of faith, which all Jews at this day admit. It consists only of these thirteen articles: and it is remarkable that two of them have respect to Moses; the 7th affirming the authenticity, and the 8th the genuineness, of his books.

1. I believe, with a true and perfect faith, that God is the creator (whose name be blessed), governor, and maker of all creatures; and that he hath wrought all things, worketh, and shall work, for

ever.

2. I believe, with perfect faith, that the Creator (whose name be blessed) is one; (and that such an unity as in him can be found in none other and that he alone hath been our God, is, and for ever shall be.

3./I believe, with a perfect faith, that the Creator (whose name be blessed) is not corporeal, not to be comprehended with any bodily properties; and that there is no bodily essence that can be likened unto him.

4. I believe, with a perfect faith, the Creator (whose name be blessed) to be the first and the last, that nothing was before him, and that he shall abide the last for ever.

5. I believe, with a perfect faith, that the Creator (whose name be blessed) is to be worshipped, and none else.

6. I believe, with a perfect faith, that all the words of the prophets are true.

7. I believe, with a perfect faith, that the prophecies of Moses (our master, may he rest in peace)

were true; that he was the father and chief of all wise men that lived before him, or ever shall live after him.

8. I believe, with a perfect faith, that all the law,* which at this day is found in our hands, was delivered by God himself to our master Moses, (God's peace be with him).

9. I believe with a perfect faith, that the same law is never to be changed, nor any other to be given us of God (whose name be blessed).

10. I believe, &c. that God (whose name be blessed) understandeth all the works and thoughts of men, as it is written in the prophets; he fashioneth their hearts alike; he understandeth all their works.

11. I believe, &c. that God will recompense good to them that keep his commandments, and will punish them who transgress them.

12. I believe, &c. that the Messiah is yet to come;

* i. e. All the traditions as well as the written law; for, in Leo of Modena's History, p. 238. this article is thus stated: "That the laws which Moses has left, were all of them dictated by God, and that Moses put not one syllable of himself; and also, that the explication of these precepts which they hold by tradition, came all out of the mouth of God, to Moses." So likewise in Anglia Judaica, p. 307.

Hence the oral law is held equally sacred with the Scrip tural law, or five books of Moses, by the rabbinical Jews, who profess to have a regular chain of traditionists, handed down to them until Rabbi Jehuda Hakkodesh, who committed these traditions to paper, and systematised them in a work, which he called Mishna.

and although he retard his coming, yet I will wait for him till he come.

13. I believe, &c. that the dead shall be restored to

life, when it shall seem fit unto God, the creator, (whose name be blessed, and memory celebrated world without end, Amen).

Of these articles, the 12th, or the expectation of the promised Messiah, is the leading tenet and distinguishing feature of the religion of the modern Jews; and in this they differ widely from Christians, who believe that the Messiah is already come, and that in Christ Jesus all the Jewish prophecies respecting him are accomplished.

Infatuated, however, with the idea of a temporal Messiah and deliverer, who is to subdue the world, and reinstate them in their own land, the Jews still wait for his appearance; but they have fixed neither the place whence, nor the time when, he is to come: for though many have endeavoured to calculate upon the seventy weeks of Daniel, they discourage all attempts this way, and deem them improper, since a miscalculation may lead to shake the faith of the ignorant; and Maimonides had an eye to this in the composition of this same article, "and although he retard his coming," &c.

Finding it difficult to evade the force of some texts in Isaiah, &c. which speak of a suffering Messiah, some have had recourse to the idea of two Messiahs, who are to succeed each other; Ben Jo

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seph, of the tribe of Ephraim, in a state of humiliation and suffering; the other Ben David, of the tribe of Judah, in a state of glory, magnificence, and power. This, however, I am told, is not a settled belief, but an opinion set forth in a book of Medrash or commentary. And yet something very like it seems to have been the opinion of the Rabbins,* for Abarbanel observes, that although when they first go up from the captivity, they will "appoint themselves one head," (Hosea, i. 11.) who, he says, is the person called by the Rabbins, Messiah Ben Joseph; as he will be slain in battle, Israel will then seek David their king; a rod from the stem of Jesse, whom God will make choice of, for to reign over them.†

As to the character and mission of their Messiah, he is to be of the tribe of Judah, the lineal descendant of David, and called by his name, and is to be endowed with the spirit of prophecy : and his "especial mission is, to restore the dispersed sheep of Israel, plant them safely in their own land, and subdue their enemies; and there

*Rabbies is perhaps the proper plural of Rabbi; which is the modern title, but when we are speaking of the ancient Mishnical and Talmudical doctors, &c. the term Rabbins is then more properly used.

+ See Abarb. in Hosea, iii. 5. Mr. Levi says, that "this opinion of the Rabbins, concerning the death of this personage, was what gave rise to the Christian system of a suffering Messiah; as the prophecies of the Old Testament do not inculcate any such principle whatever." Dissert. on the Prophecies, Vol. III. p. 100. Note. Credat Judæus!

by bring the whole world to the knowledge of the one true God."*

His coming and their restoration have not yet taken place, "because they are still unworthy of being redeemed, and have not repented, or have not yet received the full measure of their punishment;" at the same time, they insist that their redemption is not conditional, but will take place at the appointed time, though they should not repent; that God will not redeem and restore them for any merit of theirs, (for there will, doubtless, even then be many wicked and unbelievers among them,) but for his name's sake-"for the sake of the few righteous, and also in consideration of what they will be after their redemption, when they will all be good and righteous: those therefore, that are righteous in captivity, will happily attain to the redemption; but those that are wicked, will be destroyed in the wars and troubles that will take place before their final restoration;" for the vengeance which God will

*Levi's Dissertations, Vol. I. p. 282. † Levi's Dissert. Vol. II. p. 57. "They will no more follow their irregular desires, and their cupidity; for the great and stupendous miracles, that will then be performed in their sight, will make such a lasting impression on them, as entirely to destroy their evil imagination, and incline them to all good; so that they will then be in the same state that Adam was in before his fall." P. 279. Thus Mr. Levi interprets Ezek. xxxvi. v. 26. How much greater then and more stupendous must these miracles be, than those wrought for them in Egypt and at the Red Sea, which made so small an impression, and were so soon forgotten!