time vines should offer themselves as most obvious to fasten him unto and those so great Adjectives in other Countreys but Substantives here that he might safely tye his beast to them which with us are tyed to other trees for their support Nor were their grapes less good then great as a Poet the most competent Judg of the matter in hand doth bear witness Vina mihi non sunt Gazetica Chia Falerna Quaeque Sareptano palmite missa bibas I have no Gaza Chios Falern wine Nor any flowing from Sarepta's vine Thus making a quadripartite division of good wine two members thereof that of Gaza and Sarepta the one falls in the tribe of Simeon the other of Asher both in the countrey of Palestine § 8. Flax. Hereof great plenty And pity it was so good a commodity should be prostituted to idolatry which caused God to threaten that he would rescue and recover his flax againe The Jewish women were excellent houswives and hereof made great profit venting it into forein parts § 9. Wood of all sorts so that Palestine was a continued grove of trees covered over with streight Cedars strong Oakes shady Palmes sweet Firres c. If the body of Hercules may be guessed from his foot take the Mustard the little Toe of trees into consideration and thence collect the vast proportion of great woods Some perchance may count it a Rabbinicall vaunt what one writes A certain man of Sichem had bequeathed by his Father three boughs of Mustard one of which was broken off from the rest and it yeelded nine Kabs of seed and the wood thereof was sufficient to cover over the Potters house One may also suspect an Hyperbole in what another saith I had a stemme of mustard in my garden into which I could climbe as into a Figtree However our Saviours words of the extraordinary growth of this plant must needs be true and by the same proportion surely the Iews had not more sawce then meat other trees must be allowed to be of unusuall greatness § 10. Here I omit to speak of the Dates Almonds Nuts at this day called Pistachioes and most cordiall in Physick Figs Pomegranates and other severall fruits whose particular description I passe by on purpose lest our book should light on some hungry man or longing woman to read whose appetites I may unhappily raise but cannot satisfie again And to leave a good sent behind at the close of the chapter we must not forget the great store of Frankincense Myrrh and other Spices which were plentifully afforded in Palestine CHAP. 5. Of the store of beasts for food service and pleasure in Palestine § 1. WE step now a stair higher from vegetable to sensible creatures wherein this countrey was no lesse happy such was the variety it afforded therein Which will appear first if we furnish forth a feast of the flesh fish and fowl in Palestine these particulars being premised First that no exception be taken at our false ranking of dishes The Apostles said it was not their office to serve tables and such mistakes are none at all in Divines Secondly we name onely solid and substantiall meat whereon a cunning Cook besides sawces and sallets may with compounded and forced dishes descant to indefinitenesse Lastly know the Law forbad the Iews the feeding on severall meats so that their life was a Lent to abstain from such food to which Christianity allows us a licence Hogges-flesh Conies Hares Swans Herons Lapwings all fishes in armour fenced with shels recounted amongst the dainties of our diet were prohibited unto them Which very prohibition speakes their plenty in that country otherwise the law had been needless to forbid such things which the land did not afford § 2. Fetching Salt Bread and Wine from the former chapter all of the Quorum to every feast first Veale is brought in food for Angels when Sarah dressed it Beef of the bulls of Basan or if that be too course of the stalled Oxen Lamb Mutton and Kid savoury meat if Rebecca have the cooking thereof Venison both red and fallow for so we find in Solomons bill of fare Harts Bucks and Bugles § 3. Fowl of all sorts follow Hennes and Chickens Capons I dare promise none as uncertain whether mutilating of birds was then in fashion to make them barren that mans luxury might fructifie the more upon them Next plenty of Pigeons the poor mans lambs For such as could not goe to the cost of the one was to provide the other for a sacrifice Quails in abundance for though their plenty in the wildernesse was miraculous when a cloud of them tendred themselves to be taken by the hands of the Israelites yet ordinarily there was store of them in Palestine Let Locusts for their wings sake be ranked amongst the fowl onely to fill up an empty place of the table for otherwise none but the stomach of the mortified Baptist would feed on so course a fare § 4. Fishes come in the next place whose severall sorts in Sea Rivers and lakes were so many that onely Adam whose memory was the Nomenclator of the names of all creatures by him imposed can summon them by their proper denominations Of these all that had Finnes and scales were permitted the Iews to eat Butter the sawce-generall to fish must not be forgotten A staple dish of our Saviours whilest an infant Butter and honey shall he eat Cheese concludes all such as David brought to his brethren such as Barzillai provided for David Let not any dainty dairy women object that Jewish cheese must needs be course where milke of sheep and goats was so much in use For a mixture of such milk is in Parmizan it self so delicious to the palat And now for Grace before and after meat might not Palestine thankfully say with David Thou dost prepare a table before me in the sight of mine adversaries thou dost anoint mine head with oil and my cup runneth over Yea what is said of the earth in generall is most properly applyable to this Country O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisdome hast thou made them all the earth is full of thy riches § 5. Besides cattell for food there were others for labour Asses Mules Camels Dromedaries whereof in due place Birds also and beasts of prey Eagles Hawkes Lions Beares Boares c. Some will say this was a mischief in Palestine whose inhabitants might be said to dwell daily like Daniel in the Lions den such the store of ravenous beasts freely roaving up and down the countrey But let such know that by these beasts continued of purpose God kept his people in an awfull dependence upon him whilest they feared God these beasts dreaded them and mans piety muzled up the mouth of these ravenous creatures Otherwise when these Iews rebelled against their Master the beasts one of Gods four sore
And now he that shall cast his eye over the Plain on the east of Iordan shall finde it well stockt with multitudes of goodly sheep which caused Deborah's expostulation Why abodest thou Reuben amongst the sheepfolds to heare the bleating of the flockes And yet no wonder if he preferred such musick before the clashing of swords and sounding of trumpets in the battail against the Canaanites seeing naturally men chuse profitable ease before honourable danger The tails of those sheep both for fat and wooll were incredibly great some of them a Cubit long So that nature who hath tyed the tails to other creatures may seem to have tyed the Syrian sheep to their tails which with great difficulty they drag after them This is the reason why it is expresly commanded in the law that when a sheep is sacrificed for a Peace-offering the fat thereof and the whole tail not observed in Kine or Goats taken off hard by the backbone was to be offered that part being for bulk and value considerable in their sheep which is contemptible in other creatures § 15. To goe back to the River having left that place behind us where the Ferry-boat passed over to carry David and his houshold after his conquest of Absalom We are now arrived at that memorable place where God magnified Ioshua heartened his own people and shrivelled up the hearts of their enemies by drying up the waters of Iordan whilest the Israelites passed over in this admirable Equipage 1 The Priests went into the river bearing the Ark in homage whereunto Iordan reverently retreated very farre from the river Adam which is besides Zaretan and they stood on firm ground in the midst thereof till all the Israelites were passed over 2 Reuben Gad and half Manasseh led the Van about forty thousand men of Armes the residue of them in all about an hundred thousand remaining at home to husband their ground guard their houses govern their families 3 After them the other Tribes followed and it is observed that they hasted not with a distrustfull haste as suspicious that the returning waters might drown the hindmost of them but an industrious speed and mannerly quickness as not willing to make God wait upon them in continuing a Miracle longer then necessity did require 4 When all were over the Priests with the Ark who first entred last left the water all dangerous designes are begun and finished by Gods assistance and then Iordan whose streams hitherto suspended returned into his channell 5 A duplicate or double monument was erected to perpetuate the memory hereof being a Grand Iury of great stones Of these twelve were solemnely set up on the land in the Tribe of Benjamin at Gilgal and the other twelve the counterpart of this deed were left in the midst of the river Some perchance may admire that Ioshua should set this latter invisible monument in a place where it is drowned both in water and obscurity But this River-mark was such as possibly the tops of the stones might appear at low water or if wholly hidden and dangerous for boats to approach the â—ailers constant care to avoid them in their passage called the occasion of placing them there to their daily remembrance § 16. We must not dissemble the difference betwixt Authors about the situation of the aforesaid City of Adam but once mentioned in Scripture and therefore as the Hebrews have a Proverb of words but once named that they have no kindred and alliance more difficult to know the true posture thereof The best is this Adam though having no kindred hath some company to notifie it Adam besides Zaretan and one Zaretan is sufficiently known to have been in the half Tribe of Manasseh west of Iordan not far from the sea of Galilee Hence learned Masius concludes that the waters of Iordan were cut off full seventy miles together north of the peoples passage over it To which opinion under favour we can in no wise consent Conceiving rather that just against Iericho the river was dried up for whereas the station of Iordan was most wonderfull the Israelites had lost all the sight of this wonder on their right side if done out of distance so many miles from their view Place we therefore on these reasons and the example of others both Adam and Zaretan in the Tribe of Reuben § 17. Some difference also there is betwixt Divines concerning the latitude of their passage over the river Some conceiving it onely to amount to the proportion of a fair alley lane or path of such receit alone as admitted the Israelites in a full and free march a competent number a brest and that the waters as in the Red sea standing still on both sides were a wall to them on the right hand and on the left as the Graver in our Map hath designed it Others doe not onely make a gap through Iordan but pluck down the whole hedge thereof maintaining that all the water of that river on the left hand betwixt their passage over and the Dead sea failed and were cut off or dried up Which latter opinion is most agreeable to Scripture and reason for seeing the stream of Iordan south of their going over was not supplied with any reciprocall or refluous tide out of the Dead sea the stopping of the waters above must necessarily command their defection beneath and that the channell by consequence for the time being was dried up § 18. Iordan having now closed his streams together runs by Livias a City which Herod built and so named in honour of Livia the Mother of Tiberius Caesar. For to enfavour themselves with the Emperour the Jewish Kings called many Cities by their names Augusta Tiberias two Cesarea's Iulias Livias as if Palestine had been a Register book of the Imperiall Roman family § 19. Let us now take an account of the inland Parts of this Tribe and return to the place where the Israelites passed over Arnon Betwixt Egypt and Arnon they had forty severall stations and then entred into the Promised land In comemoration whereof probably God did order that an offender should receive but forty stripes what Judge soever counts them too few would think thirty too many if he felt them himself and then be freed from further punishment Coming into Canaan their one and forty and first fixing there was at the foot of mount Abarim and edge of the wilderness of Kedâ—moth Hence they removed to Abelshittim where Deuteronomie was made the second Edition of the Law revised and enlarged by God the Author thereof Here the people of Israel were numbred the second time And although some particular Tribes were encreased amongst whom those three that pitched on the east side of the Tabernacle Iudah Issachar and Zebulun God and the rising Sun make any thing fruitfull yet in the whole they were diminished one thousand eight hundred and twenty Let such as admire hereat that people being
All which we leave in the Levites safe custody being confident that they will very carefully keep them from ever coming into the fingers of such covetous wretches who would willingly make The Ephah small and the Shekel great and falsifie the ballances by deceit especially if the Originals of both were but once in their absolute disposall thereof § 9. There were also Books kept in the Temple of which the Autograph of the law was most remarkable by command from Moses to be placed in the side of the Ark of the Covenant that is by the side as some expound it in a coffer by it self made for that purpose But others conceive the performance hereof neglected after Moses his decease before which time it could not conveniently be done Deuteronomy not being fully finished till after his death and this book deposited not in the Holy of Holies but in some outward place amongst the treasures of the Temple Alledging in confirmation hereof how Hilkiah the high Priest sent to seek out and sum up the silver for repairing of Gods house found what in Davids and all good mens valuation is dearer then gold and silver the book of the Law hid in some treasury within the verge of the Temple But probably this book was originally placed in the Holy of Holies which afterwards when the Temple-service in the Idolatrous days of Aâ—az and Manasseh was turned upside down might fall out of the proper position thereof into another place § 10. Other books no doubt were kept by the Priests Scribes wherof many amongst them and books being relatives though their Libraries could not be so numerous in volumes the Art of printing not being then invented Wherefore when we read in Iob a most ancient authour Oh that they were printed in a book the mystery of the Press is not meant thereby but letters written in deep and large characters And amongst all other books most likely it is that that book of the description of the land into seven parts by lot as of publick concernment daily use and divine institution was preferred in the Temple like our Domes-day book in England which some Criticks will have so called not because all lands are arraigned to appear therein as at a General Iudgment but quasi domus Dei or Gods-house book where the originall thereof was anciently intrusted § 11. The Refectories must not be forgotten being roomes wherein the Priests had their repast on hallowed food Amongst all whose fare we most admire at the Shew-bread that being shifted but once a week by Gods command it did not contract corruption grow hard and dry good onely for the Gibeonites to cheat the Israelites with the mouldiness thereof This the Rabbins ascribe to miracle the same command which enjoined it to be set there preserving it from putrefaction that nothing might lose ought of its goodness which is exactly ordered according to Gods direction Thus as Man liveth not by bread alone so bread lasteth not onely by naturall causes but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God § 12. And now to conclude all fast and firme there was also an Armory in the Temple well provided with weapons to guard the Treasure therein For seeing it is the priviledge of heaven alone that there Theeves cannot break through and steal the provident Princes of the Iewes thought not fit to entrust so much wealth without Ammunition to defend it seeing no place so sacred as to secure it self from sacâ—iledge David provided Speares and bucklers and shields for that purpose as if foreseeing in his Propheticall spirit that in after ages a distressed Prince Ioash extracted from his loines should by Gods blessing and the assistance of those weapons recover his rightfull throne from the unjust usurpation of Athaliah an Idolatrous intrudress thereinto CHAP. XI The additionall Utensils of the Temple after the days of Solomon § 1. MAny other instruments were added to the Temple after Solomons death by succeeding Kings as occasion did require Amongst which we must take especiall notice of that Chest which in the reign of King Iehoash was made by Iehoiada the high-Priest to receive the peoples free-offerings for the repair of the Temple § 2. It may seem strange that the Temple built so substantially at the first of the most solid materialls should in so short a time of an hundred and fifty years run so far to ruine as to need so costly reparation But we must know it stood without shelter high on a mount exposed to tempests and in the last seven years of wicked Athaliahs reign gray hairs are multiplyed on men more by afflictions then old age besides neglect of reparation did meet with despightfull defacing thereof Iehoash therefore resolves to amend the decays therein as indeed he stood obliged both in credit and conscience for seeing the Temple had formely been the nursing-mother to Iehoash well might Iehoash be the nursing-father to the Temple who now did onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pay for his feeding and breeding who six years had his preservation and his education therein § 3. The care of the work was at first committed to the charge of the Levites in generall though it thrived not under their managing therof so that in the twenty third year of the reign of King Iehoash they had not repaired the breaches of the house We can not be so uncharitable as to conceive they embez'led the monies appointed for that purpose but rather impute their slow proceedings herein either to 1 The unhappiness usually attending great undertakings few effectually advancing that work wherein all are equally intrusted Or else 2 Being every one to receive money of their own acquaintance some carnall indulgence might be used therein to retard the business 3 Receiving small sums of severall persons they were insensible in the taking and inconsiderable in their laying out 4 Repairing was out of the Levites element having no dexterity therein and we know that Ministers and Church-wardens are two distinct employments Hereupon the Levites by King Iehoash are called checked commanded to forbear farther collection of money and some other particular persons deputed for that purpose who had more care skill and success to order the matter § 4. To this end a chest was devised with an hole bored in the lid thereof and appointed to receive the free-gifts of those who would contribute to so pious a work It was placed very handy and convenient for such as went up to sacrifice to cast in their bâ—nevolence being set beside the Altar on the right side in the outward-court as one came into the House of the Lord. Perchance our Saviour reflected on the position of this chest so fit for dexterous Benefactours when advising in giving of almes Let not thy left hand know what thy right doth In this chest were mens charities
a smaller sum k 2 King 7. 19. l Iliad lib. 23. m 1 Kin. 10. 23. n Joh. 21. 25. o See Ludovicus de Aleaser de mensuris sacris p 1 Chr. 29. 9. A talent afterwards a vast sum q 2 King 23. 35. Davids holy complement r 1 Chr. 22. 14. Why no restraint of pâ—oples bounty in building the Temple s Exod. 36. 6. t 1 Cor. 2. 9. Modell of the Temple made Iure divino u 1 Chron. 28. 11 12. 19. Obsâ—rve the notes in the Geneva translâ—tion Solomon was not so pattern-bound as Moses w Exod. 25. 40. Act. 7. 44. Heb. 8. 5. The â—loor of the Temple purchased by David x Gen. 22 2. 12. y 2 Sam. 24. 16. An Altar here first built by David z 1 Chr. 22. 1. a 1 Chr. 21. 29. Why David prohibited to build the Temple b 1 Chr. 28. 3. 1 Chr. 22. 8. c 1 King 2. 29. d 2 Cor. 8. 12 The Halcyon days of Solomon The multitude of workmen a 1 Kin. 5. 15. 2 Chr. 2. 18. b 1 King 5. 14. c 2 Chr 2. 10. Two invincible gulfes to swallow mens labours d Ioh. 3. 9. Objection about the impossibility thereof Severall answers thereunto * Rather Sâ—hamir vid. Textâ—â— Eber. Lyran. Ezech. 3. 9. e Psal. 74. 6. Solomon consulteth not with thriâ—t Seven years spent in building the Temple f 1 King 6. 38. 1 King 7. 1. h Ant. Iud. li. 8. cap. 2. i Ruth 3. 18. a 1 King 6. 2. The dimensions of the Temple b Act. 5. 29. Ant. Iud. li. 10. cap. 8. d 2 King â— 4. 9. e 2 Chr. 36. 9. Two sorts of Cubits f 2 Chr. 3. 3. This no breach of the law g Deut. 25. 13. Objection Temple a zâ—ar or little one h Plin. Nat. hist. li. 36. ca. 14. Answ. It was a vast edifâ—ce well considered with the appurtenances i Luk. 1. 10. Temple bigger then Tabernacle and why k De templi fabrica l. 1. c. 7. The Temple stood East and West l 1 King 6. 3. The dimensions of the porch a 1 King 6. 3. b 2 Chr. 3. 4. * The flying â—oll Zach. 5. 2. was just adâ—quate to this porch in length and breadth twenty Cubits long and ten borad c 2 Chron. 3. 4. Such a tower not useless d Maâ— 26. 8. Ioh. 12. 4. The Temple not so high as the Porch c Reckoned up by Ribera de Templo li 1. c. 2. with whom he seemethto concur f Cant. 4. 2. g 1 King 6. 2. Bede his conceit h In lib. quâ—st in lib. Regum quaest 12. Luk. 23. 45. The porch how overlaid with gold k 2 Chr. 3. 4. l 1 Chr. 29. 4. m Num. 11. 29. The names and dimensions thereof n 2 Chr. 3. 5. o 1 King 6. 17. The foundation of the Temple p 1 King 5. 17. q Revel 21. 19. 1 Tim. 6. 19. The thickness of the walls s In Ezek. cap. 41. ver 5. The threefold matter of the wall t 1 Kings 6. 18. 29. The severall shapes of Cherubims u Ant. Iud. lib. 8. cap. 2. w Ezek. 1. 5. x Luk. 20. 36. The door leading into the Temple y 1 King 6. 35. z Ibid. ver 33. The gorgeous floor thereof 1 King 6. 16. b Ibid. ver 30. c Vid. ejus annot in locum Plain but of pure gold d Rom. 16. 20. Windows in the Temple e 1 Tim. 6. 16. Theâ— fashion matter and position f Vid. annot in 1 King 6. 4. g On Ezek. 41. h De bello Iud. lib. 7. cap. 10. The roof and covering thereof i Mat. 10. 27. k In Ezek. tom 2. par 2. cap. 40. l 1 King 22. 11. m 1 Chr. 22. 14. n Pet. Hcylyn Micr pa. 326. The dimension of the Holy of Holies o 1 King 6. 20. Homil. 14. in Ezek. q See Ribera de Templo li. 1. cap. 6. p. 28. The vacuity above the Oracle how imployed r 2. King 4. 27. s Iohn 6. 12. Whâ—ther any windows in the Oâ—acle t Villalp in Ezek cap. 41. tom 2 par 2. cap. 4. * Revel 22. 5. u 1 King 6. 4. x In Ezek. cap. 41. y Judg. 16. 21. The doors of the Holy of Holies Gold of Parvaim z 2 Chr. 3. 6. a Ibidem The nailes of the Holy of Holies b 2 Chr. 3. 9. c â—ccles 12. 11. The curious Vaile d 2 Chr. 3. 14. e Exod. 26. 31. f 2 Cor. 5. 17. How the Holy of Holies was in the midst of the Temple g 1 King 6. 19. h Psal. 101. 7. i Hab. 3. 2. k 1 King 6 5. Chambers how round about l Ibidem m Psal. 137. 1. Their dimenâ—ions n 1 King 6. 6. o lbid ver 10. p 1 King 6. 6. The vessels of the Tabernacle kept in these chambers q 2 Chr. 5. 5. Fancy runs riot when spurred with superstition r Lib. 7â— f 1 King 6. 31 t 1 Cor. 7. 12. u Ibid. ver 10. The difficulty of the present subject with the causesthereof Ill consequences of confounding the two Temples a Gen. 30. 36. The fashion of a Court. b 1 King 6. 36. c 2 Chr. 4. 9. d 1 King 6. 36. e Vid. Lyram in locum f Gen. 37. 3. g 2 Sam. 13. 18. Dâ—grees in this Court People 〈◊〉 pressin into the 〈◊〉 Court 2 Chr. 24. 21. i Mat. 23. 35. k 2 Chr. 24. 22. l â—oel 2. 17. The severall names of this Court * 2 Chr. 4. 9. Certainly large how large uncertain m Iohn 6. 7. This Court bettered by succeeding Kings n 2 King 18. 16. o Eccles. 2. 12. Hezâ—kiah encused from innovation p 1 Chr. 28. 11. 12. 19. q 2 King 18. 16. Private passage from the Kings house into the Temple r 1 King 10. 5. s 2 Chr. 9. 11. t 1 King 10. 1. u 2. King 16. 18. w Vide ejus annot in locum x 2 Kin. 16. 18. A Rabbinicall Tradition Four principall gates * Mat. 7. 14. a 1 Chr. 26. 14. b 2 Kin. 15. 35. 2 Chr. 27. 3. Vide Tremel in locos c 1 Chr. 26. 14. d 1 Chr. 26. 15. e Ibidem f 1 Chr. 26. 16. g Gen. 19. 11. h 2 King 11. 6. i 2 Chr. 23. 5. k Ier. 26. 10. 36. 10. l 1 Chr. 26. 18. The number and office of the Porters m 1 Chr. 23. 5. n 1 Chr. 25. 32. o 1 Chr. 24. 18. p Revel 4. 4. q Psal. 134. 1. A treble quere concerning the Porters places r 1 Chr. 26. 14. s Psal. 84. 10. Intruders into the Temple without the Porters leave t Psal. 84. 3. u 2 Chr. 28. 24. Chambers and Treasuries over the Porch The Chamber of Gemariah wherein Ieremiahs book was read a Ier. 36. 10. b Vers. 24. c Vers. 32. d 2 King 23. 11 Chamber of Nathan Melech e Psal. 19. 5. f Xenophon li. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 g Fastor 1. The chamber of the Sons of Hanan h Ier. 35. 4. i Ier. 35. 10. No
Disciples frequently repairing hither when he affected retiredness Here also learned men on good likelyhood Scripture being silent of the particular place conceive the miracle of loaves multiplied wrought by our Saviour And to avoid confusion we must carefully observe that this was twice wrought Place Guests Meate Fragments Gospels A desert nigh Tiberias 5000 men 5 loaves two fishes 12 baskets ful Mat. 14. 20 Mar. 6. 43. Lu. 9. 16. 10. 6. 23 Christs mountaiâ—â— 4000 men 7 loaves a few litle fishes 7 baskets ful Mat. 17. 37. Mark 8. 1. Behold in the latter though the meat was the more the mouths fewer yet fewer fragments did remain And good reason that our Saviour in working of miracles should observe no other proportion then his own pleasure § 19. Following still the Sea shore and going westward we light on the City Cinnereth which some conceive gave the name to the lake adjoining and also to the land thereabouts For when Benhadad in favour to King Asa to remove Baasha from besieging Ramah inroded Israel he smote all Cinneroth with all the land of Naphtali Some five miles westward we meet with Bethsaida of Galilee in English a hunting house Nor is it unlikely that at first it was a Mansion meerly made for recreation the neighbouring Desert frequently visited by our Saviour when desiring privacy affording the pleasure of the Game From a house it grew to be a village so called by Saint Marke and thence proceeded to be a City so graced in other Gospells Nor need learned men so trouble themselves about the difference seeing in a short time Hague in Holland may be an instance a great town with addition of walls may at pleasure commence a small City It was the native place of Peter Andrew Philip and another staple City of Christs miracles whose ingratitude forced our Saviours expression Woe unto thee Chorazin woe unto thee Bethsaida c. § 20. In the confines of Bethsaida Christ by the hand led forth a blind man out of the town spat on his eyes so restoring him to a confused and imperfect sight to see men walking as trees well might his spittle give half sight whose breath gave man whole life at the Creation and then putting his hands upon his eyes compleatly cured him But how came it to pass that he who other whiles healed at distance by the Proxie of his word Subveniens priùs quà m veniens curing before coming to his Patients should here be so long not to say tedious in working a miracle Even so Saviour because it pleased thee Let us not raise cavills where we should rather return thanks seeing Christ that our dull meditations might keep pace with his actions did not onely goe slowly on set purpose but even stayed in the mid way of a miracle doing it first by halves that our conceptions might the better overtake him § 21. To clear this Corner before we goe hence north-east of Bethsaida on a tridented mountain standeth Saphetta two parts whereof are inhabited by the Turks and one by the Iews and is at this day a very considerable Place Here the Iews live in the greatest liberty or rather in the least slavery of any place under heaven having some tolerable Priviledges allowed them by the Turk So that they who get wealth enough elsewhere here seem to have some shew of a common-wealth Yea here there is a University of Iews And though commonly that Nation count their children to have learning enough if able to cheat Christians in their bargains here they give them studious education and the pure Hebrew tongue as also at Thessalonica now Salonichi in Greece is here usually spoken but industriously acquired the Iews being neitheâ— born to foot of land nor word of language then what they purchase by their paines What shall we say if this little place be left still to keep possession as an earnest that God in due time upon their conversion may possibly restore the whole countrey unto them § 22. Three Cities follow southwest Naphtali a city properly so called Thisbe different from the native place of Eliah and Naasson all their credits depending on the two first verses of the book of Tobit Now as Comoedians though often they adorn their interludes with fancies and fictions yet are very carefull always to lay their scene right in a true place which is eminently and notoriously known so grant the book of Tobit guilty of improbabilities and untruths surely the author thereof would be punctuall in describing the place past possibility of confutation Yet since the same book presents us with the pedegree of the Angell Raphael with Ananias the great his Father and Sammajas his grandfather contrary to our Saviours character that they neither marry nor are given in marriage and so by consequence can neither get nor can be begotten we may as justly suspect his Geography as Genealogy and conceive him false in the position of towns who is fabulous in the extraction of Angels And if Naphtali and Thisbe pass for reall places yet not onely doubtfull but desperate is the case of the City Naasson not being founded on the rock of the Greek text where no such town appears but on the quick-sand of the erroneous Vulgar Latine translation § 23. Having thus surveyed the east and south parts of this Tribe lest the other coasts thereof should justly complain of neglect we return to mount Libanus to give an account of the remainder In this Map though not in this Tribe no trespass I hope to look over the hedge behold Heliopolis in English the City of the Sun But how well it brooks the name they can best tell who of certain report that the height of the mountains adjoining shadow it from the Sun the better half of the day Was it therefore by the same figure that the mountains are so called from moving that Heliopolis got this name Or because the Sun as all other Blessings are valued is most worshipped where it is most wanted Not far hence the river Fons hortorum Libani or the fountain of the gardens of Libanus with which the banks thereof on either side are enamelled fetcheth his originall running thence by Hamah afterwards called Epiphania often mentioned in Scripture Thus far came the twelve spies sent to search the land and this place passeth in Scripture from the entring of Hamah for the northern Boundary of the land of Israel not onely before the expression of Dan came into request but also long after the mention thereof in holy Writ was disused We shall in due place speake as of Hamah the great so named by the Prophet since called Antiochia in Coelosyria and by vulgar unskilfulness often confounded with this Hamah in Naphtali so also of Ashimah the topicall or peculiar Idoll of this place § 24. Hence that river runneth by Hazor anciently the Metropolis of the Canaanites
power to our beliefe concluding that impossible which we conceive improbable Flattery of the Roman Emperours Vespasian and Titus a catching disease wherewith the soundest Authours in that age were infected and that so gross that it seems not limn'd with a Pencill but dawb'd with a Trowell But all these may be winked at with a charitable eye were he not also guilty of falsity appearing first in his faults of omission not mentioning the Jewish Idolatry in making the Calfe nor the disobedience of Moses their Ministerial Legislator in smiting the Rock which Moses himself writing of himself thought fitting to relate Secondly of CoÌ„mission stuffing his history with improbable tales of Moses loving the Lady Tarbith c. and some mistakes contradictory to holy writ When we meet with any such in him relating to this present work we have made bold the Sun is not to be set by dials but dials by the Sun to alter and rectifie his extravagancies according to Scripture Notwithstanding all these faults the main bulk of his book deserves commendation if not admiration no doubt at the first compiled and since preserved by the speciall providence of God to reflect much light and lustre upon the Scriptures His last book De bello Iudaico is the best Comment on that part of the twenty fourth Chapter of Saint Matthew which concerns the destruction of the City and Temple As for the censure of Baronius it is too harsh and uncharitable charging him with absurda portentosa mendacia seeing that it cannot appear that Iosephus willingly and wittingly made those mistakes Wherefore such chance-medly amounts not to manslaughter much less to wilfull murther not to say that the charitable Reader ought to be a City of refuge to such Authors who rather unhappy then unfaithfull fall into unvoluntary errours In a word historians who have no fault are onely fit to write the actions of those Princes and people who have no miscariages and onely an Angels pen taken from his own wing is proper to describe the story of the Church triumphant § 24. We still follow the Sea shore southward and light on the place where our Saviour standing in a ship taught the people on the land in his Sermon full of parables A Sermon not unlike the pillar of cloud and fire which gave light to the Israelites at the red sea but was a cloud of darkness to the Egyptians because his preaching then obscure and parabolicall to the common people was privately expounded and made plain unto his disciples § 25. At last we are come to the City of Tiberias so named by Herod the Tetrarch in honour of Tiberius the Roman Emperour A populous City and which gave the name to the neighbouring sea thence termed the sea of Tiberias Near to this place Christ fed five thousand men with five loaves and two fishes Afterwards he went over the sea but how and which way grudge not Reader to peruse this following account given us bâ— a learned man an eye-witness of the place § 26. It is said Iohn 6. 1. that Iesus went over the sea of Galilee and in another place that he went beyond the lake and Luke 9. 10. it is said that he went into a solitary place near unto a City called Bethsaida which place of Iohn I learned to understand better by seeing it then ever I could before by reading it For seeing that Tiberias and Bethsaida were both Cities on the same side of the sea and Christ went from Tiberias to or near unto Bethsaida I gather thereby that our Saviour Christ went not over the length or breadth of that sea but over some arme bosome or reach thereof viz. so far as Tiberias was distant from Bethsaida which is also confirmed in that it is said elsewhere a great multitude followed him on foot thither which they could not have done if he had gone quite over the sea to the other side among the Gergesens So far our author with whose judgement I am moved to concurre § 27. More southward the sea of Tiberias leaveth the Tribe of Zebulun and entereth into Issachar Come we therefore now to describe the remaining places of note in this Tribe most of them being seated on or near the river of Kishon whose course we will observe It is called by Deborah the ancient river the river Kishon And why ancient are not all rivers of equall antiquity and the same seniority seeing Gen. 1. the Register book of the age of all creatures they were made in the third day when this lower globe was distinguished into earth and water No surely though this be true of originall and primitive rivers many since have been of a second edition occasioned by Noahs flood earthquakes eruptions of waters after long raine not to speake of many oâ—thers derived by art and industry Thus we discourse with our selves whilest Tremellius takes away the subject of the question rendering 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Ancient river torrens occursuum or the river of meetings Not that many tributary rivolets met therein a probable sense on the first sound but as he expounds himself because the armie of Israel there against Sisera appeared in their generall Rendezvous § 28. However Kishon was a fair River and surely the same which is termed by Ptolemy Choriaeus Entering with a full and large streame next to Iordan in breadth depth and swiftnesse into the land of Zebulun it divideth it self according to the observation of our Author if not hypercriticall herein into two channels the one and that the lesser running east commonly called Kadumim and falleth into the sea of Galilee the other rushing northwestward and emptieth it self into the Mediterranean Nigh the banks of the former stands the famous mountain of Tabor generally conceived to have been the place of Christs transfiguration where Moses and Elias were seen talking with him Origen according to his allegorising of the text saith that thereby was signified the harmony betwixt the Law the Prophets and the Gospell all agreeing together But here I cannot but smile at what Breidenbachius reports who travelled up this mountain Ibi etiam hodie ostenduntur ruinae trium tabernaculorum secundum desiderium Petri constructorum there saith he even at this day are shewed the ruines of those three tabernacles built according to Peters desire In very good time no doubt I confess one Scripture saith Aske and yee shall have but another Text answereth it Yee aske and because yee aske amiss and improbable it is that God would grant the desire or rather distempter of Peter and that his wish should come to him who was not come to himself by reason of his great fear amazement and extasie of joy Besides Tabernacles or Tents being light slight occasionall structures make small visible impressions in the earth when set up and leave no durable footsteps to be seen so many
returnes were obliged in conscience to be more liberall to the maintenance of Gods Ministers Or are two of the Levites cities left out in Chronicles omission in such cases for reasons to us unknown is no contradiction and the other two the same though unlike in sound with the two last mentioned in Ioshua Indeed I deny not but the towns at the same time may have two names nothing alike Medena alià s Newport in the Isle of Wight may be an instance thereof But for all I can finde still I languish in expectation of a better solution Yet let not his good will be slighted who though unable to cure the wound whilest Commentatours on the place suffer it to lie festering in silence desires to wash it and keep it clean till a more skilfull hand apply an effectuall plaister thereunto § 36. In Solomons division of the land into twelve purveyour-ships Zebulun had no distinct officer over him but belonged to the territory of Baanah the Son of Ahilud who besides many places he had in Manasseh extended his Jurisdiction even beyond Iokneam The Armes of Zebulun confirmed unto him by custome and Rabbinicall tradition were Argent a ship with Maste and tackling sable An honourable Bearing the same with the Coate armour of Albertus free Baron of Alasco in Poland â—ave that his ship is without sailes with this Motto Deus dabit vela God will send sailes and Zebuluns accomplished with all the accoutrements thereof Here the Map of Issachar is to be inserted THE TRIBE OF ISSACHAR CHAP. 7. § 1. ISsachar the fift Son which Iacob begat on Leah his wife had his posterity so increased in Egypt that from thence came forth of this Tribe fifty four thousand and four hundred All which falling in the wilderness for their frequent tempting of God their Sons grew Iudah and Dan excepted more numerous then any other Tribe insomuch that sixty four thousand and three hundred of twenty years old and upward appeared at their second solemn muster in the plaines of Moab Tolah the Judge was of this Tribe Baasha and Elah Kings of Israel fair Abishag the Shunamite wife or rather bed-fellow to aged David with another Lady if in beauty not in goodness her inferiour of the same city who so kindly entertained the Prophet Elisha § 2. Issachar had the sea on the west Iordan on the east Zebulun on the north Manasseh on the south A fair fruitfull countrey for as all Canaan is called the pleasant land so it is particularly observed of Issachars portion he saw the land that it was pleasant and bowed his shoulder to bear and became a servant unto tribute This Tribe better acquitted it self in the Subsidie then in the muster-Muster-book they were the best Yeomantry of Israel towards the advancing of raâ—es and taxes They loved rest and a sedentary life Blame them not if sensible of the goodness of their soile they were loath to leave home because certain to remove to their loss and are compared to an Asse couching between two burthens § 3. Yet were not the men of Issachar of such servile natures but that they could be valiant when just occasion was offered them They were as willing and resolute as any other in helping Barak in the battell against Sisera Yet even then we may observe they marched not far from their own habitations the field being fought in the bowells of their countrey And well might his Asse finde both heels and teeth to kick and bite such as offer to take his Hay from his rack and Provender a way from his manger § 4. Nor let the resembling of Issachar to an Asse depress this Tribe too low in our estimation The strength of his back not stupidity of his head gave the occasion thereunto 〈◊〉 in one point of excellent skill this Tribe surpassed all others being men that had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to doe Now seeing time Ianus-like hath two faces one looking backward Chronology the other forward Prognostication the question will be in which of these lay the learning of the Issacharites A learned man conceives them onely like husbandmen weather-wise by their own rurall observations Sure more is imported in that expression and not onely Almanack but Chronicle-skill contained therein so that from deductions from former they could make directions for the future times Oh for a little of Issachars art in our age to make us understand these intricate and perplexed times and to teach us to know what we ought to doe to be safe with a good conscience So much of the persons in this Tribe come we now to survay the eminent places contained therein § 5. In the south confines thereof stood the regal city of Iezreel For though the valley of Iezreel belonged to Manasseh the city it self must pertain to Issachar otherwise the sixteen cities assigned him Iosh. 19. will fall short of that number In Iezreel Ahab had a Princely Palace haply the joynter-house of Iezebel besides a garden-house adjoining and here in the city lived Naboth as hard by lay his vineyard which Ahab could not obtain from him either by purchase or exchange § 6. Some will finde more equity in Ahabs offers then discretion in Naboths refusall But blame him not if loth to offend his God to accommodate his King Being no doubt in his conscience perswaded that his earthly possession was the earnest of his heavenly inheritance and that his parting with the former voided his title to the latter Besides his vineyard six hundred years since the partition of the land by lot had pertained to his ancestours probably moe ages then Ahabs new erected palace had belonged years to his family § 7. On the denyall Ahab falls sullen-sick No meat will down with him for lack of a salad because wanting Naboths vineyard for a garden of herbes till Iezebel undertook the business A letter is made up of her braines her husbands hand and seal to the Elders of Iezreel enjoining them to set up two men of Belial to accuse Naboth of blasphemy against God and the King She took it for granted plenty of such persons were to be found in so populous and vicious a place Oh the ancient order of Knight of the poste for money to depose any falshood Hereupon Naboth is stoned to death and his Sons also flatly contrary to Gods command which in this case had provided The children shall not be put to death for their fathers but every man shall be put to death for his own sin But this was donâ— to clear all claimes and prevent all pretenders of tiâ—les unto the inheritance § 8. Thuâ— Naboths vineyard was for Ahabs use turned into a garden of â—erbes Surely the bitter wormwood of Divine revenge grew plentiâ—â—lly thereâ—n Foâ— in the same place his Son Ioram and gran-child
her most modest behaviour For at the sight of him though at some distance she lighted from her Camel counting it ill manners to ride when her husband and master went a foot as also to give an earnest of her future good housewifery that she would prefer industry before ease honest pain before pleasure The she vailed her self partly to shew that the beams of her beauty were hereafter to be appropriated to Isaac alone partly in confession of subjection being now under covert-baron the command and protection of a husband Well I dare compare yea prefer this vailed wives chastity before the virginity of many vailed votaries § 18. More south is the river of Egypt the utmost limit not onely of this Tribe but of all Israel Indeed by the river of Egypt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 often mentioned in Exodus onely Nilus is intended But this stream which some conceive is particularly called Shichos is termed the River of Egypt not because it is in but is in the high way to Egypt Otherwise the traveller who sits down on the banks thereof shall never come thither In the Septuagint Rhinocolura is put for this river of Egypt being a long named city of short note seated on the influxe thereof into the sea Only this Rhinocolura is famous in heathen History because hither as into an Hospitall all those malefactors were sent whose noses were cut off for their offences a punishment inflicted on the Egyptians by an Ethiopian King who conquered them Hence had it the name of Rhinocolura or the place of nose-maimed people But ô how great must that city be which in our age should contain all those whose faces are nose-less not by others cruelty but their own luxury § 19. As for other cities in this Tribe of Simeon they were many but obscure It is observable that most of them are written with an Aliàs first as they are named Iosh. 19. secondly as they are called 1 Chron. 2. None need to wonder at their different denominations Here I interpose nothing of the severall writing of the same places 1 According to exact Criticks in spelling them 2 According to vulgar tongues in pronouncing them Onely we commend to the Readers notice that the book of Chronicles was written after the return from Captivity and about eighteen generations after the days of Ioshua And therefore some difference of letters after so large a time is no strange thing For seeing here we have no continuing city it cannot be expected that any city should have a continuing name And yet great places longest retain their names unaltered as London from Taeitus to our times whereas small cities like these in Simeon are as often alterable as passed into the possession of severall owners Yea seeing it was the custome of the Iews to call their lands after their own names this haply might change Beth-lebaoth in this Tribe into Beth-birei when it came into the possession of a new landlord § 20. So much of this small Tribe whose portion was too little for his people and therefore they made two happy expeditions to enlarge their quarters one in the reign of Hezekiah to the entrance of Gedor even unto the east side of the valley a place of good and fat pasture for they of Ham Canaanites had dwelt there of old Mice sometimes may be mens tasters to teach them which is best for their palate and those heathen were wise enough to settle themselves in the richest soile whence now the Simeonites expelled them This Gedor was in the division of the land allotted to the Tribe of Iudah Now if any demand by what right the Simeonites might invade this which was assigned to Iudah they may know that in case a strong hold could not be reduced into subjection by that Tribe to which it belonged it was not an act of injustice but valour for the next Tribe to undertake the conquest thereof As by their judiciall law if one dyed not having issue by his wife the next of kin might 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and was heire as I may say to marry his brothers wife so when Iudah through some defect or debility was unable to improve his Patrimony in Gedor to profit by casting out the heathen who violently detained it Simeon his next neighbour in situation suecceding to the right of his brother attempted and effected the conquest thereof Herein onely it holds not proportion because the seed so raised up was accounted to his dead brother whereas here Simeon made bold himself quietly to possess what victoriously he had acquired Wonder not that this petty Tribe in overcoming Gedor did more then puissant Iudah could performe for always the battell is not to the strong and weaker means watching advantages may perfect what more powerfull have left uneffected This Gedor grudge not reader to sally with thine eye a little out of this Tribe being still in this map lay on the north of the river Sorek and was one of the 31. regall cities of the Canaanites As for the Simeonites second voiage against the Amalekites in mount Seir more proper thereof hereafter in the description of Edom. § 21. Now that which straightned the portion of Simeon was the multitude of Philistines inhabiting the sea coasts allotted to but never possessed by this Tribe Askelon was a prime city in those parts once won by Iudah assisting Simeon but after recovered by the Philistines Samson being cast to give his companions thirty change of raiment went neither to the Merchant for the stuffe nor Taylor for making of them but knowing the Philistines garments would best fit Philistines bodies he marched directly to Askelon where finding thirty Philistines he bestowed their corps on the earth and their cases on their fellow-countrey men This caused that active antipathy betwixt Askelon and Israel Tell it not in Gath nor publish it in Askelon Near to this city there was a lake by which Semiramis is said to be born there fed and relieved by Doves Hence the Poet Tibullus Alba Palaestino sancta columba Syro The milke-white Dove esteem'd divine By Syrians of Palestine But because no mention of this in Scriptures we forbear further prosecution thereof § 22. Going along south by the sea side here styled the sea of the Philistines we come at last to Azzah or Gaza the fifth satrapy of the Philistines once conquered by Iudah but soon after returning to the former owners Samson who carried the gates thereof away could not bring himself hither again without the guidance of another Pain here was added to his blindness when set to grinde in a mill scorn to his pain when sent for at a solemn feast to be the musician to make sport or rather the Instrument ready tuned for every wanton eye tongue and hand to play upon But such as mock at other mens miseries sometimes laugh so long till their own hearts
Canaanites some remnant of the Anakims which escaped his hand did in his absence return possess Hebron and put Caleb to a new task of a second subduing them § 22. David afterwards made Hebron the Metropolis of this kingdome as being the most eminent City of his own Tribe of Iudah and reigned almost seven years therein In the third year of his reign Abner repaired hither with full intent to reduce all Israel to his obedience had not Ioabs sudden murdering him frustrated his design Probably some mixture of jealousie might put Ioab on this foul action fearing to be outed of his office that if Abner made David King David would make Abner Generall over all Israel Certainly revenge of his brother Asahels bloud prompted him thereunto Ioab sending messengers to fetch Abner back from the well of Siriah slew him treacherously as he was entering the gates of Hebron § 23. Forget we not that Hebron in the gate whereof Ioab so basely and barbarously murdered him was a City of Refuge appointed by God for the saving of such as had killed one unawares Did not Ioab therefore in such a place acting wilfull murder in an high hand relie on his own greatness to beare him out in so bloudy a deed as if he neither feared the justice of man nor needed the mercy of God No wonder then if many years after he flying to the horns of the Altar was denyed the protection of that place who formerly so cruelly despightfully and presumptuously had defiled the City of Refuge with innocent bloud § 24. Thus died Abner very loyall to Saul whilest Saul was living and too loving to his concubine when he was dead Never man was killed more cowardly or buried more honourably David himself following the bâ—ere weeping as chiefe mourner at his funerall In the same sepulcher the head of Ishbosheth was afterwards interred Though some jars were betwixt them whilest living their dust well agreed in the same grave Nor durst the ashes of Ishbosheth cross the others who when alive though checked and chidden by him could not answer Abner a word again because he feared him As for the bodies of Baanah and Rechab the murderers of Ishbosheth they had by order from David their hands and feet cut off and they hanged up over the pool in Hebron § 25. After the death of Ishbosheth all Israel repaired to Hebron to make David their King whose severall numbers deserve our observation 1 Out of Iudah six thousand and eight hundred 2 Simeon seven thousand one hundred 3 Levi eight thousand three hundred twenty two 4 Benjamin three thousand 5 Ephraim twenty thousand and eight hundred 6 Half Tribe of Manasseh on this side Iordan eighteen thousand 7 Issachar two hundred officers and all their brethren at ther coÌ„mandment 8 Zebulun fifty thousand 9 Naphtali thirty seven â—housand besides a thousand Captains 10 Dan twenty eight thousand and six hundred 11 〈◊〉 fourty thousand 12 Reuben Gâ—d and Manassâ—h beyond Iordan an hundred and twenty thousand Behold here those Tribes which lived farthest from Hebron appearing in the highest equipage as if they endevouring to be revenged on the distance of their habitation purposely advanced with the greatest number Here it will be enquired why Iudah largest in dominion next in position nearest in relation as Davids native Tribe made here the slenderest appearance of all the rest Benjamin alone excepted the thinness of whose numbers are excused in the text because hitherto the greatest part of them kept the ward of the house of Saul What! doth it fare with Princes as with Prophets that they are not without honour save in their own Countrey and in their own house that David found fewest attendants from his own Tribe Oh no he was abundantly loved and honoured therein But Tostatus answers 1 Davids daily attendance both civill in his Court and military in his camp and garrison hitherto chiefly consisted of the Tribe of Iudah 2 The rest of Iudah remained at home to make provision and give entertainment to this confluence of people from all parts Adde hereunto 1 Six thousand eight hundred were a sufficient representation of Iudah and moe not onely needless but burdensome for the present to pester Hebron too populous already The rest keeping home and living hard by were ready no doubt on competent warning to come quickly if need required or David commanded their attendance 2 Iudahs main work was done two years before when David was solemnly made their King And they now rather spectators then actors at his second Coronation over all Israel Now no less politick then thrifty were the other Tribes in bringing their victualls along with them lest otherwise they should be held as occasioners of scarcity in Iudah and enhauncers of the prices of provisions § 26. Afterwards Absalom when he intended a rebellion against his Father chose Hebron as the fittest City from whence he meant to mount into the Throne Hither he came under pretence to doe sacrifice with his chariots and horses and fifty men running before him but which was most to be pitied he brought with him from Ierusalem two hundred men which were as one may say Loyall traitors coming in the simplicity of their hearts and meerly drawn-in to treasonable practises But Hebron proved not a place so succesfull to Absalom the son as formerly fortunate to David his father This Traitours soveraignty soon expired when forsaken of God Man and Beast his own Mule going away from him he was slain of Ioab as formerly related § 27. Some ten miles south of Hebron lay Debir anciently called Kiriah-Sepher the City of a book conceived a Canaanitish University And although the Giant Anakims dwelling hereabouts may be presumed but little bookish yet civilized Countreys in all ages have allowed such places for the education of youth who are better unborn then unbred Caleb proffered Acsah his daughter in marriage to any one that should conquer this City which was accordingly performed by Othniel his younger brothers son and first Judge of Israel What were not the glory of God and good of his Countrey enough to set an edge on his valour but the promise of a wife needed also to whet his resolution No doubt the scales of his resolution went down formerly on the right side before this match was cast in as overweight It is no unlawfull Bigamy of the soul when wedded to Gods glory in the first place to embrace also therewith the recompense of reward and grand is the difference betwixt an hireling whose minde is meerly mercenary and him that works for his hire with Othniel taking it not as the main motive much less as the end but onely as a welcome encouragement of his undertakings § 28. Thus all parties were pleased Israel recovered Debir Othniel got Acsah to wife she gained a blessing from her Father that
speaking of five thousand to be fed Two hundred penny worth of bread saith he is not sufficient for them that every one may take a little But grant this Court two hundred Cubits square more then the place will allow this would afford but few inches for a mans body to stand in except the ground was here as the loaves miraculously multiplyed We therefore conceive that the people of the land were successively admitted to this place otherwise impossible to contain them Ascents or staires did also lead into this Court but how many is not known surely they were low and little short and easie to be climbed up otherwise the cattell brought thither to be sacrificed could not conveniently clamber over them § 3. This Court was by successive Kings especially Hezekiah who cased the pillars thereof with silver improved to more beauty then it had in the days of Solomon Some will say this was a disparagement to the perfection of Solomons work as if he had left any defects or defaults therein to be amended by others Were not his structures as his discoveries compleat for Who is he that will come after the King in things It is answered the outward Temple was in the appendent Courts thereof capable of more cost and expence to make them both bigger and braver though the covered Temple was semel semper at once and for ever perfected afterwards admitting of no new addition when Solomon had finished it Surely God granted not such a Monopoly to Solomon alone to ingross all honour to himself so that no reserve was left for posterity no bottome for their bounty to build on in after ages to testifie their gratitude to Gods goodness Some accessions therefore might be made though not to the vitall parts as I may say to the out-lims of the Temple It is the priviledge not of the house of God but of God himself to be so perfect as that nothing can be added unto him § 4. But others will object that this was a presumptuous innovation in Hezekiah seeing the Courts of the Temple and all things therein were framed according to the divine pattern David left to Solomon for him to overlay those pillars with silver which Solomons wisdome following Gods platform was pleased to make plain But let such know that he swerveth not at all from the proportion of the Copy who onely gilds or colours the letters therein Hezekiah for the main kept himself to the former fabrick not altering but adorning the same The worst was that afterwards he cut off the silver again to purchase the favour of Sennacherib Better had those pillars been left naked then thus to be clothed and then to be stript of their costly coats For though as some scornfully may scoff there was no danger of their catching cold when thus disrobed yet the beauty of those pillars were thereby much impaired looking ruggedly when again uncased besides the inexcusable sacriledge therein committed whereof hereafter § 5. We must not forget the entry leading from this Court to the Kings Palace through which the Kings of Iudah had at pleasure a private passage into the Temple This continuation of the Kings to Gods house shewed the mutuall intercourse which ought to be betwixt Policy and Piety as also that Princes besides their set solemn and publick addresses to God by prayer must have their secret recourses unto him in their occasionall devotions It was first made by King Solomon and then so stately a structure that amongst other things the Queen of Sheba was ravished with admiration at the sight thereof when she beheld the ascent by which he went up into the house of the Lord. And yet afterwards it was made more magnificent when terrased on both sides with Pillasters made of those Almuggin trees which she presented to Solomon which if oderiferous as some will have it made that passage as sweet to the smell as specious to the sight Wicked Ahaz turned this entry from the house of the Lord for the King of Assyria that is as Tremellius will have it stopped up or diverted that passage fearing lest through it the King of Assyria should out of the Temple suddenly surprise the Kings palace I conceive this done not for fear but in favour of the Assyrian King Ahaz hereby cutting off all connexion and dependence of his Palace to the Temple and utterly renouncing all relation to true Religion so the more to confirme this friendship with that heathen King begun on a new account and grounded on pure principles of Idolatry At the same time he turned out also the covert of the Sabbath which they had built in the house by which our foresaid Authour understands a place erected for the shelter of such Priests as officiated on the Sabbath § 6. As for their tradition who report Solomon to have written on the walls of the Temple soveraign Receipts against all diseases which Hezekiah afterwards is said to rase out because people placed too much confidence therein to the prejudice of divine providence I listen to both as Rabbinicall fables Surely such medicines if any there prescribed proved uneffectuall to cure Asa's gout Ioram's dysentery Uzziahs leprosie as indeed no art can crave longer time when death calls for the present payment of the debt to nature CHAP. III. Of the Gates and Porters of the Court. § 1. HEaven hath onely one and that a narrow gate leading thereinto But severall fair gates on all sides gave entrance into the Courts of Solomons Temple Some of them to us of certain others but of conjecturall situation Of the former were 1 East-gate where Shelemiah was Porter This gate was set in the front leading directly to the Temple and therefore King Iotham rebuilt it mounting Monarch-like above the parity of other ports that it became higher then all the rest yet met with no zelot to humble it for aspiring above its fellows 2 North-gate where Zacharias his son was Porter 3 South-gate attended on by the sons of Obed-Edom The house of Asuppim rendred by Hierome and Pagnine a counsel-house by Tremellius Aerarium the Treasury was for conveniency united to their charge A place probably of entrance certainly of consequence as needing a constant guard about it 4 West-gate where Shuppim and Hosah were Porters To them also belonged the gate Shallecheth by the causway of the going up understand thereby that stately ascent made by Solomon out of his own Palace into the Temple But besides these four which respected the cardinall winds we meet with other intermediate gates whose accurate position is uncertain Never did the blinded Sodomites more groap for Lots door in the dark then learned men are puzled to finde the gate of Sur elsewhere called the foundation-gate where at the coronation of King Ioash a tierce of Levites were awarded to waite by order from Iehojada
Tremellius not improbably conceives it the same with the East-gate As for the Newgate wherein Baruch publickly read the book of Ieremy I am confident it was one of the four principall gates onely repaired enlarged or adorned with new buildings Parbar seated on the west must not be forgotten whether Porters-lodge Priests-vestry or place wherein sacrificing instruments were laid up having something of the nature of a gate therein because two porters daily attended it Say not it was suspicious that so small a Court would run out at so many gates which surely were no more then just proportion and uniformity did require § 2. The principall office of Porters was to secure the gates providing for the peace and purity of the Temple and service therein These in all were four thousand thus daily disposed of Eastward six Northward four Southward four at Asuppim-gate two and two Westward at the Causway four at Parbar-gate two four and twenty in all An eminent number in Temple-service so many the singers and the severall courses of the Priests to which the four and twenty Elders in the Revelation have some allusion Their service was as well nocturnall as by day which by night stand in the house of the Lord. § 3. Here let others dispute whether the Porters places were meerly ministeriall or servile rather or also partly judiciall with some admissive and exclusive power to take cognizance of the cleanness of such persons as did approach to the Temple Otherwise they were easily qualified for their office rather bigness then brains commending men generally to such imployments Secondly if they were intrusted with any such authority let others enquire by what means they made discoveries of peoples uncleanness finding no oath Ex officio they tendred to any to betray themselves though otherwise some secret pollution might be concealed the parties themselves being onely privy thereunto Lastly let them discuss whether these Porters were afterward advanced to higher places or onely as the doors whereon they attended turned round on their hinges moved alternately in their own sphere without possibility of any farther preferment If the latter it is strange that the worthy parts of Zachariah his son Porter Northward commended in Scripture to be a wise counsellour should be imprisoned in so narrow a profession And yet his employment though the meanest about the Temple was honourable in it self if well executed witness holy David his choice I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God then to dwell in the tabernacles of wickedness § 4. Now notwithstanding all the care of the Porters to the contrary some not going through the gates but over the walls made bold to lodge and live with their whole families within the verge of the Temple Yea the sparrow hath found an house and the swallow a nest for her self where she may lay her young even thine Altars O Lord of hosts my King and my God By Altars understand the Courts and buildings about it otherwise the Altar it self fitter for Salamanders then Sparrows was too hot a climate for their habitation Birds we see may prescribe an ancient title to build in our steeples having time out of minde taken the same priviledge in the Tabernacle and Temple Yea David in exile debarred access to Gods publick service doth pity his own and prefer the condition of these fowls before him And although no devotion whereof they were uncapable but the bare delight in fair fabricks brought them hither yet we may presume according to their kind they served God better then many men in that place chirping forth Morning and Even-praises to the honour of their maker To take our farewell of these Porters wicked Ahaz gave them a Supersedeas from their office in that long Vacation wherein he shut up the doors of the house of the Lord so obstructing Gods mercy against himself CHAP. IV. Of the Chambers and Treasuries about the Court. § 1. THe Porches or Cloisters beneath were built with rooms above if not round about the Court certainly over the intervalls of the gates Such places were employed partly for chambers for Priests to lodge in partly for Treasuries wherein consecrated things were deposited § 2. Amongst the former most remarkable was the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the Secretary wherein Baruch read the book of Ieremy which afterwards was burnt by Iehojakim King of Iudah When though some dissenters and disswaders amongst all the Courtiers no mourners appeared at the funeralls of this book it being expected they should have been as cruell to their clothes to rend them for sorrow at the sight of that double martyrdome of that innocent Volume first cancelled with a pen-knife to pieces then afterward burnt to ashes But the flame which did burn the book did but burnish the truths written therein Yea another Phoenix arose out of the ashes thereof Baruch transcribing another roul with the same and many like words added beside Thus wanton children by breaking their parents old rod give them onely the occasion to make a better and bigger in the room thereof § 3. Next we take notice of the chamber of Nathan Melech at the entring of the house of the Lord by which stood those statues of horses dedicated to the Sun by some Idolatrous Kings of Iudah which Iosiah destroyed What! was the Sun which rejoyceth as a Giant to run his course ever so tyred as to need hacknies to carry him to his journeys end Oh no but the Iews plundred this piece of Idolatry from the Persians who offered horses unto the Sun and Ovid renders some reason thereof Placat â—quo Persis radiis Hyperiona cinctum Ne detur celeri victima tarda Deo Horse to the beamed Sun 's the Persians gift Slow sacrifice ill fits a God so swift Now the Iews counting it too gross Idolatry to sacrifice naturall horses to the Sun erected artificiall ones in honour thereof § 4. Another eminent chamber was that of the Sons of Hanan which was by the chamber of the Princes probably on the one hand which was by the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum the keeper of the door on the other hand thereof Here Ieremy in vain solicited the Rechabites to drink wine observing the instructions of their ancestours therein as also in their constant dwelling in tents so to entertain all turnings of the times with less trouble to themselves Provident birds onely to perch on the boughs not build their nests on that tree which they suspected would suddenly be cut down foreseeing perchance the captivity of Babylon Indeed in all fickle times such as we live in it is folly to fix on any durable design as inconsistent with the uncertainty of our age and safest to pitch up tent-projects whose alteration may with less loss and a clear conscience comply with the change of the times
to inquire to whom the right thereof did belong Here we finde an undoubted evidence that the same by a double title perteined to the land and people of Israel 1 As a fence to the vineyard 2 As a Common to a City As a fence to a vineyard So the Prophet in his Parable And be fenced it and gathered out the stones thereof Now although this fencing principally refers to Gods protection over the Iews yet is it not unappliable to the naturall posture of their countrey hem'd in with mount Libanus on the north Secondly if we conceive all Iudea under the notion of a great city Lebanon was a Common assigned thereunto and ALL LEBANON towards the Sunrising And though probably the neighbouring Tribes Asher Naphtali and Dan did reap the most benefit thereby yet all the rest are presumed to have a right both in the herbage for their profit and wild beasts for their pleasure However either with or without the leave of Israel the Hivites and Archites whose city Archa is by Ptolemy placed hereabouts made bold to share with them in the commodities of this mountain Here grew the goodly Cedars of whose severall kindes some bearing fruit without flowers others bringing flowers without fruit manner of growing having streight and clean bodies to the top and there a tuft of boughs and leaves where should the haire be but on the head naturall qualities or supernaturall rather because said to be free from corruption and therefore used to make the statues of the Gods the Philosopher will give the best account to whose reports we remit the Reader § 7. Forget we not that humane writers make a division of the mountain calling the northern ledge thereof Libanus the southern Anti-Libanus whereas the Scriptures taking no notice of this distinction express both under the generall name of Libanus § 8. And now to climbe this mountain behold it every where scattered with Solomons workmen some bearing of burdens Better to carry the meanest materiall to the Temple of God then carve the most curious pieces for the tower of Babel some hewing of stones all busied either with their hands as labourers or eyes as overseers No hole left for idleness to peep in at but presently she was perceived and punished I hope without offence one may wish them God speed the rather because he that hewed timber afore out of the thick trees was known to bring it to an excellent work but now they break down all the work thereof with axes and hammers § 9. It is now high time that leaving the generall description of Libanus we come to survay the severall places on or near thereunto In the southwest side thereof near Zidon and the sea lay the land of Cabul which Solomon gave to Hiram King of Tyre for the cost and charge he was at in building the Temple Hereby it appears that this territory though lying in Galilee was no part of the Land of Canaan it being above the power of the Kings of Israel to alienate any parcell thereof But though it was unlawfull to take the childrens bread and cast it unto dogs yet the crust and parings thereof might be given them to which this Land of Cabul may well be compared being so course and base a Countrey that it little contented King Hiram who therefore called it Cabul that is dirty or displeasing It may seem strange that Solomon who in other things consulted with his honour and magnificence and to whom God gave a large heart should herein have so narrow a hand as not to give Hiram a friend and forein Prince full consideration who so freely had furnished him with all necessaries for his building But 1 Haply Solomon beheld Hiram as a Homager unto him holding the kingdome of Tyre from the Crown of Israel And if so then all he did was but his duty and fully rewarded in Solomons favourable acceptance thereof 2 Solomon might conceive Hirams expences sufficiently satisfied in allowing his men such a vast proportion of yearly provision so these cities were given him not in compensation of the charge but as an overplus and meer gratuity For which Hiram ought to be thankfull because so good not displeased because no better 3 Most probable it is that absolute need and no other reason made Solomon fall short in satisfying Hirams expectation His treasure being much exhausted excess will begger wealth it self by his sumptuous structures The same necessitous principles which caused his intolerable taxes on his own people might also make him against his own will and generous disposition faile in rewarding the full deserts of Hiram It is some contentment unto us that though we know not the severall names yet the Scripture acquaints us with the exact number of the cities in Cabul-land being twenty in all as in our Map we have reckoned them accordingly § 10. But here some will be very much startled that this land of Cabul should so lately receive this denomination from Hirams displeasure whereas we finde it so called four hundred years before in the book of Ioshua where the borders of the Tribe of Asher are thus assigned they goe out to Cabul on the left hand To satisfie which seeming difficulty we must know that though the book of Ioshua contains matter of far more ancient date yet it was written by holy-men of God after the days of David and probably in the reign of Solomon This appears because in Ioshua mention is made of the book of Iasher wherein the standing still of the Sun and Moon was recorded and that book of Iasher was penned after Davids reign because therein Davids acts were also Chronicled § 11. Mount Libanus is overspread with the buildings of Solomon whereof some may be conceived the fragments made out of the Remnants and Reversions of the stone and timber left of what was provided for the Temple Yea probably some were platformes and modells to heighten and improve the skill and knowledge of his builders True it is in the making of the Tabernacle every Tenon board hook and socket were Iure Divino both by precept and precedent according to the pattern in the Mount but it was not so in the building of the Temple Therein God gave Solomon a large heart and furnished him with Hiram a skilfull workman but as for all particular proportions they were left at large for their wisdomes to contrive It may therefore with much likelyhood be conceived that to better their knowledge in Architecture for the Temple some slight buildings in Libanon were erected which afterwards might serve Solomon for privacy and pleasure retirement and recreation And seeing Solomon took his naturall history from the Cedar that growes in Lebanon to the Moss on the wall haply he might study in some of these buildings where Cedars and other simples were presented unto him being best able to comment on Natures works when he saw the text before his
walls of any City but always pitched in the open desert This premised when they are said to be in Kadesh-Barnea we understand thereby a Countrey not City so named which began southwardly about Rithmah the fifteenth station of the Israelities whence they sent their spies and extended northwardly to Kadesh-Barnea properly so called probably a City certainly a limitary place belonging afterwards to the Tribe of Iudah Philol. You term their provocation of God in this place as yet the last and greatest temptation which seems to me not of so hainous a nature Aleth So many and great were their Rebellions it is hard to define which was their highest offence Their carriage for forty years is styled by God a day of temptation whose transgressions were so frequent and came so fast that they all compleated but one intire constant and continued temptation But to the point that this their despising of the pleasant land was a paramount impietie appears not onely by the exclusion of that whole generation from entering the same but by the confession of modern Iews Manasseh Ben Israel the Hebrew Divine at this day in Amsterdam observes the ninth day of the moneth Ab whereon saith he Exploratores flebant sinecauâ—a The spies sent to discover the land and all the congregation occasioned by their false reports wept without cause hath ever since been unfortunate to their nation their first and second Temple being burnt on the same day and many dysasters have since befallen them thereon Thus the Iews travell far off in their inquiries fetching the cause of their misfortunes from their forefathers in the wilderness more then three thousand years agoe which with more ease might take up their lodging nearer hand and finde the same in their crucifying of Christ as their highest sin and the cause of their deepest suffering Philol. Think you that Rithmah the fifteenth stage of the Israelites was the particular place whither the spies returned bringing the report of Canaan Aleth Though many conceive so under favour I take it more probable that the next mansion Rimmon-parez by name was the proper scene of that action For it signifieth in Hebrew the Division of Pomegranates so called as I conceive not from any growing there too barren a place for such beautifull fruit but brought thither by the Spies Pomegranates being specified amongst the fruits of the land which here were divided and shared among the people of Israel to show them a sample of the fruitfullness of Canaan Philol. What a blank and vacuity have you left betwixt Ezion-Gaber the thirty second and Kadesh-Zin the thirty third station of the Israelites sixty miles at least without any stage interposed It is not probable that they travelled so far without resting themselves betwixt them Aleth Surely they had intermediate Mansions where they took their nightly repose though not named by Moses because not making any considerable abode therein I conceive that after their departure from Ezion-Gaber God quickned the Israelites who truanted before in their slow and snail-like proceedings making them mend their pace probably travelling every day will they came to Kadesh which their young men might the better endure the old generation being almost worn out Philol. How comes Aaron to be buried in mount Hor whom elsewhere the Scripture affirmeth to be interred in Mosera Aleth It is no news to have severall names for the same place The forest of Black-more and the forest of White-Hart though black and white be contrary colours signifie the self same tract of ground in Dorset-shire Hor was the east part and Mosera the west part of this mountain This Mosera had formerly been the twenty seventh Mansion of the Israelites in their passage to Ezion-Gaber near which afterwards they made their thirty fourth station when Aaron was buried there which sufficiently argues the crookedness of their journying crossing those parts again where they had been before Philol. I commend your cunning that hath slipt over in silence four of the hardest names contained all in one verse Deut. 1. 1. These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Iordan in the wilderness in the plain over against the Red-sea between Paran and Tophel and Luban and Hazerâ—th and Dizahab Direct us to the position of these places Aleth Some conceive the plains of Moab wherein Moses wrote the book of Deuteronomy described thereby with the eminent bounds though at some distance round about it in manner following Others refuse this interpretation as an obscure and far fetch'd bounding of those plains preferring our English translation reading it Red-sea in stead of Zuph or Sedgie-land and so making these severall places the signall stages of the children of Israel in their passage out of Egypt Whereof the Red-sea and Paran are sufficiently known Laban the same with Libnaâ— their seventeenth station Hazeroth the place where Miriam was punished with leprosie Dizahab which the Greek renders golden mines and the Chaldee refers to the place where the golden Calfe was made and stamped to powder whilest Tophel not mentioned again in Scripture is conceived some station in Paran Thus Deuteronomy is a repetition of the law and of the memorable actions which occurred at these severall places Philol. I object nothing against the draught of the Tabernacle because the authority of Arias Montanus whence you confess it taken will pass it without exception But I question the exactness of severall places in your Map of Egypt Aleth You minde me of a Gentlemans finding a Picture in the shop of a Country-Painter whom he mistook for the maker thereof and thereupon fell a finding many faults therein But being informed that the same was drawn by one of the rarest Masters in Italy he instantly turned his cavilling at into commending thereof Such a convent your judgment will quickly be when I shall tell you that the Map of Egypt is of Ortelius his making save onely that the southern part thereof uselesse for our history is cut off and such places onely inserted herein as appears in Scripture The same I plead for the Habits and Idols of the Iews the former taken all out of Scripture the latter out of such Authors as are severally cited in our description Onely I could wish that in the Picture of Moloch out of Benjamins Itinerarie the three statues had been presented â—itting according to our directions And by the Altar to the unknown God we mean not that erected in Athens to a Grecian no Iewish Deity but onely we intend the same for a reserve for those many Iewish Idols whose names and severall worships are unknown unto us But it is time to break off lest one grand objection be made against all our Objections and Answers that they swell the volume into tediousness EZEKIEL his VISIONARY LAND OF CANAAN CHAP. I. Ezekiels visionary Land City and Temple uncapable of a literall meaning § 1.
of more then seven hundred years peaceable possession thereof But this threefold cable was broken with the weight of their sins and so was Israel carried away from their own land to Assyria unto this day Even Lands as well as Goods are moveables though not from their Center from their Owners at leastwise the owners are moveable from their lands § 3. Yet God did not all at once begin and end the captivity of the ten Tribes but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at sundry times and in diverse manners For 1 Pâ—l King of Assyria in the reign of Menahem carried the Reubenites Gadites and half Tribe of Manasseh away to the Cities of the Medes 2 Tiglath-Piâ—â—eser in the days of Pekah transported besides Gilead and the remains of the aforesaid Tribes Galilee namely so much thereof as was in the land of Naphtali unto Assyria 3 Shalmaneser cleared all the rest in the ninth year of Hoshea carrying them away to Halath and Habor by the River Gozan in the Cities of the Medes Probably the second or middle captivity of the Naphtalites afterwards removed themselves into Tartary where Ortelius findes their very name and a City called Tabor Asnoth-Tabor we know was a place in the border of Naphtali imposed no doubt to perpetuate the memory of their native Countrey § 4. Scripture gives us no account what afterwards became of these ten Tribes Onely in Esdras â— book accounted by some as the Apâ—â—rypha of the Apocrypha because never owned for Canonicall either by the Iews Romish Church in generall or Protestant writers we finde them travelling over Euphrates miraculously dried up in their passage towards Arsareth or Tartary a great way namely a journey of a year and an half A long stride indeed and yet might be but little if mending their pace no more then their ancestors did in their passage between Egypt and Canaan But waving Esdras his single testimony these ten Tribes appeare not since in any authenticall relation strange that the posterity of the two Tribes Iudah and Benjamin should be found almost every where whilest the off-spring of the ten Tribes are found no where Thuâ— God hath on them 〈◊〉 that curse which he formerly threatned To scatter them into corners and make the remembrance of them to cease Not that he hath utterly extinguished the being an opinion as unreasonable as uncharitable but hath hitherto concealed the known bâ—ing of so numerous a nation whom we may call the lost-loâ—t sheep of Israel both in respect of their spirituall condition and corporall habitation § 5. Some conceive the modern Amâ—ricans of the Jewish race collecting the same from some resemblances in rites community of customes conformity of clothes fragments of letters foot-steps of knowledge ruines of language though by a casuall coincidence some straggling words of the Athenians may meet in the mouths of the veriest Barbarians and many other Iudaismes amongst the Indians And lately a Jewish Rabbin of Amsterdam tels us that beyond the Cordiller hills and river Maragnon a fair people are found with long beards and rich in clothes living by themselves different in religion from the rest of the Indians whom he will have to be the ten Tribes there remaining in a body together His arguments so prevaile on some formerly contrarily minded as to turn the tyde of their judgment to concur with his with others they make it dead water not to oppose his opinion whilest a third sort listen to his relation as onely priviledged from confutation by the remoteness thereof § 6. For mine own part I behold his report as the Twilight but whether it will prove the morning twilight which will improve it self into full light or that of the evening darkening by degrees into silence and utter obscurity time will discover When the eleven Tribes so virtually may I term them brought news that one lost Tribe Ioseph was found Iacobs heart fainted for he beleeved them not till afterwards he was convinced on clearer evidence How much more then may I be permitted to suspend my judgment when one man brings tydings of ten lost Tribes all found in an instant untill farther proof be made thereof Surely we who now secretly smile at some probable insinuations in his report shall on better assurance have our mouthes filled with laughter not Sarahs laughter of distrust but Abrahams of desire delight and beliefe when his relation shall be confirmed to us from other hands And indeed the messenger deserves to be well paid for his pains who brings clear proof thereof the discovery of the posterity of these ten Tribes being an happy Forerunner and Furtherer of their future conversion CHAP. III. Of the Jews their repossessing their native Countrey § 1. IT is a conceit of the modern Iews that one day they shall return under the conduct of their Messias to the Countrey of Canaan and City of Ierusalem and be re-estated in the full possession thereof If any object that their land now base and barren is not worth the regaining They answer when they shall recover their Countrey the Countrey shall recover its former fruitfulness as if God would effect miracles as fast as man can fancy them With them concur some Protestant Divines maintaining that the Iews shall be restored to a flourishing Common-wealth with the affluence of all outward pomp and pleasure so that they shall fight and conquer Gog and Magog the Turke with many other miraculous achievements One Author so enlargeth the future amplitude of the Jewish State that thereby he occasioned a confining to himself His expressions indiscreetly uttered or uncharitably construed importing that all Christian Princes should surrender their power as homagers to the temporall supreme Empire of the Jewish nation § 2. For the proof of this their position never did the servants of Benhadad more diligently observe or more hastily catch any thing of comfort coming from the mouth of Ahab then the Iews search out and snatch at every gracious promise made to them in the old Testament Such principally as Deut. 30. 3. Then on their repentance the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity and have compassion upon thee and will return and gather thee from all nations whiter the Lord thy God hath scattered thee Isaiah 11. 12. And he shall set up an Ensigne for the nations and shall assemble the out-casts of Israel and gather together the dispersed of Iudah from the four corners of the earth Levit. 26. 44. And yet for all that when they be in the land of their enemies I will not cast them away neither will I abhor them to destroy them utterly and to break my covenant with them for I am the Lord their God § 3. This last place the Iews highly price and such of them as live in Germany call it Simiam auream or the Golden Ape And why so Because forsooth in the