A yet he feiz'd all their Treafure and Effects, and left them but just enough to bear their Charges, and to convey them out of the Land. And this Refource of the Jews fome Princes look'd upon as fo rich a Mine, and fo profitable a Recruit in their Wants, that they were unwilling to part with fuch a comfortable Fund. Thus Henry the Third, as I have just now observed, refufed, tho' they beg'd hard for it, to give them Leave to depart out of the Land. Nay, Tome Princes in Italy and France had made a Law for that very Purpose; a Law which, if it did not flatly forbid, at least laid a great Bar against the Converfion of that People: Which was this, that every Jewish Convert, upon his embracing of Chriflianity, fhould forfeit all his Goods and Chattels, and all that he was worth in the World, to the State. The learned Antiquary, Father Mabillon, who makes mention of this extraordinary Law, and faith it was abolished by Charles the Sixth in France, is at a Lofs to account for the Equity and Reasonablenefs of it, but affigns these two Reafons for it: And ift, he faith it was to make a Trial of the Sincerity of thofe new Converts, it being but too common for many of them to diffemble on that Occafion; to pretend outwardly to embrace Christianity, and at the fame time to retain their old Faith and Religion in their Hearts; 2dly, That as it was fuppofed the Eftates of the Jews were raifed by downright Ufury and Extortion, the Purity of the Chriftian Religion required a full Satisfaction and Reftitution from them, which could not poffibly be done without the Forfeiture of their Goods, and the Confifcation of their Eftates. Be it as it will, it was certainly but a forry Argument, and a very unlikely Way to open the Eyes of the Jews, and to promote their Converfion. Much more juft and reasonable, much more likely to prevail was the reverfe Order and Regulation made by a Council of Toledo, in the fifth CenB 4 tur y tury, That the Jews, upon their Converfion, should be excus'd from the Tribute and Taxes which they before us'd to pay to the State. The fame ill Ufage they met with from their Princes they were fure to find from those Governors of Provinces under whom they lived, which brings to my Mind a pleasant Paffage of Marshal La Torte, Intendant of Lorrain who, when he came to take Poffeffion of his Government, and the Jews waited upon him with a handsome Prefent, to befpeak his Favour and to beg his Protection, putting on an Air of Sanctity, and pretending Confcience, declar'd he fcorn'd to receive any thing from thofe Wretches, whofe Ancestors had put their God to death. But when they, finding where the Shoe pinch'd, and which Way the Wind blew, the Week after brought him about four times the Sum, he readily took their Money, faying, That he had confider'd of it fince, and was fatisfied that what their Fathers did was meerly thro' Ignorance, and that they did not know what they did when they crucified the Lord and Saviour of the World. Thefe, if they were not the Words, were, I dare fay, the Sentiments of almost all the Princes that worried and perfecuted the Jews. The other Reason I affign'd of the Miferies and Calamities of the modern Jews, was the furious Zeal of the Popish Priefts, who thirfted after their Blood; who, like St. Paul, breathing out Threatnings and Slaughter, thought to do God Service, and to advance his Glory by the Destruction of that People. Who can, without the utmost Indignation, hear a venerable t *The 16th Council of Toledo. Can. I. + Cardinal Ximenes, Archbishop of Toledo, who for above 20 Years was Prime Minifter of Spain; and who, had he kept his Hands as free from Blood as he did from Corruption and Bribes, would have been as good and great a Man as any Age and Country hath produced. Prelate Prelate and Archbishop brag that he had banish'd or deftroy'd above 20,000 Jews in Portugal and Spain, and in one Year condemn'd 2000 of them to the Flames? 'Twas this Zeal that fet thofe Deluges of Blood a running, that kindled thofe cruel Fires in feveral Parts of this Nation, and procur'd those Butcheries and Maffacres at London, Norwich, Lincoln, and at York, under the Reign of Richard the First, a good-natur'd Prince, who detefted those Cruelties, and feverely puifhed thofe that were guilty of them. Who can, without Horror, fee a Priest, a Minister of Chrift, agitated with a mad and furious Zeal, with a Spear in his Hand, march at the Head of an enrag'd Multitude, which he had work'd up and inflam'd by his Word and Example, lay clofe Siege to the Caftle of York, to which the Jews were fled for Refuge, and beginning all the Attacks, fixing himself the Machines, and with his own Hands directing the battering Rams, call upon the People with a loud Voice to deftroy all the Enemies of Chrift; * and force the poor People, to avoid greater Şeverities and falling into the Hands of those Men whofe tender Mercies are cruel, to dispatch their Wives and Children, then fet the Castle on Fire and miferably perifh in the Flames? And all this, in the Name of God. For what? For what all this Rage and Cruelty againft the Jews? Why, for a Crime committed by their Ancestors about 1200 Years before, a Crime which the Word of God declar'd was done thro' Ignorance; a Crime which Chrift himself, who was moft concern'd to * But this cruel Priest had not the Pleasure to see that fad Tragedy; for coming too near the Caftle, as he was fixing his Engine, a large Stone ftarting out of the Wall, fell upon his Head, dafh'd out his Brains, and paid him the juft Reward of his fierce. and furious Zeal. + See William of Newbury, and Walter de Hemingford. refent resent and revenge, not only forgave them, but with his laft dying Breath interceded for their Pardon with his heavenly Father. And for this, to fatisfy their cruel Defigns, the Priefts are now always teazing and foliciting their Princes, whispering and buzzing into their Ears, that the Destruction of the Jews was the greatest Service they could do to Religion, the readiest Way to qualify themselves for God's Favour and Protection in this World, and to fecure themselves eternal Happinefs in the next. Of this we meet with a very famous Inftance in the Life of the Emperor Heraclius: He had granted his Favour and Protection to the Jews of Palestinez but the Priests of Alexandria, having tried all the Means they could to make him change his Mind and recall his Protection, at laft pitch'd upon an Argument which they thought he could not poffibly refift; which was this, they promised him that it he would destroy and murther all the Jews they and their Pofterity would faft for a whole Week every Year, to the End of the World, for the Good of his Soul; (a Faft, which, 'tis faid, they obferve most piously and religiously to this Day) upon which that bigotted, fuperftitious Prince yielded to their cruel Requeft, withdrew his Protection and fent his Soldiers to Palestine, who cut off every Jew they could find in that Country. An excellent Way, to be fure, to convey his Soul to Heaven, or at leaft to foften and alleviate the Pain that he might feel in Purgatory. For this they never wanted Pretences, but were ever ready to invent. fome falfe and malicious Stories to make the Jews odious, to fet them out in the moft frightful Colours, to expose them to the Refentment of Princes, and to the Rage and Fury of the People. Sometimes they gave out that they had crucified a Chriflian out of Infult to our Saviour; fometimes that they had murder'd Children and and drank their * Blood reeking warm from their tender Bodies; and laftly, that they obliged those Chriflian Nurfes, that gave Suck to their Children, to milk themselves into a Privy three Days after Eafter-Day, for fear the Blood of the Body of Chrift, which the Chriftians at that time did con ftantly receive, fhould, by Incorporation, be tranffufed into their Children: A Charge which none but the most bigotted Papift and Tranfubftantiatift could ever have thought of. And then they put them to the Rack to make them confefs all. An excellent Way, to be fure, to draw the Truth from a poor fuffering Wretch. I call thefe falfe and malicious Stories, because in thofe Places where that furious perfecuting Spirit has ceas'd, I mean in thofe Countries where the Reformation has prevail'd, and to which the Jews, like thofe Birds of Paffage who remove from a colder to a warmer Climate, reforted for Favour and Protection; In thofe Places, I fay, none of these invidious Stories are heard of none of thefe odious Facts have been charg'd or prov❜d upon them; but in all Appearance they have behaved like faithful and obedient Subjects, And indeed, confidering the Condition and Situation never * Grotius fancies, that the Reafon of the Jerus drinking the Blood of Children was that it was good for the Leprofy, which they were subject to. I have read that human Blood is a Remedy against Epilepties and the Falling Sickness. Humanum Sanguinem Comitiali Morbo mederi Fama eft. Hift. Auguft. Script. But that it fhould be a Remedy against Leprofy or the Itch is what I heard of, and I believe none of the Gentlemen of the Faculty will fay. Befides, I can never believe that Mofes, who fo exactly defcribes the Nature, Symptoms and Malignity of that Disease, and the Cleanfings after it, would have omitted, if he had known it, fuch a remarkable Cure of it, had it only been feverely to forbid fo cruel a Remedy, and to prevent the Murder of fo many innocent and harmlefs Babes, which by the Spirit of Prophecy he could not but have forefeen; fo I believe it was only a Calumny cast upon them by their Enemies. See Mr. Tovey's Anglia Judaica. p. 104. they |