23. Another ground of their hatred was, that the Jews, whilst the temple stood, gathered great sums of money out of all their pro- vinces, which they sent unto the sacred treasury. So the same per- son informs us in the same place: “Cum aurum Judzeorum nomine, quotannis ex Italia, et ex omnibus vestris provinciis Hierosolymam exportari soleret ;’—“ Out of Italy, and all other provinces of the empire, there was gold wont to be sent by the Jews to Jerusalem;” as now the European Jews do contribute to the maintenance of their synagogues in the same place. And this is acknowledged by Philo, Legat. ad Caium, and Josephus, Antigq. lib. xiv. cap. xi, to have been yearly a very greatsum. But by his “ Judszeorum nomine,” he seems not only to express that the returns of the gold mentioned were made
SECT. 23,24.] OF THE ORIGINAL OF THE SABBATH. 323
in the name of the Jews, but also to intimate that it might be raised by others also, who had taken on them the profession of their reli- gion; for this was the third and principal cause of their hatred and animosity, namely, that they drew over multitudes of all sorts of persons to the profession of the law of Moses. And a good work this was, though vitiated by the wickedness and corrupt ends of them who employed themselves therein, as our Saviour declares, Matt. xxiii. 15. This greatly provoked the Romans in those days, and on every occasion they severely complain of it. So Dio Cassius speaking of them adds, Kai or) xai rapd rors ‘Paywatois rd yévog rovro, norwabev nev moAAG KIC, adENOey OF eal TAsiordy, Wore nal 26 Tuppnoiay ris vouioewe uxgjour—“ And this kind of men” (that is, men of this pro- fession, not natural Jews) “is found also among the Romans; which though they have been frequently punished, yet have for the most part increased, so as to take the liberty of making laws to them- selves.” As for their punishments, an account is given, in Suetonius in Domit., and others, of the inquisition and search made after such as were circumcised. And as to their making of laws unto them- selves, he respects their feasts, Sabbaths, abstinences, and such like observances as the Jews obliged their proselytes unto, In like man- ner complaineth Juvenal, Sat. xiv. 100,— * Romanas autem soliti contemnere leges,
Judaicum ediscunt, et servant, ac metuunt jus, Tradidit arcano quodcunque volumine Moses ;”—
“ Contemning the Roman laws, they learn the rites and customs of the Jews, observing and learning the whole right or law delivered in the secret writing of Moses.” Seneca is yet more severe: “ Cum interim usque eo sceleratissima gentis consuetudo convaluit, ut per omnes jam terras recepta sit ; victi victoribus leges dederunt ;”—“ The custom of this wicked na- tion hath so far prevailed that it is now received among all nations; the conquered have given laws to the conquerors.” And Tacitus, Hist. lib. v. cap. v.: “ Pessimus quisque, spretis religionibus patriis, tributa et stipes illuc” (that is, to Jerusalem) “ gerebant.” The like revengeful spirit appears in those verses of Rutilius, lib. i. Itinerar., though he lived afterwards, under the Christian emperors :— “O utinam nunquam Judea victa fuisset Pompeii bellis, imperioque Titi; Leetius excise pestis contagia serpunt Victoresque suos natio victa premit.”
But it is not unlikely that he reflects on Christians also. 24. We may add hereunto, that for the most part the conversa-
- tion of the Jews amongst them was wicked and provoking. They
were a people that had, for many generations, been harassed and oppressed by all the principal empires in the world; this caused
324 OF THE ORIGINAL OF THE SABBATH. _—_— [ EXERC. II.
them to hate them, and to have their minds always possessed with revengeful thoughts. When our apostle affirmed of them, “that they pleased not God, and were contrary to all men,” 1 Thess. ii. 15, he intended not their opposition to the gospel and the preachers of it, which he had before expressed, but that envious contrariety unto mankind in general which they were possessed with. And this evil frame the nations ascribed to their law itself. “ Moses novos ritus contrariosque ceeteris mortalibus indidit,” saith Tacitus, Hist., lib. v. cap. iv. But this most falsely. No law of men ever taught such benignity, kindness and general usefulness in the world, as theirs did. The people themselves being grown wicked and corrupt, “leased not God, and were contrary to all men.” Hence they were looked on as such who observed not so much as the law of nature towards any but themselves, as resolving “ Quesitum ad fontem solos diducere verpos,” Juy., xiv. 104;—
“ Not to direct a thirsty person to a common spring if uncircumcised.” Whence was that censure of Tacitus, “ Apud ipsos fides obstinata, misericordia in promptu, adversus omnes alios hostile odium ;”— “ Faithful and merciful among themselves, towards all others they were acted with irreconcilable hatred:” which well expresseth what our Saviour charged them with, as a corrupt principle among them, Matt. v. 43, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy ;” into which two sorts they distributed all mankind,— that is, in their sense, their own countrymen and strangers.
Their corrupt and wicked conversation also made them a reproach, and their religion contemned. So was it with them from their first dispersion, as God declares: Ezek. xxxvi. 20, “ When they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the Lorp.” And their wickedness increased with their time ; for they still learned the corrupt and evil arts, with all ways of deceit, used in the nations where they lived, until, for the crimes of many, the whole nation became the common hatred of mankind. And, that we may return from this digression, this being the state of things then in the world, we may not wonder if the writers of those days were very supinely negligent or maliciously envious in reporting their ways, customs, and religious observances. And it is acknowledged that, before those times, the long course of idolatry and impiety wherein the whole world had been engaged had utterly corrupted and lost the tradi- tion of a sabbatical rest. What notices of it continued in former ages hath been before declared.