15 8 `Ie/limonies proving the Mejiah to be come. Andwhat tha1l he do that comes after the King ? ,What (hall anyof the Ions of men think to contrive and ere&, to enlarge that na Glory, wherein Solomon laid out his ntmoft. There can doubdefs be no greater fondnefs , then to imagine that it could in any meafure be equalled by what was done afterwards by Zerubbabel, or Herod. Secondly, Thevali and unfpeakable fumms of 7reafrtre which were expended inthe building and adorning of it. I know them is fonte'difference among Learned Man, about reducing the Hebrew Signatures of moneys unto our prefent account. But let the cffiniate be as low, as by any can reafonably be imagined, felting afide what Solo nrn expended of his ownRevenue and getting ; the provifion left byDavid towards the work , of an kundred thoufand Talents of Gold, and a thoufand thoufand Talents ofSilver.; Betides Brafßand Iron without weight, with Timber and Stone, zCbren. 22. t4. doth far exceed all the Treafures that,the greaten. part, if not all the Kings 6f theEarth, are at thiâdaypoffejfed of. For on the ordinary computationand bal- lance ofCoyns,the Gold amounted to45c000000. I. and theSilver unto 3750000000.1. betides what was dedicated by his Princes, and out of his peculiar Treafure. He that would be fatisfied, what immenfe fumms of his own Solomon added to all this, may eonfult Vilalpandus on this fubjc f. And what might be the produa ofthis Etc- penfe, Wifely managed, isnot eafie to be conceived. It kerns tome, that the. whole Revenue ofHerod was fume able to find Bread for Salomons Workmen; fo unlikely is it, that hisFabrick fhould be equal unto that other. It was furely Glorious Houle that all this chargewas expended about. 9. Thirdly, it appears fartherfrom the number of(Workmen employed in the Serut`kurc. We need not greaten this number out of conjcEtures with Villalpandtes, who reckons above four hundred thoufand ; feting there .is evident mention in the Scriptureof an hundred andfoulffoure and three thoufand and fix hundred. Betides the Tyrians that were hired, who by their wages Teem alto to have been a great number, a Chun. 2. Io. That is, therewas an hundred and fifty three thènfand andfix hundredjirangerr of the pofierity of the Canaanite; ; 2 Chron. 2. 17, 18. and thirty thoufand Ifraeliter, r Kings 5.>t 3. Neither was all this multitude engaged inthis work for a few dayes or moneths, but full faun years, a Kings 6.38. And therein, as Jofephus obferves, the fpeed ofthe workwas almofîas admirable as its magnificence. And what á glorious Structiure might be railedby fuch numbers of men, in fuch a fpace of time, when nothing was wanting unto them, which by the immenfeTreafures before mentioned, could be proFured, may eafilybe conceived. It doth not appear that thewhole num- ber of the people,' rich andpoor, who were gathered together under Zerubbabel after the return from theCaptivity, did equal the numbers of Solomon: Builders; fo that they were not like to ereft a Fabrick, anfwerableunto what he effedled : nor can it be imagined, that Herod employed fo many in the whole work, as Solomonhad to over- fee his Labourers. We may add hereunto, what is recorded concerning the adorning of this Houle : Not to mention thePillars of orafi with their Cbapiterr, wholeMagnificence was won - derful, and Workmanihip inimitable; theMolten Sea, with the Oxen, and the like Or= naments innumerable. If wedo but confider, that the wholeHoule, upan the vault- ing andCeiling with Cedar, was overlaid with pure beaten Gold, how glorious mutt it need be rendred to the thoughts ofevery man, who remembers the greatnefs of the ftrufhurc. In efpeciall'thofeVtenfilr of the Sandtuary, the Ark, Oracle, Mercy-Seat, and Cherubim: that reprefented the pretence of God, what tonguecan reprefent their beauty and glory ? In the frondHoule there waslittle of all thefe ; and for the things of moll colt and chargenothing at all. Nor did the riches of this Houle conífi only in the folid parts of theFabrick, but in thole vait treafures of Silver and Goldwith other precious things, which being dedicated to the fernier of God, were laid up therein ; for béfides whatwas confecmted byhimfelf and his Princes, Solomonbrought in all the things which Davidhis Father had dedicated, zChron.5.v.7. And put them them among the treafuresof the Houle of God. And although I donotthink with fome, that thewhole fumms of money before mentioned, were herein included, be- caufe itwas dedicatedby David; for fo alfo was hisBrats andIrbn and Timber : It is -alt-to beexpended about; or ufed in the building of the Houle it felf; yeti cannot but judge, that thole treafures were exceeding great, and fuch as the povertyand confufion of the people, under the fécondTemple, never allowed them to do any thing that wasanfwerable-unto it Lafily, g. t 0.
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