turned it for a time into the temple of Iupiter that keepeth hospitality Sure I am the Samaritans practised small hospitality in the countrey hereabouts denying to give our Saviour entertainment in their towns because he was going to Ierusalem The truth is this temple was destroyed somewhat before the time of our Saviour by Iohn Hyrcanus after it had flourished above two hundred years but when the temple was taken away the mountain remained in which the Samaritans continued their adoration We conclude all with the words of the son of Sirach There be two manner of nations which my heart abhorreth and the third is no nation They that sit upon the mountains of Samaria and they that dwell amongst the Philistines and that foolish people that dwell in Sichem Meaning by the first the Idolatrous by the last the hereticall Samaritans who indeed were no distinct nation as Leopards and mules are properly no creatures but a mixture of Iews and heathen blended together § 41. Expect not here from me as alien from our work in hand any arguments against their presumption who have dared to compare yea prefer the Samaritan Pentateuch for authenticalness before the Hebrew Originall For three things saith Solomon the earth is disquieted and the fourth it can not bear namely an handmaid that is heire to her mistress How much more intolerable then is it when a translation which is or ought to be the dutifull servant to the originall shall presume her mistress being extant and in presence to take the place and precedency of her As here apographum doth of the autographum when the Samaritan transcript is by some advanced above the canonicall copy in the Hebrew All I will adde is this that to the Iews 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were committed the oracles of God and to give them their due they were carefull preservers thereof being never reproved by our Saviour though often for false-glosses thereon of any forgery in corrupting depraving or altering the Letter of the text whereas no such trust appears delivered to the charge of the Samaâ—itans In a word such as defend that the Pentateuch coming from the hereticall not to say apostate Samaritans is purer then that in Hebrew transmitted to us from the Iews in that age the onely true Church of God in the world may with as much truth maintain that breath proceeding from putrefied and corrupted lungs is more healthfull and wholesome then what cometh from vitals sound and entire § 42. Shechem which we lately mentioned lay betwixt the aforesaid mountains a place stained with many treacherous practises which were acted therein Here Dinah went out to see the daughters of the land so to please her fancy with gazing on forein fashions O where was the tent wherein her great-grand-mother Sarah lived that now she had left it Where was the vaile wherewith her grand-mother Rebekah covered her face that now she had lost it Her own mother Lâ—ahs eyes which were weak and tender those worse were better then Dinahs which were wanton and wandring She sees and is seen and is lik'd â—nd lusted after and whether by force or fraud defiled and still passionately affected contrary to what commonly happens that the snuffe of lust goes out in the stink of loathing Yea Shechem was so honest in his dishonesty that he desired to make Dinah the best amends he could give or she receive and on any rate went about to purchase the vine to himself so to colour a title to those unripe grapes which he had snatched from it The agreement is made on condition all the Shechemites should be circumcised which done on the third day when commonly wounds are more painfull then when first given Simeon and Levi kill all the males of the city and the rest of their brethren fall on the spoile thereof § 42. Long after Abimelech the base-born and bloody-minded son of good Gedeon was by the Shechemites his towns-men by his mothers side here at the stone in the plain made King of Iâ—rael whilest Iotham which of his seventy brethren had onely escap'd his cruelty from the top of mount Gerizim uttered his parable of the Bramble kinging it over the trees of the wood Bramble which he applied so home to the men of Shechem that for the present he left the pricks thereof in the ears of his auditours the pain whereof they found and felt afterwards in their hearts when God put a spirit of discord betwixt them and Abimelech § 43. We finde not the particular cause but the effects of the discord betwixt them Insomuch that Abimelech sacked the city of Shechem and sowed it with salt A formality usuall in that age in execration of peoples perfidiousness but whence fetching its originall it is hard to decide I dare not say in imitation of God himself who when he destroyed the wicked cities of Sodome and Gomorrah turned the fruitfull vales wherein they stood into the salt-sea in token of their perpetuall desolation Sure I am the custome hath been imitated in these western parts For Frederick Barbarossa for some affronts offered to his Empress by those of Millan razed the city and sowed it with salt § 44. The Shechemites retreated into the house of Baal-berith their God hoping in vain to make it good for their defence For Abimelech fetching fuell from the neighbouring mountain of Zalmon whence the Psalmist fetched his expression of spotless purity white as snow in Zalmon which commonly candied the top of this mountain being the Jewish Albion and firing the tower of the Temple slew therein a thousand men and women Then no doubt the house of Millo was destroyed which I take not for any building in the city of Shechem though there was a fair street of that name in Ierusalem but for a potent and puissant family therein as the house of the Fuggers in Auspurge who first advanced Abimelech and sought when too late to suppress But the weaker sexe revenged on Abimelech his cruelty to them when besieging the tower of Thebez which we conceive hard by Shechem having no other indication but this single mention for the posture thereof a woman broke his brain-pan with a piece of a milstone § 45. Though not the salt which was sown yet the city of Shechem grew up again to its former greatness Hither repaired Rehoboam for the people to make him King One may haply sent Ieroboams policy his hand in appointing the place in his own Tribe of Ephraim where his party was most puissant who intending to run a race with Rehoboam for a Crown chose out the ground most advantageous for himself Here the people presented Rehoboam with a Petition for the mitigation of the intolerable burdens whether personall or pecuniary which Solomon imposed upon them How came he to be behind hand who was the most wealthy Prince in
And should I plead with Laban the Custome of the Countrey that it is not fashionable to give the younger before the first-born should I alledge for my self that this Book containing matter of more ancient date ought to precede the other yet this like Labans answer will be taken rather as a 〈…〉 then solid satisfaction But Reader let me plead in my just defence that if you be pleased to peruse my promise you will finde the same conditionall and not obligatory except besides other requisites there expressed Peace be first setled amongst us And indeed the subject challengeth the same seeing Truth cannot be matched to Safety in such Relations till Peace shall first contract them Now herein I make my severest Creditour my sole Iudge appealing to him whether the Premises be performed True it is we have no Wars at this instant yet we have Rumours of wars and though the former onely doth destroy the latter also doth distract Are these gloomy dayes already disclouded to use my own expression in my Promise or rather is it not true in the Scripture phrase that the clouds return after rain Indeed I am sorry that I can say so much in my own defence and should account my self happy if all other Breaches were made up and I onely to be punished for my breach of Promise Which notwithstanding all the difficulties of the subject and distractions of our days I hope in God in competent time to effect might but my endevours meet with a quiet residence and proportionable incouragement for such undertakings Mean time accept of these my Labours which by Gods blessing and the bounty of my friends are brought into the light Usefull I hope for the understanding of the Scriptures What I have herein performed I had rather the Reader should tell me at the end then I tell him at the beginning of the Book For the manifold faults herein I doubt not but the ingenuous Reader finding in Palestinee six Cities of Refuge by Gods own appointment for the safeguard of such as slew one unawares without malice prepense will of his bounty build a seventh in his own bosome for my protection when guilty of unvoluntary mistakes in so great a work If thou reapest any profit thereby give God the glory To whose providence thou art committed by Thine in Christ Iesus THO. FULLER 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 JOH RIDLEY THE GENERALL DESCRIPTION OF JUDEA CHAP. 1. The Designe asserted from causlesse Cavils § â— BEing now by Gods assistance to undertake the Description of Iudea my condition appeares not unlike to the Israelites at Kadesh-Barnea who were much pleased with the report that the Spies brought of the fruitfulnesse of the Countrey untill they told them of Ahiman Sheshai and Talmai the three sonnes of Anak which quite appaled their courage and deaded their desire thereof In the like manner whilest I am invited with severall pleasing considerations and delightfull motives to adventure on this work three Giantlike objections which must be encountred do in a manner dishearten me from further proceeding For some will lay to my charge that the description of this Countrey 1 Hath formerly been done by many 2 Cannot perfectly be done by any 3 If exactly done is altogether uselesse and may be somewhat superstitious § 2. Yet we fear not by Gods blessing and the Readers favour severally to enter the lists against them all For the first Whereas it is objected that many formerly have performed the same this cavill is not planted particularly against my indeâ—vours but is levelled against the industry of all Posterity in any future designe Solomon saith there is no new thing under the Sunne Except therefore men were Gods to create new subjects to write upon groundlesse is the first exception against us It never disheartened S. Luke to write his Gospell for as much as many had taken in hand to set it forth before Yea the former endevours of many in the same matter argue the merit of the work to be great For sure there is some extraordinary worth in that face which hath had so many Suitors Wherefore although we cannot with Columbus finde out another world and bring the first tydings of an unknown Continent or Island by us discovered yet our labours ought not to be condemned as unprofitable if setting forth an old subject in a new edition enlarged and amended This I dare say though many have written discourses without Mappes and more Mappes without discourses and some both yet so that three tribes are joined in one Mappe none have formerly in any tongue much lesse in English presented us with distinct Mappes and descriptions together § 3. But in the second place it is objected that certainty in this subject is unattainable so that the most studious therein after they have travelled the whole day through many tedious difficultieâ— must bee fain to take their hard lodging at night on a bare uncertainty The bowels of the best Mappes are puffed up with the humours of fancy and a scepticall windinesse so that a conjecturall Earthquake shakes the foundations of the strongest mountains in the point of their exact situation Such are the irreconcileable differences betwixt Geographers in their descriptions § 4. For answer I could wish that this objection also lay onely against the work in hand and might not almost equally be enforced against other liberall undertakings for he that holds a reed in one hand to mete the Topography and an houre-glasse in the other to measure the Chronology of the Scripture shall meet with as many if not more uncertainties in the latter as the former And yet the learned pains of such-as labour therein justly merit commendation If all conjecturall results should be cast out for weeds few hearbs would be left in the Gardens of most Arts and Sciences Saint Paul hath a passage We know in part and prophecy in part which is a good curb for our curiosity And the same Apostle hath a precept Prove all things hold fast that which is good which is as good a spurre for our diligence As for the differences betwixt Geographers they ought not to make us carelesse to follow any but carefull to choose the best except with the fluggards drowzie fancy we tune the Alarums to our industry to be Lullabies to our lazinesse § 5. In the last place it is objected that the designe if exactly finished amounts but to a difficult trifle hard to doe uselesse when done And who will pity the aking of his teeth who hath wilfully hurt them with cracking that shell wherein he knew was no kernell It matters not to any mans salvation to know the accurate distance betwixt Iericho and Ierusalem and he that hath climbed to the top of mount
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
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
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
so glorious a Sphere being needless when there was no Sun to shine therein Certainly this wanted 1 The two fair pillars of Iachin and Boaz broken in pieces by Nebuchadnezzar to make them the more portable to Babylon otherwise such mountains of massie brass were unmanageable till parâ—elled into many fragments past possibility of being rejointed together whilest all the lesser vessels were preserved whole and entire Thus greatness oft-times exposeth eminent persons to their own destruction whilest poverty carrieth its own protection and inferiour people are preserved by their meanness 2 The great Molten Sea which being guilty of the same crime its own overgreatness suffered the same execution with the brasen pillars 3 The fire from heaven which as in the Tabernacle so in Solomons Temple came down from heaven and consumed the burnt-offerings and the sacrifices and the glory of the Lord filled the house No spark of this fire appeared in the second Temple 4 The Pot of Manna spilt broken or lost by some accident unexpressed in Scripture 5 The Rod of Aaron which budded but now was withered away by some casualty unrecorded during the capâ—ivity of Babylon 6 The Arâ—e of the Covenant Not that we give any heed to Ieremy his Apocryphall hiding thereof in mount Nâ—â—o but wheresover it was it was not in the second Temple 7 The tâ—o tables of the Law written by Gods own finger and put formerly into the Arke of the Covenant Here for the main we may observe that the Holy of â—olies in this second Temple was left altogether empty and unfurnished Such avoidance of the Utensils thereof being purposely made to make room for the coming of our Saviour the true High-priest who with his gracious presence filleth all in all § 3. As for the Oracle if it were present in this Temple in substance it was absent in effect because dumbe and speechless as Iosephus both ingenuously 〈◊〉 and conscienciously rendereth a reason thereof affirming that the stones therein ceased to send forth their wonted splendour by which formerly answers were returned two hundred years befoâ—e he wrote his book God being angry â—ith his people for their preâ—ariâ—ation from his law And thus this second Temple was â—s in her strucâ—ure so in her ornaments much 〈◊〉 to that first of Solomo◠〈◊〉 § 4. All these defects notwithstanding in one eminent respect this Temple equalled yea excelled Solomons according to the Prophets prediction The glory of this latter house shall be greater then of the former saith the Lord of hosts and in this place will I give peace â—aith the Lord of hosts so that in a mysticall respect the pavement of this was higher then the roof of the other For hereon our Saviour when a child was presented to the Priests when a youth disputed with the Doctours when a man wrought many miracles preached many Sermons teaching within and tempted without the Temple on a pinnacle thereof In a word Solomons Temple like Mans originall creation in purity and perfection was most glorious in it self this latter like our state of regeneration which though full of faults failings wants weaknesses in comparison of the former yet outstrips it in Gods graâ—ious acceptance thereof crowning it with perseverance here and happiness hereafter § 5. So much for the Temple it self which also was guarded with Courts attending the same Witness Nehemiah reporting how at the feast of Tabernacles the people to testifie their joy made themselves booths or arbours in the Courts of the house of God But whereas Ezâ—a mentioneth the street of the house of God whither all the people repaired being about to reforme their strange marriages I take this to be no part or parcell of the structure of the Temple but some fair street in Ierusalem leading thereunto as Temple-gate and street in Bristol so termed because in passage to the fair Church called the Temple therein § 6. Let not the Reader here expect from me a draught of Zorobabels Temple For besides that already I have dipped my fingers deep enough in holy mortar when describing Solomons Temple we have nothing out of Scripture for the particular fashion thereof To frame it therefore according to conjecturall fancies would be as much offensive to any consciencious writer as little satisfactory to the judicious Reader thereof Onely in lieu of Zorobabels we present here the Herodian Temple and all the Courts thereof the same in all essentials with Zorobabels as Herod rebuilt it although the story thereof be incumbred with many improbabilities which we come now to relate CHAP. V. Herod saith Josephus plucked down and 〈◊〉 built Zorobabels Temple § 1. IT is strange how the worst of Tyrants sometimes stumble on eminent actions doing such works as might beseem beâ—ter men to be the authours thereof Either out of the love of variety that being long wearied with a constant course of wickedness they adventure on some commendable deeds meerly for recreation Or else onely se defendendo for their own security to fence themselves against the too just assault of peoples tongues hoping in vain by one good to make amends for many evill deeds they have committed Some such consideration put Herod the King upon the building of the Temple who as Iosephus reports plucked down Zorobabels Temple to the ground and erected a new one in the room thereof of greater art and larger dimensions § 2. But some Authors of very good account are very loth to give credence hereunto utterly denying Herod to have built and lanched a new vessell of a Temple although allowing him to have carined new rigged and repaired the old and especially the south-porch thereof They conceive this third Temple meerly modelled and made by the fancy of Iosephus as which never had other then paper-wals inke-mortar and quil-timber in his book-description thereof Yea are bold to call it commentum figmentum fabulam and in downright terms mendacium the flat lie of Iosephus § 3. For mine own part after very much reluctancy I am at last contented to credit Iosephus herein though willingly I could have wished that some other ancient Authour of his own age had avouched the same that so in the mouth of two witnesses this truth might have been established For this is that same Iosephus whom the great Scaliger charactereth Diligentissimum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 omnium Scriptorum cujus fides eruditio in omnibus elucet And although we come not just up to this so high a commendation of him yet we will not suspect him of falshood in such passages wherein he dissenteth not from Scripture § 4. For first herein he himself could not be deceived in a matter notoriously known some being alive who could remember Herods building thereof And Iosephus himself had often personally officiated in this Temple in his Priestly function Nor would he deceive others by such a
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
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
retrograde now advancing in a streight line then retraiting in the same Yea surely any man would have concluded them not well in their wits untill satisfied in the true cause thereof namely that God in this their fourty years wandring meant to weare out the whole stock of that faithless generation Caleb and Ioshua onely excepted § 8. See what fourty years can doe lay six hundred thousand men in their graves and substitute a new generation in their room It is observed of Lightning that sometimes it melteth the sword and yet bruiseth not the scabbard and the reason commonly rendered is because the steel maketh opposition against it Thus God miraculously preserved their clothes and consumed their flesh their shooes waxed not old but their feet did their cases were spared and persons spilled because God therein met with so much resistance against his commands Thus the stock of that generation being wholly wasted no decrepit or decaied no impotent or infirme person entered the promised land but all able and active in the prime of their strength fit to fight to the greater terrour of their enemies And in a mysticall sense this was to shew that not the old man born in the house of bondage but onely the new regenerate creature shall enter the heavenly Canaan § 9. Come we now to describe the Israelites through this wilderness and first of their passage over the Red-sea when pursued by the Egyptians Then were they reduced to great extremity Fight they durst not being a multitude of undisciplin'd people of all ages and sexes against a regulated army of their enemies fly they could not having the sea before the Egyptians behinde steep and unpassable hills on either side of them It was well there was nothing above betwixt them and heaven to hinder the access of Moses his prayers to God in their behalf However for the present God so ordered it that the Egyptians overtook not the camp of Israel being parted with the pillar of the cloud the first and perfect pattern of a dark-lantern dark indeed to the Egyptians but a lantern to the Israelites Then Moses by order from heaven gave the signall with his rod a strong east-winde blew and the sea miraculously retraited standing on heaps on each side of the Israelites whilest they passed through it Thus out of danger came safety the sea flanking the Israelites on both sides whose rere was secured by the pillar and front advanced far off out of danger § 10. Here the importunate cavill of Borphyrius presseth for admission alledging that Moses taking advantage of a low water unknown to the Egyptians passed the people over thereat Utterly unlikely that he being a stranger should be better acquainted with the secret ebbings of the Red-sea then the Egyptian-natives whose countrey bordered on the shores thereof beside many other improbabilities But malice must carp at the clearest truth and had rather lose her small credit in saying non-sense then great revenge in bringing nothing against it § 11. True it is they went over at the wrist of the sleeve of the sea and crossed it in the shortest place God making use not out of any need but his own meer pleasure of the narrowest cut of the sea for their more compendious passage Thus Christ went into heaven from Mount Olivet taking the advantage of the rising ground for his ascent not out of necessity but state the Lord of nature therein graciously accepting of that service which she dutifully tendred unto him And though small and short the Red-sea in this place it was big and broad enough to doe the deed and drown the Egyptians Oh! if the least joint of the little finger of the sea be so heavy how weighty are the loines of the Ocean if let loose Able in an instant to press all mankind to the pit of destruction § 12. The Egyptians follow the chace of the Israelites Strange that they left not off their pursuit at so miraculous an accident Such a road in the sea out of the road of nature seemed not to be gone in but gazed at with amazement But they thought good for one good for another and all objections to the contrary are answered in three words God hardened them Yea such whom he designeth for destruction shall mistake their funeralls for their nuptialls and dance as merrily to their graves as if they went to their wedding God first sent distraction amongst them their cripple chariots turned into carts when their fore-wheels were taken away halt on very heavily In vain did the wiser Egyptians perswade a retrait whilest the returning waters swallow all up in a moment Mean time the Israelites march fair on and recover the other side and then in a double Quire of men and women sing praises unto God for their miraculous deliverance § 13. But this musick was too good to hold long We meet with a new ditty and worse notes soon after Three days they wander without water probably sustained for food with that unleavened bread and other provision they brought with them out of Egypt See here sudden vicissitudes 1 Water they want Oh great grief 2 Water appears plenty at Marah Oh great joy 3 This water proves no water so bitter it could not be drunk Grief again and murmuring 3 The water is cured Great joy again This cure Moses effected casting by Gods direction a tree into it Thus the infusion of the least piece of Christs cross I mean a true interest in his passion will turn our bitterest afflictions in this world to become sweet and pleasant unto us From this Marah they remove to their next station at Elim famous for twelve wells of water and seventy Palme-trees as if nature had purposely produced a Well for every Tribe to drink of a Palme-tree for every eminent Elder in Israel to lodge under § 14. From Elim they removed and incamped by the Red-sea What meant their going back again Was it because in their hearts they turned back again into Egypt And therefore God in his justice would vex their wearied bodies to fetch a flexure thitherwards Or rather was it because God would have them take a second view of that sea that so their deliverance thereat might take the firmer and deeper impression in their memories Thus scholars who have once con'd their lesson by heart are set again at the weeks end to get it for their part Whatsoever was the cause sure I am they were now no nearer to the end of their race then at the first starting and these their last three removealls were but ciphers towards the account of their journey Wonder I no longer at Saint Paul and his companions in their sea-voyage when they had sailed slowly many days the winde not suffering them finding these Israelites in their land-travell after so long time moved not promoted yea going backward and the slowest snaile makes more
effectuall for others § 5. It is safest for such to insert conditionall clauses in their prayers If it may stand with Gods good will and pleasure used by the best men not to say the best in bests in their petitions Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean Such wary reservations will not be interpreted in the Court of Heaven want of faith but store of humility in such particulars where such persons have no plenary assurance of Gods pleasure Yea grant the worst that God never intended the future conversion of the Iews yet whilst he hath not revealed the contrary as in the case of Samuels mourning for Saul all mens charitable desires herein cannot but be acceptable to the God of heaven O Lord who art righteous in all thy ways and holy in all thy works we acknowledge and admire the justice of thy proceedings in blinding and hardening the Jews as for their manifold impieties so especially for stoning thy Prophets despising thy Word and crucifying the Lord of life For which thou hast caused them according to the prediction of thy Prophet to abide many days without a King and without a Prince and without a Sacrifice and without an Image and without an Ephod and without Teraphim But thou ô Lord how long How ô Lord holy and true How long Lord with thou be angry for ever Thine anger is said to endure but a Moment but Lord how many Millions of Millions of Moments are contained in sixteen hundred years since thou hast first cast off thy first and ancient people the Jews Remember Abraham Isaac and Jacob not for any merit in their persons which was none but for the mercy in thy promises which is infinite so frequently made and so solemnly confirmed unto them But oh remember the Oratour on thy right hand Christ Jesus our Lord which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh and the Oratour in thine own bosome thine essentiall and innate Clemency and let these prevaile if it may stand with thy good will and pleasure that thy people the Jews may be received into the armes of thy mercy As once by a wilfull and wofull imprecation they drew the guilt of his bloud on them and on their children so by thy free imputation drop the merit of his bloud on them and on their children For the speedying of whose conversion be pleased to compose the many different judgments of Christians into one truth to unite their disagreeing affections in one love that our examples may no longer discourage but invite them to the embracing of the true Religion Oh mollifie the hearts rectifie the wills unvaile the eyes unstop the ears of those thy people whom hitherto thou hast justly hardened Reveale to their understanding those Oracles which thou hast committed to their keeping That so our Saviour who long since hath been a light to lighten the Gentiles may in thy time be the glory of thy people Israel that so there may be one shepheard and one sheepfold Grant this ô Lord for Christ Jesus his sake to whom with Thee and the Holy Spirit be all honour and glory now and forever Amen FINIS Here followes the draught of Fragmenta Sacra Necessary directions for the use of the INDEX AN Index is the bag and baggage of a book of more use then honour even such who seemingly slight it secretly using it if not for need or speed of what they desire to finde Our Table for the better expedition is contrived into severall Columnes The first presenting the names of Scripture places within the land of Palestine If any literall difference appear not onely such as betwixt Zidon Kidron in the Old Siden and Cedron in the New Testament but concerning the same place diversly written the discretion of the Reader wil easily reconcile it Immediately after the name the addition of C. donoteth City F. Field L. Land M. Mountain Pl. Plain Ri. River Ro. Rock S. Stone St. Station of the Iews in the Wilderness T. Town V. Vaile We. Well Wi. Wilderness The second Column interprets the Hebrew names into English though great the variety of Authors in rendring their signification This party proceeds from the laxity of Hebrew words admitting sundry senses partly from the vicinity of Primitives so that the same derivative may seem to spring from two roots and be son as directly to his Father so collaterally to his Vncle I mean to words akin and alluding whence the same in probability may be deduced and this subjecteth it to much variety of interpretation In this diversity we have wholly followed Gregorius Gregorii in his Lexicon Sacrum as a work meerly expository of proper nams though some perchance will say that what is the credit of the good wife she bringeth her food from far is sometimes his discredit in his over strained and far fet derivations Expect not here from me after the meaning of the name a reason of the meaning how conformable to the nature of the place Many Townes were called so because they were called so ad placitum of the first imposer Other places when first denominated had just reason of the same but this kernell long since hath been eaten up by all-devouring time leaving nothing thereof but the huske of the empty name to posterity Now to fix the Hebrew names the better in our memory we have here and there as the propriety of our language and commodities of our Countrey will admit inserted some English Townes as Synonyma's and parallel to the Hebrew in signification The fourth Column is reserved for those texts of Scripture wherein is made either the first or most important mention of those plces As the fifth exhibits the Map wherein the same are to be found The sixth tenders to the Reader the Longitudes of most places and the rest may be supplied by proportion But oh the difference of best Authors herein As in populous Cities an houre is lost in measuring of time the lag clock about noon striking the most when the forwardest strikes the fewest so a whole degree of Longitude is swallowed up betwixt the difference of Geographers Yea so great is the uncertainty therein that in most Maps lines of Longitudes as onely for generall direction ne toto coelo errent serve to lace their Maps that they grow not without forme or fashion but are not reducible to an exact agreement More is the certainty of Latitudes the work of the next Column as greater their concernment in our Description because effectuall in the length of the days and heat of the climate in Palestine It is situated for the main betwixt thirty one and thirty four the longest day being fourteen houres and a quarter though the Iews as if it were always Equinoctiall with them divided both day and night evenly into twelve houres so that the two overplus houres and the quarter fell under the nocturnall computation As