came one thousand six hundred and thirty-two years ago, having been born at the period when Titus destroyed Jerusalem. So it is written in the Talmud in Beresheet Raba (which is in substance a copious commentary upon Genesis) chap. Echa. Also in the book Sanhedrin in the chapter Cum similiter. And as it is maintained, according to this opinion, that the Messiah has already come, no less than one thousand six hundred and thirty-two years must have elapsed since his advent; and yet, during all that time, no Jew has seen him. Some even say that he is still wandering unknown about the world; others, that he stands at the gates of Rome in company with the poor, soliciting alms: others, that he is concealed in the Caspian hills, with such precautions that if an attempt should be made to go in search of him, the river Sabbatine would present an invincible obstruction; for on any Jews approaching its margin, its waters are suddenly petrified, and rain down so heavy a shower of stones on the unfortunate intruders, that they either are killed on the spot or are compelled to retire, leaving their Messiah in his enchanted hiding-place.

XV.

Others knowing that the Caspian hills were within our reach, and considering the fable of the Sabbatine river perfectly ridiculous, had recourse to Paradise, saying that the Messiah is entertained there in the company of Moses and Elijah; and that when the time should come, God would send him to deliver the Jews. To these two opinions may be added a third of the modern rabbins, asserting that the Messiah has not

come, nor ever will come, since God has not promised it in the Scriptures, nor is his advent an article of faith with the Jews. This newly invented opinion is so little followed, that as yet I have not met with any other person professing it, beside one Francisco Antonio de Olivares, a Castilian by birth, who was expelled this city the 14th July, 1686, and died professing this article of belief, or rather this absurdity, for such all the Jews uniformly consider it, as we read in the Talmud, Treatise Sanhedrin, chap. Helek, where the rabbins expressly avow that there was no prophet who did not make mention of the advent of the Messiah: "Omnes prophetæ aliquid de Messiah præ66 dixerunt." The like is affirmed in Yalcut in the exposition of chap. lxvi. of Josiah, p. 368. To this truth every Jew in fact bears witness, when on the sabbathday, in all the Synagogues, they chant the celebrated Hebrew hymn Yigdal Elohim Hay, wherein they entreat God to hasten the advent of the Messiah. But not to dwell on an article that is acknowledged universally by every Synagogue, the testimony of Rabbi Moses of Egypt, one of the most ancient of the Jewish rabbins, will suffice to establish the fact. This rabbi observes, in his exposition of the creed, that the eleventh article is the acknowledgment of the Messiah, in which the Jews are to believe with a perfect faith, under the penalty, in case they should reject it, of being reputed heretics by their Synagogues. "Undecimus articulus est Messias, et hunc tenentur "Hebræi firma fide credere et venturum sperare,

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prout omnes prophetæ predixerunt. Et qui hanc

"veritatem negaverit a lege discedere et hæreticum "reputari deberet."

XVI.

These two opinions being premised, as those that the Jews hold concerning the Messiah, tell me, O children of Israel, was the Messiah who came at the period of the destruction of your city, or is the Messiah who is, as you imagine, yet to come, to be a man or God and Man united? This question being pressed, you will all reply that he was or is to be simply man. Then if such were your Messiah who has already come, or if such is to be the Messiah whom you still expect to come, know of a certainty none such will come, nor has yet come; for the Messiah who you say is to be, or already has been, is totally impossible: and what is impossible cannot have happened in the past, nor can happen at any future time. The Messiah must be God and Man; for God revealed to us by his prophets that the Messiah was to possess the combination of the two natures, human and divine. And it is impossible that God should speak untruth, or that God should deceive; and it is equally impossible that there should be any true Messiah with other attributes than such as God revealed would appertain to the true Messiah. Therefore the Messiah whom your hopes induce you to imagine will still come, because he has not yet appeared, or the Messiah whom, notwithstanding his having already come, you still expect to accomplish your deliverance, is impossible in his very nature. Being impossible, he cannot have come already

C

nor can he remain to come; consequently, your expectation defeats itself, and will never be realised.

Hope, then, as long as you please, you who resolve to remain Jews; but undeceive yourselves, for if your Messiah was or is to be as you expect, he never will be nor has he been; for such a Messiah is an impossibility. Now hearken to your prophets.

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XVII.

To the two prophets, Isaiah and Jeremiah, among several others, God revealed who was to be the Messiah that he had determined to send into the world. Isaiah, in the 9th chap. of his prophecies, described him thus, conformably to your Hebrew text: "Infans "natus est nobis, et Filius datus est nobis, et erit principatus super humerum ejus: et vocabitur nomen "ejus Admirabilis, Consiliarius, Deus, Fortis, Pater Sempiternus [or Pater Sempiternitatis], Princeps "Pax; ad multiplicandum principatum et pacis non "erit finis, super solium David et super regnum ejus "sedebit, ut confirmet illud et corroboret in judicio "et justitia a modo et usque in sempiternum.” "Unto us a child is born, and unto us a son is given, "and the government shall be upon his shoulders, He "shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, God, Powerful, "everlasting Father [or the Father of Eternity], Prince "of Peace [or Prince Peace]; whose empire shall be "greatly augmented, He shall sit on the throne of "David and over his kingdom, to establish and strengthen it in judgment and justice henceforth "and to all eternity."

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XVIII.

God made the same, or nearly the same revela tion, with a slight difference, to the prophet Jeremiah, chapters xxiii. and xxxiii. according to your Hebrew text: "Ecce dies venient, dicit Dominus: et susci"tabo David germen justum, et regnabit Rex et intelliget et faciet judicium et justitiam in terra. In "diebus illis salvabitur Juda, et Israel habitabit ad "fiduciam: et hoc est nomen quod vocabunt eum: "Jehova (seu Tetragramaton) justus noster." "The "time will come, says God, that I will produce for "David a scion of his stock, he shall reign as king, "shall be wise and shall execute judgment and justice "in the earth; and in that time Judah shall be saved "and Israel shall unite with him in perfect confidence. "The name he is to bear is that of God Jehovah (or "the Tetragrammaton) our righteous one."

XIX.

These two prophets thus furnish, in their respective predictions, two signs, whereby you as Jews might recognise the promised Messiah. Isaiah says, he is to be born a child: "Infans natus est." That he was to be given at a certain time: " Filius datus est." That he was to bear upon his shoulders: "Super humerum ejus." That he was to hold the sovereignty which should increase and extend: "Ad multiplicandum imperium." That he was to sit on the throne and be placed over the kingdom of David: "Super solium David, et super regnum ejus." This is the first sign that the prophet gives, whereby to recognise the Messiah. But he says, moreover, that besides all these