lJIC l (ontemplationi. L.xa.XX. ours accompany him, manicled,and chained, to their perpetual( bondage. · A Now, according to I[Ai.hs word, it would have beene great preferment for the fruit of Hezeki•hs loynes to be Pages in the Court of Babykn. Oneonely branch yet remains efthe unhappy fioc~ of h~ly I•ftJ., MAttA/1/ah, the brother of Ith•iakil,., whom Ne{,.chadntz::-4r ( chaogmg hiS name to Zttltkiah) fees up in that fotlorn,:md tri_butary throne; There might he have lived(though an underIing,yer) peaceable; ThiS man (to make up themeafureofGods jutl judgements) as be was ever a rebell to God, fo proves rebellious to his Soveraigne mafier the King of Baby/•* : The Prophet Itrtmie hath forewarned him in vaine1 nothing could teach this man but fmart. ' ·Who can Io_ok fo~ oth~r then fu{. from Nebuchat1ner.z4r, againtlltr•folem, which oo.w ha? affronted h1m With rh:ee everall ~uccel!ions of r~volts, and confpiracies aB gatofi h1s government; and thnce abufed Ins bouncy, and tndulgence~ Witha mighcy army doth he.tberc~ore come upagainfihis feditious depuz; and belieges u,.,r;.. I ' '"'• and blocks tt up wub forts round about.Mter two years tege,the C!Jaldm with- •out and the famine within, have prevailed; King Ztdtkiah and his fouldiers are tiedaway by night, as thinking tbemfelves happy, ifthey might abandon their wall~ and fave thdr lives. ' , The Ch•/dm(as caring more for the birds, then for thenefi) purfuethem, and overtake Ztdeki•h, forfaken of all his forces, in the plaine oflerich•, and bring him to Ne~uchadt~t'{{4r, Kiog of B•bji4M. What can fo untbankfull and perfidious a valfall expe&, but the worfi ofrevc'nge ~ The fenrence is fearditll : Firll, the fons of zttltk/ah are flaine before his eye!; then thofe eyes of his (as ifthey had foene enough c 'when they had fcent<himcbildlelfe)are put out: His eyes are onely lent him fo long' as to torment him with the fight of his owne utmoft difcomfort; Had his fons but over-lived his eyes, the grlefe had been fo much the lelfe, as the apprebenfion of it had bcene Ielfe livelj!, and piercinh Now, this wofull obje6llhall lhut u~ his fight that even whenhi~l bodily eyes aregone, yet tlJc d,es of his mindc m1 t eYer fe~ what he !all faw1 That thus hisfons might be ever ying beforehim, an himfelfe in theirdeatheve~m'iferable. ' ' · , Whodoth nou10Wwilhthat the,blood of Hexdlah and lojiAh could have been fevered from tbefe"impure dregs oftheir Iewd-ilfue ~ no man could pity the off~nders, were it notfor the mixture ofthelnterefi bf{o holy pr"!Zenitors. No more forrow can come inbt the windowes of Ztddi•h, more lhall come in at D his doores: his cares lhall receive-what more tOTUe forhis llr•folem, Neh•z•riUiaM the great Marlhall cf the King of B•bJI.n comes up againll that deplored City, and breaksdowne the walls of it, round about, and burnes the Temple ofrbe Lord, and theKings boule, and every faire Palace of ltrofo/t.,, with lire; drives away the re· mainder ofhtr inhabitants, into Captivity, caries away the laft fpoyles ofthe gloriousTemple. Oh ltrofokm, Ierofo/e.,, the wonder ofall rimes, the paragon ofnations, the glory ofrhceartb, the f•vourire ofheaven, how arrthou now become heaps ofalhes, hills ofrubbilh, a fpe&acle ofdrfolation,amonument ofruine ~ lflmr, yer no ldfe deephaft thou nowpledged that bitter cup of Gods vengeance, to thy filler Samari•; How carefully bad thy God forewarned thee~ Though lfAtlplay the barlot, yet,Iet not I•d•h fin: Loe now; as thine iniquitirs, fo thy judgements have over- E takenher: Borhlytogerher in the dull, both are madeacilrfeto allpofierities:O God, what place lhall thy jufiicefpare, if lerufo/em haveperilhed ~ Ifthat ddight of thine were cut of!for her wickednelfe, Let us not be high minded but fear<. What pity it was to fee cbofegoodz Cedars of the Temple flaming up higher then they fiood in LthafiDJJ 1 ~o fee tho _e curious m3tble_s, which never felt the ~ior ofthe pick-axe, or hammer, to the laymg. wounded with mattocks, and woundmg the earth in their fall~ to fee the holyof holies, whereinto none might enter but the high-prietl, once a yeare, thronged with Pagans; the vailes rent, the facred Arke of God violated, and def•~d, the Tables over-turned, the Altars broken downe, the faillars d~molilhed, the pavements digged up , )'ea the very ground, where that amous plle fiood, d<formed. 0 God, thou woulddl rather have no vifible
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