Jerusalem's captivities lamented, or, A plain description of Jerusalem

Jeruſalem's Captivities Lamented:

OR, A

PLAIN DESCRIPTION

OF

J E R U S A L E M.

From Joſhua's time to the Year 1517, both from Scripture and ancient Hiſtory.

I. The antiquity of the city, and number of inhabitants, with the depth and breadth of the trenches, height of the wlals, and the number of the towers that ſtood thereon.

II. The greatneſs of the people, and glory of the Sanctum Sanctorum, or the Holy of Holies; with a deſcription of the birth, life, and death of our bleſſed SAVIOUR, and the miraculous wonders that happened about that time.

III. The ſad and lamentable deſtruction and doſolation of Jeruſalem, by fire, ſword, famine and peſtilence.

EDINBURGH;

PRINTED AND SOLD BY J. MORREN,

Eaſt Campbell's Clofe, Cowgate.

A

PLAIN DESCRIPTION

OF

JERUSALEM.

JERUSALEM was a principal city in Joſhua's time, when Adonibezek was king, who was ſlain by him; yet the Jebuſites held it for four hundred years after, till David won it; though the inhabitants boaſted that their blind and their lame would defend it, 2 Sam. v. 6. David ſtrengthened it with a caſtle, and beautified it with palaces; after this, Solomon enlarged it, and further beautified and fortified it; the palace gates and walls could not be matched in all the world. It had within the walls one hundred and fifty thouſand inhabitants, beſides women and children.

The trenches about it were ſixty feet deep cut out of the rock, and two hundred and fifty broad. Not long after Shiſhak king of Egypt took, it, and became maſter of Solomon's riches, and of all king David's ſpoil, which he had taken from many nations, 2 Kings xiv. It was again plundered and part of the wall broken down by Joaſh king of Iſrael, in Amaziah's reign, 2 Kings xvi. Not long after, Ahas, the 14th king of Judah, impoveriſhed the temple, to preſent Tiglath-pilnezer with the treaſures thereof, and Mannaſſeh loſt what remained, 1 Chron.5.

And Nebuchadnezzar laid this glorious city with the temple, palace walls and towers, even with the ground, 2 Kings xix. After eighteen months ſiege, in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the ninth day of the fourth month which was in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, the princes of Babylon ſurprized and took this brave city: preſently after Nebuzar-aden, general of the Babylonian army, commanded by Nebuchadnezzar, ſpoiled the temple, carrying away the veſſels of gold and ſilver, and the great laver, given by king Solomon, and burnt the temple the firſt day of the next month, which was twenty-one days after the ſurpriſal, 470 years, ſix months, and ten days after the foundation; 963 years, ſix months and ten days after the departure of the people out of Egypt; 1760 years, and ſix months after the flood; 3516 years ſix months, and ten days after the creation. Thus, and then was the city of Jeruſalem taken, and for ſeventy years the Jews remained in this captivity.

It was built again by Nehemiah, 2 Chron. i, ii, iii, iv. The temple and city was ſpoiled again by Burgoſes, lieutenant to Artaxerexes, then by Ptolemeus the firſt, then by Antiochus Epiphaneos, and again by Appollonius' deputy; after which, it was taken by Pompey, and robbed by Craſſus, in his Parthian expedition. Yet all the loſſes the temple and city ſuſtained, were repaired by Herod the Great, who enlarged the city, newbuilt the temple, and left it both ſtately and glorious; It was compaſſed with three ſtrong walls, the third wall had ninety towers, the ſecond wall had fourteen, and the old wall had ſixty. Agrippa built a fourth wall ten cubits high, but did not finiſh it, leſt Claudius Caeſar ſhould think he deſigned to rebel; yet the Jews afterwards built it twenty cubits high, and raiſed a battlement two cubits; and built three towers thereon: all their towers were built of white marble, each ſtone being twenty cubits long, ten broad and five thick, ſo curiouſly joined, that they ſeemed but one ſtone, and the compaſs of the city from the north to the weſt, was forty-three furlongs

Within the city was the King's palace, ſurpaſſing all in the world for largeneſs and workmanſhip, environed with a wall, which was thirty cubits high, adorned with towers, and beautified with houſes to an hundred of the nobility; and in every room were many veſſels of gold and ſilver, and porches adorned with curious pillars, and many pleaſant walks, with all manner of trees and fountains, which ſpouted out water, with ciſterns and brazen ſtatues, from which water run continually.

The temple was built upon a rocky mountaid, and the place at the top, was not at firſt big enough for the temple and court. the hill being very ſteep, but the people every day brought earth thither, and they at laſt made it plain and large enough, with wonderful curioſity and labour, encloſed with three walls, which were many days labour, with the coſt of all the holy treaſure offered to God from all parts; the foundation of the temple was laid three hundred cubits deep; the porches were double ſupported by many pillars twenty cubits high, all of one piece of marble; the tops of cedar ſo exactly wrought, as aſtoniſhed beholders, the porches were thirty cubits broad, and the compaſs of the temple was ſix furlongs: The courts were curiouſly paved and wrought with all ſorts of ſtones, and the gates were covered with weighty plates of gold, only one with Corinthian braſs, which for beauty excelled the others, dazzling the eyes of the ſpectators.

Then the Sanctum Sanctorum, or Holy of Holies, ſituated in the midſt, had twelve ſtairs to go up to it, the fore-part of it was an hundred cubits high, and as many broad, and backwards it was forty cubits on each ſide. It had as it were two ſhoulders twenty cubits high, and twenty-five wide, and had no doors, to ſhew that heaven was always open. All the fore parts were gilded within and covered with fine gold, the inner part was divided into two rooms, whereof the firſt only might be ſeen, which was in height ninety cubits in length forty and in breadth twenty. Round about the wall was a golden vine, whereon hung grapes in cluſters, being ſix feet long; it had golden gates fifty-five cubits high, and ſixteen broad, and curious hangings of the ſame length, wrought with purple, velvet, ſcarlet, and ſilk. All the fabric was ſo exquiſite and rich, that none could imagine any workmanſhip to be wanted, for it was all covered with maſſy plates of gold, which aſtoniſhed the beholders; the top alſo was ſet with rods of gold, ſharp at the ends, leſt birds ſhould ſit thereon, and defile the holy place.

Our SAVIOUR was born in the year of the world 4004. and in the 43d year of Auguſtus Caeſar; many remarkable things were ſeen in the heavens, which cauſed the wiſe men to conclude, that ſome more than an ordinary perſon would appear upon the earth: The learned thought it to be Auguſtus Caeſar, who then reigned proſperouſly: but others thought it to be he whom the prophet Iſaiah ſpeaks of, that would have the government on his ſhoulders, even the Saviour of the world, whom the Evangeliſts mention, that the angels declared to the ſhepherds, and the ſtar directed the wiſe men of the eaſt to find out the place of his birth. So that

As the new earth with a new ſun was bleſt
So heaven with a new glorious ſtar was dreſt.

At Chriſt's birth, the temple at Rome, dedicated to the god Pan, fell to the earth; and when it was built, the Romans addreſsed the oracle of Appolla, to know how long it ſhould endure; who anſwered, "Till a Virgin ſhould bring forth a ſon," which they judged impoſſible, therefore they believed that their temple ſhould laſt eternally.

The night that Chriſt was born, there appeared in Spain at midnight, a cloud with ſo great a light, that it ſeemed like mid-day. St, Jerom writes, that when the virgin fled with her ſon into Egypt, all the images of the God's tumbled from their alters to the very ground: and that the Oracles, or Anſwers which theſe Gods, or rather Devils, uſed to give them, ceaſed, and never anſwered afterwards.

In the firſt year after CHRIST's birth, many ſtrange things happened in Germany, and in Rome. and a terrible eclipſe of the ſun. At the twelfth year of his age he diſputed with the doctors, and at that time there appeared a terrible comet, ſo that the ſight of the ſun apparently failed, the heavens ſeemed to burn, and fire beams jell from them. In the twenty-ſecond year of his age, ſeveral bloody comets were ſeen, and the river Tiber overflowed the city of Rome.

PUBLIUS LENTULLUS' Epiſtle to Rome concerning CHRIST.

"There appeared in thoſe days a man of great virtue called JESUS CHRIST, who is yet living among us, and by the people is called a prophet; but his own diſciples call him the SON of GOD. he raiſeth the dead, cureth all manner of diſeaſes; a man of ſtature, ſomewhat tall and comely, with a reverend countenance, ſuch as the beholders may both fear and love: his hair is of the colour of a cheſnut full-ripe, and plain down almoſt to his ears, but from thence downward ſomewhat curled, but more orient of colours waving about his ſhoulders; in midſt of his head goeth a ſeam of hair, or parting, like that of the Nazarites; his forehead very plain and ſmooth; his face without ſpot or wrinkle, beautified with a comely red; his noſe and mouth ſo formed, that nothing can be reprehended, his beard thick, in colour of the hair of his head; his eyes grey, clear and quick; in reproving he is ſevere, in counſelling, courteous and fair ſpoken; pleaſant in ſpeech, mixed with gravity: it cannot be remembered that any have ſeen him laugh, but many have ſeen him weep; in proportion of body well ſhaped and ſtraight; his hands and arms very delectible to behold, in ſpeaking very temperate, modeſt and wiſe; a man, for his ſingular beauty far exceeding the ſons of men.

Within the thirty-third year of Chriſt's life he was crucified by the wicked hands of the Jews, which cauſed many miracles, atteſted both by Heathens and Chriſtias. At his death there was a mighty darkneſs in the day time, from ſix till nine, that is, from our twelve, to our three in the afternoon, and yet no eclipſe of the ſun, it being full moon: ſo it was contrary to the order of nature, but the power of God deprived the ſun of his light.

Dionyſius the Areopagite, being that day in Athens, and ſeeing the darkneſs, cried with a loud voice, "either the world is at an end, or the God of nature ſuffers." Then the men of Athens, being aſtoniſhed, built an alter to the UNKNOWN GOD; and afterwards St. Paul declared to them, 'That Chriſt,' who ſuffered that day, 'was the Unknown God; whereby he converted many to the Chriſtian faith.

It is likewiſe acknowledged by Plutarch, though a heathen, that after the death of Chriſt, not only the oracles of Egypt ceaſed but through all the world, for which he can give no reaſon, being ignorant of Chriſtianity; however Satan did plainly acknowledge himſelf overcome by the death of Chriſt, and could never give any anſwers afterwards.

The words of Plutarch to Emilius the orator concerning the matter are as follows,

My father coming by ſea towards Italy, and coaſting by night about an iſland not inhabited called Paraxis: when moſt in the ſhip were at reſt, they heard a fearful voice which came from that iſland, that called upon Alaman, who was pilot of the ſhip, and an Egytian born; though this voice was heard once or twice, yet no man had the courage to anſwer it till the third time when the pilot anſwered, Who is there? Who is it that calls? What would you have? Then the voice ſpake more high, and ſaid, Alaman, I require, that when you paſs the gulph of Languna, you remember to cry aloud, and make them to underſtand that be great god Pan is dead," at theſe words all in the ship were aſtoniſhed, and concluded that the pilot ſhould not take notice of the voice, nor ſtay in the gulph to utter ſuch words it they could get beyond it. Now going on their voyage, and coming to the place before mentioned, the ſhip ſtood ſtill, and the ſea was ſo calm, that they conld go no further; whereupon they reſolved, that Alaman ſhould perform his embaſſage, ſo he placed himſelf upon the poop of the ſhip and cried aloud. Be it known unto you, that the great god Pan is dead. When he had uttered theſe words, they heard many mournful cries, groans and lamentations, that continued ſome time, which ſurpriſed thoſe in the ſhip: but having a proſperous gale, they followed their courſe, arrived at Rome and told the adventure; and told Tiberius the Emperor, all the truth thereof.

It is evident that Satan in all parts was baniſhed by the death of Chriſt, and it is ſuppoſed that this god Pan is not to be underſtood only as the god of the ſhepherds, but was rather ſome maſter devil, who loſt his power and empire, as they all did at the death of Jeſus Chriſt.

About forty years after the death of Jeſus Chriſt, the Jews had many warnings ſhewn them from heaven. Before Veſpaſian came in the feaſt of weeks, the prieſt heard a man walking in the temple, ſaying, with a terrible voice, "Come, let us go away out of this place, let us make away from hence."

Now the ſigns of the Jews being come to the full height, who with cruel hands had crucified the LORD of LIFE, that innocent blood which they deſired might fall on them and their children, began now to be avenged upon them: for the civil wars were begun by Jehohanan and Simon, who deſtroyed all the corn and fruits without the city, and Jehohanan within the city raviſhed the citizens' wives and daughters, and ſhed floods of innocent blood. The citizens, being weary of this tyranny, delivered the city to Simon, thinking he would help them, but he joined the other rebel, and they reigned month about, till at all they quarrelled between themſelves.

Then there was nothing but ſlaughter and bloodſhed, ſo that the blood of the Jews ran through the ſtreets, even to the temple of the LORD, like a flood: All that the ſeditious overcame they ſet their houſes on fire, ſo that they burnt fourteen hundred ſtore-houſes, that were full of corn, wine, and oil, which cauſed a ſudden famine in Jerufalem.

Thus GOD viſited the city with four plagues at once, viz. ſword, peſtilence, famine and fire: to which the fifth was added, the ruin and deſtruction of all the glorious buildings ſo that nothing but deſolation, pollution of the Temple, and all holy things, and uproar without any reſt; no help, no ſuccour, but every corner was full of howling, yelling, weeping, wailing, ſobbing, and ſighing of women, children, and aged men, ſtarving for want of bread, and others roaring in their wounds; ſo that all manner of miſeries oppreſſed the inhabitants and he was thought a happy man who was dead before that day.

At this time Veſpaſian with his army was lying in Galilee, and from thence he went to Rome to receive the Imperial Crown, and left his ſon Titus, with the half of his army to beſiege Jeruſalem, the other to tarry at Alexandria till further orders “That I ſhall do (ſaid Titus) dear father, for unto you it belongeth to command, and for me to obey.”

In the firſt year of the reign of Veſpaſian, Titus muſtered his army, and found them ſufficient for the ſiege of Jeruſalem. He then marched to Samaria, and from thence to Atelonia, thirty furlongs from Jeruſalem, where he pitched his camp, and the next day he brought his whole army to Jeruſalem a little before the feaſt of unleavened bread, which was April the 14th, ſo that an infinite number of people, who came to celebrate, were all ſhut up in the city, which raiſed a famine; oxen’s dung was ſold at a dear rate, ſo was old leather; and ſome women, for want, boiled their children and did eat them.

Now Titus approached the walls of the city, and pitched his camp upon the river Poleponina, raiſed a mount, and with a battering ram broke into the city, May 7th, and afterwards he raiſed four other mounts, and made himſelf maſter of the ſecond wall, and built twelve caſtles thereon, ſo that none could paſs in or out, whereby the famine and peſtilence raged within, and the ſword without the city, ſo that multitudes periſhed; for, from April the 14th, to July following, there were buried, by the common charge of the city, ſix hundred thouſand carcaſes, and multitudes thrown into empty houſes, and over the walls, which filled the houſes with dead bodies.

Titus intended to ſave the temple from fire, when ſome of the city was in flames, by ſetting a guard on it, but the ſeditious who raiſed the fire, ſlew every man of the guard which Titus hearing, brought his whole army thither. At that time a ſoldier of the ſeditious took a flaming fire-brand, and caſt it through the golden window into the Temple, and others ſet fire to the doors, and after the gold grew hot, the Temple began to burn, and immediately the whole fabric was in a flame, and the HOLY of HOLIES was laid open to the view of all there preſent.

This happened in the ſecond year of the reign of Veſpaſian, and the ſame month that it was burnt by Nebuchadnezzar. Titus drew his ſword to ſave the holy place, but the flames ruſhed through all parts of the Temple in a moment, ſo that none could ſave it. The Jews ſeeing all go to deſtruction before their eyes, then they threw themſelves into the flames ſaying, “Why ſhould we live any longer? Now there was no Temple." After the Holy of Holies was burnt, Titus entered it, and ſaw the glory of it and ſaid, "I well perceive that this is no other than the houſe of GOD, and the dwelling place of the KING of Heaven; The God of heaven who is God of this houſe, take vengeance on the ſeditious, whoſe heinous deeds have brought this evil upon themſelves and this holy place."

On the 7th of September. Titus commanded all the lower city to be ſet on fire, and aſſaulted the upper city, breaking over their fences, and deſtroying all before him with fire and ſword; then he commanded the city and temple to be rated to the foundation, and the ground to be forthwith plowed.——And Jehohanan and Simon were ſent priſoners to Rome, with ſeven hundred of the Jews: The book of the law, and the purple veil of the Sanctuary were taken in triumph to Rome. About that time neither ſun nor moon appeared for fifteen days as Chriſt foretold, Matth. xxiv. 15.

St. Jerom writes, that in his time, on that day of the year wherein Jeruſalem was taken by the Romans, you might have ſeen aged men and women, and ſeveral other wretched people, who, with blubbered cheeks and diſhevelled hair, went howling and lamenting for the ruin of the Temple and Sanctuary, wearing and bearing in their habits and bodies, the ſad character of divine vengeance, of whom the ſoldiers exacted a fee for liberty of weeping; and they who formerly ſold the blood of Jeſus, were now forced to bay their own tears, without being pitied.

The Roman ſoldiers, being now quite ſpent with doing execution, and having a great deal more of their work yet to do, Titus ordered his men to hold their hands, ſaving only to thoſe whom they found armed, or in a poſture of reſiſtance, and to give quarters to all the reſt. But the ſoldiers went beyond their commiſſions, and put the aged and ſickly to the ſword, promiſcuouſly, with their companions; and for thoſe that were ſtrong and ſerviceable, they ſhut them up in the temple, in the women's quarter. Caeſar appointed Fronto, one of his friends and freemen to inform him of the people, and to do by them as they deſerved. As for the ruffians, and the ſeditious, that impeached one another, he had them all put to death; but for men of comely and graceful perſons, and in the prime of their youth, he reſerved them for the triumph; ſending away all above ſeventeen years of age of the remainder of them in chains into Egypt, to be employed in ſervile offices and drudgery; beſides thoſe that were diſtributed up and down the provinces for the uſe of the theatres in the quality of ſwords-men or gladiators; and all under ſeventeen he expoſed to ſale.

In the mean time, while the priſoners were under Fronto's charge, there were eleven thouſand of them ſtarved to death, betwixt the churliſhneſs of the keepers, that would give them no meat, and the ſqueamiſhneſs of their ſtomachs that would ſwallow none. But in truth the mouths were too many for the proviſions.

The numbers of priſoners in this war was ninety ſeven thouſand. The number of the dead was eleven hundred thouſand: the greater part of them Jews by nation, though not natives of Judea; For it was only a general meeting of them at Jeruſnlem, gathered together from all quarters to celebrate the feaſt of the paſſover; who were then ſurpriſed into a war. There was ſuch a prodigious multitude, and they ſo ſtraitened for lodgings that the croud firſt brought the plague into the town, and then quickly made way for a famine. The city not being capable of entertaining that vaſt body of people, if the calculation of Ceſtius may at leaſt paſs for any thingː As follows.

Nero had ſo great a contempt for the Jews, that Ceſtius made it his ſuit to the high prieſts to bethink themſelves of ſome way of numbering their people; and this he did out of a deſire to give Nero to underſtand that the Jewiſh nation was not ſo deſpicable as he imagined; ſo that they took their time to enter upon the computation, at the celebration of their paſchal feaſt; When offering up ſacrifice to be eaten afterwards, in the ninth hour of the day to die eleventh, and the ſacrifice to be eaten afterwards, in their families by ten at leaſt, and ſometimes twenty to a lamb; they reckoned upon two hundred and ſixty-ſix thouſand, five hundred oblations; which at the rate of ten to a lamb, amounted to two milions ſix hundred and ſixty-five thouſand perſons, all pure and ſound. For neither lepers, ſcorbutics, men troubled with gonnorhoeas, women in their monthly ſickneſs, or people labouring under any malignant diſtempers were admitted to any part, in this ſolemnity: No more were any ſtrangers, but what came thither for religion. So that this mighty concourſe of people from abroad before the ſiege, was afterwards by the righteous Providence of God, cooped up in that city, as in a priſon: And the number of the ſlain in that ſiege, was the heavieſt judgment of that kind that ever was heard of. Some were killed openly, others kept in cuſtody by the Romans, who ſearched the very ſepulchres and vaults for them, and put all they found alive to the ſword. There were upwards of two thouſand that had either laid violent hands of themſelves, or killed one another by conſent; beſides thoſe that perished by the famine. The putrid corruption of dead bodies ſent out a vapour to poiſon as many as came within the reach of it. Some were not able to endure it, and ſo went out of the way; others had their hearts ſo ſet upon booty, that they rifled the very carcaſes, and trampled upon the dead bodies as they lay ſoaking in their corruption: but avarice ſticks at nothing. They brought out ſeveral priſoners alſo that the two tyrants had laid in chains there; for they kept up their cruelty to the laſt: but God's juſtice overtook them both in the end; for John and his brethren in the vaults were now driven by the diſtreſs of an unſupportable hunger, to beg that mercy of the Romans, which they had ſo often deſpiſed: And Simon, after a long ſtruggle with an inſupportable neceſſity, delivered up himſelf. The latter being reſerved for the triumph, and the former mode priſoner for life. The Romans after this burnt the remainder of the city, and threw down the walls.

The power of God on the one hand; and his goodneſs on the other, was very remarkable on this occaſion: for the tyrants ruined themſelves, by quitting thoſe holds of their own accord, that could never have been taken but by famine; and this after the Jews had ſpent ſo much time to no purpoſe upon other places of leſs value. By theſe means, the Romans became maſters of three impregnable forts by fortune, that could never have been taken any other way: For the three famous towers before mentioned were proof againſt all battery.

Upon Simon and John's quiiting theſe towers; or rather, upon their being driven out of them, by the impulſe of judicial infatuation, they haſtened away to the vale of Siloa, where they took breath a while, and after ſome recollection, and refreſhment, they gave an aſſault to the new wall there: But ſo faint and weak, that the guard beat them off: for between fatigue, deſponpency, dread, and miſery, their ſtrength failed them, and they were then ſcattered ſeveral ways in ſinks and gutters.

The ſoldiers were now broken looſe all over the town, up and down in the ſtreets, with their ſwords drawn; killing all that fell in their way without diſtinction; and burning intire houſes, and whatever was in them, in one common flame. In ſeveral places where they entered to ſearch for pillage, they found whole families dead, and houſes crammed with hunger-ſtarved carcaſes: So that upon the horror of ſo hidious a ſpectacle, they came out again empty-handed: but the compaſſion they had for the dead, made them not one jot tenderer to the living; for they ſtabbed every man they met, till the narrow paſſages and alleys were choaked up with carcaſes; ſo that the channels of the city ran blood as if it had been to quench the fire. In the evening they gave over killing, and at night they fell afreſh to burning.

The eighth of the month Gorpieus put an end to the conflagration of Jeruſalem, (A. D. 70.) and if all the bleſſings it ever enjoyed, from the foundation of it, had been but comparable in proportion to the calamities it ſuffered in this ſiege, that city had been undoubtedly the envy of the world. But the greateſt plague of all came out of its own bowels; in that infernal race of vipers that it brought forth to eat out the belly of the mother.

While Titus was now taking a view of the ruins of this glorious city: the works, the fortifications, and eſpecially the turrets, which the tyrants had ſo ſottiſhly abandoned: While Caeſar, I ſay, was entertaining himſelf in the contemplations of the height, dimenſions, and ſituations of theſe towers; the deſign, workmanſhip, and curioſity of the fabric, with the wonderful contrivance of the whole: He let fall this expreſſion, "Well, ſays he, If God had not fought for us, and with us, we could never have been maſters of theſe forts. It was God in fine, that aſſiſted us and that fought againſt the Jews; for this was not an undertaking to be compaſſed with hands or machines."

This was in fine the iſſue of the ſiege: And when the ſoldiers had neither rapine nor blood-ſhed for their ſpleen to work upon (as they would not have been idle, if they had had matter) Titus ordered them to lay the city and temple level with the ground; and to leave nothing ſtanding, but the three famous turrets, Paſael, Hippicos, and Mariamne, that overtopped all the reſt; and a piece of wall to the weſtward of the town, where he deſigned a garriſon. The towers to remain as ſo many monuments to poſterity, of the Romans' power and conduct in taking them. This order was puctually executed and all the reſt laid ſo flat, that the place looked as if it had never been inhabited. This was the end of the Jeruſalem faction; a mad and ſeditious people: and alſo the end of the moſt glorious city in the univerſe.

What is here chiefly remarkable is this; that no foreign nation ever came thus to deſtroy the Jews at any of their ſolemn feſtivals, from the days of Moſes till this time; but came now upon their apoſtacy from God, and diſobedience to him. Nor is it poſſible, in the nature of things, that in any other nation ſuch vaſt numbers ſhould be gotten together, and periſh in the ſiege of any one city whatſoever, as now happened in Jeruſalem.

Thus was Jeruſalem taken and utterly deſtroyed, in the ſecond year of Veſpaſian, and on the eight day of the month Gorpieus; having been five times taken before, i. e. by Azchaeus king of Egypt: Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria; Pompey and Herod, with Sofius; who did all preſerve the city after it was taken. But Nebuchadnezzor the king of Babylon, laid it waſte one thouſand three hundred and ſixty years, eight months, and ſix days, after the building of it.

The firſt founder of it was a Canaanitiſh prince called Melchizedec, which in the Hebrew language ſignifies a juſt king; for ſuch was he in an eminent manner. He firſt dedicated the city to God; erected a temple in it, and officiated in the quality of prieſt, giving it the name of Jeruſalem, which before was called Solyma,

When David, the king of the Jews, came afterwards to drive out the Canaanites, he planted his own people there: and in four hundred and ſeventy-ſeven years, and three months after this, it was laid waſte by the Baylonians.

From the reign of David there, to the deſtruction of the city by Titus, it was one thouſand one hundred and ſeventy-nine years; and two thouſand one hundred and ſeventynine from the foundation of it. But neither the antiquity, wealth, fame, nor the honour of the religion itſelf, was any ſecurity againſt the appointments of Fate: and thoſe who afterwards ſaw it could not believe that ever there had been ſuch a city there; yet the deſpiſed Jews begged leave to build part of the city, but after ſixty-five years, when they began to revolt, then Elius Adrianus the Emperor, ſlew many thouſands of them; and when his fury was over, he took one part of the city within the wall, Mount Calvary and Chriſt's ſepulchre, and made a ſpacious city which he called after his own name, Selia Capitolia, which was inhabited by all nations, but moſt by Chriſtians for five hundred years; and in ſix hundred and thirty-nine, it was taken by the Egyptians and Saracens who held it four hundred years; and in one thouſand and thirty nine it was regained by Godfrey Bollogn, who, being elected king, refuſed to be crowned with a crown of gold, where CHRIST was crowned with a crown of thorns: It continued to him and his ſucceſsors eighty-eight years. till in one thouſand one hundred and twenty-ſeven, it was taken by Saladine king of Egypt; and in one thouſand five hundred and ſeventeen, the Turks took it (who are ſtill maſters of it) and called it in their own language, Gunembare, or the Holy of Holies.

F I N I S.