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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39821	The manners of the Israelites in three parts. I Of the patriarchs. 2. Of the Israelites after their coming out of Egypt until the captivity of Babylon. 3 Of the Jews after their return from the captivity until the preaching of the Gospel. Shewing their customs secular and religious, their generous contempt of earthly grandeur. And the great benefit and advantage of a plain laborious, frugal, and contented life.; Moeurs des Israélites. English	Fleury, Claude, 1640-1723.	1683 (1683)	Wing F1364A; ESTC R218945	81,805	250

every one to live by his own Labour without Luxury and Ambition without being liable to be ruined and growing too Rich Counting Justice for the greatest good avoiding all change and novelty In the Persons of Moses David and Solomon we find examples of that Wise-man whom he wished for the Government of a State and the rendring it happy and whom he durst not hope for in the Train of all Ages In divers places he relates certain Traditions without supporting 'em with any proof the Authority of which he Reverences and which manifestly are parts of the true Doctrine touching the Judging of men after their Death and the State of another Life If Plato and the other Grecians had not learnt those great truths immediately from the Jews they had learnt them at least from the other Orientals who being much nearer the source of Mankind and having writings much more Ancient than the Greeks had preserved many Traditions more of the first men tho involved in many Fables CAP. III. The State of the Jews under the Macedonians THe Conquest of Alexander made the Jews much more known to the Greeks whose Subjects they became Josephus brings Proofs thereof from the Testimonies of Clearchus the Disciple of Aristotle and of Hecateus the Abderite They continued to live according to their Laws under the Protection of the Macedonian Princes as they had done under the Persian But as they were betwixt the Kings of Syria and of Egypt sometimes they obey'd the one and sometimes the other● acording as those Kings were strongest They were well or ill used according to the humour or interest of the Kings and the credit of their Enemies Alexander the Great being satisfyed of their Affection and Fidelity gave them Samaria and exempted 'em from Tribute And when he built Alexandria he setled Jews there with the other Citizens insomuch as they went likewise under the name of Macedonians Indeed the first of the Ptolomys having taken Jerusalem by surprize carryed away a great number of the Jews Captive into Egypt and scattered them as far as into the Country of Cyrene But afterwards knowing how Religious and faithful they were to their Oaths he put 'em into his Garrisons and treated them so kindly that he engaged several others to come into his service His Son Philadelphus set all the Jews free who were Slaves in his Dominions and sent great Presents to Jerusalem in favour of the Translation which he caused to be made of their Law They were likewise favoured by several Kings of Syria Seleucus Nicanor gave them the right of Citizens in the Towns he built in the Lesser Asia and the lower Syria even in Antioch his Capital City with priviledges which were perpetuated under the Romans Antiochus the great having received many services from the Jews granted Immunities and a very gracious Charter to the City of Jerusalem And for to secure Lydia and Phrygia which were not firm enough in their Obedience to him there he establisht Colonies of Jews granting 'em places to build in and Lands to Cultivate The first Priviledge which the Jews ever craved on those occasions was the liberty of exercising their Religion and observing their Law But otherwise they could not exempt themselves from being much tainted with the Manners of the Greeks as they had been with those of the Chaldeans and others especially they were obliged to speak the Greek Tongue which then became the Vniversal one through the East and did always obtain as long as the Roman Empire subsisted there From whence it proceeds that several took Grecian names as Aristobulus Philo Andrew Philip or disguised with Greek the Hebrew names as Jason for Jesus Simon for Simeon Hierosolyma for Jerusalem I believe it was about that time that the Jews passed the Seas and setled in Europe For those who could speak Greek and were already accustom'd to live with the Grecians in Asia Syria and Egypt might easily dwell in all the Countries of the Grecian Empire even in Macedonia and Achaia according as they found most Convenience and liberty We see likewise that St. Paul met with a vast number in all the Cities of Grecce when he went to Preach the Gospel there near two hundred and fifty years after the time of Antiochus the Great These Half Grecian Jews were those whom the Orientals called Hellenists And to the Gentiles they applyed the name of Hellenes which properly signifies Grecians So that with St. Paul Greek and Gentile are the same things The Jews could not thus be intermixt with the Greeks but the Grecians being then very curious would pry into their Religion and their Laws and chiefly since the sacred Books were Translated The Sages and the true Philosophers admired them as we may judge by what Strabo has written thereof a longtime after But most of the Greks of that Age were uncapable of relishing the Manners and Maxims of the Jews These were too Grave and serious for them who were effeminated by the Asiatic Luxury and who no longer employed their time but in Gimcracks and trifles The truth is they had a vast Multitude of Philosophers but most of 'em conten●ed themselves with barely discou●sing of Virtue and heating themselves in Dispute All the Rest of the Grecians were taken up with the curiosity and love of fine Art and they had a peculiar Knac● that way Some set themselves to Rhetorick others to Poetry or Musick The Painters Engravers and Architects were thought very considerable and lofty People Others gave themselves wholly over to Gymnasticks for the forming their Bodies lest they should be worsted in wrastling Others pitcht upon Geometry Astronomy and natural Philosophy There were none but Scholars and fine Wits such as were curious and Idle of all sorts The Manners and Principles of the Romans were then much more solid They only applyed themselves to Agriculture to the Study of the Law and to Tacticks and willingly relinquish'd the Gloty of excelling in the Politer Arts and curious Sciences to the Grecians for to Govern Kingdoms and ●ut Chains on the necks of Con●●er'd Nations making that as ●irgil saies their prime business The serious humour of the Jews proceeded much farther since they placed their Principal Study in Morality and in the service of God Whereof we have a rare example in the Book of Ecclesiasticus written at that time Yet it was for this very reason that the Greeks termed them Ignorant seeing they only aimed at the knowledge of their own Law They called them Barbarians a name which they gave to all those that were not Greeks and despis'd them more than other Strangers by reason of their Religion which seemed to them morose and absurd They saw the Jews abstain from Debauchery not out of Oeconomy and Policy but a Principle of Conscience To them this seemed too severe and above all they were offended at the repose of the Sabbath at their feasts and the distinction

St. Luke For thus it was that Joseph had two Fathers the one by Birth and the other by this Adoption of the Law Besides this same marriage with a Sister-in-law was not contrary to the first natural right which allowed even the marrying one's own Sister before God had forbidden it The desire it was of having a great number of Children which moved the Israelites to take several wives at a time altho they were reserv'd enough as to the use of marriage From it they abstained not only during the big-bellies and the other unfitness of their wives but during all the time they were nurses that is to say most commonly during three years And we do not see they could dispence themselves from nursing their own Children Wherefore we ought not to think it strange that God tolerated Poligamy which had been introduc'd before the Deluge tho it was contrary to the first institution of marriage For when it was instituted in the Terrestrial Paradice there was not yet any Concupiscence And since that by the new law it was raised to the dignity of a Sacrament 't is accompany'd with very Strong graces but in the interval when grace was much less and that sin reigned it was the goodness of God to use a greater Indulgence Wherefore 't is with Polygamy as with divorce of which JESUS CHRIST told the Jews that in them it was suffer'd for the hardness of their hearts Besides their Wives they were allow'd to have Concubines who usually were Slaves Above them the Legitimate wives had nothing more than the dignity which rendred their Children heirs So that the name of Concubinage did not signify Incontinency as among us it was only a less solemn marriage Furthermore this Liberty was so far from making Wed-lock more commodious that the Yoke was the more heavy An husband could not so equally share his heart amidst several wives as to give 'em all contentment He was fain to govern them with an absolute authority as the Levantins do still at this day In marriage there was no longer an equality of Friendship and of Society It was yet more difficult that Rivals could agree among themselves There must needs have been continual Divisions Cabals and Domestick Wars All the Children of one woman had as many Step-mothers as the Father had other wives Each one espoused his mother's Interests and look'd upon the Children of other Women as Strangers or enemies Hence comes that manner of Speaking so frequent in Scripture He is my Brother and the son of my Mother We see examples of these divisions in the Family of David and still much worse in that of Herod As to the Liberty of Parting by Divorce it had likewise ill consequences They more lightly engaged and venturd ' emselves the less for one another and the multiplicity of marriages might rise to such an excess as to become a Palliated Debauch 'T is well known what a disturbance it occasion'd at Rome after the fall of the common-wealth whereas that as long as good manners were kept up there no Divorce was seen untill the year 523 Notwithstanding the Laws permitted it The Children also suffer'd very much by it they remained Orphans in their Parents life-time And hard it was for 'em to prevent the becoming odious to one of the two and the not siding with the one or other CAP. XIV Education of Children Exercises Studies THe Education of Children seems to have been much the same among the Israelites as among the Egyptians and the most ancient Greeks They formed their bodies by Labour and Exercises and their minds by Learning and Musick A great value they had for strength of Body and 't is the most usual commendation that the Scripture gives to warlike men as to David's brave and stout Souldiers Foot-races must have been one of their principal exercises since they knew people by seeing them run afar off as those who brought the news of Absolom's defeat Most surely they must have seen them run often 'T is also said of Asahal Joab's Brother that he ran like a wild Roe The Prophet Zachariah speaks of an heavy stone which St. Jerome takes for one of those Stones that served to try the Strength of men by essaying who should raise it highest So that we may believe they had too that kind of exercise The example of Jonathan shews they used archery But bodily exercises they never made an important Occupation as the Grecians who reduc'd it to an art which they term'd Gymnastick because they exercised themselves all naked and they sought the utmost perfection in it At great charges they built places very spacious and magnificent for exercises They had masters and under them a great number of men for the teaching young People In short there were among them Athletae by profession taking up all their life-time with those exercises To fall into those curiosities the Hebrews were too serious And it was an odious novelty when under the most renown'd Antiochus they built a Gymnasium after the Grecian mode in Jerusalem They contented themselves with the Labour of a Country-life and with some military exercises as did likewise the Romans Neither had they need of great Study to form their wits if by Study we understand the knowledge of Sundry Languages and the reading of many Books as we commonly understand it Their Mother-tongue was sufficient for them and that was the Hebrew such as we see it in the Scripture Forreign Histories and Poems were of no use to 'em since these were full of the names of the False Gods which they were not so much as to utter So that all their Grammar consisted as that of the ancient Greeks in speaking their own tongue well in reading and writing correctly with this difference it did not appear that they had reduced it into Art or learnt it by Rules Their Letters were those we now call Samaritan for that the Samaritans have preserved them And as they are neither smooth nor easy to form we may question whether the art of writing was very common among the Israelites so much the more in that the Learned are called in Scripture Sopherim i.e. Scribes according to the most ancient Translations And indeed a people given to Husbandry have less need of writing than Merchants and men of business But 't is credible the most part knew how to read since to all it was recommended to learn the Law of God and to meditate on it day and night and this Study was their sole Occupation on the Sabbath-day That book was sufficient to instruct them perfectly In it they saw the History of the World till their establishment in the Land of Promise the Origine of all nations that were known to 'em and more peculiarly of those whom they had most occasion to know the Descendants of Lot Abraham Ishmael and Esau In it they saw all their Religion the Tenets

not only the Gentiles and the Notorious Sinners but all those that exercised odious Professions In short all their Devotion was only Pride and Interest They seduced Ignorant People by their fine Discourses and bigotted Women who threw away their Estates to enrich them and under the Pretence they were the People of God and the Depositors of his Law they despised the Greeks and Romans and all the Nations of the Earth In the Jewish Books we see still those Traditions of the Pharisees whereof they made then so horrible a Mystery and which were written about an Hundred years after the Resurrection of JESUS CHRIST 'T is impossible for those that have been brought up in other Maxims to imagine the frivolous and impertinent Questions wherewith those Books are stuffed viz. Whether it be permitted on the Sabbath day to mount on an Ass to carry him to Water or whether you must hold him by the Neck whether one might walk the same day Lands newly sowed since he runs a hazard of carrying away some Grains with his feet and consequently of sowing them Concerning the Purification of old Leven before the Passeover whether it be necessary to renew the purifying of an House when you have seen a Mouse pass in it with a Crum of Bread whether it be Lawful to keep pasted Paper or a Plaister wherein there is any Flower whether after the old Leaven is burnt it be permitted to eat what has been baked with the coals which remains thereof And a million of other cases of Conscience of the like force which the Talmud is full of with it's Commentaries Thus the Jews forgot the noble Grandeur of the Law of God to apply themselves to low and pitiful things And they were found very gross and very ignorant in Comparison of the Greeks who in their Schools treated of more useful and more elevated Questions or in Physicks or Morality and who had at least a sweet Politeness if they had not Vertue Not but that there were alway some Jews more curious than others to speak Greek well who read the Books of the Grecians and imbibed their Learning in Grammer Rhetorick and Philosophy Such was Aristobulus a Peripatetick Philosopher and Preceptor of Ptolomee Philometor Such were Eupolemus Demetrius and the two Philo's There were Historians also who wrote in Greek and after the Grecian manner as Jason the Cyrenean and the Authour of the Second Book of Maccabees who has abridg'd it and as Josephus It was at Alexandria where most of those Jews were who Studied the learning of the Greeks The other Jews contented themselves with speaking Greek to be understood that is grosly and keeping the natural turn of their own Tongue And 't is in that Barbarous Greek the New Testament is written The Apostles and Evangelists contented themselves with a clearness and brevity of Style despising all the Ornaments of Language and making use of what words were the most proper to be understood by the Common People of their nation Insomuch as for the well apprehending their Greek 't is requisite to know Hebrew and Syriack The Jews of these latter times were much exercis'd in reading of the Law and the holy Scripture They thought it not enough to explain it literally They found out therein several figurative senses by Allegories and divers Appropriations We see it not only in the new Testament and the Writings of the most Ancient Fathers who have disputed against them but in the Talmud and the oldest Hebrew Commentaries on the Law which they call the great Genesis the great Exodus and so of others Those Figurative senses they held by Traditions from their Fathers But in short the Manners of those Jews were very bad and very much corrupted They were sillily proud of being of the Race of Abraham pufft up with the promises of the Messias his Reign which they knew to be at hand and which they formed to themselves all full of Vanquishments and Temporal Prosperity They were interessed avaricious and sordid especially the Pharisees the greatest Hypocrites They were unfaithful and inconstant always ready for Sedition and Revolt under pretence of casting off the Yoak of the Gentiles In a word they were violent Boysterous and cruel as we see by what they made JESUS CHRIST and his Apostles suffer and by the unheard of Mischiefs they did to one another both during all the Civil Wars and the last Siege of Jerusalem CAP. XXXIII The true Israelites IT was however among that People the Tradition of vertue as well as that of Doctrine and Religion was preserved In those later times they had still very rare Examples of Godliness Zacharias old Simeon the Learned Gamaliel and many others set down in the History of the New Testament All those holy Personages and generally all Spiritual Jews circumcised in Heart as well as Body were Children of Abraham much rather by imitation of his Faith than by their own Extraction With a most steady Faith they believed in the Prophesies and Promises of God They waited impatienly for the Redemption of Israel and the coming of the Messias after which they long'd and sighed But they were sensible that it behoov'd them not to confine their Hopes to this life they belived the Resurrection and the Kingdom of Heaven So that the Blessing of the Gospel coming upon such holy Dispositions it was easy to make perfect Christians of those true Israelites FINIS Some Books Printed for and Sold by W. Freeman over against the Devil-Tavern by Temple-Bar in Fleet-street SCarrons Novels viz. The Fruitless Precaution The Hy●ocrites The Innocent Adultery The Judge in his own Cause The ●●ival Brothers The Invisible ●●istriss The Chastisement of ●●varice The unexspected Choice ●●endred into English with some ●dditions By John Davis of Kid●elly In Oct. 1683. The Clarks Manual or an Exact Collection of the most approved Forms of Declarations Pleas general Issues Judgments Demurrers and most kind of Writs now used in the Court of Kings Bench. With necessary Instructions to all Clerks Attornies and Sollicitors in the use of the same The second Edition in Octav. 1682. An Infallible way to Contentment in the midst of Publick or Personal Calamities Together with the Christians Courage and Encouragement against evil Tidings and the fear of Death In 12. The Court of the Gentiles Part 4 of Reform'd Philosophy Book 3 of Divine predetermination wherein the nature of Divine Predetermination is fully Explicated and Demonstrated both in the general as also more Particularly as to the substrate matter or Entitative Act of Sin With a Vindication of Calvinists and others from that Blasphemous Imputation of making God the Author of Sin By Theophilus Gale in Quart● 1682. The Design of this Treatise Gen. 5. 7. 11. 8. 13. 6. 15. 4. 22. Gen. 12. 8. 13. 18. 28. 18. 31. 48. 26. 18. c. Family Gen. 26. 28. Gen. 136. 32. 14. c. Gen. 14. 14. 13. 2. 24. 22 16. 27. 27. Gen. 4. 17. 10. 10.