Taylors Vrania, or His heauenly muse With a briefe narration of the thirteene sieges, and sixe sackings of the famous cittie of Ierusalem. Their miseries of warre, plague, and famine, (during their last siege by Vespasian and his son Titus.) In heroicall verse compendiously described. — Urania

Taylors Vrania, or His heauenly muse With a briefe narration of the thirteene sieges, and sixe sackings of the famous cittie of Ierusalem. Their miseries of warre, plague, and famine, (during their last siege by Vespasian and his son Titus.) In heroicall verse compendiously described. — Urania

Table of contents

[1]

Title page

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TAYLORS VRANIA.

[2]

Title page

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TO THE TRVLY worthy, and right Worshipful IOHN MORAY Esquire, one of the Gentlemen of his Maiesties Royall Bed-chamber; Earths Honors and Heauens happines.

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The seuerall Sieges, Assaults, Sackings, and finall destruction of the famous, ancient, and memorable Citie of IERVSALEM.

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.

ERRATA.

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TAYLORS VRANIA, OR His Heauenly Muse. WITH A briefe Narration of the thirteene Sieges, and sixe Sackings of the famous Cittie of IERVSALEM. Their miseries of Warre, Plague, and Famine, (during their last siege by VESPASIAN and his Son TITVS.) In Heroicall Verse compendiously described.

LONDON Printed by Edward Griffin for Nathaniel Butter, and are to be sold at his shop at S. Austins gate, at the signe of the Pyde Bull. 1615.

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TO THE RIGHT worshipful, and worthy fauourer of all good endeuours, Sr GEORGE MORE Knight, Lieutenant of his Maties Tower of London, and one of his Highnes Iustices of the Peace and Quorum, in the Countie of Middlesex.

MOst humbly (worthy) and religious Knight,

These things which did from my inuention flow:

On you in loue and dutie, I bestow,

Whose patronage can shield me safe from spight.

And though the stile, and phrase, vnpollisht be

Of new-coynd words, to please these Critick times,

(For I, no Scholler, what can come from me

But downe-right plaine, and ordinarie Rimes.)

Yet when your leisure serues you to peruse

These poore endeuours, which my wit hath done:

You shall perceiue my weake laborious Muse

Hath in this Worke, hir-selfe, hir-selfe outrun,

The Matters true, and truth I know you loue,

And Loue conduct you to the ioyes aboue.

Your Worships, in all dutious obseruance, IOHN TAYLOR.

§

[Page]

To the Reader.

THis Booke, if I with boasting should commend,

In seeking to defend, I should offend:

Or should I brag, and say it is well writ

Twere selfe-conceit, presumption, and no wit.

Againe, should I my selfe, my selfe depraue

It were a signe I small discretion haue

Then as my thoughts, all bragging pride do hate,

So I abhorre to be so much Ingrate

As to deny Gods gifts, and say that he

By Nature, nothing hath bestowde on me.

If ought be Good, I thanke the power Diuine,

All that is bad I must acknowledge mine;

My God hee's Author of my doing well,

Without whose Grace, no Good in me doth dwell.

But be it good, or bad, or well, or ill,

Kinde Reader, gently iudge, my Artles skill.

§

The Author to the Printer.

GOod honest Printer, to thy buisnes looke,

Be careful how thou dost Compose this Book:

If thou thy letters, or my words misplace

The fault is thine, but mine is the disgrace.

Then for my Credit, and thine owne Respect

Compose, and proue, and euery fault correct.

§

[Page]

In laudem Authoris. To the Helliconian Water-Poet, my honest friend, Iohn Taylor.

IN euery Art, saue Poetry, the meane

Is praisd: but therein meanely-well to do

Is base, too base: then Iudgment cannot leane

On whats too base, but base it must be too.

Then each man that his Reputation huggs

For Iudgment, praise no lines of but meane Reach:

And laude but what drawes dry Mineruaes duggs,

Lest they their Iudgments might thereby impeach.

Then is my Iudgment Iack perplext in thee;

For thou dost write so well with meanes so ill

That thine Admirer I confesse to be,

Much rather then the Iudger of thy skill:

Art makes not Poetry, thou dost plainly proue,

But supernaturall bountie from aboue.

Iohn Dauis.

[Page]

In Vraniam Iohannis Taylor Encomium.

IT is disputed much among the Wise,

If that there be a water in the skies:

If there be one: no Waterman before

Was euer knowne to Row in't with his Oare.

If none; such ic thy high surmounting pen

It soares aboue the straine of Watermen:

Whether there be or no, seeke farre and neere

Th'art matchles sure in this our hemispheare.

William Branthwaite Cant.

In Vraniam Iohannis Taylor.

IN sport I hitherto haue told thy fame,

But now thy Muse doth merit greater Name:

Soares high to Heau'n, from earth and water flies,

And leauing baser matters, mounts the skies.

Where hidden knowledge, she doth sweetly sing

Carelesse of each inferiour common thing.

Oh that my Soule could follow her in this,

To shun fowle sin, and seeke eternall blisse,

Hir strength growes great, and may God euer send

Me to amend my faults, as she doth mend.

Robert Branthwaite.

[Page]

To the honest Sculler Iohn Taylor.

THe water Nimphs that do the Thames frequent

(The dearest daughters of the Driads old)

Concluded once, with one combyn'd consent

A day of Sacrifice abroad to hold.

With which they did old Innachus so please

(The God of Riuers, Fountaines, Wells, & Springs:)

That he to giue his sacred Nimphes some ease

Inuites the Muses to their offerings.

For which, agreed it was by all the Nine,

That since so well the watry Dames did sing:

Some one of theirs, with power most deuine

They would inspire, as Guerdon of the thing.

Then chus'd they thee, and on thy nimble braine

Pow'rd out a draught of Heliconian wine:

Which when Apollo saw, he did refraine

To guide the light, and with a sharpe Ingine

He crown'd his daughters gifts, and with a Bay,

That then was twinde about his golden haire

Which he from his belou'd had pluck'd that day

He wreath'd thy browes, and bad thee that to weare.

Since when thy Muse aspir'd to things deuine,

Still grac'd by Phoebus, and the Sisters nine.

Henry Sherlye.

[Page]

To my honest friend Iohn Taylor.

WHat shall I say, kind Friend, to let thee know

How worthily I do this worke esteeme:

Whereof I thinke I cannot too much deeme

From which I finde a world of wit doth flow.

The poore vnpollisht praise I can bestow

Vpon this well deseruing worke of thine,

Which here I freely offer at thy Shrine

Is like a Taper, when the Sunne doth show,

Or bellowes helpe for Eol's breath to blow,

For thou as much hast soard beyond the straine,

Whereto our common Muses do attaine

As Cinthyaes light exceeds the wormes that glow.

And were my Muse repleat with learned phraise,

The world should know thy work deserueth praise.

Thine in the best of friendship, Richard Leigh.

[Page]

To the Author Iohn Taylor.

WAst euer knowne to any time before,

That so much skill in Poesie could be

Th' attendant to a Skull, or painefull oare,

Thou liu'st in water, but the fire in thee;

That mounting Element, that made thee chuse

To Court Vrania, the diuinest Muse.

Row on: to water-men did neuer blow

A gale so good, none so much goodnesse know.

Thomas Brewer.

To my freind Iohn Taylor.

ROw on (good Water-man) and looke backe still

(Thus as thou do'st) vpon the Muses Hill,

To guide thee in thy course: Thy Boate's a Sphaere

Where thine Vrania moues diuinely-cleere.

Well hast thou Plyd'e, and (with thy learned Oare)

Cut through a Riuer, to a nobler shore

Then euer any landed-at. Thy saile

(Made all of clowdes) swells with a prosp'rous gale.

Some say, there is a Ferryman of Hell,

The Ferryman of Heau'n, I now know well,

[Page]And that's thy Selfe, transporting Soules to blisse,

VRANIA sits at Helme and Pilot is;

For Thames, thou hast the lactea via found,

Be thou with bayes (as that with starres is) crown'd.

Thomas Dekker.

§

To the Vnderstander.

SEe heere the Pride and Knowledge of a Sayler,

His spritsaile, foresaile, mainsaile, & his Mizzē;

A poore fraile man God wot, I know none frailer:

I know for Sinners, Christ is dead, and rizen.

I know no greater sinner then Iohn Taylor

Of all his Death did Ransome out of Prizzen,

And therefore heere's my Pride, if it be Pride,

To know Christ, and to know him Crucifide.

Thine in all humilitie Iohn Taylor.

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TAYLORS VRANIA.

(1)

ETernall God which in thine armes do'st Graspe

All past, all present, and all future things:

And in ineuitable doome dost claspe

The liues and deaths of all that dies and springs,

And at the doomefull day will once vnhaspe

Th' acusing booke of Subiects and of Kings.

In whom though ending nor beginning be,

Let me (ô Lord) beginne and end in thee.

(2)

All cogitations vaine from me remooue,

And clense my earthly and polluted heart:

Inspire me with thy blessings from aboue,

That (to thy honour) I with Artlesse Art

May sing thy Iustice, Mercy, and thy Loue;

Possesse me with thy Grace in euery part

That no profane word issue from my pen

But to the Glorie of thy name; Amen.

[Page]

(3)

I do beseech thee, Gracious louing father

Reiect me not in thy sharpe iudging Ire:

But in thy multitude of mercies Rather

Recall me to thee, Recolect me Nigher,

My wandring Soule into thy bosome Gather

And with thy Grace my gracelesse heart Inspire,

Dictate vnto my minde what it may thinke,

Write with thy spirit what I may write with inke.

(4)

Thou all things wast eu'n then when nothing was,

And then, thou all things did'st of nothing make:

Of nothing All thou still hast brought to passe,

And all againe, to nothing must betake.

When sea shall burne, and land shall melt like brasse

When hills shall tremble, and the mountaines quake,

And when the world to Chaos turnes againe,

Then thou Almighty All, shalt all remaine.

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(5)

And since this vniuersall massie ball

This earth, this aire, this water, and this fire,

Must to a ruine and a period fall

And all againe to nothing must retire:

Be thou to me my onely All in All,

Whose loue and mercy neuer shall expire.

In thee I place my treasure and my trust

Where Fellon cannot steale, or canker rust.

(6)

All things (but only God) at first began,

The vncreated God, did all Create:

In him Alone is equall will and can

Who hath no ending, or commencing date.

To whose Eternitie all time's a span

Who was, is, shalbe, euer in one state.

All else to nothing howerly doth decline

And onely standes vpon support diuine.

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(7)

Our high Creator our first Parents form'd,

And did inspire them with his heau'nly spirit:

Our Soules seducer (Sathan) them deform'd

And from Gods fauour did them disinherit:

Our blest Redeemer them againe reform'd

And ransom'd them by his vnbounded merit.

Thus were they form'd, deform'd, reform'd againe

By God, by Sathan, and our Sauiours paine.

(8)

Mans Generation did from God proceed

A mortall Body, and a Soule Eternall:

Degeneration was the Deuils deed,

With false delusions and with lies infernall:

Regeneration was our Sauiours meede

Whose death did satisfie the wrath supernall.

Thus was man found, and lost, and lost was found

By Grace; with Glory euer to be crownd.

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(9)

Man was produc'de, seduced, and reduc'de

By God, by Sathan, and by God agen:

From good to ill, from ill he was excusd'e

By merit of th'immortall man of men.

The vnpolluted bloud from him was sluc'de

To saue vs from damnations dreadfull den.

Thus man was made, and marde, and better made,

By him who did sinne, death, and hell inuade.

(10)

Let man consider then but what he is,

And contemplate on what he erst hath bin:

How first he was created heyre of blisse,

And how he fell to be the Childe of sinne;

How (of himselfe) he howerly doth amisse,

And how his best workes do no merit winne,

Except acceptance make them be esteem'd

Through his obedience that our Soules redeem'd.

[Page]

(11)

Before thou wast, remember thou wast nought,

And out of nought (or nothing) thou wast fram'de:

And how thy Body being made and wrought

By God, was with a liuing Soule inflam'de:

And how th' eternall Nomenclator taught

Thee name all Creatures that were euer nam'de.

And made thee Stuard of the worlds whole treasure

And plac'de thee in a paradice of pleasure.

(12)

Then wast thou Viceroy to the King of heau'n,

And great Lieuetenant to the Lord of hosts:

The rule of all things vnto thee was giu'n,

At thy command all creatures seru'd like posts

To come or go, and at thy becke were driu'n

Both neere and farre, vnto the farthest coasts.

God all things made, as seruants vnto thee

Because thou only shouldst his seruant be.

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(13)

He gaue life vnto herbes, to plants, and trees,

For if they wanted life, how could they grow?

A beast hath life and sence, moues, feeles, and sees,

And in some sort doth good and euill know:

But man's before all Creatures in degrees

God life, and sence, and reason did bestow.

And least those blessings should be transitory

He gaue him life, sence, reason, grace, and glory.

(14)

Then let our meditations scope be most

How at the first we were created good:

And how we (wilfull) Grace and goodnes lost

And of the sonnes of God were Sathans broode.

Then thinke the price, that our redemption cost

Th' eternall sonne of Gods most precious bloud.

Remember this whilst life and sence remaine,

Else life, and sence, and reason are in vaine.

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(15)

Thou to requite thy God that all thee gaue

Ingratefully against him didst rebell:

Whereby from Regall state, thou turnedst slaue,

And heau'nly Iustice, doomb'd thee downe to hell.

As thy rebellion from thy God thee draue,

So 'gainst thee all things to rebellion fell.

For when to heau'n thy due obedience ceast,

Thy disobedience taught each brutish beast.

(16)

Now see thy miserable wretched state,

Thou and the earth is eake with thee accurst:

All worldly things, which thee obaide of late,

In stiffe commotion now against thee burst:

And thou for euer droue from Eden gate

To liue an exilde wretch, and which is worst

Thy soule, (Gods darling) fell from her preferment,

To be the Deuils thrall, in endlesse torment.

[Page]

(17)

But Mercies sea, hath quenched Iustice fire,

And Heau'ns high heyre (in pittie of mans case)

In person came, and satisfide Gods ire,

And Gracelesse man new Repossest in Grace.

The sonne of God came downe, to raise vs higher

To make vs Glorious, he himselfe made base.

To draw vs vp, downe vnto earth he came,

And honor'd vs, by putting on our shame.

(18)

Who can conceiue the Glory he was in

Aboue the heau'n of heau'ns, in throan'd in blisse?

Who can conceiue the losse that he did winne

To rectifie, and answere our amisse?

Who can conceiue the Mountaines of our sinne

That must be hid with such a sea as this?

No heart, no tongue, no pen of mortall wight

These things can once conceiue, or speake, or write.

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(19)

Man may collect th' abundance of his vice

And the deare loue his God to him did beare,

In thinking on th' inestimable price

Was paide his sinne polluted soule to cleare.

To gaine him an immortall paradice

And to Redeeme his foes to pay so deare.

For if our sinnes had not been more then much

The ransome of them sure had not been such.

(20)

The bloud of any mightie mortall King

Was insufficient this great debt to pay:

Arch-angels power, or Angels could not bring

A Ransome worth forbearance but a day;

The only sonne of God must do this thing

Else it must be vndone, and we for aie.

God was the Creditor, and man the debter

Christ (God & man) did pay, none could pay better

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(21)

Then since thy sinfull Soule from Grace was lost,

And since by Grace it hath found Grace againe:

Since being lost so Great a price it lost

T' enfranchise it from euerlasting paine

And since thy crimes are quit, thy debts are crost

Thy peace with God, the way to heau'n made plain

Let not all this in vaine for thee be done

But thankfull be to God, through Christ his sonne.

(22)

Forget not thou art ashes, earth, and dust,

And that from whence thou cam'st, thou shalt again,

And at the last trump that appeare thou must

When Procseys and Essoynes are all in vaine:

Where iust and vniust, shall haue iudgement iust,

For euer doomb'd to endlesse ioy or paine.

Where though that thou be damb'd it is Gods glory,

Thy wife, thy Sonne, thy Sire, will not be sorry.

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(23)

Methinks it should make man this world to loath

When that which will a thousand cloath and feede:

It should but onely one man feede and cloath

In fares excesse, and gorgeousnesse of weede,

Yet this braue canker, this consuming moath

(Who in his life ne're meanes to do good deede)

Must be adorn'd for those good parts he wants

By fearefull Fooles, and flattering Sichophants.

(24)

Hath he the title of an earthly grace?

Or hath he Honor, Lordship, Worship? or

Hath he in Court some great commanding place?

Or hath he wealth to be regarded for?

If with these honors, vertue he embrace

Then loue him; else his puckfoist pompe abhorre.

Sun-shine on dung-hills makes them stinke the more,

And honor shewes all that was hid before.

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(25)

Shall men giue Reu'rence to a painted trunke

That's nothing but all outside, and within

Their senses are with blacke damnation drunke,

Whose heart is Sathans Tap-house, or his Inne.

Whose Reputation inwardly is sunke,

Though outwardly raisd vp, and swolne with sin.

I thinke it worse then to adore the Deuill,

To worship his base Instruments of euill.

(26)

No, looke vpon the Man, and not his Case,

See how he doth his Maker imitate:

If Grace supernall, giue internall Grace

That makes his minde on vertue contemplate.

That holds this world, and all things in't as base,

Knowes death makes happie, or vnfortunate.

That doth no wrong, for Fanour, Gaine, or Feare,

And layes on each, what each deseru's to beare.

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(27)

Such men (no doubt) but few such liuing are,

For they are thickly sow'd, and thinly grow'd,

The purest wheat is mixed with the Tare,

The humble minds, are seruile to the Prowd.

Vice Reuells, and poore Vertues poore and bare,

Hypocrisie into the Church will crowd.

So man must more then humane wit possesse

T'escape the baites and snares of wickednesse.

(28)

The Atheist of the Scriptures can dispute,

That one would deeme him a Religious man:

The Temporizer to the Time will sute,

Although his Zeale be Machiuillian.

Then there's a Faith that seldom yeelds good fruit,

And though impure, is calld a Puritan.

A thousand Sects in thousand Proteus shapes

Are Times true turne-coats, and Religious Apes.

[Page]

(29)

The greatest plague, that euer came from Hell

Is to be puft and stuft with selfe-conceit:

When men too Ill, esteeme themselues too well,

When ouer-valued worth proues light in weight,

When Selfe-loue and Ambition makes vs swell

Aboue the limits of Discretions height.

When the poore Iay, displaies his borrowed plumes,

And man (vnfeeling sin) to sinne presumes.

(30)

But if thy featherd pride, Icarian-high

Doth soare too farre aboue true Reasons bownd:

Th'eternall Sunne thy waxen wings will frie,

Thy fatall Fall, thy Folly shall confownd.

Who (like that Cretian) mounts ambitiously,

In Seas of sorrow shall (like him) be drownd.

By pride the Caldean Monarchie decreast,

A King (the best of men) was made a Beast.

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(31)

The state of Man may be compared well

Vnto a Kingdom gouern'd well or Ill:

For if his Rule and Policie excell,

His Reason (like a Queene) commands his will.

But if seditious Passions do rebell,

They Reasons Court with all disorder fill,

And ouer-run hir carelesse Common-wealth,

With murder, fraud, oppression, whoredome, stealth.

(32)

The Sences are this Kingdoms Court of Guarde

To keep their Queene secure from terrene treason:

Great is the trust and saftie of this warde

Whilst they giue true Intelligence to Reason:

But if this Guard their duties not regard

And mis-informe their Queene at any season;

Then right for wrong, and wrong for right sheele conster,

And in hir Apprehension proues a Monster.

[Page]

(33)

The Hearing, Sight, the Taste, the Smell, and Touch,

If Vices do present themselues for obiects:

And they (incredulous) not deeme them such,

Informing Reason that they are good Subiects;

If Reasons iudgment be not more then much

She entertaines for Worthies these base Abiects:

Who spoyle hir Court, and breake hir Kingdoms frame,

And turne her State, & Glory into shame.

(34)

The Appetite, the Fancie, and the Will

(Spirituall Faculties) are Reasons Peeres:

Who (of themselues) do counsell all things ill

Not knowing what is true, but what appeares:

If she attend, what only they instill,

She takes in meere delusions through hir eares:

And they at last will thrust hir from hir Throne,

And then (vsurping Rebells) sit thereon.

[Page]

(35)

These Vassals hauing got the Regall sway,

Inforce the Commons which are the Affections,

Their hatefull hellish precepts to obay,

With promise of their fauours and protections:

Th' Affections all agree, and all do pay

These Miscreants their tributes and subiections.

And now is Reason banisht, and they threat

She ne're shall gaine againe hir awfull seat.

(36)

Th'vsurping Heart, sometimes doth raigne as King,

Sometimes the Braine is Counseller of State:

The Eyes and Eares, Intelligence do bring,

The Tongue, (as Herald) tydings doth relate.

The Hands and Feet do execute each thing,

Which these intruding Tyrants loue or hate.

And euery Member plaies a painfull part

To serue a swimming Braine, and swelling Heart.

[Page]

(37)

The Fancie (like an Ape) skips to, and fro,

Begins a thousand things, and endeth none:

Makes, marrs, forbids, and bids, no, yea, yea, no,

Doe, and vndoe, hold fast, and let alone:

Run, stay; vp, downe, stand, fall, go, come, come, go,

Sad, glad, mad, wittie, foolish, mirth and mone.

Thus Fancie doth in Apish toyes delight

To serue the greedie maw of Appetite.

(38)

And Appetite (as doth a big woomb'd Dame)

Lusts, longs, desires, and must haue this and that:

Hearbs, roots, fruits, flowres, Fish, Fowle, Beasts wilde &

She must & wil haue, wel she knowes not what: (tame

Whilst Fancie, and Imagination frame

Themselues more nimbly then a mowzing Cat.

Still searching what the Appetite desires,

Superfluous meats, drinks, bables, and attires.

[Page]

(39)

The Memorie Lord Keeper of the Treasure,

And great Recorder of this world of dust:

The Vnderstanding giues true Iustice measure

To Good, to Bad, to Iust, and to Vniust;

Inuention and Remembrance, waite the leasure

Of Memorie, and Understanding must

Haue Wisdom for hir fellow, and hir guide,

Else Prince, and Peeres, and Commons stray aside.

(40)

Truth, and false Lying, on the Tongue attends;

The one instructs hir plainly in the Truth,

The others proper, and improper ends

Doth teach to lye, and vouch it with an oath:

The Tongue, loues one of these, yet both contends

But she wants entertainment for them both.

At last she takes in Lying for hir Page,

And bids Truth walke, a beggers Pilgrimage.

[Page]

(41)

When Wisdom, must giue Follie cap and knee,

When hare-braind Will, o're Wit doth rule & raigne

When Lying, shall make Truth regardles be,

When Loue is paide with hatred and disdaine:

When Sense and Appetite do all agree

To serue a false rebellious heart and braine;

When they haue Reasons Court, thus vnderminde,

It is a signe that Vnderstanding's blinde.

(42)

Then is the place where Vertue had abode

Made a fowle Rendeuouz for filthy Vice:

The Temple of the holy Spirit of God

Esteemes his blessed presence of no price.

Man spurns against his iust reuenging Rod

Worse then the Iewes, that for his Coat cast Dice.

Men falne into a reprobated Sence

Dread not their Makers great Omnipotence.

[Page]

(43)

Then what art thou, poluted earthly clod,

Thou span, thou froth, thou bubble, and thou smoke:

Worse then the dust, that vnder-foot is trod,

Dar'st thou thy Makers furie to prouoke?

Why wilt thou (wilfull) thy perdition plod,

And with damnation thy saluation choke?

Christ bought thy Soule, and lent it thee to vse it,

Tis none of thine; and therefore not abuse it.

(44)

Dar'st thou profane with thy vngodly breath

His Name, that did (before the world) elect thee?

Dar'st thou, dare him his Iustice sword t'vnsheath?

Dar'st thou prouoke his mercy to reiect thee?

Dar'st thou run headlong to perpetuall death,

Whereas eternall torments shall correct thee?

And dar'st thou (wretched worme) of earthly race,

Belch blasphemie against thy Makers Grace.

[Page]

(45)

He thou offendest is the King of Kings,

Heau'n, Earth and Hell do tremble at his frowne:

Bright Angells and Archangells alwaies sings

Before the seat of his immortall Crowne:

His foes to fell confusion downe he slings,

He giues his seruants Honor and Renowne.

His power's not circumscribed here, or there,

But All in All, is All, and euery where.

(46)

Can nothing moue thy flinty heart to Ruthe,

That of thy selfe thou some remorse wouldst take;

And not to spend thy beauty, strength, and youth

To serue the Sou'raigne of the Stigian Lake:

Say not, to morrow, thou wilt seeke the truth,

And when sin leaues thee, thou wilt sin forsake.

When thou no more (through weaknes) canst offēd,

Then lame, old, rotten, thou wilt God attend.

[Page]

(47)

When hoary haire, and blood all frozen chill,

When eyes waxe dim, and limbs are weake & lame:

And that no more thy rash rebellious will

Cannot performe vile deeds of sinne and shame:

When thou hast lost thy strength to do more ill,

Then vnto Heau'n, thy minde thou 'ginst to frame.

Thy youth in Sathans seruice being spent,

In age thou thinkst on God, and dost repent.

(48)

Suppose a man that's much ingag'd to thee

Hath a good Horse, which thou dost much desire:

Thou offrest for him thrice his worth, to be

The Master of this Beast thou dost require:

But this ingratefull wretch will not agree

To giue, to sell him thee, or let thee hire,

But lets him (all his youth) be rid by those

Who are thy spightfull, and thy mortall foes.

[Page]

(49)

And when hee's leane, and old, and lame, and blinde,

Gall'd, foundred, filthy, wanting no disease:

Botts, Glaunders, Spauin, broken in his winde,

Not a tooth left to mumpe on beanes and pease:

Then this Companion, (most vnkindly kinde)

Will let thee haue this Palfraie, if thou please,

If now (past good) thou scornest to receiue him,

Heele flay his skin off, and the dogs shal haue him.

(50)

Betwixt thy God and thee, such is the case:

When thou art young, strong, sound of winde and lim,

Thy soule and bodie shuns his heau'nly Grace,

Thou wilt not serue thy God, nor waite on him:

But (heedles) headlong runn'st a hellish race

Till age hath brought thee to the graues ha [...]d brim.

Then (being clog'd with sin, diseasd and foule)

Thou offrest God thy body and thy soule.

[Page]

(51)

But dost thou thinke he is at thy Command,

Or that his mercy must attend thy leasure?

Or dost thou thinke thou canst in Iudgment stand

And scape the Iustice of his high displeasure?

Or dost thou thinke that his Almighty hand

Is shortned? or that his supernall pleasure

Regards not how the Sonnes of Men do liue?

Or that without Repentance hee'le forgiue?

(52)

Sly Sathans Rage is almost at an end,

And well he knowes his dominations stint;

He therefore now doth all his Engins bend

To batter and confound our fleshly Fort;

He and his Ministers do all attend

To draw vs to his damn'd infernall Court.

For if he loose our soules at latest cast

Twill be too late when all his power is past.

[Page]

(53)

And therefore now he plots his diuellish drifts

To separate vs from our God so louing:

In making vs vnthankfull for his gifts,

And by our heynous sins his Anger mouing,

Whilst wings of Faith our prayers vpwards lifts

To praise our Maker (as is best behouing.)

Then Sathan kills our Zeale, and vnawares

We are intangled in vile worldly snares.

(54)

God made enough, all men to satisfie,

Yet not enough to giue one Man content:

For he that had the worlds whole soueraigntie

Would couet for a further continent.

Ambitious thirst of fading Dignitie

(As though they were for euer permanent)

Doth banish Loue, and euery heau'nly Motion,

Blinds all our Zeale, and murders our Deuotion.

[Page]

(55)

Tis truly writ in many a thousand storie,

And thousand thousand sheets of blotted paper

Declares how terrene things are transitorie,

Incertaine certaine, wasting like a Taper.

How froathy painted Pompe, and gaudie Glory

When least we thinke doth vanish like a vaper.

Experience teacheth this, and truth bewraies it,

And various humane accidents displaies it.

(56)

To day great Diues in a purple coate

With Epicurian Apetite doth feed:

His cups with wine do ouerflow and floate,

His baggs with quoyne, his heart from feare is freed,

And on the world, and wealth doth only dote

(As if his death, his life should not succeed.)

He loues himselfe, himselfe loues him agen,

And liu's a hated wretch, of God and Men.

[Page]

(57)

Nor stone, or dropsie, or the groaning Gowt

Can make him with his Wealth to liue in hate,

He (maugre paine) takes pleasure to finde out

New Proiects to increase his too great state;

To marry muck to muck, he casts about,

And neuer dreames of his expiring date,

Vntill he heare the fatall bell to towle,

And Hell stand gaping to deuoure his Soule.

(58)

I'haue heard of an extortionizing Curr,

That hath bin numbd and senceles, as a logg;

Who neither limbe, or leg, or ioynt could sturr,

But on his death-bed grunting like a Hog:

And almost speechles with his ratling Murr,

Yet care of Coyne his conscience did so clogg,

That not a thought of Heau'n he could afford,

But ten i' the hundred was his latest word.

[Page]

(59)

Thus Gold that should be captiue vnto all

Doth captiuate his Keeper, as a slaue:

Who like an Idoll doth before it fall,

And neuer meanes another God to haue.

And when Heau'ns Pursiuant, grim-Death, doth call

To warne him to his vn-a-voyded Graue,

Vntill his Iawes be cram'd, and ram'd with mold

Hee'le speake or (speechles) make a signe for gold.

(60)

We ought no formed Creature to adore,

Or frame will-worship in our idle braine:

Nor of the Angells must we ought implore,

For Man and Angells help is all but vaine;

Yet pur-blind Auarice still gapes for more,

And makes his Mammonitish God his Gaine:

He playes the Bawd, his money is the Whore,

Whilst it breeds Bastards, he doth hold the dore.

[Page]

(61)

He thinks his life Angelicall, because

Amongst the Angells he doth spend his time:

And Royall he will be, for in his pawes

The Royalls are insnarde like birds in lime:

And with his Nobles he ordeineth lawes,

That base extortion shall not be a crime.

He marks how Kingdoms, Prouinces, and Townes

Are ouer-ruled by his cursed Crownes.

(62)

But if he note his Angells, what they be;

Not heau'nly, nor yet those from Heau'n that fell:

But they are in a third, and worse degree

Dumb damned senceles, ministers of Hell.

They cannot smell, or feele, taste, heare, or see,

And thousand times be'ng told, yet cannot tell.

Th'ar lock'd, and barr'd, and bolted vp in thrall,

Which shewes their Nature not Angelicall.

[Page]

(63)

His Royalls doth not Royallize himselfe,

Or make him better then he is or was,

In spight of all his ill got canker'd Pelfe,

Hee's but a miserable golden Asse:

The Deuills deere darling, a most hatefull Elfe,

Which as Hells Factor on the Earth doth passe.

Were euery haire about him made a Royall

He were a Wretch, to God and Men disloyall.

(64)

His Nobles no way doth enoble him,

Their Counsell cannot mend his Rascall minde:

His hart's obdurate, and his eyes are dim

To thinke or see, t'ward good to be inclinde.

Hee'le venter soule and body, life and lim

To scrape and scratch what he must leaue behinde.

His Nobles thus, ignobly make him liue,

And headlong to the Deuill, their Master driue.

[Page]

(65)

Amongst his Marks he neuer marketh how

He spends, or lends, or giues, his ill got store:

He marks to make it multiply and growe,

And for the vse of Fistie takes a score.

He neuer dreads Heau'ns dreadfull angry browe,

But daily grinds the faces of the poore.

Let vengeance thunder, and let Hells dog barke,

Amongst his Marks, of Grace he hath no marke.

(66)

And though a world of Crownes are in his hand,

For euery Crowne might he a Kingdom haue,

His state no better (in my minde) should stand

Then a rich Begger, or a kingly Slaue.

He should his Crownes, and they not him command

They (Vassall-like) should do what he should craue.

Lo thus the Crownes their Soueraigne ouerswayes,

They Rule and Raigne, he like a Slaue obayes.

[Page]

(67)

Thus Angells to a Catiffe, are a curse,

His Royalls makes his basenes far more base:

His Nobles, his ignoble minde make worse;

His Marks, are marks and figures of disgrace:

His Crownes vsurpeth in his Niggard purse,

And in his heart Contentment hath no place.

For Angells, Royalls, Nobles, Marks and Crownes

Can put no vertue, in the minds of Clownes.

(68)

The onely slaue of slaues, is Moneyes slaue,

He pines in plenty, staru's amidst his store:

Dies liuing, and doth liue as in a Graue,

In wealthy-want, and in abundance poore:

The Goods he hath, he badly doth depraue,

And only cares how he may purchase more.

For he himselfe cannot afford himselfe

A good meales meat, for wasting of his pelfe.

[Page]

(69)

His feare's his wealth, his torment his delight,

His Conscience foule, affrightfull is his sleep:

His hopes dispaire, his mirth in sadnes dight,

His ioyes are Cares, what he hath got to keep:

His Rest, is restles vnrest day and night,

And in a sea of Melancholie deep.

Amidst his large possessiions liu's in lack,

And dies in debt to's belly and his back.

(70)

Me thinks I heare a Miser-Churle obiect,

None railes at Wealth, but those which liue in want:

The idle Grashopper cannot affect

The toylesom labors of the frugall Ant:

The Prodigall by no meanes will be checkt

So much as when his Purses linings scant.

The Fox doth scorne the Grapes, but wot you why?

Because out of his reach, they hang too high.

[Page]

(71)

So doth a sort of poore and needie Hyndes,

The scum and dregs, of euery Common-wealth:

The shakerag-shaghaird crew, whose boundles minds

Must be supplide with shifting, or by stealth.

Like sick men, when their paines their Reason blinds

They enuy all men that are well in health.

So doth a swarme of drones, and idle mates

Reuile and enuie at our happy states.

(72)

But let them storme, and raile, and curse, and sweare,

Within our coffers, we will keep the Gold:

Let them themselues, themselues in peeces teare,

What we haue got with toyle, with care wee'le hold.

What is't doth men to Reputation reare

But when their goods and wealth growes manifold.

We care not then let needy Rascalls raile

Till Tyburne eat them, or some loathsom Iayle.

[Page]

(73)

Thus doth a Wretch his thirst of Gaine excuse,

And makes his bad trade good with show of thrift:

Himselfe, (continuall) with himselfe doth muse

Vpon some purchase, or some gaining drift;

And as a Hog, his downeward lookes do vse

To poare, and not aloft his eyes to lift.

He takes Heau'ns fruit, and hoordeth vp the same,

And ne're remembers God, from whence it came.

(74)

But fill thy baggs, till they are ouer-filld,

And empt thy conscience more, (if more thou can)

Raise higher rents, and let thy Land be till'd,

And tell thy selfe thou art a happy man.

Pull downe thy Barnes, and boasting bigger build,

As if thy blessed state were new began.

Then comes a voyce, with horror and affright,

Thou foole Ile fetch away thy soule this night.

[Page]

(75)

And tell me then, who shall these Goods possesse

That thou hast damn'd thy Selfe to purchase them?

Who shall be heire to all thy vaine excesse,

For which thy Soule, that deere (too deere) bought lem,

In hazard is, of endles wretchednes

Be'ing banisht from the new Ierusalem.

The Goods are Ill, that doth the world controule,

Whose cursed Gaine, doth lose the Owners soule.

(76)

What's in the world should make men wish to liue,

If men could well consider what it is:

What in the world that happines can giue

Which is not drownd in sorrowes blacke Abiss?

What Goods in the world can a man achieue,

But woe and miserie, o'rewhelms his blisse?

No pleasures, or contentments stedfast are,

For all we can call Ours, is only Care.

[Page]

(77)

I'haue seen a Gallant, mounted all in gold

Like Alexander, on Bucephalus:

The ground (in his conceit) too base to hold

Him whom the smiles of fortune fauours thus.

But in his height of heat, how soone hee's cold,

By death, snatch'd from his pompe, himselfe, and vs.

His Name, and Noble-Mushrom-fame forgot,

And all things (but his shame) must lye and rot.

(78)

The beauteous Lady, that appeares a Saint,

Of Angells forme, and Heau'n admired hue:

That can (by Art) defectiue Nature paint,

And make false colours to the eye seeme true:

Yet Death at last, hir brau'ry doth attaint,

And (spight hir Art) she must pay Natures due.

The rarest features, and the fairest formes

Must dye and rot, and be consum'd with wormes.

[Page]

(79)

Wealth, Beauty, as they are abusde or vsde

They make the owners either curst or blest:

As Good or Ill, is in the minde infusde

They adde a ioyfull rest, or woes vnrest:

To vse them well th'are blest, but if abusde

Thy God doth thee and them loath and detest:

And turns his blessings, which shold most cōtēt thee,

To dreadfull cursings which shal still torment thee.

(80)

Seek then Heau'ns kingdom, & things that are right,

And all things else shall be vpon thee cast:

Thy daies of Ioy shall neuer turne to night,

Thy blessed state shall euerlasting last.

Liue still, as euer in thy Makers sight,

And let Repentance purge thy vices past.

Remember thou must drink of deaths sharp cup,

And of thy Stuardship account giue vp.

[Page]

(81)

Had'st thou the beautie of faire Absolon,

Or did thy strength the strength of Sampson passe:

Or could thy wisdom match wise Salomon,

Or might thy riches Cressus wealth surpasse;

Or were thy pompe beyond great Babylon

(The proudest Monarchie that euer was,)

Yet Beauty, Wisdom, Riches, Strength, and State,

Age, Death, and Time, will spoile and ruinate.

(82)

Make of the World, no more then as it is,

A vale of Cares, of miseries, and woes:

Thinke of it, as the sinke of all amisse

That blinds our Sences with deceiuing showes:

Account it as a den of balefull blisse

The which (vnthought of) all estates o'rethrowes.

How Sathan in it beares a Lordly sway,

And how none but his subiects it obay.

[Page]

(83)

And whilst thou runn'st this transitorie race,

Vse well the blessings God to thee hath sent:

Do Good with them whilst thou hast time and space,

And know they are but things vnto thee lent.

Know that thou must appeare before Gods face

To answer if they well, or ill be spent.

If thou hast spent them well, then heau'n is thine,

If ill, th'art damn'd to hell, by doome diuine.

(84)

But ten times happy shall that Steward be,

Which at the last the Lord shall faithfull finde:

Heart, tongue or eyes, cannot thinke, speake, or see

The glory that to him shall be assinde.

He shall out-passe the Angells in degree,

He shall out-shine all Starrs that euer shinde.

He shall for euer, and for euer sing

Eternall praises to his God and King.

[Page]

(85)

Vnto which God the Father, first and last,

Whose goodnes, all conseru's, preseru's, and feeds:

To God the Sonne, whose merits downe h [...]ath cast

Sinne, death, and hell, (due vnto Sinners meeds.)

To thee ô Holy Ghost, that euer vvast

The blessing that from Sire, and Sonne proceeds;

And to the vn-deuided Three in One

All Power, and Praise, and Glory be alone.

FINIS.

§

§

§

[Page]

[Page]

THE SEVERALL Sieges, Assaults, Sackings, and finall Destruction, of the famous, ancient, and memorable Citie of IERVSALEM.

Deuided into two parts.

By IOHN TAYLOR.

LONDON Printed by Edward Griffin for Nathaniel Butter, and are to be sold at his shop at S. Austins gate, at the signe of the Pyde Bull. 1616.

§

[Page]

[figure]

[Page]

TO THE TRVLY worthy, and right Worshipful IOHN MORAY Esquire, one of the Gentlemen of his Maiesties Royall Bed-chamber; Earths Honors and Heauens happines.

THis Booke, (Good Sir) the issue of my braine

Though far vnworthy of your worthy view,

Yet I in dutie offer it to you

In hope you Gently it will entertaine.

And though the Method and the Phrase be plaine,

Not Artlike writ, as to the stile is due,

Yet is it voide of any thing vntrue,

And truth I know your fauour shall obtaine.

The many fauours I from you haue had

Hath forc'd me thus to shew my thankfull minde:

And of all faults, I know no vice so bad

And hatefull, as ingratefully inclinde.

A thankfull Heart, is all a poore mans pelfe,

Which, (with this Booke) I giue your Worthy Selfe.

Your Worships, euer most obliged IOHN TAYLOR.

§

[Page]

[Page]

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.

[Page]

[Page]

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.

ERRATA.

In the 23 staffe of Vrania, line 7 for adornd, read ador'de.

In the 30 staffe, lin. 5. for Cretian, read Cretan.

In the 39 staffe, lin. 1. for Memory, read Memory's.

In the 40 staffe, lin 2. for truth, read troath.

In the 45 staffe, lin 5. for slings, read flings.

In the first part of Ierusalem, pag. 6. lin. 17. for shooke read strooke.

Information about this book

Title statement

Taylors Vrania, or His heauenly muse With a briefe narration of the thirteene sieges, and sixe sackings of the famous cittie of Ierusalem. Their miseries of warre, plague, and famine, (during their last siege by Vespasian and his son Titus.) In heroicall verse compendiously described.Urania

Taylor, John, 1580-1653.

Edition statement

1616

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) :

Date

2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A13512

ID [STC]

STC 23806

ID [STC]

ESTC S118287

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

99853494

ID [PROQUEST]

99853494

ID [VID]

18878

Availability

This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal. The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

Series

Early English books online.

Notes

(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A13512)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 18878)

Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1475-1640 ; 977:15)

Source

— Taylors Vrania, or His heauenly muse With a briefe narration of the thirteene sieges, and sixe sackings of the famous cittie of Ierusalem. Their miseries of warre, plague, and famine, (during their last siege by Vespasian and his son Titus.) In heroicall verse compendiously described., Urania, Taylor, John, 1580-1653..

Extent

[88] p.

Printed by Edward Griffin for Nathaniel Butter, and are to be sold at his shop at S. Austins gate, at the signe of the Pyde Bull,. London :: 1615 [i.e. 1616]. (In verse.) (Signatures: A-E F⁴.) ("The seuerall sieges, assaults, sackings, and finall destruction, of the famous, ancient, and memorable citie of Ierusalem" has separate title page dated 1616; register is continuous.) (Reproduction of the original in the Folger Shakespeare Library.) (F4 in facsimile.)

Creation

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