Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

As soon as I had said this, Jonas interrupted me and began to argue with me; the Rabbi told him that I came to converse with himself, and not with Mr. Jonas Jonas then became more impudent, and insulted the Rabbi. I. Mr. Jonas, I came not to argue with you, but to converse with the Rabbi; if you will argue with me, come to my house, but now I beg you not to interrupt

us.

Jonas became white as a sheet of paper, and did hold his tongue. Soon after I went away, and the Rabbi promised to call on me.

May 25.-Mr. Ben Oliel introduced me this evening to Mr. Abraham Ben Atar, to Mr. Joseph Bensequin, and to Mr. Sekerre; Dr. Parker and Lieutenant Bailey accompanied me. I perceived, in the room of Mr. Ben Oliel, the picture of the great Rabbi Cologna of Paris, whom they consider as a man of the highest talents. Abraham Ben Atar, Jos. Bensequin, and Sekerre, are the presidents of the three chief synagogues at Gibraltar, they all assured me that there are not more than 1600 Jews at Gibraltar. I was asked about the new synagogue at Berlin, the members of which synagogue send individuals to several parts of the world to procure subscriptions and to make proselytes, but they do not find access at Gibraltar. They gave me information about the Jews in Portugal, and assured me that they remained faithful to their religion, but the Jews in Spain have entirely forgotten that they are Jews. I asked them, whether the account I heard at Rome, from the secretary of the inquisition, was true, namely, that there is a street at Madrid where they are all Jews? They replied, Yes!

Mr Ben Oliel asked them to introduce me to their synagogue, which they did. The president gave me, and my companion, Lieutenant Bailey, a seat near his, and a prayer book in Hebrew and English: they shewed me the prayer for the king, written in the most excellent Hebrew you can imagine. A young nice and respectable Jew said to Dr. Parker, that he must talk with me on the subject of religion. A young Jew from

Barbary, an amiable man indeed, came to me and shook hands with me, and said in Hebrew, I wish to speak with you; I told him, I should be very happy. The same evening there came to me two respectable Jews and asked for Gospels and tracts. Dr. Parker thought it well to give them without money, which I did. They promised to come to me and converse with me on Monday.

May 26.—I went in company with Lieutenant Bailey, to the synagogue called Shaar Hasha, that is, the Gates of Heaven. A rich Portuguese Jew, called Cohen talked with me, and told me that there are Jews in Portugal, who are Bishops and Roman Catholic Priests, and in secret observe the Jewish religion. He told me that a Jew from Portugal came lately to Gibraltar, where he was circumcised. He now lives at Malta. Mr. Cohen invited me to drink tea with him.

I went for the third time to Rabbi Gabay. Dr. Parker thought it well that I should go alone, as I am known to all the Jews at Gibraltar. Before I went we prayed the Lord to be my mouth, and to give me wisdom and discretion in defending his holy name, and the Lord in his infinite mercy and goodness heard our prayer and supplication.

I went in the forenoon, at half past eleven, to Rabbi Gabay, to read Spanish. Rabbi Gabay's son stood at the gate, and when he saw me he ran to tell his father. When I entered the room, Rabbi Gabay, and three Jews with white beards, dressed in the Turkish manner, four other respectable Jews of the Portuguese persuasion, and two Jewish ladies were present. They all arose. I shook hands with Rabbi Gabay, and made my bow to the others, to which they replied very kindly, and they all shewed by their countenances that they respected my persuasion, but that they are not afraid of me, and that they should be ready to answer if I attacked them. I desired Rabbi Gabay to read the Bible with me in the Spanish tongue.

Gabay. What chapter do you like to read?

I would not choose a chapter, for although I wished to choose a chapter in which the Messiah was spoken of, I did not know whether Gabay would like to argue with me in the presence of other Jews. I said therefore to him, that he, as my master, should choose a chapter. He took the xith chapter Isaiah, "And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots." When we arrived at the fourth verse," And with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked," Gabay asked, Who is that wicked?

I. The rebels against God's revelation.
Gabay. Antichrist is understood.

-

I. It may be. And I continued, and read to verse 6, "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid." Gabay interrupted me again, and asked, what is the sense of this verse?

I. That there shall be universal peace.-After I had finished the chapter, a silence took place for some minutes. The Turkish Jews sat in the eastern manner, with their hands on their beards. A young Jew, whose countenance expressed solidity and seriousness, opened the Hebrew Bible, and all the others followed his example.

Young Jew. Mr. Wolf, have you understood the contents of this chapter.

I. The prophet speaks of the Messiah.

Young Jew. Does now the wolf dwell with the lamb, and does the leopard lie down with the kid?

I. Before I enter into any argument, I feel it to be my duty to declare what my faith is. My brethren, you may be persuaded that I love you, and it does break my heart when I see my brethren persecuted by nominal Christians; but I must say this, that that Jesus, whom our forefathers have crucified, is the Messiah, the Redeemer of Israel, and whosoever believeth in him, will obtain remission of sins, will experience peace, and joy, and righteousness in the Holy Spirit! Yes, yes. tell you the truth that Jesus is the Messiah. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for their's is the kingdom of hea

ven.

I

Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be

comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." He came not to destroy the law and the prophets. He came not to destroy but to fulfil.-Jesus the crucified one is the Messiah, and that Jesus must be preached, and I trust by the Lord's grace, he will give me strength enough to die for the glory of his name!Jesus is the Messiah! This was the substance of my profession in the midst of the Jews. I told it with a voice, and with an agitation, that they were fully persuaded that I, by the grace of the Lord, believed what I professed to believe. No anger, no gnashing of teeth, neither laughter nor blasphemy followed, God be praised for it; but there was a serious countenance, a looking to their Bibles, and no Talmud was seen upon the table. I wish I were in London to imitate, in the presence of youself and other Christian friends, the serious countenance of those brethren, and especially of that young Jew, whose countenance and eyes whilst looking at the aged Jews, who were looking for Scriptural passages, expressed his intention to cut me in pieces, not with violence, but with the force of his arguments, and with the sword of Scripture.

Young Jew Now you have poured out your feeling, but I desire arguments.

All the Jews. Arguments.

1. The Messiah is come.

Young Jew. But the lamb does not dwell with the wolf; it is not yet that universal peace.

I. This will take place on his second coming.

Young Jew. How do you prove two comings of the Messiah?

I. When we find that there was the greatest part of the prophecy fulfilled, in one who declared himself the Messiah, then we must believe that he was the Messiah, and are bound to believe what he revealeth unto us; and Messiah is to come, for he tells us he shall come again. And, secondly, many prophecies are not yet fulfilled, and he must come again to fulfil them.

Young Jew. How do you prove that Messiah must have come?

I. The sceptre shall not be taken from Judah, until Shiloh comes.

Young Jew. But the sceptre departed 300 years before Jesus.

I. Very well, then according to your argument Messiah has come; I did not prove from the passage, that Jesus must have been the Messiah.

Young Jew. No, but this proves that it must be understood in a different way.

1. We have no right to alter the grammatical sense of a passage, when it does not agree with our view, and does not suit our purpose.

:

Young Jew. How do you explain the otherwise than instantly ?-I proved by other passages, that is often said when a thing will happen a long time after and thus we arrived to the ixth chapter of Daniel, which I read through, and shewed that the weeks appointed for Christ's coming into the world were passed. He confessed that he did not understand the weeks of Daniel. He said then, Of what use is the genealogy of Jesus, if he was not the son of Joseph ?

I. To shew to the Jews, that Jesus could be no other than the son of David (Isaiah xi.) We may take him from Joseph's or Mary's side.

Young Jew. The mother cannot be reckoned.

I. In Numbers xxii. the daughters of Zelophehad, there is an instance to the contrary. "God hath created a new thing in the earth, a woman shall compass a man."

Young Jew. can never mean a man-child, for the very derivation signifies a strong man.

I referred to Job iii. 3. where by a evidently a manchild is understood.

Young Jew. How do you prove that by signifies a virgin?

I. The root of it is phy to hide, a woman hidden from man until her marriage.

Gabay. 1 Samuel xvii. 13. A young man is called

.עלס

« AnteriorContinuar »