them speaks the Scriptue As the dayes of a Tree so shall be the dayes of my people that is as the Tree of life as the Chaldee renders it or as a Tree which indures for some hundreds of yeares doth not perish so my people shall remain for they who shall have a part in the resurrection at the comming of the Messias shall be so long lived as the Patriarchs from Adam to Noah So much Aben Ezra upon the place At that time they shall cherish and make themselves merry feasting their carkasses with that great fish Leviathan that huge bird Ziz and that monstrous Oxe Behemoth of which more particularly hereafter After this their jollity death the second time arrests them furnishing them with beds to sleep in till the last resurrection when they shall have an entrance into life eternal where they shall neither hunger nor thirst but be ever satiated with the beatifical vision of Gods glory and brightnesse In the first Book of Moses the 47. Chap. it is recorded of Jacob that when the time of his departure out of this Vale of tears approached he called his Sonne Joseph and entreated him not to bury him in Egypt but with his Fathers in the Land of Canaan Rabbi Salomon Jarchi upon these words saith that Jacob for three reasons would not be buried in the Land of Egypt The first was because he foresaw by the Spirit of Prophesie that in time to come store of lice should molest the Land of Egypt The second because the Israelites who died without the bounds of Canan could not rise again without a great deal of trouble being to be hurried into the â—andâ— of Promise by the hidden and deep vauâ—ts of the earth The third lest the Egyptians very prone unto Idolatry might make him the Idol which they would adore For the better understanding of this I mean here to insert what ever is written concerning it in the book called Tanchum which is an Exposition of the Law of Moles Rabbi Chelbo makes it a main question why the Patriarchs had so great a desire to be buried in the Land of Canan he gives himself a solution saying that they who shall dye in the â—andâ— of Promise shall riâ—s e first at the coming of the Messias Rabbi Hananiah confirms it and saith that whosoever dying is intombed in a strange Land shall dye a twofold death which is manifest out of the 26. chapter of Jeremy and the 6. verse where it is registred Thou Pashur and all thy family shall go into captivity thou shalt go to Babel there shalt thou dye and there be buried Hereupon Rabbi Simeon objects that that granted it must necessarily follow that all the Tzaddikim or just men should perish who were not interred in the Land of Canaan The answer is that God shall make certain caves and profound vaults in the earth by which they shall Be brought into the land of promise at their arâ—â—vall there God shall breath into them the breath of life and give them a share in the Resurrection as it is written I Will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves and bring you into the Land of Israel Rabbi Simeon Ben Levi saith that the Scripture speaketh expresly that God shall restore the Jews to Life upon the very instant of their return into their own Land the place he quoteth is Isa 12. v. 5. Thus saith the Lord God he that created the heavens and stretched them out he that spread forth the earth and that which cometh out of it he that giveth breath unto the people upon it and spirit to them that walk therein This is to be understood of them that shall be carried to Sion through the caves of the earth That also which is read in the Chaldee Targum upon the Canticles ought to be referred to this voâ—ntation the words are these Salomon the Prophet saith that when the dead shall arise the Mount Olivet shall cleave in the middle and all the Israelites who formerly departed this life shall issue out of it the just also who died in banishment prison or a strange Land being conveyed hither by hidden passages in the earth shall also apPear From hence we may easily conclude how beliooveful the Jews think it to return into their own Land and there be buried and so escape the turmoyle and trouble of so long a journey under so many deep rivers and rugged mountains and for this very end as I have heard out of the Jews own mouth many of their rich ones return into the Land of Canaan at this day This is that perfect firm and well grounded faith of the Jews in which they obstinately persevering make it the rock of their salvation though with great anxiety and despair Here we may see what they give to Moses and the rest of the Prophets and also what use these miserable men make of the holy Scriptures Such as their faith is such are also their works which they would seem to shape according to the strict rule of Gods commandements There profound Rabbins perswade this simple people the Jews that they of the Circumcision are Gods own chosen people who may easily fulfill not onely the morall Law comprehended in the Decalogue but the whole Law of Moses They divide the Law of Moses into six hundred and thirteen Precepts and again subdivide these into commanding and prohibiting Precepts the former according to their computation are two hundred to eight which number is according to the Rabbins anatomy equal to that of the members in mans body the prohibiting Precepts are three hundred sixty five just so many as there are dayes in the year or as it is registred in a book entituled Brand spiegel and printed at Cracovia in the Germane tongue and Hebrew character some fifteen years ago as there are veinâ— in mans body hence it shall come to passe that if a man in one of his members every day perform one of the Mandatory Precepts and omit that which the prohibiting Precept enjoyns him to avoid he shall with great facility every year and so to his dying day fulfill not onely the Decalogue but the whole Law of Moses this is that right ordering and keeping of their Laws here I may counsel Isaiah to make his complaint That the earth is defiled under the inhabitants thereof because they have transgressed the Laws changed the Ordinance broken the everlasting covenant for Saint Stephen should be stoned the second time if he were now alive and should reprove the Jews for this their adulterate worship saying You stiffenecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears you do alwayes resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did so do ye who have recived the Law by the disposition of Angels and have not kept it c. The Rabbins hold on and say that men are onely bound to keep those six hundred and thirteen Precepts but the women are freed from the observation
the sound of this trumpet shall blast the Christians and people of the world with fear and astonishment casting them into horrid maladies Then shall the Jews gird up their loins and with many a weary journey seek to revisite their Jerusalem Messias also the son of David together with his harbinger Elias and all the faithfull his followers in Israell with great joy shall come into Jerusalem So soon as this pierceth the ears of wicked Armillus he will babble out how long will this abject and base people thus behave themselves and shall once more with a great army of Christians hasten to Jerusalem to give battel to to their newly inaugurated soveraign But God shall not permit that the Israelites should fall out of the fire into the pit but speaking unto the Messias shall say unto him Come thou and sit at my right hand and to the children of Israel sit you still hold your peace and quietly expect that great deliverance which the Lord this day will impart unto you Then shall the Lord rain from heaven fire and brimstone as it is recorded I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood and I will rain upon him and upon his bands and upon the many people that are with him an overflowing rain and great hailstones fire and brimstone Then shall Armillus with his whole army die and the Atheistical Edomites the Christians they mean who laid waste the house of our God and led us captive into a strange land shall miserably perish then shall the Jews be revenged upon them as it is written The house of Jacob shall be a fire and the house of Joseph a flame and the house of Esau that is we Christians as the Jews interpret whom they ' Christen Edomites shall be for stubble This stubble the Jews shall set in fire that nothing may be left to us Edomites which shall not be burnt and turned into ashes The ninth miracle At the second blast of Michael his trumpet being long and loud all the graves in Jerusalem shall open and the dead arise Messias also the son of David together with Elias the Prophet shall restore to life Messias that good son of Joseph reserved under a certain gate At the same time shall all the Congregation of Israel send Messias the son of David as an Embassador to the remnant of the Jews superviving the last slaughter dispersed here and there among the Christians and other people of the earth to summon them to Jerusalem Then shall the kings of the nations without delay carry the Jews inhabiting their quarters upon their shoulders and in Chariots unto Sion I think this will come to pass much about the Greek Calends The tenth miracle At what time the Angel Michael shall blow the trumpet the third time then shall God bring them forth who border upon the rivers Gosane Lachlacke Chabore and also inhabited the cities of Juda and they in number infinite and immesurable together with their infants shall enter into Moses Paradise the earth before and behinde them shall be nothing but a flame of fire which shall consume all which is needful for the preservation of life among the Christians and other people When the ten tribes of Israel shall return out of the land of their captivity then the pillar of the cloud of the divine glory and majesty shall encompass them as it is written the breaker up is come before them they have broken up and have passed through the gate and are gone out by it and their king shall pass before them and the Lord on the head of them Moreover God shall open unto them fountains flowing out of the tree of life wherewith he shall refresh them in their journey lest at any time thirst should annoy them For the Lord saith I will open rivers in high places and fountains in the midst of the vallies I will make the wilderness a pool of water and dry land springs of water Again They shall not hunger nor thirst neither shall the heat nor sun smite them for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them even by the springs of water shall he guide them To comfort them against these ten signes foregoing the coming of the Messias the most of which pretend great calamity and affliction to the Jews they have a tenfold consolation The first is that the Messias is certainly yet for to come according to that of the Prophet Behold thy king cometh c. The second that he shall again gather them together being dispersed over the face of the whole earth as it is written I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the coasts of the earth and with them the blinde and the lame the women with childe and her that travelleth with childe together a great company shall return thither From which place we may learn thus much that if any went unto his grave blind or lame the same shall God raise up cloathed with the same imperfections that one may more easily know another yet the Lord shall so perfectly cure the lame that they shall skip like Roes as the Scripture witnesseth Then shall the lame man leap as an hart and the tongue of the dumbe sing for in the wilderness shall the waters break out and streams in the desert The third is that God shall raise up the dead as it is written Many that sleep in the dust of the earth shall arise these to life eternal they to shame and everlasting contempt The fourth is that God shall build them up a third temple according to that plat-form and fashion which Ezekiel hath described cap. 41. ver 1. 2 3. The fift is that the people of Israel shall be the sole Monarchs of the whole world their dominion stretching from one end of the earth unto the other according to that of Esay 60. 12. The nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish yea these nations shall be utterly wasted Yea the whole world being turned unto the Lord shall be subject to his law as it is recorded For then will I turn to the people a pure language that they may all call upon the name of the Lord to serve him with one consent The sixth is that God at that time shall defeat and destroy all the enemies of his people that is the Christians and mightily to revenge himselfe upon them as it is written I will lay vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel and they shall do in Edom according to mine anger The seventh is that God shall take away all diseases and maladies from among the people of Israel according to that The inhabitants shall not say I am sick the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquitie The eight is God shall prolong the dayes and yeares of the life of the Israelites So that they shall live as
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
they did acknowledge even then when the whole World drencht in the Sea of Idolatry was ignorant of the true God the Creator of Heaven and Earth then began they to wax proud haughty and puâ—t up counting the Nations as dung and with a supercilious sore-front boasting themselves to be the hâ—â—ly and elect people of God the Law of God and Circumcision being the main pillars of this their ostentation And seeing they at that time actually possessed the Land of Promise offered their Sacrifices the sum of their wants must be a glorying in their City Temple Sacrifice and other kinds of worshâ—p for which if any one dare manage a reproof objecting that they are not the children of Abraham because God shall prosligate and destroy them because their hearts and ears are uncircumcised and God shall again scatter them among the Gentiles he shall upon the very instant be cauterized for a false Prohet and a Liar and destinated to the stake for bearing witnesse unto the truth Neither did they here put a period to their madness they stand firm in their foolish opinions imbracing the Covenant according to its outside the Law according to the letter the ceremonies oblations and sacrifices in their naked representation provoking not only the Prophets but God himself never regarding whether or no any true knowledge fear or reverence of his Majesty was implanted in their hearts For the attempting of these enormities the Lord conceives heavy displeasure against Israel terms them a sinfull Nation laden with iniquity a seed of evil doers children that are corrupters which had forsaken the Lord and provoked the holy one in Israel and gone away backward whose hearts were obstinate their neck an iron sinew and their brow brasse Transgressors from their Mothers womb whose birth and nativity is the Land of Canaan their Father an Amorite and their Mother a Hittite a people rejected and accursed as Moses witnesseth He threatens them to baniâ—h them out of their own Land and to carry them into a Land which neither they nor their Fathers had known there also that they shall tast of his fury be slaves to their enemies and to make their City and Temple in which they so much rejoyced like unto Shiloe Lastly speaking to Esay the Prophet he saith Make the heart of this peole fat and make their ears heavy and shut their eyes lest they see with their eyespuch and heare with their ears and understand with their heart and convert and be healed After the same manner God denounceth against them by Moses saying it shall come to passe that if thou wilt not hearken unto the voyce of the lord thy God to observe to do all his Commandements and his Statutes which l command thee this day that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee The Lord shall sinite thee with madness and blindnesse of heart Thou shalt grope at noon day as the blind gropeth in darkness and thou shalt not prosPer in thy wayes thou shalt be only oppressed and spoyled evermore and none shall save thee The fundamental then and prime cause of the blindness and obstinacy of the Jews is the just judgement of God upon them for their sins and the punishment due unto the same which came upon them because they heaRkened not unto his voice worshipping him with their mouth and with their lips drawing near unto him but in their hearts being far from him their service towards him consisting only in the commandements of of men as the Prophet Esay complains By which we may perceive that they soon left off to trace the way of Gods Commandements setling themselves upon their own carnal wisdome upon the sublime perspicuity of their Doctors who after Ezra were called Scribes as upon a new foundation accounting Their Expositions Ordinances Laws and Institutions to be of far more worth then the Doctrine of the Prophets against which the Prophets oftentimes declaimed but to little purpose What these Commandements are which they esteem more then the word of God our Saviour Christ teacheth us in the new Testament when the Jewes reprehend him that his Disciples walked not according to the tradition of the Elders which were of washing hands cups pots brazen vessels and tables and innumerable fopperies of the same sort by which they make the word of God of none effect but only strive to fulfill the inventions of their Ancestors Now in the last place seeing these their Traditions which Christ pointed out unto us are at this day accurately kept and observed of the Jews seriously also described in their Cannon La. and celesiastical and moral constitutions part of which I have decreed to lay open in the following discourse I think it here convenient to search out the grounds and reasons which might thâ—n and at this day doth induce them to prefer the Ordinances of men before Gods Commondements casting them headlong into the darkness of Superstitlon so blinding their understanding that they cannot possibly find out the trUe meaning of the holy Scripture We read in the Preface of that learned man Rabbi Mosche Mikkotzi called Hakdamah who writ a Book and Exposition upon three hundred and thirteen of Gods Commandements which he entituled Sepher mitzuos gadol that is the great Book of the Commandements in the year of Christ 1236. and published it at Toledo in Spain where the Jewes then had a most flourishing Schoole the Students therein being in number twelve thousands as he witnesseth in his hundred and twelfth Prohibitory precept that the written Law which God delivered unto Moses in Mount Sinai is obscure and difficult first because it contradicts is selfe Secondly because it is imperfect and therefore all things necessary to be known are not there set down wherupon it is needful some certain Exposition should be framed by whose pluÌ„met every one might dive into the genuine sence of the written Law grouÌ„ d theron as a firm foundation That the Law of Moses contradicts it selfe there are many instances We read Exod. 12. 15. For sevean dayes thou shalt eat unleavened bread but Deut. 16. 8. Six dayes thou shalt eat unleavened bread againe vers 9. Seven weeks thou shalt number unto thee which make only forty nine days but in the 23. of Leviticus and the 16. it is read Vnto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall you number fifty dayes In the 16. of Deuteronomy vers 2. it is said Thou shalt sacrifice the Passover unto the Lord of the Flock and of the Heard contrary to this â—xod 12. 5. Your Lamb shall be without blemish a male of the first year you shall take out from the sheep or from the Goats Again Deut. 15. 19. All the firstling males that come of thy Heard and of thy Flock thou shalt sanctifie unto the Lord thy God but in the 27. of Leviticus vers 26. The firstling of the Beasts which should be the Lords firstling no man shall
booke directing aright our life and conversation to the end that thence he may learn the feare of God and civility of behaviour and therefore he reads in the same an houre at least before he goes out of doors to performe any other businesse This the Cachamim and wise men among the Jewes conclude from the words of Solomon in his Proverbs saying The feare of the Lord is the beginning of wisdome Hence teaching us that in all our actions we undertake we ought to feare God and learn his word After the same manner might the Rabbines have expounded those words Vehaiah Gnekebh Tismegnun That the Jewes being interpreters they must be rendred thus There shall be a heale or foot you shall beare it and that which followes is this Before you set your heele or foot out of doors you shall learn the law by reading something therein and hearing what God wils and commands to be done It is a good work indeed to learn the law and on the contrary a great sinne for any to be negligent in the reading of the same In the time of the first Temple the peopl of Jerusalem committed many hainous offences as Incest and Idolatry yet the Lord did only in a manner know these and took notice of them untill they despised the law and would take no more paines to learn it Then the Lord banished them out of his sight destroied a great number of them and utterly laid waste their holy Temple Hereupon the Lord cried out by Jeremie the Prophet Who is wise to understand this and to whom the mouth of the Lord hath spoken he shall declare it Why doth the Land perish and is burnt up like a wildernesse and none passeth thorow And the Lord saith because they have for saken the law which I set before them and have not obeied my word neither walked there after Againe it is written in the first booke of Moses Then shall all nations say wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this land how fierce is his great wrath And they shall answer because they have for saken the Covenant of the Lord God of their fathers which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt Wherefore a religious Jew must not presently after his comming from morning praier fall to his daily labour and servile emploiments but either retire himselfe to his owne house or in Beth Hammedrasch or the Schoole dedicated to study and there to read and learne somewhat out of the Law which may presse him forward to the feare of God and an honest life and godly conversation with men that by this meanes that may come to passe which the Prophet David makes mention of saying They will goe from strength to strength and unto the God of Gods appeareth every one of them in Sion Which is also very well expounded according to the sagacity of the Jewes in a little book written concerning the feare of God in these words They did goe from one study to another that they might by learning understand the Law When they are returned unto their owne house then laying aside their phylacteries and precatory fardles they put them into a chest First unloosing them of the head then those of the hand to the end they may at any time first take and bind on these of the hand Some also are accustomed to put off their garment of remembrance or their fringed Coat to which the Ribbands are annexed yet in my judgement it were more fitting they should weare it continually that they might not forget the commandements of the Lord but alwaies fulfill his Law They who are godly carry it all the day long under a corselet or cloake but so that the ribbonds may be seen of them that they may bee terrified from committing sin I once saw a crabbed Rabbine of a waiward holinesse who was Master of the Synagogue whose ribbands hanging at his fringes hung so low downe that they did even touch his feet For as some desiring not to be forgetfull of any thing committed to his memory knits a knot in his girdle to the end that he looking thereupon may call to his remembrance what he ought to put in execution So these five knotted fringes in use with the Jewes are as so many memorandums to warne them to avoid the by-paths of sin and iniquity And hence it comes to passe that all the Jewes are of such a sanctified conversation that they fulfill keep and observe every one of Gods commandements They also accounted it very good for the wholsome to eate something before a man in the morning undertake any businesse For there are sixty three diseases of the Gall which may all be cured by the eating of crust and a mornings draught of the blood of the grape Who wants wine he may drink Ale or a cup of cold water as Raschi is of an opinion and so shall he be fitted to undergo any labour They which are honest wives indeed will in the meane time make ready for dinner some boiled meate that their husbands bellies at their return home finding such cleanly provision may not by a long tarrying be occasioned to a thought that their throats are cut In that tract of the Talmud about the Sabbath it is ordained that the Jewes should goe to dinner some five houres after day-break which is about eleven a clock if any over-stay any longer hee may fall into some disease by the vehemence where of he may bee brought upon his knees for at that time the body expects and requires its naturall nourishment which if it have not then it seeds upon its owne members As a Bore in the time of winter is wont to doe for then if it be not possible for him to come by any sustenance hee by sucking his owne feete relieves himselfe The wives also must have an especiall care that they serve in the meate thus cleanly drest in a cleanly manner as it is written You shall not make your soules abominable with any creeping thing that creepeth neither shall you make your selves unclean with them that you should be defiled thereby for I am the Lord your God you shall therefore sanctifie your selves and you shall be holy for I am holy neither shall you defile your selves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth This place the profound Rabbines construe in this manner unto us That they being commanded by God ought to eate meates artificially cooked as men not beasts are accustomed to doe and that if any one do not eate such viandes he polluting himselfe without fall becomes unsanctified in the eies of the Lord. The table is to be spread with clean linnen bread in whole loaves pure well baked and not burn'd is to be set thereupon then Grate must be said and â—a blessing conserred upon the meat to be received If the good wives of the house have any pullen or other cattell which are to be fed
sloth and idlenesse they use not to practise the foresaid things before they arise from the table When the Jewes have eaten their fils then the good man of the house some one of the Rabbines or some guest or stranger if any such bee present saies grace after meat Their thanksgiving is very prolixe and tedious in which praising God they thank him that he gives meate and drinke to them and all other his creatures that hee sustaines them through his goodnesse that he brought their fathers out of the land of of Egypt and gave them the land of Canaan for and inheritanâ—e made a covenant with them and in giving them the law made a promise unto them that he would for ever keep and defend them They pray and beseech him that he would have mercy upon Sion build againe their holy Temple and restore the Kingdome of David in these their daies send them the Messias and Eliah the Prophet to deliver them out of the house of bondage to preserve them against poverty that they may not bee forced to beg or borrow of the Christians who in their repute are men meerely flesh and blood poore miserable mortals and cast-awaies who entertaine no commerce with their Maker who are subject to the curse and utterly rejected who shall dye and perish like unto beasts when on the contrary they are a holy nation the â—lock and inheritance of God himselfe They further pray that God would vouchsafe to fill their hands with all good things and noâ— suffer them to bee ashamed but to breake the yoake of the Christians from off their necks and to bring them backe into their own land to bestow a blessing upon the house where in they have feasted and to enrich the master and mistrisse thereof with their children and all their posterity c. To which things every one saying Amen with attentive mindes repeating the words of David O feare the Lord all yee his saints for they that feare him lacke nothing The lyons do lack and suffer hunger but they that secke the Lord shall want no manner of thing that is good This they say with their mouthes so empty of meate that not one crum of bread or piece of flesh stickes between their teeth and those words bind them thereunto Let my mouth bee filled with thy praise and glory all the day long Prayers are alwaies to bee said in that place where dinner or supper is eaten Hence the Cabbalists write that whosoever praies not in that place where any banquet is celebrated shall never come unto the grave because they shall dye such a death which is never accompanied with any buriall as hanging drowning or such like There was once a time when a certaine godly and religious Jew being in the field refreshed and filled with wholsome meates forgot to give thankes When hee had been long absent from the foresaid place and at length remembring he had offended in not saying grace having another in his company he said unto him that hee must of necessity returne to that place where hee had formerly taken meate because hee had left a precious toole there Which when he had done and praied and given thanks God shewed this miracle He created a golden dove which the Jew had bestowed on him as a reward of his honesty and piety in observing the precepts of the Talmud with so great diligence This was a miracle indeed in that place but it had been none at all in Paphlagonia although the dove being throughly rosted had sâ—own into his mouth Without all doubt this miracle was done neare unto the Indian mines For who will be so stupid as not to believe that this dove flying from thence and being wearied in slight alighted here to rest her selfe The Chachamim and Doctors command that a man should not make many banquets in one week lest he should so carry himselfe that every day thereof might bee accounted for an holy day as some doe who mutually inviting one another say to day you shall feast with me so will I to morrow with you c. for the whole weeke Of such men the Cabbalists writing say that at such banquets an evill spirit called Samaâ—l feasts himselfe together with others of his society inciting the guests to many grand offences Rabbi Levi in the behalfe of Rabbi Abhen in the name of Rabbi Joshua saith that the bellies of all those that keep such revellings eating and drinking sporting and feasting every week do burst asunder the third after they are dead and laid in their graves and the dung of their intrals is poured upon their faces as it is written I will sprinkle the dung of your feasts upon your faces Which once come to passe the Devils come and jeare them saying now devour that which even now thou gormandisedst And here I will leave them and proceed to a further declaration of their carriage after they rise from the table CHAP. VIII Of their evening prayer and their manner of going to bed IN great Cities where the Jewes have Schools or Synagogues the beater of the Schoole who is the same with a Sexton in other places going about unto their houses about five a clock in the afternoon knocks at their doores with an hammer thereby giving them notice that they ought to make hast to evening prayer So soon as they come into the Synagogue they set them down and huddle up a certaine praier by reason of the first word therein called Aschre which in English signifies Blessednesse which is taken out of the eighty fourth Psalme and the first verse which begins with this fore-mentioned word The prayer runs thus Blessed are they that dwell in thine house for they will alwaies be praising thee Selah In these words boasting of their diligence in frequenting the house of the Lord Happy are the people that be in such a case yea blessed are the people that have the Lord for their God I will magnifie thee O Lord my King I wil praise thy name for ever and ever c. unto the end of the Psalme This prayer is in so great esteem among them that they write that whosoever saith it three times a day shall have his portion in eternall life Then the Chanter rising up sings halfe of that holy prayer which they call Kaddisch after that the whole Synagogue joines in the repetition of the eighteen laudatory petitions of which we made mention in their morning prayer Which done and finished the Chanter comming for his chaire or pulpit so called by the Christians fals downe upon his knees before the Arke and leanes his head upon his left hand which all the people doe likewise and bowing their head towards the left side and covering theirface with their whole heart for the heart lies upon the left side and so the head and heart are joined in such a position they in a most devout manner pronounce the words following O mercifull and
many touch their naked body with their hands that hereby they may take occasion to wash them They use Claret wine for the most part in this Feast because there is the greatest plenty of it to be had if such cannot be had then they use some other for the initiation hereof alwaies provided it be intermixed with certaine spices Immediately after they have washed their throats they fall sourely upon the sallets every one taking a little thereof and dipping it in vinegar the Master of the house also saying Blessed be thou O Lord our God King of the world who hast created the fâ—uites of the earth They eat these herbes thus drencht in vinegar to make their stomach give a more plausible entertainment to the succeeding dishes it being very soveraign for the invitation of an appetite To proceed The Master of the houshold taking that cake of the three which lyeth in the middle out of the platter breaks it in twaine and putting the greater part there of under his pillow or napkin signifying thereby that their fathers flying out of Egypt took their dough before it was leavened their kneading troughes being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders hee puts the other halfe into its former place between the two whole cakes throwing the lambes legg rosted and the egg out of the other platter Then every one laying hands on the dish wherein is the halfe cake saith with a loud voice such was the bread of affliction wherewith our fathers were fed in the land of Egypt Every one that is hungry let him come and eat his fill whosoever hath need let him come and eat of the paschall lambe This yeare we are in this place the next yeare we shall be in the land of Canaan This yeare we are servants and bond-men the next yeare God saying Amen we shall be redeemed become Lords and Masters In this place the halfe cake is an emblem of poverty and exile The reason is a poor man or a beggar hath not a whole loase in all his house but only scraps and fragments This their practise they ground upon those words of Moses Seven daies thou shalt eate unleavened bread therewith even the bread of affliction This descant ended they set the lambes legg and the rosted egg upon the table againe and the second time present every person in particular with a bowle of wine and take the platter wherein the cakes are from the table that the children may move a question according to the custome of ancient daies which is recorded in these words It shall come to passe that when your children shall say unto you what meane you by this service That yee shall say it is the sacrifice of the Lords passeover who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when he smote the Egyptians and delivered our houses So the children of the Jewes at this day ought to aske their fathers why they remove the cakes from the table before they have tasted of them and they are to answer them according to the tenor of these words Instantly upon the solution of the objection the cakes are the second time set upon the table and then the whole company sings a tedious song concerning their deliverance out of the land of Egypt When they come to that division wherein mention is made of the ten plagues of Egypt they slacke their voice and with their fingers cast some drops of wine out of the cup thereby intimating that these ten plagues being banished out of their doors ought to fall upon their enemies the Christians The song being ended every one taking his cup into his hand and in a high note singing or saying It is meet and our bounden duty that we should confesse praise glorify extoll honour and blesse him who hath not done not only for our Ancestors but for us also all these signes and wonders who hath vouchsafed to bring us out of darknesse into light out of bondage into liberty out of the dungeon of sorrow into the faire fields of joy and gladnesse and hath changed our daies of mourning and lamentation into holy Festivals representing a delightfull Jubilee for this cause will we come before him and sing many hallelujahs to his holy name sitting in his chair like a spanish Don newly transformed by a new fashion he carouses the second bowle Then the Master of the house washing his hands takes the uppermost cake out of the dish and saith Blessed be thou O Lord our God King of the world who bringest bread out of the earth yet not eating thereof he takes againe the middle cake and saith Blessed be thou O Lord our God King of the world who hast sanctifyed us by thy commandements and hast enjoined us to eat unleavened bread Immediately upon the pronuntiation of these words he breaks a morsell of both cakes and eates it commanding the rest to doe likewise who all leane upon their left side Then they take one whole cake together with the halfe notwithstanding that upon the Sabbath they are accustomed onely to the use of whole loaves and the reason because Moses cals it the bread of poverty or affliction for a poore man is Lord of no other save some basket-pieces In the next place the Master of the family takes some of the bitter herbes and puts them into the foresaid pottage saying Blessed be thou O Lord God King of the world who hast commanded us to feed upon bitter herbes and then hee invites every one to eat thereof They doe not now as formerly leane upon their pillowes in remembrance that their forefathers were as yet servants compelled by Pharaoh togather straw and labour in the bricke kilne Lastly he takes the third cake out of the platter and breaks a piece out of the same and fals againe to feed upon his bitter sallet but dips not the herbs into the pottage because Rabbi Hillel who liâ—ed before the destruction of the second Temple was accustomed so to do and they prove it also out of the words of Moses who saith you shall eat unleavened cakes with bitter herbes shall you eat them so they read it But the words of Moses are according to the truth of the originall these which follow In that night they shall eate the flesh roste with firâ— and unleavened bread and with bitter herbs shall they eate it So much concerning the prologue or preparatory acts to the Supper of the Paschall lambe now begins the supper it selfe They eate whatsoever God hath provided making very merry quaffing off and carousing whole bowles of wine and beer untill the middle of the night which approaching the Masser of the Feast takes the halfe cake which he had hid under his pillow eates a little thereof and reacheth unto every man present a morsell of the same which done they leane very demurely upon their left sides wash their hands take a cup of wine and drinke it off which is the third cup
Rabbines from a beast called Jaduah a bone of which they held in their teeth in time of prophecy The seventh Doresh El hammethim one who asked counsel of the dead a Necromancer such was the witch of Endor The eighth Shoel makâ—o one who took counsel by his staff what way it fell that way he would go Hos 4. 12. Or measuring his staff by inches I will go I will not go did according to the event The last Roel Baccober Ezek. 21. 21. A diviner by the intrals of Beasts Exod. 15 16. Cholm cap. 3 p. 16. Gen. 12. 6. Rab. Bechoci Gen. 1. Num. 18. 15. Caphtorâ— uperach p. 68. Psal 46. 3. Dan. 7 9 10. Tract Rosch haschanah c. 1. p. 16. Psal 69. 29. Exod. 32. 32. Psal 143. 2. Psal 130. 3. Orach Chaymna 581. Exod. 32. 2. Amos 6. Rosch hasâ—cha c. 1. p. 16. The papists had their praying to Saints from hence Minhagim Dan. 7. 10. Taame mitznos pag. 36. Rescha chochma magnum in Schaar par â—eschubha cap. 3 nu 163. Jesa 59. 2. 4. 5. Levit. 23. 24. Orach chaijm num 583. Deut. 8. 13. Psal. 89. 16. Mich. 7. 19. Levit. 16. Mich. 2. 11. Soph. 3. 4. Orach chajim num 602. Psal. 107. 17 18 19 20 21 22. Joâ— 33. 34 35 Levit. 16 17. Isa. 1. 18. * Gehher a man from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 invaluit to prevail he haâ—h this name from his might and strength Psal. 22. 1. a Neschamah amma hereby is noted only the reasonable soule according to Aben Ezra who derives as though iâ— were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 min haâ—shamajim from heaven I think rather from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nashah to lift up and Shamajim signifying heavens because it is or alwayes ought thither to be lifted up It is distinguished from Ruach and Nephesh the Synonyma's of it in this manner by Aben Ezra Neschamah est vis sensibilis rationalis habet locum in cerebro 2. Ruach spiritus habet sedem in corde quod est origo ritus complectiturque vim irascibilem 3. Nephesh est vis concupiscibilis situm habet in jecore Orach chajim nu 606. Psal 78. 38. Deut. 23 2 3. This was in use in S. Pauls dayes who saith that he received forty stripes save one 2 Cor. 11. The Jewish reason is to be approved of Rabbi Bechaim Deut. 25. 2. Psal 1. 2 3 4. Levit. 23. 27 28 29 30 31. Orach chajim nu 612. A very papistical indulgence Cant. 2. 9. Chaptor upherach p. 71 Exod 23. 8. Isa. 58. 1 2 3 4 5. Zach. 6. 5. Prov. 6. 23. Prov. 3. 18. Orach chajim uu 670. Esther 3. Esther 8. Tract Mâ—gilah Orach chajim nu 690. Sect. 16. Orach chajim num 615. De rit Jud p. 61. zach 8. 19. The first fast The second fast The third fast Hos. 5. 7. Jer. 2. 24. The fourth fast Ier. 40. 41. Particular fasts 2. 3. 4. Reschis chochma parvum p. 10. Tanais p. 23. Hab. 2. Rabbi Solomon Jarchi Zachi 7. Exod. 23. 19. Num. 31. 23. Tract 1. Elim c. 5. p. 75. Exod 22. 31. Gen. 24. 64. Abel signifies vanity shewing the righteousnesse of man to be nothing else hence that excellent Elogie Adam Cain Abel the earth hath possessed vanity The names of the three first men making it up Gen. 32. The Jews of ancient dayes had two sorts of wives the one called â—ashim ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which according to Rabbi Juda which were married with a Bill of contract or solemn espousals whose children were heirs unto their fathers lands 〈◊〉 goods The others called Pelagshim Coâ—â—â—ines or half-wives not lawful wives or 〈◊〉 of the houâ—e neither were their children heirs unto their fathers goods derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Palag to divide and Ishaâ— a wife a divided or half wife The fâ—â—â—r sort are derived either by the figure Apâ—â—â—sis from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Anashim by taking away the first and capital letter Aleph 〈◊〉 that the Man is the Womans 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sâ—duxiâ— to seduce bâ—â—â—se she deceived Adam or from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to forget either that women 〈…〉 memory or rather that their fathers house in them is as it were extinct and quite forgotten Gen 2. 22. Tract Medah c. 5. p. 45. Gen 2. 22. Signifying that mankind was perfect when the woman was created which before was like an unperfect building Or rather because the women build their husbands an house as Rachel and Leah built the hous of Israel Ruth the last b Chuppah a cover arbor or such like from the Hebrew root 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to cover or hide Jer. 31. 22. Gen. 1. 28. Psal. 147. 14 Psal. 45. 10 Tallith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a cloak or hairy garment Gen. 25. Rabbi Solomon saith that it is a litle cloak peculiar to the Jews which they used in time of prayer from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 obtegere to hide or cover Ruth 3. 9. Ezek. 16. 8. Psal 2. 11. The dowry bill Matth. 6. 19. Tract Gittin The bill of divorce In the Latine Copy the bill was imperfect I have therefore corrected it according to that in Moses Koâ—sinsos f. 133. a Matth. 22. The Sadduces were a certain Sect among the Jews they had their name either from Sedek Justice because they justified themselves before God or from Sadoc the first Author of the Heresie who lived under Antigonus Socheus who succeeded Simeon the just They rejected the Propheâ—s and all other books of Scripture save the five books of Moses They rejected traditions they denied a reward for good works and punishment for evil the resurrection of the body Angels and Spirits Fate and Destinie ascribing all to mans Free-will and affirming the soul to be annihilated after it departs the body Drusius de trib Sect. cap. 8. lib. 3. From 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 colligere From 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 colligere * The Falling-sickness from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cadere Hilluc from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to go or walk because the Plague is a very walking disease Lib Chasidim num 167. Reschis Chochma P 22. From 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 occidere Gen. 50. 10. Gen. 37. 34. b Justitia juditij a just judgment Esa 60. 14. Isa 25. 8. Psal 90. 17. Num. 20. 1 2. Tract Aboda Zara c. 8. Ezek. 12. 7. Num. 〈◊〉 2. a The wounds of the Sepulcher The Jews twofold Messias Luk. 2. 25. Ib. v. 38. Rom. 11. 5. Num. 2. 4. 17 18. Schebet Jehndah the tribe of Judah A historical book of the many afflictions martyrdoms of the Iews as also of their disputes with the Christians in Spain and Italy It was printed at Crncovia in Germany An. d. 1591. Sanhedrin c. 11. p. 97. Cant. 7.5 Sanhedrin c. 11. p. 98. Esay 53. 3. The miracles before Christs coming Abkas rochel pulvis aromatarius the author Rimchar a little book in octavo it hath 3 parts the first of the miracles before the coming of the Messias two of the soule and the state of it after this life The third of Moses his tradition about Mount Sinai mans creation c. It was printed at Venice anno Dom. 1597. Hos. 3. 4. Jascibhah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Synagogue from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to sit or rest The second miracle Mal. 4. 2. Num. 24. 23. The third mirale Dan. 12. 3. Joel 2. 30. The fourth miracle Hos 14. 5. The fifth miracle Esa 24. 22. Jon. 2. 8. The sixth mimiracle Esa 59. 16. Jer. 3. 14. The Seventh miracle Exod. 20. The coming of Michael Dan. 12. 1. Ezek. 20. 38. Dan. 12. 10. Hos 2. 14. Dan. 11. 42. Dan. 11. 45. The eighth miracle Jsa 27. 13. Zech. 9. 14. Ezech. 38. 22. Obad. 18. The ninth miracle 1. never The tenth miracle Micah 2. 13. Jsa 41. 18. Jsa 49. 10. The Jews ten fould comfort against the foresaid signes Consol 1. Zach. 9. 9. The 2. Cons Esa 35. 6. The 3. Cons The 4. Cons The 5. Cons Zeph. 3. 9. The 6. Cons Ezek. 25. 14. The 7. Cons Jsa 33. 24. The 8. Cons Jsa 65. 22. See Reschaim in the Talmud c. 6. p. 68. Ninth Cons Isa 40. 5. Tenth Cons Ezek. 36. 26. The feast which the Messias shall make unto the Jews at his coming The first dish Behemoth Job 4. 10. a Rabbi Sal Jarchi Rabhuenaki The 2. dish Leviathan Babha Basra c. 5. p. 74. Jsa 27 1. Job 40. 16. 19 The third dish Barinchue Bechoros c ult p. 57. The Crow Babha basra c. 5. p. 72. The great bird ziz Talmud in the same place The great Lion Cholin cap. 3. p. 59. The wine for the feast Esa 27. 2. 3. Psal 75. 9. The sports where with the Messias will delight the Jews Job 40. 20. Psal 104. 26. Psal 69. 32. Job 40 14. 15. Jsa 27. 1 Esa 25. 6. Job 41. 6. The marriage of the Messias ps 45. 10. Schegal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifieth the wife of a King 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shagal which is to exercise the very act of venery Isa 53. 10. The manner of life the Jews shall have under their Messias The first benefit Jsa 60 10 11. 12. Jsa 61. 5. 6. The 2 benefit Jsa 65. 17. Psal. 92. 14 15 The 3 Benefit Hos 14. 8. Isay 62. 8 9. The 4 Benefit Esay 11. 17. The 5 Benefit Isay 2 4. Jer. 8. Matth. 15. 5. Titus 1. Deut. 28.