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account here given of him , and also of a contemporary personage , whpm our readers will recognize as Mr . Moore ' s " Veiled Prophet : "—
' * This Rabbi was a man of parts , but could not be admitted to the number of excellent , because his doctrine was suspected of some blemish , which suspicion was well-grounded , for be put himself at the bead of the Sadducees , which sect was believed lo have been buried in the ruins
of Jerusalem . They recovered strength , and under the conduct of this famous leader , became formidable to their enemies . Some critics considerthis Ananus&s the fatner of the Cara € tes rather than the restorer of Saduceism : but we have shewn that the
Karaites could not clWm him for their founder , ' because they were of a inore ancielit standing . " Iti the reign of tbis prince appeared the much spoken of impostor , ' Rakem , surnamed Burcd or Mccsk . tie taught that
Ood took a human stiape , by assuming the person of Adam , for whjcb reason he commanded the angels to worship him $ that he afterwards apipeareo * in ' the persons of the pfrop&ets and ^ Veat mett that lived from time to time y tliat , at last , he descended upon Aboutem , prince of Corrazzah , \ one of the generals of his time , whom Aimaruter had murdered in his chambeiyfor fear of his
revolting aiid robbing * him of the Caliphsbip . From thence , the divinity came and made bis abode in him . Giving * oiit that he was God , with so foolish ' an opinion he deceived numbers of Christians and Idolaters , whom he caused to wear a white habit , ' to distinguish them from \ 4 / yVfollbwers , who were black . Having lost ah eye in battle , he wore a gold mask on his face to conceal its
deformity ; but bis disciples maintained that he did it with the same desigpn as Moses , that he mi ^ ht not dazzle men s eyes with the majesty of bis countenance . He had the art , every * nigfht , to produce a luminous body like the moon from the bottom of a well , which diffused its light to several miles distance . Lastly , as he was
skilful in the art of war , he "vveiit into the iield at the head of an army . But Mohqdi (pursuing- him by one of his generals , lie retired into a fortress that was almost inaccessible : finding-himself besieged , he poisoned all his associates and burnt tbem ^ ahd * aft ; erwards threw himself into a gl-oat tjfirb of aquafortis ' , pVesiiiriipg , that i t would bfe |> e 1 i ^ ved ' thatbe wa £ returned to heaven , because his bod ^ cbu'Td' rtbt be found : but
a woman who had" hid herself , to avoid iftaifi' g ' are « b th'fe Vl ^^ disbbye red the sefcreC , aiia ii | tbe' ab&JWtis tbeV found tfetf ^^ faiUPs b affs cO ^ uWd . AhulpKarager c ' aib ; thi ^ hupifep AUiokmu
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sa v ^ that cajst jijms ^ lf ^ nto a funeraj pfle > tbaf tot ^ ily c ^ usumed him , and tba ^ baviog promised liis disciple * to appeal ; again , that sect , iastead of being un < U < -, ceived by his deatli , persevered in tbeiir error * and expected him a long- time . " Pp . 80—83 . ,. " .
Another deceiver is brought forward in connexion with the city of Aleppo : u ws ^ s ihi ? city that produced , the famous impostor , Zabathai Tzevi , who deluded this nation in the seventeenth century , pretending to be the Messiah . His
father was but a-poulterer at Aleppa 9 hvtt yet he had the ambition and rashness to go about persuading- the people that he was the RedeemeV of Israel , promised by the prophet , and ! expected for so many ages . He learnt , by limes , all that , was necessarjr tojbe known , jto act jso great a . dart , ScarcW
was he come from sc hool but he set up as a teacher ; he preaclied in the fields in the sig-ht of tbp Turks wlio laughed at him ^ whilst his disciples admired him . At twenty-four years of agfe 5 he married a young Jewess , whom he divorced without knowing * her , and took another , with whom he also lived in abstinence . It cannot be
conjectured what was the use of these marriages repeated without consummation , upless it was to amuse silly people with tbe love of chastity . _ f , " . . ** He fell upon the study of pi ^ rihec iW , which gfreatly overturned his head liy bJ | s applying them to himself . He imagined he was to ascend above the heights of tTm
clouds } as Isaiah ha A foretold : and whether his head was perfectly crazed , or that he tnoug'ht he bad sufficient authority to impose upon his disciples , he askect them one day whether they had not seen him earned in the air \ and he upbraided those with blindness that had not seen him . The
^ yise r sort , easily perceived what the man would come to , who so boldly boasted that he worked miracles , aud profaned the name of God . He was ci ted to ap pea r before the heads of the synagogue at Smyrna ^ where be then was , and was condemned as a
blasphemer ; but because nobody would , execute the sentence , supposing * him to be crazy , they only banished him . , " He went to Tk ^ ssalonica ^ a city fall , of Jews , which be thought a proper stage tp act his part , but be was expelled from thence * as well us from . At liens , and sevetal other places of Greece , which obliged him
A « . ' M to retire to lexandria , where he got greater reputation . He married a third time , to a lewd wench , whom | ir JewiihL parents had left in Poland ^ under the conduct of a Chris ^ an lord . He ^ ave ou | tha t tbe spirit of thp father , cfeparted fron ? bip bo ^ tad jiassetf f&n * 4 ria in ^ ^^^ to fetch his daughter , ^ t na convey j h ^ star fc-nakfedirttotii ^> io use . Tzevi married
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VOL . XIII . 4 E
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1818, page 577, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2480/page/41/
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