iew I said above there are some amongst our Rabbies who beleeved the Messias was born in the desolation of the second Temple but was not yet come because when hee shall come he shall do great signes and his heart shall bee exalted in the waies of the Lord but hee shall come and command the Pope and all the Kings of the people saying let the people of the Lord go to serve him and then hee shall doe signes before the rebellious neither shall he feare them and shall remaine in the City of Rome untill he destroy it and then he shall bring forth the people of God Christian You have not yet told mee the reason why your Messias doth so long delay and deferre his comming Iew I have told you already that I know not but our Rabbies say that Ierusalem was wasted for no other cause but because they did breake the Sabbath and for the transgression of the Sabbath they were driven out of their own land into banishment and the chiefe good which at this day is found amongst our banished is the keeping of the Sabbath as it is written thus saith the Lord keepe ye judgement and doe justice for my salvation is neer to come and my righteousnesse to bee revealed Blessed is the man that doth this and the sonne of man that laieth hold on it that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it He saith my salvation is neere to come if you make your waies good departing from evill for repentance withholds the comming of the Messias and if all the Israelites did feare God his salvation would be near to them for redemption depends upon repentance as it is written and the Lord thy God will turne thy captivity if thou wilt turne to the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with thy whole soul And again he saith blessed is the man which doth this namely keeping the Sabbath for that is worthy to be separated from other daies in meat and drinke and more comely apparell and this as to the body but concerning the soule that ought to be emptied of all the businesses of this world Christian I have said above if the people dispers'd in the
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
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
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
yet receive him they shall immediately bee delivered and this is the true repentance and the good workes which yee should do to remove the stumbling block out of your hearts and believe in the living God and in the Messias who is sent for salvation both to you and to us then shall be fulfilled this saying of Scripture they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as Eagles they shall run and not bee weary c. for in the time when the Iewes shall receive unto themselves the Messias of the Lord they shall be called the waiters upon the Lord and he shall give them power and strength and every good thing as from the beginning whereupon it is added then they shal renew their strength they mount up with wings as Eagles and they shall be renewed like an Eagle which if hee live to the tenth yeare hee ascends aloft to the face of the Heaven untill hee approach to the heat of the fire and then casts himselfe through the exceeding heat into the sea and being made naked is renewed and other feathers will grow in him I desire you to heare me againe what Haggai saith concerning the comming of Christ Hag. 2.6 to the 10. For thus saith the Lord of Hosts yet once it is a little while and I will shake the Heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land and I will shake all Nations and the desire of all Nations shall come and I will fill this house with glory saith the Lord of Hosts the silver and the gold is mine saith the Lord of Hosts The glory of this house shal be greater than of the former saith the Lord of Hosts and in this place will I give peace saith the Lord of Hosts Behold the Prophet saith yet a little while but if the Messias were not yet come the Prophet had spoke false seeing from the time of the Prophet to our times above two thousand yeares are past Hee saith moreover the glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the first but what was that great glory saving that our Messias did appeare in that second Temple doing there signs and wonders such as were never done in the whole world he also taught the people and shewed them the way to eternall life Iew Our Masters do speak otherwaies here namely that the second house is therefore called the greater because it stood 10 years longer for the first house stood 110 yeares but the second stood 120. Christian This answer is empty and foolish for not for so little time the second could bee said to bee greater since that in all other things it was lesse than the first house For as it is said many of the Priests and Levites of the chiefe fathers and Elders of the people who saw the first house when the foundations of the second house were laid and they standing by saw it they wept with a great voice because that second house was as nothing in respect of the first because the vessels of the first house were of gold but of the second they were of brasse And moreover in the second house were wanting ten signs which were done in the first sanctuary to the Fathers as the Rabbies write 1. A woman did not make an aborsement by reason of the smell of the sanctified flesh 2. The holy flesh did not stink or was corrupt 3. A flye was never seene where the sacrifices were slain 4. The High Priest had no nightly uncleannesse in the time of the solemne sacrifice 5. The raine did not quench the fire by the holy place burning continually in the pile of wood 6. The wind did not scatter the pillar of smoak ascending straight towards heaven 7. Mouldines or corruption was not found in the pot of Manna in the two loaves and in the shew bread 8. They stood upright in the Temple and when they bowed downe to worship they had roome enough 9. A Serpent or a scorpion did never hurt in the city Ierusalem 10. Neither did ever any man say to his fellow my place is so straight that I cannot remaine in Ierusalem Moreover five other things were in the first Temple which were not in the second namely these the arke with the propitiatory and the cherubims fire sent from heaven the holy spirit Vrim and Thummim that is certaine holy mysteries on the brest-plate of the chiefe Priest You see now that the second house was not greater than the first because of the 10 yeares I will also add this that your Rabbies speak not the truth when they say that they shall build a third Temple in the Land of Israel and then the Messias shall come seeing the Prophet doth speake plainly here this is the last house shewing as it were by his finger the house which was then built and was then standing that house I say shall be in greater glory than the former But I desire to know from whence you Iewes have it that there shall be a third Temple Iew I will tell you Our wise men of good memorie say that Abraham called that place a mountaine but Isaac called it a field and Iacob a house for because Iacob about night came to that place the holiness and dignity of that place was revealed to him therefore these three fathers did foreshew three Temples to be in Israel two to bee destroyed and one to remaine for ever Abraham called that place a mountaine he saith in the mountaine the Lord shall be seen This is the mountaine of desolation concerning wch they write in the Medras or narration of the Psalmes with my voice will I cry unto the Lord namely when as yet the temple stood firme but when that is destroied from whence doth he answer he adds the Lord hath heard me from his holy mountaine Moreover that the second house was to be destroid they prove from this because Isaac called that place a field as it is written Isaac went forth to pray in the field And Ieremiah saith Zion shall bee plowed as a field Moreover the third Temple which shall never be destroied Iacob called the house of the Lord God and concerning that the Prophet writes the glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former And againe it is written I will bee to her saith the Lord a wall of fire round about and the glory in the midst of her and Exo. 15.17 The sanctuary of the Lord which thy hands have establisht The two first houses were made with the hands of men therefore they had no stability according to that in vaine doe they labour who build it therefore Iacob called that temple a house that should alwaies endure and not as others a mountaine a field and therefore hee presently subjoines this is no other but the house of God And Ieremiah saith behold the daies come saith the Lord and the
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
which I thought the chiefest but if any man will enter a dispute with me in this businesse I will give him other reasons and Arguments if these now mentioned will not satisfie him But now speak you and tell what you yet know and I will heare you Iew The mentioned Haggada saith also this of the Messias that he praies for Israel that the Lord would remit our sins and he takes upon him chastisements and saith before him I will take upon me sufferings so that thou wilt quicken our dead and not these dead onely but they who have been slaine by men to this present and not these onely who have died but these who have been cast into the sea and drowned and who have been devoured by wolves leopards and other beasts But this prayer shews him to be a man and not God neither is it in his power to raise the dead Moreover those passions are nothing else but his sorrow whereby he is grieved that he delaies so long seeing his people in captivity and not being able to save them hee sees that they worship a strange god and deny the true God making to themselves another Messias and honouring him Thou shalt also observe this when the Israelites shall come out of captivity many and great miracles shall come to passe and no power shall be in the great ones of this world to hinder them and God shal bring forth many fountaines in the desert in the mountaines and in the middle of the vallies neither shall hee doe that onely but shall cause trees to grow in the deserts to give shelter to the passers by that the heat and the Sun smite them not As it is written I will open rivers in high places and fountains in the midst of the vallies I will make the wildernesse a pool of water and the dry land springs of water I will plant in the wildernesse the Cedar the Shittah tree and the Mirtle and the Oyle tree c. And waters and great trees shall remaine in those deserts for ever and the men of this world shall say when they passe by them these things the Lord did for the honour of Israel and they shall confesse to the name of the Lord for this miracle for ever Moreover it is written they which waite upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as eagles Behold the Isralites who in this captivity doe waite for the Lord and have no strength shall renew their strength like as a shrub or tree which if it be lopt is renewed againe so the Israelites shall againe goe into their owne land as the eagle which if hee come to the tenth yeare raiseth himselfe up to the face of the heaven c. as you have reported above Christian And who shall shew you the way from these remote countries into which you are scattered to Ierusalem Iew God shall be the guide of our journy that not so much as fools shall wander from the strait way for whether any hath been accustomed to runne journies or not no man shall go astray in the way but shall go by a strait path towards Ierusalem neither shall the filthy deserts hinder in which formerly evill beasts have dwelt for then when the Israelites shall passe over there shall no lions neither cruell beasts be there Againe Isaiah saith in another place who are these that flie as clouds and as doves to their habitations And this is spoken concerning the congregations of Israel who shall goe up from every place out of captivity and with great facility like clouds they shall come into their own land for the prophet compared their swift motion to the clouds Moreover hee saith that they shall fly swiftly as doves when they return to their nests Also Daniel saith blessed is hee that waites and comes to a thousand three hundred and thirty five days for then the Messias shall first come and shall reduce to nothing the false worship of the Gods and shall cast it out of the world and afterward he shall gather together his disperst people of Israel into the desert of the people according to that which is written I will allure her and bring her into the wildernesse and speak comfortably to her afterwards hee shall bring the Israelites into their own land For as Moses the first Redeemer did lead the Israelites in the desert forty yeares so the last redeemer shall doe as it is written and shee shall sing there as in the daies of her youth and as in the day when shee came up out of the land of Egypt After all these things they shall rest in their owne land and shall rejoice in the Lord their God and in David their King Blessed is he that shall wait and shal come to these daies Christian Behold now from the time of the destruction of the Temple not onely 1335 yeares are past but many more and your fathers expected the Messias at that time and this was a constant exposition of the mentioned words and notwithstanding your Messias is not yet come from whence it is easily drawn that you doe pervert the Scriptures according to your pleasure Moreover the other words which you have cited out of Isaiah are to be understood figuratively and not according to the litterall meaning Iew It is written also thus saith the Lord the Redeemer of Israel and his holy one to him whom man despiseth to him whom the Nations abhorreth to a servant of Rulers Kings shall see and arise Princes also shall worship because of the Lord that is faithfull and the holy One of Israel and hee shall chuse thee Thus saith the Lord in an acceptable time have I heard thee and in a day of salvation have I helped thee and I will preserve thee and give thee for a covenant of the people to establish the earth to cause to inherit the desolate heritages that thou maiest say to the Prisoners goe forth to them that are in darknesse shew your selves they shall feed in the waies and their pastures shall bee in all high places They shall not hunger nor thirst neither shall the heat nor Sun smite them for hee that hath mercy on them shall lead them even by the springs of water shal he guide them and I will make all my mountains a way and my high waies shall bee exalted Behold these shall come from farre and loe these from the north and from the sea and these from the land of Sinim I say these sayings of Scripture shall bee fulfilled when the Lord shall bring forth Israel out of captivity ver. 7. whom man despiseth the Lord speaks it by Israel who is despised by the Nations and an abomination to them and a servant of so many Lords but Kings shall behold him and rise at his presence and Princes shall worship him and they shall doe this because of the Lord who is the faithfull helper of Israel ver. 8.
To establish the earth that is repaire the desolations of the land of Israel and possesse the heritages lying under desolation all the time of the captivity v. 9. saying to the bound goe forth out of captivity for the Israelites are as prisoners who have not any power to goe out of captivity and power of the Gentiles In like manner the captivity is compared to darknesse ver. 9. Moreover they shal be fed because they shall finde every where so much as shall satisfie them untill they shall come forth out of captivity even in the high places where at another time no pasture is found for cattell because of the desert of water and in places where other travellers can get nothing they shall find all sufficiency v. 10. they shall no where suffer hunger or thirst the Lord providing necessaries for them who shall open in the deserts fountains for them and shall make fruit-bearing trees to grow for their profit and all these things shall happen to them miraculously Also in all the places of deserts by which they shall passe fountains of water shall flow forth Lastly hee saith and I will make all my mountaines a way and my high ways shall be exalted I will make every valley to bee exalted and every mountaine or hill shall bee made low and that wonderfully lest in their journie they should bee compelled to ascend and descend to their wearying And thus according to the litterall meaning the saying also may be figurative namely that by that long journie they shall not bee wearied for the ascent and descent doe exceedingly weary the Traveller therefore God shall give them strength that they may not at all be wearied Moreover the Prophet subjoins I 'll make my mountains and my paths For God shall make new waies through the deserts where before was no way and when he adds again behold these c. He recounts the foure parts of the world into which the Israelites are scattered By the sea understand the west and by the land of Sinim the south for there dwell the Sineans who descended from the sons of Canaan Christian And what shall be after that you shall be gathered together in the Land of Israel will they build Cities and til the ground Iew It is written the sons of strangers shall build thy wals and their Kings shall serve thee because in my anger I smote thee and in my loving kindnesse I had compassion on thee The Nations in thy land shall build thy wals and shall doe thy worke for at that time when my indignation was upon thee thou wert brought into the service of the Nations but in the time of my good pleasure the Nations shall likewise serve thee as also their Kings Thy gates shall be open continually day and night neither shall they bee ever shut that they may bring to thee the riches of the Gentiles and their Kings may also be brought He saith thy gates shall be open because peace shall be in the whole world they shall go by night because of the heat and Kings likewise shall gather themselves together to come before the Messias as servants before their Lord For it is the manner of Kings when they goe on foot or ride on a horse for honour sake to bee conducted by Princes The glory of Lebanon shall come to thee the firre tree the box tree and the pine tree to adorne the place of my sanctuary and I will honour the place of my feet for they did build the sanctuary with the trees of Lebanon which is set directly against the throne of Majesty and when the throne of Majesty is the sea of God it follows that the sanctuary is his footstool Moreover the gate of heaven is above the sanctuary and that is as it were the navill of the world and the land of Israel is put in the middle of the world and Ierusalem in the middle of the Land of Israel and the sanctuary in the middle of Ierusalem and the Temple in the middle of the sanctuary and the Arke in the middle of the Temple and the Temple of holinesse is called the throne of Majesty Againe the Lord saith to Isaiah Behold I will lay thy stones with faire colours and lay thy foundations with saphires and I will make thy windowes of agats and thy gates of carbuncles and all thy borders of pleasant stones and all thy children shall be taught of the Lord Therefore it may be that these words may be fulfilled according to the letter or else they may bee a figure by which is exprest the magnificence and abundance of good things which Israel shall enjoy that if they would they might in those daies build their houses of precious stones Finally all his sonnes shall be taught of the Lord and a man shall no longer teach his neighbour Christian By these words heavenly Ierusalem is figured out or surely by these words is signified the congregation and Church of the faithfull which is the spirituall Ierusalem But I desire you to tell me somewhat more concerning this thing Iew Againe Isaias saith stangers shall stand and feed your sheep and the sons of strangers shall be your husbandmen and vine-dressers But yee shall bee called the Priests of the Lord men shall call you the servants of our God ye shall eate the substance of the Gentiles doe ye understand these words Christian I doe not clearly understand doe you therefore vouchsafe to explaine them more plainly to me Iew Behold strangers shall arise out of their owne place and shall come to serve us but we shall not bee compelled to doe our owne businesses but the sons of strangers shall do them to the end that wee may bee more free to serve God Moreover we shall eat the substance of the Gentiles For besides this that they shall serve us in our land they shall bring us also gifts gold and silver and every good thing out of their owne land and we shall not be compelled to goe out of our own land to exercise merchandise and to get gaine for in our owne land wee shall injoy the good of the world Againe the Prophet saith and their seed shall be known in the Nations and their off-spring in the midst of the people all who shall see them shall know them that they are of the seed which the Lord hath blessed and when we shall go by the Land of the Gentiles to travell abroad or to trafficke although we shall have no need of them wee shall bee knowne by our great honours in which wee shall then be and we shall goe honorably apparelled and men shall say of us these are the children of Israel these are the seed which the Lord hath blessed Likewise our young men shall goe for their pleasure to see the Countries of the Gentiles God also shall renew a good aire so that the Israelites shall live in health many yeares Also he shal give the earth a singular
virtue as it is said Behold I create new heavens and a new earth and the former shall not be remembred Christian Shall men dye in that Land or shall they live for ever Iew They shall not die by the sword because war shall not be there neither shall there be a naturall death exept after many yeares when a man shall be full of daies but when he shall dye they shall not weep over him as it is written the voice of weeping and mourning shall no more bee heard in Ierusalem Also in that time they shall not say of an old man that hee hath accomplisht his daies untill hee come to the three hundreth or five hundreth yeare and above such as were in the first ages in the beginning of the world But these daies which now in the world are counted for old age shall then bee the daies of youth and men shall bee accounted then as growing children as it is written they shall be fruitfull in old age they shall be fat and flourishing in the contrary manner of old men wherefore it is written elsewhere a child of a hundred years old shall die that is if any man dy in the hundreth year which shall be because of his sin they shall say of him that a child is dead and he expounds it after this manner A child of an hundred yeares who shall sin shall be accused as if he should say the curse of God shall bee upon him Then they shal not build and another inhabit as now it is neither shall they plant and another eat but according to the daies of trees shall the daies of my people be that is in the elect because they onely shall have the longest lives and that not without a miracle but not other people whereupon Ionathan hath interpreted that place thus They shall live as the dayes of trees But our Rabbies say that a living tree doth endure five hundred years Some also say there shall be some change in the nature of corne in the time of the Redeemer that it shall as vines bee preserved in strength and there shal not be need every yeare to sow new corn but it shall be sown onely once as the vine is once planted and after the corne shall bee gathered in the stalks shall remaine flourishing to the next yeare Christian In what place of Scripture did your Rabbies find that Iew In Hosea they shall preserve their corne and it shall flourish as a vine Also in that time if they aske of the blessed God raine he shall give it them and hee will give every man herbes in his field according to his desire Moreover our Masters say that at that time when the Israelites shall do the will of God he wil also do their will so that if any one alone shall have need of raine he will give raine to him alone or if any one shall want raine for one herbe in his field or garden he will give raine to that herbe alone And this is that which is said aske raine of the Lord and hee will give thee plentifull raine for every herb in the field Christian Because you have fallen upon Zachary tell me how you understand those words which are written in it shall the whole earth be turned as into a plaine Iew I will tell you behold all the land about Ierusalem which now is mountainous as it is in the Psalmes shall then be plain like the plainnesse of a champion field and it shall be exalted and be higher than all the land although now it be higher than all the land of Israel by reason of the mountaines which are about it because of which its height cannot be seene But at that time when all the land round about it shall bee made plaine its height shall be seen more than all the Land Wherefore it is said in the prophecy of Isaiah the mountain of the Lord shall be established upon the top of the mountaines and shall be lifted above the hils and many fields which now are nigh Ierusalem shall then be within the wals of the City and that City being built shall never afterwards be destroied as it is written behold the daies come saith the Lord and the City of the Lord shall be built from the tower of Hananeel to the gate of the corner c. it shall not be destroied nor pluckt downe for ever It is said also in the Psalm if the Lord build not the house they labour in vaine who build it But this hee saith of the sanctuary and City of Ierusalem Behold from that day wherein the house of the Lord was wasted and the Israelites led into captivity and the City destroied Ierusalem was now againe rebuilt and now againe destroi'd because it was in the power of the Idumeans and in the power of the Ismaelites and every year war was raised for it they build it and these destroy it againe because it is not the will of the Lord that the Gentiles should keep it built and therefore they labour in vaine who build it and in vaine doe they rise in the morning who keepe it First the Idumeans did subdue Ierusalem afterwards when they were quiet the Ismalites came and made a great war with the christians and tooke the City out of their hands and there was a continuall war between them and that discord paines and labour to possesse the City shall endure untill the Redeemer and King Messias shall come to whom the Lord God shal deliver Ierusalem without all trouble Christian Shall the City and the Temple be then built as Ezechiel saw them in the spirit of Prophecy Iew Yes for he saith thus in the 25 yeare of our captivity in the beginning of the year in the tenth moneth in that day the Lord brought me to the land of Israel and set me upon an exceeding high mountaine upon which there was as it were the building of the City from the south because in the day of mercy God will pardon the iniquity of Israel and will remember their sin no more and the Temple shall be built in the mountaine and the City Ierusalem shall be next to it on the south there the Lord shews Ezekiel the building of the future Temple that the hope of the Israelites might not faile but they might know they should return into their own land and should dwell in it securely and the building of the Temple shall bee much greater then it was at the beginning though it shall not differ in forme and order Christian Ezekiel had this vision in the babylonish captivity before the second house was built therefore it cannot be understood of the building of a third Temple Againe I aske of you at what time of the year shall the Israelites goe into their owne land after your Messias shall come Iew I have told you already namely in the day of propitiation for then God shall pardon
for for ever sometimes for a long time and sometimes for a short time as it is in that place thy name shall no more be called Iacob but Israel shall be thy name and yet a little after in the same place he is thrice called Iacob So in the book of Samuell it is said the Philistines came no more into the bounds of Israel who neverthelesse came into the land of Israel after the death of Samuell So it is said here there shall be war no more that is there shall not be war at that time when the Messias shall come and shal be born as it was in the time of Augustus the Emperour when our Christ was born in great peace that men then might have broke and turned their swords into plow-shares and their spears into pruning hooks if they would for that manner of speaking is used by the Prophets Iew The fourth is also expressed by the Prophets That the wolfe and the lamb shall feed together and the lyon shall eat straw like the oxe and the suckling child shall play upon the whole of the aspe but these creatures are now hurtfull from the daies of old Christian I will answer you presently concerning this prophecy Iew The fifth is this the land of Sodome shall bee rebuilt as it was from the beginning seeing it is thus written And I will bring back the captivity of Edom and his villages For from the beginning the waters of Sodom were sweet and watering the Land as it is written And Lot lifted up his eies and saw all the plaine of Iordan which was watered every where But now to this day those waters are dryed up and salt Behold all these consolations we yet expect shal be God grant that they may come speedily in our daies Amen Selah Christian We have far digrest from our first discourse when we began to speak of the war of Gog and Magog Now therefore tell me what shall bee after that war Iew In those daies all men shall bee busied in wisedome to know the Lord as it is written The earth shall bee filled with the knowledge of the Lord Then that which Ieremie saith shall be fulfilled A voice of joy and a voice of gladnesse shall be and all shall say confesse to the Lord of Hosts because the Lord is good for his mercy endureth for ever and they shall bring an oblation for thanksgiving into the house of the Lord He doth not say they shall bring an oblation for sinne and for iniquity because in that time wicked men and sinners shall not bee among them but all shal know the Lord Hence it is that our Rabbies have said all oblations shall be made void in the last times except the oblation of thanksgiving Moreover in those daies they shall say no more the fathers have eaten sowre grapes and the childrens teeth are set on edge because then sinners shall bee cut off neither those that sin at that time shall commit any great sin then the people shall know that GOD is King over all neither is there another besides him and they shall come to Ierusalem to learn the judgements of God and his lawes even as he saith come and let us goe up to the mount of the Lord to the house of the God of Iacob and he will teach us his waies and we will walke in his paths for the Law shall goe forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from Ierusalem He shall judge among the Nations and shall rebuke many people and they shall beat their swords into plow-shares and their speares into pruning hooks The Prophet speaks here of the Messias for if war shall be raised among the Gentiles or questions arise they shall come to judgement before the King Messias who shall be Lord of all the people and hee shall reprove them and shall say to him who shall be found guilty amend those faults which thou hast done against him who hath called thee to judgement And for this cause there shall not be war against people and people because the King Messias shall pacifie them neither shall they need instruments of warre but shall break them to make of them instruments of husbandry In that day the Lord shall bee exalted alone who shall cast out Idols universally And although Idols have ceased already among some people yet some are found in the East who worship Idols likewise they are truly counted among worshippers of Idols who bend their knees and make images But in the daies of the Messias Idols shall be wholly rooted out Christian At this day and from many yeares there are not neither have been idols in the world as I said above but all Nations worship one God neither do we Christians adore and worship images as you Iewes think neither doe we beleeve that any power is in images that they can bring us any help but some among us who professe themselves to bee Christians doe adore and worship our Christ before images as your fathers also formerly in the first house did adore and worship God before the Arke of the Sanctuary But let us leave these things or reserve them to another time for I desire to heare something from you concerning beasts which shall be in the time of your Messias Iew Concerning beasts you have it thus written The wolfe shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kid and the calfe and the young lion and the fatling together and a little child shall lead them and the cow and the beare shall feed their young ones shall lie downe together and the lyon shall eat straw like the oxe and the sucking child shall play on the hole of the aspes and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice den They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountaine for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea Here are some sayings that in the daies of the Messias the natures of living creatures and beasts shall be changed and they shall be as they were at the beginning of the creation and as in the Arke of Noah For if in the beginning of the creation a lyon had devoured a sheep one kinde of the creation had perished Christian What therefore did the lyon and other devouring creatures eat then who now eat flesh Iew I say if the lyon had eat the flesh of any beast the world had been deprived of that creature forsomuch as all creatures first were created in each sex male and female and no more neither could the devouring creatures sustain hunger until cattel which might be devoured had brought forth other individuals for the preservation of their kind therefore it was necessary that in the meane while they should eat the grass of the field untill devourable cattell were bred and brought forth then and after that their nature began
to bee fed with flesh Wee must think the same of them for the time when they were in the Arke of Noah for if devouring creatures had destroi'd the devourable creatures one kind had been wanting in the world forasmuch as onely two and two were carried into the Ark and no more in one kind unlesse you would rather say seven and seven of cleane beasts were carried in for the necessity of the devouring Some likewise expound these words figuratively because the wolfe and the leopard the beare and the lyon doe signifie wicked men tyrants and violent extortioners who fal upon the weak and poor as devouring creatures fall upon the weak cattell For the sheep the cow the calf and kid do signifie the poor of the earth But there shall be so great a peace in the earth in the daies of the Messias that no man shall wrong his neighbor I allow not this exposition for the Prophet saith they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountaine Christian But I thinke this exposition true seeing that Rabbi Moses the Egyptian write in his readings upon the book of Iudges after this manner Let it not enter into thy heart that in the daies of the Messias any thing is diminished of the course of this world or any thing then renued of the workes of the six daies but the world shall have then its succession like the succession of this time So likewise of that place the wolf shal dwel wth the lamb c. This is the sence that Israel shall dwell in safety with the wicked of the world who are compared to lions wolfes and leopards Finally in the time of the Messias it shall be knowne to all for what cause those similitudes were spoken and what is signified by them Thus much the mentioned Rabbi Moses saith and after this manner Iacob called Iuda a lyons whelpe and Isachar he called a strong asse and Benjamin a wolfe c. But let us returne to the Prophecy Iew In the daies of the Messias peace shall bee through the whole world as it is written And they shall beate their swords into plow-shares c. neither shall nation lift up sword against nation and they shall not learne the use of war We may also say that the nature of beasts shall not be changed but they shall devoure flesh as they doe now But the Lord shall defend the land of Israel that evill beasts shall not hurt in it as it is written They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain the reason whereof is shewed for the earth is full of the knowledge of the Lord and because the Israelites shall bee good and shall keep the way of the Lord no evill beast shall have any dominion over them neither over their cattell or over any other thing as the Lord promised by Moses our teacher And I will drive out every beast out of the land and if they passe by it it shall not hurt And againe he hath said For the lion shall eat straw like the oxe for he shall not teare the flesh of a beast in the land of Israel though he finde not a carcasse And the infant shall play c. For the enmity of the Serpent contracted from the beginning of the creation shal be taken away in the daies of the Messias through the whole land of Israel and also a Serpent or other evill beasts shall not hurt any of the people of Israel by what place soever he passe Christian Shall your Messias have wife and children Iew Concerning this it is found written thus Kings daughters were among thy honourable women upon thy right hand did stand the Queen in gold of Ophir that is among the noble wives which the Messias shall have shall be the daughters of Kings because every King of the Gentiles shal esteem it for great glory to him if he give him his daughter to wife But the Psalmist saith the Queen stood v. 9. For although the daughters of Kings are nūbred among his wives neverthelesse the Queen who shall be of the Israelites she shall sit at his right hand in a crown of gold and shee is properly called his concubine because she onely and continually is appointed for his bed but others shall come to him at certaine times when hee shall call for them in his time to come to the King but the Queen his wife shall continually be conversant in his closet and bed-chamber Moreover concerning his sons it is thus written He shall see his seed he shall prolong his daies and the desire of the Lord shall prosper in his hand Christian Hoe thou blind Iew are you not ashamed to speak such things of the most holy Messias as if he would give his heart to carnall pleasures and would have many wives seeing that the Prophets have sung of him that he shall come to take away our sins from us Behold thou hast fallen as a blind man at noon day And moreover thou seducest other Iewes with your exposition all these things are to be understood figuratively for that Queen is that peculiar congregation of faithfull men beleeving in the salvation of the Messias and the daughters of Kings are the nations of the Gentiles who came to beleeve in Christ and concerning this Church the spouse of Christ Solomon speakes in the Canticles Iew Some likewise among our Rabbies expound the mentioned verse allegorically almost as you have done except that they understand by the undefiled spouse the Synagogue of Israel Christian But what thinke your Rabbies concerning the death of the Messias shall hee live alwaies or shall hee die as other men after a long time Iew Our great Doctor Moses the son of Maimon saith the Messias shall dye and his son shall reign after him and the son of his son shall succeed after his son in the Kingdome neverthelesse the Messias shall live many daies and at length hee shall die in great glory and his son shall inherit the Empire and after him his Nephew c. Christian Neither you nor the son of Maimon understand the power of God and the mystery of the holy Scriptures For although the Messias was to die yet he was to die for our sins for he was stricken smitten of God and he was afflicted he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed All we like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his owne way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all He was oppressed and hee was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth hee is brought as a lambe to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb so he openeth not his mouth He was taken from prison and from judgement and who shall declare his generation for he was cut off out of the land of
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
upon him and with his stripes we are healed c. Doe you see how wonderfull things the Prophet hath spoke concerning the Messias and all these things are fulfilled in our Christ Againe heare what the same Prophet saith In that day the branch of the Lord shall bee beautifull and glorious and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel Where Ionathan hath interpreted in Chaldee after this manner In that time the Messias of the Lord shall be for joy and honour Behold the Messias is called the branch of the Lord that is the sonne of God as also in Ieremiah he is called the branch of David for he saith thus In those daies and at that time will I cause the branch of righteousnesse to grow up unto David Where Ionathan the Chaldee interpreter saith thus In those daies and at that time will I raise up to David a Messias of righteousnesse You see now that the Creator could suffer afflictions not in the divine nature but in the humanity which he assumed in the unity of the person Iew These are wonderful things and what I pray you hath that your Iesus done or what need was there that hee should bee born of a woman why did he sustaine all those passions and afflictions which our fathers brought upon him Christian Was it not said already that he was wounded for our transgressions All we like sheep have gone astray wee have turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath made the iniquities of us all to meet in him Iew Some of our teachers have said the Messias hath no other passions but a certaine internall griefe and trouble whereby he is internally afflicted that his comming is so long deferred and in the meane while sees his people in captivity and he cannot helpe them and deliver them but he shall never be delivered into the hand of his enemies as ye affirme Christian Your Rabbies have been estranged from the womb they have gone astray as soon as they were borne speaking lies stopping their eares like the deaf adder that they might not heare the truth they have ceased to heare rightly and wisely and therefore God hath cast them off and hath blinded their eies as it is written Goe and tell this people heare ye indeed but understand not and see yee indeed but perceive not Make the heart of this people fat and make their eares heavy and shut their eies lest they see with their eies and heare with their eares and understand with their heart and convert and bee healed Loe it hath come to pass to you Iews according to this prophecy for your fathers saw the wonderfull workes which our Christ did and would not understand They heard his doctrine and could not reprove him and yet they stopt their eares likewise yee to this very day do confirme and approve their works and therefore in vain do ye expect another Messias Iew If your Christ is God and the true Messias why did he conceale himselfe in the flesh and why did hee not come openly by renewing his law and giving it publikely for so the men of his age had not erred neither should they stumble who come into this world after him he should have done his works in publick that all might beleeve on him especially that great multitude which he destroied and deprived of redemption by his concealing himselfe for because of that concealing they were separated from him and beleeved not in him Thou knowest not what thou saiest hath he not shown in words and deeds such miracles as no other did that hee was the Messias and redeemer of the world and yet your fathers said that by Beelzebub and by the power of devils that is by magick art he did all those things lying against their own lives Loe God hath sent his own son his onely son into the most pure womb of a virgin as Isaias did foretell and hee was made man within her and born of her without her pangs and griefe and that by a miracle farre otherwise than other women bring forth and that was not impossible forasmuch as all things which doe far exceed the power of man are possible to GOD and by his power a body might be created within a body and be quickned by the spirit Also he could and he would send his glorious word within a pure virgin that hee might bee incarnated within her and be born of her without any griefe or paine and as he entred into her so he went out of her and she remained a virgin before and after the birth But that child who also is the glorious God did walke upon the earth thirty three yeares that he might save man for he was sent to the sons of Israel to redeem them but because they were a people of a stiffe neck and would not receive him neither observe all the signes such as no man ever did the Gentiles come and received him with love and the blessed God chose them for his peculiar people in stead of Israel and they were made the sons of Abraham for their faith because Abraham is the father of the faithfull and beleevers in God are the sons of Abraham He therefore was that Messias of whom the Prophets did prophecy and he walked thirty yeares before hee became known to these who were in the world But presently after that time he manifested himself to the Israelites that hee was the Christ of the LORD and wrought signes and miracles such as none of the Prophets ever did shewing to the whole world that he came to redeem man for sin as it is written He was wounded for our transgressions and hee made a new covenant with us according to that which is said in Ieremy Behold the daies come saith the Lord and I will make with Israel and with Iudah a new covenant not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers for I will put my Law in their inward parts c. therefore it is manifest from these sayings that the Lord would make with the Israelites a new covenant and not according to that covenant which he made with Abraham when he made a covenant with him that every male child should be circumcised but this covenant was another covenant namely baptisme in which by the power of Christs sufferings all mans sin is remitted and that signe or Sacrament is common to male and female Moreover he gave them a new law after that the Law of Moses was fulfilled for the Law was given to Moses onely for a time as you have it written in the Thalmud in the Treatise of Idolatry where it is said that the law was given but for 2000 yeares for the Fathers of good memory say thus That the world must endure 6000 yeares that it should bee 2000 yeares void and without form that after two thousand yeares the Mosaicall Law should bee given that it should stand 2000