find a fuller and a higher correspondence not only in a Weekly but in a Forty Season and that likewise of Penitential Duty For first the Jews prepare themselves for the Day of Propitiation more particularly the Week before it They rise before Light assist at Publick Prayers confess their Sins thrice every day Fast and give Alms (b) â—or this whole Section See Buxt S. J. Cap. 26. And as the People fit themselves in a more especial manner by the Devotions of those seven days for the solemn Act of Humiliation commanded them by Moses so they tell us the High Priest heretofore imploy'd the same Week in a continual Exercise of his Office that he might be the better able to discharge the Difficult Duty of the Great Day (c) Jomâ— Cap. 1. The Sabbath also of that Week they distinguish by a peculiar Title and call it the Sabbath of Repentance Thus the Jews pass the seven preceeding days and so Leo de Modena (d) Câ—r des Juif P. 3. C. 6. distinguishes them from the rest For though all the ten of that seventh Month are call'd the Ten Days of Repentance reckoning the Day of Expiation for one yet the two first are in some manner Festival being the first of their Political Year and on them they abstain not from Dinner and Supper for which reason they may not be esteem'd as Penitential as the seven that follow These Ten Days are constantly so observ'd by all Jews the last the Tenth by Scriptural Precept and the others by Universal Custom And further to these are added out of the foregoing Month ordinarily a Week at least says Leo de Modena For even the German Jews begin their Humiliation as early according to a particular Rule they have (e) Morin de Poen 10.34.3 But other Nations generally take more time to that solemn Office and frequently Devout Persons begin from the First Day even of this preceeding Month to Fast to make Prayers and Confessions to repeat the Penitential Psalms and to Give Alms continuing so to do the whole Forty days However all Jews begin their Penitential Devotion the First day of that Month the Fortieth day before the Expiation though they may afterwards discontinue in the intermediate time On that day also they begin to blow the Horn in their Synagogues which they do every day that Month for an Alarm they say that they may Repent and be ready to meet the Judgment of God who according to their Tradition sits in Judgment the Ten days of the Next Month. § II. I have mention'd their Opinion of God's Judging the World in the Beginning of their Seventh Month and it may seem thence that their Custom of giving notice by the sound of the Horn may rather respect the Beginning of the Month Tisri than the Tenth Day of it and be rather the Warning of Thirty than of Forty days But this suspicion if it should arise will receive easy satisfaction from another concurrent Tradition of the Jews universally receiv'd by them that Moses went up upon the Mount the Last time on the First day of their Sixth Month and return'd again to them with the second Copy of the Law on the Fortieth after the Tenth of the Seventh their Expiation day (f) Rab. Salom. in Locum Deuter. proximè â—itand Now when he went up he commanded a Horn as they say to be sounded thorough the Camp to give notice to the People on what Errand he was going that they might not again commit the like Abominations in memory of which they now still sound it and we besides know from better Authority (g) Deut. 9.18 that Moses spent these forty days and forty nights in Fasting and Supplication for the Sins of the Children of Israel So that we are rather to think that they have since in some measure follow'd his pious Example and that on the day of his Ascent they begin to prepare for that of his Descent which in their Opinion is the tenth of Tisri and on which they have been since commanded always to Afflict themselves before the Lord at least one Day and Night The Forty days therefore here are not to be look'd upon as an accidental number and the bare Aggregate of Thirty and Ten but as they make up directly a full Penitential Season And indeed that Number seems to have been very antiently appropriated to Penance and Humiliation For not to reckon up the Forty Days by which God drown'd the World (h) Gen. 7.4 or the Forty Years in which the Children of Israel did Penance in the Wilderness (i) Numb 14.34 or the Forty Stripes (k) Deut. 25.3 by which Malefactors were to be corrected though these Instances may concur to strengthen the Opinion whoever considers that Moses did not once only fast this Number of Days (l) Deut. 9.9 18 25. that Elias Fasted also in that Wilderness by the same space (m) King 1.19.8 that the Ninevites had precisely as many Days allow'd for their Repentance (n) Jon. 3.4 and that lastly our Blessed Saviour when he was pleas'd to Fast observ'd the same Length of time (o) Matth. 4.2 whoever I say considers these Facts cannot but think that this number of Days was us'd by them all as the common solemn number belonging to Extraordinary Humiliation and that those were accustom'd to afflict themselves Forty days who would deprecate any great and heavy judgment though the Scripture does not specify the number as those we know p who had a Nazaritical Vow upon them were us'd to observe thirty days though the Scripture had not neither determin'd that space And this is no more than what St. Jerom a Father much vers'd in the Jewish Knowledge has expresly averr'd in his Comment on Jonas where he says that Forty is the number proper for Penitents and Fasting and Prayer c. and that for this reason Moses fasted forty days and so Elias and likewise our blessed Lord c. as may be seen at large in the Passage already exscrib'd above (q) Part 1. Ch. 8. §. 2. This is there positively and in good earnest said by St. Jerom as the Reason of those Examples though Mr. Daille puts it off r as if the Good Father had Play'd upon them while Hâ— himself rather plays with the Father And according to this the Penance of Forty days is very frequent in the Modern Penitentials of the Jews as we have also seen before (Å¿) Rep. 1. Ch. 9. §. 2. being there generally injoin'd upon any of the Greater Transgressions And to go yet a little further in this matter I cannot tell whether the Forty Days which our Blessed Saviour himself fasted in the Wilderness were not so pass'd by him in the nature of a Penitential Fast For the Baptism of John is known to be a Baptism of Repentance (t) Acts 19.4 preparing for the Messias to come and it may not be unreasonable to suppose that by it
Antient Practice though under suppos'd names represent the Psalmody to be perform'd most of it together as it stood until in the Fourth Century it was order'd by the Council of Laodicea (e) Can. 17. to be more intermixt with Lessons that the Attention of the Congregation might be the better refresh'd and secur'd by that variety This was the Primitive Order of the Christian Liturgy according to the General Descriptions we have of it for as to the lesser particulars many no doubt there were and some of them such as we find in the Liturgies going under the names of St. James St. Chrysostom c. § VI. NOW the Jews have their Liturgy too and their Morning Devotions consist of several Offices (a) Maim De Prec Cap. 7. 17. And here first I may mention those occasional Benedictions they are suppos'd to have made daily upon their Waking Hearing the Cock Crow Putting on their Cloths c. such as we intimated above and three and twenty of which they are directed to pronounce constantly every day and which run in this form Blessed art or be thou O Lord our God the King of the World who clothest the naked if they are putting on their Cloths or if they are covering their Heads who crownest Israel with Honour or if they are tying their Girdle who Girdest Israel with Strength But besides these Benediction which are to be said apart and on their proper occasions only (b) Ibid. §. 7. though some Synagogues are us'd to repeat them together as an Office the next stated Duty is that of Reading some part of the Law Written or Oral to which every one is every day oblig'd and this Duty as all others is still to be prefaced and concluded with its proper Prayers or Benedictions of which Prefatory Benedictions the first for Example is this Blessed is the Lord c. who hath sanctified us with his Precepts and hath commanded us to study the Law This office is not only Private but publickly also discharg'd in the Synagogue and read there Next to it is the Duty of Repeating the Psalms which has to it Benedictions with which it begins and ends And this Duty is so acceptable that the Practice of some is recommended who have daily repeated the whole Book however the Synagogue every day say over some Psalms and especially on their Sabbaths and other Great Days to which also they generally add some Verses of the Bible that are chiefly Laudatory as in some places the custom is to conclude with the Song at the Red Sea or with that of the 32d Chapter of Deuteronomy (c) Sect. 12 13. For it is in general to be noted that in several places the usages are various as to the choice of the Sections and Psalms and Hymns After this Duty there follows another of Repeating the Verses of the Law they call Shema from the first word of the first of them which is as it were their Creed and begins thus Hear O Israel the Lord thy God is one God This Repetition they are oblig'd to every Morning and Night whereever they are and it has too its proper Benedictions before and after and makes up also an Office in the Synagogue These foremention'd Offices may be differently perform'd in different Countries according to their particular Customs but that which follows and to which the others are but Introductory is constant and stated and uniformly observ'd by all the People of Israel being a Formulary of short Prayers now 19 in Number 18 of which were dictated by Esra as they say These Collects are regularly to be said by each of them at home or in Publick thrice every day and this Office in the Synagogue is always to be said for the Greater Solemnity by the Precentor or Deputy of the Congregation himself whereas the Foregoing might have been read by a Private Person Of those Prayers or Collects the Three First and Three Last are most remarkable those speaking the Glory of God and these returning Thanks (d) Maim de Prec Cap. 1. §. 4. the other Intermediate ones being Petitionary for Understanding Repentance Pardon Relief from their Distresses Healing their Infirmities Giving of seasonable Plenty Return from their Captivity Restoration of their Government Protection of Good Men Reinhabiting of Jerusalem the Coming of the Messiah c. the Requests gradually rising up according to Origens above-mention'd distinction of Supplications Prayers and Intercessions It is also further to be remark'd that though the three first Collects are noted to be wholly Doxological yet the rest are not to be thought to want that Duty all of them beginning or ending with a Benediction of God and the whole Formulary being accordingly call'd the 18 or 19 Benedictions as it is also prefaced with this Versicle Lord open thou our Lips and our Mouth shall shew forth thy Praise But the Third of those Prayers is more signally Glorificatory when it is said in Private referring to the Hymn of the Cherubins (e) Is 6. Ezek. 3.12 Holy Holy Holy c. and when in Publick expressing it And there is also a solemn Hymn of Glory which they call the Kadish pronounc'd particularly by the Deputy of the Assembly before and after every Service (f) Ord. Precum Subjunct Libr. 2â—o Libri Jad Chaz Titulo de Benedictionum Formulis Thus far goes an Ordinary Morning Service But on Mundays and Thursdays there still follows a Litany and such Prayers are particularly order'd to be pronounc'd from a Low Place (g) Buxt Syn. J. c. 10. After the Litany on Those Days (h) Buxt Ibid. c. 14. or after the Offices before described when there is no Litany as on the Sabbath (i) C. 16. the Law is brought from the Ark to the Desk in great Pomp and peculiar Portions of it are read there by several with Praevious and subsequent Benediction of God and then in the same manner it is carried back the People all the while Standing and as the Book comes and goes Chaunting out some Versicles and pressing to Kiss it Lastly on Sabbaths and other Great Days there follows Another Office the Additional Service peculiar to the Festival consisting now chiefly of the Commemoration of the Peculiar Sacrifices on that day heretofore offer'd And this Service of Prayers though having some the same is separate and distinct from that of the Daily Morning Prayers as the Daily and the Additional Sacrifices however some things in both might be of the same nature were never intermixt and dispatch'd together for greater speed and convenience but always separately offer'd and each Office kept intire to it self (k) Maim de Cult Div. Tract 6. Cap. 7. § VII NOW to this last describ'd Jewish Order of Morning Prayers so far did the Antient Christian agree as to begin likewise with Lections and Psalmody and from the Jewish Custom of sitting at the Repeating of those Psalms it is that such Portions of the Psaltery as
might the Christians think fit to keep up a yearly memory of that their Sacrifice whose offering was once made and never to be reiterated but its efficacy is to endure for ever they likewise observing this Solemnity not with any Ritual Form but with such eternal Duties of Penitence and Supplication as are always incumbent upon us miserable Sinners which the Justice of God will perpetually require and his Goodness in our Saviour accept § III. THERE seems therefore to be reason enough from the nature of the Thing from that Mysterious Suffering of our Lord and the consequent Practise of his Primitive Servants to found the continued Solemnity of the Passion Day upon its correspondence with the Levitical Day of Propitiation Neither is it to be expected that I should justify the Parallel by producing any like Opinion of the first Christians to that we have seen of the Jews concerning the Necessity and Merit of the Observation of the Day when the one was observ'd only as Proper and Expedient though in the judgment probably of those who had the Spirit of God and the other as Positively commanded by God Himself And yet so far did the first Christians seem to regard the vertue of a Jewish Expiation Day in their Practise about their own that they still determin'd the ordinary stated Period of the Penances of ejected Brethren with the Penitence of Good Friday and the following Saturday both which were the Days of our Lord's Passion as if by that their Conversion was consummated and the Pardon of the Church intirely gain'd And when they readmitted Penitents on Maundy Thursday as was the Antient Usage of the Church of Rome and it may be of all others they did not therefore depart from this their Parallel with the Expiation Day but rather confirm'd it For the Jews as we have seen (g) Rep. 1. Ch. 5. §. 3. on the Eve of their Expiation relax their Sentences of Excommunication and admit all to the Office of the next Day and for the same reason the Christians might admit their Excommunicates to the Offices of both Passion Days and even those whom they did not afterwards suffer to continue in their Communion The office of the Passion Day or Days I mean which consisted in Confession and Supplication for it is very probable that in the earlier times the Reconcil'd Penitents were not admitted to the Sacrament of our Lord's Body and Blood until Easter-Day The Supper likewise which was us'd to be held solemnly on that Thursday though it is said to be in Imitation only of our Lord's Supper yet it may also have proceeded from the Practise of the Jews on their Expiation Eve which we mention'd above For they in the Conclusion of their Penitential Preparation towards the Propitiation Day do always make a Solemn Supper and think it as much their Duty to eat well on that Evening as on the Sabbath that being in their Opinion a Duty of the Afternoon as strict Fasting is the Duty of the following Day So agreeable was the Supper of Passion Thursday to the Supper of the Jews on the Eve of their Expiation and more agreeable than to the last Supper of our Blessed Lord which if we go by Jewish Custom was held after Night and in their reckoning therefore rather on the Friday than on the Thursday Agreeable I say as to the time for as to the Freedom of Eating I suppose it differ'd much from that Jewish Meal But those Asiaticks (h) Part 1. Ch. 1. §. 3. who differ'd from the other Churches both in their observing the 14th day with the Jews whatever day of the Week it should be and also in breaking off their Fast that day might possibly in this point have as much follow'd the Custom of the Jews for one Season as they did their Calculation for the other For those of Asia seem to be of the Opinion of which their Followers in Epiphanius (i) Part 1. Ch. 5. §. 3. lit m. certainly were and which many other Churches have also embrac'd that our Saviour suffer'd on the 15th day of Nisan neither is it likely that they did not Fast on that day notwithstanding they are said to have broke it off before for such a neglect no doubt could not have been pass'd over unobserv'd by their Adversaries and would have drawn upon them the censure of Victor more than either of the other differences and besides we know their now mention'd Followers did actually so fast i I suppose therefore that their Breaking off the Fast was not a Determination of it but an Interruption by such a Supper and that this their Meal was Formal and Full and in the nature of a Feast and so reputed whereas the Supper if any of the rest of the Christians was a sparing refreshment and such as in comparison with the other Meal did not seem to Discontinue the Abstinence of the Season as since it has not been thought to do To these lesser particulars by which some indications of a Propitiation Day may appear I shall lastly add another Custom to be read in the Ordo Romanus their custom of striking of Fire and lighting up their Candles very solemnly in the Evening of the same Passion Thursday For whatever other reason it may have had for its institution it does also very well correspond with the Usage of the Jews who take as we have observ'd very particular care to have their Candles ready against their Propitiation Eve with which that night their Synagogues are more than ordinarily enlightned And thus I have offer'd to shew the Resemblance our Passion-Day bears to the Jew's Expiation Day both in it self and some Rites of the Day immediately preceeding it I am now to go higher and to consider at large the whole Previous Season call'd commonly Lent how well it agrees with the like Preparatory Season of the Jews before their Day of Expiation CHAP. IV. § I. A Penitential Season with the Jews Preparatory to their Expiation Day some certain Days next before it kept Vniformly by All More also generally though in various numbers and Forty by many but the First of the Forty Vniversally observ'd § II. Forty Days a solemn space of Penitence in the Jewish Discipline § III. The Christian Lent compar'd with the Jewish § I. THAT the Jews had an Antepaschal Season if not of a Fortnight yet of a Week and particularly that the Sabbath of that Week was call'd the Great Sabbath we have observ'd before (a) P. 1. Ch. 5. §. 3. whence appear'd a Conformity between them and the Christians those especially who reckon'd by the days of the Month and not of the Week in point of Holy Time though the Devotions of the one were generally Festival and of the others altogether Penitential But when we once suppose the Day of our Lord's Passion to have been the Day of Expiation and come to consider the Preparatory time that usher'd in this solemn Day we then begin to
the consideration of our Saviour's and the Mercy of his Expiation more sensibly Ador'd in the consideration of those Sins whose Pardon we implore For that Double Reason and with this Double Duty has Good Friday been always observ'd Nor will the Devout Practice be blam'd by any Regular Church or Christian Regular I say not speaking of those who will not keep the Day because the Papists do for by the same reason they may refuse to keep Sunday or because it is injoin'd to the Prejudice they say of their Christian Liberty for so they may refuse to yield to an Argument because it convinces them § III. NOW these two Great Duties when they are once fix'd upon their proper Day which they will fully imploy will also require that we should come in some measure Fit for so weighty an Office and should be Prepar'd in a more than Ordinary manner for the Extraordinary Performance For according to the Supposition I now us'd were we to celebrate the Anniversary of our Lord's Passion only and with no respect to our Sins since our Baptism yet we should come upon the solemn Day too Rashly and Unworthily if we did not appoint some others to go before it and usher it in and should seem to have too low thoughts of the sacred Mystery if we did not take care to rise up to the high Consideration by the steps and ascents of some previous Meditations To the keeping of the Great Memorial rightly such Preparatory Remembrances would be wanting that we may bring to it a fuller and livelier Perception of the Mercies of God in Christ may the better comprehend with all Saints the Dimensions of that surpassing inestimable Love may more profoundly Adore more gratefully Thank and more zealously Devote our selves and our Service having before-hand endeavour'd to Confirm and Actuate our Faith to Raise and Quicken our Hope and to Oblige and Inflame our Charity But such a Preparatory Season is still more needful for the other the Penitential part that we should afore begin to Recollect our past Transgressions to Reflect upon their Guilt and to dispose our Minds to an Abhorrence of them that we should beseech God humbly for his Grace to promote this Holy Work should review our Baptismal Covenant bewail its Breaches and Repair them by Confession to God and Restitution to Men Renewing our Vows and Mortifying our Lusts and recovering and improving our virtuous Habits against that Friday when we are solemnly to appear in the Divine Presence Contrite and truly sorrowful for our Sins stedfastly resolv'd to Forsake them and as much as in us lies Qualified for their Pardon Thus would a Preparation have been Necessary to either of those Two Offices Apart but much more justly will they expect it when join'd together when we are to be Provided both fitly to Contemplate the Mystery and effectually to be Benefited by its Expiation For these Holy and Important purposes Lent is instituted a solemn and large space of time to be Religiously imploy'd by each private Christian at his Discretion as the condition of his Soul shall require and the circumstances of his Worldly Affairs permit Accordingly the First Day of it gives Warning of the then distant Propitiation Day and calls us early to our Duty actually entring us on the Godly Work by Reflection on our Sins and Acknowledgment of Divine Justice by Fasting and Prayer and engaging us to go on and to make use of the following Intermediate Season for the perfecting our Repentance and for our Increase in the Knowledge of the Cross of Christ that Wisdom and Power of God A notice very necessary to those who want a solemn Monitor and which by the Grace of God may some time or other serve to Awaken and Reclaim them but always Acceptable and Welcome to the Good Christian who the more sensible he is of his own Offences and of the Mercy of God in Christ the more ready he will be to comply with the Advice and the more glad of the occasion Some days therefore of those many that follow are presum'd to be set apart for such Preparatory Thoughts and Actions Wednesdays we may suppose and Fridays those Weekly Passion Days when also Opportunities of Publick Devotion are every where presented and in our Great City Exhortations likewise and Instructions are administer'd by the Wife and Pious Order of the present Diocesan But the last Week is more particularly Dedicated to this Office and then the Church expects its devout Members daily to appear before God together to meditate on the Passion of their Lord and with Penitent Hearts and earnest Resolutions of Dying likewise unto Sin to Attend thenceforth upon him to his Cross and wait till his Resurrection and also Directs us to pass the time not in such Rigorous Austerities as unprofitably afflict the Body but in such an Abstinence from divertive Pleasures and even from common Liberties of Food and Pursuits of Business as may speak our Thoughts and Affections to be otherwise imploy'd and freeing them from Avocation and Distraction may Cherish and Improve them By this Orderly and Natural Method we are design'd to be brought at last to the Memorial of our Expiation with such a sence of our Sins and of the Mercy of our Suffering Saviour as may procure from God the Pardon of what is Past and his Grace and Assistance for the Future that the following Years may have reason to bless those Forty Days and still successively advancing may every Lent find Fewer and Lighter Sins to Confess and be still more ready to Lament them This is the Innocent and Godly Intention of that Time which those of us who Understand will certainly Commend and those who Commend should take care to Pursue FINIS Books Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's-Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1. INstitutiones Grammaticae Anglo-Saxonica Meso-Gothicae Aâ—ctore Georgio Hicksio Ecclesiae Anglicanae Presbytero 4 to 2. Christ Wasit Senarius five de Legibus Litentia veterum Poetarum 4 to 3. Misna Pars Ordims primi Jeraim titul Septem Latine vertit Commentario illustravit Gulielmus Guistâ—â—s Accedit Mosis Maimonidis Praesatio Edvardo Pocockio Interprete 4 to 4. Joannis Antiocheni Cognomento Mallalae Hist Chronica è M.S. Bibliothecae Bodleianae Praemittitur Dissertatio de Authore Per Humph. Hodium D. D. 8 vo 5. Bishop Overal's Convocation-Book 1606. concerning the Government of God's Catholick Church and the Kingdoms of the whole World 4 to 6. True Conduct of Persons of Quality Translated out of French 8 vo 7. A Treatise relating to the Worship of God divided into Six Sections Concerning First The Nature of Divine Worship Secondly The peculiar Object of Worship Thirdly The true Worshippers of God Fourthly Assistance requisite to Worship Fifthly The Place of Worship Sixthly The solemn Time of Worship By John Templer D. D. 8 vo 8. A Defence of revealed Religion in six Sermons upon Romans 1.16 wherein it is clearly and plainly
those with whom Grace was said at a Meal where there were Three or more neither was he to be reckoned one of the Ten who were to make up the full Number of a just Assembly although he might Teach the Unwritten Law or be Taught and might Hire or be Hir'd But if he dy'd excommunicate they sent and laid a Stone upon his Coffin declaring thereby That they stoned him for his Separation from the Congregation There was another a heavier and more Terrible kind of Excommunication f which the Consistory might upon some weighty Cause pronounce at the first Instance but which was inflicted generally upon those who persisted excommunicate those above-mentioned Sixty Days And then the former Penalties were aggravated with others and the Party was Disabled to Teach or to be Taught to Hire another or be Hir'd himself to Give or to Receive neither was there to be any Communication with him but for Sustenance only (g) Maim eodem c. 7. This was a Horrible Sentence full of Curses and Execrations upon the Party and to the Observation of it the Congregation was oblig'd as by a Vow confirm'd with an Oath It was therefore and is (h) Leo de Mod. 2 3 4. pronounc'd with great Solemnity by Sound of Horns and Black Torches burning The Penalties I have specifi'd above belonging to both these Degrees of Excommunication for the Third commonly added i seems now not to be well grounded are from Maimonides where he speaks succinctly and occasionally only of Excommunication But of the Second Sort of Excommunicates I am to add That in some Cases they were not only kept at the ordinary Distance but were absolutely secluded from promiscuous Conversation as Lepers for with them they are ranked (k) Mor. de Poen 4.25.7 and shut up in some remote Cell and that their Estates were sometimes forfeited to Sacred Uses and they themselves reputed as wholly separated and cut off from the Congregation of the Children of Israel as the Decree in Ezra (l) Ezra 10.7 8. Selden de Syn. 1.7 imports I am likewise to add further what belongs certainly to this Second kind if it does not to the First as Morinus supposes that it was much questioned by the Ancient Masters whether an Excommunicated Person were not bound to Rent his Cloaths to Cover his Head and to Turn his Bed the lower Part I suppose upwards and whether he were not forbid as to wash so to anoint to come near his Wife to make or return Salutations and to wear the Tephillim or Praying Ornaments (m) Mor. ib. 4.23.4 as it was commonly agreed by them that he was not to wear Shoes in a City though abroad and in the Country he might and that he was not to exercise his Trade by day nor to wash except Face and Hands and Feet and in cold Water § II. AND these Particulars tho' very minute I have the rather mention'd that the Correspondence which is generally suppos'd between the Excommunicate and the Mourners may better appear For a Jew that has lost a near Relation is obliged to mourn for him Thirty Days for a Father or Mother Eleven Months and besides that the next of Kin to the Dead is bound to tear his Garment upon the first News of his Death and at his Burial as all are bound to do who are present at his Death all Mourners on the First day for their deep Sorrow are suppos'd to Groan the Three First they are presum'd to Weep the Seven First to Lament and on all the Thirty to express their Sadness by some Neglects of themselves (a) Maim 7.14 Traâ—tat 4. seu de Lugeme cap. 13. §. 11. On all the Thirty those who mourn for any of their Near Kindred forbear to cut their Hair or Nails to wear any Garment that is White and Pressed and New to Marry to be present at any Feast of Mirth and to go Merchandizing from their own Town to another (b) Maim ibid. c. 6. neither was it proper for others to ask after their Health by way of Salutation (c) Ibid. c. 5.20 On the First Seven it was further forbid the Mourner to wash his Cloaths or to wash himself except his Feet and Hands only and that in cold Water to anoint to come near his Wife to have Sandals on in the City to do any Work either hir'd himself or hiring others or to open his Shop or give and receive in Merchandize to read the Written Law of Moses c. or to learn or explain the Oral To have any Bed in his House standing and not to lie himself upon one turn'd to have his Head and Upper part of his Face uncover'd or lastly to salute or ask after another's Health except saluted first (d) Ibid. cap. 5. Further on the Three first Days He was not to resalute tho' he were saluted (e) cap. eodem §. 20. nor to do any Work not in Private and though he were fed by Alms (f) § 8. And lastly on the First Day it was unlawful for him to eat or drink of his own Meat or Drink though even Flesh sent by others he might eat and drink for Digestion of their Wine neither was he to wear his Tephillim and he was bound to sit upon his Bedstead turn'd (g) Ibid. c. â— 9. But if his Dead was yet in his house and their Dead they think it their Duty to bury as soon as they can he was not to eat in his own House if any Friend 's were near however except on a Sabbath he was not to eat sitting nor to eat Flesh or drink Wine nor to say a Solemn Blessing or Grace himself neither was any other of his Company to do it before him and he was excused from all Offices of Worship and Prayer (h) §. 6. This is an Abstract of the Usage of Mourners among the Jews and may help us to understand the better what shall follow as well as what has been premis'd concerning Persons Excommunicate the same Restraints as we see lying upon Both. And it may be as Thirty Days were a common Number both to Excommunicates and Mourners so the Excommunicate of the first Thirty Days were first reckoned as Mourners at large of the latter Thirty as the Mourners of the Seven Days and the Excommunicates of the other Degree the Cherem might be rank'd with the Mourners of the Three days or rather of the First if not with those that had not bury'd their Dead while some of them the Cutt off were esteem'd even in a worse Condition than the Dead themselves § III. AND thus I have given you a brief Account of the Jewish Excommunication and not disagreeable to whaâ— Mr. Selden has discoursed at large in his Book de Synedriis tho' in what I am next to mention I shall be oblig'd to differ from him He indeed has given himself some pains to prove That this Excommunication was not directed by Moses nor is observ'd