The seuerall Sieges, Assaults, Sackings, and finall destruction of the famous, ancient, and memorable Citie of
IERVSALEM.
THe
Iustice, Mercy, and the
Might I sing
Of Heau'ns
iust, mercifull, almighty KING.
By whose fore knowledge all things were elected,
Whose power hath all things made, & all protected,
Whose
Mercies flood hath quencht his
Iustice flame,
Who was, is, shall be, one, and still the same.
Who in the Prime, when all things first began,
Made all for Man, and for himselfe made Man.
Made, not begotten, or of humane birth,
No Sire but
God, no Mother but the
Earth;
Who ne're knew Childhood, or the sucking teate,
But at the first was made a man compleat.
Whose inward Soule, in
God-like forme did shine
As Image of the Maiestie diuine.
Whose supernaturall wisdom, (beyond Nature)
Did name each sensible, and senceles creature,
And from whose
Star-like, Sand-like Generation
Sprung euery
Kinred, Kingdom, Tribe, and
Nation.
[Page]All people then, one Language spake alone,
Interpreters the world then needed none:
There liued then no learned deep
Grammarians,
There were no
Turks, no
Scithians, no
Tartarians,
Then all was one, and one was only all
The language of the vniuersall
Ball.
Then if a Traueller had gone as farre
As from the
Artick to th'
Antartick starre,
If he from
Borcas vnto
Auster went,
Or from the
Orient to th'
Occident,
Which way soeuer he did turne or winde
He had bin sure his Countrey-man to finde.
One hundred, thirty winters since the Flood
The Earth one only Language vnderstood:
Vntill the sonne of
Cush, the sonne of
Cham
A proud cloud-scaling Tower began to frame,
Trusting that if the world againe were drown'd
He in his loftie building might rest sound;
All future Floods, he purposd to preuent
Aspiring to Heau'ns glorious Battlement.
But high
Iehouah, with a puff was able
To make ambitious
Babell but a bable.
(For what is man, that he should dare resist
The great Almighties power, who in his fist
Doth gripe
Eternitie, and when he please
Can make, and vnmake, Heau'n, and Earth, & Seas:)
For in their expectation of conclusion
He plag'd them all with sundry Tongues confusion.
[Page]Such Gibrish Gible Gable all did iangle,
Some laugh, some fret, all prate, all diffring wrangle;
One calls in
Hebrew to his working Mate,
And he in Welch
Glough whee Comrage doth prate.
Another gapes in
English, or in
Scotch,
And they are answer'd in the
French or
Dutch.
Caldaicke, Siriacke, and
Arabian,
Greeke, Latin, Tuscan, and
Armenian,
The
Transiluanian, and
Hungarian,
The
Persian, and the rude
Barbarian;
All these, and diuers more then I can number
Misvnderstanding tongues did there incumber.
Thus he that sits in Heau'n their plots derided,
And in their height of pride, their tongues deuided.
For in this sudden vnexpected change
The wife and husband, Sire and sonne were strange,
The Brother could not vnderstand the Brother,
The Daughter stands amazed at hir Mother,
By euery one a seuerall part is acted,
And each vnto the other seems distracted.
Thus by the Iustice of the
Lord of
Hosts
Each seuerall tongue was driu'n to seuerall coasts,
And GOD (peculiar) to himselfe did chuse
His most beloued, yet hard-hearted
Iewes.
Iehouahs honor with them then did dwell,
His Name was only knowne in
Israel,
Salem his habitation was of yore,
In
Sion men his glory did adore,
[Page]Th'Eternall trine, and trine Eternall one
In
Iurie then was called on alone,
The sonnes of
Heber, were th'adopted stocke,
Gods onely Chosen, holy sacred flocke,
Amongst all Nations, them he only lik'd,
And for his owne vse, them he culd and pik'd;
Them his sin-killing, sauing word he gaue
T'instruct thē, what condemn'd, & what wold saue,
To them he gaue his word, his
Couenants band,
His
Patriarks, his
Prophets, and his hand
Did blesse, defend, instruct, correct, and guide
The
Iewes, and no one Nation else beside.
For them, a world of wonders hath he done,
To them, he sent his blest begotten Sonne,
On them, a Land he freely did bestow
Where milke and honie plenteously did flow,
With them, he was till they from him did turne
And wilfully against his blessings spurne,
All
heau'nly, earthly, Soules or
Bodies good
They lack'd no
temp'rall, or
eternall food.
His
Temple builded in
Ierusalem
Where he had daily sacrifice from them,
Where though their seruice, was defect and lame,
Th'
Almighties mercy did accept the same.
(For though Mans sin is great, God hath decreed
To take his best endeuour for a deed.)
And whilst they in his loue and feare abode
They were his people, he their gracious
God.
[Page]But when impieties began to breed
And ouergrow old
Iacobs sacred seed,
When they from good to bad began to fall,
From ill to worse, from worst to worst of all,
When GODS great mercies could not them allure,
And his sharp threatnings could not them procure,
When each ones body was vnto the soule
A loathsom dungeon, to a prisoner foule.
When sin (all shameles) the whole land o're spreads
Then
God threw dreadfull vengance on their heads:
And for their heynous heaping sin on sin
Ierusalem hath oft assaulted bin.
First
Shishack, Egypts King, with might and maine
Made hauock there in
Rehoboams Raigne;
The
Citie, Temple, Golden vessells, Shields,
All (as a prey) to the
Egiptians yeelds.
Next
Ioas came, the King of
Israel,
In
Amaziahs daies with furie fell;
He brought
Iudea to
Samariaes thrall,
King, Kingdom, Princes, Peeres, and people all.
Then thirdly,
Rezin King of
Aram came
In
Ahaz time, with sword and furious flame.
Th'
Assirian great
Zenach'rib was the next
By whom good
Hezekiah was perplext,
But when blasphemous
Pagans, (puft with pride)
Contemptuously the GOD of Gods defide,
The
Lord of
Lords (whom no power can withstand)
Tooke his owne gracious, glorious cause in hand.
[Page]He vsd no humane Arme, or speare, or sword,
But with his All-commanding mighty word,
One
Angell sent to grisly
Plutoes den
A hundred, eighty, and fiue thousand men.
Then fiftly was
Ierusalem subdude,
In
Iudaes blood, th'
Assirians hands imbrude,
Manasses Godles glory did expire,
All yeeld vnto th'insulting foes desire;
Vsurping Conquest all did seaze vpon,
The King in chaines-bound, sent to
Babylon,
Till he (Repenting) to his GOD did call,
Who heard his cry, and freed him out of thrall.
Then sixtly,
Pharaoh-Necho, Egipts King,
To great distresse all
Iudaes Land did bring,
With fell confusion all the Kingdom, fill'd
And (with a dart) good King
Iosias kill'd.
The Shepheard, for his wandring sheep was shooke,
The godly
Prince, from godles people tooke;
So this iust, zealous, and religious
Prince,
(Whose like scarce euer Raign'd before, or since)
Th'Almighty (to himselfe) did take agen,
As knowing him too good for such bad men.
Nabuchadnezer, next made them obay,
When
Zedekiah did the Scepter sway:
King, Kingdom, Peeres and People, all o'rethrowne,
All topsie-turuy, spoyld and tumbled downe;
The curst
Caldeans did the King surprise,
Then slew his Sons, and next pluck'd out his eyes:
[Page]Then vnto
Babilon he was conuayde,
In Chaines, in Prison, and in Darknes layde,
Till death his Corps, did from his soule deuide
He liu'd a slaue, and sadly, gladly dyde.
The
Citie, and the
Temple burnt and spoyld,
With all pollution euery place was soyld;
The holy vessels all away were borne,
The sacred Garments which the Priests had worne,
All these the
Caldies, (voide of all remorce)
Did carry vnto
Babylon, perforce.
Which, seuenty yeeres, in slauerie and much woe
They kept, and would by no meanes let them goe,
Till Persian
Cirus did Earths glory gaine,
Who freede the
Iewes, and sent them home againe:
He rendred backe their vessells and their store,
And bad them build their
Temple vp once more.
Which many yeeres in glorious state did stand
Till
Ptolomie, the King of
Egipts band
Surprisde the Iewes, and made them all obay,
Assaulting them vpon the Sabboth day.
Next after that, from Rome great
Pompey came,
And
Iudaes force, by force, perforce did tame:
Then did the
Caesars beare the earthly sway,
The vniuersall world did them obay.
And after that the Romane power did place
The Idumean
Herods graceles Grace,
Him they created
Tetrarch (demy King)
Gainst whom the
Iewes did boldly spurne and fling,
[Page]For they had sworne that none but
Dauids seed
In the seat Royall euer should succeed.
But
Sossius, and King
Herods armies strength
Did ouer-run them all in breadth and length,
By hostile Armes they did them all prouoke
To beare the burthen of their awfull yoke.
And lastly them the Romanes ouer-run
By valiant
Titus, old
Vespasians sonne;
Then fell they to an vnrecouer'd wane,
They all in generall, were or slaine or tane,
Then was the extirpation of them all,
Their iust, worst, last, most fatall, finall fall.
Thus mercy (being mock'd) pluckd iudgmēt down;
Gods fauour being scorn'd, prouokes his frowne;
Aboue all Nations he did them respect,
Below all Nations he did them deiect;
Most vnto them his fauour was addicted,
Most vpon them his furie was inflicted;
Most neere, most deere, they were to him in loue,
And farthest off his wrath did them remoue;
He blest, he curst, he gaue, and then he tooke
As they his word obayde, or else forsooke.
How oft
Iehouah seem'd his sword to draw
To make them feare his precepts and his Law,
How oft he raisd them, when they headlong fell,
How oft he pardond, when they did rebell,
How long did
Mercy shine, and
Iustice winke
When their foule crimes before
Gods face did stinke
[Page]How oft Repentance, like a pleasing sauour
Repurchasd GODS abused gracious fauour.
When he did blessings vpon blessings heape,
Then they (ingratefull) held them meane & cheape;
Their plenty made them too too much secure,
They their
Creators yoke would not endure,
They (Graceles) fell from goodnes and from grace,
And kick'd and spurn'd at Heau'ns most glorious face.
The
Prophets, and the
Seers that were sent
To warne them to amendment & repent,
They ston'd, they killd, they scorn'd, they beat, they bound,
Their goodnes to requite, their spight did wound.
The
Prophets came with loue, and purchasd hate,
They offred peace, and were returnd debate;
They came to saue, and were vniustly spilld,
They brought them life, and were vnkindly killd,
No better entertainment they afford
Vnto the
Legates of their louing Lord.
Thus were the Lab'rers in GODS
Vineyard vsde,
Thus was their loue, their care, their paines abusde;
Their toyles and trauailes had no more regard,
Bonds, death, and tortures, was their best reward.
At last th'Almighty from his glorious seat
Perceiu'd his seruants they so ill intreat,
No more would send a Prophet or a Seer
But his owne
Sonne, which he esteem'd most deere.
He left his high Tribunall, and downe came,
And for all
Glory, enterchang'd all shame,
[Page]All mortall miseries he vnderwent
To cause his loued-loueles Iewes repent;
By
Signes, by
Wonders, and by
Miracles,
By
Preaching, Parables, and
Oracles,
He wrought, and sought, their faithles faith to cure,
But euer they obdurate did endure.
Our blest
Redeemer came vnto his owne
And 'mongst them neither was receiu'd or knowne,
He whom of all they should haue welcom'd best
They scorn'd and hated more then all the rest.
The GOD of principalities and powers,
A Sea of endles, boundles mercy, showres
Vpon the heads of these vnthankfull men,
Who pay loue, hate; and good with ill agen.
Their murdrous-minded-malice neuer left
Till they the
Lord of
life, of
life bereft;
No tongue, or pen, can speake or write the storie
Of the surpassing high immortall glory
Which he (in pittie and in loue) forsooke
When he on him our fraile weake nature tooke.
To saue Mans soule, his most esteemed Iem,
And bring it to the new
Ierusalem,
From
Greatest great, to
least of least he fell
For his beloued chosen
Israel.
But they more mad then madnes, in behauiour,
Laid cursed hands vpon our blessed
Sauiour.
They kill'd th'eternall
sonne and heyre of heau'n
By whom, and from whom, all our liues are giu'n,
[Page]For which the great Almighty did refuse,
Disperse, and quite forsake the faithles
Iewes,
And in his Iustice great omnipotence
He left them to a reprobated sence.
Thus sundry times these people fell and rose,
From weale to want, from height of ioyes to woes:
As they their gracious GOD forsooke, or tooke,
His mercy either tooke them, or forsooke.
The swart
Egyptians, and the
Isralites,
And raging
Rezin King of
Aramites,
Then the
Assirians twice, and then againe
Th'
Egiptians ouer-runs them all amaine;
Then the
Caldeans, and once more there came
Egiptian
Ptolomy, who them o'recame.
Then
Pompey, next King
Herod, last of all
Vespasian was their vniuersall fall.
As in
Assiria Monarchy began
They lost it to the warlike
Persian,
Of
Nimrods Race, a Race of Kings descended
Till in
Astiages his stocke was ended;
For
Cirus, vnto
Persia did translate
Th'
Assirian Soueraigne
Monarchizing state.
Then after many bloody bruzing Armes
The
Persian yeelded to the
Greekes Alarm's,
But (smoake-like)
Gracian glory lasted not,
Before twas ripe, it did vntimely rot.
The worlds Commander,
Alexander dyde,
And his Successors did the world deuide;
[Page]From one great
Monarch, in a moment springs
Confusion (
Hydra-like) from selfe-made Kings.
Till they (all wearied) slaughter'd and forlorne
Had all the earth dismembred, rent and torne;
The
Romans tooke aduantage of their fall
And ouer-ran, c
[...]ptiu'de, and conquerd all.
Thus as one nayle another out doth driue,
The
Persians the
Assirians did depriue;
The
Graecians then the
Persian pride did tame,
The
Romanes then the
Graecians ouercame,
Whilst like a vapour all the world was tost,
And Kingdoms were transferd from coast to coast;
And still the
Iewes in scattred multitudes
Deliuer'd were to sundry seruitudes,
Chang'd, giuen, bought, & sold, from land to land,
Where they not vnderstood, nor vnderstand.
To euery Monarchy they were made slaues,
Egipt and
Aram, Caldea them out braues,
Assiria, Persia, Graecia, lastly
Rome
Inuaded them, by heauens iust angry doome.
Foure Ages did the sonnes of
H
[...]ber passe
Before their finall desolation was;
Their first Age, aged
Patriarks did guide,
The second, reuerend
Iudges did decide,
The third by
Kings, naught, good, bad, worse and worst,
The fourth by
Prophets, who them blest or curst,
As their dread GOD commanded, or forbid
To blesse or curse, eu'n so the Prophets did.
[Page]Our
Sauiour, weeping on the Mount did view
The
Cittie, and foretold what would ensue;
And in his tender pitty vnto them
Said, oh
Ierusalem, Ierusalem,
Thou killst the
Prophets, and to death didst ding
Those that were sent, thee heau'nly grace to bring,
How oft and oft would I (for your owne good)
Haue gathered you, as doth as Hen hir brood,
But you would not, and therefore to you all
Your houses shall to desolation fall.
Which came to passe, according as he said,
Which in the second part is here displaide.
The last and most lamentable Destruction, of the Ancient, famous, and memorable Cittie and Temple of
Ierusalem; being destroyed by
Vespasian, and his Sonne Titus.
COnfusion, Horror, Terror, dreadfull Wars,
Domesticke, forreine, inward, outward Jars,
Shafts shot at Iuda in
Iehouahs ire,
Infectious plague, war, famine, sword and fire,
Depopulation, desolation, and
The finall conquest of old
Iacobs Land.
These are the Theames my mournfull Muse rehearses,
These are the grounds of my lamenting Verses.
Iosephus wrote these things in ample wise,
Which I thus briefly do Epitomize:
Which worthy Author in large scope relates
His Countries alterations, and estates.
[Page]The Bookes of his
Antiquities do tell
How often times th'arose, how oft they fell,
How oft God fauourd them, how oft his frowne
From height of greatnes cast them headlong downe,
The
Seaueuth booke of his Warrs, declareth plaine
How
Roman Conquest did the Kingdom gaine,
How death did tyrannize in sundry shapes,
In sword, in fire, in famine, and in Rapes.
Who loues to read at large, let him read his,
Who likes compendious briefes, let him read this.
Since
Hebers sons the country first enioy de,
Six times it hath bin wasted and destroyde,
Twice three times spoyld, and thirteen times in all
Wars force, or Composition made it thrall.
Compare all wars, that chanc'd since the Creation,
They all are nothing to their desolation;
No storie, or no memorie describes
Calamitie to match old
Isrels Tribes,
For if each Land their bloody broyls recount
(To them) 'twere but a
mole-hill to a
mount,
All which (for sin) in the Almighties furie
Was heap'd vpon the sinfull Land of
Iurie:
And almost sixteen hundred winters since
Did great
Vespaesian, Romes Imperiall Prince
With braue yong
Titus, his stout valiant son
Iudeaes Kingdom spoyle and ouer-run.
And with an Army Royall, and renownd
They did
Ierusalem beleaguer round.
[Page]With
force, with
stratagems, with warlike
powers,
With
Rams, with
Engines, scaling ladders, Towers,
With all the Art of either
might or
sleight
The
Romans vpon each aduantage wait.
Whil'st the besieged, that within did dwell
Amongst themselues to
fell sedition fell;
Like neigh'bring bauins lyeng neere each other,
One burnes, and burning each one burne another;
So did the
Iewes each other madly kill
And all the streets with their slaide corpses fill.
Eleazer, Simon, Iohn, all disagree
And rend
Ierusalem in peeces three.
These each contending who should be the chiefe
(More then the
Romans) caus'd their Contries griefe.
Iohn scorn'd
Eleazer should be his superior,
And
Eleazer thought
Iohn his inferior;
And
Symon scornd them both, and each did scorne
By any to be rul'd or ouer-borne;
The Citie sundred thus in triple factions,
Most horride, bloody, and inhumane actions
Were still committed, all impieties,
(In sundry sorts of vile varieties)
All sacrilegious and vngodly acts
Were counted Noble meritorious facts.
They striu'd each other to surpasse in euill,
And labor'd most, most how to serue the deuill.
These men, of grace and goodnes had no thought,
But daily, madly gainst each other fought.
[Page]They hurly burly all things ouerturn'd,
Their store-houses with victuals downe they burn'd,
With hearts more hard then Adamantine rocks
They drailed
Virgins by the Amber locks;
The Reuerend
Aged they did rend and teare
About the streets by snowie antient haire;
Yong
Infants, some their harmles braines dash out,
And some on points of Launces borne about,
That 'tis not possible to write with pen
The barb'rous outrage of these deuilish men:
For they (vnmindfull of the Roman force)
Themselu's did waste and spoyle without remorce.
Their cruell slaughters made their furious foes
Relent and weep, in pittie of their woes,
Whil'st they (relentles Villaines) voyde of pitty
Consume, and ruinate their mother-Citty.
The Channels all with purple gore o're flowde,
The streets with murdred carkasses were strowde:
The
Temple with vnhallowed hands defilde,
Respect was none, to age, sex, man, or childe;
Thus this three-headed, hellish multitude
Did waste themselu's, themselu's themselu's subdude
Whil'st they within still made their strength more weak,
The
Roman Rams th'oposed walls did break:
Whose dreadfull battry, made the Cittie tremble,
At which the
Factious all their powers assemble,
And all together (like good friends) vnite
And 'gainst their foes they sally forth and fight.
[Page]
Like a swolne Riuer, bounded in with banks
Opposed long, with Pike-like Reedy Ranks,
At last th'ambitious torrent breakes his bounds
And ouer-runs whole Lordships, and confounds
The liuing and the liueles, that dares bide
The furie of his high insulting pride.
Euen so the
Iewes from out the Cittie venter'd,
And like a flood the Roman Army enter'd,
O'rewhelming in their desp'rate madnes all
That durst withstand them, or assault the wall.
They set the fearefull
Engines all on fire,
And brauely fighting made their foes retire;
The battell done, back came these hare-braind men
And each the others foe, deuide agen.
Pell mell confusion, then againe began,
All order straight vnto disorder ran;
Their corne, and victualls, all consum'd with fire,
Their hunger-starued bodies 'gins to tire,
Prouision in a moment, spoyld and wasted,
Which kept (might well) for many yeers haue lasted.
Then Famine, like a Tyrant roames and rages,
Makes faint (yet furious) hauock of all ages,
The Rich, the poore, the old, the yong, all dies
All staru'd, and fleshles bare Anatomies.
This was a plague of plagues, a woe of woes,
On euery side their death did them inclose,
But yet the manner how to lose their breaths
Did more torment them then an host of deaths.
[Page]To sallie forth the
Romans shed their blood,
To stay within, they starue for want of food,
And if they would go forth, the gates were shut,
And if they staid within, their throats were cut.
That if they stay, or go, or go, or stay,
Th'are sure to meet destruction euery way;
But of all torments, hunger is the worst
For through the stonie walls (they say) 'twill burst;
These people with war, woe, and want, beset,
Did striue how they might to the
Romans get,
They hopde to finde more mercy in their swords,
Then their still-dying famisht state affords.
Mans wit is sharpest when he is opprest,
And wisdom (amongst euills) likes the least.
They knew
Vespasian for a Noble foe
And one that did not glory in their woe,
They thought it best his clemencie to trie,
And not immurde with hungry famine die.
Resolued thus (dispairing in their hopes)
A number slyding downe the walls with ropes
Fled vnto
Tytus, who bemoand their case,
Relieuing them, and tooke them to his Grace.
Thus
fortie thousand neere with famine staru'd,
Were all vnhop'd for by their foes preseru'd.
The Cittie soldiers search'd each house to see
Where any victuals might conuayed be,
And if they any found, they thought it fit
To beat the owners for concealing it.
[Page]But if they saw a man looke plump and fat
His throat they presently would cut for that,
They thought him too much pamperd, too wel fed,
And to saue meat and drinke, they strike him dead.
Some men and women, Rich and Nobly borne
Gaue all they had for one poore strike of corne,
And hid themselues and it below the ground
In some close vault they eat the same vn-ground.
If any could get slesh they eat it raw,
The strongest still, the weakest ouer-awe,
For hunger banisht naturall respect,
It made the husband his owne wife reiect,
The wife doth snatch the meat from out his hand
Which would and should hir loue and life cōmand.
All pitty from the Mother was exilde
She teares and takes the victuals from hir Childe,
The Childe doth with the Parents play the theefe
Steales all their food, and lets them pine in griefe.
Nor Free or Bond-man, Fathers, nor yet Mothers.
Wiues, Husbands, Seruants, masters, sisters, brothers,
Propinquitie or strong
Affinitie,
Nor all the rights of
Consanguinitie,
No
Law, or
Rule, or
Reason could beare sway,
Where strength cōmands, there weaknes must obay.
The pining seruant will no master know,
The son his father will no duty show,
The
Commons did no
Magistrate regard,
Each one for one, and but for one he carde,
[Page]Disordred, like the Cart before the horse,
All reu'rence and respect did yeeld to force.
These
Miscreants with vigilance all watch'd
Where they could see a dore or lock'd or latch'd,
There they supposd the people were at meat,
And in their outrage ope the dores they beat,
Where entring, if they found them feeding fast,
From out their throats they teare the meat in haste,
Halfe eaten, halfe vneaten, they constraine
The wretched people cast it vp againe.
They halde them by the eares the house about
To force them bring supposed victuals out;
Some by the thumbs hang'd vp, some by the toes,
Some prick'd with bodkins, some with many blowes
Tormented were, to force them to reueale
Meat, when they had not any to conceale.
Now all was fish that fell into the net,
And all was food that fraud or force could get;
Grasse, hay, barke, leaues of trees, and Dogs, and Cats,
Toades, Frogs, wormes, snailes, flies, maggots, Mice and Rats,
All filthy stinking and contagious Rootes,
The couers of their Coaches, shooes, and bootes,
All vermine, and the dung of Fowles and Beasts
Were these poore wretches miserable feasts;
Things loathsom to be nam'd in time of plenty,
Amongst the staru'd distressed
Iewes were dainty.
This famine ran beyond all Natures bounds,
All motherly affection it confounds,
[Page]No blood or birth, with it compassion won,
It forc'd a
Woman kill hir onely
Son,
She rip'd him and dis-ioynted
lim from
lim,
She
drest, she
boyld, she
broyld, and
rosted him,
She eat him, she interr'd him in hir
wombe,
She made his births place his vntimely
tombe.
From hir (by Nature) did his life proceed,
On him (vnnaturall) she hir selfe did feed,
He was hir flesh, hir sinewes, bones and blood,
She (eating him) hirselfe, hirselfe made food.
No woe hir miserie can equallize,
No griefe can match hir sad calamities;
The Soldiers smelt the meat and straight assemble,
Which when they saw (with horror) made thē trēble
Each one with staring haire, and ghastly looke,
Affrighted, and amaz'd, the house forsooke.
This horride action, quickly ouercame
These men, whom force of man could neuer tame.
Thou that dost liue like to a fatted
Brawne,
And cramst thy guts as long as thou canst yawne,
Thou that dost eat and drinke away thy time,
Accounting Gluttonie a God, no Crime,
Thou must haue
Fowle as high as
heau'n that pearc'd
And hast the bowels of the
Ocean search'd,
And from all places neere so far remore
Hast dainties for thy all-deuouring throat,
Whose pamperd paunch ne're leaues to feed & quaff
Till it be made a
Hogs trogh, filld with draff.
[Page]Thinke on
Ierusalem amidst thy Riot,
Perhaps twill moue thee to a temp'rate diet.
And you braue
Dames, adorn'd with
Iems &
Iewels,
That must haue
Cawdles, Cullisses and
Grewells,
Conser
[...]'s and
Marchpanes, made in sundry shapes,
As
Castles, Towers, Horses, Beares and
Apes,
You, whom no
Cherries like your lickrish tooth
But they must be a Pound a pound forsooth,
Thinke on
Ierusalem amidst your glory,
And then you'le be lesse dainty. and more sorry.
What there auaild their
bewty, strength, or
riches,
(Three things which all the spacious world bewitches)
Authoritie and Honor help'd them not,
Wrong trod downe Right, and Iustice was forgot,
Their greatest, chiefest, only earthly good
Was (twas no matter how they got it)
Food.
One little peece of bread they reckond more
Then erst they did of bags of
Gold before,
One scrap, which full fed crops away do fling,
With them, had bin a ransom for a King.
The loathsom garbadge which our
Dogs refuse
Had been a dish of state amongst the Iewes.
Whilst Famine playd the Tyrant thus within
The
Romane Army striu'd the walls to win,
Their
Enginers, their
Pioners and all
Did mine and batter, and assault the wall.
Ierusalem had three strong walls of stone
And long twas ere the
Romans could get one,
[Page]The dearth and death of sword and famine spread
The streets, that liuing trod vpon the dead,
And many great mens houses full were filld
With carkases, which the seditious killd.
That with the stench of bodies putrifyde
A number numberles of people dyde.
And buriall to the dead they yeelded not,
But where they fell, they let them stinke and rot,
That plague, and sword, and famine, all three stroue
Which shold most bodies from their soules remoue.
Vnsensible of one anothers woes,
The soldiers then the liueles Corpses throwes
By hundreds and by thousands o're the walls,
Which when the
Romans saw their dismall falls
They told to
Titus, which when he perceiu'd
He wept, and vp t'ward heau'n his hands he heau'd,
And calld on GOD to witnes with him this
These slaughters were no thought, or fault of his.
Those wretches that could scape from out the Citie,
Amongst their foes found both reliefe and pittie,
If the seditious any catcht, that fled,
Without remorse they straightway stroke him dead.
Another miserie I must vnfold,
A many
Iewes had swallow'd store of gold,
Which they supposd should help them in their need
But from this Treasure did their bane proceed.
For being by their en'myes fed and cherisht,
The Gold was cause that many of them perisht;
[Page]Amongst them all, one poore vnhappy Creature
Went priuately to do the
needs of
Nature,
And in his
Ordure for the
Gold did looke,
Where being by the stragling soldiers tooke,
They ript him vp and searcht his maw, to finde
What Gold or Treasure there remain'd behinde.
In this sort, (whilst the soldiers gap'd for gaine)
Was many a man and woman ript and slaine.
In some they found Gold, and in many none,
For had they Gold, or not Gold, all was one,
They were imbowelld by the barb'rous foe
And search'd if they had any gold or no.
But now my storie briefly to conclude,
Vespasians forces had the walls subdude,
And his triumphant
Banner was displaide
Amidst the streets, which made the
Iewes dismaid,
Who (desp'rate) to the
Temple did retire,
Which (with vngodly hands) they set on fire.
Whilst Noble
Titus, with exceeding care
Entreated them they would their Temple spare,
Oh saue that House (quoth he) ô quench, oh slake,
And I will spare you for that Houses sake,
Oh let not after times report a storie
That you haue burnt the worlds vnmatched glory,
For your owne sakes, your Children, & your wiues
If you do looke for pardon for your liues,
If you expect grace from
Vespasians hand
Then spare your Temple,
Titus doth command.
[Page]The
Iewes with hearts hard, offred mercy heard,
But neither mercy, or themselues regard,
They burnd, and in their madnes did confound
King
Salomons great
Temple to the ground.
That
Temple which did
thirty Millions cost
Was in a moment all consum'd and lost,
The blest
Sanctum Sanctorum, holiest place
Blest oft with high
Iehouahs sacred Grace,
Where (at one offring) as the Text saies plaine
Were two and twentie thousand oxen slaine,
One hundred twenty thousand sheep beside
At the same time for an oblation dide
That house of GOD (which raignes aboue the thūder)
Whose glorious fame made all the world to wonder,
Was burnt and ransackt, spight of humane aide
And leuell with the lowly ground was laid.
Which when
Vespasian and yong
Titus saw,
They cride kill, kill, vse speed and marshall Law;
The
Roman soldiers then (inspirde with rage)
Spard none, slew all, respect no sex or age;
The streets were drowned in a purple flood
And slaughterd carcasses did swim in blood.
They slew whilst there were any left to slay,
The ablest men, for slaues they bare away.
Iohn, Simon and
Eleazer, wicked fiends
As they deseru'd, were brought to violent ends.
And from the time the
Romanes did begin
The siege, vntill they did the Citie win,
[Page]Sedition, sword, fire, famine, all depriues
Eleuen hundred thousand, of their liues.
Besides one hundred thousand at the least
Were tane, and sold, as each had been a beast.
And from the time it was at first erected
Till (by the Romanes it was last deiected)
It stood (as it in histories appeares)
Twentie one hundred, seuenty and nine yeares.
But yet ere GOD his vengance downe did throw,
What strange prodigious wonders did he show,
As warnings how they should destruction shun
And cause them to repent for deeds misdon;
First in the Firmament,
Th'offended Lord
Shewd them a
Commet like a
fiery sword,
The
Temple and the
Altar diuers nights
Were all enuiron'd with bright burning lights,
And in the middest of the
Temple there
Vnnat'rally a
Cow a
Lambe did beare,
The
Temples brazen gate, no bolts restraine
But (of it selfe) it open flew amaine.
Arm'd
Men and
Chariots in the Ayre assembled,
The pondrous
Earth, affrighted, quak'd, & trēbled,
A voyce cride in the Temple, to this sense,
Let vs depart, let vs depart from hence.
These supernat'rall accidents, in sum
Foretold some fearefull Iudgment was to come;
But yet the
Iewes accounted them as toyes,
Or
scarcrow bugg-beares to fright wanton boyes,
[Page]Secure they reuelld in
Ierusalem,
They thought these signes against their foes, not thē
But yet when warre and death had all perform'd,
When ruine, spoyle, and furious flames had storm'd,
Who then the desolated place had seen
Would not haue knowne there had a Citie been.
Thus
Iuda and
Ierusalem all fell,
Thus was fulfilld what
Christ did once foretell,
Sad desolation, all their ioyes bereft,
And one stone on another was not left.
FINIS.