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fignificant mysteries out of every text and subject, they have not failed to apply the firft number to the days of the year, and the second to the number of parts in an human body; and to affirm, that God defigned thereby to inculcate, that not a day of our life ought to pafs without meditating upon this law of GOD, nor any member of our bodies be enjoyed, which is not confecrated and employed in his fervice; according to that faying of Ecclefiaftes, Fear GOD, and keep his commandments; for that is the whole [duty] of man. These, and all fuch-like moralizing reveries, they have drawn from their Cabbala, or oral tradition, of which we have given an account in a late note: however, it must be owned, that their Caraites, a wife and antient fect among them, did always reject it, and applied themselves wholly to the plain meaning of the text; but these are few in comparison of the reft, and mortally hated by them; the reader may be convinced of it by one inftance among a thoufand. The Caraites are all very rich, and as they are often at a loss for a wife among themselves, they would gladly purchase one, at any rate, from their brethren the Talmudifts; but, as well as thefe love money, they never could yet be perfuaded to give one of their daughters to any of them, though ever fo rich, and themselves ever fo indigent (C).

(C) But here it will be neceffary to obferve, that, though this Jewish Cabbala, or oral tradition, is juftly rejected by all the Chriftians, as being filled with the most carnal and ridiculous notions, yet there is another Cabbala, which has been received by fome of the antient fathers, and is to this day ftrenuously defended by many learned moderns. This they call, by way of diftinction, Kabbla, or reception; and it contains that myftical fenfe of the Old Teftament, in which, it is pretended,the writers of the New understood and explained

BUT

it which fenfe, they affirm, has been conveyed to them from Mofes by the prophets, not by an human tradition, but by divine infpiration, as being very different, if not directly contrary to the obvious and literal one. This, they think, is plain from the interpretation which fome of the evangelifts, particularly St. Matthew, as well as St. Paul, give of feveral prophecies quoted by them, particularly thofe which the reader is referred to in the margin (1), in a sense so foreign from the literal, that it cannot, in their opinion, be justified

(1) Mat. ii. 15, 17, 23.. Rom. x. 6, & feq. comp. with Deut. XXX. 12. and Epb. v. 31. with Gen, ii. 24. Hebr. ii. 6. with Pf. viii. 4. al. B 4 without

Laavs against

BUT to return to the written laws: we fhall endeavour to range the main body of them under fuch diftinct heads and claffes as fhall give our readers a clear idea of them; and, to avoid prolixity, we shall take the liberty to abridge fome, and to omit those that are either of small consequence, or whofe defign is not fufficiently understood. For the fame reason we fhall, in as few words as may be, subjoin to every law the ceremonies, customs, and ufages that relate to it, as well on the account of the immediate connexion they have to one another, as because the latter are often explanatory of the former; that fo the reader may, at one view, have a complete fyftem of the Jewish laws, religion, government, manners, and cuftoms, as they all flowed from the fame divine original. As for the laws, they generally run in the ftyle of the five or fix following ones; which we give only as a fpecimen.

Laws against idolatry, and for the pure worship of the only true GOD.

TH

'HOU fhalt have no other gods before or befides me1. Ye fhall not profane, or take in vain (D), but hallow, idolatry. GOD's holy name m.

m Exod. xx. 7. Levit. xvii. 32, & al.

1 Exod. xx. 3.
without having recourfe to this
Christian Kabbla, as they term
it. It is foreign to our pur-
pose to enter into the merits of
this question, which has been
fo lately and fo learnedly de-
bated by the writers for and
against the accomplishment of
literal prophecy. All that
we shall venture to fay farther
is, that, if fuch a myftical and
primary fenfe be admitted, it
must be confined to the writers
of the New Testament; who,
befides their being infpired,
could prove their interpreta-
tions by miracles: for it is
plain, that fome of the primi-
tive fathers have gone fuch

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great lengths in that way, that Origen, learned as he was, has made himself ridiculous by them; and St. Jerom and Auin, though more moderate than he, have, in many cafes, overfhot the mark (1).

(D) That is, as the Jers underftand it rightly enough, by giving it to idols, as Aaron did, when he called the molten calf the gods that brought Ifrael out of Egypt. This is one of thofe fins which they think cannot be expiated but by the death of the finner; and for which Aaron must have undergone that fate, had not Mofes interceded for him.

(1) Vide, inter al. Hieron. in Matt. xxvii. 51. Vide Bafnag. ex Cunao; Rheinferd, op. philolog. & al. Vide Munft, a úp nina á.

YE

YE fhall utterly deftroy all the idols, altars, groves, and all other monuments of Canaanitish idolatry ".

YE fhall not tempt the LORD your God (A), as ye in the wilderness o.

did

YE fhall make no image or reprefentation of GOD, from the likeness of the celeftial, or of the terreftrial, or aquaic bodies P.

YE fhall not bow down nor worship any kind of idol 9. WHOSOEVER enticeth another to commit idolatry, fhall be ftoned as foon as convicted of it".

The spoil of a city doomed to anathema fhall not be faved upon any account, but be publicly burned. The inhabitants of it fhall be put to the fword, and the place fhall be no nore rebuilt, but continue an heap for ever s (B).

THE filver, gold, and other precious ornaments belonging to idols, fhall not be turned to advantage, but be deftroyed with the utmost abhorrence t.

WHOSOEVER facrificeth his feed to Moloch, whether he be an Ifraelite, or a fojourner in the land, thall be ftoned to death " (C).

8.

• Deut. vi. 16.

n Deut. xii. 2, & feq. Deut. iv.paff. & v. Exod. xx. 5. Deut. xiii. 1, & feq. & alib. paff. 'Ibid. vii. 25, 26. u Levit. xx. 2.

(A) This precept they understand of thofe who ferve GoD only in hopes of fome temporal advantage; which they look upon as a jeffer kind of idolatry.

Pofitive

P Exod. xx. 4.

Deut. v. 9, & alib. Ibid. ver. 15, & feq.

the prohibition of turning any of the fpoil to their advantage in so strict a sense, that they thought it even unlawful to fit under the shade of any of their trees. But it is plain, that this great averfion to idolatry, and idolatrous things, did not fhew itfelf, till they had feverely fmarted for their too great propenfity to it under the Babylonish captivity. ' (C) There are feveral more to the fame purpose interspersed, and often repeated, in the four laft books of Mofes; which we need not dwell longer upon. Of the fame nature are alfo thofe which forbid all commerce, intercourfe, contracting of affinity with idolatrous na

(B) What is here commanded concerning the deftroying of all the monuments of idolatry, the Jews understood only of thofe places which became theirs by conqueft, beyond which the command did not extend ; and as to the idolatrous tities, they affirm that they were firft of all to forewarn them; and, if they forfook their idolatry, they were to be pared; but, if they perfifted, they were then to be deftroyed. They likewife understood

Lars concerning the true

Pofitive laws concerning the worship of the only true

T

GOD.

'HAT the LORD, who delivered his law from mount Sinai, is the only GOD in heaven and earth b (H). THAT he alone is to be loved with all one's heart, mind, worship and ftrength; that he only is to be feared above all of Gop. things d, and his name to be fanctified.

:

b Exod. xx. 1. Deut. vi. 4. tions, and all kind of imitation of their ways, left they fhould infenfibly draw them into their idolatries of the fame kind were those which condemned the use of familiar fpirits, inchantments, obferving of times and omens (1), divinations, reforting to wizards and necromancers, and fuch-like, under pain of death (2); as also the rounding of the corners, er temples, of the head, and marring the corners of their beards, cutting their flesh, or making any marks upon it (3), for the fake of the dead; and laftly, the promifcuous ufe of apparel in either sex, in imitation of the Canaanites (4).

(H) This precept in one place (5) begins thus: you

Ib. ver. 5.

THAT

d Ib. ver. 13.

fome important mystery, as the Jews pretend, or whether altered afterwards by accident, or with defign, is not easy to determine: fure it is, they not only urge it as an unanswerable argument against the Chriftian doctrine of the Trinity, but from too literal an interpretation of the verfes following, they wore these words written on parchment about them, as bracelets and frontlets; and placed them at their beds, doors, &c. just as it is there prescribed. Some antient fathers (6) were of opinion, that this had been conftantly practifed from Mofes till after our SAVIOUR's time, and that he wore them himself; though upon what foundation is hard

to guefs. Lightfoot and others ישראל יהוה אלהינו יהוה אחר

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Hear, O Ifrael; the LORD our GOD, the LORD [is] one ;where it is obferved, that the yain in the first, and the daleth in the last word, are. majufcula, or letters of a larger fize than the rest. Whether they were originally written in that manner, as containing

(1) Levit. xix. 26, 31, & alib. xix. 27, & feq. (4) Deut. xxii. 5, Hieron. Eupbym. in Matt. xxiii. (8) Hieron, in Matt, xxiii. vide & 5

believe, that they were used in our SAVIOUR's time (7); and St. Jerom affures us, that they were fo in his; and that those who did not wear them upon their foreheads were esteemed irreligious (8). However that be, it is not to be doubted, but that their fuper

(2) Deut. xviii. 9, & feq. (3) Levit. &c. (5) Deut. vi. 4. (6) Orig. Chryfoft. (7) Lightfoot, Scaliger, Maldon, & al. Theophylact, in loc.

ftition

ftition in this respect has ftill gained ground; this is plain, from the many fcrupulous niceties which they are bound to observe in the making, writing, and cafting of thefe phy. lacteries (1).

This verse, which they call the fbemab, from the first word of it, they are likewife obliged, by an exprefs command in the oral law, to repeat twice a day; that is, in the morning at funrifing, and in the evening juft as it is fet. There is likewife a great deal of fuperftitious trafh prefcribed in the Talmud, about the repeating of the words; the eyes, lips, and fingers, muft be still, that the mind may be wholly intent upon the words; fome letters are to be pronounced fwiftly, and others flowly; no ordure, or dead carcafe, ought to be nearer the place where the perfon repeats it than four cubits at least, and then he is to turn his back to it; but, if the place will not permit fuch a diftance, the ordure is then to be covered up, and the eyes kept from it, and a great deal more to the fame purport (2), which it were needless to dwell longer upon. However, fince they urge this text fo ftrenuously against the Chriftians, we shall beg leave, before we difmifs this note, to examine whether the antient Jews understood it in the fame fenfe as the moderns do fome learned converts from Judaism to Chrifti

anity feem to have proved the contrary from their most antient writings (3); but, as profelytes are always fufpected of being over-zealous, there have not been wanting fome eminent Chriftians, who, after a mature examination of their evidence, have confirmed it, as we think, beyond all poffibility of replying. We shall single only one from among those many, not only as he was very well verfed in this kind of learning, but because, as he was not a priest, but a ftatesman, he may be lefs fufpected of par tiality; we mean the great Philippes de Mornay (4), who, among other antient authors, quotes rabbi Simeon ben Johai, who, in his Zohar, a book, by the Jews, acknowleged to have been written before the Talmud, if not before CHRIST (5), quotes the expofition of rabbi Ibba, of this text, to this purport; that the first Jehovah,

which is the incommunicable name of God, is the Father ;by

Elohim is meant theSon, who is the fountain of all know, lege; and by the second is meant the Holy Ghost, proceeding from them, and he is called Achad, one, becaufe GOD is one. Ibba adds, that this mystery was not to be revealed till the coming of the MESSIAH. The author of the Zohar goes on, and applieth the word boly, which is thrice repeated in the vifion of Isaiah (6) to the three Perfons in the

(1) Vide Leon. de Moden. cæremon. Jud. part. i. c. 12. (2) Vide Wotton's verf. of the Mifonab, fub voc. Shemab. (3) Vide, inter al. Raymond, Martin. pugio fidei, pall (3) Avertiffement aux Juifs, c. 3. Vide, fi lubet, Meyer theolog. de myfler. Trinit. Haveman, Fooden Vegh Wyzer, & al. (5) Vide Buxt, fen. Tiberiad, in voc. 1 Zebar. Bartoles, & Wolf. biblieth, rabbin. (6) Cb. vi. 3.

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