it to Embrace and Kiss it to Weep over it and after all perhaps to cast it to the Ground to let the people see they meant not there to terminate their Worship the very sight hereof doth as much induce the Jews to hate Christianity as any reason can be alledged to perswade them to love and Embrace it These are the Terms in which the Jews with whom I have conversed do stand who above all that has been said derive the greatest obstruction of their Conversion from their own obstinacy being not more scandalized than stifneckt nor less untractable within than offended without And as proud of their opinions as they are despised for them Glorying in their Ancestors and Founders in Gods Temple and Oracles peculiar promises and Prerogatives long continuance in Honour and Prosperity and indefatigable in their Expectation of being Triumphantly recollected and Victoriously to Reign over the Edomites when the promise of their Messias shall be perform'd which has as they say so long beyond the appointed time been protracted by reason of their own Vnworthiness A SUMMARY DISCOURSE Concerning the Jewish TALMUD MISNA GEMARA HAving in the former part of the Antecedent Discourse observed That there are no Jews to be met with who adhere to the Old Bible without Talmud-Traditions I thought it would be disagreeable neither to the Reader nor the Subject to give a succinct account of the Talmud Misna and Gemara in order to facilitate the meaning of the Traditions above-mentioned And waving all Critical reserches into the word Talmud which makes so great a Noise in the World it may suffice to observe that by a sort of Metonymy it signifies the Book containing the main Doctrines of the Jews which by way of Eminence is called the Talmud or Doctrinal So that the word Talmud may as well be used for a System of Christian as Jewish Doctrines for any thing therein to the contrary The two Talmuds of which hereafter are according to Mr. Selden the Pandects of the Jews Sacred and Civil Laws and they are generally received of the present Hebrews for the Great Body of their Learning and Standard by which the whole Israelitick Nation is to regulate both their Conversation and Doctrine And there needs no other Testimonie of their great esteem hereof than the RR's frequent using it in the proof and Confirmation of their Tenets For it is very observable that the Talmud is oftener brought in Vindication of their Religion than Moses the Prophets and Holy Writings Insomuch that they make it and not the Old Bible the Touchstone of their Doctrine and that into which they resolve the Decision of all their Cases Nor are they herein greatly blameable seeing they esteem the Talmud of equal Authority with the Canonical Scriptures and no more inferiour thereunto than a Law given by word of mouth is to one in Writing For the Jews hold there is a twofold Law which they are bound to observe the one written which is contained in the five Books of Moses the other Oral which they call the Misna or Traditional Law which God gave to Moses at the same time he did the other but did not commit it to Writing but left it to be preserved and propagated Orally Some of the Masters gifted with a wonderful Sagacity with great assurance maintain that Moses during his abode in the Mount could not discern the time of Night from the Day but by the delivery of these two Laws That when God gave the Written Law he knew it was Day and that it was Night when he gave the Oral And R. Eliesar as a late Author writes affirms that Moses read the Scripture by Day and the Misna by Night But this will scarce sound congruously if it be considered that the Misna was not written and therefore could not be Read till some thousand years after Moses received it in the Mount And as to the reason why God would not suffer it to be written it was the profound Mysteriousness of its Nature say the Masters which to have communicated by writing to the Vulgar People would have been no better than to give Holy things unto Dogs and to cast Pearls before Swine Others are of opinion that God foreseeing how the Nations would Transcribe the Books of the Law Prophets and Holy Writings and pervert them to Heretical and Impious Doctrines lest they should to the like to the Misna or the Second Law for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies he would not suffer it to be committed to Letters And here it may be pardonable to take notice of two things first that by the Holy Writings which the Jews call Cetaphim they understand the Books of Daniel Psalms Proverbs Job Canticles Ruth Lamentations Ecclesiastes Ezra Nehemiah Chronicles and that they were Compiled or Collected by Esdras and the Seniors of the Synagogue after the Jews returned from Babylon Next that the Jews were of old so cautious of preserving their Law secret to themselves that they would not suffer it to be Translated into any other Language out of their own Insomuch that in the daies of Ptolemy when the Penteteuch was put in Greek by the Jews of Alexandria they say that as if God had been therewith displeased there happened three daies of darkness over the whole Earth And to testifie their own abhorrence of so execrable a fact the Jews appointed a solemn Fast to be kept upon the eighth of Tebeth as the immortal Joseph Scaliger hath observed But to return That Moses in the Mount did receive from God not onely the Written Law but also a secret Explanation thereof seems to have been the opinion of Origen of the third and Hillary of the fourth Age. And this Explanation is supposed to have been none other but the Misna or the Oral and Second Law we now speak of which was preserved as the Cabala of the Creation and of the things happening before the Flood by Tradition from minde to minde to use Mirandula without Letters by word of mouth For Moses thus delivered it to Aaron and he to his Sons they to Joshua Joshua to the Elders the Elders to the Prophets the Prophets to the Great Synagogue and so it was drawn down by the Rabbins of successive Ages of whom the Famous Ramban has given an account And in this state the Misna continued till many years after the Nativity of our Blessed Saviour even till Rabbi Jehuda who for his Piety was called the Saint and for his singular love to his Nation and knowledge in their Law the Prince perceiving that this Oral Tradition grew difficult and that thereby the Misna was in no small hazard to be utterly lost or grievously corrupted by reason of the extreme dispersion of his Nation collected all the Notes taken by the Jews to assist their Memories which contain'd any thing of the Misna and digested them into one Volume which he called the Sepher Misnaioth or the Book of Traditions And this was no sooner compiled than
with those who profess them When the Jews have taught their Children some decent Modes of Salutation and imprinted them with an awful Reverence of Gods Name and the Essays of hating all Religions but their own Their next endeavour is to instruct them in the Elements of Book-learning Where the first Lessons are about the Name and Figure of the Hebrew Letters in which they use this Method First upon a smooth stone or board they cast two or more Letters of the Alphabet and acquaint the Child with the Name and Figure thereof And when the Child is able to pronounce these Letters they proceed to more according to the capacity and towardliness of the Scholar And so forward till the whole Alphabet be run over When this task is finished the children are taught to joyn the Letters into short and easie Sillables and having attained to read a little they are put into the first Book of Moses and so pass through the whole Pentateuch In teaching their Children to write they use as the Spaniards a Plana which is a draught of very large Letters upon a fair Paper which they imitate upon a thin Paper laid thereon When the Parents have at home pretty-well grounded their Children in these prelusory Rudiments they send them to School and every Morning before they go thither it is the Mothers Office to provide them something to eat which is sweetned with Sugar or Honey which serves them both for Beakfast and an Instruction For at giving the Child the sweet Morsel she useth these words As this is sweet to thy Palate so let Learning be sweet to thy mind And she gives directions how to behave himself at School as that he is to use no filthy words but such as he reads in the Law because God loves clean Lips pure wholsom discourse and that all communication ought to be agreeable to the Divine Word Next that the Child must not spend his time in idle talk to his own hindrance or his fellows With other such directions as a Mothers Care and Affection shall suggest They have a saying very common among them That there is no fruit at Autumn where there is no budding in the Spring which they apply to the Education of their Children whose riper years they hope to have pious and well-governed when their tender minds are duly instructed in Religion and Vertue And much to this purpose may be met with in their Homilies At five year old the Children go to School where they spend five years in Learning the Pentateuch and at ten year old they are put if they prove towardly to read the Mischua and some choice parcels of the Talmud which contain the Body of their Institutes During the time that boy is learning the five books of Moses he is called Ben Mickra the Son of the Law and when he is thirteen year old he is Ben Mitzva the Son of the Precept for now the youth receives the Passover and is purified For until he comes to be a Son of the Commandment the Father stands charged with his Miscarriages But at thirteen year old the Lad being supposed to be able to discern Vertue from Vice and Good from Evil he is bound to answer for his faults Therefore the Father having before a Synagogue of ten antient Jews declared that his Son whom he there produces has been well Catechized in the Law and understands the general Decisions of the Mischua and Talmud and that he can repeat the dayly Prayers he lets them know that he no longer chargeth himself with his Crimes but that he leaves him to answer therein for himself and to be punished if he shall be delinquent against the Commandments Where note by the way that by Commandments here must not be understood either the Decalogue or the Ritual of Moses but those 313 Precepts into which they have resolved their Religion and the Bible Drusius in Exod. 26. observes that the Jews old manner of Instructing was by Interrogations and Questions or Catechism By which present Method there is no youth under Heaven can at thirteen years old give so exact account of the Rites of their Religion as the Jewish I meddle not here with the special places which were of old appointed for the Education of youth because those ancient Gebaoth or Colledges Houses of Doctrine and Hills of the Teachers which the Divine writings often mention are now faln under a fatal Devastation Neither doth it concern the present Subject to reflect upon the Mishne or Colledge in Hierusalem where the Repeating of the Law was Studied this being also extinct Only I observe at this day the Jews in Barbary like their neighbour Moors are wholly destitute of Places for liberal Education and therefore when any of them intend to Studie Physick or the like they repair incognito to the European Universities and more especially to those of Portugal and Spain But to return The Jewish Fathers are not more careful in the Catechism of their Children than the Mothers in their Nurserie In which they do not follow their own delicacie but the prescriptions of their Masters who appoint that the Nurse who is always the Mother unless some unavoidable necessity interpose eat such Viands as yield good nutriment to the end that the child may the sooner grow up and come to the publick Worship and take the impressions of their Religion And the Mother who is diligent herein is said To walk in the wayes of the Lord for so they are taught to understand Deut. 28.9 who feeds his Creatures with a â—â—asonable and liberal hand They have very odd conceits about the Situation of the Mothers Breasts which they use as natural motives of affection and tenderness toward their Infants And to imprint in the woman a greater averseness to nurse their children at anothers Bosome their Masters tell them strange Stories of several men who have been miraculously enabled to give their children suck upon the death of their wives During the time of Nursing the women are not permitted to go with open Brests nor to keep Fasts nor to expose their tender Sucklings to the Sun or Moon Neither when the Child is able do they permit it to go bare-headed out of doors because on a time one of their Masters seeing a child in this posture pronounced it unlawfully begotten and that his Mother was either menstruous or unchaste in her Embraces The Jews usually Girdle their children as soon as their bodies will endure it and when they are grown up none of them go ungirt to the Synagogues for if they should do so they think that not only thereby the benefit of the Prayers is forfeited but also the Divine displeasure is provoked Hence is that saying Vngirt unbless'd Albeit I know the Jews use to Girdle their children lest from the intuition of their own nakedness they should imbibe an immodest Confidence CHAP. XI Of their Synagogues the Officers thereof time of their Election Hours of Prayer THe Synagogue in
There are some Jews who to be esteemed Devout rise very early every morning to lament the ruines of Hierusalem and the Temple and they hope by the merit of so doing to move God to hasten their reparation and the restoring of the Kingdom to Israel And there are those who believe that the Planets and Stars weep with those who in the night shed tears for the City and that when they run down their cheeks God puts the tears in a bottle and keeps them to blot out all the Edicts which at any time shall be made by their Enemies for their Destruction But to return to their Mattens There is a general Tradition among the Jews That at night the Gates of Heaven are shut up and that the good Angels sit silent by them and that the Evil Spirits are then at liberty to wander up and down to effect their projects And that a little after Midnight the Gates of Heaven are opened with so great a noise that the Cocks here below are therewith awaken'd and Crow to awaken them to their Prayers And that this might not be thought to be the melancholy of some few imagining Jews they have put it into their general Lyturgie wherein for this good Office of the Cock they thus give thanks Bendito tu Adonai nuestro Dio Rey del Mundo dâ—n al Gallo distinto para entender entre dia y noche Blessed be thou Adonai our God King of the World who hast given understanding to the Cock to distinguish the night from the day But the Oraisons we have now been speaking of relate to their private Devotions which are preparative to the publick To which later they are not suffer'd to repair till they have dressed their bodies according to prescription And to a stranger they seem herein very antick and humoursom For beginning with their Shirt that must not be put on but after such a secret manner that the very beams of the house must not be privy to their Nakedness and therefore they creep under the Counterpane or Coverlet while they put on their Mutands And for this they cite and praise the Example of one Master Jose who upon his Death-bed gave God thanks that through the whole course of his life the timber of his Bed never discovered his Natural retirements Much of this stuff might be set down relating to their present manner of dressing themselves as how that the left-foot-shooe must be put on before the right c. But the love of brevity has prevailed with me to omit them When they have accoutred themselves for the Synagogue at the leaving of their Apartments they are commanded moderately to bow down their Heads to express thereby their great sadness for the desolation of the Temple Before they go to publick Prayers they use all manner of needful Evacuations of the Body and when for this purpose they enter their Retraits the Devouter beseech the Angels to stay at door till they come out whom they thus accost Most Holy and most Glorious Ministers of the most High I beseech you keep preserve and help me wait till I go in and come out for this is the custom and way of all men They account it a hainous Sin to retard the Natural Purgations of the Body because thereby they may incur Distempers And to this unsavoury purpose they alledge Levit. 20.25 but for what reason is not so easily to be comprehended But their chiefest bodily preparation consists in washing which is a Ceremony bestowed on all those parts of the body that are more notoriously liable to be unclean And the hands which according to their Masters after sleep are venemous and impure by reason of the noxious spirits lodged as they opine in the palms thereof when they are asleep are first of all to be punctually washt For they hold that if a Jew should touch his eyes nose ears or mouth with unwasht hands he should be troubled with dimness of Sight Catarrhs Deafness and a stinking Breath In washing their hands they hold them up that the water may run down to their Elbows Which elevation of their hands Ceremony of washings help to explain the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. Mark 7.3 which has made so much stir among Criticks At the time of this preparative washing the Jews say this Hymn Bendito tu Adonai Nuestro Dio Rey del Mundo que nos Santificò en sus en comendancas y en comendò sobre limpieza de Manos Blessed be thou O Lord our God King of the World who hast sanctified us with thy Commandments and enjoyned us cleanness of hands Where by Commandments must not be understood any strict Law of Moses in this particular but of the Tradition of their Elders or injunctions of their Antient Sanhedrim by which they are bound to wash not only when they go to the Synagogue but also whensoever they eat To which Custom that passage of Saint John 11.6 has an unquestionable reference For the water-pots which were set ready at the Feast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were for the Jews to wash in before they did eat But we speak not here of their every-dayes washing but of that which they now use in order of preparation to their publick Devotion which is the last thing they do before they go to the Synagogue And if any occasional defilement happen as they go as the touching of a dead Carkass the killing of a Flea for a small thing will defile a Jew they presently wash their hands before they appear in the solemn Worship There were other sorts of washing of old among the Jews as that of the Priests when they went to the Temple to officiate in imitation whereof arose the washings and lustrations among the Gentiles There was also another sort of washing belonged to their Proselytes at their reception into the Church of the Jews of which we have already spoken something in their Proselytism CHAP. XIII Of the Jews Zizith and Tephillim or Phylactery or Prayer-Ornaments WHen the Jews prepare for Morning-Service they with singular circumspection put on their Zizith and Tephillim which are properly their Prayer-Ornaments and so necessary an accoutrement for the Synagogue that they are the chief Cognizances and badges of Religion without which they cannot hope that their Church-Services should be accepted The wearing of the Zizith or Fringe they collect from Exodus 15.37 And they very confidently assert that a careful observation of the Commandment concerning the Zizith is a fulfilling of the whole Law And they ground this peremptory position upon a Mystery which their Gemalria has found in the word and manner of its making For say they the Zizith hath five knots representing the five Books of Moses and the eight threds added thereunto make thirteen which together with the Numeral Letters in the word it self amount to six hundred and thirteen which is the number of all the Commandments contained in the Law And therefore they conclude that the right wearing of the
dinner and supper Which if they reckon right make up the sum At the saying of the Benediction for Gods giving them the Law they stand up with their heels joyn'd together and their toes opened bowing their heads toward Hierusalem They have also a Prayer which is said by the Priest alone wherein he desires God that he would be pleased to pardon all those who have been negligent and unattentive at the time of Prayer But I could not finde this Prayer in their Breviary though with some curiosity I perused it to that purpose Besides the Sabbath they keep Monday and Thursday as weekly Holy days On each of which they read three Sections of the Law the first by a Koên whom they suppose to be descended of Aaron the second by a Reputed Levite and the third Section by a Common Jew As concerning the keeping of Monday and Thursday Holy and reading the Law thereon as well as on the Sabbath after a more Solemn manner the Vulgar Jews give no other account thereof but Custom and the Pleasure of the Masters But those who pretend to give a Rationale of their Rites refer it to an Institution of Ezdras grounded upon the peoples wandring three dayes without water in the Desart of Sur in memory whereof he appointed the Law to be thrice solemnly read every week Now to be without water say they is to be without the Law for which interpretation they bring Esay 55.1 Others think that Thursday and Monday are set apart for the solemn Lesson of the Law in memory of Moses's going the second time into the Mountain to renew the Tables of the Law which hapned say the favourers of this Opinion upon a Thursday and to have returned thence upon a Monday Upon which dayes some of the preciser sort keep a strict Fast like those in St. Luke 18. and in all probability for the same end On these two dayes they have besides the usual Office a proper Prayer which from the first words thereof bears the title of Vehu-rachum which is said with singular attention Of old this Prayer used to work Miracles but by reason of some great delinquency in the present Jews it has lost this Efficacy CHAP. XV. Their Ceremonies about the Book of the Law Their Manner of Celebrating the Sabbath The Offices which thereon are Solemniz'd c. IT is a Canon strictly observed by the Jews That a Book of the Law is necessary to the Constitution of a Synagogue And therefore the first thing they provide in order to set up a Synagogue is a Copy of the Law and a Chest or Ark wherein to lay it up Now that which is called the Book of the Law is The Pentateuch written in a large Character on Parchment which is dressed according to the manner of the Phylacteries The Parchment is rolled up upon two staves to make it the more convenient to be carried in Procession It is also usually wrapt up in a covering of Linnen Silk Tissue c. As for the piece of Tapistry pictured with divers Birds which was the old-fashion'd Covering of the Ark the Jews in Barbary use no such thing for they abhor all manner of Imagery in their Service as minding them of the Idolatry of their Fathers for which they conceive themselves to be still punished and also out of an averseness to be thought to imitate those Christians who have offensively introduced Pictures into their Oratories not only for Ornament but Veneration But to return to the Law The Jews pay the five Books of Moses so great a Reverence that they never suffer them to be taken out of the Chest or looked upon but on three dayes namely Monday Thursday and Sunday when they are read and this too in the Morning because it is esteemed the purest part of the day 'T is true they use also to show the Law to the people on the Sabbath-night but it is because the whole day is hallowed The taking out of the Law belongs to a Noted Rabbi or in his absence to one of the more ancient and Devouter Jews But to carry it in Procession within the Synagogue is sold to him who is able to give most for the Place As we have observed in the Officers of the Synagogue At the taking out of the Law the Officer turns himself to the people and repeats this Versicle Come and extol God with me and let us praise his Name together And at the Elevation of the Law the people bow their Faces toward it and make a long Respond wherein they declare their own vileness and magnifie the Majesty of God And when the Rabbi holds up the Law and opens it he speaks these words This is the Law which Moses laid before the Children of Israel and which proceeded from God whose ways are all just The word of the Lord is pure and a defence to all those who believe it When the Law is carried from the Ark to the place where it is appointed to be read all the people there present sing the Hymn of Moses Numb 10.35 Rise up Lord and let thine Enemies be scatter'd and let them that hate thee flee before thee By which they wish and pray for the Destruction of all those who are not of their Religion When they carry the Law either to the Reading-place or in Procession there is always one who steps up to him that carries it and kisseth the Covering thereof for it were to defile the Law to kiss either the Letters thereof or the Parchment whereon they are written And he who doth this with a Voice moderately elevated blesseth God for having made the Jews his peculiar people and that he hath given them his Law When the Book returns from Procession and has put on its Coverings all the Males in the Synagogue kiss it in Order as the Papists do their Pax and when they have done the Officer gives the Book an Elevation and so lays it up in the Chest And as it returns thither they say the words of Moses at the resting of the Ark Numb 10.36 Return O Lord unto the ten thousand thousands of Israel The Pentateuch is divided into fifty two Sections to the end that it may be read over upon the fifty two Sundaies in the Year And in reading it they are bound to be very plain audible and articulate Because every tittle thereof is of singular weight and moment The last Lesson constantly falls upon September the twenty fifth which immediately follows the Feast of Tabernacles And when this Section is read over the Chasans or those who read the Law declare a great joy and satisfaction that they lived to make an end of the Annual Lesson They also praise God that notwithstanding the many Miserie 's befaln them they are still in possession of the Law in which all other Blessings are abridg'd On the day when this last Section is read all the Copies of the Law are brought forth of the Ark about which the people dance in
Sabbath Through all their Offices there is still something peculiarly relating to the hastening of Elias to the end that he may not only loose their knots or resolve their scruples but give them timely notice of the advent of the Messias But notwithstanding that their Offices for the Sabbath contain excellent things according to their way of Worship yet they have therein many things apparently trivial and ridiculous Of which we may give example in their praying over the Lamps Wine and Spices which are brought unto the Synagogue Where the Wine being consecrated it is carried home that therewith they may sprinkle their houses to preserve them from Witchcraft and Sorcerous Incantations Some likewise wash therewith the parts of the Body that are infirm and conceive that the consecrate Wine yields present cure The Spices also being hallowed are made use of to refresh the Soul that is left alone in the Body when the Sabbath is ended for on that day only they hold that every Male Jew has two Souls But the consecrate Wine and Spices have yet an higher purpose and vertue For with the Spices they refresh the Souls below on the week-dayes because the fire of Purgatory thereon is believed to send forth a very grievous stench And by pouring some of the consecrate Wine upon the ground they imagine Corah and his fellow-Mutineers to be assisted For they are of Opinion that that factious crew are still living in flames under ground It cannot be denyed that albeit the Sabbath Offices of the Jews are taken for the greater part out of Scripture but that they entertain a very Carnal sense thereof and that the whole Rest tends more to gratifie the Body than to serve God And to engross this Ease unto themselves and to show that the Sabbath was purposely appointed for their sakes and that none other have thereunto any right or title as also to declare their just Dominion over all other people in the world the Jews in Barbary imploy their Slaves in all manner of servile Offices upon this day And on it too give solemn thanks unto God That he has put no less difference between Israel and the Gentiles than between light and darkness the six days and the seventh Mr. Selden observes out of their Rabbins that there were three things peculiarly commanded the Israelites namely Circumcision the Tephillim and the Sabbath The first was expresly commanded Gen. 17. the second in Exod. 13. and the third Exod. 31. Now this last was so particularly commanded to the Israelites that the Jews think no Gentile has any share therein that they are not bound to its observation and therefore cannot be punished for the breach thereof And upon this account as we but now intimated they imploy their servants and slaves who are not of their Religion in every sort of drudgery upon the Sabbath that their Doctrine may be illustrated by their Practice And for a further Argument of the appropriation of the Sabbath to the Jews they wear thereon no Phylacteries because without those the Celebration of the Sabbath is thought sufficient to distinguish them from all other Religions in the World The Jewish Masters have raised no few disputes concerning the cause and reason of the Institution of the Sabbath with the persons to whom it belongs the time when its observation began together with its obligation both upon the Originarie and Proselyte Jews All which are industriously collected and learnedly discoursed by Mr. Selden lib. 3. cap. 10 11 12 13 c. de jure Nat. Gentium juxta Disciplinam Hebraeorum What we have already set down concerning these Sabbatine Rites hath respect unto the Jews in Barbary whom I find to harmonize herein with the Jews of other Countries Now because the Sabbath and its Rites make up a great part of their present Religion I thought it not improper to insert the Rules of the Sabbath which are practised by the European Hebrews as they are set down by Mr. Buxtorf in the tenth and eleventh Chapters of his Synagogue I have been enforced to make use of a young Pen in the Translation thereof and to deliver them to the Press without either Perusal or Transcribing and therefore desire the Reader to correct and pardon what faults may therein occur CHAP. XVI How the Jews Prepare themselves for the Sabbath and how they begin it WE read how the Jews prepared themselves on the sixth day according to that of Exodus 16.5 23. To morrow is the rest of the Holy Sabbath unto the Lord bake that which ye will bake to day and seeth that which ye will seeth Which they interpret of providing all necessary things against the Sabbath that they may the better honour it but especially all Dyet is to be prepared and dress'd that they may have the better leasure to hallow the Day And to this end whatsoever they intend to eat on the Sabbath they make ready on Friday before night the women chiefly are employed in making sweet-meats of divers sorts and when they make ready their dough they make it in a great lump undivided but if the lump be so great as it is in large families that it must be divided the remaining part is kept covered lest a neighbour seeing it may be ashamed that others have provided for the next Sabbath and he not for the present Every one according to his Ability hallows the Day with three splendid Banquets They begin the first on Friday-night before the Sabbath the second on Saturday at noon the last in the evening of the Sabbath And they justifie the performance of this Ceremony from Moses his writings where concerning Manna it is thus expressed Exod. 16.25 Eat that to day for to day is a Sabbath unto the Lord to day ye shall not find it in the fields Here the Rabbies say that Moses meant by repeating the word Day three times that they should in their Banquets on the Sabbath thrice eat of the Manna But the repetition of those Banquets hath some other meaning as is evident by their Book of Ceremonies written in the German Dialect For unless they had been commanded to eat at three set-times they would have so indulged themselves that the whole Sabbath would have been a time only to eat and drink but because all knew when they were present at one Banquet that they must attend on two more every one observed that moderation agreeable to their particular appetites and befitting such a Solemnity thinking on the dainties which they should again shortly taste What is moreover meant by this Banquet and how much they reckon of it shall a little after be declared Moreover none whether noble rich or wise ought to think it beneath him to do something in the honour of the Day For though a man have an hundred maids yea though he have the command of a thousand servants yet he himself ought with his own hands to do something in the honour of the Sabbath And so we read
us to carry a bundle of Palm At this time also the Law is brought to the Reading-place about which they walk with great state and nothing but threatning and victory appear in their looks This they do seven times in memory of their Fathers compassing the walls of Hiericho But others say That this compassing of the Reading-place seven times is in prediction of the certain ruine of their Enemies And this notice of the Ceremonie is very agreeable to the Execratory which is now used by them Wherein they profoundly curse the Christians desiring that God would smite them as he did the First-born of Egypt And though this Direful Prayer is not found in that Liturgie printed at Venice as I above-mentioned yet I am assured by a good Author that it is extant in the Machsor of the Cracovian Impression Upon the last day of this Festival the last Section of the Law is constantly read and the first Section begun For they begin and end the Lesson of the Law on the same day to declare their joy therein This last day of the Feast of Tents is called the Great day of the Feast S. John 7.37 where Tremelius observes that on the last of Tabernacles the antient Jews used to incompass the Altar as the modern Jews now the Reading-place with Palms in their hands crying Hosanna that is Preserve us we beseech thee Whence it was called Hasanna Rabba or the Great Hosanna or the Chief of the Feast And that on the same day they drew water from the Well of Shiloah at the foot of Mount Sion and brought it to the Temple where the Priests mingled it with the best Wine and poured it on the Altar and that the people sang these words of Esay With joy shall they draw water out of the Wells of Salvation To which our Saviour is thought to have alluded in that speech which on this day he made use of S. John 7.38 Every one that believeth in me out of his belly shall flow living waters When they have built their Tabernacles they may not use them till the Father of the Family hath consecrated both them and all the Utensils of the Feast wherein he gives God thanks that he hath chosen and sanctified the Jews above all other Nations and that to them only belongs the habitation in Tents At the expiration of the Feast when they come out of their Tabernacles the Chief of the Family saith these words God grant that the following year we may dwell in the Tent of the Leviathan The mystery of which Prayer depends upon the Opinion that the Jews have of eating with their Messias of the great Fish called a Leviathan which they imagine to be of a Poetical Magnitude and preserved on purpose for that great Entertainment to which they shall all be invited by Messias at his coming And the Prayer above-named has respect to this Opinion and designes no more than their desires that their King may have a speedy advent And having now taken this short view of the present Rites wherewith the Jews celebrate their three Cardinal Feasts their Minor Festivals come next to be considered Among which their Purim or Feast of Lots merits the first remembrance For to it is allotted a proper Office which honour is not granted to any of the rest CHAP. XXI Of the Jews Purim or Feast of Lots THe word Purim is Persick and signifies Lots and the Feast bears this name from the occasion of its Institution which without the trouble of transcribing is to be seen at large in the Book of Esther The Mischiefs plotted against the Jews falling upon their Enemies and those being killed by them who designed their destruction and all this happening upon the 13 of the Month Adar answering to our February and ending upon the 14 of the same Month in memory of their own deliverance and the destruction of their Enemies the Jews keep those two daies Festival whereon they both happened In the Celebration of this Feast they at present use these Ceremonies First they light up great store of Lamps that thereby they may testifie their joy and read over the Book of Esther At which both the women and children are bound to be present Who at the naming of Haman make an hideous noise beating with their hands and stamping with their feet and at the same time pronounce these words Let his name be blotted out Let the name of the ungodly come to naught Cursed be Haman blessed be Mordachee Cursed be Zeresch but blessed be Esther Cursed be all Idolaters and blessed be all Israelites Which Maledictions are now applied to the Christians And when they come to that passage concerning the death of Haman's Sons they huddle it over without pause or distinction intimating that they were all killed in a moment and that they hate to be long mentioning them When they come out of the Synagogue they fall to eating and drinking and are therein much more liberal at this than any other time And they have a Rule that at the Feast of Purim they should drink till they cannot distinguish between Cursed be Haman and blessed be Mordachee At this Feast the Rich supply the Poor with Wine and Viands and for two daies none undertake any Servile work The women especially are to keep Holy-day in honour of her who was the occasion of their Deliverance At this Feast also they salute one another with presents and bestow large Alms upon the Needy in compliance with what their Great Patriot commanded Esther 9 20 21 22. Where he established the Institution of the Feast of Lots The Mattins of this Feast begin with extolling Gods mercie and power in their Deliverance After which follow the Proper Lessons out of Esther When those are finished the Chasan leaves the Pulpit and saith part of the Dayly Service Their Vespers they begin with this Psalm My God my God why hast thou forsaken me c. and then again a Lesson is read out of Esther and after that the ordinary Evening-Service Then follow four Benedictions and all is concluded with select Psalms Purim is the last of their Anniversary Festivals for happening in Adar there is none between it and Easter which alwaies falls in Nisan the Month that began the Year when the Hebrews came out of Egypt and which still keeps that place in the Computation of their Greater Feasts Besides their Purim and the three Capital Feasts which we have already considered the Jews have other Minor Festivals as that of Reconciliation Dedication Church-Officers New year and Lunar Mutations of which take this short account in their Order And beginning with their Feast of Reconcilement or Expiation we finde the ground thereof in Lev. 16. and an express Statute for its Celebration v. 29. In the seventh month on the tenth day of the month ye shall afflict your souls and do no work at all whether he be one of your own Country or a stranger ihat sojourneth among you v. 30.
the present Judaism for which they are not furnished with an Evasion For the Jewish Masters take an especial care and use an utmost diligence to see the Youth be so profoundly instructed in the Elements of their Religion that it may be no easie task to efface the Characters of their first Catechism or to pull down the Fortress of Education And above all it is in this point highly considerable that the common sort of Jews are bound to acquiesce in the Judgement of their Rabbins to whom they make their last appeal when pressed with Arguments too difficult for their own Solution Of which I could produce a numerous Citation but I shall content my self with the single instance of one Jacob Israel Belgara who from Hag. 2.7 being clearly confuted that the time of Messias's Advent was already past eluded the whole Argument by referring himself to the Sentiments of their Masters The next thing which may be reckon'd among the grand impediments of the Jews Conversion are the Christians uncharitable Dissentions and Divisions which they suppose proceedeth from a want of the Vnity of Truth in the Foundation And which they can no way make agreeable to that mutual peace and affection foretold to flourish among the Professors of the true Messias and to be the signals of his Kingdom Isaiah 11.6 7 c. This I alwaies found a string continually harp'd upon by the Jews one scoffingly told me that if he should turn Christian he knew not what Sect to be of reflecting upon the manifold divisions that are wofully hapned under the general denomination of Christian In the body a wound is worse than corruption the former being a Solution of Continuity the later but a disorder of some Humour In Christians evil manners are wholly contradictions of the Purity of their Religion but Schism brings its Truth into question and is of that wretched consequence that it keeps those out that are without and drives those out that are within For our speaking with different tongues will make the Atheist as well as Infidel say that we are mad But were the scandal of our Divisions removed yet the Naughtiness of our lives would become a new hinderance of the Jews conversion who are very greatly scandalized with the open and even professed transgression of the third Commandment so apparent in those Blasphemies which hellish mouthes dart up against God and those horrid Oaths which are become with some meer Interjections of Speech and with others Phrases of Gallantry And that those sins which the Jews severely punish should become the Christians Physick and Recreations and that we should live in so palpable a contradiction to our Vow and Promise of a cleer contrary Carriage And it was this Licentiousness of Conversation that made a leud Jew in Spain turn'd to Popery magnifie the happiness of his change because he had light on a Religion wherein at once he could enjoy Both his Beads and his Whore Reflecting upon that old Spanish Proverb Las quentas en la Máno y el Diáblo en el Capillo Good words and wicked works And if this obstacle were also taken away and Christians would take care to be as regular as their Religion doth oblige them yet there wants proper means for the Jews Conversion as being vouchsafed neither competent conversation nor Books for that purpose As to the first none I think will deny it highly requisite in this affair unless such as would make the Gospel like weapon-Salve to work at a distance Now we know that in our own Nation there is no such competent familiarity or civil Society held with the Jews as in any degree of probability may in ordinary course be sufficient for their Conversion For since their Expulsion out of England by King Edward the First about the year 1290 the greatest conversation with them has been managed by Tradesmen upon the account of Trafick and secular purposes as is evident at this day And we have been so far from endeavouring their conversion to Christianity that that which might greatly have encouraged it is quite taken away I mean the House of Converts erected by our Henry the Third which he piously indowed for the maintenance of poor Jews converted to Christianity where every one during their lives was allowed two pence a day and appointed by Edward the Third for Records to be kept therein now called the Rowles Nor hath it fared any better with the Jews in other Nations than in our own for since from France they were banished by Philippus Pulcher Anno 1307 From Spain by Ferdinand Anno 1492 From Portugal by Emanuel Anno 1497 Out of the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily by Charles the Fifth Anno 1539. they have in these Kingdoms been so far from any enjoyment of that Society requisite to make them converts that they dare not set a foot within their Borders without running very great adventures as is known to all acquainted with the Regiment of those Countries 'T is true in the Jurisdiction of Avignon the Popes State the Jews are admitted And they are very numerous in Rome Venice Legorn c. not to speak of their Toleration in Germany Bohemia Polonia Lituania Russia yet they are so little invited to Christianity that they meet with no small motives to the contrary For in the Papal Dominions no Jew can be admitted to Baptism till he has renounced the World that is till he confess all the Estate gotten in Judaism was ill gotten and that he doth and ought to renounce it and leave it to the Church And it is but cold comfort to a Jew so notoriously devoted to the world to take a final farewel of his beloved Mammon and to devest himself and Family of all maintenance at his initiation into Christianity without any convenient provision for his future subsistence unless he will betake himself to a Cloyster a kinde of life very unpleasing to the Jews as contrary to the designe of Nature which intended man for Society and each to be helpful to other in civil duties Besides that Monkery is a trade which they never finde commended or injoyn'd by God never practised or counselled by their renowned Ancestors who received continual instruction and inspiration from above which none of their Patriarchs or Prophets have given Example of only in three or four thousand years Elias and some one or other have been found upon very extraordinary cause to have taken also an extraordinary course of life though of other nature and to other purpose then the Votaries of the Roman Church 'T is true the Pope has power to dispense in this particular and to grant the Jew Baptism without confiscation of his Estate yet this is so seldom and uncertain that few Jews are found so hardy as to trie the Experiment In the next place as to Books tending to further the Jews conversion it must be granted that there is no small impediment arising from this particular For notwithstanding that many
it gain'd such credit with the Hebrews as to be publickly taught in their Colledges and to be made the Catechism of their Youth as in another Discourse I have observed The time when this Syntagm was finished by Rabbi Jehuda is not certain but most conjecture it was about an hundred and twenty years after the Destruction of the Temple and near upon the 190th year of the Crucifixion About an hundred and eighty years after that Rabbi Jehuda had thus composed the Misna one R. Jochanan who for many years had been the Head of a Colledge in Palestine added to the Misna of Jehuda his Gemara which together with the Misna made up the Hierusalem-Talmud or the Doctrinal of the Jews who dwelt in the Citie and Judea But this was looked upon as not sufficient for all the Constitutions and Decisions of the Hebrews in Captivity and Dispersion especially after they were passed from under the Roman to the Persick Empire And therefore one Rabbi Ashi or Ase composed a Second Gemara about an hundred years after the First which being effected by him when he lived in Babylon and for the use of the Jews there it with the Misna was called the Babylonian Talmud And notwithstanding that the Talmud of Hierusalem is confessed by the Jews to have fewer Mysterious that is Fabulous Stories than the Talmud of Babylon yet this later hath obtain'd publick Honour and Belief among them and at this day is universally received as the Authentick Body of their Law In this Compilement the Misna is as the Text and the Gemara as the Comment in which the different Opinions of the Ancient Masters are reported and discuss'd and a final and absolute Decision thereunto annexed And thus we have seen in brief the Original of the Talmud which by way of eminence is often stiled the Law and indifferently used for the Misna or the Secundary Law which contains the Traditions of Moses and the Gemara containing the Disputations and Decisions that have been made upon those Traditions though properly speaking these two are constituent parts of the Talmud In which many passages are inserted which if taken literally the Jews confess would look like the most idle and Romantick Tales that ever filled a Legend And therefore they assigne them a secret and reserved interpretation which say they fall not under the comprehension of Vulgar and Ordinary Capacities But after all this it must be granted that some Christian Writers understand the Talmud to be nothing else but a System of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Traditions of the Jewish Fathers which if granted can at most respect but one part thereof namely the Misna It is true that these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were highly valued by the Pharisaical Jews and as meanly looked upon by the Sadduces who pleaded as eagerly for their Non-observance as the other did to the contrarie And the fierce and impetuous contention which hapned about these Traditions in the School of Antigonus Sochaeus gave name and birth to the Pharisees and Sadduces the first factious Sectaries notorious among the Jews Josephus speaks much of their Emulation and Strife and how the Sadduces were abetted by the Wealthy and the Pharisees by the Multitude And that in the end the later so prevailed with the Populacie as to have the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be taught for Doctrine and to be made an Authentick Institution of their Schools Of which numerous are said to have been erected purposely to advance the Pharisaical Discipline Yet it must here be remarked that the teaching of these Traditions did not totally exclude though greatly diminish the instruction of the written Law For in every Colledge of the University of Hierusalem there were two Schools the one called the Bibliotheca because therein they used Books and taught the Scriptural Law the other was called the Misna or Beth Talmud or House of Doctrine by reason of the Traditions that therein were instilled Both these Schools flourished till they were laid desolate by Titus whose desolation occasioned in great part the writing of the Sepher Misnaioth by R. Juda who is said to have lived under the three Antonines Pius Marcus and Commodus But what in this affair is not the least observable there is no express notice taken of the Talmud by those Fathers who lived in the four first Ages of Christianity notwithstanding they spoke many things of the Jewish Traditions And Tertullian ex professo writing against the Jews though he speaks distinctly of the Primordial Law given to Adam and of the Law of the two Tables delivered to Moses yet he makes not the least mention of the Misna or Oral Law S. Austin of the fifth Age doth expresly name this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Second Law as containing certain Traditions of the Jews which they wrote not but got by heart and transfused them from one to another by word of mouth But the great darkness that befel the Jews Records at the beginning of Christianity might be one reason why the knowledge of the Talmud came so late to the Christian world And indeed for almost two Ages after the Talmud was finished but little light or certainty is to be met with in the History of the Jews And as to our part of the world it was not much acquainted with the Doctrines and Records of the Hebrews till they were expell'd Babylon At which time a great part of them came into Europe and especially settled in Spain where applying themselves unto Studie the Rabbins began to multiply and grow Learned and to illustrate the Talmud with Commentaries Expositions and Homilies As is to be seen in the Writings of Zacuth Abarbinel Gautz Ben Nachman c. all Spanish Jews but especially R. Moses Ben Maimon born at Corduba and a Student in Egypt whence he was called Moses Egyptius who in the 23d year of his Age began to comment upon the Misnaioth or the Text of the Talmud which he finished at thirty He lived seventy years and during his whole life was so studious in writing upon and instructing Religion that to this day it is said of him From Moses the Prophet to Moses the Egyptian there was never such another Moses The first among Christians who took more solemn Cognizance of the Talmud was Justinian the Emperour who about the 551 year of Christ gave Toleration to the Jews to read the Sacred Bible in their Synagogues in the Greek Tongue but utterly prohibited them the Reading of the Misna as being neither adjoyned to the Sacred Books nor delivered from above to the Prophets but a meer invention of Earthly Men who had nothing of Heaven in them As is to be seen Novella 146. where the Notes upon that Constitution say that the Misna Torah was Composed out of the Caballisticks and Anagogicks of the Jews or some allegorical interpretations pretended to be derived from Moses When the Jews were setled in Italy and France the Bishops of Rome began to take severe cognizance of the Talmud For Pope Innocent IV. commanded all the Copies thereof that could be found in France to be burned because it contained manifest Blasphemies against God Christ and the Virgin Mary inextricable abuses erronious and unheard-of Fooleries And in Italy the Talmud fell under the same Condemnation for Pope Julius the third by solemn Bull sentenc'd it to the Flames as containing many things offending the Divine Law and the Orthodox Faith Upon which the Inquisition seised upon all the Gemara's that could be met with in the Regions of Italy and made them an Holocaust to the Holy Chair c. FINIS THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. THe present Condition of the Jews in Barbary their places of Residence Profession Apparel Stature and Complexion c. page 7. CHAP. II. The Moral Conversation of the Barbary-Jews the ingredients of their Religion their backwardness to Disputes their Creed occasion Author with a short Paraphrase thereof c. 13. CHAP. III The Barbary-Jews Opinion of the Trinity Angels several States of the Soul the Law Merit Purgatory Resurrection last Judgment end of the World c. 26. CHAP. IV. Their Opinion of Matrimony and Coelibate their Espousals Dowry-Bill c. 40. CHAP. V. Of other Ceremonies relating to their Marriages 46. CHAP. VI. Their Opinion of Sterility their Lilis their Rites of Child-birth 54. CHAP. VII Of the Rites of Circumcision and Purirification 59. CHAP. VIII Of the Jews Polygamy Divorce A Copy of their Bill of Dismission c. 71. CHAP. IX Of the Jews Concubinage Of their Marrying the Brothers Wife 74. CHAP. X. Of the Institution of their Children the time and manner thereof 80. CHAP. XI Of their Synagogues the Officers thereof time of their Election Hours of Prayer 88. CHAP. XII Of the Jews Preparation to the Synagogue 93. CHAP. XIII Of the Jews Zizith and Tephillim or Phylactery or Prayer-Ornaments 99. CHAP. XIV Of the Jews hastening to Morning Prayer Their manner of Entrancâ— into and Deportment in the Synâ—gogue c. 104. CHAP. XV. Their Ceremonies about the Book of the Law Their Manner of Celebrating the Sabbath The Offices which thereon are Solemniz'd c. 112. CHAP. XVI How the Jews prepare themselves for the Sabbath and how they begin it 130. CHAP XVII How the Jews hallow the Sabbath and how they end it 150. CHAP. XVIII Of the Jews Feasts The manner of their Celebration 167. CHAP. XIX Of their Pentecost or Feast of weeks 175. CHAP. XX. Of the Feast of Tabernacles 177. CHAP. XXI Of the Jews Purim or Feast of Lots 182. CHAP. XXII Of the Jewish Fasts 194. CHAP. XXIII Of the Jewish Excommunication 198. CHAP. XXIV Concerning the present Judicature among the Jews 210. CHAP. XXV The manner of the Jews Alms and of their making provision for Poor 213. CHAP. XXVI Their Visitation of the Sick Testaments Burial of the Dead c. 216. The Conclusion Wherein is considered the present Obstructions of the Jews Conversion 225. A Summary Discourse concerning the Jewish Talmud Misna and Gemara 239. FINIS