spiritual and doctrinal, but they asked: “Is it not the duty of magistrates to permit the Jews, whose conversion we look for, to live freely and peaceably amongst us?” Roger Williams was strongly on the same side, and so was Whalley, the gallant Major of Naseby fame, both on religious and on practical grounds. As a result of this agitation in favour of Israel, four conferences were publicly held for a discussion of the matter. The last of these occurred on Wednesday, December 12th, 1655, at Whitehall, under the presidency of the Protector. It was a great event, and it created a deep sensation throughout the country. All the highest authorities of the Church and the State assisted at the consultation, and argued out the question whether the Jews should be permitted to settle and trade in England again. The proposer was Manasseh Ben Israel, a Rabbi of Amsterdam, the son of a Marrano of Lisbon, who had suffered at the hands of the Inquisition. Manasseh was a true patriot: rich in nothing but Rabbinical and Cabbalistic lore, a fluent speaker, and a prolific writer; withal a firm believer in the approaching advent of the Messiah, and in his own divinely appointed mission to promote that advent. Indeed, he had a family interest in the matter; for he had married a descendant of the House of David, and entertained hopes that, in accordance with the ancient prophecies, the King of Israel might be among his own offspring. Manasseh, thinking that the establishment of the Puritan Commonwealth and of liberty of conscience in England, as well as the enormous attention paid by the European world at that time to questions of biblical prophecy, afforded an opportunity for the readmission of his co-religionists, had already approached the English Puritans and Millennarians, and had made several attempts to obtain a hearing of Parliament; but he had failed until Cromwell’s accession to the head of affairs. Manasseh, in his declaration to the Commonwealth of England, dwelt at great length and with great historical knowledge on the loyalty shown by the Jewish people in the countries where they were treated kindly. Among other examples he quoted the heroic fidelity of the Jews of Burgos to the fallen King of Castile, Don Pedro.[133] But his principal argument was that by the admission of the Jews into England the biblical prophecies concerning the Messianic era--namely, that it would not dawn until the Israelites had been dispersed through all the nations of the earth--would be fulfilled, and thus the era itself brought materially nearer. It was an argument well calculated to appeal to an audience thirsting for the Millennium and the Fifth Monarchy of the Apocalypse, and terribly anxious to pave the way for the Redeemer.