they did acknowledge even then when the whole World drencht in the Sea of Idolatry was ignorant of the true God the Creator of Heaven and Earth then began they to wax proud haughty and puâ—t up counting the Nations as dung and with a supercilious sore-front boasting themselves to be the hâ—â—ly and elect people of God the Law of God and Circumcision being the main pillars of this their ostentation And seeing they at that time actually possessed the Land of Promise offered their Sacrifices the sum of their wants must be a glorying in their City Temple Sacrifice and other kinds of worshâ—p for which if any one dare manage a reproof objecting that they are not the children of Abraham because God shall prosligate and destroy them because their hearts and ears are uncircumcised and God shall again scatter them among the Gentiles he shall upon the very instant be cauterized for a false Prohet and a Liar and destinated to the stake for bearing witnesse unto the truth Neither did they here put a period to their madness they stand firm in their foolish opinions imbracing the Covenant according to its outside the Law according to the letter the ceremonies oblations and sacrifices in their naked representation provoking not only the Prophets but God himself never regarding whether or no any true knowledge fear or reverence of his Majesty was implanted in their hearts For the attempting of these enormities the Lord conceives heavy displeasure against Israel terms them a sinfull Nation laden with iniquity a seed of evil doers children that are corrupters which had forsaken the Lord and provoked the holy one in Israel and gone away backward whose hearts were obstinate their neck an iron sinew and their brow brasse Transgressors from their Mothers womb whose birth and nativity is the Land of Canaan their Father an Amorite and their Mother a Hittite a people rejected and accursed as Moses witnesseth He threatens them to baniâ—h them out of their own Land and to carry them into a Land which neither they nor their Fathers had known there also that they shall tast of his fury be slaves to their enemies and to make their City and Temple in which they so much rejoyced like unto Shiloe Lastly speaking to Esay the Prophet he saith Make the heart of this peole fat and make their ears heavy and shut their eyes lest they see with their eyespuch and heare with their ears and understand with their heart and convert and be healed After the same manner God denounceth against them by Moses saying it shall come to passe that if thou wilt not hearken unto the voyce of the lord thy God to observe to do all his Commandements and his Statutes which l command thee this day that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee The Lord shall sinite thee with madness and blindnesse of heart Thou shalt grope at noon day as the blind gropeth in darkness and thou shalt not prosPer in thy wayes thou shalt be only oppressed and spoyled evermore and none shall save thee The fundamental then and prime cause of the blindness and obstinacy of the Jews is the just judgement of God upon them for their sins and the punishment due unto the same which came upon them because they heaRkened not unto his voice worshipping him with their mouth and with their lips drawing near unto him but in their hearts being far from him their service towards him consisting only in the commandements of of men as the Prophet Esay complains By which we may perceive that they soon left off to trace the way of Gods Commandements setling themselves upon their own carnal wisdome upon the sublime perspicuity of their Doctors who after Ezra were called Scribes as upon a new foundation accounting Their Expositions Ordinances Laws and Institutions to be of far more worth then the Doctrine of the Prophets against which the Prophets oftentimes declaimed but to little purpose What these Commandements are which they esteem more then the word of God our Saviour Christ teacheth us in the new Testament when the Jewes reprehend him that his Disciples walked not according to the tradition of the Elders which were of washing hands cups pots brazen vessels and tables and innumerable fopperies of the same sort by which they make the word of God of none effect but only strive to fulfill the inventions of their Ancestors Now in the last place seeing these their Traditions which Christ pointed out unto us are at this day accurately kept and observed of the Jews seriously also described in their Cannon La. and celesiastical and moral constitutions part of which I have decreed to lay open in the following discourse I think it here convenient to search out the grounds and reasons which might thâ—n and at this day doth induce them to prefer the Ordinances of men before Gods Commondements casting them headlong into the darkness of Superstitlon so blinding their understanding that they cannot possibly find out the trUe meaning of the holy Scripture We read in the Preface of that learned man Rabbi Mosche Mikkotzi called Hakdamah who writ a Book and Exposition upon three hundred and thirteen of Gods Commandements which he entituled Sepher mitzuos gadol that is the great Book of the Commandements in the year of Christ 1236. and published it at Toledo in Spain where the Jewes then had a most flourishing Schoole the Students therein being in number twelve thousands as he witnesseth in his hundred and twelfth Prohibitory precept that the written Law which God delivered unto Moses in Mount Sinai is obscure and difficult first because it contradicts is selfe Secondly because it is imperfect and therefore all things necessary to be known are not there set down wherupon it is needful some certain Exposition should be framed by whose pluÌ„met every one might dive into the genuine sence of the written Law grouÌ„ d theron as a firm foundation That the Law of Moses contradicts it selfe there are many instances We read Exod. 12. 15. For sevean dayes thou shalt eat unleavened bread but Deut. 16. 8. Six dayes thou shalt eat unleavened bread againe vers 9. Seven weeks thou shalt number unto thee which make only forty nine days but in the 23. of Leviticus and the 16. it is read Vnto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall you number fifty dayes In the 16. of Deuteronomy vers 2. it is said Thou shalt sacrifice the Passover unto the Lord of the Flock and of the Heard contrary to this â—xod 12. 5. Your Lamb shall be without blemish a male of the first year you shall take out from the sheep or from the Goats Again Deut. 15. 19. All the firstling males that come of thy Heard and of thy Flock thou shalt sanctifie unto the Lord thy God but in the 27. of Leviticus vers 26. The firstling of the Beasts which should be the Lords firstling no man shall
and religious who have done as much good as evil Those who are perfectly just have their names presently registred in the book of life but they who are extremely wicked have their names written in the book of death Those of the middle sort are deferred and put off untill the day of reconciliation which is the tenth day after the celebration of the feast of the new year If they truly and sincerely repent them of their sins in the mean time so that their good deeds exceed their bad ones then it goes well with them but if on the contrary their evil deeds be more in number then they are presently put in the catalogue of the reprobate and damned As it is written Let them be blotted out of the book of the living and not be written among the just By the blotting out of the book understanding the book of the wicked and by the word life or living the book of the just and by the words Let them not be written among the just the book of those who are indifferently honest Hence is also that of Ralig bbi Nalig chman the son of Isaac upon these words of Moses Now if thou wilt palig rdon their sin thy mercy shall appear But if thou wilt not blot me out of the book which thou hast written In which words Blot out fingers out the book of the wicked Out of thy book the book of the just Which thou hast written the book of them which are indifferently just and godly So far the Talmud 1. Now that God should at this time sit in judgment rather then at any other the reason is grounded upon a certain tradition of the Antients that God created the whole world Adam and placed him in Paradise in the moneth of September therefore it was thought very meet and just that God at the years end should require of man an account of his life and see how he hath carried himself for the space of the year past and so reward every one according to his works Which he paies unto every one in the year following in this manner Sins are of divers sorts some God punishes in this world some also in the life to come so also good works some whereof are recompenced here some hereafter Now if a man for the most part doe nothing els but sin all the year long polluting his soul with the horrid filth of wickedness yet doing some few good deeds the sum of all is presented before Gods tribunal upon new-years day 1. Then God takes the scales and puts his good deeds in one end and his bad deeds in another If it seem good then to the Judge of all men to reward the foresaid man for the good he hath found in him in this present world it cometh to pass that he is called a just man and hath this happy sentence pronounced upon him in this vale of misery that he shall have a name in the book of life live for the next year become rich and shall be advanced to great honours 1. In like manner if an honest and just man who every day makes a conscience of his wayes and lives according to the law all the year through offend and commit some gross enormities for which God is pleased to punish him in this world then God calls him a wicked and unjust liver and pronounceth sentence against him for evil and not for good puts his name into the book of the dead thereby giving him notice that he shall either die or become poor or be troubled with some dangerous disease the year following and therefore although a man may enjoy the happiness of Saints in the world to come yet may he be called with injustice in this seeing he is here punished for his offences even as the reprobate And on the contrary one here accounted just and holy may be ordained to damnation because God gives him the reward of his workes in this present world And therefore no man ought to wonder or account it a strange thing that the godly suffer affliction and all manner of distress in this present life when on the contrary the wicked lives as he list gives rest unto his soule enjoyes pleasure and is without the gunshot of sorrow and vexation yet at the day of death the case is altered for he that was here so gay and gallant must goe into everlasting fire and the other so miserable into enternal bliss God then paying unto them the due reward of their labours And this is the very reason why the Germara affirms that the three foresaid books are opened upon new-years day Furthermore it often falls out that one good work blots out a number of transgressions and one sin abolisheth many good works both which are in the power of God If the sinner whose name is put into the book of death repent him of his wayes from the bottom of his heart and continue in this course unto the day of reconciliation being the tenth of the new-year he may happily moue God to reverse the sentence pronounced against him and to transferr him into the book of life Even as the godly in the same space angering his Maker by the commission of some hainous offence may move him to blot his name out of the book of life and to write it among the dead Thus the blindfolded Jews write speak and are conceited of the Almighties rule and government making him a Judge of that stampe and quality which they desire him to be of far contrary to the description of the Prophet David who in heavie cheer praying unto God for the forgiveness of his sins cries out Enter not into judgment with thy servant O Lord for no man living shall be justified in thy sight And again If thou O Lord marke whalig t is done amiss who is able to abide it Seeing therefore God sits in judgment upon every new-years-day and so severely punisheth the transgressors of his commandements the Rabbines have made it an Ordinance and Statute in Israel that every one should for a moneth before repent of his sins and the evil he hath committed turn from his wicked wayes and begin to lead a new life This therefore the Jews put in execution and upon the first day of Elul or August they fall to a serious account calling all their sins to remembrance and weighing them according to every several circumstance in which they have wickedly transgressed through the whole circuit of the year Whosoever then every day before he eat or drink questions his soule what it hath done and with a diligent scrutinie searches every corner of his heart for some formerly practised wickedness grieving very much and being very heartily sorry for the same he shall upon new-years-New-years-day when others are to give an account for their offences receive a plenary absolution And hence it is that the Jews dwelling among the Walloones at this day have a custome to rise every morning of this moneth
a loud voice said I have now at last payed my Custome when they would not give him any respite but burn him in all haste he cryed the second time saying that he bequeathed all his goods and possessions to that most learned man Rabbi Akibah as to his lawfull heir whereupon this voice was heard from heaven Ketijah thou son of Schalom eternal life is provided for thee From hence every one may learn what a precious thing Circumcision is and what a good deed it is for any one to legasie all his goods unto a Jew truly there is nothing lost where a man for an hundred crowns may gain a thousand In the same Chapter of the Talmud the same men boast how Caesar Antoninus caused himself to be circumcised how he departed this life a Jew indeed and how that happened unto him which is here related Not far from the Emperours Palace dwelt a certain famous and most expert Rabbine from whose houses to the Emperours porch came a certain hidden passage under the earth by the benefit of which they oftentimes had private conference Upon this occasion a great desire to be instructed in the Law and Religion of the â—ews invaded the mind of the Emperour and for this cause every day once he repaired to the Rabbine and heard the Law at his mouth and because he would not go unto the Iew without attendance yet also would not in the mean time be disclosed he alwayes chose two for his companions whereof one he stabbed with his dagger at the the entrance into the Rabbines house the other he made to drink of the same cup at his return to his own palace giving also in charge to the Rabbine that he should have no man in his company when he the Emperour came to visit him When therefore Caesar on a certain time had found together with the Jew a stranger whose name was Rabbi Chanina Bar Chamma which Rabbine was an holy man and one of their prime ones he was so enraged that he burst out into this interrogation Did not I say unto thee look that thou have none in thy company when I shall come unto thee To whom the Rabbine replyed My Lord and Emperour this is not a man but a good spirit if he be a spirit saith Caesar let him go and signifie so much to my servant who lies and takes his rest without before the gate speaking of the servant which he had killed with his owâ— hands that he make hast to come unto me when Rabbi Chanina perceived the Emperours servant to be dead then he began to fear be afraid not knowing how to shape an answer aâ— also thinking it very behovefull that Caesar should not be found guilty of the murder in these melancholy dumps he fell upon his knees and with the importunity of prayer becomes so wearisome unto God that the Emperours servant was restored to life which thing the Emperour having taken notice of such an excessive admiration at the Religious piety of the Jewish Nation pâ—ssessed his soul that from thenceforth he became a Serving man at his Pedagogues Table Yea moreover when the Rabbine at night would please to visite his Couch the Emperour bowing himselfe at his bed side became his Footstool that his Master the Rabbine might with more facility stretch his limbs upon his bed of Down the Rabbine indeed in many kinds strived to repel the tendered service but all in vain for the Emperor did not only perform these earth kissing Congees with an humility of mind floating in the lowest ebb but also wished it might be his happiness to be his footstool in another world At length the Jews had an ocular demonstration that this Emperor before he entred the tyring room of the grave did receive the sign of circumcision professed himselfe a Jew and died in this profession Many examples of the same sort are every where obvious in the writings of the Jews declaring that many Christians both of high and low degree turning Apostates to Christianity have imbraced Judaism and so have obtained the salvation of their souls if we may believe it But in the last place what was the Prophets censure of these circumcised Saints and in what esteem had they their persons Jerem. All the Gentiles are circumcised and all the house of Israel circumcised in heart Moses Circumcise the fore-skin of your heart and be no more stisf necked Jerem. To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear behold their ear is uncircumcised and they cannot hearken behold the Word of the Lord is unto them a reproach they have no delight in it Stephen a Christian Ye stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears ye do alwayes resist the holy Ghost as your Fathers did so do ye Paul the Apostle He is not a Jew that is one outwardly neither is that circumoision which is outward in the flesh but he is a Jew that is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit not in the letter whose praise is not of men but of God How then are all the first born of Christians yea all faithsull Christians redeemed S. Peter answers Ye were not redeemed with silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your Fathers but with the precious bleud of Christ as a Lamb without blemish and Without spot S. Paul teacheth us by whom we have redemption Even by hiâ— bloud that is the remission of our sins But what doth circumcision hurt the Christians S. Paul answers If the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the Law shall not his his uncircumcision be accounted for circumcision and shall not uncircumcision which is by nature if it fulfill the Law judge thee who by the Letter and circumcision art a transgressor of the Law CHAP. III. shewing how the Jews instruct their children in the fear of God WHen any one of the Jewish women giveth suck then she ought to eat good and wholsome meats and such as are easie of digestion to this end that the Infant may find and suck from the teats good milk by which his heart and stomack may not be troubled with obstructions but sustained and nourished whereby he may sooner come to maturity and may more easily obtain vertue manners wisdome and understanding The Chachamim a which are the most profound Wâ—â—ters among the Jews have with great diligence reiterated their commands that the Mother should have a special care that the Infants be not at any time destitute of good meat and drink thinking and not without reason this to be a matter of the greatest moment thence foreseeing that they quickly comming to their growth may prove men of courage and such as are able to do God good service as it is written The Lord shall establish thee an holy People unto himself as he hath sworn unto thee if thou wilt keep the Commandements of the Lord thy God and walk in
face being washed great curiosity must be used in the drying of it for he who does not take care thereof shall have his face so blossomed with budding Ale pocks so imbroidered with wrinkles that the deformity thereof will become loathsome to the eye of every beholder the face must be wipâ—d with a clean towell not with a woollen cloath which some slothfull persons blush not a whit to do for according to their Doctors this destroys the memory and annihilates the understanding After washing every one ought to give thanks saying Blessed art thou O God our God King of the whole world who hast commanded us to wash our hands In generall they ought continually to wash their hands after these things following In the morning so soon as they are up after their return from the house of office after they come out of the Bath when they pair their nails after that they have drawn their shoes from their feet the hands being ministers when any hath scratched himself upon his naked skin when he hath touched a dead Corps or gone through the middle of dead folks when he hath had carnall copulation with his wife or lastly after the killing of alouse whosoever he be that doth any of the aforesaid things and doth not wash his hands thereupon if he be a learned man he shall forget his learning and turn blockhead if he be not learned he shall lose the use of every one of his senses Now the Jew is sufficiently cleansed and mundified for his morning devotions if two things were not yet wanting which make him and his prayers far more holy concerning which we will adde some few words for the better understanding of what was formerly delivered The Jews have a certain instrument of a foursquare fashion which for the most part they put on together with their other garments at their uprising but some when they are about to pray The parts of this quadrangular garment are two being for the most part made of linnen but often of silk bound and fastened together in the highest part thereof with two little bands yet of a great heighth so that they may put their head in betwixt them so that the one of these foursquare parts may hang upon the breast the other upon the back The Jews in respect of the four angles call this garment Arba Cauphos in every one of these four angles hang certain Ribbands woven of white woollen threads coupled by a certain knot and hanging towards the ground which are four eight or twelve fingers broad these they call Zizim of which they write wonderful and strange matters whereof I will relate a parcel They who would be accounted very sincere and holy are wont dayly to put on this their cloak or garment wearing in it under their long coat but after such a manner that the ends of the forementioned stringes or hangbies may be always in their sight some wear them upon their breasts others not at all but in time of Prayer It is hehoofull that the two foresaid parts together with their appurtenances should hang towards the ground both at the fore and hinder part of their body that they may always be full of the Commandements of the Lord. When they put these on then they say some certain Prayers giving thanks unto God that he hath commanded them to invest themselves with these garments These ought to admonish them always to have before their eyes Gods Commandements that hereby being scared from sin they might be prickt forward to a due performance of them as it is written Speak unto the children of Israel and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations and that they put upon the fringe of their borders a ribband of blew And it shall be unto you for a fringe that you may look upon it and remember all the commandements of the Lord and do them and that you seek not after your own heart and your own eyes after which you are wont to go a whoring that you may remember and do all my Commandements and be holy unto the Lord your God But out of these words their Wise men conclude that the eyes and heart are the mediators for sin In the Tract called Masseches Schabbas we read that Rabh asked Rabbi Joseph what was the first thing his Father admonished him of who answered the Commandement given by God concerning the fringes for upon a time my Father saith he going down a pair of stairs and by chance treading upon his fringes and breaking one of the threads or Ribbands would not move a foot till it was made whole again In a word their great Doctors comparing this commandement with others prefer it before them all and have left in writing that whosoever diligently observes and keeps it keeps and observes the whole Law which thing they thus make manifest In every one of the fringes there are five knots representing the five books of Moses to which if we add 8 Ribbands together with the number contained in the letters of the word tzitzith which signifies fringes and in numeration makes six hundred there ariseth the number of six hundred and thirteen the direct number of the Commandements into which the whole Law is divided and therefore according to this Cabbalistically concluding Arithmetick he that rightly observes and keeps this Commandement concerning the fringes perfectly fulfils the whole Law In the fore mentioned Tract we read of a certain man hindred from commiting sin and a strange woman converted unto Judaism by this Commandement Upon a time a yong man among the Jews very learned and studious but much given to Venery hearing of a famous and beautiful Whore who living in a neighboring City had much trading and yet sold sin at so dear a rate that for one single lascivious abuse of her body she required no less then four hundred pounds sent her the money appointed the time at which she was to expect his lustfull imbracements The day come the yong man according to their Covenant repaired unto her house where he found her in a closet sitting in a chair all imbroydred with gold near unto which stood a bed furnished in the most exact and exquisite fashion that Art could invent which served as fewel to inflame his lust and hastened him to this unlawful act but behold as he went up into the bed his fringes smote him on the face whereat forthwith astonished and put in mind of the Commandement he fell upon the ground represt his fleshy desires and utterly refusing any more to touch or imbrace his formerly admired Mistriss whereupon she demanding of him what defect he had espied in her that he thus refused his purchased pleasure he replies that the Lord God commanded the Jews to do him service and for a more easie performance of the same gave them a sign which when they beheld they might remember his Commandements which sign put me
Jehoschua that the Doctours made these eighteen short petitions having respect unto so many little bones which are in the back bone of a man which bones they ought to bend while they repeat the prayer whereupon the Prophet David saith All my bones shall say c. After these two prayers follows an evil prayer full of accusations against those Iews which have turned Christians and received baptisme as also against all other Christians and their Magistrates which I have written out word for word as it is set down in ancient Manuscripts and in them of Polonia where they dare imprint what they please and that with great audacity all fear of the Christians set aside it was thus They who are blotted out that is to say the Jews who have embraced Baptisme and turned Christians shall never more have any hope left them and all the unbelievers as well as those which have turned Apostates and fallen from the Jewish belief as in generall all other people who adhere not to the faith of the Iews shall perish in the twinckling of an eye and all thine enemies O Lord our God which bear a tyrannous hate against thee shall be suddenly coufounded and the proud and presumptuous Kingdome shall speedily be rooted out break it in pieces that it may become level with the ground and at last be utterly destroyed This particle whether through feaâ—â— or the strict injunction of the Magistracy against whom it was directed in which it was stiled the Kingdome of pride or simply Reschak that is to say impious is omitted in their Common prayer books of the last edition as also in that Copy of mine printed at Venice in the year 1564 and make them without delay obedient unto us in these our dayes Blessed be thou O God which breakest in pieees and subduest those that are rebellious This particle they entitle a prayer against all hereticks because in it is contained a curse against hereticks as Rabbi Alphes recordeth By these hereticks they first and principally understand the baptised Jews for every one that is such they call Meschumad a reprobate and in the plural number Meschumadim are these lost and consumed persons who leaving Iewish superstition have given their names unto Christ and so the Prayer begins Velamâ—eschumadim that is to say to the lost condemned apostate Iews instead of which word they have now inserted Velamaschinin that is to say to these traytors by them also understanding the baptised Iews for these they call traytors because they betray and lay open their wickednesse and treachery to the Christians In very deed a man may easily conjecture by the words of Rabbi Bechai what thing they wish unto the Christians who writes in this manner concerning this prayer This prayer saith he was made against the hereticks against that wicked Kingdome the Romane Empire against all Christian Magistrates that all they might be rooted out which obtain any rnle and authority over the Iews The Kingdome of the Turks they alwayes call the Kingdome of Ismael because they draw their originall from the loins of Ismael They call the Romane Empire The King dome of Edom the Kingdome of Rome the Kingdome of Esau the Kingdome of iniquity the Kingdome of pride a presumptuous also and reproachfull Kingdome yea this is every where imprinted as manifestly in fair Characters in their books as the bright lamp of heaven sends out his light upon the earth concerning which with Gods help more shall be spoken hereafter and to say the very truth this is the more likely because that this prayer was made a long time after Schemane Esre their prayer containing eighteen thanksgivings placed in this order and foisted into their book of Common prayer by Rabbi Samuel hakkaton Rabbi Samuel the little or Sâ—ort who died before the destruction of the second Temple This was done with a singular sleight of hand a little after Christs time the impulsive cause being very base the Doctrine of Christ and his followers the Christians being more hated of the Iewes then they in words were abâ—e To expresse but if I be not deceived this diminutive Samuel composed this prayer in the City Jasna against all the Iews that should cleave unto Christ and against the Romanes who then had Dominion over the Iews some forty years after the destruction of the second Temple at that time when the great Court of the Sanhedrim was removed and banished to Jasna If any reader be skilfull in the holy tongue let him read that book called Sepher Juchasin which is a certain Iewish Chronicle pag. 21. the Talmud printed at Venice in the Tract de benedictionibus the fourth chapter and in the Tract Sanhedrim the first chapter where sufficient is spoken concerning this matter After this execratory prayer followes a benediction and a very seâ—ious prayer in the behalf of all godly and honest livers among the people and all them who out of other Nations have turned to the Jewish Religion as also that God would vouchsafe with all speed to build again the City and Temple in their dayes to make the branch of the root of David to flourish to exalt his horn that is to send the Messias without delay and to restore the Kingdome unto Israel In the conclusion of these their morning prayers they beseech God to keep them in peace and when they pronounce these words He that maketh peace in high places make also peace among all the people of Israel Amen then they go three steps backward and if any sitting upon an horse or an asse be travelling upon the way it is necessary also that his horse or asse should likewise go backward so many paces If it chanee they cannot retire backward by reason of the thronging mul. titude of people in the place then skipping up they leap three times into the air bowing themselves and bending their heads now to the right hand then to the left signifying thereby that they beseech God to give them peace in what place soever they are resident if a Christian chance to be in their presence with a Crucifix or any other image representative of a Deity then ought not the Jew to bow himself but to lift his heart unto the Lord. The three steps which they go backward are done in honour to God himself for when any one departs from some great Potentate he commonly for some space goes backward in his congees blessing his worship honours him by kissing his hand and the complementall bowing of his whole body after the same manner when the Jews depart the presence of the Almighty they go backward and salute him face to face lest he should say My people who have made long prayers unto me are so wearied with the practice that they shew me their back parts The learned Rabbines say that this retrogradation or going back is used in remembrance of a certain miracle which happened in Mount Sinai at that time when God gave them the Law
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
churlish Oxe and for fear of him to cease praying til he be gone and past It is not lawfull for him that prayeth to touch his naked body with his hands yet may be touch his hands and neck If in this time he be so necessitated as to scratch his body he must do it upon the garments He that prays must move his whole body hither and thither as it is written All my bones shall say O Lord who is like unto thee The Chanter also of the Synagogue in the time of divine Service ought to pray standing in some hollow low deep place and to read the Prayer distinctly and with as loud a voice as he can possible I have seen with mine eys the Reader fall down upon his knees before the Pulpit because in that place the earth was level and not one place lower then another and to have said Prayers with as shill a voice as he could have done from an higher seat These Prayers they pour out of a collected narrow heart chiefly to this end that they may obtain the remission of their sins and that according to the example of David saying Out of the depth have I called unto thee O Lord and finally which is the perfection of all every one ought to labour with all his strength to answer Amen at the end of every prayer Hence it is written in the Booke Tanchuma that it was the saying of Rabbi Jehuda that whosoever saith Amen in this world shall bee accounted worthy to say Amen in the world to come hence is that of King David Blessed be the Lord God of Israel Amen Amen By which double Amen he notes unto us that one Amen is to be said in this world another in that which is to come The wisest among the Jews say that whosoever shall say Amen with great attention shall bring to pass that thereby their redemption shall appoach with all speed and suddenly be accomplished How I pray you when Amen is pronounced after the manner that it ought to be then God shakes his head and saith Wo unto those children who are banised from their Fathers Table And how much comfort is it to a Father thus to be praised of his children thereupon God begins to think of the deliverance of his people out of their captivity and that he ought not to do otherwise for though he hath put and exiled them out of his sight for their sins yet he suffers with them and the grief of his children vexeth him at the heart Upon which Rabbi Juda hath this simily Even as a Mother having a Daughter who is immodest and disobedient who also hath been got with child by some or other casts her out of her doors for her unchast life and useth much unmerciful carriage towards her yet in the hour of child-birth she suffers and laments with her after a wonderful manner even so God hath sent us into banishment for our sins yet having compassion he will redeem us when we seriously pray unto him It was formerly noted that they ought every day to run over a whole century of prayers and thanksgivings and this they very magisterially demonstrate and that with great subtilty and after the Cabalistical manner and first of all out of those words of Moses Now therefore O Israel hear what the Lord God requireth of thee Here the Rabbines read not the words according to the original Maâ— schoel which is what the Lord requires but Meah schoel that is to say The Lord requires an hundred so that Moses intent in this place was no other then if he had said God every day requires of thee an hundred Prayers But out of what puddle did these skilfull Fishers the Cabalists angle out this exposition the answer is First Moses insinuated so much unto us by putting an hundred letters in this very verse Secondly it is demonstrate by a secret of the Kabala by which is made a certain transposition of the Letters to wit when the first letter of the Alphabet is put in the place of the last and that which is immediatly before the last is put in the place of the second which kind of change the Cabalists cal Athbasch that is when Thau Aleph Beth and Schin are mutually changed one for another So by the benefit of this secret there comeâ— two letters in the place of Mem and He which make the word Mah above mentioned which are Tzadâ— and Jod which in computation make an hundred Thirdly it is read in the Talmud that David appointed these hundred prayers at that time when there dayly died in Israel an hundred men for which cause these hundred petitions are dayly to be repeated This is also evidently proved out of those words which we find thus written in the second Book of Samuel David the son of Ishai saith even the man who was sâ—t up on high the annointed of the God of Jacob and the sweet singer of Israel The man Hukam al der hocherhoben ist for so the Vulgar German â—enders it for Hukam properly signifies one that is exalted Al hight according then to the Cabalistical mysterious Art the letters of the word Al being Lamed and Ajin make in number an hundred and the meaning must be this the man saith by whom these hundred laudatory Petitions were erected and instituted This Interpretation was taken out of the artificial archives of the Jewish Theology into which no Christian may enter Many more such shal hereafter be produced which is the reason that I will trouble the Reader with no more in this place but proceed to declare the carriage of the Jews at home after their return from the Synagogue I will conclude all with the saying of the Prophet Esay When you shall stretch out your hands I will hide mine eyes from you and though you make many Prayers I will not hear for your hands are full of blood Again in another place Your iniquities havâ— seperated betwixt you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you that he wil not hear for your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity your liâ—â— have spoken lies and your tongue hath murmured iniquity CHAP. VI. How the Jewes after morning prayer behave themselves and prepare themselves to dinner BEfore the men returne home from the Synagogue their wives have swept and made the house very neat and cleanly lest their husbands eies should fasten upon any object which might molest and disturbe them in their pious meditations because these are as yet erected to God who keeps his residence in the highest Heavens Now if every man returning to his own house findes every thing in a decent order then his understanding remains pure and his mind untroubled but if he finde the contrary his understanding becomes muddy and perplext A wife that is honest indeed laies her husband a book upon the table which is either the Pentateâ—ch or some reprehensory
gracious GOD I have sinned in thy sight but thou art full of mercy Have mercy therefore upon mee and receive my prayer which proceedeth out of unfained lips Rebuke mee not O Lord in thy fury neither chasten mee in thy heavy displeasure They moreover repeate the sixt Psalme from the beginning to the end with their heads covered and bended towards the earth The Chanter fals downe upon his knees before the Arke in imitation of Joshua of whom it is written That hee rent his clothes and fell to the earth upon his face before the Arke of the Lord untill the eventide he and the elders of Israel and put dust upon their heads The reason why they cover their faces is this In ancient times when they had a large and spacious Temple they came thither to confesse their sins every one stood from another by the space of four els lest his neighbour should heare his confession In these daies therefore they cover their faces for the same end and purpose They leane their head upon their left hand moved hereunto by that which is written His left hand is under my head and his right hand doth embrace me And moreover because Isaac being about to bee sacrificed lay upon his left side But to returne to the point in hand They suddenly rise up againe and their Chanter saies Wee are ignorant O Lord what other thing to put in practise but only to lift up our eyes unto thee as though they would say Wee have worshipped thee O God sitting and standing being humble and lifted up kneeling and with anerected posture not knowing what more is reâ—â—iâ—ed of us yet wee will once againe lift up our eies unto thee Hitherto they only have sung their prayer called Kaddisch which finished their evening prayer is ended Now indeed it were very laudable if after this evening sacrifice of prayer and thanksgiving returning to their owne houses they did immediately fall to supper and that ended againe to assemble themselves into the Synagogue for the performance of their nocturnall devotions But this practise is disapproved by the Rabbines as a thing very inconvenient seeing many may be drunke and so forget their duty of prayer therefore they have decreed that presently after the evening prayer be ended that accustomed to be said in the beginning of the night should also be finished Yet not withstanding they make some small stay between Minhah and Maâ—rib that is to say between their evening and nightly prayers to the end the one may be differenced from the other They have one quaint custome concerning the reconcilement of them that are at strife one with another and that in time of prayers For if two be at ods and the one cannot bring the other with him into the Synagogue That a reconcilemet may be made he steps unto the book out of which the Chanter sings or saies their common prayers shuts it and giving it a clap with his hand saith I conclude and put a period to this exercise which is all one as if he should say I locke and seale up this order of praying interdicting the same untill an agreement be made between me and mine adversary And from that time forward untill his desire bee accomplished it is not lawfull for them to say any more prayers in the Synagogue Thence it often fals out that they retune home without any praying yet if the one party bee wayward and refractory there happens many times a surcease and intermission of this duty of prayer for some whole dayes together Among many others they have a prayer that God would vouchsafe to deliver them from the Christians and bring them back againe to their owne land This prayer begins Baruch Jehovah O blessed God our Lord help us gather together and deliver us from the Gentiles that we professing thy holy Name may make our boast of thy praise All the people which thou hast created shall come and worship thee fall down before thee and sing praises unto thy name Our eyes shall see it our heart shall rejoice our soul shall be joyfull in thy strength when it shall be said in Sion The Lord doth reign God is King he doth rule and shall beare rule for evermore for thine is thy Kingdome c. But alas poore silly Jew in vaine thou gapest after with a greedy expectation this thy rejoicing seeing he is come some sixteen hundred years agoe whom thou as yet waites for and expects to bring thee joy and consolation Furthermore they say one petition more formerly mentioned in their morning prayer in which they entreat God to revenge their cause against all the Christians in generall but in a more especiall manner against their Magistrates If any lost a father in that yeare he is tied all the yeare long to say that praier called Kaddisch the lesse by the mediation of which his father shall be delivered out of purgatory of which God willing more hereafter When they go out of the Synagogue then must they repeat those sentences formerly mentioned in the fifth Chapter And in this place againe they exercise many prolix disputes about that prayer beginning Schema Israel Heare O Israel the Lord thy God is one God questioning the manner how the time when the place where this prayer should bee said and repeated All which to avoid prolixity I willingly omit At dinner and supper their carriage is the same When they goe to bed they must first draw off the left foot shooe then the right They put off their shirts lying in bed and covered with clothes lest the beams and wals of the house should behold their unseemly nakednesse And this is the cause that they never use to empty their bladder in their bed-chamber their clothes being off the very act becomming a shamefull disgrace unto them and the consequent of such impudence being a fearfullapse into an extream poverty a consideration also had that it is one of those things God hateth Whosoever saies that prayer Schema Israel Heare O Israel c. must endeavour instantly upon the finishing of the same to fal asleep and take an especiall care that he speake nothing after it as it is written Commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still Selah If sleepe will not presently attempt to close up his eyes he must not cease to repeate the said prayer untill the approach thereof tongue-tye his devotions for inâ—o doing his rest shall bee sweet and delightfull unto his wearied body his sleep comfortable and restorative The bed wherein the man and wife are to make their repose is to bee furnished with cleane sheets without spot or blemish for it may come to passe that the man may meditate upon some thing which he hath learned and also committed to memory by reading the Scriptures whilst it was yet day yea both man and woman may joyne in prayer to the Almighty that they may beget children which will bee obedient to
the Sabbath From thence came this my Mammon and great riches which God vouchsafed unto me as a reward for my diligent observance of Sabbaths Then said I Blessed be God who hath given thee this abundance and hath made thee worthy to bea possessour of so great wealth This befell the Butcher In the same page it is registred that there was sometimes one Joseph surnamed Mokir Schabbas that is to say an honourer of the Sabbath This man of all those victuals that the Shambles could afford thought nothing too deare for the celebration of the Sabbath yea he would spare neither cost nor charges in the procurement of the most rare fishes the waters could furnish him withall This Joseph had a certaine neighbour who was very rich By him he was continually flouted with a goe to what doth it profit thee that thou celebratest the Sabbath in such a religious manner Certainly thou art never the richer then if thou studied the contrary I do not reverence the Sabbath in that degree that thou doest and yet I am richer then thou art Good Joseph little regarding his mocks put his trust in God hoping that hee would give him a large harvest of rewards for these his weekly expences At that time there were certaine Astrologers in that City who said unto the rich man Friend what availeth it thee to bee so rich when thy heart will not suffer thee to buy one good fish with all thy bags We by the observation of the stars have gathered thus much that thy goods and riches which are so infinite shall all come iuto the hands of Joseph Mokir Scabbas that reverent observer of the Sabbath who upon the Sabbath day is wont to have some morsell for his money The rich man hearing the words of these star-gazers and meditating upon them went and sold all that he had and with the money purchased many Margarites and other precious stones all which he pursed up in a girdle of haire and presently takes shipping for another country that the good man Joseph might not inherit his goods When he was about the middle of the Sea behold a great tempest arose and did â—o split the ship that it was beyond expectation if he did not take up his lodging in the chambers of the deep The wind blowing most vehemently snatcht his hat from off his head tossing it into a remote place of this vast Ocean where a fish at that time there swimming swallowed up the hat together with the girdle wherein were the Margarites and other precious stones A little after this this huge fish was taken and carried to the City upon Friday to be sold in the Market Every Caterer prized the fish but for a great price set upon it none could buy it at last comes Joseph Mokir Schabbas who was alwaies accustomed to buy great fishes of what price soever who never sâ—uck to buy this also for the celebration of the Sabbath which he did with a great alacrity of mind and joy of heart of no vulgar extent Which when he had carried home and cut up he found in the leaunch thereof the aforesaid girdle stuft with precious stones which the rich Euclio had lost And so the prediction of the Astrologers came to passe Then became Josâ—ph a man of exceeding great wealth greatly rejoicing because these jewels were valued to be worth a whole Kingdome Then came a certaine old man unto Joseph and said unto him Whosoever borroweth much for the Sabbath day the Sabbath wiâ—l likewise repay him much againe and who honours it but in part the Lord will restore it unto him foure-fold It is also recorded in the Talmud in the Tract concerning the fasting of one Rabbi Chonech He was wont every Fryday to send his servants into the Market and cause them to buy up all the pot-herbes which the Gardiners could not put off their hands and then commanded them to throw them into the rivers The Rabbines in Gemarah which is an appendix to the Talmud aske the question why he did not rather give their herbes unto the poor The answer is that if he had given them to the poor then they would have bought none for the celebration of the Sabbath and if it should have come so to passe that the Gardiners should have withdrawne all their pot-herbs so that the poor people could not have had them then should not the Sabbath have been celebrated by them Againe the Rabbines ask why he did not give them unto the beasts to eat which had been far better then thus to throw them into the water where they are utterly void of profit The answer is that hee would not have that to bee devoured by the irreasonable creature which may serve for the proper food of man And that although he cast them into the waters yet men might take them from thence and transfer them to their own use But why did he buy up all the pot-herbes This he did for the encouragement of the Gardiners that they might the more willingly and with a better accord bring them into the Market every Friday For if they could not have sold this their garbish for one day or two together then had they staied at home ever after and so the poor people should have wanted food upon the Sabbath day and by this means the Sabbath it selfe should have been dishonoured And therefore Rabbi Chonech tooke this course that the Sabbath might bee honoured by voluptous living and that by the poor man too though a green sallet were his chiefe delicate It is written in the tract concerning the Sabbath that whosoever upon the Sabbath lifts us his head that is to say who celebrates the Sabbath with joy and rejoicing God shall give him a large inheritance subdue unto him many nations people infinite and innumerable as it is written Then that is when thou shalt keep the Sabbath with joy and rejoycing and call it thy delight thou shalt delight thy self in the Lord and I will set thee upon the high places of the earth and feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob thy father of whom it is written Thou shalt spreadforth east and west north and south even into the foure corners of the earth Rabbi Nachman averres that whosoever exhibites himselfe as a pattern of merriment upon the Sabbath day shall be free from the bondage of the nations as it is written I will set thee upon the high places of the earth and thou shalt tread upon the necks of thine enemies Rabbi Juda saith that whosoever keepes the Sabbath with a joifull heart God shall give him whatsoever his heart can wish as it is written Delight in the Lord and he shall give thee thy hearts desire And now seeing the Jewes doe not as yet tread upon the necks of their enemies nor are really possest of the highest places of the earth neither have gained their hearts desire to wit that they may bee Lords and Masters over the Christians that
by them blessed and consecrated At length thanks being given the cups are filled the fourth time and the good man of the house taking his cup into his hands saith poure out thy wrath upon the Gentiles and upon the Kingdomes that have not knowne thy name poure out thine indignation upon them and let thy wrathfull displeasure take hold on them In the mean time one running to the doore unlocks it and sets it open thereby willing to shew their great security In this saying they curse all people which are not of Israel more especially the Christians hoping that Elias will come that very night and declare unto them the comming of their Saviour and deliverer the Messias as they also brag and boast in that prayer called Azrob nissim their reason is because all those famous deliverances so full of wonder which God wrought for the Patriarches Prophets and people of Israel hapned as upon this night They pray therefore that God would come againe and deliver them out of this their calamity and punish the Christians in the same manner that he did the Egyptians Hence it comes to pâ—sse that so soone as the gates are opened and the execeration is pronounced one of the houshold invested with a white linnen garment runs into the nurâ—ery that the infants may thinke that Elias is come indeed and is about to take vengean e on the Christians For a conclusion of all the Master of the family saies certaine table-prayers at the period of the supper which he closeth up in this manner Almighty God build againe thy Temple and that shortly very quickly in these our daies very quickly now build againe and that shortly thy holy Temple Omercifull God O great God O bountifull God O thou God that art highly exalted O beautifull God O sweet God O vertuous God O God of the Jewes now build up thy Temple very quickly and with great expedition in these our dayes very quickly very quickly now build up now build up now build up now build now build up thy Temple quickly O strong and powerfull God living God mighty God O God worthy of all honour O God of meeknesse O eternall God a God that art to be feared O God of comelinesse God of majesty God of infinite riches God of surpassing beauty O faithfull God now build up thy Temple shortly very quickly very quickly in these our daies shortly very quickly now build up now build up now build up now build up now build up thy Temple speedily The Orizons ended they betake themselves to rest and sleep in great security for they perswade themselves that this night neither man nor devil can approach to doe them any hurt This night is called in the second book of Moses and the 12 Chapter Lel Schemarim the night of observation or preservation Hereup on their minds being fraughted with such a conceit they abandon feare leave open their gates and doors all the night over to give an entrance to Elias the Prophet who as they assure themselves will come and deliver them out of this their misery Thus the poor blirdfolded Jewes trouble and vex themselves with this their vaine pompe and pompous vanity for two nights together instead of that paschall lambe which they ought to have eaten using no other ceremonies then Moses in the institution thereof hath described It being the position of their Rabbines that it was not required at their hands after the destruction of their City and Temple to Kill and eat the paschall lambe according to the ceremonial prescription of Meses and that they are not tyed to observe these or any others by him enjoined unlesse they were in the promised land of Canaan which land alone is to be accounted pure and holy all others defiled and profane Now from these premises every one may infer thus much that seeing the Jewes have not srom that time wherein the true paschall lambe Christ Jesus was offered eaten the posseover in any place according to the right prescription and also seeing the Jewes at this day so journing in Jerusalem and the land of Canaan do not eat the paschall lamb in the manner that they ought neither doe they offer any sacrifice it must necessarily follow that there is some other cause why their sacrifices are ceased and all other their Mosaicall Rites and Ceremonies are abrogated which certainly they might have found out in the space of 1631 yeares had they not been smitten with blindnesse from above So that now we may say with the Prophet David This their may uttereth foolishnesse yet their posterity delight in their talke But my people would not hear my voice and Israel would have none of me so I gave them up to their owne hearts lusts and they have walked in their counsels The Rabbines establish this their opinion out of the words following Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passeover unto the Lord thy God of the flocke and the herd in the place which the Lord shall choose to place his name there Now seeing God enjoins them according to their ordinary glosse that they should not celebrate this Feast in any other place but in the promised land they doe inferre that now being dispersed among the Nations they are not lyable to the observation of the same But the true sence of the words is this That when God had put a period to Israels captivity and brought them into the land of promise the land of Canaan and having given unto them a setled kind of regiment a City and a Temple in which it pleased him to place his name then they should repaire to Jerusalem to eate the pasâ—hall lambe for the better preservation of the unity of faith among them as to the Metropolis and chiefe City of Israel But when the scepter was in a manner taken â—rom them by reason of inâ—essâ—nt wâ—â—rs and tumults so that they could not come unto Jerusalem then did every family kill and eate the passeover in their owne gates as it is recorded in the second book of Kings And so soon as they were delivered out of these their troubles they celebrated the said Feast againe in the place appointed with great solemnity and rejoicing as good Josial is recorded to have done in the sore-cited place Now that for the space of 1631 yeares they could not kill nor eat the paschall lambeâ— right none must seeke for another cause then that of the departure of the Scepter from Juda the desolation of Jerusalem and their long continued exile For why did not Jerusalem remain unto this day why is not the Temple built againe The sacrifices and ceremonies delivered by Moses why are they not re-established The Jewes cannot see the reason hereof because Moses his vaile is as yet before their eies It was formerly mentioned that the Jewes at the supper of the paschall Lambe use to carouse foure cups of wine two before supper two after which foure consecrated cups every one
because without these there is no pleasure and also by reason of the command which saith Thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God thou and thy son and thy daughter For a conclusion le ts see what the Prophets say concerning these Jewes who have taken the Law to wife The sentence of Isaiah is The earth is defiled under the inhabitants thereof because they have transgressed the Lawes changed the Ordinance and broken the everlasting Covenant And the Lord by the mouth of Ezâ—kiel saith The Priests have out of malice perverted my law and profaned my sanctuary Stephen cries out against them Ye stifnecked and uncircumcised in heart and eares you doe alwaies resist the holy ghost as your fathers did so do yee Who have received the Law by the disposition of Angels and have not kept it CHAP. XVI Of their Feast of Tabernacles THE third great Festivall of the Jewes which they are to celebrate every yeare once appearing before the Lord in Jerusalem is the Feast of Tabernacles concerning which as also the two former it is writ in the fifth book of Moses Three times a yeare shall all thy males appeare before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall chuse in the Feast of unleavened bread in the Feast of weeks and in the Feast of Tabernacles and they shall not appeare before the Lord empty The time of the celebration of this Feast was according to Gods owne commandement to bee the fifteenth day of the seventh month according to the vulgar account beginning to reckon from the first day of the new yeare of Festivals of which we have spoken formerly that it begins in March and so consequently inferre that this seventh month must be our September The etymologie whereof as also the reason why this month in their common annuall account is called the first shall hereafter be more at large declared The end of their keeping of this Feast was as a signe or token whereby the Israelites might recall to mind the fatherly providence of Almighty God by which hee had sustained the children of Israel after a wonderfull manner for the space of forty yeares in the desert having neither house nor harbor The manner of celebration is thus prescribed by Moses You shall dwell in boothes seven daies all that are Israelites born shall dwell in boothes that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in boothes when I brought them out of the land of Egypt These boothes were wont to be made of the boughes of goodly trees as the mirtle olive firre which by reason of their fatnesse would for a long time retaine their green attire branches of palm trees boughes of thicke trees willowes of the brook as it is in the same place This they put in practise in the daies of Nehemiah after their returne from Babylon for it is recorded that then they published and proclaimed in all their Cities and in Jerusalem saying Goe forth unto the mount and fetch olive branches pine branches myrtle branches and palme branches and branches of thicke trees to make boothes And they did so From that which hath been said we may gather 1. That the Jewes in ancient times made Tabercles of these kinds of boughes in which they dwelt for the space of eight daies 2. That there were in use for the fabrick more then foure severall kinds of boughes or branches yea the willowes of the brook are not mentioned in the forecited place of Nehemiah which were used for the knitting together of the other branches being plyable and fit for that purpose Therefore the Jewes of these present times commit a grosse error that they in a most superstitious manner in the celebration of this Festivall tie and confine themselves to those foure kinds of branches only mentioned by Moses and not building them Tabernacles therewithall but transferring them to another use of which more hereafter Concerning this Feast there is extant a large tract in the Talmud wherein the genuine observation and celebration thereof is set downe the platâ€forme of the boothes or Tabernacles exquisitely drawne the use of the foure severall sorts of branches described with much disputation and great subtilty as their manner is not omitting to handle all the ceremonies belonging there unto yet never seeking after the true way and meanes whereby they may rightly lift up their hearts unto the God of their fathers For though in the time of this Feast they say many prayers yet they offer them up unto the Lord only upon the censure of their tongue not upon the altar of their hearts for in these they are far from him an evident demonstration hereof is the winged hudling over of these their petitions using such a precipitancy of speech as though they were able to pronounce a thousand words with one breath and accounting it a work of art and skill so to do This Feast endures for the space of eight daies the two first and the two last whereof are to be kept holy altogether those which are of the middle rank only for halfe the day Upon the fourteenth day of the month about eventide they meet in the Synagogue according to their ecclesiastical Ordinances and institutions where they sing and pray untill it bee night At which time they returne to their houses and retire themselves into their Tabernacles where the Master of the family saith a certaine prayer which serves for the initiation of the Feast and consecration of the Tabernacles giving thanks unto God that he hath chosen them before all other people exalted sanctified and commanded them to dwell in Tabernacles The thanks giving being ended they fall to supper where they are very jocund and merry In ancient daies they were wont also to lodge in their boothes which the Jewes at this day use not the coldnesse moistnesse and other maladies and incumbrances which might accrew unto them thereby being as so many potent arguments to disswade from this and to invite them to their owne bedâ€chambers which experience hath taught them to be the sweeter resting place Upon the morrow of the fifteenth day they returne into the Synagogue singing and praying and honouring the Lord with a little lip-service their hearts roving quite another way When the Chanter hath proceeded so farte in his prayers that he is come at last to those words Give peace in these our daâ—es O Lord then every one taking a little bundle of palm oliâ—e and willow branches in his right hand and an orenge in his lest saith Blessed be thou O Lord our God King of the world who hast sanctifyed us by thy commandments and commanded us to carry a bundle of branches Which while he is in repeating he shakes the bundle that it may make a noise the words of the Prophet moving him thereunto who saith The trees of the wood shall clap their hands Then he shakes the bundle three times towards the East three times towards the West
fills their hearts with sorrow being a very probable token of an unfruitful and dangerous season When the trumpeter hath done his office the whole Synagogue trumptes out those words of David Blessed is the people O Lord that can rejoyce in thee they shall walk in the light of thy countenance Morning prayer ended they return again to their houses where they eat and drink and sound upon their Rams-horns For it is a position of the Rabbines that at this time every one ought to be merry and jocund being assured that God hath been gracious unto him in pardoning his sins and offences and not because he hath fill'd his panch and liquored his throat for this would God rather impute unto them as a sin then recompense as a good work After this their repast every one man woman and child hasten to the water or to some Bridge thereupon to make Taschlich that is to say to cast their sins into the water and the ground of the practise is that of the Prophet He will turn again and have mercy upon us be will subdue our iniquities and cast all our sins into the bottom of the sea The Jews thus gathered together upon the Bridge so soon as they behold the fishes accounting the sight as a prosperous signe and token they caper alost and shake their garments over the â—ishes dreaming and vainly conceiting that by this their foolery they have shaked off all their sinnes upon the fishes backs which swim away with them even as the scape-Goat which carried away the sinnes of their ancestors into the wilderness Others write that they do it in remembrance of Abraham who travelling to sacrifice his son Isaac upon Mount Meriah which was upon the first day of September Satan met him and turned himself into a great River which at the first took him only to the knees but by and by it reacht his neck Abraham perceiving himself to be in such a distresse and that he was in danger of drowning cried mightily unto God who heard his prayer and turned the water into dry ground as it is recorded in the tract Medrasch rotosoha Evening being come they fall again to eat and drink and make merry as they were wont and in this manner they celebrate the feast of the New-year in great security with much mirth and jollity for the space of two dayes together I conclude with that of the Prophet If a man walk in the spirit and would lie falsly saying I will prophesie unto thee of wine and of strong drink he shall even be the prophet of this people To which alludes that of Sophonie Her Prophets are light and wicked persons her Priests have polluted the Sanctuary they have polluted the Law CHAP. XX. How they prepare themselves to the Feast of Reconciliation and the celebration thereof THe time between New-years-day and the tenth of the same moneth upon which they keep the feast of Reconciliation is called by Jews the ten penitential dayes for which space they fast and pray very much and are wonderful desirous to become holy and religious that if God should have written any of their names in the book of death and determined to afflict their souls with an unfortunate year he might at the contemplation and sight of their penitent life and practise of good works repent him of the evil and have mercy upon them transcribing their names in the book of life and sealing the judgement Every morning so long as these dayes endure while it is as yet very early they confesse their sins three several times do not proceed to the excommunication of any one neither do they call any man into judgement or force any one to take an Oath Upon the ninth day they forsake their beds betimes in the morning frequent the Synagogue sing and pray So soon as they return home every male old and young takes a Cock and every woman a Hen into their hands the master of the family doing likewise and saying these words Foolish men are plagued for their offence and because of theâ—r wickednesse Their soul abhorred all manner of meat and they were even at deaths door So when they cried unto the Lord in their trouble he delivered them out of their distresse He sent forth his word and healed them and they were saved from their destruction O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodnesse and declare the wonders that he doth for the children of men that they would offer unto him the sacrifice of thanksgiving and tell out his works with gladnesse And again If there be a messenger with him or an interpreter one of a thousand to declare unto man his righteousnesse then will he have mercy upon him and will say Deliver him that he go not down into the pit for I have received a reconciliation that is a Cock which shall be a reconciliation unto me When he hath ended this his repetition he finisheth the reconciliation waving the Cock three times about his head and saying at every time This Cock shall serve instead of me he shall succeed in my stead who deserve death he shall be my reconciliation he shall die for me but I shall enter into life and blisse with them that are righteous in Israel Amen This he doth three times as was said before once for himself once for his children and once for strangers which sojourn with him according to the custome of the high Priest in ancient dayes as it is recorded in the third book of Moses In the next place he takes the Cock and kills him and drawing and gathering the skin together about his neck first meditates with himself that he is worthy to have his own throat cut for his sinnes and offences and then cutting the Cocks throat thinks himself worthy to be punished with the sword After this he takes the cock and with all his might throws him upon the ground thereby signifying that he deserves to be stoned to death for his sins and wickedness lastly he puts him upon the spit and roasts him thereby giving others to understand that to be burnt in a fiery furnace doth not equalize his desert These four kindes of death the poor Cock undergoes for his Master The intrals out of commiseration they commonly cast upon the house top that it may also be partaker of such a sacrifice Others say that they do it because sin is rather an internal then an external thing and that it cleaves fast to the bowels of the Cock some Crows coming by may claw them up and flee away with them into the wildernesse even as the scape-Goat in the Old Testament ran away with the sins of the people into the Desert They take all possible pains and care to procure a white Cock for the sacrifice They will by no means admit of a red one because such an one is full of sins seeing sin it self is red also as it is written Come now
the widow or the fatherless the stranger nor the poor and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in his heart But they refused to harken and pulled away the shoulder and stopped their ears that they should not hear Yea they made their hearts as an adamant stone lest they should hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts sent in his spirit by the ministry of the former Prophets therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts Therefore it came to pass that as he cried and they would no heare so they cried and I would not hear saith the Lord of hosts So much shall suffice to be spoken concerning the Ceremonies used by the Jews upon their holidayes and festivals for hereby may any man easily pereive that their faith and belief is not grounded upon Moses and the Prophets but upon the traditions of tht Scribes and Rabbines which I have desired to shew from the very beginning of this treatise It followeth that we should now treat of other matters belonging to their private and domestical life CHAP. XXVI Of their difference of meats and the boyling of them and of their new kitchin veslels THe Jews living in divers parts of the world at this day observe a main difference in the boyling and eating of fish flesh and milk-meats Which practise of theirs they ground upon those words of Moses Thou shalt not boile a kidd in his mothers milke Hence it is that they have written divers commentaries and expositions upon this text concerning the using of flesh hony and other viands Their kitchin boyling vessels are of two sorts the one whereof is appointed for the secthing of flesh the other for milke Their milke vessels have three peculiar marks upon them if they be of wood then they give them three several cuts whereby they may be distinguished from others and this they do because the forecited verse is found three times in the law of Moses Hereupon it also comes to pass that a Jew continually carries about him two knives one for flesh and another for cheese and fish which have also three several markes or stamps upon them If through negligence one vessel should be taken for another and the contrary thing boiled therein then it is not lawful for any Jew to eat thereof breaking the vessels if they be of earth but washing them with water if they be of wood and that in a most exact manner If they be of iron they cast them into the fire suffering them there to abide until they be fully purified It is enacted that flesh and milke must not be boiled together at the same time over the same fire neither are they to be set on the table one opposite or over against another but ought to be separated by something put between them and to this end they spread one cloth for the dishes furnished with flesh another for those wherein cheese and milke are served in He that eates either pottage or flesh he may not be allowed for a whole houres space to eat butter or cheese or any milke-meats Yea moreover they who would be accounted precise indeed make six whole hours distances It is lawful for any one to eat a hen with almond milke If any one love milke so well that he cannot abstain from it an especial dispensation is granted him to taste thereof sooner then ordinary so that he pick his teeth accurately and Spaniard like wash his mouth and eat a crust of bread to take away the tast of the flesh If the fat of any thing fall into any dish of meat boiled in milke that meat is prohibited to be eaten Yet if the meat be sixty times more in quantity then the fat then may it lawfully serve for the sufficing of any mans appetite An egge must not be boiled in a pan or pot in which flesh is sod If they desire to have their egges poched they first break them into a platter or poure them out of one shell into another having a diligent care and provident espial that no drop of blood be in them And this is the reason why the Jews alwayes open their egges at the top because in that place there is often found a veine of a bloody colour If in carving up a hen they finde any egges within her they use them not until they be mollified in water and salt It is a hainous offence to set fish and flesh at the same time upon one table as also to boile them in the same pan much more to eat them together for the leprosie follows as a reward of the fact Therefore they either wash their mouth or hands between the eating of flesh and fish or else they eat an apple or piece of bread between the eating of the one and handling of the other Briefly it is accounted as a great point of wisdom among the Jews rightly to distinguish the kindes of meat hence when some difficulties object themselves unto their view they goe for a solution to the learned Rabbines All their kitchin vessels whether of gold silver tin or lead brass or copper if they can endure the fire they are to be purged by fire if not by water according to the command of Moses Whatsoever will abide the fire you shall make it go through the fire and it shall be cleansed and whatsoever will not pass through the fire you shall make it to pass through the water The Talmudists upon these words infer that such vessels ought to be cast into a cesterne or pit where a menstrous woman hath washed her self in the time of her uncleanness because such women in the Hebrew tongue are called Niddoth and the water of separation Me niddoth Here the Jews give an evident demonstration that an Asse may be known by his eares from any other creature for the forecited words of Moses make not mention of vessels in general but of that particular houshold-stuffe which the children of Israel took in way of prey form their enemies the Midianites which at that time were a prophane ungodly and reprobate people And therefore when Moses made the people to purge and purifie every thing they had taken in battle partly by fire partly by water according as the condition of the thing it selfe would suffer his desire was to signifie unto them that they onght by no means to make any use of the Midianites goods unless they were first of all cleansed and sanctified Finally because at this day the Jews will not use any vessel belonging to a Christian unless it be first purged in the foresaid manner they hereby clearly shew unto the world the opinion they have of us to wit that in their judgment we are not a jot more pure or holy then those people which the Lord banished the land of Canaan for their sins and wickedness in in the â—ost of their writings calling us impure and proâ—ane Gentiles CHAP. XXVII Of the manner how they kill their Beasts
hands under which they were to receive the blessing that the Angels became the Minstrels playing divers tunes upon Trumpets Pipes and other instruments that Adam Eve and God himself might dance In this balsphemous manner writes he that is the Author of that book called Bricum Spigelium printed some few years ago at Cracovia in Poland the German tongue and Hebrew letter which book contains many reprehensoâ—y and moral precepts and is of great esteem among the Iews at this day I finde it registred in the Talmud that God only made tresses for Eve which they prove out of those words and God built which the Rabbines read plaited and hence the Iews at this day call the plaits of a womans hair Biniasâ— which in English signifies a building from the Hebrew word Banah which signifies to build which signification Moses also gives unto it when he saith The Rib which the Lord God had taken from man thereof he built a womâ—n and brought her to Adam Which the Rabbines being Commentators must carry this sense that God plaâ—ted Eves hair and brought her unto Adam leaping and dancing as he came along Surely if there were but the least sparke of true knowledge they would blush and be ashamed to utter these blasphemous sayings before the world but God in his just judgment hath smitten them with blindness that seeing they will not see and hearing they will not understand We leave them therefore an return to our matter The time being come when the blessing due unto the married couple is to be given unto them foure boyes take the Canopie which is fastened to foure posts and wooden pillars and carry it into the street or garden where the solemnity is to be kept whither the bridegroom comes being attended with many men following him at his heels After him followes the bride and her damsels with sackbuts timbrels and other musical instruments seating her self by her spouse under the Canopie This Canopie they call by the name of Chuppah which signifies a cover or shelter When every man and woman there present have taken their places then every one begins to cry out Baruch habba Blessed is he that cometh Which said the Bride being led by others is to compass and circle about her bridegroom three several times as a Cock doth when he is about to tread a hen because it is said A woman shall compass a man Then the bridegroom takes his bride and leads her once about the floore in a circle the people in the mean time casting wheat or other grain upon the bride and saying encrease and multiply hereby signifying that peace and abundance of riches in housekeeping shall befall them according to that of the Psalmist He maketh peace in thy borders an filleth thee with the flower of wheat In some places they mingle mony among their wheat which the poorer sort gather for their own relief The Bride is to stand upon the right hand of the Bridegroom because it is written Kings daughters were among thy honourable women at thy right hand did stand the Bride in a vâ—sture of golde She must turn her face towards the South because it is a tradition of the Rabbines that whosoever placeth his bed in that manner that he lying there in his face shall be towards the South not towards the North shall be the father of many children The Rabbine who marries and joynes them together in the bond of matrimony takes the skirt of the hair-cloth or garment by them called Tallith a which the Bridegroom wears about his neck and puts it upon the head of the Bride which is occasioned by that saying of Ruth to Boaz Spread the wing of thy garment over thy â—andmaid for thou art the kinsman and that of Ezekiel I passed by thee and looked upon thee behold thy time was as the time of love and I spread my skirts over thee and covered thy filthiness yea I sware unto thee and entred into a Covenant with thee and thou becamest mine In the next place he takes a glass of wine which they call the bride-boule blesseth it giving thanks unto God that the Bride and the Bridegroom by his instinct have given their consent to be joyned together in the bond of matrimony and reaching out the cup unto them commands them to drink thereof If the Bride be a virgin then the cup must have a narrow mouth if a widow a large one at Wormes they use an earthen cup as also at other places After that they have both tasted of the cup The Rabbine takes the wedding-ring from the Bridegroom which is made of pure gold yet having no jewel in it and calling some witnesses shews them the ring and asketh whether it be a good one and worth the mony that was given for it and then puts it upon the Brides finger repeating the letters of contract with a loud voice Which being ended he takes another glass of wine blessing and praying over it giving thanks unto God that the Bride and Bridgroom had mutually accepted one of another Then reaching them the Cup and bidding them drink thereof which when they have done accordingly the Bridegroom takes the Cup and throws it against the wall in remembrance of the ruinated temple of Jerusalem In some places they are wont to throw ashes upon the Bridegrooms head for the same end and purpose And hence also it comes to pass that the Bridegroom wears upon his head a hood of a black colour such an one as mourners use and the Bride a cloak all rough and hairy able to fright a childe out of its wits to shew unto us that in their greatest jollity they ought to afflict and humble themselves for the desâ—lations of their City and Temple Thus they walk in garments which may shaddow out much sadness but in their hearts they have not sance not feeling thereof Proving the necessity of this trifling outside sorrow from the words of the Psalmist Serve the Lord in fear and rejoyce unto him with reverence That this their marriage or coupling together is celebrated abroad in open aire without covert the reason is because they ought to multiply even as the stars of heaven for multitude When the marriage is ended they sit down to dinner the Bridgroom must say grace and is bound to sing a long prayer and thanksgiving and the sweeter he sings the better he pleaseth his bride and indeed he doth it rather out of pride and to please her then for any glory to God While he is singing others are calling for the hens to be brought and set upon the table The Brides mess consists of an henn and egge served in together in one dish the Bridegroom carves a little of the hen and gives it to his bride which so soon as he hath laid upon her trencher the rest of the guests behaving themselves more like hungry dogs then men catching at and with both hands pulling in pieces the
N. witness N. the son of N. witness This kinde of divorce is not in every place put in execution they chuse a place of some fame and note neer adjoyning some notable River whither fome of the chief Rabbines are cited by a writ if some others be not there resident The Jews are very much for this carnal divorce writing vast volumes in way of Commentary upon it but by reason of the hardness of their heart not once dreaming of the spiritual whereby they are severed from the Lord of hosts Hence remaining aliens from God and according to their desert vagabonds over the face of the whole earth CHAP. XXX Touching the manner how a Jewish woman divorceth her self from the brother of her deceased husband IT is recorded in the fifth book of Moses that the husband of a woman dying his brother being unmarried shall go in unto her take her to wife and raise up seed unto his brother that his name be not put out of Israel And if the man like not to take his brothers wife then shall she go up to the gate and accuse him before the Elders and lose his shooe from off his foot and spit in his face and answer and say so shall it be done unto the man that will not build up his brothers house But in process of time this custome was disanulled and it was ordained by the Rabbines that none should take to wife the widow of his deceased brother but rather for to free himself from her for his greater honour should suffer her to draw â—ff his shooe which kinde of divorce iâ— called by the Rabbines Câ—â—litra which is performed in this manner The widow calls unto her five witnesses who must be men of another family with whom she being about to appear before the chief Rabbine summoâ—s her husbands brother â—lso to the same place When they are come the Rabbine asks the woman whether three moneths are gone and pâ—st since the death of her husband Whether her husband dying left behinde him a brother unmarried Whether he that is there present be the natural brother of her husband begot by the same man Whether they think themselves fit to beget children to raise up seed or an heir unto the dead as also to themselves now superviving What age they are of and lastly he asketh the widow whether she be fasting or not For if she have formerly taken any meat she may not lawfully spit in the face of her husbands brother Then he asketh the dead mans brother whether the woman there present was wife unto his deceased brother when he was alive Whether he will take her to wiâ—e or else be divorced from her by the Chalitza or drawing the shooe from off the heele If he answers that he is not willing to marry her then a shooe is brought unto him made after a singular fashion with latchets and other necessaries this he takes and leaning himself against aâ— wall puts it on upon hâ—s right foot naked Then comes the woman unto him and â—aith this my husbands brother would not raise up seed unto him and for this cause from henceforth he shall not be called my husbands brother Hereupon stooping towards the earth she unlooseth his shoe with her right hand and drawing it off his foot spits in his face and that with such force that the five witnesses may see the spittle and saith Thus shall it be done unto him that will not build up his brothers house Then the witnesses and all the whole company cry Chalutz hannahal that is the shoe is drawn off Thus are these two separated each from another that they may severally attend their own employments Here ariseth a great question among the Rabbines how a woman suppose that she wanted the right hand could draw off the shoe Some of them have permitted that in such a case she may â—se her teeth to the unloosing of it Others solve it in another manner If the brother to the man deceased will not suffer the ignominie of this discalceation and the woman be about to marry unto another then is he bound to pay a great sum of mony unto her that he may be freed from her If her husbands brother dwell in another City then is she her self compelled to follow him and to indent with him about marriage Concerning this custom of raising up seed unto the Brother was that Question proposed by the Sadduces to our Saviour that seeing seven brethren had one after another married the same woman whose wife she should be in the Resurrection out of which we may conclude thus much that it was in use among the Jews even in Christs time for the brother of the man deceased to go in unto and marry his brothers wife CHAP. XXXI Of the uncleanness of the women and how they carry themselves in the time thereof IT is not lawful for a woman in the time of her uncleannesse to enter into the Synagogue to pray to name the name God or to handle any holy book as it is written Let her touch no holy thing nor come into my Sanctuary untill the dayes of her purification be finished yet some of the Rabbines have licensed it They of the most holy sort write that what woman soever being admonished of these things abstains from them shall lengthen her own dayes So soon as she hath the least knowledge of her own uncleannesse she separates her self from her husband for the space of seven dayes in which time she dare not touch him sit upon one stool with him eat at the same table drink out of the same cup sit opposite unto him nor speak unto him face to face When the one would give any thing unto the other they are not wont to do it by throwing but they lay it down upon some table or stool that the one being for a good space removed the other may take it up When the man lieth with his wife in her uncleannesse then the children which they beget prove Lepers and they affirm that this is one of the chief reasons why there are so many Lepers among the Christians to wit carnal copulation in the time of the womans uncleannesse hence scattering abroad venemous and bitter words against us in writing among the vulgar which I will not now relate When any woman of the Jews hath reckoned up the seven dayes of her uncleannesse she holds on and addes seven dayes more of her purification unto them after which time she finding her self throughly purified she clothes her self in white robes takes another woman with her and goes to wash her self in cold water and that so nakedly that she must not have her smock to cover her In the Winter time in some places they are wont to powre hot water into the Cistern in which she bathes her self But in other places they are wont to wash themselves in cold water as well in Winter as in Summer They are bound to dive so deep that not an
shut thereby intimating that God hath given and as it were delivered unto them the riches of this carthly Tabernacle Then is he washed with hot water that he may be clean when he shall give an account of his sins and offences This done they take an cgge and break it mixing the intrals of it with wine and with a great deal of curiosity anointing the head of the dead carcass therewith They invest him with his white robe which he was wont to wear upon the day of reconciliation and for a conclusion of all commit him to the safe custody of the Grave When he is carried out of the house they hurry a certain shell after him thereby signifying that by his exit the harsh tones of a melancholy sadness ought to be utterly silenced So soon as they come to the place of burial then they say Blessed be God who hath created formed nourished sustained and at last brought you for so they bespeak the deâ—as is they were alive into the dust of the earth again He knowes your number and in his good time will restore you unto life Blessed be thou O God that takest away life and givest it again Then they set the Corps down by the grave and compassing the Sepulchre repeat a long prayer In this they praise God that he hath pronounced a just sentence upon him which sentence they name tzidduck haddin This done certain of them take up the Corps lay it in the grave casting the earth upon it His nearest kinsfolks beginning first The burial being ended they depart home with great lamentation By the way some one of them stooping three times backward pulls the grass from the earth and with his hands lifting it up above his head casts it behind him hereby signifying that the dead shall rise again and once more sprout out of the earth like unto grass as the Prophet saith You shall see it and your heart shall rejoyce your bones shall flourish as the herbe Others say that by this ceremony man is put in minde how he is dust and ashes When they return into the porch of their Synagogue they wash their hands saying He will swallow up death in victory and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces and the rehuke of the people shall he take away from off all the earth because the Lord God hath spoken it From thence they goe into the Synagogue and sit down by and by they leap up and down changing their place some seven times saying a prayer for the dead which they call Kaddisch as also some comfortable sentences as this The glorious majesty of the Lord our God be upon us They who bewaile the dead are forced to â—it seven dayes barefoot upon the ground in which space they are not permitted either to eat flesh or drink wine whether they be the children of the deceased or some of his kinsfolks Yet upon the sabbath dayes and other festivals a dispensation is granted unto them in honour of these dayes For the space of thirty dayes together they must not goe into the bath nor to the barber They must not annoint themselves with oyle or sweet water not cut their nailes c. The man who mournes for the dead must eat his meat with men the woman with women They idle become careless of their worldly affairs breathing nothing out but the doleful accents of grief and sorrow He that mourns eats none of his own bread his friends who come to visit him make him partaker of such victuals as they bring with them In the first place they give him a dish of egges to feed upon and that for his comfort for as egges are round and circular so is death also wheeling about now to one then to another The children bemoan their deceased parents for a whole year together the surviving son of the deceased father is tied every day for the space of eleven moneths to say a certain prayer called Kaddisch before mentioned by the virtue of which prayer the Rabbines write and beleeve that his father shall be delivered out of purgatory The wicked remain in purgatory for twelve moneths but they who have led their life in a more godly manner are delivered sooner Hereupon it comes to pass that the children commonly pray for their faters the space of an eleven years because there is not any who would have his father accounted for a reprobate That the father may be delivered by such a prayer they prove out of a certain story rather an old wives tale recorded in the book Brandspicilegium in the tract Calah Rabbi Akibha upon a certain time being travelling he met a man carrying a load of wood which neither any horse or asse was able to carry Rabbi Akibhah inquired of him whether he was a man or a ghost He answered I was once a man but now being dead I am compelled every day to carry such a heavie load of wood into purgatory and to this end that there I may suffer a miserable scorching for my sins which I committed in my life time so that I may more fitly be compared to an asse then a man Hereupon the Rabbine further enquired of him whether he had left a son behinde him what was his wives name as also his sons name In what City they dwelt All which when he had declared unto him the Rabbine instantly going into the said City happened to meet with his son whom he taught the prayer Kaddisch commanding him to repeat the same daily for his deceased father for by this means it should come to pass that he should be delivered out of purgatory The son when he had learned the prayer and had often repeated it for his deceased father the father appeared to the foresaid Rabbine in a vision by night and giving him thanks that he had freed him from so great torment as being the cause of his delivery out of Purgatory and confessed that he was now at length thence delivered and translated into the garden of Eden Paradise Hereupon the Rabbine made all the Schools of the Jews partakers of this history by his letters annexing also this injunction that every childe should say such a prayer for his deceased father And hereupon it comes to pass that the father of a Jew departs this life with great joy and consolation knowing that he hath left a son behinde him that will pray for him If one have no childe the whole Synagogue prayes for him upon their Sabbath and festival dayes By these and such like fables the profound Rabbines instill the Jewish religion into their yonglings that by this means they may become pious and learned Jews yea hence they are wont to boast before the nations of their sublime wisdom and sanctity far exceeding the vulgar holiness It is also provided that a lampe should burn for seven dayes together in honour of the soule of the deceased party for the soule of any dying man is wont
Kings and Princes shall be their servants whom they have subdued They themselves shall be cloathed in costly aray all their Priests anointed shall be holiness to the Lord as it is written The sons of strangers shall build up thy walls and their Kings shall minister unto thee for in my wrath I smote thee but in mercy have I had favour on thee therefore thy gates shall be open continually they shall not be shut day nor night that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles and that their Kings may be brought for the nations and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish yea those nations shall be utterly wasted and again strangers shall stand and feed your flocks and all the sons of the alien shall be your plow-men and your vine-dressers But you shall be named the Priests of the Lord men shall call you the Minister of our God you shall eat the riches of the Gentiles and in their glory stall you boast your selves Oh here with hunger and thirst how are the Jews opprest Although some of them satisfie and appease both without the sweat of their own brows gaining many a million for which many a poor Christian suffers toile and vexation 2. They shall have a new and wholsome aire as it is written Behold I create a new heaven and a new earth the former shall not be thought upon by the benefit of this aire they shall enjoy their health and prolong their life even as the men before the flood In their hoary old age their strength and agility shall not forsake them but remain in the same temper as in their youth as it is writen They who are planted in the house of our God shall flosrish in the courts of the Lord they shall bring forth more fruit in their age they shall be fat and well liking 3. The seed once sown shall for ever grow up increase and ripen of its own accord after the manner of Vines which require but one plantation as it is written They shall revive as wheat flourish like a vine his smell is like Lebanon Whensoever any one shall desire rain for the watering of any particular Field Garden or the smallest herb therein the Lord will pour out upon that place and on that onely without delay for saith the Prophet Ask you rain of the Lord and he shall create lightnings and give you showres of rain Then shall they gather their fruits and wine with great quietnesse and security and shall not be molested by any enemy as it is written The Lord hath sworn by his right hand and by the arm of his strength I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies and the sons of strangers shall not drink thy wine for the which thou hast laboured but they that have gathered it shall eat it 4. No war nor rumour of war shall any more be heard in the land and there shall be a firm and secure peace established not only between man and man but also between man and beast as it is written I will make a covenant for them in that day with the beasts of the field with the fowls of heaven and creeping things of the earth I will put away the bow and the sword and war from the earth and make them to sleep secure And I will espouse thee unto me for ever and ever I will marry thee in justice and judgement in mercy and commiseration Again The Cow and the Bear shall feed their young ones shall lie down together and the Lion shall eat straw with the Ox. The Wolf shall lie down with the Lamb and the Leopard with the Kid and the Calf and the young Lion and the faâ—ling together and a little childe shall lead them 5. When any war or discord ariseth among the Gentiles then the Messias shall reconcile them and renew the league amongst them so that there shall be no more mutiny as it is written He shall judge among the nations and rebuke many people he shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning-hooks nation shall not lift up sword against nation nor learn war any more Then shall the Iews live in everlasting joyes make new marriages sing praise and glory to God without ceasing shall be full of the wisdom and knowledge of the Lord as it is written In this place of which you say that it is forsaken shall again be heard the voice of joy the voice of exultation the voice of the Bride and the Bridegroom the voice of them that say Give thanks to the Lord of hosts And again the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the sea is full of water Briefly the happiness of this holy people shall at that time be so immeasurable that neither can the heart of man conceive it or the tongue yeeld the least expression thereof Which things thus ordered and declared leaving the Iewes in this their prosperous estate I will put a period to my labours and hide the secret of their faith from the Christians seeing I have attempted more then they themselves if they could have ruled the matter would have permitted What I have done already will not be pleasing unto them in which I have exposed to every mans eye the full anatomy of their life and belief The Christian Reader may easily perceive by that which hath been said that the faith of the Jews and their whole religion is not grounded upon Moses but upon meer lies false and forged constitutions fables of the Rabbines and inventions of seduced Pharisees And that therefore it ought no more to issue out of the mouth of a Christian that the Jewes stand for the Law of Moses but rather with Jeremy that they are strong defendants of the false worship of the true God not suffering themselves any way to be drawn from it And with our Saviour to affirm that they make the Commandments of God of none effect by their traditions in vain they worship him when they teach nothing but the mandates of men honouring him with their lips but in their hearts are far from him In their words they professe to know God but in their works they deny him these are the men whom the Lord abhors who being disobedient unto his word are unto every good work reprobate as the Apostle Paul hath recorded By which it is more manifest then the light of the Sun at noon-tide that the punishment is now fallen heavie upon them wherewith Moses threatned them that the Lord should smite them with madnesse blindnesse and astonishment of heart that they should grope at noon day as the blinde gropeth in darknesse And this appears most clearly and is more then evident from this that they miserably pervert and contrary to all reason with an impudent front invested with a dull ignorance expound and interpret the word of God O merciful