determined of in the Talmud 1. No beast must be suffered to go out of doores upon the Sabbath carrying more upon them then that wherewith hee may be led curbed and kept under So a horse or an asse going out of his Masters stable must have nothing upon him but a bridle or halter 2. An ape monkey beagle huntingâ€dog must not go out of doores without a coller to which a leash must be tyed that they may not slie away and escape Yet also they use these creatures thus upon other dayes then the Sabbath It is also prohibited to saddle an horse much more that any man should ride or lay any burden upon him lest hee should bee overâ€loaden to his hurt If any upon the Sabbath day returne home or goe to some Inne upon the backe of an horse or asse it is lawfull for him to loose his saddle but not to take it off but if the horse or asse chance to shake it off then is the horseâ€man faultlesse and to bee excused If any lead his horse by the bridle he must have a serious care that he suffer not the bridle to hang an hands breadth from his off his hand and thus he must doe lest some should thinke that he carries it in that fashion for his owne pleasure Hee must furthermore take heed that the bridle hang not too loosely betwixt him and the horse for in so doing hee shal seeme not to lead the horse but to carry the rainges for the nonce and it is not lawfull to carry the least thing upon the Sabbath It is contrary to their religion to suffer a hen to have a clout or rag about her foot or wing as a marke whereby shee may be known of the owner upon the Sabbath day Wherefore the clout ought to bee taken away upon the Friday that shee may rest upon the seventh day without molestation If any beast chance to fall into a ditch and cannot recover it selfe then they give it meate untill the Sabbath bee fully ended at what time they draw it out If the ditch be full of water so that the beast cannot conveniently eat its fodder then they cast in lopps of straw to underprop it that it may not bee drowned in the water if it can by this meanes escape it If by its own help it can lift it selfe out of the ditch then the Jew is blamelesse and not guilty of the profanation of the Sabbath Note that that seemes contrary to this which Christ objected to the Jewes for accusing him for healing upon the Sabbath saying who is there amongst you who having a sheep fallen into a pit upon the Sabbath day will not straight goe and draw him out As though he had said If you think it lawfull for you upon the Sabbath day to draw a beast out of a pit that the life thereof may be preserved how much more is a man to be helped upon that day who is of farre more worth then a beast Out of these words I say it seemes to follow that in Christs time it was permitted unto the Jewes to draw a beast out of a pit upon the Sabbath day Whereas the canon Law of the Jewes which is their spirituall and Talmudicall Law is diametrically opposite hereunto And henâ—e truly it was that that wicked Jew Rabbi Lipman in his booke called The triumph over the foure Evangelists written in the yeare of Christ 1459 accuseth our Saviour to have taught falsely and against their statutes and ordinances that the Jewes were then wâ—nt immediately to draw out an oxe or any other beast fallen into a pit upon the Sabbath day as Sebastiâ—n Muâ—ster hath registred the inditement in his Commentary upon St Matthews Gospell in Hebrew To which I answer that Christ the truth it selfe never could speak any thing but truth for there was never any falshood or guile found in his mouth yea sooner then the Jewes together with their father the father of lies the devill can evidence the contrary these superstitious brats shall suffer eternall shame It is true indeed that the law contained at this present in the Talmud is of that stampe that out of it Christ may be proved a lyar as amongst others an instance urged by Munster out of a Saxon History concerning a certaine Jew who upon the Sabbath day sir reverence fell into a Jakes makes manifest For he being left there was sustained with food and not presently drawne out The Bishop of the place also strictly charging and commanding the Jewes that they should not draw him out upon the Lords day holy in the sacred solemnization thereof to the Christians Whereupon it came to passe that for two daies space he was forced to remaine in this house of office that he might the better learn his duty I confesse therefore that their Talmudicall decrees which are in force with them at this day are contrary to Christs sayings but that it was so from the beginning it is a manifest untruth For 1. The traditions and constitutions of the Jewes themselves according to which they lived in Christs time brand it with no lesse And againe how came it to passe that if Christ had lied or spoken false the Pharisees did not presently hit him in the teeth there with Certainly the Pharisees would have contradicted the words of our Savior if he had spoken any thing oppugning their common traditions and ordinances Now if any ask how it came to pass that this was inserted into the Law which they at this day embrace I answer that it is a new constitution foisted by the Rabbines and Writers of the Talmud into their Gemara or their Appendix of ancient traditions in hatred to the New Testament and Christian Religion some hundred of yeares after Christs nativity as appeares most manifestly out of the Talmud For into this they thrust in such a tradition that they might perswade the ignorant that Christ spoke false But to returne to the matter in hand It is permitted unto a Jew to speake unto a Christian to milke his cow or goate lest the milke through its abundance straining the beast should put it to miserable torture not that the Jew hath any desire to bee fed with the milke for so it were all one as if he should have milked her himselfe This being granted that whatsoever aman doth by another it is all one as if he did it himselfe Whereupon it hath seemed good to some of their Doctors that a Jew may buy milke for his money of the Christians that hee may lawfully upon the Sabbath day feed thereupon seeing the Christian milkes the cow for his owne gaine and not in any love to the Jew But seeing these things are to full of quirkes and cannot bee sufficiently described wee will let them passe and descend to others Something therefore is now to bee spoken of the rest and sanctifying of the Sabbath concerning every one In the first place it is prohibited both to men and women
same cause departed this life five years sooner than the course of nature exacted that is lest his eyes should behold his degenerate nephew Esau leading his life in a wicked ungodly manner Ten years being expired and the youngling Jew being indifferent well versed in the Books of Moses it is necessary he apply himself to the study of the Talmud and of duty to cleave unto the text thereof in which the very foundation of Iewish Traditions and Ordinances as also of the Divine and Humane Law is comprehended At thirteen years of age he is called Bar Mizvah the son of the Commandements when he is bound to keep and observe all the Commandements in number six hundred and thirteen containing the sum and argument of the Law of Moses and of the whose body of Iewish Superstition If from that time forward he sin and do not execute that is commanded then is he liable to be punished both by the Law of God and man What sin soever he committed before the thirteenth year of his age his Father must suffer for it Which is the reason that the child comming to these years his father cals ten Jews unto him and in their presence witnesseth that this his Son is come to full age and being instructed in the Commandements hath learned the manner and custome of the Zizim and Tephillim of which more anon as also the form of blessing and his daily prayers for which reason he would be freed from him that he might not from henceforth smart for his offences he being such an one who is to become Bar mitzuah the Son of the Commandements and ought to suffer for his sins in his own proper person This being confirmed by the ten Jews there present the Father saith a certain short prayer in which chiefly he gives God thanks that he hath delivered and unburdened him of the punishment due unto his son for his sin further intreating him that his son by the help of the Divine grace may for many daies remain safe and without danger and be industrious in good works In the fifteenth year of their age all the children of the Jews are forced to learn the Gemara which is the perfection of the Talmud written for the better comprehending and understanding of the acute and subtil dispute and decisions about the doubtful things in the text thereof and in these they spend the greater part of their life very seldom or never bestowing one minutes study in the books of the Prophets but utterly neglecting them Whence it comes to pass that many Jews there are ready to drop into their graves who to my knowledge have not read any one of the Prophets from beginning to end And this is the cause that they know so little concerning the Messias that the promises concerning him are become not only obscure unto them but also altogether unknown In the eighteenth year of their age the males enter into the bond of wedlock according to an ancient Order in the Talmud which they not seldome transgressing oftentimes marry before the time injoyned to avoyd fornication the females may marry when they are twelve years and one day old In the twentieth year they are licensed to traffick buy and sell play the Chapmen cozen and circumvent any whom they can possibly of which the Christians to their grief have had too much experience of which in another place Because our yong Jew hath now taken his degree of Bar mitzuah or Son of the Commandements and is entred into the order of the Jews our endeavour shall now be to express the manner how both their yong and old men behave themselves in this order CHAP. IV. How the Jews rising betimes out of their beds prepare themselves for Morning Prayer IT is writtten in that Tract of the Gemara called Bava basra that it was the assertion of Rabbi Eliezar haggadol that every Jew from the fifteenth of July until the feast of Penticost ought to forsake his bed before day because in this time the nights are long but from that time till July he may sleep untill perfect lay because the nights are very short And the truth of this position the wise men and Rabbines endeavour to prove out of many places of the Lamentations of Jeremy and out of the History of Ruth which are so full of subtilty that they cannot in this place be honoured with an explanation The good Wife of the house is bound to wake her Husband and the Parents are joyntly obliged to rouse up their children when they have once passed the thirteenth yeare of their age and are subject to Jewish Ordinances as wee have declared in the former chapter Furthermore the Chachamim have registred that every man is bound in his own proper person to be a Cock unto the twilight and not to foster such a delay that the bright ey'd morning may take advantage to call him ls luggard to which King David condiscends when he saith I will awake right early Surely this is very necessary and that for the performance of our morning Prayers which are to be poured out at the rising of the Sun aud that without delay as David testifies in his Psalms saying They shall honour thee with the Sun as though he had sayd so soone as the Sunne visits our Horizon they shall honour and sing praise unto thee in their early Devotions The Cabbalists write that at the dawning of the day the prayers of every particular enter into the ears of the Almighty and they have some certain grounds out of holy Writ for this their assertion Jeremy in his Lamentations saith Arise cry out in the night in the beginning of the watches that is when it beginneth to dawn David also in a certain Psalm The Lord bath granted me his loving kindness in the day time and in the night season also did I sing of him and made my prayer unto the God of my life The most profound Chachamim say they who are stout and industrious advance themselves to well doing and the observation of Gods Commandements wherefore it shall carry the repute of a good work indeed to rise before the morning watch and to conjoyn day and night by a continued singing of the choisest Psalms and Prayer Wherefore a Jew should not be slack in such a performance but with great alacrity take an early leave of his lovely couch breakfasting his soule with this meditation If any Gentile or Christian should now come unto me who is my debtor or should bring some gorgeous vestments to pledge out of his Wardrobe or any other thing by the mediation of which I might inrich my selfe If I should be now called to some great Prince or Potentate from whom I might obtain a gift cully favour or who in his own Person should intreat my service how readily would my feâ—t be plumed with swistness and spend their forces not to be conscious of the least delay with how much more alacrity ought I to speed
sloth and idlenesse they use not to practise the foresaid things before they arise from the table When the Jewes have eaten their fils then the good man of the house some one of the Rabbines or some guest or stranger if any such bee present saies grace after meat Their thanksgiving is very prolixe and tedious in which praising God they thank him that he gives meate and drinke to them and all other his creatures that hee sustaines them through his goodnesse that he brought their fathers out of the land of of Egypt and gave them the land of Canaan for and inheritanâ—e made a covenant with them and in giving them the law made a promise unto them that he would for ever keep and defend them They pray and beseech him that he would have mercy upon Sion build againe their holy Temple and restore the Kingdome of David in these their daies send them the Messias and Eliah the Prophet to deliver them out of the house of bondage to preserve them against poverty that they may not bee forced to beg or borrow of the Christians who in their repute are men meerely flesh and blood poore miserable mortals and cast-awaies who entertaine no commerce with their Maker who are subject to the curse and utterly rejected who shall dye and perish like unto beasts when on the contrary they are a holy nation the â—lock and inheritance of God himselfe They further pray that God would vouchsafe to fill their hands with all good things and noâ— suffer them to bee ashamed but to breake the yoake of the Christians from off their necks and to bring them backe into their own land to bestow a blessing upon the house where in they have feasted and to enrich the master and mistrisse thereof with their children and all their posterity c. To which things every one saying Amen with attentive mindes repeating the words of David O feare the Lord all yee his saints for they that feare him lacke nothing The lyons do lack and suffer hunger but they that secke the Lord shall want no manner of thing that is good This they say with their mouthes so empty of meate that not one crum of bread or piece of flesh stickes between their teeth and those words bind them thereunto Let my mouth bee filled with thy praise and glory all the day long Prayers are alwaies to bee said in that place where dinner or supper is eaten Hence the Cabbalists write that whosoever praies not in that place where any banquet is celebrated shall never come unto the grave because they shall dye such a death which is never accompanied with any buriall as hanging drowning or such like There was once a time when a certaine godly and religious Jew being in the field refreshed and filled with wholsome meates forgot to give thankes When hee had been long absent from the foresaid place and at length remembring he had offended in not saying grace having another in his company he said unto him that hee must of necessity returne to that place where hee had formerly taken meate because hee had left a precious toole there Which when he had done and praied and given thanks God shewed this miracle He created a golden dove which the Jew had bestowed on him as a reward of his honesty and piety in observing the precepts of the Talmud with so great diligence This was a miracle indeed in that place but it had been none at all in Paphlagonia although the dove being throughly rosted had sâ—own into his mouth Without all doubt this miracle was done neare unto the Indian mines For who will be so stupid as not to believe that this dove flying from thence and being wearied in slight alighted here to rest her selfe The Chachamim and Doctors command that a man should not make many banquets in one week lest he should so carry himselfe that every day thereof might bee accounted for an holy day as some doe who mutually inviting one another say to day you shall feast with me so will I to morrow with you c. for the whole weeke Of such men the Cabbalists writing say that at such banquets an evill spirit called Samaâ—l feasts himselfe together with others of his society inciting the guests to many grand offences Rabbi Levi in the behalfe of Rabbi Abhen in the name of Rabbi Joshua saith that the bellies of all those that keep such revellings eating and drinking sporting and feasting every week do burst asunder the third after they are dead and laid in their graves and the dung of their intrals is poured upon their faces as it is written I will sprinkle the dung of your feasts upon your faces Which once come to passe the Devils come and jeare them saying now devour that which even now thou gormandisedst And here I will leave them and proceed to a further declaration of their carriage after they rise from the table CHAP. VIII Of their evening prayer and their manner of going to bed IN great Cities where the Jewes have Schools or Synagogues the beater of the Schoole who is the same with a Sexton in other places going about unto their houses about five a clock in the afternoon knocks at their doores with an hammer thereby giving them notice that they ought to make hast to evening prayer So soon as they come into the Synagogue they set them down and huddle up a certaine praier by reason of the first word therein called Aschre which in English signifies Blessednesse which is taken out of the eighty fourth Psalme and the first verse which begins with this fore-mentioned word The prayer runs thus Blessed are they that dwell in thine house for they will alwaies be praising thee Selah In these words boasting of their diligence in frequenting the house of the Lord Happy are the people that be in such a case yea blessed are the people that have the Lord for their God I will magnifie thee O Lord my King I wil praise thy name for ever and ever c. unto the end of the Psalme This prayer is in so great esteem among them that they write that whosoever saith it three times a day shall have his portion in eternall life Then the Chanter rising up sings halfe of that holy prayer which they call Kaddisch after that the whole Synagogue joines in the repetition of the eighteen laudatory petitions of which we made mention in their morning prayer Which done and finished the Chanter comming for his chaire or pulpit so called by the Christians fals downe upon his knees before the Arke and leanes his head upon his left hand which all the people doe likewise and bowing their head towards the left side and covering theirface with their whole heart for the heart lies upon the left side and so the head and heart are joined in such a position they in a most devout manner pronounce the words following O mercifull and
gracious GOD I have sinned in thy sight but thou art full of mercy Have mercy therefore upon mee and receive my prayer which proceedeth out of unfained lips Rebuke mee not O Lord in thy fury neither chasten mee in thy heavy displeasure They moreover repeate the sixt Psalme from the beginning to the end with their heads covered and bended towards the earth The Chanter fals downe upon his knees before the Arke in imitation of Joshua of whom it is written That hee rent his clothes and fell to the earth upon his face before the Arke of the Lord untill the eventide he and the elders of Israel and put dust upon their heads The reason why they cover their faces is this In ancient times when they had a large and spacious Temple they came thither to confesse their sins every one stood from another by the space of four els lest his neighbour should heare his confession In these daies therefore they cover their faces for the same end and purpose They leane their head upon their left hand moved hereunto by that which is written His left hand is under my head and his right hand doth embrace me And moreover because Isaac being about to bee sacrificed lay upon his left side But to returne to the point in hand They suddenly rise up againe and their Chanter saies Wee are ignorant O Lord what other thing to put in practise but only to lift up our eyes unto thee as though they would say Wee have worshipped thee O God sitting and standing being humble and lifted up kneeling and with anerected posture not knowing what more is reâ—â—iâ—ed of us yet wee will once againe lift up our eies unto thee Hitherto they only have sung their prayer called Kaddisch which finished their evening prayer is ended Now indeed it were very laudable if after this evening sacrifice of prayer and thanksgiving returning to their owne houses they did immediately fall to supper and that ended againe to assemble themselves into the Synagogue for the performance of their nocturnall devotions But this practise is disapproved by the Rabbines as a thing very inconvenient seeing many may be drunke and so forget their duty of prayer therefore they have decreed that presently after the evening prayer be ended that accustomed to be said in the beginning of the night should also be finished Yet not withstanding they make some small stay between Minhah and Maâ—rib that is to say between their evening and nightly prayers to the end the one may be differenced from the other They have one quaint custome concerning the reconcilement of them that are at strife one with another and that in time of prayers For if two be at ods and the one cannot bring the other with him into the Synagogue That a reconcilemet may be made he steps unto the book out of which the Chanter sings or saies their common prayers shuts it and giving it a clap with his hand saith I conclude and put a period to this exercise which is all one as if he should say I locke and seale up this order of praying interdicting the same untill an agreement be made between me and mine adversary And from that time forward untill his desire bee accomplished it is not lawfull for them to say any more prayers in the Synagogue Thence it often fals out that they retune home without any praying yet if the one party bee wayward and refractory there happens many times a surcease and intermission of this duty of prayer for some whole dayes together Among many others they have a prayer that God would vouchsafe to deliver them from the Christians and bring them back againe to their owne land This prayer begins Baruch Jehovah O blessed God our Lord help us gather together and deliver us from the Gentiles that we professing thy holy Name may make our boast of thy praise All the people which thou hast created shall come and worship thee fall down before thee and sing praises unto thy name Our eyes shall see it our heart shall rejoice our soul shall be joyfull in thy strength when it shall be said in Sion The Lord doth reign God is King he doth rule and shall beare rule for evermore for thine is thy Kingdome c. But alas poore silly Jew in vaine thou gapest after with a greedy expectation this thy rejoicing seeing he is come some sixteen hundred years agoe whom thou as yet waites for and expects to bring thee joy and consolation Furthermore they say one petition more formerly mentioned in their morning prayer in which they entreat God to revenge their cause against all the Christians in generall but in a more especiall manner against their Magistrates If any lost a father in that yeare he is tied all the yeare long to say that praier called Kaddisch the lesse by the mediation of which his father shall be delivered out of purgatory of which God willing more hereafter When they go out of the Synagogue then must they repeat those sentences formerly mentioned in the fifth Chapter And in this place againe they exercise many prolix disputes about that prayer beginning Schema Israel Heare O Israel the Lord thy God is one God questioning the manner how the time when the place where this prayer should bee said and repeated All which to avoid prolixity I willingly omit At dinner and supper their carriage is the same When they goe to bed they must first draw off the left foot shooe then the right They put off their shirts lying in bed and covered with clothes lest the beams and wals of the house should behold their unseemly nakednesse And this is the cause that they never use to empty their bladder in their bed-chamber their clothes being off the very act becomming a shamefull disgrace unto them and the consequent of such impudence being a fearfullapse into an extream poverty a consideration also had that it is one of those things God hateth Whosoever saies that prayer Schema Israel Heare O Israel c. must endeavour instantly upon the finishing of the same to fal asleep and take an especiall care that he speake nothing after it as it is written Commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still Selah If sleepe will not presently attempt to close up his eyes he must not cease to repeate the said prayer untill the approach thereof tongue-tye his devotions for inâ—o doing his rest shall bee sweet and delightfull unto his wearied body his sleep comfortable and restorative The bed wherein the man and wife are to make their repose is to bee furnished with cleane sheets without spot or blemish for it may come to passe that the man may meditate upon some thing which he hath learned and also committed to memory by reading the Scriptures whilst it was yet day yea both man and woman may joyne in prayer to the Almighty that they may beget children which will bee obedient to
a certaine shadow upon the palme after this he stretcheth forth his hand the second time so that he may know by the candle light that his nailes are whiter then his fingers which he perceiving saith Blessed be thou O God our God King of the world who hast created such a resplendent candle Then he takes the cup againe into his left hand looking in the like manner upon the nailes thereof Then by and by he transfers the cup into the right hand and saith Blessed be thou O Lord our God King of the world who hast put a difference between the holy and unholy between light and darknesse between Israel and the Gentiles between the seventh day and the other six dayes of the weeke destinated for labour While hee is a repeating this prayer he poures a little of the wine out of the cup upon the earth Then he drinks a little of it himselfe reaching it unto others that they may sup of the same Amongst these nocturnall petitions there is one which begins Vaiehi Noam in which the letter zaijn is not found which signifies weapons whosoever therefore shall say this prayer with a devoâ—t minde hee shall bee safe and secure that whole night following from any kinde of weapon so that he shall neither be killed nor have the least scratch given him In the the like manner he shall besafe from the devill when he devoutly faith that prayer beginning Schema Israel Heare O Israel c. For the first verse begins with the letter Schin and ends with the letter Daleth which two joined together make Scheds which word signifies a Devill This distinction of the Sabbath they prove from those words that you may discern between the holy and profane and those Godseparated the light from the darknesse Some take of the consecrated wine and anoint their eies therewithall others wash their face in it thinking it a wholsome medicine against the fluxes of the eye others bath their arteries therewith because it is a meanes to length 〈◊〉 their dayes others sprinkle it in every corner of the hoâ—â—ri about the beds and cradles of infants dreaming that it is soveraign against enchantments and witchcraft The truth is this wine is of so high esteeme amongst them as that other also wherewith they initiate the Sabbath They smell the perfumes lest they should fall into a swoon while one of their soules departs out of the body For upon the Sabbathday they have another soule besides that which they live by at other times Concerning this matter Antonius Margarita in his booke of the faith of the Jewes writes in this manner It is written in the Jewish Talmud saith he that every man hath three soules and it is proved out of these following words of the Prophet Isaiah Thus saith the Lord who created the heaven and stretched it out who made the earth and whatsoever groweth thereon who giveth life and breath unto the inhabitants of it According to the letter of this text they find two soules in man to which if we add the naturall soule there ariseth three Whereupon they also write that two soules depart out of a man sleeping the one of which goes upward unto God to learne things to come the other goes downward into the earth and running to and fro contemplates nothing else but injustice sinne foolishnesse or vanity The third they call Ruach Behemoth the irreasonable soule which being the first of all received by man is seated neare unto his heart and sees all things whatsoever the other two soules in their absence from the body have heard seen or done and hence proceed and issue all our dreames which therefore are not alwaies to be contemned They say moreover that upon the Sabbath a man hath another soule besides these which enlarges his heart that he may keep the Sabbath more honourably and exhilarate himselfe in a higher straine of mirth then it were possible for him to doe if hee were destitute of the same But the Sabbath once being ended this soule departs and the man becomes weake thereupon against which his faintnesse hee may prosperously use these sweet smelling odours that the body may have wherewith to recover its former strength Hitherto Margarita but whence he had these words I cannot as yet finde Concerning this superfluous soule 〈◊〉 remember I have read this in the Talmud Rabbi Jose said 〈◊〉 the name of Rabbi Simeon who was the sonne of Jochai that all the commandements that God gave unto the Israelites he gave them in publike except the Sabbath which he gave in private as it is recorded The Sabbath shall be an everlasting signe between me and the children of Israel Where the Jewes by an everlasting signe would understand a secret token willing that the Sabbath should be hid from all other nations and onely manifested to the Jewes Therefore marke diligently Christian Reader how the Hebrew word leolam signifying everlasting any reasonable soule being judge must according to the Jewish interpretation signifie hidden and concealed Hence the Rabbines in their Gemarah ask the question that if the Christians and other people do not know that we have a Sabbath how comes it to passe that they in time to come shall be punished for the contempt of the Sabbath and for the not keeping thereof They make answer to themselves saying they know well enough that wee keep the Sabbath this is not hidden from their eyes and therefore they are to be punished because they will not keepe it But the reward due unto the observance thereof is hidden from them and this they know not yet if they would rightlly celebrate the Sabbath they should also know thereward But this is a thing impossible for them to put in execution seeing they are destitute of the superfluous soule because it being given to men rather upon that day then others and that more abundantly doth enlarge their hearts that in the time of the Sabbath they may take their rest with ease eat and drinke well and merrily and set all care and sorrow a packing from their breasts Hereupon Rabbi Simeon the sonne of Lakis affirmed that God gave this soule to man upon the Sabbath about eventide and tooke it from him again at the end of the Sabbath as it is written When he had taken rest evâ—n to satiety the Sabâ—ath remaining then was he deprived of his soule to wit the superfluous one Where againe note how neatly the Jewes interpret the holy Scriptures for the verbe jinnâ—phsch in that place is rendred by the Rabbines to want or bee deprived of a soule whereas it hath a clean contrary signification to cherish recollect recreate stirre up the spirits and most properly to breath which after the manner of men we ascribe unto God concerning whom it cannot be said nor understood that he hath lost a soule In this their blindnesse the Jewes blush not to place their chiefe wisdome and knowledge Concerning this superfluous soule Rabbi Abraham also
to run upon the Sabbath day above two paces of the length of an ell unlesse they doe it to fulfill some one of Gods commandements for if they practise the contrary then their sight as was formerly mentioned shall be diminished Yet not withstanding it is permitted to young men to recreate themselves in jumping running and danâ—ing alwaies provided they doe it in honour to the Sabbath It is also lawfull to jumpe over a ditch but not to goe into the water which if any doe they compell him to dry his stockings againe A man cannot have any licence to carry weapons about him such as are the sword speare or helmet The Taylor ought not to goe out of doores in any garment wherein he hath stuck a needle A lame man that cannot goe without a staffe may lawfully use one which is denied to the blind man They are not to goe upon cruâ—â—hes or stilts pretending the deepnesse of the water or thicknesse of the clay for although those stilts do seeme to beare men yet in very deed they are borne by them It is prohibited to carry any thing any whither It is a hainous offence to turne whiflers and weare vizards for the terrifying of others It is lawful for to carry an emplaâ—ter applied for the curing of any wound yet if it chance to fall off it is not permitted to be taken up againe and laid to the same sore It is an offence to bind up a green wound given upon the Sabbath day It is a capitall piece of businesse to carry gold or mony or any other coine packed up in a sacke or satchell or sewed in their garments when they goe a pilgrimage It is lawfull for them to wipe off the clay cleaving to their feet by rubbing them against some wall but it is not meet to rub it off upon the earth lest he that doth it should seem to fill up a certaine ditch Any man may by statute rub off the dirt from his stockings or cloake so that it be not already hardened for then a dust should arise which some taking notice of might thinke such a man impudent and brazen faced in the performance of such an action If any chance to defile his hands with dust it is lawfull for him to purifie them at a mares taile or cowes taile or the maine of an horse but it is prohibited to be done with a towell or any such pure matter lest they should be forced to wash the same upon the Sabbath day It is not permitted unto any to carry a â—lap to kill fleas withall or any such diminutive animals If any have such need that he must of constraint be subject to the necessitation of nature it is lawfull for him to gather a few stones together for the performance thereof If he have at home some place a purpose for the same businesse then is hee permitted to gather so many stones as hee can carry in his hands for the more commodious effecting thereof It is not lawfull to catch a â—lea skipping either upon the earth or their garments If shee chance to bite then they are permitted to catch her if they can not to kill her but to throw her away alive and send her a grazing It is lawfull to kill a louse Yet Rabbi Eliezer saith that whosoever kils a louse upon the Sabbath day his trespasse is as hainous as if he had kill'd a Camel Concerning the two last Canons and the true meaning of them there have been many and hot disputations Some have concluded that it is not lawfull to kill any creatures upon the Sabbath day which do multiply according to the ordinary course of nature of which sort are fleas who by a naturall commixture hatch egs and on the contrary to destroy all those whose originall is from sweet and corrupt humours to which kind lice may be referred Although in this cause a certaine doubt ariseth because it is the position of a certaine Rabbine that an egg is the mother of a louse Hence a Rabbine God sitting in heaven feeds all his creatures from the Rhunoceros horne to the egg of a louse that is to say all living creatures from the greatest to the least The full state of this question may be had in the Talmud and therefore there is no necessity that it should bee here inserted and that chiefly for this reason because every one is not apt to dive into the depth of such subtilties It is not permitted to any to clime a tree upon this day least some bow should break If any one have hens or any other creatures in a garden or other place exposed to raine he must have an exact care that he give them not any more corne for their sustenance then they may at once eat up for otherwise the reliques would sprout out the raine making passage for it and the Jew should be guilty of sowing seed upon the Sabbath and so become the father of an hainous offence It is not jawfull to play upon any kind of instrument having strings upon it and yielding any sound at all neither is it permitted to sing or dance unto the pipe It is forbidden to sing a psalme or any other song with the hissing behaviour of the mouth It is not permitted to any sor to hist unto his fellow to summ on him to come unto him It is not lawfull for any one to knock at a doore with an hammer or such kind of instrument though not withstanding the singing of any spirituall song or dance bee not notified thereby because a man may be thought â—â—ther to strike his key into the doore or else to be a building some other structure And this is the cause that the Master of the Synagogue beates their doores with his hand at what time they are to accomplish their devotions Yet the Rabbines have permitted that the Jewes may entreat a Christian to play on the Sabbath day upon a lute or to finger any other instrument in honour of the newly initiated nuptials of the married couple never surmising that it is done for the Jewes sake as also seeing hereby the vulgar jollity is more profuse upon that day for a more exquisite celebration No Jew at all is permitted to play upon any instrument by Act of Parliament because it savours not of godlinesse to play a Curranto upon the table either to this end that some may dance or to still a pettish child None must presume to write with his finger upon a wet table or in the sand or dust of the earth yet they may imprint as many characters in the air as they shalthink meet Moreover no writing written either upon paper or sealed with wax is to be scratched out Briefly the Jewes have thirty nine chiefe and principall Articles concerning workes and labours to which all others may be reduced which can be possible conceived For even as a fountaine is parted in its gliding pace into severall streams and rivulets which alwaies keep
ought to drinke off in lieu of a thanksgiving as Rabbi Bechai writes for the foure great deliverances mentioned by Moses in those words I will bring you forth from under the burdens of the Egyptians and I will rid you out of their bondage and I will redeem you with a stretched out arme and with great judgement And I will take you to me for a people and I will be your God which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians I will bring you out from under the hands of the Egyptians there is the first I will redeem you with a stretched outarme that 's the second I will take you to me for a people there 's the third I will be your God c. there 's the fourth In remembrance of which foure deliverances they take off foure whole cups of wine in the time of the celebration of the passeover lest they should seem forgetfull of Gods benefits The reason why after these their cups they curse the Christians in a praier called Schepoch is according to Rabbi Bechai in the foresaid place because God shall poure upon the enemies of the Jewes the Christians and all others foure cups of his wrath and vengeance and make them drinke the dregs thereof as it is written Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand and cause all the nations to whom I send thee to drinke it And againe Babylon hath beene a golden cup in the Lords hand that hath made all the earth drunken The nations have drunke of her wine therefore the nations are mad Againe He shall raine upon the wicked snares fire and brimstone and vapours of smoake this shall be their portion to drinke Againe There is a cup in the hand of the Lord and the wine thereof is red as for the dregs thereof all the wicked of the earth shall drinke them and suck them out If the Jewes could rightly weigh and ponder the scope of these words and parallell them with other places of holy writ they might easily finde that this cup is in the first place filled for them according to that which is written by the Prophet saying I took the cup at the Lords hand and made all the nations to drinke to whom the Lord had sent me To wit Jerusalem and the Cities of Judah and the Kings thereof to make them a desolation and an astonishment an hissing and a curse as it is this day Pharaoh King of Egypt and his servants his Princes and his people When therefore the Jewes have drunk off and digested this fearfull cup they will have but a slender stomack to reach it out unto the Christians From all that hath been said we may conclude that the Jewes keep not the passeover according to Moses his institution and Gods command but according to the traditions of the Rabbines which with them are in farre greater account then the commanements of God as is apparent in the Talmud Wherein is extant a huge tract concerning the celebration of this Feast upon which the Rabbines have written whole Books and Commentaries To leave them to their vanities let it bee our consolation That Christ our passeover is sacrificed for us and therefore let us keep the feast not with old leaven neither with the leaven of malicioâ— snesse but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth saying with John Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world and with St Peter knowing that we were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from our vaine conversation received by tradition of the fathers but with the precious blood of Christ as a lambe undefiled and without spot which was ordained bâ—fore the foundation of the world but declared in the last times for our sakes let us learn not to be ashamed CHAP. XIV Of the manner how the Jewes celebrate the seven daies of the passover and put a conclusion to the Festivall VVHile the Feast of the Passover lasts every morning betimes they repaire to the Synagogue they sing Psalms as they are wont to doe upon the Sabbath say many prayers make sale diversly of the book of the law they take two several bookes of the Law out of the Arke calling forth five men to reade some sections out of the same If the passeover fall upon the Sabbath then they call out seven men When the Priest blesseth the people the prayers being ended then he spreads abroad his hand because it is the assertion of their Doctors that the majesty of the Lord rests upon them who hereupon have given a strict inhibition that none in the meane while should presume to looke upon his own hands unlesse he will incurre the danger of blindnesse Praiers being ended every man returns unto his own house where he fals to his dinner with a merry heaâ—t When a speciall caution is to be had that he eate no more then necessity requires that they may the night following with greater alacrity satiate their stomacks with those three cakes mentioned in the former Chapter Great diâ—putes arise what labors it is lawfull to undertake what meats may be boiled and eaten upon this day for it is not lawfull to boile more then they can eate yet notwithstanding it is allowed to set on the great pot and to fill it with flesh For by this action no danger can accrew unto them though the whole be not that day consumed Much flesh is the cause of much good and the more is put in the pot it will tast the better in it selfe and make the fatter pottage yet though this be tollerated yet it is not permitted to roste more then they may with ease devoure for one joint upon the spit is never the better tasted for the neighbourhood of his fellow And againe meate is farre more delightsome to the palate when it is piping hot then when it is cold That which may be boiled upon the eve of the Sabbath or any Festivall and not lose its taste before the nextday they may then boile it if not it is lawfull sor them to boil it upon the Sabbath day or Festival the great Sabbath only accepted as also the beating of pepper and other spiâ—es which once beaten do quickly lose their proper reâ—ish yet a ceremony is to be used for they must bray with the smal end of the pestle and also make the mortar to leane more to the one side then the other that a certain differeâ—e may be observed between the labors of the week and those of the holy day It is no offence for the mother to wash her infant with hot water in the time of this Festivall although a Christian did make it hot It is not lawfull to take the match out of one lampe and put it unto her If any desire that a wax light should not be altogether consumed he may set it in the water that when the flame comes to the water it may be
three times towards the North three times towards the South heaving it also in the last place over his head then suffering it to becke unto the ground In all these severall postures carrying himselfe much like unto a fencer in the tossing advancing and shouldering of his pike Then they pray againe and againe begin to shake their bundle of boughes thereby giving to understand that they are triumphant conquerours of all sinne and inquity having a conceit that by the noise of their branches they have so lashed whipped away and terrifyed the devill that hee dare never any more presume to accuse them before God for their sinnes and offences The next thing they put in practice is concerning the Book of the Law which some or other goes and takes out of the Arke and laies it upona Deske and instantly thereupon every one in the Synagogue circles about the pew or desk with the bundle of branches and orenges in his hand This they dâ—efor seven daies together in remembranâ—e that the wals of Jericho being by their fathers compâ—ssed about sseven daies fell flat unto the ground and the men thereof subdued unto Israel hoping withall that the wals of the Roman Empire shall likewise be demolished and the Jewes become the conquerours Lords and Masters of the Christians which Rabbi Bechai affirms in expresse words saying This our enâ—ircling or compassing used by us at this day upon this Festivall is a certaine sign unto us of the state of the time to come wherein the wall of Edom that of the Romane Monarchy shall be throwne downe and all the Edomites shall bee destroied and rooted out according to that of Daniel which he delivers concerning the fourth beast which shaddowes out unto us the Roman Monarchy in these words I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horne spake I beheld even till the beast was slaine and his body destroied and given to the burning flame In that day shall the mount Sion and Jerusalem rejoice which were formerly called Midbar or a desart as it is written Thy holy Cities are a wildernesse Sion is a wildernesse Jerusalem a desolation The same Prophet saying also in another place That Sion ought to rejoice and Jerusalem to be glad and clap her haâ—ds because the Lord will take vengeance upon Edom that is upon the Roman Empire as it it written The desart and wildernesse shall rejoice So much Rabbi Bechai out of which we may easily gather how much good the Jewes wish unto us Christians in the time of this their Festivall Yet in their books of Common Prayers it appeares that in former times they have been more invective against us then they are at this day for there they pray that God would smite us after the manner that hee smote the first born in the land of Egypt And that in a prayer which begins Ana hoschiana where the expresse words are Smite our enemies as thou smotest the first born in Egypt and make them subject unto us c. Where by their enemies they understand us Christians to whom they are now in bondage The first shaking of these Festivall branches being ended they shake them very often in the processe of their prayers taking two bookes of the Law out of the Arke out of which they read certaine sections with a bawâ—ing ostentation but very little attention and lesse devotion The second day they hallow equally as the first not that they are enjoined thereunto by the command and law of God but by reason they are not assured what day of September may precisely be accounted for the fifteenth and hence it is that they make two holidaies when one onely is required Eâ—ery evening so long as the Feast endures the Master of the family repeats a certaine prayer whereby hee makes the daies of the Feast to be discerned and differenced from those which are appointed for labour and travell in our ordinary vocation giving thanks unto God that the Feast hath been celebrated in such a good manner The foure daies following are onely esteemed holy in part but upon these also they sing and pray very much shaking their palm branches If any one of these foure daies chance to be the day of the Sabbath then among other things they read a certaine Chapter out of the Prophesie of Ezekiel concerning the dreadfull war of Gog and Magog beleeving and writing that Gog shall be slaine in this month and they delivered out of bondage shall be brought back into their owne land there for ever to have a peaceable habitation The seventh day is likewise by them kept holy whereon they say the prayer called Hosanna Rabba Helpe O Lord our strength because therein they intreat the Lord for to help them against all their enemies and to send them a good and fruitfull yeare For the first day of this month is the first day of the new yeare of yeares properly so called according to which they frame the computation of their yeares In the morning of every one of these daies they early wash themselves in hot or cold water goe into the School or Synagogue light many candles sing and pray â—ervently and with a great deale of ostentation take seven books of the Law out of the Arke and lay them upon the pew or deske which as was formerly related they compasse about seven times having their bundles of palme branches in their hands which are knit together with willow After every severall encompassing putting one of the seven books of the Law into the Arke againe Rambam Rakanat and Bechai with many other of the Rabbines Commenting upon the 14 Chapter of the 4 book of Moses blush not to affirm that God upon the seventh day at night reveales unto them by the moone what thing soever shall befall them the yeare following and that in this manner Upon this night they goe out into the fields by moone-shine some with their heads uncovered other having onely a linnen cloth tied about them or a vaile upon them which they suffering to fall upon the earth stretch out their armes and hands If any mans shadow in the moon-shine seem to want an head it is a certaine signe and token that such a one shall that yeare either lose his head or dye some other death If any seem to want a singer it presages the death of some of his friends if his right hand of his son if his left of his daughter But if no shadow at all appeare then that man shall undoubtedly dye and therefore if he have appointed a journey hee should hereby bee warned to let it alone lest he should not returne in safety This the Rabbines prove from those words of Moses Their shadow is departed from them Num. 14. 9. The Rabbines interpreting that a shadow which properly signifies a defence Yet they say that though a man cannot behold his shadow as upon this night that for this reason he should not
Hakkemach or a Barrell of Meale saith that these foure things shaddow out unto us foure Kingdomes to wit That of the Assyrians that of the Persians that of the Grecians and the now extant Monarchy of the Romans which last is typified unto us by the willowes To put a period to these subtiâ—ties I will relate a story out of the Talmud concerning the adorning of these their Tabernacles and it is a certain conference or dialogue which God shal have with al people at the day of doom It is found in the Tract entituled Abhodahzarah or of Idolatry In these words At the last day God shall say that onely the Jewes are just and holy as they who have fulfilled the Law of God in every part and degree but all other people of the earth are ungodly and unjust as neither having the Law nor doing the workes presribed to bee done in the same Then shall the people of the earth answer and say O Lord God of the whole world give unto us that law and wee will in every point and parcell observe and keep it Then God will reply O foolish Christians doe you not know the old Proverbe that hee who labours upon the eve of the Sabbath shall have whereon to feed upon the Sabbath but hee that is idle and sits still shall want Goe yee therefore and first of all fulfill that little commandement of mine called Sukkah concerning the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles Then every one of them shall run in all hast and make unto himselfe a booth or Tabernacle some upon their house tops as the Jewes were wont to doe in ancient daies in their owne land where the roofe was flat and plaine others in their gardens and they shall dwell in them Then shall God so mightily encrease the heat of the Sun at Midsomer and so forward that they shall be scorâ—hed and burnt and being not able to endure the heat shall trample these their booths under their feete and being mightily enflamed with anger shall cry out Let us break their bonds in sunder and csast away their cords from us Then God shall flout jeer and deride them as it is written in the same place Hee that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh them to scorne the most high shall have them in derision And hence Rabbi Isaac affirmes that it is never found that God is said to laugh but upon that day onely So farre the Talmud By which relation we may plainly perceive how these apish Jewes hug and please themselves in their own folly and how they would even in a manner force God to beleeve that they onely are his chosen and elect people who keep the whole law observing and fulfilling all his commandements when on the contrary the Christians and other people are men appointed to destruction and damnation reputed as a laughing stocke and abomination in the eyes of the Lord. But O silly Jew what saith Ezekiel of thee and thy observance of the Law hearken what the Lord saith by the mouth of his Prophet I caused them saith he to go forth out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wildernesse and I gave them my statutes and shewed them my judgements which if a man doe hee shall live in them Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths to bee a a signe between mee and them that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctifieth them But the house of Israel rebelled against mee in the wildernesse they walked not in my judgements which if a man doe he shall even live in them and my Sabbaths they greatly polluted Then I said I would poure out my fury upon them in the wildernesse CHAP. XVII Of the Feast of the New Moone HItherto we have treated of the chiefe Festivals usualâ—y solemnized by the Jewes at Jerusalem in ancient daies and of the manner of their celebration by the Jewes of these our times We come now to speake of those Feasts which their Ancestors were wont to keep in the Cities and places where they had their dwelling and setled habitation We will begin with the Feast of the New Moon which they solemnize once every month The first day of every New Moon was in old time accounted holy because God commanded that in the beginning of their months they should offer unto him a burnt offering as we may reade in the fourth book of Moses Yet is this day to the Jewes now living onely halfe holiday so that they may worke or not worke at their owne pleasure It is also recorded that the command for the celebration of this Feast is rather given to the women then men so that they ought upon this day to abstaine from all manner of labour because in times past they would not give their golden earâ€rings and other ornaments to the making of the molten calfe when on the contrary they offered them with a willing and ready minde yea also their rings and bracelets towards the building of the Temple whose first stone was laid the first of March Upon the eâ—e of this Festivall all they that are of a pious and honest carriage among the Jewes fast untill eâ—enâ€tide praying unto God that hee would vouchsafe to send them a joifull and happy New Moon The next morning being that of the Festivall they goe into the Synagogue where they make many prayers yea more then they are wont to do upon other Festivals At midâ€day they goe to dinner at which they become very jocund cocking their beavers and sitting very long for which they urge Moses saying In the day of your gladnesse and in your solemn dayes and in the beginning of your months yee shall blow with the trumpets over the burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peaceâ€offerings that they may bee to you a memoriall before your G O D. And to the end that they may sit the longer at the Table they play at Cards almost all the day long passe away the time in jesting and merry-making the eclipse of the Moon they hold as a signe very ominous to them that trouble them Wherefore they commonly fast upon the day of the eclipse entreating God to save and defend them from all their enemies and them that hate them When the Moon is three dayes old or more they gather themselves together upon the night into some one of their Gardens or else into their street where they may clearly see the Moon lifting up their eyes to Heaven the posture of their body being exactly upright they blesse the Moon one of their chief Rabbines repeating a certain prayer and the rest saying after him as followeth Blessed be thou O Lord God our God King of the World who hast sanctified us by thy word and by the spirit of thy mouth who hast created the heaven and all the host thereof given laws thereunto and prescribed certain seasons in which they obey thy commandments measuring out aright the times and seasons
and herein with great joy and gladness fulfil the will of thee their God and Creator who art the true worker and whose works are truth Thou hast spoken to the Moon to renew her self by her often change which renewing is as a beautiful Crown and a great ornament unto the head of every one that is in his mothers womb even to all the Israelites as saith the Prophet Esay who ought to renew themselves even as the Moon doth that they may praise and honour their Creator for the name of his Kingdom a name highly to be reverenced Blessed be thou O Creator Blessed be thou O Moon Blessed be he who made thee Blessed be thy Lord blessed be thy Maker At these words they leap three times upwards towards heaven the higher the Caper is the better it is in esteem Then they go on saying Even as we O God leaping towards thee cannot come near unto thee even so all our enemies bending their forces against us cannot approach to hurt us Here again they make a stay saying that of Moses three times Fear and dread shall fall upon them by the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as 〈◊〉 stone till thy people passe over O Lord till thy people passe over which thou hast purchased hereby praying against us Christians For a conclusion of this prayer one par saith peace be unto you and the other answer Peace be unto you peace be unto you and to the Israel of God This benediction or blessing they for the most part bestow upon the new Moon upon the Sabbath thereof which Sabbath they sanctifie with a due solemnity putting on their new apparel in honour to the new Moon which they blesse and give it a court-like welcome with great joy and rejoycing I cannot but here insert a certain Dialogue set down in the Talmud between God and the Moon which Rabbi Simâ—on the son of Pazzai thus relates It is written God made two great lights the greater to rule the day the lesse to rule the night Then said the Moon unto God O Lord of the whole world tell me I pray thee Can two Kings reign together and wear one and the same Crown To whom God made answer and said Go hence and lessen thy self She replies O my Creator shall I therefore be lessened because I have spoken before thee that which is true and right Then said God Go and bear rule and dominion both by day and night But quoth the Moon What great honour shall I reap from hence or what dignity shall accrew thereby A burning Candle at noontide what doth it profit Then the Lord bids her be gone saying that the people of Israel should number their dayes times and seasons according to her course and motion which she denies as impossible for to this end they ought to have an exact knowledge of the two Tekuphoth or Tropicks as also of the two Solstices as it is written They shall be for signes and times and dayes and years Then God makes her this answer Go thy way for many great and learned men shall take unto them this thy title as James the less Samuel the less David the less But all this cannot appease her which when he perceived he said offer a propitiatory sacrifice for me because that I have lessened the Moon And hereupon Rabbi Simeon the son of Sakis saith How much doth that Goat differ from others which is offered in the time of the new Moon of which the Lord said this shall be a propitiatory sacrifice for me who have offended in lessening the Moon So far the Talmudist The Rabbines diversly dispute what is the true sence and meaning hereof They who are of ancient dayes are of opinion that at the beginning the Sun and Moon were equal in light which they prove out of the words of Moses saying God made two great lights But so soon as the Moon murmured against God and would sit as Queen and suffer none to share in dominion with her but be sole Monarch in the celestial Orbs God debased her for her pride takes away her own light and caâ—sed her to borrow of the Sun and hence are say they those immediately following words of Moses The greater light for the government of the day and the lesser light for the government of the night whereas he formerly made no such difference but simply caâ—ling them two great lights And furthermore that God hearing the Moon complain of this her hard usage and mis-hap repented of that he had done and caused a propitiatory sacrifice to be offered for this his offence at every new Moon This opinion the modern Rabbines reject as a blasphemy against God considering that he is just and cannot commit iniquity neither is any wickedness found with him Wherefore they have very much tortured and rackt their inventions to finde out the true sence of these words diversly interpreting the word Alai written with Gnayn as Rabbi Bechai testifieth CHAP. XVIII Of the Feast of the new year how the Jews prepare themselves to the celebration thereof and how God at the time of this Celebration judges the Israelites for their sins and offences IT is written in the tract Medrasch Socher Tobh that at the same time when the Sanhedrin or that great Councel of the Jews is gathered together to set down and determine a certain day for the Celebration of the feast of the new year which begins the first day of the moneth Tesri or September and hath also agreed thereupon then God calls a Senate of Angels whom he sends into the earth to enquire see and know whether the time of the Celebration of this feast be determinately appointed which they presently put in execution and returning unto God declare unto him the day whereon the feast will be kept which when God by their relation understands he also decrees to fit in judgment and to judge the world upon the very same day as it is written God is gone up with a merry noise the Lord is gone up with the sound of a trumpet Then the two judgement seats are set the cushions laid the books opened and that great Senate of Angels sits down before him As it is written And I beheld till the thrones were set up and the Ancient of daies did sit whose garment was white as snow and the haire of his head like the pure wooll his throne was like the fiery flâ—me and his wheels as burning fire Thousand thousands ministred unto him and ten thousand thousand thousands stood before him the judgment seat was set and the book opened In the Talmud we have an excellent story to this purpose Rabbi Iochamen saith that at new-years-tide three books are opened one for them who are extreamly wicked and ungodly as Atheists and lnfidels another for them who are just in a most perfect manner the third and last for them who are betwixt both in an indifferent manner godly
before the sun be up say their prayers and beg pardon for the sins which they have committed The Jews of Germanie also use to doe the like some foure dayes at least before the feast of the new-year moreover they meet every morning and evening through the whole moneth in the Synagogue sounding a rams horn not that they are so commanded by Moses but yet in remembrance of him who when he went the second time into the mount to fetch the tables of the law commanded a horne to be blowen that the people should take notice hereof and not transgress and say Arise and make us Gods which may goe before us as for this Moses which brought us forth out of the land of Egypt we do not know what is become of him Secondly they blow the rams horn that every one may seriously ponder and weigh the last judgment and be terrified with the meditation hereof that they may be affrighted and fear for shall a trumpet be blowen in the City and the people be not affraid and so consequently be hurried along to a bitter condolement eager contrition hearty confession and serious repentance of his sins and offences for even as a King makes some of his servants to blow a trumper that every watchman may keep diligent watch and be ready armed at a moments warning because the enemy approacheth So it is needful for the Jews in the moneth of August which is as herauld to the new year to sound the Rams hornes for to warn every man to repent him of his wickedness that they may more easily resist their enemy Sin Lastly the Talmudists those subtil pated doctors say that the reason why they blow the Rams horns at this season is for to put Satan to flight and to put him to a grievous torture and to make him forget the day appointed for the celebration of the New-years feast lest he should come then and appearing before Gods tribunal accuse them for their sins and offences Upon the Eve of the New-year they rise sooner from supper then ordinary for they have many Prayers to poure out unto God for the remission of their sins They usually eate before day hereby signifying that they are not like the Christians and other people who fast upon the Eâ—es of their festivals yâ—t howsoever he that fasts offends not In Germany the Jews alwayes eat something before morning prayer alwayes provided that they fill not their bellies too full especially when they are to say many prayers whereupon it comes to pass that though they make great haste in the saying of their prayers yet they commit no offence therein because their guts are not crammed and full stuft which would be a great hinderance to the speedy gallop of their tongue in posting over their petitions Yet some of the more religious sort who would be accounted more holy then other doe fast and that in imitation of a King who imposes a great tribute upon such or such a City and coming with a great power of men commands payment to be made He being yet ten miles distant from the City the chief men and burgesses thereof come and meet him and say unto him O Gracious Soveraign we are poor and have nothing and what shall we give unto thee And so intreating him in the most humble subjective manner that the hams of an Alderman can personate to remit the tax or tribute of which the King remits the third part being brought down by their earish kissing congees When the King is yet five miles from the City then a troop of Citizens of another order and mean estate come to give his Majesty some gaping salutation making the same request with that of the former to whom also he forgives another thirds When he comes neerer to the City then yong and old flock about him and bespeak his Grace in the same language The king then moved by the multitude of petitioners forgives the whole sum In like manner God the King of all the earth willing to make Israel give an account of their life past and of all the sins by them committed requires yea enjoynes every one to give satisfaction in his own proper person whereupon the holy men and chiefest in Israel fast the Eve of this festival and the Lord to recompence them remits unto them the third part of their sins and offences It is therefore enacted that they of the better sort should fast that they may with the more facility obtain their petitions and also some of a lower ranke fortie dayes together whiah are set aside for the doing of pennance Some one must likewise fast upon the day of reconciliation of which day more hereafter and then God will forgive unto them all their sins and grant them a pardon for the same Morning prayer being ended they goe out of the Synagogue into the place where they bury their dead thereby signifying that unless God will be pleased to pardon their sins they are no better then they who are dead and laid in their grave They therefore pray unto God to have mercy on them and that for the merits of those just and holy Jews who are interred in that place Here they distribute great store of alms that their poor may not want wherewithall to celebrate the festival Midday being past the men send for the barber and cause him to use all his art and skill in the trimming of them thereby giving others to understand that they are not like unto other people who sorrowing suffer their hairs to grow and encrease But our security say they banisheth all grief seeing we are certainly assured that God the King of the world will have mercy upon us redeem us from our transgressions and graciously absolve us of all our sins and for this very reason they enter the bath or wash themselves in some running water that the day following they may appear purified and clean before the almighty tribunal It is also recorded that certain Angels fly in the aire who being placed over the world and men descend into these parts below where they being in a manner polluted must necessarily purge and cleanse themselves in the siery stream Dinor mentioned by Daniel before they sing praises unto God Now if it be necessary that such creatures as the Angels are must wash themselves before they may be suffered to praise the Lord how much more is it required at the hands of man who is so vile and loathsome While the Jews are a purifying their bodies and stand even up to the ears in cold water then they make confession of their sins in the form commonly used This their confession comprehends in it two and twenty words according to the number of the letters in the Alphabet at the repetition of every one of which the confessor beats his brest and then hides his body in the water craving so much courtesie of his fellow as to bear him witness Where they are neer
end that if any blood remain in them it being sucked out by the salt may distil and finde passage through the holes and crevices If they are not desirous to have their meat throughly salted they put it in the pickle only for an hour and then boyl it They eat not any thing which hath the least drop of blood in it for it hath been alwayes their use and custom and is at this day in a wonderful manner to abstain from it They likewise do not eat the hinder parts of any beast unto this day because the Angel touched the sinew that shrank in the hollow of Jacobs thigh Yet the Jews of Italy by the rules of their Anatomy have found out and concluded that if the veins sinews and arteries be artificially taken out the hinder parts may also be eaten without making any scruple for conscience sake Surely if the Jews who lived in the time of Moses had been cunning skilful and expert in this art then had he spent his breath in vain in forbidding them to eat so many several sorts of Beasts Fowls and Fishes And I am verily perswaded that if a Sow should be brought at this day to some of these profound Anatomists they by cutting her up and taking out the veines nerves and sinews would make her a dainty dish for a Jews dinner They sell the hinder parts of the beast to the Christians yet I would wish all Christians that do buy any such provision at the hands of a Jew to consider and know that the Jews are wont before they bring them to the Shambles to spit upon and defile them causing their children to pisse upon them they themselves pronouncing a curse upon them that the Gentile that buyes them may eat up their silthiness even death it self I would not have the Reader to think this a Fable for it is confirmed by the joynt testimony of so many Jews as have been converted to the Christian faith Perhaps the Iews are not in every place so evil minded so ungodly and wicked yet in general they bear a tyrannous hate and malice against us Christians To conclude by this their great skil in Anatomy and cutting up of beasts and taking out the nerves and sinews it comes to passe that they are such excellent Physitians judging of mans body by insight into that of the beast and of all the diseases incident thereunto yet many a Christian is forced to pay for his physick with the losse of his life Concerning which matter if any one desire to read more I refer him to Antonius Margarita in his book of the falth of the Iews CHAP. XXVIII Of their Marriages COncerning these marriages it is to be noted that at the handfasting or celebration of the espousals or immediately upon the finishing thereof many lews both young and old are called together into some spacious Arbour every one of the younger sort carrying a pot in his hand Afterward comes one and reads openly the Letter or Bill of contract the Contents whereof are That N. the son of N and N. the daughter of N. have promised to marry and be married one to another That the one will give unto the other such and such a dowry That the nuptials are to be celebrated upon such and such a day and that the party which doth not perform every condition and covenant according to every part and parcel contained in the Letters of espousal is bound to pay unto the other fifty Florens The Bill being ended the parties to be married say one unto the other Mâ—zal â—ob which is as much as God send you good fortune which the young men hearing throw their earthen pots upon the ground and break them saying that it is a token of good luck plenty and abundance The espousals thus ended every one departs the place and is presented at the door with a cup of the sweetest wine which also hath some confection annexed unto it For eight dayes after neither the Bride nor Bridegroom are seen without doors Many youngsters and scriplings repair unto the Bridegroom to keep him company where they passe away the time by the invention of many toyes and trifles to recreate him and make themselves merry quaffing and carousing healths to his good fortune The lawfulnesse of the act they prove out of the History of Samâ—son who being about to be married had brought unto him thirty companious to be with him The dame Bride upon the day before the marriage must wash her self in cold water from top to toe so that her whole body be hid in the water She is led to the Bath and likewise back again by an attendance of gagling women making a certain confused noise as they go and return to the end that every one may see and know that she is a Bride The Girdle which the Bride sends to the Bridegroom ought to have silver studs but that which he sends unto her ought to have those which are of gold A Iew upon a certain time to satisfie me in my request gave me the reason hereof to wit that the silver represented the seed of the man which is white the gold the seed of the woman which is red a frivolous and foolish reason as the most of their others are Upon the day whereon the Bride is to be led into the Synagogue to receive a blessing she puts on her wedding garments decking trimming and dressing her self in the Iewish fashion as finely as she can possibly she being ready dressed she is led along by her Maids and Damosels who sing Marriage Songs and Bridal-Ballads bringing her into a certain chamber or closet and placing her in a rich and costly Chair where they comb her head truss up her locks deck her with Fillets adorn her with Ribbands beautifie her with Garlands put a vail over her face and that for modesties sake as Rebeckah did when she was to meet her husband Isaac While the women are combing her head they expresse a great deal of mirth and jollity skipping singing laughing dancing and all to keep the spleen of Dame Bride from overflowing with melancholy which they are conceited to be a work most grateful and acceptable in the eyes of the Lord. And that the women may more easily believe it the impudent Rabbines in their Talmud do affirm that God did the like to Eve when she was to be given to Adam plaiting her hair dressing her head and locks and also did sing foot it and dance with her in Paradise which they strive to prove out of the words of Moses And he brought her unto Adam as though he had brought her skipping and leading the dance as a Bride is now wont to be brought to her husband trimmed and compleatly dressed with her hair tyred and locks trussed up It is recorded also in Pirk Eliezer that God attended upon Adam and Eve like a Serving-man while the marriage was in finishing and that he made the Canopie with his own
hens before them devour them in a moment He that can get most being accounted the worthiest man at the table Every one eats what he catches without help of either knife or trencher he that hath first done begins to snatch what he can from his fellow yea somtimes out of his very mouth causing thereby a great deal of foolish stirr and much laughter and all this they doe to make the new-married couple marry and jocund The egge which we said is used to be served in together with the hen is alwayes raw which they are wont to cast one at anothers face not sparing a stranger of Christian if he be invited and there present The foresaid egge is set before the Bride to comfort her and let her know that she shall bring forth her children easily without pain and grief even as a hen bringeth forth an egge with that ease that she expresseth it by her cockling voice of joy and gladneffe After these sports and childish fooleries they fall to feast their bellies in good earnest after dinner they dance many Giggs and Capering Currantos an when they are about to depart and to put a period to these nuptial sports dance a dance called Mitzuah The commandment or marriage pavin because it was commanded by God himself This they dance in this manner the chief man at the table takes the Bridegroom by the hand he another and so every one his fellow even so many as have any skill in dancing takes one another by the hand So likewise the chief mation and most honourable woman in the company joynes hands with the Bride and all the rest one with another Dancing hand in hand and making a great noise with their feet and in this manner put an end to their marriage rites and sports which commonly endure for the space of eight dayes together If the marriage day chance upon the Sabbath then their dancing measures are quite out of measure thinking that thereby they honour the Sabbath in an extraordinary kinde because the Sabbath is called a spouse as we formerly declared A great care must be had that no uncircumcised Christian be invited to the marriage for Solomon saith The heart knowes the bitterness of his soule and a stranger that is a Christian shall not be made partaker of his joy thus wresting the Scripture to a sense clean contrary Moreover they write that the Angels seeing the Christians at their marriages do presently depart and devils enter the place doing much dammage in stirring up strife brawlings jarrings slips and falls breaking armes and shins murther and what not Hence we may see how willingly they suffer Christians to be present at their marriages When they pledge a health they say Lochajim tobhim God grant it may be for your health but if they like not the man who drinks to them as a Christian by the foresaid words they understand an imprecation or curse Relalah for this one word in their Cabbalistical computation comprehends the two former willing hereby to shew that they wish he may drink his last many such machinations and imprecations they plot and powre out against the Christians of which in another place I will only here adde a Copy of the marriage bill or letter of contract which I finde drawen in manner and form following Upon the sixth day of the week the fourth of the moneth Sivan in the year five thousand two hundred fifty and fourth year of the Creation of the world according to the computation which we use here at Massilia a city which is situate near the sea shore the Bridegroom Rabbi Moses the son of Rabbi Jehudah said unto the Bride Clavona the daughter of Rabbi david the son of Rabbi Moses and citizen of Lizbon Be unto me a wife according to the law of Moses and Israell and I according to the word of God will worship honour maintain and govern thee according to the manner of the husbands among the Jews which do worship honour maintain and govern their wives faithfully I also do bestow upon thee the dowry of thy virginity two hundred deniers in silver which belong unto thee by the Law and morâ—over thy food thy apparrel and sufficient necessaries as likewise the knowledg of thee according to the custome of all the earth CHAP. XXIX Touching the bill of divorce used among the Jews Iâ— is an established truth that the Jews had a certain indulgence granted by Moses for their divorcements for from the begining it was not so neither was it Gods ordinance but Moses did it foâ— the hardness of their heart and to avoid some greater inconvenience as Christ hath clearly shewed unto uâ— in the new testament There is extant in the Talmud a voluminous tract concerning the divorce now in use among them upon which many other of the Rabbines have written many subtle and divers Commentaries and in them have laid down many causes for which the strongest bond of Matrimony may be broke in pieces The causes pretended by the Jews at this time were the same that were urged when our Saviour Christ was here on earth so that the husband can quickly take occasion of seperation from his wife and easily finde a stafâ—e to beat the dog withall The bill of divorce ought to be written in a peculiar forme the lines whereof must not exceed or be fewer then the number of twelve This ought also to be delivered unto the woman in the presence of three faithful witnesses being signed and sealed in the presence of them When the husband gives this letter unto his wife he must say in express terms behold O woman the bill of divorce for by this thou being divorced from me art permitted to marry to any other man the form of this bill followeth Vpon such a day of the week and such and such of the moneth N. Such or such a year of the creation of the world according to the computation which we use here in this City N. Situate neer the River N. I of the Country N. the son of Rabbi N. now dwelling in such or such a place neer such or such a river have desired of miâ—e free will without any coaction and have divorced dismissed and cast out thee my wife N. of the Country N. the daughter of Rabbi N. dwelling in such or such a Country and dwelling now in such or such a place situate neer such or such a River which hast been my wife heretofore but now I doe divorce thee dismiss thee and cast thee out that thou mayest be free and have the rule of thy self to depart and to marry with any other man whom thou wilt and let no man be refused by thee for me from this forward for ever Thus be thou lawful for any man and this shall be to thee from me a bill of separation a bill of divorce and a letter of dismission According to the law of Moses And Israel N. the son of N. witness N. the son of
hair of their head be seen without the water and in the mean time it is not permitted that they should altogether close either their eyes or their mouth that the water may enter into both They ought also to stretch out their fingers bend their body that their Paps do not touch it to â—ishevel their hair by combing of it to have no rings upon their fingers lest there should be any place in the body which might not be drencht in the water Some of them upon the washing day eat not until they have bathed themselves others will not eat any flesh lest any thing should stick within their teeth and hinder the water to come in betwixt them If any of them have a playster upon a wound they ought to remove it as also to cut their nailes None must preâ—ume to touch the woman while she is in the water yea though she fall into a swoon unâ—esse with hands first washed If after her washing any thing stick between her teeth she must into the water again Many things more might be spoken concerning this matter if it were lawful to discover the secrets of women The Jews themselves have written a certain little book in the German tongue and Hebrew character touching the manners of women and they call it the book of women He that can get it let him read it without all doubt it may be had among the Jews dwelling at Frankford upon the Maene CHAP. XXXII Of the poverty of the Jews and their manner of begging IT is a common report that the Jews will not suffer that any of their nation should beg their bread which experience proclaims fabulous for the poor are often times relieved by the rich Upon the Friday at Eve as also upon the Eves of every Festival the poor go unto the houses of the richer sort to beg an almes that upon the Sabbath or Festival which by an especial command they are duly to sanctifie they may cease from begging If there be any one among them who in particular is vexed with some extream want the Rabbines having knowledge of it grant him a license for begging In which they declare his necessity his honesty and witnesse him to be a stout professor of the Jewish faith and other such circumstances This Letter or testimonial they call Ribbutz an Epistle or Letter of collection and the begger himself they call Rabzan which signifies a gatherer This Letter being granted and given unto him he travels through the whole Region visiting all the Jews he can light upon and requesting some gift of them If he come into any place where there are many Jews inhabiting he delivers this his Petition to the chief Rabbine or to him who beates the posts of the houses with an hammer and warns them to the Synagogue or to the Senators or the chief among them or to the Ruler of the SynaSynagogue not unlike a Consul or to the overseers of the poor or to the distributers of alms or to the Collectors for the poor mans Box such are they who gather money among the Christians going hither and thither through the Temple having a certain bag with a Cymbal hanging at the end of a staff he delivering it unto them he intreats them that by their leave it may be lawful for him to beg in their quarters This being granted he together with two more stands at the gate of the Synagogue and desires that some money may be given him or otherwise the foreâ€mentioned couple take his Letter and gather for him from house to house so much as they can get When one of the poorer sort hath a daughter mariageable and cannot give her any dowry then the Father thus miserable wanders up and down with a Letter of the same sort until he gather so much as will be the means to bestow her otherwise he shall hardly procure her a husband When the poor Jewes go thus on pilgrimage and turn aside unto other Jewes they aae by them for a day or two so freely made welcome that they pay nothing for their entertainment But the second day being past they begin to be weary of their presence Hereupon this sentence is proposed to the publick view of travellers in some place of their house The first day he is a guest the second day a burden the third day a Fugitive and stinketh CHAP. XXXIII Of the diseases incident to the Jews MAny are of opinion that the Jews are more lively then the Christians and not obnoxious to so many diseases But experience speaks the contrary and their often funerals even incident unto them in their younger years confirmes it for a tale Yea every man daily sees how they are lyable to the Mezels Botches to the frail disease Plague and other Maladies no less then other people The frail disease they name Choli nophel which disease as it is very common among them so are they wont to wish it to another saying God give thee Choli nophel or Tippul They call the Plague Hilluch hence in their execrations they say Corripiat te hilluch the Plague take thee In the time of any spreading Pestilence they writing certain unusual Characters and wonderful names upon the doors of their Houses Chambers Bedâ€chambers Stoves affirm them to be the names of those holy Angels which are set over the Pestilence I have seen written upon their doors Adiridon Bediridon and so forth annexing diridon to every Letter in the Alphabet which they think to be a present remedy against the Plague The Leprosie is not so frequent among them as among the Christians both because they are fewer in number then the Christians and also because they are more temperate in meats and drinks and other kinde of things which cause this disease For in their meats as much as in them lies they endeavour to fulfil the law of Moses They are not so obstinately abstinent from any kinde of meat as Swines flesh they cannot endure to hear of it Yea they will rather suffer death then eat it Yet some of them have been troubled with this disease as Antonius Margarita witnesseth who in his time saw some leprous Jews at Prague The Old Testament also hath recorded this malady to have been very frequent among them They call it Nega and in their cursings say I wish Nega may fall upon thee CHAP. XXXIV Of the punishments for offences among the Jews SEeing the Jews have for a long time been without a King and Scepter and have lost all power and authority of passing sentence of life and death they enjoyn at this day a certain kinde of penance to him that offendeth which he must of duty undergo and perform The adulterer is bound to divers sorts of penance according to the nature of the fact committed In the Winter time he is compelled to stand for certain dayes in the water of some River or running Brook If there be Ice upon the water then they cut and hew
kings who proving traitors to their own faith shall also turn Apostates so living before men as though they served the true God yet in very deed practising nothing less seducing silly souls and after such a manner tormenting their consciences that they may abjure God and their own faith even so that many of the sinners of Israel shall utterly despair of redemption being ready to deny God and forsake his fear Concerning these things Isaiah speaketh c. 59. 14 15. Judgment is turned away backward and justice standeth afar off for truth is fllen in the street and equity cannot enter yea truth faileth What All they why shall love the truth shall flee in troops and flying hide themselves in the caves and holes of the earth and shall be massacred by the great and mighty and tyrannical persecutors At that time shall be no king in Israel as it is written The children of Israel shall abide many dayes without a King and without a Prince and without a sacrifice and without an Image and without an Ephod and without a Teraphin There shall not be any more Rosch Ieschibhah b that is head of the Synagogue no faithful teachers who may feed the people with the word of God no merciful and holy no famous and eminent persons shall remain The heaven shall be shut up and food shall fail these three kings shall enact laws so many so burdensome and so tyrannical pronounce such heavie judgments upon men that but a very few shall be left because they had rather die then living deny their maker Yet these three kings by Gods ordinance and disposition shall only reign three moneths In the time of their reign they shall double the ordinary tribute so that who formerly paied only eight pieces shall then pay eighty he who formerly paied ten shall then be forced to give an hundred He that hath nothing at all to give shall be punished with the loss of his head yea also the longer they shall reign the greater and heavier will the burdens be which they shall impose upon the children of Israel There shall also come certain men from the ends of the earth so black and abominable that if any man look upon them he will die through fear Every one of them shall have two heads and eight eyes shining like a flame of fire They shall run as nimbly and swiftly as an hart Then shall Israel cry out woe unto us woe unto us the frighted little ones cry alass alass dear father what shall we doe then shall the father answer the deliverance of Israel is now at hand and even at the door The second miracle God shall make the sun to exceed in heat that many burning feavers plagues and other diseases shall be scattered abroad upon the earth by reason of which a thousand thousand of the Gentiles and people of the world shall die daily Hereupon the Gentiles at length weeping shall bitterly cry out woe and alass whither shall we turn our selves where shall we hide us Thus with expedition they shall goe and dig their own graves wish for death and oppressed with thirst and grief hide themselves in the Caves and Dens of the Earth But this great heat shall be as physick and a refreshing to them that are just and good in Israel as it is written unto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall by this sun of righteousness understanding that in the heavens Balaam say they also prophesied of this saying alass who shall live when the Lord hath brought it to pass The third miracle God shall make a dew of blood to fall upon the earth which all Christians and people of the earth thinking to be watery and most delightful shall take and drink and drinking die The Reprobate also in Israel who despaired of redemption shall also die by drinking of it but it shall not be hurtful to them who are just among the Iews who in a true faith firmly cleaving unto God do persevere in the same as it is written They that be just shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and they that turne many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever again the whole world for three dayes space shall be full of blood according to that which is written I will give signes in heaven and in earth blood and fire and pillars of smoke The fourth miracle God shall send a wholsome dew upon the earth They shall drink of this who are indifferent honest It shall serve as a salve to them who were made sick by drinking of the former as it is written I will be as dew to Israel he shall grow as the lillie and cast forth his root as Lebanon The fifth miracle God shall turn the sune into so thick a darkenss that it shall not shine for the space of thirty dayes as it is written The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord come At the end of thirty dayes God shall restore its light as it is written They shall be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit and shall be shut up in prison and after many dayes they shall be visited The Christians being sore affraid to see these things they shall be confounded with shame and acknowledg that all these things come to pass for Israels sake yea many of them shall embrace the Jewish religion as it is written They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy The sixth miracle God shall permit the kingdom of Edom to wit that of the Romans to bear rule over the whole world One of whose Emperours shall reign over the whole earth nine moneths who shall bring many great kingdoms to desolation whose anger shall flame towards the people of Israel exacting a great tribute from them and so bringing them into much misery and calamity Then shall Israel after a strange manner be brought low and perish neither shall they have any helper of this time Esay prophesied And he saw that there was no man and wondred that there was no intercessor therefore his arm brought salvation unto him After the expiration of these nine moneths God shall send the Messias son of Joseph who shall come of the stock of Joseph whose name shall be Nehemiah the son of Husiel He shall come with the stem of Ephraim Benjamin and Manasses and with one part of the sons of Gad. As soon as the Israelites shall hear of it they shall gather unto him out of every City and nation as it is written Turn ye back sliding children saith the Lord for I will reign over you I will take you one of a City and two of a tribe and bring you to Sion Then shall Messias the son of Joseph make great war against
the Sabbath From thence came this my Mammon and great riches which God vouchsafed unto me as a reward for my diligent observance of Sabbaths Then said I Blessed be God who hath given thee this abundance and hath made thee worthy to bea possessour of so great wealth This befell the Butcher In the same page it is registred that there was sometimes one Joseph surnamed Mokir Schabbas that is to say an honourer of the Sabbath This man of all those victuals that the Shambles could afford thought nothing too deare for the celebration of the Sabbath yea he would spare neither cost nor charges in the procurement of the most rare fishes the waters could furnish him withall This Joseph had a certaine neighbour who was very rich By him he was continually flouted with a goe to what doth it profit thee that thou celebratest the Sabbath in such a religious manner Certainly thou art never the richer then if thou studied the contrary I do not reverence the Sabbath in that degree that thou doest and yet I am richer then thou art Good Joseph little regarding his mocks put his trust in God hoping that hee would give him a large harvest of rewards for these his weekly expences At that time there were certaine Astrologers in that City who said unto the rich man Friend what availeth it thee to bee so rich when thy heart will not suffer thee to buy one good fish with all thy bags We by the observation of the stars have gathered thus much that thy goods and riches which are so infinite shall all come iuto the hands of Joseph Mokir Scabbas that reverent observer of the Sabbath who upon the Sabbath day is wont to have some morsell for his money The rich man hearing the words of these star-gazers and meditating upon them went and sold all that he had and with the money purchased many Margarites and other precious stones all which he pursed up in a girdle of haire and presently takes shipping for another country that the good man Joseph might not inherit his goods When he was about the middle of the Sea behold a great tempest arose and did â—o split the ship that it was beyond expectation if he did not take up his lodging in the chambers of the deep The wind blowing most vehemently snatcht his hat from off his head tossing it into a remote place of this vast Ocean where a fish at that time there swimming swallowed up the hat together with the girdle wherein were the Margarites and other precious stones A little after this this huge fish was taken and carried to the City upon Friday to be sold in the Market Every Caterer prized the fish but for a great price set upon it none could buy it at last comes Joseph Mokir Schabbas who was alwaies accustomed to buy great fishes of what price soever who never sâ—uck to buy this also for the celebration of the Sabbath which he did with a great alacrity of mind and joy of heart of no vulgar extent Which when he had carried home and cut up he found in the leaunch thereof the aforesaid girdle stuft with precious stones which the rich Euclio had lost And so the prediction of the Astrologers came to passe Then became Josâ—ph a man of exceeding great wealth greatly rejoicing because these jewels were valued to be worth a whole Kingdome Then came a certaine old man unto Joseph and said unto him Whosoever borroweth much for the Sabbath day the Sabbath wiâ—l likewise repay him much againe and who honours it but in part the Lord will restore it unto him foure-fold It is also recorded in the Talmud in the Tract concerning the fasting of one Rabbi Chonech He was wont every Fryday to send his servants into the Market and cause them to buy up all the pot-herbes which the Gardiners could not put off their hands and then commanded them to throw them into the rivers The Rabbines in Gemarah which is an appendix to the Talmud aske the question why he did not rather give their herbes unto the poor The answer is that if he had given them to the poor then they would have bought none for the celebration of the Sabbath and if it should have come so to passe that the Gardiners should have withdrawne all their pot-herbs so that the poor people could not have had them then should not the Sabbath have been celebrated by them Againe the Rabbines ask why he did not give them unto the beasts to eat which had been far better then thus to throw them into the water where they are utterly void of profit The answer is that hee would not have that to bee devoured by the irreasonable creature which may serve for the proper food of man And that although he cast them into the waters yet men might take them from thence and transfer them to their own use But why did he buy up all the pot-herbes This he did for the encouragement of the Gardiners that they might the more willingly and with a better accord bring them into the Market every Friday For if they could not have sold this their garbish for one day or two together then had they staied at home ever after and so the poor people should have wanted food upon the Sabbath day and by this means the Sabbath it selfe should have been dishonoured And therefore Rabbi Chonech tooke this course that the Sabbath might bee honoured by voluptous living and that by the poor man too though a green sallet were his chiefe delicate It is written in the tract concerning the Sabbath that whosoever upon the Sabbath lifts us his head that is to say who celebrates the Sabbath with joy and rejoicing God shall give him a large inheritance subdue unto him many nations people infinite and innumerable as it is written Then that is when thou shalt keep the Sabbath with joy and rejoycing and call it thy delight thou shalt delight thy self in the Lord and I will set thee upon the high places of the earth and feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob thy father of whom it is written Thou shalt spreadforth east and west north and south even into the foure corners of the earth Rabbi Nachman averres that whosoever exhibites himselfe as a pattern of merriment upon the Sabbath day shall be free from the bondage of the nations as it is written I will set thee upon the high places of the earth and thou shalt tread upon the necks of thine enemies Rabbi Juda saith that whosoever keepes the Sabbath with a joifull heart God shall give him whatsoever his heart can wish as it is written Delight in the Lord and he shall give thee thy hearts desire And now seeing the Jewes doe not as yet tread upon the necks of their enemies nor are really possest of the highest places of the earth neither have gained their hearts desire to wit that they may bee Lords and Masters over the Christians that
they may enjoy the monarchy of the whole world for the performance of which their wish they poure out their prayers upon every Sabbath and festivall It is clearly manifest that they have not as yet rightly and duly kept and sanctified the seventh day and have not as yet delighted themselves therein to the full of a satiety When then in the first place they have feasted themselves and fill'd their guts with Sabbaticall cheer with great joy and gladnesse then they pray as abovesaid The table is left covered and spread untill the evening of the Sabbath The candles also lighted in honour thereof stand in their lampes unextinguished Hence ariseth a sharpe contention among them about the lights what is to be done what to be omitted It is not lawfull to hunt or feek for flies or lice by the benefit of their light or to read or write by them lest some in so doing should be moved to snuffe the lights and by this meanes profane the Sabbath Now seeing they will have the Sabbath to signiâ—ie delight therefore their wise Doctors think it good and as a great honor unto the day if any married man but especially one of the Rabbines who is learned and well seen in knowledge upon the Sabbath day at night hug and kisse his wife a little more then ordinary And this is the cause that they eat store of potato roots before the Sabbath begin that they may become more valiant in the act of carnall copulation For the same cause marriages are commonly celebrated upon the Sabbath day that their first concourse upon that night may bee the morefortunate and the Sabbath it selâ—e more highly dignified Hereupon the common opinion is that the infants begot upon this night continually be partakers of eminent fortunes and all of them at length attaine unto the dignity of wise and holy men chiefly then when in the act of generation the parents minds are full of good and pure cogitations when they come together not to fulfill the lusts of the flesh but in honour to the Sabbath Lastily when any Jew is a travelling upon Friday and is distant from his Inne or his own dwelling house at evening more then a Sabbath dayes journey then ought he to stay in that very place and there to reft himselfe and celebrate the Sabbath whether it be in field or in the middle of a wood all perils of robbers and want of meat and drinke set aside Concerning this matter there is extant a true story which runs as followeth Upon a certaine time three Jewes went a travelling When it began to be night and the Sabbath drew near then said one to another what course shall wee take the way is very dangerous by reason of robbers wild and evill beasts do also haunt the woods better it is that we hold on and every one become the deliverer of his owne soule then to keep the Sabbath with perill of losing both soule and body The third said I will not depart hence until the Sabbath be ended for he that commanded me to sanctifie it is able to preserve me in the middle of this wood When his fellowes perceived his resolution they held on their journey beeing Sabbath-breakers But this third man staied in the same place as though he had been nailed unto the ground and pitching his tent spread a linnen cloth upon the earth for want of a better table and set bread thereupon and what other provision he had and so saying his evening prayer sate him down to take his first Sabbath meale In the mean time as he was at his repast there came a Bore unto him of such an horrible and ugly shape as never eye beheld This said beast drawing neare unto him signified by certaine gestures that he was an hungry The Jew good man in a manner terrified gives him a crust of bread withall feeding himselfe with this meditation that God if it pleased him could easily preserve him in safety The Bore never moving eats the bread which was given him and staies there still So soon as the Jew had sufficiently refreshed himselfe he said his evening prayer which ended he lies downe upon the earth to take his rest and sleep the Bore lying downe besides him The morning light unlocking his eye-lids he was exceeding joifull that the Bore had not devoured him praising God and giving him thanks for such a benefit he orderly also pours out his morning devotions then taking his dinner and supper and running over all his prayers When the Sabbath was ended he making a separation divided the Sabbath from the rest of the weeke of which more shall bee spoken in the next Chapter and so went on his journey the Bore becomming his individuall companion all the night over Upon the same night his two companions had fallen into the hands of robbers who had spoiled them of all that they had At last the Bore accompanying him hee overtooke them whom so soone as the beast beheld hee run unto them and tore them both in pieces At the sight whereof feare begins to benum the spirits of the religious Jew and a strong opinion possessed him that hee also was at the last gaspe In the mean time they who had robbed his fellowes came unto him and questioned him what he was and from whence he travell'd He made answer I am a Jew for having a sure confidenâ—e in God he would not deny himselfe and came from the Kings pallace and am thus farre on my journy They further enquired of him where he got that Bore Hee answered the King bestowed him on me for a guide Then said one of the Robbers surely that Jew is in great favour with the King because his will was he should have a safe pass age by the conduct of that Bore And the other replyed we will give him all the money that wee have and lead him out of the wood for feare lest he discover us Which they did and accompanied him for a long and tedious space they also holding on to direct him in the way that he was to goe and the Bore run back into the wood againe The case standing thus it behoves every Jew committing himselfe to the protection of him that dwelleth in the highest heavens to remember keep and sanctifie the Sabbath day with all diligence CHAP. XI How the Jewes celebrate their Sabbath and also make an end thereof UPon the morning of the Sabbath they doe not so early leave their beds as at other times but sleep untill the day be farre spent and this they doe more for their own pleasure then for any due honor tendered unto the Sabbath yet the more pleasure they enjoy the more devoutly they celebrate the Sabbath in their opinion Their Rabbines doe most magisterially prove the lawfulnesse of this custome out of the Law out of the twenty eight Chapter of the fourth booke of Moses When Moses say they makes mention in that place of the daily sacrifice