A Pisgah-sight of Palestine and the confines thereof with the history of the Old and New Testament acted thereon / by Thomas Fuller ...

CHAP. VII. Of Davids Palace, the High-priests houses, the Coenaculum, and other memorable places in mount Sion.

§ 1. WE begin with mount Sion, making that first which God most favoured,a 1.1 who loved the Gates of Sion, more then all the tabernacles of Iacob. Here first our eyes are entertained with the stately Palace of David,b 1.2 Hiram King of Tyre sending him timber and work∣men for the building thereof. Flat was the roof of this palace, whereon David sate, and from whence he beheld Bathsheba (hard by is her house) bathing her self. I cannot excuse her action herein. If policy be jealous, that hedges may have eares, modesty may suspect lest the motes in the aire have eyes. But see here divine justice. As this roof was the place whereon Davids lust did burn first; so thereon Absaloms incest did blaze farthest, lying here with his Fathers Concubines. This he easily did at the perswasion of Achitophel; those spurres needing no rowels, which are to prick forward graceless youth into wantonness. But that hellish Po∣litician did this to set such a distance betwixt Sire and Son, that the af∣fection of the one might never meet with the submission of the other, the breach hereafter being made so deep and wide, that no bridge of re∣conciliation might be built betwixt them.

§ 2. Under the Romans this Palace was turned into ac 1.3 Castle, where a Garrison was kept to over-awe the City. Once the honour, now the terrour; once the beauty, now the bridle of Ierusalem. Upond 1.4 the fair stairs leading thereto, stood Saint Paul when he made his speech to the people, hearing him with great silence, because he spake ine 1.5 the Hebrew tongue; untill he came to that passage of preaching to the Gentiles (which though spoken in Hebrew was no good Hebrew to his auditours, but

false construction, & breach of Jewish priviledg) when they turned their attentive eares into railing tongues, away with such a fellow from off the earth.

§ 3. And now to shew the frailty of humane happiness, pass we from the palace of these Kings to their burying place, seeing Sion in a double respect may be called the Westminster of Ierusalem; because the Kings there∣of resided there while living, and rested when dead. The reader shall pay nothing but his pains in following me, whilest I shew him these royall remains. We may observe four gradations of honour in these interments.

• 1 Wickedf 1.6 Amon was buried in his own house, (not under the roof, but within the verge of the wall thereof) and so wasg 1.7 Ma∣nasseh,* 1.8 whose true but late repentance was effectuall to save his soul, but not his kingdome from destruction.
• 2 Cruell Ioram, who had no compassion whilest living, & therefore noh 1.9 bowels whē dying, was buried by himself in thei 1.10 city of David, & neither fire nor water, neither burning nor mourning made for him.
• 3 Godly, but leprous Uzziah, being ceremoniously unclean, was interred in thek 1.11 field of the buriall which belonged to the Kings; under∣stand it, within the suburbs, but without the walls of their so∣lemn sepultures.
• 4 All the rest were intombed in a stately place set apart for that purpose; namely, David the holy, the man after Gods own heart;

Solomon the wise, when old, befooled by his wives: Rehoboam the sim∣ple, whose rigour rent ten Tribes from his kingdome: Abiah the wic∣ked, butl 1.12 valiant and fortunate in fight; Asa the upright, whosem 1.13 heart was perfect all his days: Iehosaphat the just, whosen 1.14 heart was lift up in the ways of the Lord: Ahaziah the Idolater, whose onely cōmendation was that he raigned but* 1.15 one year. Ioash the backslider, the lease of whose goodness determined with hiso 1.16 uncles life: Amaziah the rash, worsted in a needless war against the King ofp 1.17 Israel: Iotham the peaceable, who built theq 1.18 highest gate to the house of the Lord: Ahaz the profane,r 1.19 who in the time of his distress, yet trespassed more against the Lord: Hezekiah the pious, who destroied the high places: Iosiah the tender-hearted, whos 1.20 melted at Gods threatnings, denounced against the people of the Iews.

§ 4. Amongst these still I miss Iehojakim, and long seeking for his tombe light at last on the Prophets threatning,t 1.21 he shall be buried with the buriall of an Asse, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Ierusalem.

§ 5. Now as it were in exchange of Iehojakim excluded, we finde Ie∣••ojada admitted among the royall interments. Count it not presumption for a Priests body to intrude amongst Princes bones, seeing not his pride but the peoples gratitude preferred him to the place, becauseu 1.22 he had done good in Israel towards God and his house. (Oh if monuments were mar∣shalled according to mens merits, what change would it cause in our Churches!) See we here the care the Iews had of decent burying th••ir dead. True it is, bodies flung in a bog, will not stick there at the day of judge∣ment;

cast into a wood, will finde out the way; thrown into a dungeon, will have free egress; left on the highway, are still in the ready road to the resurrection. Yet seeing they are the Tabernacles of the Soul, yea the Temples of the holy Ghost, the Iews justly began, and Christians com∣mendably continue the custome of their solemn interment.

§ 6. Farther off from the palace, we finde the house of the mighty; where Davids worthies lived in a Colledge under Ioab their President, next the Kingsw 1.23 wine-press and hisx 1.24 fish-ponds. Think not that the Kings of Iudah had onely Crowns, Thrones, and Scepters, the Ensignes of Soveraignty, for besides these to maintain their state, they had places of profit, so thrif∣ty as to make their own wine at the best hand.

§ 7. Next we take notice of the houses of Annas and Caiaphas both a∣live y 1.25 at once, and termed the high-Priests at the same time; one by courtesie, because lately he had been: the other by right, because at pre∣sent possessed of the high-Priesthood. Thus that function, which ought to have been during life by Gods institution, was made alternately annu∣all by mans innovation. Was not the shining of two Suns together in the Jewish Church sadly ominous? And was it not high time for God to take away the office, when men began wantonly to play at in and out, with that holy profession? But besides these two high-Priests, there was a third that had more right then either to the place, our Saviour himself, at the present brought a prisoner before them. In the house of Annas an officer wrongful∣ly z 1.26 struck him with the palme of his hand, and in the house of Caiaphas he was thrice denyed bya 1.27 Peter, adjured by the high-Priest, adjudged to death, spit upon, blinded, buffeted, with other insolencies offered unto him. The houses of the high-Priests were far asunder, all which distance Christ traced on foot; and it is observable, that being posted back∣wards, and forwards, from Annas to Caiaphas, from Caiaphas to Pilate, from Pilate to Herod, from Herod to Pilate, from Gabbatha to Golgotha, he traversed all the length and breadth, and most of the considerable places in the City: Partly to render his passion more publick, being made a spectacle to men and Angels, partly that his beautifull feet might bring the Gospell of peace into every principall street in Ierusalem.

§ 8. Next followeth the Coenaculum, orb 1.28 large upper-room where Christ en∣ded the Passover, began the Lords supper, and probably afterwards in the same place appeared to his disciples, where after his ascension, the holy Spiritc 1.29 in fiery cloven tongues fell upon them, enabling them to speak all lan∣guages, for which some senslesly slandered them to bed 1.30 full of new wine. For the excess thereof may give men more tongue, not moe tongues; and is so far from making them speak other, that it hinders the pronouncing of their own language. As for the house of the Virgin Mary, w^ch some make very fair in moūt Sion; I say a better was beneath her desert, but a worse was above her estate. Sure it is, that after hersons sufferings, she privately lived in the house of Iohn the Apostle, & Iohn formerly lay in the bo••om of Christ, &

Christ once lodged in the womb of Mary, and Mary was for ever hide 1.31 with Christ in God. O holy chain, ô happy complication!

§ 9. In the last place we come to the prisons (those necessary evills in a populous City) whereof we finde three severall degrees,

• 1 The dungeon off 1.32 Malchiah, a most nasty place, the mud and mire whereof shall not be stirred by my pen, lest the ill savour offend the Reader. Yet good Ieremiah was forced to lie, andg 1.33 like to die there∣in, had not Ebed-melech the blackmore procured his writ of re∣movall.
• 2 The house of Ionathan the Scribe, made a prison extraordinary of a privateh 1.34 dwelling. This little better then the former, so that Ie∣remy counted it a favour at his importunatei 1.35 request to be pre∣ferred thence, into—
• 3—The court of the prison, the best of all bads; which was part of the Kings palace, where Ieremy remained many days, fed with a piece of bread out of the bakers-streetk 1.36 (a place hard by) till Ne∣buchadnezzar at last gave him al 1.37 Gaol-delivery.

§ 10. So much of Sion, forbearing to enlarge my self in the praises thereof frequent in holy writ. As for that expression,m 1.38 Gods dwelling is in Sion, it seems particularly to relate to that time, when the Arke resided there, brought in byn 1.39 David, and placed by him in the midst of a Taber∣nacle which he hado 1.40 pitched for it. Indeed he designed to make a better casket for that Jewell, had not God retrenched his resolution by speci∣all p 1.41 order, intending Solomon for that purpose, who many years after re∣moved this Ark into the Temple he erected.

Notes

• a 1.1

  Psal. 87. 2.
• b 1.2

  2 Sam. 5. 11. & 1 Chr. 1 4. 1.
• c 1.3

  Act. 21. 37.
• d 1.4

  Act. 21. 40.
• e 1.5

  Act. 22. 2.
• f 1.6

  2 Chr. 33. 24.
• g 1.7

  2 Chr. 33. 20.
• * 1.8

  In the Gar∣den of Vzzah.
• h 1.9

  2 Chr. 21. 1••.
• i 1.10

  2 Chr. 21. 16.
• k 1.11

  2 Chr. 26. 23.
• l 1.12

  2 Chr. 13. 15.
• m 1.13

  2 Chr. 15. 17.
• n 1.14

  2 Chr. 17. 6.
• * 1.15

  2 Chr. 22. 2.
• o 1.16

  2 Chr. 24. 2.
• p 1.17

  2 Chr. 25. 21.
• q 1.18

  2 Kin. 15. 35.
• r 1.19

  2 Chr. 27. 22.
• s 1.20

  2 Chr. 34. 27.
• t 1.21

  Ier. 22. 19.
• u 1.22

  2 Chr. 24. 16.
• w 1.23

  Zach. 14. 10.
• x 1.24

  Neh. 7. 16.
• y 1.25

  Joh. 8. 13. & 24.
• z 1.26

  Joh. 18. 22.
• a 1.27

  Joh. 18. 25.
• b 1.28

  Luk. 22. 12.
• c 1.29

  Act. 2. 3.
• d 1.30

  Act. 2. 13.
• e 1.31

  Col. 3. 3.
• f 1.32

  Ier. 38. 6.
• g 1.33

  Ier. 38. 9.
• h 1.34

  Ier. 38. 15.
• i 1.35

  Ier. 37. 20.
• k 1.36

  Ier. 37. 21.
• l 1.37

  Ier. 39. 11.
• m 1.38

  Psal. 76. 2.
• n 1.39

  2 Sam. 6. 16.
• o 1.40

  2 Sam. 6. 17.
• p 1.41

  2 Sam. 7. 12.