Selected quad for the lemma: enemy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
enemy_n	battle_n	great_a	slaughter_n	1,027	5	9.5987	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A46295	The wonderful, and most deplorable history of the latter times of the Jews with the destruction of the city of Jerusalem. Which history begins where the Holy Scriptures do end. By Josephus Ben Gorion whereunto is added a brief of the ten captivities; with the pourtrait of the Roman rams, and engines of battery, &c. As also of Jerusalem; with the fearful, and presaging apparitions that were seen in the air before her ruins. Moreover, there is a parallel of the late times and crimes in London, with those in Jerusalem.; Josippon. English. Abridgments.	Joseph ben Gorion, ha-Kohen, attributed name.; Howell, James, 1594?-1666.; Ibn Daud, Abraham ben David, Halevi, ca. 1110-ca. 1180.; Fuller, Thomas, 1608-1661.	1671 (1671)	Wing J1086A; ESTC R216340	213,458	417

Cities that stood on hills then they did divide it in parts and bring it up to the siege by piece-meal and there it was set together again Now when the Romans had battered the walls of Jorpata and Joseph perceived them to shake he took great sacks filled them full of chaff and hanged them down by the walls that the horns of the Ram could not come nigh the stones of the wall but light upon the sacks which by reason of the softnesse of the chaff hindred and brake the stroke that the walls were lesse hurt For the nature of soft things is to give back to the hard and to weaken their force But Vespasian seeing the subtilty of Joseph used also policy for policy for he sent into the Town secretly Jews spies which when the batteries should be might cut asunder the cords that the sacks were tyed to and with them slip down the walls where the Romans were ready to receive them that they should not hurt them in the fall and immediately they struck the wall with the Ram. There was at that present in the City a certain valiant man named Eleazer of the house of Anani the high Priest that then dwelt at Jerusalem This Eleazer perceiving the Romans to go about to batter down the wall as they did before plucked out of the wall a mighty stone so that he made a great hole or gap whereat he slid down the wall and stradling did light on the Engine made fast an iron chain to the horns thereof and got again up nimbly and quickly from the beam into the Town with the chain in his hand for the wall was not very high above his head as he stood upon the Ram then the other tall fellows took hold upon the chain fastened it to the pillars and walls in the Town that the Romans might rather be constrained to break their Ram than take it away from thence The Priest Eleazer yet once again boldly went down and sat upon the beam slew fifty men that laboured about the Ram and the rest he put to flight then returned into the Town being drawn up again from the beam to them that were within the Town greatly rejoycing in his manhood After that he went up upon a high Tower from whence he tumbled down with a mighty force a great stone and a hard on the head of the Ram and brake it that both a great part of the head and the hornes fell on the ground For the iron that it was covered withal was old and rusty so that it was much wasted and eaten therewith the ropes were also old After that Eleazar went down again took part of the head that was broken and hurled it into the Town the Romans that remained either he slew or put to flight The Archers shot at him and wounded him with five Arrows wherefore by the help of his fellows upon the wals he climbed up otherwise he had not been able for the grief of his wouuds The people then gave a shout for joy of the victory of the worthy Priest Eleazar that had slain the Romans and broke their Ram wherein they put their confidence and brought part of it into the Town and fastened it with an iron chain that the Romans could not pull it back again to them nor have the use of it afterward wherefore divers of the best Cities of Jorpata armed themselves that day being stir'd with the great courage that they had seen in Eleazar and went down hewed the beam to pieces brought the poyses with the Rings and two masts with them into the town and the same day died Eleazar with great renown as one that had fought for the Sanctuary of the Lord and for his people and Country of Israel like a faithful servant and souldier of the Lord whom all the people mourned for burying him in the Town honouring him for his death worthiness and faithfulnesse appointing him a worthy memory also for that he had waged battel with the enemies of the Lord. The young men of the Jews seeing this and especially two of them the one called Nitra the other Polipas men of great wisdom and understanding and therewith expert in the Wars being moved with zeal of the God of Israel opened the gates and issued against the Romans skirmished with them and slew many of them But at length they were slain themselves in the skirmish for the Sanctuary of their God for Israel their country When Joseph saw the Wars to encrease more and more he issued out and made a great slaughter in the Roman tents burnt the mount and Engines of War that the Romans had left by which means the Wars waxed yet hotter insomuch that Joseph repulsed the Romans For when they saw the Jews so desperately give their lives for their God and Land they would not abide their force Vespasian seeing his men shrink he stood up and encouraged them exhorting them with fair words and promises as well Gold and Silver as meat and drink wherewith the Romans allured fought with Joseph that day unto the Sun-setting and as the battel waxed hot the Jews wounded Vespasian with an arrow in his right leg which sore dismayed the Romans when they saw the blood run down his leg and that day was a sore fight betwen the Jews and the Romans Titus seeing his father wounded being sore abashed ran to him to help him to whom his father said How is it my son that thou art thus astonied Take heart to thee and with a courage revenge thy father of these Jews that have now the better hand of us So both Titus and Vespasian with all their whole host fought that day a sore fight and many were slain on both parts yea very few were left on Josephs part with whom he returned into the Town The next day the Romans raised a new mount instead of that which Joseph burned and planted another iron-Ram thereupon between two posts accordingly for Vespasian had brought four of this sort with him from Rome but other battering pieces upon wheels had he with him thirty what more what lesse the bigger sort were 30. cubits long the lesser ten He brought also ten Engines to hurle great stones withal which he had placed about the walls The Romans therefore renewed the assaults against the Town as they were wont before But the Town was now desolate and naked of the stoutest warlike men for they were all slain in the fights Albeit Joseph remained and a few with him who went every one and the women also to defend the walls for there was almost no men left fit for the War Then the Romans flung with the Engines that stood on the mount stones into the Town on every side It chanced that a great stone hit a woman with child with such violence that it passed through her body and carried the child with it by the space of half a mile They cast up and raised yet other Mounts also from whence they flung

appointing of his men some to be spies and some to keep watch and ward about the Temple of the Lord. But Jehochanan who because of the great resort of the people unto him was stronger than Eleazar he took the market place and streets and the lower part of the City Then Schimeon the Jerusolemite took the highest part of the Town wherefore his men annoyed Jehochanans part sore with Slings and Cross-bows Between these three there was also most cru el battel 's in Jerusalem for the space of four daies without ceasing or any breathing and every day were very many slain so that the blood of the Jews that were then slain ran in every place most abundantly through the Market-places and streets yea even to the Temple of the Lord like unto a flood that had come of great showres and unto the thresholds of the gates of the Temple the dead bodies overwhelmed one another by heaps for no man buried them Jehochanan having the middle part of the Town had Schimeon on the one side of him and Eleazar on the other But Schimeon had the best place from whence he might annoy both Jehochanan and Eleazar Eleazar did also what he could to endamage Schimeon And Jehochanan that was in the middest encombered them both notwithstanding to little purpose For Schimeons company flung stones and shot at them sore but when as Jehochanans part flung likewise at them the stones rebounded back upon themselves Thus amongst these three the battel was sore and encreased every day that all men were in great terrour and fear thereof Then assembled to the Temple much people of the Priests and Elders beseeching these Intestine and Domesticall enemies not to pollute and defile the Temple with their slaughters and were almost all slain for their labour The same day was slain the Priest Anani Joshua a Priest both of the chiefest Priests Sechariahu also the most faithfull Prophet of the Lord. Then had the continuall Sacrifice ceased 36. daies for ever until that time was there some good men or other of Jerusalem that offered alway sacrifice to the Lord. But now when they would have continued it and the Priests laid the sacrifice upon the Altar the Seditious would run upon them and kill them so that the Priests bodies and their cattel that they would have sacrificed should fall dead to the ground together They that resorted also out of the Country of Ierusalem for devotions sake the Seditious slew and utterly destroyed them that almost no one of them was left alive Moreover the dead bodies of men lay cast in the Temple and that without number troad under feet yea the dead body of the Priest that was offering sacrifice lay upon the earth together with his offering And when any man would offer any sacrifice straight way one or other of the Seditious would step to him and kill him that the blood of the sac●…ifice and sacrificer should be mingled together In somuch that the pavement of the Temple being all of marble was made so slippery with the blood and fat of them that were slain that no man could go upon it without falling And the Priest should no sooner lay hands on the sacrifice but he was slain and straight another dead body should fall upon him stranger or other they spared none So thus the dead bodies of the good and bad clean and unclean wicked and vertuous theef and true man lay one upon another and their blood mixt together in the midst of the Temple without respect of any man of what degree or condition soever he were Wherefore the fight and slaughter waxt great both in the Town and in the Temple Nay whomsoever the Seditious overcame they set fire on their houses also whereby the fire took into the great men's houses that were nigh the Temple and into the store-houses whereas against times of necessity and besieging of the Town were laid up in store corn wine and oyl to the number of a thousand and four hundred store-houses all filled full of victuals For the Elders and other godly men what time as Vespasian was in Galilee they made up the doors of those Garner-houses and laid in victuals into them sufficient for two hundred thousand men twenty years and now in this one battel of the Seditious they were burnt every one stick and stone which was a speedy cause of famine and hurger in Ierusalem At the same time also the Seditious pulled down and razed all the fair houses and goodly buildings that there should be no monument of any noble house left to any in the City of Ierusalem So thus you see at that time the Lord visited the Citizens of Ierusalem with four kind of plagues sword pestilence hunger and fire besides this a fift was added the ruine and decay of all beautifull and glorious buildings And wheresoever a man turned him there was nothing but desolation pollution namely of the Temple and all holy things uproars without all rest and refuge no help no succour but every corner of Ierusalem was full of howling and yelling wailing and weeping sobbing and sighing of women and children Here should ye hear the roaring groaning of wounded men not yet thorough-dead there the mourning and lamentation of the Elders younger children crying out for hunger to be short most sorrowfull oppression of them that lived done by the Seditious Such lamentations were made every where that happy and fortunate was he that before this day died and unhappy and in a wofull case were all such as remained alive to see this day All these things when I Joseph heard tydings of I tore my hair with my hands and cast ashes on my beard sitting in great sorrow on the ground bewailing the misery and calamity of Jerusalem And this lamentation made Joseph upon Jerusalem How is the City quoth he laid wast that was wont to be more happy and more renowned than all the Provinces upon the earth How is the City that was heretofore in such highness and dignity now brought under the foot through the sons of the Citizens thereof Whereas sometime was the dwelling place of the faithfull now bear rule there such men as provoke and stir Gods wrath against it and turn it away from their God wasting it as theeves In the which sometime remained the brightness of the Godhead it is now become a by-word and mocking-stock to the enemies replenished with blood of wounded and slain men Instead of mirth gladness rejoycing harps and psalteries is sorrow sighing heart-breaks mourning and pensiveness come in place Even as heretofore the priests executed the service of the Lord in offering sacrifices so likewise now seditious persons murthered godly and faithfull men where was wont to be the dwelling place of most wise and prudent men now it is made a common hostry of wicked murtherers theeves O Lord God of Israel have not Angels in time past come down from heaven to earth to fight thy battels Have not the

without mistrusting any harm the Romans joyned with the Syrians in great number entred the Wood and slew the Jews all that ever they could find to the number of thirteen thousand Schimeon himself with his father and their families had pitched their tents nigh unto a fair fountain that was in the Wood to whom when their enemies came to slay them and destroy their whole families Schimeon ran upon them with his drawn sword made a great slaughter of them and constrained them to retire But when a great multude environed him and he perceived all the rest of the Jews were slain he with the houshold only remaining neither saw he any way to escape he stept upon a little hill with his naked sword saying Hearken unto me ye Syrians and Romans and ye that dwell in Scithopolis I will speak unto you a few words full of lamentation Now I perceive that justly and not without a cause ye make war against me without any favour or consideration that I delivered you from the hosts of the Jews and never suffered them to do any displeasure to you your wives and children nor to your City as they had done to other Cities of Syria For I am he that for your sakes have warred against my Countrymen t●… please you withal yea both their blood and mine have I pledged unto you and have kept inviolated the love of strangers hating my own people of whom for your pleasures I have slain oft both the fathers and the children and now ye render evil for the good I have done unto you But indeed God of his just judgment hath stirred you up to reward me in this sort to murther me that hath so often preserved you Now therefore ye shall bear me witness that I shall sufficiently and sharply enough take vengeance of my own life not without rage and fury most severely because I have slain my fellows and friends I will therefore slay my self to be avenged of my self for my brothers blood that I have shed and so shall I be revenged of their blood and ye shall well perceive me to be of that courage that rather than ye shall slay me and after boast and brag how ye have killed Schimeon I will bereave my self of my life and punish the shedding of my brothers blood no otherwise than the Law punisheth a murtherer and man killer When he had spoken this his eyes were filled with blood and his face with rage and so inflamed with fury laying apart all pity ran and caught hold of his father haled him out of the Wood and slew him Then slew he his mother lest she should intreat him for the children and be sorry for their sakes That done his wife came running of her own accord and held her neck down to the sword lest she should be constrained to see her children dye Yea Schimeons children came and offered themselves to be slain lest they should see the death of their father or remain after him to be delivered to the enemies After this he slew all his whole family that not one of his should come into the hands of their enemies Finally he gathered their bodies together into one place like a valiant stout warrior and then boldly goared himself on his own sword lest any man else should impair his strength or boast that he had killed him All this Schimeon did with a great courage to take punishment of himself because he had bestowed his love rather upon strangers than upon his own people and to declare his force and manhood So he died an abominable and detestable death save only it was an argument of his haughty mind and great courage as it is said before Now when the Jews had thus rebelled against the Romans and slain their souldiers and Captains King Agrippa went to Rome and recounted unto Nero Caesar the Emperor of Rome all that was hapned whereupon Nero sent Captain Cassius that was at that time in Syria and had made war upon the King of Persia and vanquished him and all his power and subdued his dominions to the Romans and with him a puissant Army of the Romans commanding him to go into Judea to offer peace unto the people to comfort them and to bring them again into league with the Romans if it might be Cassius therefore took his journey towards Judea Agrippa met him in the way and informed him what had hapned unto him concerning the Jews how he had offered them peace and they would have none of it how also they had burnt his Palace and sacked it Cassius hearing that was very glad that he had gotten such an occasion to revenge the blood of the Romans and Syrians which the Jews had shed Wherefore he levied a mighty Army and came to Caesarea and wheresoever he did espy the goodliest buildings those caused he to be burnt From thence went he to the City Japho which he besieged both by land and Sea and at length wan it where he slew in the streets 84000 men After that he came to Jades where he first burnt all the Country about it and whomsoever he caught without the Town he slew them But the Citizens of Zippory went out to meet Cassius and besought him for peace whom he spared he came not nigh their Town nor slew any that dwelt in their Countrey The seditious Jews that were in the City of Zippory hearing of Cassius coming fled unto the mountains but in the way they lighted upon part of Cassius Army whereof they slew 200 men and woun ded their Captain Glaphira yet at length the seditious were put to flight and many of them-Glaphira with his horsmen pursued overthrew and destroyed the rest fled to the mountains Then Glaphira Captain of Cassius Army went to Cesarea that was subdued to the Romans there to cure his wounds that the Jews had given him Thence went he to Antipire which as he would have assaulted he perceived it to be furnished with a great power of the Iews and seditious These hearing Cassius also was coming they went purposely to fight with him but perceiving that Cassius power was very great they determined to encounter with him in the plain of Gibeon fifty miles from Ierusalem whereupon the Jews with their companies fained themselves to flye to the intent they might draw the Romans after them And within six daies they came to Gibeon and there rested Cassius pursued after them with all his hoast till he came to Gibeon which he besieged and assaulted also It chansed then upon one of the Sabbaths in the morning watch the Jews armed at all points issued out of the Town to give their enemies a Camisado so after they had given a token of war they marched toward the hoast of Cassius whereof they slew 515 horsmen and footmen twenty seven thousand with the loss of only 22. of their own company In that battell did well appear the valiantness of Mugbas a Captain of the Jews Army One Baudius also played the

people of the Lord God of Israel and his Sanctuary with the people of his Inheritance howbeit there be amongst us certain proud men ungodly persons that have made a league with Vespasian and have brought into the Town one of his chief Captains wherefore and it please thee my Lord to enter the City with thy souldiers come unto us that we may live with thee rather than to perish in the hands of them that hate us So they opened the gates so that Ioseph went in and took the Town Then he caused to apprehend those ungodly persons that were there about six hundred men and laid them in irons sending them to Tiarva which he had afore taken the other wicked men that had aided Vespasian he put to the sword But the chief Governour of the Town he apprehended alive carried him out of the City and commanded one of his Souldiers to cut off his hands Then the Captain besought Joseph saying I beseech thee my Lord let one of my hands be cut off and leave me the other Then Joseph and his souldiers laught him to scorn judging him to be no valiant man nor of haughty courage Joseph bad his souldier give him the sword in his own hand and let him cut off which hand he list and leave him which he will So the Roman Captain took the sword and cut off his left hand himself leaving him the right and so he was let go He came therefore unto Vespasians Camp to shew them what shame was done him After this the Citizens of Zippory rebelled also making a league with Vespasian and the Romans host Ioseph being certified of this made thither with his host to besiege it but the Town abid the brunt of the assault that Ioseph could prevail nothing against it wherefore he besieged it a long season About that time it was signified also to them of Jerusalem that the Askalonites had entred in friendship with the Romans They sent therefore Neger the Edomite and Shiloch the Babylonian and Iehochanan with a power of the common people who came to Askalon and besieged it a great space Within the Town was a Roman Captain called Antonius a valiant man and a good Warriour who upon a certain night in the morning watch issued out of the Town with his company to give a Camisado to the Iews that besieged the Town entred their camp and made a great slaughter continuing the same till it was day-light so that about 10000. of the Iews were slain the rest never moved out of the place saying It is better for us to die in this battel than to flee from our enemies therefore they took a good heart unto them and stood manfully in their stations and places trusting in the Lord God of Israel and when it was day they also set themselves in array against Antony slew many of his men not without losse also of their own part for Shiloch the Babylonian and Iehochanan of Jerusalem were destroyed by the Romans with others of the Jews to the number ●…f 8000. fighting men that were under Shiloch and Iehochanan and never a one of the Jewish Captains escaped that conflict save only Neger the Edomite who hid himself in a Sepulcher that was there in the plain whom the Romans in their pursuite sought but found him not wherefore they set on fire the wood that it burnt round about the Sepulcher wherein he lay hid and consumed all the trees shrubs and bushes but came no nigh the Sepulcher For Neger had called to the Lord with his whole heart to deliver him this once from his enemies lest he should be shamefully handled of them promising at another time to be ready to die valiantly in his quarrel So Neger escaped the Romans by the help of the God of Israel in whom he put his trust Shortly after sent the Jerusolimites much people to Askal●…n to the number of eighteen thousand good men of war to bury the bodies of the Jews that were slain in the conflicts by Antony They sought also the body of Neger the Edomite but they found it not till at length he cryed unto them out of the Sepulcher saying I am here For God hath delivered me out of the hands of mine enemies to the intent I may be avenged of them in the wars of the Lord. So Neger declared unto them at large all things how they chanced unto him wherefore the Jews rejoyced greatly that they had found him alive and that he was saved by such a miracle and the Lord delivered him Therefore they put their trust in the Lord believing that God would be present with them to aid them whereof this deliverance of Neger they took for a sure token The Romans kept themselves within the Town for fear of the Jews that were come to bury the bodies So the Jews buried all the bodies of their own part that were slain in both battels for the Romans were not able to prohibite and let them but held them in the Town And when the burial was finished they took Neger with them to Jernsalem to give God thanks there for his deliverance at that present Then Joseph the Priest gathered his strength aad came upon Askalon with his whole Army assaulted them got the upper hand and won the Town after slew Antony and all his people with the Sword that of all the valiant men of War that were with him not one escaped Besides this also the Villages and Hamlets that were thereabout without the Town he burnt them all And so served he all the Towns thereabout that had entred into league with the Romans slaying both Iews and Romans that dwelt in them with the sword as many as he found and their houses he burnt This done Ioesph returned again to Zippory sought with them and got the upper hand there shed he much blood of the people that had conspired with the Romans utterly destroyed them burnt their Cities and Villages led their wives and children prisoners unto Ierusalem and all the Romans he found there he put them to death When Vespasian Titus had heard of all that Iosephus had done against the Romans both how he slue their Garrisons as many as he could find in Galilee and all the Iews that had made any league with him and his sons they were wonderful incensed and in agreatrage They took therefore their journey and came to Apitelma otherwise called Acho where at that time Agrippa King of Iudea was abiding and forty thousand men with him all good men of war and archers every one these joyned themselves with Vespasians Army by which means the Romans Camp became very great Moreover out of other Nations round about Iudea good men of war without number joyned with Vespasian He had aid of the best men of war out of Mesopotamia Aremzofa Assur Sinear Persia Chaldea Macedonia and out of the Provinces of the people of the East yea the people of Mizraim Lod Denan and Seba with all Provinces far and near

own hand Such ye know the law thus punisheth Their right hand is cut off wherewith they forced themselves to die then they are left unburied as men that have destroyed their own souls By what reason then shall we kill our selves I would wish that we might be slain of our enemies rather than we should so shamefully murder ourselves whereby ever after we should be taken for man-slayers If any man kill himself as Saul whom he commended without doubt he committeth a haynous crime and such a one as no satisfaction can be made for Besides that he shall be reckoned faint-hearted and as one that despaireth of his recovery wherefore our fore-fathers have taught us A man ought not to despair of his safegard and deliverance which cometh of God no not when the knife is put to his throat to cut it For King Hezekiah of famous memory when he heard these words of Esaias that worthy Prophet Make thy Will and set thy things in order for thou shalt die and not escape Neverthelesse he fainted not nor ceased not to pray to God for the prolonging of his life in theworld that he might amend his life and send a better soul unto God Then the Lord God of Israel seeing his unwearied and strong hope with his repentance suffered him to live fifteen years longer But as for Saul he was not appointed King over Israel after the Lords mind but only by the people that craved of Samuel Give us a King to rule over us whereupon afterward God departed from Saul for he was not obedient to Gods will but went about by force to establish his kingdom The Lord then seeing the wickednesse of his heart gave him over and chose him another to be King over his people anointing David his servant whiles Saul was yet living which Saul perceiving persecuted David and laboured with all his endeavour to destroy him because he knew God was with him and prospered all that he did whereas contrarily all went backward with himself For these causes I say he chose rather to die than live he also would not live after the people of Israel were overthrown in the Mountains of Gilboa And in mine opinion he slew himself for nothing but because he was a faint-hearted coward and utterly despaired of his safegard For although he said Lest these uncircumcised come and run me through Yet if he had been of a●…valiant courage he would have stood to his defence to the death Peradventure God would have delivered him But he contrarily all in despair procured both himself and his son a shameful death But ye shall consider this he was an unmerciful King and therefore did God rid him out of the World For as he did not spare his own life nor his son's so did he not spare others And whereas ye alledge Aaron unto me I would know of you why he put himself between the living and the dead Was it not because he would turn away the plague from Israel If he had known that he himself should have been stricken therewith doubtlesse he would not have striven against the striker but trusting in the holinesse of his righteousnesse he stood before the Angel to deliver Israel from that misery Therefore I am not to be compared with Aaron albeit I am one of his children and never yet in all my life did I shrink to venture my life in the Wars of the Lord And now I am not determined to kill my self lest I should sin against God and spoil my soul of hope of salvation I know it well and it were more expedient for me to be slain of mine enemies then that I should kill my self And if ye say the word Let us go forth and suddenly set upon our enemies to kill or to be killed in this battel of the Lord and so shall we do well peradventure God will give them into our hands For God is able to save as well by a small Army as by a great Then if ye see me to be afraid of mine enemies sword ye shall thereby know me to be a coward and one that fawneth upon his enemies and hunteth for their favour But ye shall see me go before you as a valiant man nor once to turn my face from death What did ye ever see in me that you should judge me fearful Did ye ever know me refuse to fight within the Town of Jorpata I have ever kept my quarter and ward and every day have I fought with mine enemies whom I have not spared but impaired and that not a little whiles I defended that little City forty eight daves against them For I thought with my self peradventure I may drive away the enemies of the Lord out of our Land and divert them from Jerusalem that they go not thither And so have I fought with them till all my valiant souldiers be spent and none left but you I could no longer withstand their force yet I would not yeild my self as a prisoner unto them therefore I fled hither with you into this Cave Now therefore Brethren ye shall understand that death is commodious and good indeed which comes in time But it is neither good nor godly for a man to kill himself and his brother to go afterward for that deed into hell and perdition And what other thing can more clearly set forth a mans proud and haughty mind with his hope in God than for a man to suffer patiently whatsoever chanceth unto him until his end come Behold the Lions and other Beasts how they are wont to withstand their enemies that lie in wait for them to the intent they may save their lives whose armour is in their teeth and claws wherewith neverthelesse they hurt not themselves but use them against other that assault them till they either overc●…me or be overcome We although we have no warlike Weapons yet have Nature armed us as well as them For albeit we be not of such strength as they yet hath we such armour that we may defend our selves therewith both from man and beast But how can we break the band of love one to another that proceedeth from God who hath chosen us his people and inheritance to sanctifie him How then may we be enemies one against another and kill one another If that be true as ye cannot deny it that although we be many thousands yet we are counted as one soul and members of one body Then how can any man ever find in his heart to strike his own eyes or feet or any other of his members to destroy it except he be mad and besides himself Moreover dear Brethren and Friends consider to what end the Master of a ship doth abide the tempest of the Seas and striveth day and night with the floods thereof Doth he not do it to save the Ship and his life from death If so it be he sh●…uld willingly for the same purpose put himself in jeopardy of Tempest or run on Rocks Would not the Merchant-men

Romans on the Persians and Jews giving in commandment to race their walled Cities to beat down whatsoever they found without sparing either man woman or child infants sucking babes or old folkes but to slay all So that Vespasian and Titus set forward with a chosen and pickt Army of the Romans passed the seas and came to Antiochia The Jews having intelligence of this chose out of their Captains three of the principal and most expert Warriours of whom I Joseph Priest that wrote this History was one who by the divine favour am not ignorant in feats of Arms and famous in Acts of Chievalry and Anani the High Priest and Eleazar his son To these three they committed the whole Land of Iudea dividing it to them by lot and gave them a furniture of war One third part therefore which was whole Galilee from the Land of Nephtali and beyond fell to Joseph the Priest son of Gorion to his honour and glory who for his worthinesse they named also Josephon because he was then anointed appointed and consecrated to the Wars The second lot came forth which fell unto Anani the Priest who had the City of Jerusalem and the country about it with a charge to repair the walls of the City to sustain the brunt of Vespasian if he should come so far The third lot fell to Eleazar the son of Anani the Priest to whom was joyned Captain Jehoscua and other Jewish Captain●… By the Vertue of this 〈◊〉 fell to him the whole Land of Edom from Elat to the Red Sea The rest of the Land from Jericho to Euphrates with that also that is beyond the river and all the Land of Mesopotamia fell to Captain Menasches lot To other Princes of Iudea and to the worthiest Priest they committed the fenced Cities from the limits and bounds of Jerusalem to Egypt Vespasian taking his journey with his host from Antiochia came and pitched his tents in Aramzofa For he had devised thus with his council First to invade Galilee and after to try what they could do in Iudea Ioseph Gorion having intelligence of this his purpose departed from Ierusalem to Galilee built up the Towns that were destroyed and repaired their walls gates bars and palaces ordained also Captains over the people to lead and govern them some of thousands some of hundreds Tribunes and Decurians He instructed the people also in feats of Wars what the sound of Trumpets signified what sound served to fall in array what to gather the souldiers together and what to divide them After he had instructed them in the knowledge and feats of War he said unto them thus Ye shall understand dear Israelites that ye go to fight at this present against your enemies wherefore let no fear overcome your hearts nor dismay you at the sight of your enemies but play the men and take a good courage to you to fight for your Cities for your Countrie and for your selves Be not afraid of death but rather be stout in defence of your Countrie that ye be not led away from it and to fight for the Sanctuary of the Lord that it be not stained and polluted with the uncleannesse of the Gentiles Consider that it is better to die in battel than to live in captivity and bondage Therefore when as ye shall come to joyn with your enemies and shall see any of them beaten down and attempt to rise again whosoever of you is by and seeth him remember the zeal of your God wherewith it becometh you to revenge his quarrel and being moved therewith strike him that he never rise again but if you shall see any of your fellows down being inclined with the zeal of your God rescue him from the hands of your enemies and if he be not yet killed cure him If he be dead ye shall do what ye can to bury him in the Israelites burial and so if we chuse rather to die than to live we shall prosper in our Wars we shall die for the Covenant of our God and deliver our souls bringing them to the light of life in Heaven After he had said this he chose out of the Iews 60000. footmen and but few horsemen And out of these he chose ●…00 of the best such as not one of them would shrink from ten ten from an hundred a hundred from a thousand a thousand from ten thousand With them Ioseph went to the Cities of Agrippa that were in Iudea to win them for Agrippa stuck to the Romans were it right or wrong with all the power he could make He went first to Tiarva a great City that belonged to Agrippa whereas both his treasure and munition of War lay When he approached the City he spake to the people upon the walls and offered them peace on condition that they should open the gates and deliver unto him all the treasure of Agrippa and all his jewe●…s this if they would do he then would spare them and kill none of them Were it it not better for you saith he to take part with them that defend the Sanctuary of God and his Inheritance than to joyn your aid with Agrippa which is confederate with your enemies and assaileth us augmenting the power of them that hate us so that he refuseth not to ●…ght against the Sanctuary of the Lord and the people of his Inheritance The men of the Town condescending to Joseph opened the gates and he entring the Town made peace with them and they delivered him all the kings treasures for they liked Iosephs words and consented to take such part as he took CHAP. VI. AT that time came news to Joseph that troubled him sore namely that Tiberias had rebelled and revolted from the people that dwelt in Jerusalem and were changed from his lot to become Vespasians subjects who had set a Roman Captain over them For reformation whereof he left his Army at Tiarva and took six hundred young men with him to Tiberias coming on it suddenly and at unawares And as he stood on the banks of Genesar he espied the Navy of the Romans that there lay at road to aid Vespasian which I●… charged to be broken in pieces and to be scattered abroad in the sea The men of Tiberias therefore seeing the Ships dispersed in that fashion they conjectured it was done by some of Iosephs host wherefore the Romans fled to the Town got in and shut the gates Ioseph notwithstanding came to one gate of the City and cryed that the people might hear saying What meaneth this conspiracy of yours against me ye fight not against me but rather against the Lord God whose Covenant ye have transgressed and broke the Bond that we made with him Ye have also violated your oath that you sware by the God of Israel that we should fight against our enemies to abate their pride The people answered from the walls We beseech thee our Lord hear thy servants speak God forbid we should joyn with the Romans and not rather with the

floods of the seas persecuted them that persecuted thee Hath not the earth swallowed up them that despised thee and the winds scattered them a sunder that made insurrections against thee hath not thunder from heaven destroyed thine enemies and stars fought against thy foes What means this therefore and how cometh it to pass that thou hidest thy face from us to whom hast thou delivered the sheep of thy pasture Look upon us our God and behold thy people and inheritance that thou broughtest out of Egypt with a mighty power and a strong hand with wonders and signs leading them untill this day in thy faith take pitty upon them in thy mercy and extend not thy wrath against thy servants Where art thou Moses the son of Amram stand up and see thy people and flock of sheep which thou feedest all thy life with thy wisdom see how Wolves and Lions tear them see how the Israelites are become foes to their own lives and souls yea wasters and destroyers are sprung up of their own selves Behold the people of GOD for whose sake thou lifted'st up thy staff over the sea wherewith thou struckest and dividest it that it was made dry ground so the Israelites passed through and escaped their enemies Remember thy prayer when as in time of famine and lack of food thou obtaindft for them meat from heaven and at the same time when they were weary of their lives for thirst thou broughtest water out of the most hard rock Come forth Aaron most holy Priest of God that didst put thy self between the living and the dead to turn away the plague from Israel and staydest the destroyer that he should not come ●…igh the living Arise out of thy grave thou Phineas that moved with such fervency didst revenge the glory and majesty of the Lord God of Israel come and run through the Seditious in thy fury which murther the people of God and his Priests Awake thou Ioshua that didst throw down the walls of Jericho with the sound and shout of thy Trumpets that the holy Priests held in their hands Come now and see thy people that thou madest to inherit many Nations and to conquer most puissant Kings how they kill one another how they further and help forward the Idolater to rule and have the Dominion of the holy Land that thou gavest thy people Israel to inherit Why sleepest thou King David Awake and come with the sound of thy Psaltery and Harp sing to thy holy Psalms too Ask account of thy sweet words that are ceased from the mouthes of this people and out of all mens mouthes because of the maliciousness thereof See how their Princes be transformed into enemies and destroyers and do as thou diddest good King David that didst give thine own life for theirs saying Let thy hand O Lord be turned against me and against the house of my father and do not fall upon thy people to destroy them Where art thou Elizeus Come and see what thou canst do if thou canst rescue the remnant of Israel and find them any gap to escape at Didst not thou by thy prayer bring the power of the Syrians to a Town of defence and prevailedst against them without dint of sword or battel and broughtest them down smiting them with blindness that they turned their enmity towards Israel into love Indeed thou wast he●…that vanquishedst the Syrians by thy prayer that they fled for fear of the same Now therefore ye heard-men of Israel assemble together and listen with 〈◊〉 and hear my words that I will speak in your ears this day Tell me What is become of your prayers that ye have made for the people of Israel to defed and turn away from them a I wrath indignation tribulation fury and inmissions of evill spirits How is it that now ye see not the Sanctuary turned into a vile sink of blood for the dead bodies of Priests lye in midst of it The holy City Jerusalem is become a strange City as though the name of the Lord had never been in it and the Sanctuary of the Lord is in that case at this present as though the Godhead had never dwelt therein for the Temple is turned into a den of theeves a lodging of Seditious persons a tabernacle of cruel murtherers And who so flieth thither for refuge there they be slain as the Seditious have murthered in the midst thereof Anani the high Priest and Joshua a Priest also that were Princes and chief Priests the most reverend amongst the people of God whom ere this Kings and Nations had sued to and desired their favour but never cast their slain bodies in the midst of the Temple The Nobility also of Jerusalem the Elders of Juda the Sages of Israel whose friendship Kings and Nations have sought after and desired to make peace with they lye now slain here and there in the midst of Jerusalem are meat for the fouls of the ayre and beasts of the field to dogs and ravens because there is no man to bury them These died not for their offences but because they found fault with the Israelites when they sinned How are they slain in thee O Jerusalem thou holy City renowned throughout the whole earth all just men all holy men whom the Seditious have overcome those helhounds and blood-suckers that have brought all these evils upon thee how are the Priests of the Lord and his Prophets slain amongst those holy men For before the holy Temple was the Prophet Sechariahu that just and holy man butchered and murthered yea without all buriall neither was his blood covered with earth but yet still wandreth about and cryeth in thee The blood of Anani also and Joshua the chief Priests was yet never covered which were both slain in thy Temple as men be wont to kill theeves yea the blood of the godly young men and valiant that would have revenged them was shed also by the Seditious like floods of water How are the hearts of the people turned so aukwardly that they will bear no admonition of just men but are like unto blockish Images that neither see nor hear nor yet understand any thing All beasts be they never so brutish all plants and things that grow upon the earth withstand them that invade them to do them injury and endeavour to avoid the force of their enemy but thy children that thou keepest within thee are changed into enemies and one brother murthereth ●…nother with the sword Where is now thy valiantness thou that never wouldst bow to bear the yoak of the Gentiles upon thy shoulders but hast cast away the bondage of the Egyptians Philistines Aramites Assyrians Chaldees Persians and Medes Where is the strength that God gave to the Chasmonanites that with a very small company defended thee and prevailed against the great and puissant Army of the Greeks destroyed the stout souldiers of Babylon vanquished the mighty Army of the Persians slue Kamitiatus and Antiochus and pursued their Armies making great