THE JEWS OF BRITAIN.

43

pecting it in all the chronicles I have ever seen. On the contrary, in all their [i. e. Gentile] annals, and also in the fifteenth chapter of Josephon, it is recorded that he was a faithful friend of Israel. He also records in the forty-seventh chapter, that this Cæsar sent an epistle of freedom to the Jews in all the countries of his dominion; to the east as far as beyond the Indian Sea, and to the west as far as beyond the British territory (which is the country Angleterre, and which is designated England in the lingua franca.")*

The Jews in this country chronicle the same event, annually, in their calendar ; in the following words :-"Augustus's edict in favour of the Jews in England, C. Æ. 15.".

An ingenious antiquary of the seventeenth century, Mr. Richard Waller by name, came to the same conclusion in consequence of a curious Roman brick which was found in his time in London, when digging up the foundation of a house in Mark-lane. The brick

* See Appendix I.

44

A CURIOUS BRICK FOUND.

had on one side a bass-relief, representing Sampson driving the foxes into a field of corn. The whole circumstance is thus related in Leland's Collections, in the preface to the first volume, pp. 70, 71:—

"And now I shall take notice of a very great curiosity found in the Mark-lanemore properly called Mart-lane, it being a place where the Romans, and not improbably the ancient Britains, used to barter their commodities, as tin, lead, &c. with other nations, it may be the Greeks, who often came into this island to purchase the like goods. The curiosity I am speaking of is a brick, found about forty years since [i. e. about 1670], twenty-eight feet below the pavement, by Mr. Stockley, as he was digging the foundation of an house that he built for Mr. Wolley.

This brick is of a Roman make, and was a key-brick to the arch of a vault where a quantity of burnt corn was found. 'Tis made of curious red clay, and in bass-relief on the front hath the figure of Sampson putting fire

RICHARD WALLER'S CONJECTURE.

45

to the foxes' tayles, and driving them into a field of corn. This brick is deposited in the museum belonging to the Royal Society's house, Fleet-street." Dr. Leland then gives an extract from a letter of Mr. Richard Waller, which is the following: "How the story of Sampson should be known to the Romans, much less to the Britains, so early after the propagation of the Gospel, seems to be a great doubt, except, it should be said, that some Jews, after the final destruction of Jerusalem, should wander into Britain; and London being, even in Cæsar's time, a port or trading city, they might settle here, and in the arch of their granary record the famous story of their delivery from their captivity under the Philistines."

All these circumstantial evidences are sufficient, to my mind, to establish a probability, at least, that the Jews visited this country at a remote age.

Baronius may therefore be right after all, that St. Peter preached the Gospel in Britain, notwithstanding the learned Stilling

46

ST. PETER MAY HAVE VISITED

fleet's opposition. The principal argument which the Bishop of Worcester advances against St. Peter's visiting this island for the purpose of preaching the Gospel, is, that St. Peter was emphatically called the Apostle of the Circumcision ;" but-argues the learned prelate as there were no Jews in Britain at that time, consequently Baronius must be wrong. With all due deference to the most learned Stillingfleet, I venture to say, that his lordship took for granted what remains to be proved. Baronius himself must certainly have been convinced that there were Jews in this realm in the days of the Apostles, or else he must have contradicted himself. He states that, until the 65th year of our Lord, the Gospel was preached to none but to the Jews; but he also tells us, that A. D. 61, Peter came over to Britain in order to preach the Gospel. Of course, he must have meant, to the Jews of Britain.

Lippomanus declares, and Nicephorus makes use of his declaration, that St. Petre

BRITAIN FOR THE SAKE OF THE JEWS. 47

preached also to the Britons; "for he carried," says the latter, "the same doctrine to the Western Ocean and to the British Isles."

But methinks I hear one say, Suppose there were a few Jews in this island, would that circumstance afford St. Peter sufficient encouragement and invitation to visit it. I answer, yes-there was encouragement and invitation enough for an apostle to the Jews to travel such a great distance. The Jews, being thus far removed from Jerusalem, had no opportunity of hearing any thing of the awful scene that was exhibited on Calvary, they would, therefore, be free from all the prejudices which prevailed in the breasts of their brethren in Palestine. The apostle might, therefore, calculate on sure success, for he would come to them, and preach the things noted in their Scriptures of truth respecting their Messiah, who was then universally expected by them. St. Peter would unfold to them the ninth chapter of the Book of the Prophet Daniel, where the time of Messiah's first advent was fixed, as also that