Ceremonies and Precepts of Morality It contain'd also their Civil Laws Thus that Book alone which is the Pentateuch or the five Books of Moses included all they were to know Not but they had many other Books For that I may not speak of the Books of Joshuah of the Judges of Samuel and of other Sacred Writings which were made afterwards In the time of Moses mention is made of a Book of the Warrs of the Lord as also of a Book of Jasher The Books of Samuel and Kings do often refer to the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah and Israel Solomon wrote three thousand Parables and five thousand Canticles He made Treatises of all Animals and Plants And he himself complains of the Infinite number of Books that were composed All those Books and perhaps many others we know not of are lost as well as those of the Egyptians Syrians and other Eastern people The only Books which remain of that antiquity are those which God himself dictated to his Prophets and which he had preserved by a Particular Providence The other part of Studies was Musick I judge thereof by the Greeks who from the Orientals had taken all their Studies and all their Politeness Now certain it is that the Greeks had all their Children taught to sing and play upon Instruments This study is the most ancient of all Before ever Letters were us'd the memory of great things was preserv'd by Songs The Gauls and Germans had that Custome in the time of the Romans And the same Custome is still kept up by the wild Inhabitants of America Altho the Hebrews had Letters they knew that words in measure and put into a Song are always easilier remembred and from thence the great care arose which they took to compose Canticles upon any thing considerable that happened to them such are the two which Moses made the one at the passage of the Red-sea and the other when he lay adying to recommend the observation of the Law Such is the Song of Deborah that of Samuel's Mother and many others and especially the Psalms of David These Poems are of a wondrous Instruction full of God's Practises of the Memory of his Benefits of Moral Precepts and all the Sentiments which a good man ought to have in all the different States of Life So that the most important Truths and the most exact thoughts agreeably enter'd into the minds of Children with Tunes and Words If we may judge of the goodness of their Tunes by that of their Words they must have been altogether excellent grave and solid but touching and various If we judge of 'em by the effects Scripture seems to attribute to 'em such as were supernatural We see their Musick charm'd evil Spirits by the example of Saul who found himself better when David play'd upon the Harp We see that the sound of Instruments did help the Spirit of God which moved the Prophets by the example of those whom Saul met with according to the Prediction of Samuel and with whom he himself enterd into Heavenly transports of Joy and by the example of Elisha who call'd for a Ministrel that he might Prophecy This shews that Musick appeas'd the motions of the Spirits and humours which the Devil had raised in those Persons God had permitted him to possess and that on the contrary meeting with calm and deseate hearts it raised them up to God and inflamed 'em with Devotion disposing them thus for the better receiving the powerful impressions of his Spirit In like manner the Greeks relate to us the prodigious effects of their Musick for exciting or for calming Passions And we must either give all Histories the Lye or confess the Musick of the Ancients was much more charming than ours Not that it was rare amongst them they were all Musicians And to confine my self to the Hebrews and not to speak of those who were Musicians by profession there were in David's time Four thousand Levites destin'd to that employ only under the conduct of 288 Masters the chief of whom were Asaph Heman and Jeditshun so often named in the Inscriptions of the Psalms David himself was a great Poet and a great Musician And 't is well known how much the inclination of Kings serves to the advancement of Arts. A great Diversity they had of wind and other Instruments whereof some had eight or ten Strings and their Tunes were accompanyed with dances for this is the meaning of the word Chorus which the Latins have taken from the Greeks and which amongst them signifyed a company of Dancers dress'd and cloathed in one and the same manner They Sang together and danc'd a kind of Brawles They were coupled according to their age and sex young men Maids Women Old-men without intermixture with one another Now 't is improbable that the dances of the Hebrews offended the Rules of Modesty There is mention made of Choirs at the Procession which David made to transfer the Ark into Sion and on several occasions of victories when the Maids went out of the City Dancing and Singing But the greatest part of their studies did not consist in Reading Regular Lessons but in the Discourses of their Fathers and of their old men Who were obliged to inform their Children of the great things God had done for them and their Forefathers And it is for this reason that the Law commanded them so often to explain to their Children the Reasons of the Feasts and the other Ceremonies of their Religion Wherefore those Instructions applyed to sensible Objects being so frequently repeated could not fail of being sound and solid They likewise taught them all that concerned Agriculture joyning to their Lessons a perpetual Practice And we shall not doubt but they were very knowing therein if we consider that during so many ages they made it their sole occupation Now altho this art be exercis'd among us by people of gross and unthinking Souls yet it contains a vast extent of Knowledge much more useful to mankind than these Notions of the greater part of Speculative men who are esteem'd Learned And tho for knowledge we should reckon only what is written in Books the Ancients and Moderns have written enough of this to give us a good opinion of it Thus an Israelite who by the Tradition of his Fore fathers by his own experience and some reading had inform'd himself of his Religion the Laws which were to regulate his life and the History of his Nation who knew how to procure to himself all things necessary who perfectly understood the several qualities of Earth and of Plants proper to each what course was to be taken with 'em and in what Season what precautiong were to be used against the diverse Accidents which cause the Fruits of the Earth to perish how they were to be gathered and preserved who knew the nature of Cattle their Food their Diseases their Remedies and so many other the like
Which must be understood of Lawful and necessary Oaths Their vows did ordinarily consist in offering to God some part of their estates whether to serve for Sacrifices or to be kept in reserve Hence came those vast treasures in the Temple of Solomon which besides the offerings of David contain'd those of Solomon Saul Abner and Joab For those oblations principally consisted of Spoils taken from their enemies The like did the Pagans in the Temples of their Gods whether after Victories or on other occasions Whereof I will give no other example than the Temple of Delphos and the riches which Craesus sent thither to make the Oracle favour him The most considerable Vow was that of the Nazarites which for a time obliged it's votaries neither to drink Wine nor any thing that inebriates nor to cut their hair and to keep themselves very charily from all Legal Impurities particularly from the approach of Dead Bodies The rule of the Recabites seems to have had it's foundation from such kind of Vows The Author of that Rule was Jonadab the Son of Rachab who lived in the time of Jehu King of Israel and of Elisha the Prophet He forbad his Children to drink Wine to build houses to sow or have Lands or Vineyards So that they dwelt in Tents in all probability employing themselves as the Levites did in breeding Cattle and in perfectly imitating the Pastoral life of the Patriarchs They were marryed and inviolably kept that Rule in their Family during at least an hundred years for we do not find what became of them after the Captivity CAP. XX. Prophets ANother kind of the Religious and much more considerable were the Propmets There was a great number of them in the time of Samuel witness that company which Saul met with who prophecy'd at the sound of Instruments being Transported with the Spirit of God and that other troop which prophecy'd in the presence of Samuel and which seems to have been of his Disciples But it does not appear there were ever so many as from the time of Elias and Elishah until the Captivity of Babylon They lived sequestred from the World distinguished by their apparel and their way of Life They dwelt upon Mountains as Elias and Elisha on Mount Carmel and in Galgal The rich woman who took Elisha into her house when he went to Stunam as I have said made a Chamber to be built and furnished for him where he liv'd so retired that he did not so much as speak with his Hostess but gave her to understand what he had to say by his Servant Gehazi and when that Woman desir'd him to raise her Son from the Dead Gehazi would have hindred her from touching the feet of the Prophet When Nahaman General of the armies of Syria came to him to be cured of his Leprosie he sent him his Orders without showing himself Two other Miracles of that Prophet shew that his Disciples lived in Society that of the Pottage of herbs when he took away it's bitterness and that of the Barly-loaves which he multiplyed wherein we may likewise see the Frugality of their diet There were even an Hundred Prophets who lived in that Community and Fellow-ship They workt with their own hands For finding themselves too much crowded in their Lodgings they went themselves and cut wood to build withal and they were so poor that one of them was fain to Borrow an Ax. The apparel of the Prophets was Sack-cloath the habit of Mourning to notify they did penance for the sins of all the People So in the Description of Elijah 't is said He was an hairy man and girt with a girdle of Leather about his Loyns So when God commands Isaiah to strip himself he orders him to loose his Sack-cloth from off his Loyns The two great Prophets mention'd in the Revelations appear'd cloathed in Sackcloth The Prophets at least some of them were marryed and that widow whose oyl Elisha multiplyed was the widow of a Prophet It seems also their Children followed the same Profession For the Prophets are often called the Sons of the Prophets which made Amos say I was no Prophet neither was I a Prophets Son but I was a Herdsman for to show he did not Prophecy by profession but by an extraordinary call For altho most commonly God made use of those who led a Prophetical Life to make his will known yet he did not impose upon himself a Law of not making Revelations to others In the mean while they only accounted those for Prophets who lead their kind of life From whence it comes that the Books of David Solomon and Daniel are not placed in the rank of Prophecies by reason the two former were Kings living in great delights and splendour and the Latter was a Potentate Living likewise at Court and amidst great People These were the men who after the Patriarchs preserved the purest Tradition of the true Religion They spent their time in meditating on the Law of God in praying to him several times day and night for themselves and others and exercised ' emselves in the Practice of all Virtues They instructed their Disciples discovered to them the meaning of the Law and explained the divine sence which concerned the State of the Church after the coming of the Messias either upon Earth or in Heaven couched under Allegories of sensible things and low in appearance They also instructed the people who came to them on Sabbath-days and other Feasts They chid them for their Sins and exhorted 'em to Repentance and often in the name of God foretold what should befall them This Liberty of speaking the harshest truths even to Kings made them odious and cost several of them their Lives However there were many Impostors who counterfeited the out-side of true Prophets wore Sack-cloth as well as they and spoke in the same Style saying of themselves likewise that they were inspired by God But they took care not to make any Predictions but such as were acceptable to the Prince and his People The false Gods had also their Prophets as the 850 whom Elijah caused to be put to death Of the same Leven were those Sooth-sayers among the Grecians whom they call'd Manties as Calchas and Tiresias in the Heroical Times Such were those who uttered Oracles or who spread them abroad and the Poets who pretended to be in-blown by the Gods For they did not say it in a Poetical sense but to have it really believ'd And indeed those false Prophets whether by the Operation of the Devil or by artifice entred into a fury and spoke in an extraordinary Style to emulate the sensible effects which the Spirit of God made in the true Prophets Now the temptation was great to the Israelites so weak in virtue to consult those Sooth-sayers and false Oracles and it was a Branch of that Idolatry whereto they were very subject
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 otherâ— 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 contenâ—ed themselves with barely discouâ—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 Knacâ— 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 â—ut Chains on the necks of Conâ—â—er'd Nations making that as â—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
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 Hyâ—ocrites The Innocent Adultery The Judge in his own Cause The â—â—ival Brothers The Invisible â—â—istriss The Chastisement of â—â—varice The unexspected Choice â—â—endred into English with some â—dditions By John Davis of Kidâ—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 Quartâ— 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.
War and Peace and likewise with true Policy But from whence comes this Contempt 'T is requisite to discover it's true source It only proceeds from the Customes and ancient Manners of our Nation The Franks and other German People lived in Countries covered with Woods where they had neither Corn nor Wine nor good Fruits Thus they were forc'd to live on Hunting as the Salvages of the Northern parts of America do at this Day But having passed the Rhine and setled themselves in better Territories they were willing to take advantage of the conveniencies of Agriculture Arts and Commerce but they were loath to take the pains necessary thereunto They left those Occupations to the Romans whom they for their own parts had subdued and remained in their primitive Ignorance which at length they took a pride in and fixed to it an Idea of Nobility which we can hardly rid our selves of But as much as they debased Agriculture so much they extoll'd Hunting which the Ancients had a much less Value for They have made a great Art of it and improv'd it with all manner of artifice they have neither spared pains nor Cost in it and have made it one of the most general Professions of their Nobility Yet to consider things in themselves The labour which tends to the Cultivating of Lands and to the breeding of Domestique Animals is assuredly as much to be valued as that which only makes to the taking of wild Beasts of ten times at the expence of cultivated Lands The moderate exercise of a man who looks to a great Farm is without question as beneficial as the violent and uneven exercise of the Hunter and Oxen and Sheep are Creatures at least as useful to life as Dogs and Horses So that we may doubt if our manners be more Rational in this point than those of the Ancients Besides not only the Greeks and Romans honoured Agriculture as well as the Hebrews The Carthaginians too Phenicians originally made a mighty study of it as appears by the Eight and twenty Books which Magon wrote upon that Argument The Egyptians honour'd it to that degree as to adore those living Creatures which were made use of in the Management of this Affair In the greatest Power of the Persians they had in each province Superintendants to look to the Tillage of Lands and Cyrus the younger took delight to planting and cultivating a Garden with his own hands As for the Chaldeans we cannot doubt but they were great Husband-men if we consider the fertility of the Plains of Babylon which brought forth two or three hundred Grains for one In Short the History of China tells us that Agriculture was there likewise very much in vogue in their best and most Ancient times It was only the Conquests of the Northern People which have caused the Country Labourer to be slighted through the whole World Let us then lay aside those low and scurvy Ideas which we have taken up from our Infancy Instead of our Villages where we see on one side Halls and Houses of Pleasure and on the other Miserable Cottages let us figure to our selves those great Farms which the Romans called Villas that comprehended the Masters house the outward Court the Barns the Stables and the Lodgings for Slaves all these in symmetry well built well lookt after and very neat Descriptions hereof may be seen in Varro and Columella Those Slaves were for the most part much more happy than our Peasants well fed well cloath'd without any care of their Wives and Children The Masters notwithstanding they were Farmers Lived more at their ease than our Gentlemen In Xenophon you see a Citizen of Athens early in the Morning a walking in his Lands and visiting his workmen Labouring the same time for his health by the Exercise of his Body and for the encrease of his Estate by his Industry in it's improvement Insomuch as he was rich enough to contribute to his Religion to the Service of the State and to his Friends Cicero speaks of Several Husbandmen in Sicily so rich and so Magnificent that their Houses were adorned with Statues of great price and they made use of Vessels of Silver and Gold curiously wrought Finally we must acknowledge that as long as the most rich of each Country have not disdained this Profession which of all is the most Ancient their lives were much more happy because they were more Natural They lived much Longer and in better Health they had Bodies more adapted to the Fatigues of War and of Voyages and their Wits were more solid and more serious Being less idle the time was less irksome to 'em and they did not make it so much their cue to tast of Pleasures Labour rendring them sensible of the least divertisement They thought less of what is evil and had less Interest to do it For their plain and frugal life gave no occasion for great Expences or great Debts And consequently there were not so many Law suits nor Destructions of Families not so many frauds and violences nor so much of every Crime that imaginary or real Beggary causes those to commit who neither can nor will Work The worst is the Examples of the Rich and Noble hurries away all others and is the occasion that all those who fancy ' emselves situated above the dregs of the People are asham'd to work especially in Lands This is the cause of so many efforts to subsist by industry this is what makes us daily invent new artifices for the passage of money from one Purse to another How innocent all these same forced ways of Living are God knows For the most part they are at least very brittle and uncertain whereas the Earth will ever nourish those who cultivate it if others deprive them not of what it bestows The Israelites only sought their subsistance in the most natural Goods Lands and Cattle from whence all must necessarily be drawn that makes men rich by the Manufactures of Merchandise the Rents or Commerce of money CAP. III. The quality of the Holy Land and it's Fruitfulness THeir Land was that Land promised to the Patriarchs whereof the Scripture so often say's that it Flowed with Milk and Hony to denote it's great Fertility This Country which is so hot in comparison of ours is very far in the Temperate Zone between the 31 and the 33 degree of Latitude It is bounded on the South by great Mountains which put a stop to the burning air of the Desarts of Arabia and they continue very far to the East as well as those Desarts The Mediterranean Sea which bounds it on the West sends thither refreshing breezes And mount Libanus seems to have been plac'd more towards the North to make the Colder blasts keep their due distance The Midland Sea it is what the Scripture usually calls the great Sea for the Hebrews were little acquainted with the Ocean and so they gave the name of Sea to Lakes and to
which we find in the inventory of Elisha's movables was apparently one of those great Candlesticks that were placed on the ground to hold one or more Lamps Till then and a long time afterwards that is to say in the time of the Romans nothing was burnt but Oyl to give light And for this reason we meet so frequently in Scripture with the expression of Lamp for all that enlightens the body or mind that conducts and that makes men to rejoyce There 's no likelihood they had Tapistries in their houses None such are used in any of the hot Countries in regard naked Walls are much cooler They only made use of Foot-carpets to sit or lye down on and the use of them is shewn in Ezechiel amidst the Merchandizes which the Arabians brought to Tyre Mention is likewise made of Carpets among the Refreshments that were carried to David Which gives us reason to believe the 〈◊〉 made use of them in the 〈◊〉 for in their houses they had seats Their houses were different from ours in all that we still see in hot Countries Their roofs are terrassed their windows only shut with Lattcies or with curtains there are no Chimnies They lye as low as possible That the roofs were flat in the Land of Israel and in the Countries round about many proofs there are in Scripture Rahab conceal'd the spies of Joshua upon the roof of her house When Samuel declared to Saul that God had chosen him for King he made him lye all night upon the roof a thing still usual in hot Countries David was walking upon the roof of his Palace when he saw Bathsheba washing her self Absolom caused a Tent to be pitch'd on the roof of the same Palace when he abused his fathers Concubines that no body might be ignorant of that action which was as the taking possession of the Kingdom They went upon the roofs in great Alarums as we may see by a couple of passages in Isaih All this does shew the reason of that Law which ordered a Wall to be made round about the roofs for leaning lest that some might be kill'd by falling down and also does explain that expression in the Gospel What has been told you in the ear publish it on the House-tops Each House was a Scaffold ready set up for any that had a mind to make themselves heard afar of The barrs of the Windows are shown in the Proverbs and Canticles of Solomon and in the History of the death of Ahaziah King of Israel When King Johachim burnt the book which Jeremiah had written by command Divine he was in his winter apartment seated before a fire of a Pan of coals From whence we may conclude they had no Chimnyes which truely are the inventions of cold Countries In hot ones they content themselves in case they have Furnaces for the Kitchin They built very much with Stone and knew how to cut it into large portions In the Edifices of Solomon we have mention made of Stones of eight and ten cubits which are twelve and Fifteen Feet and by what is there named costly Stones unquestionably is meant a certain sort of Marble The beauty of their Buildings consisted less in ornaments placed in some parts than in the intire form of the whole in the cut and joyning of the Stones They took care that all should be well united and in good proportion to the lead square and compass Thus Homer speaks of the Buildings which he commends and we still admire this kind of beauty in the structures of the Ancient Egyptians The Israelites made use of sweet scented-woods as Cedar and Cyprus to wainscote the buildings of the Wealthy in their making of Pillars and Columns Which we see by the Temple and the Palaces of Solomon And David says he dwelt in an house of Cedar to import that he was lodged magnificently CAP. XI Their Food AS for what concerns their Table they ate sitting as the Greeks in the days of Homer And 't is necessary to observe it for the distinction of times For afterwards it is said since the Reign of the Persians that they did eat lying upon beds like the Persians and the Eastern people from whom the Greeks and Romans borrowed likewise that custom The Regular people did eat after having wrought and that very late For this cause to eat and drink in the morning denotes Disorder and Debauchery Very plain was their Food For the most part they talked only of eating bread and drinking water From whence it comes that the word Bread is usually taken in Scripture for all manner of meats They broke their bread without cutting it because they only made little long or thin loaves as is still done in several Countries The first favour Boaz granted to Ruth was to drink of the same water with his People to come eat with him and to dip her bread in vinegar And we see by the Complements she made him that this favour was no small one We may judge of their most ordinary Victuals by the entertainments which David received on sundry occasions form Abigail from Ziba and from Barzillai and by the Provisions those people brought who came to him in Hebron The different kinds shewn there are bread and wine wheat and barley flower of them both beans and lentels dryed Pease Grapes and Figs Honey Butter Oyl Sheep Oxen and fatted Calves Among these particulars were several sorts of grain and pulse which were indeed the most ordinary food of the Ancient Egyptians And the Romans in the best times and when they most of all applyed themselves to Agriculture did scarcely live on any thing else 'T is well known from whence comes the illustrious names of Fabius Piso Cicero and Lentulus We see the use that the Israelites made of Milk by the counsel and command of the wise-man Thou shalt have Goats Milk enough for thy food and for the maintenance of thy Household Tho it was permitted them to eat fish I don't see there is mention made of their doing so but in the latter times 'T is believed that the Ancients despis'd it as a sustenance too light and delicate â—or robust and hearty men nor is there indeed any report made thereof in Homer or in any Grecian Writer of the Heroitick times Neither do we find among the Hebrews any Sauces or Ragousts Their feasts were composed of fat and solid meats They reckon'd Milk and Honey for the greatest Delicacies imaginable And truly before that Sugar was brought from the Indies nothing was known more pleasing to the tast than honey The Offerings commanded by the Law shew that in the days of Moses they had divers sorts of Pastries some mingled with and others fryed in Oyl Here is now an occasion to speak of the distinction of meats allowed or prohibited by the Law It was not peculiar to the Hebrews to abstain
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
things which most of those are ignorant of who among us go for well-bred and learned men This honest Israelite methinks is as much to be valued as a man brought up either in Law or the Disputes of our Schools But nevertheless there were some Israelites who more particularly set themselves to Study and who may have the appellation of Learned even according to our Ideas 'T is said that in the time of David there were in the Tribe of Essachar Learned men who had understanding of the times what Israel was to do And by these words Interpreters understand men that observed the Stars and regulated the Feasts and all the order of the year The Prophet Malachi saies of the Priests in general That their Lips should keep Knowledge and that they should seek the Law at his mouth So that one of the Principal Functions of the Priests was to teach the People As also the Prophets applyed themselves that way It was they alone who took upon them to write and especially Histories For among the Hebrews as well as other Orientals Private persons were not suffered to have that Liberty which the Greeks allowed them None but the Doctors deputed by publick order or the Prophets inspired by God were permitted to write Thus the most ancient Histories of the Romans were the Annals of the Pontifices We see by the works of those Hebrew Authors how much they excell'd in Eloquence and Poetry For I here term Eloquence the Art of Writing well on all manner of Subjects Histories Laws Precepts Exhortations In point of History they do no more than relate matter of Fact as clearly as is possible without mixture of Reasoning or Reflection But when we examine the business well we shall find that they have with a marvellous Judgment chosen the Deeds which serve for their Design By which means their Histories are very short tho in places of Importance they come to the least Particular setting the Action before the eye and making their Personages speak directly which renders their Narration very lively We see that they on purpose retrench all Reflections and aggravations in that they know very well how to employ them in discourses where they would raise emotions Thus in Deuteronomy does Moses with the greatest and strongest figures rise and amplify what he had related very plainly in the fore-going Books Thus does the Prophet Isaiah barely rehearse the Defeat of Sennacherib after having exaggerated it by foretelling it in a Style that amounts even to Poetry The Laws are written with clearness and brevity the Maxims of Morality are contain'd in short Sentences adorn'd with fit Figures and express'd with a measured Style All which does likewise serve to make them be remembred In short their Poetry is sublime the Descriptions lively the Metaphors bold noble the Expressions and the figures miraculously diversifyed But whole Volumes it would require to speak worthily of their Eloquence and their Poetry Tho they wrote by divine Inspiration I don't believe it necessary to attribute all their Eloquence to that supernatural Cause The difference of Styles shews that the Holy Ghost did make use of their natural expression to explain the truths which to them he dictated And what moreover shews this style to be natural is that the most Ancient of Profane Authors come very near it Homer Herodotus Hippocrates speak after the same manner We see in Pindar and in the Chorusses of Tragedies the boldness and variety of Songs The more Ancient the Grecian Authors are the more they resemble the Hebrews in the difference of Styles according to the nature of Works and in the brevity and propriety of Expression You may if you please believe that the Hebrews wrote after this manner by the sole force of their Genius and their exact judgment which made them reject all that was not for the design of each work and employ what was proper to instruct or to move For my part seeing they so constantly observed the Distinction of Styles and so much to the purpose employed all the ornaments of true eloquence I chuse rather to believe that they had then some rules drawn from the experience of their Fathers whether they were written or delivered dowâ— only by Tradition among the Learned Let us not fancy the Greeks invented Eloquence and Poety At most they did but invent the names of Figures and that Art of the Grammarians and Rhetoricians which never made Oratour or Poet. Long before them were found out the grounds of that Art And indeed the World was then pretty old It had lasted three thousand years before Solomon and it has continued as long since within a little more than three hundred years Until that time the Life of man was long and there had not yet been any Deluges of Barbarous Nations in those Countries where Arts and Sciences did begin CAP. XV. The Politeness of the Israelites TO return to the Hebrews in general being so well instructed and so well born that is in a Country where men are naturally endowed with Wit they could not want Politeness For you must not imagine that it is incompatible with a Country-life and with the Labour of the Body The example of the Greeks does but too well evince the contrary But the Greeks living for the most part in Common-wealths were so jealous of their Liberty that they all carried themselves as equals and their Complements only tended to the testifying Esteem and Friend-ship wherein they were imitated by the Romans The Civility of the Orientals suited more with ours and shewed more Respect Those they treated as Lords whom they had a mind to honour made them Protestations of Service and bowed before 'em even to the prostrating themselves on the Earth which the Scripture calls Worshiping The Hebrew did the like even before they had Kings and in the days of the Patriarchs Which did apparently proceed from the Manners of thâ— People round about who had long time been subjected to Masterâ— To Kiss was common in theiâ— Salutations Whereas we uncoveâ— our heads out of respect the put off their Shoes to go into Holy Places it being a sign of mourâ—ing to have the head uncovereâ—â— We see examples of their complements in those of Ruth of Abigael of that Woman of Tekoah whom Joab employed to recall Absolom and lastly of Judith All these examples are of Women usually more Flattering than men Willingly and with delight they made use of Parables and ingenious aenigmas or riddles in their discourses Their language was very modest and conformable to bashfulness tho after a manner different from ours For they used Far fetcht Circumlocutions for things which we bluntly speak of and with less caution As when they said The water of the Feet meaning urine To open one's Feet meaning to go to Stool and when they name the Thighs for the neighbouring part which is not to be named On the contrary they have expressions which sound to