13. But our author yet adds an instance whereby he hopes to re-enforce and confirm his former answer. Saith he, “Deus per
SECT. 13.] COMING OF THE MESSIAH. 359
manus Salamanassari decem tribus in captivitatem passus est abduci in regiones nobis incognitas, sexcentis fere annis ante destructionem templi secundi, hoc est, ante preesentem hance nostram captivitatem, necdum in hodiernam hance diem in terram suam reverse aut do- minio suo restitutee sunt; quee omnia, speciali Dei providentia, nobis ita evenerunt, ne quis causam hujus nostre captivitatis speciali alicui peccato sub secunda domo commisso imputaret, cim decem tribus qui tum abfuerunt captivitatem pati debent sexcentis annis longio- rem ;”—“‘ God suffered the ten tribes to be carried captive by Shal- maneser into countries unknown to us, six hundred years before the destruction of the second temple and our present captivity, neither are they yet returned to their own land or restored to their former rule; all which things have happened unto us by the especial providence of God, that none might impute the cause of the capti- vity unto any sin committed under the second temple, seeing the ten tribes that were then absent must endure a captivity six hun- dred years longer.” Neither will this instance yield them the least relief; for,—(1.) It was before granted that the sins under the second temple were even greater than those under the first, whence the punishment of them was revived, which is here denied, manifesting that this is an evasion invented to serve the present turn. (2.) What- ever is pretended, no impartial man, that owns the special relation of that people unto God, and his covenant with them, can but grant that their present rejection is for some outrageous sins breaking the covenant under the second temple, and continued in by themselves unto this day. (3.) The case of the ten tribes, after they had pub- licly rejected all that worship of God, and all that government of the people, which was appointed to type out and to continue unto the bringing forth of the Messiah, is different from that of the other tribes, to whom the promises were appropriated in Judah and in the house of David; so that their rejection implies no disannulling of the covenant. (4.) As all of the two tribes came not up to Jerusalem at the return from the captivity of Babylon, so very great numbers of the ten tribes appear so to have done; which being added to those multitudes of them which before that had fallen away to Judah, -partly upon. the account of the worship of God, partly upon the account of outward peace, when their own land was wasted, makes the condition of the body of the people to be one and the same; and these men committed, and their posterity continue in, the sins on which we charge their present dispersion and captivity. (5.) The remnant of that people, dispersed amongst strange nations, seems voluntarily to have embraced their manners and customs, and utterly to have forgotten their own land; whereas those with whom we have to do daily expect, desire, and endeavour a return there- unto. So that neither doth this evasion yield our present Jews
360 JEWS’ TRADITIONS ABOUT THE [ EXERC. XVI.
any relief, and we may return to the notions of their more ancient masters.
For a close, then, of these considerations, I shall add some of the concessions of the Jews themselves, which the evidence of the truth contended for hath at several seasons extorted from them. And this I shall not do as though they were of great importance in them- selves or unto us, but only to discover their entanglements in con- tending against the light; for the present masters of their unbelief are more perplexed with the convictions of their predecessors than with the plainest testimonies of the Scripture, the authority of their predecessors being equal with them unto, if not more sacred than, that of the word of God itself.
First, then, being pressed with the testimony before insisted on out of Haggai, concerning the glory of the second temple, and the coming of the desire of all nations thereunto, they have a tradition that the Messiah was born the same day that the second temple was destroyed. The story, indeed, which they make it up with is weak, fabulous, and ridiculous, and he who is offended with the citation of such things out of their Talmudical doctors is desired only to exercise patience, until he shall be able himself to report from them things more serious and of greater importance; and yet from them must we Jearn the persuasions and convictions of the ancient Jews, or be utterly ignorant of them. Be their stories what they will, also, the powerful convincing evidence of truth, and the miserable shifts that the poor wretches are put unto to keep off the efficacy of it from their minds, do sufficiently appear in them.
14. The tradition mentioned they give us in Tractat. Bezaroth. Distinct. Hajakkor, in these words: Mwy Iw DVI IN 9 YD PT "aN wopan na an ora 12;—“ Rabbi Joden, in the name of Rabbi Ibbo, said, ‘The Messiah was born in the day that the house of the sanc- tuary was destroyed.” And the story they tell to this purpose is as followeth:—“ It came to pass that as a Jew was ploughing, his ox before him lowed, and there passed by him ‘271y, ‘an Arabian ;’ and he heard a voice saying, ‘O Jew, the son of a Jew, loose thy oxen, for, behold, the house of the sanctuary is destroyed’ The ox lowed the second time; and he said, ‘O Jew, the son of a Jew, yoke thy oxen, for, behold, Messiah the King is born’ He said unto him, ‘ What is his name?’ He answered, on, ‘ Mena- chem,’”—that is, “ The Comforter.” And in Bereshith Rabba on Gen. xxx., they have a long story to the same purpose: 73 Sxyoy "a8 pyD joa, namely, 21d wbx mn nmN;—“ Rabbi Samuel, the son of Nachman, said, As Elias of good memory was walking on the way, on that very day that the house of the sanctuary was destroyed, he heard ‘ip na, the Voice from heaven, crying unto him, ‘The house of our holy sanctuary is brought unto destruction.’ When Elias of