for the Rabbines in their Masseches Berachos upon those words When all the people saw the thunders and the lightnings and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain burning the people saw and were afraid and stood afar off dispute and say that the people through great fear and amazement was in a moment of time three miles backward from the mountain Sinai The chief Glosse-monger Rabbi Salomon Jarchi writes in his glosse upon this Text that the people kept back twelve miLes of which David spoke saying The Kings of the Armies did flie and sheâ— that tarried at home divided the spoil and then came the good Angels and ministring Spirits and brought the people back unto the Mountain When they are about to depart the Temple or Synagogue then they speaking within themselves quietly and without the least noise they say a certain Prayer beginning Alenulesh abeach It is meet that we should praise the Lord who is above all and in an excellent degree to celebrate him because he hath created all things and not made us like unto the rest of the Nations likewise that he hath not made us as other generations of the World and hath not appointed us an inheritance like unto theirs neither is our lot as their lot neither as the lot of their whole multititude Here are some words omitted in their Books of Common-prayer and that by the Commandement of the Magistrates of Italy where their Books are wont to be and for the most part are at this day imprinted The things omitted were some blasphemous sayings against our Saviour which are found expressed in the ancient copies of which I have one which was imprinted at Augusta by a Jewish Printer called Chajim in the year of Christ 1534. In other copies instead of the words omitted there is left an empty space about the length of one line to this end that the children of the Jews and others who are ignorant may be warned to enquire what saying it is that is there omitted which when they do some relate the words unto them or otherwise write them in the margent of the Book as I have observed them to have practised in many of their Prayer books the words left out are these Who bend their knee and crouch to that which is vanity and foolishness and adore another God who cannot help these words they utter against Christ wherefore they spit upon the earth in the mouthing of them But we bend and bow our knees yea our whole man to that King who is King of Kings to God holy and blessed for ever who stretcheth out the heavens establisheth the earth whose glory and chair of estate is in heaven and the seat of whose power is in the highest heavens he only is our God and there is no other besides him These things thus finished the Jew now going out Of the Synagogue saith O Lord God lead me by thy justice by reason of those that lay wait for me in secret make plain thy way before my face Preserve me in my going out and my comming in from this time forth for evermore They must go out of the Synagogue in the posture of a Crab sish creeping backward through the Gate thereof and that their back part should not be towards the holy Ark in which the book of the Law is laid up to which they ought to exhibit a certain kind of reverence by turning their face thereunto The Rabbines upon those words of the Prophet Ezekiel Who have turned their back unto the Temple of the Lord have delivered thus much in the Talmud that a grievous and heavy punishment was inflcted upon the Priests because in going out of the Temple of the Lord they turned their back parts towards the ark of the Covenant wherefore the case standing thus we ought to depart out of the Temple with all fear and reverence even as a servant being about to take his leave of his Maister doth it with a retrograde crowching submission and submiss lowliness They must not run out of the Synagogue lest some might think him that runneth to be weary with praying and to rejoyce that it is now lawfull for him to depart They must go out with decurtate steps for if any one doth this God numbreth his steps and gives him a great reward as it is written Thou hast numbred my steps c. If any in his going forth chance to meet a woman or a damsel whether she be one of the Jews or Christians he ought to shut his eyeâ— and turn away his face from beholding her he must not afford her the common curtesie of a Complement lest thereby taking occasion of longer discourse he should be woed to the entertainment of lustfull notions and evil cogitations Concerning the serious manner of praying they write that whosoever wil pray attentively ought to have his head and heart covered to incompass his body with a girdle in the middle lest his heart by the sight of the secret part should be inveigled with wicked thoughts He must turn his face towards Canaan and the City Jerusalem his feet equally placed upon the Earth as abovesaid He ought to put his hand upon his heart in that manner that his right hand may rest upon his left withall bowing his head with great humility as it is written Let us lift up our hearts with our hands unto the Lord in the heavens and again My life is alwayes in my hand yet do I not forget thy Law In time of prayer none must yawn belch or spit yet if he must spit on necessity then ought he privately to receive it in his Handkerchiff and modestly to cast it behind him or upon his left hand but not before him or upon his right for there stand the Angels invisible whom if any should beray with this excrement he should be guilty of an heynous offence It is not lawfull for any to let a scape in time of Prayer if he do it against his will then ought he to suspend the act of praying until the ill savour thereof be gone If the wind urge him so much and so vehemently that he must of necessity let fly then shall he go some four paces aside set a packing and instantly thereupon saying O Lord of all the earth thou hast created me full of holes Whiâ—h I cannot shut up all our modesty is open and known unto thee our life is full of shame we are nothing but worms and Maggots Sneesing in time of Prayer if it come from the parts below is an ill sign if from above a good one He that beginneth once to pray must not break off in the middle of his Prayer yea although the King of Israel should come and salute him yet he may not answer him though a Serpent took him by the heel and bit him yet ought he to continue in his devotions yet there is a certain dispensation which licenseth a man to give way unto a
Kings and Princes shall be their servants whom they have subdued They themselves shall be cloathed in costly aray all their Priests anointed shall be holiness to the Lord as it is written The sons of strangers shall build up thy walls and their Kings shall minister unto thee for in my wrath I smote thee but in mercy have I had favour on thee therefore thy gates shall be open continually they shall not be shut day nor night that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles and that their Kings may be brought for the nations and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish yea those nations shall be utterly wasted and again strangers shall stand and feed your flocks and all the sons of the alien shall be your plow-men and your vine-dressers But you shall be named the Priests of the Lord men shall call you the Minister of our God you shall eat the riches of the Gentiles and in their glory stall you boast your selves Oh here with hunger and thirst how are the Jews opprest Although some of them satisfie and appease both without the sweat of their own brows gaining many a million for which many a poor Christian suffers toile and vexation 2. They shall have a new and wholsome aire as it is written Behold I create a new heaven and a new earth the former shall not be thought upon by the benefit of this aire they shall enjoy their health and prolong their life even as the men before the flood In their hoary old age their strength and agility shall not forsake them but remain in the same temper as in their youth as it is writen They who are planted in the house of our God shall flosrish in the courts of the Lord they shall bring forth more fruit in their age they shall be fat and well liking 3. The seed once sown shall for ever grow up increase and ripen of its own accord after the manner of Vines which require but one plantation as it is written They shall revive as wheat flourish like a vine his smell is like Lebanon Whensoever any one shall desire rain for the watering of any particular Field Garden or the smallest herb therein the Lord will pour out upon that place and on that onely without delay for saith the Prophet Ask you rain of the Lord and he shall create lightnings and give you showres of rain Then shall they gather their fruits and wine with great quietnesse and security and shall not be molested by any enemy as it is written The Lord hath sworn by his right hand and by the arm of his strength I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies and the sons of strangers shall not drink thy wine for the which thou hast laboured but they that have gathered it shall eat it 4. No war nor rumour of war shall any more be heard in the land and there shall be a firm and secure peace established not only between man and man but also between man and beast as it is written I will make a covenant for them in that day with the beasts of the field with the fowls of heaven and creeping things of the earth I will put away the bow and the sword and war from the earth and make them to sleep secure And I will espouse thee unto me for ever and ever I will marry thee in justice and judgement in mercy and commiseration Again The Cow and the Bear shall feed their young ones shall lie down together and the Lion shall eat straw with the Ox. The Wolf shall lie down with the Lamb and the Leopard with the Kid and the Calf and the young Lion and the faâ—ling together and a little childe shall lead them 5. When any war or discord ariseth among the Gentiles then the Messias shall reconcile them and renew the league amongst them so that there shall be no more mutiny as it is written He shall judge among the nations and rebuke many people he shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning-hooks nation shall not lift up sword against nation nor learn war any more Then shall the Iews live in everlasting joyes make new marriages sing praise and glory to God without ceasing shall be full of the wisdom and knowledge of the Lord as it is written In this place of which you say that it is forsaken shall again be heard the voice of joy the voice of exultation the voice of the Bride and the Bridegroom the voice of them that say Give thanks to the Lord of hosts And again the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the sea is full of water Briefly the happiness of this holy people shall at that time be so immeasurable that neither can the heart of man conceive it or the tongue yeeld the least expression thereof Which things thus ordered and declared leaving the Iewes in this their prosperous estate I will put a period to my labours and hide the secret of their faith from the Christians seeing I have attempted more then they themselves if they could have ruled the matter would have permitted What I have done already will not be pleasing unto them in which I have exposed to every mans eye the full anatomy of their life and belief The Christian Reader may easily perceive by that which hath been said that the faith of the Jews and their whole religion is not grounded upon Moses but upon meer lies false and forged constitutions fables of the Rabbines and inventions of seduced Pharisees And that therefore it ought no more to issue out of the mouth of a Christian that the Jewes stand for the Law of Moses but rather with Jeremy that they are strong defendants of the false worship of the true God not suffering themselves any way to be drawn from it And with our Saviour to affirm that they make the Commandments of God of none effect by their traditions in vain they worship him when they teach nothing but the mandates of men honouring him with their lips but in their hearts are far from him In their words they professe to know God but in their works they deny him these are the men whom the Lord abhors who being disobedient unto his word are unto every good work reprobate as the Apostle Paul hath recorded By which it is more manifest then the light of the Sun at noon-tide that the punishment is now fallen heavie upon them wherewith Moses threatned them that the Lord should smite them with madnesse blindnesse and astonishment of heart that they should grope at noon day as the blinde gropeth in darknesse And this appears most clearly and is more then evident from this that they miserably pervert and contrary to all reason with an impudent front invested with a dull ignorance expound and interpret the word of God O merciful
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
God of mercies have mercy upon them and convert them and keep us firm and immoveable in the knowledge of his truth that in it we may hope to gain eternall life as Christ himself witnesseth to our comfort when he saith This is eternall life that they might know thee the onely true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent To him be ascribed praise honour and glory for evermore Amen MICAH c. 4. v. 1 2. IN the last dayes it shall come to passe that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains and it shall be exalted above the hills and people shall flow unto it And many Nations shall come and say come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Iacob and he will teach us of his wayes and we will walk in his paths for the Law shall go orth from Sion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem Luther upon these words of Micah hath left this consequent paragraph in memory concerning the Iews So goes the matter hereupon arise these mentall divisions this is that which makes the Jews mad and foolish that which forceth them to a sense so damnable that they are compelled without the least shew of honesty to wrest every parcell of the Scripture because it contradicts their will and they cannot endure that we Gentiles should be equal copartners with them in Gods favour and that the Messias should in a like measure administer to us and them joy and consolation Moreover rather than they would vouchsafe that we the offspring of the Gentiles who are by them daily contemned accursed and devoted to the infernall hagges torn and cut in pieces by their slanderous backbitings should participate in the Merits of the Messias and enjoy the title of coheirs and brethren they had rather ten Messiahs should suffer the shamefull death of the crosse and afflict God himself if there were any possibility in nature the holy Angels and all other creatures with the stroke of death nay they would not be afraid of the fact though a thousand hellish torments were to be endured for the effecting of it so incomprehensible and austere is the pride mixed with the honourable blood of these Fathers and circumcised Saints who alone would enjoy the promised Messias and be capped for the sole Donns of the world The Nations or Gentiles ought onely to be these accursed vassals and to give up their desire that is their silver and gold unto the Iews and that they should be constrained to submit themselves unto them after the manner of beasts prepared to the slaughter rather then they will relinquish one whit of this their assertion they will not refuse wittingly and willingly to be damned eternally THE ARGUMENT OF EVERY CHAPTER CHap. 1. Concerning the Articles of the Jewish Creed the execution of Gods commandements and the causes of their superstition Chap. 2. Of their Nativity and Circumcision of the occasion and manner thereof Chap. 3. How the Jewes instruct their children in the feare of God Chap. 4. How they prepare themselves to morning Prayer Chap. 5. Of the form of their morning Prayer their Fringes and Phylacteries Chap. 6. In what order they depart the Synagogue and their preparation to dinner Chap. 7. How the Jews behave themselves in time of eating Chap. 8. Of the form of evening Prayer and manner of going to bed Chap. 9. Of their hollowing of Mondays and Thursdays Chap. 10. Of their preparation to the Sabbath and how they begin it Chap. 11. Of the Celebration of the Sabbath and how they make an end thereof Chap. 12. How the Jews prepare themselves to the celebration of the Passover Chap. 13. The manner how the Jewes celebrate their Passeover Chap 14. How they celebrate the seven dnyes of the Passeover and put a conclusion to the Festivall Chap. 15. Of the feast of Pentecost Chap. 16. Of their feast of Tabernacles Chap. 17. Of their Feast of the new Moon Chap. 18. Of the Feast of the New year how the Jewes prepare themselves to the celebration thereof how God at the same time judgeth the Israelites for their sin and offences Chap. 19. Of the feast of the New Moon Chap. 20. Of their preparation to the feast of Reconciliation Chap. 21. Of the Feast of Reconciliation Chap. 22. Of the Feast of joy and gladnesse for that they have read over the Law and the manner how they distribute their ecclesiastical Offices Chap. 23. Of their Feast of Dedication of the Temple Chap. 24. Of the Feast of Purim Chap. 25. Of their Fasting dayes Chap. 26. Of their difference of meats and of the divers boyling of them and of their Kitchin Vessels Chap. 27. Of the manner how they kill their beasts and of the corporation of Butchers and how they are licensed Chap. 28. Of their Marriages and of the Dowry bill Chap. 29. Of the divorce used among the Jews and the bill of divorce Chap. 30. How a Jewish woman divorceth her selfe from the brother of her deceased Husband Chap. 31. Of the uncleannesse of the Jewish women and the manner of their cleansing and of their carriage towards their Husbands in the time of their uncleanness Chap 32. Of the Proverb of the Jews and their manner of begging and the form of their pasport Chap. 33. Of divers sorts of diseases incident to the Jews as the plague and falling sicknesse Chap. 34. How the Jews are wont to inflict punishment one upon another for their offences Chap. 35. Touching the burial of the Jewes and how they are bewailed and lamented of their living friends and kinsfolke Chap. 36. Of their Messias which they believe is yet to come how manifold he is of the miracles which shall foregoe his comming of the Feast hee shall make to the Jews of his Marriage his Reigne the state of the Jewes in the time thereof of his death as also how Antichrist shall war against him THE JEWISH SYNAGOGUE CHAP. I. Concerning the Articles of the Jewish Creed their execution of Gods Commandements and the cause of their Superstition THat which the Lord utter'd by the mouth of his Prophet Isa touching the hypocrysie obstinacy and ignorance of the Jewish Nation in these words Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth and with their lips do honour me but have removed their hearts farre from me and their fear towards me is taught by the Precept of men Therefore behold I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people even a miraculous work and a wonder for the wisdome of their wise men shall perish and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid The very same we may now clearly perceive to be accomplished in every part and parcel for in their self-pleasing worship is nothing but deceit and hypocrisie and in the whole Colledge of their most learned Rabbines and Scribes thy apprehension
can fasten upon nothing else but ignorance and grosse simplicity especially in the knowledge of God and in the interpretation of his Word In the whole Nation of the Jews nothing worth thy observation except a horrid hardnesse of heart and perversnesse in their conversation and every particular action neverthelesse they blush not a jot to grace themselves with the title of Gods chosen people Such also they are who would seem to burn with zeal that the Word of God might be purely propagated because they believe in God with an accomplished faith and cleave unto him with a sincere and righty settled confidence above all the Nations of the earth as Paul bears witnesse That they have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge Hence is it that the Jews even unto this day firmly contend for their superstitious Worship professing themselves to have a well grounded and assured faith towards God who created heaven and earth who is one in essence and will not suffer any other gods before him The Jews Creed contains in it thirteen Articles which as they are briefly delivered in their Tephillos or books of Common Prayer we have here set down 1. I believe with a true and perfect faith that God is the Creatour Governour and preserver of all Creatures that he did work all things works as yet and shall work for ever 2. I believe with a perfect saith that God the Creatour is one and that the unity which is in him is such as can be found in no other who onely was is and shall be our God for everlasting 3. I believe with a perfect faith that God the Creatour is incorporeall not endowed with any bodily properties finally that no corporeal essence can be compared unto him 4. I believe with a perfect faith that God the Creatour is the first and the last that there was nothing before him that he shall remain for everlasting 5. I believe with a perfect faith that he alone is to be worshipped and that Worship is due to none besides him 6. I believe with a perfect faith that whatsoever the Prophets have spoke and taught is the sincere truth 7. I believe with a perfect faith that the Doctrine and Prophesie of Moses is orthodox that he was the Father and chief of the learned that either were of the same standing with him lived before him or shall be extant in future ages 8. I believe with a perfect faith that the whole Law was so delivered by God himself to Moses as it is now extant with us 9. I believe with a perfect faith that this Law shall never admit of a change and that God shall give unto us no other 10. I believe with a perfect faith that God knows and understands all the works and thoughts of men as it is written by the Prophet He fashioneth all the hearts of them and understandeth all their works 11. I believe with a perfect faith that God will reward every mans works that keeps his Commandements and on the contrary will punish all those that have transgressed his Statutes 12. I believe with a perfect faith that the Messias is yet to come and that though he daily defers his coming neverthelesse I will hope for his coming every day till he come waiting for him 13. I believe with a perfect faith that there shall be a Resurrection of the dead even in that time when it shall seem correspondent to the will of the Creator whose name be blessed and celebrated both now and for ever in the highest strains of humane expression Amen This is Summe of the thirteen Articles of the Jewish Creed as they are summarily and briefly comprehended and set down in their Books of Common Prayer in which belief the poore blinded souls of the Jews after a lamentable manner with incessant groans much anxiety inexpressible doubting and outcries sighing out their last farewell to the beloved prison of their bodies are utterly lost and undone Now that every one may with greater facility comprehend the very glosse and meaning which the Jews themselves annex to this their Creed I have thought it meet to illustrate the Articles thereof by the lamp of a small Comment And first of all we are to know that the faith of the Jews and Mosaicall Religion according to their own writings was built upon these Articles as upon the foundation and first of all delivered to the publike view and reduced into this order by that Casket of Learning Rabbi Mosche Bar Maimon who in the year of the World 4964 according to the vulgar account now used among the Jews but in the year of our Redemption 1104. changed this life for a better and that then it was strictly commanded that from thenceforth throughout all succeeding ages that every Jew confessing this faith should resolve to live and die in the profession of it Hereupon it came to passe that these Articles were graced with large Expositions and thence a great Volume was written out of which the forementioned Articles were more fully drawn than formerly set down and annexed to the end of that Voluminous Book Esrim vearba or the Hebrew Bible printed at Venice by Daniel Bombergus by the study of Foelix Pratensis in the year of Christ 1517. where they are found expressed in the same manner in which they are subsequently delivered The first Article is concerning God who is the Creatour of all Creatures illah haillos the cause of causes entity of entities that every thing whether extant in heaven above or earth below was created of and hath its subsistence in him that he made every thing according to his absolute will and that every thing shall again be reduced into its prime nothing according to his good will and pleasure and although that every thing made by him shall again be annihilated yet his essence is immortall not subject to the least shadow of change or diminution because his essence Mezius Gemurah is perfect and of it self subsistent not needing the prop or help of any other to sustain it That the same God is that everlasting light strength and life that his is the Kingdome Dominion over all creatures That he is truly one and the most renowned Monarch This Article is grounded upon those words Exod. 20. 2. I am the Lord thy God c. The second Article is concerning the individuall unity of the Essence and Nature of God to wit that he is echad umeinchad of one Essence and that there is nothing either within or without the World that can any way enter the lists of a comparison in respect of this unity and identity he is not in the same series or order with any thing universall or singular which comprehends more of the same stamp under it neither is he Keechad Hammurcabh any compounded thing which for this reason admits of a Division into parts neither Guph Paschut d a simple body which is one
indeed in number but may either be encreased or diminished but he is one in Essence in every point absolute and perfect to which no other Essence can be compared in respect of its unity This Article is grounded upon that Text Hear O Israel the Lord our God is one God The third Article is that Middas hagguph bodily properties or any thing contingent to the body after such a manner that it may afterward be separated as to walk stand speak be silent sit run and many other of the same kind cannot be attributed unto God without a manifest injury hereupon it coms to passe that as often as the holy Scripture doth assign corporeall Attributes unto him that we must conceive it to be spoken of derech haabharah with an Hyperbole and Kischon bene haadam after the manner of men to no other end but that the Divine Nature may with greater facility be comprehended by the finite understanding of men this Article is grounded upon the 15. v. of the 41. chap of Deut. You saw no manner of similitude on that day that the Lord spake unto you The fourth Article is so plain that it needs no Commentary to wit that God is Kadmon the first and from all Eternity and that every thing besides is hurried about with the wheel of time and had its beginning in time This Article is grounded upon that Text Deut. 33. 27. whereby God is declared to be Elohe Kedem the God of Eternity as also upon that Isa 44. 6. I am the first and the last there is no other God besides me The fith Article is that God one in Essence is to be worshipped that we ought onely to serve him and highly to extoll praise and celebrate his Majesty that in plain terms we ought not to worship any other God for the same respect whether that which is to be worshipped be an Angel or a Saint a Star or any other thing composed of the foure Elements because every of these is his creature bounded with certain limits and therefore finite and he alone the only Creatour who as he wants beginning so he is without end that all creatures being subject and obnoxious to necessity are not of their own disposing and for this cause to have such a necessary dependance upon God who alone is guided by his own good pleasure that there is no obstacle which can hinder him from effecting that which his will suggests Again that Melitzim Intercessours or Mediatours betwixt God and man cannot lawfully be appointed which ought to be a Lesson unto us that Idolatry being far removed from us we should tender our service to God alone to which end the thorah or the Holy Scripture may serve us for an inciting Schoolmaster The sixth Article is that God out of his goodnesse and according to his meere good pleasure hath elected some out of the whole race of mankind whose mind and understanding he hath purified above others hath enriched them with the Spirit of foretelling things to come and hath so subjugated their perspicacity to the will of him their Creator that they become his oracles whereby he shews the way unto silly mortals in which they ought to walk if they intend to obtain the end of their faith the salvation of their souls The seventh Article is that Moses was the most sublime and excellent in the whole Catalogue of the Prophets that he attained unto so high a degree of wisdome humane perfection honour and dignity that he was accounted equall unto the Angels whereupon the prohecies of this one man did in many respects exceed the Prophecies of others First of all God spake unto other Prophets by some Angel who was a Mediatour between God and them but with Moses he spake with his own mout face to face as one talketh with his friend Secondly the other Prophets received their Prophesies either by dreams in the night or by some profound sleep upon the day wherein all their Members yea their whole Bodies were so stupified that onely their mind and memory did enjoy their proper operations but Moses did not receive his Prophecies after this manner but as it is written of him If there arise a Prophet among you I will appear unto him in a vision I will speak unto him in a dream Not so my servant Moses who is faithfull in my whole house I will speak to him mouth to mouth From whence it is manifest that Moses received his Prophecies in the day time even as oft as he stood before the Cherubim as it is writtten I will meet thee and I will commune with thee from above the Mercy seat from between the two Cherubims which are upon the Ark of the Testimony of all things which I will give thee in Commandement unto the children of Isroel Thirdly when the spirit of Prophesie came upon any other of the Prophets either in dreams by visions or the mission of an Angel they had as it were a certaine deprivation of their natural powers and faculties that being astonished a horrible dread came upon them and they driven into an extasie as the Holy Spirit witnesseth of Daniel the Prophet I Daniel saw alone the Vision for the men that were with me saw not the Vision but a great quaking fell upon them so that they fled to hide themselves Therefore I was left alone and saw this great Vision and there was left no strength in me for my comlinesse was turned into corruption and I retained no strength Yet I heard the voyce of his words And when I heard the voyce of his words then was I in a deep sleep upon my face and my face towards the ground But Moses suffered no invasion of feare or anxiety when he received his Prophesies whereupon the Scripture saith that the Lord spake to Moses face to face as a man speaketh to his friend even so familiarly that he was not subject to the least amazement Fourthly Other Prophets could not by any proper faculty prophecy when and after what manner they would but only then when God did not only command them but also endowed them with gifts and abilitie corres pondent to such a function whereupon it often came to passe that they did beseech God to send upon them the Spirit of Prophecy who for a certain season had not spoke in this Dialect yea sometimes did altogether leave off to Prophecy And for this cause according to the practise of Elisha they desired to heare the melodious sound of musical Instruments whereby their spirits and understandings might be recreated but Moses could prophecy at his own pleasure whensoever he was conscious of a conveniency whereupon it is writen Stay you here that I may know what the Lord will command you And the Lord spake with Moses saying c. For these reasons was Moses more worthy then the rest of the Prophets yea in that supereminent manner that no Prophet was
ever compared unto him The eighth Article is concerning the Law that it was so delivered to Moses by Gods owne mouth as it is now extant amongst them The manner how it was given whether by writing or dictated of God to Moses by word of mouth it is not needful to inquire If it proceeded from the mouth of God then is it necessary that every parcel thereof should be truth and in this respect no difference to be made amongst the particular clauses of holy Writ as these I am the Lord thy God c. and Thumia was the Concubine of Eliphaz who came of Esau as also The Sons of Ham were Cush and Mizraim phut and Canaan and this Heare O Israel the Lord thy God is one God and others of the same sort seeing they are all Gods true and holy Word After the like manner the Exposition of the divine Law Mippi haggeburah came from Gods owne mouth as also all the things observable in the celebration of their bulabh or feast of Tabernacles as the blowing of Trumpets Zizim Tephillim concerning which things notwithstanding there is not one expresse word found in the Law of Moses yet are they kept no otherwise then God hath with open mouth delivered them to Moses and Moses unto us and Moses God himselfe bearing him witnesse Numb 12. 7. was faithfull in all his house And they are his own words Numb 16. 28. Hereby you shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all these Works for I have not done them of mine own mind The ninth Article concerning the change of the Law that the Law of Moses shall never be abrogated or any other succeed in the place thereof and that nothing need to be added unto it or taken away from it that not one jot or title shall be annexed or perish from the holy Scripture neither that any Exposition shall make it subject to augmentation or diminution whereupon it shal come to passe that Gods holy Temple and the City Jerusalem shall again be re-edified the sacrifices and Mosaical ceremonies restored and the Jewes themselves at length to be brought back again into their own Land that they may for ever observe and keep the Law of Moses The tenth Article needs no other explication then the Scripture comments The eleventh Article is concerning the reward due to good and evil works the reward of good deeds is the world to come and life eternal the punishment of evil the souls eternal destruction and damnation whereupon it is written Exod. 32. 32 33. Yet now if thou wilt for give their sin and if not blot me I pray thee out of the booke which thou hast written And the Lord said unto Moses he who hath sinned against me him will I blot out of my booke The twelfth Article is concerning the comming of the Messias whose comming is to be expected as certaine though he long delay it yea none ought or dare to prescribe unto him certain time any determinate time for his advent neither wil they suffer the holy Scriptures to be searched into that this sulness of time in which he should come may be made manifest Hereupon their Chachamim and Rabbins deeply grounded in the Jewes Religion were wont to say tippach ruchan schel mechaschebbe Kitzim I wish they may breath out their own souls who go about to set down the time of his approach They teach that our trust and confidence is to be settled on the Messias that he is to be loved praised and petitioned that he will come quickly even as all the Prophets from Moses to Malachi were wont to do when on the contrary whosoever doubts of his comming gives the whole Law the lie yea but the whole Law doth make the miserable poor and blinde Jew a Liar who doubting that he is not come believes he shall come when he is already come in which a plain and clear promise concerning this matter is enrolled especially in parascha The 13. Article is concerning the Resurrection of the dead of which there is nothing now to be spoken whosoever therefore faithfully believes these 13. Articles is accounted one of the number of the Israelites yea such an one who is to be loved whom every one ought to commiserate and unto whom he ought to perform whâ—â—soever God the Creator hath commanded to be done to a neighbour or brother out of Sincere love unfeigned affection and brotherly kindness yea they esteem him a man of that constitution that though he commit all the offences which in the world become the fewell to set a fire the whole course of Nature with burning lusts and consume it with inbred malice and therefore suffer punishment in this World according to the nature and measure of his sin yet shall he inherit eternal life being placed in the Kalender of the sinners of Israel Whosoever destroyes the foundation on which these Articles are built or commits a trespass against any one of them by his infidelity they affirm that he hath neither part nor portion in Israel that he hath denied his God is to be abhorred like a swinish Epicure because he hath rooted up that which was once implanted in him according to the most exquisite skill of the Artificer and therefore he deserves no other then to be rejected abandoned and perish utterly of such an one speaks the Prophet Psal 139. 21. Do I not hate them O Lord that hate thee and am I not grieved with those that rise up against thee Thus hitherto I have more at large expounded the genuine sense of the Jewish Creed out of Rabbi Moses the Son of Maimon more birefly written and nominated by the Jewish Synagogue Rambam with this intent that every one might more clearly perceive and know to what end this beliefe of the Jews was directed whose Articles if any with a more serious scrutiny into their own writings search and examine he may with great facility conclude that when Rambam had brought these Articles into order and with severe threanings of extirpation of the Jewish name and the losse of their souls enjoyning every one unto the confession of them to have had no other aimâ— then the overthrow of Christian Religion among the Jewes intending to put upon it the badge of falshood for making it hatefull unto them he might for ever terrifie them from the imbracing of it Hence the Articles concerning God the Creator that he is one alone incorporeal and eternal hitherto muster up their forces that they condemning the Christian doctrine of the Trinity and Christs person might make it liable to contempt as though that we Christians by maintaining a Trinity did also infer a plurality of Gods or that Christ should not be God nor partake in his Fathers essence because it was his pleasure to assume our flesh in time not from eternity whereupon when hence it follows that he is no God it may serve for a necessary
credit that he is come so many years agoe are altogether ignorant for what end and purpose and in what degree his â—comming should be beneficial unto them for all that they expect is only this that he like another Moses and Aaron should deliver them from a terrestrial and corporal bondage and again bring them into their own land and to this end only that they might no longer drink the Wine of bitternesse among the Gentiles but be fed with milk and honey in the Land of Canaan They never dream of a deliverance from the spiritual captivity of sin for they perswade themselves that by pennance done in their own flesh they can satisfie for their own sin and by keeping of Gods Comâ—andements and their own good works merit eternal life In the 11. Article of their Belief they believe that whosoever doth many good works shall obtain a great reward in the world to come It is read in their Talmud All Israel shall have part in the world to come as it is written All thy People shall be righteous they shall receive the earth for an inheritance for ever the branch of my planting the work of my hands that I may be glorified Yet neverthelesse they shall not all share a like He that hath done many good deeds shall have a greater portion The wicked which never repented them of their sins shal be tormented in Hell or purgatory for the space of twelve months and after that shall have a portion in life everlasting but not so excellent as that of the just They who utterly deny God and profane his holy Name of which number are all those that turn to Christianity their foreskin shall grow again which done they shall the second time be circumcised as though they never had beene Jewes and shall remaine in Hell for ever The Son superviving his deceased Father is bound for a whole year to say a little Prayer called kaddisch for by the repetition of this Prayer he shall deliver his dead Father out of Purgatory such an one gives up the Ghost with great joy and incouragement knowing that he shall be delivered out of Hell by the Prayers of his Son left behind him After the same manner a honest woman may redeem her Husband But sometimes it so falleth out that the Husband â—and Wife are not equal in honesty and therefore it should seem that in the world to come the one should attain to a greater degree of happiness then the other here the Lord out of his mercy gives them both entrance together Briefly the whole nation of the Jews shal be partakers of life eternal and shal all ascend into Heaven but one shal be more glorious then another Even as a King or Duke coming into some great City he all his followers have entertainmet but in a different fashion so shall it be with the Jews in the world to come In the Article of the Resurrection of the Dead they themselves are dead for first they say it shall come to passe that only the Israelites shal be raised to life but the Christian and all other prople shall perpetually sleep in the dust Hence Rabbi ` Bechai in his Book intituâ—ed Kadhakkemach saith The Jewes have a four-fold honour and priviledge above other Nations which are these the Land of Canaan the Law the Prophets and the resurrection from the dead All these he repeats and proves in particular in hisâ— Exposition of the 18. and 33. chapters of the fiâ—t Book of Moses For the confirmation of the last priviledge he brin'gs amongst other the testimony of Isay prophecying of the Christians and other people They are dead they shall not live They are dead they shall not rise And of the Israelites Thy dead men shall live with my dead body they shall arise awake and sing you that dwell in the dust because your dew is as the dew of herbs and the Earth shal castâ— out her dead The same Rabbine out of the Talmud delivers thus much that at the great day of judgement three kinds of dead men are to arise the first of the most righteous Israelites the second of the most unrighteous and ungodly the third of a middle sort who did as much good as evil The good shall go into life everlasting the wicked into Hell and fire eternal as it is written Many of them that lie and sleep in the Dust shall arise same to everlasting life some to shame and everlasting contempt From hence sAith the Rabbine we may infer that even the wicked ones in Israel shall be co-partners in the resurrection yet shall this redound to their disadvantage seeing both body and soule shall together in Hell suffer never ceasing torments They of the middle sort shall be tortured for theirs in s in purgatory only the space of twelve months which time expired their bodies shall be consumed and a blustering wind shall scatter their ashes under the feet of the just The Talmudist proves this out of the 13. Chapter of Zachary the 8. and 9. verses for there is written It shall come to passethat in all the land saith the Lord two parts therein shal be cut off and die but the third part shall be left therein And I will bring the third part through the fire and refine them as silver is refined and will try them as gold it tried and they shall call upon my Name and I will hear them I will say it is my people and they shall say the Lord is my God And to the same purpose it is spoken 1. Sam. 2. 6. The Lord killeth and maketh alive he bringeth downe to the grave and bringeth up R. David Kimchi upon the first Psalm saith that the wicked shall not rise again but their souls shall perish together with their bodies in the day of death and in the same sence that a Resurrection only belongs to the just and godly in his Commentary upon the 26 chapter of the Prophecy of Esay Rabbi Saadiah upon the former words of the Prophet Daniel saith that the term many designs a certain number and there fore to be restringed to the godly in Israel who alone have a portion in life eternal Them that do not watch he ranks in their number who have forsaken the Lord and tâ—rned Apostates who for this very thing must be thrust into the lowest Chambers of the infernal pit there for ever to be the Emblems of ignominy To him assent Rabbi Higgaon and Aben Ezra in his Book Perusch or Exposition upon the fore-cited place of Daniel commenting that as many are to watch so many shall not watch the watchâ—men shall have life eternal they that do not watch never dying reproach The sense of the words in my judgement saith Aben Ezra is this that so many upright Jewes that pay their debts to nature in the Land of their captivity shall rise again and live when the Messias or Deliverer shall come for of
sanctifie it whether it be Oxe or Sheep it is the Lords Lastly Exod. 19. it is written The third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the People upon Mount Sinai But Exod. 20. 22. it is said You have seen that I have talked with you from Heaven These and such like contradictions are every where obvious in the Law of Moses and cannot out of it be reconciled In the second place we may with great facility prove the imperfection of this Law for who shall teach unto us the Notes of birds and other creatures who shall instruct us what fat is permitted unto us what prohibited to what height the Tabernacle is to be reared up after what figure to be built whether circumcision is barely to be administred or priah some other thing to be added or how the writing called Mezuzah which is to be fastened to the door posts and of which mention is made Deut. 6. is to be indited as also whether it should be placed upon the right hand or the left upon the top or Threshould of the Gate Furthermore who can reckon up all the kindes of licensed and prohihited meats who can shew unto us the difference to be had in boyling milk and flesh how the dead and Leapers are to be handled as also dead Beasts that we may not be polluted by touching of them who can teach us the nature and property of the Masorah of Points or Accents as also of the Letters of which some are lifted up above the words some inverted who can give us a true exposition of all these things It must then irrefragably follow that a Commentary on the written word is necessary out of which we may learn and be instructed in all these points So much the fore-named Rabbine This is the very means and plot wherby the Divel first of all seduced the Jews to forsake the Word of God and after his magisteriall manner compelled them to imbrace the Traditions of men and that with such a tenacious grasp that neither Esay Christ nor any other to this very day could by any means unclasp their arms Go to then my prudent and skilfull Rabbine where shall we find a true Exposition of the written Word In Weckers Books of Secrets no verily In Reuchlines Caballistical Art no such matter or lastly in Marcolfus much less but read the holy Talmud and there you may find it But from whence I pray thee was this Talmud sent unto us that I should give so much credit unto it as to make it the Interpreter and Expounder of Moses his Law Thou wilt answer that Moses our Master and Prophet brought it together with the written Word from mount Sinai for thinkest thou thou doting Gentile that when Moses stayd forty days forty nights upon Mount Sinai he was set to keep Geese Could not God in the space of one houre have given him the two Tables in which he had written his Law and so sent him a Packing to have prevented the Israelites in making of their Golden Calfe There was some thing more in the wind for God brought Moses into his own School and there first gave him the written Law then expounded the same unto him in that time which he spent in the mountain expressing to the life the cause measure foundation and meaning of every Commandement which Declaration finished he bids him depart the Mountain and relate all that he had heard to the children of Israel as it is written At the same time the Lord commanded me that I should teach you Statutes and Judgements These Statutes and Judgements were that Thorah begnal peh that Law delivered by Mouth to Moses which he taught Joshuah and Joshuah the seventy two Elders and by them was derived to Zachary and Malachy the last of the Prophets from whom that great Councel the Sanhedrim received it and from that time forward it was deliver'd from one unto another in the same manner that every one had learned it from his Grandfather or Grandmother But how could Moses know when either it was day or night Rabbi Bechai Exod 34. makes answer that upon the day time Moses received the written Law upon the night that which was delivered by mouth unto him a Doctourlike answer for if it had been night he could not have writ and because there was never a Chandler in the Mountain Sinai to furnish him with Candles he could not have had the use of them if he had desired it But what should be the cause that this Exposition was onely delivered by mouth and not in writing Rabbi Mosche Mikkotzi makes answer that God did it to this end that the Gentiles should not corrupt this Exposition as they had corrupted the written word therefore in the day of Judgement when both Jews and Gentiles shall stand before Gods Tribunall they shall both bring with them and present the written Law hence calling themselves the Sons of God then shall the Lord make a further enquiry and say which of you hath the Declaration of the Law given by mouth in Mount Sinai which none but the Israelites shall know of or can produce To the purpose then when there was no more any vision and prophecies had ceased in Israel God stirred up the wisest among the people who had been the Schollers of the Prophets for this end that they might institute good Ordinances among the Israelites rightly teach and propagate the Law which they did as also their successours to this very day These men made it a Statute in Israel that the name of God most worthy of praise should be blessed every day at the rising and setting of the Sunne They ordained also eighteen laudatory petitions in which every Morning and Evening we praise God and beg of him that he would bestow upon us all things necessary for us that we might rightly fear him as grace wisdome and understanding that he would vouchsafe to heal all our infirmities gather us together again thus dispersed to punish the wicked to break their horn and power in pieces but to exalt the horns of the godly and righteous to buâ—ld up Jerusalem and to restore again the Kingdome and house of David Moreover they ordained Grace before and after meat to welcome the New Moon with joy and gladnesse to pray at the sight of the Rainbow and noise of Thunder Again that in every City some certain Schools should be opened and furnished with sufficient and able men for Masters and instructors who might bring up the children of the Jews 〈◊〉 the Law of Moses That the Law of Moses should be weekly read in these their Schools lest the children of Israel should forget it That the Israelites should not eat nor drink with any people of the earth except the Christians but to flie their meat as a dog or a snake in imitation of Daniel the Prophet of whom it is recorded that he pur posed in his heart
Religion That Canon of the Rabbins appertains also unto the same thing Whosoever transgresseth any thing that our Wisemen have spoken he is liable to death as it is written who so breaketh an hedge a Serpent shall bite him Thou must here understand thou Christian that this is as the hedge of Traditions and Ordinances wherewith the Jewish Rabbines have encompassed the Law of God That we may avoid the above mentioned punishment these Doctors give us this admonition My Son remember that a far greater care is to be had of the sayings of the Scribes then of the words of the Law it selfe Thus hath it pleased me by way of a Preface and for the better understanding of the things following briefly to declare and expound the Atticles of the Jewish Creed to shew how they fell from the Word of the Lord became Apostates and renegadoes casting themselves headlong into that labyrinth of Errors the Talmud how they were miserably misled thereby so that the Doctrine of Salvation was not at all found among them but on the contrary gross heresie perversion falsification of the Word of God superstition outward pride eye-service the great disquietness of conscience and horribie desperation of heart I will shut up all with the words of Esay and Jeremy Esay saith Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth and with their lips do honour me but have removed their hearts far from me and their fear towards me is taught by the Precepts of men therefore I will proceed to a marvellous work among this people for the wisedome of their wise men shall perish and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid Jeremy saith Why is this people of Jerusalem slidden back with a perpetuall back-sliding they hold fast deceit they refuse to return I harkened and heard but they spake not aright no man repented him of his wickedness saying what have I done every one turned to his course as the horse rusheth into the battell a How say ye we are wise and the Law of the Lord is with us certainly in vain made he it the pen of Scribes is in vain The wise men are ashamed they are dismayed and taken lo they have rejected the Word of the Lord and what wisdome is in them CHAP. II. Touching the Nativity Circumcision and Education of the Jewes THat brief ingress which I made for a manuduction to the Jewish Religion and exercise of their Faith in the former Chapter wherein I fully manifested the foundation of their Beliefe may serve as a light to direct the judgement and inform the understanding of any one but the image of stupidity in an easie apprehension how strong goodly and beautiful that edifice can represent it selfe which is to be reared upon such a ground-work how able to keep footing against the fury of insulting Tempests Thunders and Lightnings and the Prophecies of them who were inriched with the true knowledge of God and illuminated to conceive aright of his holy Word My desire is that none should be offended with this my Anatomy of the Jewish Doctrine in that without doubt it contains many things subject to wonder and derision and ranked in the Catalogue of meer fables My perswasion rather inclines to this mark that every one read and ponder the same with fear and trembling because that this Doctrine had its original from those people whom God in former times did choose unto himselfe before all the Nations of the Earth adopted for his own children endowed them with the knowledge of himselfe and had an especial care that there never should want a Prophet incessantlyto teach and instruct them who after that by their ingratitude they had brought Gods anger and curse upon them were punished with madness as Moses foretold Deut. 28. and with blindness Esay chap. 42. whose heart was hardened and whose ears were dull of hearing so that hearing they did not hear and understanding they did not understand and therefore changed Gods Judgements into wickedness more then the nations as Ezekiel complains who neverthelesse fear not to say We are wise and the Law of the Lord is with us and we live according to the strict rule thereof as they boasted in the days of Jeremy the Prophet who not withstanding making answer unto them feared not to affirm that whatsoever their Scribes had in their Doctrine imparted unto them to be no less then a lie no more then meer and foolish trifles How truly was this objected by the Prophet shall in the ensuing pages more plainly appear Certainly their boasting of Moses and the rest of the Prophets is vain and frivolous their Doctrine also of their Belife is altogether forged a manifest perversion and falsifying of the Word of God by such Expositions which relish more harsh then old Wives Tales and Novelties which are like roasted flesh stuft with the Lard of Ignorance That therefore we may orderly consider and make known the Jewish Beliefe so firmly grounded we will begin with the Nativity of a Jew then we will explain the manner how he is received into the number and communion of the Jews Our next step shall be his Education and by what hand he is directed even unto the evening of his dayes how at last comming to his long home he is carried through the hidden and profound Chambers of the terrestrial Globe into the Land that floweth with Milk and Honey the Land of promise and there is royally feasted and sits at the Table with his Messias at which he is invited to fill his paunch with the most delicate bits of a roasted Oxe exceeding in greatness the size of nature fish and fowle are but his common fare and drinking no other wine then that whose Grape had its growth and perfection in Paradise and there finally left by them who were his Harbingers to the grave shall take his rest with joy inexpressible Nunc lectum admissi risum teneatis amici Friendly Readers can now your modesty Set free your spleen from laughters extasie When any of the Jewish Women is with child and the time of their delivery approacheth then the place appointed for the childâ—birth is furnished with all manner of necessaries Which done the good man of the house or some 〈…〉 and devout Father for of such they have great 〈…〉 piece of Chalk and makes a circular line round about the Chamber writing upon the doors and walls without and within and about the bed in Hebrew Letters Adam Chava Chuts Lilis that is to say Adam Eve begonn Lilis whereby the Jewes would signifie this much that herby they intreat God that if the woman bring forth a Son he would give him a Wife like unto Eve not Lilis might be a Helper the last being refractory and disobedient The name Lilis is found in the 34. Chapter of Esay and is by some interpreted a Scriech-Owl a night bird commonly accounted ominous by others a Witch that changeth the
favour of children in the Cradle and so the Jewes in my judgment understand it of some diabol cal Ghost appearing in the shape of a woman which was accustomed either to kill or carry away young Infants after their Circumcision on the eighth day This Ghost or Spirit was named Lilis from Lel which in the Hebrew tongue signifies night Concerning this matter we read a story in a Book called Bâ—n Sira not after the Edition of the learned Paulus Fagius but after the Jews own impression The copy that I have Printed at Constantinople is the same with that which Sebastian Munster makes mention of in the end of his Cosmography and out of which he transcribed the Hebrew History of the Kingdome of Prester John which is also printed in the end of that Copy which I bought of a Jew inhabiting those parts who had got it out of Munsters Library for Munster was professor of the holy tongue in this City of Basile where also he was buried In this Book I say it is recorded that when God had created Adam alone and placed him in Paradise he said it was not good for Man to be alone therefore out of the Earth he formed a Woman like unto him and called her Lilis They presenly fell at odds began to brawl and chide the Woman saying to the Man I will not be subject unto thee and the Man replying neither will I be a Vassal to thee â—ut exercise dominion over thee for thou ought to obey She presently makes answer we are both equall thou art not better then I am nor I better then thou we were both fashioned out of the earth and thus shall they continue in strife and variance At last when Lilis perceivs that there is no hopes of agreement she pronounceth the name Schem hamphorasch which is the holy name Jehovah together with its secret and Cabalisticall interpretation against which Luther writ a Book and instantly upon the pronunciation flies into the air then Adam said unto God O Lord of the whole world the woman which thou gavest me is flown away from me Upon the hearing hereof God sent three Angels after the woman Senoi Sansengi and Sanmangeloph bidding them tell the woman that if she would return and be obedient unto her Husband all should be well if not that every day an hundred of her children should give up the Ghost These Angels having received this their commission presently were upon the wing and made after her and overtook her upon a most tempestuous place of the Sea even there where the Egyptians were afterwards drowned proclaiming unto her the will of the Almighty she refusing to return the Angels threatned to stifle and drowne her in the waters unless she would obey and go back unto her Husband Then began Lilis to pray and beseech them that they would let her passe because she was created to this end that she might torment and put to death little Infants the eight day after their nativity if they were males but upon the 20. if they were females Which so soon as the Angels perceived they attempt to force her to return to her Husband which Lilis fearing swore unto them that whensoever she should find the names or shape of these three Angels either written or painted upon any scrowl parchment or any such like matter that then she had no power over Infants and that she would not hurt them furthermore she refused not to embrace â—he condit on that every day one hundred of her children should die the death and so accordingly it fell out for upon one day a whole Centenary of her off-spring or so many yong Divels went unto their long home And this is the cause that we imprint the names of these Angels upon certain sorowls of parâ—hment use to hang â—hem about the necks of our Infants that Lilis beholding that which is written may remember her oath not hurt them Thus much we have transcribed out of Ben Sira It may very well go for a truth that they hang such scrolls about their childrens necks seeing they daily perform many a strange cure by the help of them In what place soever any woman is brougbt to bed we may find the forementioned picture as also the names of those Angels who are appointed for the safeguard of us mortalls written above the doore of the same But from whence had the learned Rabbines this their pleasant History this quaere is answered in the book called Brand spigelium in these words The rib which the Lord had taken from man he made it a woman that she as a rib taken from his side should be liable to his service hence the Rabbines comparing them words God created man in his own image in the image of God created he him male and female with those It is not good that man should be alone I will make him an help meet for himself make a grand question what became of that first woman who was created at the same time that Adam was and they salve it thus the first woman of all whose name was Lilis being too highly conceited of her own worth would not be obedient to her husbands command because the earth was a common mother to them both the Lord therefore divorced her from Adam and gave unto him another who was flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone who might follow obey and serve him as a member of his own body So from Brand spigelium So soon as this Witch or night hagge is by these their exorcismes banished and expelled the room and the pangs of child birth begin to seâ—se upon the woman and the little infant ready to weep out a salutation to his fellow mâ—rtalls it is first of all provided that a Christian midwife be not sent for for this is most severely proâ—ibited in their Law unlesse in case of necessity when the absence of a Jewish midwife must force a dispensation of the Statute neither is this licenced unlesse the woman to be delivered be guarded about with a whole Troup of her own nation for they greatly suspect the Chriâ—s tian women that they should either neglect their office or else kill their children while they are a coming out of the womb If the birth be fortunatâ— so that a man child be born into the world then nothing but the mounting echoes of joyfull acclamations are heard in their habitations the father of the child makes speed into the Market there to buy fat Geese crammed Capons flesh and fish of all sorts not omitting a cup of good liquor against the feast of the Circumcision which is to be celebrated the eighth day accordingly as God By Moses enjoyned them In the mean time the ten are called for They must be neither more nor fewer to the Circumcision of the Infant who ought all to be above the age of thirteen years and this number in their own language they term Minian a The night following
may see and witnesse that she washeth her self according as she ought It is dangerous in their account to send for a Christian woman for in such an one they dare not put confidence Though it be winter time yet ought these washings to be performed in cold water yea though it be hard frost yet if in any place they can claim custome it may be lawfull for them to intermingle cold water and hot or if there be any hot baths as there is in many Countries into these the women may lawfully enter and wash themselves Who desires to know any more concerning this matter let him peruse a certain little book written in the Germane tongue and Hebrew Character called Franwen Buchlein or the book of women which because it contains a brief description of their conditions his palate may there find wished content and a plenary satisfaction In the next place we are opportunely invited to look into the manner how the first born is redeemed out of the hand of the Priest That son which the mother in time past brought forth according to Moses Law was holy unto the Lord and ought to be redeemed from the hand of the Priest as it is written Whatsoever openeth the Matrix is mine all the first born of thy sons thou shalt redeem and in imitation of their ancestors the Jews do redeem their first born the manner of the redemption followeth The one and thirtieth day following the Nativity of the child his father sends for the Cohen or Priest as also many other good friends to accompany him before whom he sets the Infant upon a Table and layes down beside him a certain sum of mony or so much goods as can equalise it in value which is the quantity of two Florens of Gold then he saith unto the Priest my wife hath brought forth her first begotten son and the Law requires that I should present him unto thee then the Cohen or Priest answering saith Dost thou give this thy son and leave him unto me To whom the Father shall reply yes upon this the Priest asks his Mother whether she ever had a child before that time or if at any time she proved abortive if the mother say no then the Priest questions the Father which of the two be dearer unto him his first born or his mony then the Father answers that he esteems his first-born babe above all riches in the world then the Priest taking the money and laying it upon the Infants head saith this is thy first begotten son whom the Lord would have redeemed as it is written And those that are to be redeemed from a moneth old thou shalt redeem according to thy estimation for the money of five shekels after the shekel of the Sanctuary which is twenty gerahs Then turning himself unto the child he saith when thou wast in the womb of thy mother thou wast then in the power of thy heavenly Father and they earthly Parents but now thou art in my hand and power who am the Priest thy father and mother desire to redeem thee because thou art the first begotten and holy unto the Lord as it is written Sanctifie unto me all the first-born among the children of Israel that first openeth the womb as well of man as of beast for it is mine Now this mony shall serve in thy stead and be thy redemption seeing thou art the first-born and this shall be given unto the Priest If I have redeemed thee as I ought then shalt thou ' be redeemed if I have failed in the peâ—formance of my office notwithstanding thou being redeemed according to the Law and after the manner of the Jews shalt grow up in the fear of God to Matrimony and the practise of good works Amen If the father chance to die before the one and thirtieth day after the childs Nativity be fully come then the mother is not bound to redeem her child and therefore she puts a scroll or plaâ—e of gold about his neck in which it is written This is the first-born son but not redeemed the son himself being bound to redeem himself out of the hands of the Priest when he shall come to full age Before I conclude this Chapter I will relate a certain History which is recorded in the Gemurah or Talmud concerning a certain stranger or proselyte who by a miraculous kind of Circumcision obtained an inheritance in the other World and departed this a good Jew A certain King of Rome as we read in tract de idolatria c. 1. was sometimes an heavy friend unto the Jews and desiring utterly to put out their name from under heaven and to banish them his Kingdome he calls his counsell and thus bespeaks them suppose a man â—aith he hath an old ulcer in his body in which the â—lesh doth putriâ—ie whether will he chuse to cut away the rotten flesh to regain his health or suffer it to remain there still to his perpetuall grief and torment These thingâ— spoke the King against the jews who had for long time sojouâ—ned in his Kingdome and grievously molested his Subjects One of the Councel by name Ketijah hearing the Kings words and perceiving whether they tended made answer Adoni which is to say my Lord thou art not able to destroy or banish the Jews for of them it is written Ho ho come forth and flie from the Land of the North saith the Lord for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven saith the Lord that is the world may even as possibly subsist and be without winds as without the Jews wherefore thou canst not banish the Jews out of thy Realm and if thou couldest prevail so much as to bring it to passe the common voice of the whole world would proclaim thee being brought to extreme poverty for a tyrannicall King Upon these words the King answered thou hast said that which is right and now seeing it is enacted that whosoever overcomes the King in his answer shall be buried quick in a heap of sand that there he may be choakeda and perish thou who hast put me to a non plus which is a scandall to my person and set at naught and vilified my Kingdome shall taste of the appointed punishment When he was carried away to the place of execution there was a certain Matron seen in Rome of an excellent portraiture crying out Wo unto that ship which is about to strike sail the Custome unpayed by which words the Matron intimated thus much that Ketijah who was ready to suffer death in the Jews cause and so consequently to obtain eternall life in another world had not as yet payed his toll money that is was not made a Jew by Circumcision Upon the instant of this vociferation some say that he snatched a knife and cut off his own foreskin others that he burning with too ardent zeal catched hold of his foreskin bit it off with his teeth and then with
a loud voice said I have now at last payed my Custome when they would not give him any respite but burn him in all haste he cryed the second time saying that he bequeathed all his goods and possessions to that most learned man Rabbi Akibah as to his lawfull heir whereupon this voice was heard from heaven Ketijah thou son of Schalom eternal life is provided for thee From hence every one may learn what a precious thing Circumcision is and what a good deed it is for any one to legasie all his goods unto a Jew truly there is nothing lost where a man for an hundred crowns may gain a thousand In the same Chapter of the Talmud the same men boast how Caesar Antoninus caused himself to be circumcised how he departed this life a Jew indeed and how that happened unto him which is here related Not far from the Emperours Palace dwelt a certain famous and most expert Rabbine from whose houses to the Emperours porch came a certain hidden passage under the earth by the benefit of which they oftentimes had private conference Upon this occasion a great desire to be instructed in the Law and Religion of the â—ews invaded the mind of the Emperour and for this cause every day once he repaired to the Rabbine and heard the Law at his mouth and because he would not go unto the Iew without attendance yet also would not in the mean time be disclosed he alwayes chose two for his companions whereof one he stabbed with his dagger at the the entrance into the Rabbines house the other he made to drink of the same cup at his return to his own palace giving also in charge to the Rabbine that he should have no man in his company when he the Emperour came to visit him When therefore Caesar on a certain time had found together with the Jew a stranger whose name was Rabbi Chanina Bar Chamma which Rabbine was an holy man and one of their prime ones he was so enraged that he burst out into this interrogation Did not I say unto thee look that thou have none in thy company when I shall come unto thee To whom the Rabbine replyed My Lord and Emperour this is not a man but a good spirit if he be a spirit saith Caesar let him go and signifie so much to my servant who lies and takes his rest without before the gate speaking of the servant which he had killed with his owâ— hands that he make hast to come unto me when Rabbi Chanina perceived the Emperours servant to be dead then he began to fear be afraid not knowing how to shape an answer aâ— also thinking it very behovefull that Caesar should not be found guilty of the murder in these melancholy dumps he fell upon his knees and with the importunity of prayer becomes so wearisome unto God that the Emperours servant was restored to life which thing the Emperour having taken notice of such an excessive admiration at the Religious piety of the Jewish Nation pâ—ssessed his soul that from thenceforth he became a Serving man at his Pedagogues Table Yea moreover when the Rabbine at night would please to visite his Couch the Emperour bowing himselfe at his bed side became his Footstool that his Master the Rabbine might with more facility stretch his limbs upon his bed of Down the Rabbine indeed in many kinds strived to repel the tendered service but all in vain for the Emperor did not only perform these earth kissing Congees with an humility of mind floating in the lowest ebb but also wished it might be his happiness to be his footstool in another world At length the Jews had an ocular demonstration that this Emperor before he entred the tyring room of the grave did receive the sign of circumcision professed himselfe a Jew and died in this profession Many examples of the same sort are every where obvious in the writings of the Jews declaring that many Christians both of high and low degree turning Apostates to Christianity have imbraced Judaism and so have obtained the salvation of their souls if we may believe it But in the last place what was the Prophets censure of these circumcised Saints and in what esteem had they their persons Jerem. All the Gentiles are circumcised and all the house of Israel circumcised in heart Moses Circumcise the fore-skin of your heart and be no more stisf necked Jerem. To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear behold their ear is uncircumcised and they cannot hearken behold the Word of the Lord is unto them a reproach they have no delight in it Stephen a Christian Ye stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears ye do alwayes resist the holy Ghost as your Fathers did so do ye Paul the Apostle He is not a Jew that is one outwardly neither is that circumoision which is outward in the flesh but he is a Jew that is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit not in the letter whose praise is not of men but of God How then are all the first born of Christians yea all faithsull Christians redeemed S. Peter answers Ye were not redeemed with silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your Fathers but with the precious bleud of Christ as a Lamb without blemish and Without spot S. Paul teacheth us by whom we have redemption Even by hiâ— bloud that is the remission of our sins But what doth circumcision hurt the Christians S. Paul answers If the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the Law shall not his his uncircumcision be accounted for circumcision and shall not uncircumcision which is by nature if it fulfill the Law judge thee who by the Letter and circumcision art a transgressor of the Law CHAP. III. shewing how the Jews instruct their children in the fear of God WHen any one of the Jewish women giveth suck then she ought to eat good and wholsome meats and such as are easie of digestion to this end that the Infant may find and suck from the teats good milk by which his heart and stomack may not be troubled with obstructions but sustained and nourished whereby he may sooner come to maturity and may more easily obtain vertue manners wisdome and understanding The Chachamim a which are the most profound Wâ—â—ters among the Jews have with great diligence reiterated their commands that the Mother should have a special care that the Infants be not at any time destitute of good meat and drink thinking and not without reason this to be a matter of the greatest moment thence foreseeing that they quickly comming to their growth may prove men of courage and such as are able to do God good service as it is written The Lord shall establish thee an holy People unto himself as he hath sworn unto thee if thou wilt keep the Commandements of the Lord thy God and walk in
year untill the thirteenth they have a serious and impulsive admonition given time not to go uncovered after which time they are commanded to use the gesture The children of the Jews from their very infancy are accustomed to wear a girdle and truly their honest Matrons fasten it to the hinder part of their coats that by this means they may always be mindfull of it for the girdle severs their heart from the secret parts lest the heart in time of prayer might be hindred in its devotion by beholding the privities So soon as this infant Jew hath learnned his morning prayers he intermixeth this Petition Blessed be thou O God who girds Israel with the girdle of strength having respect unto the girdle he is girded withall for if he have none about him then is this his prayer of no moment but in vain and imputed to him for a sinne Moreover the children are not permitted to go barefoot for fear of a multiplicity of dangers which might happen unto them and that especially in the Moneths of December and January when the Cats dance their Corantoes for at that time they may chance to tread upon venemous stuffe cast out by the Cats in this their wantonnesse by which their feet may be annoyed with such a swelling that for a long time after they can have no remedy When they cannot as yet speak plainly or readily they are caught to pronounce some good Sentences out of the Bible they accustome them also upon the morning and Evening of Evening of every Sabbaoth and great feast decently to salute their father and mother and to bid them good morrow good even to wish them a happy Sabbaoth c. Seven years past and the children coming to more maturity they are commanded that every morning adjoyning the name of God they should remember to say God give yon a good day c. for so spoke Boaz to his reapers Hael immachem the Lord be with you and also this Jebarecha hael God blesse you or as we use to speak God thank you It is not lawfull for them to use the name of God unlesse it be in some pure place concerning which more shall be spoken in another place They are also taught all manner of utensils necessary for their life and daily conversation They practise Nomenclation that by this means they may fooner learn to speak Hebrew and hence it is that they intermingle many Hebrew words with the Germane language or any other which they use as their mother tongue Moreover these infants altogether shun the company of Christians will neither eat nor drink nor enter into any other kind of commerce with them this being the study of their Parents to make every action of the Christians for to seem odious and such as are abomination to the Jews hence it comes to passe that they indesinently hold on to nourish that hatred which they conceived against the Christians in their infancy even untill the end of their dayes When the children are seven years old then by their Parents command they learn to read and write If any one be of so great an estate that he can bestow the charges he keeps a Rabbi or Schoolmaster in his own house to instruct his children So soon as any one hath made so much progresse in this kind that he can read then first of all he is taught to construe the Books of Moses in that language with which he was brought up In a certain book called Schebkile emunah it is recorded that when the mother brings her son the first time unto School to the Rabbine that she ought to give unto him some delicious wafers made with Sugar and hony and to say these words Even as this wafer is sweet so let the Law be sweet unto thy heart let it be like sugar upon thy tongue and hony upon thy lips see that thou trifle not away thy time at School with babbling unprofitable speeches but learn to speak the words of the Law alone let them only proceed out of thy mouth for hereby it shall comete pass that the glory of Gods Majesty shall rest upon thy head and for evermore shall there keep his residence for God loves all those that are intent unto goodnesse and speak of his Word Hereupon the most learned Doctours among the Jews have left it written that Jerusalem being wasted and all the Priests and Levites exiled by the Enemy God did in such a manner for sake them that his Majesty would not vouchsafe to bear them company The Sanedrim also or the chief Consistory among the Jews being likewise by the Conquerours overthrown without Jerusalem had not the Majesty of the most high gone along with them yet the children at length being banished out of their School the glorious Majesty of God omnipotent was their Companion into the Land of their captivity concerning which the Prophet Jer. prophesied in these words Her children are gone into captivity before the enemy and from the daughter of Zâ—on all her beauty is departed where beauty notes out the presence of Gods Majesty in the presence of which the beauty of the City Jerusalem consisted therefore when the boyes sitting at the feet of the Rabbine learn the words of the Law and nothing but the Law issues out of his mouth then the glorious Majesty of the Creator dwells in them and delights himself with the breath coming out of the mouth of these punies for a breath of this nature is pure and holy considering the child hath not as yet committed sin In the thirteenth year of his age his title is Bar Mitzvah the son of the Commandements because he is now tied to keep the Law and will of God as also then he begins first of all to fin if he do not perform the said Commandements Rabbi Simeon Bar Nachmam in the name of Rabbi Jochanan uttered these words That if any one teach his son the word of God he is worthy to sit before the Lord in that University which is opened in the heavens as Jeremy saith If thou wilt return then will I bring thee again and thou shalt stand before me that is to say if thy son hear the Law I will make him fellow of the same Colledge that the Saints and Angels inhabit and make him partaker of life eternal and whosoever is not carefull that his son should learn the Law and so consequently becomes the occasion of his corrupt education it were better for him that he were blind so that he might not behold his reproachfull acts as it is written of the Patâ—iarch Isaac When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see he called Esau his eldest son c. On these words Rabbi Eliezer of the stock of Azariah saith That Isaac his eyes were therefore dimme that he might not see the immodesty and wantonnesse of his unnurtured son Esau and it is recorded in the book Medrasch that Abraham for the very
from my bed to rest that I may tender my service and do homage to the King of Kings who hath given me life and nourishment and doth defend me against all mine enemies of what quality soever Whosoever hath in him any relish of godliness ought every morning to entertain the pangs of grief and sorrow for the Temple of Jerusalem praying that that Temple and City may with speed be re-edified And who before the Day star appear or the clouds of night he dispeld by the Suns approach ere that he forsake his pillow shall wash his couch with tears for the desolations of the Temple of Jerusalem and the long captivity shall gain this much that God being mercifull unto him shall not suffer his prayer to be deprived of audience In Maseches Sanedrin the Rabbines upon those words in the Lamentations of Jeremy She weeps in the night without any intermission of weeping dispute and say that if any hear the voice of one weeping upon the night it is so intermixt with the Gall of bitternessi that he must of necessity second the mourner in his dolesull notes The very same which happened to Rabbi Gamaliel who upon the night time hearing the mournfull out cries of a certain woman for the death of her son counted his life bitter unto him and bare a part with her weeping most bitterly Rabbi Jochanan saith that when any one doth lament upon the night time the fixed stars and Planets condole with him Their Chachamim write that he who weepeth ought to let his tears find a current through the narrow â—hâ—ud gates of his eyes because then God will arise and gather them into his bottle And then if there chaâ—ce to be a promulgation of any decree by the enemies of Israel to destroy them God shall remember these godly men who shed â—ears in abundance shall take these boâ—tles full of them pouring them upon and blotting out the hand-writing that was against them that no evil may befall the Jews Hereupon the Prophet David Thou tellest my flittings and putst my tears into thy bottle are not these things written in thy booke By these words David would specifie thus much that God pours out the Vâ—ols of tears upon the writings or books put out against the Jews and so defaceth them that they become canceâ—'d and of no force To the same purpose he speaks in another place He that soweth in tears shall reap in joy The Author of the Book Reschith Chochmah in the 111 pag. saith that he received it by tradition from his Elders that it is very soveraign for a man to sprinkle tears upon his brow and to rub them in because there are some sins written in his brow which by this means may be blotted out according to the words of the Prophet saying Thou shalt set the letter Thau upon the foreheads of the men c. The Cabbalists write that if any have a desire to list up his prayer unto that holy and blessed God that he would vouchsafe to deliver the Jews out of their long continued bondage he ought to do it when it begins to dawn that he ought to weep heartily and send forth strong cries so shall his words enter into the ears of the Lord of Hosts and then chiefly because there is nothing which may disturb him in his prayers none also found who shall move his tongue against the children of Israel We find it recorded by Jeremy The Lord shall roar from on high and utter his voice from his holy habitation The Lord roars in the morning upon his beauty The beauty of the Lord is the Temple of Jerusalem and that is holy which as he hath permitted to be destroyed so is it his pleasure that it shall be built again and that he may be warned unto the enterprise he will be early intreated Hence David saith My voice thou shalt hear betimes O Lord early in the morning I wil direct my prayer unto thee and will look up In the morning that is when it begins to be day I will go into thy house he will not do the same upon the night because in the beginning of the night God causeth all the Gates of Heaven to be shut up and the Angels sit as Porters and are silent God sends away the evil spirits into the world who hurt every one they meet The middle of the night being past a great cry is heard in Heaven and it is commanded that they should set open the Gates the day now approaching to this end that none might wait too long This cry is heard by the houshold Cocks here upon earth who clapping their wings with a shril voice awake us mortals Then these evil spirits lose all their power so that they cannot do any more annoyance for which cause the Rabbines have ordained a certain thanksgiving which they whould have repeated in them morning by them that hear the Cock crow saying Blessed be thou O God who art Lord of the whole world that thou hast given understanding to the Cock To be briefe whosoever fears the Lord wheresoever he live needs not the Cock to awake him He that alwayes in aw the Lord doth keep Needs not to be awaked of his sleep Moreover it is the will of the Chachamim that non presume to raise himself up in his bed or sitting up therin to put on his shirt being naked but lying still should strive to wind himselfe into it with his hands and head lest the wals and beams of the house might behold the secret parts of his naked body Rabbi Jose boasts in Masseches Schabbas Thus long have I lived and yet the beams of the house did never see the hem of my shirt thereby signifying that he never invested himselfe therewith being naked but lying hid in his bed Hereupon it is a position of their grand Sophies that none ought to put on his coat being naked much less is it permitted that he should walk or stand naked in his bedchamber For suppose any sudden fire or some great tumult might arise whose rarity might so affright him that he should run naked out of his bed-chamber with what a countenance can such a one shew himself It is not also lawfull for any one being naked to make water by his bed side for of such men the Prophet Amos speaketh saying They sleep in beds of Ivory and stretch themselves upon their Couches The Hebrew word Seruchim which signifies to stretch out the Rabbines translate to be resolved into stinking matter as they expound the same Jer. 49. 7. upon which place R. Jose the son of Chaninâ— saith these are they who stand naked before their beds No man ought thus to think with himselfe It is dark I am in my Closet no eye sees me I say every one ought with all diligence to abstain from such cogitations for Gods holy Majesty is above all and present in every place The whole earth is full of
which I command thee this day shall be upon thy heart and thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hands In the attiring of themselves they first put on the Phylacteries of the hands then those of the head blessing them and saying Praised be thou O God who hast sanctified us by thy Commandements and commanded us to put on these Phylacteries in the repetion whereof they cast up their eyes to heaven diligently looking upon the great knot on their forehead before they put them on they kisse them touch their eyes with them that hereby they may be defended from the breach of any Commandement and the Phylacteries themselves may be so handsomly ordered that they may escape the flouting censure of any derisive eye To be brief in sowing folding knotting bindding they use so great art industry that by a singular kind of subtilty they form the name Schaddai according to the three Letters Schin Daleth and Iod and that so exactly that every Letter is placed in the right order which is accounted as a most holy thing producing hidden effects and comprehending mysticall significations Concerning these Phylacteries the Rabbines have written divers and sundry volumes great and large out of which it will not be a misse to recite a few things And first for the writing of them It is holden behovefull and necessary that they be written with ink made of galles and not with that pitchy sort which is commonly used of Printers and silk Dyers or with any other liquor of a red or any other colour Secondly every Letter must be written one not adhering or cleaving unto another 3. They must be written with the right hand not with the left nothing must be blotted out or corrected from the beginning to the end so often as the Scribe shall write the name of God he must not forget to say and that in expresse words that he writes these Phylacteries for Gods glory for hereby he shall perform what he is about with far greater diligence which is very necessary seeing that if any Letter do either superabound or be deficient the Phylacteries become unholy and polluted and whosoever shal use them in time of prayers prates in vain and keeps not the commandement as they ought the due punishment for which offence shall onely rest upon the head of the Scribe of whom an especiall care is to be had that he be a Jew honest holy pious diligent and expert Secondly for the skin and parchment they ought to be of a heifer or some other clean beast and by Gods Law allowed to be eaten the beast must be killed by a Jew not by a Christian as also tanned and dressed by a Tanner of their own Nation yet if there be no such man to be had the Jew may take a Christian Tanner to help him and it is sufficient that this skin ought to be the skin of a clean beast and permitted to be eaten they prove out of those words of Moses That the Law of the Lord may be in thy mouth for those parcels of Scripture being written upon the skin it is all one as if they were written upon every part of the whole beast and so in meal-time were received in at the mouth which they should not if they were written upon the skin of the unclean and forbidden to be eaten Much more might be said concerning this matter but I surcease Thirdly the sanctity and holinesse of these Phylacteries is exceeding great for first the body of him that wears them must be free from all pollution both inwardly and outwardly which seeing it cannot be at all seasons it is thought expedient that a man should put them on in time of prayer because prayer ought to procceed from a pure and clean heart Again whosoever shall suffer them by negligence to fall upon the ground makes not only himself liable to fast for the whole day but also all those that shall behold them lying thereupon It is not lawfull to hang them up by their strings against any wall uncovered but it is required they be put in bag or sachell they may not be left in the chamber where a man and his wife lyes together unlesse they be put in a bag three double and locked up in a chest It is not permitted for any man to sleep especially on set purpose while he hath these Phylacteries about him yet if sleep chance to creep on him unawares he becomes not hereby guilty of any crime yet if in the time hereof any uncleannesse happen unto him he cannot lawfully touch the knot wherein the parcells of Scripture are written and contained yet he may unloose the thong and lay the Phylacteries aside untill he hath purified himself and washed his hands and then put them on again Furthermore it is not lawfull for any one to let a scape or ease himself having these Phylacteries about him if he be necessitated to do either he must first lay them aside in a place four ells distant from that wherein he shall ease himself or put them into a bag and hide them in his bosome next unto his heart Fourthly women servants and others also not well in body are not tied to the wearing of these Phylacteries either because such persons are not all times clean or because they cannot alwayes attend the time of prayer by reason of that service which they are enjoyned by their Masters and Mistresses for according to the Rabbines the women are onely bound to observe these Commandements which may be performed at certain times not them whose execution is daily required for seeing it is said Exod 13. 19. That the Law of the Lord may be in thy mouth where the institution of this order is mentioned it necessarily followeth that they onely are tied to the observation of this Commandement whose office it is to have the Law of the Lord in their mouths and to teach it to others which is not required of the female sex and consequently they are not liable to the wearing of these Phylacteries notwithstanding that of the Doctors who say that they were worn by the wife of Jonas the Prophet for it is sussicient that they say amen to every Petition seeing hereby they confess that they believe and hope for whatsoever their Husbands shall require at the hands of God in these their prayers Of this their saying amen spoke Isa the Prophet saying Open your gates that the righteous Nation may enter in Schomer emunim who keeps the truth which is all one say they as if he had said Schomer Amenim who saith amen at the end of every Petition believing all which is required of God in prayer and saying Amen Selah Briefly how the Phylacteries should be written upon the fleshy not hoary side of the skin or parchment how the letter Schin should be wrought upon the great boss or knot the letter Daleth with the knot of the long thong for the Phylacteries for the head the letter Jod
upon the knot of the Phylacteries for the hands that the name of God Schaddai might be artificially expressed How that four square piece of leather may be so framed and fashioned that in forme it shall represent a Bridge and such like they affirm to have had the original plat-form from Moses who learned it upon Mount Sinai and taught it to the people of Israel after his descent from thence for so much is testified by the Talmudist upon those words of Moses After that I will remove my hand and thou shalt see my back parts but my face shall not be seen and Rabbi Chamma the son of Bitzna affirms it to be the position of Rabbi Chasda that Moses was taught by God himselfe how to make and bind on the Phylacteries Lastly least we should omit the time of their morning Prayer I will only relate one story and that worthy credit out of the Talmud conducible to the matter now in hand and that by reason of a certain miracle of which kind one was formerly registred concerning the Fringes It is written in Masseches Schabbas that these were the words of Rabbi Janna that whosoever had a desire to put on the Phylacteries ought to have as clean a body as Elisha Baal Cappajim or Elisha with wings had And why I pray you is he named Elisha with wings the answer in the Gemara is shaped according to this fashion Upon a certain time the Roman Emperor published a most severe Edict that any Jew should not wear any Phylacteries and that upon pain of losing his head now in ancient times the Jews were accustomed to bind their Phylacterie◠upon their foreheads all the day long To proceed this Elisha being a man of undanted courage and little esteeming the Roman Edict never ceased to tie these parchments about his head But upon a certain time being conscious that the Apparitor saw him he tooke him to his heels and without any delay snatching the Phylacteries from his head hid them in his hand The Apparitor apprehendding him would needs know what he carried in his hand He answered I carry Doves wings then said the Apparitor either let me see them or else thou diest for it whereupon Elisha opened his hands and it was even so as he had spoken and from this very action was he called Elisha with the wings But what reason may be pretended that Elisha should say that he carried Doves wings rather then the wings of a Stork or a Crow or some other bird The Gemara gives this answer saying that the Israelites are like nnto a Dove for as the Dove hath all her strength in her wings with which she doth fortifie and defend her selfe against all other birds of what kind soever being not accustomed to use bill feet or any other member in maintenance of the quarrell so the Israelites also are wont to do for their wings are the Commandements of God which do manage and support them against all evil that there is no possibility of suffering any harme from other Nations This Query is also answered in this maner that as the wings of Doves are more auxiliatory unto them then those of any other bird nnto it for the Dove wearied in flight resting on the one wing flies with the other but other birds in the same case are forced to light upon some tree or rock or upon the earth so the Israelites suffring great persecution for some one of the Commandements by reason where of they cannot fulfill it they fulfill the rest by the merit where of they have help and a strong tower of defence against all their enemies therefore it shal come to pass that if any one do with all diligence observe and keep the Commandements he shall not come within the lists of any evil project but shall in a wonderfull manner be delivered from all his enemies as this winged and penfeatherd Elisha was delivered from the Apparitor who threatned him with cruel death as many of the Rabbines have avouthed being certified of the truth thereof by their toothless Grandames and hereupon have not feared to insert it into the Talmud CHAP. V. Of the form of the Morning Prayer of the Jews and how they behave themselves in their Schoole or Synagogue IT was formerly declared that the Sun-rising was the most fit time for Prayer yet lest the exercise hereof should be omitted by the too too earlines of the time appointed the Rabbines have stretch it upon the tenter-hooks of a dispensation even to the the third hour of the day which is the ninth with us if my Arithmetick fail me not Wheresoever then there are many Jews inhabiting in the same place as at Worms Mentz Frankeford upon the Moene Fridberg in Moravia Bohemia Poland and the territories of the Rutheni and other places where they have Schools and Synagogues for so they call their Temples they always are accustomed to meet together for to pray at the ordinary time appointed and to perform this holy exercise according to the institution thereof set down in their own books which we will shew with the greater brevity seeeing we have been somewhat more prolix in the former Chapter When the Jews are dressed Capa Pee and have washed and cleansed themselves within and without put on their fringed Garments and all this betimes in the morning then arè they not sluggish and slothfull but without delay depart with great speed and alaerity and hasten unto the Synagogue as though they were about to enter some Conflict as the Prophet David hath recorded We will go unto the house of the Lord as though we were to besiege a City for in this manner they interpret the words of the Prophet that is to say we will run into the house of the Lord as though our enemies were following us in flight Rabbi Jona saith in Masseches Berachos that whosoever hath a desire to go into the Synagogue must foot it with expedition Hereupon the Prophet Hosee saith We shall know him and hunt after him for so the Jews render the words of the Prophet that we may follow on to know the Lord that is to say we ought to be pressed and ready as these who follow the chase When any earthly King doth injoyn his Councel and others of his Court that they should appeare before him very early in some place which it shall please His Majesty to designe for the Conventicle then he of purpose rising betimes out of his bed to see whether his Counsellors be diligent and watchfull in the performance of his Command whomsoever he finds first in the place appointed he converses with him in a friendly familiarity yea and vouchsafeth that he shall from thenceforth be his Favourite God is like to such a King for his will and pleasure is that the whole Congregation of Israel should timely appear in the Synagogue and presenting them selves before his face should certifie him in their prayers
they ought to leave their beds and go to prayers Blessed â—e God c. That he created me an Israelite or a Jew or as others render it that he did not make me one of the Gentiles By Gentile they understand Christian which they esteem as Infidels Idolaters and a cursed Nation The woman saith blessed be God c. that he created me a Jewess Blessed be God c. that he hath not created me a servant this also thwarts the profession of Christians whom they account their vassalls who shall sow and plow their ground and shall do all manner of servile imployments for them while in the mean time they shall sit behind a hot fornace rosting apples tossing up whole bowls of wine What kind of Captivity is this They answer if any man rest himself in any place having a huge Bowl of rich wine in his hand then he is free from bondage when on the contrary the Christians are forced to labour and till the Earth in the sweat of their browes and nostrils Blessed c. That he hath not made me a woman the women instead thereof say Blessed c. that he hath created me according to his own good will and pleasure This is done in contempt of the womans sex because they are not comprehended in the Covenant of Circumcision by which God â—eals unto himself his own peculiar people and therefore this Scripture must perforce be hatched in the womans brains that is to say whether they be in the Catalogue of Israelites as their husbands are Blessed c. who exaltest the humble Blessed c. who gives sight unto the blind This Thanksgiving is usuall when they first wake out of their sleep and unshut their eye-lids Blessed c. who makes the crooked straight this they say when lifting themselves up in their bed they go about to attire themselves Blessed c. who clothes the naked this they say when they put on their cloaths Blessed c. who raiseth them that fall Blessed c. who bringeth the prisoners out of Captivity These two severall Thanksgivings are assigned for this reason because God in the time of sleep doth in that manner sustaine and multiply mans spirits that they may again exercise their proper functions the time of their being asleep being like unto prisoners in the pit Blessed c. who stretcheth out the earth above the waters this they say when rising out of their beds they begin to tread upon the ground Blessed c. who directs prepares and governs the wayes of man this he saith so soon as he comes out of his bed-chamber Blessed c. who hath created all things necessary for this life this he utters when he ties his shooes Blessed c. who girdest Israel with the girdle of strength this he saith when he puts on his girdle which every Jew is bound to do as hath been formerly declared Blessed c. who crowns Israel with comelinesse this he saith when he puts his hat upon his head for it is an hainous offence to go out of his Chamber uncovered Blessed c. who refresheth the weary Blessed be thou O God our Lord King of the whole world who removest sleep from mine eyes and slumber from mine eye-lids These prayers ended being so many in number they adde two more wherein they petition God that he would vouchsafe to keep and defend them against sin reprobate angels wicked men and all kind of evil Then humbling themselves before God they confess themselves guilty and relying only upon the mercy of God they comfort themselves again with a certain Prayer beginning Ribbon Col haolamim and with much boasting and many brags in that oath which the Lord sware unto Abraham being about to sacrifice his Son Isaac say yet we are thy people and the children of thy Covenant and O blessed men that we are how goodly is our portion how pleasant our lot how beautifull our Inheritance O blessed men that we are who every morning pronounce this sentence Heare O Israel the Lord our God is one God! Gather us that trust in thee from the four corners of the earth by which action all the Inhabitants of the world shal know that thou art God alone O our Father which art in heaven run after us with thy mercy even for thy names sake because thy name is named upon us and confirm and establish in us that which is written At that time will I bring you back at that time will I gather you and give you a name and renown amongst all the people of the earth when I have turned againyour captivity saith the Lord God After these be ended there follow 2 other short Prayers in which they give thanks for the Law delivered to them from heaven From the Law they proceed to their sacrifices which because they may not offer in these dayes they are banisht out of their own Land their Temple is laid desolate as their Ancestors were accustomed the sacrifice of the lip succeeds in the place thereof and reading only the precepts coÌ„cerning sacrifices as they ought in their appointed times to have been offered they solace themselvs with that saying of the Prophet though in a sense perverted We will sacrifice the calves of our lips After this they ruminate the historical narration about sacrifices as also a certain prayer beginning Rabbi Ismahel concerning the use of the Law and the manifold exposition thereof which being grounded upon the Talmud is so barbarous and difficult that not one Jew amongst an hundred is able to understand it This they read in such a manner as the Vestal Virgins do the Psalter This done they say a Prayer in which they Petition for the re-edification of Jerusalem and the Temple which they daily even unto this day expect and hope for yet this they say with such a fainting voice that none can hear it The words are these Let it be thy good pleasure before thy face O Lord and God the God of our Fathers that the holy house thy Temple may be built again in these our dayes and give unto us a will to abide in thy Law Hereupon rising up with great joy and shouting they chant out another laudatory Prayer or thanksgiving hoping that God will shortly begin to lay the foundation of their new Temple and bring them back again into their own Land Then sitting down they repeat a long Prayer collected out of the Psalms of David reading withall some whole Psalmes and a part of the thirtieth Chapter of the first book of Chronicles and lastly singing the last words of the Prophet Obadiah which are these Saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the Mount of Esau and the Kingdome shall be the Lords With attent minds and much rejoycing their hope is that these Saviours of whom the Prophet makes mention shall come quickly and shall go up to Mount Sion that is they shall undertake the quarrel for the Jews and
help them to judge deStroy and utterly to extirpate from the face of the earth the Mountain of Esau that is to say the Christians together with their Kingdome they stiling the Christians Edomites and the Roman Monarchy the Kingdome of Edom and so shall bring them back into their own Land flowing with milk and honey what the reason is that they call uâ— Christians Esauites or Edomites I will at large inform the Reader in another place I will only insert thus much in this present Chipter which they write and teach in their secret and hidden books which they will not suffer to come into the hands of Christians that the soul of Esau passed from his body into that of Christs and that Christ was no lesse wicked then Esau was and that we are no better whence ever we are not without great cause called Edomites who put our trust and confidence in him Then they begin to sing God shall be King over the whole earth In that day there shall be one God and his Name shall be one as it is written in thy Law O God Hear O Israel the Lord our God is one God This they â—abble out as a thing clear contrary to our Christian profession as though we worshipped more Gods then one and were wont to give him more names then one as the namâ— of Christ Next in order follows a short Prayer calâ—ed Krias schmah taken out of the fift Book of Moses and when they read that verse in the Hebrew language Hear O Israol the Lord our God is one God and come unto the last word thereof which is Echad signifying One they toss up and down and bandied from mouth to mouth with eyes cast up to Heaven for the space of halfe an hour yea sometimes for an whole hour together and comming to the last letter thereof which is Daleth the whole Congregation doth bend and turn their heads successively towards the four corners and winds of the earth hereby signifying that God is King in every place yea throughout the whole world for the letter Daleth by reason of its place in the Hebrew Alphabet stands for the number of four Furthermore the word Ecthad comprehends in it two hundred forty five other words to which they superadding these three Hael elohechem Emeth your God is truth the number amounts to two hundred forty eight the very number of the members in mans body so that if these several Prayers be said for every member in particular then the whole man is strongly guarded against all manner of evil Whosoever repeats the foresaid verse three times shall be safe from the Divel for that verse begins with the Letter Schin and ends in Daleth in this manner Schema Israel Adonai Eloheim Adonai Echad which two letters conjoyned make up the word Sched which signifies a Divel They repute also this Prayer as a Prayer of singular worth and sanctity by which may be wrought many miracles whence it comes to pass that they are extreamly superstitious in a repetition of the same every morning and evening It is registred in the Talmud that upon a certain time when it was commanded by open Proclamation that the Jews any where having a Synagogue should not publickly teach and make profession of their faith Rabbi Akibha not regarding the command ceased not to read and preach it openly in the Synagogue upon which he was apprehended and for the fact cast into Prison When the Tormentors were about to bring him to the stake to be burnt they first of all curried his corps with an iron horsecombe wounding and tormenting him after a lamentable manner Yet notwithstanding Rabbi Akibha remained constant praying without intermission And when the time of the day came wherein he was to say that Prayer Krias Schema he begun it with great boldness At the last his Scholers bespoke him and said Most dearly beloved Master thou hast prayed sufficiently now yield thy selfe and take thy death patiently To whom he made this answer I have had this saying in great esteem all my life long Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy body and thus I have understood it that though any one should pluck out my heart and rent my body in pieces yet I ought ever to determine this with my selfe never to cease to love him Therefore when God hath confirmed this in me should I cease to worship him and to bring this Prayer to an end which is directed unto him Therefore holding on in this his prayer he never left repeating the word Echad until his soul forsook his body Then was there a voice heard in the air saying Blessed art thou O Rabbi Akibhah because thy soul departed breathing the word Echad now shalt thou have an entrance into life eternal and shalt come into that light of the Garden of Paradise Amen Selah They have also another prayer like unto the former which they call Schemon Esre i. e. eighteen because it contains so many particular thanksgivings and prayers of praise therein Concerning the sanctity and holinesse of this and the former prayer the Jews have written many a large Tract which I leaving to bespeak their own worth will neither praise nor any ways disgrace The last of these every one repeats twice a day and he that is their Chaplain or Reader in the Synogogue doth publickly sing it by himselfe two or three several times The Jews esteem highly of it hoping that hereby they shall obtain remission of all their sins When it is their will and pleasure to poure out unto God they are bound to do it standing and with such a posture that one foot may not insist more upon the ground then the other in imitation of the Angels of whom it is written And their feet were streight feet This is handled more at large in Rabbi Alphes in his first Chapter and in their Minhagim and in many other books When they say those words holy holy holy Lord God of hosts the earth is full of his glory being a parcel of the Prayer Schemon Esre by them named Keduscha a then they caper three times together leaping up as though by this their gesture they did indeavour to become like unto the Angels who were the first Choristers that sung this Song of praise Others say that because these words in the Prophecy of Esay immediatly follow And the posts of the doors were shaken at the voice of him that spake it is both meet and convenient that a man should touching move himself in the quavering of such an Angelical Anthem The Hebrew Doctors write that whosoever dare to mutter the least syllable while the Prayer Schemon Esre is a saying shall after his death have coals of fire given him to eat as it is written in the fourth verse of the thirtieth chapteâ— of Job for so Rabbi Salomon expounds the words Rabbi Tanchum saith in the name of Rabbi
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
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
name grounding his thoughts upon those words ki dor tahphuroth Hemmah They are a perverse generation Which although the event proved to be true yet Rabbi Jose and Rabbi Juda so lightly regarded the nomenclation that they gave him their cloak-bags to lay up untill the Sabbath was past Rabbi Meir would not doe the same but went and hid his in the Sepulchre of the mans father that kept the Inne The dead time of the night being come the Oste was warned in a dreame to go and dig in his fathers grave where he should find a bag full of money When he was up in the morning he told the dreame to Rabbi Meir who said unto him that those dreames which were dreamed on the night going before the Sabbath were nothing to be esteemed And then departing with great heed and care watched the Sepulchre all the Sabbath day lest the dreamer should come and take away his money which the Sabbath once ended he took out of the earth againe Upon the first day of the week the other two did also require mine Oste to deliver their cloak-bags who constantly affirmed that he had them not and sloutly denyed that they left any with him They invite him to the wine Tavern hoping that by his friendly usage to regaine their goods While they were a drinking they espye some pease and lentiles sticking in his beard from whence they collected that without all doubt he had eaten such kinde of pulse that morning to breakfast Whereupon they returning to his wife required their cloake-bags of her telling her that her husband commanded them to bee restored by the same token hee had eaten lentiles in the morning The woman knowing it even to bee as they had spoken presently made delivery and they held on their journey The good man returning to his house hearing how matters were carried beat his wife so cruelly that shee shortly after departed this life This story yields us an evident demonstration that every one ought to wash after meare for if the Oâ—te had washed his hands and wiped his mouth and beard these travellers had not spied the signe in his beard by occasion whereof they recovered their goods without which they had not had their cloak-bags restored and their Oastesse had not come to this untimely death There is another story in the Talmud concerning a Jew who eate swines flesh because he did not wash his hands before he sate downe to table It runs thus There was a certaine Jewish In-keeper who received into his house as well Christians as Jewes Whensoever any Jewes did turn aside to lodge with him he knew them by the washing of their hands before meales and therefore he alwaies set the flesh of clean and choice fatlings before them even such as in the Law was commanded and appointed to be eaten But whensoever any Christians came he set swines flesh before them It fortuned that upon a time a certaine Jew having more stomach then devotion came unto his house who setting down at the table forgot to wash his hands whence the Oaste drawing a profitable argument that hee was a Gentile set swines flesh before him The Jewes stomack being to far removed from his braine as to enter into consideration of what he eate carried headlong with a hunger starved appetite lustily invaded with teeth and knife what was set before him never questioning what he crammed his guts withall Well dinner being ended and the reckoning arising to a round summe the guest questions his Host how Beefe came to be at so high a rate To whom hee answered my friend you have hitherto fed upon swines flesh and have eaten not a little which now is very deare The poore Jew hearing this became very sore afraid for the commission of so hainous an offence and was forced over and above to pay an heavy mulct and undergoe much hard pennance for this his delinquency All this happened unto him for the neglect of washing his hands which may serve as a sufficient warning to every one to have an especiall care to wash before they sit downe to meate This outward curiosity is reprehended by Isâ—â—ah the Prophet Their feet run unto evill and are sâ—â—ft to shed innocent blood destruction and unhappinesse are in their waies and the way of peace they have not known neither is there any judgements in their waies â—hey have perverted their owne pathes whosoever goes through them knowes not peace This is that which St Matthew brands them with saying Then câ—me to Jesus the Scribes and Pharisees which were of Jerusâ—lem saying why do thy disciples transgresse the tradition of the Elders for they wash not their hands when they eat bread But he answered and said unto them why do you also transgresse the commandement of God by your traditions St Marke also saith Then gathered together unto him the Pharisees and certaine of the Scribes which came from Jerusalem And when they sâ—w some of his disciples eat with common hands that is to say unwashen they complained For the Pharisees and all the Jewes except they wash their hands oft eate not holding the tradition of the Elders And when they come from the market except they wash they eate not And many other things there be which they have taken upon them to observe as the washing of cups and pots of brazen vessels and of beds CHAP. VII How the Jewes behave themselves in time of eating IN the former Chapter it is recorded that the Master of the family useth commonly to wash the last of all and that for this reason that he presently may sit downe at the table and say grace in so doing neither speaking word nor doing any other action between the washing of his hands and blessing of his meate This they practise not only that no evill may befall them in time of their repast but also because their Doctors prove it out of those words of David Lift up your hands unto the Sanctuary and praise the Lord. For from hence these profound Artists have learned two things the first whereof is this That the hands in time of washing are to be lifted up on high lest the water which is first poured upon then and thence becomming unclean sliding downward should pollute the fingers The second is that so soon as the hands are washed and sanctified grace ought presently to be said and thanks to be given When they are once seated at the table it is required that some fine bread in whole loaves and salt also be set thereupon Then the Master of the family takes a loafe in his hand and cuts it not in the middle but in some other part in which it is purest and best baked then instantly setting it aside laies both his hands upon it and blesseth it in manner and form following Blessed be thou O Lord our God King of the whole world who bringeth bread out of the earth Then he breaks a bit of it and
putting it into the salt or into some sort of sauce if there bee any upon the table presently eates it speaking not a word for if he doe he is bound to say grace the second time The piece which he breaks off is of a good quantity lest he should be accounted for a miserable niggard who desires to be sparing where spending is ranked in the place of a good worke and laudable It is also required that two or three should sit together at the same table for otherwise every one must say grace for himselfe This finished he takes the bread into his hands the second time and cuts every one there present a shive of the same laying it on their trencher that every one may feed thereupon In the same manner also he blesseth the wine especially in those regions where they commonly use to drinke it and were not only the whole number of ten` but three or foure are in company It is performed in this manner A cup brim full of wine being presented he takes it first into both his hands then holds it in the right hand alone yet if it bee big and weighty hee may also imploy his left so that hee place it below the right This done he lists it up above the table a hands breadth and fastning his eyes upon it raising himselfe a little in way of honour saith Blessed bee thou O Lordour God King of the world who hast created the fruit of the vine Here it is also provided that when many sit not at the same table every one in particular ought to blesse his owne cup where Ale or water and honey mixed together are wont to be drunk they use the same kind of grace The richest sort of the Jewes drinkes up the sanctifyed cup of wine though they carouse their cups of Ale after it They use not at any time to give ablessing being about to drinke water Grace being ended the Master of the family useth to repeat the twenty third Psalme after which they fall to lustily and feed deliciously if they have wherewithall He that gives not thankes himselfe must say Amen to him that supplies the place Hereupon it is read in the Talmud that whosoever saith Amen with an attentive and zealous minde he is farre more worthy and of greater esteem then hee that saith grace before or after meat The Rabbines illustrate this by a simile taken from one that writes a letter in another mans name For as the letter is then confirmed and ratified when it is sealed and signed by the hand of another so they make good and establish the blessing given upon the meate who say Amen at the ending thereof Salt is set upon the table in remembrance of their sacrifices which were wont to be offered in the daies of old for the table represents the Altar and the meat thereon is compared to the sacrifice yea it is also written And every oblation of thy meate-offering shalt thou season with salt neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the Covenant of thy GOD to be lacking from thy meate-offering with all thine offerings thoushalt offer salt and therefore it is lawfull to want salt at the table The reason why they doe not cut and divide their bread into parcels before they blesse it is because it is the position of their Doctors that hereby they should offend God seeing it is written Ubozeah berech nietz adonai which the Jews very handsomely translate whosoever cuts and gives a blessing offends the Lord. The Hebrew word Bozeah never signifying to cut neither admits it of any such signification in this place neither is it so translated in the Germane Psalter but only is so rendered at the pleasure of the Rabbines as wee may read in Orach chajim a little booke translated into the Germane tongue for the use of women and children in which is briefly set down the plat-forme after which their life ought to bee framed untill the end of their daies They lay both their hands upon the bread their fingers being stretched out in remembrance of the ten commandements which God gave concerning the graine whereof the bread is made These commandements cannot bee conveniently inserted into this place being set downe in a place a little before cited Secondly they do it moved thereunto by some sayings of holy writ one whereof is this He bringeth forth grasse for the cattell and green herbes for the service of men that he may bring bread out of the earth Another is this The eies of all wait upon the Lord and thou gavest them their meat in due season the third The Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land a land of brookes and waters of fount aines and deeps that spring out of the vallies and hils A land of wheat and harly of vines aâ—d fig-trees and pomegranates a land of oile olive and honey And many other sayings of the same sort which in the originall consist onely of ten words and so the usuallgrace also consists of ten words onely In blessing the wine foure things are especially to be taken notice of and had respect unto all which are briefly comprehended in the word Chamischah which is as a note of remembrance for the more easie retaining of them The first of the word is Cheth which notes unto us Chai signifying new intimating that the wine ought both to be new and also to be poured out into the bowle from a full tankard The second letter Mem signifies Male which is as much as full for the cup ought to be full of wine as it is written O Naphtali satisfied with favour and full with the blessing of the Lord possesse thou the west and the south Hence concluding that their cup which they blesse in this manner ought to bee full of wine If any drinke out of the foresaid cup before grace be said it is to be filled againe out of a fresh and full tankard if there remaine no wine at all in the tankard then must that which is in the cup bee poured out into a cleane tankard and from thence into the cup againe and so it passeth for currant The third letter Schin notes the word Schetiphah which is ablution intimating that the out-side of the cup ought to bee washed with cold water The last letter He notes out the word Haddacha which signifies a washing intimating that the inside of the cup ought also to bee washed with cold water That they ought to lift up the cup with both hands from the table they prove from the words of David Lift up your hands unto the Sanctuary and bless the Lord a very doctor-like proofe indeed While they are at their repast every one using a modest carriage must think with himselfe that he is in the presence of the Lord. As it is said conâ—erning the tithes of the field that thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God Againe This is the table that is before the Lord.
The Master of the family must sit a long time at the table expecting the approach of some poore person to whose necessity he may communicate some of his broken meate This is a good worke and to be had in honour for he that feeds the poore shall prolong his own daies as we may read in the Talmud Of this the Prophet spake saying Is not this the fast that I have chosen that thou deale thy bread to the hungry and bring the poor that are cast out to thine house No man ought to eate more then will suffice nature as the Rabbines write in the Talmud saying The poore are alwaies to bee in thine house Which they construe in this sence that no man ought to eat unto satiety at any time even as poor folks are wont to doe who have not wherewithall to content their crying appetites Bread is not to bee handled but in a pure and holy manner for according to the Talmudist a threefold honour must be given unto it First no vessell ought to be set upon it Secondly no pâ—atter may be underpropped with it Thirdly it is not lawfull to throw it after any thing Hence whosoever contemnes and despiseth bread shall fall into extreame poverty as it is written He shall wander abroad for bread The Talmudists record that there is a certaine Angell set a purpose to observe and take notice of them who by their negligence and incogitancy suffer the bread ordained for their nourishment to fall upon the ground and to be trodden under foot whom for their offence he brings to poverty This Angels name is called Nabel who upon a time watching a man very narrowly it was his whole desire to make him fall into want and misery for the accomplishment of which his end hee hoped that some time hee would leave his bread lying upon the earth that so it might bee trode upon It came to passe on a certaine day that the man sitting in the field did eate breade upon the greene grasse which the Angell seeing confabulates with himselfe Now at length I shall have my wish for it is impossible for him to gather up his crums which have fallen among the grasse but he must of necessity leave them to be trodden under foot The man when he had done eating takes a spade cut away the grasse together with the crums and casts them both into the sea whence it came to passe that the fishes came and eat them up making a meale of them Thus were the hopes of the Angell made frustrate and his voice was heard in the aire saying woe unto me foole that I was that this man hath drawn me from my habitation all in vaine for I can finde no occasion to punish him In the mean time while any man is eating and chewing his meate in his mouth he ought not to speake according to the Talmud lest the meat should chance to slide some other way then into his throat and be choaked by the meanes thereof Although one sneese at the table yet he that eateth ought not to say God blesse you These wise and holy Rabbines write that Elias the Prophet is alwaies present at the table and that every man hath one peculiar Angell waiting over him who being a daily attendant at the table notes with what devotion he gives thankes how his words fall from him and according to what square he frames his behaviour If they who are set downe to meate commune of the things contained in the Law of God then the Angell doth not depart from them and their meate becomes wholsome unto them but if they spend the time in foolish tales or scurrilous relations then hee leaves the roome and an evill spirit and infortunate supplies his place who dinner and supper being ended stirres up strifes brawls blowes and diseases such men also are not satisfied though they eate abundance as it is written The righteous eateth to the satisfying of his soule but the belly of the wicked shall want And because such ministring spirits whether good or bad are alwaies present at the table thence it comes to passe that no Jewes will presume to cast the bones and finnes of fishes upon one hand or other or behind his back lest hee might touch and offend these invisible creatures They doe it also to this end that the dogs under the table snatching at the bone should catch them by the shinne In the same kind they never suffer that any knife should lye upon the back with the edge upward lest those angelicall and spirituall creatures should bee hurt thereby Marrow bones are not to bee knockt upon a trencher for hereby the evill and uncleane Spirits being roused up thinke that the men are gone by the eares together and so comming into the roome annoy those they find present Some smailpiece of bread is therefore to be fitted for the receit of the marrow which is quietly to be picked out of the bone In ancient times they were wont to wash between the eatings of flesh and fish which at this day they seldome practise onely a respect is to be had in the opinion of the holy ones that flesh and fish bee not eaten together but in a due method one after the other alwaies provided hee pick his teeth eate a piece of bread take a draught of wine hereby making a difference between the flesh of fowles and fishes The knife which they use to cut flesh withal they account it as an hainous offence to cut butter or cheese or any thing made with milk therewith Milk and flesh may not be set upon the Table at the same time neither is it permitted that the one should touch the other conâ—erning which they have many statutes and Ordinances of which in another place Every religious man sitting at the table ought to meditate with himselfe how vaine and tranâ—tory a thing man is and how great a vanity meat and drinke is the least part of which remaining in the man the greatest port on thereof is cast out into the draught as Martzutra diâ—putes upon those words of the Prophet David For this shall every one that is mercifull pray unto thee in a time when thou maist bee heard The Jew rendering those words legâ—â—th metzo In that time when the guts are in emptying For it is the Rabbines position that he is an honest man who when he eates and drinkes thinkes withall that he must be forced to evacuate his belly of what it hath received nature that cleanly huswife willing the same and yet those two words whereon they ground this their assertion signifie in the time when he may bee found that is in a fitting time and the fittest time to finde the Lord iâ— when trouble and necessity molest the just But to return to the matter in hand The Jew entertaining and feeding upon the foresaid meditations must remember that it is altogether requisite for him to leade a temperate
life and musâ— take an especiall care lest out of a luxurious prodigall humour hee mispend his estate in sumptuous banquets seeing a laudable frugality makes many rich If in the time of eating a cup of wine or beere be presented to any which is better then ordinary hee that first drinkes thereof ought to say this prayer Blessed bee thou O Lord our God Lord of the whole world who art mercifull and good unto meâ— Likewise for meâ—teâ— whiâ—h are not for the palate of every rusticke nor for every daies service Blessed art thou O Lord our God who hast created diversitie of meates If there bee any fruit upon the table which groweth on a tree as grapes figs golden apples olives chesnuts common apples peares almonds acrons berries or such like then he saith Blessed art thou O God who hast created the fruit of the tree but if only those which sprung out of the earth then hee saith Blessed art thou O God who hast created the fruites of the earth Over other dishes that neither grow immediately out of the earth nor yet upon any tree as cheese butter fish flesh milk and honey he saith Blessed bee God by whose word was created whatsoever was created If any take an apple or such like thing into his hand and blesse it yet before he eate it if it chance to fall unto the ground then hee saith Blessed be thou O Name of the majesty of his Kingdome from hence foâ—th for evermore And this he doth because he had formerly praied in vaine and that praier did nothing availe having named the name of God to no purpose which is an offence very hainous If the apple fall out of his hand before he have given thankes at all then hee saith O Lord teach me thy statutes If any have put any meate into his mouth forgetting to give thanks he must keep it in the side thereof untill he have conferred a blessing thereupon then let it descend into the kitchin of his stomack In the like manner if he have drunk wine or beere hee must redeem his forgetfulnesse with an accelerated consecrating thanksgiving If the meat in this case be unchewed he must take it out of his mouth againe and say a praier over it Now it is not lawfull for any one either to eate or drinke without prayer and giving of thankes so neither is it permitted that any enjoy a sweet smell or â—avour without the exhibition of the due symptomes of a gratefull minde to God the Creator If the smell in a sense-pleasing exhalation be evaporated from some savoury wood at the noâ—e frankincense cynnamon or such like this pious ejaculation must proceed out of the mouth Blessed be thou O God which hast infused a sweet savour into trees bringing forth â—lowers If the odours proceed from fruits as apples and muske nuts then they ought of say Blessed be thou O God who hast given such a sweet savour to apples Over balseme or sweet smelling oiles and nose-alluring waters they say Blessed be thou O God who createst sweet and well-smelling oyles Over herbes Blessed be thou O God who hast created herbes sending forth odours like unto those of spices If any Jew goe into an Apothecaries shop or any other closet where an army of odours make a forcible entrance in at the two leaâ—ed door of his nose he presently disgorgeth this thanksgiving Blessed be thou O God who hast created sweet smelling odours of all sorts what more shall we say This their opinion they defend tooth and naile and this they write That nothing whatsoever wheresoever profered unto us can bee lawfully enjoyed of us unlesse we first poure out a thanksgiving to God the Creator of it Hence it comes to passe that an ungratefull man is called a robber because he feares not to spoile God of his goods and gifts and that with great injustice This custome of theirs truly is very laudable and no way to be discommended so it were used without superstition and a mind intent upon their Maker But they alas in this as in all other their actions have more respect to the outward Ceremony then the inward worke placing all the power and virtue in the bare words by the repetition of which they thinke themselves well apayed They leave a piece of bread upon the table which they account so religious a worke that he who neglects the performance thereof shall not inherit the smallest blessing which the Talmudist proves out of those words There shall none of his meat be left therefore shall no man looke for his goods Which is also commanded in the second of Chronicles where it is recorded Since the people began to bring the offerings into the the house of the Lord we had enough to eate and have left plenty for the Lord hath blessed his people and that which is left is this great store Rabbi Eliezer saith that a whole loafe must not bee left upon the table lest the action should seeme to have some savour of Idolatry as in ancient times wherein as the Prophet Isaiah saith that they forsooke the Lord forgot his holy mountaine prepared a table for the troope of heaven and furnished the drinke offering unto that number Now the table on which this crust of bread is usually left at this day is not prepared for the same end and purpose that it was in Esaies dayes for they when they had eaten and were full then instead of giving of thankes they spread a table for the hoaste of heaven But now adaies this little piece of bread is lest upon the table that there may be alwaies something thereupon which may be the subject of blessing for otherwise the bread being all devoured no benediction keeps any further residence upon the table Before they say grace after meat every one takes his knife and puts it into his sheath The impulsive cause is that which is read in the Gemarah that when upon a certaine time some had left their knives upon the table he who was to say grace when he came to those words Build againe thy holy City Jerusalem and that quickly in thâ—se our daies Blessed be thou O God who doest build againe thy City Jerusalem and hereupon recalling into his remembrance the desolations of the City and Temple he became so sorrowfull and melancholy that he presently snatcht one of the knives stabbing himselfe to the heart made a way for the departure of his soule It was a custome in the daies of old that before giving of thanks aftermeat the crums of bread should bee swept from under the table with a besome as also to wash their hands and mouth at the table over a bason not over the the top or cover of a furnace for this was ominous and that for this reason That their thanksgiving and the name of God therein contained might bee pronounced out of a pure and sanctified mouth but in these our daies the occasion being their
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
holinesse to the Lord. Then the sexton goes about and cries who will buy Gelilah etz chajim which is a certaine kinde of office which any supplying is licenced to tosse over the booke of the Law by a serious revisall Which office is granted unto him who will give the most money for it which is put into the poore mans box and chested up for their reliefe Those pieces of wood by the helpe whereof the booke of the Law is carryed up and downe are called by them etz chaijm the wood of life to which that sentence of Solomon was Godfather Wisdome is the tree of life to them thâ—t lay hold on it Gelilah signifies a folding intimating what things may be observed in the folding and unfolding of the book When the Chanter takes this holy booke out of the Arke then he goes into the pulpit where he reads out of the same these words following It came to passe when the Aâ—ke was set forth that Moses said Rise up O Lord and let thine enemies be scattered and let them that hate thee flee before thee Againe Many people shall goe and say come yee and let us goe up to the mountaine of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his waies and we will walke in his pathes for out of Sion shall goe forth the Law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem The Chanter when he begins to sing laying the book upon his arme saith O praise the Lord with me and let us magnifie his name together To which the whole congregation makes this answer O magnifie the Lord our God and fall down before his foot stool for he is holy O magnifie the Lord our God and worship him upon his holy hil for the Lord our God is holy Directly above that four square structure is placed a certain table covered with a silken Carpet upon which the Chasan or Chanter laies down the book of the Law Then comes he who is to purchase the Office of Gelilah with his money taking away and devesting the booke of its formerly in wrapping garments which finished the Chasan and the other who was to buy his place calling one out of the whole congregation and commanding his personall appearance in his fathers name and his own he approaching the presence seats himselfe in the middle kisses the book not upon the bare leaves of the same for this were an hainous offence but through the swadling cloutes thereof and grasping the cover thereof saies with a loud voice praise the Lord c. Blessed be thou O God who hast chosen us unto thy selfe before all other nations of the earth and hast given us thy Law Blessed be thou O God the Law giver Now the Jew perswades himselfe that his lot is fallen unto him in a fair ground seeing he hath seen and handled the tree of life and therefore becomes blessed above all other people In the next place the minister reades a chapter or section out of the Bible which ended he who was formerly summoned to appeare takes the book the second time and kisseth it saying Blessed be thou O God who hast given us the very law and implanted unto us eternall life Blessed be thou the Law-giver After this two more are successively called whose behaviour is squared according to the platforme of the formers carriage He that came first in goes out by another doore then that which afforded him entrance After these another is cited who ought to have a well brawned arme for hee must lift up the book at armes end and turning round must expose it to the view of every spectator the whole congregation in the mean season bellowing ouâ— This is the law which Moses gave to the Israelites This Office is named Hagbahah and is sold to him for money who bids most While the match is in making those brawling scolds the women presse into the Synagogue with a great deale of quarrelling and much opposition every one striving to gain a place in some window or other where they may be blessed with the sight of such an holy booke thinking to reape some pleasure by the sole beholding of it seeing their lips cannot bee allowed to second their husbands in billing of it The women have a peculiar Synagogue of their owne differenced from that of their husbands with latticed and cross-barred windowes Concerning which much is spoken in the Talmud and an evident demonstration there of is given by the Prophet Zachary in these words The land shall mourne every family apart the family of the house of David apart and their wives apart the family of the house of Nathan apart and their wives apart The family of the house of Levi apart and their wives apart The family of Shimei apart and their wives apart All the families that remaine every family apart and their wives apart Whence they conclude that the men and women are not to come into the same Sinagogue in the time of divine service and that for modesty and honesties sake seeing not only women but men likewise are apt and inclineable to fall into divers lustfull cogitations when they are in the same place together If the Jew who reades the Law chance to stumble and let the booke fall out of his hand he is bound to fast and all the rest also for a long time together seeing this accident presageth some great calamity to come upon them At length come they who have purchased the Gelilah and etz chajim the one of them touching the wooden cover of the booke folding it up great experience is required in this case the other administers the linnen clothes in which it ought to be inwrapped and its silver-twisted coat involving all the rest Then comes every one in the Synagogue both young and old and kisses the booke touching it only with two fingers with which they afterwards handle their face which action relishing of a supreme sanctity is held for a soveraigne medicine against blindnesse and all diseases incident to the eie While the booke is carryed to the Arke the Chanter sings praise the name of the Lord for the name of this our God is of great power and strength The congregation answereth and saith His praise is above heaven and earth he hath exalted the horne of his peculiar people to the praise of all his saints Yea the Israelites being a folke most neare unto him praise yee the Lord. When the book is laid in the Arke the people say or sing those words of Moses used by him when the Arke rested Returne O Lord unto the many thousands of Israel Then they conclude all saying as was formerly noted at their going out of the Synagogue O Lord lead me in thy justice because of mine enemies make my way plaine before thy face The Lord shall keep my going out and comming in from this time forth for evermore These words they repeate also when they goe out
of doores either to take a journey or to doe any other businesse CHAP. X. The preparation of the Jewes to the Sabbath and how they begin the same IT is written in the second booke of Moses That upon the sixt day they gathered twice as much bread and a little after this is that which the Lord hath said To morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord bake that which you will bake to day and seeth that yee will seeth and that which remaineth over lay up for you to bee kept untill the morning These words force the Jewes to this conclusion that it is their duty and Gods command too that they should provide all things necessary pertaining to the honourable celebration of the Sabbath especially dainty and delicate meates which they ought to boile or bake betimes upon the Friday morning whereon they may feed upon the Sabbath and with more facility rest from their labours The women are in a more particular manner enjoined to prepare great store of palate pleasing wafers who while they are kneading and making ready the dough they are very ceremoniall therein leaving the lump whole If the bignesel cause a necessity of division which is often seen in great families then the one part thereof is covered with a cloth that it may not be ashamed and put an open scandall by the other part in that it is provided in the last place for the Sabbaths repast They honour the Sabbath with three banquets all served in much pompe The first whereof they celebrate upon Friday at night when the Sabbath begins The second upon the day it selse about twelve of the clock The third and last upon the evening of the same These to be the due times they prove out of those words of Moses Eat that to day for to day it is a Sabbath unto the Lord to day yee shall not find it in the field From the word to day thrice repeated the Rabbines conclude that Moses in this place doth signifâ—e that manna ought to be eaten at three severall times upon the Sabbath orderly succeeding one another This institution according to the same Doctors in their Dutch Minhagin is profitable in another respect That is if only one banquet should be provided every one would with such gredinesse feed thereupon that his guts should be sufficiently stuft for the rest of the ensuing time even untill the end of the Sabbath But now seeing that every man knowes that one banquet being ended two more are to succeed his stomack hath no such edge to the first as otherwise it had but living in a very temperate manner he eats his meat with pleasure conscious of a second and third returne to the table What other Rites they practise shall hereafter be manifested In the time of preparation no man must thinke it a thing unseemly or derogating from his birth or riches to worke with his owne hands that the preparation to the Sabbath may be compleat And although some one man there were who had an hundred thousand men and maides yet ought not to be a meere overseer of their labours but a partaker and that in honour of the Sabbath According to that which is recorded in the Talmud that the good and honest man Rabbe Chasda would fall a chopping pot-herbes Those learned men Rabba and Rabbi Joseph would cleave wood Rabbi Ezra would make the fire Rabbi Nachman would sweep the house and would moreover provide all manner of instruments necessary for the table Meates either boiled or roasted are kept hot in an oven because they are better hot then cold The tablestands covered all the day and night long which hath a mysticall signification as hereafter shall bee declared Furthermore they wash their heads and use the help of a barber if need require The women ought to attire their heads and plate their haire to goe into some hot bath or else to wash their hands in hot water Upon every Friday they pare their nailes and in a very superstitious fashion beginning at the fourth finger of the left hand and so holding on to the second then to the fift then to the third and last of all to the thumbe whence it comes to passe that they cut not their nailes in order but still over-skip some finger or other In cutting those of the right hand they begin with the second finger and so hold on to the fourth He that throwes his nailes being cut off upon the ground that they may bee trodden under foot of men is a wicked man and a great sinner For Satan hath power over the nailes and wizards by the help of them exercise their inchantments and if any chance to tread upon them some great danger or other hangs over his head On the contrary whosoever digs and buries them in the earth he is accounted for an honest righteous man If he cast them into the fire then is hee a holy and honourable man in esteeme And the truth of every particular they evidently demonstrate in their owne opinion out of the words formerly alledged the summe of which were that upon the sixt day they should prepare themselves Moreover it is necessarily required that every one should sharp his knife use the whetstone and edge him acutely which they prove by those words Thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace thou shalt visit thy habitation and shalt not sinne Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great and thy off-spring as the grasse of the earth Out of which saying the Jewish Doctors have drawne this conclusion that wheresoever is a blunt knife and nothing cunning in cutting there is no peace at the table and the whole house is out of square In the next place they put on their holiday clothes every one dressing himselfe in the most minicall fashion his plodding curiosity can invent They of the richer sort have garments onely appropriated to the day not kissing their corpes upon any other and their reason for the same is very plausible for the Rabbines call the Sabbath a Queen Now if any being to make his appearance before this Queene should not put on some princely garments such as in other place they use to weare in the presence of a King then this Queen should bee much scandalized thereby They cover the table with fine and cleane linnen not neglecting the provision of napkins trenchers cups cushions stooles and other appurtenances that all things may bee in a readinesse to entertaine this renowned Queen the Sabbath in a fit and decent manner In the daies of old warning to a due preparation was wont to be given by the sound of an horne or trumpet But at this day the Sexton or keeper of the Synagogue goes about to every house making proclamation that every man should cease from labour and prepare himselfe to a comely and honourable welcomming of the holy Sabbath which comes to his house much like to
it is written early in the morning But when he speakes of the oblation for the seventh day it is written in the day of the Sabbath The meaning of which words is this The daily sacrifices were wont to be offered early in the morning before it was light instead of which they repaire at this day earely unto their Synagogue to say their morning prayers as was formerly declared But upon the Sabbath a longer stay was made and the sacrifice was not wont to be offered before perfect day Wherefore the Jewes ought to sleep larger upon this day then another and to goe later to morning prayer then at other times to recreate themselves for a longer space upon their couches for the joy and delight accrewing by the Sabbaths reproach When they are once come into the Synagogue they pray as at other times yet saying and singing more prayers and anthemes then ordinary in honour of the Sabbath Upon this day they doe not put on their phylacteries of which we spoke in the fourth Chapter and that because the Sabbath it selfe is a sign of the Jewish faith and that this was given to the Jewes onely and commanded by them to bee sanctified and therefore they have no need of other signes as the phylacteries and circumcision whereby a Jew may bee knowne from other men They bring the booke of the Law out of the Arke in that pompe which we specified in the ninth Chapter They read out of it seven sections of the Law for the performing whereof seven particular persons are called out Whosoever is called comes up by the doore next unto him and goes downe by the other because it is recorded of the people of Israel to have done the like For saith the Scripture the gate of the inner Temple which lookes unto the north shall be shut for the space of six daies wherein you may worke but upon the Sabbath day and upon the day of the Calends it shall be opened And the Prince shall enter by the way of that gate and shall stand at the posts thereof and the Priests shall offer his burnt offering c. Hence it appeares that when they come into the holy Temple upon the Sabbath day they came in at one doore and went out at another They are also accustomed to read some certaine sections out of the Prophets in which the same subject is handled that is treated of in the bookes of Moses This custome then had its originall when they were interdicted to reade the bookes of Moses in their Synagogues For at that time they began to read in the plaâ—e thereof a Lecture out of the Prophets which they named Hapharah which was as a certain exposition upon the Law of Moses This custome was in force in the daies of the Apostles for thus it is recorded For they that dwell at Jerusalem and their rulers because they knew him not nor yet the voices of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath day they have fulfilled them in condemning him Again Moses of old time had them that preached him being read in the Synagogues every Sabbath day And although at this day they are not prohibited to read and teach Moses in their Synagogues yet they keepe the custome of reading the Prophets for they cannot be too conversant in well doing They pray also for the soules of them who in their life time did not rightly sanctify the Sabbath For the Rabbines perswade themselves that these are tossed in hell from side to side both after and before the Sabbath and therefore they pray for them thereupon Their prayers in the Synagogue must not continue any longer then six a clock in the morning For it is forbidden either to fast or pray any longer according as their Doctors have collected out of that saying Thou shalt call the Sabbath Oneg For the word Oneg signifying delight or pleasure is written without the letter Vau which in numeration maketh six By which the Prophet would secretly insinuate that we ought not to fast after the sixt hour or the middle of the day because otherwise it would come to passe that the Sabbath should not be a pleasure but rather a vexation unto us Therefore morning prayer being ended they eate their second Sabbaticall meale making themselves merry in honour of the Sabbath If any have dreamed some ominous dream as the book of the Law to be burnt the beams of his own house to fall down his teeth to fall out of his head or such like he must fast untill it be late at night and that not without cause seeing such phantasticall meteors portend no faire weather If the jaw bones of any one in the time of sleep seem unto him in the time of sleep to fall out of their place such a dream is a good dreame because it betokens the teeth of all his enemies that intended evill against him If to eate be burdensome unto any and to fast a pleasure he may fast by statute If any cannot abstaine from teares he may weep by authority because such a ones lamentation is his owne delight his adversaries recreation both which are conducible to a sanctifyed celebration of the Sabbath Yetnot withstanding whosoever fasts upon the seventh day he must fast also upon the day following because he feared not to substract the pleasure due unto the Sabbath day Moreover it seemeth good unto the wise men among the Jewes that dinner being ended that somewhat should bee learned by study and some Chapters read oâ—t of the holy Bible For upon a certaine time the Sabbath complained unto God that every thing in this universe had a like unto it selfe of which it was onely destitute Then God instantly replyed and said The people of Israel shall from henceforth be thy mate for they upon the Sabbath day bend their study to the learning of the Law which if they did not they would at that time be altogether idle Then the Law posting unto Gods tribunall poured out its complaints and said When Israel shall returne into his owne land and one shall goe unto his farme another to his vineyard who shall then learn or study me God answered the Israelites shall doe it who resting upon the Sabbath shall practise nothing else By reason of these complaints it was concluded and thought meet that upon the Sabbath day after dinner every one should busie himselfe either in reading of the word of God or in collecting something out of their bookes of morality whereby they might be incited unto the feare of the Lord and so the Law and Sabbath might not have any more just occasion of complaint But alas how rare readers they are in these good books experience gives an evident demonstration for the whole weeks space time enough a man would think They speake not so much of their bargaines usury buying and selling as they do upon the Sabbath day At even-tide they returne againe into the Synagogue and prayer ended they fall to their supper
the third and last meal upon this day while the day is not yet gone nor the Sabbath altogether come to its period They doe not at this time eate much because their time is short and because they are bound to shut up the Sabbath with thanksgivings Moreover it often fals out that when this meale is provided for them they are not an hungry because they filled their paunhes more largely at dinner which often holds unto the evening These meales or banquets they repute as a thing strictly commanded and for a worke of singular excellenâ—ie and goodnesse conâ—erning which they writing very many things in the Talmud are of opinion That whosoever celebrates them frequently and diligently he shall not taste of hell torments he shall be defended against that most feâ— refull warre of Gog and Magog he shall bee preserved from the trouble and vexation which shall be upon the earth about the comming of the Messias which they call Chebble hammaschiâ—he Between evening and night the use of cleâ—ne water is prohibited neither is it lawfull to drinke of the brooke because the soules of the wicked deceased doe as yet bath and coole themselves therein knowing that they must presently return into hell When the end of the Sabbath approacheth and the third and last repast finished many use suddenly with great expedition to match away the table cloth dreaming that by so doing due reverence shall be exhibited unto them The night inveloping the earth in darknesse they againe assemble themselves to prayer sing sweet Sabbaticall hymns especially that prayer veharacham with a ravishing Nigan their descant resounding in an amiable melody much like the ordinary catter-wauling in the moneth of March and in so doing they chant their farewell to the holy Sabbath They continue these their songs untill much of the night be spent out of pity and compassion towards the soules of the wicked Jewes And that to this end that the longer these their devotions are a finishing the later their returne shall bee into the infernall pit For as upon Friday at eve there is a loud proclamation made in hell that all the wicked should depart the place and goe into the earth to celebrate the Sabbath that all Israel may upon this day rest from their labours So upon Saterday at night so soone as the Jewes have ended their evening prayers a second proclamation goes forth to will and command all damned soules to returne into the place of torment In these their benighted chanting orisons they oftentimes call upon Elias the Prophet saying that he is promised unto them that hee will not come but either upon the Sabbath or some great Festivall Therefore the Sabbath now being past and hee not comming they intreat him that hee will not faile to come upon the next and declare the comming of the Messias Perhaps good Elias is not quick of hearing that he being for so long a time invited yea intreated to come doth not come as yet The Chachamim and skilâ—ull Rabbines also record that Elias the Prophet standing under the tree of life in Paradise registres the merits and good workes of the Jewes wherewith they diligently celebrate the Sabbath Lastly when they sing the certaine song whose beginning is Bâ—â—rechu Then the women make speed unto their owne wels to draw water out of them It is also written that the fountaine Meribah of which they dranke in the desert flowes into the sea of Tyberias and issuing out of it intermingles it selfe with all other fountains Now it comes to passe that any of the Jewish women drawing any of the foresaid water in that instant may use it as a choise ingredient for some excellent medicine Moreover whosoever drinkes of a fountaine so qualified shall have present remedy for any disease yea though his whole body be infected with the french pox Upon a certain time a woman presently upon the ending of the prayer Barechu went to draw waterat that instant the fountaine Meribah presented it selfe unto her for which reason she protracting the time of her returne homeward her husband began to chafe and swell with anger which the woman taking notice of through feare streaming from the fountaine of his choler into the channels of her body made her let the paile of water to slip out of her hand unto the ground whereupon some few cooling drops being by the fall besprinkled upon the diseased body of her raging husband were as so many skilfull Chirurgions to the place they onely touched This the good man got for his anger who if hee had drunke up all the water perhaps he might have gained a finall recovery Hereupon the Rabbines say that an angry man reapes no other profit by his cholerick behaviour but his owne anger In the last place the Jewes make a division and interpose a difference between the Sabbath and the week â—ollowing giving God thanks that he hath given them so much grace as to celebrate the Sabbath in that good manner This is done by their Reader in the Synagogue after evening prayer and this he doth for the poor peoples sake who cannot by reason of their necessity doe it in their owne houses Otherwiâ—e the Master of every private family doth it in his owne dwelling in manner and forme following A great candle is lighted much like unto a Torch which they call Ner habdalah or the candle of division or destruction Then they bring in a little box commonly made of silver full of the best perfumes In the next place the Master of the family takes a cup full of wine but if there be no wine in that country then he takes ale or beer instead thereof and sings with a loud and shrill voice The Lord is my Salvation and my trust I will not feare because he is my strength and my praise God the Lord is my health He hath delivered me out of all my trouble and mine eye hath seen her desire upon mine enemies The Lord of hosts is with us the God of Jacob is our refuge Selah I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. Hee hath been a light unto the Jewes that is to say joy gladnesse and honour These words ended he blesseth the cup and pouring a little of the wine therein upon the ground he saith Blessed bee thou O Lord our God King of the world who hast created the fruit of the vine This done taking the cup in his left hand and the little box full of perfumes in the right and saying Blessed be thou O God who dost create divers kinds of perfumes He puts the box unto his nose to recreate his smell and reacheth it to every one in the family for the same end Then taking the cup againe in his right hand he goes unto the great candle using no small delight in an exquisite contemplation of the nailes upon his fingers so that bending his fingers towards his wrist they cast
a certaine shadow upon the palme after this he stretcheth forth his hand the second time so that he may know by the candle light that his nailes are whiter then his fingers which he perceiving saith Blessed be thou O God our God King of the world who hast created such a resplendent candle Then he takes the cup againe into his left hand looking in the like manner upon the nailes thereof Then by and by he transfers the cup into the right hand and saith Blessed be thou O Lord our God King of the world who hast put a difference between the holy and unholy between light and darknesse between Israel and the Gentiles between the seventh day and the other six dayes of the weeke destinated for labour While hee is a repeating this prayer he poures a little of the wine out of the cup upon the earth Then he drinks a little of it himselfe reaching it unto others that they may sup of the same Amongst these nocturnall petitions there is one which begins Vaiehi Noam in which the letter zaijn is not found which signifies weapons whosoever therefore shall say this prayer with a devoâ—t minde hee shall bee safe and secure that whole night following from any kinde of weapon so that he shall neither be killed nor have the least scratch given him In the the like manner he shall besafe from the devill when he devoutly faith that prayer beginning Schema Israel Heare O Israel c. For the first verse begins with the letter Schin and ends with the letter Daleth which two joined together make Scheds which word signifies a Devill This distinction of the Sabbath they prove from those words that you may discern between the holy and profane and those Godseparated the light from the darknesse Some take of the consecrated wine and anoint their eies therewithall others wash their face in it thinking it a wholsome medicine against the fluxes of the eye others bath their arteries therewith because it is a meanes to length 〈◊〉 their dayes others sprinkle it in every corner of the hoâ—â—ri about the beds and cradles of infants dreaming that it is soveraign against enchantments and witchcraft The truth is this wine is of so high esteeme amongst them as that other also wherewith they initiate the Sabbath They smell the perfumes lest they should fall into a swoon while one of their soules departs out of the body For upon the Sabbathday they have another soule besides that which they live by at other times Concerning this matter Antonius Margarita in his booke of the faith of the Jewes writes in this manner It is written in the Jewish Talmud saith he that every man hath three soules and it is proved out of these following words of the Prophet Isaiah Thus saith the Lord who created the heaven and stretched it out who made the earth and whatsoever groweth thereon who giveth life and breath unto the inhabitants of it According to the letter of this text they find two soules in man to which if we add the naturall soule there ariseth three Whereupon they also write that two soules depart out of a man sleeping the one of which goes upward unto God to learne things to come the other goes downward into the earth and running to and fro contemplates nothing else but injustice sinne foolishnesse or vanity The third they call Ruach Behemoth the irreasonable soule which being the first of all received by man is seated neare unto his heart and sees all things whatsoever the other two soules in their absence from the body have heard seen or done and hence proceed and issue all our dreames which therefore are not alwaies to be contemned They say moreover that upon the Sabbath a man hath another soule besides these which enlarges his heart that he may keep the Sabbath more honourably and exhilarate himselfe in a higher straine of mirth then it were possible for him to doe if hee were destitute of the same But the Sabbath once being ended this soule departs and the man becomes weake thereupon against which his faintnesse hee may prosperously use these sweet smelling odours that the body may have wherewith to recover its former strength Hitherto Margarita but whence he had these words I cannot as yet finde Concerning this superfluous soule 〈◊〉 remember I have read this in the Talmud Rabbi Jose said 〈◊〉 the name of Rabbi Simeon who was the sonne of Jochai that all the commandements that God gave unto the Israelites he gave them in publike except the Sabbath which he gave in private as it is recorded The Sabbath shall be an everlasting signe between me and the children of Israel Where the Jewes by an everlasting signe would understand a secret token willing that the Sabbath should be hid from all other nations and onely manifested to the Jewes Therefore marke diligently Christian Reader how the Hebrew word leolam signifying everlasting any reasonable soule being judge must according to the Jewish interpretation signifie hidden and concealed Hence the Rabbines in their Gemarah ask the question that if the Christians and other people do not know that we have a Sabbath how comes it to passe that they in time to come shall be punished for the contempt of the Sabbath and for the not keeping thereof They make answer to themselves saying they know well enough that wee keep the Sabbath this is not hidden from their eyes and therefore they are to be punished because they will not keepe it But the reward due unto the observance thereof is hidden from them and this they know not yet if they would rightlly celebrate the Sabbath they should also know thereward But this is a thing impossible for them to put in execution seeing they are destitute of the superfluous soule because it being given to men rather upon that day then others and that more abundantly doth enlarge their hearts that in the time of the Sabbath they may take their rest with ease eat and drinke well and merrily and set all care and sorrow a packing from their breasts Hereupon Rabbi Simeon the sonne of Lakis affirmed that God gave this soule to man upon the Sabbath about eventide and tooke it from him again at the end of the Sabbath as it is written When he had taken rest evâ—n to satiety the Sabâ—ath remaining then was he deprived of his soule to wit the superfluous one Where againe note how neatly the Jewes interpret the holy Scriptures for the verbe jinnâ—phsch in that place is rendred by the Rabbines to want or bee deprived of a soule whereas it hath a clean contrary signification to cherish recollect recreate stirre up the spirits and most properly to breath which after the manner of men we ascribe unto God concerning whom it cannot be said nor understood that he hath lost a soule In this their blindnesse the Jewes blush not to place their chiefe wisdome and knowledge Concerning this superfluous soule Rabbi Abraham also
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
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
ought to drinke off in lieu of a thanksgiving as Rabbi Bechai writes for the foure great deliverances mentioned by Moses in those words I will bring you forth from under the burdens of the Egyptians and I will rid you out of their bondage and I will redeem you with a stretched out arme and with great judgement And I will take you to me for a people and I will be your God which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians I will bring you out from under the hands of the Egyptians there is the first I will redeem you with a stretched outarme that 's the second I will take you to me for a people there 's the third I will be your God c. there 's the fourth In remembrance of which foure deliverances they take off foure whole cups of wine in the time of the celebration of the passeover lest they should seem forgetfull of Gods benefits The reason why after these their cups they curse the Christians in a praier called Schepoch is according to Rabbi Bechai in the foresaid place because God shall poure upon the enemies of the Jewes the Christians and all others foure cups of his wrath and vengeance and make them drinke the dregs thereof as it is written Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand and cause all the nations to whom I send thee to drinke it And againe Babylon hath beene a golden cup in the Lords hand that hath made all the earth drunken The nations have drunke of her wine therefore the nations are mad Againe He shall raine upon the wicked snares fire and brimstone and vapours of smoake this shall be their portion to drinke Againe There is a cup in the hand of the Lord and the wine thereof is red as for the dregs thereof all the wicked of the earth shall drinke them and suck them out If the Jewes could rightly weigh and ponder the scope of these words and parallell them with other places of holy writ they might easily finde that this cup is in the first place filled for them according to that which is written by the Prophet saying I took the cup at the Lords hand and made all the nations to drinke to whom the Lord had sent me To wit Jerusalem and the Cities of Judah and the Kings thereof to make them a desolation and an astonishment an hissing and a curse as it is this day Pharaoh King of Egypt and his servants his Princes and his people When therefore the Jewes have drunk off and digested this fearfull cup they will have but a slender stomack to reach it out unto the Christians From all that hath been said we may conclude that the Jewes keep not the passeover according to Moses his institution and Gods command but according to the traditions of the Rabbines which with them are in farre greater account then the commanements of God as is apparent in the Talmud Wherein is extant a huge tract concerning the celebration of this Feast upon which the Rabbines have written whole Books and Commentaries To leave them to their vanities let it bee our consolation That Christ our passeover is sacrificed for us and therefore let us keep the feast not with old leaven neither with the leaven of malicioâ— snesse but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth saying with John Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world and with St Peter knowing that we were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from our vaine conversation received by tradition of the fathers but with the precious blood of Christ as a lambe undefiled and without spot which was ordained bâ—fore the foundation of the world but declared in the last times for our sakes let us learn not to be ashamed CHAP. XIV Of the manner how the Jewes celebrate the seven daies of the passover and put a conclusion to the Festivall VVHile the Feast of the Passover lasts every morning betimes they repaire to the Synagogue they sing Psalms as they are wont to doe upon the Sabbath say many prayers make sale diversly of the book of the law they take two several bookes of the Law out of the Arke calling forth five men to reade some sections out of the same If the passeover fall upon the Sabbath then they call out seven men When the Priest blesseth the people the prayers being ended then he spreads abroad his hand because it is the assertion of their Doctors that the majesty of the Lord rests upon them who hereupon have given a strict inhibition that none in the meane while should presume to looke upon his own hands unlesse he will incurre the danger of blindnesse Praiers being ended every man returns unto his own house where he fals to his dinner with a merry heaâ—t When a speciall caution is to be had that he eate no more then necessity requires that they may the night following with greater alacrity satiate their stomacks with those three cakes mentioned in the former Chapter Great diâ—putes arise what labors it is lawfull to undertake what meats may be boiled and eaten upon this day for it is not lawfull to boile more then they can eate yet notwithstanding it is allowed to set on the great pot and to fill it with flesh For by this action no danger can accrew unto them though the whole be not that day consumed Much flesh is the cause of much good and the more is put in the pot it will tast the better in it selfe and make the fatter pottage yet though this be tollerated yet it is not permitted to roste more then they may with ease devoure for one joint upon the spit is never the better tasted for the neighbourhood of his fellow And againe meate is farre more delightsome to the palate when it is piping hot then when it is cold That which may be boiled upon the eve of the Sabbath or any Festivall and not lose its taste before the nextday they may then boile it if not it is lawfull sor them to boil it upon the Sabbath day or Festival the great Sabbath only accepted as also the beating of pepper and other spiâ—es which once beaten do quickly lose their proper reâ—ish yet a ceremony is to be used for they must bray with the smal end of the pestle and also make the mortar to leane more to the one side then the other that a certain differeâ—e may be observed between the labors of the week and those of the holy day It is no offence for the mother to wash her infant with hot water in the time of this Festivall although a Christian did make it hot It is not lawfull to take the match out of one lampe and put it unto her If any desire that a wax light should not be altogether consumed he may set it in the water that when the flame comes to the water it may be
because without these there is no pleasure and also by reason of the command which saith Thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God thou and thy son and thy daughter For a conclusion le ts see what the Prophets say concerning these Jewes who have taken the Law to wife The sentence of Isaiah is The earth is defiled under the inhabitants thereof because they have transgressed the Lawes changed the Ordinance and broken the everlasting Covenant And the Lord by the mouth of Ezâ—kiel saith The Priests have out of malice perverted my law and profaned my sanctuary Stephen cries out against them Ye stifnecked and uncircumcised in heart and eares you doe alwaies resist the holy ghost as your fathers did so do yee Who have received the Law by the disposition of Angels and have not kept it CHAP. XVI Of their Feast of Tabernacles THE third great Festivall of the Jewes which they are to celebrate every yeare once appearing before the Lord in Jerusalem is the Feast of Tabernacles concerning which as also the two former it is writ in the fifth book of Moses Three times a yeare shall all thy males appeare before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall chuse in the Feast of unleavened bread in the Feast of weeks and in the Feast of Tabernacles and they shall not appeare before the Lord empty The time of the celebration of this Feast was according to Gods owne commandement to bee the fifteenth day of the seventh month according to the vulgar account beginning to reckon from the first day of the new yeare of Festivals of which we have spoken formerly that it begins in March and so consequently inferre that this seventh month must be our September The etymologie whereof as also the reason why this month in their common annuall account is called the first shall hereafter be more at large declared The end of their keeping of this Feast was as a signe or token whereby the Israelites might recall to mind the fatherly providence of Almighty God by which hee had sustained the children of Israel after a wonderfull manner for the space of forty yeares in the desert having neither house nor harbor The manner of celebration is thus prescribed by Moses You shall dwell in boothes seven daies all that are Israelites born shall dwell in boothes that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in boothes when I brought them out of the land of Egypt These boothes were wont to be made of the boughes of goodly trees as the mirtle olive firre which by reason of their fatnesse would for a long time retaine their green attire branches of palm trees boughes of thicke trees willowes of the brook as it is in the same place This they put in practise in the daies of Nehemiah after their returne from Babylon for it is recorded that then they published and proclaimed in all their Cities and in Jerusalem saying Goe forth unto the mount and fetch olive branches pine branches myrtle branches and palme branches and branches of thicke trees to make boothes And they did so From that which hath been said we may gather 1. That the Jewes in ancient times made Tabercles of these kinds of boughes in which they dwelt for the space of eight daies 2. That there were in use for the fabrick more then foure severall kinds of boughes or branches yea the willowes of the brook are not mentioned in the forecited place of Nehemiah which were used for the knitting together of the other branches being plyable and fit for that purpose Therefore the Jewes of these present times commit a grosse error that they in a most superstitious manner in the celebration of this Festivall tie and confine themselves to those foure kinds of branches only mentioned by Moses and not building them Tabernacles therewithall but transferring them to another use of which more hereafter Concerning this Feast there is extant a large tract in the Talmud wherein the genuine observation and celebration thereof is set downe the platâ€forme of the boothes or Tabernacles exquisitely drawne the use of the foure severall sorts of branches described with much disputation and great subtilty as their manner is not omitting to handle all the ceremonies belonging there unto yet never seeking after the true way and meanes whereby they may rightly lift up their hearts unto the God of their fathers For though in the time of this Feast they say many prayers yet they offer them up unto the Lord only upon the censure of their tongue not upon the altar of their hearts for in these they are far from him an evident demonstration hereof is the winged hudling over of these their petitions using such a precipitancy of speech as though they were able to pronounce a thousand words with one breath and accounting it a work of art and skill so to do This Feast endures for the space of eight daies the two first and the two last whereof are to be kept holy altogether those which are of the middle rank only for halfe the day Upon the fourteenth day of the month about eventide they meet in the Synagogue according to their ecclesiastical Ordinances and institutions where they sing and pray untill it bee night At which time they returne to their houses and retire themselves into their Tabernacles where the Master of the family saith a certaine prayer which serves for the initiation of the Feast and consecration of the Tabernacles giving thanks unto God that he hath chosen them before all other people exalted sanctified and commanded them to dwell in Tabernacles The thanks giving being ended they fall to supper where they are very jocund and merry In ancient daies they were wont also to lodge in their boothes which the Jewes at this day use not the coldnesse moistnesse and other maladies and incumbrances which might accrew unto them thereby being as so many potent arguments to disswade from this and to invite them to their owne bedâ€chambers which experience hath taught them to be the sweeter resting place Upon the morrow of the fifteenth day they returne into the Synagogue singing and praying and honouring the Lord with a little lip-service their hearts roving quite another way When the Chanter hath proceeded so farte in his prayers that he is come at last to those words Give peace in these our daâ—es O Lord then every one taking a little bundle of palm oliâ—e and willow branches in his right hand and an orenge in his lest saith Blessed be thou O Lord our God King of the world who hast sanctifyed us by thy commandments and commanded us to carry a bundle of branches Which while he is in repeating he shakes the bundle that it may make a noise the words of the Prophet moving him thereunto who saith The trees of the wood shall clap their hands Then he shakes the bundle three times towards the East three times towards the West
fills their hearts with sorrow being a very probable token of an unfruitful and dangerous season When the trumpeter hath done his office the whole Synagogue trumptes out those words of David Blessed is the people O Lord that can rejoyce in thee they shall walk in the light of thy countenance Morning prayer ended they return again to their houses where they eat and drink and sound upon their Rams-horns For it is a position of the Rabbines that at this time every one ought to be merry and jocund being assured that God hath been gracious unto him in pardoning his sins and offences and not because he hath fill'd his panch and liquored his throat for this would God rather impute unto them as a sin then recompense as a good work After this their repast every one man woman and child hasten to the water or to some Bridge thereupon to make Taschlich that is to say to cast their sins into the water and the ground of the practise is that of the Prophet He will turn again and have mercy upon us be will subdue our iniquities and cast all our sins into the bottom of the sea The Jews thus gathered together upon the Bridge so soon as they behold the fishes accounting the sight as a prosperous signe and token they caper alost and shake their garments over the â—ishes dreaming and vainly conceiting that by this their foolery they have shaked off all their sinnes upon the fishes backs which swim away with them even as the scape-Goat which carried away the sinnes of their ancestors into the wilderness Others write that they do it in remembrance of Abraham who travelling to sacrifice his son Isaac upon Mount Meriah which was upon the first day of September Satan met him and turned himself into a great River which at the first took him only to the knees but by and by it reacht his neck Abraham perceiving himself to be in such a distresse and that he was in danger of drowning cried mightily unto God who heard his prayer and turned the water into dry ground as it is recorded in the tract Medrasch rotosoha Evening being come they fall again to eat and drink and make merry as they were wont and in this manner they celebrate the feast of the New-year in great security with much mirth and jollity for the space of two dayes together I conclude with that of the Prophet If a man walk in the spirit and would lie falsly saying I will prophesie unto thee of wine and of strong drink he shall even be the prophet of this people To which alludes that of Sophonie Her Prophets are light and wicked persons her Priests have polluted the Sanctuary they have polluted the Law CHAP. XX. How they prepare themselves to the Feast of Reconciliation and the celebration thereof THe time between New-years-day and the tenth of the same moneth upon which they keep the feast of Reconciliation is called by Jews the ten penitential dayes for which space they fast and pray very much and are wonderful desirous to become holy and religious that if God should have written any of their names in the book of death and determined to afflict their souls with an unfortunate year he might at the contemplation and sight of their penitent life and practise of good works repent him of the evil and have mercy upon them transcribing their names in the book of life and sealing the judgement Every morning so long as these dayes endure while it is as yet very early they confesse their sins three several times do not proceed to the excommunication of any one neither do they call any man into judgement or force any one to take an Oath Upon the ninth day they forsake their beds betimes in the morning frequent the Synagogue sing and pray So soon as they return home every male old and young takes a Cock and every woman a Hen into their hands the master of the family doing likewise and saying these words Foolish men are plagued for their offence and because of theâ—r wickednesse Their soul abhorred all manner of meat and they were even at deaths door So when they cried unto the Lord in their trouble he delivered them out of their distresse He sent forth his word and healed them and they were saved from their destruction O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodnesse and declare the wonders that he doth for the children of men that they would offer unto him the sacrifice of thanksgiving and tell out his works with gladnesse And again If there be a messenger with him or an interpreter one of a thousand to declare unto man his righteousnesse then will he have mercy upon him and will say Deliver him that he go not down into the pit for I have received a reconciliation that is a Cock which shall be a reconciliation unto me When he hath ended this his repetition he finisheth the reconciliation waving the Cock three times about his head and saying at every time This Cock shall serve instead of me he shall succeed in my stead who deserve death he shall be my reconciliation he shall die for me but I shall enter into life and blisse with them that are righteous in Israel Amen This he doth three times as was said before once for himself once for his children and once for strangers which sojourn with him according to the custome of the high Priest in ancient dayes as it is recorded in the third book of Moses In the next place he takes the Cock and kills him and drawing and gathering the skin together about his neck first meditates with himself that he is worthy to have his own throat cut for his sinnes and offences and then cutting the Cocks throat thinks himself worthy to be punished with the sword After this he takes the cock and with all his might throws him upon the ground thereby signifying that he deserves to be stoned to death for his sins and wickedness lastly he puts him upon the spit and roasts him thereby giving others to understand that to be burnt in a fiery furnace doth not equalize his desert These four kindes of death the poor Cock undergoes for his Master The intrals out of commiseration they commonly cast upon the house top that it may also be partaker of such a sacrifice Others say that they do it because sin is rather an internal then an external thing and that it cleaves fast to the bowels of the Cock some Crows coming by may claw them up and flee away with them into the wildernesse even as the scape-Goat in the Old Testament ran away with the sins of the people into the Desert They take all possible pains and care to procure a white Cock for the sacrifice They will by no means admit of a red one because such an one is full of sins seeing sin it self is red also as it is written Come now
of God and a good work to fill their Panches and cram their Guts this night with the Cocks and Capons and soundly to liquor their throats then to fast the day following Alwayes provided that supper be ended before sun-set for then the feast of reconciliation begins and they are to dress themselves in neat and fine cloathing upon which they weare a surplice or garment of choise linnen coming down unto their feet hereby shewing unto other that the next day they shall be pure and clean from their sins and offences and like unto the Angels These garments they put on in honour to the festival the celebration of which consists not in eating and drinking being sottishly ignorant that the worship of God is of more worth then either Hence it is that the Lord complains by the mouth of his Prophet Hear O heavens and harken O earth for the Lord hath said I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me The Oxe knoweth his owner and the Asse his masters crib but Israel hâ—th not known my people have not understood Ah sinful nation ab people laden with iniquity a seed of the wicked corrupt children they have forsaken the Lord they have provoked the holy one of Israel to anger they are gone backward What have I to doe with the multitude of your Sacrifices saith the Lord Hosea also saith O I srael return unto the Lord thy God for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity Take unto you words and turn unto the Lord and say unto him Take away all our iniquity and receive us graciously and so will we render unto thee the calves of our lips So much of the preparation to the feast of reconciliation CHAP. XXI Of the Feast of Reconciliation COncerning the institution of this feast we may finde it recorded in the third book of Moses that the tenth day of the siventh moneth shall be a day of reconciliation it shall be an holy convocation unto you speaking to the Israelites you shall humble your soules and offer sacrifice made by fire unto the Lord And ye shall do no work that same day for it is a day of Reconciliation to make an attonement for you before the Lord your God For every person that humbleth not himself the same day shall even be cut off from his people And every person that shall doe any worke that same day the same person also will I destroy from among his people Ye shall do no manner of work therefore this shall be a law for ever in your generations throughout your dwellings By reason of this injunction and command the Jews at this day are wont to meet in their Synagogue about sunset before it be night carying with them their wax lights and placing them in their Candlesticks singing and praying with a beastly roaring and bellowing outcries The women which stay at home to keep the house light many candles in the bed chambers and other places blessing them and stretching out both their hands towards them as they do also upon the sabbath hereby making a difference between the festival dayes and others appointed for ordinary employments and manual labours If these lights burn clear they take it as a very good signe of some consequent hap believing that their sins are remitted that they shall see many happy dayes and not come as yet into the prison of the grave If they give not a clear light but that which is only glimmering dark and obscure if they melt away the tallow or wax distilling drop by drop then they begin to be sorrowful conjecturing this to be a signe of some evill ready to befall them They spread their floores pavements and hearths with Coverlets in some places as in Wormes they straw their hearths with rushes only lest they upon the day following by often stooping to the fire to chafe and rub themselves might defile and spot their holiday attire or otherwise lest they should seem to commit Idolatry which is altogether unlawful the reason hereof is that which is written You shall not pave your pavement with stone to bow and prostrate your selves thereupon That it is said in the forecited text of Moses that they ought to humble themselves before the Lord they understand to be meant of a five-fold kinde of pleasure from which they are to abstain And first of all from meat and drink even from sunset to ssnset from the beginning to the ending of the solemnity Boyes above twelve and wenches above eleven years of age women also who have been above three dayes in child-bed are not exempted from this fast A sick man may eat lawfully if he desire it If not the Physitian thinking it meet and convenient for the regaining of his health meat is to be administred unto him Secondly every one is bound to goe without shoes barefoot only it is permitted unto old decrepit and sickly persons to whose health the coldness of the season may bring hurt and dammage Thirdly no man ought at this time to annoint himself with oyle or wash his body with water for pleasures sake Fourthly no man must enter into a bath to wash himself no he may not be allowed to dip his finger in the water much less to wash his hands or face Yet if any have occasion to ease himself after the deed done he may dip his fingers into the water so that he goe no farther then the formost joynt Some take a wet linen cloth and make clean their hands therewith yet it is accounted as a thing very dangerous and neerly coming within the confines of an offence for if the cloth should chance to be so wet as the drops of water might be pressed out of it it were enough to prophanâ— the festival Fiftly the men must not come at their wives no not so much as touch them and keep themselves out of their company as though they were in their monethly flowers Before they begin their solemn prayers usually made by them after sunset at the begining of this festival three of the chief Rabbines walking through the Synagogue saying with a loud voice Bischibhah schel mahelah ubischibhah schel mattah etc. the meaning of which words is that they give power and license to the whole congregation as well to the bad as the good among them to pray unto God To this end also the Chaunter goes unto the Ark where the book of the law is kept opens it and saies a long prayer which begins Col nidere Vaâ—ssare uschehue that is to say All Vowes Covenants and Oaths c. the first part whereof he repeats three times every time with a more lofty and joy resounding voice then other The sum whereof is that all the vows oaths promises covenants asseverations and protestations which any one of the Jewish nation hath not kept the year past to be void remitted disanulled the breach thereof not to be acknowledged for an offence to be utterly taken away and pardoned
the Chasan or the Minister expounding the book of Esther reads it from end to end whereat the women and children ought to be present and give diligent attention and they have a custome that the little ones so often as Haman is named keep a vile stir and a tumultuous noise in the terrible and forcible explosion thereof In former times they were wont to provide themselves two stones upon one of which the name of Hamâ—â— was written These they did beat one against the other until the name was quite demolished and worn out which when they perceved they presently cried aloud Let his name be blotted out The name of the wicked shall rot Accursed be Haman Blessed be M â—rdecai Cursed be Zeresh the wife of Haman Blessed be Esther the wife Ahâ—suerus Cursed be all they that worship idols or the host of heaven Blessed be all the people of Isnael When the Lecturer comes to that place where mention is made of the ten sons of Hamau he is bound to read it with one breath for they write that all these sons of Haman perished in the twinkling of an eye and their souls in a very moment took their farewel of their beloved lodging the body They celebrate this Feast in a very voluptuous manner sousing their guts in wine and beer because Esther the Queen found favour and grace in the eyes of King Abasuerus when he sate at her banquet and obtained pardon for the Jews and a grant that they might stand for their lives And hence it comes to pass that for the space of these two dayes they busie themselves with no other things then eating and drinking smelling and bibbing dancing and piping singing and roaring ieasting and sporting riming and scoffing the women putting on mens apparrell and the men clothing themselves in womens attire which although it be expresly forbid in the law of Moses yet they make there one exception saying that it is lawful and no offence to practise it upon this day and this occasion seeing it is done by them only for worldly joy and recreation Rabbi Isaac â—irna in this Minhagim hath left in record to posterity that it is commanded as a work of great excellency to make merry as upon these dayes to goe a whoring to drink and be drunke yea in that measure that he cannot make any difference between Mordecai the blessed and Haman the accursed that is to say untill he be so besotted with the ale tappe that he cannot for his heart declare how many letters be contained in any of these words yea moreover any one is permitted at this time to poure in strong drink until he knowes not how many fingers he hath on either hand Which precept indeed is most diligently observed and kept according to the very rigour thereof by the Jews at this day and that chiefly by the beggerly crew to whom the richer sort send gifts and presents in a far greater measure then they do at other times to the end that one may not mock another for being drunk bein commanded and strictly prohibited to send away their meat and drink to any other end and purpose With these Bacchanal rites drunken fits and besotting beastliness they put an end to their annual feasts For this of Purim is the last festival in the year having no more until the feast of the passover If the Prophet Isaiah were alive at this day or should rise from the dead truly and really might he take occasion and that both forcible and urgent to cry out Woe and class unto them that rise up early to follow drunkenness and to them that continue until the night till the wine do inflame them CHAP. XXV Of the feasting dayes in use among the Jews HItherto we have treated of feasting fasting succeeds In the law of Moses there is only one fast commanded to be kept by the Jews which is upon the tenth of September upon which the feast of reconciliation is annually kept and celebrated as was formerly declared Besides this it is registred in ancient records that many other fasting dayes were instituted and ordained by the ancient Patriarchs and Prophets according as the time required And Zachary the Prophet who lived after the building of the second Temple makes mention of foure general fasts in these words Thus saith the Lord of hosts the fast of the fourth moneth the fast of the fifth and the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth shall â—e to the house of Judah joy and gladness The fast of the tenth moneth was usually and is to this day kept by the Jews upon the tenth day of the same to wit December because upon this Neâ—uchaddnezar began to besiege Jerusalem with armies and to afflict the Jews with great trouble and calamities The fast of the fourth moneth was and is kept to this day upon the seventeenth day thereof because upon this they endured many great afflictions which are not yet disgested For as upon this day the tables of the law were broken the daily sacrifice ceased the book of the law was burnt an Idol the abomination of desolation was set up in the holy place the temple of Jerusalem The city it self besieged the second time overthrown and taken For these causes the Jews in these our dayes fast very devoutly begin seriously and earnestly to repent them of their former life if a man may believe the external gesture from which it is no doubt but their heart is too too much a roving The dayes following this fast even unto the ninth day of the next moneth are accounted ominous and unfortunate upon these no school-master must dare to whip his boyes If any Jew also have a case to be tried by the law between him and a Christian at this time he seeks all manner of evasion and excuse that he may not appear before the Judg untill these dayes be expired fearing lest his cause should fail and not prove good and he be overthrown therein The fast of the fift moneth is kept upon the ninth day of July because upon this very day the temple was burnt and turned into ashes In the time here of they goe barefoot sitting upon the earth reading doleful stories and the lamentations of Jeremy They goe into the place of burial where they sob out their doleful accents of grief and sorrow amidst the sorrowful consort of departed souls bewailing the desolations of their beautiful temple with sighs and grones for a moneth together From the first day until the tenth they neither eat flesh nor drink wine they enter not the bath wash their face or hands or suffer any rasor to come upon their head They do not make any marriages appear not in judgment but sore against their wills complaining and crying out that they had never any good hap or fortune in this moneth which they prove out of the Prophet Hosea saying A moneth shall devoure them with their portions Upon
the eighth day they feed only upon lentiles in signe of sorrow and heaviness but they will neither eat beans nor pease because they have a certain black stroke in their upper parts much like unto a mouth but they eat lentiles and egges also such have no such linâ— upon them neither any representation of a mouth and therefore do best decipher and figure out a man ful of grief and sorrow who sits still and sayes nothing as though he had no mouth at all A most Rabbinical allusion At night they eat but little continually sitting upon the ground if any thing then it must be an egge rosted which they do likewise in signe of sorrow for as an egge is round and in figure circular so is sorrow also running after the manner of a round body now to this man now to that Bed-time being come they lay themselves to rest upon a harder couch then at other times He that formerly used two pillows is now content with one He that formerly used one only casts it away and will not admit of any for soft feather and down-bed they embrace some bone pinching mattress and for sheets of the choisest lawne those which are hurden The fourth fast which is the fast of the seventh moneth is kept upon the third day of September because that good and excellent man Gedaliah which was by Nebuchadnezar set over the remnant of the Jews that were left of the captivity of Babylon was in a miserable and fraudulent manner slain as upon this day as Jeremy the Prophet beareth witness These are the foure general feasts usually kept by the Jews in the dayes of Zachary and also by the dispâ—rsed remnant yearly in these our times Besides these general fasts they have some more particular not kept by the whole Congregation of Israel in general but by every one apart at certain times according as they desire to become holy and religious Thus some of them fast every munday and thursday through the year as that proud Pharisee whereof our Saviour makes mention in the new Testament who bragged and boasted that he fasted twice every week Secondly some use to fast upon the tenth of March for Miriam the Prophetess who died upon this day upon whose departure the fountains in the wilderness did dry up so that the children of Israel wanted water and sinned in murmuring against the Lord yet many of the Rabbines are against this fast that every one ought to abstain from fasting in the moneth of March because therein God wrought their deliverance out of Egypt the remembrance whereof ought to cheer them up to joy and gladness Thirdly they fast for the most part upon the tenth of April because Eli and his sons died upon this day the Arke of the Covenant was taken by the hands of the Philistines and the glory departed from Israel Fourthly many of them fast upon the twenty eighth day of April because Samuel died thereupon They have also diverse other fasts which they keep by reason such wise men and Prophets changed this life for a better upon those dayes whereon they observe and keep them Some fast also upon every evening of the new moone Others so often as they have any fearful and unfortunate dreams He whose father is dead fasts yearly upon the day whereon he departed this life And many such like causes there are for which they abstain from meat at several times When they fast they abstain from all kinds of meat and drink from morning untill the stâ—s appear which were a true and laudable fast indeed if it were performed with a devout heat and minde in the fear of God and refeâ—red to that end which the Scripture prescribes But this kinde of fasting noâ— of the Prophets could never by the hammer of perswasion beat into their hearts and heads It is written in Medrasch rabba in the Chapter vezos habbetachah that ever and anon so soon as Moses saw that God would inflict some punishment upon him he appointed himself a fast making himself a cheese-cake as big as his own body put on sackloth sprinkled ashes on his head and going into the foresaid pie or cheese-cake fasting and praying without intermission did determine not to depart thence untill God had reversed and made void the sentence pronounced against him This fable smels of the Talmud in which it is written that a certain godly and religious Jew called Chon Hammagal did fast after the manner of Moses so often as he desired some great and weighty matter at the hands of God When upon a certain time it had not rained at any time throughout the whole moneth of February and rain was necessary that men might receive the fruits of the earth in due season the foresaid Chon fasted and prayed shutting himself up in such a pie or cake as in close prison and saying O Lord of the world thy childrens eyes are all upon me knowing that I am as dear unto thee as any son can be to a father I swear therefore by thy holy name that I will not goe out hence untill thou have mercy upon thy people Then the Lord sent a gracious rain upon his inheritance Habbacuck the Prophet also practised the like and hereupon he saith I will stand upon my watch tower and set me upon the tower and will look and see what he will say unto me and what I shall answer to him that rebuketh me that is to say I stand in my pie or chees-cake expecting untill thou make me answer how it comes to pass that the wicked do so prolong their life as Rabbi Kimchi comments upon the place So miserable are these poor seduced Jews in this manner deluded and given over to a reprobate sence so that they cannot blush at any thing neither are sensible of any gripes of conscience while they speak so grosly and vainly of God and his word interpret the Scripture according to the fancies of their brain and their own good pleasure This superstition and abuse in fasting had a strong head even in the dayes of the Prophets Whereupon Zachary reproves their false fast and prescribes the true for to the priests and people asking him Shall I weep in the fift moneth and separate my self as I have done these many years He answers in Gods name and saith when you fasted and mourned in the seventh moneth and in the fift even these seventy years did ye fast unto me and do I approve it And when you did eat and when you did drink did you not eat for your selves and drink for your selves should ye not hear the words which the Lord hath cried by the ministry of the former Prophets when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity and the cities thereof round about her when the south and the plain was inhabited Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts saying execute true judgment and shew mercy and compassion every man upon his brother and oppress not
the widow or the fatherless the stranger nor the poor and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in his heart But they refused to harken and pulled away the shoulder and stopped their ears that they should not hear Yea they made their hearts as an adamant stone lest they should hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts sent in his spirit by the ministry of the former Prophets therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts Therefore it came to pass that as he cried and they would no heare so they cried and I would not hear saith the Lord of hosts So much shall suffice to be spoken concerning the Ceremonies used by the Jews upon their holidayes and festivals for hereby may any man easily pereive that their faith and belief is not grounded upon Moses and the Prophets but upon the traditions of tht Scribes and Rabbines which I have desired to shew from the very beginning of this treatise It followeth that we should now treat of other matters belonging to their private and domestical life CHAP. XXVI Of their difference of meats and the boyling of them and of their new kitchin veslels THe Jews living in divers parts of the world at this day observe a main difference in the boyling and eating of fish flesh and milk-meats Which practise of theirs they ground upon those words of Moses Thou shalt not boile a kidd in his mothers milke Hence it is that they have written divers commentaries and expositions upon this text concerning the using of flesh hony and other viands Their kitchin boyling vessels are of two sorts the one whereof is appointed for the secthing of flesh the other for milke Their milke vessels have three peculiar marks upon them if they be of wood then they give them three several cuts whereby they may be distinguished from others and this they do because the forecited verse is found three times in the law of Moses Hereupon it also comes to pass that a Jew continually carries about him two knives one for flesh and another for cheese and fish which have also three several markes or stamps upon them If through negligence one vessel should be taken for another and the contrary thing boiled therein then it is not lawful for any Jew to eat thereof breaking the vessels if they be of earth but washing them with water if they be of wood and that in a most exact manner If they be of iron they cast them into the fire suffering them there to abide until they be fully purified It is enacted that flesh and milke must not be boiled together at the same time over the same fire neither are they to be set on the table one opposite or over against another but ought to be separated by something put between them and to this end they spread one cloth for the dishes furnished with flesh another for those wherein cheese and milke are served in He that eates either pottage or flesh he may not be allowed for a whole houres space to eat butter or cheese or any milke-meats Yea moreover they who would be accounted precise indeed make six whole hours distances It is lawful for any one to eat a hen with almond milke If any one love milke so well that he cannot abstain from it an especial dispensation is granted him to taste thereof sooner then ordinary so that he pick his teeth accurately and Spaniard like wash his mouth and eat a crust of bread to take away the tast of the flesh If the fat of any thing fall into any dish of meat boiled in milke that meat is prohibited to be eaten Yet if the meat be sixty times more in quantity then the fat then may it lawfully serve for the sufficing of any mans appetite An egge must not be boiled in a pan or pot in which flesh is sod If they desire to have their egges poched they first break them into a platter or poure them out of one shell into another having a diligent care and provident espial that no drop of blood be in them And this is the reason why the Jews alwayes open their egges at the top because in that place there is often found a veine of a bloody colour If in carving up a hen they finde any egges within her they use them not until they be mollified in water and salt It is a hainous offence to set fish and flesh at the same time upon one table as also to boile them in the same pan much more to eat them together for the leprosie follows as a reward of the fact Therefore they either wash their mouth or hands between the eating of flesh and fish or else they eat an apple or piece of bread between the eating of the one and handling of the other Briefly it is accounted as a great point of wisdom among the Jews rightly to distinguish the kindes of meat hence when some difficulties object themselves unto their view they goe for a solution to the learned Rabbines All their kitchin vessels whether of gold silver tin or lead brass or copper if they can endure the fire they are to be purged by fire if not by water according to the command of Moses Whatsoever will abide the fire you shall make it go through the fire and it shall be cleansed and whatsoever will not pass through the fire you shall make it to pass through the water The Talmudists upon these words infer that such vessels ought to be cast into a cesterne or pit where a menstrous woman hath washed her self in the time of her uncleanness because such women in the Hebrew tongue are called Niddoth and the water of separation Me niddoth Here the Jews give an evident demonstration that an Asse may be known by his eares from any other creature for the forecited words of Moses make not mention of vessels in general but of that particular houshold-stuffe which the children of Israel took in way of prey form their enemies the Midianites which at that time were a prophane ungodly and reprobate people And therefore when Moses made the people to purge and purifie every thing they had taken in battle partly by fire partly by water according as the condition of the thing it selfe would suffer his desire was to signifie unto them that they onght by no means to make any use of the Midianites goods unless they were first of all cleansed and sanctified Finally because at this day the Jews will not use any vessel belonging to a Christian unless it be first purged in the foresaid manner they hereby clearly shew unto the world the opinion they have of us to wit that in their judgment we are not a jot more pure or holy then those people which the Lord banished the land of Canaan for their sins and wickedness in in the â—ost of their writings calling us impure and proâ—ane Gentiles CHAP. XXVII Of the manner how they kill their Beasts
hands under which they were to receive the blessing that the Angels became the Minstrels playing divers tunes upon Trumpets Pipes and other instruments that Adam Eve and God himself might dance In this balsphemous manner writes he that is the Author of that book called Bricum Spigelium printed some few years ago at Cracovia in Poland the German tongue and Hebrew letter which book contains many reprehensoâ—y and moral precepts and is of great esteem among the Iews at this day I finde it registred in the Talmud that God only made tresses for Eve which they prove out of those words and God built which the Rabbines read plaited and hence the Iews at this day call the plaits of a womans hair Biniasâ— which in English signifies a building from the Hebrew word Banah which signifies to build which signification Moses also gives unto it when he saith The Rib which the Lord God had taken from man thereof he built a womâ—n and brought her to Adam Which the Rabbines being Commentators must carry this sense that God plaâ—ted Eves hair and brought her unto Adam leaping and dancing as he came along Surely if there were but the least sparke of true knowledge they would blush and be ashamed to utter these blasphemous sayings before the world but God in his just judgment hath smitten them with blindness that seeing they will not see and hearing they will not understand We leave them therefore an return to our matter The time being come when the blessing due unto the married couple is to be given unto them foure boyes take the Canopie which is fastened to foure posts and wooden pillars and carry it into the street or garden where the solemnity is to be kept whither the bridegroom comes being attended with many men following him at his heels After him followes the bride and her damsels with sackbuts timbrels and other musical instruments seating her self by her spouse under the Canopie This Canopie they call by the name of Chuppah which signifies a cover or shelter When every man and woman there present have taken their places then every one begins to cry out Baruch habba Blessed is he that cometh Which said the Bride being led by others is to compass and circle about her bridegroom three several times as a Cock doth when he is about to tread a hen because it is said A woman shall compass a man Then the bridegroom takes his bride and leads her once about the floore in a circle the people in the mean time casting wheat or other grain upon the bride and saying encrease and multiply hereby signifying that peace and abundance of riches in housekeeping shall befall them according to that of the Psalmist He maketh peace in thy borders an filleth thee with the flower of wheat In some places they mingle mony among their wheat which the poorer sort gather for their own relief The Bride is to stand upon the right hand of the Bridegroom because it is written Kings daughters were among thy honourable women at thy right hand did stand the Bride in a vâ—sture of golde She must turn her face towards the South because it is a tradition of the Rabbines that whosoever placeth his bed in that manner that he lying there in his face shall be towards the South not towards the North shall be the father of many children The Rabbine who marries and joynes them together in the bond of matrimony takes the skirt of the hair-cloth or garment by them called Tallith a which the Bridegroom wears about his neck and puts it upon the head of the Bride which is occasioned by that saying of Ruth to Boaz Spread the wing of thy garment over thy â—andmaid for thou art the kinsman and that of Ezekiel I passed by thee and looked upon thee behold thy time was as the time of love and I spread my skirts over thee and covered thy filthiness yea I sware unto thee and entred into a Covenant with thee and thou becamest mine In the next place he takes a glass of wine which they call the bride-boule blesseth it giving thanks unto God that the Bride and the Bridegroom by his instinct have given their consent to be joyned together in the bond of matrimony and reaching out the cup unto them commands them to drink thereof If the Bride be a virgin then the cup must have a narrow mouth if a widow a large one at Wormes they use an earthen cup as also at other places After that they have both tasted of the cup The Rabbine takes the wedding-ring from the Bridegroom which is made of pure gold yet having no jewel in it and calling some witnesses shews them the ring and asketh whether it be a good one and worth the mony that was given for it and then puts it upon the Brides finger repeating the letters of contract with a loud voice Which being ended he takes another glass of wine blessing and praying over it giving thanks unto God that the Bride and Bridgroom had mutually accepted one of another Then reaching them the Cup and bidding them drink thereof which when they have done accordingly the Bridegroom takes the Cup and throws it against the wall in remembrance of the ruinated temple of Jerusalem In some places they are wont to throw ashes upon the Bridegrooms head for the same end and purpose And hence also it comes to pass that the Bridegroom wears upon his head a hood of a black colour such an one as mourners use and the Bride a cloak all rough and hairy able to fright a childe out of its wits to shew unto us that in their greatest jollity they ought to afflict and humble themselves for the desâ—lations of their City and Temple Thus they walk in garments which may shaddow out much sadness but in their hearts they have not sance not feeling thereof Proving the necessity of this trifling outside sorrow from the words of the Psalmist Serve the Lord in fear and rejoyce unto him with reverence That this their marriage or coupling together is celebrated abroad in open aire without covert the reason is because they ought to multiply even as the stars of heaven for multitude When the marriage is ended they sit down to dinner the Bridgroom must say grace and is bound to sing a long prayer and thanksgiving and the sweeter he sings the better he pleaseth his bride and indeed he doth it rather out of pride and to please her then for any glory to God While he is singing others are calling for the hens to be brought and set upon the table The Brides mess consists of an henn and egge served in together in one dish the Bridegroom carves a little of the hen and gives it to his bride which so soon as he hath laid upon her trencher the rest of the guests behaving themselves more like hungry dogs then men catching at and with both hands pulling in pieces the
signifies breath of spirit wind c. d Parascha The Rabbines in their bâ—okes cite not the places according to the chapters but according to sections for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a section or a distinct part of any thing fâ—om 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying to divide separate or distinguish The two first words of the Section usually stand for the name thereof there Parascha or Section is either noted with three great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phe or with three great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Samech The letter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 notes out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an open and plain Section The letter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a closed or Section shut up not in the resPect Of the things themselves but manner of writing For if the Section begin at the beginning of the line it is called an open Section because a greater space is list A close Section is when 〈◊〉 he Section begins in the middle of the line and the space of three letters is only vacant Of this sort there is one which is noted by a little 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sarech which is the last Section on of the Book of Genesis beginning chap. 47. veis 2â— The reason according to the Rabbines is because it is the seale and closre of this booâ— the Law and the Prophets till the comming of the Messias The whole Law is divided into 54. Sections Vide Buxtorf de Parasch Artic 3. a Rambam the 4 capitall laters of the former name briefly neting R Moses Bar Mâ—â—mon which kind of 〈◊〉 the Râ—â—bines were câ—monly graceâ— with 〈◊〉 begun to 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 liber fundamenti contning the grounds of the Jews Religion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sigâ—â—fies a foundation with the Rabbanes It was fiâ—t prined at Venice An. D. 1425. and then at Lublin iâ— Poland 1567. a Nitzachon signisies as much as victory from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 natzach to overcome as though Sipman in this book bad triumphed over the four Evangelists The cause of Jewish superstition a This is the thorah begnal peh above mentioned Tract Saned cap. 11. Isa. 60. 21. Surely the Papists had their puâ—gatory from hence a that is to say holy b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cadus farinae that is a barrel of meale the title taken 1. Kin 17. 14 a booke containing the common places of Divinity in folio Printed at Venice The Jewes Beliefe concerning the resurrection Isa. 26. 14. Ib. v. 19. Tract Tosch hallchanah or of the new year c. 1. Da◠〈…〉 Iesa 65. â—â— Gen. 47. 29. The cause why Jacob would not be buried in Egypt a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tzaddikim The Jews were dissinguished into three ranks 1. Chasidim called the Assidins 2. The Tzaddikim just men 3. The Relchagnim ungodly mentafter the captivity the Chasidim began to be distinguished from the Tzaddikim these gave themselves to the study of the Scripture thus to adde to the Scripture these conformed themselves to the Law they would be holy above the Law and were termed by the name of good men these of all others had the best repute and love among the people hence the Apostle illâ— istratâ—th the love of Christ by alluion to this distinction Rom. 5. 6 7. Some peradventure would die for one of the Chasidim a good man scarcely any for any of the Tzaddikim a just man for the Reschagnim or uâ—godly none would die yet Christ died for us sinners Mr. Goodwin out of David Kinchi upon Ps. 103. 17. Pirk aboth cap. 13. * Ezak 37. 12. The Jewish division of Moses his Law Isa 24. 5. Brand spiegelium cap. 13. 15. a Keter a Crown or a King Cap from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Pihel to encompasse because it encompasseth the head Jer. 3325. b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Berith a covenant from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cligere to chuse because the covenant was made with Gods elect or from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is clearnisse because it clears the conscience of good men R. Haradosch affirms the same number to be contained in the word breath which in the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jesu Mariae This among the Kabalists is no vulgar number intimating Jesus the Son of Mâ—ry to be the authour of the Covenant Isa. 3. 10. Prov. 7. 2. Soph. 3. 4. The causes of Jewish obstinacie Esa. 1. 4. Esa. 48. 4. Ezek. 2. 4. Ezek. 16. Esa 6. 10. Deur 28. 15. 28 29. The cause of Jewish obtinacy Esay 29 18. Mark 7. Mat. 5. a See the Exposition of this word in the Chapter of circum ision b The Exposition also of this word shall follow in its due place c Masorah is that critical doctrine invented of the ancient Hebrews for the clearing of the Hebr. text whereby they summed up the verses words and letters in it to this end that every one might learne to read it aright it also might for over be preserved from corruption Elias Levita Prefat 3. lib. sui masoreth The word is derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tradere which is to deliver so that Masorah signifies as much as a doctrine delivered by hand or mouth unto another Buxtorf Com. Masor cap. 1. Rabbi Eliezer cap. 40. Deut. 4 14. Rabbi Aben Ezra R Salomon Jarchi R. Bechai and others on this place * That is the Christians * They mean 〈◊〉 the Jews Dansi 1.8 â—â— a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kabalah from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lo receive the mysticall Dvinity of the Jews a Doctâ—ine delivered by word of mouth and so received concerning the hidden mysteries of the Law of God There are two parts of it the first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speculative the second 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 practick which hath also three parts Gematria Notarikon Temurah Gematria is a word corrupted from the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so called because it considers a word according to the number which the Letters thereof contain and is that part of the Kabala whereby divers words containing the same number may one be explained by another for example it is written Abac. he 3. 2. In anger remember 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mercy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in numbers makes 248 so much also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as though he bad said in mercy remember Abraham and the Covenant made with him Notarikon a word corrupted from the Latines notatioâ— is that part of the Kabala which considers the Letters of every significative word as they note out others in particular so the name ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Machabeus notes out the following words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who is like unto thee among the gods O Lord Exod. 15. 11. the name Adam notes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dust bloâ—d and gall dust in respect of corruptibility blood in respect of his vitality gall in respect of bis calamity or as Saint Cyprian the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 notes out the four parts of
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