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iwor was advertised of his coming , and ordered the Ftzier to arrest him prisoner , and give him a soitnd baztinado , which was executed . 'f This adventure did not dishearten the
Jews ; they called to mind LevVspredicdiction , that the Messiah was to be concealed nine months , during which time the nation should suffer greatly . Th ^ jr took this for the accomplishment of the oracle , and this misfortune confirmed them in their
prejudice , instead of undeceiving' them The criminal answered upon his examination , that he had taken the title of king * , whether he would or no , and to secure himself from the violence of the Jews , who had forced him to it . This answer obliged the Vizier Azem , who was going to the siege of Can diet , to treat him gentl y- and
to shut him up in the Dardanelles . This was a new miracle ; the Jews maintained the Grand Seignior had not power to put their king- to death , since lie had not done it . They flocked from all parts to the Dardanelles ; they won the governor by presents 5 they made larger to the Messiah ; who , puffed up with the honours that were
paid him even in his prison , commanded all the nation to celebrate the feast of his birth , dispatched ambassadors to all parts to pro . claim him the Messiah , and to publish the miracles he had wrought and still performed . Lastly , he gave plenary indulgences to all that came and offered their devotions at his mother ' s tomb .
" But yet he was not without his enemies . Nehemiah Cokeny a Polish Jew , came to maintain to him in prison the vanity of his pretensions , and turned Mussulman , that he might the better ruin him hy revealing the whole intrigue to the Caitnacan . The Mufti was provoked , because farour was shewn to a man who
disgraced the Mahometan religion ., in calling himself the Messiah . The Grand Seigniory at the request of his principal officers , sent for the impostor toAdrianopley and ordered a sword to be run into him , to try whether he was invulnerable . This order put Sabathai Tzevi into a
consternation , who chose rather to turn Mussulman at the solicitation of the emperor ' s physician , who had given him an example , and his wife did the same . Nevertheless the people will never be in the wrong . They were not entirely undeceived . u This article is somewhat long 5 and it is not amiss to learn from these
circumstances , how far an impostor may carry his impudence , and the people their credulity . For even to the present day are many found , in some parts of Poland and Russia , who yet believe that this impostor w ^ s more than an ordinary man . He lived to a very advanced age , and was attended at his funeral by some More thousands from Poland and jRtM * ia «"~ - * Pp . 105—115 .
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Rabbi David Raphael gives the following description of a Jewish ceire ^ moiiy , of which he was an eye * witness ; it suggests painful reflections on the melancholy religious condition of the Jews : —
" Being * at the synagogue at Seda , some time in the early part of the month of Nissan , as I was looked upon as a public character , I received an invitation from the ab beth din , the prime and chief elder , to attend at the Assephay general meeting-, to take place the night following ' , which
honour I was unwilling to forego , particularly as I could farm no idea in my mind as to the purport of the meeting so early in the month . We met at the house of the ab beth din an hour and a quarter before midnight , from which place we proceeded in regular order , attended by all
the men of consequence and learning , and boys intended for religious purposes , above the age of thirteen , accompanied with cymbals , trumpets ^ timbrels harps 7 organs ^ and various instruments of music , from the ab beth din ' s house , to about two-thirds of an hour ' s walk from the gates of the city ,
chaunting the hundred and twenty-sixth psalm , and other psalms of thanksgiving , during the procession to the above distance : but after tarrying there about two-thirds of an hour , they return back again at a slow
pace , appeared much dejected , sounding the hundred and thirty-seventh psalm , and some parts of JeremiaJfs lamentations , in a doleful tone . After seeing the chief elder to his house , they all separate for their respective places .
a Upon my inquiring from one of the learned the cause of this singular mode of worship , I discovered that they have a tradition handed to them from centuries past , that they are to expect the coming of the Messiah to take place precisely at
midnight , and which is firmly believed by them , as it is well known that the redemption from Egypt was also precisely at midnight . Consequently , the month of Nissan having been once productive of the great
event , they expect the same in every Nissan * They therefore prepare as above-mentioned , to meet the promised Messiah : but after tarrying some time after midnight to no effect , they return back in the mournful manner above described . The same
tradition is ( according to report ) entertained by all the different tribes , in all their various settlements in the East . "—Pp . 124 , 125 . We have now extracted the only passages of this pamphlet that could interest the reader . The translator
proposes to publish a work of his own on ° The Stability and Constancy of the Jewish Nation /* Before lie hegins to write , we would jreeommend it
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Review . —Saihnan' ' s Researches in the East . 579
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1818, page 579, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2480/page/43/
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