they ought to leave their beds and go to prayers Blessed â—e God c. That he created me an Israelite or a Jew or as others render it that he did not make me one of the Gentiles By Gentile they understand Christian which they esteem as Infidels Idolaters and a cursed Nation The woman saith blessed be God c. that he created me a Jewess Blessed be God c. that he hath not created me a servant this also thwarts the profession of Christians whom they account their vassalls who shall sow and plow their ground and shall do all manner of servile imployments for them while in the mean time they shall sit behind a hot fornace rosting apples tossing up whole bowls of wine What kind of Captivity is this They answer if any man rest himself in any place having a huge Bowl of rich wine in his hand then he is free from bondage when on the contrary the Christians are forced to labour and till the Earth in the sweat of their browes and nostrils Blessed c. That he hath not made me a woman the women instead thereof say Blessed c. that he hath created me according to his own good will and pleasure This is done in contempt of the womans sex because they are not comprehended in the Covenant of Circumcision by which God â—eals unto himself his own peculiar people and therefore this Scripture must perforce be hatched in the womans brains that is to say whether they be in the Catalogue of Israelites as their husbands are Blessed c. who exaltest the humble Blessed c. who gives sight unto the blind This Thanksgiving is usuall when they first wake out of their sleep and unshut their eye-lids Blessed c. who makes the crooked straight this they say when lifting themselves up in their bed they go about to attire themselves Blessed c. who clothes the naked this they say when they put on their cloaths Blessed c. who raiseth them that fall Blessed c. who bringeth the prisoners out of Captivity These two severall Thanksgivings are assigned for this reason because God in the time of sleep doth in that manner sustaine and multiply mans spirits that they may again exercise their proper functions the time of their being asleep being like unto prisoners in the pit Blessed c. who stretcheth out the earth above the waters this they say when rising out of their beds they begin to tread upon the ground Blessed c. who directs prepares and governs the wayes of man this he saith so soon as he comes out of his bed-chamber Blessed c. who hath created all things necessary for this life this he utters when he ties his shooes Blessed c. who girdest Israel with the girdle of strength this he saith when he puts on his girdle which every Jew is bound to do as hath been formerly declared Blessed c. who crowns Israel with comelinesse this he saith when he puts his hat upon his head for it is an hainous offence to go out of his Chamber uncovered Blessed c. who refresheth the weary Blessed be thou O God our Lord King of the whole world who removest sleep from mine eyes and slumber from mine eye-lids These prayers ended being so many in number they adde two more wherein they petition God that he would vouchsafe to keep and defend them against sin reprobate angels wicked men and all kind of evil Then humbling themselves before God they confess themselves guilty and relying only upon the mercy of God they comfort themselves again with a certain Prayer beginning Ribbon Col haolamim and with much boasting and many brags in that oath which the Lord sware unto Abraham being about to sacrifice his Son Isaac say yet we are thy people and the children of thy Covenant and O blessed men that we are how goodly is our portion how pleasant our lot how beautifull our Inheritance O blessed men that we are who every morning pronounce this sentence Heare O Israel the Lord our God is one God! Gather us that trust in thee from the four corners of the earth by which action all the Inhabitants of the world shal know that thou art God alone O our Father which art in heaven run after us with thy mercy even for thy names sake because thy name is named upon us and confirm and establish in us that which is written At that time will I bring you back at that time will I gather you and give you a name and renown amongst all the people of the earth when I have turned againyour captivity saith the Lord God After these be ended there follow 2 other short Prayers in which they give thanks for the Law delivered to them from heaven From the Law they proceed to their sacrifices which because they may not offer in these dayes they are banisht out of their own Land their Temple is laid desolate as their Ancestors were accustomed the sacrifice of the lip succeeds in the place thereof and reading only the precepts coÌ„cerning sacrifices as they ought in their appointed times to have been offered they solace themselvs with that saying of the Prophet though in a sense perverted We will sacrifice the calves of our lips After this they ruminate the historical narration about sacrifices as also a certain prayer beginning Rabbi Ismahel concerning the use of the Law and the manifold exposition thereof which being grounded upon the Talmud is so barbarous and difficult that not one Jew amongst an hundred is able to understand it This they read in such a manner as the Vestal Virgins do the Psalter This done they say a Prayer in which they Petition for the re-edification of Jerusalem and the Temple which they daily even unto this day expect and hope for yet this they say with such a fainting voice that none can hear it The words are these Let it be thy good pleasure before thy face O Lord and God the God of our Fathers that the holy house thy Temple may be built again in these our dayes and give unto us a will to abide in thy Law Hereupon rising up with great joy and shouting they chant out another laudatory Prayer or thanksgiving hoping that God will shortly begin to lay the foundation of their new Temple and bring them back again into their own Land Then sitting down they repeat a long Prayer collected out of the Psalms of David reading withall some whole Psalmes and a part of the thirtieth Chapter of the first book of Chronicles and lastly singing the last words of the Prophet Obadiah which are these Saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the Mount of Esau and the Kingdome shall be the Lords With attent minds and much rejoycing their hope is that these Saviours of whom the Prophet makes mention shall come quickly and shall go up to Mount Sion that is they shall undertake the quarrel for the Jews and
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
That by this mean Covenant-breakers may as well as the keepers the bad and the villanous as well as the good and just may sing praise and pray unto God Whence every Christian may see how little they esteem of an oath especially made unto one of us Then they hold on to sing and pray untill the night be far spent Some all the night over others returning to their houses betake them to their rest other sleep in some corner of the Synagogue or other or in the Synagogue of the women in some place farthest remote from the Arke They among the Jews who have an earnest desire truly to repent them of their sins and to lead a holy life stand all the time that the feast endures singing and praying without intermission as I have seen some who have stood immoveable in the same place for twenty seven hours together When the morning begins to approach they all repair to the Synagogue before the dawning of the day making there their agode untill night boasting very much of the book of the Law reading many Sections therein Falling often to the earth with their face uncovered and then chiefly when they make confession of their sins smiting their brests at every word to shew the devout attention of their mindes and the lifting up of their hearts unto their God and maker When it begins again to be night then the Priest wrapping a great hair-cloth ahout his neck and drawing it over his head so far untill it come to the threshold of his eyes he blesseth the people according to the ordinary forme prescribed by Moses Numbers the 6. the 24 25 26 and 27. verses When he pronounceth the blessing he stretcheth out his hands towards the people they covering their faces with their own for it is lawful for no man to look upon the hands of the Priests because the spirit of the Lord rests upon them while he blesseth the Congregation As it is written He standeth behinde our wall looking forth at the windows shewing himself through the grates that is to say God stands at the Priests back and looks through the windows and grates that is to say through his hands being being stretched out and his fingers being spread abroad severed one from another Then he siâ—gs another prayer repeating it seven times sometimes with a submisse and low sometimes with a loâ—d voice and the reason of this reiteration is because God at this time departs from them and goes into heaven not coming again untill the priest be the seventh time in repeating of this prayer The seventh time therefore they sing it in a melodious tune with a sense bereaving harmony having very good skill and sweet voices as they can witness who have heard them Before they depart the Synagogue they blow upon the Rams horne before mentioned a sound both long and loud in remembrance of the year of Jubile which in ancient times was wont to begin as upon this day Others write that they do it in memory of the seven heavens which the Lord opened when he descended upon Mount Sinai and gave the law to the people of Israel and declare unto them that in heaven there was no other God besides him When they have put an end to this their festival and a period to these their trifles then as they blush not to affirm there comes a voice from heaven saying goe and eat thy bread with joy and gladness of heart for God accepts all thy good works at the best Instantly upon the hearing of the voice they return to their own houses some carrying the reliques of their wax lights along with them because they commonly use them in making the separation between the festival and other dayes of the week But others on the contrary leave them in the Synagogue in the Candlesticks for a year together lighting them at some certain times They who are very holy and religious among them have a wax light burning in the Synagogue night and day never going out throughought the whole year this they call Ner Tamid an everlasting light When they are returning home one sayes unto another God the Creator seal unto a happy year for the three books of which we formerly made mention are now sealed up and Gods sentence pronounced upon every one is ratified and stands immutable Being come home they finde their guts to make a grievous complaint and themselves exceeding hungry having eaten nothing for twenty eight hours together they make haste therefore to satisfie their greedy appetite and to replenish their belly with store of victuals The next morning after they rise betimes out of their beds and return to the Synagogue lest Satan should take an occasion to complain of them saying unto God yesterday they rose early because it was the day of reconciliation but this day their devotion grows cold loving their pillow better then the Synagogue What should I say more this day they are so holy and religious so honest and devout that even the Devil is forced whether he will or not to commend their carriage concerning which we have his following conference in Pirk Rabbi Eleazar Upon that day in which God gave the Law to the Children of Israel the evil spirit Samael came unto him and said O Lord of the whole world thou hast given unto me power and dominion over all the people of the earth only the children of Israel excepted To whom the Lord made answer On the day of reconciliation and thence-forward thou shalt have power over them if thou canst finde any sin fault or offence in them of which if they be found in no manner guilty then shalt thou not approach so much as to touch them Which when Samael understood he said unto God thou hast a people upon earth like unto the Angels in heaven For as the Angels in heaven standing immoveable neither eat nor drink and being free from all sin live in peace among themselves even so do thy people Israel upon the day of Reconciliation which God hearing out of the mouth of the Devil presently without delay forgives them all their sins and opens his ear unto their prayers It is read in another place that they give gifts unto Satan that they may blinde and shut up his eyes lest he should see their doings and accuse them unto the Lord of hosts as it is written A gift blindeth the eyes of the wise and perverteth the words of the righteous I conclude with the words of God to Esay Cry aloud and spare not lift up thy voice like a trumpet and shew my people their transgressions and to the house of Jacob their sins Yet they seek me daily and will know my wayes even as a nation that did righteously and had not forsaken the statutes of their God They will ask of me the ordinances of justice they will draw neer unto God saying Wherefore have we fasted and thou seest it not We have punished our selves and thou regardest
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
the bread to be covered in remembrance of the Manna For first of all a certaine dew fell in the desart after that the Manna and then another dew between which two it lay hid as between two napkins And so the bread upon the Jewes table lyes between two linnen clothes Hence it is that the women make minced pies or boile some other thing like unto it which they eat instead of Manna for their minced pye hath a certaine lumpe for its bottom and in the middle it is stuft with flesh above also it hath a certain cover made like unto Manna The reason why they take two loaves is in remembrance of the Manna whereof they gathered in times past two measures full upon every Friday according to that which is written And it came to passe that on the sixt day they gathered twice as much bread Briefly of all things to be done by us in this world an especiall care is to bee had of our bodies upon the Sabbath day which thing the holy Scripture so often commands us saying Thou shalt call the Sabbath Oneg a delight because wee ought to restrhaine our selves from no sort of pleasure upon the Sabbath day In the same manner speaks the holy Scrpture concerning festivals Thou shalt rejoice in thy feasts thou and thy sonne c. that all our actions may tend to Gods glory Eat and drinke therefore and be good unto thy selfe and remember to doe it in honour to the Sabbath Yet not thinking that hee may eat many delicates upon the Friday for the filling of his paunch especially if he be poor and cannot away with the cost for this should rather have a place in the Catalogue of sinnes then good workes seeing he should also thinke upon the Sabbath day that he should have no such cheare upon Sunday and so become sorrowfull at that time when he ought the most of all to be merry Al this also is summarily comprehended in a little book called Sepher hajirah teaching us how a Jew ought to lead his life in the feare of the Lord and is delivered by the Jewes themselves in the following verses Against the Sabbath ready thou shalt be To leave all worke that doth belong to thee Thy selfe for Sabbath do prepare its gaine Though many maids and servants thou maintaine The Sabbath equally in all precepts availeth Be of good cheare thinke as thee nought aileth Use neat apparell costly raiments weare For Sabbath of a bride the name doth beare Buy that is daintiest ' gainst the Sabbath's day Strictly observe its precepts every way Keep in good appetite the stomack thine Feed upon fish and flesh and healthy wine Dresse up thy bed in handsome fashion good Order thy table well set on thy food Bath wash and cleanse thy head trim up thy haire About thee never any thing do beare Sharpen thy knife fall stoutly to thy meate Cut off thy nailes fling them in fiery heate Speake blessing to thy wine cleanse hand and foot By this precept thou shalt doe good I wot Be of good mood of comfortable ease Refraine not from thy selfe wherein canst please Merry and withall joyfull shalt thou be As if thy workes all finish'd were by thee Remove thee fro all dumpes and pensivenesse Table and stools have in a readinesse Lay on cleane table cloth and napkins as 't is fit Hasten away your rost-meat from the spit Swill handsomely your cups and drinking glasses Put out of mind your once endured losses Buy the best bit thou find'st upon the Mart With wife and children make a merry heart One table once thus dressed gives thee three meales Talke nothing but of merry making tales c. There is also extant a certaine booke of theirs wherein are contained many graces used by them before and after meat as also upon the chiefe festivals throughout the whole yeare written in Hebrew and Teutonicke verse Amongst others there is one prayer which begins How lovely is thy rest O Lord c. Where it followeth In gallant suit thyselfe aray Blesse candle light so 't will in burning mend From all manner of working flye away On Fryday all thy works bring to an end Eat savoury fâ—shes goodly capons quailes Live delicately see that nothing failes Then against Even thy selfe thus recreate All manner of good things for thee provide Well-fatted beeves and such as likes thy pate From a good cup of spice'd wine doe not slide c. Item In all meeknesse thou shalt walke For of that the Law doth talke With meeknesse all thy lifetime shall be led When Sunne doth rise at leisure keep thy bed c. Item Linnen and silken rayment much is made of Honour'd they be that doe make their clothes thereof An holy day the Sabbath is Happy that keeps it not amisse Bring not your hearts to heavy mournfull courses Although much leannesse lodge within your purses Cheerfull you ought to be and without sorrow Although elsewhere your mony you do borrow Furnish your selves with wine with flesh and fishes Upon your table set three sorts of dishes A good reward for thee will then be hasting Here and in time to come for everlasting c Item Women your candles remember for to light With carefull heed observe this time aright Here of great profit you will make full quickly When great with child you shall come to be fickly If then fine cakes to bake you shall be skilfull At child birth you may play and laugh your wil-full And now lest any should account of these as poeticall figments and fables I will relate some pleasant histories out of the Talmud whereby you may have a plaine evident yea even miraculous demonstration that the pleasure and jocund life upon the Sabbath day is the chiefest honour In that tract of the Talmud entituled de Sabbatho These e words are registred as they came from the mouth of Rabbi Chaia I saith he was upon a time in Cyprus others say in Ladkia where I lodged with a certaine Katzubh or Butcher At the time of supper a table all of gold was brought in which sixteen men were scarce able to carry all the furniture and other necessaries upon the table were of gold the platters candlestickes salts cups and trenchers all of gold with a snmptuous variety of delicates an most excellent apples When the table was set before him he beginning to praise God said The earth is the Lords and the fulnesse thereof When the table was removed he againe singing praises unto God said The heaven is the Lords and the earth hath he given unto the children of men Then I spoke unto him and said Good Sir how came you to be so rich and what good thing have you done in all your life The Master of the houshold the Butcher I meane replyed I have been a Butcher all my life long and whensoever it was my chance to happen upon some choise fatling I alwaies reserved it for the celebration of
Hakkemach or a Barrell of Meale saith that these foure things shaddow out unto us foure Kingdomes to wit That of the Assyrians that of the Persians that of the Grecians and the now extant Monarchy of the Romans which last is typified unto us by the willowes To put a period to these subtiâ—ties I will relate a story out of the Talmud concerning the adorning of these their Tabernacles and it is a certain conference or dialogue which God shal have with al people at the day of doom It is found in the Tract entituled Abhodahzarah or of Idolatry In these words At the last day God shall say that onely the Jewes are just and holy as they who have fulfilled the Law of God in every part and degree but all other people of the earth are ungodly and unjust as neither having the Law nor doing the workes presribed to bee done in the same Then shall the people of the earth answer and say O Lord God of the whole world give unto us that law and wee will in every point and parcell observe and keep it Then God will reply O foolish Christians doe you not know the old Proverbe that hee who labours upon the eve of the Sabbath shall have whereon to feed upon the Sabbath but hee that is idle and sits still shall want Goe yee therefore and first of all fulfill that little commandement of mine called Sukkah concerning the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles Then every one of them shall run in all hast and make unto himselfe a booth or Tabernacle some upon their house tops as the Jewes were wont to doe in ancient daies in their owne land where the roofe was flat and plaine others in their gardens and they shall dwell in them Then shall God so mightily encrease the heat of the Sun at Midsomer and so forward that they shall be scorâ—hed and burnt and being not able to endure the heat shall trample these their booths under their feete and being mightily enflamed with anger shall cry out Let us break their bonds in sunder and csast away their cords from us Then God shall flout jeer and deride them as it is written in the same place Hee that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh them to scorne the most high shall have them in derision And hence Rabbi Isaac affirmes that it is never found that God is said to laugh but upon that day onely So farre the Talmud By which relation we may plainly perceive how these apish Jewes hug and please themselves in their own folly and how they would even in a manner force God to beleeve that they onely are his chosen and elect people who keep the whole law observing and fulfilling all his commandements when on the contrary the Christians and other people are men appointed to destruction and damnation reputed as a laughing stocke and abomination in the eyes of the Lord. But O silly Jew what saith Ezekiel of thee and thy observance of the Law hearken what the Lord saith by the mouth of his Prophet I caused them saith he to go forth out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wildernesse and I gave them my statutes and shewed them my judgements which if a man doe hee shall live in them Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths to bee a a signe between mee and them that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctifieth them But the house of Israel rebelled against mee in the wildernesse they walked not in my judgements which if a man doe he shall even live in them and my Sabbaths they greatly polluted Then I said I would poure out my fury upon them in the wildernesse CHAP. XVII Of the Feast of the New Moone HItherto we have treated of the chiefe Festivals usualâ—y solemnized by the Jewes at Jerusalem in ancient daies and of the manner of their celebration by the Jewes of these our times We come now to speake of those Feasts which their Ancestors were wont to keep in the Cities and places where they had their dwelling and setled habitation We will begin with the Feast of the New Moon which they solemnize once every month The first day of every New Moon was in old time accounted holy because God commanded that in the beginning of their months they should offer unto him a burnt offering as we may reade in the fourth book of Moses Yet is this day to the Jewes now living onely halfe holiday so that they may worke or not worke at their owne pleasure It is also recorded that the command for the celebration of this Feast is rather given to the women then men so that they ought upon this day to abstaine from all manner of labour because in times past they would not give their golden earâ€rings and other ornaments to the making of the molten calfe when on the contrary they offered them with a willing and ready minde yea also their rings and bracelets towards the building of the Temple whose first stone was laid the first of March Upon the eâ—e of this Festivall all they that are of a pious and honest carriage among the Jewes fast untill eâ—enâ€tide praying unto God that hee would vouchsafe to send them a joifull and happy New Moon The next morning being that of the Festivall they goe into the Synagogue where they make many prayers yea more then they are wont to do upon other Festivals At midâ€day they goe to dinner at which they become very jocund cocking their beavers and sitting very long for which they urge Moses saying In the day of your gladnesse and in your solemn dayes and in the beginning of your months yee shall blow with the trumpets over the burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peaceâ€offerings that they may bee to you a memoriall before your G O D. And to the end that they may sit the longer at the Table they play at Cards almost all the day long passe away the time in jesting and merry-making the eclipse of the Moon they hold as a signe very ominous to them that trouble them Wherefore they commonly fast upon the day of the eclipse entreating God to save and defend them from all their enemies and them that hate them When the Moon is three dayes old or more they gather themselves together upon the night into some one of their Gardens or else into their street where they may clearly see the Moon lifting up their eyes to Heaven the posture of their body being exactly upright they blesse the Moon one of their chief Rabbines repeating a certain prayer and the rest saying after him as followeth Blessed be thou O Lord God our God King of the World who hast sanctified us by thy word and by the spirit of thy mouth who hast created the heaven and all the host thereof given laws thereunto and prescribed certain seasons in which they obey thy commandments measuring out aright the times and seasons
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
which they attribute great vertue and strange operations hidden ones surely for they have not made their appearance for one thousand six hundred and odd yeares This they use to say standing and that with great devotion There is a certaine story very pat to this purpose When the Jewes were banished out of Jerusalem by Titus Vespasian the Roman Emperour The Emperour commanded that three ships filled with Jewes should be set to float upon the sea having neither mast nor sailes This his command being put in execution the ships being tost with a most violent tempest were parted asunder and cast upon the shore of three divers countries the names whereof were Lovanda Arlado and Burdeli which are now worne out of remembrance All the Jewes in one of those ships were very courteously entertained by the Lord of that country in which they landed who in a most bountifull manner gave them land to till and Vineyards After his death there arose another King who handled and vexed the Jewes most inhumanely even as Pharaoh did their Ancestours saying unto them that he would try whether they were true Jewes or not after the same manner that Nebuchadnezzar tryed Hananias Misael and Azarias and if you can walke without hurt in the middle of the fiery furnace as they did then will I confesse that you are true Jewes indeed To whom the Jewes made answer entreating him that he would doe unto them as Nebuchadnezzar did to the three former which was to grant them three dayes respite that they might pray unto God to deliver them Which when he had granted two brothers called Joseph and Benjamin and their Couzen Samuel came together to consult what was best to be done who determined neither to eat or drinke for three dayes together Which while they put in practise every one having a severall prayer which they joined in one and repeated it without intermission night and day untill their allotted time was ended In the morning of the third day one of them said he had dreamed that he heard one read a verse out of the Bible in which Kt was twice and Lo three times reiterated but what it meant or where it was he was altogether ignorant Then answered one of the other two and said this verse will be a helpe and comfort unto thee for hereby is signified that God will send thee help from heaven and it is written in the forty third chapter of Isaiah and the second verse the words wherof are these Kâ— when thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and through the rivers they shall Lo not overflow thee Ki when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt Lo not bee burnt Lo neither shall the flame kindle upon thee Upon the third day a huge fire was provided earely in the morning an immense number of people flocking to the execution who were very desirous to be present at the burning The congregation being compleate these three men did commend their bodies to the mercy of the fire singing and praying untill all the wood being consumed they came out of the fire without the least touch thereof This miracle the foresaid men divulged in what place soever they came whereupon it was ordained and commanded that this prayer should bee said every Munday and Thursday morning in every Synagogue and place of publike prayer which the Jewes observe and keepe unto this very day hoping that by the power of this prayer they shall be delivered from their long continued captivity and tedious exile But alas their hopes will be frustrate so long as they despise and set at nought the Saviour of their soules Christ Jesus and persevere in their horrible superstition This Fable is here related more at large then it is by Antonius Margarita out of the booke Colbo The prayer beginning Vehu racham so much esteemed of them is written in the forme following He is mercifull forgiving iniquity and not destroying the sinner He oftentimes turns his anger from us and suffers not his fury to arise O God I beseech thee take not thy mercy from me let thy meeknesse and truth alwaies preserve me Help us O God our God and gather us from among the Gentiles c. In briefe the sum of this prayer is this They beg of God that hee would vouchsafe to pardon their sinnes take pity upon the desolations of their City and Temple to gather them from the foure corners of the earth and never suffer his inheritance to bee ashamed In this prayer they are also mindefull of us Christians against whom they thus petition O God how long shall thy strength remaine in captivity and thy beauty in thy enemies hand O Lord God stirre up thy strength and revenge us upon all our enemies so shall their might be turned into weaknesse and they shall be ashamed and perish These last words are in many Copies left out by reason of an injunction laide upon the Printers by the Christian Magistrate an empty space being left that they may either write them or eâ—se inquire what is wanting These things thus finished they fall the second time upon their faces and saying many other prayers as was declared in the former Chapter they beseech God that hee would remove his anger farre from them and not deliver them into the hands of their enemies but being mindefull of the Covenant that hee made with their fathers would make their seed like unto the starres of Heaven for multitude After that they have for such a space either kneeling or standing poured out their souls in prayer unto God then followes the narration of that pompe and state which they exhibite to the booke of the Law they reade weekly Lectures out of it according as they were enjoyned by Ezra the scribe The manner followeth In every Synagogue they have the booke of the Law to wit the Pentateuch written in long schroles of parchment sewed together at the ends thereof are fastned certaine pieces of wood for the safer keeping and more easie carriage of the booke of the Law This book is kept in a certaine Arke or Chest standing continually against some wall of the Synagogue Before the Ark is a little doore and before it a hanging made by the Art of the embroiderer This is of divers sorts and the more solemnn the festivall is the richer are the hangings Those are had in greatest esteeme with them whose outside is adorned and wrought with the shapes of divers birds for such were alwaies an ornament upon the old Arke of the Covenant The booke is alwaies wrapt up in a linnen cloth in which are characterised some Hebrew words and divers names That which is the most outward of all is oftentimes a linnen cloth much like unto a little coat or cloake made of silke but sometimes of puregold upon which they hang some silver plates fastned to a golden chaine in which is written Kether thorah that is to say the crowne of the Law or Kodesch adonai
no rivers they dig a well in their cellar or garden concerning the breadth and depth whereof they are diverse in opinion as also how much water may be contrived in the same At eventide they likewise repair unto the Synagogue where they continue praying untill it be night at what time the feast begins welcoming it with great joy and many acclamations So much for the preparation now for the feast it self but before we give you any tast thereof hearken what the Prophet saith concerning these men of Juda Your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear No man calleth for justice no man contendeth for truth they trust in vanity and speak vain things they conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity They hatch Cockatrice eggs and weave the spiders web He that eateth of their eggs dieth and that which is trodden upon breaketh out into a Serpent CHAP. XIX Of the Feast of the New-Year NEw-years-day according to the Jewish Almanack falls continually upon the first day of September which is the beginning of their civil year according to which account they date all their bils contracts and bargains This computation they ground upon the time of the creation of the world which was as they affirm upon the first of September Soe that they now reckon the years from the creation to be five thousand three hundred eighty foure or thereabouts Whence we may see how far they vary in their number from the Christians even by the space of two hundred twenty three years This first day of September is to be sanctified and kept holy by the Jews being a thing commanded by God himself saying Speak unto the children of Israel and say In the seventh moneth in the first day of the moneth shall you have a Sabbath for the remembrance of blowing the trumpets an holy convocation Ye shall do no servile work therein but offer sacrifice made by fire unto the Lord. Though Moses make no mention of the new-year in these words yet following an ancient tradition of their ancestors they begin their civil year as upon this day being the first of September which is the seventh moneth accounting from March in which begins the new-year of their festivals The chief reason why it is called the feast of trumpets is because the Priests in old time were wont as this day to repair to the Temple and blow upon trumpets that hereby the people might be warned and pricked forward to render thanks unto God with a chearful and merry heart for the blessings and favours plentifully powred upon them in the year last past that he hath preserved them in safety and redeemed their souls from death and that with fear and trembling truly repenting them of their misled life they may appear before God upon the day of reconciliation upon which an attonement is to be made between God and his people The Jews at this day instead of a trumpet use a Rams horn the reason whereof shall hereafter be related The manner of the Celebration followeth After evening prayer they begin the feast by the consecration of a bowl of wine and a certain prayer appointed for the day they account it as a signe of good luck if their wine be new and sweet Every one salutes his fellow with God send you a good new-year or pointing to the books of which we made mention in the former chapter they say Thou art registred for one who shall be partaker of a prosperous year to whom the other makes answer and you also that is as much as if he had said The Greator of heaven and earth hath ordained thee for a good new-year The little children run unto the chief Rabbine and aske him blessing upon whom he laies his hands and prayes unto God to send them an happy year From the Synagouge to their own houses where they finde the table neatly spread and sumptuously furnished and that with no small deal of provision They presently fall aboard the first dish whereupon they make an assault is a Platter full of dainty Apples steeped in Honey of which every one tasting a bit saith God send us a merry New-year then proceeding with great jollity and mirth to the stuffing of their empty guts Amongst other things the fore-mentioned Rams-horn is laid upon the table in remembrance of the Ram which being catched in the thickets was sacrificed by Abraham in the place of Isaac Others write that they lay it upon the table to signifie that they shall become the head and not the tail according to that promise of the Lord by Moses The Lord shall make thee head and not the tail and thou shalt be above onely and not beneath Which promise is made indeed unto the Jews but with that condition to keep all his Commandments to observe and do them But they understood a mastery and dominion over the Christians to be the tenor thereof which that it may come to pass they daily pray to God above They eat fish for the most part of the best sort they can procure upon this night to shew that their good works merits shall multiply and increase even as the fishes in the sea Fruits of all kinds are no novelty unto them as Almonds Cucumbers Grapes Gourds Leeks Lupines sweet yet grosse pulse and such like The Leeks represent their enemies because they shall be rooted out of the earth and perish utterly for the Leek in the Chaldee tongue is called Crate which is derived from a Verb signifying to Cut and hereupon when they have eaten their Leeks they say Let all our enemies all them that hate us be uttterly cut off When they eat the sweet Pulse which they call Silka they say Let our enemies perish from among the midst of us When they eat the Almonds which they call Timarim they say Let our enemies be consumed and blotted out When they eat the Gourds called Kara they say Let every evil thing which is definitely determined against us be abolished and come to nothing and let our good works and deservings be read and published before the God of heaven The morning come they repair to the Synagogue more early then at other times singing many Psalms and saying many Prayers They take the book of the Law twice out of the Ark reading some sections out of it as in imitation of Ezra who did the like Nehemiah 8. but God knows in a far different manner After their Haphtarah or Lecture out of the Prophets is ended one goes up into the Pulpit and sounding the Rams horns at several times distinctly bellows out thereupon thirty words some with an equal others with an interrupted tone If the trumpet give a shrill and pleasant sound they take as a certain signe that a good and a happy year will then befal them but if on the contrary the sound be dull and hollow or perhaps none at all it
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
to return to the place where he gave up the ghost and dolefully to lament over his dear consort the body So soon as the man is dead they cast all the water in the house out of doors that they who pass by may be warned of the decease of some person there Others have recorded that they do this thing in memory of the Prophetess Miriam of whom it is written All the Congregation of Israel came into the wilderness of Sin in the first moneth and the people remainâ—d in Cades where Miriam died and was buried there And when there was no water for the Congregation they gathered themselves together against Moses and Aaron The Talmudists say that the occasion hereof is this the Angel of death who hath deprived the man of life washing his knife or sword in the water poisons it for they write that Satan or the messenger of death standing at the beds-head with a drawen sword in his hand upon which sword hang three drops of gall which as soon as the sick man beholds being terrified at the sight he opens his mouth whereupon these three drops fall into it By reason of the first he gives up the ghost the second makes him become yellow and pale the last causeth him to putrifie So soon as the sick man dieth the Angel runs to the waters washeth his sword in them by which means they being infected with poison are to be powred out Again this is one of the best grounds of the Jewish faith Antonius Margarita in his tract of Tabernacles or Booths writes that the Jews in ancient times were accustomed to pray unto God that he would not suffer the Angel of death any longer to appear in such a fearful shape at their bedsheads and that also they had their request granted and that they their ancestors put out his left eye conjuring and binding him by the holy names of God It is also recorded in the Talmud that great honour ought to be given unto them who have departed this life because they in the other world have perfect knowledge of all occurrences in this They write also that the soule doth not presently upon the dissolution return into heaven from whence it came but that for twelve moneths space it becomes a vagabond through the earth returns into the Sepulchre suffers many torments in purgatory and then twelve moneths fully expired it ascends up into heaven there taking its rest The question being proposed in the book called Schebhet Jehudah in a certain disputation betwixt a Jew and a Christian How it came to pass that the dead should know all things that are done here upon earth It is answered that the soule doth not gain an entrance into heaven untill the body that was buried be turned into dust and therefore it remaining so long a time upon the earth may without contradiction know the things which are done here below That the soule doth not presently goe into heaven is manifest out of the words of Solomon The dust shall return unto the earth from whence it was and the spirit to God that gave it In this place they say that by the dust is meant our bodie which of necessity returns unto the earth out of which it was taken and by the Spirit our soule which returns to God that gave it now then to conclude the body must first be made dust and ashes and then the Spirit shall return unto the Creator which if it were otherwise certainly Solomon had inverted his words and propounded them thus The Spirit shall return unto God that gave it and the body to the earth Elias the famous Grammarian in his dictionary called Tisbi expounding the word Chabat hath left it in record that it was the opinion of their Rabbines that so soon as any of the Jews do take their farewell of this tâ—r restrial paradise and the chamberlain death hath furnished him with a lodging in the lower parts of the earth that the Angel of death comes and sits upon his sepulchre and that at the same time the soule returns into the body reanimates and erects it Whereupon the Angel takes an iron chain the one part of which is hot the other cold with which he smites the dead corpes two times or more At the first stroke all the members of the body are torn one from another At the second all the bones are dispersed abroad at the third flesh and bones yea the whole carcass is turned into dust and ashes Then come the good Angels and gather the bones together honouring them with a second burial This punishment the Rabbines call Chibbut hakkeber which they do not only write of but also most absurdly believe in their common prayer petitioning that God would preserve them against this punishment and divert it from them as we may see in that petition which they call Benschen being in the number of those which they use upon the day of reconciliation It is written in the book Chasidim that who is much given to almsdeeds is a lover of reproof and honesty who entertains strangers willingly and from his very heart who prayes with an attent minde although he die without the land of Canaan he shall neither tast nor trie the violence of the grave but shall be certainly preserved against the Chibbut hackkeber Hence it is most evident that they who die in the land of Canaan are free from this torture but they who die in a strange land are subject thereunto Hither it is also to be referred that they who die in other lands are wont to wander through secret caves and holes of the earth untill they come to the land of promise otherwise they are not made partakers of the general resurrection which thing we have formerly made mention of in the first Chapter and other places of this book CHAP. XXXVI Touching the Jews Messias who is yet for to come THat a Messias was promised unto the Jews they all with one mouth acknowledge hereupon petitioning in their daily prayers that he would come quickly before the houreglass of their life be run out The only scruple is of the time when and the state in which he shall appear They generally beleeve that this their future Messias shall be a simple man yet nevertheless far exceeding the whole generation of mortals in all kinde of vertues who shall marry a wife and beget children to sit upon the throne of his kingdom after him When therefore the Scripture mentioneth a twofold Messias the one plain poor and meek subject to the stroke of death the other illustrious powerful highly advanced and exalted the Jews forge unto themselves two of the same sort one which they call by the name of Messias the son of Joseph that poor and simple one yet an experienced and valiant leader for the warrs Another whom they entitle Messias the son of David that true Messias who is to be king of Israel and to rule over them in