Concerning the Me[idh. 13 wing unto hisPerfn,WorkandOffice, which it (hall fiiffice to give an account of, as anfwering our prefent Defign. Firf, Therefore they contend that, he {hall meer min ; and there is nothing that they strive to avoid more then the Teítimonies of Scripture which thew that the promifed Mefab was to be God and man in one Perfon, as hath been already evidenced. They contend alfo that he }Ball b: born after the manner of all men, not of a Virgin, but of a married Woman begotten by her Husband., About theplace ofhis birth they are not fully agreed; for although they all acknowledge theProphete ofMicah about Bethlehem to relate unto him, Chap. 5. a'. yet knowing, that Townnow to have been defolate for many Generations, and'wafl,. without inhabitant, which would teem to prove that he iscome already, they contend, that it is faid he thall beborn at Bethlehem , becaufe he is to fpring of David who was born there; for of the Tribe of Judah and FamilyofDavid he mull proceed although they have neither diffinllion of Tribes , nor fucceffion of Families left in the world amongst them. To relieve themfelves from that difficulty, they feign that he fhall reftore unto them all their Genealogies. About thetime of his coming, they are wofully perplexed, as we fhall feeafter- wards. But many tokens they have of it when it doth come; for they heap up, out of tome Afegorical paffages in theScripture, filch ftupendous Prodigies as never were nor fhall be in the world. One of the principal of them is the pending of the great Trumpet which all Ifrael (hall hear , and the world tremble at ; from Ifa.27. v. r ;: The findingofthe Arkand SacredFire, which things_were talked of in the late Ru- moors about them, are indeed a part of theirCreedin this matter. His Office, when he comes, is to be a King, which he thall be annointed unto by them , when they are gathered together. And the work he is to do, is in War,to fight withArmillus, Gog and Magog, to conquer the F, lomites and Ifhmaelites, that is the Romifb ChriJfians, and Lurk, or Saracens, and in fo doing to erect a glorious Kingdom at Jerufzlem: in Peace, he is to Rule righteously, not only over Ifrael, but alfo all the Nations of the world if they have any difference amongll them , '(hall refer all unto his determi- nation and Vmpirage. In Religion he fhall build the Third Temple mentioned by Ezekiel, rellore the Sacrifices, and caufe the Law of Mofe: to ixmoll ft:intly obferved. But that which is the head of all, he fhall free the Jews from their Captivity, rettore them to their ownLand, make Princes and Lords of them all, giving them the wealth of all Nations, either conquered by him, or brought voluntarily unto him; feat} them on Behemoth, Zis, and the WineofParadife, fo that they (hall fee want and poverty no more. This is the fubfiance of their perfwafion, concerning his Coming, Perfon, Office and Work. When he (hall come, whetherhe }hall live alwayes, or dye at anhundred years old, whetherhe (hall have Children, and if he have, whether they fhall fucceed him in hisThrone, whetherall the Jews that are dead }hall rife at his coining, and their Galgal, or rolling in the earth from all parts of the world into the Land of Canaan (hall then happen or no, whetherthe generalRefurreldion thall not fucceed immediately uponhis Reign, or at leafs withinforty years áfer, or how long it will be"to the end of the world, they are not at all agréed. But this, as bath been declared is the fob- fiance of their perfwafion and expeaation ; that he fhall be a meer man, and that the Deliverance which he (hall effeóf, (hall be bymighty !Wars, wherein the Jews (hall be alwayes viElorious, and that in the Dominion and Rule which they (hall have over all Nations, the ThirdTemple (hall be built, the Law of Mofes be obfèrved by him and them, and the NoachichalPrecepts be impofed on all others. As for any Spiritual Sal- vation from fin and the curie of the Law , of Juftification and Righteoufnefs by him, or the procurement of Graceand Glory, they utterly rejeéh all thoughts about them. With theft Opinions, many ofthem have mixedprodigious fancies, rendering their elate under their Mefrah in this world, not much inferiour unto that whichMaho= met bath promifed unto his followers in another. And Tome of them on the other hand endeavour topare off what fuperfluities theycan fpare, and to render their folly as plaufible as they are able. Wherefore that it mayappear what is the ui,nojf, height of their conceptions in this matter, and that which the mo i contemplative perfons among(} them fix upon, I (hall fubjoyn a defcription of him and his Kingdom;, in the words ofMaimonider, one of the witèfs and fobereft perlons that hath been amongtt them finte their tali fatal difperfion This man therefore in his Expofition of the tenth Chapter ofrraCrrat. Saned, obferving the fond and frivolous imaginations of their Talmudical . r9.
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