taught and diffus'd it or the mighty impediments that retracted their Hearers from embracing or deterr'd them from professing it From all these Heads I might I say fully evince the Excellency of our Religion But because this matter is alien from my present Theme and principally because the same hath been already treated by many others of much greater ability than I can pretend unto more professedly with Philosophic subtility by Raimundus de Sebunde with variety of Dialogues by Ludovicus Vives with solid erudition and charming Eloquence by Mornaeus and with inimitable gravity of judgment by Grotius therefore I restrain my unworthy Pen from profaning a verity so Sacred and as well from its own splendor as from the Light it hath receiv'd from those Illustrious Writers so conspicuous and acquiesce in the full persuasion thereof wishing equal conviction of mind to all Mankind APPENDIX A short History of the Iews TALMVD Collected out of Josephus Philo Judaeus Bishop Walton's Prolegomena ad Biblia Polyglotta the Chronicus Canon of Sir John Marsham c. HAving in the precedent shadow of a Book often cited the TALMVD or Pandects of the Iews and now presuming it to be possible that those Papers of how little value soever in themselves and however secretly kept by me in my life time may yet after my Death come into the hands of some men who are not perhaps so conversant in those Greek and Latine Authors who have written of the Civil and Canonical Laws and Traditions of that Nation as to know from what Original of what Antiquity and of how great Authority among them that Talmud is therefore I am inclin'd to hope that the more Learned will not condemn me either of Vanity or Impertinence if for Information of the less Learned I here add a brief History thereof not without somewhat of diligence and Labour Collected from Writers of excellent Erudition and undoubted Faith After the Macedonians had spread their Victorious Arms over the East and the Hasmoneans with equally successful Courage asserted the Liberty of their Country there arose out of the School of Antigonus Sochaeus two mighty Sects among the Iews the Pharisees so call'd from their Separation and the Sadduces who deriv'd their name from Sadocus their Head and Ring-leader The former deliver'd to the People many Precepts receiv'd by Tradition from their Ancestors which were not written in the Pentateuch among the Laws of Moses the Latter directly opposing the admission and sanction of those Traditions maintain'd that the Precepts recorded in the Books ascrib'd to their Legislator Moses were all of Sacred Authority and therefore to be diligently observ'd but those taught by the Pharisees from tradition only by word of Mouth were not obliging as Iosephus relates Antiquit. l. 13. c. 18. From this division of the disciples of Antigonus in a short time it came to pass that the whole Nation of the Iews also was divided into Sects of which there is no memory in any of their monuments before the Government of Ionathan who succeeded his Brother Iudas Machabaeus whose History we have in the Books of the Maccabees in the year of Nabonassar 588. and of the Iulian Period 4553. At which time as the same Iosephus commemorates Antiquit. l. 13. c. 9. there grew up three Sects or Heresies of the Iews which delivered divers Doctrines not of religious duties but of human affairs principally de Fato one of the Pharisees a Second of the Sadduces a Third of the Essens who lived an active life different from the others So Philo de vita contemplativa distinguishes them from the Theoretics whom he call's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so Photius in Bibliothec. n. 104. interpreting Philo saith Lectae sunt philosophantium apud Iudaeos vivendi rationes Contemplativa Activa quorum hi Esseni illi Therapeut ae appellantur These Esseni 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 denominated from their Sanctity retiring from the noise and crowds of populous Cities into solitary Villages affected solitude gens sola sine ulla faemina sine pecunia socia palmarum c. No wonder then if all the Four Evangelists be silent concerning them since they lived strangers and unknown even to the inhabitants of Ierusalem nor is any mention of them to be found in the writings of any Rabbins before Zacuthius a late writer and living in the year of our Lord 1502. But the Pharisees and their Antagonists the Sadduces made a great bustle and noise in the Court of Ierusalem where they lived in mutual Emulation drawing mighty parties after them the rich for the most part patronizing the Sadduces and the common people adhering to the Pharisees as we read in Iosephus Antiquit l. 13. c. 18. And in truth those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unwritten traditions asserted by the Pharisees grew more and more Authentic in the Schools were openly taught by the Rabbins by word of mouth to their disciples and studiously propagated as sacred verities but not published in writing Yet at length after the City of Ierusalem had been sack'd and demolish'd by Titus and repair'd by Hadrian in such sort that the poor Iews retain'd neither their name nor nation nor religion while by the sedition of one Barchocebas almost all Iudea was reduced to a desert as Xiphili◠in vita Hadriani reports and while the Iews were dispers'd and in exile prohibited to set a foot upon their native soil and the Schools that had been design'd to promote the Pharisaic discipline failed one Rabbi Iehuda whom they call Hakadosh i. e. the Saint with vast Labour collecting all the Traditions Judgments Opinions and Expositions that the Synagogues of all ages precedent had deliver'd upon the whole Law composed of them the Book of the MISHNA and read it publickly And this he did lest the Traditions of their Ancestors might otherwise be lost and forgotten He lived under the three Antonins Pius Marcus and Commodus and finished this Syntagm of the Mishna in the Reign of the Last and as De Gantz computes in the year 120. from the destruction of the Temple but of the Christian Aera 190. This Mishna is their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Second Law so call'd to distinguish it from the first which was written Of Christian writers the first that remembers this Book of the Mishna seems to be the Emperor Iustinian a greater Collector of Ancient but civil Laws and Constitutions who in the year of Christ 551. gave leave to the Iews to read the Holy Scriptures publickly in their Synagogues but interdicted the like use of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Second Edition of their Law the Mishna as neither conjoyn'd to the Pentateuch nor deliver'd down from the old Prophets but invented by men that had nothing of the Divine Spirit in them as appears from Novel 146. pag. 295. But since neither Origen nor Epiphanius nor St. Ierom who all make mention frequently of the Judaic traditions takes notice of any such Book as the Mishna and since
are in force it is most fitly to be denoted by the Title of Right Intervenient among those Nations And in fine so far as the same Caesarean Right is by some single Nations receiv'd into their Forum or Court of Judicature it is to be named the Civil Right of some Nations or their Domestick Right From this consideration of the nature various notions and differences of Right we may easily be able to distinguish betwixt those two things which many learned Writers confound using the words Right and Law promiscuously For from the Premisses it may be collected that Right consisteth in liberty of doing or not doing But Law obligeth to do or not to do and therefore Right and Law differ as Liberty and Obligation which about the same thing are inconsistent Hence we may define Natural Right to be the Liberty which every man hath of using according to his own will and pleasure his power to the conservation of his Nature and by consequence of doing all things that he shall judge to be conducive thereunto Understanding by Liberty what that word properly signifies Absence of external impediments And Natural Law to be a Precept or General Rule excogitated by reason by which every man is prohibited to do that which he shall judge to tend to his hurt harm or wrong By Nature all Wise men understand the Order Method and Oeconomy instituted and established by God from the beginning or Creation for Government and Conservation of the World All the Laws of Nature therefore are the Laws of God And that which is called Natural and Moral is also Divine Law as well because Reason which is the very Law of Nature is given by God to every man for a rule of his Actions as because the Precepts of living which are thence deriv'd are the very same that are promulged by the Divine Majesty for Laws of the Kingdom of Heaven by our most blessed Lord Iesus Christ and by the Holy Prophets and Apostles nor is there in Truth any one Branch of Natural or Moral Law which may not be plainly and fully confirm'd by the Divine Laws delivered in Holy Scripture as will soon appear to any man who shall attentively read and consider what our Master Hobbs hath with singular judgment written in the 4 th Chapter of his Book de Cive where he confirms all the Laws of Nature by comparing them singly with Divine Precepts given in the Old and New Testament Whoever therefore desires clearly to understand the Reasonableness Equity Justice and Utility of Moral Laws and the true Causes of the Obligation under which he is to observe them in order to his Felicity as well in this life as in that which is to come ought most seriously and profoundly to consider the Divine Laws or Precepts recorded in that Collection of Sacred Writings call'd the Bible Which I though of Learning inferiour to so Noble an undertaking and subject by the Nature of my Profession and Studies to various Distractions every day yet resolve with my self to attempt according to the Module of my weak understanding not for Information of Others but for my own private satisfaction CHAP. II. God's Sovereign Right to Dominion over all things in the World THat God is by highest Right Soveraign Lord and Monarch of the Universe having in himself most absolute power both of Legislation and of Iurisdiction is sufficiently manifest even from this That He is sole Author and Creator of the World and all things therein Contain'd and doth by His most wise Providence perpetually Conserve and Sustain them And that He only can relax or remit the Obligation under which His Subjects are to observe the Laws by Him given for their Regimen and to whom He pleaseth pardon the Violation of them is no less manifest from His very Supremacy So that it belongs not to the right of any Mortal Ruler either to command what God forbids or to forbid what God commands The reason is because as in Natural causes the Inferiour have no force against the efficacy of the Superior so it is in Moral also Upon which reason St. Austin seems to have fixt his most discerning Eye when teaching that the Commands of Kings and Emperors so far as they contradict any Divine Command cannot impose an Obligation to Obedience advances to his conclusion by the degrees of this Climax or Scale If the Curator commands somewhat it is not to be done if the Proconsul forbids Herein we contemn not the Power but choose to obey the Higher Again if the Proconsul bid one thing and the Emperor injoin the contrary without doubt you must give obedience to the Emperor Therefore if the Emperor exact one thing and God another what is to be done God is certainly the greater Power give us leave O Emperor to obey Him From the same reason that most wise Emperor Marcus Aurelius also said the Magistrates judge private men Princes the Magistrates and God the Princes And Seneca the Tragedian Quicquid à vobis minor extimescit Major hoc vobis Dominus minatur Omne sub regno graviore regnum est For his sense is Deum esse supra omnes summates hominum Regum timendorum in proprios greges Reges in ipsos imperium est Iovis This Monarchy of God is double Natural and Civil By the Natural is to be understood the absolute Dominion which from the Creation he hath exercis'd and at this day doth exercise over all men Naturally or by right of His Omnipotency By the Civil I understand that which in the Holy Scriptures is most frequently named The Kingdom of God and which is most properly call'd Kingdom because constituted by consent of the Hebrew Nation who by express pact or covenant chose God to be their King He promising to give them possession of the land of Canaan and they promising to obey him in all things But this Kingdom being by Divine Justice for the disobedience and many rebellions of that perverse people long since extinct they now remain in the same state of subjection with all other Nations namely under the Natural Empire of the Universal Monarch God But what is worthy our more serious remark and consideration tho the Common-wealth of the Hebrews the form of whose Government may be most properly call'd a Theocraty for the Supreme Ruler and President was not Moses but Almighty God Himself hath been so many Ages past dissolv'd yet the most excellent Positive Divine Laws principally those comprehended in the Decalogue upon which that Empire was founded have lost nothing of their Sanction and Original force but still continue Sacred and Obligatory not only to the posterity of the Hebrews but also to all the Sons of Men of what Nation soever Which the Learned Cunaeus hath de rep Hebraeor cap. 1. with singular judgment observ'd in words of this sense The Laws of other Nations inventions of humane Wit are enforced only by penalties which by time or
nay most probably he never so much as heard For this Just Man is said Iob 1. 5. to have offer'd up Victims in the name of his Sons not according to the Form and Rites ordain'd in the Mosaic Law by which it was Enacted under the penalty of Excision that all Sacrifices should be Immolated at the Door of the Tabernacle Whence some Learned Men infer that he lived before the Law was given Others affirm that there never was any such Man and the Book that bears that name is not a true History but a Parable or Poem for the Original is written in Verse concerning Providence Divine Which of these two Opinions is to be preferr'd I pretend not now to enquire Certain it is however that this Book contains many remarkable things pertaining to Natural Law principally these following Of Idolatry Chap. 31. v. 26. If I beheld the Sun when it shined or the Moon walking in brightness and my heart hath been secretly enticed or my mouth kissed my hand this also were an Iniquity to be punish'd by the Iudge for I should have denied the God that is above Of Blasphemy Chap. 1. v. 5. In the Morning he Offer'd Burnt-Offerings according to the number of them all For Job said it may be that my Sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts Of Homicide Chap. 31. v. 29. If I rejoyced at the destruction of him that hated me or lift up my self when evil found him Neither have I suffered my Mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his Soul If the Men of my Tabernacle said not Oh that we had of his flesh we cannot be satisfied Of Adultery Chap. 31. v. 9. If my heart hath been deceived by a Woman or if I have laid wait at my Neighbours door then let my Wife grind unto another and let others bow down upon her or as the Vulgar Latin Scortum alterius sit Vxor mea To turn about a Mill was among the ancient Services of Women Of Theft or the unlawful laying hands upon the Goods of another Chap. 31. v. 7. If any blot have cleaved to my hands then let me saw and let another eat yea let my Offspring be rooted out Of Judgments he speaks in Chap. 29. from v. 7. to the end where he relates that Himself had in the days of his Prosperity sate on the Tribunal and been a Prince among the Judges of his Nation Most evident it is then that all these Precepts of the Sons of Noah obtain'd among and were Sacred to the Idumeans who lived not under the Laws of Moses CHAP. XI The seventh Precept Of not eating any Member of an Animal alive THis Precept was added after the Flood according to the Traditions of the Rabbines who say that the eating of Flesh which had been Interdicted to Adam was permitted to Noah and understand this Interdict to be comprehended in that of not eating Blood God at first said to Adam Gen. 1. 29. I have given you every Herb bearing Seed and every Tree in which is the Fruit of a Tree yeilding Seed to you it shall be for Meat After he said to Noah Gen. 9. 3. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you even as the green Herb have I given you all things but Flesh with the Life thereof which is the Blood thereof shall you not eat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at carnem in sanguine animae non comedetis where by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 anima we are to understand the Life The eating of Blood is by the Levitical Law forbidden in the same form with the Immolation of a Son to Moloch Levit. 20. 3. I will set my face against him that eateth blood Nor is this manner of speaking to be found in any third Precept which Maimonides well observes in More Nebochim part 3. c. 46. pag. 484. because the eating of blood gave occasion to the Worship of Devils and he fetcheth the reason of the Interdict from Idolaters who thought blood to be the meat of Daemons Hence also it is commanded Levit. 17. 10. that the blood of Victims be sprinkled upon the Altar and moreover that it be covered with dust or sprinkled upon the Ground as water Some of the Zabii used to eat the blood some others who reckoned this to inhumanity at the killing of a Beast reserv'd the blood and put it into a Vessel or Trench and then sitting down in a Circle about it eat up the flesh and pleas'd themselves with an opinion that their Daemons fed upon the blood and that this manner of sitting at the same Table with their Gods would endear them to a nearer tie of Conversation and Familiarity and promising to themselves also that these Spirits would insinuate themselves in dreams and render them capable of Prophesy and Predicting things to come Now in reference to these absurd and Idolatrous ways of the Amorites it was that God expresly forbad his People to eat blood for so some of the Zabians did and to prevent their imitation of others who reserved it in a Vessel he commanded that the blood should be spilt upon the ground like water And with the same respect to the Zabian Rites it seems to be that it was also forbidden Exod. 23. 19. and Deut. 14. 21. to any man of Israel to Seeth a Kid or Lamb in his Mothers milk as our many-Tongued Mr. Gregory in Posthum hath Learnedly asserted The Law in another place viz. Deut. 14. 21. saith Ye shall not eat morticinum ullum of any thing that dieth of it self Thou shalt give it unto the Stranger that is within thy gates that he may eat it or thou mayst sell it unto an Alien Whence some collect that the eating of blood was not forbidden to either Proselytes of the House or the Sons of Noah but only of flesh torn from an Animal alive as the Stones of a Lamb cut out Maimonides More Neboch part 3. cap. 48. pag. 496. brings these reasons of the Interdict both because that is a sign of Cruelty and because the Kings of the Gentiles in that age were wont so to do upon the account of Idolatry namely they cut some Member from a living Creature and eat it presently Nor is this so strange a thing since Clem. Alexandrinus in Protreptico p. 9. commemorates the same execrable cruelty and Bestial Carnage to have been practised in Bacchanals Bacchi orgiis celebrant Dionysium Maenolem crudarum carnium esu sacram insaniam agentes caesarum carnium divulsionem peragunt coronati Serpentibus Nay more inhumanity yet hath been Solemnly practised in the furious Devotion of the Adorers of the same drunken Diety Prophyry de Abstinentia l. 3. sect 55. saith In Chio sacrificabant Baccho 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 crudis gaudenti hominem membratim discerpentes Idem in Tenedo obtinuit Well therefore do they speak who call Idolatry Madness in the last degree Jobus Ludolfus in Historia Aethiopica lib. 3. cap. 1.
St. Austin contra adversarios Legis Prophetarum l. 2. c. 1. saith expressly Habere praeter Scripturas legitimas et propheticas Iudaeos quasdam Traditiones suas quas non scriptas habent sed memoriter tenent et alter in alterum Loquendo transfundit quam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vocant it seems probable that the Mishna was either not written or at least not well known in the world in the year of Christ 400. as the Modern Rabbins would have it to have been Among these Maimonides in praefat ad Mishnam affirms that about 300 years from the destruction of the Temple Rabbi Iochanan Head of a Synagogue in Palestin added the GEMARA 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Complement call'd the Ierusalem Gemara Which joyned with the Mishna of Iudas makes the Ierusalem TALMUD And this Maimonides well deserves our belief For his extraordinary Wisdom and Learning are to this day so much admired by the Iews that they commonly say of him à Mose usque ad Mosem nequaquam fuisse hactenus talem Mosem and Mr. Selden de Diis Syris syntagmate 2 cap. 4. prefers him to all other Rabbins saying primus Rabbinorum fuit qui delirare desiit The Iews at length passing from the Subjection of the Romans to that of the Persians about 100 years after Rabbi Ase in the Land of Babylon composed another Gemara or Complement of the Mishna which from thence was denominated the Babylonic Gemara and which contains many ridiculous fictions and fables incredible And this with the Mishna makes the Babylonian Talmud which is now most in use nay doctrinal to all the Iews as if all their discipline all Law both Divine and Human were therein comprehended in which notwithstanding the Sadduces are never remember'd but under the name of Hereticks or Epicureans In the Mishna if self were contain'd not only the Judgments Ordinances and Decrees of all precedent Consistories but also a Collection of all the Traditions which they call the Law Oral and pretend to have been originally receiv'd from the mouth of Moses himself And to give more credit and authority to these traditional Precepts Rabbi Eliezar in Pirke cap. 49. editionis Vorstianae pag. 123. tells us that during the 40 days absence of Moses on the Mount he spent the days in reading the Scripture and the nights in composing the Mishna and in the Babylonic Gemara is a formal story of the very manner forsooth how Moses communicated and explain'd the Oral Law to Aaron and his Sons and the Elders The Elders saith the Pirke Aboth i. e. capitula Patrum a Talmudic treatise deliver'd the same to the Prophets and the Prophets to the men of the Great Synagogue and they again handed it down to their Successors But these things being too compendiously spoken to evince the succession through so many ages the more recent Rabbins have put their wit upon the Rack to explicate the matter more particularly After the finishing of the Talmud for an age or two there is nothing but thick darkness in the Histories of the Iews but then they being expulsed out of Babylon and their Schools left empty and desolate about the year of our Lord 1040. a great part of the Rabbins and People came for refuge into Europe and chiefly into Spain there appearing to us no Memorials of European Iews before that time Since that innumerable Rabbins men of great Learning skill in all Sciences nor addicting themselves and studies to the extravagant and absurd dreams of the Talmud as their predecessors had done have written copiously and the succession of the Cabbala hath been sought for in the East Rabbi Moses ben Maimon vulgarly Maimonides and Rambam born at Corduba in the year of Christ 1135. died at the age of 70. after he had written Commentaries upon the Mishna in the preface to which he gives a long series or list of those who had propagated the Oral Law successively Which yet appearing imperfect and interrupt to Rabbi Abraham Zacuth of Salamanca who wrote Iuchasiin in the year of Christ 1502. he and his contemporany Don Isaac Abarbinel an exiled Spaniard and after them David Ganz who brought his Chronology down to the year of Christ 1592. in his Book entitled Tzemach or Germen Davidis found or made that Catalogue of the Propagators of the Traditional Law more perfect and continued Herein Zacuth indeed follow'd Maimonides and Ganz trod in the steps of Abarbinel but Guitiel Vorstius in observat in Ganz pag. 213. comparing these successions each with the other from the diversity of computation from the interruption and gaping conjunction thereof argues the Catalogue to be plainly fictitious There are nevertheless even among our Christian Divines some who lay hold upon that continuation of Traditions and use it to serve their turn how prudently let others judge For I have not undertaken curiously to examine that series and the nine classes of Iewish Doctors contenting my self at present with these few collections concerning the Original and Antiquity of the Talmud FINIS Books Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church-yard H. Mori Opera Theologica Philosophica Fol. Three Vol. Dr. More 's Reply to the Answer to his Antidote against Idolatry With his Appendix Octavio Remarques on Judge Hales of fluid Bodies c. Octavo Exposition on the Apocalyps Quarto Exposition on Daniel Quarto Confutation of Astrology against Butler Quarto Dr. Sherlock's Discourse of the Knowledge of Jesus Christ. With his Defence Octavo Answer to Danson Quarto Account of Ferguson's Common-place-Book Quarto Dr. Falkener's Libertas Ecclesiastica Octavo Christian Loyalty Octavo Vindication of Liturgies Octavo Dr. Fowler 's Libertas Evangelica Octavo Mr. Scot's Christian Life Octavo Dr. Worthington's great Duty of Self-Resignation Octavo Dr. Smith's Pourtraict of Old Age. Octavo Mr. Kidder's Discourse of Christian Fortitude Oct. Mr. Allen's Discourse of Divine Assistance Octavo Christian Justification stated Octavo Against Ferguson of Justification Octav. Perswasive to Peace and Unity With a large Preface Octavo Preface to the Perswasive Alone Octav. Against the Quakers Octavo Mystery of Iniquity unfolded against the Papists Octavo Serious and Friendly Address to the Nonconformists Octavo Practical Discourse of Humility Octavo Mr. Lamb's stop to the Course of Separation Octa. Fresh Suit against Independency Octavo Mr. Hotchkis Discourse of the Imputation of Christs Righteousness to us and our Sins to him In two Parts Octavo Mr. Long 's History of the Donatists Octavo Character of a Separatist Octavo Against Hales of Schism With Mr. Baxter's Arguments for Conformity Octavo Non-Conformists Plea for Peace Impleaded against Mr. Baxter Octavo Dr. Grove's Vindication of the Conforming Clergy Quarto Defence of the Church and Clergy of England Quarto Defensio suae Responsionis ad nuperum Libellum qui Inscribitur Celeusma c. in Quarto Responsio ad Celeusma c. Quarto The Spirit of Popery speaking out of the Mouths of Fanatical