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XXVIII.

Philip Ferdinandus

The Jew referred to was Philip Ferdinandus (1555?–1598), a native of Poland. He was converted to Roman Catholicism, but afterwards became a Protestant. He taught Hebrew at Oxford, and subsequently at Cambridge (D.N.B.).

His only publication is entitled:⁠—

Hæc sunt verba Dei, etc. |

Praecepta In Monte Sinai | data Iudæis sunt 613, quorum 365 negativa, & 248 af-|firmativa, collecta per Pharisæum Magistrum Abraha-|mum filium Kattani, & impressa in Bibliis Bomber-|giensibus, anno à mundo creato 5288 Vene-|tiis, ab Authore VOX DEI appellata: |

translata in linguam Latinam per Phi-|lippum Ferdinandum Polonum. |

His accesserunt nonnulla quæ sequens pa-|gina indicabit. |

Lex Dei integra est, Psal. 19. |

Aperi oculos meos, vt videam mirabilia legis tuæ. |

Vocem audivistis, et similtudinem non vidistis, | præter vocem. Deut. 4. 12. |

Vox Dei semel data est per Mosem in monte Sinai. |

Sed similitudinem videre. i. arcana, singulis diebus da-|tur. Ex Hazoar. |

Cum licentia omnium primariorum virorum in in-|clyta & celeberrima Cantabrigiensi Academia.

Cantabrigiae, | Ex officina Iohannis Legat. 1597. |

(4to. 3 ll. + A–H. in fours.) [B. M.]

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XXIX.

Petition of the Jewes
Johanna & Ebenezer Cart[en][w]right

The | Petition | Of The | Jewes | For the Repealing of the Act of | Parliament for their banishment | out of England. |

Presented to his Excellency and the | generall Councell of Officers on | Fryday Jan. 5. 1648. | With their favourable acceptance thereof. |

Also a Petition of divers Comman-|manders, (sic) prisoners in the Kings | Bench, for the releasing of all pri-|soners for Debt, according to | the Custome of other | Countries. |

London, Printed for George Roberts, 1649. |

(4to. 1 l. + 6 pp.) [I. S.]

sig. A.2. “To the Right Honourable, Thomas Lord Fairfax, (His Excellency) Englanes (sic) Generall, And The Honourable Councel of Warre, Conveaned for Gods Glory, Izraells Freedom, Peace, and Safety, The humble Petition of Johanna Cartenright, Widdow, and Ebenezer Cartwright her Son, freeborn of England, and now Inhabitants of the City of Amsterdam.”

sig. A.3. “This Petition was presented to the generall Councell of the Officers of the Army, under the Command of his Excellency, Thomas Lord Fairfax, at Whitehall on Ian. 5. And favourably received with a promise to take it into speedy consideration, when the present more publike affaires are dispatched.”⁠¹

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XXX.

“The Messiah Already Come,” by John Harrison

The | Messiah | Already Come. | ...

Written in Barbarie, in the yeare 1610, and for that cause directed | to the dispersed Iewes of that Countrie, and in them to all others now groaning under the heauy | yoake of this their long and intollerable captivitie, which yet one day shall have an end:...

Amsterdam, | Imprinted by Giles Thorp. Anno M.dc.xix. |

(4to. 5 ll. + 68 pp.) [B. M.]

sig. A3.—To The High And Mighty Prince Frederick King of Bohemia, &c.... This Treatise was published seven yeares agoe and Printed in the Low Countries.... Your Maᵗᶦᵉˢ most humble devoted seruant Iohn Harrison.⁠¹

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XXXI.

“Discourse of Mr. John Dury to Mr. Thorowgood—Jewes in America,” by Tho. Thorowgood—“Americans no Jews,” by Hamon l’Estrange

An Epistolicall Discourse Of Mr. Iohn Dury, To Mr. Thorowgood. Concerning his conjecture that the Americans are descended from the Israelites. With the History of a Portugall Iew, Antonie Monterinos, (sic) attested by Manasseh Ben Israel, to the same effect.... Your faithfull friend and fellow-labourer in the Gospel of Christ. J. Dury, St. Iames, this 27 Ian. 1649/50.

(sig. D–E, in fours.)

This will be found in the preliminary leaves of:⁠—

Ievves in America, | Or, | Probabilities | That the Americans are of | that Race. |⁠¹

“The Epistle to the Reader” is dated Mar. 30. 1651.

With the removall of some | contrary reasonings, and earnest de-|sires for effectuall endeavours to | make them Christian. | Proposed by Tho: Thorovvgood, B.D. one of the | Assembly of Divines. | ...

London, Printed by W. H. for Tho. Slater, and are to be sold | at his shop at the signe of the Angel in Duck lane, 1650. |

(4to. 22 ll. + 139 pp.) [I. S.]

The Imprimatur signed Iohn Downame is dated Septem. 4. 1649.

pp. 129–(139) contain “The Relation of Master Antonie Monterinos, (sic) translated out of the French Copie sent by Manasseh Ben Israel.... J. Dvry Received this at London, 27 of Novem. 1649.”

This was the affidavit of Montezinos, superscribed by Manasseh Ben Israel, sent to John Dury at his particular request.

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XXXII.

“Whether it be Lawful to Admit Jews into a Christian Commonwealth,” by John Dury

A | Case | Of | Conscience, | Whether it be lawful to admit Jews | into a Christian Common-wealth? |

Resolved By | Mʳ John Dury: | Written To | Samuel Hartlib, Esquire. |

London, | Printed for Richard Wodenothe, in Leaden-Hall street, | next to the Golden Heart, 1656. |

(4to. 1 l. + 9 pp.) [I. S.]

p. 9: “... Sir! Your most affectionate and faithful servant ... John Dury. Cassell, in haste, Januarie 8 1656.”⁠¹

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XXXIII.

“Life and Death of Henry Jessey”

The | Life and Death | of | Mr. Henry Jessey, | Late Preacher of the Gospel of | Christ in London; | Who, having finished his Testimony, was | Translated the 4th day of September, 1663. | Written for the benefit of all, especially such as | were acquainted with his godly conversation, | and Pertakers of his unwearied Labours in | the Lord. |

With an Elegy upon the Death of Mr. | William Bridg. | ... Anno Domini 1671. |

(8º. 4 ll. + 108 pp.) [B. M.]

The author is unknown, but page 97 bears the initials “E. W.”

p. 67: “Towards the Jews his Charity was famous beyond President and many ways exprest,...”

p. 69: “3. His Charity was most eminently shewn to them in the great Collections, which through his importunity was made for the poor Jews at Jerusalem, who were reduced to extream poverty and misery; having lost, by reason of the Swedish Navies Wars, 15000000 of Rix Dollers; which their brethren of Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, and Prussia, were wont to send them yearly, for the maintenance of learned Rabbies and Students, and for the relief of antient Widows and decripid men, and other necessitous people, with which the Holy-Land doth abound; who (as we said) by cutting off their subsistance were brought (in 1657) into great extremity, not only of Famine and nakednesse (that of 700 Widows, 400 were famished out-right) but also by the imprisonment and scourgings of their Elders and Rabbyes, by their cruell Creditors, being the principal men of the Land to whom the Jews were indebted 20000 Rialls of Eight, which if the Ryall be 4s. 8d. a piece, it is 4666l. 13s. 4d. for the liberty of dwelling there, etc. which they extorted with great rigor and exaction, resolving to sell them all for slaves, in case payment was not speedily made.”

p. 70: “This befel the onely then Germane Jews at Jerusalem, for the Congregation of Portugal Jews were relieved by the Alms of their Rich Brethren in Portugal.”

p. 70: “4. The only Anchor the miserable Wretched and distressed Persons had, was to Implore succour from their Brethren in other parts, to which end they sent Letters to Venice, Amsterdam, and by Rabbie Nathan Levita, an Elder, and Cabalist: But all they got from them served only for payment of Interest of Debts: so that they had still perished, if the bowels of Christians in Holland, had not compassionated their State, who sent them 500. Rix Dollars, and by Letters did earnestly press Mr. H. J. to further a Collection in England.

“To which he made some demurs till he obtained full satisfaction of the truth of the Relation, and certainty of safe conveyance of the money that Charity might not be abused; for the first, the Messengers from Jerusalem brought Commissions signed by their Elders, which Commissions were sent to the Synagogues in Germany, and in the Netherlands to be examined; who assured that they knew the hands, and that those men would not subscribe to an untruth, and that they themselves had contributed upon the same Information.

“And as for Conveyance, two Noted Merchants of Francford, would return the mony, and give Bond for so much; till they procure a Receipt from the Elders of Jerusalem, as they had done for the above named summe of 500. Rix Dollars; and had a Letter returned from Jerusalem to the Charitable Christians of Amsterdam, both in way of Receipt and Gratitude with Original Hebrew Letter with the Messengers, Commissioners, and other necessary Instructions being sent to Mr. Jessey, removed all scruples, so that immediatly informed divers London Ministers, by whose assistance, together with his own private Friends and Interest, the some of 300l. Sterling was in short time gathered and sent, and a Bill of Receipt, with thankfulness returned: some of it being also sent to distressed Iews at Vilna and other places in Poland.”

p. 67: “When their liberty of returning and trading in England (as they did in Germany, Poland, Russia, Portugal, Netherlands etc.) was moved, disputed and debated for and against; He laboured that it might be granted, with such limitations, (as our Merchants yielded unto, viz) that they should be seated in some decayed Port Towns, and pay Custome for Goods, thence transported into other parts of the Nation, besides what they should pay there for exporting English, and importing forreign Commodities: such a tollerating of their trade might not onely be beneficial several ways to our selves, but be some satisfaction for the unhandsome dealings of our Nation against that people in the days of King Rich. I. King John and Edward the first, for the space of 100 years till their final Banishment, An. Dom. 1290. with those circumstances of cruelty, that our own Histories do not seem to approve of;...”

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XXXIV.

“The Glory of Jehudah and Israel—De Heerlichkeydt ... van Jehuda en Israel,” by Henry Jesse.

The Glory of Jehudah and Israel is referred to in the concluding paragraph of “The Humble Addresses.”

Manasseh Ben Israel writes:⁠—

“... Now, having prooved the two former Points, I could adde a third, viz. of the Nobility of the Iewes: but because that Point is enough known amongst all Christians, as lately yet it hath bene most worthily and excellently shewed and described in a certain Booke, called, The Glory of Iehudah and Israel, dedicated to our Nation by that worthy Christian Minister Mr. Henry Iessey, (1653. in Dutch) where this matter is set out at large:...”

“The Life and Death Of Mʳ Henry Jessey,” page 79: “... Mr. H. J. seconded his Almes with divers Consolatory Letters to the dispersed seed of Jacob, having before in 1650. wrote a compleat Treatise yet extant, and called (the glory & Salvation of Jehudah, and Israel) tending towards the reconciliation of Jews and Christians,...”

J. C. Wolf, in his Bibliothecæ Hebræae, 1733, vol. iv., p. 901, in his biography of Manasseh Ben Israel, incidentally refers to “De Heerlickheid en heyl van Jehuda en Israel” written in Flemish (Belgice) by Henr. Jesse.

It is apparently very rare, the only copy that has been traced is mentioned in “Catalogue De La Bibliothèque de literature hebraique et orientale et d’Auteurs hebreux De Feu Mʳ Leon V. Saraval Trieste ... 1853.”⁠¹ [I. S.]

Nᵒ. 619 “Jesse Henry de Heerlichkeydt en Heyl van Jehuda en Israel (en langue flamande, traduit de l’anglais.) Amst. 1653 in 8º ... tres-rare....”

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XXXV.

Of the Late Proceeds at White-Hall, concerning the Jews [Henry Jesse]

A | Narrative | Of the late Proceeds at | White-Hall, | Concerning The | Jews: | Who had desired by R. Manasses | an agent for them, that they might return to | England, and Worship the God of their Fa-|thers here in their Synagogues, etc. |

Published for satisfaction to many in several parts of Eng-|land, that are desirous, and inquisitive to hear the | Truth thereof. | London: | Printed for L: Chapman, at the Crown in Popes-|head-Alley. 1656. |

(4to. 1 l. + 14 pp.)⁠¹ [I. S.]

p. 11: “Here followeth part of a Letter written at Ligorn, 1652. and sent by the Preacher in the Phœnix Frigot, to a friend in London.

Ligorn, aboard the Phœnix, 19 of the 1, 1652.

Dear Brethren:...”

p. 12: A Postscript, To fill up the following Pages, that else had been vacant: Containing,

1 The Proposals of R. Manasses ben Israel, more fully.

2 Part of his Letter written Anno 1647.

3 The late progress of the Gospel amongst the Indians in New-England.

A translation appeared in:⁠—

Neue Schwarmgeister=Brut Oder Historische Erzehlung....

IV. Die Wieder=Einnehmung der Juden in Engeland

V. Die Bekehrung der Indianer in New-Engeland ...

Gedrukkt im Jahr 1661. pp. 189–223.

(8º. 24 ll. + 223 pp. + 1 l.) [I. S.]

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XXXVI.

Bishop Thomas Newton and the Restoration of Israel

“The preservation of the Jews is really one of the most signal and illustrious acts of divine Providence. They are dispersed among all nations, and yet they are not confounded with any. The drops of rain which fall, nay the great rivers which flow into the ocean, are soon mingled and lost in that immense body of waters: and the same in all human probability would have been the fate of the Jews, they would have been mingled and lost in the common mass of mankind; but, on the contrary they flow into all parts of the world, mix with all nations, and yet keep separate from all. They still live as a distinct people, and yet they no where live according to their own laws, no where elect their own magistrates, no where enjoy the full exercise of their religion.... No people have continued unmixed so long as they have done, not only of those who have sent forth colonies into foreign countries, but even of those who have abided in their own country. The northern nations have come in swarms into the more southern parts of Europe; but where are they now to be discerned and distinguished? The Gauls went forth in great bodies to seek their fortune in foreign parts; but what traces or footsteps of them are now remaining any where? In France who can separate the race of the ancient Gauls from the various other people, who from time to time have settled there? In Spain who can distinguish exactly between the first possessors the Spaniards, and the Goths, and the Moors, who conquered and kept possession of the country for some ages? In England who can pretend to say with certainty which families are derived from the ancient Britons, and which from the Romans, or Saxons, or Danes, or Normans? The most ancient and honorable pedigrees can be traced up only to a certain period, and beyond that there is nothing but conjecture and uncertainty, obscurity and ignorance: but the Jews can go up higher than any other nation, they can even deduce their pedigree from the beginning of the world. They may not know from what particular tribe or family they are descended, but they know certainly that they all sprung from the stock of Abraham. And yet the contempt with which they have been treated, and the hardships which they have undergone in almost all countries, should one would think, have made them desirous to forget or renounce their original; but they profess it, they glory in it: and after so many wars, massacres, and persecutions, they still subsist, they still are very numerous: and what but a supernatural power could have preserved them in such a manner as none other nation upon earth hath been preserved?

“Nor is the providence of God less remarkable in the destruction of their enemies, than in their preservation. For from the beginning who have been the great enemies and oppressors of the Jewish Nation, removed them from their own land, and compelled them into captivity and slavery? The Egyptians afflicted them much, and detained them in bondage several years. The Assyrians carried away captive the ten tribes of Israel, and the Babylonians afterwards the two remaining tribes of Judah and Benjamin. The Syro-Macedonians, especially Antiochus Epiphanes, cruelly persecuted them: and the Romans utterly dissolved the Jewish state, and dispersed the people so as they have never been able to recover their city and country again. And where are now these great and famous monarchies, which in their turns subdued and oppressed the people of God? Are they not vanished as a dream, and not only their power, but their very names, lost in the earth? The Egyptians, Assyrians, and Babylonians, were overthrown, and entirely subjugated by the Persians; and the Persians (it is remarkable) were the restorers of the Jews, as well as the destroyers of their enemies. The Syro-Macedonians were swallowed up by the Romans: and the Roman empire, great and powerful as it was, was broken in pieces by the incursions of the northern nations; while the Jews are subsisting as a distinct people to this day.”⁠¹

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XXXVII.

“A Call to the Christians and the Hebrews”

“You are at length to be restored to the land of your forefathers, where, after ages of dispersion and suffering, you will find rest and enjoyment; and will restore, surpass and enjoy, for ever, all that you have ever known, or conceived of happiness and glory.... Ye have sown in tears, ye shall reap in joy.” (Psalm cxxvi, 5.)

“They who deny that you will be restored and re-established in your ancient inheritance, may better deny that you are dispersed; for as certainly as the prophecies of your dispersion and preservation have been verified, so shall the numerous prophecies of your restoration be realized and fulfilled.”

“Will the British who preside over the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Indian Seas assume the glorious enterprise, and conduct the Hebrews from Tarshish and the various coasts of their dispersion?

“This island has given birth to the Bible Society, through whose labours the glorious work has been undertaken and sustained of circulating the sacred scriptures, among the various nations of the earth in the respective languages.

“From this isle of ancient fame, the Hindoos and the lone isles of the Pacific and Atlantic Seas, again receive their Vedas and sacred scrolls.

“The uplifted shell sounded from this Arctic isle, will gain the ear of the wakeful Spirits of peace within it, and upon either Continent; of those watchers of the world, who listen to gather and transmit to all kindred and nations, the grateful sounds fraught with good tidings, which ascend ever and anon, as the all-presiding God calls them forth from some one of his train on Earth.”⁠¹

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XXXVIII.

The Centenary of the British and Foreign Bible Society

Those who wish to read the full record of the Society’s work can do so in the two delightful volumes of Mr. William Canton. In his History of the British and Foreign Bible Society (London, Murray, 1904) he tells, in fine style, the story of the first half-century of the Society’s career. When the Society began its work, that is to say at the beginning of the nineteenth century, “all the Bibles in the world in all languages and in every land, printed or in MSS., did not greatly exceed 4,000,000 copies, and of the forty or fifty languages into which the Scriptures have been translated, several, like the Anglo-Saxon of Bede and the Mæso-Gothic of Ulfilas, were extinct tongues.” But now how stands the matter? “Under its auspices and mainly at its charges, scholars have been employed in translating the Scriptures into over 300 languages, including all the great vernaculars of the world. Neither expense nor labour has been spared in making these versions as perfect as possible; and when completed they have been printed, and thus placed within the reach of the poorest of those for whom they were intended. In 100 years over 180,000,000 copies of the scriptures, complete or in part, have been issued by the Society; and at the present time more than 6,000,000 copies per annum are being put into circulation.”

The well-known scholar, Dr. Israel Abrahams, after quoting this passage in the Jewish Chronicle, March 4th, 1904, rightly remarks: “... the Society is doing a noble work, with much of which Jews must completely sympathise. With some of its work we do not sympathise; but this reservation does not prevent us from offering cordial congratulations to the Society on its centenary,...” This is our point of view with regard to non-Jewish activities on behalf of Zionism, as well as on behalf of the Bible.

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XXXIX.

Lord Kitchener and the Palestine Exploration Fund

Dr. Samuel Daiches read a paper on the 7th February, 1915, to the Jews’ College Union Society about Lord Kitchener’s work in Palestine. Sir Edward Pears, who is a member of the Council of the Palestine Exploration Fund, presided. Dr. Daiches pointed out that there was an early period in Lord Kitchener’s life which provided him with work in which he developed his great capacities—the period of his work in Palestine—nearly forty years ago, when he was engaged for four years (from 1874 to 1878) in exploration work in the Holy Land. He first took up the work (at the age of twenty-four) as second-in-command under Lieutenant Conder, and later, owing to the ill-health of Conder, took command of the survey party of the Palestine Exploration Fund. The lecturer made it clear that the real underlying motive which induced Lord Kitchener to take up this work was a love for the Bible and the land of the Bible. Kitchener left for Palestine in command of the Survey in January, 1877. By the beginning of July the survey of Galilee was completed, 1000 square miles having been added to the map. Four weeks later he went with a reduced party to the south country and surveyed 340 square miles in the desert around Beer Sheba. The survey of the whole of Western Palestine was thus completed. Then the revision work was done. In January, 1878, Kitchener was back in England, and after a short leave he joined Conder at the South Kensington Museum, and arranged and wrote the Memoirs for the sheets of the map executed by himself. In September he formally handed over to the Committee the whole of the Maps and Memoirs complete. As a result of the work of Conder and Kitchener we now have the large map of Western Palestine in twenty-six sheets, three volumes of Memoirs on the topography, orthography, hydrography and archæology, and the volume of Arabic and English name lists. A volume of Special Papers (vol. v. of the series) contains contributions from Conder and Kitchener. Kitchener’s contributions concerning the ancient Synagogues in Galilee are very valuable, and his reports show a sympathetic understanding of Jewish traditions in Palestine.⁠¹

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XL.

Bonaparte’s Call to the Jews (1799)

Gazette Nationale ou Le Moniteur Universel.

No. 243. Tridi, 3 prairial an 7 de la république française une et indivisible.

[Page] 987. Politique. Turquie. Constantinople, le 28 germinal.

“Bonaparte a fait publier une proclamation, dans laquelle il invite tous les juifs de l’Asie et de l’Afrique à venir se ranger sous ses drapeaux pour rétablir l’ancienne Jérusalem. Il en a déjà armé un grand nombre, et leurs bataillons menacent Alep.”

No. 279. Nonidi, 9 messidor etc.

[Pages] 1136–1137. De la conquête probable de-l’empire ottoman par Bonaparte.

“... Attendons la confirmation de ces heureuses nouvelles. Si elles sont prématurées, nous aimons à croire qu’elles se réaliseront un jour. Ce n’est pas seulement pour rendre aux juifs leur Jérusalem que Bonaparte a conquis la Syrie;...” (David.)