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
Israel The first objection is by a sort of men more rationable then the other sort such as the Father terms moralized and well disposed Christians which ut ipsi volunt do speak and act according to truth and for my part I do believe it is only out of dark zeal But for a more apt and infallible definition let us but nominate them as Origen well spake Ii sunt qui accipiunt isthaec verba secundum literam quae occidit c. Such they are as do only take the literal part of Scripture for the true sense thereof who I am sure would be very unwilling to receive that sentence in the 3. of John v. 18. in the same manner But thus they object That the Lord sent them this certain sign of his displeasure by the mouths of the Prophets that violence shall take hold of you and I saith the Lord will consume you utterly so that none of you shall remain So now where the Lord doth seem to give his people bils of divorce and to root them out from among the rest of the world there these men take it for a firm consequence that those cannot be capable of a Christian conversion whom the Text saith shall not have a being To this I answer When God doth by his servants pronounce his sentence of judgment against a Nation City or Family it is not always an act of his absolute decreeing will for if so there had been no more hope for Israel and if God had absolutely and irrevocably decreed the destruction and utter desolation of Niniveh that great city within forty days time He would not have repented him of the evil which he had determined against it So in Hos 8.11 the Lord saith How shall I deliver thee up Ephraim c. My repentings are kindled together Here now God had threatned to cut Israel off from the land and to make them a spoil for the enemy but he cryeth out How shall I do it As if so be the Lord had no will nor pleasure in the doing of it God did always delight in mercy more then in sacrifice And therefore on the contrary I answer That these expressions of God are part of his declarative will wherein I see much of divine wisdome how that God doth oftentimes work mightily upon the spirits of his own people by way of terror So that if a man do scan many of the Lords expressions he shall perceive them to be no other then conditional much like unto the blessings promised for holiness and curses threatned for sin disobedience Deu. 28. And we often find many good actions produced in men by the Lords displaying his banner of justice over their heads and that both in the inward and the outward man As for proof this produced much even in Ahab that ungodly King who before he met with his enemy the Prophet as he called him went on in an arrogant way devising mischief against the people of God but no sooner came this word to Ahabs eares Thus saith the Lord but it made his haughty naughty heart to stoop for the Text saith that he walked softly As also such was that power which did accompany the preaching of Jonah that it caused the heathen King to call for the most solemn Fast that ever we do read of in the Scripture But above these we may behold the great wisdom of God in those great effects which the threats of the Lord have produc'd in the hearts of many men For it made Manasseh that ungodly King to pray earnestly and to beg pardon of the Lord for all his grievous transgressions And such was the story of Nathan that it made David to grow more watchful I will but make mention of one more and then I hope that all objectors of this sort will be satisfied and that is Hezekiah to whom the Lord did send Isaiah the Prophet to tell the King that he should die and not live Now do but mark the force of these words although delivered to him by the mouth of a mortal man it follows immediately that he turned his face to the wall and prayed and upon this the merciful and only wise God prolonged his days in the land B. Augustine writing on this place affirmeth that novit Dominus mutare sententiam si peccator noscit emendare vitam So that God notwithstanding his first message sent unto the King Austin saith was ready to forgive him and to alter the sentence upon this condition that he would grow more fervent in holiness For as our natural parents are careful to discern the temper and constitution of their children whereby they become very skilful to educate them after various manners some will take learning of any other art sooner by way of perswasion whereas some will not without often chastisement and reproof So our spiritual Father that omniscient and mighty discerner of the hearts of all men doth use the most wise and best way of dealing towards his children for some he doth wooe and draw as with cords of a man and bands of love and others he doth threaten as he did the Israelites only that they might turn to him For the Lord hath sworn that he would have no man to perish nor no hard heart to be cast away but that all might know the truth This makes a Rebel oftentimes become a trusty humble subject under the Lord of mercy The second Objection it by a sort of people that have been very potent amongst us here in England until now of late men of most wide fancies like unto those termed Quakers They do now object and say That what was promised is already fulfilled and that some Jews there were which did believe in the name of Christ and were saved And these men being as they imagine super-humane and super institutiones do affirm that the end of the world is usque ed finem even at the very doors But to answer this I shall do it negativelyâ— For to say that which was promised concerning Israel is already happened is false By the Scripture in Rev. 14.6 it is written That an Angel did fly through the midst of heaven having the everlasting Gospel for to preach unto them that dwell on the earth and to every nation kindred tongue and people Now the blessed Apostle S. Paul to shew as it were in a mysterie the glorious estate of his Countrymen he saith it shall not come until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in Which if I do make clear not as yet to have come to pass then I hope there is no man so Momus-like that will deny but the Jewes may as yet be called But first we may be convinced by that blessed and thrice happy conversion of so many blind Heathens in America that did never so much as hear of a Jesus Christ nor the Gospel before and as I am certified their number of converted ones daily do increase So that we must not clip nor diminish the
find or bring that back which in mans capacity was lost Now Bernard writing of Gods omniscience saith Scrutari hoc temeritas credere verô pietas c. And therefore it follows that the Lord having found this scattered and lost sheep of Israel he will in the next place take it up and bring it home in his arms and that with great glory to his holy name like the Prodigal that was loft but is now found that was dead but is now alive which is the great cause of much joy amongst the Angels in heaven It had been better for us if our predecessors had not driven them out of England doubtless the Lord will not leave punishing of us untill we do leave remembring of their faults freely to forgive them and to forget even by receiving of them again to inhabit amongst us For is it not the Proverb Humanum est errare But perhaps some may say Let them come where they will they grow richer then you can do although you taxe them highly For this I do confess that I find one place where it is said in Ezek. 11.18 how that let Israel sojourn where they will being thither dispersed by the providence of God and notwithstanding the Lord was exceeding wroth with them yet he promiseth for to be a little sanctuary to them but it is not here meant of an Italian fabrick built of wood and stone only made for to shelter manslayers from the vertue and righteousness of the law of God which is that he that sheds mans blood by man shall his blood be shed But it is in short that their God will be a covert to them and a hiding place for them until his indignation be overpast He will provide either an outward Hester to help them in time of trouble or else his own arm will save them And so the Father saith well At favor in magno saepe dolore later So that if God had no more mercy nor respect to them then man I do believe where they would be driven away by reason of that present incredulity and God-mistrusting thoughts which are in the hearts of English Protestants I wonder what is become of our Publike Faith whereby our Nation did once submit unto the providence and various dispensations that happened-amongst us Now I say that if we are the people of God and if we do love God surely all things yea even the increase of Jewish riches will work together for our good But were our Saviour upon earth again here preaching amongst us certainly he would call us a faithless generation for our actions as concerning this do testifie that we live in most flavish fear of the worlds inconstancie and mutability and are so perplexed at any outward cross far more then the degenerate Turks are at this day By this we may see for all the specious and glossie pretence of Christians now adayes the paucity of Job-like or Micah-like spirits that will trust God with their lives as well as their estates This is now a great sign of an hypocrite when he dares trust in God no longer then he is showring down earthly blessings on his head but if the Lord do but hide himself in a cloud a while presently he distrusts God and it is in vain to serve him c. But 3 saith the Lord I will strengthen that which was sick Truly was ever any people sicker is any sorrow like unto their sorrow The whole head was sick and the heart also waxed feeble The remembrance of former dayes is enough even to deject them into an utter estate of mourning and lamentation What we that once at whose making mention of the Nations trembled and shook and now to be servile and subject to the proud and scoffing wills of uncircumcised infidels Oh this is that which strikes deep into their affections She that was great among the Nations and Princess among the people is now become tributary Ah poor Israel that now where-ever thou art thou beholdest not any of the sons of men to smile there is none that will appear to comfort thee And therefore with thy Countryman Jeremiah we may cry out Vnto whom shall we liken thee But be of good cheer this is testified of thee that he which did wound thee will also cure thee He only is able to bind the broken-hearted and he will strengthen the feeble knees But for England I shall say nothing but hard-hearted for I cannot otherwise call her when although our Saviour speaking of the good downright Samaritan which being only for our example in this case left this precept behind him saying Do ye likewise As if so be he should have said You that think to have a share in my glory you will in your converse and in your comerce whilst you are in this world often meet with many of my poor sick despised ountrymen and therefore be sure that you let no opportunity slip but doe as this man did as soon as you see them have compassion on them And as God shall shew men mercy in the day of blackness even so let Christians shew mercy to the poor ignorant Jews I am sure there never was more need then now even when they are ready to despair their habitation is become desolate so that she is called by the Prophet but as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers and that all men know to be but very disconsolate But in Amos 9.9 Thus saith the Lord for lo I will sift the house of Israel with a sive but the least grain shall not be lost God will not cast away the very poor of his flock It may be they shall have anguish of soul for a time in all nations and be tossed and shaken to and fro as sometimes it would trouble any Christian heart but to know of their troubles how that on a sudden you shall have by the instigation of some malicious spirits a decree come forth by one Prince or other that within 2 or 3 days time all Hebrews shal be banished such a town or place and then oh miserable what wringing of hands what sighs and sobs will come from these poor creatures what supplicating of Princes giving all to the very clothes of their backs that they may have but a poor village to shelter them in As now the King of Poland will have them prohibited from coming or dweling any longer in Vkrain The Lord knows how ill gotten these riches are meerly for no other end then to extort mony or goods from them which although many times they scarce have yet if not they must expect banishment And next unto this will I adjoin that hellish sarcasm of a German Christian who some years ago boasted That as the Heathens did act their tragedies in the Theatre with Christians and beasts so the Nobles in some parts of Germany made up their sports and pastimes by the abusing some Jews or other And thus let men brag over them and use them as they will yet their
from this I gather that the Lords suppliants dispersed ones here spoken of are all those Jewes which the Lord shall at this day find in all the parts of Europe and also in that part of Asia which is on this side the Rivers aforementioned Then what must all these people do Why now the words do plainly shew it they shall bring mine offering Now here for the verity of this matter we have a sure and stedfast foundation whereon to build our faith even upon the promise of an Almighty God who speaketh not here indifferently of in a permissive manner as in another place he bids the Prophet preach to them whether or no they will hear or whether they will forbear But the Lord as he is the absolute Soveraign over all the world so he doth here determine and decree with himself that they shall do his will though he use much power with them and that is to bring his offering He doth not here mean one of their antient Levitical offerings neither must it be understood of that kind of offering which they do use at this present day but it shall be that same which the Apostle St. Paul calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a rational or living sacrifice acceptable unto God which the Text saith must be such broken and contrite spirits as their poor brethren then will be And now shall that Scripture be fulfilled in Mal. 3.4 And then the sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem shall be pleasant to the Lord as in the dayes of old such as was the sacrifice of Abel which was offered up in right cousness and therefore it was so well pleasing unto God as that the Lord is said to take great pleasure in the scent thereof They shall now be convinced that God abominates and detests all others though it were whole rivers of oil or the fruit of the body no all must be now acted by a principle of faith in Christ all self-righteousness shall now be done away But where this holy and evangelical offering at this day is I must strive to shew you and that is from this following Scripture in the last of Isaiah and the last ver The Lord saith that those which escaped of them which I do aver to be the last captivity and bondage under the Romans will I send to Tarshis to Pull and Lud that draw the bow to Tubal and Jaran and to the Isles afar off and they shall bring all their Brethren for an offering unto the Lord. Now here is a plain contradiction to that Non est inventus which is brought into the Court of worldly Sophists by the multitude That Israel are all lost which were of those ten Tribes For first I shall prove my affirmation that in these places do as yet remain some of Israel or such as I am sure are truly descended from the very same Hebrews by that proximity or as I may say in some sense that identity of places that is given by various denominations As before you read they were planted by the river of Gozan and the cities of the Medes which doubtless are of so near affinity as that Halath lies but on one side the River and Lud then so called on the other bending more towards that which our Geographers do now call the Mare Caspium And if Alexander did transport so great an Army over this river in two or three dayes time then no man surely will question whether they may not be carried over in so great a space of time being then at the Chaldean Monarchs pleasure and ever since under one or other unto whom they have for ought I can understand yielded themselves though perhaps against their wills in the self-same subjection as the Moors do in Barbados unto their fearless Masters But secondly and that more clearly the precedent Countries are now made known unto us by our best and experienced Orthographers in history thus Iberia Sheirvan part of Armenia major and Natolia But we who doe much honour that language doe speak thus Tarsistan Zubbaw Mozendram Bagdatan c. in which latter place save one there ever were the best and as we do still believe are the most curious handlers of the Bow by some called Hircania who did if you read in that famous Antiquary of the war between the Persians and the Greeks so bravely behave themselves that they caused the old souldiers of Alexander Magnus to fear the happy event of that war so that for some time the fight was dubious And hence it is that Gods offering must be brought Which places the Holy Ghost was pleased by the Prophet in those dayes to stile Tubal and Jaran But then it is said and from the Isles afar off Now whether or no there may not be some of them scattered amongst those several Islands with the which neither our Nation nor others for the present have any commerce I shall not meddle But this I am assured of that all along the Coast from the other side of the Cape De bone Esperance as in St. Laurence Joanna John de novo Mohelia Cumro Islands c. here you shall find Hebrews enough by the vulgar termed Jews although the most of them are of the other Tribes Now that any man may having occasion thitherward learn of them the verity of my sayings let him get the Persian tongue which by the Hebrews as well as by others is the most fluent tongue on that side the Cape so that in the maritime towns of the forementioned main land and islands you shall meet with such of that Nation as live in a more civilized fashion and do still uphold part of the Jewish customs and in the villages and inland Country those more barbarous which I conceive by a long unaccustomed slavery among these people are become heathenized and almost meer strangers to the Covenant of their fathers So that we Christians may see how the Lord is pleased to give them a slumbring potion for their sins and almost hath cast them into a total lethargie only because he is a jealous God and will not have his honour given to any other nor his name blasphemed any longer as also having respect unto the Covenant which he made with Abraham his friend his bowels do now yearn towards them as you shall plainly see in the 33 of Jeremiah I will cause saith the Lord the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return and build them as at the first Here is aurea sententia plena charitatis This is as cleer as the sun that although God suffered them both to be carried away captive the one long before the other which first we do all grant did never as yet return and he did suffer them to be driven many degrees distant one from the other yea so far as the Writers do affirm the ten Tribes to have no share in that return of the Captivity from Babylon And above all notwithstanding they are for the present at great variance
and by which powerful name the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus King of Persia to release the Jewes from their Babylonish captivity from which to the Captivity under Vespasian Titus is supposed neer 600 years And lastly by which powerful Name the Lord will set his hand again the second time So that you see when the Lord and by what instrument he was pleased to cause the Captivity of his people to return once before who were then but a remnant of the house of Judah And though I am perswaded that this second return mentioned in this place shall be beneficial to both houses yet I shall endeavour to make clear that it doth chiefly and primarily relate to the ten Tribes and that from the vast incongruity that there is between the places where this remnant of Israel shall be found and the Countries where these two Tribes are dispersed at this day To recover the remnant So that this word remnant doth presuppose that there were of them once a far greater number as also that there hath been since a grievous devastation and spoil amongst them the certain effects of war which is the unwelcom fruit of mens pride and lust and which in our age hath almost filled the whole earth with those Ilias malorum and which hath so lighted on the head of Israel and there remained for above two thousand years being before the Jewish captivity 133 years So that we may well say of him as the Orator said of Nero Nominis postremus habetur For the Hebrews who are least in sight according to that prophesie in Hos 8. Israel shall be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure are also at this day by most of us Gentiles looked upon and accounted of as the vilest and lowest people of the world and therefore scarce worth the discussion of our times nor the preheminence of Musselmen or rather Dooz oglanraz-Kerry Sodomitical Catamites Yet however the world esteems of multitudes and with the mighty say a confederacie the great God as it doth evidently appear hath from age to age and at this day doth respect the most despicable and low estate of men though but a remnant agreeing with the Text that are the remnant of his people Unto which truth I believe all men will assent because the Lord is said in one place onely to have known the Israelites among all the families of the earth that is with such a peculiar love or with such a measure of benediction And from this we may clearly demonstrate That in the most horrid wars and most slavish bondage which are both called by the Schoolmen mortiferum stagnans sanguine God will have his remnant whereon to bestow his mercy and whereby though a remnant to magnifie his almighty power As may be well noted out of that Excidio horribili the last siege of Jerusalem that notwithstanding the destruction of so many 100000 of Jews and yet mote that there might remain but so small a handful it is reported that after this grievous destruction to make quick dispatch the Roman souldiers sold unto the Greeks twenty Jews for a penny But the time will shortly come when this penny-worth of Iews and this other handfull of Israelites to whom I will bend my discourse shall sprout up into a great tree yea so great as all the Nations of the world will flie to it for shelter and advice But again The remnant which shall be left Which being in the future tense learns us thus much That for all those annual homicides and slaughters that have been made of the miscarrying Israelites since their captivity and their present sufferings in the aforementioned places the Israelites being at this day in Persia as usual an object for the bastinadoes of the Cowelhasha's as the Jews are in Turky amongst the Ianizaries yet these words shall be left do imply that there is yet a succession of them and that in the same place Alike nature with the Phaenix of whom the Writers say that out of its ashes in the same place ariseth another So when the Lord doth but breathe upon bones wherein is no marrow there will not only be added sinewes and flesh but to the admiration of the Nations from these helpless remnant there shall arise an exceeding great Army Which shall be left from Assyria At this day called Arzyrum into which Empire the ten Tribes were brought some by Tiglithpelezer and the rest by his son Shalmanaasser But since which time Rabbi Benjamin Ben-Jonas in his discourse of this Captivity saith that some of these Israelites did after time associate with some of their neighbours of Turquestan and with them went into Egypt where to this day many of their succeeding generation may be found as in Pathros in the upper Thebais and in many other places Which cannot be truly said to be a remainder of any of those Jews which Johanan against the command of God carried with him into Egypt because it is in Jer. 44.7 expresly said it being such a peremptory transgression that every man woman child and suckling should be cut off except those which did escape which could not be but by flying the kingdom of Egypt wheras also these here spoken of were led into Egypt out of this Province of Persia many years since that time by them whose brood we Christians call Turks From Cush and Elam Which Cush some hold to be meant of a City on the Gulf of Arabia now by the Turks called Zeman but of old Cush from Cush the son of Cham. But I do rather suppose it to be that in Persia which to day is called Chusistan as yet so from Cush who was the father of Nimrod of whom it is said in Gen. 10.10 that he made the beginning of his kingdom in the land of Shinaar wherein are seated these two Provinces of Cush and Elam And from the land of Shinaar whence we must expect good store of our Hebrew captives return And from Hamath which Hamath though it be often taken for Antioch in Syria once belonging to Israel until Rezin the King of Syria not Assyria took it from them yet I believe it may be that Town in Persia which to day is called Hamadan famous for the sepulchre of Queen Esther and that from these two reasons First because of its imediate coherence with the precedent places where I shall produce many hundreds of Israelites For how can it be probable that Shalmanaasser should place any of his Captives in such a City the inhabitants of which were all his life time implacable enemies to him And secondly because I understand that until the year of the world 5245. the Princes of this Town were stiled by the names of Hameth-Cawn or Prince and Lord of Hameth But from the Islands of the Sea Of which intended Islands I dare no otherwise speak then before for except the Cannibal islands I think there are few or none in the Indies but there are to
Sun that great luminary of heaven is never at rest untill it hath refreshed all the dark corners of the earth it must run over Europe and America as well as Africa and Asia so this glorious Son of God will never cease nor slack his arm untill he hath effected that Christian freedom spoken of in the 8. of John not only for Judah and Benjamin not only for the Jews in Europe but also for all the families or tribes of Israel when this proverb shall be out of date The Lord liveth which brought the Israelites out of Egypt But now The Lord liveth which brought the children of Israel from the land of the North c. But when the Lord comes to be the God of all the families that is all the Tribes of Israel he faith he will be their God and they shall be his people Here is Gods omnipotencie seen in taming the proudest hearts on earth This will break a way in the desart not only of sandy Persia but of the ston̄y and solitary place of unbelief for in Ezek. 37. saith the Lord I will make the house of Judah and the children of Israel his fellows one nation and they shall no more be divided Now here is a double promise first a return of their captivity and then of their scepter they shal now be a nation which lately were not a nation and shall no more hear the voice of a stranger the time is at hand when neither the might of the Chaldeans nor wisdom of the Grecians their mortal enemies nor fox-like policie of the Romans nor cruelty of the English shal terrifie them but they shall have one King to rule over them all even Jesus Christ and then Ephraim will say what have I to do anymore with idols though as yet they do much defile themselves therewith in Persia and in the Indies Now I say we may shrewdly conjecture of American Israelites but of a certain for Merchants in the former Countries there are none more numerous then Hebrew merchants residing and trading continually in divers Port-towns in Asia as also in divers other Countries in the South by Lybia and other remote parts of Africk And in the 39 of Ezekiel the Lord saith I will bring back again the captivity of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel Take notice I will do it but when why even then when they have born their shame Ah Lord when will it once be shall shame take hold on them for ever They have been many generations without a King true Priest or Prophet surely Shiloh shal come and rejoice in their hearts as wel as he doth already in ours that in the administration of all his 3 offices 1. as a King when the Lord shal reign over them in mount Zion henceforth and for evermore Then David my servant shall rule over them Here is the Kings certain government I will rule in righteousness and in truth And here is the peoples willing and delectable subjection and obedience not like the Grecians who at this day when need requireth serve the Grand Signior more out of slavish fear then with any love they bear to him or his people But thus the Iewes say we will call on the name of the Lord our God is it not the day of Gods power wherein they shall be a willing people like soft wax or like the servants of the Centurion ready to obey the Lord and receive any impressions which God shal put on the souls of his people 2. As a Priest he will shew them after what manner he did offer up himself once upon the Cross for all men and he will intercede with the Lord for them and so by his own merits he will blot out all their offences and remember their sins no more but will make them a sweet smelling favour in the presence of the Lord by sprinkling their hearts with his own most precious blood and in stead of punishing them for their fathers cruelty towards him he will save them for his names sake 3. As a Prophet he will cause the law to go out of Zion and his statutes out of Iudah he will preach to them the glad tidings of repentance He will instruct them in all manner of Gospel and Christian not Pharisaical righteousness and point unto them saying This my people is the way that leadeth unto life walk in it He will by this means convince them though dead in unbelief when he shall make them to hear the voice of the Son of God that so by awaking from that deadly sleep of incredulity they may having eares hearken unto that powerful call of Jesus Christ by which he raised Lazarus from the grave that so by their hearing and doing of that whch they hear they may attain unto eternal life and therefore doubtless God will have mercy on the whole house of Israel But I do desire that I may not be mistaken for I dare not affirm that meaning of the Apostles in the Romans how that all Israel shall be saved nor this president to be of so large extent as that the whole twelve Tribes shall be saved no nor yet one whole Tribe but thus I do believe that all Israel the true Israel according to the spirit shall be saved eternally And thus far confident I am the whole house of Israel that is all the twelve Tribes as many as are then in the world remaining shall see the salvation of the Lord and have the Christian faith amongst them as plentiful as we have it So that as amongst our selves we are none of us able to distingnish who is a true child of God who an hypocrite even so God hath concluded them all in unbelief that he might have mercy over all For as Chrysostome faith of understanding of the Word of God Nil opus est syllogismis so the Apostle James if he had thought that only two Tribes would be called to the faith why then did he write unto the other ten in this manner James to the twelve Tribes scattered abroad greeting Certainly no man dares deny but they are of Adam as well awe and therefore they may safely expect to have as much benefit for ought I know by the death of Christ who is the true second Adam as we for we know and that by woful experience how that many times the name of a Christian profits a man nothing So that if you ask any man here in England as he passeth by Are you a Christian do you believe on the name of Jesus Christ his answer will be immediately Why do you take me to be a Jew Though it may be he is one of the prophanest wretches living But let me tell such a man that he comes far short of a Jew although he makes him far inferior to himself No the Jewes do abhominate to do wickedly and to commit his crimes Their chiefest sins are either of ignorance or of omission but he is a meer Atheist in his
practice and lives without God in the world if knowing of God as he pretends yet notwithstanding does not study to glorifie him as God but in his works does deny him But in Zech. 12.10 In that day I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Ierusalem the spirit of prayer and supplication and they shall look on him whom they have pierced and mourn over him c. In that day that is when Ierusalem shall be a cup of trembling to all the Nations round about and shall be like a torch of fire in a sheaf Now it is well known unto most men who are at all skilfull in the Scriptures that they never were as yet a terror unto any people since they were led away captive by Nebuzaradan into Chaldaea But ever since that time they have been tributaries unto one or other or else by the good providence of God it may be they have had rest for a time as they have in some places at this day But it was and is an unquiet and doubtful rest and at this time they are in bondage with their children under people and nations which neither they nor their fathers have known and therefore this time is still for to come But secondly God will pour out upon them the spirit of prayer and this will be as miraculous in their eyes as it was amongst those in the Acts which had not so much as heard of the Holy Ghost but yet it shall be so powerfull a spirit that when the Lord hath breathed it on their souls it will make all rough places plain and the parched ground shall then bring forth pleasant fruit Indeed so long as the heart is rocky and stubborn the aquaduct or conduit-pipe thereof will be stopped whereby grace should be conveighed to the souls of poor sinners but when the word of the Lord which is sharper then a two-edged sword shall beat upon this same that is harder then the neather milstone it doth presently change its nature milstone it doth presently change its nature even contrary to nature like unto Moses his causing of water to proceed out of the barren rock This is part of those effects which the terrible voice of a holy God produceth in an unholy people so as to think the time past of formality too too much for to spend so vainly And now all old things will be done away and all things will become new in their hearts and this will be the initial of the Hebrews regeneration I am perswaded that those which live to see these days of Israels glorious defence will cry out and that with the same amazement as the Jewes said of Paul Was not this he so Were not these they which did so hate Christ and now they do preach Christ and as the primitive Christians were exceeding joy-full to hear that the Gentiles had received the Gospel and were baptized even so I doubt not but all good Christians will rejoice to hear and to see what great salvation Israel hath obtained But thirdly another sweet effect of this good spirit of God is by causing them to look upon him whom they and we have pierced And though they shall do this with an eye of faith yet intimating as if they now beheld their King and their daily expected Jesus suspending on the Cross and their fathers nailing of him and themselves piercing and thrusting his sides through with the spears of sin And here is faith going out from them before repentance for they are perswaded and doe believe that which they now deny and then they begin to look up Christward with teares in their eyes resipiscentiam agentes and mourn over him with a bitter weeping and mourning like unto the mourning of Hadradrimmon every family apart It will be more then a tear-shedding lamentation yea rather it will be a heart-affecting and an-inexpressible sorrow too unconceivable for any but those who have tasted how gracious the Lord is It will be as I conceive that same sorrow which the holy Apostle deemed unlawful to be repented of because it is only a quick passage out of a barren Kedar into a fruitful Canaan No man can come to the Manziel of Goa before he pass the dangerous shoals of Quiloa And then they shall turn to the Lord with their whole heart and then God will make good that promise I will and you shall and none shall then dare to disquiet Israel any more But the true worship of God in Christ will be established amongst them and then they shall be called the faithful and chosen people the true worshippers of the Father in spirit and in truth And in Jer. 31. what sweet expressions do we find concerning their future estate as in the 9 verse saith the Lord With weeping and with supplications will I lead them in the wilderness God did not thus lead them nay they were then for the most part so far from entreating the Lord for any mercy as that they did demand for this thing and that vanity and that in a murmuring manner so that the Lord did make a great slaughter amongst them for their many prevarications wherewith they provok'd the eys of his jealosie to anger against them And the Lord promiseth further that he will cause them to walk in a streight way wherein they shall not stumble Indeed formerly so long as they did or as any man doth walk loftily and proudly they were and any man is more apt to fall and stumble then he which with the Publican useth to look low and carry his heart humble before the Lord but it shall be otherwise Now God having promised to be their guide and that in a streight way surely there needs not the least distrust for Israel to have concerning their Elohim and Adonai and this is great matter of hope and comfort to Israel that when as in the dayes of old God calling them the fewest in number amongst all the Nations did yet love them above all Nations with a peculiar distinct love So though they themselves doe at this present day conceive that there is no people so scarce the Aramaspi except yet God doth still own them and doth acknowledge Ephraim to be his first-born and therefore he promiseth to be a Father to him But 2. I shall clear it a little by shewing you the consent of the Fathers in believing of this truth And first Augustine writeth Quomodo adhuc mors christi apud Judaeos maledicta est sed proculdubio Deus illuminabit oculos eorum salvos fierent in die salutis That is that although the death of Christ unto this day is held accursed amongst the Jews yet doubtless in the fulness of time God will open their eyes and bring them home to himself even then when he shall take away their sins and put his law in their inward parts then and not till then is their hour of salvation 2. John Chrysostome saith in his book which he wrote against
Sects being things beyond my curiosity as also knowing that there are one or two Treatises already extant concerning them by such learned and transcendent Wits as the worthy and truly elegant Monsieur James Gaffarel I shall therefore lay down some of those actions which become my purpose and may be something worth observation And 1. from their daily exercise in Learning and other lawful sciences but especially in their reading and discoursing in the Law and Prophets of which they have some few books more then we and wherein they have such knowledge as that they have Praises at all times suitable to every condition and in so doing they doe obey the command of Christ and there is no man either for soul or body can use any thing more then the means and leave the issue unto God 2. From their charitable deeds That notwithstanding the many poor they have of their own yet by credible testimony I hear and doe know it by some that they doe often give alms to all amongst them of what nation soever which are in want They say that they are enjoined unto it by the law of Moses as also the more charitable they are here in this life the more glorious being they shall have in the world to come And upon this account they will not if they can gain the Port suffer one of their servants though he be a Moorish Christian to be one night without redemption in a Turkish gally let it cost them what it will Now some men are apt to say that it is a part of their hypocrisie But let me tell such back-biting nominal Christians that I do think England of all Countries is so far degenerated from our antient charity as that we use cruelty in stead thereof and for lucre sake we call charity hypocrisie And many Novatians there are now amongst us which say how that those which at their deaths did formerly leave something for the poor or to the Hospitals was to the intent they might thereby merit heaven And thus I am confident they do hinder the charity of many well-given and truly religious Christians But let me desire such men that as they tender Christ they doe not by such kind of slanders offend the Jews lest you offend the apple of Gods eye For I do much honour this deed of theirs as another mark of their approaching conversion because they do these actions so freely and for ought I know out of a pure intent And therefore by the way let me accuse those of gross lying and slander that have given out some in speeches and others in writing that they do often swear and account it a godly work to cheat and defraud the Christians and do get their living meerly by extortion Which base untruths I do even abhor to harbour being only scattered abroad by some devilish spirits only to make them more odious in the earth then they are already Indeed in some of those inland places where they can have no other manner of livelihood they doe use mony one of another the mechanick Jew of the merchant Jew but not of a Christian A thing however but answerable to us here in England where one Christian receiveth Use-mony of his next neighbour nay worse then so sometimes of his own brother Therefore I doubt we are too too apt as our Saviour saith to see that in other mens practises which we will not see in our own 3. Now the third action is more vain but that it sheweth somthing better in expectation As when Ecclipses happen or any disastrous Comets appear the Sun be but thick-clouded or the like much mistaking those places in the first and last Chapters of Joel at such times they do lave themselves more then ordinary and cause all their utensils to be in readiness that they may be a more pleasing receptacle for the Lord of life keeping all their doors and windowes but especially those toward Jerusalem wide open that there may not remain the least seeming unwillingness to entertain their Saviour crying with a loud voice toward the East that verse in the 121 Psalm I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help And truly if any thing this portends their simplicity in killing of their King Therefore with men of more knowing judgments if that so many generations have passed since their deliverance cannot be far off when God will no more be called of them Baali but Ishi their true and lawful husband Indeed we may read a Scripture in Amos 4.9 which being taken literally by such whose eyes God hath not yet opened may afford them some good grounds of their present actions it is thus For behold I create the thunder and frame the wind revealing my Christ amongst men Now Reader hence it is that the Israelites in times of thunder or great winds do so longingly expect their Messiah For we may observe that here is no seeming distinction of time between the thunder the winds blowing nor the revelation of the Son of God And therefore I say it is for something that they believe Christ will descend on earth either in a great thunder-clap or else in a mighty wind which I think to be a type of that shaking and trembling which the Lord doth cause upon the spirits of such as he brings home to himself as also the mighty overpowering and over-mastering which the Lord commonly useth in the changing of the heart But in the third place I will prove it by their sufferings I might now make a tedious rehearsal of all their sufferings beginning at their first Captivity but only it would better become such a story to be written in Haedonis chartis whereas paper will serve this purpose And therefore omitting their several captivities and the several times that Jerusalem hath been destroyed as also in Rome Antioch Alexandria and Caesarea and every where else that the Romans had any government how the Jews were given to be devoured of wild and fierce beasts as Lyons Elephants and Tygres and how they fought upon publick Theatres only to solemnize the triumphs of Vespasian and Titus with their being banished out of such and such dominions and how of late they have been exposed to the barbarity of the horse-eating Cossacks and will only give you a small token of their present sufferings how that they go far beyond any of us Christians in their patient acceptance of either buffets bastinadoes or any other abuses So that by this we may see that God hath not left them without hope for that they take patiently the spoiling of their goods which is indeed a piece of Christianity For in Portugal if any Shackrag give a Jew a blow on the back with his cane he doth rather turn himself back with a smiling countenance then with a frown as if he felt no harm This is another of the commands of Christ fulfilled If any one strike thee on the one cheek turn to him the other also They
their parents not being able to help themselves these unnatural bruits will convey them to some places in the inland where they are sure they may be Lions food This I have learned from credible people but sure they are not all so horrible vile in that large Continent Although it is spoken in the foregoing verse that of all or amongst all the sons which she hath educated there is none no not one Christian people in the whole world that will so take her by the hand as to raise her from that sad and deplorable condition in which she now abides And yet this I will say for my own Countrymen that there is no Nation but respects her better then we doe Constantine Magnus that worthy British Christian Emperor excepted who it 's historied by Eusebius Pamphilus that he commended the care that his mother had of their antient City and that great respect they bare unto Pilate for that they found it left in writing by him that Jesus was the King of the Jews and thereupon they used much cost and pains to build up the waste places of Zion But 2. such a man doth not respect them as his equals he doth not esteem of any value those sweet apprehensions that the Prophet Malachi had of some in those dayes that did scorn their brethren Saith he Have we not all one Father Did not one God create us all c. And truly with him there is no respect of persons there is no difference between Jew nor Grecian but as they were all under wrath as in Adam all dyed so they are all one under Christ and in matters of salvation for hath not Christ broken down the mid-wall of partition Did not the Lord Christ whilst he was upon earth check his Disciples for their contending who was the greatest Are not these his holy expressions One is the Father and are not ye all brethren Why then do we revile them and mock at them as the gazing-stock of the whole earth Let us but consider that the Lord chose them for his heritage long before us even then when we Gentiles were all subjects under the Prince of the air and were led bond slaves by him at his pleasure being no otherwise termed by the Apostle St. Paul then children of disobedience whose eyes the god of this world had blinded So that I may say from the same Apostle in Rome 3.3 What if some of them did not believe doth that make void the faith of God No God forbid For God hath reserved them of the Election to enjoy full as glorious eternity as the believing Gentiles shall in the life to come It is true some of them did harden their hearts and refused to hear him that came to them that it might be fulfilled what was written that when our Saviour came to his own they received him not And therefore because that God had known this people more then others in giving them the oracles and the true worship and so appropriating them as his own though indeed all are but in a more especial manner they upon this account he will undoubtedly and extraordinarily punish them for their sins and prevarications and so indeed he hath But 3. such a Jew-scorner is hereby become guilty of the breach of the 6 Command and so I will prove him a real murderer 1 Ep. John v. 13. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer and so in Mat. 5. He that calleth his brother fool shall be in danger of hell-fire Now I say here is not only his hatred but also his reproachful words and his sordid comparisons tearmed murder So that this nominates such a man as backbites and reviles the Israelites either ways to be one of those manslayers for which men Christ dyed Now when such a man useth this petition in the Lords prayer Forgive us as we forgive others he knoweth not the true meaning of that which he doth outwardly and hypocritically express He can upbraid and taunt the Jews with his own proper qualities he saith they crucified their Saviour and pierced the Lord of life and I say that there is not one sin that he commits but does crucifie the Son of God afresh And that I may yet more convince such a one of his arrogancie self-love his hatred of others his offending the weak Jews his envy wrath strife and the like with which companions the Apostle saith no man shall ever enter into heaven I will therefore shew the world how far such a nominal Christian doth surpass an Hebrew in cruelty 1. In that it was but one time and therefore but one singular act of theirs when they did hurt and crucifie their Messiah but he doth it daily and which is the worst of all cruelties and abominated amongst the most barbarous is that when the Jews had wounded Christ he does cut and keep the wound open and thereby our blessed Saviour bleeds afresh The heathen dealt far better with their enemies but he more wretchedly and that not with an enemy but to raise the sin higher with him that was his best friend But 2. in that the Jews only at that time pierced his body with a spear but this man by sinning doth vex his righteous soul he doth as much as in him lies crucifie the Godhead of our most blessed Saviour So as that the Scripture distinguisheth these two for such hainous actions and calleth them not only a grieving of but a will therein contained to quench and totally to extinguish that most holy spirit of God wherewithall the true servants of God are sealed unto the day of redemption But 3. and chiefly all Christians in finning do far exceed and surpass Jews in cruelty in this particular respect that when as we know and it is the main article of our faith that that same Jesus Christ whom the Jews with violent hands did take and crucifie was the only true Saviour of the world yet we cease not to crucifie him against knowledge and this sin of all others is so inexpressibly grievous as the Jews would have abhorred to have committed Are not the words clear in 1 Cor. 2.8 For had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory But because of unbelief it was therefore hid from their eyes so that they then knew it not but Christians knowing their masters will and not doing it shall be beaten with many stripes Where God hath sowed and planted but especially where he hath done such things for his vineyard as he saith What could I have done more there doubtless he will expect fruit but it must be better then backbiting hatred evil speaking or the like or else he will cast such vines into fire unquenchable there shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth Let us then not be deceived with our vain and frivolous boasting against the lopt branches for God will not be any longer mocked but he is now at this present time going about to unfold and to expose
such a heavy curse which hath faln heavy upon so many generations Yet the Jews at this day omitting what is past profess unto us Christians that they have still great hopes and are fully perswaded that they shall yet be a most holy people unto God pure and without spot or blemish And therefore as Aquinas saith Spes confert ad actionem vel operationem is I am sure fulfilled in the Jews for that there never was more searching of the Prophets then there is at this day amongst them never more frequent calling upon God never were there such longings after him whom their souls will dearly love as to day as yet never any of their predecessors as I can find for above these sixteen hundred years were so willing to converse and commune with us Christians about their Messiah Time was and that of late years if a Christian did but mention Christ unto them they would shun his company though sometimes to their own damage Therefore let us rejoice at this and willingly spend some time to further the building of this Temple not made with hands and the Lord will questionless reward us It would be well if that England would but now do as the Apostle writes of them For verily saith he it hath pleased them of Achaia and Macedonia to make a certain contribution for the poor Saints which are at Jerusalem Now as the Apostle doth here write to another Church he bringeth this in that it might be their example of well-doing I say that it would be worthy of eternal remembrance and commendation if the Supreme of this Nation would be pleased as the Apostle saith that is to be very willing thereto so as to entertain these poor and as yet unchristianized Hebrewes whose debtors as he saith we truly and indeed are I know not of a truth the business between the Dutch and Portugals in Brasile but perhaps there being a many Jews they may be exposed to the elements And then let us know here in England that God doth yet strive with us who can well help them without us and hath put one opportunity more of doing good into our hands if we will but lay hold of it If not I shall apply the words of Mordecai to Esther unto our Nation thus saying For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time then shall their enlargement and deliverance arise from another place to the Jews but thou and thy fathers house shall perish c. So that if we do not now work whilst it is day and whilst we may help them and for which we may have cause to bless God and to comfort our selves with that saying of Paul For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel and that we have that honour before all the Nations in the world so that through the assistance of our Lord we may be instruments of Israels resurrection and restauration Yet if we shall now forbear to put our helping hands to so glorious and just an employment and cry out with the sluggard for a little more quiet a little more folding the hands then let us be sure that their salvation will come from some other Nation who the Text saith shall be as thorns in our eyes and help to destroy us on all sides And besides this we know not whose turn may be next that may be forsaken of God in these ticklish and perillous times Is it not good to be found well doing even our Lords business which is to use all our might and strength for the bringing of dark souls into the true way Jesus Christ our Saviour saith If ye love me feed my lambs and love the brethren It is not promised to any man that he shall go to heaven by all faith and no works which are the fruits of the true faith of the Son of God For as Gregorius saith Nil juvat nomen bonum reclamante conscientiâ That to have a notional faith and to bear the name of a Christian without acting like a Christian And for a Moralist that payeth every man his own and cometh constantly to the publick Ordinances and perhaps hath unto this day lived with good conscience and unblameable towards all men this is all good who makes one form of prayer to be his diuturnal sacrifice it may be to his dying day and therewith is content and quiets himself and hopes therewith to appease God never striving to proceed further indeed having not the Spirit of God who leads the chosen with suitable supplications and gives unto them the spirit of prayer not of the one onely prayer of such a Minister although it may be at that time suitable I say such a man leaneth but upon a broken reed this lazie progress of his will never bring him to heaven but such a mans conscience will one day tell him he is never the better for his faith But for the present his conscience may sleep like the Laws quae nunquam moriuntur and it may be the man thinks he hath love and charity enough but as for the Jews they are no kin to him Yet let him be assured with Augustine that quà m nihil notum in terra tam nihil ignotum in coelo how that God doth take special notice of all his carriage as well to wards them as the Christians I said before that we had all one Father and are we not all brethren Then let us look to it that we may not become guilty of that dreadful curse of our Saviours for not takeing in of the poor strangers But rather so order our steps everyman in his own sphere that we may give up the account of our talents not with fear but great joy So that the Lord will certainly withold that day of gloominess wherein he will judge the world notwithstanding the vain opinions of some of our days till all the servants of the most High both Jews and Gentiles are sealed and when God hath called them home unto his kingdom of marvailous light and given them the assurance of their faith and hope and how they shall then be secure from those great plagues that are about to come upon all the wicked of the world I say then there shall be silence in heaven and not before then will the Spirit say come and the Bride say come even then let every true Christian say come If any one that would truly further the coming of our Lord to judgment and does desire that those evil dayes spoken of and predicted by him might be shortned let him first study how to further their conversion because the other cannot be accomplished untill all the elect and chosen Hebrews be made vessels ready prepared to abide for ever in those heavenly mansions above When that day of slaughter begins to appear the Lord will bring all Nations down into the valley of Jehoshaphat and there he will plead with them Now for what is it but the Lords calling unto account those of all Nations that have scattered his heritage even Israel amongst all Nations of the world and dealt treacherously with them by selling them and misusing them The wiseman Solomon saith that a prudent man foreseeth a danger and prevents it Now here the wise God only for our good and that we may prevent our suffering with the rest of the world does forewarn us as he did Niniveh Then had not we better in times of mercy before the evil day come upon us to help the Israelites now whilest we may doe it for it will nor be thanks-worthy to doe it by constraint because the most wicked of men when Gods judgments light upon them will then begin to doe good This cometh only from slavish fear and will not stand us in stead in that great day of Jezreel And therefore let us bethink our selves what a heavy curse did fall upon Tyre and Sidon because they sold the children of Judah even the Lords own people unto the Grecians As also what great mercy in times of calamity God hath shewn and will still shew to all those that will help to redeem the poor captives and shew them what proffers and invitations Jesus Christ holdeth forth to their nation Certainly God which hath promised is also able to fulfill his words and we see that in the revolutions of time and throughout every generation one promise or other hath either its dawning or else its meridian and therefore I am perswaded their restauration will be the next However it cannot be far off for God hath sworne that he will make this people more glorious then other Nations and he that beareth record hath set to his seal that God is true Heaven and earth may pass away but his words no not the least tittle thereof shall fall to the ground He is not as man that he should lye but He is the Amen the faithful and true Witness the beginning of the Creation who will shortly come and shake all Nations But if some adamantine spirits will not yet give way to their transportation let others that have well-grounded hope weep with the Prophet Jeremiah in secret places for such mens pride and let their eyes run down with tears because the Lords flock remain in captivity and in an unconverted condition even unto this day FINIS