zoz Jew: Traditions- about the coming of the Mefiah. Rabbi laden in the name ofRabbi Ibbofail, theMefffah rods born in the day that the houfe of the Sanlluarÿwas dejiroyed; and the ftory they tell to this purpok, is as followeth It came to'pafs, that as aProwas plowing, his Ox before him lowed, and there gaf- fedby+him +Tty an Arabian, and he heard a voice faying, O yew the Son of aJew, loofe thy Oxenfor behold the honfeof the SanEtuary is deftreyed ; the Ox lowed the fecond time and he Paid, O Jew the Son ofa yew, Yoke thy Oxen, for behold Meßiab theKing is born , he Paid untohim, what is his name, he anfwered area; Menachem,,that is, the Comforter. And in Berefhitb Rabba on Gen. 3o. they have a long Rory to the fame purpofe. av9 /Ma i] 41410w "124, vel, 31t0tt ina5N r ,ri nnN Rabbi Samuel the fnofNachman Jid, as Elias of good memory was walking on the way, on that very day that the houfe of the Sanauary was dejfroyed, he heard, 5tja 1t3, the voice from Heaven, crying unto him, the houfe of one holy Saneluary is brought unto deffrxilion: when Elias ofgood memoryheard this, he thought the whole world Jhould be deffroyed, he went thereforeandfinding ant +]3, men plowing and towing, be raid unto them the holy bledGod isangry with the world, (,or all this generation) atttyn to, and will de(froy his hoof, and fendhis children into captivity among the Nations of the world, andyou are felicitous about this temporal life. 1)j PIS, came firth again and faid untohim, Let them alone, for unto Iliad is born a,Saviour; he faidunto the voice, where is he ? the voice faid unto him inBethlehem Judah ; be went, andfoundawoman fitting in the door of her houfe, and her Child lying in its own blood before her : heraidunto ber,, my daughter haft thou born a Son, free f id unto him,yea ; befaid, and why cloth it lye fi long in its own blood ? fhe faid unto him, beraufè of the great evil ; foron this day whereinbe is born, the bottfe of the Sanbluarryitdefiroyed; he faid unto her my daughter be ofgood Courage, and take ease of the Child, for great fálvationfball be wrought by his hand, and ¡he wá5 ffreightway encouraged, and took care ofhim. In the procefsof this Rory they tell us, that this Child was car- ried away by thefour winds ofHeaven, andkept in the great Sca four hundred years, of which afterwards. I doubt not but this Tale is hammered out of the fecond of Luke, about theappearance of the Angels to the Shepheards, and their finding hisMo- therin a fiable ; All the ufe that I intend to put this confe1ion of theirs unto , is to urge the prefent Jews with a conviEtion, and acknowledgement of their fore-fathers thatthe Meßah was to beborn under thefecond Temple. si, 15, Again, They have a Tradition out oldie School ofone Elias, a famous Mailer amongft them of theTannarei or Antetalmudical Dobiors which they have recorded in the TalmudTraiat. Sand. di(tinel Cbelec. about the continuance of the world,which is as follows, dew trio a+94ttt t uo a/tyn dirt new a +94ís new to+4N '+zi Nun ri+w, rya a +9t1N +ewe n7m r=1+9hN, It is a7raditien of Elias that the world /ball continue fix thoufandyears, two thoufand void ( which the glofs of Rabbi Solomon Jarcbi reckons from the Creation of the world, unto the Call ofAbraham ) two thoufand to theLam ( from thence to the deftruáion of the fecond Temple) and two thoufandto the dayes, of the Meßìah. It is incredible how the latter Rabbins are perplexed with this Tradition of,their Matters, whichis recorded in the Talmudas facred. In the account they give in Shebet Sehuda of a Difputation they had with one Hierom a converted yew before the BithopofRome, they know not how to difintangle them- felves from the Authorityof it. Thefummof their anfwer is, that the next words in the Tradition are; that that time is elapféd, besaufe of their fins ; but as others have alreadymanifefted that that ghf? is no part of the-Tradition, but an addition of the Talmudiffs, Co we fhall immediately manifeft the vanity of that pretence. Others of them fay, that it fufftceth to maintain the truth and credit of the Tradition , if the Meßìah comeat any time within the lait two thoufand years. But betides', that even they alto are now drawing towards their period, not a fifth part in their computa- tion of that (pace of time remaining , fo this glofs is direaily contrary to the very words of the Tradition. For as two thoufand years are affìgned to the world before the Law, and two thoufandto the Law, whichthey reckonfrom the Call of Abraham to the ruinof the fecond Tempie,fo the twothoufand yearsallotted to the time of the Mefsiah muff begin with his coming, as the other portions do one of them with the Creation, the other with theCall of Abraham, or elfe the fpace oftime above fixteen hundred years between the expiration of the fecond two thoufand years, and the third, mull be left out of the computation. And the time limited for the durati- on of the world extended above fixteen hundred years, beyond what is allotted unto it in their Tradition.' Ø. 16, Manyother the like conceflions and acknowledgements bath the evidence oftruth wrefted.
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