to return to the place where he gave up the ghost and dolefully to lament over his dear consort the body So soon as the man is dead they cast all the water in the house out of doors that they who pass by may be warned of the decease of some person there Others have recorded that they do this thing in memory of the Prophetess Miriam of whom it is written All the Congregation of Israel came into the wilderness of Sin in the first moneth and the people remainâ—d in Cades where Miriam died and was buried there And when there was no water for the Congregation they gathered themselves together against Moses and Aaron The Talmudists say that the occasion hereof is this the Angel of death who hath deprived the man of life washing his knife or sword in the water poisons it for they write that Satan or the messenger of death standing at the beds-head with a drawen sword in his hand upon which sword hang three drops of gall which as soon as the sick man beholds being terrified at the sight he opens his mouth whereupon these three drops fall into it By reason of the first he gives up the ghost the second makes him become yellow and pale the last causeth him to putrifie So soon as the sick man dieth the Angel runs to the waters washeth his sword in them by which means they being infected with poison are to be powred out Again this is one of the best grounds of the Jewish faith Antonius Margarita in his tract of Tabernacles or Booths writes that the Jews in ancient times were accustomed to pray unto God that he would not suffer the Angel of death any longer to appear in such a fearful shape at their bedsheads and that also they had their request granted and that they their ancestors put out his left eye conjuring and binding him by the holy names of God It is also recorded in the Talmud that great honour ought to be given unto them who have departed this life because they in the other world have perfect knowledge of all occurrences in this They write also that the soule doth not presently upon the dissolution return into heaven from whence it came but that for twelve moneths space it becomes a vagabond through the earth returns into the Sepulchre suffers many torments in purgatory and then twelve moneths fully expired it ascends up into heaven there taking its rest The question being proposed in the book called Schebhet Jehudah in a certain disputation betwixt a Jew and a Christian How it came to pass that the dead should know all things that are done here upon earth It is answered that the soule doth not gain an entrance into heaven untill the body that was buried be turned into dust and therefore it remaining so long a time upon the earth may without contradiction know the things which are done here below That the soule doth not presently goe into heaven is manifest out of the words of Solomon The dust shall return unto the earth from whence it was and the spirit to God that gave it In this place they say that by the dust is meant our bodie which of necessity returns unto the earth out of which it was taken and by the Spirit our soule which returns to God that gave it now then to conclude the body must first be made dust and ashes and then the Spirit shall return unto the Creator which if it were otherwise certainly Solomon had inverted his words and propounded them thus The Spirit shall return unto God that gave it and the body to the earth Elias the famous Grammarian in his dictionary called Tisbi expounding the word Chabat hath left it in record that it was the opinion of their Rabbines that so soon as any of the Jews do take their farewell of this tâ—r restrial paradise and the chamberlain death hath furnished him with a lodging in the lower parts of the earth that the Angel of death comes and sits upon his sepulchre and that at the same time the soule returns into the body reanimates and erects it Whereupon the Angel takes an iron chain the one part of which is hot the other cold with which he smites the dead corpes two times or more At the first stroke all the members of the body are torn one from another At the second all the bones are dispersed abroad at the third flesh and bones yea the whole carcass is turned into dust and ashes Then come the good Angels and gather the bones together honouring them with a second burial This punishment the Rabbines call Chibbut hakkeber which they do not only write of but also most absurdly believe in their common prayer petitioning that God would preserve them against this punishment and divert it from them as we may see in that petition which they call Benschen being in the number of those which they use upon the day of reconciliation It is written in the book Chasidim that who is much given to almsdeeds is a lover of reproof and honesty who entertains strangers willingly and from his very heart who prayes with an attent minde although he die without the land of Canaan he shall neither tast nor trie the violence of the grave but shall be certainly preserved against the Chibbut hackkeber Hence it is most evident that they who die in the land of Canaan are free from this torture but they who die in a strange land are subject thereunto Hither it is also to be referred that they who die in other lands are wont to wander through secret caves and holes of the earth untill they come to the land of promise otherwise they are not made partakers of the general resurrection which thing we have formerly made mention of in the first Chapter and other places of this book CHAP. XXXVI Touching the Jews Messias who is yet for to come THat a Messias was promised unto the Jews they all with one mouth acknowledge hereupon petitioning in their daily prayers that he would come quickly before the houreglass of their life be run out The only scruple is of the time when and the state in which he shall appear They generally beleeve that this their future Messias shall be a simple man yet nevertheless far exceeding the whole generation of mortals in all kinde of vertues who shall marry a wife and beget children to sit upon the throne of his kingdom after him When therefore the Scripture mentioneth a twofold Messias the one plain poor and meek subject to the stroke of death the other illustrious powerful highly advanced and exalted the Jews forge unto themselves two of the same sort one which they call by the name of Messias the son of Joseph that poor and simple one yet an experienced and valiant leader for the warrs Another whom they entitle Messias the son of David that true Messias who is to be king of Israel and to rule over them in
them speaks the Scriptue As the dayes of a Tree so shall be the dayes of my people that is as the Tree of life as the Chaldee renders it or as a Tree which indures for some hundreds of yeares doth not perish so my people shall remain for they who shall have a part in the resurrection at the comming of the Messias shall be so long lived as the Patriarchs from Adam to Noah So much Aben Ezra upon the place At that time they shall cherish and make themselves merry feasting their carkasses with that great fish Leviathan that huge bird Ziz and that monstrous Oxe Behemoth of which more particularly hereafter After this their jollity death the second time arrests them furnishing them with beds to sleep in till the last resurrection when they shall have an entrance into life eternal where they shall neither hunger nor thirst but be ever satiated with the beatifical vision of Gods glory and brightnesse In the first Book of Moses the 47. Chap. it is recorded of Jacob that when the time of his departure out of this Vale of tears approached he called his Sonne Joseph and entreated him not to bury him in Egypt but with his Fathers in the Land of Canaan Rabbi Salomon Jarchi upon these words saith that Jacob for three reasons would not be buried in the Land of Egypt The first was because he foresaw by the Spirit of Prophesie that in time to come store of lice should molest the Land of Egypt The second because the Israelites who died without the bounds of Canan could not rise again without a great deal of trouble being to be hurried into the â—andâ— of Promise by the hidden and deep vauâ—ts of the earth The third lest the Egyptians very prone unto Idolatry might make him the Idol which they would adore For the better understanding of this I mean here to insert what ever is written concerning it in the book called Tanchum which is an Exposition of the Law of Moles Rabbi Chelbo makes it a main question why the Patriarchs had so great a desire to be buried in the Land of Canan he gives himself a solution saying that they who shall dye in the â—andâ— of Promise shall riâ—s e first at the coming of the Messias Rabbi Hananiah confirms it and saith that whosoever dying is intombed in a strange Land shall dye a twofold death which is manifest out of the 26. chapter of Jeremy and the 6. verse where it is registred Thou Pashur and all thy family shall go into captivity thou shalt go to Babel there shalt thou dye and there be buried Hereupon Rabbi Simeon objects that that granted it must necessarily follow that all the Tzaddikim or just men should perish who were not interred in the Land of Canaan The answer is that God shall make certain caves and profound vaults in the earth by which they shall Be brought into the land of promise at their arâ—â—vall there God shall breath into them the breath of life and give them a share in the Resurrection as it is written I Will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves and bring you into the Land of Israel Rabbi Simeon Ben Levi saith that the Scripture speaketh expresly that God shall restore the Jews to Life upon the very instant of their return into their own Land the place he quoteth is Isa 12. v. 5. Thus saith the Lord God he that created the heavens and stretched them out he that spread forth the earth and that which cometh out of it he that giveth breath unto the people upon it and spirit to them that walk therein This is to be understood of them that shall be carried to Sion through the caves of the earth That also which is read in the Chaldee Targum upon the Canticles ought to be referred to this voâ—ntation the words are these Salomon the Prophet saith that when the dead shall arise the Mount Olivet shall cleave in the middle and all the Israelites who formerly departed this life shall issue out of it the just also who died in banishment prison or a strange Land being conveyed hither by hidden passages in the earth shall also apPear From hence we may easily conclude how beliooveful the Jews think it to return into their own Land and there be buried and so escape the turmoyle and trouble of so long a journey under so many deep rivers and rugged mountains and for this very end as I have heard out of the Jews own mouth many of their rich ones return into the Land of Canaan at this day This is that perfect firm and well grounded faith of the Jews in which they obstinately persevering make it the rock of their salvation though with great anxiety and despair Here we may see what they give to Moses and the rest of the Prophets and also what use these miserable men make of the holy Scriptures Such as their faith is such are also their works which they would seem to shape according to the strict rule of Gods commandements There profound Rabbins perswade this simple people the Jews that they of the Circumcision are Gods own chosen people who may easily fulfill not onely the morall Law comprehended in the Decalogue but the whole Law of Moses They divide the Law of Moses into six hundred and thirteen Precepts and again subdivide these into commanding and prohibiting Precepts the former according to their computation are two hundred to eight which number is according to the Rabbins anatomy equal to that of the members in mans body the prohibiting Precepts are three hundred sixty five just so many as there are dayes in the year or as it is registred in a book entituled Brand spiegel and printed at Cracovia in the Germane tongue and Hebrew character some fifteen years ago as there are veinâ— in mans body hence it shall come to passe that if a man in one of his members every day perform one of the Mandatory Precepts and omit that which the prohibiting Precept enjoyns him to avoid he shall with great facility every year and so to his dying day fulfill not onely the Decalogue but the whole Law of Moses this is that right ordering and keeping of their Laws here I may counsel Isaiah to make his complaint That the earth is defiled under the inhabitants thereof because they have transgressed the Laws changed the Ordinance broken the everlasting covenant for Saint Stephen should be stoned the second time if he were now alive and should reprove the Jews for this their adulterate worship saying You stiffenecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears you do alwayes resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did so do ye who have recived the Law by the disposition of Angels and have not kept it c. The Rabbins hold on and say that men are onely bound to keep those six hundred and thirteen Precepts but the women are freed from the observation
and nourished they ought first to serve them before they presume to sit downe to table as Rabbi Juda in the Talmud hath taught and commanded grounding upon those words I will send grasse in thy fields for thy cattell that thou maiest eat and bèe full For there the Law in the first place making mention of Cattell gives us to understand that a man ought first to shew mercy and care for the soule of his beast then to refresh himselfe that in so doing his meat may be wholsome unto him and he by feeding thereupon may be full In the book called Sepher Mitznos Naschim or the booke of womens conditions it is registred to be the dutie of women presently after the ending of morning prayer to fodder their Cattell yea before they take their children out of bed and put on their clothes because it is written A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruell Therefore if the good wife of the house doe earely feed her flock she gaines from thence a name graced with the addition of just and honest It is read in the same place that it is good and praise-worthy to breed up young Cattell in the house because the stars and celestiall planets doe often prognosticate by their aspects some misfortune about to happen unto the Master or Mistrisse of the family Now if in the mean time the husband or wife have been pious in the distribution of almes and done many good workes of the same nature then the Lord chiefe Chancel our some Angell is hereby understood who is overseer of the good deeds of men here on earth presently enroles them in his table-book by which means they come unto the fight of the Almighty unto whom the foresaid publike notary delivers this petition O Lord of the whole universe avert the unfortunate influence of the starres from this man and his fimily for they have done these and these good works Then the misfortune seiseth upon some wicked person or other for the heaven being a naturall agent doth of necessity keep his course as it is written The righteous is delivered out of trouble and the wicked commeth in his stead If there be no ungodly sinner in the house then the influentiall miâ—chiefe lights upon the head of some of his Cattell This matter is too prolixe and cannot be comprehended by the shallow capacity of many women It is necessary that before any presume to set downe to dinner he should go and unload his belly in some secret place that he fall to his victuals with an empty stomack and purified body for if he come to the table with a full stomack he shall depart from it with a body stuft with diseases This the Jewish Doctors gather out of that verse bring forth the old because of the new Hence concluding that a man ought first to empty his stomacke of the meat formerly received before he take in any more It is also necessary that a man should wash his hands before he go to dinner to this end he ought to have fresh and clean water not that which is any way troubled and that is accounted for cleane water which hath not formerly been transferred to any other use that is accounted uncleane in which any kind of wine hath been cooled in the former time in which cups or drinking glasses have been washed or out of which hens or dogs have drunk Ordinarily the houshold servants wash first then the Mistrisse and last of all the Master of the family that he being cleane every whit may instantly beflow a blessing upon the creatures provided for their daily food and nourishment the form of which I will here after delineate Furthermore it is a position of the Rabbines that any Master of a family being exquisite in the performance of this ceremony which is as an usheting prologue to the filling of his paunch cannot come within the reach of any evill The hands being washed are to be cleanly wiped Hence it is recorded in the Talmud that Rabbi Ahbahu was wont to affirm that whosoever eates his bread with wet and undried hands his fact is no lesse hainous then if he had eaten that bread which by the law was accounted uncleane unto the Israelites as it is written So shall the children of Israel eate their defiled bread among the Gentiles whither I will cast them In the Originall the words signifying defiled bread are lachmam Tame which comprehend according to the Hebrew Cabbalisticall computation 168. Which number the letters of these three words Belo Niggubh Jadaiim doe likewise specifie which do signify being construed without the washing of the hands So then the Cabbalisticall meaning must bee this The Israelites shall eate their bread with unwashen hands that is they shall eat it defiled Rabbi Jose saith that whosoever eates bread with unwashen hands commits as grievous a sinne as if he had laien with a whore And this he sifts out of those words of Solomon For a whorish woman a man shall be brought to a morsell of bread This then is so slrictly observed of the Jews both before and after meat that you shal not sind one amongst a million that is forgetfull or negligent in the performance thereof yea so curious are they therein that when they wash they will not suffer a ring to stay on their finger left some filth might be sheltered under the same and the observation of drawing off the ring is so accurate that he who in time of washing doth not draw it off is accounted as unclean as if he had not washed at all It is written in the Talmud that Rabbi Akibha was once for a long time imprisoned by the Gentiles or Christians To whom Rabbi Jehoshua Garsites brought every day so much water as might serve for to quench his thirst and wash his hands At a certaine time the keeper of the prison tooke the water from him and poured halfe thereof upon the ground which Rabbi Akibha seeing and perceiving that there was not water sufficient said unto Rubbi Jehoshua reach me the water that I may wash my hands who replyed Sir here is not enough for you to drink Rabbi Akibha answeres whosoever eates meate with unwashen hands is guilty of death It is better therefore that I should dye by thirst then that I should despise and set nothing by the traditions of my Ancestours There is also another story in the Talmud to this purpose Rabbi Meir Rabbi Josa Rabbi Juda upon a certaine time were travelling together and comming to a certaine Inne where mine Osle was a Jew they required lodging for the Sabbath drew on when it is not lawfull for the Jewes to travell Rabbi Meir asked the In-keeper what his name was who answered and said his name was Kiddori Whereupon Rabbi Meir began to think with himselfe that his Oste must needes be a wicked man who had such an ill
some beautifull spouse Therefore eventide once come they rest from all domestique employments and early give the Sabbath a laudable beginning adding nothing of the week thereunto but going into the Synagogue are conversant in prayer in the singing of psalmes and hymnes and spirituall songs according to their wonted manner While the day takes it leave with a ruddy countenance blushing that the night should displace it and the splendent rayes of the Sun onely gild the tops of trees and mountains the women light their sabbaticall tapers The lampes they use are made of Copper and they hang them up in the dining room whose matches so soon as they begin to burn the mistrisse of the house stretching out her hands towards the lights saith Blessed be thou O God our God King of the world who hast sanctifyed us by thy commandments and commanded us to light the lampes appointed for the celebration of the Sabbath When the season is cloudy the hens supply the place of a clock unto the woman For they flying up to take their lodging are a certaine signe that the time wherein the Sabbath ought to begin drawes neare If there be no hens in the Towne then the Crow and Nightingale taking betimes their place of rest give her notice of the approach Women are enjoyned the performance of this office rather then men for two reasons which are urged by the Rabbines The first is because so soon as our old Grandam Eve had perceived that shee by eating of the forbidden fruit was lyable to dye the death shee also desired that good Adam should taste of the same saying if I must dye indeed it is fit and convenient that thou shouldst dye with me Hereupon being very importunate with him to eat which he refusing shee breakes a club from off the tree never ceasing therewith to bang his hide untill shee forced him whether he would or not to take the apple and eate it as the Text saith Shee gave me of the tree and I did eate that is to say shee gave mee many sound blowes with her bastinado which shee broke from the tree and so caused me to eate This glosse is in Orach chajim and the second Chapter Thus the mad foole Adam suffered his wife to weare the breeches to beate and seduce him and by this meanes transgressing the Lords commandement brought death upon him and all his posterity Moreover the Sun shall shine in the same degree of a glorious lustre to the immortall eies of the just in the world to come that shined unto Eve before shee had sinned for so soone as shee had committed sinne the Sun changed his primitive light clouding it in obscurity so that Eves black offence became a vaile unto that glorious light of the whole universe A second reason for which the women are to light lampes in their houses is because they are alwaies resident at home but their husbands are often abroad inâ—umbred with divers affaires Furthermore it is written Thou shalt command the children of Israel that they bring the pure oâ—le olive beaten for the light to cause the lampe to burne alwaies The trifling Rabbines here make a question why Moses writ the Hebrew word Tetzaveh signifying thou shalt command with the letter Thau when Tzade would have been sufficient The answer is that Moses would hereby shew it to bee the duty of the women to light the lampes for the word Naschim signifying women in number makes foure hundred and so many the letter Thau truly an excellent proofe Therefore seeing the women put out the light of life which was in the world in recompence thereof shee is bound in the evening of every Sabbath and Festivall to light the lampes and that in signe of her repentance as willing to revive and re-enlighten the soule of man which compared to the lampe by the wisest of men when he saith The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord searching all the inward parts of the belly The Jewish Doctors have likewise written that if any woman light those lamps with a devout mind attending well what shee is about her worke is as worthy to be had in honor as if she had lighted that golden lamp which was once in the holy Temple at Jerusalem It is also recorded in the Talmud that the women dye in child-bed for a three-fold sinne and offence First for their forgetfulnesse to take the lumpe of leaven out of the tub which was provided for the making of bread against the Sabbath Secondly for not lighting the lampes upon the Sabbath Lastly for having no care of their monthly flowers These three things are proved after a Cabbalisticall manner to produce such an effect by considering the word Chavah The first letter Cheth signifies Challah which being interpreted is as much as sicknesse The second letter Vau notes Veseth a word onely in use among the Rabbines signifying the menstruous flux of womens flowers The third letter Hâ— notes Hadalkah which signifies a burning or inflamation All which those women that performe and diligently put in execution the foresaid commandements do easily escape The lampes ought to be two in number or moe according to the quality and condition of the house wherein they are lighted These represent all the members of mans body as well of the male as female For the man hath two hundred forty eight but the woman two hundred fifty two according to the Jewish anatomy These two numbers being conjoyned make up five hundred and so many containes the Hebrew word Ner which signifies a lampe being twice written once for the man and once for the woman The words Ner Ner signifie lampes not Narra fooles and the reason is because the lampe of life shall once more bee kindled both in man and woman When the lampes begin to burne she stretcheth forth both her hands towards them to this end that her action may be as an ingenious confession that shee is obnoxious to a crime in that she should have prayed before the lighting of the lampes but because she could not doe it unlesse she would have spent her breath to no purpose therefore shee spreads forth her hands before the lamps hindering their lighting to glent in her eyes lest also the lamps giving but as yet a glimmering splendor should seem not much superiour to them which send out none at all So much for the lamps Of what matter their matches are made and with what oile they are to be fed here to declare would be a task too tedious He that desires to know let him read that tract in the Talmud concerning the Sabbath where these two things are sufficiently handled Wee proceed That they begin the Sabbath betimes the reason is the pity and commiseration they have towards the soules which are tormented either in hell or purgatory but have alwaies a release in the time of the Sabbath for the celebration thereof For so soone as they are
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
fills their hearts with sorrow being a very probable token of an unfruitful and dangerous season When the trumpeter hath done his office the whole Synagogue trumptes out those words of David Blessed is the people O Lord that can rejoyce in thee they shall walk in the light of thy countenance Morning prayer ended they return again to their houses where they eat and drink and sound upon their Rams-horns For it is a position of the Rabbines that at this time every one ought to be merry and jocund being assured that God hath been gracious unto him in pardoning his sins and offences and not because he hath fill'd his panch and liquored his throat for this would God rather impute unto them as a sin then recompense as a good work After this their repast every one man woman and child hasten to the water or to some Bridge thereupon to make Taschlich that is to say to cast their sins into the water and the ground of the practise is that of the Prophet He will turn again and have mercy upon us be will subdue our iniquities and cast all our sins into the bottom of the sea The Jews thus gathered together upon the Bridge so soon as they behold the fishes accounting the sight as a prosperous signe and token they caper alost and shake their garments over the â—ishes dreaming and vainly conceiting that by this their foolery they have shaked off all their sinnes upon the fishes backs which swim away with them even as the scape-Goat which carried away the sinnes of their ancestors into the wilderness Others write that they do it in remembrance of Abraham who travelling to sacrifice his son Isaac upon Mount Meriah which was upon the first day of September Satan met him and turned himself into a great River which at the first took him only to the knees but by and by it reacht his neck Abraham perceiving himself to be in such a distresse and that he was in danger of drowning cried mightily unto God who heard his prayer and turned the water into dry ground as it is recorded in the tract Medrasch rotosoha Evening being come they fall again to eat and drink and make merry as they were wont and in this manner they celebrate the feast of the New-year in great security with much mirth and jollity for the space of two dayes together I conclude with that of the Prophet If a man walk in the spirit and would lie falsly saying I will prophesie unto thee of wine and of strong drink he shall even be the prophet of this people To which alludes that of Sophonie Her Prophets are light and wicked persons her Priests have polluted the Sanctuary they have polluted the Law CHAP. XX. How they prepare themselves to the Feast of Reconciliation and the celebration thereof THe time between New-years-day and the tenth of the same moneth upon which they keep the feast of Reconciliation is called by Jews the ten penitential dayes for which space they fast and pray very much and are wonderful desirous to become holy and religious that if God should have written any of their names in the book of death and determined to afflict their souls with an unfortunate year he might at the contemplation and sight of their penitent life and practise of good works repent him of the evil and have mercy upon them transcribing their names in the book of life and sealing the judgement Every morning so long as these dayes endure while it is as yet very early they confesse their sins three several times do not proceed to the excommunication of any one neither do they call any man into judgement or force any one to take an Oath Upon the ninth day they forsake their beds betimes in the morning frequent the Synagogue sing and pray So soon as they return home every male old and young takes a Cock and every woman a Hen into their hands the master of the family doing likewise and saying these words Foolish men are plagued for their offence and because of theâ—r wickednesse Their soul abhorred all manner of meat and they were even at deaths door So when they cried unto the Lord in their trouble he delivered them out of their distresse He sent forth his word and healed them and they were saved from their destruction O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodnesse and declare the wonders that he doth for the children of men that they would offer unto him the sacrifice of thanksgiving and tell out his works with gladnesse And again If there be a messenger with him or an interpreter one of a thousand to declare unto man his righteousnesse then will he have mercy upon him and will say Deliver him that he go not down into the pit for I have received a reconciliation that is a Cock which shall be a reconciliation unto me When he hath ended this his repetition he finisheth the reconciliation waving the Cock three times about his head and saying at every time This Cock shall serve instead of me he shall succeed in my stead who deserve death he shall be my reconciliation he shall die for me but I shall enter into life and blisse with them that are righteous in Israel Amen This he doth three times as was said before once for himself once for his children and once for strangers which sojourn with him according to the custome of the high Priest in ancient dayes as it is recorded in the third book of Moses In the next place he takes the Cock and kills him and drawing and gathering the skin together about his neck first meditates with himself that he is worthy to have his own throat cut for his sinnes and offences and then cutting the Cocks throat thinks himself worthy to be punished with the sword After this he takes the cock and with all his might throws him upon the ground thereby signifying that he deserves to be stoned to death for his sins and wickedness lastly he puts him upon the spit and roasts him thereby giving others to understand that to be burnt in a fiery furnace doth not equalize his desert These four kindes of death the poor Cock undergoes for his Master The intrals out of commiseration they commonly cast upon the house top that it may also be partaker of such a sacrifice Others say that they do it because sin is rather an internal then an external thing and that it cleaves fast to the bowels of the Cock some Crows coming by may claw them up and flee away with them into the wildernesse even as the scape-Goat in the Old Testament ran away with the sins of the people into the Desert They take all possible pains and care to procure a white Cock for the sacrifice They will by no means admit of a red one because such an one is full of sins seeing sin it self is red also as it is written Come now
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