Reader, to performe the last office of humanitie to our Iew, and as hee hath seene his
birth, his Synagogue-Rites, and home-superstitions, so to visite him on his death-bed
and helpe lay him in his graue: and examine his hope of the resurrection, and of their
Messias, and we will end our pilgrimage in this Holy Land.
When
a man lieth sicke, the Rabbines visite him; and if he be rich, order is taken
for his will, and then they exhort him to perseuere constantly in their faith. They aske
him if hee beleeue that the Messias is yet to come. Hee maketh his confession on his
bedde, saying; I confesse before thee my GOD and LORD, GOD of my pa∣rents,
LORD of all Creatures, that my health and death is in thy hand, I pray thee
grant mee recouerie of my former health, and heare my prayer, as thou diddest heare
Hezekiah in his sicknesse. And if the time of my death bee come, then grant that
death may bee my remission of all my sinne, which of ignorance or knowledge I haue
committed, euer since I was a man: grant that I may haue my part in Paradise, and
the world to come, which is reserued for the iust: grant that I may know the way of
euerlasting life, fill mee with the ioy of thy excellent countenance by thy right hand for euer.
Blessed be thou O GOD which hearest my prayer.
Thus they which refuse the merits of CHRISTS death, ascribe remission of
sinnes to their owne. When hee
giueth vp the ghost, all the standers by rend
their garments, but in a certaine place of the same, where they doe no great
harme, about a hand-breadth. They lament the dead seuen dayes. They present∣ly
after his death powre out all the water in the house into the streete: they co∣uer
his face that it may no more bee seene: they bowe his thumbe in his hand, fra∣ming
a resemblance of the Hebrew name Schaddai: his other fingers are stretched
out, to testifie a forsaking of the world: they wash him with hot water, and ha∣uing
annointed his head with wine and the yolke of an egge mixed together, they
put on him a white vestment, which hee vsed to weare on the Feast of Recon∣ciliation.
When they carrie him out of the house, they hurle after him a broken sherd,
signifying, that with him all heauinesse should be expelled and broken. When
they are come to the place
of buriall, they say, Blessed be GOD, which hath for∣med
you with Iudgement and Iustice, hath created, fed, sustained, and at last hath de∣prmed
you of life (speaking to the dead.) He knoweth the number of you all, and will
quicken you againe in his time. Blessed be GOD, which doth to die, and maketh a∣liue.
Then with some other Ceremonie they commit the corps to ground, his kins∣men
putting in the first earth. When
they returne, they throw grasse ouer their
heads, signifying their hope of the Resurrection. In the Porch of the Synagogue,
GOD
shall destroy death for euer (say they) and wipe away all teares from their
eyes, and will take away their reproach from all the earth, for the LORD hath spo∣ken
it. Then enter they into the Synagogue, and leape vp and downe, and change
their Seates seuen times, and there say ouer their Purgatorie prayer Kaddisch. The
mourners goe bare-foot seuen dayes, and eat not Flesh, nor drinke Wine, ex∣cept
on the Sabbaths and Festiuals. They bathe not in three and thirtie dayes af∣ter,
cut not their nayles, make a pitifull howling, &c. The first night the mourner
eateth nothing of his owne, but meat sent him from his friends. The child mour∣neth
for his father a yeare. The sonne, eleuen monethes, sayeth ouer his Kad∣disch,
for meane sinners are freed sooner: but the wicked stay the whole twelue
moneths: and therefore to persist the twelfth moneth in his prayer, should bee
to acknowledge his father a wicked man. And for this effect hereof, Rabbi Akib∣ha
met once in the way a man, with an Asse-like burthen of stickes, which vpon
examination confessed, That he was a Purgatorie-ghost carrying, to burne him∣selfe,
such bundles euery day. Rabbi Akibha enquired if he had a sonne or wife,
and where; and finding out his sonne, taught him this prayer, which was so ef∣fectuall,
that in a dreame this Ghost returned to the Rabbi with thankes, for
his deliuerance, and said he was now in Gan Eden, or Paradise. Rabbi Akibha
signified this to the Iewish Synagogues, with iniunction to teach their children
this prayer.