monies of the Sacred Writings, which declare, (a) that no Misfortunes should befal the Jews, which, and much greater than which, they have not deserved by their Actions. Further, the Order itself of the prophetic Discourse, will not bear such an Interpretation. For the Prophet, or which seems more agreeable to that Place, God says, This Evil hath happened to him for the Sins of my People. Now Isaiah's People, or God's People, are the Hebrew People; wherefore he who is said by Isaiah, to have endured such grievous Things, cannot be the same People. The ancient Hebrew Teachers more rightly confessed, that these Things were spoken of the Messiah; which when some of the latter saw, (b) they imagined two Messiahs; one of which they call the Son of Joseph, who endured many Evils, and a cruel Death; the other the Son of David, to whom all Things succeeded prosperously; (c) though it is much easier, and more agreeable to the Writings of the Frophets, to acknowledge one, who arrived at his Kingdom through Adversity and Death, which we believe concerning Jesus, and which the Thing itself shews us to be true.

SECT. XX.

And as though they were good Men who delivered him to Death.

MANY are with-held from embracing the Doctrine of Jesus, out of a prejudiced Notion they

(a) That no Misfortunes should befal the Jews, &c.] This appears from those Places of the Prophets cited above, and from Daniel ix. and Nehemiah ix. To which we may add, that he of whom Isaiah speaks, was to pray to God for the Heathens, which the Jews do not do.

(b) They imagined two Messiahs, &c.] See the Talmud, entitled, Succha,. R. Solomon, and R. David Kinchi.

(c) Though it is much easier, &c.] Which Abarbanel follows, not in one Place only, on this Chapter of Isaiah.

have

have entertained of the Virtue and Goodness of their Forefathers, and especially of the Chief Priests; who condemned Jesus, and rejected his Doctrine, without any just Reason. But what Sort of Persons their Forefathers often were, that they may not think I falsely slander them, let them hear in the very Words of the Law, and of the Prophets, by whom they are often called (a) Uncircumcised in Ears and Heart; (b) a People who honoured God with their Lips, and with costly Rites, but their Mind was far removed from him. It was their Forefathers, (c) who were very near killing their Brother Joseph, and who actually sold him into Bondage; it was their Forefathers also, (d) who made Moses their Captain and Deliverer, whom the Earth, Sea, and Air obeyed, weary of his Life by their continual Rebellions; (e) who despised the Bread sent from Heaven; (f) who complained as if they were in extreme Want, when they could scarce contain within them the Birds they had eaten. It was their Forefathers (g) who forsook the great and good King David, to follow his rebellious Son: It was their Forefathers (h) who slew Zacharias, the Son of Jehoida, in the most Holy Place, making the very Priest himself a Sacrifice of their Cruelty. () And as to the HighPriests, they were such as treacherously designed

(a) Uncircumcised in Ears and Heart, &c.] Jer. iv. 4. vì. 20. (b) A People who honoured God with their Lips, &c.] Deut, xxxii. 5, 6, 15, 28. Isaiah xxix. 13. Amos v. 21. Ezekiel xvi. S. (c) Who were very near killing their Brother, &c.] Gen. xxxviii. (d) Who made Moses, &c.] The Places are observed before in the Second Book.

(e) Who despised the Bread, &c.] Numb. xi. 6.

(f) Who complained as if they were in extreme Want, &c.] In the forecited xith Chapter, towards the End.

(g) Who forsook the great and good King David, &c.]2 Sam.xv. (h) WVho slew Zacharias, &c.] 2 Chron. xxiv. 21.

(i) And as to the High-Priests, &c.] Jer. xxvi.

the

the Death of Jeremiah, and had effected it, if they had not been hindered by the Authority of some of the Rulers; however, they extorted thus much, (a) that he should be held a Captive till the very Moment the City was taken. If any one think that they who lived in the Time of Jesus were better, Josephus can free them from this Mistake, who describes their most horrid Crimes, and their Punishments, which were heavier than any that were ever heard of; and yet, as he himself thinks, (b) beneath what they deserved. Neither are we to think better of the Council, especially when at that Time the Members of it were not admitted, according to the ancient Custom, by the Imposition of Hands, but were wont to be chosen (c) at the Will of great Men; as the Chief Priests also were, whose Dignity was not now perpetual, (d) but yearly, and oftentimes purchased. So that we ought not to wonder that Men swelled with pride, whose Avarice and Anibition was insatiable, should be enraged at the Sight of a Man, who urged the most holy Precepts, and reproved their Lives by their Difference from his. Nor was he accused of any Thing, but what the best Men of old were: (e) Thus Micaiah, who lived in the Time of Jehosophat, was delivered to Prison, for resolutely asserting the Truth against four hundred false Prophets. (f)

(a) That he should be held a Captive, &c.] Jer. xxxviii.

Ahab

(b) Beneath what they deserved, &c.] He says, no other City ever endured such Calamities, nor was there ever any Age so fruitful of all Kinds of Wickedness. The Jews brought greater Mischiefs upon themselves, than the Romans did, who came to expiate their Crimes.

(c) At the Will of great Men, &c.] Josephus XIV. 9. (d) But yearly and oftentimes purchased, &c.] Josephus XVIII. 3, and 6.

(e) Thus Micaiah, &c.] 2 Kings xxii.

(f) Ahab charged Elijah, &c.] 1 Kings xviii. 17. Ahab said to Elijah, Art not thou he that troubles Israel? And thus the

H

To

Ahab charged Elijah, just as the Chief Priests did Jesus, with being a Disturber of the Peace of Israel. (a) And Jeremiah was accused, as Jesus was, of prophesying against the Temple. which may be added, what the ancient Hebrew Teachers (b) have left us in Writing, that in the Times of the Messiah, Men would have the Impudence of Dogs, the Stubbornness of an Ass, and the Cruelty of a wild Beast. And God himself, who saw long before, what Sort of Men many of the Jew's would be, in the Times of the Messiah, foretold that they (c) who were not his People, should be admitted to be his People, (d) and that out of every City and Village of the Jews not above one or two should go up to the Holy Mountain; but that what was wanting in their Number, should be filled up by Strangers. And also (e) that the Messiah should be the Destruction of the Hebrews; but that this Stone, which was rejected by the Master-Builders, should be put in the Chief Place, to hold the whole Fabric together.

High Priests said of Jesus, Luke xxiii, 2. We found this Man a Troubler of Israel.

(a) And Jeremiah was accused, &c.] Jer. vii. 4, and following, xxvi. 6, 11.

(b) Lave left us in Writing, &c.] See the Talmud, concerning the Council; Kelmboth and Sota. R. Solomon on the forementioned Title, concerning the Council, c. Helech, and the Talmud, entitled concerning Weights. And also the Tradition of Rabbi Judah, in the Gemara, on the same Title, concerning the Council, c. Hel ch. "At that Time, when the Son of David shall come, the House that was appointed of God, shall be made a Brothel-House." See Jeremiah x. 21. xix. 14. (Here was a great Mistake, for the Masoreth was put instead of the Gemara, for these Words are to be found in the Gemara, Chap. XI. entitled concerning the Council. "At the Time "when the Son of David shall come, the House of assembling "together, ' n'a, shall be made a Brothel-House." Ed. Cocceius, Sect. 27. Le Clerc.)

(c) Who were not his People, &c.] Hosca ii. 24.
(d) And that out of every City, &c.] Jerem. iii. 14, 17. and

Isaiah tiii.

(e) That the Messiah should be the Destruction, &c.] Isaiah viii. 14. Psalm cxviii. 22.

SECT.

SECT. XXI.

An Answer to the Objection of the Christians worshipping many Gods.

IT remains that we answer two Accusations, which the Jews assault the Doctrine and Worship of the Christians with. The first is this; they affirm that we worship many Gods: But this is no more than an odious Explication of a Doctrine which appears strange to them. For there is no more Reason why this should be objected against the Christians, (a) than against Philo the Jew, who often affirms, that there are three Things in God; and he calls the Reason (b) or Word of God, the Name of God, (c) the

(a) Than against Philo the Jew, &c.] Concerning the Sacrifices of Abel and Cain. "When God, attended with his two "principal Powers, Government and Goodness; Himself, who "is one only, being between them, he framed three Conceptions "in the contemplative Soul; each of which can by no Means "be comprehended, for his Powers are unlimited, they each "contain the whole." Afterwards he calls Government, Power; and Goodness he calls Beneficence; and says, that they are not pronounced by a pious Mind, but kept in silent Secrecy. And the same we find in his Book of Cherubim. In the Second Book of the Husbandry of Noah, he mentions Existence, the Governing Power, The Merciful Power. Maimonides, in the Beginning of his Book of Fundamentals, and after him Joseph Albo, distinguish in God, that which understandeth; that by which any thing is understood; and the Understanding. We find something belonging to this Matter in Abenesdras, or Gen. xviii. and Maimonides's Guide to the Doubting.

(b) Or Word of God, &c.] In his Allegories, and of the Confusion of Tongues.

(c) The Maker of the World, &c.] In his Allegories: "His "Word, by making Use of which, as of an Instrument, he "made the World." Concerning Cain. "The Word of "God was the Instrument by which it (the World) was made." (The Word λoyos might better be translated Reason, here in Philo, as I have abundantly shown in the Dissertation on the Beginning of St. John. Le Clerc.)

Maker