John Evelyn

“ At the Consecration of the Wine upon the Vigil, or Even, you shall make mention of the Feast of Consolation, which is the day of the Birth of our King the Messiah Sabatai Sevi thy Servant, and First-born Son, giving the Blessing as followeth: Blessed be thou our God, King of the World, who hast made us to live, and hast maintain'd us, and hast kept us alive unto this time. ”

“ Since that you are made worthy to see that great Day of Deliverance, and Salvation unto Israel, and Accomplishment of the Word of God, Promised by his Prophets, and our forefathers, and by his Beloved Son of Israel: let your bitter sorrowes be turned into Joy, and your Fasts into festivals, for you shall weep no more, O my sons of Israel, for God having given you this unspeakable Comfort, rejoyce with Drums, Organs, and Musick, giving thanks to him for performing his Promise from all Ages; doing that every day, which is usual for you to do upon the New-Moons ”

“ Nathan thought no man so proper to Act the Part of the Prophet as himself; and so no sooner had Sabatai declared himself the Messiah, but Nathan discovers himself to be his Prophet, forbiding all the Fasts of the Jewes in Jerusalem; and declaring, that the Bridegroom being come, nothing but Joy, and Triumph ought to dwell in their Habitations; Writing to all the Assemblies of the Jewes, to perswade them to the same beliefe. ”

“ One would gather from Evelyn that only the deluded followers of the "impostor" and not Sevi himself imposed such punishments as self-burial, and bathing in the sea, even in midwinter. More surprising, perhaps, is the almost total neglect of Sarah, Sevi's third wife, mentioned in the Pretended Messiah only as the "Ligornese Lady" whom Sevi acquired after freeing himself "from the Incumbrances of a Family." In fact, the beautiful and engaging Sarah seems to have become an integral part of the movement, a movement which in its early stages was all-male. ”

“ I wish our Fin-land Spirit, who is of late dropt out of the Clouds amongst us, prove not one of his Disciples; for the Age is very fertile; and I am told, that our Mahomed having receiv'd his Ajuda de Costo from the Bounty and Charity of a great Person of more easie Beliefe, is slipt aside for fear of the Porters-Lodge, and yet 'tis possible you may hear more of him before his Ramble be quite at a period.
You have at the end of the last Impostor an Account of the Jews Exile out of that Vast Empire of Persia, happening but the other day ”

“ Sabatai being now reduced to extremitie of his latter game; not being the least doubtful what to do; for to die for what he was assured was false, was against nature, and the death of a mad man: replyed with much chearfulness, that he was contented to turn Turk, and that it was not of force, but of choice, having been a long time desirous of so glorious a Profession, he esteemed himself much honored, that he had opportunity to own it; first in the presence of the Grand Signior. And here was the non plus ultra of all the bluster and noise of this vain Impostor. ”

“ However some of the Jewes remain'd in their Wits all this time, amongst which was a certain Chocham at Smyrna, one zealous of his Law, and of the good and safety of his Nation: and observing in what a wilde manner the whole People of the Jewes was transported, with the groundless beliefe of a Messiah, leaving not onely their Trade, and course of living, but publishing Prophesies of a speedy Kingdome, of rescue from the Tyranny of the Turk, and leading the Grand Signior himself Captive in Chaines ”

“ These our Letters, which we send in the midst of your habitations, are upon occasion of certain rumors and tumults come to our ears from that Citie of your Holiness. For there is a sort of men amongst you, who fortifie themselves in their error, and say, let such a one our King, live, and bless him in their publique Synagogues every Sabbath day: [95]
The Jews scruple to say, the head of Israel. ”

“ During this time of confinement, Sabatai had leisure to compose and institute a new method of Worship for the Jews, and principally the manner of the celebration of the day of his Nativity, which he prescribed in this manner.
Brethren, and my People, men of Religion inhabiting the City of Smyrna [74] the renowned, where live men, and women, and families; Peace be unto you from the Lord of Peace, and from me his beloved son, King Salomon. ”

“ And we have our Eyes towards Jah, Jah, who will make hast to help us, and save us, that the Children of Iniquity shall not hurt us; and towards whom our hearts pant, and are consumed within us: who shall give us Tallons of Iron to be worthy to stand under the shadow of your Asse. These are the Words of the Servant of your [51] servants, who prostrates himself to be trod on by the soles of your feet,
Nathan Benjamine.
And that he might Publish this Doctrine of himself, and the Messiah more plainly, he Wrote from Damascus this following Letter, to the Jewes at Aleppo, and parts thereabouts. ”

“ No Invitation was now made in Smyrna by the Iewes, nor Marriage, or Circumcision solemnized, where Sabatai was not present, accompanyed with a multitude of his Followers, and the Streets cover'd [58] with Carpits, or fine Cloath for him to tread on; but the Humility of this Pharisee appear'd such, that he would stoop and turne them aside, and so pass. And having thus fixed himself in the Opinion and Admiration of the People, he began to take on himself the Title of Messiah, and the Son of God ”

“ God forbid that by his coming the People of God should be destroy'd in all places where they are, of which he will be the first, whose Blood be upon his own Head: For in this Conjuncture, every little Error or Fault is made Capital. ”

“ Sabatai Sevi was Son of Mordechai Sevi, an Inhabitant, and Natural of Smyrna, who gained his Livelihood by being Broaker to an English Marchant in that place; a person, who before his death was very decrepit in his Body, and full of the Goute, and other Infirmities, but his Son Sabatai Sevi addicting himself to Study, became a notable Proficient in the Hebrew and Metaphysicks; and arrived to that point of Sophistry in Divinity and Metaphysicks, that he vented a New Doctrine in their Law, drawing to the Profession of it so many Disciples, as raised one day a Tumult in the Synagogue ”

“ But whil'st the Time not yet Accomplish'd, I could wish our modern Enthusiasts, and other prodigious Sects amongst us, who Dreame of the like Carnal Expectations, and a Temporal Monarchy, might seriously weigh how nearly their Characters approach the Style and Design of these Deluded Wretches, least they fall into the same Condemnation, and the Snare of the Devil. ”

“ Only nine years had passed since the return of Charles II and the displacement of the Protectorate, with its remarkable Jewish elements. As for the return of the Christian Messiah and an imminent reign of the saints, Sevi might well have reminded Evelyn of the English "impostor," the Quaker Jacob Naylor, whose messianic claims were publicly examined at Bristol in 1657. Far more important to Englishmen of the period, however, was the episode involving the mission of the Amsterdam rabbi Menasseh ben Israel to Cromwell's England in 1655, a year after Naylor's first appearance. ”

“ The Jews were not at all discouraged at this ill treatment of their prophet, but rather confirmed in their belief of him, as being the accomplishment of the prophesie of those things which ought to precede his glory and dominion ”

“ In this manner Millions of People [43] were possessed, when Sabatai Sevi first appear'd at Smyrna, and published himself to the Jewes for their Messiah, relating the greatness of their approaching Kingdome, the strong hand whereby God was about to deliver them from Bondage, and gather them from all partes of the World. It was strange to see how the fancy took, and how fast the report of Sabatai and his Doctrine flew through all partes where Turkes and Jews inhabited ”

“ And occasion happening that Sabatai was, in behalf of his Subjects, to appear before the Cadi, or judge of the Citie to demand ease, and relief of some oppressions which aggrieved them: It was thought necessary a Miracle should now or never, when Sabatai appearing with a formal and pharisaical gravitie, which he had starcht on: Some on a sudden avouched to see a pillar of fire between him and the Cadi, which report presently was heard through the whole room, filled with Jews that accompanied Sabatai, some of whom, who strongly fancied it, vow'd, and swore they saw it ”

“ This being the common Opinion amongst the Jewes, and that Sabatai Sevi was the Messiah, being become an Article of Faith, it was not hard to perswade them, that Elias was come already, that they met him in their Dishes, in the darke, in their Bed chambers, or any where else invisible, in the same manner as our common People in [83] England believe of Hobgoblins, and Fairies. ”

“ But because every one was not Master of so much Fortune and Provision, as to live without dayly Labour, therefore to quiet the Clamours of the Poor, and prevent the Enormous lives of some, who upon these occasions would become Vagabonds, and desert their Cities, due order was taken to make Collections, which were so liberally bestow'd, that in Thessalonica onely 400 Poore were supported by the meer charity of the Richer. ”

“ Others buryed themselves in their Gardens, covering their naked Bodies with Earth, their heads onely excepted, remained in their Beds of dirt until their Bodies were stifned with the cold and moisture: others would indure to have melted Wax dropt upon their shoulders, others to rowle themselves in Snow, and throw their Bodies in the Coldest season of Winter Into the Sea, or Frozen Waters. ”

“ And that at this time we have receiv'd Advice, that this man some dayes since, departed from Gaza, and took his Journey by the way of Scanderone, intending there to Imbarke for Smyrna, and thence to go to Constantinople, or Adrianople: And though it seem a strange thing unto us, that any Man should have a desire to throw himself into a place of Flames, and Fire, and into the Sparkes of Hell ”

“ And indeed it would have been a greater wonder then ever Sabatai shewed, that the Turkes took no advantage from all these extravagances, to dreine the Jewes of a considerable Sum of Money, and set their whole Race in Turky at a Ransome, had not these Passages yielded them matter of Pastime, and been the Subject of the Turkes Laughter and Scorne; supposing it a Disparagement to the greatness of the Ottoman Empire, to be concerned for the Rumors and Combustions of this Dispersed People. ”

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General Editors: George Robert Guffey, University of California, Los Angeles;
Maximillian E. Novak, University of California, Los Angeles; Robert Vosper, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library.
Corresponding Secretary: Mrs. Edna C. Davis, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library.
The Society's purpose is to publish reprints (usually facsimile reproductions) of rare seventeenth and eighteenth century works. All income of the Society is devoted to defraying costs of publication and mailing. ”

“ The Chiaux executed his Commission after [89] the Turkish fashion in hast, and brought Sabatai in a few days to Adrianople, without further excuse or ceremony; not affording him an hours space to take a solemn farewel of his Friends, his Followers and Adorers; who now were come to the vertical point of all their hopes and expectations.
The Grand Signior having by this time received divers informations of the madness of the Jews, and the pretences of Sabatai ”

“ Till the conversion of the Jews.
The reader of John Evelyn's History of Sabatai Sevi, The Pretended Messiah of the Jewes or of the History of the Three Late Famous Impostors (1669) in which it is the most significant part, discovers a fascinating, if unoriginal, addition to the work of the great diarist and dilettante, the amateur student of engraving and trees—and smoke. Evelyn's work was almost totally derived from the account of Sir Paul Rycaut, who was from 1661 secretary (and later consul) for the Levant mercantile company in Smyrna. ”

“ Publication is assisted by funds from the Chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles. Price to members of the Society, $2.50 for the first copy and $3.25 for additional copies. Price to non-members, $4.00. ”

“ Sabatai also at Gaza Preached Repentance to the Jewes, and Obedience to Himself and Doctrine, for that the coming of the Messiah was at hand: which Novelties so Affected the Jewish [47] Inhabitants of those partes, that they gave up themselves wholly to their Prayers, Almes, and Devotions ”