246 FAITH OF THE ANCIENT CHURCH OF THE JEWS [EXERC. XI.
and partly, that God had then provided a new Babylon to punish and destroy them. The Abba Kolon is a monster whom no man hath as yet set [eyes] upon; but it is no other but Capitolium, as they will easily grant who know how usual it is with them strangely to metamorphose things and words; instances whereof I shall elsewhere give. Thence is the proverb they speak of, “ No Abba Kolon (no Capitol, or temple of idolatry), no city ;” the Capitol answering the tower of Babel, which was a temple of Belus. Neither is that pro- verb any thing but an allusion to that in the Roman history, “ Ca- pitolium est ubi quondam capite humano invento, responsum est eo loco caput rerum, summamque imperii fore,” Tit. Liv. hb. v. And the tempering of the clay of Rome with the water of Euphrates, by the help of Abba Kolon, is nothing but an expression of the succes- sion of Rome into the stead of Babylon, which was built on that river, by the means of the Capitol, that great seat of idolatry. Nor do they at all distinguish between the present idolatry of Rome and that of old. So that, although all things are confounded by them with monstrous fictions and expressions, which it may be they in- vented on purpose to obscure their intention, yet their aim in the whole is manifest.
But to return: for the remaining part of the story concerning this Armillus, I know not whether they have borrowed it from those of the Roman church, or these from them, but evident it is that they strive to impose the odium of Antichrist upon one another. The Papists say that Antichrist shall be a Jew of the tribe of Dan, and that he shall persuade the Jews that he is their Messiah; that by their help, and others joining with them, he shall conquer many nations, destroy Rome, slay Enoch and Elias, and afterwards be destroyed himself by fire from heaven, by the power of Christ. The Jews, that their Armillus shall be a Roman, born of idolatrous for- nication; that he shall persuade the Roman Christians that he is the head of their religion and author of their prayer-books; that he shall conquer many nations, fight against Jerusalem, slay Messiah Ben Joseph, and afterwards be consumed with fire from heaven, through the power of Ben David. ‘To whether party the glory of this in- vention is to be assigned I am uncertain; the story, for the sub- stance of it, is the same on both sides, only variously fitted unto their several interests.
15. And this shall be the end of Messiah Ben Joseph or Eph- raim: Armillus having received a defeat by Nehemiah Ben Husiel, yrinn poyd ohyn mw Sn b> yap, “He shall gather the forces of all the nations of the world into the valley of decision,” ay ond» Sw, “and they shall fight with Israel;” yay dn ‘yn ye wy “mw 3m pyp dsw; “and they shall slay of them” (of Armil- lus his army) “ heaps” (or “ multitudes”) “on heaps; and they
SECT. 15-17.] CONCERNING THE MESSIAH. 24:7
shall smite a few of Israel, and they shall slay the Messiah of the Lord ;” payn max oy inx pypnD) ans poo mown oNdo ps, “and the ministering angels shall come, and, perfuming his body, shall lay it up with the ancient fathers;” where it is to be kept many days without putrefaction, as Hector’s body was (in Homer) after he was slain by Achilles) And it is not unlikely but that they may allude somewhat to the prophecy of the two witnesses, Rev. xi., who were to be slain, and afterwards called up to heaven. Thus do they at their pleasure dispose of this creature of their own; for having framed him themselves, he is their own, to do with him what they will, alive and dead. But that which is the poison and sting of this fable is, that the death of this fictitious Messiah must amongst them bear all that is spoken in the Scripture or continued by tradition concerning the humiliation, suffering, and death of the true Messiah of the Lord.
16. We need not stay long in the removal of this mormo out of our way. Should they invent twenty other Messiahs, as they have done this,—and on the same grounds and with as good authority they may,—the case would still be the same. Who gave them power to substitute themselves in the place of God,—to give new pro- mises, to appoint new Saviours, and to invent new ways of deliver- ance? The Scripture is utterly silent of any such person, nor have they any ante-Talmudical tradition concerning him; and what their masters have invented in the Talmuds is of no more authority than what they coin every day themselves. The truth is, this whole story of Armillus and Ben Joseph is a Talmudical romance, the one the giant, the other the knight. But these fictions “seria ducunt.” Poor creatures are hardened by them unto their eternal destruction. But is the world bound to believe what every one whom they are pleased to call Rabbi can imagine, though never so contrary to the principles of that religion which themselves pretend to own and profess? So indeed some of them say, that if their masters teach the right hand to be the left, yea, heaven to be hell, yet their authority is not to be questioned; and, as I remember, others say some such things of the pope. But God, I hope, of his goodness, will not suffer poor man- kind to be always so deluded. All the promises of God, all the pro- phecies from the foundation of the world, concern only one Messiah, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Judah, and of the family of David; all the faith of the church of old, as we have proved, re- spected that one only: and who will lay any weight upon what is spoken, foretold, or promised concerning him, if the Jews have power to invent another at their pleasure ?