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A33322	The life & death of Nebuchadnezzar, the Great, the first founder of the Babylonian Empire, represented by the golden head of that image, Dan. 2. 32., and by the lion with eagles wings, Dan. 7. 4. as also of Cyrus, the Great, the first founder of the Empire of the Medes and Persians, represented by the breast, and arms of silver in that image, Dan. 2. 32., and by a bear, Dan. 7. by Sa. Clarke ...	Clarke, Samuel, 1599-1682.	1664 (1664)	Wing C4530; ESTC R15232	35,680	56

Gods goodness and a willing advancer of his Kingdom upon earth which must last for ever Cyrus had Issue two Sons Cambyses and Smerdis and three Daughters Atossa Meroe and Artistoua At his Death he bequeathed his Empire to his Eldest Son Cambyses appointing Smerdis his younger Son to be Satrapa or Leiutenant of Media Armenia and Cadusia He reigned about one and thirty years and died aged The Greek Historians wholly ascribe the Conquest of Babylon to Cyrus because that he commanded the Army in Chief yet the Scriptures attribute it to Darius King of the Medes whose General Cyrus was For when Babylon was taken and Belshazzar slain It s said Dan. 5. 31. that Darius the Median took the Kingdom being about sixty two years old It was Darius also that placed Officers over the severall Provinces thereof as we read Dan. 6. 1 2. It pleased Darius to set over the Kingdom a hundred and twenty Princes which should be over the whole Kingdom and over these three Presidents of whom Daniel was the first c. And thus was it Prophesied by Isay long before Behold I will stir up the Medes against them c. and by the Prophet Jeremy The Lord hath raised up the Spirit of the King of the Medes for his device is against Babylon c. Jer. 55. 11. And again verse 28. Prepare against her the Nations with the Kings of the Medes the Captains thereof and all the Rulers thereof and all the Land of his Dominion But certain it is that the Honour of that great Victory over Babylon was wholly given to Cyrus who was the Instrument preordained and forenamed by God himself not onely for this Action but also for the delivery of his Church Yet Daniel makes it plain that himself not onely lived a great Officer under King Darius but that he continued in that estate to the first year of Cyrus which was not long after which also was the year of Daniels Death As for the age of Cyrus we are beholding to Tully for it who in his first Book de Divinatione Cites it out of one Dionysius a Persian Writer in this manner The Sun saith Dionysius appeared unto Cyrus in his sleep standing at his feet which when Cyrus thrice endeavoured to take in his hands the Sun still turned aside and went away and the Magi who were the most learned men amongst the Persians said that by his thrice offering to take hold of the Sun was portended to him that he should raign thirty years which came to pass accordingly For he lived to the Age of seventy years and began not to raign till he was forty In the first year of Belshazzar Daniel had the Vision shewed him of the four Beasts signifying the four Monarchies and of God delivering over all power and Sovereignty to the Son of man Dan. 7. In the third year of Belshazzar the Vision of the Ram and Goat foreshewing the destruction of the Persian Monarchy by Alexander the Great and the great misery which Antiochus should bring upon the People of God was shewed to Daniel living then at Susa in the Province of Elam upon the bank of the River Vlai which environed the Castle of Susa and parted the Provinces of Susa and Elemais Dan. 8. whence we may collect that at that time the Province of Susa was not in the hands of the Medes and Persians but of the Babylonians under whom Daniel then lived Darius the Mede son of Cyaxares or Ahasuerus the Son of Adyages took upon him the Kingdom which was delivered over to him by Cyrus the Conquerer Dan. 5. 31. 9. 1. The Angel in this first year of his Raign is said to have confirmed and strengthened him in his Kingdom Dan. 11. 1. After which he raigned two years Towards the end of the first year of Darius the Mede the seventy years of the Babylonish Captivity expired which began under Jehoiakim in the first year of Nebuchadnezzar at which time God promised that they should return into their own Country Jer. 29. 10. Thus saith the Lord that after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you and perform my good Word towards you in causing you to return to this place Upon consideration of which very time now so neer approaching it was that Daniel powred out that most fervent Prayer for the Remission of his own sins and of his Peoples and for that promised deliverance out of their Captivity Whereupon the Angel Gabriel brought him an answer not onely concerning this but also for the spiritual deliverance of the Church to be wrought at last by the Death of the Messias uttering that most famous and memorable Prophesie of the seventy Weeks Dan. 9. 12 c. The Samaritans by the means of some Courtiers about Cyrus whom they had bribed for that purpose distributed the Jews in their building of the Temple Ezra 4. 5. Whence proceeded that three weeks mourning of the Prophet Daniel which Fast he begun about the third Day of the first Moneth in the third year of Cyrus Dan. 10. 1. 4. After which upon the four and twentieth Day of the first Moneth that vision of the Kings of Persia of Alexander the Great and his Successours and their Kingdoms was shewed and revealed unto Daniel as he stood upon the bank of Hiddikel or Tygris All which is contained in the three last Chapters of Daniel which as may be collected out of the close thereof was the last Vision that ever he had and that but a little before his Death FINIS Courteous Reader be pleased to take notice that these Books following are Printed for and sold by William Miller at the Gilded Acorn in St Pauls Church-yard near the little North Door Hick●s Revelation Revealed Folio Clares Martyrology Compleat with the Persecutions of England to the end of Queen Maries Reign Folio Lives of ten Eminent Divines some being as follow Bishop Vsher Dr Gouge Dr Harris Mr Gataker Mr Whittaker c. and some other famous Christians Life of Christ 4º Life of Herod the Great 4º A Prospect of Hungary and Transylvania together with an account of the qualities of the Inhabitants the Commodities of the Countries the Chiefest Cities Towns and Strong-holds Rivers and Mountains with an Historycal Narration of the Wars amongst themselves and with the Turks continued to this year 1664. As also a Brief Description of Bohemia Austria Bavaria Steirirark Croatia Dalmatia Moravia and other Adjacent Countries contained in a Map joyned therewith by which Map you may know which Places are in the Power of the Turk and which Christians have 4º Ctadocks KNOWLEDGE and PRACTICE Or a Plain Discourse of the Chief Things necessary to be KNOWN BELIEVED and PRACTISED in Order to SALVATION 4º Ford of Baptism 8º Cott●n on the Covenant of Grace 8º Culverwell of Assurance 8º Records Urinal of Physick 8º Ravius Oriental Grammar 12º Peacocks Visitation 12º Dr Tuckney's Good Day well Improved 12º Death Disarmed 12º Balm of Gilead

THE LIFE DEATH OF Nebuchadnezzar THE GREAT The first founder of the Babylonian Empire Represented by the Golden Head of that Image Dan. 2. 32. and by the Lion with Eagles Wings Dan. 7. 4. As also of CYRUS the GREAT The first founder of the Empire of the Medes and Persians Represented by the Breast and Arms of Silver in that Image Dan. 2. 32. And by a Bear Dan. 7. 5. And by a Ram with two Horns Dan. 8. 3 20. He was the deliverer of Gods Israel out of Babylon the seventy years of their Captivity being Expired By both of these much light is given to many of the Prophesies of Isay Jeremy Esekiel and Daniel By Sa. Clarke sometime Minister in St Bennet Fink London LONDON Printed for William Miller at the Gilded Acorn in St Pauls Church-yard near the little North Door 1664. Licensed to be Printed Roger L'Estrange THE LIFE DEATH OF Nebuchadnezzar THE GREAT The first Emperor of the CHALDEANS Who was represented by the Golden Head of that Image Dan. 2. 32. and by the Lion with Eagles Wings Dan. 7. 4. Whereby much light is given to many of the Prophesies of Isay Jeremy Esekiel and Daniel By Sa. Clarke sometime Minister in St Bennet Fink London LONDON Printed for William Miller at the Gilded Acorn in St Pauls Church-yard near the little North Door 1664. THE LIFE DEATH OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR THE GREAT First Emperor of the CHALDEANS NEbuchadonazar or Nebuchadnezzar was the Son of Nebuchadonazar or Nabopolaser of Babylon who was made General of the Army by Saraco King of Assyria and Chaldea after whose death Nabopolaser took into his hands the Kingdom of Chaldaea which he held by the space of one and twenty years At the same time Astyages was made Governour of Media by Cyaxares his Father and the better to strengthen themselves they entred into Affinity by Astyages his giving his Daughter Amytis to Nebuchadnezzar the Son of Nabopolaser and thereupon joyning their Forces together they took Ninive together with Saraco the King thereof placing a Vice-Roy in his stead Shortly after the Governour of Coelosyria and Poenicia revolting from Nabopolaser he sent against him his Son Nebuchadnezzar having first associated him with himself in the Kingdom of Babylon with a great Army which was in the latter end of the third and the beginning of the fourth year of Jehoiakim King of Juda as appears Dan. 1. 1. compared with Jer. 25. 1. Nebuchadnezzar was no sooner thus associated with his Father in the Kingdom but the things which he was to act were presently revealed to the Prophet Jeremy the first whereof was the overthrow of the Egyptians First at the River Euphrates then in their own Country Jer. 46. The first of these came to pass presently Neco's Forces which he left at Carchemish being cut off by Nebuchadnezzar in the fourth year of Jehoiakim Jer. 46. 2. The second was not till after the taking of Tyre in the seventeenth year of the Captivity of Jechonia Ezek. 29. 17 18 19. In the third year of Jehoiakim Nebuchadnezzar the second his Father being yet alive entred Judaea with a great Army who besieging and forcing Jerusalem made Jehoiakim his Vassal in despight of Pharaoh Necho who had made him King and took with him to Babylon for Pledges Daniel who was yet a child with Ananias Misael and Azarias He took also part of the Treasures belonging to the Temple but stayed not to search thorowly for all For Necho hasted with his Army to the relief of Jehoiakim hoping to find Nebuchadnezzar in Judaea But this great Babylonian had no mind to hazard himself and his Army against the Egyptian Judaea being so ill affected towards him and himself far from all succour or sure place of retreat If he had as may be supposed any great strength of Scythian Horsemen it was wisely done of him to fall back out of that rough Mountanous and hot Country into places that were more even and temperate And besides these reasons the Death of his Father happening at the same time gave him just occasion to return home and take possession of his own Kingdom before he proceeded in the second care of adding more unto it And this he did at reasonable good leasure For the Egyptian was not provided to follow him so far and to bid him Battel until the new year came in which was the fourth of Jehoiakim the first of Nebuchadnezzar and the last of Necho In this year the Babylonian lying upon the Banks of Euphrates his own Territories bounding it on the North-side attended the coming of Necho there after a cruel Battel fought betwixt them Necho was slain and his Army forced to save it self by a violent retreat wherein it suffered great loss This Victory was so well pursued by Nebuchadnezzar that he recovered all Syria and whatsoever the Egyptians held out of their proper Territories towards the North. The Egyptians being thus beaten and altogether for the present discouraged Jehoiakim held himself quiet as being in heart a Friend to the Egyptians yet having made his peace with the Chaldeans the year before and Nebuchadnezzar was contented with such profit as he could there readily make he had forborn to lay any Tribute upon the Jews But this cool reservedness of Jehoiakim was on both sides taken in ill part Whereupon the Egyptian King Psamnis who succeeded Necho began to think of restoring Jehoahaz who had been taken prisoner by his Father and carried into Egypt and of setting him up as a Domestical enemy against his ungrateful Brother But to anticipate all such accidents the Judean had put in practice the usual remedy which his Fore-fathers used For he had made his own Son Jechonia King with him long before in the second year of his own Raign when the Boy was but eight years old As for this rumor of Jehoahaz his return the Prophet Jeremy foretold that it should prove a vain attempt saying He shall not return thither But he shall die in the place whither they have led him Captive and shall see this Land no more Jer. 12. 11 12. The Egyptians having lost all their Mercenary Forces and received that heavy blow at Carchemish had more Gold than sharp Steel remaining which is of small force without the others help Besides the Valour of Necho was not in Psamnis Apries who raigning after Psamnis did indeed once adventure to shew his face in Syria but after a big look he was glad to retire without adventuring the hazard of a Battel Wherefore this declining Nation fought only with brave words telling such frivolous tales as men that mean to do nothing use boasting of their former glorious acts against Josias and Jehoahaz And truly in such a time and case it was easie for Jehoiakim to give them satisfaction by letting them understand the sincerity of his affections towards them which appeared in time following But Nebuchadnezzar went more roundly to

his Army he marched strait into Judea where the amazed King made so little resistance the Egyptians having left him as it were in a dream that Nebuchadnezzar entred Jerusalem laid hands on Jehoiakim whom at first he bound intending to send him to Babylon but his mind changing he caused him to be slain in that place and gave him the Burial of an Ass to be devoured by Beasts and ravinous Birds according to the former Prophesie Leaving in his place his Son Jehoiakim or Jeconia whom yet after three moneths and ten days he deposed and sent him Pisoner to Babylon together with Esekiel Mordecay and Josedech the High Priest The Mother of Jeconias together with his Servants Eunuches and all the ablest men and best Artificers in the Land were also then carried away Captives This Jechonias following the Counsel of the Prophet Jeremy made no resistance but submitted himself to the Kings will wherein he both pleased God and did that which was most profitable for himself though at the present it might seem otherwise to such as considered the evil that befell him rather than the greater evill that he thereby avoided This only particular act of his is recorded in Scriture which was good But it seems that he was at least a partaker in his Fathers sins if not a provoker which was the cause that though he submitted himself to Gods will yet did he not preserve his estate For so it is said That he did evil in the sight of the Lord according to all that his Father had done In his stead Nebuchadnezzar set up Mattania his Uncle making him King of Judea and called him Zedechias For like as Necho King of Egypt had formerly displaced Jehoahaz after he had slain his Father Josias and set up Jehoiachim the Son by another Mother So Nebuchadnezzar slew Jehoiakim who depended on the Egyptians and carrying his Son Jeconias Prisoner to Babylon he gave the Kingdom to this Zedechias who was whole Brother to that Jehoahaz whom Necho took with him into Egypt and from Zedechias he required an Oath for his loyalty and faithfull subjection which Zedechias gave him and called the living God to witness in the same that he would remain assured to the Kings of Chaldea 2 Chron. 36. 13. Esek 17. 13 14 18. In the first year of Zedechias Jeremy saw and expounded the vision of the ripe and rotten Figs the one signifying those that were already carried away Captives the other signifying those Jews that yet remained and were afterwards destroyed Jer. 29. 17. In the fourth year of Zedechias Jeremy wrote in a Book all the evil which should fall upon Babylon which Book or Roul he gave to Seriah when he went with King Zedechias to Babylon to visit Nebuchadnezzar willing him first to read it to the Captive Jews and then to binde a stone to it and cast it into Euphrates pronouncing these words Thus shall Babel be drowned and shall not rise from the evil which I will bring upon her This journey of Zedechias to Babylon is probably thought to be in way of a visit and to carry some presents to Nebuchadnezzar But yet its likely he had some suit to make which his Lordly Master refused to grant and sent him away discontented For at his return all the bordering Princes sent Messengers to him inciting him as it seems to those unquiet courses from which the Prophet Jeremy dehorted both him and them About which time the Prophet by Gods appointment made bonds and yokes one of which he wore about his own neck others he sent unto the five Kings of Edom Moab Ammon Tyre and Zidon by those Messengers which came to visit Zedechias making them know that if they and the King of Juda continued in subjection to Babylon they should then possess and enjoy their own Countries If not they should assuredly perish by the Sword by Famine and by Pestilence He also foretold them that those Vessels which yet remained in Jerusalem should be carried after the other to Babylon yet at length should be restored again The same year Ananias the false Prophet took off the Woodden yoke which Jeremy did wear as a sign of the Captivity of the Jews and brake it Vaunting that in like manner after two years God would break the strength of Babel and the yoke which he laid on all Nations and that he would restore Jeconias and all the Jews with the Vessels and Riches of the Temple and put an end to all these troubles But Jeremy instead of his Woodden Yoke wore a Coller of Iron and in sign that Ananias had given a false and deceitfull hope to the People he foretold the Death of this false Prophet which accordingly came to pass in the seventh Moneth After this when Zedechias had wavered long between Faith and Passion in the eight year of his Raign he practiced more seriously against Nebuchadnezzar with his Neighbours the Edomites Ammonites Moabites Tyrians and others who were promised great aides by the Egyptians in confidence of whose assistance he resolved to shake off the Babylonian Yoke whereof when Nebuchadnezzar was informed he marched with his Army in the dead of Winter towards Jerusalem and besieged it Jeremy perswaded Zedekias to render the City and himself to him But Zedechias being confident of help from Egypt and being perswaded by his Princes and false Prophets that it was impossible that the Kingdom of Judah should be extirpated untill the coming of Shilo according to Jacobs Prophesie Gen. 49. 10. he dispised the counsell of Jeremy and imprisoned him For Jeremy had told the King that the City should be taken and burnt that the King should not escape but be taken Prisoner and brought to the presence of Nebuchadnezzar That he should not perish by the Sword but being carried to Babel should there die a naturall Death The following year Jerusalem was surrounded and more strictly besieged by Nebuchadnezzars Army whereupon the King of Egypt Pharaoh Hophra entred into Judea with his Army to succour Zedekias of whose revolt he had been the principall Authour But Jeremy gave the Jews faithfull counsel willing them not to have any trust in the succours of Egypt for he assured them that they should return back again and in no sort relieve them And it fell out accordingly For when the Chaldeans removed from Jerusalem to encounter the Egyptians these bragging Patrones abandoned their enterprise and taking Gaza in their way homewards returned into Egypt as if they had already done enough leaving the poor People in Jerusalem to their destinied miseries Jer. 34. 11 22. In the mean while the Jews who in the time of their extremity had released their Hebrew Bondmen and Bond-women according to the Law in the year of Jubile and made them free thereby to encourage them to fight did now upon the breaking up of the Chaldean

hard work considering the vast circuit of those Walls which they were to gird in having neither men enough nor yet sufficiently assured to their Commander the consideration whereof Ministred unto the Babylonians matter of good Pastime when they saw the Lydians Phrygians Cappadocians and others quartered about their City to keep them in who having been their Ancient Friends and Allies were more like to joyn with them if occasion were offered than to use much diligence on the behalf of Cyrus who had as it were but yesterday laid upon their necks the galling Yoke of servitude Whilst the Besieged were thus pleasing themselves with this foolish fansie and vain mirth the ordinary forerunners of sudden calamity Cyrus who by God that set him on work was made strong valiant constant and inventive devised and by the labour of his men digged so many Channels as were capable of receiving the Waters of Euphrates and so to draw the same from the Walls of Babylon that thereby he might make his approaches the more facile and assured which when by the labour of many hands he had performed he waited for a fi● time wherein to put in execution what he had designed For he had left in each of the Trenches towards the River certain Banks or Heads uncut till he saw his opportunity Now Belshazzar finding neither any want or weakness within the City nor any possibility for his enemies without to approach the Walls by reason of the great River that surrounded them he prepared an exceeding sumptuous Feast Publick Plays and other Pastimes and thereto invited a Thousand of his Princes or Nobles besides his Wives Courtezans and others of that Trade This he did either to let the Besiegers know that his Provisions were sufficient not onely for all needfull uses but even for superfluity and excess Or because he hoped that his enemies by this time were discouraged and even broken under their manifold disasters Or else he made this Feast in Honour of Bell his most adored Idol or lastly because it was his Birth or Coronation Day Or for many or most of these respects Yea he was not contented to use and shew such Magnificence as no Prince else could Equall but he listed up himself against the God of Heaven Dan. 5. 23. For he his Princes his Wives and his Concubines made Carousing Cups of the Golden and Silver Vessels which his Grandfather Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the Temple which was at Jerusalem and in contempt of the Lord of Heaven he praised his own Puppets made of Gold and Silver and Brass and Iron and Wood and Stone Whilst Belshazzar was thus tryumphing and had his brains well filled with vapours he beheld a hand which by Divine power wrote upon the Wall that was opposite to him certain Words which he understood not wherewith so great a fear and amazement seized upon him that the joynts of his loins were loosed and his knees smote one against another Which Passion when he had in some measure recovered he cryed aloud to bring in the Astrologers the Chaldeans and the Southsayers promising them great rewards and the third place of Honour in his Kingdom to him that could read and expound the writing But it exceeded their Art and Skill In this disturbance and astonishment the Queen hearing what had passed came in and observing what distraction the King was in after Reverence done She used this Speech O King live for ever Let not thy thoughts trouble thee non let thy countenance be changed there is a man in thy Kingdom in whom is the Spirit of the holy Gods and in the Days of thy Father light and understanding and Wisdom like the Wisdom of the Gods was found in him whom the King Nobuchadnezzar thy Father the King I say thy Father made Master of the Magicians the Astrologers the Chaldeans and the Southsayers For as much as an Excellent Spirit and knowledge and understanding in interpreting Dreams and shewing of hard Sentences and dissolving of doubts were found in the same Daniel whom the King named Belteshazzar Now let Daniel be called and he will shew the Interpretation This Queen was either the Grandmother or the Mother of Belshazzar For it appears that She was not any of the Kings Wives because She was absent from the Feast and in regard of her age past-banquetting and dancing Yet upon the report of the Miracle She came in to comfort and cheer up the King and whereas Daniel was forgotten and neglected by others of younger years and latter times this old Queen remembred well what Daniel had done in the days of Nebuchadnezzar Grandfather to this Belshazzar and kept in mind both his Religion and Divine gifts When Daniel was brought into the Kings presence he said unto him Art thou that Daniel which art of the Children of the Captivity of Judah whom the King my Father brought out of Jewry I have heard of thee that the Spirit of the Gods is in thee and that light and understanding and excellent Wisdom is found in thee and now the Wise men and the Astrologers have been brought in before me that they should read this writing and make known to me the Interpretation thereof but they could not do it And I have heard of thee that thou canst make Interpretations and dissolve doubts Now if thou canst read the Writing and make known to me the Interpretation thereof thou shalt be clothed with Scarlet and have a chain of Godl aboue thy neck and shalt be the third Ruler in the Kingdom But Daniel made answer in a far differing stile from that which he had used to his Grandfather For the evill which he had foretold to Nebuchadnezzar he wished that it might befal his enemies But to this King whose contempt of God and vicious life he hated he answered in these Words Let thy gifts be to thy self and give thy rewards to another Yet I will read the writing to the King and make known to him the Interpretation which yet before he did he shewed him the cause of Gods judgements against him and the reason of this terrible sentence whereof the King and all his Wise men were utterly Ignorant the substance whereof is this That Belshazzar forgetting Gods goodness to his Father whom all Nations feared and obeyed and yet for his Pride and neglect of those benefits as he had deprived him of his Estate and understanding so upon the acknowledgement of Gods infinite power he restored him to both again And thou his Son said he O Belshazzar hast not humbled thy heart though thou knewest all this But hast lifted up thy self against the Lord of Heaven and they have brought the Vessels of his House before thee and thou and thy Lords thy Wives and thy Concubines have drunk Wine in them and thou hast praised the gods of Silver and Gold c. and the God in whose hand thy breath is and whose are all thy ways

hast thou not Glorified Then was the part of the hand sent from him and this writing was written Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin Whereof this is the Interpretation Mene God hath numbred thy Kingdom and finished it Tekel Thou art weighted in the ballanees and art found wanting Peres Thy Kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians The very evening or Night of this Day wherein Belshazzar thus Feasted and wherein these things were done Cyrus either by his Espeials or being inspired by God himself whose Ensign he followed in these Wars finding the time and opportunity fit for him even whilst the Kings Head and the Heads of his Nobility were no less distempered with the vapours of Wine than their hearts were with the fear of Gods Judgements he caused all the Banks and Heads of his Trenches to be opened and cut down with all speed and diligence whereby that great River Euphrates was quickly drawn dry and himself with his Army passing through the Channell which was now dry without any opposition they easily made their entrance into the City finding none to disturb them Invadunt urbem somno Vinoque sepultam All the Town lay buried in Wine and Sleep and such as came in the Persians way were put to the Sword unless they saved themselves by flight as some did who ran away crying and filled the Streets with an uncertain tumult Such of the Assyrian Lords as had formerly revolted from Belshazzar to Cyrus did now conduct a Selected company to the Kings Pallace which being easily forced by them they rushed strait into the Chamber where the King and his Princes were Banquetting and there slew both him and them without mercy who strove in vain to keep those lives which God had newly threatened to take away Now was that prophesie fulfilled Jer. 51. 30 31 32. The mighty men of Babylon have forborn to fight they have remained in their Holds their might hath failed they became as women they have burnt their dwelling places Her barrs are broken One Post shall run to meet another and one messenger to meet another to shew the King of Babylon that his City is taken at one end And that the passages are stopped viz. of the River Euphrates and the Reeds they have burnt with fire and the men of War are affrighted The Prophet Isay also two hundred years before this subversion of Babylon in his forty seventh Chapter and elsewhere describeth this destruction so feelingly and lively as if he had been present both at the terrible slaughter there committed and had seen the great and unseared change and calamity of this great Empire Yea and had also heard the sorrows and bewallings of every surviving Soul thereunto subject which Prophesie he begins with these words Come down and sit in the dust O Virgin daughter of Babylon sit on the Ground there is no Throne O daughter of the Chaldeans For thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate c. And though it cannot be doubted that God used Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans as his Instruments to punish the Idolatry and wickedness of the Jews yet did he not forget that in the Execution of Gods Judgements they had used much rigour and extremity as we see Isay 47. 6. I was wroth with my People I have polluted mine Inheritance and given them into thine hand Thou didst shew them no mercy Vpon the Ancient hast thou very heavily laid the Yoke and again I will rise up against them saith the Lord of Hosts and will cut off from Babel the Name and the remnant and the Son and the Nephew Meaning Evilmerodach and Belshazzar And again Isay 13. 15 c. Every one that is found shall be thrust thorow and every one that is joyned to them shall be slain with the Sword their Children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes their Houses shall be spoiled and their Wives ravished Behold I will stir up the Medes against them which shall not regard Silver and as for Gold they shall not delight in it their Bowes also shall d●sh the young men to pieces and they shall have no pitty on the fruit of the Womb their eye shall not spare children And Babylon the Glory of Kingdoms and beauty of the Chaldees excellency shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah c. Read also Chapter fourteenth No Historian that was either present at this Victory of Cyrus or that received the report from others truly as it was could better describe and leave the same to posterity after it was acted than Isay hath done in many parts of his Prophesie which were written two hundred years before any of these things were attempted The Greatness and Magnificence of Babylon were it not by divers grave Authours recorded might seem altogether Fabulous For it is reported for truth that one part of the City knew not that the other was taken three days after which is not impossible if we consider the vast Circumference of it Diodorus Siculus saith that it was in compass three hundred and sixty Furlongs which make forty five Miles The Walls were so thick that six Chariots might pass in front thereon and they were three hundred sixty and five Foot high and were adorned and beautified with one hundred and fifty Towers Strabo gives a greater circuit adding twenty five Forlongs more to the former compass reckoning it at three hundred eighty five Furlongs which makes forty eight Miles and one Furlong Herodotus finds the compass yet to be greater namely four hundred and eightty Furlongs in circuit the thickness of the Wall he measures at fifty Cubits and the height at two hundred of the same Regall Cubits For entrance it had a hundred Gates of Brass with Posts and Hooks to hang them on of the same Mettall and therefore did the Prophet Isay rightly intitle Babylon The Princess and Glory of Kingdoms Isay 47. 5. 13. 19. But when Cyrus had won her he stript her out of her Princely Robes and made her a slave dividing not onely her goodly Houses and her whole Territory with all the Riches therein contained amongst his Souldiers but also bestowed the Inhabitants themselves as Bondslaves upon those that had taken possession of their goods Cyrus having obtained this great and Signall Victory the glory of which was a reward for his service done for him who was the Authour of it and of all goodness and thereby translated the Empire of the Chaldeans to himself according to the Prophesies which went afore of him in this first year of his Empire he made a Decree that the Captive Jews should return again into their own Country of Judea and that they should build again the House of God in Jerusalem having now endured and finished the seventy years Captivity foretold by the Prophet Jeremy The tenour of which Decree was thus Thus saith Cyrus King of Persin The Lord God of Heaven hath given me all

the Kingdoms of the Earth and hath charged me to build him an House at Jerusalem which is in Judah Who is there among you of all his People Let his God be with him and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and build the House of the Lord God of Israel He is God which is at Jerusalem And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth let the men of his place help him with Silver and with Gold and with goods and with Beasts besides the free-will Offering for the House of God that is in Jerusalem Ezra 1 2 3 4. He also brought forth and restored the Vessels of the House of the Lord which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of the Temple at Jerusalem and had put them into the House of his gods These were brought forth and numbred unto Sheshbazzar the Prince of Judah and this is the number of them Thirty Charges of Gold a thousand Chargers of Silver nine and twenty Knives thirty Basins of Gold Silver Basins of a second sort four hundred and ten and of other vessels a thousand All the vessels of Gold and Silver were five thousand and four hundred The number of Jews that then returned out of Chaldea under their Leader Zorobabel the Son of Salathiel and Nephew to King Jeconias and Joshua the Son of Josedech the High Priest were about fifty thousand And as soon as they arrived at Jerusalem they built an Altar to the living God and sacrificed thereon according to their Law and afterwards bethought themselves how to prepare materials for the building of the Temple Cyrus having set all things in order at Babylon returned through Media into Persia to his Father Cambyses and his Mother Mandanes who were yet living and from thence returning again into Media he married the only Daughter and Heir of Cyaxares and for Dowry had the whole Kingdom of Media given him with her And when the Marriage was finished he presently went his way and took her with him and coming to Babylon from thence he sent Governours into all his Dominions Into Arabia he sent Megabyzus into Phrygia the greater Artacaman into Lydia and Jonia Chrysantas into Caria Adusius into Phrygia Helle spontiaca or the less Pharmichas But into Cilicia Cyprus Paphlagonia he sent no Persians to Govern them because they voluntarily and of their own accord took his part against the King of Babylon yet he caused even them also to pay him Tribute Cyrus having spent one whole year with his Wife in Babylon gathered thither his whole Army consisting of one hundred and twenty Thousand Horse and two Thousand Iron Chariots and six hundred Thousand Footmen and having furnished himself with all necessary provisions he undertook that journey wherein he subdued all the Nations inhabiting from Syria to the Red Sea The time that Cyrus enjoyed in rest and pleasure after these great Victories and the attainment of his Empire is generally agreed upon by all Chronologers to have lasted only seven years In which time he made such Laws and Constitutions as differ little from the Ordinances of all wife Kings that are desirous to establish a Royal power to themselves and their Posterity which are recorded by Xenophon The last War and the end of this Great King Cyrus is diversly written by Historians Herodotus and Justine say That after these Conquests Cyrus invaded the Massagets a very Warlike Nation of the Scythians Governed by Tomyris their Queen and that in an encounter between the Persians and these Northern Nomades Tomyris lost her Army together with her Son Spa●gapises that was the Generall of it In revenge whereof this Queen making new levies of men of War and prosecuting the War against Cyrus in a second sore Battel the Persians were beaten and Cyrus was taken Prisoner and that Tomyris cut off his Head from his Body and threw it into a Bowle of blood using these words Thou that hast all thy time thirsted for blood now drink thy fill and satiate thy self with it This War which Metasthenes calls Tomyrique lasted about six years But more probably this Scythian War was that which is mentioned before which Cyrus made against the Scythians after the Conquest of Lydia according to Ctesias who calleth Tomyris Sparetha and makes the end of it otherwise as you may see before The same Ctesias also recordeth that the last War which Cyrus made was against Amarhaus King of the Derbitians another Nation of the Scythians whom though he overcame in Battel yet there he received a wound whereof he died three days after Strabo also affirmeth that he was buried in his own City of Pasagardes which himself had built and where his Epitaph was to be read in Strabo's time which he saith was this O vir quicunque es undecunque advenis neque enim te adventurum ignoravi Ego sum Cyrus qui Persis Imperium constitui pusillum hoc Terrae quo meum tegitur Corpus mihi ne invideas O thou man whosoever thou art and whensoever thou comest for I was not ignorant that thou shouldst come I am Cyrus that founded the Persian Empire Do not envy unto me this little Earth with which my Body is covered When Alexander the Great returned from his Indian Conquests he visited Pasagardes and caused this Tomb of Cyrus to be opened either upon hope of great Treasure supposed to have been buried with him or upon a desire to honour his dead Body with certain Ceremonies when the Sepulchre was opened there was found nothing in it save an old rotten Target two Scythian Bows and a Sword The Coffin wherein his Body lay Alexander caused to be covered with his own Garment and a Crown of Gold to be set upon it Cyrus finding in himself that he could not long enjoy the World he called unto him his Nobility with his two Sons Cambyses and Smerdis and after a long Oration wherein he assured himself and taught others about the immortality of the Soul and of the punishments and rewards following the ill and good deservings of every man in this life He exhorted his Sons by the strongest Arguments he had to a perpetuall Concord and agreement Many other things he uttered which makes it probable that he received the knowledge of the true God from Daniel whilst he Governed Susa in Persia and that Cyrus himself had read the Prophesie of Isay wherein he was expresly named and by God preordained for the delivery of his People out of Captivity which act of delivering the Jews and of restoring of the holy Temple and the City of Jerusalem was in true consideration the Noblest-work that ever Cyrus performed For in other actions he was an Instrument of Gods Power used for the chastising of many Nations and the establishing of a Government in those parts of the world which yet was not to continue long But herein he had the favour to be an Instrument of