I could not read more; but at the conclusion was the word לאמציה “To Amaziah.” It seems evident that there was more than one Hebrew monument at Murviedro.
I hesitate not in saying that, after having examined rigorously these and various other evidences bearing on the same question, I see no reason for disbelieving that there were Jews in Spain in the time of David and Solomon—startling as it may appear. It is easy indeed to treat the arguments of a young lecturer with a sneer, and to resolve them into the rashness, or conceit, of inexperience; allow me to suggest, however, that denial is not answer, and that of all logic flat contradiction is by far the most illogical.
Villalpando did certainly not arrive hastily at his conclusion; but it was after mature consideration that he decided that there existed colonies of Hebrews all over the world, in the reigns of David and Solomon, and that the Hebrews thus scattered remitted large sums of money for the erection and support of the temple.[1]
[1] – See [Appendix D].
The short time allotted for a lecture of this kind, prevents me from dwelling much longer now on this subject. To do justice to this investigation would require a whole series of lectures, exclusively, on it.[1] I proceed, therefore, at once to trace the probable footsteps of the Israelites into Britain.
[1] – See [Appendix E].
Taking for granted that it is highly probable that the Jews visited Spain in the days of David and Solomon, in company with the Phœnician merchants; may we not extend the probability also to Britain?
Appian tells us, that the Spaniards of his time used to perform the passage to Britain in half a day.[1] Britain was a place of attraction to mercantile persons at a very early period, and London was styled by the ancients, at a remote date, “nobile emporium.” There remaineth now no doubt whatever respecting the early intercourse between the Phœnicians and the Britons—all historians are unanimous upon it.
[1] – “Quando in Britanniam, una cum æstu maris transvehuntur quæ quidem trajectio dimidiati diei est.”
Sir Isaac Newton tells us, “With these Phœnicians came a sort of men skilled in religious mysteries.” Might they not have been Jews? True it is that we cannot appeal to monuments in order to establish our position; but we can, at the same time, appeal to the languages of the Hebrews and ancient Britons, which furnish a strong argument that they have known something of each other.