Page:A new and general biographical dictionary; containing an historical and critical account of the lives and writings of the most eminent persons in every nation v1.djvu/75

 A C O S T A. 39 fweets of his native country purely for liberty of conference, to fubmit to a fet of Rabbis without any proper jurifdi.-lion ; and that it would fhew both want of course and piety, if he fhould ftifle his fentiments on this occafion. He thc.ef >i<- pcr- fifted in his invedives, and in confequunce was excommuni- cated : the effect of which was fuch, that his own brothers durft not (peak to him, nor fa|utc him whcn^they met him in the ftreets. Finding himfelf thus fituated, he wrote a book in his jultification ; wherein he endt-avours to (hew, that the rites and traditions of the Pharifees are contrary to the wri- tings of Mofes, and foon after adopted the opinion of the Sad- duces : for he had worked himfelf up to a belief, that the re- wards and punilhments of the old law relate only to this life; and this, becaufe Mofes no where mentions the joys of hea- ven, or the torments of hell. His adverfaries were oveijoyed at his embracing this tenet; forefeeing, that it would tend greatly tojulHfy, in the fight of Chriftians, the proceedings of the fynagogues againft him. Before his book wa? printed, there appeared a piece upr;n the immortality of the foul, writ- ten by a phyfician, who omitted nothing he could fuggeft to make Acofta pafs for an Athieft. The very children were even fpirited up to infult him in the ftreets, and to batter his houfe with (tones; all which however did not prevent him from writing a treatife againft the phyfician, wherein he endea- voured to confute the do<5trine of the foul's immortality. The Jews now made application to the magiftrates of Amfterdam ; and informed againft him, as one who wanted to undermine the foundation of both Jewifh and Chriftian religions. Here- upon he was thrown into prilbn, but bailed out within a weelc or ten days after; however all the copies of his pieces were feized, and he himfelf fined 300 florins. Neverthelefs, he proceeded ftill farther in his fcrpticifm. He now began to examine, whether the laws of Mofes came from God ; and he fuppofed he had at length found reafon; to convince him, that it was only a political invention. Yet, inftead of drawing this inference from thence, " I ought not to return to the " Jewifh communion," he thus argued with himfelf, " Why " fhould I continue all my life cut ofF from the communion, 44 expofed to fo many inconveniences, efpecially as 1 am in a " country where I am a ftranLC'-, and unacquainted with the " language? Had I not better pi -ay rl-e ape amongft apes? He accordingly returned to the Jewifh church, after he had been excommunicated 15 years; and, after having made a re- cantation of what he had written, lubfcribed every thino; as D 4