face being washed great curiosity must be used in the drying of it for he who does not take care thereof shall have his face so blossomed with budding Ale pocks so imbroidered with wrinkles that the deformity thereof will become loathsome to the eye of every beholder the face must be wipâ—d with a clean towell not with a woollen cloath which some slothfull persons blush not a whit to do for according to their Doctors this destroys the memory and annihilates the understanding After washing every one ought to give thanks saying Blessed art thou O God our God King of the whole world who hast commanded us to wash our hands In generall they ought continually to wash their hands after these things following In the morning so soon as they are up after their return from the house of office after they come out of the Bath when they pair their nails after that they have drawn their shoes from their feet the hands being ministers when any hath scratched himself upon his naked skin when he hath touched a dead Corps or gone through the middle of dead folks when he hath had carnall copulation with his wife or lastly after the killing of alouse whosoever he be that doth any of the aforesaid things and doth not wash his hands thereupon if he be a learned man he shall forget his learning and turn blockhead if he be not learned he shall lose the use of every one of his senses Now the Jew is sufficiently cleansed and mundified for his morning devotions if two things were not yet wanting which make him and his prayers far more holy concerning which we will adde some few words for the better understanding of what was formerly delivered The Jews have a certain instrument of a foursquare fashion which for the most part they put on together with their other garments at their uprising but some when they are about to pray The parts of this quadrangular garment are two being for the most part made of linnen but often of silk bound and fastened together in the highest part thereof with two little bands yet of a great heighth so that they may put their head in betwixt them so that the one of these foursquare parts may hang upon the breast the other upon the back The Jews in respect of the four angles call this garment Arba Cauphos in every one of these four angles hang certain Ribbands woven of white woollen threads coupled by a certain knot and hanging towards the ground which are four eight or twelve fingers broad these they call Zizim of which they write wonderful and strange matters whereof I will relate a parcel They who would be accounted very sincere and holy are wont dayly to put on this their cloak or garment wearing in it under their long coat but after such a manner that the ends of the forementioned stringes or hangbies may be always in their sight some wear them upon their breasts others not at all but in time of Prayer It is hehoofull that the two foresaid parts together with their appurtenances should hang towards the ground both at the fore and hinder part of their body that they may always be full of the Commandements of the Lord. When they put these on then they say some certain Prayers giving thanks unto God that he hath commanded them to invest themselves with these garments These ought to admonish them always to have before their eyes Gods Commandements that hereby being scared from sin they might be prickt forward to a due performance of them as it is written Speak unto the children of Israel and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations and that they put upon the fringe of their borders a ribband of blew And it shall be unto you for a fringe that you may look upon it and remember all the commandements of the Lord and do them and that you seek not after your own heart and your own eyes after which you are wont to go a whoring that you may remember and do all my Commandements and be holy unto the Lord your God But out of these words their Wise men conclude that the eyes and heart are the mediators for sin In the Tract called Masseches Schabbas we read that Rabh asked Rabbi Joseph what was the first thing his Father admonished him of who answered the Commandement given by God concerning the fringes for upon a time my Father saith he going down a pair of stairs and by chance treading upon his fringes and breaking one of the threads or Ribbands would not move a foot till it was made whole again In a word their great Doctors comparing this commandement with others prefer it before them all and have left in writing that whosoever diligently observes and keeps it keeps and observes the whole Law which thing they thus make manifest In every one of the fringes there are five knots representing the five books of Moses to which if we add 8 Ribbands together with the number contained in the letters of the word tzitzith which signifies fringes and in numeration makes six hundred there ariseth the number of six hundred and thirteen the direct number of the Commandements into which the whole Law is divided and therefore according to this Cabbalistically concluding Arithmetick he that rightly observes and keeps this Commandement concerning the fringes perfectly fulfils the whole Law In the fore mentioned Tract we read of a certain man hindred from commiting sin and a strange woman converted unto Judaism by this Commandement Upon a time a yong man among the Jews very learned and studious but much given to Venery hearing of a famous and beautiful Whore who living in a neighboring City had much trading and yet sold sin at so dear a rate that for one single lascivious abuse of her body she required no less then four hundred pounds sent her the money appointed the time at which she was to expect his lustfull imbracements The day come the yong man according to their Covenant repaired unto her house where he found her in a closet sitting in a chair all imbroydred with gold near unto which stood a bed furnished in the most exact and exquisite fashion that Art could invent which served as fewel to inflame his lust and hastened him to this unlawful act but behold as he went up into the bed his fringes smote him on the face whereat forthwith astonished and put in mind of the Commandement he fell upon the ground represt his fleshy desires and utterly refusing any more to touch or imbrace his formerly admired Mistriss whereupon she demanding of him what defect he had espied in her that he thus refused his purchased pleasure he replies that the Lord God commanded the Jews to do him service and for a more easie performance of the same gave them a sign which when they beheld they might remember his Commandements which sign put me
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
N. witness N. the son of N. witness This kinde of divorce is not in every place put in execution they chuse a place of some fame and note neer adjoyning some notable River whither fome of the chief Rabbines are cited by a writ if some others be not there resident The Jews are very much for this carnal divorce writing vast volumes in way of Commentary upon it but by reason of the hardness of their heart not once dreaming of the spiritual whereby they are severed from the Lord of hosts Hence remaining aliens from God and according to their desert vagabonds over the face of the whole earth CHAP. XXX Touching the manner how a Jewish woman divorceth her self from the brother of her deceased husband IT is recorded in the fifth book of Moses that the husband of a woman dying his brother being unmarried shall go in unto her take her to wife and raise up seed unto his brother that his name be not put out of Israel And if the man like not to take his brothers wife then shall she go up to the gate and accuse him before the Elders and lose his shooe from off his foot and spit in his face and answer and say so shall it be done unto the man that will not build up his brothers house But in process of time this custome was disanulled and it was ordained by the Rabbines that none should take to wife the widow of his deceased brother but rather for to free himself from her for his greater honour should suffer her to draw â—ff his shooe which kinde of divorce iâ— called by the Rabbines Câ—â—litra which is performed in this manner The widow calls unto her five witnesses who must be men of another family with whom she being about to appear before the chief Rabbine summoâ—s her husbands brother â—lso to the same place When they are come the Rabbine asks the woman whether three moneths are gone and pâ—st since the death of her husband Whether her husband dying left behinde him a brother unmarried Whether he that is there present be the natural brother of her husband begot by the same man Whether they think themselves fit to beget children to raise up seed or an heir unto the dead as also to themselves now superviving What age they are of and lastly he asketh the widow whether she be fasting or not For if she have formerly taken any meat she may not lawfully spit in the face of her husbands brother Then he asketh the dead mans brother whether the woman there present was wife unto his deceased brother when he was alive Whether he will take her to wiâ—e or else be divorced from her by the Chalitza or drawing the shooe from off the heele If he answers that he is not willing to marry her then a shooe is brought unto him made after a singular fashion with latchets and other necessaries this he takes and leaning himself against aâ— wall puts it on upon hâ—s right foot naked Then comes the woman unto him and â—aith this my husbands brother would not raise up seed unto him and for this cause from henceforth he shall not be called my husbands brother Hereupon stooping towards the earth she unlooseth his shoe with her right hand and drawing it off his foot spits in his face and that with such force that the five witnesses may see the spittle and saith Thus shall it be done unto him that will not build up his brothers house Then the witnesses and all the whole company cry Chalutz hannahal that is the shoe is drawn off Thus are these two separated each from another that they may severally attend their own employments Here ariseth a great question among the Rabbines how a woman suppose that she wanted the right hand could draw off the shoe Some of them have permitted that in such a case she may â—se her teeth to the unloosing of it Others solve it in another manner If the brother to the man deceased will not suffer the ignominie of this discalceation and the woman be about to marry unto another then is he bound to pay a great sum of mony unto her that he may be freed from her If her husbands brother dwell in another City then is she her self compelled to follow him and to indent with him about marriage Concerning this custom of raising up seed unto the Brother was that Question proposed by the Sadduces to our Saviour that seeing seven brethren had one after another married the same woman whose wife she should be in the Resurrection out of which we may conclude thus much that it was in use among the Jews even in Christs time for the brother of the man deceased to go in unto and marry his brothers wife CHAP. XXXI Of the uncleanness of the women and how they carry themselves in the time thereof IT is not lawful for a woman in the time of her uncleannesse to enter into the Synagogue to pray to name the name God or to handle any holy book as it is written Let her touch no holy thing nor come into my Sanctuary untill the dayes of her purification be finished yet some of the Rabbines have licensed it They of the most holy sort write that what woman soever being admonished of these things abstains from them shall lengthen her own dayes So soon as she hath the least knowledge of her own uncleannesse she separates her self from her husband for the space of seven dayes in which time she dare not touch him sit upon one stool with him eat at the same table drink out of the same cup sit opposite unto him nor speak unto him face to face When the one would give any thing unto the other they are not wont to do it by throwing but they lay it down upon some table or stool that the one being for a good space removed the other may take it up When the man lieth with his wife in her uncleannesse then the children which they beget prove Lepers and they affirm that this is one of the chief reasons why there are so many Lepers among the Christians to wit carnal copulation in the time of the womans uncleannesse hence scattering abroad venemous and bitter words against us in writing among the vulgar which I will not now relate When any woman of the Jews hath reckoned up the seven dayes of her uncleannesse she holds on and addes seven dayes more of her purification unto them after which time she finding her self throughly purified she clothes her self in white robes takes another woman with her and goes to wash her self in cold water and that so nakedly that she must not have her smock to cover her In the Winter time in some places they are wont to powre hot water into the Cistern in which she bathes her self But in other places they are wont to wash themselves in cold water as well in Winter as in Summer They are bound to dive so deep that not an
out a place for his ingresse with an Hatchet he is forced to stand up to the chin in the water so long as an Egge may be made hard rosted In Summer time he is compelled to sit naked in an heap of Pismires where although he be so naked that he hath not the least rag upon him yet are his ears and nostrils stopped his penance ended he washeth himself with cold water If the season be neither hot nor cold in which he is to suffer punishment then they appoint him a certain time of fasting for the space whereof he must not eat unlesse it be very late at night at what time they give him some small portion of bread and water and this they practise until the time come when he may either stand in cold water or sit amongst an heap of Pismires It is written in Medrasch that the first man Adam stood in the water up to the nostrils an hundred and thirty years before he begot Seth for eating of the forbidden fruit If the punishment seem to be lesse then the offence requires then they compel him in the Summer time to run through the middle of a thick swarm of Bees which may lance and sting his body until the bulk thereof by reason of the anguish swell again And so soon as he is cured of the said malady he must again run through the foresaid swarm of Bees and that more then once according to his desert If he have often committed fornication and adultery then for many years he must continually suffer the said punishment Such a Fast is sometimes enjoyned such an offender that for the space of three years he must fast night and day not eating any thing unless it be at supper when his daintiest fare must be bread and water onely this qualification is annexed that he may chuse whether he will perform the forementioned injunction or otherwise fast three whole dayes in every one of the three years not tasting the least morsel of bread or drop of water As Queen Esther did in her great and extream necessity and commanded the Jews to practise the same If any go in unto a woman at unfitting time he is enjoyned to fast forty dayes and every day to have his back twice or thrice soundly lashed with a lethern whip and thirty nine stripes to be given him He must not eat any flesh or hot meats drink no wine unlesse it be upon the Sabbath day If any kiss or embrace a woman being in her monethly flowers he must undergo the same punishment A Robber is adjudged to a three years exile as also that wandering through every City where any Jews do sojourn he should with a loud voice proclaim Rotzeach Ani I am a Robber and expose himself to the lash He must not eat flesh nor drink wine He must not cut his hair or beard nor put on any clean lineâ— or change of garments It is not lawful for him to wash his hands every moneth once he is bound to cover his head and to binde the arm wherewith he acted the murther thereunto with an Iron Chain and so to deplore the offence committed in the sight of the Iews Some have this punishment inflicted upon them that if they sleep one night they should watch the next and so become vagabonds upon the face of the earth as Cain was Others are compelled to wear plaits of Iron upon their naked skin Others forced to prostrate themselves before the door of the Synagogue that every incommer may tread upon If any Jew accuse another and bring him before a Christian Magistrate or divulge his wickednesse and evil actions then is he called a traytor Others inflict some grievous punishment upon him and from thenceforth esteem him as a man of no account and reckoning CHAP. XXXV Touching the burial of the Jews and how they are bewailed and lamented of their living Friends and Kinsfolks WHen any Jew is visited with sickness then the learned Rabbines come diligently to visit and comfort him which they esteem as a good and precious work If any be sick unto death he sends for his nearest Kinsfolks and other of the learned crew If the sick person be rich then in the first place they barter with him about his temporal estate if poor they spare their labour They seriously exhort him to a constant perseverance in their faith First of all catechising him whether he believes the Messias is yet for to come He is also bound to make a confession of his sins upon his death-bed the form whereof is this I confesse before thee my Lord and God the God of my fathers the Lord of all creatures that health and sicknesse are in thy hand I pray and beseech thee to restore me to my former health and being mindful of me to hear my prayer as thou heardest the prayer of King Hezekiah when he was sick But if my appointed time be come then let this my death be the remission of all my sins which I have committed either out of ignorance or wantonness since the day that I was born Grant that I may have a part in paradise and in that world to come that is reserved for the just Grant that I may know the way of life everlasting Satisfie me with the joy of the excelling countenance by thy right hand for ever more Blessed be thou O God who hearest my prayer Their final comfort is that temporal death a debt to corrupt nature may be a reconciliation for all their sins and that God is bound to remit their sins because they undergoe this death Alass who can but perceive what peace such poor comfort can afford to a loaden conscience When he is giving up the Ghost then all the by-standers whether kinsfolke or strangers rent their garments yet this they doe in the skirts thereof where the rent being but a hands breadth can doe no great hurt they deplore and lament the man departed seven dayes after the example of Joseph who mourned for his father for the same space and for the renting of their garments they produce that Scripture Jacob rent his garmants and put sackcloth upon his loines and lamented his son many dayes As soon as he is dead they cast forth all the water in the house into the streets cover his face that from thenceforth none may behold it Then they take his thumbe and by wresting of it into the palme of his hand make it to represent the name Schaddai which is so great a terrour to the devil that he dare not approach the dead corps They binde his thumb with the threads and stringes of his own coat which otherwise would not remain crooked For it is ordinary for a dead man alwayes to stretch out his hands and fingers thereby signifying that he hath left the world and that there is nothing in it which he can now lay challenge unto as on the contrary the little infants at their birth have their hands
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
Judah the son of Simeon did avouch Ziz to be a bird of that bigness that when he spreads abroad his wings he hides the body of the sun and wraps the world in darkness Furthermore on a certain time a certain Rabbine was upon the sea in a little ship in the middle of which he saw a bird standing of such an height that water came only to her knees which the Rabbine observing bespeaks his companions that there they might wash themselves seeing the water was not deep But a voice from heaven hindred the attempt saying unto the Rahbine see that thou do it not for now seven whole years are gone and past since a certain man let a hatchet fall in this very place which hath been ever since a falling and is not as yet come to the bottome By which a man may easily gather how long legs this bird had and how great her body ought to be in proportion to her feet Without doubt these birds keep their residence in the wood Ela in which a Lion is reported to live of such an unheard of portraicture that only to relate would strike a man with astonishment Of this Lion the Talmud thus fables When upon on a certain time the Emperor of Rome asked Rabbi Josuah the son of Hananiah what the reason was why their God compared himself unto a Lion and whether he was of so great strength that he could kill a Lion the Rabbine made answer that God did not compare himself unto an ordinary Lion but unto such an one as lived in the wood Fla to whom the Prince replied shew me that Lion Then the Rabbine by prayer obtained of God that the lion should leave the wood and come when hs was yet foure hundred miles distant from the Emperour he roared so terribly that all the women with child in Rome became abortive and the walls of the City fell flat unto the ground When he had come an hundred miles nearer he the second time roared so fearefully that all the teeth of the Romanes fell out of their heads the Emperour falling from his throne lay prostrate upon the earth half dead who with vehement entreaties begs of the Rabbin to send back the Lion which was likewise put in execution But these fables draw us too far from the smell of that fast which the Messias hath provided for the Jews in the land of promise The flesh of the foresaid Behemoth and Leviathan will not digest well without a Cup of older wine therefore the Messias shall broach that wine and give it unto his guests which was made in Paradise and was kept from the begining of the world to that time in Adams Cellar as it is written In that day sing you unto her a vineyard of red wins I the Lord do keep it I do water it every moment lest any hurt it I will keep it night and day again There is a cup in the hand of the Lord and the wine thereof is red it is full mixt he shall poure it out and the dregs therof all the ungodly of the earth shall drink and suck them up Before the supper be served in the Messias after the manner of Kings and Princes and others celebrating Festivals and Marriages shall present the Jews with pleasant sports and plaies to make them merry He will cause Behemoth and Leviathan to meet in some spacious place and there they shall play before the Messias to pass away the time and for his minds refreshing as it is written Surely the Mountains bring him forth food where all the beasts of the field play And again There go the ships there is that Leviathan whom thou hast made to play therein Then the oxe running hither and thither shall bend his hornes against the Leviathan which will greatly affect the Messias according to that It will be more grateful to the Lord then a bullock that hath borns and hoofs The Leviathan also shall come to encounter the oxe armed with his fins as an helmet not easie to be seen as it is written Who can open the doors of his face his teeth are terrible round about His scales are his pride shut up together as with a close seale Here shall be the summons to the battle and the first encounter begin most hot and furious but to small purpose for they being of equall strength neither can overcome the other but at last wearied out both shall fell upon the ground Then the Messias drawing out his sword shall slay them both as it is written At that day will the Lord with a sore great and strong sword punish Leviathan Now comes the Cooks part nothing but boyling and roasting and great provision for this sumptuous supper as it is recorded The Lord of hosts shall make unto all people in this mountain a feast of fat things of fat things full of marrow The fish shall be served up in parcels to the guests which done every one shall greatly rejoyee as it is written shall thy companions make a banquet of him shall they part him among the merchants This donative supper being ended the messias shall marry a wife the scripture being witness Kings daughters were among thy honourable women upon thy right hand stood the Queen in a vesture of gold So the Jews themselves interpret and the meaning is this as Kimchi professeth in his great gloss Among the honourable women which the Mossias shall have shall be the daughters of Kings For every King of the earth shall esteem himself highly graced so that he may give his daughter in marriage unto the Messias But the genuine and rightly so named wise of the Messias properly signified by the word Schegal shall be one of the most eminent beauties among the daughters of Israel she shall sit at his right hand without intermission abide in the Kings closet whereas the other shall stay in the supping room or house of the women not approaching the King unless it be his pleasure to send for them In this bond of Wedlock the Messias shall beget children after he shall die as other mortals and his children shall sit upon his throne after him as it is written He shall see his seed he shall prolong his dayes and the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hands that is as a Rabbine expounds it The Messias shall live to a good old age and last shall be brought to his grave with great solemnity and his son shall reign after him and after his death his posterity shall possess his seat For the manner of life which the Jews shall have under their Messias First of all the remnant of the Christians and other people which fell not by the hand of the Jews shall make hast and build the Jews houses and Cities not for hire but of free accord till their ground plant them vineyards yea bestow their very goods upon them moreover