judgments were let loose and became the just executioners of divine vengeance on a wicked nation To conclude such the variety of cattell herein that from hence Noah might have fraught his Ark with a couple of most creatures some few onely excepted useless for mankind save for rarity and fancy as Apes and Peacocks perchance rather Parrats which Solomons navie fetched in and supplied from Tarshish CHAP. 6. Objections against the fruitfulnesse of Judea answered BUt seeing we live in so unbeleeving an age that some have brought the happiness even of heaven it self into question no wonder if such as doubt of the truth deny the type and though Scripture be positive in the point flatly argue against the fruitfulness of Iudea The first sort of their objections are taken from some passages scattered from pagan pennes sleighting Iudea as an unconsiderable countrey Thus Strabo speaking of Moses winning it from the first inhabitants 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 easily saith he he obtained it being a land of which none need be ambitious and for which none would studiously engage themselvâ—â— to fight for it was a stony countrey To which we answer first in generall Heathen writers knew little and spake less good of the Iews because of the grand distance of Religions betwixt them My people saith God are like a speckled bird and therefore being of a different feather from other fowl in point of divine worship no wonder if their neighbours flocked about them to flout at them hooting at their strange devotion though such mocked at by men for Owles may be made of by God as Nightingales Excellently Iosephus in his book against Apion the Grammarian doth prove that no credit is to be given to Pagan reports against the Iews And as they loved not that people so they liked not their place causlesly raising slanders upon it More particularly Strabo in his rash censure counting Iudea not a prize worth the contending for is confuted by the course of history Let the Romans too cunning Merchants to venture on worthless ware tell how much the City of Ierusalem cost them paying an ounce of bloud for every inch of ground therein 2 Object It is said in the Scripture it self Numb 13. 23. that it was a land which eateth up the inhabitants thereof It seems it was a very lean hungry and barren land which in stead of feeding the dwellers therein fed upon them Answ. It is said so indeed but by whom The false spies whose tongues were no slander Now whatsoever they meant by this their expression certainly their words intend not any barrennesse in that countrey having formerly vers 27. confessed the transcendent fertility thereof Except any will say that these Spies did now revoke their former witness and if so we look no longer on the land of Canaan as devouring her inhabitants but on these unconstant liers as eating their own words However their first testimony when untampered with by the people they spake their own sense and gave in their true verdict of the Land is to be beleeved before their second character of this Countrey when infected with popular discontentments they studied cavills against the same Besides if the meaning of their words a land eating up the inhabitants thereof be as it is generally interpreted a land whose inhabitants by civill warres mutually destroy one another it tends more to the credit then disgrace of the Countrey It is no fault in that rich pasture if the grasse thereof be Provender in goodnesse so that the horses fed therein wax so wanton as to fight one with another 3 Object Water is a staple commodity for mans support whose life lame in it self soon falls to the ground if not held up by the Staffe of bread in one hand and water in the other Now Iudea had great want of this Element a Well being counted such a treasure amongst them that great strivings have happened about it Answ. Iudea wanted no water though dry in comparison of England We northern nations are ready to suspect the southern parts as afire with a Feaver whilest southern Countreys may fear lest our lands be drowned with a Dropsie such the superfluity of rain and Rivers amongst us Let Iudea be compared with her neighbours in the same Climate and she would be found not onely to equall but to exceed them in conveniency of water The Scripture describes it a land of brooks of water of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills c. And because many now adays will beleeve the Maids word before the Mistresses I mean humane before divine testimony hear how Strabo speaks to this point 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Countrey it selfe indeed was well watered but the coasts about were base and ill watered Besides Rivers Iudea had constantly save when the windowes of heaven were miraculously shut up the former and the later rain which like Trade winds on some seas came at set seasons at Seed-time and before Harvest So that heaven may be said to have kept an Ordinary for Iudea and to have fed it at eating hours with set meales of water whereas other countreys have no such standing Table kept for them being left at large to the uncertainty of weather and not always drinking when they were athirst but when they could get moisture 4 Object Ammianus Marcellinus reports that therein were no navigable â—ivers which must needs be a great hindrance of commerce in the Countrey Answ. The term navigable must be distinguished on Confesse we that Iudea had no vast streames in it like Nilus or the Danâ—w whose chanels are capable of Boats ships fâ—llows yet wanted it not Rivers to carry vessells of considerable burthens Every Tribe therein did border on the Mid-land sea or on the river of Iordan up which river even against the streame they used to sail in vessells bearing burdens not unlike our western Barges by the confession of other authors 5. Object It was full of mountains which generâ—lly are conceived destructive to the fruitfulness of a countrey Answ. Such dwarf-mountains or Giant-hills made the land insensibly larger in extenâ— no whit lesser in increase Was ever a great belly brought for an argument of barreness especially seeing these mountains in Iudea did not swell with a mock-mother Tympany but were pregnant with speciall commodities Some cattell as Goâ—tes and plants as Vines are never more triumphant on their throne then when advantaged on the sides of such hills The Geographer speaking of Trachonitis the coursest list and most craggy ground about the countrey of Iudea acknowledgeth there were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 grassie and fair fruitfull hills which as they afforded a delightfull prospect so they conduced much to make the cities impregnable which were built amongst them 6. Object Mention there is in Scripture of many deserts in Iudea as if the countrey were nothing else but a
after the days of Ioshua let him consider 1 How the same face is disguised by different dressing Palestine afterwards when divided betwixt the twelve Tribes being tricked and trimmed with many new Cities had the favour thereof quite altered 2 How the pictures drawn by the same exact Artist of the same person first when a youth afterwards when an old man must have much difference betwixt them and the distance of some hundreds of years causeth a necessary variation in the descriptions of the same Countreys It will be objected that though age and accidents may alter the old and induce new lineaments in mens faces yet the Simile holds not in the description of Countreys where the same chanels of sea courses of rivers falls of vales flats of plains ridges of hills must remain As for mountains time for want of carriage must be forced to leave such luggage behind her and therefore that such land and water-marks must always continue without any considerable alteration But it is answered that even these seeming Standards of nature are moveable with time and casualty inundations tempests and earthquakes in the last being the earths violent cough sometimes she spits up her own lungs casting up great hills where never were any before What the Apostle speaks in an higher sense is true of the materiall world and the severall countreys therein The fashion of this world passeth away so that to the very view of the eye the shape form and garb thereof is metamorphosed Besides other Anagrams hapning in the land of Canaan lands afterwards transposed for water and water for land one is most remarkable namely when the pleasant vale of Siddim nigh the banks of Iordan was turned into the salt-sea or noisome Asphaltite-lake This was the work of the Lord and it may justly seem marvellous in our eyes But of the cause time and manner of this alteration largely God willing hereafter Here the Map of old Canaan it to be inserted CHAP. 9. The third division of the land into twelve Tribes some of all which Tribes remained untill at and after the time of our Saviour § 1. THe third solemn division of Palestine was made by Ioshua into twelve Tribes of whose severall bounds largely in our ensuing discourse This partition remained untill Shalmaneser carried ten Tribes away captive and in exchange brought in his own colonies to possess their conquered Countrey However although the main body of the ten Tribes were thus transplanted without any hope to return to their native soil yet some competent representation of every Tribe remained behind in their own countrey even untill at and after the time of Christ and his Apostles § 2. Alledge not to the contrary that it is said after Shalmaneser's carrying them away captive there was none left but the Tribe of Iudah onely Understand it that Iudah onely remained in the flourishing condition of a kingdome That onely was the visible standing-corn amongst which others of Israel like loose eares were scattered But to the point that some gleanings of these ten Tribes remained in their countrey after the Assyrian captivity may be proved 1 From the very nature of a generall calamity which lighting on a populous nation cannot so particularly apply it self to every individuall person but that some will escape The hired rasor made not such clean work as to shave every hair but that some small down might creep under the edge thereof That Besome of destruction swept not so clean but that some dust may be presumed left behind in the small crevices of the countrey Some no doubt by timely flight casuall absence especiall favour secret concealment might escape and others through age and sickness unable to travell might be permitted to remain behind 2 Mention is made of a remnant which escaped out of the hands of the King of Assyria And when â—iezekiah kept his solemn passover he sent messengers to Ephraim Manasseh Issachar Zebulun Asher some of whom made a mock at his courtesie and others thankfully embraced his gracious invitation 3 Iosiah in his passover celebrated in the eighteenth year of his reign ninety and odde years after the banishment of the twelve Tribes assembled there all Iudah and Israel that were present or found § 3. Such remnants of the ten Tribes being afterwards carried captive with Iudah to Babylon returned thence with the rest of their brethren as probably is insinuated 1 By the sacrifice at the dedication of the second Temple A sin offering for all Israel twelve hee-goats according to the number of the Tribes of Israel In expression no doubt of gladness of some of every Tribe present thereat 2 By the number of such as returned amounting to forty two thousand three hundred and threescore Now whosoever shall be pleased to cast up the particular sums of the severall families of Iudah and Benjamin set down there will find them fall short twelve thousand of the foresaid number Where therefore shall we supply the account Hear how the great Jewish-Chronicle set forth not long after our Saviours time resolves this question Surely they were made up of those who came up from Babylon to Ierusalem of other Tribes 3 The Scripture saith after the captivity of Babylon that there dwelt in Ierusalem besides those of Iudah and Benjamin of the children of Ephraim and Manasseh Nor is the testimony of Iosephus to be slighted herein though Ios. Scaliger causlesly condemns it affirming that the King of Egypt employed seventy two Iews to translate the Bible into Greek taking six out of every Tribe which compleat that number § 4. That such fragments of the ten Tribes returning from Babylon were reestated in their ancient possessions I dare not affirm but rather believe the contrary For there was no inducting them into their former inheritances because no vacancy or avoidance therein terra plena the land was still full with the plantation of Medes and others brought in by Shalmaneser So that this remnant of the ten Tribes were for the main fain promiscuously to make their habitations where they might whilst Iudah and Benjamin were restored to their ancient intire and distinct possessions Yet there is some probability that some of Zebulun and Nephthali in our Saviours time had recovered part of their ancient patrimony Otherwise the force of Isaiahs prophecy and Matthews application is much impaired The land of Zebulun and the land of Nephthali c. The people that sate in darkness saw great light That is in a genuine and unstrained sense their posterity had the day of deliverance first dawning unto them whose ancestors were first overtaken with the night of affliction § 5. That in the time of Christ and his Apostles some pious people of all Tribes were extant in Iudea plainly appears 1 By Anna the Prophetess which was of the Tribe of Asher 2 By Saint Pauls expression Unto which promise our twelve Tribes instantly serving God
Prophet it may be ranked with the making of Dinah Iacobs daughter to be Iobs wife and with Ruth her being daughter to Eglon King of Moab all which three traditions are equally improbable in themselves altogether ungrounded on Scripture and yet peremptorily affirmed of the Jewish Doctors Nor have I ought else to observe of this City save that the Hebrew name of Zarephah signifieth a conflatory or melting place where metals whereof plenty in this Province were made fuâ—il by the fire in their furnaces § 27. Accho remains to be observed in the south part of this Tribe and confines of Zebulun A learned writer conceiveth it called Ace by Grecians from affording medicine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek to Hercules when hurt in his conflict with the Lernaean Serpent Whereas indeed Ace is plainly derived from Accho the Scriputre name of this City Thus those who take aime from the Greek tongue to shoot at the Etymologies of Hebrew places come wide of the mark This city was afterwards called Ptolemais from one of the Kings of Egypt Here I forbear to recite how Ionathan through the perfidiousness of Tryphon and his own over credulity was trained into this city taken and murdered Saint Paul sailing from Tyre touched here saluted the brethren and abode with them one day As for Achzib a city of Asher whence they could not expell the Canaanites it was seated nine miles north of Ptolemais being a tolerable harbour and called Ecdippa afterwards § 28. Many were the rivolets in this Tribe but those no sooner delivered out of the wombe of their fountains but devoured in the grave of the Ocean onely Belus hath got a name though not in Scripture running through the Cendevian Lake famous for its inexhausted sands turning all things it toucheth into glass As for the sepulcher of Memnon whom the Poets feign the son of the Morning and Iosephus erects his monument near the river Belus we take no notice thereof being hereafter to finde his tombe the dew of whose birth is as the wombe of the morning in a far distant place § 29. The Armes usually assigned to Asher are azure a standing cup covered Or relating to Iacobs blessing he shall yeeld royall dainties A cup being taken here by a Synedochicall metonymie for all plentifull Provisions Asher otherwise affording dishes as well as cups and esculents as well as variety of beverage But should the shield of this Tribe be as full of charge as the land thereof was fruitfull of commodities what was the credit of the countrey would be the disgrace of the Coate of Asher Here the Map of Zebulun is to be inserted THE TRIBE OF ZEBVLVN CHAP. 6. § 1. ZEbulun tenth son of Iacob by Leah his wise had his posterity so increased in Egypt that fifty seven thousand four hundred were extracted from him All which dying in the wilderness for their manifold disobedience their next generation being sixty thousand five hundred possessed the land of Canaan Honourable mention on all occasions is made of this Tribe in Scripture How forwâ—rd were they in their expedition against Sisera in so much as out of Zebulun they came down that handled the pen of the writer Gown-men turned Sword-men Clerks became Captains changing their penknives into swords Thus the peaceableness of their profession can bail none to stay at home when eminent danger arrests all at the suite of the Commonwealth to serve in person abroad David calls them the Princes of Zebulun c. and well might he afford them that style of dignity who attended him at Hebron with an army so absolutely accomplished For 1 Number fifty thousand 2 Skill expert in war which could keep ranke 3 Weapons with all instruments of war 4 Loyalty they were not of double hearts Yet in all ages of all the numerous Tribe of Zebulun we finde but two Grandees expressed by name Elon a peaceable Judge and Ionah an eminent Prophet But what shall we say A greater then Ionah was here even Christ himself the honour and dishonour though not of the tribe of the land of Zebulun honor because here miraculously conceived poorly painfully bread brought up here frequent in preaching working of miracles dishonour because carelesly neglected and scornfully contemned yea dispightfully persecuted of his own countreymen § 2. Zebulun had Asher on the north-west Naphtali on the north-east Issachar on the south the Mediterranean on the west and Galilean sea on the east thereof This maritime position of this Tribe Iacob foresaw in his Prophecy Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the Sea and he shall be for an haven of ships and his border shall be unto Zidon Which Charter of sea conveniencies is renewed and enlarged by Moses in his blessing Rejoyce Zebulun in thy going out and Issachar in thy tents They shall call the people unto the mountains and there shall they offer Sacrifices of righteousness for they shall suck of the abundance of the Seas and treasures hid in the sand Where though these two Tribes be made Partners and joint sharers in marine interests and are promised equall profit thereby yet Issachar it seems loved land and an home life best imploying his canvase rather for Tents then Sails whilest the sea and going out in long voiages was rather Zebuluns delight So have I seen chickens and ducklings hatched under the same hen no sooner unhoused out of their shels but presently the one falls a pecking on the ground the other a padling in the water § 3. Nor let any be staggered at the close of Iacobs Prophecy wherein he foretelleth Zebuluns border shall be unto Sidon finding this Tribe to fall many miles short and south of that place For Sidon is not there to be taken for the City but Countrey so named And the land of the Sidonians or Phenicians extended to Accho or Ptolemais a city thereof on which the north bound of Zebulun did confine Greater will be the difficulty to assigne a cleare reason why in the first book of Chronicles where the Pedegrees of all the other Tribes are reckoned up Zebulun and Dan as considerable and deserving as the rest is omitted The best is places not persons concern our present subject and I hope I shall not betray such indiscretion to leave the plain and ready Rode of my work in hand to enter into the wood not to say the bog of an impertinent question § 4. We begin with the sea of Galilee the eastern boundary of this Tribe called always a sea by three of the Evangelists but generally a Lake by Saint Luke Indeed amongst lakes it may be accounted for a Sea such the greatness amongst seas reputed for a lake such the sweetness and freshness of the water therein The extent thereof is most variously reported amongst Authors Iosephus makes it an hundred furlongs long and sixe broad Pliny
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-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
c. Statesmen Caleb Ahitophel and Prophets Natâ—an Amos Micah that in dignity as in strength and number it surmounted all the rest Yea Napthali's fearfull Hinde durst not bellow nor Issachars patient Ass bray nor Ephraims strong Oxe low nor Benjamins cruell Wolfe howle nor Dans cunning Serpent hiss if Iudah's Princely Lion was pleased to roare as Commander of all the beasts of the field and forest § 3. However I dare not with some interpret Iacobs solemn prophecy the Scepter shall not depart from Iudah nor the Law-giver from between his feet untill Shiloh come of a constant Soveraignty immoveably fixed in this Tribe till the birth of our Saviour a Tenet unteinable with truth seeing of the many Judges in Israel but two of this Tribe Saul the first King of Benjamin and the Maccabees of the Tribe of Levi who after the captivity attained to Kingly honour amongst the Iews Rather we understand Iacobs words of the whole nation whom he in the Spirit foresaw should in process of time be called Iews as the land Iudea from Iudah and expound them to be a prediction that the Iews should never totally and finally lose the visible being of a kingdome or common-wealth with a form of government amongst themselves though often changed and altered in the manner obscured and eclipsed in the lustre confined and emparied in the power thereof untill Messiah should be manifested in the flesh Which came to pass accordingly when the Iews at our Saviours birth and more completely at and after his death had lost all shadows of a free State totally inslaved to the Romane Emperour To whom alone bâ—longed 1 The Militia with the Castle giving martial-law to the Temple it self 2 Coine stamped with the image and superscription of Cesar. 3 Customes collected yea extorted by his Publicanes 4 Power in causes capitall by the Priests own confession It is not lawfull for us to put any man to death And the prophecy of Iacob thus expounded is both clear in it self and according to the interpretatioâ— of the Ancients § 4. This Tribe had Dan and Simeon on the west Benjamin on the north the wilderness of Paran oâ— the south and the dead-Dead-sea on the east Extending east and west welnigh fourty miles but from Cadesh-Barnea to Ierusalem was about sixty six Where in this countrey was conteined a mountainous land but fruitfull with all commodities for pleasure and profit We begin with the dead-Dead-sea Iudah's eastern boundary and so shall proceed to â—â—rround it in our description § 5. This was once a fruitâ—ull countrey called the vale of Siddim even as the garden of the Lord Paradi se it self Too like indeed thereto both for the pleasure thereof and Seâ—pent therein the spreading wickedness of the vicious Sodomites Lot chose to live here not because the people were well nurtured but the place well â—vatered though better watered no doubt during his living there with his teares from a soul vexed with their filthy conversation He lost by his dwelling among them for whose sins he was carried captive by Chedorlaomer They gained by their dwelling so near him for whose sake they were rescued by his uncle Abraham Yea afterwards Abraham endevoured to save the whole city of Sodome beating down the price of Gods justice as low as possibly it might consist with his honour to ten righteous men and yet that too high a rate for the piety of Sodome to reach so general was the wickedness therein Hereupon Sodome with three neighbouring Cities Gomorrah Admah and Zeboim was destroyed with fire and brimstone from heaven and thereby the whole Countrey turned into a standing stinking lake § 6. Some will say it was strange that fire should beget water a combustion produce an inundation More proper it had been that such an inflammation should have left and Aetna Hecla or Vesuvius behinde it fuming if not burning always The rather because next morning this place presented it self to the eyes of Abraham as the smoke of a furnace But such must know that when the fire was once out 1 The Countrey by nature was low and levell being a depressed plain and so more subject to drowning 2 Iordan running through this vale and there sinking into the ground had a quality in the first moneth to overflow his banks and so prone to occasion a deluge 3 Probably the river was formerly bridled with artificiall banks which either were then broken down with that tempest or afterwards decayed by degrees when the people were destroyed 4 Iordan in the vacancy of the inhabitants having got violent possession fenced and fortified himself in the slime-pits as in so many castles whereof great plenty in that place and could not afterwards be ejected Thus his title to this plain though at first an unjust usurpation and incroachment is made lawfull by the prescription of three thousand years possession § 7. This sea is known by severall names 1. The Dead-sea either because the Charnel-house of so many dead carcasses then destroyed therein or because it kills all creatures coming into it or lastly because dull and dead not enlivened with a tide or quickned with any visible motion one main cause of the offensive savour thereof laziness disposing men to lewdness and waters to putrefaction 2. The Salt-sea salt indeed from the sulphurous combustions first occasioning it 3. By Greek writers it is termed the Asphaltite-lake from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Bitumen growing plentifully thereabouts This Bitumen we are fain to retain the Latine word our land neither affording the thing nor our language the name to signifie it is a clammy glutinous substance usefull in Physick to astringe in Surgery to consolidate Used by the rich as morter to build as in the tower of Babel by the poor as oile to burn therfore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in hebrew quickly kindled hardly quenched flaming far and long as partaking much of pitch and more of brimstone in the nature thereof And such as could not goe to the cost of richer spices used it for imbalming their dead being a great drier and so preserver from corruption § 8. This Salt-sea was sullen and churlish differing from all other in the conditions thereof David speaking of other seas saith there goe the ships and there is that Leviathan which thou hast made to play therein so instancing in the double use of the sea for ships to saile and fishes to swim in But this is serviceable for neither of these intents no vessels sailing thereon the clammy water being a reall Remora to obstruct their passage and the most sportfull fishes dare not jest with the edged-tools of this Dead-sea which if unwillingly hurried thereinto by the force of the stream of Iordan they presently expire Yea it would kill that Apocrypha-Dragon which Daniel is said to have choaked with lumps of pitch fat and hair if he should be so
into the Syrian or Mediteâ—ranean-sea Aleth His error therein is confuted both by ancient and modern writers Strabo speaking thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which Chrysorrhoâ—s beginning from the City and Countrey of Damascus in a manner is wholly spent in drains thence derived for it watereth much ground and that very deep Some thing more may be collected from Ptolemies expression not terming the fall of Chrysorrhoas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his ordinary word the Out-lets or Ejections thereof into the sea but onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the End or determination thereof Where by the degrees by him assigned Beâ—tius in his Maps presenteth this River swallowed up wholly in the sands and the same is confessed by Bellonius an eye-witness thereof and other modern Geographers that it never cometh unto any sea Philol. You have omitted the Vale of Salt in your Map near Aramâ— Zobaâ— neither mentioning in your description that most memorable defeat which David gave the Syrians therein Your modern Merchants of Aleppo will inform you thereof who have been on the very place where the battell was fought as tradition reporteth Aleth I have heard so much from the mouths of my judicious friends which have lived in those parts and have formerly read the same in effect How within halfe a days-journey of Aleppo there is a very great plain without grass growing on it the sand whereof is naturally good salt and after rain being dried again with the Sun the people gather it However I cannot be perswaded that this Salt Vale was the place whereon David gave his enemies that notable overthrow as on the perusall of the following Scriptures will appear 2 Sam. 8. 13 And David gat him a name when he returned from smiting the Syrians in the valley of Salt being eighteen thousand men And he put garrisons in Edom throughout all Edom put he garrisons 1 Chr. 18. 12. Moreover Abishai the sonne of Zerviah slew of the Edomites in the valley of Salt eighteen thousand Inscription of Psal. 60. To the chief Musician upon Sushan-Eduth Michtam of David to teach When he strove with Aram Maharaim and with Aram Zobah when Ioab returned and smote of Edom in the valley of Salt twelve thousand Here under favour I conceive these severall Scriptures intend one and the same victory because fought in the same place the Valley of Salt whilest the seeming contradictions in the names of the Conquerors different numbers and nations of the persons conquered are easiely reconciled 1. Ioab as Generall might give the Command and Abishai Lieutenant Generall do the execution whilest David as Soveraign received the honour of the Action 2. Twelve thousand might be slain on the place and six more kild in the pursuit so making up eighteen thousand in the totall number 3. This slaughter fell on the Edomites who are called Syrians not by their Countrey though Syria taken in a large sense is comprehensive of many nations but cause and confederacy as ingaging themselves to their cost auxiliaries in the same quarrell of the Syrians against King David This battell thus stated with most probability in my opinion it seems fought rather in the land of Edom where there is another Valley of Salt eminent in Scripture and not near Aleppo or Aram Zobah However because Tradition is a Tyrant on the contrary I dare resolve nothing positively but suspend my own and attend the judgments of others herein Philol. You make Marra the next modern stage south of Aleppo whereas there be many moe miles and intermediate lodging-places namely Cane-Toman and Saracoop betwixt them Aleth I confess no less but am sorry your memory is so short that I must so often incultate the same rule unto you That places situate on the Um-stroke such the location of Aleppo in our Map are not in their exact position whilest we onely make a long arme to reach them confusedly into our description though otherwise they be at greater distance then the scale of miles will admit Philol. I wonder you make the Mediterranean from Tripoli to Antioch to run with such a crooked flexure in form of an Hook which certainly will not catch the beleefe of any judicious beholder thereof The rather because no Geographers take cognizance of it and such a bending is disavowed by all modern Maps Aleth Consult Ptolemies Maps as drawn by learned Bertius and they present the fashion thereof accordingly though such an Elbow appears not in the late Cardes of this Countrey No news now adays for Sea to gain Land to lose or reciprocally both to alter their ancient and accept new forms seeing our Cornish-men will tell us that a good piece of their horn is blunted and broken off by the sea whose land formerly stretched out more westward and was called as they say Lioness before the waters devoured both the paws and whole body thereof CHAP. XXI Objections answered against the eastern confines of Palestine Philol. YOu have left the eastern part of this Map altogether empty which you ought to have furnished with moe towns and Cities therein Aleth Whose image and superscription doth this Map bear Is it not of Arabia the desert a wild barren Countrey To make a desert full is as absurd as to paint a Black-more faire Besides whence should the Geographer fetch the names of these Cities except from his own groundless fancy And then as King Edgar is said to have founded in England as many Monasteries as there be weeks in the year a Map-maker might build moe Cities then there be hours therein whilest the Reader must have as much simplicity as the Author dishonesty that gives credit thereunto Philol. You have false pointed to use your own expression the Iewish peregrinations seeing those four intermediate stages Comma's as you term them be Ar Mattanah Nahaliel and Bamoth being named after the stream of Arnon seem on the other side of the River and therefore rather to be placed in the Tribe of Reuben Aleth I have consulted the text and best Comments upon it and cannot yet be convinced but that the same is rightly situate Arnon I conceive divided into many streams therefore plurally termed the brooks of Arnon probably tributary brooks running into that main River and though the places aforesaid lay north of these rivolets they were south of the main Arnon and in the land of Moab However because of their so ambiguous posture being more willing to learn then to teach I am ready to alter them on any better information Philol. You make Iobs sons tent in your Map blown down on his children therein whereas Scripture calleth it expresly an house and otherwise it is unlikely they should be slain with such slight curtains falling upon them Aleth I will not plead that a tent is also termed an house in Scripture phrase that tent-dwelling was most fashionable in the eastern Countries especially in that ancient age that statory or long standing tents were
was called Pisgah in the days of Saint Ierome § 24. Having now for a while reposed our selves in the pleasant Plains of Moab let us not tire when our task in this Tribe grows so near to an end Going a little northward we cannot misse the three Stations whither Balak brought Balaam to curse the Israelites For having first freely feasted Balaam at Kiriath-Huzzoth his chief City in the land of Moab he brought him over Arnon onely to see the utmost skirts of the people hoping if he could but kindle his curse in any corner it would quickly burn all the house of Israel But thrice he struck fire to no purpose 1t. In Bamoth Baal or the high places of Baal 2ly In the field of Zophim at the top of the hill 3ly In the top of Peor which looks towards Ieshimon building in each place seven Altars and sacrificing a Bullock and Ram on every of them What was the designe of the Sorcerer Conceived he that heaven was covetous like himself and might be bribed with sacrifices Surely the stench of his hypocrisie out-sented all the smell of his burnt offerings Or thought he by often changing the scene to act the more upon God He that is the same yesterday and to day and for ever receives no more impression from the shifting of place then from the changing of time Or did he hope with the mystery of his numbers Thrice seven Altars to flatter heaven into a consent All numbers are but bare Cyphers to him that is infinite O how he sweats for the wages of iniquity How is his tongue distracted between the Spirit of God and the spirit of gold All in vain the further he goes the worser he speeds but the better he speaks falling at last from â—lenting to down right blessing of Israel However though he did not his work he received his wages And if Balak at that time did not pay him with gold yet afterwards the Israelites did with steel justly slaying him with the sword § 25. Pass we now still more northward by the place where Elias ascending to heaven in a Chariot of fire left his mantle and a double portion of his spirit to Elisha his servant and successour and by Mephaah a City of the Levites to Sibmah so famous for her fruitfull vinyards Going through which the Reader may eat grapes to the full at his own pleasure A liberty lawfully allowed him but beware putting up any into his vessell lest he be apprehended for a trespasser For the same law which provides for his necessity punisheth his covetousness And what is this whole world with the wealth thereof but a vinyard wherein happy he who hath enough to serve his turn seeing when he dieth he shall carry nothing away with him It seems in Sibmah there was some one signall vine eminent for greatness above the rest or else that all her vines grew so close and uniform that they resembled one entire and continued tree The Prophets always addressing themselves unto it in the singular number O vine of Sibmah I will weep for thee c. § 26. Our work is ended when we have viewed the north part of this Tribe where it confineth on Gad. Where we onely meet with one place of note Heshbon anciently the royall Palace of Sihon King of the Amorites afterwards a City of the Levites Which the Scripture placeth sometimes in Reuben and sometimes in Gad. To accommodate this difference without making of two Cities of the same name such multiplication unwarrantable save where absolute necessity enforceth it I finde no fitter expedient then by setting Heshbon so equally between these two Tribes as partially in both and totally in neither Thus Bristoll is situated betwixt Glocester and Somerset shires and yet challengeth to be an absolute Liberty of it self as this Heshbon also was an entire demeans of the Levites One fair gate it had called Beth Rabbim gate nigh to which were most clear and pleasant fishponds to which the eyes of the Spouse are compared by Solomon Not that she was troubled with watery eyes like Leah the resemblance being recounted amongst her perfections not defects or that her eyes as some may fancy are compared to Pools moistened with teares for her sins but because of her clear and perspicuous vision and apprehension of heavenly Mysteries § 27. As for the mountains of Emek which Mr. More in his Map without alledging any warrant from Scripture otherwise his constant custome makes the bounds betwixt Reuben and Gad I have placed them accordingly yet so that the Reader without a miraculous Faith may remove these mountains to some other place when he finds just cause for the same At which time also when proceeding on more infallible principles for their situation let him take down our conjecturall Flags from the tops of Mephaah Zerethshahar c. now placed but by guesse and let him dispose of them if he can in a more exact position § 28. So much for Reuben not forgetting how in the days of Solomon when the land was divided into Purveyer-ships to make monthly provisions for his Courts Gebar the son of Uri had al the country once of Siâ—on King of the Amorites but then possest by Reuben in his circuit whence no doubt plenty of good fare out of this Pasture-countrey so abounding in cattell was brought to Ierusalem Now we have placed the name of Amorites on the sinister front of this our description because they were the old inhabitants of this Countrey our constant custome through this Book in the adverse page opposite to the Tribes name to insert one of the seven Nations of Canaan former owners of that land conceiving it to conduce much to the illustration of Scripture § 29. Modern Heralds by Commission authorized from the Jewish Rabbines assign to Reuben for armes Argent three Bars waveè azure in allusion to Iacobs Legacy Unstable as water thou shalt not excell For as water cannot hold it self but as it is held in a vessell so Reuben could not contain himself within the bounds of chastity till shame and sorrow did reclaim him Besides as water once shed is never to be gathered up again so Reuben could never after recollect his lost credit to recover the full favour of his Father Though once he endevoured to gather up some spilt drops of his reputation by projecting the deliverance of Ioseph from his brethren but his design miscarried § 30. For mine own part I cannot concur with the common opinion that these three Bars waveè were the Armes of Reuben principally because Armes are honorary ensignes assign'd or assum'd for the greater grace of the bearer Improbable therefore that this Tribe to perpetuate the infamy of their ancestour would always have water running in their shield as if Reubens crime were the Reubenites credit like such whom the Apostle reproves that glory in their shame Rather let us hearken
Sauls and his sons corps they took down from Bethshan bring them home burn the flesh and bury the bones thereof under a tree neare the City The Iews generally interring their dead under some Oak pleased perchance with the parallel that as those plants seemingly dead in winter have every spring an annuall resurrection so mens dry bones shall have new sap put into them at the day of Judgment David afterwards removed the bones of Saul and Ionathan buried them in the sepulchre of Kish their father in Zelab in the Countrey of Benjamin § 24. From the fords of Ephraim Iordan taketh his course by the Cities of Ataroth and Debir of which we can say neither more nor less but that they are called Ataroth and Debir For these places let Ataroth-shophan Beth-haran c. march in the same rank are so short-lived in Scripture that they live onely to be named and presently vanish away without any more mention of them Not long after Iordan leaving this Tribe runneth into Reuben § 25. More inland in Gad lay the large and fruitfull Countrey of Gilead whereof more fitly and fully in the next Tribe For though this Tribe of Gad had South-Gilead in her borders yet under favour I conceive that North-Gilead which belonged to Manasseh was the firstand best Countrey of that name Now whereas we read in Scripture that Gad had all the Cities of Gilead and few verses after that Manasseh had half Gilead know that Gilead is taken restrictively in the former and generally in the latter acception § 26. Ramoth-Gilead called also Ramoâ—h-mizpeh was metropolis of Gad-Gilead It belonged to the Levites and was also a City of refuge afterwards won by the King of Aram. Then alas that city which so often had saved others from the pursuit of their enemies could not preserve it self from the sword of the Syrians Here it was verified Quod non capit Christus rapit fiscus For upon Ieroboams introducing of Idolatry the pious Levites were outed of their possessions and now the pagan Syrians revenging their quarrell ejected Israel out of this City wrongfully wrested from the Levites § 27. However not long after Ahab and Iehoshaphat with joint forces besieged it when the army of the Syrians bad them both battell Iehoshaphat at Ahabs perswasion pretending his honour but intending therein his own safety appeared in his Princely equipage whilest the other disguised himself in the army Now the Syrians having received speciall orders to fight neither against small nor great save onely with the King of Israel mistake Iehoshaphat for the King of Israel directed in their conjectures unto him by the lustre of his royall Robes Bravery betrays men to danger and not onely sets up a fair mark but giveth malice the right ground to throw at it And was it not just with God that Iehoshaphat who in complement had profest to Ahab I am as thou art should in realty be taken to be the same indeed But upon his crying out the Syrians apprehend their errour and desist from further pursuing him § 28. But divine Justice continues the chace of Ahab Guilt cannot hide it self in a croud and there is no way for a notorious sinner to disguise himself from Gods eye but by his sincere repentance A man draws a bow at adventures and all-seeing providence guiding blind chance to the joints of Ahabs armour mortally wounds him It seems not onely the Corselet but also the putting on thereof must be of proof to fence death out which otherwise will creep in at a small cranny Yet Ahab was staid up in his chariot til even then the Sun his life set together Some years after King Iehoram Ahabs son at the same place received wounds of more honour and less danger when forcibly he recovered this Ramoth-Gilead from the Kings of Syria But of all Iehorams hurts here received none went so near his heart as that in this City a son of the Prophets sent by Elisha did anoint Iehu a Captain of the Hoste to be his successour and King of Israel § 29. We had wholly forgotten no shame to confess and amend our faults the small Countrey of Sharon in the north-east part of this tribe It seems it was parcell of the demeans of the Crown in the days of King David where his heards were fed under the care and charge of Shetrai the Sharonite David we see was not onely a good man and good King but also a good husband stocking this his land to his best profit knowing full well soon would the State of his Court-hall be abated if the thrift in his countrey Kitchin were not preserved Nor was Sharon a place less pleasant then profitable where plenty of fragrant roses grew to which Christ the Churches spouse is pleased to resemble himself not for any fading condition but fair sight sweet smell and cordiall vertues wherein he excelled § 30. Here some will inquire In what capacity did David hold his land in Sharon and elsewhere where his cattell was grased seeing being Iesse's youngest Son little land was left him from his Father and none at all in the Tribe of Gad. The difficulty is increased because in so pent and populous a countrey scarce a foot thereof but related to some owner not having power to alienate it from his heires to whom at the farthest it was to revert at the year of Iubilee when all dead possessions had a resurrection to their proper owners We conceive David held this land by one of the following Titles 1 By the fundamentall establishment of the Crown For sure when that Kings were made publick provision was made for their Princely support who as Lords of Manors have commonage sance number amongst their Tenants might feed their cattell any where in their own dominions 2 By improvement of wast grounds which fell to the King as Lord of the Soile Yea seeing God made provisionary Laws for the Kings behaviour four hundred years before any King was in Israel why might not a reserve of land be also left at the partition of the countrey by lot for their Kings future maintenance 3 By mutuall compact some subjects on valuable consideration as perchance the relaxing the tribute due from every person to his Prince might part not with the propriety but present profit of their land for the Kings conveniency 4 By attainder of Traitours whose lands it seems were at least for some term of time at the Kings disposall witness Davids granting all Mephibosheth had unto Ziba 5 By conquest as most probable it is this Sharon was won from the Ammonites when Rabba was taken from them However we may prefume that Davids title though unknown to us was undoubted in it self free from the least suspicion of injustice according to his own counsell Trust not in oppression become not vain in robbery
measures it to be sixteen miles long and six broad Munster assignes it to be twenty German miles eighty English in compass Bunting contracts it to twelve in length four miles and somewhat more in breadth Biddulph a late English Divine and eye-witness thereof computes it eight leagues in length and five in breadth three miles to all leagues whom for the main we have followed Others assigne it other dimensions all agree it is not very great But what it wants in bigness it hath in variety of names called the Sea of 1 Cinnereth onely in the old Testament from a City of that name in the Tribe Naphtali Others conceive it so named from Kinnor an Harp in Hebrew which it is said in shape to resemble sure the high winds sometimes make but bad musick to the eares of mariners when playing thereupon 2 Gennesareth 3 Tiberias cities of note in our Saviours time flourishing thereon 4 Galilee the countrey which almost on all sides surrounded it Small vessels sometimes termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ships sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Boates or Barges went to and again in this sea Gally-like sailing or rowing or perchance both as they saw their advantage They were little of strength because no Pirates to molest them and not great of burthen not comparable to the ship wherein Saint Paul sailed on the Mediterranean Sea carrying two hundred threescore and sixteen souls which for the greatness thereof might be Admirall of all the Navy in the new Testament The river of Iordan runneth through the midst of this Sea and mingleth not therewith but preserveth his own stream intire which some impute to the swiftness yea rapidness of his course not at leasure to take notice of much less to unite with any water he meets in the way before he come to his journeys end at the dead Sea § 5. This was the onely and all the seas that ever our Saviour sailed upon It is reported of wise Cato that he repented he ever went thither by Sea whither he might have gone by land But see here Wisdome it self who by going about might have passed to any place on the other side of the Sea preferred the use of a ship not to spare his own pains whereof none more liberall but to 1 Shew natures intent of the Sea made as well to be sailed as the ground to be gone upon 2 Take occasion to manifest his Deity in working of miracles thereon 3 Comfort seafaring-men in their distresses praying to such a Saviour as had an exprerimentall knowledge of the danger on both elements And here amongst the many voyages of our Saviour who often crossed the length and breadth of this sea-lake let us take account of some most remarkable And first in generall we may observe that after the working of some extraordinary miracle which might have great influence on peoples affections as the feeding of so many thousands Christ presently put to sea clouding himself in obscurity and shunning popularity so far that it should venture a drowning if offering to follow after him § 6. The first voyage we will insist on was when our Saviour sailed in Simons ship who formerly had fished all night getting nothing save a drowzie head and empty hands untill casting his net at Christs command he caught such store of fish both his and his partners ship began to sink O when will any earthly thing fall out even to our desires We always finde fish either none at all or too many and a surfeit of wealth is as dangerous as a famine thereof The fish were now ready to return into the water from whence they came and not by their wit but weight had caught their fishermen had not Christ by miracle brought all safe to shore § 7. A second when the Disciples put to sea at the command but without the person of their Master Tossed they were on the waves rowing with great pains to little purpose for the wind was contrary till looking at last they see Iesus walking on the water Then were the words of the Psalmist literally true Thy way is in the Sea and thy path in the great waters and thy footsteps are not known The Disciples unable to conceive such a mystery conclude it was a Ghost It is not worth our enquiry what Ghost or whence good or evill of man or devill this wild guess being the effect of their fright then which no more professed foe to a cleare judgment Christ quickly discovering himself Peter requests a commission to meet him which granted he walks for a while on the water till his Faith first then feet failing him he began to answer the name of Cephas proving himself a stone not by the stability but the heaviness thereof and began to sink till Christ saved him Nor was Christ sooner in the ship but the ship was at the land Thus those many strokes at the oares which the Disciples had taken before were not meerly lost but onely laid up and now restored them in their speedy arrivall Yea the sails of the ship were not now on the mast but in the keel thereof Christs person did the deed Thus projects driven on without Gods gracious presence are but driven on whilest such designes fly to their wished end which take God along with them § 8. The third and last voyage we will insist on was when the ship was not upon but under the sea covered with the waves Yea it was now full of water and the Disciples of fear whilest Christ him self was fast asleep having a pillow under his head and a softer under his heart a clear conscience See we here our Saviour a perfect because an imperfect Man his infirmities speake the reality of his humanity Working had made him weary weariness had caused him to sleep much out of a desire to be refreshed more out of a designe to be awaked Here all cry out Master save us we perish Danger will make the profane to pray the wilfull-dumbe to speak who will finde a tongue rather then lose a life No doubt Iudas himselfe who afterwards sold him was now as clamorous as any to be saved by him Christ awakes and rebukes first the Disciples for being too fearfull and despairing then the winds and waves for being too bold and presumptuous Both obey owning their Creatours voice as well may his words who made them at first make them now to be quiet § 9. Many more were the voiages our Saviour made on the Sea as when after the feeding of so many thousands they had but one loafe in the ship and on our Saviours caveat of the leaven of the Pharisees their jealousies grew solicitous for food Had they not besides that one loafe in their Cup-board twelve moe in their memory five at one batch and seven at another on the recollection whereof their mindes might feed to depend
Davids words guilty of infidelity seeing it is easier to withhold rain from a mountain then to remove it from its foundation and cast it into the sea and yet our Saviour assures us this shall be done if in faith desired But be it known David intended not his curse should take effect but meerly to manifest his great grief and to shew how far he was from delighting at the death of his greatest enemy Better to fall under Davids Dirae as he was a Poet then as he was a Prophet the latter lighting heavily indeed as Iudas in Achitophel could witness the weight thereof Nor remaineth any thing more observable in this Tribe save in the east part thereof on Iordan they shew Pilgrims the place where Naaman patient at last by his servants perswasion washed seven times and was cleansed of his Leprosie § 24. Thus all the remarkable places of Issachar but not all those in Issachar are already by us described For as the text expresly saith the Tribe of Manasseh had in Issachar and in Asher even three Countries that is lying in Issachar and Asher but environed round with those Tribes possessions yet pertaining to the portion of Manasseh Let none blame Divine Providence of ill Architecture for not well contriving the rooms in the house of Israel the division of the land by lot not being well designed wherein Issachars Chamber his portion was made a thorough-fare Manasseh having three closets three small countreys within the same So that neither Tribe could enjoy his own with privacy and intireness and Manasseh if but stepping out of the high-way must in a manner trespass on Issachar or crave leave of him to come through his to his own inheritance But know all was ordered by the counsell of Gods will for reasons best known to himself who would not have his children Churles to ingross habitations by themselves but by such mixture of their portions invited yea ingaged their persons to mutuall intercourse seeing the very lots of their Tribes gave loving visits and their Countreys by Gods own appointment came so curteously and confidently one within another § 25. But very hard it is to conceive how Manasseh could have any land within Asher which Tribe lay many miles more northward and beyond the Tribe of Zebulun interposed The Jewish Rabbins being much perplext at the Pedegree of Aâ—zel why it is twice reckoned up in Chronicles use to say that they need four hundred Camels loaden with Commentaries to give the true reason thereof But their expression is more appliable to this present difficulty how Manasseh could have any ground in Asher except as we have presented it in our Map some part of Asher lay southward at distance dis-jointed from the main body of that Tribe which we have formerly described Who knows not that pieces of Parishes parcells of Manors portions of Counties though far off dismembred relate unto them notwithstanding the intermediate distance betwixt them § 26. But let not Issachar or Asher repine that Manasseh had so much land in their Countreys seeing though the right was assigned unto them the Canaanites for a long time till about Davids reign kept all the same in their possession as will appear by the ensuing parallel Joshua 17. 11. And Manasseh had in Issachar and Asher Bethshean and her towns and Ibleam and her towns and the inhabitants of Dor and her towns and the inhabitants of Endor and her towns and the inhabitants of Taanch and her towns and the inhabitants of Meggido and her towns even three Countrys Judges 1. 27. Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Bethshean and her towns nor Taanach and her towns nor the inhabitants of Dor and her towns nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and her towns nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns but the Canaanites would dwell in that land Of Bethshean more conveniently hereafter By Ibleam Ahaziah was wounded as was formerly observed Dor mentioned for a sea-town in Ptolemy had the King thereof conquered by Ioshua Endor whither Sisera's souldiers defeated in fight not far off at Taanach which alsoâ—was a regall city in the days of Ioshua and afterwards belonged to the Levites fled were pursued perished and became as the dung of the earth Hither Saul repaired to a witch to raise Samuel and received cold comfort from the dead or Devill rather informing him of his future destruction so that Saul formerly sick with fear of the worst lived to hear Satan toll his passing-bell in his sad predictions § 27. But Megiddo was the most eminent City Manasseh had in Issachar The King hereof was destroyed by Ioshua and many years after Iosiah was slain in the vale of Megiddo bidding Pharaoh Necho battell in his march against Charchemish by Euphrates Never Prince shewed more devotion in his life or less discretion in his death courting that danger which declined him seeing Pharaoh desired peaceably to depart But haply Iosiah conceived himself ingaged to fight him in point of 1 Honour because without leave he had made his land an high way to pass through it 2 Policy suspicious though Pharaoh went forth as a friend he would returne as a foe especially if puffed up with success in his expedition But what shall we say it was the sin of his subjects would not suffer Iosiah to keep quiet at home Their impieties made him to march thrust him into the field forced him into the fight yea shot the fatall arrow which wounded him at the heart § 28. Now let none be troubled because Iosiah who rather deserved two lives seems to have two deaths one text making him to die at Megiddo another at Ierusalem Understand it death arrested him with a mortall wound at Megiddo but did not imprison him till he came to Ierusalem where he expired Much less let any challenge God as worse then his word with Iosiah having promised him by his Prophet to be gathered to his Fathers in peace for besides that that promise principally related to the captivity of Babylon from which Iosiah was exempted even such may be said to die in peace which swim to their graves in their own bloud if withall imbarqued in a good conscience § 29. All Israel and principally the Prophet Ieremy dropped many a precious teare on his hearse whose Lamentations are an Elegy on Iosiah's death yea their grief was no land-flood of present passion but a constant channell of continued sorrow streaming from an annuall fountain it being made an Ordinance in Israel The Prophet speaking of a grand and generall grieving for mens sins compareth it to the mourning of Hadadrimmon conceived to be a place hard by in the valley of Megiddon § 30. Iehosaphat the son of Paruah was Solomons purvey our in Issachar but the dis-jointed piece of Manasseh in this Tribe pertained partly to Baanah the son
of Ahilud to whom belongeth Taanach Megiddo and all Bethshâ—an and partly to Aminadaâ— husband to Taphath Solomons daughter purveyour alone in the land of Dor. An argument of the great fertility of that little land because the land of Dor alone was a signe for a whole moneth in the Zodiack of Solomons yearly provisions An Asse formerly observed argent in a field vert was Issachar's Arms couâ—hing between two burdens Some by these understand Zebulun and Manasseh which bounded Issachar on both sides But why was their neighbourhood more burdensome then any other Tribes Such perchance are nearer the truth who expound the two burdens Tribute and Tillage betwixt which Issachar quietly cocuhed never medling with wars but when forced thereunto in his own defence Here the Map of Manasseh on this side Jordan is to be inserted THE DESCRIPTION OF MANASSEH on this side IORDAN CHAP. 8. § 1. MAnasseh his numbers and worthies have formerly been described on the east of Iordan as also such Cities as being environed with Issachar yet belonged to this Tribe It remaineth that we survey that portion of Manasseh west of Iordan lying entire in it self and having Issachar on the north Ephraim on the south the Mediterranean Sea on the west and Iordan on the east thereof a fruitfull Countrey divided betwixt six male-families of the Manassites and the five daughters of Zelophehad § 2. These were those Virgins who pleading before Moses got a right to before Ioshua got possession of their inheritance Silence was injoined their Sex in the Church not Court where they handled their own cause so well it is pity any Counsell should be retained for them Nor was it the worst part of their Rhetorick the good Character they gave their dead Father which might serve for an Epitaph to be inscribed on his monument Here lieth the man who was not in the company of them who gathered themselves together against the Lord in the COMPANY OF KORAH but died in his OWN SIN Meaning he died a naturall death for his personall offences and was no sharer in the guilt of Rebellion against God in Moses This instance of Zelophehad his coheirs let Lawyers judge how justly it is alledged of some against their practise who by entailes on the Heire male dam up inheritances from running in that generall channell into which God and nature hath derived them § 3. In the west of this Tribe on the sea we meet with Cesarea Stratonis built and beautified with a fair haven called Drusus by Herod the great in the honour of Augustus Cesar. Amongst other edifices therein Herods judgement hall by him built was a most remarkable structure Indeed all Cesarea might be termed Gods judgement hall from an exemplary piece of justice here executed on Herod Antipas Who coming hither from Ierusalem clad with gorgeous raiment and the guilt of Saint Iames his bloud made an eloquent oration more gaudy then his apparell unto the people who cryed out in approbation thereof The voice of a God and not of a man here Herod in stead of rejoining The voice of lying flatterers and not of sober men in stead of reclaiming what they exclaimed imbraced and hug'd their praises as proper to himself and thereupon an Angell and worms the best and basest of creatures met in his punishment the one smiting the other eating him up and no wonder if Worms quickly devoured him whom those flesh-flies had blown up before If any aske seeing the people were equally guilty in that their sacrilegious expression yea they were the theeves Herod but the receiver why fell not the punâ—shment also on the whole multitude It is answered First because they were the whole multitude and God in such cases mercifully singles out some singall offenders for punishment to save but fright the rest Secondly more discretion was expected from a Prince then from a rabble of people Lastly what in them was but a blasphemous complement was by Herods acceptance thereof made in him a reality usurped by him as due to his deserts § 4. But leaving profane Herod many pious people lived in Cesarea as Cornelius the Centurion the first fruits of the Gentiles Agabus the Prophet foretelling Saint Pauls bonds and Martyrdome and Philip the Evangelist famous for his four daughters Virgins-prophetesses This I firmely beleeve whilest my faith demurres at what I read of Brechin a Lord in Wales who had four and twenty daughters all Saints begotten of his own body § 5. Here Saint Paul eloquently defended his innocence against the salable tongue of Tertullus and afterwards reasoned of righteousness temperance and judgement before Felix the corrupt vicious and debauched Deputy of Iudea till Felix his foundred feet feeling the Pincers began to winch and to prefer Saint Pauls room before his company In the same place the Apostle pleaded for himself before Festus Agrippa and Bernice his incestuous wife-sister entering into the place of hearing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with much fancifulness or great pompe Perchance this Bernice ware then about her that eminent Gem whereof the Heathen Poet took especiall notice deinde adamas notissimus Berenices In digito factus preciosior hunc dedit olim Barbarus incestae dedit hunc Agrippa sorori And the fam'd diamond the richer show'd On Berenices fingers this bestow'd The barbarous Agrippa he to his Incestuous sister once presented this But be Bernice never so brave the bonds of Saint Paul worn by him then in Cesarea were in the Judgement of God and all good men the most glorious ornament § 6. South of Cesarea stood Antipatris named in the honour of Antipater father to Herod the great Hiâ—her Saint Paul came guarded in state by night with more then five hundred souldiers and hence the footmen were sent back to Ierusalem whilest the seventy horse advanced forward with him to Cesarea South of Antipatris the river Kanah which divideth this Tribe from Ephraim runneth into the sea so called from reeds KANAH in Hebrew whence our English Canes or walking-staves fetch in both the name and thing from the east Countreys growing plentifully thereabouts and many Maps present us with a valley of Reeds in this place Say not this debaseth the land that so course a commodity should take up a whole valley therein for besides as London water-men will tell you an acre of reeds on the bank side is as beneficiall as one of wheat these Canes were to make arrowes and staves yea some to make Sugars thereof an eye-witness affirming that plenty of sugar-canes grow in Palestine at this day Surely formerly growing there though little known to and less used by the ancients seeing that Countrey hath gained no new plants but rather lost much fertility it had before § 7. Sugar pardon a digression was anciently less used either because their masculine palats were not
escape our observation namely Baal-hazor where Absolom sheared his sheep If any demand how he came by any land in this Tribe to feed cattell therein no doubt he held it by gift or grant from David his Father and how David when King became possessed of demesnes in all Tribes hath formerly been largely resolved Nor was it any disgrace to a Kings son to be master of sheep seeing the King himself is maintained by husbandry As commendable the thrift so damnable the cruelty of Absolom in this place causing the murder of his brother Amnon just when his heart was merry with wine as if his wild revenge would imitate divine justice to kill both body and soul together This Amnon was he that feigned himself sick when he was well and now dyed before he was sick § 58. Let Archelais not be forgotten half ashamed to bear the name of wicked Archelaus the builder thereof son and successour of Herod in Iudea whose cruelty frighted Ioseph from returning to Beth-lehem and diverted him to Nazareth As Archelais took its name from a wicked man so Iscariot a village not far from it gave name to a worse that traitour of his Master being born in this place as Adrichomius out of Saint Hierome will have it But other reasons are rendered of Iudas his syrname and the place of his exemplary death is more certainly known then that of his obscure nativity As for Apollonia by the sea side Addida over against the plain with some other petite places in Ephraim they are well known by their severall markes not to be mentioned in Canonicall Scripture § 59. The Son of Hur was Solomons monethly Purveyour in mount Ephraim The standard of Ephraim was pitched first on the west side of the Tabernacle Armes anciently depicted thereon an Oxe sable passant in a field argent founded on Moses his words His beauty shall be like the firstling of a bullock to which we may ad the prophecy of Hosea Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught and loveth to tread out the Corn. Which perchance gave occasion to the postnate armes usually assigned to this Tribe though later by twelve hundred years then their ancient standard erected in the wilderness Here the Map of DAN is to be inserted THE TRIBE OF DAN CHAP. 10. § 1. DAN was eldest Son of Iacob by Bilhah Rahels maide and his concubine Of his body but one Hushim went down into Egypt yet of his Posterity came forth thence no fewer then threescore and two thousand and seven hundred males of twenty years old and upwards all which falling in the wilderness for their faithlesness in Gods promises threescore and four thousand and four hundred entered the land of Canaan § 2. There passeth a generall tradition taken up by some Fathers continued by some middle to modern Popish writers that the Antichrist should descend of the Tribe of Dan. And why conceive or conceit they rather so uncharitably of this Tribe Confess we that Dan hears ill on severall occasions in the Scripture 1 Dan Father of this Tribe had a foul mouth which made Ioseph bring in a complaint thereof to Iacob 2 The first personall blasphemy recorded amongst the Israelites was committed by a Mongrell Danite being the son of Shelomith for which he was stoned 3 The first tribuall defection to idolatry Dan was guilty of publickly setting up and worshipping a graven Image 4 A moity of the nationall apostasie of the Idolatrous Iews was solemnely acted on the theatre of this Tribe one of Ieroboams golden calves being set up at Dan. 5 When twelve thousand of Gods sealed ones are reckoned up out of every Tribe Dan is omitted as consigned to malediction say some as formerly in the first of Chronicles no mention of Dan where the genealogies of all other Tribes are recounted The reader may judge whether these roots be deep enough to bring and beare the branches of so far spread report that therefore the Man of sin must derive his pedegree from this Tribe Little probability of Antichrist coming from Dan literall long since carried captive with the rest of his brethren into Africa but as for Dan mysticall many have sought and many conceive they have found him in another and nearer place But leaving the uncertainties of Antichrist most sure it is that Samson one of the liveliest types of Christ was descended of Dan. And so was Aholiab that excellent artist who was joint master of the fabrick of the Tabernacle as Hiram also in the work of the Temple was a Danite on the mothers side § 3. The land allotted to Dan seems for the most part first to fall to the share of Iudah at the partition of the Countrey And because the bounds of Iudah were too great the surplusage thereof by a new grant was made over to the Danites Some will wonder that God who divided Manna so equally a homer for every man should part the land so unevenly that one Tribe should leave and another lack so that the thirst of Simeon and Dan was quenched with those few drops which overflowed out of the cup of Iudah May such remember Iudah was the Princely Tribe out of which Messiah was to arise and his portion cut out in state leaving the superfluous reversions thereof to others may typifie Christ himself who is anointed with oile of gladness above his fellows of whose fulness not onely of sufficiency and abundance but even of redundance we have all received grace for grace Nor will the reader be moved when he finds some cities ensuing sometimes mentioned as belonging to Iudah other whiles to Dan because to the former by originall assignation and to the latter by actuall possession § 4. This Countrey was bounded with Ephraim on the north Iudah on the east Simeon on the south and the mid-land-Mid-land-sea on the west From above Lydda to the brook Soreck some thirty miles and litle less east and west from the sea to the edge of Iudah A land at the best but half Iudah's leavings and that not entirely possessed of the Danites For herein the Amorites did both cut and chuse for themselves reserving the fat and flesh thereof all the fruitfull valley for their own use whilest the Danites were glad to pick the bones crowded up into the mountains Besides three of the Satrapies of the Philistines are found in this Tribe A puissant nation and at deadly fewd with the people of Israel This put the Danites on the necessity men over-pent will some way vent themselves of seeking new Quarters in that their memorable expedition whereof formerly in Nephthali If any aske why they did not endevour the enlargement of their bounds at home against the Amorites and Philistines before a far adventure an hundred miles off Let such know the designe was conceived easier suddenly to surprize the secure
Leshemites pursie with long peace then to undertake those two warlike nations well breathed daily in military Discipline And sudden surprisals were foretold in this Tribe § 5. But grant the measure in this Tribe but short the ware thereof was very fine the Countrey being passing fruitfull in commodities Herein grew that bunch of Grapes of prodigious greatness in gathering whereof by the hand of the spies sent to search the Land the Israelites took Livery and Seisin of the fruits of the Countrey Besides this Tribe did drive some sea-trade Deborah complains Why did Dan remain in ships though the Iews generally were mean Mariners and Merchants Partly because the fatness of their soile so stuck by their sides it unactived them for forein adventures and natures bounty unto them gave their industry a Writ of ease to sit at home And partly because being divided as an Island from the Continent of the World in Religion from other Countries it cut off their comfortable commerce with other nations though since their wofull Posterity have proved the Capemerchants of the world § 6. First to survey the west side on the sea therein we are accosted with Ioppa a strong City seated on an high rock so that Strabo reports that Ierusalem may thence be discovered which a modern Traveller concludes impossible At the bottome thereof a haven formerly most convenient So ancient a place that some make it first founded and so named from Iapheth before the floud But it is utterly improbable that Noah being himself busied about building an Arke which threatned the worlds destruction would suffer his son to erect a City as promising a fixt habitation Hither all the timber of the Temple cut down and carved in mount Lebanon was brought by the Tyrians in floates and hence by Carts conveyed to Ierusalem Hither Ionah fled and took shipping for Tarshish conceived by some to be the Countrey of Cilicia by others the city Tarsus therein But be it Sea or Land Countrey or City sure it was not Niniveh whither God had sent him Here charitable Dorcas which made coates and garments for the poor widows whilest she was with them the lanthorn of mens good deeds cast the best light when carried before them and done in their life time lived dyed and was revived by Saint Peter Here he lodged in the house of Simon a Tanner by the sea-side water we know is very necessary in that occupation though salt water onely usefull to wash raw hides and therein beheld that vision wherein the Epitome of all creatures were in a sheet represented unto him Of this great City at this day onely two old towers doe survive it being questionable whether the place be more ruinous or the poor Moors more ragged that dwell therein A bad haven much obstructed with sands and exposed to the fury of the north wind The best commendation of this harbour is that Iury had no better scarce another as if God condemned the seacoasts thereof to danger as the Continent to barrenness § 7. Near unto Ioppa is Lydda some six miles North-west where Peter cured Enâ—as truly pious of the palsie which eight years had afflicted him Here Saint George is reported to have been beheaded and his tombe is shewed in this place All I will adde is I hope without offence this ensuing Parallel In Ioppa In Lydda The valour of Perseus is celebrated for freeing Andromeda daughter to King Cepheus tyed with chaines to the rockes from the fury of a sea monster to which she was exposed The puissance of Saint George is remembred for delivering the nameless and onely daughter of a certain King of Libya from a fiery Dragon to whom she was tendered by lot to be devoured It is pity these two stories should be parted asunder which will both in full latitude be believed together Hard to say whether nearer the two places or two reports He that considers the resemblance of their complexions will conclude Fancy the father Credulity the mother of both though we need not presently reject all the story of Saint George for fictitious for some improbable circumstances appendent thereunto Nor have I ought else to observe of Lydda save that in Saint Hieroms time it was called Diospolis § 8. To return to Ioppa the port of Ierusalem And let us a little way accompany the Pilgrims in the road thitherwards Take the character of the Countrey on the credit of a late eye-witness A most pleasant plain yeelding Tyme and Hyssope and other fragrant herbs without tillage or planting growing so high that they came to the knees of our Asses Nor need any wonder at the stature of this ground Hyssope in Iury different from wall-Hyssope or mosse rather the last and lowest step of natures storehouse and Solomons study seeing good Authors have affirmed that haec planta in Iudaeâ arborescit hyssope doth tree it in Iudea And what is called by Matthew and Mark Calamus a reed cane or speare is rendred an Hyssope-stalke by Saint Iohn Because as a learned man concludes Hyssope here sprouted so high that thereof an instrument might be made to lift up the sponge to our Saviours mouth hanging on the Cross. And thus we see that as always one of Iob's messengers escaped to bring the sad tydings of their fellows destruction so even at this day some stragling vallies in Palestine have made hard shift by their own fruitfulness still continuing to informe the world how plentifull this Countrey was before barrenness by Gods appointment seised on the generality thereof § 9. To proceed in the road to Ierusalem as the best guide to direct us in the survey of the north of this Tribe It passeth not far from Shaalâ—im a City of Dan but in the confines of Ephraim Where though the Amorites dwelt in despight of the Danites yet the Tribe of Ephraim made them tributaries A little further this high-way takes its farewell of the Tribe of Dan but with full intent shortly to visite it again For having passed over a corner of Ephraim which baggeth into the south it returns into Dan and goes forward by Modin the City of Mattathias and his sons where the seven sepulchers of the Maccabees each a high Pyramid on a square basis and all mounted on a steep hill are a conspicuous sea-mark to the Mariners many miles distant Charitable monuments which being erected for the honour of the dead are imployed for the safety of the living Few miles hence this high-way finally leaves this Tribe And therefore we leave it onely wishing the passengers therein a prosperous journey to Ierusalem That such as goe thither about business may dispatch the same to their own contentment such as travell out of curiosity may have their expectation so satisfied as to countervaile all their paines and charges and such as goe thither out of superstitious opinion to merit may have their
because by his devotion the Cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel from Ekron even unto Gath. See the difference betwixt Priest and Priest both in service and success Vicious Hophni brings forth the Arke into the field fights falls loseth his own life and part of Israels Land to the Philistines Pious Samuel stays and prays at home the Arke is brought back to him he both saves himself and as a bountifull benefactor regaineth the former loss of his Countrey § 29. Ekron was a stately City and commendable was the discretion of her Inhabitants who learning wit from their neighbours woe would not keep the Arke and Gods anger therein but with the speediest conveniency returned it home to Bethshemes Of these Ekronites David afterward killed two hundred and tendered their Foreskins a Dowry for Michal Sauls daughter For though by the condition of his Espousals he contracted but for an hundred Foreskins yet such was the supererogation of his valour Love and Loyalty never give scant measure that he doubled the number And what injustice was it that he that paid her dowry double should enjoy her but halfe seeing Saul afterwards took her away and gave her to another Beelzebub was the grand Idoll of Ekron whose name importeth a Lord of flies Scaliger conceiving it to be a nick-name which the Iews gave it in derision so that the terming it a God of flies was in effect to say a flie for your God In the new Testament Beelzebub passeth for the Prince of the Devills It seems that Hell it self that place of confusion would wholly be confounded if some superiority were not therein observed § 30. More south we again come to the river Sorek on whose banks grew Grapes of goodly greatness yea the Hebrews report them to have been without any kernels But that hereabouts Lust did not grow without shame and sorrow to attend it Samson will sadly witness For in the house of Dalilah by the brook of Sorek he betrayed his strength to her she his person to the Philistines Thus those that sleep on a harlots lap for their Pillow are overtaken with destruction before they dream thereof Hence they carried Samson to Gaza which is welnigh fourty miles off And why so far Partly to render their triumph more glorious baiting him with all eyes gazing on him and partly the more safely to secure him bringing him far from his friends and beyond the reach of any rescue § 31. But as here was the place where Samsons purity was polluted so hard by was the the fountain or water wherein the Ethiopians pollution was purified This was he who being Treasurer to Candace Queen of Ethiopia rode in his chariot and read Isaias when always some unexpected good surprizeth such as are studious in the Scripture Philip was sent to expound it unto him Can a Blackamore change his skin saith the Prophet But see here the virtue of baptismall water washing away the black hue and vicious habits of his naturall Corruption and making him a true Christian convert § 32. But Philip was found at Azotus and Azotus or Ashdâ—d hardby is easily found for a City seated on a Hill cannot be hid This was the third Satrapie of the Philistines in our definition but first in honour as famous for Dagon an Idol there adored who yet had the manners in homage to the Arke to put off his head and hands and fall flat on the ground And hither first they brought the Arke of God This was allotted to the Tribe of Iudah but left unconquered by Ioshua King Uzziah brake down the wall of it and built Cities in the coast of it And soon after Tartan sent by Sargon King of Assyria took it The Maccabees had divers battells near Azotus Here Iudas overthrows Gorgias And spoiles Azotus And again pursues Bacchides But himself is slain Here Ionathan overcomes Demetrius the younger and burns Azotus and the Temple of Dagon And hereabouts Iudas and Iohn prevaile against Cendebeus As for Dagon here adored some make him Patron of grain and he is translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Philo Biblius others the President of the sea and we may safely beleeve his Power as much over the one as the other His shape save that it was masculine for sexe resembled the Antick laughed at by the Poet. Desinit in piscem mulier formosa supernè Upwards man-like he ascended Downwards like a fish he ended And yet this Fish had also feet under the taile thereof which feet of a fish seem not to stand with any proportion But what shall we say The uglier his shape the handsomer for an Idol and to keep a Decorum it was fit that he should be as mishapen in his form as monstrous in his worship Far handsomer no doubt were the women of Ashdod or else the Israelites would never have been so enamoured with them as after their return from the captivity by marrying with them to beget a mongrell off-spring whose tongues as if divided Parte per Pale spake half Ashdod and half Hebrew But surely God was afterwards better pleased with the Iews solemn submission and fair putting away of their wives then with the cruelty of the Britons if true what reported which marrying French women in Armorica now called little Britain out of a zeale to preserve their native Language they cut out their wives tongues for fear they should infect their children with a mixture of French As for Metheg-Ammah in Philistia because the learned are not resolved whether thereby a place be designed and if so many take it for Gath or else that thereby is signified that David took the Bridle of Power from the hand of the Philistines see it signed with an Asteriske enough to tell the Reader that we doe not shew but seek a certainty therein § 33. So much for the land in this Tribe If we look on the sea bounding it on the west see Ionah in his ship flying as fast as he could from the presence of the Lord that is from the performance of his Propheticall function in Niniveh Otherwise he was better principled then to conceive it probable in any place to avoid Gods presence and if so erroneously opinioned made the worst of choices to goe down into the sea where Divine power most effectually appears Many carnall reasons might cause his flight as fear to he murthered for delivering so unwelcome a message to that bloody City suspicion that his preaching little regarded in Israel would be less in Niniveh zeal to his Countrey as perceiving the conversion of the Gentiles would prove the rejection of the Iews and a Iealousie as himself confesseth his Prophesie should be disproved on the peoples repentance A terrible tempest persuing the ship works wonders in the mariners 1 Out of the bold came
Davids days the Militia was much altered and managed by horse by the way Absalom was the first Israelite whom we finde riding in a chariot and how he was blest is not unknown Afterwards Solomon brought many horses out of Egypt and an Egyptian wife on the back of them who certainly hindred more then the other helped him and generally the Israelites were more prosperous before their use of horses then ever after Their success was mounted when they fought on foot but scarce went on foot when their armies were mounted on horseback § 24. But to return to Aram-Zobath Two prime cities thereof with four names are mentioned in Scripture Beta and Berothat elsewhere called Tibhah and Chun Here not to say that Beta and Tibhah by Metathesis are the same it is no newes for cities standing in the confines of severall kingdomes and the juncture of severall languages to have double names What the English-man calls Glocester and Worcester the Welsh-men tearm Caer Loyw and Caer-Frangon And probably one of the names of these cities was Hebrew and the other Aramite Both of them afforded much brass to King David Gods receiver generall for that purpose for the building of the Temple But Zobah which gave the name to this Countrey is generally conceived at this day to be called Aleppo though some Iews inhabiting therein count it anciently the city of Sepharvaim from Alep which signifies milke in the Turkish language whereof such plenty here that if via lactea be to be found on earth it is in this place It is so seated on a navigable stream which runs into Euphrates that here the commodities of the East and West doe meet The former from Babylon by water the latter by Land-caravans from Scanderoon and this city is the golden clasp to couple both sides of the world together and we remit the Reader to modern Merchants for further information thereof § 25. And here standing on the utmost verge of our map we could wish it of such extent as might represent to the Reader Aram-Naharam or Mesopotamia otherwise Padan-Aram where Bethuel and Laban dwelt Charran whither Abraham first removed Caldea and Ur a city where he formerly dwelt Babylon and Nineveh the two Emperesses of the world with the rivers which watered and bounded Paradise it self But alass as Prodigalls who have spent their possessions take little delight to see a survey of the lands they have sold the sad remembrancer of their former riot and present wretchedness so small comfort can accrew unto us by the curious enquiry into the ancient place of Paradise having long since in our first Parents forfeited all our right and title thereunto But the main matter forbidding our Pens progress any further is because as Shimei confined by Solomon to Ierusalem suffered justly as an offender for gadding to Gath so Palestine with the neighbouring countreys being the proper subject of our discourse we shall be taken trespassers if found wandering beyond the bounds thereof However I hope without offence my hand may point further then my feet may follow and tell the Reader that the fore-named places lie northeast of the city of Aleppo § 26. The land of Hamah lay west of Aram-Zobah anciently inhabited by the Hamathites descended from the eleventh and youngest Son of Canaan the Son of Cham of whom largely before In the days of David Toi was King of this Countrey who being at war with Hadadezar and hearing how the Israelites had defeated him sent Ioram his Son to King David with presents in his hand and complements in his mouth to congratulate his victory Long after Salmaneser subdued this countrey and extinguished the royall race witness that brag Where is the King of Hamath and of Arpad Though that proud question admits of an answer namely they were even there where their sins set them seeing it was not so much the Assyrian valour as the Syrian wickedness which cast these Kings out of their countrey Riblah was a prime city in this land where Nebuchadnezzar caused the eyes of Zedekiah to be bored out Some conceive this done in the land of Nephtali others with more likelihood in this place and we see Reader our carefulness to please all if possible in this captious age mention it in both Yet because this Riblah was many miles nearer to Babylon and further from Ierusalem it is more probable to be the place as more for Nebuchadnezzars ease and Zedekiahs anguish it adding to the conquerours state to fetch the captive furthest from his own countrey § 27. Hamah the city which gave the name to this countrey was afterwards called Antiochia Seven and twenty cities are said to be of the same name For severall Antiochuses being successively Kings of Syria stocked their dominions with many cities after their names as being either built beautified strengthened or enlarged by them or their Favorites But it matters not how many younger brethren there be of the same family as long as our Antioch is the heire and though not in age in honour to be preferred before all the rest Here the professor of the Gospell formerly termed Beleevers for their faith sometimes Brethren for their love Saints for their holinesse Disciples for their knowledg were for all these first called Christians Probably when many of all nations beleeved the name Christian was given them to bury the difference betwixt Iews and Gentiles thus England and Scotland happily joined in great Britain which two names though remaining afterwards were used as terms of civill difference not odious distinction Had this happened at Rome how would the Tide of Tiber have swoln above all his bounds and banks at the conceit that in her city Religion it self was christened But this Antioch hath still more to brag of The Chair of Saint Peter wherein he sate Patriarch many years before his removeall to Rome and therefore no wonder if Antioch grudge to give Rome the superiority Why should not that place be the prime which was the first Besides Saint Peter was honoured at Antioch murdered at Rome And why should that City receive most credit by him which used most cruelty unto him But let Ecclesiasticall Heralds deduce the pedegree and martiall the precedency of these Churches we will onely adde that this Pharisaicall taking of the upper-hand hath in all ages hindered the giving of the right hand of Christian fellowship § 28. Now surely no malignant quality in this place but a principle of perversness in mens hearts was the cause that so many famous contentions happened in this city of Antioch Here it was that some comming down from Iudea maintained the necessity of circumcision and the legall ceremonies endevouring to set up a religion like those monsters in Africa begotten betwixt severall kindes partaking of both perfect in neither but defective in their very redundancy a â—edley mongrel betwixt Judaisme and Christianity This occasioned the calling of the first great
of others waxed cold could warm himself with his own well gotten goods But afterwards Barnabas that Son of consolation comforting the bowels of the Saints as well by his works as words deeds as doctrine sold his possessions and tendered the price thereof at the feet of the Apostles Such practises were sincerely performed in the primitivetimes superstitiously imitated with opinion of merit in after ages and scornfully derided by too many in our days so far from parting with the propriety that they will not appropriate a part of their goods to good uses We finde Saint Paul preaching in two cities in Cyprus Salamis where there was a Synagogue of the Iews and Paphos where Venus was worshipped thence surnamed Paphia and where Elymas the sorcerer was struck blind for opposing Saint Paul We cannot recover Paphos proportionably into this Map behold it therefore peeping in but excommuned the lines thereof § 34. But to return to the Continent where we fall on Syrophoenicia whose mixt name speakes its middle situation betwixt Syria and Phenice so that if those two countrys should fall out no fitter umpire to arbitrate their difference then Syrophoeniâ—ia participating of and therefore presumed impartiall to both Of this Countrey was that bold begger who would have no saying nay but importunate in the behalf of her daughter no whit discouraged with the disadvantage of her person disaffection of the disciples miserable mediatours interceding for her repulse deep silence and afterwards disdainful denial of Christ himself would not desist as if her zeal was heated with the Antiperistasis of the cold comfort she received till the violence of her faith had wrested a grant from our Saviour The bounds of Syrophoenicia are variously assigned the principall cities whereof are Laodicea different from that to which Saint Iohn wrote and whose lukewarm temper made health it self sick thereof § 35. Next we finde on the sea the city of Gebalâ— in Ptolemy and Strabo Gabala and the Inhabitants therein and thereabouts termed Giblites in Scripture These led the Van in the grand conspiracy against Israel Gebal and Ammon and Amalek the Philistims with the inhabitants of Tyre Asher also c. But Solomon taught their hands another lesson not to fight against Gods people but to help to finish his Temple At the Coronation of Tyre the Queen-Mart of the world so largely described by Ezekiel where all neighbouring Cities as in Grand-Sergeantry held their places by some speciall attendance about her the Ancients of Gebal and the wisemen thereof were her calkers to stop the leakes and chinks in her ships so cunning were the Giblites in that imployment Yet all their curiosity in this kind could not keep out the deluge of divine anger from entring their own City which at this day hath drowned Gebal in utter destruction § 36. More south the river Eleutherus arising out of Libanus shaped his course to the sea so being the northern boundary of Phoenicia In this river saith reverend Beza was the Eunuch baptized by Philip therein making an unexcusable mistake For except the Eunuch in his travell went like the Sun on Abaz his dial backwards it was impossible for him going to Gaza and so into Aethiopia his own countrey once to come near this river lying far north quite the contrary way Had Beza in stead of the Eunuch baptized placed the Emperour Barbarossa drowned here it had born better proportion to truth However from this learned mans mistake I collect comfortable confidence of pardon for my faults committed in this our description For seeing so strong legs are prone to stumble surely the falls of my feeble feet will be freely forgiven me by the charitable Reader § 37. Near the running of Eleutherus into the midland sea stood Antaradus so called because opposite to Aradus Arvad in Scripture a city of remarkable antiquity situation and subsistence Well doth Strabo call this an ancient place seeing it retained its name more then two thousand years from Arvad the ninth son of Canaan even till after the time of our Saviour The city is seated in an Island seven furlongs in compass and twenty distant from the Continent being all a main rock industry and ingenuity will make wealth grow on a bare stone watered in peace from the main land in war with an engine consult with our Author for the forme thereof which limbeck-like extracted sweet water out of the brackish Ocean The citizens of this place served Tyre in a double office by land as souldiers The men of Arvad with thine army were upon the walls round about by water as failers The inhabitants of Arvad were thy mariners which sufficiently speaks their dexterity in either Element § 38. Next the men of Arvad the Prophet mentioneth the Gammadims the joint naming them probably insinuates the vicinity of their habitation which were in the Tower of Tyre as a garison to defend them By Gammadims some understand Pygmies of a Cubit-high equall to the standard of Ehuds dagger because Gamad signifies a cubit in the Hebrew tongue But how ill doth this measure agree with martiall men except any will say that as the Iebusites in a proud confidence of the naturall strength of mount Sion placed the lame and blind to man the same so the Tyrians presumed that dwarfes were tall enough to make good their giant fortifications More likely is the conjecture of Tremellius that the Gammadims were a people in Phoenicia inhabiting a part thereof which ran out bowed and bended into the sea And we know that Ancona in Italy and Elbow-lane in London receive names from the same fashion And seeing Cornish-men are so called from the forme of their Countrey dwelling in a land which by degrees is contracted or narrowed into the likeness of an horn why not Gammadims Cubit-men from the similitude of their countrey in the situation thereof Here to fortifie his conjecture Tremellius produceth a place in Pliny of Gamala a city in Phoenicia since swallowed up where he conceiveth the L. to be changed into the D. that the Gammadims were inhabitants thereof However for quietness sake may the Reader be contented to suffer them to remain there in our Map if not as dwellers onely as sojourners untill such time as learned men shall provide a more proper place for them § 39. And now on a suddain we are fallen unawares against our propounded order on Phoenicia of the name and nature of which countrey formerly in the Tribe of Asher The chief havens therein were Tripolis so called say some because it hath been thrice build by others because three Cities Tyre Sidon and Aradus concurred to the building thereof Next is the promontory called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Gods face which no whit afrighted the Pirates and sea-robbers who had a Castle hard by called Castellum praedonum from their mischievous cruelty Botrus succeeds whose name
suspicious greatness Politicians having found in their theory and Princes perchance felt in their practise the danger thereof § 34. And now we come to the particular description of the Land of Edom called also Mount-Seir Dumah and Idumea in the Scripture Mount Seir is as much as Mons hispidus or hirsutus a rough and rugged mountain So called some conceive from Esau who Satyr-like had a quickset of hair on his body though it seems the place was so named long before he came to possesse it as brisling with bushes and overgrown with wood in the famous wilderness thereof namely of 1 Teman The inhabitants hereof were or were accounted of themselves or others very wise Is wisdome no more in Teman Yet all their carnall policy could not preserve them from utter destruction there threatned unto them Eliphaz one of Iobs friends was of this Countrey 2 Dedan Such as dwelt therein were merchants and did drive a land trade with Tyrus bringing thither precious clothes for chariots or in chariots 3 Edom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Herein the three Kings wandered and were distressed for want of water till Elisha relieved them As for the other two names of this Countrey Dumah and Idâ—mea formerly largely thereof § 35. Edom had the Dead-sea and Moab on the north-east Arabia deserta on the east the wilderness of Paran on the north-west and the Red-sea on the south-west A sea not so called from the redness of the water thereof yet I know not how it may appear when beheld with bloud-shot eyes nor from a King Eruthraeus for what makes a Greek name so long since in these eastern parts but from Edom or Rufus the red son of Iacob commanding in this countrey so that Red sea is all one with the Edomite or Idumean Sea In Hebrew it is termed Iam Suph or the flaggy sea because of the plenty of flags reeds and weeds found therein though of the last never so many as when the wicked Egyptians were drowned therein Ezion-gaber is a fair haven of great commerce on this sea Here Solomon had his navy royall which jointly with the ships of Hiram brought four hundred and twenty talents of gold from Ophir This it seems was the sum paid de claro into the Kings Exchequer otherwise thirty talents more are mentioned probably expended in defraying the cost of the voyage Long after Iehosaphat joining with Ahaziah hence set forth ships for the same purpose to the same place but they went not for they were broken Why the seas which smiled on Solomon should frown on godly Iehosaphat I durst not conjecture lest my adventuring in guessing prove as unsuccessefull as his in sailing had not Scripture plainly told me that the winds and the waves forbad the Banes of matching Gods children with Idolaters in the same designe Yea the breath of Eliezer the Prophet may be said to have sunk those ships threatening their destruction Thus those shall never reap good harvest who plow with an Oxe and an Asse contrary to Gods flat command Afterwards wicked King Ahaziah requested again of Iehosaphat Let my servants goe with thy servants in the ships but the other refused having foundas bad success with the son at sea as lately he had had on land with Ahab his Father Besides Iehosaphat being sensible how his infant-designe was strangled in the wombe and his ships broken at Ezion gaber in the very haven would not renew his voyage it being a bold defying of divine power to water that project from earth which one plainly sees blasted from heaven § 36. Other remarkable places in Edom were first Mount Hor haply so called from the Horims ancient inhabitants thereof where Aaron put off his clothes the covering of his body and his body the clothes of his soul and Eleazar his son both buried and succeeded him Thus though for his disobedience forbidden the entrance of the land of Canaan yet he came to the selvedge or out-skirt thereof for hard by the Tribe of Iudah with a narrow spong confined on the kingdome of Edom. 2ly The valley of salt at the south end of the Dead Sea where God twice seasoned the Edomites with two sharp and smart overthrows when Abishai killed eighteen thousand and afterwards when Amaziah killed ten thousand of them in the same place 3ly Zair is not far off where King Ioram of Iudah gave the Edomites a great blow though he could not bring them again into a full subjection 4ly More south Bozrah the metropolis of Edom. The name thereof signifieth a muniment or fortification hence so many of them in these parts and it was a place of great strength and renown The Prophet speaking of Christ returning in triumph from overcoming his enemies Who is this saith he that cometh from Edom with red garments from Bozrah But oh the difference though the colour be the same betwixt the manner of the die when Christ came red a sufferer and red a conquerour the latter from Bozrah but the former from Ierusalem § 37. Yet Bozrah carrieth it not so clear to be chiefe in this Countrey but that Sclah is a stiffe corrivall with it for the same honour This Hebrew name signifies a Rock in which sense it is called Petra in Greek and Latine I say not that Arabia is thence denominated Petraea standing on a steep hill from the precipice whereof Amaziah threw ten thousand Edomites and they all burst to pieces whereof before a cruell act yet admitting of a better excuse then another he committed in this kingdome in adoring the captive Idols of Edom and setting them up to be worshipped in Iudah Did he think that as some trees gain more strength by being transplanted so these Gods would get new vigour by being removed into another countrey Petra was by Amaziah named Ioktheel and is called Crach at this day having lately been used for a place therein to secure the treasure of the Sultan § 38. So much of Edom whose ancient antipathy against Israel continued and increased to the last Witness their standing in the cross ways to cut off them of Iudah which should escape and shut up the remnant in the day of affliction God in conclusion was even with them for as they had cast lots upon Ierusalem so at last they drew such a blank for themselves that notwithstanding their Eagles-nests and starry-dwellings wherein they placed their confidence they were brought to destruction their high habitations being so far from saving them that they onely contributed to make their fall more visible to others and dangerous to themselves § 39. East of Edom lay the Land of Uz where Iob dwelt so renowned for his patience when the devill heaped afflictions upon him allowing him no lucid intervalls Onely the more deliberately to torment him measured unto him so much space betwixt his severall stripes that Iob might be distinctly sensible
conceive rather that because sometimes the answer returned was prolix and encumbered with numerous and important circumstances troublesome to be represented in such literal curiosities it was neither audible to the ear nor legible to the eye but by illuminating the understanding of the High-priest inabling him to give a satisfactory answer in all particulars to the question propounded whilest consulting the Urim and Thummim as of divine institution to invite the Spirit of God upon him § 24. There needs no other argument to be alledged for the freeness and forwardness of the Israelites in building the Tabernacle then that the same was fully finished in few moneths For they came to the desert of Sinai in the third moneth after their coming out of Egypt and all was ended before the twentieth day of the second moneth of the second year when they removed from Sinai to the Wilderness of Paran So that not above eleven moneths were expended on the whole fabrick whereas Solomon in building the Temple though confessed a far more stable and stately structure spend full seven years therein See we here the Levites of Kohath and the Reubenites near neighbours on the south of the Tabernacle Hereupon it came to pass that Korah the grandchild of Kohath the Levite conspired against Moses with Dathan and Abiram the sons of Reuben the vicinity of their habitation affording them the conveniency of intercourse and privacy together And thus was the Tabernacle first put in its posture surrounded with the people on every side Happy method when in matters of religion the Church guides the State by her counsell whilest the State guards the Church with her company § 26. This Tabernacle when first brought into the land of Canaan was set up at Gilgat the Ark being often parted from it on severall occasions thence removed to Shiloh where it staid a long time thence to Nob thence to â—ibâ—on and thence brought into Ierusalem and laid up with the vessels thereof in the Temple The Rabbins conceive that during the abode thereof at Shiloh the Tabernacle began to Templize getting wals though without a roof round about it chiefly because about that time it is thrice termed a Temple But I rather conceive that Temple in those places is taken in a large acception in which notion Iosephus termeth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an ambulatory or portable Temple Or else it is so styled by way of Prolepsis and well might David twice in the forementioned places call the Tabernacle a Temple who endevored to make it so both in his intention and vast preparation for the same But enough of this subject for as Moses by his prohibition stopped the bounty of the people bringing too much to the making of the Tabernacle so must we here stint our discourse as swelling too large in the description thereof Onely I adde that though at the first free will-offerings alone were used at the making of the Tabernacle none being necessitated to contribute thereunto yet afterwards for the maintenance thereof and the service therein men were bound to a certain sum to be paid thrice a year God foreseeing that their first forwardness would not always continue but cool by degrees and need to be quickned by commands as men now adays must be legally rated to repair those Churches which at first so franckly were erected and endowed by the liberality and devotion of our Ancestors Here the Map of Egypt is to be inserted THE DESCRIPTION OF EGYPT CHAP. V. § 1. EGYPT was by the Hebrews called Mizraim and by the Arabians Mesre at this day from Mizraim the second son of Cham first inhabitant thereof It was anciently called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the most skilfull of the Egyptian Priests as Plutarch observes no doubt from Cham the second son of Noah as also it was termed Hammois a name also generall to Libya yea to all Africk being in the same sound and sense styled the Land of Ham by the Psalmist It had the Mediterranean sea on the north Cyrene on the west Ethiopia the countrey of Queen Candace on the south the red-Red-sea on the east with a smal Isthmus of land not past seventy miles over betwixt it and the Mediterranean Many Princes with as great expence as small success have oft attempted with their Pioneers to pierce through this slender neck of ground so to join the two seas together for the greater conveniency of traffick It seems heaven blasted their designes as an incroachment on the divine Prerogative it being onely placed in Gods power to give the Word of Command to the Ocean Hither shalt thou come but no farther And if it be dishonesty to remove Land-markes of mens fixing how high presumption is it to alter so ancient and solemn water-bounds of Gods own appointing § 2. The Egyptians are low in stature of firme and well compacted bodies swarthy and tawny complexions Hereupon Abraham coming into Egypt said to Sarah his wife Behold NOW I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon Not that being so many years married he had hitherto lived in ignorance of her beauty and now took first notice thereof but as Stars shine brightest in the night so her fairness was now more conspicuous amongst the black faces of the Egyptians Their wits anciently were very subtile and searching esteemed the first inventers of Arithmetick Musick and by reason of the perpetuall serenity of the aire they found out the course of the Sun and Stars first dividing Time into Moneths and Years The wisdome of the Egyptians is eminent in Scripture much given to Magick and Divination yea Iannes and Iambres the Inchanters have even to this day some in Egypt heires to their mysterious impieties As for the wandering Gypsies which now a days pretend to the telling of Fortunes their best cunning generally is the credulity of others oft-times not seeing how near their own feet are to the stocks and backs to the whipping-post Yea commonly they are counterfeites coming no more from Egypt then the dissembling Gibeonites did from a far Countrey and perchance are next neighbours unto us § 3. A most pleasant Countrey Egypt was and is For when the holy Spirit intended to commend the sweet situation of the plain of Iordan before it was turned for the sins of the people into a stinking lake he describeth it to be well watered every where even as the Garden of the Lord like the land of Egypt Nor was the profit less then the pleasure thereof affording plenty of the best Wheat Barly Rice and all other grain insomuch that this Land was generally horreum Romani imperii the Barn or Granary of the Roman Empire Indeed I finde the same title given also to the Island of Sicily And no wonder for the Roman Empire being so vast and expensive an housekeeper might wel make use of
No that was situate among the rivers that had the waters round about it whose rampart was the sea and her wall was from the sea Ethiopia and Egypt was her strength and it was Infinite Put and Lubim were thy helpers Yet was she carried away she went into captivity her young men also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets and they cast lots for honorable men and all her great men were bound in chains It will hardly appear elsewhere in Scripture that Infiniteness is attributed to any created greatness and here we see what became of it so that the ruines of No may have this Epitaph written upon them Hîc jacet finis infiniti § 24. The estern stream of Nilus from the east receiveth the river Trajanus on the south side whereof stood the City On Onii in Ptolemaeus whereof Potipherah was Prince or Priest whose daughter Asenath Ioseph took to wife Aven is hard by a City against which Ezekiel prophesied and by some is made the same with Heliopolis This Heliopolis or Bethshemesh is generally conceived the place though not named in Scripture where our Saviour before he could go forced to fly from the fury of Herod being a babe abode with his parents What he did here besides sucking of his mothers breast is not recorded in the Gospell though one presumes to tell us how the Egyptian Idols at his entring into the land felt a shaking ague and fell down in homage to him as once Dagon to the Ark. Another relates how this infant sate under a great tree which out of dutifulness bowed down to him because his short armes could not reach the branches thereof A third reports of a fountain betwixt Heliopolis and Babylon purified to a medicinall virtue from the foulness of the Babes clothes washed by his mother therein All which Non credimus quia non legimus Thus Authors conceiving it not to stand with the state of Christ to live obscurely in Egypt furnish him with faigned miracles to make him more illustrious and therein mark not the main intent of Divine Providence For in this clandestine flight of his Son God intended not to present him in a glorious appearance but to lessen humble empty him so that his poverty in it self considered was a rich miracle especially seeing we are stayed by his flight and brought home by his banishment Besides the Scripture expresly termeth his turning of water into wine at Cana in Galilee the beginning of his miracles § 25. The precise time of Christs residence in Egypt is not set down but surely his stay here was not so long as to tanne the Virgin Mary and dye her complexion into a Black-more as she is presented in her Chapell of Lauretta I deny not but the purest beauties are soonest subject to sunburning but such a face better became Christs Spouse then his mother I am black but comely ô yee daughters of Ierusalem Nor should I much wonder at the colour in her face if onely the fancy of a libertine Painter had not so many learned men made her picture the object of their adoration Yet the darkness of her face here is as avouchable as the brightness of her clothes elsewhere glistering with gold and rich stuffe some pretended reliques whereof at Paris the finer they are the falser they are better beseeming her ancient royall extraction then her husbands present poor and painfull condition Yet such gorgeous apparell was not so much above her means as such garish attire wherewith some Painters doe dress her was against the modesty of that ever blessed Virgin But pardon our digression and we return to oâ—r matter § 26. Just at the confluence of Trajanus and Nilus stood the once famous City of Babylon though in antiquity greatness and strength far inferiour to a City of the same name in Chaldea It is not yet decided which of these two Saint Peter intended when writing The Church which is at Babylon elected together with you saluteth you and so doth Marcus my Son Protestant Divines generally interpret this of the great Chaldean Babylon where moe Iews dwelt then in any one place which was without the land of Palestine and therefore probable that Saint Peter being the Apostle of the Circumcision might sometimes reside there yet seeing Marcus is mentioned in the same verse who is notoriously known to have lived in this land and once to have been Patriarch of Alexandria why might not this our Egyptian Babylon be here meant by the Apostle But Popish writers are so fond to have Saint Peter at Rome that here they will have Rome mystically to be termed Babylon Good luck have she with her honour always provided that if Rome will be Babylon in this Epistle to gain Peters presence she shall be Babylon in the Revelation on whom those plagues and punishments are denounced But such as plead her heir-apparent to the former endevour to cut off the entail that the latter may not descend upon her § 27. To return to the eastern stream of Nilus which runneth through the land of Pathros Into which the remnant of the Israâ—lites left by the King of Babylon returned under the conduct of Iohanan the son of Kareah contrary to Gods flat command by the mouth of Ieremiah They took also him and Baruch the scribe pity to part them but that the mouth and â—and should go together no doubt against their consents and brought them down hither into the land of Egypt partly out of policy though they would cast away their counsell to weare their forced company to countenance their design and part out of despight that if according to their prediction any evill betided them they also might be joint-sufferers therein Both of them nothing appearing to the contrary dyed here not finding their corpes like Iosephs carried back in a Coffin into their own countrey It matters not though our bodies be bestowed in the earthly Egypt so our souls be translated to the heavenly Canaan § 28. Many were the prophecies of Ieremy during his abode in this land Amongst others that when he solemnly denounced the ruine of Egypt For he was commanded to take stones and hide them in the clay in the brick-kill which is at the entry of Pharaohs â—ouse in Tahpanhes understand it some competent distance thence otherwise such a shop of smoak was but a bad Preface to a Kings Palace and did foretell that Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon should in process of time set his throne and spread his royall pavillion on those very stones when he should conquer Egypt which no doubt came to pass accordingly A little more northernly this western stream of Nile parts it self into two chanels One falling into the Mediterranean at Zoan a City built seven years after Hebron in the land of Canaan Anciently a chief City in Egypt the whole land by Synecdoche being termed
quilted with timber for their stronger support that Iobâ— children might be though not killed with weight stifled with the closeness of the very linnen in the tent when Satan with such violence in a vengeance drave it in upon them but fairly charge it on the account of the Graver following his own fancy therein Philol. You have made the Red-sea too near to the Dead-sea presenting not above sixty miles distance betwixt them when there is much more in all authentick descriptions of them See now what covetousness doeth it makes men guilty of much falshood as here your over-greediness to recover Ezion Gaber within this Map hath tempted you to trespass on due proportion Aleth I confess the main channell of the Red-sea runs many miles more south-west but this Bay called Sinus Elaniticuâ— from 〈◊〉 Eâ—ath in Scripture a fair City built by Uzziah and restored to Iâ—â—â—ah hard by Ezion Gaber buncheth out more to the north and in Mr. Mores Maps and others of good credit is advanced as near to the Dead-sea as in this our description Besides I have good reason to conceive that this Reach of the Red-sea anciently stretched more north-ward then now adays even to the City of Elana or Elath whence it takes its name because in Ptolemies Map Elana is set in the land some miles distance from the Sea whither no doubt it reached formerly and made an haven for Ezion Gaber thereabouts Philol. But how can Ezion Gaber stand on the Red-sea when we read of Huram King of Tyre an haven sufficiently known to be seated on the Mediterranean that he sent ships to Solomon to Ezion Gaber Surely they sailed not round about Africa much less can you conceive them to goe over land ships having fins and not feet and a shole of fish may with as much probability be driven over the Continent Aleth Here Sir I will not tell you of the Prince of Orange his constantly carrying boats to make bridges of though of no great burden in his wagons much less will I instance in those seventy lesser ships and Galliots brought by Zoganes Bassa Anno 1453. up a great hill and so by dry land with all their sails abroad out of the Bosphorus the space of eight miles into the haven of Constantinople by an ingenious device and a great strength of men to manage it whereby the said City was soon after unexpectedly taken by the Turke An invention formerly found out and practised by the Venetians at the lake of Bennacus But waving these things take notice I pray of two memorable passages concerning the matter in hand 1 King 9. 26. And King Solomon made a navy of Ships in Ezion Gaber 2 Chron. 8. 18. And Huram sent him to Ezion Gaber by the 〈◊〉 of his servants Ships and servants that had knowledge of the sea The result of both is this Solomons ships were built in the place at Ezion Gaber where all their lumber and maâ—sie timber was provided at the Dock wherein they were made whilest their tackling and other essentiall implements thereof easily portable when taken in pieces might be sent from Tyre by land-carriages Such far carting being part of the burdens Solomon imposed on the people whereof they afterwards so grievously complained or else by Hurams sending ships by a Metonymie of the cause understand ship-rights such as found materials there and brought art and industry virtually with the former a whole navy thither with them Philol. Seeing Edom bounded north-ward on the Dead south-ward on the Redsea whereon stood Ezion Gaber in the land of Edom how can the children of Israel be conceived when denyed passage through it to compass the land of Edom without coming into any part thereof except they went into the water Aleth Understand it they went not the nearest way to Canaan through the heart and fruitfull middle of Edom but surrounded the same going through the borders thereof leaving the red-Red-sea on the right hand where their passage was no whit prejudiciall to the Edomites as being through a base Countrey secured against the long stay of any passengers therein by its own barrenness Besides some conceive the land of Edom extended not anciently so far as the Red sea so that in Moses his time Ezion Gaber belonged not thereunto though in the days of Solomon accounted parcell thereof CHAP. XXII Objections against the Wilderness of Paran answered Philol. IN your Map of Simeon and Iudah you make that the River of Egypt which runs nigh Rinocolura into the Mediterranean sea And here you call both that brook that runs into the Syrbon Lake as also the easternmost stream of Nilus by the name of the River of Egypt How comes this triplication Where the Scripture presents but one you multiply three Rivers of Egypt Aleth You put me in minde of a passage Bishop Latimer confesseth of himself whilest as yet a young Priest and zealous Papist He being enjoined by the Rubrick to mingle water with the wine in the Châ—lice at Mass was so scrupulous to doe it effectually that he powred in water so much and so often that he almost diluted all into water Such is the 〈◊〉 of my caution herein who have Egypt-rivered this Map to purpose willing to please all without displeasing of the truth You know who saith If it be possible as much as in you lyeth have peace with all men as herein I have endevoured For 1 The Rivolet south of Simeon by generall consent 2 That running into the Syrbon-lake by Mr. More 3 The easternmost stream of Nile by Bochartus is made the River of Egypt Thus each opinion having learned men to patronize it we equally tender them all to the Readers discretion to reject or accept which of them he shall conclude most probable Philol. You make Sinai where the Law was given a different and distinct mountain from mount Horeb. Whereas in Scripture it plainly appears that Horeb was the same with Sinai two names for one and the same mount For that the Law was given in Sinai all agree and the same is attributed to Horeb also The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst the fire Aleth Some conceive this mountain as Moses is erroneously fancied with hornes to rise up Parnassus-like with a double top whereof the one is called Horeb the other Sinai Or else the former like the Alpes is a genericall name to many whilest Sinai like mount Senis amongst the Alpes is more eminent and conspicuous then the rest for the height thereof Philol. Seeing the Spies were sent from Kadesh-Barnea to discover the Land a City afterwards assigned to Iudah how come you to make the Israelites to incamp so many miles south of the same place Aleth None can be so wild as to conceive that the Israelites during their journeying in the wilderness ever came within the
Libanus is not in respect of his soul a haires breadth nearer to heaven Besides some conceive they heare Palestine saying unto them as Samuel to Saul endevouring to raise him from his grave Why hast thou disquieted me to bring me up Describing this Countrey is but disturbing it it being better to let it sleep quietly intombed in its owne ashes The rather because the New Ierusalem is now daily expected to come down and these corporall not to say carnall studies of this terrestriall Canaan begin to grow out of fashion with the more knowing sort of Christians § 6. It is answered though these studies are not essentiall to salâ—ation yet they are ornamentall to accomplish men with knowledge contributing much to the true understanding of the History of the Bible Remarkable is that passage of the Apostle Acts 17. 26. And hath made of one bloud all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation wherein we may see Divinity the Queen waited on by three of her principall Ladies of honour namely skill in 1 Genealogies concerning the persons of men and their Pedegrees of one bloud all nations 2 Chronology in the exact computation of the times afore appointed 3 Geography measuring out the limits of severall nations and the bounds of their habitations Our work in hand is a parcell of Geography touching a particular description of Iudea without some competent skill wherein as the blind Syrians intending to goe to Dothan went to Samaria so ignorant persons discoursing of the Scripture must needs make many absurd and dangerous mistakes Nor can knowledge herein be more speedily and truly attained then by particular description of the tribes where the eye will learn more in an hour from a Mappe then the eare can learn in a day from discourse § 7. But this last objection being forked hath the sharper point thereof still behinde challenging this our subject to be guilty of superstition A sinne always detestable to God but now adayes grown odious to man And well it were if the edge of their Zeal were equally whetted against Profanenesse Sure if this our work were faulty in this kind I my self would send it the same way with the Ephesian conjuring bookes Not all the water of Kishon of Iordan of the Red of the Dead of the Middle-Land Sea described in these Maps should serve to quench the fire but all should be burnt to ashes But no such haste I hope to condemn this innocent book wherein studiously we have abstained from all such pictures as come within the bounds of danger yea borders of offence and have onely made choice of those which the most precise approve usefull for the illustration of Scripture CHAP. 2. The different names and bounds of Judea § 1. THis Country which we now come to describe was successively called by severall names 1 The Land of Canaan from the sons of Canaan that first possessed it 2 The Land of Promise which name after four hundred and odde years honourably ended and was swallowed up in performance 3 The Land of Iudah and Israel consisting of these two Kingdomes 4 Iudea so called of Iudah the most puissant Tribe of the twelve 5 Palestine from the Philistines Herodotus being the first Author which I find so tearming it and all Greeks and Latins after him 6 The Holy Land because our Saviours Passion was acted thereon But fear makes me refrain from using this word lest whilest I call the Land holy this Age count me superstitious § 2. In bounding this Land a necessary distinction must be premised the neglecting or at least not observing whereof hath engaged many in inextricable difficulties Cannan was twofold 1. The Larger 2. The Lesser The Larger is described Deut. 11. 24. Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours from the wildernesse and Lebanon from the river the river Euphrates even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be This Land in full latitude was never peaceably possessed by the Iews as proper owners thereof any considerable time Say not God fell short of his promise Oh no the Iews fell short of his precepts who being narrow hearted in piety and straitned in their own bowels contracted their soil by their sinnes and obstructed the bounty of God intended unto them by their ingratitude For the Promise ran onely conditionally If ye shall hearken diligently to my Commandements And had not Gods mercy to them been more then their obedience to him their country had been narrowed to nothing and shrunk to an indivisible punctum or at the best and biggest had been but a prison fit for the punishment of so rebellious a people § 3. And yet in somemanner in a qualifyed sense we may observe the Iews did stretch their dominion to the bounds aforesaid in a double consideration 1 By victorious Salleys and Incursions Thus the Children of Reuben having conquered the Hagarites inhabited east-ward unto the entring in of the wildernesse from the river Euphrates 2 Per Gentes in amicitiam receptas By the nations which by amicable compliance though having absolute command in themselves accepted of the Jewish King to be honourary feodaries unto him Thus where David took some Kings by conquest as his Vassals more took him by composition as their Protectour And it is plainly said of Solomon that he had Dominion over all the region on this side the river from Tipâ—saâ— even to Azzah over all the Kings on this side the river and â—e had peace 〈◊〉 all sides round about See we here an Essay of Gods goodnesse made to the Israelites That froward people worshipped him by fits and girds starting aside like a broken bow and therefore God to admonish them of the unconstancy of their service vouchsafed onely to the 〈◊〉 a cursory and unsetled Tentâ—dwelling to Euphrates Whereas had that people solidly and seriously set themselves constantly to serve God no doubt their Incursions had been turned into fixed Habitations and the whole Nation not onely by the Synecdoche of this one tribe had peaâ—â—ably possessed the large limits allotted unto them And whereas now onely David and Solomon whom I may more fitly style Emperours then Kings of this larger Canaan rather commanded then possessed to Eupbrates God no doubt had extended their full Dominions to the same dimensions § 4. But the lesser Canaan was contented with naâ—rower bounds containing onely those Nations which God had designed for utter destruction and is described Gen. 10. 19. 〈…〉 and Admah and Zebojim even unto 〈◊〉 And whereas in the larger Canaan when the Israelites besieged any City God commanded them to proâ—fer peace before they proclaimed war against it in this lesser Canaan they were finally to root them out And where God commands men to destroy people but first let us
be sure that God commands us to destroy them the foulest quarter is too fair for them and those have not lesse pity but more piety which 〈◊〉 their â—tter destruction as the Iews were to serve the Inhabitaâ—â—s of this lesser Canaâ—n without any ceremony of peace once tendred unto them § 5. This lesser Canaan extended from the wildernesse in the South to mount Lebanon in the North and from Iordan on the East to the Midland Sea on the West The length thereof sixteen hundred furlongs so far the bloud ran out of the wine-presse Revel 14. 20. which allowing ten furlongs to the mile according to the Eastern account whereof largely hereafter amounts to an hundred and threescore miles The breadth thereof generally fifty to which if the kingdome of Sihon and Og be added on the other side Iordan parcels of Canaan the larger and possessed by Reâ—ben Gad and half Manasses it will make up the breadth to eighty miles § 6. Having thus aâ—â—igned the small bounds of Canaan some perchance will place their scorn where they ought to plant their wonder and will beginne to contemn what they should justly admire because all Canaan seems but one Zoar Is it not a little one Yea some proud Geographer will scarce stoop to take up so small a Ragge of land into his consideration But let such know that extracted Spirits and Elixars are small in bulk in comparison of great and grosse bodies and the land may passe for the quintessence of fruitfulnesse it self So that what it lacked in length and breadth it had in depth as if nature had heaped one acre upon another in the matchlesse fertility thereof Our age barren in beliefe affords not faith so easily to the story as this land afforded food to thirteen hundred thousand men besides women children impotent persons and all the Levites and Benjamites left unnumbred In generall it is charactered to be a countrey flowing with milk and honey that is having plenty of all things both for necessity and delight § 7. More particularly it is described by Moses A good land a land of brookes of water of fountaines and depths that spring out of vallies and hills a land of wheat and barly and vines and figtrees and pomegranates a land of oile-olive and honey a land wherein thou shalt eate bread without scarceness thou shalt not lacke any thing in it a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills thou maist digge brasse For the further clearing of which description we will exactly observe the severall commodities of Canaan which nature bountifully bestowed upon it Onely the land seems unhappy herein that the fruitfulnesse thereof must come under our barren style to describe it And yet on second thoughts I perceive lean pens are fittest to describe fat Countâ—â—es The soile of the county of Armagh in Ireland is so rank of it selfe that if any compost or artificiall improvement be added unto it it turns barren out of sullennesse and indignation that men should suspect the native fruitfulnesse thereof and Fat upon Fat is false Heraldry in husbandry Lest in like manner we should offend this Country of Cannan with additionall ornaments of Rhetorique and lest all â—lourishes of Eloquence be misinterpreted distrusts of the reall worth of this Country a plain style and simple relation best becomes our present subject CHAP. 3. Of the underground wealth of Canaan § 1. SHips when sailing are generally conceived to have one moity of them invisible under water and some countries in like manner are counted to have their wealth equally within the earth as upon it But the proportion holds not exactly in Canaan whose visible wealth farre transcended her concealed substance and yet we finde some minerals therein of considerable value § 2. First Salt so necessary in it self that without it neither sustenance is â—avoury to man nor Sacrifice acceptable to God Yet had not the Iews more use then plenty thereof It seems it was a very cheap commodity when Abimelech not hoping to reap any harvest thereby sowed the city of Sechâ—m with falt This was of two sorts in Iudea sal fossilis which was digged out of the earth whereof great store about the dead otherwise called the Salt Sea and sal coctilis which was boiled out of water at Mizrepoth-maiim neare Zidon § 3. Secondly materials of Glasse whereof the best in the world almost to the purity of crystall is found in the Cendevian lake and river Belus whereof largely hereafter in the tribe of Asher And yet we read not in Scripture that the Iews ever used glasse for drinking vessels either because the invention of them was not so ancient or because of the plenty of cups they had of purer metall We in England know that glasses are but the seconds which succeed on the Cupboard when Plate the principall is otherwise disposed of § 4. Brimstoâ—e How usefull this is in Physique and fire-works I need not relate It is one of the parents of most metals and inclined the waters of Iudea to be soveraign Bathes and have other medicinall qualities Marble also was digged up in great plenty in mount Lebanon conducing much to the adorning of Gods temple and many princely palaces in Ierusalem Precious stones they had none except Lapis Iudaicus be counted for one commended by Galen and is prescribed as excellent to cure the Stone Where by the way it will not be amisse to observe that amongst the many maladies to which the Iews bodies were subject I finde not the Stone mentioned in Scripture though I dare not ascribe it to the plenty of this stone as a preservative against it § 5. Brasse and Iron abounded in this Country Moses blesseth Asher Thy shooes shall be Iron and Brasse prognosticating the plenty of those metals in that tribe If any except that brasse is no originall but a compound metall of Copper and other ingredients the answer is easie by a frequent and familiar Metonymie it being put for the materials whereof it was composed § 6. As for the two principall metals Iudea may say of them as Saint Peter to the Cripple Gold and silver have I none And it will be no lesse pleasant then profitable to recount the reasons thereof 1 These metals are generally granted by nature in compensation to barren countries Now whereas Iudea had plenty of other commodities it was too much that Leahs fruitfulnesse should shine with Rahels fairenesse and glister with the lustre of gold and silver 2 God would have his people look to the hills from whence their help cometh To lay up their treasure in heaven where rust and moth doe not corrupt sursum corda sursum oculos and not that their eyes by a retrograde motion should be peeping and poring on the earth where the treasures concealed are by Poets consigned to Pluto King of hell and modern
authors avouch that malignant Spirits haunt the places where these metals are found As if the Devill did there sit abrood to hatch them cunningly pretending an unwillingnesse to part with them whereas indeed he gains more by one mine minted out into money then by a thousand concealed in the earth 3 Because it stands not with the State of a Prince to be his own purse-bearer God would not have this Lordly land of Canaan to be incumbred with carrying such a burden Let Ophir and Tarshish and Havilah have the place of Iudas to beare the bagge for Iudea 4 Because there might be left unto the Gentiles an opportunity to gratifie the Iews and to testifie their duty and service to God and his Temple The Kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring presents the Kings of Sheba and Seba shall bring gifts Now these natitions would have been wholly disheartened if they could have brought Iudea no novelty and onely presented her with such things whereof she had plenty before And yet whosoever shall observe the abundance of gold and silver in Solomons time in the city of Ierusalem will conclude this Country not to be the cistern but fountain of those metals As if divine providence had so divided it that other lands should be at the care cost to bear dig out and refine and Iudea have the honour and credit to use expend yea neglect such glittering need-nots to humane happinesse More minerals no doubt were in the land of Iudea and let not either our ignorance or the Iews idlenesse be interpreted the lands barrennesse the upper fruitfulnesse of whose soil made them the more negligent in digging into the bowels thereof as those need not to play beneath board who have all the visible game in their own hands CHAP. 4. Of the wealth accruing to Judea from the vegetables therein § 1. AMongst the native and proper commodities of Iudea Balm or Balsam most justly challengeth the principall place For when Iacob advised his sonnes to provide a present for Ioseph Take saith he of the best fruits of the land in your vessels a little balme and a little honey spices c. Hereby appears the improbable error of such as report how amongst other rich presents the Queen of Sheba brought to Solomon the first plants of Balsam which afterwards grew in Iudea Whereas indeed her bringing of those into that Countrey had been no better then carring of water to the fountain § 2. Heare the judgment of Pagan writers altogether unconcerned in this businesse Pliny saith Balsamum uni terrarum Iudaeae concessum understanding that Iudea alone was the Primitive place where it grew though afterwards colonies thereof were transplanted into Egypt and other countries With him agreeth Theophrastus Dioscorides and Galen who professeth that he went on purpose to Iudea to observe the distilling thereof and carried a small portion of balm about him by comparing thereof to discover and confute the frequent impostures of such as counterfeit the same This Balsame was principally twofold 1 Xulo-balsamum being the parent namely the shrub or in complement call it the tree out of which it proceeded 2 Opo-balsamum being the daughter which trickled like teares from the former usefull for men Sound making a most odoriferous and pleasant perfume Sick being a soveraign salve for their wounds Dead being an admirable preservative against corruption So that their embalmed bodies seem'd in some sort to typifie the eternity of their soule § 3. But this Balm was not so fixed to Gilead or any other part of Iudea but that it was moveable thence upon the sinnes of the people For after some flittings of this plant to Iericho whereof afterwards it was first by Pompey and finally by Vespasian carried captive to Rome Where it thrived so well that it was never saith Pliny fairer or fruitfuller Which passage may serve as a parable whereof our Saviour himself is the sense Who being formerly confined to Palestine alone did afterwards effectually extend himself for the good of all nations But enough hereof if not too much Yet seeing the reader if being to fill his viall with this precious liquor would not complain of overmuch measure I trust he will not be displeased with our larger description thereof § 4. Oil-olive so called to difference it both from seed and train-oile Hereof three kindes or rather degrees The coursest imploied for lamps a finer sort used for meat and the most refined of all compounded with various spices whereof ointment was made wherewith great Persons on solemn festivals used to anoint themselves and upon other occasions many others § 5. Honey This was the Sugar as Salt was the Pepper of the ancients And although Sugar canes grew in Iudea whereof some considerable store at this day yet the use thereof was either unknown to or neglected by the Iews in Scripture preferring honey in their daily diet And it may seem strange that honey being so deliciâ—us in taste and a staple commodity in Canaan was forbidden to be used in any sacrifice Learned men trouble themselves about the reason of this prohibition Some conceive voluptuousnesse thereby is forbidden others lip-lusciousnesse and hypocrisie in divine service others pride and ambition because honey turnes into choler others that it is forbidden in opposition to the Persian sacrifices wherein honey was principally offered And whereas the varieties of fancies herein are infinite some soberly rest themselves on no other reason but divine pleasure As for Wax the cask of honey it was used the lesse for lights because lamps were so much in fashion § 6. Wheat They are called the Kidneys of wheat because the grains therein were so plump and swelling as if all out of Pharaohs seven full eares Yea our modern Merchants will tell you provided they be first out of the Turkish dominions otherwise it is death to be caught in the manner that even at this day they carry much wheat out of Palestine into Italy it self Say not wheat was not so plentifull in this Countrey because our Saviours constant fare was on barly loaves this argues the humility of Christ not the barrenness of the Countrey otherwise by the same consequence it might be inferred that there were no houses in Iudea because he wanted where to lay his head These four aforesaid were the elementall Commodities of Canaan whereof that Countrey had not onely a self-sufficiency but also sent plenty thereof to Tyre thence to the whole world Iudah and the land of Israel they were thy Merchants they traded in the market wheat of Minnith and Pannag and Honey and Oil and Balm § 7. Wine may follow in the next place whereof such plenty that Iacob prophecyed of Iudah that he should binde his foal unto the vine and his asses colt unto the choice vine c. That is having occasion to dismount his Asse and tye him for a
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
heap of wildernesses hudled up together Answ. Indeed the word Desert sounds hideously to English eares it frights our fancies with the apparitions of a place full of dismall shades salvage beasts and dolefull desolation whereas in Hebrew it imports no more then a woody retirednesse from publick habitation most of them in extent not exceeding our greater Parks in England and more alluring with the pleasure of privacy then affrighting with the sadnesse of solitariness 7. Object Frequent famins are mentioned in this land and some most prodigious In the siege of Samaria a woman eat her own child unexampled almost in other histories and all things were sold at excessive rates Answ. The instances alledged argue not the barrenness of the countrey being extraordinary Punishments inflicted immediately by divine Justice This we confesse that as merry men when sad are very sad so this pleasant land when God frowned upon it was extremely dejected and the famins therein were famins with a witness 8. Object Saint Hierome who lived himself long in Palestine and must be acknowledged so skilfull in this matter that others could not deceive him so honest that he would not deceive others speaketh very meanly thereof It is ragged with craggy mountaines and suffereth the penury of thirst so that it preserveth rain water and supplieth the scarcity of wells by building of cisterns Answ. Saint Hierome in the same place and none fitter or abler to do it answers himself Neque hoc dico in suggillationem terrae Sanctae sed ut decutiam supercilium Iudaeorum c. I say not this to disgrace the land of Iudea as the hereticall Sycophant doth belieâ— me or to take away the truth of the history which is the foundation of spirituall understanding but to beat down the pride of the Iews which enlarge the straits of the Synagogue further then the breadth of the Church This Father did deâ—ry the literall to raise the mysticall Canaan and they that know Saint Hierome know that when he intends to praise or dispraise he will doe it to the purpose 9 Object Modern travellers which have lately surveyed the countrey report it to be a bare surface of sand at this day Answ. Who can guesse what Naomi was by what Marah is The stump indeed stands still but the branches are withered the Skeleton remains but the favour and flesh thereof is consumed Iudea is and is not what it was before the same in bulk not blessing for fashion not fruitfulness the old Instrument is the same but it is neither strung with stock nor plaid upon with the hand of skilfull husbandry The Rose of Sharon is faded her â—eaves lost and now nothing but the prickles thereof to be seen See what sinne can doe or undoe rather and the guilt of our Saviours bloud A fruitfull land maketh he barren for the wickednesse of them that dwell therein As therefore the cleare and lovely complexions the handsome and proper persons the bold and valiant Spirits the comely and courtly behaviour of the ancient Iews are not to be measured by the suspicious and louring looks the low and crooked statures the slavish and servil conditions the base and sordid demeanour of the Iews now adays no more are our judgments to contract the former fruitfulness of their soil to the present sterility thereof And yet as the sheep which fell to Iacobs share had strakes or speckles scattered here and there in their skins so granting the generality of Iudea barren yet by the confession of Travellers some spots and parcels of ground transcendently fruitfull are every where to be found retaining and transmitting to posterity the memory of the universall fruitfulness of Iudea before God had justly cursed it for the sinnes of the people CHAP. 7. Of the ancient division of the land betwixt the seven Canaanitish Nations HAving done with the description of the commodities of this Countrey we come now to the serverall divisions thereof which thing seriously considered conduceth much to the right understanding of the Scripture In severall ages the land fell under different divisions 1 In Abrahams time it was parted betwixt the seven Nations of Canaan 2 Afterwards the same was subdivided into one and thirty petty Kingdomes 3 By Ioshua it was parcelled into twelve portions betwixt so many tribes 4 In Rehoboams reigne it was rent into two kingdomes Iudah and Israel 5 After the Captivity it was divided into three Provinces Iudea Samaria and Galile 6 In Christs and his Apostles time it was carved into four Tetrarchies and some other appendent dominions We will first survey it in the originall condition thereof as it consisted of a Heptarchy or seven ruling nations of Canaan whose number names extraction and severall habitations require much care and diligence to rank and order them aright The first difficulty we meet with is in the number of these nations so variously reckoned up They are counted up thus two Gen. 13. 7. three Exod. 23. 28. five Exod. 13. 5. sixe Exod. 3. 8. 17. seven Iosh. 3. 10. ten Gen. 15. 19. eleven Gen. 10. 15. 1 Chron. 1. 13. and seventeen if a collective number of them all be cast up Now how come they to be so differently computed where one and the same Spirit is the Auditour to state their account It is answered that seven was the compleat and solemne number whereon God himself emphatically insists when repeating his favours to the Iews Seven nations greater and mighter then thou And perchance the beast in the Revelation with seven heads beareth some allusion thereunto Wherefore when these seven nations are summed up defectively under that number we must conceive such of them as are omitted to be implyed under the Genericall name of Canaanites But on the other side when above seven are brought then the inhabitants of the larger Canaan are cast into the account whose countrey was promised too but never peaceably possessed by the Israelites as we observed before We finde three severall Editions as I may call them of the nations of Canaan whereof the most authentick and common is Deut. 7. 1. which we will principally peruse as followeth 1 Hittites These come forth first as if it were to usher and make room for the rest as well they may being Giants of such strength and stature the Anakims being descended from them so formidable to their foes that some conceive them named from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hittah which signifies to scare and frighten such the terrible impression of them on their enemies As stout their men so their women were notable domineering dames witness Rebecca's complaint that she was weary of her life for the daughters of Heth which Esau had maried They lived about Hebron and Beersheba and their countrey was afterwards possessed by Iudah and Simeon 2 Girgashites It is hard to determin their exact habitation Wise Agur confesseth that he knew not the
crown of Iudah § 11. Seventhly if their home-achievements each against other be recounted the truest touch-stone of their severall strengths God often made them alternately hold up one another whilst he whipt them both for their sinnes But although Abijah once got a remarkable conquest of Ieroboam yet generally Israel worsted Iudah overpowering them with multitude of men Thus Baasha cooped up Asa in his own land Ioash overcame Amaziah and took Ierusalem and Pekah almost utterly consumed Ahaz and his kingdome § 12. To conclude if their lasting and continuance be measured herein Iudah clearly carrieth away the preheminence Grant Israel beat Iudah at hand yet Iudah beat Israel at length even out of distance For whilst the Babylonish captivity did onely snuffe Iudah for seventy years blazing the brighter when they returned from banishment the Assyrian conquest utterly extinguished Israel from ever appearing again in a formed Common-wealth in their own Countrey CHAP. 11. Of the partition of the Land into the Provinces of Galilea Samaria and Judea § 1. WHen these two kingdomes had determined the division of the twelve Tribes was out of date Palestine began to be distinguished into three Provinces whose number and posture we find in the Evangelists being traced in order by the feet of our Saviour 1. He left Iudea 2. And departed again into Galilee 3. And he must needs goe through Samaria It being denied to our Saviour himself to travail per saltum à termino ad terminum sine medio so that he could not ordinarily pass from Iudah in the south to Galilee in the north without traversing Samaria which lay in the midst betwixt both § 2. To begin with Iudea or Iury it is not taken here in that large acception wherein it contained the whole Countrey and entire subject of this our book in which sense Herod the great is styled King of Iudea but is taken as elsewhere it is termed the Province of Iudea for a third part of the whole land consisting of the ground formerly belonging to Iudah Benjamin Simeon Dan and Reuben For that this Province reached eastward beyond the River plainly appears in the Evangelists affirming that Christ came from Galilee into the Coasts of Iudea beyond Iordan A spacious Countrey it was and in our Saviours time the proper habitation of the principall Iews Nor is it amiss to observe that a portion of land with the governments of Lidda and Ramah lying in the juncture of Benjamin and Ephraim was in the time of the Maccabees taken from Samaria by King Demetrius and by him assigned to Iudea in reward of the friendship and faithfulness of the Iews in his service which gore or gusset of ground was called Apherema that is a thing taken away because parted from Samaria and pieced to Iudea § 3. Samaria succeeds whereby we understand not the City of that name for a long time Metropolis of the kingdome of Israel but a countrey formerly pertaining to Ephraim and Manasseh and Gad peopled after the Assyrian captivity with colonies brought thither from Babylon and the neighbouring Dominions At first this land did not fadge well with these new inhabitants Lions sent by God disturbing their quiet possession untill a Priest of the Israelites was remanded to teach them the manner of the God of the land But what betwixt an ignorant Master and indocible Scholars nothing was learnt to purpose He taught them no true worship but onely Ieroboams divinity as appears by their appointing out Priests of themselves for their high-places and they jumbled together their own numerous Idols with the service of God In so much as they are said to fear the Lord and in the next verse not to fear the Lord not that there is any contradiction in the text but an open opposition betwixt their pretence and practise seeing such as fear God otherwise then his will in his Word prescribes fear him not in effect § 4. However afterwards the Samaritans quitted their multitude of Idols and patched up a religion amongst themselves wherein 1 They adored one Deity but him so erroneously that Christ flatly told them yee worship that which you know not 2 They acknowledged onely the five books of Moses for Canonicall 3 They had a Temple on mount Gerizim stickling for the honour and holiness thereof to equall yea exceed that at Ierusalem 4 They expected a Saviour beleeving him as able so willing to resolve all important difficulties When Messiah is come he will tell us all things 5 They falsly accounted themselves extracted from the ancient Hebrew Patriarchs Thus the Samaritan woman had it rise in her mouth our Father Iacob though in very deed he was no more her Father then the man she kept company with was her husband being neither lineally descended from the one nor lawfully maried to the other Hear what Iosephus hath to this purpose The Samaritans says he are of this nature that when the Iews are high in fortune and success presently they embrace society with them and deduce the series of their own descent from the Patriarch Ioseph and his sonnes Ephraim and Manasseb But when the Iews are depressed and low in estate then they disclaim all kindred defie all affinity with them professing themselves as indeed they are to be originally Medes and Persians § 5. Generally great was the Antipathy betwixt the Samaritans and Iews The former persecuting every face that did but look towards Ierusalem on which bare account they churlishly denied our Saviour entertainment in their town because his behaviour was as though he would goe to Ierusalem Nor came the Iews behind them in hatred so far from familiar conversing with them that a Iew would rather contentedly endure thirst then to quench it crave drink of a Samaritan lest such hands should defile the water with the very drawing of it Yea when the malice of the Iews meant mortally to wound our Saviours reputation they said he was a Samaritan and had a Devill However the deluge of sin did not so generally drown all the Samaritans but that some dry Islands some good men were found amongst them One eminent for his gratitude to God being the tithe of the lepers cleansed by Christ who alone returned to give him thanks another no less commendable for his charity to man being Physitian Surgeon Host and in a word neighbour to the unknown traveller wounded by theeves in his journey to Iericho § 6. Galilee remaines so called as Melanchthon will have it because in Hebrew signifying a bound or limit lying in the northern marches of the land It was twofold The Upper formerly belonging to the tribes of Asher Nephthali and Manasseh beyond Iordan The Lower formerly belonging to the tribes of Zebulun and Issachar The upper Galilee is also called Galilee of the Gentiles or Galilaea Gojim whereof many reaasons are rendred
by learned men These two most considerable either that it was so called because very populous in which consideration it is termed by Iosephus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 affirming that the least 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 village therein had fifteen thousand inhabitants So that Galilea Gojim or of the Gentiles is the same with populous Galilee If any except that Gojim in Scripture is onely taken for Heathen never for the people of the Iews may he be remitted to learned Rivet by instances to the contrary to have his judgment rectified herein or else it was called Galilee of the Gentiles because it bordered on them and lay in the passage through which travellers journied to the Gentiles Thus the gate of Ephraim in Ierusalem got the name thereof not that it stood in but led toward the Tribe of Ephraim § 7. The Galileans were high spirited people 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fighters from their infancy impatient of wrong lovers of liberty and prone to revenge Much of their nature may be read in their countrey-man Saint Peter forward not to say furious in hot bloud to draw his sword though at great disadvantage and after at leasure to repent it Apt they were to raise tumults against the Romans but always with ill success Witness especially when they pretended sacrifice to cloak their Rebellion but Pilat was too quick and cunning for them who subduing them mingled their bloud with their sacrifices They were distinguishable by their Dialect from other Iews speaking a broader or as I may say a Dorick Syriack whereof the maid minded Saint Peter Thou art a Galilean and thy speech agreeth thereunto They were accounted courser and less refined Iews as appears by the expression of the Evangelist The Galileans received him having seen all the things that he did at Ierusalem at the feast for they also went up vnto the feast Where those words for they also though they admit the Galileans to the communion of the same Religion with the Iews yet set them at a second table as inferiour to the other Yea the Iews called our Saviour in disgrace at least wise in diminution a Galilean Might I presume to interpose my opinion I should conceive these Galileans were chiefly extracted from the remainder of the ten Tribes left behind in the land after the Assyrian captivity as we have shewed before § 8. If these three Provinces be in severall respects compared together they behave themselves as followeth For Antiquity Galilee the first mentioned in Ioshua Iudea the next Samaria the youngest Extent Iudea the greatest Galilee the next Samaria the smallest Honour Iudea the highest because Ierusalem therein Samaria the next Galilee the meanest Safety Samaria the first best secured in the middle Iudea next Galilee last and most exposed to enemies Fruitfulness Galilee the first Samaria second Iudea mountainous and less fruitfull by the testimony of Saint Hierom. This distinction of these three Provinces lasted till the destruction of the second Temple but abated in the solemnity thereof by the ensuing partition into Tetrarchies CHAP. 12. Of the division of this land into four Tetrarchies and some other small territories § 1. MUch about the time of our Saviours birth this land was divided into four Tetrarchies A Tetrarchy is conceived by some to be a dominion wherein are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. four squadrons and sixty four men Others with Pliny take it to be a countrey with four Cities therein But learned Salmasius to whom we refer the reader confutes these for erroneous where he proveth a Tetrarchy to be a fourth part of a kingdome be the men or Cities therein more or less These Tetrarchies in Iudea took their originall from the Testament of Herod the great who leaving severall Sons bequeathed unto them parcells of his Kingdome § 2. Afterwards with some alteration of their limits these Tetrarchies in Iudea were continued by the Romans as also elsewhere in the Countrey of Galatia on very politick considerations 1. Hereby they had the advantage four to one to gratifie and ingage more friends with Princely honour seeing one kingdome thus thriftily managed afforded four Tetrarchies as he may be charitable to moe who changeth his pence into farthings 2 As they gratified moe so they trusted less it being no wisdome to venture too much power in one and the same person 3 The restless nature of the Iews required many overseers and a small territory amongst them would yeeld the Governour thereof plentifull employment In Saint Luke we find the number and order of these Tetrarchies namely when Iohn Baptist began to preach Pilate was Governour of Iudea Herod was Tetrarch of Galilee Philip was Tetrarch of Iturea and Trachâ—nitis Lysanias was Tetrarch of Abilenâ— Pilate is styled Governour having precedency of the rest as residing in Ierusalem the principall City and perchance had a superintendency over the other Tetrarchs by vertue whereof he suppressed the rebelâ—lious Galileans which were otherwise of Herods dominion Howsoever they observed their distinct jurisdictions for Pilat hearing that Christ was of Galilee sent him to Herod to be tried before him either out of civility because he would not incroach on anothers jurisdiction or out of policy to decline so distastfull and dangerous employment at leastwise to divide the Odium betwixt them that Herod should have his share if not his half thereof § 3. Concerning the bounds of Iudea and Galilee Samaria being so swallowed up betwixt them that the southern part thereof belonged to Iudea the northern to Galilee largely in the last Chapter Of Iturea hereafter more fully in the Description of Nephthali As for Abilene we are less solicitous in assigning the accurate bounds thereof because it lay wholly out of the land of Canaan the proper subject of our discourse Abilene called by Ptolemy Abilene Lysaniae being a fair City in Coelosyria where the dominions thereof ranged far on the north of Libanus If any demand why the Tetrarchy of Abilene is mentioned by Saint Luke seeing it was an exotick and forain territory out of the pale of Palestine let them know it was done out of the over aboundant exactness of the Evangelist for these reasons 1 The more exquisitely to notifie the particular time of his history not onely by the date of the Governours of Iudea but also of contemporary neighbouring Princes And the harmony in chronology is the sweeter the more are brought into the consort 2 Because many dispersed Iews equally concerned in Christ and the benefit of the Gospell lived scattered in Abilene 3 Because having formerly mentioned three Tetrarchs the number had not been perfect and entire without adding the fourth Thus some English coines being quarter-pieces cannot be put away in payment without loss except four of them be joined together 4 Because though Abilene was not within the compass of
the lesser Canaan possessed by the Iews yet it was within the bounds of the larger Canaan that Countrey once belonging to the Archites and Arvadites the sons of Canaan § 4. Now whosoever shall with a Compasse in his hand survey the extent of these Tetrarchies will finde them to fall out very uneven in their dimensions some much larger then others Indeed they were measured with no other scale then the favour and friendship of the Emperour so that the best befriended at Rome got most dominion in Palestine Yet were these Tetrarchies as justly divided as our English Hundreds and those perchance equall in their primitive institution for number of men seeing we count threescore and eight hundreds in Kent and but six in Lancashire accounted little less in the compass thereof Nor was the Revenues of these Tetrarchies less unequall then their extent the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or yearly income of Trachonitis with the appurtenances belonging to Philip amounting as Iosephus computeth it but to an hundred talents whilest Galilee with its appendents returned two hundred and Iudea advantaged with the friendly City of Ierusalem yeelded four hundred talents yearly to the Governour § 5. Indeed exactness in observing the bounds of these Tetrarchies is not to be expected which in process of time passed under all parts of numeration Multiplied Subtracted Added to new Divided made moe made fewer made other then in their primitive establishment Let not therefore the Reader be moved if sometimes he find moe Tetrarchies sometimes fewer then four mentioned by good Authours in Palestine seeing as Salmasius informs us the word Tetrarchy in after-ages was negligently taken for a part or parcell of dominion without relating to the exact proportion of a fourth part Thus it is usuall for barbarous tongues to seduce words as I may say from their native purity custome corrupting them to signifie things contrary to their genuine and grammaticall notation Who knows not but that the word Moity both in law and true language importeth the just midst and true half of a thing though small moity in ordinary discourse is taken for any Canton or small portion And in a more proper instance though the Cinque Ports are notoriously known to be five as the name signifieth yet reckoned up with their members they make seven as I doubt not but six yea moe Tetrarchies may sometimes be told in Palestine § 6. And now to take our farewell of the severall divisions of this land mentioned in Scripture for on such onely we insist it will not be amiss to minde the Reader that besides the foresaid partitions we finde some other territories in Iudea having proper names and bounds to themselves but the latter so excentricall that they fall out neither even with any one Tribe nor adequate to any of the Provinces or territories formerly described Such are 1 Idumea sometimes taken more strictly for the south part of Iudea sometimes more largely as always in the old Testament for the land of Edom and the adjacent Dominion 2 Perea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to cross the water is frequent in the travels of our Saviour being a countrey containing all the land once belonging to Reuben Gad and Manasseh on the east of Iordan 3 Decapolis that is a land with ten Cities therein the just proportion of command given to the good servant who improved his five to ten pounds Take thou authority over ten Cities However such is the variety even betwixt good authors that amongst them the ten Cities of Decapolis are almost ten severall ways reckoned up We will onely set down two the most authentick computations of them Pliny his account 1 Damascus 2 Opoton 3 Philadelphia once Rabba 4 Raphana 5 Seythopolis once Bethsan 6 Gaddara 7 Hippon 8 Pella 9 Galasa for Gerasa 10 Canatha Brochard his account 1 Tiberias 2 Sephet 3 Kedesh-nepthali 4 Hazor 5 Capernaum 6 Caesarea Philippi 7 Iotopata 8 Bethsaida 9 Chorazin 10 Scythopolis The reason of their great difference may be this that in continuance of time some of these ancient Cities fell into decay or disfavour to forfeit their franchises whilst later places might succeed to their lost immunities § 7. Here we pass over in silence the division of Iudea into the Hill-countrey and the Low-countrey because this distinction is not appropriate to Palestine but usuall and obvious in all other kingdomes I remember whilest I lived in the West of England and confines of Summerset-shire hearing a labourer speak much of his long living in the low-countreys I demanded of him whether he had ever been at Amsterdam He answered that he had never been there but often at Taunton Whereby I plainly perceived what low-countreys he meant namely the flat and levell of Summerset-shire under Quantock-hills according to the language of the people in those parts Thus when the Tribe of Iudah is said to conquer the Canâ—anites in the low-low-countrey we understand the champion and plain-field in Iudea which lay at the foot of the mountains § 8. We meet in Scripture with many other petite tracts of ground honoured with names of lands as the land of Hepher the land of Dor the land of Zuph the land of Shual c. and in the new Testament the land of Gennesareth with many other These may be compared to our Gilsland in Cumberland Cleveland in York-shire Marishland in Norfolk Lovingland in Suffolk Portland in Dorset-shire places which sound so big that if measured by the ear and length of syllables they would be accounted Kingdomes or Counties at least whereas surveyed by the sight and scale of miles they appeare like the aforesaid lands in Palestine very small and little parcells of ground whereof largely as we light on them hereafter in our severall descriptions CHAP. 13. How the Hebrews measured places Of their cubits furlongs miles and Sabbath-days-journeys § 1. THe Hebrews distanced their places by severall measures some arbitrary casuall and uncertain others certain as reduced to a constant standard Of the former was their measuring of land by paces for we read when David solemnly brought the Ark into Ierusalem when he had gone six paces he offered oxen and fallings But here we are left at a loss in point of certainty taking it rather for an ambulatory then a Geometricall pace and then how vast the difference herein For Saul being higher from the shoulders upward then the rest of Israel by the symmetry of parts his pace must be presumed proportionably longer then other men Nor more certain was the Hebrews measuring their land by a bow-shoot as Hagar is said to set her son Iâ—hmael a good way off as it were a bow-shoot which if at rovers or randome admits of variation according to the strength of the bow might or sleight of the archer weight or fashion of the arrow § 2. As little certainty is
banishing them south of Arnon Fourthly Reubenites on whom Moses bestowed it after Sihon was conquered and killed Fifthly Moabites again For it seems after the captivity of the Reubenites by Tilgath Pilneser 1 Chron. 5. 26. they made a re-entry on their old possessions seeing those cities formerly inhabited by the Reubenites are prophecied against by Isaiah and Ieremiah under the notion of places belonging to the people of Moab to be destroied by Shalmaneser and Nabuchadnezzar § 3. This Countrey had Iordan on the west dividing it from Ephraim and Benjamin the River Arnon on the east and south parting it from the kingdome of Moab and on the north confined on the Tribe of Gad. The extent thereof from east to west may be allowed forty two miles not exceeding thirty five from north to south A Countrey excellent for grazing not as if defective in corn and wine wherein it shared with the rest of the Tribes besides the benefits of some Mineralls and medicinall waters whereof in due place but because exceeding in conveniencies for Cattell Pastures to feed Woods to shade and Rivers to wateâ— them Therefore was it bestowed upon the Tribes of Reuben Gad and half Manasseh which much abounded in cattell In which three we may observe some shadowes of Primogeniture which might imbolden them to petition to be first served Reuben the eldest of Iacob by his wife Gad eldest by Zilpah his concubine and Manasseh first born of Ioseph But these Tribes as first planted were first plucked up God carved unto them the first cut of the Land and after called for the Voider to take it first from them For they falling from the house of David and following Ieroboam through rebellion to Idolatry and not being warned with the terrible blow Hazael gave them shroudly shrubbing their branches God rent them up by the roots in the days of Pekah by the hand of Tilgath-Pilneser King of Assyria some twenty years before the generall captivity of their brethren at the end of the reign of Hosheah 2 Kings 17. 6. § 4 Leaving the people come we to survey the places and memorable actions in this Tribe In the northâ—east corner thereof near the banks of Arnon we finde the tract or territory of Aroer For though Aroer the City was undoubtedly entire in the Tribe of Gad yet it plainly appears that at least a Moity of the countrey adjacent so called from the city was possessed by the Reubenites A populous place it was the Prophet mentioning the cities of Aroer though their names or number is not expressed Probably Arnon one of the principall Tell yee it in Arnon says Ieremy surely not to the fishes in the River but to a City seated on the brink thereof and thence denominated as Hull in York-shire so commonly called from the Rivolet running by it § 5. Going south-west having the stream of Arnon for our guide we leave Kedemoth not far from the north bank thereof The Septuaginâ— read Kedson for Kedemoth and the Vulgar without any warrant read Iethson for Kedson so procreative is one errour of another This Kedemoth was one of the four Peculiars of the Levites wherein they were accommodated with Safety Pleasure and Profit Safety in the City it self within whose walls they dwelt in secure habitations Pleasure in their suburbs reaching a thousand Cubits from the wall round about little less then an English mile where they had houses of retirement with stalls and stables for their cattell Profit in their glebe land extending two thousand Cubits from their suburbs on every side improved for pasture tillage and vineyards For thus the survey of the Levites lands Numb 35. 4 5. though the difficult place is capable of severall senses is expounded by learned Rabbi Maimonie and we in our Maps have described them accordingly Now though herein we have given the Levites lands the largest and most favourable bounds seeing I am unable to endow them they shall lose nothing by my restrictive measuring thereof yet know that narrower limits are assigned them by Tremellius as shall hereafter be presented in Diagram we have prepared for that purpose § 6. Behold here Levi's curse turned into a blessing Divide them in Iacob and scatter them in Israel Now the dividing of them proved the disposing of them for their own and others advantage Their scattering was their ranking for the best behoof of the people for whose instruction they were intended They were the Salt of the earth and therefore God sprinkled them here and there the more conveniently to season the whole nation Insomuch that some English Parishes are more remote from their Mother-church then most places in Canaan were distant from the Cities of the Levites We must not forget that in Ieroboams apostasie the religious Levites forsook their Cities and fled to Ierusalem preferring voluntary exile before wealthy homes on the condition of an Idolatrous compliance It appears not in Scripture how these Cities and lands thus left were disposed of Whether Ieroboam himself seised on them converting them into demeans of his Crown or whether he suffered them to revert to those respective Tribes from whom they were taken so fastning his subjects affections unto him with nailes of gold of their own profit Either course may be conceived a cause to hasten the captivity of the people it being just that those who swallow Gods morsels should be spewed out of their own possessions § 7. Round about this City is the wilderness of Kedemoth not wholly abandoned to solitariness but as the rest of this kinde more thinly inhabited It abounded with wild beasts Lions Bears Bores Wolves Foxes where the pleasure in hunting the game did not recompense the pains and dangers of the shepheards lying constant Perdues in defence of their flocks From this wilderness Moses sent messengers to Sihon King of the Amorites for peaceable passage through his countrey But Sihon path-wise and land-foolish by denying a civility drew destruction on himself and subjects For seeking in fight to traverse it for their pedibus ambulando he was by a firme Ejection outed of his whole kingdome § 8. To return to Arnon Hereabouts the children of Israel passed over it miraculously with dry feet saith Adricomius But the miracle seems rather of his then Gods making the Scripture being silent therein and the river not of that depth or breadth but that it was fordable especially with the help of Camels Mules and Asses Many miles hence this river solitarily runs on as sensible of its sad fate suddenly to fall into the dead-Sea at Ashdoth-pisgah Where all his comfort is to have the company of two other Brooks whereof the eastermost runs near to Betzar or Bozra A City of refuge belonging to the Levites Merarites whereof there were six in the whole Countrey of Canaan with a provision that they should adde three more mans mercy must increase proportionably with his means if God
to Aben Ezra who allots to the banner of Reuben a man or male child others a mandrake others put mandrakes in his hand relating to Leahs words at his birth calling him Reuben that is See a Son causing her to forget her pain for joy that a man child was borne into the world § 31. The proper place for the standard of this Tribe was to be the first of the three Tribes which pitched on the south of the Tabernacle Thus though Reuben lost the Primacy of power over all he still kept the precedency of place before one quarter of his brethren Whence parents may be taught that though on just ground they disinherit yet not so wholly to dishearten their eldest sons but still suffer some remembrances of a birthright ever to remain unto them FINIS Here the Map of Gad is to be inserted The third Book THE TRIBE OF GAD § 1. GAd eldest Son of Iacob by Zilpah so increased in Egypt that forty five thousand six hundred and fifty males of twenty years old and upward of this Tribe were numbred at Mount Sinai all which falling in the wilderness for their tempting of God with this disobedience a new generation of forty thousand and five hundred entred the Land of Canaan This Tribe affordeth very martiall men For such of them as repaired to David in Ziglag are described Men of war fit for the battell that could handle shield and buckler whose faces were like to the faces of Lyons and were as swift as the Roes upon the mountaines Yet I meet not with any publick Magistrate extracted from Gad though the Genealogists rank Iehu with four of his Posterity successive Kings of Israel amongst the Gadites but on no other ground then because at the first time he is found mentioned in Scripture he was imployed a Commander at the siege of Ramoth Gilead a City in this Tribe It seems that as the English-law makes a charitable provision for children left by their parents that the Parish wherein they are first taken up must maintain them so Genealogists the better to methodize the pedegrees of the Iews in Scripture reduce Persons of unknown Parentage to those respective Tribes in whose grounds they first light on the mention of them But let Iehu pass for a Gadite the rather because so puisant a Prince will prove a credit rather then a charge to that Tribe to which he is related § 2. The land of this Tribe was of a double nature For what lay north of the river Iabbok was anciently the possession of Og King of Basan But what lay south of the river had its property more intricate and incumbred with often exchange of her owners and on the right understanding thereof depends no less then the asserting of the innocence of the Israelites the confuting of the cavill of the Ammonites and the reconciling of a seeming contradiction in Scripture Take it thus briefly 1t. It was the Land of certain Giants called Zamzummims 2ly It was possessed by the Ammonites who destroied those Giants and this Countrey was accounted a moity or one half of their dominion 3ly It was subdued by Sihon King of the Amorites who cast out the Ammonites when also he destroied the Moabites such as were south of Iabbok and dwelt in their stead Lastly after the overthrow of Sihon Moses gave it to the Tribe of Gad for their inheritance Thus God by ringing the Changes of successive Lords in this Land made musick to his own glory Behold we here what the Psalmist saith Thou hast brought a Vine out of Egypt thou preparest room before it the method and manner of which preparation is most remarkable First God in his providence foresaw that the Countrey of the Canaanites was without other addition too narrow to receive the numerous people of Israel Secondly God in his goodness resolved out of love to righteous Lot that his posterity should not totally lose their possession nor would he suffer the Israelites their kinsmen to deprive them of any parcell thereof giving them a flat command to the contrary Lastly God in his justice permitted Sihon King of the Amorites should win part of the Countrey from Moab and Ammon and suddenly sends the Israelites to conquer the conquerour and now lawfully to inherit what the other had wrongfully taken away And thus he prepared room for his Vine § 3. By this time we plainly perceive that in the Ammonites demand to Iephtha there was some truth blinded with more falshood that the countenance of the former might pass the latter unsuspected Israel took away saith the King my Land when they came out of Egypt from Arnon even unto Iabbok and unto Iordan now therefore restore these Lands again peaceably True it was that this Land was once theirs and so it is plainly called Ioshua 13. 25. but most false that ever the Israelites took Inch of ground from them save onely mediately and at the second hand taking it from Sihon who took it from the Ammonites We report the rest to Iephtha's answer who first with a fair ambassie and then with a famous victory confuted the Ammonites antiquated title to this territory pleading that the Israelites had three hundred years peaceably possessed the same Now if upon a strict account some years fall short of that sum the matter is not much because souldiers love to fill their mouths with a round number and too hundred fifty and odde with a good sword may well be counted three hundred years currant though not compleate § 4. The Tribe of Gad had the kingdome of Ammon on the east the half Tribe of Manasseh on the north Reuben on the south and the river Iordan on the west The length thereof from Aroer to Iordan may be computed thirty five miles and the breadth thereof from Mahanaim to Dibon falls out a little less A Tribe inferiour to none for fair rivers fruitfull Pastures shady woods superiour to most for populous Cities and memorable actions atchieved therein As for Balme or Balsame it was a peculiar commodity of this Countrey Thus the Prophet betwixt grief anger and pity demands Is there no balme in Gilead and again Goe up into Gilead and take balm O virgin In describing this Countrey we will follow the streams of Arnon Iabbok and Iordan which with some little help lent us besides will afford us the conveniency to behold all remarkable mounts in this Countrey § 5. In the eastern part of this Tribe the rivers of Arnon and Iabbok though running contrary ways arise not far asunder according to the exact observation of Iosephus who saith that the land of Sihon King of the Amorites lay in nature and fashion like an Island betwixt the three rivers of Iordan Arnon and Iabbok so near are the fountains of the latter together The heads of their springs are found in a mountainous and rocky soil affording great plenty of Iackalls
a beast § 11. From Peniel going southwest Iacob being to meet Esau his brother thus marshalled his company In the forefront his Concubines with their children next Leah with hers Rachel and Ioseph first in his love and last in place because furthest from danger before all like a valiant Commander taking the worst service on himself marched Iacob in person having sent before him his presents to Esau and dispatched before them his prayers to God See what gifts good words a fair tongue and full hand can doe Esau in stead of killing falls a kissing him Behold how they hug being now more twins then in their mothers womb for there they strove but here they embraced From Peniel Iacob travelled to Succoth in English Boothes because there he erected tents for himself and his cattell and so he went over Iordan into the Tribe of Ephraim to the City of Sichem whither God willing hereafter we will follow him And now seeing the way which we have come is both plain and pleasant let me request the Reader not to begrutch his pains to goe some part of it back again onely exchanging the company of plain dealing Iacob for valiant Gideon who in his march traversed this Tribe from the west to the east thereof § 12. Gideon pursuing the flying Midianites with his souldiers as faint as few for want of victualls coming to Succoth desired food from the inhabitants thereof The Succothites were so far from granting him provision they would not give him good words not more niggardly of their victualls then prodigall of their taunts unto him Wherefore Gideon in his return not then at leasure that his wrath should hinder his work with briars and thorns of the wood hard by tare their flesh in pieces The originall saith he taught them with thorns or made them to know namely their own folly and his power Dull Scholars must have sharp â—eachers or rather like unto like churlish crabbed dispositions and prickly crooked thorns well agree together Hence Gideon marched to Peniel whose Citizens neighbours to Succoth both in place and peevishness churlishly entertained him which cost them at his return the breaking down of their tower which was afterwards reedified by King Ieroboam From Peniel Gideon went forward by the way of them that dwelt in tents on the east of Nobah and Iogbehah against the Midianites unto Karkor which being out of the Tribe of Gad we shall hear more of it in our description of Midian § 13. The mention of those that dwell in tents puts me in mind that it is as much my duty here to tender my conjecture to the Reader as it is his liberty to receive or reject it There was a Countrey undoubtedly in this Tribe called the Land of Tahtim-hodshi that is newly inhabited where Ioab made his second station when sent to number the people Now may not this in probability be the very place where the Israelites formerly dwelled in tents and in Davids victorious reign were reduced to more stability and incouraged to turn their tents into houses more certain and solid habitations § 14. To return now to the river Iabbok half impatient for our long deserting it save that running westward it glides cooly and calmly under the shade of the forest of Ephraim so called as learned men conjecture for otherwise Ephraim possessed not any thing on this side Iordan because there Iephtha defeated the Ephraimites for their insolent mutiny against him But afterwards a greater slaughter happened in the same place when Ioab Abishai and Ittai Generalls for David routed Absaloms army and when the wood devoured more then the sword Wonder not that sticks had a mouth more voracious then steel understand it that some were devoured by beasts others famished as lost in the labyrinths of the forest and some staked on sharp piles in the fierceness of their flight Well might such sad fate befall the common souldiers which happened to Absalom himself This was he that boasted how upright he would be when made a Judge whereas now if the length of his hair conduced any thing to his execution it was the best yea onely piece of justice performed by him Yet more probable it is that running in hast not so minding which way to goe as to be gone he was snatched up by the neck in a forked bough How did the officious Oake act three parts being the Gallows Halter and Hangman for a traitour But this accident rather occasioned then caused his death the Oake was rather his Gaolor then his Executioner It was Ioab that dispatched him with three darts through his heart Wherein through a treble orifice were discovered Disobedience to his Parent Treason to his Prince and Hypocrisie to his God pretending a Sacrifice and intending Rebellion § 15. Hard by was Absoloms Tombe consisting of a great pit to hold and a great heap of stones to hide a great Traitour under it May they there lie hard and heavy on his Corpes and withall if possible sink down his rebellious example for ever having a resurrection No methodicall monument but this hurdle of stones was fittest for such a causer of confusion Indeed in his life time he had erected a stately Pillar near Ierusalem intending it no doubt for the place of his buriall But just it was that his dead carkass should be deprived of his own grave who endevoured to dispossess his living Father of his kingdome § 16. And now a little to acquaint the Reader with the adjacent Countrey two severall ways led hence to the City of Mahanaim The one through the mountains shorter but harder which Cushi chose The other by the way of the plain which the furthest about was the nearest way home Ahimaaz took this as the most ready Road who being a messenger volunteer would confess to David no more news then what he knew would be welcome whilest Cushi a prest Post must relate the full of his message And now the river Iabbok who hitherto may seem to run slowly as attending in suspence the issue of the Battell certified of the success thereof hastens with all possible speed to fall into the river Iordan § 17. Iordan had now some distance of miles escaped out of the sea of Kinneroth or Sea of Galilee the edge whereof Iosh. 13. 26. is assigned for the utmost border of this Tribe Through this lake as Tacitus observeth this river kept his ready course preserving his stream intire from incorporating with the waters of the Lake A thing no whit incredible to those Welshmen in Merioneth-shire who have beheld how the river Dee running through Pimble-meer continueth his channell without mixing with the Meer On the east side of this Sea stood the City of Gadara the first syllable whereof is argument enough to place it in this Tribe where the Legion of Devills cast out of the man entred into the herd of Swine where a
Otherwise his tender conscience would as wel have smote him for cutting off a lap of his subjects ground as of his Soveraigns garment § 31. We have finished the description of this Tribe and all places therein mentioned in Cononicall Scripture onely there remains behind some Cities which we finde in the Apocrypha in one chapter whereof we may spring a whole Covey of Cities namely these following 1 Dathema a fortress 2 Bosora 3 Bosor 4 Alema 5 Chasphor 6 Mached 7 Carnaim 8 Ephron The generall character given of these places consisteth principally in these particulars 1 All these were Cities strong and great 2 Situated al in the Land of Gilead yea in this Tribe of Gad Carnaim onely excepted whereof more properly in our next description 3 Inhabited by Iews and threatned by the pagan Hoste under Timotheus that they would take and destroy them all in one day From which last clause we collect that these Cities must be placed somewhat near together otherwise how could an army probably propound to dispatch them all in one day And though the Pagans might mingle much pride with their malice in projecting things high and hard to effect yet surely they mixed some policy with their pride not to propound to themselves meer impossibilities But the seasonable coming of Iudas Maccabeus with his host frustrated all the Pagans designes § 32. But the City of Ephron deserves serious consideration for the singular situation thereof For in Maccabeus his return from Carnaim this strong City stood so in his way that he could not turn from it either to the right hand or to the left but must needs pass through the midst of it A place in so tyrannicall a position may seem an affront to mans naturall liberty Yet such was the situation thereof near the confluence of Iabbok and Iordan where perchance the way railed with Morasses on either side and being a pass of importance Maccabeus was onely free to go this or no way The Ephronites senâ—ible of their advantage undiscreetly deny him passage Surely if a flying enemy deserve a bridge of gold to be given him a potent foe seriously proffering peaceably to depart may merit a bridg of silver to be lent him But Maccabeus being denyed forced his way through the city over them that were slain § 33. In the partition of the Land of Canaan into severall moneths for Solomons provisions the Tribe of Gad fell under three Purveyer-ships 1 Of Gebar the son of Uri who ranged over most of that land once the kingdome of Sihon 2 Of the Son of Geber to whose jurisdiction Ramoth-Gilead did belong 3 Of Abinadab the Son of Iddo to whom Mahanaim did pertain By Mahanaim here I understand not onely the Levites City so named poor purveying for victualls within the walls of that alone but a large Territory of the same name round about it And although to us it is unknown how far the bounds thereof extended yet they must be concluded either very large or extraordinary fruitfull acquitting it self as a twelfth part of the Kingdome and affording Court fare for one moneth of the year In the passage to this Mahanaim on the south to retreive a place which otherwise had escaped us lay Bithron a petty Countrey it seems through which Abner passed when by night he fled from Ioab § 34. It will here be demanded that seeing the land was by Gods own appointment formerly divided into twelve parts the twelve Tribes adequate to the twelve moneths of the year why did not Solomon rather make use of this partition which was jure divino then make a new modell out of his own fancy It is answered this later division of the land was found most convenient for house-keeping and so more subservient to this particular end for which it was ordained If that any urge me to give a reason why in this division into Purveyer-ships Ramoth-Gilead distanced some miles off was added to the jurisdiction of the Son of Geber who was overseer in Manasseh thereby mangling and mutilating the intireness of the Countrey let such first satisfie me why so many shreds and parcells of land especially in Worcester Hereford shires are cut off from those Countreys in situation yea are surrounded with other shires yet belong unto them in jurisdiction as accounted members thereof In all these Querees an ordinary eye might at the first institution discover an apparent reason of such fractions though now because long since time out of minde the quickest sight cannot perceive the cause thereof § 35. The Armes usually assigned to Gad are Gules on a Banner erected argent a Lion rampant sable grounding their fancy I can afford it no better term on Moses his blessing Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad he dwelleth as a Lion c. Buâ— how to accommodate the prophecy of Iacob to this Tribe of Gad a troop shall overcome him but he shall overcome at last much imployeth the industry of Divines Most apply it to the situation of this Tribe much exposed to the incursion of the Ammonites their vexatious neighbours till at last under Iephthah Saul and chiefly David freed from forein foes they possessed their countrey in peace Others in a mysticall meaning make Gad the embleme of Gods children who after many intermediate frights fights and failings come off with the conquest at last I say at last a word which fully recompenseth its long delays in coming when come with eternity of continuance Here followes the Map of the half Tribe of Manasseh beyond Jordaâ— MANASSEH beyond IORDAN CHAP. 3. § 1. MAnasseh eldest Son of Ioseph by Asernath daughter of Potipherah Prince-priest of On was by his propheticall grandfather Iacob placed behind Ephraim his younger brother Not that Reuben-like he was disinherited for any misdemeanour but onely so it pleased al-disposing Providence to transpose him However though inferiour to Ephraim in power he grew so great that thirty two thousand two hundred of his body from twenty years old upward as able men to goe forth to war came forth of Egypt all which digging their graves in the wildernes by their own infidelity fifty two thousand seven hundred entred the land of Canaan Many Worthies were extracted from this Tribe for this Countrey was conferred upon them in Intuition to their valour as Gideon and Iephthah the warlike Iair the younger the peaceable Judge of Israel Eliah the Prophet nor must the five daughters and coheires of Zelophehad be forgotten who argued their case so strongly about their inheritance Bashfulness it self will be bold rather then lose a rightfull possession and a good cause when plainly told is learnedly pleaded especially if a meek Moses or just Ioshua be the judge thereof § 2. We are now onely to describe that part of Manasseh which was east of Iordan Some will say was it not pity the possessions of this Tribe
some called their lands after their own names and some it seems were called after the name of their lands § 9. A fruitfull Countrey Gilead was till the people thereof were infected with Idolatry growen so frequent therein that the Prophet complains Their Altars were as heaps in the furrows of the field Thus falling into Gods displeasure they quickly fell under their enemies disposall The Syrians of Damascus threshing them with instruments of Iron and the Ammonites ripping up their women with child that they might enlarge their border This latter cruelty seems done in revenge of Davids usage of the Ammonites in taking of Rabbah putting them under saws and harrows c. And although some hundreds of years were betwixt that action of David and this of the Ammonites yet we know malice hath a strong memory long to retain and at last to return injuries offered unto it § 10. Under the hills of Gilead famous for flocks of goats to which for thickness and whiteness the hair of the Spouse is compared lay Rogelim a Manor of Barzillai the Gileadite This was he who so bountifully victualled David at Mahanaim so civilly waited on him to Iordan so equally requested and so easily obtained a Writ of ease from Court attendance being now fourscore years of age having first bequeathed his Court-pleasures to Chimham his Son neither covetous to keep them himself nor envious that another should enjoy them because such excusable vanities might become his green youth which would be burdensome to the withered winter of his Father Pella seems to be hereabouts whither many Christians warned by many prodigies fled for shelter from Ierusalem before the Romans besieged it As we congratulate their thus preventing persecution according to Christs precept so we cannot but condole that the same persons were afterwards poisoned with hereticall opinions contrary to the express word of God and became Apostate Nazarites Somewhat more north is Lodebar the possession of Machir a bountifull benefactor to David during his distress and Guardian to Mephibosheth in his minority and Thisbe the birth-place of Eliah the Prophet the Iohn Baptist of the old Testament Great was the resemblance betwixt their persons and preaching all similitudes run like Pharaoh's Charets in the red-sea wanting some wheeles especially because both were born in bad times when the world was generally infected with wickedness both contented with plain clothes and course fare undaunted in reproving the faults of Princes and implacably persecuted for the same § 11. But the principall City in Gilead was Mizpah the place of Iephthah's habitation This is he whom his brethren banished for a Bastard but the elders of Gilead oppressed by the Ammonites brought back for their Generall When they felt their own woe they began to see Iephthah's worth formerly exiled for his Fathers fault but now restored for his own abilities Vertue once in an age will work her own advancement and when such as hate it shall chance to need it they will be forced to prefer it To Mizpah Iephthah returned though a conquerour yet a captive and a prisoner to his own rash vow to sacrifice whatsoever came first forth of the doors of his house it so happening that his onely daughter met him with a virgin-quire and musick which was sad in the close Here Divines both for number and learning are almost equally divided some avouching her really sacrificed according to the letter of the text whereof some footsteps in the Fable of Agamemnon sacrificing Iphigenia haply corrupted for Iephthagenia or Iephtha's daughter others maintaining that she was onely sequestred to perpetuall virginity If any demand my judgment in this difference I seasonably remember how one being asked in the Massacre of Paris whether he was a Catholick or an Hugonite answered he was a Physician My return must be in this work I am onely a Chorographer and the controversie in hand concerns matter of fact not of place proper onely to us for this present § 12. East of Mizpah lay the plain of Mizpah Ioshua having conquered the Kings of Canaan at the waters of Merom in the next Tribe pursued them hither on the east and to Mizrepothâ—maim near Sidon westward A chace with a vengeance all the latitude of the land the Canaanites flying as far as sea or mountains would give them leave so that their flight may pass for a Scale of miles for the breadth of this Countrey so smitten untill they left them none remaining understand it not in a considerable body to make any resistance § 13. So much of Gilead We come now to Bashan for these two provinces did the Tribe of Manasseh contain though it is impossible accurately to distinguish their bounds Bashan was a grazing countrey as indeed all Canaan east of Iordan was fitter for Abel then Cain for pasturage then tillage antiently called the Land of Giants which though now extirpated Og being the last of that race yet retained some footsteps thereof in the strength and greatness of her 1 Oakes whereof oares were made for the gallies of Tyre 2 Rams of the breed of Bashan being the fattest and fairest of their kinde 3 Bulls so often mentioned in Scripture But by Davids metaphoricall bulls of Bashan strong sturdy curst cruell men are understood This Province was subdivided into severall petty lands as first the Laâ—d of Argob on the north next Syria Secondly Bashan-avoth-Iair where taking the first word for the Genus and the two latter for the Difference we have the exact definition of the Countrey § 14. Iair was a fortunate name in the family of Manasseh and we must be carefull not to confound two eminent men of that name 1 Iair the elder contemporary with Moses who when the field-forces of Og were utterly destroied smote the small towns thereof being threescore in number as Ioshua counted them and called them Bashan-Avoth-Iair that is the Cities of Iair in Bashan 2 Iair the younger a peaceable Judge in Israel immediately before Iephthah who as he came many years in age short of the former so the number of his Cities were but half so many viz. thirty which he left to his thirty sons calling them also Avoth-Iair It is further recorded of his thirty sons that they rode on thirty Asse-colts i. e. they were itinerant Judges say some in their respective places it being improper that they in their severall circuits should 1 Goe on foot Authority would be contemned if not somewhat heightned above the comon people 2 Or ride on prancing steeds Marshall law may be so mounted where the heels of the horses are as terrible to poor people as the face of the rider 3 Or ride on swift Coursers seeing no such hast to execute suspected innocence 4 Or be housed in covered chariots which is a kinde of engrossing of justice shutting that up to which all ought to have
open access 5 But ride on Asses partly that Petitioners though lame and weak might keep pace with them on the way when relating their grievances and partly by that patient creature to shew the slow but sure proceeding of justice and indeed the Judges foot-pace to the sentence is the accused parties post-speed to his grave We finde among these thirty cities but one of them named which is Camon wherein the body of Iair was buried And it is probable that Ira the Iairite so high in favour about King David was an inhabitant of this countrey § 15. More south lay Ashteroth-karnaim or in English the two horned Ashteroth either so named from some forked building or street therein Horn-church in Essex and Horn-castle in Lincolne-shire so called on the like occasion or because the Idol Ashteroth that is the Moon horned in her waxing or waning was worshipped therein or lastly because a fair and gallant City and all strength mirth and jollity are called horns in the Hebrew Yet may we say to the men of Ashteroth in the words of the Psalmist Set not up your horns so high neither speak presumptuous words Horns which first were well blunted by Chedorlaomer when he smote the Rephaims or Giants in Ashteroth-karnaim and afterwards were broken quite off when Og King of Bashan who reigned in this City was overthrown For hard by is Edrei another City wherein Og resided and neer which he bid battell to the children of Israel when he with all his Giant-like race which peopled this place was extinguished For though the Countrey of Pigmies be a Poets-tale this Land of Giants is a Scripture-truth However no eye can now distinguish betwixt the ashes of Giants and dust of dwarfs death having long since levelled all alike in the grave § 16. Such remarkable places as remain in this Tribe will easily be found out if we follow the stream of Iordan and such rivolets as pay tribute thereunto Iordan having newly recovered himself out of the waters of Merom into a competent channell receiveth from the east Hermon a small brook running by Golan a Levites City of refuge whence the neighbouring countrey in Iosephus called Gaulonitis and after Iordan falleth betwixt Capernaum and Chorazin into the sea of Galilee This Chorazin was the place where Christs miracles and preaching were sowen so thick and where the peoples thankfulness for the one and practise of the other came up so thin that it caused that curse Woe be to thee Chorazin c. A woe which at this day hath wasted it from a populous city to a ruinous village As for their conceit that Antichrist should be born in Chorazin I take it to be a meer Monkish device to divert mens eyes from seeking him in the right place where he is to be found § 17. More south-ward the brook Cherith having viewed at some distance Beeshterah afterwards called Bosrah a city of the Levites called also Ashtaroth And it is questionable whether this or Ashtaroth-Carnaim whereof formerly were the Metropolis of Og King of Bashan runneth into the Sea of Galilee By the banks hereof the Ravens brought Eliah bread and flesh in the morning and evening and he drank of the river It seems Dinners are but innovations whilest break-fasts and suppers are mens most ancient and naturall meales Here Eliah having the subâ—â—ance of sustenance cared not for the ceremony of a Table or complement of a Carpet How little will preserve life but how much must maintain luxury After a while this River dried up Collect not thence that the brook was inconsiderably little but that the drought had been extraordinarily long § 18. As for the cities of Hippus Iulias and Gamala whereof as deep silence in Scripture as frequent mention in Iosephus it is enough to name them In the last of these Iosephus reports Iudas of Galilee to be born that grand impostor who in the days of the taxing pretended himself the Champion of popular liberty to protect them from such unreasonable payments Multitudes of men flocked after him for spare their purses and win the hearts of the Vulgar But Iudas having goâ—ten power fell a pillaging all people taking from them the whole griest of their estate so to save the owners from paying toll unto Cesar. How smooth and tender are the gums of Infant-treason but oh how sharp are the teeth thereof when once grown to full greatness However he and his followers came afterward unto confusion and is the second instance alleadged by Gamaliel to prove that councells which are not of God will come to nought The Son of Geber was Solomons purveyer in this half Tribe of Manasseh § 19. The Armes assigned to Ioseph are a tree proper growing by a Well founded on the words of Iacob Gen. 49. 22. David may seem hence to have borrowed his Simile of a blessed man He shall be like a tree planted by the waters side But Ioseph had more not onely a Well before to refresh but a wall behind to support him and his boughs may Heralds word it in their own language grew over the wall Partly foretelling the fruitfulness of Iosephs posterity and partly pointing at the particular posision of his inheritance For as some think Iordan was the wall on the east of the Land of Canaan properly so called and the children of Ioseph having their root planted and main body growing on the other side of the river spread their branches over this wall half Manasseh having his portion on the east side of Iordan To conclude though those Armes did generally belong to the whole house of Ioseph yet custome hath appropriated them to Manasseh alone other Ensigns being assigned to Ephraim whereof God willing hereafter Here the Map of Naphtali is to be inserted THE TRIBE OF NAPHTALI CHAP. 4. § 1. NAphtali Son of Iacob by Bildah his Concubine was multiplied during the aboad of his posterity in Egypt to fifty and three thousand four hundred All which dying in the desert their Sons being fourty five thousand foure hundred entred the Land of Canaan A Tribe acquitting it self considerable in relation to the rest though we meet but with two or rather but with one and a half Glories thereof The former Barak the son of Abinoham who acted by Deborah did act so valiantly against Sisera The half-one Hiram a Naphtalite though his Father was a man of Tyre that curious Artificer in Solomons Temple Other eminent persons though unknown doubtless were of this Tribe for in their martiall addresses to David in Hebron none appeared in more excellent equipage for number and warlike accoutrements And of Naphtali a thousand Captains and with them with shield and speare thirty and seven thousand § 2. This Tribe bordered plainly intimated though not expressed in the bounding thereof on mount Libanus on the north and reacheth as is plainly expressed to Zebulun
on the south-side and to Asher on the west-side and to Iudah upon Iordan toward the Sun-rising True this must needs be for Truth hath said it the last words present us with a seeming impossibility For how long an arme must Naphtali make to reach to Iudah over the Tribes of Zebulun Issachar Manasses Ephraim and Benjamin interposed Naphtali being distanced about an hundred miles from Iudah Here some Commentators being not able to quell never raise this objection a commendable discretion in them if unconcerned to meddle therewith but seeing they professe their calling to be a satisfaction of difficulties it is in them an unexcusable lazinesse But let us hear what the learned resolve in this case 1 Some fancy a small Lace of land or rather a thread for the narrowness thereof whereby though invisible in Maps Naphtali is tyed unto Iudah 2 Others that Naphtali reacheth to Iudah upon Iordan not immediately in confines but mediately by commerce because the river Iordan runneth thence unto Iudah and so they had the conveniency of Traffique into that Tribe 3 Others more likely that Naphtali reached to Iudah on Iordan because Iudah as a Tribe in chief had the Royalty of the river Iordan as fishing fowling and perchance the impost on all vessells sailing from the fountain to the fall thereof 4 Let me cast my Mite into this Treasury What if this Iudah was but the name of a town or village and therefore that addition Iudah upon Iordan given for distinction sake However Masius no less learned then modest pleaseth me with this resolution In rebus tantâ vetustate obliteratis quae exploratè percipi nullâ jam ratione possunt satius est non multa dicere quà m incertissima pro veris absque ullâ dubitatione afferre Such difficulties were not casually scattered but purposely placed to improve our industry and teach us humility For the best answer mans wit can produce is no salve to the Text which of it self is whole and entire but a plaister onely to our own craized understandings § 3. For the fruitfulnesse of this countrey hear what Moses prophecyeth O Naphtali satisfied with favour and full with the blessing of the Lord. See also what was performed For the land about Laish which was in the confines of this Tribe is thus charactered A place where there is no want of any thing that is in the Earth Iosephus being almost this Country-man saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One may call this Countrey the Ambition of nature Strabo a Pagan giveth it the Epithets of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A well natured land and bearing all commodities But the best fruit it bare was our Saviour himself by his corporall presence much conversant here this Tribe being the Theatre whereon his most remarkeable Miracles were acted § 4. From the foot of Libanus to the sea of Galilee may be allowed thirty five miles Equall whereunto by the favour of Iordan running crooked though northernly more narrow is the breadth thereof from east to west In the time of our Saviour this Tribe was parcell of two Tetrarchies The north-east part thereof belonged to Iturea The Poet takes notice of the plenty of Yew in this Province Itureos taxi torquentur in arcus Yew which in Iturea growes Is neately bended into Bowes Hence their inhabitants became excellent Archers and pity it was rhat their arrows were so often shot at a wrong mark to kill and rob passengers in their journey Strabo calls the Itureans generally 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and their Countrey in some sort may seem accessary to their felonies the Receiver is bad as a thief which as the foresaid Author observes in her caves woods and inaccessible mountains protected those Robbers from justice proceeding against them Insomuch that the Romans were fain to keep Souldiers in Garison against them but who kept any against the souldiers So that betwixt both Iturea at that time may be conceived sufficiently miserable § 5. The south-west of Naphtali was accounted part of Galilee the upper otherwise called Galilee of the Gentiles because as some conceive the people therein were commixed with heathens and being far from Ierusalem were more drossie Iews then the rest Which is a most erroneous opinion For how improbable is it that our Saviour who sending his Disciples to preach gave them instructions Goe not into the way of the Gentiles and into any city of the Samaritans enter yee not and himself never stayed in Samaria save as he took it in his necessary passage in or from Iudea should choose Galilee if so debased with the mixture of Gentiles for the place of his principall and constant residence Far more true is it that it was called Galilaea Gentium that is Galilee the populous because of the multitudes of people especially near the sea wherein was Decapolis a member of Galilee And there one city for want of room may seem to tread on another § 6. Before we come to the particular description of this Tribe we will first dispatch out of the way nine limitary Towns which accordingly are figured in the Map and this will much facilitate our proceeding in the rest 1 Heleph in the northern bounds of this Tribe from which the eastern coasts thereof southwardly are described 2 Allon that is in English oake as Oakeham in Rutland so named from plenty of those trees growing therein 3 Zaanaim Note that Tremellius maketh these two latter but one entire place reading it the Oake-wood of Zaanaim 4 Adami Which as Ruthland in Flint-shire probably was so named from the redness of the earth 5 Nekeb this is a ditch where we may conceive Iordan was let out for the more convenient watering of other ground And have we not more then twenty Dittons or Ditch-tons on the same occasion in England 6 Iabneel different from one of the same name in the Tribe of Dan. 7 Lakum 8 Aznoth-Tabor 9 Hukkok We are not bound to beleeve all these nine to have been Cities of considerable strength or greatness as not so note-worthy in themselves as in their situation Because though perchance otherwise poor villages they stood in the borders of this Tribe Thus low shrubs growing on high hills or crooked thorn-trees set by the high-way side are more conspicuous in the eye and frequent in the mouths of travellers then streighter and fairer trees which are obscure in the midst of the wood § 7. To come to the particular description thereof Amongst the mountains of Libanus we meet with one of eminent note not onely having a name peculiar to it self but which from it hath also denominated the adjacent Countrey This is mount Paneas wherein there is a deep hole or cave And though places of this kind commonly have more horrour then pleasure in them this besides its naturall beauty was adorned with artificiall structures in and about it Herein also was an unsoundable spring of water conceived by
plough as elsewhere God threatens the disobedient Iews the earth that is under thee shall be iron but that this land should afford plenty of those metalls according to the testimony of Eumaeus in Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Sidon I â—oast to be born where's brasse in aboundance Besides the great commodities of the sea with the convenient havens thereof Debora complains that when Zebulun and Naphtali most concerned as nearest danger ingaged themselves against Sisera Asher continued on the Seashore and abode in his breaches And no wonder if being Merchants they preferred profit before perill especially being in a safe place where the iron chariots of Iabin King of Canaan could not approach them § 3. The worst mischief in this Tribe was that after the death of Ioshua the Canaanites quartered so hard on the men of Asher that they detained no fewer then seven great cities from them Yea perchance something may be pickt out of the expression of the holy Spirit for whereas the Canaanites are said to dwell amongst those of Zebulun the Asherites the phrase being altered in the following verse are said to dwell among the Canaanites as if those pagans were the principall Land-lords ingrossing all memorable places in this Tribe to themselves whilest the Asherites lived amongst them as Tenants at will by the others leave Nor was this fully remedied untill the victorious reigns of David and Solomon § 4. In the north-west part of this Tribe neer the sea side we first meet with Misrepothmaim that is the boyling of waters though uncertain whether done artificially by fire or naturally by the Sun Here great plenty of salt was made in brine-pits a necessary and gainfull commoditie However Tremellius rendreth Misrepothmaim fornaces vitrarias Glass-furnaces and we know store of the best sort of that brickle ware was made hereabouts Ioshua having foiled the Kings of Canaan at the waters of Merom pursued them thus far to the shore of the Mediterranean where his foes had the free choise whether they would be killed with the sword or drowned in the sea Hard by is Mearah which signifieth a cave and so some translations render it though others retain the Hebrew word being the northern boundary of the land of Canaan and an impregnable underground fortification of the Zidonians Yea many hundred years after in the Holy War when the Christians possessed Palestine they manfully defended it untill the garison therein corrupted with money basely betrayed it unto the Saracens § 5. Observe by the way that the hills in Palestine generally had in their sides plenty of caves and those of such laxity and receit that ours in England are but conny-boroughs if compared to the palaces which those hollow places afforded Neither wonder that the cave of Makkedah could contain five Kings together or that Obadiah could hide an hundred Prophets by fifty fifty in a cave or that about four hundred men abode with David in the cave of Adullam or that six hundred Benjamites lurk't for four moneths in the rock of Rimmon when Strabo hath reported that towards Iturea which beginneth not far off there be sharp mountains having deep deâ—s in them whereof one is able to receive four thousand Men. These caves being only a cellar by nature were by Art contrived into severall rooms and by industry fortified even unto admiration So well man'd they could not be stormed well victualled they could not be starved and not having any combustible matter about them fire-free they could not be burned so thick they could not be battered so high they could not be scaled and so low they could not be undermined But these Inns gave entertainment to any guests and as sometimes they gave shelter to pious people in persecution so often they afforded harbour to theeves and vagabonds The Psalmist glanceth on such places in that his expression Thou art of more honour and might then the hills of the robbers and our Saviour directly pointeth at them when he complaineth that they had turned the house of God into a den of theeves § 6. To proceed hereabouts we can quickly discover an ancient City wrongfully placed by the presumption of Authors namely Enoch built by Cain in the land of Nod which one tells us was at the foot of mount Libanus and that vast foundations thereof are at this day to be seen Surely Cains wandring humour bloudy hands are always attended with roving feet seems to have possessed these Authors brains stragling in the position of this place so far from the truth and the text which describeth it east of Eden But we may seek the City Enoch with more probability to finde it amongst the Henochii a people seated by Pliny neer the Bactrians in the east country § 7. But before we goe farther we will alter our former method hoping such variety will prove the more pleasant and because most memorable Places in Asher are mentioned in Ioshua where the Possessions of this Tribe were first allotted him we will briefly comment on those verses wherein the Bounds of his Inheritance are described Ioshua 19. 24. And the fifth lot came out for the Tribe of the Children of Asher according to their Families To prevent all Quarrels the Land on this side Iordan was divided by lot betwixt the nine Tribes and an half much of providence being couched under the seeming casualty thereof for although their Portions fell not to them in such seniority as they sate down at Pharaoh's Table the first-born according to his Birth-right and the youngest according to his youth yet an excellent method was observed therein For The first Lot fell to Iudah the Tribe Royall of whom the Chief Rulers and Christ himself was to descend The second to the sons of Ioseph Ephraim and Manasses to whom on Reubens forfeiting thereof the Birth-right belonged The third to Benjamin Iacobs youngest but next best beloved son by Rachel his dearest wife The fourth fifth and sixth for Simeon Zebulun and Issachar his sons by Leah so that all Iacobs children by his wives were provided for first before those he had by his Concubines received any Possessions The seventh for Asher Iacobs son by Zilpah handmaid to Leah his first wife and therefore her child in seniority preferred Gad his elder brother being already provided for on the other side Iordan The eight and ninth for Naphtali and Dan born of Bilhah handmaid to Rachel the younger sister and Iacobs second wife We know who said in another case I sleep but my heart awaketh So see here though drowzie Chance in the Lot is commonly challenged to have slept out her eyes and to become stark blind yet is there a concealed vigilancy therein ordered by divine Providence Verse 25. And their border was Helkah and Hali and Beten and Achshaph In expounding these words for the maine we
more moisture of the sea through which they are brought The men also of Dan and Iavan of whom hereafter furnished Tyre with Cassia and Calamus drugges of high worth and value 3 Merchant-Drapers Such as brought precious clothes for or with chariots being the men of Dedan which is an eminent countrey in Idumea 4 Merchant-Fishmongers Many of these must be presumed in Tyre where fish was a staple commodity which they transported into other countreys and vented for their own gain without any other respect of time or place This caused Nehemiah's complaint that in Ierusalem there dwelt men of Tyre which brought fish and all manner of ware and sold them on the Sabbath 5 Merchant-Gold-smiths Such as occupied in her Fairs with all precious stones out of the Countrey of Sheba and Raamah aforesaid Besides Emeralds Corals and Agate brought out of Syria Silver from Tarshish i. e. Spaine as our Authour irrefragably proves plenty of that metall therein and gold from Arabia Yea as some observe that though the body of the Sun ariseth in the East yet his shining by reflexion is first discovered in the west so granting gold originally to grow in lands east from Tyre yet in this City most gorgeous and glittering was the lustre thereof beaten and drawn out in most artificiall embroideries and embosments 6 Merchant-Skinners Although no mention of their trade in this City where the heat of the climate made furs not onely useless but burdensome yet we may be confident there wanted not those therein which traded in such skins which were in valuation in these parts 7 Merchant-Taylours Such as dealt in all sorts of things in blew clothes and broidered work and in Chests of rich apparell bound with cords and made of Cedar Those that traffiqued in these commodities were of Haran and Canneh and Eden and Sheba Ashur and Chilmad all near one another as appeares by their bundling up together about the confluence of Tygris and Euphrates 8 Merchant-Haberdashers Great their number who by wholeâ—sale sold â—he fine manufactures wrought here of Gold Silver Ivory and Ebony brought from Dedan different from the former countrey of the same name in Idumea at this day called Daden situate on the Persian gulf But oh the infinite varieties of precious toyes made thereof Well did Homer give the Sidonians the Epithet of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or very much ingenious Their fingers might seem all of bone so strong and hardy to endure any labour and yet all of flesh so flexible and limber to any imployment Those mysteries in manufactures which English men in our age gaze on as rare discoveries the Phenicians of Tyre would but smile at as rude recoveries of what by them was most perfectly performed 9 Merchant-Salters Store of these may be concluded therein not onely because salt is so needfull a commodity but also because at Misrepothmaim or the boyling of waters hard by Sidon great store of salt was made 10 Merchant-Iron-mongers Such as bartered in Iron Tin or Lead Brought from Spaine or Tarshish as also in vessels of brass from Iavan Tuball and Mesech that is Ionia Pontus and Moscovia as our Authour will have it though we are not at leasure severally to examine his judgment therein 11 Merchant-Vintners Such as traded in Wine of Helbon no doubt most delicious to the Palate brought hither by the Merchants of Damascus Helbon we conceive the same with Calybon a City in Syria whereof mention in Ptolemy and from which the Countrey about it is denominated Calybonidis 12 Merchant-Clothworkers Such as from the Whitewooll brought from Damascus transmitted the same from the Spinsters wheel to the Weavers loom to the Fullers sheares to the Dyers vat and so to be worn by the greatest Princes in the world who were beholding to Tyre the center of rich clothing for all their holy-day apparell Thus was their City fraught with commodities of all kinds to say nothing of their Smithfield full of horses horsemen and mules from Togarma or Cappadocia their East-cheap full of the flesh of Rams Lambs Goats c. from Arabia their Leaden-hall where a market was kept with the wheat of Minnith and Pannag out of Iudea so that all things save piety humility and thankfulness to God were to be had in this City § 16. Thus sate Tyre on her throne in a Princely posture no less envious then proud witness her rejoycing at the destruction of Ierusalem the breaking of one Merchant is the making of another when she said to her self Ierusalem is turned unto me I shall be replenished now she is made waste meaning that all trading divided before should now be engrossed to her self alone But God marred her markets threatning by Isaiah to stain the pride of her glory alluding to Tyres master-piece which was to fixe faire and fresh colours which God would soil and blur notwithstanding all her curiosity in that kinde Ezekiel useth two maritime expressions as most proper for a Port first that her enemies should come up against her as the Sea causeth his waves to come up and then that an east winde should break her meaning Nebuchadnezzar living north-east from this place who afterwards besieged and sacked the City § 17. It seems the taking thereof called elswhere the strong City Tyre did not quit cost for the taking thereof the profit received by it not countervailing the pains expended upon it God himself confesseth that Nebuchadnezzar served a great service against Tyre and yet had no wages One tells us that the Tyrians after thirteen years siege despoiled of all hope of relief abandoned their City and in their ships transported their wives children and portable wealth to Carthage Cyprus and other Colonies leaving Nebuchadnezzar their empty nest when all the birds worth pluming were flown away However God afterwards gave him the spoile of the land of Egypt for wages for his army Thus not onely those who doe Gods will in a direct line but also such who collaterally not to say casually work his pleasure shall finde a reward seeing in sacking of Tyre Nebuchadnezzar went in the path and pace of his own pride and covetousness though haply in his own way he met with Gods will not onely besides his intention but without the knowledge thereof § 18. As the ruines so the restauration of Tyre was foretold by the Prophet not the same numericall Tyre in place and position for Paletyrus or old Tyre ever after remained desolate according to the prediction thou shalt be built no more but the same in name countrey convenience of site wealth and wickedness Yea she exchanged and improved her place for commodity and strength removing from the entrance to the midst of the Sea from the continent to almost an Island Here to use the Prophets expression after seventy years the end of the Babylonish kingdome Tyre began
to sing as an harlot Siren songs to allure Merchants to be her lovers as before counting trade and profit t◠be her richest pleasure And so she did flourish againe as much or more then ever during the Persian Monarchy about two hundred six years till Alexander the great made her change her tune alter her notes and turn her merry love songs into mournfull Elegies on her selfe For being denied by the Tyrians in their City to sacrifice to Hercules the Tutelar God of that place Alexander not so superstitious as ambitious with vast pains and expence as one whom no perill could affright nor labour weary sacked the City putting such to the sword as resisted and causing two thousand moe to be hung up in rank on the sea shore At which time he built a Castle of his own name now corruptly called Sandalium two miles south of the City § 19. Yet Tyre afterwards recovered it self to considerable greatness like a cunning Broaker though often proving quite bankrupt she set up again though having nothing to give her credit but the conveniency of her situation as indeed an harlot needs no other wares then her self to set up her trading Insomuch that the Poets fiction of the Phoenix springing again out of his own ashes being disclaimed by naturall History for a falshood may mythologically finde a truth in and probably fetch its ground from this Phoenix or Phoenician City of Tyre always arising fresh and fair out of his own ruines In our Saviours time it was a stately place and yet though with Dives it was clothed in purple Tyre could not with him fare deliciously every day unless beholding to Herods land of Galilee to afford it constant provision because its countrey was nourished by the Kings Countrey Sensible hereof when Herod was highly displeased with these of Tyre and Sidon they politickly compounded the breach knowing that to fight with him who fed them was the ready way to be famished and opening the breast of Blastus the Kings Chamberlain with a golden key through that passage they made their access to pacifie King Herod § 20. Tyre at this day is reduced almost to nothing Here it is seasonably remembred that Ethbaal Father of Iezebel was the King as Tyre was the chief City of the Sidonians and I finde a great conformity betwixt the fortunes of his daughter and this place In their 1 Outward happiness She a crowned Queen and Tyre a Crowning City whose Merchants were Princes 2 Inward wickedness both of them styled Harlots in Scripture 3 Finall wofulness she eaten up by the dogs to the short reversion of her skull feet and palmes and Tyre so consumed by all-devouring time that now no other then an heap of Ruines yet have they a reverent respect and doe instruct the pensive beholders with their exemplary frailty Enough of Tyre if not too much fearing that long since the Reader hath sadly sympathized with the sufferings of Nebuchadnezzar and Alexander guessing their pains to be great in the long siege of this place by the proportion of their own patience in reading our tedious description thereof All I will adde is this that though Tyre was a sink of sin yet is this recorded in excuse of her profaneness and mitigation of her punishment that if the miracles done in Chorazin and Bethsaida had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have long since repented in sackcloth and ashes § 21. Two bowes shoot from the east gate of Tyre the place is showen where the woman made that spirituall-carnall exclamation Blessed is the wombe that bare thee and the paps that gave thee suck when Christ not disproving her words diverted his Auditours from this and directed them to a more necessary trut◠Yea rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it A little mile south of old Tyre are four fair pits the least twenty five cubits square commonly called Solomons Cisterns Surely the water of them is more clear then is the place alledged out of the Canticles to prove Solomon the Authour thereof where but obscure and oblite mention is made of those water-works More probable some King of Tyre made these and the neighbouring Aqueducts for the use of the City § 22. Seventeen miles north of Tyre lay the City of Sidon so named from the eldest son of Canaan A city of great antiquity seeing Tyre is termed by the Prophet the daughter of Sidon Sure here the Hebrew proverb held true As is the mother so is the daughter both of these Cities being of great wealth and wickedness Insomuch that to live carelesse quiet and secure is in Scripture phrase to live after the manner of the Zidonians § 23. It was also a place of very great extent therefore termed in holy writ Zidon Rabbah or great Zidon Not that there was ever a lesser Zidon though there be one grand Cairo it followeth not there is also a pety Cairo but it is emphatically so named in comparison of other Cities Yea Diodorus Siculus and Pomponius Mela make Sidon the greatest city of all Phenicia understand then anciently whilest as yet she suckled Tyre her little infant which afterwards outgrew her mother in greatness This haply is the reason why Homer so often making honorable mention of Sidon is so silent of Tyre because reputing this latter a parcell of the former § 24. Many and great were the fortifications of Sidon but in vain was the arme of flesh with it when God himself saith Behold I am against thee O Zidon whereupon in generall it felt the same destruction with Tyre which here we forbear to repeate Onely we will adde that as bad a place as Sidon was after Christs resurection a Church was quickly converted therein and Saint Paul sailing to Rome touched here and was courteously refreshed by his friends § 25. Near the east-gate of Sidon they shew the place where the Syrophenician woman begged so importunately for the cure of her daughter not disheartned though likened to a dog by our Saviour In deed she shewed one of the best qualities of a dog in keeping her hold where once she had well fastened not giving over or letting goe untill she had gotten what she desired § 26. So much for the City of Sidon The Countrey of Sidon was larger adequate almost to Phenicia and full of many fair harbours Amongst these Zarephah or Zarepta styled both in the old and new Testament a City of Sidon The land round about it was fruitfull of the best Wine as we have formerly observed During the three years drought in Israel here dwelt that widow whose thrift had so evenly ordered her bread and oile that a little of both were left till she got a spring in her cruse by entertaining the Prophet Elijah As for her son restored to life by Elijah that he was Ionah that eminent
so liquorish as ours now adays or because they preferred honey plenty whereof was extracted and refined to their hand Yea our modern Sugar as it is boiled and baked is not above two hundred years old and the art of refining it was found out long since by a Venetian getting above an hundred thousand crowns thereby leaving them to his son afterward made a Knight who wasted all to nothing § 8. In the north of this Tribe lies the vale of Iesreel and Well of Herod where Gedeon conquered the Midianitesâ—ncamping â—ncamping by the hill of Moreh Indeed the achievements of Gedeon take up almost this whole half-tribe and therefore we will attend on him from his call to be a Judge unto his summons to his Grave § 9. Sad in his time was the condition of the Israelites oppressed by the Midianites who swarmed like Grass-hoppers for number and noisomeness over the land of Canaan Grass-hoppers were formerly a Plague for Egypt but now for Israel these Midianites devouring all which the other had sowen Time was when the Israelites reaped the fields they did not sow whereas now they sowed what they did not reap See what wofull inversions sin can make In this dolefull estate the Angell found Israel when he sat under an oake in Ophrah in the east of this Tribe neare Iordan and saluted Gedeon threshing by the wine-press The Lord is with thee thou valiant man Much concealed valour may lurk under a plain painful outside whcih a just occasion may produce into publick view Yet let none turn their flailes aker-staves sheep-hooks shuttles needles into swords till first with Gedeon they have a warrant from God for the same Gedeon having thus a cal from God and confirmed with many miracles first by night cast down the Altar erecting one to God in the same place and cut down the grove of Baal then gathered an army of thirty two thousand therewithall to fight the Midianites § 10. But his army must be garbled as too great for God to give victory thereby all the fearfull return home by Proclamation leaving the Perons not the Men in the army fewer for their departure The good liquor was no less for the loss of such froath though two and twenty thousand then went away Yea the body of his men remaining was still too big and must pass another decoction Their valour hardiness and industry must be tried by a Purgatory of water and those onely were admitted to march on proving but three hundred who bowed not down on their knees in a lazy posture as if they meant to make a set mealâ— in drinking but loath to lose so much time doglike lapped water out of their hands their dishes as their tongues were their spoons manifesting thereby quick at meat quick at work the activity of their spirits taking all refreshing only in passage to their farther imployment § 11. With these three hundred Gedeon advanceth against the Midianites and as formerly by the deeds of his friends is now confirmed afresh with the dreams of his foes and their own interpretation thereof Strange that God should condescend so much and so often for Gedeons satisfaction working miracles backward and forward for his sake fleece only wet and ground dry fleece onely dry and ground wet Heavens reall miracles will endure turning being lining and facing inside and outside both alike Yea after these and other confirmations God the night before the battell gave Gedeon a new sign out of his enemies own mouth He that spurneth at the presumptuous how low will he stoop to take up a weake but true faith Thus the wise mother beateth the sound and froward but bemoaneth and cherisheth her sick and froward child § 12. The Midianites lay secure in their tents when the word was given The sword of God and Gedeon Excellent mixture both joined together admirable method God put in the first place Where divine blessing leads up the Van and mans valour brings up the battell must not victory needs follow in the rear Gedeons men by order from him brake their lamp-lined pitchers whereby night is turned into light silence becomes a loud sound in an instant We have this treasure in earthen vessels and what miracles may the light of Gods word in the pitchers of poor preachers bring to pass § 13. The sodain shining and sounding fills the eyes and eares of the Midianites with amazement Whence came these spirits walking in the dark dropt from heaven or raised from the earth The text was terrible but oh what disâ—all descants did their affrighted fancies make thereon Every mans fear single in it selfe was doubled by reflexion from his next neighbour For hearing so many Trumpets together if so many Trumpeters then how many souldiers in proportion unto them Hereupon the host ran and cryed and fled to Bethshittah in Zererah and to the borders of Abel-meholah unto Tabbath Thus great Armies once struck with amazement are like wounded whales give them but line enough and the fishes will be the fishermen to catch themselves and beat themselves â—ame by their own violence § 14. Hereafter let none term Gideon as Ulysses is disgracefully called Nocturne miles the night Knight because he conversed with the Angel cast down Baals Altar conquered the Midianites all by night seeing now in open light he pursued his conquest chasing Zebah and Zalmunna with the rest of their Army home to their own Countrey where he overtook and destroied them Mean time the Ephraimites were active in stopping the passages on Iordan and slew Oreb and Zeeb the one at a rock the other at a wine-press first coloured with their bloud then called after their names to all posterity § 15. What remains of Gideon I would willingly conceal that his Sun might not set in a cloud But man must not smother what God will have seen especially because tending to his honour our instruction though Gideons disgrace Who refusing a Crown accepted the ear-rings of the people and thereof made an Ephod surely onely as a civill memoriall of his valour and their thankfulness But what had Gideon a Manassite to doe with an Ephod a Leviticall vestment Such a monument was neither of divine institution or benediction and therefore through mans corruption easily subject to be abused to superstition If Gideon walks but on the brink the next generation will fall to the bottome of Idolatry as here it came to pass Posterity went a whoring after this Ephod which caused the massacre in and destruction of the fâ—mily of Gideon whom we leave buried in Ophrah in the grave of his father Ioash and so proceed § 16. And now his history finished we shall soon dispatch the remainder of this half Tribe First we resume Abel-meholah lately mentioned which was the habitation in after ages of Elisha Here he was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him and
Tabernacle where the Benjamites as yet unprovided for wives lying in ambush in the vineyards violently seised some of those maides for their brides happy man be his dole making strange matches if each interest concerned therein be seriously considered § 15. First for the Fathers of these virgins Did this equivocating expedient satisfie their consciences who had formerly sworn not to give their daughters to the Benjamites to wife and yet now by laying the design themselves did in effect give these women in marriage to these men § 16. Secondly for the young men What assurance had they they could love not choosing the fittest whom they liked of but catching the first they lighted on Or that they could be beloved storming their wives with violence in stead of taking their affections by mutual composition § 17. As for these Brides of fortune may we not presume that many of them which danced this day wept on the morrow Yet one thing might comfort them they were all richly married to mighty matches of landed men seeing the fair and fruitfull Tribe of Benjamin with all the Cities therein was to be shared amongst their six hundred husbands alone as the sole survivers and absolute heires of the whole Countrey § 18. In Shiloh Eli lived Priest and Judge of Israel whither Elkanah and Hannah Samuels parents repaired to Gods publick worship This Hannah though silent when twiâ—ted by Peninnah for barrenness found her tongue when here taxed by Eli of drunkenness because a meer sufferer in the former but in the latter a sinner had the accusation been true Samuel here prayed for afterward here served God in a linen Ephod and though generally there was a dearth of visions in this age here he had many revealed unto him But Eli's dim eies connived here at his sons impieties Whose servant with his Trident an Innovation no doubt and none of the utensils made by Moses according to the pattern of the mount would have raw flesh for his Master so that what between the raw flesh here sacrilegiously stolne and the strange flesh wherewith those Priests abused themselves at the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation any pious eares would now tingle to hear their faults as hereafter at their punishment § 19. For soon after happned the destruction of Hophni and Phinehas slain in battell the Arkes captivity Eli's heart-breaking with the news neck-breaking with his fall the death of Phinehas his wife newly delivered whose son got the sad name not of Benoni a name calculated for private pangs but of Ichabod from this sorrowfull accident because born in this grand eclipse when the glory was departed from Israel § 20. Yea the very city of Shiloh it self may seem in some sort to expire on the same occasion which as it owed its life and lustre to the Tabernacles residence therein so sinks down in silence at the captivity thereof For we finde no after mention of any eminent act therein onely that Ahijah the Prophet long after lived there He was the Jewish Tiresias though blinde a Seer who discerning Ieroboams wife through her disguise foretold the death of her sick son Abijah So much of Shiloh proceed we now to the more northern and mountainous part of this Tribe § 21. Amongst the remarkable places in mount Ephraim we find Timnath Serah or Timnath Here 's by inversion of the letters on the northside of the hill Gaash where when they had made an end of dividing the land the children of Israel gave an inheritance to Ioshua See here his publick spirit not improving his power though ComaÌ„nder in chief to pickout the fattest pastures fairest meadows fertilest fields for himselfe but as if he counted it possession enough for him to have gained possessions for others when the meanest man was first served he was contented to stand to the peoples courtesie what they would bestow upon him If it sound to the praise of a Generalls valour to come last out of the field when it is won no less is the commendation of his temperance to come last into it when it is divided In Timnath Serah asked and built by him Ioshua afterwards was buried and as Saint Hierome reports that in his time the Sun was depicted on his monument This I dare boldly say that whereas modern Heralds blazon armes by the specious titles of Planets their fancy is with most truth appliable to Ioshua's shield bearing Sol and Luna indeed having made both Sun and Moon stand still by his prâ—yers Also Eleazar the High priest was buried in mount Ephraim in an hill which pertained to Phinehas his son § 22. Tirzah was another city near mount Ephâ—aim whose King was conquered by Ioshua In the days of Solomon it was a place of great repute Thou art beautifull ô my Love as Tirzah comely as Ierusalem terrible as an army with banners Ieroboam chose it to be his Royall-seat perchance because near Zereda his native place where he and his successours lived for welnigh sixty years Indeed Baasha had a project to make Ramah the place of his residence as nearer to Ierusalem and therefore more convenient to mark the motions of the Kings of Iudah but frustrated of his designe he was fain to return to Tirzah reigned and was buried here Elah Baasha's son was here drinking in the house of Azzah his steward when a dear reckoning was brought in and no less then his life extorted from him by Zimri his successour Afterwards when Tirzah was taken Zimri either out of envy that the royall Palace should survive him or desire to prevent a more shamefull death burnt himself and the Kings house together We read of King Asa that after his death his subjects made a very great burning for him but Zimri exceeded making a bone-fire for and of himself when alive herein standing alone except seconded by Sardanapalus who in like manner destroyed himself on the same occasion Thus dyed Zimri a King onely for a week whose Reign like a winters day was short and dirty yet long enough to leave this taunt for Iezebels mouth and Proverb to posterity Had Zimri peace that slew his Master Hard by is Tiphsaph where King Menahem barbarously ripped up the women with child because the city opened not to receive him § 23. Besides cities many private dwellings were sprinkled on mount Ephraim as the house of that Levite whose concubine the men of Gibeah abused to death the house of Micah well stored with Idols where first the five spies then the sixe hundred men of Dan took up their lodgings when marching to Laish Ungratefull guests who in stead of discharging their quarters plundered their Land-lord taking his Images and priest away with them Thirdly the house of Deborah under a Palme-tree betwixt Ramah and Bethel where she judged
blessings mentioned there or else the ten Commandements the Breviate and abstract of the whole law § 36. But mount Gerizim was the Holy of holies to the Samaritans in after ages commonly calling it the blessed mountain and confining their publick service and sacrifices to that place Here to avoid confusion we must take notice of two distinct sorts or sects of Samaritans differing much amongst themselves in 1 Antiquity 2 Extraction 3 Religion 4 Place of their worship One from Hezâ—kiahs time Heathens by descent Heretâ—call Any where in the province of Samaria Another from 〈◊〉 tiâ—e Mongrel Iews Idolatrous In mount Gerizim alone We begin with the former being colonies of Assyrians planted by Salmaneser in the place of the ten Tribes which he had carried away into finall captivity These at first were devoured with Lions saith the Scripture though Iosephus affirmeth that the plague the Samaritan Chronicle that the famine destroyed them Presumption in them to deviate from Gods word for though both plague and famine may in some sense be allowed to be Lions that is devourers yet such as confound them destroy Gods solemn Quadripartite of his punishments making three members of his four sore judgements mentioned in the Prophet coincidere to interfeer yea run all into one Afterward a Jewish Priest was at their request sent out of Assyria to teach these Samaritans the manner of the God of the land He is called Ezdras by Epiphanius by others Lun and by some Zacharias but seeing God hath concealed his name it is no whit materiall to know it especially except he had taught them better divinity For he instructed them not to serve God as they ought in his Temple then extant at Ierusalem but in their own countrey according to the direction of Ieroboam and then no wonder if the Samaritans were guilty of abominable impieties For as water neither will nor can naturally ascend higher then just levell to the spring or fountain whence it is derived so these people were capable of no purer service of God then as they were principled by this superstitious Priest who either did not know or would not teach them the true Religion Yea their practise fell short of his precepts not worshipping one God alone but every city had also a severall Idoll to themselves according to the nations whence they were descended These were the ancient Idolatrous Samaritans which as Chrysostome saith did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mingle what was not to be conjoined and which in process of time were well wasted and few if any of them extant in the days of our Saviour § 37. These were succeeded with a second sort of hereticall Samaritans beginning in the government of Nehemiah who reporteth that one of the sons of Iojada the son of Eliashib the high-priest was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite and therefore I chased him from me This Priest is by Iosephus called Manasse who thus driven away from Ierusalem went with other Iews guilty of the like mongrell-matches to the Samaritans their wives kindred and there as the Jewish writers relate built an Anti-temple on mount Gerizim where a medly nation devised a miscellaneons worship of God rejecting all the Scriptures save the five books of Moses and maintaining many abominable superstitions And yet they were not so bad as Epiphanius makes them charging them by a far-fetch'd consequence to worship heathen Gods because placing sanctity in that mountain wherein Iacob buried his Idols whilst some tax them to adore a Dove the Armes of the Kings of Babylon and others unjustly accuse them utterly to deny the resurrection we remit the Reader to our learned Authour who cleareth them from these false aspersions and though we our selves will not take the pains to plead their cause let us have the patience to hear others speak for the worst of men when unjustly traduced § 38. But the main difference in matter of Religion betwixt the Samaritans and Iews is no less briefly then cleerly and truly stated in those words of the woman to our Saviour Our Fathers Samaritans worshipped in this mountain Gerizim and yee Iews say that in Ierusalem is the place where men ought to worship The contest grew high betwixt them each zealous to assert the transcendent holiness of their Temple insomuch that the Samaritans made the text false to make their title true wilfully depraving the originall For whereas we read in the Hebrew both that Moses directed and Ioshua erected an Altar on mount Ebal the Samaritan Pentateuch make the same built on mount Gerizim in the very place where afterwards their mock-Temple was set up so to gain thereunto the greater reputation of holiness This false foundation laid they proceeded thereon to vaunt of the excellency of their divine service exceeding the Iews in 1 Antiquity it bearing date from this solemn Altar four hundred and odde years before the structure of the Temple by Solomon And if the Iews once offered to plead the originall of their Temple from Abraham sacrificing his son Isaac on mount Moriah then the Samaritans to outvy them derived the seniority and sanctity of their mountain from the first apparition God made to Abraham and first Altar Abraham made to God in the land of Canaan both in this before Isaac was ever promised 2 Constant continuance pretending an uninterrupted succession of divine service in this place whilest they objected the long intermission of Gods worship in Ierusalem lying wast during the seventy years of the captivity in Babylon But oh how light and slight how few and feeble are the Samaritan arguments for the place of their worship if compared to the numerous ponderous pregnant proofes Iews can produce for Gods presence fixed in Ierusalem The Samaritans therefore were wise in their generation to admit alone of the five books of Moses for canonicall wherein all their supposed evidences for the matter in controversie are contained seeing otherwise had they accepted of the rest of the Prophets in the old Testament their witness had utterly overthrown the fundamentals of their Religion which so frequently make Ierusalem the proper center of all pious mens devotion One instance for many Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Ioseph and chose not the Tribe of Ephraim but chose the Tribe of Iudah the mount Sion which he loved And he built his sanctuary like-high palaces like the earth which he hath established for ever Here Ephraim is singled out by himself as of all the Tribes most probable in after-ages to justle with Iudah for the place of Gods publick service in whose portion was mount Gerizim besides Shiloh where the tabernacle so long resided and yet he is cleerly cast and the cause adjudged against him by the immediate determination of God himself § 39. We have no more to say of the Samaritan temple on mount Gerizim save onely that Antiochus afterward
the world Surely not the building of Gods but his Idols temples impaired his treasure and women impoverished both his wealth and his wisdome Seven hundred Queens and not unlikely so many Courts and three hundred Concubines which though lesser then the former in honour might be greater in expence as the Thiefe in the Candle wasteth more then the burning of the wiek were able to bankrupt the land of Ophir with Tarshish given in to boot Rehoboam requires three days respite for his answer the onely act almost wherein he shewed himself wise Solomons son seeing in matters of such consequence extemporary returns give men leasure afterwards to meditate their Repentance § 46. The old men advise Rehoboam for remission and mitigation of taxes What harm was it if He being now to be married to a Crown should waite on his Bride the wedding-day that she might obey him all her life after Especially they counselled him to speake good words to the people though his good deeds might follow at a distance And truely fair speeches cost the giver nothing and doe ease though not cure the discontented receiver But Rehoboam followed the advice of the young men hot heads enough to set a kingdome on fire not to satisfie but suppress the peoples desires threatning to make his little finger heavier then his Fathers loines more happy if he had made his head but half as wise so that the people deserting the house of David clave to Ieroboam for their King § 47. During this distemper Rehoboam sent Adoram who was over the Tribute unto the people No doubt in hope that they would reverence his gray-haires not abating much of an hundred years in age having enjoyed that office above threescore years from the midst of the reign of King David or else to give them some orall satisfaction how all sums had formerly been expended for the publick good But his sight was offensive to the people whose very looks seemed to demand a taxe and his eyes to exact tribute of them insomuch that the people stoned him to death To lesson all money-officers from publick appearance in popular tumults being persons most obnoxious to the spight and spleen of the Vulgar Thus in Iack Stâ—awes Rebellion their fury fell first and fiercest on Sir Robert Hales Lord of Saint Iohns and then Lord Treasurer whom they drew out of the Chappell in the Tower and without any reverence of his estate or degree with fell noise and huge cryes struck off his head on Tower-hill Nor did Sir â—ames Fines Lord Saie and Treasurer of England fare better in â—he Rebellion of Iack Cade whom without any judiciall proceedings before his confession was ended they executed at the standard in Cheapside And now it was high time for Rehoboam to call for his Chariot and hast to Ierusalem § 48. Near to Shechem was the parcell of ground which Iacob bought of the children of Hamor for an hundred pieces of money whereon he spread his tent and erected an Altar called God the God of Israel Afterwards Iacob gave it as a portion to his son Ioseph whose bones brought out of Egypt were buried therein But how Iacob when he bequeathed this land to Ioseph could properly call it A portion which he took out of the hands of the Amorites with his sword and by his bow is a difficulty much perplexing Divines in the solution thereof meeting onely with Iacobs staffe though Esau had a bow in the Tenour of Scripture We will present the Reader with their best answers leaving him to chuse which he conceives most probable Some conceive 1 That Iacob being a peaceable and plain dealing man in reproof of such as delight in force and violence called his money his sword and his bow And indeed in all ages money is the sharpest sword and bow that best hits the mark yea answereth all things 2 That thereby he meant his prayers the Armes of the Patriarchs and Primitive Christians whereby he obtained of God that his posterity being now in his loins in due time should by their martiall atchievments conquer the countrey and speakes of the conquest as already made because of the undoubted assurance of it upon Gods promise 3 That his sword and his bow import no more then his industry and endevours Thus the Latine phrase Fecit proprio marte carrieth a warlike sound but a peaceable sense when one acquires a thing though in a legall way with his own might without the assistance of others as Iacob purchased the foresaid heritage 4 That his sword related not to his purchase but to the city of Shechem which Simeon and Levi won by their sword and the sons conquest is reputed to their Father Now let none be troubled because Iacob is said to purchase this land of the Amorites Hamor of whom he bought it being an Hivite Amorite being there taken in a genericall sense as all the inhabitants of the eight united Provinces are comonly called Hollanders § 49. Near to this parcell of ground which Iacob gave to Ioseph stood the city of Sychar wherein was the well at which that excellent discourse passed betwixt our Saviour and the Samaritan woman who came thither to draw water Some also place hereabouts the city Shalem founding it on the words of the text And Iacob came to Shalem a city of Shechem Which the Chaldee and other translations read and Iacob came safe or sound and entire to a city of Shechem Not that here he was healed of his halting as some will have it but rather that hitherto no notorious or eminent dysaster befell his family which afterwards fell thick and threefold upon it As the defiling of Dinah Simeon and Levi slaughtering the Shechemites Reubens incest Rachels death Er and Onan slain by God Iudah's incest with Tamar Ioseph sold by his brethren § 50. And now to take our farewell of the countrey about Shechem anciently called the plain of Moreh two eminent oakes grew therein One under which Iacob buried his heathen Gods with the superstitious ear-rings of his family wherein no doubt Idols were ingraven Another under which was a great stone solemnly set up by Ioshua with the words of the Law written thereon to be a witness against the Israelites in case afterwards they should deny that God whom then they generally resolved to serve But the question will be how this latter oake was termed to be by the Sanctuary of the Lord seeing the Tabernacle and the Sanctuary Lieger therein resided at Shiloh in those days If any say that every place where men seriously set their souls to serve God is his Sanctuary they speake rather an Evangelicall truth then a proper answer to the present question This inclines me to conceive either that by Sanctuary is meant that place of the Altar which Iacob long before thereabouts erected or that the Tabernacle not far off
was brought hither for the instant occasion and afterwards returned back unto Shiloh § 51. Dothan lay east of Shechem wherein the Prophet Elisha for some time made his abode Here he was complained of to the King of Syria for being the pick-lock of his Cabinet-councels and therefore an army was ordered to apprehend him But why so many to attach a single person and his servant Indeed no more then needed For Elisha alone was an army in himself being the horsemen of Israel and chariots thereof His servant seeing themselves surrounded cryes out till having his eyes opened he discovereth themselves guarded with a fiery army on the tops of the mountains Thus Angels are good mens Janizaries to protect them and those Natives of heaven grudge not to guard those who are onely free Denizens thereof The Syrians are smitten with blindness and they that came for the destruction are glad to follow the direction of Elisha Indeed to whom should blind men goe but to the Prophet the Seer to guide them He leads them for the present the wrong way to their intents and desires but in fine the right way to Gods glory and their safety in stead of Dothan bringing them to Samaria How easily are those misled who lack the use of eyes And alass whither will implicire faith and blind obedience steer the followers thereof Yet here all came off in a peaceable close so that their lives being saved sight restored bodies feasted and mindes better informed they returned to Damascus If I must be a captive may I be a prisoner to a pious Prophet so shall I be best used and my ransome easiliest procured § 52. This Dothan I take to be the very place where Ioseph found his brethren and there was put into the pit and sold to the Merchants For being sent by his Father to Shechem he was by a man directed to Dothan whither his brethren had removed their flocks and which probably was not far off but some few miles from the former place Wherefore when formerly in the description of Zebulun we placed Dothan in the northern parts of that Tribe threescore miles from Shechem therein we were carried away with the common current of other mens judgements and now have watched our advantage to swim back again and shew our private opinion in the position thereof And besides the aforesaid text setling Dothan near Shechem in this Tribe of Ephraim it is proportionable to divine providence that the place whereon Ioseph was betrayed and pit wherein he was put should in after ages fall to the possession of the sons of Ephraim descended from him § 53. But here a materiall Question will be started how Ioseph could properly say that he was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews when the Hebrews at that time had none inheritance in it no not so much as to set their foot on Say not that Ioseph being a child when taken away might be allowed to speak incongruously for we behold his words as uttered by him when a man And surely he who then could expound dreames could express himself in proper language Some conceive it was termed the Land of the Hebrews 1 From those few Hebrews the family of Iacob living there though not as inhabitants but onely as sojourners therein 2 It was the Land of the Hebrews by promise and in due time should be theirs by possession 3 The Land of the Hebrews though not in linage in language the Canaanites speaking the same tongue with Iacobs family 4 Some conceive this land anciently belonged to Heber as all Asia to the sons of Shem and that the Canaanites had before Abrahams time encroached on that Countrey To strengthen this last conjecture we must remember that Melchisedech King of Salem who generally is conceived to be Shem the ancestour of the Hebrews still retained his kingdome in the land of Canaan And it might be that the other Hebrews were ejected by the Canaanites If so the Israelites afterwards got the land under Ioshua by a double Right of Conquest and Recovery § 54. In this Tribe no doubt was the city Ephraim in a Countrey near to the wilderness where our Saviour that Sun of righteousness clouded himself for a time when the Iews took counsell to kill him Wonder not that we cannot find the exact situation of this place For Christ chose it on purpose for the privacy and obscurity thereof Thus though willing to lay down he was not willing to cast away his life unfit to be a Saviour of mankind if a destroyer of himself And though he knew well that all the weights of mans craft and cruelty could not make the clock of his time strike one minute before his hour was come yet he counted it his duty by Prudentiall means to endevour self-preservation § 55. Two eminent places remain which we have reserv'd for the last because of the uncertainty of their particular situation though both of them certainly in this Tribe One the hill of Phinehas which was given him in mount Ephraim Let no sacrilegious hands hasten hither with their Spades and Mattocks to pare and abate this hill as too large a possession for the high Priest seeing a greater had been too small for his deserts who stood up and executed judgement and so the plague ceased This Hill of Phinehas certainly was with in the circumference of some Leviticall city in this Tribe and we conjecturally have placed it within the circuit of Beth-horon the upper Here religious Eleazar the son of Aaron was buried in this hill belonging to his son Phinehas § 56. The other the Mount of Amaleck in the land of Ephraim But how came the Amalekites to have any thing in the heart of Ephraim whose own countrey lay two hundred miles more south-ward near the Red-sea And yet it is no wonder to finde theeves and robbers such were the Amalekites in any place who like the Devill their father goe to and fro in the earth walking up and down therein But we are confident this mountain was so called from some eminent thing here done or suffered by the Amalekites For we finde them joined with the Midianites in the days of Gedeon to destroy Israel and finde afterwards this Tribe of Ephraim very succesfull in doing execution on the remains of the Midianitish Army when defeated Why then might not this mountain of Amalek be so named from some Amalekites then slain in this place As Danes-end in the west-side of Hartford-shire took its name from a battell thereby wherein the Danes were overthrown In Pirathon a town on mount Amalek Abdon one of the peaceable Judges in Israel was interred § 57. I conceived all memorable places described in this Tribe but on review do discover a guilty town lurking besides Ephraim as if conscious of the treachery committed therein it endevoured to
erroneous judgements better rectified and informed § 10. Nor doth ought else observable offer it self in this corner of the Tribe save Aijalon where Ioshua's prayer arrested the Moon to stand still assigned by God to the Levites But the Amorites took the boldness to keep possession thereof Hear the words of the Scripture And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountaines for they would not suffer them to come down into the valley but the Amorites would dwell in mount Herez in Aijalon and in Shaalbim The genuine sense is that though the Amorites generally pent the Danites up in the mountains yet in these three places though mountainous in their situation they crossed their common custome not out of necessity but designe as sensible of their own profit that these transcended the vallies in fertility and therefore placed themselves therein Let others dispute how it came to pass that the Priests whom God intended men of peace by their profession had a controversiall City appointed them incumbred with enemies so that they must win it before they could wear it As also how the Levites could live when the Land allotted them was sequestred in the hand of a forein foe It will be for enough us to observe that in all ages the Church being imbarked in the same bottome with the State ran an equall hazard therein according to her proportion And when the whole Tribe of Dan like the Parish in generall was straitned in its processions well might the Priests maintenance be abated accordingly § 11. We goe back now to Ioppa where standing on the rocks an indifferent fight may easily discern those ships into which the heathen people of Ioppa with much courtesie but more craft invited the Iews with their wives and their children to goe aboard for they made them pay their lives the fraight for their voyage wilfully drowning two hundred of them Whose bloud Maccabeus revenged with a contrary but as cruell an Element burning all their ships in their harbour with such as were found therein Hard by is Iamnia a little haven which may be rendred Seaton in English whose mischievous intention against the Iews Maccabeus punished by burning their towne by night Which bone-fire was beheld two hundred and fourty furlongs off as far as Ierusalem A thing not incredible that fire it self should be seen so far by the light whereof other things in darkness are discovered especially when mounted high on its throne with the advantage of pitch cordage and other navall and combustible matter Some doe conceive that this Iamnia is the same with Iabneh the wall whereof was broken down by Uzziah the puissant King of Iudah § 12. Hence the sea running southward provides it self to entertain a nameless brook which Mercator cals Naphtoah and others making signes as unable to speak the true name thereof the brook of the land of the Philistines because otherwhiles the northern boundary of their dominion We had rather give it no name then a nick-name And because the course thereof affords us conveniency to visite the middle parts of this Tribe we will accept of his courtesie and follow the guidance thereof § 13. This brook hath its birth and infancy in the Tribe of Iudah whence flowing into Dan he runneth through the desert of Modin which is full of rocks and those of holes and those once of men flying out of the neighbouring Cities from the persecution of the Pagans Herein a thousand of them were slain by the fury of their enemies or rather by the fondness of their own superstition refusing to make resistance on the Sabbath day A sad accident But the parent of a good event because putting the surviving Iews in a posture of defence and teaching them more wise and valiant resolutions Yea not long after hereabouts they obtained a victory over the numerous army of Cendebaeus Nor will any slight this brook as inconsiderable when they read how it ran in the midst betwixt the armies of the Iews and Pagans and was so deep that the hardiest of the former durst not adventure to wade it before first incouraged by the example of their Generall Except any will say they did not so much fear the depth of the river as the height of the banks of the other side to wit the puissant army of their enemies § 14. Going further on the river we come into the Countrey of Makats that is as learned Tremelius well observeth the border or boundary if you please the Marches betwixt this Tribe and their professed enemies the Philistines It is impossible to define the limits thereof seeing the Countrey was the constant Cock-pit of war and the ground thereof sometimes marched forward sometimes retreated backward according to the variety of martiall success Great is the difference betwixt the same sea at high and low water mark and so this Countrey must needs be much disproportioned to it self when extended in a full tyde and when contracted in a low ebbe of success § 15. In this Countrey of Makats Bethshemesh was a principall City belonging to the Levites and reputed part of Iudah but except some Labell of land tacked to Iudah surrounded about with the Tribe of Dan. A case obvious in the dividing of Countreys Who knows not how Worcester-shire hath speckled all the adjacent Counties with snips and shreds belonging unto it though environed with other shires and that at considerable distance Hither the kine drawing the Cart and lowing as they went to their Calves at home nature in them was not rooted out but overruled brought the Arke and rested it near a great stone in the field of Ioshua a Bethshemite At what time the Bethshemites were reaping their harvest in the valley Instantly at so good news their Sicles lost their edges and could cut no more corn that day The Arke-home is to be preferred before Harvest-home But oh how hard is it to keep hungry eyes from feeding on forbidden objects All the Bethshemites were Levites but not Priests much less high-Priests to whom alone and that onely anniversary the survey of those mysteries did belong Besides at this time Bethshemesh from a City was enlarged to be a Countrey such the confluence of Israelites from all places Otherwise no back of one City might seem broad enough for so great a rode whereby fifty thousand and threescore and ten men were destroyed by the Plague for their Curiosity in prying into the Arke § 16. Gibbethon is another prime place in Makats allotted by God to the Levites of Kohath and no doubt by them peaceably possessed for many years seeing nothing to the contrary doth appear But after the days of Ieroboam it is said to belong to the Philistines Probably when the Levites loyall both to God and their King upon the idolatrous defection of Israel willingly deserted their own Cities the Philistines taking advantage thereof when much good bloud is let
out bad humours are nimble to supply the place seised on this City To recover the same Nadab the son of Ieroboam besieged it but was so far from taking the City that before it he lost his own life by the trechery of Baasha conspiring against him This siege continued more then twenty years no doubt with intervalls of cessation for here Omâ—i a great Commander was in service when by the souldiery voted King of Israel After which election he had not so much minde to take the City as a Crown vigorously to prosecute his new title and to suppress Tibâ—â— his Corrivall So much of the siege but nothing of the taking of Gibbethon so that it was still violently possessed by the Philistines § 17. The south-east part of this Tribe is still to survey Where the brook Zorek creeps faintly out of the Tribe of Iudah Not far from whose banks we light on Zorah and Eshtaol two twin-cities the one seldome mentioned in Scripture without the other Except one will call them man and wife because Machaneh-Dan betwixt Zorah and Eshtaol was joint issue of them both For when six hundred men out of these two cities marched towards the taking of Leshem here they met probably by mutuall agreement the most convenient place betwixt them behind that is west of Kiriath-jearim These did call this the first place of their station Machaneh-Dan and the last Dan both from Dan their Ancestour without naming any intermediate places As in all undertaking the first motion which founds and the last which finisheth it are most memorable It seems that afterwards a town was built in that place where their tents were pitched as a fortunate ground handselled with good success where Samson seems to have had his education § 18. But his birth at Zorah Where he was the son of a long barren mother a regiment in Scripture of such eminent Persons Isaac Iacob Samuel Samson Iohn Baptist c. as if besides higher causes nature had long thriftily reserved her utmost strength to expend it at last with more credit Here an Angel appearing to Manoahs wife both told her that she should be a mother and taught her how she should be a nurse with the ceremonious breeding of her son No Wine must come in no rasor on him Hercules the Pagan-Samson in some sort may seem by the luxury of Poets wits to ape this Iewish Hercules Neither of them otherwise mounted then on their legs otherwise defensively armed then with their skin and clothes A â—aw-bone a sword to the one a Club to the other Both of them very like for their valour and too like for their wantonness women being the destruction of them both § 19. But as Samsons lustre did rise so it did set in this Tribe Hereabouts born and buried in the grave of his Father Manoah betwixt Zorah and Eshtaol Reader let me invite thee with me solemnly to behold his sepulchre that therein both of us may bury all our vain thoughts of eternity here He that hereafter shall presume on his own might as immortall hath not strongeâ— brains but a weakâ—â— back then Samson § 20. To goe back to 〈◊〉 which now grows confident and bold with the accession of the brook 〈◊〉 so named as the vine in Hampshire from bunches of grapes there growing whereof one was the load for two men Surely Bacâ—husâ—id â—id not so drown Ceres in this Countrey nor did God the wise master of the feast entertain the Iews his daily guests with sucâ— liquid diet but that we may justly presume the land afforded bread and meat in a plentifull proportion to their wine But when the spies brought this home to the camp of the Israelites at Kadesh-barnea they likeâ— the wine but not the reckoning which was to be paid for it not so pleased with the bigness of the grapes as frighted at the bulkes of the Giants § 21. Nor is there any other considerable City remaining in this Tribe save Timâ—ah where Iudah sheared his sheep and at Pethah-enaim or the opening of the ways committed incest with Thamar his unknown daughter-in-law whom after wards he commanded to be brought forth and burnt Thus easier iâ—â—s for one to cause another to be consumed to ashes then to quench the least spark of lust in our own soul. Afterwards Samson going with his Parents to wooe his wife killed a young Lion in the vineyards of Timnah and the text saith he told not his Father or â—other what he had done Herein his silence no less commendable then his valour But indeed true prowess pleaseth it self more in doing then reporting its own atchievements Not long after the Bees made a hive of the Lions body And did not this land flow with honey when it was powred into a carkass for want of other vessells to receive it Honey which in fine proved gall to the Philistines For though they read his riddle by plowing with his heifer he payed his forfeit by killing their Countrey men Hence afterwards Samson to revenge the injuries offered unto him sent forth his Foxes which proved incendiaries of the corn and grain of the Philistines § 22. So much for the places of this Tribe of whose situation we have any certainty from Gods word or good Authors On the rest we hang out our conjecturall Flag Which whilest some censure for the Ensignes of our ignorance others I hope will approve as the colours of our modesty Especially having done our best endevour in ranking them and in default of demonstrations the most probability hath ever been accounted the next heir apparent to Truth The best is such places are onely of name not of note but once mentioned in Ioshua without any memorable actions done in them and so any mistake in the false posture will prove less dangerous Mountains of eminency this Tribe affords none save mount Seir puny hills far different from those in Edom and mount Baalah Both parcels of the south-west bounds of Iudah as originally they were assigned But seeing those limits were afterward discomposed by a new division and re-assignment of them to this Tribe the out-list of Iudah fell into the midst of Dans whole cloth those antiquated borders are 〈◊〉 the less remarkable And as for other mountains although this whole was mountainous yet there was a parity in her hills none exceeding high oneâ—â— such advantages of ground swelling above the plain seemed to be the full breasts and fair nipples of that land which flowed with milke and honey § 23. A fair reserve of land in not of the Tribe is still behind long expecting our company to come and describe it namely Philistia or a part of the land of the Philistines These were a warlike people none of the seven nations of the Canaanites which God drave out before Israel but descended from Miâ—zraim the son of Cham. In the race of military atchievements they started with the first
contented to join together so that not David but his necessities chose them to attend him who now in adversity discovered their impious dispositions But David to avoid this showre of stones ready to rain upon him run for shelter to God his Rock in whom he comforted himself Thus as it is always darkest just before the Day dawneth so God useth to visite his servants with greatest afflictions when he intendeth their speedy advancement For immediately after David not onely recovered his loss with advantage but also was proclaimed King of Israel though some war arose for a time between him and Ishbosheth § 6. But the most memorable places of this Tribe are seated on or near the brook of Bezor which arising in Iudah takes his course southwest not far from Ethar or Etan in the north-east corner of this Tribe In the rock of Etan near the City of that name Samson reposed himself whence the men of Iudah brought him down bound with two cords and delivered him to the Philistines but he presently found his spirits and in that place the jaw-bone of an Asse Bad weapons are better then none and it matters not what they be so that they be weilded by Samsons arme that guided by Gods hand This jaw-bone which used to feed on grass here eat up a thousand men Hereupon the place was called Rama-Lehi the lifting up of a jawbone § 7. Thus Samsons thirst of revenge was allayed with the bloud of the Philistines but the quenching of one thirst was the kindling of another How quickly can God tame fury into faintness with want of water In this straight he hath his recourse by prayer to God who cleaves a hollow place in the jaw Heaven can make dry bones live yea give life to others as here to Samson water presently flowing out thereof Let poets fondly brag of Hippocrene a fountain from a horses hoof most true it is that a spring did flow from the jawbone of an Asse Except any be pleased which indeed is most probable not to take Lehi in Hebrew for the materiall jaw-bone but for the Countrey thereabouts so newly named by Samson out of a hollow place of the earth whereof God produced this fountain § 8. Hence Bezor runneth by Ain the onely City belonging to the Levites in this Tribe Indeed both Simeon and Levi were cursed to be scattered in Israel and this City of the Levites scattered in Simeon may seem to be dispersed in a dispersion One City it seems was proportionable to this small and mangled Tribe Thus even the poorest must have some Preachers to instruct them and afford those Preachers maintenance for their instruction At Gerar the brook Bezor receives from the south a Tributary rivolet fetching its fountain out of the wilderness of Kadesh a place full of strong and stately trees But what saith the Psalmist The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness yea the Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh As if this of all other was most sturdy and stubborn to withstand the summons of Gods voice but all in vain the least whisper of his mouth sending a palsey into the foundations thereof § 9. In the confines of this wilderness stood three remarkable Cities which lest the Reader should mistake we have marked with circles on the tops of them Not that any evill spirits moved therein seeing these were the places where David haunted whilest Saul persecuted him and to whose inhabitants he sent part of his spoile taken from the Amalekites for a present An act no less politick then just with the same both discharging the shot of his former entertainment and for the future obliging them by his bounty to be really sensible of his right of succession to the Crown The first of these Corashan elsewhere onely called Ashan The second South-Ramoth and Hormah the last and most observable because of three eminent places of that name in or near the Land of Canaan 1 Where the disobedient Israelites were destroyed by the Canaanites 2 Where the Canaanites were destroyed by the penitent Israelites 3 Where the Tribes of Iudah and Simeon associating together destroyed the Canaanites being properly in this Tribe We see that destruction so Hormah soundeth in Hebrew gives the name to them all And wonder not then that in a Countrey the Seat of war there were so many towns of this sad denomination but pray rather that God would seasonably settle a peace in England lest therein be found more Hormahs then were in Israel § 10. As for Gerar the City above mentioned it was anciently a kingdome of the Philistines whose Kings seem all to be called Abimelech's To one of these Abraham falsely affirmed that Sarah his wife was his sister and afterwards Isaac see the powerfull influence of Parents faults on their childrens practise to another of the same name offended in the like falshood This latter Abimelech looking out of his window beheld Isaac sporting with Rebekah gestures not unlawfull as done but as seen and from this familiarity greater his charity then Isaacs caution therein interpreted her to be not his harlot but his wife § 11. Afterwards Isaac outed of the City dwelt in the neighbouring valley of Gerar and whithersoever he removed Gods blessing and the Philistines envy followed him He grew fat in estate his enemies lean at the fight thereof which made them spitefully stop the wells which his Father had digged Happy that they could neither dam up nor drain dry the dew of Divine blessing from falling upon him which if possible to effect their malice would have attempted But Isaac afterwards sunk these wells the second time and he called their names after the names by which his Father had called them See his humility herein not varying from his Fathers will in an indifferent matter whereas many now adays count it the greatest honour of this age in all things to diffent from the former Besides these renewed wells Isaac had new ones of his own making as namely 1 Esech that is striâ—e so called because his heardmen and the Gerarites strove about it 2 Sitnah that is hatred so named on the like occassion 3 Rekoboth that is enlargement which he peaceably possessed God making room for him The two former pass for the emblems of our militant condition in this life the last typyifieth our happy estate in a better and more roomthy place In my Fathers house there be many mansions § 12. This vale of Gerar was the Granary of Canaan whither the Patriarchs retired in time of famine for plenty dwelt there when penury was elsewhere Nor will it be amiss to insert the testimony of a Modern traveller to shew how the Countrey hereabouts even at this day retains an indeleble character of its former fruitfulness We passed this day through the most pregnant and pleasant valley that ever eye beheld On the right hand
the Israelites long agoe were come into the plentifull Countrey of Canaan all the while they had remained in the land of Reuben ever since they came over the river of Arnon It is answered God hitherto continued his largess of Manna 1 Because formerly they were only come into the skirts of the countrey unsufficient to maintain so numerous an Army whereas now they were entred into the very heart and middle of the land 2 The land of Reuben though very fruitfull was a place for cattell fit for grazing and better for beasts then men to feed upon 3 God to manifest his liberality would not onely have his provisions to meet even but to lap over continuing Manna till his people were otherwise plentifully provided for both with new corn on the ground coming hither in the beginning of harvest and old in their Granary Thus the Iews did not begin house-keeping on â—are walls but were set up with full stock afore-hand victualled in a manner with two years provision that with the good house-keeper they might bring forth out of their treasure things new and old § 11. In the days of Samuel and Saul this was a place of principall credit where Saul was solemnly invested with a crown Come let us goe up unto Gilgal and renew the kingdome there Yet here at the same time to shew Gods displeasure with the people for their tumultuous desiring of a King Thunder in harvest in Iudea Sommers thunder old mens wonder exceedingly afrighted the hearers thereof Afterwards Saul stained this place with a double deed of disobedience 1 When in Samuels absence he presumed to offer sacrifice Once the proverb was Is Saul also amongst the Prophets Now it may be Is Saul also amongst the Priests invading the Sacerdotall function 2 When contrary to Gods command he spared and brought hither the best of spoile of Amalek so that Samuel was fain to supply what justice was wanting in Saul who hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal In after ages here was an Academy or Seminary of the sons of the Prophets brought up here in learning preparatory to their profession Acquired are so far from hindering infused abilities that the stock prepared by industry is fittest to be graffed on by inspiration Eliah and Elisha were successively the Presidents or rather the Visitors of this Colledge the latter being both food and physick for the students therein 1 Food when with twenty small Barly loaves he fed an hundred of the children of the Prophets 2 Physick when his meal was Antidote against the malignity of the wild gourd in their pottage It seems the sons of the Prophets were no expert Herbalists whose learning moved in an higher and holier sphere and they more skilfull to discern betwixt true doctrine and heresie then betwixt pot-herbs and poison § 12. Gilgal was afterwards a sinke of Idolatry and belonged to the Kings of Israel as appears by the Prophets counsell though thou Israel play the harlot yet let not Iudah offend and come yee not into Gilgal c. At Gilgal men multiplied transgression whereupon destruction was denounced against this place and Gilgal was afterwards rolled up in her own ruines To return to the river Iordan which a little south-ward falls into the Salt-sea the south boundary of this Tribe The epithet Salt is not here superfluous but emphaticall partly to distinguish it from the sea of Cinneroth or Galilee which was a fresh-water-sea and partly because the water hereof was salt with a witness fire-salt as I may say Let Philosophers demonstrate the cause of the brackishness of the Ocean though it is to be feared they wil be posed nearer home how rivolets of teares which flow from their own eyes come to be so salt But a peculiar reason may be certainly assigned why the water in this sea was transcendently salt above all others whereof largely hereafter in the description of Iudah § 13. Having done with the channell of Iordan the certain and unmoveable bound of Benjamin on the east come we now in our perambulation to surround the other three sides of this Tribe and at first will onely take notice of the limitary places and so proceed from the rine to the core from the marches to the middle of this countrey The south of Benjamin ranged from Kiriath-jearim by the well of the waters of Nephtoah to the valley of Hinnon and so on the south of Ierusalem descended to Enrogell All which places shall hereafter be presented in a peculiar map and therefore no more for the present § 14. Hence it went forth to Enshemesh i. e. the fountain of the Sun Either so called from the clearness of the waters thereof or because in Idolatrous days when the hoste of heaven was worshipped whereof the Sun the Generall it was dedicated thereunto or because the suns extraordinary influence thereon endued it with soveraign virtue And now it is well remembred that Bath in England is called by Antoninus Aque solis or the waters of the Sun Hence the bounds of Benjamin stretched to Geliloth near Gilgal over against the going up to Adummim and thence descended to the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben so called no doubt from some memorable act by him there atcheived for otherwise the Reubenites had no part of possession on the west side of Iordan Hence this Tribe extended through Arabah to Beth-hoglah i. e. as Saint Hierome interprets it Locus gyri or the place of a circle because as he will have it in this place Ioseph with his brethren set in a round the forme of mourners bewailed the corps of Iacob brought hither out of Egypt § 15. But leaving this as a conjecture most sure it is that hereabouts was the floor of Atad where so solemn a lamentation was made for Iacobs death that the place long after did weare mourning in the name thereof therefore called Abel-mizraim i. e. the sorrowing of the Egyptians Strange that strangers being the Elders of Pharaohs Court and kingdome should so affectionately bemoan the death of a man no whit related unto them Surely the Egyptians did not weep-Irish with faigned and mercenary teares much less was their passion onely State-sympathy and politick compliance sighing and smiling with the sighs and smilings of Ioseph Rather it was because the endearing disposition and obliging goodness of old Iacob living fifteen years with them in Egypt had gained the generall love of the land Besides they lamented his loss as the death of their own grand-father because he was Father to Ioseph the Father founder and preserver of them and theirs in the time of famin If any demand why the Egyptians mourned for Iacob threescore and ten days whilst Ioseph made a mourning for him but for seven days I can tell the common answer that the former ignorant of heavenly happiness lamented him
of the people when conscious of their sins and sensible of Gods anger they drew water that is plentifully powred forth tears before the Lord. Say not that their weeping was a labour in vain and such drawing of water like the bottomless buckets of the Belides never to be filled ineffectuall for the expiation of sin because no sorrow for the same is sufficient seeing not the intrinsecall worth of their tears but Gods gracious appretiation of the sincerity thereof gave the value to their weeping Afterwards at Mizpah Saul out of modesty or policy was hid among the stuffe when found there fetched thence and presented to the people for their king appearing so proper a person that nature might seem to design him for supremacy and mark him out to be the Overseer of Israel who was higher then any of the people from the shoulders and upwards § 48. In the days of King Baasa Asa King of Iudah frighted with fear made a pit in Mizpah for his retreating place No doubt though the entrance and orifice thereof did promise no more then a plain pit yet it was contrived into rooms and fortified with substructions therein fit for the receipt of a Prince Wonder not that he would prefer to trust his person here rather then within the walls of his royall City Ierusalem for surely this was not provided for a place of long residence but for present privacy and sudden safety if extremity required it After the Babylonish captivity when Gedaliah was made governour of those poor Iews which were left to till the land he made Mizpah the seat of his short government Thus have I often seen fishermen when they have caught store of fish cast the young fry worth neither the keeping nor killing into the river again to be breeders in which consideration the King of Babylon preserved these poor Iews from destruction Slight not Gedaliahs place as disgracefull to be Prince of beggers for they were in a thriving way and probable to improve themselves to a considerable condition had not Ismael an unhappy name to persecute Gods children a Prince of the bloud killed him with his followers casting them into the midst of the pit that Asa made now employed to bury the dead but first intended to preserve the living In the days of the Maccabees whilest Ierusalem was possessed and profaned by the heathens they repaired to Mizpah as a place formerly fortunate for that purpose to fast pray and beg Gods blessing on their undertakings against their enemies § 49. South of Mizpah lay the place called Eben-ezer that is the stone of help so named by way of Prolepsis in Scripture 1 Sam. 4. 1. for otherwise for the present this place was no help but an hindrance to the Israelites who here were twice beaten in battell by the Philistines At the second time they brought their Reserve I mean the Ark into the field carnally conceited that victory would fly along with them on the wings of the Cherubims over the Mercyâ—seat But the sanctity of the Ark did not so much invite as the profaneness of the managers Hophni and Phinehas did repell Gods gracious presence from going along therewith insomuch as the Ark it self was taken captive and carried into the land of the Philistines Some years after the Philistines again charge the Israelites in the same place presuming on their former victories that in so fortunate a place they might prescribe for conquest but God turned the tide of their success At the importunate suit of Samuel whose prayers were more potent then formerly the presence of the Ark to obtain victory the Philistines were routed and smitten untill they came under Bethcar Whereupon Samuel set up a stone between Mizpah and Shen and called it Eben-ezer the stone of help to perpetuate so memorable a conquest § 50. Hard by is Beeroth once a City of the Gibeonites with Chephirah not far off afterwards the birth-place of Baanah and Rechab the murderers of Ishbosheth Gittaim whither those of Beeroth fled for fear of the Philistines saith Tremellius when Saul was slain and west thereof Bozer and Seneh two famous rocks which Ionathan and his armour-bearer clambred up upon their hands and feet They found it more hard to come at then to conquer their enemies yet wheÌ„ on the top of the rock they were but at the bottome and beginning of their work They lay about them and kill many in a little space so that they climbed not up the hill so slowly but their enemies more swiftly ran down the same Yet such as will justifie Ionathans act herein for pious and prudent must retrait to Divine inspiration and plead that his undertaking as his success was extraordinary otherwise his tempting of God had been higher then the rock he climbed up to adventure himself on such visible disadvantages § 51. Anathoth remains lying hence south-east a city of the Levites yea of the Priests yea of the High-priests as a country-house or retiring place for them out of the populous city of Ierusalem Abiathar being deprived of the priest-hood for practising with Ioab without the privity of David to promote Adonijah to the Crown was sent hither by Solomon and confined to live privately on his own lands Hence plainly appears the power of the Kings of Israel over the Priests which on their misdemeanour in civill matters were subject to secular punishment But Ieremy the Prophet was the honour of Anathoth that man of mourning famous for his book De Tristibus or most poeticall Lamentations though therein not bemoaning his own but the publick calamities born in this city As here he drew his first so he was likely to have drawn his last breath by the conspiracy of the people against him had not God frustrated their wicked designe Herein the observation of our Saviour was verified A Prophet is not without honour save in his own countrey and his own house Afterwards Ieremy at Anathoth bought the ground of his unclâ— Hanameel with all the formalities of bargain and sale most solâ—mnly passed betwixt them Is a Prophet amongst the purchasers commonly they are as clear from money as the Apostles were but this was râ—ally yet mystically done to foreâ—ell the future felicity of Israel after the captivity of Babylon that men should have setled estates with good title to and tâ—nure of their land therein § 52. Michmash is still behinde which we name last because not entirely in this Tribe but in the confines of Benjamin and Ephraim It lay cast from Beth-aven often mentioned in Scripture as the Rendesvouz sometimes of the Israelites in the reign of Saul and sometimes of the Philistines The latter marched hence three severall ways on design to extirpate all the smiths in Israel Mark their motions 1 One party went the way that leadeth to Ophrah to the land of Shual
hundred and fourteen So that the Tribe of Iudah alone had more Cities then all the Island of Crete which had but just an hundred and therefore called Hecatompolis But many of these Cities were small and a good share of them was given to the Tribes of Dan and Simeon as formerly hath been observed But amongst such as remained to Iudah let not Maresha be forgotten in the north-west part of this Tribe both because thereby in the valley of Zephathah Asa conquered Zerah the Ethiopian whose army consisted of more then a million of men and because the Prophet Micah was born therein § 52. In Saint Hieromes time somewhere in Iudah flourished a fair City called Eleutheropolis from which that Father measureth the distance of most southern places in Palestine as he computeth the northern from Legion a City in Galilee But the more the pity that Father hath not acquainted us with the exact location of either of these two places Whilest Adrichomius and others condemn Saint Hieromes carelesness herein it better befits us to condole our own unhappiness who cannot read the accurate distance of places in his book of that subject because though he have lent us his Characters he hath not left us the true Key thereof § 53. The Tribe of Iudah had no great river therein saving a little piece of gasping Iordan now ready to expire in the dead-sea but with rivolets it was sufficiently stored lending the brooks of Sorek and Bezâ—r to Dan and Simeon borrowing Kedron from Benjamin whence it fetcheth its fountain and keeping the brook before the wilderness of Ieruel wholly for its own use as rising running and falling entirely in this Tribe Nor must that brook be forgotten which I may call the brook of David because being to encounter Goliah he took thence five smooth stones store is no sore especially not being sure but his first might faile and furnished his scrip therewith § 54. This was that Goliah whose strength was equall to his stature his armes sutable to his strength but his Pride above all Betwixt him and David first passed a tongue-combate The one discharging ostentation and presumption which the other as quickly returned with faith and confidence in Gods promises Come they then to encounter see the lower man had the longer arme who with his sling could reach death at distance to his adversary The beaver of Goliahs helmet was open not that he thought his brazen brow sufficiently armed with its own impudence but either that he might see breath and boast the more freely or because he disdained to buckle himself against so unequall a match The stone from Davids sling flies directly to his forehead whereby the Giant is mortally wounded and notwithstanding his speare was as great as a weavers beame his life was swifter then a weavers shuttle so soon passed it away and he was gone David cutting off his head with his own sword § 55. Many were the wildernesses in this Tribe as those of Zin Ziph Maon Engedi Ieruel Tekoa and Iudah lying south of Arad Now as once it was the question of the Disciples to our Saviour From whence can a man satisfie these men with bread here in the wilderness So here it may materially be demanded Where did the men of Iudah finde food to sustain themselves whose countrey seems a heap of wildernesses cast together Here we must know that the whole land of Palestine was drest and kept like a garden plot and inclosed into Olive-yards Vine-yards and arable fields save some extravagant places which lay common where wild beasts did harbour in the woods commonly called Wildernesses Such notwithstanding were full of fruitfull pastures and had fair towns though more thinly inhabited then other parts of the Countrey so that this Tribe was more frighted then hurt with the multitude of Wildernesses therein § 56. Paramount over them all was The wilderness having six Cities therein and was part of the wilderness of Iudea extending also into Benjamin wherein Iohn the Baptist preached feeding here on Locusts flying insects whereof four kindes were clean and permitted the Iews to eate and wilde honey Either such as fell down in dews from heaven or was made by wild Bees not civilized in hives but nesting on the ground or in hollow trees In a word he was content with such course fare as the Countrey afforded his rough clothes being suited to his homely diet and both to his hard doctrine of Repentance Hereupon scandalous tongues condemned him for having a Devill as afterwards they belyed our Saviour using a more liberal diet to be a Winebibber so impossible it is to please affected frowardness either full or fasting § 57. Some make Iohn Baptist the first founder of Eremites But how little his precedent befriendeth their practise who not out of any impulsion but meer election delight to dwell in deserts will appear by the ensuing Parallel Hee 1 By immediate command from God to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 2 Went into a wilderness a place more thinly peopled then the rest of the land 3 Where he daily busied himself with preaching to multitudes of people repairing unto him 4 And at last did end his life in a place of greater concourse even the Court of King Herod himself They 1 By dictates of their own fancy following the principles of will-worship 2 Goe into a wilderness indeed conversing with solitariness and shunning all society 3 Where they bury themselves alive in laziness with the talents God hath bestowed on them 4 And binde themselves with a vow to live and dye in that solitary condition Behold here the large difference betwixt him and monking Eremites Who if men of parts ought to help others with their society if of no parts need to be helped by the society of others Yea whatsoever their endowments were this running into the wilderness was but a Bank-rupt trick to defraud the Church and Common-wealth their Creditours to both which they stood bound by specialty of Gods command to discharge all Civill and Christian relations to the utmost proportions of their abilities In a word though we stedfastly beleeve that Iabal was the father of all such as dwell in tents because the Scripture affirmeth the same yet for the reasons aforesaid we utterly deny Iohn Baptist the founder and Author of all those which live wilfully in hills and holes an eremiticall life § 58. The Son of Heseâ— was Solomons Purveyor in Aruboth to him belonged Sochoth and all the land of Hepher A land which lay as we gather by other proportions in the north-west part of this Tribe And indeed we finde a King of Hepher amongst those which Ioshua destroyed but dare not confidently averre him to have been of the Tribe of Iudah However it appears that for the main the whole body of the
Tribe of Iudah with Simeon lying therein fell not under any of Solomons Purveyour-ships The reason whereof if inquired into may perchance be reduced into some of these considerations 1 It was referred to defray extraordinaries on casuall entertainments and occasionall solemnities or 2 It was kept for the expences of the thirteenth or intercalary moneth the product of the eleven supernumerary days which commonly was every third year inserted into the Hebrew Kalendar 3 Iudah might by speciall indulgence be exempted from such taxations either because Ierusalem the royall City was principally seated therein and therefore to prevent scarcity of victualls in so populous a place the Court-purveyours went further off that the City might be better provided or because Solomon did ease and favour that Tribe whence he himself was extracted This very probably was some cause why when the other ten Tribes grinded with grievous oppressions deserted the house of David Iudah alone as having formerly tasted of his Fathers favour entirely clave to Rehoboam § 59. The armes of Iudah are Gules a Lion couchant Or according to Iacobs prediction Iudah he stooped down he couched as a Lion and as an old Lion who shall rouze him up This is a posture which that princely beast is pleased to accept for his own ease otherwise no chastisement shall impose it on him no force but his own free pleasure can make him to crouch The Analogy is obvious to every eye the Lion being the strongest amongst beasts which turneth not away for any As Iudah was the chief of Tribes for number strength and largeness of possessions and the Tribe of Chiefes so many Kings yea Christ himself according to the flesh deriving his extraction from the same Here the Map of the Land of Moriah is to be inserted THE LAND OF MORIAH CHAP. 14. § 1. BEcause the Countrey about Ierusalem is very fruitfull of observable places it is therefore here presented in an intire Map Nor do we meet with a fitter and more adequate name to express the same then to style it The land of Moriah as it is named in Scripture Herein we shall onely insist on signall places of certain truth otherwise the work would be almost infinite for what is said of the people of Israel There shall not one be barren amongst them is true of every petty place near Ierusalem not a Hill Hole Stick Stone Cave Grave but is pregnant with some History and vulgar beliefe is the Midwife to deliver it we will therefore confine our selves to Scripture alone in our following description § 2. We begin with the Brook of Kidron which we may call the Brook of Reformation for often the current thereof carried away the Reliques of Idolatry once when the Idol of his grandmother Maachah was by King Asa burnt by the banks thereof Again when in Hezekiahs time the people no doubt by his command threw the Idolatrous Altars therein Thirdly when the dust of the Altars erected by King Manasses was by Iosiah cast into the channel of Kidron I dare boldly say that the water of this brook was no whit the less the sweet in taste or clear in colour for washing away these monuments of superstition However this Kidron may be ranked amongst those Rivolets whereof Iob speaks My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook and as a stream of brooks which passeth away not that the water onely slideth away other succeeding in the room thereof which is common to the greatest channels but this very Brook it self slides away in the Summer and is dryed up as having no fountain to feed it but the waters running down from Mount Olivet Thus Kidron is the too lively emblem of our â—ouls which having no naturall spring of goodness in themselves flow no longer then they are watered from above with the infusion of celestiall Grace § 3. This Brook runs through the Valley of Iehosaphat being a hollow dale interposed betwixt Ierusalem and Mount Olivet but why so named I finde no satisfactory reason alledged for I cannot agree to what generally is reported that in this place Iehosaphat got his miraculous victory over the Edomites Moabites and Ammonites because on serious perusall of the text that battell appears fought far off in the wilderness of Tekoah Many are of opinion that as Mount Olivet shall be the Tribunall erected for the Judge so this Vale of Iehosaphat shall be the Gaol and Bar where all offenders at the last day shall be arraigned founding their conceit partly on the words of the Prophet Ioel I will also gather all Nations and bring them down into the valley of Iehosaphat and will plead with them there for my people partly on the expression of the Angels to the Disciples after Christs ascension that in the same manner he should return again But these are too low carnall and restrictive conceits of Gods glorious judiciall proceedings it being improbable he would appoint the certain particular place who in his wisdome hath caused the time to be concealed yea if one day be as a thousand years with God why may not according to the same proportion the whole earth be meant by the Valley of Iehosaphat Wherefore waving curious inquiries about the circumstances belonging onely to the Judge to assigne let us carefully provide our selves for those Assises the proper work for us to performe § 4. In this Vale of Iehosaphat on the other side of Kidron stood the village of Gethsemane so called in Hebrew for the plenty of Oile that there was pressed out But a far more precious liquor was once afforded in this place which in the Garden hard by fell from our Saviours face in his Agony Clods of sweat like bloud Surely the heaâ— of the weather had no influence on this his distemper being the open aire in so cold a night that the stout servants of the high Priest though housed in a Hall found need of a fire to warm themselves thereat It was not then without cause that the paschall Lambe was commanded to be eaten neither raw nor sodden with water but rosted with fire as Christ the trâ—thâ— of this Type was at this time bathed in his own sweat Here Christ thrice conditionally begged that his â—up might pass away preferring three severall short prayers before one entire continued petition partly that in a tripled suit his importunity might be more conspicuous partly to get breath and gain strength in the intervalls and partly in the same time to visit his Disciples being never so busie about himself but he was still at leasure to look how it fared with them § 5. Hither into this Garden repaired Iudas in the night time with Lanthornes and Torches no more light then needed in such a deed of darkness otherwise it had been superfluous to seek the Sun it self with a Lanthorn to betray our Saviour bringing with him a band of souldiers too
the future Michal's daughter should never mock her husband on the like occasion punishing her with perpetuall barrenness § 29. Look on the prospect of this map especially the eastern parts thereof and behold it overspread with trees of all sorts Olive Pine Mulberry Firre c. Of the last saith the Psalmist and the fir-trees are a refuge for the Storkes breeding here in the greater abundance because forbidden by the Leviticall law to be fed upon A speckled bird therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 niger 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 albus black and white and is remarkable for their love to their parents feeding them in their old age Hence called Chesida in Hebrew that is the mercifull bird and in Dutch Oudevaer that is the carrier of the old one because every Stork is an Aeneas bearing his Anchises on his back carrying his Parent when for age it cannot fly of it self Some have confidently reported that Storks will not live save in a Republick who may with as much truth affirm that an Eagle the Soveraign of birds will not breed in a Common-wealth Not to say that Storks were named in the Monarchy of Adam preserved in the Arke in the Monarchy of Noah Ieremy who lived in the kingdome of Iudah upbraided the ignorance of the people therein Yea the Stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times Which birds had they known their times and the Iews not known the birds as frequent and familiar with them both the Prophets illustration had beed obscure and exprobration improper for his present purpose Finis Libri secundi To the Right Honourable JOHN LORD ROSSE Son to the Right Honourable JOHN EARL OF RVTLAND MY LORD IT hath been charged by Foreiners on our English Gentry that many of them very knowing beyond the seas have been strangers in their native Countrey as able to give a better account of the Spaw then our own Bath the diving of the Spanish Anas under ground then of our own Rivers Diverill in Wiltshire and Mole in Surrey wherein the same wonders of Nature are set forth in a lesser Edition How just this accusation is for the present I have no leasure to enquire but am afraid that too many of our nation are guilty of a greater Ignorance That being quic◠sighted in other kingdomes and Countreys they are altogether blinde as touching Judea and the land of Palestine the Home for their meditations who are conversant in all the historicall passages of Scripture Yet I would not have any wilfully to expose themselves as Saint Paul was against his will to perils of waters perils of Robbers perils by the Heathen c. personally to pace and trace the land of Canaan who rather conceive that precept to Abraham Arise walk through the land in the breadth thereof and in the length thereof may be performed by us even whilest we also follow the counsell of Joash to Amaziah Abide now at home This may be done by daily and diligent perusing of the Scriptures and comparing the same with it self Diamonds onely cut Diamonds as also by consulting with such as have written the description of that Countrey Amongst whom give me leave though the unworthiest of thousands to tender these my endevours to your Honours serious perusall and patronage hoping my pains herein may conduce to the better understanding of the History of the Bible I confess the doctrinall part of the Scripture is in it self most instructive to salvation But as the rare relation of the woman of Samaria first drew her neighbours to the sight of our Saviour which afterwards believed on him not for her words but his own worth so the delightfull stories in the Bible have allured many youth especially to the reading thereof the light the historicall part first inviting their eyes whose hearts were afterwards inflamed with the heat the holy fire in the doctrine of Gods word Give me leave therefore my Lord humbly to commend to your Honour the constant reading of that which eminently is termed The Scripture and the Bible or Book all other being but scribling and Pamphlets in comparison thereof They contain what will make you wise unto salvation and the study thereof will render your Lordship more truely honourable then your outward extraction Great indeed was the priviledge of Ruth for whom purposely some handfuls were let fall for her to gather up But greater the honour done to your Ancestors by our English Kings above an hundred years since who scattered some flowers and other ornaments out of their own Armes therewith to deck and adorn those of your family Yet know my Lord that the Bereans are pronounced more noble then those of Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness of minde searching the Scriptures daily whether those things were so And by the same proportion your exact skill industriously attained in Gods word shall make your soul increase with the increase of God far more honourable then that Augmentation in Heraldry which was conferred on your Ancestours Remember I pray what David writes I have seen an end of all perfection but thy commandement is exceeding broad Oh imperfect perfection which hath an end And indeed David lived in an Age wherein he saw Goliah the strongest overcome Asahel the swiftest overtaken Achitophel the wisest befooled and Absalom the fairest deformed with a violent death Yet still the immortall word out-lived all casualties and triumphed in defiance of opposition Wherefore as the Jews were to provide a chest by the side of the Ark wherein the Law was to be placed and kept so I wish your Honour a large heart to be a repository for this Broad commandement of God that therein you may carefully lay up and treasure the same which when all earthly perfections prove false and fading will furnish your soul with holiness here and happiness hereafter which is the daily prayer of Your Honours most humble servant THO. FULLER Here followeth the description of Jerusalem THE DESCRIPTION OF THE CITY OF IERVSALEM The third Book CHAP. I. Of the severall names and generall situation of Jerusalem § 1 WHen a woman often altereth her surname it is a signe she hath been many times married denominating of his wife from him being parcell of the maritall priviledge But when a City in diverse Ages hath different names this speaks her successive subjection to severall Lords new owners imposing on her new appellations as in our present subject plainly appears For the City which we are to describe was called 1 Salem in the days of Abraham when Melchisedec was King and probably first founder thereof Then it was but a small place the greatest Giant had once the cradle of his infancy when mount Moriah afterwards in the midst of the City and a forest of houses was as yet but a thicket of thornes wherein the Ram the
rejoycing in carnall comforts when drains and for ditches down their own cheeks had been more proper water-works for the present sad occasion 3 Admiring their own handy-works without thankful relating for to God the principall as if they had created those pools and springs of their own industry and ingenuity Whereas all Grottoeâ— conduits and Aquaducts though allowed the lawfull issue of art and off-spring of humane invention are but stiâ—born babes at the best except God quicken and enliven them mediately or immedately with moisture from above He onely is the Father of the rain and is by consequâ—nce the Graâ—d-father of all pools and conduits whatsoever Justly therefore were the Iews reproved for having their stegâ—atick Souls dabling too much in water without once looking up to God according to Davids divâ—â—â—ty freely confessing All my fresh springs are even in thee § 7. But how well soever the ponds pools and conduits were perfected at this time soon after all their curiosities were discomposed when Seâ—â—â—â—heriâ— sent the railing message and letter though words whether spoken or written storme no Cities to King Hâ—zekiah in Ierusalem Who fearing a siege by the assistance of his Princes and people in a short time stopt all the fountains and the brook which ran through the midst of the land saying Why should the Kings of Assyria come and finde much water Hezekiah knew that Sâ—nnacheribs blasphemous tongue would be sooner silenced and his roaring throat easier stopt with Thirst then with any other answer And although Sennacherib out of the plentifull Magazeen of his malice shot his arrows even bitter â—ords â—gainst Hezekiah yet according to Gods promise he came not into Iâ—â—usalem nor did he shoâ—t an arrow there having all his Army soon after confounded from heaven and he himself reprieved from the Angels was executed by his own Sons sword in his own Countrey § 8. Here if any demand what is meant by stopping the brook which ran through the midst of the Land we understand not Cedron thereby which to save them the pains in summer stops it self as onely the cistern to receive the land-flouds from mount Olivet but rather conceive the constant waters of Gihon or Siloam therein intended running through the midst of the Land of Moriah wherein Ierusalem is seated § 9. After Sennacheribs departure Hezekiah fell a fresh on opening those springs hee had formerly obstructed yea to make them reparation he improved them to an higher perfection then at first he found in them for 1 He made a pool and a conduit 2 He stopped up the upper water-course of Gihon and brought it straight to the west side of the City of David 3 He brought water IN TO THE CITY of Ierusalem Hereby no doubt Hezekiah got many a blessing and hearty prayer from the poor servants in the City whose weary shoulders had formerly fetched their water so far off for the use of their masters family § 10. Here some will object that such an altering of the course of this river from the ancient channel thereof and the enticing of it by Art into a new passage was a violence and a trespass offered to Nature Yea did not man herein pretend to more wisdome then his maker as if by such variation he could direct the veines in the body of the earth to a fitter posture then that wherein God himself had disposed them But let such know that when God gave the earth with the water therein as making up one Globe to the Sons of men in the same charter he derived a right unto them to mold it as might be most convenient and advantageous for their habitation And although it belongs to God alone to put a sandy girdle about the loins of the Ocean because otherwise a giant too great for men to manage Hither shalt thou come and no farther yet lesser brooks fall under the jurisdiction of humane industry to order them for mans most commodity § 11. Others will admire that this new river was brought no sooner to Ierusalem and that a project so honourable profitable necessary and feasable lay so long unperformed How came this design to escape the searching eyes of Solomon especially seeing as he confesseth himself he dealt much in that moist Element See we here Solomon himself saw not all things and Hezekiah coming many years after him might supply his omissions And to speak plainly many of Solomons projects were but voluptuous essays for his own personall not to say carnall contentment whereas holy Hezekiah in his undertakings might have a more publick spirit for the generall good of his kingdome § 12. The well or fountain of the Dragon near the Valley gate might be made at the same time probably taking its denomination from some artificiall resemblance of a Dragon about it A conduit in a Dragon-fashion though such Anticks are more commonly presented spitting of fire then venting of water is made here by Adrichomius Tremellius conceiveth it called Dragon or Serpent well because the waters thereof which contrary to other Authors he maketh the same with Siloam glide snake-like soft and gentle yea crooked and winding with many intricate flexures thereof But it is impossible to assign the certain cause of such names as are meerly ad placitum finding a Well and Gate in the Cose of the City of Sarisbury of the same name yet hitherto could never hear any probable reason thereof § 13. Amongst the waters meerly naturall the fountain or pool of Siloah with the stream flowing thence into the brook of Kidron justly claimeth the preheminence Fountain which both in the name and nature thereof was the lively embleme if not the reeall type of our Saviour Name which is by interpretation SENT and we know When the fulness of time was come God SENT forth his Son made of a woman made under the law Nature for the waters thereof as the Prophet observed ran softly 1 To the eye sine impetu moving slowly and not rushing with a rapid stream like an impetuous torrent 2 To the eare sine strepitu stil quiet not offensive to the neighbours with the noise threof So Christ 1 Was leasurable and treatable in his going on foot but if mounted onely on a slow paced Ass and doing not rashly precipitate in his proceedings 2 Not querulous or clamorous in his discourse He shall not strive nor cry neither shall any hear his voice in the streets but meek and quiet Now as God was eminently in the still voice so also was he effectually once in this still water when our Saviour sent the blind-born man hither to wash and thereby he recovered his sight § 14. This was he who afterwards proved so constant a confessor of Christ avouching him a Prophet and his cure by him really effected notwithstanding the Pharisees menacing to the contray Hoping in vain though Christ had
Baasha King of Israel 2 Iehoash to appease the anger of Hazael King of Syria marching furiously against him took all the hallowed things which his Fathers and himself had dedicated and sent them as a gift to Hazael to stop his coming up against Ierusalem 3 Ahaz took the silver and gold which was found in the house of the Lord and conferred it on Tiglath-Pileser to hire his help against the Kings of Syria and Israel 4 Hezekiah cut off the gold wherewith he himself had overlaid the doors and pillars of the Temple and gave it to pacifie Sennacherib coming against him Not to mention the waste and havock wicked Athaliah and Manasseh made in their idolatrous reigns of the vessels of the Temple § 4. There want not those who dare to defend the foresaid spoiling of Gods house to be lawfull chiefly alleadging absolute necessity that bawdâ— generall of all illegitimate actions that otherwise in such extremities the kingdome of Iudah could not be preserved from forein invasion In vain doth what may be dispute when what must be sits Doctour of the Chaire It is not onely lawfull but needfull to shave the haire thereby to save the head The parting with the fruit kept the tree alive otherwise if not pacified with such a present the idolatrous enemies would undoubtedly have demolished the Temple and totally rooted out Gods service therein § 5. But what ever politick palliations may be pleaded for the contrary such sacriledge was unavouchable in it self and those pretended extremities to justifie it were onely created either by mens infidelity not beleeving Gods power or their impatience not attending Gods pleasure to defend his own glory in his own due time by his own means Yea Heaven by the finall success protested against such proceedings and the treasure taken out of the Temple and given to Pagans rather presently declined then finally diverted the imminent danger Thus Ahaz took away a portion out of the house of the Lord and gave it to the King of Assyria but he helped him not Likewise when Hezekiah presented Sennacherib with the wealth of the Temple to buy his favour his bribes proved ineffectull who having received the present was not pleased to understand the language thereof but nevertheless in the next verse invaded Iudah As for the instance of Asa God directly by the mouth of his Prophet reproved him for his fact in relying rather on the King of Syria then divine assistance In a word though some were good men that did it they were no whit the better for the doing it For though it be Christian policy and Christs precept that men make to themselves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness yet goods rightly consecrated to the righteous God come not under that appellation and such holy things are unjustly degraded which having once been advanced to the dignity of a free-will-offering to God are afterward set back to become a peace-offering to man § 6. Indeed some hold that under the Gospell the sin of sacriledge cannot be committed If so it is either because nothing under the Gospell hath been given to Gods service or because God hath solemnly disclaimed the acceptance of any such donations which when and where it was done will be hardly produced If this their position be true we have cause first to rejoyce in regard that God and his members are now adays growen so rich that they need not addition of humane gratuities to be bestowed upon them Secondly we may congratulate the felicity of ours above former ages being not in a capacity of committing the sin of sacriledge to which those were subject who lived before the time of our Saviour Lastly we may silently smile to see how Satan is defeated having quite lost one of his anâ—ient baites and old temptations men now adays being secured from this sin and put past a possibility to be guilty thereof But before we goe thus far let us first be sure we goe on a good ground otherwise it is the highest sacriledge to steal away sacriledge it self and to deny that which formerly was a grievous in our days to be any transgression § 7. To come now to the finall and fatall dissolution of this Temple with the dissipation at least wise transportation of all the Utensils thereof Three gradations herein may be observed Nebuchadnezzar 1 In the 11 year of Iehojakim 2 In the 4 month of Iehojackin 3 In the 11 year of Zedekiah caried Of the vessels of the house of the Lord The goodly vessels of the house of the Lord All the vessels of the house of the Lord great and small to Babylon Here we will not observe the eleventh year of wicked kings climactericall to their kingdomes seeing any year is equally fatall to a nation when the measure of their sins is made up Rather we will take notice how God twice as it were in mercy clipt the treasures of the Temple with the cisers and neither working repentance the third time in justice shaved all away with the hired razor of Babylon And it is my opinion that though the outward Courts and chambers of the Temple had formerly been frequently plundred yet the Holy and Holy of Holies remained entire and untouched till all was destroyed at the captivity of Babylon Here the Map of Zorobabels Temple is to be inserted THE TEMPLE as it was in CHRISTE time Iohn Goddard sculpsit ZOROBABELS TEMPLE REBUILT BY HEROD CHAP. I. The mean preparations for building this Temple § 1. THe seventy years of the Babylonish captivity expired God moved the spirit of Cyrus whose name the Prophet mentioneth two hundred years before his birth not onely by his proclamation to permit Gods people to return to their native Countrey and thereby to encourage others to contribute necessaries unto them but also restored the vessels of Solomons making and furnished them with provisions out of his own Exchequer for the erection of a second Temple which came after the former not moe years in time then degrees in magnificence A thing no whit strange if the disparity betwixt the builders be seriously considered § 2. First Solomon was an absolute Prince full of wealth and power in his peaceable Countrey where no dog durst bark against him save two or three whapping curs toward the end of his reign whilest the builders of this second Temple were but raw captives newly returned to their native land where they met with much disturbance and constant opposition from their enemies Wherefore no such almost miraculous silence observed at the second Temple like that in the first wherein no tool of iron was heard it being probable here was knocking of hammers and certain here was clashing of malicious foes againsâ— the faithfull Israelites § 3. Secondly Solomon though alternately employed seven score and ten thousand hewers and burden-bearers besides three thousand three hundred overseers at the
report for cui bono what could he gain thereby Nothing could be gotten by flattering the dust or ghost of Herod especially none of his linage when Iosephus wrote being in power or place to reward him How can we then in charity conceive that he did transgress without a cause Seeing there were so many of his own countreymen living in all lands ready to confute so lowd a lie if avouched by him § 5. Secondly the words of the Disciples to our Saviour Master see what stones and what buildings are here must in probability relate to some new spâ—cious eye-pleasing fabrick And if any should say that the Disciples being poor fisher-men and untravelled into forein parts might be priviledged to wonder at a fabrick not so admirable in it self let such know we collect the magnificence of this Temple not so much from their admiration as from Christ his concession who though reproving the Apostles carnall affections alloweth the stateliness thereof in that sharp return Seest thou 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these great buildings Now this could not well agree with Zorobabels Temple being little curious when new almost contemptible when old if standing in Christs time weather-beaten after four hundred years continuance and therefore undoubtedly relates to the Herodian Temple as then in the prime and perfection thereof § 6. Adde hereunto that Herod his wholly taking down and rebuilding this Temple is embraced and beleeved by most ancient and learned writers Hegesippus Saint Hierome Rupertus and many other Christian Authours And that some Talmudists acknowledge Herods Temple a learned Critick hath sufficiently cleared the same Yea which is much materiall even by the confession of such as lately have opposed it mille quingentis annis nemo vocavit in dubium nemo non credidit for fifteen hundred years since Iosephus wrote it none ever doubted or questioned the truth thereof CHAP. VI. Objections to the contrary answered § 1. HAving thus brought our beliefe not over forward in it self to answer the spur in what Iosephus reports we confess notwithstanding many shrewd objections may be alleadged to the contrary which we shall endevour to satisfie in order as followeth § 2. Ob. It is utterly improbable that God who refused Davids tender to build him a Temple meerly because he was a man of bloud would accept of such a Tyrant as Herod was for the same purpose Who had murthered Hircanus his patron Ioseph his own uncle Aristobulus his brother-in-law Mariamme his wife Aristobulus the younger Alexander and Antipater his sons In a word unlikely it is his service should be employed in building the Temple of God who endevoured to destroy the God of that Temple § 3. Ans. Gods ways are in the deep past mans finding or fathoming out who to shew the fulness of his power and freedome of his pleasure useth variety in his own working That shall be sometimes a bar to one which otherwhiles shall be no hinderance to another Who knowes not but Cyrus was a cruell man the manager of mighty wars who came to a wofull and violent death Witness when Tomyris the Scythian Queen having cut off his head and put it into a vessell of bloud Satia te saith she sanguine quem semper sitisti Cloy thy self with bloud which thou hast always thirsted after And yet God accepted of the service of Cyrus not onely to be a benefactour unto but founder of his Temple the expences thereof being given out of his own house Why then might not the same God make use of Herod for the rebuilding of his Temple when in continuance of time much run into dilapidations § 4. Ob. The Temple extant in our Saviours time was forty six years in building as the Iews did avouch now this cannot be applied to Herods Temple who reigned in all but thirty seven years it must therefore belong to Zorobabels the building whereof was so long suspended through the frequent opposition of their enemies § 5. Ans. It cannot well be applyed to Zorobabels but exactly fits Herods Temple for Zorobabels it falls out too large which makes expositours take refuge at severall shifts as we have formerly observed It is adequate unto Herods Temple the Greek being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first Aorist passive that is it hath been in building For from the time that the first foundation was laid by Herod untill the present instant of the Iews their speech the sum of forty six years was exactly compleated all which time though the main of the fabrick was finished in the first eight years and an half workmen were constantly employed in trimming polishing and perfecting the out-buildings thereof § 6. Ob. The Prophet Haggai foretold that the glory of the second Temple should be greater then the first which was accordingly accomplished in the coming of our Saviour gracing it with his presence and preaching therein Now if the Temple extant in our Saviours time were not the same numericall individuall Temple which Zorobabel built but another new one of Herod his erection the Prophesie of Haggai took no effect and missed of the due performance thereof § 7. Ans. Haggai his prophesie found the full accomplishment thereof in our Saviours preaching in Herods Temple which was no distinct but in all essentialls the self same with Zorobabels The holy riddle in the Revelation is very hard to be understood how the beast was the eight and yet one of the seven But here it is obvious to any apprehension that this was the third and yet the second Temple set up in the same place of the former § 8. Ob. Zorobabels or the second Temple may as properly be termed the first and avouched the same with Solomons as this third of Herods building may be called the second Temple and maintained the same with Zorobabels For it was erected on the same Area or floor and had though less limbs smaller dimensions the self same vitals all the essentiall Utensils of the first Temple restored unto it § 9. Ans. Not so for not a foot of stone or inch of timber used in Solomons was found in Zorobabels which being all utterly destroyed new materials were fetched from mount Lebanon Whereas no doubt Herod made use of whatsoever was firm sound and undecayed in Zorobabels Temple Besides there was an interstitium or distance of seventy years between the destruction of Solomons and erection of Zorobabels Temple whereas here no vacancy at all the service and sacrifices to God being continued without any interruption As therefore that man who out of a desperate consumption by Gods blessing physick and good diet recovers new flesh remains still the same man so Zorobabels Temple acquiring by Herods bounty more beauty and bigness continued the same Temple Gods unintermitted service the life and soul thereof preserving the individuity or oneness of this Temple
to the value of eight thousand talents Indeed Eleazar keeper of the holy treasures gave or rather payed to Crassus a wedge of gold weighing three hundred pounds to ransome the rest from his rapine But the golden wedge did but widen the covet ousness of Crassus and like a break-fast did inable him to encounter a dinner with a greater appetite so that notwithstanding his oath to the contrary he added sacriledge to his perjury But seeing theeves give whatever they take not away we have rather cause to comend his bounty that the golden table candlesticks and other ornaments escaped his fingers except they were either hid from him by the carefull providence of others or left by him out of his own politick covetousnes like nest-egs to encourage others again to lay up more wealth in the same place And no doubt he hoped though now he had mowed down the Temples treasure to the bare roots shortly when grown up again to return to the after-share thereof but all in vain for marching with his Army into Parthia there his money perished with him losing the principle of his stoln wealth and paying his own life for interest Thus those who on a sudden grow rather foggy then fat by feeding on sacrilegious morsels do pinâ— away by degrees and die at last of incurable consumptions § 3. Here we cannot but take notice how profoundly shallow the Scribes and Pharisees were in that their superstitious Criticisme and leaden distinction how he that swore by the Temple was left at liberty whilest he that swore by the gold of the Temple was bound up and concluded in conscience to the performance of his oath Whereas our Saviour demonstrateth that the Temple was greater then the gold as the sanctifier thereof Besides in common sense he should seem faster tyed whose faith by oath was staked down to the Temple as to a fixt firme stable structure then he whose truth was tyed onely to the gold thereof a more fading flitting moveable matter as appears by Crassus and others carying so much of it away with him into forein countreys But indeed as our Saviour teacheth the main obliging power of those oaths consisted in the presence of God before whom they were made who alone is immoveable and immutable whereas in process of time the Temple it self as well as the gold thereof came to destruction § 4. For Vespasian and Titus his son Roman Emperours Anno Dom. 72. razed the Temple and utterly confounded all the Utensils thereof Indeed they were first carried in triumph to Rome but what afterward became of them is altogether unknown It is no sin to conceive that their property was altered and they either converted to coin or turned to plate for the use of the Emperour or his favorites Sure none are known to remain in specie at this day and one may wonder that no impudent Relickmonger hath produced a golden feather of a Cherubims wing or a knop flower bowle or almond of the seven-branched candle-stick having pretended since Christs time to improbabilities of as high a nature Strange that no Pope hath gotten a piece of Aarons Mitre or breast-plate to grace his wardrobe or a parcell of the manuscript-commandements written by Gods finger to adorn his Vatican But divine providence hath utterly razed all foundation for superstition to build upon in the totall abolition of these holy ornaments And if those reasonable Witnesses of Gods truth were by his permission overcome and killed by the Beast when they had finished their testimony no wonder if these sensless and inanimate types having served their generation the truth being come were finally extinguished Nor have I ought else to observe of those holy Utensils save that all were made of pure gold and yet the Apostle is bold to tearm them and all other legall ceremonies beggerly elements so debasing them in comparison of Christ the authour of grace and giver of eternall life Finis Libri Tertii To the Right Honourable FRANCIS LORD RVSSELL Son to the Right Honourable WILLIAM EARL OF BEDFORD MY LORD PErusing this passage in the beginning of Saint Lukes Gospell To write unto thee in order most excellent Theophilus that thou mightest know the certainty of those things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherein thou hast been catechised or instructed it furnished me with some observables very conducible to my present purpose 1 Though God alone be good yet man in some sense may be most excellent 2 Even in that age wherein they had all things common Nobility remained severall as appropriated to some principall persons 3 No diminution to the dignity of a Noble man to be catâ—chised 〈…〉 in the Principles of Religion 4 Dedicating of Books of Noble persons is an ancient practise 〈…〉 Scripture precedents 5 〈…〉 not patronage for his book the Word of God being the sword of the 〈…〉 to defend it but intended the instruction of Theophilus therein The 〈…〉 the texâ— encourgâ—d me â—â—ing to put forth a Treatise to publick view to make choice of an honourable Patron and hope I have found a Theophilus in your Lordship whom I see to be young know to be Noble and beleeve to â—e religâ—ous The composure therefore of this ensuing boâ—â— the issue by Gods â—blessing of 〈◊〉 own industry this alone I humbly 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 Honour to protect the same As for the matter thereof being wholly Scripture I heartily dedicate your Honour thereto to be instructed therewith And now my Lord may I request you to tâ—ke a serious survey of your own extraction to be unto you a forcible motive unto vertue To instance onely in your deceased Ancestors as cut of the reach of flattery John your Atavus by his wisedome and valour the fortunate Generall against the Rebels in the West founded under God the Nobility of your family Francis your Abavus whose Hall seemed a Court Closet a Chappell and Gate-house an Hospitall shined as a light with his piety in those darker days William your Proavus to whom agreed the character of Sergius Paulus A prudent man and Deputy of the Countrey and that an Island too though not Cyprus yet Ireland of whose abilities Queen Elizabeth was well assured when choosing him Pilot of that leaking Land then toffed with the violent tempest of Rebellion Francis your 〈◊〉 whose death I would epithete Untimely not onely for the behoof of his own family but benefit of the whole nation did not the same authority which reproved Saint Peter for calling that common which he had cleansed forbid me to term any thing untimely which his Providence hath appointed Now my Lord upon a review of this your pedegree I will not be so Pedantick to minde you of a Grammar-instance to make it true construction in your Honours practise Magnorum haudquaquam indignus avorum but in Scripture-phrase I request you to Look to the rock whence you are hewn and the hole of the pit whence you are
digged and doe nothing unworthy of that honourable parentage whence you are derived Far be it from your Honour to be listed among those noble men of whom it may be said in a sad sense that they are very highly descended as being come down many degrees from the worth and virtues of their noble Progenitors To conclude then with Theophilus with whom I began It is observable of him that though styled most excellent by Saint Luke in his Gospell yet in the Book of the Acts which was written many years after he calls him onely Theophilus without any honourable addition What Had Saint Luke in process of time less civility or Theophilus with more age less Nobility Surely neither but Saint Luke may be presumed purposely to wave his titles out of compliance to the temper of Theophilus who in his reduced age grew weary of worldly pompe more pleased to have the truth of honour fixed within him then hear the titles thereof fastned upon him according to the Analogie of the Apostles preâ—ept Let him that hath honour be as if he had it not Thus the longer your Lordship shall live the less you will delight in outward state and daily discover the vanity thereof especially in your old age your soul will grow sensible that nothing can satisfie it which is less then Grace or Glory or God himself To whose protection you are committed by the daily prayer of him who is Your Honours most humble servant THO. FULLER Waltham Abbey Iuly 16. 1650. Here followeth the Map of Mount Libanus THE DESCRIPTION OF MOVNT LIBANVS and the adjacent Countreys The fourth Book CHAP. I. § 1. SO much for the Iewel Palestine it self Now for the Case thereof namely the neighbouring Countreys which surrounded it Onely herein the Simile holds not because Cases serve as to compass so to preserve and defend the Jewell whereas these bordering nations were sworn enemies to oppose and destroy the land and people of Palestine The most quiet neighbour Iudea had was the Midland sea on the west side thereof which though sometimes as the Psalmist observes it would rage horribly yet generally it was more peaceable and serviceable then the Pagans which bounded them on all other quarters as namely 1 In Syria on the north Giblites Arvadites Aramites c. 2 In Arabia on the east and south-east Ammonites Moabites Ismaelites Midianites 3 In Egypt and the wilderness of the south Edomites Amalekites Egyptians c. So that the Iews to finde faithfull friends must not look about them but above them even to heaven whence all their safety was derived § 2. For the present we are to describe mount Libanus or Lebanon with the parts of Syria confining thereunto A mountain which some will have so named from Frankincense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek whereof great plenty groweth there Yet seeing it is usuall for Parents to give names to their children not children to their Parents more probable it is that Frankincense is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from this mountain breeding store thereof then that the mountain should be named Libanus from Frankincense growing therein § 3. But whilst humane writers are best pleased with this Greek extraction of Libanus more conformable to Scripture is the Hebrew Etymology thereof from Whiteness because the faithfull snow forsakes not the top of this mountain no not when persecuted by the Sun in the dog-days but remains there all the year long A pleasant sight at the same time to have Winter on the top and Sommer at the bottome of one and the same mountain Excellent the use of this snow in these hot climats the Prophet mentioning it as most welcome and precious Will a man leave the snow in Lebanon wherewith the Tyrians and neighbouring nations used to allay and mixe their wines so making the Torrid and Frozen Zone to meet in the Temperate more healthfull for their Constitutions § 4. Lebanon was a place so pleasant that an Epicure therein might feed all his senses to a surfeit 1 Sight The â—pouse saith of Christ His countenance is as Lebanon where most delightfull is the prospect with high hills humble dales sweet rivers shady groves No wonder then if Ptolemy placeth Paradise a City hereabouts where what Poets can fancy Nature hath performed 2 Smell Such the fragrancy of flowers Gummes and Spices thereon perfuming the aire round about His smell is as the smell of Lebanon 3 Hearing For besides the melody wrabled forth by the sweet Choristers of the wood pleasant it was to listen to the complaints which the Rivers murmuring made against the Rocks for wronging them in obstructing their channels whose complaints therein were so far from finding pity in mens hearts that they onely lulled their heads the sooner and faster asâ—eep 4 Taste Touch. Such the most delicious fruits and liquors this mountain affords Vinum C.O.S. The sent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon Galen also reporteth that yearly in mount Libanus husbandmen used to sing God raineth hony at which time they spread hides on the ground and from the boughs of trees shook into them the hony dropt from heaven called therefore mel roscidum aereum filling pots and pitchers with the same No wonder then that Moses made it his earnest request to take this place in his way to heaven I pray thee let me goe over and see the good land which is beyond Iordan that goodly mountain and Lebanon As if his soul more conveniently might take his rise from the top thereof to eternall blisse and be the better provided to entertain endless happiness when first he had sipt some drops of the same in delightfull Lebanon the temporall type thereof § 5. It will perchance be objected against the fertility of this place that the Prophet foretelleth Is it not yet a very little while and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitfull field Where its future conversion into fruitfulness seemingly implies the present barrenness thereof But here we must distinguish betwixt field and forest fruitfulness The former is composed of the concurrence of art and industry with nature the latter onely takes what nature tenders without any toile to improve the same wherein Libanus already did exceed But now the Prophet foretells besides this wild and native an elaborate and artificiall fertility likely to befall this mountain namely in the speedy and universall alteration of things in Israel when champian fields for fear should be forsaken and husbandmen for their security retire with their tillage to mount Lebanon Thus much for this fair and fruitfull place full of goodly trees wild and tame beasts in abundance and yet when measured by an infinite majesty Lebanon is not sufficient for him to burn nor all the beasts thereof of sufficient for a burnt offering § 6. Having largely praised this place enough to set all the neighbouring Princes at variance about the propriety thereof it is now high time
eyes Of these buildings in Libanus that tower which looks towards Damascus was the principal to which the Nose of the Spouse in the Canticles is compared for the whiteness uniformity and proportionable largeness thereof whereby the generousness and animosity of the Church is intimated The Philosopher telleth us that a tower-fashioned Nose round and blunt at the top is a signe of magnanimity § 12. From this tower we may take the Prospect of all the adjacent countrey wherein we take no notice of the division of Syria according to humane writers but confine our selves to Scripture expressions 1 Rehob 2 Aram or Maachah 3 Syria of Damascus 4 Zobah 5 The land of Hamah 6 Syrophoenicia 7 Coelosyria 8 Phoenicia Aram Rehob or Beth-Rehoh so called from a principall City therein lay south east of mount Libanus Herein was Dan the place where Abraham overtook the four Kings who after many victories had took Lot and his wife captives By Dan we understand not the city of Dan formerly Laish which some hundreds of years after was so named though Levi is said vertually to pay tithes in the loines of Abraham Dan cannot be conceived formally to name cities being as yet in the body of his great Grandfather but the eastermost fountain of Iordan anciently called Dan. And surely springs the issue of nature are seniours to all cities the result of Art Here Abraham overtook them and with three hnndred and odde men conqueredand pursued them being numerous and flushed with former victorys to Hobah which is on the left side of Damascus Thus that army which is but a handfull of men managed by Gods hand will work wonders Hereby Lot recovered his liberty the King of Sodome his subjects they their goods the Auxiliaries of Aner Eshcol and Mamre received their pay out of the spoile Melchisedec had the tithes Abraham the honour and God the glory of the victory § 13. Aram-Maachah lay southeast of Aram-beth-Rehoh the King thereof appeared very active though bringing into the field but a thousand men in the battell against King David It seems Ioab the politick Generall reputed these Syrians valiant who took the choicest men of Israel under his own conduct to oppose them consigning the refuse under Abishai against the Ammnoites presuming they would fly of course if the other were worsted as indeed it came to pass Appendants to this Aram-Maachah were 1 Geshur hereof Talmai the King and Maachah his daughter was maried to David and mother to Absalom No wonder then if the child proved a cross to his Father begotten on a heathen woman contrary to Gods command And here Absalom changing his climate not conditions staid three years clouded with his Fathers displeasure for murdering his brother Amnon 2 Ishtoh which contributed twelve thousand men in the generall engagement of the Syrians against King David 3 The land of Tob that is the good-land or Goth-land if you please so called from the goodness thereof Though all the good we know of it is this that it afforded a safe refuge to Iephthah when persecuted by his brethren who hence was solemnely fetched to be Judge of Israel Adrichomius and other Authours here make the Land of Uz where Iob dwelt I cannot blame any place to be desirous of so pious a man to be an inhabitant therein But both Iobs friends and foes forbid the situation of the land of Uz here abouts His foes the Sabeans his friends Eliphaz the Temanite c. who are known to live far south of this place of whom properly in the description of Edom. 14. Aram of Damascus succeeds lying northeast of Aram-Maachah watered with the rivers of Abanah and Pharphar This Abanah in humane writers is called Chrysoroas or golden-streame from the yellowness of his banks and water Otherwise as little gold is to be found in his chanell as at the golden grove in Caermarthen-shire or at the golden-vale in Herefordshire However Abanah and Pharphar were highly beholden to Naaman who preferred them before all the waters of Israel as possibly they might equall yea exceed them in some outward respects But what if the water in the Cistern chance to be clearer then that in the Font Know it is divine institution which puts the difference betwixt them leaving the one a plain Element and making the other a soveraigne Sacrament This river Chrysoroas running northward is afterwards swallowed up in the sandy ground and there is the visible end thereof So that Solomons rule All rivers run into the Sea must admit of an exception or exposition namely either openly or secretly as no doubt this river hath an underground recourse to the Ocean § 15. Coming near to Damascus we finde the place where Saint Paul was cast down to the ground as he went with a Commission from the high Priest to persecute the Saints of Damascus Now seeing Damascus was not in Iudea if any demand why Paul should straggle so far from his own Countrey hear his own answer Being exceedingly mad against them I persecuted them even unto strange cities and it is reason enough for the actions of blind zeale that they are the actions of blind zeale Besides it seems the high Priests at Ierusalem had a kind of Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction over the Iews in all places Some seeming contradiction but on serious thoughts easily reconciled appears in the history of Saint Pauls travells Acts 9.7 The men also which journeyed with him stood amazed hearing a voice but seeing no man Acts 22.9 Moreover they that were with me saw indeed a light and were afraid but heard not the voice of him that spakâ— unto me For two things considerable in this viâ—ion 1 The generals thereof communicated to his fellow-travellers that they might attest the truth of this miraculous accident No seeming fancy but really acted Hereupon they heard confusedly that there was a sound but heard not distinctly what that sound was and were admitted to see a light but did not discover the person of Iesus appearing 2 The particulars thereof imparted to Paul alone as calculated onely for his conversion whose eares and eyes plainly heard and saw the voice and apparition Hence Saint Paul was conducted to the city of Damascus whither we follow after him § 16. Damascus is by some conceived to have been founded by Eliezer Abrahams Steward onely because he is styled Eliezer of Damascus But if so then signall was the piety of Eliezer who preferred rather to live a servant in Abrahams good family then to rule as a Lord in a great city of his own building Various was the success and fortune of Damascus under severall Lords and we will onely instance in such as are mentioned in Scripture 1 It was inhabited by the Syrians and accounted the Metropolis of the Countrey 2 It was probably conquered by David when he put garisons into Aram of Damascus 3 In the days
which had known man What time also they did execution on five Kings of Midian and Balaam the false Prophet their chaplain who fell by the sword of man though he had escaped that of the Angell Some may think strange that the Israelites having conquered this countrey possessed not themselves and their heirs thereof Let such know first that this sandy land was barren it self whose best fruitfulness consisted onely in the largeness thereof Secondly God intended an entire territory to his own people whereas this stragling Countrey was hardly kept though easily conquered Thirdly the Midianites were of the halfe bloud with the Israelites descended from Abraham and therefore God would not have them disinherit their kinsmen of their possessions §6 If we goe out of their cities to take free aire in their countrey see how thick their tents are spread over the face of the earth Whereof though their coverings might seem course their courtains mentioned by the Prophet being both the side walls and roof of their inward rooms were most costly and curious As the Midianites were called the children of the east so none more orient in their apparell and gorgeous accoutrements For if their Camels wore Collers of gold about their necks how rich may their riders be presumed to be in pearles and precious stone § 7. Another great part of their wealth consisted in their cattell amongst which we must take speciall notice of their Dromedaries seeing the most or best of this kind were bredhereabouts A Dromedary is a dwarfcamell nature recompensing his smalness in his swiftness so that he will travellan hundred miles a day and continue at that rate with sparing diet a week together He hath but one bunch on his back the Camell having more the naturall saddle for his Rider to mount upon generally more used for travell then bearing of burdens and of as much more refined service above Camells as Hacknies are above Packhorses In a word as in one respect this beast is the commendable character of perseverance not fleet by fits at the first but holding out a constant and equall tenour in travelling so in another regard it may pass for the emblem of hypocrisie pretending to both symptomes of a clean beast really chewing the cud and seemingly cleaving the hoof but onely on the out side whereas within it is wholly fleshly and entirely round like a platter § 8. Yet all their speed could not save their Masters from the pursuit of Gideon when such a fatall blow was given to the Midianites that the Text saith They lift up their heads no more Yea which is memorable scarce any part of their body appears afterwards in Scripture or any mention of Midianites save with relation to the former defeate which leads us to this conjecture that the remains of that nation which escaped that dismall overthrow shrowded themselves under the names of some neighbouring people probably of the Ishmaelites of whom but a word or two and so to Moab § 9. Nor need the Reader be afraid to adventure amongst them suspecting the Ishmaelites like Ishmael their Father to be wild men Whose hands were against every man and every mans hand against them seeing their fierceness and fury had been well tamed by the Reubenites Gadites and half Tribe of Manasseh in that memorable victory wherein no fewer then an hundred thousand of them were taken captives and those Tribes dwelt in their tents even unto the river Euphrates Conceive it in a cursory condition onely grazing their cattell during the season which amounted not to a constant and settled habitation § 10. The Ishmaelites were descended from Ishmael otherwhiles called Hagarens wherein the difference not great their former name being fetched from their Father the latter but one degree further from Hagar their grandmother Of this Ishmael it was foretold first that he should dwell as also he did die in the presence of all his brethren that is he should not hide his head in holes or creep into corners as afraid of the force of his neighbours but should justifie and avouch his Right in open habitations daring and defying all pretenders to his possessions Secondly it is said he should be Onager homo or a wild-ass-man in which similitude the holy Spirit not using casuall but choice comparisons surely very much is folded up of the Physiognomy both of him and his posterity Wild asses are said to carry a bow in their heels and to finde arrows in the sandy ground where they goe wherein if hunted they doe bestirre themselves with flinging the gravell behind them that therewith they pierce the breasts yea sometimes split the heads of such as pursue them as the Ishmaelites excellent archers laid about them with their arrows to kill and slay such as opposed them § 11. Large were the bounds alotted to Ishmael and divine providence which staked them down within certain limits allowed them a very long teddar They dwelt from Havilah unto Shur that is from before Egypt till as thou goest towards Assyria a spong of ground somewhat nigh a thousand miles perchance not so entire but interrupted with other nations and not bearing a proportionable breadth consisting generally of the Sandy and stony Arabia so that a span of Isaacs was worth a stride of Ishmaels possession However in relation to Ishmaels posterity that Prophecy he shall dwell in the presence of his brethren admits also of this interpretation that the land alotted him ranged out so far that the bounds and borders thereof abutted on all his kindred Edomites and Israelites his nephews or brothers sons Moabites and Ammonites his cousins once removed Midianites descended of his half brother by Keturah and Egyptians his near kinsmen both by his wife and mother § 12. In this large countrey did dwell the twelve sons of Ishmael which I may call the twelve tribes of the Ishmaelites 1 Nebaioth 2 Kedar 3 Adbeel 4 Mibsam 5 Mishma 6 Duma 7 Massa. 8 Hadar 9 Temah 10 Ietur 11 Naphish 12 Kedemah A learned man from the allusion of letters and similtude of sounds hath found out in stony desert and happy Arabia some places symbolizing with these names and I commend his industry not daring altogether to concur with his judgment conceiving the subject in hand to want a bottome for any to build with certainty thereupon Sooner shall Chymists fixe quick-silver then Geographers place these people in a setled habitation Indeed mention is made of some Townes and Castles no cities they had perchance some strength to retire to but generally Saint Hierome tells us they had neither doors nor bolts but lived in tents in desert places Wherefore as foreiners for matter of clothes paint an Englishman with a pair of sheares in his hand taxing therein his levity in following fashions continuing constant to no kind of apparell so we may present the Ishmaelites besides a bow at
as many mean men living obscurely so that the world takes no notice of them if surprized by some unusuall and strange mortality become remarkable for their deaths who were never memorable for their lives so some cities of Moab whereof no mention in Scripture for any action done in or by them are onely famous in holy writ for their strange ruine and destruction by the Prophet sadly foretold and therefore certainly accomplished Such are Misgab Horonaim Luhith Baith Eglaim Ber-elim Holon Kirioth Kirherez and Madmen The last as I conceive is note-worthy not for its own merit but others mistake For in the Bibles and those numerous printed Anno Dom. 1625. the verse in Ieremy is thus rendered O Maiden the sword shall pursue thee where the Corrector of the Press conceiving it incongruous to join Thee a singular pronoune with Madmen which he mistook for an appellative no proper name ran himself upon that dangerous errour § 21. But Kirharasheth seems the Metropolis of Moab Near to this three Kings Iehoram of Iudah Iehosaphat of Israel and the nameless Kingdeputy of Edom marched on a designe to chastise Mesha the rebellious King of Moab into subjection But wandring in the wilderness of Edom they encountred a worse enemy Thirst it self wherewith all of them were ready to saint But happily it happened that Elisha who powred water on the hands of Eliah by the same Element seasonably refreshed the hearts of the distressed armies respecting Iehosaphat for his own goodness the other two Kings for his company How many generall benefits doe the very Tares enjoy because inseparably mingled with the Wheat in the field of this world Yea Elisha was an instrument to give them not onely water but victory heavens favours goe commonly by couples after this miraculous manner § 22. The Moabites beholding water miraculously brought in that place where never any was seen or known before and the same at distance appearing red unto them guilded with the beames of the Sun concluded it to be bloud and that that Paroyall of Armies had smitten one another Wonder not that their conjecture was so wide and wild for well might the Comment be out of the way of Truth when the Text was out of the Rode of nature and the Moabites on the suddain not capable to suspect a miracle Hereupon the word is given Moab to the spoâ—le which in some sense was true that is not to take but become the spoile of others For the tents they assaulted being lined with armed men quickly overcame them And it is worth our observing that this victory was bestowed on Iehosaphat my eyes are onely on him on whom alone the looks of Elisha reflected just in the morning when the Meat-offering was offered as procured by the Propitiatory virtue thereof all favours being conferred in and for the merits of Christ the truth of all sacrifices § 23. God gave man used this conquest Improving their success they beat down the cities and on every good piece of land cast every man his stone and filled it and stopped all the wells of water and felled all the good trees This was contrary to Gods express command but none could better dispense with the Law then the lawgiver who in detestation of the rebellion of Moab against Israel enjoined this severity Onely the City of Kirharasheth was left and that they besieged untill the King of Moab therein took and sacrificed his eldest Son who was to succeed him either out of a bad imitation of Iephthah and their Idols we know were adored with sacrifices of men or to give assurance to the besiegers that they were men resolved to endure all extremities so that they might presume he that would sacrifice his Son would not spare to spend his souldiers on any desperate adventure Hereupon the foresaid three Kings surceased their siege either out of policy perceiving the same desperate and unlikely to prevaile or out of a royall sympathy that it was revenge enough to distress though not destroy a King or which is most probable out of a religious horrour the trembling whereat made their swords fall out of their hands as unwilling to provoke the besieged any further to such impious and unhumane performances lest heaven should arraign them as accessary thereunto by giving the occasion thereof whatsoever was the cause home they returned content with the spoiling without the finall conquering of the Countrey § 24. Many are the invectives of the Prophets against Moab for their sins The people thereof are charged to have been at ease from their youth and setled on their less because not emptied from vessell to vessell neither carried into captivity whilest poor Israel was posted from Canaan to Egypt from Egypt to Canaan from Canaan to Babylon from Babylon to Canaan backward and forward God therefore threatneth because they had not been emptied from their vessell to break them in their vessell and foretelleth that Moab should be made drunk haply alluding to his geniture seeing he was begotten in a fit of drunkenness and wallow in his vomit and come to utter destruction Thus never to be acquainted with any affliction in youth is a certain prognostick of finall confusion in old age So much for Moab leaving it to learned men to dispute what is intended by the restauration of Moab foretold in the latter days as also let them enquire whether that passage in Daniel that after a generall overthrow Edom Moab c. should escape must not mystically be meant of the enemies of the Church in which sense we may be sure the devill will have a Moab as long as God hath any Israel in the world § 25. AMmon another base Son of Lot had Midian on the east Moab on the south Gad on the west and Syria on the north a circular countrey extending about sixty miles every way The ancient inhabitants hereof were the Giants Zamzâ—mmims These were conquered and cast out by the Ammonites who afterwards dwelt in their countrey being a fruitfull land and too good for these Ammonites that bare an inveterate malice to the people of Israel manifested in many particulars 1 In their oppressing them eighteen years till Iephthah gave them deliverance 2 In their cruell conditions such Ravens and birds of prey first peck out the eyes tendered to the men of Iabesh-Gilead 3 In their barbarous abusing Davids ambassadours 4 In ripping up the bellies of the women with child in Gilead 5 In their Clapping their hands stamping with their feet and rejoycing in their heart at the sacking of Ierusalem by the King of Babylon 6 In their contriving the destruction of Gedaliah and the poor remnant of the Iews left behind in the land by the Babylonians 7 In retarding the building of the Temple after the Iews return from captivity And although David and some other Kings amongst whom Uzziah most remarkeable forced the
Ammonites to give them gifts yet we may justly beleeve the same were presented rather with their hands then their hearts bearing a cordiall grudge against Israel § 26. Rabbah was the Metropolis of Ammon called in Scripture the tity of waters because low and plashy in its situation conducing much to the strength thereof rendering all undermining of it uneffectuall But perchance it is so termed from the extraordinary populousness thereof Waters being often used for People in Scripture phrase both being at all times unstable and unconstant and when they get a head implacable neither speaking nor hearing reason both usefull servants but intolerable Masters Here the Iron-bed of Og was preserved for a Relick being nine cubits high and four broad Now though Alexanders souldiers are said to have left shields in India far greater then those which they did or could weare in war onely to possess posterity with a false opinion that his men were mightier then they were yet we may presume this bed of Og was not unproportionably greater then he necessarily used for his ordinary repose No doubt Og confident of his own strength certainly concluded that as he did often lie in health upon that bed so he should quietly die on the same whereas contrary to his expectation he was slain in the field and now his bed served him for a Cenotaph or empty monument § 27. This Rabbah was besieged by Ioab to revenge Hanun King of the Ammonites his despitefull usage of Davids Ambassadours Here Uriah engaged in battell was killed though not conquered by the treacherous retreat of his own countreymen What a deal of doe was here to bring one innocent man to his grave Davids wicked designe Ioabs unworthy compliance Ammons open force Israels secret fraud and yet all too little had not Uriah's own credulous simplicity unspotted loyalty undaunted courage rather to die then to fly concurred to hasten his own destruction Afterwards Ioab having brought the city to terms of yeelding politickly sends for David solemnly to take his place to decline all envy from himself and invest all honour on his Soveraign Here the glorious Crown of this kingdome was taken and set on Davids head and I dare boldly say it became David better then him from whom◠it was taken But oh what a Bridewell or house of correction was provided for the people of this place They were put under saws and under harrows of Iron and under axes of Iron and made to passe through the brick kilne See here Davids patience provoked into fury And was it not just that they who would not civilly like men use Davids Ambassadours should by Davids men be barbarously used like beasts in slavish imployments § 28. The most populous part of the Kingdome of Ammon lay betwixt Aroer and Minnith containing no fewer then twenty Cities so many represented in our Map and had I found their names in Scripture I had imparted them to the Reader All these cities were smote by Iephthah that most valiant Judge of Israel For he passed over to the enemy to fight with them other Judges onely expelling them out of Israel and pursuing them to their own countrey An action of very much prowess in Iephthah to rowze those wild beasts in their own den and no less policy preventing the spoiling of his native soil and translating the Seat of the war into the land of a forein so Here if any demand how the wheat of Minnith comes to be reckoned by the Prophet amongst the staple commodities of the land of Iudah wherewith she bartered with Tyre when Minnith was undoubtedly a city of the Ammonites it is answered 1 This fine wheat might first be denominated from Minnith as originally growing there though afterwards as good and more of that kind grew generally in Iudea Thus some flowers and fruits Province-Roses Burgamo peares c. are as full and fair in other countreys as in that place whence they take their name 2 By Minnith-wheat may be meant wheat winnowed cleansed and dressed after the fine and curious fashion of Minnith Thus they are called Hungar-dollars which are refined to the standard of Hungarian gold in what place or by what Prince soever in Germany they be coined § 29. We must not forget that after the Tribe of Gad was carried away captive by Tiglath-pileser the Ammonites seised on and dwelt in the cities of that Tribe For which reason so many of them are set down in this our Map This caused the complaint of the Prophet Hath Israel no sons Hath he no heire Why then doth their King inherit Gad and his people dwell in his cities Sure I am that Ammon double barred with bastardy and incest though somewhat allied could never legally succeed to the possessions of Israel But in such cases the keenest sword is next to the kin Not to say that Ammon had a title to that kingdome before that Sihon King of the Amorites took that land away from them whereof largely before in the description of Gad. If any aske me what became of the Ammonites in after ages I answer with David he passed away and loe he was not yea I sought him but he could not be found Yea the less there appears of Ammon the more there appears of Gods justice and divine truth foretold by the mouth of Ezekiel I will cut thee off from the people and will cause thee to perish out of the countreys § 30. Esau eldest Son of Isaac was red and hairy at his birth the one shewing his irefull nature the other his hardy constitution He was highly beloved of his Father whilest Iacob was Gods and his Mothers darling chiefly for providing him Venison a consideration beneath so good a man and for which Isaac smarted afterwards sawcing each morsell of his Sons venison in his own teares caused by Esaus unhappy matches and undutifull demeanour This Esau is as generally known in Scripture by the name of Edom given him on this occasion Coming one day hungry from hunting he sold his birthright to his brother Iacob for red pottage red being Edom in Hebrew I confess many flaws may be found in this bargain and sale as namely 1 It was no faire but fraudulent dealing for Iacob to surprize his brother taking advantage of his hunger 2 The contract was not made on a valuable compensation not to say it was Simoniacall to sell or buy such heavenly priviledges 3 The heires of Esau as yet in his loines concerned therein but not consenting thereto might justly question their Fathers grant in passing away what by nature was intailed upon them Wherefore it is safest to turn all our excusing of Iacob into our admiring of Gods wisdome who makes mens crooked actions to tend in a streight line to his own glory And yet we must not forget that even after Esau had satisfied himself with food the text saith Thus Esau despised his birthright It
seems thereby that what his hast and hunger had conveyed his profaneness did deliberately confirme and by that his neglect and contempt he acknowledged a Fine cutting off his heires from any recovery thereof Indeed afterwards Esau made it a main matter of quarrell with his brother but never a matter of conscience in himself But enough hereof onely I will adde the crossing of the common rule Caveat venditor let here the seller beware for God took Esau at his word and accordingly deprived him of his birthright § 31. But Esau set a greater valuation on his Blessing wherein being prevented by Iacob he sought it with teares though they were not a kindely showre of repentance but onely some heate drops of anger and indignation not so much grieved that he had lost as vexed that Iacob had gotten the Blessing At last his importunity got from his Father a Blessing though not the blessing the severall clauses whereof we are seriously to consider because thereon dependeth the right understanding of the conditions of the people and countrey of Edom which we are now to describe Behold thy dwelling shall be the fatnesse of the earth and of the dew of heaven from above Earth is by Isaac first mentioned because by Esau most minded But oh the difference betwixt the dew of heaven in Iacobs and Esau's blessing In the former it signified Gods favour with an undoubted right unto and sanctified use of divine promises service and Sacraments whereas in this blessing of Esau heavenly dew was in effect but earthly dew temporall terrestriall fertility allowed to this mountainous land of Edom whose lean hils were larded with many fruitfull vallies interposed Heathen Authors confesse no less Dulce nemus florentis Idumes The fair grove of flourishing Idumea Quicquid nobile Ponticis nucetis Foecundis cadit aut jugis Idumes What ever noble worth destils On Pontus nut-trees or what fils The fruitfull Idumean Hils However divine providence seems to have suited the Countreys to the conditions of Isaacs children giving plain-dealing Iacob a more low and levell Land and fitting the haughty minde of aspiring Esau with high-swelling and ambitious mountains though he who was nearest to heaven was farthest from God And by thy sword shalt thou live and shalt be thy Brothers Servant It is observable that though God in the time of the Judges made use of almost all other heathen nations bordering on the Iewes successively to oppress that his own people Midianites Ammonites Moabites Philistines c. Yet he never permitted the Edomites at any time to Lord it over Israel because according to Isaacs Blessing subjection to Iacob not soveraignty over him belonged to Esau and his posterity This prophecy of Esau's serving Iacob was fully accomplished in the days of David when he put a Garison in Edom throughout all Edom put he souldiers and all they of Edom became Davids servants and so remained tributaries to the Kings of Iudah and governed by their deputies for one hundred and fifty years and upwards But it shall come to passe when thou shalt get the mastery that thou shalt breake his yoke from thy neck This was fulfilled when the Edomites rebelling against King Iehoram finally recovered their liberty whilest he more cruell to kill his brethren at home then valiant to conquer his enemies abroad could never after reduce them into subjection nor his successors after him § 32. The Horims first inhabited this Countrey of Mount Seir whose Dukes are reckoned up by Moses of whom Duke Anah is most remarkable for his first finding out of Mules as he fed his Father Zibions Asses A creature or rather a living beast which may be called a reall fallacy in nature whose extraction is a conclusion unduely inferred from the premises of an Hee-asse and a Mare joined together Yet this is commendable in Mules they imitate rather the virtues then vices of their Sire and Dam having in them the dulness of the Asse quickened with the metall of the Mare and the Mares stubbornness corrected with the Asses patience Barren they are as to whom God never granted the Charter of increase and yet Pliny reports but it is Pliny who reports it that in Rome Mules are often recorded to beare young ones but then always accounted ominous Let others dispute whether Anah was the Inventour or onely the Repertour of Mules the industrious Founder or the casuall Finder of them Let them also discuss whether such copulations be lawfull for men of set purpose to joine together severall kinds which God hath parted asunder yea they may seem to amount to a tacite upbraiding of Gods want of wisdome or goodness in not providing sufficient Creatures for mans service without such monstrous additionals in nature If they be concluded unlawfull let them argue whether the constant use of Mules be not continuing in a known sin and yet some good men in Scripture rather then they would goe on foot used to ride on them though our Saviour himself accepted of a plaine Asse for his own Saddle § 33. These Horims were at last conquered and exâ—irpated by the Edomites who succeeded them and dwelt in their stead The civill government of the land of Edom was sometimes Ducall sometimes Regall Moses reckoning up eleven Edomite Dukes leaveth it doubtfull whether they were successively one after another or went all a brest as living at the same time which is most probable and so the land divided into Eleven Dukedomes This is most certain that eight severall Kings reigned in Edom one after another and all before there reigned any King over the children of Israel Thus the wicked as they have their portion in this world so they quickly come to full age to possess the same whilest Gods children are long children long kept in nonage and brought up in the School of affliction Now it is recorded in Scripture that every Edomite King had successively a severall city of his royall residence namely Kings Parentage Royall-city Bela The son of â—eor Dimhabah Iobab The son of Zerah Bozrah Husham of the land of Temani Teman Hadad The son of Bedad Avith Samlaâ— Â Masrâ—kah Shaut  Râ—hoboth by the river Baal-banan The son of Achbor  Hadaâ— Â Pan. It is plain those Kings were not by succession and probably they were not by election but onely by strength and power as they could make their parties according to Isaacs prediction By thy sword shalt thou live Now this their frequent removall of their royal City was politickly done 1 To declare the fulnes and freedome of their power and pleasure that they were not confined to follow the footsteps of their predecessours 2 To disperse and communicate civility and courtship into all the parts of their kingdome 3 To honour and adorne the place of their birth for probably their native was their royall city 4 To cut off from one place the occasion of
speed forth-right then the swiftest retrograde Cancer § 15. From the Red-sea they advanced to the wilderness of Sin For although the wilderness of Paran passeth for the genericall name of this whole desert yet it was subdivided into many petite wildernesses namely those of Shur Eham Sin Kadesh c. § 16. In the wilderness of Sin the Israelites fell a murmuring for food Here over night God gave them Quailes light supper-meat and easie of digestion being onely exceedings or a feast for a meale and next morning their ordinary or constant fare was delivered out unto them Manna rained from heaven Some conceive it so called from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Chaldee What or rather who from the question made by them at the first sight thereof But how came the Israelites newly come out of Egypt to speake the Chaldee language Egypt and Babylon the one the house of bondage the other the land of captivity though meeting in mischief against the children of God being in time and place far asunder Rather in Hebrew it signifieth a portion being their daily allowance or else food made ready prepared for them without their labour or industry It was no fragments of frankincense called Manna by Dioscorides and Galen no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or honey-dew nor any such mimicall drug being not food but physick called Manna at this day by the Apothecaries but a substance so solid that it would endure grinding and pounding in Mill and Mortar yet so friable that it melted at the rising of the Sun It fell six days and not on the seventh observed and inforced by some for the antiquity and morality of the Sabbath this happening before the giving of the fourth Commandement on mount Sinai § 17. Dim are their eyes who see not Christ typified therein Given freely of Gods goodness without any work or merit of man in a miraculous manner at first unknown what it was or whence it came for who shall declare his generation Equally belonging to all rich and poor sufficient for all white in colour so clear his innocence pleasant like honey so sweet are his benefits O taste and see that the Lord is good beaten and broken before eaten Christ on the Cross given onely in the wilderness ceasing as soon as they came into the land of promise as Sacraments shall expire when we enjoy the substance in heaven § 18. Hence they removed to Rephidim and there fall a murmuring for water Moses at Gods commandement smites the rock and water gushed forth Saint Paul addeth and the Rock followed them that is by a Metonymie the water issuing thence trailed after them in all their removealls In what state did the Israelites march having a pillar of fire before to usher and a stream of water their train-bearer behind them Both bad masters but then their good servants This latter though little observed was one cause of the long lingering of the Israelites in the wilderness the pillar conducting them such by-ways in levels or declivity of vales in that mountainous countrey where the water had a conveniency to be derived after them How many miles doth the artificiall new river make betwixt Ware and London finding out flats to expedite the passage thereof Indeed God could as easily have made this rock-water climbe and clamber mountains as lacquey at the heels of the Israelites though the one was but beside the other quite against nature but he would not causelesly multiply miracle on miracle How the water of this rock was afterwards suspended and another at Cadesh made successour in the room thereof shall in due time God willing be observed Rephidim by this ill accident of the peoples murmuring got no good but two new names Massah and Meribah temptation and chiding § 19. Here the children of Israel were in war incountred by the Amalekites whose countrey lay hereabouts A base barren land yet too good for the owners thereof living not so much on their own as on incursions into their neighbouring countries Descended from Timnah concubine to Eliphaz Esau's eldest son the dregs of whose malice against Iacob and his posterity were setled in this nation Whilest Ioshua in the valley undertook them in a pitched field Moses in the mount of Horeb assaulted and battered the gates of heaven with his importunate prayers With the rising or falling of whose hands rose or fell the courage and success of the Israelites till at last supported by Aaron and Hur they procure a finall conquest This Amalek was the first of the nations that opposed Israel and therefore just it was that on him first opening the matrix of malice as on the eldest son of Satan a curse should be entailed and his heires for ever God enjoining his people a truceless war to the utter extirpation of the Amalekites § 20. Hence forward we never meet an Amalekite in Scripture but ever doing mischief Either stealing as when they plundered Ziglag carrying away the women and children thereof captive or lying as the messenger that told the tidings of the manner of Saul's death or craftily plotting murder as Haman designing the destruction of the Jewish nation or cruelly performing it as Agag the barbarous and bloudy King of the Amalekites Now these Amalekites after this their first defeat by Ioshua were never after able alone to wage war with Israel but listed themselves as Auxiliaries with others Thus under King Eglon they joined with Moab and Ammon united themselves to Sisera against Barak confederated with Midian against Gideon and after the death of Tola combined with the Sidonians against Israel These Adjectives onely appearing in conjunction and composition with the enemies of Gods people Yea it is observable that the Israelites never ingaged against Amalek in set-fight but constantly came off conquerours as if the vigour and virtue of Moses his upheld hands and the rod therein had continued to all posterity Thus besides the victories gotten by Ehud Barak and Gideon Saul smote Amalek when contrary to Gods command he spared the King and choicest spoile thereof David surprised them and regained his captives and the Tribe of Simeon made a succesfull expedition against them to mount Seir in the days of Hezekiah § 21. We must not forget â—hat mount Horeb whereon Moses did pray was the place nigh which formerly he fed the flocks of Iethro his father-in-law It is called in Scripture the mountain of God either because exceeding high and by an Hebraisme all things eminent in their kind are given to God as the Cedars of God that is very tall and lofty Cedars or because God there miraculously manifested himself in the bush that burned and consumed not Some hundred years after Elijah living in a cave of this mountain heard the Lord passing by neither in fire earth-quake or wind but in a
two Barnes for her provision However I dare boldly say that though Sicily was the nearer Egypt was the bigger and better Barn and yeelded greatest store of corn in time of scarcity § 4. Flax also was a stable commodity of Egypt much whereof at this day is imported and used in England Of this the finest linen in the world was woven The Harlot could tell the silly young man she sought to inveigle I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry with carved works and fine linen of Egypt as commonly the worst of women get the best of wares to please their luxury As for the making of this linen cloth it will hardly be beleeved what Pomponius Mela hath reported that the ancient Egyptians used to have their men keep home and spin while their women managed their greater businesses abroad But surely where the man puts his hand to the spindle and the woman to the plough there the whole family will be ill clad and worse fed § 5. Horses of the best kind were very plentifull in Egypt Those were a prohibited commodity forbidden by Gods law to be brought by great numbers into Israel whose King was charged Not to multiply horses to himself nor to cause the people to return into Egypt partly lest whilest they went thither to course horses they should change religions and fall into love with Egyptian Idolatry partly lest they should place too much confidence in the legs of horses or arme of flesh whom God would have immediately to depend on his own protection § 6. Paper most usefull for intercourse anciently grew in Egypt alone being a sedgy weed on the rivers side which they divided into thin flakes whereinto it naturally parteth then laying them on a table and moistening them with the glutinous water of the River they pressed them together and so dried them in the Sun God foretelling his punishments on Egypt threatneth that The paper reeds of the brooks by the mouth of the brooks and every thing sown by the brooks shall wither be driven away and be no more § 7. Mummy must not be forgotten being mans flesh at the first embalmed for forty days together and afterward for many years buried in that hot and sandy Countrey Yet all art cannot finally avoid the curse pronounced on mankind Dust thou art and to dust thou must return so that if left alone these corpses of themselves moulder to ashes Oâ—herwise such cost and curiosity used for their longer preservation accidentally occasioneth their speedier destruction such bodies being taken up out of their graves bought and brought into forein Countreys for medicinall uses What is there such a dearth of drugs such a famine of Physick in nature that as in the siege of Samaria one man must feed on another However whilest some squeamish stomacks make faces to feed on the dead perhaps their hard hearts at the same time Eate up the living as if they were dead either by fraudulent contracts or forcible oppressions § 8. But these grand commodities of Egypt were also allaied with some great inconveniencies many noxious and venimous creatures swarming therein The Prophet called it the land from whence come the young and old Lion the Viper and the Viper and the fiery-flying Serpent This though mystically meant of the Kings of Egypt their Lion-like antipathy and cruelty to Israel styled also Serpents for their craft flying for the swift marching of their Armies winged on horse-backs fiery for the fierceness and heat of their fury yet was it also literally true of plenty of such beasts in Egypt where that moist and hot Countrey was both the pregnant mother to breed and tender nurse to feed them in great abundance Especially in the western deserts towards Cyrene an hideous and dismall place and therefore the Author of the book of Tobit fitted it with a meet inhabitant banishing thither and binding there Asmodeus the evill spirit in the utmost parts of Egypt § 9. Rain is very rare in this land and that onely in winter the windows of heaven here having no casements and the Egyptians supplying the want of rain by making gutters out of the river of Nilus into all their grounds and gardens God therefore in this respect preferreth the land of Canaan before this Countrey For the land saith he whither thou goest to possess it is not as the land of Egypt from whence ye came where thou sowedst thy seed and watered it with thy feet as a garden of Herbs But the land whither thou goest to possess it is a land of mountains and valleys and drinketh water of the rain of heaven Surely as it is more honour to receive a boon immediately from the hand of a Prince then in an indirect line from him by his servants so more peculiar was the favour of God to the Iews and the familiarity of the Iews with God having their land watered from heaven whilest the Egyptians looked not upward as men but downwards as beasts on that moisture which constantly procured the fruitfulness of their Countrey But this pleased them best as carnall souls had rather be at a certainty of plenty from Nature then at an uncertainty thereof even from the God of Nature himself However they are much mistaken who have confidently reported that it never raineth in Egypt seeing I have been informed the contrary by a right worshipfull Person and well accomplished traveller a great Patron and bountifull promoter of my present studies an eye-witness of much and violent rain at Grand-Cairo in Egypt but such as presaged a great mortality which ensued not long after § 10. The River of Nile is the happy Genius of the Egyptian soil called in Scripture Nachal Mitzraim or the river of Egypt as a most learned Authour hath observed Yea from this Nachal he clearly derived the name of Nilus with excellent proportion For as from Bahal Bââl Beel Bel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is deduced so  Nachal Nââl Neel Neil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  And to make the matter more plain Pomponius Mela reporteth that the fountain of Nilus is called Nachul by the Ethiopians A river wherein nature hath observed an even tenour of admirableness so that the birth the life and the death thereof I mean the fountain flowing and fall of the river are equally composed of a concatenation of wonders 1 Fountain The particular place thereof being never as yet known certainly So that as the Tares in the Gospell were beheld not when sown but when grown Nilus appears even at the first in a full stream and fair chanell 2 Flowing which constantly beginneth with the rising Sun on the seventeenth of Iune swelling by degrees untill it mount sometimes twenty four Cubits and that the uttermost for anciently sixteen was the highest it attained unto and answerable to the increase of this river is the plenty of scarcity of the following year Nor
eminent of his name A great Lord no doubt who could qualifie four hundred and fifty Prophets for his Chaplains He was served with bowing of the knee and his Priests in a religious frenzie used to cut themselves with knives and lancers till the bloud gushed out upon them Oh◠how doe some go down hill with difficulty and take pains to the place of eternal Pain In the interim betwixt the Judges Baalisme was first brought into Israel which in the days of Samuel was publickly abandoned by the people Afterwards the worship of Baal ebbed and flowed variously as followeth In Israel 1 Iezebel daughter to Eth-baal King of the Zidonians wife to Ahab brought in Baal as part of her portion into Samaria 2 Eliah gave his worship a mortall wound when killing four hundred and fifty of his Prophets at mount Carmel 3. Iezebel before Ahabs death recruited the number of Baals Prophets to about four hundred and set up his service again 4 Ichoram her son best of all the bad Kings put away the image of Baal which Ahab had made 5 Iehu so totally and finally routed Baal and his Priests that they never after rallied up their forces in Israeal In Iudah 1 Athaliath Iezebels daughter publickly planted the service of Baal in Ierusalem and bestowed on him all the dedicate things of the House of the Lord. 2 Iehoiada rooted it out when he slew Mattan Baals Priest before the Alter 3 Ahaz set up bank-rupt Baal with a new stock and made molten images for his service 4 Hezekiah is presumed to have destroyed Baal amongst the rest of the images which he brake in pieces 5 Manasseh reared up Altars for Baal and made a grove for him in imitation of Ahab 6 Iosiah made an utter abolition of Baal out of the land Then was fully acomplished what God by his Prophet had foretold I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth and they shall no more be remembred by their name § 24. Some will aske that seeing Baal is made a Man by Eliah He is a God pursuing his enemies which is no womans work how comes Saint Paul to make him female Rom. 11. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where the feminine article speaks him or her rather of the weaker sex It is answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Image or something equivalent is understood If this satisfie not even Let Baal plead for himself and make his own vindication for the monstrosity of an Hermaphrodite Baal-Berith and Baal-meon § 25. I take these to be the same with Baal onely distinguished by the place wherein they were worshipped Thus the Lady of Lauretta Hall and Walsingham are not severall persons but the same adored in sundry Shrines Baal-Berith perchance because first worshipped in Berithus a City in Phoenicia had a Temple in or near Shechem whence Abimelech took seventy pieces of silver to raise his Army Baal-meon was placed in the Tribe of Reuben Baal-peor § 26. Taking his name from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to lay open Deus apertionis an Idol which shewed all that Adam covered with fig-leaves The Fathers make him to be the beastly God Priapus No wonder then if grave Cato went off from the stage at the Plays presented to the honour of the God Bacchus accounting such scurrility inconsistent with his severity seeing none could contentedly behold the image of Baal-peor the Idol of Moab and Midian but first must sacrifice all his modesty unto it And we may be well assured where the Idol was naked the Idolaters were not covered so that both sexes assumed much licentiousness in their feasts and merry meetings as appears by the impudency of Cozbi and Zimri § 27. One thing I much admire at in the worship of Baal-peor that such as adored him as the Psalmist observeth did eat the sacrifices of the dead Me thinkes each morsell they put into their mouths should mar their mirth and the very mention of the Dead make them all amort Their warm and wanton embraces of living bodies ill agreed with their offerings Diis manibius to gashly Ghosts This inclines me to that learned mans opinion that by sacrifices to the dead are intended no Inferiae or obsequies to the departed but onely meer offerings to the Idol a liveless dull dead and inanimate thing in opposition whereunto God so often in Scripture is styled the living Lord. Bel. § 28. The same say some with Baal onely he was a Phenician this a Babylonish Deity This Bel was the grand confounder of so many barnes flocks and vineyards spending daily twelve measures of fine flowre forty sheep and six great pots of wine Surely he deserved to forfeit his large fare by the Apostles rule He that will not work let him not eat finding no activity in this Idol proportionable to his voracious appetite Indeed his Priests and their famiy are said to make riddance of all those victuals and although the whole story may be challenged to be Apocrypha yet so much thereof as relateth to Bels devouring belly so beleeved by a vulgar errour seems framed in some analogy to Canonicall truth witness the threatning of God in the Prophet And I will punish Bel in Bablyon and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up Baal-Zebub § 29. That is the Lord of flies but whether so called from bringing or banishing of flies from causing or chasing them away is not decided Indeed the Iews account it one of their constant miracles in their Temple that whereas naturally as where the carcase is thither will the Eagles resort so flies swarme where sacrifices are slain yet not any of such troublesome insects infected their Altar whilest plenty thereof about the sacrifices of Baal-zebub Of this Idol formerly in Dan here I onely enter my dissent from their opinion who conceive Baal-zebub a nick-name given in derision to the God of Ekron Surely sick men speake seriously and Ahaziah his fall had not so far crazed his intellectuals calling him Baal-zebub in his Commission to his messengers as to send a mock by their mouth to that God from whom he begged a boon and hoped to have a favorable answer At which time those messengers were remanded by Elijah and soon after the two Captains with their fifties sent to attach him burnt with fire from heaven whilest the third saved himself with submissive language a Petition working more then a Mandamus on the spirit of the Prophet Bel-zebub or God of flies passeth in the Testament for the Prince of Devils Indeed as flies have their felicity in inflaming of raw sores so the Devill delights in heightning each pimple into a scab scab into a boyle boyle into an ulcer ulcer into a fistula endevouring to improve our smallest sins by his temptations into unpardonableness if Gods mercy prevent not his malice
of Galilee Philol. I admire much at your inconstancy In your Map of Palestine some seven years since prefixed to your Holy War you set Iabesh-Gilead north of the river Iabbok in the Tribe of Manasseh which now you have translated many miles southward into this Tribe It seems you need no other to confute you but your self Aleth I have seen mine error and you see my retractation thereof One day teacheth another To live and not to learn is to loiter and not to live Confessions of our former mistakes are the honourable Trophies of our conquest over our own ignorance The main reason why Iabesh-Gilead could not be so far north is this because Saul marched from Bezek in the Tribe of Ephraim with an army of foot in an afternoon and a night over Iordan unto this City and came hither in the morning-watch Now though we allow that zeal to their brethren in danger spurred on the souldiers and did horse those foot in point of speed yet they almost needed wings in so short a time to goe so long a journey fifty miles at least besides the crossing of two great rivers Iordan and Iabbok and to come thither so early Wherefore with master More we have placed Iabesh-Gilead south of Iabbok some thirty miles from Bezek having the concurrence of other Authors for the position thereof â—hilol You have found a nest of Cities in the Apocrypha and place them all in this Tribe Whereas two of them namely Bozra and Betzer are by learned Tremellius found to be the one in Edom the other in Reuben many miles from the Tribe of Gad. Aleth I deny not but two Cities of the foresaid names are presented in those Countreys but could not be the same with these Cities which Maccabeus relieved It is expresly recorded once and again for the more certainty thereof that these places were in the land of Gilead And that any part of Edom or Reuben was ever reputed to belong to the land of Gilead is as I conceive an opinion unpresidented in any good author and unavouchable by any strong argmâ—nts CHAP. IV. Objections concerning Manasseh beyond Jordan answered Philol. YOu have made the countrey of Manasseh beyond Iordan too large in the dimensions thereof for it being the portion but of half a Tribe is according to your scale of miles little less in proportion then the Countrey which other entire Tribes did possess Aleth I confess the truth of what you alledge which is no whit strange in it self What more common then to call a Twin half a man Yet I doubt not but you have seen such half-men as proper persons as any single-born And the moiety of this Tribe possessed as much ground as most other whole Tribes in Israel This may appear by the number of Cities no fewer then threescore contained therein Yet under favour I conceive that the land east of Iordan was not altogether so civilized but more wilde and warlike then the countrey west thereof Especially this of Manasseh subject to hostile incursions from the north and east and therefore their portion was cut out in the largest size that what they wanted in the quietness they might have in the quanâ—ity of their possessions Philol. You make Chorazin within two miles of Capernaum whereas Mr. More in his Maps placeth it on the west side of the sea of Galilee hard by Bethsaida in my minde with more probability of truth For our Saviour saith Woe be to thee Chorazin woe be unto thee Bethsaida coupling them together in his commination who probably would have joined Capernaum and Chorazin together for the vicinity both of their profaneness and place had they been seated so near together as they are presented in your description Aleth Your argument concludes nothing at all Have you not often seen malefactours manacled together whose places of birth and breeding were farthest asunder So might it be with Chorazin and Bethsaida whilest Capernaum is singled out and set solely by it self in our Saviours threatning as a signall offender most eminent for its ingratitude As for our placing of Chorazin we have therein observed the instructions of Saint Hierome and other good Authours Philol. You make the brook Cherith in this Tribe without rendering any reason why you place it here which Adrichomius no doubt on good ground appointeth to be on the west side of Iordan in the Tribe of Ephraim Aleth The brook is but once mentioned in Scripture and therefore we want exact instructions for the position thereof Yea generally the Maps of Palestine take no notice of this brook As if it had been so dried up with the long drought in the days of Eliah that the channell thereof did not afterwards appear But to the point Two things are observable in Scripture concerning the postâ—re of this Cherith First that Eliah after his message done to Ahab in Samaria was commanded to turn himself Eastward Secondly that the brook Cherith whither he was sent is said to be before Iordan the Hebrew hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Tremellius rendereth it è regione Iordanis All which put together clearly speaketh it to have been â—ast of Samaria and on the other side of Iordan where judicious Mr. More in his Map hath placed it whom I conceive my self to follow on good reason CHAP. V. Objections concerning Naphtali answered Philol. YOu make all the Tribe of Naphtali west and on this side the River of Iordan whereas that passage foretold by the Prophet and applied by the Evangelist describes it on the other side The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali by the way of the sea beyond Iordan Galilee of the Gentiles The particle beyond is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek which makes it plain that Naphtali lay on the east side of Iordan Aleth The strength of your objection consists in the words beyond Iordan which are variously rendered by learned men By Tremellius in Isaiah secundum Iordanem by the same Author in Matthew transitus Iordan by Beza secus Iordanem The dicision of the difficulty depends on the proper sense of the preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—nebher in Hebrew which barely imports no more then over but which way whether Cis or Trans whether on this side or beyond is to be expounded by the context This flexible nature and promiscuous sense of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gnebher is observed by Tremellius and others so that the text alledged by you renders no more then the land of Naphtali over Iordan without specifying any side of the river Secondly we answer that those words beyond Iordan are so indifferently placed in the Prophet that they may equally be referred to what followeth Galilee of the Gentiles part of which Galilee we have formerly described to lie east of Iordan and therein the City Chorazin wherein our Saviour so frequently conversed Philol. You make two fountains the one Ior the other Dan
as the father and mother of the River Iordan a fancy I fear rather pretty them solid bearing too much affinity with the derivation of the River Dourdan in France from the confluence of the two streams Dour and Dan whilest such a composition hath more of Latine then Hebrew therein Not to say that Iosephus is wholly silent hereof I suspect it for a modern conceit unavouchable by ancient Authors and prefer his opinion as most probable who deduceth Iordan from the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iarad to descend because it comes down with a powder and at set times overflowes all his bankes Aleth The negative argument from Iosephus is of small validity but to attest the antiquity of Iordans descent according to our description grudge not to read the following testimony of Philostorgius both because he is an ancient Author living in the fifth Century after Christ and his book at this day not extant save that some parcells of his are recited by Ioannes Antiochenus out of whose Manuscript not yet printed the following words are transcribed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In this Countrey of Paneas one of the fountains of Iordan is begotten there being two of them Dan so called even to this day from the ancient name thereof As for the other which is named for a certain hill of the same mountain sendeth it forth distant from the former about an hundred and sixty furlongs from either of which flows a rivolet the one termed Ioâ—ates the other Danites which flowing by the mountains to the foot of the plain thence forthwith compleate one great River Iordan in the same mingling both their names and streams See here an excellent evidence of the extraction of Iordan which cannot be condemned for a modern invention However if any will deduce Iordans name from a third fountain that Hebrew word aforesaid let him herein contentedly embrace his own opinion Philol. If you stick so stedfastly to the authority of Philostoâ—gius why dissent you from him in the distance between those two fountains which â—e makes an hundred and sixty furlongs that is twenty miles if eight furlongs make a mile and the interstitium in your Map amounts not fully to half so much Aleth Some mistake may justly be suspected in Philostorgius his number because for exceeding the proportion in other Authours I formerly acquainted you with that arbitrating power I have assumed I hope not unjustly to reconcile such differences in Authors by pitching on a middle number betwixt their extremities and here have made use of the same power accordingly Philol. What mean you by these eight nameless buildings surrounding the City of Cesarea Philippi Aleth They are set there to signifie the townes of Cesarea Philippi mentioned by the Evangelist whereabouts Saint Peter gave that eminent testimony of the Deity of our Saviour Philol. At Dan in this Tribe alià s Leshem and Cesarea Philippi you erect one of Ieroboam his Calves whereas Brocard who exactly surveyed Palestine in his Iournall gives us to understand that half a league from Bethel where one of the Calves were set up stood a mountain called Dan opposite thereunto where the other Calfe was erected Aleth His authority cannot countervaile Saint Hieromes Benjamin in Itinerario and others yea Truth it self which are on our side and against his opinion For Ieroboam was too good an husband to lavish both his Calves in one place which he rather would scatter in distant Cities the better to spread Idolatry in his kingdome Besides consider the end pretended at their erection namely to spare the peoples pains It is too much for you to goe up to Ierusalem that these Calves should be as it were Chappels of ease to save his subjects a tedious journey Now if both his Calves were penn'd up in a stall near Bethel as Brocard would have it little ease thereby was given to the northern Tribes and their journey not considerably shortned Therefore the other Calfe was set up at Dan in Naphtali as we have described it Philol. All that you have said doth not satisfie me that this Dan was the place where the Calfe was worshipped For soon after Ieroboams death in the reign of Baasha this Dan you speak of was smitten by Benhadad King of Syria This probably would have extinguished Calfe-worship if set up in that place which notwithstanding continued many hundred years after in the kingdome of Israel Aleth You might argue on the same grounds that the other Calfe was not erected in Bethel seeing even in the life of Ieroboam Abijah King of Iudah took from him Bethel with the towns thereof Observable herein is divine Justice punishing both those idolatrous places by the sword of their enemies so soon after the Calves were set up in them But we may be confident the Kings of Israel recovered both Dan and Bethel again and restored them to their former impious uses Philol. In the Worthies of Naphtali you account on Hiram Solomons Architect in building the Temple as a Naphtalite by the mothers side And yet in the description of Dan you make him a Danite by his female extraction Now what saith Nicodemus Can a man enter the second time into his mothers wombe Yea can he be born as you would have it twice though not of the same of severall women Aleth This your objection is not brought against my description but against the very letter of the Scripture that affirmeth the same 1 KING 7. 14. He was a widows son of the Tribe of Naphtali and his Father was a man of Tyre 2 CHRON. 2. 14. The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre Now although I am not ingaged to meddle with the solution of this difficulty yet under favour I conceive the same properly to depend on an observation in Chorography May you be pleased to remember that Dan had a parcell of his portion acquired by conquest near the fountains of Iordan where Leshem Laish or Dan was placed which small territory lay above an hundred miles from the main body of that Tribe surrounded about with the Tribe of Naphtali as appeareth in our description thereof Now I suppose Hiram whose paternall extraction from Tyre is confessed on all hands was descended a Danite by his mother and called a Naphtalite also by his mothers side because of her habitation though in Dans small Countrey aforesaid lying in the land allotted to Naphtali Philol. You term it a most erroneous opinion in such who conceive the Galileans more drossie Iews then the rest herein contradicting your self having formerly affirmed that they were courser and less refined Iews Aleth Give me leave to distinguish between Iews courser in Religion and courser in Extraction The former we confess that the Galileans were less pure in Gods service as probably descended from the remnant of the ten Tribes Yet were they most truly the lost
surrounded on all sides with Iudah whereas in your Map the northern side thereof is all along fairly flanked with the Tribe of Don. Aleth You may remember what we so lately proved that Dan's portion primitively pertained to Iudah and was a canton cut out thereof In which sense according to Scripture Simeons inheritance was within the children of Iudah's and originally encompassed therewith Philol. Why call you this Tribe a jagged remnant being as whole a cloth as the rest and though not so great as entire as the other Tribes I am not sensible by this your Map of any notorious dispersedness of the Simeonites habitations Aleth Undoubtedly Iudah his portion made many incisures and larcinations into the Tribe of Simeon hindering the entireness thereof Particularly Askelon and Gaza first given to once possessed by Iudah though regained by the Philistines were continued and tyed by some narrow labell of land to the main of Iudah at leastwise had a Church-path as I may terme it a passage to the Temple without going through any part of Simeon But wanting certain instructions how to contrive and carry on such indented conveyances and not willing to confine the Reader to our conjecturall fancies we have left him to his liberty presenting Simeon entire wherein he may frame such incursions of Iudah as comply best with his own opinion Philol. You make this Tribe to range some miles south of Beer-sheba whereas that place passeth currant for the utmost border of the Countrey What more common in Scripture then from Dan to Beer-sheba that is from the north to the south of the land of Canaan Aleth It was the utmost eminent City but not absolutely the farthest place in Palestine as neither mentioned amongst the southern boundaries of the land in generall Numb 34. nor with the utmost limits of the Tribe of Iudah Iosh. 15. In ordinary discourse we measure England east and west from Dover to the Mount as the farthest western place of note though Cornwall stretches seven miles beyond it unto the lands end So Beer-sheba was the remotest remarkable City of Canaan where the cloth as I may say ended though the list thereof reached beyond it to the River of Egypt CHAP. XIII Objections against Benjamin answered Philol. VVHy make you Nob a Levite City in Benjamin within the suburbs of Anathoth Seeing Nob is neither named amongst the four Cities bestowed on the Levites in this Tribe Iosh. 21. 17. nor is it any of the eight and forty belonging unto them throughout the whole Countrey of Canaan Aleth That Nob was in this Tribe appears by that caâ—alogue of Cities presented us in Nehemiah which the Benjamites repossessed after their return from Babylon That it was a Levites yea a Priests City appears too plainly by the Massacre therein on them committed We confess it none of the eight and forty originally assigned to the Levites Yet how they in after-ages were capable of supernumerary Cities more then in their first Charter and how the Mortâ—main of the Levites as I may term it was enlarged with new foundations we have lately answered in the objections of Ephraim whither we refer you for further satisfaction Philol. You make the sons of Saul executed on an hill nigh Gibeah of Saul which your judicious friend will have hung up before the Tabernacle in Gibeon observing therein an exemplary piece of divine justice that whereas Saul had ruined the Tabernacle at Nob his sons were hung up before the same in Gibeon Aleth Not to be a Plaintise against him but a Defendant of my self I conceive him mistaken in confounding Gibeah of Saul with Gibeon distinct Cities as may appear by their severall owners and actions therein performed GIBEON GIBEAH An ancient City of the Hivites whose inhabitants deceived the Israelites given to the Levites in the Tribe of Benjamin where the Tabernacle was set up in the time of Solomon A City in Benjamin hard by Iâ—rusalem distinct from the former whose inhabitants were meer Benjamites and by their lust abused the Levites Concubine to death for which their Tribe was almost extirpated it was afterwards called Gibeah of Saul from his birth and frequent residence therein Now the text expresly saith that the Gibeonites did hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul that is in Sauls native place and Court where he had issued out his cruell edicts for the slaughter of the Gibeonites Philol. But that expression they hanged them in the hill before the Lord imports the same performed in some religious place probably in the prospect or view of the Tabernacle Aleth Before the Lord implies no more then what in the foregoing verse was termed unto the Lord that is in a sacred manner not out of private revenge but in an holy zeal tendering the parties executed an oblation to divine justice and so is interpreted by the Expositors thereon Philol. In your particular Map of Benjamin Iordan runs almost directly south the whole course of whose channell visibly bendeth eastward in your Map generall of Palestine Aleth That generall Map though first placed was last perfected wherein we have amended three mistakes as escaped in our particular descriptions One that wherein you instance another 〈◊〉 Reâ—â—en formerly forgottâ—n to be confessed making that Tribe a little longer from north to south then it is represented in our particular description thereof My care shall be God willing in the second edition to conforme those particular Maps according to these rectisiâ—ations in the generall description CHAP. XIV Objections against Judah answered Philol. WOuld not it affright one to see a dead man walk And will not he in like manner be amazed to see the Dead-sea moving Why have you made the surface of the waters thereof waving as if like other seas it were acted with any tyâ—e which all Authors avouch and your self confesseth to be a standing stinking lake Thinkâ— not to plead that such waving is the impression of the winde thereupon seeing Tacitus affirmes of this sea Neque vento impellitur it is such a drone it will neither goe of it self nor yet be driven of the winde Aleth I will not score it on the account of the Graver that it is onely lascivia or ludicrum coeli the over-activity of his hand And in such cases the flourishings of the Scrivener are no essentiall part of the Bond but behold Mercators and other Authors Maps and you shall finde more motion therein then is here by us expressed The most melancholy body of moisture especially of so great extent is necessarily subject to such simpering in windy weather as inseparable from the liquidity thereof Philol. Why set you Zeboim most northernly of all the five Cities in the Dead-sea in the place where Sodome is situated in all other descriptions Aleth The placing of them is not much materiall whether longwise all in a File as Mr. More sets them
or in two Rankes two and two as they are ordered by Mercator Skuls in a charnel-house never justle for the upper place and as sensless is the contention betwixt these dead Cities which shall stand first whose foundations long since were doubly destroyed with fire and water But the sole motive of my placing Zeboim most northern of these four Cities is because I finde the valley of Zeboim in the Tribe of Benjamin which probably lay near the influx of Iordan into the Dead-sea denominated from the vicinity of Zeboim thereabouts Philol. The Hebrew Orthography confutes your conceit For Zeboim by you last alledged is spelled with different letters from the City which was burnt with fire from heaven Aleth I confess a threefold variation in the writing of this name though all the same in effect 1 Gen. 14. 2. and so also Deut. 29. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 1 Sam. 13. 18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3 Hoseah 11. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I shall set thee at Zeboim c. Here to mollifie the word the Gutturall is either altered or wholly omitted neither amounting to make it a new word How variously are the names of the same English towns spoken and spelled as Lester Leicester Legeocester Legecester yet the same word dressed in severall spellings and pronunciations Philol. Why make you Hebâ—on being a noted City of the Priests and City of Refuge different from all the rest onely with a single circle about it Aleth Because the fields and villages thereof were none of the Priests but were given to Caleb the son of Iephunneh for his possession Philol. If so then Hebron ought not to have had any circle at all about it being a bare City of the Priests without any suburbs belonging thereunto Aleth The Priests in Hebron had and had not suburbs pertaining thereunto according to the severall acception of suburbs If by them you onely understand aedificia suburbana buildings though without the City walls contiguous thereunto these no doubt belonged to the Priests who had Hebron with her suburbs otherwise if you extend them to ager suburbanus the fields surrounding the City these related to Caleb as the proper owner thereof Philol. You might well have afforded conjecturall flags to most of the Cities in Iudah going generally by guess in your placing of them and differing from all other authors therein Aleth The Learned in Anatomy have informed me that veins are alike in their trunks but not in their branches so that although the great Channels of bloud run alike in all bodies yet the smaller veines as is most visible in their divaâ—ication on the back of the hand disperse themselves diversly in divers persons The like is confessed in all Maps of Iudah wherein the grand Cities Hebron Debir Bethlehem c. have their certain position agreed on by most Authors whilest their inferiour places and no Tribe afforded more obscure Cities but once named in Scripture are subject to much variety according to the fancies of Authors Wherein we hope we have observed as much as might be these short and small directions we finde in Scripture Philol. But you are not constant to your self in the location of those lesser places as appears by some diversity of their distances both amongst themselves and from Ierusalem in the particular description of Iudah and in the generall Map of Palestine Aleth I confess the same who having discovered some errors in the particular Map reformed the same in the Map-generall Which may be beheld in this point as a new Edition of the former corrected and amended Request I therefore the Reader in such small differences to rely rather on the credit of the Map-generall Philol. You once placed Hepher a royall City in Manasseh on this side Iordan which since you have removed into Iudah without giving any account of the alteration Aleth Some probability perswaded us to our former opinion Cheifly because Hepher is mentioned in Ioshua's list next to Tapuah which is known to be in Manasseh But since finding also a Tapuah in Iudah and a land of Hepher near Sochoh a place also in Iudah it hath staggered our judgment and caused us to remove Hepher into Iudah with a flag of uncertaintie thereon all Authors finding an Ignoramus for the exact position thereof Philol. The land of Goshen is sufficiently known to be in Egypt And how stragleth of Countrey of Goshen into this Tribe Aleth You know that besides this England wherein we live there is an Anglia in Denmark whence our Ancestors are said to have come and there is England beyond Wales whither some of our nation removed Some such occasion to us unknown might give the name of Goshen to a petty tract of ground in Iudah Or else it might be so called from some assimilation in the fruitfulness thereof Wonder not at a Goshen in Egypt and another in Iudah when we finde two Ziphs two Zenoahs two Socohs c. As two Kirbies market-townes in Westmorland within the compass of this Tribe Philol. Conceive you that any wildernesses wherewith Iudah abounded were places of any pleasant habitation Aleth I am confident thereof For instance Engedi though a Wilderness was so delicious a place that the Spouse is compared to a cluster of Camphire in the Vineyards of Engedi Besides it had the conveniency of Palmtrees therefore in Scripture called Hazazon-Tamar which is Engedi Tamar being in Hebrew a Palme Nor can I omit the testimony of Pliny as the best comment herein in Gods word who speaking of people living on the west of the Dead-sea amongst these saith he is the town ENGADDA Second to Ierusalem in fruitfulness and WOODS OF PALME-TREES but now become another heap of Ashes Philol. I finde indeed a City and wilderness of Maon in this Tribe but were the dwellers therein those same Maonites which are said Iudg. 10. 12. with the Zidonians and Amalekites to have oppressed Israel Aleth O no. I take these tyrant Maonites to have been a fierce and forein Nation Saint Hierom de locis Hebraicis conceives Maon to be the Countrey of Moab The vulgar Latine translates it Canaanites because Maonites signifieth inhabitants and the Canaanites we know were the ancient and originall dwellers in the land whose Relicks left in the land contrary to Gods command were constant thornes in the sides of the Israelites But I conceive rather with learned Cajetan on this place these Maonites were a distinct neighbouring nation whose certain habitation is to us unknown Philol. Saul when marching against the Amalekites is said to have numbred the people being two hundred and ten thousand in Telaim which by the coast of the Countrey seems south in or near Iudah Yet no such place appears in your Map thereof Aleth The Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is variously interpreted the Rabbins render it appellatively in Lambes affirming the Saul did not
PErusing the nine last Chapters of Ezekiels prophesie invited thereunto with the mention of many places in Palestine whilest I hoped to find and feel a Solid body I onely grasped the flitting aire or rather a meer spirit I mean in stead of a literall sense I found the Canaan by him described no Geography but Ouranography no earthly truth but mysticall prediction Now his Description will appear irreconcileable with a literall interpretation no Topicall but a bare Typicall relation if the particular location of the Tribes therein be seriously considered § 3. Adde hereunto the miraculous fruit unfading and new every moneth which this land produced one leafe whereof was more worth then all the great Grapes Pomegranates and Figs the Spies brought from Canaan as being unfading and soveraign for medicines Now surely such as understand this literally have need of some of those Leaves to cure their distempers therein § 4. It will be objected that this Propheticall Palestine makes frequent mention of Seas Great Sea and East Sea River Ioâ—dan Mountain Gilead besides the land is bounded North South and East with severall places of name and note as Hethlon Zedad Hâ—math c. Now what saith our Saviour A spirit hath not flesh and bones meer visions are of a more rarified and attenuated nature not consisting of such gross and drossie parts and therefore the Prophet seems rather to be taken at his word and his literall relation to be embraced without farther search for a mysticall meaning therein § 5. It is answered Omnis visio fundatur in historia the most refined vision hath some mixture of and analogie with an historicall truth As in a Web the stamen or Warp it fast fixed through which the Woofe is cast or woven â—o there re certain standards in all visions being the materiall and corporall ground-work for a spirituall flourish or descant to improve it self thereupon More particularly because so many places of Palestine are named in this vision yea seeing the body thereof is confoâ—med to an unlike likeliness as I may terme it of the earthly Canaan it intimaâ—es that the Iewish nation shall have more then a single share in the accomplishment of this Prophesie and have their happiness highly concerned in the performaâ—ce thereof § 6. As the Land so the City described by the Prophet is not appliable to the earthly Ierusalem It is said of Christ Thou art fairer then the children of men sure I am this City as presented by the Prophet was fairer finer slicker smoother more exact more uniforme then any fabrick the earth afforded This Triumphant Ierusalem as I may term it was a compleate square of four thousand five hundred reeds with a just Iury of gates three of each side according to the names of the twelve Tribes with most regular suburbs reaching two hundred and fifty reeds every way so terse so trim that not an house started out of its due proportion Whereas the literall Ierusalem built by parcels at severall times on abrupt precipices ranged about with the wals rather for strength then beauty being on the East and South suburbless and without such correspondency either in the number or position of the gates thereof In a word that so exact structure in the Prophet never sprang by art out of earth but was let down by a miracle from heaven to which Saint Iohn alludes in his celestiall Ierusalem § 7. Lastly the Temple as framed by the Prophet is not suitable with Solomons and the very waters rising from under the threshold thereof encreasing by degrees unto an unpassable river doe drown all possibility of a literall sense therein Expect not here I should intermeddle with a particular description of the foresaid Land City and Temple both because they being meerly mysticall are alien from our subject and because I am deterred from so difficult an undertaking by the ensuing computation 1 Moses saith the days of our years are threescore years and ten 2 The Iews made an ordinance that none should read this vision till thirty years old 3 Villalpandus confesseth he studied this Prophesie twenty three years yet understood not the difficulties thereof If life be so short and we must begin so late and study so long on this Prophesie alone without attaining the full understanding thereof high time at the end of those studying years to leave the measuring of this vision and survey the dimensions of our own Graves § 8. To conclude as once our Saviour told Pilate My kingdome is not of this world so the sense of Ezekiels Land City and Temple is not carnall and corporall but mysticall and spirituall Yea God may seem of set purpose to have troubled and perplexed the text imbittering the Nibbles thereof with inextricable difficulties meerly to wean us from the milke of the letter and make us with more appetite seek for stronger meat therein For the main therefore it is generally conceived this vision imports the great inlargement and dilatation of the Church under the Gospell when the Gentiles shall be called to the knowledge of Christ and the Iews also as mainly concerned though not solely intended in this vision brought home to their true Messiah not excluding even those of the ten Tribes from having each one his Childs-portion in the performance of this Prophesie A word or two of whose condition since their captivity CHAP. II. What became of the ten Tribes since their captivity and where probably extant at this day § 1. POlitick was the practice of the Kings of Assyria when conquering a Countrey neither to kill the natives thereof nor to continue them any longer in their own land but to transport them into a far distant Countrey and in exchange planting other colonies in their room For first to kill them besides the cruelty thereof in cold bloud had been an improvident act men amongst them being precious to people their vast dominions which otherwise if empty had been more exposed to the invasion of enemies To continue them in their own land had not been safe who best knowing the advantages thereof would on all occasions practice the recovery of their lost liberty and therefore to prevent farther disputes the subject of the question was taken away and they advisedly disposed of in far distant places Lastly the removing them into other parts and substituting others in their land taught both these plantations an immediate dependence on their Prince having no other plea but his bare pleasure for their present possessions which made them like the Turkish Timarioâ—s more dutifull at home and daring abroad in their undertakings § 2. These reasons moved the Kings of Assyria to transport the Israelites from their native soil Indeed they if any people might term the land their own having a threefold tiâ—â—e thereunto by Donation from God the supreme Proprietary by conquest of the Canaanites the ancient owners by prescription
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
Hebrew it begineth with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ve Ape And yet A frivolous conceit on the similitude of sound of two words of different sense in the Hebrew and Dutch tongues Indeed all the loud threatnings in Scripture may more fitly be termed Lions all the meek promises therein Lambes amongst which this cited out of Leviticus is of especiall note whilest it is to be feared such Iews as found hence their temporall kingdome will prove themselves Apish in their ridiculous comment thereupon § 4. But most learned Divines are of a contrary opinion because totall and finall desolation is in Scripture so frequently denounced against their Countrey and Cities therein The Virgin of Israel is fallen she shall NO MORE rise I will NO MORE pity the inhabitants of the land and out of their enemies hand I will NOT deliver them I will love them NO MORE The land shall fall and NOT rise again I will break this people and this City as a Potters vessell which can NOT be made whole again § 5. As for the Scriptures alleadged by the Iews for their temporall restauration to an illustrious condition in their own countrey they have found their full accomplishment in the return of that nation to their own land from the Captivity in Babylon and therefore farther performance of such promises is not to be expected and accordingly it is resolved in their own best Authors Possessionem primam secundam habituri erant possessio autem tertia non erit illis And if any more fulfilling of those promises remaineth behinde it must be made up in the sprirituall conversion of the Iews in Gods due time to the knowledge of Christ and embracing of the Gospell Some of their own writers affirming that all things which relate to the office of their Messiah whom they expect are heavenly and not corporall § 6. The farther prosecution hereof we leave to those Authors who have written large discourses of this subject Onely we will observe a remarkable difference betwixt a place of Scriputre written in the Old alleadged and applyed in the New Testament Amos 9. 11 12. In that day will I raise up the Tabernacle of David that is fallen and close up the breaches thereof and I will raise up his ruines and I will build it as in the days of old That they may possess the remnant of Edom and of all the heathen which are called by my name saith the Lord that doth this Act. 15. 16 17. After this I will return and I will build again the Tabernacle of David which is fallen down and I will build again the ruines thereof and I will set it up That the residue of men might seek after the Lord and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called saith the Lord who doth all these things Here the Apostle Iames more following the sense then the words of the Prophet as an Expositor rather then Translatour renders the possessing of the remnant of Edom to be by seeking after the Lord by which Analogy we collect that those Topicall promises to the Iews of their conquering and possessing such and such places in and near their own Countrey import onely a spirituall propriety and shall mystically not carnally be accomplished in their sincere conversion to Christ. § 7. More probable therefore it is that the Iews shall not come back to their land but their land shall come back to them I mean those severall places in Europe Asia and Africa wherein they reside shall on their conversion become as comfortable unto them as ever the Land of Canaan was to their Ancestors Forti quaevis terra patria and a contented minde in them shall make any mountain their Olivet river their Iordan field their Carmel forest their Libanus fort their Zion and city their Ierusalem But as for their temporall regaining of their old Countrey in all outward pompe and magnificence even such as are no foes to the Iews welfare but so faâ— friends to their own judgments as not to believe even what they desire till convinced with Scripture or reason account this fancy of the Iews one of the dreams proceeding from the Spirit of slumber wherewith the Apostle affirmeth them to be possessed CHAP. IIII. Of the generall calling of the Jews § 1. BY Iews we understand some left of every Tribe as formerly hath been proved being banished their own Countrey since the death of our Saviour not extending it also as some doe with small probability to the ten Tribes carried captive by Shalmaneâ—er and never since certainly known where existent By calling we intend their reall converting by the word to the knowledge and love of God in Christ. By generall we mean not every individuall Iew whereof some refractary Recusants will ever remain were it but to be foiles to Gods favour in saving the rest but a considerable yea conspicuous number of them And it is a charitable opinion ancient and conformable to Scriptures that in this sense the Iews in Gods due time shall be generally called § 2. Come we now to the places of Scripture alleadged for the proof of this opinion Now as Mesha King of Moab when his Countrey was invaded stood not the choosing of select souldiers for fight but gathered all that were able to put on armour and upwards so authors muster up all places of Scripture which put on any probability to this purpose and can carry any countenance thereunto amongst many others these ensuing Num. 24. 17. Isa. 33. 17. Ezek. 16. 61. Mat. 23. 38. Deut. 32. 43. Isa 41. 15. Ezek. 20. 34. Mat. 24. 23. Psal. 68. 22. Isa. 43. 1. c. Ioel 2. 28. Luk. 21. 24. Psal. 69. 32. 33. Isa. 49. 16 17. Amos 9. 8. Rom. 11. 25. Psal. 110. 2 3. Isa. 51. 1 2. Obad. ver 15. 2 Cor. 3. 16. Cant. 8. 10. Ier. 3. 12. Micah 7. 7. 2 Thes. 2. 8. Isa. 14. 2. Ier. 30. 3. Zeph. 3. 8. Revel 16. 12. Isa. 30. 21 22. Ier. 33. 6. Zech. 2. 9. c. Revel 19. 5. Should these quotations be severally examined many would be found rather to perswade then prove rather to intimate then perswade the matter in hand and that onely to such free and forward apprehensions as are prepossessed with the truth thereof But amongst these and many more numerous Scriptures cited that one place Rom. 11. 25. principally deserveth our serious perusall thereof § 3. The words of the Apostle run thus For I would not brethren that yee should be ignorant of this mystery leâ—t yee should be wise in your own conceits that blindness in part is hapned to Israel untill the fulness of the Gentiles be come in and so all Israel shall be saved c. This is conceived the strongest and clearest Charter for the Iews generall conversion § 4. It will be objected that by all Israel the believing Gentiles are meant for Gods Church
being a collective body of some Iews and moe Gentiles which in Scripture are styled the children of Abraham the Israel of God Iews inwardly with circumcision of the heart in the spirit not the letter Yea in the same verse Saint Paul a Iew called the Romans being Gentiles brethren the kindred coming in by their regeneration and in the same sense all converted Gentiles may be called Israel whose praise is of God and not of man § 5. It is answered allowing elsewhere in Scripture believing Gentiles to pass under the name of Israelites here literally the naturall Iews by extraction must be intended 1 Because clean through the Chapter the Apostle opposeth the Gentiles and Israel as contradistinct termes 2 He acquainteth the Romans with a mystery which was none in effect but stale news and generally known if onely the saving of the Gentiles were therein intended 3 It was his design to comfort the Iews and curbe the Gentiles from over-insulting on their sad condition And lest any should say slightingly to this opinion as David once civilly to Ittai Thou camest but yesterday know it descendeth unto us recommended from the Primitive times § 6. Origen was the first that mentioned it and hâ— otherwise the Allegorizer Generall interprets the Apostle literally in his exposition thereof Say not that being the first of the Fathers who wrote a Comment no wonder if he wandred in his Glosses he who first went from place to place never found out the nearest way seeing better judgments afterwards built on the same bottome Hierom Ambrose Chrysostome and Saint Augustine In the School-men the opinion of the Iews their conversion is not dead but sleepeth Parables and Prophesies are no dishes for their diet Their heavy studies delighted not to tread the water at best the marishes of future contingencies but on the terra firma of certainties where arguments might be grounded Yet the most peaceable amongst them more medling with Comments then Controversies such is Dionysius Carthusianus concur in their judgments therein But the silence of the Schools is recompensed with the loudness of the Pulpits in our later age of Romanists Lutherans and Calvinists generally maintaining the certain expectation of the Iews conversion § 7. Adde hereunto that the Iews ever since their exile from their own land when the Romans sold their Countrey and a learned man observes they set no land to sale save Iudea alone have continued many hundred years a distinct nation As if had learned from their River of Iordan running through the Galilean Sea and not mingling therewith daily to pass through an Ocean of other nations and remain an unmixt and un-confounded people by themselves A comfortable presumption when in company with other arguments that they once Gods peculiar are still preserved a peculiar people for some token for good in due time to be shewed upon them and that these materials are thus carefully kept entire by themselves because intended by Divine Providence for some beautifull building to be made of them hereafter § 8. Let it also be seriously considered that in all ages God hath dropt some considerable convert Iews into the treasury of the Christian Church as good-handsell and earnest of a greater payment to ensue Amongst whom we meet with a Mess of most eminent men Nicolaus Lyra that grand Commentator on the Bible Hieronymus de Sancta Fide turned Chistian about Anno 1412. Physitian as I take it to Benedick the thirteenth Pope who wrote a book unto his Countrey-men the Iews wherewith five thousand of them were converted Ludovicus Carettus living in Paris Anno 1553. and the never sufficiently to be praised Emmanuel Tremellius And besides the visible converts falling uner the notice of man we may charitably presume many concealed ones especially on their death-beds known to God alone Yea I conceive that learned Rabbin more then Agrippa almost a Christian who hath this amongst other pious expressions I dread and fear O Lord that that Iesus whom the Christians worship may be that righteous sold for silver according to the Prophet Amos. § 9. As for the time of the Iews conversion let us content our selves for the generall it shall be after the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in But for the particular year by some so peremptorily and positively assigned I cannot but admire at the confidence of men therein Especially seeing some which pretend such familiarity to future events are not the best acquainted with passages in former ages and those which seem to know all which is to come know but little of what is past as if they were the better Prophets for being the worse Historians § 10. But well it were if their confidence were confined to themselves alone being onely content to abound in their own sense without imposing it on others But besides their confidence such is their cruelty to exact yea extort the uttermost farthing of our beliefe to be paid in even at the first sight to their conceits or else we must into the Prison yea deepest dungeon and be condemned for being weak or wilfull ignorant or obstinate Whereas in such peremptory particularizing of the very year such as pretend to plough with the heifers of Gods Spirit may be suspected to be drawn away with the wild buls of their own imaginations § 11. The rather because so great the difference betwixt the severall Dates assigned by them Some making it 1652 others 1660 Some sooner and before some later and after the destruction of the Romish Antichrist It is therefore the most safe and sober way in so much variety to leave a blanke in our judgments for God to write the true time therein when we or after-ages shall behold the same brought to pass One day teacheth another and to-day yesterdays school-master is scholar to to-morrow at whose feet as Paul at Gamaliels it will at night â—it dutifully down for farther informaton Yea by an inverted method the daughter doth instruct the mother and the day which in time cometh after goeth before in knowledge CHAP. V. Of the present obstructions of the calling of the Jews § 1. MAny are the obstacles both externall and internall which for the present obstruct the conversion of the Iews First our want of civill society with their nation There must be first conversing with them before there can be converting of them The Gospell doth not work as the weapon-salve at distance but requires some competent familiarity with the persons of Probationer-converts Whereas the Iews being banished out of England France and Spaine are out of the call of the Gospell and ken of the Sacraments in those Countreys § 2. Secondly the cruel ussage of them in the Papall and Imperiall dominions where they swarm most and where publick authority doth not endevour to drop and distill piety into them but to squeese and press profit out
63. 31.    Zoar. C. Small or little Gen. 13. 10 Judah 69. 40 31. 30    Zobah L.  1 Sam. 14. 47 Libanus      Zoheleth S.  1 Kings 1. 9 Moriah      Zophim F.  Num. 23. 14 Reuben      Zoreah C. Leprosie Iosh. 15. 33 Dan   2 214 17 Zuph L. Swimming or fluctuating 1 Sam. 9. 5 Ephraim   2 185 9 REader be pleased to take notice that limitary places and all other mentioned in Scripture which we could not confidently refer to another Letter are by us though no Townes consigned to T. which as an Hospitall of no less charity then capacity gives them all entertainment And thus by Gods assistance we have finished our Table Miraculous almost was the execution done by David on the Amalekites who saved neither man nor woman alive to bring tidings to Gath. I cannot promise such exactness in our Index that no one Name hath escaped our enquiry some few perchance hardly slipping by may tell tales against us This I profess I have not in the language of some modern Quarter-Masters wilfully burnt any Towns and purposely omitted them and hope that such as have escaped our discovery will upon examination appear either not generally agreed on by Authors for Proper Names or else by proportion falling without the bounds of Palestine Soli Deo gloria Errata sic corrigas LIb. 2. page 76. line 37. for Naâ—anaim read Maâ—anaim p. 108. l. 20. 21 30 41. for Cave read Cane pa. 109. l. 15. dele though born in Bethlâ—hem pag. 191. l. 1. for people read pool Ibid. l. 9. for twenty miles read twelve miles pag. 236. l. 33. for unstrained read unstained pag. 302. l. 9. for Vale of Ephraim read Vale of Rephaim pag. 303 l. 20. for They read Day pag. 304. l. 30. for beed read been Lib. 3. pag. 321. l. 4. for from East to the North read form West to the North. pag. 330. l. 8. for partly naturall read purely naturall pag. 332. l. 37. for Cose read Close pag. 397. l. 20. for liquid read dry 79. l. 23. for dead read bread pag. 188. l. 19. for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 132. l. 14. for infeâ—â—ed read infesâ—ed Lib. 5. pag. 147. l. 11. for less read lâ—ss pag. 159. l. 17. for that twelve should be twenty read that twenty should be twelve pag. 164. l. 17. for larcinations read lancinations pag. 179. l. 27. dâ—le Philol. Ibid. l. 38. dele Alâ—th pag. 180. l. 9. dele Philol. Ibid. l. 18. dele Alâ—th pag 196. l. 8. not extending it dele not Ibid. dele as some doe with small probability FINIS * Or Amedcus the Toplâ—â—ll Saint of Aulâ—igney * Mark 10. 16. a Gen. 29. 23. * Gen. 19. 26. b In my Epistle to the Reader before the Holy State c Ibidem d Eccles. 12. 2. f Josh. 20. 7. Three grand objections against this subject a Numb 13. 23 28. No disgrace to adventure on the same work after many others b Eccles. 1. 9. c Adricom puts Zabulun Issachar Manasses in one Mappe Ephraim Dan Benjamin in another 2. Object Certainty herein not to be obtained 2. Answ. This should not quench but quicken our industry d 1 Cor. 13. 9. e 1 Thes. 5. 21. 2. Object It is a difficult trifle f 1 Sam. 28. 15. g Revel 21. 10. 3. Answ. It is ornamentall to divinity h 2 King 6. 19. No danger of superstition in this subject l Acts 19. 19. Six generall names of Iudea Gen. 12. 5. l In Clio. cap. 105. in Thalia cap. 5. 91. Polymnia cap. 8. The bounds of the larger Canaan m Exod. 23. 31. n Deut. 11. 13. 22. In what sense the Jews possessed it o 1 Chro. 5. 22. p 1 Chron. 5. 9. q 2 Sam. 8. 3 c. r 2 Kin. 4. 24. 2 Chron. 9. 26. The limits of the lesser Canaan s Deut. 20. 10. t Deut 7. 24. The length thâ—reof 1600. furlongs The matchlesse fertility of the land u Gen. 19. 20. * Ezek. 20. 6. * 2 Sam. 24. 9. * 1 Chron. 2â— 5 6. See also 2 Chron. 13. 3. y Deut. 8. 7 8 9. Moses his caracter thereof z Camb. Brit. in comitat Armach Iudaea's invlsible treasure Saâ—t a Mar. 9. 49. Levit. 2. 13. b Judg. 9. 45. c Josh. 11. 8. 15. 62. Materials of glasse d Plin. nat hist. Brimstone and lapis Iudaicus e 1 King 5. 17 18. f Deut. 8. 9. Brasse Iron g Deut. 33. 25. No gold in Iudea and why h Act. 3. 6. i Psal. 121. 1. k Mat. 6. 19. l Psal. 72. 10. m 1 King 10. 27. Balm a property of Iudea a Gen. 43. 11. b Ios. hist. Antiq. lib. 8. cap. 2. Commended by heathen writers c Pliâ— nat hist. lib. 12. cap. 25. d Gal. de Antid li. 2. ca. â—3 c Aâ—lor 〈…〉 procerior Plin. nat hist. l. 12. c. 15. f Deur 8. 8. Oil-olive Honey g Exod. 3. 8. 1 Sam. 14 25. 26. h Levit. 2. 11. i Hugo Groâ—ius in locum praedictum Wheat k Deut. 32. 14. l Ezâ—k 27. 17. Wine m Gen. 49. 11. Numb 13. 23. n Sidonius o Josh. 2. 6. p Hose 2. 9. q Prov. 31. 13. r Rab. Ioseph in the Babylonish Talmud Ketab fol. 3. 6. s Jerusalem Talmud t Mat. 13. 31 32. u Gen. 43. 11. a Act. 6. 2. b Levit. 11. 4. 5 6. c. c Gen. 18. 6 7. d Prov. 15. 17. e Gen. 27. 9. f 1 King 4. 23. g Mat. 23. 37. 26. 24. h Levit. 14. 22. i Numb 11. 31 32. k Mat. 3. 4. l Levit. 11. 9. o Isa 7. 15. n 1 Sam. 17. 18. o 2 Sam. 17. 29. p Deut. 32. 14. q Prov. 27. 27. r Psal. â—3 5. s Psâ—l 104. 24. t Gen. 9. â— u Ezek. 14. 21. w 1 King 10. 22. 1 Object a Lib. 16. fol. 523. Answ. b Ier. 12. 9. 2 Object Answ. c See the Geneva note on the text 3 Object d Gen. 26. 18. Answ. e Deut. 8. 7. f Lib. 16. fol. 523. 4 Object g Lib. 14. â— 7. Ausw. h 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Strabâ— lib. 16. p. 7â—5 5 Object Answ. i Straâ—o li. 16. p. 755. 6 Object Answ. 7 Object k â— King 6. 28. Answ. 8 Object l On Isaiah cap. 44. v. 14. Answ. 9 Object Answ. m Ruth 1. 20. n Cant. 2. 1. o Gen. 30. 35. p Brocard de terra sancta M. George Sands a Deut. 7. 1. b Revel 13. 1. c Sam. Bochartus Geog sacra lib. 4. cap. 35. d Gen. 27. 46. e Prov. 30. 19. f Talmud Hieâ—os tract de â—uram cap. 35. g Maâ— 8. 28. h Sir Walter Raleigh la ca. 8. pa. 138. i Gen. 15. 16. k Gregoâ—iuâ— Gâ—â—gorii in verbo l Psal. 12 4. m Amos 2. 9. n Judg. 1. 34.
o Iudg. 1. 35. p Numb 13. 29. q Gen. 13. 7. r Iosh. 17. 15. * Judg. 1. 4. s Iosh. 9. 7. 11. 19. t Gen. 34. 2. u Iosh. 11. 3. w Iudg. 3. 3. Iosh. 11. 17. x 2. Sam. 5. 6. y Gen. 15. 19. z Iudg. 4. 11. a Psal. 88. 12. b Prov. 27. 1. c Psal. 9. 6. d Bochartus Gâ—og Sac. l. 4. c. 36. p. 347. e Ovid. Met. lib. 3. f Gen. 14. 5. g 2 Sam. 5. 18. h Josh. 17. 15. i Gen. 14. 5. k Deut. 7. 2. l Gen. 37. 15. m Bochartus ut priùs n Ezek. 30. 15 16. o Exod. 16. 1. p Histor. Bel. ver 14. q Josh. 18. 22. r Josh. 14. 14. s Num. 13. 6. t Iosh. 15. 63. u Iudg. 1. 21. w Josh. 16. 2. x Mat. 10. 4. y John 2. 1. z 3 Iohn 1 2. Anciently an Aâ—my of Kings in Canaan a Ioâ—h 12. 9. The 31 kingdomes how dispensed to the severall Tribes b Iosh ibid. Two distinct combinations of thesâ— Kings c Iosh. 10. 3. d Iosh â—â— 1 2 3. Necessary difference betwixt the two maps of Canaan c 1 Cor. 7. 31. f Gen. 1â— 3. a 2 King 17. 6. b 2 King 17. 18. c Isai. 7. 20. d Isai. 14. 23. e 2 Chr. 30. 6. f 2 Chron. 30. 10. 18. g 2 Chr. 35. 18. h Ezra 6. 17. i Ezra 2. 64. k Vbi â—rgo sunt 12000 in iis sanè qui ascenderunt dereliquis tribubus Seder olam Rabba cap. 29. l 1 Chron. 9. 3. m In Animad ver in Euseb. numero 1734. n Mat. 4. 14. c. o Lukâ— 2. 36. p Acts 26. 7. q James 1. 1. r Acts 11. 19. s Levit. 19. 10. t Acts 26. 7. a 1 King 12. 19. b 2 Sam. 24. 9. c Josh. 19. 1. 9. d 1 King 19. 3. e 2 Chr. 11. 8. f 2 Chr. 11. 10. g Ibidem h 2 Chr. 11. 14 i 2 Chr. 11. 16. k Prov. 13. 28. l 1 King 22. 49. m 1 King 21. 13. o Sir Walter Raleigh Hist. World 1 part 2600. cap. 19. Sect. 6. p Asa 2 Chron. 14. 13. Ichosaphat 2 Chron. 20. 23 q 2 King 3. 5. r 2 Chr. 21. 8. s 2 Chr. 13. 19. t 2 Chron. 16. 1. u 2 Chr. 25. 23. w 2 Chr 28. 6. a John 4. 34. Iudea with the appurtenances thereof b Luke 1. 5. c Ezra 5. 8. d Mat. 19. 1. Mark 10. 1. e 1 Macc. 11. 34. Samaria peopled with colonies of Medes c. f So D. Heylyâ— g 2 King 17. 24. h 2 King 17. 27 i 2 King 17. 32. k 2 King 17. 34. The Articles of the Samaritan Creed l John 4. 22. m John 4. 25. n John 4. 12. o Ant. Ind. lib. 11. sub sinem pag. 386. lib. 12. ca. 7. pag. 410. The Antipathy betwixt the Samaritans and Iews p Luke 9. 53. q Iohn 4. 9. r John 8. 48. s Luke 17. 16. t Luke 10. 33. u Galilee twofold why one of them surnamed of the Gentiles w Isa. 9. 1. Mat. 4. 15. x Bell. Ind. li. 3. ca. 4. pag. 833. y Exâ—â—cit 114. 〈◊〉 25. c. 〈◊〉 z 2 King 14. 13. The character of the Galiâ—eans a Iosephus ut priâ—s b Iohn 18. 10. c Luke 13. 1. d Mar. 14. 70. e Iohn 4. 45. The three Provinces how compared s Iosh. 20 7. The originall and nature of Teâ—rarchies a Suidas Stephanus in Thesaâ—ro b 〈◊〉 coâ—ors 〈…〉 c Plinian exercit â—ol 576. Why 〈◊〉 Romans continued Tetrarchies d Luke 3. 1. e Luke 13 1. f Luke 23. 7. Why Abilene mentioned by Saint Luke The inequality of these Tetrarchies in extent and revenue g See â—peeds Maps h De Bâ—ll Iud. lib. 2. cap. 9. The word Tetrarchies variously taken i Salmasius ut prius k Littleâ—on â—ol 135. Cowels interpr in litera C. Idumea Perâ—a Decapolis l Mark 3. 8. m Isay 34. 5. Ezek. 35.15 n Luke 19. 17. o Nat. Histor. lib. 5. c. 18. p Itin ab Achone versus Eurum Hil-countrey and low-low-countrey in Iudea q Luke 1. 3â— r 2 Chr. 26. 10. s Judg. 1. 9. Petite lands in Palestine t 1 King 4. 10. u 1 King 4. 11. w 1 Sam. 9. 5. x 1 Sam. 13. 17. y Mat. 14. 34. Hebrews distanced places by paces bow-shoots a 2 Sam. 6. 13 b 1 Sam. 10. 23. c Gen. 21. 16. And by days-journeys d Exod. 5. 3. e 2 Sam. 18. 23. f Gen. 28. 10. g Gen. 28. 11. h See the Map of Gâ—d Cubits the current measure of the Hebrews i Esther 7. 9. k Numb 35. 4. Two kinds of Câ—bus a 〈◊〉 41 8. b Cap. 46 v. 2. cited by Arias Montanus de Mensur Sacâ— Furlongs how long c Acts 27. 28. d 2 Mâ—c 12. â— A Râ—man mâ—le made the samâ— wiâ—h 〈◊〉 Hâ—brew Bâ—rah e In mâ—â—suris sacâ—is f Gen 35. 16. 48. 7. g 2 King 5. 19. Hâ—w 〈◊〉 Saviours precept â—s to bâ— understood h Mat. 5. 41. A Sabbath-days journey how much i Acts 1. 12. k John 11. 1â— Whereon Sabbath-days journeys were grounded l Exod. 16. 29. * Josh 3. 4. m Exod. 10. 23. * Mat. 12. 2. Unknown in the age of Elisha a 2 King 4. 22. o Mat. 24. 20. Difference in the longitudes and latitudes p Maâ— 15. 29. q In our answer to the objections of the Map generall of Palesâ—ine The vast diffâ—rence between miles of severall countrâ—ys And betwixt miles of the same countrey a 1 Sam. 11. 11. b Patest Seig. f. 19. c Vadian Phax f. 271. d Jud. 20. 16. e Luke 24. 13. f John 6. 19. Townes on the upstroke how to be accounted What Maps most to be credited in matters of difference How places are known by their sâ—verall characters The bâ—dge of Apocrypha Cities g Rom. 3. 2. h Acts 10. 33. i â—King 14. 13. k 1 Cor. 1â— 11. a Ant. Iud. â—â— 1. cap. 2. b Deut 24. 5. c Psal. 128. 7. a Gen. 35. 22. b Gen. 49. 4. c Numb 16. 1. 26. 5 8 9. d Numb 1. 21. * Numb 26. 7. e Deut. â— 10. f Deut. 2. 9. g Numb 21. 26. h Isa. 15. 16. â—a ler. 4. 8. i Numb 32.1 k 2 King 10. 33. * 2 King 15. 29. l 1 Chr. 5. 6. 26. m 1 Chron. 5. 8. n Isa. 17. 2. o Icr. 48. 20. * Josh. 21 30. 37. p Numb 35. 4. * In our answers to the objections on Reuben q Gen. 49 7. r 2 Chr. 11. 14. s Deut. 2. 26. t Adri. in theat ter sanct fol. 51. u Josh. 20. 8. 21. 36. â— Chron. 6. 78. Ier. 48. 24. x Deut. 19. 8 9. y Numb 35. 15. z Deut. 19. 3. a Num. 35. 27. Rabbi Maimo lb. cap. 8. sec. 11. b Deut. 19. 12. c Numb 35. 17 18 23. d Numb 35. 26 27. e Maimo on Numb ca. 35. ver 2â— ca. 7. Sect. 14. f Exod. 21. 14. 1 King 2. 29. g Iosep. 13. Aati
Iudg. 9. 45. b Gen. 14. 3. c Munsters Cosm. in descr Italy Abâ—melech slain at â—he tower of Thebez d Iudg. 9. 48. e Psal. 68. 14. f Iudg. 9. 20. 6. g 1 King 11. 27 h Iudg. 9. 53. The people petition Râ—hoboam at Shechem 1 King 11. 31. 37. â—â— i 1 King 11. 3. k 1 King 12. 5. Rehoboam followeth the young mens advice l 2 King 12. 7. Adoram stoned by the people m 2 Sam. 20. 24. * 1 King 12. 18. n Hollir shead pag. 431. o Ide◠〈◊〉 634. Iacobs purchase â—nd Iosâ—phs portion p Gen. 33. 20. q Iosh. 24. 32. r Gen. 48. 22. * Eccles. 10. 19. s 〈◊〉 in locum t Gen. 34. 2. 〈◊〉 and Shalem câ—ties nigh Sheâ—hem u Iohn 4. 5. w Gen. 33. 18. Two eminent oakes near Shechem x Gen. 12. 6. y Gen. 35. 4. z Ioâ—â— 24. 27. a Iosh. 24. 26. b Iosh. 18.1 Dothâ—â— where the Syrians were smitten with blindness c 2 Kin. 13. 14. b 2 King 6. 18. Dothan where Ioseph was sold by his brethren c Gen. 37. 12. How this countrey was called the land of the Hebrews f Gen. 40. 15. g Act. 7. 5. * Gen. 14. 18. The City Ephraim h Ioh. 11. 54. i Ioh. 10. 15. k Ioh. 12. 23. The mount of Phinehas l Iosh. 24. 33. m Psal. 106. 30. n Iosh. 24. 33. o Iudg. 12. 25. Mouâ—â— Amalek p See our Description of Paran-parag 20 q Iob. 2. 7. r Iudg. 6. 3. Iudg. 7. 24 25. t See camd Map of Hartfordshire Baal-Hazor stained wiâ—h Absoloms câ—uelty u 2 Sam. 13. 23. w In Description of Gad. pag. 84. x Eccles. 5. 9. y 2 Sam. 13. 28. z Mat. 10. 28. a 2 Sam. 13. 6. Archelais and Iscariot b Iosephus Antiq. lâ— 17. cap. 19. c Mat. 2. 22. d Act. 1. 18. e 1 Macc. 13. 13. f 1 King 4. 8. The Armes of Ephraim g Num. 2. 18. h Deut. 33. 17. i Hos. 10. 11. * Gen. 35. 25. ‡ Numb 1. 39. * Num. 26. 43. ‡ Irenaeus lib. 5. Ambros. de benedict Patriar cap. 7. August quaest 22. in Ioshu Prosper de promis Dei par 4. Theodoret quaest 109. in Gen. Gregor lib. 31. moralium c. a Gen. 37. 2. * So had all the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah b Lâ—vit 24. 11. c Iudg. 18. â—0 * This was Ieroboams not the Tâ—â—bes act d 1 Kin. 12. 29. * Rev. 7. * So also is Zebulun as Simeon is omitted in Moses his blessings Deut. 33. e Exod. 31. 6. Josh. 15. 1 -- 13. f Psal. 45. 7. g Iudg 1. 34. Iosh. 19. 47. * Gen 49. 17. Deut. 33. 22. h Iud. 5. 17. Ioâ—â— 19. 46. i Sand. his trav pag. 152. k Adricho in theat Ter. Sanc. pag. 23. l 2 Chro. 2. 16. m Ion. 1. 3. n Act. 9. 36. o Act. 3. 43. 11. 5. 13. p Act. 9. 38. 32. 33 34. q Guilel Tyrius r Pliny Nat. his lib. cap. Et Pomp. Mela. Ovid. lib. 4. Metam s Ioh. de Vorag in the golden Legion t Morisons trav part 1. c. p. 215. u 1 King 4 33. * Hugo Groti in Ioha 19. 29. w Mat. 27. 29. Mar. 15. 26. x Ioh. 19. 29. z Iosh. 19. 42. a Iudg. 1. 35. b 1 Macc. 13. 27 28 29. * Iosh. 21. 24. Iosh. 10. 12. * Iosh. 21. 24. Iosh. 10. 12. c Iud. 1. 34. d 2 Macc. 12. 3 4 5 6. e 2 Mac. 12. 8 9. f See Moors Mapof Palestine g 2 Chr. 26. 6. h Adricho in theat Ter. Sanc. pag. 24. num 59 i 1 Mâ—c 2. 38. * 1 Macc. 16. 4. k 1 Macc 16. 5 6 l Vid. â—jus 〈◊〉 in 1 King 4. 9. m 1 Sam. 6. 18. * 1 Sam. 6. 19. n Iosh. 19. 44. 21. 23. o 1 King 15. 27 16. 15. p 2 Chr. 11. 14. q 1 King 16. 15 16 17 18. Iud. 16. 4. r Iudg. 18. 2. 8. 11. 12. f Iud. 13. 25. t Iud. 13. 4 5. u Iud. 16. 31. * Num. 13. 24 25. cap. 32. 9 Deut. 1. 24. w Gen. 38. 24. x Iud. 14. 5 6. Verse 8. Verse 16. Iud. 15. 4. y Iosh. 19. 41 42. c. z Iosh. 15. 10. a Iosh. 15. 11. b Gen. 10. 14. d Iud. 3. 31. e 1 Sam. 7. 14. f 1 Sam. 13. 22. * 2 Sam. 5. 18. 8. 1. 21. 15. c. g 2 Chr. 21. 17. h 2 Chr. 26. 6. i Iosh. 23. 13. * Ezek. 25. 15. k 1 Sam. 31. 10. 2 Sam. 21. 20. 21 m 1 Chr. 20. 6. * Dr. Hakwels apology for divine providence n 1 Sam. 30. 14. Ezek. 25. 26 Zeph. 2. 5. o 2 Sam. 8. 18. 1 King 1. 38. p Vid. ejus annota in locum pradicta q 2 Sam. 20. 23. r 2 Sam. 15. 18 19. s 2 Sam. 18. 2. * 1 Sam. 21. 10. t Psal. 34. 56 * 1 Sam. 27. 2 3 5 6. 2. 82. u 1 King 2. 39. w 2 Sam. 16. 7. * 2 Chr. 11. 8. x 2 Kin. 12. 17. y 2 Chr. 26. 6. z 1 Sam. 7. 14. * 1 Sam. 4. 4. a 1 Sam. 5. 10. b 1 Sam. 18. 25. c 1 Sam. 18. 27. d 1 Sam. 25. 44. e 2 King 1. 2. f Mat. 12. 24. g Hieron in 5 tom cap. Isa. h Iudg. 16. 4. i Iudg. 16. 21. k Act. 8. 29. l Ier. 13. 23. * 1 Sam. 5. 1. 6. 17. †Iosh. 15. 47. * Chap. 13. 3. â— 2 Chr. 26. 6. †Isa. 20. 1. * 1 Macc. 4. 15. †Chap. 5. 6â— * Cha. 9. 15. 18. †1 Mac. 10. 78. 84. * 1 Mac. 16. 10. m See the Sâ—ptuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 n Nche 13. 24. o Nennius Elvodug p 2 Sam. 8. 1. Ionah on the sea q Ionah 1. 3. r Psal. 107. 23. s Nahum 3. 1. t Ionah 4. 2. â— wonder working tempest u Ionah 1. 5. w Iohn 3. 14. x Mat. 11. 39. y 1 King 4. 9. z Gen. 49. 17. a Numb 2. 25. a Gen. 42. 24. b Gen. 34. 25. c Gen. 49. 7. * Numb 1. 23. 26. 14. d 1 Chr. 4. 27. e 1 Chr. 4. 38. f Iudi. 9. 3. g Num. 25. 14. h Iosh. 19. 1. 9. t Iudg. 1. 3. k 2 Chr. 15. 9. l 2 King 17. 6. m Gen. 26. 12. n Mark 13. 8. o Iudg. 16. 3. p 1 Sam. 27. 6. q 1 Sam. 30. 6. r 1 Sam. 22. 2. s Iosh. 19. 7. t 1 Chr. 4. 32. u Iudg. 15. 11. w Iudg. 15. 15. x Iudg. 15. 17. y Ezek. 37. 3. * Iosh. 21. 9. 16 19. 17. z Gen. 49. 7. a Psal. 29. 8. b 1 Sam. 30. 30. c Iosh. 19. 7. 1 Char. 4. 32. d Iosh. 19. 8. 1 Sam. 30. 27. e 1 Sam. 30. 30. f Num. 14. 45. g Numb 21. 3. h Iudg. 1. 17. 1 Char. 4. 30. i Gen. 20. 2. k Gen. 26. 8. l Gen. 26. 15. m Gen. 26. 18. n Gen. 26. 20. o Gen. 26. 21. p Gen. 26. 22. q Ioh. 14. 2. r Geor. Sands
should be thus dismembred Was it not enough that Ioseph was separated from his brethren but Manasseh his Son must also be parted from himself How came that wisdome who pronounceth it good and pleasant for brethren to live together in unity to cleave this Tribe asunder But let such know that unity in affection may consist with locall separation Besides divine Providence might seem to have a designe herein that this Tribe of Manasseh having a joint interest on both sides of Iordan might claspe these Countries together and the Manassites being as I may say Amphibii on both sides of the River might by visits amongst their kindred continue a correspondency and civill communion one with another § 3. Manasseh had mount Hermon and Gilead on the east parting it from the Ammonites and Ismaelites Iordan on the west Gad on the south Syria and particularly the kingdomes of Geshur and Maachah on the north In which compass of ground threescore Cities with high walls gates and bars besides unwalled towns were contained Many will be amazed at this number the wonder will seem the greater when they shall reckon but two and twenty Cities in Asher nineteen in Naphtali seventeen in Simeon sixteen in Issachar but twelve in Zebulun unproportionable that half a Tribe should have treble the number of Cities to those that were bigger All we can say herein is this that being a frontier Countrey and being exposed on the north and east to heathen enemies it must have more fenced Cities then the Tribes on the other side Iordan which were better secured by their situation Thus the hem is turned in and sowed double to prevent the ravelling out thereof And if I reck on right there be more Castles in our marches betwixt Scotland and Wales then in all England besides However our eye shall not be evill at Manasseh because Gods was good unto it who are so far from repining at that we rejoyce for the plenty of strong places therein onely grieving that we cannot give the Reader an exact account of their names though we will endevour our best in the following description § 4. Mount Hermon is the north-east bound of this Tribe called by the Sidonians Syrion by the Amorites Shenir by humane writers Hippus and Trachones being a branch of Lebanon bended south-ward A stately strong mountain fixed on firm foundations and yet the voice of the Lord understand the thunder with an earthquake maketh Syrion to skip as an Unicorne and well may mountains dance when God himself shall pipe unto them The dew of Hermon is highly commended by David and brotherly love is compared thereunto because whilest heat of hatred like a drought parcheth all to nothing fraternall kindness dew-like gives refreshment and increase But how this dew of Hermon fell upon the hill of Sion mountains an hundred miles asunder so troubled Saint Augustine that at last leaving the literall sense he is fain to fly to a mysticall meaning Others interpret that the dew of Hermon fell upon the hill of Sion because the fruitfull flocks fatted on that mountain came afterwards to be sacrificed at Ierusalem which is but a harsh construction as if one should say The fruitfulness of Linconcolne-shire which falls on London because the fatted cattel thereof are sold and eaten in the City But whilest sundry Interpreters have severall wit-engines to draw these two mountains together our last translation saves their needless paines rendring it As the dew of Hermon as as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion Indeed it is the same specificall though not individuall dew which lighteth on both mountains flowing from heaven the same fountain though falling on earth in severall channels § 5. Now as Hermon is a chain of continued hills so a principall link thereof is the mountain Amana Christ courting his Spouse inviteth her to look from the top of Amana Some conceive thereby Amanus a mountain in Cilicia is meant but seeing Solomon clean through that Poem maketh use of onely native similitudes whereof a self-sufficiency in his own land it is improbable that herein he did borrow a forein and exotick expression Know also that the region hereabouts is called Trachonitis or Sharpâ—land in English from the steepness of many pointed hills in shape not unlike the Rocks called Needles near the Isle of Wight wherewith this countrey abounded and it was a moity of the Tetrarch-ship of Philip the brother of Herod § 6. South of Hermon lay mount Gilead famous for the interview of Laban and Iacob the former keen with anger save that God in a vision took off his edge overtaking Iacob charged him with a double action of felony for stealing himself and his Gods away without his privity The first Iacob confessed yet pleaded not guilty to the second but traversed his innocency Hue and Cry is made in vain after the thief and felons goods or Gods if you please for she whose conscience would permit her to carry away cunning did perswade her to conceal them Iacob thus cleared as it were by Proclamation of Defendant turns Plaintiffe accusing the Accuser for his false accusation At last all winds off in a good agreement and an Instrument is drawn up betwixt them not in paper but in stone interchangeably sealed with solemn oaths The Condition whereof was to this effect That if either of them should passe that place to doe any act of hostility to other he should forfeit his fidelity and be liable to divine justice for his perjury § 7. This Pillar and heap of stones had a threefold name imposed on it called 1 By Laban Iegar Sahadutha that is in the Aramite tongue A heap of witnesse 2 By Iacob Galeed the same in effect in Hebrew 3 By both Mizpah that is a Watch-tower Iacob giving the name and Laban the occasion thereof by that his expression The Lord watch betwixt thee and me Here was abundant caution three names and two languages and yet nothing too much For Iacob having formerly been sensible of Labans notorious shuffling with him knew the best way to finde sure was to binde sure and Laban being guilty and therefore jealous thought no security sufficient And therefore in their mutuall suspicions a Triplicate was used in naming the places that a threefold cable might not be broken § 8. Gilead was at first onely appropriated to that heap and pillar whence the name may seem to be translated to the adjacent mountains and thence transmitted to the valley in the east of those mountains and thence imparted to some eminent persons born in that valley For as Gilead Son of Machir grand-child of Manasseh being born in Egypt so called by a Propheticall Prolepsis foretelling that his posterity should possess the Countrey of Gilead so Gilead the Father of Iephthah Gilead of Gilead seems to take his denomination from the Countrey possessed Thus as the Psalmist observes