can fasten upon nothing else but ignorance and grosse simplicity especially in the knowledge of God and in the interpretation of his Word In the whole Nation of the Jews nothing worth thy observation except a horrid hardnesse of heart and perversnesse in their conversation and every particular action neverthelesse they blush not a jot to grace themselves with the title of Gods chosen people Such also they are who would seem to burn with zeal that the Word of God might be purely propagated because they believe in God with an accomplished faith and cleave unto him with a sincere and righty settled confidence above all the Nations of the earth as Paul bears witnesse That they have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge Hence is it that the Jews even unto this day firmly contend for their superstitious Worship professing themselves to have a well grounded and assured faith towards God who created heaven and earth who is one in essence and will not suffer any other gods before him The Jews Creed contains in it thirteen Articles which as they are briefly delivered in their Tephillos or books of Common Prayer we have here set down 1. I believe with a true and perfect faith that God is the Creatour Governour and preserver of all Creatures that he did work all things works as yet and shall work for ever 2. I believe with a perfect saith that God the Creatour is one and that the unity which is in him is such as can be found in no other who onely was is and shall be our God for everlasting 3. I believe with a perfect faith that God the Creatour is incorporeall not endowed with any bodily properties finally that no corporeal essence can be compared unto him 4. I believe with a perfect faith that God the Creatour is the first and the last that there was nothing before him that he shall remain for everlasting 5. I believe with a perfect faith that he alone is to be worshipped and that Worship is due to none besides him 6. I believe with a perfect faith that whatsoever the Prophets have spoke and taught is the sincere truth 7. I believe with a perfect faith that the Doctrine and Prophesie of Moses is orthodox that he was the Father and chief of the learned that either were of the same standing with him lived before him or shall be extant in future ages 8. I believe with a perfect faith that the whole Law was so delivered by God himself to Moses as it is now extant with us 9. I believe with a perfect faith that this Law shall never admit of a change and that God shall give unto us no other 10. I believe with a perfect faith that God knows and understands all the works and thoughts of men as it is written by the Prophet He fashioneth all the hearts of them and understandeth all their works 11. I believe with a perfect faith that God will reward every mans works that keeps his Commandements and on the contrary will punish all those that have transgressed his Statutes 12. I believe with a perfect faith that the Messias is yet to come and that though he daily defers his coming neverthelesse I will hope for his coming every day till he come waiting for him 13. I believe with a perfect faith that there shall be a Resurrection of the dead even in that time when it shall seem correspondent to the will of the Creator whose name be blessed and celebrated both now and for ever in the highest strains of humane expression Amen This is Summe of the thirteen Articles of the Jewish Creed as they are summarily and briefly comprehended and set down in their Books of Common Prayer in which belief the poore blinded souls of the Jews after a lamentable manner with incessant groans much anxiety inexpressible doubting and outcries sighing out their last farewell to the beloved prison of their bodies are utterly lost and undone Now that every one may with greater facility comprehend the very glosse and meaning which the Jews themselves annex to this their Creed I have thought it meet to illustrate the Articles thereof by the lamp of a small Comment And first of all we are to know that the faith of the Jews and Mosaicall Religion according to their own writings was built upon these Articles as upon the foundation and first of all delivered to the publike view and reduced into this order by that Casket of Learning Rabbi Mosche Bar Maimon who in the year of the World 4964 according to the vulgar account now used among the Jews but in the year of our Redemption 1104. changed this life for a better and that then it was strictly commanded that from thenceforth throughout all succeeding ages that every Jew confessing this faith should resolve to live and die in the profession of it Hereupon it came to passe that these Articles were graced with large Expositions and thence a great Volume was written out of which the forementioned Articles were more fully drawn than formerly set down and annexed to the end of that Voluminous Book Esrim vearba or the Hebrew Bible printed at Venice by Daniel Bombergus by the study of Foelix Pratensis in the year of Christ 1517. where they are found expressed in the same manner in which they are subsequently delivered The first Article is concerning God who is the Creatour of all Creatures illah haillos the cause of causes entity of entities that every thing whether extant in heaven above or earth below was created of and hath its subsistence in him that he made every thing according to his absolute will and that every thing shall again be reduced into its prime nothing according to his good will and pleasure and although that every thing made by him shall again be annihilated yet his essence is immortall not subject to the least shadow of change or diminution because his essence Mezius Gemurah is perfect and of it self subsistent not needing the prop or help of any other to sustain it That the same God is that everlasting light strength and life that his is the Kingdome Dominion over all creatures That he is truly one and the most renowned Monarch This Article is grounded upon those words Exod. 20. 2. I am the Lord thy God c. The second Article is concerning the individuall unity of the Essence and Nature of God to wit that he is echad umeinchad of one Essence and that there is nothing either within or without the World that can any way enter the lists of a comparison in respect of this unity and identity he is not in the same series or order with any thing universall or singular which comprehends more of the same stamp under it neither is he Keechad Hammurcabh any compounded thing which for this reason admits of a Division into parts neither Guph Paschut d a simple body which is one
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
THE JEWISH SYNAGOGUE OR AN HISTORICALL NARRATION OF THE STATE OF THE JEWES At this day dispersed over the face of the whole Earth In which their Religion Education Manners Sects Death and Buriall are fully delivered and that out of their own Writers Translated out of the Learned BVXTORFIVS Professor of the Hebrew in Basil and diligently compared with the Talmud and other Writers out of which it had its Originall Also furnished with divers Marginal Notes very profitable and necessary By A B Mr. A. of Q. Col in Oxford LONDON Printed by T. Roycroft for H. R. and Thomas Young at the three Pidgeons in Pauls Church-Yard 1657. THE AUTHORS PREFACE To the Christian Reader Christian Reader WHen once we exactly ponder in the Scales of our understanding that thrice pressing load of Jewish ingratitude disobedience and obstinacy for which they were dayly branded by Moses and the rest of the Prophets with a foul guilt to which was annexed a vehement reprehension When we seriously consider those horrid threats and execrations wherewith God in his justice would depress them unless they framed their lives according to the strict rule of his Commandements this ought to be a warning-piece unto us to entertain such blessings with a more gratefull acceptance and hitherto to bend all our studies that by our unthankfulness we should not make our selves unworthy of them and so be dis-inherited of such a possession Moses in this manner prophecies of the Jews ingratitude Jesurun maxed fat and kicked thou art waxen fat thou art grown thick thou art covered with fatness then he forsook God which made him and lightly esteemed the worke of his salvation This issued from a prophetical spirit declaring that as already present which after the revolution of many a year was to be fulfilled and accomplished This ingratitude was in its swadling clouts when Joshua led Israel into the land of promise which is ratified by the unanimous suffrage of the whole Colledge of Prophets and almost in the very same terms by Hosea in chap. 13. Jeremy arraigns them as guilty of the same crime the bill of inditement runs thus They are turned back to the iniquities of their fore-fathers which refused to hear mywords and they went after other gods to serve them the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken the Covenant which I made with their Fathers And God himselfe by the mouth of his Prophet thus proclaims their obstinacy Since the day that your Fathers came out of the Land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the Prophets dayly rising up early and sending them yet they hearkened not unto me nor inclined their eare but heardened their neck they did worse then their Fathers The obstinacy of this People at last grew to so high a pitch that they stopt their ears at the admonition of the Prophets who cried aloud unto them to amend their waies and curbed their offences with tart reprehensions killing stoning rewarding every one with some bitter death which act of theirs is faithfully registred by the holy Spirit Ezra â— They tooke strong Cities and a fat Land and possessed houses full of all goods wels digged Vineyards and Oliveyards and fruit trees in abundance so they did eat and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in thygreat goodness nevertheless they mere disobedient and rebelled against thee and cast thy Law behind their backs and slew thy Prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee and wrought great provocations And Jeremy also may be cited for a witness for his words are these Wherefore will ye plead with me ye all have transgressed against me saith the Lord. In vain have I smitten your children they have received no corrections your own sword hath devoured your Prophets like a destroying Lion When the Lord sees this his people thus altogether incapable of corection he afflicts them with all the punishments which Moses by the spirit of God had denounced against them neither their bodies nor goods can now escape the lash of his fury he sends among them the sword famine and pestilence tempests diseases imbred dissention and discord and to make their misery compleat casts them out of that Land flowing with milk and hony and causes them to trace the captives steps into another which they knew not The ten tribes together with their King Hoshea is carried by Salmanasser into Assyria Kin. and when the two remaining Tribes Juda and Benjamin were not hurried to repentance by the present view of their brethrens afflictions God sends Nebuchadnezzer King of Babel against them who leads them captive into the Land of Chaldea makes Jerusalem a desolate heap and turns their Temple their chief beauty into ashes Nevertheless the space of 70 years fully expired these 2 tribes were again brought out of the house of bondage because it was the Almighties pleasure to preserve the tribe of Judah even unto that time when according to his promise out of that tribe and in the promised land the Messias should be incarnate But for all this these 2 tribes did not much outstrip the other 10 in the practise of holiness for they always following their own devices seriously traced the forbidden by-paths of their forfathers for which the later Prophets Haggai Zachary and Malachi were earnest declamitants against them the last of which being a Priest proclaiming them guilty of a wicked life threatens them with a final rejection out in obscurity that so we might again be cast headlong into that darknesse in which we sate before it was the Lords pleasure by his mercy to impart unto us the saving knowledge of his heavenly word My second Motive was this that the hardened in heart and blindfolded Jews at last descending into the Chambers of their strict cogitations might have some glimpse of the greatness of their infidelity and so convicted before the face of the whole world of that more than brutish folly in the expounding of the holy Scriptures and of their old wives tales whereby God for the most part is blasphemed and his saving word against all humane reason after an execrable manner perverted they might begin to be ashamed who with such a whorish forehead and want of wit did not fear to speak or write in this manner of God Almighty and his holy word and that at length they might think that they had stumbled at that stone of stumbling and rock of offence laid in Sion and thereupon that they shall fall prostrate upon the ground be broken to Gods Law ensnared and captivated and finally that God poured upon them the spirit of deep sleep and so closed their eyes that every prophesie and the whole Scripture was to them as the words of a book that is sealed that the wisdome of their wise men is now altogether perished and the understanding of their prudent men hid as the Prophet Isaiah foretold them The
them speaks the Scriptue As the dayes of a Tree so shall be the dayes of my people that is as the Tree of life as the Chaldee renders it or as a Tree which indures for some hundreds of yeares doth not perish so my people shall remain for they who shall have a part in the resurrection at the comming of the Messias shall be so long lived as the Patriarchs from Adam to Noah So much Aben Ezra upon the place At that time they shall cherish and make themselves merry feasting their carkasses with that great fish Leviathan that huge bird Ziz and that monstrous Oxe Behemoth of which more particularly hereafter After this their jollity death the second time arrests them furnishing them with beds to sleep in till the last resurrection when they shall have an entrance into life eternal where they shall neither hunger nor thirst but be ever satiated with the beatifical vision of Gods glory and brightnesse In the first Book of Moses the 47. Chap. it is recorded of Jacob that when the time of his departure out of this Vale of tears approached he called his Sonne Joseph and entreated him not to bury him in Egypt but with his Fathers in the Land of Canaan Rabbi Salomon Jarchi upon these words saith that Jacob for three reasons would not be buried in the Land of Egypt The first was because he foresaw by the Spirit of Prophesie that in time to come store of lice should molest the Land of Egypt The second because the Israelites who died without the bounds of Canan could not rise again without a great deal of trouble being to be hurried into the â—andâ— of Promise by the hidden and deep vauâ—ts of the earth The third lest the Egyptians very prone unto Idolatry might make him the Idol which they would adore For the better understanding of this I mean here to insert what ever is written concerning it in the book called Tanchum which is an Exposition of the Law of Moles Rabbi Chelbo makes it a main question why the Patriarchs had so great a desire to be buried in the Land of Canan he gives himself a solution saying that they who shall dye in the â—andâ— of Promise shall riâ—s e first at the coming of the Messias Rabbi Hananiah confirms it and saith that whosoever dying is intombed in a strange Land shall dye a twofold death which is manifest out of the 26. chapter of Jeremy and the 6. verse where it is registred Thou Pashur and all thy family shall go into captivity thou shalt go to Babel there shalt thou dye and there be buried Hereupon Rabbi Simeon objects that that granted it must necessarily follow that all the Tzaddikim or just men should perish who were not interred in the Land of Canaan The answer is that God shall make certain caves and profound vaults in the earth by which they shall Be brought into the land of promise at their arâ—â—vall there God shall breath into them the breath of life and give them a share in the Resurrection as it is written I Will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves and bring you into the Land of Israel Rabbi Simeon Ben Levi saith that the Scripture speaketh expresly that God shall restore the Jews to Life upon the very instant of their return into their own Land the place he quoteth is Isa 12. v. 5. Thus saith the Lord God he that created the heavens and stretched them out he that spread forth the earth and that which cometh out of it he that giveth breath unto the people upon it and spirit to them that walk therein This is to be understood of them that shall be carried to Sion through the caves of the earth That also which is read in the Chaldee Targum upon the Canticles ought to be referred to this voâ—ntation the words are these Salomon the Prophet saith that when the dead shall arise the Mount Olivet shall cleave in the middle and all the Israelites who formerly departed this life shall issue out of it the just also who died in banishment prison or a strange Land being conveyed hither by hidden passages in the earth shall also apPear From hence we may easily conclude how beliooveful the Jews think it to return into their own Land and there be buried and so escape the turmoyle and trouble of so long a journey under so many deep rivers and rugged mountains and for this very end as I have heard out of the Jews own mouth many of their rich ones return into the Land of Canaan at this day This is that perfect firm and well grounded faith of the Jews in which they obstinately persevering make it the rock of their salvation though with great anxiety and despair Here we may see what they give to Moses and the rest of the Prophets and also what use these miserable men make of the holy Scriptures Such as their faith is such are also their works which they would seem to shape according to the strict rule of Gods commandements There profound Rabbins perswade this simple people the Jews that they of the Circumcision are Gods own chosen people who may easily fulfill not onely the morall Law comprehended in the Decalogue but the whole Law of Moses They divide the Law of Moses into six hundred and thirteen Precepts and again subdivide these into commanding and prohibiting Precepts the former according to their computation are two hundred to eight which number is according to the Rabbins anatomy equal to that of the members in mans body the prohibiting Precepts are three hundred sixty five just so many as there are dayes in the year or as it is registred in a book entituled Brand spiegel and printed at Cracovia in the Germane tongue and Hebrew character some fifteen years ago as there are veinâ— in mans body hence it shall come to passe that if a man in one of his members every day perform one of the Mandatory Precepts and omit that which the prohibiting Precept enjoyns him to avoid he shall with great facility every year and so to his dying day fulfill not onely the Decalogue but the whole Law of Moses this is that right ordering and keeping of their Laws here I may counsel Isaiah to make his complaint That the earth is defiled under the inhabitants thereof because they have transgressed the Laws changed the Ordinance broken the everlasting covenant for Saint Stephen should be stoned the second time if he were now alive and should reprove the Jews for this their adulterate worship saying You stiffenecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears you do alwayes resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did so do ye who have recived the Law by the disposition of Angels and have not kept it c. The Rabbins hold on and say that men are onely bound to keep those six hundred and thirteen Precepts but the women are freed from the observation
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
our bounden duty to believe what ever is extant in their name for it is the truth neither let any deride them not in his heart for so doing he shall not escape unpunished let every one then take warning that he speak not any thing scandalous either to the person or attempts of these men but rather to endeavour to learn so much as he can possible out of their writings To the same purpose it is recorded in a book printed in the Germane tongue and Hebrew Letter at Cracovia in Poland Anno Dom. 1597. called Brand spiegelium in the hinder end of the 48. Chapter that the Jews are bound to say Amen not only at the end of their prayers but to every Sermon and Exposition upon the word of God in which lie hidden and profound mysteries shaped to the vulgar apprehension that by this they might signifie and acknowledge that they believe whatsoever their Rabbines or wise men have spoken as it is written in the Prophet Isa Open your selves O ye gates for the people cometh who keepeth Justice that is a people who saying Amen believes all things that the wise men and Rabbines have written but if any mans understanding be encompassed with such Egyptian darknesse that he cannot comprehend the aggados or expositions yet he ought to believe them for the words of our Doctours are not wind but truth it self Aggadah is a mysticall or hidden speech by which hidden matters and things of great moment are signified the word it self by a certain Metathesis is the same with Deagah which signifies poverty and grief because a man macerates and tortures himself after an uncouth manner before he can rightly understand the forementioned Aggadah Hitherto pertains that which is every where extant in the Talmnd to wit that when two Rabbines are at contention the one affirming the other denying none ought to contradict them because both their Positious are grounded upon the Kabala which Moses brought with him from Mount Sinai and although the one could not rightly understandd it yet it is not to be imputed unto him for both of them know the reason why they thus speak seeing the words of the one as well as the other are the words of the living God It is also a Catholick rule in the book of the Rabbines Rather keep in mind the sayings of the Scribes than them of the Law of Moses concluding from hence that the writings and instructions of the Rabbines are of greater authority than Moses and the Prophets Luther in his book which he writ upon Shem hamphorasch comments in this manner concerning the authority and credit given to the Rabbines and their writings The Jews say that they ought to believe that Rabbines though they should affirm thè left hand to be the right and the light hand to be the left as Purchetus testifies After the same manner three Jews who kept me company dealt with me when I urged any thing out of the Bible then would they object that they were bound to believe their Rabbines and were not tied to the Scripture whence I perswade my self Purchetus said nothing but truth seeing mine own experience taught me the same Luther was not too blame being guided by his own experience to believe Purchetus to make it more manifest I will produce their own words Raschi or Rabbi Salomon Jarchi upon those words Deut 17. and 11 According to the Sentence of the Law which they shall teach thee and according to the Iudgements which they shall tell thee thou shalt do thou shalt not decline from the Sentence which they shall shew thee to the right hand nor nor to the left hath this glosse when he saith unto thee of thy right hand that it is the left and of the left hand that it is the right thou must believe it as a truth how much more if he say thy right hand is thy right and thy left hand thy left The like we find in Rabbi Bechai his Commentary upon the foresaid words who brings in Ramban or R. Mosche Ben Nachman telling his tale in these terms Upon a time there came a certain Gentile unto that mirrour of Learning Don Shammai and asked him how many Laws or Commandements have you â—ews among you to whom Shammai made answer our Laws are onely two the one written the other delivered by mouth Then the Gentile replyed I believe as fully as thou dost that written Law to be true and whatsoever is contained therein to be nothing but the truth but as for thy Law of Tradition I cannot embrace it neither account it for a Law but go to make me a Jew be my Shoolmaster teach me in this Law which words possessed Schammai with such a fury that he thrust him from him and commanded him to depart the place then the Gentile came to Hillel the elder Schammai's copartner in office for they two were joynt Rectors and lived but a small time before Christs incarnation whom he questions in the same manner entreating him withall that he would vouchsafe to make him a Jew which Hillel did and instructed him in the Jewish Religion The day following Hillel saith unto him pronounce Aleph Beth Gimel Daleth which he did according as Hillel mouthed them unto him the day following Hillel inverting the Alphabet saith unto him pronounce Daleth Gimel Beth Aleph then the Gentile replyed Rabbi this is not the Lesson thou taughtst me yesterday then answered Hillel thou dost not onely reject me thy instructor but also fearest not to yield no credit unto my words therefore thou oughtest to rest thy self contented in the unwritten word and to believe all those things which are taught therein This Story is registred in the Talmud Tract de Sabbatho Hence may we conclude that every one simply without consideration or contradiction should believe not onely the Jewish Law of Tradition but whatsoever the RabbiNes according to the prescript of the same Law write and teach and that whosoever doth this is to be esteemed a Jew indeed whosoever is refractory and disobedient the most grievous torments in hell shall be his portion concerning which thing we read this Decree and Sentence of the Senate in the Tract entituled de libello repudii or Letter of Divorce in these words Mar. saith Whosoever shall deride or contemne what our wismen and Rabbines have spoken he shall be punished in hot boyling pitch and that in hell as they blasphemously affirm Christ our Saviour and Redeemer to be tormented because he walked not according to the traditions ordinances and Doctrines of their ancestours but rejected them as a thing despifed This punishment is also registred in another Tract of the Talmud and more at large expounded in a book called Menneras Hammaor and expresly set down in the book Beth Iaacob but in the Talmud printed at Basile it is left out and not without good reason as also many other blasphemous passages written against Christ and Christian
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
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
ill liver commonly before an honest man Hence it is that these things considered such a flood of contention often ariseth that a Christian Magistrate is often sent for to stop stay it forunder the Sun there is not a more testy envious jarring and more implacable people then the Jews And this is the fruit which they reap from the reading of the Law with so great attention as they bring and boast of and to say the very truth no better can be expected seeing their outside makes a beautiful and glorious shew but within they are full of malice and hypocrisie Now whereas there is no perfect joy where slesh and wine or as they say Basâ—r re iâ—jin are wanting therefore they conclude and end this Feast of joy and rejoycing with a sumptuous and great Supper CHAP. XXIII Of the Feast of Dedication THis Feast is wont to be celebrated upon the twenty first day of November by them called Kisleu in memory of Judas Hasmonita or Machabaeus that excellent warriour who after the death of his Father Mattathias overcame and vanquished the Grecians who had formerly subdued Jerusalem profaned the holy Temple poured out the oil of the Sanctuary and done very much evil unto the Jews He also won the City cleansed the Sanctuary upon the twenty first day of this moneth as we may read in the first book of Mâ—chabees and the fourth Chapter Wherefore Judas and his brethren with the whole Congregation of Israel concluded that the dayes of dedication of the Altar should be kept in their season from year to year by the space of eight dayes from the five and twentieth day of the moneth Casleu with mirth and gladnesse This Feast the Jews at this day do also keep and celebrate but in a far different manner then those ancient Machabites For here now is nothing to be seen but feasting and gormandising quaffing and drinking piping and dancing revelling and roaring all to passe away the time but little or no thanksgiving unto the Lord of hosts for the victory and conquest over their enemies as upon this day At that time when Judas had dedicated the Temple none of the holy oil could be found so that the Lamps could not be lighted according to the ordinance of Moses Judas therefore made diligent search in the Temple where he found a small horn of oil sealed with the Ring of one of the Priests which was onely sufficient to feed the Lamps for one nights space yet preserved in that happy manner that it was not polluted by the enemies Hereupon the heart of Judas and the whole congregation was filled with sorrow because they could have no more oil till these eight dayes were expired because the City Tehoa from whence it was to be fetched was four dayes journey distant from Jerusalem In this their perplexity the favà our and mercy of God appeared to them by this miracle for the horn of oil sailed not for eight dayes together In the remembrance of this favour and blessing so miraculously conferred upon them the Jews at this day use a great deal of superstitious pomp in tinding of the Lamps appointed for the Synagogue in the time of this Feast They provide a Candlestick with seven branches capable of seven lights or Lamps which burn every night though not until the morrow from the beginning of this Feast unto the end thereof and wheresoever any of these Lamps are found whether in their Houses Stoves or Bedchambers there it is not lawful to move the finger to any kinde of work A Lamp must also be hung as well upon the right side of the gate of every mans house as of the Synagogue the distance whereof from the ground ought to be ten spans no lower twenty but no higher It is a great question among them how long these Lamps may burn and by whom they may be tinded whether one may be lighted at another and such like Thus are they very solicitous and careful about these external lights never considering that there is nothing but darknesse in their own hearts neither striving that they may be illuminated by the light of Gods holy Spirit CHAP. XXIV Of their Feast of Purim THe word Purim is a Persian word and is rendred by the Hebrews Goral which signifies a lot This Feast therefore took its name from that plot and wicked device of Haman the Agagite who in the moneth Nisan in the twelfth year of Ahasuerus cast Pur that is a lot whereby all the Jews both young and old children and women in all the Kings Provinces should be destroyed and rooted out in one day even upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth moneth which is the moneth Adar or February which decree was written in the name of the King and sealed with his Ring The end of this conspiracy fell far contrary to Hamans intent For Haman was hanged upon a pair of Gallows fifty foot high and the King granted the Jews in what Cities soever they were to gather themselves together and to stand for their life to root out slay and destroy all them that vexed them So that strengthened by the Kings Letter Patents they put their adversaries to death In Shushan the Palace they slew five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman and the Jews that were in the Provinces of King Ahasucrus slew of them that hated them seventy five thousand men upon the thirteenth day of the moneth Adar and rested upon the fourteenth and fifteenth thereof Wherefore it is instituted and ordained that upon the fourteenth and the fifteenth day of the said moneth every yeer should a Feast be kept by the Jews in all quarters in remembrance of this great deliverance throughout their generations by an ordinance for ever Wherein they rested from their enemies in the moneth which turned unto them from sorrow to joy from mourning to a joyful day as we may read in the ninth Chapter of the book of Esther These two dayes are celebrated at this day by the Jews imitation of their ancestors but in that manner that they rather deserve the name of the dayes of profanation and drunkennesse then of joy and gladnesse Although upon these dayes working is not prohibited by the text of Scripture yet the Jewes at this day rest from all manner of labour writing and affirming in the Talmud that he will never thrive or prosper that does any work upon them For there it is recorded that upon a certain time that a man being sowing line-seed upon one of these dayes a certain Rabbine coming by and seeing him began to reprove and curse him Whereupon it came to passe that the seed never came to growth nor did ever peep out of the ground In the first place therefore the women are enjoyned in a more peculiar manner to sanctifie and celebrate this Festival because this deliverance was wrought by the hands of Queen Esther The night being come they light the Lamps of joy in the Synagogue and
the Chasan or the Minister expounding the book of Esther reads it from end to end whereat the women and children ought to be present and give diligent attention and they have a custome that the little ones so often as Haman is named keep a vile stir and a tumultuous noise in the terrible and forcible explosion thereof In former times they were wont to provide themselves two stones upon one of which the name of Hamâ—â— was written These they did beat one against the other until the name was quite demolished and worn out which when they perceved they presently cried aloud Let his name be blotted out The name of the wicked shall rot Accursed be Haman Blessed be M â—rdecai Cursed be Zeresh the wife of Haman Blessed be Esther the wife Ahâ—suerus Cursed be all they that worship idols or the host of heaven Blessed be all the people of Isnael When the Lecturer comes to that place where mention is made of the ten sons of Hamau he is bound to read it with one breath for they write that all these sons of Haman perished in the twinkling of an eye and their souls in a very moment took their farewel of their beloved lodging the body They celebrate this Feast in a very voluptuous manner sousing their guts in wine and beer because Esther the Queen found favour and grace in the eyes of King Abasuerus when he sate at her banquet and obtained pardon for the Jews and a grant that they might stand for their lives And hence it comes to pass that for the space of these two dayes they busie themselves with no other things then eating and drinking smelling and bibbing dancing and piping singing and roaring ieasting and sporting riming and scoffing the women putting on mens apparrell and the men clothing themselves in womens attire which although it be expresly forbid in the law of Moses yet they make there one exception saying that it is lawful and no offence to practise it upon this day and this occasion seeing it is done by them only for worldly joy and recreation Rabbi Isaac â—irna in this Minhagim hath left in record to posterity that it is commanded as a work of great excellency to make merry as upon these dayes to goe a whoring to drink and be drunke yea in that measure that he cannot make any difference between Mordecai the blessed and Haman the accursed that is to say untill he be so besotted with the ale tappe that he cannot for his heart declare how many letters be contained in any of these words yea moreover any one is permitted at this time to poure in strong drink until he knowes not how many fingers he hath on either hand Which precept indeed is most diligently observed and kept according to the very rigour thereof by the Jews at this day and that chiefly by the beggerly crew to whom the richer sort send gifts and presents in a far greater measure then they do at other times to the end that one may not mock another for being drunk bein commanded and strictly prohibited to send away their meat and drink to any other end and purpose With these Bacchanal rites drunken fits and besotting beastliness they put an end to their annual feasts For this of Purim is the last festival in the year having no more until the feast of the passover If the Prophet Isaiah were alive at this day or should rise from the dead truly and really might he take occasion and that both forcible and urgent to cry out Woe and class unto them that rise up early to follow drunkenness and to them that continue until the night till the wine do inflame them CHAP. XXV Of the feasting dayes in use among the Jews HItherto we have treated of feasting fasting succeeds In the law of Moses there is only one fast commanded to be kept by the Jews which is upon the tenth of September upon which the feast of reconciliation is annually kept and celebrated as was formerly declared Besides this it is registred in ancient records that many other fasting dayes were instituted and ordained by the ancient Patriarchs and Prophets according as the time required And Zachary the Prophet who lived after the building of the second Temple makes mention of foure general fasts in these words Thus saith the Lord of hosts the fast of the fourth moneth the fast of the fifth and the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth shall â—e to the house of Judah joy and gladness The fast of the tenth moneth was usually and is to this day kept by the Jews upon the tenth day of the same to wit December because upon this Neâ—uchaddnezar began to besiege Jerusalem with armies and to afflict the Jews with great trouble and calamities The fast of the fourth moneth was and is kept to this day upon the seventeenth day thereof because upon this they endured many great afflictions which are not yet disgested For as upon this day the tables of the law were broken the daily sacrifice ceased the book of the law was burnt an Idol the abomination of desolation was set up in the holy place the temple of Jerusalem The city it self besieged the second time overthrown and taken For these causes the Jews in these our dayes fast very devoutly begin seriously and earnestly to repent them of their former life if a man may believe the external gesture from which it is no doubt but their heart is too too much a roving The dayes following this fast even unto the ninth day of the next moneth are accounted ominous and unfortunate upon these no school-master must dare to whip his boyes If any Jew also have a case to be tried by the law between him and a Christian at this time he seeks all manner of evasion and excuse that he may not appear before the Judg untill these dayes be expired fearing lest his cause should fail and not prove good and he be overthrown therein The fast of the fift moneth is kept upon the ninth day of July because upon this very day the temple was burnt and turned into ashes In the time here of they goe barefoot sitting upon the earth reading doleful stories and the lamentations of Jeremy They goe into the place of burial where they sob out their doleful accents of grief and sorrow amidst the sorrowful consort of departed souls bewailing the desolations of their beautiful temple with sighs and grones for a moneth together From the first day until the tenth they neither eat flesh nor drink wine they enter not the bath wash their face or hands or suffer any rasor to come upon their head They do not make any marriages appear not in judgment but sore against their wills complaining and crying out that they had never any good hap or fortune in this moneth which they prove out of the Prophet Hosea saying A moneth shall devoure them with their portions Upon
MAny among the Jews are forced to learn the Butchers trade which they call Scachten He that learns it is bound Apprentice to some skilful Butcher for term of yeers and those not a few for there are so many precepts constitutions caveats axiomeâ— belonging thereunto that it is very difficult for any man in a short time to be cunning and expert therein he must therefore bestow great paines and study in seeking the rules appertaning thereunto out of the books of the Rabbines that thereby he may gain a perfect and sound knowledge therein There is extant a certain smal Pamphlet which is called Schochitos and Bed kos the Butchers book in which are contained the principal Rules and Canons belonging to this Art according to the tenor whereof the Jews at this day kill and slaughter their beasts and other cattel If they meet with any difficult place whose true meaning cannot be comprehended by the brains of a Butcher they repair to some Rabbine for the exposition thereof He therefore who hath diligently perused this little book and hath been long time a spectator of another mans labours in this kinde and can rightly judge of them is made by some of the Rabbines Freeman of the Company who also makes him a testimonial Letter under hand and seal of his skil and ability Wherein he certifies that he is expert and skilful in the Butchers trade and therefore gives him full power and license to kill and slay any Ox Sheep or such like kinde of Beast when and wheresoever it pleaseth him Not long since it was my chance to see one of these testimonials which was writ in manner and form following This day being such a day of the moneth in such and such a yeer I have examined and in examining found N. the son of N. to be skilful and expert in the Butchers trade and that as well to teach by mouth as to practise with hand Which things weighed and rightly by me considered I have granted him a license to kill and slaughter and being killed and slaughtered to search all kinde of cattel And furthermore it shall be lawful for him to eat whatsoever shall be by him in this case searched and slaughtered Alwayes provided for a space of a whole year ensuing the date hereof once a week the next year every moneth once and after that every quarter of a year for the space of his whole life he do diligeâ—tly peruse all the Rules and Canons belonging to the Butchers trade Witness Rabbi N. Butcher A Butcher is called in the Hebrew tongue Schochet the Butchers trade Schacten The searcher or overseer who looks whether they be sound or not Bodek and the action of searching Badken In the exercise of this their trade they use knives of divers sorts proportioning them according to the quantity and bigness of the beast that is to be slaughtered Their knives of a greater size have commonly broad and blunt edges yet apt enough to cut if they have any gap in them if it be never so little it is not lawful to use them The greater sort of beasts being ready to undergo the knife have their feet tied by the Butcher in imitation of Abraham who bound his son hand and foot when he was about to sacrifice him Afterwards he cuts the weesil of the beast at one cut Then he looks upon his knife to see whether there be any flaws or gaps therein which action of his is very necessary seeing a gap in the edge of the knife doth in such manner terrifie the poor beast that the blood runs unto the heart to comfort it so that the knife cannot make a passage for it by which means the beast becomes unfit to be eaten When he hath cut deep enough he hangs the beast upon the Cammerel unbowels it and making a couple of holes one upon the right another upon the left side of the heart he or any other who is skilful in searching thrusts his hand through these holes into the body of the beast with an intent to know certainly whether any blood or little Bladders full of blood clag or cleave unto the heart or liver Which if he perceive any other fault be it never so little then it is not lawful for any Jew to eat thereof as it is written Ye shall be an holy people unto me neither shall you eat any flesh that is torn of beasts in the field ye shall cast it to the Dog And again Of a beast defiled or rent with beasts whereby he may be defiled ye shall not eat I am the Lord. Out of these words the lews draw this conclusion That it is not lawful to eat the flesh of any beast which is not without taint spot or blemish when the Text it self speaks not of the living creature but of a dead carkase a beast that hath died of it self or hath been torn in pieces by another Birds and all kindes of fowl the Jews do kill and slaughter in the same manner that they do their beasts cutting their throats and letting the blood drop down into a heap of ashes covering it therewith This their practise they ground upon that action of Rebecca who when she saw Isâ—â—c ligâ—hted down from the Camel Upon which words the Rabbines in the Schechitos or Butchers book have left in writing that at that time it was with Rebecca after the manner of women whose virgin or menstruous blood the Birds came and covered after that she had risen from the carth and therefore they say that God commanded them in lieu of this to cover and hide the blood of Birds when they slaughter them They cover also the blood of other Beasts with earth because the earth opened and swallowed up the blood of righteous Abel when Cain slew him I also saith the Author of the Butchers book have seen it recorded in the book Chasidâ—m that the blood is therefore to be hid in the earth lest Satan coming and finding it uncovered should accuse us before God of great injustice because it would seem a very unjust and cruel act miserably to kill and slaughter a poor innocent and unreasonable creature in such a tyrannical manner which hath committed no sin or offence against us and therefore is not lyable to punishment Surely the Iews would make the Devil a very sottish Fool and shallow brain'd Asse who cannot know thus much and themselves very cunning and crafty in such a circumvention of him After that they have killed a great beast they take all the veins and nerves out of his body picking away the fat which cleaves unto them then putting them in water to mollifie and soften them after a certain space taking them out again and washing them in clear water so that no drop of blood remain in them then they lay them upon a shingle or cloven that the water may drop from them then they put them into a vessel and salt them which vessel is full of holes to this