churlish Oxe and for fear of him to cease praying til he be gone and past It is not lawfull for him that prayeth to touch his naked body with his hands yet may be touch his hands and neck If in this time he be so necessitated as to scratch his body he must do it upon the garments He that prays must move his whole body hither and thither as it is written All my bones shall say O Lord who is like unto thee The Chanter also of the Synagogue in the time of divine Service ought to pray standing in some hollow low deep place and to read the Prayer distinctly and with as loud a voice as he can possible I have seen with mine eys the Reader fall down upon his knees before the Pulpit because in that place the earth was level and not one place lower then another and to have said Prayers with as shill a voice as he could have done from an higher seat These Prayers they pour out of a collected narrow heart chiefly to this end that they may obtain the remission of their sins and that according to the example of David saying Out of the depth have I called unto thee O Lord and finally which is the perfection of all every one ought to labour with all his strength to answer Amen at the end of every prayer Hence it is written in the Booke Tanchuma that it was the saying of Rabbi Jehuda that whosoever saith Amen in this world shall bee accounted worthy to say Amen in the world to come hence is that of King David Blessed be the Lord God of Israel Amen Amen By which double Amen he notes unto us that one Amen is to be said in this world another in that which is to come The wisest among the Jews say that whosoever shall say Amen with great attention shall bring to pass that thereby their redemption shall appoach with all speed and suddenly be accomplished How I pray you when Amen is pronounced after the manner that it ought to be then God shakes his head and saith Wo unto those children who are banised from their Fathers Table And how much comfort is it to a Father thus to be praised of his children thereupon God begins to think of the deliverance of his people out of their captivity and that he ought not to do otherwise for though he hath put and exiled them out of his sight for their sins yet he suffers with them and the grief of his children vexeth him at the heart Upon which Rabbi Juda hath this simily Even as a Mother having a Daughter who is immodest and disobedient who also hath been got with child by some or other casts her out of her doors for her unchast life and useth much unmerciful carriage towards her yet in the hour of child-birth she suffers and laments with her after a wonderful manner even so God hath sent us into banishment for our sins yet having compassion he will redeem us when we seriously pray unto him It was formerly noted that they ought every day to run over a whole century of prayers and thanksgivings and this they very magisterially demonstrate and that with great subtilty and after the Cabalistical manner and first of all out of those words of Moses Now therefore O Israel hear what the Lord God requireth of thee Here the Rabbines read not the words according to the original Maâ— schoel which is what the Lord requires but Meah schoel that is to say The Lord requires an hundred so that Moses intent in this place was no other then if he had said God every day requires of thee an hundred Prayers But out of what puddle did these skilfull Fishers the Cabalists angle out this exposition the answer is First Moses insinuated so much unto us by putting an hundred letters in this very verse Secondly it is demonstrate by a secret of the Kabala by which is made a certain transposition of the Letters to wit when the first letter of the Alphabet is put in the place of the last and that which is immediatly before the last is put in the place of the second which kind of change the Cabalists cal Athbasch that is when Thau Aleph Beth and Schin are mutually changed one for another So by the benefit of this secret there comeâ— two letters in the place of Mem and He which make the word Mah above mentioned which are Tzadâ— and Jod which in computation make an hundred Thirdly it is read in the Talmud that David appointed these hundred prayers at that time when there dayly died in Israel an hundred men for which cause these hundred petitions are dayly to be repeated This is also evidently proved out of those words which we find thus written in the second Book of Samuel David the son of Ishai saith even the man who was sâ—t up on high the annointed of the God of Jacob and the sweet singer of Israel The man Hukam al der hocherhoben ist for so the Vulgar German â—enders it for Hukam properly signifies one that is exalted Al hight according then to the Cabalistical mysterious Art the letters of the word Al being Lamed and Ajin make in number an hundred and the meaning must be this the man saith by whom these hundred laudatory Petitions were erected and instituted This Interpretation was taken out of the artificial archives of the Jewish Theology into which no Christian may enter Many more such shal hereafter be produced which is the reason that I will trouble the Reader with no more in this place but proceed to declare the carriage of the Jews at home after their return from the Synagogue I will conclude all with the saying of the Prophet Esay When you shall stretch out your hands I will hide mine eyes from you and though you make many Prayers I will not hear for your hands are full of blood Again in another place Your iniquities havâ— seperated betwixt you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you that he wil not hear for your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity your liâ—â— have spoken lies and your tongue hath murmured iniquity CHAP. VI. How the Jewes after morning prayer behave themselves and prepare themselves to dinner BEfore the men returne home from the Synagogue their wives have swept and made the house very neat and cleanly lest their husbands eies should fasten upon any object which might molest and disturbe them in their pious meditations because these are as yet erected to God who keeps his residence in the highest Heavens Now if every man returning to his own house findes every thing in a decent order then his understanding remains pure and his mind untroubled but if he finde the contrary his understanding becomes muddy and perplext A wife that is honest indeed laies her husband a book upon the table which is either the Pentateâ—ch or some reprehensory
the least finger in any thing which may carry any shew of labour with it or which may administer any occasion which may become a provocation to some worke or other So often as they are necessitated as in the winter time to the making of fires at sundry times to the snuffing of candles putting out of their lampes laying their meate to the fire milking their kine and such like they hire some poore serving man who is a Christian to do the same Hence they are wont to glory that they are the sole Lords Masters and Free-men of the Christians vassals and bond-slaves and they who sitting behind a hot furnace shall doe all their workes for them It were therefore in my opinion very meet and convenient that the Christian Magistrates should interdict all those that are their subjects to do any such servile workes for the Jewes either upon the Sabbath or at any other time I should have brought some certaine of their prayers for a conclusion of this Chapter in the most of which they re-member to pray against the Christians Wherein they beseech God that hee would vouchsafe to give unto the Jewes the riches of the Gentiles that he would utterly confound the Ammonites Moabites and Edomites for by this meanes they Christen us at this day that he would smite all people with great feare and vexation and stirre up great warres and tumults among the nations even from the East unto the west But because I have decreed to reserve these and many others for another tract I here omit them and conclude with the saying of the Prophet Isaiah Bring no more vain oblations CHAP. XII How the Jewes prepare themselves to celebrate the Passeover and of the celebration of it HOW the Jewes carry themselves all the weeke long daily practising the duties of modesty and godlinesse hath been hitherto declared Now it followes that wee should speake some things of those solemnities and rites wherewith they are wont to celebrate their Festivals Their feasts are of two sorts some great and famous such as those were which their Ancestours kept and held once every year comming from all quarters to the celebration of it even to Jerusalem and their appearing before the Lord Of this sort was the Feast of the Passeover the Feast of weekes or Pentecost the Feast of Tabernacles which three were commonly called Schelasch Regalim out of the booke of Exodus Other Feasts they use which they keep in those Cities wherein they dwell and inhabite which they call Jomim toâ—im that is to say good dayes The chiefe Feast among them of the first sort is the Passeover which they call by the name of Pesach and is also the first in order for from the moneth in which it is celebrated they begin to reckon their annuall Festivals and that according to the commandement of God in the Law of Moses saying This month shall bee unto you the beginning of months it shall be the first month in the yeare to you Lo the first day of the month Nisan is wherein the New Moone begins her course is the beginning of the yeare from which they begin to reckon and order aright their solemnities Their common yeare takes its beginning from the first of September by them called Tisri in the time of the new moon Hence we read of a foure-fold new yeare in the Talmud The first begins upon the first day of Nisan or March it is the new yeare wherein begins the computation of the reigns of their Kings and celebration of their Feasts The second begins upon the first day of the month Elul or August and is called the new yeare of the bringing up of cattell The third takes its beginning from the first day of Schebeth or January and it is called the new yeare for trees Rabbi Hillel saith that this year begins on the fifteenth day of the foresaid moneth The last is called the New yeare of yeares to wit of the yeare of remission of Jubilee of the planting of trees and herbes and it begin upon the first of Tisri or September So much the Talmud Which is thus to bee understood The yeare of Kings is that yeare according to which they reckon the yeares of their reigne in all Contracts Indentures Bils and Bonds made in the yeare of such or such a King so that though any King do begin his reigne a month onely or a weeke yea but a day before the first of March yet is time reckoned unto him for a whole yeare and the first of March next ensuing they begin to write the second year of his reign In the same manner the first day of March is the time from whence they begin to number their annuall Feasts and holidaies So the Feast of the Passeover is kept in the first moneth the Feast of Tabernacles in the seventh moneth and so forth 2. The beginning of August begins the yeare of the bringing up of their cattell from whence they begin to reckon the yeare and moneth in which such and such a beast was brought forth so that by this meanes they more easily pay tithe unto the Lord. 3. The first day of the new Moon in September is the beginning of yeares because from this day they have alwaies begun the computation of years from the Creation of the world to this present time The yeare of rest or remission which was the seventh yeare or Sabbaticall yeare when their fields and vines were suffered to keepe holiday took its beginning from the first day of this month as also the yeare of Jubilee which was every fiftieth yeare celebrated of which you may read in the twenty fifth Chapter of the third book of Moses From this also they began to account the times wherein they planted or grafted trees or herbes So when any tree was planted in the moneth of June then the first yeare of its planting ended in August and the second began in September c. the tree being accounted as uncleane and uncirâ—umâ—ised untill three yeares were past and gone Lastly The first day or according to Rabbi Hillel the fifteenth of January did begin the new yeare of trees and fruits for according to the time that the trees before or after this day did bring forth their fruits so were they permitted or not permitted to be eaten and according to this supputation they payed their tiâ—hes also The fruits ripening before the beginning of this month are dates and orenges and such like which were lawfull to bee eaten the yeare not run out But they which brought forth fruit which was not come to its full growth the yeare not yet ended it was not permitted unto any to eat thereof before the fifteenth day of January They payed tithes in like manner of the former sort but not of these This is at large handled in the fore-cited place of the Talmud Antonius Margarita in his booke of the faith of the Jewes saith that
observe your ownae traditions And againe Woe be unto you Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you make cleane the out-side of the cup and of the platter but within they are full of bribery and excesse Woe be unto you Scribes Pharisees and hypocrites for yee are like unto whited tombes which appeare beautifull outwards but are within fâ—ll of dead mens bones and all filthinesse doe yee also for outward ye appeare righteous unto men but within you are full of hypocrisie and iniquity So much concerning their cleansing of vessels In the next place wee must enquire into the manner how they purge and cleanse the old leavened bread which they formerly sought for with so much diligence Upon the night before the passeover every one who is Master of a family takes a platter and a wing and lighting a wax candle before he begins his search saith Blessed be thou O Lord our God King of the whole world who hast sanctified us by thy commandements and hast commanded us to purge out the old leaven Then if his house be large and spacious containing many rooms and stories he cals unto him some boies or others of riper yeares to help him for to search but no women because they are idle and talkative and unfit for such emploiments these serve as Clerks to say Amen to the former prayer and then become fellow-seekers to finde out the leavened bread every one of these carrying a wax light in his hand holding the same to every â—hinke and mouse-hole that hee may see whether any rat or mouse have left any crumbs of bread uneaten He is to lift the light no higher then his arms will stretch especially in that place where his owne wall joines to the wall of the house of some Christian for in such a place he is not permitted to seek at all for if the light should chance to shine through the crevises into the Christians house hee might thinke the Jew were about to set the same on fire Wheresoever the house of one Jew adheres unto another there the scrutator for rats and mice must search in every place as much as he can possible They must use no tallow candles in this their scrutinie for these will suddenly melt and it is to be feared that the chamber should not become cleane but rather defiled by the leaven hereof Sometimes they willingly and of set purpose cast osme crusts of bread upon the pavement especially upon that which they conceive to bee purified to the end that their laborious search and prayer may not be in vaine These crusts must be of great antiquity and of an hoary hardnesse otherwise all the fat is in the fire The bread which is appointed for them to eat at supper they hide before they begin to search lest they should find this also and so be forced to burn it and by this meanes it should come to passe that they might go supperlesse to bed It is not lawfull for any man to speak a word between the ending of prayer and the finishing of the foresaid inquisition unlesse it be necessarily required for the execution of the same as open that chà mber doore bring hither that candle that I may see So much leaven as they finde they gather together and lay it aside untill the next day in some safe place lest a mouse should carry some parcell there of into her hole and they caused to renew their search and this is the reason why they alwaies â—up in a corner taking great care that nothing fall out of their hands upon the floor and so the whole house should be repolluted When the Master of the family hath made an end of searching then he saith what leaven soever is in my hand what is not seen by me that which I have not found out let it all upward and downeward bee like unto the dust of the earth Upon the morrow of the eve of the passeover they begin to bake their spiced and unleavened cakes The meale whereof they are made ought to be ground at the mill at least three daies before that it may be cold enough to the end that the lumpe may not leaven up The millstone must be new picked and new linnen is also to be used which if it cannot be got it is necessary the old be throughly shaken for it is ordinary for them to be moist by reason wherof the meal may cleave unto them which in grinding may intâ—rmixe it selfe with that which is new and sweet appointed for the celebration of the Festivall The chest also wherein this pasehall meale is put ought also to be lined with linnen lest some corns of a divers sort should be mingled there withall The water which they use in kneading their dough they call Mitzuah or the water of the commandement which they draw out of the wels poure it into the vessels of celebration and carry it home about the setting of the Sunne the stars not yet appearing They carry it home covered for it is not permitted that the Sunne should shine upon this water for the space of 24 hours together For as the Sun sends out its beames upon the earth for the space of twelve houres in the day and cannot with his raies pierce into the fountaine So must it be covered for the twelve houres in the night by which meanes the Sun comes not at it by the space of a whole naturall day The Master of the family is bound to draw the water out of the well or pit with his owne hands and never think himselfe to worthy to undertake such a business for it is recorded that in ancient daies a certaine King of Israel upon a certaine time tooke the first fruits of the trees and in his owne person carried them upon his shoulders into the garners When they begin to knead the dough then the Master of the family saith All the crums that fall from this lump shall be accursed signifying by these words that whatsoever falling upon the earth becomes leavened ought to be given unto or left for the mice as also that he utterly disclaimes all challenge thereof They worke their dough in a cold place whither the Sunne hath small or no accesse which is likewise farre distant from the oven lest the lump might wax hot and be in danger to be leavened The Mistrisse of the house usually takes a certaine portion of the foresaid lump which in the Law is called Challâ—h and making a cake thereof saith Bâ—essed bee thou O God our God who hast commanded us to set aside an unleavened cake as it is written He tooke of the basket of unleavened bread that was before the Lord one unleavened cake and a cake of oiled bread one wafer and put them upon the fat and upon the right shoulder Lev. 8. 26. Upon the uttering of these words shee casts the cake into the fire or furnace that it may be burnt to ashes before any of the other be put into the oven
THE JEWISH SYNAGOGUE OR AN HISTORICALL NARRATION OF THE STATE OF THE JEWES At this day dispersed over the face of the whole Earth In which their Religion Education Manners Sects Death and Buriall are fully delivered and that out of their own Writers Translated out of the Learned BVXTORFIVS Professor of the Hebrew in Basil and diligently compared with the Talmud and other Writers out of which it had its Originall Also furnished with divers Marginal Notes very profitable and necessary By A B Mr. A. of Q. Col in Oxford LONDON Printed by T. Roycroft for H. R. and Thomas Young at the three Pidgeons in Pauls Church-Yard 1657. THE AUTHORS PREFACE To the Christian Reader Christian Reader WHen once we exactly ponder in the Scales of our understanding that thrice pressing load of Jewish ingratitude disobedience and obstinacy for which they were dayly branded by Moses and the rest of the Prophets with a foul guilt to which was annexed a vehement reprehension When we seriously consider those horrid threats and execrations wherewith God in his justice would depress them unless they framed their lives according to the strict rule of his Commandements this ought to be a warning-piece unto us to entertain such blessings with a more gratefull acceptance and hitherto to bend all our studies that by our unthankfulness we should not make our selves unworthy of them and so be dis-inherited of such a possession Moses in this manner prophecies of the Jews ingratitude Jesurun maxed fat and kicked thou art waxen fat thou art grown thick thou art covered with fatness then he forsook God which made him and lightly esteemed the worke of his salvation This issued from a prophetical spirit declaring that as already present which after the revolution of many a year was to be fulfilled and accomplished This ingratitude was in its swadling clouts when Joshua led Israel into the land of promise which is ratified by the unanimous suffrage of the whole Colledge of Prophets and almost in the very same terms by Hosea in chap. 13. Jeremy arraigns them as guilty of the same crime the bill of inditement runs thus They are turned back to the iniquities of their fore-fathers which refused to hear mywords and they went after other gods to serve them the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken the Covenant which I made with their Fathers And God himselfe by the mouth of his Prophet thus proclaims their obstinacy Since the day that your Fathers came out of the Land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the Prophets dayly rising up early and sending them yet they hearkened not unto me nor inclined their eare but heardened their neck they did worse then their Fathers The obstinacy of this People at last grew to so high a pitch that they stopt their ears at the admonition of the Prophets who cried aloud unto them to amend their waies and curbed their offences with tart reprehensions killing stoning rewarding every one with some bitter death which act of theirs is faithfully registred by the holy Spirit Ezra â— They tooke strong Cities and a fat Land and possessed houses full of all goods wels digged Vineyards and Oliveyards and fruit trees in abundance so they did eat and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in thygreat goodness nevertheless they mere disobedient and rebelled against thee and cast thy Law behind their backs and slew thy Prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee and wrought great provocations And Jeremy also may be cited for a witness for his words are these Wherefore will ye plead with me ye all have transgressed against me saith the Lord. In vain have I smitten your children they have received no corrections your own sword hath devoured your Prophets like a destroying Lion When the Lord sees this his people thus altogether incapable of corection he afflicts them with all the punishments which Moses by the spirit of God had denounced against them neither their bodies nor goods can now escape the lash of his fury he sends among them the sword famine and pestilence tempests diseases imbred dissention and discord and to make their misery compleat casts them out of that Land flowing with milk and hony and causes them to trace the captives steps into another which they knew not The ten tribes together with their King Hoshea is carried by Salmanasser into Assyria Kin. and when the two remaining Tribes Juda and Benjamin were not hurried to repentance by the present view of their brethrens afflictions God sends Nebuchadnezzer King of Babel against them who leads them captive into the Land of Chaldea makes Jerusalem a desolate heap and turns their Temple their chief beauty into ashes Nevertheless the space of 70 years fully expired these 2 tribes were again brought out of the house of bondage because it was the Almighties pleasure to preserve the tribe of Judah even unto that time when according to his promise out of that tribe and in the promised land the Messias should be incarnate But for all this these 2 tribes did not much outstrip the other 10 in the practise of holiness for they always following their own devices seriously traced the forbidden by-paths of their forfathers for which the later Prophets Haggai Zachary and Malachi were earnest declamitants against them the last of which being a Priest proclaiming them guilty of a wicked life threatens them with a final rejection out in obscurity that so we might again be cast headlong into that darknesse in which we sate before it was the Lords pleasure by his mercy to impart unto us the saving knowledge of his heavenly word My second Motive was this that the hardened in heart and blindfolded Jews at last descending into the Chambers of their strict cogitations might have some glimpse of the greatness of their infidelity and so convicted before the face of the whole world of that more than brutish folly in the expounding of the holy Scriptures and of their old wives tales whereby God for the most part is blasphemed and his saving word against all humane reason after an execrable manner perverted they might begin to be ashamed who with such a whorish forehead and want of wit did not fear to speak or write in this manner of God Almighty and his holy word and that at length they might think that they had stumbled at that stone of stumbling and rock of offence laid in Sion and thereupon that they shall fall prostrate upon the ground be broken to Gods Law ensnared and captivated and finally that God poured upon them the spirit of deep sleep and so closed their eyes that every prophesie and the whole Scripture was to them as the words of a book that is sealed that the wisdome of their wise men is now altogether perished and the understanding of their prudent men hid as the Prophet Isaiah foretold them The
gracious GOD I have sinned in thy sight but thou art full of mercy Have mercy therefore upon mee and receive my prayer which proceedeth out of unfained lips Rebuke mee not O Lord in thy fury neither chasten mee in thy heavy displeasure They moreover repeate the sixt Psalme from the beginning to the end with their heads covered and bended towards the earth The Chanter fals downe upon his knees before the Arke in imitation of Joshua of whom it is written That hee rent his clothes and fell to the earth upon his face before the Arke of the Lord untill the eventide he and the elders of Israel and put dust upon their heads The reason why they cover their faces is this In ancient times when they had a large and spacious Temple they came thither to confesse their sins every one stood from another by the space of four els lest his neighbour should heare his confession In these daies therefore they cover their faces for the same end and purpose They leane their head upon their left hand moved hereunto by that which is written His left hand is under my head and his right hand doth embrace me And moreover because Isaac being about to bee sacrificed lay upon his left side But to returne to the point in hand They suddenly rise up againe and their Chanter saies Wee are ignorant O Lord what other thing to put in practise but only to lift up our eyes unto thee as though they would say Wee have worshipped thee O God sitting and standing being humble and lifted up kneeling and with anerected posture not knowing what more is reâ—â—iâ—ed of us yet wee will once againe lift up our eies unto thee Hitherto they only have sung their prayer called Kaddisch which finished their evening prayer is ended Now indeed it were very laudable if after this evening sacrifice of prayer and thanksgiving returning to their owne houses they did immediately fall to supper and that ended againe to assemble themselves into the Synagogue for the performance of their nocturnall devotions But this practise is disapproved by the Rabbines as a thing very inconvenient seeing many may be drunke and so forget their duty of prayer therefore they have decreed that presently after the evening prayer be ended that accustomed to be said in the beginning of the night should also be finished Yet not withstanding they make some small stay between Minhah and Maâ—rib that is to say between their evening and nightly prayers to the end the one may be differenced from the other They have one quaint custome concerning the reconcilement of them that are at strife one with another and that in time of prayers For if two be at ods and the one cannot bring the other with him into the Synagogue That a reconcilemet may be made he steps unto the book out of which the Chanter sings or saies their common prayers shuts it and giving it a clap with his hand saith I conclude and put a period to this exercise which is all one as if he should say I locke and seale up this order of praying interdicting the same untill an agreement be made between me and mine adversary And from that time forward untill his desire bee accomplished it is not lawfull for them to say any more prayers in the Synagogue Thence it often fals out that they retune home without any praying yet if the one party bee wayward and refractory there happens many times a surcease and intermission of this duty of prayer for some whole dayes together Among many others they have a prayer that God would vouchsafe to deliver them from the Christians and bring them back againe to their owne land This prayer begins Baruch Jehovah O blessed God our Lord help us gather together and deliver us from the Gentiles that we professing thy holy Name may make our boast of thy praise All the people which thou hast created shall come and worship thee fall down before thee and sing praises unto thy name Our eyes shall see it our heart shall rejoice our soul shall be joyfull in thy strength when it shall be said in Sion The Lord doth reign God is King he doth rule and shall beare rule for evermore for thine is thy Kingdome c. But alas poore silly Jew in vaine thou gapest after with a greedy expectation this thy rejoicing seeing he is come some sixteen hundred years agoe whom thou as yet waites for and expects to bring thee joy and consolation Furthermore they say one petition more formerly mentioned in their morning prayer in which they entreat God to revenge their cause against all the Christians in generall but in a more especiall manner against their Magistrates If any lost a father in that yeare he is tied all the yeare long to say that praier called Kaddisch the lesse by the mediation of which his father shall be delivered out of purgatory of which God willing more hereafter When they go out of the Synagogue then must they repeat those sentences formerly mentioned in the fifth Chapter And in this place againe they exercise many prolix disputes about that prayer beginning Schema Israel Heare O Israel the Lord thy God is one God questioning the manner how the time when the place where this prayer should bee said and repeated All which to avoid prolixity I willingly omit At dinner and supper their carriage is the same When they goe to bed they must first draw off the left foot shooe then the right They put off their shirts lying in bed and covered with clothes lest the beams and wals of the house should behold their unseemly nakednesse And this is the cause that they never use to empty their bladder in their bed-chamber their clothes being off the very act becomming a shamefull disgrace unto them and the consequent of such impudence being a fearfullapse into an extream poverty a consideration also had that it is one of those things God hateth Whosoever saies that prayer Schema Israel Heare O Israel c. must endeavour instantly upon the finishing of the same to fal asleep and take an especiall care that he speake nothing after it as it is written Commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still Selah If sleepe will not presently attempt to close up his eyes he must not cease to repeate the said prayer untill the approach thereof tongue-tye his devotions for inâ—o doing his rest shall bee sweet and delightfull unto his wearied body his sleep comfortable and restorative The bed wherein the man and wife are to make their repose is to bee furnished with cleane sheets without spot or blemish for it may come to passe that the man may meditate upon some thing which he hath learned and also committed to memory by reading the Scriptures whilst it was yet day yea both man and woman may joyne in prayer to the Almighty that they may beget children which will bee obedient to
by them blessed and consecrated At length thanks being given the cups are filled the fourth time and the good man of the house taking his cup into his hands saith poure out thy wrath upon the Gentiles and upon the Kingdomes that have not knowne thy name poure out thine indignation upon them and let thy wrathfull displeasure take hold on them In the mean time one running to the doore unlocks it and sets it open thereby willing to shew their great security In this saying they curse all people which are not of Israel more especially the Christians hoping that Elias will come that very night and declare unto them the comming of their Saviour and deliverer the Messias as they also brag and boast in that prayer called Azrob nissim their reason is because all those famous deliverances so full of wonder which God wrought for the Patriarches Prophets and people of Israel hapned as upon this night They pray therefore that God would come againe and deliver them out of this their calamity and punish the Christians in the same manner that he did the Egyptians Hence it comes to pâ—sse that so soone as the gates are opened and the execeration is pronounced one of the houshold invested with a white linnen garment runs into the nurâ—ery that the infants may thinke that Elias is come indeed and is about to take vengean e on the Christians For a conclusion of all the Master of the family saies certaine table-prayers at the period of the supper which he closeth up in this manner Almighty God build againe thy Temple and that shortly very quickly in these our daies very quickly now build againe and that shortly thy holy Temple Omercifull God O great God O bountifull God O thou God that art highly exalted O beautifull God O sweet God O vertuous God O God of the Jewes now build up thy Temple very quickly and with great expedition in these our dayes very quickly very quickly now build up now build up now build up now build now build up thy Temple quickly O strong and powerfull God living God mighty God O God worthy of all honour O God of meeknesse O eternall God a God that art to be feared O God of comelinesse God of majesty God of infinite riches God of surpassing beauty O faithfull God now build up thy Temple shortly very quickly very quickly in these our daies shortly very quickly now build up now build up now build up now build up now build up thy Temple speedily The Orizons ended they betake themselves to rest and sleep in great security for they perswade themselves that this night neither man nor devil can approach to doe them any hurt This night is called in the second book of Moses and the 12 Chapter Lel Schemarim the night of observation or preservation Hereup on their minds being fraughted with such a conceit they abandon feare leave open their gates and doors all the night over to give an entrance to Elias the Prophet who as they assure themselves will come and deliver them out of this their misery Thus the poor blirdfolded Jewes trouble and vex themselves with this their vaine pompe and pompous vanity for two nights together instead of that paschall lambe which they ought to have eaten using no other ceremonies then Moses in the institution thereof hath described It being the position of their Rabbines that it was not required at their hands after the destruction of their City and Temple to Kill and eat the paschall lambe according to the ceremonial prescription of Meses and that they are not tyed to observe these or any others by him enjoined unlesse they were in the promised land of Canaan which land alone is to be accounted pure and holy all others defiled and profane Now from these premises every one may infer thus much that seeing the Jewes have not srom that time wherein the true paschall lambe Christ Jesus was offered eaten the posseover in any place according to the right prescription and also seeing the Jewes at this day so journing in Jerusalem and the land of Canaan do not eat the paschall lamb in the manner that they ought neither doe they offer any sacrifice it must necessarily follow that there is some other cause why their sacrifices are ceased and all other their Mosaicall Rites and Ceremonies are abrogated which certainly they might have found out in the space of 1631 yeares had they not been smitten with blindnesse from above So that now we may say with the Prophet David This their may uttereth foolishnesse yet their posterity delight in their talke But my people would not hear my voice and Israel would have none of me so I gave them up to their owne hearts lusts and they have walked in their counsels The Rabbines establish this their opinion out of the words following Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passeover unto the Lord thy God of the flocke and the herd in the place which the Lord shall choose to place his name there Now seeing God enjoins them according to their ordinary glosse that they should not celebrate this Feast in any other place but in the promised land they doe inferre that now being dispersed among the Nations they are not lyable to the observation of the same But the true sence of the words is this That when God had put a period to Israels captivity and brought them into the land of promise the land of Canaan and having given unto them a setled kind of regiment a City and a Temple in which it pleased him to place his name then they should repaire to Jerusalem to eate the pasâ—hall lambe for the better preservation of the unity of faith among them as to the Metropolis and chiefe City of Israel But when the scepter was in a manner taken â—rom them by reason of inâ—essâ—nt wâ—â—rs and tumults so that they could not come unto Jerusalem then did every family kill and eate the passeover in their owne gates as it is recorded in the second book of Kings And so soon as they were delivered out of these their troubles they celebrated the said Feast againe in the place appointed with great solemnity and rejoicing as good Josial is recorded to have done in the sore-cited place Now that for the space of 1631 yeares they could not kill nor eat the paschall lambeâ— right none must seeke for another cause then that of the departure of the Scepter from Juda the desolation of Jerusalem and their long continued exile For why did not Jerusalem remain unto this day why is not the Temple built againe The sacrifices and ceremonies delivered by Moses why are they not re-established The Jewes cannot see the reason hereof because Moses his vaile is as yet before their eies It was formerly mentioned that the Jewes at the supper of the paschall Lambe use to carouse foure cups of wine two before supper two after which foure consecrated cups every one
before the sun be up say their prayers and beg pardon for the sins which they have committed The Jews of Germanie also use to doe the like some foure dayes at least before the feast of the new-year moreover they meet every morning and evening through the whole moneth in the Synagogue sounding a rams horn not that they are so commanded by Moses but yet in remembrance of him who when he went the second time into the mount to fetch the tables of the law commanded a horne to be blowen that the people should take notice hereof and not transgress and say Arise and make us Gods which may goe before us as for this Moses which brought us forth out of the land of Egypt we do not know what is become of him Secondly they blow the rams horn that every one may seriously ponder and weigh the last judgment and be terrified with the meditation hereof that they may be affrighted and fear for shall a trumpet be blowen in the City and the people be not affraid and so consequently be hurried along to a bitter condolement eager contrition hearty confession and serious repentance of his sins and offences for even as a King makes some of his servants to blow a trumper that every watchman may keep diligent watch and be ready armed at a moments warning because the enemy approacheth So it is needful for the Jews in the moneth of August which is as herauld to the new year to sound the Rams hornes for to warn every man to repent him of his wickedness that they may more easily resist their enemy Sin Lastly the Talmudists those subtil pated doctors say that the reason why they blow the Rams horns at this season is for to put Satan to flight and to put him to a grievous torture and to make him forget the day appointed for the celebration of the New-years feast lest he should come then and appearing before Gods tribunal accuse them for their sins and offences Upon the Eve of the New-year they rise sooner from supper then ordinary for they have many Prayers to poure out unto God for the remission of their sins They usually eate before day hereby signifying that they are not like the Christians and other people who fast upon the Eâ—es of their festivals yâ—t howsoever he that fasts offends not In Germany the Jews alwayes eat something before morning prayer alwayes provided that they fill not their bellies too full especially when they are to say many prayers whereupon it comes to pass that though they make great haste in the saying of their prayers yet they commit no offence therein because their guts are not crammed and full stuft which would be a great hinderance to the speedy gallop of their tongue in posting over their petitions Yet some of the more religious sort who would be accounted more holy then other doe fast and that in imitation of a King who imposes a great tribute upon such or such a City and coming with a great power of men commands payment to be made He being yet ten miles distant from the City the chief men and burgesses thereof come and meet him and say unto him O Gracious Soveraign we are poor and have nothing and what shall we give unto thee And so intreating him in the most humble subjective manner that the hams of an Alderman can personate to remit the tax or tribute of which the King remits the third part being brought down by their earish kissing congees When the King is yet five miles from the City then a troop of Citizens of another order and mean estate come to give his Majesty some gaping salutation making the same request with that of the former to whom also he forgives another thirds When he comes neerer to the City then yong and old flock about him and bespeak his Grace in the same language The king then moved by the multitude of petitioners forgives the whole sum In like manner God the King of all the earth willing to make Israel give an account of their life past and of all the sins by them committed requires yea enjoynes every one to give satisfaction in his own proper person whereupon the holy men and chiefest in Israel fast the Eve of this festival and the Lord to recompence them remits unto them the third part of their sins and offences It is therefore enacted that they of the better sort should fast that they may with the more facility obtain their petitions and also some of a lower ranke fortie dayes together whiah are set aside for the doing of pennance Some one must likewise fast upon the day of reconciliation of which day more hereafter and then God will forgive unto them all their sins and grant them a pardon for the same Morning prayer being ended they goe out of the Synagogue into the place where they bury their dead thereby signifying that unless God will be pleased to pardon their sins they are no better then they who are dead and laid in their grave They therefore pray unto God to have mercy on them and that for the merits of those just and holy Jews who are interred in that place Here they distribute great store of alms that their poor may not want wherewithall to celebrate the festival Midday being past the men send for the barber and cause him to use all his art and skill in the trimming of them thereby giving others to understand that they are not like unto other people who sorrowing suffer their hairs to grow and encrease But our security say they banisheth all grief seeing we are certainly assured that God the King of the world will have mercy upon us redeem us from our transgressions and graciously absolve us of all our sins and for this very reason they enter the bath or wash themselves in some running water that the day following they may appear purified and clean before the almighty tribunal It is also recorded that certain Angels fly in the aire who being placed over the world and men descend into these parts below where they being in a manner polluted must necessarily purge and cleanse themselves in the siery stream Dinor mentioned by Daniel before they sing praises unto God Now if it be necessary that such creatures as the Angels are must wash themselves before they may be suffered to praise the Lord how much more is it required at the hands of man who is so vile and loathsome While the Jews are a purifying their bodies and stand even up to the ears in cold water then they make confession of their sins in the form commonly used This their confession comprehends in it two and twenty words according to the number of the letters in the Alphabet at the repetition of every one of which the confessor beats his brest and then hides his body in the water craving so much courtesie of his fellow as to bear him witness Where they are neer
ill liver commonly before an honest man Hence it is that these things considered such a flood of contention often ariseth that a Christian Magistrate is often sent for to stop stay it forunder the Sun there is not a more testy envious jarring and more implacable people then the Jews And this is the fruit which they reap from the reading of the Law with so great attention as they bring and boast of and to say the very truth no better can be expected seeing their outside makes a beautiful and glorious shew but within they are full of malice and hypocrisie Now whereas there is no perfect joy where slesh and wine or as they say Basâ—r re iâ—jin are wanting therefore they conclude and end this Feast of joy and rejoycing with a sumptuous and great Supper CHAP. XXIII Of the Feast of Dedication THis Feast is wont to be celebrated upon the twenty first day of November by them called Kisleu in memory of Judas Hasmonita or Machabaeus that excellent warriour who after the death of his Father Mattathias overcame and vanquished the Grecians who had formerly subdued Jerusalem profaned the holy Temple poured out the oil of the Sanctuary and done very much evil unto the Jews He also won the City cleansed the Sanctuary upon the twenty first day of this moneth as we may read in the first book of Mâ—chabees and the fourth Chapter Wherefore Judas and his brethren with the whole Congregation of Israel concluded that the dayes of dedication of the Altar should be kept in their season from year to year by the space of eight dayes from the five and twentieth day of the moneth Casleu with mirth and gladnesse This Feast the Jews at this day do also keep and celebrate but in a far different manner then those ancient Machabites For here now is nothing to be seen but feasting and gormandising quaffing and drinking piping and dancing revelling and roaring all to passe away the time but little or no thanksgiving unto the Lord of hosts for the victory and conquest over their enemies as upon this day At that time when Judas had dedicated the Temple none of the holy oil could be found so that the Lamps could not be lighted according to the ordinance of Moses Judas therefore made diligent search in the Temple where he found a small horn of oil sealed with the Ring of one of the Priests which was onely sufficient to feed the Lamps for one nights space yet preserved in that happy manner that it was not polluted by the enemies Hereupon the heart of Judas and the whole congregation was filled with sorrow because they could have no more oil till these eight dayes were expired because the City Tehoa from whence it was to be fetched was four dayes journey distant from Jerusalem In this their perplexity the favà our and mercy of God appeared to them by this miracle for the horn of oil sailed not for eight dayes together In the remembrance of this favour and blessing so miraculously conferred upon them the Jews at this day use a great deal of superstitious pomp in tinding of the Lamps appointed for the Synagogue in the time of this Feast They provide a Candlestick with seven branches capable of seven lights or Lamps which burn every night though not until the morrow from the beginning of this Feast unto the end thereof and wheresoever any of these Lamps are found whether in their Houses Stoves or Bedchambers there it is not lawful to move the finger to any kinde of work A Lamp must also be hung as well upon the right side of the gate of every mans house as of the Synagogue the distance whereof from the ground ought to be ten spans no lower twenty but no higher It is a great question among them how long these Lamps may burn and by whom they may be tinded whether one may be lighted at another and such like Thus are they very solicitous and careful about these external lights never considering that there is nothing but darknesse in their own hearts neither striving that they may be illuminated by the light of Gods holy Spirit CHAP. XXIV Of their Feast of Purim THe word Purim is a Persian word and is rendred by the Hebrews Goral which signifies a lot This Feast therefore took its name from that plot and wicked device of Haman the Agagite who in the moneth Nisan in the twelfth year of Ahasuerus cast Pur that is a lot whereby all the Jews both young and old children and women in all the Kings Provinces should be destroyed and rooted out in one day even upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth moneth which is the moneth Adar or February which decree was written in the name of the King and sealed with his Ring The end of this conspiracy fell far contrary to Hamans intent For Haman was hanged upon a pair of Gallows fifty foot high and the King granted the Jews in what Cities soever they were to gather themselves together and to stand for their life to root out slay and destroy all them that vexed them So that strengthened by the Kings Letter Patents they put their adversaries to death In Shushan the Palace they slew five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman and the Jews that were in the Provinces of King Ahasucrus slew of them that hated them seventy five thousand men upon the thirteenth day of the moneth Adar and rested upon the fourteenth and fifteenth thereof Wherefore it is instituted and ordained that upon the fourteenth and the fifteenth day of the said moneth every yeer should a Feast be kept by the Jews in all quarters in remembrance of this great deliverance throughout their generations by an ordinance for ever Wherein they rested from their enemies in the moneth which turned unto them from sorrow to joy from mourning to a joyful day as we may read in the ninth Chapter of the book of Esther These two dayes are celebrated at this day by the Jews imitation of their ancestors but in that manner that they rather deserve the name of the dayes of profanation and drunkennesse then of joy and gladnesse Although upon these dayes working is not prohibited by the text of Scripture yet the Jewes at this day rest from all manner of labour writing and affirming in the Talmud that he will never thrive or prosper that does any work upon them For there it is recorded that upon a certain time that a man being sowing line-seed upon one of these dayes a certain Rabbine coming by and seeing him began to reprove and curse him Whereupon it came to passe that the seed never came to growth nor did ever peep out of the ground In the first place therefore the women are enjoyned in a more peculiar manner to sanctifie and celebrate this Festival because this deliverance was wrought by the hands of Queen Esther The night being come they light the Lamps of joy in the Synagogue and
their own land About whose coming they are among themselves altogether disagreeing Those ancient Jews who lived before Christs incarnation did not much miss the marke when Elias said that the world should continue six thousand years whereof two thousand were to be void and without force that is without the law of God the other two thousand under the law and the last under the Messias Their hope was therefore this that foure thousand years after the worlds creation fully expired their Messias should come in the flesh in which their errour was small or none at all for according to the vulgar account of us Christians Christ the true Messias was borne in the 3963. year of the world but according to the Jews computation in the year 3761 we and they differing 202 years And now because Christ came not unto them in great power a king of glorious state such as were David and Solomon to deliver them from the tyranny of that usurping Herod and Roman cruelty neither with a rod of iron to break in pieces and destroy their enemies but only began his kingdom over them with the spiritual scepter of his doctrine even for this very cause they would not receive him for the true Messias though some few did acknowledge and embrace him and at that time the most ancient and approved men amongst them did expect his coming thus we finde a Simeon waiting for the consolation of Israel and Anna that old Prophetess speaking of him to all that hoped for deliverance in Jerusalem The very same that the Apostle Paul witnesseth in his Epistle to the Romans that though the Jews were most ingrateful yet is there a remnant of them according to the election of grace Yea when all kingly power sacerdotal honour and dignity was taken from them the city Jerusalem made a ruinous heap and their beauty the temple turned into ashes every one now begins to suspect the time of the coming of the Messias to be past Hence it was that in the 52. years ufter the destruction of the Temple a certain proud and haughty Jew boasting that he was the true Messias feared not to affirme himself the same of whom Balaam prophesied in these words I shall see him but not now I shall behold him but not nigh there shall come a star out of Jacob and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel and he shall smite the corners of Moab and destroy all the children of Sheth And Edom shall be a possession Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies and Israel shall do valiantly Others understood this prophesie of the then newly begun kingdom of the Christians But the Jews even at this day determine their Messias as yet to come and to fulfil those things which Balaam foretold according to their substance That the said Jew should proclaim himself the Messias was most grateful unto them who presently in their own conceits can nourish hopes that they should become the conquerours of the Romans who a little before had destroyed their City and Temple This Seducer following the letter of the prophesie names himself Ben Chocab which is by interpretation the son of a Star His chief follower who at the very first clave unto him was Rabbi Akibha a man of great learning who had under his tuition twenty four thousand Scholars proclaiming him to be Malka Meschiccha Christ the King By this means much people went after him insomuch that he chused unto himself the City Bittera for the seat of his kingdom But when that Adrian the Roman Emperour had after a siege of three years and an half taken and killed this their Messias and together with this beautiful Star had miserably slaughtered more then four hundred thousand Jews then the remnant of so great a massacre perceiving themselves led astray by this their Star turn Anabaptists and call him from that day to this Barcozabh that is the son of a lye a lying and bastardly Messias Yet neverthelesse many since have lived who would be reputed for the Messias as you may read in a book called Schebhet Jehudah * The issue of all is this that the Jews convicted in their own consciences will they nill they are forced to confesse that the time in which the Messias was to come is already past When therefore they had despised and rejected Christ the true Messias and no other appeared they falsified the above mentioned tradition of Elias which was that the Messias should come about the four thousandth year of the world by annexing unto it this Comment that the time was prolonged for their offences But when at length no reason could be pretended of this long delay neither could they desine the time of his coming their onely evasion is to smite with this curse the head of him that should determine a certain season for his coming Tippach ruchan atzman schel mechasschebhe Kitzin * Which is Let their soul and body burst with a swâ—lling Rupture who peremptorily set down the time that time I say in which the Messias is expresly for to come Yet this not at all pondered and nothing set by many of them moved by the prophesies of the men of God concerning the coming of the Messias have in their souls and consciences confessed that the time of his coming was already past and therefore in their writings they acknowledge that he is born indeed but for their sins and impenitent life not as yet revealed And at this instant all the Jews dwelling amongst us are of the same opinion Hereupon Rabbi Solomon Jarchi saith that according to their ancestors the Messias was born in that day in which â—erusalem was last of all destroyed but where he hath so long been hid to be uncertain Some of them think that he lies in Paradise bound to the womans hair grounding upon these words in the Song of Solomon Thy head upon thee is like Carmel and the hair of thy head like purple the King is bound in the Galleries By King understaning the Messias and by Galleries Paradise Rabbi Solomon follows this exposition of these ancient Rabbines The Talmudists write that he lies in Rome under a gate among sick folks and Lepers perswaded by the words of Esay who saith that he is one despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief Others forge other lies and tales Well let all these things fall out according to their own desire yet they still believe he is to come First then before his coming shall happen ten notable miracles by which every one shall be admonished and incited to an accurate preparation for his coming and also be warned to conceive that he shall not come so poor and privately as Christ came These ten miracles I mean here to present in the same words that the Rabbines have commended them to posterity in a little book called Abkas Rochel The first miracle God shall stirr up and produce three
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