But the spirit which had broken out in London against them, was speedily communicated to other parts of the country. To put an end to these disorders, the king caused writs to be issued through all the counties, forbidding any molestation to be offered to the Jews. But notwithstanding these writs, the Jews were, in many places, subjected to severe persecutions; they were attacked in so many places at once, that their utter ruin seemed determined and inevitable. Brompton tells us that the citizens of Norwich were the first who followed the bad example of the Londoners, and were soon followed by those of other places. In Dunstable and some other towns they saved themselves by professing to renounce the Jewish faith, and by being baptized into the so-called Church of Christ. In the town of Lynn they were treated with great severity and cruelty. And here must be remarked—for it is the part of an impartial historian to state the whole truth, pro and con—that the Jews were themselves the authors of their sufferings at Lynn.
The circumstances under which the tumult there took place, were the following:—a Jew had been converted to Christianity; his brethren were enraged at his conduct, and sought to be revenged. They waylaid him, and one day as he passed through the streets, endeavoured to get him into their power; he, however, fled, and took refuge in a neighbouring church; some of the Jews pursued him thither; whereupon the sailors belonging to a ship then lying in the harbour, raised a cry that it was intended to put the convert to death, and being joined by the townspeople, under the plea of saving the man’s life, fell upon the Jews, drove them to their dwellings, and entering with them, slew many, carried off whatever valuables they could find, and then set fire to their houses. The mariners, enriched by the spoil, embarked immediately on board their vessel, and putting to sea, got clear off. The townspeople were called to account for the outrage which had been committed, in disobedience to the proclamation issued by the king, but escaped punishment by laying the whole blame to the charge of the sailors. Dr. Jost betrays here—as well as in many other places—no small measure of partiality, when he takes upon himself, without any reason whatever, to assert that “it was doubtless his [i.e. the convert’s] fault that he was persecuted in the open street, by his former co-religionists.[1]”
[1] – Den Anlass dazu gab ein getaufter Jude, der, ohne Zweifel durch seine Schuld, von seinen ehemaligen Genossen auf offener Strasse verfolgt wurde. Geschichte der Israeliten, vol. vii., p. 119.
The same spirit of animosity still pervades the feelings of the Jews towards their converted brethren. A circumstance to the same effect happened in this town (Liverpool) about three years ago. A Jew who had been groundlessly suspected of inquiring into the doctrines of Christianity, entered a Jewish shop on the eve of the Passover, and was accosted by another Jew who was in the shop, by the salutation, you are an accursed M’shoomad,[1] which the accused repudiated with disdain. The accuser, thinking, I suppose, that he had an opportunity to do God service, gave his brother a tremendous blow on his face; by which he almost broke his nose. As I said before, the charge was made without any ground; the insulted Jew therefore, who was ignorant of the precept, “pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you,” took out the offender, on the first day of Passover, from the synagogue, and brought him before the mayor of this town, and had him duly punished.
[1] – A nickname given by unconverted Jews to their brethren who believe in Christ. See [Appendix B].
The Rev. Mr. Pauli, missionary to the Jews at Amsterdam, writes thus on the eighth of June last:[1]—“This moment I hear of the following extraordinary occurrence. Last night a Jewish gentleman, no doubt from the country, was passing the Jewish quarter. Some Jews took him for me, and in a second a tremendous crowd, chiefly Portuguese Jews, was assembled, and in spite of all remonstrances of the poor man that he was not ‘Domine’ Pauli, they rushed upon him and beat him unmercifully, and left him half dead. When the mistake was found out, they did all they could to prevent the ill-used gentleman from giving notice of the affair to the police. He complied with their request, only wishing heartily that his bruises and broken head could be transferred to me.”
[1] – See Jewish Intelligence for July, 1845, p. 259.
The Rev. H. S. Joseph, formerly a Jewish Rabbi of Bedford, now a clergyman of the Church of England, was called upon after his conversion to Christianity, by a Mr. Moses T. Ansell, a connexion of his, who professed to be friendly disposed towards him, and wishing to discuss in a quiet manner the doctrines of Christianity, with which Mr. Joseph readily complied. The discussion lasted for some time, during which Mr. Joseph endeavoured to prove to his friend that his reasons for embracing Christianity were cogent ones.[1] Mr. Ansell, finding that he could not disprove the convert’s arguments from Scripture, said to him—“Now we are by ourselves; you need not be afraid of me, I will divulge your mind to nobody. Tell me, then, do you really believe that Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified one, was the Messiah?” (The unbelieving Jews fancy that it is impossible for a Jew to be really a believer in Christ, however powerful the arguments are in favour of Christianity.) Mr. Joseph replied—“I believe from my heart that Jesus of Nazareth was the true Messiah, and in him alone do I hope for salvation.” No sooner did he utter that confession, than his guest laid violent hands on him, and knocked him down to the ground. What carnal weapons! It was well for Mr. Ansell that Mr. Joseph was a Christian. To return, however, to the twelfth century.
[1] – See a small pamphlet of his, entitled, “Reasons for believing that Jesus of Nazareth was the expected Messiah.”
By this time King Richard had passed over to the Continent, to join the king of France in the crusade to Palestine. Those who had taken the cross were assembled in most of the principal towns, preparing to follow him. Of these, the greater number were ill provided with funds to defray the expenses of their journey to the Holy Land, and their zeal in the sacred cause readily justified any conduct, whereby the pious object to which they were pledged might be advanced. They observed with envy that the Jews were possessed of wealth; they regarded them as infidels, and worked themselves into a belief that they should render good service to God, if, by wresting the riches from the hands of unbelievers, they obtained the means for aiding in the overthrow of the enemies of Christianity in the East.