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Show 4 554 Thefecond Bookeoftheyiripart Cuar28,$.6, toobcy hins,found means to‘ouer:throw all the Citizensendevouirssand tobeatdown agfat Hom :witliout,.as they raifed from within ; the body. and foundationof his owne workt's being guarded; bythe Walls ofderefalem interpofed ; and chews within, Jayed opento their enemies difturbance. Befides:, both Famine and Peftilence (which commonly accompany men ftreightly befieged)grew onfaft vponthem,whereby,whenthe numbersfteength,and courage ofthe ewesfailed the Chaldeans made abreach,and for. cinganentry, theit Princes did feat themfelues, as Lords of the Towné,inthe middle gare, Zedecbias beholdingthis vacomfortablefight, and finding no remedy ofthe danger prefent, loft botlshis courage and his hope. at once; and fhifted himfelfe,together Tofephdatig, 40.012. with kis Wines,Children,Princes, and principall Seruants,) out ofthe City, byiaway;, vnder ground' teaning his amazed and guideleffe people, to the mercileffe {wordsof their enemies) "Thustte, who} when /eremy the Propet perfwaded himto render him. felfe;defpifed boththe counfell of God,and the force ofNabarhedono/or;vfednowthat rettiedy; which olphiss truely tearmeth: Triffe,turpe o> infelix :Wofall,foamefull, and vnyortanate. By this fecret fubtervane vault, Zedechias making his ftealth, recouered: (by'thc helpe ofthedarkenight)the Plaines or Defarts of/eriche: but by teafon of thetrain,thattollowed him and his,(euery one leading with him thofe whomthey held moft deareynto thei) he was eafily traced and purfued. Howgreat foeuer thé company was that atteiided om him,yet,as Jofephus reports it,they,on whofefidelity he moft repofed himlelf,no foona:bcheld the Chaldeans approach, butthey all abandoned his defence,and thifted themfelues into the Defarts as they could.For whom God had:forfaken,tio man follow. ed,butthe Minifters of his vengearice;by whomZedekias being made Prifoner,iwith his Children,and Princes;he was conueighed to Reble or Reblatha City (as fomethinke) of Nephtalimwhere Nabuchedonofor then lay,as a plaéeindifferent betweene Lerufalem and Tyre with both which at one he hadto doe. Nowiafter Wabichoienefer had layed before Zedckiasthe many graces and benefits conferred vpon him,togetherwith thenotable falfhood and periury,wherewith he had requited them; he commanded his Children,Princes,and Friends,to be flain beforehis face,This being done,to the endthat fo lamentablea {pe@acle fiould be the laft,thate- sq uer he {liouldbchold inthe World,he caufed his eyes to be torne out ofhis head,andfo carried hit ina flauifmanerto Babel, where he confumed the reft ofhis wretched life in perpetual! imprifonment.Hercin this moft maruailous Prophecy ofEzekiel was ptt~ formedivadducam casein Babylowians, Cr ipsam non videbit.I wih bring himsuto Babylen,any hefoaltnotfee it: Thus.inthe eleauenth and laft yeare ofZedekias, which was the eighteenth ofNabu- chedonofer,the Chaldaans entredthe City by force, where {paring no fexe norage, they committed al] to the {word that they therein found. Inthe yeare next following;Nabazaraden,Gencrall afthe Army,burnt the Kings Palacejand the reft ofJerafalems :andafterthis firehad lafted from'the {euenthto the tenth 4o day,healfo burnt the Temple of Godto the ground, whenit had ftood foure hundre thirty and one years. Afterthis;vponafecond feirch, Nabucaredan (not yer fatiated with bloud) com manded ‘feuenty andtwo others tobe flanghtered, which had hidden themfelues from the firft furyto wit, thechiefe and: the fecond Prieft, two! Commanders of Zedechiat his men of Watte;five of his Houfe-hold feruants, and others to that number; catty ing away to Babylon the ableft ofthe peoplethroughoutall sudea sand leaning thepo" reft labouring foules, with fome that followed theparty of Nebuchedonofor, town! : ground yotier whomtheleft Gouernour, Gedolia the Nephew of that Saphan, WhO™ Tofies had formerly employed inthe reformation ofReligion,who is,forhis juftice 20% equity» by Jofephus highly commended. This man, a Jew by Nation, left Zedckiae it feemerh, in the beginning of the Warte sand by Jeremies defire to line with rr appéareththat he hadiembraced the fame aduice; which the Prophet gauce vate a i shiaés which was, ‘to fubmit hitifelte altogether to the Beby/onian 5 who being ste ned by*Godto exercifehis iuftice, was therefore refittlefe. "TheProphet /ere™) er leftto his owne choicejeither to linein.chaldea,or elfewhere;he madeelection of 7 Hiah,towhom he wastecommended, who not only embraced Jeremy,but gauc Com , tovallthe other Jewes,that were left vnder his charge,promifing themfanour & libe Cuar2s.§.6. ofthe Fiiftorie ofthe World. fo long as they remained obedient Subiects to Wabuchodonoforby whom he waseftablifhed Prouinciall Gouérnour of hisowne Nation: But ere that year was expired,a Prince ofthe late Kings houfe (who during the fiege ofserufalem,had kept himfelfe out ofthe ftorme,with Bea/#s King of the Armonites) be~ ing followed by ten other chofen men,while Godoliahfeafted themin Mafpha or Mit/pa, the City ofhis refidence,trayteroufly flew him, together with diners Chaldeams & Lewes that a¢companied him,' ‘This done,he madean efcape,and in his way encountring with eighty perfons, tepairing towards Godoliah with prefents,he flew the moft ofthem, and {pared the reft,becaufethey promifed to difcouer vnto himfome Treafures, hidden in lOthe fields during the war-He alfo took with him a DaughterofZedechizs, committed to the care of Godoltab by Nabuchodonofor.'This practice andintent ofY/msel had been for= metly difcottered vnto Godaliah by Jobanan , onc of the Leaders of the few remaining Jens: but Godolizh was incredulous. Twdeabeing nowleft without a Gouernour(for //mael durft not take jt vpon him, but retired himfelfe, or rather fled as faft as he could to the -4wmonites) the refidue ofthe Jewes, fearing the reuenge ofthe Chaldeans , refolued to flye away into Egypt, andbe- fotight Ieremy toaske counfell of God for them : who readily madethem anfwer, that if they temained in Zadea, God Wouldprouide forthem, arid fhew them mercy ; but if they fought to faue themfelues in -Evypt', that they fliquld then vndoubtedly perith. 20 Notwithftanding this aduice,the Jewes held their determination; and 'defpifing the O- racleof God, and conftraining Ieremy and Barachto accompany them, they trauailed into Egypt, and inhabited by the permiffionof Pharaoe,neare vnto Taphues :where When: feremsy often reptehendedthemfortheir Idolatry,foretelling boththe deftruction of themfelues, andthe Egyptians alfo, hewasbythefe his ~ ownehard-hearted and vngratefull Countri-men, ftoned to death , and by the Egyptians, whogreatly reuerenced him,buried neare the Se- pulchre of their owne Kings. Finis Libri fecunds, |