years old Numb 8. 3. Their ministration at 30 years The Nethinims were hewers of wood and drawers of water for the House of God Gibeonites they were called Nethinims from Nathan to give because they were given to the Service of the Temple Goodwin Numb 18 16 a The coins in use among the Jews were either Silver coins or gold coines Their silver coins were these their first and greatest was shekel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dâ—rived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to poiâ—e or weigh which was twofold Regius Siclus or the Kings shekel of comâ—mon use in buying and selling it valued of our money one shilling three pence 2. The shekel of the Sanctuary which doubled the former and was in value two Shillings six pence on the one side of it was stampt the pot of Manna or Aâ—rons Censer as others with this inscription 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the shekel of Israel on the other side Aarons Rod hudding with this inscription 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The City Jerusalem See Aâ—sted in Praecog Theol. and Mr. Goodwin pag 327. Their second Coin was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 zuz the fourth part of a shekel which was also called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in value seven pence half-penny zuz is derivid from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 zuz to move for money is the primum mobile of mans appetite and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ceseph from Casaph to breath to be intent on any thing Money is the desire of every one and as Hesiod saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the life of mortalls Their third kinds of Coin wert first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gerah from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 miscere to mingle being the cause of commerce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Agorah from Agar to gather together for the same reason and lastly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kesiâ—a which signifieth a lamb a piece of money which had a lamb stamped on the one side of it so Gen. 33. 9. Jacob bought a piece of grown for an hundred lambs that is for an hundred pieces of money These three Coins are in value of our Coin oneâ—penny half penny twenty went to a shekel Their gold Coins were 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 zahab a shekel of gold in our money fifteen shillings 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adaâ—kon also called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in value also fifteen Shillings this was Persian Coin Their sums hence arising were two 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Maneh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a pound of gold 75 pound of money 7 l. 10 〈◊〉 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cicar a talent in Gold 4500 pound in money 375 pound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Pioselyte was he who forsaking Genâ—ilisme turned to the Jewish Religion called by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Geâ— a stranger from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Guâ— to wander of these were two sorts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proselytus foeâ—eris a proselyte of tâ—e Covenant he was tied to Circumcision and the whole Law of Moses as R. Sal. Deut. 2. 3. 14. who names him there a proselyte of Justice to whose adoption three things were necessary 1. Circumcision 2. Purification by water 3. The blood of the oblation The second sort was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proselytus portae a proselyte of the gateâ— Deut. 14 21. he was not circumcised nor tied to the observation of Moses his Law but onely to keep Noahs seven Commendements which are these 1. Judgements for malefactors 2 Blessing the name of Gâ—d 3. To fly idolatry 4 Robbery 5. Bloodshed 6. Eating any member of a beast taken from it alive 7. Not uncover ones nakednesse Shindler in Pentâ—g lot 1530. * Zach. 2. 6. Abâ—odach zaâ—ah Deut. 16. Ier. 6. 10. Act. 7. 52. Rom 2. 28 29 1 Pet. 1. 18. 19. Col. 1. 14. Wise men Deut 28. 9. Tract Berach de benedictionibus 〈◊〉 de Sabâ—â—ho Psal 121 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lam. 1. 5 6. Iet 15. 1â— Gen. 27. 1. 〈◊〉 what time 〈◊〉 Jews marry Psal 57 1 Lament 219. Psal 42. 9. Tâ—act San. de judicibus c 11. Lam. 1. 2. a Wise-men Psal 56. 9 b The beginning of wisdom a book writ by oâ—e of the Scholers of R. Moses it containes the common places of divinity amongst which much Philosophy morolity and cabbalistical niciâ—ies are intermixâ— Ezâ—k 9. 4. Jâ—r 25. 30. Psa 〈…〉 Orach Chaym num 2. Brandspiel c 16. Amos 6. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isa 6. 3. Amos 4. 12. Psal 103. 1. Mich. 6. 8. Levit. 20. 25 2â— Tract Talmud Tanais dc jejunio Orach Chaym num 4. Brand spigel c. 10. Prov. 117. De arba Cauphos zizis Oâ—ach Chaym n. 8. Brandspiel c. 48. Minhagimâ— p. 6 Lev. 15 37 28. Tract de Sab. cap. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Floruit Of their Phylaâ—teries Orach Chajim num 25. Deut. 6. 6 7 8. Phylacteries for the hands Rabbi Alphes tract de Sabâ— c 6. p. 77. Isa 26. 2. Tract Berachos cap. 1. p. 7. Exod. 33â— 23 Tract de Sab. cap. 18. Orach Chaijm num 8 9. Rutheni are a people of France dwelling neare Xantoigne and Avergne but in this place rather a people of Livonia from whence the Countrey is called Russia Orach chajim nu 46. Brunds cap 41. Psal 55. 15. Tract Tâ—lâ—ud de benedictionibus â—sa 50. 2. Tract Berachos de benedictionibusp 6 Eccl. 4. 17. Exod. 3. 5. Psal 29. 2. Yet the oâ—iginall is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Numb 2â— 5. Psal 26. 8. Soph. 3. 20. Hos 14. 3. Obad. 2. 1. Orach chajim nu 58. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tâ—act de bebenedictionibus cap. 9. Orach chajim nu 113. Ezek. 1. 7. Isa. 6. 3. Orach chajim nu 125. a Sanctitas a The wards are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Radix juniperorum eorum panis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tract de benedictione sect 9. 4. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One cut off from the Congregation of the faithfull from the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 extirpatus est excisâ—â—◠〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A traytor backbiter from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 linguax fuiâ— detraxit falsa accusationâ— Orach Chajim Tract Tal. de benedict c. 1. Exod. 20. 18. Psal 68. 13. Ezek 8.14 In Tract Joma Job 14. 16. Orach chajim nu 91. seq Sam. 3. 41. Psal 119. 109. Psal 35. 10. Psal 130. Brunds cap 41. Alas poor Jew thou hast never uttered one Amen attentively for the space of 1631 years The words in the original are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quid requirit thâ— Rabbins read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 centum requirit so perverting the text 2 Sam. 25. 1. Esay 1. 15. Cap. 59. 2punc 3. Oruch chayâ— num 55. Deut 7. 1◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Icr. 9. 12 13. Deu. 29. 24 25 Psal. 84. 7. Brand spiegel cap. 43. Lev. 1. 43 44. In tract Gittiâ— S. 3. 5.
by them blessed and consecrated At length thanks being given the cups are filled the fourth time and the good man of the house taking his cup into his hands saith poure out thy wrath upon the Gentiles and upon the Kingdomes that have not knowne thy name poure out thine indignation upon them and let thy wrathfull displeasure take hold on them In the mean time one running to the doore unlocks it and sets it open thereby willing to shew their great security In this saying they curse all people which are not of Israel more especially the Christians hoping that Elias will come that very night and declare unto them the comming of their Saviour and deliverer the Messias as they also brag and boast in that prayer called Azrob nissim their reason is because all those famous deliverances so full of wonder which God wrought for the Patriarches Prophets and people of Israel hapned as upon this night They pray therefore that God would come againe and deliver them out of this their calamity and punish the Christians in the same manner that he did the Egyptians Hence it comes to pâ—sse that so soone as the gates are opened and the execeration is pronounced one of the houshold invested with a white linnen garment runs into the nurâ—ery that the infants may thinke that Elias is come indeed and is about to take vengean e on the Christians For a conclusion of all the Master of the family saies certaine table-prayers at the period of the supper which he closeth up in this manner Almighty God build againe thy Temple and that shortly very quickly in these our daies very quickly now build againe and that shortly thy holy Temple Omercifull God O great God O bountifull God O thou God that art highly exalted O beautifull God O sweet God O vertuous God O God of the Jewes now build up thy Temple very quickly and with great expedition in these our dayes very quickly very quickly now build up now build up now build up now build now build up thy Temple quickly O strong and powerfull God living God mighty God O God worthy of all honour O God of meeknesse O eternall God a God that art to be feared O God of comelinesse God of majesty God of infinite riches God of surpassing beauty O faithfull God now build up thy Temple shortly very quickly very quickly in these our daies shortly very quickly now build up now build up now build up now build up now build up thy Temple speedily The Orizons ended they betake themselves to rest and sleep in great security for they perswade themselves that this night neither man nor devil can approach to doe them any hurt This night is called in the second book of Moses and the 12 Chapter Lel Schemarim the night of observation or preservation Hereup on their minds being fraughted with such a conceit they abandon feare leave open their gates and doors all the night over to give an entrance to Elias the Prophet who as they assure themselves will come and deliver them out of this their misery Thus the poor blirdfolded Jewes trouble and vex themselves with this their vaine pompe and pompous vanity for two nights together instead of that paschall lambe which they ought to have eaten using no other ceremonies then Moses in the institution thereof hath described It being the position of their Rabbines that it was not required at their hands after the destruction of their City and Temple to Kill and eat the paschall lambe according to the ceremonial prescription of Meses and that they are not tyed to observe these or any others by him enjoined unlesse they were in the promised land of Canaan which land alone is to be accounted pure and holy all others defiled and profane Now from these premises every one may infer thus much that seeing the Jewes have not srom that time wherein the true paschall lambe Christ Jesus was offered eaten the posseover in any place according to the right prescription and also seeing the Jewes at this day so journing in Jerusalem and the land of Canaan do not eat the paschall lamb in the manner that they ought neither doe they offer any sacrifice it must necessarily follow that there is some other cause why their sacrifices are ceased and all other their Mosaicall Rites and Ceremonies are abrogated which certainly they might have found out in the space of 1631 yeares had they not been smitten with blindnesse from above So that now we may say with the Prophet David This their may uttereth foolishnesse yet their posterity delight in their talke But my people would not hear my voice and Israel would have none of me so I gave them up to their owne hearts lusts and they have walked in their counsels The Rabbines establish this their opinion out of the words following Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passeover unto the Lord thy God of the flocke and the herd in the place which the Lord shall choose to place his name there Now seeing God enjoins them according to their ordinary glosse that they should not celebrate this Feast in any other place but in the promised land they doe inferre that now being dispersed among the Nations they are not lyable to the observation of the same But the true sence of the words is this That when God had put a period to Israels captivity and brought them into the land of promise the land of Canaan and having given unto them a setled kind of regiment a City and a Temple in which it pleased him to place his name then they should repaire to Jerusalem to eate the pasâ—hall lambe for the better preservation of the unity of faith among them as to the Metropolis and chiefe City of Israel But when the scepter was in a manner taken â—rom them by reason of inâ—essâ—nt wâ—â—rs and tumults so that they could not come unto Jerusalem then did every family kill and eate the passeover in their owne gates as it is recorded in the second book of Kings And so soon as they were delivered out of these their troubles they celebrated the said Feast againe in the place appointed with great solemnity and rejoicing as good Josial is recorded to have done in the sore-cited place Now that for the space of 1631 yeares they could not kill nor eat the paschall lambeâ— right none must seeke for another cause then that of the departure of the Scepter from Juda the desolation of Jerusalem and their long continued exile For why did not Jerusalem remain unto this day why is not the Temple built againe The sacrifices and ceremonies delivered by Moses why are they not re-established The Jewes cannot see the reason hereof because Moses his vaile is as yet before their eies It was formerly mentioned that the Jewes at the supper of the paschall Lambe use to carouse foure cups of wine two before supper two after which foure consecrated cups every one
ever compared unto him The eighth Article is concerning the Law that it was so delivered to Moses by Gods owne mouth as it is now extant amongst them The manner how it was given whether by writing or dictated of God to Moses by word of mouth it is not needful to inquire If it proceeded from the mouth of God then is it necessary that every parcel thereof should be truth and in this respect no difference to be made amongst the particular clauses of holy Writ as these I am the Lord thy God c. and Thumia was the Concubine of Eliphaz who came of Esau as also The Sons of Ham were Cush and Mizraim phut and Canaan and this Heare O Israel the Lord thy God is one God and others of the same sort seeing they are all Gods true and holy Word After the like manner the Exposition of the divine Law Mippi haggeburah came from Gods owne mouth as also all the things observable in the celebration of their bulabh or feast of Tabernacles as the blowing of Trumpets Zizim Tephillim concerning which things notwithstanding there is not one expresse word found in the Law of Moses yet are they kept no otherwise then God hath with open mouth delivered them to Moses and Moses unto us and Moses God himselfe bearing him witnesse Numb 12. 7. was faithfull in all his house And they are his own words Numb 16. 28. Hereby you shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all these Works for I have not done them of mine own mind The ninth Article concerning the change of the Law that the Law of Moses shall never be abrogated or any other succeed in the place thereof and that nothing need to be added unto it or taken away from it that not one jot or title shall be annexed or perish from the holy Scripture neither that any Exposition shall make it subject to augmentation or diminution whereupon it shal come to passe that Gods holy Temple and the City Jerusalem shall again be re-edified the sacrifices and Mosaical ceremonies restored and the Jewes themselves at length to be brought back again into their own Land that they may for ever observe and keep the Law of Moses The tenth Article needs no other explication then the Scripture comments The eleventh Article is concerning the reward due to good and evil works the reward of good deeds is the world to come and life eternal the punishment of evil the souls eternal destruction and damnation whereupon it is written Exod. 32. 32 33. Yet now if thou wilt for give their sin and if not blot me I pray thee out of the booke which thou hast written And the Lord said unto Moses he who hath sinned against me him will I blot out of my booke The twelfth Article is concerning the comming of the Messias whose comming is to be expected as certaine though he long delay it yea none ought or dare to prescribe unto him certain time any determinate time for his advent neither wil they suffer the holy Scriptures to be searched into that this sulness of time in which he should come may be made manifest Hereupon their Chachamim and Rabbins deeply grounded in the Jewes Religion were wont to say tippach ruchan schel mechaschebbe Kitzim I wish they may breath out their own souls who go about to set down the time of his approach They teach that our trust and confidence is to be settled on the Messias that he is to be loved praised and petitioned that he will come quickly even as all the Prophets from Moses to Malachi were wont to do when on the contrary whosoever doubts of his comming gives the whole Law the lie yea but the whole Law doth make the miserable poor and blinde Jew a Liar who doubting that he is not come believes he shall come when he is already come in which a plain and clear promise concerning this matter is enrolled especially in parascha The 13. Article is concerning the Resurrection of the dead of which there is nothing now to be spoken whosoever therefore faithfully believes these 13. Articles is accounted one of the number of the Israelites yea such an one who is to be loved whom every one ought to commiserate and unto whom he ought to perform whâ—â—soever God the Creator hath commanded to be done to a neighbour or brother out of Sincere love unfeigned affection and brotherly kindness yea they esteem him a man of that constitution that though he commit all the offences which in the world become the fewell to set a fire the whole course of Nature with burning lusts and consume it with inbred malice and therefore suffer punishment in this World according to the nature and measure of his sin yet shall he inherit eternal life being placed in the Kalender of the sinners of Israel Whosoever destroyes the foundation on which these Articles are built or commits a trespass against any one of them by his infidelity they affirm that he hath neither part nor portion in Israel that he hath denied his God is to be abhorred like a swinish Epicure because he hath rooted up that which was once implanted in him according to the most exquisite skill of the Artificer and therefore he deserves no other then to be rejected abandoned and perish utterly of such an one speaks the Prophet Psal 139. 21. Do I not hate them O Lord that hate thee and am I not grieved with those that rise up against thee Thus hitherto I have more at large expounded the genuine sense of the Jewish Creed out of Rabbi Moses the Son of Maimon more birefly written and nominated by the Jewish Synagogue Rambam with this intent that every one might more clearly perceive and know to what end this beliefe of the Jews was directed whose Articles if any with a more serious scrutiny into their own writings search and examine he may with great facility conclude that when Rambam had brought these Articles into order and with severe threanings of extirpation of the Jewish name and the losse of their souls enjoyning every one unto the confession of them to have had no other aimâ— then the overthrow of Christian Religion among the Jewes intending to put upon it the badge of falshood for making it hatefull unto them he might for ever terrifie them from the imbracing of it Hence the Articles concerning God the Creator that he is one alone incorporeal and eternal hitherto muster up their forces that they condemning the Christian doctrine of the Trinity and Christs person might make it liable to contempt as though that we Christians by maintaining a Trinity did also infer a plurality of Gods or that Christ should not be God nor partake in his Fathers essence because it was his pleasure to assume our flesh in time not from eternity whereupon when hence it follows that he is no God it may serve for a necessary
consequence that he is not to be worshipped for this is due to God alone as the fifth Article affirmeth and God is only a Searcher of the hearts and so was not Christ as in the 11. Article In the same manner the 6 7 8 9. Articles are placed in a diametrical opposition to the Doctrine of Christ and the whole Gospel intimating that Christ was no true Prophet nor Teacher sent from Heaven because his Doctrine was not delivered unto him out of Gods own mouth as it was to Moses and that therefore our Saviour spake many things against the Law in his sayings to the People yea was not afraid to alter many parcels thereof which ought to have remained unchangeable Furthermore if it be true that man for the integrity of his life and tracing the way of Gods Commandements as also for his owne good deeds can merit life eternal and on the contrary for his evil works and ungodliness becOms the Heir of everlasting torments in what respect I pray thee doth the passion and death of Christ any whit availe us The wheele of time hath not travised many minutes since a certaine Jew did not blush to affirm to my face that he needed not any to satisfie for his sin that it is meet every Fox should give his own skin to the Currier to be pulled off and to suffer his own hairs to be plucked out at his pleasure The tenth Article therefore whereby we professe Christ to be our Redeemer is contrary to this assertion Besides this Rambam the rest of the Jewish Nation who had any knowledge of letters in all their Books and Writings have no other scope but to make the faith of a Christian the object of suspicion and contempt Amongst whom Rabbi Joseph Alba a Spaniard challengeth the first place who writ a little Book in the yeare of Christ 1425. entituled Sepher ikkarim in which he stoutly maintains the Jewish Creed for Orthodox and sends out at randome the fiery darts of a fiery disputation against that of the Christians His Arguments are grounded upon the main Principles of the Jewish belief First upon the unity of God Essence and hence he denies the Trinity as also the Godhead of Christ Secondly upon the Law of Moses which was delivered from heaven unto him by God himself with his own mouth whence he rejects the Doctrine of Christ and the New Testament consequently intimating that Christ was a false Prophet and not the Messias hence the main of the strife and Controversies between us and the lews lieth in these two points to wit that of the Trinity and this concerning Christs person Thirdly he establisheth his Positions upon the eternal reward of good works and the endlesse punishment of evil hence despising the death and passion of our Saviour which he underwent for the sins of mankind Of the same grain is that obscene and abominable Book entituled Nitzachon written by Rabbi Sipman whose lines are such that without all doubt he committed this Book to writing in the year of Christ 1459. as it was delivered unto him from the Devils own mouth This piece he composed to falsifie the four Evangelists out of which Sebastian Munster my Predecessour and Professour of the holy tongue in this University transcribed many parcels and confuted them in his Commentary upon Saint Matthews Gospel When therefore the hard hearted and hoodwinckt Jews did with might and main indeavour to denie the faith of Christians and to brand it with falshood they shipwrackt upon the Rocks of Superstition and that in such a measure that they utterly did disanull their faith in God neither have they any knowledge to believe aright although they proudly boast of a firm and perfect faith towards God the Creatour of heaven and earth who is one in Essence from Eternity and without end yet such a faith can never be gâ—aced with the Title of the true belief when as they know not God in whom so audaciously they pretend a confidence after that manner as he hath manifested himself in his word Now the Scriptures of Moses and the Prophets declare unto us the same God that the New Testament propounds though more darkly shewing that there is a Trinity in uniTy And an unity in Trinity to wit God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost yet the Jews hot without great scandal denying this Attribute to the Creatâ—ur of heaven and earth it necessarily follows that they place no belief in the true God but rather by a stupid ignorance of him and his Essence become the very emblemes of Idolatry In that they affirm that whatsoever Moses or any other of the Prophets commit to writing was altogether orthodox and that their Text is neither to be augmented or diminished that Moses was a great and famous Prophet is an established truth yet we doubt not but their understanding was subject to a monstrous depravation in this their assertion For first of all they do not onely not believe what is written in Moses and the Prophets to be true but also do prefer the Expositions of their wise men and Rabbines upon the Law and other parcels of holy Writ before Moses and the Prophets yea they esteem more of the word of a Rabbine than of Moses furthermore they account the Traditions Statues and Ordinances not as additions to the Law but for the very Law it self which Moses received from the mouth of God and taught unto others yet did not put it in writing lest the Gentiles learning it also might put it in execution for without this Declaration Moses his Law can neither be understood nor performed as we shall more at large hereafter manifest That they perswade themselves that the Law was given with this condition that nothing of it should at any time be changed they grossely mistake the Ceremoniall Law signified Christ to come which whenby his incarnation he had fulfilled shortly after the holy Temple must kisse the ground and embrace the dust the City Jerusalem and the holy things are utterly destroyed the Jews banished their own Land and dispersed among the Gentiles that at last they might understand the time already come wherein there should be but one Shepherd and one Sheepfold and that seeing the Gentiles were entered into Communion with them in belief in God the Omnipotent Creatour of heaven and earth that they were also made partakers of the treasures of the Divine word and first delivered to the Jews Likewise their error is inexcusable in making Moses the greatest Prophet thence striving to annihilate the worth of our Saviour as one who is not worthy to loose the latchet of his Shooe but blasphemously terming him a lying Doctor Experience doth convince that in this thing many of the Jewes have the lie cast in their teeth by their own convicting conscience They believe aright that in Moses and other Prophets the Messias was promised but herein their understanding is miserably perverted that they yielding to
that he would not defile himself with the portion of the Kings meat nor the wine which he drank Secondly when the City Jerusalem was taken the Temple laid wast the Jews overcome led captive and no end of their misery and bondage could be expected behold God was so bountifull to Rabbi Juda Hannafi who was the very pattern of humility piety and sanctity that thence he was called Rabbenu hakkadosch our great Master that he found so much grace and favour in the eyes of Antoninus the Emperour whose favourite he was that by his permission he called a Councel of the most learned of the Iews out of every quarter of the Empire who might consult and find out the means how that their Law might be kept safe and not perish utterly while the misforTune of the Jews might daily encrease their Learned Doctours be either killed or sent into exile The consultation came to this issue that a consideration had of the great calamity the Jews were in being dispersed over the face of the earth and again seeing it was not unlawfull to commend their Kabala unto writing that this same Rabbine should gather together in one book what ever parcell of this Law delivered by mouth remained in memory either before or after Christs time This book he entituled Mischna that is a second Law in Greek called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it contains six Principal Chapters which are again subdivided into sixty peculiar Sections or Tracts Thus much Rabbi Mikkotzi In these Sections are contained in short injunctions conclusions positions and aphorismes the Traditions and Ordinances of their Elders according to whose Rule the Jewish Synagogue was then and now ought to square their lives against which Christ the Evangelists and Apostles preached and taught yea Isa also when he calls their Doctrine the Commandements of men This book in the year of Christ 219. being confirmed as absolute and Orthodox was received and approved by the whole Synagogue of the Iews who also enacted that the Jews then living and all their posterity should live according to the tenour of it which they do even to this day as it is clearly manifest by the Hebrew Chronicle called Tzemach David Some few years after arose Rabbi Iochanan who was Rector of the University of Ierusalem for the space of fourscore years he enlarged the foresaid book and called it Talmud Hierosolymitanum or the Talmud of Ierusalem which book seemed so obscure difficult and hard to be understood that few cared for the reading of it neither was it in so great esteem as the former neither is unto this day and because this book Mischuaios was written in a decurtate and different dialect Rabbi Asse Rector of the same University after him began to explain it for his School lectures and every year ranne over two Tracts thereof in this whole time of his profession which was threescore years two times finishing his exposition In writing he onely finished thirty five Tracts as Rambam witnesseth in his Preface to the book called Zeraim he began to professe in the year of Christ 3670 Next after him in the year 427. succeeded Maremar in the Rectorship to whom Rab. Asse son to the former joyned himself they two finished that which Rabbi Asse the father had left imperfect so that the book Mischuaios was now altogether compleat that which was added they called Gemarah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies a complement or perfection which together with Mischuaios made up the whole Talmud these two spent seventy three years in the consummation of their labours so that the body of the Talmud was perfected received and acknowledged for authentick in the year of Christ 500. being called the Babylonian Talmud which to this day is a rule and square unto the Jews both in their Ecclesiasticall and civil affairs This is that glorious vestment of Jacobs posterity that precious treasure of which they are the keepers delivered unto them by hearâ— say this is their genuine Perasch or Expósition yea rather as Malachi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dying upon your faces out of which the doubtfull places above mentioned may fully be resolved this is that Thorah begnal peh the Law of words of greater esteem with them then that which was written seeing this without that can by no means be understood Now because the main of their folly is not known to many of the Christian World I wil here adde what I have transcribed out of their own books Aben Ezra in his Proem upon the Pentateuch hath these words This is most infallible sign unto us that Moses grounded upon the Law delivered only by word unto him and expressed in the Talmud which Talmud is the joy and consolation of our hearts There is also no difference betwixt Law and Law being both delivered unto us by our Ancestors And in another place he writes many things to the same purpose affirming it to be impossible to come by any exposition agreeable to the nature and proprietie of the Commandements of the Law unlesse we lay for our foundation those things which our Wise-men and Rabbines have spoke and written Hence we may conclude that the faith of the Jews is not grounded upon Moses but upon the Expositions of their owne Doctors which must interpret the former as a sure foundation of it as it is further confirmed in the Book Ammude Golah called also Semak or Sepher mitzvos katon that is the little book of the Commandements printed at Cremona in Italy in the year of Christ 1556. The words are these Thou shalt not think that the written word is the Groundwork for much rather the Law delivered by mouth only which is the Talmud is the true foundation And according to this Law God made a Covenant with Israel as it is written Exod. 34. 27. and these words are Gods Treasure for God fore-saw that the Israelites in time to come should be cast out into exile and because the people of the Land in which they were strangers would copy out interpret their Books as they did the written Word God would not have this to fall under the Pen of the Scribe and although in processe of time it came to passe that this was also written yet the Christians could not comprehend the true sence thereof by reason of its difficulty and because the interpretation thereof requires an acute and sublime understanding as it is written I have written unto him the great things of my Law but they were accounted as a strange thing yet if Rabbi Isaac Ben Joseph had not been hood-winkt in superstition he might have had the eyes of his understanding so much illuminated as to have perceived that place of Hosea to point at the written word and that this Law was not as he complains vilified and had in contempt by the Gentiles but even by the Jewes themselves who had so debased it that it seemed â—nto them as an ucouth and unknown
year untill the thirteenth they have a serious and impulsive admonition given time not to go uncovered after which time they are commanded to use the gesture The children of the Jews from their very infancy are accustomed to wear a girdle and truly their honest Matrons fasten it to the hinder part of their coats that by this means they may always be mindfull of it for the girdle severs their heart from the secret parts lest the heart in time of prayer might be hindred in its devotion by beholding the privities So soon as this infant Jew hath learnned his morning prayers he intermixeth this Petition Blessed be thou O God who girds Israel with the girdle of strength having respect unto the girdle he is girded withall for if he have none about him then is this his prayer of no moment but in vain and imputed to him for a sinne Moreover the children are not permitted to go barefoot for fear of a multiplicity of dangers which might happen unto them and that especially in the Moneths of December and January when the Cats dance their Corantoes for at that time they may chance to tread upon venemous stuffe cast out by the Cats in this their wantonnesse by which their feet may be annoyed with such a swelling that for a long time after they can have no remedy When they cannot as yet speak plainly or readily they are caught to pronounce some good Sentences out of the Bible they accustome them also upon the morning and Evening of Evening of every Sabbaoth and great feast decently to salute their father and mother and to bid them good morrow good even to wish them a happy Sabbaoth c. Seven years past and the children coming to more maturity they are commanded that every morning adjoyning the name of God they should remember to say God give yon a good day c. for so spoke Boaz to his reapers Hael immachem the Lord be with you and also this Jebarecha hael God blesse you or as we use to speak God thank you It is not lawfull for them to use the name of God unlesse it be in some pure place concerning which more shall be spoken in another place They are also taught all manner of utensils necessary for their life and daily conversation They practise Nomenclation that by this means they may fooner learn to speak Hebrew and hence it is that they intermingle many Hebrew words with the Germane language or any other which they use as their mother tongue Moreover these infants altogether shun the company of Christians will neither eat nor drink nor enter into any other kind of commerce with them this being the study of their Parents to make every action of the Christians for to seem odious and such as are abomination to the Jews hence it comes to passe that they indesinently hold on to nourish that hatred which they conceived against the Christians in their infancy even untill the end of their dayes When the children are seven years old then by their Parents command they learn to read and write If any one be of so great an estate that he can bestow the charges he keeps a Rabbi or Schoolmaster in his own house to instruct his children So soon as any one hath made so much progresse in this kind that he can read then first of all he is taught to construe the Books of Moses in that language with which he was brought up In a certain book called Schebkile emunah it is recorded that when the mother brings her son the first time unto School to the Rabbine that she ought to give unto him some delicious wafers made with Sugar and hony and to say these words Even as this wafer is sweet so let the Law be sweet unto thy heart let it be like sugar upon thy tongue and hony upon thy lips see that thou trifle not away thy time at School with babbling unprofitable speeches but learn to speak the words of the Law alone let them only proceed out of thy mouth for hereby it shall comete pass that the glory of Gods Majesty shall rest upon thy head and for evermore shall there keep his residence for God loves all those that are intent unto goodnesse and speak of his Word Hereupon the most learned Doctours among the Jews have left it written that Jerusalem being wasted and all the Priests and Levites exiled by the Enemy God did in such a manner for sake them that his Majesty would not vouchsafe to bear them company The Sanedrim also or the chief Consistory among the Jews being likewise by the Conquerours overthrown without Jerusalem had not the Majesty of the most high gone along with them yet the children at length being banished out of their School the glorious Majesty of God omnipotent was their Companion into the Land of their captivity concerning which the Prophet Jer. prophesied in these words Her children are gone into captivity before the enemy and from the daughter of Zâ—on all her beauty is departed where beauty notes out the presence of Gods Majesty in the presence of which the beauty of the City Jerusalem consisted therefore when the boyes sitting at the feet of the Rabbine learn the words of the Law and nothing but the Law issues out of his mouth then the glorious Majesty of the Creator dwells in them and delights himself with the breath coming out of the mouth of these punies for a breath of this nature is pure and holy considering the child hath not as yet committed sin In the thirteenth year of his age his title is Bar Mitzvah the son of the Commandements because he is now tied to keep the Law and will of God as also then he begins first of all to fin if he do not perform the said Commandements Rabbi Simeon Bar Nachmam in the name of Rabbi Jochanan uttered these words That if any one teach his son the word of God he is worthy to sit before the Lord in that University which is opened in the heavens as Jeremy saith If thou wilt return then will I bring thee again and thou shalt stand before me that is to say if thy son hear the Law I will make him fellow of the same Colledge that the Saints and Angels inhabit and make him partaker of life eternal and whosoever is not carefull that his son should learn the Law and so consequently becomes the occasion of his corrupt education it were better for him that he were blind so that he might not behold his reproachfull acts as it is written of the Patâ—iarch Isaac When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see he called Esau his eldest son c. On these words Rabbi Eliezer of the stock of Azariah saith That Isaac his eyes were therefore dimme that he might not see the immodesty and wantonnesse of his unnurtured son Esau and it is recorded in the book Medrasch that Abraham for the very
from my bed to rest that I may tender my service and do homage to the King of Kings who hath given me life and nourishment and doth defend me against all mine enemies of what quality soever Whosoever hath in him any relish of godliness ought every morning to entertain the pangs of grief and sorrow for the Temple of Jerusalem praying that that Temple and City may with speed be re-edified And who before the Day star appear or the clouds of night he dispeld by the Suns approach ere that he forsake his pillow shall wash his couch with tears for the desolations of the Temple of Jerusalem and the long captivity shall gain this much that God being mercifull unto him shall not suffer his prayer to be deprived of audience In Maseches Sanedrin the Rabbines upon those words in the Lamentations of Jeremy She weeps in the night without any intermission of weeping dispute and say that if any hear the voice of one weeping upon the night it is so intermixt with the Gall of bitternessi that he must of necessity second the mourner in his dolesull notes The very same which happened to Rabbi Gamaliel who upon the night time hearing the mournfull out cries of a certain woman for the death of her son counted his life bitter unto him and bare a part with her weeping most bitterly Rabbi Jochanan saith that when any one doth lament upon the night time the fixed stars and Planets condole with him Their Chachamim write that he who weepeth ought to let his tears find a current through the narrow â—hâ—ud gates of his eyes because then God will arise and gather them into his bottle And then if there chaâ—ce to be a promulgation of any decree by the enemies of Israel to destroy them God shall remember these godly men who shed â—ears in abundance shall take these boâ—tles full of them pouring them upon and blotting out the hand-writing that was against them that no evil may befall the Jews Hereupon the Prophet David Thou tellest my flittings and putst my tears into thy bottle are not these things written in thy booke By these words David would specifie thus much that God pours out the Vâ—ols of tears upon the writings or books put out against the Jews and so defaceth them that they become canceâ—'d and of no force To the same purpose he speaks in another place He that soweth in tears shall reap in joy The Author of the Book Reschith Chochmah in the 111 pag. saith that he received it by tradition from his Elders that it is very soveraign for a man to sprinkle tears upon his brow and to rub them in because there are some sins written in his brow which by this means may be blotted out according to the words of the Prophet saying Thou shalt set the letter Thau upon the foreheads of the men c. The Cabbalists write that if any have a desire to list up his prayer unto that holy and blessed God that he would vouchsafe to deliver the Jews out of their long continued bondage he ought to do it when it begins to dawn that he ought to weep heartily and send forth strong cries so shall his words enter into the ears of the Lord of Hosts and then chiefly because there is nothing which may disturb him in his prayers none also found who shall move his tongue against the children of Israel We find it recorded by Jeremy The Lord shall roar from on high and utter his voice from his holy habitation The Lord roars in the morning upon his beauty The beauty of the Lord is the Temple of Jerusalem and that is holy which as he hath permitted to be destroyed so is it his pleasure that it shall be built again and that he may be warned unto the enterprise he will be early intreated Hence David saith My voice thou shalt hear betimes O Lord early in the morning I wil direct my prayer unto thee and will look up In the morning that is when it begins to be day I will go into thy house he will not do the same upon the night because in the beginning of the night God causeth all the Gates of Heaven to be shut up and the Angels sit as Porters and are silent God sends away the evil spirits into the world who hurt every one they meet The middle of the night being past a great cry is heard in Heaven and it is commanded that they should set open the Gates the day now approaching to this end that none might wait too long This cry is heard by the houshold Cocks here upon earth who clapping their wings with a shril voice awake us mortals Then these evil spirits lose all their power so that they cannot do any more annoyance for which cause the Rabbines have ordained a certain thanksgiving which they whould have repeated in them morning by them that hear the Cock crow saying Blessed be thou O God who art Lord of the whole world that thou hast given understanding to the Cock To be briefe whosoever fears the Lord wheresoever he live needs not the Cock to awake him He that alwayes in aw the Lord doth keep Needs not to be awaked of his sleep Moreover it is the will of the Chachamim that non presume to raise himself up in his bed or sitting up therin to put on his shirt being naked but lying still should strive to wind himselfe into it with his hands and head lest the wals and beams of the house might behold the secret parts of his naked body Rabbi Jose boasts in Masseches Schabbas Thus long have I lived and yet the beams of the house did never see the hem of my shirt thereby signifying that he never invested himselfe therewith being naked but lying hid in his bed Hereupon it is a position of their grand Sophies that none ought to put on his coat being naked much less is it permitted that he should walk or stand naked in his bedchamber For suppose any sudden fire or some great tumult might arise whose rarity might so affright him that he should run naked out of his bed-chamber with what a countenance can such a one shew himself It is not also lawfull for any one being naked to make water by his bed side for of such men the Prophet Amos speaketh saying They sleep in beds of Ivory and stretch themselves upon their Couches The Hebrew word Seruchim which signifies to stretch out the Rabbines translate to be resolved into stinking matter as they expound the same Jer. 49. 7. upon which place R. Jose the son of Chaninâ— saith these are they who stand naked before their beds No man ought thus to think with himselfe It is dark I am in my Closet no eye sees me I say every one ought with all diligence to abstain from such cogitations for Gods holy Majesty is above all and present in every place The whole earth is full of
for the Rabbines in their Masseches Berachos upon those words When all the people saw the thunders and the lightnings and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain burning the people saw and were afraid and stood afar off dispute and say that the people through great fear and amazement was in a moment of time three miles backward from the mountain Sinai The chief Glosse-monger Rabbi Salomon Jarchi writes in his glosse upon this Text that the people kept back twelve miLes of which David spoke saying The Kings of the Armies did flie and sheâ— that tarried at home divided the spoil and then came the good Angels and ministring Spirits and brought the people back unto the Mountain When they are about to depart the Temple or Synagogue then they speaking within themselves quietly and without the least noise they say a certain Prayer beginning Alenulesh abeach It is meet that we should praise the Lord who is above all and in an excellent degree to celebrate him because he hath created all things and not made us like unto the rest of the Nations likewise that he hath not made us as other generations of the World and hath not appointed us an inheritance like unto theirs neither is our lot as their lot neither as the lot of their whole multititude Here are some words omitted in their Books of Common-prayer and that by the Commandement of the Magistrates of Italy where their Books are wont to be and for the most part are at this day imprinted The things omitted were some blasphemous sayings against our Saviour which are found expressed in the ancient copies of which I have one which was imprinted at Augusta by a Jewish Printer called Chajim in the year of Christ 1534. In other copies instead of the words omitted there is left an empty space about the length of one line to this end that the children of the Jews and others who are ignorant may be warned to enquire what saying it is that is there omitted which when they do some relate the words unto them or otherwise write them in the margent of the Book as I have observed them to have practised in many of their Prayer books the words left out are these Who bend their knee and crouch to that which is vanity and foolishness and adore another God who cannot help these words they utter against Christ wherefore they spit upon the earth in the mouthing of them But we bend and bow our knees yea our whole man to that King who is King of Kings to God holy and blessed for ever who stretcheth out the heavens establisheth the earth whose glory and chair of estate is in heaven and the seat of whose power is in the highest heavens he only is our God and there is no other besides him These things thus finished the Jew now going out Of the Synagogue saith O Lord God lead me by thy justice by reason of those that lay wait for me in secret make plain thy way before my face Preserve me in my going out and my comming in from this time forth for evermore They must go out of the Synagogue in the posture of a Crab sish creeping backward through the Gate thereof and that their back part should not be towards the holy Ark in which the book of the Law is laid up to which they ought to exhibit a certain kind of reverence by turning their face thereunto The Rabbines upon those words of the Prophet Ezekiel Who have turned their back unto the Temple of the Lord have delivered thus much in the Talmud that a grievous and heavy punishment was inflcted upon the Priests because in going out of the Temple of the Lord they turned their back parts towards the ark of the Covenant wherefore the case standing thus we ought to depart out of the Temple with all fear and reverence even as a servant being about to take his leave of his Maister doth it with a retrograde crowching submission and submiss lowliness They must not run out of the Synagogue lest some might think him that runneth to be weary with praying and to rejoyce that it is now lawfull for him to depart They must go out with decurtate steps for if any one doth this God numbreth his steps and gives him a great reward as it is written Thou hast numbred my steps c. If any in his going forth chance to meet a woman or a damsel whether she be one of the Jews or Christians he ought to shut his eyeâ— and turn away his face from beholding her he must not afford her the common curtesie of a Complement lest thereby taking occasion of longer discourse he should be woed to the entertainment of lustfull notions and evil cogitations Concerning the serious manner of praying they write that whosoever wil pray attentively ought to have his head and heart covered to incompass his body with a girdle in the middle lest his heart by the sight of the secret part should be inveigled with wicked thoughts He must turn his face towards Canaan and the City Jerusalem his feet equally placed upon the Earth as abovesaid He ought to put his hand upon his heart in that manner that his right hand may rest upon his left withall bowing his head with great humility as it is written Let us lift up our hearts with our hands unto the Lord in the heavens and again My life is alwayes in my hand yet do I not forget thy Law In time of prayer none must yawn belch or spit yet if he must spit on necessity then ought he privately to receive it in his Handkerchiff and modestly to cast it behind him or upon his left hand but not before him or upon his right for there stand the Angels invisible whom if any should beray with this excrement he should be guilty of an heynous offence It is not lawfull for any to let a scape in time of Prayer if he do it against his will then ought he to suspend the act of praying until the ill savour thereof be gone If the wind urge him so much and so vehemently that he must of necessity let fly then shall he go some four paces aside set a packing and instantly thereupon saying O Lord of all the earth thou hast created me full of holes Whiâ—h I cannot shut up all our modesty is open and known unto thee our life is full of shame we are nothing but worms and Maggots Sneesing in time of Prayer if it come from the parts below is an ill sign if from above a good one He that beginneth once to pray must not break off in the middle of his Prayer yea although the King of Israel should come and salute him yet he may not answer him though a Serpent took him by the heel and bit him yet ought he to continue in his devotions yet there is a certain dispensation which licenseth a man to give way unto a
life and musâ— take an especiall care lest out of a luxurious prodigall humour hee mispend his estate in sumptuous banquets seeing a laudable frugality makes many rich If in the time of eating a cup of wine or beere be presented to any which is better then ordinary hee that first drinkes thereof ought to say this prayer Blessed bee thou O Lord our God Lord of the whole world who art mercifull and good unto meâ— Likewise for meâ—teâ— whiâ—h are not for the palate of every rusticke nor for every daies service Blessed art thou O Lord our God who hast created diversitie of meates If there bee any fruit upon the table which groweth on a tree as grapes figs golden apples olives chesnuts common apples peares almonds acrons berries or such like then he saith Blessed art thou O God who hast created the fruit of the tree but if only those which sprung out of the earth then hee saith Blessed art thou O God who hast created the fruites of the earth Over other dishes that neither grow immediately out of the earth nor yet upon any tree as cheese butter fish flesh milk and honey he saith Blessed bee God by whose word was created whatsoever was created If any take an apple or such like thing into his hand and blesse it yet before he eate it if it chance to fall unto the ground then hee saith Blessed be thou O Name of the majesty of his Kingdome from hence foâ—th for evermore And this he doth because he had formerly praied in vaine and that praier did nothing availe having named the name of God to no purpose which is an offence very hainous If the apple fall out of his hand before he have given thankes at all then hee saith O Lord teach me thy statutes If any have put any meate into his mouth forgetting to give thanks he must keep it in the side thereof untill he have conferred a blessing thereupon then let it descend into the kitchin of his stomack In the like manner if he have drunk wine or beere hee must redeem his forgetfulnesse with an accelerated consecrating thanksgiving If the meat in this case be unchewed he must take it out of his mouth againe and say a praier over it Now it is not lawfull for any one either to eate or drinke without prayer and giving of thankes so neither is it permitted that any enjoy a sweet smell or â—avour without the exhibition of the due symptomes of a gratefull minde to God the Creator If the smell in a sense-pleasing exhalation be evaporated from some savoury wood at the noâ—e frankincense cynnamon or such like this pious ejaculation must proceed out of the mouth Blessed be thou O God which hast infused a sweet savour into trees bringing forth â—lowers If the odours proceed from fruits as apples and muske nuts then they ought of say Blessed be thou O God who hast given such a sweet savour to apples Over balseme or sweet smelling oiles and nose-alluring waters they say Blessed be thou O God who createst sweet and well-smelling oyles Over herbes Blessed be thou O God who hast created herbes sending forth odours like unto those of spices If any Jew goe into an Apothecaries shop or any other closet where an army of odours make a forcible entrance in at the two leaâ—ed door of his nose he presently disgorgeth this thanksgiving Blessed be thou O God who hast created sweet smelling odours of all sorts what more shall we say This their opinion they defend tooth and naile and this they write That nothing whatsoever wheresoever profered unto us can bee lawfully enjoyed of us unlesse we first poure out a thanksgiving to God the Creator of it Hence it comes to passe that an ungratefull man is called a robber because he feares not to spoile God of his goods and gifts and that with great injustice This custome of theirs truly is very laudable and no way to be discommended so it were used without superstition and a mind intent upon their Maker But they alas in this as in all other their actions have more respect to the outward Ceremony then the inward worke placing all the power and virtue in the bare words by the repetition of which they thinke themselves well apayed They leave a piece of bread upon the table which they account so religious a worke that he who neglects the performance thereof shall not inherit the smallest blessing which the Talmudist proves out of those words There shall none of his meat be left therefore shall no man looke for his goods Which is also commanded in the second of Chronicles where it is recorded Since the people began to bring the offerings into the the house of the Lord we had enough to eate and have left plenty for the Lord hath blessed his people and that which is left is this great store Rabbi Eliezer saith that a whole loafe must not bee left upon the table lest the action should seeme to have some savour of Idolatry as in ancient times wherein as the Prophet Isaiah saith that they forsooke the Lord forgot his holy mountaine prepared a table for the troope of heaven and furnished the drinke offering unto that number Now the table on which this crust of bread is usually left at this day is not prepared for the same end and purpose that it was in Esaies dayes for they when they had eaten and were full then instead of giving of thankes they spread a table for the hoaste of heaven But now adaies this little piece of bread is lest upon the table that there may be alwaies something thereupon which may be the subject of blessing for otherwise the bread being all devoured no benediction keeps any further residence upon the table Before they say grace after meat every one takes his knife and puts it into his sheath The impulsive cause is that which is read in the Gemarah that when upon a certaine time some had left their knives upon the table he who was to say grace when he came to those words Build againe thy holy City Jerusalem and that quickly in thâ—se our daies Blessed be thou O God who doest build againe thy City Jerusalem and hereupon recalling into his remembrance the desolations of the City and Temple he became so sorrowfull and melancholy that he presently snatcht one of the knives stabbing himselfe to the heart made a way for the departure of his soule It was a custome in the daies of old that before giving of thanks aftermeat the crums of bread should bee swept from under the table with a besome as also to wash their hands and mouth at the table over a bason not over the the top or cover of a furnace for this was ominous and that for this reason That their thanksgiving and the name of God therein contained might bee pronounced out of a pure and sanctified mouth but in these our daies the occasion being their
because without these there is no pleasure and also by reason of the command which saith Thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God thou and thy son and thy daughter For a conclusion le ts see what the Prophets say concerning these Jewes who have taken the Law to wife The sentence of Isaiah is The earth is defiled under the inhabitants thereof because they have transgressed the Lawes changed the Ordinance and broken the everlasting Covenant And the Lord by the mouth of Ezâ—kiel saith The Priests have out of malice perverted my law and profaned my sanctuary Stephen cries out against them Ye stifnecked and uncircumcised in heart and eares you doe alwaies resist the holy ghost as your fathers did so do yee Who have received the Law by the disposition of Angels and have not kept it CHAP. XVI Of their Feast of Tabernacles THE third great Festivall of the Jewes which they are to celebrate every yeare once appearing before the Lord in Jerusalem is the Feast of Tabernacles concerning which as also the two former it is writ in the fifth book of Moses Three times a yeare shall all thy males appeare before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall chuse in the Feast of unleavened bread in the Feast of weeks and in the Feast of Tabernacles and they shall not appeare before the Lord empty The time of the celebration of this Feast was according to Gods owne commandement to bee the fifteenth day of the seventh month according to the vulgar account beginning to reckon from the first day of the new yeare of Festivals of which we have spoken formerly that it begins in March and so consequently inferre that this seventh month must be our September The etymologie whereof as also the reason why this month in their common annuall account is called the first shall hereafter be more at large declared The end of their keeping of this Feast was as a signe or token whereby the Israelites might recall to mind the fatherly providence of Almighty God by which hee had sustained the children of Israel after a wonderfull manner for the space of forty yeares in the desert having neither house nor harbor The manner of celebration is thus prescribed by Moses You shall dwell in boothes seven daies all that are Israelites born shall dwell in boothes that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in boothes when I brought them out of the land of Egypt These boothes were wont to be made of the boughes of goodly trees as the mirtle olive firre which by reason of their fatnesse would for a long time retaine their green attire branches of palm trees boughes of thicke trees willowes of the brook as it is in the same place This they put in practise in the daies of Nehemiah after their returne from Babylon for it is recorded that then they published and proclaimed in all their Cities and in Jerusalem saying Goe forth unto the mount and fetch olive branches pine branches myrtle branches and palme branches and branches of thicke trees to make boothes And they did so From that which hath been said we may gather 1. That the Jewes in ancient times made Tabercles of these kinds of boughes in which they dwelt for the space of eight daies 2. That there were in use for the fabrick more then foure severall kinds of boughes or branches yea the willowes of the brook are not mentioned in the forecited place of Nehemiah which were used for the knitting together of the other branches being plyable and fit for that purpose Therefore the Jewes of these present times commit a grosse error that they in a most superstitious manner in the celebration of this Festivall tie and confine themselves to those foure kinds of branches only mentioned by Moses and not building them Tabernacles therewithall but transferring them to another use of which more hereafter Concerning this Feast there is extant a large tract in the Talmud wherein the genuine observation and celebration thereof is set downe the platâ€forme of the boothes or Tabernacles exquisitely drawne the use of the foure severall sorts of branches described with much disputation and great subtilty as their manner is not omitting to handle all the ceremonies belonging there unto yet never seeking after the true way and meanes whereby they may rightly lift up their hearts unto the God of their fathers For though in the time of this Feast they say many prayers yet they offer them up unto the Lord only upon the censure of their tongue not upon the altar of their hearts for in these they are far from him an evident demonstration hereof is the winged hudling over of these their petitions using such a precipitancy of speech as though they were able to pronounce a thousand words with one breath and accounting it a work of art and skill so to do This Feast endures for the space of eight daies the two first and the two last whereof are to be kept holy altogether those which are of the middle rank only for halfe the day Upon the fourteenth day of the month about eventide they meet in the Synagogue according to their ecclesiastical Ordinances and institutions where they sing and pray untill it bee night At which time they returne to their houses and retire themselves into their Tabernacles where the Master of the family saith a certaine prayer which serves for the initiation of the Feast and consecration of the Tabernacles giving thanks unto God that he hath chosen them before all other people exalted sanctified and commanded them to dwell in Tabernacles The thanks giving being ended they fall to supper where they are very jocund and merry In ancient daies they were wont also to lodge in their boothes which the Jewes at this day use not the coldnesse moistnesse and other maladies and incumbrances which might accrew unto them thereby being as so many potent arguments to disswade from this and to invite them to their owne bedâ€chambers which experience hath taught them to be the sweeter resting place Upon the morrow of the fifteenth day they returne into the Synagogue singing and praying and honouring the Lord with a little lip-service their hearts roving quite another way When the Chanter hath proceeded so farte in his prayers that he is come at last to those words Give peace in these our daâ—es O Lord then every one taking a little bundle of palm oliâ—e and willow branches in his right hand and an orenge in his lest saith Blessed be thou O Lord our God King of the world who hast sanctifyed us by thy commandments and commanded us to carry a bundle of branches Which while he is in repeating he shakes the bundle that it may make a noise the words of the Prophet moving him thereunto who saith The trees of the wood shall clap their hands Then he shakes the bundle three times towards the East three times towards the West
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
ill liver commonly before an honest man Hence it is that these things considered such a flood of contention often ariseth that a Christian Magistrate is often sent for to stop stay it forunder the Sun there is not a more testy envious jarring and more implacable people then the Jews And this is the fruit which they reap from the reading of the Law with so great attention as they bring and boast of and to say the very truth no better can be expected seeing their outside makes a beautiful and glorious shew but within they are full of malice and hypocrisie Now whereas there is no perfect joy where slesh and wine or as they say Basâ—r re iâ—jin are wanting therefore they conclude and end this Feast of joy and rejoycing with a sumptuous and great Supper CHAP. XXIII Of the Feast of Dedication THis Feast is wont to be celebrated upon the twenty first day of November by them called Kisleu in memory of Judas Hasmonita or Machabaeus that excellent warriour who after the death of his Father Mattathias overcame and vanquished the Grecians who had formerly subdued Jerusalem profaned the holy Temple poured out the oil of the Sanctuary and done very much evil unto the Jews He also won the City cleansed the Sanctuary upon the twenty first day of this moneth as we may read in the first book of Mâ—chabees and the fourth Chapter Wherefore Judas and his brethren with the whole Congregation of Israel concluded that the dayes of dedication of the Altar should be kept in their season from year to year by the space of eight dayes from the five and twentieth day of the moneth Casleu with mirth and gladnesse This Feast the Jews at this day do also keep and celebrate but in a far different manner then those ancient Machabites For here now is nothing to be seen but feasting and gormandising quaffing and drinking piping and dancing revelling and roaring all to passe away the time but little or no thanksgiving unto the Lord of hosts for the victory and conquest over their enemies as upon this day At that time when Judas had dedicated the Temple none of the holy oil could be found so that the Lamps could not be lighted according to the ordinance of Moses Judas therefore made diligent search in the Temple where he found a small horn of oil sealed with the Ring of one of the Priests which was onely sufficient to feed the Lamps for one nights space yet preserved in that happy manner that it was not polluted by the enemies Hereupon the heart of Judas and the whole congregation was filled with sorrow because they could have no more oil till these eight dayes were expired because the City Tehoa from whence it was to be fetched was four dayes journey distant from Jerusalem In this their perplexity the favà our and mercy of God appeared to them by this miracle for the horn of oil sailed not for eight dayes together In the remembrance of this favour and blessing so miraculously conferred upon them the Jews at this day use a great deal of superstitious pomp in tinding of the Lamps appointed for the Synagogue in the time of this Feast They provide a Candlestick with seven branches capable of seven lights or Lamps which burn every night though not until the morrow from the beginning of this Feast unto the end thereof and wheresoever any of these Lamps are found whether in their Houses Stoves or Bedchambers there it is not lawful to move the finger to any kinde of work A Lamp must also be hung as well upon the right side of the gate of every mans house as of the Synagogue the distance whereof from the ground ought to be ten spans no lower twenty but no higher It is a great question among them how long these Lamps may burn and by whom they may be tinded whether one may be lighted at another and such like Thus are they very solicitous and careful about these external lights never considering that there is nothing but darknesse in their own hearts neither striving that they may be illuminated by the light of Gods holy Spirit CHAP. XXIV Of their Feast of Purim THe word Purim is a Persian word and is rendred by the Hebrews Goral which signifies a lot This Feast therefore took its name from that plot and wicked device of Haman the Agagite who in the moneth Nisan in the twelfth year of Ahasuerus cast Pur that is a lot whereby all the Jews both young and old children and women in all the Kings Provinces should be destroyed and rooted out in one day even upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth moneth which is the moneth Adar or February which decree was written in the name of the King and sealed with his Ring The end of this conspiracy fell far contrary to Hamans intent For Haman was hanged upon a pair of Gallows fifty foot high and the King granted the Jews in what Cities soever they were to gather themselves together and to stand for their life to root out slay and destroy all them that vexed them So that strengthened by the Kings Letter Patents they put their adversaries to death In Shushan the Palace they slew five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman and the Jews that were in the Provinces of King Ahasucrus slew of them that hated them seventy five thousand men upon the thirteenth day of the moneth Adar and rested upon the fourteenth and fifteenth thereof Wherefore it is instituted and ordained that upon the fourteenth and the fifteenth day of the said moneth every yeer should a Feast be kept by the Jews in all quarters in remembrance of this great deliverance throughout their generations by an ordinance for ever Wherein they rested from their enemies in the moneth which turned unto them from sorrow to joy from mourning to a joyful day as we may read in the ninth Chapter of the book of Esther These two dayes are celebrated at this day by the Jews imitation of their ancestors but in that manner that they rather deserve the name of the dayes of profanation and drunkennesse then of joy and gladnesse Although upon these dayes working is not prohibited by the text of Scripture yet the Jewes at this day rest from all manner of labour writing and affirming in the Talmud that he will never thrive or prosper that does any work upon them For there it is recorded that upon a certain time that a man being sowing line-seed upon one of these dayes a certain Rabbine coming by and seeing him began to reprove and curse him Whereupon it came to passe that the seed never came to growth nor did ever peep out of the ground In the first place therefore the women are enjoyned in a more peculiar manner to sanctifie and celebrate this Festival because this deliverance was wrought by the hands of Queen Esther The night being come they light the Lamps of joy in the Synagogue and
their own land About whose coming they are among themselves altogether disagreeing Those ancient Jews who lived before Christs incarnation did not much miss the marke when Elias said that the world should continue six thousand years whereof two thousand were to be void and without force that is without the law of God the other two thousand under the law and the last under the Messias Their hope was therefore this that foure thousand years after the worlds creation fully expired their Messias should come in the flesh in which their errour was small or none at all for according to the vulgar account of us Christians Christ the true Messias was borne in the 3963. year of the world but according to the Jews computation in the year 3761 we and they differing 202 years And now because Christ came not unto them in great power a king of glorious state such as were David and Solomon to deliver them from the tyranny of that usurping Herod and Roman cruelty neither with a rod of iron to break in pieces and destroy their enemies but only began his kingdom over them with the spiritual scepter of his doctrine even for this very cause they would not receive him for the true Messias though some few did acknowledge and embrace him and at that time the most ancient and approved men amongst them did expect his coming thus we finde a Simeon waiting for the consolation of Israel and Anna that old Prophetess speaking of him to all that hoped for deliverance in Jerusalem The very same that the Apostle Paul witnesseth in his Epistle to the Romans that though the Jews were most ingrateful yet is there a remnant of them according to the election of grace Yea when all kingly power sacerdotal honour and dignity was taken from them the city Jerusalem made a ruinous heap and their beauty the temple turned into ashes every one now begins to suspect the time of the coming of the Messias to be past Hence it was that in the 52. years ufter the destruction of the Temple a certain proud and haughty Jew boasting that he was the true Messias feared not to affirme himself the same of whom Balaam prophesied in these words I shall see him but not now I shall behold him but not nigh there shall come a star out of Jacob and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel and he shall smite the corners of Moab and destroy all the children of Sheth And Edom shall be a possession Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies and Israel shall do valiantly Others understood this prophesie of the then newly begun kingdom of the Christians But the Jews even at this day determine their Messias as yet to come and to fulfil those things which Balaam foretold according to their substance That the said Jew should proclaim himself the Messias was most grateful unto them who presently in their own conceits can nourish hopes that they should become the conquerours of the Romans who a little before had destroyed their City and Temple This Seducer following the letter of the prophesie names himself Ben Chocab which is by interpretation the son of a Star His chief follower who at the very first clave unto him was Rabbi Akibha a man of great learning who had under his tuition twenty four thousand Scholars proclaiming him to be Malka Meschiccha Christ the King By this means much people went after him insomuch that he chused unto himself the City Bittera for the seat of his kingdom But when that Adrian the Roman Emperour had after a siege of three years and an half taken and killed this their Messias and together with this beautiful Star had miserably slaughtered more then four hundred thousand Jews then the remnant of so great a massacre perceiving themselves led astray by this their Star turn Anabaptists and call him from that day to this Barcozabh that is the son of a lye a lying and bastardly Messias Yet neverthelesse many since have lived who would be reputed for the Messias as you may read in a book called Schebhet Jehudah * The issue of all is this that the Jews convicted in their own consciences will they nill they are forced to confesse that the time in which the Messias was to come is already past When therefore they had despised and rejected Christ the true Messias and no other appeared they falsified the above mentioned tradition of Elias which was that the Messias should come about the four thousandth year of the world by annexing unto it this Comment that the time was prolonged for their offences But when at length no reason could be pretended of this long delay neither could they desine the time of his coming their onely evasion is to smite with this curse the head of him that should determine a certain season for his coming Tippach ruchan atzman schel mechasschebhe Kitzin * Which is Let their soul and body burst with a swâ—lling Rupture who peremptorily set down the time that time I say in which the Messias is expresly for to come Yet this not at all pondered and nothing set by many of them moved by the prophesies of the men of God concerning the coming of the Messias have in their souls and consciences confessed that the time of his coming was already past and therefore in their writings they acknowledge that he is born indeed but for their sins and impenitent life not as yet revealed And at this instant all the Jews dwelling amongst us are of the same opinion Hereupon Rabbi Solomon Jarchi saith that according to their ancestors the Messias was born in that day in which â—erusalem was last of all destroyed but where he hath so long been hid to be uncertain Some of them think that he lies in Paradise bound to the womans hair grounding upon these words in the Song of Solomon Thy head upon thee is like Carmel and the hair of thy head like purple the King is bound in the Galleries By King understaning the Messias and by Galleries Paradise Rabbi Solomon follows this exposition of these ancient Rabbines The Talmudists write that he lies in Rome under a gate among sick folks and Lepers perswaded by the words of Esay who saith that he is one despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief Others forge other lies and tales Well let all these things fall out according to their own desire yet they still believe he is to come First then before his coming shall happen ten notable miracles by which every one shall be admonished and incited to an accurate preparation for his coming and also be warned to conceive that he shall not come so poor and privately as Christ came These ten miracles I mean here to present in the same words that the Rabbines have commended them to posterity in a little book called Abkas Rochel The first miracle God shall stirr up and produce three