greater Plenty; (a) all which the Prophets reproach them with; they were driven out of their Country; (b) but no longer than seventy Years: And in the mean Time God did not neglect (c) speaking to them by Prophets, and comforting them with Hopes of their Return, (d) telling them the very Time. (e) But now, ever since they have been driven out of their Country, they have continued Vagabonds and despised, no Prophet has come to them, no Signs of their future Return; their Teachers, as if they were inspired with a Spirit of Giddiness, have sunk into low Fables and ridiculous Opinions, with which the Books of the Talmud abound; which yet they presume to call the Oral Law, and to compare them, nay, to prefer them, above what is written by Moses. For what we there find (ƒ) of God's Mourning, because he suffered the City to be destroyed, (g) of his daily Diligence in reading the Law, (h) of the Behe

(a) All which the Prophets reproach them with, &c.] Isaiah i. 17. iii. 14, 15. v. 23. xi. 2, 3. lix. lxv. Amos ii. 6. Jeremiah ii. iii. v. vii. 21. viii. x. xi. xvi. xxii. Ezekiel ii, vi. vii. viii. xvi. xxii. xxiv. Daniel ix.

Micah ii. 1, 2, 3.

(b) But not longer than seventy Years, &c.] R. Samuel makes this Objection in his R. Isaac.

(c) Speaking to them by Prophets, &c.] Jeremiah xxx. xxxi. xxxiii. Ezekiel xxxvi. xxxvii.

(d) Telling them the very Time, &c.] Jeremiah xxv. 15. xxix. 10.

(e) But now, ever since they have been driven out, &c.] The Talmud in Baba Bathra.

(f) of God's Mourning, &c.] See the Preface of Echad Rabbathi; the like to which we find in the Talmud, entitled Chagiga, in Debarim Rabba, and in Berachoth.

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(g) of his daily Diligence, &c.] Thaanith and Aboda Zara, (h) of the Behemoth and Leviathan, &c.] See the Talmud Baba Bathra, and the Chaldee Paraphrast on the Song of Solomon, viii. 2.

moth

moth and Leviathan, (a) and many other Things, is so absurd, that it is troublesome to relate them. And yet in this long Space of Time, the Jews have neither gone aside to the Worship of false Gods, nor defiled themselves with Murder, nor are accused of Adultery; (b) but they endeavour to appease God by Praying and Fasting, and yet they are not heard: Which being thus, we must of Necessity conclude one of these two Things, that either that Covenant made by Moses is entirely dissolved, or that the whole Body of the Jews are guilty of some grievous Sin, which has continued for so many Ages: And what that is, let them tell us themselves; or, if they cannot say what, let them believe us, that that Sin is, the despising the Messiah, who came before these Evils began to befal them.

SECT. XVII.

Jesus proved to be the Messiah, from those Things that were predicted of the Messiah.

AND these Things do indeed prove, as we before said, that the Messiah did come so many Ages since; to which I add, that he was no other than Jesus; for all others, who were willing to have themselves thought the Messiah, or were really thought so, left no Sect in which that Opinion continued. None now profess themselves to be

(a) And many other Things, &c.] Many of which Gerson the Christian has transcribed in his Book against the Jews; see those Chapters in it concerning Devils, concerning the Messiah, concerning the Revelations by Elias, concerning Hell, concerning the Kingdom of the Ten Tribes beyond the River Sabaticus, and concerning the Deeds of the Rabbies.

(b) But they endeavour to appease God, &c.] Whereas, if we may believe themselves, they highly merit of God for rejecting a false Messiah, who was received by so great a Part of Mankind.

Followers of Herod or Judas Gaulonita, (a) or of Barchochebas, who, in the Times of Adrian, declared himself to be the Messiah, (b) and deceived many learned Men. But there have been such as owned Jesus, ever since he was upon Earth, to this very Day, (c) and they a great many, not in one Country, but all the World over. I might here alledge many other Things, formerly predicted, or believed of the Messiah, which we believe to have been completed in Jesus, and which were not so much as affirmed of any other; such as these, (d) that he was of the Seed of David; (e) that he was born of a Virgin; (f) that this Thing was discovered from Heaven, to him who had married that Virgin, and would not keep her in Marriage, because she was big with Child by another; (g) that he was born in Bethlehem; (h) that he began

(a) Or of Barchochebas, &c.] Whom Justin stiles, The Chief of the Revolt of the Jews. He is mentioned by Eusebius, Jerom, Orosius, in the Talmud, entitled concerning the Council, in Bereschith Rabbah, by the Rabbies John and Abraham Salmanticensis, and others, in many Places.

(b) And deceived many learned Men, &c.] As Rabbi Akiba; see the Talmud, entitled concerning the Council, and the Book Zemach David.

(c) And they a great many, &c.] See what is said of this in the Second Book.

(d) That he was of the Seed of David, &c.] Psalm lxxxix. 4. Isaiah iv. 2. xi. 10. Jeremiah xxiii. 5. Ezekiel xxxiv. 24. Mich. v. 2. Matt. i. 1. 20. ix. 27. xii. 23. xv. 22. xx. 30, 31. xxi. 9. 15. xxii. 42, and following Verses. Mark x. 47. xii. 35, 36, 37. Luke i. 27, 32, 69. ii. 4, 11. xviii. 38, 39. xx. 42, 44. John vii. 42. Acts xiii. 34. xv. 6. Rom. i. 3. 2 Tim. ii. 8. Rev. v. 5. xxii. 16.

(e) That he was born of a Virgin, &c.] Isaiah vii. 14. Matt. i. 18, 22, 23. Luke i. 3. 5.

(f) That this Thing was discovered from Heaven, &c.] Matt. i. 20.

(g) That he was born in Bethlehem, &c.] Mich. v. 2. Matt. ii. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Luke ii. 4.

(h) That he began to spread, &c.] Isaiah iv. 1. Matt. iv. 12, 13. Mark i. 4. Luke iv. 14, 15, 16. and in many other Places.

to spread his Doctrine first in Galilee; (a) that he healed all Kinds of Diseases; made the Blind to see, and the Lame to walk: But I shall content myself with one, the Effect of which remains to this Day; and is manifest from the Prophecies of (b) David, (c) Isaiah, (d) Zachariah, and (e) Hosea, viz. that the Messiah was to be the Instructor of all Nations; (f) that the Worship of false Gods should be overthrown by him; and that he should bring a vast Multitude of Strangers to the Worship of one God. Before the coming of Jesus, almost the whole World was subject to false Worship; which began to vanish afterwards by Degrees, and not only particular Persons, but whole Nations and Kings, were converted to the Worship of one God. These things are not owing to the Jewish Rabbies, but to the Disciples of Jesus and their Successors. Thus (g) they were made the People of God who were not so before, and that Prediction of Jacob, Gen. xlix. was fulfilled, that before the Civil Power was taken from the Posterity of Judah, Shiloh should come, (2) whom

(a) That he healed all Kinds of Diseases, &c.] Isaiah xxxv. 9. xi. 1. Matt. xi. 5. Luke iv. 18. and every where else. Further, he also raised the Dead, which R. Levi Ben Gerson reckons among the principal Marks of the Messiah.

(b) David, &c.] Psalm ii. 8. xxii. 28. lxviii. 32. lxxii. 8, 17. (c) Isaiah, &c.] ii. 2. xi. 10. xiv. 1. xix. 18. xxvii. 13. xxxv. xlii. and xliii. particularly xlix. 6. li. 5. lii. 15. liv. lv. 4, 3. lx. 3, and following ones, lxv. 1, 2. lxvi. 19, and following.

(d) Zachariah, &c.] ii. 11. viii. 20, and following, ix. 9, 10, 11. xiv. 16.

(e) Hosea, &c.] ii. 24.

(f) That the Worship of false Gods, &c.] Isaiah ii. 18, 20. xxxi. 7. xlvi. 1. Zephaniah i. 4, 5, 6. Zach. xiii. 2.

(g) They were made the People of God, &c.]

Hosea ii. 24.

(h) Whom the Chaldee, &c.] Both Jonathan, the Author of the Jerusalem Paraphrase, and the Writers of the Talmud, in the Title concerning the Council; Bereschith Rabba, Jukumnus on

the

whom the Chaldee and other Interpreters explain to be the Messiah, (a) whom foreign Nations also were to obey..

SECT. XVIII.

An Answer to what is alledged, that some Things were not fulfilled.

HERE the Jews commonly object, that there were some Things predicted of the Times of the Messiah, which we do not see fulfilled. But those which they alledge are obscure, and may have a different Signification; for which we ought not to reject those that are plain; such as the Holiness of the Precepts of Jesus; the Excellency of the Reward; the Plainness of Speech in which it was delivered; to which we may add the Miracles; and all together ought to engage us to embrace his Doctrine. In order to understand aright (b) the Prophecies of the sealed Book, as it is commonly called, there is many Times need of some Divine Assistance, which is justly with-held from those who neglect those Things that are plain. Now that those Places, which they object, may be variously explained, they themselves are not ignorant of: And if any one cares to compare the ancient the Pentateuch, Rabbi Solomon, and others, naw, which the Jews now would have to be a Rod of Chastisement; the Targum in Chaldee explains by nw, and the Greeks far, a Governor; Aquilla, xp, a Scepter; Symmachus, la, Power. And is explained by jaa his Son, by the Chaldee R. Siloh, R. Bechai, R. Solomon, Abenesdras, and Kimchi. See what is excellently said concerning this Place in Chrysostom, in his Discourse, that Christ is God.

(a) Whom foreign Nations also were to obey, &c.] See the forecited Place of Isaiah xi. 10. which affords Light to this. (b) The Prophecies of the sealed Book, &c.] Dan. xii. 4. 9. and Jacchiades upon them. Dissertation about this Matter, Discourse II. tament is obscure

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Isaiah xxix. 11. See Chrysostom's why the Old Tes

Interpre