imitation and remembrance of David 2 Sam. 6.16 During the time that the Law is out of the Ark they place burning Torches therein in token that the Law performs all the duties of a light to those that obey it On this day also the Elder Jews make themselves merry in seeing the Youth scramble for the fruits they cast among them On this day also are sold the Offices of the Synagogue to them that will give most And all being orderly consummate every one leaves the Synagogue with this Prayer The Lord preserve my going out and my coming in from henceforth and for ever The next thing that we are to account for in this Chapter is the Manner of their keeping the Sabbath and the Offices thereon celebrated A Theme large enough for a whole Volume if we were to give an exact description of all Rites and Cases thereunto belonging But I shall confine the discourse at present to the Customs of the Jews in Barbary among whom and the rest of the Jewish Nation there is but small disagreement in the Sabbatarian Ritual Though it must be confessed that the Barbary-Jews are neither so strict nor Ceremonious in this matter as the Jews of other Countries if we may believe the account which good Authours have given of the later The whole Nation of the Jews sufficiently accord in the notice of the word Sabbath and grant that it barely signifies no more than Rest and that sometimes too it is used both for working-dayes and Festivals and that it puts on a more peculiar and restrained sense when it is concisely taken for that seventh day which God set apart for his Worship And in the Observation of this Sabbath or Rest the Jews practice numerous Ceremonies some antecedent and relating to their preparation and others concomitant or waiting upon the day Their antecedent Ceremonies are seen in dressing and preparing on the Eve of the Sabbath the Victuals that are thereon to be eaten According to the Commandment Exod. 16.23 To Morrow is the rest of the Holy Sabbath unto the Lord bake that which ye will bake to day and seeth that ye will seeth c. From which they conclude That all things necessary to the Sabbath and for the Honor thereof ought to be provided over night that there may be nothing to interrupt this Rest If it falls out that the Servants are not able to make all things ready the Masters assist them to the end that the Sabbath by no bodily labour may be transgressed And they are able to cite many great Rabbins who have help'd their Servants in preparing for this Rest But this strict Custom of dressing no Victuals upon the Sabbath is not universal with the Jews we now speak off With whom I have been entertain'd with good cheer on the Sabbath that was thereon prepared And asking them how they durst or would act so contrary to their own pretences the Reply was That they thought the Crime of a low nature if it was done without giving scandal to others that is secretly Which was then the Case Every Sabbath is observed with three Feasts and four Offices The first Feast is upon the Friday-night or rather at the very entrance and begining of the Sabbath The second is their Sabbath-dinner and the third Feast concludes the Sabbath Now the Custom of this triple Feast they deduce from the triple repetition which Moses used of the word To day when he gave out Orders concerning gathering of the Manna Exod. 16.25 Some of the more hospitable and wealthier Jews keep their Tables spread during the whole time of the Sabbath And in this as other things they generally tread in their Fore-fathers steps who were excellent at turning the power and intention of the Law into Carnal Form and Superstition But besides their greater apparatus in Diet for the Sabbath they use other preparative Rites in order to the Solemnity of This Great Day All which are bodily and external and not worth our recital if it were not to let us see into what follies a people may fall in Religion when they have once renounced the Truth All the Friday-afternoon is usually taken up in Sabbatical preparations as washing of the head and hands the trimming of their beards whose corners the Graver sort suffer not to be cut according to Law and in a peculiar Superstition of paring their nails on which parings they are forbid to tread in prevention whereof they usually burn or bury them In like manner they spend no small time in whetting the Knives and preparing other Utensils of the Table The women on the Friday comb and dress their heads and make ready all accoutrements of the body For they esteem a neglect in any of these particulars a down-right violation of the Rest And because their Masters use a word for Sabbath signifying Queen they think it reasonable that they as duly prepare themselves thereunto as they would for the reception of so great a Personage And he saith the Jewish Canon is greatly to be praised who honoureth the Sabbath with his Body Clothes and Dyet with his body by duely dressing it with his clothes by having a Sabbath-days Suit and with his dyet which on the Sabbath should be both more and better than on other dayes In Barbary they have their Sabbath-Lamps which are lighted by the women to which being lighted they hold up their hands and say this Benediction Blessed be thou O Lord our God King of the World who hast sanctified us with thy Precepts and commanded us to light the Sabbatine-Lamps If any mans curiosity lead him to enquire into the reason why the Office of lighting these Lamps belongs to the women I shall only tell him that among many other reasons pretended to be given hereof the chief is the keeping the women in minde of the transgression of Eve who seducing Adam to disobedience thereby put out say they and extinguished his Light and Glory But the women do it upon the account of a received Opinion among them that thereby they facilitate their Child-birth There being these three Precepts recommended to them for that end viz. To keep the Sabbath-bread light the Lamps and carefully to attend their Months The Sabbath-lights we now speak of are so contrived that they may last the whole Sabbath on which they are not allowed so much as to snuff them for fear of transgressing the fourth Precept But notwithstanding that the Jews in this part of the World are sufficiently rigorous in the observation of the Sabbath yet I neither could finde nor hear of any of them who would if surprised with the Sabbath expose themselves to the danger of abiding in Woods and Desarts rather than on the Sabbath to travel a few furlongs to gain a safer residence For they are willing to let things necessary to save mans life thereon to be provided for And some will not doubt to say that if ever they be Masters again of Hierusalem they will not loose it for
wives at once or by succession lib. de Monogam But others granting the lawfulness of successive Marriages have yet wholly exploded the licence of many wives at one time unless where Divine Revelation gave toleration Mr. Grotius saith there was no restraint herein until the Coming of Christ l. 2. c. 5. § 8 9. de jure Belli Pacis But as to what herein relates to the Jews Polygamy has ever been so far from an ill name among them that it has been reckon'd for one of the chief Priviledges confer'd upon them by Divine Prescription So that if we be herefrom abstemious it is not out of Conscience but worldly Interest The Gemara Babylonia as Mr. Selden writes makes it lawful for any Jew to take as many wives as he can maintain that is according to the Barbary-Jews Any one may take as many wives as he can find with meat and cloth and the right of the Bed For to all these he obligeth himself in his Marriage-Letters And what the Jews herein pretend unto by Divine Law other Nations practice through evil Custom For Tacitus de moribus German saith That they used Polygamy as a mark of Nobless and Gallantry But the Jews of whom I now write though they greatly magnifie and extol the concession of Polygamy yet they are not very fond of its practice For they are generally abstinent herein not out of Religion but policy as finding one wife at a time enough for their maintenance and government Besides if they find any grievance in being always confined to one Female they have a present remedie in Divorce or Concubinage Of which we must now speak a little Now as touching Divorce there are several things thereunto required which being all contain'd in the Sepher Kerithuth need not any particular enumeration And in this Sepher Kerithuth or Book of Cutting off so called because the wife thereby was cut off from her husbands Family I have met with three several Copies hereof one taken out of Moses Kotsensis where saith the citation there is another A second Copy hereof is collected out of Maimonides and extant in the end of Burtorf's Caldee and Syrian Grammar and a third used in Barbary among which there is little difference but in circumstances A Copy of the Bill of Divorce UPon the _____ day of the Week and _____ of the Month _____ and Year of the Creation of the World according to the account which we Hebrews use at Tituan in the Kingdom of Fez governed by the puissant Muley I Joseph Ben Rabbi have desired of mine own accord without any Compulsion to cut off divorce dismiss and cast thee out thee I say thee my Wife Fatima the Daughter of Rabbi Ben which has been my Wife heretofore But now I cut thee off divorce dismiss and cast thee out And be thou cut off divorc'd dismiss'd and cast out from me And be at liberty free and Mistriss of thine own self to go to Marry whom thou hast a mind to and let none be refused for my name from this day forward for ever And this shall be to thee from me a Bill of Divorce and the Epistle of putting away according to the Law of the twelve Tribes This is done before two or more Witnesses who attest it by subscribing thereunto their Names CHAP. IX Of the Jews Concubinage of their Marrying the Brothers Wife THose secondary Wives which were of old among the Jews our English Translation renders Concubines Gen. 25.6 And Tertullian speaking hereof in the first Chapter of his Book De unis Nuptiis ad Vxorem affirms that not the Patriarchs alone but also our Ancestors had a right not only to Marry but also to use Matrimony variously and that there were Concubines before the Law we read of the Concubines of Abaham Nahor Jacob c. And out of Philo we are told by Mr. Selden that the primary wives were called the just and the secondary Concubines A Learned man of our own Nation in his Annotations upon the New Testament seems to incline to another Opinion for he saith that the Matrimonial Laws of the Jews forbad a servant or Gentile woman to become wife to a Jew but that she was called a Concubine Whether or no this might be so by some new Institute of the Masters I have no just occasion here to enquire But I am sure the Egyptian Agar who was Abraham's Concubine is called his wife Gen. 16.3 And that both she and Kethurah were called both his Wives and Concubines but Sarah bore only the name of his wife August Civitat Dei lib. 17. cap. 34. But grant that the Concubine by some late Rabbinick Matrimonial Laws of the Jews was not called a wife yet she was far from the ill character of an Harlot nor was conjugal association with her any more unlawful than Polygamy which was practised among the Patriarchs and is still allowed of by the Modern Jews And yet if we grant Concubines the Title of Wives and Concubinate to be Marriage yet betwixt them and the primary wives there was and is still no small difference and disparity For the first sort of wives were taken by Matrimonial Patent or Dotal Covenant with solemn Espousals and had a power to receive all such presents as might testifie both the husbands Affection and the Contract but Concubines were taken without any of these Ceremonies or Assurances Next the primary wives were the Governesses of their husbands Families but the Concubines live therein as Servants and equal to the former in nothing but in the right of the Bed In the third place the children of the first wives had a right to succeed to the hereditary Estates and Titles of their Fathers but those of the Concubines were secluded all succession therein and instead thereof receive portions Gen. 25.6 And some think that it was upon this account that Jephte being the Son of a Concubine was denyed to co-inherit with his brethren Agreeable unto this Custom is the Matrimonium Morgengabicum in some Countries where the second wife and her children are not taken in to a right of the husbands Estate whereby the woman can have no part thereof for a Joynture nor the children for their inheritance but only certain portions are assigned them by Compact which are called Morgengab or Marriage-Gifts But not to pursue the Laws of the old Jewish Concubinage whereof enough is to be met with in Mr. Selden Our present task is to state the present use thereof among the Jews in Barbary Who are generally herein very abstemious but when they make use of it 't is with such Rites as have been already mention'd And we may easily imagine the unsettledness of their Condition to be the main reason why they are so reserved in the use of this priviledge People of an Ambulatory state being usually very careful not to multiply their lumber The next thing to be accounted for is the Marrying or refusing of the Brothers wife who is dead without Issue A
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
of the deceased hasten from Purgatory and rush into the water they first meet with to wash off the stink of the smoak and cool their flames and therefore the Rabbies have strictly charged that no water should be drawn at that time lest those sad Souls should be disturbed as we read in Ritualibus eorum Whilst they are intent on their Devotion two Angels approach one good another evil and place themselves one against another in the Synagogue if they hear any one praying or repeating his Lecture with a godly intention him the two Angels lead forth with their hands on his head saying Thy iniquity is taken away and thy sin is purged And if at their entrance into the Synagogue they find the Candles well kindled the Table well furnished the Bed covered with clean Linnen then the good Angel saith I wish I may see all things in this posture the next Sabbath and the bad Angel is forced to say Amen But if things are not well order'd then the bad Angel sayes as the good before I wish I may find all things thus the next Sabbath to which the good Spirit though unwilling sayes Amen When they come home they sit down at the chief place of the Table where the Salt is placed with a Cup of Wine and two Loaves covered with a Napkin Then the Master of the Family taking the Cup of Wine consecrates the Sabbath saying The sixth day the Heavens and the Earth were finished and all the host of them and on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made and rested the seventh day from all his work which he had made and God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it he had rested from all his work which God had created and made Gen. 2.1 c. Then adds Blessed art thou O Lord our God Creator of the Vniverse who hast created the fruit of the Vine Blessed art thou O Lord God Creator of the Vniverse who hast devoted us to thy Praecepts and hast given us a holy Sabbath and in thy good pleasure hast left us an heritage as a remembrance of the Creation it is a token of the Communion of Saints and a remembrance of the departure out of Egypt for thou hast chosen and sanctified us among all Nations thou out of thine abundant goodness hast left to us thy holy Sabbath Blessed art thou O Lord who hast hallowed the Sabbath When he hath said this he tasts the Wine and delivers it to all present to taste then he removes the Napkin and takes the two Loaves but cuts them not before Prayers as they do on week-dayes but forthwith sayes Blessed art thou O Lord our God Lord of the World who hast caused the Earth to bring forth bread After this he cuts and eats a piece of bread and gives to all that are present in larger shares than on week-dayes and all to honour the Sabbath wherein all niggardliness is contemned Whil'st the Wine is consecrating every one looks diligently on the Candle because the wise Rabbies write that if they travel hard on week-dayes they loose much of the strength of their eyes and looking on the Candles at the Consecration of the Wine is an effectual remedy The Bread is covered on the Table that its vileness in respect of the Wine may not be seen for in the Law it is mentioned before the Wine though consecrated after it as it is written Deut. 8.8 A Land of Wheat and Barley and Vines Where the Wheat and Barley of which the Bread is made are first named yet consecrated last on the Sabbath and if it were not covered it would be much despised The Rabbies say that it is covered in remembrance of the Manna For in the Wilderness the Dew fell then the Manna after that the Dew so that the Manna lay betwixt the Dew after the same manner as the Bread is laid on a Table-cloth and covered with a Napkin and for this reason the holy women bake a sort of Wafers which they eat instead of Manna Their Flesh-pyes are made like ours the Meat is laid on a thin cake and covered with another of the same sort so that it lyes as the Manna did betwixt the Dew And they take two loaves because on Fridays in the Wilderness they gathered a double quantity of Manna as it is written Exod. 16.22 But on the sixth day they gathered twice as much Bread What we shall chiefly Note is that on the Sabbath they much indulge their Genius as is observable in the Law Esay 58.13 where the Sabbath is called a delight that is that we may enjoy all delights that day and so ought all our Feasts to be according to that Thou shalt rejoyce in thy Feasts that all may be done to the honour of God wherefore thou may'st eat and drink and cloath thee decently that so thou may'st truly honour the Sabbath but don 't be excessive in thy charge All this is contained in Libello Timoris where the Reader may see with what Charms they excite their Devotion by repeating such short Sentences as these following Prepare to keep the Sabbath and Rest from all thy work If all things necessary are provided thou art praise-worthy Yea if thou have a great retinue of Servants and Maids The Day requireth strict observance Be content and thou hast plenty enough Wear good Habit for the Sabbath is called a Bride Provide the choicest diet for the Day And observe all Ceremonies carefully Come with a good Appetite Prepare good Wine Flesh and Fish Cover the Bed decently Let the Table be furnished splendidly Anoint thy Head but be not proud Sharpen thy Knife and cut thy Meat modestly Cast the parings of thy Nails into the fire Do not grudge Wine at the Consecration Wash thy hands and feet for this is no trivial Injunction Have a good courage Wash all thy Cups Be not mindful of any injuries Rejoyce with thy Wife and Children Banquet thrice in the day Speak nothing but what may cause mirth Besides these they have a Book of all the Blessings for the Feasts of the whole year amongst other these are observable Wear such Habit as may donote mirth Consecrate the Candle that it may burn well Finish all thy work on Friday and rest Eat all dainties Fish Capons and Quails Walk softly for the Law commands meekness and morning-rest Silk Garments are of much account and they who wear them also The Sabbath is holy and he who rightly observes it Let no care trouble you though Spiders be in your houses Be merry and jolly though at other mens charge Get the best Wine Fish and Flesh and Banquet thrice that day If thou observe all this thy reward is great And Ye women see that the Candles be lighted and be attentive Your convenience will be much when you are with Child And if you provide plenty of Wafers you shall easier conceive and bring forth with joy But lest the curious Reader may think
Alms. The object of the later are Orphans Widows Synagogues and the Holy house for so they call the Temple which they expect shall be rebuilt at the coming of their Messiah And therefore toward the structure thereof every dying Jew that is able contributes something For they have erected a Treasury to this purpose which is managed by the Masters and carefully improved by them The rest of the Estate is divided among the Wives and Children The Wives first taking out their Dowries doubled If the Children of the dying person be very young the Master is to be their Guardian who with a signal care labours to improve their Fortunes The Alms likewise are deposite in the Rabbies hands who out of them disposeth of some Females every year in Marriage When the sick man has set his house in order and is under evident indications of Death He makes confession of his Faith and in a short Oraison is recommended to Mercie And the breath is no sooner out of his Nostrils but they prepare for his Funeral which is always within the natural day of his Departure And first the Corps is washed in clean water or if he be rich in water of Roses Orange-flowers or any thing that is Aromatick While the Corps is thus making clean they pray that God would cleanse the Soul from all the defilements that it had contracted in the body This ceremony of washing being finished they put the Corps in a clean Shirt and Drawers and then a Strip of linnen resembling the Zizith and after all they sow him in a very white Sheet and put him into a Coffin The relations of the Deceased for seven daies after the Interment stir not abroad or if by some extraordinary occasion they are forced to go out of doors it is without Shoos which is a token with them that they have lost a dear Friend For the seven daies that they stay within the Neighbours come to the house to pray with them and their Mourning habit is either a black Ganiphe or the same clothes they wore when the party died The Corps is born by four to the place of Burial in this procession In the first rank march the Chachams or Priests next to them the kindred of the Deceased after whom come those that are Invited to the Funeral and all singing in a sort of plain-song the 49th Psalm And if it last not till they come to the Grave they begin it again At the Grave ten Rabbies or so many old Jews in their room say over some certain Psalms composed by the Rabbins for that purpose And when they are ended the Corps is laid in the Grave and covered with Earth and the Rabbies compassing the Grave seven times say From the Earth thou camest and to the Earth thou art returned After this is done they return from the Grave to the house of the Deceased where one who as chief Mourner receives them with his Jaws tied up with a linnen Cloth after the same manner that they binde up the Dead And by this the Mourner is said to testifie that he was ready to die with his Friend And thus muffled the Mourner goes for seven daies during which time the rest of his Friends come twice every twenty four hours to pray with him At the end of these seven daies the Friends of the Deceased repair to his Grave which they cover with a black Cloth and say this Prayer Vide Syracides 22.23 Judge of the Truth who Judgest truly be Judge of the Truth for all thy Judgements are Justice and Truth And then the Kindred of the Dead wish one another good health and Comfort And the same Ceremonie is repeated precisely that day twelvemonth till which time the Obsequies are incompleat If the Friends of the Deceased be devout they often every Week repair to his Grave where they make great Lamentation and bitter Weeping over him they pray at the same time That God would pardon his Sins and receive him into the Garden Meaning the Garden out of which Adam was cast when he became disobedient In the Funeral-Rites of the Jews the same order is observed for both Sexes only with this Decorum that the Women meddle not with the Men nor the Men with the Women but each Wash and Shrowd those of their own Sex They never bury their Dead promiscuously with those of another Faith but have purchased distinct Burying-places where they reside which they very much respect and to which they often resort both in contemplation of their own Mortality and to lament and pray for those who are dead already It may not be unfit to observe that though the Modern Ceremonies of Burial are neither so numerous nor costly as those of old among the Jews yet they do not much varie from them For the washing of the Body was in use at the time of Tabitha's death and the Chief Mourner spoken of before as also the Weekly Lamenting of the Dead refers to the Women hired to lament at Burials And which the Scripture calls Mourning-Women Jerem. 9.17 the same with the Praeficae among the Romans They likewise agree in the places of Burial which are now as formerly without the Towns or Cities where they live except that in Fez they have a Burying-place within the City adjoyning to the Juderia or the part where they live as was said in the entrance of this Discourse Enquiring after Inscriptions or Epitaphs and though often in the Burying-place for that end I could see none nor any other State about the Graves than Green Turf and Boughs But this remark respects the Jews in Barbary whom I conceive to come far short of those of other Countries in this sort of Funeral Pomp. But we are told that they were not without Inscriptions upon their Sepulchers as Hic jacet N. Memoria ejus sit in Benedictione Though this I confess be now used rather as an honourable Commemoration when any Author of worth being dead is cited by the Masters than as a common Epitaph But when they use Sepulchral Inscriptions they are usually a Prayer for the Dead such as Let his Soul be received into the Garden of Eden Or Let his Soul be bound in the bundle of Life with the rest of the Just The Confession of Sins made by the Sick upon his Death-bed I Acknowledge and confess before thee O Lord my God and the God of my Fathers the Mighty God of the Spirits of all flesh that both my Health and Death are in thy hands Restore me I beseech thee to my former health be mindful of me and hear my Prayers as in the time of King Ezechias when he also was grievously sick But if the time of my Visitation be come that I must die let my death be an Expiation for all my sins iniquities and transgressions whether I have committed them ignorantly or knowingly from the day that I first drew in the light Grant I beseech thee that I may have my Portion in Paradise
and the future World appointed for the Just. Make known unto me the ways of Eternal Life satisfie me with the joy of thy glorious Countenance at thy right hand for ever Blessed art thou O Lord God who hearest Prayers This Confession is usually made by the sick person in the presence of ten more invited thither for that purpose After this Confession follows the Absolution which is pronounced by some chief Rabbi wherein the sick person is absolved from all the Execrations and Curses which are fallen or may fall upon the sick and his Family Here are also read the 20 38 and 91 Psalms then follows this Prayer utter'd by the Rabbi Let God be merciful unto N. and restore him to life and former health and let his name be hereafter called B. Let him rejoyce in this name and let it be confirmed in him Let it be thy good pleasure O God that the change of his name may help to abolish all hard and evil decrees and to tear in pieces the Sentence that is brought against him If death be decreed upon the former name N. it is not decreed upon the later name B. If evil be designed against N. it is not so against the name B. Behold at this hour he is as it were another man as a new Creature as a new-born Babe bring him to a good life and length of daies c. In dangerous Diseases they change the Name of the sick and impose a new one as the Prayer shows on purpose thereby to move God to have compassion upon the sick on the account that he desires to become a New man Another Prayer used at the Grave BLessed be God who hath formed created fed brought up preserved and doth kill us all in Justice and Judgement who knows the number of you all and will restore you all to life in his good time Blessed be God who kills and makes alive Amen In some places the Jews are said upon the Departure of a Friend first of all to cast all the Water out of the house and then presently to cover his Face without permitting any one to look upon him They likewise bow down the dead man's Thumb into the hollow of the Hand and by that incurvation they fancie to express the Holy Name of God which is an Amulet against Satan But all the rest of the Fingers of the Dead are stretched out at length to shew that they have utterly forsaken the things of the World and hold nothing of its Goods Returning from the Grave they pluck up Grass and cast it behinde their backs to signifie their hope of the Resurrection of the Dead Who shall flourish again as the Grass according to Es 66.14 The Mourners use to eat Eggs out of no less Emblem than that Death is voluble like an Egg and to day takes one and another to morrow and so will come round upon all The Children yearly Fast upon the day their Parents died and for the eleven Mouths say the Prayer for deliverance out of Purgatory Where the Children out of a Reverend esteem of their Father's Piety suppose that he stays but eleven months though all the other Jews tarry twelve there As we have said in our Chapter of Purgatory They are very wary that none of the Earth taken out of the Grave remain uncast upon the Corps for they imagine this were to upbraid the Dead as if the Earth should disdain to cover him There are many other minute Ceremonies relating to the Jewish Interment omitted chiefly upon the account of their small importance THE CONCLUSION Wherein is considered The present OBSTRUCTIONS OF THE JEWS CONVERSION HAving through the Divine assistance finished this Succinct Account of the present State of the Jews I deem'd it would not be unwelcome to the Reader by way of Epilogue to recollect some of the visible Impediments of their Conversion Of which some respect the Jewish Nation in general and others relate to the Jews of a particular Residence Among the fatal Impediments respecting the Jews Conversion in general their own ingrafted Perversness and obstinate adherence to the Doctrines of their Fore-Fathers may be reckoned for the chief and indeed the root of all the rest As to the former the Jews are Notorious therein above all other people though the latter be a thing common to the Hebrew with other Nations For not onely Cotta in Cicero but most men of any parts or Education have thought themselves under no small obligation to keep close to the Traditions of their Fathers although no rational Evidence could be produced for the matter of the Tradition Vnum mihi satis est Majores nostros ita Tradidisse which was Cotta's is the ultimate Resolution of the Jews Religion And not to speak of the obstinacie of Education in this particular we finde even the renowned Propagators of Christianity complaining of a Prioribus Credere as the most knotty and stubborn objection they met with And when the Jews such I mean as are considerate and ingenious do freely acknowledge the Religion of Christians to be very conformable to the Law of Nature which they account the Principal yet lest they should seem to think themselves Wiser than their Ancestors and so incur the imputation of being Proud or upon the change of their Faith to be branded for Inconstancy they resolutely retain the Religion in which their Forefathers lived and died and thought themselves happy and secure And this is spoken not upon Trust but Experience For upon a fair occasion pressing a Spanish Jew with the evident danger he was in if after means of Conviction he should obstinately die in his Judaism he made no other Reply but that he desired to be in no better State nor to be accounted wiser than the Sabies or Wise men of his Nation And that if he was Damn'd so would Rabbi Ben Maimon Rabbi Salomon Jarchi and so run over a large Catalogue of their Rabbins placing great consolation to have such good company in Perdition But beside all this they esteem it so scandalous a thing for any man to forsake his Native Religion that even those who turn Jews are still under a very jealous aspect according to their own old Proverb Beware of Proselytes to the tenth Generation Which is also the Genius of the Moors for albeit that with a seeming Triumph they receive a Renegado for a Musulman yet they never repose in him any considerable Trust nor look upon him as a person of any worth or Gallantry As to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which some reckon among the Internal Obstacles of the Jews Conversion if thereby be meant their ignorance either in their own Rites or in evading the Arguments brought against them those that shall practise them herein will finde they have arrived to no contemptible knowledge in both there being no Rite of their Religion whereof they have not been taught according to their Principles a probable Rationale nor any objection brought by Christians against