¹ That savage tyrant, Herod, when he was taken ill in Jericho, which dreadful illness terminated his life, apprehending the approach of his dissolution, and remembering the many cruelties which he inflicted on the poor Jews; he had every reason to believe that joy instead of mourning would succeed his death. He ordered, therefore, his sister and brother-in-law to seize the principal men of the city of Jericho, and to put them to the sword the moment of his decease, in order that mourning should be a _sine qua non_. I ended my last Lecture with the erection of a Jewish converts’ institution, which Henry had established “to deliver his father’s soul from the flames of purgatory,”¹ and with the same subject will I conclude my lecture tonight; and I am truly glad that this protracted Lecture is coming to a close. It seems that at the end of Henry’s reign there were great numbers of Jewish converts. Before that institution was established, I doubt not that many were deterred from embracing Christianity, in consequence of the distressing prospect they had before their eyes, of being deprived of all they possessed, and without any means of support.² The provision thus made for the Christian Jews induced many a one to make public confession of his faith. On one of the rolls of that reign, about five hundred names of Jewish converts are registered. But as all institutions, if not diligently looked after, become in process of time abused, so was that one, in an especial manner. The revenues were swallowed up by a few of the officers of that house, and the majority of the poor converts were subject to sheer starvation.³ Henry, therefore, thought that it would be a meritorious thing on his part――especially as he expected ere long to be called before an awful tribunal to give an account of his stewardship――to give fresh encouragement to that asylum, and institute a strict investigation as to what became of the revenues assigned to that establishment; and he also enacted, that for the future none should receive any support from the house, except those who were really in want of it. The regulations of the house and chapel were also revised and improved. The king’s commissioners for that purpose were the mayor of London, and John de St. Dennis, warden of that asylum.⁴ I repeat what I took the liberty to express in my last Lecture, that such institutions are most important in our own days, and I venture to cherish the hope, that I shall have the happiness to see institutions of that kind established in every town in England where the Jews reside, which, I am convinced, would be the means of making MANY avow their secret belief in the truth of the Christian religion. ¹ See p. 210. ² See page 205. ³ See Appendix V. ⁴ See Appendix W.