many years reformation Truly it would be praise-worthy that any ingenious hand would but take the pains to shew the world as it were in a glass how far Christians in these times do degenerate from that good old way in which the Primitive Churches did go how far short we come of them in our holy conversation in our love unto Christ as also towards the brethren in our self denial in our zeal to do and suffer for God and in our longing after the Jewish conversion Or rather are we not in these dayes become foolish in our vain conversation undervaluing of Christ and haters of our brethren Are we not to day the greatest self-seekers throughout the Universe Do we not shrink if we only hear a whispering of a persecution And whom scarce amongst us do we find to have any bowels towards this poor lost sheep of Israel They could weep to behold the least deformity either in or upon the outward Temple but we have not a few tears to shed because of those ugly monsters of sin which do inhabit in our souls that ought to be the temples of the Holy Ghost Surely God will hear their mourning and as the voice of their cry did come up to heaven in the time of their Egyptian slavery so doubtless God will yet cause this voice to be heard as of old I have seen I have seen the affliction of my people c. I say the time when this will be I dare not justly affirm but the certainty of it I will affirm And therefore if the Lord do not this year or at this time bring such a Rebel home to himself and shew him his old vileness wherein it may be he hath walked for many years stubbornly and kicked against free grace and the tender compassion of a loving and patient God yet we do not say it is impossible for this man to attain heaven Then let no man so foolishly conjecture and say that if Israel be not converted before such a time they never will for the times and seasons are in the Lords own free disposing and he doth many times make that his great day of vengeance an opportunity which is the season of his peoples highest calamity and when according unto humane reason we think it is too late there is no time better in the eyes of the Lord. Then this is great arrogance in them that are of this Epicurean faith And shall a wicked man who lives under the means because as yet a wicked man upon this account neglect the means Shall he not rather consider how the Lord worketh grace in the hearts of men by degrees as something while babes and then in youth and so upwards untill a man come to be a father in Christ So that if either Jews or Christians will have any thing of God they must not only beg but wait for it because blessed are all those that wait for the appearing of the Sun of righteousness in their hearts by a lively faith And though the Jews do send forth never so many cryes Eastward yet having done all they can they must resign up their wills and affections unto him that is able to help them who hath set the sea its bounds and hath purposed a time for all things and as it pleaseth him he will order a ransom for Israel and deliverance for Judah Now lest here should be any stumbling-block laid I do many times distinguish the Tribe of Judah from the rest because I do find in many places of the Scripture where it pleaseth the Holy Ghost to write them several and that both the houses in one place in another both the families shall return as also where it is said I will make the two nations one nation and they shall be no more divided For the text saith that Israel was carried far from their brethren and that there they remain unto this day It is written in the present tense Only that there may be no want of encouragement for any of Gods people to hinder or despair in their seeking of them and that therefore doth belong so sweet a promise to these in a far country I will bring one place of Scripture more that I know not how to escape because of the good tidings that it bears in the front of it Deut. 4.29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God thou shalt find him if so with all thy heart and with all thy soul c. But if from the place where thou sojournest in thy captive estate even from Tubal and Jaran even from the cities of the Medes thou shalt seek or diligently enquire after the Lord and thy God casting far from thee those false gods which thou dost now worship being no other then the works of mens hands and so call upon the Lord that brought thee out of Egypt with a mighty arm whom the meek Prophet Moses out of his tender and loving compassion nameth thy God O Israel though for the present thou do worship such as neither see hear eat nor smell Now I say if when God shall put into Israels heart to consider his vile abominations and to cry unto him with all their heart he doth here promise to be found of them And now that you may take notice of the moving cause of this his loving kindness it is in the next verse For the Lord thy God is a merciful God he will not forsake thee c. This is that which makes drooping Jacob to hold up his head and to possess a little strength and hope wherewith he is able to undergo all the afflictions which a tender and loving Father layeth upon him And therefore they will use this expression It is good for us that we are afflicted But 2. for Calvin and those great writers about his time they were but in the dark as concerning the restauration of Jacob but only amongst other matters did lay it down as a part of their belief how that the Jews in the last dayes should be made a most glorious nation And so Proston and Perkins with the most of our times speak carelesly of it as if it were a matter of controversie And therefore you may observe that on the Lords day in publike prayers some Ministers will use some few expressions concerning them by way of petition which they conceive to be enough as declaring that they are of the same judgment Yet I am confident that many of you do not care to have them inhabit amongst us but if a little trouble in the flesh come or when a small matter of that root of evil hath been demanded which might accrue to their transportation over into England you have passed that antient but sarcacious censure on them That they were a noisom and a burdensom generation I shall pass this by because we say Sat verbum sapienti But thirdly I shall prove the verity of my Proposition from the present faith and hope of Israel And 1. From their words
word of God which I mentioned in the Revelations where the Angel preacheth unto every kindred and tongue I dare not exempt the very Cannibal-Indians called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or man-devourers Yea surely before these mens day of judgment cometh the Gospel will be made known by one means or other although for the present the most part as is supposed of this new American world remaineth in total obscurity It may be that the instruments that the Lord will make use of for their conversion are some of them yet unborn And therefore the Prophet Isaiah saith And the Isles shall wait for thy Law They doe grope in the dark as yet and God knows when their time is covenient the Lords wayes are unsearchable And therefore an old Portuguise could take notice of the great wisdom of God that even against wind and stream the Lord did carry one of their Carracks being bound for Carthagena to load with bars of silver unto a Barbarian Island to which they never deemed to have arrived who by this means are now become joyful hearers and doers of the world of God So that the Isles must wait Gods time and he will teach them his statutes Now some perhaps will say But does not the Apostle write that the Gospel hath already been preached unto all the world It is true that so far as men were to be found I do believe the preaching of the Gospel did then extend it self But further to clear this we doe find this recorded That although Thomas the Apostle chose Parthia Matthew Ethiopia Bartholomew India wherein to preach glad tidings yet the middle India being inhabited of many rude and barbarous nations did not receive the least knowledge of the Christian faith until the good reign of Constantine the Great which was almost 300 years after St. Pauls writing And therefore it is true and well called the whole known world But for this part of the world by some called the New-world considering its large bounds was never known unto any Age that we can read of untill some hundreds of years since Christ And therefore our best Geographers call a great part of it Terra incognita But above all these things I should think that this joyful newes from neer that most excellent Nation of China namely from Formosa that rich East-Indian Island of many thousands of them their forsaking the worshipping of idols and their happy conversion to Christian faith should take men off from those vain words that the day of consummation of all things is at hand If God doe this by the Heathens do you think that God will not doe much more for his antient people although for the present many of them heathenized Shall Israel despair because God bath hidden his face a while in the cloud Perhaps some curious Momus may repine and say that the conversion of those neer China to the faith was instrumentally accomplished by the Popish faction and therefore they are in no better condition then when they did worship the Devil and his suggestions To this I shall only use the Apostle S. Pauls moderate answer in such a case That whether in truth or in pretence so Christ be preached I doe rejoice yea and I will rejoice But that this Conversion of the Formosan Indians was not to the Popish but the Reformed Christian religion it is thus testified by Alvarus a Jesuite himself in his Relation of China par 1. chap. 2. printed at Rome 1643. Molto sent convertin ma alla fede Calvinistica c. that is Many were converted speaking of Formosans but saith he to the Calvinistical faith induced by Holland Ministers and lived vertuously Thus affirms Alvarus the Jesuite He that is one of the chosen and faithful servants of God although Christ be preached to the Infidels by dissembling Jesuites yet will joy and be glad abundantly and would beg of God that he would in this self-seeking age raise up the affections of his Saints and servants to use the whole body and soul in the propagating of the Gospel and that they may thereby as well of Jews as Gentiles adde unto the number of the Church such as shall be saved For doubtless let all the Devils in hell contribute their whole strength to the impediting of this work already begun in the Indies yet God will never leave it untill he hath performed all his promises made in the Scripture both to the Jew and Gentile Oh what great consolation should this be to those that cry How long Lord shall be the desolations of thy Zion when they have it confirmed to them that such secure and lofty Idolaters should by the mercy of God be brought so humble as to see their own baseness and be ashamed of their own doings and now doe begin to worship the true God that made the heaven the earth and the sea with all that therein are This is that Imperial Monarch who doth account of all the world but as slaves in comparison of them This is that potent people that entitle themselves in their regal denominations Lord of the world and son of heaven This is that most curious people from whom this Western world received their art of Printing Needle-work and other rare Sciences and now doe receive from us that most excellent and supernatural science to know the onely true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent And this is a mercy indeed which should make us to cry out with the Apostle Oh the depth of the riches of the love of God how unsearchable are his wayes and his judgments past finding out And that the Lord should so far prefer mercy before his judgment that he did not to this people as he did to Tyre and Zidon and other lofty places and nations but in stead of overthrowing these careless livers declared unto them the glad tidings of repentance and remission of sins Therefore whosoever it is that does determine seasons and times I desire him to look to it for although God doe reveal himself in great measure in these our days yet there were never more deceitful suggestions in the world then are now according to the prediction of our blessed Saviour that such dayes would come But in so doing a man doth rob God of his prerogative which to him doth alone belong to know the times and seasons and to know the approach of that great and terrible day of the Lord who shall then unmask all false Prophets and separate the sheep from the goats But to the main business in hand it now stands me in stead to prove the calling of the Jews to be a sound truth and no fancie And first for Scripture in Dent. 32.26 I said I would scatter them into corners and make their remembrance to cease from among men c. Now here by this men will generally grant that Israel is dispersed and driven into far countries Now for their return I will first cite that place in Jer. 16. Behold I will
eorum gemitum audiebat Vos verò eorum filii servitutem passi fuere spiritualem ter quadringentis annis insuper necdum liberati eritis tamdiu negligitis Dominum vehementer supplicare qui ne procul sit ab unoquoque invocante Nonne ista optatio maledicta vestra satisque satis descendit in gentem Hebraeorum Sanguis ejus super nos super filios nostros Apud nos hodie restat quiequam vestrae gentis honoratissimus propter fidem ejus qui assidue pro vobis orat ut Dominus Deus ipse jam loqueretur sat est ut vos adhuc credatis in illo qui non vidit corruptionem Jesus de Nazareth quem patres vestri inique tanquam ignare occiderunt qui cum incarnatus fuit secundum illam praedictionem Moysis Deut. 18.15 multis modis tanquam Moysen vestrum optimum Prophetam per cujus legem non potestis justificari â caecitate cordum vestrorum Iterum patres vestri resistiterunt illum sicut olim Moysen ipsi atque vos miseri aestimantes ejus Impostorem Nonne nunc impleta fuit isthaec prophetia Isa 53. v. 12. Et cum sceleratis reputatus est Paupertas ejus parentum scandalum fuit vestris patribus Vid. idem caput Non est species ei nec decor Et paulo post Nec reputavimus eum Eam humilitatem in ejus conversatione ne omnino patres vestri afficiebant Vid unum exemplum Zach. 9.9 Jesus Rex vester qui potens fuit in opere sermone coram Deo omni populo magnus in benefactis multos curavit à languoribus spiritibus malis caecis multis dâ—navit visum mortuos resurgit Vid. Isa 42. v. 7. Qui cum moriturus fuit quasi agnus coram Todentese obtumescet non aperiet os suum Circa quod tempus omnia oracula Ethnicorum cessabant responsum dare velum Templi scissum est in duo à summo usque deorsum tunc illum invenerunt crederunt qui non quaesierunt Omnia haec è contra patres vestri O Judaei viderunt at non corda habuerunt in illo credere necdum vos miseri sed in revera erant isti contemptores Vid. Habac. 1. v. 5. Atque vos similiter usque in praesentem diem Nos Christiani credimus auroram vestram evangelicam appropinquare sin diligenter Scripturas scrutamini perspicuè videbitis vestram miserrimamque conditionem tenebrosam tanto prope tempus sit vestrae redemptionis quanto alterutroque conversatis de fide Christiana Denique vehementer desidero ut hoc libellum maxime de decem Tribubus significans publicatur legatur in omnibus vestris Synagogis atque nos interdum orabimus nostrum vestrum Elohim corda vestra obdurata aperire oculos vestros illuminare ut aspicietis in illum quem confixistis plangatis eum quasi planctum super unigenitum Atque it a precatur humilis Autor J. J. Philo-Judaeus On the Author ADamion medany bray Jehuds doozey audack kabilai Na choggea ke Paderan Gusta lubim colloomes baddas San gouste bin Jausep nike haran san shoocorey cohoddaw Wise men do marvel why thou lov'st the Jews Invalid Nation sick through th'worlds abuse Whose fathers deem'd th' Egyptian bondage sore But thou believ'st their present bondage more And when thou read'st of Joseph's diligence Thou didst affect such glorious providence R. B. In Authorem Hic juvenis bene scit quae sunt mihi dicere nova Quod petit ex Domino plura futura sciet Syrii nec Graeci Perses nec Tartari gentes Quos loquitur verò sunt Hebraei digni pati Qui Lebanon steteraÌ„t habitaÌ„t nunc vallibus imis Heu nunc impleÌ„tum est O scelerate nefas Haebrei tum vellint Christo dare cuspide vulnus Mox hunc spectabunt magno dolore Regem Israel optatus periturus propè juvandus Dixit interea O! cum precibusque rogo Guil. Wadring ' St. Ph. The lost Sheep return'd EXOD. 4.31 And the people believed and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and that he had looked upon their afflictions then they bowed their heads and worshipped JERVSALEM once the Metropolis of Judaea where that famous warrior King David and after him his most prudent son King Solomon did reside called the perfection of beauty and the joy of the whole earth and unto which did resort the most noble families of all the then known world And above all she did chiefly excell in her pure worship without the which there was no soul under heaven accounted happy Which said City is now after many overturnings according unto that place the chief residence of a Turkish Infidel called the languishing Zion and the by-word of Nations and to the heart-breaking of the Israelites hath for its religion erected in it the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet Now although I do conceive this to be no news to any one that can but well read English yet I was willing in the beginning of my Discourse to insert it because that notwithstanding we have in this latter age seen so many and so great examples of the almighty power of God in the change of our Government and such unlooked for alterations yet there are some men amongst us that notwithstanding the testimony of holy Writ do believe that the present sad estate of Judah will never change for better and that our faith concerning the return of supposed lost Israel is grounded upon an uncertain and sandy foundation I shall therefore by that help which by almighty God to me is given and to the furthest extent of my own ability First lay down their two grand objections against them Secondly I shall lay down these two Propositions 1. That the Jewes shall be called and converted to the Christian religion 2. That not only the two Tribes but in the same manner those remaining in the world that are of the other ten Tribes and whose present being I doubt not but to make known to all that read this And in the next place as indeed is the most sure testimony I will make this good and infallible 1. By the Divine oracles 2. By the consent of some antient Fathers and modern late writers 3. I shall to make sure work bring several strong confirmations from the present faith and hope of Israel as their Gemara doth at this day hold it forth as also from the good and hopeful expressions that I my self have by way of converse received from some able native Hebrews here in London And then by way of humble submission to more ripe and knowing wits I shall lay down my weak opinion how this Jewish conversion must be accomplished And lastly I shall use all the strong motives that my weak capacity will afford me by the which I would excite all my native Country-men to use much study in the safe-guarding and bringing home this poor straid sheep of
send for many fishers saith the Lord and they shall fish for them and afterwards I will sexd for many hunters and they shall hunt for them from every mountain and from every hill and out of the boles of the rocks Now if this had been spoken of the captivity under Nebuzaradan they needed not this seeking and hunting living peaceably under the King of Babylon's yoke that he put upon them but without doubt it is meant by that last and cruel captivity under Vespasian and Titus of which Josephus so writes that it makes me to tremble Then indeed they were fain to fly to the mountains and in so doing they did receive the counsel of our Saviour and their Saviour where he saith Then let them that are in Judea flee into the Mountains So that I do confess how that since that time they have seen in what holes they might put their heads but now they shall know that their Redeemer liveth how Jesus Christ whom their Fathers crucified was so full of pitty that the did advise them knowing what sad days would come upon them to take the safest course in such an evil time whereby doubtless many did escape whose successors remain in some unknown as to the eys of the world places where the Lords fishers and hunters will find them out And then it follows in the 30. of Jeremiah and the 17. For I will restore health unto thee and I will heal thee of thy wounds saith the Lord because they called thee an outcast saying this is Sion whom no man seeketh after Here is a gracious promise for them and oh that it might work upon us here in England for we above all the barbarous Nations do not regard them but are indeed suum cuique every man for his own private ends the Lord grant that this be not one reason of our present divisions as also of our former miseries It had fared better with the Arabians those subtâ—le inhabitants of Kedar if they had done that which was their duty and as the Lord commanded them which was to hide the Jews and to be a covert unto them in the day of slaughter and not to have delivered and betrayed the outcasts into the hands of the spoyler but oh miserable that we that pretend to have the greatest knowledge of God in Christ and to follow the actions of Christ which he did upon Earth that we I say should rather add to their affliction and mocking at their tribulation should pass by saying This is Sion whom no man regardeth and if we do not here use the self-same expressions we tolerate and countenance the same actions like the proud Levite who though he knew and saw the sad estate of the wounded man yet passed by that is he would not use any possible means to help him out of his misery nor we the Jews out of theirs we do exceed the Turk in his instant cruelty he will I am afraid as concerning this matter arise up in judgement against us and although he hate all Nations himself excepted and is termed by the School-men flagellum humani generis and that the Scriptâ—re in the seventh of Ezekiel and twenty fourth verse is now and not until now come to pass while the Turk possesseth their houses which indeed are those worst of the Heathen there spoken of such as Alexander called a bruit-like Nation because that men were never able to conquer nor civilize them by reason of that unpassable sandy Desart of Zim now Arabia Deserta Yet I say this people shew them more mercy and favour then we do and suffer them not only as sojourners to live peaceably amongst them but have given them one whole Town in the Island of S. Maura within the Hellespont and a great part of Salonica So that I am fully perswaded that if it were not for such good natured Catamites and Pagans our Christian charity is so base and horrid that we would scarce leave a Jew upon the face of the earth But in Jer. 31.17 There is hope in thine end saith the Lord and thy children shall come again to their own border Exitus acta probat This is that Scripture which is so often in their mouths and this is that time which they long to see even to dwell again in their own border Which thing I might fafely consult about for that I have good Scripture for it as in Zach. 12.6 But I will resign up my judgment in that business to the present Jewish faith who for very grief because many of them live not to see those dayes they will although decrepit with old age both men and women even at this day carry their parents and friends bones with them and there they will wait in their own country untill death do begin to seize on them and then they will die with such exceeding alacrity that it causeth admiration But as in another place so the end is not yet God hath not as yet finished his whole work upon Mount Zion it is but yet a little while and He that will come shall come and will not tarry Czek 11.17 19. Then saith the Lord I will gather you from among the heathen and then none shall make you afraid Here in Europe the Jewes lie like the grape-gleanings of the Vintage for there the Lord findeth one in that Town abased and scoffed at by all that meet him another in this place it may be weary of his life for that he seeth not the expectation of his years as yet to be reveal'd unto him So in one part of Asia here a city or place the inhabitants of which perhaps for the most part are all Jewes and then in another place you shall have them prohibited as in Pera Sestos and in other places amongst the heathen Now this being considered I believe how that all men will say that these had need of an all-seeing eye to gather them out of the secret places of the earth and out of the holes of the rock there where the vultures eye hath not perceived Ezek. 34.16 I saith the Lord will seek that which was lost and bind up that which was broken and strengthen that which was sick Indeed let us enquire after the Jewish present condition for if ever Israel was lost it is now especially when we remember how great a people they were and how small they now are in the view of those people who do deem the world to be of little more compass then they know but if they were fled to the uttermost most parts of the sea thither can and will the Lords arm help them and release them There is not so vast a difference by far between the heavens and the earth as there is between Gods knowledg and mans weak understanding And it is true that men must seek and search for many things before they can possess them but where we read in the Scripture of the Lords seeking any man or thing it is meant that God will
great misery Then will Zion use this proverb again How is the mighty man fallen and the strong man become feeble Those which spoiled us but were not spoiled but now our Emanuel will render them the deserts of their actions even their cruel and bloody persecution of us Oh that men would not be so wittingly guilty as knowing and seeing the Lord is for them dare notwithstanding resist and obstruct them in their way to happiness Doth not the Lord say that although a woman possibly may forget her sucking child yet he will not forget them Now this motherly remembrance here spoken of extends it self further then a bare memory because it is commonly spoken of an inveterate malicious spirit never to forget his enemy but this is of a contrary nature so as to remember with tears and affections with bowels yearning and ready to forgive what is past and to renew yea many times doth increase the original love And so the Jewes God saith are engraven on the palms of his his hands whereby we do note that God is always to them a present help in time of trouble they are fastened as a nail in a sure place and as concerning their election they cannot be moved But by the way I must give this caution That no man from what I have already written should suppose the Jewes to be even now converted and that because as the good Prophet Moses knowing what great miracles there had been wrought before them said Yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive and eyes to see and eares to hear unto this day Which miracles as Moses then thought to have been sufficient to perswade them to obedience so now it may be some think that all those strange miracles which were done by our Saviour and have for many years together since been done by his Apostles in the eyes of the Jewes might have been motives extraordinary to produce faith in him who came to save them But as Moses well said then so I may safely say now that for all those wonders that they have seen yet God hath not given them a heart to perceive And I will shew you the chief reason of this present hardness it is as yet because God hath not through his son Jesus Christ convinced the Jewes of their righteousness for I conceive that God hath convinced most of them of sin already But when our Saviours words begin to take effect that is when he comes He will convince the world of righteousness then let any man conclude that their conversion is even at the door Now for to unfold what I find nowhere revealed I must use the Fathers excuse Nemo obligatur ad impossibilia So that the manner of our Saviours convincing Israel of their righteousness we dare not meddle But we that have tasted of Gods mercy and goodness can declare and that with admiration after what an easie and sweet manner of arguing God by his spirit hath convinced us of the foolishness and vanity that is in our own righteousness and then secondly presented us us with the loveliness of the righteousness of Christ and thereby doth enable dark souls to see the necessity that there is of putting on or in being clothed with his righteousness for that without it there can be no hopes of salvation Now this being as I suppose by my own experience the way which God useth towards us I will humbly submit to the will of God in his way to us unknown of dealing with the Jews but shall only beg to hasten it But 2. that I may not be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as it it used beyond my business I am now about to prove the calling of the ten Tribes In Deut. 28. it is said that if they would not obey the voice of the Lord they should be cast forth into all the kingdoms of the earth and amongst a people which neither they nor their fathers knew Now to unfold this you will all grant that they did forsake and resist the voice of their Saviour and then I prove that this Scripture was not fulfilled in their captivity under the Chaldeans because that Country was well known unto them and to their predecessors And therefore notwithstanding a book of the improbability hereof already put forth I do believe with some Jews in Portugal that many of their brethren are in that part of America called Cochinchino and my reason is this because that except this place of the West world none could be exempted from the knowledge of their Fathers whenas in Solomons dayes people of all Nations that is known nations were made known unto him either by converse or by way of commerce both by sea and land Now this place doubtless is not as yet known unto the Jews no nor the Christians but since Columbus time And then the Lord threatens them further that instead of worshipping of him they should worship wood and stone a matter then the which nothing more rise amongst the Indians as also their Mosaical rites and customs in part still retained by that unknown people of their descent But this as being a matter in controversie I dare not as yet affirm however there are many of those people sweet Christians as I have often understood by godly people that have been there as also by some Leâ—ters of that worthy man in the Gospel Mr. Elliet a man more to be commended then many in Old England to whom God hath given gifts and graces who will rather turn dumb dogs as the Scripture cals them or else will creep into houses being ashamed of publike light or else like our painted Ladies for fear will not endure a fiery trial left men should see their shame And so by that meanes they draw many after them silly people to follow their pernicious devices although it conduce to the destruction of them both I say this many now adays will do before they will go either to the East or West Indies to preach Christ either unto Jewes or Barbarians mightily forgetting or at least smothering that wofull pronunciation spoken of by the Apostle for the neglect of Gospel-dispensation But to the main matter In Zeph. 3.10 From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants even the daughter of my dispersed shall bring mine offering Now out of this and from the next Scripture which I shall cite I dare undertake if need require to make good both my propositions although I doe lay aside all those other proofs which I either have or shall put down for the same intent But being that I shall use many other I will only run over these two Scriptures and first From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia that is all such places beyond them or rather on this side that vast river Bracina and also the river of Abagni both of them springing forth out of that great downfal of waters the Lake Colvez from whose top to Gibralters Strait is computed above 1700 miles English So that
on the name of the Lord Jesus did take more with people and so will do at this present although it be in it self but a dead letter without the cooperation of the blessed Spirit go along with it much less will that way help them which produceth nothing except cursing and bitterness being contrary to the words of Christ Vse violence to no man But on the other side this must be accomplished by the same almighty power which raised Christ from the dead The Lord will first amaze Israel by shewing him how nigh unto cursing he as yet is before he will enquire how he may be saved It seems that that which made Rachel so willingly leave her fathers house was because she had gotten away her fathers gods to accompany her in her journy Such works as these of regeneration God useth to effect gradually So that for all those good examples which doubtless Iacob did shew his wife Rachel yet she did for a while retain her paternal idolatry So I say that until God doth allure them and speak comfortably unto them until God their Lord do give them the vallty of Achor for a door of hope all the tortures that any can invent will not turn them but they will rather suffer reproach patiently and though God did allow them burning for burning wound for wound and stripe for stripe yet we may behold this piece of Gospel written on their hearts in such legible characters as he that seeks no occasion may read it and find this inscription Pray for them that despightfully use you Jesus Christ already come in the flesh is something harsh to them but Jesus Christ in his humble and meek carriage towards all men this I say amongst Israel even to day is a bundle of sweet-smelling myrrhe and therefore they are very willing to tarry Gods leisure before they will be thus handled And by the way let us but consider the two contrary effects that were produced by the English and by the Spaniards in that time wherein they did both pretend to use their utmost might in converting of the Natives where soe'r they setled their abode in that new world of the West-Indies For where the Spaniards came Hungarian like they set upon the Indians forgetting their vowes and destroying many thousands of them intending as it was apparent nought save gold and riches Now I say what was the issue of this but that when the Friars and Jesuits have come to some noble Indians at their departure out of this life and declared unto them how that none but the Christians could go to Heaven or a place of joy and that all others must go to Hell or a place of torment they have given in this answer That if the Spaniards do go to heaven they do desire that they may go to hell Now here is the light of nature teaching these poor souls that the merciless cannot receive mercy So that we are confident that where in their vast dominions they doe convert one man to the true faith our Nation in that one Territory of New-England doe convert two And what is the reason but because those true English Christians in that place do perform what they promised to them at their landing by an Interpreter how they sought not vestra but vos that is their souls welfare But now as I do moderately suppose these three wayes it will be whereby the Lord will discover unto the Iew the great things of salvation 1. By our Christian prayers and humiliation as well in publike as in private and not only to name them once a week so carelesly in the Congregation My brethren Gods people is a praying people and surely if it were rightly laid to heart there is nothing that more discovers our great affection to the Hebrews then by our continual praying and entreating of God for their conversion I could be glad to see some whole days spent in this great business of Israels redemption I am perswaded that the Lord expects it You all know that the prayers of the just avail much with God And truly in the neglecting of this duty we keep silence and so become guilty of a hainous crime For what do any of us know whether this may not be part of that means which God will use concerning their restauration even by his giving ear to the fervent prayers of his chosen servants But 2. I do humbly conceive that by way of discourse or writing unto them like unto that ever to be honored Gentleman Sir Edward Spencer of Middlesex who of late wrote an Epistle to that famous Jew Mr. Manasseh Ben Israel about this matter And let any man ask of him and he will satisfie that these people do generally honour Learning being a prudent and rational people O that some of our single Teachers and godly Scholars would but do as those which indeed are the labouring Saints that is go over into some Country or other either farther or nearer as God shall move them to this work and there to reason the case with them not like cruel Hungarians nor merciless Spaniards to beat and misuse them but as you find it written beseeching them by the meekness of Christ to be reconciled In our Saviours gentle manner of discourse He that cometh unto Christ he will in no wise cast him off I am sure that he which truly doth love Christ will be willing to undergo any crosses for him who thought no pain too much for our souls good Nay were it but because those two blessed Hebrews Paul and Peter thought no labour too much no tempests and travels too dolorous no voyages too dangerous nor no deaths too cruel whereby they might preach the Gospel to us Gentiles And now he that is not capable of going to them I desire he may not be wanting in praying and supplicating the God that heareth prayer 3. I doe submissively propose that the Supreme Authority of this Nation would be pleased to hearken to those Propositions which intend their admission into England being laid down by that learned man before mentioned in his Answer to the Epistle of that prudent Jew aforesaid And truly I am bold to say that there is no Nation under heaven likelier then we to help them in respect of those great and miraculous deliverances which God hath so many yeares together bestowed upon this Nation And oh that our most worthy PROTECTOR would be a hiding place and a Covert for some of them but until God hath brought in the fulness of the Gentiles because I am afraid that in this litle time which the Devil hath to reign he will use the utmost of his policie together with the beast how to mischief all those that either are or like to be the servants of the living God such as look for this appearing So that perchance if the Turk should fail in his design against the Christians he may by Satans acting the part of a sycophant use the Jews in a rigid manner