the open Air the People sounding their Acclamations Blessed be he which cometh The Bride being led by others goeth three times about the Bridegroom as a Cock goeth about a Hen and that forsooth to fulfill that Prophecy A Woman shall compass a Man he also must fetch one Compass about her the People also besprinkle the Bride with Wheat crying out Encrease and multiply according to that of the Psalmist He filleth thee with the Fat of Wheat In some places they mingle Money with the Wheat which the poor Jews gather up The Bride stands on the right hand for it is written Thy Wife standeth on thy right hand with her Face also to the South for then she shall be fruitful The Rabbi who marrieth them taketh the end of the Vestment about the Bride-groom's Neck they call it Talles and puts it on the Bride's head after the example of Boaz and Ruth and then takes a Glass filled with Wine over which he uttereth the Marriage Blessing praising God by whose instinct these Persons were espoused and so reacheth the Glass to them and bids them drink This Glass if she be a Virgin hath but a narrow Mouth at Wormes they use an earthen Pot. Now the Rabbi receiving a Ring of pure Gold without any Jewel in it sheweth it to some Witnesses asking them if it be good and worth the Money it cost and then puts it on the Bride's Finger and with a loud Voice pronounceth the Spousal Letters After this he takes another Glass of Wine and blesseth God that the Bridegroom and Bride have accepted of each other and gives it them to taste This done the Bridegroom breaketh the former Glass against the Wall or Ground in remembrance of the Destruction of Jerusalem in which respect in some places they put Ashes on the Bridegroom's head he weareth for this cause a black Hood on his Head like a Mourner and the Bride likewife weareth a black Cloath fit to terrifie Children with the Deformity Thus do they mix Mirth and Mourning as David warneth Rejoyce unto him in trembling This ended they sit down at Table and then must the Bridegroom make Tryal of his Breast in singing a long Prayer others in the mean time call to make ready the Hen. Then is there an Hen and an Egg set before the Bride of that the Bridegroom carveth her a piece and then presently all the Company Men and Women tear the Hen amongst them like hungry Hounds snatching out of each others Hands and Mouths all to glad the new married Couple The Egg is not sod but in another Scene of Mirth one casteth it in the face of another of some Christian especially if any be present at the Nuptials in the same is a Mystery included for the Bride that she shall have as easie Travel in Child-birth as the Hen layeth her Eggs. After this they fall to their Chear and Dances one they call the Mitzvah or Commandment-dance as if God had enjoyned it The chief Guest takes the Bridegroom by the hand another him and so on through the Company likewise the chief Woman takes the Bride another her and so one another then do they dance in a long row with a tumultuous noise and so end the Nuptial Sports Amongst all their other Blessings the Bridegroom is to say one Vbi perspexerit sanguinem Virginum to use the words of Genebrad who expresseth it being borrowed from some Words of the Canticles fleshly abused by such Application The Marriage commonly lasteth eight days and on the Sabbath they dance the lustiest of all doing the Sabbath herein a singular Honour because that also is called a Bride It is prohibited to bid any uncircumcised Guest to this Banquet for Solomon saith The Stranger doth not intermeddle with his Joy yea the good Angels seeing such there will depart and the evil will come and raise Strifes and Contentions for they think no place empty from the Earth to the Sky but all full of good or bad Angels flying or standing in the same The Marriage is in publick lest Whoredom should be covered under that Pretext pretending themselves married when they were not LXVI Let it not grieve the Reader to hear something of the Duties betwixt Man and Wife The Husband oweth ten things to the Wife three according to the Law her Nourishment her Cloathing and her Time namely of due Benevolence to be performed and seven things according to the Words of the Scribes the first whereof is the Foundation of Dowry viz. two hundred Denarii if she be a Virgin otherwise a hundred The other concern the Condition of the Dowry the Woman which rendreth not her Husband his due is rebellious and refractory and he is bidden to expell her without a Dowry The Conditions of the Dowrâ— were first to cure her in Sickness secondly to redeem her being captive thirdly to bury her being dead fourthly to nourish her out of his own Goods and that she dwell in his House in her Widdow-hood fifthly to keep her Daughters till Marriage fixthly that her Sons inherit They appoint not only Love but Honour to the Wife as Peter also enjoyneth to this weaker Vessel which Honour they say is Meat and Drink and goodly Garments for which he shall this was a Woman's Friend have favour with God The Author of Arbaa Turim addeth That a Man should love his Wife as his own Body and honour her above his Body and keep her as one of his Members for the Wife is the other half of Man and a Wife without a Man is but half a Man And let him take heed of striking his Wife said another or to be virulent in terms against her for for her Tears how pitifully easie are they to some his Punishment is near And howsoever since the Destruction of the Temple the door of Prayers hath been shut yet the door of Tears hath not been shut as saith David Be not thou silent at my Tears And should not a Man honour his Wife Yes saith R. Hanina for a Man hath no Blessing but for his Wife as it is written He blessed Abraham for her Let a Man cloath himself I would not have Women hear it beneath his Ability his Children according to his Ability and his Wife above his Ability Let the Wife honour her Husband as her Father and fear to displease him and let him spare her in his Anger remembring that she was taken out of his Ribs But for the Wives choice a Man ought saith one to sell all that he hath and buy a Wife the Daughter of a wise Disciple if he find not such a one let him take a Daughter of the Great Men of his time if not such the Daughter of a Synagogue Ruler in that defect let him take the Daughter of one which gathereth Alms if not then of a School-Master and not the Daughter of the People of the Land of whom the Scripture saith Cursed be he that lyeth with a Beast They say that a Man ought
Constantinople under Theodosius the Great Macedonius himself being deprived by the Arrian Bishops died private at Pylas XL. 14. The Aerians so called from Aerius the Presbyter who lived under Valentinian the first three hundred and forty Years after Christ he held that there was no difference between a Bishop and a Presbyter that Bishops could not ordain that there should be no set or anniversary Feasts and they admitted none to their Communion but such as were continent and had renounced the World they were also called Sillabici as standing captiously upon Words and Syllables The occasion of his maintaining his Heresie was his Resentment that Eustathius was preferred before him to a Bishoprick XLI 15. Florinus or Florianus a Roman Presbyter lived under Commodus the Roman Emperour one hundred fifty three Years after Christ hence came the Floriani They held that God made Evil and was the Author of Sin whereas Moses tells us that all things which he made were very good They retained also the Jewish manner of keeping Easter and their other Ceremonies XLII 16. Lucifer Bishop of Caralitanum in Sardinia gave Name to the Luciferians He lived under Julian the Apostate three hundred thirty three Years after Christ. He taught that this World was made by the Devil that Mens Souls are corporal and have their Being by Propagation or Tradition they denied to the Clergy that fell any place for Repentance neither did they restore Bishops or inferiour Clerks to their Dignities if they fell into Heresie tho they afterwards repented XLIII 17. Tertullian that famous Lawyer and Divine was the Leader of the Tertullianists He lived under Severus the Emperour about one hundred and seventy Years after Christ Being excommunicated by the Roman Clergy as a Montanist he fell into these Heretical Tenets That God was corporal but without declination of Members that Mens Souls were not only corporal but also distinguished into Members and have corporal Dimensions and increase and decrease with the Body that the original of Souls is by Traduction that Souls of wicked Men after Death are converted into Devils That the Virgin Mary after Christ's Birth did marry once They bragged much of the Paraclete or Spirit which they said was poured on them in greater measure than on the Apostles they condemned War amongst Christians and rejected second Marriages as no better than Adultery XLIV 18. Nestorius born in Germany and by fraud made Patriarch of Constantinople was the Head of the Nestorians He broached his Heresie under Theodosius the Younger four hundred Years after Christ He taught that in Christ were two distinct Persons the Son of God and the Son of Mary that is the Son of God in Christ's Baptism descended into the Son of Mary and dwelt there as a Lodger in a House he made the Humanity of Christ equal with his Divinity and so confounded their Properties and Operations A great part of the Eastern Bishops were of his Perswasion His Heresie was condemned in the Council of Ephesus under Theodosius the Younger in which Cyril Bishop of Alexandria was President and the Author Nestorius deposed and banished into the Thebean Desarts where his blasphemous Tongue was eaten out with Worms Zeno the Emperour razed to the Ground the School in Edessa called Persica where the Nestorian Heresie was taught XLV 19. Eutyches Abbot of Constantinople from whence came the Eutychians in the Year after Christ 413. set forth his Heresie holding Opinions quite contrary to Nestorius to wit That Christ before the Union had two distinct Natures but after the Union only one to wit the Divinity which swallowed up the Humanity so confounding the Properties of the two Natures affirming that the Divine Nature suffered and died and that God the Word did not take from the Virgin Humane Nature This Heresie condemned first in a Provincial Synod at Constantinople was set up again by Dioscarus Bishop of Alexandria at last condemned in the General Council of Chalcedon under Marcian the Emperour XLVI 20. Eunonius Bishop of Cyzicum embraced the Heresie of Arrius he said blasphemously God of his Essence understandeth no more than we do whatsoever we know of it the same knoweth he and look what his Capacity reacheth to the same thou shalt find in us his Followers re-baptized Orthodox Professors and baptized in the Name of the Father uncreated the Son created and the Holy Ghost created by the Son They affirmed the Trinity to be three different Substances as Gold Silver and Brass He was a Cappadocian by Birth and lived under Valens the Emperour XLVII 21. Novatus Father of the Novatians was an African born he lived under Decius the Emperour after Christ two hundred and twenty Years his Heresie lasted one hundred forty eight Years They denied Repentance to those who fell after Baptism they bragged much of their Sanctity and good Works they condemned second Marriages as adulterous and used Rebaptization as the Donatists He was a Priest of Carthage and Father of the Cathari or Puritans XLVIII 22. Donatus whence arose the Donatists was a Numidian who because Cicilianus was preferred before him to the Bishoprick of Carthage accused him and all the Bishops that ordained him to be Traditores that is such as had delivered their Bibles to be burnt by Idolaters under the Persecution of Maximinus Though this Accusation was found faulty yet Donatus continued obstinate and separated himself and Congregation from all others accounting that no Church where any spot of Infirmity was to be found that such a pure Church was only amongst them yet they would have no man forced to a godly Life they slighted the Magistracy and would not suffer them to punish Hereticks they held the Efficacy of the Sacraments too upon the dignity of the Minister they rebaptized all that were admitted to their Communion they held it no Sin to kill themselves rather than to fall into the hands of the Magistrate and scrupled not to kill such as were not of their Faith they used certain magical Purifications and bragged of Enthusiasms and Revelations With the Arrians they made the Son less than the Father and the Holy Ghost than the Son The Circumcâ—lliones were part of these who lived in Cells and Caves and murdered all they met that were not of their Religion XLIX 23. Pelagius a Britain by Birth and a Monk at Rome was the Ring-leader of the Pelagians he was afterwards a Presbyter under Theodosius the Younger three hundred eighty two Years after Christ thence he went into England and poysoned the whole Island with his Opinions which were such as these That Death was not the Wages of Sin but that Adam should have dyed though he had not sinned that Adam's Sin was hurtful only to himself and not to his Posterity that Concupiscence was no sin that Infants did not draw original Sins from their Parents that Infants might be saved without Baptism that they should have eternal Life but out of the Kingdom of God that Man after the Fall had free
Eucharist they held Baptism without Crism ineffectual they used Rebaptization they permitted the Husband to dissolve Matrimony when he pleased and denyed Prayers for the Dead and the Eternity of Hell Fire and that the Souls were not in Bliss till the Resurrection and taught that then there should be no Women at all but that they should be converted into Men. Chazinzarii were so called from Chazus which in their Language signifieth the Cross for they taught that the Cross was only to be worshipped therefore they were named Cross-Worshippers they professed all Nestorianism The Thnetopsychitae held that the Souls dyed with the Bodies Theocatus Nostor were such as reprehended some of God's Actions and Words Ethnophrones were Paganising Christians who with Christianity taught Gentile Superstition But passing over the rest let us pass on to Mahomet the greatest of all Impostors The Life of Mahomet SOME Men have brave Names but mean Actions some brave Actions and mean Names and some both brave Names and Actions In the first number Mahomet may not be unfitly reckoned who in excellency of Name was second to none and yet in depravity of Manners had few Equals for we are assured by the learned in the Arabian Language that Mahomet comes of a Word signifying Praise and Honour and that this Notation of his Name was but a Presage of his future Actions whereby he merited and purchased both Others say Mahomet imports Thanksgiving which is to be understood with respect to their Duty of Gratitude who believe he procured great Benefits for them And that there might want nothing of lucky Abodement in the Name of this great Impostor some of his flattering Doctors paraphrase it by a Man of Desires But be his name what it will we shall proceed to give an account of the Life of this Impostor according as we find it written by the Saracens themselves The Book of the Generation of Mahomet the Messenger of God the Prayer and Salvation of God be upon him from Adam and Eve to the time when God brought him forth gracious perfect and fit for himself When as Rabachbar had learned out of the Scriptures and by Astrology that this Prophet should be born to the World he heard that there was a Man born in Jeseras a City of Arabia having all such Marks and Tokens as he had fore-seen by the Prophesies and his Arts viz. a spot on his Fore-head a print between his Shoulders c. and to satisfie his desire he went thither to see where finding those Tokens fulfilled in young Mahomet he thereupon expounded the dark Mystery of his far-fetch'd Light learned of his Master Kabelmedi in this manner When Adam was newly created as he stood up his Brain shaked and made a Noise as the Leaves do which are shaken with the Wind whereat Adam wondring God said unto him The sound which thou hast heard is the sign of the Prophets and Messengers of my Commandments take heed therefore that thou commit this Seed of Light only to worthy Loyns and to a clean Womb and this Light of Mahomet that should be born shined from the face of Adam as the Sun or Moon at the full And when he had begotten Seth that Light passed instantly from the Face of Adam into the Face of Eve insomuch that the Birds of the Air and Beasts of the Earth wondred at her Beauty yea the Angels every day saluted her and brought her Odours out of Paradise till she brought forth Seth alone having before at every Burthen brought forth a Brother and a Sister Seth inherited this Light which remained between Heaven and Earth the Angels thereby ascending and descending upon Seth and crying always Rejoyce thou Earth worthy of the Light of Mahomet on him be Prayer and Salvation of God Adam drawing near to his end declared unto him by his Testament the Mysteries of that Light and the Genealogy of the Prophets Then descended Gabriel accompanied with threescore and ten thousand Angels bearing every one of them a white Leaf and a Pen which signed the Writing for the Continuance of the Order of the prophetical Generation Seth received this Writing and was cloathed with a double red Garment shining as the Sun as soft as the Violet Flower From him it passed by Succession to Noah and Sem then to Abraham at whose Birth two Lights from the East and West meeting in the midst lightned the whole World and the Angels were heard singing that it was the light of the Prophet Mahomet who should be born of his Seed whose Words should be the virtue of God This Light passed from Abraham to the face of Hagar being with Child and after to Ishmael and God told him that the Soul of Mahomet in the beginning of the Creation was mingled with his and that his name in Heaven should be Asmet in Earth Mahomet and in Paradise Abvaltrazim At this Sarah grieved untill three Angels comforted her with the Promise of Isaac From Ishmael it removed to Keydar his Son who being endued with seven Gifts marryed Nulta of the Land of Isaac but being warned by an Oracle he took to Wife Algadira an Arabian and after by divine warning carried the Chest of this Light unto Jacob. Then was Hamel born to him and received the same Light in which succeeded Thebickt Hamiessa Adoth Adure Adne Machat Nizar Musar Aliez Madraca Hoocima Knieva Anofro Melic Falhrem Luic Galiben Kab Murran Cudai Abdamenef Hesim a man by divine Testimony free of all uncleanness To him did all Kings offer their Daughters in Marriage and amongst the rest Constantine which he refused and married Selina the Daughter of Geit and had by her Abdalmutalib whose Light caused Rain in the Drought To him an Elephant prostrated himself and said with Man's Voice Selvation be on you and on the Light that shineth out of your Reins Divinity Fame Honour and Victory be on you and that there should proceed from him a King greater than all the Kings of the Earth Another time as he slept on the Stone which was placed by Abraham in his Oratory at Mecca he dreamed of a Chain reaching East and West and to Heaven and to the Depth which was presently converted into a flourishing Herb. Noe and Abraham presented themselves Interpreters of this dream Abdalla's Son the Father of Mahomet had a Tutor given unto him to defend him from his Enemies who seemed a Man but was none He was preserved from the lying in wait of the Jews by threescore and ten Angels which seemed men He wedded Hermina and therefore two hundred Women perished for his love some hanging some burning themselves When the prescribed time was come in the Month Dulheia on a Friday night God bad Ariduran to open the Gates of Paradice that the innermost of his Secrets might be manifested for it pleaseth me said he this night to transport the Light of my Prophet from the Reins of Abdalla into the Womb of Hermina and that it come into the World This
leisurely upon his Head and filled the Cloth up to his Mouth and Nostrils that he could not draw Breath but that he must suck in Water and so continued till it forced his inward Parts to come out at his Nose Eyes and Ears stifling him and choaking him into a Swoon or Fainting but being taken down they made him vomit out the Water and so somewhat recovered they torture him again four or five times his Body swollen three times bigger his Cheeks like Bladders his Eyes staring out beyond his Brows One Colson thus tortured did still deny the accusation whereupon they burn'd him under the Paps Arm-holes Elbows Hands and Feet till the Fat dropped out their Torches then they lodged him in a Dungeon where his Flesh putrefied and Maggots ingendred in it to a horrid and loathsome condition till at the end of eight dayes they were executed March 1623. At which instant there was a sudden Darkness and a Tempest which forced two Dutch Ships out of the Harbour which were hardly saved The Dead were all buried in one Pit and one Dunkin their Accuser stumbled at their Grave and fell stark mad and died so within three dayes after also a Sickness followed at Amboyna of which divers Dutch died The names of the English thus inhumanely dealt with were Captain Towerson Thompson Beaumont Collins Colson Wibber Rampsey Johnson Ford and Brown CXXXV In the Reign of King Edward the Sixth upon the alteration of Religion there was an Insurrection in Cornwal and divers other Countreys wherein many were taken and executed by Marshal Law the chief Leaders were sent to London and there executed The Sedition being thus suppress'd it is memorable what cruel Sport Sir William Kingston made by vertue of his Office which was Provost Marshal upon Men in Misery One Boyer Mayor of Bodmin in Cornwal had been amongst the Rebels not willingly but enforced to him the Provost sent word that he would come and dine with him for whom the Mayor made great Provision A little before Dinner the Provost took the Mayor aside and whisper'd him in the ear That an Execution must be that day done in the Town and therefore required that a pair of Gallows should be set up against Dinner should be done The Mayor failed not of his Charge presently after Dinner the Provost taking the Mayor by the hand entreated him to lead him to the place where the Gallows was which when he beheld he asked if he thought them to be strong enough Yes said the Mayor doubtless they are Well then said the Provost get you up speedily for they are provided for you I hope answered the Mayor you mean not as you speak In faith said the Provost there is no Remedy for you have been a busie Rebel and so without respite or defence he was hang'd to death Near the same place dwelt a Miller who had been a busie Actor in that Rebellion who fearing the approach of the Marshal told a sturdy Fellow his Servant that he had occasion to go from home and therefore bad him that if any came to enquire after the Miller he should not speak of him but say that he was the Miller and had been so for three Years before So the Provost came and called for the Miller when out comes the Servant and saith He was the man The Provost demanded how long he had kept the Mill These three Years answered the Servant Then the Provost commanded his men to lay hold on him and hang him on the next Tree at this the Fellow cried out that he was not the Miller but the Miller's Man Nay Sir said the Provost I will take you at your Word If thou be'est the Miller thou art a busie Knave if thou art not thou art a false lying Knave and howsoever thou canst never do thy Master better Service than to hang for him and so without more ado he was dispatched CXXXVI King John of England was a great Oppressor On a time a Jew refusing to lend this King so much Money as he required the King caused every day one of his greatest Teeth to be pulled out by the space of seven days and then the poor Jew was content to give the King ten thousand Marks of Silver that the one Tooth which he had left might not be pulled out CXXXVII To which I will add an Instance or two of cruel Massacres In the Year 1506. in Lisbon upon the tenth day of April many of the City went to the Church of St. Dominick's to hear Mass On the lest side of this Church there is a Chappel much reverenced by those of the Country and called Jesus Chappel Upon the Altar there stands a Crucifix the Wound of whose side is covered over with a piece of glass Some of those that came thither to do their Devotions casting their Eyes upon this Hole it seemed to them that a certain kind of gilmmering light came forth of it then happy he that could first cry a Miracle and every one said That God shewed the Testimonies of his Presence A Jew that was but lately become a Christian there denied that it was any Miracle saying It was not likely that out of a dry piece of Wood there should come such a Light Now albeit many of the Standers by doubted of the Miracle yet hearing a Jew deny it they began to murmur calling him wicked Apostate a detestable Enemy to Jesus Christ and after they had sufficiently reviled him with Words all the Multitude foaming with Anger fall upon him pluck off the Hair of his Head and Beard tread upon him trail him into the Church-yard beat him to Death and kindling a great Fire cast the dead Body into it All the residue of the People ran to this mutinous Company there a certain Fryar made a Sermon wherein he eagerly egged on his Auditors to revenge the injury our Lord had received The People mad enough of themselves were clean cast off of the Hinges by this Exhortation Besides this two other Fryars took and held up a Cross as high as they could crying out Revenge Revenge Heresie Heresie down with wicked Heresie and destroy the wicked Nation Then like hungry Dogs they fall upon the miserable Jews cut the Throats of a great number and drag them half dead to the Fires many of which they made for the purpose They regarded not Age or Sex but murdered Men Women and Children they brake open Doors rush into Rooms dash out Childrens Brains against the Walls they went insolently into Churches to pluck out thence little Children old Men and young Maids that had taken hold of the Altars the Crosses and Images of Saints crying Misericordia Mercy there they either so murdered them presently or threw them out alive into the Fire Many that carried the port and shew of Jews found themselves in great danger and some were killed and others wounded before they could make proof that they had no Relation to them Some that bare a Grudge