THat our former and friendly Corre­spondence may not dye, though of a long time I have not heard from you, yet hoping this will find you living, and in good health, give me leave to ac­quaint you of what I know concerning the proceedings of the Israe, in this juncture [Page 2] of time, wherein scarce any thing else is ei­ther talkt of, or look after, in [...] of them. The whole World we see is out of or­der, nothing to be expected but Wars and Intestine Broils, and whether the Lord will be pleased in the midst of these Combusti­ons to [...]ll in his Ancient People, and mag­nifie his Name in them, he only knoweth. On the 13 instant, by the foulness of the weather and storms, put into this place a Ship, from whence she came we cannot tell, but our Professor of the Tongues and Lan­guages having notice thereof, went down unto them, but could not understand them; he supposes they spoke broken Hebrew, and by a Letter they had in High-Dutch, they found them bound for Amsterstam, and to have correspondence with their Brethren (the Jews) there; Which Letter further re­lates, That there is Sixteen hundred thou­sand of them together in Arabia, and that there came into Europe Sixty Thousand more; as likewise, that they have had En­counters with the Turks, and slain great numbers of them; none are able to stand against them; They give Liberty of Con­science [Page 3] to all, except the Turks, endeavouring the utter Ruihe and Extirpation of them: As for their Ship, the Sails thereof are white branched Sattin, and all their Ropes are Silk of the same colour; and in the [...] was this Inscription in fair Red Characters, THESE ARE OF THE TEN TRIBES OF ISRAEL, which was to discover them to be Jews: Their Food on board was on [...] ▪ Rice and Honey; As for their Habit (or Clothing) it is of black and blew. It seems they have sent to all remarkable pla­ces in the VVorld to their Brethren, to give them notice of their proceedings, to the end they may come unto, and joyn with them: I suppose you have not been ignorant of the Letters from several parts, the noise of them being communicated to most parts of Chri­stendom. Thus have I given you an acconnt of the Jews, assuring you, that there's not a tittle in it but what is truth, being all: at the present that this place affords, And, hoping to hear from you so soon as possible, I remain

SInce the last I received from you, I have had occasion to speak with one that is well informed of the pro­ceedings of the Israelites; he tells me, That they appear in great numbers in several places: The first menti­oned appears in Arabia, they are said to possess themselves in Meka; but at the first, the Jews that lived amongst the Turks would not acknowledge them to be their Brethren, but said they were a fort of Arabs, that lived in the Moun­tainous parts of Arabia the Happy; but now they say they are Israelites, and sent by the ten Tribes to be their fore-run­ners. Another Company are said to move from the East and North East Countrey of Asia. The third and great Company in the Desart Goth of Morocco, which is as I con­ceive, not far from Cape de Ver, but more within the Land; they consist of 8000 Companies, the least of them contain 100 men, and some of them 1000. A Jew that lives in these parts came unto [...] in Barbary in▪ August last, and taking the Book of the Law into his hand, did swear by it, That he came lately from them, and had spoken with them, and saw them in that number aforementioned, and that they are arm­ed with Swords, Spears and Bows, and no fire-Arms are found amongst them: This Jew did not understand the Language ordinarily spoken by them, but many of them spoke Hebrew, in which he discoursed with them; their Lea­der is said to be a holy man, understandeth all languages, and worketh Miracles.

This is by a Jew living in Saly, to his Brother in Holland, and upon that Report which he received from the fore-men­tioned person who had been with them, and is credited with [Page 5] his brethren; he saith, they put all to the sword except Jews, they rest upon the Sabbath day, and no fire is seen in their Camp; their women and children stay somewhere behind them, and follow at a distance, none are seen with them, they dig in a Mountain in the Desart for a Trumpet, and say, that when they find it, all Nations will be gathered to them up­on the sound thereof.

In dispute with my Informer, I raised many objections con­cerning the places from whence they came, as also the man­ner of their coming, viz. Being in a spirit of Judaism, in great power, led by a holy man, doing great miracles, and all things answering the description of the Messias, they may expect that it would be a testimony than the Christians and other people and Nations should be gathered in to the Jews, and not the Jews into Christ.

To the first he said, Those in Arabia are of the same com­pany with them that appear south of Morocco, and all of them seem to lye hid in the Inland Countrey of Africa, ex­tending themselves over the vast Tract of Land comprehen­ping all between the two Tropicks, almost as far as the Cape of Good Hope.

He thinketh them to be the white people of whom the Inhabitants of Guiny▪ use to speak, who will not mix them­selves with their neighbours. nor have any other commerce with them; they in the night bring Merchandises to set pla­ces, and in exchange to have salt and other necessries as they want, but will be seen by none; such as went from them, are one half of their way to Meka; he thinketh they posses­sed the Arabians Countrey, and went out of Africa into A­merica, by the strait of the entry into the Red. Sea▪ but whe­ther by Boat or Miracle, he knows not; those in the Gost seemed to have lived in the North part of Asia, towards the strait of Amion, from▪ whence Manasses Ben. Israel [...]ame▪ [Page 3] though many of them past into America; also he saith, that they having suffered great afflictions for the sins of their fa­thers, are now come out from Idolatry, to live according to the purity and perfection of the Law, and shall from thence be raised to the knowledge of Christ; he understandeth this of a Nation to be born in a day, and their Convertion to be their birth: He thinketh, that the Law being true and good, and given them by God, it is suitable to his proceedings a­mongst men, to give a testimony of his presence with those who have not heard of a Christ, neither are of the posterity of those that flew him, but of the ten Tribes formerly carri­ed into Captivity, and that they are thereby prepared to re­ceive the Gospel; he further saith, That all the Churches cal­ed by the Name of Christians, are full of vanity, and that they must be purified to whom Christ will teach his truth, and from them shall run a stream over flowing the whole world, whereby the Powers of the world shall be over thrown, and the right of Christ in and with his Saints shall then begin to be established; He pitches much upon 1666. and confi­dently believes, That all the Prophesies of the Old and New Testament Centers in it, it being the time that shall give be­ginning to that holy and Spiritual Kingdome. I have spo­ken largely of this, believing you will be willing to hear what is related, and upon what grounds.

There are more Letters from Legorn to confirm the former News, and they say more, That the Turks were in a City near Meka, called Metai, from whence came 12000 Turks, who marched up against the Israelites, of which there was slain 8000 of them, their own swords and Muskets turning against themselves: by the next we shall hear more. From Legorn we are in expectation of very good news.