to return to the place where he gave up the ghost and dolefully to lament over his dear consort the body So soon as the man is dead they cast all the water in the house out of doors that they who pass by may be warned of the decease of some person there Others have recorded that they do this thing in memory of the Prophetess Miriam of whom it is written All the Congregation of Israel came into the wilderness of Sin in the first moneth and the people remainâ—d in Cades where Miriam died and was buried there And when there was no water for the Congregation they gathered themselves together against Moses and Aaron The Talmudists say that the occasion hereof is this the Angel of death who hath deprived the man of life washing his knife or sword in the water poisons it for they write that Satan or the messenger of death standing at the beds-head with a drawen sword in his hand upon which sword hang three drops of gall which as soon as the sick man beholds being terrified at the sight he opens his mouth whereupon these three drops fall into it By reason of the first he gives up the ghost the second makes him become yellow and pale the last causeth him to putrifie So soon as the sick man dieth the Angel runs to the waters washeth his sword in them by which means they being infected with poison are to be powred out Again this is one of the best grounds of the Jewish faith Antonius Margarita in his tract of Tabernacles or Booths writes that the Jews in ancient times were accustomed to pray unto God that he would not suffer the Angel of death any longer to appear in such a fearful shape at their bedsheads and that also they had their request granted and that they their ancestors put out his left eye conjuring and binding him by the holy names of God It is also recorded in the Talmud that great honour ought to be given unto them who have departed this life because they in the other world have perfect knowledge of all occurrences in this They write also that the soule doth not presently upon the dissolution return into heaven from whence it came but that for twelve moneths space it becomes a vagabond through the earth returns into the Sepulchre suffers many torments in purgatory and then twelve moneths fully expired it ascends up into heaven there taking its rest The question being proposed in the book called Schebhet Jehudah in a certain disputation betwixt a Jew and a Christian How it came to pass that the dead should know all things that are done here upon earth It is answered that the soule doth not gain an entrance into heaven untill the body that was buried be turned into dust and therefore it remaining so long a time upon the earth may without contradiction know the things which are done here below That the soule doth not presently goe into heaven is manifest out of the words of Solomon The dust shall return unto the earth from whence it was and the spirit to God that gave it In this place they say that by the dust is meant our bodie which of necessity returns unto the earth out of which it was taken and by the Spirit our soule which returns to God that gave it now then to conclude the body must first be made dust and ashes and then the Spirit shall return unto the Creator which if it were otherwise certainly Solomon had inverted his words and propounded them thus The Spirit shall return unto God that gave it and the body to the earth Elias the famous Grammarian in his dictionary called Tisbi expounding the word Chabat hath left it in record that it was the opinion of their Rabbines that so soon as any of the Jews do take their farewell of this tâ—r restrial paradise and the chamberlain death hath furnished him with a lodging in the lower parts of the earth that the Angel of death comes and sits upon his sepulchre and that at the same time the soule returns into the body reanimates and erects it Whereupon the Angel takes an iron chain the one part of which is hot the other cold with which he smites the dead corpes two times or more At the first stroke all the members of the body are torn one from another At the second all the bones are dispersed abroad at the third flesh and bones yea the whole carcass is turned into dust and ashes Then come the good Angels and gather the bones together honouring them with a second burial This punishment the Rabbines call Chibbut hakkeber which they do not only write of but also most absurdly believe in their common prayer petitioning that God would preserve them against this punishment and divert it from them as we may see in that petition which they call Benschen being in the number of those which they use upon the day of reconciliation It is written in the book Chasidim that who is much given to almsdeeds is a lover of reproof and honesty who entertains strangers willingly and from his very heart who prayes with an attent minde although he die without the land of Canaan he shall neither tast nor trie the violence of the grave but shall be certainly preserved against the Chibbut hackkeber Hence it is most evident that they who die in the land of Canaan are free from this torture but they who die in a strange land are subject thereunto Hither it is also to be referred that they who die in other lands are wont to wander through secret caves and holes of the earth untill they come to the land of promise otherwise they are not made partakers of the general resurrection which thing we have formerly made mention of in the first Chapter and other places of this book CHAP. XXXVI Touching the Jews Messias who is yet for to come THat a Messias was promised unto the Jews they all with one mouth acknowledge hereupon petitioning in their daily prayers that he would come quickly before the houreglass of their life be run out The only scruple is of the time when and the state in which he shall appear They generally beleeve that this their future Messias shall be a simple man yet nevertheless far exceeding the whole generation of mortals in all kinde of vertues who shall marry a wife and beget children to sit upon the throne of his kingdom after him When therefore the Scripture mentioneth a twofold Messias the one plain poor and meek subject to the stroke of death the other illustrious powerful highly advanced and exalted the Jews forge unto themselves two of the same sort one which they call by the name of Messias the son of Joseph that poor and simple one yet an experienced and valiant leader for the warrs Another whom they entitle Messias the son of David that true Messias who is to be king of Israel and to rule over them in
credit that he is come so many years agoe are altogether ignorant for what end and purpose and in what degree his â—comming should be beneficial unto them for all that they expect is only this that he like another Moses and Aaron should deliver them from a terrestrial and corporal bondage and again bring them into their own land and to this end only that they might no longer drink the Wine of bitternesse among the Gentiles but be fed with milk and honey in the Land of Canaan They never dream of a deliverance from the spiritual captivity of sin for they perswade themselves that by pennance done in their own flesh they can satisfie for their own sin and by keeping of Gods Comâ—andements and their own good works merit eternal life In the 11. Article of their Belief they believe that whosoever doth many good works shall obtain a great reward in the world to come It is read in their Talmud All Israel shall have part in the world to come as it is written All thy People shall be righteous they shall receive the earth for an inheritance for ever the branch of my planting the work of my hands that I may be glorified Yet neverthelesse they shall not all share a like He that hath done many good deeds shall have a greater portion The wicked which never repented them of their sins shal be tormented in Hell or purgatory for the space of twelve months and after that shall have a portion in life everlasting but not so excellent as that of the just They who utterly deny God and profane his holy Name of which number are all those that turn to Christianity their foreskin shall grow again which done they shall the second time be circumcised as though they never had beene Jewes and shall remaine in Hell for ever The Son superviving his deceased Father is bound for a whole year to say a little Prayer called kaddisch for by the repetition of this Prayer he shall deliver his dead Father out of Purgatory such an one gives up the Ghost with great joy and incouragement knowing that he shall be delivered out of Hell by the Prayers of his Son left behind him After the same manner a honest woman may redeem her Husband But sometimes it so falleth out that the Husband â—and Wife are not equal in honesty and therefore it should seem that in the world to come the one should attain to a greater degree of happiness then the other here the Lord out of his mercy gives them both entrance together Briefly the whole nation of the Jews shal be partakers of life eternal and shal all ascend into Heaven but one shal be more glorious then another Even as a King or Duke coming into some great City he all his followers have entertainmet but in a different fashion so shall it be with the Jews in the world to come In the Article of the Resurrection of the Dead they themselves are dead for first they say it shall come to passe that only the Israelites shal be raised to life but the Christian and all other prople shall perpetually sleep in the dust Hence Rabbi ` Bechai in his Book intituâ—ed Kadhakkemach saith The Jewes have a four-fold honour and priviledge above other Nations which are these the Land of Canaan the Law the Prophets and the resurrection from the dead All these he repeats and proves in particular in hisâ— Exposition of the 18. and 33. chapters of the fiâ—t Book of Moses For the confirmation of the last priviledge he brin'gs amongst other the testimony of Isay prophecying of the Christians and other people They are dead they shall not live They are dead they shall not rise And of the Israelites Thy dead men shall live with my dead body they shall arise awake and sing you that dwell in the dust because your dew is as the dew of herbs and the Earth shal castâ— out her dead The same Rabbine out of the Talmud delivers thus much that at the great day of judgement three kinds of dead men are to arise the first of the most righteous Israelites the second of the most unrighteous and ungodly the third of a middle sort who did as much good as evil The good shall go into life everlasting the wicked into Hell and fire eternal as it is written Many of them that lie and sleep in the Dust shall arise same to everlasting life some to shame and everlasting contempt From hence sAith the Rabbine we may infer that even the wicked ones in Israel shall be co-partners in the resurrection yet shall this redound to their disadvantage seeing both body and soule shall together in Hell suffer never ceasing torments They of the middle sort shall be tortured for theirs in s in purgatory only the space of twelve months which time expired their bodies shall be consumed and a blustering wind shall scatter their ashes under the feet of the just The Talmudist proves this out of the 13. Chapter of Zachary the 8. and 9. verses for there is written It shall come to passethat in all the land saith the Lord two parts therein shal be cut off and die but the third part shall be left therein And I will bring the third part through the fire and refine them as silver is refined and will try them as gold it tried and they shall call upon my Name and I will hear them I will say it is my people and they shall say the Lord is my God And to the same purpose it is spoken 1. Sam. 2. 6. The Lord killeth and maketh alive he bringeth downe to the grave and bringeth up R. David Kimchi upon the first Psalm saith that the wicked shall not rise again but their souls shall perish together with their bodies in the day of death and in the same sence that a Resurrection only belongs to the just and godly in his Commentary upon the 26 chapter of the Prophecy of Esay Rabbi Saadiah upon the former words of the Prophet Daniel saith that the term many designs a certain number and there fore to be restringed to the godly in Israel who alone have a portion in life eternal Them that do not watch he ranks in their number who have forsaken the Lord and tâ—rned Apostates who for this very thing must be thrust into the lowest Chambers of the infernal pit there for ever to be the Emblems of ignominy To him assent Rabbi Higgaon and Aben Ezra in his Book Perusch or Exposition upon the fore-cited place of Daniel commenting that as many are to watch so many shall not watch the watchâ—men shall have life eternal they that do not watch never dying reproach The sense of the words in my judgement saith Aben Ezra is this that so many upright Jewes that pay their debts to nature in the Land of their captivity shall rise again and live when the Messias or Deliverer shall come for of
with the Godfather of the child because that is a holy place And thus much the Learned among the Hebrews have collected from the Hebrew word Milah which signifies circumcision This word hath four letters every one of which are the Index of a several word Mohel Jered liphne hattibha that is he that circumciseth shall seat himselfe near unto the Ark of the Covenant or Maleach Joschebh liphne Haaron that is the Angel stands before the Gate to wit Elias the Angel of the Covenant standing before the Ark sends up his prayers together with ours into the ears of the Almighty Some of the upright Jews take the little Infant and both before and after his circumcision lay him upon the bolster or cushion of Elias that he may touch him That they accomplish the Priah or denudation of the forepart of the Infants yard with so sharp nails they say that they are moved hereunto by that saying in the Book of Joshua Take unto thee sharp knives for so it is to be translated not knives of stone and circumcise the children of Israel the second time Upon these words the Wise-men among the Jews conclude that those words the second time ought to be understood of the priah which is not other but a second circumcision Hence issueth a most copious question Why they which were born in the Desart were not circumcised for the space of forty years together the answer is that this came not to passe by reason of the stiff necked malignity and hard hearted insolence of their Ancestors for they were men of circumcised hearts but because blustering Boreas had not blown in that Desart within the compass of forty years whose healthfull blasts conduce so much to the letting of bloud that any wound this not travising the terrestrial Globe is accounted perillous Hereupon they have this medicinal Canon In a cloudy day or in that day in which the East-wind blows Circumcision must not be administred nor any vein opened Here it may be objected the Northern wind doth not always blow and yet circumcision is dayly to be exercised This objection is answered in the Talmud that four winds blow every day and that the Northern wind is mixt with every one in particular and for the most part obtains the predominance and for this very reason circumcision may be dayly practised That this wind was husht and still while the Israelites were in the Desart the very nature thereof which is to free the aire from clouds and to be the author of fair weather is an invincible Argument as it is written The wind passeth and purgeth it from the North shall come gold that is to say with whose calm clearness the purity of the most refined gold cannot mannage a comparison If then this wind should have blown in the Desart it had driven away and dissolved the pillar of fire which always accompanied the people of Israel which had been to their great damage Here it is not lawfull for me to expose to the vulgar eye any more of these their quirks If any one be ravished with a desire of a further inquiry let him read Rabbi David Kimchi upon the fore-cited place of Joshuah and the Talmud in the book of affinity and that Chapter which begins Haarel where most accurate disputes exhâ—usted out of the very abysse of wisdome shall present themselves unto his view concerning the cause why circumcision was omitted in the Desart To proceed the casting of the fore-skin into the sand signifies that their seed shall be like the sand upon the sea shore for multitude as it is written I will make they Seed like the sand of the Sea and again Thy Seed shall be as the dust of the earth Secondly they use this Ceremony in remembrance of Balaam who when he saw that all the sand in the Desart was full of the foreskins of the Children of Israel he presently cried out Who can number the dust of Jacob as if he had said who can stand before the holiness and worth of this people all the males whereof not one excepted being circumcised bury their foreskins in such a sandy Sepulchre with what a fore-front shall I curse such an holy Nâ—tion Thirdly it signifies that the Old Serpent which seduced the first Adam in Paradise shall be fed with this fore skin for his bread is the dust of the earth as it is written Thou shalt eat the dust of the earth Now seeing the Serpent is as yet mans daily enemy and hath an incessant greedy desire to satiate his gluttonous paunch with his soule and body thence it comes to pass that these Saint-like Jews feed their enemy the Serpent according to Gods comman dwith the foresaid fore skin as it is written If thine enemy hunger give him meat This bit is so hard of digestion that it so debilitates and weakens the naturall strength of the Serpent that he cannot again â—educe man as once he did If an Insant be sickly they do not circumcise him upon the eighth day but defer it untill the time of his recovery If any Infant dye before the eighth day be come then he is cicumcised in the Church-yard over his grave yet so that no Prayers be said for him It is circumcised to this end that God being intreated would be mercifull unto him and together with others raise him up at the last day In some places it is not lawfull for any one the Godfather only excepted to sit while the child was a circumcising because it is written That all the People stood to the Covenant That for a conclusion of all the Moâ—el is bound to give a blessing upon the Covenant of circumcision holding the circumcision knise in his hand the wise men amongst the Jews demonstrate from that Scriptnre Let the prayses of God be in their mouth and a two edged sword in their hands Thus the fiâ—st Act in the Synagogue is finished now follows the second which is performed after the childes returne to his Fathers house In the mean time that they are busied in the Synagogue the Cooks are with much diligence conversant about their Kitchin affairs the Table is spread and great provision is made to which as hath been formerly recorded only ten men are invited two of which must be a couple of learned Rabbines who rabble out a long Grace and make a kind of a Sermon to which the hearers giving but lean attention in the mean time carouse whole Gobâ—ets of wine one to another It was my chance once to be invited to one of these their feasts commonly celebrated after the administration of the circumcision at which time one of the Rabbines took for his Text those words of Soloman Wisdome is a tree of life to them that lay hold on it Concerning his Sermon I can with out a lie affirm that I never heard â—uch a dry and ridiculous piece of stuff in all my life That they ought to provide such
his glory as saith the Prophet Esay A singular care is also to be had that no man put on his shirt or any other of his garments out of order he must put on his right foot shooe first but in tying of them begin with the left But if any man have a pair of shooes which are destitute of shooe-ties then must he first fit the left foot then the right at night the left foot shooe ought first to be put off as that worthy man Rabbi Jochanan hath taught and commanded When any one is altogether ready and invested from top to toe then must he leave his bed-chamber his head being bowed toward the ground and his mind full of devotion in remembrance of the Temple of Jerusalem now waste and desolate always provided his head be covered and his feet shod yea the-whole body cloathed seeing the Majesty of the Almighty always hovereth over his head and because it is scandalous and an enemy to good manners to come naked into the sight of any one After this every one drawing aside unto some secret place shall endevour to purge his belly so far as is needfull and to take all pains possible that he may come pure and cleanly to morning prayer as it is written Prepare thy self to meet thy God O Israel and David saith Praise the Lord O my soul and all that is within me praise his holy name in which place according to the Exposition of the Rabbines thus much is intimated that the very intrails ought to be clean and empty It is not lawfull to name the holy name of God unlesse it be done with all cleanlinesse which is the reason that every one must carefully endeavour that his garments be not pollutedâ— in his devotions he ought to be very bashfull and modest yea though he be alone in some dark and private place as it is written humble thy self to walk before thy God that is the Rabbines being Commentators in a secret place No man must be conscious of so small providence as too long to defer the works of nature for it is not a sin onely so to do but also may greatly endanger his belly and make it liable to rupture I do not here mention that the soul by these means procures a stinking breath and other consequent discommodities It is written in Parscha Kedoschim You shall not make your souls abominable but ye shall be holy unto me which the Rabbines interpret of them who against nature stop the work of nature saying that whosoever makes a delay to salute the lakes when the excrement is ripe for an egresse he is unclean and a transgressour of this Commandement in cleansing of himself he must use the left hand not the right for with this he judiciously handles the holy Scripture with this he writes the holy names of God and Angels When any one is in a private place he must be carefull with an exact diligence that the suffer not the word of God and his Commandements to come into his remembrance and much lesse to account it as a thing dispenced withall to name any name expressing a Deity the reason according to the wisest of the Rabbinicall Rable being this because God will shorten his dayes who repeats his name in secret The Schollers of Rabbi Sira upon a time demanded of him how it came to passe that he lived so long to whom he answered I had never since I was born the least meditation of any thing contained in the Word of God neither did his name ever proceed out of my mouth in an impure place When any one is to ease himself he may turn his face either towards the North or South but by no means toward the East or West because a due reverence ought to be had of and tendred unto the holy Temple at Jerusalem to which we ought alwayes to turn the face not out back parts Enough of this I omitting also their morals and such like trash I will show unto you how the Iews prepare themselves to morning prayer by the washing of their hands The Chachamim and skilfull Rabbines write that no man ought to touch his own body untill his handâ— be washed and that in respect of the great danger that may ensue thereupon for the hand in the morning is a thing most impure and venomous by reason of the unclean evil spirits which rest upon the hands untill they be drenched in water If any one touch his eyes with such hands they shall become blind if his ears they shall be stopped with deafnesse if his nostrils they become obnoxious to a continuall distillation if his mouth it shall be vexed with stinking if his hands they shall be clothed with scabs When any one washeth himself he holds the right hand under the Ure and pours the water thrice upon it and after that the leâ—t in the like manner for without this Ceremony it is not allowable that the one hand should touch the other No man in washing ought to be sparing of water for Rabbi Chasda saith that whosoever useth plenty of water in the washing of his hands shall be a man of great riches They must lift their hands on high in time of washing lest the unclean water resulting out of the Bason should repollute them In the next place they ought to wash their mouth and face because this was created according to Gods own image as it is written God created man in his own likenesse according to the image of God created he him The Rabbines illustrate the whole matter by this similitude An Artificer one who is Master of his trade makes some goodly vessel and therewith gratifies one of his dearest friends This his friend knowing of his approach and seeing the Crafts man coming to his house takes the vessel scours and makes it as clean as he can possible left the workman should be wroth and angry that he kept not this his handy work from filth and pollution In like manner any Jew who every day in the morning frequents the Synagogue appears in the presence of God his Creator and is bound to worship and honour him ought also accurately to wash his face lest the chief workman should be angry to behold his creature disfigured with uncleannesse In Bereschith Rabba which is an Exposition upon Genesis the Rabbines winnowing that Sentence of Salomon A mercifull man doth good to his own soul affirm it also to be behoveâ—ull for him to keep himself cleanly for the good of his body How can any call upon God with his mouth when as yet it is filled with spittle and other filthy matter A Jew being about to wash must do it over a bason or some other vessel not over the earth which done it is not lawfull for him to pour out his water where any one treadeth yet are there found men who practise the contrary for the promotion of their art in poysoning and skill in Magick The
help them to judge deStroy and utterly to extirpate from the face of the earth the Mountain of Esau that is to say the Christians together with their Kingdome they stiling the Christians Edomites and the Roman Monarchy the Kingdome of Edom and so shall bring them back into their own Land flowing with milk and honey what the reason is that they call uâ— Christians Esauites or Edomites I will at large inform the Reader in another place I will only insert thus much in this present Chipter which they write and teach in their secret and hidden books which they will not suffer to come into the hands of Christians that the soul of Esau passed from his body into that of Christs and that Christ was no lesse wicked then Esau was and that we are no better whence ever we are not without great cause called Edomites who put our trust and confidence in him Then they begin to sing God shall be King over the whole earth In that day there shall be one God and his Name shall be one as it is written in thy Law O God Hear O Israel the Lord our God is one God This they â—abble out as a thing clear contrary to our Christian profession as though we worshipped more Gods then one and were wont to give him more names then one as the namâ— of Christ Next in order follows a short Prayer calâ—ed Krias schmah taken out of the fift Book of Moses and when they read that verse in the Hebrew language Hear O Israol the Lord our God is one God and come unto the last word thereof which is Echad signifying One they toss up and down and bandied from mouth to mouth with eyes cast up to Heaven for the space of halfe an hour yea sometimes for an whole hour together and comming to the last letter thereof which is Daleth the whole Congregation doth bend and turn their heads successively towards the four corners and winds of the earth hereby signifying that God is King in every place yea throughout the whole world for the letter Daleth by reason of its place in the Hebrew Alphabet stands for the number of four Furthermore the word Ecthad comprehends in it two hundred forty five other words to which they superadding these three Hael elohechem Emeth your God is truth the number amounts to two hundred forty eight the very number of the members in mans body so that if these several Prayers be said for every member in particular then the whole man is strongly guarded against all manner of evil Whosoever repeats the foresaid verse three times shall be safe from the Divel for that verse begins with the Letter Schin and ends in Daleth in this manner Schema Israel Adonai Eloheim Adonai Echad which two letters conjoyned make up the word Sched which signifies a Divel They repute also this Prayer as a Prayer of singular worth and sanctity by which may be wrought many miracles whence it comes to pass that they are extreamly superstitious in a repetition of the same every morning and evening It is registred in the Talmud that upon a certain time when it was commanded by open Proclamation that the Jews any where having a Synagogue should not publickly teach and make profession of their faith Rabbi Akibha not regarding the command ceased not to read and preach it openly in the Synagogue upon which he was apprehended and for the fact cast into Prison When the Tormentors were about to bring him to the stake to be burnt they first of all curried his corps with an iron horsecombe wounding and tormenting him after a lamentable manner Yet notwithstanding Rabbi Akibha remained constant praying without intermission And when the time of the day came wherein he was to say that Prayer Krias Schema he begun it with great boldness At the last his Scholers bespoke him and said Most dearly beloved Master thou hast prayed sufficiently now yield thy selfe and take thy death patiently To whom he made this answer I have had this saying in great esteem all my life long Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy body and thus I have understood it that though any one should pluck out my heart and rent my body in pieces yet I ought ever to determine this with my selfe never to cease to love him Therefore when God hath confirmed this in me should I cease to worship him and to bring this Prayer to an end which is directed unto him Therefore holding on in this his prayer he never left repeating the word Echad until his soul forsook his body Then was there a voice heard in the air saying Blessed art thou O Rabbi Akibhah because thy soul departed breathing the word Echad now shalt thou have an entrance into life eternal and shalt come into that light of the Garden of Paradise Amen Selah They have also another prayer like unto the former which they call Schemon Esre i. e. eighteen because it contains so many particular thanksgivings and prayers of praise therein Concerning the sanctity and holinesse of this and the former prayer the Jews have written many a large Tract which I leaving to bespeak their own worth will neither praise nor any ways disgrace The last of these every one repeats twice a day and he that is their Chaplain or Reader in the Synogogue doth publickly sing it by himselfe two or three several times The Jews esteem highly of it hoping that hereby they shall obtain remission of all their sins When it is their will and pleasure to poure out unto God they are bound to do it standing and with such a posture that one foot may not insist more upon the ground then the other in imitation of the Angels of whom it is written And their feet were streight feet This is handled more at large in Rabbi Alphes in his first Chapter and in their Minhagim and in many other books When they say those words holy holy holy Lord God of hosts the earth is full of his glory being a parcel of the Prayer Schemon Esre by them named Keduscha a then they caper three times together leaping up as though by this their gesture they did indeavour to become like unto the Angels who were the first Choristers that sung this Song of praise Others say that because these words in the Prophecy of Esay immediatly follow And the posts of the doors were shaken at the voice of him that spake it is both meet and convenient that a man should touching move himself in the quavering of such an Angelical Anthem The Hebrew Doctors write that whosoever dare to mutter the least syllable while the Prayer Schemon Esre is a saying shall after his death have coals of fire given him to eat as it is written in the fourth verse of the thirtieth chapteâ— of Job for so Rabbi Salomon expounds the words Rabbi Tanchum saith in the name of Rabbi
for the Rabbines in their Masseches Berachos upon those words When all the people saw the thunders and the lightnings and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain burning the people saw and were afraid and stood afar off dispute and say that the people through great fear and amazement was in a moment of time three miles backward from the mountain Sinai The chief Glosse-monger Rabbi Salomon Jarchi writes in his glosse upon this Text that the people kept back twelve miLes of which David spoke saying The Kings of the Armies did flie and sheâ— that tarried at home divided the spoil and then came the good Angels and ministring Spirits and brought the people back unto the Mountain When they are about to depart the Temple or Synagogue then they speaking within themselves quietly and without the least noise they say a certain Prayer beginning Alenulesh abeach It is meet that we should praise the Lord who is above all and in an excellent degree to celebrate him because he hath created all things and not made us like unto the rest of the Nations likewise that he hath not made us as other generations of the World and hath not appointed us an inheritance like unto theirs neither is our lot as their lot neither as the lot of their whole multititude Here are some words omitted in their Books of Common-prayer and that by the Commandement of the Magistrates of Italy where their Books are wont to be and for the most part are at this day imprinted The things omitted were some blasphemous sayings against our Saviour which are found expressed in the ancient copies of which I have one which was imprinted at Augusta by a Jewish Printer called Chajim in the year of Christ 1534. In other copies instead of the words omitted there is left an empty space about the length of one line to this end that the children of the Jews and others who are ignorant may be warned to enquire what saying it is that is there omitted which when they do some relate the words unto them or otherwise write them in the margent of the Book as I have observed them to have practised in many of their Prayer books the words left out are these Who bend their knee and crouch to that which is vanity and foolishness and adore another God who cannot help these words they utter against Christ wherefore they spit upon the earth in the mouthing of them But we bend and bow our knees yea our whole man to that King who is King of Kings to God holy and blessed for ever who stretcheth out the heavens establisheth the earth whose glory and chair of estate is in heaven and the seat of whose power is in the highest heavens he only is our God and there is no other besides him These things thus finished the Jew now going out Of the Synagogue saith O Lord God lead me by thy justice by reason of those that lay wait for me in secret make plain thy way before my face Preserve me in my going out and my comming in from this time forth for evermore They must go out of the Synagogue in the posture of a Crab sish creeping backward through the Gate thereof and that their back part should not be towards the holy Ark in which the book of the Law is laid up to which they ought to exhibit a certain kind of reverence by turning their face thereunto The Rabbines upon those words of the Prophet Ezekiel Who have turned their back unto the Temple of the Lord have delivered thus much in the Talmud that a grievous and heavy punishment was inflcted upon the Priests because in going out of the Temple of the Lord they turned their back parts towards the ark of the Covenant wherefore the case standing thus we ought to depart out of the Temple with all fear and reverence even as a servant being about to take his leave of his Maister doth it with a retrograde crowching submission and submiss lowliness They must not run out of the Synagogue lest some might think him that runneth to be weary with praying and to rejoyce that it is now lawfull for him to depart They must go out with decurtate steps for if any one doth this God numbreth his steps and gives him a great reward as it is written Thou hast numbred my steps c. If any in his going forth chance to meet a woman or a damsel whether she be one of the Jews or Christians he ought to shut his eyeâ— and turn away his face from beholding her he must not afford her the common curtesie of a Complement lest thereby taking occasion of longer discourse he should be woed to the entertainment of lustfull notions and evil cogitations Concerning the serious manner of praying they write that whosoever wil pray attentively ought to have his head and heart covered to incompass his body with a girdle in the middle lest his heart by the sight of the secret part should be inveigled with wicked thoughts He must turn his face towards Canaan and the City Jerusalem his feet equally placed upon the Earth as abovesaid He ought to put his hand upon his heart in that manner that his right hand may rest upon his left withall bowing his head with great humility as it is written Let us lift up our hearts with our hands unto the Lord in the heavens and again My life is alwayes in my hand yet do I not forget thy Law In time of prayer none must yawn belch or spit yet if he must spit on necessity then ought he privately to receive it in his Handkerchiff and modestly to cast it behind him or upon his left hand but not before him or upon his right for there stand the Angels invisible whom if any should beray with this excrement he should be guilty of an heynous offence It is not lawfull for any to let a scape in time of Prayer if he do it against his will then ought he to suspend the act of praying until the ill savour thereof be gone If the wind urge him so much and so vehemently that he must of necessity let fly then shall he go some four paces aside set a packing and instantly thereupon saying O Lord of all the earth thou hast created me full of holes Whiâ—h I cannot shut up all our modesty is open and known unto thee our life is full of shame we are nothing but worms and Maggots Sneesing in time of Prayer if it come from the parts below is an ill sign if from above a good one He that beginneth once to pray must not break off in the middle of his Prayer yea although the King of Israel should come and salute him yet he may not answer him though a Serpent took him by the heel and bit him yet ought he to continue in his devotions yet there is a certain dispensation which licenseth a man to give way unto a
the third and last meal upon this day while the day is not yet gone nor the Sabbath altogether come to its period They doe not at this time eate much because their time is short and because they are bound to shut up the Sabbath with thanksgivings Moreover it often fals out that when this meale is provided for them they are not an hungry because they filled their paunhes more largely at dinner which often holds unto the evening These meales or banquets they repute as a thing strictly commanded and for a worke of singular excellenâ—ie and goodnesse conâ—erning which they writing very many things in the Talmud are of opinion That whosoever celebrates them frequently and diligently he shall not taste of hell torments he shall be defended against that most feâ— refull warre of Gog and Magog he shall bee preserved from the trouble and vexation which shall be upon the earth about the comming of the Messias which they call Chebble hammaschiâ—he Between evening and night the use of cleâ—ne water is prohibited neither is it lawfull to drinke of the brooke because the soules of the wicked deceased doe as yet bath and coole themselves therein knowing that they must presently return into hell When the end of the Sabbath approacheth and the third and last repast finished many use suddenly with great expedition to match away the table cloth dreaming that by so doing due reverence shall be exhibited unto them The night inveloping the earth in darknesse they againe assemble themselves to prayer sing sweet Sabbaticall hymns especially that prayer veharacham with a ravishing Nigan their descant resounding in an amiable melody much like the ordinary catter-wauling in the moneth of March and in so doing they chant their farewell to the holy Sabbath They continue these their songs untill much of the night be spent out of pity and compassion towards the soules of the wicked Jewes And that to this end that the longer these their devotions are a finishing the later their returne shall bee into the infernall pit For as upon Friday at eve there is a loud proclamation made in hell that all the wicked should depart the place and goe into the earth to celebrate the Sabbath that all Israel may upon this day rest from their labours So upon Saterday at night so soone as the Jewes have ended their evening prayers a second proclamation goes forth to will and command all damned soules to returne into the place of torment In these their benighted chanting orisons they oftentimes call upon Elias the Prophet saying that he is promised unto them that hee will not come but either upon the Sabbath or some great Festivall Therefore the Sabbath now being past and hee not comming they intreat him that hee will not faile to come upon the next and declare the comming of the Messias Perhaps good Elias is not quick of hearing that he being for so long a time invited yea intreated to come doth not come as yet The Chachamim and skilâ—ull Rabbines also record that Elias the Prophet standing under the tree of life in Paradise registres the merits and good workes of the Jewes wherewith they diligently celebrate the Sabbath Lastly when they sing the certaine song whose beginning is Bâ—â—rechu Then the women make speed unto their owne wels to draw water out of them It is also written that the fountaine Meribah of which they dranke in the desert flowes into the sea of Tyberias and issuing out of it intermingles it selfe with all other fountains Now it comes to passe that any of the Jewish women drawing any of the foresaid water in that instant may use it as a choise ingredient for some excellent medicine Moreover whosoever drinkes of a fountaine so qualified shall have present remedy for any disease yea though his whole body be infected with the french pox Upon a certain time a woman presently upon the ending of the prayer Barechu went to draw waterat that instant the fountaine Meribah presented it selfe unto her for which reason she protracting the time of her returne homeward her husband began to chafe and swell with anger which the woman taking notice of through feare streaming from the fountaine of his choler into the channels of her body made her let the paile of water to slip out of her hand unto the ground whereupon some few cooling drops being by the fall besprinkled upon the diseased body of her raging husband were as so many skilfull Chirurgions to the place they onely touched This the good man got for his anger who if hee had drunke up all the water perhaps he might have gained a finall recovery Hereupon the Rabbines say that an angry man reapes no other profit by his cholerick behaviour but his owne anger In the last place the Jewes make a division and interpose a difference between the Sabbath and the week â—ollowing giving God thanks that he hath given them so much grace as to celebrate the Sabbath in that good manner This is done by their Reader in the Synagogue after evening prayer and this he doth for the poor peoples sake who cannot by reason of their necessity doe it in their owne houses Otherwiâ—e the Master of every private family doth it in his owne dwelling in manner and forme following A great candle is lighted much like unto a Torch which they call Ner habdalah or the candle of division or destruction Then they bring in a little box commonly made of silver full of the best perfumes In the next place the Master of the family takes a cup full of wine but if there be no wine in that country then he takes ale or beer instead thereof and sings with a loud and shrill voice The Lord is my Salvation and my trust I will not feare because he is my strength and my praise God the Lord is my health He hath delivered me out of all my trouble and mine eye hath seen her desire upon mine enemies The Lord of hosts is with us the God of Jacob is our refuge Selah I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. Hee hath been a light unto the Jewes that is to say joy gladnesse and honour These words ended he blesseth the cup and pouring a little of the wine therein upon the ground he saith Blessed bee thou O Lord our God King of the world who hast created the fruit of the vine This done taking the cup in his left hand and the little box full of perfumes in the right and saying Blessed be thou O God who dost create divers kinds of perfumes He puts the box unto his nose to recreate his smell and reacheth it to every one in the family for the same end Then taking the cup againe in his right hand he goes unto the great candle using no small delight in an exquisite contemplation of the nailes upon his fingers so that bending his fingers towards his wrist they cast
a certaine shadow upon the palme after this he stretcheth forth his hand the second time so that he may know by the candle light that his nailes are whiter then his fingers which he perceiving saith Blessed be thou O God our God King of the world who hast created such a resplendent candle Then he takes the cup againe into his left hand looking in the like manner upon the nailes thereof Then by and by he transfers the cup into the right hand and saith Blessed be thou O Lord our God King of the world who hast put a difference between the holy and unholy between light and darknesse between Israel and the Gentiles between the seventh day and the other six dayes of the weeke destinated for labour While hee is a repeating this prayer he poures a little of the wine out of the cup upon the earth Then he drinks a little of it himselfe reaching it unto others that they may sup of the same Amongst these nocturnall petitions there is one which begins Vaiehi Noam in which the letter zaijn is not found which signifies weapons whosoever therefore shall say this prayer with a devoâ—t minde hee shall bee safe and secure that whole night following from any kinde of weapon so that he shall neither be killed nor have the least scratch given him In the the like manner he shall besafe from the devill when he devoutly faith that prayer beginning Schema Israel Heare O Israel c. For the first verse begins with the letter Schin and ends with the letter Daleth which two joined together make Scheds which word signifies a Devill This distinction of the Sabbath they prove from those words that you may discern between the holy and profane and those Godseparated the light from the darknesse Some take of the consecrated wine and anoint their eies therewithall others wash their face in it thinking it a wholsome medicine against the fluxes of the eye others bath their arteries therewith because it is a meanes to length 〈◊〉 their dayes others sprinkle it in every corner of the hoâ—â—ri about the beds and cradles of infants dreaming that it is soveraign against enchantments and witchcraft The truth is this wine is of so high esteeme amongst them as that other also wherewith they initiate the Sabbath They smell the perfumes lest they should fall into a swoon while one of their soules departs out of the body For upon the Sabbathday they have another soule besides that which they live by at other times Concerning this matter Antonius Margarita in his booke of the faith of the Jewes writes in this manner It is written in the Jewish Talmud saith he that every man hath three soules and it is proved out of these following words of the Prophet Isaiah Thus saith the Lord who created the heaven and stretched it out who made the earth and whatsoever groweth thereon who giveth life and breath unto the inhabitants of it According to the letter of this text they find two soules in man to which if we add the naturall soule there ariseth three Whereupon they also write that two soules depart out of a man sleeping the one of which goes upward unto God to learne things to come the other goes downward into the earth and running to and fro contemplates nothing else but injustice sinne foolishnesse or vanity The third they call Ruach Behemoth the irreasonable soule which being the first of all received by man is seated neare unto his heart and sees all things whatsoever the other two soules in their absence from the body have heard seen or done and hence proceed and issue all our dreames which therefore are not alwaies to be contemned They say moreover that upon the Sabbath a man hath another soule besides these which enlarges his heart that he may keep the Sabbath more honourably and exhilarate himselfe in a higher straine of mirth then it were possible for him to doe if hee were destitute of the same But the Sabbath once being ended this soule departs and the man becomes weake thereupon against which his faintnesse hee may prosperously use these sweet smelling odours that the body may have wherewith to recover its former strength Hitherto Margarita but whence he had these words I cannot as yet finde Concerning this superfluous soule 〈◊〉 remember I have read this in the Talmud Rabbi Jose said 〈◊〉 the name of Rabbi Simeon who was the sonne of Jochai that all the commandements that God gave unto the Israelites he gave them in publike except the Sabbath which he gave in private as it is recorded The Sabbath shall be an everlasting signe between me and the children of Israel Where the Jewes by an everlasting signe would understand a secret token willing that the Sabbath should be hid from all other nations and onely manifested to the Jewes Therefore marke diligently Christian Reader how the Hebrew word leolam signifying everlasting any reasonable soule being judge must according to the Jewish interpretation signifie hidden and concealed Hence the Rabbines in their Gemarah ask the question that if the Christians and other people do not know that we have a Sabbath how comes it to passe that they in time to come shall be punished for the contempt of the Sabbath and for the not keeping thereof They make answer to themselves saying they know well enough that wee keep the Sabbath this is not hidden from their eyes and therefore they are to be punished because they will not keepe it But the reward due unto the observance thereof is hidden from them and this they know not yet if they would rightlly celebrate the Sabbath they should also know thereward But this is a thing impossible for them to put in execution seeing they are destitute of the superfluous soule because it being given to men rather upon that day then others and that more abundantly doth enlarge their hearts that in the time of the Sabbath they may take their rest with ease eat and drinke well and merrily and set all care and sorrow a packing from their breasts Hereupon Rabbi Simeon the sonne of Lakis affirmed that God gave this soule to man upon the Sabbath about eventide and tooke it from him again at the end of the Sabbath as it is written When he had taken rest evâ—n to satiety the Sabâ—ath remaining then was he deprived of his soule to wit the superfluous one Where againe note how neatly the Jewes interpret the holy Scriptures for the verbe jinnâ—phsch in that place is rendred by the Rabbines to want or bee deprived of a soule whereas it hath a clean contrary signification to cherish recollect recreate stirre up the spirits and most properly to breath which after the manner of men we ascribe unto God concerning whom it cannot be said nor understood that he hath lost a soule In this their blindnesse the Jewes blush not to place their chiefe wisdome and knowledge Concerning this superfluous soule Rabbi Abraham also
the Chasan or the Minister expounding the book of Esther reads it from end to end whereat the women and children ought to be present and give diligent attention and they have a custome that the little ones so often as Haman is named keep a vile stir and a tumultuous noise in the terrible and forcible explosion thereof In former times they were wont to provide themselves two stones upon one of which the name of Hamâ—â— was written These they did beat one against the other until the name was quite demolished and worn out which when they perceved they presently cried aloud Let his name be blotted out The name of the wicked shall rot Accursed be Haman Blessed be M â—rdecai Cursed be Zeresh the wife of Haman Blessed be Esther the wife Ahâ—suerus Cursed be all they that worship idols or the host of heaven Blessed be all the people of Isnael When the Lecturer comes to that place where mention is made of the ten sons of Hamau he is bound to read it with one breath for they write that all these sons of Haman perished in the twinkling of an eye and their souls in a very moment took their farewel of their beloved lodging the body They celebrate this Feast in a very voluptuous manner sousing their guts in wine and beer because Esther the Queen found favour and grace in the eyes of King Abasuerus when he sate at her banquet and obtained pardon for the Jews and a grant that they might stand for their lives And hence it comes to pass that for the space of these two dayes they busie themselves with no other things then eating and drinking smelling and bibbing dancing and piping singing and roaring ieasting and sporting riming and scoffing the women putting on mens apparrell and the men clothing themselves in womens attire which although it be expresly forbid in the law of Moses yet they make there one exception saying that it is lawful and no offence to practise it upon this day and this occasion seeing it is done by them only for worldly joy and recreation Rabbi Isaac â—irna in this Minhagim hath left in record to posterity that it is commanded as a work of great excellency to make merry as upon these dayes to goe a whoring to drink and be drunke yea in that measure that he cannot make any difference between Mordecai the blessed and Haman the accursed that is to say untill he be so besotted with the ale tappe that he cannot for his heart declare how many letters be contained in any of these words yea moreover any one is permitted at this time to poure in strong drink until he knowes not how many fingers he hath on either hand Which precept indeed is most diligently observed and kept according to the very rigour thereof by the Jews at this day and that chiefly by the beggerly crew to whom the richer sort send gifts and presents in a far greater measure then they do at other times to the end that one may not mock another for being drunk bein commanded and strictly prohibited to send away their meat and drink to any other end and purpose With these Bacchanal rites drunken fits and besotting beastliness they put an end to their annual feasts For this of Purim is the last festival in the year having no more until the feast of the passover If the Prophet Isaiah were alive at this day or should rise from the dead truly and really might he take occasion and that both forcible and urgent to cry out Woe and class unto them that rise up early to follow drunkenness and to them that continue until the night till the wine do inflame them CHAP. XXV Of the feasting dayes in use among the Jews HItherto we have treated of feasting fasting succeeds In the law of Moses there is only one fast commanded to be kept by the Jews which is upon the tenth of September upon which the feast of reconciliation is annually kept and celebrated as was formerly declared Besides this it is registred in ancient records that many other fasting dayes were instituted and ordained by the ancient Patriarchs and Prophets according as the time required And Zachary the Prophet who lived after the building of the second Temple makes mention of foure general fasts in these words Thus saith the Lord of hosts the fast of the fourth moneth the fast of the fifth and the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth shall â—e to the house of Judah joy and gladness The fast of the tenth moneth was usually and is to this day kept by the Jews upon the tenth day of the same to wit December because upon this Neâ—uchaddnezar began to besiege Jerusalem with armies and to afflict the Jews with great trouble and calamities The fast of the fourth moneth was and is kept to this day upon the seventeenth day thereof because upon this they endured many great afflictions which are not yet disgested For as upon this day the tables of the law were broken the daily sacrifice ceased the book of the law was burnt an Idol the abomination of desolation was set up in the holy place the temple of Jerusalem The city it self besieged the second time overthrown and taken For these causes the Jews in these our dayes fast very devoutly begin seriously and earnestly to repent them of their former life if a man may believe the external gesture from which it is no doubt but their heart is too too much a roving The dayes following this fast even unto the ninth day of the next moneth are accounted ominous and unfortunate upon these no school-master must dare to whip his boyes If any Jew also have a case to be tried by the law between him and a Christian at this time he seeks all manner of evasion and excuse that he may not appear before the Judg untill these dayes be expired fearing lest his cause should fail and not prove good and he be overthrown therein The fast of the fift moneth is kept upon the ninth day of July because upon this very day the temple was burnt and turned into ashes In the time here of they goe barefoot sitting upon the earth reading doleful stories and the lamentations of Jeremy They goe into the place of burial where they sob out their doleful accents of grief and sorrow amidst the sorrowful consort of departed souls bewailing the desolations of their beautiful temple with sighs and grones for a moneth together From the first day until the tenth they neither eat flesh nor drink wine they enter not the bath wash their face or hands or suffer any rasor to come upon their head They do not make any marriages appear not in judgment but sore against their wills complaining and crying out that they had never any good hap or fortune in this moneth which they prove out of the Prophet Hosea saying A moneth shall devoure them with their portions Upon