[fn79 The enumerations given by the Jews themselves are always below the truth. They conceal the real amount for particular reasons. In Spain and Portugal, where it is dangerous for a man to be known to be a Jew, there are notwithstanding, many thousands; probably one third of the population of Portugal is of Jewish descent. I have seen a Jew at Paris, who had resided several years in Spain, who has told me, that the number of his nation in Spain is great and unsuspected. I believe him, for Orobio and Acosta, both Jews of the Peninsula, affirm that Jews disguised as Christians, were to be found not only among the populace of the Peninsula, but among the nobles and bishops. In those countries (Spain and Portugal,) where the Inquisition obliged every body to be educated as Christians, the fathers who were secretly Jews, were accustomed, when their children came to the years of discretion, to inform them of their descent, and to engage them secretly to conform to the religion of their fathers. If they found their conversion impracticable, these wretched parents were accustomed to poison such children, to prevent their communicating the dangerous secret to the Inquisition, which would occasion the whole family to be burned alive. See the Biography of Orobio and Acosta for some interesting information upon this subject.] [fn80 for "exonerated" read "consecrated"] [fn81 "David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel, neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me," i. e. the house of David and the tribe of Levi shall never be extinct, when called upon to fulfil the prophecies of the kingdom of the Messiah, and the re-establishment of the ritual of the temple, David will not want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel, neither will the priests the Levites want a man to do sacrifice. And how was this to be secured, because says God, "as the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites the priests that minister unto me." That this is the sense of the phrase "shall not want a. man," is evident from the employment of the same expression by Jeremiah in xxxv. of his Prophecies: "Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever, ch. xxxv. 19. i. e. not that a particular descendant of Jonadab the son of Rechab should always be standing in the presence of the Lord for ever: but that he should never want a representative, his posterity should never be cut off. It is a singular fact that the descendants of Jonadab the son of Rechab still exist in Arabia, preserving' the customs of their fathers; they are called "Beni al Khaib," i. e. descendants of Heber. See Jud. ch. iv. 11.