may see and witnesse that she washeth her self according as she ought It is dangerous in their account to send for a Christian woman for in such an one they dare not put confidence Though it be winter time yet ought these washings to be performed in cold water yea though it be hard frost yet if in any place they can claim custome it may be lawfull for them to intermingle cold water and hot or if there be any hot baths as there is in many Countries into these the women may lawfully enter and wash themselves Who desires to know any more concerning this matter let him peruse a certain little book written in the Germane tongue and Hebrew Character called Franwen Buchlein or the book of women which because it contains a brief description of their conditions his palate may there find wished content and a plenary satisfaction In the next place we are opportunely invited to look into the manner how the first born is redeemed out of the hand of the Priest That son which the mother in time past brought forth according to Moses Law was holy unto the Lord and ought to be redeemed from the hand of the Priest as it is written Whatsoever openeth the Matrix is mine all the first born of thy sons thou shalt redeem and in imitation of their ancestors the Jews do redeem their first born the manner of the redemption followeth The one and thirtieth day following the Nativity of the child his father sends for the Cohen or Priest as also many other good friends to accompany him before whom he sets the Infant upon a Table and layes down beside him a certain sum of mony or so much goods as can equalise it in value which is the quantity of two Florens of Gold then he saith unto the Priest my wife hath brought forth her first begotten son and the Law requires that I should present him unto thee then the Cohen or Priest answering saith Dost thou give this thy son and leave him unto me To whom the Father shall reply yes upon this the Priest asks his Mother whether she ever had a child before that time or if at any time she proved abortive if the mother say no then the Priest questions the Father which of the two be dearer unto him his first born or his mony then the Father answers that he esteems his first-born babe above all riches in the world then the Priest taking the money and laying it upon the Infants head saith this is thy first begotten son whom the Lord would have redeemed as it is written And those that are to be redeemed from a moneth old thou shalt redeem according to thy estimation for the money of five shekels after the shekel of the Sanctuary which is twenty gerahs Then turning himself unto the child he saith when thou wast in the womb of thy mother thou wast then in the power of thy heavenly Father and they earthly Parents but now thou art in my hand and power who am the Priest thy father and mother desire to redeem thee because thou art the first begotten and holy unto the Lord as it is written Sanctifie unto me all the first-born among the children of Israel that first openeth the womb as well of man as of beast for it is mine Now this mony shall serve in thy stead and be thy redemption seeing thou art the first-born and this shall be given unto the Priest If I have redeemed thee as I ought then shalt thou ' be redeemed if I have failed in the peâ—formance of my office notwithstanding thou being redeemed according to the Law and after the manner of the Jews shalt grow up in the fear of God to Matrimony and the practise of good works Amen If the father chance to die before the one and thirtieth day after the childs Nativity be fully come then the mother is not bound to redeem her child and therefore she puts a scroll or plaâ—e of gold about his neck in which it is written This is the first-born son but not redeemed the son himself being bound to redeem himself out of the hands of the Priest when he shall come to full age Before I conclude this Chapter I will relate a certain History which is recorded in the Gemurah or Talmud concerning a certain stranger or proselyte who by a miraculous kind of Circumcision obtained an inheritance in the other World and departed this a good Jew A certain King of Rome as we read in tract de idolatria c. 1. was sometimes an heavy friend unto the Jews and desiring utterly to put out their name from under heaven and to banish them his Kingdome he calls his counsell and thus bespeaks them suppose a man â—aith he hath an old ulcer in his body in which the â—lesh doth putriâ—ie whether will he chuse to cut away the rotten flesh to regain his health or suffer it to remain there still to his perpetuall grief and torment These thingâ— spoke the King against the jews who had for long time sojouâ—ned in his Kingdome and grievously molested his Subjects One of the Councel by name Ketijah hearing the Kings words and perceiving whether they tended made answer Adoni which is to say my Lord thou art not able to destroy or banish the Jews for of them it is written Ho ho come forth and flie from the Land of the North saith the Lord for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven saith the Lord that is the world may even as possibly subsist and be without winds as without the Jews wherefore thou canst not banish the Jews out of thy Realm and if thou couldest prevail so much as to bring it to passe the common voice of the whole world would proclaim thee being brought to extreme poverty for a tyrannicall King Upon these words the King answered thou hast said that which is right and now seeing it is enacted that whosoever overcomes the King in his answer shall be buried quick in a heap of sand that there he may be choakeda and perish thou who hast put me to a non plus which is a scandall to my person and set at naught and vilified my Kingdome shall taste of the appointed punishment When he was carried away to the place of execution there was a certain Matron seen in Rome of an excellent portraiture crying out Wo unto that ship which is about to strike sail the Custome unpayed by which words the Matron intimated thus much that Ketijah who was ready to suffer death in the Jews cause and so consequently to obtain eternall life in another world had not as yet payed his toll money that is was not made a Jew by Circumcision Upon the instant of this vociferation some say that he snatched a knife and cut off his own foreskin others that he burning with too ardent zeal catched hold of his foreskin bit it off with his teeth and then with
his wayes Of what naâ—ure are his ways God with a plentifull hand gives unto all his creatures their meat in due season Therefore the mother no way permitting tha her children should suffer for want of food but nourishing them unto fatiety walks in the ways of the Lord whereby it comes to pass tha she may trace the path leading to life everlasting And for this cause God gave unto her not one but two paps that the sucking child might at all times have milk enough The wise Scribes among the Jewes in their Gemara propose this question why David the King when he praised God did not forget to make mention of babes and sucklings Rabbi Abba saith that these ought also to sing praise because God hath placed the womans paps above the heart that the Infant by sucking may attain to a ripe understanding as it were sucking the milk out of the heart of his Mother from which fountain flows the excellency of his intellect Rabbi ehuda that the paps of women were placed in that part of the body that the child might not see his Mothers privity Rabbi Mattana affirms them there to be seated as in a most pure place God then having such a tender eye and care over little Infants how much more exceeding ought that of the Mother to be in the nourishing of them ye which is more God many times makes a Metamorphosis in nature before that the little ones shall perish for want of food It is recorded in the Gemara that upon a time the Wife of a certain poor man departed this life and left behind her a little sucking Infant the good man being so poor that his means would not stretch to the hiring of a Nurse God so changed his natural constitution that his paps became full of milk whence the Infants life was preserved many honest mâ—â—seeing it anâ— bearing witness to the truth thereof We read a story of the same stamp in Medrasch or a certain little book of Sermons that when Pharaoh King of Egypt had commanded that all the male children of Israel should be cast into the River the Hebrew women ran into the open fields and there brought forth their yong ones if they were males the earh like an indulgent mother received them into her bosome which done God created for the use of every one of them two stones out of the one of which they might suck milk out of the other honey and thus they were preserved under the earth untill they came to ripeness of years and were grown manlike at what time every one returned unto his mother In the same place it is read that good Mordecai suckt the teats of Esther which was the cause that she being Queen heaped so many good turns upon him that from a poor man he rose to a great Potentate What Mother then can indure that her child should be deprived of dayly food The Moralists wanting of modesty and every other particular vertue say that the case stands with the good Wife of the house as it doth with a Viceroy set over some certain Kingdom and Inhabitants thereof He so proving faithfull to his Soveraigd and using the Subjects well makes the Kingdome to grow better and the revenues to increase purchaseth unto himselfe a plentifull reward that at laft by the accumulation of honours he is heaved up to some honorable title and is capped for a great Lord. But if the contrary be by him put in execution he is not onely cashier'd of his reward but the clouds of imperiall discontent cast a horrid lour upon his house and the Gallow tree must be his lives last period So the good wife of the house like a Viceroy is placed over her children if she have an incessant care that they be provided with meat and drink sufficient then shall the Infants hearts be inlarged for the entertainment of a polite behaviour and the practise of good works she also shall have a reward both in this life and that which is to come having a place allotted her together with the just in that Garden of pleasures Paradise But if she feed her children with grosse meats such as may make a chained inclosure of their hearts then God shall cut her off and cast her headlong into the infernal pit The Mother must not too often bear that part of her breast which is next unto her heart lest hereby the milk becomming immoderately cold should afterwards be the occasion of some maladies to the sucking Infant and hinder his growth Moreover she must have a special care that she fast not two long in a morning but early take some warm broath which turned into good nourishment may also become the childs sustenance she must not suffer her children to go naked at any time not upon the day lest the Sun nor upon the night lest the Moon should hurt them as it is written The sun shall not hurt thee by day nor the Moon by night She must not suffer any to carry them to bed naked or that they themselves should approach their couch being thus unvailed Moreover it is not lawful for them to rise out of their bed naked but a most diligent care is had that their shirts be put on and off at their lying down and rising up that they may early be accustomed to a reverent bashfulness in the eyes of the Almighty and speedily be rapt into this contemplation that the whole earth is full of the Majesty of Gods glory and that in his sight the darkness is like the light it selfe for the same reason they are always to go with their heads covered because the Divine Majesty doth alwayes hover over them their wise men bearing witness If any chance to go without his honnet he practiseth nothing less then the advancing of his fore front against the Majesty of the Omnipotent and from thenceforth becomes impudent forgetfull of God and his Commandements Conducible to this purpose we read a story in Gemara That upon a time the Elders and Senators of Jerusalem sitting in the gate two yong youths past by them the one with his head covered the other with his bonnet vailed which Rabbi Eliezer observing said The boy that goes bare head is a bastard and Rabbi Jehosuahes verdict was he was the son of a polluted woman Rabbi Akibhah affirmed both to be true Hereupon Rabbi Akibhah asked his mother how she came to have such a son she answered when I first entred into the bond of matrimony with my Husband I was unclean and for this cause my husband did seperate himself from me that according to the Law of Moses he might not keep company with me all the dayes of mine uncleannesse in the mean time one of his companions came in unto me and got me with child by the which act of copulation I had this my Son Whence it appears to be a sign of an untowardly disposition in any child to walk bare headed From the seventh
by them blessed and consecrated At length thanks being given the cups are filled the fourth time and the good man of the house taking his cup into his hands saith poure out thy wrath upon the Gentiles and upon the Kingdomes that have not knowne thy name poure out thine indignation upon them and let thy wrathfull displeasure take hold on them In the mean time one running to the doore unlocks it and sets it open thereby willing to shew their great security In this saying they curse all people which are not of Israel more especially the Christians hoping that Elias will come that very night and declare unto them the comming of their Saviour and deliverer the Messias as they also brag and boast in that prayer called Azrob nissim their reason is because all those famous deliverances so full of wonder which God wrought for the Patriarches Prophets and people of Israel hapned as upon this night They pray therefore that God would come againe and deliver them out of this their calamity and punish the Christians in the same manner that he did the Egyptians Hence it comes to pâ—sse that so soone as the gates are opened and the execeration is pronounced one of the houshold invested with a white linnen garment runs into the nurâ—ery that the infants may thinke that Elias is come indeed and is about to take vengean e on the Christians For a conclusion of all the Master of the family saies certaine table-prayers at the period of the supper which he closeth up in this manner Almighty God build againe thy Temple and that shortly very quickly in these our daies very quickly now build againe and that shortly thy holy Temple Omercifull God O great God O bountifull God O thou God that art highly exalted O beautifull God O sweet God O vertuous God O God of the Jewes now build up thy Temple very quickly and with great expedition in these our dayes very quickly very quickly now build up now build up now build up now build now build up thy Temple quickly O strong and powerfull God living God mighty God O God worthy of all honour O God of meeknesse O eternall God a God that art to be feared O God of comelinesse God of majesty God of infinite riches God of surpassing beauty O faithfull God now build up thy Temple shortly very quickly very quickly in these our daies shortly very quickly now build up now build up now build up now build up now build up thy Temple speedily The Orizons ended they betake themselves to rest and sleep in great security for they perswade themselves that this night neither man nor devil can approach to doe them any hurt This night is called in the second book of Moses and the 12 Chapter Lel Schemarim the night of observation or preservation Hereup on their minds being fraughted with such a conceit they abandon feare leave open their gates and doors all the night over to give an entrance to Elias the Prophet who as they assure themselves will come and deliver them out of this their misery Thus the poor blirdfolded Jewes trouble and vex themselves with this their vaine pompe and pompous vanity for two nights together instead of that paschall lambe which they ought to have eaten using no other ceremonies then Moses in the institution thereof hath described It being the position of their Rabbines that it was not required at their hands after the destruction of their City and Temple to Kill and eat the paschall lambe according to the ceremonial prescription of Meses and that they are not tyed to observe these or any others by him enjoined unlesse they were in the promised land of Canaan which land alone is to be accounted pure and holy all others defiled and profane Now from these premises every one may infer thus much that seeing the Jewes have not srom that time wherein the true paschall lambe Christ Jesus was offered eaten the posseover in any place according to the right prescription and also seeing the Jewes at this day so journing in Jerusalem and the land of Canaan do not eat the paschall lamb in the manner that they ought neither doe they offer any sacrifice it must necessarily follow that there is some other cause why their sacrifices are ceased and all other their Mosaicall Rites and Ceremonies are abrogated which certainly they might have found out in the space of 1631 yeares had they not been smitten with blindnesse from above So that now we may say with the Prophet David This their may uttereth foolishnesse yet their posterity delight in their talke But my people would not hear my voice and Israel would have none of me so I gave them up to their owne hearts lusts and they have walked in their counsels The Rabbines establish this their opinion out of the words following Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passeover unto the Lord thy God of the flocke and the herd in the place which the Lord shall choose to place his name there Now seeing God enjoins them according to their ordinary glosse that they should not celebrate this Feast in any other place but in the promised land they doe inferre that now being dispersed among the Nations they are not lyable to the observation of the same But the true sence of the words is this That when God had put a period to Israels captivity and brought them into the land of promise the land of Canaan and having given unto them a setled kind of regiment a City and a Temple in which it pleased him to place his name then they should repaire to Jerusalem to eate the pasâ—hall lambe for the better preservation of the unity of faith among them as to the Metropolis and chiefe City of Israel But when the scepter was in a manner taken â—rom them by reason of inâ—essâ—nt wâ—â—rs and tumults so that they could not come unto Jerusalem then did every family kill and eate the passeover in their owne gates as it is recorded in the second book of Kings And so soon as they were delivered out of these their troubles they celebrated the said Feast againe in the place appointed with great solemnity and rejoicing as good Josial is recorded to have done in the sore-cited place Now that for the space of 1631 yeares they could not kill nor eat the paschall lambeâ— right none must seeke for another cause then that of the departure of the Scepter from Juda the desolation of Jerusalem and their long continued exile For why did not Jerusalem remain unto this day why is not the Temple built againe The sacrifices and ceremonies delivered by Moses why are they not re-established The Jewes cannot see the reason hereof because Moses his vaile is as yet before their eies It was formerly mentioned that the Jewes at the supper of the paschall Lambe use to carouse foure cups of wine two before supper two after which foure consecrated cups every one
and herein with great joy and gladness fulfil the will of thee their God and Creator who art the true worker and whose works are truth Thou hast spoken to the Moon to renew her self by her often change which renewing is as a beautiful Crown and a great ornament unto the head of every one that is in his mothers womb even to all the Israelites as saith the Prophet Esay who ought to renew themselves even as the Moon doth that they may praise and honour their Creator for the name of his Kingdom a name highly to be reverenced Blessed be thou O Creator Blessed be thou O Moon Blessed be he who made thee Blessed be thy Lord blessed be thy Maker At these words they leap three times upwards towards heaven the higher the Caper is the better it is in esteem Then they go on saying Even as we O God leaping towards thee cannot come near unto thee even so all our enemies bending their forces against us cannot approach to hurt us Here again they make a stay saying that of Moses three times Fear and dread shall fall upon them by the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as 〈◊〉 stone till thy people passe over O Lord till thy people passe over which thou hast purchased hereby praying against us Christians For a conclusion of this prayer one par saith peace be unto you and the other answer Peace be unto you peace be unto you and to the Israel of God This benediction or blessing they for the most part bestow upon the new Moon upon the Sabbath thereof which Sabbath they sanctifie with a due solemnity putting on their new apparel in honour to the new Moon which they blesse and give it a court-like welcome with great joy and rejoycing I cannot but here insert a certain Dialogue set down in the Talmud between God and the Moon which Rabbi Simâ—on the son of Pazzai thus relates It is written God made two great lights the greater to rule the day the lesse to rule the night Then said the Moon unto God O Lord of the whole world tell me I pray thee Can two Kings reign together and wear one and the same Crown To whom God made answer and said Go hence and lessen thy self She replies O my Creator shall I therefore be lessened because I have spoken before thee that which is true and right Then said God Go and bear rule and dominion both by day and night But quoth the Moon What great honour shall I reap from hence or what dignity shall accrew thereby A burning Candle at noontide what doth it profit Then the Lord bids her be gone saying that the people of Israel should number their dayes times and seasons according to her course and motion which she denies as impossible for to this end they ought to have an exact knowledge of the two Tekuphoth or Tropicks as also of the two Solstices as it is written They shall be for signes and times and dayes and years Then God makes her this answer Go thy way for many great and learned men shall take unto them this thy title as James the less Samuel the less David the less But all this cannot appease her which when he perceived he said offer a propitiatory sacrifice for me because that I have lessened the Moon And hereupon Rabbi Simeon the son of Sakis saith How much doth that Goat differ from others which is offered in the time of the new Moon of which the Lord said this shall be a propitiatory sacrifice for me who have offended in lessening the Moon So far the Talmudist The Rabbines diversly dispute what is the true sence and meaning hereof They who are of ancient dayes are of opinion that at the beginning the Sun and Moon were equal in light which they prove out of the words of Moses saying God made two great lights But so soon as the Moon murmured against God and would sit as Queen and suffer none to share in dominion with her but be sole Monarch in the celestial Orbs God debased her for her pride takes away her own light and caâ—sed her to borrow of the Sun and hence are say they those immediately following words of Moses The greater light for the government of the day and the lesser light for the government of the night whereas he formerly made no such difference but simply caâ—ling them two great lights And furthermore that God hearing the Moon complain of this her hard usage and mis-hap repented of that he had done and caused a propitiatory sacrifice to be offered for this his offence at every new Moon This opinion the modern Rabbines reject as a blasphemy against God considering that he is just and cannot commit iniquity neither is any wickedness found with him Wherefore they have very much tortured and rackt their inventions to finde out the true sence of these words diversly interpreting the word Alai written with Gnayn as Rabbi Bechai testifieth CHAP. XVIII Of the Feast of the new year how the Jews prepare themselves to the celebration thereof and how God at the time of this Celebration judges the Israelites for their sins and offences IT is written in the tract Medrasch Socher Tobh that at the same time when the Sanhedrin or that great Councel of the Jews is gathered together to set down and determine a certain day for the Celebration of the feast of the new year which begins the first day of the moneth Tesri or September and hath also agreed thereupon then God calls a Senate of Angels whom he sends into the earth to enquire see and know whether the time of the Celebration of this feast be determinately appointed which they presently put in execution and returning unto God declare unto him the day whereon the feast will be kept which when God by their relation understands he also decrees to fit in judgment and to judge the world upon the very same day as it is written God is gone up with a merry noise the Lord is gone up with the sound of a trumpet Then the two judgement seats are set the cushions laid the books opened and that great Senate of Angels sits down before him As it is written And I beheld till the thrones were set up and the Ancient of daies did sit whose garment was white as snow and the haire of his head like the pure wooll his throne was like the fiery flâ—me and his wheels as burning fire Thousand thousands ministred unto him and ten thousand thousand thousands stood before him the judgment seat was set and the book opened In the Talmud we have an excellent story to this purpose Rabbi Iochamen saith that at new-years-tide three books are opened one for them who are extreamly wicked and ungodly as Atheists and lnfidels another for them who are just in a most perfect manner the third and last for them who are betwixt both in an indifferent manner godly
their own land About whose coming they are among themselves altogether disagreeing Those ancient Jews who lived before Christs incarnation did not much miss the marke when Elias said that the world should continue six thousand years whereof two thousand were to be void and without force that is without the law of God the other two thousand under the law and the last under the Messias Their hope was therefore this that foure thousand years after the worlds creation fully expired their Messias should come in the flesh in which their errour was small or none at all for according to the vulgar account of us Christians Christ the true Messias was borne in the 3963. year of the world but according to the Jews computation in the year 3761 we and they differing 202 years And now because Christ came not unto them in great power a king of glorious state such as were David and Solomon to deliver them from the tyranny of that usurping Herod and Roman cruelty neither with a rod of iron to break in pieces and destroy their enemies but only began his kingdom over them with the spiritual scepter of his doctrine even for this very cause they would not receive him for the true Messias though some few did acknowledge and embrace him and at that time the most ancient and approved men amongst them did expect his coming thus we finde a Simeon waiting for the consolation of Israel and Anna that old Prophetess speaking of him to all that hoped for deliverance in Jerusalem The very same that the Apostle Paul witnesseth in his Epistle to the Romans that though the Jews were most ingrateful yet is there a remnant of them according to the election of grace Yea when all kingly power sacerdotal honour and dignity was taken from them the city Jerusalem made a ruinous heap and their beauty the temple turned into ashes every one now begins to suspect the time of the coming of the Messias to be past Hence it was that in the 52. years ufter the destruction of the Temple a certain proud and haughty Jew boasting that he was the true Messias feared not to affirme himself the same of whom Balaam prophesied in these words I shall see him but not now I shall behold him but not nigh there shall come a star out of Jacob and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel and he shall smite the corners of Moab and destroy all the children of Sheth And Edom shall be a possession Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies and Israel shall do valiantly Others understood this prophesie of the then newly begun kingdom of the Christians But the Jews even at this day determine their Messias as yet to come and to fulfil those things which Balaam foretold according to their substance That the said Jew should proclaim himself the Messias was most grateful unto them who presently in their own conceits can nourish hopes that they should become the conquerours of the Romans who a little before had destroyed their City and Temple This Seducer following the letter of the prophesie names himself Ben Chocab which is by interpretation the son of a Star His chief follower who at the very first clave unto him was Rabbi Akibha a man of great learning who had under his tuition twenty four thousand Scholars proclaiming him to be Malka Meschiccha Christ the King By this means much people went after him insomuch that he chused unto himself the City Bittera for the seat of his kingdom But when that Adrian the Roman Emperour had after a siege of three years and an half taken and killed this their Messias and together with this beautiful Star had miserably slaughtered more then four hundred thousand Jews then the remnant of so great a massacre perceiving themselves led astray by this their Star turn Anabaptists and call him from that day to this Barcozabh that is the son of a lye a lying and bastardly Messias Yet neverthelesse many since have lived who would be reputed for the Messias as you may read in a book called Schebhet Jehudah * The issue of all is this that the Jews convicted in their own consciences will they nill they are forced to confesse that the time in which the Messias was to come is already past When therefore they had despised and rejected Christ the true Messias and no other appeared they falsified the above mentioned tradition of Elias which was that the Messias should come about the four thousandth year of the world by annexing unto it this Comment that the time was prolonged for their offences But when at length no reason could be pretended of this long delay neither could they desine the time of his coming their onely evasion is to smite with this curse the head of him that should determine a certain season for his coming Tippach ruchan atzman schel mechasschebhe Kitzin * Which is Let their soul and body burst with a swâ—lling Rupture who peremptorily set down the time that time I say in which the Messias is expresly for to come Yet this not at all pondered and nothing set by many of them moved by the prophesies of the men of God concerning the coming of the Messias have in their souls and consciences confessed that the time of his coming was already past and therefore in their writings they acknowledge that he is born indeed but for their sins and impenitent life not as yet revealed And at this instant all the Jews dwelling amongst us are of the same opinion Hereupon Rabbi Solomon Jarchi saith that according to their ancestors the Messias was born in that day in which â—erusalem was last of all destroyed but where he hath so long been hid to be uncertain Some of them think that he lies in Paradise bound to the womans hair grounding upon these words in the Song of Solomon Thy head upon thee is like Carmel and the hair of thy head like purple the King is bound in the Galleries By King understaning the Messias and by Galleries Paradise Rabbi Solomon follows this exposition of these ancient Rabbines The Talmudists write that he lies in Rome under a gate among sick folks and Lepers perswaded by the words of Esay who saith that he is one despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief Others forge other lies and tales Well let all these things fall out according to their own desire yet they still believe he is to come First then before his coming shall happen ten notable miracles by which every one shall be admonished and incited to an accurate preparation for his coming and also be warned to conceive that he shall not come so poor and privately as Christ came These ten miracles I mean here to present in the same words that the Rabbines have commended them to posterity in a little book called Abkas Rochel The first miracle God shall stirr up and produce three
kings who proving traitors to their own faith shall also turn Apostates so living before men as though they served the true God yet in very deed practising nothing less seducing silly souls and after such a manner tormenting their consciences that they may abjure God and their own faith even so that many of the sinners of Israel shall utterly despair of redemption being ready to deny God and forsake his fear Concerning these things Isaiah speaketh c. 59. 14 15. Judgment is turned away backward and justice standeth afar off for truth is fllen in the street and equity cannot enter yea truth faileth What All they why shall love the truth shall flee in troops and flying hide themselves in the caves and holes of the earth and shall be massacred by the great and mighty and tyrannical persecutors At that time shall be no king in Israel as it is written The children of Israel shall abide many dayes without a King and without a Prince and without a sacrifice and without an Image and without an Ephod and without a Teraphin There shall not be any more Rosch Ieschibhah b that is head of the Synagogue no faithful teachers who may feed the people with the word of God no merciful and holy no famous and eminent persons shall remain The heaven shall be shut up and food shall fail these three kings shall enact laws so many so burdensome and so tyrannical pronounce such heavie judgments upon men that but a very few shall be left because they had rather die then living deny their maker Yet these three kings by Gods ordinance and disposition shall only reign three moneths In the time of their reign they shall double the ordinary tribute so that who formerly paied only eight pieces shall then pay eighty he who formerly paied ten shall then be forced to give an hundred He that hath nothing at all to give shall be punished with the loss of his head yea also the longer they shall reign the greater and heavier will the burdens be which they shall impose upon the children of Israel There shall also come certain men from the ends of the earth so black and abominable that if any man look upon them he will die through fear Every one of them shall have two heads and eight eyes shining like a flame of fire They shall run as nimbly and swiftly as an hart Then shall Israel cry out woe unto us woe unto us the frighted little ones cry alass alass dear father what shall we doe then shall the father answer the deliverance of Israel is now at hand and even at the door The second miracle God shall make the sun to exceed in heat that many burning feavers plagues and other diseases shall be scattered abroad upon the earth by reason of which a thousand thousand of the Gentiles and people of the world shall die daily Hereupon the Gentiles at length weeping shall bitterly cry out woe and alass whither shall we turn our selves where shall we hide us Thus with expedition they shall goe and dig their own graves wish for death and oppressed with thirst and grief hide themselves in the Caves and Dens of the Earth But this great heat shall be as physick and a refreshing to them that are just and good in Israel as it is written unto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall by this sun of righteousness understanding that in the heavens Balaam say they also prophesied of this saying alass who shall live when the Lord hath brought it to pass The third miracle God shall make a dew of blood to fall upon the earth which all Christians and people of the earth thinking to be watery and most delightful shall take and drink and drinking die The Reprobate also in Israel who despaired of redemption shall also die by drinking of it but it shall not be hurtful to them who are just among the Iews who in a true faith firmly cleaving unto God do persevere in the same as it is written They that be just shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and they that turne many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever again the whole world for three dayes space shall be full of blood according to that which is written I will give signes in heaven and in earth blood and fire and pillars of smoke The fourth miracle God shall send a wholsome dew upon the earth They shall drink of this who are indifferent honest It shall serve as a salve to them who were made sick by drinking of the former as it is written I will be as dew to Israel he shall grow as the lillie and cast forth his root as Lebanon The fifth miracle God shall turn the sune into so thick a darkenss that it shall not shine for the space of thirty dayes as it is written The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord come At the end of thirty dayes God shall restore its light as it is written They shall be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit and shall be shut up in prison and after many dayes they shall be visited The Christians being sore affraid to see these things they shall be confounded with shame and acknowledg that all these things come to pass for Israels sake yea many of them shall embrace the Jewish religion as it is written They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy The sixth miracle God shall permit the kingdom of Edom to wit that of the Romans to bear rule over the whole world One of whose Emperours shall reign over the whole earth nine moneths who shall bring many great kingdoms to desolation whose anger shall flame towards the people of Israel exacting a great tribute from them and so bringing them into much misery and calamity Then shall Israel after a strange manner be brought low and perish neither shall they have any helper of this time Esay prophesied And he saw that there was no man and wondred that there was no intercessor therefore his arm brought salvation unto him After the expiration of these nine moneths God shall send the Messias son of Joseph who shall come of the stock of Joseph whose name shall be Nehemiah the son of Husiel He shall come with the stem of Ephraim Benjamin and Manasses and with one part of the sons of Gad. As soon as the Israelites shall hear of it they shall gather unto him out of every City and nation as it is written Turn ye back sliding children saith the Lord for I will reign over you I will take you one of a City and two of a tribe and bring you to Sion Then shall Messias the son of Joseph make great war against