dinner and supper Which if they reckon right make up the sum At the saying of the Benediction for Gods giving them the Law they stand up with their heels joyn'd together and their toes opened bowing their heads toward Hierusalem They have also a Prayer which is said by the Priest alone wherein he desires God that he would be pleased to pardon all those who have been negligent and unattentive at the time of Prayer But I could not finde this Prayer in their Breviary though with some curiosity I perused it to that purpose Besides the Sabbath they keep Monday and Thursday as weekly Holy days On each of which they read three Sections of the Law the first by a Koên whom they suppose to be descended of Aaron the second by a Reputed Levite and the third Section by a Common Jew As concerning the keeping of Monday and Thursday Holy and reading the Law thereon as well as on the Sabbath after a more Solemn manner the Vulgar Jews give no other account thereof but Custom and the Pleasure of the Masters But those who pretend to give a Rationale of their Rites refer it to an Institution of Ezdras grounded upon the peoples wandring three dayes without water in the Desart of Sur in memory whereof he appointed the Law to be thrice solemnly read every week Now to be without water say they is to be without the Law for which interpretation they bring Esay 55.1 Others think that Thursday and Monday are set apart for the solemn Lesson of the Law in memory of Moses's going the second time into the Mountain to renew the Tables of the Law which hapned say the favourers of this Opinion upon a Thursday and to have returned thence upon a Monday Upon which dayes some of the preciser sort keep a strict Fast like those in St. Luke 18. and in all probability for the same end On these two dayes they have besides the usual Office a proper Prayer which from the first words thereof bears the title of Vehu-rachum which is said with singular attention Of old this Prayer used to work Miracles but by reason of some great delinquency in the present Jews it has lost this Efficacy CHAP. XV. Their Ceremonies about the Book of the Law Their Manner of Celebrating the Sabbath The Offices which thereon are Solemniz'd c. IT is a Canon strictly observed by the Jews That a Book of the Law is necessary to the Constitution of a Synagogue And therefore the first thing they provide in order to set up a Synagogue is a Copy of the Law and a Chest or Ark wherein to lay it up Now that which is called the Book of the Law is The Pentateuch written in a large Character on Parchment which is dressed according to the manner of the Phylacteries The Parchment is rolled up upon two staves to make it the more convenient to be carried in Procession It is also usually wrapt up in a covering of Linnen Silk Tissue c. As for the piece of Tapistry pictured with divers Birds which was the old-fashion'd Covering of the Ark the Jews in Barbary use no such thing for they abhor all manner of Imagery in their Service as minding them of the Idolatry of their Fathers for which they conceive themselves to be still punished and also out of an averseness to be thought to imitate those Christians who have offensively introduced Pictures into their Oratories not only for Ornament but Veneration But to return to the Law The Jews pay the five Books of Moses so great a Reverence that they never suffer them to be taken out of the Chest or looked upon but on three dayes namely Monday Thursday and Sunday when they are read and this too in the Morning because it is esteemed the purest part of the day 'T is true they use also to show the Law to the people on the Sabbath-night but it is because the whole day is hallowed The taking out of the Law belongs to a Noted Rabbi or in his absence to one of the more ancient and Devouter Jews But to carry it in Procession within the Synagogue is sold to him who is able to give most for the Place As we have observed in the Officers of the Synagogue At the taking out of the Law the Officer turns himself to the people and repeats this Versicle Come and extol God with me and let us praise his Name together And at the Elevation of the Law the people bow their Faces toward it and make a long Respond wherein they declare their own vileness and magnifie the Majesty of God And when the Rabbi holds up the Law and opens it he speaks these words This is the Law which Moses laid before the Children of Israel and which proceeded from God whose ways are all just The word of the Lord is pure and a defence to all those who believe it When the Law is carried from the Ark to the place where it is appointed to be read all the people there present sing the Hymn of Moses Numb 10.35 Rise up Lord and let thine Enemies be scatter'd and let them that hate thee flee before thee By which they wish and pray for the Destruction of all those who are not of their Religion When they carry the Law either to the Reading-place or in Procession there is always one who steps up to him that carries it and kisseth the Covering thereof for it were to defile the Law to kiss either the Letters thereof or the Parchment whereon they are written And he who doth this with a Voice moderately elevated blesseth God for having made the Jews his peculiar people and that he hath given them his Law When the Book returns from Procession and has put on its Coverings all the Males in the Synagogue kiss it in Order as the Papists do their Pax and when they have done the Officer gives the Book an Elevation and so lays it up in the Chest And as it returns thither they say the words of Moses at the resting of the Ark Numb 10.36 Return O Lord unto the ten thousand thousands of Israel The Pentateuch is divided into fifty two Sections to the end that it may be read over upon the fifty two Sundaies in the Year And in reading it they are bound to be very plain audible and articulate Because every tittle thereof is of singular weight and moment The last Lesson constantly falls upon September the twenty fifth which immediately follows the Feast of Tabernacles And when this Section is read over the Chasans or those who read the Law declare a great joy and satisfaction that they lived to make an end of the Annual Lesson They also praise God that notwithstanding the many Miserie 's befaln them they are still in possession of the Law in which all other Blessings are abridg'd On the day when this last Section is read all the Copies of the Law are brought forth of the Ark about which the people dance in
For they are so generally fruitful that she who proves otherwise is said to have no Mazal in the Firmament or to have been married under no good Planet And as the Jewish Women in this Country are fruitful in Children so they are laudably decent in their Travails observing therein such orderly deportment as is agreeable to all well civilized humanity 'T is true the Rabbins who too much play the Poets with all their Rites have not forborn even those of Child-birth but have devised several fabulous Stories and impertinent Rites concerning it A taste whereof we shall here insert for the satisfaction of the Inquisitive And in the first place the Rabbins have appointed that the Father of the Family or any other religious Jew in his stead upon the approach of Child-birth shall draw several Circles in the Chamber of the impregnate as also upon the doors both within and without on the walls and about the bed Inscribing every Circle with these words Adam Chava chutz Lilis that is Adam Eve be gon Lilis The meaning of which Conjuration depends upon the right understanding of what is meant by Lilis Now the Jews are not unanimous in their account hereof yet the best we could collect take as foloweth When God had made Adam and saw that it was not good for him to be alone he created a Woman and gave him her for a Wife and she was called Lilis But being no sooner brought unto Adam than she began to brawle and contend and would not acknowledge that power over her wherewith Adam was invested And when he advised her of her subjection and that she ought to obey his commands she insultingly replyed That subjection arose from inequality and therefore could have no place between them who were equal by Creation And in this pelting and quarrelsom humour they lived so long that Lilis foreseeing little likelyhood either of its ending or amendment she named The most Holy Name and thereupon was immediately rapt out of Adam's sight into the Air. Adam seeing this suddain departure of his Wife is said thus to have addressed himself unto God O King of the World the Wife which thou gavest me has forsaken me Hereupon three Angels Senoi Sanfenoi and Saumangeloph were commanded to pursue and bring her back and to threaten her with severe punishments in case she refused The Angels pursuing overtook her at the Sea wherein afterwards the Egyptians were drowned which then was stormy and tempestuous But Lilis refused to return and pleaded that she was not made to be subject to any Man but that the design of her Creation was to molest and destroy the Male-Children for eight daies and the Female for twenty after their Birth But the Angels not approving her reasoning they endeavoured to force her to return but perceiving in her a shreud resistance they agreed to dismiss her upon this Condition That she should never hurt any Infants wherever she saw their Names written And to this end the Jews use to write the Angels Names in a Table or Parchment and to hang them for Amulets about their Childrens Necks As to the inscribing of the foremention'd Circles with Adam Eve chutz Lilis they imply that if the Mother bring forth a boy God would not give him such a brawling Wife as Lilis but one like Eve who would be mild and peaceable loving and obsequious and such an one as may build his house in Peace But enough of this story But the chief intent of these Circles is to fortifie the Chamber appointed for the Teeming woman against all Haggs and Goblins When the great Belly finds her pangs to be near she calls some discreet Matron to assist her delivery but she must be one of their own Religion For nothing but insuperable necessity can induce them to admit either Christian or Moorish Women to be at their Travails out of a jealousie that some mischief may befal the Child Nor is this the fancy only of the suspicious Mother but a strict prescription of their Masters who in no case but that wherein necessity gives a Dispensation will give leave that a strange Woman should be Midwife to a daughter of Israel When the Woman is brought to Bed the joy and festivity is according to the sex that is born At the birth of a daughter they use but little exultation because she cannot support the family which is extinct without Males Whence they have a saying The Family of the Mother is not called a Family And the Hebrew word for Woman is fetcht from a root signifying forgetfulness because the Fathers Family is forgotten in marriage of a daughter But if the Woman be delivered of a Boy there is great joy in the Family and the Father in testimony thereof presently begins the Feast for his Sons Circumcision which is never deferr'd beyond the eighth day unless want of health in the Child prevent it The first seven daies after the Childs Nativity are wholly spent in festival Entertainments at which none can be a Guest who has not past his thirteenth year Neither must there be fewer than ten at this Feast Upon the Eve of the Circumcision the Women visit their Gossip with whom they usually pass the whole night in mirth and freedom On purpose to console and recreate the Mother that she may not be over-troubled for the pains of her Sons Circumcision as also to prevent those mischiefs to which they imagine Childbed-women are very liable the seventh night after their Delivery CHAP. VII Of the Rites of Circumcision and Purification CIrcumcision has so peculiar a veneration among the present Jews that if all other parts of their Religion were to be changed this like Mount Sion would stand immoveable And though many other Nations of old and at this day the whole profession of Mahumedism use Circumcision yet none but the Hebrews embrace it as a Sacrament Concerning the figurative Circumcision of the Heart Lips and Ears whereof the Scripture makes mention there is no considerable disagreement among Christians or Jews nor is their harmony less about the literal Circumcision for both grant it to be of Divine Institution and appointed both for a signe and seal of the Covenant God made with the Jews as St. Paul Rom. 4.11 interprets Moses Gen. 17.11 But the discoursing of this point belongs not to this place whereby the Method we have proposed in this Treatise the modern Rites of Circumcision are plainly to be recounted And in the first place the Jews of whom I now write are very conformable in their observation of the time appointed for the celebration of Circumcision For where they enjoy the free exercise of their Religion they never defer it longer than the eighth day But they Circumcise indifferently at home or the Synagogue Though for the greater parade the wealthier Jews seldom neglect to carry their children to the Synagogue The chief Officer at Circumcision is the Mohel or he that Circumciseth who is not bound to be of the
custom which is at this day in request and practice among these Jews according to its first Institution Deut. 25. But if the surviving Brother refuse as he may to raise up seed to the deceased then they proceed to a very solemn separation which is after this manner The man who refuseth to pay this debt unto the dead is bound to take two well-reported Jews of the Neighbourhood and with them to go to his Brothers widow to whom he declares his resolution of not receiving her in Marriage or of not performing unto her the Duty of a husbands Brother This being done before the two credible persons whom we just now mention'd the widow accompanied with the same witnesses and three more makes her address unto the chief of the Synagogue who upon the receiving of her Petition appoints a day of hearing and both the parties according to Summons being present the chief of the Synagogue propounds several questions And first he demands of the widow How long her husband hath been dead whether three months be fully passed since his death for so much time is required to clear her from being with child by her late husband Next he demands Whether her husband left ever a brother behind him whether the man who is there present be his full brother and whether he be a single man After this the Master demands their Age and whether she thinks they are compotent for generation and whether the surviving Brother and the Defunct had both one Father These Proposals being directly answer'd unto by the woman the Master turns to the man and asks him whether the woman there present was his dead brothers wife and whether he will Marry her or suffer his shooe to be pulled off If he there declare again his refusal to Marry her they presently execute the Law and having first put and tyed a shooe on his right foot being bare the slighted widow looseth it with her right hand and saith calling the Synagogue or Congregation to witness it This my husbands brother refuseth to raise up seed unto his brother And then pulling off his shooe she contemptuously spits in his face saying So shall it be done to the Man that will not build up his brothers house Then the Rulers of the Synagogue with all that are present pronounce these words The shooe is taken off And from that time forward she is at liberty to Marry to whom she pleaseth It is required that all this be transacted when the woman is fasting and though not in Barbary yet in some other Nations she looseth the shooe with her teeth I have been informed that they have a Ritual of the whole process and a prescript Form which they call The pulling off of the shooe And that a Copy hereof is given to the woman which serves her for a Testimonial that her Separation was legal and that she may joyn her self in Wedlock to whom she has a mind But if possible the parties so accommodate the matter betwixt themselves that it seldome comes to this extremity For this mode of Separation is generally looked upon as reproachful and contumelious An Example of the Libellus eductionis Caleei I could by no endeavour yet obtain which I impute to the great cautiousness of the Jews in communicating any thing of this Nature to strangers lest it should reflect upon their Religion or be misconstrued to their Reproach CHAP. X. Of the Institution of their Children the time and manner thereof HAving already treated of the Jews Marriage with its several appendages and viewed their Childbirth and Circumcision the Method cannot be unnatural if we next enquire into the Education of those children by whom they hope to preserve Their Name in Israel And indeed the care of the Jews is very laudable in this particular there being not many people in the World more watchful to have their children early tinctured with Religion than the present Hebrews And there needs not many other reasons to be given of their unshaken adherence to their present Faith than that they are therein so timely and deeply grounded Nor is their diligence herein more commendable than their orderly Method for as soon as their children are able to pronounce they are taught such Sentences of Holy Writ as seem to favour their Religion and to infuse into them the feeds of Piety and Vertue And to this purpose they frequently make use of Solomon's Exhortatory Catechize a Child in the way that he should walk when he is young and his old age will not depart from it Now because the Jews in Barbary usually speak Moresco the Language of their Nativity and a sort of Spanish which inables them for Traffick lest they should fall into an utter oblivion of the Hebrew Tongue they are careful that the Rudiments be in that Speech And to facilitate their Childrens Learning thereof they usually teach them Hebrew for the Utensils of the House Terms of Traffick and Negotiation c. And by this Order they furnish the Children with a Nomenclature of Hebrew Words and all this before they admit them to Syntax and Construction Hence it is that in speaking Moresco and Spanish they so intermingle their first Vocabulary that thereby it is not easie to be understood But still the main Design of their early Instruction is especially spent in imprinting Religion upon the tender minds of their Children And because the Sabbath is appointed for the more Solemn Celebration and Instruction in Religious Rites and ordained to be one Character whereby the Hebrew people is distinguished from all other for these Reasons the Jews are signally diligent to implant into their Children a singular reverence thereof And to this end they employ the Morn and Even of this Queen of Feasts as the Masters call the Sabbath in teaching their Children several pious Forms of Saluting their Parents and others In which Greetings they permit not their Children to use the Name of God till they are seven years old that they may retain the greater veneration for that Name which is Holy and Reverend And therefore the first Salutations of the Children are plainly I wish you a good Sabbath May you have a good day c. When their Children are grown up to be fit for such Conversation as Talk and Play they permit them not the least Society with the Mahumedan Children but strictly forbid them their company that hereby they may timely possess them with an averseness towards all Mahumedism And this they practice out of a consideration that there is so great likeness between many of their own and the Moresco Customs that a Child may be easily induced to a promiscuous imbibing of either And as for the Divine Mysteries of Christianity the Jews represent them to their Children in such monstrous shapes that they are fitter for their affrightment than embraceing Besides they teach their Children that Christian Religion is so utterly destructive of their Ceremonies that they ought to avoid all fellowship
Sabbath Through all their Offices there is still something peculiarly relating to the hastening of Elias to the end that he may not only loose their knots or resolve their scruples but give them timely notice of the advent of the Messias But notwithstanding that their Offices for the Sabbath contain excellent things according to their way of Worship yet they have therein many things apparently trivial and ridiculous Of which we may give example in their praying over the Lamps Wine and Spices which are brought unto the Synagogue Where the Wine being consecrated it is carried home that therewith they may sprinkle their houses to preserve them from Witchcraft and Sorcerous Incantations Some likewise wash therewith the parts of the Body that are infirm and conceive that the consecrate Wine yields present cure The Spices also being hallowed are made use of to refresh the Soul that is left alone in the Body when the Sabbath is ended for on that day only they hold that every Male Jew has two Souls But the consecrate Wine and Spices have yet an higher purpose and vertue For with the Spices they refresh the Souls below on the week-dayes because the fire of Purgatory thereon is believed to send forth a very grievous stench And by pouring some of the consecrate Wine upon the ground they imagine Corah and his fellow-Mutineers to be assisted For they are of Opinion that that factious crew are still living in flames under ground It cannot be denyed that albeit the Sabbath Offices of the Jews are taken for the greater part out of Scripture but that they entertain a very Carnal sense thereof and that the whole Rest tends more to gratifie the Body than to serve God And to engross this Ease unto themselves and to show that the Sabbath was purposely appointed for their sakes and that none other have thereunto any right or title as also to declare their just Dominion over all other people in the world the Jews in Barbary imploy their Slaves in all manner of servile Offices upon this day And on it too give solemn thanks unto God That he has put no less difference between Israel and the Gentiles than between light and darkness the six days and the seventh Mr. Selden observes out of their Rabbins that there were three things peculiarly commanded the Israelites namely Circumcision the Tephillim and the Sabbath The first was expresly commanded Gen. 17. the second in Exod. 13. and the third Exod. 31. Now this last was so particularly commanded to the Israelites that the Jews think no Gentile has any share therein that they are not bound to its observation and therefore cannot be punished for the breach thereof And upon this account as we but now intimated they imploy their servants and slaves who are not of their Religion in every sort of drudgery upon the Sabbath that their Doctrine may be illustrated by their Practice And for a further Argument of the appropriation of the Sabbath to the Jews they wear thereon no Phylacteries because without those the Celebration of the Sabbath is thought sufficient to distinguish them from all other Religions in the World The Jewish Masters have raised no few disputes concerning the cause and reason of the Institution of the Sabbath with the persons to whom it belongs the time when its observation began together with its obligation both upon the Originarie and Proselyte Jews All which are industriously collected and learnedly discoursed by Mr. Selden lib. 3. cap. 10 11 12 13 c. de jure Nat. Gentium juxta Disciplinam Hebraeorum What we have already set down concerning these Sabbatine Rites hath respect unto the Jews in Barbary whom I find to harmonize herein with the Jews of other Countries Now because the Sabbath and its Rites make up a great part of their present Religion I thought it not improper to insert the Rules of the Sabbath which are practised by the European Hebrews as they are set down by Mr. Buxtorf in the tenth and eleventh Chapters of his Synagogue I have been enforced to make use of a young Pen in the Translation thereof and to deliver them to the Press without either Perusal or Transcribing and therefore desire the Reader to correct and pardon what faults may therein occur CHAP. XVI How the Jews Prepare themselves for the Sabbath and how they begin it WE read how the Jews prepared themselves on the sixth day according to that of Exodus 16.5 23. To morrow is the rest of the Holy Sabbath unto the Lord bake that which ye will bake to day and seeth that which ye will seeth Which they interpret of providing all necessary things against the Sabbath that they may the better honour it but especially all Dyet is to be prepared and dress'd that they may have the better leasure to hallow the Day And to this end whatsoever they intend to eat on the Sabbath they make ready on Friday before night the women chiefly are employed in making sweet-meats of divers sorts and when they make ready their dough they make it in a great lump undivided but if the lump be so great as it is in large families that it must be divided the remaining part is kept covered lest a neighbour seeing it may be ashamed that others have provided for the next Sabbath and he not for the present Every one according to his Ability hallows the Day with three splendid Banquets They begin the first on Friday-night before the Sabbath the second on Saturday at noon the last in the evening of the Sabbath And they justifie the performance of this Ceremony from Moses his writings where concerning Manna it is thus expressed Exod. 16.25 Eat that to day for to day is a Sabbath unto the Lord to day ye shall not find it in the fields Here the Rabbies say that Moses meant by repeating the word Day three times that they should in their Banquets on the Sabbath thrice eat of the Manna But the repetition of those Banquets hath some other meaning as is evident by their Book of Ceremonies written in the German Dialect For unless they had been commanded to eat at three set-times they would have so indulged themselves that the whole Sabbath would have been a time only to eat and drink but because all knew when they were present at one Banquet that they must attend on two more every one observed that moderation agreeable to their particular appetites and befitting such a Solemnity thinking on the dainties which they should again shortly taste What is moreover meant by this Banquet and how much they reckon of it shall a little after be declared Moreover none whether noble rich or wise ought to think it beneath him to do something in the honour of the Day For though a man have an hundred maids yea though he have the command of a thousand servants yet he himself ought with his own hands to do something in the honour of the Sabbath And so we read
in the Talmud that Rabbi Chasdam cut the Pot-herbs Rabbi Joseph clave the Wood Rabbi Sira kindled the Fire Rabbi Nachman swept the House and covered the Table Their Meat whether roast or boyled is kept hot in a Cauldron as being then most delightful The Table is night and day whilest the Sabbath lasts kept covered for which they have a particular reason as shall be afterwards shewed They wash their heads the men if it be the Custom are shaved the women comb their hair plaiting it decently and binding it with Fillets they either wash their hands and feet or else bathe themselves in hot Baths They every Fryday superstitiously pare their nails beginning with the left hand they first pare the nail of the fourth finger then of the second then of the fifth then of the third and end with the thumb so doing they never cut the nails of two fingers together but still leave one betwixt When they pare the nails of the right hand they begin with the second finger and so pass to the fourth and so on to the rest 'T is impious to cast the excrescencies under foot for so the Devil gets power over them but he who burieth them is reputed just and he who burns them is righteous and obtains a full pardon And all this is grounded upon the place before mentioned Exod. 16. And the sixth day they made ready c. Furthermore every one pollisheth and whets his Knife and that is justified from Job And thou shalt visit thy Habitation and know that thy Tabernacle shall be in peace c. Hence the Jewish Doctors observe that if the Knife be dull that it will not cut there is no peace to the House or Table They have Garments designed only for the honour of the day and every one is according to his ability decently clad because Esaiah sayes Esay 58.13 Thou shalt honour him And how canst thou do it in thy everyâ—ays vile habit as the Talmud has it and â—herefore the Jews have costly Garments pecuâ—iar for those days The Rabbies call the Sabbath Malkah i. e. Queen and therefore the Royal Apparel must be put on or otherwise the Queen is disgraced They cover the Table with clean white â—innen provide Cups Napkins Seats and other things convenient that the Queen viz. the Sabbath coming may find all things decently placed and he that honours the day with his Body his Rayment Meat and Drink is very commendable 'T was antiently a Custom to winde a Horn or sound a Trumpet six times that every one might prepare for the Sabbath but now in well-order'd Assemblies 't is proclaimed by a Cryer That they may cease from work and provide honourably to entertain the Bride viz. the Sabbath And therefore when the Evening draws nigh they do no business abroad but early begin the Sabbath solemnizing some part of the remaining week they repair to the Synagogue and hallow the time with Hymns and Prayer Now when the Sun begins to leave their Hemisphere the Candles appointed only for the Sabbath are set up as soon as they are kindled a Jewish woman lifts up both hands towards them and sayes Blessed art thou O Lord God King of the World that thou hast devoted us to thy Service and hast commanded us to light Candles on the Sabbath And the like Custom is observed by them on Holy-day-Eves If it be troublesome weather so that the skie be cloudy the hens teach them their duty for when they see them going to roost then the time of providing Candles is approaching but if any live without the City where they want such information they are instructed by Ravens and Daws for those Birds provide themselves a Lodging in the evening But the reasons that women light up the Candles and not men are by tradition chiefly two The first is when Eve after eating the forbidden fruit perceived by certain tokens that she should dye she perswaded her husband to taste it too and told him If I must die thou shalt die with me but when her perswasions prevailed not over his constancie she brake off a branch from the tree and beat him till he did eat as it is expressed in Genesis 3.2 The Woman which thou gavest to be with me she gave me of the Tree that is she pluck't off a bough from the Tree and with it beat me and I did eat so it is expounded in the Book Chajim that is the way of Life And by this means poor Adam was subject to his wife brake the command of God and brought death upon himself and bequeathed it to all his posterity But before Eve had sinned the Sun shined bright as it will in the World to come on the just then they wanted not the instruction of Hens and Daws to teach them their duty but as soon as she had transgressed the Sun was clouded and the Light of Heaven was soon darkned The second reason why the women light the Candles is because they are alwayes at home but the men often abroad Moreover we read Exod. 27.20 Thou shalt command the Children of Israel that they bring thee pure oil-olive beaten for the light to cause the lamp to burn alwayes in the Tabernacle before the testimony The Rabbies moreover count that if a godly woman attend on the lighting of the Candles she doth as holy a deed as if she had kindled Candles for the Golden Candlesticks in the Holy Temple at Hierusalem Moreover we have it in the Talmud that a woman guilty of these sins shall die in Childbed first if she have not provided a Cake secondly if she have not lighted up the Candles thirdly if she have not taken great care of her menstruous cloaths But if the women diligently observe these Precepts they sooner conceive and are easier delivered Of these Candles they have commonly two some times more according to the capacity of the house or dining-bed And in those Candles all the members of man and womans bodies are secretly contained according to Jewish Anatomizing men have 248 members women 252 which being added together make 500 which number the Hebrew word Ner signifying a Candle doth signifie They use Candles of two sorts because the light of life lost in Eden may be restored again both to man and woman The reason that they lift up both hands towards the light is to guard their faces from the rayes of the Candle whilest they repeat a short Prayer which is not to be said till the Candles are lighted up The matter whereof the wekes of these Candles is made and what oyl they make the Candles with may be seen at large in the Talmud to which I refer the Reader That they set apart some time of the week-dayes in which they early begin the Sabbath is in love to the dead whose Souls they say come from Hell or Purgatory to keep the Sabbath for as soon as they enter the Synagogue they sing a short Hymn at the hearing of which the Souls
these to be meer fictions I shall instance some pleasant passages out of the Talmud relating to the same purpose Where we read that one Rabbi Chaja fortuned to lodge one Sabbath with a Butcher and there was set before him a Golden Table burthen enough for sixteen men on which there hung sixteen silver Chains and on it many vessels of the like Metal were set as Spoons Plates and Cups furnished with plenty of dainties When all things were set in order he praised God thus The Earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof and when the Banquet was ended he gave thanks after this manner The Heavens are the Lords but the Earth hath he given to the sons of men And then the Rabbi began to enquire of the Butcher how he had gotten such riches and what good works he had done the Butcher replyed Hitherto have I been a Butcher and when ever I lighted on a Beast fatter than usual I reserved it for the Sabbath that I might do as I am commanded and therefore God has given me much riches for the honour I do to his day And when the Rabbi heard this he gave God thanks that he had bestowed on him such abundance And here we leave the Butcher Moreover we read in the same Page of a man truly Charitable named Joseph if any thing extraordinary came to the Market especially Fish he spared no charge to buy it and he had a rich neighbour who would often mock him asking him what good this strict observing Sabbath-duties did him thou gettest nought by it saith he I am much richer than thou yet do not observe it so punctually but Joseph took of his words but little notice and answered That God was able to recompence him And at the same time there came Astrologers to the rich man saying What good hast thou of thy riches thou darest not buy a good Fish with it we finde that the Fates have given all thy store to Joseph the Sabbath-observer he spares no charge to honour the day The rich man took some notice of what they said and went and sold all his possessions and with it bought Jewels and hung them in his hat and resolved to travel to secure his riches from Joseph and taking ship he was so toss'd with a Tempest that he lost his Hat and Jewels in the Sea there came a great Fish and swallowed them up and a little after the same Fish was brought into the Market to be sold many cheapened it but thought it too dear at length came this Joseph and soon bought it and dressing it found the Hat and Jewels which the rich Traveller had lost So the Astrologers Predictions were verified and Joseph grew Rich on a sudden Then there came a Wise Old man to Joseph and said He who bestows much on the Sabbath him the day recompenseth but he that of a little bestows a little to him God gives fourfold We read of another Passage in the Talmud concerning Feasts how a certain Rabbi every Friday sent his Servants into the Market to buy off all the Herbs which the Sellers could not vent and then he cast them into the River and the Rabbies inquiring the cause why he had not distributed them to the poor Israelites the Answer was this That if he had given them to the Poor then they in expectation of having them given still would not have provided for the Sabbath and therefore if it should happen that the Sellers had sold all and the Poor not provided for themselves then the Sabbath would not have had its due honour But why then did he not cause them to be given to the Cattel it had been better to do so than to cast them carelesly away The Answer was That he would not give those things to Cattel which men might eat and from which they might have profit for they might perchance take them out of the water But why did he command them to be bought the Reason is That those who sold such Commodities might willinglier come to the Market for suppose them to come often and sell nought they would soon be weary and not frequent the Market and then the Poor would have had nothing to eat on the Sabbath and thereby would have deprived it of its due honour Moreover we read in a Treatise of the Sabbath that if any one on the Sabbath let loose the Reins to pleasure and so pass the day that God giveth him an Heritage for ever as it is written When thou shalt call the Sabbath a Delight then shalt thou delight thy self in the Lord and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the Earth and feed thee with the Heritage of thy Father Jacob of which Heritage it is largely spoken For thou shalt be spread abroad to the East and to the West and to the North and to the South Rabbi Mackman saith He that feeds high on the Sabbath and is joyful shall be free from the Servitude of Kings as it is I will lift thee above the high places of the Earth and thy Enemies shall be found Lyars Another Rabbi saith That he who merrily passeth the Sabbath hath whatsoever he will ask of God as 't is written Delight thou in the Lord and he will give thee thy hearts desire Seeing therefore that the Jews have not conquered their Enemies nor obtained their desire that they have not yet subdued the Christians nor are Lords of the whole Earth according to their prayers on the Sabbath and Feast-days may be imputed to their want of a right Hallowing the Sabbath or at least that they have not thereon been sufficiently merry When they have thus joyfully finished the first Banquet they again go to Prayers but the Table is kept covered and the Candles burn till the evening of the Sabbath And they dispute much what is to be done with those Candles whether it be lawful to catch Fleas or Lice with them but reading by them is forbidden lest when the light is dim he that reads should snuff the Candle and so violate the Sabbath And because the Sabbath is called a Delight they often marrie on it and enjoy the society of their Wives they say those who are conceived on the Sabbath live to a good age if their Parents don't respect the pleasure as the honour of the day Finally when a Jew travelleth on Friday and hath a greater Journey than the Sabbath alloweth of he ought to take up his Lodgings in the Fields or Woods at the approaching of the Sabbath and there to continue till it be ended exposing himself to the danger of Thieves and want of sustenance There is a memorable Story in their Histories to this purpose Three Jews on a time took a Journey on Friday when the Evening drew nigh and the Sabbath approached two of them spake thus to each other What shall we do we are in certain danger the way is beset with Thieves and the wood barbours wild Beasts we had
more reason of complaint At the time of Evening Sacrifice they repair again to the Synagogue and say their Evening-prayers and then eat the third and last time on the Sabbath when it begins to depart they take leave of it with a Blessing They look upon the observance of these three Banquets to be of much concern for they think that he who thus observes the Sabbath shall escape Hell and be preserved from the dreadful War of Gog and Magog and also be free from the perplexities that shall attend the coming of the Messia and therefore one of the Rabbies pray'd that his Portion might be with those who celebrate the Sabbath with three Banquets At Evening they are again prohibited to draw water out of the River or Well by reason of the Souls of the wicked deceased which again refresh themselves as they are returning to Hell At the very departure of the Sabbath after supper one very nimbly draws the Cloth from off the Table for they say that he who doth it shall in a short time be set at libertie Aere Alieno About the Evening they again go to prayers in which they make mention of the Prophet Elias for they say that his coming was promised in the evening of the Sabbath or some Feast-day and when the Sabbath is gone they ask him if he will come the next Sabbath and acquaint them with the coming of the Messia Some of them also write that the Prophet sate under the Tree of Life in Paradise and registred the good Works the Jews did on the Sabbath They continue these Prayers till late in the night out of love to the Souls of the wicked that they may have the more respit from torments for as it is in the Evening on Friday proclaimed in Hell by Dumah an Angel that is Ruler among the Spirits that the wicked may go to their rest as the Jews do and all Israel on the Sabbath So when the Prayers are ended the Spirit cries again Return ye wicked into Hell for the Jews have done Prayers As soon as the Hymn Benedicite is ended the women go with haste to the wells and draw water for they write that the well Mara whereof they drink in the Desart runs into the Sea of Tyberias and thence in the end of the Sabbath did mixt it self with the water of all their wells and if a woman should chance to draw in that instant she would have an Antidote for all Diseases A certain woman gave testimony to this most precious Panacea who immediately after prayers going to draw water came in that instant in which the Well had mixt it self with hers but being somewhat slow in drawing her Husband was verie angrie The woman for fear let the Pitcher fall out of her hands and it happened that some drops fell upon her Husband and those parts which the water touched were immediately healed See the effect of this his anger for he was only healed in part whereas if he had drank he had been totally cured and clean as a new-born Child Hence is that notable Saying of the Rabbies Iracundus nihil aliud quam iram suam reportabit Lastly they separate the Sabbath from the Week following and give God thanks that he hath enabled them so to hallow the Sabbath They do it after this manner A great Taper like a Torch is kindled which they call the Candle of Separation they have also a little Box full of sweet Spices provided Then the Master of the Family takes the cup of Wine in his right hand and sings with a loud voice Behold God is my Salvation I will trust and not be afraid I will receive the cup of Salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord c. Which done he consecrates the Wine and spilling a little on the ground saith Blessed art thou O Lord who hast created the Fruit of the Vine Then he smells to the sweet Spice and delivers it to all present to smell to afterwards he takes the Cup in his right hand and going to the great Taper looks diligently on the nails of his left hand bowing his fingers inwards towards the palm of his hand that they may cause a shadow after that he opens them again and looks on the outside so diligently that he may discern the nails to be whiter than the flesh and saith Blessed art thou O Lord who hast ordained a clear light then taking the Cup in his left hand he vieweth the nails of his right hand which done he removeth the Cup into his right hand and saith Blessed art thou who hast made difference betwixt things holy and prophane betwixt Israel and other Nations betwixt the seventh day and the other six days of the week and while he saith this he spills a little of the Wine on the ground and then drinks and giveth to all present to drink And so the Sabbath is ended and the Week begun They prove the difference between the Sabbath and the Week-daies by these words And that ye may put difference between things holy and unholy and God divided the light from the darkness They smell to the sweet Spice to avoid dotage because they are deprived of a Soul at the end of the Sabbath which Soul they again receive at the beginning of it and enjoy more than on week-daies Antonius Margarita in his Book de side Judaica has something to this purpose The Jews write in the Talmud that every man hath three Souls and prove it from Esay 42.5 Thus saith the Lord God he that created the heavens and stretched them out he that spread forth the earth and that which cometh out of it he that giveth breath to the people upon it and spirit to them that walk therein From this Text they attribute to man two Souls which with the true Natural Soul always inherent make three moreover they say that when a man sleeps these two adventitious Souls steal from him one ascends to Heaven and there hears all future Events the other roves about the Earth and there beholds nought but folly and vanity and this they call the Irrational or Brutish Soul but that Soul wherewith every man is first inspired hath its immoveable residence in the heart and sees all that those two Souls that have forsaken the body do or see Hence all dreams arise and therefore not always to be lightly esteemed But on the Sabbath a fourth Soul cometh as a fresh supply which elevates their minds that so they may the better honour the Sabbath and when the Sabbath is ended this Soul leaveth them again Hence it is that they are dull and smell to the sweet Spices to refresh their Spirits So much of Margarita but whence he collected this cannot as yet be understood by the Jews writings Some more wise than the rest smell to the sweet Spices because on the Sabbath the fire of Hell doth not stink but as soon as the Sabbath is ended and the Gates of Hell opened that
with such offensive creatures and it was agreed that those creatures which were generated by natural coition should not be hurt and therefore Flies were free but those which were bred of corrupt putrified matter were to be killed and therefore Lice They are forbidden to climb trees lest they should break the boughs He who feeds his Hen and Chickens in any open place where the rain may fall with any Corn must not give them more than they can eat lest when it rains it should grow and so he might be said to sow on the Sabbath which is a sin unpardonable They must not knock at the dore with the iron hammer lest they may seem to drive a nail and therefore Chassan the Sexton doth knock with his fist They may not knock with the fingers on the table nor write on sand or ashes but they may in the Air. No Picture either in paper or wax is to be defaced The sum of all that they are forbidden is contained in 39 Articles to which all lesser matters are reducible The First Article concerns Plowing under which is comprehended dressing of Gardens removing Herbs setting Trees planting Vines digging pruning c. whereby the growth of any thing may be improved and because it is not lawful to fill Ditches the Rabbies have thought fit that the Chambers should be sprinkled with water that the dust might not arise but sweeping is forbidden lest thereby any little chink in the Chamber should be filled and for this reason they would not throw nutshels towards the Ditch lest peradventure they might fall into it The Second Article concerns Reaping under which is contained gathering any kinde of Fruit which they are forbidden as also to take honey from the Bees and such-like They may on the Sabbath eat any Fruit as it hangs on the stalk but not break the stalk they may not go over a Corn-field newly sown lest the Corn should stick to their shoos which is as if they had purposed to take it And it seems that the Jews were offended with our Saviour for the breach of this Article when his Disciples pluckt off the ears of Corn on the Sabbath Mat. 12. The Third Article respects Thrashing to which pertaineth beating of Hemp or Flax to press any moist Fruits as Grapes and such-like Milking is also contained under this Article but the Rabbies don't as yet agree about it You may judge of the other Articles accordingly The difference betwixt the general ones and those contained under them is not great He who beareth false witness against another is to be stoned and he who willingly sins him God shall judge and root out of the Land of the Living These are explained in the Talmud in Tractatu de Sabbatho Chapter 7. with many more but they are too tedious to be named And though the Jews think that they rightly observe the Sabbath yet they may be convinced of the contrary from their own Conscience For we read in the Talmud that he who observeth all the Ceremonies of the Sabbath to do them shall have free pardon of all sins yea though he be an Idolater as Enoch in whose time they say this sin had its Original According to Gen. 4.26 Then began men to call upon the Name of the Lord And Esay the 56.2 Blessed is the man that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it Rabbi Juda said If the Israelites had kept the first Sabbath aright immediately after the Law was given no Nation would ever have overcome them And another Rabbi said If they had kept the two first Sabbaths aright they had soon been set at liberty according to Esay 56.4 They that keep my Sabbaths aright them will I bring back into my holy Mountain that is Jerusalem But seeing they are not neither are like to be set at liberty it must needs be because they have not kept the Sabbath aright as they confessed while the Temple stood at Jerusalem As the Talmud expresly speaketh For no other reason was the Temple at Jerusalem destroyed but because the Jews observed not the Sabbath aright As it is written Ezek. 22.27 They have hid their eyes from my Sabbath and I am polluted among them The Jews celebrate the Sabbath with Wine Fish and Flesh and all kinde of Delights they abstain from work and are not at any time desirous to do any thing but only command the poor Christians and therefore boast that they are Lords over them I shall conclude this Chapt. with the complaint which God made to Israel by the Prophet Esay Esay 1.13 Incense is an abomination unto me the new Moons and Sabbaths the calling of Assemblies I cannot away with it is iniquity even the solemn meetings Your new Moons and your appointed Seasons my Soul hateth they are a trouble unto me I am weary to bear them CHAP. XVIII Of the Jews Feasts The manner of their Celebration IN the Order of Prayers according to the Hebrew Use the Offices for the Festivals immediately follow those of the Sabbath though the Service-book doth not yield Offices for every Feast which are in present observation with them For besides a peculiar Order for the Purim there is but one general Office for all the rest Now besides what occurs in Holy Writ concerning the institution and reason of the Jewish Festivals there are some modern Customs chiefly therein to be considered which we shall refer to the several Feasts and only give them a naked enumeration The chief both of the Antient and Modern Jewish Festivals are the Passover the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles The Passover is the first both in time and dignity and the Divine Scriptures exhibit enough in testimony both of its Institution and Designe So that we shall only succinctly set down the usual Rites of its present observation And in the first place the Jews esteem the Passover of so great moment that their preparation for its solemnity is much more great than to all the other Festivals For the Wealthier and Devouter sort spend above a Lunar Month in preparing for its coming But their preparations consist not in any Spiritual exercise but in a carnal providing for the body Where they use no small curiosity and diligence in getting the finest Wheat for the unleavened bread which by Divine appointment is thereon to be eaten And what is very commendable the Richer are careful to provide the Poorer with fine Wheat for the same purpose gratis out of their own Store For they account it a great Scandal to their Religion that any Jew should be unprovided of things requisite to so sacred a celebration The two or three daies before the Passover are spent in cleansing their houses and washing their Furniture of brass pewter and iron On the Eve of the Feast the First-born of the Family always fasts and the rest of the houshold are imployed in searching every corner that not a crum of leaven'd bread may remain till the Passover And because
they pray that not the least mite may escape their discovery it is ordinary with them to cast some pieces of hard crusts into the secret corners that finding them they may not be said to have pray'd in vain Whatsoever crums they meet with they are carefully laid up till the next morning when they are burn'd and all this to testifie their especial diligence to observe the Law concerning the Passover The Sabbath immediately antecedent to this Festival is for its singular and peculiar Sanctity stiled the Great Sabbath which name was occasioned by a Miracle that thereon happned of which the Rabbies give this short Legend Our Ancestors when they lived in Egypt taking their Paschal Lambs according to Gods appointment upon the tenth day of the month and tying them to their bed-posts that 〈◊〉 might have them ready to kill upon the fourteenth day of the month which interim of time from the tenth to the fourteenth day they were to spend in meditation of their deliverance and in searching if the Lamb was without blemish The Egyptians demanding a reason of their so doing the Hebrews told them that their Lambs were kept to be killed at their Passover The Egyptians murmured greatly thereat and grew very much incensed against the Hebrews for killing the Lamb because it so much resembled one of their Gods For they had placed Aries the Ram one of the Celestial signes in the number of their Deities Whereupon the Egyptians began to complot the Hebrews Ruine but were suddenly struck with so much horrour that they durst not open their lips nor move a finger against them And because this happened the next Sabbath before the Passover it was therefore called the Great Sabbath On which they make long discourses relating to the Ordinance and Use of the Passover While they are searching and cleansing their houses they are either to be silent or to speak of nothing but finding out and burning the leavened bread And at the lighting of the Candle wherewith the Crums are sought for the Father of the Family saith this Benediction Blessed art thou O Lord our God the Lord of the whole earth who hast Sanctified with thy Precepts and commanded us to cast out the Leaven And all his Domesticks distinctly answer Amen Some Jews will not suffer the women to cleanse the house because they say Talkativeness is so natural to that Sex that they cannot perform that Office with so great silence as is required The Father of the Family has alwaies the inspection of purging the house who lest any leaven'd bread might be left undiscern'd useth this Execration Let all the leaven which I have not found and taken away vanish into the dust of the Earth While some of the Family are making clean the house others grinde the Wheat for the Azima or unleavened Cakes Where their first care is to see the Mill throughly cleansed from all Grain that was designed for leavened bread And in Barbary this task is not long or difficult because the Jews use small hand-mills like the Moors Next the Master of the house betwixt Sun-set and Star-light draws water and puts it in such consecrate Vessels as are purposely set apart for their Festivals And when all things are in readiness they fall to making of the Pascal Cakes Which are of a round figure and without any other ingredient than pure water and fine flour which must have been two or three daies ground before they use it And this they do lest the heat it takes in grinding should make it smell and grow leavenish If in kneading or moulding the Cakes any part of the dough happen to fall to the earth they must not take it up but leave it to be eaten by any creature that has a minde thereunto For they are of opinion that the least crum falling to the ground being taken and put to the rest will sower the whole lump The woman that makes the Cakes bakes first one alone over which she saith Blessed art thou our God who hast commanded us to separate the leavened Cake And having said these words she instantly burns it to ashes and then begins to bake the rest Upon the Eve of the Passover at the time of the Mincha they go to the Synagogue where they celebrate the Office of the Sabbath-Arvit The Prayers for the Passover are for the most part the same with those of the Sabbath save that they intermingle therewith some of the Roshodes During the time that the men stay at the Synagogue the women spread the Tables and adorn their Cubbords not for Ostentation but honour of the Festival Against they return from Publick Oraisons there is a Cushion the best they can provide laid for the Head of the House at the upper end of the Room where they are to dine For their posture of eating is exactly Eastern or lying upon the ground But this is no part of their Religion but a conformity to the mode of their Residence Upon the day of the Passover they compose themselves to a stately Gesture of body and an imperious Carriage only to signifie thereby their deliverance from Egyptian Bondage And the women which at other times sit hanging their heads at this Feast look loftily expressing thereby Alacrity and Triumph In eating the Paschal Lamb the Jews of all Countries use the same Ritual Four Dishes make up their Bill of Fare which are these The first Dish contains three Paschal Cakes the uppermost whereof represents the High-Priest the middle the Levite the lowermost the Common Hebrews The second Dish is a Leg of Lamb or Kid rosted together with an Hen-egg The mystery of which last morsel I could never meet with any Jew was able to reveal The third Dish is a deal of thick Stuff much like the Moors Cuscussow but of much better ingredients For the Moors make theirs of meer water and flour or crum'd bread but the Jews put several spices in theirs and the better to make it represent the colour of the bricks they made in Egypt they tincture it with Saffron The fourth Dish is a green Salad attended with Vinegre in which they dipping the Salad call to minde the sower herbs wherewith their Fathers were commanded to eat the Passover At this Feast every Jew is to drink Wine but none to exceed four glasses and none to refuse so many Before they lie down to eat the Chief of the Family consecrates the Viands And when the Cakes are broken and every one hath eaten a piece and drank a cup of Wine the whole Family sing an Hymn In which they remember the bread of Sorrow eaten by their Fathers in Egypt concluding with their hopes of a speedie Restauration unto Canaan At the breaking of the second Cake the Master of the house puts a piece thereof in his Napkin in memory of their Ancestors wrapping up their Dough in haste before it was leaven'd when they posted out of Egypt And then they drink a second glass of Wine
For on that day shall the Priest make an Atonement for you to cleanse you that you may be clean from all your sins before the Lord. In obedience unto which Law the Jews upon the 10 of Tizri repair to their Synagogues and in places of open Toleration carry wax-lights in their hands which when they have lighted they begin in a very dismal note to lament their sins and continue fasting and praying for ten daies which are called the daies of Contrition for which their Liturgy has a proper Office Every morning during this Feast of Expiation they thrice repeat this Confession O Lord thy people the house of Israel they have sin'd they have done wickedly they have transgressed before thee I beseech thee now O Lord pardon the sins iniquities and transgressions with which the people the house of Israel have sin'd done wickedly and transgressed before thee as it is written in the Law of thy Servant Moses That in that day he shall make an Atonement for you that he might cleanse you and that you might be clean from all your iniquities before the Lord. This Confession saith P. Fagius is of very great Antiquity and was made by the High-Priest when he disburden'd the sins of the whole Congregation upon the Head of the Scape-goat Since the destruction of their City the Jews have no place for a proper Sacrifice and therefore instead thereof when they come from the Synagogue every Father of a Family takes a Cock a white one if possible upon the 9th day of the Feast and calling his Household about him repeats several Sentences of Scripture among which the principal are the 17 vers of Psalm 107. Fools because of their transgression and because of their iniquities are afflicted And 23 vers of Job 13. How many are mine iniquities and sins Make me to know my transgression and my sin After the repetition of these Scriptures he waves the Cock three times about his head at each of which he useth these or the like words Let this Cock be a Commutation for me Let it be my substitute Let it be an Expiation for me Let the Bird die but let life and happiness be to me and to all Israel Amen Then he again swings the Cock thrice about his head once for himself once for his Sons and once for the Strangers that are with him Then he kills the Cock and saith I have deserved thus to die The Woman takes a Hen and doth the like for those of her Sex In Barbary where the Houses are flat-roofed they cast the Garbage thereon to be devoured by some ravenous Birds in token that their sins are removed as the Entrails they cast out Now the reason why they chuse a Cock for the Expiatory is drawn from the ambiguous word in the Talmud which may signifie either Man or Cock So that they repute the death of a Cock as much as that of a Man and to this Domestick bird the 53 of Esay with many other Passages of Holy Writ are prophanely and ridiculously applied But however they may at this Feast greatly extol the Merits of the Cock and imagine all their sins to be atoned by his death yet when themselves come to die they acknowledge no Commutation but skin for skin according to this saying of one of their Masters when he was a dying Let my own death be the Expiation and Satisfaction for all my sins When they have done with the Cock they repair to the Sepulchres where they repeat enlarge and enforce their Prayers and Confessions They bestow the value of their Cocks upon the Poor to whom formerly they gave their Carkasses which they now keep to furnish out their own Tables Besides that form of publick Confession which we mentioned before they use private Confession one to another which they thus perform About the middle of the Service they make an interruption and two by two step aside in the Synagogue and confess their sins to each other During the time of Confession he that confesseth turns his face Northward and with great seeming Contrition bows his body beats his brest and readily submits his back to such stripes as his friend will inflict who yet never exceeds the number of 39. And the first having thus made Confession the second goes upon the same duty This Feast as it has the name of Expiation because according to its first Institution the High-Priest did then confess his own sins and the sins of the people and by certain Rites did expiate and make atonement to God for them so is it likewise called the Feast of Reconciliation because at this time they endeavour a general Amnesty and Pardon For they labour that no quarrel among them remain unreconciled He that seeks to be at peace with his Neighbour though he be refused is looked upon as innocent They hold this Reconciliation so necessary that if the offended die without it the offender must go to his Grâ—â—e and in the presence and hearing of ten Witnesses confess his trespass Upon the Even of the 9th of this Feast they repair to the Synagogue where they trim and encrease the number of their Lamps The women do the like at home If the Lamps burn cleer it is a good signe that their sins are pardoned and that they shall live chearful and happy But if the Lamps burn dim it is a sad abodement their trespasses are not expiated Whereupon some of them renew their penances and use several abstinences and remain restless till the Omen alter Some are reported at this time to bribe the Devil that he may not accuse them and some again are so confident of their Expiation that they bid the Devil do his worst That the Expiation Reconcilement might be extended unto all upon the Eve of the 9th of this Feast they absolve all Offenders restore the Excommunicate and admit to the Prayers and Communion of the Synagogue even the stubborn and refractary At last the Chasan blesseth the people stretching out his hands toward them which hands the people dare not stedfastly look upon while they are elevate because they suppose them for that time to be full of the Holy Ghost After the Expiation is thus ended they continue a space fasting at the Synagogue and then return home to feast and to testifie their mutual Peace and Reconcilement Their next Feast is that of Dedication whose Institution we meet with in 1 Maccab. 4.59 Moreover Judas and his brethren c. And this our Saviour honour'd with his presence S. John 10.22 not to countenance the abuses but to own its appointment and to approve the Consecration and Dedication of times and places to Gods service This Feast in the N. T. is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Renovations or a Feast wherein something is renewed and is in memory of second Dedications It continues 8 daies during which time the Synagogues are full of Candles which may be the reason that the Spanish Jews call it Fiesta de
Munday and Thursday one for the death of Miriam and Eli and another for the turning of the Bible out of holy Hebrew into profane Greek by the Seventy Translators But these Fasts being the private Exercises but of some Jews their Rites fall under no certain annotation The general Rule in all their Fasting is to abstain from all manner of Meat and Drink till the Stars appear and if the Jews were Orthodox in the circumstances of this Afflictive no people would therein exceed them But in this as all other things they are palpably Carnal relying upon the very doing of the work and esteeming a meer Corporal abstinence highly Meritorious Besides there are not a few Miracles ascribed to the bare act of Fasting The Prayer used upon Fasting-daies translated out of the Jews Liturgy HEar our voice O Lord our God and have Compassion upon us and with Mercie hear our Prayers and impart thy pity and subdue us to thy Holiness Deliver us from death and the sword and hunger and captivity from the prey and an evil desire and bad infirmities and hard chances Pronounce a good sentence upon me and all the males of my house And let thy Compassions return with thy Conditions and O Lord our God deal with us in mercie and favour and enter with us before the Rule of Justice and harken unto our Prayer our Supplication and Cry for thou hearest the Prayer of every mouth Answer me O my Father answer me in this day of Fasting and Affliction Because I am in a great strait by reason I have offended and rebelled against thee since the day that I was upon the Earth until this hour I blush and am ashamed of my Rebellion I repent me of my sins and transgressions Notwithstanding I have put thy Mercies before mine eyes with which thou art wont to keep off thy fury and to be appeased with thy Creatures Thou art good to pardon and hast great pity upon all that call upon thee For thy manifold Mercies now answer me and let a little of my Fat and Bloud be mingled with my fasting and be received of thee as the fat put upon the top of thy Altar to pardon every one that hath sin'd and that hath striven and rebelled against thee I beseech thee for the sake of thy Power Soveraignty and Knowledge bear good will unto me for thy Great Mercies and look not upon my wickedness nor stop thine ears at my prayers be nigh unto my calling and to the calling of the men of my house It is said Before we cry unto thee thou wilt answer before we speak thou wilt hear It shall be that before they cry I will answer and before they speak I will hear That thou O Lord wilt deliver and answer and be appeased in the hour of adversity and hear the Petition of every mouth Blessed be thou Adonai Lord hear our Prayer The Prayer used by the Jews after they have done fasting translated out of their Liturgy O Lord of the Worlds I have afflicted my self this day with fasting before thee I have made known and manifest before the Seat of thy Honour that in the time that the house of thy Sanctuary stood the man that sin'd brought before thee an Offering and offer'd nothing but the fat and bloud and was forgiven And at present we have neither Sanctuary that is Temple nor Altar for our many sins nor Priest to pardon Let it be thy will Lord our God and the God of our Fathers that the little of my fat and bloud which is this day spent before thee may be reckon'd with my fast and accepted before the Seat of thy Honour even as if I had done it upon the sides of thy Altar and receive me of thy great mercies CHAP. XXIII Of the Jewish Excommunication THe Mahumedans as I have observed in another Discourse are not acquainted with Church-censures the contriver of that Religion having left all sorts of Delinquents to the Civil Sword And though for greater Decorum and Solemnity the Grand Segnor keeps his Musti whom he makes his Pope and pretended Oracle in Religion yet he has no power to chastize any by Spiritual Censures be their Enormities never so hainous And upon this account the Jews upbraid Mahumedism with great deficiency because it has no power to terrifie Evil doers to preserve the broken from the whole and to prevent and divert Gods Judgements to bring Offenders to amendment and to maintain the credit and power of their Religion To all which ends the Jews manage and hold Excommunication necessary Concerning which this ensuing Chapter shall give the Reader a short account of the causes of Excommunication its kindes and form Some have thought that the Jews of old used Excommunications onely in case of Pollutions of which they held chiefly these three sorts viz. by Leprosie touching of the Dead and an Issue And that to these three sorts of Pollutions were adapted as many kindes of Excommunication namely the Niddui Herem and Shammatha But besides these three causes of Excommunication among the Primitive Jews the Modern assigne twenty four more for all or any of which they at present Excommunicate that is forbid those of their Religion the free enjoyment of all Civil and Religious Society The causes of Excommunication among the Jews are chiefly these 1. He that doth Scandalize a Master though he be dead 2. He that doth revile a publique Minister of Justice 3. He that calls a Free-man a Slave or Servant 4. He that doth not appear at the Consistory upon the day prefixt 5. He that doth undervalue a single Precept or one head of Doctrine which is contained in the Prescripts of the Scribes or the Law 6. He that doth not what he is appointed stands Excommunicated till he doth it 7. He that keeps in his House what may do mischief to another as a biting Dog or broken Scales is Excommunicated until the fault be corrected that is till the Dog be Hanged and the Scales be mended 8. He that sells his Land to a Gentile is Excommunicate till the Damage be repaired that thereby shall accrew unto an Israelite 9. He that in the Courts of the Gentiles shall be a Witness against an Hebrew so that he shall be forced to pay Money contrary to the custom of his Nation shall be Excommunicate until he refund it 10. The Priest that Sacrificing doth not give the Dues to the rest of the Priests is to stand Excommunicate until he doth 11. He that shall do any Work in the forenoon of the day before the Passover 12. He that shall carelessly or with an Oath or in lofty and Hyperbolical terms pronounce the Name of God 13. They that shall cause the Vulgar to profane the Name of God 14. He that shall cause the Vulgar to eat holy things out of holy places 15. He that doth reckon the Years and prefix the Months out of the Holy Land That is shall otherwise observe the Months and Years than of
it to Embrace and Kiss it to Weep over it and after all perhaps to cast it to the Ground to let the people see they meant not there to terminate their Worship the very sight hereof doth as much induce the Jews to hate Christianity as any reason can be alledged to perswade them to love and Embrace it These are the Terms in which the Jews with whom I have conversed do stand who above all that has been said derive the greatest obstruction of their Conversion from their own obstinacy being not more scandalized than stifneckt nor less untractable within than offended without And as proud of their opinions as they are despised for them Glorying in their Ancestors and Founders in Gods Temple and Oracles peculiar promises and Prerogatives long continuance in Honour and Prosperity and indefatigable in their Expectation of being Triumphantly recollected and Victoriously to Reign over the Edomites when the promise of their Messias shall be perform'd which has as they say so long beyond the appointed time been protracted by reason of their own Vnworthiness A SUMMARY DISCOURSE Concerning the Jewish TALMUD MISNA GEMARA HAving in the former part of the Antecedent Discourse observed That there are no Jews to be met with who adhere to the Old Bible without Talmud-Traditions I thought it would be disagreeable neither to the Reader nor the Subject to give a succinct account of the Talmud Misna and Gemara in order to facilitate the meaning of the Traditions above-mentioned And waving all Critical reserches into the word Talmud which makes so great a Noise in the World it may suffice to observe that by a sort of Metonymy it signifies the Book containing the main Doctrines of the Jews which by way of Eminence is called the Talmud or Doctrinal So that the word Talmud may as well be used for a System of Christian as Jewish Doctrines for any thing therein to the contrary The two Talmuds of which hereafter are according to Mr. Selden the Pandects of the Jews Sacred and Civil Laws and they are generally received of the present Hebrews for the Great Body of their Learning and Standard by which the whole Israelitick Nation is to regulate both their Conversation and Doctrine And there needs no other Testimonie of their great esteem hereof than the RR's frequent using it in the proof and Confirmation of their Tenets For it is very observable that the Talmud is oftener brought in Vindication of their Religion than Moses the Prophets and Holy Writings Insomuch that they make it and not the Old Bible the Touchstone of their Doctrine and that into which they resolve the Decision of all their Cases Nor are they herein greatly blameable seeing they esteem the Talmud of equal Authority with the Canonical Scriptures and no more inferiour thereunto than a Law given by word of mouth is to one in Writing For the Jews hold there is a twofold Law which they are bound to observe the one written which is contained in the five Books of Moses the other Oral which they call the Misna or Traditional Law which God gave to Moses at the same time he did the other but did not commit it to Writing but left it to be preserved and propagated Orally Some of the Masters gifted with a wonderful Sagacity with great assurance maintain that Moses during his abode in the Mount could not discern the time of Night from the Day but by the delivery of these two Laws That when God gave the Written Law he knew it was Day and that it was Night when he gave the Oral And R. Eliesar as a late Author writes affirms that Moses read the Scripture by Day and the Misna by Night But this will scarce sound congruously if it be considered that the Misna was not written and therefore could not be Read till some thousand years after Moses received it in the Mount And as to the reason why God would not suffer it to be written it was the profound Mysteriousness of its Nature say the Masters which to have communicated by writing to the Vulgar People would have been no better than to give Holy things unto Dogs and to cast Pearls before Swine Others are of opinion that God foreseeing how the Nations would Transcribe the Books of the Law Prophets and Holy Writings and pervert them to Heretical and Impious Doctrines lest they should to the like to the Misna or the Second Law for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies he would not suffer it to be committed to Letters And here it may be pardonable to take notice of two things first that by the Holy Writings which the Jews call Cetaphim they understand the Books of Daniel Psalms Proverbs Job Canticles Ruth Lamentations Ecclesiastes Ezra Nehemiah Chronicles and that they were Compiled or Collected by Esdras and the Seniors of the Synagogue after the Jews returned from Babylon Next that the Jews were of old so cautious of preserving their Law secret to themselves that they would not suffer it to be Translated into any other Language out of their own Insomuch that in the daies of Ptolemy when the Penteteuch was put in Greek by the Jews of Alexandria they say that as if God had been therewith displeased there happened three daies of darkness over the whole Earth And to testifie their own abhorrence of so execrable a fact the Jews appointed a solemn Fast to be kept upon the eighth of Tebeth as the immortal Joseph Scaliger hath observed But to return That Moses in the Mount did receive from God not onely the Written Law but also a secret Explanation thereof seems to have been the opinion of Origen of the third and Hillary of the fourth Age. And this Explanation is supposed to have been none other but the Misna or the Oral and Second Law we now speak of which was preserved as the Cabala of the Creation and of the things happening before the Flood by Tradition from minde to minde to use Mirandula without Letters by word of mouth For Moses thus delivered it to Aaron and he to his Sons they to Joshua Joshua to the Elders the Elders to the Prophets the Prophets to the Great Synagogue and so it was drawn down by the Rabbins of successive Ages of whom the Famous Ramban has given an account And in this state the Misna continued till many years after the Nativity of our Blessed Saviour even till Rabbi Jehuda who for his Piety was called the Saint and for his singular love to his Nation and knowledge in their Law the Prince perceiving that this Oral Tradition grew difficult and that thereby the Misna was in no small hazard to be utterly lost or grievously corrupted by reason of the extreme dispersion of his Nation collected all the Notes taken by the Jews to assist their Memories which contain'd any thing of the Misna and digested them into one Volume which he called the Sepher Misnaioth or the Book of Traditions And this was no sooner compiled than