FROM Generals we come to Particulars. The Laws and Religion of the Jews have always had the first place among their Antiquities: They had Laws, a particular Worship and Religion, as soon as they began to make a separate Body from other Nations, and became the People of God, the holy and chosen Nation, under the wise Conduct of Moses. It is reasonable therefore that we should begin with the Works which relate to this Subject.
Upon the Precepts delivered to the Noachidæ, or Sons of Noah, after the Flood, see Joan. Selden. de Jure Nat. & Gentium secundum Disciplinam Hebræorum. Lond. fol. 1640. This Treatise was reprinted in Germany.
Melchior Leidecker, de vario Reipublicæ Hebræorum Statu. We shall speak more largely of it in the Article of the Hebrew Commonwealth.
Joan. Frischmuth, de Præceptis Noachidarum, Dissert 2. in Thes. Theol. Philo, p. 154, t. 1.
Joan. Franc. Buddæi Introductio ad Hist. Philosophiæ Hebr. This is but an Introduction to the History of the Hebrew Philosophy published by Buddeus: It was printed at Hall in Saxony, 1702. in 8vo. He has composed many other Works, of which we shall have Opportunity to say something.
Joan. Albert. Fabricii Apocryph. vet. Test. p. 269, 270. & Bibliographia Antiquaria, c. 15. p. 2. In the latter he distinguishes the Laws prescribed by Moses in three sorts, Moral, Civil, and Ceremonial. He takes notice of all those who have written upon these Laws.
Upon the Ceremonial Laws of the Jews, see John Spencer, de Legibus ritualibus Hebræorum. Cantabrig. 1685. fol. two Vols. and one Volume in 4to. at the Hague in 1684. This is a Treatise made particularly on the Laws of the Hebrews, divided into three Books. There is a great deal of Learning in it, and it would require a long Examination.
Joan. Marsham, Can. Chronic. Ægypt. Sæculo. 9. art. Lex Mosaica. We shall speak more particularly of this Work in another Place.
Herman. Witsius, Ægyptiaca, &c. Amstelod. 1683. in 4to. In this Work, which consists of three Books, he makes a Parallel between the sacred Ceremonies of the Egyptians, and those of the Hebrews. Besides the Edition above-mentioned, there is one later, of 1696. We shall say something of the Author elsewhere.
Josue Arndius, Manuale Legum Mosaicarum, printed at Gustrow, in 1666. We have taken notice of his great Work in in the preceding Article.
Claud. Frassen Minoritæ, Disquisitiones Biblicæ, t. 1. c. 5. We have already spoken of him above ; where likewise we have mentioned what F. Alexander has written on the same Subject, in his Ecclesiastical History. See the Article of Dissertations.
Our Prefaces to the Books of Exodus and Deuteronomy, where we give a Summary of the Laws of Moses.
Jo. Abb. Francii, Bibliogn. Antiquaria, c. 15. n. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Constantini Imperator. de Legib. Hebr. Forensibus. Leid. 1637, in 4to.
Jo. Henrici Hottinger, Jus Hebræarum. Tiguri. 1658. This Piece contains 161 of Moses’s Laws. The second Edition, in 4to. This Author has written a great deal upon the Scripture.
Maimonides, de Studio Legis, ex versione Rabb. Flavereng. This contains the Ceremonies and Laws of the Hebrews, extracted from the Talmud, and was printed last at Amsterdam, 1701, two Vols. in four Books, or Chapters, with the Comments of Joseph Athia, the Jew, who had the care of this Edition. Lewis de Veil translated some Books of it into Latin, one whereof relates to Ceremonies, and was printed at Paris, 1667. in 12mo. The other is upon the Worship of God, ibid. 1671. in 4to. He has added learned Re- marks to it. We shall have occasion to speak often of Maimonides and De Veil.
Fr. Tissard, de Hebræorum Ritibus. What this Author, who was Professor at Paris, has written on this Subject, is in his Hebrew Grammar, printed at Paris, 1508, in 4to.
Georg. Gaspar, Kirchmaier de Rebus Ritibusque Judæorum.
Guillelmi Zeppeiri, Legum Mosaicarum forensium Explicatio; printed at Herborn, 1614; the second Edition. In it he enquires, whether the Civil Laws of Moses are still obliging, and when they were abolished. He was a German Calvinist, and Minister at Herborn.
Another Writer of the same Name, but surnamed Philip, of the same Nation and Religion, put out the Civil Laws of Moses compared with the Roman, printed at Hall, in Saxony, 1632, in 8vo.
Leo of Modena’s Ceremonies and Customs of the Jews, with the Supplement of Richard Simon, printed at Paris, 1681, in 8vo. M. Simon was the Person who translated them into French. They have been since printed in a large Collection of the Ceremonies and Religious Customs of all the People in the World, printed at Amsterdam, in three Volumes in fol. Those we are mentioning, are in the Beginning of the first Tome, with a fine Preface by the Editor, p. 1. Part I. and that of F. Simon, p. 39.
Leo of Modena’s Work was printed in Hebrew at Mantua, 1612. in fol. Afterwards he enlarged it; and from this Edition M. Simon made his French Translation. He wrote likewise an Historical Discourse of the Jewish Passover in Italian, and printed it in Hebrew Letters at Venice, 1609, in fol. He was of Modena, a Jewish Physician, and flourished in the Beginning of the seventeenth Century.
Joan. Buxtorfii, P. Synagoga Judaica, in 8vo. This Piece, by Buxtorf the Father, was printed in German, which was his Mother-tongue, at Basil, 1603, in 8vo. translated into Latin, and printed at Hanover, 1604, in 8vo. 1680, the fourth Latin Edition of those printed at Basil. It was corrected and enlarged by his Son and Grandson, in Flemish, at Amsterdam, 1650, in 8vo. In this he treats of the Religion, Birth, Life, Manners, and Burial of the Jews. He was of Westphalia, a Calvinist, and died in 1629.
Herman. Goremberg. Synagoga Judaica.
Gerardi Welivichii, Itinera Deserti, seu de Disciplinis Judaicis, &c. This was printed at Venice, 1539. in 4to.
Guillelmi Surenhusii, Theologia Hebræorum, in 4to. Amstelod. The Title of it is, [Greek: Βίβλος καταλλαγῆς], printed in 1712. His most considerable Work is his Translation of the Mishnah, published with this Title, Misna cum Versione Surenhusii, & Notis Maimonid. & Bartenoræ, &c. Amstelodami, 1696, in fol. six Vols. This Version is divided into six Parts; which were published one after another. The first came out in 1698, and the last in 1703. See what F. Souciet says of it, in his three Letters, or twelfth Dissertation, whereof we have taken notice in the First Part. Surenhusius was a German Lutheran, and Professor of the Oriental Languages at Amsterdam. It is possible he may be still living.